Hummus + variations

Total Time: 5 minutes

 

1 15oz can garbanzo beans, drained and lightly rinsed

2 cloves garlic

Juice from 1 lemon

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbs tahini

1 tbs kosher salt

2 tsp cumin

In a high-speed blender or food processor combine all ingredients and mix to your desired texture. Make it more/less garlicy or lemony or cuminy to your taste.

That’s it…why are you buying pre-made hummus?? Seriously…. This is soooo much better and you will impress your family, friends, and neighbors.

(note – if it’s not mixing well or is too thick, don’t be scared to gradually add a little water to get it moving again)

(another note – don’t be afraid of tahini, just think of it as sesame seed “peanut butter,” keep it in the fridge, and always mix it up really well before using)

Experiment with this basic recipe by using different beans, beets, or even carrots. For instance, I love making black-eyed-pea hummus with a little creole seasoning. You can add a little jalapeño, red peppers, sriracha, more garlic, etc. The one thing you’ll need to be aware of is your moisture level – reserve some bean liquid in case you need to thicken it up a bit after your add-ins.

Enjoy!

Yes Karen, bread is vegan

I’m not the best baker. I’m a little too “a dash of this and a dash of that” to go it on my own. So that’s why i was really excited to find this perfectly easy recipe for delicious crusty mini-loaves! With only four ingredients and minimal fuss, impress your family and friends with a warm homemade loaf and a kitchen that smells like fresh bread and love

Vegan Mozzarella

Loved this quick and easy recipe for dairy-free mozzarella! One of the key ingredients here is Kappa Carrageenan – I ordered from Amazon.

Tip: Once you add the boiling water – work quickly! it starts to firm up instantly. I poured mine into 8oz ramekins.

Here’s the link to Vegan Blueberry where I got the recipe! Great site! Thank You!

Ready to grate
Melted goodness!

 

Roasted Red Potato Salad

Prep time: 15 minutes /Cook time: 30 minutes/Total Time: 60 minutes

6 medium red potatoes

½ cup frozen shelled edamame – thawed (you can use peas too)

½ copped yellow onion

½ cup chopped celery

Pinch or two of salt, black pepper, white pepper, dried oregano, dill, thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, celery seed, and caraway seed, plus ¼ tsp of dry mustard

¼ cup olive oil

Juice of half a lemon and a splash of red wine vinegar

½ cup vegan mayo (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the whole red potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle them with a little grapeseed or other high heat oil and with salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes. Let cool.

Chop your veggies and, in a big bowl, combine with all the ingredients except the mayo.

When the potatoes have cooled, slice (skin and all) into big chunks. With the medium ones I used I got about 6 pieces per potato. Add the potatoes to the crunchy veggie mixture and mix well. Let this sit for about 30 minutes and stir it around occasionally. Do not add the mayo yet!

The mayo is optional. If you don’t like mayo..want to keep this salad a little more defined, etc…it’s great without it. If this is what you choose, I would add a little more olive oil and lemon, mix it up a little more, and call it a day.

If you want a creamy, more traditional potato salad, add the mayo. BUT, the reason I don’t want you to add the mayo right away is that you want the starchy potatoes to pick up all the flavors you put in there, so give it some time to make this happen. If you add the mayo in right away, you’re going to be flavoring the mayo, not the potatoes.

After you’ve tasted it and have adjusted the seasonings, chill it for a while in the fridge. It just keeps getting better, but make sure you stir it up really well every time before serving.

Enjoy!

Vegetable Roasting Tips

Prep time: 15 minutes /Cook time: Varies/Total Time: Varies

You’ll start noticing that my recipes usually have a few more steps and a little more combining ingredients toward the end of the process. For instance, I’ll caramelize mushrooms for risotto and fold them in at the end instead of adding the mushrooms to cook with the rice. While this may cause a few more dirty dishes, I’m a big believer in texture and cooking veggies with different methods really allows you to explore mouth feel, crunch, etc.

Roasting is a great way to cook veggies, it can bring out a lot of different flavor tones and gives you opportunities to build complementary flavors and textures within the same dish or with each bite.

What you’ll need:

Vegetables (about 2-3 lbs for an uncrowded baking sheet)

A preheated 400 degree oven

Baking sheet

Parchment Paper

Your nose and your eyes

When roasting veggies of any kind make sure to cut them in relatively consistent sizes and if you’re roasting different types of veg, make sure they have about the same density and water content…roasting carrots and potatoes together is gonna be fine, roasting zucchini with turnips is going to be a mixed-up watery mess.

Note: if you’re not comfortable using parchment at higher temps, please use a silicone mat…foil tends to stick and will rip off that nice crispy caramelization.

The spice palate is going to depend on what you’re trying to achieve. For example, if I’m roasting potatoes for a snack or a side, I’m going toss them with olive oil, S&P, a little Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and some paprika, before I lay them out on the parchment…if I’m adding roasted cauliflower to a curry recipe, I’ll spice that a little differently and use a neutral flavored oil.

In the pictures I’ve posted here, I was clearing out my fridge. I had some big loose beets, some aging carrots, and a random head of cauliflower. I broke apart the cauliflower and peeled and cut the beets and carrots, tossed them with EVOO, S&P, garlic powder, oregano, and dill and stuck them in the oven for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Your senses will tell you when they’re done! You’ll smell the warmth and goodness of roasted vegetables and you’ll see the edges getting crispy and browned without even opening the oven. I don’t recommend a lot of flipping and tossing because part of the joy from roasting is you get some different textures and flavors that come about naturally, but rotate the baking sheet in the oven about 3 times throughout the process.

Cut
Seasoned
Done!

Happy Roasting!

Kidney Bean Meatballs

OK. So I’m probably getting an eye roll from my grandmother from her heavenly kitchen in the sky, but when I started eating vegan I missed my homemade spaghetti and meatballs! Sure, you can buy frozen plant-based balls from your grocery’s deep freeze, but those are made to taste like frozen store-bought ground meat meatballs … kinda weird with an odd rubbery texture. One of the joys I take away from cooking and experimenting with plant-based recipes is avoiding highly-processed foods, and nothing screams “processed” more than a store-bought frozen vegan meatball. So make ’em yourself! They’re cheap and easy, they hold up nicely in a sandwich or on top of a big bowl of pasta, and are packed with protein, flavor, and texture.

Vegan eggs. This recipe calls for a couple vegan eggs. In it I use a flax egg…pretty simple…add a little warm water to ground flax seeds and let that protein firm up. You’ll also see i’m keeping in a little of the “Aquafaba” (bean water) from the canned beans. You’re welcome to use other egg substitutes such as “Just Egg”, chia seed, “VeganEgg”, but this one worked right for this application. Essentially you’re looking for some binding properties.

Marinated cashews. I roughly hand crush some raw cashews and marinate them in a 2018-10-14 11.52.46couple teaspoons of high-heat oil (like grape seed) with a dash of rice vinegar, liquid smoke, vegan Worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of black pepper. Let it sit for a couple hours at room temperature. I used these for the texture and for something to carry the smokey flavor rather than just mixing it throughout.

Kidney Bean Meatballs

½ cup chopped raw cashews, marinate (see above)

2 15 oz cans dark red kidney beans, partially drained, lightly rinsed, and slightly fork-mashed

2 cups of whole wheat dairy-free bread crumbs

1/3 yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 or 2 small cherry (or other hot) peppers

2 Flax eggs (1 Tbs finely ground flax seed and 2.5 Tbs of warm water, stir and let sit 5 mins before adding to recipe)

1/2 cup vegan parmesan

Chopped fresh parsley and basil – about 1/4 each

Dried spices – fennel seed, oregano, garlic, and onion powder

2018-10-14 12.57.27Roll into balls. Place about 2” apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake on 400 degrees for about 30 mins. Makes about 12 large balls.

Make sure they have a little crust on the outside and are cooked & warm throughout…just taste one! You’ll have plenty for pasta, sandwiches and, my favorite, pizza topping!

Buon Appetito!

 

Oatmeal Two Ways

Can I share a secret? It was only about 5 years ago that I realized that oats looked like an actual grain and not a little feathery disk that came out of an envelope with freeze-dried apples and tons of sugar. Now that that’s out in the open, I admit that I have never been much of a fan of a “sweet breakfast.” But when I started eating vegan over 4 years ago I wanted to start re-exploring whole grains and so oats were a natural fit. When you start making homemade oatmeal you quickly discover that it doesn’t have to be overly sweet and that it doesn’t just need to be some gloppy pasty bowl of mush, but rather a dish you can design to be sweet, nutty, crunchy, and even savory. It doesn’t have to be hard to prep either, here are a couple recipes (pretty standard stuff) that you can start the night before to make your hectic mornings easier…and nothing is more satisfying than a warm bowl of customized goodness!

Overnight Oats

1 part rolled oats

1 part almond milk

Mix ingredients and stir. Separate into single portions and chill overnight. Will last about a week in the fridge with fresh almond milk

Choose your own adventure: sweetners and add-ins … dates, raisins, nuts, seeds

Makes about 4 servings

Steel Cut Oats – Overnight Style

Bring four cups water to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, add 1 cup of steel cut oats and simmer for about 3 minutes, stir occasionally.

With about one minute left, add a pinch of salt. I like to add about a ½ cup of raisins here too.

Cover, remove from heat and let cool. Then refrigerate overnight.

The next morning take the pot out of the fridge and simmer to re-warm on med-hi heat for about 15 minutes.

Add Tasty Things!

Makes 4 hearty servings

A disclaimer, a promise, but mostly encouragement

When I decided to start plant-based recipe blog, I began by checking out social media and other blogs that highlight vegan recipes. What I discovered that some of these places can be pretty scary – highlighting memes about animal slaughter and shaming folks for not taking an “official Vegan oath.”

This will not be one of those places…I would like to dedicate this space for helping the new vegan, the vegan before 6, the vegetarian, the pescatarian, and yes, even the concerned carnivore. Mostly to help everyone understand that plant-based foods are easy and economical and can improve your health and the health of our planet. I won’t make this a daunting or angry place and I hope the readers and comments will respect this as a safe resource for animal lovers, forward-thinking sustainers, and home cooks that need help broadening their horizons to explore the joy of plant-based meals and snacks.

Also, I’m not a chef or a dietician, I have not been professionally trained or coached, and I will not claim to be. Please be aware that a lot of the recipes I’ll share have tons of tree-nuts, peanuts, gluten, berries, etc., so if you’re allergic to any ingredient, be careful.

And finally, I’ve been a home cook for over 30 years, my training overseen by an Italian mother and grandmother who had me rolling cabbage rolls and meatballs at a very early age. Job hunting in Chicago in my 20s, I did my time in the food service industry, working as a barista, waiter, stocking shelves in gourmet markets, and even making grinders at the very first Potbelly on Halstead in Lincoln Park. My point is, please don’t mistake me for a professional, my recipes may not be perfect (but I do try them about 3x before posting) and I subscribe to “a little of this and a little of that” and I encourage you to as well to suit your tastes and to make each recipe your own. Cooking for yourself, family, and friends should be enjoyable, relaxing, and give you a sense of freedom and accomplishment – you should never enter into it stressed or come away sad thinking you’ve not produced something perfect. Good ingredients and a little love are usually enough to make something special. So…

Try it! One of the myths is that going plant-based is expensive and it can be if you’re relying on overly-processed packaged foods. Last I checked, a pound of dry beans is less than a buck and filled with healthy fiber and sustainable plant protein. For the beginner that’s not very encouraging I know because that lowly bag of dusty navy beans can be daunting. I feel like my job here is to help empower you to access and explore the varied textures of plant-based alternatives so you can expand your personal repertoire in the kitchen to include cooking plant-based, heathy, planet-friendly, and delicious food with confidence.

Enjoy! 🌱

Cashew Cheese Sauce

Cashew Cheese Sauce

1 1/2 cups raw cashews – Soaked at room temp for at least 6 hrs. Drain.
1/4 cup olive oil (grape seed mix)
1 Tablespoon salt
2/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
*1 1/4 cup vegan sour cream (*or plain non-dairy yogurt, and i even like to use about a cup of roasted yam or sweet potato)
1 Tablespoon Turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
q teaspoon of smoked paprika
Fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Blend all until well mixed and almost fluffy.
  • Too thin? Add some panko crumbs slowly to thicken.
  • Toss with pasta whatevs. Eat with raw veggies, add hot sauce & chilies for queso, etc – Have fun with it!

There you go. My first blog post.

btw – in the pict, that’s homemade shiitake bacon on top…. I’ll give you that recipe a little later.

More soon!

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