Lentil Taco Filling

We love tacos in our house and eat them at least once a week. We have done everything from black bean and butternut squash, to Thai tofu and most recently we have been hooked on the Minimalist Bakers quinoa taco filling.

The plan was to serve the quinoa filling but I realized that afternoon that I was out of quinoa and so was the grocery store, oh the joys of small town life.

I am actually glad we were out of quinoa because it forced me to use what we had on hand and we came up with these babies. Be sure to save a little of the lentil mixture for nachos another night. We topped our nachos with some cashew queso that my husband raved over.

For the Lentil Taco Filling:
1 c green lentils
2 c broth
1 portabello mushroom, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 la Cucina taco seasoning packet or what ever your favorite taco seasoning happens to be.



Cook lentils in 2 cups of broth for 30-35 minutes leaving them a bit chewy. Set aside lentils and remaining broth.

Meanwhile dice veggies and saute in large sauce pan. When veggies are almost done but still crisp add in lentils with broth and taco seasoning. Cook until broth has been absorbed and lentils are soft but not mushy. Serve in tortillas and toppings of your choice.

MMM...Nachos...

Cashew Queso

Cashew Queso is easy to whip up. I like to use the smoothie cup attachment for my ninja blender since it is such a small amount. 

We topped our nachos with this recipe but would be awesome in burritos, tacos or just served as a dip.

Ingredients:

1/2 C cashews, soaked for 4 hours to soften
1/4-1/2 c water
2 tbs nutritional yeast
1 Chipotle chilie
2 tbs salsa

Blend cashews, 1/4 cup of water, nutritional yeast, Chipotle chili and salsa until smooth, adding more water if necessary for desired consistency.

Homemade Organic Raw Cashew Milk

Necessity is the mother of invention, and when I realized I was out of milk (I didn't want to use the boys’ chocolate oat milk) I decided to give making my own nut milk a try.

Cashew milk is ridiculously easy to make and required very little prep time. I started soaking the cashews and dates at 8 am and had fresh healthy milk by lunch. Best of all no special equipment just my trusty old Ninja blender.

I used my Organic Bakers Extract from Costco in this. It’s a chocolate vanilla blend that added a nice but not chocolate flavor. The milk was way better than any I've bought and easy enough to put together while holding the baby.

I can't wait to try it out in my overnight oats in the morning.

Ingredients:

1 C Raw Cashews

2 Dates (you could also use a little maple syrup or other sweetener)

4 C Water

1 tsp Vanilla extract (or Organic Bakers extract from Costco)

Dash of Sea Salt

Soak the cashews and dates in a mason jar with just enough water to cover. Chill in the fridge 4 hours then drain.

Place drained cashews and dates in blender with 2 cups of water and process until smooth. Then add remaining 2 cups of water, vanilla extract, and salt. Process until incorporated.

That's it. Chill and use within 5 days

Peasants Pie

 I didn't want to call this Vegetarian Shepard's Pie, Shepard's Pie has meat and this dish isn't trying to pretend to be something its not. Peasants Pie stands on its own with a rich gravy filled with sweet carrots and turnips, earthy mushrooms and garlic, topped with a slightly cheesy mash of baked sweet potato. 

Peasants Pie is a great Meatless Monday recipe that can be easily made Vegan with a few changes. If you are a strict vegan or vegetarian most Natural Food Stores carry a vegan Worcestershire sauce and you could sub out the Parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast. If you are just going for an easy yet hardy Meatless Monday dish forgo the trip to the store and just use what you have on hand. Sometimes ingredients can be hard to track down, especially if you live in a town as small as mine!

Ingredients:
1 Yellow Onion, diced

4 Cloves Garlic, minced

3 stalks of Celery, chopped

8 oz Crimini Mushrooms, sliced

2 Turnips (about the size of your fist), peeled and cubed

3 Carrots, peeled and sliced

1 Tbs Oil

2 tsp dried Thyme

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

2 Tbs Flour

1 1/2 to 2 C Vegetable Broth

2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce 

1 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar 

For Topping:

2 medium Sweet Potatoes, baked

1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

+2 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan Cheese for top

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a large skillet over medium heat oil, then add onions, garlic and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes then add in mushrooms cooking an additional 3 minutes before adding the carrots and turnips. Next add the thyme, pepper and flour stirring well and cooking until the flour starts to brown. Then slowly add in 1 1/2 C of the vegetable broth, scraping the pan to remove any browned bits from the bottom. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes adding remaining 1/2 C of broth if gravy gets too thick. 

Meanwhile mash the cooked sweet potatoes with 1/4 C Parmesan Cheese. 

Pour vegetables and gravy into a deep pie dish or 8x8 pan. Spread potatoes over top of vegetable mixture and top with remaining Parmesan cheese and bake for 20 minutes.  

Harvest Time Apple Butter Bars

Fall is my favorite time of year. The rich smell of baked apples, pumpkin, cinnamon and cloves permeates the air. Every few years our apple trees go crazy and I'm trying to find new ways to use them. In 2011 I made cases of apple butter, apple sauce, apple juice and over 5 gallons of hard cider along with countless pies, granolas and bags of dried apples. I realized I still have a case of apple butter in the back of our pantry so I better use it up before the madness begins again. If you have never had spiced apple butter, I'm sorry and I will post my super easy crockpot apple butter recipe shortly!  If you don't happen to have any spiced apple butter you can certainly make this with applesauce using the changes I noted in the recipe. I'm making these as an easy breakfast for a picky toddler, so I didn't want something loaded with sugar but you could up the sweetness to your tastes.

2 C. Old Fashioned Oats

1 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 C. Spiced Apple Butter

     Or 1 C Apple Sauce and increase spices to 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves. Add 2 Tbs Honey

1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

1/8 tsp Cloves

2 TBS Oil

1 Egg

1 C. Milk (I use almond)

1 C. Raisins

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 pan, set aside. In a large bowl combine oats, flour and baking powder. Add apple butter, spices, oil, egg and milk. Stir until just combined.

Stir in raisins.

Spread mixture into prepared 8x8 pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes

Stevia Sweetened Pumpkin Bread

The other day I received a call from a customer asking how she should bake a pumpkin bread with stevia. I was embarrassed that I could not give her a good answer. After a few failed attempts to make a sugar free black bean brownie I had given up on baking with stevia. After a little digging online I found a good looking conversion method for stevia which I shared with her. She was afraid to make something that wouldn’t turn out so she scrapped the idea. In my typical fashion I announced to my husband the next morning (he was barely awake) that after laying awake I had decided “ Today I will make a stevia sweetened pumpkin bread!” Those of you familiar with stevia know it can have an after taste. This bread does seem to lose it a bit overnight, so it is better the next day. I think the texture and taste of this bread out weigh the stevia taste and kept me coming back for more.

Stevia Sweetened Pumpkin Bread
Makes 6 Mini Loaves or 2 9x3 loaves

15 oz Canned Pumpkin
1 C Unsweetened Applesauce
1 1/2 TBS Liquid Stevia (I used Caramel Flavored for something fun)
1/2 C Sunflower Oil
4 Eggs
2/3 C Almond Milk
3 1/2 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
or 1 tsp cinnamon, t tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves 1/4 tsp ginger

Preheat Oven to 350. Grease loaf pans, set aside. In a large bowl mix together pumpkin, applesauce, stevia, oil, and eggs. Next mix milk into pumpkin mixture. In a separate smaller bowl mix together flour, baking soda and spices. Add dry mixture to wet and stir until just combined. Divide batter evenly into pans.

(My Little Helper)
Bake small loaves for 30 minutes and large loaves 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

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