vegan iron fest

Since I haven't made a food post in a long time, here is my dinner tonight:


Chard, squash and quinoa. I hadn't intended it to be a vegan iron fest, it just sort of worked out that way. I had some squash to use up, and chard was on sale at the co-op, and I wanted some grain on the side that would finish cooking by the time the squash came out of the oven.

Below are the recipes, which don't really have names unless you want to delineate the ingredients (this with that and that). The meal worked out nice in that I could start the squash, and then start the quinoa, and then clean the chard and cook the chard, and everything wound up being done at the same time. I ate alone and have some chard and quinoa left over, so if you double the squash you'd have a meal for two.

SQUASH
1 delicata squash
6 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
2 teaspoons brown sugar
sesame oil
salt

Wash the squash, cut it in half and scoop out the guts. Lay the squash cut side up in a baking dish and fill each half with 3 cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Drizzle with sesame oil. Salt. Roast at 350F for 20-30 minutes, or until squash is cooked through and garlic is soft. Scrape out squash flesh and mash everything together. (The garlic may not fully incorporate itself, but lumps of sesame roasted garlic are very yummy.)


QUINOA
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon veg broth powder
1/2 teaspoon ground anise
1/4 cup dried currants

Bring quinoa, water, broth powder and anise to a boil; reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer until the quinoa unfurls its tails, about 10 to 15 minutes. Turn off heat, stir in currants, cover pot and allow to sit for 5-10 mintes so that the currants plump up a bit.


CHARD
1 bunch rainbow chard
1/2 onion, sliced
1/3 cup whole raw almonds
olive oil
salt and pepper

Rinse chard and slice stems and leaves seperately. Saute onion in oil and salt on high heat for about a minute, until they just start to soften, then add chard stems and saute a minute longer. Add chard leaves with water still clinging to them, reduce heat, cover pan and allow to steam until done, about one more minute. Turn off heat, remove cover and stir in almonds and fresh ground pepper.