It's a Jolly Holi-dog!

My sister found this on youtube and I thought it was so cute!!

Broccoli Cheese! Broccoli Cheese!

Broccoli Cheese was the highlight of my holiday dinners.  The responsibility (and high honor) of making it would alternate between us and the McDevitt cousins.  One year when it was our turn, our beloved dog, Goober, enjoyed the entire casserole to herself while we stopped at McDonald's on the way to the family gathering.  It was an utter tragedy, and so was losing the broccoli cheese.  This tasty concoction consisted of a block of velveeta cheese, a can of cream of mushroom soup, frozen broccoli and spinach and fried onions (the canned kind).  When I became vegan, I mourned one dish only - Broccoli Cheese.  How could I replicate coagulated cream of mushroom soup? And a mysterious block of orange goop with such questionable edibility??  Impossible!  Well not anymore.  We've done it!  With real ingredients that will make your heart skip- not stop.  This year I had the pleasure of having non-vegans over for Thanksgiving.  They were self-proclaimed cheese fanatics who couldn't believe their taste buds.  "This isn't cheese?! Really?!?."  Really.  So now, I have the great honor of presenting one of my most proud moments in vegan cooking history.  I give you...the Broccoli Cheese.  

Rich Man's Toasted Walnut Pesto Pasta

...you'll be rich from all money you didn't spend on the pine nuts and Cuisinart.  Traditionally, a pesto is made in a cuisinart with a lot of olive oil, pine nuts, basil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese.  I wanted to simplify the recipe and see if it tasted just as good without the cuisinart, loads of oil and parm cheese.   It was awesome! I think this will become a staple because of how easy and delicious and healthy it is!  Yay for new staples!

Clean and Green

 I know I'm behind the times a bit on this, but I'm finally putting to rest the harmful chemicals that I've grown so fond of cleaning with.  No more bleach, lysol, scrubbing bubbles, windex, pine sol or....I can't believe I'm about to say this....cleanser.  I have five animals - three cats and two dogs - so I've been reluctant to switch to green cleaning products because I relied on the overwhelming swimming pool scent to cover the unwanted scents - and I thought green products just wouldn't cut it.  This past Wednesday, however, I became a believer.  If Michael hadn't stopped me, I would've wiped down every single wall in my house.  I found joy in the household activity I typically loathe with a passion.  When I bought it, I thought it was a splurge because of how expensive it was.  But it's ultra concentrated and you only use 1⁄4 cup per gallon.  My eyes weren't burning, my hands didn't feel like I had just dipped them in acid, and I didn't bleach my favorite pair of sweatpants.  My house smelled like the crisp clean log cabin in the snowy hills of Vermont I wish I had.  And of all the concoctions I've developed to get rid of animal smell, this worked the best!  I used a 1⁄4 cup of Meyer's clean day, a couple splashes of vinegar (a natural disinfectant) and a 1⁄4 cup of natural pet enzyme cleaner.  Voila!

Lentil Loaf with Truffle Scented Mushroom Gravy

Ok, I'm kinda really proud of this recipe.  I created it without the help of someone else's recipe, and I have to say, it DELISH!  I tested it out on some friends last night and it was a huge success.  I'm going to serve it in honor of the bird that will be happily frolicking in a meadow and not laying on my table :)  It's a lot of ingredients, but it's Thanksgiving!  I'm going to make this a day in advance so I can just pop it in the oven on Thursday.  Sorry, I'm not able to get a picture up til Friday - we ate the whole thing last night!

PUMPKIN BREAD!!!

Of all the recipes I've posted, I'm most excited about this one.  Every year since he was about 7, my wonderful husband has been in charge of making the holiday pumpkin bread.  This year, he as been tirelessly working to create the perfect vegan version of his famous classic.  After about 4 different loaves, he's finally found THE ONE!  It's light, fluffy, moist, sweet, pumpkinny, and the most delicious bread I think I've ever had.  The only other bread that could compete would be my dad's zucchini bread.  I seriously considered not posting this because I've always wanted a stellar secret recipe, but Michael insisted I share it with everyone :)  He's too nice.  Remember that baking is a science, so you want to follow this recipe like the straight A student you always wished you could be ;)

Indian Dahl

Not only will your taste buds be giddy, your heart will thank you too! This delicious recipe is from Caldwell B. Esselstyn's book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.  There's some chopping that has to be done, but you basically throw it all in one pot and let it cook.  It's super easy!

Chili

 I love chili on a chili fall day ;) This is a basic recipe that is amazing on it's own but can also be pimped out to your liking.  Michael likes to add celery but I am anti-celery unless it has peanut butter and raisins on it :) You could also add a zucchini, red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, butternut squash, etc... This is also a recipe where you get to call upon your inner chef.  I'm a flavor lover, so I usually go heavy on the spices and add a little more than what's listed here.  But start with these amounts, let your chili simmer for a couple minutes to let the spices incorporate, and then test it and go from there.  I know this recipe looks like it has a lot of ingredients, but besides chopping the onion and whatever veggies you decide on, the rest is just canned goods and spices that get thrown in.  Plus it's a one-pot meal! My FAVORITE!  

If you want to get really creative, sometimes Michael and I turn it into a cornbread-n-chili casserole.  Reduce the simmer time for the chili to 5 minutes, pour into a large casserole dish, top with the your favorite cornbread batter (stay tuned for a cornbread recipe -still trying to perfect it), and bake according to the cornbread's instructions.  Super yummy and fun!

Chef Peter

My amazing "little" brother (10 years younger and 3 inches taller) has recently discovered the joy of cooking.  As a varsity soccer player on one of the best soccer teams in the state, he realized he needed to be filling his body with clean burning fuel that would enhance his performance on the field.  With no prior cooking experience and hardly any help from the 'rents he has mastered several of the recipes on this blog! He's even leading the grocery shopping expeditions to shop for the intriguing ingredients that are new to him.  So if you're timid to delve into cooking delicious and healthy meals, you can look to this amazingly good looking and super cool 16 (I mean 9?) year old guy -who totally takes after his older sister- for inspiration.  His latest endeavor: Peanut Butter Eggs!

 Me and Pete when he won his Eastern PA Challenge Cup championship! 

Cheers, Bill!

Wolf Blitzer interviews President Bill Clinton as he explains his change in diet after his bypass surgery.

Click here to view the video.

Lentil and Brown Rice Casserole

This recipe cooks itself.  It's so easy and so delicious it might just become a staple for you as it has become for us.  If you don't have all of those spices, don't fret, just add a little more of what you do have.  If you want to add some garlic, go for it - it's not a picky casserole.  And if you don't have vegan cheese, it'll still be really good.

This will take 10 minutes (at the most) of prep and then cooks in the oven for an hour and a half (while you take a long and relaxing bubble bath).

Black-Eyed Pea Croquettes with a Dijon Glaze

This recipe is in the Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (an awesome book/cookbook).  She found it in The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter, and Jessica acquired it from her friend Lisa Silverman.  How's that family tree for ya ;)  When we saw this recipe and how easy it was and how yummy it looked, we thought it was too good to be true.  But alas, it's super easy and super yummy!

Creamy Kabocha Squash Soup

When Kristen had me over for dinner and told me we were having a squash soup that she found in The Kind Diet, my heart sank.  I really hate squash soup.  And when she excitedly told me it was just squash, water, and salt and pepper, I wanted to go home.  But I was a good friend and stayed and I'm so glad I did! Kabocha squash on it's own is so sweet and creamy that you don't need anything else!  We made it a meal by pouring it over broccoli and rice with some bread for dipping.  You could also add some tofu or tempeh!  If you can't find kabocha squash, butternut would work too. 

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 cups kabocha squash
3 1⁄2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1.Cook the Squash:
Place squash in a saucepan with the water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes until soft. 

2. Mash the Squash:

Mash with potato masher, mixer, or fork right in the pot.  If you're using a non-stick pot, make sure to use non-stick friendly masher-o-choice.

3. Simmer the Squash:

Add another pinch of salt and some pepper and simmer for another 7-10 minutes or longer

4. Serve

Place rice and a broccoli on the plate and spoon soup over it.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

Gluten Free

Easy Peasy

For the next couple of weeks, I will be posting delicious and healthy recipes with very few ingredients that require no kitchen gadgets.  This was suggested by my friend Kristen who said she gets intimidated by long lists of ingredients - understandably.  I was also inspired by my sister, a college student, who doesn't have funds for lots of kitchen gadgets or access to fancy ingredients.  Hope you enjoy!

Fruits and Veggies and Make-up oh my!

My friend works with a make-up artist who only uses natural and organic cosmetics.  She introduced us to 100% Pure, and we're HOOKED!  The mascara is a must - I have the blueberry and it actually smells like blueberries!  This is taken from the FAQ's on their website:

Why 100% pure?

“As much as 60% of topical skin-care products are absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream,” Says Dr. Nancy Lonsdrof, M.D. an lowa-based physician, “They should be consumed with the same prudence that we use to choose our breakfast cereal.” – April 2006 issue of Women's Health Magazine. There are many toxic chemicals in cosmetic products that have been clinically proven to cause cancer, tumors, irritation and many different skin disorders. 100% products are truly 100% Pure-no synthetic chemicals, chemical preservatives, artificial fragrances, artificial colors, harsh detergents or any other unhealthy toxins.

More Muffins!

My friends, Chris and Shaunte, tried the pumpkin muffins the other day and made a great suggestion.  Next time they make them, they're gonna use chunky applesauce and a touch of nutmeg - I will definitely be trying that!  Thanks guys! Glad you enjoyed them! This is how theirs turned out (these definitely look more impressive than mine!)  I'm beaming :)

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies!!!

Ta da! A gluten free cookie that looks like a cookie, feels like a cookie, tastes like an amaaaazing cookie, and can be made in your very own kitchen!!!  My gluten-full friends, you may not find anything unbelievably extraordinary about this cookie.  It is, after all, one of the most standard and simple American treats.  My gluten-free friends, however, you might want to get out the box of tissues and have a seat before trying these...it could get a little emotional ;)



Makes 16-18 cookies

Ingredients
2 sticks or 1 cup earth balance (not the spreadable margarine stuff)
2 1⁄4 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsp Ener-g egg replacer
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1 1⁄2-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°
2. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.
3. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and egg replacer and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, pour in the melted butter and add sugar and brown sugar.  Whisk vigorously.  Add milk, vanilla and peanut butter and mix until well combined.
5. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir with a spoon until thoroughly combined.  The dough should be crumbly.  Fold in chocolate chips.  **place dough in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes (or over night).**
6. Form dough into "cookie patties" like you would with veggie burgers.  Make them a little flatter than you would with "normal" cookie dough.
7. Cook on 375° for 12-14 minutes.  They will feel very soft coming out of the oven, but they should be slightly browned on the bottom.  They will harden as they cool.
8.  Unfortunately, these are better when you've let them completely cool.  If you eat them while they're hot, they crumble pretty easily - ya can't have it all...

Enjoy!!!


GLUTEN FREE!

Emeril Says...

When you're baking it's about formulas, when you're cookin' it's about feeling.

Burrrrrrrritos!

 I realized I haven't been posting enough lunch or dinner recipes.  So I'm going to make an effort to share more of those!  The only problem is that the camera doesn't take the best pictures at night and we eat pretty late, so I might not be able to post pictures with all of the recipes.  But rest assured, they look beautiful and taste great!  This is a go-to meal we make at least once a week for lunch or dinner - we're always using different veggies depending on what we have in the fridge, so these are never set in stone.  This recipe is courtesy of my wonderful hubster, Michael.  Thanks love!

Pumpkin Spice Waffles

More waffles!!!  I feel most inspired to create or try new recipes at the start of a new season.  Especially fall.  It's just so cozy and comfort food is just so.....comforting :)  This recipe is a collaboration between Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and yours truly.

Makes 12 squares

Ingredients:
2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1⁄2 tsp baking soda
1⁄2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1⁄2 tsp ground or freshly grated nutmeg
1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
2 cups milk-o-choice (I used almond)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 (15-oz) can pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp apple sauce
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
2. Combine milk and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside to curdle (to create a buttermilk).
3. Sift together (or whisk) flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
4. In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together, buttermilk,  pumpkin, oil, apple sauce, brown sugar, and vanilla until well emulsified.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.  Prepare the waffles according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Try these with the Maple Cinnamon Butter at the end of the Blueberry Buttermilk Pancake recipe post.  YUM!

Banaffles

 We had a craving for waffles one evening as we finished dinner and were already scheming a fun Saturday morning breakfast.  And to our surprise and delight, we discovered we had a waffle maker!  It was my old one from high school (probably considered an antique by now) that I begged my parents for one Christmas.  After a solid 20 minutes of cleaning her, she was good as new.  We found this Banana Walnut Waffle recipe in Veganomicon and after a couple not so successful testers, were finally able to make our (well, Veganomicon's) version of this classic favorite!

Makes 14-16 waffle squares

Ingredients:
1 3⁄4 cups almond milk (or milk of choice)
1⁄4 cup water
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 average size bananas
3 Tbsp canola oil
3 Tbsp maple syrup or agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour (we used whole wheat pastry)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
non-stick cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat your waffle iron
2. Pour soy milk, water, and vinegar into a measuring cup and set aside to curdle.
3. Mash the bananas very well in a large mixing bowl.  Add the soy milk mixture, oil, syrup, and vanilla, and stir.
4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Use a fork to combine.  Don't overmix, just mix until there are minimal lumps left.  Fold in chopped walnuts.
5. Spray all cooking surfaces of your waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and cook the waffles according to the manufacturer's directions.
6. Serve with desired topping (i.e. bananas, strawberries, powdered sugar, walnuts, maple syrup, etc..)

Enjoy!!!

DIVINE Lettuce Wraps

Michael found this recipe in VegNews.  Now, I'm not the type of person who gravitates toward recipes where lettuce is involved, but he insisted we make this and I'm SOOOOOOO happy we did.  We used a new spice: Chinese five-spice, we used a new veggie: jicama, and we used a new sauce: hoisin!  We love when we incorporate new foods!  This is a really fun meal to share with friends - your all digging into the same bowl, it's a little messy which I think is fun, and competing for best lettuce wrapper never gets old.  Hands down, I think this is the yummiest recipe I have posted on this blog so far.  I mean it's amazing.  A-MA-ZING!!!!!!

Prepare your tofu first, and prepare everything else while the tofu is baking.  It might seem involved, but once you get the ingredients chopped, it basically all just gets thrown in a big pan and you'll be finished with the filling by the time the tofu is done.  The leftovers (pictured above) are just as good, if not better :)

Serves 4

Baked Tofu
Ingredients
1 16-oz block extra firm organic tofu sliced into eight pieces
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1⁄4 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Between two clean dishtowels or paper towels, press tofu to remove excess water
3. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, peanut oil, and five-spice powder 
4. In a lightly oiled baking dish, place tofu and cover with sauce
5. Bake for 45 minutes until golden and firm.  Flip tofu half way through baking 

Wrap Filling
Ingredients
1 Tbsp peanut or grapeseed oil
1 inch cube of ginger, peeled and minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1⁄2 pound of daikon radish or jicama, finely chopped (daikon radish isn't in season right now so we used jicama and it was perfect)
1 cup frozen, shelled organic edamame
3 scallions, ends trimmed and thinly sliced
the baked tofu, finely chopped or crumbled
2 Tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten free-ers)
1 tsp-ish hot sauce - your choice how hot you want it!
1⁄4 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 1⁄2 cups toasted peanuts or walnuts (we used walnuts), coarsely chopped
10-ish sturdy lettuce leaves (we used butter lettuce which was good, but not sturdy.  VegNews recommends Boston, bibb, or red romaine)
hoisin sauce for dipping/dabbing/sprinkling

Directions
1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, preheat oil, stir in ginger and garlic, and cook for 45 seconds or until fragrant.  Add radish or jicama and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes until softened.  Stir in edamame and cook for another 2 minutes or until tender, then add scallions and tofu.
2. Sprinkle with soy sauce, hot sauce, and five-spice powder and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is hot and completely coated with soy sauce, 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and nuts-o-choice.
Serve filling right out of the pan or in a deep dish, stack lettuce leaves on a plate, and pour some hoisin sauce in a small bowl.
3. To serve: take a lettuce leaf, spoon a few tablespoons of filling into the center and dab on hoisin sauce.  Fold the bottom of the leaf toward the filling then overlap the sides (like a little burrito) and eat immediately.  Make sure there are lots of napkins at the table.

*If you use tamari instead of soy sauce (which is what we did) and hold the hoisin sauce, this is Gluten Free!

This recipe is courtesy of Terry Hope Romero via VegNews.  She is the co-author of Veganomicon (one of our favorites), Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (which I will be buying shortly), and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (another amazing one).  Viva Vegan!, her first solo book, was released earlier this year!  If I could only have one vegan cookbook, it would be Veganomicon!  Thanks you for keeping our mouths happy and our bellies full, Terry!!!

The Dirty Dozen

Michael and I recently went to a cooking demonstration with Chef Tanya at Native Foods.  She's an awesome, fun, and well educated woman who has created a STELLAR menu and this AMAZING restaurant in Westwood (also a few other locations).  While she was cooking, she mentioned the "dirty dozen."  Michael and I have switched to organic unless we can't find an organic option, but we had no idea about this dirty dozen, and have definitely bought a few of these when they were on sale. According to CNN, the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit group focused on public health, determined that these fruits and vegetables have between 47 and 67 pesticides per serving! GROSS!!!  It's believed that they are more susceptible to the absorption of  the chemicals due to their soft skin.  So here they are:
Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Domestic blueberries
Nectarines
Sweet bell peppers
Spinach, kale and collard greens
Cherries
Potatoes
Imported grapes
Lettuce

On the flip side, organic is more expensive, and if you're on a tight budget, there's the "Clean 15." These fruits and vegetables have a tougher skin and showed little to no pesticides.  So if you can't go completely organic, you can get away with these.  But please, for the love of - don't poison yourself with that dirty dozen.

Clean 15:
Onions
Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Mango
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions


To read the whole article from CNN and to learn more about pesticides click here.

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY PEDOR!!!

Cuteness

Can you stand it?!

Mexican Feast!

I had some friends over last night and we had a big Mexican feast!  It was soooo yummy!  I didn't get a picture of it, but it wouldn't have done it justice anyway.  With some help from Michael, it took us a little over an hour.  Worth the effort though.  Worth. The. Effort. :)
Serves 6-8

The Menu

Seasoned mixed vegetables with pinto beans (recipe below)

Refried black beans

Spring mix greens

Spicy rice (recipe below)

Guacamole  (recipe below)

Citris Sour Cream (recipe below)

Chopped tomatoes

Chopped cilantro

Salsa

Blue Corn hard taco shells

Whole wheat soft taco shells

Spicy brown rice (start this first):
Recipe courtesy of Michael!

Ingredients
1 cup rice
2 cups water or vegetable broth
3 Tbsp hot sauce 

Directions
Add water, rice and hot sauce to pot.  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 35-40 minutes.  When cooked, uncover and fluff with fork. Add more hot sauce and salt if desired.  Leave half covered with lid to keep warm. 

Seasoned mixed vegetables with pinto beans:
Ingredients
1 white onion
3 portobello mushrooms, diced (make sure to scoop out the brown stuff on the bottom)
2 red (or color of your choice) bell peppers
4 cloves garlic
3 zucchini, quartered and sliced
2 white zucchini, quartered and sliced (if you can't find this just use one more regular zucchini)
1 cup frozen corn
2 cans pinto beans
1 packet taco seasoning
salt and pepper to taste 

Directions
1. Heat a large pan to medium high heat.  Add 2 Tbsp olive oil.  *Never let your pan smoke with olive oil in it - the olive oil becomes carcinogenic.
2. Add onion and a couple dashes of salt and cook until almost transparent.  Add mushrooms and cook 3-4 minutes or until most of the mushroom juice has evaporated.  Add red bell pepper and cook about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, zucchini, pinto beans, corn, and taco seasoning.  Mix until taco seasoning is well incorporated.  Cook on medium heat until zucchini is almost transparent.  When zucchini becomes completely transparent it's a little overcooked.  Salt and pepper to taste.
   *The order in which you put the vegetables in the pan is important here so they don't get over cooked.  Onions are first because they add a ton of flavor to the other vegetables as they cook.  Mushrooms take the longest, followed by the peppers, etc... I always add garlic toward the end because I don't like my garlic overcooked and I think it's more flavorful when not overcooked.

Refried Black Beans:
Open the can, put beans in a small pot on medium low heat, add a couple tablespoons of water, mix well, cover and cook for 7-10 minutes until warm.

Guacamole:
Ingredients
5 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled and roughly chopped (save one avocado pit)
1 large tomato, diced
1⁄2 cup finely chopped cilantro
juice of 1⁄2 lime
1⁄4 red onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic (sautéed or raw - I prefer sautéed) 
1⁄2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely finely diced (don't touch your eyes after you cut it!!!) 
salt and pepper to taste 

Directions
Mash avocado with a fork until desired consistency (I prefer chunky).  Add tomato, cilantro, lime juice, onion, garlic, jalapeno, salt and pepper. The best part about making guac is that you have to taste it the whole way through the process - I'm always tweaking the amount of different ingredients based on who I'm serving.  Less garlic, onion and cilantro if I have picky eaters, more if I have hard-core guac lovers (like my sister-in-law who is my #1 guac fan...thanks Suz!) - and tons of everything if it's just me :) This recipe is also really good if you eliminate the garlic and onion for a more mellow guacamole.
*warning! Add lime juice slowly.  Too much lime juice will make it too soupy.
*tip! When adding guacamole to your serving bowl, save an avocado pit and put it in the bottom of the bowl.  This will keep the guacamole greener, longer!

Citrus Sour Cream
Mix about 1⁄2 cup sour cream with 1 tsp lime juice and a couple dashes of ground white pepper


Enjoy your feast!


Besides the whole wheat tortillas, this is gluten free!!

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

**UPDATE!!  Try them with bread flour - even fluffier!!!
I wanted to find a healthier alternative to Bisquick - no offense Bisquick, I enjoyed you throughout my childhood.  This recipe took me quite some time to perfect and comes from combining/veganizing a few different recipes.  It's hearty but fluffy at the same time, and with the maple cinnamon butter Michael made, it's a little bite of heaven in your mouth!

Tempeh in a Hearty Mushroom Lager Sauce

This recipe is from Vegetarian Time's March 2009 issue.  We made it last week, but it would be a great meal for a cozy winter night as well.  It's soooo yummy!!  I've never cooked with beer or millet before, but I'm an official fan of both.  And grab an extra beer or two to serve with the meal!

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 7-oz package of tempeh, cut into bite size cubes
1 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce or tamari (which is what I used)
2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced and chopped in thirds
6-8 oz. shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 Tbsp. flour
1 1⁄2 cup lager (we used Lobotomy Bock and it was awesome)
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp agave nectar
2 green onions, white and green parts finely sliced

Directions:
 1. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large frying pan or skillet.  Cook tempeh cubes 8-10 minutes or until browned  on all sides, stirring frequently.  Add soy sauce and cook 1 minute or until pan is almost dry.  Transfer tempeh to a paper towel-lined plate.
2. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil and all mushrooms to pan, and sprinkle with some salt.  Sauté mushrooms 10 minutes or until browned and slightly caramelized, stirring occasionally. 
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and stir in flour.  Cook 1-2 minutes, or until flour begins to brown, stirring constantly.  Increase heat to medium-high, add beer, mustard, and agave and bring mixture to a boil.  *If sauce is too bitter for your taste, add a little more agave.  Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened.  Stir in tempeh cubes and simmer 5 minutes more.  Serve sprinkled with green onions.

Enjoy!

Dog Beach

We took the kids to the dog beach in San Diego.  It smelled like pee but Gumba  and Beezy didn't seem to mind...

Berry Easy and Delicious Cobbler

(not the most amazing picture..)

This recipe is a collaboration of a recipe I found online and my mom's apple crisp.  I pretty much ate the entire thing in one night.  This is a great dessert when you need to quickly throw something together and really want to impress your guests, or yourself :)

Cobbler

Ingredients

7 cups frozen berries, thawed and drained (to save time, I put them in a strainer and ran  warm water over them.  It will be around 5-6 cups when thawed.  I used blackberries,  cherries, and blueberries.)

1⁄4 cup flour

1⁄4 sugar

juice of 1⁄2 a lemon

zest of 1 whole lemon

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and spread in a greased pie dish.

Topping

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 cups brown sugar (packed)

1 cup flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon

2⁄3 cup butter, softened

Mix all ingredients well in a medium bowl (a pastry cutter works great - or a fork) and spread over berry mixture. 

Bake 25-30 minutes or until berry mixture is bubbling and topping is golden brown.

Enjoy!

The Perfect Smoothie

Finally....the moment my family has been waiting for.  My perfect smoothie.  Michael and I drink these after almost every workout.  A great source of protein, fiber, omega-3, potassium, good fats, complex carbs (those are the healthy ones), antioxidents, and a little special happy powder called Maca, this is a super duper healthy, hearty, creamy and absolutely delicious smoothie.  There are a couple special ingredients like cacao nibs, Maca powder, and hemp protein that are great investments.  They are a little pricey, but a little bit goes a long way and they'll last a very long time - I think we've had our Maca for over 6 months and we're just about half way through it.  Go to my "intriguing ingredients" page for more info on these not-so-common ingredients.

French Toast Doughnuts!

My favorite memory of doughnuts has to be when we were "down the shore" (Ocean City, NJ) and my dad would get up early in the morning to get fresh doughnuts and Mallon's sticky buns.  It was blissful waking up on a warm and muggy East coast morning to the sweet smell of pastry heaven.  This recipe is courtesy of Vegetarian Times September 2009 issue.  These are not the type of dougnuts you'll find at a pastry shop like the jelly doughnuts I made in November.  They're heartier like the boxed ones you find at the grocery store.  But better.  Much much better. Not to mention they're so easy!

Blackened Tofu and Orzo Pasta Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing

One of my favorite lunches.  It's a long post, and it might look complicated, but if you have some of the ingredients made in advance, it's easy peasy.  This was a left-over creation when I already had extra cooked orzo from the night before, blackened tofu from 2 nights before and Ranch dressing on hand. But the Ranch is really easy and A-MA-ZING!  It's courtesy of our friends Jenny and Heather at Spork Foods and it's a staple for us.  So if you plan your meals a little in advance - have a yummy pasta dish the night before and make a little extra pasta for the next day.  Have blackened tofu, mashed sweet potatoes, and sautéed garlic spinach two nights before and make some extra tofu.  The leftover tofu will be nice and firm too! If you don't have leftovers, I suggest making the tofu and orzo the night before so it's not hot when you serve it.  If you don't want to make it the night before, chill the tofu and orzo for an hour before assembling.  This is better served cold because of the veggies and dressing.

I actually can't believe I haven't posted this tofu yet - I eat it at least once a week.  This is also courtesy of Jenny and Heather, but with a little twist of my own.  I eat it on it's own, or in salads.  Unfortunately, by the time I'm done cooking it, usually only half has made it out of the pan alive...even my non-veg friends love it!

Beautiful Bali

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Eggs...whhhaaaaattt???

Crunchy chocolaty shell, smooth peanut-butter-cream-cheesy center... You're gonna love these!

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese
2 Cups smooth (or crunchy if you like) peanut butter
3 Tbsp earth balance (softened)
1⁄2 pound of powdered sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
24 oz (2 bags) chocolate chips (I used whole foods bulk chocolate chips)

Mix all ingredients together (except the chocolate) with a mixer until smooth.  Scoop into little balls and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet.  I think my mixture made about 55.  Place in the freezer for at least an hour.

When they're frozen, melt chocolate on medium - low.  Be so careful not to burn the chocolate - it sucks.  Dip the balls - eggs - haha oh my -whatever you'd like to call them in the melted chocolate and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet or plate.  I used a fork to fish them out.  You should get a nice thick layer of chocolate.

When they're cooled, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator....if they even make it that far....

enjoy!!

p.s. isn't my easter plate so cute?!

Gluten Free!

Tip of the Day!

who says it's not easy being green?  A simple way to add a little green to your day: use re-usable water bottles.  I have a sigg bottle (that I LOVE - it keeps my water tasting fresh all day!!), which is about a $20-$30 investment - not too shabby when you put it in perspective. They say the average American buys 170 bottles of water a year - that's over 200 bucks!  Doesn't sound like a lot, but multiply that by 50 years and you've spent $10,000!  That's a car, or a couple really great vacations, or 200 dinner dates, or lots of clothes, or whatever your heart desires to spend $10,000 on!  Plus, bottled water is much less regulated than tap water meaning your bottled water could be significantly lower in quality than your tap.  Don't like the taste of your tap?  Get a filter - it's still gonna be cheaper than if you use bottle water :)

ribbet ribbet

Vegan Shoes!!!!

I kind of chose to remain ignorant about leather and where it comes from - until I saw Earthlings.  A truly disturbing documentary on the way animals serve us: as pets, as food, as entertainment, as clothing, and for science.  You can watch it for free online - just click on the word "Earthlings" above.  I cried hysterically for the first hour, and after I could hardly see past my puffy eyes, I sat in horror.  I mean it was really really bad.  I think even if you're not vegan, or not too much of an animal lover, you'd be haunted by this.  So I've chosen to fully submerge myself into "vegan-ness" and stop buying leather shoes, bags, wallets, etc.  I still haven't stopped carrying my favorite purse, but maybe I'll come around - I mean I didn't buy it, so does that count??

Anyway, on my quest to find vegan shoes for my wedding, I ran into this AMAZING website.  It's endless.com.  They have thousands of vegetarian shoes, and a lot of them are actually really cute! And most of them are very affordable - I found a pair that I love for $33!  PLUS on most of the shoes they have free 2-day shipping and on some they have free overnight shipping.  PLUS they have free return shipping.  Seriously this site's awesome.  I'm not a huge internet shopper, but with free return shipping how could I not be??  :)   I swear I'm not getting paid for this...

So go to endless.com, click on women's shoes, then at the bottom of the list of categories you'll see vegetarian.

Oh and even if you're not looking for vegetarian shoes, they have bajillions of other shoes.

Happy Shopping!

p.s. they're not all as funky as the yellow ones above, I just liked those :)

Party Soup!

I didn't know what to name it - there's so many fun and yummy things in it.  It's super duper easy and easily modified to please your personal palette!  I had left over rice, diced tomatoes and my carrots needed to be used so I just threw everything together without exact measurements.



Ingredients
1 box (4 Cups) Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth*
2-3 cloves Organic garlic
2-3 large Organic Carrots or a few handfuls of organic baby carrots, sliced
1 1⁄2 Cups Organic Brown Rice (cooked)
2 Cans of Organic beans of your choice, rinsed.  I used Navy and Aduki beans (I'd never used aduki before but they're super healthy! click above to learn about them)*
1⁄2 or 1 can of organic diced tomatoes
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Oregano
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste


Directions
Heat a Tbsp or 2 of extra virgin olive oil in a soup pot.  Add garlic and cook a minute until fragrant.  Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

*When buying canned or boxed soups or veggies, always get low sodium or "no salt added."  They put SO MUCH salt in those little innocent looking cans.  So what you might think is healthy soup could actually be causing your blood pressure to increase.

And, if you couldn't tell, I'm making the switch to organic!!!

Gluten Free!

Sneezer and Aunt Kristen

Valentine's Flowers

Michael went to the LA flower district to create a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me.  He woke up at 5 in the morning the day before and got home 5 hours later!  he wanted to get peach peonies (my favorite) but there weren't in season.  I think he did a pretty good job.  I picked a good one :)

Vegan Ice Cream In Hawaii!!

 

Michael and I went to Hawaii last week.  And we have to admit - it wasn't easy to maintain our diet.  We DID, however, get word of a little roadside stand that sold vegan ice cream!!!  I mean there's coconuts everywhere on that island - coconut ice cream seems pretty obvious! The stand was not the cleanest in the world - not even by outdoor Hawaiian food stand standards..) It was outside, so obviously had never been cleaned in all of it's existance.. which looked to be about 10 years.  And the guy who served us...his hands...oh his hands...completely black from using the machete to cut the coconuts and make the spoons.  This is how desperate I was for ice cream.  There were about 6 flavors, but michael and I both went with mint chocolate chip and toffee coffee.  We were definitely skeptical, but YUM!  The black-fingerenailed man told us that Glen is actually a classically trained chef and that he even made the toffee in the toffee coffee ice cream!  He dished out the ice cream into the coconut shell, and then made spoons right in front of us - it was so cool!   Of course the second I got in the car, I took his spoon out and replaced it with one we had packed for a picnic :)  About five minutes and a few miles later, we wished we had bought a whole case of it.

So if you ever find yourself at around mile marker 28 on your way to Hana, stop at Coconut Glens! 

Haiti

We all have to do our part.  Here's a link that I found on CNN.com that lists the top charities providing aid in Haiti. 

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1004

Grilled Cheese Please

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Daiya Cheese.  I really hope you are within a reasonable distance from a whole foods.  If not, find it online.  It will change your life.  Daiya Cheese is a new vegan cheese that tastes like cheese, looks like cheese, and yes, actually MELTS like cheese.  For non-vegans, you might be thinking, no big deal.  If you're a vegan, you will probably have to go change your pants.  Seriously, this is amazing!!!!

Ingredients:
Tomato Basil dressing from salad in previous post
Daiya cheese (Italian herb and cheddar flavor - use both!)
Spelt Bread
Butter

Directions:
Spread butter on both sides of the bread and toast BOTH sides of the bread.  Pile on ingredients as you wish and get it toasty and golden brown.

YUM!

Cucumber Pesto Salad w/Tomato Basil Dressing

This salad is as healthy and delicious as it looks.  Michael and I have been reading a book called Thrive by Brendan Brazier.  Brazier is a professional Ironman Triathlete and a vegan...just wanted to make sure ya got that ;)  I haven't finished the book yet, but we're trying to bring our "healthiness" to a whole new level.  This salad is from that book.  So if you want to be uber healthy for the day, include this as one of your meals!

Salad
Ingredients
1⁄2 clove garlic, chopped
1⁄2 Cucumber, grated
couple handfuls broccoli florets
1 bag mixed greens
2 Tbsp pine nuts
Nutritional Yeast and Sesame Seed Topping (1 part nutritional yeast flakes, 1 part unhulled sesame seeds ground together in coffee grinder.  This mixture imitates parm cheese)

Dressing (makes about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients
2 tomatoes
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp hemp oil
1 Tbsp dried basil or 3 Tbsp fresh
1 Tbsp agave
salt and pepper to taste

- Blend ingredients in a blender or food processor to desired consistency (we liked ours a little chunky)

Toss salad ingredients with desired amount of dressing.  You will have extra salad dressing.  Save it for the next recipe I post!! Top with a little extra "parm cheese" mixture.

What's the deal with...

Hemp oil?
Nutritional Yeast Flakes?

check out the "intriguing ingredients" page to learn about 'em!


You can find Nutritional yeast flakes usually by the vitamins in health food stores.

Gluten Free!

Kale Chips

(I stole this image off the internet..shhhhhh)

Kale Chips are surprisingly yummy - and extremely addicting.  And of course super duper healthy!  I've made them a few times and they're always a hit.  Even for the non-believers.  And they're easy peasy.

Ingredients:
1 bunch kale
few Tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
tsp Garlic powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F

1. Wash the kale.
2. Dry the kale thoroughly.
3. Pile on cookie sheet
4. Drizzle with olive oil, and mix with hands until olive oil JUST coats it.  You don't want too much oil or they will be soggy.
5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, mixing kale around on sheet half way through baking.  Make sure they don't burn. You want them a nice light golden brown on the top.  You'll be able to feel when they're crispy.

Serves two hungry people or three kind of hungry people as a side dish.  The kale cooks down to about half of what you start with.

Happy New Year

My resolution:

Enjoy the journey :)

What's yours?

more recipes to come!