In a time crunch and want to make the most simple stir fry on the planet?  This is an old recipe left over from my days of following Pauline Nordin's insane Fighter Diet that called for eating like eight pounds of vegetables a day BUT it is actually a tasty vegan stir fry option.  Filling up on veggies does work by the way as far as staying satisfied and also getting your fair share of important greens so in theory the benefits are real. 

So, you take a bag of broccoli slaw (you can use cabbage instead if that is your pref I just prefer the broccoli) and you stir fry it along with any other veggies you might want in about a tablespoon of olive oil, adding your choice of spices.  For mine I added some mushrooms and red peppers and my spices this round were cumin, salt, pepper and I threw in some dried hot pepper seeds. 

Cover and cook until slaw gets soft (you can add a quarter cup of water to help the process), then uncover and stir fry until you like the consistency.  I like mine a little crunchy in spots so I turn the heat down to medium and let it fry, stir, let it fry some more...

Eat over rice or by itself. 

Tonight's awesome vegan meal brought to us by Vegetarian Times and a glass of water - this stuff was spicy! 

I served it with rice.  Sam love it and suggested that next time I add chicken.  Very funny.  LOL. 

It was full of cumin so it had that exotic flavor that I love and the other spices gave it a kick - sort of hot, sort of sweet all in one.  I skipped the spoonful of yogurt because I didn't have any vegan yogurt on hand but it was still amazing....

Good and hearty too.  Just the thing for this cold winter afternoon :)

Two successful recipes for the Outlaw Vegan!  The first one, roasted chickpeas, was given to me by a workmate and is so super simple, meets my five ingredient rule and everything!

Take a can or two of chickpeas, drain liquid and put in a bowl with enough room to stir in:

a Tablespoon of olive oil and whatever spices you want to put on them.  I put hot pepper flakes, curry and garlic.  You can totally change up the flavor to whatever you want.  Look on line and you'll find a ton of different variations and flavor combos to try.  I mixed all my spices in the olive oil first and then drizzled it over the chickpeas, stirred everything together really well and...

Placed on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, take them out, swirl them around and try your best to turn most of them.  Put them back in the oven for another 15 minutes and they are done!

I served these over rice.  IT.WAS.AWESOME.




Next up, I had some mushrooms that needed consumed with love because I hate wasting stuff.  I have committed to doing some cooking because Sam is really, really busy with his hobby job and because since I have chosen to return to a vegan lifestyle I feel like it is fair that I contribute. 

So, the mushrooms....  I found this wonderful recipe for a mushroom and black bean "chilli" - see link below:


VEGAN CHILLI WITH MUSHROOMS AND BLACKBEANS

This stuff turned out SO good that my regret was I didn't think to make cornbread with it!  LOL.  A great meal for a cold winter weekend. 

My next task is to find something to do with carrots because Sam and I went to the store separately this week and BOTH bought carrots.  LOL.  Communication is key people....  ;)

Sam is a fabulous cook.  He is probably the sole reason that I don't survive on peanut butter crackers alone.  And I have recently made a conscious decision to find my way back into what I call "base eating" (LOL most of the time) so I am helping out in the kitchen and we are finding our way back to fresh food, so plentiful right now with the last harvest.  We fixed this roast a couple of weeks back with mountain beef from our freezer and vegetables exclusively from the market.

Today we started out with pretty much the same veggies as in the picture from a couple weeks ago.  Veggies are SO yummy right now.  The market this weekend was jammed packed.  I should have gotten some pictures but I was too busy being overwhelmed by the smell of fresh vegetables, cheese, homemade bread and some guy playing Johnny Cash and sounding an awful damn lot like him.  LOL I love the market on a Saturday morning.  It is like life should be.  And things are not expensive either.  We got 1/2 dozen corn for $2.50, the potatoes and onions for $1.00 each carton and the carrots I believe were $1.50. 

So, today's dinner is Beef and Beer Casserole.  LOL.  There is more than just beef and beer in it don't worry.  My whole idea for this meal centers around the fact that I have a whole six pack of awful beer in our refrigerator that I bought for a friend who was coming over but then plans got changed so the beer sits.  And sits.  I mean, look he likes it but I wouldn't be caught dead drinking that sh&t so instead of making six loaves of beer bread I was looking for some other recipes to round out the use of an otherwise waste of money.  LOL hey I believe in recycling bad beer, OK?  So, these are tomatoes and spices for the casserole. 

Here is Sam browning the carrots and onions and adding a little flour to thicken everything as he goes.  The beer comes in after this, along with the beef, which you also pre-brown and set aside for the rest of the mixture. 

And then you mix it all together and pop it in the oven for like an hour and a half.  It is sort of like a stew slash casserole.  Very hearty and a super use of all the second harvest veggies that are so tasty right now.  Well, and plus the beer.  ;)