The Veggie Gal

Spring is in the air and I’m getting excited for the weather to warm up and to be able to wear lighter clothes soon.  I actually have a few flowers that just popped up in my front yard so I’m buzzing with excitement.  We all need to get ready for those summer clothes right now and salads are a great way to drop a couple of pounds.

This salad is very hearty that you can just have it alone as a meal.  The quinoa is super high in protein and satisfies a big appetite.  Add what ever other Mexican flavors you enjoy like jalapenos or red onions to make it just the way you like it.

The Ranch recipe is similar to my Cucumber Cashew Ranch just minus the cucumbers and add chipotle seasoning.  It all comes together in less than 30 minutes!

Mexican Quinoa Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing

Greens of your choice
1/4 cup cooked quiona-per plate (cook according to package directions-chill if desired while making the Ranch)
Handful black beans
Toppings of your choice; olives, onions, tomatoes, avocado
Top with Chipotle Ranch Dressing (recipe below)

 Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Makes approx 2 cups dressing

1 cup soaked raw cashews (NOT roasted or salted!)
Enough clean water to just barely cover the cashews once placed in the blender or food processor
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) garlic powder
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) onion powder
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) dried parsley
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) chives
1/2 teaspoon (or more to taste) dill weed
1/2 teaspoon(or more to taste) lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon (or more to taste) sea salt
1/2 teaspoon (or more to taste) chipotle seasoning (Mrs. Dash works great since no salt is added)
pepper to taste

Make sure you soak your nuts, rinse completely and pour into your high powered blender or food processor.

Add all the rest of the ingredients in the order listed and blend until creamy.  If you are doing this in a food processor stop periodically and scrape the sides down.

Taste and adjust the spices to your liking.  If you need it to be thinner adjust the moisture with more water.

Pour into a container with a lid and refrigerate until well chilled, although it can be eaten right away if you do not mind it slightly warm.

Pour onto your salad and ENJOY!

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Tags: Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Mexican Food, Mexican Quinoa Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing, Quick vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

To eat like my doctor hero’s (McDougall, Furhman and Barnard) recommend you need to think simple, whole and clean while staying away from added oils.  Well this Mexican Black Bean Quinoa over a Sweet Potato with Cashew Sour Cream fits that bill perfectly.

I am buying bulk food to use for long term food storage and want to be sure I can actually make something with it when the time comes, plus we need to rotate the food so it stays good.  We bought 50 lbs of quinoa and sealed it in air proof bags at increments of 2 cups a piece.  I also bought 25 lbs of beans, brown rice, oats, and raw cashews so I will need to come up with other recipes to rotate that through.  As you all may have noticed I am having no problems coming up with recipes to use cashews but will be getting creative with the rest while continuing to add to the stockpile.

This recipe works great for using the stored food but better than that it actually tastes amazing if I do say so myself.  My husband actually said if he had to he could eat this every day.  PLUS it is SUPER DE DUPER good for you and won’t make you fat!

I usually make 1 cup of quinoa while I am making it and put the rest in the fridge so I can make my Quinoa Mandarin Salad with the cold Quinoa for my next meal, makes it quick and easy and we all need to consolidate time where we can.

Black Bean Quinoa over a Sweet Potato with Cashew Sour Cream

Makes enough for 6+ (think leftovers for lunch!)

6 small sweet potatoes/yams
1/2 cup prepared quinoa (prepare according to package directions)
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup cauliflower, chopped (or other veggie or your choice)
1 can black beans, rinsed (or cook your own whole beans)
1/4 cup corn (organic is best with the lowest possibility of being non GMO)
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes
1 4 oz can mild green chilies
1/2 teaspoon Oregano (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (or to taste)
Chili powder to taste
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cashew Sour Cream recipe

Wash the sweet potatoes and bake at 400° in the oven for 1 hour or bake in the microwave until done, make sure to poke a few holes in them before cooking.

While the sweet potatoes cook, prepare the quinoa according to package directions.  Quiona should only take 15 minutes to cook.

Chop up the onion and cauliflower and steam with a little water until cooked through, add the spices and cook for a minute until most of the liquid is gone.  Add the rinsed black beans, Italian tomatoes, green chilies, corn, and cooked quinoa and stir well.  Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 15 minutes until it is very warm and flavors have had a chance to blend.  Taste and adjust the spices your your liking.

Cut the sweet potato in half and mash well, no need to add oils or butter here.  Pour desired amount of black bean quiona mixture on top of the mashed potato.  Sprinkle with a small amount of salt and pour desired amount of Cashew Sour Cream on and ENJOY!

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Tags: Dr. McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Mexican Food, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

Trying to embrace the vegan food lifestyle my husband finds the most amazing recipes.  He found this wonderfully scrumptious recipe from the Herbivoracious blog.  He calls them “Vegetarian Frijoles Charros – Mexican Cowboy Beans with Smoked Onion” but since they are so freakin tasty in our house we call them AMAZING~Smoked Vegan Beans.

Call them what you want but make them and enjoy an amazing, savory and creamy dish that you can serve with just about a ton of things.  We have put them in fajitas, served on the side of veggie dogs, or simply with a salad and corn bread but the possibilities are vast.  We are going camping this weekend so we will precook our beans in the pressure cooker to bring along and the rest throws together really quickly.

These can be made low fat by replacing the oil with a quick spray of cooking oil.  We have made them without the chilies and with and both ways are amazing but we did not use the type of chilies he used so I can’t say how his are exactly. Obviously without the chilies this recipe is a little more kid friendly if your kids are sensitive to heat.  We also did not use the type of onion he suggests and I add a little more garlic because I love it.  Another change we made is how we smoked our onions so make sure to look at his recipe to choose which way you would prefer to smoke your onions.

Here is how we put his recipe together but the credit is ALL his, just marvelous!

AMAZING~Smoked Vegan Beans
Serves: 4+

1 handful smoking wood chips
1 large onion, chopped (depending on how you grill them you may need larger pieces then cut them down after you cook-ours fell through the grill plate we had)
2 whole dried chilies of your choice
Cooking spray (he used 3 T oil-your choice)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt to taste (the tomato paste and crushed tomato have a lot of salt in them so start with less and adjust up it can be too salty-our first batch was)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup canned crushed tomato
4 cups unsalted home-cooked pinto beans, and 1-2 cups of their cooking liquid

Prepare your home-cooked pinto beans the way you prefer.  We cook our in a pressure cooker for 26 minutes and they turn out perfect.  Make sure to keep all the cooking liquid.

Bring your grill to approximately 600° then put a handful smoking wood chips inside of some tinfoil, fold it securely, poke some holes into it and place onto your hot coals.

Slice up your garlic and set it aside until you need it. Chop your onions and place onto a grill plate with holes for the smoke to get through and place onto your hot, smoking grill and grill with the lid closed for 7-10 minutes.  Check at 7 minutes to be sure they do not burn, the end ones might burn a little but that is ok.

Cook your peppers for a minute or two on each side in a hot pan to soften them up a bit.  Pull them out of the pan and chop into small bite size pieces then put them back into the pan with a little cooking spray (or oil) and add the smoked onions, garlic and a teaspoon of salt and cook until it all softens up, maybe 2-3 minutes.

Add the beans, one cup of the bean liquid and the crushed tomatoes, bring it up to a simmer then reduce the heat and cook them for another 15 minutes.  Taste to see if you need to add more salt or more bean liquid to your desired consistency then serve and ENJOY!

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Tags: Beans, Cowboy Beans, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick vegan, Smoked Vegan Beans, vegan camping, vegan recipe, Vegetarian, vegetarian beans

The more my huband gets involved in our cooking the better it is getting!  He found these amazing vegan sausages on VeganDad and we went to making them right away and OMG these are yummy!  In the Vegan Dad’s post he said that the recipe really came from PPK website and anyone who knows of the amazing talent that Isa Chandra Moskowitz has knows that she knows what the hell she is doing and these really show it.

The only gripe I have about them is that they are cooked in tinfoil.  I do not like using tinfoil to cook in and if anyone has a tip on an alternative to tinfoil I would LOVE to hear it.  Otherwise these are something to bring into your regular rotation.  The options for using them are limitless, on pizza’s, in a bun with delicious toppings, next to your scramble for breakfast, and on and on I could go.

The other great thing about them is they have the power of beans in them and you can swap out many different beans depending on what you have on hand or what your taste preference is.  We did not have pinto at the time of these photos so we used super antioxidant rich black beans and although it does not make for a smooth colored sausage they taste spectacular. One piece of advice here, if you have spice sensitive kids back off on the red pepper and fennel it won’t change the texture just the taste of the sausages.  We mixed everything together without those and pulled theirs out and then added it in for ours that way everyone would eat them and be happy.

The recipe between the VeganDad and PPK is ever so slightly different and we chose what we liked from each and came up with what is below but honestly they are so similar you can chose for yourself which you want to mess with or use our combo below.

Homemade Vegan Sausages

1/2 cup pinto beans (or other bean of your choice-we used black), rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil (PPK says you can replace oil with 1 T tomato paste-we will do that next time)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, grated (we minced it)
1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed, crushed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Several dashes fresh black pepper

We steamed ours in a large pot with a lid and a raised steam basket (metal basket).  Since we were new to this recipe the first time we did not start the boiling process until we started to mix the sausages because it always takes longer the first time you try a recipe.

Set aside 6 sheets of tin foil approximately 5×5 in size.

In a large mixing bowl mash up the beans completely then add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well until thoroughly blended together.  This is a good time to get the water boiling so you can plop them right into the boiling water.

Divide the mixture up into six even pieces.  I wet my hands slightly for each sausage so it did not stick to my hands.  Roll the dough with your hands into the approximate size you want and then lay it on the end of the tinfoil and roll it all the way up and twist the ends up.  The shape will come together once it cooks.

Place the sausages into the steaming basket and cook for 40 minutes.

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Tags: Breakfast, Easy Vegan, PPK, vegan recipe, vegan sausages, VeganDad, Vegetarian

This is a soup that I HAD to add to my blog because it is so unique and beautiful.  My pictures did not turn out very good for it but you can at least see how tasty it looks.  This recipe comes from the February 2011 VegNews magazine and I will write it out as it is in the magazine. I did however not use the oil as indicated but instead steamed in a little water.

This is a warming soup that is very filling and satisfying because of the smooth beans.  The cocoa really gives it a unique flavor, one I have not had before and one worth trying at least once.  I can say my husband and 2 year old son were not fans of it but my 6 year old and I enjoyed it so 50-50!  Try it and decide for yourself.

Cocoa-infused Black Bean Soup
Serves: 6

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, diced
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 stalks celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 cup no-salt added tomato puree
2 low-sodium vegetable bullion cubes
4 cups water
1 (25-ounce) can low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (or hot paprika)
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large pot over heat and add onion, bay leaves, and salt.  Stir until onions soften, 4-5 minutes.

Add celery, carrots, and bell pepper and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until all vegetables soften, 7-8 minutes.

Add tomato puree, bouillon cubes, and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are very tender.

Stir in beans, cocoa, pepper, and paprika; simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in cilantro and serve.  ENJOY!

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Tags: Beans, Dinner, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Healthy Meal, Lunch, Quick vegan, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian, VegNews

I found this wonderful recipe in The Get Healthy, Go Vegan cookbook written by Neal Barnard, MD.

It really has a ton of flavor and is very fresh tasting.  It works great as a side salad to a main Mexican dish but for me I made it along side of my Black Bean Guacamole and used the baked tortilla chips to scoop them both up`heavenly!!  We actually ate the three together as a lunch and got completely full and satisfied.

I had left overs and it was even more flavorful and amazing the next day after it marinated so consider making it ahead of time. I will put the recipe here exactly as it appears in the book but have to say I added a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper to give it a bit of zip.

Black Bean & Corn Salad with Lime

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Juice of 1/2 lime
Kosher or sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a salad bowl.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

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Tags: Beans, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Healthy Meal, Lunch, Neal Barnard, Quick and easy, Quick vegan, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

This dip can really be 5, 6, 7 or 8 layers depending on what you want to throw into it.  I added several layers of fiber filled beans and veggies to help even out the very fattening yet scrumptious oooey gooey layers.

Most vegan 7 layer dips are almost as fattening and bad for you (minus the cholesterol from dead animals) that you still can have a mini heart attack from them or at least gain 5 lbs in a sitting.  I decided to find a way to cut that fat down enough that I would eat some of it while still keeping enough in it that my meat eating guests would eat it too and not notice it was too “healthy” or at least healthier than the traditional one.

You can fatten it up even more by adding some olives to it or you can lower the fat more by reducing the sour cream and cheese layers to the bare minimum.

I add a layer of corn tortillas in the bottom to give it a more hearty, meal feel while keeping it all from sticking to the bottom.  It somehow gives it a base to hold on to almost like pizza crust does.  When you scoop it from the bottom it all seems to stay in one nice even layer instead of falling all over the place.

7 layer Mexican dip
Serves: 6-10

2-Corn tortillas
1 can refried beans
2-3 avocados
1 teaspoons lime juice
1/2 container vegan sour cream
1/2 packet or more taco seasoning
1/2 can black beans
1/2 cup corn
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup or more vegan cheese (I use Daiya)
Low fat tortilla chips

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Lay 2 corn tortillas in the bottom of a medium sized glass bowl or pan.  Tear them to fit if needed. Perfection is not important.

Spread 1 can of refried beans over the tortillas and smooth out.

Mash 2-3 avocados up with lime juice  in a small bowl until well mixed.  Spread the mixture on top of the refried beans.

Mix together the vegan sour cream and taco seasoning in a small bowl .  Spread the mixture on top of the avocados.

Top with black beans, corn and tomatoes.

Spread the vegan cheese evenly on top and cover with a lid or foil and bake for 25-35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve warm with tortilla chips.  ENJOY!

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Tags: Beans, Dinner, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Mexican Food, Vegan, vegan 7 layer Mexican dip, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

Every vegan recipe site has to have a mock meatloaf right!  A lot of loafs out there have the imitation meats in them or very mashed up beans and grains to make a pretty mushy loaf.  Not that there is anything wrong with mushy mock loaf but I really like texture and something to chew on not just smoosh and swallow.

I am probably in the minority with this because my husband and 2 of my 4 kids prefer their food on the  softer side.  They like their split pea soup pureed but I like mine chunky.  I made this loaf the way I like it but it can certainly be made to be smoother by mashing the lentils and even the rice.  You decide what you like best but the flavor does not need changing, in my humble opinion.

I like the old fashion way to cover a loaf slice on my plate and that is with good ole ketchup.  There are tons of other options you could employee including mashed potatoes, vegan gravy, A-1 sauce or what ever other sauce you love.

This loaf is extremely low fat and would be Dr. McDougall approved if you follow his type of vegan diet.  You will get tons of cholesterol lowering fiber while still getting tons of flavor and feeling good about what you are eating.

Chewy Lentil Loaf

Serves: 6-8 slices

3 cups cooked lentils
3 cups cooked rice (I used Kashi’s 7 grain rice for the various kinds of grains and chewy texture but plain old brown rice would work great too)
1 onion finely chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic minced
1/2-3/4 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
1/4 bread crumbs (can use gluten free bread to keep this GF)
2 Tablespoons flour of your choice
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 Ener-G Egg replacer (or egg replacer of your choice)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander seed
1 teaspoon ground thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Cook lentils and rice (separately of course) according to package directions.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Cook onions, celery and garlic in a small sauce pan with a little water until tender then pour into a large mixing bowl.  Add the lentils and smash slightly or a lot depending on your desired texture.

Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Transfer to a sprayed loaf pan, cover with tin foil and bake at 350° F for 30 minutes.  Remove foil after 30 minutes and cook for 5-10 minutes to brown the top slightly.

Cool for 10 minutes before cutting so it won’t fall apart.  Serve with ketchup or topping of your choice and ENJOY!

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Tags: chewy lentil loaf, Dinner, Gluten Free, Healthy Meal, vegan dinner, vegan mofo 2010, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

Sorry for the long delay in posting, life got a bit hectic but has finally settled down again. Thanks for the patience!

So now to the newest recipe. I have found many versions of this online and in cookbooks and most are pretty much the same with maybe a slight change in an addition of a spice such as something to add some heat. With kids I like to keep things simple and as usual I like to lower the fat where I can to keep it as healthy as possible.

I love sugar snap peas and I eat sesame seeds plain all the time (weird I know but yum) so the mixture is wonderful with a little sea salt to keep the sodium out but the flavor in.  Honestly I could just eat this whole thing as a meal, I like it that much.

I buy the steam in a bag sugar snap peas to save on time but make sure it is only sugar snap peas and not added preservatives or flavors such as butter. The best place to get them is in the produce section and not the frozen section so they are fresh and you know there is nothing else but peas in the bag. The bag sizes vary from store to store so I really just throw together how ever many bags I need and adjust the rest accordingly by taste preference.

Sugar Snap Peas with Toasted Sesame Seeds
Serves:2-4

2 bags of fresh sugar snap peas
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds (or more)
1/4 teaspoon of sesame seed oil (or put your oil in a clean spray bottle and mist the pan for even less oil-that is what I do)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

Heat a medium sized frying pan (the same one you will use for the rest of the cooking) to a medium heat.  Toss the sesame seeds in the pan, stirring very often or they will burn until they start to turn golden brown and pop.  Remove them from the heat and place in a dish to stop the cooking process and set aside.

Follow the direction on the bags of sugar snap peas and microwave for the 2 minutes or so that it requires.

While the peas are cooking heat the same pan to medium heat and mist with sesame seed oil or use the 1/4 teaspoon amount and spread evenly around the pan with a spatula.

Being careful not to burn your self open the bags of peas and pour into the heated pan.  The excess steam will create a small amount of water in the pan that mixes with the oil to help spread it around more evenly to coat the peas well.  Toss often until they start to brown slightly.

Add the sesame seeds and sea salt then toss well.  Place on a serving plate and eat while still warm.  ENJOY!

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Tags: Beans, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Healthy Meal, Lunch, Quick and easy, Quick vegan, sugar snap peas with sesame seeds, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

This dish is surprisingly tasty and even my picky husband and 5 year old liked it.  It full of flavor because of the the fire roasted tomatoes and is quite satisfying.  We eat tons of pasta and I think this is such a nice change and of course has more vitamins, minerals and fiber than regular pasta has.  If you have a gluten intolerance this dish is a must try because spaghetti squash makes such a great sub for regular pasta noodles in almost all pasta dishes.

Spaghetti Squash with Beany Marinara
Serves: 2-4

1 spaghetti squash
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 16 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 16 oz. can beans of your choice
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cook onion, celery and carrots in broth for 10 minutes.  Add garlic, tomatoes, beans and spices and cook 15 minutes to blend flavors and soften vegetables.

While marinara is cooking cut the spaghetti squash in half length wise.  Scoop out seeds and ad 2 Tablespoons of water to each hole.  Place on microwave safe plate and cook 10-15 minutes until you can easily slide a fork inside the side.  Drain the water and scrape with a fork to make spaghetti noodles.

Sprinkle squash noodles with salt and then top with the beany marinara sauce and ENJOY!

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Tags: Dinner, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Pasta, Quick dinner, spaghetti squash, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian