I really fancy a good ravioli, perfect pasta, perfect filling, perfect sauce accompaniment. So, I was thinking about making unique fillings for ravioli, housed inside the most delicious fresh pasta, that go with each season. What season is coming guys? Spring! Broccoli rabe is in season in the spring time! So the peppery greens coupled with other light spring flavors, like lemon and pine nuts, seemed like a great idea! This vegan broccoli rabe ravioli is amazing!…
Entrees
Vegan Black Bean Satay with Peanut Sauce
Have you ever had satay? It is super fun, and from what I remember, super delicious. There was a little Asian restaurant that my dad used to take us to when I was a kid. They had chicken satay with peanut sauce, and they would bring you a little burner with a tiny grill to cook it yourself. I loved it! I thought it was so much fun. I saw a beef satay on a menu the other day, and thought what a great idea it would be to use black beans to mimic beef would be. My husband and I were discussing how to make this happen, and we figured on there was only like a 20% chance it would work. Well, I worked out completely and amazingly! It is so friggin’ delicious….
Vegan Fig and Chorizo Pizza
Okay guys, hear me out. Does this combination sound a little odd to you? I promise it is not. The sweetness of the figs, and the spicy saltiness of the chorizo actually makes more sense than anything ever has in my life! I am non stop throwing recipe ideas at my husband, however, this time he was a little bit hesitant. The second he walked through the door, I shoved a piece of this Fig and Chorizo Pizza in his face, and he definitely ate crow, not literally, of course. He told me I was right, which I absolutely love hearing….
Vegan Cajun Tofu with Creamy Grits and Greens
I am madly in love with New Orleans, and it is actually not a long drive from where I live! My husband and I took our daughter to New Orleans a few months ago, and we had an amazing time. I had some amazing food, but couldn’t find a lot of Cajun food that was vegan. I was pretty jealous of all the spicy goodness my husband had. So here we are. Cajun spiced tofu and creamy grits with some super garlicky kale! This whole recipe is so quick and easy! The perfect weeknight meal!…
Vegan Chive Pappardelle with Meyer Lemon Cream Sauce
Fresh pasta sounds kind of intimidating. Right? Well, don’t feel intimidated. It is actually really easy to make without even having a pasta maker. This Chive Pappardelle is so simple. With 5 ingredients and about 15 minutes, you too can have the most amazing fresh pasta. Pappardelle is one of my favorite pastas, I love wider flat noodles, and these are the ultimate perfect pasta. I had romantic dinners on my mind in honor of Valentine’s day coming up, and I decided to work on some fresh pasta. I think it is the perfect dish for romance!
I decided to make an herb pappardelle, and thought chives would be the best. What goes beautifully with chives? Lemon. So when I happened upon the most fragrant bag of meyer lemons, I knew it was calling to me! So, chive pappardelle with meyer lemon cream sauce was born. It is all things good in the world. The texture of the fresh pasta, the little bit of onion flavor the chive adds, mixed with the most creamy luscious citrus sauce, it all tastes so complex, but is so incredibly easy to make. You will probably impress yourself!
I recently saw a tutorial for an easy way to roll out pasta without a pasta maker. If you roll it out really thin with a rolling pin, then roll the pasta like you would a cinnamon roll or something, you can then cut it into perfect uniform strips. It works so well, and I definitely recommend it!
This is maybe the most simple pasta sauce ever. It is super creamy, made from cashews and almond milk, thrown into a blender and that’s it. You can then place it in a sauce pan to heat up, but if you want to be super lazy(which I generally do) you can just toss it with the hot pasta, and it will be fine that way as well! The sauce is 6 ingredients, 2 of which are salt and pepper! You do need to soak the cashews, but I really love to just soak them over night so they are ready when you are.
Okay, friends, you can make this fresh pasta, I know you can! Once you do it the first time, you will realize that you could have been doing it forever. You can make healthy, quick and delicious fresh pasta anytime you want. You can play around with the flavors, add different herbs and spices. This is a great place to start! I hope you enjoy!
- 2 C. All purpose flour
- 2 C. Semolina flour
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 1 1/4 C. Water
- 1/4 C. Fresh chives
- 1 C. Cashews, raw (soaked for at least 8 hours)
- 1/2 C. Almond milk
- Juice of 3 Meyer lemons (mine were small, you may only need 2 if they are large)
- 1 tsp. Meyer lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp. Nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Pepper
- Make the pasta, by adding all the ingredients to a food processor. Process for a few minutes until it forms a ball, and the chives are chopped and go throughout the dough.
- Pull dough out of the food processor, and shape into a ball, set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, make sure to salt your water.
- While water is coming to a boil, you can make the sauce.
- Add all the sauce ingredients to a blender, blend on high until really smooth and creamy, it may take a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside.
- Now, cut the pasta dough into four, roll out the pasta on a floured surface, really thin maybe an 8th or 16th of an inch thick. Roll up the pasta onto itself, like a cinnamon roll, then cut into strips, you should get perfect noodles. Repeat until all the dough is rolled out and cut.
- Once the water is boiling add the pasta, maybe half at a time, and cook for 1 1/2 -2 minutes.
- Toss with the sauce and serve immediately!
- You can leave the boiling water in the pot and let it stay at a boil, and just fish the pasta that is done out with a slotted spoon.
- If your food processor is not large enough to process all the dough at once, you can do half at a time.
- I like to soak my cashews overnight, that way they are ready when you are.
Vegan Chicken and Waffles with Spicy Maple Syrup
Chicken and waffles is a very interesting Southern staple. It sounds strange, but it is pure perfection. It was also just itching to be turned into a fantastic vegan dish. I have seen recipes for vegetarian chicken and waffles using pre-made fake chicken and pre-made waffles. So I wanted to create recipe from scratch that you could make pretty easily, and I would like to say, I think this may be the best vegan chicken I have ever tasted. I also made a Belgian style waffle, and it is the perfect pairing. Light, crisp and fluffy waffles, topped with the perfect vegan chicken. Pour on top my spicy maple syrup, and prepare for one of the best meals of your life!
I have been playing around with this idea for a while now, and I finally decided that the perfect base for the vegan chicken would be chickpeas. Mashed chickpeas mixed with poultry seasoning, no chicken broth and vital wheat gluten, make the perfect chicken tender type situation! They were absolutely delicious in every way! The texture was great! The taste divine, and the combination of waffle, chicken and syrup was outrageous!
I had some friends over for Sunday brunch, and I made a big batch of citrus Sangria, and these chicken and waffles. They were a big hit, and while filling and carby, I actually didn’t feel like total crap afterwards like I do when I am eating lots of other brunch and breakfast carbs. These are way lighter and healthier than you might think. I still had energy after eating waffles, which is saying a lot. I usually feel like I need a nap immediately after eating any waffles or pancakes. This dish is different!
You also don’t really need any special equipment to make the chicken which makes me feel great about sharing this with you. I know not everyone has a food processor or blender. All you have to do is mash your chickpeas, I just used a potato masher, but a fork would work, and then stir in the remaining ingredients! Voila, you are ready for your best ever vegan chicken! Obviously, you need a waffle iron for the waffles, but that is it. Also, I think everyone needs a waffle iron anyways. You can do amazing things with it!
Make this immediately! You won’t regret it, it will change your life. Well, if your life is food, like mine is, anyways! I hope you enjoy!
- 1 Can of chickpeas
- 1/2 C. Vital wheat gluten
- 3 Tbsp. No chicken broth or veggie broth
- 1 tsp. Liquid smoke
- 2 tsp. Poultry seasoning
- A dash of salt and pepper
- 1/2 C. Cornstarch
- Oil for frying
- 1 1/2 C. All purpose flour
- 1 tsp. Baking powder
- 1/2 C. Cornstarch
- 3 Tbsp. Sugar
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
- 6 Tbsp. Veggie oil
- 2 C. Almond milk
- 2 tsp. Apple cider vinegar
- 4 Tbsp. Flax meal
- 6 Tbsp. Water
- 1/2 C. Maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
- Make the "chicken" first. Drain the chickpeas, and pour into a large mixing bowl. Mash pretty well, with a potato masher or a fork. You want a little texture, but mostly all mashed.
- Add the vital wheat gluten, the broth and all the seasonings. Mash all together, your hands may be the best tool for this. Mash and knead slightly until everything is combined and forms a dough. Shape into finger like shapes, so they look like chicken fingers.
- Heat about 1-1 1/2 in. of oil in a pan to about 300-350 degrees.
- Dredge the "chicken" in the cornstarch, and pat off excess. Once oil is hot, fry on each side for a few minutes until golden brown on each side.
- Make the waffles, add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Stir together.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add vanilla and oil and whisk together. Set aside.
- Add the apple cider vinegar to the almond milk, and let sit for a few minutes until it curdles slightly creating vegan buttermilk.
- Make the flax eggs, by adding the flax meal to the water, whisk and let thicken for a minute.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, and flax eggs to the oil and vanilla. Whisk all together until fully combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until fully combined and smooth.
- Heat your waffle iron, and cook waffles according to your waffle iron's instructions.
- When the "chicken" and waffles are ready, whisk together the maple syrup and cayenne to make the spicy syrup.
- Serve a waffle with some "chicken" on top, and pour the syrup over all of it!
- Enjoy!
Vegan Beer Battered Mushroom Tacos with Creamy Horseradish Sauce
I don’t think anyone can deny how amazing fried mushrooms are. Well, unless you hate mushrooms. However, I can say pretty confidently that mushrooms are my favorite food. If you throw mushrooms onto almost anything, I will eat it. A local bar makes the most amazing fried mushrooms, and I have not had them in a long time because I am rather certain that they are not vegan. The batter could be I suppose, but I am 100% sure that the sauce they come with is not. These perfect fried bites of ecstasy come with a creamy horseradish sauce. I think the horseradish is the perfect complement to the mushrooms.
I see people put horseradish on their steaks, but in my opinion, a nice mushroom can replace any steak. They are meaty, filling, and can take on any flavor you want pretty easily! So, the other day, while I was craving some fried mushroom bar food, I thought about how I could take that on and make it my own. Well, tacos popped into my head and wouldn’t go away, so here we are.
Tacos are probably my favorite delivery method of getting food into my mouth. Screw forks and spoons, a nice tortilla is where it’s at. The greatest thing is you can start with your base main flavor, either a protein or veggie, and build from there. A sauce, a nice crunchy element(I love pepitas on my tacos), and some fresh veggies on top. Perfection, and always easy. I don’t think I have ever made a taco that took more than 15 minutes. So they are the best week night go to!
I felt compelled to combine these two already amazing things and make them even better. The beer batter was an idea, simply because I wanted to make them more flavorful and something a little different and intriguing. Every component to this dish is super simple. The batter is only 4 ingredients, the sauce is only 5 ingredients, and the slaw is only 6 ingredients, and those numbers are all including salt and pepper. So, let’s talk about the slaw now, I thought this needed a fresh and crisp element to kind of cut through the heaviness of the mushrooms. So, I just made a quick veggie slaw with a light dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. It was really the perfect thing!
I promise, you will love this combination, and if you love mushrooms as much as I do, this will make your brain, heart and tummy so happy! Light and crispy battered mushrooms, creamy sauce with a kick and fresh veggies, all rolled into a adorable tasty package! Enjoy!
- 1 C. All purpose flour
- 1 tsp. Baking powder
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 1/4 C. Beer, make sure it is vegan
- 10 oz. Baby bella mushrooms
- Oil for frying
- A little extra flour for dredging
- 1/2 C. Vegan Mayo
- 2 Tbsp. Horseradish
- 2 tsp. Lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste(I used about 1 tsp. of each)
- 1 C. Cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 C. Carrots, shredded
- 1/2 C. Brussel sprouts, shredded
- 1 Tbsp. Apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp. Olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Corn or flour tortillas
- Lemon wedges
- Prepare the slaw by adding all the veggie slaw ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside. You can keep in the fridge while you prepare the rest.
- Make the sauce, by whisking together all sauce ingredients until combined, taste and season. Set aside, you can also place this in the fridge while you make the mushrooms.
- Make the batter, by adding the flour, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl. Pour in the beer, and whisk until combined.
- Cut the mushrooms into thick strips, toss with a little flour.
- Heat about an inch of oil of choice in a large sauce pan or skillet on high.
- While the oil is heating, start battering the mushrooms, by dipping into beer batter and coating thoroughly.
- When the oil has reached about 350 degrees, add a few battered mushrooms at a time, cook for a minute or two on each side. Until nice and golden brown. Cook all the mushrooms.
- Serve immediately by adding mushrooms, sauce and slaw to a tortilla.
- Enjoy!
Vegan Crispy Mongolian Seitan
All right, so you may have noticed I like Asian food, Asian flavors, and anything Asian inspired. I can’t help it, I think garlic and ginger together is probably my favorite flavor, and my favorite scent. Should I make garlic ginger soy candle? Perhaps, but I digress, anyways, this Mongolian Seitan does not disappoint. It is crispy, sticky, sweet and salty, and eyes rolling back into your head delicious.
Am I a genius? Possibly, I’m not sure. What I do know is that this was a brilliant idea. My husband makes the best seitan, and every time he makes a big batch, the gears start turning. I decided to treat this loaf just like flank steak(I think?) and cut it into thin strips. To make it super crispy, I dredged it in cornstarch, fried real quick in a little sesame oil. The sauce is a mixture of all things good in the world, and it smells divine. I reduced the sauce for a few minutes on it’s own, and then when the seitan it ready, you toss it all together and let it thicken up again!
So, you can make your own seitan, or you can use store bought if you don’t feel up to making it, but it is actually way easier than you may think. However, once the seitan is made, or if you buy it, this recipe takes like 15 minutes. You can have a super healthy, protein heavy dinner ready in just a few minutes. I would make add some steamed veggies and rice, and you have the perfect meal. This recipe also provides extra sauce for drizzling on top, so you can top your rice and veggies with it too!
So, friends, go forth and get your garlic and ginger on. You pretty much can’t go wrong with these flavors, and you also really can’t go wrong with this recipe. I don’t believe you can mess this up! You can make this as spicy as you want for the cold weather! It is warming, sticky, crunchy, sweet, salty, and to die for!
- 8-12oz. Seitan, store bought or homemade
- 1/3 C. Cornstarch
- 3 Tbsp. Coconut or sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp. Sesame oil
- 1/2 C. Soy sauce
- 1/2 C. Water
- 3 tsp. Ginger, grated
- 3 Cloves of garlic, grated
- 1/2 C. Coconut sugar
- Green onions
- Red pepper or chili paste
- Sesame seeds
- Make the sauce, add all the sauce ingredients to a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil, whisk until everything is combined and coconut sugar has dissolved. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, until it reduces slightly. Set aside.
- While the sauce is simmering, make the seitan. If you have a loaf of seitan, slice into thin strips, if you have store bought that has already been sliced, just use as is.
- Pour the cornstarch into a bowl, and dredge each piece of seitan into the cornstarch shaking off the excess.
- Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet on medium high, when the pan is hot, add the seitan, just enough to cover the bottom, don't over lap. You may need to do a few rounds. Fry the seitan for a minute or two on each side, until it gets nice and crispy.
- Remove seitan from the pan, clean the oil out of the pan and put all the seitan back into the pan. Sautee on medium high, and add about half of the sauce. Cook down and add a little more sauce at a time until is it as saucy as you would like it. You don't have to use it all,you can save some to pour a little on top
- Cook for a few more minutes until the sauce has reduced and coated the seitan.
- Serve immediately! I suggest, rice and veggies to go with, and adding the garnish on top!
- You can find prepackaged seitan at most grocery stores if you don't want to make your own.
- If you don't want to use seitan, this would also be a perfect method for tofu!
Vegan Crab Rangoon
Americanized Chinese food, love it or hate? I used to love it! I guess I still kind of do, it just depends. One thing I always loved as a kid was Crab Rangoon. Our special occasions usually consisted of either ordering a pizza or Chinese food. I would always ask for Crab Rangoon as an appetizer to share, and it is so bad and so good! I had not had Crab Rangoon in very long time, but I have been lying in bed at night thinking about food (as usual), and I have been pondering all my childhood favorites which is when I decided to veganize Crab Rangoon.
This morning, vegan Crab Rangoon was born! Thank me later, and I promise you will. I went through a bunch of different possibilities of how to go about this, and settled on something so incredibly easy, I am pretty sure any one can handle it! I used a vegan cream cheese, instead of a homemade cashew cheese, because I wanted it to taste as authentic as possible. I added shredded carrots to make it look like bits of crab, and then mixed in a bit of kelp powder to give it a little seafood like flavor!
After I decided on all that, I also wanted to give it more flavor, and added sesame oil, soy sauce, agave and scallions. These little pockets of heaven are insane! I dipped them into soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, and a sweet chili sauce. I don’t know which I liked better, all I can say is, I didn’t mean to eat so many! Ahhhh!
This recipe can be made in about 15 or 20 minutes, is only 10 ingredients and one of the tastiest things I have had in a long time. I folded mine into triangles to make it an even easier recipe, but you can fold them however you want! I am so excited I get to relive my childhood, these are perfect and taste exactly like I remember the real ones tasting. Have fun kids, and kids at heart!
- 1/2 C. Vegan cream cheese, I used Daiya
- 1/4 C. Carrots, shredded fine
- 1 tsp. Kelp powder
- 1 tsp. Sesame oil
- 1 tsp. Agave nectar
- 1 tsp. Soy sauce
- 2 tsp. Scallions, chopped
- Dash of Salt and Pepper
- 12-18 Vegan wonton wrappers
- Oil for frying
- Small bowl of water
- In a medium mixing bowl, add all the filling ingredients and whisk, or beat with a hand mixer until fully combined.
- Heat about 1/2 an inch of oil in a frying pan on medium high heat.
- Assemble the crab rangoon by taking a wonton wrapper and placing about 1/2 tsp.-3/4 tsp. of filling in the center. Using your small bowl of water, wet all the edges of the wrapper and fold point to point making a triangle. Make sure all the edges are sealed together by pressing really well.
- Once the oil is hot, fry 2 to 3 rangoons at a time, fry for about 1 minute on one side, flip and fry for another minute on the other side until both sides are nice and brown.
- Serve immediately when all of them are done, I recommend serving with soy sauce and sweet chili sauce!
- You should be able to find kelp powder easily, in the International food section at the store. Or at any health food store.
- I found vegan wonton wrappers at my local Asian market, but if you don't have one, I have seen them at Whole Foods and other health food stores.
Vegan Chicken and Dumplings
Yes, I am from the South. Florida though, is different from the rest of the South, our food is definitely more seafood and Hispanic food than soul food and down home cooking. That being said, my Grandma grew up in Kentucky and my Dad also spent a significant amount of time there. So, I do know Southern food. One of my favorites was always chicken and dumplings. My Dad made a mean chicken and dumplings when I was a kid! My husband Chris and I talk a lot about our childhoods, the good and the bad, and this ALWAYS leads to conversations about food!
Making my happy memories vegan is a thing of beauty and pride for me. So, this vegan chicken and dumplings came together so perfectly, and warmed me inside and out. This is the PERFECT winter recipe! So steamy, a little spicy and so filling.
Have you ever made chicken and dumplings? It is incredibly easy and totally brilliant. The dumplings act like built in biscuits for sauce dippin’! We worked with the dumplings a few times, the first time they were too dry, then a little too moist, but finally we got them just right! Underneath the fluffy amazing biscuit like dumplings, is a fabulous thick gravy and vegan chicken as well as some nice diced veggies. This dish is all around insanely delicious. You need to make this before winter is over!
Oh man, so steamy! This chicken and dumplings needs to be in your belly on a cold night! This recipe is incredibly easy, ready pretty quickly and will feed your whole family, and then some. This recipe will warm you up and make you so happy, I promise!
Super rustic with a gravy base and drop dumplings, you really can’t go wrong here! Spoon into a nice bowl, serve piping hot with some nice fresh parsley, there is literally nothing better. I hope you enjoy!
- 2 C. All purpose flour
- 2 tsp. Baking powder
- 1 tsp. Baking soda
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 3 Tbsp. Dried chives
- 2 Tbsp. Flax meal
- 3 Tbsp. Water
- 1 C. Almond milk
- 1 tsp. Apple cider vinegar
- 1 Large carrot, diced
- 2 Stalks of celery,diced
- 1/2 an Onion, diced
- 2 Cloves of garlic,diced
- 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1 C. White wine
- 1/4 C. All purpose flour
- 1/4 C. Vegan butter, I used Earth Balance
- 5 C. Vegan chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 2 C. Vegan chicken, I used Trader Joe's Chickenless strips
- 1 Bay leaf
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper(optional)
- Make the dumplings, whisk together all the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, make a flax egg by mixing flax and water together and let sit for a minute. Make vegan buttermilk by mixing almond milk and apple cider vinegar together and let sit for a minute.
- Add the flax egg and vegan buttermilk to the dry ingredients, and stir until completely combined. Set aside.
- In a large soup pot , heat 1 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat, add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Sweat for a few minutes until the onion starts to become translucent.
- Add the white wine, stir and reduce for a few minutes. Pour veggies and remaining wine into a bowl and set aside.
- In the soup pot, add the vegan butter and flour and stir. Cook for a few minutes to make a roux.
- Add the stock and the veggies and wine back in. Stir together. Add the vegan chicken and bay leaf.
- Taste and season.
- Time to add the dumplings, scoop small scoops of dough into the liquid in the pot, until all the dough has been used.
- Cover and reduce heat to low, simmer for 25 to 30 minutes until the dumplings are cooked through.
- Serve with parsley!