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Sweet Potato Soup with Cannellini Beans and Rainbow Chard

Chef AJ — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:35:39 +0000

When the weather starts getting cooler, all I can think about is soup. This one can be ready in less than 20 minutes if you have all of the ingredients on hand. It’s versatile, too: you can use any kind of potato, bean, or green, or you can even substitute butternut squash or white potatoes for the sweet potatoes. Rainbow chard makes it extra colorful, but you can also o substitute green chard, collards, spinach, or kale. If you are not used to salt-free fare, low-sodium miso can be a great way to brighten up the flavor!

From Unprocessed

Note: Some local stores and websites carry salt-free sun-dried tomato powder. Or you can make your own at home, by grinding store-bought or homemade no-salt, no-oil sun-dried tomatoes in your blender or coffee grinder.

This recipe was originally published on July 25, 2012, and has bee updated.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

8 cups water or low-sodium vegetable broth
2 leeks (approximately 6 ounces), thinly sliced
2 to 3 large sweet potatoes (2 pounds), peeled and uniformly cubed
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 pound rainbow chard, leaves and stems chopped (see notes)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (about ¼ cup juice)
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato powder (see notes)
Chopped Italian parsley, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

In a large soup pot, bring the water or broth to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium and add the leeks. Cook for about 8 minutes until soft.
Add the diced sweet potatoes and cook for 8 to 10 minutes more, until tender.
Add the beans and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the chard just until it wilts. Stir in the lemon juice and sun-dried tomato powder. Sprinkle with chopped Italian parsley if desired, and garnish with a fresh lemon twist and a sprinkling of lemon zest.

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Vegan Banana Pancakes

Heather McDougall — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 10:00:42 +0000

Banana Pancakes are a favorite breakfast in our home. They are easy to make, and everyone loves them! They’re wonderful served with a little maple syrup or applesauce. Notice that I just put the egg replacer dry into the flour mixture. I read somewhere that you could do this, so I tried it and noticed no difference in the pancakes’ texture or fluffiness. Doing so eliminates an extra step, which makes prep time even shorter.

From drmcdougall.com

This brunch recipe and other kid-friendly and comfort food ideas are also available in our convenient iPhone app and newly released Android app.

Yield: Makes 10-12 Pancakes

1½ cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon egg replacer
2 bananas, mashed (¾−1 cup)
1½ cups unsweetened, unflavored plant milk
1 cup sparkling water
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (optional)

Instructions

Place the flour, baking powder, salt, and egg replacer in a bowl and mix. Place the bananas in another bowl and mash well. Stir in the plant milk and sparkling water and mix again. Pour into the dry ingredients, and stir to combine, being careful not to overmix.
Heat a nonstick griddle over medium heat. Pour ¼ cup of the batter onto the dry, heated griddle, and flatten it a bit with the bottom of your measuring cup. Flip when the bubbles start to appear and pancake edges start to turn golden. Cook until brown on both sides. Repeat until all batter has been used.
Serve hot topped with the blueberries, or refrigerate or freeze the pancakes. Note: Consistency: For a slightly thinner pancake (or if you let your batter sit too long before using it), thin the batter with a little more plant milk before pouring it onto the griddle. If you prefer a thicker pancake, mix in just ½ cup of the sparkling water; then add more sparkling water as needed to achieve your desired consistency.

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Pumpkin Pie Squares

Cathy Fisher — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 11:00:56 +0000

These pumpkin squares are easier to make than pumpkin pie, and they are firm enough to be eaten as finger food. They are great by themselves, or add a bit of Macadamia-Vanilla Frosting for a little extra decadence. A sweet addition to any vegan Thanksgiving or holiday menu!

Check out our full round-up of pumpkin recipes here.

Yield: Makes 16 2-inch squares

10 medjool dates, pitted and diced (about 1 cup diced)
1½ cups oat flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or see notes)
1 (15-ounce) can cooked pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup unsweetened, unflavored plant milk
1 cup Macadamia-Vanilla Frosting

Instructions

Soak the dates in a small bowl with ¾ cup water for at least 15 minutes.
Preheat the over to 375ºF.
Place the flour and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl. Place the soaked dates, the date soak water (see “texture” note), vanilla, and plant milk in a blender and purée until smooth (1 to 2 minutes). Pour the mixture into the bowl of flour and spices, and also add the pumpkin, and mix with a wooden spoon until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Scrape the batter into an 8 × 8-inch parchment-lined baking sheet (or use a nonstick silicone baking pan). Cook for 25 to 30 minutes at 375ºF, until lightly browned with some cracks on the top. Let cool at least 10 to 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
If desired, top with Macadamia-Vanilla Frosting just before serving, or use a rotary cheese grater to dust lightly with grated macadamia or other nuts. Storing in the refrigerator overnight will firm up these squares, then you can pack them in a lunch or as a snack. Notes: To make your own pumpkin pie spice: If you do not have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can substitute 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, and ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves. Texture: For a firmer texture without refrigerating overnight, use only ½ cup of the date soak water in step 2.

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Cranberry Apple Crisp

Chef AJ — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:00:55 +0000

While this is a great recipe to make with leftover cranberry relish, it’s also a great reason to make your own cranberry relish! With no added sugar, it’s just fruit and oats … so you could eat it for breakfast (and I do).

This recipe is also available in our convenient iPhone app and newly released Android app.

Yield: Serves 6-8

4 large apples (I prefer Gala or Braeburn)
1½ cups 5-Minute Cranberry Relish
2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1 tablespoon alcohol-free vanilla
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mix the apple slices with the cranberry relish, and pour into an 8-inch silicone baking pan.
In a separate bowl, mix the oats with the apple juice, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir until well mixed. Spoon evenly on top of the apple-cranberry mixture.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the topping is golden brown.
Serve hot, or enjoy it cold the next day with a hot cup of tea … also delicious!

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Fragrant Kidney Bean Lentil Dal

Dreena Burton — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 15:00:27 +0000

This lentil dal dish is a dal of sorts, and is especially fragrant and flavorful, rich with spices, and yet not spicy in a hot sense. I enjoy how this dish is not hot-spicy, however, you can always add a few splashes of hot sauce if you like.

From Let Them Eat Vegan

Find this lentil dal recipe and more in the Forks Over Knives Recipe App.

Yield: Serves 4

1½ – 2 tablespoons water
1 cup onions, diced
1¼ teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds (see note)
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon allspice
pinch or two crushed red pepper flakes (or more/less to taste, see note)
1 cinnamon stick (or ½ teaspoon cinnamon)
2½ – 3 cups water (see note)
½ cup freshly squeezed or good quality orange juice (see note)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1½ tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 cup red lentils (rinse before adding to pot)
1 can (14 ounce) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (or black beans)
2 dried or fresh bay leaves
Hot sauce to taste (optional, see note)
Freshly chopped cilantro (for garnish, optional)

Instructions

Heat the water in a large pot over high or medium-high heat.
Add the onion, salt, pepper, spices, and cinnamon stick.
Stir, cover, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add 2 ½ cups of the water, and the orange juice, garlic, ginger, lentils, kidney beans, and bay leaves.
Stir, bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium or medium-low, cover, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes.
Remove the cinnamon stick (leaving the stick in will impart a stronger cinnamon flavor, but this can be overpowering), and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the lentils are fully dissolved and the mixture has thickened.
For a thinner consistency, add the extra water, anywhere from ¼ to ½ cup, or more, if desired. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Season with additional salt, if desired. Add hot sauce to taste and sprinkle with fresh cilantro (if using). Notes: If This Apron Could Talk: The consistency of this dish can be kept thicker, for scooping with roti bread or even whole-grain tortillas, or made thinner to serve over rice, or to eat more like a stew. Start with the 2 ½ cups of water and then thin out later to your desired consistency. Ingredients 411: I am a fennel lover. The flavor of fennel, anise, licorice— all resonate very favorably for me. If you also love fennel, go ahead and use a full 1 teaspoon (I usually do). But if you are a little more tentative about the fennel flavor, use just ½ teaspoon. Just don’t leave it out altogether; it really combines beautifully with the spice profile in the dish. Kid-Friendly: If serving this to children, you might want to omit the crushed red pepper flakes and reserve the hot sauce for the adult individual portions. If you like things spicy, feel free to add hot sauce to the dal to taste, or add more crushed red pepper flakes earlier in the cooking process with the other spices. Savvy Subs and Adds: The orange juice brings a lovely flavor to this dish, but if you don’t have any oranges or juice on hand, feel free to replace with water. Serving Suggestions: Serve with Indian-Inspired Rice (also from Let Them Eat Vegan), roti bread, and chutney (if you like).

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Split Pea Soup

Heather McDougall — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 13:00:51 +0000

This is my family’s favorite split pea soup. My mom has been making this version for over 25 years. This tastes even better the next day and is great over baked potatoes or brown rice.

From drmcdougall.com

Find this recipe and more in the Forks Over Knives Recipe App.

Yield: Serves 8-10

1 cup green split peas
½ cup dried baby lima beans
¼ cup barley
8 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon paprika
⅛ teaspoon white pepper
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Place split peas, lima beans, barley and stock in a large pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and add bay leaves and celery seed. Cover and cook over low heat for 1 hour.
Add remaining ingredients and cook for 1 additional hour. Note: If you want to make this without the lima beans, increase the split peas to 2 cups and reduce the initial cooking time to ½ hour. This recipe freezes and reheats well. For a delicious smoky flavor, try adding a couple drops of liquid smoke to the soup about 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

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Yam Chickpea Spinach Curry

Veronica Grace — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:00:31 +0000

I was looking for something to whip up for dinner one day and I found some diced frozen yams and spinach in the freezer. So I thought I’d create a different spin on Chana Masala with them and this is what I came up with. It’s very hearty and satisfying!

Find this chickpea curry recipe and more in the Forks Over Knives Recipe App.

Yield: Serves 2-3

1 15 ounce can chickpeas (unsalted), drained or 1½ cups of cooked chickpeas
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 inch of ginger, minced or pressed
1-2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes (fire roasted or regular)
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon coriander, ground
1 teaspoon turmeric, ground
salt to taste
1 cup of yams/sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 2” thick
2 cups of fresh spinach, packed or 1 cup frozen, drained
¼ teaspoon garam masala (or to taste)

Instructions

If using canned chickpeas, rinse before using. If you’re using dried chickpeas, soak in water the night before and pressure-cook with salt for about 10 minutes before using for the recipe.
Sauté onion, garlic and ginger in vegetable broth until translucent, about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add more vegetable broth as necessary, to keep from burning.
Add diced tomatoes and seasonings except for garam masala.
Add chickpeas and stir to combine and cook over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes until tomatoes have broken down, the chickpeas have softened and the flavors meld, stirring occasionally. Add a little more vegetable broth or water as needed if your tomato juice is running low.
In another pot, gently steam the yams just until tender so they retain their shape, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside.
Add the spinach to the vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Cook for another minute or two until it’s wilted and heated through.
Add yams and stir to combine. Be careful not to break the yams apart by over mixing. Add some garam masala to taste, as desired.
Serve with fresh rice. Note: To make this recipe lower in sodium choose no salt added chickpeas like Eden Organics and no salt added canned tomatoes. Add salt as desired when serving.

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Raspberry Truffle Brownies

Isa Chandra Moskowitz — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:00:38 +0000

These dense, fudgy, vegan brownies have loads of melt-in-your-mouth raspberry yumminess. Frozen berries actually will work better here because the dough is very stiff, and frozen berries are easier to fold in.

Find this raspberry brownies recipe and more in the Forks Over Knives Recipe App.

Yield: Makes 12 brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
½ cup raspberry jam
½ cup evaporated cane juice or cane sugar
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup raspberries, frozen or fresh

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with a 10-inch square of parchment paper or have ready an 8 x 8-inch nonstick or silicone baking pan.
Melt the chocolate in either a double boiler or the microwave. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, vigorously mix together the jam, sweetener, and applesauce. Stir in the vanilla, almond extract, and the melted chocolate.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix very well until a stiff dough forms. Fold in the raspberries.
Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. It will be very thick; you’ll need to use your hands to even the batter out in the pan.
Bake the brownies for 16 to 18 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let cool completely. These taste especially good and fudgy after being refrigerated for a few hours. Note: The brownies are still very gooey after the baking time is complete, but don’t worry—that’s what you want with brownies! Gooey out of the oven means that they will be nice and fudgy when they cool. Allow them to cool completely and chill in the fridge for a few hours for best results.

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Cranberry Orange Pumpkin Muffins

Chef AJ — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:00:58 +0000

When organic canned pumpkin is plentiful, I like to make pumpkin spice oatmeal in the morning. One day I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to eat it and I wondered how it would taste baked into a muffin. The result was pure pumpkin perfection!!! These little beauties are moist and delicious, not too sweet and reminiscent of the cranberry orange bread my Mom used to make.

Yield: Makes 12 muffins

2 large, very ripe bananas
½ cup orange juice plus zest of one orange
1 15-ounce can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
½ cup Date Paste
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tablespoon alcohol-free Vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries, unsweetened or fruit juice sweetened
3 cups gluten free oats
¼ cup finely chopped walnuts
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a food processor fitted with the “S” blade, process bananas and OJ until smooth. Add pumpkin, date paste, extract, zest, flax seeds and spice and continue processing until smooth and creamy.
Transfer batter to a large bowl and stir in the oats and dried cranberries.
Spoon an equal amount of batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners or silicone baking cups. You need to fill each muffin liner with about ½ cup of batter as these do not rise. A retractable ice cream scoop works well.
In a separate bowl, mix the nuts and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly into each of the 12 muffin liners. A cheese grater or nut grinder works well for grinding the nuts.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Find this brunch recipe and more in the Forks Over Knives Recipe App.

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Split Pea & Cauliflower Soup

Katie Mae — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:00:49 +0000

A variation of pea soup is part of many cultures. In the 18th and 19th centuries, split pea soup played a prominent role in the British and Irish diets. Sailors loved eating peas, because they were inexpensive and stored easily in dried form. Both are still true today, which means peas remain a great staple food in modern times.

Yield: Serves 4

2 cups green split peas
8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or water
2 cups cauliflower, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon garlic granules
½ teaspoon curry
½ teaspoon garam masala

Instructions

In a large soup pot with a lid, bring the split peas and the vegetable broth or water to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
In a sauté pan, sweat* the cauliflower, carrots, and onions until the cauliflower starts to brown and the onions become translucent, stirring frequently. If the veggies start to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a little water as needed. Then add the spices and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring frequently. Pour the veggies into the split peas.
Let the soup simmer for 30 minutes, or until it reaches your desired consistency. The longer the soup cooks, the more the split peas break down and the creamier the soup becomes. If it gets too thick, you can add more water or vegetable broth. Note: Sweating is a mix of sautéing and steaming. The idea is that the veggies “sweat” (release some of their natural water), creating enough moisture to soften and steam them in their own juices without adding any liquid. To sweat cut veggies, place them in a dry sauté pan over medium heat. Stir frequently until the desired consistency is reached, covering the pan when not stirring. If the veggies start to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a little water or vegetable broth. You can also turn down the heat.

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