The Veggie Gal

This is a quick and delicious side dish that tastes as yummy as it looks and it is low fat to boot!    If you are serving it along side of a meal that has a bit of fat in it this can even things out a bit.  I last made it with Macadamia Encrusted Chick’n and it made the perfect side to that wonderful dish.

The vegan “mozzarella” cheese can be left out of it easily since it really does not have a big taste but just looks nice.  I used the Follow Your Heart brand that I cut into chunks but I’m guessing Daiya shreds would be awesome in it!

This recipe is adjusted by personal taste because I usually just cut the amount of bread we want to eat that night so we can use the left overs in the morning for french toast or sandwiches so adjust to your own taste.

Vegan Bruschetta

Fresh sliced crusty bread, sliced
Tomatoes, chopped
Garlic cloves, minced (or) garlic powder to taste
Red onion, finely chopped
Oregano
Parsley
Red wine vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste
Vegan Mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks

Since this recipe is by taste just start with the tomato, throw in some garlic, red onion, oregano, parsley and top with a splash of red wine vinegar (not too much) and sprinkle with a little salt & pepper. Mix well, taste and adjust and then let it sit for 15-30 to blend flavors.

A few minutes before you are ready to serve preheat the oven on broil. Chop up the mozzarella then toss with the tomato mixture.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Lay the sliced bread on the pan and then evenly spray the tops of the bread with the cooking spray and broil for a minute or two until lightly brown.  WATCH carefully, it sucks to burn them!

Put the tomato mixture on top of your browned bread and ENJOY!

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Tags: Easy Vegan, Lunch, Quick vegan, Vegan, Vegan Bruschetta, vegan recipe, Vegan sandwich, Vegetarian

Here in Arizona you have to enjoy the spring time heat (80-90°) before it gets into the summer heat (cooked alive°), so we went to the beach this weekend (well it is a man made lake with a man made beach, it is no CA beach but it is our beach!).   We brought the Chickenless Salad Sandwich stuff along with some fruit  and cold ice tea for our lunch.  The prepared chickenless salad packs well in a Tupperware and is easy to throw onto two nice pieces of sourdough or whole wheat bread.  The family loves these sandwiches and I love that they are a hearty and filling sandwich that makes even my meat eating husband and son satisfied which is a mini miracle!  You can use your own  choice of vegan mayo and mustard by your taste and fat preference.  As always adjust the ingredients to your liking.

Chickenless  Salad Sandwich

serves 4-6 sandwiches depending on how thick you make them

2 cups vegan chicken shredded (pulse in Magic Bullet or shred with a fork)
1/4 cup red onion, diced small
1/4 cup grapes, quartered
2 celery stalks, diced small
1/4-1/3 cup vegan mayo (I use the low fat veganise but nayonaise to be fat free)
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dill relish
salt and pepper to taste
sourdough bread

Optional:
1/4 cup  sliced almonds or sunflower seeds

Cook your vegan chicken according to the package to cook it through.   Pulse 1 cup at a time of the chicken in your Magic Bullet to get a nice shred or shred with a fork by hand and then chop a bit more.  Throw the chicken in a large mixing bowl and add all the rest of the ingredients except the bread and mix well.  Spread a little more vegan mayo and/or mustard on the bread then scoop desired amount of chickenless salad onto the bread and serve.   The bread is also darn good toasted ENJOY!

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Tags: chickenless salad sandwich, Easy Vegan, mock chicken salad sandwich, Quick and easy, Quick vegan, Vegan, vegan chicken salad sandwich, vegan recipe, Vegan sandwich, Vegetarian

These simple sandwiches can be easily made using leftover Oatmeal Waffles.  The waffles get soft after being stored in a Tupperware or can stay slightly crisp if left out from breakfast.

The waffle pockets hold a good amount of PB&J and are  slightly chewy which makes these delicious sandwiches a texture treat.  I always make extra waffles just to have some left over for these sandwiches because they are such a great change from regular bread but be careful they are addicting and messy too!

PB&J Waffle Sandwiches
serves 2

1 leftover Oatmeal Waffle
Your choice of healthy peanut butter (you can use almond butter or other nut butter spread too)
Your choice of healthy jelly spread

Tear the waffle into 4 squares.  Spread peanut butter on one side making sure to fill the squares.  Spread the jelly on the other side again making sure to fill the squares so you get a hearty sandwich.  Slap those babies together and ENJOY!

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Tags: Dr. Neal Barnard, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick and easy, Quick vegan, Vegan, Vegan sandwich, Vegan Waffles

Nature is wonderfully intelligent!  It made fruits and vegetables striking to the human eye so that we could not resist biting into any one of the beautifully rainbow colored foods.  I made a trip this weekend to Whole Foods Market to buy some things I can’t get any where else and was taken by all the beautiful produce.  We all know that eating more colors is better for our health and that each fruit and vegetable has a different beneficial chemical make up.  We all know that eating more fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of most cancers and the high antioxidants they contain help to prevent most disease but do you ever just look at their beauty?  I wanted to share these with you.

I then could not resist getting lunch while I was at Whole Foods.  I am always so excited that I have many choices and can actually go the sandwich bar and get wonderful bread with good sauces like the one on the sandwich I ordered.  I was able to get a vegan pesto sauce and vegenaise on my sandwich (I can’t get that at Subway!).  I also was able to get a vegan pizza which was super good too.  I did not take a picture of the sushi we got too but my daughter and I split that along with the pizza and the sandwich.  YUM!

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Tags: anti-cancer food, Beauty, Easy Vegan, Fruit, Health, Vegan, Vegan sandwich, Vegetables, Whole Foods

These can be so tasty that you can really over eat so it is best to only make what you plan on eating or they WILL disappear.  You can vary this bread by changing the toppings which can greatly change the taste.  You can use sesame seed, vegan cheese or nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor.

Did You Know!?

• Garlic has been shown to be helpful with esophageal, breast, stomach, prostate and bladder cancer.

• Click here to read more food facts

Easy Garlic Bread

Sourdough bread (or bread of your choice)
Earth Balance vegan butter
Garlic powder
Sea salt
Nutritional yeast (optional)
Sesame seeds (optional)
Vegan cheese of your choice (optional)

Spread a thin layer or thick if you are throwing caution to the wind of your vegan butter.  Sprinkle with garlic powder and sea salt to taste and sprinkle with topping of your choice.  Super easy like I said and you have a great side to pasta or soup.  ENJOY!

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Tags: Easy Vegan, Quick and easy, Vegan sandwich

Breakfast:

1 cup of Coffee with soy creamer, Breakfast Burritos

Lunch:

Garden Burger Sandwich

Dinner:

Teriaki noodles with vegetables and Tofu from Pei Wei restaurant.

Daily Reflections:

Today was a pretty busy day which was good because that left no time to snack on junky food.  I was pretty satisfied with each meal and felt they were nutritious enough to sustain me until the next.

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Tags: Breakfast, Daily Food Diary, Dinner, Easy Vegan, Healthy Meal, Lunch, Step by step meal, Vegan sandwich

Here is another quick and easy meal that will take less than 30 minutes to prepare.  Use whole grain tortillas to get even more beneficial fiber and protein.

Fajitas
Serves 4

4 full size tortillas
1 can beans of your choice (black and pinto work the best)
1 onion sliced
1 red bell pepper sliced
1 green bell pepper sliced
2 tomatoes chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Salsa to taste
Chili powder (optional)
Green chilies (optional)
Jalapeno peppers (optional)
Vegan sour cream (optional)

Chop the tomatoes and set aside.  Slice the 2 bell peppers and the onion and cook with non fat spray or water in a frying pan until tender.  Sprinkle with a little salt.

While peppers are cooking cook the beans with one of the chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, cumin and sea salt (and chili powder if you like it hot).  The tomatoes should break down a bit to give it a small amount of juice.  Cook on low just until the peppers and onions are done.

Warm the tortillas if you wish and then spread 1/4 of the peppers and onions onto the tortilla then add 1/4 of the bean mixture.  Top with 1/4 of the fresh tomatoes and salsa and what ever other toppings you choose.  ENJOY!

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Tags: Dinner, Easy Vegan, Healthy Meal, Mexican Food, Quick meal, Vegan, Vegan sandwich

Today I fed him the Oatmeal waffles which he really likes.  They are pretty filling because of the oats and then the strawberries and orange juice give some fruit for the morning.  I have not been great about getting enough fruit into him during the week.

I ended up making him one of the Super Sourdough Sandwiches for lunch because I had been running around and was busy.  They are pretty quick and easy to throw together and since he likes them he is mostly satisfied after eating them.  He did eat a pb&j on the oatmeal waffle too for a snack in the mid day to get him through.

I had already bought the Tofurky before he had told me that he did not want to eat anything that was pretending to be anything else so we had to eat it.  He said it was ok, the vegetables he liked and he ate several of the muffin tops.  After he was still hungry so a friend of ours was over and she threw together some guacamole for him to dip some baked tortilla chips into and he liked that.

He did get a bit cranky in the afternoon after not eating for a while but the sandwich helped him with that.  He says that a lot of the time he just does not feel full very long and does not want to eat constantly.  He says he is fine doing this and says it is not really that hard at all but he does just feel like he is not fully satisfied and full.  I will do some research on that and see how I can help him feel more satisfied and full for longer periods of time.  I am going to make some oatmeal tonight for him to take to work that he can eat instead of the instant.  Maybe that will set him up for the day better like it does for me and we can go from there.

We will be doing his weight tomorrow to see how things are going.  I will also do his measurements.  I’m anxious to see if there is a change and hopeful that there is so he will be encouraged to continue going and not be discouraged.

I welcome suggestions from anyone who has more experience at this than I do or have had some successes they want to share!

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Tags: 21 day vegan kickstart, Dinner, Dr. Neal Barnard, Easy Vegan, Quick and easy, Step by step meal, Vegan, Vegan sandwich, Vegan Waffles

Today is day 5 with 16 more to go in his 21 days of being vegan.

Today he had his same old oatmeal with coffee for breakfast.  For lunch he went to the restaurant Pei Wei  and had Thai blazing noodles with veggies and tofu, spring rolls and he ordered the fried rice without eggs.   After he paid the lady told him that the fried rice is not vegan so he gave it to his coworker.  I am proud of him for not sneaking it in anyway or thinking a little eggs are not a big deal.  When he brought the leftovers of it home I tried it and it is pretty good although blazing hot just like the title says.

For dinner we all had Mac & Cheese from a recipe I found on Alicia Silverstone’s website promoting her book The Kind Diet, Roasted Broccoli and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.  He was pleasantly surprised that the Mac & Cheese was pretty good although a little dry because it was over cooked.  Next time I make it I will not bake it and just stove top cook it and it would be more creamy.  We have tried a couple of Mac & “cheese” recipes that turned out horrible so it was exciting to try one that was good!

He still had a little headache but he has had a back ache and neck problems so I don’t know where that is coming from, plus our bed sucks!  I am going to do some good planning this weekend for a better week next week so with a little luck and hard work things will go even better next week.

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Tags: 21 day vegan kickstart, Breakfast, Dinner, Easy Vegan, Lunch, Vegan, Vegan sandwich

Breakfast:

1 cup of Coffee with soy creamer, Cereal with Rice milk

Snack: Mid morning

Grapes

Lunch:

Amy’s Lentil Soup, Left over Pretty Pasta, 1/4 Fruity Smoothie

Dinner:

Mess on Your Face Burgers and Fat Free and Fabulous French Fries

Daily Reflections:

I noticed being pretty hungry in the early day but I’m not sure if was my cereal choice or the fact that I had to share it with my 2 toddlers (I always have to share all all my food with them if they see it).  I was very busy so I did not eat as much as I wanted to.

I shared my soup with the kids but we ate 2 cans between the 3 of us so probably an ok serving and it is a really filling and tasty soup.  I love lentil soup and theirs is pretty good for a quick choice.

I ended up eating my burger and fries and then some of the kids left over burger because I was so hungry from what felt like a lacking day.  I don’t feel too bad about it though because my calorie intake was low over all and the burgers are pretty low in fat and calories as well.  Especially with using the thin buns that I buy.  I really love those because I always feel like there is just to much bread on other buns and the thin one fits them perfectly.  I don’t feel like having my night time snack because I am stuffed and exhausted from a long day or returning 3 of my 4 kids back to their schools and running them around.

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Tags: Breakfast, Burgers, Dinner, Easy Vegan, Food, Healthy Meal, Lunch, Quick and easy, smoothie, Vegan, Vegan sandwich, Veggie burger