Since I had quite a few peppers on hand in the frig, I decided to stuff them. Cook up some rice or quinoa and add what you have in the frig. In my case, it was mushrooms, swiss chard and sun dried tomatoes... Don't be afraid to experiment. As a side, I cooked up the rest of the swiss chard with a yam that I also had on hand for this recipe. Voila... dinner is served. Plant-based ingredients: yams, swiss chard, peppers, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes. It looks colorful, too...

Ingredients:
Serves 4-6
1 1/2 cup cooked rice
3 red peppers, cut in half lenghwise and seeds removed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 oz. mushroom, sliced
8 sun dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water and roughly chopped
2-3 large leaves swiss chard, roughly chopped
1-2 cup spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce
1/3 cup finely chopped raw cashews

Method:
1. Parboil the peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain. *Tip: you can skip this step, but it'll take twice the time to cook in the oven. Allow 40 minutes if you skip this.
2. Saute the onions in a large sauté pan with a little water. Add garlic and mushrooms and continue to cook until they're almost done. Add the chard and cook until wilted. Add the sun dried tomatoes, the sauce and 1 1/2 cups rice. Stir to combine.
3. Fill the peppers "cups" until full and top with chopped cashes.
4. Cook covered with foil for 20-25 minutes until heated through. Remove foil and brown cashews for another 5-10 minutes.

You may have already heard about this incredible vegan lasagna that Rip Esselstyn offers over at Engine2diet.com. He is most definitely plant-based! This lasagna is worth the effort. I prepared it for Father's Day for our meat eating friends and everybody loved it. I doubled the recipe to make one for the freezer. It's filling and you don't miss the cheese. I did adjust it a little by leaving out the corn, carrots, and the red pepper. There's still plenty of plant-based goodness.

Sweet Potato Veggie Lasagna

Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
1 small head of garlic, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 head broccoli, chopped
1 package tofu
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. rosemary
2 jars pasta sauce
2 boxes whole grain lasagna noodles
16 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 sweet potatoes (or yams), cooked and mashed *
6 roma tomatoes, sliced thin
1 cup raw cashews, ground
Salt and pepper to taste
* Tip: peel and cut up the potatoes into 1/2" pieces and steam until soft. Use the same pan to steam the broccoli.

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Saute onion and garlic on high heat for 3 minutes in a nonstick pan without oil or water. Add the mushrooms and cook until the onions are limp and the mushrooms give up their liquid. Remove them to a large bowl.
2. Steam the broccoli in the same pan as the potatoes until soft crisp and put into the same bowl as the mushroom mixture.
3. Drain the tofu and break it up with your hands into the vegetable bow. Add the spices to the bowl and combine.
To Assemble: (you'll have 4 layers of noodles)
1. Cover the bottom of a 9 x 10" casserole with a layer of sauce. Add a layer of uncooked noodles. Cover the noodles with sauce. 
2. Spread 1/2 of the vegetable mixture over the sauced noodles and cover with a layer of noodles and another of sauce.
3. Add the rest of the vegetable mixture and top with sauce and another layer of noodles.
4. top the noodles with the mashed yams, and spread the spinach over (using your hands is the easiest). Top with more sauce and a final layer of noodles.
5. Top the noodles with the final layer of sauce and cover with thinly sliced tomatoes. 
6. Cover with foil and bake in the over for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the cashews, and return to the over for 15 minutes. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Here's a really quick way to get a veggie with lots of flavor on the table. Spiked with lemon and a hint of curry, this dish will surely delight your most picky eaters.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, leaves trimmed and broken into bite-sized pieces.
1 small lemon
1/2 tsp curry powder
salt & pepper to taste

Method:
1. Preheat over to 400 degrees F.
2. Place cauliflower in a large baking dish and squeeze lemon over.
3. Sprinkle on the lemon, curry powder, salt and pepper and stir with clean hands.
4. Place, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until tender.

I was inspired to make this delicious quick dinner by a post over at Manifest Vegan. Thank you :) I happened to have tempeh (more info here) on hand so it was perfect. Here's my take.

Ingredients:
8 oz package soy tempeh, crumbled
1 apple diced
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/4 cup mango chutney
2 shakes red pepper (or to your heat level)
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 T. vegan mayonnaise
2 T. lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Method:
1. Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.
2. Serve wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Top with sprouts if you like.

I have a smoothie most days so I decided to post another version. This one has oranges from our garden because it helps thin the smoothie. They are not only so delish, but also have great anti-cancer and healthy heart properties. Read more here... This smoothie also has 3 romaine lettuce leaves. This is a great way to get in your greens. Add almond milk, frozen berries and a little Super Seed and your ready whir.

Ingredients:
Serves 1
1 cup frozen organic berries
1 orange peeled into sections
3 romaine lettuce leaves
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 scoop Super Seed

Method:
1. Put all into blender except the Super Seed.
2. Blend until smooth. Add a little water if too thick.
3. Pour in the Super Seed and whir just a few seconds.

You wouldn't think it, but this combo works! These pancakes were awesome and very easy to prepare. Use your ripe bananas and a little pancake mix and you're almost there. We picked berries from the garden this morning to serve as topping with a little maple syrup. A great Father's Day breakfast!

Ingredients:
2 small zucchini or 1 medium-large, grated
2 eggs
1 1/2 banana
1/2 cup pancake mix or enough to make the mixture not runny
1/4 cup milk alternative like almond milk
1/3 tsp salt

Method:
1. Place grated zucchini into a bowl, add the eggs and beat with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients until you have a pancake batter consistency.
2. Heat griddle and put on a small about of butter to prevent sticking. 
3. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle and cook until just done around the edges.
4. Flip and cook on the other side, making sure not to overcook.
5. Serve with heated maple syrup with chopped up fruit.

This nutritious, delightfully easy to cook grain (which is actually a seed and therefore gluten-free) is a powerhouse of nutrition. It's high in complete protein with all 9 essential amino acids. In addition, it has lysine, magnesium and fiber which lowers risk of type 2 diabetes. I could keep going, but why don't you read more about it here. There are so many ways to prepare this "grain" - add what you have one hand. Here's my take...

Ingredients:
Serves 4-6
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
7-10 olives from your store's olive bar
2 cloves garlic minced
Dressing:
2 T mango chutney
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Method:
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Let cool.
2. Put quinoa in a bowl and add remainder of the ingredients.
3. Mix the dressing in a separate bowl and pour over quinoa.
4. Stir to combine and let sit a few minutes for flavors to blend.

I'm on a roll with snacks and since I only had lima beans in the freezer I thought - why not... So, here I present, Baby Lima Bean Hummus. I'm not sure, but I think lima beans have gotten a bad rap in the past. But, check this out...like other legumes, lima beans are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. According to a Whole Foods post, their high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal, making these beans an especially good choice for individuals with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia. When combined with whole grains such as rice, lima beans provide virtually fat-free high quality protein. See their full goodness here. PS: These could be served warm as a dinner side.

Ingredients:
Make about 2 cups

1 bag of frozen baby lima beans, cooked according to directions
1/2 cup cilantro
2 T. red miso
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 T tahini
2-3 cloves garlic
5 shakes of Tabasco sauce
1/8 cup water as needed


Method:
1. Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process. Stop and scrape down the sides to incorporate all. Add water to thin as needed.
2. Serve with sliced apples, vegetables or whole grain crackers.

Since pears are not always ripe when you purchase them, a great way to serve them is by baking them. Pears are a white food that's actually good for you. High in soluble fiber, just like oats, they help control your cholesterol, too. 

Ingredients:
Serves 2-4
1/4 up white wine
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. vanilla
2-4 firm ripe pears, halved and seeded
1 1/2 T. lemon juice
2 T. sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine wine, cardamom and vanilla in 8" square baking dish. 
2. Place pears cut-side up in baking dish and pour lemon juice over. Sprinkle with sugar.
3. over pan with foil, place on the middle rack in the over, and bake 30 minutes, or until tender.
4. Remove foil; turn over to broil, and but akin pan to top rack. Broil 5 minus, or until lightly browned.
5. Transfer pears to a serving place and drizzle with juice from the pan. 

Almost went out to dinner tonight, but instead used up some tempeh that had been in my fridge for some time. I've been looking over some older Vegetarian Times and this is where this recipe came from, with the addition of asparagus. I served it with quinoa instead of potatoes (March, 2009). Deceptively easy to make with big flavor. "It tastes like it's been simmered for hours instead of just 20 minutes." Find the original recipe here. Serve with baked pears, also from the same magazine.

Ingredients:
Serve 4
1 7-oz pkg. tempeh, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 T. soy sauce
10 oz. cremini mushrooms. sliced
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
2 T. flour
2 1/2 cups lager, such as Samuel Adams
2 T. Dijon mustard
2 green onions, white and free finely sliced

Method:
1. Cook tempeh cubes along with the mushroom for 7-10 minutes, or until browned. Add soy sauce and cook two minutes. Transfer tempeh and mushrooms to plate.
2. Add asparagus along with 1/4 cup water and cover. Cook until crisp tender and remove to plate.
3. Add 2 T. flour to a small container with 2-4 T water, cover and shake. Add to the skillet and stir. Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Increase heat and add beer and mustard, and bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until sauce is thickened. Stir in tempeh, asparagus and mushrooms. 
4. Serve over quinoa, rice or mashed potatoes, sprinkled with green onions.