Happy Exam Week!
With summer just around the corner, this final post of the semester will kick it off with a few awesome, sustainable recipes that will keep you cool and and keep you fueled during the dog days. Since The Sustainable Hidden Menu pauses its post during the off-school season, we also have provided links to some great blogs that you can follow through the summer!
Recipes
Watermelon Slushie*
This first recipe is a personal favorite because of how easy, delicious, and perfect for summer it is.
All you need is:
- Quarter, half, or whole watermelon (depending on the quantity you want to make)
- A blender
- Optional: Lime juice, Mint leaves
Directions:
- Cut watermelon away from rind and into cubes.
- Place in blender with lime and mint
- Blend
- Enjoy!
*Best served cold
Chick Pea Salad Lettuce Wraps
This recipe is great for those who aren't huge fans of salad. These lettuce wraps are a creative way to eat salad, without feeling like you're eating a salad!
You'll need:
- 1 Can reduced sodium or sodium free chick peas, drained and rinsed
- 1 Ripe avocado
- 2 Stalks of celery, finely chopped
- 2 Green onions, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemoon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 Boston lettuce leaves
- Alfalfa sprouts
- Sliced peppers
- Sliced tomatoes
- Cucumbers, sliced lengthwise
Directions:
- Mash chickpeas in a medium bowl until half-mashed
- Add in avocado and mash until well-mixed, leave some chunks of chick peas for texture
- Add celery, onions, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and stir
- Divide chickpea salad between lettuce wraps
- Layer on sprouts, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers
- Enjoy!
Makes four wraps.
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Vegan BBQ!
Believe it or not, there are endless ways you can have a plant-based barbecue with the same flavors and comfort that comes with traditional barbecue. A few ideas are listed below!
Maple-Smoked Baked Beans
This baked beans recipe by Deliciously Ella but featured in The Telegraph is sweet, spicy, and vegan. It is a prefect side dish for your barbecue but is delicious on its own as well!
You'll need:
You'll need:
- A good glug of olive oil
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 Cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 Tsp smoked paprika
- 1 Fresh red chilli, sliced into rings, seeds removed
- 1 Red pepper, roughly chopped and seeds removed
- 1 Tin (400g) tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp tomato purée
- 1 Tin (400g) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 Tin (400g) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- Salt and pepper
- 1 Head of corn on the cob
- Generous handful of coriander for sprinkling
- Optional: 2 tbsp coconut yogurt; gluten-free corn tacos, to serve
Directions:
- Pour a good glug of olive oil into a big saucepan and set it on a medium heat. Put in the bay leaf, garlic, paprika and chilli and let them cook slowly, keeping them moving so that the garlic slices start to go transparent.
- Add in the chopped pepper and let it soften. You can add a little water at this point if needed.
- Once the pepper is soft (about five minutes), add the tinned tomatoes, purée, cannellini and black beans, maple syrup, salt and black pepper and simmer, making sure it doesn’t boil.
- While the beans are simmering, put a griddle pan on the heat and get it nice and hot before placing the corn cob on it. Your aim is to blacken some of the kernels, so let the cob rest for about a minute on one side before you roll it on to another side – making sure you use some tongs, not fingers! Keep doing this until the corn cob is a nice mixture of black and yellow, then remove it and let it cool.
- Stand the cob up. Run a sharp knife down the side of the corn, cutting off the charred kernels. Do this all the way around the cob, then discard the middle.
- Once everything has cooked, discard the bay leaf, then sprinkle the corn and chopped coriander on top of the beans to serve.
- Enjoy!
Mushroom Burgers
According to blog, The Crunchy Chronicles, these burgers have a deep flavor, mimicking the "meatiness" of a traditional burger.
You'll need:
According to blog, The Crunchy Chronicles, these burgers have a deep flavor, mimicking the "meatiness" of a traditional burger.
You'll need:
- 3 Tbsp ground flax seeds
- 5 Tbsp water
- 1 1/2 Cups canned chickpeas, drained
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 Clove of garlic, minced
- 1/2 Cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1/2 Cup rolled oats, ground to oat flour
- 6 Mushrooms, cut into small pieces
- 1 Cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 Tsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp paprika powder
- 1 Tbsp oregano
- 1 Tbsp basil
- 1/2 Cup rolled oats
- Salt, to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
For the burger:
- 4 Whole wheat buns
- 2 Tomatoes
- 1 Red onion, cut into rings
- 4 Tbsp condiments
- Lettuce
Instructions:
- Combine the ground flax seeds with the water and put aside to soak. In a large bowl, mash the chickpeas with a fork, leaving some chickpeas intact for texture.
- Put 1/2 cup of rolled oats into a blender or food processor and ground into a fine powder of flour by pulsing several times.
- In a small pan, heat some oil and sauté the onions and the garlic for about 3 minutes. Together with the remaining ingredients, add them to the chickpeas and mix well. Form four large burger patties (or 6 smaller ones).
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and put the burger patties on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 °F. Flip them after the first 15 minutes.
- Cut the whole wheat buns in halves and cover both halves with condiment of choice. Serve the mushrooms burgers with tomatoes, lettuce, and red onions.
- Enjoy!
Makes 4 burgers.
Recipe from: http://veganheaven.org/recipe/vegan-mushroom-burger/
Grilled Cilantro Lime Corn on the Cob
Who doesn't love grilled corn? This recipe is a delicious way to serve grilled corn, drizzled with a creamy and savory sauce, that isn't butter.
For the sauce, you'll need:
- ½ Cup Raw Cashews
- ½ Cup Water
- Small handful of Cilantro (about ¼ Cup lightly packed)
- ¼ Cup Lime Juice (about 2 limes)
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- A couple Grinds of Pepper
- ¼ Cup Nutritional Yeast
- 8 Cobs of corn
- Another small handful of Cilantro
- Chili powder for garnish
Directions:
- To make the sauce: Add everything to a high speed blender, and blend until smooth and creamy.
- If you don't have a high speed blender, soak cashews overnight or boil for 10 minutes until soft. Drain before using, and use ¼ Cup + 1 Tablespoon Water (instead of the full ½ cup of water).
- To make the corn: Peel the husks off of the corn and discard. Roughly chop the cilantro and set aside.
- To grill the corn: rotating as they are cooking until you see some char marks, and the corn has gone from a pale yellow to a richer, darker, yellow. About 10 minutes.
- To boil the corn: Fill a pot that is large enough to hold all of your corn cobs with water, leaving room for the corn, and bring to a boil. When the water has reach a rolling boil, carefully put the corn cobs into the water, and boil for about 7 minutes until the corn has gone from a pale yellow, to darker yellow. Remove from water.
- To serve the corn: drizzle the sauce over the corn. Messy drizzles look pretty. Garnish with the cilantro, and sprinkle some chili powder across the top. Serve right away with napkins!
- Enjoy!
Tempeh and Pineapple Kebabs with Peanut Satay Sauce
These savory and sweet vegan kebabs are a delicious and colorful addition to your BBQ! For readers that are unfamiliar with Tempeh, it is a healthier and heartier alternative to tofu! It is made of naturally fermented soy beans and is used as a filling and satisfying plant-based protein. This recipe is a great way to introduce tempeh into your diet.
Before getting into the recipes, here are some tips and tricks for preparing tempeh:
Makes 2 skewers.
These savory and sweet vegan kebabs are a delicious and colorful addition to your BBQ! For readers that are unfamiliar with Tempeh, it is a healthier and heartier alternative to tofu! It is made of naturally fermented soy beans and is used as a filling and satisfying plant-based protein. This recipe is a great way to introduce tempeh into your diet.
Before getting into the recipes, here are some tips and tricks for preparing tempeh:
- The secret to preparing tempeh is steaming, or pre-cooking tempeh in tamari water, which adds moisture and flavor. I call it “plumping.”
- As soon as I get home from the store I pop my tempeh package in the freezer. When we want to make something with tempeh—it’s an easy 10 minutes to plump.
- If the tempeh is not frozen, plumping takes about 5 minutes. If the tempeh is frozen, to thaw and plump takes about 10 minutes.
- They make and sell original tempeh or multigrain tempeh. The multigrain ferments soybeans into cakes along with rice, millet, sunflower and sesame seeds.
For the sauce, you'll need:
- 1/2 Cup olive oil
- 1/2 Cup peanut butter
- 1 Cup light coconut milk (see note)
- 2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 2 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tsp grated ginger
- ¼ Tsp red pepper flakes
- Salt, as needed
For the kebabs:
- 8 Ounces tempeh, original or multigrain
- 2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
- 1 Fresh pineapple (see note)
- 1 Red onion
- Olive oil
- 12-Inch skewers, metal or wooden, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Directions:
- To make the sauce: blend olive oil, peanut butter, coconut milk, tamari, apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in the blender, until the sauce is smooth
- Taste
- Pour into a bowl Place the tempeh in a saucepan with just enough water to cover. Add the tamari soy sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook 5 to 10 minutes, turning the tempeh over once. The tempeh will plump up with moisture.
- Remove the tempeh from the water. Drain and cut into 24 (1-inch cubes.)
- Toss the tempeh into the peanut sauce. Let marinate while you prepare the pineapple and onion.
- Slice off the top and bottom of the pineapple. Cut in half crosswise.
- Slice off the skin, following the curve of the pineapple, cutting deep enough so most of the “eyes” are trimmed away. With a paring knife or the tip of a vegetable peeler, pick out any “eyes” still poking out from the fruit.
- Cut one half of the pineapple into 1-inch rings. Slice off and discard the core.
- Cut 1-inch pieces of the fruit, not much bigger than the cubes of tempeh.
- Peel the onion. Cut about the onion into 1-inch wedges, separating the layers.
- Heat the grill to medium-high. Thread the skewers, alternating onion, pineapple and tempeh, beginning and ending with an onion slice.
- Pour satay sauce over the kebabs. Grill the kebabs 18 to 20 minutes. Turn them occasionally, brushing with peanut sauce several times, as needed. There should be dark grill marks on the pineapple and tempeh.
- Serve hot with steamed brown rise or quinoa and plenty of peanut satay sauce.
- Enjoy!
Notes:
- The ingredient list calls for a whole pineapple, but you will only need half. Eat the extra fruit or double the rest of the ingredients to make more kebabs!
- For easy handling, leave about two inches of room on either end of each skewer.
Tempeh tips and recipe from: http://www.lettyskitchen.com/tempeh-pineapple-kebabs-peanut-satay-sauce-vegan-gluten-free/
Here are some awesome vegan and environmentally friendly blogs where you can find recipes and other great posts over the summer and after!
I hope you enjoyed the Sustainable Hidden Blog posts this semester and you all have a great summer!
Please feel free to share your own creations and provide feedback or your thoughts by commenting on this post or contacting realfoodgreenfellows@gmail.com.
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Blogs!Here are some awesome vegan and environmentally friendly blogs where you can find recipes and other great posts over the summer and after!
- Deliciously Ella https://deliciouslyella.com/
- Oh She Glows http://ohsheglows.com/
- Chocolate Covered Katie http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/
- This Rawsome Vegan Life http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/
- Thug Kitchen (also check out their cookbooks!) http://www.thugkitchen.com/
I hope you enjoyed the Sustainable Hidden Blog posts this semester and you all have a great summer!
Please feel free to share your own creations and provide feedback or your thoughts by commenting on this post or contacting realfoodgreenfellows@gmail.com.
Thank you!
