VeggieEats&More

One of my favorite meals ever!

2015-07-16T08:13:00.003-07:00

Ahhh crispy bakes potatoes dipped in Avocado is just a perfect match! If you like these things, I highly recommend giving this meal a try!

You can use just plain mashed avocado, or add an obscene amount of onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, lime...whatever you like in your guac!

Then just bake fries or chunks of your favorite potato, I used yukon golds here, and bake at 390 for 22 minutes, stir, flip and bake again for 22 mins. I also bake half the time on a middle rack and half on a bottom rack. I will then usually turn off the oven and leave the potatoes in there while it cools down, which also makes them even crispier. I used a 1 tablespoon of olive oil per baking sheet and salt and pepper. Let cool and then dip away!

Totally filling, healthy, simple, easy and satisfying!

Easy and Natural Homemade Sugar Wax!

2015-06-04T09:57:00.001-07:00

Super simple recipe for sugar body wax. Sugar waxing is less painful to me, and has a better result than shaving. If you can only shave your bikini area so often due to ingrown hairs or razor burn, then you might like this option!

You only need a few things, so let's get to it!

Items Needed:

1 medium pan

measuring cups

plastic storing container

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

1/4 cup water

Method:

Add ingredients to sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil. It can foam quite a bit, so you really need to watch it. Keep it at a medium high simmer for 5-8 minutes, until you see it turn golden brown. Make sure you stir it throughout, and don't let it burn.

Then,
gently pour into your plastic container and let cool for 10 minutes at least before use. Test the wax on the inside of your arm to make sure it isn't too hot. The plastic container will reheat more evenly then glass. Reheat at 10 second intervals. It doesn't have to be very hot, just warm enough to spread. You can spread it on with popsicle sticks or a butter knife. I recommend getting a wax kit that contains a pre cleaner, powder for before waxing, and a post wax lotion. This is optional, but the powder especially helps the wax only adhere to the hair which makes for less pain. You can pull the cooled wax off by hand, or pull off right away with cloth strip. You should be able to buy all these things at a drug or beauty store. Then just be hair and irritation free for weeks!! I only recommend using this wax for body waxing. It works well on underarms and bikini areas!

Let me know if you try it, or have questions!

2 Ingredient Breakfast Cookies with Optional Add-Inns

2015-05-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

Two Ingredients to a fast, easy, tasty, healthy breakfast! And I finally got silpat baking mats for my cookie sheets! Now I can ditch the parchment, and save some money and help the environment a little. They work great, Here is a link to Amazon where I ordered mine. Anyway, these cookies are great and you can customize them to your liking! This recipe makes enough for 2-4 people depending on how many you eat. I just adjust the oat serving based on how many people you're baking for. Try and let me know what you think!

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 1/2 cup rolled oats

Throw in a food processor and swirl it up into a cookie dough! If it's too thick add some applesauce or water, or non dairy milk. If it's not thick enough add more oats. Spoon onto a baking sheet in whatever size cookie you normally like and bake for 5-8 minutes. 7 is usually perfect for me, then make sure to let them cool and set on the sheet for a few minutes. Enjoy!

Optional Add-Inns

Chocolate Chips
Almond Butter or any nut butter
Chia Seeds
Coconut Sugar
Dried Fruit
Raw nuts or seeds

You could add all these or none, and still have a great result! What's your favorite thing to add?

My New Food Obsession: Roasting Veggies!

2015-04-30T07:29:00.001-07:00

Easy and tasty! I'm officially obsessed with roasting veggies, so there will probably be a lot of recipes following!

Not only is roasting veggies crazy good, but so easy! I've mostly been using root vegetables, but you can roast anything and I intend to! So far, I've roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, white sweet potatoes (which are amazing), turnips, garlic, onions, and parsnips! I love all of it, and my three year old actually eats it. Sometimes she won't eat cooked veggies, but seems to like these!

So, last night I roasted veggies and put them over brown rice and threw some mixed spring blend lettuce and chopped walnuts, and it was to die! So I mentioned easy right? Wash, rough chop, throw on parchment lined baking sheet, sprinkle with oil and spices, and bake. That's it! Easy and little prep are key things to me actually getting dinner ready on time or at all.

I've seen many different temperatures, but for now I like to cook them at a lower temperature for a longer time. At the last five minutes or so I'll crank up the heat to 480 just for fun, because I like it crispy! Here's what I did last night...

Preheat oven to 390
Ingredients:

1 white sweet potato
2 yellow potatoes
1/2 of a red onion
1 turnip
8 cloves of garlic
3 tbl extra virgin olive oil
Salt/Pepper

Method:

Wash and rough chop veggies, peel garlic. Throw it all on parchment lined baking sheets with plenty of room. I used two. Pour the oil evenly over the veggies. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, stir and have the baking sheets switch places and bake for another 20. I like to crank up the heat for the last 5 minutes to 480 or something, but this is optional. I just like it kind of burnt. Do it! Let me know, how it turns out!

Lettuce and Plantain Hummus Wraps

2015-04-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so yumminess to the max right here! Tasty goodness you will love! I can't get enough of these little tortillas and lettuce wraps. They are simple to customize, and make any lunch healthy and quick.

Let's get to it!

Check my recipe HERE for the plantain tortillas, or if you want just use lettuce. I used a combination this time. Any solid lettuce will do. Here I used romaine, but you could use collard greens, swiss chard, kale etc... The options are endless!

I kept things really simple, and didn't even make my own hummus.

Just chop up a bunch of veggies you like and layer it all up! I added sriracha to mine because it's awesome!

Ingredients:

Plantain tortillas or lettuce
Hummus
Chopped veggies I used carrots, onions, peppers
squeeze of lime optional
Sriracha for spiciness

Plantain Tortillas, Vegan and Absurdly Scrumptious !!

2015-03-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Tasty, crispy, flaky goodness! This is one of those things I was so overjoyed to discover. And once I saw how easy they are to make, I loved it even more!

I am obsessed with food, I can't even really explain it. If you are to, then you may understand. But, when I discover a new recipe and it turns out well, I get this insane vibration of excitement inside me. Onlookers may call it crazy, but I call it Success!

Anyway, if you like tacos, wraps, and rolls I urge you to give this a try. I've just barely played around with this, and have loved it every time. I've done the recipe a little different each time, and it honestly has always come out well. So, you can adjust it if you like.

The plantain you choose can be varying in ripeness. I find from green to spotted all work well. Also, I haven't been able to successfully store these and keep to where they keep their great just baked texture, if you do let me know. Until then, just bake as needed. I've been consistently getting 6 tortillas per plantain. I can eat 3 easy, so adjust recipe as needed.

Makes 6 medium tortillas
Ingredients:

1 plantain
2 tbl melted unrefined virgin coconut oil
pinch of salt
1/8 cup to 1/4 cup water

Method:
Preheat oven to 350, line baking sheet with parchment

Cut the ends off of the plantain, and then slice all the way down one side to peel off the skin. Slice plantain into chunks and throw in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except water, blend. Slowly add water to thin a bit. I usually use about 1/8 cup, but you want it like a thick soup. Once that is done, spoon 6 equal amounts onto parchment lined baking sheet. Then slowly spread out each bit into thin, but not holy circles.

Bake on bottom rack for 10-12 minutes, then flip around and bake for 10-12 minutes more. If baking more and using 2 baking sheets; trade racks and flip half way through. Remove from the oven once you see some brown spots happening. Let cool for a few minutes, and carefully peel off sheet and fill to hearts content! Let me know how yours turn out!

Before Baking... Crispy After Baking

The first way I ate these guys...Simple avocados, lettuce, and cilantro, and I probably added some sriracha

Healthy Easy Meals For Kids and Blogs I Love

2015-03-19T06:34:00.004-07:00

This blog is not about judging anyone, or telling anyone what to do. This is simply about offering some guidance to anyone who might want some. I looked for help when I started cooking, and I had no idea what I was doing. And had no idea how I would have the time, and at the time, money to cook healthy meals.

Cooking healthy seemed like a daunting task, but after helpful blogs and research I found that it can be simple! Especially for kids, they don't generally like fancy meals.

These are just some examples of meals I've served my kids. And I find they eat the best when things are basic and simple. Like applesauce, peas, carrot sticks, cucumbers, brown rice with vegan butter and maybe a little cheese.

It doesn't have to be hard or complicated. I love cooking a crazy meal if I have time. But, even as a stay at home mom, I don't always have time. In fact, I rarely have time. So, in my craziness, I've found simple is best for the kids. Sometimes my four year old won't eat things mixed together, or cooked vegetables.

So, again this is just to maybe help someone who is trying to feed kids or anyone healthy and affordable meals.

Frozen veggies are cheap! And if your kids are hungry they will eat them. You know what isn't cheap? Chips, fruit bars, and other processed snacks. Sometimes I buy that stuff too, I mean hello convenience. But, the best kind of snacks are natural; apples with raw almond butter, veggies with hummus. I've heard people say they don't want to give their kids too much fruit because of the sugar, which is fine, but I would rather give them lots of fruit over anything processed.

There are great sources of protein in things like broccoli, peas, legumes, and even complete protein in quinoa if you're worried about it.

And if anyone has questions or needs guidance, I would love to help! I'm no expert, but am happy to pass on any information I've learned so far.

Do my kids eat perfect every time, no. Do they sometimes not even try something I've worked so hard on, yes. Will that stop from giving it to them again, no!

Want any further information or help? Leave me a comment, and let me know!

Just a Few Blogs and Sites I Love:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/ Amazing all vegan , all types

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/ Perfect if you're sweet treat obsessed like me, all healthy vegan treats!

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/vegetarian/ They've got it all, and a lot of simple

http://ohsheglows.com/ Vegan and lots of gluten free, the Sweet Potato, black bean, and quinoa soup is bomb!

Minimalist Baker Because tasty and easy should go together

CleanFoodDirtyGirl Title pretty much says, I love reading her blog, it's hilarious!

There's so many blogs and helpful sites I love, but these are just a few. I'm finding new ones all the time, and pretty much always hungry because of it!

One Bowl Vegan Banana Bread

2015-03-12T06:53:00.001-07:00

This doesn't need much of an introduction or explanation. Got ripe bananas, make banana bread. It's that simple! Super quick and tasty and all those other gross sounding descriptive words! I'm not sure why, but this is my favorite banana bread recipe. It's bomb, try it!

And everything in one bowl! Oh if you've seen my last few posts I've been talking about the Fodmap diet. Really it's a lifestyle change, not a diet, and you will be seeing it mentioned more and more as people discover it.

I will be talking about it in a lot of posts I'm guessing, because I'm trying to implement it into my life a little. If you are too, you can make this recipe Fodmap friendly by removing the apple sauce and just using more oil!

Ingredients:

2 big ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar (any sugar works)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp ish cinnamon
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp pink salt
3 tbl choc chips (or nuts or dried fruit)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350

Add first six ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mash well. Then, add the flour of choice and before stirring add the baking soda, powder, and salt on top of the flour. Stir to incorporate. Add in the chocolate chips and pour into a greased or lined bread pan. I like to use extra virgin unrefined coconut oil. Bake for 35-45 minutes. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Eat!

Let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by!

A Stupid Good Morning Smoothie

2015-03-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

This is a massive smoothie packed with calories, but good ones. And it's crazy good!
I used my homemade almond butter, but any will do.
So lets get to it! I shared this with my kids, but you could drink it yourself. However it's 800 calories. But it is a healthy 800 calories. Not all calories are created equally. You get lots of vitamins, 21 grams of protein, and 60% of your daily fiber. So depending on your activity level and amount of calories you want to consume in a day, you can decide how much you want to have. You could also cut the ingredients in half or so for a single serving. I like to have a really big calorie filled breakfast to get my day started!

Also, for anyone following a Fodmap diet, you would want to remove the hemp seeds, date, and change the almond butter to peanut butter or cashew butter, and switch to coconut or rice milk. you would then be all set for tasty smoothie goodness

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 tbl hemp seed
2 tbl chia seeds
2 sliced frozen bananas
1/4 cup frozen cherries
1/2 fresh blueberries
3 chopped dates
1/4 cup raw almond butter
1 tbl cocoa
unsweetened almond milk, enough to blend
I'm not sure how much I use, somewhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup

My kids definitely loved it! Give this smoothie a try, and let me know what you think!

Serving Size 365 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories

810

Calories from Fat

514

% Daily Value*

Total Fat

57.1g

88%

Saturated Fat

17.1g

85%

Trans Fat

0.0g

Cholesterol

0mg

Sodium

11mg

Potassium

1395mg

40%

Total Carbohydrates

65.0g

22%

Dietary Fiber

15.0g

60%

Sugars

29.7g

Protein

21.6g

Vitamin A 5%	•	Vitamin C 31%
Calcium 35%	•	Iron 41%

Nutrition Grade B-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

No cholesterol
Very low in sodium
High in manganese
High in magnesium

Bad points

High in saturated fat

I don't post these normally, but I wanted you to see. I also posted the analysis. The bad point it says it lots of saturated fat which would be from the almond butter. But, I made it myself so that my be inaccurate. But even so, some saturated fat is good for you depending where it comes from. Things like unrefined virgin coconut oil, raw nuts, avocados, and unrefined virgin olive oil are good sources of saturated fat. You can also see it's low in sodium, and importantly all the sugar and everything else is from real food. It's natural, not added or processed! That's what matters, not the calories! The more plant based your diet it, the healthier you will be!!

Low Fodmap Pancakes Vegan and Awesome!

2015-03-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

These pictures were not good, but I wanted to quickly post this. I made these this morning because after doing some extensive research I've decided to start a low Fodmap diet.

You may have seen this around the internet or maybe not. Here is a good definition of what a Fodmap diet means. Your basically eliminating certain types of complex sugars found in lots of food.

This is supposed to help someone with stomach issues in a range of severities. So, I'm going to try my best to be strict to this for 2 weeks or so and see how I feel.

This will be kind of difficult since some of my favorite fruits and veggies and nuts are on the no no list. But I think anything can be done for a short amount of time, but we shall see.

I've seen a few different Fodmap food charts, this is the one I liked the best. I've seen some different information here and there, but it's still being tested and there's also still a lot of food that is unknown.

So, this morning I made these pancakes that are supposedly Fodmap diet safe!

Serves 3
Ingredients:

1 ripe banana mashed
1 tbl oil
1 tsp vanilla
juice from 1 cutie or lemon would work
3/4 cup rolled oats ground
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of pink salt
up to a cup of unsweetened coconut milk

Method:

Mash banana in medium bowl with juice from orange, vanilla, and oil. Mix. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir. Slowly add milk until you get the consistency you want.

Cook in virgin unrefined coconut oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. I then topped mine with vegan butter, peanut butter, and maple syrup!

Let me know if you like this, and want to see more Fodmap friendly recipes!

Purple Power juice (without a juicer) and I Just Became a LivBetter Ambassador at Liv360.com!

2015-02-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

If you want to check out Liv 360 click on my link HERE where you will be able to follow me for blog updates and resources that I share as well as countless other contributors from parents to professionals with an extremely wide range of health topics

Liv360.com is an easy to use website with great information for a healthy lifestyle! There's everything from recipes, tips on raising healthy kids, workout advice, to natural forms of dealing with disease and illness and so much more! Check it out, and join today for free!

On to the Juice!

So, I made this smoothie/juice based on this Bolthouse Farms juice I bought and didn't really like. I don't buy these that often, but I didn't want to just throw it out and I didn't want to drink it. So, I made it a tasty smoothie!

I called it a juice because the consistency was more juice than smoothie, but I just used my blender.

- Beets are high in many vitamins and minerals. Potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron; vitamins A, B & C; beta-carotene, beta-cyanine; folic acid. ...
- Beets cleanse the body. ...
- Beets help your mental health. ...
- Beets are used as a stomach acid tester. ...
- Beets are a high source of energy. Information came from FullCircle.com
This bottle of juice also has purple carrots, and purple sweet potato, give it a try if you're lacking in some root veggies!

The babes enjoying some purple root power

Quick and kid approved!

Comment if you try it, and what you think of the taste of the juice. It's a quick way to get some beets into your life!

Ingredients:

1 banana
2 cutie oranges
1/2 bottle of Bolthouse Farms Daily Roots

Method:

Put all into blender, blend, drink!

Don't forget to do some exploring and follow me at Liv360 ! The new fantastic community geared towards you and your healthy lifestyle!

Vegan Quinoa Pizza Bites

2015-02-19T06:13:00.002-08:00

Super tasty and easy and awesome!

I got this recipe from Chocolatecoveredkatie.com , her site is amazing for treats and a few good non dessert recipes as well. Here is the link for the original recipe and I will tell you how I made it a little different, since it's impossible for me to follow a recipe.

After Baking Before baking

The awesome cheese I used, and had a bunch leftover. And I stuffed as much in there as I could!

Before the cheese. I stuck the cookie sheet in the fridge for an hour before I stuffed and baked them (optional)

Things you need:

Cookie Sheet

Parchment

1/2 cup dry quinoa cooked

1 1/2 cup beans (i used white beans, cause that's what I had)

Any spices you like for example: oregano, rosemary, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper

Tiny little can of tomato paste

Vegan cheese (daiya mozzarella)

For the full recipe click here...

Method:

Preheat oven 350

Cook Quinoa, and while this is cooking, put beans into a large bowl. Smash beans as well as you can, and cooked quionoa and all other ingredients except cheese. Mix it up and place as many tablespoon sized bites on a parchment lined cookie sheet as you can. I think I got 14. Then, I stuck it in the fridge for an hour or so. This step isn't necessary I just wasn't ready to make dinner yet, however it may help hold them together. Then, I put some cheese in a bowl so it was easier to get to and just opened them up and stuffed as much cheese in the middle as I could and then tried my best to seal them back up. I probably got around a teaspoon in each one, and then I sprinkled some on top just cause. Then bake for 30 minutes, and I broiled them for the last 3. Done!

Do it! Kids and hubby approved, no one could tell the cheese was vegan and mine made a full sheet of good sized pizza bites, with leftovers! Great simple, versatile recipe!!

Heart Shaped Rice Crispy Treats for Valentines Day

2015-02-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

Okay so this is not a typical blog post for me. I know that marshmallows are not vegetarian. They are made with gelatin which has bone fragments and gross things. And I know there are vegan marshmallows, but that is not what I used this time. Moving on...

I made these for my daughters Valentine's Day party at school after seeing it on Pinterest. It was super cute so I wanted to share. I didn't read the recipe, so I probably didn't do this the best way, but I'm going to share how I made these cute and rather tasty treats.

Ingredients/Tools:

6 cups Rice crisp cereal (any cereal can work, I've made them with organic o's as well)

3 tbl vegan butter

10 oz large marshmallows

1 drop red food color

1 tsp vanilla

Heart shaped cookie cutter

Parchment paper

Popsicle sticks

Vanilla candy coating

Heart shaped sprinkles

Method:

First put marshmallows and butter in a large microwave safe bowl. Heat for up to 3 minutes and stir after each minute. Next, add food coloring and vanilla and stir. Add cereal and mix well.

Then I pressed the treats out into a squarish shape on some parchment. To do this without it sticking to you, place another sheet of parchment on top and press down. It helps to make it more even as well. Then, I just used my cookie cutters to make as many heart shapes as I could. Once, I made the shape I pushed it out of the cookie cutter with a popsicle stick again to prevent sticking. Then, gently put a popsicle stick in the center of the heart. I had to slightly remold the hearts after doing this, which I again did with two sticks and that worked great!

I kept reshaping the treats to get as many hearts as I could and once I was done, I let them sit and harden for the next step.

This was the fun part for me and my daughter. First in a microwave safe bowl melt some of the candy coating. I had a 16 oz bag and I only used about a third of that. I don't know exactly and it doesn't really matter. So, melt some of that and lay out a layer of sprinkles on a plate. Then, like an assembly, spread a layer of candy coating and then either dip or lay in sprinkles. Add more sprinkles to the plate as needed.

The candy made these so yum, and my daughter was very excited to have such a cute treat to share with her friends! I know this seems like a lot, but it's really simple and doesn't take that long.

Quick Healthy Vegan Banana Pancakes (no sugar, no oil)

2015-02-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

Here we go again on Pancakes and Such! Just kidding, but obviously I've got a problem. There has been the carrot cake , the chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream cheese , chocolate chip oatmeal , and blueberry pineapple . What other kind of pancake creations should I make?

Super tasty and quick! Great breakfast for kids or anyone who loves pancakes, but wants to enjoy a healthy guilt free version!

My three year old always wants her pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse, with syrup on the side.

These are really easy to make you just need a coffee grinder. Which I've recommended before. It's a great kitchen tool to have for stuff like this. Plus, it's small and probably cheap. Alternatively you can also use a blender, but I really like the convenience of the grinder. Also, my three year old can use it and help me in the kitchen, which always makes us both happy. No sugar and oil might not sound too good, but a ripe banana is filled with different types of sugar. It will be plenty sweet. I just happened to make these without oil, and they taste great and stayed together fine.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

2 ripe banana

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup rolled oats (gf if you want them gf)

1/2 cup raw cashews (or any other raw nuts, or more oats)

crack of pink salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup to 1 cup almond milk (I usually just pour until I get the consistency i want)

Baby also digs pancake mornings

Method:

Mash up banana in a medium bowl. Add vanilla, and lemon juice, and stir. Grind up oats and cashews and add them. Add the remaining dry ingredients. Slowing add milk and stir until you get the consistency you want.

Cook on medium heat in an oiled pan. I used canola oil because that's what I have. I like using unrefined extra virgin organic coconut oil best. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until they turn golden brown. Then I put vegan Earth Balance butter on them and usually some peanut or almond butter and of course pure maple syrup. Eat!

Vegan Chocolate Caramel Nice Cream Sundae

2015-01-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

Want to make your kids or yourself a treat you can feel good serving? Well, this would do it!

It's healthy, fast, and most of all simple. Anyone with a blender/food processor can do this. I have basic quality equipment, no vitamix over here. And they work perfect for this!

So, okay does the caramel taste just like "real" caramel? No, but it tastes great and if you care about being healthy, why not give it a try! The caramel is made from dates, and the nice cream is bananas! The consistency is just like ice cream! Its amazing. When you see your bananas are getting ripe and don't know if you'll be using them, just break them into chunks and freeze. We've been doing this for awhile, so I thought I would share. My kids and husband love it! This is just one of the many ways you can make this tasty treat!

We've even had this for breakfast!

Once the Nice Cream is all done!

Ingredients:

Nice Cream:

2 or 3 frozen sliced bananas (3 was too many for us to finish)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbl cocoa powder
1 tbl tahini (you can use any nut butter, or exclude this, but I highly recommend it

Caramel

15 Medjool Dates soaked overnight
1/4 cup to 1 cup boiling water
crack of pink salt
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Make the caramel first so your nice cream doesn't melt. Put all ingredients into blender, except water. Add 1/4 cup and blend. Check consistency and taste and add a little water at a time until still thick but not too much. This part is personal preference. I think I added about a 1/2 cup. And that's it!

Next add frozen bananas to food processor. Turn on and watch the magic. After about a minute your bananas will become ice cream!! Once that happens, add the remaining ingredients and process again. That's it!
Then, I just layered them into a glass! So easy, and fun! My daughter loves to help, and to the kids it's ice cream! They will love it, and love that they can make it.
I have a bit of caramel leftover, and I'm hoping to create something with that! Let me know if you try it!.

Warm Salad/Rice Bowl with Kale and Spicy Sauce

2015-01-22T06:01:00.002-08:00

This is such a great food day, and a bad day for my phone to be broken!

I didn't know what to call this other than delicious! I know that these pictures suck, and it may sound weird to eat a grain with a salad, but try it! It's awesome!!

Just throwing stuff together and it turns out great! Love when that happens! A salad like this is great because you can really throw in anything you want to use up. Like beans, veggies, nuts, or grains. It's all good! I'm always coming up with things, or planning my week around what I have already. In order to plan and save money, and eat healthy at the same time. I swear I'm the laziest person in the world, so if I can do it, you can do it!

Healthy with some indulgence in the sauciness. I got this aioli as a Christmas present, don't know where it's from. So, you can use just vegan mayo or go to a grocery store and see what you can find! Or just use any dressing you like, the mayo texture though is pretty bomb in this I think!

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:
Leftover plain brown rice 1/2 cup
1 large kale leaf
1/2 cup organic salad blend
Chunk of red, orange, and yellow pepper chopped
Chopped onion (as much as you want)
6 cherry tomatoes chopped
1/4 cucumber chopped

Dressing:

Juice from 1/2 lemon
1tsp olive oil
1 tsp habanaro mango aioli
1 tsp vegan mayo
Salt/pepper

Chop all veggies and place into good size bowl, except cucumber and tomato. Warm rice with vegan butter, and try to get it pretty hot. Add rice to veggies while hot so it wilts the kale slightly. Top with tomatoes and cucumber. Mix up the sauce in a little bowl first, and then add it and some salt and pepper on top. Add more dressing ingredients as needed. I never measure things like that. Eat and thank me later!

Herbed Alfredo and Veggie Pasta

2015-01-15T06:52:00.004-08:00

You know it's a successful night when both kids eat dinner, and the three year old thanks me two minutes into the meal!

Of course one child is eleven months old, and will eat about anything, but I'm going to call it a win!

This was very easy and fast especially if you have the time to chop the veggies and herbs in the morning or even the night before. If so you're looking at a half hour or less. And if you are making this for nonchild humans you shouldn't have to mince everything like I did. I just find they're more likely to eat tiny veggies compared to big ones. I never lie to them about what's in the food though, I find that counterproductive for life.

So, unlike most alfredo recipes I used almond milk and vegan butter. This makes the sauce not as heavy, but still tasty!! Like real tasty! This turned out really well, I was very pleased with it. On to the important part... Also I rarely measure so sorry.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini minced
1/2 cup of mushroom minced
1/2 cup fresh spinach minced
Fresh thyme, basil, parsley, oregano minced. Mine was about 1/4 cup altogether
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 cup almond milk
1 cup plus Parmesan
1 lemon
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/2 ish box of mini bowtie pasta

Method:

Saute veggies on medium low with salt and pepper until tender. About 5-7 minutes. Then add spinach and squeeze a little lemon over the spinach to get rid of any bitterness. Cook for one more minute then set aside. Also, heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan while boiling water for pasta as well.

Make pasta as directed. Once butter is melted add about 3/4 cup of cheese and then add juice from half the lemon and a dash of garlic powder. Stir and add salt pepper and more cheese to taste. Sauce is ready once cheese is melted and everything is all mixed together. Drain pasta. Pour sauce over veggies and the amount of pasta you want back into a pot all together. I like to squeeze extra lemon once I plate it and extra cheese of course. Eat it!

Lotto Herbs = Tasty Goodness

Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

2015-01-08T09:02:00.001-08:00

No seriously, these are the best cookies I've ever made or eaten! Well those are my thoughts as of this minute. My three year old and I started singing about chocolate after we ate one. So insanely good, and simple!! I do make a healthy chocolate chip cookie, these are not those. These are naughty, but oh so worth it from time to time.

It's freezing outside, school is canceled and my phone is broken. So, I made cookies! But when they turned out amazing, and I couldn't take pictures ( due to broken phone) I felt sad. Luckily I made it work enough with the tabby. (tablet not cat)

Just make these, eat them,freeze them so u don't eat them all. Then share them, oh and you can thank me when you're done!

Ingredients:
2cups all purpose
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cracked pink salt
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbl vanilla
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup almond milk (start w/1/4 cup, if dough is crumbly at the end add more)
1 cup mixed vegan chocolate chips, white choc chips, butterscotch chips (or your preference)

Preheat 350

Bake 7-10 8 was perfect for mine, then let them set for 10 minutes if you can

Method:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl except sugar and set aside. Whip sugar to get it fluffly, then slowly add sugar and mix until fluffly. Add milk and vanilla, mix. It won't be very fluffy anymore , but that's fine. Add to dry ingredients. Mix with spatula until a nice dough forms. Spoon tablespoon amount onto parchment lined cookie sheet! Bake, eat!

She's happy about it

Quick Side: Garlicky Spinach and Pea Mash

2014-06-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

I threw this together real quick and turned out good and was husband approved!

This basically happened due to needed something else for dinner and frantically rummaging through ingredients and sometimes that can go quite wrong, but this time it was great!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen spinach
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 or less water
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
2 tbl vegan butter
2 tbl olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Start by putting the sunflower seeds in a bowl and cover with salted warm water and set aside.
Thaw and drain the spinach and then place it along with peas and water into a sauce pan. Cover and steam on medium high heat. This only takes about three minutes or so, once the water is boiling, you don't want to over cook them. Drain the excess water when they are done. Then, drain you seeds and add them to food processor and give them a grind. Scrape down the sides with a spatula and proceed by adding the rest of the ingredients and process. It will be thick and textury. If you soak the sunflower seeds longer it will be a smoother consistency. I really liked it the way it was, and it was so fast!

Vegan Blueberry Pineapple Pancakes (No Flour or Oil)

2014-05-29T16:34:00.001-07:00

Yeah so my blog should be called Pancakes n Such I think.

There's just so many ways to make them tasty and healthy and when you have a three year old that always wants pancakes you got to mix it up.

These are all super easy recipes, if you have the stuff on hand. It can be just as fast as making pancakes from a box. But, healthier and more filling and way more delicious!

Let's get to it!

Ingredients:
Serves 2-3

1/2 cup rolled oats (Certified Gluten Free, if you want these gluten free)
1/4 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup raw cashews
dash of pink salt
about a tablespoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon organic coconut palm sugar (any sugar will work)
2 tablespoons apple sauce
1 tsp or so of vanilla
4 tablespoons of fresh pineapple juice (lemon juice would also be tasty)
1/4 cup and a splash of dairy free milk (i used almond)
1/4 cupish of chopped fresh pineapple
1/2 cupish of fresh blueberries

Method:

Grinds up oats and nuts in a coffee grinder or food processor. I use a coffee grinder and spit it up in two sets of half oats, and half nuts. Pour into medium bowl. Add the rest of dry ingredients and stir. Add all wet ingredients except last two. Pour enough milk to get the consistency you like. I like it a little thicker. Add pineapple and blueberries and stir gently. Cook in coconut oiled pan over medium heat. These won't bubble so keep an eye on them. They might fall apart, but they taste awesome! Top with vegan butter and pure maple syrup, and then tell me thank you!!

Before grinding...

I used this much pineapple

The batter...

The tasty result!

The happy Child!

Blueberry Sourcream Cake (vegan)

2014-03-15T12:40:00.001-07:00

So I wanted cake for breakfast...

I found this recipe for basic vegan yellow cake and customized it from there

It turned out great and I made a glaze to put on top after it cooled for a few minutes

I didn't let it cool completely before we ate it, so it didn't look too pretty for pictures.
It tasted yummy though!! You could add any fruit you like, and I probably could have used less sugar.
The glaze was fun and different with the addition of the pineapple juice!

Bake at 325
30-40 mins
Grease an 8 in pan.

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegan butter (earth balance)
1/4 cup vegan sour cream (tofutti)
2 tbl vinegar
1/2 tbl vanilla
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
About 6 oz fresh bluberries
About 1/4 cup of pineapple juice from fresh pineapple
Handful of crushed raw walnuts

Glaze
Tsp fresh pineapple juice
Juice from half a lemon
About 2 tbl of powdered sugar (up to 3, if you want the glaze thicker)

Method
Soften butter and sour cream. Mix with hand mixer til fluffy, add vinegar and vanilla, mix. Add all dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add in pineapple juice as needed to get the right consistency. I crushed the walnuts in my hand and folded them and blueberries in. Pour into greased pan. Bake.
Make glaze when it comes out of the oven.
Add all ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over warm cake, then poke holes in top so it soaks in! Eat.

Super Easy Vegan Banana Orange Muffins

2014-02-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

So, I've created a muffin monster.

My almost three year old is obsessed at the moment. She wakes up and demands muffins! So, its Friday and this is the third time I've made muffins this week! Ugh, the demands of a toddler...of course they are semi healthy. Some more that others. I've made carrot cake muffins, (healthier than they sound) Pineapple Sunrise muffins, and today the Banana Orange Muffins. All were vegan, and these ones have more sugar that I would like, but oh well. Its Friday, right? I picked this recipe because it was super fast to throw together even with the customizing.

So, I knew these would be tasty once I tested the batter. Which you can totally do without worry because there are no eggs!

They turned out perfect! The recipe I followed said to bake for 25 minutes, but mine were just right at 16 minutes. I despise over cooked baked goods, so mine are usually just a bit shy of being under cooked. Which is not scary cause its usually vegan, although they might look very pretty. But, they taste awesome!

It's kind of a joke in our house about how much I bake. And my husband thinks I'm trying to make him fat, but I'm like, "Just cause it's in muffin form doesn't mean its the devil filled with sugar!" Which we decided sounded tasty!

Also, these called for walnuts which I would have added but the baby was crying and I forgot, and I don't think the other child could have waited any longer for breakfast. We were already up for a few hours before I got around to making her anything.

I think these yummies made it all better. She said they were "So alicious" her term for delicious.

Happy after breakfast with baby sister

This is where the recipe came from. Like I said I left out walnuts, and changed the baking time to 16 minutes. And I added a few things...Here is how I made them

Bake 360
15-20 minutes in lined muffin tin until toothpick comes out clean
Makes 12 muffins (or 15 if you don't over fill like I do)
Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
2 halo oranges
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 cup of vegan butter softened (almost melted)

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mash bananas, squeeze in peeled halos or whatever oranges u have. Add zest, lemon, vanilla, butter, and sugar and stir until blended.

In another bowl add the rest of the ingredients. Pour together and stir until just blended. Use a ice cream scoop to fill lined muffin tin. Or a spoon if you don't have one.

Bake, Eat

Carrot Cake Pancakes, Vegan and Gluten Free

2014-01-14T07:03:00.002-08:00

I haven't posted a blog in forever. Not that anyone noticed, but I haven't been feeling it. I've still been making post worthy (in my opinion) meals, but have been real lazy about doing anything other than eating them. I noticed I post a lot of pancake blogs, and i like to make a lot of different kinds of pancakes, husband says I should write a blog that is all pancakes.

So, I've been making
these a lot lately. So, easy and then we get to start our day with vegetables and pancakes!
My husband said he didn't believe they were healthy. They are, but the best part about them is how they taste.

Even though I'm 9 months pregnant, I know I'm not the only one who likes them. Sometimes you cant trust the preggy taste buds. This is not one of those times. My almost three year old and husband have both approved!

Some of the ingredients are quite interchangeable, this is just the way I like it best.

I use my coffee grinder to grind up all the flour ingredients, and I use it a lot for cooking. You can use a food processor, which I use for the carrots. I like to grind up a bunch of extra carrots when I make these and then I can use them for a few days in other dishes.

Ingredients:
Serves 2-3

Heaping 3/4 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup of raw cashews
4 tbs chia seeds
1 tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp pink salt
1 heaping tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 ground nutmeg
1 tbs sugar
3/4 -1 cup almond milk (or any non dairy milk)
2 tbs oil (coconut, canola, vegetable, whatever you have)
2 tsp vanilla
juice from half a lemon
1 cup grated carrots

Method:

Grind first 3 ingredients in coffee grinder or food processor. Add to a medium bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients and stir. Add in the wet ingredients and stir until combined.

These are thick and so will take at least 3 minutes in oil at medium on each side.

Notes: You don't have to use raw cashews, you could use more rolled oats instead. They really make it taste extra amazing though. Also, I try to use a full serving per person of chia seeds, so I would adjust them to how many people you make them for.

Here's the not cooked side..

One side cooked for comparison.

Top with vegan butter and maple syrup, or you could even whip up some vegan cream cheese with cinnamon and vanilla and lemon. or just eat them plain, they really are that good!

Another nice thing about making pancakes with fruit or veggies is they stay warm a lot longer!!

Sweet Potato Mac n Cheese and Yummy Smoothies

2013-01-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

This is so easy and so yummy. I didn't make this vegan, but all you would have to change would be the type of cheese. My husband said it was the best mac n cheese he's every had. You might even like it if you don't like sweet potato. It's worth a try. My toddler doesn't normally like sweet potato, but she dug into this! Normally, I don't like baked mac, cause i think it is dry. However, this recipe is not, it's pretty much perfect. I think I'm going to try this with broccoli and spinach too!

I made this almost the same way as this link I found, but I did change a few things.

Ingredients:

1 medium sized sweet potato; peeled, cubed, and mashed. (I just hand mashed it)
Most of a box of whole wheat rotini pasta
3 tablespoon of Earth balance butter
3 tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 cups of non dairy milk; I think I used rice milk
about 1 cup of mild cheddar shredded cheese
1/4 tsp of paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Optional:
small handful of cheddar
2 tsp parmesan cheese
dash of paprika
I topped the pasta with this before I baked it.

Preheat oven to 350

Get your sweet potato mash done, and it will be a little over a cup most likely. However much you get is great! Set that aside. Make your pasta according to directions, then drain, rinse and set aside. While that is boiling, melt the butter in a saucepan on low until it bubbles a little. Then, add your flour and whisk for 3 minutes. Slowly add the milk and whisk for another 5 minutes. Then let it cook for a few minutes until it starts to thicken. Now, add your spices. Then add cheese and sweet potato and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add the pasta, and stir until combined. Place in a 8x8 baking dish and top with optional toppings. Bake for 15-25 minutes. I took it out after 15 cause I was worried about the texture, but it could have gone a little longer. Anyway you choose to do it, it will be super yummy!!

I couldn't believe how cheesy it tasted, and with out much cheese!

Gooey Yumminess!!!!

Here are some more smoothie combos I did recently. There are endless options, I just thought these were really good!! Again, I always have frozen sliced bananas on hand for a smoothie base. Frozen whole fat coconut milk works great also!!

The Ugliest Yummiest Greenish Smoothie

1-2 frozen bananas
2 large kale leaves; washed and leaves removed and discard stems
1 orange peeled
1/2 peeled lemon
5 or so strawberries
water to blend

Could barely get a picture of this one before I drank it all...

Chocolate Banana Butter Smoothie

1-2 frozen bananas
1 fresh banana
2 heavy tsp of tahini (ground sesame seeds, or use any nut butter you have)
2 or so Tbl of cocoa powder
almond milk or other non dairy milk to get the consistency you want

Scrape down the sides of the blender so you get all the yumminess. It tastes like a chocolate peanut butter shake!!

Cauliflower and Cumin Soup with Chili Butter

2013-01-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

Very tasty soup I copied from Here Mine looked different because I added a large chopped carrot when you add the cauliflower and some kale when you add the water. Then topped it with lime juice a ton of cilantro and pine nuts. It was really good, and filling, and healthy!

Husband love it also!

So, my "diet" did not last long. I eat really good usually, I just over do it. Portion control is a foreign idea to me and I can't seem to implement it. Oh well, except we are going on a family vacay and my brother, sis in-law, and husband and I are having a beach body contest. So, we'll see how that goes. I've got until June and I would like to lose 20 pounds. I have been exercising a lot more since we started though.

I'm trying to have more veggie smoothies, and I might cut out some caffeine and try to replace it with a green smoothie or tea or something. Ugh, it's so much effort I wish I had the motivation for all the time.

If you are trying to be healthier, give this soup a try! Great time of year to eat cauliflower cause it boosts your immune system!!