Vegan Quesadillas
I’m not sure if these actually qualify as a quesadilla since I didn’t use any cheese, vegan or otherwise, but I don’t know a better term. So we’ll go with it. I used sprouted grain tortillas that were on the smaller side (7/8 inches in diameter) so if you’re using bigger ones you might want to increase the amount of filling you put into each one. As the recipe currently is, it provided a total of four quesadillas. Take a look!
Black Bean Tacos
I love tacos. Especially hard shell tacos. I can’t tell you how happy they make me. For awhile, we had tacos probably once a week – usually on Tuesday. Because of this, I streamlined my prep process a bit by buying one of the taco dinner packets. It’s not my proudest moment, because I typically like to make most things from scratch, but I got lazy. Anyway, these packs include hard shell tacos, taco seasoning, and a taco sauce. Usually, the filling always included chicken or ground turkey. However, the other day I decided to try black beans!
I started off the same way I always do, I just replaced meat with beans. Read more here.
Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers
On Sunday, I found myself really craving a hamburger, but I’d been bad the previous day (we went to a beer garden), so I wanted something that a little better for me than beef. With this in mind, I started looking online for black bean burger recipes.
Naturally, I found one on Food52 and didn’t follow it exactly. They ended up being quite flavorful and had nice texture. I didn’t make the yogurt sauce that’s included in the recipe, due to my dairy allergy, but I imagine it would be really good. Read more.
Pumpkin Curry with Chicken and Cauliflower
I had plans with some coworkers a month of two ago to make brunch at one of their houses. I promised to bring this pumpkin pecan pancake mix that I’d seen on the Williams-Sonoma website. While picking that up, I saw a pumpkin curry curry sauce that I found intriguing. They happened to be having a 20% sale for all of their fall flavors, so I bought it.
When I opened it, I was worried that it would be a bit sweet based off of the smell, but the sauce ended up having a really nice heat to it. The recipes that’s provided on the back really only called for chicken, but I didn’t follow that (whhaaaat?). Below’s what I did. I don’t have a picture for this one, so you’ll have to use your imagination. Read more.
Chard, Kale and Mushroom Turnovers
I found a recipe on Cooking Light the other day that sounded so delicious I just had to try it. Enter in spinach and kale turnovers turned chard, kale, and mushroom turnovers. Yum! I didn’t follow the recipe exactly because I didn’t have all of the ingredients listed and was too lazy to go to the grocery store and because I didn’t want to use cheese.
I have to admit, when I saw nutmeg on the original recipe I was a bit skeptical. I didn’t have any, so I used some cinnamon instead and highly recommend using either. The cinnamon brought a nice flavor out of the greens. Read more.
Kale and Roasted Vegetable Salad
A coworker gave me a great idea for a winter salad that I’d never considered before. For about a week, she created a salad with a dark green and then topped it with roasted winter vegetables. How wonderful does that sound?
So naturally I had to do it. I didn’t measure anything when doing this, but here’s my rough estimate of for the salad in the picture below. Read more.
Orecchiette Pasta with Vegetables
I read an article recently that pasta is better for you once reheated. I don’t completely understand the science behind it, but that’s alright! With this in mind, I made some pasta the other morning that I liked a lot. It turns out to be a little of a weird color since I use beets, but that’s alright!
I boiled some beets the other day and kept the water to use on another occasion – this is what I cooked the pasta in. I also added two bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of dried parsley and ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper. I wasn’t sure how this would work, but it ended up giving the pasta a nice flavor on its own.
After the pasta was cooked, I also cooked some other vegetables to add later. Read more.
Kale Salads for Lunch!
I’m sure by now you’ve realized that I use a lot of kale. This is for two reasons, 1. it’s very affordable and lasts awhile and 2. I find the heartiness of kale to be quite filling. Usually, when I cook I try to make enough food for lunch the next day, but that doesn’t always work out. That leaves me with either the option to throw something together, or buy something while I’m at work. I don’t usually like to eat out at work because the food around my office isn’t worth the money you have to pay for it. So, I usually end up with some variation of a kale salad. Read more.
Tomato Soup and Leftovers
I have a hard time with leftovers. I’ll admit it. I think it’s a combination of not liking to eat the same thing a couple of times (I know, I’m incredibly spoiled and fortunate) and really disliking the taste and texture of re-heated meat. On top of that, I hate wasting food, so I try to get creative when it comes to eating leftovers from the night before. The day after I made the recipe below (Quinoa, Chicken and Kale (or Spinach)), I decided that I didn’t want the same thing again, but had to figure out how to change it.
Since we’re preparing to move, I’m also trying to use all of the pantry items that we have so that they won’t go to waste, either. Luckily, I found a can of condensed tomato soup. Usually, I try not to buy canned soup to eat by itself because of the salt content, but it would work wonderfully for what I had in mind. Read more.
Chicken, Quinoa and Spinach (or Kale)
A couple of days ago, I was craving my mom’s chicken and rice. I live a number of hours away from her, so I had to make due with someone in my kitchen. When I got home – I found that I had a can of cream of mushroom soup. Hooray! This is one of the most important ingredients (I already knew that I had chicken). Sadly, I noticed that I didn’t have any rice (how does that happen?), but I did have quinoa! So, here’s what I came up with. Read more.
Whole Roasted Cauliflower
With Thanksgiving coming up, I’ve seen a lot of interesting options come up for vegetarians. I thought I would try some out in preparation, and out of curiosity. One of the ones I tried was Food52’s (I love that place) recipe for a whole roasted cauliflower. I thought it sounded unique and frankly, the picture on the website is beautiful. Mine didn’t turn out as well because I forgot to turn the pan, so don’t forget!
As per usual, I didn’t follow this recipe exactly as I thought I needed a little more vegetables. So I added carrots and onion. I also didn’t make the goat cheese spread since I have a strange relationship with cheese, though I bet it would be incredible. Read more.
French Onion Soup
When I’m sick, I’m pretty pathetic. So the other day when I had a cold, I really wanted soup, but didn’t want to put the effort in to anything too difficult. It may come as a surprise to you then to hear that I made French onion soup to make me feel better. Read more.
Green Juice!
I have to admit, I’m fascinated with the juice craze that’s happening. I’ve had a number of them, but have never made one before (mainly because I don’t have a juicer). I decided that it was time and started with this recipe. Read more.
Pasta with Salami, Peas, and Spinach
I thought I’d start with one of my favorite recipes – one that I’ve made on a pretty regular basis for over a year now. It originated form Food52’s Orecchiette with Crispy Salami, Peas + Dandelion Greens recipe. It’s been adapted based off of practical reasons. First, while I would love to be the kind of person who uses dandelion greens are on a regular basis, I’m not even sure where I could find them, so that became spinach. Second, I use whatever small pasta I have at the time. In this particular case, I didn’t have any so I used fettuccinie. Orecchiette is preferred (by me at least) because the peas fit perfectly into the little dip. Read more.
Vegan Chili
In winter, I always love to have chili (especially my husband’s), but every time I eat it, I always walk away feeling heavy (it could be because of all of the crackers that I eat with it). So, this fall I thought I’d try a vegan chili with the thought that it would be lighter without the meat. I based my chili off of Food 52’s Tempeh Chili. I adapted it a good deal, so feel free to try both! Read more.
one-quarter vegan 