Simple Southwest Salad--Black Beans and Hominy

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This salad is light and fresh and bright with the simple flavors of lime, garlic, and cilantro. There's a nice contrast of textures between crisp sweet onion and bell pepper and the soft beans, hominy and tomato. The colors are pretty too.

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Kari's Simple Southwest Salad--Black Beans and Hominy
makes about 6 cups

1 sweet onion, chopped
1 jalapeno or serrano chile, seeded and minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
1 (15.5 ounce) can white hominy, rinsed and drained
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 lime (juice from)
pinch salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Veggie Udon Soup

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Here's another favorite soup. This recipe is adapted from McDougall's Vegetable Udon Soup. You can find the McDougall recipe in his newsletter archives, December 2008. All of Dr. McDougall's newsletters have lowfat vegan recipes. Most are Mary McDougall's recipes.

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Kari's Veggie Udon Soup -- serves 4 to 6
(adapted from McDougall)

8 cups vegetable broth, unsalted
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp minced ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, halved and sliced thin
1 portabella mushroom, black gills removed, sliced bite-size
6 white button mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, peeled, sliced thin
3 lg heads baby bok choy, sliced
5 Napa cabbage leaves, sliced thin
3 (7-ounce) pkgs fresh precooked Udon noodles
6 ounced pressed tofu, cubed 1/2-inch pieces (optional)

In large pot, bring vegetable broth, soy sauce, ginger and garlic to a boil. Add onion, mushroom, carrots, bok choy, and cabbage. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes. Add Udon noodles and tofu cubes. Simmer 3 to 4 more minutes, separating noodles with a spoon as they cook. Serve.

Note: You can vary the mushrooms according to what you prefer or what's available. I often use shitake and oyster mushrooms. If fresh noodles aren't available, you can precook dry Udon or another noodle/pasta, drain, and then add to soup as directed. You can vary the vegetables according to your tastes and what's available. McDougall's version uses 1 bunch scallions instead of onion and adds 1 cup snow peas. It uses oyster and enoki mushrooms and calls for less greens (only 1 cup each) than I've used here. It also uses less Udon noodles (12 ounces).