Black Eyed Pea Chili

¼ cp black eyed peas, rinsed
¼ cp split peas, rinsed
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves

1 ts garlic olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 oz soy breakfast meat
1 carrot, diced
½ cp frozen corn
½ cp frozen edamame
1 small red bell pepper, diced
½ small can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 TB tomato paste
½ liquid veggie broth
1/2 cp water
1 ts agave nectar
1 TB chili
1 TB cumin
1 ts red chili flakes
½ TB smoked sweet paprika
salt, pepper

Bring black eyed peas and lentils to a boil in a pan with water, garlic and bay leaves. Remove from heat, and let soak for 1 hour. Drain, discard water and bay leaves, but reserve garlic for chili.

In a dutch oven, sauté the onion in the garlic flavored olive oil. Add the carrot, and sautee slightly (1 min). Add the breakfast soy meat, break it up with a spatula and brown it with the onions for 2 min. Add the corn, the black-eyed peas and the lentils. Simmer for 2 min. Add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and the chili flakes. Stir well, and add the fire roasted canned tomatoes. In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste and the veggie broth concentrate in with a 1/2 cup of hot water. Add the mix to the chili. Cook the chili for about 10 min. Now, add the corn, the diced bell pepper and the edamame. Simmer for another 5 min until black-eyed peas are tender and bell pepper slightly tender, but still with a crunch. Add smoked paprika to taste.

Serve with greek yoghurt, cilantro and corn bread or baguette!

The chili has a wonderful meaty flavor and a slightly crunchy texture.

Butternut Squash Risotto

1/2 medium-sized butternut squash
Salt
1/2 tablespoon clarified butter
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 shallot, minced
2 oz Aborrio rice
1 TB dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock, heated
1/2 tablespoons Parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place 1/2 butternut squash in oven, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast until browned and soft. Puree in food processor.

Heat clarified butter in pan. Add shallots, and sweat. Add garlic, and slightly sauce. Add rice and toast in clarified butter mix for 2 min. Add dry white wine, and saute until liquid is evaporated. Slowly add stock, 1/2 cp at a time, until absorbed. Once rice is fully cooked fold squash puree. Mix well, and add freshly grated Parmesan.

This is so good, it will make you break into a happy dance, just like Jamie Oliver in "Jamie at home".

Seared Scallops with Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa:
½ mango, diced
1 scallion, diced on an angle
parsley
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1/2 garlic clove, grated
2TB lime juice
olive oil
salt, pepper

Optional:
red, green and or yellow bell pepper, sliced
black beans

Mix all ingredients.

Moroccan Spiced Haddock

Spices:
2 ts ground coriander
1 ts dried oregano
1 ts dried ginger
½ ts red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper for more heat
½ ts black pepper
¼ ts cinnamon
½ ts cumin

1 haddock fillet
white wine
salt, pepper
⅓ red bell pepper, sliced

Mix spice rub on a plate, and dredge both sides of haddock in spice rub. Heat olive oil, and sautee haddock on first side for 2 min. Turn haddock, add sliced bell peppers, and white wine, salt and pepper. Sautee for another 3-4 min.

Serve with greens, vinaigrette, a dullop of avajar.

Poached Egg with Japonica Rice and Avajar

This is an experiment with a nutty-tasting black Japonica whole rice, kale, tofu, garlic, and white wine. For recipe, see here.

This is a breakfast dish with leftover rice, a poached egg and a heap of avajar.

Skinny Bitch Faux Meatloaf

1 TB olive oil
1 carrot, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 oz cremini, shitake or portabello mushroom mushroom, diced
1/2 cp frozen or fresh corn
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 ts sea salt
1 ts pepper
splash of white wine
low-sodium chicken stock
1 teaspoon agave nectar
2 slices vegan low-carb whole bread
1/2 cp walnuts, toasted
1 package gimme lean breakfast sausage
½ cp ketchup
a few splashes of worchestershiresauce
2 tb fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a skillet, add oil and add onion, carrot, and red pepper and sautee for a few minutes. Add mushrooms, grated garlic, salt and pepper, and sautee for a minute. Add chicken stock and white wine as well as agave juice and a 1/2 low sodium bouillon cube. Sautee until all vegetables are tender and any liquid is evaporated.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine bread and toasted walnuts, and pulse to coarse consistency.

Transfer to a large bowl, and add ketchup, veggie beef, worchestershire sauce, the veggie mix and the frozen corn. Mix well with your hands. Transfer faux meatloaf mix to a muffin pan, place about 1/4 cp of mix into each individual muffin cup and bake for 35 min.

(recipe is inspired by the 'skinny bitch' faux meatloaf).

Seared Sea Scallops with Leeks

1/2 leek, halved and sliced
1 TB capers
1 garlic clove, grated
1 ts olive oil
1/4 cp pinot grigio
1/2 ts agave nectar (for sweetness)
salt, pepper

5 sea scallops, fresh, padded dry
1 tb butter
salt, pepper


Sautee leeks in olive oil until slightly wilted. Add white wine, garlic, capers, salt and pepper, and agave nectar. Stir, and sautee until liquid is almost evaporated.

In another skillet, heat butter and sear scallops from both sides, 2 minutes each. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve scallops on bed of leeks. Enjoy!

Herbs de Quercy

Rosemary
Bay leaves
Thyme

Skinny Ginger-Soy Roasted Chicken

Roast a chicken breast on the bone in the oven.

When roasted, take skin off, and slice breast meat into thin slices.

Roast on very hot grill with a mix of soy sauce and fresh grated ginger shortly.

One could add a bit of wasabi paste to the soy/ginger mix.

Serve with steamed rice and grilled summer squash.

Enjoy!

Nutty spicy angel hair pasta with tempeh

Spray a non-stick pan with olive oil spray.

Heat high, and add

• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 oz of soy tempeh, cubed
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cp of cooked angel hair pasta
• dash of low-sodium soy sauce,
• 1 TB ff half and half.
• Heat up for 2 min, and then add 1/3 cp of low-sodium chicken stock. Let simmer for 10 min on medium heat until chicken stock is evaporated.
  
  At the same time, spray another non-stick pan with olive oil and sautee 2 oz of fresh shitake mushroom for 4 min on high heat.

• Add the sauteed shitake mushroom to the angel hair/tempeh mix.
• Add salt and pepper,
• a dash of spicy chili sauce,
• a dash of teriyaki sauce. Mix well, and
• add one grated garlic clove.
  
  Serve hot. The taste of the nutty tasting tempeh, the sweetness of the dash of half and half, the spice and fruitness of the pepper and the garlic are delicious.