The Smoothie Vegetarians

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year to celebrate with friends, family, and delicious food! I did not get to go home and see my family this year, but I did get to spend the day with my amazing friends. We live on a college campus with very limited resources, but we ended up having an AMAZING feast. The party consisted of two vegans, one vegetarian, and four omnivores, but all of us made everything vegan. I am very blessed to have open-minded friends. In the words of them, “We don’t care what you guys make, we just want food!”   I must say, this ended up being the best Thanksgiving dinner I have ever had. Even when I was not vegan, the dinners did not compare to this one. Everyone else raved about the food as well and said it was a delightful meal. These are all recipes that you can easily look up online and recreate for any parties you may be going to or hosting. The best part is that they are all guilt-free because no animals were harmed in the process of this f...

    Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope everybody had a fantastic weekend! I am excited to be writing yet another recipe for you guys, and it is something I do hope a lot of you enjoy!     This week I would like to use a recipe we learned in school. VEGAN PECAN PIE! Courtesy of the Culinary Institute of Virginia having a nutrition program, we had a course in that program called "Alternative Baking". Which was really fun because we got to learn the different types of dietary needs, and the many alternatives to those diets (i.e. Vegan, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Raw/Paleo, etc.) for all those yummy desserts everybody wants to have! Anyways, the two areas I enjoyed the most was vegan, and gluten free. Learning how to make pecan pie was a lot of fun as well. A few of the groups in our class got to make the vegan pecan pie (Pictured above). And it was quite an easy recipe to put together.     There is not a whole lot to be done with this recipe eit...

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today the recipe I have chosen for this week is Grilled Artichokes with a Hazelnut Romesco Sauce.  The history I learned about the Romesco Sauce is that the fishermen in Spain created it in order to add flavor to their fish. Not entirely sure how much of that is true, but it is an interesting story. So Romesco sauce is a nut and pepper based sauce.  Thankfully this recipe is not only for vegans. It’s also good for celiac disease, heart disease, and diabetes. Down below I will have the recipe and the nutritional information.  You can use this for any time. But the sauce does need to rest overnight so some use it for special occasions. My classmate actually used it last Thanksgiving and it was fantastic.  If you guys have any special requests for recipes you’d like to see, feel free to comment them!  Enjoy! -Maranda- Grilled Artichokes with Hazelnut Romesco Sauce Recipes make: 10 portions Ingre...

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 ...

Hey guys! Today's recipe from me is a vegan take on the best part of Thanksgiving; Sweet Potato Casserole! Vegans can not eat your traditional casserole because there is usually egg in the sweet potatoes and marshmallows are not vegan! Here is a delicious cruelty-free option you can bring instead. There is not much sugar in this dish because I really wanted to concentrate on all of the natural flavors of this dish. If you would like to add more sugar, why not? It is the Holidays after all! If you make this recipe or a version of it I would really love to see it! Tag me in your photo on Instagram @smoothievegetarians Vegan Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Casserole Serves 6-8 Ingredients - 1 Pumpkin roasted (or 1 can of pumpkin) - 2 Sweet Potatoes (chopped up and boiled) - 1/4 cup of Almond Milk (or your favorite non dairy milk) - 2 tablespoons of vegan butter - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon - 1/3 teaspoon of Allspice 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg -1/3 cup brown sugar (or mapl...

Hey guys! As I am sure you guys all know it is almost time for the holidays. As a vegetarian, the Holidays can be particularly stressful. Over the next few months, we are going to work to bring you guys awesome recipes for the holidays that even the pickiest meat eaters will love! These dishes are going to be beautiful, delicious, full of nutrients and most importantly meat free! This stuffed butternut squash is a perfect replacement for your typical stuffing. If you do not have, or do not like quinoa you can replace it with brown rice. Also, this recipe is for two people but if you want to bring it to a family function you can use the entire squash, all you need to do is scoop out most of the flesh after roasting, just be sure to leave at least half an inch of flesh around the edge and you will need to reseason the part where you scooped out the flesh.  Now, let's talk about all of the awesome nutrients and vitamins this recipe is chalked full of! Butternut Squa...