Crock pot Vegan Minestrone soup

Ingredients:

4 cups of vegetable broth
4 cups of tomato juice
2 tablespoons of dried basil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
2 carrots sliced
1 zucchini sliced
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes undrained
1 can of kidney beans (or other kinds.  I used half red kidney and half white kidney)
1 1/2-2 cups of vegan pasta (rotini pasta works good) (remember, a lot of pasta has eggs in it so if you want it to be vegan check the ingredients).

Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients except the pasta in a 4-5 quart crock pot.
2.  Cover the crock pot on LOW for 7-8 hours. 
3. Stir in the pasta after the 7-8 hours and turn the crock pot on high and cover it for 15-25 minutes until the pasta is cooked.

Comments:
This actually turned out pretty good.  Makes a lot of soup so I have a lot of left-overs.  The original recipe called for mushrooms in the soup but since I hate those I decided to pass and put zucchini in instead.  So you can be creative and add other vegetables also. 

No Bake Vegan Cookies

This is a very easy and quick recipe...

2 cups of Oatmeal
1 cup of Peanut Butter
2 tablesppons of Vegan Margarine
1 cup of Sugar
1 cup of Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon of Vanilla
1/2 cup of Cocoa Powder
1-3 tablespoons of almond, soy or rice milk. 

Instructions:

In a large saucepan over low heat, place the margarine and peanut butter in the pan and heat until they can are soft enough to stir but NOT melted.

Remove from heat and stir in the oats, sugars, vanilla and cocoa.  The mixture will be very dry and this is when you add the milk. Just add a tablespoon at a time.  You do not want too much liquid or else they will not stick together and harden. 

Drop the dough by tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet or wax lined plates.  The cookies will harden over the next hour. 

Makes 2-3 dozen depending on how big you make them.

Comments:
These actually turned out pretty good. People really like them and they didn't taste different than non-vegan no bake cookies in my opinion. 

Chickpea Salad

1 Large can (16oz) of chickpeas, drained
1 Large celery stalk, chopped
1/2 cup of sunflower seed kernels
1/4-1/2 cup red onion, chopped
Vegan Mayo
Romaine or butter lettuce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:
Roughly mash the chickpeas (they should still have a chunky texture).  Add the celery, onion and sunflowers to the chickpeas and mix together.  Add as little or as much Mayo as you want (I probably only used 1 1/2-2 tablespoons) to bind it all together.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Vegan Bread (I use Dave's Killer Bread that I can get at my local Costco and it's Made in Oregon!) and place a leaf of lettuce on the top and one on the bottom to keep the bread from getting soggy.

Comments:
I got this recipe from my friend Morgan who made these for a baby shower.  This is simple to make and you can be really creative.  I left out the onions because I don't like raw onions.  But I thought about adding apples or even grapes so next time I will try one of those.

Vegan Lasagna

This recipe was taken from the Engine 2 diet.  I made a few changes but you can find the original recipe through the link.  I took the lasagna for dinner at my friend Meghan's house (check out here blog about going Vegan here) and we all really liked it (even her carnivorous husband).  Way more than we thought we would.  It does take awhile to get everything together so it's not a quick meal by any means, but it is delicious.

Ingredients:

1 onion chopped
1 small head of garlic, all cloves chopped or pressed
1 head of broccoli chopped
1 Zucchini sliced
2 carrots chopped
1 can of corn, rinsed and drained
1 package of Silken Lite tofu (It has to be Silken or soft or Japanese style tofu, not regular tofu)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp but I'm a wimp with spices)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1-2 jars of pasta sauce (most all are Vegan, I used a Ragu, no sugar added and only used one jar since I do not like a lot of sauce).
2 boxes of whole grain lasagna noodles (make sure they are vegan, a lot of pasta--even whole wheat--have eggs in them.
20 ounces of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 sweet potatoes cooked and mashed
6 Roma tomatoes sliced thin
1 cup of raw cashews, ground

Preparation:
Saute the onion, broccoli, garlic, zucchini and carrots on high heat for 3-5 minutes in non-stick pan. then place them all along with the corn in a large bowl. (I'm not sure this is really needed and the original recipe does most of them separate but that took forever to do).

Drain the Silken Tofu by wrapping it in paper towels. Then break it into the large bowl and use hands to mix it all together.  (the tofu is taking place of the cheese in regular lasagna).

Add the spices to the bowl and mix in with hands.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cover the bottom of a 9x13" casserole dish with a layer of pasta sauce
Add a layer of noodles
Cover the noodles with sauce.
Spread the vegetable mixture over the sauced noodles.
Cover with a layer of noodles and another layer of sauce on top of the noodles.
Add the spinach on top of the sauced noodles.
Add a layer of mashed sweet potatoes.
Add another layer of sauce and a final layer of noodles and a final topping of sauce.  Cover the lasagna with thinly sliced roma tomatoes.
Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the dish and foil and sprinkle the finely ground cashews over the top (this takes place of the parmesan cheese) and return the dish to the oven uncovered for 15 minutes, then remove.


The original recipe added a few different vegetables (mushrooms, bell peppers) that I don't like so I put in some zucchini instead.  You can be creative and add different things to this.

WHOLE GRAIN CARROT MUFFINS

1 Cup Quick Oats

1 Cup flour

1/2 Cup whole wheat flour

1/2 Cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Combine all these dry ingredients in bowl.

1 1/4 Cups soy milk

1/4 Cup applesauce

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups shredded carrots

1/2 cup raisins

1.     Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Place oatmeal in blender and blend until finely ground into flour

3.     Put all wet ingredients into smaller bowl and whisk together.  Stir into bowl with all the dry ingredients in it.  Fold in carrots and raisins.

4.     Spoon batter into muffin cups so they are very full.  Bake 23-25 min or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean.  Let sit for a few minutes, then remove from muffin tin.

I made these and wanted extras to put in the freezer so I doubled the batch.  It made 29 muffins when doubled.  They are very filling and a nice treat.  My husband said they are heavy, but he did like them.  They are not very sweet even with the brown sugar in them, so don't expect your usual sweet muffin.  The raisins seem to give them the sweetness.  Next time I make them I think I will add nuts because I like nuts.  I also think a little bit of flax seed would be good in them.  They did not seem to take 25 minutes to bake so watch them.  

VEGAN SUBSTITUTES

Here are some great ideas for Vegan substitutes for baking (taken from www.peta.org)

EASY VEGAN CONDIMENTS

VEGAN MAYONNAISE

You don't have to give up mayo to go vegan.  I have not made this yet but I am going to give it a try to use on sandwiches, salads, dips etc.  

Makes 3/4 cup

1/2 cup silken tofu

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1/4 t salt

1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of canola oil

1.  Combine tofu, mustard, vinegar, and salt in blender.  Blend until completely smooth.

2.  Through hole in top of blender, slowly add oil, blending until completely combined.

Note:  Add 1 garlic clove crushed with a garlic press in step 1 for a garlic taste.  

ENERGIZING BREAKFAST DRINK

BANANA-PEANUT BUTTER SMOOTHIE

1 RIPE BANANA CUT IN HALF

1/2 CUP SOY MILK

1 TEASPOON CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER

3 ICE CUBES

In blender, combine banana, soy milk, peanut butter, and ice cubes; blend until mixture is smooth and frothy.  Pour into a tall glass.  

NOTE:  for a thicker, colder smoothie cut peeled banana into chunks and freeze in a zip-tight plastic bag.  

EACH SERVING:  165 Calories| 6 g protein| 28 g carbohydrate| 4 g total fat ( 2 g saturated)| 2 g fiber| 5 mg cholesterol| 85 mg sodium

SLOW COOKER VEGAN CHILI

1 14oz mild can diced tomatoes undrained and pureed

1 12oz can tomato paste

12oz of water

1 15oz can of kidney beans drained and rinsed

1 15oz can of black beans drained and rinsed

1 bell pepper and 1/2-1 fresh onion diced

2 cloves of garlic

sprinkling dried basil

sprinkling of salt

spinkling of black pepper

Little less than 2 Tablespoons of packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon of paprika

1-2 teaspoons of ground chipotle pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

2 teaspoons of ground cumin

Instructions:

Combine everything in the slow cooker

Cook on low for 6-10 hours or on high for 3 1/2 hours.

Comments:

This was very easy to make.  I did not add the Chipotle pepper or bell peppers since I don't like either.  It tasted pretty well but a little too much tomato paste for my liking.  I ate mine with some Tostitos Simply Natural Yellow Corn Chips.  I only added 1/2 an onion and wish I would've added a whole onion.  I also wish I would've added at least 3 cloves of garlic rather than 2.  

RECIPES

This blog goes together with my other blog that you can find here.  We are going to post recipes that we have tried  according to what diet we are currently on and give you our feedback about the recipes.
We happily accept any recipe suggestions.