Quick Collard Salad Wraps

Sometimes I get tired of salads.  There!  I said it!  Please tell me I'm not alone!

Sometimes I want something a little neater that has greens, but not coated in dressing.  Here was my solution this morning: Collard Salad Wraps.  These wraps are packed with veggies, super filling, and my little additions add a bit of zing without compromising the healthfulness.

These take very little time to prepare in the morning to take for your lunch, and even less time if you have the veggie stuffings already prepped and cut.

Quick Collard Salad Wraps
Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 1 serving

Ingredients:
        3-5 medium leafs of collard greens, thickest part of the stem removed.
        1 stalk celery, cut pencil-sized thickness and 3 inches long
        1 large carrot, peeled and cut pencil-sized thickness and 3 inches long
        1/3 cucumber, cut pencil-sized thickness and 3 inches long
        1/4 cup hummus
        1/4 cup chopped olives (I used green olives)
        sriracha or other hot sauce

Instructions:
1.)  At the top of each destemmed collard leaf, spread some hummus, then layer on a "line" of sriracha.
2.)  Pile on the olives, cucumber, carrot, and celery.  Make sure not to overdo it.  You still want to be able to comfortably wrap your... wrap!
3.)  Starting at the top, roll the collard once, tuck in the sides, and roll till the end.
4.)  Store in a small container stacked so that they don't unroll during transport.  Enjoy your not-salad salad!

Amy's Notes:
Like I said above, don't over-pile your wrap stuffings.  I used to do this when I first tried collard wraps and ended up with a big mess and no wrap.  Plus, the less you stuff into the wraps, the more you can eat, and that means more greens in your meal!  Win-win right?

An extra tip to keep your wrap tidy and clean is to make sure your washed and cut vegetables are dry with no excess liquid dripping from them.  That could cause your hummus to thin and ooze out where you don't want it to.

This wrap can be really versatile to what you would like to add to it/have on hand.  Some good ideas for stuffings could be sliced avocado, red bell pepper, snow peas, green onions, etc.

Health and Happiness,

Amy

Vrueban and Birthday

I hope everyone is having a marvelous week so far!  Things have been going better for me.  I've been getting a couple interviews and a job offer or two, but I'm waiting to see what I think will be the best fit for me.  Also... today happens to be my 22nd Birthday!  Yes, this is the first of many uneventful birthdays I will have after my 21st last year.  So far my day has gone pretty well, but the real fun will start tonight when I'm meeting a group of friends at a local restaurant for sushi (the sushi comes to you on a conveyor belt, which is awesome!), then going out for some free birthday drinks.  It should be a great time!

A birthday present to myself that I have made recently is.... drumroll!..... a Vegan Rueban!  Previous rueban lovers, you can thank me now!  Ruebans are one of the pre-nutritarian foods that I always used to love, and I had settled that I would never have again, until now.  Hope you enjoy as much as I do:

Ingredients:

• sliced rye bread
• jar of sauerkraut
• portobello mushrooms
• fresh spinach
• Vegan 1000 Island dressing (recipe)

Directions:

1. Remove the large stems from the portobello mushrooms and prepare a skillet, grill, or panini press for them to grill in.  Let them grill for ten minutes on each side (or ten minutes if you have a George Forman press like we have).  Two portobellos will provide enough for two to three vruebans.
2. To prepare the sandwiches lay the bread out on a cutting board for as many sandwiches as you would like to make.
3. On each slice of bread spread on generous amounts of Vegan 1000 Island dressing.
4. On half of the slices layer on as much spinach as desired.
5. On the other half of the slices, pile on as much sauerkraut as you desire.
6. By this time the portobello should be grilled and tender. Cut the mushrooms at an angle into long slices and place onto the sandwiches.
7. Spray your skillet, grill, or panini maker with non-stick spray and place whole sandwiches to cook.
8. Allow to fry until the outer bread is browned and toasted.
9. Cut in half and serve with extra 1000 island for dipping.
10. Enjoy!

Amy's Notes: Like I said above, two large portobello mushrooms are enough to stretch for three sandwiches depending on how they are sliced.  Make sure to pile on as much spinach as you would like.  The greens will compress a lot as the vrueban is pressed and grilled.  Feel free to use tofu or any other substitute for the mushrooms that you would prefer.

What replacements for meat do you enjoy using in your cooking?

Colorful Sweet Potato and Bean Tacos

One of my favorite types of food is Mexican food.  I literally can never get enough of Mexican flavors!  Usually I used to love chicken fajitas or arroz con pollo, but since changing to a nutritarian diet starting over a year ago, I started loving veggie tacos, burritos, and cheese-less enchiladas.  Today while looking through Pinterest (find me here), I found the most brilliant idea for making hard shell tacos at home.  Here is the link.  And here are my yummy sweet potato and bean tacos:

Sweet Potato and Bean Tacos:
Ingredients:

Soft taco shells

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 can beans, drained and rinsed (I used white beans)

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 c frozen yellow corn

11-2 red bell peppers, diced

1/2 c chopped tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes)

2 t chili powder

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t paprika

1/4 t saffron

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1 small bunch kale leaves, stems removed and thinly chopped

chopped green onion

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large skillet, water saute the red onion and minced garlic for 3-5 minutes.  Add the sweet potatoes and saute for an additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Then, mix the spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, saffron, and cayenne pepper) in 1/2 c of water, and add to the skillet.  Bring to a simmer, and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the corn, chopped peppers, and beans of your choice.  Stir and allow to simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender, but not mushy.  In a small food processor, process the chopped tomatoes until minced and creamy.  Mix into the bean and potato mixture and turn heat off.  Allow to cool.  In the meantime, while the filling is cooking, steam the taco shells in the microwave by wrapping them in a damp cloth or paper towel and microwaving for 30 seconds.  Place in oven on open rack stretched between two wires.  Allow to bake for 7-10 minutes, or until crispy.  For the kale, place it in a small bowl with a small amount of water at the bottom and microwave for 30 seconds.  When the taco shells are done, fill each with the bean and potato veggie mixture, and top off with the lightly steamed kale and chopped green beans.  Add salsa, hot sauce, or guacamole if you prefer.  Have napkins at the ready and enjoy!

Amy's Notes:  This was such a delicious and filling dinner, I can't wait to use the leftovers in the next few days!  In this recipe I used white beans... because I didn't check my pantry for black beans before I started the recipe.  All the same, the beans tasted great and took on the same beautiful yellow color as the rest of the dish.  So, use whatever beans you prefer for this recipe.  The taco shells I used were soft corn and whole wheat ones, but you can use any shells that you prefer.

For those interested in a chance to win The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant Based Nutiriton, check out Vegan Planet at this post.  Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

Grilled Eggplant Veggie Wraps

I have had very little experience with cooking eggplant.  In my first days as a nutritarian I attempted to make ratatouille, but the eggplant was the one thing I picked out and threw away.  I think it turned out so badly because I undercooked it.  When I found a nice eggplant at my grocery store for 98 cents per eggplant, I knew I had to give eggplant another try!  It has sat in my fridge for a day or two until I got up the courage to try to do something with it.  Then, I found this recipe while looking through pintrist and got all the inspiration and courage I needed!  I followed the grilling preparation of the linked recipe, but put my own twist on what went inside the eggplant wrap.  I hope you enjoy!

Grilled Eggplant Veggie Wraps
Serves about 2

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, prep instructions below

salt

3-5 mushrooms, sliced

2 stalks green onion, cut every 2 inches

fresh spinach leaves

several grape tomatoes, sliced in half

your choice of hummus, I used ANK's Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Directions: An hour and a half before mealtime, cut lengthwise down one third of the eggplant, and save the one third that has been cut off for another meal.  With the remainder of the eggplant, cut the same side into very thin slices down the entirety of the eggplant.  Stop slicing when the other one third of the eggplant is left, also reserve this for another meal.  (So, by doing this, only the center 1/3rd of the eggplant, which is the longest part, has been made into thin slices for the wraps, and the rest of the outer 2/3rds  are being saved for use in another recipe.)  

Next, rub down each size of the eggplant slices lightly with salt (this will be washed off later, and very little of the salty taste will remain in the finished wrap) and place them in a strainer in the sink.  I just learned that this is called purging, where the salt draws out the bitter taste that is in eggplants, and I found that it made the eggplants much more rollable for wraps.  Allow the salted eggplant slices to purge for about one hour.

During this time you can prepare your ingredients for wrapping by cutting the green onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms.  If desired, water saute the mushrooms in a skillet.

When the eggplant is done purging, under cool water rinse the slices of eggplant, while rubbing them to get as much of the salt off as possible.  Using an outside grill, or a George Forman-like grill, grill each side of the eggplant for 5-8 minutes.  The key is to not undercook the eggplant.  If it doesn't have some burn marks, it's not done.  Eggplant tastes much better when slightly overcooked than if you were to undercook it.

Once the eggplant has been grilled, smear on the hummus, pile on the veggies, and wrap it up.  I found that it held nicely together when I used a toothpick.  Serve with a side salad and enjoy!

Amy's Notes: This is more of a weekend recipe because waiting for the eggplant to purge took a while.  The veggies that I put on my wrap were what sounded good to me, so feel free to put whatever you would like on yours.  Next time I try this I think the combination of garlic hummus, kalamata olves, basil, and some steamed kale, sounds amazing!

Do you have a favorite nutritarian/plant strong eggplant recipe I should try with my 2/3 remaining eggplant not used in this recipe?

International Store Finds, and Awesome Panang Curry!

What a great weekend it was!  Saturday was great because we got to see our WSU Men's Basketball team beat California in a game that came down to the final seconds, then we went to a local pub to have some beer and played some games like Apples to Apples and Jenga.  Sunday was spent watching football, then cooking with some exciting purchases I made earlier this weekend from an International Store in downtown Pullman.  I have seen in blogs that I read that these types of stores can have great inexpensive and interesting food finds, and this one definitely did.  Here are my finds:

Coconut Milk

Panang Curry Paste

Spring Roll Paper

I was most excited about the curry paste, which was a bit pricier ($3.50), but for the amount that came in the jar, it did not seem so bad.  I only used a small amount of the paste for this recipe, which will stretch pretty far on its own.  As I was cooking a meal with these ingredients, I just about flipped a b**** when I saw the nutrition labels. The Panang Curry Paste, is mostly spices so it has very little calories, but has an insane amount of sodium, so beware next time you buy curry paste!  Also, the coconut milk is very high in fat.  I don't know what I was expecting, but coconut milk is not a diet food!  I used it this time, with quite a bit of added water to dilute it, but next time I think I will use coconut water with some almond milk (a much healthier option in my opinion).  

Panang Curry Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

brown rice

black rice

1 can coconut milk

1 c water

1/4 c panang curry paste (or equivalent of curry powder)

1 t cumin

1 t dried basil

1 fresh jalapeno (optional)

2 t minced ginger

6 cloves garlic

8 grape tomatoes (~1/2 c)

3 c garbanzo beans, cooked

1 onion, sliced

1 head broccoli, chopped

several mushrooms, quartered

shredded carrots

green onions, sliced

spring roll paper

Directions:  In two saucepans, prepare the brown rice and black rice.  In a large saucepan, heat the coconut milk and water with the curry paste, cumin, and basil over low-medium heat.  Whisk until well combined.  In a food processor, process the jalapeno, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes (***the jalapeno made my curry super spicy, so maybe go for half a jalapeno, or omit it if you don't like hot foods***).  Continue to process until it is a paste and combine it with the curry sauce.   In a large skillet, water saute the onion, broccoli, and mushrooms until the broccoli is tender.  Add the garbonzo beans and sauteed vegetables into the currry saucepan.  Heat the curry to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes, covered.  

In a small bowl, combined the desired amounts of brown rice, black rice, and curry and mix to prepare for the spring rolls.  I used these instructions for preparing the rice paper.  Place a good amount of the curry rice and veggies in the center of the wrap, add shredded carrots and green onion as desired.  Wrap like a burrito.  Drizzle the curry liquid sauce over the wraps and sprinkle with more green onions.  Enjoy!

 Amy's notes:  I used brown rice and black rice, but for this recipe you can you either or.  As I said earlier, omit the jalapeno from the recipe if you do not like hot foods, or if your curry paste or powder already has enough spice to it already.  Some alternatives to rice paper might be tortilla wraps, butter lettuce, collard greens, etc. if you can't find or don't want to use rice paper.  Next time I make this recipe I will be using the following replacements:  coconut water and almond milk instead of coconut milk and water, no jalapeno, and steamed collard greens for wraps.

I don't often make exotic foods at home, but I have to say that I really enjoyed making something new.  Cooking for me is all about trial and error, and learning your likes and dislikes.  Every time I make something for the blog I am constantly making notes for myself on what I should do differently next time.  Unfortunately, I am only cooking for one and have a limited food budget, so you guys get to see my first try on most recipes.  I hope everyone enjoys my experiments as much as I do, and I hope to hear from anyone that has tried a variation of any of my recipes.

As a side note, I have started reading The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn.  I think I know most of the information that is given in the book, but I'm just looking for another book to help keep me motivated.  I do have a Vegas trip for Spring Break to kick my butt into shape for now; Kevin and I just booked our stay earlier last week!  I keep chanting to myself "you are not allowed to bring extra fat to Vegas" and "think of that sexy short dress you want to wear dancing!"

What do you find yourself chanting to stay motivated to eat well and exercise?

Thai Peanut Lettuce Wraps and Jean Overalls

As promised, here is my recipe for Thai Peanut Lettuce Wraps.  A few weeks ago I went to a local restaurant with Kevin and some friends of ours for dinner.  I'm always nervous going out to dinner because I never know if there will be any nutritarian/vegan options.  I find that most restaurant's interpretations of a salad are some lettuce with cheese, meat, and creamy or oily dressings.  Not exactly a "healthy" option.  At this restauant (South Fork), I found a great appetizer that worked perfect with my nutritarian diet.  The lettuce wraps were fairly inexpensive and had the following description:  Spring salad mixture of lettuce cucumber, vermicelli noodles, cilantro, peanuts, shrimp, and honey-lime vinaigrette, served with a peanut sauce and crisp butter lettuce.  I have to say, it was one of the better things I've had eating out for sometime.  The only thing I kept thinking the whole time I was eating it was "I could just make this at home so easily!"  I payed particular attention to all of the tastes in the peanut sauce to be able to replicate it, because it was TO DIE FOR!  So was born last week my Thai Peanut Lettuce Wraps.  I made this once last week, and then for my parents this weekend.  From making it twice I realized that this is a very versatile recipe that can be served as more of a cold salad starter, or a warm main dish.  Below I will provide the two ways I made the recipe and some tips on making it work for you.

Thai Peanut Lettuce Wraps (Cold)

Ingredients: (serves 2-4)

 1 head Butter lettuce, iceburg lettuce, or other wrap-able lettuce

Lettuce Filling:

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed, save 1/4 c bean juice

1 c shredded carrots

1 c shredded broccoli

1/2 c green onion, chopped

1/4 c unsalted peanuts

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

1/2 T lime juice

1 t honey

1 T water

Dipping Sauce:

1/4 c reserved bean juice

1/4 c peanut butter (homemade, or natural and unsalted)

1/4 c low sodium soy sauce

1/4 c water 

(or 1/8 c soy sauce and 1/3 c water)

1/8 t wasabi powder (or 1/4 tsp pre-made wasabi paste)

1/2 t red pepper flakes

1 t minced garlic

1/2 t ground ginger powder (or 1 t fresh minced ginger)

1 T rice vinegar

Directions:  Separate lettuce leaves onto a plate for serving as wraps.  For lettuce filling, mix together chickpeas, carrots, broccoli, peanuts, and red onion in a medium size bowl.  Separately mix together lime juice, water, and honey, then drizzle over filling mixture.  For the dipping sauce, combine all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk until peanut butter is broken up, then stir occasionally until sauce comes to a light boil.  Whisk constantly keeping the sauce at a boil until it becomes thick, add more water if you want sauce less thicking (in 1/8 c increments).  Serve Dipping sauce warm with cold salad filling and lettuce wraps.

Thai Peanut Lettuce Wraps (hot)

Ingredients: (serves 6-8)

 2 heads butter lettuce, iceburg lettuce, or other wrap-able lettuce

Lettuce Filling:

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed, save 1/2 c bean juice

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

10 mushrooms quartered

2 bell peppers chopped (or other veggie like asparagus or zucchini)

1/2 c unsalted peanuts

1 c broccoli cut into strips

1 c matchstick cut carrots

+water for sauteing

1/2 T lime juice

1 t honey

1 T water

Dipping Sauce:

1/2 c reserved bean juice

1/2 c peanut butter (homemade, or natural and unsalted)

1/2 c low sodium soy sauce

1/2 c water 

(or 1/4 c soy sauce and 2/3 c water)

1/4 t wasabi powder (or 1/2 tsp pre-made wasabi paste)

1 t red pepper flakes

2 t minced garlic

1 t ground ginger powder (or 2 t fresh minced ginger) 

2 T rice vinegar

Directions: Separate lettuce leaves onto a plate for serving as wraps.  For lettuce filling, saute onion, broccoli, mushrooms, and peppers (or other veggie) in a large skillet until onions are slightly translucent.  Add chickpeas, carrots, and peanuts and saute for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Place sauted ingredients into a large bowl.  Separately mix together lime juice, water, and honey, then drizzle over filling mixture.  For the dipping sauce, combine all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk until peanut butter is broken up, then stir occasionally until sauce comes to a light boil.  Whisk constantly keeping the sauce at a boil until it becomes thick, add more water if you want sauce less thicking (in 1/8 c increments).  Serve Dipping sauce warm with hot filling and lettuce wraps.

When I first made the hot recipe for my parents this weekend, I tried to replicate the original recipe's vermicelli noodles by boiling angel hair pasta, and cutting it into 1 inch long pieces.  This ended up being way to much effort for a very small part of the recipe, so I decided to eliminate it from the blog recipe.  My favorite part of the recipe has to be the dipping sauce.  In the future, I want to try using half peanut butter and half tahini (sesame butter) to give it a different taste.

Now on to our favorite thing to talk about... Exercise?  This week at my university there is a competition between Pac-12 schools for who can log the most exercise points with their students.  So far I have racked up 120 points for my school this week, and I have a date with the Rec center and my core class tonight!  Not only has motivation to go to the gym come from the fitness challenge, but also from the upcoming Halloween party my roommate and I are throwing this Saturday.  We have made a great list of yummy and festive foods we will be serving including Sweet Potato Chili, meaty chili, Cinnamon-Apple Chex Mix, "Boo"-riffic Kisses, and One-eyed Green Monster Cupcakes.  On top of drinking and eating some of these yummy things that night, I will be wearing jean overalls that fit me like a glove, and I don't want to be exploding out of them by the end of the night.  So there is my motivation for this week: beating the other Pac-12 schools and jean overalls!

Our weekly schedules undoubtedly change, but do our motivations for exercise keep up with them?  Would it be better to set goals for yourself weekly rather than a big goal a couple months down the road?

Sweet Black Bean Lettuce Burritos

It's Crockpot Monday, and today I'm made Hearty Black Bean Soup... which turned into just well cooked black beans, which I then made into black "refried" beans.  So, this is my first experience with successfully cooking dried beans, and I have to say it turned out well, but not as the end result I was expecting.  I got a recipe off of Crock-pot.com, called Hearty Black Bean Soup.  It took quite an extensive amount of time in the Crockpot till the meal was done, so I would suggest starting it very early if you want to eat at a normal hour.

Hearty Black Bean Soup

Ingredients: 

1 pound dry black beans, soaked overnight, drained, and rinsed

2 TBSP vegetable oil (I omitted)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 TBSP fresh cilantro or Italian parsley, minced (I used parsley)

8 c vegetable broth

1/4 crumbled cheese (I omitted)

Directions: Combine all ingredients (except cheese) in a crockpot.  Cover and cook on high for two hours, then on low for 5 hours.  Switch back to high for last 3 hours.  The soup is done when the beans are at a good consistency.

When the recipe was finally done (around 9:30pm for me), the soup did not look very appetizing at all.  The broth had been tinted a black color, and the onions had turned purple.  Because there were no spices added it was rather bland, so I ended up draining the excess liquid and considering this recipe as to merely make well-cooked black beans, which it definitely did!  For dinner tonight I used the beans to make Sweet Black Bean Lettuce Burritos.

Sweet Black Bean Lettuce Burritos

Ingredients: 

1 c cooked black bean mix, pureed

1 c cooked black bean mix

8 grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 c diced pineapple (I used canned)

1/4 c pineapple juice

2 tsp jalapeno, miced (I used jarred)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions: In a medium sized skillet, combine pureed and whole beans with the pineapple juice and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add pineapple, grape tomatoes, jalapeno, and cayanne pepper to the skillet.  Continuing to stir, fry ingredients until most of the excess liquid has evaporated.  Serve topped with fresh copped green onions, and wrapped with lettuce.

Amy's note:  You can serve this with many types of lettuce.  I would normally prefer butter lettuce, but this time I used ice burg lettuce.  It tends to be a bit messy, but using lettuce as wraps is a great way to get your greens in!

Have you ever not cared too much for an original recipe, but found something better to make from the leftovers?