Cheezy Twice Baked Potato

The first night of my trip, my roommates' mom made me a delicious twice baked potato which inspired me to take my own crack at it!

Here's my version of a twice baked potato, cheezy style!

Cheezy Twice Baked Potato

Ingredients:

• Russet potato
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used soy)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped yellow/white onion
• 2 TBSP nutritional yeast
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

1. Bake potato until fork tender. (I usually bake mine in the microwave by poking fork holes and heating for 8-10 minutes)

2. Cut baked potato in half and scoop out insides into a bowl, making sure to save the skins in their original shape. 

3. Mix potato insides with non-dairy milk, onion, and nutritional yeast, adding salt and pepper until you get your desired taste. (You definitely want to add the salt and pepper, I'm sure other seasonings would be great too)

4. Bake in oven at 400 degrees until nice and hot, about 10-15 minutes. (I baked mine wrapped in tin foil)

5. Enjoy!

Yummy yummy! I can already tell I'll be making this a lot in the coming months! 

Happy Tuesday!

My Favorite Blogs Part One: Oh She Glows

Happy Monday!

This may or may not be clear from the recipes I have shared thus far for VeganMofo, but I am not a chef or recipe creator. In fact, the recipes I have been sharing this past week I can easily say are the first recipes I have really "created." I certainly cook all the time, and like to create new food concoctions for myself, but as I learned last week, recipe creation is something entirely different!

Most of my cooking is taken either directly from some of my favorite blogs, or is at least inspired by some of these blogs. As such, I thought one thing I would do this month is share some of these blogs and my favorite things I have made and learned from them!

Oh She Glows

This was the very first blog that I really started to follow. I found Angela Liddon at Oh She Glows even before I went vegan and I can honestly say, she is one of the reasons why I was able to go vegan so easily. Even before I cut all animal products out of my diet, I knew that there was amazing, delicious, and easy to make vegan food and that being vegan was in no way about deprivation.

This is also the blog where I send my non-vegan friends and family if they are interested in making a vegan dish. I can really honestly say that I personally have never made something I haven't liked from her and everything I have made for, or with, non-vegans has been well received!

Here are just a few of my favorite recipes by her!

(Please note all of the pictures I share here are from Oh She Glows and are not taken by me. You can right click each image to reach its source)

Homemade Almond Milk:

I very much enjoy store-bought almond milk, but it really just doesn't compare to its homemade counterpart. Unfortunately for me, when I make homemade almond milk it is just so good that I drink it about five times faster than I would normally, and have to make it all the time! Thus, out of practicality, I make this as a treat for myself, and a very good one at that!

I have also successfully combined Angela's Almond Milk recipe with her Oat Milk recipe to make a delicious combo.

Overnight Oats:

This breakfast is amazing. As I mentioned in an earlier post, smoothies used to be my go to breakfast and I loved a smoothie in the morning (and still do) but overnight oats were what got me to switch it up! I love making overnight oats because it takes about 3 minutes once you know what you're doing, you can do it the night before, and when I'm rushing out the door grabbing my jar of oats to eat on the way to class is a life-saver!

I love this post about Angela's overnight oats, basically the possibilities are endless!

My staple normally ends up being the basic overnight oats recipe with some blueberries and granola which brings me to...

Lighten Up Summer Granola:

This is my favorite granola ever. This granola has effectively ruined all store bought granola for me! Not only it is substantially healthier than almost all store bought granola, it is just so much tastier!

Overnight oats with blueberries and topped with this granola? Sounds like a good way to start the day to me!

Super Power Chia Bread:

Moving onto lunch, I also love this bread. Needing to eat both gluten-free and corn-free provides me with limited (and often expensive) bread options and so when I can make something at home, I'm all for it!

I also love chia seeds, so having them in bread is another win for me!

Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad:

Another lunch favorite of mine, the Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad! I love chickpeas, love them! I also love this salad! The onions and lime (as well as all the spices) give it a great bite and I also like how easy it is to make a big of a batch of this (just double or triple the recipe) and how well it keeps in the fridge. It's a great recipe for me to make over the weekend and then eat for lunch throughout the week.

Quinoa Salads:

I have made a lot of quinoa salad recipes by Angela, but my favorite and most frequently made is probably her Red Quinoa and Black Bean Vegetable Salad, which I make without the corn kernels.

Quinoa salads are another go to for lunches for me since they are easy to make and keep really well throughout the week.

Thai Cucumber Salad:

This was one of my staples this summer. I love the crunchy-ness of the cooked chickpeas and the tartness of the dressing, and just all of it! Delicious!

Veggie Summer Rolls:

I love Thai food and I love summer rolls. So this recipe is a perfect match!

Rad Rainbow Pad Thai:

Another Thai inspired recipe, this was another salad I was constantly making this summer.

I also made this with my family and they enjoyed it as well!

Creamy Avocado Pasta:

Pasta is such a college staple and so whenever I find a way to make it a bit more interesting, I'm all for it! I am also a little obsessed with avocado, so it all sounds good to me!

Grilled Tofu with Pineapple Salsa and Coconut Rice:

This was another recipe I made with my non-vegan family and they totally loved it! Before making it I had never grilled tofu before and I was somewhat skeptical, but it turned out great!

Oil-free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins:

Let's finish off with some desserts! Although I suppose you could enjoy these for breakfast, when I've made these tasty muffins I treated them more like a dessert. I've always loved carrot cakes and zucchini breads and so I also discovered through this recipe that I love zucchini muffins!

Irresistible Chewy Trail Mix Cookies:

I talked about these cookies earlier this month but they're so good that they deserve repeating! These are definitely not something I want to have around all the time, because I know a diet of only these cookies would not be a good one, but if you are looking for a special treat, these would be awesome!

Summer Stone Fruit Crisp:

Last but not least, I love this delicious fruit crisp! This was another dish I brought to a gathering with non-vegans and it was well received! One thing I really loved about this recipe was that it wasn't overpoweringly sweet. Instead, the fruit spoke for itself and was beautifully complemented by the topping!

Well, as I'm sure you can see I love a lot of Angela's recipes! Whenever I'm wanting to make a new recipe Oh She Glows is the first place I turn to, and I have yet to be disappointed!

Angela is also coming out with a cookbook next year, which I could not be more thrilled about! Amazing recipes and stunning photography? Tell me where to send my money!

Have you made any delicious recipes from Oh She Glows?

Banana-free Breakfast Smoothie (and a Mention on Our Hen House!)

I have another vegan basic today, the smoothie!

I love smoothies. Up until six months ago I would have a giant smoothie for breakfast almost every morning, a practice I intend to get back to.

One limitation I encounter when making smoothies however, is my need to avoid bananas, which are a strong migraine trigger for me. This always seems to complicate my smoothie making as almost every recipe I see online or in a cookbook requires banana. So, I bring you the banana-free breakfast smoothie!

Banana-free Breakfast Smoothie

Makes 5-6 cups

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup pineapple, frozen
• 1 apple, diced
• 1/2 cup mixed berries, frozen
• 1/2 cup blueberries, frozen
• 1 cup mango, frozen
• 1 tbsp flax seed/flax seed meal
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 cups non-dairy milk (I used soy)
• water to reach desired consistency 

Directions: 

1. Place all ingredients except water into your blender. 

2. Blend until smooth.* Your smoothie should be thick and creamy. 

3. Add water and blend to reach your desired consistency (i.e do you want to use a spoon or a straw to enjoy your smoothie?). I added 1/2 cup water to get a fluid but still thick smoothie. 

* If you are opposed to little chunks in your smoothies I would advise peeling the apple and perhaps omitting the flax and chia seeds. Alternatively, really blend it for a couple minutes if you want to make sure everything is the same texture. I for one enjoy getting the odd seed or sip of apple pulp, but I know that is not enjoyable for everyone!

Can you see the little apple flakes?! Yum yum! ;)

Also, feel free to play around with the fruit involved. Feeling like a bit more mango than berries? Go for it! I love making smoothies based on how I'm feeling in the moment and enjoy seeing what I come up with! I hope to share some more smoothie recipes throughout VeganMofo, so stay tuned! 

On a different note, did you see me mentioned on Our Hen House?! 

I just started helping out Our Hen House (OHH) by doing some transcribing work, which Jasmin talked about today on the OHH blog!! Another volunteer and I have worked on one interview thus far and we will continue to transcribe the interviews from upcoming episodes, as well as potentially some older ones. I am thrilled to be able to help this incredible organization and to be honest I'm still a little star stuck that I've been mentioned on OHH (is that really MY name?!?). 

Finally, check out the RandomMofo generator! I've already whiled away a good amount of time on this, and I know I will be spending a lot more time here throughout the month! 

Happy Wednesday, and do you have any favorite banana-free smoothie recipes? If so I would love to hear about them in the comments!  

Monday Love List Number Seven!

Happy Monday all!

As I prepare for a very busy week ahead, I think it is all the more important to remember the things I'm loving right now!

1. Homemade Non-Dairy Milk and "Hippie Vegan Moments"

For my birthday one of my oldest and closest friends made me delicious homemade almond milk and also gifted me my very own nut-milk bag! I had never had homemade almond milk before and man did I love it! It was much creamier than store bought almond milk and was a beautiful bright white color.

Inspired by this wonderful beverage, I decided to use my new nut milk bag and make my own non-dairy milk!

I have been making oat milk myself for a while which gave me the idea of making an almond-oat milk blend! To do so I combined the oat milk recipe and the almond milk recipe from Oh She Glows and the result was amazing!

It was so good it's all gone already!

When I made this, I decided that it would be best to peel my almonds once they had been properly soaked. The original almond milk I had been gifted was made with peeled almonds and that was where the beautiful white color came from. Now, peeling almonds is not as hard as it sounds as the soaked almonds "pop" right out of their skin. However, it does require handling and peeling each individual almond.

As I was doing this, and rather enjoying it, I had a bit of a moment. A moment I self-labeled as a "vegan hippie moment." While I certainly do many things that your average Joe does not, and may not have ever heard of, I don't normally self identify my behavior as that far out or odd. But hand peeling a cup of almonds? I just had to laugh at myself for that one. Nonetheless, I think my almond milk was much better because of that peeling and I thoroughly enjoyed my "hippie vegan moment." I'm quite sure I will have many more in the future!

Now, once my delicious and nutritious almond-oat milk was made, I had left over almond pulp. As I loath wasting food I wanted to find something delicious to do with this pulp, so I made cookies! I used the vanilla almond sugar cookies recipe from Choosing Raw with a few modifications. Namely, I used oat flour instead of almond and sweetened with maple syrup instead of dates. I also baked them for less time than recommended to get more of a cake or macaroon like cookie. They were tasty!

These were gone in less than 12 hours

So, all and all, it's amazing what almonds and oats can do! I especially enjoyed making a combination non-dairy milk as the result tasted much less "oaty" or "almondy" than either milk does alone, instead having a unique and mild yet delicious flavor.

2. So Much Produce!

On most days, my small section of our very small fridge as well as my produce bin are completely stuffed to the brim with fruits and veggies. After my trip to the farmer's market this weekend this is especially true! For six dollars I got all of this produce!

Three different types of kale and one giant zucchini!

Yummy yummy! I have since made multiple kale salads made with all three types of kale! How cool is that?!

3. So Many Desserts to Make!

So many of the blogs I follow have been posting mouth-watering dessert recipes lately! I normally avoid making entire dessert dishes for myself as I will just eat the whole thing immediately, as we saw with the almond cookies. However, these recipes have made me question this decision!

Just today Keepin' It Kind posted adorable double chocolate truffles, along with an inspirational story about keeping things simple. Oh She Glows has also been posting intriguing dessert recipes including raw almond butter cups and dark chocolate pie. Stepping away from all the chocolate (although really when can you have too much chocolate!?), Healthy Bitch Daily just posted a collection of fruit popsicle recipes which look sure to cool down any hot summer day!

My only problem now is deciding which of these many recipes to try first!

Well, it seems I am loving a lot of food this week! But then again, what's wrong with having a love affair with healthy and delicious food?

On that note I should turn to my nutrition assignment and get working on all that stuff I have to do this week!

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you have a lot to love and lots of good food this week!

Monday Love List Number Three!

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you all had a great past week and have some fun things planned for the upcoming week!

Here are some things I am loving!

1. Mail from roommates

We just got this wonderful postcard from my roommate who it is Africa this summer. How awesome is that?!

2. Birthdays and birthday celebrations

Last week was my 21st birthday and I had a wonderful time, getting to spend time with the people I care most about!

I also received many super thoughtful, useful, and perfect gifts. From my parents I got the Ninja blender which is UH-mazing! I finally have something that can blend the giant smoothies I make on a near daily basis. This thing has a 72oz pitcher which a couple nights ago I filled to the brim with smoothie good-ness! I also got a vast array of tazo teas, something I am extremely grateful for, cause can you really ever have too much tea? I certainly don't think so!

From Morgan I also got some wonderful gifts. I had asked for a new yoga mat and a deck of yoga pose cards both of which are super useful for my yoga practice. I was also pleasantly surprised by some beautiful natural amethyst earrings and this painting!

It was overall a wonderful birthday and thank you to everyone who I was able to celebrate with!

3. My first bar experience

The night of my birthday I went out with Morgan and my parents and had my first legal drinks! We first hit up a bar in Ballard called the Copper Gate which is unfortunately closing at the end of the month. This place has quite unique decor with pictures of women in the nude everywhere you look as well as a viking ship. Here, as my first legal drink I had a Cidre Bouche Brut de Normandie which was delicious and tasted like an apple cider made like champagne. Yum yum!

Here are a couple pics I got of the night!

The naked ladies in the bathroom

The ship in the middle of the bar

4. Undiet

I just finished reading this lovely nutrition/cook book last week and it was one I absolutely adored! Normally I just get books from the library, read them, and then move on. However this book is one I want to own, and so my amazon order is on its way!

Some of my favorite parts of this book were the sections on how to prep and store different fruits and veggies, the chapter on beauty products and the different plastics in food storage products, homemade herbal tea blends, tips on limiting or eliminating refined sugars, as well as some delicious recipes.

5. Homemade oat milk

I started making this this past week and I love it! It is super easy, cheap, and fast to make. It even has cinnamon in it, which gives it a really nice taste!!

I found the recipe here, one of my all time favorite blogs.

6. Homemade granola

Another oat centered item! Since I had the week off I did a good amount of recipe experimenting and this was another experiment that turned out really well!

Check it out!

This is part of my second batch of the week,
it was so delicious I couldn't resist the first batch!

7. Bramblewine tea

This tea is so delicious! I first encountered it at the tea bar in the tazo store in University Village and fell in love with it on the spot! This was one of the teas I received as a gift from my parents and have cold brewed it for the past two nights.

Look at how beautiful that is!

A blend of hibiscus, freeze dried strawberry,
raspberry, and blueberry, jasmine green tea,
rooibos, orange peel, rose petals, chamomile,
and blackberry leaves. Yummy!

8. Good tv

I just finished watching the season finale of Mad Men and also started re-watching 30 Rock this past week. I love going back through shows from the beginning, I am always amazed at how some actors will look really different in earlier seasons while others don't age a bit! I also find that going through the years on a tv show is a great way to see how fashion trends and styles have changed over the years!

(Source)

Well that about sums it up! I apparently have a lot that I'm loving this week, I hope you are too!

Also, tune in later this week for some installments of my personal experiences with illness, recovery, and finally health and how this connects so centrally to my diet, who I am today, and who I plan to be!

Happy Monday!