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!

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!

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!

A mug full of HAPPY...

So Saturday I found out a vegan bake sale was being held at Criminal Records in Little 5, with proceeds going to Relief Efforts in Japan. I decided I definitely wanted to go so that I could not only support my local vegan bakers and the efforts going on in Japan, but also get to eat some yummy, sweet, vegan treats! Triple win!

I talked my non-veg friend Robbie into going with me and he was pleasantly surprised with his caramel drizzled something or other and said he couldn't even tell it was vegan (always the best compliment). We also got some peanut butter, chocolate and oat cookiesh things and a banana bread moonpie type thing. I have no idea what they really were and I have no pictures, because they were delicious and consumed almost immediately.

What I do have a picture of is the cute little mug I got made by a local vegan potter. It's my new favorite tea mug and I just love it!

Oh and just as a mention; before we headed to the bake sale, we had brunch at a cute little place called ParkGrounds Coffee in Reynoldstown. I had wanted to try them because I'd heard they had vegan pancakes and since breakfast was my favorite meal of the day pre-vegan, I wanted to check them out and have a morning of nostalgia. The pancakes were good, but not AMAZING and my soy latte' was a little cold. But the guy that worked there said the vegan breakfast burrito was really great. And the place has a really cool atmosphere and an attached dog park (although it was rainy out so not a lot of activity or there), so I'll probably go back on a nicer day and take the pooch and try the burrito.

Spring Sandwiches!!!

So I know it's a little early and not really spring yet (so these veggies aren't entirely in season), but it's been super sunny and beautiful the past few days and I'm craving my summer foods. I love, love, love avocado and tomato, so summer sandwiches and salads are my favorite. Here's a little peak into my favorite sandwich!

 It starts with amazing multi-grain bread from the Farmer's Market... toasted, of course. Then a thin layer of Vegenaise, a heaping pile of red leaf lettuce, thick sliced tomatoes, thin sliced mushrooms, cucumbers, and avocados. (I'll thrown on some thing slices of roasted beets if I have them... I love beets.) Then I top it off with a drizzle of oil and vinegar and a little salt and pepper.
This is seriously an amazing sandwich and very filling (albeit a little messy).

  This time I made cajun sweet potato fries to go with it... Slice up some sweet potatoes, toss them in olive oil, cajun spices, salt and pepper and throw them in the oven until they're at your desired consistency... usually about 30 mins for me.

Well hopefully this has inspired you to try a new kind of sandwich not laden with meat and cheese. I don't think you'll be disappointed! Happy eating!

Pizza Night!

So I was recently incredibly grateful to get to see my best friend and her husband, who came in town from Scotland for a week. There's nothing like catching up with friends over homemade pizza and wine.

While this was my first experience making pizza since being vegan, (let alone from scratch), I think it went pretty well... We made one crust ourselves and one we picked up from the farmers market, just to see the difference. They actually turned out pretty much the same. I like a thicker crust, so next time I'll definitely try and tweak things to get a better outcome because the crusts didn't rise very much; not sure if it had anything to do with the tremendous amount of toppings of not. :-/
But we all got to pick our own toppings and each made 1/2 a pizza.

 I made a "ricotta" filling based on a recipe from my new book, "Vegan with a Vengance," which was pretty good and definitely a nice substitute. And then we piled on pesto, black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, vegan sausage; whatever we could think of.





And while the meal was delicious, it was the company that truly made the meal!

Fiesta in a Bowl

So I love eating out of bowls... I'm not sure why, but anything I can put in a bowl seems to taste better. And bowl-meals seem easier to make because they consist of components and ingredients that go well together, so you can just mix them all up and not worry about keeping them separated on a plate. That being said, I also love Mexican type flavors; rice and beans, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, peppers, etc.
So... that's exactly what I threw into my latest bowl dish. I made some brown basmati rice, which takes about 30 minutes, and then the rest is just cutting and assembly. I used refried beans because I didn't have and canned black beans (which is my usual go-to choice), and layered as follows:
Brown rice
Refried beans
Diced tomatoes
Diced avocado
Chopped cilantro
Dollop of Tofutti Cream Cheese
Salt and Pepper

It was so good, so easy, and so filling. Perfect for lunch, dinner, or a snack! And would be perfect with cornbread!