Vegan Lettuce Wraps

This is always such a good summer food and being in the hot Texas weather only makes me want to eat lighter.  Lettuce wraps are light, easy to eat and delicious. They make a great snack, meal or party munch.

Ingredients:

•  Cashews

•  Tempeh

•  Stir-Fry Sauce

•  Ice berg Lettuce

•  Shredded Carrot (Shredded)

•  Green Onions
 (Diced)

 Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add cashews. Toast cashews until lightly brown, stirring several times. Remove cashews from pan.

Add small amount of vegetable oil of your choice. Remove tempeh from package and dice into manageable bites. Add tempeh to pan.  If you want extra sauce for dipping or drizzling, add to the skillet while marinating.

Add stir-fry sauce and cashews and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is absorbed

Remove leaves from the head of bibb lettuce, rinse and pat dry if necessary. Stack smaller leaves inside larger leaves for added wrap strength, if desired

Spoon tempeh mixture onto each lettuce stack and top with shredded carrot and green onions.  

Quick Thai Slaw

Ready for those nice cool summer salads?  Me too!  Here is a new favorite of mine.

Ingredients:
1/2 head of red cabbage
1/2 head of white cabbage
2 carrots grated
4 tbsp veggie broth
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp Peanut butter

Lime wedges and crushed peanuts as garnish

Whisk together broth, vinegar and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.

Toss with cabbage and carrots until coated.  Add additional garnishes before serving cold.

Crispy Rice Balls

So this was inspired by one of my favorite places to eat it Austin.  Sadly I live in San Antonio and there are only so many times I can justify driving the hour to Austin for the soul purpose of eating, so I am trying to figure out how to do some of these recipes on my own.  

Ingredients:  

Sticky Sushi rice- about 1/3 of a cup cooked per ball

1/2 cup of Soy Sauce

1/3 cup Rice Vinegar

1/4 cup of Sesame Oil. 

Piece of sea weed paper large enough to hold one of the rice balls each 

Steam rice as directed on the package.  Once it is finish let cool until it is cold enough to handle but not entirely cold.  Form the rice into tight balls, pressing them together hard so that they will not fall apart when put into pan.  You want these to have a flat top and bottom so that they can be evenly coated

Whisk together the liquid ingredients and pour into a pan over medium to high heat.  Once the liquid is close to boiling, carefully place rice balls into pan, turning them to coat with liquid.  Cook for about three minutes on each side.  

Drain off most of the excess liquid from the pan and put the pan back on the stove.  Continue to turn the rice balls in pan so that they do not stick.  Cook until both sides have a crisp texture.  Remove from heat.

Place each individual rice ball into a piece of sea weed paper and serve almost like a wrap. 

Enjoy while hot.  

Stuffed Mushrooms

So I just have to say that Mushrooms are with out a doubt one of the best foods ever.    In our package from greenling yesterday we got a half a pound of these beautiful button mushrooms.  They were so perfect; white and moist but still firm.

I decided to make this recipe for lunch and I hope that you enjoy it as mush as we do!

Ingredients:
- Baby Bellas or Button mushrooms
- 1 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs (Fresh is better)
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
-1 clove of garlic, pressed
-2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
-1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 1+ Tbsp nutritional yeast
- Lemon juice to taste (optional)

If making your own bread crumbs, process about 2 slices of whole wheat bread in a food processor.   This makes about 1  cup of bread crumbs.    Set aside. 


Remove stems from mushrooms and chop them right up.  Toss mushroom tops lightly in 1 tbsp of olive oil and place on backing sheet.  Heat the rest of the oil in a pan over medium high heat.  Add garlic, onions and chopped up stems and sauté for 7 minutes.  Stir in salt, and then bread crumbs, basil, and parsley.


Evenly distribute mixture to mushroom caps.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your mushroom caps and any considerations that your oven has.  Keep an eye on them that they don't get too brown. About five minutes before time is up sprinkle a tiny bit of nutritional yeast over the open and return to oven.  Remove and sprinkle with lemon juice.    Serve with a fresh salad or as a passed appetizer, and enjoy!