Hummus and tabbouleh lettuce wraps

Note: It is strongly recommended that you listen to snappy 50’s music and dance around your kitchen for best results.

 

Ingredients:

Spicy Cilantro pesto (if you don’t like spicy or cilantro you can also use basil pesto, but its not as fun!)

Flour tortilla wraps (Or giant romaine lettuce leaves if you feel like being even healthier!)

Hummus

Quinoa Tabbouleh

 

Instructions:

1. Spread 1 Tbs of spicy cilantro pesto on the flour tortilla / romaine lettuce leaf

2. Spread 2 Tbs of hummus on top of the spicy cilantro pesto (pay attention to the ratio of hummus to pesto, there is a fine line between awesome wrap and disaster)

3. Place 2 Tbs of Quinoa Tabbouleh on top of the hummus and pesto

4. Roll up your tortilla or lettuce leaf

5. Enjoy!

 

To make Quinoa Tabbouleh:

PLEASE NOTE:  This needs to cool for 1 hour before you eat it! If you are reading ahead before you prepare, good for you! This will save you extra trouble. If you are like me and just wing it as you go…well don’t worry you can still eat it warm.

 

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups quinoa, cooked and cooled to room temp

4Tbs lemon juice

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

8 (yes, 8) green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup chopped parsley (or 2.5 Tbs of dried)

1 Tbs dried mint (if using fresh, 3 Tbs)

salt to taste

 

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl

2. CHILL FOR 1 HOUR before serving (yes I am using caps so you don’t do what I did and eat it warm)

 

 

 

To make the Spicy cilantro pesto:

Ingredients:

2 Cups packed cilantro (OR: 8 Tbs of dried cilantro leaves) < -- I recommend using dried leaves because your pesto will last longer in the fridge (Also, when you live in the middle of the mountains, fresh cilantro in the early spring is pretty much non existant)

¼ cup of hulled sunflower seeds

1 jalapeño pepper (adjust the degree of spicy by the number of seeds you use from the pepper), coarsely chopped

4 Cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

2Tbs of lime juice

½ package of extra firm tofu

¼ cup nutritional yeast (its not a necessity, but I STRONGLY advise you use it)

SALT (you are going to want a little bit in there)

 

Instructions:

1. Combine all your ingredients in a food processer (or blender) and blend until smooth.

2. Place in container and refrigerate untl ready to use

 

To make the Hummus:

Ingredients:

1 can great white beans (Any kind of white bean works)

1 Tbs sunflower seeds

1tps spicy mustard

2Tbs red wine vinegar

2tbs water

1Tbs basil

 

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients in a food processer (or blender) and blend until smooth

2. Put in a container and set aside.

Chickpea patties with caramelized onions

Ingredients:

1 red onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1Tbs ground cumin

2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3Tbs sunflower seeds

3Tbs cilantro leaves

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup flour

Peanut oil (for frying patties)

2 red onions, thinly sliced

3tps soft brown sugar

3tbs butter

How to:

1. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a frying pan, add thinly sliced onion and cook on medium hear until soft. Add garlic and cumin, cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool slightly

2. Blend chickpeas, sunflower seeds, cilantro, egg and chopped onion in a food processed (or with a hand blender). 

3. Fold in flour to the chickpea mixture.

4. Using floured hands (a lot of flour), form patties (should make 8 large patties).

5. Heat 1/2in of peanut oil in a skillet/frying pan. Cook patties in two batches over medium heat for 2-3 minutes for each side (they will look golden brown). Keep warm while you do the same to batch 2. 

6. Melt butter in separate frying pan over medium heat, add cooled onion and cook for 10min. Add brown sugar and cook for 1 min.

7. Place caramelized onions over patties and garnish with condiment of your choice! 

8. Enjoy!

Baked ziti

The cast in order of appearance:
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 Tbs oregano
One can of diced tomatoes
1 box of ziti noodles
1 batch of no cheese sauce (see below)

Supporting cast: No cheese sauce
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
3 Tbs cashews
1 cup nutritional yeast

Instructions:
combine ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy
Set aside

Instructions for the feature presentation:
1. Start boiling some water to cook ziti noodles
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees f
3. Sauté onion in LARGE skillet until it starts to brown
4. Add garlic and oregano and sauté for another minute
5. Add tomatoes and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes
6. Mix noodles with the tomato mixture in the large skillet
7. Pour noodles into a 9x13 size pan and pour no cheese sauce on top
7. Bake uncovered for 25-30 min
8. Enjoy!

Red Velvet breakfast smoothie

Ingredients:
2 dates pitted
About 2 cups of almond milk (depends on how much you want)
1 TBS flax seeds
1 cup frozen berries (mixed or raspberries give it that red velvet look)
4 Tbs unsweetened coco powder


Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in the blender and blend well.

Enjoy!!!

Pesto pasta with white beans

First, make pesto 

Ingredients for pesto: 

2 cups packed basil

4 cloves of garlic

2 tps fresh lemon juice 

1/2 package of firm silken tofu (you can freeze the other half and use again later!) 

Instructions: 

Step 1: place all ingredients in a food processor and purée until smooth and creamy

Step 2: put in the fridge for later. 

Ingredients for pasta:

12 oz of whole grain spaghetti (or if you are like fatman, buy a GIANT package of store brand spaghetti that is on sale and will literally last for a month) 

1 cup basil pesto (see above) 

1 can of cannellini beans 

Instructions:

Step 1: mix the cooked pasta and pesto in a bowl

Step 2: add the beans and toss

Step 3: serve and enjoy! 

Penne with spicy eggplant

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 large eggplant (or 2 medium ones), peeled, quartered, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tps oregano
One can of diced tomatoes with jalapeño
2 TB red wine vinegar
1 box of penne (egg noodles also work splendidly)

Instructions:
Note: you can choose to water sauté or use oil.
Step 1: sauté onions in a large sauce pan (medium heat for approx 10 minutes)
Step 2: add eggplant, stir constantly for approx 5 minutes. (If you are water sautéing, only add water when the eggplant starts to stick to the pan.
Step 3: add garlic, oregano, can of diced tomatoes, and red wine vinegar.
Step4: cover and cook for 10 minutes
Step 5: remove from the heat add cooked pasta and mix.
Step 6: dig in!

Penne with roasted red pepper sauce

Please be aware: you need to roast the red peppers BEFORE you make this recipe ( not realize it half way through making the dish)

Servings 4 (I think it makes more like 6 though)

Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rings
1 large head of broccoli, you only need the florets
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 box of penne pasta (or if you need to improvise you can use spaghetti noodles)
1 1/2 cup roasted red pepper sauce (see below)
Basil for garnish (if you are into that kind of thing)

Ingredients for roasted red pepper sauce:
One 12 oz package of extra firm silken tofu, drained
2 large red bell peppers, roasted and seeded (roasting takes 1-2 hours)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 TB chopped dill ( you don't have to use fresh herbs)
1tps salt
"Zest of 1 lemon" (aka: uses a tablespoon of lemon juice)

How to make this recipe!
Step 1: combine all the ingredients for the roasted red pepper sauce in a blender and mix until smooth (DO NOT, under any circumstances use a hand molsifier, your kitchen ceiling will thank you). Set this mix aside in a bowl in the fridge.
Step 1.5: begin to boil water to cook your noodles, then cook noodles while doing steps 2-3
Step 2: place onion and broccoli in a large skillet, sauté for 7-8 minutes. NOTE: you can water sauté or use oil, it's up to you
Step 3: add garlic and onion to your skillet (you can season with salt if you would like).
Step 4: add pasta and red pepper sauce to the skillet mixture, stir and heat through.
Step 5: serve, (and garnish if you want to)
Step 6: get your fiancé to was all the dishes because I'm not allowed to with a cast on my hand!

Enjoy!

I'm back!

Greetings folks! I apologize for the lack of recipes over the past year, however grad school was a killer!
But I am glad to let you all know I am back, and in full force.
A few updates for you all: most of my recipes will be plant based, but I assure you, you can add meat to any of these dishes. They are extremely low in fat, high in fiber and vitamins and super good for you. ( a few extra pounds from school and my upcoming wedding made me seriously reconsider my eating and exercise habits).

The fatman (aka Andrew) is still with us and if he will eat my veggie concoctions....(meat lover that he is) well I'm sure even the most steadfast of beef loving people will find ways to use these recipes (if not, well perhaps you should re-consider your choice in blogs).

I have about a years worth of back logged recipes, but, thanks to an unfortunate sledding accident, I have wayyyyy too much time on my hands.

Enjoy!!