Chickpea Socca with Greens and White Bean Purée


Yes, I made more socca stacks! This time the socca pieces were sandwiched between layers of tomato sauce, sautéed kale, white bean purée and caramelized leeks. (I love caramelized leeks!) This recipe is from You Won’t Believe it’s Vegan! by Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty.

Lacy Sher and Gail Doherty used to own the restaurant Down to Earth in Red Bank, NJ. Red Bank is about an hour south of us on the NJ Parkway. Dennis and I used to drive down there every once in a while just to eat there because the food was so amazingly delicious. We were hearbroken when the restaurant closed and we could no longer get our favorite vegan dishes. I stumbled across this book in the bookstore by chance, and after flipping through it and recognizing the dish names, I quickly realized that it was a cookbook full of Down to Earth’s recipes. I almost started crying right there in the bookstore when I realized that I could once again have my favorite Down to Earth dishes. But of course, I would have to cook them myself.

This socca dish isn’t difficult, but each layer needs to be cooked in it’s own dish or pan, so I did make quite a mess. It was so delicious that I was worth it though. Dennis loved it so much that he said “I feel sorry for people who are not me” !

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Lucy’s Cookies


In case you haven’t heard, Starbucks now sells vegan cookies! They are made specifically for people with food allergies, so they are free of peanuts, tree nuts, milk and eggs. This is big news as it means that both vegan foods and gluten-free foods have gone mainstream! They’re called Lucy’s, and Lucy was the name of my favorite cat, so that’s one more reason for me to like them.

Dennis was sweet enough to come home from Starbucks with all three flavors – Cinnamon Thins, Chocolate Chip and Sugar. The cookies are crisp rather than soft and chewy, but that doesn’t mean that they are lacking in flavor. You don’t have to be vegan or have food allergies to enjoy these cookies. They’re the perfect tea-time treat for everyone!

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Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant

Last night I went to Mesob Restaurant in Montclair with my friends from work – Kris, Liz, Vanessa and Kevin, and Erin, who used to work with us. I’ve eaten there many times, and Liz and Vanessa have eaten there with me once before. It was the first time for Kris, Kevin and Erin, and they were all quite pleased.

The food is absolutely delicious. We ordered the vegetarian sampler and had everything from the vegetarian menu. There were dishes made with chickpeas (the chickpea biscuits are my FAVORITE!), lentils, split peas, collard greens, potatoes, cabbage, portobello mushrooms, and green beans. The great thing about eating at Mesob is that I can order anything from their vegetarian menu and not worry about food allergies, because it’s all Dianne-safe.

The food is not eaten with forks, but instead pinched between pieces of bread called injera. Injera is a flat, pancake like bread made out of teff flour. Teff grains are very tiny – smaller than 1mm in diameter! It is believed that teff originated in Ethiopia 4000 BC and 1000 BC. It’s a very nutritious grain that contains high levels of iron, protein and calcium and dietary fiber. It also has high levels of phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium, boron and zinc. It does contain gluten, but it’s okay for people with celiac disease, because it does not contain the gluten-fraction that causes celiac disease.

If you live in the area, I highly recommend Mesob. If you don’t, see if there’s an Ethiopian restaurant near by that you can try out. You won’t be disappointed!


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Chickpea Confetti Casserole


This recipe is from Dreena Burton’s Eat Drink and Be Vegan. It’s a super simple and very tasty dish that uses red bell pepper, fennel, chick peas, quinoa and vegetable stock. All of the ingredients are put into a casserole dish and baked in the oven. The quinoa cooks in the casserole dish, so it’s a good one-dish meal. I had both regular and black quinoa on hand, so I mixed them together to give the dish a little extra color.

It’s been a looooong time since I cooked fennel, and it was nice to have something different for a change. Fennel provides an excellent source of potassium, vitamin C, and fiber. It is also a very good source of folic acid, phosphorous, iron, calcium, magnesium and manganese. Fennel is often used medicinally, and it’s known to treat digestion problems, menstrual disorders, respiratory disorders and eye problems. It also contains large amounts of anticancer compounds, so it’s a food that should really be eaten more often.

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Chickpea Helper


This recipe is based on Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Tempeh Helper Recipe, which is based on Hamburger Helper. I made Tempeh Helper once before and it was delicious, so I decided to make it again and make it soy free this time. I used lightly mashed chickpeas and I added a little chopped onion instead of tempeh. And of course, I used brown rice pasta instead of wheat pasta. Other than omitting the garlic and using wheat free flour, I followed Isa’s recipe. I served it with a side of broccoli, because broccoli’s really tasty with Cheezy Sauce. This meal was reminiscent of the Mac Daddy I made a few weeks ago, but without the half our wait for the meal to cook in the oven. Dennis described it as “scrumptacular”, so I’ll definitely be making it again!

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Ratatouille with White Beans


This is another recipe from The Vegan Table. It’s listed as a spring recipe, but since it’s warm and stew-ish, I thought it would be nice for winter as well. And it was.

The recipe uses eggplant, red bell peppers, zucchini, red onions and tomatoes, and then cooked white beans are added close to the end. Since a vegetable’s nutrients come from it’s color, I tell my clients that they should try to have at least four colors on their plates at every meal. This meal is very colorful, which means it’s also very nutritious. The recipe was easy to make and the end result was delicious. The great thing is that it made about 5 servings of food, which means Dennis and I will have tasty leftovers for lunch. I’m a big fan of the “cook once, eat twice” theory!




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Pizza Night!


Sunday used to be pizza night in our house, but my food allergies have put a halt to that tradition. Dennis and I would buy a pre-made whole wheat crust and top it with veggies and Vegan Gourmet soy cheese. We revived our tradition yesterday and made a gluten-free pizza crust using a recipe in The Gluten-Free Vegan by Susan O’Brien. We topped the crust with tomato sauce, broccoli rabe, mushrooms and Daiya vegan cheese.

The crust was made with Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-Free flour and potato flour. The recipe doesn’t call for pre-heating it before topping it, but I think we will do so the next time we make it because it was a little bit doughy in the middle and it seemed thin. We’ll probably make more than one batch the next time we make it so it will be a little thicker too.

Daiya is a new vegan cheese on the market, and currently none of the stores around me carry it, so I had to mail order it. It’s becoming more popular, so I think it’s just a matter of time before my local Whole Foods carries it. It’s made with tapioca and somehow melts like dairy cheese, which most soy cheeses don’t do. I have to admit that it’s not my favorite vegan cheese, but it is growing on me, and I’m happy to have a soy-free cheese option.

I’m happy to have pizza night back and am looking forward to experimenting with doughs and toppings!

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Dinner Party


My friend Karen and her husband David had Dennis and I over for dinner last night. Karen and David aren’t vegan but she was able to make a delicious food-sensitivity free meal! She made mushroom risotto with a recipe from The Vegan Table along with a black eyed pea dish. Karen proved that it’s possible to have a vegan with food allergies over for dinner!

I said I’d bring the dessert, so I made apple crisp recipe from Clean Food. I picked up some hemp milk ice-cream to along with it. I’d seen hemp milk ice cream in the store many times, but hadn’t tried it until now. It was delicious! I think it has become my favorite dairy-free ice cream.


There was a little bit of apple crisp leftover, so Dennis and I brought it home and had it for breakfast this morning. Since it’s made with fruit, nuts, oatmeal and maple syrup, it’s a healthy breakfast treat!


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Sushi Night


Last night my friend Elizabeth and I went out for sushi. As much as I love to cook, it was nice to have a night off! We went to Sushi Hana in Montclair which has a nice vegetarian selection. I had sweet potato rolls and vegetable rolls with spicy peanut sauce. Please forgive the blurry photo. I forgot my camera so I had to take the picture with my iPhone. After dinner, we went to see The Young Victoria, which was excellent! If you’re in to period pieces and historical drama, I highly recommend it.

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Mushroom Risotto


This mushroom risotto recipe is from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s The Vegan Table. The recipe is pretty simple, and uses onions mushrooms, Arborio rice and vegetable broth. I’ve never made risotto before and didn’t know that broth had be scooped into the rice and stirred until it was absorbed, and then more broth is added. It took about 20 minutes to cook, and the risotto was so delcious that it was totally worth the the time spent stirring. The dish is garnished with parsely and chopped olives. I served it over sautéed kale in order to get my daily greens in. I will definitely make it again!

If you’re wondering why I don’t post complete recipes of all of the meals I cook, it’s because they’re from cookbooks and I don’t want to anger any authors or publishers. All of the books I mention are available on my Amazon Affliates Store. http://astore.amazon.com/veggiegirl0f-20

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Dr. Fuhrman