Vegan Protein Blueberry Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Vegan Protein Blueberry Banana Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:
1/2 cup frozen organic wild blueberries (Whole Foods has them in the freezer section)
1 banana
1 cup nut mylk (I use 5XProtein Unsweetened Almond Milk by So Delicious Brand)
2 scoops Orgain brand vegan protein - chocolate flavor

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Yum!

Had this smoothie for breakfast and made my cabbage curry for dinner. Yummmmmm.
Cabbage curry recipe here: Sundaegirl108's Cabbage Curry

---

Cooking on Snow Days

It snowed a bit in Brooklyn this weekend.

So, I made some yummy stuff. First is this sautéed collard green dish that I adapted from a recipe in The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.

I just sautéed some garlic and olive oil in a large pan, added chopped collards (with a little water on them from when soaking them to rinse them), stirred and covered for a couple minutes to soften the collards, added 2 tablespoons pine nuts, quartered prunes, and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine and sautee another couple of minutes. Voila!

  I also made a quinoa bowl with cooked quinoa, avocado, cilantro leaves, steamed carrot and broccoli, chickpeas, and homemade lemon olive oil dressing. For the dressing: I just juice a couple lemons, add olive oil, diced shallot, fresh thyme leaves, a tiny bit of Himalayan pink salt, and pepper. Yum!

Healthy Vegan Mango Lassi Smoothie

 

Healthy Vegan Mango Lassi Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 mango or about 1 cup of frozen mango chunks
1 cup unsweetened almond mylk (I used 5XProtein So Delicious Brand)
1 - 3 tablespoons hemp protein (Optional: I like to amp up the protein by adding some hemp protein but it makes the smoothie greyish - not that lovely mango lassi color. I used just one tablespoon of Nutiva brand hemp protein. I think more than that wouldn't have tasted so good.)
1/4 cup of raw cashews
a pinch of cardamom powder

Method: Put all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend to smoothie perfection.

Nutritional Info (approximate):
330 calories, 16g protein, 35g carbs, 6g sugar, 15g fat, 0g cholesterol, 60% RDA of vitamin A, 29% RDA of iron

NOTE: I made this again with a scoop of the Vega Brand Vanilla Protein Shake instead of the hemp protein and it was even better tasting and more protein! (Pictured Below)  Yum!

Yummy things of the week ...

I went to see BLONDIE and MORRISSEY at Madison Square Garden on Saturday! I had general admission floor and I got all the way up front! I was THIS CLOSE! AHHHHHH! *swoon*

In other good news ... Figs are in season! Yes! (strawberries also)

Also, Vegan Chao is everything. I made the best breakfast sandwich ever with it this week: 1 slice tomato cayenne vegan chao cheese, 1/4 avocado, and roasted garlic hummus on toast. Mmmm

Vegan Brunch with Muffins! yay! (and a quick dinner)

Mmm. Made a vegan brunch today thanks to my favorite vegan cookbook, Vegan Brunch.
I made the "swiss chard frittata" (which ended up being a baby kale and caramelized onion frittata because Whole Foods was out of chard). I also made my polenta topped with roasted tomatoes. Mmm.

I made the Blueberry Ginger Spelt Muffins on page 155 of Vegan Brunch for the first time.
These were pretty good; I was craving some blueberry muffins and these hit the spot. I think I prefer a more dense bran-type muffin, so maybe I'll make blueberry bran muffins when I run out of spelt flour.

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt (a 6oz container) (as I'm typing this I realized that I actually screwed up and used 1 cup plain soy yogurt but it was totally fine!)
1 cup mylk (any kind of nut mylk will do)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups blueberries
(original recipe also calls for 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger, which I omitted.)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl with the exception of the blueberries. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold in the blueberries (and ginger if using). Scoop batter into muffin tin and bake 28 - 32 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the tin before transferring muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.

---

Later, for dinner, I made a salad and a quick steamed spaghetti squash with vegan meatless balls. Mmm

This salad was also satisfying and it was just kalamata olives, mesclun lettuce, cucumbers, fresh heirloom tomatoes, roasted chestnuts, and the balsamic dressing that I made yesterday.
I paired it with some steamed spaghetti squash "pasta" and a veggie-loaded tomato sauce and Whole Foods' brand vegan meatless balls.
This is my lower carb alternative to pasta. meh.
To steam spaghetti squash (the lazy way): Cut ends off squash and then cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and put in a microwaveable dish with about 1 centimeter of cold water. Microwave for about 13 minutes. Hold squash with a potholder (it's HOT!) while you scrape out the strings into a bowl.
To make the sauce (the lazy way): I sauté a sliced onion in a little olive oil in a saucepan until translucent. Then add a 28oz can of organic diced or crushed tomatoes and some Italian herbs and spices such as oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flake, salt, and pepper. I also added some frozen artichoke hearts to this sauce which I had reheated in the microwave. (This was my first try of frozen artichokes. Blech. I will stick to canned or jarred.) Heat through until flavors blend - about 5 - 10 mins.
Prepare your favorite vegan meatless balls as directed, put on top of spaghetti squash, top with sauce and enjoy! yum. (Add a basil chiffonade for extra yum yums.)

Vegan "No Huevos" Rancheros and a Simple Salad

Vegan "No Huevos" Rancheros

This is one of my favorite quick as can be dinners.

Ingredients:
Polenta, prepared (I buy one of the pre-cooked polenta rolls when I'm feeling lazy.)
GOYA Rancheros beans
Olives (I usually use black olives)
Fresh chopped tomatoes
Avocado chunks
Vegan sour cream (if you like) - I like Tofutti brand.
Salsa

Preparation:
Layer polenta slices at bottom of microwaveable bowl, then a layer of the beans. Cover and heat until warm (about 1 min 30 seconds).
Layer some salsa, fresh tomatoes, olives, avocado, and sour cream on top.
Enjoy!

 

Simple Beet Salad

 

Including here because I am trying to overcome my need to sprinkle cheese in every salad. This one was satisfying without the cheese.

 

Ingredients:

Roasted Beets

Avocado

Mesclun Lettuce

Cucumber slices

Shallot

Hemp Seeds

 

Wolffie's Balsamic Vinegar Dressing (from La Dolce Vegan p.95): (my fave!)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup oil (such as flax, hemp, or grapeseed)

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

 

Preparation:

Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl. Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well. Sprinkle some dressing on salad. Yum.

 

I think I'll have some soy whip and chocolate pudding for dessert. ;) Yum!

Healthy Start to the New Year

Happy New Year!
My alcohol-free month of vegan, relatively low carb, and mostly whole foods has begun!
Today was a productive start to 2015. I bathed the dog, went to the gym and lifted weights, went grocery shopping, rode my exercise bike, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, unpacked, changed the sheets on the bed, and made some delicious food.
Let's just say, the boys had other plans. ;)

Here's the stuff I ate today:
I just had coffee with coconut creamer for breakfast as I wasn't hungry. Then, I made myself a delicious lunch of what I like to call "save the crab" salad with a green salad. It's a vegan take on crab salad made with hearts of palm (instead of crab) based on the vegan crab cake recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen.

 

Then, I had a Mamma Chia beverage for a snack. This one was pretty good.

 

I went all out for dinner and made a black-eyed pea and root veggie tagine based on the Chickpea Tagine recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Since it's New Year's Day, I added black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas. I made mine with turnip, sweet potato, and carrot. This was out of this world good!

 

I served this with couscous and some vegan cucumber raita. I decided to make the raita with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream non-dairy sour cream this time. It was pretty excellent.

Vegan Cucumber Raita

Ingredients:
1 package Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
1 cucumber, deseeded
about 1 teaspoon garam masala
about 1 teaspoon cumin
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Put sour cream in bowl. Grate about 3/4 of the cucumber directly into the bowl with a hand grater. The cucumber's juice will thin out the sour cream; you want that to happen. Add the spices. Stir and keep in fridge until ready to serve. I like to garnish mine with some cilantro leaves and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour so that the flavors blend. Mmmm.

Quick White Bean Salad

Quick White Bean Salad

Ingredients:
2 (14.5oz) cans large white beans (such as butter beans)
1 jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced
a couple handfuls of parsley, chopped fine
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Stir together the EVOO, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour over remaining ingredients in a bowl and toss. Yum.

I also made some muhammara today and raw spaghetti with veggie meatless balls for dinner. yum!

Chewie made his second trip on the subway yesterday. He held up better than last time. He's a shy pooch and the subway is a big scary loud thing.

 

Baigan Bharta and Steamed Kale and Prepping for the week ...

Today I made smoothies for breakfast and then hit up the gym and went grocery shopping for the next couple of days.

I made a tabouleh salad and a spiced beet salad for lunch and snacks tomorrow and Tuesday.

Click for the Spiced Beet Salad Recipe.

The Tabouleh Salad is just a box of Near East Tabouleh with fresh lemon juice, grape tomatoes, fresh parsley, black olives, cucumbers, and roasted red pepper added. Mmmmm.

Then, for dinner, I made Baigan Bharta - an Indian roasted eggplant dish with some steamed kale. More Mmm ...

After my nice long break, needless to say, I'm not exactly looking forward to the beginning of the work week tomorrow. meh.

Zucchini and Chickpea Curry (Sort of African, Sort of Indian)

Veggies and cilantro leaves getting ready to be cooked up ... and the curry cooking. Mmm

The final product (served with some vegan pierogies)! Chewie approves. ;o)

This was seriously delicious!

Zucchini and Chickpea Curry

2 zucchinis, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 large can chickpeas
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno
1 inch piece ginger root, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
8oz can tomato sauce
1 bunch cilantro leaves
1-2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon of vegan butter
1-2 teaspoons cumin powder
1-2 tablespoons Madras-style medium hot curry powder
2 teaspoons hot Hungarian paprika
sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter and sauté the onion for a bit until translucent. Meanwhile, process the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno in a small food processor until minced. Add garlic, ginger, jalapeno mixture to the skillet and stir to combine with the onion. Stir in the fresh chopped tomatoes and zucchini. Stir in the spices and the tomato sauce. If you need to add a little water so that the zucchini is mostly covered by liquid, do so. Add chickpeas and some cilantro leaves on top. Put on lid to skillet and simmer over low-medium heat until zucchini is tender and flavors have combined. Serve with couscous, rice, or, well, pierogies tasted great with this!

Serves 4 hungry souls.

---

A Mango Lassi and a Lazy Snow Day with Chewie

Last night into this morning it snowed about 8 inches and it was in the single digits this morning, so Chewie and I slept in and are now enjoying a lovely snow day.

That's the only picture I could snap of Chewie before he ran back in the house. haha. Good thing he's wee wee pad trained. ;o) When we finally got up, I made a mango lassi for breakfast.

Mango Lassi

1 ripe mango, skin removed and cubed

1 container of vegan yogurt (I used coconut almond milk yogurt which was divine.)

about 6 ice cubes

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 teaspoon cardmom spice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend all ingredients in a blender and enjoy! yum.

 

After that I had some homemade hummus and melted Daiya vegan cheddar on toast as a snack. Mmm.

 

Here's a pic of Lucas and I on New Year's Eve ... heh.

 

 

 

 

Quick Vegan Tartar Sauce

Chewie, my yorkie, likes to play up the cuteness.

 

Vegan Tartar Sauce!

I just threw this together and it was delicious. Measurements are approximate as I didn't measure when I made it.

About 1 cup - Reduced Fat Vegenaise (vegan mayo)

About 2-3 tablespoons - Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Crunchy Kosher Dill Pickles, the mini ones about 3 inches long each (I used B&G brand, but I suppose any favorite pickle will work.)

About 2 tablespoons grated Horseradish

Put all ingredients in a mini food processor and pulse until combined. Voila!

 

Savory Amaranth Stuffed Peppers

Huzzah! I made amaranth! I'm pretty excited about this; I've been meaning to do this forever. This was pretty damn good. The marinade is from The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life by Melisser Elliott (the Brussels sprouts with crispy tempeh recipe in that book).   

Savory Amaranth Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
1 cup dry amaranth
2 cups water
4 red bell peppers (tops cut off and deseeded)
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
5 sun dried tomatoes, rehydrated in hot water for 10 minutes and then cut into thin strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, cut into thin slices
olive oil to sauté onion
5 ounces raw baby spinach, wilted in about 1/2 inch boiling water in a saucepan

Marinade ingredients:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Method:
Combine all marinade ingredients and set aside. Next, set oven to 375F. Spray peppers with cooking oil or coat in oil. Roast peppers for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, bring two cups water to a boil in a sauce pan. Once the water is boiling, stir in the cup of dry amaranth, cover, and lower heat to a simmer. Leave amaranth simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Next, heat oil in a pan and sauté onion until it's caramelized. I threw in the minced garlic at the end of the onion sauté just to heat it and release the flavor. Once amaranth and pepper done, turn off heat and combine amaranth, drained wilted spinach, sundried tomatoes, onions, garlic, and marinade in the saucepan. Spoon mixture into peppers and serve. Serves 3 or 4.

Raw Tomato Sauce

Raw Tomato Sauce

Our CSA also yielded some awesome organic tomatoes this week, so I threw together a sauce for dinner. It was so yummy! (I served it over some Trader Joe's vegan meatless balls (which certainly aren't raw, but they're also yummy. heh.)

Method:
Roughly chop tomatoes and throw in blender with a large handful of fresh basil. Blend until smooth. I made enough so that I had about 3/4 of a blender full when done. You could throw any other spices into the blender to process them to make this completely raw, but I sautéed a little minced garlic in olive oil in a saucepan and then added the tomato mixture to heat it a bit. I also threw in some red pepper flake, oregano, salt & pepper to taste. :)

Going green ... and a Quick Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad ... yum!

 
 


So, I've been really sick this year and I credit that, in large part, to my eating a lot of dairy and some processed food again. After my latest bout with illness, I'm trying to be done with dairy again and eat much more clean. Since I was feeling miserable anyway, I managed to quit coffee while I was sick two weeks ago. I start the day with water or a fresh raw juice which makes a lot more sense! I'm sure my immune system is thanking me already.


I also quit dairy. My biggest weakness is a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Hey ... I'm raised in Jersey and I live in Brooklyn. This is, like, essential to life as, say, sunshine. So, I'm trying some alternatives. I don't like the Tofutti cream cheese style spread and so I tried the Daiya version. Sorry to say that the Daiya is not a tasty substitute in my opinion either. :(

So, I smeared some avocado on my bagel and that was better than any vegan cream cheese-like spread I've ever had. Hummus won't do the trick; it's got to be creamy. So, I think I'm going to try the tofu ricotta from Veganomicon next.


I also love provolone subs (a la the Jersey Shore style). This would be my last meal. Seriously. So, I tried the Daiya Provolone slices. I ordered a sub with no meat or cheese and then added the Daiya to it. No deal. Good try my friends at Daiya, but it can't really replace provolone for me. I put a few slices of avocado on the other half of my sub and that tasted pretty good. *sigh* ... but not as good as provolone. *sigh*

While I was at the Jersey shore for the weekend, I cooked up some yummy things ... Here are a few:

Roasted Red Pepper and Chickpea Salad with Parsley and Olives
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 bunch curly leaf Italian parsley
1 small can sliced black olives
1 shallot, diced
red wine vinegar and olive oil (I do half vinegar and half oil)
salt and pepper to taste
Method: combine all veggies in a bowl and drizzle with vinegar and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I served this with some couscous with toasted pine nuts and steamed kale as well as some roasted fennel, roasted eggplant, and a green salad.

Simple Vegan Banana Muffins

 

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup oil or vegan margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour (I used whole wheat.)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup nut milk (I use almond milk)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F. Mash bananas with a fork in a large bowl until mushy and just a little lumpy. Stir sugar and oil into bananas. Mix all other dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add to banana mixture. Add nut milk and stir just to combine. Fill 12 muffin cups with batter and bake for 20 mins. Enjoy!

Makes 12 small muffins. 

Approximate nutritional info (per muffin): 204 calories, 5g fat, 40g carbs, 2.5g protein, 21g sugars.

Vegan Thanksgiving: Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing, Gravy

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Two Ways

One way ... Traditional Cranberry Orange Relish (serves 4)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 bag fresh cranberries
1 medium orange

Zest the orange and juice it. Set aside zest and juice.

Mix sugar and water in medium saucepan; stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to boil. Add cranberries. Return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. Stir in orange zest and juice. Cook 2-3 more minutes.

Another way ... Cranberry Horseradish Cream
Add 3/4 cup vegan sour cream and at least 1 tablespoon (or more to taste) into recipe above.

---

Vegan Stuffing with Chestnuts, Dried Plums (aka prunes), Sage, Thyme, and Rosemary
(Serves at least 8 hungry people)
(this might be one of my fave dishes I've ever made!)

12 cups bread cubes, toasted
1 large onion, diced
about 4 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
about 1 to 1 1/2 cups chestnuts, quartered
about 1 - 1 1/2 cups prunes, quartered
4 cups vegetable stock
about 1 cup mixed chopped herbs (fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary)
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9" x 13" baking pan with cooking spray. Heat olive oil in a large, high-sided skillet. Add onions and celery and cook until onion is translucent and celery is softened. Add garlic, chestnuts, prunes, and herbs and cook about 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Mix onion celery mixture with bread cubes in a large bowl until well-combined and pour into 9" x 13" baking pan. Drizzle vegetable stock over mixture in pan evenly. Cover with foil and bake 30-35 minutes. Remove foil and cook an additional 20 minutes (until top is browned). Let stand 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

---

Insanely Delicious Vegan Gravy (makes a lot)
(recipe from Vegetarian Times Magazine Dec 2012 issue, p.36)

2 x 8oz russet potatoes
12 button mushrooms
3 carrots, cut into chunks
3 celery stalks, cut into chunks
2 small onions, cut into eighths
3 cloves garlic, smashed
olive oil
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh sage
2 bay leaves
12 peppercorns

Preheat oven to 425F. Quarter 1 russet potato and place in a large Dutch oven with mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic. Toss with olive oil. Roast 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or until vegetables are deep brown on edges.
Transfer Dutch oven to stove top and stir in wine, tomato paste, and 8 cups water. Add fresh herbs and peppercorns and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.
Strain liquid and discard solids (though I kept mine and ate them, yum!). Peel and chop remaining potato into small cubes. Return broth to pot with potato and season with salt and pepper (to taste). Simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 2 1/2 cups. (Mine never made it to 2 1/2 cups ... mine was more like 4 cups, but it was just fine. I added a bit of cornstarch at the end to thicken it.) Blend liquid and potato in blender or using an immersion blender. Reheat before serving, if necessary.

I made this a day ahead and reheated it on the stove before the meal. It was wonderful! :)