Sauteed Kale with Garlic

Sauteed Kale with Garlic

 Kale is my favorite leafy green.  One cup cooked has 89% of your daily vitamin C and over 100% of your vitamin A, as well as being hearty and delicious!

 

This dish is vegan and gluten free.

 

  

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale

1 garlic clove

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Let's start by washing the kale really well. Once the kale is clean, remove the leaves from the stems.  Chop the leaves up into bite size pieces and discard the stems.  Chop the garlic into really fine pieces.  Place the garlic and olive oil into a cold pan.  Put the heat at medium.  As soon as you hear the garlic start to sizzle, add the kale to the pan.  Toss everything together, cover and reduce the heat to medium low.  Cook for about 15 minutes, tossing about every 5.  Remove the lid, add the salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes.  Place the kale on a serving dish and enjoy!

Mean Green Jalapeno Salsa

Mean Green Jalapeno Salsa

This salsa is hot, hot, hot and yummy, yummy, yummy.  It's the perfect compliment to any Mexican dish.

 

This recipe is vegan and gluten free.

 

 

  Makes about 2 cups of salsa

 

 Ingredients

8 jalapeno peppers

1/2 yellow onion

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

salt to taste

Directions

Cut off the top of the jalapenos and quarter the onion.  Place them in a sauce pot with the apple cider vinegar and 1/2 cup of water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, adjust the lid to let out a bit of steam, lower the heat to medium low and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Every 5 minutes toss the peppers and onions around so that they cook evenly.  You know that they are done when you can easily pierce the peppers with a fork.

Pour the pepper/onion mixture into a blender with the remaining 1/2 cup of water.  Be sure to remove the fill cap on the blender so the steam is released.  Salt liberally and blend until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips or your favorite Mexican dish.  Enjoy!

 

Cold Peanut Noodle Salad with Tofu and Cabbage

Cold Peanut Noodle Salad with Tofu and Cabbage

This is a perfect lunch on a hot summer day.  It is cool, crunchy and packed with protein.

 

This dish is vegan.  Substitute rice noodles to make this recipe gluten free.

 

 

Serves 6

 

Peanut Sauce Ingredients

3/4 cup natural peanut butter

1/2 cup vegetable stock or water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chili sauce (optional)

 

Noodle Salad Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat noodles, cooked and cooled

1 package tofu

2 cups cabbage, shredded

5 carrots, shredded  

5 green onions, chopped

1/4 teriyaki sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

Peanut Sauce Directions

Get a large bowl, big enough for the salad as we will just add our ingredients as we go.  Place all of the Sauce ingredients in the bowl and whisk well.  Super easy, right!

Noodle Salad Directions

The first thing we have to do is cook the tofu.  Preheat a pan to medium heat.  Drain the tofu and chop it into bite size pieces.  Add the olive oil and tofu to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add the teriyaki sauce, toss well and cook for about 10 more minutes or until the sauce cooks down and the tofu has nice brown edges.  Remove from heat and allow the tofu to cool before adding it to the salad.

Place your cooked pasta into the bowl with the peanut sauce.  Toss well.  Continue this process of adding and tossing with the shredded cabbage, shredded carrots and chopped green onions.  Reserve a few carrot and onion pieces for garnish.  Add the cooked tofu to the salad and toss gently as to not break up the tofu.  To serve, place about 1 cup of the salad onto a plate and garnish with the remaining carrots and onions.  Enjoy!

 

Tofu Breakfast Tacos

Tofu Breakfast Tacos

These delcious breakfast tacos are a great way to start your day with a fiesta!

 This recipe is vegan, omit vegan breakfast sausage to make it gluten free.

 

 

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

  1 package Tofurky Vegan Breakfast Sausages

1 package firm tofu

12 corn tortillas

1 can, refried beans

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1/4 onion, chopped

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  Preheat a pan to medium heat.  Add the olive oil, peppers and onions to the pan.  While those start cooking, chop up the vegan sausages and tofu into bite size pieces.  Add them to the pan and toss everything together.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Let this mixture cook for about 20 minutes, tossing often, until everything gets a nice carmelization.  Get your refried beans cooking in a pot until they are nice and warm.  Remember to check the ingredients on the beans to ensure that they are vegetarian.

Warm the tortillas on a stove burner and store them in a clean kitchen towel until you are ready to serve.  

Chop the tomatoes and add them to the taco mixture.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Now we are ready to plate!  Lay out 3 corn tortillas on a plate.  Spread a couple of spoonfuls of beans onto the tortillas and top with 1/4 cup of the taco mixture.  Enjoy!

Vegan Beefless Tips with Polenta and Peppers

Vegan Beefless Tips with Polenta and Peppers

This recipe has all of the delicious flavors of a tamale, but it can be prepared in half the time!

This dish is vegan.

 

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

 1 package Gardein Beefless Tips
1 cup cooked, firmed polenta
2 chopped roma tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped green peppers
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Polenta
In order to cook the polenta, we will follow the same steps as we did for making Polenta fries.  Bring two cups of water to a boil.  Add the 1/2 cup of yellow corn meal and simmer.  You will need to stir the mixture very frequently.  Simmer this mixture for about twenty minutes, slowly adding the last cup of water throughout.  Add the salt, pepper and parsley.  Keep stirring :)  When the polenta begins to pull away from the walls of the pot, you are done.

 Now pour your polenta into a 2 x 4 glass container.  Let the polenta cool to room temperature.  Cover it and place it in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

After the polenta has cooled for at least two hours.  Remove it from the fridge and slice it into bite size pieces.

  

Coat a cookie sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Place the polenta slices on the pan and into an oven that has been preheated to 450 degrees.  Cook for 30 minutes, flipping the polenta fries every 15 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Beefless Tips and Peppers 

Preheat a pan to medium heat.  Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the pan and add the package of Beefless Tips.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until they have completely thawed.  Uncover the pan, add the onions and pepper and toss all of the ingredients together.  Cook for an additional 10 minutes. 

Plating

Now that all of our ingredients are cooked, it's time to plate.  The polenta is the base of the dish, so it goes down first.  Top the polenta with the beefless tips and peppers.  Finish by adding the chopped roma tomatoes.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

 

Chik Patty Parmesan

Chik Patty Parmesan

This recipe is easy and delicious, making it yet another way to jazz up a traditional Chik Patty. 

 

This recipe is vegetarian.

 

 

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

4 vegetarian Chik Patties

5 oz of Parmesan/Gouda cheese

 4 cups cooked spaghetti

3 cups marinara sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

basil for garnish

  

Directions

As I promised, this recipe is super easy.  Drizzle the olive oil onto a cookie sheet.  Place your chik patties on the sheet and bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, flipping once after 10 minutes.  If you want to make this dish even easier, you can microwave the chik patty, but I find that the crispyness from the oven is worth the extra time.  While the chik patties are cooking, cook your spaghetti and warm the marinara sauce on the stove top.  When everything is good and hot, all you have to do is assemble.  Add 2 cups of marinara sauce to 4 cups of cooked spaghetti.  Place one cup of the spaghetti on a plate along side the chik patty.  Top the chik patty with 1/4 cup of sauce, 1/4 of the Parmesan/Gouda cheese, and the fresh basil.   You can find the Parmesan/Gouda cheese blend at Trader Joe's or your local cheese shop.  If you want to keep it simple, either Parmesan or Gouda would be great with this dish.  Enjoy!

 

Boca Burger with Grilled Onions

Boca Burger with Grilled Onions

Jazz up a plain Boca Burger by topping it with delicious caramelized onions.  A great way to add flavor to this protein packed vegan sandwich.

Onions are great for your cardiovascular system and they also contain flavonoids that may prohibit tumor growth.

 

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

4 - Boca Burgers

1 yellow onion

4 leaves Romaine Lettuce

4 onion rolls

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

 Preheat a large pan to medium heat.  Chop your onions into inch long pieces.  Add the olive oil and onions to the pan.   Let the onions cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so, until they reach a nice caramel color.  Salt and pepper to taste.  In the same pan, cook the Boca burgers for about 5 minutes on each side.  To assemble the sandwich, place the Boca burger on the bottom bun, followed 1/4 of the grilled onions.  Top with a leaf of Romaine lettuce and the top bun.  Enjoy!