All posts tagged: vegan recipes

Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup

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Despite my southern upbringing (with a dash of east coast flare), true comfort food to me isn’t the traditional heavy American fare most of us have come to know and love. Maybe it’s the result of my world-wide travels and love of all cultures and people, but nothing beats Asian cuisine for me when it comes to terms of comfort. Give me a big bowl of noodle soup, a book, and a rainy day, and I shall give you the definition of bliss. And if you throw some baby animals in the mix to cuddle, I’ll probably die of happiness. One of my personal loves in learning about other cultures and people. It’s what motivated me to be a globe trotter, and I count my travels as my richest investment. Both my husband and I have a particular respect for Asian culture, which is incredibly diverse and varied from across the Asian continent. It’s as much an unfortunate mistake to lump all the cultures together as it is to group all Asian cuisine in the same …

Veggies on Mexican Lime Rice + Handmade Tortillas with Cilantro-Jalapeño Sauce

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GOD BLESS TEXAS…. I’m a Texas girl, y’all, and you know we do tacos, tortillas and football on the reg. In my home city Dallas, Tex-Mex is practically a revered as a sacred art. I myself have devoted endless hours to “studying” said art by way of eating non-stop Mexican cuisine and drinking many a margarita. I just wanted to make sure I left no stone unturned in my quest to find the perfect burrito. I’m very devoted to my research, obviously!  I have yet to experience a mambo taxi (a frozen marg that maybe should be illegal) I didn’t want to add to my list of Possible Last Supper Options. I really do keep this list, because you just never know. The Boy Scouts only think they came up with that motto. Not so fast, Eagle Scout! I was born touting that as my personal mantra! But I digress. Anyway, D.C. offers many great food experiences, but sometimes a girl likes to get back to her roots and go a little wild, Wild West on dinner. And so I did. …

Roasted Tomotoes + Mushrooms on Creamy Polenta

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FARMER’S MARKETS ARE LIKE DISNEY WORLD: ABLAZE IN COLOR, YOU’LL SPEND MORE THAN YOU PLANNED, AND YOU’LL LEAVE FEELING LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN SOME PLACE MAGICAL… There’s something really spectacular about wandering around a local farmer’s market on the weekend. My inner hippie loves being surrounded by so many varieties of gorgeous, vibrant foods, but those brilliant colors are more than aesthetically pleasing; the rich shades are actually derived from chlorophyll and anthocyanin, which are basically nature’s gift wrapped up in food. You can read about the 10 Benefits of Chlorophyll if you are a fellow nerd and love learning to the max. If you want to know about the nutritious benefits that come with different colors of veggies and fruit, check out this article “Colors of Vegetables & Their Nutrients.” Or, you can just take say, “Produce is the best; I’m convinced!” and carry on with this recipe đŸ™‚ As much as possible, I try to support local farmers who practice humane farming methods and produce GMO free crops. I recognize that usually this is …

20 Minute Veggie Bibimbap

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If you’re a lucky duck, at some point in your life, you’ve enjoyed eating bibimbap. Firstly, it has THE world’s most awesome name perhaps ever, and secondly, it’s insanely delicious and healthy. Since moving to DC, my husband and I have a little tradition of taking an evening walk over to a restaurant called Mandu, where we first discovered this little bowl of yum. After ordering it no less than a million times give or take, it finally dawned on me that I could make this easy recipe (light bulb moment!). One of my amazing Korean friends taught me how to cook it, and the rest is history. Dinner got easier, my husband thinks I’m amazing (the credit goes to the bibimbap), and everyone is happy—including our pocketbook. While the traditional way to cook this meal uses meat and a lot of sesame oil, my variation is lighter on the cooking oil by using an oil mister; it’s also vegetarian. I added how to prepare and cook the beef, in case you’re more into clean eating and less …

Paleo Banana Pancakes

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Can’t you see that it’s just raining? Ain’t no need to go outside… Maybe we can sleep in Make you banana pancakes Pretend like it’s the weekend now… ~Jack Johnson Jack Johnson might just be the muse of this recipe, because I’m pretty sure this song is the unofficial soundtrack to banana pancake making expeditions everywhere. Yes, yes I did listen to it while I was whipping these magical treats breakfast together. Thank you Spotify for letting me DJ up my own life. Wika wika wah! (Can you believe Samuel married me? I.am.such.a.nerd) I love, love, L-O-V-E banana pancakes. What I don’t love is gluten or committing carbocide in the morning (scratch that, I love it too much, but am trying to practice healthy habits these days…sigh), which a typical stack of pancakes usually involves both. Fortunately, with this suuuuuuuper easy recipe, we can have our cakes and eat them too—pancakes, that is. I searched through several recipes, tried out quite a few, and experimented with my own variations till I found a version that …

Melted Brie + Berries Crostini

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I love hosting events. It makes my heart oh-so-happy! I unashamedly adore my friends and family, rather like a giant Labrador retriever. Admittedly, I should probably dial it back a notch, but that’s not going to happen any time soon. What I don’t really love is stressing out when I have friends over. Hosting should be effortless and enjoyable for everyone, because the focus is fellowship. Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to be Pinterest fabulous, but that’s not really the point of welcoming people over to our homes. I find my most enjoyable events are when I keep things simple and my focus on my guests. Needless to say, I’m always on the search for effortless appetizers or hors d’oeuvres recipes. I make my own and experiments with others, always with the thought: how easy would this be to throw together for my guests? Admittedly, wine is usually my main course. Everything is better with wine, I’m pretty much 100% sure of this truth. Wednesday Wine About It is an awesome weekly …

10 Minute Miso Noodle Soup

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Soups are the ultimate go-to for quick, easy meals. You can food prep the ingredients ahead of time or make the entire recipe in advanced, and they still taste amazing. Just when it didn’t seem possible to get any easier, miso soup proved we can abandon our cup o’ noodles and eat something a million times more delicious and way healthier in 10 minutes or less. Hallelujah, dinner just became effortless! As an incredibly busy cardiac ICU nurse and full time yoga practitioner, “fast, easy, and healthy” are necessary check list items when I cook. Being able to throw together an incredibly nutritious soup in 10 minutes frees us from ever having to get fast food or order take out food from some restaurant that may or may not give a damn about how sanitary their food prep is. This recipe is also very versatile. You can mix and match veggies however you’d like, but you can’t go wrong with shiitake + portobello mushrooms (mmmm…so good!), and fresh baby spinach or kale. Zucchini and squash …

Gluten Free Banana Bread

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When I was growing up, I had an obsession with banana bread that I’ve yet to live down with my family. I was a little more than mildly fanatical about it, and since it’s not exactly cake and it’s not really just bread, I would usually try (unsuccessfully) to convince my mother that it was in my best interest to let me eat say…the entire loaf. Let it not be said that I was afraid of carbs as a child. Though I’ve developed a moderate ability to reign myself in when it comes to committing total carbocide, I still just love a delicious, moist piece of banana bread with a cup of tea and a good book. That’s a scene from a little corner in my heaven, friends đŸ™‚ Being gluten free, sugar free, preservative free, etc etc etc often feels like it ends up being taste free. Texture can be unpleasant as well, and the final result is a really bad knock off from whatever original recipe from which it was fashioned. I don’t …

Meatless Meatballs + Veggies Medley

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All hail vegetables, we just can’t get enough! Recently, I took a beef meatball recipe by Gordon Ramsay and converted it to zucchini meatballs that turned out to be so freakishly delicious, my husband requested them several nights in a row. Here’s the important thing about that little fact: My husband might not have a Texas accent, but he’s a Texan through and through, and he’s been born and breed to be all things Texas. That means “Beef: it’s what’s for dinner” was probably a motto he was raised to revere. He’s the nicest food snob you’ll ever meet. Neither of us think meat substitutes ever really taste like good substitutes or are a decent replacement. And then came zucchini meatballs… It was like a light from heaven shone down on my plate. And now that we have that little recipe preface out of the way, I can tell you about these Super Yum Zucchini Meatballs. The texture and taste actually is not only an awesome replacement for meatballs, but I personally thought it was even …

The Great, Mind-Numbing Diet Dilemma: What to Eat

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Vegan. Vegetarian. Paleo. Oh my… There are endless diets out there that swear up, down, and sideways to be the absolute best for your body. They usually sound thoroughly convincing too, until you read up on another diet that abosolutely, positively contradicts everything the first diet claims you should follow. This leaves the great, mind-numbing diet dilemma: which diet should I follow to ensure I’m maintaining optimal health?! Most people start out 110% on a particular diet, only to find it feels far too rigid and then they give it up completely. While this post is not a promo for a particular diet, I do believe there are some key guidelines we can all follow to make sure we’re making healthy food choices. Food is fuel, and cooking and eating it should be a joy. Whenever I prepare a meal, I constantly think of all the people who desperately need basic provisions, and it reminds me to be grateful that I have the ability to not just choose to eat, but what to eat and …