Whew. Just got back from a 9-hour photoshoot with a great crew of people. The only downside to the day was an icy bike ride over and a finger-numbing ride home.  I’ve gotten so used to the light jacket-friendly days of January that this below-freezing weather nonsense in February feels preposterous.

I’ll gladly admit I’m a winter-hater, but it does provide a pretty good excuse to cook up some chili. Nothing feels better than coming home on a frigid evening to a hot bowl of chili, accompanied by a side of corn bread if I’m lucky.

The following recipe creates a hearty dish showcasing several meat-free, protein-packed ingredients. Here, kidney beans team up with vegan sausage to provide around 13 grams of protein per serving.  Served atop a 1/4 cup of bulgur (one serving), and you tack another 5 grams on to the meal.  Who says protein has to mean meat?

This dish is also brimming with flavor.  The beans and sausage simmer their juices with those of tomatoes, while being infused with the flavors of chili powder and smoked paprika.  Portobellos add that “meatiness” you’d expect from a protein-filled meal, and cilantro tops it off with a vivacious bang of freshness.  This is  F-F-F chili, vegan style.

Vegan Bean and Sausage Chili

(Serves 4-5)

-1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
-15 oz. can kidney beans
-15 oz. can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies
-1 large onion, diced
-3 large garlic cloves, minced
-1/2 bell pepper, diced
-8 oz. baby portobellos, sliced
-1 1/2 Tofurky vegan sausages, diced into 1/8-inch semicircles
-1 Tbsp. chili powder
-1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
-1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar, optional
-Cilantro, for garnish
-1 cup bulgur wheat
-Vegan sour cream, optional

However, sometimes I make exceptions, like with this chocolaty, no-ice-cream-needed shake.

Using frozen fruit, I made this spoon-worthy thick, which with the cocoa powder makes this smoothie feel extra rich. The kefir adds another boost of creamy richness and just a touch of sweetness to balance out the bitterness of the pure cocoa. The results make a good case for occasionally adding a couple extra ingredients to the blender, although you’ll notice that the list is still limited to under a handful of items. However, I might suggest a 5th addition, which is really the only thing missing from this picture — a wide-holed straw. Straws always make shakes more fun.

Chocolate Strawberry Banana Smoothie

(Per smoothie)

-1 cold banana
-10 frozen strawberries
-1/3 cup strawberry Kefir
-1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Serve in chilled glasses.

I’ve been seeing recipes for quinoa soup everywhere lately, and well, since I adore quinoa, I knew I had to hop on that bandwagon. After all, quinoa is the protein-packed grain of the gods, at least in my household, and I was craving its nourishment.

Prior to this recipe, the last soup-making venture that went down in my kitchen left plenty of room for improvement. Sick with whatever cough-filled virus that makes you feel like you’re dying, my body needed soup. Unfortunately, my kitchen cabinets didn’t offer much help, leading to a mixture I wouldn’t necessarily call my medicine of choice. A can of fire-roasted tomatoes, broth, and a hodgepodge of spices later, I threw together the simplest (and might I add, least satisfying) tomato soup I’ve had to date. Guess that’s what you get when you’re a sick, single lady living in a soup-less part of the city. (Yes Mom, sometimes I’m still lost without you.)

Needless to say, I was ready for a soup redemption. With all the possibilities, I couldn’t decide between making this an Italian or Mexican inspired quinoa soup. So I went with both. I wasn’t too worried how it’d turn out because anything would be better than the last can of tomatoes I was slurping from my spoon.

I’m happy to say the results far exceeded my expectations, drawing on the best parts from both sides of this flavor fusion. You’ve got all the veggies and grain base (with quiona replacing the pasta) from a typical minestrone soup, with all the rich flavor you’d get from the spices of a Mexican stew. Plus, it’s freshened up with a heavy dose of cilantro and topped with creamy avocado. Who doesn’t love foods topped with avocado? It was just the nourishment I needed and the perfect redemption we can all use now and then from a flop in the kitchen.

Mexican Quinoa Minestrone

(Serves 5-6, as a main)

-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 onion, diced
-2 stalks celery, diced
-1 red bell pepper, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 cup diced tomatoes
-15.5 oz can cannellini beans
-2/3 cup quinoa
-5-6 cups water or broth
-1 Tbsp. chili powder
-1/2 Tbsp. cumin
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
-1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
-2 cups spinach
-1 cup cilantro, chopped
-1 avocado, diced
-Greek yogurt, optional

In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high. Saute onion, pepper, celery, and garlic, until veggies are tender and onion is translucent. Add spices and salt, and stir constantly for one minute.

Add quinoa, tomatoes, entire contents of can of cannellini beans, and broth. Adjust heat to a simmer, and cook 30 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Stir in cilantro and spinach, and cook until just wilted.

Serve, topped with diced avocado and a dollop of yogurt, if desired.

*May need to add more water/broth upon reheating.

I miss baking. In high school, it was practically a nightly activity. I didn’t grow up watching much else other than Sesame Street, so TV never became habit. (We didn’t have cable till I hit 9th grade, and up until then, it wasn’t infrequent that my mom would contemplate storing the TV in the barn). Instead, baking became my evening relaxation.

It’s funny because just like TV, my mom didn’t bring us to expect dessert after dinner. But once I was old enough to navigate the kitchen, chocolate became ritual, even if it was just filling the room with its fumes. I’d regularly send my dad off to work with plates of cookies, muffins, or the occasional iced cupcake. Sometimes I’d surprise my friends at school by whipping out a bag of brownies from my backpack during our lunchtime break. Even if I had gotten sick of sweets (is that even possible?), I never tired of baking. It got to the point where I almost enrolled in culinary school, but by the time I got to making up my mind between pastry and the traditional track, I ended up opting out altogether. (According to this article, maybe I shouldn’t have.)

Whenever I get a free moment, I still often turn to baking. Play dates become bake dates with friends, and late night bike rides often end at the grocery store for a golden bag of Ghirardelli semisweet chips. More often than not, I’ll bake by myself, after dark, relaxing with the leveling off of each cup of flour. It’s my way to unwind. I can mindless follow a simple base of flour and sugar, and then choose from a list of basic add-ins to spruce things up. That’s what happened with this recipe, filled with healthy, whole wheat goodness that made this the perfect late night snack and hearty early morning breakfast.

Carrot Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

(Makes 12 muffins)

-1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
-1 cup oats
-1 tbsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 cup packed brown sugar
-1 cup soymilk
-1 egg
-1/4 cup safflower or vegetable oil
-1/4 cup honey
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 carrots, grated
-2/3 cup chopped walnuts
-1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray/grease muffin tin, or line each cup with paper liners.

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to lightly mix. Stir in carrots, walnuts and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until when a toothpick is inserted and it comes out clean.

Cool on rack for at least 5 minutes. Serve.

Vegan pesto. It never fails to pull a bunch of ingredients together and make them taste coherently awesome. Originally, I pulled out my last batch of pesto frozen from the fall with intentions of slathering it on baked eggplant. But when I pulled out the eggplant housed in my bottom refrigerator drawer and noticed tan, soft spots speckling its purple skin, I abandoned ship and fleeted towards a different route.

My first thought was pasta, but then I stumbled upon a bag of rice on the way to fetch that pasta, and ended up making this dish: Pesto-Infused Rice with Seitan. It was a hit with everyone in my apartment, and my bet is that it’ll please the people in your household too. If you don’t have pesto stashed away in your freezer, find yourself some basil and simply let your food processor do the work. You can find my vegan recipe inserted below.

Pesto Infused Rice with Seitan

-3/4 cup brown rice
-1 1/2 cups water
-1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 onion, chopped
-1/2 red bell pepper, diced
-1 cup seitan, cubed
-2 packed cups chopped spinach
-Heaping 1/2 cup vegan pesto
-Salt and pepper, to taste

In medium sauce pan, combine water and rice, cover, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook 45 minutes, until rice is tender.

In large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium-high. Add onions, bell pepper and seitan. Generally season with salt and pepper. Saute until onions and pepper are tender. Stir in spinach. Add rice and pesto. Adjust salt and pepper, to taste. Serve.

“I’m craving veggie wings. They were soo good.” I received this text from a high school friend about a week after she visited me in Philly. While she was up, I took her to El Camino where I assured her she had to try the veggie wings — crispy fried seitan smothered in spicy buffalo sauce, served with a side of the best blue cheese dip I’ve ever tasted. While hesitant in ordering them, she was hooked, not once touching her smoked turkey BLT until the plate was empty.

El Camino’s veggie wings might have to be my favorite snack to get out in Philly. I can’t eat the majority of the other meat-heavy, Tex-Mex options on the menu, but the veggie wings keep me a frequent customer at the No Libs restaurant.

My non-veg. friend actually introduced me to them, raving about the fact that they were better than any of the actually chicken one’s he’d ever had. He too has become a regular customer, and not for their focal BBQ, but for their highly addictive seitan wings.

Ever since my first taste, I’ve been bringing all my friends with me to feel the veggie heat alongside a cold brew. Recently, however, I decided to explore making my own, allowing me get my hands a little saucy without ever stepping out of my own kitchen.

A few weeks ago, I came across this recipe for “Seitan Hot Wings” in Vegetarian Times. It had been Scotch-taped to my bedroom wall ever since, until the other day when I ripped it off and took it with me to the kitchen. After making a batch of homemade seitan (for this particular one, I actually tested out VT’s version), I decided to utilize it in my current favorite usage of seitan — thanks to El Camino, that would be the veggie wing. These weren’t quite the crispy wings in which I got hooked, but this baked version was still entirely glorious. Plus, I can guarantee there’s a whole lot less oil going on these than the one’s I get out. While I’ll still remain a regular customer at El Camino (you can’t beat someone else preparing and plating your favorite snack for you), this will definitely become a repeat recipe. Oh, and did I mention these would make the perfect Super Bowl snack?

Veggie Buffalo Wings via Vegetarian Times

(Serves 6)

-2 Tbs. vegan mayonnaise
-1/4 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot or Texas Pete
-1 tsp. maple syrup
-1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
-8 oz. seitan, broken into 1-inch pieces
-1 1/3 cups panko breadcrumbs

Whisk together mayonnaise, hot sauce, maple syrup and paprika in medium bowl. Add seitan, and stir until coated. Cover, and marinate for at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 35oF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or foil, and coat with cooking spray.

Coat seitan with breadcrumbs. Place on baking sheet, and spray with cooking spray. Bake 15 minutes, flip, coat again with cooking spray, and cook 15 minutes more, or until golden-brown and crispy.

For a veggie, cauliflower’s taste lays on the bland side, which is why many don’t care for the crimpy-headed crucifer. However, it’s mild flavor is what draws me t0 cauliflower. I find the subtle, slightly sweet flavor to pair rather pleasantly with a vast array of ingredients. Kind of similar to tofu, cauliflower will blend into the other ingredients in which you cook it. Although, unlike tofu, it’s texture needn’t be too tampered with.

Here, I create a delicate sauce using just a few simple, quality ingredients that allow the cauliflower to take the main stage. A few flavor-potent ingredients join the mix in order to provide some depth to the pasta* that I place underneath. Caramelized garlic and shallots fragrantly fill the dish, alongside salty capers that add a certain pop to the pasta. Toasted walnuts and some fresh nuances seal the deal. With a mere 29 calories per cup (and a ton of vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and fiber), cauliflower is certainly worthy of being the star in this light, summery pasta dish.

*I used multi-colored whole wheat rotini to add some color to the cauliflower, but feel free to use whatever variety of pasta your heart desires. But of course, a whole wheat variety is recommended.

Pasta with Cauliflower and Capers

Serves 4

-1 large head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-1 large shallot, minced
-2 Tbsp. lemon juice (1 large lemon)
-3-4 Tbsp. capers
-1/3 cup walnuts
-6 oz. whole wheat rotini
-Handful of parsley and/or 3 spring onions, diced
-2 1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
-3/4 cup reserved pasta cooking water
-Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat skillet over medium-high. Add walnuts to pan, and cook, stirring frequently, until edges begin to brown nearing the point of black. Remove from heat and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions until al dente (tender but firm to the bite). Drain the pasta, reserving 3/4 cup of the cooking water.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large saute pan. Add garlic and shallots, and saute until caramelized, 5-7 minutes. Add cauliflower, and saute additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle a generous pinch or two of salt and pepper around the pan. Pour in reserved cooking water. Cook 5-7 minutes, until cauliflower is tender. Add lemon juice and capers. Toss with pasta. Remove from heat, and stir in walnuts, scallions, and parsley. Serve.

Now that I’m out on my own, I can see why this was a regular meal on our dining room table. It’s a flavorful dish that comes together easily and can be put on the table within the time it takes to make a pot of brown rice.

I had forgotten about this simple staple in my life, pushing it away for some time after I left home. In fact, these days it’s not just black beans I’ve been neglecting, but rice too. Quinoa has become my new rice. As one of my professors and fellow foodies once said, “Rice is so 2002.” But let’s not get carried away. It will always have its place, and with this dish, quinoa just wouldn’t do.

Anyways, now that some time has passed, I’m bringing this dish back into my life. Black beans and rice is no longer a mundane staple in my life. Now it’s just an easy and cheap meal that’s delicious in an unpretentious way. Add a little salsa and a few slices of avocado, and you might find yourself with a new weekly meal of your own. Just make sure you don’t go too overboard with the leftovers.

Black Beans and Rice

(Serves 4-6)

• -2 Tbsp. olive oil
• -15.5 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• -1 small onion, diced
• -1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• -3 medium-sized cloves garlic, minced
• -1 cup diced tomatoes
• -1 scant cup frozen corn
• -1 tsp. cumin
• -1/4 tsp. salt
• -1 cayenne pepper, optional
• -Pepper, to taste
• -1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• -1 cup short grain brown rice

Combine rice with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook another 45-50 minutes, or until water is absorbed and rice is tender.

Meanwhile, heat oil in saute pan over medium-high. Saute onion, garlic, cayenne and pepper, until onion is translucent. Add cumin, salt and pepper. Saute for one minute. Stir in beans, tomatoes and corn. Reduce heat to a medium-low simmer, and cook another 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Add cilantro and cook another 1-2 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve atop rice. Pair with a side of spicy salsa, if desired.

Cold noodles in the winter? The looks of disgust I presume I’d get from some of my soup fanatic friends still doesn’t scare me from sharing this recipe with you. I’m a bit of a soup junkie too, but I save that addiction for the evenings. For lunch, what I’m eating is often premeditated and snapped away in my backpack during the early hours of the morning, meaning I could care less whether it was a steam-filled meal. In fact, I generally prefer a meal that tastes best at room temp. because that’s how I’ll be eating it come lunchtime. (See hummus recipe 1 – 1,000,000).

Really, this plate of noodles can be eaten at any temperature, but it was designed for my need to fulfill an unusual lunch craving. Tired of sandwiches and certainly tired of plain old noodles, I reached for Soba, which I don’t even put in the same category as pasta. Unlike pasta (unless it’s the doughy kind from the Italian market) Soba remains a novelty. It’s nutty, but notably less dense than whole wheat pasta, and has this unique texture that’s significantly easier to chew than your typical al dente spaghetti.

The noodles lends themselves particularly well to Asian flavors, hence their name Soba, the Japanese word for buckwheat. Here, I tossed them with gingery kale and a little sesame oil for a noodle dish that works either hot or cold. That way you can pick the temperature depending on your personal temperament. Can’t do cold in the winter? Then don’t. But if cold noodles for lunch don’t sound like a bad idea, pack them up and just be sure to add an extra sprinkle of salt before you head on your way. Whatever style you choose, this healthful meal is sure to help ward off any all too common winter colds from taking over your body. Enjoy.

Asian Kale and Soba Noodles

(Serves 4)

-1 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 Tbsp. soy sauce
-1 large bunch of kale, stems removed, and torn into bite-sized pieces
-3 garlic cloves, diced
-1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
-1-2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
-8 oz. Buckwheat noodles
-2 scallions, diced, optional
-Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook noodles according to package (6-8 minutes).

Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium-high in large saute pan. Add garlic and ginger, and saute until browned, stirring as needed. Add soy sauce, and then stir in kale, and cook until just tender, 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat.

Toss noodles with sesame oil. Add kale. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve, topped with scallions, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

After whipping up my last quinoa pilaf, I realized I had forgotten how easy cooking can be. When I’m stressed or simply overloaded with too many extraneous ideas to allow for creativity, cooking turns into an obligatory homework project. From outside the kitchen, it can psychological feel like nothing but a tiresome stack of unwashed dishes.

However, cooking’s really no different than when you conquer that first mile of a run. Ten minutes in, and often you’re ready to take on the whole trail.

For cooking, this is especially true with one pot dishes like these, where there’s very minimal cleanup required once you hit the homestretch.

Simple pilafs like these also keep things light and healthy. There’s no stove full of pans to oil up but rather just one pot of quinoa simmering away. That being said, don’t skimp on the tahini when you finish this one off. The creamy component is needed and adds a perfect richness that compliments the flavors infused in the quinoa. Enjoy!

Bean and Vegetable Quinoa Pilaf with Tahini

(Serves 4)

• -2/3 cup quiona
• -1 cup water
• -15 oz. can cannellini beans
• -1/2 red or white onion
• -1/2 cup chopped baby carrots
• -2 banana peppers or equivalent of any sweet pepper
• -1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• -Salt, to taste
• -8 Tbsp. sesame tahini

Place quinoa, carrots, peppers, onions, poultry seasoning and entire contents of can of cannellini beans into pan with 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to simmer, and cook 30 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and carrots are tender.

Remove from heat. Sprinkle each bowl with salt, and drizzle with 2 Tbsp. tahini. Serve.