Bean Burgers and Breaded Zucchini Sticks

Happy Wednesday!  Last night for supper I made Melomeals 3 Ingredient Bean Burgers and HH's Breaded Zucchini Sticks.  Melody's bean burger recipe can be found here.    These are some great tasting burgers to make when you are in a hurry and don't have the time to chop up lots of veggies.  For the beans, I  used a can of kidney beans and a can of vegetarian beans.   Lindsay's recipe for the Breaded Zucchini Sticks can be found here.  These were so good!  Way better than the deep fried version that I usually make.  Instead of making my own bread crumbs, I used some store bought whole wheat ones that I had in the pantry.   Also, her recipe says to cook them for 15-20 minutes, which may be great for most people, but we didn't feel like they were done enough for us.  I ended up cooking them for 30 plus minutes and then turning on the broiler to slightly brown the top.  I could have made my meal off the these alone! 

Those pickles you see on my plate are some of my homemade pickles.  :o)   My mom (my food critic) said they tasted good, but they weren't crispy like they were supposed to be (eyes rolling).  I knew they probably wouldn't be crispy from most of the reviews that I read before I made them, but hey....at least she said they tasted good...right?  :o)  Most of the foods that I like, she doesn't like now.  She says I make things too spicy for her.  It's funny how things have changed since I've become a vegan.  I like all kinds of things now and love trying new foods.  I find that my mom only eats a few select foods, and isn't so gung ho on trying new things.  I guess you could say that she is set in her ways at the age of 82.  It's funny how the roles have gotten reversed trough the years.  I never wanted to try anything new when I was a kid.  I only liked certain things and that was it, but she would always try to get me to try them....sorta like I do her now.   ;) 

 Kroger had there Larabar's on sale this past week buy 10 for $10.  Well, you know I had to take advantage of that, so I bought 10.  I searched for the blueberry muffin flavor, but it wasn't to be found, but I did come across this pecan pie bar.   I used to love pecan pie in my pre veg days, so I was pretty excited to try it.  When you open it, it smells exactly like a pecan pie.  I don't know that it really taste like pecan pie, but it's very good.

~Peace~

Time to Prove Myself....

Happy Monday everyone!  I finally watched Forks Over Knives Saturday night.  I really wanted Tony to watch it with me, but wasn't sure if he would or not.  Just so happens a man that I work with watched it last week, and it really made him think and realize some things.  I was able to share his thoughts with Tony, which in turn got him interested in the movie.  He said "WOW" a lot thru the movie.  It was so eye opening.  I think everyone could benefit from seeing it.  The man I work with started questioning me as to what all I ate and how I ate.  I talked to him some about it and let him and his wife borrow a few of my cookbooks.  He said they were changing the way they ate, but that he wasn't 100% sure if they would leave meat out all together or not, but for now they were....YAY.  The best news is that the movie really got Tony's attention, so he has agreed to try the vegan diet for a week.  I'm not sure if that's long enough to really be able to tell a difference, but I'll take what I can get.   With that being said, I have to prove myself to him this week and show him how good and healthy vegan food is.  Wish me luck everyone!  This is going to be pretty tough, because he doesn't like a lot of vegetables.  He's willing to try them though.  :o) 

 

Tony said his diet would start today (Monday), so I wasn't prepared to really cook last night, but he decided he wouldn't eat any meat last night for dinner.  I cooked some crowder peas, roasted veggies, wild rice, and fresh corn out of the freezer.  This was not one of my best meals, so I begged him to not judge the vegan diet on my meal that I cooked last night.  This was actually the first time I roasted veggies, and they didn't turn out so hot.  The corn was chewy for some reason, and the crowder peas just didn't taste right either.  I've got to really step it up tonight.   If any of you have any really good recipes that you think might when him over, please share them with me.  :o)  I need all the help I can get here.  Now that I'm trying to impress him, I can't think of a thing to cook....how crazy is that? 

For dessert last night I fixed us a bowl of fresh fruit (bananas, strawberries and kiwi).  Thank goodness Tony loves fruit.  

This morning I fixed myself a green smoothie.  It had a frozen banana, a cup of frozen mixed fruit (peaches, strawberries, mango, and cherries), a date, hemp seeds, one large leaf of kale and a cup of water in it.  I made Tony the same thing minus the kale.  I talked to him before lunch, and he said the smoothie made him sick....WHAT?  How is that even possible?  He normally doesn't eat breakfast, so I'm hoping that it just threw his stomach for a loop.   Anyway, I know he won't be wanting a smoothie for a while, so looks like I'll be cooking some muffins for him tonight.  :(

Last night I chopped us up some veggies for a salad (broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, yummy bell peppers, and cucumbers).  This morning I finished throwing our salads together, and sliced an apple up for both of us for our morning or afternoon snack.   I threw some nutritional and dulse flakes on mine. My salad hit the spot, I just hope Tony's did as well. 

In Forks Over Knives they talk about the Engine 2 Diet.  I thought about getting that for Tony.  He's also wanting to loose weight and of course get healthier.  Does anyone have that book and would you recommend it?  I'm going to try my best to not cook any processed foods this week.  I want Tony to get the full affect of a plant based and whole food diet.   So, if any of you have any suggestions that could help me make this transition for Tony easier, please share.  :o)  I'm hoping to win him over.  He may not totally rule out meat, but maybe he will want to eat less of it at least.

~Peace~

The Best Black Bean Burgers

Happy Monday!  Huh...Monday already...that's what Maggie says!  :o)  I agree...the weekends just go by way to fast!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Mine was good, but nothing to really blog about except for the Black Bean Burgers that I made last night.

I used this recipe from Simply Life, but made a couple of changes.   I am dying to try her pretzel rolls that she used as buns for the burgers.  They look and sound delish!  Anyway, my picture of the burgers don't do them justice.  I decided to eat them without a bun also, since I had fresh zucchini out of the garden and corn out of the freezer. Speaking of corn, my corn that I put up last summer is almost gone.  Thank goodness it's time for corn to be coming in, because it's time to replenish my stock in the freezer.    Okay...back to the burgers.  Here's how I made mine.  Like I said, I only made a few changes to her recipe.

1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained  

1 flax egg (1tbs flax seeds/3tbs water)

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (I toasted 2 slices of wheat bread)

1/2 large portobello mushroom, chopped into small pieces

1 teaspoon Basil

1 teaspoon Oregano

1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1-2 tbs. olive oil for cooking

1.  Mash beans in a bowl using a fork.  Add flax egg, onion, bread crumbs, chopped mushroom, seasonings and Worcestershire sauce and mix together.  Shape into 6 patties.

2.  Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.   Cook the patties for about 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown. 

I can only imagine what these would taste like with all the toppings on them and in burger form.  They were delicious the way I ate them, and they had the best taste.  Must have been the worcestershire sauce.  The next time I make them, I will be having them burger style though and on a pretzel roll.  :o)

 



~Peace~Love~Happiness~

My Best Veggie Pizza by Far!

 Happy Tuesday!  Yay, my blog is fixed.  Everything is in it's original home again.  Thank you Molly for the tip and the link.  Apparently a few pictures were too big in a couple of my previous post, so it caused my right side bar to disappear to the bottom of my blog.  Hopefully that won't happen again.

For supper last night I made pizza.  One half was for Tony and the other half for me.  As you can tell by the picture, my half rocked.  :)   I actually made my own pizza crust this time.  I got tired of rolling it out, so Tony took over in that department.  He was a pro at it.  Maybe it helped that he worked at Domino's a long time ago.  ha   The pizza crust was fast and simple.  No waiting for the crust to rise as it was yeast free.  I used a recipe that I found on line, but can't find it anymore.  I also threw my printed copy away...sorry  It was good, but I don't think I will make it again. I want to find that perfect crust, and this one wasn't it.  After I had made the crust, I remembered about BlessedMama's pizza crust that she made a while back.  I'll be trying hers the next time!  After the crust had cooked for 5 min, I added some herbs to the crust (rosemary, basil, oregano, and garlic) and then added my pizza sauce, which was fire roasted tomatoes that I blended up in the blender.  I then added some vegan mozzarella cheese, spinach, kale, a few pieces of broccoli, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and sundried tomatoes.  I let Tony fix his side of the pizza the way he wanted it and then he drizzled a little olive oil over the top. 

 Look at all those great looking veggies.....totally yummy!

 I had a great green smoothie for breakfast.  This one had 1 cup of water, 1 date, 3 medium size kale leaves, 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, 1/2 cup frozen mango, 1 frozen banana, 1/4 teaspoon maca powder, and half a scoop of pea protein powder.  This was the first time that I used fresh ginger and it made a big difference....very good.  From now on fresh ginger will be in tha house!

Lunch was a veggie burger made with a 3-ingredient burger patty that I made Sunday night.  I used pita bread for the bun, and added some spinach, the veggie burger, some homemade thousand island dressing, and a few pieces of sun dried tomatoes.  I strayed away from chips today and had some carrots dipped in hummus along with some sweet pickles.  You just can NOT go wrong with those 3 ingredient veggie burgers.

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

Cha Ching......

Hey everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! I started my Monday morning off with Shens Chocolate Cherry Smoothie. The actual recipe can be found here. Shen was right on when she said it was fantastic! I think this may become one of my summer desserts. :o) It was like having dessert for breakfast....very yummy! You must try it!

Last night for supper I made some 3 ingredient burgers. I got the recipe off Melody's site over at Melomeals. Her recipe can be found here. These were so simple and so good. I used kidney beans in mine and they were fine. :o) These were by far the easiest burgers that I have ever made.

Tony made sweet potato hash browns and zucchini with onions to go along with the burgers. Apparently I was slacking on cooking supper last night. It seems that Tony did most of the chopping and cooking, with the exception of my burgers.

I haven't had the chance to read many blogs today, because I have been trying to fix my mine with every spare moment that I've had. For some reason all the information that once appeared over on the side of my blog is now at the very bottom. I have looked at everything and tried everything, but I can't seem to get it back to normal. Has your blog ever miraculously changed by itself for no apparent reason, and you can't figure out how to get it back to the way it was? Does any one have any suggestions on how to fix it?

I'll catch up on your blogs tomorrow. :o)

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

A Little Food & Maggie

Happy Friday!!! This is a quick post about food and a little story about Maggie. Last night for dinner I had fresh corn out of the freezer, some kind of teriyaki noodles that Tony made, sausage patties, and some black eyed peas with kale. For the black eyed peas and kale, I used frozen black eyed peas, and added some kale, 1/2 onion (chopped), 2 garlic cloves (minced), about 1/8 teaspoon of garam masala (yes, I now love that spice), herbamare, pepper, and a dash of salt. I cooked all that in a pot for about 30 minutes. For lunch I took the left over black eyed peas and kale and added some rice to it, which made a perfect hearty lunch for me. :o)

Okay, I have a pretty cool story for you about Maggie. First, I want to ask....Do you think it's crazy to take a dog to a chiropractor? Well, I never thought about it until last Friday. As most of you know Maggie is crippled in her back end and doesn't get around very well. Some days it's very hard for her to walk. Last Thursday night she wouldn't walk at all. She wouldn't even try to stand, because she just couldn't. She would just fall down into her sitting position. Friday there was no improvement. With that being said, you know she couldn't squat to pee, and she had been holding ever since sometime Thursday afternoon. I was a basket case at work last Friday and got an appointment for her at my vet for 4:30 that afternoon. My boss is a BIG animal lover, so she didn't have a problem with me leaving early to take her to the vet....thank God!

We got Maggie to the vet and got her checked out. The vet said the only thing she could do for her was to give her a steroid shot. My heart sank! She said the shot should help the inflammation go down and at least help her to get a little comfort and hopefully to get back to walking some. Then, the vet asked me if I had ever thought about taking Maggie to a chiropractor. She asked me to please not think she was crazy and told us of several success stories of where it had helped animals. I sure didn't think she was crazy....I had just never thought of it. I was and am willing to try anything to help Maggie. Let me back up a bit here....the shot did help Maggie a little, but we could tell that she has been in a lot of pain this week, so I called our chiropractor yesterday to see if he would by chance take a look at Maggie. He said he would be glad to, but he wouldn't make any promises that he could do anything for her. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I knew Maggie needed relief some way. So, Maggie went to the chiropractor yesterday. Steven (chiropractor) couldn't believe how bad she was. She had a big hump in her back, so everyone knew things were out of place. He examined her and did some adjusting on her, in hopes that it would help some. Are you ready for this...she jumps up and takes off almost running around the clinic. I almost burst into tears with happiness. Tony and I couldn't believe our eyes. She hadn't moved that fast in several months, and I was ecstatic!

From now on Maggie will be going to the chiropractor once a week to get an adjustment. Steven said since her injury was so old (about 5 years) that her bones would probably move back to where they were in few days, so it would take a while to improve the damage that the injury had done. I've said it before and I'll say it again.....Maggie is like my child, and I will do what ever I can to make her life a good one. I am now a firm believer in chiropractors for animals! :o)

Here's Maggie....finally getting some peaceful sleep on the couch, which is where she is every night with us. It's been so hard for her to get comfortable this week, but last night was different....YAY :o)


I just wanted to share that story with you., because I am so happy that there is a little more hope in helping Maggie. Maybe you have an animal that suffers from some kind of injury like Maggie. If so, you should consider talking to a chiropracter. :o)

Have a GREAT weekend!

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

Sesame Cabbage Stir Fry & My Magical Morning Smoothie

Happy Friday! For supper last night I had cooked cabbage and breakfast links. Does that sound like an odd combination? I knew I wanted to cook some cabbage, but I couldn't really find a recipe that I wanted, so I just winged it. The combinations in this recipe may sound weird, but it sure did taste good. The only thing I would change is that I think I would add some raisins or some kind of sweet dried fruit like that. I think it would pair well with the spiciness that the cabbage had. Here's the recipe.

1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 head napa cabbage, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot, shaved
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
a big splash of white wine
1/4 teaspoon garam marsala
salt and pepper to taste
toasted sesame seeds (for topping)

In a large non stick skillet heat sesame oil, and add the chopped vegetables and minced garlic. Toss to coat the vegetables in the oil. Cover and cook over low/medium heat for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally. Add the vegetable broth and wine. Mix well then cover and cook another 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add garam marsala after about 10 minutes and cook another 5- 10 minutes (uncovered) until the liquid is gone. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once plated, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top. It was spicy and yummy. I really think raisins would be a good addition.


I did have time to take a picture of my smoothie this morning. I'm sure you are wondering why I called it my magical smoothie. Well, it's purple here, right? About 10 minutes later when it was half gone it was green....if only I would've had my camera to prove it. That's just crazy! Have you ever had anything to change colors like that? My smoothie this morning consisted of 1 1/2 cups hemp milk, 1 large kale leaf, a dash of cinnamon and ginger, 2 tablespoons ground oatmeal, a scoop of rice protein powder, 1 teaspoon of molasses, 1 frozen banana, and a handful of frozen blueberries. Everything was thrown into the blender and blended up until smooth.

I hope you have wonderful weekend!

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

Coconut Rice and Coconut Curry Vegetables

Happy hump day! I hope everyone is doing well and having a great day. :o) Last night for supper, I made some coconut rice and coconut curry veggies, which turned out great. It's such an easy supper when you use some frozen vegetables like I did.

For the rice, I used basmati rice. I was out of jasmine. I brought 1 cup of canned coconut milk and 1 cup of water to a boil, then added 1 cup of rice. I let that simmer for about 30 minutes. While the rice was cooking, I whipped up the coconut curry sauce and then cut and cooked my veggies. It all came together perfectly. Here's the recipe for the sauce.

1 cup canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons cold water

In a bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder, and brown sugar. Whisk all the ingredients well. Set aside until the veggies are cooked.
For the veggies I used:

12 oz bag frozen Italian style vegetables (carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, lima beans, Italian green beans and red peppers)
1 large portobello, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

Heat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in a non stick skillet and add the frozen vegetables, onions, and red bell pepper. Saute on medium heat for about 10 minutes then add the mushrooms. Saute for about 5 more minutes and add the coconut curry sauce. Cook just long enough for the sauce to heat up...about a minute.

I tried to be fancy and drizzle some sauce over my rice, but it didn't turn out how I was hoping. Oh well, the taste was what mattered the most, and the taste was great. :o)

I made a veggie wrap for lunch, but didn't get to take a picture of it. I scarfed it down as I was blogging. I spread some roasted red pepper hummus on a wheat tortilla and added some lettuce, red bell pepper, and some avocado.....YUM! I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow. I don't keep avocados on hand, because they normally end up ruining before I get the chance to use them. I'm trying to do better with my avocados, so I even put some in my smoothie this morning. No picture for that either. Sorry, I was in a rush this morning. I barely got out the door to get to work on time, because my wrap took so long to make. Note to self....chop vegetables up at night. :o)

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

Red Bean-BBQ Burgers

Happy hump day! Last night for supper I made some red bean-bbq burgers that were out of this world. I'm serious...so far these are the best bean burgers that I have made. I used to love bbq before I became a vegan. These remind me so much of bbq. If your from the south, then you know what I am talking about. :o)

Jillian Michaels, from The Biggest Loser, posted a jalapeno-red bean-bbq burger recipe on facebook a while back. I thought it sounded good, so I printed it off. The original recipe called for an egg white, so I decided to do a chia egg in place of that. I made a couple of other changes to the recipe, so I'll share with you what I did. First, let me tell you that when I cook bean burgers, they never seem to turn out like the picture in the recipe. The picture below doesn't do the burgers justice.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 cup onions (chopped)

1/2 cup tomatoes (chopped) I used the last of my fresh Roma's

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 (15 ounce) can light red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

1/4 cup dry wheat bread crumbs

1 tablespoon wheat germ

2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

1 chia egg (I did 1 teaspoon chia seeds to 3 teaspoons of water)

Directions:

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, tomato, garlic and chili powder. Saute for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely mash the beans in a bowl.

Add in onion mixture, breadcrumbs, barbecue sauce, and the chia egg (I mixed 1 teaspoon of chia seeds with 3 teaspoons of water and let that sit for about 5 minutes before adding it to the mixture).

Shape into 4-6 balls (depending on how large you want your bugers), and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes. To me, this helped them to stay together better when I flattened them out into patties.

Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick skillet and cook the burgers for about 5 minutes on each side (until golden brown). I'm sure I cooked mine a little longer, because they aren't too golden. :o)

I had mini burgers last night with tater babies. The only thing I put on my little burgers last night was lettuce. I just couldn't get over how good they were without all the toppings.

~Peace~

Sunday Dinner & More Canning

Happy Monday! It was a crazy weekend....well part of it. Saturday was crazy, but Sunday was a very much needed rest day! I'll start off by telling you about our supper that we had last night. I had a Boca burger with fresh green tomato salsa on top. This salsa was from the 2nd recipe (more about the salsa in a bit). We had fried green tomatoes and onions. I tried the fried green tomatoes a different way this time. I took my mom some green tomatoes the other day and asked her if she was going to fry them. She said she needed an onion first. She had me puzzled as to why she needed an onion until she explained that she likes to fry the onions in with her tomatoes. So, this time I diced the green tomatoes with some onion and then threw them in a baggie with some flour, cornmeal and some seasonings. For the seasonings, I used salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. No measuring done this time though. The fried green tomatoes and onions were great. Moms know what they are talking about! :o)



We also had fried potatoes....yes, it was a fried Sunday night, and everything was great. I used some Red Robin seasoning on the potatoes after Tony finished frying them. If you've ever been to Red Robin and sprinkled this stuff on your fries, then you know how good it is. If you haven't, you have got to try it! The last time we were in Red Robin, we asked if they sold it, and what do you know....they did. Of course we had to buy some and it was only $3.50 for a big jar! :o)

Okay, on to the canning that I did on Saturday. First we had a lot of the Roma's to ripen, so I made some tomato sauce out of those. Most of the day was spent on the green Roma's though. This salsa recipe was very different from the first one. This one was more seasoned. You can really taste the spices. On that note I am really undecided as to which one I like the best. I just can't pick a favorite. My mother-n-law on the other hand liked the 2nd one the best, because it's not as spicy. She said the first one was hotter than the 2nd. So far the 2nd one has the top rating. :o)

The jar of salsa on the left is the first recipe which called for red bell pepper. I think it looks prettier than the 2nd recipe, which is the jar on the right. The first one is sweeter tasting. I'm very excited about both of them. I think they both turned out great. Especially for my first canning experience. Now I can't wait until next year, because there will be a lot more canning going on. :o)

Here's the link to the second recipe, which I doubled. Of course I used green Roma tomatoes instead of the tomatillos. This is the recipe that Food Snobbery is my Hobbery recommended. It's yummy! http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_salsa/tomatillo_green_salsa.html

Here's the recipe to the first salsa that I made.

2 1/2 lbs green tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 yellow onions

1 1/2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped

2 large red bell peppers, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup lime juice

1'4 cup vinegar

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/4 tablespoon cumin

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon sugar

Combine everything in a large stock pot, mixing well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To continue canning, bring salsa back to a boil.

Ladle salsa into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe lids and jar edges clean before tightening lids and placing them back into the boiling water.

Process (boil) jars for 15 minutes.

Remove carefully and let sit for 24 hours. Leave about an inch in between the jars, so they will cool better. Check the lids to make sure they are all sealed. Refrigerate any unsealed jars.

~Peace~

Black Bean Burgers and our Green Roma Tomatoes

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!! Have you ever found a recipe that sounds good, but you know there are a few changes that you want to make to it, but then you end up making a change that you didn't intend on making? Or shall I say...you misread the recipe. Well, that's what I did last night. I wanted to make some black bean burgers, so I could try out some green salsa that a friend of mine gave me. Homemade green salsa might I add. :o) I will go ahead and tell you, it was delicious! Okay...back to the burgers. They were good but dry....very dry. Later on last night I found out why. The recipe called for wheat germ, but that's not what I used. I accidentally used wheat bran....lol When I first glanced at the recipe I had to decide if I wanted to use bread crumbs or flour in place of the wheat germ (wheat bran for me). I decided to use wheat bran, because I just knew that's what the recipe said. After I cleaned up the kitchen, I picked up the recipe and decided to read it again only to find out that had I totally messed up the "wheat" part. I could only laugh. :o) I was going to share the recipe with you, but decided I would wait and make them one more time....the right way. I don't like to share recipes unless I think the food is really awesome. Last night's was good, but not awesome. The salsa helped the dry burgers alot! Now the green salsa was awesome, but that's Beth's secret recipe. :o) Here's a picture of the burger and salsa with a side of olive oil and garlic pasta.

Does anyone have tomatoes growing right now? Check this out! The picture below is a picture of two Roma tomato plants that we planted earlier this year. We harvested quite a few Romas from them back in the summer. The strangest thing is that now we have about 4 times as many tomatoes on them as we did back in the summer. How weird is that? Now if they would only turn red so we could eat them. :o) We didn't stake these two particular plants up, and they literally took over the flower bed. They ended up producing some of the best Roma's that I have ever had. Has anyone ever seen or heard of anything like this? I had no idea that Tomato plants would produce more tomatoes in the late summer or early fall like this.

Have you ever seen so many green tomatoes this late in the year?

Some of them are turning red, but I want all of them to turn red.
The vines are loaded.

It' supposed to be very cold here this weekend. I think the low is 26....brrrrr. We will have to cover our babies up, so hopefully they will survive and turn red for us. We would really love to eat them, or make some spaghetti sauce out of them. :o)

~Peace~

Products I Like

I’m not posting about food today, instead I wanted to post about a few products that I have tried that I really like. I am slowly adding organic/animal friendly products to my vegan ways. I can’t see being wasteful and throwing away products that I am currently using, so after they’re gone I’m replacing them with vegan products.

I love the Avalon Organics Vitamin C facial products. The Vitamin C gel facial cleanser is awesome. This cleansing gel leaves my skin feeling so refreshed. It gently removes all the impurities and nourishes the skin with organic aloe. It also protects your skin and its natural balance from free radical damage generated by sun exposure. It’s scented with the aroma of organic Sweet Orange essential oil. The first thing that turned me on to this product was that is was free of Sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate, or other harsh chemicals, parabens, or other harsh preservatives, synthetic fragrance, artificial colors, and/or animal testing.


After I cleanse my face with the gel cleanser, I then use the Vitamin C Vitality Facial Serum. This vitamin C activated facial serum will energize your complexion and improve circulation, clarity, tone and texture. This highly concentrated blend of certified organic botanicals, soothing plant emollients and powerful antioxidants is easily absorbed for optimum age-defying benefits. It helps repair and protect your skin from the signs of aging by naturally boosting collagen and elastin production, stimulating cell renewal and increasing healthy circulation for a youthful, luminous complexion. I have been using this product for over a month now and the results have been phenomenal. I had a deep scar from the shingles on my forehead that looked terrible. A friend of mine that had previously had the shingles suggested that I find some liquid vitamin c to put on the scar. While doing research, I came across this product. I decided to give it a try to see if it would help heal and shrink the scar. I have been rubbing this serum on the scar every morning and every night for the last month and the scar has shrunk half it’s original size. I am hoping after another month or two it will be completely gone. I will never be without this product. I also had some sun damage from a bad sunburn a few years ago on one of my cheek bones. It was a fairly noticeable dark spot that is fading away with the help of these products. :o)

Next is the Avalon Vitamin C Refreshing facial cream. This cream is for normal to dry skin and soaks into the skin nicely. It’s PH balanced and doesn’t leave your skin feeling oily. I have normal to oily skin and this is perfect for my skin. I use it every morning and night. It wears great under makeup. Like the other two Avalon products above, the vitamin c energizes your complexion and improves circulation, clarity , tone and texture. I can really tell a difference in my skin since I have been using these products. I’ve been using the cleanser and cream about a month longer than the serum and the results have been outstanding. :o)

Well, I said I wasn’t going to post about food, but I decided to share my lunch with you. It was a quick fix. I had a Morning Star Garden veggie burger on a wheat bun. I added half of an avocado and some spinach to complete the sandwich. This is the first time that I added avocado to a veggie burger like this. It was yummy. Oh, I also had some roasted red pepper hummus with my carrots. Talk about some yumminess….I do believe the roasted red pepper is my favorite hummus dip so far. I usually make my own hummus, but I saw this in the grocery store and could not pass it up. :o)

Cell phone pic...sorry for the poor quality

~Peace~

Grilled Portobella's & Skillet Cake

We had a very tasty meal Monday night. I cut up a few zucchinis and an onion and wrapped them up in aluminum foil. I then handed them over to my hubby, so he could put them on the grill along with the mushrooms and his steak. (no pic of his this time) ha Also, those potatoes pictured on the plate below came from the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook. I made Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Herb-Roasted Potatoes...they were to die for! If you have that cook book, you need to give them a try. Check out the recipe on page 25....so easy!We also threw some Roma tomatoes on the grill. I cut them in half and scooped out the seeds. I sprinkled some herbamare, a pinch of brown sugar, and then drizzled the Roma's with some balsamic vinegar. My husband wrapped those up in some aluminum foil and put them on the grill also. Wow, were they amazing! I never really cared for tomatoes too much, but I am beginning to enjoy them more. I love salsa and and everything else that is made from tomatoes, so I guess it is odd that I never really cared for tomatoes by themselves. I am learning though, and have found that my favorite tomato is the Roma.

Here's the recipe for the grilled mushrooms.

3 or 4 portobella mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons dried minced onion
3 tablespoons mince garlic
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Clean mushrooms with damp paper towel and remove stems. I also removed the gills. Place caps on a plate with the gill side up.
In a small bowl, combine the oil, onion, garlic, and vinegar. Pour mixture evenly over the mushroom caps and let stand for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Grill over hot grill for about 10 minutes on each side.

I had to post this picture of these gigantic bell peppers that we got at the farmers market Saturday morning. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them...they are huge! Sadly we haven't used them yet, but they will get cooked tonight...I can assure you that. :o)

Okay...here comes the best part of this post....it's this chocolate skillet cake that I made last night. I got this recipe from veggienumnums. I was intrigued when I came across it. It looked so easy, and sounded so good. I was having a chocolate craving all day yesterday and I knew this would be the cure. I was right too....chocolate craving was cured! This was the easiest cake I have ever made, and I have to say...one of the best tasting.

I made the white icing that Michele made, but I made mine with rice milk, because I didn't have any almond milk on hand. I also sprinkled coconut on top...just for my lovely husband! He loves coconut, and he loved this cake! :o)

I'm leaving you with this picture of the great tasting cake. Jump on over to Michele's at veggienumnums and get the recipe...you will NOT be sorry!

~Peace~

Grilled Portabella's

There’s nothing like grilling on a Saturday evening, except for when it is a blazing 120 degrees outside. Okay, maybe it was 98, but it sure felt like 120 with the humidity. Anyway, I really wanted to try this new recipe that I found for a portabella and pineapple teriyaki veggie burger, so my husband decided he would grill for us. Check out his grill….doesn’t he have the food laid out so cute. He’s a pro griller! :o) Yes, those are his pork chops on the back part of the grill.

I got this recipe from the Whole Foods website. If you like Portabella’s then you are going to love this. The teriyaki sauce and pineapple makes for the perfect combination. The mushrooms were bursting with flavor. I decided I didn’t really want to make a burger with the mushroom this time, so I just ate it with a slice of pineapple on top and dipped it in the left over sauce. We had rice, asparagus, and some fresh corn from the farmers market also. This is a new corn that we tried. It’s called Revelation. Anyone ever heard of or tried it? It was a sweet, mild tasting corn….very good~

Ingredients:

4 Portabella mushrooms (stemmed)
1- 20 oz can pineapple rings (juice reserved)
3 TBS soy sauce
2 TBS light brown sugar
1 TBS finely chopped garlic
1TBS grated ginger
1 TBS tasted sesame oil
Canola oil
¼ cup water
1 TBS cornstarch

Scoop out and discard the dark brown gills from the underside of each mushroom with a spoon. Wipe mushrooms gently with a moist paper towel to remove any remaining debris then transfer them to a wide, shallow baking dish along with the pineapple rings.

Put ¾ cup of the reserved pineapple juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil into a small bowl and whisk together to make a marinade. Pour marinade over mushrooms and pineapples. Cover and marinate for 1 to 2 hours. The longer you marinate the better.

Grease grill grates with canola oil to prevent the mushrooms from sticking. Pour off the remaining marinade into a sauce pan. Bring marinade to a boil over medium heat. In a small bowl stir together water and cornstarch. Pour water/cornstarch mixture into the sauce pan with the marinade and whisk over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes then set aside.

If making a burger top the mushroom with a pineapple, lettuce and some marinade and what ever other fixings you like. Or, just enjoy the mushroom and pineapple by its self by dipping it in the marinade (like I did). It was delicious. If you have marinade left over, make fried rice with it. It makes for some very yummy fried rice!
~Peace~

BLACK BEAN VEGGIE BURGER

For lunch today, I had a black bean veggie burger in a pita pocket. I added a little veganaise, bean sprouts, and spinach into the pita pocket to make it even more tasty. I also had about half a cup of quinoa to go along with it. Talk about a filling lunch...this was indeed filling! This was my first time to put bean sprouts and veganaise on a sandwich. I have to say, the sandwich was delicious!


Here's the recipe for the black bean veggie burgers that I made.

3 cups cooked black beans
1/2 green bell pepper (chopped)
1/2 red bell pepper (chopped)
1 sweet onion (chopped)
1tbs ground flax seed
3tbs water
1 tbs chili powder
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs cumin
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup oats or bread crumbs (I used oats)
corn starch for dusting (you can omit this)
olive oil for frying

Put the cooked black beans in a food processor and blend. Don't blend until smooth though. Leave it a little chunky.
In a small bowl whisk together the flax seed and water. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes.
Transfer black beans into a large bowl and mix in the peppers, onions, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Mix in the the flax/water mixture and then mix in the oats (or bread crumbs) until mixture is sticky and holds together.
Make into 10-12 medium size patties.
To get the patties to hold together better, you can put the them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
After you have taken the patties out of the freezer, dust both sides with cornstarch. You can omit this step if you would like. I just like how it fries up with the cornstarch on the outside of the patties.
Heat a non stick skillet with olive oil and cook patties about 8- 10 minutes on each side over medium heat.
The patties freeze well also. Since I am the only one in the house who will eat these, I wrapped some patties up and stuck them in the freezer for a later time.

~Peace~