...For this recipe use a crockpot so that you can turn it on and forget about it for a few hours. Mix up a quick salad with beans, seeds, and a tahini dressing and together you have a meal full of complex carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, and a happy belly.
Roasted Carrots
If you don’t like cooked carrots then it’s probably because you’ve never had them roasted. Maybe you’ve only had them boiled, mushy, and waterlogged. Roasting vegetables is one of the most delicious ways to get in more nutrients and fiber. Almost any vegetable you roast will caramelize into a soft and flavorful side dish. What’s the catch? There is no catch. The bottom line is that if you aren't eating a VARIETY of plant foods your body could suffer. Variety will insure that you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs to thrive. Why not try different cooking methods to increase the variety of vegetables in your diet? Too much carrot juice will turn you orange. Too much of anything could be a bad thing, even kale or blueberries. So if there’s a vegetable you don’t like then try roasting it with a bit of oil, salt, and spices. You can roast broccoli, zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, onions, garlic, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, eggplant and so many other kinds of vegetables. You should try making your own french fries or kale chips. Eat moderately, use as little oil as possible, and always change things up by eating a variety of raw or cooked fruits and vegetables. Roasted vegetables can be a beautiful and tasty part of a balanced and healthy life! Get out the grill this summer and roast a few vegetables and plant-based burgers for a change. You can do it!
Copycat Cafe Gratitude’s Decadent Milkshake
There is this fancy little hippy vegan chain here in southern California called Cafe Gratitude. I'm told that if you go to the Santa Monica location you will most likely run into some celebrities...
Twice Baked Sweet Potato Rounds
...Cold sweet potatoes. I eat cold baked sweet potatoes out of the refrigerator at 5 o'clock in the morning as a pre workout snack or as a post workout breakfast. I'll throw them in a ziplock bag and drag them around in my purse for a quick snack. I love them with peanut butter, raisins, apple sauce, and cinnamon. I like them with beans, creole spice, and tahini sauce. I love them with tofu, broccoli, and quinoa. I love them in soups or loaded like a baked russet potato. I pretty much love any form of sweet potatoes. Baked, boiled, steamed, microwaved or however it is prepared...
Carrot Dogs On The Grill
Celebrate the 4th of July this year grilling a hot dog that won't lead to colon cancer! Instead these carrot dogs could help PREVENT cancer, heart disease, infection, stroke, all the while improving your vision, skin, and teeth! I'm talking about Carrot dogs! To be clear, these do not taste like meat or veggie meat. These carrot dogs are their own thing and I love it! I feel like I'm eating a hot dog and I get that hot dog fix but instead of chewing down processed meat or processed fake meat I get more fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Eat more plants. Crap like a champ!
Potato Zoodle Bean Salad
Mushroom Cashew Lettuce Wraps
Whenever I invite people over for dinner I either make what I'm currently craving or I have a simple 3-step method that I use. 1. Look inside the fridge. 2. What do I have? 3. What can I turn this into? For dinner the other night I looked into the fridge and saw butter lettuce, leftover tahini mayo (recipe below), and a TON of mushrooms that needed to be used, like, TAaaaH-DAY! I thought about making mushroom lettuce wraps and went to google just that. I saw a Mushroom Cashew Lettuce Wrap recipe that sounded intriguing to me and I took it from there! The recipe itself used a lot of random ingredients that I don't usually use on this website (or buy). So I improvised to make an oil-free version using the ingredients I currently had in the house. The perfect starter for your mushroom-loving friends.
White Bean Alfredo Zoodle Bowl
Like I said in my last Zoodle post, my friend Arnetta gave me a spirilizer and I have to say that it's just so much fun! With it I've made Pad Thai (recipe below), Potato-Zoodle Salad (recipe coming soon), Hummus Zoodles, and the Alfredo recipe for today. I'm planning on eating zoodles with marinara sauce and cashew parmesan, throwing them in soups, and maybe even a zoodle casserole in the future! I'm not sure why I didn't buy myself this little device years ago, but I'm so glad my friend gave me one. So either get yourself a spirilizer or just get yourself an Arnetta! 😉 Zoodles forever!
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars (Vegan)
Banana Smoothie recipes: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream Peach Ice Cream Wendy’s Copycat Vegan Frosty Chocolate Chip Milk Shake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar Recipe Adopted From: Peanut Butter Chocolate Energy Bars Other similar recipes: King-Sized Vegan Snicker Bars Healthy Scotcheroos
Vegan Peanut-Tofu Zoodle Pad Thai
Peanut sauce drizzled over zucchini noodles with cilantro, tofu, and peanuts, is fresh and delicious.
Mushroom Risotto Stuffed Butternut Squash (vegan)
This is a super easy and fast recipe. Well, that is, if you have the 3 separate recipes done ahead of time. So, for example, I made the mushroom risotto on Tuesday and we ate some of it for dinner, I always have a batch of cashew parmesan made and in the fridge, and then I baked the squash Wednesday morning (you can also cook in a crockpot). That evening I had the idea to stuff the butternut squash pieces with leftover risotto... it worked out! Delicious.
Mushroom Risotto (Vegan)
Mushrooms are nutrient powerhouses! Just eating half a mushroom a day (or 15 a month) can help lower your risk of breast cancer by 64%!!!!! Seriously? That's absolutely insane! It's too bad so many people dislike mushrooms! Mushrooms have antioxidants, selenium, folate, vitamin D, vitamin C, potassium, and a good amount of protein and fiber! Research shows that consuming mushrooms can help to lower your risks of...
Fiesta Potato Stacks
Potatoes, Beans, Vegetables, and a really good sauce.
Crunchy Vegan Yogurt Fruit Salad
Do you like crunchy creamy sweet things? I do. And I sure love eating this salad!
2-Ingredient Maple Syrup Chocolate Chips
Dark chocolate chips sweetened with maple syrup? Now there's a special treat!
Almond Meal Granola (gluten free)
I love me a good old bowl of home made granola! It's simple. It's fast. It's delicious. It's healthy. Make yourself some today! If you have celiac and need to avoid gluten then please make sure to...
Tahini Miso Kimchi Bowl
This Miso-Tahini Kimchi bowl is my favorite type of meal, because you can make a big batch at the beginning of the week and then every day after you can have dinner on the table in less then 5 minutes. If you're the sort of person who doesn't like to eat the same thing everyday then a simple solution is to...
Tahini Miso Sauce
Cashew Cream of Tomato Soup
Creamy vegan soup that takes less then 5 minutes to make. Let's do this...
King-Sized Vegan Snicker Bars
Do you like chocolate? Do you like peanut butter? Do you like snickers bars? Yes...
Chili-Hummus Baked Potato
I am SO grateful that complex carbohydrates are REALLY REALLY REALLY good for us! Don't be scared of carbs! The reason there's so much confusion is that there's more then one type of carbohydrate! Simple carbohydrates (cookies, cakes, breads, crackers, candy, etc.) have a lot of calories and fat but little to no fiber to help us stay full which means we get hungrier faster even though we may have eaten a lot of calories already. Complex carbohydrates (beans, oatmeal, brown rice, potatoes, corn, quinoa, etc.)...
Vanilla Almond Cashew Milk
...By making our own nut milk we are saving big time in our food budget. This makes me more and more excited about making almond cashew milk from scratch. It's easy, healthy, and tasty! I love having fresh frothy milk to drink...
Breakfast Tacos
These Breakfast Tacos are definitely culturally confused what with using Fiesta Scrambled Tofu, Sweet Potato Fries, sriracha sauce, and sauerkraut!!! The meal sounds a bit crazy, but do you trust me? These tacos are well worth it! Dig out the forgotten contents of your refrigerator and whip up these bad boys for Mother's Day! Tacos up!
Fiesta Scrambled Tofu
For all the savory breakfast lovers out there, here's a new treat! I made Culturally Confused Breakfast Tacos last weekend and directions for that delicious feast will be coming soon, but first you need to know how to make the Fiesta Scrambled Tofu! Scroll down to the bottom of the recipe for a sneak peak at the Culturally Confused Breakfast Tacos! 😉 A delicious recipe to brighten your day!!!
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Sweet potato fries are not only DELICIOUS but they're powerhouses of nutrition and longevity. According to the Blue Zone Study the Japanese centenarian's (people who live to be 100+) diet consists predominantly of orange and purple sweet potatoes (along with other vegetables, tofu, and minimal amounts of meat). The antioxidants, fiber, and cancer-fighting properties in sweet potatoes are only some of the reasons we should eat them...
Popcorn: Nutritional Yeast, Flax Seed, and Beyond!
Todays recipe is my tried and true combination for seasoning popcorn. It's the collection of toppings I've been using for years! I like to try out different combinations from time to time (like the za'atar popcorn I posted a few weeks ago--link on the blog) but this combination has stuck out as my favorite...
Simple Hummus
Everybody loves hummus. That tangy smooth concoction that exists in almost any grocery store in America. Hummus is very procurable and liking it no longer makes you exotic or cultured (unless, of course, you don't like it then you're just the opposite). I'm obsessed with hummus and I feel like I'm pretty good at making it. The only problem is that I make it so flavorful that you enjoy it for one meal and have zero desire to finish the leftovers. I decided I needed to find a plain recipe that was tasty but not so overpowering that you need to brush your teeth 6 times! So, like many people, I went to google. I found a recipes titled Better Then Store Bought Hummus. In my opinion store-bought hummus isn't that good but I figured it was worth a shot! I've made it 3 times in the last 6 days. Does that answer your question? Simple hummus FTW!
California Pizza Kitchen’s Dakota Smashed Pea & Barley Soup
If you've ever been the California Pizza Kitchen you probably haven't tried their soup. I get it. Why would you order soup at a California PIZZA Kitchen...
Tempeh Fake’n Bacon
...All cultures around the world have their own form of fermented foods that they consume regularly! In Korea they eat kimchi, in Japan they eat miso, Greece has its yogurt, Germans like their sauerkraut, and that's just the beginning.(links for more information below). So start consuming fermented foods (in moderation), it could save your gut. The first fermented food on your list could definitely be, TEMPEH!
Za’atar (زَعْتَر) Scrambled Tofu
I had been tempted to add za'atar all along, but thought I would shy on the side of caution since this was a new recipe for me. I pushed my inhibition aside and sprinkled on the za'atar... folks you will probably see a lot more recipes in the future highlighting this fantastic condiment! It is definitely my go-to seasoning when a recipe needs a little extra punch of goodness! This recipe is still great if you don't have the za'atar, but if you have it... shake it one!