Jennifer – Page 25 – Discover Healthy Food

Recipe: Nutty Date Balls

These are fantastically rich dessert balls. Can only eat a couple! We love Dr. Fuhrman’s Date Nut Pop ‘ems, but wanted to try making our own. Recipe search and we landed on this goodie!

Yield: About 30 balls – about the size of a quarter.

INGREDIENTS:

9 oz dates, pitted
2.5 oz raw almonds
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
1 Tbsp flax seed
1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla
optional: 1-2 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder

DIRECTIONS:

Blend nuts together in a high-powered blender, or chop fine. To the nuts, add dates, vanilla and cocoa powder until paste begins to emulsify. One by one roll up balls and place in freezer proof container. Freeze until hard and cold. Eat frozen, or softened to room temperature – we particularly like them cold. Enjoy!

Recipe: Tempeh Tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Desiring Mexican food, I decided to make some tacos. Klint said it’s his favorite recipe so far. Ole!

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS: TACO FILLING
1 package plain Tempeh, defrosted, small dice
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
2 cups fresh salsa
2 tablespoons cumin
1/4 cup no-salt seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if you can’t handle the heat)
Water

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium sauce pan on medium heat, water sauté onion and garlic for about 8 minutes, or until soft. (NOTE: To water saute, just keep adding about 1 tablespoon of water while cooking to insure that the ingredients don’t stick to the pan. Great way to eliminate oil from a recipe.) Add bell pepper and sauté for about 1 minute. Add tempeh and sauté for about 2 minutes, adding more water to make sure mixture doesn’t stick. Add salsa and seasoning, stirring occasionally for about 7 minutes, or until heated through. Turn down to low once is cooked through.

While taco filling is cooking, prepare the following:
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup cilantro, chopped
Spiked tofu sour cream
2 cup fresh salsa
1 cup fresh guacamole
4 cup chopped lettuce
16 corn tortillas
Veggie cheese (we used pepper jack flavor)

TO SERVE:
For each person, use a microwaveable plate to heat 4 corn tortillas – will be 2 tortillas per taco (one tortilla breaks too easily). Heat on high for 30 seconds. Place 1/2 slice veggie cheese on two tortillas, then add 1/4 cup of taco filling mixture. Add any of the toppings. Repeat for second taco. Enjoy!

Recipe: Chickpea Ginger Curry

Love Indian food, so created this vegan curry.

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium white onion, diced
2 clove garlic, sliced
2 tablespoon sliced fresh ginger
2 15-ounce can chickpea (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup carrot, diced
2 bay leaves
5 dried chiles
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 15-0unce can light coconut milk
Water

DIRECTIONS:

In medium sauce pan on medium heat, water sauté onion, garlic and ginger for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of chickpeas and blend in high-powered blender with coconut milk. Return to sauce pan. Add the remaining ingredients and stir occasionally for 20 minutes.

Before serving, remove bay leaves and dried chiles. Be careful to remove all pieces of chile because will cause serious gastronomical pain!

Serve with wild rice. We used forbidden rice cooked in rice cooker. Sprinkle with cilantro for garnish. Enjoy!

Restaurant Review: Gurus Cafe – Utah

Meeting friends for dinner, we wanted to check out Guru’s Cafe since we haven’t been there since we started eating Vegan. We found some pretty good options like the “Spicy Curry Bowl” and the “Thai Peanut Pasta”. Our friends enjoyed the “Southwest Chipotle Wrap” and the “Spicy Szechwan Rice Bowl”.

Overall, it was reasonably priced, the portions are good-sized and the service is really great at this restaurant. Great spot for a casual mid-week dinner. The seating out front is really nice if it’s good weather. Great to see you Iliah and Katie!

Recipe: White bean basil salad

Great bean salad to eat alone or on green salad.

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS:

1 can northern white beans, drained, rinsed
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon no-salt seasoning
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup Julienne sliced fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you want a little heat)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe: High Cruciferous Vegetable Stew

A little sun shining on my stew… It’s like God himself is pleased with this healthy dish! Another good one from the Eat To Live book.

Serves 10 (Yep! That’s going to be a lot of leftovers for us. But, I like do have extra for quick dinners during the week)

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups of water [we did 5 cups]
2 1/2 cups carrot juice
1/2 cup dried split peas
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/2 cup adzuki beans, soaked overnight, or no- or low-salt canned adzuki beans, drained and rinsed [we used one whole can]
1 bunch of kale, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves coarsely chopped [we used half bunch]
1 bunch of collard greens, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves coarsely chopped [we used half bunch]
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
8 ounces fresh or frozen Brussels sprouts, cut in half if large [we didn’t have any, so used 1/2 head of cauliflower cut into pieces]
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, cut in half [we didn’t include, I don’t like mushrooms]
10 ounces celery sticks, cut into 1-inch pieces [we used 8 stalks, diced]
3 leeks, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 parsnips, cut into 1-inch pieces [we didn’t have]
3 medium onions, diced
4 medium zucchini, cubed [we used 2 zucchini and 2 yellow crook neck squash]
4 cloves garlic, chopped, or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, no-salt-added or low-sodium
1/4 cup Dr. Fuhrman’s VegiZest or other no-salt seasoning [we used 1/3 cup no-salt seasoning]
2 tablespoons Mrs. Dash [we didn’t use]
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup broccoli sprouts (optional) [we didn’t use]

DIRECTIONS:

Place all the ingredients except the parsley and sprouts in a large soup pot. Cover and bring to a simmer, cooking until the adzuki beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. (If using canned adzuki beans, simmer until the vegetables, lentils and split peas are tender and the flavors blend, about 1 hour.) In a food processor or high-powered blender, blend one-quarter of the soup until smooth. Return to the soup pot and stir in the parsley and broccoli sprouts (if using).

Restaurant Review: Harvest Restaurant – Utah

Business lunch, so chose to meet at Harvest Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. Consistently seeking vegan dishes, I was planning to have a bland salad, so was pleasantly surprised to find a grilled veggie sizzling platter. Left off the goat cheese and artisan bread. It was a great lunch!

Restaurant Review: Oasis Cafe – Utah

One thing I love about friends who live in another county, is the exposure to new restaurants.

Marilyn suggested that we meet at Oasis Cafe in Salt Lake for our dinner date. Yeah! An organic, vegetarian, local spot. We sat in their patio area, enjoying the mild night breeze and giggled like school girls. I love girls-night-out.

We started off with the zucchini wrapped baked tofu in marinara sauce. Holy cow was this good! I would’ve had two of them, but need to remember to order without the parmesan cheese next time. You gotta try it!

Marilyn had the famous Mediterranean Salad with grilled salmon. I snagged one of her grilled potato slices. This vegetarian salad could easily be vegan with omitting the meat and vinaigrette dressing. Looked amazing though and Marilyn says it’s her favorite.

I enjoyed the Udon Noodles with tofu. This vegan dish was really tasty with fresh crisp veggies (gave Marilyn the mushrooms). The peanut sauce was amazing! I think peanuts are God’s way of telling us He loves us. I wish the noodles were whole wheat, or preferably rice, but were quite yummy. oasis2a

Thanks, Oasis for a great dinner! I’ll be back… maybe try the Med salad vegan style.

Vegan lifestyle tip: Wraps

Knowing that there are times I don’t want to cook, I make sure to keep my kitchen stocked with things that are fast and easy to make.

Wraps are one of my favorite ways to eat quickly, but healthy. Helping me to stay true to my vegan way of eating.

In this wrap, I reheated some left over yellow squash and zucchini stir fry, with salsa, spiked sour cream, and guacamole. Fold up the end and roll the sides together… It’s almost like eating a Mexican burrito, but lighter and healthier.

The trick is to have ingredients on hand and ready to go all the time, including:

Guacamole
Fresh salsa
Spiked sour cream
Left over cooked veggies
Ezekiel Bread wraps (LOVE these)

Look in your fridge and make sure that you have ingredients to be used in multiple different dishes. I promise, it’ll make your life easier! Plus, you’ll be more inclined to eat healthy because you’ll have yummy stuff ready to go!

Recipe: Apple Pecan Quinoa

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups red quinoa
1 apple small dice
1/2 cup chopped pecan
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup currants
1 avocado cubed

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare quinoa using directions on the package. Allow to cool on the counter top for 1-2 hours. Mix together all the other ingredients and add in the cooled quinoa. Serve as a stand alone dish, or on bed of lettuce with drizzle of your favorite dressing. We served on red leaf lettuce and Walnut Cinnamon Dressing.