Nutritional Yeast Cheezy Sauce

 I know "nutritional yeast" doesn't sound very good, but it's awesome! It's powdery flakey yellow stuff that is filled with B vitamins, especially B12, which can be hard for vegetarians to get from other sources. It tastes kind of cheesy and kind of nutty. You can sprinkle it on popcorn or make vegan cheese sauce with it.

We make this sauce often and put it over various things such as baked potatoes, broccoli, tortilla chips, pasta, etc. It's another one of our favorites.

Over quinoa pasta with broccoli and peas.

The original recipe came from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. I've tweaked it of course. We use butter, but you can make a vegan version by using coconut oil. We tried it that way once and it was still good, just a little sweeter and coconutty. :)  Just don't use margarine...that stuff is crap.

This recipe makes a lot of sauce, so if you are not sure you will like it or if you just want a little, cut it in half.

1/2 cup (one stick) butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup flour
3 1/2 cups boiling water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs soy sauce (Braggs)
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp turmeric (doesn't really add flavor, just yellow color, optional)
2 cups nutritional yeast flakes

Melt the butter or coconut oil in a sauce pan. Beat in the flour with a wire whisk. Slowly add the boiling water, whisking as you go. Add the salt, soy sauce, garlic powder, and turmeric. Keep whisking over low heat until it is all mixed up. Let it cook on low for a bit until it thickens and bubbles. Stir in the nutritional yeast and voila! Pour it over something delicious.

Purple cabbage, collard green,s and bok choy. Aren't the colors stunning?

Here it is over a mixture of veggies. The cabbage and greens from above, carrots, broccoli, onions.

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Evie's Easter Basket

I figured some of you might be wondering what we did about Evie's Easter basket, since they are usually filled to the brim with candy that is full of genetically modified ingredients. Even if all candy was non-gmo, there is no child in the world who needs that much sugar!

Evie's basket was stuffed with little toys...a light up chick ball, bubble solution, bangle bracelets, a lizard hand puppet that squirts water from his mouth, a stuffed wuzzle, and best of all....new books! Well, new to us. We got dozens of awesome kid books from the thrift store for about $8.

She did have some chocolate. We are lucky enough to have a local business called O'Chocolate that makes an all organic candy bar. I also had bought her Justin's Organic Peanut Butter Cups, but she found them in the diaper bag on Saturday, so she got those early.

Unfortunately many candy bars that claim to be organic still contain non-organic soy lecithin, which is likely to be derived from GMO soy. Remember, packaged foods only have to be 95% organic to legally be allowed to claim "Organic" on the package. That other 5% can still be filled with scary crap, so always read the ingredient labels.

I forgot to take a picture of her Easter loot before she broke into it, but here is the aftermath:

See the chocolate on her mouth and shirt?

 

I hope everyone had a great Easter filled with good food and family!




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Lentil Loaf

Lentil loaf doesn't sound very appealing, or look very appealing for that matter, but it's one of our favorite dishes. We love it so much that we ate almost all of it before I could take pictures. This is actually a picture of the one slice that was leftover the next morning.

The recipe is from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook but I have modified it quite a bit. It doesn't really stick together like a loaf is supposed to unless you let it cool completely before you cut it. But trust me, it tastes so good you won't care how it slices.

Lentil Loaf

1 1/2 cups dry brown or green lentils
3 cups water
2 onions
1 cup diced celery
2 cups of cooked brown rice
1/4 cup ketchup or bbq sauce
2 tsp. ground sage
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp marjoram
2 tsp fennel seeds or ground fennel

Cook the lentils in the 3 cups of water until tender (about 20-30 minutes). Chop and saute the onions and celery until translucent. Add all other spices to the onion mixture and saute another minute or so.

Once the lentils are soft, partially mash them with a fork or potato masher. Add the cooked rice and ketchup or bbq sauce. Mix everything together really well and then put it in an oiled loaf pan. Press the mixture down into the pan firmly. Spread more ketchup or bbq sauce on top. Bake for one hour at 350. Eat.



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Whole Foods Grocery Store to Label GMOs!

The grocery chain Whole Foods recently announced plans to label all genetically modified food in their stores by 2018. This is an awesome step in the right direction, and it's all thanks to us! We demanded it. There was a huge backlash when Whole Foods wrote a letter to their customers basically stating that it was time to "work with" the GMO companies instead of fighting against them. Whole Foods social media accounts blew up with angry customer comments. It seems that they finally got the point. We WANT to know what is in our food.

Why is it going to take 5 years to get there? Well, in my opinion, Whole Foods knows that it is only a matter of time before GMO labeling laws become commonplace in America and they are hoping the companies are legally forced to label themselves before Whole Foods has to make them do it and potentially burn business bridges.

Whatever their true motives are, I commend them for being the first major grocery chain to put customers' interests above their corporate buddies on the priority list.

Here is a short video about the announcement and a reminder about why GMOs matter.




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Pineapple Peanut Stew

I know it sounds like a weird combo, but it is delicious. I generally do not like fruit in my savory foods, but this is an exception. This is one of our favorite meals. We have it at least twice a month. We would have it every other day if it were up to Jon! The best part is that it's fairly quick and very easy.

Here it is!

1 chopped onion
several chopped garlic cloves
any other chopped veggies you want-sweet potato and carrot are good
1 28 oz can tomatoes or 2 small cans
1 cup water
1 can pineapple or 2 cups fresh chopped
1 cup peanut butter

Saute the onions and garlic in a large pot until tender. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, or whatever veggies you are using and saute for a few more minutes. Add the cup of water, tomatoes with liquid, and pineapple with juice. Stir it up, cover it, and simmer on low until the sweet potatoes and carrots are soft. This usually takes 20 to 30 minutes. Right before serving, stir in the cup of peanut butter. You can add green onions, sour cream, and/or chopped peanuts to the top if you want. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and serve over any kind of grain (rice, quinoa, buckwheat, etc.) or over a bed of greens. Or you can just eat it on its own. It's even good cold the next day. Enjoy. :)

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Zuchini Pasta

We have been trying to cut back on our wheat consumption. I will go into reasons in a future blog post, but for now if you want an idea, check out this article.

The problem is that we love pasta and bread and all things wheat. So we've been trying to find alternatives. There is a spiral pasta made from organic corn and quinoa at the local health food store that is pretty good, but still quite processed.

Before cooking

Since we have also been trying to increase our veggie intake, we decided to try cutting zucchini and squash into very fine strips and using them like noodles. I have one of those Vidalia Chop Wizards that were popular a few years ago, and we just ran the raw vegetables through the small dicing chopper and dropped them in boiling water for a few minutes until tender. Dumped a jar of organic pasta sauce on that stuff and ate it up. We were surprised at how well it turned out. It tastes better than it looks! It would have been excellent with some organic cheese melted on top. Next time we will definitely add that.

Piping hot! Yum.

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Bean Dip Soup

I figure people are probably sick of hearing me say "Don't eat this! Don't eat that!" Maybe you are wondering what the heck you CAN eat. Well, I'm going to start sharing more recipes and try to stop being such a downer all the time. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot to complain about, but I'll give ya a break for now.

I love bean dip and I love soup, so this combo is awesome. It's smokey and a little bit spicy and thick and chunky. The best part is that it's quick and easy to make and the recipe is very forgiving, so if you don't have what it calls for, just wing it! Adjust the seasonings to your liking, this is just a rough guide. Remember, cooking is fun and intuitive so do what feels right. The smoked paprika is what gives it the smokey flavor and is the only spice I would not skip. But you do what you want, I trust you.

Bean Dip Soup

several cups of cooked pinto beans
bean cooking liquid or broth or water
1 onion
4-7 garlic cloves
fresh chopped or canned tomatoes
any other veggies you wanna add (corn, red or green peppers, turnips, etc)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder

Chop the onion and garlic and any other veggies and saute them in a large pot for a few minutes until they start to become translucent. Add the spices and cook another 2 minutes or so. Blend about a cup of pinto beans in the blender until smooth. Add the blended pinto beans, the rest of the whole pinto beans, tomatoes (liquid too if using canned) and water/broth/bean liquid to the pot. Stir it up really well, cover it, and simmer it for at least 20 minutes to let the flavors blend. You could also do this in a slow cooker and leave it on low for several hours.

Now pour a bowl of soup and see what magic you have created with your own hands! If you're not doing the vegan thing, plop a dollop of organic sour cream and a sprinkle of shredded cheese on top. Enjoy!

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