Sweet Love and Ginger

Vegan

Recouping with an Early Summer Abundance Bowl

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Despite the craziness of our July Fourth holiday we still manage to indulge.
Some of us really enjoyed the John Daily’s, maybe even a little too much; we
won’t talk about that though, I was having a good time. There was also lots of
food, as there always is at these kinds of things. Hamburgers, hotdogs,
sausages, bowls and bowls of creamy macaroni and potato salads, brownies, baked
beans, a friends signature cocktail meatballs, chips upon chips and dips are
just a few of the things on the list of indulgences.

After all of the cocktails and heavy food both Chuck and I were in
need of something with a little more freshness to it; you know something with
some green.
Luckily when we got home our gardens were over flowing. There was broccoli
that desperately needed to be cut, radishes that needed pulling, more lettuce
than we could ever hope to eat, and peas galore. There were even a few tomatoes
ready to be eaten, but they didn’t make it out of the garden, my tummy couldn’t
wait.
With all this fresh bounty I decided to make a very simple meal,
with mostly raw ingredients. I really love the concept of these wonderbowls
that Sarah from My New Roots has been posting; just using whatever you have on
hand, that is in season, and fresh and tossing it together into a big bowl for
the taking.

I made some wild rice with half water and half vegetable broth to
add some heft, and a bit of saltiness to the bowl; we wanted this thing to be
filling after all. I also added an apricot that I picked up from an organic
farm stand at a rest stop on the highway. There are some benefits to having to
take a day trip here and there for work. I also got some dried corn and kale chips
and dilly beans (so good!).
Chuck claims that it doesn’t need dressing but I’m sure there is a
few who would disagree. So I’m adding the recipe for the simple dressing that I
made, despite us not using it. The cool thing about this dressing is that it
can very easily be used as a marinade on chicken or seafood as well.
Simple Garlic and Ginger Dressing
½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp honey (or agave syrup)

Whisk all ingredients together and serve. Will
keep in the fridge for about a week.

Spring Vegetable Couscous

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Spring Vegetable Couscous
Spring has sprung! Grocery stores and farmers markets are filling with wonderful, luscious, and vibrant colors. Rainbow Swiss chard, purple asparagus, green peas are just the beginning. My favorite part of spring, after the fresh post rain smell is the amazing vegetables that finally start their rotation on our plates. I could seriously eat a salad of some kind for every meal right now and never get bored.
In fact this salad I did eat for several days in a row. It’s super filling and wonderfully satisfying. I swear it’s like I can feel the sun shine in every bite that I take.
Spring Vegetable Couscous
I started out cooking the couscous in vegetable broth, just to impart it with a bit more flavor, an added the veggies at the very end of the cooking process to save on dirty dishes. I mean I was going to steam them anyway to why not do it all in one pot? Besides I wanted them still pretty crisp, so just a few minutes in a hot pan was all that was needed. Finish off the flavor with a handful of fresh chopped herbs, maybe a tiny bit of fresh cracked pepper and you have yourself a wonderfully flavorful salad type thing. I did also top it with some fresh alfalfa sprouts for a bit more protein, and a cooler contrast to the warm salad.
Spring Vegetable Couscous
It’s really enough to feed a group of 4 without anything else, but
if you wanted to stretch it I’d grill up some meat or veggies and then you
could feed more like 6 or 8.
Spring Vegetable Couscous
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups dry couscous
  • 1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 lb asparagus
  • 1 cup of fresh or frozen green peas
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • ½ cup alfalfa sprouts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Cook couscous according to package instructions with the broth substituted for water. 5 minutes before cooking is complete, add asparagus and
  2. peas.
  3. Once finished toss with herbs, and adjust seasoning.
  4. Serve warm or cold with sprouts on top.

Roast Vegetable Tossed Salad

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It’s the time of year when everyone gets all excited for
roasting vegetables. Everywhere I turn there is another roasted vegetable
recipe. I never got into it in the past. I mean I like my roasted veggie sides
but that was about the extent of it.

This year however things are different. This year I have
been making a valiant effort to bring vegetables to the forefront of our meals,
make them the star’s as opposed to the meat and starch that is typical of the American
diet. You can find evidence of this here, here, and here just to name a few.

I decided to jump on this roasted vegetables as a meal kick
and see what it’s all about, and I’m glad I did. This meal came out fabulous, and
Chuck didn’t mind the lack of meat and pile of starch. I was even given
permission to make it again.

It’s a pretty basic recipe that can be easily altered to accommodate
anyone, just add or drop the veggies you like/have on hand. The more veggies
the better in a meal like this, so experiment away. A dressing isn’t necessary for
this since there’s plenty of liquid and herbs in the veggie mixture, but I was craving something creamy so I topped it with my Creamy Pesto Dressing. It
was a wise choice.

Roasted Vegetable Tossed Salad
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 red onion sliced
1 large carrot, peeled & chopped
1 clove garlic, remove the top
Extra virgin olive oil
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp herbs de province
½ a lemon
1 ½ cup arugala
1 ½ cup spinach

Preheat the oven to 350. On a large sheet tray toss the
sweet potato, onion, and carrot with oil. Arrange the vegetables on half of the
tray. Place the garlic on the tray and drizzle with oil. Place in the oven and
roast for 25-30 minutes. Half way through the roasting time remove the tray and
re-toss the vegetables. On the free half of the tray add the tomatoes also
tossed in oil and finish cooking. In a large bowl toss together the beans, herbs
and roasted vegetables. Squeeze the lemon over the top before adding and toss
again. Set each plate with a ½ a cup of arugula and ½ a cup of spinach, top
with roasted vegetables and serve. (Serves 3)