vegan recipes

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

March 26, 2011 by Sarah Leave a Comment

You might hate me after this post! These are soooo yummy and addictive!

Let’s get right to it!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:
12 mini cupcake liners
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast (I know it sounds weird, but it really helps with the texture of the filling and I swear it doesn’t leave a taste)

Directions:

Get your mini cupcake liners ready…

Melt your chocolate chips in the microwave or a double boiler.

Mix together the peanut butter, salt, nutritional yeast, and vanilla.

Pour a little melted chocolate in the bottom of the mini cupcake liner, then spoon in a scoop of the peanut butter mixture.

Then top with some more melted chocolate.

mmmmmm!!!

Let your PB cups hang out until they harden (you can put them in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process, but they really taste best if you let them hang out overnight)

You’re totally welcome! Winking smile

Mexican Quinoa Casserole

March 25, 2011 by Sarah 2 Comments

Mexican Quinoa Casserole

(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 jar of your favorite salsa
a couple of handfuls of your fav vegan cheese- I like Daiya

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sautee onion, bell pepper, and garlic until tender.

Stir together the quinoa, sautéed veggies, beans, corn, and salsa.

Pour into a 9×13 pan and sprinkle the top with your cheese.

Bake for about 30 mins or until the cheese is nice and melty.

Serve with more salsa, a big spoonful of guacamole, and some tortilla chips for optimal scoopage!

Oh, and the leftover casserole makes a KILLER burrito filling!!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: black beans, fiber, mexican quinoa casserole, protein, quinoa, Recipes, vegan recipes

Black Bean Quinoa Salad

March 25, 2011 by Sarah 1 Comment

Black Bean Quinoa Salad

(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups quinoa
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
handful of chopped fresh cilantro

Ingredients for Dressing:
6 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3 T olive oil

Directions:
Rinse quinoa thoroughly

Bring veggie broth to a boil. Add quinoa and reduce to a simmer. Cook covered for 15-20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool. (OR you can skip this if you have a rice cooker- just throw it all in there, turn it on and let it do its thang!)

When the quinoa is completely cooled add the black beans, corn, bell pepper, green onions, garlic, and cilantro.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients- lime juice, salt, cumin, chili powder, and olive oil.

Pour the dressing over the mixture and stir thoroughly.

You can serve this at room temperature immediately or you can let it hang out in the fridge for a while- it tastes even better the next day! I like to serve this over a big handful of spinach or kale!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: black bean quinoa salad, fiber, protein, quinoa, Recipes, vegan, vegan recipes

Penne for your thoughts

March 17, 2011 by Sarah Leave a Comment

Happy Wednesday!

Another lovely spring break day today- it’s going by way too fast! I think I’d like another week, please.

This morning I played with the coconut flour I got the other day. I made pancakes. I loved them but I wasn’t IN love with them. Know what I mean? They were good, but not good enough to post the recipe. I’m going to try again- I want to tweak a few things before I post the recipe.

Some more cleaning got done. And lots and lots of laundry! And a 2 mile run as well!

For dinner I wanted pasta and I wanted spicy so I threw this beauty of a dish together- it turned out SO great that I knew I had to share!

Simple Spicy Penne

(Print this recipe)

Ingredients:
1 package of Field Roast Italian Sausage
8 oz whole wheat penne
2 cans Muir Glen adobo fire roasted diced tomatoes (if you can’t find it you can use regular fire roasted or regular diced tomatoes, but you’ll have to add your own spiciness)
4 ish cups of spinach (I didn’t really measure, I just tossed in handfuls)

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions and set aside.

Dice your field roast sausage into small pieces.

Then sauté in a pan.

Add your spinach to the pan and let it wilt down a bit.

Add the spinach/sausage mixture to the pasta.

Add tomatoes and let the mixture warm up a bit.

Simple. Delicious.

Serve it up with a lovely side salad or you could add any extra veggies you want to the mixture!

Have a great evening, and happy snacking!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: coconut flour, Field Roast, miur glen, Pancakes, pasta, penne, Recipes, simple spicy penne, spinach, vegan, vegan recipes

Terrific Tempeh

March 11, 2011 by Sarah 2 Comments

I am absolutely obsessed with tempeh right now! If you’ve never tried tempeh, you are missing out my friend! You need to try it ASAP! I thought I’d take a minute to tell you all about this wonderful food!

What is tempeh?

Tempeh is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia(it’s been a staple food there for over 2,000 years!!!). It is made by fermenting soybeans and forming them into a cake. Tempeh is a whole soybean product. Because of the fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean, it has a higher content of protein, fiber, and vitamins. It also has a very firm texture.

Tempeh Nutrition

Tempeh is a great source of protein, fiber, iron, manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium.

What does it taste like?

Tempeh has a wonderfully nutty taste! It’s also got a nice “meaty” chewiness to it. Like tofu, it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. It soaks up marinades really really well!

What do I do with tempeh?

The opportunities are almost endless! You can simply slice it and put it on a sandwich. You can cube it up and throw it into your favorite stir fry. You can marinate it any which way and sear it in a pan or bake it in the oven. You can crumble it up into just about anything you can think of- sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce, BBQ sauce, etc…

One thing I always do with it before I cook it is STEAM it! Tempeh can have a bit of a strong(some people say a little bitter) taste. Steaming it before you use it completely gets rid of that strong flavor leaving it with a nice, nutty, mellow flavor! I also think it absorbs the marinade better when you steam it first. Just throw it in a steamer basket in a pot on the stove and steam it for 10 minutes.

My favorite brands of tempeh

There are two brands of tempeh that I usually get- one is Lightlife, which you can get in soy, three grain, and wild rice. The other is Turtle Island Foods, which comes in soy, 5 grain, and several different flavors.

Whatever brand you choose, make sure it’s organic. When it’s organic the soybeans used are not genetically modified!

One of my favorite things to do with tempeh is to make tempeh bacon! It hits all the same notes as bacon, but no little piggies have to die! It’s salty, smokey, and sweet. What more could you ask for! There are many different recipes out there, but here’s what works best for me…

Tempeh Bacon (click here to print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 package of tempeh
1/4 cup of tamari soy sauce
2-3 Tablespoons maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
a little canola oil (to brush on the tempeh while you bake it)

Directions:
Slice tempeh as thin as you can without it falling apart.