Split Pea Soup

I know its summer right now and I intended to make wheat berry salad BUT the wheat berries disappeared! So..... Per hubbys request I made split pea soup just for him! My hubs likes his soup creamy and t-h-i-c-k as you can tell by the picture below where the soup is practically standing up! So by all means add a cup or two of water.

Ingredients:

8 cups water
2 cups green split peas
1 small onion
1 rib celery
3 large carrot
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Sea salt
Pepper

Directions:

In a food processor shred the celery, carrot and onion.

Combine water, peas, celery, carrot, onion and thyme in large stock pot.

Boil for 15 minutes then reduce heat and cover. Simmer until split peas are tender and the water is basically gone.

Remove from heat and blend all ingredients in a food processor until creamy.

Add salt and pepper to taste per bowl or the whole batch!

Orange County Veggie Sandwich

This recipe is for my favorite all time sandwich! I like this sandwich to have mushrooms, squash, zucchini and bell peppers but this recipe can be altered to use any vegetable you like! Get creative and use a leek... whatever you prefer!

Ingredients:

1lb loaf bread

2 zucchini sliced

2 squash sliced

1 bell pepper sliced

14 oz mushrooms sliced

8 oz spinach

Garlic mayo

Directions for baking:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Lightly oil your baking pan with olive oil.

Place your vegetable on baking pan and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the vegetable start to soften and remove from oven keeping the foil over the vegetable so they remain warm.

Turn off the oven and spread some of the garlic mayo on the flat, cut side of your bread loaf.

Place bread in oven for a few muinestes until the bread starts to get a bit crispy.

Remove from the oven and cut each side of the loaf to size for each person you are serving. Place the vegetables on your loaf and enjoy!

Directions for grilling:

Set your grill to high heat.

Brush vegetables with olive oil on both sides. Brush grate with oil.

Cook for about 3 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes. The peppers may take a bit longer.

Remove from grill and set aside.

Spread some of the garlic mayo on the flat, cut side of your bread loaf.

Place on the grill garlic mayo side up and cover with lid for 2 minutes until the bread is warm and slightly crispy.

Remove from grill and cut each side of the loaf to size for each person you are serving. Place the vegetables on your loaf and enjoy!

Easy Garlic Mayo

This is my favorite recipe for using on any veggie sandwich! It is so easy and requires minimal prep I made it often for lunch and occasionally for dinner. This recipe is for a 1lb loaf of bread sliced in half for sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1 head garlic
1 cup Vegenaise
1-2 tbsp lemon juice to suite your taste
Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut the top part garlic head off and place in tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap up in tin foil.

Place garlic in oven and bake at 400F for approximately 45 minutes or until the garlic is soft.

Once garlic is soft remove from oven and open foil to let the garlic cool off.

Once cool enough to touch squeeze garlic cloves out of their skins and place in vegenaise. Smash the garlic and mix in remaing ingredients.

Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it!

Middle Eastern Rice with Black Beans and Chickpeas Review

While using the ingredient search on allrecipe.com I found this recipe. It is an easy rice and bean recipe and the person who submitted it on allrecipe said it came from a friend from Bethlehem! I made some minor change to make the recipe vegan and I thought for as little work the recipe required it tasted great!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup TVP
2 cups garbanzo beans
2 cups black beans
1/2 bunch chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 bunch chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, rice, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, then pour in vegetable stock. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

Rehydrate TVP.

Gently mix TVP, garbanzo beans, black beans, cilantro, parsley, and pine nuts into the cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper.

Some things were eating this week....

This week I am planning on making veggie tortilla wraps, the vegan dad's lunch meat, quinoa and black bean burritos with my favorite sauce, wheat berry salad, veggie garlic sandwiches, middle eastern rice with black beans and chickpeas, quinoa and tomatoes!!!

Moroccan Chickpea Patties Review

While researching factory farming for FUN I came across The United States Humane Society and their End Factory Farming Campaign. Not only is this site full of useful information it also has a recipe section promoting humane eating! That is right up my ally and started looking through the recipes and found this little gem! You can find the original recipe here since I switched a few on the ingredients out due to food allergies.

I thought this recipe tasted great! The ingredient list seems daunting but it was a cinch to put together and the taste was insane! The flavors really went well together and since I just made a whole pound of garbanzo beans I went out and bought two more fennel bulbs and made more for freezing! My kids ate them and made no comment of their unique taste but then again my kids are very used to NEW! The hubby thought they were similar in texture to potato patties which I won't argue but the taste made up for it! If you are looking for something you have never tried before that is exciting to taste then this recipe is for you!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb, minced
1/2 cup fresh dill from fennel plant
1⁄8 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup mixed bell pepper chopped
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 medium clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil for mixing
2 tsp fresh ginger
1⁄2 tsp sea salt
1⁄4 tsp cumin
3⁄4 tsp paprika
1⁄8 tsp cinnamon
1⁄3 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup good quality breadcrumbs
3 tbsp chia seeds
1⁄8 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil for frying patties

Directions:

Heat the oil on medium heat in a fry pan. Fry the fennel bulb and dill for about 5 minutes. Add the peppers and cook until the fennel has softened. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, fennel, peppers, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, ginger, salt, cumin, paprika and cinnamon and puree until the mixture is smooth. Set processor in fridge until ready to make your patties or at least an hour so they are firm.

Mix the breadcrumbs, chia seeds and sea salt, and pour onto a plate. Take 1/3 cup and form patties then dip both sides in the breadcrumb mixture.

Heat the oil on medium heat in a fry pan and fry the patties for about 7-9 minutes on each side, until lightly browned, flipping only once!

Your patties are ready to be served as a burger, over a salad or anything you can come up with!

Some things were eating this week....

This week I am planning on making Moroccan Chickpea Patties, "Wieners" and Beans, Fiery Penne,  Lentil Burgers, Singapore Noodles, Stroganoff (requested), Rice and Rice noodles, Sloppy Joes (requested). Anything that is worth posting I will share as always!

Vegan Blueberry Banana and Walnut Pancakes

I have posted a recipe for  vegan pancakes before and if you read that post you would know we love pancakes! Every week I always make new things so, we have repeats almost never! If what I happen to be making that night is just awful I always turn to pancakes so I suppose pancakes is the only repeat we have around here! With that being I came across this recipe in my quest to liven up our pancakes and I changed it up a little to fit our needs and I must say these little things are amazing! I wish I would have made a double batch to freeze! This recipe is for my family of 5!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached flour
4 teaspoons non-aluminum baking powder
1 banana, mashed
2.5 cups milk (I use almond milk)
2 tbsp turbinado sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

In a large bowl mix the flour and baking powder together.

In a small bowl mash the banana with a fork and add 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix the bannana and milk until it is pretty smooth.

Now add the banana mix, walnuts, blueberries, sugar and remaining milk to the flour and baking powder and mix together.

Heat a a lightly oiled frying pan. Place desired amount of pancake mix on pan ( I use 1/3 or 1/2 cup) and let cook till light brown. Flip and cook other side ti light brown as well.

Quinoa Burrito or Taco Filling

I have been getting really creative with nutritional yeast lately! Trying it everywhere and frankly I just love the stuff. Usually when we make these burritos I don't add the the yeast but tried it tonight and loved it! Thought I would share..... by the way, there were none left over and I usually have a salad with dinner but skipped it tonight and had seconds YUM!

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup cooked black/red/pinto beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (to taste)
Sea Salt (to taste)
White Pepper (to taste)
Garlic Powder to taste (optional)

Directions:

Toast dry quinoa in pan until fragrant. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until tender. Add remaining ingredients cover, and heat over low flame until beans are warm.


I served these topped with our go to homemade taco sauce and they were AMAZING!!!!

Some things were eating this week....

Another week, another menu!

This week I am planning on making: dairy-egg free potato salad, benedict sandwiches with homemade hollandaise sauce, tofu chik-n nuggets for my sons birthday, Cajun quinoa burritos, Blueberry and Banana Walnut Pancakes, ocean-like cakes.

Vegan Stroganoff

Growing up stroganoff was a regular dish in my Moms home. I loved it so much and have fond memories of eating this dish with my family. I'm not sure if this is only my experience but eating dishes that I enjoy somehow make the moment and memory stand out for me! Am I the only one? Not sure but, I want my kids to have those same fond memories eating great dishes together as a family. So I made this dish in hopes of bringing back that memory and sharing it with my kids.

Ingredients:

8 oz pasta of your choice

Tofu coating
1lb extra firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1.5 tsp creole seasoning
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp organic cornstarch 
oil for frying
 
Sauce 
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 shallot, minced
1 tbsp butter
3/4 cup white wine (I used Riesling)
2 tbsp organic cornstarch
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base
1 ½ c almond milk
Fresh ground pepper to taste


Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.
 
Place tofu coating ingredients and tofu in a bag, shake well until all pieces are evenly coated. Heat oil in large fry pan and fry the tofu turning as each side gets crispy. Once fried remove from pan.

Next, place butter in hot pan to melt and add shallots til they turn translucent. Next add the mushrooms and wine in hot fry pan and reduce by half.

Add almond milk and bouillon, mix well. Next, add the cornstarch slowly and mix while adding so there are no clumps.

Simmer until the sauce thickens.

Pour sauce and tofu over pasta or mix everything together and enjoy. Serve with a nice salad!

Chickpea Pot Pie

This is an a-m-a-z-i-n-g dish! As a family who doesn't eat milk or dairy (due to allergies) dishes such as these are usually not as great as I remember them being as a child but this particular dish is amazing! Everyone in my family loves it and when we are finished eating you get the warm feeling inside like after eating thanksgiving dinner! As my boys turn into men I will need to make two of these to feed us, it's that good!

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups veggie broth
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oil
1 small potato, peeled and diced
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup carrots, shredded or sliced thin
1 stick celery from stalk, sliced thin
1 cup chickpeas
1 box puff pastry sheets
dash garlic powder
Sea salt
White pepper

Directions:

Bring the vegetable broth to a boil then mix in celery, potatoes and carrots. Turn down to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Once the veggies are starting to soften separate the broth from the veggies.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Mix the nutritional yeast and flour in a large pot. Next add the oil, stirring until blended. Slowly whisk in the stock, dash of garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Add the vegetables and chickpeas and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.

Place one sheet of puff pastry in a 9" dish and fold pastry edges down to fit. Pour in the filling and cover with the other pastry sheet folding edges under so they are hidden. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden.

 

I'm sharing this recipe over at:

Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Meatless Mondays over at My Sweet and Savory  

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch 

Made it Mondays at The Persimmon Perch 

Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

Marketing Monday's at Trendy Treehouse  

It's So Creative at It's So Cheri

Meatless Monday over at Hey Mom Whats For Dinner Mom?  

Three or More Tuesday at The Gypsy's Corner 

Toot Your Horn Tuesday at A Silly Little Sparrow 

Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane 

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace 

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam 

Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie 

Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog

Tots Tuesday at Delicious Ambiguity 

Tuesday Tastes at Crazy Daisy   

Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family 

Show And Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design 

Show Us What You're Working ON Wednesday at Me and My Bucket 

Wednesday Boardwalk Bragfest at Bobbypins Boardwalk 

Idea Sharin Wednesday at Women Who Do It All 

Sharing Ideas Wednesday at Trendy Treehouse 

Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden

Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home 

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Craft 

  Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple 

Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori 

Sweet Thursday at Simply Sweet Homes

Just For The Joy of It at Good, True and Beautiful 

Some things were eating this week....

Last week was a bust in the kitchen since everyone was sick and it was odd to see my kitchen so clean all day but in the end we all ate well and we are starting to feel better!

This week I am planning on making: Grain "meat" loaf, Pot Pies, Enchiladas, Potato Casserole and Stroganoff!

Black Bean Burritos

This week we are super sick, again! Having a daycare in my home and raising children we are just always coming in contact with new stuff so for dinner I need - easy! I always crock pot my beans and freeze them in 1 cup portions for later use. By using some black beans and salsa I made a easy, healthy and preservative free dinner and everyone was pretty happy!

Ingredients:

2 cups black beans
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup cooked brown rice
tortillas
1 cup chopped spinach
1 tomato, diced
Veganaise to taste

Directions:

Combine the black beans, salsa, and rice in a small pan and simmer for a few minutes.

Heat tortillas until soft and spread filling down the center. Top with spinach, tomato, salsa and veganaise.

Light dinner for a sick family is served!