Tag: vegetarian

Macaroni Salad with Chickpeas

Melissa King 16 Comments

Spring is here and in Texas the weather is starting to get warm.  I have been trying to come up with a bunch of healthy options for outdoor parties.  I already have my Dairy Free Potato Salad and my Pineapple Mango Salsa.  Now I have a macaroni salad to add to the list.

salad with watermark

Most traditional macaroni salad is swimming in mayo.  Not this.  This is another meal that is really easy to put together.  I used brown rice pasta for this recipe so it is gluten free as well.  Since I added the chickpeas,  it can be a complete meal and not just a side dish.  The golden balsamic and the pomegranate molasses give it a slightly sweet taste.  Both really make the dish.  You can find the pomegranate molasses at most health food stores.

Macaroni Salad with Chickpeas

Macaroni Salad with Chickpeas

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Prep Time 15 min Cook Time 15 min

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked macaroni (I used brown rice pasta)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1/4 cup chives chopped
  • 1 yellow pepper rough chopped
  • 1 can or 2 cups chickpeas
  • 2 T golden balsamic vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses
  • 1 T avocado oil
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Cook the macaroni according to the box instructions. 
  2. Let cool. 
  3. Add all the ingredients in one bowl and mix to serve.

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Recipe Notes

This just gets better as it marinates in the fridge. I like it better the next day. It should keep for about a week. We got about 4 servings out of this. Enjoy!

Dairy Free Cashew Cheese Sauce

Melissa King 94 Comments

This Dairy Free Cashew Cheese Sauce is delicious.  Two weeks ago we took the kids to the zoo.  Afterward, we decided to try out a vegan restaurant here in Dallas called The Spiral Diner.  The food was so good!

My husband got a vegan nacho plate and the cheese sauce was made from cashews.  He liked it so much he decided to try to create his own cashew cheese sauce and after a few tries it worked out pretty good.

This dairy free cashew cheese sauce is really quite a good replica. We never would have thought to make a cashew cheese sauce.

dairy free cashew cheese sauce

A lot of vegan cheeses are soy based, but we wanted to do something different since a lot of people are avoiding soy these days.  The cashews gave it a nice creamy feel.

This would not only be a good sauce to eat with nachos, but it makes a great base for a dairy free mac and cheese.

With so many kids having dairy allergies these days, it’s nice to have a soy free cheese option.  To give this a cheesy flavor, we used nutritional yeast.  Nutritional yeast is a great source of protein, fiber and vitamin B12.

 

Here is a quick little video of my husband and daughter making this. For more videos, you can subscribe to my You Tube Channel.

 

Dairy Free Cashew Cheese Sauce

Dairy Free Cheese Sauce

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Prep Time 10 min Serves 2 cups     adjust servings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups raw cashews (soaked overnight and drained)
  • 1 cup water
  • 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Soak the cashews in water overnight.
  2. The next day, drain and rinse them.
  3. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

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Recipe Notes

You can store it in the fridge in an airtight container. Should keep for a few weeks. You may even be able to freeze it.

Fried Rice with Cashews

Melissa King 37 Comments

My husband makes the best fried rice.  This is his fried rice with cashews.  I recently posted about his Stir Fried Quinoa, which is also delicious.  That day, we were out of some of the main ingredients so he improvised.  This is the real version.

fried rice watermark 3

I could literally eat this entire bowl.  Since there is wild rice as well as cashews, this can be considered a full meal and not just as side dish.  It would a great Meatless Monday dish.  This is also a meal that comes together in minutes.  I am all about easy meals.

Fried Rice with Cashews

Fried Rice with Cashews

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 20 min

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups cooked rice (we used wild rice)
  • 1/2 yellow onion rough chopped
  • 3 stalks celery chopped
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 cup edamame (cooked)
  • 2 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar
  • 3 T soy sauce, tamari or bragg's aminos (tamari is gluten free)
  • 1 T mirin
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • 2 T toasted sesame oil
  • 1/2 cup cashews chopped
  • 1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

  1. In a pan, saute all the ingredients except the rice and cashews, for about 7 minutes on medium high heat.
  2. Add the rice and cashews and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. That’s it. Enjoy!

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Recipe Notes

If you use raw cashews, you may want to toast them for a few minutes to bring out more flavor.

Apple Pie Larabars (Vegan and Gluten Free)

Melissa King 57 Comments

Apple Pie Larabars.  It’s been a while since I have posted a larabar recipe.  I had several people request the apple pie larabar flavor, so here you go.  I hope you enjoy these homemade apple larabars.

For more larabar recipes you can check out this post.

 

apple pie larabars

 

My husband really enjoyed these.  I was not a huge fan myself.  Mostly because I am obsessed with the Coconut Cream Larabars.

That just means there will be more for him and my daughter to share. 🙂  These are just as easy to make as all the others.  I cut  mine in squares, but you can do bars or roll them into balls as well.

These homemade larabars travel great too.  Perfect for on the go.  I always have some in my purse just in case.

Apple Pie Larabars

Apple Pie Larabars

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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In a food processor, mix the nuts into a fine powder.
  2. Add in the dates, cinnamon and the applesauce and pulse until a dough starts to form. 
  3. Line an 8X8 pan with parchment paper, leaving some paper sticking out the sides. 
  4. Spoon mixture into the pan and use the extra parchment to press the dough down. 
  5. Stick in the fridge to firm up. 
  6. Then, remove the whole thing with the parchment and slice into squares or bars with a pizza cutter.  Store them in the fridge.  Enjoy!

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Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Melissa King 97 Comments

I love cookies.  I love chocolate chip cookies. I mean, what’s not to love?  Cookies have always been my go to food for something sweet and chocolate chip cookies have always been one of my faves. It was about time I created a healthier chocolate chip cookie recipe to satisfy my cravings. I already have my Healthy Oatmeal Cookies and my Healthier Peanut Butter Cookies on the blog, so this was a natural fit.

cookies

I think one of the things that makes these taste so good is the ground vanilla bean.  It adds a nice sweetness.  I had my doubts that this recipe would work and was pleasantly surprised when I tasted the batter.  These are so amazingly good! I did use a little more sweetener than I normally do, because I didn’t know how it would turn out.   Next time I may attempt them with less.  I also might try sweetening them with dates.  They are still far healthier than traditional cookies, which usually contain 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Prep Time 15 min Cook Time 13 min Serves 18 Cookies     adjust servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a food processor, grind the rolled oat into a fine consistency.
  3. Add them to a bowl with the rest of the dried ingredients.
  4. Mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl.
  5. Add the dry to wet and stir just until everything is combined.
  6. Fold in the chocolate chips. The batter will be on the wet side.
  7. Drop cookies onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes.

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Recipe Notes

Enjoy!

Roasted Pesto Portobellos

Melissa King 29 Comments

If you were to ask me what some of my favorite veggies are, spinach, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes top the list.  So, I thought I would combine them together to make this super easy meal.  This meal is so easy to put together.  I made the whole thing within just a few minutes after we got home from my daughter’s soccer game.

Musroom Portobello watermark2

This meal comes together in minutes.  It really is no trouble at all.  For the pesto, I used almonds instead of pine nuts because pine nuts can be so expensive.  The almonds worked out great.  I also use nutritional yeast in place of cheese.  Nutritional yeast is super healthy and actually is a great source of B12.  B12 is one of the few vitamins that is hard to find in a plant based diet.  It also has a cheesy and nutty flavor and that is why it’s used in place of cheese.  This was the first meal I made using some ingredients from our garden.  The basil is flourishing so I plucked a whole bunch off.  It grows back so fast.

Roasted Pesto Portobellos

Roasted Pesto Portobellos

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 20 min

Ingredients

  • 1 cup almonds
  • 10 basil leaves
  • 1 cup baby spinach
  • 2 T nutritional yeast
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 T parsley
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 cherry tomatoes halved
  • 3 portobello mushrooms stems removed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. In a food processor grind up all the ingredients except the mushrooms and tomatoes until a pesto forms.
  3. If the mixture seems a bit dry, you can add a bit more oil or even a little water.
  4. Grease a baking sheet and lay the mushrooms on it.
  5. Fill each cup with pesto and top with the cherry tomatoes.
  6. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes.

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Recipe Notes

We were actually going to make 4 mushrooms, but my husband butchered one in the process of removing the stems. That is why in the picture, the caps are filled to the brim with pesto. They were still delicious, and I wish we had leftovers, but they were all gone quickly. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!