Egyptian Foul Medames/Moudammas

Considered the national dish of Egypt, foul medemas/moudammas is a popular staple in parts of Africa, Israel, Syria, and Malaysia. This inexpensive local bean, the fava bean, is frequently cooked and seasoned with garlic, cumin, salt, olive oil, and lemon juice. 

Dry fava beans

Surprisingly to Americans, foul is eaten for breakfast in most of those countries. 

I spend my winters in South Florida in an area that is a melting pot of cultures. In addition to large communities of people from Russia, Venezuela, Brazil, Morocco, and Turkey, there are many Israelis of Sephardic descent (meaning their families originally come from a Middle Eastern or African countries such as Morocco, Syria, Egypt, etc.). 

This morning I was invited to a brunch that featured foul Medames/moudammas as the main course at the home of an Israeli friend. They also served  baba ganooj, quinoa tabouleh, hummus, salads, beets, falafel etc. with the foul- a vegan's delight!

My late mother-in-law, from Egypt, always made her homemade falafel from fava beans! In the US we are more accustomed to falafel that is made from chick peas.

Foul, or better known as fava beans, can be purchased as dried beans or in the cans. You may need to visit a Middle Eastern grocer to find them. The produce store near the bridge in Morrisville, Pa. actually sells them.

If you are lucky enough to have a Middle Eastern grocery store near by, you can purchase the cans and follow this traditional easy recipe. 

Using canned beans is of course a much faster method than using dried beans that require soaking. This could probably be made in the Instant Pot -but I have not tried that method yet!

My husband's family eats foul with pita bread. A gluten-free wrap would work! Actually, I like mine without bread. It's just a bowl of tasty beans.

Ingredients: 

2 cans of cooked fava beans with the liquid from the can

1 tablespoon of ground cumin seed

3 cloves of pressed fresh garlic or garlic powder (1/2 teaspoon) 

Salt and cracked pepper

Toppings: sliced green onion, chopped tomato, lemon juice and chopped cilantro

Directions: 

Pour the fava beans and liquid into a sauce pan. Add the garlic and the cumin and stir. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer for 2 hours, covering the pot the last 1/2 hour. When the beans are soft, add salt and cracked black pepper to taste. (Add a tablespoon of olive oil if desire- I do not) . Pour into a serving bowl and eat with green onion, chopped tomato, lemon juice and chopped cilantro if desired. (Some people eat it with chopped hard boiled eggs as well but being vegan, we do not.)

My Notes: 

1. It is difficult to know the exact spelling of a word that is translated from another language. It goes by many different spellings. 

2. My husband said that cooked foul was a popular street food in Egypt when he was young (1950's) and that it was very inexpensive and eaten by the poor people. Actually, foul is full of iron, protein and fiber making it a very healthy food!

Antipasto Pasta Salad With Olives and Artichokes

 You are going to love this easy to make simple Italian pasta salad, especially if you love olives like I do!

What could be easier or tastier than assembling an antipasto pasta salad using the fixings from a salad bar or your own fixings bar? 

It simply involves cooking up a little pasta, mixing it up with fixings, and enjoying. It's easy, yet very tasty. 

In fact, it is so tasty and appealing, it's good enough to serve to company! 

My favorite add-ins are the marinated artichokes, olives, chickpeas and cherry tomatoes and then an oil-free Italian dressing.

The concept is easy. Make your pasta and then mix it with whatever you find on the salad bar. Then add Italian dressing ! 

I love pasta and often make it on the spur of the moment. 

Once cooked, these simple additions make the pasta dish into something special.

The pastabilities are endless for this wonderful plant-based gluten-free meal!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of my followers a wonderful happy new year! May all your wishes come true!

Notes: 

1. I use gluten-free pasta

2. This is delicious for a party

3. I toss it in Italian dressing ( I use a oil-free dressing, but use what you like)- this makes it!!

Pompeii Pasta Ala Tina

I'm really excited about this incredible Pompeii pasta recipe that is made with artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, garlic and white wine--all ingredients that I need to use up before Wednesday. Why? 

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Primavera

Looking for a delicious, light, and healthy pasta entree that is loaded with flavorful roasted summer vegetables, tasty olives, capers, and artichoke hearts? This easy vegan pasta primavera is it!!

Tofu "Egg" Salad - Tasty Summer Salad

If you are looking for ways to use tofu, you might enjoy this tofu salad spread that looks similar to egg salad. It can be eaten on a plate with other vegetables, with crackers, or on a sandwich. It's quite tasty and versatile. My favorite way to eat it with a big slab of tomato on some gluten free bread. 

Butternut Squash Red Lentil Soup- Instant Pot Version

This is one of my favorite soup recipes. 

It is spicy, rich in flavor, filling and easy to make.

Lentil Loaf- oil-free

As we speak, my vegan lentil loaf is in the oven.

I have been wanting to find a good vegan meatloaf recipe for a few years. I could never find one that held together and that we liked. After all, a vegan meatloaf is a far stretch from the real thing. This recipe held together and sliced beautifully. 

My lentil loaf after I removed it from a square pan

I found a recipe on a wonderful whole food plant-based blog called Nutmeg Notebook- authored by Tami. 

Her recipes are oil-free and mostly gluten-free-says Tami. I was really impressed with her site and am going to explore more of her delicious looking recipes. 

Although I'm cooking oil free, remember that oil-free does not necessarily mean fat-free. Oil-free recipes may still use good fats such as avocado, nuts, and seeds. 

 I wanted to the lentil loaf recipe precisely, but I did not have all the ingredients- so I improvised with what I had on hand and also aligned with our personal taste preferences. 

We liked it. Did I love it?  I'm not sure what I was expecting. I guess I thought it would taste like meatloaf (which I have not tasted in over 42 years because I have been eating a vegetarian diet) 

My lentil loaf was sort of creamy in the middle (but good). I sliced it and crisped it up in my air fryer- we loved that. 

It will be a perfect item to pack if I need to bring my lunch anywhere. It holds together great. I will probably take it for a long road trip we are taking in a few weeks. 

I froze packets of slices to use in the future. 

Since I made so many substitutions, I'm not sure how Tami's recipe would have turned out. 

I might have liked it somewhat dryer but I can't fault her recipe since I made multiple substitutions. 

For example: 

I used salsa instead of tomato paste 

I used amino acids instead of balsamic vinegar (I'm allergic) 

I dislike nutritional yeast, so I omitted it. 

I didn't make the date glaze, I just used ketchup. 

Tami's recipe  Lentil Loaf with Date Glaze

Vegan Dinner Bowl: Zucchini, Potatoes, Green bean and Chickpea

Take advantage of the beautiful end of summer local produce and make yourself this easy one-skillet vegan dinner bowl.

Vegan Sephardic Shabbat Dinner

Tonight is Shabbat (our Sabbath begins) and I made a Jewish vegan dinner "Sephardic" Style. Our dinner may remind you of Greek or Arabic cooking and that is because my husband and his family came to the US from Egypt in August of 1966. The food that I cooked for tonight's dinner are recipes that I learned from my Middle Eastern mother-in law. Recipes included at the end of the post.

Mongolian Mushrooms and Tofu

Are you missing Asian food during this pandemic because we can't eat in restaurants? 

This Mongolian dish reminded me of a meal that I once ate at a vegan Asian restaurant in Chinatown, Philadelphia. And guess what ?- this recipe tastes just as good as the restaurant's dish and yet was really easy to make!!

I usually don't cook Asian cuisine, but since we have not been able to eat out during the pandemic, I had to learn to make my own or not eat any. 

I'm no expert at making Asian cuisine, but I found a recipe on an Asian blog called Viet Vegan that looked amazing, and I adapted it to meet my tastes and eating restrictions!

Vegan and Gluten Free Shabbat Dinner

This was Friday night Shabbat dinner for our Sabbath.

It's vegan, gluten free, filling, and healthy. 

Lots of greens and protein rich foods

A delicious vegan apple cake for dessert.

I think the photos say it all! 

I've included recipes and information about our traditions!

Pasta Puttanesca Bowl

Sometimes you are just in the mood for a big bowl of pasta (gluten free of course) with a great healthy topping.Whether you make traditional (gluten free) pasta or zucchini spiral pasta, this vegan Puttanesca sauce is sure to delight your taste buds especially in the summer when fresh produce it at it's peak. No cooking necessary!!

Instant Pot or Not Cholent- Vegan and GF

If you like beans, you will LOVE this amazing vegan cholent/chulent recipe that is made with a mixture of pinto beans, red kidney beans, and navy beans. The Instant Pot transforms an ancient recipe into modern times.

Chulent or cholent is a old traditional Sabbath day meal that has been made for centuries by observant Jews. (Cholent recipes can be traced back to 1180 in Vienna). 

Before the invention of electricity, the town baker had a big oven that he would keep burning through the Sabbath which started Friday at sundown and ended Saturday at sundown. Since it was forbidden to light a fire on the Sabbath, the townspeople would bring a crock of beans to the baker's oven before sundown on Friday and let it slow cook to eat as their Saturday hot Sabbath meal. 

The word cholent is thought to be derived from the Medieval French word "chaud" meaning hot and "lent" meaning slow. Thus a slow cooking hot meal.

Before cooking in the Instant Pot filled about 1/4 of the 6 quart pot

After the invention of electricity, people started using slow cookers to make their cholent or would leave their oven on a low flame all night to cook their chulent/cholent for the Sabbath day meal. 

Jews from different countries developed variations of the recipe using chickpeas or a variety of different beans, meat, eggs, dumplings, chicken etc. Almost every country has their variation of cholent. There are probably as many cholent recipes as there are cooks. 

Indian Cholent may contain turmeric, cardamom, lentils, and chicken. 

Italian Cholent may contain rosemary, brisket, potatoes, and cannelloni beans.

Polish Cholent may contain potatoes, flankin, a variety of beans, garlic, paprika, and dumplings

Eastern European Cholent may contain barley, potatoes, butter beans, brisket, and garlic

Vegetarian Cholent may contain sweet potatoes, potatoes, dumplings, a variety of beans

I make a vegan version that is absolutely delicious and because I am not " religious, " I make mine ahead of time in the Instant Pot!!!! Of course you could use the slow cooker and cook it for 8 hours. You might need to add more water for the slow cooker. 

Ingredients: 

3 cloves garlic, chopped

olive oil spray 

1 large onion sliced into 1/2 moons 

2 large organic carrots, sliced into thick slices 

10 whole baby portobello mushrooms , halved

1 teaspoon of ground ginger ( not fresh) 

1/2 teaspoon of Trader Joe's 21 Salute ( salt free seasoning mix) 

1 teaspoon of Himalayan salt 

1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper

3 cups of vegetable broth ( I use Tabatchnicks or Whole Foods 365)

2 cups of water( or an extra cup if needed to cover the beans) 

1 pound total of dry bean mixture ( pinto beans, red kidney beans, navy beans) * see note below

Directions: 

Spray bottom of the Instant Pot with olive oil spray. Add onions and garlic and sautee until onions become soft. Add beans, carrots, mushrooms, ginger, 21 Salute, salt , pepper, vegetable broth, and water. Cancel the saute function and press pressure cook for 50 minutes. Make sure the steam knob is closed. When done cooking, allow steam to release naturally according to manufacturer's directions for about 30 minutes. When done, remove lid and serve.

chulent mix of beans

My Notes: 

1. Many supermarkets carry pre-made bags of cholent bean mixture in the kosher foods section. 

2. There is no need to soak the beans for the Instant Pot 

3. If you prefer to soak the beans overnight, pressure cook for 25 minutes 

4. This really tastes amazing if you like beans

5. You could make this in the Instant Pot before the Sabbath and keep it on warm until after sundown on saturday. 

6. ** Beware- some cholent mix packages contain barley which is not gluten free- read the ingredients

Sharing on Beth Fish Weekend Cooking where anyone can share a food related post. 

Sharing on Souper Sundays where anyone can share a soup, salad, or sammie.

Zero Point Vegan Weight Watcher Dinner

I made a zero point (Weight Watcher's)  vegan dinner. What does zero points mean?

The latest Weight Watcher's program is called "Freestyle".  Most women can eat 23 points per day and lose weight. However, there are foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, and ( white meat chicken which I don't eat of course being vegetarian)  that have a zero point value and are not counted as part of my 23 points.

I challenged myself to see if I could come up with a full dinner that was zero points.

Impossible? Not with the Weight Watcher's Freestyle plan.

Moroccan Appetizers at Casablanca Restaurant near Doylestown, Pa

We had delicious Moroccan appetizers and dinner that was gluten free at Casablanca restaurant in Warrington/Warminster Pennsylvania near Doylestown, Pa.
Casablanca is neatly tucked away off Route 611

We were looking for someplace different to celebrate my husband's big birthday! The grandkids are ages 2, 7, and 11. I wanted somewhere that was casual and the kids could move around a little, something a little exotic, and something that could accommodate both my vegetarian and gluten free needs. Casablanca seemed to be the perfect place.

Power Bowl Lunches for Portion Control

Power bowls have become extremely popular lately and with good reason. They provide a variety of healthy ingredients, contain small portions, are filling and taste great. After I eat a power bowl, I have lots of energy and don't feel bloated.

What is the difference between a power bowl and a regular bowl filled with my lunch ? 

• Portion control- small amounts of each ingredient 
• Super nutrient dense vegetables such as sweet potato, avocado, pomegranate seeds, cabbage, kale, etc.
• Artistic and pleasing

The Power Bowl idea is an interesting concept. Technically it really is just a bowl that holds your lunch. However, it is really so much more. It takes planning of ingredients and portion awareness make a power bowl. Its artistic, pleasing, and contains nutrient rich vegetables.

If I were to just make a lunch and toss it into a bowl, I would not call it a power bowl.
My power bowls have a space limit for each of the ingredients. I love the idea of portioning our each ingredient in advance. Making up the bowl helps me remember not to overeat. I eat my entire bowl and then I stop eating.

Each ingredient earned its place because of it's nutritional value. Each ingredient was portioned to neatly fit its spot. ..

I eat it quietly and peacefully. I enjoy my starch (acorn squash), my healthy good fat (avocado), my cooked  greens ( broccoli raab and asparagus). my raw green salad ( romaine, parsley, kale, cabbage, and red pepper)

It feels so Zen to me- so Fung shui.

Today's bowl qualified as a Power Bowl Lunch because this simple well thought out and well portioned meal was very  filling and very satisfying. I felt good and had lots of energy. I ate it at 12:30 and wasn't hungry until almost 7:00 PM.

How to make a Power Bowl

1. Choose healthy ingredients
2. Use cooked greens
3. Use raw greens
4. Use a healthy fat
5. Use a starch like a sweet potato or quinoa
6. Use a tablespoon on raw nuts
7. Use a protein of your choice
8. Top with a simple homemade dressing if you choose
9. Use up to a half cup of each ingredient


Some Power Bowl Ideas

Green Vegetables: 
Broccoli, Broccoli raab, asparagus, green cabbage, kale, collard greens, peas, sprouts, sugar snap peas, romaine lettuce. green squashes, green peppers, parsley, cucumbers, arugula, celery, sea vegetables ( seaweeds)

White Vegetables: 
Cauliflower, onions, raw or cooked mushrooms, daikon radish, turnips, garlic, potato, jicama

Red/Purple Vegetables:
Red onion, red cabbage, beets, eggplant, tomato, red radish, red peppers

Yellow/Orange Vegetables:
Yellow squashes, carrots, sweet potato, yellow and orange peppers

Cooked Gluten Free Grains: 
brown or basmati rice, quinoa, kasha, corn ( GMO free) 

Nuts: 
walnuts, pecans, pistachios, peanuts, almonds

Seeds: 
sunflower, sesame, chia seeds, 

Cooked Beans: 
Black beans, white beans, fava beans, pinto beans, lima beans, soy beans

Fats: 
Avocado, nuts, olive oil

Power Bowls can be made according to your own preferences.  I feel that it is always important to use a variety of healthy plant based ingredients that are nutrient dense, lower carb, lower calorie, good fats and tasty. Healthy choices should provide vital nutrients, fiber, fat and protein and portion control are the key components to a power meal.

I chose to skip grain in this power bowl because I included a starchy acorn squash. 

Do you make power meals? What are some of your favorite ingredients that you include? What do you think of the idea?

Easy Lentil Pilaf Dinner

                               

Looking for a healthy gluten free main course or great side dish?
Lentil pilaf is a perfect dish in the summer since it tastes great at room temperature.

Lentils are nutritional powerhouses that cook more quickly than beans , and do not need to be soaked overnight first. Perfect for dinner or summer parties.
This recipe is a keeper.

My friend Paula called me to find out what she could make with lentils?
She didn't want to make lentil soup in the summer but couldn't think of any other ideas!

I suggested this tasty lentil pilaf that is full of summer veggies,  easy to make, vegan and gluten free!

                          

I like this recipe because:

• Pilaf is vegan,  fast and easy to make, and has lots of  nutritious raw chopped veggies and aromatic spices, yet lentils have a mild flavor that most people like.
•  It's a great summertime entree or side dish when you don't want to turn on the oven. 
• The lentils can be made in advance too and you can then just assemble the recipe the next day.
• It's also an economical meal because a bag of lentils is usually less than a dollar. Can't go wrong with that.
• If you like your pilaf a little more perky, you could add some salad dressing to it, like an Italian dressing or some lemon juice and olive oil. 
• You could also add some chopped parsley, cilantro, chopped garlic or anything of your liking.
• For a more filling meal ,eat the pilaf over quinoa, brown rice, or even GF noodles.

Did you know that eating lentils may help lower your cholesterol and help balance your blood sugar? 

Lentils are a real food from nature and only real food provides real health benefits. 

• lentils are an excellent source of soluble and insoluble fiber which is known to help lower cholesterol and help manage blood sugar disorders.
• In addition, lentils provide important minerals, B vitamins  and protein. 
• Amazingly, they have practically no fat.
•  There are about 115 calories in 1/2 cup cooked. 
• Also, lentils are a good source of iron. 
• So, don't forget to incorporate these nutritional powerhouses into your family's diet.

When is the last time you ate some lentils? Isn't it time you tried them again. This is a light, delicious, and satisfying recipe . Why not try it?

Ingredients: 

2 cups of cooked lentils, cooled ( cook according to package instructions) 

1/2 cup carrot, chopped fine

1/2 cup red pepper, chopped fine

1/2 cup cucumber, chopped fine

1/2 cup marinated artichokes, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped fine

1/4 cup chopped sweet  red onion, chopped fne 

1/2 cup chopped parsley ( optional) 

1 tsp. cumin powder

2 Tablespoons of marinade from the artichokes or

2 Tablespoons of Italian dressing or oil and lemon juice

Directions: 

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Toss and eat at room temperature

.
In general, the excellent nutritional benefits of lentils make them well worth eating . They are very versatile and taste great in  soups, salads, vegetarian burgers and entrees which you can find additional recipes on my blog.

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