The Conscious Kitchen

Lemon Chicken with Artichokes and Capers

Sep

It’s been awhile since I shared a recipe with you that was not vegan. This recipe for chicken with fresh artichokes, lemon, and capers is a favorite in my house. Although the preparation of the artichokes is messy and a little time consuming, it will be well worth the effort. Frozen artichoke hearts can be used in place of the fresh, but they lack the depth of flavor. Without using the artichokes, this dish is quick, easy to prepare, and nearly just as good. The clean bright flavors are great served with brown basmati rice and an additional vegetable for the family.

Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Kale and Tomatoes

Sep

This is one of my favorite go to meals to whip up when I am tired, lazy, or just don’t feel like cooking. As I am the only full time vegan in my household, I turn to dishes like this that are easy to make for one person that are healthy without fuss on a regular basis. It is also one of those things that I eat to make me feel better when I feel physically off. It is satisfying, tasty, free of gluten and loaded with power nutrients. As yams can be cooked in a microwave in roughly 10 minutes, it is the sort of meal that is of a busy single person’s dreams.

Skillet Grilled Peppers and Onions for Tacos

Aug

I am personally not a huge fan of char grilled food. I was never much of a meat lover and nor have I ever particularly enjoyed foods dominated by the flavor of smoke. But I do appreciate how the grill facilitates simple cooking and minimal clean up. This summer I enjoyed experimenting with cooking outdoors in new ways. My cast iron skillet became my best tool.

Bittersweet Chocolate Popsicles

Aug

In my former life working in restaurant kitchens, I made a sinfully rich chocolate sorbet that was a favorite on my dessert menus. This summer while I was obsessing over things to make into popsicles, I thought that my chocolate sorbet base would make an excellent candidate for the molds. My recipe was scaled for large production and with the summer heat peaking, I was just too lazy to scale it down. I turned to the recipes of David Leibovitz for a recipe that would be satisfactory to me. The ingredients he used were identical to that of my own recipe, and there was a comfort level in knowing that his recipes consistently work out pretty well. I was actually hoping that his recipe would be slightly less chocolaty than mine, but as luck would have it, it was spot on. Making it into popsicles worked out as I had hoped, but be warned that this is no fudgsicle. It is a serious dark chocolate lover’s delight.

Being Vegan on Vacation

Aug

Aloha from Hawaii where I am enjoying the end of summer vacation with my family. The beach is perfect, the ocean is clear and warm, and the plumeria scented air is glorious. It is everything one could hope for…almost. One of the greatest challenges of traveling when you are vegan is finding food on the restaurant menus that accommodate your needs. Sadly, most of the options are not even healthy. Kids eat free in our hotel from the kids menu, but that menu is limited to hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, and fried foods. As someone who puts a strong focus on eating well, it’s pretty disappointing that a few sticks of carrots and celery are what they consider to be vegetables, and fruit smoothies are made from concentrated juices and something called smoothie mix.

Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Spinach Sauce

Aug

Years ago I knew a chef who made the most incredible mouth watering sauce with cooked spinach, heavy cream, and loads of parmigiano reggiano. It was delectable and decadent. I would not dream of going near it today, but that does not mean that it would be impossible to mimic with healthier ingredients. I recreated it with great success by taking many of the principles of a pesto recipe with the addition of ingredients like avocado, almond milk, and nutritional yeast to make it creamy and flavorful without the cholesterol, dairy, and fat. It is pictured here tossed with baked spaghetti squash and fresh cherry tomatoes. If spaghetti squash is not to your liking, toss it with gluten-free pasta or a pasta of your choice. It would also be delicious as a spread for sandwiches or crostini.

Gazpacho of Fresh Summer Vegetables

Aug

If you have ever had a vegetable garden, you know all too well how rewarding it can be to grow tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers during the summer. By late in the season, you probably have more of them than you know what to do with. Making a batch of gazpacho soup is a perfect way to put such seasonal vegetables to use and and a tasty way to cool you down when it is hot outside. Even if you do not have a vegetable garden, there is an abundance of fresh and affordable produce in farmer’s markets and grocery stores during the summer.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Almonds

Aug

One of the great challenges in cooking is finding ways to turn leftovers into something really good. I had bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store the other day when we had some friends over for lunch, but only a couple of pieces got sliced off. My husband had some for lunch the next day, but quite a bit of meat still remained. I used the meat to make a quick and simple chicken salad that breathed new life into a two day old chicken.

Granola

Aug

You might say that my culinary career began with a single recipe. Over 20 years ago before I was sucked into the vortex of working in restaurant kitchens, I launched a small business making and selling granola to restaurants, hotels, and gourmet food purveyors in the Los Angeles area. Today I am sharing that recipe with you. I have made a few tweaks since then, but it still delivers the same flavorful mouthfuls of toasty crunch without being too sweet or heavy.

Peanut Butter Cookies (gluten-free and vegan)

Aug

It is easy to find recipes for vegan cookies or gluten-free cookies or even healthy cookies. But when you want one that fits the bill across the board, you sometimes have to create one yourself. That’s what I did with these peanut butter cookies.

Linguine with Vine Ripened Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Jul

It’s a dish so basic and simple. Pasta with sweet vine ripened cherry tomatoes and fresh basil is summertime comfort food. It is so easy to make that I am almost embarrassed to post the recipe, but sometimes the simplest and most obvious things go overlooked. I am here to remind you of how good it is. Made with a quinoa based pasta, it is also good for you and gluten-free.

Garbanzo Bean ‘Tuna’ Salad

Jul

There is a good reason why garbanzo bean based mock tuna salad recipes are popular in vegan cookbooks. They are really good and are not made with soy products. There are certainly similarities in flavor and texture to traditional tuna salads, but stand on their own as being excellent. If you want the recipe to have more flavor of the sea, I would suggest adding Dulse Flakes (about 1/2 teaspoon or more to taste) at the end of the recipe when you are checking for additional seasonings.