Category: Avocado

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

9/5/2017

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. We went on a picnic to the beach and I packed these great sandwiches. They are super easy to make and you can customize them to your preference. Most people like to use celery in these salads, but I'm not a huge fan of celery so I used green onions instead. I had carrots and red pepper on hand so I through them in. You can add whatever crunchy vegetables you like.

In addition to making great picnics, this sandwich is also great to pack for lunches as school or work. Make sure that you put a layer of greens between the tomatoes and the bread so that your bread doesn't get soggy during the day.

Let me know how you like it and what your favorite sandwich toppings are!

Ingredients:
1 Can of chickpeas
1 Red pepper
1 Bunch of green onions
1 Carrot
1/2 Cup Tofu Sour Cream
1 Tablespoon Fresh Dill

1 Half of a baguette (or other sandwich bread)
1 Small-medium sized tomato
Half of a medium cucumber
1 Cup of lettuce/greens
1 Avocado
2 Tablespoons hummus
Balsamic glaze for garnish (optional)

Servings: 2 sandwiches with some leftover chickpea salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 0

Instructions:

Drain and Rinse chickpeas. Slice green onions up until they start turning dark green. Chop carrots and red peppers to be roughly the same size of the chickpeas and green onions so that they'll all process the same way in the food processor. Add chickpeas, red pepper, green onions, carrot, dill, and sour cream to a food processor and process until it is the consistency of chicken or tuna salad (or the consistency you prefer).

Cut the baguette in half and then slice open in the middle. Layer the hummus, greens and slices of tomato, cucumber, and avocado on one side of the sandwich. Add the chickpea salad to the other side and fold in half.

Serve and enjoy!

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Veggie BBQ Pizza

3/15/2017

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I recently found this premade whole wheat pizza crust, which is great when you need to whip something up quickly! You can keep them in the freezer and since their already rolled out and thin, they defrost quickly, as opposed to a ball of uncooked dough.

I've said this before, but I love tacos, pizzas, and sandwiches for their versatility. There's no rule that says that pizza has to always be Italian, tacos Mexican, and so on. They are great blank canvases where you can add whatever flavors you would like! In this pizza I went BBQ style.

I used BBQ sauce as my base and added veggies that I typically associate with BBQ meals (and had in my freezer) - red onion, corn, broccoli, and edamame. If you have another type of bean on hand, such as pinto, kidney, or black-eyed pea on hand that may be a more authentic BBQ flavor. I did really love the texture of the cooked edamame on the pizza though. Then I topped it off with some guacamole - again not maybe totally BBQ style, but it helped balance out the texture and flavor profile since the BBQ sauce was a thin layer of the pizza. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:
Pizza Crust
1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
1 Cup Corn Kernels
1 Cup Edamame
1 Cup Broccoli
1 Small Red Onion
1-2 Avocados

Prep Time: 10 minutes (if using pre-cooked crust)

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Prep pizza crust as needed.

Spread BBQ Sauce on pizza dough. Thinly slice red onion and spread evenly across pizza. Top with corn and edamame. Chop up broccoli and spread evenly across pizza.

Once oven is preheated, cook pizza according to instructions for the dough, approximately 5-15 minutes. Be sure not to over cook or else you'll end up with burnt crust.

While pizza is cooking, prep your avocado. You could either mash it up and add dollops to your pizza like I did or cut into slices and top the pizza with your slices.

Once the pizza is ready, top with avocado, serve, and enjoy!

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Black Beans and Brown Rice

1/10/2017

1 Comment

A good friend of ours lived in Costa Rica for a couple years after college. Recently we were over at his place and he made us beans and rice for dinner, which he had learned how to make there. It had been on my list of recipes to try that I just never got around to making, but that night inspired me! It was so easy to make, cooking everything in the same pot, and it was delicious! I had worried in the past that the dish was too simple and would leave me unsatisfied, but I was wrong. The rice and beans stick to your ribs, you can add all the veggies you want, and the spices add a ton of flavor.

It's been a few months since that night, so I was cooking from memory. Onion and peppers are the standard veggies to add, but feel free to include whatever your favorites are. Same goes for the color of pepper, beans, and rice. If you change out the rice, but sure to make sure you have the right amount of water. Check the cooking instructions for your rice. Mine called for 2 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice, so I decided to split it evenly between water and veggie broth. For some reason I love adding cinnamon into Mexican/Carribbean type dishes. I don't think it's typical in this dish but I love the complexity that it adds (not to mention the health benefits).

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion
2 Red Peppers
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Tablespoon Oregano
2 teaspoons Cumin
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Cup Brown Rice
1 Can Black Beans
1 Cup Vegetable Broth
1 Cup Water
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Ground Red Pepper
1-2 Avocados
1 Bunch Green Onion
1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes Cook Time: 40-45 minutes Servings: 4

Instructions:
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Dice onion, peppers, and garlic and add to pot. Add spices - oregano, cumin, paprika, and cinnamon. Stir together. Cook for about 10 minutes or until peppers and onions are soft.

Add rice and stir for about 2 minutes.

Add beans, vegetable broth, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover pot and let sit for 20-25 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

While this is cooking, chop the avocado, tomato, and green onions for your garnish.

Turn the heat off. Add the ground red pepper, stir, and let sit for about ten minutes.

Serve, topped with the avocado, tomato, and rice.

Enjoy!

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Lucky Green Bowl

3/15/2015

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Looking for something healthy to make for St. Patrick's Day? Look no further! This bowl is chock full of awesome, healthy, greenness. It's got edamame, broccoli, basil, salad greens, avocado - what more could you want? You can use it as a side or a main dish. The quinoa and edamame provide a ton of filling protein. The avocado and pine nuts give you some healthy fats. And the broccoli has a ton of potassium and vitamin C. Eating this just makes you feel good! You know you're treating your body well, it tastes great, it fills you up, and you feel festive!

Plus, it's super easy to make. Steam the broccoli a bit. Add all the pesto ingredients in a food processor or blender. Then dump everything in a bowl and mix it together - how easy is that? It's so easy I forgot to take pictures of it all! There weren't that many steps to document!

I made this for a St. Patrick's themed going away party at work (full of a ton of non-vegans) and it was a big hit!

Ingredients:
1 Cup Edamame
1 Small - Medium Sized Head of Broccoli
1 Cup Cooked Quinoa
1 Avocado
1 Cup Greens

Pesto Ingredients:
1 Cup Basil
1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Cloves Garlic

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 3-4 as an entree

Instructions:
Chop up the broccoli so that you are left with small pieces of the heads - remove all the stems. You don't want the pieces of broccoli to be too much bigger than the edamame so that everything blends together well. Add the broccoli to a pot with enough water to cover about 1/2 of the broccoli. If you have a steaming basket feel free to use it. In that case the water should be below the basket. Cook for about 5 minutes, just so that the broccoli can be easily pierced with a fork.

While that is cooking add all the pesto ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Slice open an avocado, remove the pit, and slice the avocado into cubes.

If you have large greens, chop them up into smaller pieces.

Add everything to a bowl and mix together. Serve and Enjoy!

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Veggie Burger with Crispy Carrots on Tortilla

3/7/2015

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This is a story about making something out of nothing in your fridge (or freezer). Coming home after being out of town my fridge was basically bare. I had veggie burgers, but no buns. I had taco shells, but nothing to make tacos with. The only veggies I had were an avocado about to go bad and a carrot that was losing its crispness. Put it all together and what do you get? A veggie burger on tortillas!

I sliced the carrot thinly and fried it up in some olive oil to compensate for the age of the carrot and add some crisp to the sandwich. I added some baba ganoush, vegan cheese I had on hand, and topped it with the avocado. It almost looks like it was planned! Just goes to show you that you can make a gourmet sandwich out of whatever you can find in your fridge, you just need to be creative!

Ingredients:
2 Tortillas
1 Veggie Burger
1/2 Carrot
1 Avocado
1 Tablespoon Baba Ganoush
1 Slice of Vegan Cheese (optional)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Servings: 1

Instructions:
Heat a skillet over medium heat and add either a little bit of olive oil or water. Add the veggie burger to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes (if frozen) so that it has a nice crispy edge on the bottom. Flip it over and cook for another 5 minutes. If you are going to add a slice of vegan cheese, put it on about a minute before the burger is done.

Meanwhile, slice the carrot thinly either using a vegetable peeler, mandolin, or knife. Once the veggie burger is done, in a separate skillet over medium-high heat add the carrots to the skillet. They should need long on each side to get a nice crispiness.

Open and slice the avocado.

Ideally your burger and carrots are done around the same time. If one is done earlier then turn the heat to low and cover the skillet to keep it warm. Once both are done, remove the carrots from their skillet and add them on top of the burger. Place the tortillas on the open skillet for a couple seconds on each side, just to toast them a bit. Spread the baba ganoush over over one of the tortillas and top with the burger and carrots. Top with the avocado, any condiment you would like such as ketchup, BBQ sauce, or sriracha. Add the second tortilla on top. Serve and enjoy!

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Loaded Nachos

1/22/2015

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The other night Jay and I were starving and running errands after work at Target. I knew when I got home I would want to eat as quickly as possible and I didn't want to put too much effort into it, but I didn't know what I wanted to make. Then I saw a bag of tortillas and thought - Bam - that's it! I had a block of Teese vegan nacho cheese that I accidentally opened (I thought it was the mozzarella...) and needed to use. One of the best decisions ever. Jay loved both the cheese and sour cream substitutes. The cheese was buried under a lot of stuff so I'll have to make another recipe that allows you to taste the cheese more.

If you saw my post about Champ's Diner from last week then you know that I don't each nachos very frequently. I guess I was on a kick from my nachos last month and wanted some more! As usual, I went a little overboard on the portions and toppings and made a humongous amount of nachos. This recipe is great for sharing or for a night when you are beyond hungry (I do not recommend trying to eat this all by yourself... in one sitting). There is so much great protein in here! Beans! Quinoa! Tofu! Plus avocado - this one healthy (well except for the chips...) and filling pile of nachos!

Jay and I ate just about half of it for dinner. We were skeptical about how good leftover nachos could be but I couldn't part with my amazing creation, so into the fridge it went. I actually portions of heated it back up in the broiler and it was great!

Ingredients:
About 7oz. of Chips
1 15oz Can Black Beans
1 Block Teese Nacho Cheese
1 15 oz Jar Salsa
1/2 Cup Cooked Quinoa
1 Avocado
1/2 Block Tofu
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon Juice

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 4 as a meal

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread chips out on a cookie sheet. Break apart the Teese nacho cheese and spread/sprinkle over the chips. Put in the oven for about 5 minutes. It just needs to be in long enough for the cheese to melt.

Drain and rinse beans. Add beans and quinoa to pan over medium heat and stir together so that the beans break down a bit and look kinda like re-fried beans.

Combine tofu and apple cider vinegar in a blender or food processor until smooth. Slice the avocado.

Layer the chips and melted cheese with the beans and quinoa mixture, tofu sour cream, salsa, and avocado.

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Beyond Meat Tacos

1/12/2015

5 Comments

I try to eat whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible, but I like to try a new vegan product at least once. I find it exciting when I see advancements in vegan food options and I think vegan meat alternatives are a great way to help those making the transition from omnivore to vegetarian or vegan diets.

These Beyond Meat beef crumbles are so close to the real thing its amazing. Plus they're so convenient. They come frozen and defrost so quickly. You just dump the frozen crumbles right into your saute pan with a little bit of water and they're quickly ready to go. As you'll see in the instructions below, this was a super quick dinner came together in a breeze. The longest part was chopping up the tomato and avocado and putting everything in little bowls!

Cashew sour cream is a great alternative for those trying to avoid soy or if you just don't have any tofu in the house. That's how I found myself the other night, so I decided to whip up some cashew sour cream. Jay loves cashew sour cream more than regular, although tofu sour cream is his favorite, since it's naturally creamier. When I make cashew sour cream I make sure so blend it for as long as possible so that it gets creamier, since it can tend to have more of a grainy texture. Soaking the cashews beforehand can help with this, but I didn't have any time - the crumbles cooked so quickly and we were hungry!

Ingredients:
1 Package Beyond Meat Frozen Beef Crumbles
6 Taco Tortillas (I used La Nina Tortillas)
1 Packet Taco Seasoning (I used Ortega 40% Less Sodium)

Toppings:
1 Avocado
4 oz Cherry Tomatoes
Spinach or other green

Cashew Sour Cream:
1/2 Cup Cashews
1/3 Cup Water
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 6 tacos

Instructions:
Slice the avocado and tomato.

Cook frozen Beyond Meat Crumbles on the stove with a little bit of water until it is no longer frozen. Add the taco seasoning a stir until well combined.

Add the cashews, water, and lemon juice to a food processor and blend until smooth.

Heat a second pan over the stove. Place a tortilla on the pan for about a minute, or until crispy, then flip to the other side and repeat.

Tear the spinach and place it on the tortilla, add a quarter cup of taco mix, sour cream, avocado, and tomato. Enjoy!

5 Comments

Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

11/30/2014

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I made this for my family last week while I was at home. My mom, dad, and uncle all ate it and loved it! I love working with spaghetti squash cause it's so versatile - you can make it work with any cuisine. I saw this recipe on Pinterest from Leelalicous and thought it would be a great last minute dinner to make! You can sub out the vegetables for whatever you prefer or have on hand.

Ingredients:
1 medium to large Spaghetti Squash
1/2 Avocado
1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
Green Beans
1 Cup Shredded Carrots
Basil

Peanut Sauce:
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
1/2 Lime
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
2 Cloves of Garlic - minced
1 teaspoon Fresh Ginger - minced
1/2 teaspoon Fresh Lemongrass (optional) - minced

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Cook Time: 30-45 minutes

Servings: 4 as entree

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash cut side down in a baking pan with a little bit of water on the bottom. Cover it with foil and cook for about 30-45 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your squash.

While the squash is in the oven, prepare the rest of your ingredients. Wash and prep the green beans and steam them for about 5-7 minutes, until they're soft but not mushy. Once they're cool, slice them in long diagonal strips to make them skinnier. Slice the tomatoes in half and cut the avocado into cubes. Put all of the ingredients except the avocado and basil in a large bowl.

Combine the peanut sauce ingredients in another bowl and whisk them all together.

The squash will be done when you can easily stick a fork through the skin, don't let it get too mushy though or all the "spaghetti" strands will stick together. Once the squash has cooled enough that you can touch it, use a fork to scrape apart the inside of the squash, pulling the flesh off of the skin. The flesh will fall apart into spaghetti-like strings.

Add the squash to your bowl of vegetables. Pour in the peanut sauce little by little until you have enough to coat everything but it isn't too soupy. If you have any left over you can use it as dipping sauce. Slice the basil and add that on top, along with the avocado. Enjoy!

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Southwestern Pizza

11/24/2014

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This is another recipe inspired by the awesome Vegan Richa (I told you she was one of my favorites).

I'd had pizza dough from Something GUD in the freezer for a while so Jay and I decided to finally make something with it. I let him pick from my Pinterest list of vegan pizzas and this is the one he picked! It was delicious and soooo filling. We divided the pizza into 6 slices and each only had one slice. Jay not only approved of the dish as a whole, but also the Teese Vegan Mozzarella and the dough individually. Jay had to taste the cheese ahead of time before he let me put it on the whole pizza and said it tasted exactly like mozzarella. It melted really well too.

I don't have a pizza stone, so I rolled my dough in a rectangle in order to get it to fit onto the cookie sheet. The original recipe called for spinach, but I had kale and thought it would be a good way to get some into Jay's diet, so I used that instead.

Ingredients:
Pizza dough
1 Cup Kale (or other cooking greens)
2 Cups (1 can) cooked beans - kidney, black, or pinto work best
1 Cup of sliced tomatoes
1/2 package Teese mozzarella (or other vegan cheese)
1/2 Cup BBQ sauce
1/4 Cup corn
1 Avocado

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Servings: 6

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out dough until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Sprinkle a cookie sheet (or pizza stone) with cornmeal or place parchment paper on it. Cook the pizza dough for about 5 minutes on each side, so that its firm enough to hold up on its own, but not cooked all the way.

While the dough is cooking, prep your toppings. Chop/rip up your kale into smaller pieces.

Place toppings on top of dough in this order: kale, tomatoes, beans, cheese, corn, BBQ sauce.

Put the pizza back in the oven and cook for 15 or 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the dough has a nice golden brown color to it.

Let the pizza cool a bit, add avocado, and enjoy!

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Scrambled Tofu

11/23/2014

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Scrambled Tofu is a quick and easy breakfast dish, especially if you have Vegg vegan egg yolk replacer. Vegg has both an egg yolk replacer and a egg replacer for baking. I've only used the egg yolk version in pretty basic ways, mainly sprinkling it on tofu. It's main ingredient is nutritional yeast, which is high in B12 (the only essential nutrient that vegans do not get naturally in their diet).

Ingredients:
1 Package Firm Tofu
4 Tablespoons Vegg Vegan Egg Yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt (if you have Himalayan Pink Salt that will add a sulfery taste)
1 teaspoon pepper
Tomato
Spinach
Avocado

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4 as a side or 2 as a main dish

Pressing my tofu

Instructions:
Wrap and press all the water out of the tofu. This is not essential, but will produce a better product. Because tofu comes in water, it helps to press the tofu out so that it can absorb whatever flavors you are adding to it. I wrapped my tofu in paper towels and a dish cloth and then put something heavy on it, like the inside of my slow cooker. If anyone is looking for a Christmas gift a Tofu Press would be awesome. I pressed my tofu for 10-15 minutes, but however much time you have is good. If you're pressed for time, you can still have a good scrambled tofu without it.

Add a little bit of water to your pan and crumble the tofu into the pan so that it resembles the texture of scrambled eggs. You can continue to break up the tofu as you cook it. Add 1 tablespoon of Vegg for every quarter of your tofu. In these pictures I made half of my tofu with two tablespoons of Vegg. Continue to cook, mix, and add a little bit of water until all the Vegg is absorbed and the tofu is yellow. Add salt and pepper to taste. I generally top mine with some tomatoes and avocado and my favorite condiments - Heinz Ketchup and Sriracha. Eat on it's own or serve with some bean and/or potato hash.

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<<Previous

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Veggie BBQ Pizza

Black Beans and Brown Rice

Lucky Green Bowl

Veggie Burger with Crispy Carrots on Tortilla

Loaded Nachos

Beyond Meat Tacos

Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

Southwestern Pizza

Scrambled Tofu

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