Fabulous Vegan Recipes

How are you all doing staying inside? Are you cooking and baking more often? Are you finding it difficult to find certain ingredients? I have not been able to find tofu because it sells out so quickly. I put some in my cart, if I can even find it, and then it disappears. Which I suppose is good news for the plant-based movement since everyone is rushing to buy tofu! Beans it is...this whole shelter-in-place, it's all I can seem to keep in my cart and they are great to buy in bulk. I ordered chickpeas and lentils-my favorite beans ever, and I soak them overnight and cook them the next day. I usually make enough for a few servings so I'm not constantly cooking beans over and over again. I also put some rice in my rice cooker-my favorite long grain brown basmati! It's so so incredible and filling and tasty.

I'm always and forever trying to make rice like they make at Indian or Persian restaurants. It's so delicious, fluffy and flavorful and I love the texture of basmati rice. So, I was talking to a friend who makes rice alot and he helped me with the recipe. The idea is to sautee the rice first and add ingredients that will give it flavor such as garlic, onion, spices etc. I serve the rice with beans or tofu, either sauteed or in a curry sauce. Rice is just so amazing, it's simple but nutritious and is a great alternative to bread or other grains.

When I make rice in my rice maker, I add the tiniest big of water so that the rice ends up sticky and not water-logged. The worst is when the rice doesn't absorb the water and it ends up awful. I pour enough water in my rice maker just to cover the rice, pat it down so it's completely under water and it turns out great. So much so that I didn't need to make sushi rice for this recipe, I just used the rice as is. When I say sushi rice, I mean I didn't need to add sugar and vinegar to make it sticky rice. I added curry powder, turmeric, sea salt and pepper and it was pretty amazing.

I go in and out of making sushi, obsessing over it then taking a break from it. After hitting the bulk section at Whole Foods, buying some rice and beans, I thought how easy it must be to make sushi rice from short grain brown rice; short grain brown rice is in itself a little bit sticky already and would be perfect for this recipe. If you remember, the last time I made sushi, I used quinoa . It turned out well but the sushi stays together best when you prepare the quinoa right before you make the sushi. With the brown rice, it was easy to make sushi with leftover, refrigerated rice.

Spring rolls are a great way to get in your greens, they are healthy, delicious and fun to eat. The last two times I made these I dipped them in ume plum vinegar but you can experiment with all kinds of dips: peanut sauce, dijon mustard, soy sauce, so much yumminess in one meal. I bought swiss chard and kale at the farmers market so I filled the spring rolls with these greens plus an avocado. It was great. I know I just posted a spring roll recipe but why not another one? You can never have too many spring roll recipes, especially ones that don't involve frying. 

This is my favorite dessert!!  Ok, one of my favorite desserts because I mean there's cake and ice cream haha. I love ordering this dessert when I'm at my favorite thai place, it's light and sweet and very tasty. The recipe turned out well; I did overcook the rice slightly but it was still all good. You will need to use sushi rice for this recipe since it is sticky so head out and get that whenever you can. Grab some canned coconut milk and maple syrup as well and you are set! Oh, and of course, a few mangos because who can eat just one. You will only need to slice about half the mango but why not eat the rest??

Rice wrappers, veggies, dip, these are a few of my favorite things! I love spring rolls, I love steaming my favorite veggies, spicing them up and then rolling them into a spring roll or sushi. So yum, so filling and so CLEAN. Seriously, if you haven't tried making spring rolls, follow this recipe. No frying or steaming required, just soften the rice wrappers in warm water and there you have it.

How do you eat tacos without eating a ton of bread? Lettuce! Leaves of fresh, organic romaine lettuce. So yum, so delish and zero calories, zero gluten, etc. My mom visited over the last few days and brought me groceries from Trader Joe's and a new cast iron pot. She also bought me a Cuisinart food processor which I'm obsessed with. We made tacos on Tuesday night with corn tacos and meatless beef and they were just insanely yum. So since I splurged the last two days, I decided to make tacos with a raw shell. For the filling, I steamed collard greens and mixed them with brown rice and tons of lovely spices.

Just as I hit publish on my last post about sushi and writing about cooling summer foods, I'm posting this warming Indian dish! This dish is perfect for a cooler summer night or enjoying in the air conditioning haha. Not only is this dish served hot but the spices used are incredibly warming: turmeric, curry, cumin, so yum, so delicious and so good for you! I've read in a few places that turmeric can help prevent or slow down some cancers. There are always so many conflicting stories when it comes to health and wellness but either way, you can't lose out by using these spices in a dish, they are incredibly savory and practically eliminate the need for added salt. I must say, I made this dish yesterday even though the day was already warming up but it was delicious and satisfying nonetheless. 

Ahhh sushi, all you can eat, homemade, love it! It got pretty hot pretty quickly here in NYC and the last thing I have felt like doing it cooking. Smoothies and salads are what I'm all about lately and now I'm adding sushi to the summery food mix. For this recipe, instead of making sushi with a few veggies, I made a salad and used that as the filling for the sushi. It was so delish and I know you will love this! Sushi takes a little bit of time and planning, mainly because you need to cook the rice ahead of time but my advice is to make alot of rice at once. You will need to buy sushi rice, which is stickier than regular rice, and buy sushi nori sheets, these are the seaweed wraps used for sushi. I have a sushi mat but you don't need one; instead you can use wax paper. Making sushi at home is SO EASY and it saves you money. You can make the sushi as healthy as you want while being as adventurous in the kitchen as you dare.

I'm still on a high from my half marathon on Saturday! I finished 13.1 miles in 2 and a half hours and I just couldn't be prouder of myself. I felt energized, confident, inspired, I had a killer playlist with nothing but trance music and I just fed off the crowd of runners and the very supportive spectators. It poured for about a half hour during the run but I just kept going, hoping my iPod wouldn't get damaged. My earbuds went kaput though; the right one lost sound as I began the last portion of the run so I only had music coming into my left ear. It was better than nothing and I got to hear the crowd. I used my music to time myself too so I was hoping the other earbud would not crap out. What a run! This was my first NYC long run; so much time and energy went into my training, not to mention worrying and even though I said this would be my last long run, I'm already thinking about a run in the fall. So, what did I eat before I ran, what did I do, how much did I r

I went to an Indian restaurant in my neighborhood with a friend last weekend and we just could not get over how yummy our dinner was. I had a spinach and chickpea curry dish with rice and we also noshed on samosas and garlic naan. We ended the dinner with some black tea so needless to say we left completely stuffed and satisfied. What delicious food made with incredibly savory spices! So, naturally I wanted to try making the dish at home and it turned out wonderful. Head to your favorite health food store and pick up alot of spices before you make this dish. Trader Joe's has spices for $1.99 and they have all the good ones for this dish. Friends and yummy food is the best combination!

So, remember the veggie and bean soup I made a few posts back?  I made waaaaaay too much of it and I didn't want the leftovers.  I wanted soup when I made it but then I was over it-I do that sometimes!  So, I made two dishes out of the soup-broth and all- and I want this post to show you that it's easy to make soup into a non-soup dish. For the soup, I used filtered water and spices for the broth and added a ton of veggies and some cannellini beans. My first dish was a pasta dish, I used the broth in place of oil and by the end of the cooking time, the broth was absorbed into the veggies.  I used peanut sauce for both recipes. Rice noodles with veggies and peanut sauce: 2 oz of dry rice pasta Leftover soup including broth 3 cloves of black garlic (explanation below) 2 tbsp of peanut butter 2 cloves of fresh raw garlic 2 tsp of powdered ginger Juice from 2 lemon slices Filtered water to thin it out Prepare the pasta according to the package.  Add the black

I came home from a run last night and I smelled the yummiest curry. I live in a condo so I can tell when my neighbors are feasting. It inspired me to make a creamy dish made of tofu and whole grains with some milk and the vegan cream cheese I have in my fridge. I scoured the internet for a good recipe, found one and modified it. I don't have curry powder but I had tumeric, cumin, ginger, garlic and more. This was a great dish, I taste tested more than I should have. I'm bringing it for lunch today. This dish is yellow because of the tumeric and it's super filling and nutritious. You can also substitute the tofu with a bean.

I wish I could fall back on whole grains like I do pasta. If I had pasta and brown rice in front of me, I'd want to choose the pasta but I know the whole grains are better. Even if you buy brown rice pasta, the whole grain in its natural form is best. Check out Alicia Silverstone's cookbook The Kind Diet for a nice summary about whole grains. So I thought why not italianize brown rice?? Sort of like risotto but not really.

Last night I made overnight oats and threw in some leftover brown rice and it was pretty good. I had to wake up early so I didn't have the leisurely breakfast I usually have but it was still good. It was a great way to enjoy my homemade almond milk and it was a simple recipe.

I was eating this for dinner one night while I was sitting outside on my balcony enjoying the warm afternoon.  I didn't feel like cooking a huge dinner so I cut up an avocado and ate half of it with brown rice I had left over.  The rice was sprinkled with lime juice and Mrs. Dash fiesta lime seasoning blend.  It's that simple.  One thing that is great about rice is that you can make a ton of it and save it for leftovers and then dress it up depending on what kind of flavor you want.  Add fiesta lime seasoning or taco sauce if you want Mexican, add soy sauce and ginger if you want an Asian flavor.  Or just eat it with a little sea salt and olive oil.  Rice is a powerful whole grain that gives you energy and fiber.  Avocado is a super food; I don't go through my day without eating an avocado or at least half of one.  Enjoy!