Hello Bloggers! I have another delicious recipe for you!

Homemade Granola:

Ingredients: 

3 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of pumpkin seeds (yay iron!)
1 cup of sesame seeds (yay protein!)
3/4 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons of honey (I know, I know, honey is technically not vegan... you can use brown rice syrup or agave as a sub if you would like)
1/4 cup of safflower oil
3/4 teaspoon salt

**************
1 cup raisins


Directions:

Preheat oven to 250
Mix everything together except the raisins
Place the granola on two baking sheets
Bake for 30-45 minutes (stirring every 15 minutes)
Remove from oven and place in bowl
Stir in raisins


 Tada! Your done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I love to eat it with Soy Delicious Yogurt and fruit!

Hello Bloggers! I am posting another delicious recipe today. VEGETABLE LASAGNA!  I must admit the first time I made it I was skeptical. I didn't know if it was going to taste good or not. As I chopped an entire head of broccoli and an entire package of spinach I thought "this is probably not going to be one of my favorites but, it's healthy so I will eat it" then, as I crumbled the tofu into the mixture I thought "I hope I can gag this down"   Well...I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite. Not only was it eatable it was DELICIOUS! The next test would be to have the hubster and kids try it and guess what?! They LOVED it too! My kids asked for another serving after they finished! They had no idea that they were eating spinach,broccoli,mushrooms,peppers,carrots,onions,garlic, and tofu! My kids normally won't even touch most of those vegetables plain. The trick is to chop the vegetables up in a food processor really really tiny. I think KNOW that if the vegetables would have been chopped in huge pieces my boys would have looked at me with their "this is disgusting" eyes. :P   Once it's done the tofu resembles the color and texture of feta cheese so the hubs had no clue that he was eating tofu until I told him! funny!  Anyway, this is a recipe I make often and it's extremely healthy and everyone likes it. I hope you all

enjoy it as much as we do!

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 45 mins | Makes: 6 | Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 small piece of garlic chopped and pressed
• 5 mushrooms chopped
• 1 head of broccoli
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1/2 package of firm tofu
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp italian seasonings
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1 jar of RAO'S tomato basil marinara sauce (bought at whole foods)
• Whole grain lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen chopped spinach
• 4 Roma tomato sliced thin

Directions:

Chop all veggies in the food processer
Preheat oven to 400°
Water sauté onion and garlic on high heat for 3 minutes.
Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms give up liquid.
Put all that in a bowl
Next, sauté broccoli and carrots for 5 minutes then add them to the bowl
Sauté pepper and corn for a couple minutes and add to bowl
Drain tofu by putting it in a paper towel then crumble it into the vegetable bowl.
Add spices and combine
Cover the bottm of a 8x8 pan with some sauce then put a layer of uncooked noodles then pour more sauce over the top of noodles.
Pour the bowl of veggie mixture on top of that
Cover with a second layer of noodles and more sauce
Put spinach on top
Cover with remaining sauce
Cover the top with sliced Roma tomatoes
Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes
Optional: sprinkle with ground cashews and cook for 15 more minutes.

Vegan

Wow! It has been a long time! Not much in my life has changed except for the fact that I became vegan last May and it completely changed my life. It all started with a book called "skinny bitch" (get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Skinny-Bitch-Rory-Freedman/dp/0762424931/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352728089&sr=8-1&keywords=skinny+bitchs+book You won't regret it!) I bought the book over a year ago and it had been sitting in my closet collecting dust until one day when I was feeling really frustrated with my  weight  I finally opened the book and started reading. I finished it a couple days later with an entirely different view on my eating habits. I have been vegan ever since! Occasionally I have slipped up on my vegan diet and I feel like crapola! Those times serve as good reminders of why I did what I did. I wish I would have become vegan a long time ago and I want to spread the word so that others can feel this good too. One of  my goals for this blog from this point forward is to show others how delicious it is to be vegan! 

 Recipe#1 Sweet Potato Burgers! Enjoy! 

Sweet Potato Burgers:

(Vegan - makes 8-10 patties)

2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 lbs.), cut into 1/2 inch cubes
15 oz. black beans, drained
1 cup sweet corn
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup quinoa, cooked
1/2 cup rolled oats (or almonds)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, or cayenne (more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

Oil for pan frying.

Method:
Cube your potatoes (leaving the skin on) and  oven roast (400f.) until they are soft enough to mash

Meanwhile, cook your quinoa. A 1/2 cup of dry will make enough for the burgers, but feel free to make extra. Add the quinoa to a small pot over medium heat, and let it toast for a minute or two. Add double the amount of water, bring to a simmer, and cover. Let cook 12-13 minutes, turn off the heat, and let it sit without removing the lid for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, meanwhile... Add your oats (or almonds) to the bowl of your food processor and pulse until it looks like very coarse flour. About 30-40 pulses.

In a large bowl, combine about 2/3rds of the beans, and 2/3rds of the sweet potato. Mash with a potato masher until slightly chunky and not quite smooth. Add in the rest of the beans, sweet potato and all of the seasonings. Give it another mash or two, keeping some of the texture.
Add all the other ingredients, and stir to combine.

Heat a skillet over medium-high, and add a drizzle of oil. Form about 1/2 cup of the mixture into a tight ball, then press it between your hands into a patty. Place patties in the hot skillet and cook 4-5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate in the oven to keep warm, and repeat with the rest of the mixture. Add oil and adjust the heat on the pan as needed. 

Serve the sweet potato burgers on a toasted bun with veganaise, mustard, and ketchup