Because of the kinds of jobs I do, I’m always looking for something that is cheap, filling, good, low sodium, low glycemic index, requires little refrigeration, and microwaves easily, to serve as a “good lunch”. And although I’m very happily omnivorous, I’m conscious of the kinds of themes that Michael Pollan touches on in the books, “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food“. I’m equally aware of the kinds of issues that Mark Bittman touches on in “Food Matters“, in the article “Vegan Before Dinnertime“, and in what I regard as his best article, “Putting Meat Back in Its Place.” And I believe this “more plants, less meat” trend is attracting attention not because it’s outrageous, but because it makes both sense and dollars and cents. In the case of the “good lunch”, interestingly, these disparate themes merge. Vegan dishes tend to have all the traits I’m looking for, and I can control the salt content if I cook it myself.
Kashi makes a number of prepared products, some of them good, others really good, but they also make a 7 grain cereal mix:
Kashi 7 grain pilaf.
With 2 cups of water and a cereal packet from the box, you can make a nice hot cereal in about 25 minutes.
Uncooked kashi, with 2 cups of water
I was thinking I didn’t want just cereal, and it would be a shame to waste those nice grains. So I decided on a stir fry. To note, there are very few Kashi based stir fries in the blogosphere, and this one from the Plain Cook site is more complicated than I wanted.
Total time required: ca 40 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 package Kashi 7 grain pilaf.
2 cups water
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced finely
2 stalks of celery, sliced thin
1 poblano pepper, sliced thin
1 red bell pepper, diced
some green onions
2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin.
ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil.
So, we put the kashi in a pan once the water is boiling and simmer 25 minutes. In my case, it wasn’t quite done at 25, there was still some water, but I had started and ended the first 25 minutes with the pot covered. I’m much more likely to leave it uncovered after 10 minutes or so, if I do this again.
Prepare the vegetables as the kashi simmers and just before the kashi is ready, add olive oil to a pan and heat the pan on high. Once the pan is hot enough, add vegetables, and reduce the heat to medium.
Vegetables, ready to stir-fry.
Let the vegetables cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring, waiting for the onions to begin to turn translucent. At this point add the kashi and let it cook for about 3 minutes more. Afterwards, put the stir-fry into serving bowls and season to taste.
A kashi stir-fry. Season to taste.
The recipe above serves about 3-4. In practice, kashi is a bit stickier in the pan than quinoa, so my suggestion is transfer it into microwave bowls (that portion you’re preserving for lunch) as soon as you can.
The vegetables I chose were simply those I had around. You can substitute as you wish (cubes of zucchini would be good here, and I’m personally fond of baby bok choy).
Food Near Snellville 
April 20, 2009 at 9:59 am
That looks delicious! And what a simple way to make a stir-fry! Using a Kashi pilaf is an easy way to get all the multi-grains in one place without feeling intimidated by making them individually. I like that the Kashi pilaf is actually vegan, as most of the Kashi cereals and such I’ve perused contain honey. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for it next time I’m at the store..
April 20, 2009 at 9:59 pm
You know, that’s something I wouldn’t have even considered. Honey is much better for you than high fructose corn syrup, but it’s a product of bees, isn’t it?
I remember once I had a friend that was a Jain and I promised him cookies. It’s trickier to make cookies when you can’t use butter.
April 21, 2009 at 9:50 am
Yeah, people often forget about honey being not-vegan, it also doesn’t help when some vegans will eat honey (makes things that much more confusing for the mass public – like ‘vegetarians’ who eat fish). I really like Agave Nectar (if you ever need a honey substitute for something).
Tell me about it..in an attempt to reduce the amount of processed foods we eat, Jo came up with a frosting recipe that used nuts in place of butter..(http://innocentprimate.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/chocolate-cake-with-cashew-raspberry-icing/) I bet that might work for cookies too – I’ll get her on it!
April 22, 2009 at 6:58 am
My alternative would have been margarine, a hydrogenated vegetable oil. The idea of nuts as an oil source, possible too I imagine.
June 26, 2009 at 7:24 am
[…] a vegetarian sandwich they call Glenda’s Garden. Finally, I’ve cooked both a quinoa and Kashi stir-fry before. If worst comes to worst, then I can do it myself (though I need some way to figure […]