butternut squash

Slow Cooker Recipe: Lower Fat Plant-Based Butternut Squash and Chickpea Coconut Curry

November 20, 2015 by Veronica Grace

Hey guys! I am still working with Iphone photos for now as my professional Canon camera was stolen and I don’t have funds to replace it yet so thank you for bearing with me. Phone pics are not as pretty for sure, but it will do in a pinch and you get the idea. Besides the food is way more delicious anyway, just make it and see.

With fall well underway and my pantry kind of overflowing in dried beans and lentils that I have been hoarding for way too long, I decided I need to start making recipes using up as much of my dried ingredients as possible. You do not want to know how many bags and bags of dried stuff I have. It’s kind of ridiculous for just 1 person, but I used to like having any ingredient at my finger tips when I got a craving for a new recipe.

It’s also extremely affordable to make plant-based/vegan slow cooker recipes using dried, canned and frozen ingredients, especially when a small amount of work can yield such delicious food and have lots of leftovers. So even though it’s just me, i don’t mind having leftovers of super delicious curries because I can just give away a few portions to hungry friends, and freeze some for easy meals when I’m too tired to cook. Plus why spend $5-7 on a single frozen vegan meal, when you can make a big batch of something a few times a month and freeze it yourself, right? Right.

Although I don’t have a slow cooker recipe book yet, I know it’s something that a few of you have been asking for. It does take some time since I can’t make several recipes a day using this method and crank them out for recipe testing. It’s a slower process, but convenient for people who are busy and really hate “active cooking time” i.e. standing at the stove and/or making a big mess and fitfully sobbing when you didn’t stir it enough and it ends up burned… I mean that doesn’t happen to me that often, but I understand not everyone WANTS to live in the kitchen making food day in and day out.

Any slow cooker you have laying around that is a standard size (not individual sized) will do for this recipe, I used my Ninja Cooking System because I could sauté the onions, garlic and ginger right in the cooking insert over the medium heat setting. I don’t like having extra dishes to do when I make slow cooker recipes, so I find this convenient for me and the thing I hate most about cooking is dishes honestly. If you haven’t signed up to my newsletter yet to stay up to date on new (and favourite free) recipes you can sign up in the pink box on the upper right hand side of the screen there too.

Plant-Based Butternut Squash & Chickpea Coconut Curry (Slow Cooker Recipe)

serves 8-10 side portions or a hungry family of 4-5

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash (about 5 cups) peeled, de-seeded and cubed
2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked 8 hours or overnight
1 medium onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 inch chunk of ginger, minced
1 can 13.5 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 can 13.5 ounce light coconut milk
3 cups/1 litre low sodium vegetable broth
2.5 tablespoons yellow curry powder
1 tsp sugar or honey
2 bay leaves
4 large handfuls of baby spinach or 1 bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Carefully cut the skin off the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into 1 inch cubes. To make cutting easier you can slice is in half and microwave the squash for 3 minutes and let cool before cutting.

2. *Optional step: sauté the onions, garlic and ginger in a pan with a little water or in the insert of a Ninja Cooking System.* Assemble all of the ingredients in your slow cooker excluding the peas, spinach, salt and cilantro. Cook on low for 8 hours.

3. About 20 minutes before serving, add in the fresh peas and spinach and stir until spinach is wilted.

4. Taste test and add salt as desired. For a slightly thicker sauce you can use a potato masher and mash some of the squash and chickpeas.

5. Serve over basmati rice and garnish with fresh cilantro. (I prepared 3 rice cups of basmati rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker)

Tips:

Dried chickpeas are best as they will absorb the flavor of the curry as they cook. Don’t use canned chickpeas and cook this for 8 hours as that’s completely unnecessary, 4-6 hours maximum as they’re already cooked.

The night before, sort and rinse the dried chickpeas in a strainer, place in a large bowl and cover with at least 6 cups of water. Alternatively you can do the Quick Soak Method: bring the rinsed chickpeas to a boil in a pot of water and cook for 1 minute and let soak for at least an hour. I find slow soaked chickpeas rather than quick soak chickpeas more tender when cooked, but it’s up to you.

For easy frozen meals later, freeze small portions of the curry and rice separately in tupperware containers.

Question: Have you started using your slow cooker yet this season? What’s your favorite recipe?

Vegan Baked Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Mushrooms

December 27, 2012 by Veronica Grace 16 Comments

Sometimes I like to play around with my own recipes and change them up for variety! This is a different spin on my Low Fat Vegan Baked Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese. This time I’ve left out the panko breadcrumbs so you can see all those lovely vegetables inside!

I’ve added lightly steamed broccolini/brocolette (a milder form of broccoli) and sautéed mushrooms to the mix!

So now not only is this probably the healthiest baked mac and cheese ever (cuz it’s oil free, cheese free and gluten friendly) but it’s packed full of nutritional powerhouse vegetables such as butternut squash, garlic and onions (used in the sauce) and broccoli and mushrooms.

This is just one of 60 delicious recipes in my Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World recipe ebook.

I’m sure kids would love this recipe too because the veggies are fairly mild tasting and covered in sauce!

Vegan Baked Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Mushrooms

adapted from my Baked Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese in Comfort Foods From Around The World

Note: Because I added vegetables to this recipe, the flavor of the sauce needs to be enhanced so I increased the amounts of seasonings.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

½ medium butternut squash (or 1 2/3 cups cooked and mashed)
16 oz./454 g package elbow macaroni or spirals (for GF use Tinkyada brown rice pasta for best results)
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. salt (*optional for pasta)
1 cup broccoli florets, chopped into little pieces
1 cup mushroom slices, chopped
1/2 – 3/4 cup vegetable broth (for cooking)
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 – 4 tsp. brown rice miso (use a lot more if using shiro/white/yellow miso)
3 cups almond milk (unsweetened original)
2 tbsp. flour or cornstarch
3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 – 1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
3/4 – 1 tsp. salt (*optional for sauce)

Topping:
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

Directions:

1. Peel and cube the butternut squash and bring to a boil and steam just until soft. Alternatively you can cook in a pressure cooker at high pressure for 5-7 minutes. Drain well. (Tip, if your squash is hard to peel or cut, pop it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes to soften the skin to make it easier to slice.) Measure out 1 2/3 cup of mashed squash and set aside.

2. In a large pot, bring water to a rolling boil and then add salt if desired. Add pasta and cook just before tender (about 2 minutes less than package directions). Generally it’s about 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander and rinse in cold water. (Do not overcook the pasta.)

3. In a non-stick pan, saute mushrooms in 1/4 cup of water over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and a little more water and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 177 C.

5. In a large saucepan heat vegetable broth over medium heat and add the onions. Cook for 5-6 minutes until tender adding broth when needed to prevent burning.

6. Add cooked onions and any remaining broth from pan into Vita-Mix or food processor, add mashed squash, 1 cup almond milk and miso and blend until combined. Set aside.

7. In the same large saucepan add 1 cup of the almond milk and sprinkle 1 tbsp. of the flour or cornstarch when hot and whisk in. Add the remaining 1 cup of milk and sprinkle in another tbsp. of flour. Whisk this together fast. It’s ok if there are a few small bits of flour still.

8. Cook the sauce for a minute or two until hot and quickly add the squash mixture and whisk in. Heat through another minute or two and then add the nutritional yeast and whisk in. Turn off heat and add remaining seasonings starting with the lower amounts. Taste test and add additional seasonings to your liking.

9. Add drained pasta and mushrooms and broccoli to sauce pot and stir to coat. Spread out in a casserole dish. (If you want to add some vegan cheese like Daiya cheese you would layer some in now and mix it in, but I don’t feel the need to add it personally.)

10. Bake for 20-30 minutes just until pasta is tender. (20 minutes if you slightly overcooked your pasta, 30 minutes if you didn’t)

11. Serve.

Additional Tips:

To save time you can use frozen cubed butternut squash and then cook it and mash it, or use canned butternut squash. Both are sold at health food stores in North America.

Smoked paprika (also called Spanish Paprika) is much more flavourful than traditional paprika, it lends a nice smokey flavor to this cheesy sauce. McCormick makes one, or you can get it at some ethnic or Indian markets.

Brown rice miso paste is the best for this recipe, is has a stronger tangier flavor than the lighter misos. This is what gives the sauce a tangy cheezy flavor. If you don’t use it your sauce will not taste like a cheese sauce.

If you’d like a runnier mac and cheese you can add an extra 1/4 cup of almond milk to the sauce, but you’ll need to add some more seasonings to readjust the flavor.

Have you ever made an oil free, cheese free mac and cheese recipe? What did you use?

Low Fat Vegan Baked Butternut Squash Macaroni & Cheese

October 11, 2012 by Veronica Grace 45 Comments

Vegan Baked Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese is one of my faaaaavorite recipes in my new ebook. I make it quite often for my friends and family and it’s super pretty to serve with the panko topping and red and green spices on top.

This is one of my favorite recipes I created for my cookbook

And the winner of my new ebook Vegan Comfort Foods From Around the World is…..

Missy!

Congratulations Missy! You will receive a copy of my new recipe ebook Comfort Foods From Around The World.

Now on to my delicious recipe of the week… This one was mentioned numerous times by you guys as one you just HAD to have. So I’m giving you a sneak peek this week before my ebook goes on sale next week.

A delicious vegan mac and cheese recipe can be quite elusive to find. I had actually never eaten vegan mac and cheese until I started playing around with recipes and made one myself. But later whenever I saw vegan mac and cheese while traveling around Canada and the USA I tried some because I was curious what other people had come up with. Generally speaking it’s not that special. Most vegetarian restaurants serve macaroni tossed in oil and a bit of seasoning and then top it with fake (vegan) cheese and then bake it and you end up with a slightly greasy, fairly salty overcooked macaroni that leaves much to be desired. I have yet to be impressed.

I think what makes a great mac and cheese regardless if it’s vegan or not is having some actual cheese sauce in it. All of these vegetarian restaurants skipped this essential part! (I am still baffled as to why they would do this, when classic recipes always have a cheese sauce.)

My vegan mac and cheese recipe actually doesn’t contain any oil or fake vegan cheese at all. I wanted the “cheese” sauce to be amazing and give all the flavour to this classic casserole dish without the need for high fat vegan cheese. I’ve even served this to my mom’s friends and they had NO IDEA that it was vegan or that it didn’t contain cheese. Needless to say whenever I am cooking for people who are skeptical of vegan food this is one of my top 3 go to dishes. (My others are Quinoa Veggie Chilli and Greek Stuffed Peppers which are also in my Comfort Foods From Around The World recipe ebook).

What I love about using squash in the cheese sauce is that it’s a natural thickener because of the high starch content, that way you can easily create a thick creamy sauce without any extra oil or fat and it holds it together nicely.

The 2 essential ingredients for flavoring this recipe would be miso paste and smoked paprika. Miso paste is what gives this sauce a really cheesy flavor, because it’s fermented and tangy. (Nutritional yeast also helps, but you need the miso paste for it to taste like cheese.) My favorite is Genmai brown rice miso paste, you can find it at the health food store in the refrigerated section near the tofu and fake meat products. I have tried using different miso pastes like white (shiro) and yellow miso but they are much milder and I found I had to add a lot more to my recipes. So keep this in mind if you use a different kind of miso paste and use as much as you feel you need when taste testing your sauce. The other ingredient is smoked paprika, I think this is a vast improvement over regular paprika (which I never liked as a child) and I like to include it in any recipes that I’d like a nice mild smokey flavor to. Plus it’s absolutely gorgeous for sprinkling on top of recipes as you can see as well. So do try and find smoked paprika, once you do you’ll want to put it on everything! (and of course check Amazon if you can’t find it locally.)

I know this is recipe is one you’re going to want to make for your family again and again because it’s delicious, yet light. It has all the decadence of mac and cheese without the guilt or the excess calories and you easily serve it with a side salad or steamed vegetable like broccoli to make an even more balanced meal.

This is by far the BEST vegan mac and cheese I’ve ever had (and I’ve tried a lot). It’s so good that all your vegan and omnivore friends will be begging you to make it again and again. And best of all it is very low in fat and much healthier than the original classic.

Vegan Baked Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

from Comfort Foods From Around The World

Serves 6

Ingredients:

½ medium butternut squash (or 1 2/3 cups cooked and mashed)
16 oz/454 g package elbow macaroni or spirals (for GF use Tinkyada brown rice pasta for best results)
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt (*optional for pasta)
1/2-3/4 cup vegetable broth (for cooking)
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp. brown rice miso (use more if using shiro/white/yellow miso)
3 cups almond milk (unsweetened original)
2 tbsp. flour or cornstarch
3/4-cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4-1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2-1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2-3/4 tsp. salt (*optional for sauce)

Topping:
2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (or GF)
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

Directions:

2. In a large pot, bring water to a rolling boil and then add salt if desired. Add pasta and cook just before tender. Generally it’s about 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander and rinse in cold water. (Do not overcook the pasta.)

3. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 177 C.

4. In a large saucepan heat vegetable broth over medium heat and add the onions. Cook for 5-6 minutes until tender adding broth when needed to prevent burning.

5. Add cooked onions and any remaining broth from pan into Vitamix or food processor, add mashed squash and miso and blend until combined. Set aside

6. In the same large saucepan add 1 cup of the almond milk and sprinkle 1 tbsp. of the flour or cornstarch when hot and whisk in. Add the remaining 2 cups of milk and sprinkle in another tbsp. of flour. Whisk this together fast. It’s ok if there are a few small bits of flour still.

7. Cook the sauce for a minute or two until hot and quickly add the squash mixture and whisk in. Heat through another minute or two and then add the nutritional yeast and whisk in. Turn off heat and add remaining seasonings starting with the lower amounts. Taste test and add additional seasonings to your liking.

8. Add drained pasta to sauce pot and stir to coat. Spread out in a casserole dish. (If you want to add some vegan cheese like Daiya cheese you would layer some in now and mix it in, but I don’t feel the need to add it personally.) Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over top. Sprinkle basil, oregano and paprika to cover.

9. Bake for 20-30 minutes just until pasta is tender. (20 minutes if you slightly overcooked your pasta, 30 minutes if you didn’t)

10. Serve with steamed broccoli or a green salad.

Additional Tips:

To save time you can use frozen cubed butternut squash and then cook it and mash it, or use canned butternut squash. Both are sold at health food stores in North America.

To reheat you will want to either microwave it and then toast it in the oven or toaster oven to crisp up the breadcrumbs again, or just reheat in the oven until warm.

What do you think of this recipe? Have you ever tried vegan mac and cheese before?

This is just 1 of 60 other delicious recipes in my new recipe ebook Comfort Foods From Around The World. It’s going to be released shortly, so make sure you are subscribed to my mailing list to keep up to date on it’s release!