Easy Italian sausage rice & veggies

Really fast & easy to make, this is a whole meal in one bowl!

All you need: some kind of seasoned wild rice, chopped kale, tomato, and a Tofurkey Italian Sausage:

Make the rice as directed (I used hazelnut oil this time!). Remove from heat and add the kale & tomato. Cover the pot to let the kale steam to perfect softness. Slice the sausage and fry in a pan with a touch of olive oil. Then add it to the pot of rice and mix it all up!

A little more processed and salty than I usually do, but it's cheap/quick/tasty so I'll make an exception.

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Sort of unrelated?

If you're vegan you've probably heard "omg, how do you get enough protein??" more times than you can count.
I've never really kept track of the calories, fat, carbs, protein, etc. in my diet...but I downloaded one of those free 'food tracker' apps for my phone just out of curiosity. Mainly because I wanted to see how much protein I consume in a typical day.

Breakfast: Cliff bar, mandarin orange, almond milk, coffee.

Lunch: Tofu & veggie bahn mi (sandwich from a food truck) and an apple.

Snack: cooked quinoa & kale with a tahini/nutritional yeast sauce

Dinner: baked beans from a can and a pb&j sandwich.

I guestimated the servings I ate, and if the app is within the ballpark of accuracy I ate 95g of protein. According to WebMD an adult woman needs at least 46. I'm not saying they're right, but I'm definitely in no danger of protein deficiency!
Look how easy it is to get all that protein! Even for a busy and broke grad student.

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Asparagus Sesame Stir-fry

This is quite possibly the best combination of super-easy and super-delicious. I'm excited that this turned out so well. You should try it next time you get your hands on some asparagus...

Ingredients

2-4 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 small yellow onion, sliced

~15 stalks asparagus, trimmed & cut into pieces

1 head broccoli florets

A few crimini mushrooms, sliced

~4 leaves lacinato kale, de-stemmed & torn into pieces

Soy sauce

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Sesame oil

Rice!

Heat the olive oil & garlic over medium-high heat.

After a couple minutes, add the onion and cook till onion starts to look transparent.

Lower heat to medium and add  asparagus, broccoli,  & 1 Tbsp. soy sauce and cook for a few minutes.

Drizzle about 1 Tbsp. sesame oil onto your veggies.

Add mushrooms & kale and continue to cool til they're soft (or to your liking).

Serve over cooked rice

Add  an extra drizzle of soy sauce if you're feelin' salty!

The asparagus and sesame oil pair fantastically.

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Black Bean Quinoa Salad

This lovely dish was inspired a salad that is served regularly at the coffee house at my university. I've been meaning to try and recreate it because I love it so much, and I finally got around to it!

Ingredients:
2 cups dry quinoa, cooked & cooled
1 can black beans
1 can corn
2 jalapenos (seeded)
1/2 bell pepper (any color, I used orange)
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or more to taste)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt

In a food processor, chop the jalapenos, bell pepper, & cilantro into tiny bits.
Add this and all the other ingredients to the quinoa and mix mix mix.

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Chipotle Kale Chips

Just when I thought raw cheezy kale chips couldn't get any better, I made a batch with chipotle peppers. Oh. My. God.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight)

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2-4 dried chipotle peppers (soaked to soften), chopped & seeds removed

2-3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

Juice of 1 lemon

salt to taste

1 whole bunch of curly kale, washed/de-stemmed/torn into pieces

Place all the ingredients (except for the kale) into your food processor like so:

Blend for a few minuted until smooth (you might need a couple teaspoons of water to get it going):

Put the kale into a big bowl or pot:

Add the cheezy chipotle mixture to the kale and work it around with your hands to coat evenly:

Spread the yummy kale bits onto a parchment paper-lined oven rack (or into a fancy dehydrator):

Dehydrate them in the oven (on the lowest possible setting). After a couple hours, flip them over and then let them dehydrate overnight or until crispy.

So good!!

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Epic Greenery

Today's green smoothie was especially awesome:

Lacinato kale, purple kale, spinach, red chard, microgreens, goji berries, tangerine juice, coconut water, banana, strawberries, blueberries, maca powder, cinnamon, & Lydia's green powder.

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Raw Banana Bread

One of my friends and I had a carrot-juicing party last night, so I had a ton off carrot pulp that I at least wanted to *try* and do something with. So I tried making raw banana bread!

Ingredients:

1 cup carrot pulp

2 ripe bananas

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup raisins

3 Tbsp. ground flax seeds

1 Tbsp. chia seeds

1 Tbsp. agave (or a date or two)

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

Blend the carrots, bananas, water , agave, and spices in a food processor until smooth (the amount of water you need may vary). Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in the raisins and flax until well combined. Add the chia seeds and stir completely so they are well-distributed.

If you have a dehydrator (you lucky person, you!), use that.
But if you're like me and don't have a dehydrator, just use your oven on the lowest possible setting. I spread the 'dough' onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. After a couple hours I flipped it over onto a new piece of parchment and let it dehydrate overnight. And it worked!

It's all banana & carrot-y, not too sweet, and a little chewy. Pretty ok for my first attempt at making raw bread! ;)

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