Zucchini “Hotdogs” with Sweet Potato Fries

I was in the mood for a hotdog last week, but I have been trying to not eat so much soy, since it is so processed. I was trying to think of a vegetable that would be a great replacement. I had also been craving zucchini fries. So I thought I would just combine the 2 into a junk food extravaganza! lol And well you can’t eat a hotdog without a yummy side, right? So I also made some sweet potato fries

These are pretty simple recipes and they really fit into the summer mood.

Based on a recipe by The Vegan Pact

Zucchini “Hotdogs”

• 2 large zucchini, cut into 8 sticks
• 1 cup whole wheat organic breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp flaxseed egg (one egg), or egg replacement
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 8 hotdog buns
• favorite hotdog toppings

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with parchment.
Whisk together 1/4 cup oil, mustard and flaxseed egg. Place zucchini slices in a large mixing bowl and pour mixture over them and toss until evenly coated.

In a smaller bowl, mix together bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper and paprika. Dip each coated zucchini stick into the breadcrumb mixture and turn until completely covered. And place on baking sheet and repeat until all sticks are coated.
Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes-flip over and bake for 5 more minutes.

Place one zucchini stick on a hotdog bun, and top with your favorite hotdog condiments.

Sweet Potato Fries

Based on a recipe on Instructables.com

• 2 large sweet potato
• sea salt (coarse)
• freshly ground black pepper, chunky
• good quality olive oil

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Line backing sheet with parchment paper.

Peel potatoes and slice into fry like shapes. Place on baking sheet.

Drizzle potatoes with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spread out fries so they are in one layer.

Bake fries for 15 minutes. Take out and flip them. Bake for 15 more minutes or until desired done-ness.

It’s App time!

Over the past year I have come to find out about and love a couple apps. These apps make finding vegan options a snap! Whether it is finding the nearest vegan restaurant, or scanning a bar code at the store and finding out if it is vegan, or finding out what companies are behind certain products; the world of technology has made being vegan so much easier for me.

It can be a pretty daunting task (especially at first) to try and go vegan. You more or less are instantly trying to know what every ingredient in your food is and if it is vegan or not. Many of these apps take a lot of the guess work out of figuring out what is in your food. Not only will these apps tell you what isn’t vegan in your food, but it will tell you what it is. This has been really educational for me. I think some of these apps have been a life saver for my boyfriend, whom recently went vegan.

My list is pretty short, but I use these couple of apps all the time. These are great apps if you are just starting out being vegan, you are traveling to a new city, or if you just want to get some additional information about your food.

Here is my list of my favorite vegan related apps:

InRFood

InRFood is an app that lets you set food guidelines, such as vegan, gluten free, or nut free etc. The app looks up foods using their bar codes and lists out the all the ingredients. It will highlight ingredients to inform you of their nutritional quality. Ingredients that appear red are items to avoid, yellow is for moderate consumption and green is safe/nutritious.

You are also able to click on every ingredient in the product and get a ton of information on that ingredient, as well as articles and videos about that ingredient.

Besides just scanning items, you can also search for them. This is helpful when the bar code is damaged. You can also search by ingredient name.

In the event that the app can’t find a product you scan, you can pretty easily add it.

Buycott

Buycott is a app that helps you to organize your everyday consumer spending so that it reflects your principles. When you open the app you can add campaigns that reflect your morals.

So say you would like to avoid purchasing products that support Monsanto. You can add that campaign to your app. And when you look up/scan products it will let you know if the product is ok to purchase. If the product does support Monsanto, it will list out why and how it supports the company.

There are tons of different campaigns you can add to reflect your moral beliefs.

This app is really empowering and has helped me to feel like I am spending my money in the right places.

 

Yelp

I know you probably know about Yelp, but I really do use this app a lot. It helps me to find nearby…anything. I use this app to find stores and their hours.

But perhaps, most importantly I use it to find restaurants with vegan options! I generally know what has vegan options in my area, but I have found Yelp’s vegan/vegetarian restaurant search option, to be very helpful when I am in a unfamiliar area. Plus the user reviews always help me figure out if the vegan options are worthwhile.

Cruelty-Free

This app lists out personal care, cleaning and other day-to-day type products and their status as cruelty free brand. Once you find a brand/company you like, you can click on the company and get a brief description of the company’s practices.

You can look things up by company or product.

I think it can be very hard to decipher what some of the ingredients are in personal care/cosmetics. This app really helps if cruelty-free isn’t listed somewhere on the label.

So there is a list of my favorite vegan related apps! While there isn’t a ton, each app has a ton of information, and information is power! These apps help me to stay vegan, in a confusing world. All I can say is, yay for technology!

What are some of your favorite food related apps?

Seaweed Salad

The family got together this past weekend to have dinner for my little sister’s birthday. She decided she wanted to go get sushi. This was perfect for me, because it is easy to order sushi vegan, and there are a TON of options.

I ordered a seaweed salad and a asparagus roll. I had a happy and full tummy. Plus I got to spend a afternoon/evening with some of my favorite people on the planet. When I got home, I was really motivated to make my own seaweed salad. So here it is!

Based on a recipe by Foodista

• 1 ounce assorted dried seaweed or wakame
• 1/4 cup scallions, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mirin (or raw sugar)
• 1/2 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted white and black sesame seeds

Rinse the seaweed and soak until it has increased 10x in size, about 5 minutes. Gently squeeze to remove excess water. Sort out any hard bits and chop. Put pieces in a bowl.

Toss with the scallions, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin (or sugar), and sesame oil. Taste and add seasonings as needed. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Potato Salad with Cauliflower

As we get into summer, I think everyone is in need of a great potato salad recipe. Although I haven’t really gotten to BBQ yet, I was itching for some potato salad. It just reminds me of summer, ya know?

The funny thing is growing up I hated potato salad. The hard boiled eggs and mustard used to really creep me out. Now that I have gotten older, I have grown a love for mustard and all the flavor it brings. And well, being vegan took care of those eggs for me, lol.

This is one of my new favorite potato salad recipes. It is creamy, crunchy and darn right delicious. It is also pretty healthy! Bonus right? So I hope you try this out and bring it to some BBQs. You might even make a convert out of some of those non vegans

Based of a recipe by MELOMEALS.com

• 1 pound red potatoes, diced
• 1 pound or 1 small head cauliflower
• 1/2 cup minced red bell pepper (about ½)
• 2-3 large stalks celery, minced
• 3 tablespoons minced red onion
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

White Bean Mayo

• 1 large clove garlic, pressed
• 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons raw agave nectar
• ¼ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

Wash potatoes. Dice potatoes and cauliflower into 1 inch cubes.

In a large pot add about 8 cups water and a big pinch of salt, place potatoes in the cold water and bring to a boil. Let potatoes cook for 2 minutes. Add cauliflower and boil for 2 more minutes. Then drain potatoes and cauliflower. Set aside.

Make the mayo by placing all of the ingredients except  olive oil in a food processor. Give it a whirl for 2 or 3 minutes or until very smooth. With food processor still running slowly drizzle in the olive oil.

In a large bowl, toss the potatoes and cauliflower with the red peppers, celery, red onion, pepper, dill, paprika, and dressing.

Refrigerate for about 2 hours then taste and adjust seasoning. Sprinkle with extra fresh dill and paprika to serve.

Miso glazed tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms and Asparagus

So my cleanse is finally over! I am feeling a little lighter and ready for some delicious non-raw food!

On a recent trip to my local Asian market, I found some delish baked tofu and some pretty cool looking rice noodles (see my Instagram for a picture). So needless to say, I needed to make something that included both of these awesome finds.

Baked tofu has a great texture and awesome flavor. The shiitake mushrooms add a hearty flavor and really brings this dish to a new level. And of course the rice noodles and asparagus add some different textures and flavors that keep this dish interesting the entire time you eat it.

Maybe it was just because I was on a cleanse, but this dish was everything I was looking for. Full of flavor and textures. Something that really left me feeling satisfied. One of the great things about it, is it doesn’t take forever to make either. This is on my list of recipes to make again soon! I hope you feel the same way.

Based on a recipe by The Recipe Renovator

• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons brown rice miso (or your favorite type)
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Bragg’s liquid aminos or wheat-free tamari
• 1 teaspoon raw sugar
• 1 tablespoon dark (toasted) sesame oil
• 10 oz. package baked extra-firm tofu
• 1 pound uncooked rice noodles
• 1 tablespoon sunflower or grapeseed oil
• 8 oz. shiitake mushrooms
• 1 pound asparagus spears

Combine rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, Bragg’s, raw sugar, and sesame oil in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Slice tofu lengthwise evenly into long pieces.

Fifteen minutes before you are ready to eat, cook noodles according to package directions. For these noodles, I brought a pot of water to a boil and let rice noodles soak with the heat off, for 5 minutes and drained them.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms; clean mushrooms with a damp towel if necessary. Thinly slice. Wash asparagus and trim off the tough ends. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sunflower or grapeseed oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sauté mushrooms for 3-4 minutes. Add asparagus and sauté 4  more minutes or until tender. Add tofu and sauce to pan; toss to coat. Let everything heat a little. Then add this mixture to the large bowl and toss with rice noodles.

Raw Vegan Cheesecake

Recipe based on a recipe by Blogilates

Crust:

• 2 cups raw walnuts
• 1/2 cup dates, pitted

Filling:

• 3 cups raw cashews (soaked overnight)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Raspberry Sauce:

• 1/2 bag frozen raspberries
• 4-6 dates to taste
• 1/4 cup agave or more to taste and thickness desired

For crust, pulse walnuts and dates in food processor until you get a crumb like texture. Press into a pie pan.

For filling, blend all ingredients together in food processor until light and smooth. Pour into pie pan and place in the freezer for at least 3 hours.

About 10 minutes before you serve your cheesecake, blend all the ingreidants for sauce in the food processor until you get the consistency you want.

Cut a slice and top with sauce. Serve.

Sparkling Jasmine Green Tea with Orange and Pomegranate

It is that time of year again! I am so excited to be part of the Virtual Vegan Potluck again! It is always a truly inspiring day. I get so many ideas of things I want to try and make. A quick thanks to everyone that has worked so hard to put this together. And thanks to the other bloggers for inspiring me.

This year I decided to go for a beverage. Here in Colorado it is finally starting to act like summer. I can imagine myself sitting by the pool sipping on a yummy fruity beverage already.

Since I have been on a cleanse the past couple days, I have been trying to come up with a way to naturally sweeten things. This drink is inspired by that and by catching some sun by the pool.

I also been really into tea infused drinks. So here is all of my inspirations come together. I love how the orange flavor compliments the jasmine tea in this drink. The pomegranate really brightens everything up and really makes it feel like summer. It isn’t an overly sweet beverage, which I like about it. If you are not on a cleanse and would like to make this an adult beverage, you could add some vodka. Or if you would like it a bit sweeter you could use some lemon lime soda instead of sparkling water.

Serves 2

• 4 Jasmine Phoenix Pearl tea bags or your favorite jasmine tea bags
• 2 cups water
• 1 orange
• 1 cup Pom Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
• Couple splashes sparkling water or lemon lime soda, if you would like it sweeter
• Ice

Bring water and tea bags to a boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Bring pomegranate juice to a boil until it has reduced by half. Remove from heat and let cool completely. To speed up the cooling process, you can stick this stuff in the fridge or freezer for 10-20 minutes.

Juice your orange. You may want to cut a slice off for presentation.

Add ice to 2 serving glasses, and pour half of cooled tea, pomegranate juice and orange juice into each glass. Add a splash or 2 of sparkling water or lemon lime soda.

Cut your orange slice into quarters and slide a slice on the rim of the glass.

I hope you enjoyed my contribution to this potluck! And I hope you are having a great time browsing through all these amazing recipes. Now go and enjoy some more creative and delicious looking food!

Zucchini Noodles with Broccoli and Peanut Miso Sauce

This one doesn’t totally fit into the cleanse, but I am going to pretend like it does lol

I really love the sauce in this recipe. It is creamy and a little bit salty. I was in heaven *sigh* The fresh zucchini gives this recipe a nice lightness. And the broccoli and chickpeas really fill you up. I wanted to eat seconds and thirds. Super yum and a great way to treat yourself during a cleanse.

Based on a recipe by The Taste Space

• 3-4 zucchini, grated
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained if canned
• 4 cups coarsely chopped broccoli florets
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• Peanut-Miso-Sesame sauce (see below)

Grate your zucchini. Then make your sauce (recipe below).

Chop the shallot. Toast your sesame seeds. Chop your broccoli.

Steam broccoli for 2-3 minutes.

Make a bed of raw zucchini and top with chickpeas, broccoli, shallots and sesame seeds. Drizzle with dressing.

Peanut-Miso-Sesame Sauce

• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 1.5 tsp brown rice miso
• 1 tbsp Bragg’s
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup hot water, to thin to your desired consistency

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. It will thicken once cooled.

Raw Itailan Pasta

So I been doing a cleanse. I am on day 4, woot! It hasn’t been super hard, but I have been craving sugar and fried food like a mad woman. I am staying strong.

For the cleanse it suggests eat as many raw fruits and veggies as possible. So I thought back to the raw cleanse I did a couple years back. And I remembered this raw Italian pasta I had made. The sauce was one of the best sauces I have ever had. Here is an updated, and even better version:

Based on a recipe by VibrantVegan.com

• 3-4 zucchini, sliced thinly lengthwise, “spiralized,” or grated
• 2-3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 head of cauliflower
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1-2 heaping tablespoons Italian seasonings
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Prep the zucchini. Pulse cauliflower in food processor until it resembles rice. Add 3/4 of chopped tomatoes and all of the other ingredients and pulse until nicely mixed.

Pour the tomato mixture into a bowl and mix in remaining chopped tomatoes. Top zucchini with tomato sauce and serve. Eat at room temperature, or refrigerate for a few hours. This should be eaten within a day of making it.

Brown Rice with Asparagus and Nori

Sushi Bowl with Asparagus and Avocado

This recipe is based on a recipe by The Taste Space’s Sushi Bowl

• 3 cups cooked brown short-grain rice
• 1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1″ pieces
• zest and juice from 1 orange
• zest and juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon raw agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 1 sheet of nori, toasted and finely sliced

Steam asparagus for 3 minutes, until a brilliant green.

For sauce combine orange and lemon juices and zests, agave nectar, tamari and rice vinegar. Toss asparagus in the sauce.

Create bowl by plating rice, top with asparagus, and nori. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.