I absolutely LOVE banana bread! This recipe is delish and will NOT, I repeat, will NOT last in your home for more than 30 minutes, because it’s that yummy

• 3 very ripe smashed bananas (peel is mostly black)
• 1/3 C melted vegan margarine
• 1 C sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powered
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Cinnamon to taste
• nutmeg to taste
• 1-1/2 C All Purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small cup mix flax seeds and water until combined and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix smashed bananas and melted margarine with a wooden spoon. Mix-in the sugar, flax seed mixture, and vanilla until well incorporated.

Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the mixture and stir well. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour and stir well.

Pour mixture into a well greased and floured loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done.

Super Moist Banana Bread

Split Pea Soup

• 2 1/4 cups  green split peas
• 2 1/2 quarts water
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 herb bag (3 cloves of  minced garlic, 4 allspice berries, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp thyme, & 1 tsp basil)
• 2 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke
• Salt and Pepper
• Shredded carrot (optional garnishing)

To make an herb bag, place cloves of minced garlic, allspice berries, bay leaves, thyme, & basil in a cheesecloth and tie so the herbs won’t fall out.

Pick over the peas and remove any stones. Wash and drain peas. Place peas, the onion, celery, scallions, garlic, herb bag, Liquid smoke  and water in a large pot.  Bring to a simmer. Skim the scum off the top of the soup for several minutes, until the scum stops rising. Cover loosely and simmer about 1 1/2 hours, or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally.

Remove the herb bag from the soup. Purée the soup with a blender in batches. Only fill the blender halfway, and hold down the lid while blending.

Return the purée to the pot and heat to serve. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and garnish with shredded carrots.

Purple Crusted Potatoes

• 24 oz Baby Klondike Purple Potatoes
• 3 tbsp Grape seed oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 2 1/2 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic granules

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Wash and scrub potatoes (do not peel).

In a medium bowl coat potatoes with oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and flour. Toss and place potatoes on a cooking sheet.

Bake potatoes for about 45 minutes or until done. (fork will go through when done)

Split Pea Soup With Baby Purple Crusted Baked Potatoes

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve abandoned the blogging world the last few weeks. I needed this break to kind of  re-vamp my recipes. I found out that I am pre-diabetic and I wanted to cater to making MOST  my recipes low glycemic.  It really doesn’t help that I LOVE sugar…it’s like CRACK!!!  Anyway I thought it would be  a good idea to start this journey off with Stuffed Portabellos. YUM!

4 large portobello mushrooms
· 4 small portobello stems, removed from the caps and chopped
· 2-3 Tbsp Margarine or Olive oil
· 2 green onion chopped
· 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
· 2 Tbsp. of thyme
· 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
· 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
· 1/4 cup white wine
· 1 lemon
· .5 tsp. of lemon zest
· 1 tsp. of ground black pepper
· Salt to taste
· 1-1/4 dark rye bread
· 2 Tbsp White Miso
· 3 Tbsp shredded Vegan Monterey Jack(for stuffing)
· ¼ C shredded Vegan Monterrey Jack (for garnishing)
· 1/2 cup Almond milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a toaster, toast rye bread until firm remove from toaster and let it harden at room temperature.
3. Gently pull stem from the mushrooms, and set aside. Wash all the caps and the extracted stems quickly. After washed, place all of the mushroom caps gill side up on paper towels so that they do not hold any excess moisture.
4. Wash off the peel of the lemon and set aside.
5. Bread should be cooled by now. Place bread on top of one another and chop slices into strips length wise. Turn slices and repeat the chopping procedure. Put bread squares into a processor/blender and blend until the consistency is similar to that of bread crumbs.
6. Heat a pan over medium high heat with the oil. Add the green onion, chopped mushrooms stems, thyme, rosemary, and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic is lightly brown. Add onion powder, salt and pepper to the mixture. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits. Let it reduce for a minute or so, then add 3 Tbsp cheese, miso, breadcrumbs, and milk. Stir everything together until well incorporated. Remove from heat.
7. Cut the lemon in half. Juice the lemon by hand and strain it through your fingers to catch any seeds that may come loose into the pan. Evenly fill the mushroom caps with the mixture. Add remainder of shredded cheese and bake for about 12-15 minutes.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

The thing I LOVE about this recipe is that it’s quick, easy & Italian It’s one of those dishes that you can whip right up when you’re really not feeling the jive to make a feast after a long day of work (that’s what I did).  It is also one of those dishes that makes you look like a master chef to your dinner guests  It’s so YUMMY!

Ingredients

• ½ C flour
• ½ tsp. Salt
• Pepper (to taste)
• 4 vegan chicken cutlets
• salt (to taste)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp vegan margarine
• 1-8 oz. Package of button mushrooms sliced
• ½ C Marsala
• 1/2 C Sherry
• 16 oz. Angel hair pasta (cooked)

In a shallow pan, mix together the flour, ½ tsp. salt, and pepper. Sprinkle a dash of salt on chicken and coat chicken with flour mixture.

In a large skillet over medium heat., melt margarine in oil. Place chicken in the pan, and let it brown lightly.

Turn over chicken and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover and simmer chicken 8 – 10 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked down.

Chik’n Marsala

Guest Post by Anthony Thompson

This weeks post is different and special at the same time. I asked my other half to do a guest post. Anthony has been to many parts of the world including Puerto Rico. He lived there for nearly 2 years and has grown to love the food, people, and the culture. So, being that this weeks recipe comes from Puerto Rico, I thought that it would be appropriate for him to give some insight on the dessert itself and the culture.

I had the opportunity to live in the estado libre asociado (territory) of Puerto Rico for a year and a half. During my time I discovered many culinary delights including tropical fruits unavailable to us in the mainland US. The most impressive element of Puerto Rican culture is their willingness to share. At no time is this more apparent than during las navidades(Christmas celebrations) which begin after Thanksgiving until the Día de Reyes (King’s Day) on January 6^th. This is a time of constant festivities when parrandas or traveling Christmas parties occur frequently. It is common to find some of the most delicious desserts at these parties such as arroz con leche (rice pudding) or tembleque (coconut custard). Since the climate is tropical on La Isla del Encanto, these rich yet refreshing desserts are a perfect compliment for an 80 degree winter night. Tembleque brings back wonderful memories of great food an even better company. While I would usually eat it with festive treats such as arroz con gandules (pigeon peas and rice), lechón asado (roasted pig, which I obviously don’t eat anymore), or pasteles (Puerto Rican tamales), this dish is great for a summer treat.

Tembleque (Coconut Custard)

Before my family and I changed to a plant-based diet, one of our absolute favorite recipes was the Tuna Puff or others may call it Chicken Pillows. So I decided to come up with a vegan version of one and the ending result being Creamy Spinach Pillows. They turned out better than I actually thought they would I tried looking for a vegan croissant brand but I couldn’t find anything like that in this town. So I had to make it from scratch. I’ve never made croissants from scratch in my life so I wanted to be safe and try a trusted recipe for the crust. So I went with Zeke’s Ve-gastronomy. I substituted a few things and steps for my purpose, but followed it for the most part.

Crust

(feel free to use a pre-made vegan crust, but this recipe is worth all the hard work)

• 3 sticks of vegan margarine(1-1/2 cups)
• ¼ C flour
• 2 C warmed Almond Milk
• 2 Tbsp raw sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp yeast
• 4 C flour

Filling

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 10 oz. Spinach
• 1-1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2-1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 lb. Extra firm tofu
• 2 Tbsp MimicCreme
• ¼ bread crumbs
• Vegan Parmesan cheese

Knead margarine with 1/4 cup of flour. It’s important to get this mixture smooth, because any chunks of butter will later break through the layers of dough. Form the butter into a 6×6″ square on some foil and put it in the fridge to chill.

In a medium bowl combine almond milk, sugar, salt, yeast, and 4 cups flour. Mix well, knead (adding more flour as needed), put it back in the bowl, cover and refrigerate a few hours.

Begin to prepare the filling by sauteing the onion in the olive until tender. Add spinach, salt, onion powder, garlic, nutmeg, pepper and lemon juice. Saute until spinach is wilted and remove from heat.

In a food processor, blend the tofu and MimicCreme until smooth and creamy.

Add spinach mixture to tofu mixture and pulse about 16 times. Remove and place mixture in storage container and fold in bread crumbs. Salt to taste and then refrigerate.

When the butter mixture has firmed up and the croissant dough has risen almost double in size, you can then remove them from the refrigerator (they should both be about the same consistency). Knead and roll out the dough into a square about twice the size of the butter, and place the butter on top.

Fold in each corner like you’re wrapping a present. Keeping everything well floured, turn it upside down and start rolling out into a long rectangle, about three times as long as it is wide. If the butter starts squeezing out, everything is too warm and return it to the fridge for a while. If the butter seems too hard and starts breaking through the dough, it’s too cold–let it warm up a bit. Fold in thirds, bringing each end in (like a letter). Again, keeping things well floured roll out again into a rectangle.

This time fold into fourths–fold each end to the middle then close the whole thing like a book. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and return to the fridge for an hour.

Unwrap and roll out again into a rectangle. Fold in thirds. Wrap and return in to the fridge for 2 more hours. Unwrap, and roll out into a large rectangle until dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into strips with a sharp knife, place them on cookie sheets.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove filling from fridge and scoop in about ¼ – ½ cup of filling on one half of each strip.

Take the side of strip that has no filling and fold over to the side that does. Crimp down on pastry with thumbs sealing off the edges. With both hands take each one and compact them into a pillow shape. Sprinkle vegan Parmesan cheese on to of each pillow and let them rise one last time for 30 minutes.

Bake them for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Creamy Spinach Pillows

This weeks recipe post is a little different. Well 1, because, I am posting about my two favorite snacks ever, and 2, because I decided to spotlight someone else’s recipe

Although I am an alcohol-free drinker, I still like to pretend that I do drink by mock-tailing my cocktails. The process is totally easy and rewarding in the end.

Kale Chips…sound a little weird?? Well, don’t knock it until you  try it!! These addicting, savory snacks are seriously better than potato chips!! And what’s even better is that they’re healthy and you’re able to incorporate you’re greens into your diet It’s a win/win situation! I found this recipe at The Renegade Health Show. I have tried the recipe both by baking  it in the oven and by dehydration method, and I personally prefer them in the dehydrator.  Yes the oven method is a heck of a lot quicker method, but it is well worth the wait to prepare them in the dehydrator. And besides, you don’t lose all the important nutrients  you receive when making Kale chips in the dehydrator. Another plus is that if you know someone who’s an anti-veggie this is the perfect snack to get them so that palate is not so discriminatory :)

Any ingredients listed in parentheses is what I used instead of what the original recipe called for (only because I didn’t have them on hand).

Ingredients:

• 2 head Kale
• ¾ cup Tahini
• ¼ cup Tamari ( I used Soy Sauce)
• 1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
• ½ cup Water
• 2 scallions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 lemon (juice of)
• ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Preparation:

Wash Kale. Remove stem of kale and tear kale leaves  into pieces(don’t tear too small, as they shrink in size when cooked). Place kale in a large mixing bowl.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth to get a thick consistency. You may have to add more water.

Pour over kale and mix thoroughly with your hands to coat the kale. You want this mixture to be really glued onto the kale.

Place kale onto a Teflex sheet, on top of a mesh dehydrator screen, and dehydrate for 6 hours @ 115 degrees. You’ll need to use two trays. Rotate kale occasionally to dry uniformly. (If using the oven method, place in oven on cookie sheets lined with foil at lowest degree setting and bake for 2 hours or place on 375 degrees  and bake for 15 minutes…it just depends on how much nutrients you want kept in the Kale)

“Cheezy” Kale Chips

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This weeks recipe was inspired by all of the rhubarb recipes I’ve seen pop up within the last week on blogs that I am following! With summer FINALLY around the corner here in Utah, I decided to come up with a “summer” cobbler. The recipe that finally got my baking pants into gear was this Rhubarb & Strawberry Lemonade recipe I checked out  at Green Kitchen Stories. It just sounded so quench-thirsting and good and never really cooking with rhubarb, I really wanted to come up with a sweet, summery treat to satisfy my buds

Batter

• 1/3 C margarine, melted & cooled at room temperature
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 C flour
• 1/2 C  raw sugar
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 C almond milk or other non-dairy milk

Filling

• 1 lb. of rhubarb, sliced
• 1 C  raw sugar
• 1 lb. strawberries hulled & halved
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a medium-sized bowl, blend the rhubarb and 1/2 cup raw of sugar and let it stand for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally. In another bowl, blend the strawberries and remaining sugar and let it stand for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Transfer the rhubarb and rhubarb juice to the strawberries. Mix well and set aside.

Pour melted margarine into an 8 X  8 square baking dish and brush sides with margarine.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour,  raw sugar, brown sugar, and baking powder. Stir in almond milk.

Slowly pour batter evenly over butter in pie dish. Scoop berry-rhubarb mixture on top of batter.

Bake for 50 minutes or until dough is cooked in the center. Serve with Coconut Whipped Topping.

Coming from a Jamaican background, many times my palate craves the blended flavors of curry. So I veganized one of my favorite treats, Jamaican Beef Patties.  These are kind of similar to Mexican empinadas, but spicy I was kind of skeptical at first, but you can not tell the difference…it’s all about the seasoning when it comes down to it. It’s DELISH!!

Pastry

• 1 lb. flour, sifted
• 1/2 C. ice cold water
• 1/2 C. vegan margarine melted
• 1/2 C. shortening
• 1tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. tumeric

Filling

• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1-12 oz. Package of Smart Ground (or your favorite vegan ground beef)
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 4 scallions chopped
• 2 tsp. ground thyme
• 1/2 C. breadcrumbs
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 C. water
• 1 tsp. salt (or salt to taste)
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. nutmeg

In a large bowl mix together sifted flour, baking powder, curry, salt, and turmeric.  Work in the margarine and the shortening with hands until dough resembles a bread crumbly texture. Slowly pour water into the mixture until the mixture has a dough-like consistency(slightly sticky). Roll dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. refrigerate for an hour.

Heat oil and sauté onions and scallions just enough so that they don’t brown. Add Smart Ground, thyme, garlic scotch bonnet pepper, salt, pepper, paprika, sugar, and nutmeg. Cook until ingredients are well incorporated. Add water and Breadcrumbs, mix and cook until incorporated.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove dough  from refrigerator and remove plastic wrap. Seperate dough into 14 small balls and roll out each ball on a floured surface to the size of a saucer. Scoop 1 Tbsp. of filling on one side of each pastry.

Moisten edges of pastry with water and fold pastry over to make a crescent shape. Seal the edge of patty with a fork. Place patties on cookie sheet lined with foil.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Jamaican “Beef” Patties

This weeks recipe spotlight is Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake. I’ve tested many vegan cheesecakes and came really close to the dairy form, but this is it! The flavoring and everything is just perfect! It is decadent!!! It’s probably not the best option when it comes to staying healthy, but it’s nice to know that I have an option when I get those cravings for cheesecake

Batter:

Swirl Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease the sides and bottom of a springform pan. Line bottom with wax paper.
2. Prepare crust by melting margarine. Mix in butter flavoring and set aside.
3. Place graham crackers in a food processor and grind very fine. Add sugar and process for about 1 minute.
4. In a medium bowl combine graham cracker and butter mixtures until well incorporated. Press mixture to the bottom of the spring form pan and set aside.
5. Prepare batter by blending 1 package of cream cheese with 1/3 cup of the sugar and cornstarch on low for 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add remaining cream cheese, one package at at time. Scrape sides of bowl in between.
6. Combine remaining sugar with lemon zest. Increase speed to medium and add the lemon sugar to the cream cheese mixture. Add vanilla and scrape sides. Set aside.
7. In food processor/blender combine tofu and almond milk until smooth. Mix in tofu mixture into the batter on medium speed. Add in the sour cream and mix well. Scrape sides again.
8. Reserve 3/8 C batter for swirl mixture. Pour remaining batter into prepared pan over the crust. Set aside.
9. For swirl mixture take reserved batter, brown sugar, and cinnamin and combine. Mix well. Scoop tablespoons full of cinnamon mixture onto top of cheesecake. Gently press down with spoon. Use a knife tip to swirl the cinnamon. (Be sure NOT to over-swirl).
10. Bake for 75 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 more hours. Garnish with chopped pecans and brown rice syrup (totally optional) then serve.