Veggie Fajitas

I love Mexican food, but hardly make fajitas.  It’s something nice to order out when they can bring you a sizzling dish of veggies, all dramatic and such, with an additional dish of all sorts of toppings and warm tortillas, yum!  Well, although it won’t have the same affect, here’s an easy recipe to try the dish at home.  I forgot how easy they are to make, much easier in fact than making quesadillas, enchiladas, chili or tacos.  Why don’t I make these more often??  They basically are easy tacos.  Anyways, I had intentions of grilling these outside but I was home alone and having trouble starting the grill, which terrifies me, so instead of blowing up the house I ran back inside and pulled out my grill pan.  You can use any veggies you’d like, but I went with the traditional mushroom, pepper and onion trio.  For seasonings, I added my MIM Ocho Spice Mix, which is just 8 of my favorite spices that I use on Mexican food.  Although there is vegan sour cream now available on the market, I feel like avocados or guacamole can take the place of that cool, creamy topping.  For gluten free, just choose any type of corn tortilla.  Enjoy!

Chop your veggies then toss in a bowl with some olive oil and a sprinkle of your favorite Mexican seasonings.

Grill (indoors or out!) until slightly charred and softened.

Warm your tortillas (corn or flour) then add the warm veggies and any other toppings!  I chose vegan cheese, fresh spinach, homemade guacamole and a pinch of lime juice.

Quick and Easy Veggie Fajita Recipe

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Butternut Squash and Arugula Pizza

Wow it’s been over 3 months since my last post, I am the worst blogger ever…   For those of you still with me, thank you, so sorry, but you will loooooooooooove this pizza!!  I’ve tried 4 different types of crusts and it’s delicious any way (homemade, pillsbury, whole foods pre-made crust, pita/naan bread, etc)  Sorry the exact measurements are a little vague, you have to adjust depending on the size of the pizza/crust you’re choosing!  For the version in the pictures, I used vegan pepper jack cheese, and also added some hemp seeds to the arugula salad for an extra healthy kick.  The warm, sweet butternut squash with the cold, salty/peppery arugula is such a great combo.  And the truffle oil just puts it over the edge.  If you can roast the butternut squash ahead of time this would just take seconds to make otherwise.  Enjoy!

Heat oven to 400 degrees and cut butternut squash into slices.  Watch how to safely chop a butternut squash here:

Toss the squash with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for approx. 15 minutes, checking on often to make sure not burning (depends on how thin you sliced the squash, I like mine pretty thin for a pizza)

Prepare pizza dough/crust according to directions of whichever kind of crust/dough you  choose!

When dough is ready, brush with a little olive oil, (salt, pepper & hot pepper flakes, too, but all optional) then add the slices of butternut squash, and then the shaved or grated vegan cheese.  Bake the pizza for approx. 10 minutes, but will vary depending on which crust you choose, keep an eye on it often (you don’t want to burn this!!)

While the pizza cooks, toss arugula with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt & pepper.  When the pizza is ready, top the warm pizza with the cold arugula salad, and drizzle with a small bit of truffle oil.  Yum!!!

Sweet and savory gourmet pizza that only takes seconds to make!

 

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Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

It was my husband’s birthday last week so it seemed like the perfect time to experiment with some vegan cupcake recipes.  He loves chocolate and peanut butter so here is what I created.  The best part, by far, is the frosting!!!!  We ended up cutting the cupcakes and smearing on the frosting like it was butter on a muffin to try and cover every possible angle of the cupcake with the frosting!  Anyways, here’s to another year older and more gray hair!!!   Enjoy!

Set the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the soy milk with the vinegar and set aside to let the mixture curdle a bit.  Next mix together the dry ingredients (not the sugar).

Separately, combine the sugar and the wet ingredients, adding in the soy/vinegar mixture.  Finally mix the wet into the dry and then scoop into baking paper cups in a muffin/cupcake pan.  Bake for 20 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting, mix together the softened vegan butter and peanut butter until well combined.  Next add in the vanilla, soy milk and slowly add in the powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency.  Smear on the cupcakes and top with some festive sprinkles.  Happy Birthday, Husband!! <3

Healthy vegan chocolate cupcakes with a delicious peanut butter frosting.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! (Sierra Marie, 8 months old)

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Lactation Cookies

What??!!??  I know, I know.  I’m sorry, but this is my life right now!!  I have a six month old, and I’m technically still eating for two.   “Lactation cookies” are all the rage on Pinterest it seems.  They contain a few extra ingredients that are supposed to help your milk supply, but are they really just an excuse for us well-deserving Moms to guiltlessly eat trays of cookies?  Sure?  Anyways, I can use all the lactation help I can get… so I am a fan of these cookies.  The nurse where I delivered little Sierra-bear gave me this recipe on our way out, but it had all those nasty things (eggs, butter) so I made some changes and figured out a vegan version.  And for the record, these are completely fine to eat if you’re not lactating : )

My not-so-little-little-cousin, Isabella, was here visiting and helped me test this recipe.  Thanks Bella!!

We also had another adorable helper in the kitchen!

Vegan version of a new Mom's favorite cookies.

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Baked Flautas (Taquitos)

In Spanish, a taquito means small taco and flauta means flute!  These delicious snacks are usually fried, so I tried to make them healthy and created a vegan, baked version!  Doesn’t matter what you choose to call them, they are delicious either way.  You could try this with corn tortillas, but I was scared because corn tortillas always crack and break on me, so I took the safe route with flour tortillas instead.  You can adjust the filling to whatever kinds of veggies you like.  Enjoy!

These are super easy to make!  Heat the oven to 425, then make a giant batch of delicious filling.

Next spray the tortillas with olive oil spray, and roll up with the filling and some vegan cheese.  Add to a cooling rack on a baking pan.  Bake for 15 minutes, and that’s it!

A healthy version of a classic Mexican appetizer.

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Veggie Spring Rolls

I am excited & honored to have been asked to cater a few vegan cocktail parties this weekend for Condition One at Sundance.  Condition One takes an ethical approach at creating incredible virtual reality experiences through their advanced cinematography.  This year at Sundance guests will strap on the headsets and be immersed into a free range chicken farm where they will feel not so “free” and also explore global warming firsthand with a virtual journey north to see the melting ice caps.  For the snacks following these screenings, the Condition One team has chosen my Veggie Rolls with a Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce and I’m excited to share the recipe.  This makes about 70 pieces, so scale down if necessary!  These are easy, delicious and healthy.  Hope you enjoy – and if you’re in town, be sure to stop by the Condition One Sundance location at the VR Loft, 580 Main Street, Park City.

Simple, healthy and delicious veggie spring rolls with a decadent Thai peanut dipping sauce.

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Stuffed Crescent Roll-Ups

I saw this recipe on “The Kitchen” recently and I immediately thought, I can veganize that!!  I wasted no time, bought the ingredients the next day and gave it a try.  It worked!  These roll-ups were great with a side salad or maybe a bowl of soup.  Otherwise, I could have eaten the whole pan… Feel free to switch it up and stuff with any of your favorite toppings.  You could experiment with different flavors of vegan cheese as well.  My favorite right now is the almond cheese that comes in chunks, it grates on a cheese grater like real cheese, and melts & tastes delicious too!  To keep it vegan make sure your crescent dough doesn’t contain any eggs or butter (most contain just oil anyways).  Enjoy!

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Just add your toppings to the stretched out dough (don’t separate the crescent rolls!)

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Then roll it up, and cut it into rounds.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

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Quick and easy recipe for a yummy vegan snack.

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Vegan Cornbread

Greetings!  My apologies for the gap in time here… a week late, we finally welcomed our little girl, Sierra Marie, into the world on 8/31 and I’m sure I don’t have to explain why things have been a little crazy and busy around here!  We also had lots of family visiting, and thankfully they took over most of the cooking so I’m a little rusty!  One night when my Mom was here, she made us some wonderful veggie soup and cornbread to enjoy with it.  She left us half the soup in the freezer, so after she left we pulled out the soup and I attempted to make a vegan version of the cornbread.  I thought it came out great, so I wanted to share!  (I will eventually share the veggie soup recipe from my Mom as well).  I love the ground flax in here because you can see the brown specs in the cornbread, and it makes me feel healthy when I eat the whole pan – ha!  This is delicious for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacking.

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First make your flax egg, then whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then add the rest of the ingredients to the dry mixture and stir until well combined.  That’s it!

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Pour in a greased (I used coconut oil spray) 8-9 inch round or square pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Slather on some vegan butter, and enjoy!

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Quick and easy vegan cornbread.

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