What a week. While nothing earth shattering happened, I did something I had not done before. I went to see a minor league team play. I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I wanted to take Tony out for something fun. He is a baseball fan. We went to see the Lansing Lugnuts play. It wasn’t too expensing, but it was a lot of fun. Too bad it got rained out in the 5th inning.

This week’s recipe is a version of a familiar recipe. Hungarian Goulash is a dish many of you may know. What you may not know is that there is a vegetarian version. Vegetarian Goulash from My Pure Plants is an authentic take. One of the things I noticed about this recipe is the lack of protein. As you know, I like to make every recipe contain enough protein. This one definitely needs a protein boost. It also needs a boost in vitamins A and C. Otherwise I am curious to see how this turns out.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I swapped out the vegetable broth with a low sodium variety to reduce the sodium.
• I replaced the tomato paste with umeboshi paste to remove the tomato.
• I added a block of extra firm tofu to boost the protein.
• I added red bell pepper to increase the vitamin C.
• I added brown rice to provide some healthy carbs.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Vegetarian Hungarian Goulash

Serves 8

• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
• 1 Onion medium
• 3-4 cloves Garlic
• 2 Potatoes
• 2-3 Carrot medium
• 1-2 Parsnip medium
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped
• 15 oz Kidney beans 1 can
• 15 oz block of extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1 inch cubes.
• 5 cup low sodium vegetable broth
• 1.5 tsp umeboshi paste
• 1 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika powder or other sweet smoked paprika powder
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 1 tsp Ground caraway seeds
• ½ tsp Pepper or to taste

Preparing the ingredients

• Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Wash and chop potatoes. Wash, peel, and slice carrots and parsnip.

Making the soup

• Heat a saucepan with 4 cups of water. Add the rice. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Cover and cook for 45 minutes.
• Heat your stockpot to medium heat and add oil. Cook the chopped onion for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the sliced carrots, parsnip, and red bell pepper. Stir and cook for 5-6 minutes.
• Add chopped garlic and the seasoning (pepper, parsley, and caraway seeds) and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add the sweet paprika powder and the umeboshi paste, and stir until combined.
• Pour the vegetable broth and cook the soup for approx. 5 minutes.
• Add the diced potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Finally, add the cooked or canned beans and tofu and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Serve over rice.