Zucchini and Beet Salad for One

Use a spiralizer on angel hair setting to slice 1 zucchini and 1 beet. Stack beets on top of zucchini "noodles." Top with other veges that you like. I only added grape tomatoes (halved) and sliced purple onion to my salad today. Drizzle with homemade or prepared salad dressing and sprinkle with nutritional yeast.

Dressing for one large salad:
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove (minced)
2 T chopped fresh parsley
salt and red pepper flakes to taste

Whisk lemon juice, vinegar, and olive oil together. Add parsley and spices.

Directions on how to use a spiralizer:

Tempeh Kabobs

 INGREDIENTS (organic):

• 1 package tempeh
• zucchini
• white or purple onion
• fresh mushroom such as baby bellas (I didn't use mushrooms this time because we had kale stuffed mushrooms on the side with our kabobs.)
• grape or cherry tomatoes
• yellow or orange bell pepper would also be good
• tamari
• extra virgin olive oil
• garlic powder
• black pepper
• Mrs. Dash (or other salt free seasoning blend)

DIRECTIONS:
1) Steam tempeh for about 10 minutes in a pan of water or steamer.
2) While tempeh is steaming, slice zuchinni, clean mushrooms and remove stems, and cut onion.
3) Remove tempeh from pan, dry, and cut into cubes.
4) Alternate veges and tempeh on skewers.
5) Drizzle kabobs with tamari (or soy sauce) and olive oil.
6) Season with garlic powder, black pepper and Mrs. Dash (or whatever seasonings you like) and let skewers marinate about 15 minutes or so.
7) Drizzle an indoor grill with olive oil or use an oil spray and heat grill on med/high (An outdoor grill would also work great....I'm just not sure how healthy outdoor grilling is.)
8) Cook kabobs on grill until they're done.

I served these tonight with kale stuffed mushrooms (still working on a recipe).

Shiitake Faux Bacon

One of the foods my family has missed the most since cutting animal products out of our diet is bacon. I read about making vegan bacon from Shiitake mushrooms on a blog the other day and decided to test it out tonight as a topping for our baked potato skins. I was skeptical at first, but was amazed how closely the flavor actually does resemble bacon. I followed the recipe on this video and adjusted the cooking time to 45 minutes for my oven. It's crazy how yummy these are.... it would be so easy for me to eat the entire batch by myself!



INGREDIENTS:
Fresh Shiitake mushrooms (I buy them in bulk at our local HEB grocery store)
Organic extra virgin olive oil
sea salt - (You could substitute tamari or soy sauce instead for the salt.)

DIRECTIONS:
1) Cut the stems off mushrooms (save stems for mushroom broth).
2) Slice mushrooms.
3) Drizzle olive or safflower oil over mushrooms.
4) Sprinkle with a little sea salt or soy sauce and dash of black pepper.
5) Bake on baking sheet in a 300 degree oven. (Make sure baking sheet has olive oil on it or your mushrooms will stick.)
6) Stir every 10 minutes.
7) Cook until dark and crisp. Be careful not to burn them. It took 45 minutes in my oven, but it could take up to an hour according to recipes I've read.

Vegan Beanballs

INGREDIENTS (organic if possible)

2 cans drained black beans (I used purple hull peas - You could also use blackeye peas or kidney beans.)
2-3 cloves minced fresh garlic
1/4 c. brown rice flour or Panko breadcrumbs
1/4 c. vital wheat gluten
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T tamari or soy sauce
1 T tomato paste or ketchup
1/4 white, yellow, or purple onion finely chopped (could use onion powder instead)
a pinch of dried oregano, dried basil, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375. Mash beans/peas with a potato masher. Add other ingredients and mix well with a fork or your hands. Form into meatballs (we like ours on the small size). Spray a baking sheet with olive oil. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Flip with a spatula and bake another 10 min.  (Meatballs will be crisp on the outside.)

Serve on top of your favorite pasta with a sauce. I served these meatballs tonight on whole wheat spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce and topped it off with nutritional yeast in lieu of Parmesan. I didn't add our beanballs directly to the sauce because I was afraid they'd become soggy. These were great, but next time, I think I'll add some chopped fresh flat leaf parsley to the beanball mixture.

Vegan Taco Salad Wraps

These vegan soft tacos are a great week night meal at our house that can easily be individualized for even the most picky eater.

TACO INGREDIENTS:
Whole wheat torillas
Daiya vegan cheddar cheese (or shredded cheddar cheese if you're not vegan)
Boca meatless crumbles
Baby spinach or shredded cabbage
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels (optional)
2 green onions (chopped)
chopped tomatoes (I slice organic grape tomatoes in half)
sliced black olives
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. (or more) garlic powder
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c. Veganaise
1/4 c. Taco Bell mild sauce
a small handful of chopped fresh cilatro

DIRECTIONS:
1) Heat Boca crumbles in skillet with olive oil.
2) Add corn and spices to crumbles and cook until heated (sliced mushrooms and/or drained black beans would also be good).
3) Chop onions, tomatoes, and cabbage.
4) Mix sauce ingredients in a separate bowl.
3) Because my three teens are "picky" eaters, I set up our taco wraps as a bar.

4) Layer any, or all,  of the following in the middle of an organic wheat wrap: meatless crumbles, spinach or cabbage, tomatoes, Daiya vegan cheese, green onion, and sliced olives
5) Spoon a dab of the sauce on top of other ingredients (or you could top it with homemade guacamole)

6) Roll up and enjoy

Polenta with Vegetables

Another first since recently cutting animal products out of our diet is polenta. I didn't find a recipe that particularly appealed to me tonight, so I came up with my own.

INGREDIENTS:
1 roll Food Merchants sun-dried tomato and garlic organic polenta (You could also make your own from scratch.)
Daiya Vegan mozzarella cheese
organic extra virgin olive oil

Vegetables:
1 bunch organic kale
rice vinegar
5-6 sliced fresh baby bella mushrooms
1/4 sliced organic yellow or white onion
1 large clove minced garlic
organic dry white wine such as Bonttera Chardonnay
1/4 bag frozen, organic shelled edamame
1/4 organic yellow or red bell pepper (chopped)

Sauce:
1 28 oz. can Muir Glen organic fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1/2 T. dried basil
1/2 T. dried oregano
a few flakes of red pepper
1/2 pkg. stevia

DIRECTIONS:
1) Wash kale and removed stems. (Don't dry) Cut into 2 inch pieces.
2) Chop onion, pepper, mushrooms, garlic.
3) Place kale in pan with a drizzle of olive oil, cover and cook until tender.
4) In another pot, add dry basil, oregano, and stevia to tomatoes and simmer.
5) Slice polenta into 1/2 inch thick circles.
6) Brush polenta with olive oil.
7) Broil on a cookie sheet 10 min. on each side
8) While polenta is broiling, saute vegetables in olive oil, garlic, a splash of white wine (I like our vegetables crisp and not overcooked), a dash of salt and pepper
9) Sprinkle Daiya cheese on top of polenta the last 3 minutes of cooking.

Stack in this order:
polenta, kale, tomato sauce, vegetables, nutritional yeast

I served this as a main dish with steamed artichoke on the side.

Vegan Gluten Free Spaghetti with "Meat" Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
1 package organic brown rice dry spaghetti noodles (I use 1 1/2 packages since we have a family of 5.)
1 28 oz. can crushed Muir Glen Fire Roasted Organic tomatoes
1/2 bag Boca meatless crumbles
1-2 cloves fresh garlic
1/2 T. dry oregano
1/2 T. dry basil
Optional: 4-5 sliced fresh mushrooms (I like baby bellas)
Optional: 1/2 bell pepper (chopped)
Optional: 1/2 white or yellow onion (chopped)salt and black pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
1 envelope Stevia
organic extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
1)Heat Boca crumbles in skillet with chopped onion, minced garlic, and chopped bell pepper. Add canned tomatoes, Stevia, and seasonings.
2) Cook pasta in a large pot according to directions while sauce is simmering
3) Drain pasta and toss with olive oil.
4) Top pasta with "meat" sauce.
5) Instead of Parmesan, sprinkle nutritional yeast on your pasta.
6) Serve with a nice green salad and gluten free bread.

Kale Chips

I definitely gravitate towards salty/crispy snacks when I get home for work. Instead of heading towards the chips and salsa today, I decided to tinker with making kale chips after seeing several recipes on the Internet. (Kale is a new vege for us, and until today, we had only eaten it braised or in soup.) My kale chips turned out to be delicious, super crispy, and sooooo addictive. I ended up making 4 batches today, and my husband said they were better than potato chips. They taste a lot better than they look, and because of the health benefits, we'll be eating this cruciferous vegetable on a regular basis!

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch organic kale (makes two batches)
organic extra virgin olive oil
rice vinegar
salt to taste
organic garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 300.
2) Thoroughly wash and dry the kale.
3) Cut off the stems and center rib.
4) Tear or cut into potato chip size pieces.
5) Drizzle about half a tablespoon of olive oil onto a cookie sheet
6) Place half of the torn kale pieces on the cookie sheet.
7) Sprinkle kale with salt, garlic, and a a few drops of vinegar.
8) Toss the kale in the oil, salt, garlic powder (or whatever seasoning you like) and vinegar until lightly covered and place in a single layer on sheet. 
9) Bake at 300 degrees (12 minutes in my oven) until crisp.
10) Repeat above steps with your second batch. 

Remove onto paper towels and enjoy!!

Asparagus Quesadillas

I saw this Asparagus Quesadillas recipe today in Organic Gardening Magazine and decided to put my "spin" on it.

Ingredients
(organic if possible):
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bunch asparagus spears cut into 2" pieces and lightly steamed
8 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
sliced fresh mushroom (I used 6 baby portobello mushrooms)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
splash of dry white wine
salt and black pepper to taste
Vegan cheddar cheese (such as Daiya)
Whole wheat tortillas

Directions:

1. To make the vege filling, drizzle olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a couple minutes, or until softened. Add a splash of white wine, chili powder, cumin, salt, and peppers. Stir for a couple minutes.
2. Add the asparagus and tomatoes.Cook for a couple minutes. Remove from heat and add cilantro.

3. Place one tortilla in a non-stick pan (I don't use any oil.) Spoon a portion of the filling over half of the tortilla. Sprinkle with vegan cheese (or shredded cheddar or Monterrey Jack if you're not Vegan). Fold the tortillas in half.
4. Cook for 2 minutes per side or until cheese is melted.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas until you run out of filling.

5. To serve, cut each quesadilla in thirds and serve with homemade salsa and soy sour cream (or dairy sour cream if you're not vegan).

Texas Caviar (Black Eye Pea and Tomato Dip)

Ingredients:

1 can organic black eye peas (rinsed and drained)

1 can mild Rotel tomatoes

1/4 chopped organic red onion

1 small handful of chopped, organic cilantro

2 cloves minced, organic garlic

bell peppers would also be good in this dip

1/8 tsp. organic cumin

salt and pepper to taste
drizzle of organic extra virgin olive oil and red wine (or raw apple cider) vinegar - You could also use fresh lime juice instead of vinegar if you prefer.

Combine all ingredients and enjoy on chips. I cut up organic, wheat tortillas (we use a brand that's free of hydrogenated oils and animal products) and bake for a few minutes in a  400 degree oven.

Quinoa Salad

I first tried the ancient gluten-free grain, quinoa, a couple months ago when considering going vegetarian. Because quinoa (keen-wah) is so high in protein and fiber, I try to prepare it as a rice substitution for my family at least a couple times a week. I buy red, organic quinoa that's pre-rinsed from our local health food store. One of the dishes we really like is quinoa salad. I adapted this recipe from Cooking Quinoa.  

Salad Ingredients:
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups quinoa (You could use wild rice instead of quinoa.)
An assortment of chopped vegetables (I don't measure them...just throw in whatever fresh organic vegetables you have on hand:

• purple cabbage
• fresh mushrooms
• zucchini
• carrots
• halved grape or cherry tomatoes
• green onion
• cauliflower
• parsley
• celery
• frozen green peas
• red bell peppers
• sliced black olives
• canned artichokes

Dressing Ingredients: 
Juice of one lemon
1/4 cup red wine (or raw apple cider) vinegar
4-5 cloves minced fresh garlic
3 T. olive oil
Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:
1. Cook quinoa in vegetable broth (instead of water) according to package directions.
2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare the dressing. Add dressing ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulse.
3. Combine chopped vegetables and cooled quinoa in a large bowl.
4. Drizzle in dressing and toss.
5. Serve chilled.