{Meatless Monday} is making the news, baked mac & cheese + linky love!

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Hello lovelies!

Hope your weekend treated you well. Nothing too exciting went on here as my husband had to work the entire weekend. Needless, to say, there was lot’s of action outdoors and some craft time involved.

I unplugged for the weekend completely so that I could focus on a few new projects and mostly the boys and the last of our summer days.

Now that the weekend is over it’s time to get back to bloggy business and  today happens to be…

Meatless Monday!

Of course, the interweb news wires are all buzz this morning… AND  I happened to stumble upon a great article at NPR (National Public Radio) with the headline reading…

“Campaign Aims To Make Meatless Mondays Hip”

Be sure to click the link and take a peek or a listen…

Yay! for Meatless Monday making the news!! Let’s keep up the good work and keep our kitchie’s meatless one day a week.

& behold… an amazing raw vegan dish we made last week…

You can find this wonderful recipe in the uncook book “everyday raw” by Matthew Kenney. I did everything by the book this time though I was very tempted to add in fresh basil from the garden…hee, hee! Maybe, next time. *wink, wink*

I’ve made a few dishes, snacks, and desserts from this book and really really enjoy them. Remember the pizza?! That one was fun but probably won’t get added on my weekly/monthly “to- make” list. The “mac & cheese” recipe is super good and very filling. I had ton’s of summer squash from our CSA crate that needed to be used up and this recipe fit the bill perfectly for it. Creamy goodness without all the guilt.

If you’re interested in eating more living foods … I recommend this book to you. Most of the recipes are pretty darn simple and the result is always yummy! I’m working on a fresh corn “tortilla” chip recipe today as well as prepping for a few other raw dishes I’m planning to try this week.

I love trying new recipes. It’s so fun. It’s helps me to realize, just; how creative you can be with food. I’m such a plain jane when it comes to cooking in the kitchie … but I’m really learning to taste food before it’s done and to also not be afraid to add in other ingredients.

Getting creative in the kitchen is fun and I’d venture to say that leaning towards a raw food lifestyle has really made me more aware of just what creativity can be!

Meatless Monday around the blogosphere…

The Blissful Chef needs your help!

Mmmm! Spicy Peach Salsa

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini Boats

that’s all folks!

As always if you have a recipe to share please feel free to email me for consideration

& if your blog participates in Meatless Monday’s, let me know! 

Happy Meatless Monday!

{Meatless Monday} Banana Berry Hemp Butter Lettuce Wrap!

Hello lovelies!

Happy Meatless Monday!

Yesterday, I was in the kitchie doing a lot cooking and uncooking up a storm! I had 2 kinds of beans in two different crocks…black and lentils. I also made more coconut lime cookies, hemp seed butter, and cut and sliced up two watermelons, a cantaloupe, carrots, and celery!

It was a busy day! On top of that, I did some laundry, cleaned the bathroom all while the hubby watched the boys and tended to the outside of our home. It worked out really well. I took a few breaks to enjoy some much needed sunshine though which is when I realized my neighbors were BBQ’ing (it also smelled like they were cooking something in a crockpot too!).

Yesterday, our meal theme seemed to be tostadas/open faced taco related … breakfast… lunch… and dinner!  I didn’t intentionally plan out this way but funny how things work out.

It started with brekkie; where I made what I’m calling a banana berry butter tostada aka lettuce wrap  (see pic above)… then at lunch we had hummus tostadas and for din-din we had black bean tostadas with fresh gauc! See, I told ya, it was a tostada day.

All three versions were refreshingly yum for summer meals.  I wish I would have taken a photo of the black bean tostadas…damn! I was so proud of myself for not frying the organic corn tortillas in oil. I decided to use the toaster oven instead and was so happy with the results.  I put the toaster oven on broil and let them heat up until they were crisp and a little browned but not burnt by any means. No fuss, no mess and a crispy tortilla.  Anywho, I digress…

back to the main feature…

The idea for the banana berry butter lettuce wrap  came from Kristen Suzanne. Kristen is a raw vegan chef and has her own website known as Kristen’s Raw where she blogs about raw vegan foods and shares recipes. I happen to follow her updates on Facebook and  a few times she’s mentioned having something similar to the banana berry lettuce wraps.  I couldn’t locate the update in which she has the ingredients… but it went something like this…

(all organic, of course!)

cashew butter on a piece of romaine with sliced bananas for breakfast…yum!

After seeing the update it’s been stuck in my head since. I’m a huge banana and almond butter fan so, to say the least, I had to give this a try. Plus, it seemed like a quick and easy meal.

QUICK + EASY = SOLD!

So, while I was in the kitchie gettin’ all my ingredients together I realized we did not have any cashews… (could have sworn) so, hemp butter it was. Yes!  Hemp butter and NO! you can’t smoke it…haha!

If you have unhulled hemp seeds in your pantry just process them down into a butter…it only takes a few minutes. It’s very, very, tasty and VERY nutritious. The hemp seeds turn into a beautiful green color which in turn makes buttery GREEN goodness… it was SO meant to be! haha!

After the hemp seeds were pulverized down into a butter using my food processor; the rest of the recipe was a cinch! I also figured it wouldn’t hurt to add in the fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market…so in they went!

Banana Berry Hemp Butter Lettuce Wrap

2 leaves of Romaine

1 banana sliced

2-3 strawberries sliced

1/2 cup of hemp butter

sprinkle of cinnamon

And if you want you can sprinkle on some hemp and chia seeds for a little extra nutrition punch.

Directions:

Take your romaine leaves and using a knife, smother them with hemp butter or nut/seed butter of choice.  Next, add in sliced bananas and strawberries. Sprinkle on a little cinnamon, fold together and enjoy! These lettuce wraps are so filling and delicious. Believe it or not,  both boys ate them right up! I could not believe it. They LOVED it.

Too cool!  Honestly, this would be a great meal any time of the day or snack!

Thank you, Kristen, for all your wonderful raw vegan meal ideas!!! This one is definitely a keeper.

YUM!

I also made more Coconut Lime Cookies. I made a small batch of them last week but they were so damn good I had to make more.

& because I was once addicted to cereals….I found a little way to make these cookies into a fun bowl of yummy cereal. I confess, it was a late night snack, but nonetheless, a healthy one.

I crumbled up a couple cookies and poured homemade hemp milk over them…HOLY MOLY…it was like I was back in Fruit Loop heaven. SUPER good and no guilt!

Sarma’s Coconut Lime Cookie, Living Raw Food

Alone, these cookies are fantastic and remind me of  Key Lime Truffles from See’s Candy. Back in the day, my husband Tyler, would spoil me with a box of Key Lime Truffles from See’s …and guess what… I’d eat them all up, every single one! *gulp*  Shameful, I know.  I MUST say, lately, anything too sweet, like, fake sweet is starting to taste like CRAP. Seriously. Slowly but surely this candy craving of mine is diminishing. YAY!  Pass me the greens, please….

The hubby and I have had numerous discussions about our newly clean diet (approx 6 mos +) and we’re really starting to notice a difference in the way we feel as well as when we eat something that’s processed, refined, fried…etc. It’s been an amazing journey for us and I love comparing notes about how eating less meat and including more and more greens into our diet has made a significant difference.

On Friday night, we were craving a good stir fry meal and by accident my poor hubby added a little too much water so it really steamed down the veggies and made them mushy!  Of course, we all know stir fry veggies are usually a little firm and al dente, if you will… lol!

It was a tiny sweet mistake but in the end we both couldn’t believe we truly, in our heart of hearts, wanted our veggies closer to raw and the mushy-ness factor was not pleasing…even though we ate as not to waste food. It was great knowing this though.

AND then all weekend after this mushy dinner… I was craving celery!

Is that weird?! Haha! (NO, I’m not pregnant!)

Alrighty, well, I’ve gotta run…

looking forward to tonight’s yummy’s

Mushroom Burgers and Quinoa Pistachio Salad…

Hope you have a fabulous Monday!

and as always, please feel free to share any meatless recipes in the comments or on our Facebook page!

What are you having?

{Meatless Monday} I say Chickpeas, you say Garbanzos!

Photo credit: Jude Doyland

Happy Meatless Monday!

Hope you all had a marvy weekend. Most of our weekend was spent in the garden/outdoors.

I’m more exhausted from the heat though… ugh!

Anywho… I’ve got a “big ole” pot of chickpeas, waiting to be turned into something delightful for Meatless Monday.

Lot’s of great ideas too!

Besides, making hippie hummus, I’d like to make a flavorful chickpea dish for tonight’s meal and I’m being a little indecisive.

I perused the bloggy blog world and found these YUMMY recipes!

Ultimate Veggie Burger Recipe

Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa

Fried Chickpea Salad

Chickpea Curry with Mushrooms

Chickpea Crunchies

Vegan Fat-Free Salsa Chickpea Lettuce Wraps

Now, if only I could choose which one to make… they all sound really good.  I need your help on this one, k?!!?

Oh, and  feel free to leave me a link(s) to a chickpea AKA garbanzo bean recipe (in the comments or shoot me an email), you think I might enjoy.

I heart chickpeas and having a stock of recipes can never hurt!

chickpea or garbanzo?

What are you having for Meatless Monday?

Find out what I had here!

{Meatless Monday} Cucumber & Zucchini Pasta Salad

Hi everyone!!

Hope you all had a fantastic fourth of July! Ours was quiet and nice. We picked more cherries yesterday; only a pound though because it was their last day and the cherries trees were pretty much picked out. I also scored another jar of fresh local wildflower honey  -straight from the hive into the jar. YUM!

Last week, I made a wonderful quinoa pasta salad using the cucumbers red onions, tomato and zucchini  from our CSA crate and basil from our garden. It was super simple, quick and easy! I thought I snapped a photo of it with my camera phone but I guess not! Party foul! wah!

We love this brand (Ancient Harvest)- Gluten free!

Just visualize this…

Ingredients:

1 Box of Quinoa pasta

1 med  cucumber chopped

1 med zuchinni sliced into half moons

1/2 red onion chopped

5-6 basil leaves or more depending your taste!

(I roll these up and chop into thin strips)

1 med tomato chopped

1/3-1/4 cup of pepitas

1/2- 3/4 Oil & Vinegar dressing  (we used a homemade version)

2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast

Directions:

Boil pasta as directed on box, approx. 6-9 minutes. After pasta is cooked, rinse and drain. Next, dump pasta into a fun serving bowl and add in your fresh veggies, basil, pepitas and Nutritional Yeast (nooch). Pour in oil and vinegar dressing and mix well. Serve and enjoy! **Make this ahead of time and let the flavors marinate for a tastier dish!

Meatless Monday in the bloggy blog interwebs…

First! Here’s 10 GOOD reasons to STOP eating meating!

Caprese Salad by the Healthnut Foodie

Enchiladas at Moms Going Green

Article at the Huffington Post: Going (GMO’S) to Seed with Gado Gado Recipe!

Stop GMO’s!!

Maple Nutty Scones at The Blissful Chef

Garden meal ideas from the Green Phone Booth

& this weeks Meatless Monday’s recipes = YUM!

Hope you enjoy the links and the recipe!

Let me know, if you try any of these or mine out. 

What  have you been cooking or uncooking in the kitchie?

Would love to hear from you.

Peace, Love and Green Happiness!

Later!!!

{Meatless Monday} raw vegan pizza, cereal recall, & linky love!

Hola!

Happy Meatless Monday!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. It’s going to be a crazy week here. The hub has to work day and night+ the weekend. I don’t think the 4th will come soon enough!!!! ay carumba!!! I preparing myself mentally… lot’s of visualization and mantras’ for a STRESS FREE week. It’s possible, right?! RIGHT!!!!!

Our CSA crate was filled with yummy goodies… I’m soooo looking forward to using up the tomatillos.

I’d like to make  a delicious and fresh salsa.

Speaking of  salsa…Holy guacamole!!

Last week, I couldn’t get enough of it.

It was my lunch or snack several times last week.

My friend Jenna, over at Chivetalkin, has a great GUAC recipe along with a “not so secret” salsa recipe included!

We experienced triple digits over the weekend so cooling foods are definitely on the mind. Both the kids and I good eat bowls and bowl of guac and hummus on these HAWT summer days. Both are easy peasy to make.

Last week, I  made Matthew Kenney’s, tomato, basil, and ricotta pizza.

I like  mimicking traditional foods, I would normally eat and try them in the raw! The recipe was pretty simple and after the crust was done dehydrating the rest was a breeze.

What did it taste like?!  (I hear you asking…)

Well, it wasn’t exactly what you’d call a delivery pizza…(which I wasn’t expecting in the least)…rather, the fresh flavors of tomato & basil really stood out…and the “Macadamia Moaazrella” was creamy and yummy. The crust was very herby but a little on the salty side… next time I think I’ll cut the salt portion in half. Other than that, I could see myself making these again and trying a few things differently.  It’s the REBEL in me.

I’m really lovin’ Matthew Kenney’s book as well as Sarma’s, Living Raw Food uncookbook.

Both books have given me new inspiration into the world of the raw vegan diet…

I’m having a blast making up all kinds of goodies from each book!

The buckwheat treats so far have been my fave goodie! *noms*

I made myself a lovely little bowl of what would be “rice crispie” treats cereal drowning in coconut milk …

*double noms*

AND—-> I don’t know if you’ve heard but there’s been a RECALL on 28 million boxes of Kellogg’s cereal due to chemicals leaching out from the packaging!

Ya, don’t say?! Oh, sorry! <insert, evil cackle here!! heh, heh, heeeehhhhhhh>

Aside from what I’ve been eating…

here are a few meatless recipe links for you to check out…

The Daily Green’s: 4th of July Vegetarian Menu

Candon’s Bulgur Vegetable Salad

Meatless Monday’s: Bell Pepper Snap Pea Salad

My Healthy Happy Vegan Toddler at The Blissful Chef: Cranberry Pepita Quinoa

BBQ & Buffalo Shiitake Mushrooms at Addicted to Veggies

Balsamic Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Roasted Pepper

What have you been uncooking or cooking up in the kitchie lately?

Please feel free to share a recipe link  in the comments!

Have a fantastic week.

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