Sweet, Spicy and Creamy

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In honor of my Fiery Vegan Valentine Contest I decided to try out a few new spicy recipes that I have been working on.  Of course I am not entering these recipes into my own contest but if you are looking for some delicious spicy recipes to heat up your Valentines Day meal (or any meal) try these yummy recipes.  I have received a number of great recipes for the contest and there is still time to enter!

Spicy Asian Pear BBQ Sauce

Yields 1-1.5 cups

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium asian or bosc pear, peeled & seeded, diced small
  • 1 jalapeno, minced
  • 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
  • 1″ ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1/4 cup +1 tbsp lite soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp agave
  • 2 cloves minced garlic

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat and stir in the pear, jalapeno, sesame seeds and ginger; saute for 5-7 minutes until lightly caramelized.
  2. Stir in the 1/4 sup of soy sauce, rice vinegar and agave; bring to a boil, reduce and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half.
  3. Transfer the mixture to a food processor, add the remaining soy sauce and the garlic and pulse until smooth.

Slather tofu, seitan or tempeh with this sauce and bake in a 400F oven for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned.

Almond Butter Sauce

Yields 1-1.5 cups

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced small
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1″ ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 tbsp chili flakes
  • 2 tbsp lite soy sauce
  • 3/4 cup coconut creamer or coconut milk
  • 3 tbsp almond butter
  • 1 tsp sriracha
  • 2 tsp lime juice

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat and stir in the onion saute for 5-7 minutes until softened.  Stir in the garlic, ginger and chili flakes and cook for 2 minutes.
  2. Whisk in the soy sauce and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Whisk in the coconut creamer, almond butter and sriracha; whisk until smooth.
  4. Whisk in the lime juice. Remove from heat.

Serve this sauce hot or cold over tofu, seitan, tempeh, toss it with noodles or use a dipping sauce for veggies.

I tossed mine with whole wheat spaghetti, shredded kale, green onions and julienned carrots.

Soy-Sesame Broccoli

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp lite soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 4 cups broccoli florets

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Toss the veggies with the soy sauce, sesame seeds and sesame oil.
  2. Pour the broccoli onto a sheet pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until florets begin to brown.

    Weekend Wrap Up

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    This weekend was a fairly busy and yet uneventful one and I could really go for an extra day off.

    Friday was a ridiculously busy day- none of which did I make time to capture in photographs- but it started with a frustrating morning at the dealership where I went to get my oil changed and it turned into a whole big, extra long mess.  Then it was off to work later than planned to finish a grant proposal that was due at 5pm.  I had a later day at the office than usual but was able to finish the application and get it sent off at 3:40pm! Following that I had to pick up the Hubz and head to the hospital to visit my mom who was having out-patient surgery on her knee.  After our brief visit and long day the Hubz and I were ready for a margarita and portobello fajitas.

    Saturday was as little bit more relaxed; we spent most of the day at home working on our projects. We stopped around noon and decided to try out this Vegan Harvest pizza from American Flatbread that I had picked up on a whim.

    The verdict: the pizza was meh-okay.  The Hubz and I both though the crust was delicious but that’s a given because American Flatbread has the best crust.  The pizza overall was greasy and really lacked in flavor.  It had a tiny bit of sauce on it and a ton of Daiya.  I would have liked to have seen vegetables on the pizza and a few more herbs.  Overall I don’t think we’d buy this again because we can make a veggie filled home-made pizza for the same that it costs us to buy this frozen pizza.

    The Hubz went snowboarding with a friend on Sunday so I spent the entire day working on edits for my e-book that will hopefully be released on Tuesday or Wednesday! Fingers Crossed! Here is a sneak peak

    Also don’t forget that you still have until February 10th to enter the Fiery Vegan Valentine Contest! You can enter for all three categories!

    Recipe: Tex Mex Avocado Pasta

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    I came across Angela of Oh She Glows recipe for 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta and I thought it sounded really great. Since I had a bunch of avocados to use up this week I decided to create this recipe with a twist; I really wanted to add more veggies and protein to the dish and spice it up a little.

    The first thing I did was weigh out four portions of pasta, two for this dish and two for a dish I made for our lunches. I love using a kitchen scale for things like pasta and snacks because it gives a much more accurate portion than just counting how many crackers are in a serving or approximate measurement.

    Tex Mex Avocado Pasta

    Inspired by Oh She Glows

    Serves 2


    Ingredients:

    • 1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • 12 oz grape tomatoes
    • 1 large avocado, pitted and diced
    • 1 tbsp lemon juice
    • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/4 tsp pepper
    • 1 tbsp basil infused olive oil
    • 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
    • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
    • 2 servings of pasta (I used Jovial Whole Grain Fusilli)

    Directions:

    1. Preheat the oven to 400F.  Place the chickpeas and tomatoes in a medium oven safe bowl and roast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set to the side.
    2. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.
    3. In a mini chopper or food processor add the avocado, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, basil olive oil, and smoked paprika and blend until smooth.
    4. To a large bowl add the baby spinach, tomatoes & chickpeas and sauce and top with the cooked pasta; mix to combine.  Serve immediately.

    A Difficult Mistake To Make Again

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    Yesterday morning I had my heart set on making this recipe .  I had all the ingredients for the mole sauce and prepared it in the morning so I would only have to worry about making the tamales when I arrived home after work.  Well I spent the rest of the day thinking about the fact that I wasn’t in love with the mole sauce and also how it seemed silly to try to make something when corn isn’t in season and frozen corn for the tamales just didn’t seem like it would be as good. So, I scrapped it which put me in another dilemma- How can I use this sauce?

    I decided to make enchiladas and I picked up the fixings for them which was the easy part.  Now to the hard part making this raw mole sauce into a mole enchilada sauce that tasted good.  I started by heating the mole sauce with vegetable broth to thin it out, however this did not improve the taste- it just was like spicy, nutty, chocolate soup.  Then I got the idea to add more chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, ume plum vinegar, tomato sauce and a number of other things I can’t remember until it tasted good.

    I made a filling of refried beans, mushrooms and spinach which I then rolled up and placed in a baking dish.  I topped with the mole enchilada sauce and a dusting of nutritional yeast and placed in the oven to bake for 20 minutes uncovered.  Once it came out of the oven I topped with a drizzle of smoky paprika cheeze sauce (based off this recipe) and a little avocado.

    Well they look good right? Now the test was to see if they actually tasted as good as they look. The verdict: they were really amazing, however due to all the playing around to make the sauce taste good it is going to be difficult to recreate this dish that turned out amazing by mistake. Oh well, I think I have enough knowledge on how to recreate it and I hope to try it again- but this time I will write everything down so you can try it too!

    For dessert we tried one of the sample cookies sent to me from Enjoy Life Foods; they sent the Snickerdoodle, Double Chocolate Brownie and Lively Lemon to test out for them. Last night we tried the Snickerdoodle, overall the Hubz and I thought that they were okay. They were nice and soft but we both felt that they were super sugary tasting and the texture was almost like eating brown sugar (we just aren’t sugar lovers).  I am hoping that the other two flavors are better.

    High Raw Week Fail and a Win

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    This week I declared that we would be eating a high raw diet because I always feel amazing after I take a week to just let my body relax and step away from wheat, gluten and any processed foods. Well things were going strong we had delicious mock raw tuna sandwiches on sprouted bread with raw spicy carrot soup for diner on Sunday.  Yesterday for lunch I had a big red apple and left over mock tuna over greens with tomato which was delicious and better than the mock tuna on sprouted bread. For a snack after work I enjoyed a tray of these yummy crispy things:

    Yeah those are kale chips, not just any kale chips though, these are spicy cheezy kale chips and they are addictive.

    Well after all that sounds like we were on the right track to eating high raw this week, eh? Then it came time for dinner and all I could think about is how much I wanted brown rice with curry.  I tried to convince myself that I could just do a big green salad with a raw curry dressing but I just couldn’t get past my craving for warm food. So I decided to go with it, but first I had to evaluate the veggie situation because if it wasn’t going to be raw I wanted it packed with veggies. This is what I found:

    Add to that coconut milk and green curry paste:

    and then of course my secret special ingredient, avocado, an ingredient I had never heard of in Thai curry (I have now been informed people have seen it on the menu places).  I know it sounds strange but as I was planning this curry I couldn’t stop thinking about the creamy basket of avocados sitting on counter and decided to take a chance and add it to my curry.

    For dessert we had raw chocolate which my husband said and I quote “I will never be able to look the same way at chocolate again.”  This is really the most amazing chocolate that either of us has ever had; the flavor is outstanding.

    Double Down- Saturday & Sunday Wrap Up

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    This weekend has been filled with great new recipes, great conversation and the most amazing chocolate I have ever had. On Saturday after a crazy morning filled with bagels, markets and lots of coffee the Hubz and I came home to prepare for our dinner guest. We took a break from cleaning and organizing to enjoy a Dominex Eggplant Burger over greens with tomatoes and avocado served with rutabaga flax fries.

    Serves 2- pre heat oven to 425F. Peel and cut 2 small rutabaga into fries and place in a bowl. Toss the rutabaga with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of flax meal, 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon chili powder and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bake for 25-30 minutes until tender and browned.

    More cleaning and a little napping happened and then it was time to make dinner for Allie from Healthy Balance, Healthy Life. Allie wanted to make hummus using her new food processor so that set the tone for the entire meal.  I decided to go with a Mediterranean themed meal which included lemon-garlic-oregano marinated tofu, tomato, onion and pepper skewers, olives, pita, tahini-parsley dressing and carrot sticks and radishes with Allie’s roasted red pepper hummus.

    tofu and tomato skewers

    onion and pepper skewers

    The marinade/baste for the veggies and tofu included:

    • 1 cup vegetarian chicken broth (could sub vegetable broth)
    • 2 Tablespoon chopped parlsey
    • 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
    • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon thyme
    • 2 teaspoons oregano
    • 1/2 teaspoons salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
    • 3 garlic cloves, minced
    • 3 Tablespoons olive oil

    Whisk these all together and pour over skewered veggies and tofu and allow to marinate for 2-4 hours.  Remove from the marinade and place on parchment lined baking sheets; pre-heat oven to 425F. Place the remaining marinade in a small sauce pan and place over high heat; bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer until the sauce has reduced by half. Remove from the heat and brush the veggies and tofu. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and baste with more of the reduced marinade; return to the oven and bake for 15 more minutes.  Remove from the oven once again and baste the veggies and tofu with the remaining marinade.  Turn the oven on to broil and broil on high until the veggies and tofu are lightly browned.

    carrot sticks and radishes

    yummy mixed olives

    tahini-parsley sauce and whole wheat pita

    Allie's Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

    Serves 4- in a small sauce pan heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, add 1/2 a minced sweet onion and saute over medium-high for 5-6 minutes until the onions soften. Stir in the garlic and 1 (15oz) can of rinsed and drained chickpeas; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 (12oz) package of defrosted frozen spinach, 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste; cook until heated through.

    For dessert we enjoyed Lulu’s raw chocolate which is easily by far the most amazing raw chocolate I have ever had.  I find a  a lot of raw chocolates do not have enough of a chocolate flavor and are sometimes chalky tasting but this chocolate was amazing and not only is the best raw chocolate I have ever had but one of the best chocolates.  I will blog about these more once I try the other flavors I have.

    After our late night chatting and enjoying Proseco with Allie we dragged ourselves out of bed this morning and headed to my parents house for the day.  We enjoyed the day with my parents, grandma and Aunt Carol; we ate, played cards and laughed. When we got home we were hungry and ready to enjoy a nice high-raw dinner.  This week we are going to eat high raw in hopes of detoxing our body a bit after enjoying lots of pasta, bread and drinks this weekend.

    Dinner tonight consisted of a spicy carrot-avocado soup and raw tuna salad sandwiches which was served on multigrain Manna sprouted bread.

    Spicy Carrot-Avocado Soup (raw)

    Serves 2-3

    • 1 & 2/3 cup carrot juice
    • 1 avocado
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
    • 1/2 jalapeno
    • 1 small garlic clove
    • pinch of cayenne pepper

    Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

    The Raw Tuna Salad recipe came from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Essentials

    You can get the Aioli Mayonaise recipe for the mock tuna sandwich here.

    Dessert was more amazing raw chocolate

    Long Waits for Good Food

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    Good Morning! I hope you all enjoyed my late night Vlog which gave any of you curious readers a chance to hear what I sound like. Now I’m up early ready for oats and coffee (which I hope the husband will be making soon, ahem) but first I thought I might take a minute before I jump into my busy day to blog about our yummy dinner last night.

    The Hubz and I haven’t had Friday night Date Night in a really long time and we were itching to get out and have really good food, drinks and conversation. After a little thought we decided there is nothing wrong with doing the same ol’ thing- head to The Farmhouse Tap & Grill for delicious beer and food. We tend to go here most Date Nights because we love the atmosphere, the food and the beer; nothing wrong with enjoying a good thing.

    Last night was incredibly busy and we waited over an hour for a table and then we had to wait awhile longer than usual for our food, however we were in no rush so we grabbed a beer at the bar and enjoyed each others company.

    Once we finally were seated we had no problem ordering since there are generally only three things we ever get:

    1. The tofu burger with no bun (not vegan), no cheese (obviously not vegan) and sub sauteed kale for the bun and we either have it with their amazing fries or greens
    2. The nitty gritty corn cakes which come with sauteed greens and mushrooms with the cider or lemon vinaigrette instead of the buttermilk
    3. The vegan plate- this is not officially on the menu but you can just ask and they will make you a great plate with fresh local veggies that have been sauteed and served  with grilled local crusty bread

    We also occasionally get the olive starter  as well but it’s a huge bowl so we only get it when we go with others.

    Tonight I went with the nitty gritty corn cakes

    and the Hubz the burger with fries

    and we both topped it them with their yummy ketchup, mustard and BBQ sauces.