Day 16

Hey there!

I have been trying so hard to take pictures of some of the things I make.  I believe today is Day 16 as being a vegan, I still feel great and going strong.  I really don't tell alot of people at work I am a vegan, mainly they wont understand, but I have been good, I am very proud of myself for doing this, and I really want to share my recipes with you.  I want people to find turning vegan as easy as I did, see food does not intimidate me, I will try everything and experiment, so maybe this blog will help ease some people into veganism.  I did go out to a vegan/vegetarian restaurant the other day and was blown away by how amazing it was, it was this little hole in the wall, with a max of 13 tables, and the food was out of this world!

  So I am going to tell you at a ratatouille recipe I made with polenta, and I also made kale!  Now I had never tried kale before, and was a little nervous, but I absolutely loved it! ( I put a quick veg stock recipe in)

So let's start with the ratatouille, and for those who don't know what that is here is the definition

Noun "A vegetable dish consisting of onions, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, fried and stewed in oil and sometimes served cold." Now I did not use eggplant in the recipe, because I did not have one, but I recommend you use one, peel first!  The peel of an eggplant is bitter and unappetizing. So here it goes:

2 green peppers. thin sliced 2 red onions, peeled, thin sliced 10 crimini mushrooms, quartered 1 zuchini, sliced down legnthwise then cut into thin sliced

2 red peppers, thin sliced
1 eggplant, peeled. and quartered (make them small. dont want them to be massive and not cook)
1 can sans marzano tomatos
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups red wine (any vegan one will do)
Salt and Pepper to taste (for a kick add anything with heat, I like red pepper flakes in this)

After everything is cut, get a pot hot on the stove on medium- high heat, coat bottom of pan with the vegetable oil and then add green/red peppers, onions, mushrooms, zuchini, eggplant and sautee and cook down for 5 - 10 mins, yoiu want them to be soft.  Add the red wine to the pot and reduce down a little bit, cooking off the alcohol.  Add the sans marzano tomatos, and turn heat down to low-medium and bring up to heat, stirring once in awhile making sure nothing sticks to the pan/burns.  Add salt and pepper to your liking. Serve hot.

                                                      (Just after tomatoes were added!)



That is it! Wicked easy recipe to follow and super quick to make at home, you can serve over pasta or with polenta, which I will tell you how to make next or just by itself, really this dish goes with anything to your liking

So polenta is kinda tricky, you dont wan't it to be grainy.  So when I made I used vegetable stock I made but you can just use water, I am not sure if you can buy vegetable stock, I hope they do.  All it is, is vegetables in a pot of water cook for a an hour or so, any vegetables you want, I usually you the basic carrots onion celery and left over scraps of stuff I am  using, cook for a bit and then just strain, saving all the liquid.  Easy right?

So polenta

4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup coarse grain italian polenta
1 cup chopped herbs ( I used chives, but you can use anything I.E rosemary, thyme etc.)
This recipe should be done a few hours before, so it can set, you re heat the polenta when you make dinner.

Get a pot on the stove on high, add the stock or water and bring to a boil, slowly whisk in 1 cup polenta, turn heat down to medium and cook for 5 - 10 mins (  read directions on your polenta, there are many variations, and could require more or less cooking time, this is just how the polenta I used cooked)

Once done cooking add the herbs, and stir them in.

 Transfer the polenta to a flat sheet pan and let cook, making sure the surface is flat.  I took a piece of parchment paper, and smoothed out the top of it.

Allow to cool.  Once it is done cooling, take a large mug, spray it with pan spray and punch out circles, if polenta gets stuck just take a butter knife and stick inbetween mug and polenta and it should just pop out.

When you are making the ratatouille, heat oven to 450 and spray a pan and put the polenta on it, popping it in the oven to heat up and voila! Its done, super easy to make.

So the other night I made kale and it was super easy

1/2 bunch kale chiffonaded, 

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

To chiffonade means: 

"A preparation of shredded or finely cut leaf vegetables, used as a garnish for soup."

So lay the kale directly on top of each other, and roll up tightly and then thinly slice the rolls.

Get a pot on the stove on medium high heat. Add the oil and then add the kale and cook it down until it softens up a bit, and salt and pepper it to taste, I know its so basic, but the flavor is so good and I have made it three times already!  

That is all for today!  I hope you enjoy!

Namaste,
V