In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat the oil and then add in the onions and peppers and sautee for 5-7 minutes until softened and getting a little color. Add in the paprika, cumin, garlic, Italian seasoning, cayenne and chipotle chili powder and stir to coat. Stir in the first two cups vegetable broth, tomatoes and split peas and bring to a boil; turn down and let simmer for 25-30 minutes until the split peas have started to soften some. Add additional broth if the split pea mixture begins to look dry. Sprinkle over the nutritional yeast and cornmeal and stir in to thicken the dish; the split pea mixture should come together well if it still seems too wet to put on a bun you can add more cornmeal. Serve on buns, bread, over rice or pasta!
This afternoon I got home from work and did the workout I didn’t do this morning. I decided to try the newest EA Active Wii game and will be doing the 6 week challenge. Have you ever done the EA Active challenge?
I was craving sloppy joes tonight and thought I had lentils to make them with but I couldn’t find them (we still are unpacking) so I decided to try something new Spicy Sloppy Split Peas! I put the sloppy split peas on a bun with dijon mustard and baby spinach and had sauteed purple cabbage and baked sweet potatoes on the side.
Tonight I plan on getting some school work done as well as attempting to do a little more unpacking so we can get all settled in. However first I will enjoy one of my new yummy raw cookies.
Raw Almond Super Food Cookies
Makes 12-15 cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw almond butter
2T agave nectar
1/2t cinnamon
2T cacao nibs
2T goji berries
1/4 cup shredded dried coconut
2T chopped pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
Mix the almond butter and agave nectar together. Stir in remaining ingredients; the batter should hold together if it doesn’t add more coconut. Scoop out tablespoon size cookies and place on a wax paper lined sheet pan. Cover the cookies and place in the fridge. These do well for 5-7 days in the fridge however you can freeze them and take them out shortly before you want to enjoy.
We have been so busy this weekend! Friday was beer fest, saturday we did some grocery shopping and went to Costco and then we went to a Lake Monsters game for work because our Honor Guard was presenting the colors.
The Worlds Most Unhealthy-yet free- dinner ever! Vegan Burger with potato chips and diet cola....I cringe as I type this but oh well...it was good after a night at brew fest
Now it is Sunday and I have been busy attempting to unpack as well as having to run to the office to get some emergency items done. We got quite a bit done today however there is still more to do boo! I can’t wait to be totally moved in. I am happy to say however we have gotten back into our active mornings and finally eating at home.
This morning I knew we had a lot to do so I decided to make a yummy and filling breakfast
Bring the water to a boil and stir in the corn grits polenta, nutritional yeast, and salt. Turn down to low and continue to stir until the polenta has thickened.
Tex-Mex TVP
Bring the vegetable broth to a boil and stir in the TVP; turn down and simmer for 5- 7 minutes. Saute the onions and garlic in oil over medium-high heat until translucent. Add in the cumin, paprika, chili powder and salt and stir to evenly coat the onions and garlic. Pour in the TVP; it should be soft and expanded some- there should be a little left over vegetable broth. Stir the TVP and onion mixture together and add the salsa and nooch.
Assemble
Take 1/4 of the polenta and put it on a plate, top with 1/4 of the TVP mixture and then 1/4 of an avocado. ENJOY! Other suggestions: add your favorite hot sauce, fresh diced tomatoes, pickled jalapenos or cilantro to add even more flavor to this dish.
After breakfast I tried out my new sneakers and walked a few miles to the Short Stop to redeem my free iced coffee ticket. Then it was off to work for an emergency that had to get taken care of.
After running to work we headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up some organizational items, the natural food store for a few items and then home to make some lunch- a recipe from Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Essentials– Pad Thai! Since the only kelp noodles I had were still frozen I made the recipe with zucchini noodles, cabbage and carrot noodles on a bed of baby spinach.
Ani Phyo's newest raw book is really amazing! The book has such a clear layout of recipes which is great for easily navigating it and finding recipes that interest me. I absolutely love the photos that are in the book; they are a huge improvement over Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. The recipes are also even better than her first book! We loved the pad thai, BLT Club and Chinese Chickenless Salads- I can't wait to try more recipes! One thing that I loved about these recipes is that they were easy to follow and they all turned out amazing! There is also a great balance of recipes that require special appliances (i.e. dehydrators, high powered blenders, spiralizers) and recipes that are easy for anyone who doesn't have these special items and doesn't want to go out and purchase them. I would really recommend that if you have any interest in raw foods to pick this book up because you won't be dissappointed.
After recharging with this lovely raw meal it was time to get down to work and unpack our place. We gave ourselves 20 minutes to relax, check e-mails and twitter then it was time to get unpacking. We did pretty well over 2.5 hours of unpacking the place but unfortunately there is still more to do- we need more furniture so we don’t really have places to put things…like books.
I attempted to write this post earlier but my blog has been down all afternoon so, what would have been a separate dinner post is going to be wrapped up into this post. Dinner was simple (see below) since it is a million degrees in our apartment and I’m exhausted. Enjoy!
Tomato & Cuke Salad, Trio of Dips (leftover TVP from breakfast, Spicy Peanut Hummus and Salba Mild Salsa) with Salba Blue Corn Chips and Carrot Sticks, Lastly, Olives & Caper Berries
The Salad That Will Make Your Friends Say "WOW"
This simple salad will impress your guests:
Ingredients:
1 large tomato, sliced
1 large cucumber, sliced
1 cup baby spinach
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 shallot, sliced
2T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
First place the balsamic and shallots in a small sauce pan on high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and reduce by half. Set aside and let cool slightly while you prepare the remaining items. Create a bed with the spinach for the tomato and cucumber to lay on; alternate the tomato and 2 slices of cucumber until all is used. Down the center top the cucumbers and tomatoes with the balsamic shallots and then drizzle the remaining sauce over. Drizzle the olive oil over and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
I really need more hours in the day! I have been crazy busy this week between preparing to move on Monday, moving and working on Tuesday and then Wednesday I had a 13 hour work day which was exhausting. Yesterday calmed down a little bit and the Hubz and I were able to get some unpacking done but there is still so much to do! Today I slept in and my slept in I mean I got up at 7 instead of 5:30 which was nice. Tonight we are headed to the VT Brewer’s Festival so it is going to be a fun and crazy night that I will be sure to blog about tomorrow!
Since it’s been crazy around here and we have done a lot of eating out (we haven’t had any food at home) I feel like my body is lacking the nutrients that I get from when I cook/uncook at home. So for lunch I made a nice salad of spinach topped with apple slices, fennel and pecans.
In that cute little nut butter jar is my dijon agave dressing which is to die for!
Dijon Agave Dressing:
2T olive oil
2T coconut vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1T dijon mustard
2t agave
Put everything in a jar and shake! This is enough for 2 small salads or 1 huge salad.
Hi Bloggies! Thank you all so much for your support regarding my last post. I appreciate it so much!
Anyways back to business, it has been crazy hot here….like nearly 100F.
When it is this hot out raw foods/salads are the perfect thing to cool you down. Lunch today is amazing, refreshing and cooling- Massaged Kale Salad, Sauteed Portobellos (cold) and brown rice salad.
We also had it for dinner last night
Massaged Kale Salad
Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale, washed and ripped into large pieces
1 avocado
1 lemon, juiced
1/2t garlic powder
1t salt
1/2 pepper
dash of cayenne
1T nutritional yeast
Directions:
Place everything into a bowl and then take your (clean) fingers and massage everything into the kale for 2-3 minutes; until evenly coated. Let sit for 5 minutes. Taste for seasonings and serve!
Brown Rice & Veggie Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, day old brown rice
2 stalks of celery, diced
1/3 cup green onions, sliced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
Dressing: (whisk together)
1T dijon mustard
1t agave
2T red wine vinegar
2T olive oil
Directions:
Toss everything together and serve. However this is best made at least 30 minutes prior to eating so that all the flavors can marry.
Alright Bloggies this is short because I have to get back to working.
I have been loving breakfast lately and have whipped up some great treats for the Hubz and I. Monday morning we enjoyed some banana bread protein pancakes with agave glazed fruit and of course enjoyed with Kicking Horse Coffee– I am addicted to this stuff!
Agave Glazed Fruit (for more than 3 people add more fruit and and extra tablespoon of agave)
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
3T agave nectar
Directions:
Preheat a griddle.
In a small bowl blend the wet ingredients until mostly smooth; it is okay to have some small banana chunks. In a large bowl whisk all of the dry ingredients together. Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in and stir together. At this point you can add a little more non-dairy milk if you like your pancakes thinner otherwise it’s time to cook.
Spray the preheated griddle with cooking spray and drop 1/4 cup of pancake batter on it. Cook 3-5 minutes on the first side and 1-2 on the second side until light and fluffy.
Top your pancakes with the agave glazed fruit and enjoy!
Since the weather has been crazy hot the past few days I’ve decided to keep it light and make some cooling coconut yogurt parfaits. This morning I even made my dad a greek yogurt parfait since he was up bright and early with us. I layered coconut yogurt, strawberries and a blend of oats, chia seeds and flax meal.
This weekend it has been beautiful in Vermont, summer has finally arrived! Bianca’s guest post this weekend inspired me to make my own version of eggs benedict, specifically my absolute favorite version that I used to get all the time before I went vegan at Sneakers in Winooski VT. It is a California benedict which includes avocado which just makes this dish wonderful. We enjoyed our benny with homefries, hot sauce and the best coffee ever from Kicking Horse Coffee in British Columbia.
California Benedict (serves 4)
1 avocado, sliced into 16 slices
2 cups arugala, divided
4 whole wheat english muffins, toasted
hot sauce (optional)
“Eggs”:
– 2/3 block of tofu sliced in 2 then again into 4 triangles
1T nutritional yeast
1C vegetable broth
1/4t chipotle chili powder
1/4t cumin
1/4t garlic powder
1/2t dried thyme
1t red wine vinegar
Mix all the ingredients together and place the tofu slices in the mixture to marinade for 30 minutes.
Hollandaise Sauce:
1C non-dairy milk
1T lemon juice
3T nutritional yeast
pinch cayenne
2T vegan margarine
1T cornstarch
1/2C vegetable broth
salt and pepper
Blend all the ingredients together and then place in a small sauce pan over low heat. Whisk occasionally to create a smooth sauce. Heat until thickened and then remove from the heat until ready to use. Warm the sauce gently before serving- you may need to add a little more non-dairy milk to thin the sauce.
Putting it all together:
Top each side of the english muffin with 1/4 of the arugula and place 2 slices of avocado on each side. Top with 1 piece of tofu and the drizzle with the hollandaise sauce. If you would like top with a few drops of hot sauce.
After breakfast we were feeling pretty full so lunch was light just a wonderful coconut milk yogurt parfait which was delicious and very pretty to eat.
Dinner was per the request of my hubby who was craving some spicy delights- tempeh bites. I decided to make three variations a Chipotle BBQ, Sriracha Hoisin, and good old Frank’s Hot sauce. I served it with a little sweet corn guacamole and bean and veggie salad.
