Carrot Juice Waffles, West African Jollof Rice & Mini Broccoli Quiches

Breakfast: Carrot Juice Waffles
adapted from Fork & Beans

(Recipe makes 4 waffles in waffle maker)

1c carrot juice (store bought works, but not as good)
1c carrot pulp (or grated carrots if you don't have a juicer)
1c rice milk
1/4 c coconut oil
1 1/4 c Bob's pancake mix
1 1/4 c white rice flour
1/2 tbsp nutmeg
1/2 tbsp cinnamon

I made these almost a month ago & never blogged about it, but I remade them because we loved the recipe so much. They also make a great snack & I froze a couple too :) These sugar free waffles are naturally sweet & even got MJ's omnivore cousin's seal of approval [without ANY syrup!] MJ's been sick the past week or so and this was such a low-key easy food for him to feed himself at his own pace.

• Combine wet ingredients [juice, pulp, oil, milk]
• Pour flours & spices on top and fold [do not mix] the flour into the carrot mix
• Mixture should be smooth & stores nicely for later usage.

Batter

With a delicious natural orange color!

Lunch: West African Jollof Rice

1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cans kidney beans
2-4 c vegetable broth
1/2 green pepper
1 c frozen peas
1/2 onion
1 c brown rice
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 inch peeled & grated ginger
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp thyme
pinch of crushed red pepper
pinch of salt
olive oil

It feels like 10 different people were talking about Jollof rice last week & you know what? I had never even heard of it! So, I decided to try my hand at a vegan version. Not sure if it is true to the taste of traditional West African Jollof Rice since I've never had it, but I did like the combination of cinnamon & ginger in the mix. MJ was a little iffy about it, some days he devoured it and some days he refused to even take a bite. Not sure if that has to do with him being sick or not generally liking the meal. Anyway, I invite any of my West African friends (or Jollof Rice connoisseurs) to come try my rice and see if it is anyway authentic to true West African Jollof Rice :)

• Saute onions & herbs in olive oil until onions are soft.
• Add chopped green peppers & diced tomatoes cook for 2-3 minutes
• Stir in rice, tomato paste and vegetable broth and bring to a boil
• Simmer for 45 minutes or until rice is fully cooked (adding vegetable broth as needed to keep rice from sticking 1c at a time)

Dinner: Mini Broccoli Quiches 
(makes 24 mini muffin quiches)
adapted from Including Cake

½ tsp garlic powder
½ cup chickpea flour (make your own by sticking dry chickpeas into the food processor)
1 tbs potato starch

3 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp mustard
pinch paprika

Large pinch baking powder
1 tbs olive oil

1 cup water

1 grated head of broccoli florets

 

 I'm going to have to add this to my regular recipe list. Easily takes less than 10 minutes to make this recipe and they were delicious. I actually didn't completely follow the recipe correctly and combined my vegetables in, aesthetically they probably aren't as nice, but the taste was still awesome. I listed the recipe as I made it, but included the original suggestions as well.

• Combine all ingredients (mixture will be thin)
• Dish into mini cupcake tin
• Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees
• For a more quiche-like appearance combine ingredients (minus vegetables), spoon into mini muffin pans filling halfway, THEN add vegetables on top. This gives more of a crust look.

In the mini muffin pan

Delicious cheesy broccoli bites

Yum!

Quick Sunday Cooking

This week will be comprised of me running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to plan and cook for MJ's 1st birthday party. In a way it is a completely meaningless event that he will never remember, but in another way it is a celebration of "making it" through the first year.

Whatever. Anyway, I had zero desire to cook today, it was too hot to be in the kitchen and I'll be cooking/prepping for the rest of the week for the party. Today's menu took me less than 45 minutes to complete in the kitchen and all the produce cost me less than $10---fast and inexpensive.

Breakfast: Broccoli, Peach, Banana Smoothie with Ground Flaxseed

1 banana
1 c frozen broccoli
1 c frozen peaches
1/2 c rice milk
1 tsp. ground flaxseed

Although this smoothie mix works perfectly without the flaxseed, when I totaled up MJ's nutritional needs last week one thing that I needed to improve on was his Omega-3 intake. Flaxseed is a great source of omega-3 and I didn't have to substantially change my meal planning to add it in.

Ready to be mixed

Add in the ground flaxseed and stir.

Lunch: Curried Lentils with Millet

2 1/2 c lentils (rinsed)
3 c vegetable broth
1/2 red onion  (chopped)

Add all ingredients to the pot & simmer for 35 minutes (or until lentils are soft but not falling apart).

Lentils & Red Onions simmering in Vegetable Broth

Curried Lentils

Curried Lentils paired with Millet

Dinner: Lemon Dijon Asparagus, Button Mushrooms & Leek

First, last week I made a Lemon Homey Dijon Vinaigrette for my salad and it was my first successful attempt at a vinaigrette! Not to toot my own horn, but *toot, toot* it was awesome.  When I saw these lovely asparagus at the market I knew I was going to cook them with lemon. Since honey is a DEFINITE no, no for babies I replaced honey with agave nectar for this recipe, but it really was much better with honey.

1/8 c freshly squeezed lemon
1/4 c olive oil
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey (agave nectar)
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper

Stored in an old jam jar.

I sauteed the leeks & mushrooms first and then added the asparagus and kept them in until the asparagus was lightly cooked and still crunchy.

Sauteed vegetables in olive oil

Drizzled with vinaigrette

Sunday Cooking

New foods for the week: Brown Basamati Rice & Millet




Menu for the Week:

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ Banana Slices

Lunch: Brown Basamati Rice with Button Mushrooms & Spring Vidalia Onions

Fresh produce-yum!

Brown rice cooking in vegetable broth. Add mushrooms & onion when rice is almost done cooking.

MJ getting ready to dive in.

Dinner: Broccoli Millet Croquettes with White Bean Aioli

I gave my friend a run-down of some of the great vegan cookbooks I have read in the past few months and absolutely one of my favorites is Veganomicon, which pegs itself as "The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook." Well, I might not go that far but some of my favorite staple recipes come from that book.

Anywhoo---after mentioning to her my love for that cookbook I decided to revisit it for a recipe for millet. With broccoli arriving at the farmer's market this week this recipe was perfect although it was kinda time consuming, which is why I chose two other pretty simple recipes.

 

Millet flour w/ thyme, pepper & garlic

Millet cooking with vegetable broth & chopped broccoli added

After cooling form golf sized balls

Flatten & cook with olive oil on both sides until browned

All done!

Navy Bean Aioli

Lunchtime~(Paired with Navy Bean Aioli)

Failed Snack...but not really: So, I bought some dry chickpeas with the intention of making crisy chickpeas. Well they turned out great...BUT not for a baby with no teeth. Womp, womp--but mama has something to snack on or add to salads.

Ingredients:
Chickpeas (I used dry, but canned are faster)
Garlic
Chili Powder
Olive Oil
Water

Using dry chickpeas they have to be cooked first following directions on package.

Chickpeas roasting in the oven w/ olive oil, chili powder & garlic until dark brown and crispy

Yum!

Notes: In my exploration of gluten-free grains to introduce to MJ I came across millet. I personally had never eaten (I don't think) or cooked millet so this week was an experience for me. I wasn't able to find millet flour, but bought whole millet and ground it to make flour and it worked fine. I actually think that the consistency of the millet when cooked was similar to cornmeal, but when eating it didn't taste super grainy like cornmeal.

Also, I had originally intended to make wild rice for MJ's lunch, but wasn't able to find any that didn't contain a whole mess of other things [soy, dairy, crazy unpronounceable things]....no thanks. I'll try Harris Teeter next time. Very important to check the ingredients even of food that shouldn't really have any weird additives