When I first started playing around with quinoa I had a difficult time getting it to taste less… well… earthy, we’ll say. After some experimentation, I found that quinoa could be delicious and satisfying as long as it was seasoned correctly and mixed with other veggies.

Protein-Packed Spicy Vegan Quinoa with Edamame

I posted this recipe a while ago on Allrecipes.com but I thought I would add it here as well. In addition to its mouthwatering flavor, this is one of the prettiest main dishes I make because no matter what kinds of quinoa or peppers you choose, it is always so colorful!

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups water

2 cups quinoa, rinsed

4 teaspoons vegetable bouillon (such as
Better Than Bouillon®)

2 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame
(green soybeans)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 sweet onions, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon hot chile paste (such as
sambal oelek), or to taste (optional)

Bring water, quinoa, and vegetable bouillon to a boil in a large pot; stir in edamame, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onions and bell peppers until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in soy sauce, cilantro, and chile paste.

Stir onion mixture into quinoa mixture; simmer, stirring occasionally, until excess broth has been absorbed, about 5 minutes.

I want the focus of this blog to be the celebration of delicious, cruelty-free food, but I hope you will humor me when I periodically decide to go off on a tangent.

One of the greatest worries that people seem to have about plant-based diets is where vegans get their protein. The short answer to this question is: absolutely everywhere! In addition to its presence in nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains, protein is also found in all fruits and veggies. Thus, no matter what delicious whole food you are eating, you are getting protein.

The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board and the World Health Organization recommend that both adult men and non-pregnant women get 0.66g/kg/day and 0.75g/kg/day protein, respectively (regardless of sex). The CDC recommends that adult women age 19-70 get about 46 grams of protein per day and adult men get 56 grams per day, or 10-35% of calories from protein, which is consistent with the recommendations of the other two organizations for individuals of healthy weight. Currently in America, we as a population eat about twice as much protein as we need. Perhaps as a consequence, we have a skewed level of concern for our protein intake when looking at a plate that has no slab of animal protein on it.

I weigh 130 pounds, so I need 40-46 grams of protein per non-intense-workout day. Work days are the hardest days for me to eat what I want, but even so, protein is not an issue. On a typical work day, I get up and eat 3/4 cup homemade nutty maple granola with 1/2 cup almond milk, which gives me 10-12 grams of protein. At work, I heat up a Sweet Earth Curry Tiger seitan and lentil burrito (19 grams protein), eat a peanut butter sandwich (12 grams protein) and 1-2 bananas (2-3 grams protein). I keep roasted pumpkin seeds in my drawer at work in case I get hungry (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Consequently, I often hit my protein requirement for the day before heading home from work!

It’s hard to tell whether the stereotypical scrawny vegan begets the worry about protein or whether this worry begets the stereotype. The reality is that there are plenty of healthy, fit vegans out there who are in no way protein deficient. One of my favorite inspirational figures is Frank Medrano, who has been kicking ass as a lean vegan body builder and calisthenics expert for years. I doubt that anyone would question whether he gets enough protein.

This morning, I drove to Sisyphus Brewery to pick up some delicious meatless meat during The Herbivorous Butcher‘s pop-up event there. I was also able to pick up my Kickstarter t-shirt, which is super cute!

Okay, onto more serious business:

Maple Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes

These potatoes are practically dessert, but still very healthy. I usually pair them with a sauteed bell pepper and maple sage breakfast sausage from The Herbivorous Butcher. They pack a lot of cinnamon flavor, so if you are not a fan, you can tone it down or leave it out altogether. I cannot get enough cinnamon.

Fun fact: Sweet potatoes are usually orange but can be a variety of different colors. Today’s potatoes are organic Hannah sweet potatoes, which are creamy white and mild in sweetness.

Ingredients:

1-2 sweet potatoes (1 large or two small), peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon extra cinnamon (on top of what is in the garam masala)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt to taste (or not)

1-2 tablespoons non-dairy milk or cream of your choice

First, steam or boil the sweet potatoes. I rough-chopped mine and put them in my rice cooker steam basket for 20 minutes, but you can also bake or boil them whole until they are tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, pour all the other ingredients into your serving bowl except for the milk and stir with a fork until mixed.

Once your potatoes are done, pour them into the serving bowl and mash them with the seasonings. Add non-dairy milk to your desired texture and creaminess. Add a protein and a non-starch veggie to complete the meal.

More about the Herbivorous Butcher

I absolutely love The Herbivorous Butcher‘s meatless meats. It has been such a blessing to have a local source of wheat gluten-based faux meat. Fortunately by middle of this year, they will have their own storefront and will be able to distribute nationally so everyone can get some meatless meat love!

I don’t think there’s any more perfect food than peanut butter. Well, maybe bananas. Anyway, I decided to try making peanut butter eggplant soup from Veganomicon tonight and it was sooo goood. Both my husband and I had a hard time not taking another helping despite having warm, full, happy bellies. The recipe was forgiving enough that I was able to use garlic instead of shallots and sesame oil instead of peanut oil and still got awesome fatty delicious soup.

If you wanna try making it, go get your own copy of Veganomicon! It’s got “NOM” right there in the title. Om nom nom.

Welcome to my new blog and website! I still have a lot of work to do, but feel free to look around and leave comments.