Spanish Lentils (lentajas)

I was looking for a new recipe for lentils.  I found a few recipes that looked Delicious.  The best recipe was Spanish Lentils Stew (lentajas)


I used Spanish Lentil Soup, I did have to change it to make it vegetarian.

1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
garlic, chopped
3 handful cherry tomato, chopped
1/2 bag frozen peppers
3 small potatoes, chopped
1 soy chorizo, chopped
1 cup shredded kale
2 cups lentils
4 cups veggie broth
1 t cumin powder
1 t sweet paprika
1 pinch saffron

Cook onion and garlic in water until starts to turn color

Then add all other ingredients in a pot and cook for 30 to 45 minutes until veggies and lentils are cooked

Lentil Shepard's Pie

With all of the hard work with the construction of the new home, I was craving some comfort foods!

What type of dish can make one feel good?

hummmm

Mashed potatoes layered on a pile of veg and lentils!

This cottage (Shepard pie) was delish!!

I must make it again!!

Raw: Pad Thai Massaged Kale

Pad Thai Massaged Kale

1 whole head of kale, washed, de-stemmed and torn into bite size pieces

Massage for 4 minutes until kale is broken down.

in a bowl combine:

1 heaping T of peanut butter

1 T chili garlic sacue

1 lime squeezed (not in photo--used in dish)

2 T soy sauce

1 t ginger finely grated

then toss in:

1/2 bag of bean sprouts

Enjoy!!

Tempeh Sausage

Tempeh Sausage
1 tempeh crumbled, steamed
1 t fennel seeds
1 t rosemary
1 t basil
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1 t garlic
1/4 cup olive oil

Steam the tempeh.  Combine seasonings and the tempeh. Fry the tempeh until brown.
Enjoy!

Veggie Lasagna with Lentil Sausage

Vegan Pasta Bolognese

I have been craving some good Italian food. Ever want the Old World taste but, not sacrifice your health? So, I made myself a challenge....To make a remake Pasta Bolognese from the Food Network but, in a healthy vegan way.

Here is how I revamped this recipe.


Vegan Pasta Bolognese
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, grated
4 cloves garlic
2 pack of tempeh (Trader Joe's brand)
1 zucchini, grated
1 cup coffee, brewed this morning
1 cup red wine
1 T basil, oregano, fennel seeds, garlic powder and tyme (dried)
3/4 cup tomato paste
1 t marmite
1 t vegan worcestershire
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used the 365 brand at Whole Foods)
3 T onion soup mix, vegan
3 cups water

I cooked the onion, garlic and carrot in 1 cup water for 15 minutes. Then I crumbled the temphe and cooked for another 10 minutes. Adding water if it was to brown. Then I added the remaining ingredients. Brought the pot to a boil. And then simmered the dish for 3 hours. Keep an eye on the sauce, if it gets to thick just add some water.

I will serve the sauce on a bed of Whole Wheat pasta and a huge Italian salad.

My home really smells Italian! Yippie! Ed's Nana would be happy to see him eat such healthy food.  The family gives this dish 2 thumbs up!!

Noteworthy: When I was showing the home (for sale) the Bolognese was cooking...they said it smelled fantastic. The kid said he wanted to eat here!  Little did they know it was vegan!

I  came across this blog via facebook....felt like the information needed to be shared. You can find the blog: How to ID Genetically Modified foods at the supermarket at Friends Eat

Vegan Sweet Potato Curry Pie

My family just loves Curries and we love Shepard's Pie. So, I wanted to combine two of our favorite dishes to make a curry pie.

First I baked 5 sweet potatoes in the oven for 1 hour. Then I took them out of the oven to let them cool. 

While they are cooling combine the following ingredients in a pan:

1 large onion, chopped

5 carrots, diced

Cook the onions and carrots in 1 cup water until soft. Then add...

1 bag frozen peas

2 cups spinach

1 cup cauliflower

2 cups red pepper

1 can light coconut milk

2 cups chickpeas

1 cup chopped beef seitan (leftover from dinner)

2 T mild curry powder
1 T tomato paste

Then simmer for 15 minutes.

Once the potatoes are warn peel . Add 1 cup of coconut milk. Mash the potatoes. 

I did the cooking and baking in one pan. So, I layered the mashed sweet potatoes over the curry mix. 

Bake for 25 minutes in a 350-degree oven until bubbly and crisp on top.

Caramelized onion with seitan pepperoni and daiya cheese pizza

Hand tossed pizza dough

topped with home-made seitan pepperoni

fat free caramelized onions

tomato sauce

daiya cheese

Home-made seitan

recipe from Vegan on the cheap

Caramelized fat free onions:

I cut 1 onion in slices, placed in a pan of water (about 1 cup) 

cook down 4 or 5 times on Medium heat

 Letting the onions turn lightly brown

(this process can take 10 to 15 minutes)

Beefy Seitan

 Beefy Seitan
Well, I have made pork and chicken seitan. So today, my mission was to make a beefy seitan. Success once again! Once again I used the slow cooking oven method of making Seitan. I must say that the meat was moist and juicy.

I cooked the seitan with carrots, onions, celery and baby potatoes.
If you would like to make this type of seitan you can visit Notes from the vegan feast kitchen

Raw corn chips

I have been intrigued with the Raw food diet.

So, I decided to make a chip.

This chip is great for Mexican dips.

Raw Corn Chip

1 bag frozen corn, defrosted

1/2 onion

a few slices of red pepper

 a sprinkle of garlic powder and lime juice

Blend all ingredients.

Pour on lined baking sheets.

Bake in oven at lowest setting for a few hours.

I turned the oven off a few times during this process. (for several hours at a time)

The baking pans were always warm not hot.

I do not have a food dehydrator. So, I had to use the oven method. 

To make sure the food is raw, you can leave the oven door open. I will consider doing that during the winter!

The chips were crispy! Tasted good. But, not what we are used too.

So, I will try this chip again with modification in the seasonings.

Live foods...means less processed foods!

Vegan Breakfast Sandwich

Vegan Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

The boys have been craving a real breakfast. Begging me for something other than a smoothie, cereal, or baked good. So I thought how about a S.L.T.? Sausage Lettuce Tomato breakfast sandwich?
Well, it was a huge hit! I started with some Black Russian Bread, then fried up some Gimme Lean Sausage, lettuce, tomato, and vegan cream cheese.

The boys have already requested to repeat this breakfast again. It's a win/win! They get to eat veggies for breakfast and have a fantastic breakfast!

Black Beans and Rice Salad

Black Beans and Rice Salad
The yummiest salad ever! I cooked the black beans with fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, salsa, onions, seasonings, and I hid a few ingredients zucchini and carrots finely grated. I put the black beans on a bed of lettuce and brown rice. Then I topped it off with mango, tomatoes, salsa and toffutti sour cream.

Coconut-peanut Chickpeas and Vegetables

Coconut Peanut butter Chickpeas and Veggies

inspired from 1,000 vegan recipes

onion, 1/2 large chopped

1/2 bag of frozen mixed bell peppers

water, 1/2 cup

garlic, 1T

curry powder, 2T

peanut butter, 3T

1 can light un-sweet coconut milk

1 can green chilies 

chickpeas 

tomatoes, 2 chopped

1 frozen bag chopped collard greens

pepper

Cook onion, pepper and fresh tomato in water until soft. Add curry powder and garlic for 30 seconds. Add the peanut butter and coconut milk. Add chickpeas and collard greens. Cook 14 minutes. Serve over hot brown rice and a few crushed peanuts.

This peanut curry was a huge hit in my family! A few of us had seconds! This recipe will be remade!

Brazilian Stew

This black bean stew is so delicious. I just had to have seconds. I used the recipe from Color Me Vegan

• onions
• garlic
• home-made chorizo sausage, crumbled
• 2 yams diced
• black beans
• water
• peppers (I used tri-color)
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• oregano
• cumin
• can chopped tomato with juice
• cilantro
• mango 

I cooked the black beans. Then I added all of the ingredients except cilantro and the mango. I brought the stew to a boil then cooked covered for 20 minutes on low heat. After you put the stew in the bowl add the cilantro and the diced mango.

This yummy stew was eaten on a bed of brown rice by my boys. While I enjoyed the stew alone. 

This Brazilian Stew is so delicious I will be making it again! This stew was enjoyed by the entire family. And it adheres to the Eat to Live diet.

Avocado, Chocolate Chip & Pecan Scones

Avocado, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Scones

Today I wanted to give my family a hot breakfast. Something sweet and good. I did some research and found out that some cooks were using avocados to replace fat in vegan dishes. This got me thinking. This would be a good fit for my scones.  Besides, how much food do you want to taste like bananas, coconut or apples!

If this works for my family......
It will be a nice change to change up my fats.

I started with 1 frozen scone and mixed white whole wheat flour, 1/3  cup brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla almond milk, chocolate chips, pecans, and energ egg replacer. 

They came out moist and good! YUMMY!!

Mothers Day Carrot Cake with Creamy Cashew Frosting

Happy Mothers Day!

Today was a fantastic day. We began the day with Mass. 

Then we went into Baltimore to have brunch. We ended up eating at a Indian restaurant. They had 6 vegetarian dishes of those 3 did not have dairy. So, I filled my plate with the 3 wonderful options. I only hope to one day be able to make Indian food taste so well! 

We then went home~the boys gave me my lovely aprons. They did a impromptu skit for me with the aprons on. How sweet are my boys! 

The Aprons can be purchased at The Hip Hostess

Then they surprised me with cleaning my truck! 

Lucky me! 

So, while they were working hard I decided to make a carrot cake. This cake has no added sugar or fat! This cake was a modification of The Joy of Vegan Baking

Lets just say this cake is very moist and heavy. I am working on how to eliminate processed oil and refined sugars in foods. I substituted dates, coconut, apples, pineapple and more carrots to make up for the loss of fats and sugars.

It is very good. 

The icing is made of soaked raw cashews, 1/2 banana, 1 date, and coconut flakes. It was adapted from The Daily Dietribe

What a very good way to end the very best mothers day a lady can have. I hope you day was filled of your family loving on you! 

Hopefully, you got to kick your feet up and enjoy a piece of cake too!

I saw this video about Moms "One Instinct" Thought you would enjoy!! Thanks Mrs. Bush.

Pina Colada Ice Cream sans rum

Ever get that feeling for a nice Island drink? Ever want to have a cold ice cream with out the extra calories?
Well try blended fruit. I have blended 1 cup frozen pineapple, 2 tablespoons coconut flakes and 1 cup vanilla almond milk. Blend and serve! Island life here I come!

Seitan Dinner: Mashed Potatoes with Chickpea gravy

This meal was inspired by the cookbook Appetite for Reduction.  

The recipe Silky Chickpea Gravy. I did modify the recipe to reduce the fat and salt. So how did I do it? I cooked 1 onion chopped in water until soft. Then I added a clove of garlic and 1- 1/4 cups veggie broth. In the pan I cooked for 3 minutes. To thicken up the gravy I added 3 cups cooked chickpeas. I blended the chickpea mixture in the Vita Mixer for 1 minute. The gravy was divine! I will have to make this again! The boys and Ed LOVED this dinner!

Banana, Oatmeal, Raisin Breakfast Bread

After seeing the Cupcake Right Now Blog from Peas and Thank You I knew that I had to revise the recipe to make it for my family!  The original recipe had way to much sugar in it. So I used my "tricks" to make this breakfast bread. 

 Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

• 2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1 1/4 c. hot water
• 1 blended ripe banana
• 1/4 c. peanut butter
• 1 c. dates pureed
• 1 c. vanilla almond milk
• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. ener-g egg replacer
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 2 T. crushed flax seeds (optional)

Combine the oatmeal with the water. Add the dry ingredients. Blend the banana and the dates with the vanilla almond milk. Mix the wet with the dry ingredients. Fold in the raisins. Top with the crushed flax seeds and a few raisins. Bake in 350-degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out clean.

I know the original recipe looks fantastic and I am sure it taste as good as it looks! In order to keep my family on the path to great health I had to modify this cake. With the modification...it is yummy! It taste like banana oatmeal cookies. ;-)