Recipes

Just a note about recipes...I have been so busy lately with getting stuff ready for our upcoming school year, that I just haven't found the time to post recipes for the last couple of posts. If you see a picture in a post and the recipe isn't posted, just let me know and I will be happy to send along the recipe!

Snow peas and Thai Tofu Salad

I really love snow peas but don't often get to have them because they are so expensive. I have loved having snow peas in my tower garden this year!

I added some to my favorite Thai Tofu Salad and they were delicious!

Kale!!

I love my tower garden so much and it has exploded with growth over the past couple of weeks. I daily have the pleasure of harvesting kale or basil or lettuce or snow peas or green beans!  Though we don't like the dinosaur kale quite as much as the curly kale, both are delicious and fresh.

My first kale harvest was a little overwhelming...it filled my kitchen sink! Yum!

The other day I had a craving for some kale salad and it made me so happy to step out onto the deck and cut off a pan-full of fresh kale to satisfy my palate!

Vegan 4th of July!

I love the 4th of July! We usually don't do anything real exciting but it generally tends to be a fun day of cooking up red, white and blue taste delights, clothing the kiddos in super cute outfits and having a BBQ as a fam. This year was no exception!

We started off the morning with waffles and a tri-fruit combo of strawberries, bananas, and blueberries.

My cute boys in their festive outfits!

I was quite impressed with the dessert I devised this year - a Dark Chocolate Mousse Pie with Fresh Berries! Heavenly!

The boys decided they didn't want their dessert to be quite so chocolate-y (imagine!) so when I whipped the tofu in the food processor, I spooned out some of the creamy mousse before it had been blended fully with the chocolate. The result was cute little cups of chocolate-vanilla swirled mousse. I topped theirs with berries as well!

Ended our day with a BBQ dinner eaten on the porch!

Fresh Salsa!

I love summer! Since spring and fall are such short seasons around here, summer is probably my favorite season of the year. One of the very best parts of summer, in my opinion, is the abundance of fresh produce at local farmers markets. I frequent several in our area and sometimes end up going to the farmers markets 2-3 times a week! I love fresh fruits and veggies!! This past Saturday, the boys and I headed to the market and picked up fresh tomatoes and jalepenos to make fresh salsa to eat as a treat along with our fresh tortilla chips (also a farmers market find!). I used my food processor to blend fresh tomatoes, jalepenos, cilantro, lime juice, garlic powder, sea salt, minced dried onion (I can't do raw), and a few homemade pickled peppers from last year's garden.

The results were fresh, summery and delicious!!!

Sizzling Szechuan Beefless and Broccoli...Brussels Sprout Chips...Vegan Meat Lovers Pizza...Vegan Loaded Veggie Pizza

I must say, I love Gardein! I think they make the most fabulous meat substitutes and recently they have come out with so many new items. I love that the ingredients in Gardein are delicious foods rather than a huge list of things I can't even pronounce. I recently picked up a bag of Sizzling Szechuan Beefless Strips.

I cooked it according to the package instructions but I also added a bunch of fresh broccoli to the pan (which is shown in the picture on the package but not included in the package). I served it over sticky rice and it was AMAZING!! My hubby (who absolutely loves Chinese food) said it was the best Chinese food ever and that it was every bit as good as any restaurant Chinese dish! SCORE!! It was really amazing and a new family favorite. My boys loved it too!!

I am always on the lookout for a good Brussels sprouts recipe and I came across a recipe for Brussels Sprouts chips and decided it was a must-try. Though a time-consuming dish, it truly is delicious and loved by all three of my boys! I modified the recipe a bit and these things are delicious! All you have to do is cut the stems off your sprouts and then peel the leaves off layer by layer (thus the time-consuming part). Once you have a sufficient amount of leaves (they cook down so I would recommend doing at least a pound of sprouts. The bigger the sprouts the better for this dish), drizzle them with oil and a sprinkle of sea salt and nutritional yeast. Then bake them at 400 degrees for 15 min or so - if you want them crispier, you might want to cook longer.

 The other day I decided pizza sounded really good and I wanted to make some creative ones. I had some leftover onion/poppy seed roll dough in the fridge that I used as the crust. I made the crust thin so it would crisp up nicely. On one pizza I spread pizza sauce over it and then layered it with Lightlife Pepperoni, Field Roast Italian Sausage and Tofurky Polska Kielbasa (all sliced and browned in a bit of oil beforehand). On the second pizza I spread a layer of balsamic reduction (1 cup balsamic vinegar simmered for 20 min on low until it becomes a syrup and then mixed with 1 T maple syrup) over the dough and then layered it with artichoke hearts, chickpeas, and pine nuts - a funny sounding combo but it was delicious! I baked them both at 425 for about 10-15 min until the crust was browned. Yum! Once again, loved by all!

 

Tower Garden Harvest and Mandarin Peanut-Crunch Salad with Crispy Wontons

One of my favorite purchases last year was my Juice Plus Tower Garden. It is the most incredible way to grow veggies (and fruit if you choose) that are delicious, low maintenance, and yield a lot of produce!! This year I am growing peas, green beans, basil, lettuce, tomatoes (cherry and heirloom), dinosaur kale and curly green kale (multiples of everything). My tower is doing amazingly well this year and I got to harvest my first bunch of lettuce yesterday.

Of course fresh lettuce gave me the perfect opportunity to serve delicious salads for dinner!

Making crispy wontons

I tried out the Mandarin Peanut-Crunch Salad with Crispy Wontons from Chloe's Kitchen, with many modifications! It turned out fresh and delicious!

Mandarin Peanut-Crunch Salad with Crispy Wontons (modified from Chloe's Kitchen)

Dressing: 1/4 cup vinegar (I used white because it's all I had)
2 T canola oil
2 T brown sugar
1 T agave
2 t orange zest
1 1/2 t sriracha sauce

Mix ingredients together and set aside
Wontons:
Gyoza wrappers
canola oil
Place 10 gyoza wrappers on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush oil on surface of each wrapper. Flip wrappers and repeat on opposite side. Cut eat wrapper into strips using a pizza cutter. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes or until crisp. Set aside.

Salad:

4 oz lettuce of choice
2 cups green cabbage
2 carrots, peeled and shredded or julienned
1 11oz can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup shelled, cooked edamame

Mix salad ingredients in a bowl and toss. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine. Top with crispy wontons.

Quadruple Berry Pie...Thai Tofu Salad...Chick-un and Bean Vegan Enchiladas

This year I made a berry pie for my Birthday and it was delicious! I think it was the best berry pie I have ever made! It is such an easy recipe and there is no added sugar - and of course no artificial sugar either!

Quadruple Berry Pie
3 cups frozen mixed berries (blackberry, blueberry, raspberry blend)
1 can frozen 100% juice concentrate ( I used Apple Raspberry - you can use cranberry or a cranberry blend also. I have never tried it with just plain apple juice...don't think orange juice would be good either!)
10-12 whole fresh strawberries, washed, de-stemmed and cut in half
Cornstarch to thicken
1 single pie crust (recipe below)

Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1 /2 t salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 T soy or almond milk

 Set aside 1/2 cup of the juice concentrate. Add mixed berries and remaining concentrate in a saucepan and heat until bubbly. Mix 3-4 T of cornstarch into concentrate that you set aside until smooth. Slowly stir into berry mixture until thick and bubbly. If mixture isn't thick enough, mix another tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and slowly stir in. Remove from heat as soon as mixture is thick. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, make your pie crust. In a 9 inch pie plate, mix all crust ingredients. Stir with a fork until well mixed. Press into pie plate and up the sides of pie plate. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 min or until lightly browned. Cool When filling and pie crust have cooled, place halved strawberries in the bottom of the crust in a single layer (you might need slightly more or slightly fewer strawberries than listed, depending on size of the berries). Pour cooled filling over strawberries. Refrigerate until completely set.

I absolutely love this meal! It is perfect for a warm day, full of delicious veggies and flavorful tofu. Yum!!

Thai Tofu Salad
(warning - I didn't measure out how much I put in each bowl so I didn't list exact amounts! Partly depends on how hungry you are too!)
1 1/2 cups white sticky rice, cooked according to package instructions (or you can use brown short grain rice but make sure you allow extra cooking time)
1 cup carrot coins
1 cup cut green beans
1 cup broccoli florets
1 block extra firm tofu, drained and pressed, cut into small cubes

Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette
1/4 cup peanut butter
8 T Thai marinade (recipe follows)
8 T vinegar
3/4 minus 2 T (confusing but that's the measurement!)

Thai Marinade
2/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine
2 T sugar
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t chili garlic paste

Heat oven to 425. Place cubed tofu on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tofu is browned and firm. Remove from oven Bring a pot of water to boil. Add carrot coins and green beans and cook until crisp tender. Add broccoli and cook an additional 3 min. Remove from heat and drain. Set aside. Combine ingredients for Thai marinade and set aside. Combine ingredients for vinaigrette and set aside. Toss tofu with remaining Thai marinade (after 8 T have been removed). Assembling the salads: In dinner bowls, place a scoop of rice, a spoonful of veggies and a spoonful of tofu. Drizzle each bowl with vinaigrette. This meal is best served when lukewarm.

 I used to make this recipe for Chicken Enchiladas and I recently gave a go at veganizing it. Delicious results! Plenty of flavor and downright YUM!
Chick-un and Bean Vegan Enchiladas
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 package vegan chicken tenders (I used Trader Joes Crispy Tenders)
1 cup chunky salsa
4 oz vegan cream cheese
1 T chopped cilantro
1 t cumin
1 cup cooked beans or your choice (I recommend pinto, black or navy)
8 flour tortillas

Cook chick-un according to package instructions. When cooked, remove from oven and cut into small pieces. Set aside. In a skillet coated with cooking spray, cook onion and garlic over medium heat until translucent and tender. Stir in 1/2 cup salsa, cream cheese, cilantro, cumin, and beans. Divide filling among tortillas, rolling tortillas after each fill. Place rolled enchiladas in a 9x13 pan coated with cooking spray. Pour remaining salsa over enchiladas. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min or until bubbly and slightly browned.

Birthday Fun

My Birthday was this week and my family spoiled me! I had a wonderful Mother's Day and Birthday with my fabulous fam!

I was so excited to get this cookbook from my sister - I checked it out at the library and fell in love with it. My sister also treated me to a new Norwex bathroom cleaning scrub mit. Love Norwex!!! No chemicals or cleaning products needed! My sister also made me the most fabulous and amazing veg pasta dish - seriously the best ever!

One of the great gifts I usually get from my mom at Christmas and Bdays is jar mixes - I love them!! I always have some in my pantry to choose from - muffins, breads, casseroles, soups. Awesomeness!!

My hubby treated me to a vegan coffeehouse called Mudpie on my Bday also. We were full from a delicious breakfast (thanks to my wonderful husband cooking for me!) so we just split a soy caramel frappe. Oh my goodness! Seriously the best frappe we have ever had!! The coffee was strong with just a hint of sweet creaminess. The coffee was so flavorful and full-bodied. Delicious!!

Corn and Kale Salad - my new craving!!

My sister-in-law always does a great job of making special dishes for me when she invites us to dinner - she looks for recipes on the internet for vegan fare and always come up with tasty things! The most recent recipe she made was a kale and corn salad. I must say, the first time she made it, I found it delicious...then she made it again and I loved it....then I made it a couple of times and I realized I crave that salad!! It is so amazingly fabulous!! I ate a big plate of it for lunch today. Oh how I love kale!! And what's even better is that my boys like it too! I of course forgot to take a picture until I had already put the leftovers away but at least the general idea can be obtained! The recipe can be found at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/corn-and-kale-salad/ (I don't know why the picture looks that way as the salad looks nothing like that!). I modified it a bit - I used a can of yellow corn (it's still a bit early in the season for fresh)and I don't add the red peppers because two of my boys don't like peppers. I think the salad is delicious right after it's made and still a tad warm. It's also yummy cold. I also just lightly steam the kale and don't warm up the corn. Enjoy!