Prepping and Taco Night

I motivated to the Dekalb Farmer's market on Sunday morning with both girls in tow.  It was pleasant at the beginning.  I taught the girls how to spot the "organic" vegetables and fruits and let them pick out their favorite produce.  This teachable moment became a problem when I dared buy non-organic.  They did not have organic radishes, but I really wanted radishes, so I thought I would let it slide.  The girls did NOT let it slide.  "Mom, all those chemicals."  Oh when my own words come back to haunt me.

The teachable moments continued as I talked with them about the nutrients in the different foods we were selecting, but I began to notice the crowds.  By the second aisle and 15 close encounters with someone else's cart, and the girls buttoning their coats together and subsequently falling to the ground, there were no more teachable moments.  No more picking out food, but a lot of, "get behind me", "stay with me", "no, you can not have that".  "Seriously, stay with me", and on and on it went until we were finally back in our car.  It takes a very patient mother to survive the Dekalb Farmers Market with children on a weekend. 

But it did yield a refrigerator full of great looking food!!  I spent about an hour cleaning and chopping and storing.  But now it is all ready for the week! 

My mother in law brought over some fabulously, tasty black beans.  So Sunday night became taco night.  I put out her black beans, rice, green beans, the container of raw veggies, cooked mushrooms, salsa and an attempt at homemade vegan sour cream (not blog worthy).   It really is easy just to put it all out on the counter with a taco shell on each girl's plate.  They serve themselves and think it is a really fun dinner!  Who am I to disagree?

Other recipes I made this week

Si asked for Cornbread Casserole for her bday dinner!  I glad made it.  Here is the recipe I used from a previous post, this time, I used black eyed peas,  half of the cajun seasoning it called for, and a little more date sugar for the cornbread.


Cornbread Casserole

Cheezy Oatmeal
I am trying to eat as many salads as I can, green leafys are where it is at.  They are so packed with nutrition, it is unreal!  But with oatmeal?  Ugh, I was skeptical. I read several recipes but in the end,  just threw it all together.  I cooked one serving of GF oats according to directions, after about 5minutes of the oats cooking, I threw in a big handful of spinach and sprinkled 1 -2 TB of nutritional yeast on top.  Stirred, and let it simmer for about 10 more minutes. 

Keep checking on your oats and stirring!

This was a really filling, tasty dish.  I was surprised, I have never eaten oats with any other flavor than sweet.  One solid nutrient dense meal!  Oats, spinach, nutritional yeast, yippe!

Mushrooms
I used to like mushrooms, but then I spent the night in the hospital with food poisoning after eating a cheese-less pizza with mushrooms (15 years ago) and I stopped eating them.

After seeing Dr. Fuhrman speak last Fall, I was determined to give mushrooms another chance.
 Read what he has to say:

Dr. Fuhrman's Article:

All vegetables are not equally protective. Epidemiological studies suggest that cruciferous vegetables, onions, and mushrooms are far more protective against cancer than vegetables overall - inverse relationships between cruciferous vegetable intake and breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers have been found.29 For example, in one prospective study, one or more servings per week of cabbage reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 38%.30 This was only one serving a week, which demonstrates that dramatic protection is available and real when a diet is ideally designed. The regular consumption of mushrooms has been demonstrated to decrease risk of breast cancer by over 60 percent.31 Onions, berries, seeds and beans also have dramatic beneficial effects.32 Beans in general, not just soy, are beneficial for protecting against reproductive cancers such as breast and prostate cancer.33 

I have been trying to incorporate more mushrooms and onions in my dishes.  Normally, I leave both of those ingredients out of all recipes!  To make the mushrooms taste a little better, I have put a little water and a little Braggs Amino Acids in a pan.  I heat this up and saute sliced mushrooms for about five minutes.  I then add the mushrooms to salads, rice and beans or eat them straight from the pan.  After several months, I can finally say I am getting used to mushrooms again!  Fortunately the other food Dr. Fuhrman mentions, beans, cabbage, berries, seeds - I eat regularly, and enjoy!

Soup Swap

Cooking for others is still overwhelming to me, but I love the idea of cooking one meal a week for two families or more and swapping.  It is always easy to double a recipe, and to know it guarantees  a meal made by someone else is motivation.  I thought a "soup swap" would be a good place for me to start.  I found a friend willing to give this a go, and we swapped soup this week.  It was so exciting and KID TIP- anything made by another mother automatically taste better!


I recently read an article on swapping meals on a much larger scale!

Cooking Coops

 I made a carrot soup from Happy Herbivore:
Her amazing website:
Happy Herbivore:

Creamy Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb carrots, skinned and sliced

1 small onion, diced

1/4 c instant oats

1/2 c nondairy milk

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp all spice

salt, pepper - to taste

Method: In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups water, carrots, onion and oats over high heat. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium, Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until oats are cooked and carrots are fork-tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender, in batches if necessary, and combine with nondairy milk. Blend until smooth and creamy, adding an extra splash of liquid if necessary. Transfer back to saucepan and stir in ginger and all spice. Gently heat over low, adding salt and pepper to taste. Serve. (Per Serving: 147 Calories, 1.6g Fat, 31g Carbohydrates, 7.8g Fiber, 13.8g Sugar, 4.8g Protein).

My friend made:

Chilled Gazpacho with Corn and Edamame

From Veganizzm.com

• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 small cucumbers, chopped
• 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 small limes, juiced
• 1/2 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 ears corn cooked + kernels sliced off OR 1 can, drained
• 1 cup cooked or frozen/thawed edamame

Combine tomatoes, cuke, peppers, tomato juice, red onion, and lime in a blender or food processor. Pulse until smooth (or as chunky as desired) 60-90 seconds or so. Add balsamic vinegar, cumin, and a dash of salt and pulse briefly. Stir in cooked corn and edamame and refrigerate several hours or overnight before devouring. SERVE CHILLY

 

I preferred the gazpacho, as in, I ate it for lunch 2 days and dinner.  Si ate it for dinner and lunch. She said it was DELICIOUS.  I liked the carrot soup, it was very warm and filling, but I wanted more spice, I finally added cayenne pepper and it was much better.

Stuffed Shells

I did not plan ahead this week, instead my goal was to be creative with the food that we already had on hand.  This plan only worked until Wednesday, I then had to go to the grocery store!  But, my freezer and cabinets did inspire a few good meals.

Monday - Stuffed Shells
I had a box of rice shells that had been taunting me. I was intimidated by stuffing shells for some reason.  But, I pulled them out and showed them who was boss!  Much easier than I expected.

One box of rice noodle shells - I found mine at Whole Foods

Filling

• 1 box of organic x-firm or firm tofu, with water pressed out
• 3 artichokes from a can 
• 1/2 bag frozen spinach (thawed and water squeezed out)
• 1 TB nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp oregano or Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in the Vitamix or similiar and blend away.  Put in a bowl so you can use your blender for the cream sauce if desired.

Sauce

• Either your favorite marinara sauce, and / or  a cream sauce (adapted from Plant Based Nutrition pg 241):

• 14oz silken tofu
• 1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 2 TB nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp kelp powder

Put all ingredients in Vitamix or similar and blend away!

• OR: you could try the Cashew Cream Sauce I made in this post - I am going to try this next time.

Preheat oven to 350. I used two bread pans, because I made two different types of sauces.  KID TIP - sometimes make things especially for them.  I told Si I was making her's red, because I knew she loved red sauce, and Ry's was special because it did NOT have the red sauce.  It was easy to do, and I was experimenting to see which I preferred.

After you have cooked the pasta according to the box directions, put a thin layer of your sauce on the bottom of your baking dish.  Get your spoon ready, and start stuffing those shells. Place filling side down into the sauce in the pan.  Repeat until you are finished.  Then, spoon sauce over the top of your shells.  I sprinkled mine with nutritional yeast also.

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Si liked hers, Ry said they were ok, I liked both of them.  I do want to try the Cashew Cream Sauce next time!  And, I would have loved a little red pepper flakes in the tofu filling, but the girls would not have liked that.

Friends Over for Dinner and an Amazing Sauce

Friends came over for dinner Friday night.  They said they were up for a vegan dinner. Chad suggested I prepare something tried and true. But, if these friends were up for trying my cooking, I wanted to try something new.  It needed to be savory and satisfying, I did not want anyone to go home hungry.
On my trip to Dekalb Farmers Market I had picked up a lot of beautiful produce, peruvian purple potatoes, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, peppers, butternut squash etc.  I decided I would roast two big pans of veggies and make two sauces that I had been wanting to try.  One was a pesto sauce, the base was a white bean.  I did not like this one, so I will not bother writing the recipe.  But the other was AMAZING.  Seriously, amazing. 

Creamy Cashew Dijon Sauce

I slightly altered the recipe (thanks to my friend, Karen!)

3/4 cup raw cashews (soaked at least 30 mins)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbs stone ground mustard
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp GF  tamari

Throw it all into your Vitamix (I know you all have made the investment by now) and blend away.  I blended my a little longer, so that it warmed the sauce.  I served brown rice, roasted veggies and two sauces for everyone to try. 

Appetizers:


Avocado Bean Dip with Veggies and Chips
1 can of drained black beans
1 avocado
1 cup of your favorite salsa
blend away in the vitamix

And,
My Mexican Pizza

My friend brought an amazing gluten free, vegan dessert: homemade chocolate / peanut butter cups.  Oh my!

Broccoli and Red Pepper Stir Fry

Broccoli and Red Pepper Stir Fry

Everyday Happy Herbivore page 134

I was going to double the recipe, because it was for 2, but I forgot and followed her directions.  I used more veggies than she called for, so it probably was not as saucy as it should have been, but I liked it!

My adaptation:

2 cups of water

2 TBS low sodium tamari

2 TBS nutritional yeast

2 TBS dijon mustard

1/2  tsp onion powder

1/2  tsp ground ginger

1/2  tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (Lindsay has a recipe for this, I may leave out)

2 heads of broccoli, chopped into florets

1 tsp cornstarch

2 bell peppers, seeded and sliced

cooked brown rice (I used one and a half bags of TJ's frozen organic brown rice)

·      In a small bowl, whisk water with tamari, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, spices and vegan Worcestershire sauce

·      Pour half into skillet and bring to a boil

·      Add broccoli and cook over high heat for a few minutes, until the broccoli turns bright green and the sauce has mostly cooked off

·      Whisk cornstarch into remaining broth until well combined, then pour over broccoli

·      Add bell peppers and continue to cook over high heat until broccoli is dark green, peppers are tender, but still crisp and the sauce has reduced but is not completely evaporated

·      Serve over rice - I actually added the rice into the stir fry to give the rice flavor.

RESULT - Chad had two helpings (With his grilled chicken breast).  I LOVED it, I do wish I had prepared tofu or a big salad to go with it.  The girls ate a huge snack, so they did not eat much dinner.

Roasted cabbage?

Roasted cabbage?  I read about it and thought I would give it a try tonight.  I realized we had a few things in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten, Chad was working late, so it became leftover night.  I chopped up the cabbage, spread it on my new baking sheet, sprayed a VERY light coat of olive oil over the cabbage, and sprinkled a little salt.  I baked the cabbage at 400 for 20 minutes, stirring the cabbage at 10 minutes.  It was DELICIOUS.  Ry, ate half a head of cabbage!  I only chopped up half the head so I had to cut up the other half and bake it.  She actually waited for me to do that.  

Left over quinoa, lentils and Glen Muir Portobello Tomato Sauce was all thrown into a pan, heated and served.  

Blueberries for dessert.

Ry LOVED this one pot, easy, dinner...

Those of you who are not fans of spicy food, this is the recipe for you!  It was super easy.  I actually made it in about 10 minutes, left it on the stove for a couple of hours, then re-heated when we got home.  I served with steamed cauliflower, taco shells, and LOTS of salsa (for me and Chad).  I am happy with any dinner that Ry eats- she is our true litmus test.  But, like I said, Chad and I had to smoother ours with salsa.  Peas, rice, beans, make this a complete meal - loaded with protein.

Arroz Amarillo

Everyday Happy Herbivore page 162

My adaptation:

I used:

1and 1/2 bags of Trader Joe frozen organic brown rice

1 – 10oz bags of frozen green peas

~1/2 cup veggie broth - enough to coat the rice and peas, but not too much

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp paprika

dash of ground ginger

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

diced tomatoes and or green onions for garnish –

In large saute pan, combine frozen rice, frozen peas, veggie broth, just enough to coat the rice and peas and all spices.  Saute over medium heat until rice and peas are cooked.  Add in black beans.  Once heated, I let this sit on the stove until we were ready for dinner.  I added a little water to re-heat.  Again, this is NOT spicy.  If you like spice, double the spices!

Garnish if desired.

BTW- Ry is taking it for lunch tomorrow!!  Score!

Cornbread Casserole - Always Vegan, Gluten Free

 GREAT DINNER!

And, easy too.  Directions are below.  It is very difficult choosing new recipes, Chad does not like any entree that is even slightly "sweet", the girls do not like anything even remotely spicy.   Hum, so how do I make something that is not sweet and not spicy?  I don't.  I made this Cajun Cornbread Casserole for me and Chad.  And, for the girls, I put Trader Joes steamed lentils in a pot with the left over diced tomatoes, served with corn tortillas.  I served everyone asparagus.

Chad picked this recipe out today from my new cookbook, Everyday Happy Herbivore.  I LOVE this cookbook, and especially love this dish.  Chad finished and said "now that is what I'm talking about, this is the direction you need keep going in."  "In fact, you could make this dish once a week."  So folks, if Chad liked it THAT much, I can almost guarantee you will too.  You can change up the spices, use less if you do not like things too spicy.  The cornbread on top is unreal!

Cajun Cornbread Casserole

Everyday Happy Herbivore page 155

My adaptation:

1 – 15 oz can diced tomatoes (I used 2 cups of Pomi diced tomatoes, box at Wholefoods)

1 small onion, diced

2 celery stalks, minced

1 yellow pepper, seeded and diced (any color pepper will do)

1 TBS Cajun Seasoning (Lindsay has a recipe, I used store bought)

1 – 15oz pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup cornmeal

1 ½ tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tbsp date sugar

¾ cup plant based milk (I used Wholefoods unsweetened soy)

¼ cup  organic unsweetened applesauce

·      Preheat oven to 400.  I used a 9 inch round casserole dish.

·      Put half of the tomatoes with juice into a skillet with onion, celery and pepper, sauté over high heat until onion is translucent and pepper is tender.

·      Turn heat down, add the rest of the tomatoes, pinto beans and Cajun seasoning.  Stir until combined, turn off heat.

·      In a small whisking bowl, whisk, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, optional – sprinkle a little Cajun seasoning, and sugar.  Once combined, add soy milk and applesauce.  It should be thick, but spreadable like hummus, not dry.

·      Pour bean mixture into baking dish, and then spread cornbread mixture over the top.  Bake for 30 – 25 minutes.  Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

 

Easy, Creamy, Tomato Soup

Alright, all of you Vitamix lovers, I just made a rich, creamy, cheezy, tomato soup, in 5 minutes. See picture for ingredients.
One jar of tomato purée (1.5 cups)
One carrot (peeled)
One roasted red pepper
1/4 cup cashews soaked in unsweetened soy milk for at least 10 minutes beforehand. (I uses enough milk to cover nuts)
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Put all ingredients in your Vitamix or blender. Start off at a slow speed then go to high for several minutes. You will see steam coming out of the top and you are done! Your hot soup is ready. You could spice it up with cumin, cayenne pepper, etc but I want the girls to enjoy, so I left out the kick.
I then poured the soup back into the glass tomato jar. Ready for the week.

And of course this is gluten free, vegan, plant strong!

Gluten Free, Vegan Waffles

Ry asked for waffles for breakfast, but we didn't have enough time this morning as we headed out the door to gymnastics. I suggested for our family movie night we could do waffles. She was thrilled! The thought of waffles for dinner, what could be better?

I had this gluten free pancake mix. I was hopeful it would work for waffles. I used apple sauce instead of oil, soy milk instead of milk and 1 TB flax seed with 3 TB warm water to replace the egg. We poured it into our waffle maker and out came delicious, perfect waffles - gluten free and vegan.

Proud moment, I had the weekly container of cut up veggies on the table. Si says "I am full from the waffle but could I have more veggies?". Absolutely!

Yet Another Burger

 I was not going to cook this week after my marathon cooking day on Sunday. But I had three beautiful, baked sweet potatoes sitting in my refrigerator that were asking to be consumed not thrown away.  Then, I saw this recipe on Whole Foods website for a Quinoa and Sweet Potato Cake.

I once again modified it to my liking / what I had in my refrigerator:

1/2 package of my staple, Trader Joe Steamed Lentils

1 shallot, diced

1 TB chili powder

1 baked sweet potato

1 cup cooked quinoa (I used red quinoa, which has a nutty flavor and texture)

1 handful shredded carrots (I had a bag of Trader Joes brand)

1 handful of spinach

1 roasted red pepper, diced

Preheat oven to 350.  Saute shallot and carrots in a little veggie broth or water until shallot  becomes translucent.  Add lentils to pan, cook for about 5 minutes.  I put the sweet potato, spinach and chili powder in my Vitamix and blended for about 45 seconds.  Then, I added half of the lentil, carrot, shallot mixture in the Vitamix.  (It might have been better to use a food processor, as it was a lot to put in the Vitamix).  After blending, I put that mixture, with the remaining lentil mixture in a big bowl.  (I only blended half of the lentil mixture so the patties would not be too mushy.)  I  stirred all of it together then folded in the quinoa, and roasted red pepper.  After mixing well, I formed 8 patties on placed on my new Silpat and baking sheet.  Then  I put the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to let the patties set.  I baked at 350 for 10 minutes, then flipped the patties over and baked for about 15 more minutes.  The taste was incredible, the durability of the burger was less than desired.  It did fall apart easily, but if you are not eating it on a bun, then it doesnt really matter.  I had mine with sweet potato fries and steamed brussel sprouts.  And, today, I had left overs for lunch, they were even good cold!  I liked the slightly sweet flavor the sweet potatoes added and the nutty texture of the quinoa.  Not to mention all the great nutrients I was getting from the carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, quinoa and peppers.  That is a complete meal!  And, the chili powder was not overwhelming, just enough spice.

One daughter loves the veggie burger

And I do too!!

On the menu this week?

I got a bee in my bonnet yesterday and decided to plan out the week's dinner and actually cook them in advance.  First up - Jeff Novick's Bean Burgers.  What I love about his recipe are the different variations.  You can use different types of beans, choose between potatoes or rice, use tomato sauce, BBQ sauce or salsa and then pick your spice.  Here is the basic recipe:

• 2 cans of beans drained (I used one can of pinto, one can of garbanzo)
• 1 cup of oats (I use GF)
• 1 cup of cooked brown rice or potatoes (I used sweet potatoes)
• 4 TB of tomato sauce, salsa, BBQ sauce, etc (I used Muir Glen's Portobello Mushroom sauce - it happened to be open in the frig)
• Spices - you pick!  I used a dash of curry and cumin.  I wish I had used a lot more, but I wanted the girls to eat these.

You can hand mash all of this together, I put my in the food processor, just be careful to not over process.  Then form them into patties, on a baking sheet.  Let set in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, then grill them, bake them, saute them in a skillet, however you prefer.  I baked mine at 350 for about 10 minutes, then froze them. I will put them on a skillet with a little spray olive oil (Jeff would not do this) and cook them when we are ready for burger night! Which I think will be tonight.

Second - This is a recipe shared by a friend from an amazing website.  If you have not heard of 101 Cookbooks, you must check out the site. 









The recipe I was inspired by is Red Lentil Soup with Lemon .  
I was feeling adventurous, so I did not follow directions very well, added a few more ingredients, and of course left out the butter.  Here is what I did:

• 2 boxes of Trader Joe's Steamed Lentils
• 1 can Trader Joe diced tomatoes
• 3 cups of water
• 1 diced onion
•  1 tablespoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
• Handful of shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• Juice of three lemons, or to taste
• 1 large bunch of kale leaves, chopped

I sauteed the lentils, tomatoes, water and carrots for awhile.  Then I added all the spices in at once. Stirred, then in two batches, put the soup in the Vitamix and blended well.  There were too many lentils to put it all in at once.  I had a side bowl I used for half until all blended.  (Yes, one of those hand blenders you put in the pot would have saved me a few steps)  While the soup was in the Vitamix, I put the chopped kale (I used a ton, it cooks down to nothing) in the pan with a little water and steamed it.   You will watch it disappear!  Then, I put all soup back into the pot with the kale, added the cilantro, lemon and more water.  Keep adding water to your liking.  My soup was a little thick.  When I re-heat for dinner I will add more water.  The lemon juice gives this soup an amazing tangyness.  And, what incredible NUTRIENTS - lentils, kale, onion, tomatoes, lemon, tumeric.  Great, healthy dish for dinner and leftovers for lunch. 

Third

Sunday night dinner - Yes, I was tired of cooking at this point.  I made asparagus, sweet potato fries, and baked tofu.  Asparagus - blanched in boiling water until they turned bright green, drained and lightly poured GF Tamari sauce on top.

Sweet potatoes - I boiled them for about ten minutes, a fork could get through them but they were not mushy.  Peeled them and sliced them very thinly onto a baking sheet (my new baking sheet).  Lightly sprayed olive oil over them and sprinkled cinnamon.  On half (my half), I added cayenne pepper.  I put them in the oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes.  Keep watching them!

Tofu- sliced, pressed, coated with a little Tahini and GF Tamari.  Baked at 400 for 15 minutes, flipped them over and baked again for about 10 minutes.  When I flipped them I sprinkled a crushed nut and cornmeal mixture I had left over.

So, In conclusion, this week: 

Sunday night dinner - asparagus, tofu, sweet potato fries.  

Monday night will be veggie burgers and salad.  

Tuesday night will be the lentil soup and roasted brussel sprouts.  

Wednesday night, maybe my sweet husband will take us out? 

Thursday night, whatever veggies we have left over, Muir Glen Portobello Tomato Sauce and GF pasta.   

Lunches - leftovers, salads with beans, left over sweet potatoes I baked, black beans and rice, and smoothies of course!

Easy, Colorful Lunch

Steamed corn tortilla, left over mashed purple potatoes (with soy milk, lime juice and pepper) and topped with Trader Joe's salsa verde. Delicious.

Do You Like it Hot?

I do!  I just whipped up some very spicy butternut squash soup.  It has a kick, but is off set with the sweetness of butternut squash, a little brown rice syrup and organic unsweetened soy milk.

Ingredients
1 TBS minced ginger
1 large jalapeno minced (I bought mine at Trader Joes)
2 cups low sodium veggie broth (mine was TJs)
1 box of TJ's butternut squash
1 cup unsweetened, organic soymilk (mine was TJs) - or other plant based milk
1 TBS brown rice syrup
1/4 tsp chipotle pepper - this has a distinct spicy, smokey flavor, you could substitute chilli powder, or cayenne pepper.  I used 1/2 tsp chipotle in my soup and thought it was too much.

Pour enough veggie broth in the bottom of your pan (pan needs to be large enough to make your soup) to cover bottom.  Saute ginger and jalapeno for about a minute.  Then add the rest of the veggie broth and the butternut squash.  Cook until the squash in tender.  Transfer to a Vitamix or food processor with the brown rice syrup, the spice of your choice, and soy milk.  Blend away.  Soup is ready to be served. 

You could also experiment, substitute the soy milk with organic apple sauce!

First Veggin Around Dinner

Two of my many goals for 2012 are to learn to present information on a whole foods, plant based diet and to continue improving my cooking skills.  I thought what better way than to have a monthly dinner party with friends where I cook and talk about the topic that I am most passionate about?

My first dinner was last night.  I began with 5 friends, who were super supportive and patient as I attempted my first presentation and whipped up several dishes I had not previously made.

The topics I tried to cover last night were: what is a whole food, plant based diet, what foods can help prevent cancer and what foods can promote cancer, and that we can get adequate protein from a whole food, plant based diet.

My Menu

Hot Cheesy Vegetable Dip

Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant Based Nutrition page 277

served with Trader Joes baked tortilla chips and raw veggies 

Black Bean Dip

one can of black beans, one can of pinto beans (both drained), 1 jar of Trader Joe Salsa Verde, a handful of cilantro and a handful of cashew nuts. Put all in a Vitamix or food processor.  

A Big Salad

spinach, red peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms, hearts of palms, hemp seeds

with:

 

Balsamic- Dijon Vinaigrette

From Everyday Happy Herbivore page 126

Creamy Avocado Dressing

1 avocado, 1/2 can diced tomatoes, handful of cilantro - blend all together in Vitamix or similiar

Tex –Mex Shepherd’s Pie

Adapted from Everyday Happy Herbivore page 157  

I used purple potatoes instead of sweet potatoes

 

No-Bake Brownie Balls

I keep making these, they are so easy and so good.