The Smoothie Vegetarians

During the week, you may want to make quick, but flavorful vegan meals. I have a few awesome suggestions for weekly vegan meals. First off, one of my favorites is ravioli, but it can be made with a healthier twist. The brand rising moon has a  lot of good flavors to choose from such as butternut squash. The brand also has other flavors including garlic and roasted veggie as well as spinach florentine. For this meal, you can put any sort of plant-based sauce. Sometimes I use a tomato based sauce, sometimes I use a red bell pepper based sauce. or I may also use a homemade white sauce. For a white sauce you can blend cashews, garlic, and any other spices you want to create a creamy sauce. I also like to have some veggies sauteed on the side for more health benefits. It can also be helpful to have some frozen things if you are extra busy like myself. The brands Sweet Earth, Beyond Meat,...

Hope everyone had a great week! For those of you that don't know me, I do not like complicated. This is one of the main reasons that I do not like to bake, but love to cook. For me cooking allows me to be creative, inventive and even adventurous. I love being able to scour my cupboards to find the perfect ingredients to make a tasty dish. First, let me start off by saying I did a little organizing in my kitchen paying special attention to my spice collection. I discarded any old outdated spices and discovered a world of culinary adventure sitting in my cabinet. I had exotic spices I didn't know what to do with! My quest begin for a new inventive recipe. I chose a spice called RAS EL HANOUT. Although the name may be daunting, this spice actually contains coriander, paprika, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, red pepper, turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, clove and allspice in one little bottle. In during some research, Ras el Hanout means "top of the shop" and has ro...

Sometimes when you are in a pinch it can be a bit of a struggle to eat healthy. Sometimes you run out of produce when you are out and may have to settle for some packaged foods. There are some better options to reach for when you want to get a snack. There are definitely some good brands out there that I love getting for when I have a busy work day. Some of these snacks can be good for dipping in salsa or hummus, or any other dip. A lot of these snacks shown also have other flavors in that kind that are also really good to try out. I love all of the products I have tried by a brand called The Daily Crave so far. I love eating these as a snack with some hummus or you could find any other dip that may go well with this. I enjoy any sort of spread that can be eaten with this and you can also top it with some veggies as well. There are also some other really good flavors including tomato basil, barbeque, salt and vinegar, and sriracha. They have veggi...

I cooked a lot for Easter with my family and we had a lot of different things at the table. Of course I got some Gardein, some Daiya cheesecake, and some snacks. I also made a pasta salad and I will be glad to share with you everything I put into my recipe and it was wonderful for my family. Everyone enjoyed everything that was there.  For snacks, we had crackers, Chao cheese, and grapes. I made a Gardein Turkey and it comes with gravy packages so that you do not have to buy extra. I love making the Gardein Turkey cutlets because they are so crispy and they taste amazing.  Also, at the table, we had some veggies like sweet potatoes and corn. We had dinner rolls that went great with everything we had as well. I had some mango pineapple juice that I also blended.  I made a pasta salad in the morning as well that was a hit. First I roasted some bell peppers in the oven and then got the skin off to have some roasted red pepper to shop up for this...

Things are changing in the world of vegan food, and I think we are finally seeing a shift that pushes plant-based food products out there into the world of mainstream consumers. We no longer have to skulk around in the back corners of health food stores to find a non-dairy cheese, or sit in a restaurant with a sad bowl of iceberg lettuce for lunch. Product choices are absolutely exploding, and can now be found on all kinds of supermarket shelves, not just gourmet shops anymore. Personally, I shop at our bargain grocery store chain called No Frills. Nothing fancy, and not too cutting edge. A couple of weeks ago, I found one entire cooler section now dedicated to So Delicious non-dairy ice cream products, and one whole section filled with Daiya pizzas, more Yves products and a range of vegan Amy's entrees. There was some crazy dancing in the aisles that day. Latest hits from our No Frills store. So many more choices, and these 2 are favs in our house now.  ...

(photos by Danielle) A lot of people think that you have to give certain foods up for this lifestyle. The good news is that you do not. I find this incredibly easy. The one thing I find interesting is people give the excuse "...but I could never give up x,y or z". However it is becoming so much easier. People continue to try out new recipes and the more they try out new recipes the more common it is for them to find new flavors that they like just from playing around with different spices and other ingredients in your house you can find a lot of flavors that you really like it can be important to play around and find new things that you enjoy based on all the recipes that you liked in the past you don't have to give anything up and you can find plenty of substitutes. (photos by Danielle) All of these recipes are so flavorful and I enjoy these so much. I will be making these again and every time you remake a recipe, you get better each time. You can ...

Vegetarians often still eat eggs but vegans do not. Taking actual egg dishes out of the menu is easy enough, though you can still make a wicked scrambled "egg" dish with tofu. But what about all those recipes that need the egg as a binding ingredient? The unique qualities of an egg mean you can't just leave it out and you have to find a replacement that has brings the same chemistry to the recipe. Handy options to make vegan egg replacements There's an old vegan joke about someone who heard you can replace egg with applesauce, but isn't too happy about how his omelet turned out. I said it was an old joke, not a good one. But the point is pretty clear. Yes there are many ways to swap out the eggs in recipe, providing you know which is the best option for any specific recipe. Banana This is a tried and true option for a lot of baking recipes that require the moisture and binding qualities of an egg. A small ripe banana that has been mashed up c...

With the holidays coming up, the semester that recently ended, and my job being on holiday break, I have had more time to make delicious and healthy recipes. I have been enjoying such a wide range of meals and have been also discovering some new foods and meals that I love. I have really enjoyed cooking and finding new foods or recipes to prepare. These could also be good for holiday parties as well.  The first recipe I have loved making recently is a sandwich and I usually have a side with this. I have been switching up what I have as my side. I usually have quinoa, couscous, fries, tater tots, roasted veggies, or riced veggies on the side when I eat this and I usually switch it up for variety.  (photos by Danielle) For this picture, I have a ciabatta roll by the brand Schar, which is gluten free. I do not personally eat a gluten free diet, but I have been seeing these in the stores and wanted to check them out. I enjoy these with Gardein chicken scallopi...

I have always been such a huge fan of incredibly spicy food and my love for it has grown since I have started cooking. I love making nachos and other meals that are foods similar to that. Since I have been off between college semesters, I have had some extra time in my day to cook before or after work. Another thing that a lot of people have commented on in the past is that that cannot handle spicy food, so if you want something milder, you can use a less spicy version of the ingredients. For example, if you get a can of chili, you can get mild instead of medium or spicy. This first picture I have tortilla chips topped with the beefless ground from Gardein. I have had ground walnut with spices as well at a restaurant and that is wonderful as well if you want a healthier spin on the meal. I have some veggies I have on there as well. Usually, I top my nachos with tomato salsa, bell peppers of any color, and onions. If you want beans for extra nutrients, you can also add those. For the ...

I have been really into cooking over the past few years and I always had the goal of stepping outside the box to try new things. When you play around with different recipes, you will learn so much about what you like and what you want to try. When you want to better your health and make changes, you have to learn a lot. Over my time in undergraduate studies in college, I took some health, fitness, and nutrition classes to step up and start caring about myself. After learning new recipes, I decided to take a stronger interest in health and feeling better. My passion for cooking grew and after a while I starting taking pictures to hold myself accountable for the goals I had set. I have tried so many new things and have found so many healthier alternatives that taste exactly the same to what I was having in the past. Better yet, I didn't feel any pain and had so much energy after eating like this! I have noticed major changing from starting this lifestyle. (photos by Dani...