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Guys, the weather here in Northern California has been mag-i-cal. Sunny, but not too hot. The evenings are crispy, but not cold enough to need a jacket. I can spend all day outside gardening and not get over heated. What did I tell you? Magic. No matter what you are doing you will be comfortable! Spring is in the air and with it lot’s of new vegetables are finally in season. With an abundance of fresh life in the garden and on the table I was feeling inspired to invent something new, and let me tell you it did not disappoint! I made an Easter quiche with a root vegetable crust that was almost literally divine. Perfect for Easter eh? I mean honestly, what is Easter brunch without a delicious easy quiche recipe? It was filled with vegetables, a smidgen of goat cheese and a boat load of love. I can’t wait for you to try it! Trust me, you’ll want to make this one; it’s one of those “seems gourmet, but is actually a breeze to make” recipes. You can actually make this quiche recipe ahead and bring it to brunch. It’s really versatile!

The crust is made with potatoes and a little bit of beets. For those of you who don’t like beets, don’t worry. They aren’t a strong flavor, they just add a little sweetness and a lot of nutrition. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t really care for beets so you can trust me when I say they (surprisingly) added to the dish! The crust is super easy to make. All it is is shredded potatoes, beets, 1/3 cup whole wheat or gluten free flour and a couple of tbsp of butter. You cook the crust in the pan first and then you make the filling, which makes preparation really easy.

After the crust cooked I added a thin layer of goat cheese to the crust. The layer of fat from the cheese protects the crust from the egg mixture, preventing it from getting soggy. All that’s in the Easter quiche filling is egg, milk, leeks, broccoli and some seasonings. As I said, deceitfully easy and really, REALLY tasty. My mom who doesn’t like goat cheese or beets got seconds and everyone around the table cleaned their plates. I made it for dinner and ate it again in the morning for breakfast. And I’ll definitely be making it again soon, probably even before Easter. I just can’t get enough!

Sourcing Easter Quiche Ingredients:

Rule of thumb is to follow this order when it comes to sustainably sourcing food:

1. Grow it yourself
2. Buy it from a local vendor that uses sustainable practices
3. Order online from a sustainable vendor

Eggs: I source my eggs from Shelly’s Farm, a family farm run by a mother and son, Shelly and Kelly. They are animal welfare approved and they don’t even kill their chicken’s when they can no longer produce eggs. These girls are treated like family! You can find Shelly’s eggs at these locations:

• Mission Bay UCSF Farmers’ Market– Wednesday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
• Castro Farmers’ Market– Wednesday 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm
• Pleasanton Farmers’ Market– Saturday 9:00 am- 1:00 pm
• Brentwood Farmers’ Market– Saturday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm
• Inner Sunset Farmers’ Market Sunday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Happy Child CSA

If you can’t source eggs from Shelly keep these tips in mind. For eggs I really recommend trying to find a friend or local farmer that can sell you eggs. The flavor of farm fresh eggs is really something you can’t beat and not something you want to pass up on for this Easter quiche. It has never been a difficulty in any place I’ve lived before, but if you are struggling to find a local, humane egg source try finding Vital Farms, The Happy Egg Co., and Backyard Eggs at your grocery store. Again look for Certified Humane labels, a fairly rigorous third party certification. “Free range”, “pasture raised” and “cage free” all sound promising, but the claims do not have legal definitions/ are not audited by a third party company so anyone can claim them. Cage free is particularly bad, usually meaning birds cramped into dark hen houses so cramped that they often kill each other. You can learn more about the conditions of factory farm animals through my free eBook. 

Goat cheese: I source my goat cheese from Cypress Grove raised in made in my old home Arcata, CA. Cypress Grove not only works to keep their goats taken care of humanely, but they also make sure to help the community, use clean energy, clean water and keep wild life reserves on their property. I don’t know about in other states, but in California Cypress Grove cheese can be found at most grocery stores.

Butter: For butter I recommend buying cultured (AKA “European style”) grass fed butter or Miyoko’s vegan butter. If using real butter make sure it is third party grass fed certified. There are a lot of certification programs out there that are honestly not much better than factory farming, but Certified Humane, American Grassfed Association, Animal Welfare Approved and GAP 5, 5+ have the highest standards. If you are still unsure do some online research or shoot me an email asking about a brand. If you get a butter that is a rich yellow color and tastes better than anything you’ve ever put in your mouth you’ve probably found legit grass fed butter. Trust me, the difference is obvious.

Milk: For the milk I prefer to use homemade nut milk or Forager brand, but for regular milk try Claravale Farm raw milk, Organic Pastures raw milk or St. Benoit. I don’t know enough about other milk brands to recommend any yet.

Flour: There is a farmers’ market in San Francisco that sells whole wheat flour, but if you don’t have local wheat look for Bob’s Red Mill or Jovial Organics einkorn flour.. Bob’s Red Mill is a 100% employee owned business, which means there are no large corporations secretly buying all their stock and influencing the company. Woo hoo! And Jovial Organics grows sustainable einkorn wheat, one of the only heirloom varieties of wheat around!

Now let’s make some Easter quiche!

Yields 6

Easter Quiche with a Root Vegetable Crust

No Easter brunch is complete without an Easter quiche. If you've never had a vegetarian quiche with a vegetable crust you are in for a guilt free treat!

10 minPrep Time

1 hr, 10 Cook Time

1 hr, 20 Total Time

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Ingredients

For Crust:
• 2 russet potatoes shredded
• 1/2 large golden beet shredded
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 whole wheat or gluten free flour
• 2 tbsp melted butter
For the filling
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup milk or buttermilk
• one large head of broccoli finely diced (stems optional)
• 1 leek whites thinly sliced
• 2 oz chevre
• 2 tbsp chives minced
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Several cracks fresh black pepper
• Paprika

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Shred the potatoes and beet and ring out excess moisture.
3. Mix in melted butter and flour to shredded potatoes, incorporating evenly
4. Butter 9 inch pie pan well and form crust in pan. Use all of the crust vegetables, they will shrink considerably!
5. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through
6. Meanwhile whisk eggs, milk and other 1/2 tsp of salt into a bowl
7. Mince chives and combine with the goat cheese, set aside
8. Chop and slice leeks and broccoli and pour them into the egg mixture
9. When the crust is done pull it out of the oven and spread the goat cheese, chive mixture evenly on the bottom of the crust. The fat from the cheese acts as a barrier between the crust and egg filling.
10. Pour the egg and vegetable mixture into the pie pan and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. You want the egg to remain slightly soft, but not runny. Make sure not to over cook it!
11. When the quiche comes out of the oven sprinkle the top with paprika
12. Let the quiche rest for about 5 minutes then serve!
13. Happy eating. :]

7.8.1.2

17

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Check out how healthy this Easter quiche is! Look at those vitamins and minerals!

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The post Vegan Steamed Mushroom Dumplings appeared first on Get Cultured Kitchen.

Hello everyone! Happy Chinese New Year; I hope you take a little time to learn about Chinese culture today and maybe even try your hand at making steamed mushroom dumplings! Today is the first day of the Lunar Calendar and also the year of the Fire Rooster. “In Chinese astrology, each zodiac year is not just associated with an animal sign, but also one of five elements: Gold (Metal), Wood, Water, Fire, or Earth.”(1) People born in the year of the Fire Rooster are considered to be trustworthy and have good time management. Seem like reliable folks! Contrary to what I assumed, your Zodiac year is supposed to be the most unlucky year in the cycle for you! So sorry Roosters, I hope 2017 doesn’t bring you too much bad luck.

The 12 zodiac animals were picked very carefully and went through multiple revisions. The ox, pig, horse, rooster, dog and goat are common domesticated animals amongst the Chinese and the tiger, monkey, rat, dragon, rabbit and snake are loved by their people. The animals are organized in a fixed order according to the Chinese Yin and Yang Theory and the animals perceived attributes. The yin and yang of animals is based on the odd or even number of claws, toes or hoofs they have, yang being odd and yin even. The rat as four toes on its fore legs and five on its hind legs so based off of the Chinese saying, “a thing is valued in proportion to its rarity” the rat is first amongst the 12 zodiac animals. And since yang (odd) is dominant the rat is classified as yang. This is a characteristics chart of the zodiac animals from China Highlights, which is where I got this information! You will notice that the characteristics next to each other are opposites, concurrent with the Yin and Yang Theory. (2)

Chinese New Year is a time for families to come together and celebrate, so naturally there is going to be food! The New Year’s Eve dinner is considered the most important one of the year. Dumplings are considered a lucky food to eat and are supposed to bring wealth, and mushroom dumplings in particular are supposed to bring wealth and luck. I know I could use some luck this year! Mushrooms are shaped like an arrow pointing up; a symbol of stock market growth, progress, and increased quality of life. (3) I decided to go with steamed mushroom dumplings to keep them healthier than their fried counterparts!

Dumplings have a rich Chinese history and go back over 1,800 years. History says that dumplings originated from Zhang Zhongjing the “Medicine Saint”. He lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty about 1800 years ago. One winter, when returning to his home town, Zhang Zhongjing observed several people with frostbitten ears. He decided to stuff dough with mutton, chili and warming medicinal herbs and fold them into the shape of an ear. He boiled them and gave them to the poor. All of the ingredients were intended to warm the bodies of the poor and help thaw their ears. The foods original name was Jiao’er (tender ears) for its shape, but that evolved to Jiaozi. Zhang would cook them and feed them to the poor from the day of Winter Solstice to New Year’s Eve when the villagers were recovered. It is still a very common Winter food in most parts of northern China, a symbol or home and warmth. (4)

These particular steamed mushroom dumplings are nontraditional in that they have tofu. However, tofu was first recorded as being eaten in China and around the same time as dumplings were. Perhaps they were indeed put in dumplings, I’m not sure, but the tofu adds a nice meaty texture and added protein!

Forming the dumplings definitely takes some time, but making the filling and steaming them comes together so quickly. If you get a couple of hands in the kitchen to form these steamed mushroom dumplings you will be eating them in no time! Here is a video for making your own vegan dumpling wrappers. I have not been able to find any dumpling wrapper or won ton wrapper brands that are ethically sourced or vegan so I just suggest making your own.

References:

1. http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/rooster.htm
2. http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/
3. http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/chinese-dumplings.htm
4. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/food/2014-01/23/content_17253836.htm
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYxNe-PnqM

Kelsey

Yields 24 dumplings

8 dumplings

Vegan Steamed Mushroom Dumplings

Vegan steamed mushroom dumplings. Satisfying, flavorful and protein filled! Great for Chinese New Year or an appetizer this Super Bowl!

45 minPrep Time

20 minCook Time

1 hr, 5 Total Time

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Ingredients

Dough:
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 just boiled hot water
• cornstarch for dusting
• OR 1 package of wonton or dumpling wrappers
Filling:
• 1 long carrot grated
• 1 baby bok choy cut into ribbons
• 7oz firm tofu
• 1/2 portobello mushroom finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 bundle green onion finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil, plus extra for cooking
• 2 tsp grated ginger
Sauce:
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sriracha
• 1 tsp sesame oil
Garnish:
• Sesame seeds
• Chopped green onion

Instructions

1. Prepare the dumpling wrappers if making them from scratch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYxNe-PnqM
2. Put the tofu in a cheese cloth or thin towel and wring out as much moisture as possible.
3. Combine all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl except for the garlic, carrot and mushroom.
4. Heat about 1 Tbsp of sesame oil on medium high heat in a medium sauce pan.
5. Toss on the garlic and cook until fragrant.
6. Toss the mushrooms and carrots into the pan until the mushrooms start to shrink down.
7. Take the cooked ingredients off the heat and add them to the rest of the filling.
8. Put a rounded tsp of filling in each dumpling wrapper, line the edges with water and seal them up.
9. Steam the dumplings for about 10 minutes for homemade wrappers and 2 minutes for store bought wrappers or according to the package.
10. Mix soy sauce, sriracha and sesame oil for the dipping sauce.

Notes

Feel free to adjust ingredients to your tastes, these are just guidelines

7.8.1.2

11

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The post Healthy Winter Citrus Salad appeared first on Get Cultured Kitchen.

Do you get excited when you think about eating salad? It’s okay if you don’t, because to be honest I don’t either! But that is about to change for those of us in a salad slump. And if you are one of the lucky few whom never tires of salad, this Winter Citrus Salad will just be another to add to your arsenal. It’s funny to me that I associate salads with plain and boring, because a salad is such a broad term. It is so easy for me to get stuck in a rut when it comes to salad, same greens, same vinaigrette, but there are so many different kinds! Fruit salad! Egg salad! Tuna salad! Caesar! Greek! Chinese chicken! Beet salad! So why do I make the same salad every time? BEETS me. #sorrynotsorry.

Luckily, I have an easy solution for keeping our salads fun. Base your ingredients around the seasons! Eating in season is a great way to ensure that our diet is varied. You can’t reach for the same avocado that you always put in your salad greens, because you can’t find them at the farmer’s market this time of year. Plus, I believe that eating in season is best for our bodies. Citrus and leafy greens in the Winter? So the Vitamin C Kings and disease fighting, detoxing, iron and calcium packed greens in the Winter? Mother Earth, you’re a genius.

On top of that, this Winter citrus salad is soooo easy to put together and healthy! Salads are usually full of vegetables and love. Love and vegetables. Mmmm, healthy AND satisfying?

Let’s get a chant going here, “Vege-ta-bles. Vege-ta-bles! VEGETABLES!!!” No… okay, maybe that’s for the better; I’m probably getting too excited about vegetables.

OH WAIT, that’s impossible.

So anyway, as our fruits and vegetables change with the seasons, so do our salads. It’s almost like they are a pillar for what’s in season. Right now deep leafy greens, pomegranate, and citrus are killing it so I was sure they made an appearance in this Winter citrus salad, but really you can throw anything that’s in season. I’ve found that things that are in season just happen to compliment each other as well. Good on ya Earth. Yet another win for eating seasonally!

Plus there are a lot of other consequences of eating out of season. Did you know that when you eat out of season the fruit and vegetables are usually picked green and artificially ripened with gas or shipped from across the world where those fruits and vegetables can be grown this time of year? Either way no bueno.

If you aren’t sure what is in season in your area, just shop at your local farmers’ market. It takes the guess work out for you and supports your local economy. You can also look up your regions plant hardiness zone number and find out what is in season in your region that way. The number just identifies what kind of climate you have in your area and therefore what plant life thrives and when. Or maybe a simple search of, “What is in season in *insert where you live*” will do. You’ve got options. But I really encourage you to shop at your farmers’ market because when you shop at a chain super market only a small percentage of the revenue goes back into the community. Shop locally, shop seasonally. I rest my case.

I also want to throw in there real quick that I tried using chia seeds in the dressing to thicken it up and add an additional nutritional boost, and it worked out fabulously! They got all gelatinous and fun, and gave the dressing the perfect consistency! I got the idea when I was reading a beautiful vegan blog, Rainbow Nourishments, that used a vegan egg, 1 tbsp of chia seeds to 3 tbsp of water, in her Gingerbread Lamington Donut recipe. I recently made a lemon aioli for my Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Leftover Holiday Ham recipe which used egg yolk to emulsify the oil. I thought I would try something similar with chia seeds in the dressing, but rather than emulsifying it, I just dumped in the chia seeds and let them puff up.

Quicker and easier equals more likely to do which equals success! And let me tell you, it was a success on all fronts! You could literally prepare the Winter citrus salad in like 10 minutes and your family or your guests would be none the wiser. My brain is full of faux fancilious ideas. I regret saying fancilious a little bit… but there is also another part of me that loves it, so it will stay.

Quick shout out to my friend Michael, who, although he denies it, has a very bright future in hand modeling! Thank you for letting me borrow your lenses and helping me set up the shoot. You’re amazing!Anyway here is the recipe!

Kelsey

5

Healthy Winter Citrus Salad

Mother nature is a genius, providing us with antioxidant rich pomegranate, Vitamin C rich citrus, and leafy greens all throughout the winter. Try this easy, healthy, satisfying salad to keep you cold free all winter long!

10 minPrep Time

10 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 1 8oz bag mixed greens
• 1 pomegranate
• 1 oranges
• Crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola
• 1/2 cup walunts
• 1 fennel bulb
For the dressing:
• 1 Meyer's lemon
• 1 orange
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

For the dressing:
1. Zest one orange and the Meyer's lemon.
2. Juice half the orange and the whole lemon.
3. Reserve the other half orange for the salad
4. Whisk in honey, dijon, zest and olive oil
5. Stir in the chia seeds and let puff up while assembling the salad.
For the salad:
6. Peel 1 orange
7. Remove seeds from pomegranate*
8. Slice fennel bulb
9. Roughly chop walunts
10. Add orange sections, fennel, pomegranate, nuts and salad greens to a large salad bowl
11. Crumble a small dish full of blue cheese and keep on the side if you have pick eaters.

Notes

To remove the seeds from a pomegranate for eating, cut the pomegranate in half, cover the seed side with your hand and spank the back of it with a wooden spoon or a spatula. The seeds should start to fall out into your hand.

7.8.1.2

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The post Dried Fruit Rings with Spice Variations appeared first on Get Cultured Kitchen.

Hello friends! Today I bring to you the perfect hiking snack! I know it’s the new year and at lot of us are trying to form better exercising habits. Don’t forget whether you are out in nature or at the gym, fueling yourself is just as important as staying active. This snack has no added sugar and no junk. Just fruit and a smidgen of spicy fun! They are my little friends dried fruit rings and guys, they are so hands off and easy. All you need is a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife and an apple corer. But honestly the apple corer is optional, so all you really need is a knife and some fruit! The dried fruit rings go great on an appetizer platter with a triple creme cheese, such as brie, and a little jam of choice. They also make ideal hiking or camping fuel or a packed lunch snack for your children. They are perfect on their own or mixed into trail mix. I’ve also used a variety of other fruits for the dried fruit rings in the past. Apples and persimmons are just in season now so they are what I used.

As I’ve mentioned a million times, I love persimmons! If you didn’t know I have two other recipes using persimmons: easy vegan persimmon sorbet and roasted root vegetables with persimmons. By buying them in bulk and dehydrating huge batches of them I can have persimmons all year long! Or better yet if you have fruit trees this is a great way to preserve your harvest. No more rotting fruit on the ground as you scramble to figure what you are going to do with your abundant harvest. Or, if you find a neighbor with an overflowing tree ask if you can preserve some of their fruit and offer to give them some. You can do this with vegetables too, to eat on their own or to rehydrate into soups and sauces later. Or to give a Superfoods smoothie that extra nutritional zing. They are such a useful thing to have on hand. And don’t worry, I know that a lot of you probably don’t own a dehydrator so I gave oven and microwave dehydrating instructions as well. You can even dry fruits and vegetables in the sun. No one is excluded from this!

So I did this with both persimmons and apples and they had about the same drying time. As I said, you can do this with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, just make sure they are not too watery or mushy. The hachiya persimmon, my favorite variety, would not be a good choice for this. They are about the consistency of pudding and their drying time would be ridiculously long. If you are going to dehydrate persimmons opt for fuyu, which are the ones shaped like tomatoes and are firmer and easy to find.

My dehydrator is pretty large, it has five trays so I am able to dehydrate a lot of fruit at once. Food really shrinks down when you dehydrate it, so make sure you are dehydrating as much as possible! You want to get as many dried fruit rings as you can from the time and electrical energy it takes to dehydrate. So if you are dehydrating in the oven try to fit as many large baking sheets in your oven as you can! To prep the fruit all you have to do is core it (if necessary) and slice it as thin as possible. 1/4 inch slices are ideal and easy with a mandoline slicer. I free styled mine though and they came out just fine. Some of them had longer dehydrating times, but I just pulled out the ones that were ready when they were ready and let the rest continue to “cook”. Honestly, it is really hard to mess this up; I have faith in you all! If you are an overachiever you can dunk them in a solution of a 1/4 cup lemon juice and a quart of water to try and stave off oxidation to preserve the color, but it’s really not necessary. They will be tasty either way!

Dehydrator: In my dehydrator they dried at 135 for about 10 hours because my slices were thicker, but if you can get them to a 1/4 inch it shouldn’t take more than 6-8 hours. In my dehydrator I can fit about 8 apples sliced, but in the oven you can probably do about three medium large ones.

Microwave (I haven’t personally tried this): Lay the 1/4 inch slices in a single layer on top of a piece of parchment paper on a plate. Microwave on power 5 for about 2 minutes. Check and turn over, cooking at 30 second intervals after that. Keep an eye on them though, because I’ve read that people with stronger microwaves have had issues doing this. Don’t leave them unattended! When the edges of the fruit curl up a little take them out of the microwave and let them sit for 10 minutes. You can’t stack the fruit on top of each other so you’ll have to do this in batches. If you try this for yourself let me know how it goes or if I need to tweak the instructions! Trial and error my friends.

Oven: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Slice up about 3 apples as thinly as you can. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat if you have one! (Can I just throw in real quick that I think the word silpat is really fun to say?) Bake for one hour, flip and bake for another hour or until crispy!

Dried fruit rings are delicious plain, but I dressed mine up with some various spice combos. I don’t have specific measurements for this. I just dumped some spice in my palms and then sprinkled the chips with the spice. Remember that the spice and sweetness of the fruit will intensify while the fruit is dehydrating so don’t go to heavy! Plus you don’t want to disguise the flavor of the fruit, you want to enhance it. I’m really hammering this one home, because I think I personally over did it with the spice. You can see in the pictures which ones look a little heavy. You can always give your fruit slices a little pat to get the spices off if you put too much, but that’s just a waste! So don’t go hog wild in a jazz hand, spice flinging frenzy like me and lay off a little! I mean, lay off a little please.

Here are a couple of seasoning ideas, but feel free to add your own flare. There are no rules! (Besides not going heavy on the spices. Hehe )

Spice Combos:

• Cinnamon and nutmeg
• Salt and cayenne
• Chinese 5 spice and cinnamon
• Clove and ginger
• Chili powder and cinnamon
• Chili powder and salt
• Onion and garlic powder (for vegetables)
• Garlic and oregano/sage and thyme (for vegetables)
• Paprika and chili powder (for vegetables or fruits)

Do you have any spice ideas? Share them in the comments below so we can all try them out!

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The post Vegan Chinese Mushroom Lettuce Cups with Pear appeared first on Get Cultured Kitchen.

Phew! I’m sure you can relate when I say I’ve been busy the last two weeks! Earlier this week I spent time with my mother, aunt, sister and cousins in San Francisco. We stayed right on Union Square at the Sir Francis Hotel. Have you heard of that hotel? It’s truly remarkable. The building is old and the architecture is so detailed. I felt like royalty staying in such a beautiful place! Have you ever been to San Francisco? If so, have you ever taken a moment to look at the modern buildings juxtaposed against the Victorian architecture? The buildings and homes in San Francisco are so eclectic and the streets are always bustling.

Naturally, there were a lot of holiday decorations on every street corner and many more people. It was really special to see the giant Christmas tree and Menorah all lit up on the square. And to listen to a marching band performance the next morning. My cousins’ Uncle is 6 foot 6 so we all guessed how many “Uncle Swens” stacked on top of each other it would take to reach the top of tree. My cousin Julia was closest at 12 Swens. It was a little over 12.5 of him, 83 feet! That’s some serious Christmas spirit. Needless to say I have had my share of fun this week.

Amongst the trip to San Francisco, one to Sacramento, CA and some other adventures I’ve fallen behind on blog postings! The holidays always bring about a lot of family and friend time. A much loved and appreciated break, but finding time to write for the blog is hard. Today, now that the holiday celebrations have died down, I have been marathoning through and trying to write up all the recipes I have pictures for. They’ve accumulated for a while, patiently waiting to be posted.

Despite the family activities, this is the busiest time of year for a blogger. Everyone is looking for recipe ideas and are trying to find quick and delicious appetizers to bring to parties or if we are hosting, satiate our guests while we run around in the kitchen! Then the New Year rolls around, we’ve all had too many sweets and we are looking for healthy recipes as we focus on our New Years resolutions and bettering ourselves. I think the trick to starting new habits is taking them one step at a time and making it fun and easy! I know I am always working towards eating healthier and being a more mindful, compassionate individual so I’m hoping together we can support each other through whatever our goals may be!

Having it all planned out ahead of time definitely takes the guess work out of changing habits, regardless their content. I’ll be posting a lot of healthy recipes in the coming weeks to help push us to reach our goals! I am filled to the brim with wholesome recipes, mindfulness activities and articles about ethical and sustainable consumption. And I am particularly excited to tell you about this vegan mushroom lettuce cups recipe! Echoing what I have mentioned in other posts, easy and healthy are a recipe for success! These make a great lunch, snack, side dish or the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to make it a main dish any (or every) day of the week. Oh, and did I mention they are delish? You can have your Chinese take out and your health too!

December has been bringing the San Francisco Bay an abundance of food and this week I picked up a beautiful portobello mushroom at the farmers’ market. I love using mushrooms as a meat substitute, because they have such a satisfying thick mouth feel. I’ve had mushrooms as a substitute in orange chicken, in burger patties and many other creative ways, but this recipe keeps it simple. The highlight is the mushroom. It still tastes like a mushroom, because that is exactly what belonged in these mushroom lettuce cups, and I love it.

Mushrooms are a fungus that grow amongst decomposing matter. Look for organic ones or wild harvested that have grown in nutrient rich soil, because they will absorb whatever is present in their growing medium, good or bad. Mushrooms are one of the only sources of selenium which is important for a healthy thyroid. They also contain good amounts of fiber, riboflavin, copper, potassium, phosphorus, pantothenic acid and niacin. As I was saying before they are absorbent like a sponge, so if their soil is rich in minerals they will be too!

These vegan lettuce cups also have ginger, garlic and cilantro to keep us healthy this winter. Garlic and ginger have great anti inflammatory properties and are used to treat colds. While cilantro is an excellent blood purifier, helping to reduce LDL or bad cholesterol from the blood. However, I know that cilantro is one of those things you either hate or you love, so it’s just a garnish and you may easily leave it out of the recipe. I also added Asian pear into the filling to add a light sweetness and crunch. Alternatively, you could add a can of water chestnuts to get a similar texture and flavor if you don’t have access to Asian pear.

The prep time for this one is super easy. Shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to prep and cook these bad boys. I know you’re busy.

P.S. I’m super stoked on how the picture of the filling for the lettuce cups came out! But I still have such a long way to go. I’ve been really into the “dark and moody” food photography look lately. Do any of my photography friends have any pointers for me?

Kelsey

Yields 5

Vegan Mushroom Lettuce Cups with Pear

8 minPrep Time

7 minCook Time

15 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 5 large iceberg or Romaine lettuce leaves
• 2 cups roughly chopped mushroom (I used portobello)
• 1 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1 cup finely diced Asian pear
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2-3 tsp grated ginger (depending on preference)
• 1 handful cilantro roughly chopped
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Instructions

1. Toss everything but the cilantro in a frying pan on medium high heat.
2. Stir to distribute the sauce
3. Cook until heated all the way through (about 5-7 minutes)
4. Scoop evenly amongst lettuce
5. garnish with cilantro and sesame seeds
6. Serve immediately!

Notes

This recipe can easily be doubled, halved or any other ratio. It's very flexible.

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https://www.getculturedkitchen.com/vegan-chinese-mushroom-lettuce-cups-pear/

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The post Vegan Curried Lentil and Quinoa Winter Stew appeared first on Get Cultured Kitchen.

No, you don’t need glasses… okay well maybe you do, I don’t know you’re life like that. But you read it right, lentils and quinoa IN THE SAME STEW. I know, I know, mind blown. But why not? Both are fiber and protein packed little bundles of delicious. They also happen to make excellent thickening agents so there you have it. We’re going all out today! Okay? Trust me, your body deserves it.

I already told you guys I’m a total wimp when it comes to cold weather; so I do what I can to avoid it at all costs. You feel me on this one right? Winter time is the king of comfort food, because we crave comfort! We all want to snuggle up with some cozy food, but unfortunately that’s when we pack on the pounds too. Cheesy this and cream of that might sound good, but they leave us feeling sluggish, then we end up sedentary and GUYS this is how we end up cold! Got to get that blood moving.

Don’t you worry though. I have the solution for you and it comes in the form of a healthy stew packed with warming spices. We’re talking turmeric, we’re talking ginger, we’re talking cayenne. A little bit of spicy food is great for opening up the blood vessels and getting our blood pumping. Turmeric and ginger are also great for warding of winter colds. I also garnished the stew with pumpkin seeds and yogurt, just for a healthy dose of iron, magnesium (two things many of us are deficient in) and probiotics! Plus the stew is packed with vegetables and bone broth (or vegetable broth for the vegan route).

Either way, so good for our health! Check out the nutrition label for this baby. PACKED with nutrients. It’s high in vitamin K, C and A; B6; Niacin; Thiamin; Magnesium; Phosphorus; Zinc; Iron; Potassium; and Riboflavin. Phew! Even I was a little surprised at all the vitamins! Bones hold all those important minerals and collagen that keep our skin supple, our teeth strong and our guts happy. Sounds good right? A lot of Western countries waste most of an animal when it is slaughtered, but the organ meats and bones are the most nutritious parts. Vegetable broth is full of minerals too! Here’s a little pro tip for you guys. Don’t throw away your vegetable scraps. Toss them in a pot with a couple quarts of water (and bones, organs or feet if you eat animal products) and let it simmer on low for a few hours. The water will retain the minerals from the scraps. More nutritious than store bought broth, easy to make, cheaper and you are reducing waste! Win, win, win, win!

Oh! I forgot to mention you can whip up this dinner in 30 minutes tops. All you have to do is saute some chopped vegetables, which you could pre-chop for an even faster cook time; then throw them in a pot with the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Easy peasy. I also forgot to mention my favorite part of the stew, the curry flavor! It’s not over powering, but I love cumin in literally anything so I was happy. Then there’s the whole warming spices curry love thing. We’ve been over this. It’s good. Let’s get cooking friends!

Curried Lentil and Quinoa Winter Stew

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Ingredients

• Avocado oil or 1 tsbp grass fed butter
• 1 qt bone broth or organic vegetable stock
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1/2 quinoa
• 1 inch grated ginger
• 1 inch grated turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sustainably sourced chopped celery stalks
• 2 sustainably sourced chopped carrots
• 1 cup (about 12) sustainably sourced shredded brussel sprouts
• 1/2 a large sustainably sourced onion diced
• 1 bundle (large handful) sustainably sourced spinach
• 2 tbsp minced sustainably sourced garlic
• pumpkin seeds for garnish (optional)
• Humanely sourced (try Green Valley) yogurt for garnish (optional)
• OR Vegan coconut yogurt

Instructions

1. On medium high heat, heat the cooking oil or butter on a medium sized pan.
2. Saute the celery, onion, carrots, garlic and brussel sprouts until the onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant.
3. Add the spices and half the salt to the pan and while stirring, cook for 1 more minutes.
4. Put the sauteed vegetables in a heavy bottomed stock pot or dutch oven.
5. Add the quinoa, lentils and stock and rest of salt.
6. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
7. Once the lentils and quinoa are cooked through, but still have a little bite and broth has reduced to stew consistency, add the spinach.
8. Cook while stirring for 1 more minute.
9. Serve immediately or let cool to be reheated later. It also freezes well!
10. Serve with yogurt and pumpkin seeds.

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https://www.getculturedkitchen.com/vegan-curried-lentil-quinoa-winter-stew/

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