Chickpeas A’la King Review

I found this recipe at the FatFree Vegan and here is the link to the recipe if you feel inclined to try it out! I love reading Susan's blog since everything is healthy, low or fat free and VEGAN! Now, I would like to say I did not look forward to making this recipe! Every evening I would look at what I had planned for the week and this would go to the back of the list! Boy, do I regret that choice! This recipe is like an open faced chickpea pot pie which my family LOVES. You can fool around with the recipe and any veggies you like as long as they are proportioned to the recipe, I bet it would still be great!

Some things we are eating this week...

I am planning on making portobello and pineapple teriyaki burgers, wheat berry salad (really this time I know where the wheat berries are!), classic vegan quiche and from the Happy Herbivore black bean brownies, hippie loaf, tofu chilaqules and spinach artichoke dip!

YUM!

Vegan Potato "Gatto" Review

This recipe was flavorful but I felt it was missing something. Oh, wait maybe it was the mushrooms I forgot to add? I am posting it anyway because overall this dish is healthy, fat free and well from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen which I love so, here ya go!

The recipe on SusanV's site can be found here. Her pictues makes this look amazing, my picture makes this dish look ordinary. I am NO photographer, that's for sure!

I made minor changes like forgetting the mushrooms, oops! I added 4 times the garlic she called for since we LOVE garlic here and used red, yellow and red bell peppers. My family of 5 ate half the casserole and I froze the rest for another time. When I defrost this dish I will make potato cakes out of them and serve with a salad! Overall for the cost of this dish and getting two meals out of it makes the effort worth it to me!

Some things we are eating this week....

I am planning on making chickpeas a la king and potato grato from the Fat Free Vegan, sweet potato burritos, baked potatoes topped with veggie chili and baked tofu crusted with teriyaki panko crumbs.

Eggless "Mmmm" Muffin

This is an easy one! Everyone (well people who don't or can't eat eggs) has made one of these but I am posting anyway since it is yet another family favorite.

Ingredients:

Vegan cheese of choice

Muffins

Olive Oil

Extra firm tofu

Garlic powder

Nutritional Yeast

Tumeric

Salt 

Pepper

Veganaise

Directions:

Cut a block of tofu into 4 or 5 square thin pieces. Place on towel to drain.

Once the water is mostly gone from the tofu, lightly oil your frying pan and turn onto medium heat. Place tofu onto pan and start to fry. 

Sprinkle a bit of any or all of the nutritional yeast, garlic, turmeric, salt or pepper. Heck add some cajun seasoning if you like but just make sure you use enough so your tofu tastes like something. Fry about 3 minutes.

Turn the heat down to low and flip the tofu over and add some seasoning. If you are adding vegan cheese do it now so it can start to melt a bit. (I can't stand most vegan cheese so I skip it).

While the other side is heating up on low put your muffin in toaster to heat up. Once warm add some veganaise and place tofu on muffin. 

Most people put smart bacon or add some morning star sausage but I feel this recipe is great without adding anything else.

Spring Rolls

My son is allergic to peanuts and sesame seeds which are used primarily in dishes such as spring rolls or pad thai and obviously I can't go out and pick some up for him to try. Since my son is still so young I think it is important for him to try new things even though we are limited to what we can eat. I feel even though it just food keeping an open mind in everything you try is a good virtue! So when I find something I think he may like such as spring rolls I try to make them so he can try them! I thought after reading all the recipes and comments on many sites that this would be a daunting task but I did it anyway! I'm not posting "my" recipe since it was pretty bland for my taste and isn't worth sharing. What is worth sharing that it was super easy to make spring rolls! All you do is place the wrappers in warm water until the soften up. I got in a mode where while I was filling and rolling one the other wrapper would be soaking and I filled 20 up pretty fast! They may not be perfect but I was pleased to see my son trying something "new"!!!

Avocado and Garlic Noodles

This dish is inspired by my nieces grandma who has the best recipe for garlic noodles! I love making this meal when I'm in a pinch since all I really need to do is mince some garlic and cut up avocados! Everyone in my family loves it and we never have left over!

Ingredients:

1/2 pack angel hair pasta
1/2 pack rice noodles
2 ripe hass avocados
6 cloves garlic
olive oil

Directions:

Rehydrate rice noodles in a bowl with hot water.

Cook angel hair pasta according to package directions.

In the mean time mince the garlic and lightly in fry in wok with a bit of oil until the garlic starts to become fragrant and barley starts to brown. Turn off stove.

Drain cooked angel hair and rice noodles in colander and place in wok.

Cut avocados into squares and mix well with everything in the wok.

This dish goes great with raw macadamia nuts, tomatoes or even wilted spinach! YUM!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Quinoa Burger Review

This is another recipe found on the fabulous FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog. I think I'm addicted to finding new recipes for burgers or maybe I'm looking for the perfect veggie burger and haven't found it yet but here is yet another burger recipe.

Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. Why, you ask? Well, I am not quite sure but the kitchen was crazy the day I made these and everyone gobbled them up so fast I didn't have any left over for pictures! 

 To say the least I really enjoyed eating this recipe. I used english muffins instead of buns for something different and they were a hit! I will defiantly make these again and take pictures! Here is the recipe.

Some things were eating this week....

I am planning on making spring rolls, grilled avocado sandwiches, pasta with avocado and tomatoes, egg-less mcmuffins, huluski (cabbage and noodles), carrot spaghetti!!!!!!! 

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!