Sunday, November 17, 2013

Easy Vegan Sausage Crescent Rolls

We found a package of vegan crescent rolls and I knew that I had to try to make a version of pigs in a blanket. I used to love them when I was growing up and these were absolutely delicious and SO easy to make! 

1 package of crescent rolls(hopefully your local Whole Foods or grocery store will carry some)
1 package of Tofurky sausages
1 package of Daiya cheese slices(we used Provolone & they were on sale at Whole Foods this week!)

So this was extremely simple and pretty quick. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees per the directions on the package of crescent rolls. I used 2 crescent rolls per Tofurky. Place two crescents together to make a larger triangle to wrap around the sausage. Place the sausage on the wider end of the crescent roll. Break the cheese slice in half and place both slices down the length of the sausage and roll the crescents. Bake in the oven per the instructions of the crescent roll package. Take out of the oven when golden and enjoy!

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Banana Puffed Quinoa "Truffle"

Craving something sweet but knowing that we shouldn't just eat a whole bunch of chocolate, I decided to use some puffed quinoa that I had made earler (that recipe may come later) and bananas. This little "truffle" is just sweet enough with a little bit of bitterness.

Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup dates pitted
  • 1 cup puffed quinoa
  • 1 banana
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices
  • 12 chocolate chips
  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions

Add all ingrediets (except chocolate and cocoa powder) to a food processor and pulse until all ingredients have been combined. For the mixture into balls one tablespoon at a time. Take the chocolate chips and push into the center of the balls. Put the cocoa powder in a smal bowl or wide bottomed mug.One ball at a time, put the balls into the cocoa mixture and swirtl until fully covered. Refrigerate in anairtight container or enjoy immediately.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Garlicky Heirloom Bean Spread

This is a delicious hummus like spread. Instead of using garbanzo beans, this spread has a mix of heirloom beans. These beans were originally dry beans that were soaked for 12 hours and then simmered until tender.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups heirloom beans
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter (we only had chunky)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon mustard
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 tablespoon lime juice
In a food processor, puree the heirloom beans until mostly smooth. Add peanut butter and olive oil and pulse to combine. Add water a tablespoon at a time until smooth, there may be a little extra water or you may need a little more). Once smooth add the mustard, garlic and lime juice and puree again until smooth consistency. Serve immediately or let set in the fridge for the garlic flavor to deepen.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Quick Dinner

Hello,

I just wanted to share our dinner from last night because it was super simple and tasty! I was pretty hungry so I didn't even take a picture of the finished meal, but this took less than ten minutes to make and only had a few ingredients involved.

2 Tofurkey kielbasas, in half-inch slices
1 cup of kale
2 Tablespoons of nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
1 cup of cooked cous cous (we had some leftovers)
1 tablespoon of oil

Add the kielbasa slices and oil to a frying pan and sauté on medium-high heat for two minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the kale and sauté for another two minutes. Toss in the rest of the ingredients and lower the heat to medium. Cook for about two or three minutes and mix together well. Serve in two bowls and enjoy!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Kale Salad with Black Beans, Polenta & Avocado

1 package of polenta, cut into 1/4 inch slices
6 handfuls of kale leaves (about one bunch)
1 can of black beans
1 avocado, sliced
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil for pan frying


Sauté the garlic in oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the polenta slices to the pan, frying on medium-high heat. Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side, until they are a golden yellow color. While the polenta is cooking, wash and rip up a few handfuls of kale for each bowl. Add the polenta slices on top of the kale. Drain and rinse the can of black beans and heat the beans in the pan for several minutes. Add the beans and avocado to the salad and serve! We had some Daiya shreds in the fridge so I added those also.

This was a quick and tasty meal and we both enjoyed it. I hope that everyone else is pleased with the results! : )




Saturday, September 28, 2013

Butternut Squash Soup


Hi there! I love autumn for so many reasons, and soup is definitely one of them. I honestly wasn't much of a soup person until we started making them. As someone that had a lot of processed food while growing up, there is definitely no competition when it comes to a homemade soup versus something from a can. Anyways, here is a simple recipe for a vegan butternut squash soup that we made the other day. This could be made in about half an hour and tastes delicious! I hope that you all enjoy it!


Vegan Butternut Squash Soup

3 Cloves of garlic
1 shallot
2 tablespoons of Olive oil
1 butternut squash
6 cups of vegetable broth

Cut up the garlic and shallot. Sauté the garlic and shallot with olive oil in a large pot. Peel, deseed, and cube the butternut squash. Add the squash to the pot and cover with the vegetable broth. Boil until fork-tender. Remove the cubes to the blender and puree. Add the squash back to the broth on medium and stir. Combine well and serve!

Enjoy!

-Nicole 

Friday, September 13, 2013

Vegan Chili

Hi there!

So, it has been awhile since we have actually posted a recipe, and I thought I would share an easy autumn recipe with everyone. I honestly don't usually measure or even keep track of what I put in my recipes most of the time, so this is somewhat estimated. I do believe that cooking should be fun and you should adjust things according to your own taste, which is definitely what I always do. It usually turns out great unless it involves baking, which should have slightly more science than creativity.

Anyways, one of my favorite fall meals is chili! So here is a recipe for chili that I made recently. I was craving chili and decided to make some even though I didn't have all of the ingredients that I usually use. I was happy with the outcome and hope that you will be too! Please feel free to mix things up and let us know what you think of the recipe :)

1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 can of kidney beans, rinsed
1 can of pink beans, rinsed
1/3 cup of sliced sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup of TVP
1 cup or more of water
1 tablespoon of chopped scallions
1/2 teaspoon of dill
2 tablespoons of amino acids
2 tablespoons of red wine
1 cup of cooked quinoa

Heat a large pot on medium-high. Add about half an inch of water to the pot along with the carrots and scallions. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the TVP, aminos and dill. Add some more water if needed. There should still be some moisture, so as to avoid anything sticking to the bottom of the pot. Stir in the wine and let cook on medium heat for about five minutes. Be sure to stir and add small amounts of water if necessary. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, quinoa & beans. Cook on low to medium heat for another 10 minutes. Serve hot with your choice of toppings! We enjoyed ours with avocado, Daiya Havarti, and vegan sour cream.

Enjoy and let us know what you think if you get a chance to try out the recipe! We hope to add some more recipes soon including our classic chili recipe and some tasty quinoa burgers that we had last night!

Nicole