Portobella Mushroom Bake

These were delicious! The recipe suggests serving them with rice and a side of wilted greens. Kev and I enjoyed them on a bun, as a burger, with slices of avocado. I broiled a little bit of mozarella cheese over mine as well.

Portobella Mushroom Bake

1/2 c. almonds

1/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. Braggs

1/4-1/2 c. water

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (I minced mine)

1 tsp. dried rosemary (I used fresh herbs, yummy!!)

1 tsp. oregano

4 larger Portobella mushrooms, stems removed

1 medium onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a blender or food processor, blend the almonds until powdered. Add oil, Braggs, water, vinegar, garlic, rosemary, and oregano, and blend until well combined. In a large baking dish, place mushrooms upside down and top with onions (I coated tops with olive oil as well). Pour sauce over top and bake for about 25 minutes.

Coconut Spiced Vegetables

I made this tonight; it was really yummy but not "out of this world" yummy. I will definitely add it to my list of favorites though and make it on occasion. When I made it I tripled the recipe and if I make it again I will add triple more the amount of Asian Chili Sauce.

Coconut Spiced Vegetables

1/4 c. almonds
1-2 tsp. asian chili sauce
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp. Braggs (can substitute soy sauce)
1 Tbsp. dark sesame oil

1 carrot, chopped
1 c. cauliflower, chopped
1 c. broccoli, chopped
6 mushrooms, chopped
1 14 oz. can coconut milk
1 c. chinese cabbage, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

In a blender or food processor, blend together the almonds, chili sauce, coriander, ginger, onion, and Braggs. In a large saucepan on medium heat, saute the almond mixture in oil for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, and 1/2 the coconut milk and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Add the remaining coconut milk, cabbage, and red pepper, turn off heat, and let sit covered for 5 minutes.

I just realized as I was typing the instructions that I actually sauted the vegetables for 3-4 minutes prior, not the almond mixture. Maybe sauteing the almond mixture first will bring out more flavor:) This was a pretty quick meal, only took me about 20-30 minutes from start to finish. All the kids said the same thing, "It was pretty good." So not, OMG that was so awesome!! But a winner:)

California Chop Chop Salad

This is definitely one of my absolute FAVORITES!! I haven't made it in a long time and had kind of forgotten about it. It's back out now.............yuummmyyy!

California Chop Chop Salad:

3/4 c. canned garbanzo beans
1/2 c. small pitted olives
1 medium avocado, chopped (I usually add more because this is my favorite part of the salad)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1- 6 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped- RESERVE THE MARINADE JUICE
3 oz cheddar cheese or mozarella cheese, cubed (I don't add this)

Dressing:
Mix the reserved artichoke marinade with the same amount of balsamic vinegar

Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss with balsamic vinegar mixture.

You can serve on top of lettuce too:)

Szechuan Black-Eyed Pea Salad

This is for you Kelli! Hardly southern but hey, it's got black-eyed peas! This is one of my personal favorites. I usually make a batch at lunch and snack on it until supper:)

2 14 oz. cans black-eyed peas
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c. chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced, 2 Tbsp. (I usually just do the canned variety)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 avocado, cubed
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Szechuan sauce (for some reason I can't find any at our stores so I just use stir fry sauce)
2 tsp sugar

Toss together black-eyed peas, bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, and garlic in large bowl. Toss avocado with lemon juice in a separate bowl. Add avocado to black-eyed pea mixture.

Whisk together oil, vinegar, Szechuan sauce, and sugar in bowl used for avocado. Toss black-eyed pea mixture with Szechuan sauce dressing.

Yummy!!! This would be a great side dish too, especially (Kelli :) if you have meat eaters in the house. Make the meat dish and have this as a side dish for the veggies.

Extraordinary Quinoa Tabbouleh

I LOVE, LOVE tabbouleh and we've been experimenting with quinoa recipes so this was a perfect combo. I like it with more parsley than the recipe calls for and maybe a little more lemon juice. Kev likes me to make a big batch and leave it in the fridge for him to snack on all week.

This recipe comes from The Garden of Vegan cookbook.

1 c. quinoa
2 c. water
3 small tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 c. cucumber, seeded and chopped
2 stalks green onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped (I leave these out)
6 medium radishes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 tbsp Braggs

In a medium saucepan, stir together the quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heart to medium-low. Simmer for 15 min. or until cooked. Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, green oinions, carrots, radishes, garlic, parsley, oil, lemon juice, Braggs, and quinoa. Mix well and cool in refrigerator. Serve chilled. Makes 6 servings.

Happy eating!

Chickpea Tacos

This is, by far, the easiest meal I have ever made. The boys LOVED them! It literally took me 5 min. to prepare this meal- that's a winner! Oh, and I tripled the recipe for a family of 5. We had enough leftover for two more tacos.

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I used dry and soaked and boiled them myself)
3 tbsp. chopped cilantro
4 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
corn taco shells
2 cups baby salad greens
1 c. salsa
1/2 c. non-dairy sour cream

1. Place avocado in small bowl, and mash with fork. Stir in chickpeas, cilantro, lime juice, and garlic; season with salt and pepper.
2. Set taco shells in napkin-lined basket. Place salad greens, salsa, and sour cream in seperate bowls, and set out alongside chickpea-avocado mash.
3. To serve, let each person build their own taco by filling each shell with 1/4 c. chickpea-avocado mash, some greens, salsa, and sour cream.

Yummy Veggie Wraps

I've never been a person that likes to mix my greens with fruit, or anything with fruit for that matter.............until a couple years ago. My sister-in-law made this wonderful rice/apricot dish, that I just loved, and my other sister-in-law made a salad, that had mandarins in it, that has become my absolute favorite salad. So I've been playing with the combo with these yummy, yummy wraps.

You can put just about anything in these and use any kind of wrap. The one I had today had the following in it:

sprouts

fresh spinach

cucumbers

tomatoe

avocado

pear

craisins

candied walnuts

raspberry chipotle sauce and..............for those of you that aren't vegan.........I added

once slice pepper jack cheese and

1-2 tbsp of Bleu Cheese dressing

Kevin left out the chipotle sauce, cheese and bleu cheese and opted for Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing.

For me, it's almost orgasmic but I guess you can decide for yourself:) The thing that made it so heavenly for me was the raspberry chipotle sauce that Costco is carrying right now.