June 2012 – Discover Healthy Food

Vegan lifestyle tip: Lunch using left overs

When I’m working from home at lunch, I often have a lot of time to make lunch. That’s why I’m a big fan of left overs. I always make large enough quantities with other recipes so that I have left overs ready to go for quick lunches.

Today’s lunch was a bean burger patty reheated with a slice of pepper jack veggie cheese. Scoop of guacamole to top it off! (Eating vegan rocks, doesn’t it?!) A cup of diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of diced cucumbers topped with a sprinkle of No-salt Seasoning and I’m good to go!

I really think that life is much easier when I have a bunch of quick go-to foods in the fridge. So, make extra when you’re cooking and you’ll find that putting together a fast and healthy lunch is a snap!

How are you using left overs to make your life easier in the kitchen?

Recipe: Turkish Princess vegan cookies

One of my favorite snacks is dried apricots with raw peanut butter. Whenever I’m eating that treat, I feel like a “Turkish Princess”… So, it dawned on me – why not use that as a base for vegan cookies?! Chewy, sweet, crunchy, a bit of spice from the clove…mmmm! These turned out really yummy!

Yield: 4 dozen

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup raw peanut butter (I used Adam’s)
3 ripe bananas with lots of brown spots
1 cup NOTG
1 cup diced apricots
1 cup dried tart cherries
1/4 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw unsalted pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoon chia seeds
2/3 cup chopped cashews
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove
4 cups rolled or quick oats
Note: I think that you could easily substitute other dried fruit too.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Using large mixing bowl, mash bananas with fork, add NOTG and peanut butter, mix thoroughly. Add cinnamon, clove, apricots, cherries, seeds, and cashews and mix thoroughly. Using one cup at a time, add oats. Ultimately should be a lumpy mixture that sticks fairly well, but not too sticky – if too sticky, you won’t be able to get off the spoon or roll into balls in palm of your hand. Add more oats if needed – about 1/4 cup at a time. Using the palm of your hands, roll into balls, place on parchment lined pan and bake for 15 minutes. Cool on rack… wait a few minutes to eat so that you don’t burn your mouth.

vegan cookies 2 How do you say bon appétit in Turkish?!

Recipe: Spicy veggie marinara and quinoa pasta

I have craved pasta for weeks, so I found some quinoa pasta at Sunflower Market. The pasta is really yummy… I’ll definitely this pasta again. Below is the spicy marinara sauce recipe I put together. Turned out great! This has some kick, so if you can’t handle the heat, omit the Rotel and red pepper flakes.

Yield: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 20 oz can tomato sauce
1 can Rotel original
1 can diced tomatoes
2 zucchini cubed or round slices
1 head broccoli cut into pieces
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 package of 4 veggie sausages, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
Water

DIRECTIONS:
On medium heat, use a 4 quart soup pot to water saute’ the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes, add the remaining ingredients plus 1/2 cup more water. Cover and stir occasionally for 20-30 minutes. This is a great make-ahead recipe that can easily be reheated for when you’re ready. Serve over warm pasta.

Restaurant Review: Ginger’s 2 – Utah

Lovely lunch to Ginger’s Garden Cafe in Springville with my dear friend Ronda. I had heard this was a good spot, but I wasn’t ready for how amazingly yummy the food is! They also have many packaged items as well, so I’m excited to go back and check out more of their offerings.

For lunch, Ronda enjoyed the Veggie Wrap. This is her favorite and she gets often. I was tempted to sneak a bite, but instead I’ll get this wrap another time.

I loved the Falafel Sandwich. I have craved falafel and this sandwich hit the spot. The vegan ranch was perfect!

We shared the nachos… oh my goodness! Before going vegan, I considered nachos to be a food group. So, I’ve been really craving nachos for months. These vegan nachos were fantastic! I’m craving them again already…

Restaurant Review: Bombay House – Utah

Haven’t been to Bombay House since embracing the vegan way of eating. Very pleased to find that they have vegan dishes on the menu. In fact, found out that 70% of their dishes are vegan… they just add meat when a patron requests.

We really enjoyed the garlic and plain naan, the Vegetable Coconut Kurma and the Aloo Gobi.

Note: The next morning, woke up with a headache which tells me that they use MSG. Now that I know that, if I go back again, I’ll ask that they not add MSG.

Recipe: Almond Milk

Yield 1 quart

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup raw almonds
5 cups water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or to taste)

DIRECTIONS:
Soak almonds uncovered over night in room temperature water. Rinse very well. 3-4 cups water with almonds in high-powered blender. Blend until thoroughly and finely blended. There will be tiny almond pieces at bottom. We leave in, but you can strain out pieces if desired. Store in air tight container in refrigerator for up to 1 week (if it lasts that long!!).

Nectar of the Gods – best vegan sweetener around

Klint stumbled upon this recipe while looking for different vegan recipes on YouTube. We always recommend Nectar of the Gods sweetener because it’s such a helpful ingredient to have on hand for vegan dishes.

Yield about 2.5-3 cups

INGREDIENTS:

20-25 medjool dates, pitted
11 ounces pure coconut water

DIRECTIONS:

In a small-medium size bowl, soak dates uncovered in coconut water for at least 4 hours and up to over night. This will soften the dates to make the best creamy consistency. Coconut water should mostly cover the dates, but don’t worry if some of the water is absorbed and a few of the dates are at the top and uncovered. Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender. refrigerate in air tight container. Because we eat it so quickly, not sure how long this will last in the fridge… probably up to 2 weeks. But if you’re not using it within two weeks, that tells me you aren’t experimenting with other recipes. Try my vegan cookie recipes for a great way to use the NOTG.

SHOPPING TIP:

We buy our medjool dates at Costco in the produce section. We also buy coconut water at Costco – it’s the Vita Coco brand that comes with individual sized servings that are the perfect amount for making one batch of NOTG.

Blueberry banana walnut ice cream

We saw a gal on Dr. Oz’s show who lost a lot of weight (like ~200#… holy cow that’s amazing!) eating the “Eat To Live” way. She had a major sweet tooth, so found that she still craved sweets. She created this adaptation of Dr. Fuhrman’s Banana Walnut Ice Cream, by adding some blueberries. Delish!

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS:

1 frozen banana
2 tablespoons walnut
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup almond milk

DIRECTIONS:

Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender, serve immediately. Can be doubled. (Note: I like to put in the freezer and eat when it’s even more firm. Really feels like you’re eating ice cream!)