Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos

     Today is the start of a big study week for me! I have four test coming up next week and wanted to try the whole planning meals ahead. So I found a recipe for black bean & sweet potato burritos in my Vegan A Go-Go Cook Book by Sarah Kramer. Normally I would half the recipe to make just enough for one meal but this time I decided I would make the whole lot and have burritos all week! I got the craving for sweet potato burritos last week when I went to lunch at a great little cafe/grocery called Just Ripe in down town Knoxville. They have many vegan and vegetarian meals and they also have a great selection of produce and vegan products for a fair price. Most importantly they have a vegan sweet potato burrito that my friend Jenny got to eat. I went with the vegan breakfast burrito which was delicious... but Jenny is not vegetarian or vegan and she was raving about this sweet potato burrito so when I saw the recipe in Sarah Kramer's book I had to have them!

As you can see I also made my favorite Edamame Three-bean Salad, from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, to snack on all week as well.

This recipe is so simple and good plus it gets better and better the longer it sits and marinates in the fridge.

Ingredients:
2 T. red wine vinegar
1 t. Dijon mustard
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
3 T. olive oil
1/2 c. corn
1 c. shelled soy beans
1 (15 -16 oz) can garbanzo beans
1 (15 - 16 oz) can kidney beans
2 scallions, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

In a small bowl mix together the red wine vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Slowly mix in the olive oil and then set aside. This will be your dressing for the beans. Next mix together the corn, beans, scallions, bell pepper, parsley, and cilantro. Gently toss with the dressing and ta da you have my favorite 3 bean salad!

These burritos on the other hand took a little work.
Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes
1 small onion, chopped
1 T. oil
1 (16 oz) can black beans
1 c. vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves ( I only used one clove)
1 1/2 T. chili powder ( I only used 1 T.)
2 t. ground mustard
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
4 large flour tortillas
1/4 c. salsa
1 c. vegan cheese ( I used daiya cheddar)

First I started with a large pot of water for my sweet potatoes. I boiled them on medium high uncovered the entire time I was preparing the burritos but they could have been a little more cooked.  I would say go with 45 minutes to an hour for cooking your potatoes. I left the skins on mine but you can peel them before or after you boil them if you don't like the potato skins.

While the taters were a cookin' I started preparing the beans. In a medium sauce pan I heated the oil and then cooked the onion until it was translucent. Then I added the beans, stock, garlic, chili powder, mustard, cumin, and salt. Increased the heat to medium-high and simmered, uncovered, for 15 minutes until it was more mushy then liquidy. Once the beans were done I set them aside. Then I mashed up my sweet potatoes and set them aside.

 Here is where the fun began! Assembling my burritos.. start with one flour tortilla with a sheet of foil underneath. Add a line of salsa, about one heaping spoon full.

Then I added a forth of the bean mixture to my burrito.

Next came a heaping helping of sweet potatoes, about a forth of the mashed potatoes.

Sprinkled with delicious Daiya

And then wrapped to perfection!

I stuck two in the freezer to save for later on in the week and one in the fridge. The other one is already long gone! Anddd if you were perceptive you noticed from the first photo that I made cookies!!

Also from Kramer's cook book, Mama Mayhem's Perfectly Easy No-Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. vegan milk (I used coconut original)
1/4 c. nut butter (I used peanut)
1/4 c. vegan butter (I used earth balance buttery spread)
2 tsp. unsweetended cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. quick oats
1 c. walnuts, chopped

In a medium sauce pan I melted the sugar, vanilla, "milk", peanut butter, butter, and cocoa powder over medium-low heat. Once it was all melted together I removed it from the heat, stirred in the oats and walnuts, and then plopped big spoon fulls onto my foil covered cookie sheet. Into the fridge for an hour to set and they were ready to be devoured.

Now that I have a full belly, a full fridge, and an updated blog I think it is time to hit the books!

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Today I made one of my favorite breads from 'Veganomicon' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The first time I ever had focaccia bread was the second day I was in Rapallo Italy for my cousin's wedding and we had fresh focaccia for breakfast! It was so delicious, crusty, and warm. Since then my cousin has made it for us multiple times but when I found this recipe I fell in love.

Also since I just recently got a rosemary plant it was the perfect time to use some of my snippings. I hung up some rosemary out to dry over night while the bread was rising.

Ingredients include:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/4 C warm water
3 T. olive oil
3 T. chopped rosemary
3 C all purpose flour
1 t. salt

ingredients I added on top:
extra rosemary
fresh cracked pepper
coarse sea salt
pressed garlic
olive oil
sliced onions

To start I mixed the yeast with the warm water in a large bowl. Then added the olive oil, rosemary, and pepper.

Then I added in the flour and kneaded to form a soft dough. Adding flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough was not sticky and then kneaded for 5 minutes. Next I put some olive oil in the original bowl and rolled the dough ball to coat. Covered the bowl with a dish towel and let it rise over night.

Once the dough had doubled in size I added a little more flour and kneaded the dough for a minute or two and rolled the dough out to a rectangle. I transfered the dough to a oiled baking sheet and poked holes in the dough with a fork and sprinkled it with extra rosemary, salt, onions, garlic, and olive oil

Then cover for another 20 minutes to let rise and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the bread is lightly brown and firm. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before slicing. I enjoyed my focaccia bread with some sliced tomato, vegan mozzarella, and this new balsamic glaze I just got and it was delicious!

ENJOY!

Spicy Ginger Snap Cookies

These little ginger snaps are so easy and quick to make that I find my self whipping them up a little too frequently. Whenever I want something sweet I usually have all the ingredients for these on hand and they are great crunched up in some vanilla soy ice cream! This recipe is from a cook book a friend of mine gave me freshman year called 'Cookies Brownies & Bars' by Elinor Klivans. I veganized* the recipe with a few minor tweeks

2 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cloves (I had to buy whole cloves and grind them in a food processor because I could not find them already ground)
3/4 C. unsalted butter (at room temperature) *earth balance natural spread
1 C. sugar plus 1/4 C. for coating
1 egg *Ener-G Egg replacer
1/4 C. molasses

This makes around 20 cookies depending on how big you make the dough balls.

Preheat your oven to 325 F and grab two bowls one big and one medium sized. In the medium sized bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set this bowl aside and grab the big bowl. In here you will first mix together the butter* and cup of sugar using a hand mixer on medium speed. After that is well combined beat in the egg* and molasses on low speed until combined. Next slowly add the flour mixture from the medium bowl until just incorporated scraping the sides down occasionally.

Now is the fun part. Take off any rings and wash your hands before you dig into this dough. Make small dough balls about a tablespoon of dough and then roll it in the 1/4 C. remaining sugar so it is evenly coated. Then plop the balls on the cookie sheet. Make sure they are spread out because they will spread out when cooking.

Bake for 15 minutes or until they look crinkley on top and slightly browned on the edges. Let cool for 5 minutes and then pop them off the cookie sheets before they get stuck! ENJOY!!

Breakfast Scramble

It's Father's Day weekend and I am home with the family which means great vegan meals all weekend! This morning I made my favorite breakfast scramble from 'The 30 Minute Vegan' by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray. There are tons of different recipes for tofu scrambles but I really like this simple recipe to start and then you can add whatever veggies or spices you want.

1 1/2 T. olive oil
1 C. yellow onion, chopped small
4 medium-size garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 pound extra-firm tofu, crumbled into large chunks
3/4 t. paprika
3 T. nutritional yeast
1 1/2 t. soy sauce, or to taste
sea salt and black pepper

Start off with heating the oil over medium heat in a sauté pan. Next add the chopped onions and garlic and cook until the onions are soft, around 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Next add the tofu. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the remaining ingredients and coook 3-5 more minutes. Next I added a big handful of spinach, a tomato chopped, 1 t. oregano, and a small bunch of fresh basil from my parent's garden.

We had a lovely breakfast with a nice fruit salad with cantaloupe, blueberries, and blackberries

Yummmm I love being home! good food and family!

I hate McDonald's

I have not posted in forever because...
1. I was just on spring break for the past week
2. The two weeks before that I had midterms
3. I am very lazy :)

Anyways on the way home from the beach we stopped at micky D's to get some breakfast and I figured oh I will get oatmeal that should be nice and vegan right.. NOPE haha of course they put milk and cream in there Thanks Mcdonald's

Here is some one who agrees Mcdonald's stinks!

A more accurate description than “100 percent natural whole-grain oats,” “plump raisins,” “sweet cranberries” and “crisp fresh apples” would be “oats, sugar, sweetened dried fruit, cream and 11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen.”

On a brighter note I spent a glorious 2 hours today at the grocery and made a delicious quesadilla for dinner with refried beans, vegan cheddar, black olives and a plethora of toppings

Procrastination..

I have a paper to write for my epidemiology class but instead I am on twitter and what do I find...

bacon is a gateway drug! check it out

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/01/30/133304206/why-bacon-is-a-gateway-to-meat-for-vegetarians?ft=1&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

and another interesting article

http://pcrm.org/news/dietary_guidelines_back_plant-based_diets_fight_obesity_110131.html

and my lunch from today/dinner from Saturday night :) (I love left overs)

falafel, spinach, saffron rice, veganese, kalamata olives, and home made hummus
nom nom nom

Enjoy!

Breakfast

My daddy just surprised me with two new cookbooks in the mail and I was so excited because I love getting presents and I love getting mail! On wednesday I accidently slept through my class so to cheer myself up I made brainless banana pancakes from How it all Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. These are the easiest pancakes to make and they were delicious!

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 banana, mashed
1 1/4 C soy milk
1 Tbsp sweetener (I used agave)
sliced fruit for garnish (I used raspberries)

In a large bowl sift together dry ingrdients and in a small bowl mash the banana and add 1/4 cup soy milk and mix untill there are no lumps. Then add the banana, the rest of the soy milk, and the sweetener to the dry mix and stir until just combined. Then just cook them on both sides and you have some delicious breakfast. I added some dark chocolate chips to mine but they would be just as good plain. This recipe makes 2 or more servings.

Today I woke up extra early for class so I wouldn't sleep through it again and I needed to catch up on some reading. Since I was up I decided to make another delicious breakfast, Fabulous French Toast from this same awesome cook book.

1 1/2 C soy milk
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp sweetener
1 tsp cinnamon
8-10 slices of bread, stale or lightly toasted (I missed the memo about stale or toasted and would recommend this because my toast was a little soagy but still delicious)

In a large bowl whisk together milk, flour, yeast, sweetener, and cinnamon vigorously. Soak one slice of toast in batter until bread is gooey. Fry on both sides and garnish with fruit. I used bananas and put a little powdered sugar on top. Makes 8-10 slices.

GOOD MORNING!

Vegan Nutella

The first time I ever had "real" nutella was when I was in middle school and I spent the night at my cousin Kari's house and her husband Max from Italy made me some delicious waffles for breakfast and instead of syrup we had nutella.... and it was heavenly! Ever since I have been obsessed but unfortunately the real stuff is full of milk and non vegan ingredients. So in my new VEGANOMICON cook book, by Isa Chandra Miskowitz, I found a nice mocha-y recipe for not-tella!

Ingredients include:

1 generous cup of toasted and skinned hazelnuts
2 T hazelnut liquor (such as an airplane bottle of Frangelico)

1/4 t vanilla extract
3/4 C. powdered sugar
1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
8-10 T peanut oil

First toast your hazelnuts at 300 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes until the skin is peeling back but do not burn your nuts!

Take the hot nuts and put them into a dish towel and roll them in with the ends all twisted to remove the shells. If you cant get all the shell off its okay it will just give it a more nutty taste which some may prefer.

Next put your hazelnuts, which I found out are also called Filberts, into either a food processor or if you have a juicer with a blank used to make nut butter use that (I used my juicer and will take a lot less time).

Blend until you have a creamyish butter and then add the hazelnut liquor, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and cocoa.

Blend until it is crumbly and then add 4 to 5 T of oil and scrape down the sides and keep blending in your food processor. Now you will have a some what fudge like mixture. Add the rest of the oil a tablespoon at a time until you have a desired consistency. If not sweet enough add 1-2 more tablespoons of powdered sugar. Store in an air tight container in the fridge. When you take it out of the fridge let it sit out for 20 minutes to let it become spreadable again. I had mine on toast and by the spoonful but it is also great on fruit or with your soy ice cream!

ENJOY!