Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles

Lately I've been trying to come up with quick and easy Vegan/GF recipes for family, and what I consider easy and what other people consider easy are two different things. This is a quick and easy, I promise! Seriously, the hardest thing is putting together the sauce and cutting up the tofu/ginger/garlic. You can even make the sauce ahead of time and store it in the fridge. I know when you see the recipe you are gonna be like "Whoa, you said easy, that does not look easy." Trust me, it's MUCH easier then it looks.

Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles

Serves 4

1 package rice noodles, cooked according to directions and set aside.

 **I used the super skinny ones because that's all I had at the moment**

Sauce:

1/2 C. natural creamy peanut butter

1/2 C. water

1/3 C. Bragg's Liquid Aminos 

1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice

2 Tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar

2 Tbsp. sugar or 3 packets of stevia

1 tsp. siracha, or siracha to taste.

****Note: For the last 2 ingredients, I actually use 2 Tbsp. of an all natural sweet chili sauce. I'm going to post a picture of the bottle so you know what it looks like. I found my bottle in a local market that carries international products. I suggest you pick up a bottle if you ever see it, it's very versatile in the kitchen. It also makes a great sweet and sour sauce if you add rice vinegar to it.****

Put all ingredients in a sauce pan and whisk together over low heat until combined. The peanut butter won't really blend with the other ingredients unless its heated. Set aside.

Veggies:

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil (or sesame oil)

1 clove garlic, minced

1-1 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced

1 block extra firm tofu, cubed

1 Tbsp. Bragg's Liquid Aminos

1/3 C. water

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 Tbsp. sugar or 1 1/2 stevia packets

5 cups frozen stir-fry veggies

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat, add everything but the veggies and let saute for 5 minutes. Add veggies until cooked to liking (I like mine crisp, so it was about 8 minutes)

Add Peanut Sauce to veggies and let cook until hot. Pour over rice noodles. Serve with garnishes 

 Garnishes:

1/2 c. chopped peanuts

1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped

1 lime cut into 4 wedges

I eat this hot, but it is also good cold. Don't believe me, try it for yourself!

The Best Chili Sauce and the ingredients are as follows sugar, water, chili, garlic, acetic acid, salt, and xantham gum. 

Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles with garnishes! Delish!!

Cinnamon Bundt Cake and Basic Icing Glaze

                I'm gonna make this short because I have been cooking since about 9:30 am and really haven't stopped. Let's just say I did some experimenting in the kitchen, some things worked out but some didn't. So before I post up those recipes, I'm gonna have to play around with them some more. Today's recipe is a dessert, and I really don't post a lot of desserts. Being gf/vegan, you don't really find a lot of desserts that are both, except for *maybe* if they are raw. (Do raw even use foodists use flour?) This one turned out great, which is awesome! The flour/starch list looks intimidating, but honestly, you could probably sub in a gluten-free flour mixture and it would work out the same. Just double check to make sure if there is Xantham Gum in the mix first. If there is, don't add the Xantham Gum. 

Cinnamon Bundt Cake

1/2 c. Sorghum Flour

1/4 c. Soy Flour

1/2 c. Rice Flour

1/2 c Tapioca Flour

1/2 c. Potato Starch

1/4 c. Corn Starch

1 1/2 tsp. Xantham Gum

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 1/4 c. Vegan Sugar

1/3 c. Oil

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 c. Non-Dairy Milk

2 Tbsp. Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour bundt pan.

In a medium bowl combine flours, starches, the Xantham Gum, salt and baking powder, whisk, and set aside.

Mix sugar, oil and vanilla together in a large bowl until smooth.

Add non-dairy milk and vinegar.

Add flour and cinnamon. 

Pour into prepared Bundt pan.

Bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool.

While cake is cooling make icing. Super easy go-to icing for anything from cakes to cookies.

Basic Icing Glaze

1 Tbsp. Earth Balance or Coconut Oil

1 c. Vegan Confectioners Sugar

1/2 t. Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp. Non-Dairy Milk

In small saucepan, melt Earth Balance/Coconut Oil.

Add confectioners sugar, vanilla, and non-dairy milk.

Whisk until smooth.

Pour icing over cooled cake. If you like you can also dust cinnamon on top.

Confetti Rice

I've been a lazy vegan and have been relying on my stash in the freezer. Well today it's like 10 degrees outside and it gave me a perfect reason to cook. Thank goodness I went shopping before it decided to turn into Antarctica over here. I'm going to share one of my absolute favorite recipes with you
today. I've been eating this stuff for about 3 years and I love it. Also, its super easy to make, and it makes a lot of food so you can freeze part of it if you want. I usually do! The reason it is called Confetti Rice is because its very colorful and looks kinda like confetti. Right?

Confetti Rice

1 cup of dry rice (any kind)

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1/2 bag of spinach, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 can of stewed tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 cup vegetable juice

1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning

1/2 tsp. 21 Salute Seasoning

1 tsp. pink salt

• Rinse rice until water runs clear and boil in a pot until soft, drain in strainer, rinse and set aside.
• In a large saucepan heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat, add bell pepper, and onion, cook until onion is translucent. Then add spinach and garlic, let cook, covered, until spinach wilts.
• Add stewed tomatoes, vegetable juice and seasonings. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
• In a big bowl combine spinach mixture with rice. 

See how easy that is? You can eat it plain like that, in a bowl, like I do. OR you can use it as a side dish, either way it's delicious and super good for you! Enjoy!

Spicy Red Lentil Soup, or not

Like I said in the previous post. I crave spicy things now, and this soup satisfies all my cravings, for some reason (liquid smoke, maybe?) it even tastes like there is some sort of meat in it. FYI-There isn't and it's delicious. If you don't want the heat factor leave the pepper out. No biggie, it's ALMOST as good without it. Almost.

Spicy Red Lentil Soup

1- carrot-chopped
1- small onion-chopped
1- stalk celery-chopped
1- Chile (Jalapeno, Serrano, Thai Chile)-chopped (you can remove the seeds for less heat)
3- cloves garlic-minced or grated
1- 2 inch piece of garlic-minced or grated
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp, 21 seasoning salute
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 cups dried red lentils (checked for stones and rinsed)
8 cups water

In a large saucepan or pot, over medium heat, saute carrot, onion, celery and chile in olive oil, until onion becomes translucent or clear, then add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds (do not let garlic burn, it will taste nasty).
Add red lentils, water and the rest of the ingredients to rest of pot, stirring frequently. After about 20 minutes mixture will start to thicken up. Turn off store and either using a blender, or stick blender, blend soup until it becomes smooth.
Serve in soup bowls topped with roasted pepitas and cilantro. Yum!

Transitioning to Vegan. Stuff you should know.

So recently I have had either people transitioning to being vegan, gluten-free and need advice. Here are some helpful things I have learned.

1) It's not as hard as you think. Cooking vegan or gluten-free doesn't have to be time consuming. Some dishes are easier than others, just like with regular cooking. Yes, I can whip up something in 15 minutes, but also, some of the recipes I make can take 3 hours. It was the same thing when I wasn't vegan. I really haven't noticed a difference at all. Just more meal planning/prepping time.

2) READ FOOD LABELS. I did this before I went vegan (because of the the gluten issue) and I do it even more now. Not everything that is vegan is labeled "vegan" and things that you would think would be "vegan" aren't. I check and recheck everything, because some things like Casein and Vitamin D-3 are animal products. Most "enriched" or "fortified" cereals, pastas and rice have at least one non-vegan by-product. Your reason for going vegan is up to you, and is your personal choice, so I can't tell you what to do. This is how I am: Casein I don't do, but I do take vitamin D (the non-vegan kind), I do not feel bad about this. I know their is non-animal derived vitamin D, AKA D2,  but I haven't run out of my old vitamin D and until I do, I'm not changing. Also, I am a honey-eater. I do not think bees are treated inhumanely and also, I am allergic to bees, so if those little jerks can kill me, I'm okay with taking their honey from them. Bees can go sting themselves. 

3) Going out to eat will suck, at first. Let's face it, there are only so many times you can go to a restaurant and order a salad, with oil and vinegar. I have been there, and I have more restrictions then just being vegan, I also can't have gluten, so I am a vegan that has a problem dining in VEGAN restaurants. Don't worry it will get better. While you may not be able to go out last minute and find a place, there are Apps (happy cow, yelp) that can help you find a place to eat. Yes, I know this takes work. Yes, I know it sucks if I want to go out last minute. I get it! I plan going out to eat now, which honestly has only made my dining experiences better. I look forward to going out to eat now because it isn't the easiest option for me, I research the restaurants, look at reviews, there is more effort involved in this, but I don't want to have to eat another salad against my will, again.

4) Always have a snack. This is a life-saver. Since you are only eating plant-based foods, they are easier to digest, and you WILL get hungry. You WILL want to eat whatever you can get into your hands/mouth the fastest. I ALWAYS have at least 1 fruit and some kind of nuts with me at all times. I eat more now, as a vegan, then I ever ate before. 

5) You will crave things, weird things, that you may have never wanted. Example: I used to despise spicy things, I dated a guy whose family was all Hispanic and they loved the heat. I hated it so everything I made had to be milder than anything they would even consider eating. Now, I put hot sauce, siracha, peppers, whatever, on almost everything. I don't know when this happened or how, but I now crave spicy foods, for the first time, in my life, EVER. Salt is another thing I crave, there is salt on everything I eat now. I used to only use salt if I had to, well not anymore. Your tastes will change, some people really get into things like saurkraut, pickles and miso. I however, always enjoyed these things.

6) You might smell, (from either the farting, or eating too much garlic, ginger, whatever spice) this happens. When you no longer eat animal products you will used a lot of different herbs and spices to add flavor into your food, this will go through your body and some, like garlic make you smell like garlic. I eat a lot of garlic, and I probably smell a bit like garlic at all times. I'm okay with that. I have proper hygiene,  but whenever I sweat (like after working out) I smell like garlic, or ginger, or curry.... yes I am one of those people. Sorry! It will also happen to you.

7) Other things: Since you are eating non-animal based products as your food, you will pass gas more (blame the beans if you want). You will also notice that you go to the bathroom more (more roughage, more fiber, more poop). Honestly, if you have to poop all the time for the first month or so, relax, you aren't going to die. It's just your body getting used to not having to work as hard to digest your food. I know this is weird, you will get through it, just accept that it's normal and move on.

8)Have a good reason WHY. This is vital, and pretty much determines whether you make it or break it being vegan. Animal rights reasons, earth reasons, health reasons, whatever, HAVE A REASON! This will allow you to have something consistent to strive for and when you want to cheat, remember that reason!
         I will give you my reason. For the past, lets say 10 years (its been longer, I apparently have had Celiac disease all my life and never knew), something has been wrong. I went from having endless amounts of energy, having fun, going out, being personable, and just flat out enjoying life. At one point I was working 3 jobs and going to 2 schools with full courseloads. I was go-go-go. Then I started having horrible migraines, was always tired, slept a lot, started to withdraw and just took a backseat in my own life. I went from Dr to Dr, specialist after specialist. My health took its toll on everyone and everything, my job, my friends, my family, and other things that were (are) important to me. I couldn't take it anymore. I was miserable. Over the years I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Lupus, a rare Migraine disorder and finally, last December, Celiac's. To me that was HUGE, it explained so much and once I started going gluten-free I started getting better. Then, I went vegan about 6 months ago. This by far, has made a huge difference in the way I feel and what I get done. Yes, I still have problems with my medical conditions, but they aren't as bad as they used to be. I used to have a flare-up and be put in the hospital on chemo patient type steroids for a few days to get better. I have not been to the hospital since then, and I am so thankful for that.

I can't really think of anything else right now, but I'm open to questions and I will try my best to answer them. Hope this helps!

Also, thanks to Coby Linder, who is a great friend, fellow vegan, and weight loss guru, for #8, that was all his idea. You can check out all the amazing things he does here-------> Lean with Linder

Gluten-free sesame crackers and Almond Cheddar Cheese

 Don't those look awesome! Gluten-free, vegan, and delicious. I missed crackers badly *carb junkie* and the store bought ones always tasted nasty to me, plus if I can make it at home, I will. I don't like having all those chemicals in my food anyways. This is an OH SHE GLOWS recipe, and I am a huge fan of hers! I find myself making something from her site often, and this is one of my favorites.
Easy gluten-free, vegan crackers. Yummy!
They are easily modified by added different herbs or spices, recently I've been subbing in 21 seasoning salute and Himalayan pink salt for the thyme and regular salt.

 This is a vegan almond cheese spread on the gluten-free cracker. AMAZING! I used this recipe Vegan Sharp Cheddar Cheese from The Accidental Vegetarian, which is such a good recipe for regular cheese, it melts, it looks right, tastes right. Hands down favorite fake cheese in the world! I wanted something more spreadable or that I could mold into a cheese ball with slivered almonds around the outside. Something that normally would not be vegan. This is what I found out:

To make it into a spread, I added:
1/4 c. roasted red pepper
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp of plain almond milk
Put into food processor with miso and tomato paste.
That's it, so easy!

I'm going to go finish eating these now..

It's been a long while since I have added anything into this and its about time I started doing it again. In the time that has passed, I discovered I have Celiac Disease and am Gluten-Intolerant. From a health perspective it was a good thing. I have slowly been feeling better and getting back to doing the things I love. Now when it comes to the food, let's face it, I was bummed. I LOOOOOVVVED carbs, LOVED them the way people love chocolate (also amazing), so this has been challenging to say the least. On top of that, I am lactose-intolerant so there goes dairy as well. Cheese is another love of mine, but we can get to that another day. So, I have basically become gluten-free and vegan over that amount of time. All new recipes will reflect this and I hope whoever follows doesn't mind. Thanks!

This is one of my favorite recipes, reasons why? It's fast, easy, and delicious! This dish is great as a side or over rice/mashed potatoes.

Marinated Mushrooms

1lb Fresh Mushrooms, thickly sliced ( I have used button, crimini, portobello, they all taste good)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C. olive oil

1/4 C. balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp. 21 Seasoning Salute (Love this stuff!)

2 Tbsp. Water

1/4 Tsp. Salt

 Mix ingredients together and let sit for at least 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and put mushrooms and marinade into a oven-safe casserole dish and cover with foil.

Let bake for 20 minutes.

Serve and Eat!

Enjoy lovelies!