HAPPY EARTH DAY!!
I know, I know. It’s been forever since I posted a recipe. In my defense, we had a lot going on. The last year has been the busiest, and best, ever. We were involved in a not-so-fun lawsuit (are they ever fun?); planned and executed an incredible destination wedding for our daughter and now son-in-law; put our CA home of 14 years on the market and sold it; purchased our forever home on Maui; packed up and/or purged many years of memories and other junk; moved to Maui!! So, while it’s all great as you can see, my head wasn’t really in the game for posting recipes, even though creating recipes and cooking is always a regular thing for me.
This particular recipe is one I came up with as a way to use a huge bag of broccoli I had gotten at Costco. It turned out great. I’ve made it a few times since and it really is yummy – the family loves it. It’s easy too. As with most healthy, plant-based dishes, there is prep and chopping involved but once that’s taken care of, the rest is a cinch.
And remember, while Earth Day is a great way to commemorate our amazing planet, we need to do it EVERY DAY! Do your best, every day, to avoid animal products (nothing damages the planet more than livestock production and over-fishing), minimize use of single-use products that pollute our oceans and harm sea life, use less electricity, walk or bike instead of driving, consider a hybrid or electric car, pay close attention to water usage and avoid using chemicals in your home. YOU GOT THIS!
If you’ve ever eaten a samosa at an Indian restaurant (or Whole Foods salad bar for that matter), you know those delectable little things are deep fried. These patties have that mouth-watering samosa flavor, without all the fat and flour.
This recipe is adapted from Rouxbe, the on-line plant-based culinary school I’m attending. The first time I made these I followed the recipe to the letter but felt they could be improved and made to be lower in fat. The family actually preferred my version. Score!
Keep in mind the heat of these will depend on how much of and the type of curry powder you use. I’m a total wimp when it comes to spice so I only used 1 TBS curry powder (half Penzey Sweet Curry Powder and half Madras Curry Powder). Use more, or some cayenne, if you like the heat. They have tons of flavor regardless. Enjoy!!
Recipe ideas come to me at odd moments, usually when I’m not even thinking about food (which, if I’m being honest, isn’t all that often). The idea for this one came to me on an airplane in the middle of reading a novel. Pretty random considering the story took place in 1940 Nazi Germany. Anyway, it occurred to me I’d never seen or heard of a recipe for twice baked SWEET potatoes, only russet. I’ve since done some searching and found many recipes (can’t believe I’d never seen any before) but most of them have more fat than a cheeseburger, with ingredients that just didn’t sound appealing to me (I will never understand adding brown sugar to sweet potatoes, especially when consuming them as an entree not a dessert. Hello!?! They’re already sweet!).
This recipe has the right combination of sweet, savory, tangy, spicy and salty. Honestly, it turned out better than I could have hoped. I was so excited for leftovers today. It’s a more time consuming meal since baking of the potatoes is required before anything else, but it’s not difficult by any means; just takes some planning ahead. Note: I prefer the lighter colored sweet potatoes as opposed to orange yams. I will be making this again VERY soon!
