Vegetarian Recipes!

Hello Everyone,
Here is a few recipes I make at home for my family. Please note that I am not full out vegan but am trying to transition to not having any animal products in the meals I have. These recipes are straight from my vegetarian cook book and are perfect if you are starting off with meatless meals or for vegans who can replace the ingredients.

This first one is good for breakfast or lunch and very simple to make.

Here is two really delish dinner ideas, the second one takes a little more time but is really worth it!
 

 

 I haven't tried this last one yet but and hoping to in the future very soon because I have yet to try tofu!

Also if its hard for you to read let me know and I can send the direct picture or lend you my cook book!

breakfast and dinner #nomoomechs

for breakfast this morning, i made original quaker oatmeal prepared with water, topped with cinnamon, blueberries, and strawberries.

for dinner, i had a vegan chicken patty with marinara sauce, baked sweet potato fries, and cucumber. 

i just found the greatest thing ever!

so i was browsing tumblr as usual, and on my dashboard there was a post for VEGAN NUTELLA!!! i got so excited because nutella, and i wanted to post it here right away, so i obviously have not tried it yet but definitely in the near future.

You will need:
Two cups of raw hazelnuts
1/4 cup of dark unsweetened cocoa
4 tablespoons agave nectar
3 packets of stevia
1/4 cup of almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract


To prepare:
Toast hazelnuts in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (or less for a less strong hazelnut flavor). Wait for them to cool and then remove skin by rubbing nut between hands or a paper towel. Put in a food processor and blend until it looks like peanut butter. This may take awhile because the nuts have to begin to release oils. Once it reaches this consistency, add all other ingredients and blend until smooth.

Spread over bread or eat by the spoonful!

i fixed my post guys. -_-

blogging from a tablet is no easy task. my apologies.

Moo Less Soup

Vegetable and Tofu Soup 
( I didn't really measure my ingredients and stuff so this is a recipe from the heart, guys.)

Ingredients

• 1 yellow squash, sliced thinly
• 1 zucchini, sliced thinly 
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• About 5 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 green pepper, 1/2 inch dice
• 1 pack of tofu, cut into cubes (here's how to make the tofu) 
• About 4 cups of vegetable broth
• 6 cups of water

Should serve 4 or 5 bowls of soup
Here's how

Make the tofu first, because it takes some time (not a lot but yeah it'll take time). While you're cooking the tofu, pour the vegetable broth and the water into a stockpot over medium heat. As you let that heat, cut up all your vegetables. If you're like me, you obviously didn't do it beforehand. 

Once your tofu is nice and brown, just chuck it into the water/broth mixture. Also, your vegetables should now be cut up. First, put in the carrots, broccoli, and garlic. Once you see that those are doing pretty well (wow this is such bad cooking lingo, I'm sorry), put in the rest of the vegetables. Leave the soup over medium heat for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until you see that the vegetables are cooked. Serve hot and enjoy!

Bread

I noticed recently that nearly all nomoomechs meals have some bread and I just wanted to say that not all bread is vegan, some contain whey and casein which are milk by-products and although there are some that are indeed vegan friendly I generally avoid bread if trying to go vegan just to be safe.

Another nomoomechs Meal (Recipe Included)

Vegan Banana and Pecan Pancakes 
(with cut up apples on the side)

The Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk/rice milk/coconut milk (any will do)
• 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted (if you don't have coconut oil you can use olive or vegetable oil as well)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup, plus more for serving
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I didn't use it because we had run out, so I put cinnamon instead) 
• 1 large banana thinly sliced 
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Should make 6 to 8 medium pancakes

Here's how 

     In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice milk, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir the banana and the pecans into the batter. Whisk the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until combined (a few lumps are okay). 

     Preheat a nonstick griddle or a large nonstick skillet over medium heat for at least 2 minutes. About 1/4 cup at a time, pour the batter onto the grill or skillet. Cook until bubbles appear, the edges are set, and the pancakes are nicely browned on the bottom (about 2 to 3 minutes). Turn and cook until the other side is nicely browned, 1 to 2 minutes. If necessary, keep the finished pancakes in a warm oven while you finish the batter. Serve hot with maple syrup. 

no moo mechs dessert :)

vegan vanilla ice cream with mango. #nomoomechs.

Vegan Blogs

I also wanted to share some blogs that I felt were very helpful with their recipes and such.

http://veggieomnom.tumblr.com/
http://garden-of-vegan.tumblr.com/
http://www.ilovevegan.com/

veggieomnom is very nice (I messaged her once myself with a question about milk preferences and she did not blow me off) and she has great recipes that are easy and delicious. She's young like ourselves so if she can do it (for seven years might I add) then why can't we?

garden-of-vegan and ilovevegan are run by the same girl. If you have a tumblr, garden-of-vegan is convenient because you see marvelous recipes on your dashboard and you're just like "oh I just have to make this, like now!". You don't even have to look up the recipes with most of the things on her tumblr because it's so straighforward.

Her ilovevegan blog, however, is where the good stuff is really at. Here she posts the recipes for her meals and she also has product reviews and nifty things like "A Beginner's Guide to Tofu" (which should be really helpful in the vegetarian/vegan world).

Two Moo Less Meals

I need to catch up on my #nomoomechs meals! 

The first one was today's breakfast (3-20-13). That drink there is not milk, but soymilk. Then I had orange navels, almonds, and two slices of toast (one with peanut butter and the other with strawberry jelly). 

The meal to the right was eaten yesterday (3-19-13) and it's just a bunch of fruit. And by a bunch of fruit I mean kiwi, strawberries, apples, red and green grapes, and pineapple. Thank you, Ivonne! 

Vegetarian Chili

This recipe is more of a modified version of another vegetarian chili recipe i saw on another blog. if you want to check that one out too, you can go to elpasovegsnob.wordpress.com and it should be the first post. The ingredients are scaled for a personal serving, but i found it to be more than enough for me.
Ingredients you will need
3 small tomatoes
1/4 cup of water
1/8 cup quinoa
1/8 cup couscous
1/2 cup of any cooked beans you have as leftovers or canned beans

1. I pureed the tomatoes first and then i started to heat some olive oil (about a tsp) on a saucepan. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

2. Add the water and quinoa and bring back to a simmer

3. cover and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally

4. add the beans and couscous and cook for another 5-7 minutes (at this point i also added extra water because it was starting to look too dry, feel fry to add water at any point if you feel it is looking too dry for your taste)

5. season with salt and pepper if necessary (although i just added some spices from my spice rack as i cooked since i don't like to use salt)

6. top with garnishes if you want, i added avocado but since this doesn't really have any heat to it feel free to add peppers or salsa if you want your chili to be spicy

If your quinoa is not pre-washed remember to rinse it before using it, although i usually just let it soak in water for about 15 minutes and then i rinse it afterwards

Nutritional Information
i calculated the basic nutritional information with the avocado, and also just the chili without garnishes (the avocado)
W/ avocado
448 calories
223 mg sodium
18 g protein
15 g fiber
13.2 g fat

W/o avocado
328 calories
217 mg sodium
16.5 g protein
10 g fiber
2.2 g fat

For a late lunch/post workout meal I made a sandwich on German rye bread (no eggs or dairy) with avocado, spinach, vegan soy meat, tomatoes, and cucumber. I decided on a side of sliced apples with cinnamon and peanut butter. #nomoomechs

My #nomoomechs for today. (3/13/2013) http://instagram.com/p/W0L9lHTGQd/

Meatless Monday

Hey guys, this is the link to sign a pledge to go meatless every Monday. Maybe this will help you stick to this commitment and take the next step into vegetarianism (or just you know, not eat meat once a week).
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/join-the-movement/

hiiiiii guys

well I just came across this video and thought I'd share... it's that one guy that came to speak our freshman year, Gary Yourofsky. in case some of you didn't get to see him speak.. okay bye now...