Category Archives: Recipes

Super Easy Crusty Bread

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Some friends came over yesterday for lunch.  And, on the menu was pesto on whole wheat pasta and freshly made bread.  I made the pesto and my friend was to help me make this super easy bread.

Seriously, after my friend taught me how to make this bread, I decided that I will no longer be purchasing crusty bread or bread dough from the store deli.  It is super easy and also very good!

Thanks Cornelia for the recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 6.5 cups of unbleached bread flour or all purpose flour
  • 3 cups of luke warm water
  • 1.5 tablespoons of yeast
  • 1.5 tablespoons of salt

Note: for a healthier bread, you can use whole wheat flour or half whole wheat and half unbleached bread/all purpose flour.

Note:  You can also add garlic, herbs, or nuts (sesame seeds, ground flax seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.) to your dough…

Directions:

  1. Pour flour in a large bowl.
  2. In another bowl, mix water, yeast, and salt together until there are no lumps.
  3. Mix the water, yeast, and salt mixture in with the flour.
  4. Make sure there are no lumps.
  5. Place a towel or napkin over the bowl and let it sit out for 2 hours (I just kept mine covered in the microwave).
  6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees (with pizza stone in it).
  7. Place a pan under the pizza stone with a bit of water (for a little bit of steam).
  8. After the dough has been sitting for 2 hours, form 2 balls with it and sprinkle a little flour over it.
  9. Slice the top of the dough a couple of times with a sharp knife.
  10. Sprinkle corn meal or flour on pizza stone and place the dough balls on it.
  11. Bake for 30 minutes.
  12. Remove from pizza stone.
  13. Enjoy!

Note: You don’t have to use all of the dough you make.  You can can cut up the dough, cover up what you will not be using, and store in the fridge.

Today, I just cut the ingredients in half….

flour in the bowl…..

yeast and salt in the water…..

mix….

store in the microwave for 2 hours….

slice the top of the dough…..

don’t forget…water under the pizza stone….

This is the pizza stone I use….click on it for more info:

Lentil Veggie Burgers

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This is a delicious and healthy “burger” without the guilt.  This dish is packed with protein, antioxidants, grains, vitamins, and flavor.  I have also used it to make a “burger” burrito (place in a wrap with salad and salad dressing).  Love it!

Note: You can double the ingredients and make a lot more “burger” patties and store in the freezer.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of lentils
  • 1 cup of flour (whole wheat)
  • 1/2 cup of oats
  • 1/2 cup of brown rice (cooked)
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 small eggplant
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 to 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 cup of corn (optional)
  • 1.5 to 2 tsp salt (adjust to your taste preference)
  • 2 tsp of oregano
  • 1.5 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp of pepper (optional or adjust to your taste preference)
  • cornmeal to cover the “hamburger” patty

Crunchy patty

Directions:

  1. Roast Eggplant: Place in a foil and bake for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven…or until it is soft.
  2. Cook lentils in boiling water (15 to 25 minutes).
  3. Cook brown rice.
  4. Throw carrots, onions, garlic, cooked eggplant and rice in a food processor and process together.
  5. After the lentils are cooked, add the processed veggies and rice in, smash together with your hands or with a potato masher.  Note: try not to smash all of the lentils.
  6. Add corn (optional), oats, flour, and seasonings.
  7. Make “burger” patties.
  8. Cover in corn meal.
  9. Cook in a little bit of oil until the outside is crunchy.
  10. Place in a whole wheat bun and add your favorite fix ins.
  11. Enjoy!

Vegan Bean and Quinoa burrito

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Ingredients:

  • Spanish rice style Quinoa
  • 1 can of beans (pinto or black)…rinsed and drained
  • Maria Ricardo’s Tomato Basil wraps/tortillas (all natual and vegan)
  • Garlic (minced)
  • Red onion (sliced)
  • Tomato (sliced)
  • Vegan “cheese” (today I used Wayfare “cheese”: all natural and vegan)
  • Vegan “sour cream”
  • Avocado  (sliced)
  • Cilantro
  • 1.5 tsp Cumin
  • 1 tsp Oregano
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1 table Olive oil

Spanish Style Quinoa ingredients:

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 cup of vegetable broth
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste

*Soak quinoa for 5 minutes then drain.  Bring broth to boil, add quinoa, tomato sauce, salt and pepper.   Simmer for 15 minutes.  Keep stirring.  Then turn off heat and let sit for another 5 minutes.

Directions

  1. Make Spanish rice style quinoa.
  2. Heat olive oil, and add garlic.  Then add beans, oregano, salt, pepper, and cumin.  Saute the beans for a few minutes then it is ready to be placed on the tortilla.
  3. Warm up the tortilla, then pile on the quinoa, beans, cheese, avocado, tomato, onions, vegan sour cream and cilantro.
  4. Roll into a burrito!
  5. Enjoy!

*Serve with green salsa*

Tempeh “bistek”, quinoa, and veggies

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It has been a while since my last post….sorry about that. :)

I have been enjoying my time in the beautiful islands of the Philippines.  I had the chance to REALLY relax, spend time with family, and teach my daughter about the language and culture.  But, now I am back in the United States…and I am getting back to my routine.

Today, I felt a little homesick for my island home, so I decided to make a Filipino dish…”bistek”…VEGAN of course.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of tempeh (sliced)
  • 1 medium to large onion (sliced)
  • 4 to 5 cloves of garlic (diced)
  • 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar (you may use white vinegar if you don’t have apple cider vinegar)
  • 1/2 cup of tamari (all natural soy sauce)
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil or coconut oil
  • 2 fresh lemons
  • salt and pepper

*note: this may be a little too sour for some of you folks.  If you don’t like sour, reduce the amount of vinegar to 1/3 cup and reduce the amount of lemon juice to just one lemon.

Directions:

  1. Saute garlic in olive oil.
  2. Add vinegar and tamari.
  3. Add sliced tempeh.
  4. Add onions and lemon juice.
  5. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes in low to medium heat (but don’t let the sauce get dried up).
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with brown rice or quinoa.  Enjoy!

Vegan “meat” Loaf

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Vegan "meat" loaf patty served up with whole wheat dinner roll and sweet potato fries.

Today I met up with some friends for a Veg-Head potluck at EarthFare.  It was the usual…fun, great conversations, great people, and awesome food!  I decided to make a dish I haven’t made in a long time….VEGAN MEAT LOAF….and, apparently people liked it, so I said I told them it would be on the blog tonight. ;-)

I found this recipe a few years ago on http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7408.0, but I decided to add a few ingredients and change the seasonings a bit.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 box of firm tofu
  • 3/4 cups of walnuts
  • 1 and 3/4 cups of bread crumbs
  • 2 whole carrots (finely diced)
  • 2 oz of vegan onion soup mix
  • 1 NOT BEEF vegan bouillon cube
  • 3 teaspoons of tamari or liquid aminos
  • 1/2 cup of celery (finely diced)
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of onions
  • 2 and 1/4 cups of diced mushrooms (I used half portabello and half shitake)
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of basil
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic (very finely diced)
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of oregano
  • 2 egg equivalents (I use ENER-G Egg Eeplacer)
  • 1 teaspoon of sage
  • ketchup
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

In one pan, saute onions, garlic, mushrooms, and celery in olive oil and combine with the seasonings: NOT-BEEF bouillon cube, basil, oregano, and sage.

 

Onions, garlic, celery, mushrooms, carrots, and seasonings.

 

 

In the food processor, blend tofu, walnuts, tamari or liquid aminos, egg replacer, and onion soup mix together.

 

Tofu, Walnuts, egg replacer, and soup mix in the processor.

 

After the onions are transparent, add the bread crumbs and tofu mixture in with it.  You may now add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix it up and place it into a greased pan (I just used a small cake pan).  Ketchup is very important to this dish.  Pour ketchup all over the top of the loaf….be liberal with it.  Then, bake it in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

*You may also want to try a “meat” loaf sandwich….mmmmmm.

I made the loaf into little patties and cooked them with a little olive oil in a frying pan.

 

ENJOY!