Vegan Lettuce Wraps

Not sure what to make with all the veggies in you fridge? Well, lettuce wraps it is then! The best part about this super easy dish is you can use anything! These particular lettuce wraps I used cellophane noodles, baby corn, cabbage salad, broccoli sprouts, cashew halves, mango and a carrot tahini salad I threw together.

Carrot Tahini Salad

3 to 4 carrots, peeled (I like to make extra)

1 T tahini 

1 t sesame seeds

1 t garlic powder

1 t parsley

Scallions, thinly diced

1 to 1.5 t toasted sesame oil

Salt and pepper, to taste 

Place everything in a bowl and mix together. You can use the same ingredients and replace the carrots with cucumber instead. 

Cabbage Salad

1 package broccoli slaw mix

1 T sesame oil

3 T peanut sauce or teriyaki sauce 

Scallions

Nothing to this one. Throw it all in a bowl and mix!

Cellophane Noodles

1 package cellophane noodles

1/2 onion, diced

1 t oil

3 to 4 T soy sauce 

1 t garlic powder

1.4 t ginger

Salt and pepper, to taste

Boil water in medium pot. Turn off Burner and add noddles. Let them soak for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. In large skillet, add oil. Sauté onions until tender and add noddles. Mix in spices and soy sauce. Continue to mix while burner is on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. When cooled, add to lettuce as base for you wraps. 

Just Lovely

I put a new side table in our bathroom and decided to use it for my girly things. This tray belonged to my great aunt and the crystal candy dish belonged to my grandma. Just adding a little feminine touch made me feel so good. 

This may not be a vegan recipe, but I wanted to share it none the less. 

Chickpea Salad

When I was meat eater, one of my favorite sandwiches was tuna with lemon pepper and pickles. Surprisingly, chickpeas with veganase tastes pretty similar to having a tuna fish sandwich. Even if tuna was never your thing, this is awesome! No, it does not taste like fish. But when you add the spices and mayo and put it on bread, it has a flavor that reminds me of tuna.

Chickpea Salad

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 

1 heaping T of veganase (I like no soy Earth Bound)

2 to 3 T pickle relish 

Lemon pepper, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 t whole grain mustard

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large tomato, diced 

Empty beans into large bowl and mash with potato masher. I like the salad to be a little chunky so the above photo is the end result.

Next, add all of the ingredients and mix! That's it. It's quick and easy to throw together. It tastes great eaten right away or after refrigerated. 

Hope you like it! 

Vegan Carob Chip Cookies

Yes, I know. They are as delicious as they look. After hours, days, weeks, months even, of searching the internet and scrolling through cook books, I have finally put together the best cookie I've ever had. Besides being vegan, it's truly an amazing cookie. So, here's how it's done and I hope y'all enjoy!

Carob Chip Cookie

2 C unbleached baking powder

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

Cinnamon, to taste

1 C carob chips

1 C raw sugar

1/2 C Earth Bound

1 t vanilla

1/4 C water 

Set oven at 350'. In large bowl, mix flour baking powder, salt, cinnamon and chips together then set aside.

 In small bowl, add sugar and Earth Bound and mix together with a fork. When completely mixed, stir in vanilla and water. 

Combine wet with dry ingredients and mix together. At this point I usually mix with my hand. Place a sheet of parchment on a baking sheet. Use a melon scoop or a spoon to scoop about 1 in pieces of dough onto parchment. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. I've found that baking at 8 leaves cookie with a better chewy consistency. 

Seitan Gyros

Nothing like Greek food! Hummus, pita, gyros... Yum! Here's my easy take on vegan gyros that's quick and delicious.

Seitan Gyros

1 package seitan, sliced into long, thin pieces

2 T dill weed

2 T oregano

Olive oil

Tomatoes, diced

1 small red onion, sliced into long, thin pieces

1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced 

Whole wheat pita

Salt and pepper, to taste

Hummus of your choice

Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to your skillet. When heated, sauté your onion until tender. Add in seitan and cook until light golden brown. I prefer the texture when it's more cooked. When you have desired texture, add all of your spices. The burner should be on low at this point. Mix the seitan until completely coated. 

Heat pita for a couple seconds on each side and then add your fixins. You can even add some raw onion if you're like me and put extra onion in everything! I've tried several flavors of hummus also. My favorite is a caramelized onion that I found at Mrs. Greenes and a garlic hummus that you can find pretty much anywhere. 

Hope y'all enjoy! 

Whole Wheat Tortillas

4 C flour (2 whole wheat, 2 all purpose unbleached, opt)

1 t salt

1.5 t baking powder

1/4 C veggie oil

Water, small increments 

Mix dry then add wet and knead until light and fluffy adding water to get a soft consistency and flour doesn't stick to side of bowl. Lightly flour flat surface and roll out palm size balls until you get a flat circle the width of your hand. You can made them as big or small as you'd like. 

Place tortilla on a heated flat skillet, like a pancake skillet. You'll notice the tortilla will start to bubble slightly after a few seconds. Flip and watch for a couple seconds. 

Asparagus Risotto

This week I'm using up what I have in the pantry and the fridge. The only thing I bought at the store: vegetables and fruit. I try to keep things on hand like stock, spices, oils, canned beans, frozen veggies and various other condiments. So, I figure since I'm getting low on these items it's time to use them up and then go buy more because my favorite thing to to is grocery shop. I have a terrible addiction to the grocery store! I love it more than clothes shopping, and I LOVE to shop for clothes.

Anyway, I've never made risotto before. My husband has always done it (I'll put his recipe up sometime soon) but last night was night two of using what I had and I gave risotto a shot.  

Asparagus Risotto 

Olive oil
2 heaping teaspoons tahini
1 t smoke paprika
1/2 t pepper
1 T oregano
1 T thyme
1 T garlic powder
1/4 C nutritional yeast
1/2 box vegetable stock
1/2 t smoke flavor
1 T apple cider vinegar
3-5 C water
salt, to taste
asparagus
red onion, chopped
1 box risotto of choice


Start out by sauteing the onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook until tender then add the risotto and toast until golden brown.

Once the risotto is toasted, it's time to add the stock and all the spices. The salt was added to taste. I probably used about 1 tablespoon. Let the stock boil then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. About 10 minutes in mix the risotto with a cup or two of water. The mixture will have started to stick to the bottom of the pot but once the water is added it'll loosen up. Cover again and let it finish simmering on low.

After the 20 minutes are up, you'll need to add more water to get the risotto stuck on the bottom up. The water also starts to become the base for the creaminess. Now add the tahini, nutritional yeast, smoke flavor and vinegar. After mixing, cover once more and keep on low for another 5 to 10 minutes. 

Make sure to keep tasting so you know if you need to add any more salt or various spices. You're also checking the texture to make sure it's fully cooked. You can add more water at this point to get the creaminess to your liking.