Spicy Shirataki Noodles

So my husband loves noodles and I'm always trying to find a way to make it new and interesting.  I think he would only eat noodles if he had the choice and I would blow my head off with boredom if I didn't change it up once in a while. 

For those of you that aren't familiar with them (which I'm pretty sure many are not because I wasn't) Shirataki Noodles have some evidence that glucomannan, when tested as a powdered supplement, can play a role in blood sugar control, as well as improve cholesterol control and weight loss. It also contributes to fiber intake and can be a substitute for starchy noodles.  The most common found in the USA are Tofu Shirataki Noodles which are great because they answer that pesky irritating question asked to vegans about your protein intake. 

There are a million different ways that these noodles can be served and here is one of the ways that I tried and really enjoyed.

 

 

Ingredients: 



• 5 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 red pepper
• 1 8oz pack of Shirataki Noodles cooked as directed one package
• 1/2 basil leaves torn

Whisk together soy sauce, lime, brown sugar and rice vinegar.  Set aside. 

Heat oil in pan or wok over medium to high heat.  Add in garlic and jalapeno. Cook for 1 minute.  Add in onion and pepper; stir fry for five minutes or until onion is almost clear. 

Add in noodles and soy sauce mixture.  Simmer for five minutes.

remove from heat and toss with basil before serving. 

Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mashed sweet potato
• 1/2 cup veggie broth
• 1/2 cup non dairy milk
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest

To Garnish:

• Diced Avocado 
• Chips
• dash of chili powder

Preheat oven at 400 degrees and cook sweet potato until soft.

Add sweet potato, veggie broth and non dairy milk into blender and blend until smooth.  Add spice and salt and blend in.  Fold in Lemon zest as added into serving bowls.  Garnish with fresh cubed avocado and chips and enjoy!

Easy Vegan Migus

Mingus is a great Tex-Mex breakfast food traditionally made with eggs but this easy recipe uses tofu instead creating a hearty meal for a great start to a morning!

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic (Minced) 
• 2 table spoons Mexican Seasoning
• 2oz Nutritional Yeast 
• half yellow onion (diced) 
• 1 Poblano pepper (Sliced) 
• 1 package firm tofu (Drained)  
• Corn Tortillas
• Salsa to taste
• Salt and Pepper to taste 

Heat small amount of oil into a pan over medium to high heat.  Add garlic, onion, pepper and tomato to pan and saute until they at soft and slightly golden brown.

After tofu is drained crumble into pan.  Add nutritional yeast and mexican seasoning.  Cook through (About 8 minutes)

In second pan heat tortilla's for about 1 minute on eat side.  Plate and serve with salsa, tortillas and Migus.  Add salt and pepper as desired.  

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.  

Cleansing Cocktail

Well all, I come before you now, for the first time as a married women!  We are so excited and so happy to start this new chapter of our lives together.

After a week of eating out with family and drinking cocktails and beers I really need a break!  Sure it was all vegan but that doesn't mean it was good for me.  So its time for my favorite thing:  Juice cleanse!  So here I am pumping myself up with the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead and drinking a new kind of cocktail.

The Cleansing Cocktail:
Apple
Beet
Small piece of Ginger
1 Juicing carrot or 2 regular

Add all of these into juicer one at a time in the order listed above.  Enjoy!

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!  

Greenling

I feel as though I need to confess something.  Its something that you have probably noticed and something I am ashamed of:  I have not been cooking as much.  Working at a restaurant does that too me because I get free food every shift I work there.

I am so ashamed.  I hate not cooking my own food.  So in an effort to remedy this I have turned to a source that a friend recommended to me:  Greenling.com .

Greenling is a website that brings the local farm to your doorstep.  Forget that for a moment the whole organics argument.  I hear from people all the time that they are just to busy to go to farms markets and support their local agriculture and food economy.  

Well, that is just plain not an excuse anymore!  Greenling is a website where you can place an order of fresh everything (Including dairy and meat if you are so inclined), they will go to the local farms and pick it up, package it for you and then deliver it right to your doorstep!

Now I know what you're thinking.  That there must be something wrong with it.  Its not totally cheap but if you've already graduated over into the health world you know that no matter where you go nutritionally dense food is expensive.

But could it possibly be good quality?  When you're at the super market you get to pick what looks good and what you're going to skip on. I don't know about you but if I walk into the market ans see something I don't like, even if it was on my list I skip it.  And I'm pretty picky.

So lets get to my review.   Here is a picture or two of my box when it arrived.

As you can see the box stuffed with yummys.  The van was refrigerated so everything was cold and crisp and the brochure said it would keep everything inside cold for up to four hours if you were not there to pick it up.  The man that dropped it off was named Robert and he was so nice!

The box itself is ten dollars when you order added on but they are recyclable.  When another order is made you leave the box outside of your door and they will pick it up.  Even if you are not going to be using them again you can schedule a free pick up for the containers.

The food inside it was packed perfectly!  I was so impressed.  Nothing was crushed or under anything it shouldn't have been.  the mushrooms were in a brown paper bag exactly like they should be.  I am so excited to eat it all!  The Kale was still crisp and perfect along with the lettuce.  I am very picky about my leafy greens so it says a lot when I say that they are perfect.

Also in the box since it was our first delivery were two bumper stickers and a welcome brochure.  I know that this is a marketing thing but you can be sure that I will be putting the "Beets Driving" on my car because it is so darn cute!

Also, on the back of my packing slip was a note saying "Packed with Kale :) Jamie."  I found this so sweet and personal that I cant help but feel a personal connection to this company.

All together I am more then satisfied with this order and I will be using this service again. I would recommend it to everyone.  A huge thanks to Jamie and Robert who made this all the more personal and won huge brownie points for this company.

White bean Rosemary Soup with Jumbo Croutons and Fresh Basil

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onions 
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 large cloves of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons mustard 
• 1 teaspoons salt 
• Black pepper to taste
• 6 cups white kidney beans cooked
• 3 cups veggie stock 
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary 
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice 
• 1 batch of fresh jumbo croutons 
• fresh basil, juillian cut 

In a large pot on medium heat add oil, celery, onion, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Cover and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking to the bottom.

Add 4 cups of beans, veggie stock, water and 1 1/2 teaspoons of rosemary.  Increase and bring to a boil.  Once boiling reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Using an immersion blender blend well.  Stir in remaining 2 cups of beans, lemon juice  and remaining rosemary.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in individual bowls with jumbo croutons and fresh cut basil.  Drizzle with olive oil if desired.

Baba Ghanoush

You know what I love about Mediterranean food?  Besides the fact that its part of my heritage, is so awesomely good for you and so nutritionally dense?  It's the fact that it is so easy to make.  There are so few ingredients that I always know what I'm making is going to taste amazing!  From a great hummus to a tomato and basil salad I am always satisfied.  Try this recipe on for size.

• 1 eggplant
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
• 
  
• Cut Eggplant in half and place on baking sheet make holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, until soft. Remove from oven and let cool. Using a serving spoon scoop out the insides of the eggplant and discard skin. 
• 
  
• Place eggplant, lemon juice (please keep in mind that I like mine super tangy so if that is not your taste use less lemon juice), tahini, sesame seeds, and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer eggplant mixture to a medium size mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

 Serve with pita, crackers or use as a sandwich spread.

Raw "Peanut" Noodles

For the Dressing:

• 1" ginger
• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup of white miso
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons high quality shoyu or soy sauce
• 1/3 cup water

Blend all of the ingrediants together in a food processor or high speed blender until creamy.

For the Noodles:

• 2 small zucchinis  sliced with a veggie pealer
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced into matchsticks 
• 1/2 carrot sliced into matchsticks
• 1/2 cucumber grated or pealed into long strips 
• Scallions of green onions for garnish

To actually assemble the dish take all of the veggies and toss together in 1/4 cup of the dressing, adding more if necessary.  Sprinkling with the scallions or green onions as garnish.

I also personally really like adding mug beans to this recipe.  

Vegan Cesar Salad

So this is from Crazy Sexy diet. What a great book. I am doing the 21 day detox right now so there will probably be a lot of recipes I will be sharing from it.

Dressing:
- 1 cup of Veganaise
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of Dijon Mustard
- 2 Cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast

Toss with fresh romaine leaves and carrots. If you would like croutons I toasted some gluten free bread and cut them into squares. Enjoy!

Amazing Raw Lunch

So I tend to eat more raw food in the summer and it does my body good work. I get less bloated, feel lighter and the people who have to look at me in a swim suit while tubing thank my veggies!

Here is my amazing raw lunch for today.

Summer

Salad:
-one avocado, chopped
-1 red chili, diced
-2 roma tomato's, chopped
-1 1/2 cup of corn
-handful of cilantro
-1/2 cup of red pepper, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients into bowl and mix well. Place on two leaves of butter lettuce. You can either roll these into the leave as rolls or just eat as a salad. This will go a long way. Refrigerate rest.

Tomato Cucumber "Caprese"
-1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
-1/3 cucumber, thinly sliced
-1 teaspoon lemon juice
-pepper to taste

Take thin slices and arrange alternating. Squeeze lemon juice over and then sprinkle pepper.

Stuffed Tomatoes/ Peppers

2 large ripe tomatoes
4 tbsp extra version olive oil
2 large green or red peppers
2 onions (Chopped)
2 garlic cloves (Crushed)
2 oz of chopped raw almonds
1/2 cup of brown rice
1/2 an onion of mint (Chopped)
1/2 an oz of Parsley (Chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven at 375 degrees. Cut tomatoes in half and scoop out the pulp. Roughly chop the pulp and set the outer parts on a paper towel. Half the peppers and leave the cores intact. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Brush the cores with oil. Bake the peppers for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper after removal. Put the peppers and tomatoes in an oven proof backing dish and set to the side.

Sautee onions in remaining olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and almonds and sautee for an additional minute.

Remove from the pan and stir in with rice and all the other ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper then spoon the mixture into the tomatoes and the peppers.

Pour 2/3 of water into the baking pan to keep moist as they cook. Put into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove a sprinkle with any additional almonds and olive oil. Return for another 20 minutes until they are golden.

I served this with an onion soup and bread. Yum!

Roasted Tomatos

I love tomatoes. I will eat them any way that I can. One of my earliest memories is of my Great Grand Father salting a raw tomato and taking a huge bit out of it. How Italian!

This recipe is particularly good because the tomatoes are literally exploding with juices when you cut into them. Its perfect for dipping bread into or just eating on its own.

Ingredients:
-2 heirloom Tomatoes (Cut in half)
-1/3 cup of olive oil
-Basil, bay leaf, oregano-any beloved Italian herb
-4 cloves of garlic (Minced)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Take halved tomatoes and place them in a baking pan. Mix olive oil and herbs. Brush over the tops of the tomatoes with a pastry brush.

Place in heated oven for 45 minutes. About half way through the 45 minutes, toss garlic onto the top as well. In my experience if you put it onto the tomatoes with the oil and spices it will char.

Take out of oven. Garnish with bay leafs, salt and pepper if desired. The tomatoes should be golden or black around the top rims.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Onion Medley

Ah, the first of another month...a new beginning. I like to view the first of a month like most people view the new year, a new start and a time to renew my ideals. In this busy life it is easy to forget our basic life style. We need more then once a year to remember what we believe in. I like to start it off with a new recipe!

Ingredients:
-2 sweet potato's (Cubed and Peeled)
-1 red onion (coarsely chopped)
-1 tbs olive oil
-salt
-pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potato and onion in oil, salt and pepper. Arrange on baking sheets covered with parchment paper and pop into the oven for 30 minutes or until it is soft to a fork.

Dressing:
-4 tablespoons olive oil
-1 teaspoon Dijon mustard.
-2 tablespoons chopped parsley
-salt
-pepper

Whisk together.

Once the medley is roasted toss in the dressing mixture. Serve hot or keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Vegan Pho

Pho is an awesome Vietnamese noodle soup traditionally made with beef. I live for a place in San Antonio called Pho Sure. I highly suggest trying it out as well as trying your own recipes with all different Kinds of Asian veggies. This meatless version, is made with most of the same ingredients but subs out beef for tofu and a ton of veggies!


Serves 4 (Large portions!)

8 ounces dried rice noodles
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pack of soft tofu cut into squares
6 cups vegetable stock or water
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons miso paste
1/2 teaspoon Asian chile paste (or to taste)
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
3 to 4 scallions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons basil leaves
4 Shitaki mushrooms
water chestnuts

Directions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Turn off the heat, add the rice noodles, and let them sit for 30 minutes to soften. Drain and set aside.

Bring the stock or water to a boil in a large pot. Add the onion, ginger, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the lime juice.

Place 1/2 cup of the hot liquid into a small bowl. Add the miso paste and stir to blend well. Transfer the blended miso paste into the soup along with the chile paste, if using. Stir in the noodles, tofu and water chestnuts.Do not boil but simmer for several more minutes to.

Divide the soup among individual bowls. Add the bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro (I get mine from my own garden), and basil.

Aerogarden

So for Christmas my parents got me two things that are great for my loving of cooking. The first was a new digital camera. I hate putting up crappy pictures for everyone. The second was on back order and just came in: an Aerogarden. This little three pod garden gives me the ability to grow herbs and veggies all year round with no dirt, no mess and very little effort.



My first project that my mother got me with it was the Salad Package which contains Red Lettuce, Green Lettuce and Butter head Lettuce. It has been three days and I already have little lettuce shoots up and growing. I would recommend it so far but will keep up updated!

On that note I also have strawberries, artichoke, roma tomato,carrots, Bok Choi, basil, cilantro, chives, parsley, oregano, and radish growing conventionally. I would really recommend growing your own veggies and herbs to everyone. I live in an apartment and have been using container gardening so there really is no excuse not to. It is satisfying eating what you grow and gives you a deep respect for not only the food that you are growing but also respect to the farmers and people who grow all of the other food that you eat.

Home Made Guacamole

Nothing is better then home made guacamole. Store bought just has nothing on it! And it is so easy to make!

Not to mention that I am trying to increase the amount of raw food I eat. For those of you that are not familiar with Raw food and the positive effects it can have on your body, raw food is processed much easier and with its maximum amount of nutrients. I would highly recommend watching "Food Matters" for information on both raw food and the way that nutrients can increase health and decrease or elimination chronic disease.

2 large Hass Avocado
4th of red onion (Diced)
Half a jalapeño (Diced)
1 chopped Roma Tomato
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
Lemon juice
salt
pepper

Puree most of the Alvacodos until smooth in your food processor. Set the rest aside. Add the rest of the ingredients into the processor and blend. Take out the guac and fold in the chucks of avocado and the tomato.

Bam! Home made yummy Guacamole!

Spicy Cauliflower and Onion Coucous

Spicy Cauliflower
Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower
Creole Spice
Red pepper flakes
onion flakes
Olive Oil

Slice the cauliflower thin, removing the steams and greens. Mix up the ingredients in a large bowl and sit at room temp for a half an hour to am hour.

Heat up pan at medium to high heat and pour mixture into the pan. Sautee this until the cauliflower is soft. Serve.

Coucous

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of veggie broth or water
1/2 an onion Chopped
1 cup of whole wheat couscous

Boil Liquid. Once it is at a rolling boil. Pour in couscous and remove from heat. Cover. Heat onion in a pan and sautee until clear. If it sticks add a touch of oil. Stir in onion. Serve.

Spinach Salad with Pomegranate and Avocado

Ingredients
*1 pomegranate
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 2 bunches flat leaf spinach, stems trimmed, well washed and dried
* 2 tablespoons roasted, hulled sunflower seeds
* 1 Hass avocado


1. Halve pomegranate lengthwise and seed. Working in a bowl of cold water, use your hands to separate seeds from membrane. Membrane will float to the top; discard. Scoop out pomegranate seeds and pat dry.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons lemon juice, mustard, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Toss spinach, sunflower seeds, and pomegranate seeds with dressing in bowl. Transfer to a serving platter.
3. Halve avocado and remove pit. Scoop out flesh and thinly slice lengthwise; drizzle with remaining lemon juice. Transfer to plate and arrange salad on top. Serve immediately.