Immune Booster Soup

When I get home from work, usually 4 weeks, my body really craves good food, something full of nutrients...so today I made a soup that I knew would do the job. There's no right or wrong in making this soup, I used the vegies I picked up on my way home, it turned out to be one of the best soup I've ever had. Simple but full of flavor and goodness! (I just made enough for me so you can add more broth and vegies). Every ingredients in this soup is organic, when you need to fuel your body with good nutrients organic is the only way to go!

splash of olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalk, diced
1 sweet potato, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup of cabbage, diced
1/2 cup of black kale, diced
1/2 cup of lentils (cooked)
3 to 4 cups of vegetable broth
2 tbsp miso (genmal)
2 tbsp tamari
splash of organic vegan Worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper
dash cayenne pepper

Heat oil, stir in garlic and cook for a minute or two, add onions and cook until translucent. Then I just added the potatoes, celery, carrots. Continue cooking at med heat for approximately 5 minutes or so. Add lentils, cabbage and kale.

Stir in Worcestershire sauce and tamari, mix well. Add vegetable broth (I like to have about 1/2 to 1 inch of broth over the vegetables), stir and then add miso, mix well to dissolve the miso into the broth.

Add salt and pepper, and desired amount of cayenne pepper.

Let it simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Vegan Pizza Dough

I have tried a few pizza recipes and so far I think this is the best one! I like my pizza on a thin crust and this one is good that way, the edges are crispy and the inside nice and soft. I also added a 7 grain flour to it, I'm sure you can use a multi-grain or just use all unbleached flour, its all about what you prefer. With the added 7 grain flour it adds that extra goodness! Let me know what you think of it!

This pizza I will call, leek and arugula pizza. The pizza has leeks, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and arugula and I used daiya pepperjack style shreds cheese.

Pizza dough recipe:
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 teaspoon agave
1 cup warm water,
2 cups all-purpose flour & 1 cup 7 grain or multi-grain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and agave in 1/4 cup warm water (from the 1 cup of warm water).

In a large bowl, combine the flours and the salt. Add the oil, the yeast mixture, and the remaining 3/4 cup of water in the flour.

Mix with you hands until the entire mixture forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead by hand 3 to 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and firm. Brush some oil all over the dough to keep it from drying out.

Cover the dough with a clean, damp towel and let it rise in a dry warm spot for about 2 hours. The dough should double in size. When dough ready, punch it lightly to remove air bubbles. On a flour surface knead a few more times, roll the ball under the palm of your hand until the top of the dough is smooth and firm, about 1 minutes. At this point you can divide your pizza dough, half of it makes a med size pizza.

At this point you can start rolling out your dough on a flat floured surface to your desired thickness. I like my really thin. And then dress it up any way you like!

Vegan Bacon Ribbons

How about some Vegan bacon ribbons? I wasn't too sure about this recipe at first glance but I have since changed my mine when I tried it, especially on caeser salad. And here is how I knew it was a hit, my non-vegan man couldn't keep his fingers out of the bowl...don't let the ingredient stop you from trying this, you will be amazingly surprise on how good this is.

This recipe I found on http://cookbookaficionado.wordpress.com

•4 large handfuls of unsweetened large flake coconut (about 3 cups)
•1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
•3 tablespoons canola oil
•1 tablespoon liquid smoke (hickory flavour works good here too)
•3 tablespoons water
•2 to 3 tablespoons maple syrup (use 3 if you like it really mapley)
•1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
•1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
•2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt
•black pepper

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients except the coconut, mix it until smooth. Put coconut in a medium jar or container, pour in marinade and then mix until coconut looks coated. Seal jar and then store in fridge overnight (I sometimes let it sit for 2 or 3 days) to let all the yumminess soak in. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking pan with parchment paper. Dump the coconut on the baking pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the bacon is as crispy as you’d like it, every 10 minutes give the bacon a stir and make sure no pieces are burning. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or inside of your mouth.

spaghetti squash with vegeatble and bean tomato sauce

What to make when alone for dinner, not in the mood for pasta or rice...So I decided on spaghetti squash with a vegetable & bean tomato sauce. It was the perfect dish.

Preheat oven at 375

While the oven is heating up I prepared the squash, I cut it in half then cleaned the inside. Placed the squash cut side down on a cookie sheet with a bit of water, and cooked it for 45 minutes. Again that depends on the size of the squash. Mine was a small squash, so just check it every so often, it is ready when soft when pierced with fork.

While squash is cooking in the oven, I prepared my tomato sauce. Again this was for one person but lots of left over for lunch the next day



1 to 2 tbsp of olive oil to cook vegetables
2 garlic cloves or more if you prefer
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 pepper (red or orange) diced
1 small zucchini diced
1 small carrot diced
1 small jalapeno (optional, I add one so I used it)
1 can of tomatoes
1/2 can of tomato sauce
2 to 3 tbsp ketchup (I like to add for the sweet and vinegar)
1/2 can of kidney beans or more (that's all I had in the fridge)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
a few leaves of basil from the garden (optional)

Heat oil at med to high, add garlic and onions. Cook until onions are translucent, careful not to burn garlic. Then add remaining vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

What I did was pulse the tomatoes a few times in my small hand processor just to break up the tomatoes, again that's optional.

Mix in the tomatoes and tomato sauce in with the vegetables. Stir well. At this point you can also add the ketchup if using. When it start to bubble up just reduce the heat to simmer.

I cooked it until the squash was ready and the vegetables were tender. 15 minutes before the squash is ready you can add your beans and seasoning to the sauce and adjust to your taste.

If using fresh basil, chopped it fine and then add on top of the sauce in your plate. So that it doesn't cook and you really get the basil flavor as you are eating your meal, Enjoy!

Cajun Spices

This is my most go to spices "Cajun", so easy to make, you probably already have all these spices in your cupboard. I can't remember where I found this amazing mix but here it is.

2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp black pepper
3 tsp cayenne pepper or more if you like it spicier
5 tbsp paprika
4 to 5 tbsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a glass jar, shake before using. I made a half recipe as this makes a lot.

I also have more recipes on my facebook page if you would like to check it out @

http://www.facebook.com/vegheadvegetarian

I will be updating this page in the next few days...

Breakfast balls

I got this recipe from a friend at the gym, they are called breakfast balls,
and they are really handy to have in your fridge or freezer for a quick snack.
I usually half the recipe cuz it does make a lot of them.

1 cup each: oats, coconut, sesame and sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, all toasted
1 cup ground flax
2.5 cups of chopped dried dates
2 cups almond butter
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 additional cup of toasted coconut for coating.

Preheat your oven to 350F

Soak the dated in warm water to soften them (optional).

Spread the first five ingredients on a large cookie sheet, toast them in the oven for about ten minutes
(keep an eye on them so they don't burn), remove and cool.

Drain the dates (if they have been soaked) and squeeze them to remove excess water.

Put dates, toasty ingredients, flax, syrup and almond butter in a large bowl and
combine well with your hands. Roll into balls (you choose the size) and roll in coconut.
Keep them in a closed container in the fridge.

Suggestions:
Substitute raisins, goji berries or dried cranberries for half of the dates.
Add in your choice of chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans hazelnuts).
Use hemp seeds in place of ground flax, and/or add chocolate chips.
They are no specific measurements for any of the suggested ingredients.
If the combined ingredients become to dry, just add more almond butter or rice syrup
to hold it all together. I freeze mine and they freeze really well.