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Tag: wild rice

  • Spring Lentil Wild Rice Soup

    Spring Lentil Wild Rice Soup

    Spring may be technically here, but it was snowing most of the day today, so I am still into warming hearty soups at the moment. It’s the perfect weather lately for staying inside, being cozy and cooking something delicious!  Like this Spring Lentil Wild Rice Soup I recently made!  It was so good I had to share the recipe!

    I love wild rice in soups, it is so hearty and earthy and delicious!  I think it is perfect paired with lentils like in this soup, and they both add fiber and protein!  For the veggies, I added celery, onions and garlic to to start.  These are the main 3 vegetables I like to always add to my soups because they give it a good flavor base.  I don’t normally have vegetable broth on hand so I rely a lot on the vegetables I put into my soups for flavor.

    Since this is a Spring soup, I added asparagus, greens and crimini mushrooms.  This combination is so delicious in soup, and it is the perfect time of the year to enjoy asparagus!  I also added miso, tamari and nutritional yeast into the base of this soup to give it a delicious savory flavor!  The instructions for this soup are to make it on the stove, but you can also make it in the Instant Pot if you prefer that.  Just cook the wild rice separately but add everything else to the Instant Pot except the asparagus, miso, and greens.  Cook it in soup mode on the Instant Pot, and at the end, as soon as it finishes cooking add in the asparagus, miso, wild rice and greens.

    This soup was so delicious!  I served it with some crusty bread and it was a wonderful hearty meal for a chilly day!  If you are in the mood for something warming and delicious but still spring appropriate, definitely give this Spring Lentil Wild Rice Soup a try!

     

    Spring Lentil Wild Rice Soup
    Serves2-3

    Ingredients:

    • 2/3 cup uncooked wild rice
    • 2 1/2 cups filtered water
    • 4 large celery stalks, sliced
    • 1 small onion, diced
    • 1/2 cup sliced green onions
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms
    • 1/3 tsp sea salt or to taste
    • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
    • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
    • 2/3 cup French lentils
    • 2 cups filtered water
    • 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 Tbsp tamari
    • 1 cup asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
    • 1 Tbsp white miso whisked into 1 Tbsp water
    • 1 large handful greens

     

    Directions:

    1. Place the wild rice in a pot, cover with filtered water by at least 3 inches and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until the rice has “bloomed”, about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes depending on your rice. Drain the rice and set aside.
    2. Combine the 2 1/2 cups filtered water, nutritional yeast, tamari, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms, sea salt, thyme, and lentils in a pot and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and cook for about 40-45 minutes until the lentils have are tender.  Add the asparagus and cook a few minutes until bright green. Stir in the wild rice.  Add the nutritional yeast, miso mixture and greens cook until greens have wilted.
    3. Serve!
  • Creamy Vegan Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

    Creamy Vegan Mushroom Wild Rice Soup

    At pretty much every restaurant in Minnesota you will find some version or other of creamy wild rice soup, usually with chicken, and everyone claims that theirs is “famous” and the “best”.  I tried a few growing up, and I never thought any of them were that great, except for the version that my Mom made, which was pretty good.  I now make my own version, Creamy Vegan Mushroom Wild Rice Soup and I think it is pretty darn delicious!  I always cook off some wild rice ahead of time because it takes a while, so it doesn’t take a super long time to make.  Some people complain about the smell of wild rice, but I actually like it.  It is an earthy delicious smell.  Something that reminds me of special salads and soups when I was little because wild rice is also considered kind of gourmet.  Or at least it was when I was little.  It is a bit more spendy than regular rice (and is actually not rice at all, it is a grain producing grass), but if you buy it in the bulk section at your health food store (which is what I do), it is cheaper.

    For the protein source in my soup, I use French lentils.  They happen to be my favorite, and they are honestly a staple in my kitchen.  I admit when I was younger I used to be intimidated by them and I thought that they were inferior to beans, but that was before I went vegan and began to discover what a great source of protein they are and how deliciously savory they are! They go awesome with the wild rice too, since they both have that sort of earthy flavor.  I keep the rest of the ingredients pretty simple, mushrooms, celery, onions, and garlic.  Thyme is my herb of choice, and actually my favorite cold weather herb.  It goes beautifully with the wild rice. At the end, I add  a bit of thickened oat milk to make this creamy and crave worthy.

    The soup is sooo good!  It was way better than any of those soups I had as a kid, and my Mom has tried this soup as well and approved!  If you are looking for a delicious soup to make for a cool day, this Creamy Vegan Mushroom Wild Rice Soup is a winner. It makes me think of chilly nights warming up by the fireplace in warm sweaters in some Northern Minnesota café.

    Creamy Vegan Mushroom Wild Rice Soup
    Serves2-3

    Ingredients:

    • 2/3 cup uncooked wild rice
    • 2 1/2 cups filtered water
    • 4 large celery stalks, sliced
    • 1 small onion, diced
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms
    • 1/3 tsp sea salt or to taste
    • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
    • 2/3 cup French lentils
    • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 1/2 cups plant based unsweetened milk (I used Oatly oat milk, you want to use something thicker, coconut milk would also work or soy milk)
    • 1 Tbsp arrowroot starch dissolved in 1 Tbsp filtered water

     

    Directions:

    1. Place the wild rice in a pot, cover with filtered water by at least 3 inches and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until the rice has “bloomed”, about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes depending on your rice. Drain the rice and set aside.
    2. Combine the 2 1/2 cups filtered water, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms, sea salt, thyme, and lentils in a pot and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and cook for about 40-45 minutes until the lentils have are tender.  Stir in the wild rice.  Add the nutritional yeast, milk, and arrowroot mixture and cook until thickened.
    3. Serve!

     

     

  • Roasted Sweet Potato Wild Rice Salad

    Roasted Sweet Potato Wild Rice Salad

    Wild rice is a Minnesota staple.  Especially creamy wild rice soup, which we can’t ever have enough pots of at work, since it flies out of the deli!  But soup is not the only way to enjoy it, hearty salads are awesome too for when you want to have something a little lighter.  I am a big fan of wild rice, but I don’t like to pair it with mayonnaise like many old time church recipes do, I like mine either with a vinaigrette or even no really dressing at all, which is the direction I went with the one I am sharing with you today.  A dash of orange juice, some thyme and sea salt was enough to give it all of the flavor it needed once the other ingredients were added.

    Wild Rice Sweet Potato Salad 1

    I had some sweet potatoes on hand, as well as a pomegranate and some fresh arugula, so I thought they would be tasty additions to the rice for a complete meal.  I roasted the sweet potatoes until they were all flavorful and caramelized, and they were so good with the earthy quinoa!  I have sweet potatoes in some form or another pretty much every day so it is no surprise that I decided to add them.  They are just so good!  The pomegranate seeds added little burst of sweet tart flavor and crunch, and the arugula a little bit of a peppery bite.  I love just throwing  a bit of greens into my meals, even soups at the last minute to add some extra nutrients.  Lastly, I added some toasted pecans to the salad.

    Wild Rice Sweet Potato Salad

    Not only was it beautiful, but delicious as well.  This keeps well, so it is perfect for making ahead and bringing for lunch the next day to work.  Now that is a lunch I would get excited about!  I bet all of your coworkers would be jealous if they saw you eating it!  It has been a bit warm for January here lately (like in the 40s (F)), so I am more in the mood for lighter things.  I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

    Wild Rice Sweet Potato Salad 3

    Roasted Sweet Potato Wild Rice Salad
    Serves 2

    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
    • 2 cups diced sweet potatoes
    • olive oil
    • sea salt
    • 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
    • 1 large handful arugula
    • 1/2 cup toasted pecans
    • 2 Tbsp orange juice
    • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
    • sea salt to taste

     

    Instructions:

    1. Place the wild rice in a pot, and cover with water by 3 inches.  Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook until wild rice has flowered (the grains have split), which can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the wild rice you have (mine takes about an hour, it is the long grain Minnesota rice). So pay attention to the package or bulk directions when you buy it. Once rice has finished cooking pour it into a bowl.
    2. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees, and line a sheet pan with parchment.  Toss the sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat, then spread out on the sheet pan and sprinkle with sea salt.  Place in the oven and roast until tender and starting to brown at the edges, about 40 minutes or so.  Remove from oven.  Add to the bowl with the rice.
    3. Toss rice together with all other ingredients, and serve!
  • Savory Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Squash

    Savory Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Squash

    I have always had a thing for squash.  It is the vegetable that I always used to get the most excited about, and when Fall rolled around, I had to have some in my kitchen at all times.  There was a point when I ate it almost every day, and my skin turned slightly orange.  My Mom called it my squash tan.  I try to branch out a little more now and eat a variety of things, but I still devour a couple of squash per week.  My favorite thing to do with them is to stuff them.  With things like soup, or savory rice or quinoa stuffings. I was in the mood for a really hearty dinner a few nights back, because it was a chilly day and I was super hungry from a big workout and working, so I made a lentil and wild rice stuffed squash.

    lentil-and-wild-rice-stuffed-squash-1

    Lentils and wild rice are used often in my kitchen lately, because to me they are perfect for comfort foods like creamy wild rice soup, or lentil walnut meatloaf.  Combining them together is awesome because they have this beautiful earthy savory flavor that is perfect for this time of the year.  I kept this stuffing pretty simple, adding some mushrooms and garlic for flavor, celery for texture and saltiness, and a little thyme because it is my favorite Fall and Winter spice.  For the squash, I used buttercup, because it is my all time favorite squash, the perfect balance of sweet and starchy.

    lentil-and-wild-rice-stuffed-squash-2

    There was a time in my life when I had squash roasting in the oven almost every night, and it is always comforting to smell it roasting in the oven and warming up the house.  This recipe takes a little time to cook, but it is not difficult to make or hands on time consuming.  It is sooo worth the time though!  I made extra and served it for dinner the next night!  It is deliciously savory, like warm you up, satisfy your comfort food craving but still feel good after meal.   I think I might just be making this often this year!

    lentil-and-wild-rice-stuffed-squash-3

    Savory Lentil and Wild Rice Stuffed Squash
    Serves 4

    Ingredients:

    • 2/3 cup wild rice
    • 2/3 cup French lentils
    • 1 tsp olive oil
    • 2 stalks celery
    • ¾ cup sliced crimini mushrooms
    • 1 clove garlic, minced
    • ½ tsp dried thyme
    • Sea salt to taste
    • 2 medium buttercup or kabocha squash, cut in half and seeds removed

    Directions:

    1. Place the wild rice in a pot with just enough water to cover by 3 inches, then bring to a boil, and lower to a simmer.  Cover and cook for about 1 hour until the rice is tender and starting to bloom.  Drain.
    2. Meanwhile, do the same with the lentils as you did with the rice, and cook for about 40 minutes until tender.  Drain.
    3. Meanwhile, while the rice and lentils are cooking, preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
    4. Place the squash in the oven, cut side down on an oiled baking tray.  Bake for about 1 hour until tender.
      While the squash is cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan, and add the celery and mushrooms.  Sautee for about 10 minutes over medium heat until tender, then add the garlic, thyme, the cooked lentils and wild rice.  Season to taste with salt, then stir all together.
    5. Once the squash have finished cooking spoon the lentil and wild rice mixture into them.  Serve!

     

     

     

  • Wild Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Asparagus

    Wild Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Asparagus

    Wild Rice Salad

    Wild rice is big here in Minnesota.  It is a bit spendy, but worth it. It tastes like nothing else, sort of earthy and savory perfect for hearty dishes and it is classic to use in casseroles.  But it is not limited to warm dishes.  It makes wonderful substantial salads as well.  I made a salad last week with it since it happened to be what I saw when I opened my cupboard when looking for things to compose dinner with.  I thought it would go perfectly with the fresh tender asparagus I had bought at the store with the intention of using it in something new and delicious.  I also added in chickpeas for a bit of protein as well as walnuts and some red bell peppers and celery since you can never have too many veggies in your meals as far as I am concerned.  I tossed it with a simple dressing and it was all that it needed to be delicious.  This keeps well and makes a wonderful thing to take with you to work for lunch the next day.

    Wild Rice Salad 1

    Wild Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Asparagus

    Serves 4

    3 cups cooked wild rice

    1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (you may use canned)

    2 stalks celery, diced

    1 red bell pepper, diced

    2 cups asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces

    1/2 cup raw walnuts

    2 Tbsp cider vinegar

    2 Tbsp olive oil

    1 tsp dried thyme

    1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste

    2 cloves garlic, minced

    In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, and toss together until well combined.  Serve at room temperature.

    *To cook wild rice, rinse it well, then place in a pot of water covering by a few inches and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and cook until the rice begins to flower or split apart and is tender about 1 hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half (depending on which type you have).  Cook the chickpeas in a similar fashion, they take about an hour and a half.