I don’t know about you but I am crazy for cornbread and honestly I don’t make it enough! I love to make my cornbread more on the savory side and love to add corn kernels to it as well as a little spice. This time I decided to make it even more special by adding vegan cheese and green onions and served it along side my Chipotle Butternut Squash Chili.
4oz Earth Balance, melted, plus extra to grease the pan
1 cup Cheddar Dayia, grated
1/4 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 cup corn kernels, frozen or fresh
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a cast iron pan.
Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, flax egg, and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just to combine. Fold in the Mix in the Dayia, the scallions, jalapenos and the corn.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into 8 triangles. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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!
I used to eat oats all the time but lately I’ve been having soyogurt, scones and green juice but finally yesterday I returned to my old friend oats, if only it could have been oats in a jar. I also had oats this morning as well and I think tomorrow OIAJ will happen.
On Monday I got home from work to find my Easy Lunch Boxes sample had arrived and I couldn’t wait to try them out. My husband and I bring lunch everyday to work because it’s healthier, cheaper and easier than going out for lunch, besides the fact that we don’t really have time to go out for lunch during the work week. I have to say one of the hardest things at our house however is finding containers to pack our food into. The Hubz We are notorious for leaving our tupperware at work or in the car so it is nice to finally have some new ones.
I went right to work putting together my lunches for the week and because they stack so great I could just stick them in the fridge and grab them when I head out the door. This makes like so much easier because I don’t have to get up in the morning and make lunch or do it the night before they are all ready to go. I also received a cute purple lunch box that fits the containers perfectly- I think this is my first real lunch box since elementary school. If you check back later today I think there might be a giveaway post for your own chance to win these eco friendly lunch boxes.
For my lunches this week we have some fruit, salad and the most delicious GF vegan raw sprouted crackers from Livin’ Spoonfuls I have ever tasted. I tried the coconut curry yesterday and they were amazing I am sure I will post more about these later.
Dinner last night was delicious and filled with healthier versions of two of my favorite things- chili and quesadillas. I know I have blogged about these before but Maria and Ricardo’s Low Carb Tortillas are my favorite tortillas for a few reasons they are low in calories, fat and carbs and are made with ingredients that are all natural.
In my quesadillas I put some scallions and a serving of cheddar Daiya cheese- I couldn’t hold myself back from buying it the other day when I saw that it was on sale for $2 off. We tried the mozza a few weeks ago and I decided that a sale was a good excuse reason to try the cheddar; I think I am a bigger fan of the cheddar so far.
To go with our quesadillas I made up some chili with kidney and black beans that I had soaked the night before and I added a bunch of great veggies to it including mustard greens.
Beans and Greens Chili
Ingredients:
1/2T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
1.5 cups cooked kidney beans
1.5 cups cooked black beans
1T tomato paste
2 t cumin
1 t paprika
1/2 t oregano
1T nutritional yeast
2t chili powder
dash of cayenne
1t garlic powder
1t onion powder
1/2t salt
1/4t black pepper
3 cups mustard greens, chopped
1/4 cup scallions, sliced
1T chipotle hot sauce or 1t chipotle chili powder (optional)
Directions:
In a medium pot heat the oil over medium-high and add in the onion and carrots; saute for 3-5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute. Add in the vegetable broth, tomato paste and beans and bring to a boil; turn down to medium low and let simmer for 15 minutes. While the beans simmer mix the cumin, paprika, oregano, nutritional yeast, chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder salt and pepper with 2T of water to make a paste. Stir the spice paste into the beans and then top with the mustard greens and cover; let the greens wilt. Stir in the greens and scallions. At this point you can eat as is or if you want you can add in the chipotle hot sauce or chipotle chili powder- I think that with the beans and greens this smoky flavor and heat is a great addition to the chili but it is yummy without it as well.
Neil and I got our workouts in this morning so we could relax tonight. As I said yesterday I found some Daiya cheese and so I have been thinking of different ways to use it so tonight on some nice open faced sandwiches. To make the sandwiches I turned the broiler on to high and let it heat up while I put the toppings on. I topped local Red Hen bread with a drizzle of olive oil, balsamic, thinly sliced tomatoes, basil, Daiya and a sprinkle of garlic salt and pepper. I placed under the broiler for about three minutes until the cheese had melted and the bread browned.
