What I Ate Wednesday #137

Vegan MoFo 2013 – Post #2

It’s time for What I Ate Wednesday #137! Enjoy!

Quinoa, zucchini, avocado, and Cajun seasoning.

Quinoa, green lentils, carrots, zucchini, and taco seasoning.

A Spicy Vegan Chili Burger on a whole wheat bun with Daiya Jack Wedge, hummus, Sriracha, and green leaf lettuce. With my Basic No-Mayo Coleslaw.

Green leaf lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, fresh ground pepper, balsamic vinaigrette, and a crumbled veggie burger.

Toasted Silver Hills Squirelly Bread with avocado tossed in lemon juice, hummus, Sriracha, green leaf lettuce, and a crumbled mini Spicy Vegan Chili Burger. With a side of cucumber with fresh ground black pepper.

Cooked short grain brown rice, defrosted frozen blueberries, coconut sugar, cinnamon, unsweetened almond milk. Warmed up.

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More Waffles from Healthy Happy Life

Vegan MoFo 2013 – Post #1

It’s Vegan Month of Food time again! This is my second year participating and I’ve decided to focus this year on posting reviews and photos of other peoples’ recipes that I’ve tried (from both cookbooks and online). Here it goes. 1 down, only 19 more to go!

Previously I wrote a post about some delicious Pumpkin Spice Waffles from Kathy over at Healthy Happy Life. I haven’t made those ones again since, but I have tried two of her other waffle recipes: Apple Cinnamon Ginger Waffles and Blueberry Citrus Whole Wheat Waffles (which I actually turned into chocolate chip waffles). Yum!

I’m a sucker for anything that involves cooked apples and these Apple Cinnamon Ginger Waffles are no exception. They certainly did not disappoint! The combination of apples and cinnamon is always great, but the addition of ginger and candied ginger in these waffles make them something really special!

What I Did:
I doubled the recipe.
I substituted half of the spelt flour for oat flour. Just because.
I only like and buy green Granny Smith apples, so thats what I used. I used half of a large one, diced small.
I did include the optional chia seeds, but left out the optional almond butter and orange zest.
I substituted the mashed banana with apple sauce: 1/2 cup for the doubled recipe.

Another morning I used the Blueberry Citrus Whole Wheat Waffles to make a special breakfast for my nephew and I: chocolate chip waffles. I followed the recipe, except that I left out the citrus zest, diced oranges, and blueberries. I also left out all of the optional ingredients. We ate our chocolate chip whole wheat waffles with a quick berry sauce similar to my Instant Cranberry Sauce and Blueberry Sauce.

Instant Mixed Berry Sauce
2/3 cup frozen blueberries
2/3 cup frozen blackberries
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp ground chia seed

Place berries in a microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup and defrost in microwave until berries break apart when you stir them. Stir and break up the berries with a fork, until mostly broken up. Stir in maple syrup and ground chia seeds.
Enjoy on your favourite waffles, pancakes, french toast, or oatmeal.

I really liked these whole wheat waffles and can definitely see using them as a base for all kinds of add-in combinations!

You should definitely head on over to Healthy Happy Life and make some waffles!

Frosted Blueberry Cake: MMAZ #30

For this week’s Meatless Monday from A-Z the mission is to cook a recipe that features blueberries. I haven’t made any of the recipes yet from last week’s Create with Blueberries linkup, but I did make this gorgeous Frosted Blueberry Cake from Healthy Happy Life.

For the past couple of years I’ve volunteered to make the birthday cakes (one for each sister) for my sisters’ birthday. Birthdays are a great excuse to try out a sweeter-than-usual dessert that I’ve been eyeing, and doing the baking, guarantees I’ll actually be able to eat something come dessert time. This year I couldn’t pass up Jem’s request for this Frosted Blueberry Cake.

What I really love about this cake is that the actual cake is not too sweet, and pretty darn healthy. The flax, oats, applesauce, blueberries, and walnuts do the double duty of making the cake taste great, and providing some actual nutrients, instead of just empty calories. Without the frosting, this cake is more like a snack-cake than a true dessert, but as soon as you add the amazing coconut frosting, it is elevated to a beautiful dessert, perfect for any occasion. And the frosting really is amazing!

I did make a couple of minor changes to the original recipe:
– I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. I rarely even buy all purpose flour anymore, and I’m always pleased with the results I get using whole wheat flour. As usual, when substituting whole wheat flour, I just had to add an extra little splash of nondairy milk when mixing the wet and dry together.
– I used ground flaxseeds.
– I choose to use coconut sugar.
– I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk in place of the soy milk.
– I couldn’t find any fresh blueberries, so I used frozen blueberries in the cake, and fresh raspberries for decorating.

In regards to the options listed in the original recipe, I used almond extract, I didn’t use any cinnamon, and I used walnuts.

We really enjoyed this cake, and I will absolutely be using both the cake recipe and the frosting recipe again!

I’ve shared this post with Slightly Indulgent Tuesday 4/23/13.

You May Also Enjoy:

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Tart

Healthy Happy Life’s Spicy Peanut Portobello Kale Rice Bowl

 

Yes, that title is a mouthful, but each bite of this delicious rice bowl will be a mouthful of awesome!

When I came across the recipe for this Spicy Peanut Portobello Kale Rice Bowl I knew it was meant to be! I just happened to have a whole bunch of kale and a few portobello mushrooms in the fridge that I’d bought specifically for a different dinner I had planned, but I immediately decided I was making this instead.

This rice bowl consists of brown rice, a layer of spicy peanut ginger kale salad (warm or cold), sautéed portobellos, and crunchy peanuts. It all works together wonderfully. I love it when a super healthy meal feels like comfort food!

Kathy suggests adding some tofu for a protein boost, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I cooked some green lentils in with my rice. This is 1 cup of short grain brown rice and 1/2 cup green lentils, cooked with 3 cups of water, just like you cook rice.

For the Spicy Peanut Ginger Kale Salad portion of the recipe I used just 1 bunch of kale, but the full amount of sauce and peanuts. I really loved how saucy it was and I think I’d do it the same way again. I also left out the red onions, because I don’t like onions, and the pickled ginger, because I didn’t have any. I then doubled the amount of fresh ginger in the sauce to make up for the missing pickled ginger.

I cooked the mushrooms as the recipe says, just left out the onion again.

Yum!

This recipe does have a few different components, but please don’t let that stop you from trying this. Each part is pretty simple, and it can all be made ahead of time if that makes it easier. I ate mine as leftovers for the next two days and it was just as great, and possibly even better, than the first night. And if you don’t feel tempted by the rice bowl in its entirety you could still try the Spicy Peanut Ginger Kale Salad on its own. I loved the peanut sauce covered kale and can definitely see making this part again on its own.

My photos don’t really do this delicious bowl of goodness justice. You should really follow the recipe links above and drool over Kathy’s gorgeous photos like I did. 🙂

Enjoy!

I’ve shared this post with Healthy Vegan Friday #39.

You May Also Enjoy:

Butternut Squash Miso Noodle Soup with Kale and Edamame (another mouthful!)

Kale-Millet Croquettes with Cheezy Tahini Sauce

Spicy Peanut Vegetable Soup