So simple, but so good. I grilled the chik’n patty and sweet potatoes with a touch of olive oil and some garlic and sea salt. The Archer Farms Sea Salt & Garlic grinder is killer, by the way. Thanks to our friend, Nick, for the great housewarming gift!

I added some sprouts to the sandwich and some fresh strawberries on the side. Fantastic. And healthy, even!

I found another yummy, simple sweet potato recipe on AllRecipes.com. Man, sweet potatoes are great! It’s also a great recipe for white round potatoes. You might be able to spy a few in the photo, hiding behind the sweet potatoes.
Link: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/baked-sweet-potatoes/Detail.aspx

And here’s a recipe for homemade biscuits my husband found on the Food Network site and veganized. Warm, soft, and tasty. He topped them with vegetable butter. In all honesty though, I prefer biscuits that are lighter and flakier, so if I find a recipe that fits that bill, I’ll be sure to post it.
Link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/southern-biscuits-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons (vegetable) butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening (we just replaced the shortening with vegetable butter)
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled (we used soymilk)

Directions

French fries are yummy, but not very healthy. Sweet potato fries are amazing. But again, frying.. not so healthy. Might I suggest baking the sweet potatoes? They’re still amazingly delicious with a little salt sprinkled on top. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until crisp on the outside. You can also broil them for a few minutes after they’re done baking for extra crispiness.Yum! Also good with ketchup or a spicy barbecue sauce.

Vegan bacon lettuce and tomato. This is one seriously awesome sandwich.

Ingredients:
High Omega-3 Vegenaise
Smart Bacon
romaine lettuce
cherry tomatoes
whole wheat bread

I made these for my boss’ birthday last week and they were a hit! They’re easy to make and super delicious, especially if you keep them in the fridge and serve them cold.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C oil
• 1/2 C soymilk
• 1/4 C cocoa powder
• 2 C sugar ( I used cane sugar)
• 1/2 C peanut butter
• 3 C oatmeal

Directions:
Mix first 4 ingredients well in pot. Place over low heat setting on stove. Once it begins to boil, let boil for at least 3 minutes. Stir in peanut butter until melted completely. Add oatmeal, stirring quickly.

With 2 spoons, scoop dough out. Place dough balls on aluminum foil surface to dry.

Makes 3 dozen cookies. Preparation time, 10 min. Cooking time, 10 min.

Recipe (slightly altered) from vegweb.com.

I don’t make sun tea very often. I forgot how great it is. And it gives me an excuse to use my totally awesome vintage “Solar Tea” jar. They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Place in warm sunny place for 2 to 5 hours. Here I used green tea. I’m gonna try Lipton tea next. That’s the kind I had growing up. Note: sun tea must me made properly in order to avoid bacterial growth. See how here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Sun-Tea

…and here’s the more classic Lipton sun tea brewing. A beautiful, dark amber. And it’ll get substantially darker before it’s done. Yum!

I thought my eating habits would get worse once I got back to school, but the hubs and I are trying to devote time each evening to cook a nice meal together. This past weekend I visited my dear friends Matt and Darcie in Milwaukee and they gave me some amazing, fresh veggies from their huge vegetable garden, including some gigantic zuccini. Zuccini is super delicious when grilled with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. When grilling, char the outside so it’s nice and crisp and the inside is nice and soft. SOOO GOOD!! And so easy to make.

Additionally, I went to the farmer’s market this week, so we’ve got fresh produce up the wazoo. Hoorayum! My friend, Darcie is allergic to gluten, and makes the most delicious gluten-free dishes. I thought it would be a fun challenge to create some gluten-free meals myself. Attempting gluten-free meals is not easy, in general. It’s amazing how many store bought items have gluten in them that I never would have suspected. But when you have fresh produce, it’s much easier.

So, two nights ago I made spaghetti squash with home made, garden fresh marinara, topped with gluten-free vegan chicken patties by Pure Vegetarian.

And last night I made sauteed red kale, Bobby Flay style.

Recipe from FoodNetwork.com: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/sauteed-kale-recipe/index.html.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock or water
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft, but not colored. Raise heat to high, add the stock and kale and toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.

Now, I don’t think I’m necessarily allergic to gluten, but I do feel better when I eat delicious gluten-free food. Gluten means “glue” in Latin. Gluten is generally used as a binding agent. My theory is that, like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, people are just getting way too much of this stuff and it is causing a whole host of health problems. But there is still a lot that remains unknown about gluten. So, again, moderation seems to be key here (unless you’re allergic, then just avoid it altogether, obviously). Thankfully, gluten-free items are becoming easier to identify in stores. Some stores even have gluten-free sections. So do yourself a favor and make gluten-free meals every once in a while. See how it makes you feel

I was making a salad the other night and realized that all of my salad dressings were expired. It’s one of those items I rarely think to check the date on because store-bought dressings can last quite a while. Time to go dressing shopping!

Now, I know buying items from a company that specializes in cheese and meat is probably a faux-pas, but think of it this way: you’re supporting their vegan food, not the other stuff. Just like we do when we buy soymilk from companies that also sell dairy milk. We are increasing the demand for their soymilk and decreasing the demand for dairy milk. It helps companies evolve to meet the needs of the customers. Though, I should also point out that companies that make purely vegan items should be supported the most by us vegans. So, it’s a tricky issue.

Anyway, I bought Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame Reduced Fat Dressing. And it is awesome!! I could take a big pile of lettuce, pour this on it, and be happy. It’s also good with cooked veggies. It does contain high fructose corn syrup, which is a bummer. And “natural flavor” is always risky.

Ingredients: WATER, SOY SAUCE (WATER, WHEAT, SOYBEANS, SALT), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, APPLE CIDER VINEGAR, SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, TOASTED SESAME SEEDS, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF GINGER, GARLIC, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, CITRIC ACID, XANTHAN GUM, GARLIC JUICE, SALT, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ALGINATE, POLYSORBATE 60, NATURAL FLAVOR, VINEGAR, SPICE, VITAMIN E. CONTAINS: SOY, WHEAT, SESAME SEED.

I haven’t fallen this hard for a dressing since I got the recipe for a restaurant’s homemade dressing and made it vegan. MMMMmmm. I haven’t made that one in a long time. It’s so good, too. This Toasted Sesame dressing is no doubt lower in calories and fat. So you can swap between the wholesome homemade dressing for the Light store bought, but delicious dressing, depending on your dietary preferences.

Buy it here! Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame Reduced Fat Dresssing, 16-Ounce Plastic Bottles (Pack of 6)

Annie’s Naturals also makes a Toasted Sesame dressing. I haven’t tried it, but it’s probably pretty yummy. Chilmark Foods also makes a version, as does Soy Vay.

And if you prefer to make your own Toasted Sesame Dressing, here’s a recipe I found, which is “a reverse engineered Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing, souped up to be so much more healthy because it uses healthy oil, real seeds and real garlic.”

Katie’s Asian Toasted Sesame Salad Dressing

2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2-3 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil (optional) plus extra virgin olive oil to make 1/2 cup
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted*
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp ginger

1. Whisk apple cider vinegar, olive oil, optional sesame oil and soy sauce.
2. Whiz the garlic and toasted sesame seeds in a mini-food processor until garlic is in small pieces.
3. Combine and enjoy!

*To toast sesame seeds, put them on a dry cookie sheet in the toaster oven and toast on light once or twice until lightly browned and aromatic.  No toaster oven?  You could certainly use a regular oven on low heat – just watch the closely every few minutes to make sure they don’t burn.  I’m thinking you could also put them in a hot, dry pan and stir constantly until browned, but I haven’t tried that myself.

Store in the fridge (I think?) and try to remember to take it out a half hour before dinner, because the olive oil will solidify when cold. Recipe from Kitchen Stewardship. Full post here.

Basically, there are many options out there. And I recommend you try some because toasted sesame dressing is tops.

Sometimes I like to pretend I’m a world-class chef who needs no recipe to guide my kitchen craft. This is usually after watching Food Network and seeing how easy they make it all look. Most of the time, I fail miserably. But this time, it was a success! So I must share my ingeniously simple craft with the world.

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen rice
• 1 bag of frozen veggies (corn, green beans, peas, and carrots)
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• a splash or two of soy sauce
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• sea salt (to taste)

Throw olive oil into wok (or frying pan). Place on medium-high heat. When hot, add chopped onions and garlic. Cook and stir for about five minutes. Turn down heat a bit. Add frozen rice and veggies. Cook and stir some more. Add soy sauce and marinara. Sprinkle on sea salt. I used extra coarse sea salt which added a nice crunchy flavor burst. When veggies and rice are fully cooked through, you’re done. Serve and inhale.

Very simple and easy to make. And bursting with flavor!

Ahhh… what a perfect start to a Saturday.
Morning jog with the hubs, before getting too stiflingly hot out (we made that mistake last weekend), followed by a nice hot shower, and a vegan parfait.

Ingredients:

• blueberry soy yogurt
• strawberries, diced
• Bear Naked All Natural Granola, Fruit and Nut
• a few pistachios
• nectarine, diced

Layer and enjoy!

Next on the agenda: a fresh cup of coffee and some fiendish studying. But, perhaps less fiendish now that I’ve started the day off parfait!