Category: Vegan MoFo

Vegan MoFo

PEAR AND SWEET POTATO SALAD

myhealthychef

veganMoFo2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! I can’t believe this month is almost over and it’s officially fall now! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is What-a-Salad Wednesday and instead of a green leafy salad or another raw recipe I thought I would treat you guys to a cooked recipe! I found my inspiration from a really old post from Daily Garnish and decided to change it up a little.

Daily Garnish is one of my absolute favorite blogs to read. When I first discovered her blog I went back and read ALL of her posts from starting 2010 to the present. It took me a long time but it was so awesome to watch her grow as a person, a cook, and eventually a mother over the years. Her blog is actually what inspired me to start my own. She posts a lot less now than she used to but I still love to read all about her life and what she’s cooking (she currently has her second bun in the oven – another boy!). My favorites (besides her awesome recipes) were reading all about her first pregnancy, her son’s birth story, and her first few months as a new mom. I have baby fever like crazy so I’ve actually read all of those posts twice.  :)

Alright, let’s get to the recipe.

PEAR AND SWEET POTATO SALAD (vegan)

Pear and Sweet Potato Salad – 530 calories

  • 1 sweet potato, chopped but not peeled
  • 1 small pear, chopped but not peeled
  • 3 tbsp dried cranberries, chopped
  • 1 stalk of celery, diced
  • 3 tbsp mayonnaise (I used Spectrum Light Vegan Mayonnaise)

1. Chop your sweet potato and steam until tender. I always steam potatoes rather than boiling them because it’s faster.

Ingredients for PEAR AND SWEET POTATO SALAD (vegan)

2. While your sweet potatoes are steaming prepare/chop all your other ingredients. I know it may seem silly to chop the dried cranberries since they’re already pretty small, but this allows you to get more cranberries per bite without actually using more cranberries. Dried fruit is really high in calories so this is one way to make a little bit go a long way.

3. Once the potatoes are soft enough to easily pierce with a fork but not so soft they’re falling apart, discard the steaming water and mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

PEAR AND SWEET POTATO SALAD (vegan)

I only used half of a pear when I made this last night but I wish I had used the whole thing so that’s what I included in the ingredients list. I would say this recipe makes 2-3 side-dish sized servings, depending on who’s eating.

PEAR AND SWEET POTATO SALAD (vegan)

I had a few bites of this warm last night and it was delicious, but I’m really looking forward to having it tonight cold. I think the flavors will have really melded together and be completely awesome.

Heads up, tomorrow I am not posting a regular Thirsty Thursday post for Vegan Mofo. Instead I’ll (finally) be posting my race recap from our triathlon! I’m running out of time before we go to Hawaii and since I didn’t really have anything planned beverage-wise that post is just getting the boot.

Speaking of Vegan Mofo, Joni Marie over at Just the Food has been doing a month of giveaways in celebration of Vegan MoFo and I was the winner of the Whole Foods gift card! Head over there and check out the other giveaways that are still available for you to enter. Also, Vegan MoFo is giving away a bunch of cool vegan stuff, including the cookbook Betty Goes Vegan, which I actually received as a wedding present and I love, so head over there too and sign up to win that stuff too!

In case you missed my post earlier this morning, I have decided to start my own DietBet game that will begin when I get back from Hawaii (October 7). If you’re interested in joining my game and getting paid to lose weight, click here and sign up! I loved the experience of trying to lose weight with a group of people and I’m excited to do it again. It was really motivating, partly because I’d shared my commitment with so many other people and partly because I had $30 on the line. I ended up winning $43.03 in the end so it was totally worth it!

Vegan MoFo

SPROUTED SUN DRIED TOMATO HUMMUS

myhealthychef

Today is Tuesday? Let me tell you, this week already feels long and jumbled and apparently we’re only two days into it. I’m so excited and ready for our trip to Hawaii this weekend that I don’t really care about much else at this point. I almost didn’t write a post for y’all today but I couldn’t bear not to!

veganMoFo2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is Tomato Tuesday and I’ve got a yummy hummus recipe for you guys! Hummus is something that I LOVE and I’m so happy that I don’t have to give it up just because I’m eating predominantly raw foods.

I posted a recipe for classic sprouted hummus months ago, and I really like that recipe, but I wanted to do something a little different this time. I really encourage you to check out the other recipe, especially because that post takes you through the steps on how to sprout the chickpeas and get them ready for the hummus making.

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Sprouted Sun Dried Tomato Hummus – 665 calories

*remember, those 665 calories are for the WHOLE recipe, not per serving. This is right on par with store-bought hummus, only healthier! :)

  • 1/2 cup uncooked dried chickpeas
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (not the kind packed in oil)
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • a handful of grape or cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tsp fresh rosemary
  • 1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves
  • juice from 1/2 a lemon (not pictured)
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt (more if you’d like)

1. Get your chickpeas ready for sprouting. Read my original sprouted hummus recipe for the instructions (they’re really easy!).

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2. Once your chickpeas are ready and look like these (will take about 1.5-2 days) get the rest of your ingredients ready! Start by soaking your sun dried tomatoes in 1/4 cup hot water and let them soak for about 20 minutes.

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The first few times I made sprouted hummus I used my food processor, just like I do with regular homemade hummus. This time I decided to use my Vitamix to see if I could get it to have the same creamy texture as regular hummus. Success!

3. Add all the ingredients to your high-speed blender or food processor, including the soaking water from the sun dried tomatoes, and process until smooth. The longer you let those blades whiz and whir the creamier your hummus will be so let it run for about 5-8 minutes for a food processor and 2-3 minutes for a high-speed blender.

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I was really impressed with how well this recipe turned out, especially since I was racing around trying to get it made before Ross got home from work so we could go out to dinner together.

Once he got home he still had to shower, so it turned out I didn’t need to be rushing like I thought. So, I decided to make myself a little appetizer before dinner.

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I stuffed a couple of little tomatoes with my sun dried tomato hummus and snacked on them while I wanted. Perfect for Tomato Tuesday, right? I thought so :)

Once Ross was showered and ready we headed out to The Dojo for some dinner. They had a full vegan menu there with 24 items for me to choose from. I was in heaven, but also a little overwhelmed!

I tried to get some pictures of what we ordered but it was waaaaay too dark in the restaurant. This place was served Japanese tapas so we got several things to share. (click the menu to enlarge it)

dojo

First we started off with Kinpira Gobo (marinated burdock root and carrot) which was incredible, and the Sunomono (cucumber, seaweed, rice vinegar). Next we enjoyed the Tofu Caprese (tofu, tomato, avocado, basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar) and the Homemade Veggie Gyoza (tofu, cabbage, taro, bamboo shoots, and green onion). The Gyoza was my least favorite thing. They looked like little pot stickers and were filled with what you’d expect an egg roll to be filled with, served with plain soy sauce for dipping. Not bad, just not impressive.

For our main part of the meal Ross ordered some crispy basil chicken off the non-vegan menu and I got the Vegan Miso Ramen (bean sprouts, nori, fried tofu, scallions, and corn) which was incredible! First they brought me out a non-vegan version which has half of a hard boiled egg and pork in it, but once I got the correct dish I really enjoyed it.

I’m not sure which I liked more, the kinpira gobo or the ramen. One thing is for sure, Ross and I will definitely be going back there so I can try more things off their vegan menu!

If you have not already unsubscribed from this blog and subscribed to my new one, please do that now — here is the new blog site: http://myhealthychef.net/blog/. I will not be posting to this site at all after Vegan MoFo is over. You will still be able to come here to access all my old posts and if you’ve saved emails posts from the past those links will still be good, but all my new content will be posted over at the new blog. All my old posts have been moved over there already so it’s fully functioning and ready for you to join!

Vegan MoFo

RAW VEGAN MAC N CHEESE (three ways)

myhealthychef

 

If you have not already unsubscribed from this blog and subscribed to my new one, please do that now — here is the new blog site: http://myhealthychef.net/blog/. I will not be posting to this site at all after Vegan MoFo is over. You will still be able to come here to access all my old posts and if you’ve saved emails posts from the past those links will still be good, but all my new content will be posted over at the new blog. All my old posts have been moved over there already so it’s fully functioning and ready for you to join!veganMoFo2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is Mac n Cheese Monday and I have a recipe for you! I’ve made this raw mac n cheese twice so far and really loved it both times! Yesterday I made it for some friends so I could get their input on the recipe and luckily they loved it too.

I made three types of noodles for us to try (all raw) and we devoured all of it.

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I used my spiralizer to make (almost) all of these noodles. Front and center we have spiralized butternut squash. I bought a super small butternut squash and only used the top part, so it was about the size of a medium sweet potato. Unlike the sweet potato and zucchini, you do have to peel the butternut squash before using it.

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At the top right we have one spiralized sweet potato, which I’ve had many times before and love. The butternut squash is similar to she sweet potato but a little softer.

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At the top left we have a mixture of spiralzed zucchini and some kelp noodles. I made the kelp noodles earlier in the week with an asian-style sauce and I loved them, so I thought I’d give them a try with the mac n cheese too.

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They’re made from just seaweed and they’re kind of a soft-crunchy and a little salty. They don’t taste fishy or oceany though. They’re also REALLY low in calories – as in the entire 12 ounce bag is only 18 calories. That’s crazy! We probably only used about 4 ounces of kelp noodles with 1/2 of a large zucchini.

Now, for the sauce recipe!

Raw Mac n Cheese Sauce – 395 calories

  • 1/2 a large zucchini
  • 1/8 cup (2 tbsp) raw cashews
  • 1/3 cup carrot juice (or water, I use carrot juice for coloring and nutritional value)
  • 2 tsp miso paste
  • 2 tsp mustard (I used Dijon)
  • 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder (yes, both fresh and powdered)
  • 1/4 tsp truffle oil (optional but definitely worth it)
  • optional: 1/2 tsp tumeric. This is mostly for coloring, but I wonder if the carrot juice would give it enough color without the tumeric? I’ll try that next time.

I highly recommend using a high speed blender if you have one so that you can let the sauce become a little warm while blending. A food processor would work just fine though. Just add all the ingredients and blend until smooth!

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I posted this picture to facebook yesterday and a friend commented, “So, this is one of those recipes that tastes a lot better than it looks?”

I laughed when I read it. I guess this doesn’t look that appealing, but I promise you the sauce is delicious! Of course it doesn’t taste just like your traditional mac n cheese. The texture is definite different because I’m using raw vegetables for noodles instead of real pasta, but the sauce does taste like good vegan mac n cheese sauce.

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Now that I’m looking at the pictures the sauce definitely looks like it’s just a lot of mustard on top of the noodles. Still, this is delicious. Hannah and I agreed that the sweet potato pasta was definitely our favorite. We really like the flavor it has and the little bit of crunch to it. It’s not a weird crunchy, but a good firmness.

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The kelp noodles were my least favorite but my friend Bre said that those were her favorite. I have had this sauce with just zucchini noodles before and liked it, and I’ve had the kelp noodles with a different sauce and liked them, but I just didn’t care for this combo together. But, like I said, this was Bre’s favorite of the three, so to each her own.

I doubled the recipe when I made it yesterday to make sure we had enough for all three types of noodles but the recipes as listed above should be enough for about two zucchinis or two small sweet potatoes.

A little update on my Food and Fitness journal…

I told you all on Friday that I want to start posting a Food and Fitness Diary entry on Mondays and Fridays but I’m not sure if I’m going to have time to post them this week. I still have to do the race recap post for y’all, plus all my Vegan MoFo posts for the week, and we’re leaving for Hawaii on Saturday so I’ve got a pretty busy week ahead of me.

I do want to tell y’all that I ran 15 miles this weekend! The weather here in Austin was perfect on Saturday – 66 degrees and sunny when I left for my run and only 71 when when I got home.

My marathon training plan wanted me to run all 15 miles at a pace of 11:08 per mile, which is a lot faster than I’ve been doing my long runs lately so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it or how I’d feel afterwards.

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Look at that – 11:06 per mile! I was so proud of myself! Two weeks ago my long run was 13 miles and I ran that at an average of about 13:00 minutes per mile, so it actually took me longer to run 13 miles than it did to run 15. Ha!

Also, do you see that I burned more than 1,500 calories before 11:00 am? I had 2 bananas before I left for my run and ate about 20 dates throughout the run (plus water with Nuun), but that was still only like 600 calories of food.

I did eat cooked food this weekend and I LOVED IT, but I also felt heavy at the end of the weekend and I don’t when I’m only eating raw fruits and veggies. So there’s that.

I will be back with regular Food and Fitness diary posts when I return from Hawaii  :)

Vegan MoFo

VEGAN CAESAR SALAD DRESSING

myhealthychef

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is What-a-Salad Wednesday and I’m here with a vegan Caesar salad dressing recipe! My BFF Hannah made a Caesar dressing last week that was good but she’s wasn’t really impressed with so I set out to try and make my own version.

vegan Caesar salad dressing

Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing – 300 calories

  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 2 tbsp + 1 tsp tahini
  • 1/2 a zucchini
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1-2 tsp whole grain mustard
  • 1 tsp capers
  • 1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce (the non-vegan kind is made with anchovies)
  • juice from 1/2 a lemon

Add all ingredients to a blender and give it a go! I would start with 1 tsp of mustard first and see how you like it and add the other if you want to. Add salt and pepper as desired.

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I know that typical Caesar salads don’t have carrots on them, but I never claimed for this to be a salad recipe, just a dressing recipe. My kitchen scale is out of batteries right now so I’m not really sure how many greens are here, but I aimed for 10 ounces of romaine and spring mix, plus two shredded carrots and the entire dressing recipe.

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I thought this dressing was delicious and I didn’t even struggle to finish this giant salad. If you make it please tell me what you think, if you think it’s missing something — besides giant delicious croutons!

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Side note for you guys: I am incredibly excited that winter is on it’s way (even though fall hasn’t even hit here in Austin yet) EXCEPT that it’s getting darker earlier and earlier and I’m having to race against the daylight to get my dinners cooked and some pictures taken. My poor cat didn’t get her dinner last night until I had this salad made and photographed since it was already cloudy out and starting to get dark when I got home from the gym. She was not very understanding.

 

Vegan MoFo

TOMATO TUESDAY: RAW VEGAN CHILI

myhealthychef

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

I’ve had today’s Tomato Tuesday recipe picked out and ready to post for a while now. I made this last week for dinner and fell. in. love.

I made a different raw vegan chili recipe a few weeks ago and I didn’t have some of the ingredients I thought I had so I just tried to wing it. It tasted good but it wasn’t super great so I decided to try again.

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Remember to unsubscribe from this blog site and subscribe to my new one if you have not already. Here is the new blog site:
http://myhealthychef.net/blog/.
I will not be posting to this site at all after Vegan MoFo is over. You will still be able to come here to access all my old posts and if you’ve saved emails from posts from the past, those links will still be good but all my new content will be posted over at the new blog. My old posts have been moved over there already so it’s fully functioning and ready for you to join!

The second one, in my opinion, is AWESOME and it uses three different kind of tomatoes, though you could get away with just two if you wanted.

Raw Vegan Chili – 215 calories

  • 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes(do NOT use the kind packed in oil, get the kind that come in a bag)
  • 1 date
  • 1/4 cup hot water
  • 1/2 a red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 large carrot, chopped
  • 1 small tomato, chopped
  • 7 green onions, tops only, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp dried oregano (I used 1 tbsp fresh from my garden porch)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 3-5 white mushrooms, diced
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, diced (I used yellow cherry tomatoes)
  • more green onion for garnish (optional)

1. First, get your sun dried tomatoes and your date soaking in the hot water.

2. Chop your mushrooms and grape tomatoes and put them in a bowl and set aside.

3. Add everything else to your food processor and pulse many, many times until everything is chopped teeny tiny. Use a little of the water from soaking the tomatoes and date if you need to.

4. Add the mixture from the food processor to your bowl of tomatoes and mushrooms. Stir well and top with more green onion. Enjoy!

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Once this was done I tasted it and I was really blown away by how much it tasted like real chili! I just stood there eating it for a few minutes before I remembered that I had more plans for the chili.

I wanted to STUFF MUSHROOMS!

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Chili Stuffed Mushrooms

  • 12 white mushrooms
  • 2 tbsp liquid smoke
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • chili recipe from above

1. Break off the stems of the mushrooms and use a small spoon to scoop out the innards of the mushrooms.

2. Add the mushrooms to a large Ziplock bag with the liquid ingredients. Seal the bag and shake it up. Let the mushrooms sit, shaking occasionally, for about 20 minutes. Ideally, you’ll get your mushrooms ready and marinating while you make the chili so that it’s all done around the same time.

3. Remove the mushrooms from the bag and lightly pat the outsides dry.

4. Stuff them with the chili, top with more green onions, and enjoy!

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I found these best to be eaten with a knife and fork. I tried the whole finger food thing for the first couple of mushrooms but they’re really juicy from the marinade and I just made a huge mess.

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Vegan MoFo

MAC N CHEESE ROUND UP

myhealthychef

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

If you have not already unsubscribed from this blog and subscribed to my new one, please do that now — here is the new blog site: http://myhealthychef.net/blog/. I will not be posting to this site at all after Vegan MoFo is over. You will still be able to come here to access all my old posts and if you’ve saved emails posts from the past those links will still be good, but all my new content will be posted over at the new blog. All my old posts have been moved over there already so it’s fully functioning and ready for you to join!

Today is Mac n Cheese Monday and I knew from the beginning of this month that I wasn’t going to be able to have an original recipe for you guys today. Ross and I were out of town this weekend participating in a relay triathlon with our friend Lynn (she swims, he rides, I run) so there was no time for me to write up a post with my own recipes for you guys.

Our relay team came in FIRST PLACE so it’s totally worth it to me that I don’t have an original recipe to post!

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At 11:30 this morning a friend texted me to tell me she’d already checked my blog twice for a race recap post and a final DietBet update post. The race recap will come a little later in the week once I get all the pictures from Lynn and the DietBet update will come once I’ve submitted my final weigh-in, so probably tomorrow.

I created and tested a recipe for a raw mac n cheese last week that I want to share with you so hopefully I’ll have that perfected with a couple of pictures before next Monday. The Monday after that (Sept. 30th) Ross and I will be in HAWAII so you may or may not get a post that day. We’ll see.

Today I’m here with some awesome vegan mac n cheese recipe links to share with you guys! Last week I shared my favorite ever vegan mac n cheese recipe, so if you haven’t already made it then you should make it tonight for Meatless Monday! The recipe that inspired mine originally came from VegAngela and you can check it out on her blog here.

vegan mac n cheese with spiral noodles

The next recipe I want to highlight is from Happy Herbivore. This one is really quick and is also nut-free and soy-free if you use rice milk, coconut milk or hemp milk. Check it out here.

vegan mac n cheese - soy free and nut free

I know that many of you have seen the Forks Over Knives movie, but did you know they also have a cookbook? Click here to check out the Chili Mac recipe, as well as a bunch of other recipes they have on their site.

vegan chili mac n cheese

One of my favorite vegan food bloggers, Susan the Fat Free Vegan has two mac n cheese recipes on her blog — one that gets her teenage daughter’s stamp of approval, and another made with a cauliflower cheeze sauce that’s only 30 calories per serving! Check them both out here and here.

easy vegan mac n cheese

Ok, bare with me (bear with me?), just a few more recipes to share.

Of course everything that comes from The Post Punk Kitchen is absolutely delicious, and while I haven’t tried either of these myself I am sure that her Chipotle Mac n Cheese with Braised Brussels Sprouts and her BLT Mac n Cheese are no different. Check them out here and here.

vegan chipotle mac n cheese

BLT vegan mac n cheese with eggplant

Then, of course, we have Angela from Oh She Glows. I love her blog and all of her recipes. I secretly wish we could be friends. If you know her, will you tell her that for me? Check out her Vegan Pumpkin Mac n Cheese and her Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese recipes here and here.

vegan pumpkin mac n cheese

butternut squash vegan mac n cheese

Chef Chloe Coscarelli, the 2010 winner of Cupcake Wars, also has a mac cheese recipe that’s worth checking out. If her mac n cheese is a good as her cupcakes then it will definitely be worth making!

vegan mac n cheese from Chef Chloe

And, last but not least, Vegan Yack Attack is blogging about Mac n Cheese for all of Vegan MoFo 2013, so you definitely need to head over there and check it out! So far there’s four recipes posted and they all make my mouth water!

Vegan MoFo

CNN’s Interview with Fruitarian Michael Arnstein

myhealthychef

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is Fruitarian Friday and I want to keep things nice and simple. CNN posted this video a few weeks ago of Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviewing fruitarian Michael Arnstein. Michael Arnstein was one of the big influences in my decision to try out a fruitarian, low-fat raw vegan, 80/10/10 way of eating.

Arnstein also has his own website (www.thefruitarian.com) and he’s got a lot of information and videos for anyone who’s interested in learning more about the way he eats, why, and the benefits he’s seen since eating this way.

When I first discovered his site I spend hours watching video after video (spread out over a week) trying to get as much information as I could. I even made Ross watch a few with me!   :)

If you’ve got a little more time (about 14 minutes) then here’s another video showing what Arnsteain eats and how he raced a 100 mile foot race and then two days later WON a marathon with a time of 2:39. That’s insane!!

Also, note that the big salad he’s making towards the beginning of the video is just for him. That’s not a giant salad that he’ll be sharing, that’s just his regular dinner.

This Leadville 100 mile race is considered one of the hardest 100 milers in the United States. It took him 22 hours and 48 minutes to finish it but he’s finished other 100 mile races in 1st place in under 15 hours and came in 4th place at Leadville the following year. I just think that’s crazy and so inspirational! Can you imagine running for that long?

Arnstein was featured on True Love Health in their Day in the Life of a Vegan Athlete series (which is awesome if you have time to check it out sometime) and here’s the video from that and his race in the Badwater 135. This talks about how it took him 15 years to go from eating the Standard American Diet to Fruitarianism, slowly cutting things out.

His quote at the bottom of the video:

Here’s my experience running 135 miles across Death Valley California in the middle of the summer! Then to wrap up the week I ran the Vermont 100! I finished both races with a high level performance…on a fruitarian diet!

So when your doctor, nutritionist, trainer, coach, spouse, partner, friends, parent, kids or even yourself say… ‘that diet is dangerous’ or ‘doesn’t work’ … just ask if they can run 235 miles in less than 6 days!

He’s got tons more videos on his website and on his YouTube channel so check them out if you’re interested!

Vegan MoFo

SMOOTHIE TIPS AND RECIPES

myhealthychef

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is Thirsty Thursday and I want to share some of my favorite smoothie recipes and tips with you guys. I actually talk about smoothies quite a bit on this blog and some of my most popular posts are my smoothie posts, such as:

This past weekend I decided to spend a little bit of time doing some smoothie prep to make smoothie making a little easier on the weekday mornings, and to help free up some space in my fridge.

I got the idea from another blog to blend up my greens with a little bit of water and then freeze them in ice cube trays so I could just easily add them to smoothies. Genius!

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I took the beet greens I had in my crisper drawer, plus a whole bag of chopped kale (I know the bag above says mixed greens, but the bag I used this time was just kale) and added it to my blender. I added just enough water to it to get the mix going, and then continued to add greens and as little water as was needed to get it all blended down.

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I weighed everything on my kitchen scale as I added it to the blender so I could easily divide that weight by 12 and know how much I should pour into each silicone cupcake liner to get 12 cubes of greens that were the same size.

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Then I subtracted the weight of the water from the total weight and divided that number by 12 so I would know how much greens were in each cup (about 2 oz).

All of that may sound kind of like a pain in the ass but now when I make my smoothies in the morning I can just grab 2 of these cubes and toss them in the blender. I know that I’m adding about 4 oz of greens to my smoothie and the fact that they’re frozen means I don’t have to add as much ice. My crisper drawer also has a lot more room in it now that my smoothie greens aren’t in there.

In last week’s Thirsty Thursday post for Vegan MoFo I talked about my 9 favorite vegetables to add to smoothies and juices and this week I want to share some recipes for you that include those vegetables.

Of those 9 vegetables I listed, the ones I most commonly add to smoothies are:

  • greens
  • carrots
  • beets
  • cucumber
  • ginger
  • broccoli

It’s pretty rare for me to make a smoothie without adding some kind of greens to it because I always think, “Why not?” Most of the time you can’t even taste them so why wouldn’t I want to boost the nutritional value of my smoothie? It does occasionally happen though.

Here are some of my latest smoothie recipes that call for these ingredients. I apologize that not all of them have pictures.

Sunny Morning Smoothie – 475 calories

  • 1 mango
  • 2 oranges
  • 1.5 cups of pineapple
  • 1 carrot
  • small piece of ginger
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

I like to chop the mango and pineapple the night before and toss it in a Ziploc and into the freezer. Then, in the morning I can just peel the orange and chop the carrot, add the frozen fruit, ginger, and vanilla and blend. The oranges provide enough liquid that I don’t need water and the frozen fruit means I don’t need ice.

Green Berry Blast – 400 calories

  • 1 cup frozen mixed berries
  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 banana
  • a few handfuls of leafy greens
  • 1/2 cup of water

smoothie formula

When I’m adding greens to the blender I like to add those and the water first, blend them down to make room for the other ingredients, and then add everything else.

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Berry Berry Delicious – 350 calories

  • 3 handfuls leafy greens
  • 1 banana
  • 1 handful broccoli florets
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 cup frozen strawberries
  • 1 cup frozen mixed berries
  • 1.5 cups water

Pretty in Pink –  350 calories

  • 2 oranges
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 beet
  • 1 apple
  • 1 small piece of ginger

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 A Taste of Tropical –  370 calories

  • 2 oranges
  • 1 beet
  • 1 cup of mango, frozen
  • 1/2 a cucumber
  • 1 carrot
  • 4 oz of leafy greens

When I made this one the first time I was just tossing in things from my fridge (hence the ingredients from the picture below saying 1/2 a carrot and 1/4 cup cucumber). The calorie count above it is for the bulleted list of ingredients above, which is slightly different than what’s listed in the picture but it has the same great taste!

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So Peachy Keen – 390 calories

  • 2 oranges
  • 1 peach
  • 1/2 a cucumber
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 beet
  • 4 oz of leafy greens
  • ice

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These last three smoothies are all kind of similar because I’ve been using up what I have in my fridge! I’m actually looking forward to going to the store again so I can change up my smoothies a bit. I’m thinking about grapes, bananas, and greens for the next one. Maybe some kiwi? I have a giant book of juices and smoothies at home — I should consult it and see what I can come up with!

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Vegan MoFo

4 DELICIOUS DINNER SALADS WITH HOMEMADE DRESSINGS

myhealthychef

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed any of my earlier posts, you can check them out here:

Today is What-a-Salad Wednesday and I want to share with you some of my favorite dinner salads and salad dressing recipes.

I started making my own salad dressings shortly after I decided to go vegan. Before that I was buying the Kraft brand light dressings, but once I started following a vegan diet I become more conscious of what I was putting in my body in general.

I started reading ingredients labels and found that most salad dressings out there are not that good for you — they contain high fructose corn syrup, other added sugars and ingredients that I can’t pronounce, and more oil than is necessary.

I’m also one that likes variety and get bored with a salad dressing before I go through a whole bottle, so I usually had about eight different kinds taking up room in my fridge. Once I started making my own dressings I didn’t have this problem anymore. No, not every dressing I made was good, but if I didn’t like it I didn’t have to make it again or worry about what I was going to do with the rest of the bottle.

I’m including the calorie count for these dressings and that’s for the entire recipe. I’m not going to say how many servings is in each recipe because that really depends on the size of your salad. I’ve been averaging 10-12 oz of greens for my salads lately so I use just about the entire recipe for my salad.

It may seem like these dressings have a lot of calories, but if you think of the salad as your dinner and you’re only getting 60 or so calories from the greens, that’s really not a lot of calories. It’s still a whole lot of food for your belly though and really keeps you feeling full, especially if you add some extras to your salad like shredded carrots or beets, chopped mushrooms or tomatoes, fresh corn and avocado, seeds, etc.

Taco Lime Dressing – 55 calories

  • 1/2 a zucchini
  • juice from two whole limes
  • 1/2 tsp taco seasoning
  • 2 tbsp water

I made this dressing up last night to go with the salad that I wanted and it did not disappoint me! I wanted to have a salad that was topped with my corn and tomato salad that I mentioned in yesterday’s post and I needed a dressing to go with it.

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I cut 2 ears of corn, half a bunch of cilantro, about 1.5 cups of cherry tomatoes, half and avocado, and juiced 1 lime. I mixed all of that up and dumped it on my salad (which was 3 oz spinach, 3 oz spring mix, 4 oz romaine). Then I threw the dressing ingredients in the blender and poured it over the top.

It was so simple but so flavorful. The pictures don’t really do it justice.

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MAKE IT A MEAL: If you start with 10 oz of greens and add the full recipe of corn and tomato salad (445 calories) then your total calorie count for this healthy taco salad is 560 calories. 

Green Mango Dressing – 338 calories

  • 1.5 cups mango
  • 8-10 fresh sage leaves
  • 1 small piece of ginger
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 2 tbsp cashews
  • 3 dates
  • 1/2 cup green onion tops

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Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. This dressing is sweet, but not overly sweet, and has a lot of great flavor from the sage and green onions. Whenever I make this dressing I have no problems finishing my giant salads!

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MAKE IT A MEAL: If you add this to 10 oz of greens with two shredded carrots on top, the total calorie count is 455 calories for the salad. That’s a good sized dinner, especially if you want to follow it up with some homemade banana ice cream!

 Tangy Mustard Dressing – 319 calories

  • 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp course ground mustard
  • 1/3 cup of water
  • 1 tbsp oil of your choice

img_0194

This dressing is fantastic. It’s got a zippy flavor that I just love, with some cheesy undertones that are really comforting but still go well with a salad.

MAKE IT A MEAL: If you add it to 10 oz of greens with 1 cup each of chopped tomato and mushroom, your total calorie count for the salad is 425 calories.

 Sesame Tahini Dressing – 352 calories

  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup zucchini
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 dates
  • 1/4 cup water

I really love to eat this dressing on a big bowl of kale salad! Of course it’s good on any kind of greens but there’s something about pairing this with kale that I especially love.

kale

MAKE IT A MEAL: If you add this dressing to 8 oz of kale with two shredded carrots and 2 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds then your total calorie count for the salad is 647 calories.

8 oz of kale has 111 calories whereas a 10 oz combo of spinach, romaine, and spring mix only has 60 calories. It’s good to mix up your greens consumption to make sure you’re getting a wide array of nutrients!

Interested in more salad talk? Check out these other Vegan MoFo Salad posts!
The Big Salad from Oh She Glows
The Perfect Salad by The Vegan World
Southwestern Salad from Just The Food (recipe from The China Study Cookbook)
Rustic Vegan Kale Salad by Veggie Bon Vivant

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Vegan MoFo

MY FAVORITE VEGAN MAC N CHEESE

myhealthychef

QUICK REMINDER: I am moving my blog over to a new site. If you’re currently subscribed to my blog and want to keep getting my posts emailed to you, please unsubscribe from this one and head over to www.myhealthychef.net/blog and subscribe to that one, add it to your RSS feed, or whatever else it is you do to make sure you get notifications of my latest posts.

Vegan Month of Food 2013

Welcome back to Vegan MoFo! In case you missed my posts from last week, you can check them out here:

Today is Mac n Cheese Monday and I’m excited to share with you my FAVORITE vegan mac n cheese. I’ve shared it on the blog before, so it’s not new, but it’s seriously one of my favorite things to eat so I’m happy to be highlighting it for you today.

You can also see the original post here, which talks about some of the ingredients that may not be common staples in your kitchen, shows some more pictures of the process of making it, and gives nutrition facts.

creamy vegan mac n cheese with bowtie pasta

When I first decided on this topic for Mondays during Vegan MoFo I was not following a raw diet, so my plan was try all kinds of new vegan mac n cheese recipes and tell you all about them. Now I’m not really sure what I’m going to do.

I’ll try to figure something out before next Monday, but in the mean time, please enjoy this recipe.

The Basic Mac n Cheese Sauce

  • 3/4 cup raw cashews
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/8 tsp white pepper
  • 1.5 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp miso paste
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (fresh makes a big difference over the bottled stuff)
  • 4 servings dry whole wheat pasta of choice (I prefer bow-tie for this recipe)

Instructions: 

1. First, get your water boiling to cook your pasta and pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Add the cashews to your food process and process until they become a nice, fine, crumbly powder. Then add all the dry ingredients listed before the milk (nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, garlic cloves, salt, and white pepper) and process until it’s well mixed. If you don’t have white pepper then you can certainly use black, but white does taste better in this dish.

3. Add your milk and corn starch to a small sauce pan and stir well until all the cornstarch is dissolved. Check and see if your water is boiling yet for the pasta and get that going now if you can. Then (back to the milk mixture) turn the heat on to medium and stir frequently, until the mixture becomes nice and thick.

4. Once the mixture is nice and thick, add it to your food processor while it’s running and let it blend for about a minute. Then add the lemon juice and the miso, one tablespoon at a time, while the food processor is still running. Go ahead and taste it at this point and see what you think of it. Try not to eat it all with a spoon before your pasta has finished cooking.

5. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and pour it in a large mixing bowl. Add in your sauce and any other optional ingredients (see notes below), stir well, and then pour into a lightly greased baking dish. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top noodles are nice and crispy.

creamy vegan mac n cheese with bowtie pasta

Now, this dish is definitely delicious just the way it is, but I always find myself adding some extra ingredients. The pictures above have a can of Chipotle diced tomatoes and some Butler Soy Curls.

Optional ingredients to jazz it up:

  • 1 can Chipotle diced tomatoes or fire roasted tomatoes (in which case only use 1 cup of milk for the milk/cornstarch mixture instead of 1.5 cups. The tomatoes have extra juice in the can, which you definitely want to include)
  • ½ tsp of truffle oil (add this to the food processor at the same time as the miso and lemon juice)
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • ½ bag Butler Soy Curls, rehydrated and chopped
  • 1 bunch of kale, chopped

Combo Options: 

  • Chipotle diced tomatoes and soy curls
  • Chipotle diced tomatoes and black beans
  • fire roasted tomatoes and kale
  • truffle oil and bread crumbs sprinkled on top
  • truffle oil and kale
  • black beans and kale
  • just kale

Creamy vegan mac n cheese with kale

Creamy vegan mac n cheese with bowtie pasta