Corn Chowder Quinoa Casserole, Roasted Green Beans, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am going to post recipes from my week of meals that my family enjoyed.  
Its hard to determine if plant-based meals you find will be yummy, or not so much.  
I am going to do them in separate posts so they will be easier to find. 

This meal is: 
Corn Chowder Quinoa Casserole (from Dreena Burton's Let Them Eat Vegan Cookbook) 
paired with Roasted Green Beans and Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Dreena Burtons blog) for dessert.

*forgive the poor picture quality, I snapped one with my phone right before I dug in

Casserole Recipe:

2 C           nondairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

1 1/2 C     frozen corn

1 C           uncooked, rinsed quinoa

1 C           vegan veggie stock

1/2 C        chopped onion

3/4 C        seeded, diced red bell pepper

2 TBSP    EVOO

1 tsp         dried basil

1/2 tsp      dijon mustard

1 large      bay leaf

1 can        cannellini beans (14oz can)

1/2 tsp      sea salt

                 freshly ground black pepper

1-2 TBSP lime juice

3-4 TBSP chopped flat-leaf parsley

1-3 TBSP extra nondairy milk

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.  Combine 1 C of milk with 3/4 C corn in blender and puree. In a large casserole dish (8x12inches), combine this mixture with reserved corn plus all the other ingredients (except lime juice, parsley, and extra milk) and stir well.  

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  After this time, remove from the oven and stir again.  Put foil back on and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until the quinoa is cooked through.

Remove from the oven and remove the bay leaf.  Add the lime juice and parsley, sitr well, add the milk if you would like the mixture to be a little thinner, and serve.  

Roasted Green Beans

1 bag frozen green beans

EVOO

Sea Salt

I used the same oven/temp (400 degrees).

Spread out green beans (still frozen) on cookie sheet.  Spritz with olive oil and sprinkle with seasalt.  Toss to coat (spritzing and sprinkling more sea salt if needed).  

Bake in oven for approximately 15-20 minutes until green beans look a little toasty.  Turn halfway through baking.  

*I like mine well done, so they end up a little more brown.

Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1 C           Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 tsp         baking powder

1/2 tsp      baking powder

1/4C         unrefined sugar

1/4 tsp      sea salt

1/3C         maple syrup

1/4 tsp      molasses

1 1/2 tsp   vanilla

1/4 C         neutral oil

1/3 C         non-dairy chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.

In separate bowl, mix syrup, molasses, vanilla, and oil.

Add chocolate chips to dry mixture, add wet ingredients. Combine.

Place on cookie sheet.  (I use tablespoon-sized balls and end up with 1 dozen) Press balls to flatten slightly.

Bake 10-12 minutes until just starting to brown.  (Overbaking will cause them to be crispy)

The Best Green Beans Ever

They might not look like much, but these green beans are amazing. And even better, they are so easy. Every time I cook them, both Josh and Madi let me know how good they are. And then, I tell myself I need to post this recipe online... and I have forgotten, until now.

So, the key ingredient here is: green beans. But, it can't just be a can or any old green bean. You must pick up a bag of fresh green beans* from your local farmers market. Before I came across this recipe, I could never figure out how to cook fresh green beans, especially in a healthy way.

Here is what you need:

-about 1 lb of green beans (depending on the size of your family)
-olive oil
-garlic salt (or regular salt, if you prefer)
-pepper
-tin foil
-a cookie sheet


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover the cookie sheet with tin foil. Trim the ends off of the green beans and then spread them out evenly on the cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the green beans. Sprinkle them with the garlic salt and pepper. Toss them around to evenly coat them with the olive oil. Make sure they are spread evenly again and then place the pan in the oven. Cook about 20 minutes, turning about halfway through. You will know they are ready when they get all wrinkly and are getting a little brown.



These green beans turn out to be so tasty. Baking them in the oven releases the innate sweetness of the green bean. Who knew they could be sweet? And then with the salty flavor and olive oil.... yummmmmy!


So, please try these as soon as possible. And then let me know what you think!


*I have heard that you can use frozen green beans with this recipe as well, but I haven't tried it. So if you have some laying around, let me know how it works.