vegan

gnocchi with butternut squash and kale

/ Brienna / 2 Comments

I bought a butternut squash at the store last week, and I really didn’t know what to do with it. My inspiration came when I realized we had a LOT of kale, and a quick google search turned up a recipe on the Food Network.

This is my modified, veganized version.

(somehow my picture got lost…..)

Gnocchi with butternut squash and kale

Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium butternut squash, cubed into bite size pieces
  • 3-5 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1-2 tbs sage, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
  • 2 tbs vegan butter
  • 1 bunch kale, rough chopped
  • 2 – 2.5 cups water or vegetable broth/stock
  • 1 package vegan gnocchi (some have eggs, so if you are vegan, make sure you check!)
  • Parma (vegan parmesan) or nutritional yeast, to taste
  • salt to taste

Directions

  • Melt 1 tbs butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add butternut squash and cook for 8 minutes or until slightly tender (but not fully cooked, because it will be mush at the end if you cook it too much now)
  • Add the sage, garlic and red pepper flakes, cook another 1-2 minutes. Add more vegan butter or olive oil if your pan starts to get dry
  • Add 1 to 1.5 cups water, bring to simmer
  • Add kale and cook 1-2 minutes until kale is slightly wilted
  • Preheat the broiler on your oven
  • Add gnocchi, cover and simmer 5 minutes or until gnocchi are tender (at this point, I moved everything to a large stock pot because my skillet wasn’t big enough. I also added an extra cup of water because everything was very dry)
  • Add Parma to taste, and last tbs of vegan butter (if you want)
  • Add salt and more red pepper to taste
  • Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes

Notes:  If I were going to make this again, I would modify the instructions quite a bit. I would cook the gnocchi separately in boiling water. It was good, but trying to do it all in one skillet was hard because I had to guess when to move on to the next step and I felt it was all a little mushy in the end. So, cook the squash pretty much all the way, add all the spices and garlic, etc, the kale, and then combine with the gnocchi at the end before broiling. Another interesting thing to try would be using cannellini beans instead of gnocchi.

chocolate banana peanut butter coconut smoothie

/ Brienna / 2 Comments

I thought my husband would like this combo, so I threw some stuff together in my Vitamix as an experiment, and wow, it was really tasty!

Here’s the recipe:

chocolate banana peanut butter coconut smoothie
serves 2

Ingredients

  • 2 cups vanilla light soy milk or any non-dairy milk (even water could work, if you want cut down the calories)
  • 2 scoops Vega Energizing Smoothie in Choc-a-lot flavor
  • 1 Banana
  • 1 generous scoop peanut butter (I used homemade peanut butter, another great thing you can make with a Vitamix!)
  • 4-5 coconut water ice cubes (just freeze coconut water in your ice-cube trays to make)
  • Roasted coconut flakes

Directions

  • Combine all ingredients except the roasted coconut flakes in a blender, and blend until creamy and smooth.
  • Pour into 2 large smoothie glasses and top with roasted coconut flakes.

nacho cheese kale and avocado salad

/ Brienna / 1 Comment

The photo (which has since been lost) is really terrible but I wanted to share. Kale, avocado and white beans topped with nacho cheese dressing, pumpkin seeds, almonds, pistachios and some “salad booster” which I think is primarily spirulina and chia seeds. I am in love with nacho “cheese” kale chips lately and I thought using the leftover “cheese” to make a salad dressing was pretty clever. And it was super yummy!

Oh and that’s a chocolate-peanut butter-banana-coconut smoothie on the side. 🙂

What a Jerky!!

/ Brienna / 2 Comments

I really wanted to share an awesome vegan recipe this week. I’ve tried to converge on a theme for my blog, and originally I was thinking “running & reading” but there was something missing. I love food, and for whatever reason, I’m addicted to taking photos of food. So, now you will start seeing more posts related to vegetarian and/or vegan food and, more generally, animal rights. (I’ll post more about that later.)

Anyway, turns out I don’t have a good recipe to share this week, but I do have an awesome vegan food product to share. This is not a sponsored post and I did not receive any food for free (unfortunately).

Since becoming vegetarian, I have found that a lot of fake meat products are really, well, gross. Part of being vegetarian is about NOT wanting to eat meat, but there are still some things that I miss. One of these things is jerky. I was picky about it then, and it turns out I’m still picky about it now.

Prior to this morning, I had only tried one brand of vegan jerky, Primal Strips. Then, this morning I received a box of assorted goodies that I ordered from Spencer’s Market. Inside was a package of Ned’s Spicy Chipotle Jerky from Morels the Vegan Butcher. It looked so tasty, I decided to open it immediately and try just a bite. Well, five minutes later, the entire package was gone.

I am in love. The slogan on the package sums it up well, “What a Jerky!!” It tastes great, it’s got the right texture, but I don’t ever have to worry about gristle or it being undercooked (ick). It’s got some kick, and if you know me, you know how I like my spicy food! The only thing that would make it better would be non-GMO soy beans. (I’ve already contacted Morels through the website to ask. See update @ end for their reply!)

Primal Strips aren’t even in the same class as Ned’s. I’ve tried a few flavors from Primal and can’t say that I would buy it again. It’s wet and slimy, and tastes like fake meat. Ned’s, however, might even fool some non-veg folks. I’ll find out when I get some more (which, of course, I’ve already ordered).

I regret not getting any close up photos of the jerky itself, but well, you’ll have to forgive me. I was too busy eating it to think about photos.

Update: I got an email back that says the jerky is GMO free! Here’s what it said:

Hello there!

The soy curls we use to make the jerky are made with NON-GMO soybeans, you can read more about them here :LINK

The jerky is marinated with Braggs Liquid Aminos which also source from NON-GMO soy beans and can be read more about here :LINK

Let me know if you have any further questions, thanks so much!

-TVB