Millet and Miso vegetable soup

I found this recipe in Janella’s Super Natural Foods by Janella Purcell. I like miso but have never cooked with millet, so I thought ‘why not try something new?’.  I had to do a bit of a search for it in the shops. Although we are seeing quinoa in the supermarkets these days, millet has not appeared yet. I ended up getting a bag of it from a health food shop.

I mostly stuck to the recipe but I did double the amounts, as I wanted more than 2 serves the original made.  You can use any type of miso and either paste or powder form is okay.   The other change I made was cooking it for a bit longer, so the vegetables not as firm. You can play around with the times,  as you wish, but perhaps stick to  10 minutes for the millet.

What you will need:

4 cups of finely chopped vegetables ( such as spinach leaves, Zucchini, bokchoy, snow peas, carrots)

2 cups miso

1/3 cup millet

1 litre vegetable stock

You can also add 1 tsp of any seaweed  or 2 tsp grated ginger to the stock, if you like.

Method:

Bring the stock to simmer over medium heat in a pot.

Rinse the millet and add to the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the miso and cook for another 5 minutes.

Turn off heat and let stand with lid on pot, for about 10 minutes before serving.

Cauliflower Bites

I found this recipe on potatostrong.com but have tweaked it to suit me. Basically, I have simplified it because I am lazy. To get the original recipe, see the website.  I liked the results I got with the pared down version, but I suspect the original gives you an even better end result.

What you will need:

1 head of cauliflower

1 cup pf flour (I used chickpea to keep it gluten free)

1 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice milk)

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used gluten free ones)

Spices (you can use onion or garlic powder, nutritional yeast, etc)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 235 degrees Celsius. Wash and cut cauliflower into florets. Mix the flour, non-dairy milk and spices and whisk to combine. Put florets into this mixture and mix to coat. Then dip each floret into a bowl of the breadcrumbs and lay onto baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake until crispy and browned – approx. 20 minutes.

Serve as is or you can serve with bbq or chili sauce to dip florets into. 

Hearty Brown Stew

Another oddly titled recipe from the McDougalls. It is simple, low fat and tasty. No exotic or hard to find ingredients.  The original recipe calls for ¼ cup tomato juice but I just threw in a chopped up tomato instead and that worked fine. Oh, and pardon my crappy photo of the end product. It tastes better than it looks. Honest!

What you will need:

1 onion, sliced (optional)

2 stalks celery, thickly sliced

2 carrots, thickly sliced

3 potatoes, cut into chunks

1 green bell capsicum, cut into strips (optional)

250g mushrooms, quartered

1 tomato, chopped

2 cloves of garlic (optional)

2 tbsp low sodium soy or tamari sauce

½ tbsp fresh grated ginger

½ tsp fried marjoram

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp paprika

3 tbsp cornstarch, mixed with ½ cup cold water

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except for the cornstarch mixture, in a large pot. Bring to boil and then lower heat. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened. Serve.

Beans and Things

This is an oddly titled recipe but not an oddly tasting meal. Easy, filling, tasty and low fat – like most of the McDougall recipes I have tried out so far. I like the inclusion of molasses in this. I am pretty new to this ingredient. It is rich in iron and gives this dish a full body flavour.  You can find top grade, organic molasses in health food shops.  I used Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses. 

What you will need:

2 cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Small broccoli, chopped

Half cauliflower, chopped

1 onion, chopped (optional)

1 stick celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

2 tbsp soy or tamari sauce

1 ½ tbsp molasses

Dash or two of paprika

Dash cayenne pepper

Few fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Method:

Combine the beans and vegetables in a large bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and then pour over the vegetables. Mix well and pour into a covered casserole dish. Bake for 1 hour. Serve as is or spoon into tortillas. Easy!

Cauliflower and Potato Curry

Another low fat recipe I found in The New McDougall Cookbook by John and Mary McDougall. I have been concentrating on low fat recipes lately. My interested started purely for weight loss issues but then in December I had to have my gallbladder removed. Once that happened, I had even more incentive to cut back on my fat intake. So here I am, learning how to cook and eat without the use of vegetable oils. I have found that it hasn’t been all that hard, once you learn a few techniques and substitutions. Oh, and the food still tastes good!

I am sharing this recipe because I loved it!  So full of flavour and very filling! Just serve over a bed of steamed brown rice.

What you will need:

1 large onion, chopped (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

¼ cup water

1 tbsp cumin

Dash or two chili powder

1-2 tsp curry powder

4 cups vegetable stock

1 cup brown lentils

1 can crushed tomatoes

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 cups cauliflower florets

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen peas

¼ cup chopped fresh coriander

Method:

Place the onion and garlic in a large pot with water and cook, stirring, for a few minutes. Add spices and stir. Add vegetable stock and lentils. Mix and bring to boil and then reduce heat, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.

Add tomatoes, potatoes, cauliflower, and carrot. Cook for 30 minutes. Stir in peas and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in coriander.

Golden Spicy Cauliflower

A quick and easy low fat recipe that I found in The New McDougall Cookbook by Dr. John McDougall. I like this served on top of steamed brown rice. The original recipe calls for the use of 2 tbsp of rice vinegar but I found this to be too much, so I suggest halving that amount, unless of course, you really like the sharp, vinegary taste of foods.

What you will need:

1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets

2 cloves of garlic, pressed (optional)

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1 cup water

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch spring onions, chopped (optional)

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

½ tsp ground turmeric

Method:

Place the cauliflower, ginger and garlic (if using) in a saucepan with ½ cup of water. Cook, stirring now and then, for approx. 10 minutes. Add another ½ cup of water and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the cauliflower is tender. (Usually 10 more minutes.) Stir occasionally while it is cooking, to prevent sticking. 

Broccoli Pasta Soup

You can’t get much easier than this for a quick, low fat meal. I found this one in The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less by John and Mary McDougall. This is a nifty little recipe for throwing together something for dinner after you get home, too tired from a day’s work to cook something too involved.

What you will need:

8 cups vegetable broth (I use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon powder. I have found it in several healthfood shops. )

4 cups broccoli cut into florets (about 1 medium to large head of broccoli)

250g (approx.) uncooked pasta (I like to use Orgran Vegetable Rice Pasta which you can find in health food shops and supermarkets, in their healthfoods section)

1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce (optional, as it depends on how salty your stock is)

Dash or two of Tabasco sauce

Method:

Place the broth in a large pot and bring to boil. Add the pasta and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until almost done. Add the remaining ingredients, stir and turn off heat. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Serve with bread. I like having this with plain toast - gluten free, of course!