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...

This week's post is for all the broke vegans, busy moms and dads and for anyone who is too tired to cook when they get home. All you need to do is get a good meal starter and the rest is easy. This week I used potatoes. They pair with just about anything. You can use them with peppers, onions, mushrooms or whatever vegetables you may have on hand. You can also use different spices to change the flavor profile. They are wonderful in soups, stews and are versatile enough to use in any ethnic dish! The main ingredients that I started with today were a bunch of red skinned potatoes (that honestly had seen better days) and a few heads of garlic. I scrubbed the potatoes and cut them in half, cut the tops off the garlic and lightly oiled a sheet pan. I then placed the potatoes face down along with the garlic and put the oven on 350 degrees. The house smelled amazing! I am going to show you three great inexpensive meals thrown together with stuff I had in the house. I encourag...

Hi All, How everyone is doing well this fine Monday morning? Right now it is about 7 PM Sunday night and there is no snow in sight but it is freezing out! On a cold day there is nothing I enjoy more than cooking. I wanted to focus my discussion today on a couple of inexpensive, easy dishes that will feed at least two people for two meals. The main ingredient for these two dishes is a single eggplant. For the first dish  after I peeled the eggplant ( you don't really have to but I prefer it without the skin) I sliced it into 3/4 of inch rounds. I picked out 4 of the slices that were roughly the same size. At this point I realized that I did not have any BBQ sauce at home to marinade them. So I had to whip some up.  As you all may have realized I am a firm believer in using what you have at home so I mixed some siracha, ketchup,molasses soy sauce, maple syrup and a bit of brown sugar and created my own. Again if you don't have these ingredients on hand yo...

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...

I've been slowly but surely trying to replicate all my omni husband's favorite recipes to vegan versions, and I finally got around to getting a veggie replacement for his beloved jambalaya. I was surprised at how simple this dish actually is once you get past the vegetable chopping. Basically, toss it all in a pot and let it simmer. You should go from start to serving in about 45 minutes, depending on how fast you dice. I'm a slow chopper who tends to eat while I chop, so dinner takes forever when I'm cooking. Be forewarned, this may or may not be some historical or authentically Cajun recipe for jambalaya. I have no idea. I just love the flavor so that's good enough for me. If it's not "real", feel free to leave a comment but I'm not changing it. My lovely vegan jambalaya in a pretty blue bowl. Vegan Jambalaya Recipe Like my famous chili , this is another one of those recipes that you can be pretty flexible with. Feel f...

Mushrooms are so wonderful because they have a great flavor on their own but still take on any seasonings and tastes you add to the recipe. Their chewy texture is almost meat-like and has been known to fool people. Our recipe for sticky mushrooms features crispy mushrooms and a really zesty sweet and sour sauce. Maybe zesty isn't the right word. It's not spicy but the flavors are really strong and a perfect blend of sweet brown sugar and sour red wine vinegar. And soy sauce is amazing in everything. 1/4 cup canola oil 2 1/2 cups mushrooms, chopped into chunks 1/4 cup cornstarch 1 tbs sesame oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 inch chunk fresh ginger, minced 2 tbs brown sugar 1 tbs red wine vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 tsp cornstarch 1 tsp water In a wok or large skillet, start heating up the oil. While that's going on, sprinkle a little water on your mushrooms to dampen them and mix in the 1/4 cup of cornstarch so that they are well coated. When the oil ...

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great week! I changed up the format a bit, as always any feedback is appreciated. Served with Cilantro Dressing For this post, I wanted to talk a bit about cilantro. This is a tender herb similar to basil and mint which means they have delicate leaves and are best when used raw, as a garnish or added at the end of the cooking cycle. This is a great addition to many dishes and the best part is you get all that flavor and it only has 1 calorie for a 1/4 cup. Another couple of interesting facts are that this herb provides 5% of the daily requirement of Vitamin A and 2% of the daily requirement of Vitamin C. Cilantro is a spice that I can not get enough of but it wasn't always that way. The first time I ever experienced this flavor was at a Thai restaurant. It was in a pinkish colored soup that reminded me of dish soap every time I took a spoonful. I later found out it was common for a lot of people to think cilantro had a soapy taste, appar...