Tag Archives: vegan recipe

Guest Chef Jessica Nazarali’s Sushi Recipe for Meatless Monday

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We’ve had requests for vegan sushi from some of our readers and I’m a massive sushi fan myself, so I’m incredibly excited to share our vegan guest chef Jessica Nazarali’s recipe for sushi. Making sushi is a blast and Jessica’s recipe is easy to follow and wonderful tasting. What better way to start the week than with a fun and healthy dinner on Meatless Monday? 

I have featured Jessica before and love the recipes she has on her site, Live Healthy Simply. I challenge you to find a recipe on her site that you aren’t excited to try! You can keep up to date by following her on twitter @JessicaNazarali.

Sushi is a little fiddly to make; but every time you make it it gets a little quicker and easier. What I like about sushi is how impressive it looks – How many people that you know, have homemade sushi every Wednesday night? Probably none..unless they’re Japanese!

So here is my take on sushi – brown rice and vegan style.

Vegan Chef Jessica's Sushi

Ingredients  Read more... (323 words, 4 images)

Meatless Monday Guest Chef Shana Robinson’s It’s Thyme for Israeli Cous Cous Salad Recipe

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Welcome to our series of Meatless Monday guest chef recipes!

I’m excited to introduce chef Shana Robinson. Shana is a natural foods chef who lives and works in New York City and the surrounding boroughs.  She attended the full time health supportive chef’s training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute after a twelve year career in the trenches of a digital media career.  A braised short rib and bacon lover upon starting her culinary education, emerged from the curriculum at the end of 2009 hungry for and enamored by the creativity involved in cooking for a satiating plant based life style.

When not cooking, she’s baking vegan cupcakes.  You can follow her on twitter @ChefShanaRachel and get more healthy recipes and tips at Knifestyles of the Fit and Fabulous.

I hope you enjoy her ‘It’s Thyme for Israelis Cous Cous Salad’ recipe!

A friend and I hopped on a train from Grand Central for the for the just over one hour journey along the Hudson up to Beacon, New York.    We made our way to the DIA:Beacon, which is a short walk from the train station.  Throughout the ten minute journey, we gulped down the clean air like a cold beer on a hot day.  Read more... (450 words, 1 image)

Guest Chef Jessica Nazarali’s Wake Up Smoothie for Meatless Monday

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Here is another wonderful vegan chef that I’m excited to introduce you to, Jessica Nazarali from Live Healthy Simply. Jessica has loads of great recipes on her site and I encourage you to follow her on twitter @JessicaNazarali. Once you’ve been through her site and have seen the food (and the wonderful photography) I’m sure you’ll be hooked!

Jessica grew up on a farm in the Hunter Valley and was raised vegetarian. Today she’s ditched the junk food and the ice cream and gone vegan. She feels it has done wonders for her skin, her digestion and helped her lose some weight. Now she calls Sydney, Australia home.

She has contributed a wonderful, healthy breakfast smoothie to our series. I hope you enjoy it!

Here is a Quick Way to Eat Breakfast in the Morning  Read more... (294 words, 1 image)

Guest Chef Leiann’s Chili Recipe for Meatless Monday

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I am excited to introduce Lei from Southern Maine Living and I am grateful to her for contributing to our series of Guest Chefs for Meatless Monday. Lei is a mom from Maine who is an avid cyclist, swimmer and runner. On the food front she describes herself as vegetarian most of the time. When she isn’t exercising she’s usually exploring Maine with her family or baking up a storm! You can follow her on twitter @TheBakingBiker. Here is her wonderful vegan recipe for Chili. What better to keep you warm on a winter night? Enjoy your Meatless Monday!
Being a vegetarian makes it difficult to enjoy the foods that you loved in your “meat eatin’ days.  Chili is one of the dishes that I did not want to live without.  It is my go to menu item for many different occasions – I usually whip up a potful of it whenever I am going to feed a crowd, whether it is for the Superbowl or a neighborhood block party.  This recipe is everything that I love about chili – it is super hearty, has a lot of heat and it makes enough to feed a small island nation – without the ground beef!   I used five different vegetables and three kinds of beans to ensure that it is going to be a complete meal for me.  I ate the chili and did not even miss the meat! The big test of any vegetarian recipe is my husband.  He is a card carrying member of the carnivore society and really loved this chili – he even ate the left overs for lunch the day after I made it!   Try it out!
Ingredients:
1/4 C olive oil
1 onion – diced
1 green pepper- chopped
2 stalks celery – chopped (about 3/4′s cup)
1 C carrots – chopped
3/4 C corn
2-3 tbsp chili powder (depending on how much heat you like!)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic
3 cans beans – used 1 dark red kidney, 1 pinto, 1 black – drain liquid in can, wash beans
3 cans tomato (I used 2 small cans and 1 large can- some diced, some crushed – personal preference!)
In a large pot, heat olive oil and garlic over medium high heat. Add in the green peppers and onions and saute for 2 minutes.  Add the remaining veggies- except for the corn – and let cook together in the garlic and oil for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add in the tomatoes, beans and spices.  Cover and simmer over low heat for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally.  Add the corn and continue to cook over low heat for thirty more minutes. Enjoy!

Southern Maine Living's Chili

Awesome Vegan Red-Hot Black Beans and Rice

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Jen made a great dish from Lorna Sass’ Short-Cut Vegan cookbook.  Red-hot black beans and rice.  We modified it a little bit.  Enjoy the recipe!

  • 2 cups of water
  • 2 T’s of tomato paste
  • 1 T of vegetable base (Better than Bullion)
  • 1 T of olive oil
  • 1 t of minced garlic
  • 1 t of cumin powder
  • 1/2 t (or more!) of crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup of brown rice
  • 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped pimento-stuffed green olives (optional)
  • 1 (15 oz.) can of black beans, drained
  • 1/2 cup of thinly sliced scallion greens
Combine all ingredients through red pepper flakes in a large sauce pan and bring to boil.  Stir in rice and olives and return to boil.  Simmer covered for about 15 minutes.  Add beans.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let sit until rice is tender and beans are hot.  Stir in scallions and serve.

Full of fantastic flavor and spice.  This dish made the house smell so good.  This one is in the rotation!  Read more... (174 words, 1 image)

Jo Ann’s Vegan Roasted Eggplant Dip

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Jo Ann’s Vegan Roasted Eggplant Dip

  • 1 medium eggplant
  • 2 seeded red bell peppers
  • 1 peeled red onion
  • 2 minced garlic cloves
  • 3 T of olive oil
  • 1 1/2 t of sea salt
  • some ground pepper
  • 2 1/2 T of tomato puree

Our wonderful friend Jo Ann made this for us when we arrived on Cape Cod.  The recipe has been modified from the Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook.

Preheat the oven to 400f.

Cube the eggplant, bell peppers and onion.  Mix them in a bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Spread them out on a baking sheet and roast them for 45 minutes, tossing them once while they’re cooking.  They should be soft when they’re finished.

Let them sit for 10 minutes to cool a little.

Put them all in the food processor and add the tomato puree.  Pulse it a few times to blend them together and add salt and pepper to taste.

Jo Ann served them with Pita chips for dipping.  Read more... (175 words, 1 image)

Vegan Butternut Squash and Cashew Cheese Bruschetta

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Vegan Butternut Squash and Cashew Cheese Bruschetta

  • 2 T olive oil, plus extra to brush on bread
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1/2 butternut squash (approximately 3 cups), cubed
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • Whole wheat baguette
  • 1/2 C cashew cheese
  • fig and balsamic glaze (I buy Blaze brand)
  • fresh rosemary sprigs

I pulled together this recipe based on an amazing appetizer that I had at Cafe Gratitude in Los Angeles. You can add crushed red pepper to the squash and onion mixture if you like things a bit spicier. You can also use a regular baguette if you can’t find whole wheat.

Preheat oven to 400. Place cubed butternut squash in a baking dish and cook until soft. Heat 2T of olive oil in a pan. Add diced onion and cook until translucent. Add the baked squash to the cooked onions and cook for a few minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove onion and squash mixture from heat and puree in a food processor until smooth.  Read more... (209 words, 1 image)

Vegan Raw Cashew Cheese Recipe

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Vegan Raw Cashew Cheese Recipe

  • 3 cups of raw cashews (no salt, not roasted) soaked in water for 2 hours (drained)
  • 3/4 cup of water
  • 4 tablespoons of dry white wine
  • 4 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
  • 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
  • 2 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt
  • some ground pepper
The original recipe is from The Real Food Daily cookbook and has a few options in it.  This version is the tastier one, with nutritional yeast, white wine and lemon juice.  And it was fantastic!
This will make about 3 cups of cheese.
The first thing you have to do is prep the cashews.  Place them in a bowl and fill it with water and let them sit for 2 hours.  This will let the cashews soften.
Next, drain and put the nuts into a food processor.  Add everything else and mix until it is puréed.  Pause occasionally and use a spatula to scrape it off the sides.  Once it is done, let it sit for 24 hours covered on the counter and then put it in the fridge.  It should last for another 5-7 days.
We use this in a vegan bruschetta that we’ll shoot a recipe out for soon.  We also use it as a starter with crackers or pita.
Let us know if you make some!

Raw Cashew Cheese on top of bruschetta  Read more... (241 words, 2 images)