Lentil Meatballs?

I had gotten this idea for lentil meatballs from the internet of course.

Most of my inspiration comes from the internet and then I simply run with it.

I like a lentil loaf instead of meatloaf so why not have lentil meatballs!

Into the food processor:

1 cup cooked lentils*

2 sprigs of fresh parsley*

3 cloves of garlic*

1 scoop ground flaxseed

1/4 cup oatmeal* (maybe a little less)

3-4 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 Tbsp white miso

a sprinkle of dried: roasted red pepper flakes, thyme, basil*, rosemary*

1 half a sprinkle of dried: paprika, cumin

1 dissolved vegan bullion cube into 2-3 tbsp hot water.

• I cooked 1 cup of french green lentils and then used about 1 cup of the cooked product. I used the other cooked cup for another recipe but if I were just using them for this recipe I would have started seasoning them while they were cooking. Next time maybe...
• I added the bullion water last through the chute once everything else is fairly processed.
• The spices I used were simply because they seemed "italian" to me. I would suggest adding something spicy like the red pepper flakes though because the lentils can totally absorb some of the heat once you bite into it.

Then form into 1" balls. I don't think this recipe would work too well with larger faux meatballs because you do want that crunchy exterior, well I wanted it I should say.

Place them on a cookie sheet covered in foil and then drizzle with oil and spin the little lentil-nuggets around to get them all shiny.

Bake at 350 degrees until the bottom side gets brown, maybe 20 min. Then flip and let the other side get brown. I did that 4 times until all the sides were browned. At this point they do kind of feel like nuggets, brown and crunchy and delicious on the outside but moist and soft on the inside.

I ate two to make sure of this for you.

I am going to serve mine with sprouted spaghetti, tomato sauce, and fresh spinach. I might do a "raw" tomato sauce, any suggestions?

* means I used Organic for this ingredient.

Happy Eating!

Raw Food Videos

I love you tube how-to videos. They are my favorite thing since Real Housewives of Orange County. (oh Lynn and your drunk daughters)

I especially love the cooking how-to videos.

Check these out... I bought avocados and I am waiting with bated breath for them to ripen so I can make and devour this tart!

Happy Eating

Icing Tests

More Cupcakes!

oh yes...

Chai Tea Icing - Good.

Strawberry Icing - Very Good.

Peanut Butter Icing - BEST!

Base of all icing:

1/2 cup vegan margarine. I use Earth Balance.

3-4 cups vegan organic powdered sugar.

Beat the "butter" until light and kind of fluffy. Slowly add sugar until mixed throughly and it looks, well, icing like. you can add a splash of soy milk too, it gets creamier if you do. vanilla extract is always good too but a base should be simple so I'm not going to make you do it; 1 tsp if you wanted though.

• For the chai you brew 2 tea bags in not a lot of boiling water (3 tbsp) to make a strong concentrate. Add this with some cinnamon into the base and viola!

• For strawberry I boiled 4-5 fresh berries in a bit of water and sugar. smoosh the berries with a spoon and release all the juices. then pour over a fine strainer and strain out delicious pink nectar. Add strawberry nectar to the base and extra powdered sugar because it's a little watery.

• For peanut butter you add 1-2tbsp creamy organic peanut butter into the base along with a pinch of salt and an extra splash of soy milk since it's thicker and needs some creamy help.

Any other icing I should try? I mean, I could be talked into trying more...

Happy Eating!

Date Night

Do you couples out there have a Date Night?

We didn't really. I mean, no kids, no mortgage... what do we need to escape from? but then we were told by someone really wise that showing your spouse that they are worth the investment of getting dressed up, spending money, spending time, and leaving the house is very important. The more you invest into your relationship the more valuable it gets right?

Well... with the recent switch to veganism dates out of the house are more difficult.

Here are some recent reviews for you :)

I like a place with vegan options where I don't have to modify menu items, I don't like being "that girl" who has to change everything about her order. Besides, I understand a chef's menu as a unit and disrupting the integrity of his/her creation would kind of be like asking a artist to paint in blue because you prefer it. You could ask an artist to do that... but you probably wouldn't.

Review #1: The Yellow Dog Eats.

This was a total accident, a very happy accident. A menu with a vegan options (without any modifications!) and meaty options! Throw in adorable atmosphere and al fresco dining and I would go there every week. Gotta love supporting a locally owned place. My "downward dog" wrap (love not having a salad huh!?) was so good. I will say they were heavy handed on that sriracha so watch out and go for waterproof mascara! Chris loved their bbq sauce and raved about his sandwich too.

Review #2: The Cheesecake Factory.

This chain has most "healthy lifestyle" folk cringing. Huge portions. Dessert menu from heaven. Huge portions. Also, not much is vegan without modification. I had the Thai Lettuce Wraps from the appetizer page of the menu. I asked the chicken simply be omitted but my waitress was amazing and suggested a switch to portobello mushroom. Yes please! This entree might have been my favorite because the portions were so large and sometimes vegan is code for small portion. The dessert menu has nothing but fresh fruit and we skipped it anyway after such a big dinner.

Review #3: Seasons 52.

There is no butter in this entire restaurant. Let's start there with a huge sigh of relief. There is literally no chance some prep cook spilled butter on your sauteing vegetables. Let me also say: totally separate vegan menu to order from with no need for modifications! I had the Ponzu-Glazed Tofu with Cremini Mushroom, Broccoli, and Roasted Potatoes. Plus a garden salad to start. This was my most enjoyable eating out experience since being a vegan. No ordering at a counter, pretty decor, no modifying the menu, and my husband ate pork and loved every second of his meaty dinner. I love seeing that man smile.

Review #4: Lazy Moon Cafe.

Pizza, every vegan scowls. Try this super laid back UCF staple, now serving diaya. I had the "treehugger" special with includes the vegan cheese alternative so there was no need to modify. Honestly... this pizza is better than the vegan restaurant's pizza. plus, the hubsy could have gotten meat had he wanted, but my maybe vegetarian convert skipped the meat this night. Plus we were out of there with 2 beers and 2 slices of pizza for under $25.

Cheezy Sauce Recipe

#1

if you're thinking about veganism, either full time, part time, or whatever... pick up this cookbook: Vegan YumYum. It has pictures and delicious recipes and I love it.

#2

if you're thinking about veganism you've probably thought, "I like cheese too much to be a vegan." It's a tough one to combat but try this cheezy sauce from the Vegan Yum Yum and you'll convert to veganism at least for one meal.

Whisk together 1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Margarine and 1/3 cup flour. I've used unbleached all purpose but let me know if you've tried rice flour. Do this over medium heat.

This makes a roux.

Then whisk in 1 tbsp red miso, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 3 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce), 1 tbsp lemon juice, and 1 tbsp tahini. One time I didn't have tahini and used a flax egg and it turned out delicious as well.

Whisk until this forms a red paste looking thing. Turn the heat to medium high

Then slowly whisk in 1 1/4 cup soy milk. Then 1/3-1/2 cup nutritional yeast.

Let it come to a simmer to thicken.

Then seriously pour over anything and everything: pasta for mac and cheeze, rice vegetable cheezy casseroles, boca crumbles to make a queso dip. I mean it, EVERYTHING. It isn't low calorie, it's vegan.

Happy Eating!

Do you like mushy foods?

I've been contemplating a mushy food feast!

I'm working on a great baba ganoush recipe to go along with my favorite roasted red pepper hummus. Plus I found a recipe for a white bean and artichoke dip that sounds delicious.

I love dips and crunchy things... chips and salsa, carrots and hummus, chocolate and pretzels.

Anyone have mushy dip recipes they like?

A Hummus that I like:

Puree the following together in a food processor:

2 cloves garlic

15oz can of chickpeas

2-3 tbsp chickpea water from can

3-4 roasted red peppers

1/4 cup of tahini (sometimes i use a tiny bit less)

5 tbsp lemon juice (sometime i get heavy handed)

tiny drizzle of olive oil

and then... I didn't have any chickpeas so what to do... use Edamame!!

I basically used the same recipe with the edamame but then I got to thinking maybe an asian edamame hummus with garlic, edamame, sesame oil, ginger, almond butter, and maybe sriracha? OH YES!

Happy Eating!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes are delicious. I don't know many people that would disagree.

What about cupcakes without animal products?

Could they be delicious.

I say yes!

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup soy milk **

1 tsp apple cider vinegar**

1/3 cup canola oil**

3/4 cup sugar**

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 cup non alkaline cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

** means I used organic for this ingredient.

Oven: 350 degrees

1. Mix soy milk and vinegar, stir, and let sit for 5 min (you're making vegan buttermilk!)

2. Whisk together soy milk/vinegar, canola oil, sugar, vanilla in bowl number one.

3. Sift together the rest of the ingredients in bowl number two.

4. Mix the wet contents of bowl number one into the dry ingredients of bowl number two.

5. Pour batter into greased (I used Pam Spray**) cupcake pan.

6. Bake for 23-25 min. The official ready test is "until springy"

I made a chai tea (not)buttercream icing which was delicious but I'm working on a peanut butter one that I'm thinking I might like better.

I'll try and keep you up to date.

PS- Be careful when removing your cupcakes from the pan (aka, don't turn over and shake violently) because the corner of your cupcake may be missing like this one:

Happy Eating!

Vegan Ricotta

Want to make your favorite lasagna recipe without ricotta cheese?

This has been my favorite ricotta substitute so far:

1/2 cup cashews

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

3 cloves garlic

1 package extra firm tofu

1/2 cup soy milk

salt and pepper to taste

Add everything to your food processor and process until smooth-ish

Spread onto lasagna and enjoy the delicious nutty-cheezy taste!

Vegan Milkshake

I've found a bunch of wonderful new blogs that I read pretty much every single day. The best thing about food blogs is that I don't have to make the exact recipe the blogger did. I can take their ideas and use it as inspiration in my own kitchen.

One of my new favorites: Chocolate Covered Katie

Vegan desserts. Oh yes.

Tonight I had one of those nights when you're hungry for something so you wonder around taking bites of things and putting them back (sorry to my husband about leaving 1/2 a cracker in the box)

I must have been on a salty food kick lately because everything was pretzel-chip-cracker like and none of it was doing it for me. And then I realized... I want chocolate!

Unfortunately I didn't realize this when I was at a grocery store but in my small salty snack filled kitchen. All I could find in the chocolate category was some old-ish chocolate covered espresso beans that were buy one get one at whole foods.

I turned to Katie for inspiration: MILKSHAKE time!

1/2 package of chocolate covered espresso beans

1 large frozen banana

1/4 cup soy milk

1/3 cup opened then refrigerated coconut milk (it turns into cool whip!)

I put the beans in the food processor and blended. Added the banana and some of the cool whipped coconut milk. blended. Added soy milk. blended some more. I added about 2 tsp of sugar. Poured into a cup and viola!

Topped it with the rest of the coconut milk whip and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I drank it ALL before I even thought, "Should I take a picture of this for the blog?"

Happy Eating!

In Current Days

I haven't blogged.

you might have noticed.

I've cooked. I mean, I gotta eat :) Those are some roasted tomatoes that turned into a sauce. It was really really good.

This is a really fun cherry pitter than I'm pretty sure would make a stellar stocking stuffer, got mine at Whole Foods.

I'm not promising anything, in the blogging front.

but...

I have been VERY inspired lately.

I'm also making some exciting changes to my diet.

and by exciting I mean, difficult.

Radishes on toasts? YES Please! I'm been obsessed with radishes.

Happy Eating!