Tag Archives: easy recipe

Quick Vegan Chocolate Cake

I don’t know who the heck Eva Howes is, but she makes a damn good chocolate cake!

My friend Lisa texted me this recipe:

Eva Howes' Chocolate Cake

Turns out this is her family’s go-to cake recipe and it’s simple and delicious! Passed down, clipped from a newspaper, and glued on and index card…these are my favorite kind of recipes…well worn and well loved. Dairy free, egg free, and you can literally make this anytime from what you’ve already got in your pantry.

As you can see, I made frosted cake squares, but this cake is certainly hearty enough for stacking and frosting. I substituted the 2 cups of water for 2 cup of cold coffee and I used dairy free store-bought frosting (most brands are) but jazzed it up with some shredded coconut tossed in cacao powder!

Enjoy!

5 Easy Recipes as Fresh as Springtime!

When the weather starts getting warm and the buds on the trees are bursting with life (and pollen lol), I notice a definite shift in the way I eat and cook. Flavorful local ingredients begin to appear on the store shelves, farmer’s markets re-open, and I need the right fuel to stoke energy for the longer days and a more active lifestyle. It’s exciting!

These easy fresh grain and pasta salads, full of veggies, are no April Fools – they’re easy, convenient, nutritious! Best of all, you can make these ahead to insure that you have a healthy and quick meal that can fit into everyone’s busy schedule!

 

Farro Salad with Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Pecans

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

 

Dressing (prep in a mason jar, cover and shake, let sit for a while while you chop):

1/3 cup Olive Oil

2/3 cup Sherry Vinegar (I’m not a huge fan of oily vinaigrettes)

1 teaspoon each – Tarragon, Thyme, Basil, Ground White Pepper, dry mustard

2 tablespoons Kosher Salt and a couple twists of black pepper

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

Salad:

1 cup of cooked Farro, cooled & drained well

1 lb of cleaned Brussels sprouts, shaved into a thin slaw

5 carrots, small dice or grated

1 lb of cherry/grape tomatoes – slice half, keep half whole

3/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped

1/4 cup chopped yellow onion

 

Make the dressing and cook the farro.

Chop your onion and peeled carrots, slice your Brussels sprouts in half first, then slice thin vertically but at a slight angle. Toast some chopped pecans in a small pan on medium heat – watching carefully and tossing frequently – probs about 4-5 minutes. Be careful!! Pecans burn in an instant and remember to take them off a little earlier than you think because they’ll continue cooking with the residual heat. Chop the pecan and mix all these dry veggies together and let them hang out for a while in a big bowl.

Is your farro drained and cool? Add and mix that in and halve half of your tomatoes and toss. Is it all nicely mixed? Add the dressing and toss again lightly. Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy!

 

Spring Beet Down Pasta Salad

I love using roasted beets in pasta salads because it creates a crazy natural pink color. The green beans and watermelon radishes make this pasta salad a crunchy show-stopper!!

Thug Kitchen’s Spring Beet Down Pasta Salad

 

Antipasto Pasta

Creamy, spicy, and crunchy! Inspired by an antipasto platter, the roasted red pepper, crunchy radicchio, and artichokes and olives make your tastebuds do a little dance!

Rabbit and Wolves Vegan Antipasto Pasta

 

Pho Noodle Salad

Fresh lime juice and light rice noodles make this dish one of my favorties and this is a really easy recipe and will impress the heck out of your friends!

Found this recipe in VegNews, but it comes from Hannah Kominski’s plant-based cookbook Real Food, Really Fast.

Vegan Pho Noodle Salad

 

Avocado Kale Caesar Salad with Everything Bagel Croutons

These croutons are the best!!! I used 1/3 each of kale, romaine, and arugula for a little less fiber…i’m a vegan for crying out loud, i get a bunch already. Paired with a big cup of gazpacho and a glass of white wine…this salad is gonna make you happy!

Vegan Avocado Caesar Salad with Everything Bagel Croutons

 

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!

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

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