GREEN SMOOTHIE #3

This version was milder than the previous ones, probably because it used spinach as the green.  I am hunting for one that uses apple, so stay tuned.....

GREEN SMOOTHIE #3

• 1 cup of green grapes
• 1/2 cup of pineapple
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1/2 of a banana
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 cup of ice cubes
• 2 scoops of protein powder

GREEN SMOOTHIE #2

This recipe is from the Vita Mix website and it calls for ice cubes, so if you don't have ice cubes (Kelley) add some more water until desired consistency.  But I have to say that the ice cubes really made it nice and cold.
When you shop for bananas buy extra for freezing.  Put 5-6 bananas into a freezer bag and use as needed.  Freezing the bananas adds a creamy texture to the smoothie.  But you can also use fresh bananas.

• 1 orange, peeled (see note below)
• 1 cup of green grapes
• 1/2 of one pear
• 1 banana
• 1 cup of kale
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups of ice cubes
• 2 scoops of protein powder

blend for 2 minutes.

**hint** I was recently reading a recipe and it called for a peeled orange.  I hate peeling oranges!  But I found this great suggestion to make it easier.  Cut a slice off the top and bottom of the orange exposing the flesh. Stand the orange upright on the cutting board, and using a sharp knife cut the peel off in slices cutting the white pith as you go. You end up with a orange you can easily now break into slices.  For the smoothie I just broke it in two pieces and threw it into the blender.

GREEN SMOOTHIE #1....TROPICAL TANGO

I have been trying very hard to get more of the dark green leafy vegetables into my diet.  The vitamins, minerals, and the overall benefits are key to our well-being.  And most people have very few dark green veggies in their diet. Sure we all eat salads, and have the occasional green bean, but what about kale, mustard greens, collard greens, swiss chard, cabbage, bok choy, spinach?  To be honest I have cabbage once in awhile and the occasional spinach salad.  The longer I am a vegan and the more reading and experimenting that I do, the more these green veggies are rearing their heads.  So I am on a quest for the next month to try more and more recipes using these vegetables.  Daniel sent me a recipe recently for a kale salad with cashew cream dressing and it was great!  I will be posting that soon. Everywhere you go on the vegan/vegetarian sites there is a buzz about green smoothies and I am going to be trying a new one every day for the next week and will post the successes.  The two that I have tried so far were so good that I can't wait to try another one tomorrow. This is such an easy way to incorporate green veggies into the family diets.  If they ask why it is green,  just tell them you used green apples to make it. :-)

I am also adding a tsp of flax seed oil to each recipe even when it isn't called for and a scoop of protein powder.

GREEN SMOOTHIE #1..... TROPICAL TANGO

• 1-2 cups of fresh pineapple
• 1 banana
• 1 cup of fresh orange juice (approx the juice of two oranges)
• 1 cup water
• big handful of greens ( used spinach but anything will do)
• add some flaxseed oil or protein powder (optional)

Blend for 2 minutes

CHICKPEA TACOS

We made these tacos last week and they were a hit with hubby.  I tired to make tacos a few months ago using the ground beef substitute, but if you have been following this blog then you know how I feel about the commercial substitutes.  But this one is full of good things and easy to make.  The spices were perfect and I loved the feeling of eating something that used to be unhealthy and is now so good!  I got this recipe from another vegan blog and now I can't find where it came from.  So as soon as I can sort that out I will come back and add an acknowledgement and link to the blog.  (l'll add a picture too the next time we make them)  The original recipe called for 1 tsp of cumin, but I dialed that down a notch to 1/2 tsp....it can be an overwhelming spice, so add more if you like that taste.

CHICKPEA TACOS

-1 TBL of oil or water
-1 small onion diced (about 1/2 cup)
-2 cloves of garlic minced
-1 15 oz can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
-1/2 tsp of cumin (or more if desired)
-1 tsp of chili powder
-1 tsp of paprika
-1 tsp of oregano
-juice from 1/2 lemon (or about 2-3 bottled)
-1 cup of raw spinach or swiss chard chopped small
-box of taco shells or soft tacos

For the fillers chop up some tomatoes, lettuce, jalapenos or whatever you like on your tacos.  Put a little bowl of veggie sheddred cheese, another bowl of vegan sour cream, and another of salsa.

1. Heat oil in large skillet over med heat, then add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent....about 5 min.  Don't let the garlic burn so you may have to lower the heat a bit. 
2. add the chickpeas, cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano and lemon juice.  Mash the chickpeas with a fork until they still have some chunks but they have lost the roundness.
3. add spinach and stir to combine.  Cook about 7 minutes on med-low heat to combine the spices, adding some water to keep the mixture from sticking.  You will have to add the water several times.

Adding a package of yellow rice is our favorite side dish with tacos.

CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRY PUDDING CAKES

This dessert is soooo good!  It comes courtesy of one of my favorite blogs www.fatfreevegan.com.  I was looking for something new to try for an upcoming dinner party.  I don't like to make new recipes to serve to company unless I try it before hand, and besides its a good excuse to make something sweet.  I made the recipe as follows and used 4 ramekins and it was perfect for 4 servings.  However, next time I will double the ingredients and try it in a cake pan.  We ate it warm with non-dairy vanilla ice cream, and it was so good that way that the next night we put the leftover ramekins in the microwave to reheat them a bit. Note:  the cherries are frozen to start with, then you have to let them thaw with the sugar for 1-2 hours to extract the juice.  So make sure to allow this time before baking.

Don't be scared by all the ingredients.  Assemble everything first and it honestly goes together very quickly. 

CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRY PUDDING CAKES

-20 frozen pitted cherries
-1 tsp sugar
-1/3 cup of brown sugar
-2 TB of unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 tsp of cornstarch
-1/2 cup flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/3 cup of sugar
-1 1/2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 1/2 tsp vanilla
-1 1/2 TB of soy yogurt
-1/4 cup soy milk (or other non dairy milk)
-boiling water

1. cut cherries in half while frozen and put them into a small bowl along with the sugar.  Allow them to thaw for 1-2 hours.
2. oil or spray 4 ramekins.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Mix together in a small bowl the brown sugar and 2 TB of cocoa.
3. Pour the cherry juice (from the thawed cherries) into a measuring cup and lightly press the cherries to get as much juice as you can. Put to the side
4. Sprinkle the cornstarch onto the thawed cherries and mix well to coat the cherries. Divide the cherries into the prepared ramekins.
5. In a medium bowl mix the flour, salt, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 TB of cocoa and baking powder.  Stir in the vanilla, yogurt, and soy milk.  Mixture will be thick.  Divide this mixture evenly into the ramekins and spread with a spoon to cover the the cherries.
6. sprinkle the brown sugar mixture over the batter and level nicely
7. Add some boiling water to the cherry juice till you reach 3/4 cup.  Pour gently over the brown sugar in the ramekins...about 3 TL per ramekin.
8. bake for about 25-30 minutes until the sauce is bubbling around the edges, and the tops look mostly dry (but there will still be streaks of wet looking areas...don't overcook).

Let cool for 10-15 minutes and dive in.  You can thank me later!

Living without dairy

It has been eight months now since I made the transition to changing my eating habits to vegan.  I have stumbled here and there, but for the most part I am proud to say that I have been deligent and focused. The hardest challenge has been dairy.  I still occasionlly crave a glass of milk. I use soy, rice or almond milk on my cereal or oatmeal, and use the non-dairy milk when I'm cooking, but there are times when I would love to have a big old glass of dairy milk. So I don't have it in the house anymore.  I was buying dairy milk for my husband, and the only time he used it was on cereal.  But he announced last month not to buy it anymore, since he was using rice milk most of the time anyway. So if I don't have dairy milk in the fridge I can't be tempted.  With time I am sure that the craving will disappear. My son Daniel has made almond milk and this is something that I want to try.

Living without eggs has not been a problem.  I love the Veganaise brand of mayonnaise and use it all the time.  Other brands that I tried just didn't measure up to Veganaise. The Ener-G powdered egg substitute, blending flax seed and water, and vinegar are all great ways to bake without eggs.

 Cheese has been another hurdle.  The commercial vegan cheese substitutes are not great.  About the only one that I can say that I use all the time is the Parmesan.  Using tofu and nutritional yeast is a great way to layer a lasagna and my husband loves it.  (see the recipe for lasagna) The shredded veggie cheese is not great, although the mozzarella is better than the cheddar. I will use the mozzarella veggie cheese when I want that melted taste like on our homemade pizzas.

My son Daniel sent me a recipe several months ago for Kale Salad with Cashew Cheese and I planned to try it but it got lost in my file of "recipes to try".  The idea of cashews tasting like cheese threw me off, and I thought I would be disappointed.  But I had some Kale in the fridge and desperately wanted to learn to make this vegetable part of my diet. It was great!  I'll post the recipe this week. Another recipe that I am going to try this week is baked macaroni and cheese using the cashew cream. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Another experiment that I plan to make this week is actually making a hard cheese from the cashew recipe.  According to the author the cheese can be sliced for crackers, or shredded.

BBQ SEITAN ON A BUN

Last month I posted a recipe for BBQ Seitan that I really like.  I used that recipe for a main entree with sides of veggies, and I chopped some of the leftovers into a salad for lunch the next day.  But the next night there was still some left, so I sauteed some onions and peppers very slowly for about 20 minutes then toasted a hogie roll and put it all together for a great sub!  Add some additional BBQ sauce to taste.

BLACK BEAN BURGERS

I am not a fan of frozen veggie hamburgers.  I find that they taste like cardboard, but I love homemade veggie burgers.  They are easy to make and packed full of protein.  The recipes are large enough that we always have enough for leftovers, or they freeze really well.  The key is not to over cook them otherwise they dry out. This recipe is compliments of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Vegan Table. I made them according to the directions, but the second time I adjusted the spices to our tastes.  I put in 1/2 the chili powder, no cumin, and I didn't use the corn.  I haven't tried serving them on a bun yet, but each time I made them I simply served them alone, with oven fried potatoes and sliced tomatoes. They are crispy and delicious!

SPICY BLACK BEAN BURGERS

-1/4 cup of flour
-1/4 cup of cornmeal
-olive oil or canola oil for sauteing
-1 small yellow onion diced
-1 jalapeno pepper minced and seeded.
-1 red bell pepper diced
-2 cloves of garlic minced
-1/2 tsp of oregano
-2 cups of black beans drained and rinsed (about 2 cans)
-1/2 cup of corn kernels (optional)
-1/2 cup of bread crumbs
-2 tsp of chili powder (I used 1 tsp)
-1/4 tsp of cumin (i don't use any.  I am not a fan of cumin)
-1/2 tsp of salt
-2 Tbs of fresh minced parsley

1. Combine flour and cornmeal on a shallow plate and put aside.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onion, jalapeno, red pepper, and garlic for a few minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl mash the black beans with a potato masher or fork. Stir in the sauteed vegetables, and the remaining ingredients.
4. Add some more oil to the frying pan and heat over medium heat. Shape the bean mixture into 8 patties, (not too thin) and add them to the frying pan.  Cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until they look brown and crispy.

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