One Pot Vegan Pasta

This dish was inspired by Minimalist Baker’s recipe of ‘one pot vegan pasta’ dish. The recipe is quite simple, and as the self proclaimed queen of simple dishes, I just had to try it out.  I made a few changes to the original recipe and here a the ingredients I used.

You’ll need:

Olive oil

Garlic- 6 cloves. Separate into two once chopped.

Mushrooms

Orzo pasta or any pasta of your choice

Marina sauce

Parsley- handful, chopped & separated into two.

Salt

Sauté half of the chopped garlic then add crimini mushrooms and half of the chopped parsley. I allowed this to sauté for approximately 5 mins, then added the mixture to orzo pasta with marinara sauce, half of the chopped garlic and salt. I allowed the pasta to cook as recommended for 8 minutes, then I added broccoli and cooked for another 2 minutes to allow the broccoli to cook. I then took the dish off the stove and topped with parsley and more salt. Simple yet delicious!  

I modified this dish from the original recipe by exchanging eggplant for broccoli, and I mixed the crimini mushroom sauce with pasta together and cooked all of it at the same time.  Next time, I’ll add the crimini mushroom at the end (after the pasta has cooked) as recommended – to avoid losing nutrients from the mushrooms and cook the pasta for a few minutes before adding marinara sauce.  I found that the original recipe with the marinara sauce and pasta were quick to burn on the stove, even on low heat– most likely due to thickness of the liquid.

Strawberry salad with peanut dressing

Another day, another salad. Inspired by the deliciousness of our recent salad dressing, my husband and I decided to try another salad tonight with a new dressing, inspired by Thai peanut sauce we normally have as a condiment during our visits to our favorite Thai restaurant.  We pretty much used the scraps we had left in the fridge for the salad- a few ingredients:

Iceberg lettuce
Mint
Carrots
Tomatoes
Avocado
Strawberry
Cucumber.

And now for the Thai inspired peanut dressing- I came up with this idea without a recipe, hoping it would suffice. Once again, after having watched my mother cook countless times without a recipe, I learned to rely on my taste buds to lead the way. Here are the ingredients:

Peanut butter

Coconut water

Maple syrup

Dash of salt

Pepper flakes

Juice of one lime

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.  If the recipe doesn’t meet your liking, keep adding a few things here and there till you arrive at whatever taste you’re looking for. My husband and I *loved* this dressing so much, and have admitted to wasting *a lot* of money buying mediocre salad dressings. I don’t care for salads much, but a few days later, we so excited about this dressing that I made it again for the second time with the addition of walnuts for extra protein and omega three’s and it was equally delicious. Hope you enjoy!

Thoughts for today.

Recognizing the need for change is a good thing, however, recognition without *action* is pointless. How long will it take before you put those words /thoughts into action?

Simple broccoli cilantro pasta dish.

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about foods in the allium and cruciferous family, and how they can help significantly reduce cancer risk and prevent heart disease.  While allium foods (garlic, onions, chives, leeks, etc) and cruciferous foods (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cabbage, etc) are not my favorite, I believe that once you know better, you have to do better- therefore, I’ve made a point to start making more dishes with these ingredients for the health of my family. This simple, yet delicious pasta dish was inspired by my recent learnings.

Ingredients: garlic, broccoli, spinach pasta (or any pasta of your choice), salt, Tony Chachere seasoning, cheese, cilantro (optional). I usually don’t measure ingredients and continue to season until my palette agrees with meal.

Directions: sauté garlic on low heat until cooked, then add broccoli and continue to sauté for about 3 minutes without over-cooking the broccoli.  Add salt & Tony Chachere seasoning to mix and stir. Add cooked pasta and stir into mix until ingredients are evenly distributed. Add more salt & Chachere seasoning to your liking. Garnish with cheese & cilantro. Enjoy your meal!

Watermelon + Madarin Orange Delight!

Nothing screams warmer weather is coming like the deliciousness of watermelon juice!  I love watermelons so much; I can literally eat/drink a whole one by myself, everyday.  Last Summer, my husband and I used to juice them (remove the pulp), but lately, we’ve been putting them in the blender (seeds & all are edible) to make pure, organic watermelon juice.  I normally enjoy it as it, but it’s always fun to add any fruit we have around the home for a new flavor.

This time around, we decided to add Mandarin Oranges and it was mmm mmmmm tasty!  We’ve previously blended it with organic strawberries, but this combo is our new favorite, for now.

Rainbow Salad with Mango, Date + Walnut Dressing.

Everyone knows how to make a salad, and this one is nothing special….Just toss your favorite fruits & veggies in a bowl with the right condiments and BAM!…. you have a salad, my friend.

What tends to derail a healthy salad for mod people is often the condiments and the salad dressing loaded with tons of unhealthy ingredients. Today, I decided to try my own based on a few collaborative ideas from vegans/vegetarians I follow on Instagram. 

The dressing consisted of: 1 large ripe mango + a handful of walnuts + 2 soaked dates + a little coconut water. Blend ingredients until creamy. This dressing is so yummy right out the blender that I ate a quarter of it, and it would make a great popsicle (just place in mold & freeze) or sweet treat.

Next time you go to the store, check out the ingredients in your favorite dressing….the “healthy” one I used to get at Trader Joes had 21!!! My home-made version has FOUR! The choice is clear for my family. Do you know what’s in your food?

This meal was paired with potatoes topped with butter, salt + dried garlic chives. 

Veggie Pasta + Vegan Sausage with a whopping 45 Grams of Protein!

I’m a sucker for simple yet delicious healthy food. In the infamous words of Sweet Brown ‘ain’t nobody got time for that’….slaving in the kitchen for hours, only to eat the meal in ten mins. 

Anyway, I digress…. For this pasta dish, sauté chopped garlic with your choice of vegan sausage on low heat for 3mins. Add a handful of cilantro + roughly chopped spinach and sauté for a minute. Add Orzo pasta + seasoning (only used salt + Chachere) and stir till warm,then take off the stove and add tomatoes and stir again. Top with cilantro & your favorite vegan/vegetarian cheese. Dinner is served…..Bon appetite!

Customize with your fav veggies and spices….

The 5 Ingredient, No-Bake Granola Bar

If you’ve read the ingredient list on your favorite  granola bar, even the “healthy” ones, you’ll realize that although tasty, it’s full of unnecessary, processed ingredients. 

With a super easy recipe by Minimalist Baker,  we decided to make our own with only FIVE organic ingredients: Oats, Almonds, Dates, Peanut Butter+ Almond Butter and Maple Syrup.

I love making easy, yet healthy meals for my family. Nothing beats knowing where your food comes from and making it with only the ingredients you want with none of the fillers.

It was super easy to make- took less than 20mins, healthy and super yummy without being overly sweet. It makes for the perfect healthy, guilt-free snack! Definitely a win-win in my book.  ; )

For full recipe, visit  www.minimalistbaker.com

My modifications to the recipe: To decrease the sugar content, I used half the recommended amount of dates, soaked for 15 mins, however it wasn’t sweet enough.  It also fell apart for the above reason as well, so I ended up adding more pure maple syrup and peanut butter. I also ran the almonds through the blender for 20seconds vs chopped almonds.. the consistency worked better for me.

Here’s a picture of our sweet kitties, Nemo (Orange Tabby) and Camelia (Gray Tabby) enjoying the day by the window-sill.  These lil Furbies of ours, although annoying at times, they have my heart. It gives me pure joy to see them play and carry on with their cat-shenanigans. Makes for an entertaining day……