Babette’s in East Hampton
14 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in New York Highlights Tags: avocado, burger, comfort food, hampton's, lentil, non-dairy cheese, reuben, sandwich, soy, soy cheese, sweet potato, tempeh, vegan, vegetarian, walnut
I was super excited to read about Babette’s in East Hampton. They offer many different vegan dishes. When we went we were happy to get an outside table but I was a little astounded by the prices for the kind of food it was. But hey, its the Hamptons, I get it. The Lentil Vegetable Walnut burger with avocado and soy cheese was decent, but we liked the one at Banzai Burger better. We also had the vegan Tempeh Reuben which was super yummy. The sweet potato fries and smoothies were good too 
I would go back but maybe try some of the other vegan options. I love that there are many! Fun!
One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf
08 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: comfort food, green, kale, lemon, pine nuts, quick and easy, quinoa, scallions, sides, vegan, vegetarian
I love one pot meals! SO easy! This one uses quinoa and kale; two of our favorite foods ever makes this one even more perfect! YUM!
One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf
adapted from Food52
Serves 2-4
2 cups salted water
1 cup quinoa
1 bunch (any type) kale, washed and chopped into 1″ lengths
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 scallions, minced
1 tablespoon toasted walnut, grapeseed or olive oil
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper
- Bring the water to a boil in a covered pot. Add the quinoa, cover, and lower the heat until it is just enough to maintain a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then top with the kale and re-cover. Simmer another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to steam for 5 more minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, take a large serving bowl and combine half of the lemon juice (reserving the other half), all of the lemon zest, scallions, oil, and pine nuts.
- Check the quinoa and kale when the cooking time has completed — the water should have absorbed, and the quinoa will be tender but firm, and the kale tender and bright green. If the quinoa still has a hard white center, you can steam a bit longer (adding more water if needed). When the quinoa and kale are done, fluff the pilaf, and tip it into the waiting bowl with the remaining ingredients. As the hot quinoa hits the scallions and lemon it should smell lovely. Toss to combine, seasoning with salt and pepper, and the remaining lemon juice if needed.
Like this:
Vegan Peach Cobbler Pie
03 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: agave, Cobbler, comfort food, dessert, earth balance, flour, nutmeg, peach, pie, snack, soymilk, sugar, vanilla, vegan, vegetarian
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Toss the peaches with the agave and the nutmeg in baking pans and set aside.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together until smooth and pour over peaches.
- Combine the crumbles ingredients into a crumbly dough with your hands. Sprinkle on top, completely covering the peaches and sauce.
- Place in the oven 35 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar onto both pies. Place back in the oven for 7 more minutes.
- Remove, let cool, and enjoy!
Vegan Soba Noodles at Page at 63 Main
26 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in New York Highlights Tags: avocado, carrots, coconut, comfort food, cucumber, curry, mushrooms, sag harbor, scallions, shitake, soba, soy, steamed buns, vegan, vegetarian, water chestnuts
AMAZING! I loved our meal at Page at 63 Main in Sag Harbor. So YUM! They had two really great vegan options. The Asian Steamed Buns were so deelish but the Vegan Soba Noodles were out of this world. I am not normally that impressed with a soba noodle dish. I love them, but restaurants don’t typically impress with them and these were seriously amazing! And of course I love that the word Vegan is in the title of the dish on a fancy restaurant’s menu Awesome!!!
Vegan Soba Noodles: Black trumpet mushrooms, carrots, seared water chestnuts & soba noodles with lemongrass soy glaze.
We dove in too fast to catch a picture of the Asian Steamed Buns but here is what was in them; pickled cucumber, avocado, scallions, cilantro, green curry, soy glaze and smoked coconut with shitake mushrooms. Really amazing
Carmelized Onions and Pesto Quinoa Pasta
24 Jul 2011 3 Comments
in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: basil, comfort food, gluten-free, olive oil, onions, pasta, pesto, pine nuts, quick and easy, quinoa, sauces, tofu, vegan, vegetarian
We had such a super lovely week of vacation! We spent most of the week out in Sag Harbor relaxing, cooking, practicing yoga with the amazing Colleen Saidman at Yoga Shanti, hanging out with my wonderful sister & brother in law and their adorable twin girls and just generally taking it super easy. (I’ll post some of our other super quick vacation recipes soon!)
We then headed out to Northport to stay with our friend Lisa Dawn. She has a beautiful studio there, Project Yoga, that I was honored to be teaching at this weekend. Such a sweet and blessed space. We spent the rest of the time there at the beach and of course cooking a little more
As many of you know, I love onions! We bought the most beautiful onions at the Farmers Market in Northport and I wanted to use them right away. Lisa had this amazing Vegan Pesto from Delpozzo at the farmers market so it was just a perfect quick and easy beach meal to throw both these together with quinoa pasta. Easy Peasy!
The pesto was Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil, Garlic, Pinenuts, Tofu, Salt and Pepper. Super easy! I have never tried tofu in the my pesto and this was out of control amazing! I usually make my pestos with olive oil, pinenuts (or sometimes other nuts), salt and pepper -occasionally I will add some nutritional yeast. I always like to try new things of course, so I am excited to experiment with this one soon myself.
Caramelized onions are one of my favorite things ever. They come out so sweet and deelish!! All you have to do is cook them down and the sugar in the onions make them super sweet. Yum!
Carmelized Onions and Pesto Quinoa Pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3-6 onions (depending on how much you love onions and if you want some for leftovers)
- 4 ounces of quinoa pasta
- 2-3 ounces vegan pesto
To caramelize the onions, just peel and chop the onions. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat and add the onions, stirring. Continue to let the onions cook for a while, stirring occasionally to make sure the onions don’t burn. You can either cover the onions with a lid and let their liquid cook themselves down or for a browner more caramelized version, keep the lid off and the liquid begins to evaporate as the onions begin to brown, just make sure you are stirring frequently to prevent them from burning. You can cook both versions for about 10-20 minutes till you reach your desired color and texture.
After you get the onions in the pan, boil the pasta water. Add the pasta and cook according to instructions.
Then simply combine the onions, pesto and pasta with a bit of salt and pepper and Enjoy
I kept the cover on for the onions, so they are not as brown, but they are soft and super sweet!
I LOVE it when it says Vegan on it!! So Special!!!
Kitchari Challenge – Recipe #3
07 Jul 2011 6 Comments
in Cleansing, Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: Cleanse, comfort food, Kitchari, lentils, quick and easy, rice, sides, split peas, vegan, vegetarian
Many recipes have the option to add chopped veggies to the Kitchari and I’m sure it would be super tasty. But I am a Kitchari purist. Maybe sometime during this challenge I might try some of the chopped veggies, but I am not there yet. This one was simple, easy and deelish.
Cleansing Kitchari
Recipe adapted from Ayurveda for Women: A Guide to Vitality and Health
2 cups basmati rice
1 cup yellow split peas
12 cups boiling water
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 big pinch asafoetida
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon of salt
optional, chopped veggies
- Combine the rice with the split peas and wash twice.
- Place rice and beans into boiling water, adding the turmeric and asafoetida.
- Cook over medium heat until the water is mostly absorbed.
- I usually use an immersion blender to have a semi-smooth consistency. I only blend about half.
- Add one more cup of lukewarm water, vegetables, and optional spices if you’re using them. The final dish should be a stew with a very moist and soft consistency.
Love seeing this big pot of Kitchari!
Asian Cold Noodles With Spicy Almond Dressing
05 Jul 2011 3 Comments
in Cleansing, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: agave, almond butter, bragg, Cleanse, comfort food, cucumber, ginger, lime, Nama Shoyu, pepper, quick and easy, sauces, sides, soba, vegan, vegetarian
I have used Blue Print Cleanse many times over the years and always love their juices. When the fabulous ladies behind the juice company came out with a cook book of course I had to check it out. So far this first one is a winner!
I love pasta, but of course I don’t want to eat plain, white pasta all the time (especially after doing this cleanse). There are fabulous alternatives to traditional pasta – quinoa, rice, buckwheat (soba), etc. Soba is a deeeelish buckwheat noodle that cooks up super fast and tastes great with this sauce. This dish was great for dinner and just as good cold the next day for lunch. YUM!
Check out my Ginger-Poached Noodles with Soba Noodles as well
Asian Cold Noodles With Spicy Almond Dressing
Recipe adapted from ‘The 3-Day Cleanse’ by Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss (The Blue Print Cleanse Ladies
Makes 4 servings
12 oz. buckwheat soba noodles
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
Spicy Almond Dressing (see below)
lime for garnish
1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add the noodles.
2. Lower heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes until soba is tender, then remove from heat.
3. Strain noodles and rinse with cool water. Drain.
4. Place noodles in a bowl and add the cucumber, scallions and red bell pepper. Toss with spicy almond dressing.
5. Squeeze of lime before serving.
Spicy Almond Dressing
Makes 8 ounces
1/2 cup raw or roasted almond butter
1 tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp. Nama Shoyu or Bragg Liquid Aminos
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. agave nectar
3/4 tsp. ginger, peeled and chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until completely smooth.
Spicy Almond Dressing
Italian Potluck Night!!
30 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in Raw Vegan Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: artichoke, Cashews, comfort food, dates, dressing, green, maple syrup, non-dairy cheese, nutritional yeast, olive oil, pasta, pine nuts, quick and easy, salad, sauces, sesame, sides, snack, spinach, tahini, vegan, vegetarian
As you know I LOVE Potlucks! And now we have a pretty regular Vegan Themed Potluck Party happening Last nights theme was Italian Night! (last month was Asian) SUPER YUM! Not kidding this meal was out of control. We didn’t end up having dessert, but we all happily had seconds of the deelish food!
Lisa Dawn made this OUT of this world lasagna! We have seen her amazing Ricotta Cheese in her Stuffed Shells, but to taste this you would think that this was gourmet ricotta cheese made in Italy. But happily it was Vegan (but still super gourmet ) And the homemade tomato sauce was also deelish!
Joey made this amazing pesto pasta sans cheese of course. It was so gorgeous with the fresh grape tomatoes and basil! Beautiful and super tasty!
I made my favorite Raw Crisp Caesar Salad with Pinenut parmesan and Artichoke Guacamole with mulit-grain pita chips. Yum!!!
On a side note, I can’t help but brag about Lisa & Paul’s overly impressive and adorable son Luke! Lisa had this great deck of cards with all the US Presidents pictures on them. Luke was able to go through all of them and name them!!! SO CUTE!! And he is under 2 years old!
Such a super great night with friends and deelish vegan food!
Amazing photo courtesy of Lisa's fabulous husband Paul!
Vegan Fudge: Soy, Tree Nut, & Gluten Free
19 Jun 2011 3 Comments
in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: chocolate, coconut milk, comfort food, dessert, quick and easy, snack, vegan, vegetarian
Thanks so much Averie for this recipe! OMG! This one “magically” dissappeared fast out of the fridge over the week. 
I don’t normally make these kind of desserts to keep in the house, but it was Birthday Week so I thought we could have this special treat. SO good, So fast (to make AND to eat!!). YUM!!!!!! It’s rich, decadent, fudgy, wonderful.
Vegan Fudge–Soy, Tree Nut, & Gluten Free; and a 10 Minute Recipe
Recipe from Averie
1 Cup Vegan/Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 box Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
2 Tablespoons Dairy-Free Margarine (Earth Balance)
1/2 Cup Regular Coconut Milk *DO NOT USE LIGHT Coconut Milk*
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- In a large bowl, combine the chocolate chips, sugar, and cocoa.
- Separately, place the margarine and coconut milk in a small saucepan, and stir together over medium heat.
- Cook the mixture until the margarine has melted, and bubbles just begin to break at the surface.
- Remove it from the stove, and immediately pour the liquid over the dry chocolate & sugar mixture.
- Let everything sit for a couple of minutes (and if you wait too long and it hardens up on you, feel free to nuke it for 15 seconds at a time or until melty), and then stir vigorously to melt the chocolate and incorporate the dry ingredients.
- Continue stirring until a completely smooth mixture forms.
- Mix in the vanilla, and quickly pour everything into your prepared pan, a lightly greased or cooking-sprayed 8×8 pan (or another similar size)
- Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
I'm surprised any of this made it into the pan It was so good! The ultimate spoon licking dessert!!
Ready to Chill
Figgy Brussel Sprouts with Grapes and Walnuts
05 Jun 2011 3 Comments
in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: brussel sprout, comfort food, figs, green, quick and easy, sides, vegan, vegetarian, walnuts
My friend Lisa Dawn, the inspiration behind the amazing Coconut Lentil Soup, recently told me about this amazing brussel sprout dish she made. We L-O-V-E brussel sprouts here, so we are always up for a new recipe with them.
She adapted this from ilili’s brussel sprout recipe. It was really sweet, very fresh, quick and super deelish.
Also see her guest post with the most deelish looking Vegan Stuffed Shells with Cashew Ricotta Cheese!!
Figgy Brussel Sprouts with Grapes and Walnuts
1 lb Brussel sprout, quartered
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 cup grapes, halved
1 cup walnuts, chopped
2-3 tablespoons fig jam
2 tablespoons water
- Pre-heat oven to 350.
- Toss Brussel Sprouts with olive oil and Salt and Pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes.
- In a small pot, melt fig jam with water.
- Mix roasted brussel sprouts with grapes, walnuts and fig mixture.
- Enjoy!!
Love the Super Bright Green Brussels!
