Banana Ice Cream

It's been a LONG time, but I'm back at it! Life hasn't really allowed me to post anything new, and over the past year I have gotten into some terrible habits. My boyfriend and I went through of phase of eating out all the time, and my stressful job had me eating cookies for comfort (not even the vegan kind) and turning away from my plant based lifestyle.

I got a new job in coastal Virginia, and I think it's safe to say that I'm mostly settled in after the move and acclimated to my new role. The days are long, and there's a lot of temptation. Having a plan in place and lots of healthy food available is key! If I have nothing available in my travels, I stop at the grocery store and grab some berries and nuts to munch on instead of stopping somewhere where the food is covered in oil and lawd knows what else they put in it. I'm getting better, but it's certainly a process. I keep reminding myself that consistency is truly the key.

Anywho.

This was last night's dessert. It is incredibly simple. I purchased a few of those "imitation extracts" from the grocery store in mint, caramel, and coconut to switch up the flavor so I can get my ice cream fix guilt-free.

So there's not much as far as recipe and ingredients goes for this one, which is truly the beauty of it. You just need:

Bananas
Food processor/high powered blender

This tastes best when your bananas are very ripe and spotty!

Take bananas out of the freezer and let them thaw for about 5 minutes.

Blend/process until smooth and creamy!

I added 1/2 tsp of caramel extract to this one and it was delightful. I have been known to add peanut or almond butter, carob powder, walnuts, etc. You can add whatever you want to jazz it up! If you're a SUPER nutritarian, add some spinach to it for some extra micronutrient action.

Whole Wheat Pasta Primavera

This recipe was one of those lovely creations born of using the few items I had available in the kitchen. This primavera sauce turned out so well that I have already made it again twice!

I cooked a box of whole wheat pasta, which is easily done by following the directions on the box in question, and it works well with any variety of pasta you choose.

Ingredients: 

1 box of whole wheat pasta of your choice 

1 small yellow onion chopped 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

1 large zucchini 

2 baby Bella mushrooms

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 tbsp coconut oil 

1 tbsp tahini butter  

1/2 tbsp italian seasoning 

Directions:

Cook pasta and set aside. Melt coconut oil in pan, add onions and garlic and let cook until onions become translucent. 

Process mushroom and onion until finely diced. 

Add to pan with onion and garlic.

Add tahini butter and. Italian seasoning mix after 4-5 minutes. 

Add diced tomatoes last, stirring until they become warm. 

Top pasta with desired amount of veggies, and enjoy! 

Holy moly was this delicious! I made this about three days ago and I'm already craving it again :) Let me know how it works out for you! 

Nutritarian Pizza

Friday night in my house has always been pizza night. But with cheese on my no-no list, it simply won't do to buy from local pizza places. So, in order to keep from being tempted to eat the non-vegan kind, I called my dad and told him I would be making personal pizzas instead! 

I picked up some whole wheat flatbread and got chopping! 

The great thing about pizza like this is it's versatility. You can add whatever veggies you want! If you feel the need to add cheese or something cheese-like, sprinkle on some nutritional yeast. 

I topped mine and my mom's with sautéed mushrooms, garlic, and red onion and spread that on the flat bread as a base. Then I sprinkled some fresh chopped herbs, some cannellini beans, fresh chopped Roma tomatoes, and nutritional yeast. 

The flatbread got nice and crispy, just the way I like it! 

Ingredients (makes two personal pizzas):

2 whole wheat flatbreads

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped

4 cloves garlic

1/3 red onion, chopped 

1/2 can cannellini beans 

Small package of variety of mushrooms, chopped

1/2 tbsp coconut oil 

2-3 tbsp chopped mix of fresh basil, oregano, and parsley 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Add chopped onion, mushrooms and garlic with coconut oil to a frying pan and sauté until soft. 

Spread mushroom mix on flatbread. 

Top with all other ingredients

Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes 

Quinoa/Kale Salad

It's only 1:39 and I have had such a productive day! I got a new job (yay!), and start Monday. So I have today to take a bit of a breather, and did some food shopping at Everything Natural as well as the regular grocery store. I've made a beautiful lunch, and have a lovely dinner planned! First things, first, this is what you can toss together if you have about 30-40 minutes on your hands! 

I've decided that I need to take photos of the process rather than just the end product. This particular salad is inspired by tabbouleh. It began as version of the Arabic dish using quinoa instead of bulgur wheat, but I ended up adding a bunch of stuff that one does not add to that dish, for the sake of using veggies before they go bad. I'm incredibly determined to use up the massive amount of kale I have before it rots. So this is how this recipe was born!

If you have never used or heard of quinoa before, it's a remarkable little grain. It kind of looks like couscous, but it has a complete protein profile. It contains all of the amino acids necessary for our health. It's popular among the vegan/vegetarian crowd for that reason. It also is very easy to make! You make it much in the same way that you make rice or oatmeal. Use the ratio of 1 part quinoa to 2 parts liquid. I usually use water, but you can also use vegetable broth if you like. Rinse your quinoa, add it to a saucepan with the water, and cook over high heat until it absorbs all the liquid and becomes fluffy. 

Next you steam your kale. As I was saying before, I am currently trying to use as much of it as possible, and steaming it reduces it in size, so you can eat MORE! I put a large pot on the stove and filled it 3/4 o  the way full of washed and cut kale, and added about 1.5 cups of water and covered it. It took less than five minutes to cook down. 

While everything was cooking, I prepped my other veggies, made easier by my handy dandy ninja blender, which doubles as a processor! I added red onion and a few baby bella mushrooms to the blender and processed and transferred the chopped veggies to a large bowl. 

I added a few cloves of garlic to that with the garlic press, and added a few dashes of coconut aminos and stirred it all up. Aminos are a soy sauce substitute; they often have less sodium than soy sauce and add a nice flavor. (This was one of my Everything Natural purchases today!) 

After the quinoa was cooked, I added it to my chopped veggies and combined. I also added about 1/4 cup lite coconut with a squeeze of half a lemon. I added a can of cannellini beans, and chopped up a few roma tomatoes. I chopped up some mint and cilantro and added that before finally adding my finished kale and combined the ingredients. Tabbouleh traditionally also contains flat-leaf parsley, but I don't have any at the moment, so I skipped it.  After I let it chill in the refrigerator for about an hour and a half, it was ready to eat, and it was fan-freaking-tastic!  

A new favorite! 

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa 

3.5 cups water, separated

1 extra-large bunch of kale, trimmed, cleaned, and cut

1 medium red onion

2 baby bella mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced 

Juice of 1/2 lemon 

4 tbsp chopped mint

4 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 15.5 oz can of cannellini beans, rinsed

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1/2 avocado, diced 

1/4 cup lite coconut milk

1-2 tbsp liquid aminos/low sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp flax

1 tbsp chia seeds

Directions: 

• Cook quinoa with 2 cups water
• Steam kale (use 1.5 cups water)
• Chop or process onion, mushroom, and herbs
• Transfer to large bowl, add liquid aminos and combine
• Stir in cannellini beans, minced garlic,  diced tomatoes, avocado, flax, and chia seeds. 
• Add lemon juice and coconut milk
• Add quinoa and combine all ingredients. 
• Lastly, drain remaining liquid from kale, and stir it in with the rest of the salad 

Pat yourself on the back for preparing such a wholesome, healthy meal! 

Coconut Curry Stir Fry with lentils

Stir fry is one of the easiest ways to get your cooked veggies nice and tasty. What makes the nutritarian way of making it that much better is the lack of added oils and sugars like high fructose corn syrup and the density of nutrients and fiber that you get in every bite. The coconut milk and lentils used in this recipe is where the bulk of the calories comes from, because other than that you're just eating low calorie veggies. If you feel you need more calories or are one of those rare and exotic birds trying to gain weight, add a bunch of brown rice. I actually ate mine with some leftover spicy rice from a local Indian restaurant.

I can't take credit for this particular concoction. This is actually something that my mom, The Deb, made one night when we didn't have any great and profound dinner ideas, and it turned out to be scrumptious enough that I wanted to use it on my blog!

Warning - this is one of those types of things that we threw a little bit of this and a little bit of that in there and did it all to taste. I'll do my best to guess measurements on what was used for the sauce, but I'm not even going to try to guess the amounts on the veggies. Just cut up a bunch of veggies and eat 'em til you're full, and save some for lunch tomorrow if you have leftovers!

Ingredients:

Mushrooms
Onions
Broccoli
Green Bell Pepper
Carrots
2 cups cooked Lentils
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup coconut milk
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp Red curry paste

• Chop up your veggies
• Feel free to add or subtract vegetables based on your own preferences
• Add onions and garlic to wok (large frying pan) first, let them cook until aromatic, then add the curry 
• Add the rest of your veggies 
• Add about 2 tbsp of water at a time if needed to the pan to keep everything from sticking 
• Add the tomato paste, stir to even coat all the vegetables
• Add coconut milk last, and lentils immediate after and stir to combine

Voila! A delicious meal in record time! 

Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup

It's been entirely too long since I have made a post; but I need to get back on it since this blog got a shout out at a little event I went to this evening! Tonight I attended a viewing of Forks Over Knives at our local community library. It was a nice little event that my mother put together. My fabulous cousin Joan, who happens to be a nutritionist, came and introduced the documentary to a small group.Barry Kaplan, who owns the only natural foods store in our town, Everything Natural, brought some healthy snacks, and I brought one of my more simple recipes that goes over very well with most crowds, coconut curry pumpkin soup. Soup is always my go-to meal when the temperature dips as low as it has. We just can't seem to get a break from this cold! 

Anywho, this soup is delicious and easy, which is why I love it. Everyone loves easy, right?

 I often add lentils to mine after the fact to up the fiber content, but it's not absolutely necessary. 

This is what the end product looks like: 

Isn't it pretty? Here's how you do it:

Ingredients: 

1 28 oz can pumpkin puree

1 25 oz can coconut milk

1.5 yellow onions

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cloves garlic

2-4 tbsp curry powder (use more if you like spicier)

1.5 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp turmeric

2 tbsp ground ginger

pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for garnish

Directions: 

• Chop onions and mince garlic. Add both to pan, turn the burner onto medium high heat. The onions will produce their own juices, so it's not necessary to add anything else to the pan, but if you are afraid of sticking, add a tablespoon of water at a time to prevent this.
• When onions become translucent, after about 3-5 minutes, add the spices 
• Let cook for another two minutes, then add vegetable broth
• When broth begins to simmer, add can of pumpkin puree and cook for another few minutes
• Add can of coconut milk and stir
• Transfer mixture to blender or use an immersion blender to blend until smooth*
• Serve hot, sprinkled with pepitas 

*My mom usually skips this step when she makes it because she wants to be able to chew on her onions. I don't know, she's weird. 

The last step is to eat your soup and let it warm you from the inside out! 

FYI - Infographic

Just something I thought I'd share :) I did not create this, but it caught my eye as something I pinned on Pinterest a while back. It's quick and handy and informative!