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.

♥

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.

♥

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!!

♥

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.

♥

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! ;)

♥

Avesa's Miso Soup

Miso soup is a wonderful thing. And I love sea veggies! It's a perfect snack, or side to a meal. Or add enough veggies to make a meal out of it (I do!)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup vegetable broth

2 tablespoons yellow miso (adjust to taste)

5-6 crimini mushrooms, sliced

a few pieces of wakame, torn up

Heat liquids and miso until the miso is dissolved. Add mushrooms and wakame, serve when wakame is soft!

 It's great.

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One-bowl Lunch

Just squish an avocado into a bowl, cover with spicy hummus and radish sprouts (or some kind of sprouts).

Simply delicious!

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I've discovered Instagram!

As always, I'm behind the technological times.
If you would like to see pictures of my all-vegan mostly-raw kitchen adventures, do follow me on Instagram!
My user name is @Avesa

♥

Baked Apples!

I threw this together the other day, because I wanted something like apple pie but didn't want to make a whole pie. And I am currently eating more for breakfast since they were so tasty.

Ingredients:

2 apples, cut in half with seeds cut out

chopped pecans

raisins

cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves

brown sugar

coconut oil (or Earth Balance)

Just mix all the dry ingredients together in whatever proportions you will enjoy. Scoop the mixture into the hollowed-out apples halves. Top with a small dollop of coconut oil or Earth balance. Bake at 350 degrees (in a pan with a little bit of water) for about 30 minutes until the apples get soft.

Yum!

♥

Vanilla Extract

In preparation for holiday gift-giving, I have started making a huge amount of vanilla extract! It's really the easiest thing in the world to make...and it's something that just about everyone uses at one point  or another.
It only requires 2 ingredients: vodka and whole vanilla beans, plus about a month of wait time.

I bought a 1-liter bottle of vodka and 6 vanilla beans.

Cut the vanilla beans into pieces and split them open to expose the seeds (I'm assuming they're seeds?) and drop them into the bottle of vodka. Then just let that bottle sit in a cupboard for at least a month, giving it a gentle shake every once in a while..

I'm going to strain out the seeds and bean bits before putting it in smaller bottles for gifts.

Super easy!!

♥

Happy Thanksgiving!

I came home for Thanksgiving and my mom bought me a Tofurky Feast! I've never had one before, so I'm kind of excited to try it :)

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Raw almond milk

I love making almond milk! It's super easy and relatively cheap and tastes so much better than store-bought varieties...delicious all around.

You will need:

1 cup RAW almonds

3 cups filtered water

splash of vanilla extract

2 medjool dates (pitted)

Soak the RAW almonds in water overnight, then drain and rinse.

Put the soaked almonds in a blender.

Add 3 cups filtered water.

Add vanilla and dates (or sweetener of choice)

Blend for what seems like forever until liquidy.

Pour the liquid though a nut-milk mesh bag and squeezeee.

Now you have almond milk!

And some almond pulp for baking with.

♥

Delays

Unfortunately, cooking and baking has been pretty low on my priority list lately. Life and whatnot getting in the way. But luckily there's lots of vegan options on campus where I spend most of my days... 

I also have a thing of vanilla Coconut Bliss ice 'cream' that I haven't been able to get myself to finish. But that's another story for another day.

Hopefully I'll discover a fantastic soup recipe soon.

♥

Squash Blossom Tempura

Holy vegan deliciousness. Squash blossom tempura. If you have a squash plant or a farmer's market that offers these tasty flowers, pick them up. I use the term "tempura" sort of loosely here.

Batter Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup ice-cold water

Whisk all these ingredients together right before you're ready to fry

Heat up a pot of canola oil (or whatever oil you desire)

Dip the de-stemmed squash blossoms in the batter and drop into the pot of oil

Let them fry until they are slightly golden brown

Dipping Sauce Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

 1/4 cup water

1 Tbsp. honey

Totally not healthy, but totally amazing.

♥

The best Zucchini Bread ever.

Yeah, I made that claim. And I'm standing by it. I can't get enough of this stuff; I've been making it a lot since I perfected this recipe to my liking. Even my omnivorous friends love it!

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup homemade applesauce
• 2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
• Seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
• 2 large zucchini, grated
• 3 cups oat flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. cloves
• 3-4 oz. grated dark chocolate

Mix the flaxseeds with the warm water until it thickens

Mix this mixture together with the oils, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla

Stir in the grated zucchini. Set aside

In a different bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients (flour-cloves)

Stir the zucchini mixture into the dry mixture

Fold in the grated chocolate until well-mixed

Grease 2 loaf-pans with Earth Balance or oil and divide the batter equally between them

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes 

Enjoy this with some good coffee and you won't be sorry.

♥

Miso Tofu Nori Rolls

I altered the Smokey Miso Tofu marinade recipe on veganyumyum.com (an awesome blog, btw!) just a smidge, and wrapped it up in some nori sheets instead of making sandwiches out of it. Pretty solid/filling vegan "sushi":

Marinade:

2 Tbsp. white miso
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Mix all this in a bowl like so:

Cut a block of (well-drained) firm tofu into slices. Soak those slices in the tasty marinade for about 10 minutes and then place in a baking dish:

Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to brown.

For the filling:

Avocado slices

Veganaise

Sprouts

Lay a sheet of nori on a flat surface and layer the filling ingredients and the baked tofu:

Roll it up and slice!

Really tasty! Unless you don't like the taste of seaweed.

♥

Sacramento Veg Fest

I dropped by the Sacramento Veg Fest today and it was really nice. A bit smaller than I thought it was going to be, but lots of yummy raw, vegan, and vegetarian food and drink to sample and buy. Foodies are such friendly folk. 

I came away with a box of Lydia's Raw Italian crackers and a jar of Nacheez vegan nacho cheeze:

I've been wanting to try Lydia's raw crackers for a while, but they're $9/box at my local co-op. But lucky day, they were just $6/box at the VegFest! That nacho cheeze is actually really tasty, probably because they used cashews as the base instead of soy-something. I'm usually not at all impressed by vegan cheese substitutes so I tend not to buy them, but this one is pretty top-notch at $6.50/jar.

♥

The Green in the Glass!

As mentioned in my previous post, I love green smoothies. Love them.

I've been experimenting a lot over the last few months with different combos and whatnot. I enjoy drinking my food way more than I should...

But I think I've discovered my favorite basic-breakfast green smoothie recipe:

• Juice of a small orange
• A couple frozen strawberries
• A slice or two of frozen peach
• A few blueberries or blackberries
• 1 Tbsp. Lydia's Green Powder
• 2 tsp. ground flaxseeds
• 3 big handfuls of spinach
• 3 de-ribbed leaves of chard
• 2 de-ribbed leaves of kale
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup-ish of homemade kombucha!
• coconut water to reach desired consistency

Delish.

♥