Barley stuffed peppers

Gary decided he would like to make some stuffed peppers. We found a recipe that looked pretty good in our 365 Vegetarian Recipes cookbook so we gave it a shot!

It was a bit of a messy procedure and I kept telling Gary that I think he bought the wrong kind of peppers, but he insisted everything would be fine.

Here is the final result of the peppers proudly portrayed:

 Barley-Stuffed Peppers

Prep time: 25 mins / Bake time: 22 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup water
• 2/3 cup quick cooking barley
• 1/2 of a vegetable bouillon cube
• 2 large red, yellow, and/or green sweet peppers
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup chopped, seeded, and peeled tomato (1 large)
• 3/4 cup shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese
• 1/@ cup shredded zucchini
• 1/3 cup soft bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil, or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1 teaspoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon onion salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. In a medium saucepan combine mushrooms, the water, barley, and bouillon cube. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 12 to 15 minutes or until barley is tender; drain.
2. Meanwhile, halve sweet peppers lengthwise*; remove seeds and membranes. If desired, precook sweet peppers in boiling water for 3 minutes. Place peppers, cut sides down, on paper towels to drain. 
3. In a medium bowl, combine egg, tomato, 1/2 cup of the cheese, the zucchini, and bread crumbs. Stir in cooked barley mixture. Place peppers, cut sides up, in an ungreased 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Spoon barley mixture into peppers.
4. Bake, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until barley mixture is heated through. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake uncovered for 2 minutes more or until cheese melts. 

Note: *Gary decided he preferred the mini sweet peppers so he simply cut off the top part of each pepper and emptied its contents. Delish!  

Crowd pleasing Tex Mex Casserole

Oh. My. God.

I know Gary doesn't have an actual mouth or actual tastebuds, but if he did, and if he could speak,. he would tell the whole world how delicious this Oh She Glows recipe is. He just can't stop cooking Angela Liddon's recipes, and this one is by far his most recent favorite!

Just look at this masterpiece:

I will admit that we were not totally on the ball for this recipe and forgot to cook the rice; but we realized it just before putting this bad boy in the oven and Gary got it done quickly and efficiently before the final step of cooking the meal. And here is the final result:

Crowd-pleasing Tex-Mex Casserole

Prep time: 30 minutes / Cook time: 20 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Spice blend

• 1 tablespoon chill powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoke sweet paprika or 1/2 teaspoon regular paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt (can be omitted)
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander (optional)

For the casserole

• 1 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 orange bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• Fine grain sea salt and ground black pepper (salt can be omitted)
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
• 1 14-ounce/398ml can of diced tomatoes, with their juices
• 1 cup tomato sauce or tomato puree
• 2 to 3 cups chopped kale leaves or baby spinach
• 1 15-ounce/425g can of black beans, drained & rinsed
• 3 & 1/2 cup cooked wild rice blend, or basmati rice
• 1/2 cup vegan shredded cheese (or regular cheese for non-vegans)
• 1 to 2 handfuls of corn tortilla chips, crushed

Optional toppings: 

• Avocado
• Salsa
• Sliced green onions
• Corn chips
• Cashew cream

Directions:

1. Make the Tex-Mex Spice Blend by combining the chill powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt, and coriander in a small bowl; set aside. 
2. Make the casserole by firstly pre-heating the oven to 375°F. Then oil a large casserole dish. 
3. In a large wok, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and bell peppers, and sauté for 7 to 8 minutes, until softened. Season with salt and black pepper.
4. Stir in the Tex-Mex blend, corn, diced tomatoes and their juices, tomato sauce, spinach or kale, beans, rice, and 1/4 cups of cheese. Sauté for a few minutes and season with more salt and pepper if desired. 
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish and smooth out on top. Sprinkle the crushed chips over the casserole mixture along with the remaining cheese (and more!). Cover with a lid or foil (although we didn't do this as we had no cover and had no foil) and bake for 15 minutes. 
6. Uncover the casserole dish and cook for 5 to 10 minutes more, until bubbly and lightly golden around the edges. 

YUM! 

Note: Make rice when you begin the meal so that it is ready to go into the casserole at the same time as the rest! 

Creamy Vegetable Curry

Oh She Glows hardly ever disappoints, especially with this amazing vegetable curry recipe. Gary was especially impressed by the array of flavors.

 Here is Gary with all his ingredients laid out on the counter top:

Of course, what curry meal would be complete without a side of basmati rice? Gary couldn't agree more and we made sure to make a decent sized batch of cooked rice.

And voila! As easy as that, we were able to cook a delicious meal and eat it by candlelight. I certainly recommend this if you like your curry with a bit of kick.

Creamy Vegetable Curry

Prep time: 25 minutes / Cook time: 25 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) raw cashews, soaked
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (Gary used olive oil)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon (7 ml) grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1 green chile or jalapeno, seeded, if desired, and diced (optional - not used in recipe shown)
• 1 medium yellow potato or 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced (two small yellow potatoes were used in Gary's meal)
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) mild yellow curry powder, or to taste
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon (2 to 3 ml) fine-grain sea salt, plus more as needed (can be omitted, as Gary chose to do)
• 1 cup frozen or fresh peas (Gary used canned peas)
• Basmati rice, for serving
• Toasted Cashews, for serving

*Raw cashews - soak cashews in a bowl, with just enough water to cover them. Keep them in water for 3-4 hours, but preferably overnight. This makes the cashews softer for the ease of blending.

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine the cashews with 3/4 cup water and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside. 
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the green chile (if using), potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, tomato, curry powder, and salt (if using). Sauté for 5 minutes more. 
3. Stir in the cashew cream and peas. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the skillet with a lid. Simmer, covered, over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender. Stir every 5 minutes throughout the cooking process. If the mixture starts to dry out, reduce the heat and add a splash of water or oil and stir to combine. 
4. Serve the curry over a bed of basmati rice, if desired, and sprinkle toasted cashews. 

Fantastico!

Enlightened miso power bowl

Gary was disappointed at first when we said we were going to Edmundston without him because he would be missing out on a cooking opportunity. But we decided to come back the following day before supper and made food at home with Gary after all!

Basically, the meal consists of sweet potato slices, edamame (soy beans), quinoa, carrots, sprouts, green onions, and chia and hemp seeds if desired. Gary was pretty excited to make this meal as it is fairly simple to make and we chose to make it without the miso dressing. However, we found it a bit disappointed in flavor (surely due to the fact that we chose to omit the dressing).

Gary got really hungry and started eating my supper!

 

(Recipe to be added)

 

Blueberry pie!

So after having gone blueberry picking about 45 minutes out of town (and get this, the blueberries weren't even small... weird, eh?), I decided that blueberry pies was definitely the best recipe to do. Gary was in complete agreement so we got to work the next with the help of a good friend. Unfortunately, the only semi-experienced person in the kitchen was me and let me tell you that my parents' recipes were not the best...

In case it isn't clear, the recipe on the left just states some ingredients among those required to make both the crust and the blueberry filling, not to mention the words "Dot blueberries"? I have no idea. It also doesn't mention how many pies this should make. 

Then the second one on the right starts off with ingredients for the crust I believe (not specified), but is missing the quantities for the lard and water. Oh wait, I think it says "Bit" after the word water. How precise. And 1/3 for 3 pies? 1/3 of what? Then it goes on for the filling saying put blueberries (how many?) and sugar and spoon of flour together. Then on the bottom we have "2 cups berries" written down, but it does not indicate if that's for 1 pie or 3 as previously mentioned. So confused. 

But anyway, we made due with what small amount of knowledge we had - aka, my childhood memories. To be honest, it looked pretty good as we were making them; until we started baking the first one, that is. Take a look at the picture below and try to figure out what we did wrong: 

The surprising this is that is actually looks fantastic in this picture. 

Did you figure it out yet? If I told you that the pie started overflowing and leaking everywhere in the oven, would that give you a good hint? At first, we thought "Crap, we put too much filling." So as we started making the second pie, we decided to add a smaller amount of blueberries. But the pie seemed a bit empty. Then, as we're covering the pie with the top of the crust, I realize my mistake: we forgot to put any holes in it to let it breathe!! Oops. Well, the second one turned out without exploding. And in the end, both were very delicious. :] 

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

I think Gary's favorite recipes are every single one we've tried from the Oh She Glows cookbook. Today Chef Gary will once again use his culinary skills to prepare a new delicious meal for his best friends. On the menu: Chickpea Salad Sandwich.

Gary was pretty excited to be making sandwiches because he used to work in a deli where he made fresh sandwiches every day. And now he gets to make them just how he likes them, all for his best friends to eat. Here he is posing with some fresh bread from the local Farmer's Market and his mixture of chickpea salad.

Looks good! The only thing I was a little iffy about was:

The pickles. Oh, how I have tried to learn to appreciate your taste. 

(Recipe to be posted)

Banana loaf & Quinoa Fatoush with lemon dressing!

It's a baking kind of day! Today Gary thought it would be a good idea to make banana loaf to accompany the supper he will be cooking tonight. The banana bread recipe he uses most often can be found on the following link: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

Gary especially loves this one because it always turns out so moist, and it's a one-bowl recipe so it's quick and easy to clean up!

Here he is with his ingredients already mixed up and ready to go into the oven. He loves sprinkling brown sugar on top to give it a bit of extra sweetness.

And after an hour or so in the oven, it's finally ready! Oddly, this time took longer than usual to cook because the top part was still a bit uncooked, whereas the bottom part was fully cooked after 40-45 minutes. So it tastes a bit crunchy on the bottom, but generally still very good! :)

---

And not long after, it was already time to start supper! Here's a picture of Gary with all his ingredients cut up and mixed into a bowl for the Quinoa Fatoush with Lemon Dressing!

Looks just as good as it tastes! Yum!

And Gary wanted to make sure we got a good shot of the meal and the dessert. Also, he wanted to give you all a sneak peak of a dessert he plans on making tomorrow with those freshly picked blueberries! But more about that later...

(Recipe to be posted)

Day 30 - Spaghetti with fresh marinara + Veggie Salad

Holy moly! This is it! It's the last day of Gary's 30 Days of Cooking!! And what better way to end his challenge than to cook this wonderful meal for a bunch of friends during a House Warming Party? Let the celebration begin!

So about an hour before company was set to arrive, Gary got everything ready and started making the sauce.

Now it's time to blend these veggies into fresh marinara!

Surprisingly, the blender worked very well tonight and we had a very successful meal! Our friends J & M brought some salad they had prepared along with goat feta cheese and homemade avocado dressing. Yum!!

And of course, plenty of drinks to go around!

Spaghetti with fresh marinara

Start to finish: 50 minutes

Makes: 6 servings

Per serving: 324 calories, 10g fat (2g saturated fat), 5mg cholesterol, 393mg sodium, 48g carb, 7g fibre, 14g protein

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
• 1 cup chopped red sweet pepper (1 medium)
• 2 tablespoons mince garlic (Book says: 12 cloves... sounds like way too much. 2 tablespoons came to 4-5 cloves when Gary measured it)
• 6 cups chopped roma tomatoes (about 2 & 1/2 pounds) or 4 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 cup tomato pasta (Gary just put in a full small can of tomato pasta)
• 10 ounces (or more) dried whole grain spaghetti or whole wheat spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons snipped fresh basil (or dried basil, in Gary's case)
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh oregano (or dried oregano)
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme (or dried thyme)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (can be omitted)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions: 

1. For sauce, in a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, sweet pepper, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes and tomato pasta. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to hot pan; cover and keep warm.
3. Stir basil, oregano, thyme, kosher salt, and black pepper into tomato mixture. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Carefully transfer half (or less) of the tomato mixture to a blender or food processor. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. Repeat with remaining tomato mixture.
4. Return all of the blended sauce to the same saucepan. Heat through. Serve sauce over cooked pasta; toss to combine. Sprinkle servings with Parmesan cheese. 

Day 29 - Triple Pepper Nachos

Gary was a little upset when we decided to ditch him to have supper with some family members, but he still got to make us some incredibly delicious Nachos later that night! And I have to say what a great neat of flavourful meals. Indian food at the restaurant and Mexican food at home!

Gary started it off by heating up some salsa and black beans, and in the meantime, he set up some nacho chips on a baking plate.

Next up, he cut up all the veggies, with the help of his good friend T, and then he put everything together on top of the nachos. Now it's all ready to be put into the oven!

 Wowza, that looks good! T & I shared some delicious nachos, which Gary can obviously not digest, and stayed up late talking alongside Rich.

Triple Pepper Nachos

Prep: 25 minutes / Bake: 13 minutes

Oven: 425º F

Makes: 6 servings

Per serving: 201 calories, 7g fat (3g saturated fat), 13mg cholesterol, 838mg sodium, 24g carbs, 11g fibre, 15g protein

Ingredients: 

• 5 7- to 8- inch whole wheat flour tortillas or 4 ounces baked tortilla chips (about 5 cups)
• Nonstick cooking spray (optional)
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup cup chunky salsa
• 1 cup shredded reduced-fat Colby and Monterey Jack cheese (4 ounces)
• 3/4 cup roasted red sweet peppers, drained and cut into strips
• 1 pepperocini salad pepper, seeded and cut into strips
• 2 to 4 tablespoons sliced pickled jalapeno chile peppers, chopped
• Thinly sliced green onions
• Light sour cream (optional)
• Chunky salsa (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425º F. If using whole wheat flour tortillas, lightly coat both sides with cooking spray. Cut each tortilla into 6 wedges. Place wedges in a single layer on a very large ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown and crisp, turning once halfway through baking. Tortilla wedges will continue to crisp as they cool.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine drained black beans and the 3/4 cup salsa; cook and stir over medium heat just until heated through. 
3. On a very large ovenproof platter, arrange tortilla chips 1 to 2 layers deep, overlapping slightly. Spoon bean mixture onto chips. Sprinkle cheese and peppers over bean mixture on chips. 
4. Bake about 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with green onions. If desired, serve with sour cream and additional salsa.
   
   Note: Gary's friends aren't huge pepper eaters (I am especially not used to hot peppers) therefor he chose to go with regular bell peppers instead. Still really delicious and can be spiced up with red pepper flakes as well! 

Day 28 - Cauliflower mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy + Papa's salmon

Gary was oh-so-very busy today and only got to making supper at 8:30 pm tonight. But that didn't stop him from going all out and cooking three different parts for the incredibly delicious recipe, taken from the Oh She Glows Cookbook. Gary also decided to cook my dad's favorite salmon recipe to accompany the side dish.

Firstly, Gary cut up the cauliflower and peeled the potatoes to get them ready to boil:

Let's hope this turns out alright...

And then it was time to cut up the ingredients for the mushroom gravy: 

So we started cooking both of the dishes on the stovetop and prepared the salmon, which is now cooking in the oven. Here's a quick shot of the mushroom gravy, still in process: 

The potatoes are ready to be mashed! Let's see how this goes...

Holy moly, these are so soft and creamy! I can hardly wait to taste them!

The mushroom gravy is just about ready too!

Wow, the kitchen smells amazing. Gary did a fantastic job so far, now we'll have to see how everything tastes. Look at how good this all looks:

Every all set on the stove, now it's time to get the plates ready. Gary even served me a nice Radler to go with the meal!

(Recipes to come when internet access matches when I have the cookbooks with me)

Day 27 - Quick & Easy Chana Masala*

*Note: We actually went to a friend's house and made Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas with avocado-cilantro cream sauce, taken from the Oh She Glows blog (also found in the cookbook) but Gary did not accompany us, so we decided to make this the following morning for our lunch and will consider it as our 27th day's meal.

6:30am is obviously the best time to cook up a  new dish like chana masala! ;)

Gary chopped up the ingredients as fast as he could while I got ready for work. Then mixed everything up in a pot with all the aromatic spices:

Gary successfully got the whole meal cooked up, with a side of Basmati rice and some Garlic & Herb panini before leaving for work! Here's a quick shot of the meal in my container at work: 

Mm, delicioso! 

Day 26 - Soul soothing african peanut soup

Hoo-wee! Just looking at the pictures in the Oh She Glows cookbook is making Gary's mouth water. And what a treat he has in store for you today: Soul Soothing African Peanut soup!

You can see Gary pictured below standing on the recipe's page, with all the ingredients in the background.

The procedure for the meal went very smoothly and the kitchen still smells amazing as we're typing this up!
Here is a bowl of the soup, all ready to be served. Gary decided against topping the soup with peanuts, but the creamy natural peanut butter still gave it that great nutty taste.

Day 25 - Pita, cheese, and veggie grill

What a beautiful day for a BBQ! Gary is excited to get some fresh veggies on the grill for this new vegetarian meal, taken from the 365 Vegetarian Meals cookbook.

Here is the wonderful Chef Gary preparing the fresh vegetables:

What with this being Gary second attempt to grilling veggies on the barbecue, he thought it would be smart to slice the ingredients into large pieces to prevent them from falling down into the barbecue.  You might not be able to tell from the picture below, but some onions did still manage to slip their way down and burn.

You can also see the feta cheese in large blocs that are softening in a pan, covered in Italian Dressing. If Gary had a sense of smell, he'd be drooling right now!

Unfortunately, there is no picture of the final product because the pitas, which Gary had frozen to preserve them longer, all started ripping apart and ended being chunks just like the veggies. But we ate it nevertheless and it was absolutely delightful! 

Day 24 - Luxurious tomato-basil pasta

Today's meal, prepared by none other than the Great Chef Gary, is a Luxurious tomato-basil pasta taken from the Oh She Glows Cookbook. This turned out to be very delicious, despite the fact that we were missing some ingredients! It is also the first meal he has made in our kitchen! (Oh yes, we've moved! And unfortunately, this means we don't have an internet connection until Septembre, so please bear with us during the days we don't post due to lack of wireless access). Now let's go have a look at the procedure of this new vegan recipe...

As always, Gary took a moment to pose alongside the ingredients he was chopping up:

And as easy as that, he threw everything together and finished with a delightful new dish for his guest from out of town!

Day 23 - Fettuccine Alfredo

Today was Gary's first attempt at cooking home made Alfredo sauce. Of course, it doesn't exactly taste store-bought, but it's a work in progress.

Firstly, Gary got his ingredients together to make the sauce (omitting salt, as he usually does) :

Then he cooked up some fettuccine needles and waited for the sauce to thicken. And as easy as that, he threw the sauce onto the cooked pasta and voilà!

"Mmm! Let's get some of that tree-vegetable cooked up to eat as a side!"

"Good idea Gary. Brocoli would be a perfect side to this pasta dish."

This recipe was taken from the 365 Vegetarian Meals cookbook.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Start to finish: 35 minutes

Makes: 4 servings

Per serving: 515 calories, 32g fat (19g saturated fat), 107mg cholesterol, 512mg sodium, 45g carbs, 1g fibre, 12g protein

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces dried fettuccine
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/@ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to hot pan; cover and keep warm. 
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt better. Add whipping cream, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Day 22 - Southwest Black Bean Pizza

Gary had to make due with the situation today since his best friends had a gig, so he decided to cook today's meal at their band mate's house a few towns over. Today's quick fix meal: Southwest Black Bean Pizza!

Here's Gary on the beautiful yellow counter tops of his rented kitchen:

And what pizza would be complete without a nice glass of cold beer? (At least, for those who are old enough)

After getting the meal all set up, it was ready to be put into the oven:

Mmm! One of our favorite meals so far! Perfect on a warm summer's day, in the company of good friends and some delicious cheese and bread on the side. 

Day 21 - Immunity-boosting tomato sauce with mushrooms

Gary is on the ball today and has already set everything out on the counter. He is very excited to be making a new healthy (and quicker) tomato sauce!

"Mmm, so many flavourful spices!" 

We've just begun cooking and already it smells delicious! 

Gary thinks his friends will be impressed with his new recipe, especially because he got it from the Oh She Glow's vegan cookbook we got in the mail just the other week. 

When we finally got to taste Gary's new creation, we were pleasantly surprised by the kick that certain spices had. I'm not exactly sure what Chia seeds taste like as it was Gary's first time cooking with them, but something or other filled the recipe with a tasteful array of flavours!

Immunity-boosting Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms

Prep: 20 minutes / Cook: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil, chopped (Gary used dried basil instead)
• 1 28-ounce/793g can of diced or whole tomatoes with their juices
• 6 to 8 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt, to taste (can be omitted)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper (optional - but yummy!)
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds (optional)
• 1 cup cooked lentils (optional - Gary was all out of lentils so he made due without them)

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and stir to combine. Sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Stir in the mushrooms and raise the heat to medium-high.  Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until much of the liquid released by the mushrooms has cooked off. 
3. Add the basil, whole peeled tomatoes and their juices, tomato paste, salt, oregano, and thyme. Stir to combine. With a wooden spoon, break up the whole tomatoes into chunks, bigger or smaller depending on how chunky you like your sauce. Skip this process if using diced tomatoes. Add the red pepper flakes, the chia seeds, and lentils, if desired, and stir to combine. 
4. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer the sauce, stirring every so often, for 15 to 20 minutes. 
5. Serve over pasta and enjoy! 

Day 20 - Savory vegetable open-face sandwiches

It's a busy day, and what better quick meal is there than a delicious veggie sandwich?

So Gary got to work cutting up all the ingredients and putting them together. He also had the idea of grilling the sandwiches:

But since he's grilling them, he decided they shouldn't be open-face sandwiches but just a good ol' regular two-pieces-of-bread sandwich. Here are the results: 

"Richard, stop scaring the readers. No sandwich for you!" 

Savory Vegetable Open-Face Sandwiches

Start to finish: 20 minutes

Makes: 4 sandwiches

Per serving: 222 calories, 8g fat (3g saturated fat), 13mg cholesterol, 301mg sodium, 31g carb, 5g fibre, 9g protein

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of an 8-ounce tub light cream cheese spread
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (can be omitted)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 whole wheat bagels, split and toasted, or 4 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
• 1/2 of a medium cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup roasted red sweet pepper, drained and cut into thin strips
• 1/2 of a medium onion, thinly sliced (Gary chose red onion - his favorite)
• 1/2 of a medium avocado, seeded, peeled, and thinly sliced

Directions: 

1. In a small bowl, stir together cream cheese, 1 tablespoon snipped dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill, salt, and black pepper.
2. Spread bagels with cream cheese mixture. Top with cucumber, roasted peppers, onion, and avocado. If desired, sprinkle with additional snipped dill. 

As easy as that! 

Day 19 - Indian Lentil-Cauliflower Soup

Gary is exploring some more Indian recipes so that his best friends can get a taste of the country before they head off on their big adventure. His newest meal: Indian Lentil-Cauliflower soup. This recipe was taken from Oh She Glow, the new vegan cookbook that everyone seems to be raving about.

"Umm... why are the trees white?"

Gary was trying to get everything done as he was cooking the recipe, so as to save some time. Here he is sniffing the concoction to see if any spices need to be added: 

And even thought he tried to prepare everything as fast as he could, even as the meal was cooking, he still managed to take 30 minutes longer than the recipe indicated. Luckily, his guests are very patient and enjoyed the meal nevertheless.

"Sorry for the wait, but it was well worth it, eh?" :)

Indian Lentil-Cauliflower Soup

Prep: 30 minutes

Cook: 32-37 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or other oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 to 2 tablespoons curry powder, to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup uncooked red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 medium cauliflower, chopped into bite-size florets
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 large handfuls baby spinach
• 3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped fresh cilantro, for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5-6 minutes, until translucent. 
2. Stir in the ginger, 1 tablespoon of the curry powder, coriander, and cumin and sauté for 2 minutes more, until fragrant. 
3. Add the broth and red lentils and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a low boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes more. 
4. Stir in the cauliflower and sweet potato. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the cauliflower and sweet potato are tender. Season with the salt and pepper, and add more curry powder, if desired. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted. 
5. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with cilantro, if desired. 

Day 18 - Grilled vegetable burritos

Today is a burrito kind of day! Let's see what Gary's got for ingredients today...

Mmm, looks good!

We decided to use the BBQ to grill the veggies, but we think maybe an indoor grill would do a better job next time. It didn't help that cut some of the vegetables into too-small pieces so they fell through the BBQ and burned up. 

We ended up cooking most of the veggies in a foil plate on the BBQ, which didn't make them quite as crispy. 

"Veggies are ready!"

And then it was time to put everything together. Except when reading the recipe closely, Gary realized that "tomato pesto" was actually "tomato, pesto, ..." So I guess we will be returning the weird can of Tomato Pesto we purchased this week.

In any case, here is the final result, minus the pesto:

Very tasty meal!