Easy Smoothie

I love this smoothie because there are only a few ingredients, you don't have to use ice, and it incorporates a protein and a green veggie.  The recipe makes 1 smoothie so adjust the ingredients accordingly for more servings. The spinach is optional but it doesn't alter the taste so why not?.....just don't let the kids see it going into the blender and they will be none the wiser. You can have this for breakfast, as a snack, or as a dessert. I'll make this mid-morning and split with my husband for a little pick me up.

1/2 cup frozen peach slices

1/2 cup of any other frozen berry or combo....I think my favorite is strawberry

1/2 cup of soy milk or other non dairy milk

1/2 cup apple or orange juice
1 Tbl of protein powder
handful of spinach ---optional

Put in the blender and let it whirl for a minute or so.

EGG LESS PANCAKES

I made these recently for visiting family and they were easy and tasted great.  Our youngest granddaughter is allergic to eggs so I can't wait to try them on her.  Add some cinnamon to the dry ingredients if you like that taste. You can add fruit like blueberries and bananas, but I find that they pancake doesn't cook properly and gets doughy around the fruit.  I like to add the fruit on top instead.

EGG LESS PANCAKES

1 cup of unbleached all purpose flour (or half whole wheat)
1 Tbl of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
1 cup non dairy milk
2 Tbl of canola oil or melted Earth Balance
3 Tbl of liquid sweetener like maple syrup, apple juice, orange juice

Heat the griddle or skillet using a little bit of canola oil. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl mix the liquid ingredients.  Add to the flour mixture and mix just until moistened.  If you over mix the pancakes will be tough. If griddle is hot enough proceed to make the pancakes as you would normally do. I use about 1/4 cup per pancake.

 adapted from the Joy of Vegan Baking http://www.compassionatecooks.com/

Daniel's Veggie Pie

This recipe came from our son Daniel, who lives in San Francisco. The actual origin of the recipe is unknown.  I bought two frozen vegan pie crusts, the Wholly Wholesome brand from Whole Foods....several people online recommended these ones and they were great!  http://www.whollywholesome.com/
I usually make my own pastry because it is so much better, and I enjoy the process of making things from scratch.  But in a pinch I tried these frozen crusts and they were surprisingly good.  I let them thaw in their tinfoil containers, then transfered one to my own pie plate and rolled the other one out flat for the top.  I have a wonderful recipe for a vegetarian pie crust and I'll post that another time.   This veggie pie is really good and you could have fun substituting alternate vegetables to your taste.  I personally found that there was too much cabbage and carrots so I have made some suggestions below. Thanks Daniel! (or "Dan" as everyone else calls him...but I'm his mother and he is Daniel to me)

DANIEL'S VEGGIE PIE

2 vegetarian Wholly Wholesome frozen pie crusts, thawed
2 Tbl of Earth Balance Spread or oil
1 yellow onion chopped
1/2 head of cabbage chopped
2 cups of carrots thinly sliced
1lb of soy sausage.  Daniel used Morningstar Breakfast Patties and I used spicy Gimme Lean in the tube
1 cup hot water
1 envelope of vegetarian instant brown gravy mix
2 Tbl of fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of savory (or sage and thyme) this is optional.  Depends on whether you like the taste of these spices.
1/4 tsp of pepper

Alternate
-substitute 1 cup of the sliced carrots with 1 cup of frozen peas.  I didn't like that many carrots
-add some mushrooms with the onion, cabbage and carrots.
-use 1/4 head of cabbage and add some broccoli.

Heat over to 400 degrees. Saute the onion, carrots and cabbage in butter/oil til browned about 15 min.  Remove to large bowl...at this point add the peas if you are using.  They can be put into the mixture frozen. In a large skillet heat the sausage (if using frozen sausage microwave first and break it up....or if using the Gimme Lean heat in the skillet just like you would ground beef). Add the water and the gravy package and spices.  Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the sausage mixture to the veggie bowl and mix. Pour into the bottom crust and cover with the top crust and crimp the edges together.  Using a sharp knife cuts slits for the steam to escape. Bake for 30 minutes.  Serve with a salad or sliced tomatoes.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Like the Mock Tuna recipe, hummus is very versatile and full of protein.  I hate the store bought versions and have ultimately thrown them out they tasted so bad. This is great on crackers, pita chips,  pita sandwich with veggies, on quesadillas, spread on celery, used as a dip with veggies.  I have tired other recipes but this is my favorite.  If you like more heat add Tabasco, or the Delallo Hot Pepper Garlic Sauce I mentioned on 9/1/10.  This is made with roasted red peppers in a jar, but I have been meaning to try roasting my own.  It appears to be easy and will probably taste even better. The original recipe called for 1/3 cup of lemon juice but I found it too lemony so I reduced it to 2 Tbl.

ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 (15 oz) can of garbanzo beans

1/3 cup of tahini

2 Tbl of lemon juice
1/2 cup roasted red peppers
1/4 tsp of basil

Drain and rinse the beans.  In a food processor combine the beans, garlic, tahini and lemon juice. Process until smooth, then add the peppers and basil and pulse the food processor just until the peppers are chopped.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Salad

Everyone in our family loves potato salad, and now we have a granddaughter who is alergic to eggs, so this recipe is great for her since it utilizes eggless vegenaise instead of mayonaise.  I challenge you to tell the difference.  My daughter had a jar of vegenaise that she threw out swearing that she hated it.  But she gobbled up this salad!  I have tried another brand of eggless mayonaise and didn't like it nearly as much as Vegenaise.  I bought the grapeseed oil version. www.followyourheart.com

POTATO SALAD

8 medium  yellow potatoes like Yukon Gold.  I also love using red potatoes.
1/2 cup vegenaise
4 green onions
1 stalk of celery finely chopped
1/2 cup of finely diced red onion (add more to taste)
1/2 cup of thinly sliced radishes (optional)
1 tsp of salt
fresh ground pepper

Boil potatoes until fork tender (don't overcook or the salad will be mushy!) Drain and cool and cut into bite size cubes. (i put the strainer into the fridge to cool them faster.)

Mix everything together in a large bowl and adjust the seasonings and vegenaise to taste. Cover and put in the fridge until chilled.  

Warm Spinach Salad

This salad is wonderful, especially if you take the time to make the caramelized walnuts.  I make a double recipe of the walnuts and freeze them for future salads.  They only take a few minutes and they really take the salad to a different level.  The salad recipe makes at least 6 servings, so I make the dressing and warm it up again the next night. This is another recipe from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's "The Vegan Table."
http://www.vegantable.com/

WARM SPINACH SALAD

12-14 oz of baby spinach
1 medium red onion thinly sliced
1 cup caramelized walnuts (or pecans)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove pressed
1 cup balsamic vinegar (I use raspberry balsamic) 
1 Tbl of molasses
fresh ground pepper

Combine spinach, onion and prepared walnuts in a large salad bowl.
In a small saucepan, warm olive oil and saute garlic over low heat just to warm up the oil. After a few minutes add the vinegar, molasses and pepper. Whisking constantly, bring almost to a boil and remove from heat and let cool until it is just warm.  Pour over spinach and toss.  Serve immediately.

CARAMELIZED WALNUTS

1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp of salt mixed together

 Tear a large piece of tin foil and lay on the counter near the stove. Heat a skillet over high heat.  Add walnuts and toss for 1 minute.  Sprinkle 1/2 the sugar/salt mixture over the nuts stir constantly until the sugar melts.  Add remaining sugar/salt and stir until the sugar melts again.  Pour the walnuts onto the tin foil and spread out until cool. 

As I said above it is just as easy to make a double batch.  Put 1 cup on the salad and wrap up the rest in the tin foil and freeze.

Adding some heat!

I picked this sauce up recently at our local grocery store. Actually I bought this by mistake thinking it was something else, but I am glad that I made the mistake.  If you can't read the label it is Hot Pepper Garlic Pasta Sauce. But I can't imagine using it on pasta right out of the jar....it is really hot!  Just a tiny bit added to a recipe is great. Some of my family  members like spicy things and others do not, my husband included.  He likes a little bite to things sometimes, but not as much as I do.  Our sons all like spicy food, so this sauce will appeal to them.  When I make hummus I add a tiny bit....maybe 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp at the most, and it adds a really nice flavor. You can add a touch to veggie fajitas, quesadillas, salsa, bread dip etc.  I really recommend this product to those who like the heat!  http://www.delallo.com/

"Mock" Tuna Salad

This recipe does not taste like tuna, but it is a mild substitute and I love it, and ever better it passed the "hubby test."  I recently did a blind test with two of our granddaughters, and while the 7 year old didn't hoot and holler, the 5 year old thought it was tuna! This can be made with all ingredients listed, or made kid friendly with just some celery and vegenaise. I also like it spread on flatbread type crackers, or on some celery.  Another way to serve it is to make a salad tossed with your dressing, then add a scoop to the top of the salad.  This is one of my 10 favorite recipes. This will keep for several days in the refrigerator. You may want a smaller quanity so just cut the ingredients in half.

2 cans of chick peas rinsed and drained
1/2 cup of finely chopped red pepper
1 celery stalk finely chopped
1-2 Tbls fresh parsley chopped
1-2 green onions chopped (optional)
1/2 cup of vegenaise
salt and pepper to taste.

Using a food processor or blender, pulse the chick peas until they are flakey. In a large bowl toss the rest of the ingredients then add the chick peas and mix well. If you want some spice add a teaspoon of Delallo's Hot Pepper Garlic Sauce.  See link under the Misc category. 

Waldorf Salad

This recipe is easy and diabetic friendly, and has a low glycemic index.  I forgot to make it when my granddaughters were visiting recently.....I think it is a recipe that all kids will like.  I munch on small amounts of this for snack time and it keeps the blood sugar level and hunger under control.  Or serve it on lettuce leaves for lunch.

1 apple chopped into bite size pieces
1 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbls of vegenaise (or regular mayonaise for vegetarians)
1 Tbls of agave.

In a bowl toss together the apple, celery, walnuts.  In another small bowl combine the agave and vegenaise and toss with the apple mixture.

http://www.madhavasagave.com/

Roasted Mixed Vegetables

I loved roasted vegetables and this mixture is one that I cook on a regular basis.  Makes enough for 4 people or 2 people with left overs. It looks like a lot of ingredients, but once the vegetables are prepared the whole thing goes together really quickly.  Promise! 

10 small potatoes, red or fingerling (must be petite potatoes otherwise they won't cook properly)
1 yellow pepper in large cubes
1 medium onion (red or yellow) quartered
4-5 carrots cut in half and cut into large pieces about 4"
8 cloves of garlic (leave the skins on for roasting)
1 zucchini sliced
handful of whole mushrooms (not pictured above)
handful of asparagus...tough ends removed then cut into 3 pieces
handful of grape or cherry tomatoes
olive oil
sea salt
cracked lemon pepper or regular pepper
dried thyme
dried oregano
garlic powder
(for a little heat add some cayenne pepper)

Preheat over to 375 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with olive oil cooking spray.  In a large bowl combine the potatoes, yellow peppers, onions, carrots and garlic cloves.  Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with the spices.  Toss to coat the vegetables with the oil and spices.  Spread on the cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

Put zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, and tomatoes into the mixing bowl and repeat the mixing with the olive oil and the spices. 

Take cookie sheet out of the oven and mix in the rest of the vegetables and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.  Remove the pan from the oven and pick out the garlic cloves (make sure you count them so that you don't miss one).  Cut the ends off the garlic cloves with your kitchen scissors and squeeze the garlic out of the buds and toss with the vegetables.

This recipe was adapted from www.fortheloveofcooking.com

Vegetable Tian

For the Love of Cooking: Vegetable Tian:

This vegetable recipe tastes as good as it looks! I substituted vegan parmessan cheese but for you vegetarians just follow the recipe and use regular parmessan.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

For the Love of Cooking: Roasted Sweet Potatoes: 

We love this recipe and have made it several times over the past few months and it has always been a hit!  Anytime I see a vegetable recipe and it says "roasted" it grabs my attention.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes (1)

Sweet potatoes are so good!  They are a complex carbohydrate, high in fibre, rich in beta carotene, and have a low glycemic index (which means that it metabolizes slowly in your body, keeps you from getting hungry, and prevents sugar spikes which make you tired).  Yams and sweet potatoes are so similar that they can be interchanged as far as I'm concerned.  When I bake sweet potatoes I line the cookie sheet with foil which helps the clean up.....the sweet potatoes ooze sugar and burn the pan otherwise.  I will bake 4 potatoes for hubby and I, with the intent to use the other two the next night to add to another meal. Remember what I said about left overs?  If you plan ahead you can really cut down on the time you spend in the kitchen. When the sweet potatoes are cooked, I take two off the cookie sheet for our dinner.....then just wrap up the other two in the foil that I used to line the pan. The pan is clean, we have part of our dinner cooked for tomorrow night.....what could be easier?  This recipe is just simple baked sweet potatoes, and I will follow up with another recipe that would be suitable for putting on a buffet.

Heat over to 475 degrees

4 sweet potatoes...scrubbed and patted dry
1 cookie sheet lined with foil
Earth balance butter, and brown sugar

Poke the potatoes with a sharp knife in a few places and place on the cookie sheet.  Bake for about 45 minutes until a knife inserts smoothly in the center of the potato. Run a knife down the center of the potato lengthwise and carefully open.  Put a pat of Earth Balance and sprinkle with a touch of brown sugar.

Garbanzo Tomato Pasta Soup

This soup is easy to make and we love it!  I love, love soup and could eat it every night for dinner, but hubby is less enthusiastic to make it a whole meal.  He would rather have it as an appetizer.  But if the soup is hardy enough, and I make some pumpernickel bread in the bread maker, he is a happy camper. I love soups that have lots of beans and ensure that I can get some of my daily requirement of protein.  This recipe is titled "Garbanzo" but you can use any type of beans really, and I often add a can of red kidney beans to this recipe along with the garbanzos.  This recipe makes a lot of soup, but if you have read other posts of mine,  we always have left overs the next night so that I only cook every second night.  We then freeze the rest in serving size containers.  A few weeks from now, thaw a couple of servings, add some fresh rolls and a salad and you have a third dinner out of one cooking session!

GARBANZO TOMATO PASTA SOUP

3  (14.5 oz) cans of vegetable broth, or 5-6 cups of vegetable broth in a carton
3/4 cup of small shell pasta (or any small pasta like macaroni)
1 Tbls of olive oil
1 cup of chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 (15 oz) can of garbanzo beans...drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can of dark red kidney beans....drained and rinsed
1 (28 oz) can of chopped tomatoes....use the juice too
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of dired thyme
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot bring broth to a boil and add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes.  Meanwhile in a small skillet heat oil and saute onions and garlic until the onions are translucent.  Stir the onions and garlic into the pasta pot (when the pasta has finished cooking).  Add the beans and spices.

Sesame Noodles

This recipe is from http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ and combined with the Spring Rolls makes a nice dinner.  Leftovers make a great lunch with a side salad. Easy, easy to make.

12 oz of thin Asian Noodles cooked and drained
1/4 cup of Soy Sauce
2 Tbls of sugar or 1Tbls of agave
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tbls of rice vinegar
3 Tbls of sesame oil
1/2 tsp of hot chili oil
4 Tbls of canola oil
2 Tbls of hot water
4 green onions chopped

-cook noodles and drain and put into a serving dish
-mix all the other ingredients together (except the green onions)
-toss the sauce with the noodles and top with the green onions.

Spring Rolls

My daughter and her family were here recently for a visit and I learned that my plant based diet can be controlled while cooking for a variety of tastes and ages.  My daughter was one of the driving forces behind my journey into veganism but she has decided for a variety of reasons that it is too complicated for her life style. But she is happy with adapting a vegetarian diet and I think she will be successful in that direction. Leaving the dairy in her diet is going to make it easier in her household.

My main concern before their visit was if I was going to be bumped off track.....cooking for a five year old, a seven year old, and a son-in-law that is supportive of my efforts but is not heading in a plant based direction. Not everything I cooked was a hit, and I admit that I planned foods that were not too radical to avoid the look of horrors. But I was pleased with the reaction to many items that they tried.

Spring rolls are easy to make and have a low fat content.  We added some Sesame Noodles and dinner was ready! I adapted this recipe from http://www.fortheloveofcooking.com/  where egg roll wrappers were used.  To adapt them to become vegan was easy by substituting the egg roll wrappers for spring roll wrappers.  I found the wrappers in a local Asian food market and then froze them until i needed them.  Hint:  the wrappers dry out very quickly.  Cover them with a damp dish towel while you work and this will keep them from sticking together.

SPRING ROLLS (about 14 pieces)
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups of savoy cabbage chopped thin ( i have also substituted regular green cabbage)
2 cups of shredded carrots
2 cups of bean sprouts
1 can of water chestnuts, chopped (optional...I'm not a fan so I leave them out)
2 Tbsp green onions sliced
1 tsp of grated ginger (i also use bottled ginger juice when I am lazy)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup water
Package of spring roll wrappers (you will need about 14.  Freeze the rest of the pkg)
Sweet chili dipping sauce ( or sweet and sour but I like the bite of the sweet chili sauce)

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Wait until the oil is hot.  Add the cabbage, sprouts, carrots, chestnuts (if using) and ginger and cook stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes.  Mix corn starch and water along with the soy sauce and add to the vegetable mixture. Add the green onions now too.  Stir until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and let mixture cool. (about 15 minutes)

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Place a spring roll wrapper on the cutting board with one of the four corners facing you.  Place 2 Tbsp of the vegetable mixture on the center of the wrapper.  Fold up the bottom of the wrapper over the vegetables: then fold over the two sides: then roll it up like a burrito.

Spray a cookie sheet with vegetable spray.  Place the spring rolls on the cookie sheet seam side down. Spray the tops of the rolls with additional spray.  Bake for 8 minutes and turn them and spray again with vegetable spray.  Bake for 5-7 minutes more.