Chia Pudding (La Revolution)

I have been out for a while since the hubby and I have been doing a lot of diet changes, most of which are steering away from delicious food recipes and more towards nutrition paste. Essentially we are trying to dissociate food and taste and instead eat only for health. Anyway, along the way some things ended up being delicious anyway, one of which is chia pudding! The other being peanut butter + coconut oil = heaven.

Ingredients

1 cup yogurt (any kind you like but of course I use the plain jane variety)
1/4 cup berries
1 banana or 1 tbsp banana powder
1 oz chia seeds (organic, non gmo of course - always implied)
3 tbsp coconut flakes
1 oz coconut oil
1 oz chopped almonds (or other nut)

Blend everything together, don't liquify the whole thing, just blend lightly so that it's all mixed but there may still be small chunks of fruit and nuts. Then put this in the fridge for at least an hour. It is a delicious homemade fruity pudding that is nutrient dense and full of good fats. Adjust the chia seed amount depending on whether you like the pudding more or less firm.

I usually like to make mine at night and enjoy for breakfast for max flavor infusion and texture.

I've seen a lot of puddings that include adding additional fruits and goodies on top and of course so many different varieties.

Vegetarian Christmas Eve Feast

Christmas Shickeen:
1.25 cups of wheat gluten
.25 cups + 3 tbsp chickpea flour
.25 cups + 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp garlic powder
.25 tsp black pepper
2 tsp granulated onions
Mix with your hands, then move onto the wet ingredients

3/4 block of tofu
2/3 + 1/2 cup water
1.5 tbsp liquid aminos
Process until liquified

Pour wet into dry and mix with your hands until fully combined
Grind up 5 tbsps of whole cashews until espresso consistency
Remove the contents of the bowl you have been using and pour the cashew powder into it
Place loaf on top and knead dough into the cashew powder until full combined and then knead for another 5 minutes
Let the dough rest for an hour or so

The dough should be moist and almost hard to keep together but should not fall apart when you knead it.

In another bowl mix together:
2 cups of no-chicken broth
3 cloves of fresh green garlic
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
1 tbsp dill
1 bayleaf

Line a large baking dish with parchment paper and put the roast in the middle
Pour the broth on top
Bake on 350F for 1 hour and 15 minutes, then flip and cook another 25 minutes

Texas Broccoli Casserole
Cook 1 cup of whole wheat spirals for 4 minutes
Take 3 small bunches of broccoli and rip each "tree" off of the stem
In a casserole dish combine uncooked broccoli and pasta
Add 2 cloves of green garlic
.25 cups of Texas cheddar cheese
.25 cups soy creamer
.25 cups no-chicken broth
then mix them all together
Top with 1 tsp parmesan cheese
.25 cups of Texas cheddar cheese
.25 cups ground pecans
2 tbsp earth balance olive oil margarine
Microwave for 11 minutes

Supair Fast Mini Pizza

This is really just a rearrangement of leftovers and supplies but hey it's good so I'd do it on purpose..

Spinach Mushroom Pizza

2 slices of wheat bread, from livestrong recipe(s) if you want it to be lo-cal
1/2 cup spinach, steamed
1/4 cup mushrooms, steamed
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes
1 tsp parsley
1tsp fresh chopped garlic
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1tsp chili flakes
2 tsp margarine
2 tsp vegan parmesan
4 tbsp daiya mozarella

Lightly toast bread, in a toaster.  Butter bread and top with spices and half of parmesan.  Toast the bread further in a toaster oven while steaming veggies. Layer half of the spinach on each slice of bread, then half the mushrooms, then half the tomatoes until all ingredients are used.  Top with the rest of the parmesan and the daiya.  Toast again in the toaster oven until cheese melts.

Quesadicha

A quick and easy snack, and something to do with the cheese sauce.. and leftover veggie burgers.

Homemade Double Cheeze Quesadilla

1/4 cup maseca flour
water until consistency is reached
1 tbsp cheeze sauce from earlier post
veggie burger from earlier post, or any other one, chopped (beans will also work)
1/2 chopped tomato
1/4 chopped onion
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp vegan cream cheese
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/4 lime

In a pan combine veggie burger, tomato, onion and spices and heat on medium until warm.  In a bowl, pour in the maseca and add about half as much water and stir with your hands.  Continue to add water in small increments until you are able to form balls with the dough.  If you accidentally add too much water, add a bit more flour.  Form into 2 balls and flatten with a tortilla press or line counter and a plate with saran wrap and squish the ball down with all your might.  Quickly place the tortilla on a hot pan until firm on one side then flip (I used the george foreman here but be sure not to lift up for at least 2 minutes or you may rip the tortillas).  Put cream cheese on one tortilla like you are buttering toast, add the ingredients from the pan and the cilantro, then pour cheese sauce over top.  Place this concoction, open faced in a toaster oven or regular oven and bake until cheese sauce turns bright yellow.  Squeeze lemon quarter on top and put the other tortilla on top and bake for another minute.  Quarter and enjoy.

Nooodles

So there is this new (not new) invention called Nooodles.  You have probably seen them in your grocery store and thought, eww what is that weird bag of watery noodles?  Why would anyone eat that?  Well if you ever wondered enough to pick up the bag and look and the nutrition facts you'd find out why.  THEY HAVE NO CALORIES!  I don't care if they are lying and rounding down to zero, there are 5 servings so it's less than 5 calories for the whole bag.. oh and 5 carbs, score.  So after discovering them I went to Whole Foods to see if they are in stock here and found a bunch more awesome nooodles, tofu shirataki noodles are made of tofu and are only about 40-80 calories a bag, the no calorie kind are made of yam flour.  Try looking at these any way and you are not going to make them bad.  So the best part of this discovery for me is I can have as much pasta (texture) as I want without the guilt.  The more practically awesome thing is that adding 1 serving or a bag of these to your soup or mixing them with your ramen or spaghetti or what have you makes you feel more full so that you don't overeat.  It's temporary, but often times so is that urge for seconds and thirds.  Now onto the recipe, made with real noodles but could be even better with the addition of nooodles.  Keep in mind, I like to add excessive amounts of vegetables to my noodle dishes so that I don't feel hungry afterwards and so I can increase nutrient content in the dish, if you want less it will still taste good.  Also, at the time when I was making this dish a lot I was taking a nooodles approach by adding handfuls of cabbage and bean sprouts which sort of resemble noodle texture.

Peanut Sauce Bowl

2 oz rice noodles or angel hair
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 cup spinach
1/4 cup shredded vegetables
1 cup bean sprouts
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 cup cabbage
peanut halves, for garnish
sesame seeds, for garnish
water for consistency

Cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of water and heat on high until bubbles start to form.  Add peanut butter and spices ad stir until peanut butter is melted.  In the meantime, cook noodles, if using rice noodles you may be able to cook right in the dish, throw them in at the beginning.  Add the veggies and heat on med-high until cabbage and carrots soften, if you like fresher spinach add it after heating the cabbage and carrots.  Stir in pasta and sriracha and let cook until most of the moisture is gone or until the sauce reaches your preferred consistency, be sure it stays in long enough for the noodles to get the peanut flavor.  Top with peanuts and sesame seeds.

Note: when using nooodles be sure to put them in a dry pan and cook out most of the moisture before adding to the dish, they should be added at the same time as the veggies so they can soak up the flavor.

Nom Nomin Your Mom

Man do I hate how annoying it is to look at a delicious sounding title, click on the recipe, and it's made of premade crap..  How to make pot roast?  Well you buy seitan and add vegetables, tada.  Thanks but I am "creative" enough on my own to throw those things together.  What I want from a recipe is a real live make up.  How to make the seitan, because when you start from scratch you can inject more pot roasty flavor, how to make the sausage because store bought just ain't so delicious.  I get that some people don't have the time (or skill) to make their own vegan cream cheese or margarine, but seriously, people without time can just sub for the premade stuff.  In honor of my rant, I give you..

Homemade Tofu!

1 Soymilk Maker (consult manufacturer for actual make-up of machine)
1 thermometer thing
1 cup non GMO Soybeans
16 oz water, make it purified
1 tablespoon Epsom salt
1 cup boiling water

Pour the water into the maker, and the soybeans into their slot.  They may not all fit, if not, make the soymilk in batches.  Make the soymilk by pushing the button.  Pour the soymilk into a pot, heat to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  Dissolve the salt in the boiling water, then pour the mixture into the pot of soymilk.  Stir once and let set, you should see the coagulation occur, fight the urge to stir again.  Once the chunks of tofu are obviously separated from the water, drain.  You can tell because the water will not look milky anymore.  I did not have anything fancy on hand so I just drained my tofu using a colander wrapped in natural cheesecloth.  Once the water goes down, fold the cheesecloth over and place a weight on top, the heavier the weight, the firmer the tofu.  Let set for about an hour, the longer, the firmer.  You can also transfer the cheesecloth to a tofu box for an authentic, store bought shape.

I think this would be really interesting to try with almond milk or coconut milk, almost like a panna cotta or a curd, mmm.  Soon to come.

Butternut Squash Soup

Back in Austin and so happy the farmer's market has butternut squash again.  I am about to move to California and miss out on all the Austin fall events :(  While I love California I really loved all the seasonal food available around Austin.  Oh well.  If you're in love with butternut squash like I am this is the bomb diggity, plus is vitamin packed.

Butternut Squash Soup:
1 butternut squash
1 pattypan squash
1 small yellow squash
1 tomato
1/4 white onion
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chile powder
1 tsp chile flakes, optional if like spicy
1 cup soy milk

Cut the butternut squash in half and bake until soft.  Scoop the contents out into a blender.  Remove the skin from the other squashes and toss them in the blender.  Quarter the onion quarter and the tomato and add to the mix.  Pour in all the spices.  Top with soymilk.  Blend until smooth.  Enjoy the intensely delightful flavors of fall, with a touch of summer.  This is a more raw version but I like to heat it before I eat it.

I don't like soupy soup, add more soymilk if you do.