Monday, April 3, 2017

Quinoa "meat" balls


In an effort to have better/higher protein/more filling breakfasts, I decided to cook a bunch of quinoa on Sunday afternoon and then have it with fruit and almond or coconut milk throughout the week.  Since I was already cooking the quinoa, it seemed a good idea to make dinner with it at the same time! Sarah decided sometime in the last year or two that she didn't like quinoa, so I knew I couldn't just serve it with veggies.  I remembered making quinoa balls in the past, but when I looked at the recipe they seemed awfully complicated, so I improvised with the ingredients we had sitting around.  They turned out pretty good! Though they could have used an extra crisp. If I do it again I might do a quick fry at the end of baking.  

Quinoa "Meat" Balls

Ingredients:
1.5 - 2 c. Cooked quinoa (this is about .5 c dry cooked with 1 c water)
1 tbsp Flax meal
3 tbsp Warm water
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1.5 tsp minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
.5 - 1 c vegan mozzarella (we use Daiya)
Olive oil for cooking
Marinara sauce for serving

1. In a small bowl or cup, mix flax meal with warm water until gooey. 
2. In a larger bowl mix the quinoa with the flax meal mixture. Then add the basil, oregano and garlic.  
3. After those ingredients are mixed, add the mozzarella fold in until well distributed.  
4. Put oil on a baking pan. Roll the quinoa mixture into 1-1.5 inch balls and place on the pan.  Should make about 12 balls.  Put a small amount of olive oil on the top of each ball. 
5. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes then bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  
6. Heat marinara sauce and pour on top for serving. 

These balls would also be good with onions or perhaps with some other herbs and spices.  



Spiralizer - Beets with walnut pesto

With two kids creative cooking has been put on the back burner.  But also with two very young children, we have had a lot more time awake at night.  The other night during a several hour awake period, I got to thinking about vegetable noodles.  You know, noodles made exclusively out of vegetables.  In an effort to get myself back to sleep, I wrote down all the recipes I would make if I had a machine that made vegetables out of noodles.  

The next day this still seemed like a good idea, so I went ahead and bought a spiralizer! A few days later my 2 year old and I were having a blast cooking with our noodley veggies! Here is our first recipe attempt:

Beet Noodles with Walnut Pesto
This recipe is incredibly delicious and fairly simple, though getting the pesto fine enough was a challenge.  My food processor is no good, so I was using a high powered blender, but I suspect it would have been much easier with a good food processor.  

Ingredients: 
4-6 Beets, washed and peeled (save the greens if they look good*)
1.5 c loosely packed fresh basil
.5 c walnuts
.25-.5 c olive oil

1. Spiralize the beets into noodles. I used a medium/small blade to make spaghetti sized noodles.  Be sure to wash your spiralizer immediately after making the noodles, as the red can stain.  
2. Steam beet noodles until tender but not squishy, about 15 minutes. (I suspect you can also bake or boil your beets, but I steamed them)
3. While the beets are cooking, chop the basil and walnuts in your food processor or blender.  Slowly add the olive oil and continue to process until the desired level of smoothness is achieved.  
4. Mix cooked beet noodles with pesto and serve!

*5. If your beet greens look good, wash and trim them then sauté with a bit of olive oil and garlic and serve on the side.  

Serves about 4. 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

I feel as though I missed an opportunity to do a bunch of great blog foodie posting. Over the last five months I have been unemployed, which you would have thought would give me lots of time to cook (I really just trolled the Internet and applied to jobs). I did however make some delicious new foods!

Perhaps my favorite one is vegan biscuits! Deliciousness!

There are lots of recipes out there but by far the best one out there is appropriately named the best damn vegan biscuits, created by the minimalist baker


I have used this recipe to make biscuits with apple inside and another great recipe, a vegan breakfast casserole by Namely Mary!


I am also going to say that her tofu scramble recipe is the closest thing to an egg scramble I have yet found, and makes the above casserole taste like a fastfood breakfast sandwich! YUM!


Other news! My girlfriend is no longer my girlfriend, but my wife! We were married June 28, 2014! Oh happiness! We used a great caterer in NJ who was able to make the best vegan food ever. Not to mention that she even used my carrot cake recipe for the wedding cake! If you ever need an event catered, vegan or not use Bex Eatery. http://www.bexkitchen.com/home.html

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Five Course Meal

This winter, Hannah and I had the opportunity to put on a full five course meal for 8 people as a fund raiser for the First Congregational Church in Riverside CA. Because it was such a big meal, it took us some time to figure out all the recipes and how it would work out.

In the end I think that the whole thing came out spectacularly! So you to can put on a vegan 5 course meal, here is what we served.

Home Made Humus Dip and Vegetables:


  • One 15-ounce can  chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans
  • 1/4 cup  fresh lemon juice, about 1 large lemon
  • 1/4 cup  tahini 
  • Half of a large garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt, depending on taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons water
  • Dash of ground paprika for serving

  • In a food processor, add all ingredients except water. As humus is processing, add water for desired smoothness. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator fro up to a week. Sprinkle some paprika on top for a more pretty version. 



    BlackEye Pea and Kale Winter Soup:

    1 Tbsp. coconut oil
    2 cups diced white onions (about 1 medium onion)
    6 cloves garlic, minced
    3 stalks celery, diced
    1 red bell pepper, diced
    1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano leaves
    1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
    1/4 tsp. chipotle powder
    1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
    3 cups vegetable broth
    3 cups water
    2 Tbsp. wakame flakes, ground or crushed into fine pieces
    3 cups cooked black-eyed peas
    1 head kale, stems discarded and leaves chopped
    Juice of 1/2 lemon
    Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
    • In a large pot, melt the coconut oil over medium heat.
    • Add the onions and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    • Add the celery and bell pepper and cook for a few minutes longer.
    • Stir in the oregano, thyme, chipotle, and paprika and cook for about 30 seconds.
    • Add the vegetable broth, water, wakame flakes, and black-eyed peas.* Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, adding more water if needed.
    • After the soup is cooked through, stir in the kale* and keep over the heat for a minute longer—just long enough to wilt the kale.
    • Add the lemon juice and turn off the heat. Top with parsley and serve.
    Makes 6 to 8 servings
    Quinoa Pizza Balls:

    2/3 cup  quinoa, dry
    2 cups  vegetable broth or stock
    2 cups  cooked white or red kidney beans
    10-15  fresh basil leaves, chopped
    1/2 tsp  dried oregano
    1/2 cup  fresh parsley, chopped
    2/3 cup  tomato paste
    3-5 drops plain stevia liquid, to your taste
    garlic salt, to your taste
    If your quinoa is not pre-rinsed, rinse well and drain.  Bring the broth to a boil in a medium pot over high heat. Add quinoa, lower heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Check the quinoa; if the liquid is not yet absorbed, cover and cook for 5-10 minutes longer, until the liquid is absorbed and quinoa is softened. Set aside.
    Preheat oven to 350F (180C).  Line two cookie sheets with parchment, or spray with nonstick spray.
    Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mash the beans with a potato masher or large fork until almost smooth (but leave a little texture).  Add remaining ingredients,  including quinoa, and, with clean hands, knead the “dough” to combine well.
    Using a small ice cream scoop or tablespoon, scoop the mixture and roll into balls.  Place on cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven 25-35 minutes, rotating the pans about halfway through, until the balls are dry and well browned on the outside.  Serve immediately, or store in a covered container in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Makes about two dozen. May be frozen.
    Vegan Quiche:

    1 vegan pie crust (I used Hannah's secret family recipe, sorry can't share)
    1 package of firm tofu (squeezed to get all the liquid out)
    1 medium onion chopped
    2 cups of spinach (or more, the more veggie the merrier)
    1 medium broccoli chopped
    4-8 quartered artichoke hearts (dried of with a paper towel)
    1 sliced pepper (red, green, or yellow, your choice)
    1-2 shopped cloves of garlic
    1/3 cups almond milk
    2 Tbs tahini
    2 tsp curry powder
    2 Tbs olive oil
    cayenne pepper to taste

    Pre-heat oven 375
    In a blender combine the tofu, almond milk, tahini, curry, cayenne until a paste. if too thick add more almond milk, or if you want a different flavor add some soy sauce.
    In a frying pan saute the onions until translucent. add rest of veggies and cover until spinach is wilted.
    In a medium bowl combine tofu mixture and vegetables
    In a pie pan lay out pie crust. poke holes in the bottom with fork.
    add mixture to pie pan
    bake for 18-20 min
    Once hard looking and a little brownish take out and enjoy with a little bit of ketchup.

    And

    Vegan Carrot Cake:

    2 1/3 c all-purpose flour
    1 tsp baking powder
    1½ tsp baking soda
    1 tsp cinnamon
    ½ tsp nutmeg
    ½ tsp salt
    6 tbsp flax seed meal
    3/4 c warm water
    1½ c sugar
    1 c oil
    1 tsp vanilla
    2 c shredded carrots
    1 c raisins
    Cream Cheese Frosting
    8 oz vegan cream cheese
    ¼ c crisco
    1 tsp vanilla
    2 c powdered sugar

    Preheat oven to 350º. Line two 8×8″ pans or one 9x11 with parchment paper. In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients (flour through salt). In a large bowl, whisk together flax seed meal and water. Beat in sugar and oil. Add vanilla and carrots and mix until combined. Add dry mix and stir until moistened. Fold in raisins. Pour equal parts into pans. Bake for 18-20 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes.

    For the frosting, beat together cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla and powdered sugar; whip until smooth. (Don’t overbeat; in my experience, store-bought vegan cream cheese has a tendency to get runny.)

    Sunday, October 7, 2012

    Sloppy joes

    We're back online! We've been super lazy about posting recipes. Not that we haven't been cooking... Just not posting... So here we are with a sloppy joes recipe. We decided to try gardein, which is essentially fancy textured vegetable protein. I've heard great things about it and found it on sale at fresh and easy!

    I got a packet in "ground beef" form and Sarah decided sloppy joes should be the first recipe. Warning as we begin: careful with the cayenne! We put one full teaspoon of red pepper in and paid the price for it later. Also when we added the soy sauce the cayenne evaporated with it caused coughing fits for both of us… so, moral is, be careful.

    Vegan Sloppy Joes
    1 medium onion, diced
    1/2 or 1 medium zucchini, diced
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tbsp soy sauce
    1 1/3 c gardein meatless ground
    1/2 tsp cayenne or less (remember be careful!)
    Oil to sauté the onion
    1/2 c ketchup
    Nutritional yeast as desired

    Sauté onion until translucent, add zucchini and garlic for an extra minute or two. Add cayenne and stir until well covered. Stir in gardein, soy sauce and ketchup. Simmer for several minutes and add yeast as desired. You may need to add some water if it gets too dry while simmering.

    Other than the extreme spiciness of our dish it was rely delicious. We served it with a half cup of brown rice pasta. Yum!

    Wednesday, April 25, 2012

    Too many dates

    So as I moved to Cali, I found out that Hannah has been shopping at Cosco for some of her food. Its a great place to shop, don't get me wrong, but one of the downsize of shopping at Cosco is that sometimes you just get ways too much food. Sometimes this is a good thing, like when it comes to artichoke hearts, a food I could eat until I got sick, but then there are dates. She got a giant tub of them. She wanted to make vegan date ice cream and tried at first but then gave up... and then was stuck with the giant tub of dates.

    Enter me into the picture. About two weeks ago I moved out here and was staying with Hannah until I found my own place. And like any good temporary housewife, I made lots of good foods. I like to try and use what is already in the house and what I had was dates. Now in my experience dates are really good for baked goods. Unfortunetly both Hannah and I are watching our figures and are not so interested in baked goods at this time. So I had to get a little more creative when I came to using the thousands of dates in Hannah's fridge. So I spent a good amount of time on the internet and epicurious looking for some other good delicious way to use dates. And low and behold my great googleing skills paid off. according to google there are many salads and sweet things to make with dates and then there is Date and Chickpea Tagine. Never heard of it. Neither had I until just a week ago.

    The funny thing about my google results from this recipe is that many of the hits were also from other blogs. there was one legit recipe from Vegetarian Times and the rest were recipes slightly altered from that first one on a bunch of other food blogs. Blogs are such a funny thing. But anyways this recipe as follows is my give on this already passed around recipe.


    Date and Chickpea Tagine

    1 Tbsp Olive oil
    1 Chopped Onion
    4 Cloves of chopped Garlic
    1 tps Cumin
    1/2 tsp Cinnamon
    1 15 oz can of Diced Tomatoes
    1 15 oz can of Chickpeas
    1 c Pitted and diced Dates
    1/4 c Lemon Juice
    1/2 c Coos Coos
    1/2 c Water or vegetable broth

    Add oil to a saucepan over medium heat. cook onions until caramelized, about 10 min. add garlic, cumin, cinnamon, tomatoes and chickpeas. Simmer for ten minutes. If more liquid is needed add 1/4 c water.
    While that is simmering boil 1/2 c of water. When water has come to a boil add coos coos, stir and take off heat.
    Once chickpea mixture has simmer for 10 min add dates and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste (we did not add anything else)
    Serve Tagine over coos coos and enjoy!

    This meal is very sweet, but somehow all the other flavors seem to still be able to pop out and be tasted. its funny, you can totally taste every single ingredient in it.

    Sunday, April 22, 2012

    Vegan Quiche

    So I just moved to California and am bumming at Hannah's place until I find a place of my own and a job. For this reason there might be a bunch of recipes up over the next couple of weeks while I look for a job. I would also like to apologize for the lack of pictures over the next couple of posts. While I was in Nicaragua I lost my camera. I have been taking pictures but they are using Hannah's I-pod and i can't get them onto my computer thanks to not having the software downloaded on my comp. But pictures will be posted in a little bit.

    The other day Hannah and I had some quests over to hang out and eat some good foods. The week earlier when I was visiting at my parents house my family had made normal quiche and since coming to Cali I had brought the idea up a few times to Hannah that we should try a vegan quiche. She was skeptical but willing to try it out.
    Super excited about the idea I instantly started searching the web for vegan quiche ideas. Luckily there are about a million vegan quiche recipes out there and I was able to pick a nugget or two from a couple different ones. Although I got to say that the whole foods recipe looked the best in its complete form than any of the other ones. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2114

    Vegan Quiche

    1 vegan pie crust (I used Hannah's secret family recipe, sorry can't share)
    1 package of firm tofu (squeezed to get all the liquid out)
    1 medium onion chopped
    2 cups of spinach (or more, the more veggie the merrier)
    1 medium broccoli chopped
    4-8 quartered artichoke hearts (dried of with a paper towel)
    1 sliced pepper (red, green, or yellow, your choice)
    1-2 shopped cloves of garlic
    1/3 cups almond milk
    2 Tbs tahini
    2 tsp curry powder
    2 Tbs olive oil
    cayenne pepper to taste

    Pre-heat oven 375
    In a blender combine the tofu, almond milk, tahini, curry, cayenne until a paste. if too thick add more almond milk, or if you want a different flavor add some soy sauce.
    In a frying pan saute the onions until translucent. add rest of veggies and cover until spinach is wilted.
    In a medium bowl combine tofu mixture and vegetables
    In a pie pan lay out pie crust. poke holes in the bottom with fork.
    add mixture to pie pan
    bake for 18-20 min
    Once hard looking and a little brownish take out and enjoy with a little bit of ketchup.



    We served this to our friends coming over, a risky business with new recipes, but the whole thing worked out great and our guests ate nearly the entire pie! Proof that is was delicious!
    And not only is it delicious but it is crazy healthy. If you know anything about the weight watchers point system, something Hannah and I are a little addicted to, than you might be interested to know that this entire pie is only 18 points!  Just another excuse to eat the whole thing and not feel bad about it. :)