Search Results for monday's It's Vegan Night!

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Sometimes Vegan Night is Take-out Night
Monday It's Vegan Night: Let's face it, sometimes the best a busy parent can do to get a healthy veg meal on the table at the end of a busy day is to stop at a restaurant or grocery strore on the way home to pick up something pre-made.  The good news is that the unhealthy, frozen TV dinners that many of us remember from childhood aren't our only option to feed our kids today. Amy's Kitchen m
My kids' favorite: BBQ Tofu Dinner
BBQ Tofu, Vegan Mashed Potatoes and Veggies. Coconut Bliss Bars: This BBQ tofu is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Along with the mashed potatoes and veggies, it's a stick-to-your-ribs All-American meal. You can make it mild or spicy, depending upon the sauce you choose to use. We make a double or triple batch for cold BBQ sandwiches the next day. BBQ Tofu Prep
Quinoa: Don't say it. Eat it!
We serve two incredible quinoa salads at the natural foods market where I work, one with black beans, the other cranberries and walnuts. I love quinoa and I know other people do, too. But I think a lot of people don’t even try this protein-packed ancient grain because they’re veg and don’t want to butcher anything, including this word’s pronunciation. Well, 
Easy, Healthy Guacamole
This recipe is in our book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids and we can’t think of a better way to kick off warmer weather than eating a good bowl full of guacamole and some tortilla chips. Easy Vegan Guacamole (yields 1.5 cups) 4 ripe avocados (but not overly ripe) 1/2 tsp. cumin juice of 1/2 a lime 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 cup frozen yellow corn or petite
Affor-Dhal-ble Dinner
Yellow split pea dhal has to be one of the most gourmet, least expensive meals on the planet. This one dish meal is inspired by a dhal recipe in one of my favorite all-time cookbooks (just veganize any meat recipes), The More With Less cookbook, written in 1976 by the Mennonites and Doris Janzen Longacre. (Serve as a stew with vegan naan to dip or on a bed of rice) Dhal 2 c.
Fruity stir fry
This stir fry recipe was inspired by necessity. We were low on groceries and had very few veggies in the house, a block of tofu, lots of fruit and nuts and some rice. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I’m sure glad I invented this sweet dinner treat. Fruity Stir Fry  2 cups red cabbage, shredded 3 carrots, thinly sliced (I used a food processor) 4 celery stalks,
Quick Vegan Cake and Ice Cream
Nobody’s birthday to celebrate, but still craving cake and ice cream? We know the feeling. A few nights ago, we sat down to an Amy’s vegan chocolate cake, topped with some Tofutti vanilla almond bark ice cream (not so sure our health-o-meters are okay with the corn-heavy ingredient list, but it’s not a oftentime treat) and organic raspberries on top. Yum! Easy, delicious, le
French Toast a la Vegan
Spring is on its way, so that means maple trees will soon be producing more of my favorite sweetener in the world. True, real maple syrup is extremely expensive, so we don’t always have it on hand. But it’s incredibly versatile and, like many Native American cultures, I happen to believe that because it’s so natural and so delicious there must be some heal
If u can’t beet ‘em, join ‘em!
Two out of three of my kids hate beets, but I love them (both my kids and beets, that is). Beets are a good source of: Potassium, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus and Copper, Vitamin C, Folate and Betaine, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6 and Pantothenic Acids. Many people believe that beets help flush the body of toxins. Not to mention that the color and p
Vegan Home Fries
Nearly fat free, these home fries are easy to make and delicious. They make McDonald’s fries look limp and whimpy! Recipe from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids Yield: Four Servings 4 med. to large baking potatoes (at least 5 in. long) Olive oil-based cooking spray or high-heat sunflower oil cooking spray 1 TB. salt-free table blend seasoning, li
Vegan Chocolate Malt Bliss
I whip up many variations of this incredible dessert-worthy smoothie recipe at home, and we also serve a similar version at the smoothie bar where I work. Substitute almond butter for peanut butter, leave out the malt powder, add coconut, soy or rice vegan ice cream, plop in some grape jelly for a PBJ smoothie, even add chocolate chips for a decadent crunch.  The only problem is, I ca
Irish Breakfast Gone Vegan
Irish Steel Cut Oats with Blueberries. A frugal, fast breakfast that’s healthy and hearty, easy and delicious. And that’s no blarney!(This recipe is from my new book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegan Eating for Kids.” Sweetened Steel-Cut Oats Yield: 2 servings Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Serving size: 1 cup 1 cup
Bored with peanut butter?
I started trying nut butters other than peanut butter when doctors thought my youngest child may have had a nut allergy. Almond butter: Good. Macadamia butter: Interesting. Cashew butter: AMAZING. Now I try to keep a jar of the smooth, perfectly creamy yet not oily like peanut butter, mild, filling spread in my fridge at all times. My favorite kind is MaraNatha, because it tastes great, definitely
Mochi vs. Donuts
Are you in a boring breakfast routine? Do you grab a coffee and cereal, toast, oatmeal or, worse yet, a donut every morning without even realizing what you’re choosing or why? I was talking to a friend recently about how breakfast has become the autopilot meal that just doesn’t inspire me anymore. I’m not excited about breakfast, unless I have a weekend day to really go all out o
Dairy Dilemma
I grew up in Wisconsin, so that means my affection for dairy foods — especially ice cream — runs deep. Is there anything better on a chilly winter evening than some hot cocoa or, for ice cream fanatics like myself, a hot fudge sundae? Eating vegan doesn’t mean you have to give up those guilty pleasures, it just means you have to give up some of the guilt! There’s
Real Simple Cuban Black Beans — With a Kick
One of my best girlfriends gave me a subscription to Real Simple magazine for my birthday. It was a fun surprise to receive a magazine that I’ve always liked to look at in the supermarket checkout aisle but to which I didn’t expect to ever subscribe. I really like it. Another fun surprise about this magazine is the yummy, simple recipes it includes in the “Five Easy Dinners&rdq
Speedy Fusion
Fusion cuisine sounds so intimidating, like creating something wonderfully Asian/Mex or Caribbean/Thai would take years of culinary school, hours in the kitchen and lots of expensive ingredients . But all it really takes is a hearty helping of common sense about flavor combination and a dash of creativity. Here’s my original speedy vegan fusion recipe for Italian spring vegetable pasta co
A Twist of Faith
This week I’m making one of my kids’ favorite seasonal family recipes: Homemade pretzels. Every year during the season of Lent – which started for Christians on Feb 25 and continues 40 days until Easter – we bake this soft pretzel recipe that’s easy enough for even the youngest kiddos to dig their hands into. Created centuries ago by monks in attempt to accommodat
Easy Vegan Tomato Pasta and Pizza Sauce
My Italian husband would shudder when my untrained palate brought a jar of commercial pasta sauce home from the grocery store. Too Much Sugar… Not Enough Flavor… Un-Italian!, he would protest in the passionate way that only Italians can work up over a jar of tomatoes. Eventually, I came to appreciate his disdain for the American jarred version of “gravy,” as Italians c
Fave Five Vegan Snacks
Quick vegan snack options are critical to have on hand when the hungries hit. Especially in the early days of trying to eat vegan when I was breaking old habits like grabbing a yogurt or cheese for a snack, it was critical to find staples that were easy, healthy and simple to keep close at hand. Here’s my Fave Five: 1.) Clif Bars, especially the Peanut Toffee Buzz and Apricot. 2.)&n
Easy Vegan 13 Bean Soup
Bob’s Red Mill makes an incredible line of natural, whole food products that you can find at most grocery stores (except perhaps Wal Mart). There’s usually a great recipe on the back of each package that, if not already vegetarian/vegan, can be easily transformed veg. My latest experiment: Bob’s 13 Bean Soup Mix. There’s ham hock (ick) and ground beef (no) in the origina
Speedy Breakfast
After reading Mariel Hemingway’s excellent book Healthy Living from the Inside Out, her morning shake — made with a vegan twist — became one of my favorite speedy vegan breakfast recipes. Since then, morning shakes have temporarily fallen out of favor with me for warmer winter food choices, but next summer — or if I get a craving for blueberries this winter — I&r
Rice To The Occasion
I wrote last week about the nasty cold/flu thing I picked up on the plane that I should have tried to prevent with astragalus (see the last Natural Health post). Well, I’m still trying to beat it. Hence, nothing of much value is getting cooked or being eaten in my kitchen (or written on this blog, for that matter) during these past 10 days. I did make a bowl of rice with some veggie
Secretly Speedy Garlic Tofu on Wilted Spinach
I sat enraptured for an hour last month listening to Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, as guests and callers sang the praises of garlic. (Listen here on Wisconsin Public Radio's website). From cold and flu cures to love potions and hundreds of ways to flavor a meal with this funny little bulb, it became clear to me that garlic is beloved around the world.Unlike the centuries old writings
Pancake Panache
Two of the best ingredients for transforming standard recipes to vegan fare are rice milk and Ener-G Egg Replacer (made primarily from potato starch, tapioca starch and leavening…the best part is one box contains enough egg replacer mix to equal 100 eggs! So much for going to the grocery store to get eggs when you’re short one on a Saturday morning.) Use rice milk and egg replacer in
Serious Cheese
I grew up in Wisconsin so I have a special place in my heart (and on my head) for cheese. Growing up, we ate pounds of cheese on the typical foods, of course, like pizza and pasta. But cheese also graced eggs, toast, bagels, fruit, soup, every possible cooked vegetable and apple pie. Anything that a slab of cheese can rest or melt upon, we’ll put it there.But not just any cheese will do. Wis
Walk Away from the Pots: Tofu, Spinach & Curry
In my home, Monday is not the night to take on a complex recipe for dinner; in fact, that kind of recipe is the recipe for a cranky mom at the beginning of a busy week. This weekend, I prepared a fantastic vegan carrot cake with vegan cream cheese frosting; BBQ tofu in apple butter; curried rice salad; and a big pancake breakfast. My creativity, patience and measuring abilities will rema
Lunchbox Envy
I made my daughter (warm) vegan tacos to take to school this morning in her lunchbox. Yes, that’s right. In her lunchbox. And it took all of five minutes. Actually, I can’t take credit for this one. It was her idea. I made tacos last night for dinner and we had some leftover Boca vegan burger crumbles, so my all-too-vegetarian-savvy first grader said, “Hey, mom, wh
Edamame ASAP
If you’ve never tried edamame, you’re missing out on one of the easiest, quickest, healthiest and tastiest snacks or appetizers Mother Nature offers. These young soybeans still in their fuzzy pods are easy to prepare and fun to eat, especially for kids and grown up kids like me who like finger foods. Eating edamame beans from the pod reminds me of being a real kid in the ’7