Lunch for mommy & toddler day

Daycare is closed today for Veteran's day and me and Bella celebrating all the brave men and women by eating a nice savory broccoli and bean pie. It's vegan, healthy and yummy. I made the pie shell with spelt flour to make it more hearty as well as more nutritional. Spelt contains more protein than wheat but is easier to digest than wheat. It contains large amounts of vitamin B-complex. I now use for everything I cook or bake.

Broccoli and black bean pie

Pie crust:

100g Earth balance margarine, room temperature

1 1/4 cup white spelt flour

3 Tbs ice cold water

Preheat oven to 400F

Place flour in a food processor or kitchen aid and add margarine in pieces and then water and blend well until it's a crumbly dough. Press the dough evenly into a pie mold. Poke the pie crust with a fork a couple of time all over. Place in middle of oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

Filling:

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, chopped fine

1 garlic clove

1 cup black beans

1 tsp chili pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

salt to taste

3 Tbs white spelt flour

1 cup almond milk

1 cup broccoli crown, steamed

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 cup non-dairy white cheese ( I used daiya cheese)

On a pot, heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic on medium heat. Add beans and spices, stir. Sprinkle flour over bean mix and blend well. Add almond milk and blend well and bring to a boil, stirring once in a while. Pour the bean mix into the baked pie crust. Place broccoli and tomatoes evenly over the pie. Place in oven 400F and bake for 15 minutes. Bring out of oven and sprinkle cheese all over. Bake for another 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted. Enjoy with a nice and crisp salad.

Vanilla dream cookies

These are Bella's and mine Swedish Father's Day gift to James. They are incredibly delicate and melt in your mouth kind of cookies. They are also easy to make so even a toddler can help mommy do it.

Vanilla dream cookies, about 30 cookies

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 white spelt flour

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

50g earth balance margarine, room temperature

1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat oven for 300F

Mix all the dry ingredients and then add the margarine in pieces. Mix well and then add the oil and mix until you have a crumbly dough. Use your fingers to cream small round balls. You kind of have to roll and press together at the same time. place cookies on parchment paper clad cookie sheet. Place in middle of oven for about 20. The cookies will remain pale.

Tikka masala

It was Father's Day in Sweden on Sunday and I like to celebrate it then as well as in June. This is what my husband asked for father day's dinner, Seitan tikka masala. This is the first time I made this dish and I think you can probably use whatever protein you have a round; great white beans, quorn or tofu. Enjoy this dish with rice and

naan bread.

Seitan Tikka Masala, serving 4

Marinade:

1 package seitan chicken style

1 cup plain soy yogurt

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

2 Tbs grated ginger

3 Tbs grated garlic

1/2 tsp Sambal Oelek

2 Tbs lemon juice

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp canola oil

Blend everything, except the seitan, oil and yogurt, in a blender to a paste. Blend paste and yogurt well and place seitan pieces yogurt marinate in fridge for at least one hour. Drain seitan from marinate and fry in a frying pan on medium heat until browned. Set aside.

Sauce:

1 Tbs olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped fine

2 garlic cloves

I large tomato, chopped

5 cardamon pods

1/2 tsp Sambal Oelek

1 Tbs agave nectar

3/4 cup vegan cream such as Mimic cream or use 1/2 cup vegan sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup milk.

3 Tbs blanched almonds, grounded into a paste

2 tsp chili pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

salt to taste

First grind the almonds in a food processor to paste, if dry add little bit of the cream. Set aside. Heat oil in a large pan on medium heat and fry onion and garlic until glossy, not brown. Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients and blend well. Simmer, but do not boil. Place 2/3 of the sauce in a blender and process until completely creamy and smooth. Return sauce to pot and blend with remaining sauce. Add seitan pieces and enjoy hot.

Weekly menu

Per popular demand here is our menu for this week. I have to plan it out in advance because between me and James we run a tight schedule on who is home mornings, lunch and dinner with Bella and who is is working or taking a yoga class. I'm also the only one who cooks so planning each day saves me some time and stress for James. This week is different because daycare is closed on Wednesday so I'm home with Bella until 3pm and then James will take over. So lunch that day is Bella's favorite and I get a feeling we might not eat it at home. For breakfast we usually eat oatmeal with almond milk and always a fruit or a green smoothie.

Monday;

Lunch--Hummus sandwich and kale salad (yup same as the sampling)

Dinner--Quinoa pasta, tossed with vegetables, olive oil and garlic

Tuesday:

Lunch--Pasta salad

Dinner--Quorn meatless balls served with baked sweet potatoes and broccoli

Wednesday:

Lunch--Veggie burgers, bun, avocado and raw cut vegetables with a vegan ranch dressing for dipping

Dinner--Indian stew with spinach and chick peas served with rice and broccoli

Thursday:

Lunch--Rot vegetable with seitan sausage served with sauerkraut's

Dinner--Carrot and ginger soup served with bread with hummus

Friday:

Lunch--Quinoa pasta with artichoke pesto and a green salad

Dinner--Potatoes Au gratin with lentils

Fave bean hummus and whole wheat beet bread

This is the hummus and bread I made for yesterday. I had some left over at the house so we ate it for lunch today. The bread is so colorful due to the beets I added and the flavor is slightly sweet, a perfect combination of sweet and salty with the hummus on top. Fava beans are great because they are big and "meaty" but they don't need soaking. They only takes about 45 minutes to cook but you have to be careful not to cook them to hard and the beans breaking into mush. This was not an issue for me since I was going to make hummus out of them anyway.

Fave bean hummus

1 cup dried fava beans, cooked

1 Tbs olive oil

1 large garlic clove, baked (place in a 350F hot oven and bake for 10 minute)

1 Tbs lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped well

1 tsp coriander powder

salt to taste

Place beans, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice in food processor and process until creamy. Remove and place in a Tupperware and add parley and spices.

Whole wheat beet bread

1/4 muesli

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 1/2 cup white all-purpose flour

I bag active yeast

1/2 cup grated beets

2 cups water

2 tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

Blend flour, muesli, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add beets. Heat water until you can barley touch it, add oil and then this to the flour mix. Blend really well and work the dough. Place dough on a table sprinkles with flour. Work the dough and either make a large loaf or divide it into 4 and roll into smaller loafs. Place loafs on a oiled cookie sheet and let rest under a towel for ca 20-30 minutes. While dough is resting, preheat oven for F450. Brush loafs with cold water and place in middle of oven. Bake for ca 15-20 minutes. Check if they are done by sticking a toothpick into loaf and if it comes out clean it's done.

Rich vegan chocolate cake

This is the cake I brought to sample for my food for immunity talk I did today. It's rich and wonderful and goes best with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Now you might wonder how a chocolate cake can help boost your immunity? The cake is mostly made out dark chocolate and cocoa is rich in flavonoids which is a plant compounds rich in powerful antioxidants. Cocoa also helps keep high blood pressure down, your blood flowing and heart healthy. So now you can eat your dark chocolate with good conscious.

Gooey chocolate cake to help you fight the flu, why not?

Besides the cake, I also served home baked bread with fava bean hummus, ginger lemonade and a kale salad

Vegan chocolate cake

250g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

150g vegan butter

no-egg equal 4 eggs

4 Tbs brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350F

Blend egg beater and sugar and whip it fluffy with an electrical whipper. Melt the butter and pour over chocolate and stir until completely melted. Blend chocolate mix with egg beater and sugar mix and blend well. Add flour and blend well. Pour into a pie mold and place in middle of oven for about 30 minutes. Center will be slightly gooey. Let the cake cool completely before cutting it with a sharp knife dipped in water between slicing.

Low calorie dessert

I'm working hard getting ready for a short talk I'm giving tomorrow about food for immunity. I'm making a couple of things to bring for sampling; beet baguette with fava bean hummus, a dark chocolate cake, barley water lemonade with ginger and kale salad with pickled onion. This and I'm also making dinner for my own family, preparing my speech as well as a hand out, went to a yoga class, going to a doctors appointment and saw a friend who 6 weeks ago had twins. Phew!!!!!

I'm stressed and actually did not eat breakfast until 10:45 am this morning. So lunch ended up being a fast one containing a salad a seitan hot dog and bun. Now I've a few minutes before I have to take off again and made a very simple and low fat dessert but oh so good. Sliced bananas with a warm chocolate sauce always taste good and if you have ice cream or don't count the calories, it taste very good on ice cream as well.

Chocolate sauce

1/4 cup melted coconut butter

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbs agave nectar or maple syrup

Blend everything together to a silky smooth sauce and pour over ice cream or fruit.