Easy Ethiopian at Home

I made this last week while Jon was out of town.  I read a lot about people not wanting to cook for "just themselves" or why make such a fuss when its "just me".  Just you?!?!  That always blows my mind.  Did you have some sort of early childhood toungue injury so that the vicarious pleasure you get from others enjoying your food actually better than eating the food itself?  I like eating!  And I'm worth all sorts of crazy effort in the kitchen!  And so are you!  However, while you're working through your self-confidence issues, here's an easy recipe you can make:

Easy Ethiopian:

1 package Uptons Seitan Traditional Flavor, Chopped
1 package fresh green beans (about 2 1/2 cups) chopped
3 medium red skinned potatos, scrubbed, quartered, & sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 cup berbere spice mix (already contained salt) (more berbere to taste as needed)
1/4 cup water
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp oil

I sauteed the onion in the oil in the electric pressure cooker on the brown setting for about 10 mins, adding the garlic and berbere at the end and sauteeing for about 2 mins  Then I added the water, green beans,  potatoes, and seitan and set the pressure cooker to 2 minutes.  It was incredibly easy, and quite tasty.

Cheesy Brocolli Soup from 'Easy Vegan Recipes' booklet

I did a tabling* on Saturday, but it was pretty slow, so I started browsing in Compassion Over Killings' Easy Vegan Recipes booklet. Although I was never a fan of cream of brocolli soup, once I saw that recipe in the booklet, I couldn't get the idea out of my head.


See, just like the picture in the booklet!

This is the recipe: Cheesy Broccoli Soup

I halved the broccoli and nutritional yeast, quartered the cashews, used only 1/4tsp + 1/8 tsp salt, only about 2-3 cups vegetable broth, added 1/3 cup chives, only 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and didn't add onion powder or pimentos.

The great thing about this recipe is it really is a snap to make. I placed my cashews in a dish and covered them with water, and microwaved until the water boiled. I then let them sit and soften, and drained them before adding to the food processor. Otherwise, I followed the instructions in the recipe. It really only took me 30 minutes to put together and I'm a slow mover. After finishing making the soup I liked it but I felt like it needed something. Then I left to walk the dog for 30 minutes, and after returning, the soup was perfect! It just needed time for the flavors to set in.

I need to try to control myself and not eat anymore or I won't have anything for lunch tomorrow. I know some people** think cashews are awfully expensive. For those folks its good to know you can halve the cashews in this recipe and still come out with a mighty tasty result.


*this is where you stand at or sit by a table filled with literature and ask folks if they would like some info as they pass by.
**my husband Jon.

Simple Summer Dish

I ate the remainder of last night's dinner out for breakfast, so once lunch rolled around I went to the fridge to see what I could find. I was surprised to discover perfectly good fresh green beans and two bags of tomatoes (one still good!), along with some beet greens. I also noticed the little plastic container with thyme in it was still good, so I had enough to make a dish of some sort.

2 cups sweet orange cherry tomtoes (sliced in half) or some tomato with high sugar content, diced
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 can canary beans or white kidney beans
2 TBS fresh Thyme
1 cup fresh beet greens or spinach
1/2 teaspoon Seitenbacher Veggie Broth Powder
2 cups diced fresh green beans
2 shakes of freshly ground black pepper
a few sprays spray oil
salt to taste, if needed

Firstly I turned the burner on medium low and sprayed with a little oil and waited for it to heat up. Then added the sliced onions and let them cook pretty slowly, I wanted to caramalize them. I let them cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Once they looked brown enough, probably not officially caramalized but good enough, I added the tomatoes and green peppers, added 2 TBS of water, and covered for 15 minutes. Then I realized I should probably add the thyme in there, so I got to removing the thyme leaves from the tough stems. It helps if you grab the stem about 1/2 centimeter from the top, and drag your fingers while pinching downward. Then you can pinch off the top which is soft enough to add to the dish, and discard the woody stem.



Then I added the thyme and vegetable broth powder, stirred and covered for another 5 minutes. Then I added the beet greens and covered for another 3 minutes and then stirred. At this point I stirred uncovered for a bit until the beet greens looked like they were nice and evenly wilty. Then I added black pepper and a drained, rinsed can of canary beans from goya, which come already super salted so I didn't have to add any extra salt to the dish. It came out really nice with a very sweet tomatoey oniony goodness to it. I suppose I should eat this with rice or bread but I'm too lazy to make rice and we're out of bread. Actually, I feel like this would go even better over some soft white rice noodles or something else with the texture of egg noodles.