Crunchy red bell slices replace tortilla chips in this decadent-but-not version of the classic, complete with melty cheese, and you won’t miss them.
I had planned to make Apple Not-chos, but Bob thought I asked him for a red and a green bell pepper instead of apples. They sound a lot alike don’t they? At any rate, the mistake turned out to be one happy and tasty accident.
Slice 1 red bell pepper 1/4″ thick and microwave for about 30 seconds.
What happens next is up to you!
I layered on the following in a shallow bowl and microwaved for another 30-60 seconds:
-2 slices Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda (https://followyourheart.com/)
Rustic Beer Bread in a Microwave Mug is so quick, easy, and addicting.
Beer Bread in a Microwave Mug–with garlic and parmesan (vegan & plant-based)
Yield: 1 serving per mug
I created this recipe while snowed in period it wasn’t so much that I was afraid to drive on the snow, though there was that, there was that, but I just didn’t want to splash mud and salt all over my car. I made this cute, moist, and flavorful bread with what I had on hand. And will be making it throughout the winter… and warmer months as well.
1 tablespoon vegan butter, divided (I use Myokos) 1/2 cup flour Pinch sea salt Pinch garlic powder Optional: pinch dried parsley 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 cup beer (I use Bud Light; identify vegan beers on Barnivore) 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon shredded vegan Parmesan (I like Follow Your Heart)
Optional: scant pinch freshly ground black pepper
In a microwave safe mug, melt 2 teaspoons vegan butter. Remove from microwave and swirl around sides of cup. In a small bowl or cup, stir together all dry ingredients with a fork. Make a well in center and pour in beer. Stir with fork until completely combined. Stir in 1 tablespoon parmesan and melted butter. Spoon mixture into buttered mug and top with remaining teaspoon shredded parm and optional black pepper. Microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes at full power, checking after 2. If mixture still looks a little moist, continue for remaining 30 seconds. You may need to experiment with your microwave. Top with remaining teaspoon butter and serve immediately.
These light and luscious bites are the perfect, pretty little refresher.
Made from only 7 ingredients and requiring no baking, they are ready when you are. And each cool and creamy treat is only about 220 decadent calories.
Even though key limes are not green, I feel like lime desserts should be, so I add a hint of Macha powder, which doesn’t alter the taste.
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (I like Tofutti)
1/4 cup natural sugar
5 ounces coconut cream
Zest of 1large key lime or small-medium lime and juice of entire lime/key lime
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon Macha powder or enough to achieve desired color
1/4 cup non-dairy whipped topping + 1/2 cup for topping
Garnish: Vegan Graham Cracker crumbs or pieces + optional lime slices or zest
With an electric mixer, cream together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. If cream cheese is cold, use a food processor. Beat in remaining ingredients, except whipped topping and garnishes, until completely combined. Fold in whipped topping. Divide among 8 very small cups–I like clear glass–not much bigger than a shot glass. Top each with about 1 tablespoon of remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate until serving time. (I store them in a lidded carton.) Garnish as desired and serve.
Dinner time arrived last night before I had a plan. Suddenly, I was famished.
While Bob deep fried pita triangles–only 30 seconds at 375 degrees–I opened the fridge to discover we had 3 cobs of grilled corn and sweet chili aioli: approximately equal parts commercially prepared sweet chili sauce and vegan mayo (I use Walton Farms no-calorie mayo…so I can have deep fried pita triangles) with a little fresh lime juice. So I whipped this together in a couple of minutes.
Grilled Corn Dip with Sweet Chili Aioli
Grilled corn cut from 3 cobs
6 Tri-color cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters or sixths
2 tablespoons, thinly sliced green onion
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
Approximately 2 tablespoons sweet chili aioli or to taste (or 1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise plus 1 tablespoon prepared sweet chili sauce and a squeeze of lime juice)
Sea salt, if needed, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl, start together with a fork, and serve with fried pita triangles, chips, crackers, or the vegetables slices and sticks of your choice. If not serving immediately, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Yield: serves four as a side dish, two as a main dish
I love anything creamy, particularly if it also has a little bit of texture and layers of flavor. But I am quite a calorie counter and avid exerciser, so the wide availability of riced cauliflower and the fairly new availability in our area of Silk brand half-and-half inspired this dish. That and a powerful appetite on this Father’s Day Sunday at midday. This dish is filling, but light and bright, quick, easy, and so pretty,. Just perfection.
2 cups water, divided
1 small onion finely chopped
1 vegetable bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon vegetable base
1 bulb roasted garlic or two to three cloves raw garlic, minced
10 ounces riced cauliflower
Zest of 1 small lemon
1/4 cup Silk brand vegan unsweetened half-and-half (Ripple brand is nice too, but if you can’t find either or another brand of unsweetened vegan half and half, use coconut milk)
1/4 cup shredded vegan mozzarella
2 tablespoons vegan Parmesan
Garnishes: minced parsley, slivered almonds, toasted or not, a few nutritional yeast flakes or vegan parmesan shreds, fresh lemon slices, wedges, or more zest (in the photo, I used nutritional yeast flakes, parsley, and toasted slivered almonds)
In a large iron skillet over medium-high, bring 1/2 cup water to a simmer, add onion, and sauté/simmer until virtually all water is evaporated. Add remaining water, bouillon cube, garlic, and cauliflower, and simmer, stirring frequently, until virtually all of water is once again evaporated. Add remaining ingredients, lower heat if necessary, and stir until cheeses are melted and all ingredients are fully incorporated. Serve immediately topped with the garnishes of your choice.
The trick with vegan or plant-based skillet-fried cakes, fritters, and even burgers, is how to get them to hold together without a lot of breading or filler.
These rice cakes, made with leftover cooked rice, hold together beautifully with just a flax egg and cornstarch.
They are ready to devour in minutes with the topping of your choice or by themselves because they are quite tasty.
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 cup leftover cooked rice
1 green onion, green part only, thinly sliced or snipped with scissors
In a medium bowl, whisk together flaxseed meal and water. Set aside for just a few minutes until it thickens, whisking occasionally. Whisk in cornstarch, sea salt, and onion powder. Then stir in rice and green onion with a fork. Heat a skillet sprayed with non-stick spray over medium to medium high heat. Divide mixture into four even mounds, pressing into a disc about 1/4-inch thick. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side or until golden brown, adjusting heat if necessary. Serve alone or topped as desired.
Tuesday was my “day of rebirth” as my dear friend, Iona Drozda, refers to birthdays.
My partner, Bob, said he would make my birthday cake BUT it had to come from a box. He thought that would be a deal-breaker, but nope!
A little research revealed that one can transform any box mix into a moist and delicious–and very tender–vegan cake by simply adding 1.5 cups of the chilled soda of your choice!
We chose Betty Crocker yellow with 1 teaspoon vanilla and sprite because it’s lemon+lime notes sounded delicious with the lemon curd filling and creamy white frosting I was craving. The layers rose beautifully with fairly flat tops!
I recommend oiling cooling racks, as this cake is quite tender. I also recommend wrapping and freezing the layers before frosting for the same reason. Plus, it is a well-known fact that freezing cake layers makes them even more moist.
The curd was spot-on and came from It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken. I only tweaked a tiny bit by adding a 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Whisk and simmer together for about 5 minutes: 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened soymilk), zest of 1 large lemon, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and 1/8 teaspoon turmeric for color. (It will thicken even more as it cools.)
The creamy vanilla frosting was from a can (eek!), and Bob piped it on like a pro with very little instruction, saying it was like caulking!
The cake was perfection, though we guilded the lily with softened dairy-free vanilla ice cream.
For the 18th (!) Annual Christmas, Chanukkah, Curry, and Cakes Party & Swap for some 25 of my girl tribe, I kept the menu simple, healthful, beautiful, and delicious.
This one time buffet dinner morphed into a cocktail party-swap a few years back and then, last year, into a moveable feast and swap featuring curried pumpkin soup. Soup is self-serve from the stove, but I make it festive with a buffet of toppings. This year’s tasty accompaniments were vegan blue cheese-chutney cole slaw, quartered persimmons, and vegan sugar cookies. Oh, and wine. Lots of wine.
This year’s soup creation was superior to last and I am pleased to share it with you, as I wouldn’t change a thing.
Vegan Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup
Yield: 10 cups
1- 29 ounce can pureed pumpkin
1-15.5 ounce can lite coconut milk
1-30 gram package Jaswant’s Kitchen Chana Masala seasoning packet or the equivalent (you may prefer less–it is spicy)
4 cups vegetable stock or broth
Toppings bar: grated coconut, sliced green onions, roasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries or cherries, etc.
Whisk together all ingredients except toppings in a large soup pan or Dutch oven and bring to a simmer over medium to medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Serve topped as desired.
I think I have just invented legal crack! I am a little late to the “riced” vegetable party, as I like my fried rice with, well, rice. But, this casserole has made me a believer.
My Vegan Riced Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole has it all:
The entire casserole is vibrantly healthy and only 535 calories. That means you could eat the whole thing and still be under the typical number of calories for an entire meal. Of course, you might have buzzard breath and a little abdominal gas, but that’s a small price to pay, no?
It goes together, stove top, in about 20 minutes plus 15 minutes of optional oven baking.
It is an ideal side for a host of main dishes, but you could also stuff an enchilada, spread it on toasted bread for crostini or on pizza, include it as a layer in lasagna, or serve it as a dip, just for starters.
Note: I purchased the broccoli and cauliflower already riced at Whole Foods, but you can make your own simply by pulsing chunks of both vegetables in a food processor until very finely minced.
1 tablespoons olive oil (125 calories)
4 green onions (both the white and green part), thinly sliced (20 calories)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or a scant 1 teaspoon fresh, minced
2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese, e.g. Tofutti brand (60 calories)
4 + 1 tablespoon vegan shredded Parmesan; e.g. Follow Your Heart brand (125 calories)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional, but I like the flavor and health benefits; they don’t call it “nutritional” for nothing) (50 calories)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I love nutmeg in creamy savory dishes, but only the fresh)
Optional (but recommended): Zest of one-half medium lemon
(Note that my new Samsung gas range cooks with a lot of power. What I used to cook at medium-high, I now cook at medium-low or low. Seriously. So, adjust accordingly. I am going to recommend “medium” as a, well, happy medium.)
Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add green onions and garlic, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and pepper, and saute, stirring, just until wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add riced vegetables and saute, stirring, for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth and thyme. Stir well to combine and simmer for 10 minutes or until moisture is released into cooking liquid and then almost entirely evaporated. Stir in cream cheese, 4 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, optional nutritional yeast, and nutmeg, and heat until melted. Stir in optional lemon zest. At this point, you can either sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon of Parmesan and serve, or transfer mixture to a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray, sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon of Parmesan, and bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
