quinoa-corn chowder

This recipe was from Viva Vegan! by Teri Hope Romero. It has been a little while since I've hit this cookbook, and the idea of quinoa in a chowder was appealing. Quinoa "grain" is not really a grain, since it is not a grass, but in fact is the seed of the plant that has been cultivated for over 4,000 years in South America. While the greens of the quinoa plant are also edible, the seeds are what is most available to us.

Quinoa also happens to be a complete protein.

While quinoa can be intimidating to cook the first few times, get yourself a bag and start cooking with it. The ratio of water to quinoa is easy:

1 part quinoa, 2 parts water, cook 20 minutes.
Make sure to rinse the quinoa well before cooking it.

If the quinoa is added to a stew or a soup, it is even simpler since I've yet to overcook quinoa, unlike rice, which is too easy to overcook.

The Quinoa-Corn 'Chowder' I made from Teri's book was very easy to make and delicious. To top it all off, she recommended I add avocado to it.

It's like she read my mind...

Cost Breakdown

garlic, onion, spices: $1

red quinoa: $.75

aji (pepper paste, homemade): $.50

potato, corn: $1.50

beans: $2

tomatoes: $1

non-dairy milk: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$7.75

Aji Paste Recipe

seitan and kidney bean pie

European Night

Steak and Kidney Pie, a British comfort food is literally made with steak and kidneys - often that of a cow, lamb or pig. It is cooked in a brown gravy with onions and Worcestershire sauce and topped with a crust of some sort - pastry, shortcrust or puff.

Interesting to note, the only vegetable in the traditional pie is the onion. Well, there are plenty of other dishes with veggies in them - no need to crowd this one full of 'em!

Keeping true to the dish, I made my Seitan and Kidney Bean Pie with Firm Seitan (beef-y), but replaced the kidneys with the obvious substitution of kidney beans. 

Adding some flavor to this dish, I caramelized my onions first and then added the dredged seitan to be seared. Dredging the seitan makes sure I had the flour in the dish needed to thicken the sauce. I deglazed (added wine to the pan to help loosen the brown bits on the bottom and then allowed it to mostly evaporate to cook off the alcohol) the pan and added the beans and broth. While you would need to cook this for about an hour if it were meat, I just had to simmer it for a few minutes to marry the flavors.

I used a whole wheat herb crust as the top crust of the pie and served it with a green salad.

Cost Breakdown

onion: $1

flour, herbs, spices: $2

coconut oil (crust): $1

seitan: $3

beans: $1

wine, broth: $1 

salad: $3

Total to make 6 servings:

$12.00

  

Seitan and Kidney Bean Pie Recipe