Showing posts with label plant based. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plant based. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Rainbow Fried Rice #vegan


Rainbow Rice is such a fun dish to serve to our guest. I have been making this version of fried rice for years. We use a ton of fresh vegetables, some from our garden, and make it every week. My kids eat Rainbow Fried Rice as a snack or a replacement for any of their meals, breakfast included.

The recipe is basic but you can definitely alter any of the ingredients and add some too. I love to top mine with fresh avocado and black sesame seeds. If I am daring, then I will also include Sriracha Mayonnaise. I use my VEGAN MAYONNAISE and a little bit of the red hot stuff.


This is a sneaky parent trick, sneaking in as many vegetables as possible under the guise of fried rice, into a dish they love. I think using the rainbow as a guide when preparing our daily meals is a great way for me to think about the variety of vegetables available to my family each day. It encourages me to think outside the box and look for vegetables that might not be in our family's top ten list. We are often trying new things in order to achieve our "rainbow a day" mentality of eating our vegetables.

My kids, who mostly eat a plant-based diet, are still kids. They love their pasta, top ramen, noodles, crackers, bread, and all things carb related. I have to keep on top of their choices, otherwise, they would eat only pasta and bread. It's an easy habit to form and one that I hope we are teaching them to reevaluate. Some ways that I ensure they get at least a few fruit and vegetables in their diet each day are with morning smoothies. We fill them up first thing in the morning to start their days off with a bang of rainbow flavor. Then we have our favorite, Rainbow Fried Rice, available for lunch and dinner. I often make a homemade marinara sauce (which they love) that is also packed with vegetables.

It is challenging feeding our families nutritionally dense meals with how expensive groceries are becoming. This is another reason why we eat a lot of rice and beans in our diet. These are staples in many homes around the world and cost a fraction of what processed food or meat does. It makes our food budget stretch in the right direction. I went to the store yesterday and our bill was much higher, for the same foods I buy each week, by about $75.00. I was shocked! The events that are occurring in our world surrounding the flux in weather patterns are starting to affect the prices at our local grocery store.



We are trying to enlarge our garden for next year because I feel that the prices of our food may continue to increase. In some ways, being the Mom, I feel it is my job to find easy meals to prepare that are budget-friendly and still feed my kids the nutrients they need to extend their playtime, keep their minds sharp, and their bodies strong.

I am passionate about eating the rainbow and I will try my best to teach my kids this philosophy through preparing meals that introduces them to the rainbow of foods available, through my own example, and through educating them on the benefits of eating a plant-based diet.

I would love to hear your ideas of dishes you prepare that use an array of ingredients that represent the rainbow. Also, are you planning on changing the way your shop for food or starting your own garden, given the current tone of our nation and weather-related issues (hurricanes, tornados, fires, etc...)?

That was a lot of chatting just to get to the recipe below but we are living in some different times and different times require us to approach things, well, differently. I felt that I needed to share a bit about some of the changes we are trying to make possible in our own family to keep our food budget on track and plan for the future.


Rainbow Fried Rice #vegan

4-6 cups of day old rice (new rice seems to be a bit too sticky)
1/2 cup red onion, diced small
1/2 cup diced carrots, diced small
1/4 cup red, orange, or/and green bell pepper, diced small
1-2 small zucchini, diced small
1/4 cup celery, diced small
soy sauce, use gluten-free if necessary
oil, to fry vegetables in

Optional toppings: sesame seeds, avocado, minced nori sheet, Sriracha mayonnaise

1.  I prefer to use day of sushi rice to make this dish. I make it the night before, stir it, and leave it in the rice cooker. The next morning I stir it again to loosen up the clumps and ready it to be thrown into the fry pan.

2.  Slice and dice all  of the vegetables listed or of your own choice. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to hot pan and saute vegetables for 4-6 minutes.  Add rice and stir.

3.  The soy sauce is added to taste. My family prefers a darker looking rice so we add a few squirts. Soy sauce is salty so you don't want to add too much. Also, if they want more, they can add it to their own bowls of rice later.

4.  Remove from heat and serve. Serve with or without the options. Store all left overs in the refrigerator up to a week.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Baked Avocado Slices #vegan


Our family loves everything about avocados. We eat them raw on sandwiches, on toast, and plain with a bit of salt and pepper.  We eat them smashed into the tastiest guacamole, fried, and now baked.

Avocados are creamy and smooth when perfectly riped. I know that can be a tricky situation, trying to find a ripe avocado on the day you want to use it. The avocado is in control of when it is ready. I have waited and waited to use an avocado, missed a day, and then avocado went bad.  They are sensitive little guys and gals.

I have learned through trial and error that an avocado will last longer if they are stored in the refrigerator AFTER they have ripened on your counter. This works great for us. I will usually buy 12 avocados at a time, this last us about one week, as they ripen I put them in the refrigerator. We grab and go or use them in our favorite recipe.

I have fried avocado slices with great success.  That recipe is HERE.  This recipe is not plant-based. It does include eggs and parmesan cheese.  The recipe you see today does not include either of these options and taste just as good.

The baked avocado slices are:

crispy
creamy
easy
baked
delicious

The recipe is at the end of pictures. I served the baked avocado slices with rice and our favorite dipping sauce. They make a great main meal or an appetizer.

Our other favorite avocado recipes are listed and linked below:

Guacamole #glutenfree #vegan
Fried Avocado Fries 
Avocado Pesto Hummus Dip
Avocado Bowls #vegan
Avocado Cream Sauce
Avocado, Mushroom, and Tomato Salad
Creamy Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Pasta Salad
Creamy Salsa Verde

Like I said, we love avocado and are always on the hunt for new ways to use them in our recipes and diets.






This weeks essay, Sifting Through Life, talks about our happiness. I encourage you to ask yourself a few questions about your own happiness.  CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ESSAY.

Baked Avocado Slices #vegan

2 large avocados, (best if they are not over-ripe)
Panko crust, recipe below
Veganaise, enough to coat slices
Water to thin mayo
Your favorite cooking spray

Panko crust ingredients:
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon onion powder
salt/pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1-1 1/2 cups of panko (depends on if you double dip the slices)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I use a wire cookie cooling rack inside my cookie sheet. This allows the heat to completely surround the avocado slices. This ensures that every part of the slice is crunchy.

2. Mix panko crust ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix mayonnaise and water. I thin it just a little. The mayonnaise will allow the panko crust to stick nicely to the avocado slices.

3.  Slice avocado with a sharp knife and scoop out the slices gently.  Place each slice in the mayonnaise and cover lightly.  Roll each avocado slice in the panko crust.

4. Place each avocado slice 1 inch apart. Lightly spray the slices with your favorite cooking spray. Bake for 18-25 minutes. I like mine a little brown, so I tend to cook mine for 25 minutes.

5. Remove the slices and serve with your favorite sauce. They are crispy right out of the oven, you can refrigerate any leftovers, but the crust will be soft...still good, but a different experience.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Veggie Puff Pastry Pockets


Did you know that Puff Pastry does not have any animal products in it?  There are a few foods that are vegan by chance and this happens to be one of them. I found the information on several other sites but this link will show you the specs so you can see for yourself.  Partridge Farm Puff Pastry

We don't eat a lot of puff pastry in our home because we do strive to eat more whole foods than processed food, but let's get real.  I go to school full time, hubby works full time, and we simply don't have a lot of time to prepare long and laborious meals.  This is a quick meal on those extra busy family days.
I make this veggie mix that we often eat on grilled sandwiches or separately as a salad. You can find the recipe  at this link http://www.simply-gourmet.com/2011/07/14-veggie-melts-oh-my.html.

Basically I have combined onion, cauliflower, carrots, and celery along with salt, pepper, and your favorite mayonnaise.  I am currently in love with Wildwood Aioli which is egg free!

These two items, the puff pastry and the veggie melt mix, happened because I had both of them on hand and the stove was already preheated from baking something else.

I adjusted the heat to 450 degrees to accommodate the Puff Pastry temperature requirements.  I had a bit of fun experimenting with different shapes and styles. I wasn't sure which way would work best. In the end, I went with the smaller hand held size and kept all of the veggie mix inside. I took my fork and stabbed a few holes to let the steam out as they cooked. You can see from the photo below that the cheese oozed out on a few but each bite still felt cheesy to me.


I will tell you that one recipe of the Veggie Melt  mixture will make more than one box of Puff Pastry can handle. I would recommend halving the cauliflower mixture.

To prepare the Puff Pastry I let it sit out on the table for 40 minutes to thaw. I opened each piece and cut them into thirds and then cut those pieces in half. Each sheet of Puff Pastry gave me six pieces to fill.

The Veggie Melt recipe did not have cheese in the recipe. I added a cup of cheese (vegan, cheddar, jack, etc...) and grated a little bit more to add inside each pastry pocket.

Holding the puff pastry in my hand, I gently put a spoonful of filling a bit more cheese, and folded it in half. This can be messy!  Seal the edges and take a fork to cross the edges too.  This secures them nicely.  Stab a few holes in the top of each one.  Add to the cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown. I baked them for 20 minutes, rotated them and added 10 more minutes.  (Honestly I think my oven needs to be looked at.)

The pockets came out perfect and we gobbled them up!  They reheated really well the next day too.



Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Jalapeno Fried Rice




My family has decided if I put jalapeno in any dish I make, it instantly becomes a hit.  This rice dish did not disappoint the family on a day when it was cold, rainy and gray.   

Very, very gray is how I would describe this time of year at the beach.  We get very few brights sunny days and having a bit of color in our food and on our walls helps with the blues.  When we were looking at homes the one thing that seemed to be common in each of the homes we liked were the painted walls.  Not white, cream or beige but bright orange, vibrant blue, canary yellow, and cherry red.  Bright and cheery and a bit of an eye sore when you see these rooms in person.  

I get it now though.  I see why the homes here have a lot of personality on the inside.  Those of us that live on the Oregon Coast spend a great deal of time inside the walls of our brick and mortar dwellings.  What has saved us from being down on these extended gray days are the windows in our own home.  Our living room has 10 huge windows and each and every day we get to watch the gray roll in and the gray roll out.  There is beauty in a monochromatic scene that I did not appreciate until we found ourselves immersed deep inside the gray-dom of living along a stretch of the West Coast that is simply breathtaking.  


I have never lived in a place that is constantly changing.  One day the beach has sand dunes and the next day it is flat.  The logs the size of telephone poles come to the shore with such ease that you forget that they are 25 feet tall.  They stack themselves like toothpicks near the sand dunes and in any nook they can find. Walking on the same beach you will have sun and then rain and probably more sun.

The weather is always changing and the weather is always changing the landscape.    Change, in my opinion, is good.

I guess this why I need to change up our fried rice a bit.  I won't lie and say I don't miss the bacon, egg and fried onion of my old fried rice recipe.  Bacon just adds a level of saltiness and smokiness that is hard to find in other products.  I don't like the Vegan Bacon and so I am learning to live without bacon.  My mind misses it but my body does not.  This body of mine does not process meat very well and we have been eating a plant based diet for some time.  

For this recipe I went with the spicy route.  We love all things hot.  Jalapeno's are a great way to infuse flavor and color into any rice dish.  This dish is flavored with a combination of Tamari (wheat free soy sauce) and Braggs Amino Acids.  I kept the veggies simple: garlic, onion and bell pepper with jalapeños and green onions thrown in at the very end.  

The ingredients on the list are the basics--designed for individuals who don't want raging hot fried rice, BUT, if your dinner crowd likes it extra HOT HOT HOT, well then, you might want to up the Sriracha Sauce and the jalapeños. Just go for it!


Jalapeno Fried Rice 

2-3 cups of day old prepared rice
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1/4 cup red onion, sliced
1/4 cup bell pepper, sliced
1 teaspoon garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce or Tamari sauce
2 tablespoons Braggs Amino Acids
1/2-1 whole fresh jalapeno pepper, I remove the seeds
salt to taste
chopped sliced green onions for garnish
Sriracha Mayonnaise 

1.  Heat oil in large saute pan.  Add onion and bell pepper.  Let cook until tender.  Add garlic.  Cook for 1 minute.

2.  Sprinkle day old rice over cooked vegetables.  Add the soy sauce/tamari/ Braggs and stir.  At this point--add more of these liquids--as needed.  If it looks dry, then add more.  Stir to combine.

3.  Slice jalapeno's thinly and add to cooked rice and vegetables.  Remove from heat and let jalapeños warm and wilt a bit.  

4.  Prepare Sriracha Mayonnaise by combining equal parts--if your brave--and mixing well. OR add more mayonnaise and a dab of the red stuff.   Dish up rice, criss cross the sauce across the top with a piping bag or a spoon and sprinkle with green onions.

OH, and be prepared to share the recipe--people want this one!


Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Tofu and Red Onion Salad


I really wanted to name this salad Finnley's Favorite Salad in the Entire World but I think it might be a bit too long.  The girl loves red onions in rice vinegar.

We first had this salad a few weeks ago at our local Japanese restaurant.  I wasn't really sure what I was ordering but I knew that I liked tofu and red onions.  What could there be to not like? NOTHING!  It was delicious and Cory barely got any of it.

When we got home I knew that this needed to be added to our monthly menu line up.  To be honest the tofu freaked me out.  I had no idea what I was doing when it came to frying tofu and set out on a mission to dig a little deeper.  I own several cookbooks that helped me to figure it out.  


The method that I am using in this recipe is by far my favorite because its a simple process of heating up some oil, tossing the cubes of tofu in a starch and frying until golden brown.  I experimented with deep frying the pieces and it was messy and my tofu was a bit oily.  I think I am not set up to deep fry in my home kitchen and I will let the restaurants tend to that process.  I might need to invest in a Fry Daddy, but again, the pan fried method worked for us.  

The tofu was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside--perfect!


I fry up a whole block of extra firm tofu because it reheats well for other dishes. I also used it in the recipe coming out on Friday for my Asian Tofu Salad with cashews and toasted sesame seeds.

A few weeks ago we had company and I threw this together in a very short amount of time.  My brother-n-law and sister-n-law thought the salad was a success.

During the photo shoot, Finnley, could not hold back.  She sat right down and started helping herself to her salad.  She was too cute to say no and so I continued shooting and she continued to eat. I love the picture above with her cute feet straddling her salad.  She is growing up too fast and these little moments remind me of that.

Below I will show you step by step how I prepare the tofu to fry.  The salad starts with four simple ingredients: red onion, rice vinegar, salt and pepper.


Tofu and Red Onion Salad

1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
1-3 tablespoon rice vinegar, depends on amount of onion used
salt and pepper
1 block of extra firm tofu
oil for frying
starch for coating

1.  30 minutes before you make your salad prepare the tofu.  See the images below to help you with this step.  Also cut the red onion and add the salt, pepper and rice vinegar.

2.  After 30 minutes, cut tofu into slices and then small pieces.  Toss in starch of your choice (corn, arrowroot, potato).

3.  Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of  a skillet.  Add tofu pieces one at a time.  They might clump together if you toss them all in at once.

4.  Fry on each side until golden brown and remove to a cookie rack until ready to add to the red onion.

5.  Top red onion salad with warm tofu and serve.

TOFU Instructions
This is how I remove the excess water from my tofu.  I wrap it in a dish towel and add something heavy to the top of it.  The dish towel will absorb the extra water and create a more dense block of tofu for frying.


I slice the tofu into 1/2 widths.

I then take each slice and make it 6 pieces.

Heat my oil, and add each piece one at a time.  

Let get golden brown on each side. Remove to cookie rack.



Donut Breakfast Casserole

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