Striving to live a healthy and sustained life, while loving animals, the environment and myself! :-)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Sweet Summertime!

This bowl made me SOOOO happy. I'm not a huge sweets person, but sometimes a girl just needs her chocolate. Trader Joe's tends to be my store for vegan junk food. And I used to get the Trader Joe's Soy Chocolate Mini Sandwiches, but I was browsing the dessert section and saw a new item: Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream.... OH MY GOODNESS. 


                                                                                          
It was so delicious! Seriously, amazing. Granted I haven't had real ice cream in over a year, but I think this was better, plus I know it's better for me which just adds to the delight. As you can see I added strawberries, raisins, and almonds and it was the best dessert I've had in a long time. 

This is my new go to guilty pleasure... I'll have to limit myself or I can see myself going through a pint a week :-/

So to all my health conscious people who have a sweet tooth, I promise this treat won't disappoint! Thank you Trader Joe's!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A Plate of Sunshine!

 I love when I get home from the Farmer's Market and have so many fresh, colorful veggies to choose from for that night's dinner. This is the festive combination I came up with, and I cooked up so quinoa for protein punch.
My cooking is so simple, I almost don't think I can claim that I'm a real "cook," but I think everything turns out pretty good, so I relish the title.

As for this meal, I literally cut up the squash, carrots, and mushrooms, and snapped the ends off the beans and threw them in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil. I always layer at the beginning with the things that need to cook the longest. i.e. carrots in the pan first, then beans, then squash. I wait until those are almost fully cooked before adding the mushrooms.
The potatoes I just cubed and boiled until tender. Quinoa was boiled as well in 2x the water until all the water was absorbed and the kernels were fluffy.

When everything's finished I add a little Earth Balance spread to the potatoes and salt and pepper to taste. I usually add salt to vegetables as they're cooking because it brings out the flavors better, but then I have to remember not to add any additional salt out of habit.

And the beauty is that I always make extra so I have lunch for the next day. This meal is so simple, and once your palate is cleansed from processed and junk food, simple foods taste incredible. All the individual flavors really pop and the idea of any McDonald's menu idea seems so heavy and starchy and repelling.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Easy Peesy...

I wanted to share the fact that I'm not always this super chef who has tons of great produce on hand and cooks super exciting meals every night... nope. I'm a real person and sometimes I get really busy and don't put planning my meals at the top of the list. This weekend was one of those times.

Up until I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday, I seriously had just about nothing in the kitchen to eat. A quick survey of the pantry and fridge revealed about 3 things that would go together. Refried beans, chips and salsa and 1/2 a green pepper. I noticed my roommate had some tortillas so I stealthy snook 2 in hopes that I can just replace them before she notices :-) Hopefully she's not reading this post!

So anyways, I heated up the beans, slung them on the tortillas and added some salsa and green pepper slices. I was pretty hungry so I made two and threw some chips and more salsa on the plate. Gotta say, it was really good and super filling. I couldn't eat all of the second burrito.


All this to say that even when you think you have NOTHING, you can usually find some kind of combination, and it'll probably turn out to be super simple and pretty yummy!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Good ol' country cookin....

Sometimes I get a craving for a good old fashioned country vegetable plate. Like one I used to get at Cracker Barrel (or any other country cooking place). However, we all know (or should know), that they cook in tons of butter and animal fats. :-( So it's almost impossible to get a vegan vegetable plate. Crazy, right?

Well I made a super yummy plate the other night consisting of boiled cabbage (usually I would use collards, but didn't have any on hand), brown rice, black eyed peas, and FRIED OKRA (my fave!). Now I'd never made fried okra before, but the farmer's market had okra on sale and I became inspired.

I basically just googled a vegan batter recipe and it was so easy. Soak the sliced okra in soy/almond milk, then coat them in a cornbread/ flour/ salt&pepper /paprika mixture before tossing them in bubbling oil. I used canola, I think. Then I tossed them around a bit until they browned. 
 Ok, so this definitely isn't the healthiest vegan meal, being that it has tons of oil, but it's a craving satisfier. And I'm a big proponent of the occasional splurge. (I also throw some Earth Balance in my rice to make it super creamy and delicious :-)
Lastly, while I didn't add these sides to my plate, cornbread and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes in dill and vinegar would be perfect with this dish!

Oh, and then maybe some vegan peach cobbler!
I should definitely look into a recipe for that!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Quinoa for Breakfast? Maybe...

Ok, so when I made this dish, I made it for dinner and honestly the ingredients are pretty much all I had on hand. However, after eating it, I thought it might make a pretty yummy breakfast. I don't know about you, but I think most people (me, included) eat somewhat sweet things for breakfast (cereal, oatmeal, yogurt (of course mine is soy), pancakes, etc.) 

Well this quinoa dish turned out to be the perfect balance of sweet and savory. I made the quinoa per the normal method; soaked in water for a few minutes, rinsed and then boiled in twice the amount of water (i.e. one cup of quinoa, two cups of water). About halfway through the boiling I threw in some sliced carrots. Cooked carrots are surprisingly sweet for a vegetable! After a couple minutes I added diced apples. Then with just a few minutes left to cook I added a giant handful of raisins! You can tell when the quinoa is almost done based on the amount of water left to absorb; it's like rice so use common sense and add a little water if it looks like it might burn or if the kernels aren't as fluffy as the ones in my picture. 


OH... and the secret ingredient: brown sugar! Add about a teaspoon around the time you add the apples or raisins. And you could substitute pure maple syrup, because it's definitely better for you, but a little brown sugar isn't horrible. A little cinnamon might be nice too, although I didn't put any in this version. 

So whether you make this dish for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack, it's packed with protein and is super filling. However, don't forget you need to make sure you get your greens in at some point during the day!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Springtime 3 Bean & Pasta Salad!!!

This is one of my new favorites. And I know, I know... it's pasta, but it's whole grain, and I've got legumes and greenery in it too, so it balances out. This beautiful bowl contains that "Plus" pasta (although in the future I'll use whole wheat; I just didn't have it on hand), then a blend of Garbanzo beans, Red Kidney beans, and Soybeans (or Edemame). I used cans of Garbanzo and Kidney, then frozen Soybeans because that's the easiest way to find them, however I'm all for cooking your own dried beans if you pre-plan! I coated them with a mixture of olive oil, a little vinegar, fresh ground salt and pepper, and (stay with me here), lemon juice and a teeny tiny splash of OJ. Lastly, I folded some fresh Spinach leaves in the mix. Trust me, this is so filling, yet refreshing, at the same time. I'd love to hear what spring/summer "salads" are your favorites!