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!

I made cauliflower buffalo wing pizza a couple years ago and since then I've wanted to make cauliflower bites again. We had a potluck at work last week so I thought it was a good opportunity to make it again. I found this recipe from Hot for Food that I used as inspiration. ​We were having a Mexican themed event so I added some chipotle and cinnamon for a little something different. 

It make look like there are a lot of steps, but it's a pretty simple recipe to put together. The batter and sauce are easy to mix up and the only other thing you need to do is chop up the cauliflower and dip it in each! Since I was taking this to work I did everything except baking the bites for the last time the night before at home. I put the bites back into a bowl with the sauce and let it sit overnight. At work I baked them for the last time in our toaster oven at work. 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Chop cauliflower into bite size pieces. Add all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together. Add in the non-dairy milk and water, stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in. You want to make sure the batter is thick enough to stay on the cauliflower but not so thick that it doesn't stir easily. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip the cauliflower into the batter until it is covered in batter and place on the baking sheet. Make sure you are placing the cauliflower far enough apart so that the batter doesn't blend together or else you will get one big cauliflower bite instead of two separate ones. 

Cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Flip halfway through so that the bites crisp on both ends. 

Once they've cooked, allow them to cool. Blend the sriracha, BBQ sauce, and chipotle peppers together. Put the cauliflower in a bowl and pour the sauce over the bites. Mix well so that they are all covered in the sauce. 

Put back on the baking sheet with the parchment paper and cook for another 25 minutes. 

​Let cool, serve, and enjoy!

I've been on a Thai Curry kick recently. There's something about the combination of the spicy broth and coconut cream that I love. When you take a bite its so spicy and intense, and then the coconut sweetness comes in just enough for your mouth to recover before the next bite.  Plus, with all the veggies I always feel good about ordering it for delivery. 

I wanted to try cooking it for myself, for the challenge of trying something new, but also so that I could have it more frequently and not have to pay for delivery! Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than I thought! I found a lot of great resources on the website, Rachel Cooks Thai, and was able to come up with a great recipe.

One of the main differences I made was using two cans of coconut milk instead of one. Rachel talks about customizing the balance of coconut milk to water based on your own preferences. I made an earlier batch with only one can of milk and more water and I really didn't feel like I could taste the coconut flavor at all. 

Like I mentioned, its a pretty simple recipe to make - heat the coconut milk, add in your curry paste, add more liquid and your chopped veggies, simmer until veggies are soft and the flavors have marinated! 

Let me know what you think! What's your favorite kind of curry? 

Instructions:

Combine the rice and water in a pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 35-40 minutes or until the water is absorbed. 

Chop all of the veggies and tofu into cubes. Press the excess water out of the tofu. Fry the tofu in a skillet or non-stick pan with turmeric until all sides are crispy. 

Open the two cans of coconut milk and scoop out the solid cream part at the top and put into a pan over medium heat. Stir until the cream has liquefied and begins to bubble. Add the curry paste and again stir to combine. 

Pour the remaining coconut milk into the pan. Add your veggies and tofu and one cup of water. You can add more water depending on how thick you like your curry broth. 

Cook until the veggies are soft and ready to eat. 

​Serve the rice and veggies in two separate bowls. As you are eating add the rice into the veggie bowl to soak up the broth and mix with the veggies - 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!

Get ready to see a lot of taco recipes! I've been eating them a lot recently. They're so versatile - almost a mix between a stir fry and a sandwich. You can cook up almost whatever combo you'd like - just throw together whatever you have in your fridge, stick it between some tortillas, and voila - you have dinner! Depending on how much chopping you have to do and what kind of vegetables you're cooking the whole thing takes 10-20 minutes!

Also, you can really play around and have fun with the flavors, combining different cuisines so that it doesn't feel like you're eating the same thing all the time. This recipe has pretty standard Mexican and South American flavors, but in later recipes I post you'll see that you can put pretty much anything in a taco. I like the combination of potatoes and beans for a couple reasons. They both substantial enough to give you something to bite into and leave you feeling full and satisfied. The sweet potato adds a lot of flavor on its own, so you really don't need to add many additional spices. And of course, they're both full of nutrition - protein, potassium, fiber, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C - they're a winning combo!

Instructions:
Add a small amount of water to a medium-sized skillet on medium heat, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chopped sweet potatoes and stir them around a bit to make sure they don't stick to the pan. Cook the potatoes for about 5 minutes. You'll need to add more water, a little bit at a time, to make sure they don't stick. Only add enough to keep the potatoes off the bottom of the pan, you don't want the potatoes to be swimming in the water otherwise you'll be boiling them and they won't get any sort of a crisp to them. When the potatoes are almost to the desired amount of softness, add the beans, cumin, paprika, and chili powder. Continue to add water and stir until the potatoes reach your desired softness and the beans are warm.

If you feel like you can take your eyes of the potatoes (you should be able to), then you can make the sour cream while they're cooking. Or, you can turn the potato and bean mixture to low once they're done and make the sour cream then. Break up the tofu a bit and put it in a food processor. You don't need to break it up that much, it just helps mix together better to spread it around the food processor since you aren't adding that many ingredients. Add the apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and blend together. If you would like the sour cream to be more liquidy you can add more vinegar/juice or just water.

I keep my tortillas in the freezer. Right before I'm ready to eat my tacos I place the tortilla on a small pan on high heat - about a 7 or 8 out of 10 - for a couple seconds. Since they still have some moisture from being frozen they don't burn. Watch it until it starts to look dry on the bottom and then flip it over and quickly warm it on the other side. The whole process shouldn't take more than a few seconds.

Top your tacos with the potato and bean mixture, the sour cream, some salsa and greens and anything else you would like to add. Enjoy!

This is dip will fill just about any need you have and overrule any excuse you can come up with:

• Never cooked anything before? Are your store bought trays the laughing stock of every dinner party? Ease yourself into it and surprise everyone with this homemade dish!
  
• Forgot you had a dinner party tonight? Did the dish you plan on making turn out terrible? You have time to make this!
• Do you have what to eat snack food and not feel bad about it? - This is basically just black beans! Protein and fiber all the way!
• The only vegan going to an event? Want something small that you can eat as an app and a main dish and other people will like? Here you go! 

I made this dish as I was walking out the door on my way to a dinner party - literally. And not in the literally but not actually, I literally had my coat on and was walking out the door, when I decided I needed to bring something else (hence the lack of photos). It was that fast and easy to make. I even had to defrost my beans - that took about half the time!

We were heading over to a friend's place for some tacos and I was the only vegan/vegetarian going. It was a small event, only about 4 or 5 people, so not a huge potluck where everyone was bringing a dish. I wanted to make sure I had something to eat, but didn't want to bring too much. This was perfect. I was able to share it with the party as an app and then I used the dip as the meat of my tacos.

I dumped all the ingredients except the tomatoes into the food processor and blended them until it was smooth and I was happy with the flavor. We were stopping at the convenience store to pick up some chips and guac, so I grabbed some cherry tomatoes as well and added them to the dish once we got to my friend's place.

So next time you're in a pickle and need something quick, easy, delicious and nutritious - think of making  a bean dip! You can use it as a spread on sandwiches, as a filling in tacos, burritos, or enchiladas, or as a dip with chips or fresh veggies! You could really use any kind of bean in this recipe - black, kidney, white, chickpeas, lentils - get creative! Mix it up!

Instructions:
Drain and rinse beans.

Add all ingredients except the tomatoes to a food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust spiciness and seasonings to taste. Transfer the dip to a bowl.

Dice the tomatoes and them to the bowl, stirring everything together. Serve and enjoy!

I had some of the best tofu ever when eating out the other day - the firmness and texture were amazing. It was hard to tell that I was eating tofu (they had even sliced the tofu on an angle so that it looked like chicken breast). I asked the waiter how it was prepared and he told me that the chef pressed, seared, and baked the tofu. I had to try to recreate it! It turned out great and was not difficult to make. If you have a cast iron skillet (or other oven-safe pan) you can use the same pan from the stove right into the oven and would probably be ideal.

As I have all winter - I had some carrots on hand and some butternut squash that I had shredded and froze. I added some cooking greens and mushrooms. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Make sure to chop them to approximately the same size so that they all cook for the same amount of time.

I made mine for lunch, so I divided everything into four portions to bring into work with me.

Instructions:
Press your tofu for about 5 to 10 minutes. Slice in fours. Sear tofu for 5 minutes on each side on high heat with a little bit of water or oil. Sprinkle turmeric and ginger on each side. Cook in oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.

While the tofu is cooking - chop and saute the vegetables with water over medium heat. Start with the carrots and squash. Once again, add a generous coating of turmeric and ginger and stir in to cover all the veggies. When they are soft add the greens and mushrooms and cook until the greens are wilted. I generally need to add the greens a little at a time and let them wilt down until I have room for some more.

Serve the veggies over quinoa and top with a slice of tofu. Top with sriracha, if desired. Enjoy!

Another breakfast sandwich! This is a protein-packed breakfast sandwich with both beans and tofu, plus a ton of greens and whole wheat bread. Look at all those different colors too! If you're trying to add some variety into you diet this sandwich is for you - there's a wide variety of nutrients in this sandwich! In my typical fashion there's a ton of stuff loaded on this sandwich, which makes it a little messy to eat. The thinner you slice your potatoes the better they'll fit on the sandwich.

I was trying to find some oil alternatives to use when cooking my veggies, plus a seasoning for the tofu, so I went with the Alex's Ugly Sauce hot sauce I had in my fridge. It did a great job on both ends but unsurprisingly I ended up with a pretty spicy sandwich! I like combining spicy flavors with tofu because the tofu adds a cool and refreshing texture that helps to temper the spiciness. The Vegg powder adds complexity to the flavor of the tofu, helping to counter-balance the spice and add an egg-like feel.

Instructions:
Slice the tofu in half longways and press. Slice onion and sweet potato into thin slices. Heat onion and sweet potato on medium heat with a little bit of water, 1 teaspoon cumin, and 1 teaspoon of hot sauce for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the black beans on one of your slices of bread and mush/spread into the bread using a fork. It's best to add a little bit at a time so that you have room on the bread. Top with some sriracha if you would like (it's a pretty spicy sandwich).

Add the tofu to you pan with the onion and sweet potato. Add the second teaspoon of hot sauce and half of the tumeric, cumin, and Vegg powder. Once the tofu gets a nice crispiness on the bottom, flip the slices over. Sprinkle the second half of the cumin, tumeric, and Vegg powder. Let the other side get crispy and then flip once more.

This is where you have to use all of your coordination skills. Make some room on your pan to add your slice of bread with the black beans on it (make sure there's a little bit of liquid under the bread so it doesn't burn - you can add some cooking spray or a bit of oil if you would like. Add the salad greens. Add the two slices of tofu next to each other. Add the potato slices and onion. Try to spread the potato slices out to make them flat on the sandwich. Top with the other slice of bread.

Once the bottom slice is toasted flip the sandwich over. You may have to use two hands so be careful not to burn yourself.

Slice in half and enjoy!

Beans. Beets. Brownies. Yup. You read that right. These brownies have kidney beans and beets in them. Beets are one of the most nutrient rich foods you can eat. Just look at how intense that magenta color is! They're full of fiber, folate, betaine, and manganese. Couple that with the antioxidants from chocolate and these brownies are essentially a health food! I love using vegetables and other healthy ingredients to make desserts because then I can get my chocolate fix in and not feel guilty about it. Plus, many people are intimidated by beets, so this is a great way to add them into your diet or cooking repertoire.

Adding beets and beans to brownies not only adds nutritional value, but also allows you to remove unhealthy ingredients such as eggs, sugar, and oil. You may think that with the low amounts of sugar that these brownies are going to taste like a health food - but no worries, that's what the cocoa powder is for! That flavor is so strong and intense that it completely masks the bean and beet flavor. All you get is the added sweetness from the roasted beets.

There is a bit more prep work involved than making brownies out of the box because you have to roast the beets. But you can just throw them in the oven and do something else while you wait for them to cook. Many people say to roast the beets with the skins on and then peel them off, but that involves more work waiting for them to cool, which I am not patient enough for. Once those beets are out of the oven I want to start cooking. I use a knife or vegetable peeler - slice off the ends and then peel the skins of the beets. If you slice them a bit then it also cuts down on roasting time.

This recipe was a big adventure for me because I generally do more cooking than baking. I like being able to tweak things as I go - experiment and fix any flavor or consistency issues. However, with baking you have to get it right in the beginning and then hope for the best! I wanted to make these gluten free, but after adding all my other ingredients together I felt that the batter was too gooey and needed some more substance, so I caved and added a bit of flour. I've failed at substituting gluten free flours for standard flour in the past so I thought I would play it safe and just use regular flour in this recipe. These turned out way better than I thought so I'll definitely continue to experiment and figure out a way to make them gluten free so that they can be enjoyed by more people.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel and slice beets. Drizzle with some olive oil, wrap in an aluminum foil pouch, and place in the oven for 45 minutes. Place them in a food processor and pulse until fine. You want them chopped up super tiny, but not so much that you make a puree.

Mash up the cooked beans and add the beets to the same bowl. Add the vanilla extract and combine them all together.
In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients - chocolate powder, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour.

Add the dry ingredients to the beets and beans and mix them all together. Add the chocolate chips and fold them into the batter.

Pour the mixture into a greased (or use parchment paper) 9x9 or 8x8 brownie pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.

I've entered this recipe in the Virtual Vegan Potluck 5

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!  

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!