Tag Archives: oh she glows

I might be a little immature, as I find anything with the word “balls” a little funny. But they are all over the world, everyone in different countries take food and roll them into round shapes. Here are just a few vegan recipes I get a go. These are purely ones that are savory, not sweet. Those will be saved for another recipe round up.

Turnip Chickpea Meatballs

I saw this recipe and thought- I have a lot of turnip in my fridge- this recipe will be great! Sort-of. Lets talk about prep before the taste. The recipe calls for 4 cups grated turnip, claiming one smallish-medium turnip would yield that much… WHAT?! I grated probably 8-9 turnips (mind you I made a double batch) and tried to lightly fill the measuring cup, and ended up taking away a whole cup of turnip from the recipe (half a cup for the a non-double batch) This drives me nuts! Please include weights! So people can have a better idea if they are using about the right amount.

Then the recipe has a lot of steps. Cook some buckwheat, cook onion, then turnips, then mix, roll, and bake. I spent probably an hour in the afternoon getting the mix all ready. I feel like you probably could of used buckwheat flour and saved lots of time.

So what about the taste? Well, if these were the most amazing veggie balls, I might be okay with all this work. They weren’t. They were just okay. Not bad, not great, but still tasty. Yeah I used up so much turnip, and freed up a lot of space in my fridge (thank goodness) but I wouldn’t make these again because of time.

Bottom Line: Not bad, but a lot of work

Cauliflower Kofta Curry

File this under “WHY DIDN’T THIS WORK?!” Flavors were perfect. The sauce was amazing, and there was some leftovers that I used for leftover naan pizzas. But the kofta balls just were not staying together. The cabbage fell apart in the sauce, and I think they just needed something more to bind them together. Maybe even deep frying them? I would gladly make the creamy tomato sauce again for curry styled pizzas though.

Bottom Line: Big Thumbs Down

Savory Miso Tahini Oat Balls

What I love about these Miso Tahini Oat Balls is that they aren’t a “dinner” sort of ball like a meatball, or protein replacement. These are made for mid-day snacking, which is great since most mid-day snacks revolve around sugar. It gets very annoying after awhile, and the savory snacks are usually heavy on salt and fat (hello potato chips!)

Hands down Lacy NAILED these! Everything is well portioned and doesn’t use too much of any specific ingredient, which is nice since most are kind-of pricey. The time it took to make them is low, like maybe 10 minutes of mixing, grinding, and rolling, and bake time takes as long as it would for cupcakes.

The downfall is that the balls are a little crumbly, which isn’t the end of the world. Next time I might try making these in a large brownie pan and cutting them into a bars. This might make a little bit less of a mess and make it easy to pack for on the go. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Bottom Line: These are a great snack food

Lentil  Mushroom Walnut Balls

These lentil mushroom balls were a recommendation from the Oh She Glows website as a good Thanksgiving dish. I figured that these would be a good protein for my dinner. The balls weren’t particularly hard to make, but took a good bit of time to finely chop the mushrooms, greens, and pre-cook some of the food. 

The end result is delicious, but didn’t travel well to a dinner. To reheat the balls became dried out. Looking back, I probably would of made these balls far in advance and freeze them. Somehow I think the freezing process would keep the moisture in the balls.

Bottom Line: Eat right away, time consuming

Beet Ball ‘N’ Fries Salad

This was a yummy flavor combo but I had a little trouble with the beet balls. They were very delicate, but that might of been because my lentils didn’t cook all the way with the instructions provided. I am wondering if a soften lentil would of resulted in a better ball?

I think my husband just wanted to have beet burgers and fries, but I kind-of liked the salad combo. Maybe because it means more dressing? Maybe because I just want more lettuce? Who knows. It is a great way to satisfy a burger craving when you know you need to cram in a few more veggies in your meal.

Bottom Line: Delicate balls, yummy combo

Kidney Bean Koftas

I saw these kidney bean koftas on Vegan MOFO, and it is worth starting out that the theme was “zombie apocalypse” aka cook with what you have at home. So this recipe first got me thinking “she should of had this sauce” or “it would taste great with this.” But that isn’t the point of the recipe. The point is give a base to your meal to work around.

These came together really easily. I technically used dried beans that I cooked up, so not in the last minute put it together spirit. But whatever. It was a long day, I didn’t even think I would make dinner, but I figured I would see how much I could get done before Wolfie freaked out. I GOT IT ALL DONE!

I made half a batch with half the curry powder and no salt for Wolfie. The other half I adding the salt and the rest of the curry. We ended up halving the size of the balls, and making sandwiches with leftover fennel slaw and chutney. It was AWESOME! I strongly suggest pairing these balls with a “wet” ingredient. A sauce, chutney, slaw, etc. Wolfie had the same idea dipping his in his yogurt and pear.

Bottom Line: Quick, yummy, baby approved. Continue reading


I am not a breakfast person. I don’t like sweet breakfast foods, and I have a smoothie every morning. If there isn’t a smoothie, usually breakfast gets skipped and I have an early lunch. But I am warming up to brunch, mostly because of booze. But this list is probably just breakfast foods. *shrugs* Oh well. They are brunch to me. Almost all are sweet things, so don’t get too mad is you are a savory fan. 

One Bowl Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These were super fast to put together, and the result is a super soft and yummy muffin. I subbed spelt flour for all purpose flour since I had it on hand. But as promised, you used only one bowl, making it a quick muffin to make. This is a great dish to make for a super sweet muffin on the weekends.

She suggests adding cream cheese to the middle, and I used whatever I had left for the centers. I wasn’t impressed with the centers as they were too tart in my opinion. She says the sugar is optional, but I think it is a must. I used Tofutti cream cheese, and it cooked up fairly stiff. If anyone else tries as different cream cheese with different results please share! Since I didn’t have enough cream cheese only some of the muffins got the center. I found that they baked up fine without the cream cheese center.

Bottom Line: Super yummy, mix sugar in the cream cheese!

Raw Buckwheat Breakfast Porridge

I’ve mostly been eating chia pudding for my pre-morning run. It is easy to make and pretty much something to make the night before. This buckwheat porridge ranks up there with easy accessibility. It is simple and easy, and very yummy. My only problem is that you need access to fresh fruit as a topping, which sometimes isn’t as readily available during the winter.

I also found that sometimes buckwheat can be pricey, depending on where you go. And this recipe will use to up a good amount of buckwheat groats fast. But you CAN find buckwheat for cheaper prices, you just need to keep your eyes peeled. 

Bottom Line: Good for weekday OR weekend

Easy Vegan and Gluten-Free Pancakes

What a boring name for these? Banana Buckwheat Pancakes is more interesting. Gluten-free Banana-Strawberry Shortcake Pancakes is even better. But hey, whatever. Doesn’t matter what they are called because these are delicious! I was shocked at how well it all worked together.

Sure they aren’t 100% like normal pancakes, but they don’t really seem “gluten-free” either. They have an earthy-nutty flavor that is welcomed. The bananas add a nice sweetness to the pancakes without it being overwhelming. The only downside is that the batter is thick so I had a hard time getting “pretty” cakes.

I didn’t start with buckwheat groats, but instead had some leftover buckwheat flour from a local Asian food market. I can only imagine that this helped the texture in the end since the store bought flour would have a more consistent texture than home ground flour. I was lazy and didn’t make the homemade whip cream, but these pancakes tasted great with some blueberry syrup.

Bottom Line: Yummy but not too heavy like more “gluten-free” pancakes

Norwegian Cinnamon Buns (Norske Kanelsnurrer)

I am so excited to finally try a recipe from Seitan is my Motor. I love how much thought and planning goes into Constanze’s recipes. I’ve learned quite a lot of European baked goods, and given me a much needed window outside of American sweets. This was the first year having my In Laws over for Christmas morning, so I wanted to include them on our growing tradition of brunch on Christmas.

My overall biggest complaint is that the recipe uses rapid action yeast. So you can’t make it as quickly as regular cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. I tried my best to wake up and start the dough right away, but I don’t think they were fully finished until 12:30-ish. You need to proof the dough twice, once for 90 minutes and another for 60 minutes.

Aside from that, the recipe worked wonderfully. I liked how the rolls weren’t too sweet and used healthier flour than just all purpose. Having the spelt and whole wheat makes them more filling, though I am sure a little more tough compared to if I made them with just all purpose flour. I may have also overbaked them slightly working against a fluffy texture.

Bottom Line: Yummy, but wished there was an overnight option

Scramble Tofu Breakfast Bahn Mi

I feel like the dish is the definition of brunch- breakfast and lunch combined into one. Taking a lunch sandwich (Bahn Mi) and mixing it with the classic scrambled tofu for breakfast. This is something I love since I am more of a lunch person than and breakfast person.

I have a confession. I’ve never actually ate Bahn Mi before. I’ve heard about it, but never took the dive before giving up meat. Steak was never my favorite. So I can’t judge it on how authentic it is. I can judge on how tasty it was. The tofu is wonderfully spiced, and does look a lot like eggs. The Star Anise Daikon Pickles were a great add on. They were crisp and probably gave it that Bahn Mi feel. The downside? There was a little bit of leftovers. No big deal. It will just make a Bahn Mi wrap for lunch. This is definitely a something that will grace our table over and over again.

Bottom Line: Great for people who prefer more of the Lunch of Brunch

Almond Butter Banana Breakfast Bars

I always hate when I find vegan recipes that use lots of expensive ingredients. One cookie recipe used teff flour, maple syrup, and almond butter in huge quantities. It made me wonder how much each cookie cost? I was too afraid to find out. This recipe does use some expensive items like maple syrup and almond butter, but uses them in small reasonable amounts. I like that. All the other ingredients are cheap and commonly found in a vegan pantry.

The recipe is easy and fast to make. I made a change with the maple syrup since I ran out of it. I used a little blackstrap molasses and agave to fill in the rest of the syrup needed. I think blackstrap molasses was too strong, and I wish I used the maple syrup since the flavors would of worked really well. I also swapped spelt flour for whole wheat since i had it on hand. The dough was thick, but the end result is very soft and fluffy.

I divided the bars up into 8 pieces not 10 or 12 as suggested to give a hearty breakfast, but dividing them up smaller makes a great side for breakfast. Maybe a tofu scramble? Or sauted veggies? These are drool inducing bars, but they are tasty and not too desserty like some baked breakfast foods.

Bottom Line: Really tasty!

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I hope everyone had a happy Halloween. I think Alexa and I sure did. Alexa had to work but still got dress up as Ariel. Then changed for a spooky Halloween party. This year Jon and I wanted to the whole give away candy thing in our new home. We got a good amount of kids. While waiting we made vegan mummy dogs, brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes (scary to kids). We watched episodes of Simpson’s Tree House of Terror, seasons 2 to 7. When we finished we watched Ichabod Crane and The Brood. OMG, was The Brood good! I know who I’m going to be for Halloween next year- Nola!

Anyways, we have a big list of articles, probably because I’ve been all about Apple News. I’ve been reading so much more. I probably should take a break because some days I think I do feel a little overwhelmed by facts.

Food:

Not sure how many people will be able to read this, but New York Times wrote a profile on Smarties. I loved them since I was a kid but I love that they are vegan friendly. They also are based in New Jersey and Liz Dee is vegan herself! So I really try and support the company!

I really want to make these!

The New Yorker NAILS the almond milk versus cows milk debate. Okay not all the points! But brings up an important one about our food. We need variety, and we need to know how to handle our waste!

I first heard of savory oats from Oh She Glow’s cookbook with her red lentil oats. Now The Full Helping gives a lot of suggestions, which I should try taking up, especially for pre-run breakfast.

Two good videos from Eat Your Kimchi- one is a 3D chocolate maker! OMG gotta make these chocolates. The other is a dakgalbi recipe which makes me want to veganize it.

http://www.eater.com/2015/10/19/9553471/what-is-neurogastronomy

Spoopy Reads:

The New Yorker profiles several different black cats.

Alexa and I were super happy to try these out! They are like creamsicles.

Veganism:

I love this article by The Atlantic talking about taxidermy displays. I feel a similar feeling about zoos. There is this weird contradiction that zoos and taxidermy isn’t helping the animals directly and can be cruel. But at the same time it sparks interest and gets the average person concerned about the well being of the animals. And there is the fact that animals are beautiful, and it is amazing to see an animal that isn’t native to your area and marvel at it’s existence. Anyways, I hope you enjoy that read.

Apparently parts of India are banning cow meat and it isn’t making vegans happy. They have excellent reasons why this is problematic, which is also a reason why I feel like if you ditch meat, you need to ditch dairy as well.

One of my husband’s favorite Simpson’s episodes is the one where Lisa becomes a vegetarian, here is an article praising it.

This episode of Bite Size Vegan made me really happy. She has been trying to document the history of veganism, and found that people have been making the same arguments over time. If you have the time, I suggest watching it. The quotes are really beautiful.

I love learning new “ethnic” foods that are made vegan. This one is a cinnamon spiced milk drink from Puerto Rico.

Don’t go to these type of wildlife attractions!

Health:

I totally back up the Body Positivity Movement. Yeah, I think there is a link between obesity and health, but I think it is more complicated than “I’m fat therefore I’m sick.” I don’t like when people just chalk it up to “dieting” because there are some health habits that we picked up on in the USA that might be BETTER for our health overall (for example we consume more whole grains!) So I was happy to see yet another study that supports that there is more to weight than calories and calories out.

There is an interesting study focusing on the amount of words spoken to a child, and how it effects their ability to learn.

 


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Hey guys. This week has been a lot less productive than I had hoped for. Part of the problem is you know everyday life. Whomp whomp. Then there is also this weird internet. It is find in the morning, then at night it disconnects every five seconds. Arg! It stinks but there are worse things that can happen in life. 

So I just want to point out how cute Alexa looks right now. She had a wedding coming up, and being thrifty me I was all like “NO DON’T BUY A NEW DRESS BORROW ONE OF MINE!” I LOVE this dress. I got it on sale from Ruche, it was originally something like $80-100 but I got it for $39.50. I’ve worn it to a bunch of weddings, luckily I had friends and family weddings that didn’t crossover with guests. Nobody caught me wearing more than once! Anyways, I’ve washed it a few times, when I wasn’t suppose to and it started to rip, but Alexa got it fixed so it might get worn a bunch more times. And if you are dying to have the dress, you can buy it for $96, which this is like super old out of stock. So no bargin hunting.

Also Alexa dyed her hair again, which makes me jealous. I want to dye my hair but my bosses are a little…. uh… judgmental about looks? And our clients are pretty old, and conservative so I don’t think it would be the best move on my part. Alexa wanted to dye her hair like her favorite wrestler Sasha Banks. Note- their all Alexa’s favorite. 

So I mentioned doing the Vegan MOFO Offseason thing, and there is the prompt of Pick 3, and she said to share any vegan articles. So I will make this week’s Sunday Reading in lists of threes. 

3 Recipes

CARAMELIZED BANANA & RUM SHAKE – I think I know what I should try and make next time Alexa and Ian crashed my place for game playing. I’ve been reading The Drunken Botanist, and it really helps make the connection that plants are booze, and it really a “vegan” food. It is exciting to see all the different herbs that are used in cocktails. My little liquor collection is growing fast, and hubby and I really need a cocktail cart for drinks and glasses.

HOMEMADE PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE WIHT SALTED PUMPKIN SPICE SYRUP – Okay so I’ve been making pumpkin spice lattes at home with a pumpkin spice almond milk that I bought. I’ve been lazy about making a syrup for myself, but this one sounds divine! I should make some and use it in my Spiced Pumpkin Carriage… or lattes. XD

3 Fun Stories

RESCUED RACCOON ORPHAN NAMED PUMPKIN – I am a sucker for any cute animal story. I think it does make veganism for relatable for most people. So I share them. This one is about a baby raccoon that was hurt and was nursed back to health. It is so endearing to see a raccoon snuggle with a puppy, showing that animals can connect with each other regardless of species.

BEHOLD THE ULTIMATE CROWDSOURCED MAP OF PUNNY BUSINESSES IN AMERICA – One thing I do know about vegans is that we love a friggin pun. I feel like there is probably a bunch more that need to be added, so check it out and add anyplace that you can think of.

WHAT HARAJUKU GIRLS REALLY LOOK LIKE – This “decora” style come about right when I fell out of Japan’s music culture. It is probably one of my least favorite street styles. But it is interesting to watch the video.

3 Letters

LETTER #1 – These letters have been buzzing around the vegan blog-o-sphere. If you aren’t up to date these are letters written by Miyoko Schinner, who has pretty much reinvented the vegan cheese scene, to Ryan Bethencourt, an entrepreneur and scientist that I know nothing about.

LETTER #2 – This is the response from Ryan, which focuses on how science is able to engineer products with science. It is fun and exciting, and talks about some cool foods coming out to the vegan community. He views veganism as a world of science and labs, which I can get behind, but I think most people find this anti-food. This view I think is more relatable to older generations who view processed foods as improved products from the natural ones, which sometimes they can be.

LETTER #3 – Miyoko responds back by taking the science away from vegan innovations and bringing it back to the home kitchen. And I love this. I love being able to say you can DO EVERYTHING in the kitchen. I think people are surprised at how easy some vegan food is, like nut milks. My boss was shocked when I said it is just essentially just water and nuts, then filtered. I think it is some sort of balance between science and homegrown food that will sell people to vegan food. It can be fake, but it doesn’t HAVE TO BE.

3 Shopping Finds

REST IN PIZZA SHIRT – I love this shirt as it seems super vegan to me. I’ve heard so many people say things like “Oh if you can’t have cheese I guess you can’t have pizza!” Apparently cheese is what makes the pizza to most people. But I love a good tomato pie, and I found pizza is a super vegan thing.

THE LONG ARM OF THE LOBSTER CARDIGAN – I use to love to eat lobsters, and I also think they are just a cool animal. I remember having them walk around the kitchen floor before eating them, which my husband thought was morbid. What can I say? I knew I was a murdering bastard at a young age. I dig this classy sweater which to me gives more of a nod that lobsters are cool and cute like any other trendy animal.

1960s GOLD METALLIC BROCADE WIGGLE DRESS – Anyone want to give me $140 for a new dress? I love fancy dresses, and I don’t go out as much as I should to put these dresses to work. But I love the light work of the metallic threads, so it isn’t overdoing it on the shiny aspect.


Depending where you are, this recipe roundup is either late or just in time. Anyone on the northern hemisphere is coming out of winter and are probably looking for iced tea recipes. But if you are in the southern hemisphere, you are probably dreaming of hot chocolate and lattes. This post right now is for you guys.

hotchocolate

I usually start these posts by talking about all the recipes as a whole. But truthfully, it is hard to talk about all these recipes and not compare them. Out of all the different styles and techniques, I noticed one ingredient made one hot chocolate shine out of all the others- using chocolate bars. Yes, out of all the different recipes the Luxurious Dairy Free Hot Cocoa from Oh She Glows takes first prize. Why? Well she uses chocolate that isn’t just in a powder form. Using a chocolate bar or even bakers chocolate, she adds a whole lot more dimension to the dessert. That being said, all the other hot chocolate recipes would benefit from using a chocolate bar over cocoa powder. But all the different hot chocolates have their positives.

Hot Cacao with Cinnamon, Coconut + Dates

This sounded super yummy and low in fat. Sometimes I don’t like how rich hot cocoa can be. Emily uses coconut to make the milk base, and uses ginger tea and cinnamon to add flavor. The end result tastes great, I love how you get a kind-of chocolate chai drink. But, I found that even with long blending, the coconut didn’t blend all the way. If I made this again, I would probably toss the coconut in while the tea was brewing.

Bottom Line: A little chunky, maybe pre-soak coconut

Luxurious Dairy Free Hot Cocoa

I love the idea of being able to make hot cocoa from scratch instead of using mixes. Most mixes have dairy in it so why not just make it from scratch? This recipe uses an actual chunk of chocolate, making the drink incredibly rich. And if that isn’t enough, she uses a little cocoa powder as a big double punch. The biggest downside? It makes more than just one serving. I probably have “two servings” and added the rest in a smoothie for my husband to make sure it didn’t go bad.

Bottom Line: Whoa so perfect- hope you have friends to share with

Vegan Nutella Hot Chocolate

I wanted to love this recipe so badly, I mean come on guise?! Nutella AND hot chocolate? Well, it was pretty good, but I think it could of improved. The drink was too bitter, and probably needed a little more sweetener. I probably would of also included some melted chocolate to the recipe, mostly because if the name is going to include nutella, I want it to be RICH!

Positives? The recipe is super easy to cut in half, if you don’t want to make four servings (let’s face it is more like two or three servings). The drink was really smooth, which I liked as well.

Bottom Line: Good, want it to be richer

Vegan Chai Hot Chocolate

This recipe is pretty simple, milk, chocolate, and chai mix. Luckily, it links to another part of the blog that gives a recipe for a homemade chai spice mix. The mix is okay, focusing mostly on ginger, which I though was weird since I smell more cardamom than ginger in chai teas. This is easily overlooked with the final product, I can barely taste the ginger! The recipe is alright, the chai spices give an interesting variation to hot chocolate, but I found myself adding more sweetener to my hot chocolate.

Bottom Line: Not bad, added some sweetness

Raw Maca Maple Hot Chocolate

I feel like I have a sneaking hunch that there might be a misprint in the recipe, because my drink didn’t look like hers and had too much of a chocolate taste. The drink was really bitter, and I found myself adding the max suggested maple syrup AND some liquid stevia. I think if I divided the chocolate in half, meaning 1/8th of a cup for two servings, instead of 1/4th, I would be much happier with this drink. The plus? It was easy to halve, and therefore making only one for me. It is easy to make whenever, just add ingredients and enjoy. I cheated and used store bought coconut milk that is in the refrigerator non-dairy milk section (instead of making a raw-homemade version).

Bottom Line: Too bitter, not enough maca & maple flavors

Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

This hot chocolate has an nice thick creamy body. It is so thick and creamy from the pumpkin puree, not from fats. The drink isn’t too bitter, but leaves too much open ended with how much to sweeten the drink. I like having defined measurements sometimes, if anything suggested amounts. The overall drink didn’t scream pumpkin or pumpkin spice. In fact, I probably would ditch the pumpkin spice, and just leave as is. The pumpkin got overwhelmed by the chocolate, and I am okay with that. As mentioned the pumpkin did much more for the body and texture of the drink.

Bottom Line: Thick creamy, and delicious


chickpeas

There aren’t many vegan’s who don’t love chickpeas. They are so versatile and they even have been growing in popularity in their flour form- besan. But this chickpea round-up is all about chickpeas in their cooked bean form. We tried to give lots of options here, pizza, curry, sandwich, salad, and even blondies!

This grouping I am happy to report yummy findings with very different flavor profiles! So I recommend reading all these reviews and pick at least one to cook at home. We got a wide range of styles so you can’t say there isn’t anything you would like.

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Curried Chickpea Salad

I made this recipe on a whim – I wanted to try something new in the kitchen and something that was easy and flexible. I tend to look at a recipe and will tailor it to my liking by either adding a vegetable or spice if I think it’ll improve upon itself. This recipe only really asked for chickpeas, carrots, onions and the home-made curry sauce, but I added craisins to balance out the savoriness and add a little bit of sweet to it and the result was delicious! And it was nice because I was able to make enough to last me throughout the week for meals at work. It’s a great light dish or summer dish to bring to barbeques as well, I would think.

Bottom Line: Good recipe, will make again, would recommend.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chickpea Cookie Bars

Funny thing is when I picked this recipe I had my doubts from the photos alone. The outside of the bar looks so nice and crunchy but the insides a little undercooked. My first instinct was to spread the batter out, but figured I would follow the recipe fairly strictly and kept with the loaf pan.

The dough was promising, in it’s raw state it was sweet and yummy with a little hint of chickpea. I poured the batter into the pan and baked for a full hour. The end result for the first day is alright. The outside was so crunchy compared to the inside that it was hard to cut into squares. But once the bars sat in a container for a day, they are a lot more paletable. I think I still might try and bake these in a larger more spread out pan next time.

Bottom Line: Not bad for a dessert chickpea bar.

Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpea + Quinoa Salad with Jalapeno Lime Dressing

I made this dish thinking about my lunches for the week. I figured it would make two lunches, and it would be great. Not really. The dish was alright, and I had two things cross my mind. One was that the dish would of tasted better when the chickpea and cauliflower came fresh out of the oven. Then my second thought was that the the dressing was lacking. So if I would do this differently I would make this as a main dinner dish, and double the dressing.

Bottom Line: Yummy, best eat right away, needs more dressing

Crowd Pleasing Vegan Caesar Salad

I made this dish a few times for family get togethers for this Christmas season. I can safely say it impressed everyone, vegans and omnivores alike. The dressing is creamy, garlicky, and salty. The crunchy chickpea croutons were different and added a unique twist to the dish. 

There are only one major “issue” which can be a plus (depending how you view it). The portions are HUGE! So much that I had a hard time tossing the greens in the dressing. This could be problematic if you are making this dish for yourself, but perfect when serving a large party.

But most/all aspects can be prepared a day before hand, so if you are bringing the salad to dinner you don’t have to sweat about cooking a dish while putting your hair up. I did have trouble storing the chickpeas, and they softened after a day. So if you are going to do something the day of, I would suggest roasting the chickpeas first thing that morning.

Bottom Line: Amazing, but large portions

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Buffalo Chickpea Ranch Pizza

This pizza can be easy to make, if you prep a few things in advance. For example I prepped the ranch dressing the morning of so I wouldn’t have to clean the blender again at night. Aside from that everything is easy to chop, coat, etc. The downside is the dough. I was not impressed by it. I got a tough and dense dough that I didn’t really like. And her recipe calls for pre-baking the dough creating too crunchy of a crust, and I found it broke in odd places.

BUT ignoring the crust, this dish was awesome. My husband had doubts as I spread such a small layer of sauce on the crust. But he was asking for more. I think this dish would probably find it’s way as a standard pizza in this household since it is so easy to make.

Bottom Line: Awesome, but I would use a different dough

Butternut Squash, Kale, and Chickpea Massaman Curry

This is a super easy dish to make, especially if you have the massaman curry already made. It takes about 30 minutes total and it is super filling. I jazzed the recipe up a little and served it over couscous instead of rice, but both would taste great. The only downside is that the dish largely relies on the curry paste of choice, so if you curry sucks, the dish will suck.

But the recipe given to make your own massaman curry at home was pretty good. I used that recipe to a t, with two exceptions, I didn’t add any shallots and I used pre-ground chili powder. The curry was awesome but sadly doesn’t freeze in solid cubes. Instead it is still soft in the freezer. Actually I am not sure if this is a bad or good thing.

Bottom Line: Quick to make.

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Learning to love the sweet potato has taken time for me. It was too sweet. The flavors too strong. I felt overwhelmed. Well, it is hard being vegan and not eating sweet potatoes. I can safely say that I am a converted fan. Especially since I get a BUNCH of sweet potatoes from my local CSA share. Since I had so many sweet potatoes, I’ve been busy in the kitchen.

sweetpotato

Vegan Quinoa and Sweet Potato Chili

Okay, so the easiest way to sum this up is that this dish is yummy, easy, and somewhat fast. (or rather little manual work). But the dish is a little bland, and can be easily altered according to personal tastes, adding some more hot sauce, more oil, more salt, whatever.

But actually reading the recipe is annoying. The directions are clear, but the ingredients are not listed as you use them, which is pretty standard practice. Then midway through the recipe switches from vegetable stock to chicken stock, therefore making it not vegetarian. Yes, anyone would be able to figure this out, but it is sloppy from the authors standpoint. 

Bottom Line: Yummy, easy, a little bland.

Lasagna Bachamel with Sweet Potato and Cauliflower

I had my doubts with this recipe. I never had luck with having raw vegetables cook in the oven in a casserole or having no bake lasagna cook all the way. Both happened. The sweet potato, cauliflower, and noodles cooked to perfection. The only issues I had was that if the noodles weren’t covered, they didn’t bake properly. So I would recommend making a smidgen more béchamel sauce just to cover your basis.

The dish was super easy to make, just make the sauce, then layer all the parts. Super simple. The end result is a super creamy and super dense lasagna, which got my husband’s seal of approval. Plus the dish is pretty open for changes. I added some daiya mozzarella on top and bread crumbs. I even doubled the sauce and made an extra large batch at once. I would make sure you have extra sweet potato and cauliflower since the dish is pretty open ended. I actually used one and two thirds of a sweet potato for a double batch, when the recipe would of used only one whole sweet potato.

Bottom Line: Super easy and open for changes, just time consuming for layering.

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cat

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know this post is a little late, but I’ve been busy in the kitchen and busy being sick. My allergies reared a new, ugly head that was both horrible and obnoxious. My eyes swelled up and became horribly itchy.  I started to wonder if I was getting pink eye. Wonderful timing as I had to prepare many sides for our Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws. Terrified of being contagious, I asked Jon cook most of the sides. 

I wanted to share my Thanksgiving, because it was probably the best Thanksgiving I had (well food wise). Every year I almost always break my veganism, because my choices ranged from veggies swimming in butter to veggies playing hide-n-seek between bacon bits and cheese. This year, my Mother-in-law cooked everything vegan with the exception of turkey, gravy, and one side. This gave me the freedom of choice.

before1

My Mother-in-law loves decorating a dinner table. I wish I could put forth such effort in my own home. When I read blog posts for “easy Thanksgiving centerpieces” I always wonder: who has space on their table for centerpieces? Then I think that maybe I could just sucker any future kids I may have into making the centerpiece so I don’t have to think about it. Crafts are fun right? Kids should love making a paper turkey. And no one is going to say how crappy it is, because no one wants to shatter kids’ dreams. Point is that I may have figured out a way to decorate my table without actually doing anything. Sadly though, my husband can’t cut paper in a straight line and is far too old for a poorly made hand turkey to be “endearing.” So instead, his Mom took care of the decorations and made her table stylish.

before2

Jon’s Brother and Sister-in-law drove up from Virginia with their massive black lab, Duke. Duke is the friendliest, most well behaved, and most docile of any labrador that I’ve met. He is also spoiled rotten as he gets home cooked meals ever since being diagnosed with a long list of allergies. I know lots of humans who don’t get daily home cooked meals. I hope this pup knows how lucky he is. He spent most of Thanksgiving day bouncing from person to person in search of attention or just a hug.

duke

As mentioned our spread this year was the best I experienced. There wasn’t a single dish I didn’t enjoy. So I will go food by food providing links (if they exist) to recipes. I hope this spread inspires your future holiday dinners.

stuffedonions

Has anyone heard of stuffed onions before? I hadn’t until this Thanksgiving. This was a recipe from my Mother-in-law’s friend, so there isn’t a link to share. She had to take off the outer shell of the onions, cook it, and stuff in a similar manner as stuffed cabbage. The onions were stuffed with tomatoes, breading, and feta cheese, but she left a few without the cheese for me.

carrotsandgravy

Every year simple boiled carrots make it to the dinner table. It is my Father-in-law’s favorite and is pictured above in the covered dish. Next to it is a turkey-based gravy. I made a mushroom miso gravy for myself, but it didn’t look as nice as it tasted.

cranberrysauce

I am actually not a fan of Cranberry sauce. Is that a little odd? I usually find it too sweet, and may be better as a garnish instead of a side. However, this year’s cranberry sauce seemed to be an exception. The secret?  It was cooked with port wine. This gave the sauce a robust and complex flavor. Although I am not sure if it is the same recipe, Cookin’ Canuck has a port wine cranberry sauce that looks pretty good.

stuffing

I have no idea what was in this stuffing. I am not fully even sure what the point of stuffing is. Sure it was bread put into a turkey, but now there are so many recipes that don’t involve the stuffing to be stuffed into something. This is one of them. I can say it tasted amazing with my mushroom miso gravy. It was so good, I am actually thinking about eating some of those leftovers right now.

brusselsprouts

Unfortunately the photos of the actual brussel sprouts didn’t turn out well enough for the blog. They were all blurry. But this was a really tasty dish. They were shredded brussel sprouts that were sautéed with a small amount of apples and apple cider vinegar to give it a little tang.

lentilballs

I made these lentil balls with only one person in mind- me. But it seemed that other people enjoyed the dish, and I was asked to leave some behind for others to take home as leftovers. It is definitely a dish I would make again, but the beauty is that they freeze well. So make it ahead of time, freeze it, and bring it out any day of the week for a meal. The recipe is over at Oh She Glows.

greenbeans

These green beans already made an appearance on the blog, and it didn’t have burn onions on top. I made some last minute changes (like I thought burn onions would be more crispy, right?) by adding some cashews to the mushroom like gravy. I had soaked some cashews with the intention of making “rad whip” but ran out of time. I figured it could only enhance the green beans so I blended them in. It created a very rich and creamy sauce.

sweetpotato

On my green beans post I mentioned how I hated green bean casserole so much, I felt like there had to be a better version out there. The same thing can be said about sweet potato casserole. So many times I had tried making a sweet potato casserole and just found it to be too sweet. So when a recipe was posted on Oh She Glows for a Sweet Potato Casserole, I knew I would give it a try. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll try a different recipe in the future. It made a crispy granola like topping that was perfect to go on top of a lightly sweetened sweet potato.

pecan pumpkin

Then comes dessert. I can safely say that my husband pretty much made the entire pecan pie. I blended a few ingredients together, but nothing else outside of that. We used The Post Punk Kitchen’s Maple Pecan Pie, which is tasty. But I joked it was pretty much a shoo-fly-pie with some pecans in it. There was also a very not vegan pumpkin pie. It is just what my Father-in-law makes every year. He also praises his crust every year, or any time he makes it. 

What was the highlight of your Thanksgiving?


One of the first few blogs I started to visit frequently as an adult was Oh She Glows, written by Angela Liddon. It seemed I kept finding my way back to her blog whenever I googled recipes. I found her recipes reliable and delicious at a time when most blogs had me questioning whether or not the authors even attempt to make the recipes about which they write. When I scrolled upon a post by Angela in which she mentioned she had a book in the works, I became both excited and skeptical. Many bloggers have been published but yield disappointing cookbooks. But of course, I knew I had to get her book. I’ve read The Oh She Glows Cookbook front to back and tried some recipes. I’m ready to share the results!ohsheglows01Shop on Amazon

Note: All photos are from the cookbook or the Oh She Glows website.

Photos

The bonus of some blog cookbooks is that they are filled with lots of beautiful photos. Each main recipe is accompanied by a photograph. There really aren’t any photos for “how-to” instructions for things like beans, banana ice cream, flours, etc. And that is fine. I don’t think we need a photo of a food processor filled with almonds. 

I also liked how her pictures were realistic. Unlike the wax and clay food photography you often find in the professional world, Angela’s food photography looked like I could have made it myself. Granted, my freezer pizza didn’t look nearly as nice as the photo, but that is partially because I didn’t care enough to drizzle the chocolate. Nor did Angela try and bore us with individual photos of each smoothie. She grouped some together and found interesting ways to shoot the teas.

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My goal is to be more adventurous with trying out blog recipes. I know too many people who inundate their Pinterest pages with food recipes, but never actually try any of them. More disturbing is how many beautiful food photos result in blah recipes. I wish that Pinterest would include a “rate that recipe” button, but until that day, I can write reviews.

glutensoydairypeanutfree

First round of reviews goes to the Everything-Free category. Sort of. As mentioned in a previous post, my husband and I have been on an elimination diet that forced us to cut a LOT of foods from our diet. The first two weeks we eliminated gluten, soy, dairy, and peanut from our meals. It’s been a bit of a struggle, especially since I didn’t know which recipes to substitute in to our new diets. But thanks to the invention of tags, I’ve been able to peruse various blogs for help. Of course not everything was a winner.

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