Tag Archives: healthy

Mar 12 2012
1 Comment
Main Dishes, Recipes

GREEN Vegetables with Risotto!

I was planning to make more risotto ever since I saw VegHotPot’s risotto verde last week. I love risotto but can’t stomach the cheese so I gathered together some organic arborio rice and veggies in preparation for making my own vegan version. This is basically the same as the last time just with different veggies.

1/3 cup of arborio rice (this is more than enough for 2 servings)
1/2 liter of water
1 cube of veggie bouillon
2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1/2 onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil salt to taste
herbes de provence
white wine
I put about half a liter of water into my sauce pan along with a bouillon cube. While I was waiting for the water to boil, I added the onion, garlic and olive oil to one of my fry pans and Brent heated them until they began to sputter.

I set aside the following veggies that Brent chopped as necessary for my risotto:
zucchini
asparagus
edamame
scallions

I added the veggies and turned the heat to medium-low while my extraordinarily good looking sous chef began cooking the rice. We put the rice in a fry pan with a cup of wine and a generous pinch of herbes de provence. I turned the heat to low.

We added the broth one ladle at a time until the rice began to get tender and the liquid was mostly absorbed. It should be translucent except for a little bit in the middle that should still be opaque white when it’s done. You might not use all the broth. I mixed in my veggies and added a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and another tablespoon of vegan parmesan. Both of these are optional but dramatically improve the dish. Omit the edamame if you want this to be soy-free and the vegan parmesan if you’re adverse to nuts.

It really ended up being vegetables with risotto instead of risotto with veggies… but it was delicious. Just look at my evidence of ravenousness.

This attractive dish was loaded with vegetables and good flavors. If that doesn’t do it for you, I don’t know what will. Let me know what you do with this idea!

This is Christie and Brent, signing off.

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Feb 26 2012
5 Comments
Cooking

Nuts for Brussels Sprouts

I love Brussels sprouts. I rarely ate them growing up. In fact, all I knew about Brussels sprouts was that I wasn’t supposed to like them. The first time I saw them, I remember thinking, “those aren’t sprouts!” Aside from being delicious, these little guys are so freaking good for you, they’re easy to prepare, are extremely versatile, and they’re seriously cute.

For lunch today, I decided to make some of Christie’s almond crusted tofu. I was about to dump the leftover breading when I got the crazy idea to make some almond crusted Brussels sprouts.

First, I added about 2 tbsp of granulated garlic to the breading. Then, I rinsed and quartered the Brussels sprouts, and then placed them right into the dish with the breading. I drizzled some olive oil right into that dish as well, to help the breading stick a little.

I dumped the sprouts into a frying pan, and cooked them for about 8 minutes, flipping them over halfway through. Between these and the tofu baking in the oven, my kitchen smelled like nuts.

The breading burned a little but, but I didn’t mind. They were nice and crunchy, and the dish itself was really flavorful. Some of the outer leaves were really crunchy… like Brussels sprouts chips… yum… Anyway, I totally stuffed my face with these, the tofu, and some brown rice. My belly is happy, and so am I.

Here’s to more adventures in Brussels sprouts cuisine… Melissa

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Feb 22 2012
5 Comments
Cooking, Recipes

Stuffed Mushrooms? Shut Your Mouth! I Mean… EAT IT!

Me to Younger Version of Myself (YVoM): Guess what? I made stuffed mushrooms today.
YVoM: Shut up! Who do you think you are, Giada DeLaurentis or something?
Me: Haha. No, I’ve gone vegan and I actually cook now!
YVoM: Wait, what?
Me: I know, it’s unbelievable.
YVoM: I can’t believe you cooked stuffed mushrooms. I can’t believe you’re vegan.
Me: Listen to me. We are stronger than we think!
YVoM: Grrrreat, Future Me is still sentimental and introspective.
Me: Call the blog ‘Turning Veganese.’
YVoM: I still blog? Mmmkay. Hey, I need a photo of those mushrooms to post on the blog.
Me: Here you go.

 

Talking to yourself is normal, right? It doesn’t matter. The point is, cooking and eating vegetables is my new normal. I had some mushrooms that I bought over the weekend, and I really wanted to cook them today. So I Googled “mushrooms recipe vegan” and found this recipe from Healthy Vegan Recipes. It’s so easy and versatile and delicious! The stuffing is basically made up of spinach and ground toasted almonds with onions, garlic, and chopped up mushroom stems. I can’t wait to try it out with different spices and nuts. Oh, by the way, I burned my nuts when I toasted them the first time so be sure you watch them. Heh, burned nuts. I ended up with 10 stuffed button mushrooms and ate seven with them with some brown rice. Dinner was served!

I kind of love being vegan. xoxo… Melissa

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Feb 20 2012
1 Comment
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes, Thoughts

Black beans + sweet potato = LOVE!

Inspired by the success of my previous experiment, I decided to make another one. I forgot to head to the supermarket since getting back from my weekend getaway so I’m using random things in my kitchen to make a meal.
1 can of black beans (drained) or 1 cup dry beans (soaked overnight)
1/2 small sweet onion
1 inch ginger, chopped (the piece is about the size of my thumb)
flesh from 1 large sweet potato, baked or steamed
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
2 heaping tbsp flax meal
2-3 tbsp lime juice
a splash of soy sauce or suitable alternative
1/2 jalapeño, minced
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1 small handful (1/4 cup) cilantro, chopped
salt

I  put the dry ingredients along with the cilantro, onion and ginger into a bowl and mixed them well. My cilantro was frozen but it shouldn’t affect the recipe fresh or frozen.

I then stirred in the beans, jalapeño and sweet potato with my potato masher. Usually I like to keep the skin but for this recipe it didn’t quite make sense, so I made it into chips in my dehydrator.

Originally I intended to make burgers out of this mixture by forming them into patties and baking them, but when I was tasting it to check the salt I realized I had an irresistable urge to eat tacos.

I come from the land of abundant fresh avocado so it was a cinch to make some exotic vegan tacos with guacamole and a light dusting of paprika. If I had this recipe to do over, I might saute the onions and ginger before mixing them into the rest of the ingredients but otherwise it was a good combo.

I also baked some that I made into patties and that was also pretty rad. In other words, this would make good burgers or ‘meat’balls in addition to being an awesome taco filling. Guacamole was a good topping but tomato, lime and a sprinkling of pepperjack Daiya cheese would be truly legendary. The sweet spicy sweet potato mix would be enhanced by the citrus and salty cheese and the tomato is just there to be awesome.

This is Christie, signing off.

 

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Feb 19 2012
7 Comments
Thoughts

Burgers and Brussels Sprouts and Balance

Greetings, everyone! Melissa here. I want to take a moment to thank everyone who follows Turning Veganese. You have no idea how excited I get when I see that we have a new follower or a comment. Sometimes, I even do a little running man dance move because I’m so excited. I wish I had more time to interact with all of you. Speaking of interaction, did you know that we have a Twitter? Follow us!

I started this blog four months ago. What I thought it would be: A space to whine about how much I miss meat, how being vegan is too challenging, and ways to tolerate tofu. What it has become: Motivation to be healthier and more creative in the kitchen, a way to celebrate my vegan successes, and an experience–or rather, a gift–that I have shared with two of my favorite people. I wasn’t even sure I was going to tell Christie and Brent about the blog. I am serious. And now, the best things on this blog are Christie’s posts, and I am so grateful for all the hard work she puts into Turning Veganese. I would probably be eating bacon and cheese with a side of pizza and chicken right now if not for her encouragement.

I find myself hitting a milestone of sorts in my vegan transition: I no longer feel like I am depriving myself of anything by following a vegan diet. I don’t miss meat or cheese or butter. I’m actually a little grossed out by it. My tastes are changing. I used to dread having to hit the salad bar at work because there were no vegan options. Now, I love the taste of wild greens, spinach, corn, peas, green pepper… I actually crave spinach. It’s so weird. I was craving spinach yesterday, so I made White Bean and Spinach Burgers. I saw some gargantuan Brussels sprouts when I went to buy the spinach, so I roasted some of those big boys, too (I forgot to buy hamburger buns):

For the burgers, I followed Christie’s recipe, substituting white beans for black eyed peas simply because I have 10 cans of white beans for some reason, and then adding a cup of chopped spinach. I’m not 100% thrilled with how my Brussels sprouts turned out last night, so recipe is pending.

I am starting to tell people that I am going vegan. This is huge for me. I get a lot of different responses, usually about how that person can or can’t ever go vegan, asking me if I miss meat or what tofu tastes like… but no matter what, I always get a “good for you” or “you’re so good” along with “tell me how it goes,” — all totally sincere.

Healthwise, I am doing pretty awesome. I gained weight at first, mostly because I would get overly excited when I found junk food or anything super tasty that was also vegan (oh hello snap pea crisps and sweet potato chips). In the past couple of weeks, I have lost a few pounds. With my tastes changing, I find I need less of certain food “accessories”–salt, sugar, salad dressing, etc. I didn’t go vegan to lose weight, though. I want to be clear about that. I did it to get healthier. And I have. I recently had a health screening and my numbers were so good that the nurse was cheering for me. She actually said that based on my numbers, she would assume I am an athletic person. (Excuse me while I laugh my ass off.)

So I feel great and I am super motivated to keep going and stay committed. I’m learning that there is never a stopping point at which I can say YES, I AM 100% VEGAN AND HEALTHY. If there is anything I learn from Christie or the lady at the grocery store or my friends who are really invested in organic/GMO or current studies and literature, it’s that there are always better foods to eat and better ways to cook.

Thanks again to all of you for reading the blog, following the blog, trying out our recipes, giving us awards (ohmigosh, how fantastic and humbling and encouraging). I’m amazed and inspired by all of your support. I have so much more in my brain and in my kitchen that I want to share with you, and I know Christie and Brent do, too. So, stay tuned! We love you. –Melissa

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Feb 17 2012
3 Comments
Main Dishes, Recipes, Snacks, Thoughts

Great big raw green dinner!

I am getting ready to go out of town and I wanted to make sure nothing in my kitchen spoiled. I had some weird foods: Spinach, kumquats, yellow zucchini and avocado. What am I supposed to do with that!? Because this was an experiment I didn’t take as many pictures as I would normally like but it was good I decided to share.

I decided to julienne the zucchini and mixed that with some sun dried tomato and mixed it with 1/3 of my avocado as a binding agent. I also added a pinch of sea salt and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast.

I mooshed it into a mold and put it into the freezer while I did the next part. I chopped up the kumquats, a big bunch of mint leaves, and again mixed that with 1/3 of my avocado.

Next I took the rest of the herbs in my fridge (parsley, basil, and dill) and put the stems and leaves into my blender with a generous tablespoon of tahini, the remaining 1/3 of the avocado, juice from 2 lemons and 1 lime, and a little bit of almond milk until the flavor was balanced as a dressing. I blended it until it came out nice and creamy.

I covered a plate in spinach, put my chilled zucchini mixture onto that and then spooned the kumquat mint relish onto the sides. I added a quick drizzle of my tahini herb dressing and sat down to a healthy raw vegan dinner.

The mellow flavors of the zucchini and sun dried tomato were a good base for the tangy, sweet mint kumquat relish. The herb tahini dressing was really good but I think it brought too many flavors into the dish. The avocado brought the whole thing together as a common element in all the parts and the spinach helped me get it into my mouth. I think if I do this again, I might try adding some raw garlic to the zucchini and save the herb tahini dressing for plain spinach salads.

Experimenting is probably my favorite part of being vegan. I hope you get to experiment a little. The more you do it, the more things will ‘work out’ instead of being composted. Good luck!

 

This is Christie, signing off.

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Feb 12 2012
6 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Cooking Challenge: Chicken/Chickpea Piccata

My sister and I have started a cooking challenge of sorts. We take a dish and then, together, make two versions of it: vegan and non-vegan. It has solved two problems for us. First of all, she has three kids that keep her busy and so we aren’t able to spend as much time together anymore. Cooking is something that she has to do for her family and that we both enjoy doing, and it’s a fun way for us to hang out and be productive at home. Secondly, it solves the problem of having to accommodate my vegan diet. Last week, we made two versions of chili (we used Christie’s recipe for the vegan version) and two versions of sausage balls (vegan recipe will be posted pending further experimentation and satisfactory results). This week, we made chicken piccata and chickpea piccata.

Chickpea Piccata

1 16oz can garbanzo beans, drained
1 sliced shallot
5 or 6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 cups vegetable broth (I used two packets of Swanson Vegetable Flavor Boost and 1 cup water)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup capers
juice of half a lemon, save the other half for garnish or to spritz fresh lemon juice on the dish after plating
3-4 cups spinach
olive or safflower oil
salt and pepper

Heat up the oil in pan. Brown the shallots and garlic. Then, add the breadcrumbs and mix until the crumbs are toasty.

Add the broth, wine, salt, and pepper. Let it heat to a rapid boil until it’s reduced a bit. Then, add the chickpeas and capers. Once it is all heated through, add the lemon juice and remove from heat. Top it with the spinach, which should wilt nicely. Piccata dishes are great with pasta, mashed potatoes, probably even with rice. We used spaghetti.

I tried a bit of my sister’s chicken piccata. Both dishes turned out tasty. I’ll go ahead and say that in my completely biased opinion, I liked mine better. Both recipes were easy and used ingredients that we are both likely to have on hand at any given time. The vegan version cooked more quickly, and it’s a plus that undercooked chickpeas aren’t potentially life-threatening. Bonus: no cholesterol in the vegan version. I think I will be making this recipe many times.

Cooking is always more fun and satisfying when you share it with someone you love! XOXO… Melissa

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Feb 11 2012
9 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Vegan alfredo!

A few days ago, LuminousVegans posted a creamy alfredo recipe and reminded me how delicious creamy pasta sauces are. I’m making my own soy-based creamy alfredo which can be made nut free for those of you with nut allergies. If you’re sensitive to soy (or even if you’re not), definitely try LuminousVegan’s alfredo recipe. Her recipes are amazing!

The ingredients are as follows:
1 12 oz. box silken tofu (I like MoriNu)
1-2 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1-2 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 pinch nutmeg
soy or almond milk as needed
garlic or sea salt and crushed red pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender, adding soy or almond milk as necessary until you get a rich creamy sauce. That’s it, you’re done making high protein, low-fat, low-calorie alfredo sauce. I do recommend heating it either by microwaving or in a skillet with some white wine but this isn’t necessary, it just helps to marry the flavors.

I tossed it with hot pasta and a sliced soy sausage that I browned with some garlic.

I also added some raw red and yellow bell pepper. I tore up some more fresh basil for presentation but it wasn’t pretty for long because I ate it.

I love the sienna with the red and yellow on the creamy backdrop and vivid green. I’m a sucker for food that’s beautiful as well as delicious and good for you. Food should nourish your mind and your body. I love the sweetness of the pepper, the spice of the soy sausage with the creamy tofu and savory nutritional yeast and pasta.

If you want creamy pesto instead, add a generous handful of raw basil, a dash of lemon juice and about half a bulb of garlic.

This is Christie, signing off!

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Feb 09 2012
8 Comments
Recipes, Snacks, Thoughts

Beans, beans, the musical, magical fruit! … and hummus.

People often tell me that being vegan is too expensive or they can’t fit it in their budget. Being vegan can be really expensive if you eat a lot of prepared foods but cooking from scratch makes vegan meals cheaper and healthier. I’ve recently been converted to dry beans. These are the reasons why.


1. Dry beans are cheaper. A 1 pound bag of beans costs about as much as 1 can of beans and makes 3-4 cans volume of beans. I pay $0.79-$2.79 for a 1 pound bag and $0.89-$3.19 for a can. Jeepers H Crackers, that’s ridiculous! You can’t even get chicken that cheap. Check out my before (above) and after (below) pictures of some soaked chickpeas.


2. It saves space. A bag of dried beans take up less room in your kitchen than the 3-4 cans of beans you might otherwise purchase. They’re also lighter to carry around and won’t hurt if you drop the bag on your foot or head from a high shelf. (I’m a klutz… don’t judge me.) This is a pound of beans beside a can of beans.


3. It also saves space in landfills and energy costs for transportation. The empty plastic bag from beans versus 3-4 BPA-plastic lined tin cans with paper labels means less energy allocated to transporting and recycling and less space in garbage dumps.
4. There’s WAY more variety in the dried beans section of my supermarket than the canned beans section. I like variety.
5. Dried beans don’t contain preservatives or salt. You can also control what you add to the beans. I use distilled water but only because I’m not sure if my municipality uses hexafluorosilicic acid (an industrial waste derived from the production of aluminum metal and phosphoric acid) to fluoridate local tap water. I’d rather not add diluted industrial waste to my food. Yeah, I’m weird like that.
6. Dried beans taste better and aren’t as mooshy as canned. I find I have to add canned beans last in chili recipes because they fall apart when you stir them. Dried beans are firm enough to stand up to vigorous mixing and haven’t lost their flavor to the liquid they’re canned in.
7. There’s also more control with cooking. If I’m only going to be cooking for a couple of people and still want to use 3 different kinds of beans, that’s all I’ll have to prepare. No opened tins with plastic over them in my fridge potentially waiting to spoil and be wasted. 1 cup of dried beans translates to about 1 can.
8. Dried beans are incredibly easy to prepare. There’s no can opener and no sharp edges on the lid or can for you, your little ones or your family pet (who inevitably will get into your garbage pail…) to cut themselves on. I set them in a bowl in my kitchen sink the night before. I see the bowl when I put my dishes from breakfast in the sink the next morning. I am then reminded to fill the bowl with water, cover it and go to work. When I get home, my beans are ready to start cooking. What I’m saying is. if you can put water into a bowl, you can use dried beans.

So you might be wondering what I’m going to do with that HUGE bowl of chickpeas. This post is really about hummus. All you need is the following:
1 cup of dry chickpeas, soaked OR 1 can of drained chickpeas (save some of the liquid from soaking or the can)
juice from 1 lemon
3-8 garlic cloves
1 heaping tbsp tahini (optional but recommended)

I’m adding a generous handful of fresh basil and sundried tomato… for fun. You can add anything: roasted red peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, cucumber and dill… whatever.

Put it all in your blender or food processor and blend until you like the texture. If you need more liquid, add some of the liquor from the soaking or from the can. Voila! Hummus. I sprinkle mine with some smoked paprika powder and ate it with my own sesame ginger carrot crackers. Yeah, I make my own crackers.  Wanna learn how to make those too?  Some day… some day.

I wish you could taste how delicious this hummus is. The spicy basil and garlic are amazing with the mellow sundried tomato on the backdrop of creamy chickpeas and tahini. Let me know what combo you dream up for hummus and tell me how you like it. I want to make MOAR!

This is Christie, signing off.

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Feb 01 2012
2 Comments
Cooking, Snacks

I’m Fallin’ For Falafel

I love me some falafel. I am so happy it’s vegan. Falafel is ground chickpeas that are seasoned, formed into balls (heehee… balls) or patties and then deep-fried. Chickpeas are yummy, versatile, and seriously nutritious. I refer to them as garbanzo beans. Growing up, garbanzos were added to some Filipino dishes such as menudo.

I had never noticed garbanzo flour in the grocery store until I sought it out after seeing (or rather, smelling) something delicious that one of my co-workers brought for lunch. I grabbed some Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour, which is even more versatile than the bean itself. You can use it in place of traditional flour for baking. You can also use it to make hummus and falafel.

I decided to try making falafel patties. After all, the recipe was on the package and I had all the ingredients. So… why not? Visit their site for the recipe, which is super easy and great for experimentation. I opted to fry some of the patties in safflower oil and bake the rest. The ones in the back are fried; the ones up front that seriously look like peanut butter cookies were baked (in the toaster oven, natch’).

These were so easy to make. The fried ones had a better texture and were slightly – very slightly more delicious, but the baked ones were great, too. There’s really no way to go wrong with this recipe.

I didn’t have any pita so I ate them with white rice, which is always available in my house. We had leftover hot sauce from a pita place, which was GREAT. So what will I do differently next time? I’ll use fresh ingredients next time: parsley, cilantro, garlic. Definitely more garlic, as well as a tad more salt. And I’ll buy or make some tahini next time, too. Oh, delicious.

I can’t wait to use the garbanzo bean flour to make other foods! Yay. Happy eating, everyone… Melissa

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