Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

So today was the last Sunday of the year teaching my class. I decided to to make the kids some cookies since I will be out of town for the next 2 weeks. The kids loved them and I have to be honest so did I. Here is what you need:

2tbs of milk, I used my favorite milk which is the Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk
1/2 c. chunky peanut butter
1/2 c. earth balance
1 banana
1/3 c. cane sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1c. all purpose unbleached flour
1c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Cream the earth balance and the sugar together. Add in the banana, peanut butter, vanilla. slowly add in the rest of the ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips. Bake for 8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. enjoy!

Spinach Quesadilla

So I was browsing pinterest and everything had cheese in it. Bread options were slightly limited. I had spinach wraps and pitas on hand, so I got out the spinach wraps, earth balance and vegan mozzarella cheese. It was really easy and super tasty.

Finding Inspiration in unexpected places

This post is not about food, it is about something I love as much as food. Duct Tape. It comes in so many different colors and patterns. It is easy to work with and makes a great gifts :) So on my bike ride today I came across a mail flat in the road. I am not sure how it got there, but there it was. So I stopped and decided to bring it home, which was no small feat since I was about 2 miles from home.

When I got home I decided to pick some of the tangelos that were growing in the back yard. I was considering painting the flat to get the US Postal Service off of it, then I thought about covering it with duct tape. Then the real inspiration hit and I decided to make a smaller version of it out of duct tape.

I wasn't sure how to go about it, I decided to use Zebra for the bottom and blue for the sides. I think it came out super cute, and it will make a great Christmas present for my best friend who also has a love of duct tape. Good thing she is coming over tonight to exchange gifts, since I am not sure how long I could keep something this cute from her.

Mac and Cheese

I know what you are thinking, it is about time. I agree. Why did I wait so long? This is awesome and it was super easy. I totally used my great grandmothers baked macaroni and cheese recipe, well I veganized her recipe, but you wouldn't know it by eating it. It is amazing.

Here is what you need:

4 tablespoons Earth Balance Spread

1 bag of Diaya Cheddar Shreds

1/4 cup soymilk

1 lb cooked macaroni

Mix all ingredients together in a baking dish and salt and pepper to taste. Bake about 30-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Enjoy. I know you will.

AHHH......Vegan Thanksgiving :)

So this is my first Thanksgiving as a vegan, and my family was supper supportive letting me make all of the sides vegan. Of course there was a turkey, but I didn't have to buy it or cook it. My daddy took care of the turkey, everyone said that it was good. I am proud to say I have no clue what it tasted like.

I made some awesome lentil loaf that I substituted for the turkey. I unfortunately don't have a picture of it, since I turned the leftovers into a shepherds pie. One thing that I am thankful for is that since going vegan (17 weeks ago) I have lost 38lbs. I am also grateful that I got to spend time with my family, especially my adorable neices that took a 2 mile walk with me after lunch. So I realize that the pictures are not the greatest, I am still looking for my camera. Hope I find it soon, I guess in the mean time you will have to settle for the pictures that I take with my phone. Now for the stars of the day, the sides:


Acorn Squash Casserole

So I was at the farmers market last weekend and decided to get some fresh veggies for Thanksgiving this week. I saw some beautiful acorn squash and couldn't resist. So I decided instead of sweet potatoes, why not have squash casserole. I will admit I didn have a recipe so I just kind of winged it, but the results were pretty awesome.
Here is what you need:


3 cooked acorn squash, cut in half seeds removed
3 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 cup of brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup chopped pecans

To cook the squash I cut in half and scoop out the seeds. I then pierce the inner flesh with a fork several times and microwave until tender, you could also bake them in the ovrn, but it takes a lot more energy and time. Scoop out the squash and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Top with the remaining brown sugar and bake for 30-45 minutes.

Honey Glazed Carrots

Now I know what you are thinking honey? I thought this girl was vegan, homey comes from bees. It is kind of controversial, honey, yes it comes from bees, but last I checked the bees are not harmed in the honey making process. So I use honey. I only buy local, and I check with the beekeeper to make sure that humane practices are used.

Here is what you need:

Carrots
Honey
Earth Balance

Boil the carrots in water until tender. Stir in the honey and butter and heat thoroughly and serve


Broccoli Casserole

This is a staple in my family at holidays. I tried a few weeks ago to make a vegan version of this and it was not so good. Well I guess what I should say is that it did not taste so good, it was great learning experience. I must say that I think that in this case practice paid off, and Mackenzie even said that she like the vegan version better than the original. She loves me what can I say?


Here is what you need:

1 block of mori-nu tofu
8 oz mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of onions
1 bag of Diaya cheddar shreds
1 cup veganise
2-3 lbs broccoli, steamed
2 tablespoons of Earth Balance
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the Earth Balance over medium high heat and saute the mushrooms, garlic and onions add salt and pepper to taste.
Place the block of mori-nu in the food processor and add the sauted mushrooms, garlic and onions. (This replaces the traditional cream of mushroom soup.) Pulse a few times. Add in the mayo to complete what we in my family call the goo.
Place the cooked broccoli in a baking dish, stir in the goo and top with Diaya cheddar shreds. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Cranberry Salad

So when Gram was alive we made cranberry salad one year for Thanksgiving, I have not stopped thinking about it, and wishing she was here each year to make it for me. I decided to take matters into my old hands and try to figure it out. I think that it was a little different than hers, but that may be a good thing it was delicious.

Here is what you need:

1 bag of cranberries

2 oranges, one with most of the peel

1 can of crushed pineapple, drained

2 apples cored and seeded

1 cup of organic cane sugar (or less if you want it more tart)

Place all of the ingredients minus the pineapple in the food processor and pulse a few times. Stir in the pineapple and refridgerate over night.

Wild Rice Pilaf with Apples and Walnuts

I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks, called Vegetarian Celebrations by Nava Atlas. It was marked $3 at Angel Aid on one of my visits and the entire store was half off, so I got it for a whopping $1.50. How cool is that, even better is that I used this recipe and the lentil loaf recipe out of it for Thanksgiving this yeah, total score.

Here is what you need:

2 granny smith apples, cored and seeded

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups of wild and brown rice, cooked

1teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of Earth Balance

1/2 onion

2 celery stalks

1/2 cup of sliced scallions

Place the onion, celery, and apples in the food processor. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and melt the Earth Balance, mix in the onion, celery and apples and saute. Add the cooked rice and dried cranberries. Heat thoroughly. Top with scallions.

Banana Dark Chocolate Chunk Bread Revisited

Ok so a few months ago, I posted a not so good recipe for Banana Nut Dark Chocolate Chunk Bread. I have since perfected the recipe or in other words I have fed this recipe to several people and they have all asked for seconds. I also got this adorable individual brownie pan, and so I used it tonight so that my sister could get an idea of what I was talking about when trying to explain it to her.Trust me this is way better than my earlier post, so ignore it, and go make some of these now. I make them almost once a week because I am constantly buying too many bananas (on purpose:-) Here is what you need:

2 or 3 ripe bananas
3 tablespoons of canola oil
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. dark chocolate chunks
1/2 c. Lite No Sugar Added Applesauce

Place the bananas and oil in the mixer bowl and with the flat paddle attachment mix until banans are mashed. Add in the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, chopped walnuts and applesauce. Mix thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chunks. Pour into an oiled muffin pan. Bake 20 minutes

Tofu Scramble

Breakfast for Dinner! Yes, one of my favorite things to do, I must admit though that it has been a while, almost 4 months since I have had Brinner. So tonight I worked until almost 6pm, which means I was hungry when I got home and didn't want to wait too long to cook dinner, so I made a scramble.

I cut up some veggies (carrots, green pepper, onion, tomato) and got it cooking with a little EVOO and garlic. Once the veggies were lookin good, I added in an entire can of mushrooms. I let most of the juice evaporate and then stirred in the tofu. I cooked the hashbrowns in the toaster while I made the rest of dinner, washed it all down with some cranberry pomegrante juice, it was very good.

No Bake Cookies

I realize the picture is not the greatest, but as my sister the ultimate blogger says it is better to have a less than perfect picture than no picture at all. I was invited to dinner at a friends house and since she has gluten allergies, I made no bake cookies as a sweet treat. Here is what you need:

1/2 cups cane sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick earth balance or butter
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Waxed paper

In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, earth balance and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

So this weekend my friend Lisa and I were having lunch at a little place at the beach called Joseph's. While we were waiting for our food we spotted the dessert case. I was salivating over the carrot cake, when then I realized that it wasn't vegan so no matter how good it looked or sounded I was not about to order it. I am doing pretty good I am 14 weeks in and have lost about 30 pounds. The best part is I have sweets whenever I want the down side is that I have to make them myself because I have not found a vegan bakery in this city, yet. If you know of one speak up please.

On the way home from lunch we made a few stops. I know it is ocd to make 2 stops for 2 things but I think that the organic carrots at Fresh Market are the best, and the best price as well. Then we stopped at Publix for a jar of ready made frosting. Amazingly enough some of the Pillsbury frostings are "accidentally" vegan.

Once home we used the food processor to shred the carrots, I would go crazy if I had to do it by hand. Here is what you need:

2 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 cup cane sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups finely shredded carrots
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup lite no sugar added applesauce
6 tsp egg replacer whisked with 8 tbs warm water or 4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 container of Pillsbury cream cheese frosting
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix in carrots, applesauce, oil and egg replacer mixture or eggs. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined stir in nuts and raisins. Pour batter into the cupcake pans that have been lined with papers. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick entered in center of cupcake comes out clean. Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled. Makes about 15 cup cakes

White Pizza

This was really good! Here is what you need for the crust:

2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup warm water

Mix together and add 1 tbs of canola oil. Once the mixture foams stir in 2 1/2 cups of unbleached flour with a wooden spoon. Let rise 15 minutes before spreading out on parchment. Top with whatever toppings you like and bake 20-25 minutes or until crust is done.

I decided I wanted a white pie, so I used tofu ricotta as the sauce. I also mixed in some garlic and topped the pizza with spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, black olives and marinated tofu.

Super Awesome Tofu "Betta Feta"

Ok so the recipe is called Betta Feta in the cook book, and while it is pretty amazing, it doesn't really taste like cheese to me? The picture is terrible, but trust me it tastes better than the picture looks. Call me crazy or make the recipe yourself and let me know if you get a feta taste from it. Here is what you need:

1 lb firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/4 inch cubes

2 cups water

2 tbs all-season blend

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 c. water

2 tbs tahini

2 tbs lemon juice

1tsp salt

1tsp dried basil leaves

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Place the tofu cubes , the 2 cups of water and the all-season blend in a pot and bring to a boil., reduce heat to medium and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and place in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour over tofu and toss carefully. Cover and chill several hours. Keep in the refridge 1 week, if it lasts that long.

Tofu Ricotta

OK, so I realize now that I don't have a photo, but trust me this is really good. Here is what you need:

1 pkg mori nu tofu
1/4 c lemon juice
2tsp dried basil leaves
1 tsp Agave Nectar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Place all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse a few times, until the mixture is the texture of ricotta.

Wendy's Hamburger Helper Veganized

Ok so my best friend's sister turned me on to her version of hamburger helper, I was kind of craving it today so I decided to veganize it. I started with a recipe I have been dying to try for bacon bits.

I added the bacon bits to cooked elbow noodles, sauted onion and a can of tomatoes. Heat all ingredients and give a liberal shake of garlic salt. enjoy. So I will admit that it didn't quite taste like Wendy's but it was pretty darn good.

Bacon Bits

Here is what you need:

2tbs tamari
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp paprika
1/2 c. TVP

Combine the first 5 ingredients, bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the TVP. Continue to stir until all the liquid has been absorbed. Crisp the bits either by using a toaster oven, shaking the pan every 2 minutes or frying in a non stick pan, stirring often.

Banana Nut Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunks

So this is my first time with this recipe and it is pretty good, but I think it could be better. My sister has requested that I post something, so here it is. It is super healthy, maybe a little too much, I think it may need more fat? It was good just a little dry. So here it goes this is what you need:

2 ripe bananas

2 table spoons of canola oil

2 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1/2 c. dark chocolate chunks

1/2 c. Lite No Sugar Added Applesauce

Place the bananas and oil in the mixer bowl and mix. Add in the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, chopped walnuts and applesauce. Mis thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Pour into an oiled loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Enjoy.

Seven weeks

I don't have a recipe to share today, but I wanted to share with those of you that read this that today is the end of week 7 for me on this new journey. People keep asking me how much weight I have lost, so today I weighed myself and did a little math, I know my best friend would be proud. I have lost 22 pounds since starting this journey which is amazing! I have had spurts of daily exercise, but I have not been consistent for a while now with little to no exercise in the last few weeks. I know I need to do it, and I honestly want to but when I get home from working 10+ hours, my energy is sapped.

I have started preparing most of my meals on the weekend, so I can simply heat and eat when I get home I am that fried. The weight loss is great! but the energy is way better, there is no way I would have been able to work 10-12 hr days on my old diet. Now if only I could find a few more hours in the day to sneak in a little more sleep.

Guac

So this is something that I have fallen in love with and make it about once a week, It is super easy, especially if you have a food processor. Here is what you need:

1 large avacado
a handful of grape tomatoes
1/4 c. tofu sour cream
juice of 2 limes

If you have a food processor place the avacado in and mix it until smooth, add the rest of the ingredients and process until you like the consistency. This recipe is super fast and good. I like to make it right after I make tofu sour cream, so I only have to clean the processor once :)

Potato and Corn Soup

My best friend Deborah came over on Friday night, she doesn't eat "fake meat", so I asked her what she wanted to eat for dinner, her response was somewhat surprising, but not difficult. Here is what you need:

1 12oz bag frozen corn

3-4 potatoes, diced

1-2 onions, diced - I used red onions

1-2 Tbs Olive Oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Not Chick'n Boullion Cube

3 cups water

2-3 cups non-dairy milk

Saute the diced onion and garlic in the olive oil, once tender add in the potatoes and the bouillon cube and water. Boil potatoes until tender add in frozen corn and milk and heat through. Serve with a salad or crusty bread.

Queso Nachos

I realize that I am a week late on posting this, but I have been working 10 hours days this week and using most of my spare time playing with duct tape. These were really good though so I figured I would post the queso sauce recipe, as far as the nachos go, any tortilla chip will do as a good base. I marinated some tofu in taco seasoning water, and then sauted it with onions, I also added in some cooked wild rice and black beans. I made the "sour cream" by using a the juice of one lime 1/2 pkg silen tofu and a little salt add all the ingredients to a food processor or mix with a hand mixer, if you don't have one until smooth. So I put the tofu, rice and bean muxture on top of the chips, along with some homemade guacamole, diced tomatoes, sliced olives, sour cream and added the queso sauce. Here is what you need to make the queso:

1c. Non-Dairy Milk
1/3 c. Nutritional Yeast Flakes
2 Tbs whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over med heat, stirring often until thick. Serve immediately. Serves 4 You can add Rotel to make a mexican queso sauce.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite books The Happy Herbivore. It is an awesome book full of color pictures for almost every recipe, which if you know me I LOVE THAT!

Dark Chocolate Wonder Cookies

Yes I made the name up, they were inspired by the Chocolatey Fudgey Oatmeal Cookies in the book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. These had a few differences, I used dark chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips, cranberries instead of cherries and added the pepitas for a salty sweet combo.

These were so good. I took these to work, and they were gone quick, a few of the ladys even asked for the recipe. So for all those who have tried them and those that haven't here is what you need to make a really fantastic cookie:

2 c. quick oats
1 2/3 c. unbleached flour
2/3 cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tbs. ground flax seed
2/3 c. non-dairy milk
2/3 c. canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c. dark chocolate chunks
1 1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/2c. salted roasted pepitas

In the bowl of a mixer beat together sugar, ground flax seed and non-dairy milk until smooth. Add the oil and the vanilla extract, mix until smooth. Add in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and mix until a dough is formed. Fold in chocolate chunks pepitas and dried cranberries. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes for large chewy cookies or 8-10 minutes for smaller chewy cookies. I like big cookies. I use a jelly roll pan and usually have 6 cookies on the pan. Makes 16 larger cookies.

Not Chick'n Noodle Soup

So my best friend decided to let me cook her dinner last night. I know that she loves Mashed Potatoes and they are very easy to Veganize, but what to serve with them without an overload of carbs can be difficult. I usually make dumplings, but I had those last week and they were good, but I wasn't quite ready for them again, so I decided to try the recipe on the back of my bouillon that I bought a few weeks ago, well kind of. I used to be famous for my Chicken Noodle Soup, so this was the vegan version of it and I must say it was fabulous. Here is what you need:

2-3 carrots, sliced

2-3 stalks of celerey, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 Not Chick'n boullion cubes
10 oz Wide Egg Free Noodles
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Get the garlic and the olive oil heated in a pan, mix in the other veggies and saute for about 10 minutes. Add the bouillon and if cooking potatoes, for mashed potatoes, add a little of the potato water, this gives the broth an natural thickener. Stir in 4-6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions. Once noodles are done let the soup sit for a few minutes off the heat. This will give the noodles a chance to soak up some of the liquid. Serve over Mashed Potatoes, or add extra liquid if needed and eat as a soup. enjoy.

Whole Wheat Oat Bread

I was flipping through Entertaining for a Veggie Planet and I came across this recipe for bread. I thought hey my lesson tomorrow is on the sacrament, how about I make bread and take in some juice so we can re-enact the last supper, well kind of. I mean I teach 4 and 5 year olds. It was a big hit with the kids. Rowan actually said hey I am still hungry in an attempt to get more, and when I was asking the children what their favorite food is Lacey said bread and juice. I have to admit the bread was really good. Here is what you need:

6tbs molasses
4 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
3 tbs canola oil
1 tsp salt
1 c. Rolled Oats
2 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 1/2 c. unbleached white flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 2 1/4 c. very warm water and a drop of the molasses. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and wait about 5 minutes for it to foam. Stir in the remaining molasses, canola oil, and salt until well combined.

Add the oats and gradually add the flour, using the dough hook attachment and mix for 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and dishtowel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Oil a baking sheet and divide dough into 3 balls. Arrange the balls on the baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel, let rise again about 30 minutes. Bake loaves about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature on cooling racks.

Note: I had to use a cookie sheet and a jelly roll pan in order to have enough space for the loaves not to touch. I also baked them in seperate batches as I was unsure of the amount of space needed for the bread to rise once baking. This is why one of the loaves pictured above is a slightly different color.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

This was SO good! I just wish the picture was better. Here is what you need:

1 1/2 c. Vanilla Soy Milk
1/2 c. Coconut Creamer
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz mini dark chocolate chunks

In a blender combine soy milk, creamer, peanut butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Blend until mixture is smooth. Refridgerate 3-4 hours until chilled. Pour into ice cream maker and mix until ice cream forms, when it is almost done add the chocolate chips. The recipe that I had said to melt the chocolate and drizzle it in to form chocolate chips, but I had no luck with this so next time I am just going to add in the chocolate chips. If you are concerned about the ice cream maker and the chocolate chips you could stir them in after ice cream is finished. This recipe will make a quart. I like to have a few 4oz containers on hand to put the ice cream into and freeze, making it easier not to over indulge, which is hard since this stuff is so good. enjoy.

Quinoa Burgers

So I made these last Friday for Lunch with my nieces. It was so great being able to have some time with them and even better was their response to these burgers. They loved them, and I have to admit so did I.
Here is what you need:
1/2 c. diced onion
3 cloves of garlic
12 ounces of cooked chickpeas, I used canned
1/2 c. quick oats
1/4 c. fresh parsley, minced
1 1/2 c. cooked quinoa
1tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp paprika
2 tbs Bragg's liquid Amino Acids
2 tbs chickpea flour
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for cooking

In a food processor add onion and garlic and pulse until finely chopped. Add the chickpeas and oats and pulse until well mixed. Don't puree the mixture. Place the mixture in a large mixing bowl and add in the quinoa, parsley, poultry seasoning, paprika, chickpea flour and Bragg's Amino Acids. If you don't have chickpea flour, place some dried chickpeas in a coffe grinder and grind to a fine powder. Add salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix the ingredients well and seperate into 6 balls, and press into 3-4 inch patties.

Heat a larg cast-iron skillet, no worries if you don't have cast iron, you can make them in a regular skillet. Lightly coat the skillet with olive oil. Add the burgers to the skillet and cook 5 minutes on both sides. Reduce heat if necessary to keep burgers from burning. Let the burgers rest 5 minutes before serving. I would reccomend that you serve them on Garlic Rosemary Hamburger buns. Serve with Lettuce, tomato and vegan mayo.

Dumplings!

OK so I have German Ancestors. Which means I grew up eating a lot of dumplings, or Rivels as my granny would call them, no I agree they are not the same. Dumplings are bigger and cook longer. Rivels are super cheap and easy to make. They are just 4 simple ingredients flour, egg, salt and pepper. However since I am not eating eggs it has been 4 weeks since I have had the ingredients on hand to throw together this super quick meal. I used to eat rivels about twice a week. This will definately be a meal that I will make again because it was fantastic.
Stew:

1 Not Chikin boullion cube
2 carrots diced
2 stalks of celery diced
1/2 onion, chopped
6-8 cups of water

Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.

Dumplings Ingredients:

2 c. flour
1tbs baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 c. plus 2 tbs non-dairy milk, plain
2tbs canola oil

Mix together the dry ingredients and then add to them the wet ingredients, stir enough to form a dough. Drop into the stew mixture by spoonfuls. Cover pot and turn heat to simmer cook 15 minutes. Serve over Mashed Potatoes or my new favorite Carrot Mashed Potatoes click here for the recipe

Shake, Shake, Shake your booty

Ok so it is safe to say that I am IN LOVE with my new shake recipe. It is SO easy and tastes even better.

1-2 bananas, previously peeled, sliced and frozen
1 tbs ground flax seed
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 c. Chocolate Almond Milk, or plain Almond Milk and 4 tbs cocoa powder

place all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. ENJOY! so good. yum. I had this for breakfast and when I got home I made one with a spoonful of peanut butter added, it was great too. Just not sure that twice a day is great, but hey all the ingredients are good for me right :)

Black Beans and Lasagna

OK I know what you are thinking and I did make black beans and lasagna today, but not necessarily to be eaten together. I was making the beans and flipping through my only vegan cookbook that I own. Don't get me wrong I have several that I borrowed from the library, so the possiblities are endless.

I knew I wanted to make Parmazano as I had seen it a few days ago and was really wanting to make it. Since I bought nutritional yeast flakes yesterday at Native Sun, I decided to go for it tonight. It was super easy here is the recipe.
1c. Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1/2 c. raw almonds, blanched and patted dry
1/2 teaspoon salt
Place all ingredients in food processor and process for several minutes until the almonds are very finely ground. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

to blanche almonds: place them in a pot and cover them with water. place on stove and boil 1-2 minutes. rinse with cold water and pinch skin between thumb and forefinger to peel off skin.

Ok so I made this and it was awesome, but the jar I had to put it in was a little too small. Looking further in the book I spotted a recipe for vegan cottage cheese and luckily I had most of the ingredients ( I was missing onion powder). So since I had leftover parmazano and all the ingredients to make the cottage cheese, I decided to make lasagna. The cottage cheese was super easy and tasty too. Here's what you need:
1 pkg firm tofu, drained and well mashed
2/3 c. dairy free mayo
3 tsp no salt seasoning (this is what I used since it had onion powder and garlic powder in it) The original recipe calls for 2 tsp onion powder and 1tsp garlic powder
Place all ingredients in the food processor and mix thoroughly. Store in the refridgerator.
So I have a parmesan substitute and a cottage cheese substitute, lasagna was a no brainer. It was good too. I just layered it similar to regular lasagna. In the bottom of a baking dish I poured some sauce, next I placed noodles on top of them, placed some of the cottage cheese mixture on top of that, added some more sauce, noodles and cream cheese mixture. I added more noodles and sauce and then placed the parmazano on top and baked it for 30 minutes. It was really good. Come over and I will feed you some :)

Hump day

Today I was totally craving a grilled cheese sandwich. So I thought, no problem they make vegan slices and I have bread in the freezer and I bought earth balance (vegan butter) last night. So I decided to go to Native Sun on my way home from work. I had a box of Kosher Mushroom Barley soup in the Pantry so I thought no brainer, soup and grilled cheese for dinner. The soup last night was waaaay better and since this was a box, there is no recipe to post. The grilled cheese was pretty good. I caught myself thinking I could get used to this. After dinner I made some chocolate mousse. I adapted a recipe from the Joy of Vegan Baking I couldn't get a good picture of it here is the best I could do. It was pretty good, but my chocolate wasn't all the way melted, so there are bits of chocolate in it. I think that it would have been better smoother. Original recipe:
1c. non dairy semi sweet chocolate chips
12 ounces Silken Tofu
1/2 c. nondairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract I didn't have the reccomended chocolate I only had baking chocolate, which I learned is not sweet at all. So I used:

1oz bakers chocolate
12 ounces silken organic tofu
1/2 chocolate almond milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Place all ingredients into a food processor and mix until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides down a few times. Refridgerate one hour and serve. It was very good, but not very sweet. Which is my fault I know. I should have used the reccomended chocolate, but hey there is always next time and trust me there will be a next time :)

Kale Soup

I decided to go grocery shopping on my way home from work today. Before I went Vegan that meant, hitting Publix and buying almost everything that was BOGO along with anything else that struck my fancy. Today was very different. I went to Publix, I had a $5 off $30 coupon how could I resist, plus it was payday. Gotta get some food in the house before the bills eat my food budget.

I got some new staples. Like Vegan butter, cream cheese and mayonnaise. These are all made without dairy. I tried a bit of the Toufutti better than cream cheese, and it was pretty good. None of them were on sale, but I figured if I spread the $5 off between these 3 items I still did pretty good. I also got some organic soy milk as silk is $2.50 this week at Publix. I also splurged on some chocolate almond milk, can you tell I am missing chocolate, in my defense it had a $1 off coupon on it. Ok down to business, the soup. This was my last ditch effort to like Kale. I have to say after tonight I am in LOVE.

This soup was awesome. I didn't have a recipe and was too hungry to look for one, so I just threw some stuff in a pot and called it Soup. I have done this a lot over the years and I have NOT always gotten good results. Luck was on my side today though I have eaten 2 bowls and am tempted to go for another.

Here is what I put in the soup:
2/3 bunch of Kale, washed and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can of navy beans rinsed
1 can of diced potatoes ( I don't usually use canned potatoes, but this was all I had)
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
Here is what you do. Get a soup pot, fill it half full of water. Put pot on high heat and add bouillon cubes. When water comes to a boil add chopped kale and carrots. Let boil about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Let simmer 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enough is Enough - Day Five Juice Fast

So this morning I was still feeling pretty tired. I actually hit the snooze button, which I never do.
I managed to get up though, and had enough time to throw together a Peach Watermelon Juice as well as a juice for lunch.
I thought that the foam was super pretty on this juice. Below is a picture of the ingredients I used for lunch. It made a really pretty scarlett colored juice. In fact it is adapted from a recipe my mom sent me called Scarlett Beauty Juice.
Ok so I got home for work and still didn't feel good. So I decided that enough is enough. I feel like 5 days, while only half of my original goal will have to do. So I made dinner. I made a salad with garbanzo beans and a sweet vidalia onion dressing and a Morningstar Farms Veggie Burger.

I didn't expect that I would like the veggie burger all that much but it was actually pretty good. This is not something I will eat all the time, but I will eat it again afterall it comes in a box of 4 :)

Naps are awesome - Juice Fast Day Four

So besides going to church, my favorite thing about Sunday is that I get to take a nap.

For Breakfast I made a Watermelon Cantaloupe Juice. I has, you guessed it, 2 ingredients. Watermelon and Cantaloupe. I used a 2" slice off the watermelon and 1/2 cantaloupe. It made enough for me to have a glass of juice for breakfast before church and one after for lunch.

For dinner I made Limeade. Here is what I used:
1/2 cucumber
1/2 Lime
1 granny smith apple
3 stalks of Kale
2 kiwis
4 small pears

The pears aren't in the picture, since they are growing on my tree outside and I kind of use them as a filler when there isn't enough juice and I want more. Here is a picture of the glass of juice. It was pretty good.

Pioneer Day Pasta Salad

I am going to a Pioneer day celebration at the church tonight. I signed up a few weeks ago to make Pasta Salad. So here is my creation. I didn't have a recipe, so I just went with my gut and used what I had on hand. Of course I didn't have enough of the mini bow tie pasta, so I used some elbow noodles as well. All of the pasta is egg free.

Ingredients:1 lb Pasta, any shape
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 lb broccoli florets
1 can of small pitted black olives, cut in half

Heat water until boiling, add pasta. I used elbow and mini bow tie. Since the elbow needed more cook time I added them first. 2 minutes later I added the bow ties. 2 minutes after that I added the carrots. 2 minutes later I added the broccoli for a total cook time of 9 minutes. Place in a bowl with chopped olives and mix with dressing.

Dressing:
Fresh basil
Extra virgin Olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
balsamic vinegar

Place all ingredients and mix until smooth, Pour over the pasta and refridgerate. Serve chilled.

All before 1pm - Juice Fast - Day Three

I slept in this morning. I woke up at 10 am :) It has been a while since I have been able to do that and my 5:30 am wake-up calls have been taking their toll on me. So after getting up, I went to the bank to get some cash. Then I went to the Library to return some books and get even more. I took seven books back, but managed to come out with 18. Then off to the flea market for some produce.

Since the juice fast will last until Saturday next week I only got stuff I can juice. I was hard to pass up the beautiful bananas and avacados, but they won't juice so I left them there. Here is what I got:

Total spent - $20

2 Cantaloupes - $3 5 Limes - $1 2 Cucumbers - $1 2 Granny Smith Apples - $1 13 Kiwis - $4 4 Tomatoes - $2 7 Plums - $2 5 Peaches - $2 2 bunches of beets - $4

Ok and so for the first juice of the day, yes I left the house without juicing. I made a Watermelon, Plum, Lime and Kiwi Juice. I used a entire lime and it was too much, next time I will do half, so I also added a beet to make it less limey. It worked and the result was a really pretty scarlett juice. Still a little heavy on the lime, but I will deal with that. The pictures were taken before I added the beet.

A few hours later - For Dinner I was going to make a recipe my Mom e-mailed me called Scarlett Beauty Juice. But I read that too much beet juice can make you sick and since I added that to brunch, I am going to have to come up with something else now. Hmmm how about a Kiwi blueberry. Pretty simple 3 kiwis and 3 cups of blueberries. enjoy.

10 minutes later - ok sctach that. It is HOT outside and in 10 minutes I only had a cup of blueberries. New recipe

1 cup blueberries
2 pears
1 granny smith apple
2 kiwis
1 plum
1 peach

The juice was so pretty in the mixing cup before I poured it into the storage container to take with me to church tonight. I took a picture before I poured it for you to see, but didn't realize that the memory card wasn't in my camera and I don't have a cable to get it off the camera. So no pictures for you tonight. Sorry, next time I will be more careful.

Really that's it? Juice Fast - Day Two

Ok so I won't lie to you today was way harder than yesterday. I almost quit like 6 times. I am still hanging in there with the exception of a handful of Kale Chips, no worries recipe to follow. I think that I have had indegestion since 10 am. This has made it hard to stay positive. Especially when the girls at work were supportive of me stopping. Thankfully my parents told me to tough it out.

I weighed myself before starting on Wed night and then again last night before bed and the scale (Wii Fit) said I had lost 1.8 pounds in one day, so that is encouraging. My sister reccomended Zantac for the indigestion, so I am going to have to get some of that. I think I need you guys to pray for me. I know that this is something that I want. I just need to be reminded of that occasionally so thanks for being supportive even if all you do is read the blog and never comment on it.

Ok so for breakfast I did Watermelon Juice again but this time I added a whole cucumber and a handful of blueberries. Maybe a little cucumber wouldn't have been bad but I used an entire massive cucumber, which was like 2 cups of the 1/2 gallon and it was just too over powering.

I made liquid salad for lunch. I think that this may have been the source of my indegestion, not sure really. I used an entire bag of spring mix, a huge cucumber, 2 carrots, 1 small onion, a tomato and a stalk of celery. It was good but way too much onion. Maybe next time I will use 1/8 of a small onion or even leave it out entirely.

So even now my stomach is still really upset. I made some Pear Apple juice and added it to the leftover watermelon cucumber from this morning. I wish I hadn't. It was really good and eventhough there wasn't that much of the cucumber melon juice left, I still tasted the cucumber.

Ok so for the Kale Chips.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale washed, cut into bite sized pieces and dried.
olive oil
salt and pepper.

mix the kale, oil, salt and pepper together on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. I didn't think this was enough time. So I toook them out at the ten minute mark and then decided to put them back in, but I had already turned off the oven, so I left them in the oven with it turned off for the rest of the night and then this morning I put them into a bag. I think all in all, I just don't like kale. Horrible to admit, and hopefully I will find a way that I do like it, since it is one of the best sources of iron.

And we're off. Juice Fast - Day one

So today was a lot harder than I thought, not that my juices weren't great, it is just kind of strange not to eat anything, but be drinking fluids. What I mean by that is that fasting is not strange since as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I fast once a month. The difference here is that when I fast, for church, I abstain from food and liquid.
So just drinking juice, will take some getting used to. This was not something that I thought about before starting the fast. I think I was so excited to get started that I just jumped in with both feet. Which if you know me, that is not necessarily a bad thing since I can be a bit of a procrastinator :)

Ok so down to business.

Breakfast: Watermelon Juice.

Ingredients: 1/4 Watermelon.
Cut watermelon into 4 pieces. You now have enough for 4 days. Take your quarter and cut into smaller pieces. Not too small just small enough to fit into the juicer. Cindi Trunk reccomended that I leave the rind on to keep the juice from getting too sweet. I will admit, it seemed a little strange to me to leave the rind on but it was pretty good.

Push your pieces through the juicer
using the pusher. I will be using a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. It is great, see how litle was left over from a 1/4 of a watermelon. They are on sale right now on the website buy one get one free, just pay shipping and handling on both items. This is a great sale and a fantastic juicer if you are in the market for one. Get a buddy to go in with you and spend less than $100 each. Below is a picture of my finished juice product. It is in a half gallon Tupperware Pitcher since I need to be able to take it with me to work.

Lunch: Mean Green Juice

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale
4 stalks of celery
1/2 lemon
2 Granny Smith Apples
1 cucumber

Put through the juicer in the order listed. I messed up and left the Kale for last, so I had to add an extra Cucumber to get the Kale out. Since it is fiborous I reccomend that you juice it first so that the other ingredients have a chance to push it all through.

I have to admit that lunch was harder than breakfast. First of all I work 7am-3pm, so there aren't a lot of people at work when I get there, but once people started to arrive and make food in the kitchen which is only about 100 feet from my desk, my body started to want food to eat, not just juice.

The mean green is ok, but definately not my favorite. Here is a picture of it in a pink bottle. I realize that pink and green are not necessarily the best color combo, but this is what I had on hand. It may be a little hard to read but I had just over 24 ounces of juice.

So I got home from work about 3:45 and was feeling pretty good. I still had 16 ounces of my watermelon juice from this morning, so I drank it to tide me over until dinner.

Dinner: Popeye Juice

Ingredients:

4 ounces of baby spinach

1 pound of carrots peeled
1 mango pitted, but not peeled
1 cucumber, peeled

Yes I made up the name of this juice, and the recipe too. I figured I would get creative with the juice names, when they are my own creation. I just opened the fridge and pulled some stuff out to make juice with.

I got a wicked good deal on cucumbers last Saturday at the Flea Market huge cucumbers 2/$1. Cucumbers are a good additive to juice as you get a lot of juice out of just one. Spinach, Carrots and Mangoes on the other hand don't produce as much so I thought it would be a good combination of ingredients, plus I love carrot mango juice.

This was really good I enjoyed it a lot. I thought that the colors were pretty, of course I mixed it really well before drinking it. I just wish it could have held one of the colors. It was kind of brown after mixing it all together.

Here is a picture of it in my cup. Not the most appetizing color, but the taste was really good and lets face it that is what counts.

One more confession, not having had any food to chew today, I am tempted to eat that avacado in the fridge as it won't juice or last 10 days and the others I bought on Saturday were FABULOUS!

But, I am going to be strong and resist. I cut it up into pieces and placed it in a ziploc bag in the freezer to make ice cream once the juice fast is over. It will give me a treat to look forward to and get the temptation out of my face whenever I open the fridge.