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Vegan Recipes
for Special Occasions

Cremini Mushroom Quiche
Cremini Mushroom and Onion Quiche
Bean Burgers
Bean Burgers
Tomato Rice Tart
Tomato Rice Tart
Black Bean and Fennel Salad
Fennel and Black Bean Salad
Crazy Vegan Black Bean Pizza
Crazy Vegan Black Bean Pizza
Garlic Lover's Tomato Penne
Garlic Lover's Tomato Penne
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Vegan Pot Pie
Vegan Pot Pie
Orange Ginger Duck
Orange Ginger Duck
Savory Roasted Potatoes
Savory Roasted Potatoes
Spicy Roasted Portabellas
Spicy Roasted Portabellas
Butter Roasted Asparagus
Butter Roasted Asparagus
Veggie Chicken with Tomato Cream Sauce
Veggie Chicken with Tomato Cream Sauce
Mediterranean Red Lentil Soup
Mediterranean Red Lentil Soup
Vegan Pasta with Cheezy Tomato Sauce
Vegan Pasta with Cheezy Tomato Sauce

Rustic Rice Dish

Rustic Rice Dish

Here is a delicious recipe that makes a very healthy family dinner, but it could also be part of a larger menu for entertaining. I call it rustic because brown rice and chickpeas are an inexpensive but nutritious way to get protein. With the addition of fresh ripe tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and spinach you have a meal reminiscent of old rural cooking.

The onions are caramelized first with the mushrooms and soy sauce. Then tomato wedges are added with a splash of port wine and cooked down until they make a sweet sauce. This is further reduced so that it adds a thick flavourful coating to the rice.

Rustic Rice Dish

When the rice and chickpeas are added to the thickened sauce and stir-fried for a few minutes, the sauce caramelizes and sweetens even more. The last step is to add fresh spinach and let it wilt into the mixture.

This dish proves my point that having pre-cooked rice and legumes stored in the freezer is a great way you can help your family stick to healthy meals and resist the temptation to spend money eating junky fast food. You will be happy you took the time to do it when you realize how much easier a meal comes together.

I usually have rice, chickpeas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans, and at least one batch of soup on hand. And while I love zapping myself a bowl of homemade soup for lunch most days, once in a while I use a container of it to make a very quick and tasty gravy, by adding a few more spices and thickening it with a mixture of flour and cornstarch.

To me there is something so comforting about a plate of creamy mashed potatoes smothered with a protein, fiber, and vitamin rich gravy, which I make with my Cream of Broccoli Soup. You can see the thumbnail to the left of this paragraph. It is really worth taking a day a week to make a few of these items to freeze.

By the way, if you are into making your own pastry there is nothing better for making it tender than a stay in the freezer. Leave it on the counter to thaw for a couple of hours and you can throw a homemade pie together quicker than you think. Your company will be impressed!

But I'm beginning to digress, so let's get back to the Rustic Rice Dish.

The Ingredients

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Sautee the onions and mushrooms with the soy sauce for about five minutes, or until they are soft.

Add the tomatoes, port, basil, and oregano. Simmer stirring frequently until the tomatoes break up into a sauce. Continue to cook for another five minutes to allow the sauce to reduce by half.

When the tomato sauce has thickened, add the rice, chickpeas, cayenne pepper, nutritional yeast, salt, and black pepper. Cook on medium high heat stirring constantly to further caramelize the sauce together with the rice, for five minutes.

Add your washed spinach and stir together with the rice mixture. When the spinach is wilted remove your pan from the heat. Do not overcook the spinach.

If you are serving this to company you will want it to look especially charming. Place it in a classy, or rustic wooden serving bowl. Drizzle the top with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of dried basil and some nutritional yeast powder which adds a nice yellow colour and a texture that looks like parmesan cheese and tastes similar. It shows up very nicely against the green of the spinach.

To make it even more interesting you could also sprinkle it with a tablespoon of toasted pine nuts.

Rustic Rice Dish

As a main course this serves four people. It would go very well with a nice green salad that has a sweet balsamic dressing and a baguette with vegan butter.

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Ping

A beautiful young woman recovering from a terrible plague fears she is the only person left alive on earth.

Stranded alone until spring with no means of communication, she begins to believe a child is contacting her telepathically.

In a traumatic search to find him she runs into an attractive man with a dark and secretive past.

Swayed by his insistence that her telepathy is imagined and that they must begin to repopulate the earth immediately, Kate is torn between Jack and her gut feeling the voices are real.

The second book in the series is now available.

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The few survivors—preoccupied with their struggles to raise healthy children and preserve what they can of civilization—are unaware that eight-year-old Travis has a dangerous plan that will ultimately change their world in ways they could never have imagined.

About Me

About Me

Vegan Apple Crisp
Vegan Apple Crisp
Valentine Cake
Valentine Cake
Chocolate Nanaimo Bars
Chocolate Nanaimo Bars
Chocolate Coconut Balls
Chocolate Coconut Balls
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Easy Whole Wheat Pancakes
Easy Whole Wheat Pancakes
Vegan Recipes for Special Occasions Ebook