Cilantro-Lemon Hummus

I know there are toooooons of store bought hummus(es?). I know that most of them are delicious. But there is just something I find so cool, and ultimately delicious, about making my own! It cost way less too, trust me on that. Especially if you find the dried Garbanzo beans in bulk and just buy like 1 lb. This recipe can be used with canned beans as well. This makes 1 serving, as always you can double it, or even triple it if you have a large food processor. Ok! Enough of my blabbing, here goes!

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans (note: I bought them dry and boiled them in water with some chopped onions and garlic for about 35 minutes, or until they were soft.)

1 handful cilantro. No need to chop.

1/2 cup liquid (water or veggie broth)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp Salt

1 (or more) tsp black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor.

Blend!This takes awhile, be patient. 

And enjoy. Simple and delicious. Enjoy with veggies, pita chips, or as a spread on a sandwich. I was actually eating it with a spoon, but I love hummus more than the average person. 

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Another Green Smoothie

Delicious, nutritious, and awesome in the morning (especially if the night before consisted of a couple glasses of wine and not enough sleep).

I make green smoothies in one form or another a few times a week, but this one came out so well that I decided to share. Very simple, and easy if you are new to "green" things. ;)

Ingredients: 

(This is for 1 person, just double it if you want more)

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

1/2 cup frozen mango

1/2 banana (or 1 small banana)

1 1/2 cup mixed greens (I had organic spinach, chard and kale, but you can just use 1 if that's what you have)

1 cup water

3 ice cubes

1/2 TBS ground flax (optional)

1/2 TBS chia seeds (optional)

And that's it!No dairy, no added sugar. I am wary of the green smoothies that add apple juice because it's just a ton of sugar, with the fruit and the banana, you can use water because it will be sweet enough. This is a VERY good way to sneak greens in your diet. It doesn't taste like drinking a salad, trust me!

I can imagine that if I had kids I might call it a "Shrek Smoothie" or "Hulk Smoothie" to get them to drink it, ha! 

Enjoy!

  

Lime and Black Pepper Potato Wedges

Lime and Black Pepper Potato Wedges

I loooooooove black pepper. I put it on everything! Well, almost ;) And I had an extra lime. And potatoes. And an extra hour. All of these put together and Ta-da! 

These are ridiculously easy. Slice up a couple of potatoes (I used 2 medium gold potatoes, but you could have 1 russet or 3-4 small red potatoes, whatever)

Toss with some extra virgin olive oil and a few pinches of salt and black pepper, until coated fully. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, sprinkle with the zest, the juice of the lime, and another big pinch of black pepper.

That's it. 

The lime just adds something different to these, something delicious! I could see eating these in summer as a sidedish to a big salad. Yum :)

7-Layer Dip!

 7 Layer Dip

 This is just too good. Yes, it's vegan :) I did it! And without the vegan cheese that I really, really don't like. There's a ton of ingredients, but all cheap and easy to find.

I'm going to go through the layers.

1. Beans. You'll need one can pinto beans, warm up in a skillet with some chopped onions, olive oil, and add a pinch of black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Mash up, I used a fork. I really need to get a potato masher.

2. Salsa. I used from a jar (chunky), but you are welcome to make your own.

3. "Cheese". 1 container vegan cream cheese, stir together with several shakes of Tapatillo or Tabasco. I also added a bit of black pepper, onion and garlic powder. 

4. Soyrizo. Just as is. Delicious. 

5. Corn. One can of whole corn kernels, no salt added, mix with the juice of 1 lime and about a handful of chopped cilantro. 

6. Chopped green onions. That's it. 

7. Sliced black olives. 

I know I pushed it a little with those last 2, those could be 1 layer. But 7 is a lot of layers! Amaaaaaazing.  

That's my prepping. I wanted to make sure I didn't forget any layers.

I just love the bright colors of foods. Is that weird?

You can really see the layers there. Yum yum.

And enjoy :)  


  

Cashew "Cheese", and nachos and pizza :)

I've been dying to make Cashew Cheese since I had Vegan Nachos with it at Real Food Daily in Santa Monica....but I was hesitant! Happy to say, it came out super good and definitely made some satisfactory nachos. And then delicious pizza. Later this week, I want to make ravioli, but that's a different post altogether ;)

Cashew Cheese

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Raw Cashew Pices (cheaper than the whole ones)

Enough water to just cover them

Pinch of black pepper

1 Clove Garlic, finely minced

1 tsp Salt

 

 

 

Soak cashews in water for 2 hours. Using a food processor, blend them with about 1/3 cup of the water used to soak them, adding the salt, pepper and garlic as you go. Blend for about 5 minutes, until creamy. Let sit for at least 1 day, maybe 2, then refrigerate and it's good for about a week. Can be spread on crackers, used on flatbread, eaten with veggies, the possibilities are endless.

 

 

For the nachos I just stacked some corn chips with beans (just made in water with some garlic and salt), salsa, avocado, and the "cheese". Delicious.

 

 

Just warm them up in the oven for a few minutes.

 



 

I used the "cheese" on some pizza, premade dough (the one I bought had honey, which I will stop eating soon, but I'm easing into the vegan thing), and I skipped the tomato sauce and added mushrooms, spinach, and chopped garlic. This would be amazing with some olives or marinated artichoke hearts to add some extra saltiness and flavor.

 

 

That's all, folks. Don't be intimidated by the name "raw cashew cheese", this was fairly cheap (I went to a small farmers market), and fairly easy to make. Now that I have a food processor, I'm unstoppable :) Next time, Vegan Pesto!

 

From my heart, to yours, be well! <3 font="">

Banana Almond Bread (Vegan)

I know sometimes the "V" word turns people off, but this bread doesn't NEED the eggs and dairy! Yes, you read correctly, turns out you CAN bake amazing things without eggs and milk. Huh.. ;)

On a rare rainy, windy day in Long Beach, baking is just what I needed. 

Ingredients:

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 Cup Almond Milk (or soy, or hemp, whatever)

1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (Canola, or you can use Earth Balance Vegan Butter but then leave out the salt..)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Organic Sugar

3 Bananas

Sliced Almonds to sprinkle on top

Mix together dry ingredients (Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, Cinnamon) and set aside. Mix Almond milk and Vinegar together and set aside, for at least 2 minutes. Beat together bananas, sugars, and oil, slowly add the almond milk. Add dry ingredients slowly until well-mixed.

Oil up a baking pan, I used a glass loaf pan, and pour in mixture. Sprinkle almonds on top! Bake at 350 for an hour.

Love!

Yummm...

I ate mine warm with some Earth Balance "Butter"....

From my heart, to yours! Happy Friday :)

Miso Tempeh Wraps and Cucumber Salad

I've been getting better at this cooking thing... :)

More creative, at least! I've been wanting to use Miso for awhile now, and I just recently discovered the magic that is Apple Cider Vinegar. Amazing! Aaaaaanyway, first here's the recipe for the Miso dressing. This would be amazing on a salad, but I wanted a wrap. This is used on the wrap as well as to marinate the tempeh in.

Miso Dressing

Ingredients:

2 Tbs White Miso Paste (I got mine at Whole foods, it's about 4$)

2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tbs Agave syrup

1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or another oil of your choice)

Pinch of black pepper

Just whisk together and set aside. Cut up the tempeh into logs. Dip logs into the dressing and then put in a warmed up skillet and brown until crispy and delicious :)

Wrap Recipe (Of course, feel free to add or subtract anything you want!)

Ingredients:

2 Whole wheat large tortillas

1 Avocado

Mixed greens (any kind you'd like)

Sriracha 

Tomatoes

Layer up! The Siraracha is for my boyfriends wrap, the tomatoes for mine.

Delish!

Now for the side dish!

Cucumber Salad (note: you can add sliced red onions, if that's your thing. It's not mine.)

Sliced Cucumber

2-3 Tbs Apple Cider vinegar

Something crunchy (I added some hemp seeds)

 That's the magical vinegar...

Those are the hemp seeds...

That's a before picture....

And after. Light, crunchy, perfect for these days that feel more like spring than like winter.

Enjoy :) From my heart, to yours!