Savory Quinoa Vegetable Casserole

This savory quinoa vegetable casserole is based on my Mexican Rice recipe. Using quinoa instead of rice boosts the protein content. The quinoa gives it a totally different texture though, crunchy and nutty. The nutty flavor really compliments the cumin.

I like this so much I don’t know if I’ll ever bother to make the Mexican rice again.

Soaking the quinoa makes it more digestible and nutritious.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, soaked overnight
2-3 cups chopped vegetables (such as zucchini/courgette, mushroom, capsicum/bell pepper, chili pepper, sundried tomatoes , parsley, cilantro, cabbage)
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive or coconut oil
1 tsp cumin seed
2 tsp ground cumin
1 fresh chili pepper, or 2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp herbal sea salt (such as Herbamare)
pinch of allspice
1-3/4 cups boiling water

Instructions

Soak dried quinoa overnight, rinse until water runs clear (no more ‘soap bubbles’) and drain. If you’re using sundried tomatoes soak in enough water to cover.

Chop vegetables. If you’re using a fresh chili pepper, cut in half lengthwise and scrap the seeds out, then chop into very fine slices.

Heat oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add cumin seeds and fry for a minute, stirring quickly to prevent burning. Add the vegetables and continue to stir-fry over a medium heat until they soften. Then add the rest of the spices and quinoa and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes longer, stirring until well mixed.

Put the vegetable and quinoa mix into a glass casserole dish. Add boiling water (include the dried tomato soak water) and cover. Bake at 180C / 3350F for 20 minutes.

Fluff up with a fork and serve as a meal on its own or as a side dish. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley.

Savory Quinoa Vegetable Casserole

Raw vegan miso soup, with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

As winter time approaches here in New Zealand I’ve been thinking about a strategy to stay on a raw diet throughout the cold weather of winter. I know from past experience that while it’s easy and quite natural for me to eat raw during warm weather, when it starts getting cold it’s harder for me to stay raw naturally, and I especially love soups in the winter months.

Today I think I found a solution, and I’d just like to take a moment to express my gratitude for miso. I have loved miso since I first tasted it. But to make things even better, it’s a fermented food. Which means that even though the ingredients are cooked (and not raw), the fermentation process turns it back into a living food, full of enzymes and friendly bacteria that help to promote healthy digestion.

Simply dissolving a spoonful of miso paste into a cup of warm water makes a delicious, nourishing broth. And from there you can add whatever vegetables you like and have on hand.

Miso comes in many varieties, all with different flavors, depending on the base ingredient used to make it. The one I use most is the sweet brown rice miso, I find it’s the most versatile. But I also love the brown rice miso in soups. For stronger flavor, try the barley or soy bean miso. Just be careful to choose a miso that’s made with non-GM foods, and one that’s raw and unpasteurized.

The pasteurizing process was developed to kill any bacteria, so pasteurizing any fermented food, like apple cider vinegar, yogurt, miso, sauerkraut, kills all the beneficial bacteria – totally defeating the whole purpose of fermenting the food in the first place. It seems totally ridiculous to me that anyone would even consider doing it, but we’ve strayed so far from nature and what’s natural that we do ridiculous and counter-productive things like this all the time. We’ve become so paranoid about bacteria that we’ve forgotten that without these amazing little creatures, the world as we know it would not exist.

The trick to miso soup is to never boil the miso. If you boil the miso you’ll kill the friendly bacteria and enzymes.  Always boil or warm the water, wait for it to cool down a bit and then add it to the miso. To qualify as a raw food you want to make sure you don’t heat it above 110-118 degrees F (43-47 degrees C), because above that temperature you start destroying the nutrients and enzymes of the food.

So with all that said, let’s get onto the business of making raw vegan miso soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles. The easiest way is to prepare the vegetables and divide them into a bowl for each serving you need. Warm up enough water to fill the number of bowls you are preparing.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp of white miso paste
handful of dried, shiitake mushrooms, sliced
handful of wakame seaweed flakes (or other seaweed of your choice)
fresh vegetables (zucchini, capsicum/bell pepper, green or red chili pepper, cabbage, spinach, etc), sliced thinly
handful of mung bean sprouts
zucchini and/or pumpkin for ‘noodles’ (or any other squash you like)
water

Instructions:

Put the water on the stove to start warming up, and while you’re waiting for it add the seaweed and shiitake to each of the bowls. Break up the shiitake into smaller pieces so they will soften more quickly. Start slicing the remaining vegetables, except for the zucchini and pumpkin to be used as noodles.  When the water is warm enough, add enough to the bowls to cover the seaweed and dried shiitake and allow them to soak and soften while you continue to prepare the rest of the vegetables.

If you’re using any vegetables, like cabbage that are a bit crunchy you might want to add them to a separate mixing bowl, add a little sea salt and massage and squeeze them until they are more tender. In my soup I added some red cabbage kim chi that I made yesterday, so it wasn’t fully fermented and sour, but very tender, similar to the effect that you get from cooking.

To prepare the ‘noodles’, cut open the pumpkin or squash and, using a spoon, remove the seeds and any mushy pulp that was around the seeds by scraping them out with the spoon. Zucchini can be cut in half lengthwise. Use a vegetable peeler to make long strips from the zucchini and pumpkin. Try to make the strips as wide as possible.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

Lay the strips out on a cutting board and stack about 4-5 strips on top of each other. Then starting at one of the short ends roll the strips up. Use a sharp knife to cut across the roll of strips in whatever thickness you prefer. I felt like linguini, so I cut my strips as narrow as I could.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

For each bowl, dissolve 1-2 tbsp of miso paste in some warm water by putting it in a cup, adding the water and mixing with a spoon or fork until dissolved. Pour the miso into the bowl. Do this for each bowl in turn. Divide the remaining sliced vegetables and noodles to the bowls and top up with the warm water and stir. Serve and enjoy!

The finished miso vegetable soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

Quinoa Salad

If you like couscous salads but are looking for something even healthier, and wheat-free this salad fits the bill. It’s light on the digestive system, but filling. The quinoa provides lots of extra protein and fiber. Like couscous quinoa cooks very quickly, so it’s an easy dish to prepare anytime.

Ingredients:
2-3 cups cooked quinoa, cooled
1 handful of mixed salad greens, roughly chopped or torn
1 handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
1 handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 large leaves spinach, roughly chopped or torn
3-4 broad beans (fava beans), or fresh peas, shelled
1/4 red or yellow bell pepper (also called capsicum), finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
handful of almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 teas ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:
1/4 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
1 teas wheat-free tamari (can substitute shoyu soy sauce if you don’t mind wheat)

Garnish:
sunflower and pumpkin seeds to garnish

Instructions:
If you cook a bit extra quinoa than you need, you can use the leftovers the next day in this salad. Otherwise, see my article on How to cook quinoa. Make sure it’s cooled before you mix it in with the other ingredients.

Toss all salad ingredients in a large bowl until mixed thoroughly.

Pour the dressing over and toss briefly to evenly distribute it.

Garnish and serve.

Serves 2.

Cook’s Tips:
This recipe uses very loose measurements because for recipes like this I encourage you to change and adapt them to your taste and the ingredients you have on hand.

[GlutenFree]

Researchers have found that the traditional diet of the Mediterranean is great for maintaining heart health and maintaining low cholesterol levels. The best part may be that the food is delicious too! This colorful, flavorful, light dish is quick to prepare and makes a beautiful summer meal

Ingredients:
8 ounces of Mediterranean style vegetables, prepared
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 ounces of dry couscous
Approximately 2 ounces of feta cheese
Approximately 2 ounces of pitted, sliced black olives

Directions:
Place a selection of prepared Mediterranean vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, red onion, and peppers in a baking tray and top with a little olive oil. You’ll need approximately 8 ounces of chopped vegetables.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake vegetables for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook 4 ounces of couscous according to package instructions, but replace the water with the same amount of vegetable broth for more flavor. Fluff couscous with fork and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. Mix through.

Serve couscous topped with Mediterranean vegetables and a sprinkle of chopped feta cheese and olives.