Honorable Mention Recipe #3- Seitan Sweet Potato and Onion Hash

Okay, so I had a DELICIOUS dinner last night!  Thanks to Kim Barnouin and her new cookbook.  This recipe is so easy- it came together in 20 minutes and it was SO yummy!  My husband loved it too, so it will please vegetarians and omnivores alike.  All you do is saute some cubed seitan (this was our first time trying out seitan- we really liked it!) in some grapeseed oil for about 5 minutes.  The seitan then comes out of the pan and gets set aside.  In the pan goes more grapeseed oil and sweet onion and red bell pepper.  After that softens you add in some diced sweet potato and saute that all together for another 5 minutes.  Add some veggie broth, chives, rosemary, and thyme and you are practically done- this simmers for another 5 minutes or so and dinner is served.  This was absolutely delicious- I am having the leftovers for lunch as I write this- it fills your kitchen with the most amazing aroma too- the fresh herbs add a nice earthy flavor and the sweet potatoes were cooked perfectly.  I know that I'll be making this again- it's a perfect stand-by meal, so easy to throw together and you could easily adjust the ingredients to fit whatever you have on hand.  This one is a winner!

My rating- 9.5

Honorable Mention Recipe #2- Strawberry Shortcake

So, I have stumbled across another blog-worthy recipe from yet another vegan cookbook.  (Who knew there were so many out there?!?!)  This one is from Kim Barnouin's most recent cookbook- Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. (For those of you who are familiar with her popular vegan book series, you know who I mean.  For those who haven't heard of her series- just google her name and you'll find it.  It has a swear word in it and personally I don't swear because I think it makes women sound trashy, so I will just refer to this book in the future as the Ultimate Everyday Cookbook.)  Despite the name of her series, she does have some fantastic recipes and this is one of them.  Who doesn't love Strawberry Shortcake this time of year?  It's a must have recipe, right?  Now I can eat it vegan style with NO guilt!  (Okay, maybe a twinge of guilt because it does have some sugar and white flour in it- but just a little bit!)  For me, this is a truly seasonal dessert that I have made year after year (usually by making Bisquick biscuits).  This recipe really isn't all that different from the norm.  For the berries you simply mix up some sliced strawberries with a bit of evaporated cane sugar (just 1 tablespoon sugar per 2 cups of berries).  For the biscuits you mix unbleached all-purpose flour with some baking powder, evaporated cane sugar, and salt.  Then you cut in some cold, cubed earth balance (this is a vegan butter substitute).  In a measuring cup you mix almond milk and some vanilla extract and then this mixture gets added to the dry and VOILA! the batter is made.  I have 2 qualms with this recipe- the first being this- she has written this recipe as a cut-out biscuit, so she tells you to roll out the dough and cut the biscuits out with a biscuit cutter.  NOT HAPPENING KIM!  This batter was WAY too wet to roll out, so instead I decided to make them like the good-old Bisquick biscuits and just do drop biscuits (the recipe makes 8).  This worked really well!  I was happy with the result, but just confused how they could ever be cut-out biscuits- oh well.  They taste GREAT, so who cares about the method of making them?  Plus, it turned out to be easier to just do drop biscuits- a time saver! Serve these up with the macerated strawberries and some vegan whipped cream and you have a heavenly dessert that will bring back childhood memories.  These shortcakes are perfect- absolutely delicious!  If you make these though- I would double the amount of strawberries that you use.  I like mine filled with berries and didn't find 2 cups to be enough for 8 servings!  (That was my second qualm!)  I loved this so much I may make this again next week since our local strawberries are rolling in right now.............yum yum!

My rating- 9.5

Vegan with a Vengeance, Recipe 1- Lemon Corn Waffles with Blueberry Sauce

We had a bit of a lazy morning today, so I decided it would be fun to think out of the box and make some homemade waffles today, vegan style!  While I try to eat clean most of the time, sometimes you just need a fun recipe to spice things up a bit, especially when you have kids.  That being said, I certainly would not eat this on a regular basis, but boy was it worth the effort!  (And the splurge!)  For the waffles you mix sifted dry ingredients in one bowl (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cornmeal), and wet in another (canola oil, soy milk, soy yogurt, zest and juice from 2 lemons, and some sugar- only a bit- 1/4 cup).  Make a well in the dry and then mix in the wet and your batter is done.  Heat up your waffle maker and make them according to your waffle maker directions.  While the waffles cook you make the blueberry sauce.  In a saucepan you mix 1 pound of slightly thawed frozen blueberries with some arrowroot starch (this acts like cornstarch, you could use that as well) and you toss it with the berries until it dissolves.  Then you put the mixture over medium heat and cook until the berries release juices and are heated through.  Lastly, you add in some maple syrup and vanilla extract and cook the mixture until it's nice and thickened up.  I have to say that these are a perfect combo of flavors.  Surprisingly, these have just the right amount of sweetness too- they are not cloyingly sweet, but just right.  The blueberry sauce is too DIE for- so yummy and perfect with the bright lemony flavor of the waffles.  The sauce thickens up just like the blueberry pie filling out of a can, but it's so much healthier for you and you control the ingredients- what could be better than that?  It is SO worth the 10 minutes it takes to whip it up!  A testament to how good these little beauties were?  My almost 5 year old ate 2 1/2 waffles and LOADS of the blueberry sauce!  My 2 year old wouldn't touch the waffles, but ate a bunch of the blueberry sauce.  Needless to say, I had quite the mess on my hands after!  It was definitely worth it!

My rating- 10!

PS- If you want to make these even more special- serve with a dollop of vegan soy-whipped cream.  YUM!

Honorable Mention Recipe #1- Italian Mariara Beanball Subs

So, I've decided to include honorable mention recipes- recipes from books that I am not going to cook my way through, but that are SO good that I just have to write about them.  (For me this means they rate a 9 or higher.)  This particular recipe is from Tosca Reno's new book- The Eat-Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook.  I made these Beanball Subs for dinner a couple of nights ago and they were outstanding!  Everyone in my family liked them (except for my picky 2 year old), my husband couldn't get enough!  They are actually really easy to make too- it just takes a bit of forethought because you do use some cooked red quinoa in the recipe.  So, I simply cooked up the quinoa in the morning so it was ready to go when I was ready to make dinner.  Here's how the recipe goes- in a food processor you process onion, garlic, basil, and parsley until smooth.  Then you put that mixture in a bowl and add some cooked cannellini beans (about 1 can) to the processor and process until chunky.  Add the beans to the aromatics and add to that the red quinoa, Bragg's liquid aminos (these can be found in the health food section of your grocery store), nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes, whole wheat bread crumbs, wheat germ, olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper.  This all gets mixed up (it's fun to do with your hands!) and then you form it into golf ball sized balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about  35 minutes and your beanballs are done!  All that's left to do is assemble.  Cut up a whole-grain baguette into 5 6-inch sections and top that with 4 beanballs, 1/2 cup marinara sauce (I had homemade, but forgot to thaw it, so had to resort to store bought- just try to use a healthy sauce- I used Newman's Own Marinara), and sprinkle on some more nutritional yeast (this is also found in the health food section and is a great replacement for cheese- it has a similar taste).  If you have a family that is split- some vegan/vegetarian and some meat eaters this is a WONDERFUL recipe!  Meat lovers and veggie lovers alike will LOVE this recipe!  It's not lacking in flavor by any means- and it really hits the spot- it's a truly satisfying meal.  Serve it up with some greens on the side and you have one fantastic meal!  Thanks Tosca for this fabulous recipe!

My rating- 9

The Kind Diet, Recipe 20- Crocodile Crunch

Okay, so I lied- I actually will be caught up after THIS recipe!  I decided to make breakfast for dinner tonight.  It's been hot outside and I don't feel like cooking, for starters, but it's also just me and my girls tonight and I thought this sounded like a fun thing to make for us all to chow down on.  What kid (or adult, for that matter) wouldn't at least want to TRY something called Crocodile Crunch?  You'll see why it's called that later (it's the secret ingredient!).  First things first- you start by chopping up any variety of fruits you want into bite-sized pieces.  I used kiwi, strawberries, banana, and apple.  She also suggests using avocados, pears, or mango.  Just make sure you choose sturdy fruits that can stand up to a sauce.  Mix up all the fruit in a bowl and then you make the sauce.  This is the secret- spirulina.  This super food powder is what turns this dish it's crocodile green color.  To start the sauce you mix the spirulina with some hemp milk.  Then you add in some almond butter, followed by some maple syrup and freshly squeezed orange juice.  This is your sauce and it gets poured down all over the fruit.  Mix it up to coat it all and then you top the mixture with some dried coconut and kamut flake cereal (I actually ONLY had some oat flake cereal on hand, so that's what I used).  Divide into bowls and serve it up.  What could be more refreshing at the end of a hot day then a bowlful of fruit?  Not much, and when it's a funky green color, it doesn't get much cooler than that!  Now for the taste test- WOW!  I have to say that with it's deep green color it does almost look more like a science project gone bad than food, but once you taste this you will be instantly IN LOVE.  It is SO good for you, but you wouldn't really know it- it tastes like a dessert and it's got crunchy and soft textures- the combo of flavors is superb.  I am in love with this and will be making it often this summer- it's also a great way to use up nature's bounty of fruits in the summer- make a big batch of this and watch it disappear!  AMAZING!

My rating- 10!

PS- My 4 1/2 year old really liked this recipe, but my 2 year old?  Not so much- the green color really freaked her out (plus she is my picky eater anyway).  I'll just keep trying!

The Kind Diet, Recipe 19- Basic Rice

I am happy to say that after reviewing this recipe I will be ALL caught up.  I made this last week in preparation for the Clean, Mean Burritos.  I STINK at making brown rice, so I was excited to see this basic recipe in this book, I was hopeful that it would solve my problem of mushy, stuck together brown rice.  To start, you rinse the 1 cup of brown rice (she says to rinse it once, but I rinsed it twice).  The next step is optional- you let the rice soak in fresh water for 1 hour or overnight.  I skipped this step since I didn't have that kind of time.  Whenever you are ready to cook the rinsed rice you simply drain it off and place it in the pot with 2 cups fresh water and a pinch of sea salt.  Bring it to a boil over high heat and then cover the pot, reduce the heat as low as it will go and let it rip for a full 50 minutes (no peeking!).  Let it sit a few more minutes off the heat with the lid still on and you are ready to eat.  Unfortunately, I have to say that I was still left disappointed- while I saw a marked improvement in the stickiness and mushiness in the rice, it still had MUCH more than I was hoping for- so I am still on a quest for perfect brown rice.  Perhaps next time I will soak it overnight- maybe that will do the trick.

My rating- 6.5

The Kind Diet, Recipe 18- Clean, Mean Burritos

I have to start by saying that we are not big burrito eaters in my house.  That being said, I think we'll eat them more often now that I have found such an easy, clean recipe for them!  These take a little forethought to put together, but are really very simple to do.  First you make a batch of brown rice.  (That's the forethought part- you can even make the rice the night before if that's easier for you.)  Once that's made you can start getting the burritos together.  I fancied them up a tad- her recipe just calls for cooked beans (I used kidney beans), but I decided to heat them in a skillet with a bit of water and mash about half of them up.  I also added a bit of garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the beans to spice them up a bit.  To assemble the burritos I simply put a little bit of the brown rice in the center of a tortilla with some of the bean mixture.  Then I added chopped cucumber, avocado, shredded lettuce, and chopped cilantro and rolled that bad boy up!  Serve them up with some vegan sour cream and maybe a bit of salsa and you have dinner.  I love this recipe because it's simple, clean, delicious, AND a complete meal in one cute little package!  You get your protein, carbs, and veggies all in one!  I love that!  These are also excellent as leftovers for lunches- so you'll be sure to use up all the leftover ingredients- no waste!  I know I'll make these again this summer- they are filling without being heavy- perfect for the nice weather.

My rating- 9