Crispy Kale Chips

Level of Difficulty: the easiest
Pots/Pans Used: maybe a bowl

Ingredients

1 bushel of kale
1 TBL olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Crispy kale chips is my new favorite snack. I would totally recommend sneaking these into the movies or even replacing your daily potato chip fix with these babies. Oh my goodness... they are so fantastic and you can enjoy then guilt free! On a side note, I personally am not a big fan of prepackaged and cut kale. Whenever I've had it I was completely unsatisfied and I've heard other people say the same thing. Just a tip....
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and dry the kale well. Then rip up the kale into bite-size pieces. In a large bowl, massage the olive oil and salt into the kale. You may want to add or use less salt depending on your taste level. First time I made this recipe I used 1 tsp salt and it was a bit of a salty overload. 1/2 tsp was about right for me. Spread the kale on a baking sheet so that none of the pieces are on top of each other. Bake for about 18 minutes until really crispy. That's it! Woohoo!

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Mushroom Lasagna (plus 1 bonus recipe!)

Level of Difficulty: Effort Required
Pots/Pans Used: 4 or 5

2 packages sliced mushrooms
1 TBL olive oil
2 TBL soy sauce
lasagna noodles
nutritional yeast
8 TBL Earth Balance
4 cups plain soymilk
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg

This recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa. I switched a few things up a bit, primarily the whole "dairy free" thing to make it simpler and veg friendly. This was my first time ever making lasagna and it was not as difficult as I expected. Makes for awesome leftovers!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until nicely seared. Then, add the soy sauce to to pan and cook an additional couple minutes. Set aside the mushrooms. For the cream sauce, let the soymilk simmer in a sauce pan. Melt the earth balance in a large saute pan. whisk the flour gradually in with the butter. Don't worry about it clumping up. Once you add the milk it will melt back down. Gradually, add the simmering milk to the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Then, add the salt and nutmeg. In a casserole dish, first put a layer of sauce, then pasta. layer mushrooms, sauce and nutritional yeast, pasta, etc. Finally, top the final layer with sauce and yeast and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.


Leftover Pasta Recipe:


Level of Difficult: Easy
Pots/Pans Used:1!

Because I had leftover lasagna noodles and leftover hollandaise sauce from my "Eggless Benedict" recipe, I decided to incorporate them both in one totallty creamy and carby dish. Even if you didn't make the benedict or lasagna, I still highly recommend you try this recipe.
What you'll need:

Hollandaise sauce
Noodles (I cut up leftover lasagna noodles, but feel free to use whatever)
Brocolini
1 pkg Potobello Mushrooms
1 TBL olive oil
2 TBL lemon juice
1 TBL soy sauce
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until nicely seared. Then, add the soy sauce to to pan and cook an additional couple minutes. Set aside the mushrooms. Add the brocolini to the pan and saute with the lemon juice. Add the mushrooms back into the pan along with the noodles, sauce and nutritional yeast. Coat well. Yum!

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Eggless Benedict

Level of Difficulty: Effort Required
Pots/Pans Used: 3ish

Ingredients

asparagus
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Tofurky's Ham Deli Slices
toast or english muffin (whatever is available or preferred)
extra firm tofu

Hollandaise sauce:
3/4 cup of soft tofu
2 tsp mustard
4 TBL nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup soymilk
1 TBL olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
pinch paprika
pinch turmeric
salt & pepper to taste

Tofu marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 TBL vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
2 TBL soy sauce

Eggs Benedict is probably my all time favorite thing for breakfast and I have been deprived for far too long. My hollandaise sauce is a product of looking over probably fifteen hollandaise recipes and creating this hybrid. You can also save the leftover sauce and serve it over asparagus as a side dish with dinner. mmmmmm
Start by mixing the marinade for the tofu in a bowl. Slice as much extra firm tofu (pictured above are four slices worth) as desired and marinate for about 15-20 minutes. While marinading, cover asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at 425 degrees until bright green and crispy (will take about 15-20 minutes). While waiting for the tofu and asparagus, you can blend all the ingreidents for the hollandaise sauce in a blender and set aside. Toast your bread of choice and grill a couple of slices of ham on a grill pan over medium heat. After that, you can set the ham aside and grill the tofu slices until nice and browned and crispy. At this point, all you need to do is assemble your egg-less benedict and sprinkle the top with a bit of pepper and paprika.

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Sweet Crepes

Level of Difficulty: surprisingly simple

Pots/Pans Used: ONE!

Ingredients

Basic Crepe Recipe:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup soymilk

2/3 cup water

1/4 cup melted Earth Balance

1 tsp vanilla (not necessary for savory crepes)

(makes about seven crepes)

Filling:

1 carton strawberries, sliced

2 TBL agave nectar

cinnamon

(enough to fill about 5 crepes)

Garnish (optional):

chocolate syrup

scoop of favorite ice cream

powdered sugar

SOOOOO ridiculously good! I used to go to this great little creperie in Ybor city but since I've been vegan, I haven't enjoyed a crepe in over a year so this was such a great treat. Now that I know how easy they are to make, I'll be tying out some breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert crepes. if I come up with any more crepe ideas, I'll post them. And if you have any ideas, be sure to leave comments...

Whisk all the crepe ingredients together in a bowl and then let it chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. mix the sliced strawberries and agave nectar together while the crepe mix is chilling. Here is a video showing how to cook your crepes, if this is your first time. You'll wanna cook them in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. You don't have to go as fast as they do. But basically, it's that simple! Put your strawberry filling into the crepe and sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the filling. Fold the crepes in whatever fancy way you see fit. Feel free to come up with your own creative filling and garnish. The ingredients listed are just an idea. Worked for me :)

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1, 2, 3 Guacamole!

Level Of Difficulty: You absolutely can't screw this up, it's so easy

Pots/Pans Used: NADA

Ingredients

1 avocado

lemon juice, to taste

salt, to taste

Next time you have a ripe avocado lying around and you don't know what to do with it, smash it up and make some guacamole!!! If you're going to a party and need to bring something and you're not the greatest cook in the world, this recipe is for you. You basically can't go wrong with guacamole. It's so simple I almost didn't post it, but then I thought, "There has to be someone who's never tried making guacamole". Don't be intimidated by the avocado! Don't go buy a tub of guac! Forget the tomato or fancy peppers and seasonings! All you need are these three ingredients to make your guacamole out of this world...

Start by cutting the avocado up into slices and then smashing it down until the texture meets your liking. Mix in salt and lemon juice to taste and serve with sliced veggies or chips. (One avocado will serve about two people)

P.S. Check out this awesome avocado slicer I picked up at Target. Also on a side note, avocados are really great in desserts. I've had chocolate mousse made from avocado and down the line I'll be posting my yummy avocado fudge recipe. I promise it tastes better than it sounds ;)

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Soy Ginger Gardien with Quick Fried Rice

Level Of Difficulty: easy
Pots/Pans Used: dos!

Ingredients

Soy Ginger Glaze
(You will need Gardein's chick'n scallpoini)
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 TBL soy sauce
1/2 TBL maple syrup
shake of hot sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 minced clove of garlic
sesame seeds (optional)

Fried Rice
1 TBL olive oil
soy sauce, to taste
1 bag mixed frozen vegetables
1 bag of boil-in-a-bag brown rice

I made this one night when I reeeeeeaaally didn't feel like cooking but still wanted a fulfilling meal. I loved the asian glaze which I came up with based on the ingredients I had in my kitchen. It's a really great go-to meal. I was actually very impressed with how good the fried rice was! Seriously, if you haven't been able to find a fried rice without egg, it's time you started making your own. And how could you not when its this easy?
Prepare the brown rice as directed on the box. In a medium-sized saute pan over medium- high heat, heat olive oil. Add the frozen vegetables and saute for 10-15 minutes, until heated throughout. Add a few shakes of soy sauce and mix up with the vegetables. Add the brown rice and mix with the vegetables. Again, add a little more soy sauce and saute the mixture for about five more minutes. Transport the fried rice to another dish to free-up the pan. Saute the gardein cutlets with a little olive oil until slightly browned. Lay these cutlets on a paper towel temporarily. Then, add the ingredients for the glaze to the pan. Turn up the heat so that the glaze boils and then reduce heat to a simmer. Once it has thickened, add the cutlets and coat well for a couple minutes. Plate the cutlets with the fried rice and sprinkle some sesame seeds over top!

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