Edamame Salad

I spent the last week cooking for 150 people. I should clarify, I was one of three cooks. I was excited that 4 of us were vegan/vegetarian. But since I spent 16-20 hours a day in the kitchen while at girls camp, I haven't had a chance to blog since returning. I have been spending most of my time sleeping (imagine that).

                                             

Today I made  edamame salad. It was a recipe my sister made for me when I was visiting her last month. This recipe is so good I have already made it 2-3 times since returning home. Here is a link to her awesome recipe.

Mushroom and Spinach Stuffed Shells

I love to cook. I went to lunch with my good friend Nancy yesterday and on the way there she said that since she cooks for everyone else, she doesn't like to cook for herself. I am all for cooking for others, but if I get to the point where I don't wanna cook for myself - I don't get to eat. Being vegan in an extremely rural area means making most of my food all of the time. I am so excited to tell you that this recipe comes together in about 30 minutes of prep time and just needs 30 minutes to bake. Here is what you need:

 

18 jumbo shells

1 can of Hunts Garlic and Herb Pasta Sauce (or your own favorite sauce - keep in mind making it from scratch will add time to the recipe)

1 cup Daiya shreds (mozzarella flavored)

 

Filling:

5 oz frozen spinach (cooked according to package directions)

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup sweet onion, diced

1 Tbs olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic

1 block of super firm tofu (refrigerated kind)

2 Tbs lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

 

Sauté the mushrooms, garlic and onions in the olive oil. While that is cooking take a fork and crumble the tofu. Once the onions are tender and translucent stir the onion, garlic mushroom mixture as well as the cooked spinach, lemon juice, nutritional yeast flakes, salt and pepper. It should look something like this.

 

The next couple of steps should be pretty obvious, but you will want to take the cooled shells, don't try to do it with hot shell, and stuff them.  You will need to grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and place a layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Next using a spoon fill the shells and place them in the pan. A 9x13 pan will fit 18 shells.

Pour the rest of the can of sauce over the shells once they are all in the pan and sprinkle with the Daiya mozzarella shreds.

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve while hot and enjoy!

Chickpea Salad

This year for my birthday my mom gave me one of her mixing bowls I have been coveting for 25 plus years. She has had the bowl as long as I can remember and as a young girl I always dreamed it would be mine. I always thought it was special when she would let me use it growing up and knowing my love for the bowls she gifted them to me.

July was also a special month for me because I hit my 2 year vegaversary. I went to lunch yesterday at Ethos in Winter Park to celebrate. While the food was good- I kept thinking: my food is just as good! 

One thing is for sure the longer you cook veg the better it gets! This is a take on "tuna salad" from the Happy Herbivore cookbook. I didn't have some of the ingredients they called for so I rolled up my sleeves and put on my thinking cap. Here is what you need:

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed 

1 stalk of celery, finely diced

1/2 small onion , finely diced

1/4 cup chopped olives ( green or black)

1 tsp smoked salt

Pepper to taste

Veganise ( the amount needed depends on how wet you want your salad)

In a mixing bowl mash the chickpeas with a fork. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix. Serve immediately or chill first if desired. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This was always my favorite holiday growing up. We never had a lot of money and for some reason my mom only bought corned beef brisket once a year. It was my favorite of all meats. I am still not sure why I loved it so much, but my obsession got so bad that I used to order it whenever I was somewhere that offered it on the menu.  It became a compulsion to try the corned beef no matter where I was. My best friend used to pick on me because it didn’t matter if it came in a sandwich, a hash or as a main course I would order it wherever we went.

Last year for St. Patrick’s Day I had my first stumble. I was about six months into being Vegan and so far I had done really well and not cheated at all. I went to Brunch with a friend from college at Biscotti’s in Avondale. I took one look at the Brunch menu and my heart sunk. There it was corned beef hash with eggs and toast. My go to menu item. I frantically started searching the menu for something else to order, the only problem was that once I saw the hash I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I did see fresh fruit on the menu, but not another item that would be vegan. Thinking I had made it six months and deserved a treat I made the decision to order the hash. To this day I am not sure if it was the eggs or the corned beef, but I got sick! Needless to say I was not ready to cheat again for quite a while.

Arriving at church today and seeing a sea of green I realized that my favorite holiday had snuck up on me this year. I of course was NOT wearing green but worst of all I didn’t have a meal planned for dinner. After returning home from church I started looking online for recipe ideas. I came across a recipe for vegan corned beef on The Peaceful Kitchen and had most of the ingredients, so I decided to modify it a bit and give it a try. The flavor was really good, but it didn’t hold together quite as nice as I would like, so I stirred some into my cooked cabbage instead of eating it on the side. I had potatoes earlier, so I didn’t see the need to have them again, but did cook some green beans to go along with my cabbage and vegan corned beef. I am excited that there is enough left over “corned beef” to make hash in the morning. I should have time too since I start my new job tomorrow, but not until 9:30 am. Here is what you need for the corned beef:

1 15 ounce can Kidney Beans

1 cup cooked brown rice

½ cup walnuts

½ cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 Tablespoons of coconut flour (I put coconut into my wheat grinder, not a great idea, it got a little sticky)

1 teaspoon ground caraway seed (I threw this into the wheat grinder to try to force out the coconut, it worked but not well)

1 teaspoon of Spike brand seasoning

½ teaspoon of mustard powder

½ Tablespoon of Onion Powder

¼ teaspoon of ground cloves

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

½ Tablespoon molasses

1 Tablespoon of Bragg’s liquid amino acids

2 Tablespoons olive oil

In a food processor pulse the walnuts until broken down. Add in the rest of the ingredients and run until well combined. Form mixture into a load and place on a well-oiled cookie sheet, oil the sides and top of the loaf and bake for 40 minutes in a 350° oven. Take out and slice thinly and bake another 10 minutes. Mine kind of crumbled, so I am not sure if I needed more liquid. If you want you could add up to a half a cup of vegetable broth for a moister loaf.

Dark Chocolate Balsamic Candied Walnut, Pear and Watercress Salad

Today was amazing. I got a totally genius idea. Dark chocolate balsamic candied walnuts! I only have one word for you - Amazing. They are pretty simple to make, although I will admit that cleanup is not a breeze, you will probably wanna let the pan soak a while before washing.  Here is what you need to make the candied walnuts:

 

1-2 Tbs Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinager (I prefer the Olive Oil Store)

2 Tbs Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar

1 cup of raw walnuts

 

In a warmed saute pan add in the vinegar and the sugar. Cook until bubbly one to two minutes, add in the walnuts and coat with mixture. Cook about 2 more minutes before removing them from pan. Let cool on waxed paper.

 

 

For the Salad:

2-3 cups Watercress

1 red pear, sliced

1 cup of Candied Walnuts ( see above)

2 oz of Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti Style Wedge, cut into small cubes

Layer ingredients in order from top to bottom. I served this without a salad dressing as it is sweet from the candied nuts. Enjoy!

Fried Green Tomatoes

This was something I would eat before going veg, and I am thrilled to have a recipe to share. It was so good. I started my second part time job today. At 1 pm my work day was over and I was at home thinking about the blog. A few events have come up in the last few hours to keep me from posting, but I am determined. The breading didn't quite stay on as much as I would have liked, but these were seriously yummy. Here is what you need:

1 green tomato, sliced
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 c. Vegan Parm or Parmazano
1 1/2 c. soymilk
2 tsp of The Vegg
Oil for frying

Mix The Vegg and soymilk in a blender for 15 seconds. This becomes the egg mixture for battering, pour into a shallow bowl. In a seperate bowl pour the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and Parm, stir well. Place each slice of tomato in the eggless mixture and then into the breadcrumb mixture. Coat evenly and place in hot oil. Cook about 5 minutes each side. Place on a papertowel lined dish to drain and cool. Serve with Dill Veganise.

 

Dill Veganise:

1/2 tsp dried dill

1 Tbs Veganise

 

Mix together, Enjoy!

Strawberry Orange Juice

I am a Florida girl after all. This beautiful recipe is super simple. I put 1 cup of water and a half a pound of strawberries in the Blendtec and hit the whole juice button. For the Orange juice part I like a citrus juicer. I cut about 8 oranges in half and juiced them, then poured the two together. I realize this isn't a difficult recipe, but trust me it is AMAZING and you will feel great when you drink on it. Enjoy!