Butternut Squash Mac & Cheeze

First of all, I would like to apologize for the lack on photos... I was in such a rush to make this once I got home that I forgot to take pictures along the way. 

This recipe is fantastic! I found it on a blog I read called "Oh She Glows". I was a little skeptical as to how this would compare to regular mac and cheese, but it really held its own. The squash make its really creamy, and the nutritional yeast gives in the "cheezi-ness" that you expect to find in mac and cheese.

*This recipe does not contain any dairy, soy or nuts. 

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh butternut squash* (peeled and chopped) OR 1 cup canned butternut squash 
• Extra virgin olive oil, S & P
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter replacer)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened & unflavoured almond milk 
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
• 6 tbsp nutritional yeast, or more to taste
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2-3/4 tsp kosher salt (or to taste) & ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 servings brown rice macaroni (8oz or half a 16oz package) makes 3 1/4 cup cooked
• Mix-ins of choice (e.g., kale, spinach, broccoli, peas, pumpkin seeds, etc)

 

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Line a casserole dish with tin foil. Mix chopped squash with EVOO, S & P. Roast for about 40 minutes, uncovered, or until tender.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the cheeze sauce in a pot on the stove top. Add Earth balance over low-medium heat. In a bowl, whisk together milk and arrowroot powder (or cornstarch or flour) until clumps are gone. Add into pot and whisk. Stir in remaining ingredients (nutritional yeast, Dijon, garlic, S & P) and whisk over low heat until thickened (about 5-7 minutes or so).

3. Cook your pasta according to package directions. The sauce makes enough to cover 4 servings of pasta.

4. In a blender, blend the sauce with 1 cup of roasted squash (or if using canned, simply stir 1 cup into the pot).

5. Add cooked, drained, and rinsed macaroni into pot, along with cheeze sauce & mix-ins. Heat and serve.

Note: You will have leftovers of squash. I'm thinking of making some sort of risotto or burritos with these....

Enjoy xo

Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

The only thing that I don't like about this time of year is how fast our bananas rippen. It seems like it takes 2 days and they're too ripe to eat. I don't like them when they have spots... so into the freezer they go. 

I realized today that I had a build-up of bananas in the freezer, so I figured it was time for banana bread. Now, I like regular banana bread, but I LOVE banana bread with chocolate chips. 

This bread goes faster than the bananas take to rippen :) 

Ingredients

-2 C whole wheat flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C vegan butter

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

-3 medium sized bananas

-1/4 non-dairy milk

-1 tsp apple cider vinegar

-1 tsp vanilla

-1/2 C dark chocolate chips 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl combine non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. 

In a seperate bowl cream butter and sugars together. Once mixed, add mashed bananas and vanilla. Add milk and vinegar mixture. Finally, add chocolate chips.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. 

Put mixture into pre-greased loaf pan. Place in oven and bake approximately 60 mins. Test bread after 60 mins with toothpick. If toothpick comes out clean, bread is done

Enjoy!! xo

Black Bean and Veggie wraps

I am so thankful that each Sunday I cook up batches of beans and chickpeas to have in the fridge for quick and easy meals. It's so easy to add them to a meal for protein, as I don't like to rely on tofu or meat alternatives all the time.

I always make sure to have wraps in the house too. I find the best deal is at Costco. I love Costco.

Ingredients
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 small onion, diced
-1 small zucchini, diced
-1 red pepper, diced
-1 C diced tomatoes
-1 medium carrot, diced
-1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-3/4 C vegan cheese, grated
-4-5 Tortilla wraps

Directions
-Heat skillet over medium heat.
-Add olive oil, onion, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and carrots. Saute for about 5 minutes.

-Add in garlic and black beans.

-Add chili powder, salt and pepper.

-Heat tortilla wraps in microwave for 2 minutes. I wrap mine in a damp tea towel and put on a plate. This prevents them from over-drying and becoming hard.
-Take tortilla wrap and place 1/3 C of veggie-bean mixture in the middle. Sprinkle with cheese.

-Roll tortilla up, tucking in sides as you go.

Enjoy! xo

Quinoa salad with Avocado Dressing

So I had a couple of avocados to use up in the fridge... and I didn't want to just throw them on a salad, because, well, that's boring. So, I decided to add them to my salad in a different way.


This dressing is to die for! I'm going to make batches of it from now on, and put it on everything!!!


Avocado Dressing
-1 ripe avocado, mashed
-3 tbsp olive oil
-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-3 cloves of garlic, minced
-2 tbsp chives, minced
-1 pinch salt
-1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
-sweetener, to taste

Add all ingredients (except sweetener) in a food processor or blender. Once mixed, add sweetener until desired taste. Add a little bit of water if dressing is too thick. 

Salad
-2 C cooked Quinoa (I always cook my quinoa in vegetable broth, just to add more flavour)
-1 C grape tomatoes, quartered
-1 C snap peas, diced
-1 C corn kernels
-salt and pepper to taste


Mix quinoa, tomatoes, peas and corn together in large bowl. Add desired amount of avocado dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Avocado & Pinto Bean Enchiladas

I first found a similar recipe to this in a vegan cookbook, and instantly fell in love. This meal doesn't take a long time to assemble, and can even be made the night before.

I had to adjust the original recipe because someone in my our household really does not like mushrooms :)

Ingredients
6-8 corn or whole-wheat tortillas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 C onion, diced very small
1 tbsp mild chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 C raw cashews (ground to very small pieces in food processor)
2 tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 C avocado
1 jar prepared enchilada sauce (I like lots of sauce, so most of the time I used 2 jars, as they're always so small...)
1 C vegan cheese
1/2 C fresh cilantro

Directions
-Preheat over to 400 F.
-Place tortillas in a 8x12 baking dish, cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. Let these heat for 5-10 minutes to soften. 
-Heat skillet over medium heat. Add oil, onions, chili powder and salt. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
-Increase heat to medium-high and add beans and cashews. Saute 5-6 minutes.
-Add in lime juice and immediately remove from heat. 
-In a large bowl mash avocados. Add veggie and bean mixture. Mix until fully incorporate together.
-Remove tortillas from oven and transfer to a plate.
-Pour half of the enchilada sauce into baking dish. 
-Spoon 1/4 C of veggie-avocado mixture into tortilla. Roll tortilla up, tucking in sides as you go. Place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
-Pour remaining enchilada sauce over baking dish and top with cheese. 
-Bake 15-20 minutes, until cheese is bubbly on top. 
-Remove from oven. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.


I love to take this for leftovers the next day as well :)

Enjoy! xo

Butter Chik'n

One of our favorite meals before we went meat-free was butter chicken. It made a regular appearance in our at-home dinner schedule, and was often ordered when we went out for Indian food :) 

About a year back when I discovered the product Gardein, I thought that maybe it might be a good substitute into our regular butter chicken recipe that we so loved. 

After the first trial, it was a success! Even with the vanilla almond milk (as it was all we had in the house). 

Now, the texture of the faux chicken is a bit different that regular chicken, but who cares! I don't want to eat meat, so I would hope that my substitute isn't identical to its meat replacement.


Ingredients
-2 C jasmine or Basmati rice
-1 package of Gardein Chik'n Scallopini, defrosted and cut into small chunks
-3 large shallots, chopped fine (you can used one medium onion as well)
-1 tbsp vegan butter
-2 large tomatoes, diced
-1 container of butter chicken sauce*
-2 C of broccoli, chopped into small pieces


Directions
-Place rice in pot with 4 C water over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, turn heat down to low and let cook for 15-20 minutes. Take off heat and let rice steam. 
-Place broccoli in large pot with basket steamer and about 1/8 C of water. Steam broccoli until tender.

-Heat pan on stove over medium heat. Add vegan butter and shallots. Cook until shallots are tender.

















-Add diced chik'n scallopini to pan, cook until browned. Add diced tomatoes and cook until tomatoes have softened.

-Add butter chicken sauce and cook until warmed through. 
















-Serve over rice with broccoli.











Enjoy!! xo


* Be advised that the sauce that we used in this instance is NOT vegan. I often use another brand of butter chicken sauce in which you add your own milk (we used plain almond milk). It basically consists of oil and spices concentrated into a small package.

Spinach & Cashew Linguine

From the time I was a child, I have LOOOOVVVEEDD pasta. Doesn't matter what shape, size, color or what it's made from. I love it all. Cutting carbs will never be a possibility for me. 


So, tonight I thought I would cook-up a tried and true recipe that is easy and tasty. I like to think that the amount of spinach that I put into this recipe kind of balances out eating all the pasta.


Spinach & Cashew Linguine
Ingredients
-1 package of whole wheat linguine
-1 tbsp olive oil
-5 cloves of garlic, minced
-3-4 C of spinach, chopped
-1/4 C sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil), diced
-1/2 C ground cashews*
-2 tbsp vegan cream cheese


Directions
Bring large pot of water to boil. I always add a pinch of salt for flavor. Once water has reached a boil, add 3/4 package of linguine. 


While pasta is cooking, heat skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil and minced garlic. Cook for 30 seconds, just until garlic is fragrant. Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, ground cashews and cream cheese. Take skillet off heat. Add 1/2 C to 3/4 C of pasta water to skillet. Water amount will depend on how thick you like your sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. 


Once pasta is al dente, drain and add to skillet. Mix pasta into sauce mixture. I will often turn the heat back on on the stove to heat mixture up a bit more. Serve immediately.


*I like to grind whole cashews in my clean coffee grinder. It takes no time at all. 




Enjoy!!!