Tag Archives: vegetarian

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National Pancake Day

So today is Fat Tuesday, National Pancake Day, and two days before Valentine’s Day. I’m also doing a Vegan Challenge this month, so to celebrate all these things and stay within the challenge confines seemed like it might be difficult, but it wasn’t! I made heart shaped pancakes for Jay and me, kept everything vegan, and even threw in extra health benefits without sacrificing flavor!

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While I don’t have an exact recipe because I made these quickly, I will give you the rundown on everything in my healthy vegan chocolate chip pancakes!

Healthy Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes (Un)Recipe

all measurements are approximations, please taste and adjust!

Makes 12 or so pancakes

  • 1 cup King Arthur Flour whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup quick oats
  • 2 T ground flaxseed meal
  • 2 T chia seeds
  • 1/2 c water
  • 1/2 c Silk unsweetened original almond milk
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 2 T Stevia in the Raw
  • 1/2 T cinnamon
  • vegan chocolate chips
  • Earth Balance (for pan and to serve)
  • Maple Syrup (to serve)

I tossed everything into the stand mixer with the mixer attachment and mixed on level 1 for about 30 seconds or until all ingredients were wet. Let sit for 5 minutes. (This allowed the chia seeds to gel, making  a perfect egg replacer! It also allows the oatmeal to soften and the baking powder to start working. Wait to adjust your flour/liquid ratios until after the resting period as it will thicken slightly.)

After you let the batter sit and thicken, mix for a minute on medium speed and then add chocolate chips. Fold in with a spatula. Coat pan with Earth Balance and warm to medium heat. Start ladling pancakes! I used a heart-shaped mold I found at a discount store last year for $2.99! (You can also use these silicone molds to make fried eggs!) As with all pancakes, flip when you see little bubbles and the outer edges appear dry. You should have no trouble moving the pancakes around the pan with a spatula when they are ready to flip.

Top your pancakes with Earth Balance spread and maple syrup – Eat! Enjoy!

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How are you celebrating National Pancake Day?

 

Event Announcement: Cooking Demo w/ Vegology!

Reblogged from Virginia is for Bloggers:

Click to visit the original post

Hey all! We have an event announcement from one of our own bloggers, Lauren @ Vegology! See below for details!

The great mystery of vegetarianism, for those who are new to it, is how to get protein. There are several excellent vegetarian protein sources on the market, but most home cooks do not know how to prepare them. After five years of cooking vegetarian food at home, I have learned a lot of great tricks for preparing tofu, tempeh, seitan, and other protein-packed vegetarian foods.

Read more… 156 more words

I'm very excited to be attending this event next week. I cook a lot with vegetarian proteins, but there is always more to learn. Cooking is such a personal thing, so I can't wait to see what her perspective is on this. If you are in the area and want to attend, sign up! I'll see you there!

February Challenges

Good morning! It’s February, the month of love, Valentine’s Day, snow angels, and winter greens and squash. It’s supposed to snow here tonight, which is just odd considering that it was 73 degrees a couple of days ago. Sigh, Virginia weather is crazy. Anyway, it’s the beginning of the month, so that means it’s time for challenges!

Each month, I’m challenging myself to a few new challenges, here and on my Kristel Poole Photo Blog. The ones here will be mostly food, health, and home related and the ones on the other blog will focus on the rest of my life. I can’t wait to get started and I also want to hear what your goals are this month, so make sure to add that into the comments!

Challenge #1: Vegan February!

That’s right, it’s vegan February! I was convinced by a request from Jay and watching the documentary Vegucated. I may write about that film later, but definitely look it up if you are interested in learning more about going vegan. Anyway, we have both been eating more plant-based than usual since the film and decided to do an entire month of eating vegan. I thought it would be super easy until I remembered the Super Bowl is this coming Sunday and most appetizers that I can eat as a vegetarian include cheese – and now I can’t even have that! So, expect a bunch of vegan posts coming up and even some great vegan football eats!

Challenge #2: Post every day!

My biggest setbacks with my blog are caused by normal busy life taking over and the blog and my cooking falling to the background. I’m so pumped about so many awesome things coming up that I’m not going to let that happen again! I will post every single day of this month!

Challenge #3: Run a mile every day!

Am I crazy? Why do I want to do this? Well, I am crazy and the winter always makes me want to do anything BUT run a mile every day, so why not turn that on it’s ass and just freakin’ do it! Hopefully it’ll give me extra energy and a much-needed mid-winter boost! Let’s see how it goes!

Last Minute Gifts and Kiddo Food

Merry Christmas, y’all! I’m here at home on Christmas Eve while my boyfriend is working. I’ve been playing with tons of projects like jewelry making (future posts coming), baking dog treats, baking mini cakes and making soaps and other crafts.  My favorite is something I came up with while browsing the aisles at Ben Franklin. It just came to me and I love the way it turned out!

I made some supersized glitter monogram magnets, one for our fridge at home and one for my brother and his wife. My boyfriend’s last initial is “W” and my brother’s is “P”. I started off with 2 wooden letters, about 4″ tall or so.

I put foil underneath to protect the surface of my desk and then coated the letter with Modge Podge and sprinkled all sides and top with glitter.

I decided to try a slightly different technique with the “W” to alter the color so I used that cheap acrylic craft paint in a mix of yellow and gold and painted directly onto the wood.

I then sprinkled glitter on the top and sides of the “W” and let both sit for an hour to dry.  Once they were both dry, I sprayed with a clear spray adhesive (clear spray paint or sealant would work fine as well) and then covered in glitter again. I let them sit to dry for another hour.  You can see that the “W” has a gold tone to it while the “P” retains a more clear/white glitter tone. I imagine this technique would work well with most paint/glitter color combinations so play with it until you get what you’re looking for.

 

 

 

 

For dinner, I just grabbed something quick and easy and it wasn’t until I sat down to eat that I realized how much this dinner was a mash-up of my childhood. I have always loved a good peanut butter and jelly and I used to hate brussels sprouts, but now I’m obsessed with them. They are easily becoming my favorite food.

I got my peanut butter from the little mill at the local grocery store. I love fresh peanut butter and switched so long ago that I just can’t even eat the other stuff anymore. No JIF for me, thanks. And this jam (OMG this JAAAAM!) is so absolutely delicious. We got the jams through our delivery from Dominion Harvest and I’ve been working my way slowly through the strawberry jam. It’s one of the best jams I’ve ever had.

 

 

 

 

Lemongrass Pea and Napa Slaw

Ever realize at 10:00PM that tomorrow is your work’s Thanksgiving potluck and you’ve prepared nothing?  Well, hey, me too!
So I dug through the kitchen pantry and the fridge to see what sort of concoction I could throw together and came up with something I will definitely be making again because it is truly delicious – how’s that for a win-win!  Luckily, we had just gotten our produce box from Dominion Harvest on Wednesday, which featured local Napa cabbage and big, beautiful radishes that I used here.

 

Lemongrass Pea and Napa Slaw

The beautiful colors of this dish make it a crowd pleaser.

  • 1 cup (dry) Minnesota wild rice, cooked in rice cooker with 1 tsp frozen chopped lemongrass
  • 2.5 cups frozen peas, thawed
  • 1/2 large red onion, chopped
  • 2 large radishes, chopped
  • 6 outer leaves Napa (Chinese) cabbage, shredded
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • 1 cup light Duke’s mayonnaise
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • 3 TBS rice wine vinegar
  • 1-2 tsp garlic powder, depending on taste
  • 1 TBS finely grated lemongrass (I use frozen chopped lemongrass)
  • 1 TBS dill
  • 1 TBS finely shopped chives
  • 1 tsp toasted onion powder (I like the one from Penzey’s)
  • parsley and pepper to taste

Instructions – Add all ingredients to bowl. Mix. Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

Yummy!

Last minute deliciousness!