recipe

1 Hour Oats and Kale Soup

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This morning the Hubz and I got up and I decided to make “overnight” oats that Angela over at OSG has popularized with her easy recipe.  I obviously didn’t do mine overnight but you can easily make these in an hour or probably even less.

For the 1 hour oats:

  • 1/3 cup regular oats
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened hemp milk
  • 1 tablespoon chia seeds
  • 1 tablespoon Vega Vanilla Shake and Go
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla hemp protein
  • pinch of salt

Directions: Mix together the above ingredients in a bowl and place in fridge overnight.

To make this wonderful parfait I whipped up some banana soft serve (banana and hemp milk blended until smooth) and some almond drizzle (almond butter with warm water to thin out).  I layered the oats, banana soft serve and almond drizzle and topped with cacaco nibs.  DELICIOUS!

After our morning of oats, farmers market, post office and the selling of our portable washing machine we headed up to my little cousins graduation party.  We enjoyed some Tofurky sandwiches, veggies, strawberries, pita chips and hummus and BBQ Pop chips. After we socialized, ate and played a few “games” of ping pong we headed home to finally relax.  However before we are able to sit in relax I made soup and salad for dinner with yummy Sweet Potato Beer Bread and of course write this blog post.

Ingredients:

  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 1/2 sweet onion, diced
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 vegan chicken bouillon
  • 4 cups of water
  • 4 cups of kale, bite sized pieces
  • 2/3 cup of Westbrae  NaturalsSoup Beans, or use the beans of your liking
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • salt and pepper

Directions: In a pot heat the oil and add the carrots and onion until soft.  Add in the water and vegan chicken bouillon bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir in the soup beans and the kale and cook until the kale is wilted, then stir in the nutritional yeast.  Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed.

Recipe: Szechuan Seitan and Beans

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Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of green beans
  • 2 cups of beet greens
  • 1 cup seitan cut into small pieces
  • 2T cornstarch
  • oil for frying seitan
  • Sauce:
    • 1T sesame oil
    • 1T soy sauce
    • 1T brown sugar
    • 2t sriracha, or hot sauce of your liking
    • 1/4t chili flakes

Directions:

Toss the seitan with the cornstarch, fry until crispy.

Mix the sauce together and set aside.

In a wok or large sautee pan add 2 tablespoons of water and cook up the green beans until tender.  Make a hole in the middle and stir in the sauce and beet greens.  Stir in the seitan to coat.

Serve with rice.

Raspberry Banana Soft Serve

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I came home this evening and after dinner with sweet tooth was aching so what better to do then make soft serve? I searched through the freezer and found a banana and raspberries- the perfect combination.

  • 1 Frozen Banana, broken into pieces
  • 1/4 cup frozen raspberries
  • 1/4 cup original almond milk

Put everything in the blender or food processor until it is a wonderful and smooth blend.

June Pantry Challenge Week 1

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Hey Bloggies! It’s week 1 of the June Pantry Challenge and I am really excited to see what I can come up with this week. I hope that some of your out there are inspired to participate as well. This week I picked up a great number of items and stayed in budget. Here the beautiful selection of produce:

Organic Bananas $2.57
Organic Broccoli $2.13
Organic Vidalia Onion $1.27
Organic Baby Spinach $1.48
Organic Garnet Yam $1.85
Organic & Local Kale $2.50
Organic & Local Red Russian Kale $2.50
Organic & Local Yellow Zucchini $2.60
Organic & Local Cucumber $3
Total: $19.90- That means I have 10 cents to spare!

The first dish of the week was Korean BBQ Tempeh Sandwiches with Sriracha Vegan Mayo, 5 Spiced Garnet Yam Fries and Garlic-Soy Sauteed Kale.

Korean BBQ Tempeh:

  • 2T Presidents Choice Korean BBQ Marinade (purchased in Canada)
  • 2T low sodium Shoyu
  • 80z Tempeh, quartered

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the tempeh in a baking dish and pour the marinade over the tempeh.  Bake for 20 minutes.  In a pan heat a thin layer of oil and sautee the tempeh until it has browned a bit on each side. Serve on a bun with tomato, baby spinach and sriracha vegan mayo.

Sriracha Vegan Mayo

  • 2 T vegan mayo
  • 1t sriracha

Blend together and spread on a bun.

Five Spiced Yam Fries

  • 1 Yam cut into fries
  • 1/2T olive oil
  • 1t 5 spice powder
  • 1/2t wasabi spiced salt

Preheat oven to 400F.  Toss the yam with oil and spices.  Place on a sheet pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Garlic-Soy Kale

  • 1/2 Bunch of Red Russian Kale, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 2 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 1/2T olive oil
  • 1t low sodium shoyu
  • 2t seaweed gomasio (Eden Organics)

In a large saute pan heat the garlic and oil over medium-high for 1 minute.  Add the kale and mix in the shoyu and gomasio. Cook for 2-3 minutes until it is wilted.

Anniversary Wrap-up and a New Recipe

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The Hubz and I just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary this past Monday May 31st and although we went away for the weekend to Portland ME we decided we should still do something special since we both had our anniversary off due to the Monday holiday.  After spending the morning working on packing up our belongings the Hubz suggested that we pack a picnic, go for a drive and find somewhere to enjoy our picnic lunch. So I started on lunch while he finished picking up around the house and we headed out for a drive.

We headed towards Adamant VT because the Hubz has had this odd obsession with it here are a few facts about this village (via wikipedia):

  • There is no true boundary to define the village, and as such there is great debate as to what constitutes residence. This is, however, purely theoretical as there is no legal, governmental or commercial status associated with residence.
  • The village was originally known as Sodom from its inception in the mid-1800s as a granite quarry-town until 1905 when residents petitioned the state legislature for a name change.
  • The village center is the Adamant Co-op, a general store and post office located at the junction of Haggett, Quarry, Center and Sodom Pond Roads. Founded in 1935, it is the state’s oldest co-operative.

The thing that interested the Hubz so much was the co-operative so we took a drive through back roads to this small, very pretty village and visited the co-op. Adamant’s mascot is the black fly so it is fitting that there was a huge sculpture of a black fly outside of the co-op/general store/post office.

After our stop in Adamant we headed down a back road to ….well we had no idea where…but we finally met up with a main road and stopped in Morrisville where we enjoyed our picnic lunch.

For our picnic lunch we enjoyed falafel chips with hummus, orzo salad and raw kale salad.

Q: What is your favorite dish to bring on a picnic?

Rootin For The Curry

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This afternoon was spent with my nose in the books while sipping on an extra large earl grey iced tea at my second home- the coffee shop.  I am in my third week of my health counseling program and I am loving it. I had my first meeting with my health counselor last night and it went really well, a little awkward but it was fine. I one session a month so hopefully next months session with be even better!

By 4pm I was feeling hungry and I knew that if I went home and ate an early dinner that I wouldn’t be as motivated to workout so the hubby and I decided to have a light pre-workout snack.  I picked up some roasted Brussels sprouts and a corn salad for us to share.

After our 40 minute commute home (I can’t wait for them to be over) my tummy had settled and I was ready to take on Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  I knew going into it I was guaranteed to get my ass kicked especially since I challenged myself to level 3, but I was pumped and ready to go.

Just as I predicted my ass was handed to me but it felt great! I can’t even imagine doing the P90X or Insanity workouts if this video challenges me- however I am interested in trying the P90X.  After my workout I took my jelly legs to the kitchen to heat up the curry I made this morning and serve it up with the brown rice that I put in the rice cooker while I did my workout.

Rootin’ Veggie Curry

Ingredients

  • 1T olive oil
  • 1 small celeriac, peeled and diced
  • 2 kohlrabi, peeled and diced
  • 3 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1T tomato paste
  • 1t chili powder
  • 2t curry powder
  • 2t cumin powder
  • 1/2t paprika
  • 1/2t salt
  • 1/4t pepper
  • 1/4t tumeric
  • pinch of cayenne
  • 1 cup red lentils
  • 4 cups vegetable broth

Directions:

In a large pot over medium-high heat the oil and then add the onions and saute for 5-7 minutes until they begin to get slightly browned, but not burnt. Stir in the celeriac, kohlrabi and carrots as well as the tomato paste and add the spices.  Stir together until everything is evenly coated and then add the vegetable broth and lentils.  Bring the curry to a boil and then cover and turn down to low and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.  Check the vegetables and seasoning.  Serve with brown rice or naan.

After dinner we watched a little Modern Family and enjoyed a bowl of strawberry banana ice cream it was delicious!

  • 2.5 frozen bananas
  • 5 strawberries
  • 1 cup chocolate almond milk

Blend to soft serve and top with chocolate flakes.

Q: what is your favorite dessert?

Recipe Post: Spinach Artichoke Dip

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Friday night the Hubz and I stopped at the Co-op for a few necessary items for Mother’s Day Brunch and while we were there we picked up a mini loaf of local bread.  When we got home neither of us was in the mood to cook anything too crazy so I rummaged through the cupboards and fridge trying to find ingredients to make a quick and easy healthy meal.  I found a bag of frozen organic spinach, a jar of artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes; the perfect start to a spinach artichoke dip! For parties I like to make this really creamy spinach artichoke dip which is delicious but not the healthiest since it includes vegan cream cheese and vegan sour cream so this is a great alternative.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/2 small onion diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 cup of quartered artichoke hearts
  • 10 oz of frozen spinach
  • 1/4 cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened original almond milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable broth mixed with 1T arrowroot
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1T favorite hot sauce

Directions

In a skillet over medium high heat the vegetable broth and add the onion and garlic; saute until soft.  Stir in the artichoke hearts, spinach, tomatoes and almond milk and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the nutritional yeast, vegetable broth/arrowroot mixture, salt, pepper and hot sauce.  Cook until the sauce has thickened and is bubbly- if you’d like it thinner add more broth or almond milk.  Serve over pasta, with bread, rice or crackers.