Recipes

Chickpea Salad and Garlic Lovers Pasta

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Yesterday my hubby and I took a drive to Lake George NY to visit the Coleman Outlet.  We are heading up to Acadia for our anniversary at the end of May and were in need of a new tent  since ours is small and old.  Since we have eaten out WAY too much lately I decided to make us some lunch for the road.  I packed up some chickpea salad sandwiches, Hint water, veggie straws and a couple Jazz apples.

Chickpea Salad

  • 1-15oz can of chickpea, drained and chopped into small pieces (a food processor works well for this
  • 1/4 of a medium red onion, minced
  • 2T chopped dill pickle
  • 1-2T vegenaise (I like to use the reduced fat kind)
  • 1t triple blend flakes or kelp flakes
  • 1t lemon juice
  • 2T finely chopped parsley

Mix this all together and serve it on a sandwich, salad or with crackers

This is a blend of dulse, laver & sea lettuce- you could always use crumbled nori or kelp flakes - you also could change the flavor a bit and use dill

We had a successful trip to Lake George and came home with a new tent, a few new camping plates and bowls and a camping mattress (I know, I know but hubby is old and his back hurts haha).  We also picked up a few new spring duds at the J.Crew outlet which we both love.  Dinner was a quick and easy meal to put together.  It was hubby’s favorite Garlic Lovers Pasta and a small side salad.

Garlic Lovers Pasta

  • 3 servings of pasta of your choice- I used spinach spaghetti tonight
  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2T olive oil
  • 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • 3T nutritional yeast
  • salt and pepper to taste

While the pasta is cooking place the garlic and olive oil in a large saute pan and heat over medium low until the pasta is finished.  DO NOT DRAIN PASTA, rather using a spaghetti spoon or tongs take the pasta out of the boiling water and place into the sauce (the starch in the water helps to create a sauce).  The sprinkle in the parsley and nutritional yeast and salt and pepper and toss together to coat evenly.  ENJOY!

So I’m off for the day to a committee meeting a few hours away and I’m anxious since it’s only my second day of work and I have to take the minutes, eek!  However you should stop on over to my Spring Giveaway post and enter to win this great giveaway.  If you already have entered remember you can tweet once per day BUT make sure you go back and post a comment letting me know you did.

An Afternoon of New Beverages

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Today I got a few new beverages in the mail from Inko’s Iced Tea and Hint Water so I was excited to try both of them.  While I did a little wishful thinking vacation searching I enjoyed some Peeled Pine-4-Pineapple and the Inko’s White Tea Honeydew flavor.

After wasting part of the afternoon looking at vacations that we probably won’t go on I decided I should jump on the elliptical for awhile.  So I did 30 minutes on the elliptical while reading a trashy magazine and contemplating dinner.  For dinner I decided on making some Lotus Foods Jade Pearl Rice which smells crazy like a bamboo forest (as described on the package).  I cooked some wakame with the rice and then tossed it all together with some steamed carrots, mushrooms, peppers, chickpeas and topped with a miso tahini sauce.  This sauce is crazy good and I can’t wait to make it again.

Miso Tahini Sauce:

  • 1/3 cup warm water
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 2T sweet white miso
  • 2 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 2T lemon juice

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.  You can heat this if you would like but make sure to do it on low as you should NEVER boil miso.

I enjoyed my dinner with a bottle of Hint Mango-Grapefruit.

Tonight I am just going to try and relax and mentally prepare for my first day at work tomorrow. I am a little nervous but I am excited at the same time. How do you prepare for your first day at work? What do you wear on your first day?

It’s Spring! Beers, BBQing and Blueberry Pie

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Spring has finally sprung and that means BBQing, hiking, camping and lots of SUN! Last night was such a beautiful night we couldn’t pass up doing our 3.25 mile hike/walk at Hubbard Park.  After that we came back for some BBQing and beers. I decided to prep our meal ahead of time so that when we got back from our hike/walk we could get right to grilling and I wouldn’t be in the kitchen getting things ready while Neil was out doing the manly grilling.  We stood around and grilled up some yummy skewers of mushrooms and peppers, onion and sweet potato rounds and some Korean BBQ marinated tempeh. I love smelling like smoke after grilling on our charcoal grill….oh dreaming of camping.

We had a little Ezekiel Pita Bread on the side to catch all the yummy sauce drippings and a nice cold glass To Unibroue Trios Pistoles-SO GOOD! To end our yummy meal we shared a piece of Blueberry Crumble Pie

Blueberry Crumble Pie

You will need a whole wheat or spelt pie crust for this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350F

Filling:

  • 3 cups frozen blueberries
  • 1 T lemon juice
  • 1 T arrowroot (you can also use cornstarch)
  • 2 T palm sugar (you could also use sucant)
  • pinch of cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a medium pot over medium heat and cook until bubbly.  The pour into a prepared whole wheat pie crust.

Topping:

  • 1/4 cup almond meal (you could use flour)
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 2 T vegan shortening

Using your fingers mix all of this together until it is crumbly.  Then sprinkle over the blueberry filling. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Set to the side and let cool.  While it is cooling make the Lemon Glaze.

Lemon Glaze:

  • 2 Cups powdered Sugar
  • 1 T lemon juice
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 2 T soy milk

Drizzle this on top of the cooled Blueberry Crumble Pie, save any remaining glaze to drizzle over slices when serving.

Recipe: “Sausage” Stuffed Mushrooms

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“Sausage” Stuffed Mushrooms

These mushrooms make a great appetizer for any dinner or cocktail party. You can make the stuffing ahead of time and fill mushrooms and bake before your guest arrive.  The stuffing would also be delicious in zucchini boats and stuffed squash.  You could also stuff portobello mushrooms and serve with your favorite sides as an entree.

Makes 4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

  • 16 white mushrooms
  • 5 tablespoons good olive oil, divided
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala wine (you could also use sherry or vegetable broth)
  • 1 vegan Italian Sausage (I used Field Roast), minced
  • 6 scallions, minced
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 4 tablespoons of vegan cream cheese
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. Place the mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and Marsala. Set aside.
  3. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, mushroom stems, garlic and green onions cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add the panko crumbs, stirring to combine evenly with all the other ingredients.
  5. Turn the heat off and  stir in the cream cheese until it has melted and made the sausage mixture creamy.
  6. Place in a medium bowl and stir in the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Cool slightly.
  7. Fill each mushroom generously with the sausage mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a snug single layer.
  8. Bake until the stuffing for 50 minutes, until the stuffing is browned and crusty.

Recipe Post: "Fried" Veggies

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My husband and I are headed to Boston this weekend for a leisurely weekend away and I had a bunch of produce to use up.  This morning I decided since I was going to be out of the house all day that it would be good to get something prepped for dinner ahead of time.  We have been trying to eat high raw now that our winter CSA is over and we don’t have ridiculous amounts of rutabaga and turnip to use every week.  This recipe is almost raw with the exception of the nutritional yeast which gives it a yummy cheesy flavor.

Ingredients (makes 2 large portions or 4 sides):

  • 2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
  • 8oz button mushrooms, cut in half (you can also try baby bella or portobello if you’d like)
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped into medium sized chunks
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (if you want to make this totally raw you can omit this ingredient)
  • 1/4 cup cold pressed olive oil
  • 3T lemon juice
  • 1t onion powder
  • 1t garlic powder
  • 1/2t salt
  • 1/4t black pepper

Directions:

  1. Toss the veggies with the nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper; make sure everything is evenly coated.
  2. Spread evenly onto mesh dehydrator sheets (I used 2 in my Nesco).
  3. Dehydrate at 115F for 1-2 hours (this helps to reduce fermentation) then turn down to 105F for at least 10 hours but you could dehydrate these up to 24 hours if you want them really crispy.

Recipe: Raw Pizza Crackers

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cups quinoa, sprouted 24 hours, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup flax meal
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup parsley
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 10 sundried tomatoes, soaked for 1-2 hours
  • 2T Nama Shoyu
  • 1/4 Cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
  • 1t italian seasoning
  • 2T nutritional yeast (optional, not raw but adds great flavor)

Directions:

  1. To a food processor add sunflower seeds through italian seasoning and blend until almost smooth.
  2. In a medium bowl mix together the quinoa, flax meal, nutritional yeast (if using) and sunflower seed mixture and mix until everything is evenly mixed together.
  3. Spread thinly onto teflex sheets, parchment paper or fruit roll sheets (I use fruit roll sheets for my Nesco dehydrator).  At this point you can score the mixture to have even crackers or you can just break into pieces once they are done.
  4. Dehydrate at 115F for 2 hours then turn down to 105F for 10-15 hours (I like to do this in the evening and let them dehydrate over night.