vegan

Double Rainbow Layered Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing

March 22, 2013 by Erica

Double Rainbow Layered Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing

Thank you for all your sweet birthday wishes yesterday! It means so much. I had a great birthday, and I even got to eat one of the cupcakes leftover from yesterday’s blog post. I love it when the leftovers stick around that long!

Sometimes, like yesterday, I like to eat a cupcake… or two. And sometimes, especially after two weeks of experimenting with cupcake recipes, I like to eat a salad.

Then, because I ate a salad, I can totally justify a cupcake. I love the way that works.

So here is this week’s salad, which might be one of my all-time favorites. And that’s a good thing, because I have a lot of cupcakes to ~~make up for~~ earn!

Double Rainbow Layered Salad

This salad is a combination of all my favorite salad-y things. Red cabbage, which is randomly (but truly) one of my favorite foods. Quinoa and spelt, which are not only some more of my favorite foods, but make this salad much heartier than it would otherwise be. And then edamame, carrots, green onions, and pepitas for more protein, sweetness, flavor and crunch. Not to mention the the light and lemony dressing, which adds the perfect zing.

What could be better than all your favorite healthy foods stacked together in a cute and portable jar?

Not much, I’ll tell you that. In fact, when you taste it, you just might start yelling, OH MY GOD, DOUBLE RAINBOW!

Sorry for that reference. I know it’s so 2010. I just couldn’t resist.

This salad makes the absolute best leftovers (as long as you keep the dressing separate), which is key in my life. I’ve been eating it for lunch all week!

Double Rainbow Layered Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing

All the ingredients are very sturdy, which also means the salad is super crunchy. (Spelt and red cabbage will do that.) So I may have even liked it best on day 3 or 4, when it was a bit easier on the jaw. (To make it less crunchy, you can put the red cabbage in a strainer and pour a pot of boiling water over it. This will soften it up a bit, but I didn’t bother.)

Enjoy this salad and have a fantastic weekend!

Double Rainbow Layered Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing

5.0 from 1 reviews

Double Rainbow Layered Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing

Hands-on time

10 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour

Author: Erica

Yields: 5-6 servings

Ingredients

For the salad:

1 cup uncooked spelt berries
1 cup uncooked quinoa
4 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups grated carrot (about 2 large carrots)
2 cups shelled cooked edamame, defrosted if frozen
6 green onions, sliced
½ cup pepitas

For the dressing:

½ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
heaping Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
2-4 Tbsp water
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In separate small pots, bring spelt berries and quinoa to a boil with 1 1/2 cups water each. Simmer until tender but still chewy, 50-60 minutes for the spelt berries and about 15 minutes for the quinoa. Drain excess water and set aside to cool. This can be done ahead of time.
While grains cook, prepare the salad dressing. Blend all ingredients together with an immersion blend (or regular blender).
To assemble salad, layer ingredients in single-serving jars or clear bowls. You can also layer the entire salad in a large clear bowl, or just toss all ingredients together. Serve alongside dressing. Will keep for up to a week in the fridge (with dressing separate).

Notes

Inspired by Oh She Glows.

Coconut Quinoa Banana Bread (Vegan)

February 15, 2013 by Erica

What’s that you say? Quinoa in my banana bread?

I know, it sounds weird.

Actually, I had never heard of quinoa banana bread until a funny thing started happening recently. Remember those funny search terms I posted about earlier in the week? Well, this was one of those! I began noticing that people searching for ‘vegan quinoa banana bread’ were landing on my vegan but non-quinoa banana bread recipe. Whatttt.

Being a search engine marketer, I understand why this is happening. I have a vegan banana bread recipe, and my blog name contains ‘quinoa,’ so Google thinks my site might be relevant. But of course, I don’t have what these people are looking for! And I decided that was wrong of me… even if I’ve never heard of quinoa banana bread. My blog does have quinoa in the title, after all, so I should probably incorporate it into a few more recipes :) Also, I was pretty curious to see how this might turn out! So I ran to the kitchen and whipped up this vegan coconut quinoa banana bread.

Last week, when I posted a beet cake, I told you right up front that you can taste the beets. That was my way of building credibility so that when I say you can’t taste the quinoa in this banana bread, you’ll believe me. Smart, right? But seriously! This banana bread has some great texture from the oats, shredded coconut, and quinoa, but it doesn’t have any odd quinoa flavor, which I personally feel (despite my love of quinoa) would be unwelcome in my banana bread.

This is one dense and chewy banana bread, so be prepared. I love the nutty oats and shredded coconut in here, and the quinoa adds the chewy texture that I would usually add nuts and raisins to get. My favorite way to enjoy it is heated up and spread with coconut butter. Thank you, Google searchers of quinoa banana bread – you’ve turned me on to something great!

In my hunt for the perfect quinoa banana bread recipe, I did come across several that are made with quinoa flour or quinoa flakes. I haven’t tried one of those, because I had quinoa on hand, and was too lazy to go to the store just to buy an obscure ingredient. The Kitchn just posted an ingredient spotlight on quinoa flakes, so I’m curious. Have you ever made anything (especially banana bread) with quinoa flour or flakes? Next time I’m at Whole Foods, I may have to pick some up and develop a different banana bread recipe using one of those!

For now, enjoy this banana bread with coconut and whole quinoa grains. And have a great weekend!

4.7 from 7 reviews

Coconut Quinoa Banana Bread (Vegan)

Hands-on time

25 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

This dense banana bread is flecked with nutty oats and shredded coconut for texture. Cooked quinoa adds chewiness and whole grains. Enjoy it heated up and spread with coconut butter!

Author: Erica

Yields: 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (about 1 1/2 cups cooked)
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats + another small handful for topping
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut + another small handful for topping
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 cup coconut milk

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package directions. (I bring it to a boil with 3/4 cup of water, then simmer for 15 minutes and fluff with a fork, but I know some people prefer to use more water, probably depending on the stove.) Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a loaf pan.
In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Stir in the coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, shredded coconut, flaxseed, and cooked quinoa. Dump into the large bowl of wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the coconut milk.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until top of loaf is golden brown and sides are pulled away from the pan, 45-50 minutes.
Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before serving. Keeps wrapped in tin foil in the fridge for several days.

Taco Tuesday: Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole

January 22, 2013 by Erica

Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole | coffeeandquinoa.com

You know I had to post this on a Tuesday.

Who doesn’t remember Taco Tuesdays from their childhood or, in my case, their college dining hall? Everyone likes tacos, and in college, you could count on that taco bar every Tuesday for lunch. Like clockwork.

So it’s kind of a dilemma when you stop eating meat and dairy and all of a sudden… those ground beef tacos you’ve been eating for years are no longer an option, never mind the cheese and sour cream you used to top them with.

Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole | coffeeandquinoa.com

Grilled veggie tacos are a good option, and I’ll definitely do a post about those when summer vegetables are in season. But what about when you’re in the mood for a gold, old-fashioned, Old El Paso-style taco night? Diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce are just not gonna cut it.

After much experimentation, I discovered that chickpeas are the ideal substitute for beef or chicken when you want to use the same spices and toppings. And they’re still loaded with protein! Even though I’m eating (some) meat again now, I’m sticking with the chickpea tacos. They’re just too good to change!

Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole | coffeeandquinoa.com

These are super easy to make if you’re hosting a taco night and also doing beef or chicken tacos. You make these exactly as you would make the beef or chicken ones, only they don’t take as long. So no extra work for you, and everyone’s happy!

Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole | coffeeandquinoa.com

I do have some words of wisdom for you in regard to these guys, especially if you usually make your tacos with meat:

– When sauteing the chickpeas, you are only trying to heat them through and evaporate some of the liquid from the spice mix. You actually want to avoid getting any color on them, because they get quite dry. So just get ‘em hot and they’re done.

– Top them with something creamy, like guacamole or sour cream. The added moisture works well, and it has the added bonus of keeping the chickpeas in place. Chickpeas are rolly polly little suckers, and they will exit your taco in a hurry. Mash some guacamole down on top of them – problem solved.

I wish all problems could be solved like that.

5.0 from 5 reviews

Taco Tuesday: Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole

Hands-on time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

This vegan taco recipe pleases both meat- and veg-eaters alike. Chickpeas make the ideal substitute for beef or chicken, and use the same taco seasoning.

Author: Erica

Yields: 6 medium-sized tacos

Ingredients

For the tacos:

1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, minced
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 14-oz can, drained and rinsed)

For the taco seasoning (or use 1/2 a packet of your favorite taco seasoning mix):

1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup water

For serving:

6 hard taco shells or medium-sized tortillas
1/2 recipe Simple Guacamole
chopped cilantro
lime wedges

Instructions

First, prepare the guacamole according to these instructions.
In a small bowl, combine all taco seasoning ingredients, including water. The tacos come together quickly, so it's best to have this taken care of first!
In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Once shimmering, add the garlic and onion and saute until onion is soft, 3-4 minutes.
Pour in chickpeas and taco seasoning, and stir to combine. Saute, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas are heated through and some of the water is evaporated, 2-3 minutes.
Serve alongside taco shells, guacamole, cilantro and lime wedges.
Devour!

Notes

Taco seasoning adapted from Budget Bytes.

Chickpea Tacos with Guacamole | coffeeandquinoa.com

Vegan Banana Bread

December 28, 2012 by Erica

Good morning and happy Friday!

As I write this (Thursday evening), I’m making my way back across the country after a wonderful Christmas with my family in Boston. When I’m booking a trip, it’s often tough for me to tell whether I’ll wish I had a longer or shorter time at my destination, but this is definitely a time that I wish I had an extra couple days to spend with everyone after the craziness of the holiday. Of course, everyone else starts heading home tomorrow, so maybe it’s good that I was the first one to leave… before I get bored or anything, you know :)

But instead of lounging around eating Mom’s cooking in their (newly redecorated and beautiful!) house, I’ll be headed into work tomorrow to catch up on the last stuff that needs to be done before the end of the year. I’m guessing about 50% of my co-workers will be there, and it should be a pretty relaxed day, although I do have a bunch to get done. But after that, thank goodness, is a 4-day weekend to spend skiing, cooking, and catching up on the other stuff in my life that obviously didn’t get done while I was playing Bejeweled and eating Christmas cookies in Boston.

The main thing I’m looking forward to this weekend is playing with my new camera! My dad and I tested it out for a few hours last night and again this morning, learning how to set the shutter speed and aperture, adjust the white balance and ISO exposure, and all kinds of other crazy stuff I’ve never done before. Of course, it has an auto mode, but I’m determined to use it like a DSLR and not just a point-and-shoot. We learned some cool stuff and I feel much less overwhelmed taking it home (like I’m a new parent or something) and learning what it can do. I took a few pictures this morning on the iPhone for contrast, and I’ll upload the DSLR and iPhone versions for contrast so you can see the difference at some point. It is CRAZY and I’m so excited to be using this awesome new camera! I really have a lot to learn, but I can already see that it will be WAY worth it.

Anyway, it shouldn’t come a surprise that I didn’t have time to try out any new recipes at my parents’ house this week. But I do want to share this banana bread recipe that I made before I left Salt Lake. (And because I made it last week, that means these are still iPhone photos!) If, like me, you have a relaxing 4-day weekend ahead of you, this would be the perfect thing to pop in the oven to make your kitchen smell wonderful. It’s vegan (unlike ALLLL the baked goods I ate this week) and relatively healthy (again… unlike the pounds and pounds of Christmas cookies I’ve consumed), so it’s the perfect snack for this weekend between holidays. The fact that this banana bread is vegan does mean that it’s a little denser than one you’d make with eggs. It doesn’t rise as high, but don’t let that deter you – it tastes amazing!

Those of you who saw this “his and hers” banana picture on Facebook a few weeks ago may be able to guess that we end up with a LOT of banana bread-worthy fruit in our house. Nate prefers rock-hard totally green fruit, and typically doesn’t eat any of the bananas on our counter once they’re blemished with a single speck of brown. I will eat bananas at almost any stage, but I haven’t quite gotten down the science of how many to buy for our various ripeness preferences. We often end up with many bananas that he won’t eat and I just can’t keep up with. So I’ve taken to freezing them in a big Ziploc, planning on making lots of banana bread. I’m still not keeping up, though… we probably have at least a dozen bananas in our freezer.

What I’m getting at is that there might be a LOT of banana bread in the Coffee & Quinoa future. I’m hoping to make a more seasonal one this weekend! Enjoy this vegan banana bread in the meantime, though, and if you have any favorite banana bread recipes for me to try out, please send them my way!

Vegan Banana Bread

Hands-on time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

This vegan banana bread is lightly seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and studded with raisins and walnuts.

Author: Erica

Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

3-4 very ripe to overripe bananas
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup melted vegan butter or melted coconut oil (I used coconut oil)
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 cups spelt flour (whole wheat or white flour would also work)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
½ cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
½ cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Mash bananas (with a fork is fine) in a medium-sized bowl. Add sugar, coconut oil, and maple syrup and stir to combine.
In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Gently fold in the banana mixture, followed by the walnuts and raisins.
Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with moist crumbs, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack. After 15 minutes, run a knife around the edges and invert onto the rack to finish cooling.
Once cool (or you can even do this once the bread is warm, not hot), wrap in tin foil and store in the fridge. This keeps the edges nice and moist. I prefer to eat the banana bread the following day, not right out of the oven, but that's personal preference. It will keep for several days in the fridge.

Notes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and White Jacket Required.

Sweet Potato Sushi Bowl

December 5, 2012 by Erica

Introducing my new favorite dinner, the sweet potato sushi bowl. That boring rice post yesterday was just a way to make sure you were prepared for this.

Make. It. Tonight. (!!!)

This weekend was officially deemed Asian Cooking Weekend in my apartment. I actually didn’t get through all the dishes I wanted to, but luckily I made this sushi bowl a priority. After we ate it, I couldn’t stop smiling. It is just SO GOOD that I couldn’t believe it had come out of my kitchen! It tastes like high-end sushi and really requires minimal effort.

So what’s in this little beauty?

Seasoned rice, roasted sweet potato, avocado, sliced veggies, seaweed, sesame seeds, and green onions, all topped with a gingery sauce. Just tell me that doesn’t look like salmon! And it’s just sweet potato, chopped up like this:

… and then marinated and roasted.

If you like sushi, seriously make this tonight. If don’t have an Asian market nearby, you are excused until tomorrow night. There are a few things in here (sesame oil, nori, and mirin) that you probably can’t find in your grocery store, but I can’t emphasize enough how worth it the extra trip will be. (Don’t skip the nori whatever you do – it’s what makes it taste like sushi!)

If you’re like me, this is also an excellent chance to use those Asian-looking dishes you bought for absolutely no reason and have been occupying shelf space ever since :)

Sweet Potato Sushi Bowl

Serves 4

Time: about 1 hour (less if rice is cooked ahead of time)

Ingredients:

For the sushi bowl:
1 ½ cups dry brown rice
1 large sweet potato
2 Tbsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
1 avocado, sliced
8 radishes, sliced
4 cups shredded napa cabbage
6-8 green onions (light and dark green parts), thinly sliced
2 4×8 in sheets nori (seaweed)
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

For the sauce:
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
juice of 1 orange
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
¼ cup mirin (Japanese rice wine)
2 tsp sesame oil

Instructions:

Cook rice according to these instructions. (This could also be done ahead of time and then reheated.)

Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.

Peel sweet potato and slice into pieces 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (see photo above). Toss in a ziploc bag with 2 Tbsp soy sauce. Lay flat and let marinate 5-10 minutes, turning once or twice to get the soy sauce all over. Spread out on the baking sheet, pouring any soy sauce left in the ziploc over top, and bake for 15 minutes, until tender.

While the sweet potato is roasting, blend or whisk together all sauce ingredients. (I used an immersion blender.)

Toast sheets of nori at 350 degrees for a few minutes, until fragrant. (I like to do this in my toaster oven, but you could also do it just before or after the sweet potato.) Chop or crumble into small pieces. Still at 350, toast sesame seeds for several minutes until golden brown and fragrant.

When rice is done, mix it with about half the sauce, a quarter of the nori, and a quarter of the green onions.

In bowls, layer the rice and napa cabbage and arrange the avocado, radishes, and sweet potato on top. Top with additional nori, green onions, sesame seeds and sauce.

Enjoy with green tea!

Tastes best on the first day made.

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