The Smoothie Vegetarians

Did you ever just not know what to make for dinner? Sometimes one ingredient can spark an idea for a whole dish and this week that ingredient was a can of black beans. As some of you may know, I love simple, easy recipes and typically will use whatever I have home. This week, my Fiesta Black Bean recipe consists of the following (BTW I just made up the name) 1 can of black beans (reserve the liquid and chill it) 1 red pepper 1 onion 2 stalks of celery Handful of chopped cilantro (I always have a big bunch in the refrigerator) You can add a can of corn if you want to expand the dish garlic powder salt and pepper Saute the diced celery, peppers and onions in a bit of olive oil . Once veggies are fork tender, add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and black beans. Continue to cook until desired tenderness.  Remove from heat and toss with cilantro. You have a great side dish, main course, filling for tacos or wraps or even a sweet plantain. The p...

Hope everyone had a great week! Do you get tired of hearing "What's for dinner?" and then getting the response "Not that again!"  Are these common phrases in your house? I may have a solution for you! This week's creation! Sometimes I feel like I am a contestant on the Food Network Show "Chopped". I used to have random ingredients and struggled to come up with a meal. Over the years I have gotten pretty good at this and at this point enjoy challenging myself to come up with quick, easy and inventive meal that tastes good. I am not one for planning meals in advance so a lot of times I make up things as I go. I often incorporate leftovers into new creations. Todays recipe is simple but made a delicious meal. The idea originated last night when I walking around Chelsea Market in lower Manhattan. Chelsea Market is full of history and was the original home of the National Biscuit Company also known as the Nabisco Factory. It is now...

Hi Everyone. I hope November is faring well for all of you, and Happy Thanksgiving! This is another spur of the moment recipe. It came together super quick, and is another very "spoonie-friendly" recipe. It also would be great for those nights where you just don't want to stand at the stove for forever. This would be a great recipe for your kids to get involved in, too!  This would go well with salad, soup, or with some roasted vegetables, or some other side dish that you cook in the oven. You could start your other food, and then add the grilled cheeses to the oven during the last bit of cooking. These sandwiches turn out super well in the oven! The bread has such a light and fluffy inner texture; compared to the "traditional" way of making a grilled cheese. Meanwhile, the outside has the typical crispy and savory deliciousness.  It's a twist on pizza, and instead of the sauce being incorporated in the sandwich, you dip pieces of it into the...

Happy Tuesday everyone!! Today, I decided to talk about a recipe that doesn't actually need any alterations to it. That's right. It's Ratatouille! An all vegetable dish which is great to have hot or cold, or even in a soup. (I prefer the original way though; stewed). Some people do use Chicken Stock for this recipe. But, more often than not it's Vegetable Stock. -Maranda http://s13.favim.com/orig/160531/beautiful-food-food-greens-healthy-Favim.com-4363063.jpeg Makes 10 Servings! Ingredients: 3 fluid ounces olive oil 12 ounces medium-dice onions 3/4 ounce minced garlic 1 ounce tomato paste 4 ounces medium-dice red pepper 1 pound medium-dice eggplant 12 ounces medium-dice zucchini 8 ounces peeled, seeded, medium-diced tomatoes 4 fluid ounces Vegetable Stock 1/2 ounce chopped herbs (thyme, parsley, oregano) Salt and pepper for seasoning. Directions Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions...

When I arrived home from visiting family in Virginia for a few weeks, I was greeted by a boat load of zucchinis! The first thing I thought of when I saw the glorious load was 1. Zucchini Bread ( If you are looking for a vegan zucchini bread recipe check ours out here ) and 2. Zucchini boats! I learned the base recipe for zucchini boats while in school. I say base because the stuffing of this recipe can change depending on what you have. This is a great recipe to make when you have a bunch of veggies getting ready to go over to the dark side. When I was in school, I was taught to make this with meat sausage (I was not a vegan or vegetarian at the time), but I have easily converted it to a vegan recipe by using Lifelight  Meatless Gimme Lean® Sausage. This product is soy based (if you are anti-soy than you can use any other vegan sausage) you can go on Lifelights website and ready about this product and the other ingredients in it as well as all of the other produc...

Hey guys! We are about half way through November and we are getting very close to the holidays. This time has always been my favorite time of the year! I love being able to spend time with my family and spreading love and joy to everyone around me. This is my first holiday season eating a plant based diet. I have found myself spending a lot of my mental energy on the food part of the holiday. I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I want to bring and what everyone else is bringing. It is important to me that the holiday season is about spending time with family and not about what I am eating. This has been my goal for every family event since transitioning to a plant-based diet. So far it has worked out in my favor. Before I go into the tips I have to offer I wanted to talk about one thing. Part of the reason I have been so anxious for the holidays is because I have heard so many horror stories about holidays and family get together going disastrously because ...