Look at cake #13 and tell me that doesn't look familiar. : )  Actually, look at all the cakes, they are really cool Dungeons and dragons cakes. :)  Just 13 in particular caught my eye and made me share.

This recipe is easy and awesome whole food goodness.  You can eat it as a stew, as-is but I love to serve it over seasoned rice and peas.

Caribbean Stew

1 large onion

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vegetable or olive oil

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1 minced fresh chili (optional.  I usually just use about 1/4-1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes)

1 large sweet potato, cut into 3/4" chunks (about 2 cups)

2 cups water or vegetable stock

2 small zucchini, cut into 1" chunks

28 oz. canned tomatoes, coarsely chopped

4 cups loosely packed, chopped kale

1 Tbs fresh lemon or lime juice

2-4 Tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Add more water if desired.

In a covered soup pot, sprinkle the onions with salt and saute in the oil for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the thyme, allspice and chili and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Stir in the sweet potatoes and the water or stock and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes.

Add the zucchini and tomatoes with juice and simmer 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are barely tender.

Add the kale and cook another 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in lemon or lime juice and cilantro, salt to taste.

Seasoned rice and peas

1 cup of cooked rice (leftover rice is great)

After the rice is cooked, in a separate fry pan, add 2 Tbs oil and saute 3/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of cinnamon over medium heat for 30 sec.

Add 1 cup frozen peas and saute for a few minutes until the peas are heated.  Add cooked riced and stir until the spiced oil is mixed thoroughly.  

Rice cooking tip:

If you are like so many and struggle making rice the way you like, try cooking your rice in deep water.  As it cooks, check it periodically until it is at your desired consistency.  Then use a fine mesh strainer to drain the water and then rinse the rice thoroughly under cold water.  This will produce a very nice consistency of grain separation, as compared to being too sticky or clumpy.

https://i.imgur.com/DapxBha.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uOZT3gn.jpg

1 Cup granulated tvp (or see lentil variation in notes below)

1/4 Cup oats (old fashioned or quick cooking oats works fine)

1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/2 tsp garlic granules

1/2 tsp onion granules

1/4 tsp dry mustard

3/4 Cup almost-boiling water

2 Tbs ketchup

2 Tbs soy sauce

1 Tbs smooth or crunchy peanut butter

1/4 Cup whole wheat or white flour

1 Tbs nutritional yeast

Mix first 8 ingredients

Mix hot water, ketchup, soy sauce, and stir into dry mixture.  Mix thoroughly and let stand 5 minutes.

Add peanut butter and mix thoroughly.  This is especially important to be thorough, otherwise you'll get clumps of PB when biting into the burgers.

Stir in flour and yeast flakes and mix thoroughly.

Use hands to shape mixture into patties.  Cover large frying pan with oil and fry on medium-high heat on each side for 6-8 minutes per side or until cooked thoroughly and browned to preference. 

Notes

This is the recipe from straight from a book, but I add about double the spices and extra ketchup and soy sauce.

If you don't know what TVP is, it's Textured Vegetable Protein and is the same thing that Bac-os are made from.  It's a dry vegetable protein isolate, basically like unflavored Bac-os and you can actually substitute some of the tvp with Bac-os for flavor if you like. Here is an example of Bob's Red Mill TVP, but there are other brands and you can also find it in bulk at health food stores. 

This is a very flexible and easy recipe to experiment with.  Add your favorite herbs and spices like red pepper flakes, cumin, chili powder, etc.  You can also substitute bbq sauce for ketchup.

These burgers can be a bit soft at first but will firm up after they sit. 

I typically make a quadruple batch and freeze them.  They freeze well for several weeks and are easy to microwave or fry up to reheat.

I make about 40 patties with about $5 of ingredients when using the lentil variation below.

For a healthier and less expensive option, I like to replace half the tvp with cooked and pureed lentils.  This will make for an even softer burger at first, but they firm up really well overnight so great for large batches.  When using lentils, I start with making a very liquidy slurry of pureed cooked lentils then add all remaining ingredients to the lentil slurry.  What you will get is something the consistency of cookie dough.  The amount of water to use when substituting lentils is someone subjective but you can add more oats and flour if you need to thicken it up. If you do this, give the oats several minutes to absorb the moisture.  Note that using lentils will result in a little less of a “meaty” texture.

Alternatively, you may bake the patties for a lower fat version.  For baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with a non-stick cooking spray and place patties in oven for approximately 30 minutes.  Do no overcook, they will dry out.  Because this is an all plant-based recipe, it doesn’t need to be cooked thoroughly for safety reasons like with meat.  Frying or baking these patties is more about firming them up.

Since photobucket won't let free accounts share images, and I have no idea what i'm doing with imgur and how to share the dang photos, here's a link to my imgur post with photos of both cats.  https://imgur.com/gallery/GlvRSE3