Tag Archives: easy

Nov 04 2012
Leave a comment
Snacks

NACHOS!

Brent and I like to play video games together. Nothing says “gamer” like junk food so that’s where this is headed. All you really need is tortilla chips and Daiya but crumbled seasoned tofu, olives, chopped jalapeño, diced tomato or onions, salsa, Tofutti sour cream and a lot of other things can help bring your nachos up a notch.

We baked ours in the oven to melt the Daiya after adding seasoned crumbled tofu, salsa, jalapeño, onion and salsa. A little fresh cilantro would have made this unstoppable but its absence didn’t stop us from devouring it.

I le recommend, especially if you’ve got a football game or a video game in your future.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Nov 01 2012
23 Comments
Desserts

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Guava Cheesecake!

Today is a special one because you’re visiting a page that’s part of the Virtual Vegan Potluck! This is the second one that Turning Veganese has been fortunate enough to participate in and it’s a great way to look at lots of vegan food blogs and even some non-vegan blogs that are participating by presenting a vegan dish. I definitely recommend exploring. Use the “go forward” and “go back” buttons at the bottom of the page to participate.

I wanted to be sure that Florida culture came out in my Virtual Vegan Potluck contribution so I decided to include some local flare. Guava pastries are a staple in our Cuban heritage, coconut and lime are ubiquitous in Caribbean cuisine so I wanted to include them in this recipe, and pecans are here to represent the Southern elements in South Florida culture. This is an incredibly easy recipe and shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes to prepare. All you need is a good spring form pan and the ingredients.

First prepare the crust by combining the following in a bowl:

1 cup of medjool dates, soaked overnight in water, drained and blended until smooth

1 cup of shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened

1 cup of crushed pecans

1 cup of almond meal

1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

a pinch of cinnamon

Mix these until uniform, adding extra water if it’s dry. It should be crumbly and a little sticky.

Once you like the texture, moosh it into the bottom of your spring form pan.

Now that you’ve got your crust, we’ve got to make the ‘cheese’cake part. It’s simple too:

1 carton of silken tofu

1 tsp starch (we used arrowroot) dissolved in 1 tbsp of lime juice

7 ounces of guava paste

Put all of that into your blender and blend until smooth. Pour it over the crust and put it into your freezer.

I sprinkled mine with some additional coconut to make it extra pretty. It’ll be ready in 4 hours.

Remove the wall of your spring form pan and serve. It will get gooey as it melts so put your spring form base on a wide plate to catch anything that falls off the edge.

This concludes my part in the Virtual Vegan Potluck event and I hope you’ll visit all the other posts in the chain. If you’re new to Turning Veganese, I hope you’ll visit again. Click on the “go forward” or “go back” button below to see what else the Virtual Vegan Potluck has in store for you!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off to head to the Potluck!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Oct 23 2012
Leave a comment
Reviews

Kale Chips

I’ve got a thing for kale. It’s among my favorite green leafy vegetables and I love a lot of them so that’s saying something. This is a little known fact among carnists but I know most vegans out there are nodding their heads when I say that kale makes great chips. Today I’m telling you about 3 different brands that Brent and I have tried.

Kaia Foods makes 3 different flavors of kale chips: barbecue, cheese and sea salt and vinegar. I found the taste to be bitter and the chips were crushed in their bags. They’re gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free. They’re fairly inexpensive so far as kale chips go at $5.89 per bag.

New York Naturals is one of my favorites. It comes in Bombay ranch, cheese, spicy miso and sea salt and vinegar flavors. Bombay ranch was my favorite with a creamy, tangy flavor with a hint of curry to it. The sea salt and vinegar was very salty which is saying something because I dig salt. The kale chips were huge [mostly] intact leaves covered in delicious flavorful cashews. Just watch out for the stems… they’re like twigs. They’re fairly high in calories but are a great alternative to junk food that’s made from junk. These contain soy and nuts but are safe for people with nut or gluten allergies. They cost $7.99 ber box but I think they’re at least worth giving a try if you’ve got some spare cash for a new mouth experience.

Pacific Northwest Kale chips come in cheezy, cilantro lime jalapeño and Stumptown original. Stumptown contains hazelnuts and the other 2 contain cashews so be aware for those with nut allergies. The flavors are kind of awesome and I particularly liked the Stumptown original; it was subtly spicy and cheesy. Unfortunately they did get stale quickly in the Florida humidity but I think that’s unavoidable here. They also got crushed in the bag so it was difficult to get both the flavoring and the kale into my mouth (not as bad as Kaia Foods). They cost $8.99 per bag. If you’re in the market for kale chips, I’d recommend the New York Naturals.

What New York Naturals did that the others didn’t was to put their chips into a box. This keeps the flavoring on the kale and the kale intact so you get chips instead of crumbles. So now you know Brent’s and my favorite is NYN but if you’ve got a dehydrator you’ll end up with the best product if you make it yourself. Kale with a touch of olive oil and sea salt is my favorite of favorites.

This is Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Oct 18 2012
3 Comments
Desserts

Like a crepe but not.

I was feeling peckish and didn’t know what to make. I found some currants, chocolate peanutbutter and some corn tortillas. I threw them into the pan and got it all hot and toasty.

I made this: the chocolate ummm…. what do I call it!? It was worth sharing. Next time I might include strawberry jam and chopped pecans. Enjoy!

This is Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Oct 15 2012
3 Comments
Lazy Vegan

The Lazy Vegan: Samosas!

I love frozen prepared Indian foods. Treats like samosas make a perfect snack or appetizer, and I’m usually very lucky to find products that are as close to a freshly prepared product as I can get. I found these particular samosas in a neighborhood grocery store, made by Bombay Bites.

It came with a pack of chutney, which I usually don’t see offered with other brands. The cooking instructions are limited to deep frying or microwaving, but I went rogue and heated them in a toaster oven (350 degrees for 10 minutes followed by 375 for 3-5 minutes). The chutney came in a small plastic packet which needed heating up in a microwave for just a few minutes. The chutney was also very comparable from what I would get if I bought it freshly prepared.

I like Bombay Bites because their samosas are actually samosa shaped. I have bought other frozen samosas that were phyllo-wrapped triangles which, even if they tasted great, weren’t the same. The filling is very tasty and perfectly spicy (hot without being too hot), and the chutney was a nice accompaniment.

For non-vegans, Bombay Bites has a wide variety of samosas including Jalapeno & Cheese and Pizza flavors. Very intriguing, however, I’m very content with the traditional version. –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Oct 08 2012
1 Comment
Cooking

Easy Pigeon Peas

Since going vegan, I’ve easily had guacamole and chips for dinner at least once a week. It sounds weird when I say it out loud, but it’s the reality of my vegan lifestyle. That said, I was in no mood for guacamole tonight. So I threw together a pigeon pea dish.

 

Ingredient list:

1/2 dried pigeon peas or gandules
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1 tbsp tomato paste
dash of annatto powder
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I boiled the pigeon peas in 2 cups of boiling water for a few minutes and then set it aside for an hour. Then, I heated a pot, browned the garlic and onions in olive oil until the onions were translucent, and then added the diced tomato. Once the tomato was softened to my liking, I added the peas, the spices, tomato paste, and a cup of water. I covered the pot until it boiled and the water had dried out a bit. I served the pigeon peas over some garlicky fried rice.

I was definitely in need of something more hearty than guacamole for dinner and this fit the bill! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Sep 28 2012
5 Comments
Uncategorized

The other Lazy Vegans: TV dinner…

There’s always something off-putting about the concept of a TV dinner: a pre-packaged tray of unrecognizable goo that you take out of the freezer and pop into the microwave before being distracted from what’s in it by the latest episode of Mad Men. This post is about that style of meal.

Amy’s tamale with roasted vegetables caught my attention as I looked for Amy’s vegan gluten-free burritos (a perennial favorite snack food for that man I love). I love Mexican food and found the picture on the package appealing. It also has the rest of the key words that lure consumers like myself in; it announces that the product contains organic ingredients and is dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free and soy-free.

Taking this baby out of the package brought up some deeply repressed childhood memories. I also realized it might vaguely resemble the picture on the front once warmed and plopped onto a plate.

One of the reasons that I like Amy’s burritos is that there’s not a lot of packaging for the amount of food. This had a lot of packaging for the amount of food. I rationalized that I would be sating some water by eating it right out of the dish in which it was frozen.It wasn’t an unpleasant experience but the food did little more for me than sit quietly in the microwave safe plate. I added some fresh cilantro, powdered cumin, garlic salt and some Tapatio’s hot sauce and that definitely gave the meal some personality.

It was filling, contained unobjectionable ingredients and had some decent nutrition information. I’d probably buy it again but know I’d make something better myself at home. That isn’t the point though; this is a quick easy meal with good ingredients and nutritional details for something that comes from the frozen food section. Amy’s makes a lot of great gluten-free and vegan products (and their website has some great tools for figuring it out without condemning you to the tedium of reading every box)

What’s your favorite frozen dinner? I’d love to hear more and better options.

This is Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
Sep 26 2012
4 Comments
Lazy Vegan, Reviews

Sliders!

I swung by my sister’s house this evening and the vegan options were limited to baby carrots, so I swung by the local store for something quick to have for dinner. Now, I could have bought some fresh veggies to cook or make a salad, but instead, I went with Gardein Sliders from the frozen section.

As you can see from the box, it’s 150 calories per slider and 9g of protein. No cholesterol, y’all! I heated the sliders according to the instructions and they came out perfectly heated with no sogginess.

I was really hungry and lazy so I topped the burgers with some ketchup and mustard. I didn’t put too much on the actual patty because I don’t like condiments oozing out of my burger; I’ll usually dip my burgers into ketchup or mustard. The sliders definitely needed some spice. I checked out the other items in my sister’s fridge and found this awesome organic horseradish mustard that was not only vegan but the perfect addition to the sliders.

 

Gardein sliders get an A from me for being a delicious and quick and easy vegan treat. Plus, I look super sexy biting into them!

‘Til next time! –Melissa

 

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Sep 25 2012
4 Comments
Main Dishes

Fajita Pizza

I’ll have to start in advance by thanking the ZenCat Bakery for the pizza crust but the rest was all about what we had in the refrigerator. There wasn’t any traditional pizza or pasta sauce but we did have some salsa so I knew what we had to do.

I started by sauteing a chopped onion with a diced jalapeño, chopped garlic and some flake red pepper. When the onion began to soften I added some soy curls that Brent prepared with some Brag’s amino acids and cayenne pepper.

I sauteed them until the extra liquid from the soy curls was absorbed. I seasoned it with a little additional onion powder, cumin, coriander, a touch of garlic salt and some garlic powder.

I topped the crust with some salsa and then my fajita mix and then some more salsa. We topped it with Daiya mozzarella (though pepper-jack might have been better) and then I baked it according to Zen Cat bakery’s instructions.

It’s good to have frozen pizza crusts around. It’s a great way for us to have whatever veggies in the fridge that need munching and it’s faster than making pasta. This pizza disappeared quickly and Brent’s face lit up at the possibility of doing it again. We will…

 

This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Sep 21 2012
5 Comments
Main Dishes, Thoughts

Vegan Lasagna

I make a lot of vegan lasagnas because it’s what happens when I’ve got too many vegetables in the fridge that aren’t suitable for juicing, like mushrooms, zucchini and eggplant. It’s something I suspect a lot of vegans do and just don’t talk about… correct me if I’m wrong. (this is the eggplant version after baking, below)

We slice the zucchini or eggplant thin to use instead of noodles and go from there. Usually we line the baking dish with zucchini or eggplant, cover that with a layer of spinach and cover it in soaked lentils flavored with tomato and garlic and other spices plus whatever veggies we’ve got mixed in. (pre-baking, below)

I usually sneak in another layer of spinach if I’ve got it.Then we make tofu ricotta (tofu blended with a little arrowroot starch, onion and garlic powder, Italian seasoning, etc), pour that over the lentil veggie layer and make another layer of ‘noodles’ cover with some more tomato sauce, sprinkle with nut parmesan, Daiya, and/or nutritional yeast and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour at 350F/180C until it’s bubbly and the ‘noodles’ are tender. It’ll depend on the size as to how long it’ll need to cook. Usually when it’s bubbling up the sides, you’re set! (zucchini version below, after baking)

I’m not writing a recipe for this because I don’t want to box anyone in with specifics. I’d also love to hear your favorite vegan lasagna recipes or little tips and tricks you’d offer to others.

What’s great about vegan lasagna is that it affords the opportunity to eat the nutrients vegans sometimes have trouble getting without a lot of effort. B vitamins, iron and omega-3 and -6 fatty acids are among the nutrients that vegans sometimes miss out on due to eating a compassionate diet. Spinach (for iron), nutritional yeast (B-vitamins) and nuts (omega fatty acids) are my favorite sources of these nutrients.

This is Christie and Brent, signing off!

These make great leftovers but don’t normally make it to that stage.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →