Salad with Nuts n' Berries

If you are trying to eat a little healthier, one of the simplest changes you can make to your diet is eating at least one big salad a day. And when I say big, I mean big. It is pretty much impossible to overeat on a fresh, green salad because you literally don't have the stomach capacity to do it. (If only that were true of the salad dressing as well . . .) So if you eat a big serving of salad before your main course, you might find you are less likely to eat too much of the main dish (which for me tends to be the least healthy part of the meal). Plus, we all know that mixed greens like spinach, collards, kale, arugula, and so forth are absolutely packed with nutrients. If you're having a hard time eating enough vegetables, make salads your best friends. Simple advice that you've probably heard before. :)

But, if you need a little inspiration, you might try this salad! It's my current favorite.

Salad with Nuts n' Berries
mixed greens of your choice
a handful of strawberries, washed and sliced
a handful of grapes, washed
a handful of nuts or sunflower seeds
1/2 cup beans of your choice OR 1 bean burger patty, crumbled (recipe here)
homemade Tahini Goddess Dressing (recipe here) or other dressing (though I highly recommend this one!!)

try these other toppings (or get creative and add your own toppings):
tomatoes
avocado
craisins

Just one note, you can easily reduce the oil in the Tahini Goddess Dressing; however, if you do, you might want to add more water than called for.

That's it! Enjoy.

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta

I went through five versions of this recipe trying to perfect it, but believe me, it was worth the effort!

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta (say that three times fast!)
2 cups whole wheat penne noodles
2 TBSP grape seed oil (or other oil)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced roasted red pepper (from a jar is fine)
3 TBSP flour
1 cup almond milk, unsweetened and unflavored
1/2 tsp onion powder
3 TBSP nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (reduce if you don't like spicy food)
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/8 cup fresh basil, minced OR 1/4 cup store-bought pesto
salt and pepper

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Heat oil in small sauce pan over medium low heat. Add garlic and sauté for two minutes. Add roasted red pepper and sauté for additional two minutes. Mix in flour. Gradually add almond milk, stirring thoroughly, until all the milk is incorporated (if you add too much milk at a time, the sauce will be lumpy). Stir in the remaining ingredients and increase heat to medium. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about three minutes. The sauce should thicken slightly. Remove from heat.

Drain the noodles, combine the noodles and the sauce, and serve!

Stuffed Biscuits with Mashed Cauliflower

I don't know where the idea for these stuffed biscuits came from, but I'm lovin' the result. I already want to test out some other fillings for these, because this cauliflower "mashed potato" filling was so satisfying!

By the way, the mashed cauliflower makes a delicious side dish on it's own (though Warren still disagrees, so cauliflower-haters beware).

Stuffed Biscuits with Mashed Cauliflower
biscuit dough:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 TBSP olive oil
2/3 cup water (or almond milk)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp rosemary

mashed cauliflower:
1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP oil
2 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 tsp rosemary
salt and pepper
almond milk, if desired

toppings:
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add cauliflower and cover. Cook for about ten minutes, or until the cauliflower is soft. Drain the water and put the cooked cauliflower in a food processor bowl. Add the rest of the mashed cauliflower ingredients. Process until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes, scrapping down the sides of the food processor bowl as needed. You can add a little almond milk to make it creamier.

Mix biscuit ingredients together and knead for a minute. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into circles using the rim of a drinking glass. Combine the scraps and roll out and cut again until you have twelve biscuits. Push each biscuit into a cup of a muffin tray, so that the biscuit dough covers the bottom and sides of the muffin cup, but leave the center hollow.

Put a dollop of mashed cauliflower in the hollow center of each biscuit. Top with a few pieces of mushroom, tomato, and red onion.

Bake for 12 minutes at 450° F.

Tomato Basil Soup

This hearty tomato soup is really great for a cool autumn day. And it's a healthy recipe that anyone will enjoy. It does take a while to make because the tomatoes have to roast for an hour, but that doesn't require any active attention, so the actual prep time is probably more like fifteen minutes to chop vegetables and fifteen to thirty minutes to cook the soup.

Tomato Basil Soup
10–15 roma tomatoes
olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4–6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
2 cans vegetable broth
1 cup almond milk (optional)
water, if needed
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove cores. Spread on a foil-covered baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for about one hour.

Sauté onion in a few tablespoons of water in a large pot over medium heat. After the onions are soft, add the garlic. Cook for another minute or two and then add the roasted tomatoes, broth, milk, and enough water (if needed) to just cover the tomatoes. Add basil, pepper, and onion powder. Boil for 15–30 minutes. Then add the salt. Blend the soup in two batches in a blender, being careful to release steam through the lid so that too much pressure doesn't build up. Serve hot!

Note: If you want your soup to look more red, you can add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to the soup when you add the tomatoes. Otherwise, it will be a little lighter than most tomato soups.

Garlic Mushroom Ravioli

I should have cut one open to show the filling before taking the picture! Oh well.

What a burst of flavor! These raviolis take a little while to make, but they are worth the effort. And if you do have the time, the recipe isn't very complicated, and it's pretty fun to stuff the raviolis and cut them out. :)

Just a note, taste-wise I have to say I prefer white flour in the ravioli dough.

Garlic Mushroom Ravioli
1 jar marinara sauce OR one batch vegan white sauce

ravioli dough:
2 cups whole wheat or white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP oil
3/4 cup hot water

Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the oil and water. Knead the noodle dough until it is an even consistency (about three minutes). Let dough sit for a few minutes.

mushroom filling:
1 TBSP oil
1 TBSP soy sauce
2–4 cloves of garlic, minced
6 cups crimini mushrooms, diced
salt and pepper

Sauté the garlic in oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Sauté for about ten minutes. Set aside to cool.

"cheese" filling:
1 cup cashews (soaked in water for one hour)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup water
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Combine "cheese" ingredients in a food processor. Process until they form a even paste consistency. Add 1/2–3/4 cup of the "cheese" mixture to the sautéed mushroom mixture to make the ravioli filling.

To stuff the ravioli, sprinkle a clean surface with flour and roll half the dough into a large rectangle that is 1/8 inch thick. Use a large knife to cut the rectangle in half. Use the knife to make very gentle indents in the dough to divide one half of the dough into as many 2–3 inch squares as will fit. Put about a tablespoon of the ravioli filling in the center of each square. Then brush water down each "channel" between the lumps of filling. Sprinkle the other half of the rolled out dough with flour, and gently lift it and stretch it over the half with the filling, flour side down. Gently press the halves of dough together in the channels between each lump of filling—the water and flour should paste them together pretty well. Then use the knife to cut down each channel and trim around the edges of each ravioli. Place raviolis on a floured baking sheet.

Roll out the other half of the dough, cut in half, and repeat the whole stuffing process.

To cook the ravioli, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add one ravioli at a time until there are about ten raviolis in the pot. Cook for two or three minutes (or until they float on top of the water), then remove to a strainer. Cook the rest of the ravioli in batches of ten and then strain.

Serve with marinara sauce or vegan white sauce.

The dough recipe will yield about 25 to 30 raviolis, and there will be extra filling (the leftovers are good on toast!).

Rice and Beans Bowl (and Guacamole Recipe)

This rice and beans bowl is definitely one of my go-to recipes when I want something that will give us lots of leftovers. It works well as a burrito filling, too.

Rice and Beans Bowl
4 cups cooked brown rice
2 15-oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained (pinto, red, or kidney beans work, too)
1 TBSP oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp onion powder
water
salt

Toppings:
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 bell peppers (any color), chopped
guacamole (recipe below) OR 2 avocados, chopped
salsa (fresh, if possible!)
pickled jalapeños

Heat oil in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Add garlic and sauté for one minute. Add black beans, onion powder, and salt. Mash some of the beans with a wooden spoon to make paste. Add enough water to just cover the beans. Mix and let simmer for at least ten minutes (longer is fine).

Meanwhile, chop toppings and prepare guacamole and salsa.

Put about 1/2 cup cooked rice and 1/2 cup beans in each bowl. Add desired toppings, mix it all together, and eat up!

Yields 6–8 bowls.
Adapted from The Engine 2 Diet

Guacamole
2 avocados, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 tablespoon pickled jalapeño, diced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Mash the avocado with a fork until desired consistency is reached (I like to leave it a little chunky).
From the Cook This, Not That cookbook

Quick and Fresh Veggie Sandwich (with Variations)

I wish I could take credit for this stroke of genius, but the credit for this recipe goes to my husband. :) I confess, we ate these sandwiches for lunch at least five times this week, and I'm still not tired of them. So simple, yet so very delicious.

The best part of this sandwich is that I cut up the veggies and put them in baggies in the fridge, so it was easier than easy to slap the toppings between two pieces of bread and eat up.

Quick and Fresh Veggie Sandwich
whole wheat bread or french loaf or wrap
2 bell peppers (yellow or orange are preferable), sliced
2 large tomatoes, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
fresh spinach or other leafy greens
1/2 TBSP (per sandwich) sweet onion salad dressing (or whatever dressing or spread you prefer)
salt and pepper

Variations:
avocado, sliced
or
mushrooms (sautéed with 2 tsp garlic, black pepper, 1 tsp soy sauce, and a handful of red onion slices)

Like I said, I chopped the bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onion ahead of time and stored them in the refrigerator so that we could eat these sandwiches all week without any prep time. We still haven't made it through those toppings after making 8 sandwiches, so I would estimate they will last for 10 to 12 sandwiches, just to give you a rough idea.