Fresh Cherry Tomato Salsa

This year I've grown an abundance of cherry tomatoes, especially yellow ones, along with jalapenos and cilantro. I whipped up some amazing fresh salsa the other day using all of these plus some green onion and spices and served it with black bean tacos topped with sour cream. I could eat this every day!

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of green onions, chopped finely
• 1-2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes (yellow and/or red), diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1-2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• pinch of sugar
• pinch of salt and black pepper

Chop and mix everything together. Use the spices to taste and squeeze a bit of lime juice into it if you like. Great with tacos, chips, quesadillas, eggs, etc.

Tempeh Sloppy Joes

For whatever reason vegetarian sloppy joes sounded like a good idea today. I searched the internet for a recipe and there are probably thousands of them. I ended up trying this one (from Lazarocooks) and it was pretty good.

If I had to change anything I'd reduce the amount of tomato sauce and maybe add some lentils or some other beans. Since it was a little too saucy I added about 2 or 3 tablespoons of instant mashed potato flakes to thicken it up a bit. So here's what I ended up with:

Ingredients

8 oz. package tempeh, finely cubed/crumbled (I used this kind)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 tbsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. Sriracha

2-3 tbsp. potato flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pan or wok on medium heat. Add onion and saute until transparent.

Add tempeh and red pepper and saute until browned a bit. 

Stir in chili powder, sriracha and garlic powder and saute a little longer.

Add in worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and tomato sauce.

Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. If it's still too saucy, stir in the potato flakes until thickened to your liking. 

Serve on kaiser buns. Makes at least 4 sandwiches.

Colcannon - Day 15

Tonight I tried out this vegan colcannon recipe to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Except I un-vegan-ed it a bit. I used parmesan cheese and regular milk since I did not have the dairy-free varieties of them. If you love potatoes and kale, check out that link for the recipe since I followed it exactly. It was delicious!

Roasted Gobi Aloo - Day 14

Day 14 and we're not really missing the meat at all. We are also spending a lot less (veggies are often cheaper than meat and we're not eating out as much). Here's tonight's meatless meal inspired by this, but simplified by using a prepackaged sauce.

Ingredients

• 4 medium sized yukon gold potatoes, diced
• half a head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• olive oil
• salt
• 1 pouch of simmer sauce (like Tasty Bite, we used Good Korma)
• sriracha
• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed

Preheat oven to 450
Toss potatoes and cauliflower with olive oil and salt. Spread out into a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Pour sauce into a big pan or wok and heat on low
When veggies are done, scrape them into the pan and add chick peas. Stir to coat evenly.
Add sriracha to your desired heat level. Add a splash of water if the sauce is too thick.
Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

Tofu Satay - Day 6

Tonight we put together a quick veggie stir-fry inspired by this video:

Except I used the following:

• baby portobellos, chopped 
• sweet onion, diced
• yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 block of extra firm tofu, diced and shredded a bit
• Satay sauce
• Sriracha

Served over plain white Jasmine rice with a little fresh cilantro on top.

Meatless March Day 1

To kick off Meatless March 2012 I'm making Curry Tempeh stir-fry for dinner tonight. I don't have an onion or mushrooms though so tonight's version will be garlic, asparagus, carrots and red pepper. I also don't have any prepackaged curry sauce so I'll be making some from scratch using curry powder and maybe some sriracha sauce.

I'll be serving it with jasmine rice and naan & hummus. Yum!

Veggie Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, I'm considering planning an all vegetarian spread for my husband and me. Sure, we'll most likely have a bit of turkey or ham at my parent's house but I'd like to see if I can put together an awesome meal at home without it. This post is the beginning of my collection of easy vegetarian/healthy holiday recipes. I hope to expand this through to Xmas as well.

• crockpot acorn squash (also gluten free)
• maple roasted Brussels sprouts
• parsnip ecrasse
• Ok pretty much all of these (check out the vegetarian section) I was going to pick out a few choice recipes but they are all worthy of bookmarking.
• roasted root veggies
• golden-crusted Brussels sprouts
• vegetarian Cornish pasty
• and maybe I'll work up my own Thanksgiving-style veggie pasties

Spicy Veggie Cold-Fighting Soup

I was home sick with a terrible cold this past weekend so I whipped up some soup using some of the leftover filling from last weeks Butternut Squash Pasties. It's a pretty rough recipe but it was delicious so I'll share anyway :)

Ingredients:

• about 2 cups diced fresh veggies (I used butternut squash, carrots and onion)
• 4 small diced potatoes
• 1/2 cup or so chopped cabbage
• 4 cups water
• 2 veggie bouillon cubes
• salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, rosemary, bay leaf, dried parsley (yea, I eyeballed all of this. I was apparently heavy-handed with the peppers)

Throw all of this into a crockpot and cook on high for 5 hours. I added half a can of white beans during the last 30 minutes to add some protein. Leave this out if you wish or maybe add rice or pasta instead. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Curry Soup

I found this recipe at Martha Stewart's website (of all places) yesterday and I just happened to have everything I needed to make it at home already. So of course I had to try it out. I followed the recipe pretty closely except I did not make my own curry spice mix (I just used a store bought curry powder) and I added a bit of orzo pasta to bulk it up a bit. Delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp curry powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 half a sweet onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 butternut squash, seeded, peeled, cubed
• 4-5 cups water + 1 bouillon cube
• 8 oz red lentils
• 1/4 cup of orzo pasta
• a dash of red pepper flakes for extra heat
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Melt butter at medium heat in a big pot or dutch oven and add salt and curry powder and stir for a minute.
• Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Stir in ginger powder.
• Add squash to pot, stir and let cook for about 5 min. until squash starts to soften.
• Add water and bouillon and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 min. (at this point I used my potato masher to mash some of the squash a bit.)
• Stir in lentils and orzo and simmer for 10 to 15 more min. until soft.
• Taste and add spices as desired.

Super Sunrise Juice

Here's another exceptional juice that we created. It's like eating a whole salad but with enough sweetness and tanginess to make it feel like you're just having a cocktail. It's super delicious and healthy as is but I can't say it wouldn't also be great with a splash of rum/tequila/vodka :)

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 whole bunch of celery
1 golden delicious apple
2 pears
2 limes
1/2 a small beet
4 large carrots

makes at least 4- 8oz. servings

OMG, a photo!

Citrus Power Juice

After we recently watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, we were inspired to jump on the juicing bandwagon. My husband had been wanting to try it for a while anyway and since they were not pushing a product other than fresh produce, we were convinced. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking it out. Their results are amazing!

Anyway, we bought ourselves a juicer and have been making about 2 batches of juice every day. The following recipe is one that I came up with yesterday and is possibly my favorite so far.

Ingredients:
1/4 of a pineapple
2 oranges
2 limes
2 granny smith apples
4 carrots
1/2 of a large cucumber
2 stalks of celery
1 inch piece of ginger
about 2 cups of chard (or spinach or kale)
about 1/2 cup of coconut water

makes at least 4 8oz. servings

It turned out tangy and sweet like a summer cocktail and it's full of vitamin C among other things. Sometimes our juice ends up ugly brown due to the mixture of bright reds, greens, purples, oranges, etc. While the color doesn't make it any less delicious or nutritious, this one turned out particularly pretty. Just a light yellow/orange. Beautiful! Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, I'm not good about getting photos of my recipes before we devour them.

Kashi Pilaf

This isn't exactly a recipe but a recommendation. At my house we eat a lot of rice as we try to limit our wheat (and therefore, pasta) intake. Kashi makes many wonderful products including this 7 whole grain pilaf which is a mixture of whole oats, brown rice, buckwheat, sesame seeds, etc. I use it as an alternative to rice with stir-fry dishes or in soup but it can also be used as a hot breakfast with a little honey/sugar/maple syrup or in a cold salad like tabbouleh. It has a chewy/crunchy texture and I often add brown lentils to the mixture and cook it up in my rice cooker. It's full of fiber and protein and is always satisfying.

Red Beans and Rice

...the easiest way! Red beans and rice is pretty easy to begin with but I made it even easier using boxed and canned products. This can be prepared in 25 minutes with no worries about measuring or chopping or pre-soaking anything.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Zatarain's Reduced Sodium Red Beans and Rice (because the regular stuff is full of MSG)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with chilis
• 1/4 cup of dried TVP (optional)
• a bit of salt and pepper if needed
• 3 1/4 cups of water (as directed on rice box)
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine

Directions:

• Just follow the directions on the Zatarain's box but add the TVP in with the rice mixture.
• when about 3 - 5 minutes remain in cooking time stir in the can of tomatoes.

That's it! If you eat meat, this is good with ground beef or turkey, andouille sausage or even shrimp. If you don't, the TVP adds enough texture to fake it and add some extra protein. Serves 2 as a main entree.

Frozen Banana Cream

I've seen this idea going around the internet quite a bit lately so I gave it a try. It's kinda like ice cream but it's dairy free. It's yet another great way to use up over ripe bananas. And if you're like me, bananas are only perfect for eating for about a day and a half so they go "bad" quickly and often. So once they've passed their prime, peel, cut up into inch-long pieces and freeze them. If you're going to use them right away you can just freeze them on a cookie sheet, otherwise just pop them into a ziplock freezer bag and have them on hand for smoothies or banana ice cream!

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas
• about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (optional)

Directions:

• Put the bananas into your food processor or blender and blend until smooth. 
• Add the peanut butter and blend until it's mixed in. You may have to scrape down the sides once or twice. 
• If it seems too thick you can add a little milk (soy, almond, rice, whatever kind you like). 
• If it's too thin you can pop it into the freezer for a bit to let it set. 
• It will set up firmer than regular ice cream but if you let it sit on the counter for a few minutes it will soften.
• It's super delicious drizzled with a little chocolate syrup :)

There are lots of things you could add to this (instead of or in addition to peanut butter) to make it extra awesome: other frozen fruit, other nut butters, chocolate syrup or cocoa powder, honey, crumbled cookies or graham crackers...

Frozen No-Bake Cookies

So these may not actually have any veggies in them but they are easy and vegetarian (and possibly vegan if you use the right chocolate.) They are surprisingly healthy though and everyone needs a chocolate fix now and then. I found the recipe at Oh She Glows and tweaked just a few details. I recommend checking out her blog thoroughly, she has tons of great vegan recipes!
I had some friends over for drinks and a movie this weekend and I whipped up a batch of these in about 5 minutes before they got to my house. I popped them in the freezer and they were ready to eat in an hour (well, we might have had to "test" them after 30 minutes.)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• a small handful of sunflower seeds (but use any nuts or seeds you like)

Directions:

• Melt the chocolate and peanut butter chips in the microwave. Takes about 1.5 minutes but check every 30 seconds and stir to make sure you don't burn them.
• Stir in the vanilla, cocoa and mash the bananas into the chocolate.
• Stir in the oats and seeds.
• Drop onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper or (what I did) line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill each cup 1/4 to 1/3 full.
• Freeze for at least an hour and store them in the freezer for a frosty dessert.

This is a double batch so you should end up with 12 muffin cups worth.

Curry Tempeh Stir-Fry

This recipe involves some short cuts that make it very easy. I got the recipe from the back of a Coconut Curry Tempeh box, made a few alterations and also used a prepared curry sauce. This is sort of a landmark recipe for me because I typically hate mushrooms and onions but this recipe has both and I loved it!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of marinated tempeh
• about 16 stalks of asparagus
• about 8 baby carrots sliced into strips
• half a white onion, diced or julienned
• about 6 shitake mushrooms sliced thinly
• 1 package of Tasty Bite Good Korma Simmer Sauce or something similar

Directions:

• Steam asparagus in the microwave for 2.5 minutes, chop into 2 inch pieces and set aside
• Prepare tempeh according to box directions. Essentially heat some olive oil in a pan, brown the tempeh slices by sauteing for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside and keep warm.
• In the same pan, heat some more oil and saute the carrots, onion and mushrooms for 8 minutes or until soft. Add asparagus and saute for another minute or so.
• Pour sauce over veggies, add a little water and simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens a bit.
• Stir together with the tempeh and serve over rice or asian noodles.
• Oh and I may have added a little salt, pepper and Major Grey mango chutney

Serves 2