Category Archives: Appetizer

Coconut Garlic Bread Dip

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I make different versions of this dip for my family and friends, which everyone seems to enjoy.  I will share the other ones with you in the future in another post. :)

I usually like my garlic raw when I make dip for bread, but my 3-year-old doesn’t because it is too spicy for her.  So I decided to cook it a little bit, so she is able to enjoy it with the freshly baked bread I had made.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUPER EASY BREAD RECIPE

Ingredients:

  • 1 bulb or garlic
  • 4 tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 4 tablespoons of Braggs apple cider vinegar
  • sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon of fresh parsley (finely chopped)
  • a pinch of fresh oregano (finely chopped)….THIS IS OPTIONAL

Directions:

  1. Peal garlic.
  2. Heat coconut oil in a pan.
  3. Cook garlic in oil for two to three minutes.
  4. Pour oil and garlic into a bowl.
  5. Smash the garlic with fork.
  6. Add apple cider vinegar and salt.
  7. Top it off with parsley and oregano.
  8. Serve with warm crusty bread.
  9. Enjoy!

Spicy Thai Coconut Hummus

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I do most of my shopping at this health food store called Earthfare. They have everything a vegan family needs!  They have vegan friendly toiletries, wines, desserts, etc.  Their deli offers vegan nuggets, salads, sushi, and much more!  I just love that place!

Anyway, so a few days ago, my daughter and I had lunch there.  My daughter had a whole wheat grilled Daiya “cheese” sandwich with a side of raw broccoli and fruits.  I had some vegan brown rice sushi, Mary’s Gone crackers and hummus.  I don’t usually buy hummus because I just usually make them myself, but boy was I glad that I picked up the Thai coconut hummus from the deli!  I instantly was addicted to it!  It was spicy, it was delicious, tangy, and coconutty!

I told myself, “I HAVE TO TRY TO MAKE THIS AT HOME!”  So, I looked at the ingredients and I was very excited to see that I already had most of the ingredients on the list!  There were some things that I didn’t have, but I just improvised.

So, I made the hummus, it is not exact, but it is VERY similar.  Both are deliciously awesome!  And, I am happy to share the recipe with you! :)

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups of cooked garbanzo beans
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 4 tablespoons of tahini
  • 2 tablespoons of safflower oil
  • 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 3 tablespoons of organic tamari
  • 2 tablespoons of Asian chili paste (garlic paste)
  • 2 tablespoons of minced shallots
  • 1 clove of garlic from an elephant garlic or 6 cloves from a regular-sized bulb of garlic
  • 4 teaspoons of lemongrass paste
  • 3 teaspoons of red wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of Celtic sea salt
  • 3 pinches of cardamom
  • 4 to 8 tablespoons of organic sriracha (hot sauce) *note: this is optional and adjust to heat preference*

Directions:

  1. Throw everything in the food processor and blend (except for hot sauce)!
  2. Add hot sauce and adjust heat to your liking.  (note: if you want to make this for your young child, I would omit the hot stuff…I put a tiny bit of chili paste for my daughter’s hummus).
  3. Enjoy!
  4. Serve with fresh veggies, crackers, crusty bread, vegan naan, tortilla, etc.

Mary's Gone Crackers and hummus.

Cheesy Broccoli and Quinoa Bites (Vegan)

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This post is dedicated to my friend, Scarlett, who asked me about “veganizing” some broccoli cheddar bites that she saw on Staceysnacksonline.com.  So here it is!

I veganized it and made a few adjustments.  For these “bites” I am using fresh broccoli instead of steamed (less cooked, more nutrients).  I have added quinoa and a few other things for taste and nutritional purposes.  I am also cooking it on a griddle instead of baking it.  But, you can cook it either way.  To bake: 325 degrees for 25 minutes turning over after 15 minutes (per staceysnacksonline.com).

****Reasons why we “veganize”:

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of fresh broccoli
  • 1 cup of DAIYA vegan “cheese”
  • 1/5 cup of red onions
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 to 2 tablespoon of nutritional yeast (optional)
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 3 eggs worth of ENER-G eggless egg replacer
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon of oregano
  • 1 tablespoon of liquid aminos (for salt)
  • olive oil spray (a tiny bit to grease your griddle)

Note: if you don’t have cumin or oregano, you can try adding curry powder and dried cilantro.

Directions:

  1. Place all ingredients in food processor (except oil).
  2. Blend.
  3. Mold into small patties.
  4. Place onto greased griddle (low heat).
  5. Cook in low heat for up to 8 minutes on each side (until golden on each side).
  6. Serve and enjoy.

Zucchini Guacamole

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I just love zucchini!  I use it in my smoothies, my salads, my stews, and dips.  I even substitute them for noodles when making “raw spaghetti”.  (Raw Vegan White Spaghetti and Raw Spaghetti).

Today, I incorporated them into my guacamole, and we loved it!  I love flavor and crunch it.  I served it with “Mary’s Gone Crackers” instead of tortilla chips because it is MUCH healthier.  I also made burritos stuffed with chipotle-flavored pinto beans, cooked quinoa, and this delicious guacamole.  So, dinner, once again, was a success! :)

Ingredients:

  • 3 ripe avocados
  • 1 medium sized zucchini (chopped)
  • 1 large tomato (chopped)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (optional)
  • juice of one lime
  • 3 to 4 cloves of garlic
  • a handful of cilantro (note: I could not find organic cilantro today, so I just added 3 tablespoons of organic cilantro paste)
  • Sea salt (add little by little and adjust to your liking)
  • 1 jalapeno (optional)

Directions:

  1. Place avocado, lime juice, nutritional yeast (optional), garlic, jalapeno (optional), and cilantro in the food processor.
  2. Blend for a few seconds and then start adding your sea salt.
    Blurry picture....my bad! :)

  3. After a minute of blending, mix in your tomato and zucchini.
  4. Serve and enjoy!

Breaded Coconut Curry Eggplant Fries

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This recipe was featured on: 

Certified Yummly Recipes on Yummly.com

I just love eggplant!  I love eggplant sandwiches, eggplant curry, eggplant and tofu stir fry.  But, today I wanted to create something a bit different.  So I made these delicious, coconutty, and crunchy eggplant fries.

Reasons to love eggplant:

  1. It is a wonderful source of fiber.
  2. It is a great source of Vitamin B1 and B6.
  3. It is a great source of potassium.
  4. It contains copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, niacin and folic acid.
  5. It helps reduce cholesterol.
  6. It contains antioxidants.
  7. It is a good food for type 2 diabetics.
  8. It helps fight cancer.

So, eat up those eggplants!

Ingredients:

  • 1 eggplant (med-large)
  • 2 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups of whole wheat panko bread crumbs (Ian’s brand)
  • 1.5 cups of unsweetened and unflavored almond milk
  • 1 cup of unsweetened and all-natural shredded coconut
  • 4 tablespoons of Braggs liquid aminos
  • 4 teaspoons of curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon of ginger powder
  • 1 vegan bouillon cube
  • coconut oil (3 to 5 tablespoons)

Dipping sauce #1 ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons of VEGENAISE (vegan mayo)
  • 1 tablespoon of Asian chili paste

(mix together)

Dipping sauce #2 ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons of VEGENAISE (vegan mayo)
  • 3 tablespoons of Sriracha hot sauce

(mix together)

Note: dipping sauce is not necessary.  It is obviously healthier without it.  My daughter likes these plain or with ketchup.

Directions:

  1. Peel and slice eggplant into fry-sized pieces.
  2. Preheat oven to 385 degrees.
  3. Mix bouillon cube, liquid aminos, ginger powder, and curry powder together.  Set aside.  Note: if your bouillon cube does not mix well, heat up the milk for a minute.
  4. Mix flour and shredded coconut together and set aside.
  5. Grease your cookie sheet with coconut oil.
  6. Pour out the panko crumbs on a plate.
  7. Dip eggplant into the non-dairy milk mixture.
  8. Roll it into the flour.
  9. Dip it into the non-dairy milk mixture again.
  10. Roll it into the panko bread crumbs.
  11. Place onto your cookie sheet.
  12. Bake for 20 minutes.
  13. Serve with your sauces. 
  14. Enjoy!

Note: dipping sauce #2 is spicier than #1.  Dipping Sauce #1 is just a bit sweet and mild.

My child loved them as well!

Miso Ginger Baked Tofu Spring Rolls

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Yesterday, I made these delicious spring rolls for my family.  I stuffed the rice paper with tofu, veggies, and noodles.  They were super easy to make and they were mighty tasty!  I just can’t get enough of these!

There are so many different ways to make spring rolls.  You could also use rice or quinoa instead of noodles.  You could add more veggies to it (sprouts, zucchini, cucumber, etc.)  You could also add fresh delicious herbs to them (mint, cilantro, etc.)  You could also use tempeh instead of tofu.   There are so many possibilities!

Ingredients:

  • All-natural rice noodles (thin) *Note: I used half of the package which was about 4 oz. of uncooked noodles.
  • All-natural and vegan rice paper
  • 1 packaged of organic firm tofu (sliced length-wise)
  •  2 cups of vegetable broth
  • 6 tablespoons of Organicville Miso Ginger Vinegarrette
  • 5 tablespoons of liquid aminos
  • 1 organic carrot (shredded)
  • 1/4 of a large onion (shopped)
  • 3 cloves of garlic minced
  • sriracha sauce
  • Thai peanut sauce or Thai peanut satay sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • Salad (mixture spring mix and baby spinach)

Directions:

  1. Mix 5 tablespoons of liquid aminos with 6 tablespoons the miso ginger vinegarette.
  2. Pour over your sliced tofu and marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. Bake tofu for 20 minutes on each side (or until it looks light golden brown).
  5. While tofu is baking, heat sesame oil in another pan.
  6. Add garlic, onions and carrots.
  7. Cook for a minute and then add the vegetable broth.
  8. When it starts to boil, add the rice noodles.
  9. Cook together for about 10 minutes or until the liquid is gone.
  10. Add liquid aminos to your noodles to taste.  *Note: if you can get a hold of DULSE granules, use it instead of liquid aminos.
  11. Now you are ready to make your spring rolls.
  12. Place everything in your rice paper and roll it up into a small burrito.
  13. Serve with liquid aminos, sriracha hot sauce and/or peanut sauce.
  14. Enjoy!

Crunchy Baked Artichoke Hearts

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I was delighted to find some some quartered artichoke hearts in my pantry today.  I thought of making some vegan artichoke dip, but I ran out of nutritional yeast.  So, I decided to make these crunchy treats for an appetizer instead.

Ingredients:

  • Quartered artichoke hearts quartered (14 oz.)
  • 1 cup of unsweetened and unflavored non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
  • 1 cup of Ian’s Panko Bread Crumbs (whole wheat)
  • 2/3 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1 tablespoon of vegan bouillon
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Note: you can season this with Italian seasoning, curry powder, chilli powder with cumin, etc.   Be creative! :)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 385 degrees.
  2. Mix bouillon and garlic powder with non-dairy milk.
  3. Dip the quartered artichoke hearts into the milk mixture.
  4. After it has been dipped in the milk mixture, roll the artichoke hearts in the whole wheat flour.  (Do this one at a time).  If you need to see photos, you can refer to my stuffed jalapeno poppers recipe.
  5. Dip the floured artichoke hearts into the milk mixture again and then roll them into the whole wheat panko bread crumbs.
  6. After that, place them onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
  7. Serve hot!

You can top off your salads with them or just eat them by themselves (served with your favorite vegan dressing).

Today, I served them with goddess dressing….

Enjoy!

Spicy Dynamite Tofu and Veggies in Wonton Cups

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I have been wanting to make these for over a year now and the reason why I haven’t is because I have not been able to find vegan wonton wrappers.  But, a couple of weeks ago, I found some at the local Asian market and it got me pretty excited!  I thought about all of the things I could do with these wonton wrappers!…vegan cream cheese wontons, hummus filled wontons, wonton cups, baked wonton chips, etc.

One of the things I wanted to do was mold them into cups and fill it up with something delicious and spicy!  For this appetizer/snack, I used a lot of ingredients that I used when I would make my vegan sushi. 

I baked the wonton wrappers and filled it up with some tofu and veggies mixed with DYNAMITE SAUCE!

Note: “dynamite sauce” is a mixture of vegenaise and sriracha.  I usually serve it up with vegan sushi.

Ingredients:

Note: if you don’t have dulse granules, you can just use the rice seasoning to substitute it.  Just add your seasoning and hot sauce little by little until you get to where it isn’t bland or too spicy.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Spray your cupcake pan and place one wonton wrapper in each of the cupcake making holes (12).
  3. Place wontons in the oven and bake for exactly 6 minutes.
  4. Then, set the crunchy wontons aside.
  5. Now, make the filling.
  6. Heat pan and spray olive oil on it.
  7. Add minced garlic and chopped onions.
  8. Cook for about a minute in med-high heat, then add the cubed tofu.
  9. Cook the tofu for about 5-10 minutes.
  10. In a mixing bowl, add carrot, zucchini, liquid aminos, rice seasoning, and the tofu you just cooked.
  11. Mix it up and start adding sriracha and dulse granules.
  12. When you are done, start filling the wonton cups with your “dynamite” tofu mix. 
  13. Then add sprouts.
  14. For those who like it EXTRA spicy, add more sriracha!
  15. Serve and enjoy!

Hummus-stuffed wontons!

Jalapeno Poppers and Eggplant Spinach Wrap

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We have so many jalapenos on our jalapeno plant right now, so today, we decided to make jalapeno poppers.  My wonderful husband was kind enough to help me stuff and bread these delicious,  freshly picked peppers.   These jalapeno poppers are much healthier than the traditional, non-vegan, cheese-filled, deep-fried poppers because they are stuffed with healthy hummus AND they are baked!

I also purchased some beautiful eggplants from the farmers market that sitting in the fridge.  They were begging to be used somehow, so I decided to wrap it up with some spinach, tangy sauce, and these super healthy and delicious jalapeno poppers.  In my opinion, the crunchy poppers went together beautifully with the juicy and tangy eggplant.  It is filling, nutritious, and so delicious!!

If you want to taste this marvelous, flavorful, and super healthy wrap, here is what you are going to need:

Directions:

  1. Make the poppers (recipe).
  2. Cook the eggplant (recipe).
  3. Make the sauce.
  4. Warm up your wrap or tortilla.
  5. Pile everything in there and roll it up into a burrito!
  6. Enjoy!

Vegan Nacho Station

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Here is an idea for your next get together, a vegan nacho station!  This is definitely a healthier version to the traditional nachos.  I had a few friends and their children come over a couple of weeks ago for Halloween and I served finger foods and cupcakes.

I made some vegan treats this year because I didn’t want her to feel like she was missing out on the Halloween candies that everyone else was passing out.  So, I prepared some pretty little cupcakes and some fun finger foods for her and her friends.  I know these cupcakes are not the healthiest for you, but these are better than the traditional, and this was a rare occasion.  :)   By the way, it was my first time baking muffins! …..this is because, my family and I are not really big on sugary baked sweets.

Vegan Hummus Rolls

Vegan Cupcakes

Going to the neighborhood Halloween party.

This was before we passed out vegan cupcakes and pretzels.

In terms of candy, I am fortunate enough that if I tell my daughter that something is not vegan, she will automatically turn it away, which makes my life a bit easier.

Recipe for Hummus Rolls, CLICK HERE.

Recipe for cupcakes, CLICK HERE. and HERE  For the ganache frosting, CLICK HERE.

Vegan Nacho Station

I served some yummy black beans (recipe below), with some WAYFARE vegan “cheese, organic salsa, jalapenos, and of course organic corn chips.  Note: You can also add fresh green onions and or fresh cilantro (I didn’t have any that day).

One of the reasons I love Wayfare cheese is because of its ingredients.  I used We Can’t Say It’s Cheese – Mexi Cheddar.

Ingredients (Vegan & Non-GMO):  WayFare Non-Dairy Cheese Base (Prepared Whole Grain Oatmeal (Water, Oats)), Vegetable Oil Blend (Coconut and Safflower), Sesame, Pimentos (Pimentos, Water, Citric Acid), Nutritional Yeast, Sea Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Onion Powder, Spices, Annatto, WayFare All Natural Vegan Flavor

I just copied the ingredients list from  www.wayfarefoods.com.  It has all natural ingredients and it is delicious!

Ingredients for black beans:

  • 2 cups of cooked black beans
  • 1.5 tablespoons of cumin
  • 1.5 tablespoons of oregano
  • 1 teaspoon of chili powder
  • 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
  • 1 small onion (chopped)
  • 1 chopped jalapeno (optional)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:

  1. Heat oil then add garlic onions, cumin, oregano, and chili powder.
  2. Sweat the onions for a minute then add cooked black beans and jalapeno.
  3. Cook it all together for a few minutes, then add salt and pepper.
  4. Serve with chips, salsa, jalapenos, Wayfare Mexi cheddar “cheese”, onions, cilantro, etc.
  5. Enjoy!

nachos, apple cider, hummus rolls, vegan cupcakes, applesauce, and a couple of bottles of vegan wine (gifts from a good friend)