14 Apr 2016
by marisashealthykitchen
in Cooking With Kids, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: avocado, vegetarian, basil, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, comfort food, cucumber, garbanzo, garlic, healthy lunch, olive oil, olives, oregano, pasta, pasta salad, peppers, picnic, planetbox, quick and easy, red wine vinegar, sides, spring pasta salad, tomatoes, vegan, vegan pasta salad, vegan picnic, vegan planetbox, vegetarian pasta salad
Today really felt like SPRING! So amazing outside!!!!! While we were playing outside I got the idea to make a pasta salad! It just felt right, so seasonal and perfect! LOVE!
I normally make things on a large scale but this was just for my kids’ lunch and husbands’ dinner 😉 So if you want to make this bigger, double or triple the recipe! This salad will taste great right away but also will get more tastier as the flavors get to mingle in the fridge! Yum!
Spring Pasta Salad
1/2 a box of pasta (1/2 pound) elbow or other
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 cup bell peppers, diced
1/2 a cucumber, diced
1/2 a can of black olives, quartered
1/2 a can of chickpeas
1/2 an avocado, chopped
1/8-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8-1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper, to taste
1. Bring water to boil and cook pasta according to the pox.
2. While pasta is cooking prep and chop all the veggies and place in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and give a good stir.
3. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and cool for a few minutes. Then add to the bowl and stir to incorporate.
4. Chill further and enjoy!
And here it is as lunch for my littles 🙂 Fun!!!
07 Mar 2016
by marisashealthykitchen
in Cooking With Kids, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: agave, agave syrup, breakfast, chocolate, Chocolate Pudding, chocolate tofu pudding, coconut milk, dessert, extra-firm tofu, firm tofu, Healthy & Decadent, maple syrup, pink himalayan sea salt, pudding, pudding for breakfast, quick and easy, raw cacao powder, silken tofu, snack, soy, tofu, tofu pudding, vegan, Vegan Chocolate Pudding, vegan pudding, vegetarian
Another fun snack with the kiddos 🙂 It took a little bit to get the right texture. First I used just a silken tofu and it was more like A DELICIOUS chocolate milkshake (which we loved drinking!), but not the pudding we were looking for! By adding the firm tofu, it was pretty perfect and had that pudding/mousse consistency and chocolatey deliciousness!! Plus considering the ingredients I was super happy for us all to snack out on this! YUM!!
Healthy & Decadent Vegan Chocolate Pudding
1 package silken tofu (the aseptic packaging kind)
1 package firm (or extra firm) tofu
4 heaping Tbsp raw cacao powder (adjust to taste)
6-7 Tbsp agave or maple syrup (Start with less and then adjust to the sweetness desired)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp pink himalayan sea salt
Super simple! Blend together and adjust to taste 🙂
18 Oct 2015
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: carrots, chili powder, comfort food, CSA, farm share, garlic, garlic powder, ginger, ground celery seed, lentil soup, lentils, nutmeg, onion powder, parsnips, potatoes, quick and easy, Root Vegetable, root vegetable soup, shallots, soup, soup shells, sunchokes, turnips, vegan, vegetarian, veggie broth
Almost every week we received a big bag of root veggies from the CSA so I needed to figure out what to do with them. The night before I peeled and peeled and chopped many root veggies and then in the morning put them in the slow cooker with the other ingredients and a few hours later, YUM! It really came out amazing and I liked the added texture and bite of the pasta.
CSA Root Vegetable & Lentil Soup
Lots of root veggies, peeled and chopped (we used parsnips, turnips, carrots, sunchokes and potatoes)
10 small shallots, peeled and chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled
water or veggie broth (enough to cover veggies)
1 cup lentils
1 lb of soup shells (optional)
Spices – we used dashes of nutmeg, ground celery seed, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger
Salt
Place root veggies, shallots, garlic, lentils & liquid in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours
After cooked and softened or when you get to it (we were out all day, so the full 8 hours) use an immersion blender to puree but still leaving a little texture (or more if that is what you like)
Add spices and salt to taste
Add dry pasta, if using and additional water/broth if too thick. Let cook together till pasta is softened.
Enjoy 🙂
10 Jun 2015
by marisashealthykitchen
in Raw Vegan Recipes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: agave, apple cider vinegar, avocado, choosingraw.com, dressing, dulse, garlic, green, herbamere, kale, kelp, lemon, miso, mushrooms, Nama Shoyu, nori, nutritional yeast, olive oil, portobello mushrooms, quick and easy, raw, salad, spirulina, tamari, vegan, vegetarian, white miso, Worsterchire sauce
I love all Kale Salads and this one was especially deelish. Not everyone is into sea vegetables, but this dressing manages to be chockfull of them without anyone being the wiser, super healthy goodness! They add such a great saltiness to this already super creamy dressing.
Kale Caesar with Marinated Portobello Mushrooms
2 heads of Kale
Chop up or tear pieces of Kale. Massage the dressing into the kale with your hands and top with mushrooms. Yum! Enjoy 🙂
Avocado Sea-sar Dressing (vegan, almost raw, gluten free, soy free)
Recipe from choosingraw.com
Yields over 1 cup
1 large Hass avocado
1 tsp vegan Worsterchire sauce
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Juice of two large lemons
3 tbsp mellow white miso
1 small clove garlic
1 tsp spirulina
1 tbsp nori, kelp, or dulse flakes (or a mix of all three, which is what I used)
3/4 cup water (or more if needed)
*2 tbsp olive oil (optional)*
Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender till smooth. The olive oil is totally optional, but it lends a little added creaminess and richness to the dressing.
Marinated Portobello Mushrooms
3 1/2 cup portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup agave
2 tablespoons Nama Shoyu or Tamari
2 tablespoons Herbamere
3 tablespoons herbs of choice – I used oregano and bail
Blend all ingredients except mushrooms for about 10 seconds. Place the marinade, along with mushrooms, in a large plastic container or zipped bag and seal well. Toss around until well coated. Refrigerate and let sit overnight, tossing to coat from time to time. Strain the mushrooms out prior to serving, but reserve the marinade to use as a salad dressing for another time.
17 May 2015
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: almond milk, apple, apple sauce, breakfast, cinnamon, comfort food, flour, pancakes, quick and easy, sugar, vanilla, vegan, vegetarian
We have been all about weekend pancakes lately and are always all about apples! And seriously who doesn’t love pancakes!! These were super easy and quick to whip up. Just had the urge and then 20 minutes later we were all eating pancakes.
Cinnamon Apple Pancakes
Makes 12-15 pancakes
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 – 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Combine dry ingredients, then add the rest and mix well
- Spoon batter (~ 2 tablespoons) onto a hot griddle. Cook until pancakes have a bubbly surface and slightly dry edges (1-2 minutes). Flip pancakes and let cook for an additional 1-2 minutes until golden.
- Serve with Maple Syrup and Enjoy 🙂
29 Mar 2015
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: artichoke pesto, Artichoke Pesto Pasta Salad, artichokes in water, artichokes marinated in oil, basil, blog.fatfreevegan.com, entertaining, fat free pesto, fat free vegan, fat-free, fruit, fruit platter, g-f, garlic, gluten-free, lemon juice, low-fat, low-fat pesto, nutritional yeast, pesto pasta salad, pine nuts, quick and easy, quinoa brown rice pasta, raw, tomato, vegan, vegan pasta salad, vegan pesto, vegetable broth, vegetarian, veggies & hummus, whole wheat pasta
My amazing & beautiful kiddos turned 3 this last week. Beyond hard to believe but so wonderful to watch them continue to grow and surprise us all the time! We had a fun birthday party to celebrate them 🙂 Just a few food & goodie bag pictures and a yummy Vegan, Gluten-free, Super low-fat pasta salad that we served. FUN!!! Love big celebrations of course!!
Coloring Books
Artichoke Pesto Pasta Salad
Vegan – Gluten-free – Low-fat
Number of servings: 4
Recipe adapted from blog.fatfreevegan.com
1 cup basil, packed
1 can quartered artichoke hearts (packed in water)(I used 1/2 water, 1/2 marinated in oil)
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 tbsp. vegetable broth
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
salt, to taste
8 ounces whole wheat pasta, cooked (I used quinoa brown rice pasta)
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)
Place the basil, about half the artichokes, garlic, nutritional yeast, vegetable broth, and lemon juice in a food processor and process until it becomes a thick paste. Add salt to taste.
In a serving bowl, combine the cooked pasta with the pesto and mix well. Add the remaining artichoke hearts, the tomato, and the (optional pine nuts) and toss. Serve at room temperature.
29 Jan 2015
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: almond milk, apple cider vinegar, baking powder, baking soda, breakfast, cocoa powder, dark chocolate chips, dessert, flax egg, flour, ground flax, maple syrup, quick and easy, salt, snack, sugar, vanilla extract, vegan, vegan egg, vegan muffins, vegetarian, walnut, whole wheat pastry flour, zucchini
Crazy Blizzard prep! Been playing inside all day, what else to do! Bake 🙂 I love to cook & bake with my kiddos. It can often be twice my mess, sometimes involves a meltdown or 2 but it really is fun and I love teaching them about their food. We wanted to bake but I still wanted to keep it healthy. Thank you Oh She Glows for these Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins! They were super excited to make (and eat!) muffins! We loved grating the zucchini together and measuring all the ingredients.
I used twice the zucchini so ended up with 10 mini muffins on top of the dozen full size ones. But my kiddos loved the “baby muffins” too.
Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins
Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows
Yield: 1 dozen muffins
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water)
- 1 & 1/4 cup lightly packed shredded zucchini, skin left on (I doubled this)
- 1 & 1/4 cup almond milk
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose) (I used 1 1/4 WW Flour and 3/4 cup AP)
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life mini chips)
- 2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray muffin with oil or grease with Earth Balance.
2. Mix flax egg in a small bowl and set aside. Grate zucchini using a grater box (regular grate size). Set aside.
3. Mix almond milk and apple cider vinegar (or sub fresh lemon juice) in a small bowl and set aside. It will curdle, but this is the point as we’re making vegan buttermilk.
4. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar).
5. Mix together the wet ingredients (flax egg, almond milk mixture, maple syrup, and vanilla) and then pour over dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and shredded zucchini.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin filling each tin 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 15-17 minutes at 350F, or until muffins slowly spring back when touched. A toothpick should come out mostly clean. Cool in tin for 5 minutes. With a knife, loosen around the muffin edge and transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool. (Mine took a bit longer because double the zucchini made it a little more moist, so took about 5 extra minutes to bake)
26 Jan 2015
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: butter, carrot soup, carrots, garlic, olive oil, quick and easy, soup, stone barns, stone barns soup, vegan, vegetable broth, vegetarian, yellow onion
Last week we had a wonderful afternoon at Stone Barns. I guess winter keeps away most of the crowds so we basically had the place to ourselves. We got to feed the chickens (greens and lettuce!), see the sheep, ducks and beautiful greenhouses. Then we went to cafe and ate a great lunch! We had the Carrot Soup (every time I am there the soup is Vegan, so it might always be!) and my kids loved it! Picnics outdoors in the winter tends to scream Soup! haha
We wanted to recreate the yummy soup for dinner. On the Stone Barns site there was a recipe for Simple Carrot-Ginger Soup so I made this and adapted it just a bit 🙂 Just simple and delicious! I’m sure you can jazz it up with some herbs or coconut milk for creaminess but it was delicious as is.
Stay warm everyone!!!!! Soup will be perfect food for the storm!!
Simple Carrot Soup
Recipe adapted from stonebarnscenter.org
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2-1/2 pounds of carrots—peeled and sliced
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
6 cups vegetable broth
Melt butter or heat olive oil in a large soup pot.
Over medium heat, add onion and garlic, and cook until tender (about 7 to 10 minutes.)
Add carrots and a dash of salt.
Cook for five minutes then add the broth.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until carrots are tender.
Purée. (I love to use the immersion blender in the pot, so no need for transferring hot soup!)
16 Oct 2014
by marisashealthykitchen
in Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: 101cookbooks.com, almonds, quickmeals, vegetarian, black olives, brown rice, casserole, cheese, eggs, firm organic tofu, firm tofu, Gruyere, leftover rice, Manchego, olive oil, one-pot meal, Parm, pine nuts, pre-cooked rice, quick and easy, red onion, rice, rice meal, Sea Salt, spinach, Spinach Rice Gratin, tofu, white rice
This made a awesome weeknight meal! We used pre-cooked and leftover rice which made this super easy and quick to throw together. The whole family loved this! It went fast so we didn’t even get a pic of it cut into slices!
Spinach Rice Gratin
Recipe adapted from 101cookbooks.com
gluten-free
2 1/2 cups leftover/pre-cooked brown&/or white rice, room temp
1 1/2 cups cups well finely chopped spinach
8 ounces firm organic tofu, crumbled
15 black olives, chopped
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1/2 cup pine nuts or almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup shredded Manchego cheese (or Parm, or Gruyere)
5 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Rack in the top third. Grease a 10-inch round baking dish, casserole pan, oven-proof pot with a bit of olive oil.
In a large bowl combine the rice, spinach, and tofu. Stir in the olives, and red onion, pine nuts and olive oil. Now stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese. In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, and salt. Fold the eggs into the rice mixture, pour into the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the casserole is set, and the top toasty and golden. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle with remaining onions, olives, and nuts. Sprinkle with a bit more salt before serving – or taste and get a sense of whether you need any.
27 Jul 2014
by marisashealthykitchen
in Cooking With Kids, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
Tags: avocado pasta, avocado pesto, avocados, basil, cherry tomatoes, cooking with kids, dairy free, dairy free sauce, Flax seed oil, garlic, gluten-free, grape tomatoes, green, ground black pepper, healthy eating, healthy meals, healthykids, healthymeals, kids, lemon, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, pasta, quick and easy, raw sauce, sauce, Super Fast Avocado Pasta, trader joes, Trader Joes Fresh Rice Pasta, vegan, vegetarian
I am all about cooking with the kiddos whenever possible 🙂 Today for lunch we made our Avocado Pasta, similar to This One that I make for them normally that they love, but this time we did it all in one bowl (and a pot) 🙂 They loved it and were even super happy to take turns mashing (and tasting!) Lunch was deelish but cooking together and smiles around (and green mouths!) makes it that much sweeter!
Super Fast Avocado Pasta
2-3 servings
Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Vegan, no cook/raw sauce
2 avocados
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried Basil
1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Flax seed oil
12 ounces- 1 lb of pasta (we used Trader Joes Fresh Rice Pasta – made it even faster, cooks in 2 minutes!)
ground black pepper, to taste
cherry or grape tomatoes, cut
- Boil water and cook pasta in a large pot
- In a bowl combine avocado, garlic, lemon juice, oils, salt, basil, pepper and oregano. Mash with a fork till creamy.
- When pasta is done, drain and mix with sauce. Garnish with tomatoes. Serve immediately. YUM!
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