Vegan Artichoke Veggie Dip

I made this years ago, six years ago actually, when I was eating a vegan diet. It's easy to make, fast, delicious, and full of nutrients! What's not to love? Now that it's football season it's good to have a few dip recipes on hand. This is great alternative for those of us who love spinach and artichoke dip, but have no self control. 

Tofu Spring Rolls

 This is a favorite meal I love to put together on warm summer nights, or just in a flash when I have the right ingredients on hand! I made vegan spring rolls using tofu, but you could easily use any type of meat to fill these up. The spring roll wrappers themselves are VERY light, in everything. You'd have to eat a 1/4 of the package to consumer 280 calories. I believe the package is 12 ounces and has lasted me a couple of years, so there's no danger of actually eating a full serving. Here's everything you'll need:

Campari & Basil Bruschetta

I love Campari tomatoes because they are sweet, plump, juicy, and so easy to chop up! After watching Julie & Julia for the millionth time, yes I know don't judge me, I decided I absolutely needed to have bruschetta on light rye bread. At Albertsons I buy the Wasa brand organic crackers in the light rye flavor. Three (or maybe two?) crackers a serving, with 3 grams of fiber per serving!! Amazing, they're so light and crunchy I just love 'em. For the bruschetta you only need a few simple ingredients, most of which you will already have on hand.

BBQ Baked Tofu

I *love* this recipe! It's incredibly simple to pull together, everything cooks at just about the same time but with enough time in between to prep and it's healthy! GASP! Healthy? I know, about time. Grab a few pots and dishes and lets get cooking!

Homemade Tortilla Chips and Guacamole

Here is another wonderful recipe for summer! Luckily, living in California there are always ripe avocados available . . . even in Winter! =) I actually made a quick little crappy video on frying the chips. These can easily be baked as well, I just think they taste better fried =P

Taco Salad

Good afternoon! Who here loves minimum days? I know I do =) I was finished with stapling homework packets by 1:30 and was free to go! I'm usually starving when I get home from being at work, shopping, out and about, basically anywhere. I'm not big on fast food, eating out, or eating a lot when I'm on my feet and having to bend over, etc etc etc. Anyway, I was hungry when I got home. I had 2 packs of tofu in my fridge, 3 spears of romaine lettuce, Steamfresh brown rice, and a can of vegetarian refried beans. Hmmm, sounds like a taco salad in the making, right? Ohhhh yes, and it was so good.

Are you like me when it comes to making salads? Basically, I love getting them at restaurants but hate making them at home. If I do make them, it has to be something special. I don't feel like wasting my time chopping lettuce just to have a lettuce salad with chopped nuts or hemp seeds sprinkled on top.

Pumpkin Muffins

Last night, I made a dozen pumpkin muffins while hubby was at work (because I really hate making dinner for one, so this was easier). Now we're down to four muffins sitting on the counter, they are really good!! I got the recipe from thee PPK (Post Punk Kitchen). It's a vegan website, which I'm sure you've already heard of, that has amazing recipes!! So thanks to Isa, who submitted this recipe, these muffins rocked my socks off!

Vegan Pancakes

It's always difficult to have a recipe post daily, especially when we stick to leftovers! =/ Soup for lunch followed by a piece of pie each. I do have a fabulous recipe for vegan pancakes. I only use this recipe, it took me a few tries to perfect it, but it's delicious and incredibly simple. This recipe doesn't make a huge batch, but it's enough for me and hubby. You can easily double or triple this, depending on how many mouths you have to feed.

Vegan Chocolate Dipped Fudge Balls

So, lets start out by talking about these little balls of heaven I whipped up tonight. Many bloggers, vegan chefs, and vegan wannabe chefs (such as myself) have been making raw treats like these for years. Some call them earth balls, fudge babies, more commonly a Larabar. The list goes on and on, but the basic recipe for this raw vegan treat are as follows: 1 cup of nuts to 1 cup of dates, and whatever mix ins you please.

A Day of Favorites

Happy Monday everyone!! =P

Today I'm getting back on track, and doing it with my favorite things to help keep me motivated! Waking up later than I wanted put a slight damper on things this morning. Due to the fact that I was up until 2 am organizing my closet/jewelry/stacks of husbands papers I got up at 9 =/ It was okay though, I started the day with a little Rachael Ray and a cup of coffee and then worked out after! I worked out with my P90X and did cardio and shoulders and arms! My birthday is on Friday, and Saturday night we're going out to celebrate (looking good in my very short mod style dress is a must!), therefore eating right and working out hard are in order! After an almost 2 hour workout, I was hungry (read: starving). I cooked up my fave! Tofu Scramble!!! Yum yum yum. So nutritious, filling, and guilt free! I jazzed it up a bit with some fresh and very ripe avocado. It's also heavily seasoned with black pepper & cayenne, ohhhh I'm so daring.



For lunch I'm going to make another favorite of mine . . . Taco Salad!


So that's an older pic, but it doesn't matter it's going to look exactly like this and hopefully taste just as good! I don't make my taco salad in a big deep fried bowl either, it's fresh and healthy the only non-raw ingredient is the vegan sour cream I mix with my salsa and the tortilla chips I put around the salad. It's oh so tasty!

For dinner I plan on making Eggplant Parmesan. I've been wanting to cook eggplant for weeks now, and I'm going to follow Rachael Ray's recipe (with a few of my own additions/subtractions) and veganize it by using Smart Balance instead of butter, and Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese instead of dairy cheese =) OH! Also, I say no to frying. This will be baked and then put under the broiler for a few to melt the cheese and heat the sauce =) I hope everyone has a fabulous Monday, and wonderful Columbus Day! That's what inspired me to cook Italiano tonight . . . I'll leave you with this mouthwatering up close shot of my ridiculously flavorful breakfast, try not to drool all over your keyboard ;-)

Tofu Jambalaya

One of my favorite websites, FatFree Vegan Kitchen, has the most amazing recipes that are healthy and usually pretty easy to make! Some require more skill and ingredients than others, but yesterday (at a loss for what to make that night) browsing the recipes I found one for Tofu Jambalaya. What drew me in, besides the picture and name of the recipe were the simple ingredients and instructions.

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Usually when I have a block of extra firm water packed tofu in the fridge it either gets turned into tofu scramble, chopped up and thrown into something random, or cut into strips that I heavily season and place on top of a salad or whatever else needs flavor. Now, since this post is about barbecue sauce, I'll tell you my true feelings. I've never really liked BBQ sauce, at all. The stuff that comes on Arby's sandwiches that I remember eating as a kid, gross. The BBQ flavored potato chips, extra gross. The kind of BBQ sauce that comes in a bottle? You guess it, gross. All of those flavors remind me of poor little piggies being turned into sandwiches. However, what I do like is brown sugar and ketchup. I know, I know . . . those are pretty big ingredients in BBQ sauce, so why don't I like it? Probably because I like stuff better when I make it. So I decided to make some!

Potato & Pepper Stoup

I've been sick the past couple of days and things have been pretty lazy around here. No working out, no going out, lots of movies, naps, and most importantly hot tea! Although it isn't cold or rainy outside, that's how it feels to me which makes me crave my favorite rainy weather food: soup!

Tofu Scramble

Hello and welcome to my blog! I love food and whether I'm cooking or eating it, it's one of my favorite past times. I've been cooking more lately and my husband inspired me to start a blog about my cooking after he started one about finances (Future Think Dollars). We are both very passionate people, and I want to inspire others to take their health into their own hands. Being healthy and active are the two best forms of health insurance. Everything we put into our bodies will effect us in one way or another, so why not spend your time eating delicious and healthy meals?