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! 

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!

The idea of a homemade tomato sauce may conjure up ideas of sauce slow cooking on the stove all day, letting the flavors marinate and blend. That is not was this recipe is all about. This recipe is for when you get home late from work and are looking for something quick and nourishing to heat up for dinner. If you're lucky, you'll have some of that slow simmer sauce canned and on hand to use in this recipe!  

​

The prep work here is fairly minimal, chop up some garlic, onion, and peppers as a base to your sauce. If you have other fresh veggies on hand such as mushrooms or spinach feel free to add those as well! Adding the tempeh adds another element to the texture and some hearty protein.

I had some extra cashew sauce that I had made for the Loaded Baked Potato Pizza, which I added in to my sauce to make it creamy (and add more protein). If you want to keep it as just a basic tomato sauce then you can omit this.  

Instructions:

Dice garlic, onion, and red bell pepper. Add garlic and onion to a non-stick skillet and cook until the onions are translucent. Stir occasionally to prevent them from burning. Add the red bell pepper. Stir to combine.

Crumble the tempeh into the pan. Continue to break apart with a wooden spoon or spatula until it is the desired size and consistently. I like to break it down pretty far so that it is about the same size as the onions and bell pepper. 

​Once the tempeh has been broken down to the desired level, well mixed in with the other ingredients, and has a bit of crispiness, add in the sauces, stir and combine. 

Serve over your favorite pasta, with a side of whole wheat bread and a nice salad. Enjoy!

Pretty much every time I go to Whole Foods I buy some of their whole wheat pizza dough. It's so good and it there are endless options for what you can make with it. At this point I have a bunch of it in my freezer so I decided to finally make some pizza! 

Instructions:
Put the cashews in water to soak.

Slice potatoes thinly using either a knife or a mandolin. Make sure that they are all the same width so that they cook evenly. Place them in a bowl full of luke warm water and salt for at least an hour. After they are done soaking, lay potatoes out on a towel and cover with another one to soak up all the moisture. This process gets some of the starch and liquid out of the potatoes so that they crisp better. 

While the potatoes are soaking slice the onion and red bell pepper into thin strips.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. 
​
Roll out the pizza dough to your desired shape based on your cooking surface. If you are using a cookie sheet sprinkle some ground corn meal on the tray or use parchment paper to make sure it doesn't stick. If you have a pizza stone, make sure you put enough flour or corn meal on your pizza peel so that the pizza dough will slide off easily when transferring into the oven (admittedly I have yet to perfect this myself as you can see in the post-oven photo). 

To prepare the cashew sauce place all of the ingredients in a food processor or high quality blender (such as a Vitamix or Ninja) and blend until smooth. The amount of water I used is approximate. Add it a little at a time as needed for the ingredients to blend together well. 

Put the rolled out pizza dough on the pizza peel or cookie sheet. Spread a generous layer of the cashew sauce on the pizza dough. Cover the pizza with potatoes, overlapping them slightly. If you have extra cashew cheese you could put another layer of the sauce over the potatoes. I didn't do this but I think it would be a great addition and help keep the peppers and onions on the pizza. Next evenly distribute the peppers and onions over the pizza. Sprinkle the chives over the pizza. 

Put pizza in the oven and cook for 15 minutes. 

Top with red pepper flakes as desired. Cool, slice, and serve. Enjoy!

I love cooking a big breakfast on the weekend because there are so many ways to mix and match ingredients to come up with a different twist and flavor each time. This recipe is so colorful and nutritious, full of veggies, carbs, and protein it's sure to be a satisfying breakfast!

This is a fully satisfying dish if you eat it on its own or makes a great side as part of a larger brunch menu. 

Instructions:
Mince the garlic. Finely chop the white and light green parts of the leeks - once you have sliced the leeks go back over the leek rings with your knife to chop them up even smaller. Rinse the leeks underwater as they can get dirt within the rings of the leeks. Heat the garlic and leeks in a skillet over medium heat with the olive oil. 

Chop the sweet potatoes and green pepper to about the size of the beans, so that everything is a uniform size. Add the sweet potatoes to the skillet and stir them around to let them get a bit of a crisp on the end. Add the green peppers and cook until the sweet potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. 

Add the beans, turmeric, and paprika. Stir to combine. Once the beans are warm enough to your liking, serve and eat. You can top with your favorite sauce - ketchup, sriracha, vegan ranch dressing - or avocado if you have some.

Enjoy!