Mango BBQ Beans with Mashed Yucca with Cilantro and Lime

Now that the winter months are approaching and the weather is cooling down here in Florida I've been enjoying lots of soups, chili recipes and...Mango BBQ Beans!  Yes, it's another delicious and simple recipe from Appetite for Reduction and if you have never tried Yucca, this is your chance.  Be brave, it's not much different from potatoes other than it has roots through the center that you will want to remove after you cook them :)

Mango BBQ Beans

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil (I used vegan broth)
1 onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 mango, seeded and chopped small
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 tspred pepper flakes, or 1/4 tsp if you want less spicy
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1 (25 oz) can kidney beans
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 to 3 tsp agave nectar

Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil (or broth) with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until translucent.
   Add the mango, tomato sauce, broth, red pepper flakes, coriander, salt and kidney beans. Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pot, leaving a little room for steam to excape and let cook for about 45 minutes, stirring often. The sauce should thincken and the mangoes should cook down a great deal.
   Turn off the heat, mix the agave and liquid smoke, and let the beans sit for about 5 minutes. Taste for sweetness and add more agave if needed. Adjust the salt and seasonings and serve.


Mashed Yucca with Cilantro & Lime

Ingredients
2 pounds yucca peeled and chopped into 2-inch chunks
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt, plus extra for salting the yucca water

Place the yucca in a pot and cover with water until submerged. Add a big pinch of salt, cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until very, very tender. Turn off the heat.
  Reserve about a cup of the hot water by carefully dipping a heatproof mug into the pot. Don't burn yourself, please. Drain the yucca, then return it to the pot. Add the lime juice, cilantro, oil and salt. Mash well with a potato masher. Stream in the reserved hot water little by little, mashing as you go along. You may need up to 1/2 cup. Mash the yucca until nice and creamy and serve immediately.

Photos from last week's GF Meal Plan

For those of you who don't follow me on FaceBook, I posted several photos from the kitchen using my iPhone.  They aren't the sharpest photos but here's what some of the meals from my Gluten Free Vegan meal plan looked like...

Quinoa Mango Black Bean Salad

Pasta Trattoria

Broccoli Curry Udon

40% off my favorite Vegan Cookbooks!

Amazon has just lowered the prices on two of my favorite Vegan Cookbooks!  If you can only get one, get this one!  Appetite for Reduction is an amazing collection of low fat plant strong vegan recipes that you can wow your family and friends with.  I use the recipes from this book along with Joel Fuhrman's "Eat for Health" in my cooking demos at the Florida School of Holistic Living.  Recipes in Appetite for Reduction include Silky Chickpea Gravy, Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples, Chipotle Lentil Burger, 2nd Ave Vegetable Korma, Quinoa, White Bean & Kale Stew.

Veganomnicon is another favorite cookbook, though I tend to alter the recipes more to make them low fat.  It is still an innovative book of vegan recipes that you will want to have in your cookbook collection. Some of the recipes include Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango, Miso Tahini Dressing, Chickpea Cutlets, Spicy Peanut and Eggplant Soup, Pumpkin Saag, Spaghetti and Beanballs.

Kale Recipe #2: Gluten Free Pasta e Fagioli with Kale

As promised, here is this week's kale recipe!  That's 2 down, only 50 more to go for this year!  Tonight, like most nights, my 8 year old helped me with cooking.  Here she is adding the kale to the soup base, which is Roma tomatoes.  This recipe is from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Moscowitz.  The original recipe calls for spinach, but I thought kale seemed like a better addition, well since I'm on a mission and all!

So here's the recipe:

6 cloves of garlic minced

2 pounds of plum tomatoes, chopped roughly

1/4 cup water with 1/8 of a Rapunzel No Salt Broth Cube

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

A few pinches of ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt (normally I would use 2 tbsp Vegizest Salt Substitute, but I'm out!)

1 can navy beans unsalted

8 oz Tinkyada Brown Rice Shells

1 pound kale washed, stems removed and torn into bite size pieces

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot saute the garlic in 2 tsp water for one minute. Add the tomatoes, broth, oregano, and salt or salt substitute.  Bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the beans and lower heat to medium. Cook until tomatoes are broken down and the sauce is reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, add the pasta to boiling water and cook according to the package directions. Once the sauce is thickened, simmer over low heat to keep warm and add kale in batches until wilted.

Drain the pasta. In a bowl, alternate adding batches of pasta and beans to the sauce, stirring with a pasta spoon to incorporate. Mix well and serve. It should look something like this...

Estimated Eat for Health MANDI Score per serving: 14.1
10 for the Kale
1.4 for the Roma Tomatoes
1.5 for the Beans
1.2 for the Brown Rice Pasta

COST: Not counting spices, the total cost of the meal was $10.68!
Kale was BOGO at Publix last week (using the Greenwise ad from the internet and getting my store manager's approval), so cost was $1.50 for the pound. The beans were Eden Organic and I got them for $1.90 with a coupon. The Tinkyada was not on sale, it was $4.29.  Organic Roma Tomatoes were $2.99/lb.   And there was plenty leftover for lunch tomorrow for at least 3 extra servings!

Kale Recipe #1: Curried Chickpeas and Greens

The Kale dish I prepared on New Year's Day was from the new book Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes
by Isa Moscowitz. It's called Curried Chickpeas and Greens. This is actually a popular indian dish made much healthier than what you can get in a restaurant.  I made some modifications including halfing the ingredients to make a smaller amount.  This recipe, when served with rice, makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbspns minced fresh ginger
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 12 oz can Muir Glen diced tomatoes (no salt added)
2 bunches of Organic Green Kale (1 pound) stems removed
1 12 oz can Eden Organic chickpeas

Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium heat.  Add the mustard seeds and cover.  Let the seeds pop for one minute, or until poping slows down, stirring once. 

Quarter the onion and place in a blender with garlic, ginger and half of canned tomatoes.  Blend until well shredded but not pureed!  Pour into the pot. Sautee until the onions look translucent.  Add the curry, cumin, coriander, garam masala and salt.  Mix well.

Add the remaining tomatoes and torn pieces of kale into the blender.  Blend until well chopped (you should be able to see stems) but again, not pureed.  If you have a Vitamix you will need to use the tamper to push the kale down toward the blade.  Add to the pot and stir until kale looks completely cooked.  It should take around 7 minutes.

Add chickpeas and cook for another 5 minutes.  I served it with Organic Sushi Rice.  Sushi Rice has 1 gram of fiber per serving, which is better than no fiber in normal white rice. You could also serve this with brown rice.

Eat for Health Friendly?
Absolutely! This is a great Phase II meal. It definitely helps meet performance goals of getting 1 pound of nutrient dense veggies and 1 cup of beans daily. Of course when you break it down per serving you are getting closer to 1/4 pound of veggies and 1/4 cup beans, but still a good amount. If you add a large salad of mixed greens and raw veggies you are really boosting the MANDI score for this meal.

Affordable?  You bet!  $6.00 for the meal or $1 per serving!
Kale was BOGO at Publix (using the Greenwise ad from the internet and getting my store manager's approval), so I got two bundles for $2.99. The beans were Eden Organic and I got them for $1.90 with a coupon. I used Lundberg Organic White Sushi Rice to go with it. The Sushi Rice was on sale at Whole Foods 2 bages for $6. I had $1 off coupons for each bag plus I ordered a case so I got an additional 10% off. This made the per bag cost about $1.75 per bag.