Tag: vegan recipes

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Vegan Snowman Snacks

Holidays are my favorite time of year for baking and cooking. My kids are always wanting some sweet treat for themselves or to share. Mix up a bag of fun for the holidays – no cooking required! With just a few vegan candies and snacks, plastic baggies and a festive tag that you can download and print, you can make these cute snack bags that are perfect stocking stuffers, secret Santa bonuses or class treats!

Supplies

plastic baggies

label/gift tag (free download)

Ingredients

Dandies vegan mini marshmallows

pretzel sticks

vegan chocolate chips

red licorice

almonds

goji berries

Instructions

Toss a handful of each ingredient into a plastic baggie. Seal the top. Download, print, and cut out the gift label. Fold, and staple the label to the top of each sealed baggie.

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P Allen Smiths Radish Top Pasta Recipe

So I love to share my food and what I make. Great pride is taken in what my family eats as far as food and if you want to know or catch a glimpse of your diet snap photos. If you are ashamed to show the final result, chances are you should be ashamed to put that into your body. The other night I shared my version of P. Allen Smith’s Radish Top Pasta. Who you might ask is P. Allen Smith? Well spend a Saturday morning perusing public television and you might have the gifted opportunity to watch from Garden to Table where Mr. Smith shares some real delicacies from his garden for meals. My family was in heaven when we saw this dish so I knew I had to make it. Continue reading “P Allen Smiths Radish Top Pasta Recipe”

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Organic Baked Kale Chips Recipe

baked kale chips, kale chips, kaleWhile partaking in my weekly offering with Bountiful Baskets I have recently been receiving a lot of kale in my baskets. I will fully admit I am a novice as to what kale is, was, and how it would have any addition to our dinner table and or menu for meals. But I did find that kale is very high in essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, beta kerotene, and the list goes on. I found some wonderful recipes to add this green leafy gem to stir fry, but I am not a fan of wilty greens. Although spinach is wonderful if steamed properly, I could not quite wrap my noggin around biting down this cabbage cousin. However, no recipes really jumped out at me. So while perusing the dry goods aisle at Whole Foods today I was hit with a stroke of genius, call it an epiphany, of how to serve up kale where everyone in my household would eat it and love this leafy green. Here is an easy kale recipe that is sure to be a hit and great addition to your diet.

The prep for this snack is more than easy and takes very little time, all you need is patience to pat dry your kale after a good rinsing. I had to rinse mine thoroughly, since it was USDA Certified Organic, so I was greeted with a caterpillar who had made a home in the fold of the leafy green vegetable. So be sure to rinse thoroughly and dry thoroughly or your kale will not turn out the way it should intend.

  • 2T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Herbes de Provence (optional, for a bit of flair)

Basting brush, cookie sheet, preheated oven to 375 degrees

Take your leaves of kale and slice the leaves from the stalk and then cut into chip size pieces. I sliced all mine jaggedly off the stem/stalk of the leaves so I had silver dollar size pieces. Do this only after you have rinsed well and patted your leaves dry and they must be completely dry or you will have steamed kale instead.

Using your basting brush, baste on the salt and EVOO mixture and place on cookie sheet, dash lightly with salt. Do this until all the pieces are lightly coated and then place the entire cookie sheet in the oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes and checking at the 8 minute mark as to not burn your kale. Remove from oven and serve. Great with dinner, as an anytime snack, or to add that extra something to your meal and table.

 

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Stuffed Baby Peppers Recipe

baby peppers, sweet peppers, baby bell peppersSo I have become more of an aficionado for the raw and vegetable based meals. Blessed be my love affair for organic, supporting local food co-ops, and VOILA! Fabulous family meals. My last offering with Bountiful Baskets pleasured my palette with an assortment of fragrant and beautiful baby peppers. These baby bell peppers are crunchy, sweet and a wonderful snack. Here is a great recipe for a snack, lunch or dinner option.

Now I have seen these little vitamin C filled cuties all over Costco and the farmer’s market and I see folks purchasing them and I knew a recipe had to exist outside of a Cacciatore. Don’t get me wrong, I love a hearty Italian meal, but the Irish in me screams for rich, filling, sticks to your bones where you didn’t know you had bones meal for very little. Something I have become accustomed to as a single income household is how my strong Irish descent has offered me creative ways of making a lot out of a little. Or maybe that fact that I am a finance guru with a way to dissect the bits and pieces. Oh I digress.

The peppers. The sweet, full of bite, tangy, orange, yellow and red baby peppers. What to do. So I sought out the net to expand my palette of culinary fare. But I did not want an extravagant amount of time exerted to make a delightful dish either as a light main summer meal or lunch time snack. Furthermore, I wanted to utilize my refrigerator and pantry to it’s fullest in order to stretch my ever weakened dollar. And my creation was such:

1-2 dozen baby peppers, washed and seeded

2T. red onions sauteed and caramelized, add more if desired

1 clove of garlic (because I big puffy heart garlic)

2 breasts of chicken (I had some left over in the fridge and wanted to use it up)

3T mayonnaise

1/4 c. Gorgonzola cheese, or to taste

I love cheese. I am a giant mouse stuck in the aura of a Leo so cheese of any sort is a staple in my house, and especially a great form of a blue cheese.

So saute and caramelize the onions and garlic, add them to the mayonnaise in order to maintain the flavor without being overly pungent. Finely dice or shred the chicken, you can substitute canned chicken, but I love grilled chicken, it has a slight smoked taste which is wonderful for this dish. Begin to mix together all the ingredients and to ensure all the chicken is coated with the mayonnaise mixture, then slowly add in the Gorgonzola, continue to stir until all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Add small amounts of mayonnaise as needed but I found this was the perfect amount. Then begin to stuff the baby peppers, place in a Tupperware container to chill and serve later, or for a few moments in the oven melt some cheddar cheese over the peppers for a warm delight.

The chicken mixture can be served alone as well, we served all the excess on toasted French bread baguette slices with cheddar cheese as sandwiches and the kids loved them. Bon Appetit!