Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowl

Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowl

Up until now I surprisingly have not jumped on the cauliflower rice bandwagon. I know what you’re thinking, “How is a vegan not already on the cauliflower rice bandwagon?” Well, I guess it’s because it seemed like an awful lot of work from the outside. Fortunately, I found out that it’s actually super quick and easy, as long as you have a ninja bullet or food processor.

Vegan

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of pre-cooked cauliflower (If you really want to speed things up, you can use frozen cauliflower)
• 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
• 1/4 cup of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of sweet corn
• 1/4 cup of diced onions
• 2 tsp of your favorite seasoning

For your garnishing/toppings, just add what you like! I added jalapeños, butter lettuce, Tapatio hot sauce, pico de gallo, and some vegan cheese shreds.

Instructions:

Start by pan searing the cauliflower for just a couple of minutes. You want the cauliflower to get a bit of color on it – this will create a great flavor and help with keeping a “rice like” texture. Once the cauliflower has some color, toss it in the bullet or food processor and just process it enough to where it looks like rice – we don’t want to make a cauliflower puree here!

Once you’re finished, toss into a pan over medium heat with all other ingredients in the bulleted list above and stir together until everything is up to temperature and the onions have had time to sweat a bit (they will be a bit shiny – this way you’re not eating raw-tasting onions!)

Add into a bowl and garnish with your favorite toppings! This will make a ton of food for a minimal amount of calories – always a good thing. 🙂

Taco Stuffed Twice-Baked Sweet Potato

Taco Stuffed Twice-Baked Sweet Potato

Vegan

Ingredients (for a single serving):

• 1 Sweet Potato
• 5 Organic Corn Chips
• 1/2 Cup Shredded Lettuce
• 1/4 Cup Jalapeno Slices
• 2 Sliced Black Olives
• 1 Tbs Pico de Gallo
• 1/4 Cup Almond Milk
• 1/4 Cup Vegan Shredded Cheese
• 1/4 Cup TVP
• 1/4 Cup Steamed Lentils
• 1 Tsp Taco Seasoning
• 1/4 Cup Diced White Onions
• 1/4 Cup Diced Green Onions
• 1/2 Tbs Diced Cilantro

Instructions:

Start by microwaving the sweet potato. Once finished, scoop out the potato into a mixing bowl and add vegan cheese and almond milk. Mix until smooth and then add back into the potato skins. Place into the oven at 400 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.

As you’re baking hydrate your TVP by adding 1/4 cup of hot/boiling water and stir. Add to a small pan with lentils and taco seasoning and cook over medium heat until hot.

Once potatoes are done, remove from the oven, plate, and top with TVP/lentil mixture and all other toppings. Add your favorite hot sauce and enjoy!

Roasted Poblano, Corn, and Fakin’ Bacon Pizza

Roasted Poblano, Corn, and Fakin’ Bacon Pizza

 

Vegan

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (Trader Joe’s sells great vegan whole wheat dough)
• 1/3 Cup of Pizza Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of Chipotle Hot Sauce
• 1/2 Cup of Vegan Mozzarella
• 1/2 Cup of Corn
• 4 Slices of Vegan Bacon (I used Sweet Earth Benevolent Bacon)
• 1 Poblano
• 1/3 Cup of Thin Sliced Onions

Instructions:

Prepping your toppings is extremely important in this recipe in order to develop the robust flavor that this pizza can have. First, make sure to take your dough out of the fridge and rest it in room temperate for at least 20 minutes. Also, thaw out your fakin’ bacon.

You should first roast your poblano in the oven for about 35 minutes at 425 degrees. I lightly spray both the pan and poblano with olive oil cooking spray so it’s not too oily. As you roast the poblano, put your corn and onions in a sauté pan over medium-heat and cook until the onions and corn are lightly caramelized. Once done, set corn and onions aside. Then, add your thawed fakin’ bacon into the pan and cook for about two minutes on each side. When finished, remove from heat and cut into small pieces or crumble it.

After your dough has rested for 20 minutes, you can begin stretching it to fit a non-stick pizza pan – 9 to 12 inches based on your pan size and amount of dough you are using.

When the poblano is done is should be blackened in certain spots and you should be able to peel the outer skin later off and discard. Make sure at this point to turn the oven heat down to 400 for the dough. Prep the poblano by cutting out the stem and removing the seeds, then cut into strips.

Once the oven is set a 400, put just the dough in for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the dough from the oven but keep the oven on. This is when you will add your sauce and toppings, but not your vegan cheese. Add the pizza sauce and spread evenly, then add the chipotle sauce and spread evenly throughout the pizza sauce. Distribute corn, onions, fakin’ bacon, and poblano on your pizza. Put the pizza back in the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.

Last step! After 5 minutes, remove your pizza from the oven, and switch your oven from bake to broil (hi setting). Distribute your vegan mozzarella on your pizza and place back into the oven on the top rack with the oven open just a gap (about 2-4 inches). Watch for when your crust edges start to brown and the cheese starts to bubble – this should take no more than 2 minutes at the most. Once you notice this, pull the pizza out of the oven and turn the oven off. Let your pizza cool for about 5 minutes before cutting.

Vegan Burger Patties – Sweet Potato Quinoa Curry

Vegan Burger Patties – Sweet Potato Quinoa Curry

In honor of Labor Day I wanted to post a recipe for a vegan-style cook out. I recently had a birthday and one of the things that I got was a food processor. Yes, I know, exciting and why did I not already have one? That is the very question I’ve been asking myself! Even if you don’t have a food processor, you can make this recipe. Also, the Ninja Bullet is only $19 bucks at Target right now, and it will allow you to make all kinds of cool stuff – so why not just go ahead and get one?

Back to the recipe. Sweet potato, quinoa, curry – holy moly, what more could you want?

Vegan

Preparation Time: 50-60 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup of Dry Quinoa
• 1 Sweet Potato
• 2 Tablespoons of Madras Curry Powder (my favorite is Sun Brand)

Instructions:

Peel and cut the sweet potato into medium-sized cubes. Place into a medium cooking pot with 1 1/2 cups of water. Then, add quinoa into a small cooking pot with 1/2 a cup of water. Put both pots on the stove on high heat until water comes to a boil, then lower to medium to low-medium heat and allow to simmer. Cooking should take about 10-15 minutes. Sweet potatoes are done when they are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork. Quinoa is done when all water in the pot has been absorbed. Remove each pot from heat when finished.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While you are waiting for the oven to preheat, put sweet potatoes and quinoa into a food processor, then add two tablespoons of Madras Curry Powder. Blend until fine. (If you do not have a food processor you can use a mixing bowl and a whisk or a blender).

Using a spoon, portion out five even patties onto a sprayed baking pan. Once oven has finished preheating, place onto the bottom rack and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes flip patties over and place back into the oven for another 15 minutes. Once finished, remove from oven and allow time to cool.

You can now eat them as they are, or create a delicious burger with your favorite ingredients! I tried sprouts, tomato, mushrooms, cucumber, and Tofutti sour cream on a multi-grain sandwich thin and it was delicious! The following day I ate one plain with tofu and Kashi 7-Grain waffles for breakfast. Mix it up!

Nutrition Facts (Based on 1 Patty):

Tofu and Lentil Quinoa Bowl

Tofu & Lentil Quinoa Bowl

Ready for a filling, tasty, and nutritious meal? Low on the calories but high on that “not super full but satisfied” feeling – I give you the tofu & lentil quinoa bowl! Simple and good, all but one ingredient from this dish is from Trader Joe’s, with the rainbow quinoa coming from Target. That means you don’t need to go running errands all over the place to get all of your ingredients.

Vegan

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/5 Cup (dry) Quinoa
• 1/6 Package Tofu, sliced
• 1/4 Cup Steamed Lentils
• 1/4 Cup Vegan Mozzarella Shreds
• 1/4 Sliced Avocado
• 1/2 Inch Tomato Slice (cut into smaller slices)
• 1/2 Cup Greens (Kale, Spinach, and Swiss Chard shown here)
• 1 Tablespoon Pico De Gallo

Instructions:

Begin by combining 1/5 cup quinoa and double the quinoa measurement in water into a small pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to low, or 3, cover and simmer until quinoa has almost absorbed all the water. Once quinoa has almost absorbed all the water, add your sliced tofu and lentils, mix and cover for no more than 2 minutes. After two minutes, make sure water has all been absorbed and remove from heat. Spoon into a bowl and top with vegan mozzarella and pico de gallo. Place greens, tomato, and avocado around the side of the bowl. Time to eat!

Nutrition Facts (based on 1 bowl):