Portabello Mushroom Steak

This is going to be a new favorite of mine—I can already tell. The portabello mushroom holds flavor really well. Very juicy and delicious! And it was so easy to make, too.

Portabello Mushroom Steak
2–4 portabello mushrooms, rinsed and stems removed
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP green onion, thinly sliced
1 TBSP fresh basil, minced

Mix ingredients together and marinade the mushrooms for at least an hour in the refrigerator. Then grill for 15–20 minutes until slightly brown.

That's it! Enjoy!

Breakfast Smoothie

Banana, Strawberry, Spinach Smoothie

I don't know about you, but my stomach can be a little picky first thing in the morning. Cereal gives me a stomach ache, toast makes my stomach acidic, pancakes are way too sugary, and traditional breakfast foods like bacon and eggs are too rich (and not plant-based :). So for me, the best breakfast is large smoothie.

I know, I know—breakfast it supposed to be your biggest meal, a big breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism, a big breakfast gives you energy for the rest of your day. But my body is definitely telling me that a nutritious smoothie is the right breakfast for me, and I'm done trying to argue with it. Especially since smoothies are so delicious, gentle on the stomach, and easy to make! 

Here is a very basic, and very open-ended, smoothie recipe to get you started, and then I want to tell you why I don't use protein powder.

Breakfast Smoothie

1 ripe banana (fresh or frozen)

1 cup almond milk 

1–2 big handful of raw spinach or other greens

1 TBSP flax seeds or chia seeds 

1–2 TBSP natural peanut butter (optional)

1–2 cups frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, peaches, plums, melons—whatever you want)

My blender works better if I layer the ingredients in the this order: milk, flax or chia seeds, peanut butter, banana, spinach, and then frozen fruit on top. Pulse the blender until the frozen fruit is mostly broken up, and then blend it until smooth. (I think that it's easier on the motor if I do it this way.) And don't feel like you have to measure the ingredients. I never do.

The Protein Myth

So I don't use protein powder in my smoothies, and if you're wondering why, it's because some research is saying that it is actually a myth that extra protein equals extra health. Yes, your body needs protein, but it doesn't need very much. And the typical American is actually getting way too much protein. 

It's funny, because I've read or heard about the protein myth several times since I started eating healthier, and the research seems pretty solid to me, but I still occasionally panic about not having enough protein in my diet. It is so engrained in us to obsess over protein when really you can meet all of your protein needs by eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and legumes (beans).

Anyway, that's all I want to say, because I'm no expert, and I don't want come across as preachy either. :) But if you want to know more, here is a website to get you started. I also recommend The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell and Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman.

What healthy breakfasts do you guys like to eat? I'm always looking for new ideas!

Vegan Pizza

On flat bread with tomato pesto sauce

On homemade crust with vegan white sauce

Here is the promised pizza recipe! I'm going to give you a list of the toppings I use and a couple of ways I have made it, and you can figure out how you like it! 

This is another recipe that my husband says tastes delicious as long as you aren't expecting it to taste like a "real" pizza. So keep that in mind. :)

Vegan Pizza

1) Choose your toppings
sweet onion, sliced
zucchini, sliced
red bell pepper, sliced
mushrooms, sliced
tomato, sliced
artichoke hearts, chopped
spinach, chopped

2) Choose your sauce
Tomato Pesto (posted earlier)
1 8-oz. can of tomato sauce
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup fresh basil (packed tightly)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Pulse tomato sauce and garlic in a food processor until the garlic is chopped and incorporated. Add cashews, basil, and nutritional yeast and combine very thoroughly. Scrap down the sides of the food processor bowl as needed.

If your food processor has a hard time chopping up nuts, you can presoak the cashews in water for an hour or even over night. Just drain them before you use them.

Yields 1 heaping cup.

Vegan White Sauce (also posted earlier)
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1–2 TBSP sweet onion, minced
3 TBSP whole wheat flour (or other whole grain flour)
1 cup almond milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 TBSP fresh basil, minced (optional, but really recommended)

Heat oil in sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes. Add flour to oil mixture and combine thoroughly. Whisk in almond milk, a little at a time. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add remaining ingredients. Simmer for about five minutes, or until thickened. Sauce will thicken even more upon cooling.

3.) Choose your crust
whole wheat flat bread (pictured in photo)
whole wheat pita pocket
homemade pizza crust (here is a link to one that I have used)

4.) Put it all together
Cover your crust with a thick layer of sauce. Layer on all the toppings. Press them firmly into the sauce. Bake crust according to recipe instructions, or if you are using a pita or flat bread, 10–15 minutes in a 350° oven should do it!

The brand of flat bread I used was really, really thin, which I didn't like as much as the homemade pizza dough. But, it did have the advantage of taking a fraction of the time and labor to prepare!

Tomato Pesto

I made this tomato pesto to go on a pizza (recipe coming soon!), but you can use it for sandwiches, wraps, a vegetable dip, or whatever you want! I think it would work well as a pasta sauce as well (especially with some extra tomato sauce). In fact, I think I'll try it out tonight. :)

If you haven't discovered nutritional yeast yet, you might want to try it out. It's a non-active strain of yeast that comes in yellow flakes, and it has a "cheesy" taste to it. Besides being a complete protein, nutritional yeast is often fortified with B12. I buy it in bulk at Winco Foods.

That being said, if you don't want to use nutritional yeast, you can probably leave it out of this recipe.

Tomato Pesto
1 8-oz. can of tomato sauce
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup fresh basil (packed tightly)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Pulse tomato sauce and garlic in a food processor until the garlic is chopped and incorporated. Add cashews, basil, and nutritional yeast and combine very thoroughly. Scrap down the sides of the food processor bowl as needed.

If your food processor has a hard time chopping up nuts, you can presoak the cashews in water for an hour or even over night. Just drain them before you use them.

Yields 1 heaping cup.
Inspired by Oh She Glows

15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta

One of my favorite recipe blogs is Oh She Glows. I've been impressed with everything I've tried from that blog. But this recipe is a favorite among favorites. It has very few ingredients, it's easy, and it's delicious. My husband and I probably eat this every other week! But don't forget to eat a salad or vegetable dish with it. :)

Click on the link below to get the recipe. And just one note, leftovers won't keep well, so eat it up!

15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta

Veggie Wrap

When I started eating healthier, one of the challenges I faced (and let's be honest, I'm still facing it!) was finding quick meals that I could eat away from home. At first, I cooked ridiculously elaborate meals—and not just once a day, but every meal of every day. I don't recommend that. :)

Now I'm trying out some easier and more portable recipes. This veggie wrap is one of them. It's nothing brilliant, but I know that I struggled to figure out how to make a healthy lifestyle actually doable, and an easy recipe like this would have been helpful. So if you're in the same boat, try this!

Veggie Wrap
1 whole-grain tortilla
slices of tomato
roasted red peppers (from a jar)
avocado slices
artichoke hearts (from a can)
handful of spinach or other greens
1 TBSP pesto (from a jar)

Roll everything up in the tortilla!

This recipe is just to give you some ideas. You can leave out any of these ingredients or add more, of course. And you can make this meal even faster if you leave some sliced tomato in the fridge. Then all you have to do is slice your avocado and slap the whole thing together.

Like I said, it's nothing brilliant, but I hope it helps!
Adapted from Eating for Pregnancy

Mom's Spinach Salad

Credit for this salad goes to my mom. I've made a few adjustments to the salad ingredients, but the dressing is all hers. This salad is so fresh and tangy—everyone seems to like it. I get compliments every time I make it.

Not kidding.

Mom's Spinach Salad
Salad:
6 oz. fresh spinach
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 orange, peeled and sliced
1 avocado, chopped
handful of dried cranberries
handful of sunflower seeds
about 1/2–3/4 cup salad dressing (don't overdo it!!!)

Dressing:
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup Italian dressing (or 1 tsp Italian dressing mix)
1/2 tsp dry mustard (or 1 TBSP mustard)
1/2 cup oil (I leave this out completely)

Combine salad ingredients, then combine dressing ingredients, then combine the salad and the dressing. As easy as that!

You only need a little bit of dressing, but the leftover dressing saves well in the refrigerator. And it is good on almost any kind of salad.

Just a note, the salad doesn't hold up very well once the dressing has been added. So if you think you are going to have leftover salad, you might want to consider leaving the dressing separate.

Vegan White Sauce Pasta with Veggies

Who says eating healthy means you have to give up delicious white sauce pastas? Not me. I love this sauce so much. And who can say no to some extra veggies? My mouth is watering just thinking about eating this delicious pasta.

Vegan White Sauce Pasta with Veggies
2 cups uncooked whole wheat noodles (doesn't matter what shape, but I recommend shells)
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup sweet onion, chopped
vegan white sauce (recipe below)

Cook noodles. Meanwhile, sauté onion in 1/4 cup water over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add red bell pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms. (Leave the tomatoes aside.) Cook until soft.

Drain noodles and mix with the tomatoes and the sautéed vegetables. Add white sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Vegan White Sauce
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1–2 TBSP sweet onion, minced
3 TBSP whole wheat flour (or other whole grain flour)
1 cup almond milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 TBSP fresh basil, minced (optional, but really recommended)

Heat oil in sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes. Add flour to oil mixture and combine thoroughly. Whisk in almond milk, a little at a time. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add remaining ingredients. Simmer for about five minutes, or until thickened. Sauce will thicken even more upon cooling.

Stuffed Picnic Loaf

I really enjoy summer recipes that don't require cooking. Especially if they have the added bonuses of being easy to prepare and delicious. Fortunately, this stuffed picnic loaf qualifies in all three categories. Plus, it is incredibly easy to take with you on any summer outings.

Stuffed Picnic Loaf
1 large round loaf, whole grain if possible
1 tomato, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 cup roasted red pepper (from a jar, if desired)
2–4 cups fresh spinach
3 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
3 TBSP pesto

Begin by cutting one inch off the top of the round loaf. Using a knife or your hands, hollow out the inside, leaving about a half-an-inch lining of bread on the sides and bottom of the loaf.

Spread pesto on the bottom of the loaf. Then put a thin layer of spinach leaves on the bottom to prevent the tomato juice from making the bread soggy. Layer the tomato, artichoke, avocado, roasted red pepper, and basil on top of that. Then stuff the loaf to the brim with more spinach. You want your loaf to be tightly packed, so don't be afraid to really stuff it!

Replace the top of the loaf, wrap it, and place in the refrigerator for a few hours with something heavy stacked on top of it. (This will help prevent the ingredients from falling out when you cut it open.)

Cut into fourths and serve!

Feel free to adjust the ingredient amounts to fit the size of your loaf. Also, I want to try this with alfalfa sprouts sometime. Or maybe with hummus instead of pesto. Just some ideas. :)
Inspired by Daily Mail

Cilantro Lime Dressing or Dip

This dressing is inspired by Café Rio's cilantro lime dressing, but I made a few adjustments to make it healthier. It's really good on a taco salad (greens, pico de gallo, guacamole, rice, beans), but I also use it as a spread for burgers and sandwiches. Or as a sour cream substitute in soups!

Cilantro Lime Dressing or Dip
1 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for one hour)
1/2 packet ranch dressing mix
1 cup almond milk (or adjust amount of milk until desired consistency is reached)
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 TBSP hot sauce

Combine ingredients in food processor until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Black Bean Burger

What could be better than a good bean burger recipe on the fourth of July? These burger patties have a Mexican flavor to them, which is one of the reasons I love them. They are very tasty, but as my husband puts it, "They taste better if you aren't expecting them to taste exactly like hamburgers."

Yup.

Sometimes these patties are a little dry, so some juicy toppings like tomatoes or guacamole can go a long way. Also, they break apart sometimes. If that happens to you, just throw them on your sandwich anyway—they will still taste delicious. They break less if you freeze them and then cook them.

We freeze them a dozen or so at a time, and I take one or two with me to barbecues. It's convenient to be able to participate in family barbecues with out much hassel and—even better—with out consuming my least favorite meat, hamburger.

Black Bean Burger

1/2 medium red onion

5 cloves garlic

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (I've also used fresh basil before)

1 tsp chili powder

2 tsp olive oil (optional)

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 15 oz. can black beans (any type of bean would probably work)

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use Panko bread crumbs)

Put garlic and onion in food processor and pulse until chopped, or if your food processor is a little iffy like mine, dice garlic and onion and add to food processor bowl. Add almonds and sunflower seeds and pulse until finely chopped. Add cilantro, chili powder, oil (if using), salt, and pepper and process until cilantro is chopped and all the ingredients are combined. 

Put drained and rinsed beans in a separate bowl and mash well. (Honestly, the best way is to wash your hands thoroughly and get right in there with your hands.) Mix bread crumbs and food processor contents in with the beans. 

Then make your patties. I have done all different sizes and thicknesses, so what ever you prefer should work. Just be warned that a thinner patty may break more easily. If you are having trouble getting the patties to stick together, you may want to add the oil (if you didn't earlier) or a teeny bit of water.

Throw them on the grill or into a frying pan over medium heat and cook a few minutes on each side. I like mine to be soft on the inside, but if you are going for a crispier patty, you can cook them longer at a lower heat.

If you want to freeze them, do it! Just separate each patty with plastic wrap so you can get them apart easily. They make an awesome quick meal out of the freezer if you microwave them. 

Some of my favorite toppings for these burgers are tomatoes, sautéed bell peppers, jalapeños, lettuce, sriracha sauce or Mexican hot sauce, avocado slices or guacamole, and salsa. 

Yields 4–8 patties, depending on how big you make them.

Adapted from A Couple of Cooks

What I'm All About

Hey, I'm Heidi. Thanks for visiting my blog. Last summer, after watching Forks Over Knives, reading Eat to Live, and researching dietary health,  I decided I wanted to eat a plant-based, whole-foods diet. At first, it was really difficult to find good recipes—good tasting and good for you. I created this blog to share my favorite healthy recipes with all of you. 

Some of these recipes are my own creations, some I have collected and adapted to my needs, and some I have posted direct links to, because they are already amazing. I am very diligent about giving credit where credit is due, and I hope you will follow the links and use the many amazing blogs out there as resources for your own recipe hunts! 

I am not perfect at eating healthy, and perfection is not my aim. I am aiming for persistent healthy eating, not perfect healthy eating. In other words, I'm happy with myself if I make healthy choices 80%–90% of the time. And I certainly don't feel guilty about a good juicy steak or a big bowl of ice cream every now and then! I share this with you because I want you to know that every healthy choice is a good choice, and you can celebrate making one good decision today even if you make a less good decision tomorrow. And that "less good" decision shouldn't stop you from making a better decision the next day! 

Whether you are looking for drastic dietary change or just a few healthy recipes to supplement your current diet, I hope you will find some recipes here that you like! My only hope for Useful Snippits is that you will find it . . . well . . . useful. :)

Enjoy!