Vegan Quinoa Salad Recipe

A delicious, light, and healthy salad for you to enjoy!  Plus it is colorful--yay!

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup corn
1 cup peas
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
sea salt, minced onion, black pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix the quinoa, chickpeas, tomatoes, corn, and peas together.  Drizzle the sesame oil over the salad.  Drizzle the lemon and lime juice over the salad and mix (add more juice if desired).  Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt, black pepper, and minced onion over the salad and mix.  Add more seasonings if desired.  Then it is ready to serve!  Enjoy!

Simple Vegan Granola Recipe

Granola is so much fun!  You can have it for breakfast, as a snack, or even as dessert--it's so versatile!  If you want to get a high quality granola from the grocery store, it tends to be quite expensive.  So save yourself some money and make your own batch of it at home!

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 cups unsweetened (or fruit juice sweetened) cornflakes
4 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300.  Mix all the dry ingredients (except the dried fruit) together.  (Go ahead and mix it with your hands!)  In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix together well.  Put mixture into a baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.  Take it out of the oven, mix it up a little bit, and blend in the dried fruit.  Put it back in the oven for approx. 12 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely.  Then enjoy!

Vegan Chickpea Curry Recipe

Here is a delicious curry recipe!  Once again we have collaborated with the Food Empowerment Project on this one.  Be sure to check out their site here!

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
1 can chickpeas
1 cup frozen green peas (thawed)
1 tbsp ginger
1 heaping tbsp curry powder
Dash of cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, coriander
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small sweet potato
1 small bell pepper

Directions:
Chop the sweet potato into cubes.  Slice the bell pepper into thin strips.  Drizzle a pan with oil and heat over medium heat.  Add minced garlic and ginger to pan, let cook for a couple minutes.  Add sweet potato to pan and stir.  Cover and cook sweet potato for about 10 minutes.  If it starts to stick, add a small amount of water to the pan.  Add the bell pepper and the chickpeas, stir and let cook for 5 minutes.  Move all the veggies/chickpeas to one side of the pan and pour the curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and coriander into the empty side of the pan to let toast for 1 minute.  Mix all the spices and veggies together.  Add the coconut milk to the pan and stir evenly.  Add the green peas and mix.  Let simmer for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until coconut milk thickens up.  Remove from heat, and salt to taste.  Eat over brown rice and enjoy!

Vegan Banana Blueberry Bread Recipe

We absolutely love banana bread!  We love to experiment with it by adding different spices and such, and see what we come up with!  This is one of our favorite combos... bananas and blueberries!

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas
6 oz. blueberries
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup earth balance (melted)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
cinnamon (to taste)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork, set aside.  In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, earth balance, agave syrup, sea salt, and baking soda.  Pour the mashed bananas into the flour mixture and blend evenly.  Add cinnamon to taste, and mix evenly.  Pour the blueberries into the mixture and mix evenly.  Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until it is cooked all the way through.  Enjoy!

Vegan Five Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

I'm pretty sure most people LOVE cookies.  The problem is, cookies are not always good for you.  We have created a healthier version of the chocolate chip cookie, and it is DELISH!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp five spice seasoning (a mixture of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and black pepper)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In one bowl mix the maple syrup, canola oil, and almond extract evenly.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and five spice seasoning evenly.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and blend together evenly.  Do not over mix.  Add the chocolate chips, and mix evenly.  Spoon onto a greased baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes.  Once they are golden brown, they are done!  Let cool for a couple minutes and serve!

Note:
This makes a small batch of only 9 cookies.  If you want more cookies, double or triple the recipe!

Braised Daikon and Rutabaga Recap

This is a SUPER healthy and delicious macrobiotic meal made with amazing root veggies!


Ingredients:
1 rutabaga
1 daikon radish
2 tbsp ume plum vinegar (or more to taste)


Directions:
Peel the rutabaga and daikon, then cut them into slices about 3/4 inch thick.  Place all the pieces in one even layer in a deep skillet.  Pour enough water in to just cover the tops of the vegetables.  Pour the ume vinegar over top of the vegetables.  Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer until all the liquid is absorbed into the vegetables.  Serve with a whole grain, such as brown rice.


Note:
You could also add tamari soy sauce or rice wine vinegar if you want to experiment with the taste of the braised veggies!

Corn and Pea Fritter Recap

These are super easy and quick to make.  They travel well, and are great to bring to parties!


Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk or rice milk
3/4 cup corn
3/4 cup peas




Directions:
Combine all the dry ingredients.  Once they are evenly mixed, add the water and "milk" and whisk until you get an even texture.  Stir in the corn and peas.  Heat a couple tbsp of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Using a spoon, drop some of the batter in the skillet, and flatten with the bottom of the spoon.  Once they are golden brown, use a spatula to flip them over.  When the become golden brown on the other side, remove from skillet, and place on paper towel to remove excess oil.

Note:
Don't be afraid to substitute ingredients!  Try these with different seasonings, or different vegetables.  Be sure to let us know how you like them!