29 Jan 2014
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: appetizer, dip, entertaining, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, h'orderves, Hors d'oeuvre, Hors d'oeuvres, lemon juice, Party, polenta, Polenta Squares with Sun-Dried Tomato and Walnut Tapenade, rosemary, sides, sun dried tomatoes, Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade, thyme, tomatoes, vegan, vegetable broth, vegetarian, walnut tapenade, walnuts, yellow cornmeal
I love Gena’s site and have always been happy with how her recipes come out! We love Polenta in our house, so not surprising when I saw this one I had to try! I am such a sucker for appetizers too, they really are always the best part of any meal or party! I made these for several gathering and parties and they were always a hit. Enjoy!!!
You can prepare the polenta up to 2 days in advance, and the tapenade up to 3 days. On the day of your party, simply broil the polenta squares and top them with the tapenade. The polenta can also be used as a base for many different seasonings. Try & play around 🙂
Just a couple of past polenta dishes and I am sure many more to come: Creamy Polenta with Barbecue Seitan Sauce, Vegan Creamy Polenta with Sausage and Peppers, Mushroom and Kale Polenta, Polenta & Shallot Squares, Polenta with Nectarine-Blackberry Salsa, Polenta with Black Beans, Pan-Fried Tofu & Roasted Coconut Tomato Sauce, Slow Cooked Corn Polenta and Chiles and Polenta Vegetable Casserole.
Polenta Squares with Sun-Dried Tomato and Walnut Tapenade
Recipe from http://www.choosingraw.com
Serves 22 (recipe can easily be halved)
Polenta Party Squares
6 cups vegetable broth (low sodium if possible)
2 cups polenta (yellow cornmeal)
1 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 batch sun-dried tomato and walnut tapenade
Bring the polenta, salt, and broth to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer. Using a long wooden spoon, continually stir the polenta until it has thickened (approximately 25-30 minutes). When the mixture is very thick and is pulling away from the sides of the pot, stir in the pepper and thyme.
Oil a 15.25 x 10.25 baking sheet (or line with parchment paper). Spread the polenta mixture evenly over the sheet with an inverted knife. It should be about as thick as the edge of the pan itself. Allow it to cool, and then transfer to the fridge for a few hours.
Preheat your broiler. Cut the polenta into squares (you should get about 22). Return them to a baking sheet and brush lightly with olive oil. Place under a broiler for 8 minutes, or until they’re lightly toasted. You can alternately bake them at 375 for twenty-five minutes or so. Top each square with a tablespoon of tapenade, and serve.
Sun-dried Tomato and Walnut Tapenade
3/4 cups sun-dried tomatoes (not oil soaked)
2 cups water
2/3 cups walnuts
2 small cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Boil the water and pour it over the tomatoes. Allow them to soften for 20 minutes. Discard most of the water (keep a half cup in case you need to thin the tapenade).
Grind the walnuts in a food processor fitted with the S blade until they’re finely ground. Add the tomatoes and garlic, and pulse to combine. Add the lemon, sea salt, pepper, and rosemary.
Run the motor of the food processor and drizzle in the oil in a thin stream. If the mixture is still very thick, drizzle in some of the soak water from the tomatoes until it reaches the desired consistency. You’re aiming for the consistency of regular tapenade, or a thick pesto.
22 Jan 2014
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: brown lentils, cayenne, crock-pot, cumin, garam masala, garlic, ginger, indian, lentils, onion, quick and easy, quinoa, sauces, sides, slow cooker, turmeric, vegan, vegetarian
My friend Dina told me about a super easy slow cooker lentils recipe. It was really yummy and beyond easy! There is something so nice about placing everything in a slow cooker and hours later having a hot cooked and deelish meal waiting for you! Perfect for weeknight dinners 🙂
Easy Slow Cooker Lentils
2 cups brown lentils
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger (I keep mine peeled and frozen so it is super easy to grate )
1 tsp each garam masala, turmeric, cayenne, cumin
Salt to taste
Mix all of the above in the slow cooker and put in enough water to cover by an inch plus. Cook on high for 2-3 hrs or low for 3-4 hrs. (add more water if needed) I served it with yogurt and chopped cucumber. Deelish!
15 Jan 2014
by marisashealthykitchen
in Raw Vegan Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: avocado, caesar, caper, Cashews, dip, dressing, garlic, green, kale, kale salad, lemon juice, miso, nutritional yeast, pignoli, pine nuts, quick and easy, radish, raw, rice vinegar, salad, vegan, vegetarian
Back to the Kale Salad! YUM! This one is so creamy and deelish it will please even people who think they don’t love kale. This dressing can be used with any other salad or even as dip!
Kale Caesar Salad
2 large bunches kale, stems discarded, chopped
Caesar Dressing
1 bunch red radishes, sliced super thin
3 tablespoons capers
1/2 ripe avocado, chopped
- Massage Kale and Dressing in a large bowl. Use your hands to massage and make sure to really get in there to soften the kale and evenly distribute the dressing.
- Add radishes, capers and avocado and toss.
Caesar Dressing
2 cups water
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup cashews
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons dark miso
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- Place all the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend till creamy.
- Chill until ready to use and shake well.
05 Jan 2014
by marisashealthykitchen
in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: apple cider vinegar, Barbeque, barbeque sauce, Barbeque Seitan, bbq, chili powder, comfort food, Creamy Polenta, garlic, grits, mustard, onion, peanut butter, polenta, red pepper, sauces, seitan, sides, sugar, tamari, tomato sauce, vegan, vegetarian
As you know we LOVE polenta over here 🙂 What is not to love; creamy, smooth corn goodness! And what makes this even better is a deelish, hearty sauce over top 🙂
Just a couple of past polenta dishes: Vegan Creamy Polenta with Sausage and Peppers, Mushroom and Kale Polenta, Polenta & Shallot Squares, Polenta with Nectarine-Blackberry Salsa, Polenta with Black Beans, Pan-Fried Tofu & Roasted Coconut Tomato Sauce, Slow Cooked Corn Polenta and Chiles and Polenta Vegetable Casserole.
Creamy Polenta with Barbeque Seitan Sauce
1 1/2 cups water, divided
3 teaspoons tamari, divided
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon stone-ground or Dijon mustard
8 ounces coarsley chopped or grated seitan
4 cups cooked polenta (see recipe)
Heat 1/2 cup water and 1 teaspoon tamari in a large pot. Add onion, pepper, and garlic and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Add remaining 1 cup water and 2 teaspoons tamari, tomato sauce, sugar, chili powder, vinegar, peanut butter, mustard, and seitan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Spoon the cooked polenta into bowls and top with the sauce. Enjoy 🙂
27 Nov 2013
by marisashealthykitchen
in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: almond milk, apple, Apple Cranberry Pie, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, Cobbler, comfort food, cranberry, dessert, earth balance, lemon, non-dairy milk, sugar, thanksgiving, vegan, vegan cobbler, vegetarian
My husband’s favorite dessert ever is cobbler so it was pretty easy to decide what to make when we had so many CSA apples and cranberries! It was super deelish!!!
Have a wonderful and gentle Thanksgiving!!!
Round 1: I used a pie pan. Loved the height but was so happy I used the baking sheet underneath!
Round 2: I used a cake pan so it wasn’t as high up but barely made a mess 🙂
Apple Cranberry Cobbler
Filling:
4 apples, peeled and chopped
2 cup cranberries
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cornstarch
juice of 1 lemon
dash of salt
8 tablespoons non-dairy butter (we used earth balance)
For the Cobbler Topping:
3/4 cup non-dairy milk (we used almond milk)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
dash of salt
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine the Cobbler Filling ingredients in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the topping ingredients.
- Melt the butter in a pie dish in oven. Remove from oven and fill with the filling. Pour topping over the fruit.
- Bake for approximately 1 hour (helpful to use a cookie sheet underneath to avoid a mess!), or until the juices are bubbling and the cobbler is golden.
10 Nov 2013
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: almond milk, breakfast, butternut squash, cardamom, cinnamon, cranberry, muffins, nutmeg, oats, pumpkin, quick and easy, snack, soy milk, vanilla, vegan, vegetarian, vinegar, whole-wheat
We recently moved to the country and it has been beyond amazing but now Michael has a bit longer commute. So I am trying to come up with some quick and healthy “grab as you run out the door” breakfasts 🙂 Green Juice, check! (thank you Blue Print Bottles!) But then something a bit more substantial for him throughout the morning. These were super yummy, kid & husband approved!
Butternut Cranberry Oat Muffins
Makes 12
¾ cup organic cane sugar
1 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry or spelt flour
½ cup oats
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup almond or other nondairy milk
1 cup cooked pumpkin or butternut squash, mashed
2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
1 teaspoon white or rice vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ cup dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray regular sized muffin tins with cooking spray
- Combine the sugar, flours, oats, salt, baking powder and soda in a large bowl. Stir well to combine.
- In another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients except the cranberries. Stir until well mixed.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, along with the cranberries, and stir well but quickly to combine. Do not over-stir the dough otherwise the muffins will come out tough. . Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill about 2/3 of each cup.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and cooked in the middle. Let cool on a rack. Enjoy 🙂
24 Oct 2013
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: apple, autumn, butternut squash, butternut squash soup, carrot, cinnamon, coconut, coconut milk, comfort food, fall, nutmeg, onion, parsnips, quick and easy, soup, vegan, vegetarian
Today was that perfect Fall day. Super brisk yet still super sunny highlighting those gorgeous fall colors!! We spent the late afternoon crunching on all the fallen leaves and a messy outdoor art project!! It was a bit chilly and as it got later (and colder) I figured it was the perfect day for a warm & creamy soup. Yum!!
I was thinking Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk. Then I decided to add carrots from the CSA and apples we picked last weekend. I figured this was going to be a winning combination and it was!
I used pre-chopped butternut squash which made this meal a breeze and done within 30 minutes!
Butternut Squash, Carrot & Apple Soup
- medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 apples, peeled and chopped
- bag of carrots/parsnips, peeled and chopped
- 4 cups (water & broth)(I used 2 of each)
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 can of coconut milk (all I had was light and it still came out creamy)
- dash of nutmeg & cinnamon
In a large pot sauté onions in olive oil while peeling and cutting the squash, carrots & apples.
Turn the heat down and add the veggies, stirring until they are all added.
Add liquid and salt &pepper.
Cover and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer until the squash and carrots are soft.
Using an immersion blender puree completely smooth in the same pot.
Add coconut milk, nutmeg & cinnamon, taste and season, stir (I used the blender again) and enjoy!
20 Oct 2013
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: apple, apple cider, apple cider caramel, caramel, cinnamon, corn starch, dessert, dip, entertaining, ginger, lemon juice, maple syrup, sauces, snack, sugar, vegan, vegan caramel, vegan shortening, vegan sugar, vegetarian
No I am not joking with this! SOO good! This is one of those awesome desserts that no one would believe is actually vegan 🙂 Perfect for this beautiful Autumn Apple Season!
I whipped up the caramel sauce, sliced some apples and deelish!
This is just a basic recipe that you can then play around with for many variations.
- You can change up the cider to another liquid (chai, vanilla soy, pear juice, coconut milk, tea, etc)
- Use 1 tsp to up to 3 Tbsp corn starch – the more you add, the thicker the sauce will become. (I am going to use more next time since as it warms up out of the fridge it became a bit runny – see picture below)
- The lemon juice is optional but really complimented the warm apple cider flavors quite nicely.
Vegan Apple Cider Caramel sauce
recipe from kblog.lunchboxbunch.com (love this site!!!)
1/2 cup apple cider
1/2 cup vegan shortening (I used Earth Balance shortening sticks)
1 cup vegan dry sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1-3 Tbsp corn starch (I used 1Tbsp – next time more – see above)
1 tsp ginger powder
Dash cinnamon
2 Tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt (opt’l)
1 tsp molasses (opt’l)
1. Dissolve the corn starch into the cider.
2. Add the cider/starch to a sauce pan with the other ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil – stirring constantly. When the bubbling becomes intense, reduce to medium heat and continue stirring until the mixture thickens a bit. Optional – use a food processor or (better) an immersion blender to add some air into the sauce. If you don’t have anything to whip the caramel with it will still turn out fine – just a bit less airy.
3. Remove from heat. Pour the sauce into a bowl and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Once chilled, use sauce as you wish in recipes!
07 Oct 2013
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: basil, dill, entertaining, feta, garlic, greek, green onion, h'orderves, leek, lemon juice, majoram, non-dairy cheese, nutmed, nutritional yeast, olive oil, onion, oregano, puff pastry, scallion, sides, snack, Spanakopita, spinach, Spinach Pie, thyme, tofu, vegan, vegan cheese, vegan feta, vegetarian, walnuts
My kids are Obsessed with Spanakopita so naturally I had to make some at home. It was hard to save them some 😉 but we did manage it. I have made this since without the puff pastry because the filling is just so good on its own. Also love my veganized version with tofu, no one would even notice, it is just so good!
Spanakopita – Spinach Pie
2 – 10 ounce packages frozen spinach, thawed
1 pound extra firm tofu, crumbled
1 teaspoon dill
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup walnuts, ground
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
pepper, taste
1/4 cup olive oil
dashes of nutmeg, thyme, marjoram, basil and oregano
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, quartered and chopped (cleaned super well!)
4 scallions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (or phyllo dough)
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Saute the onion with a little salt in olive oil until translucent. Add in the leeks, garlic and scallions, season with salt, and continue to saute until translucent.
- Combine the spinach, tofu, dill, lemon juice, walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, olive oil & spices together and mix well.
- Combine onion mixture with the spinach/tofu mixture.
- Line a baking sheet with ether parchment paper or aluminum foil. Unfold puff pastry and place on baking sheet. Spread the spinach mixture over the pastry, leaving a border of one inch all around the edges. Keep the spinach flat; do not pile high. Cover with the second sheet of pastry that has been slightly flattened to one inch bigger than the first sheet. (This ensures all the spinach will be covered). Press edges together with fingertips, making sure mixture is sealed well. Brush just the top with non-dairy milk, Cut a few slits in the top with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.
- Bake 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Can be served hot or at room temperature.
You have options for the extra filling. You can use it like a dip, eat it with a spoon or take another sheet of puff pastry and made deelish spinach pinwheels!
For the pinwheels: Unfold the pastry sheet on the work surface. Top with the spinach mixture. Starting at a short side, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place the slices onto 2 baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.
22 Aug 2013
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: baguette, bean dip, cannellini beans, comfort food, crackers, dip, entertaining, garlic, h'orderves, lemon juice, martha stewart, marthastewart.com, olive oil, quick and easy, red wine vinegar, roasted garlic, rosemary, sides, snack, vegan, vegetarian
I have made this dish now a few times and every time I prepared it a bit differently and every time it came out deelish!! Super easy, super yummy, healthy and everyone will love it!
I am really into cooking dried beans lately instead of using canned ones. I found this insanely easy technique of just soaking them and cooking them on low for 4+ hours in a crock pot! Done, easy peasy!! Beautiful! You will never have to use canned beans again unless you are in a pinch!!
3 variations:
- red wine vinegar or lemon juice
- roasted garlic blended in & saved some full roasted cloves for garnish
- fresh garlic blended
Rosemary White Bean Dip
- baguette or crackers
- 2 cans (15.5 ounces each) cannellini beans, rinsed & drained OR 1/2 lb dried beans, soaked & cooked
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 to 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- (optional) fresh or roasted garlic
If using baguette, slice 1/2 inch thick, brush with olive oil, and cook in a 350-degree oven until lightly toasted.
In a food processor, combine cannellini beans, olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice and garlic (optional). Process until smooth, adding water if necessary. Add 2 teaspoons rosemary and pulse until combined. Season with salt & pepper and Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with a little oil.
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