Stuffed Portabella mushrooms

I think that at this point its obvious im a "pintrest loving gal." Well over the past year i keep repinning image of stuffed portabello mushrooms that make my mouth water. Last night i decided to go and give it a go. The reault was visually stimulating and the flavor was clean yet rich. Not to mention the mushroom aroma that filled the kitchen

Heres the result...not bad right?!!!

I wasnt very hungry and only made enough for  four

I used

 About 1/4 cup quinoa PER mushroom (that i had previously cooked)

4 unstemmed  portobello mushrooms

1 avocado 

Tofu feta cheese -to taste

Olive oil-to taste

Salt-to taste

This was literally so easy to make I cant believe how short my instructions will be.

I heated the oven to 400 then spitzed some olive oil onto a cookie sheet. 

For the mushrooms

I simply broke of the stems and washed the mushrooms. Spooned in the quinoa sprinkled salt drizzled olive oil on top and popped them in the oven  for about 20 minutes. The mushrooms are very watery and I figured they were ready when there was mushroom juice bubbling on the tray. 

Then I topped them with sliced avocado and tofu feta...THATS IT. 

So easy, so flavorful, so satisfying and so fast! 

Tofu Feta Cheese

Tofu Feta Cheese
For me, the thing I miss the most is cheese. I always say I'm a vegetarian because I don't support systematic killing. After researching I finally went the full yard when I realized that animals in the slaughter house may be killed, but the animals in a dairy farm have to live through  terrible treatment until they can no longer be of use or bear it. I genuinely would not be able to put up with what these poor creatures have to deal with all the time.
anyways
I was at a vegan diner near my home...when I saw they had all these fake cheese options. Theyre all good
especially the feta cheese.
SO I went on pintrest looked up tofu feta cheese
and then gave it my own try
Super easy and cheap!

I used:
1 Container of extra firm tofu
5 small garlic cloves 
1 Lemon
1/2 a lime
salt (to taste... I love salty feta so I used quite a bit)

First thing I did was peel the garlic cloves and mince them (chop into super small pieces). Then I put it in a bowl and squeezed all the juice out of the lemon and added a (espresso) spoonful salt . I mixed it.

Then I took the tofu and peeled back a corner of the cover and drained all the liquid out. Next, I took chunks of the tofu and squeezed it in my hand so more liquid came out. Finally I crumbled the tofu into a bowl and mixed in the lemon-garlic-salt combo I tasted it and squeezed in 1/2 a lime and added more salt. I let this marinate for 12 minutes.

Then I spread out the tofu on a lightly greased cookie sheet and popped it in the oven for 8 minutes at 200 degrees.

(until it seemed that the liquid had been absorbed and it was less wet.) I took it out, let it cool completely, put it in a Tupperware and put it in the fridge!

and it looks so legit!:)

Potatoes, tomatoes for dinner?! oh my!!!

Tonight i made delicious wannabe indian potatoes! My mom makes amazing indian food and i have been craving it alll week. But i dont have all the right spices (especially cumin) sooo once again I improvised!!

First I boiled three potatoes until they were soft enough for me to stick a fork in deeply but not so that they fell apart. Meanwhile I peeled and chopped some ginger and red onion.

And the two tomatoes as well. 

Then I put the onion and ginger in the pan along with a bay leaf and olive oil.

I sauteed them for a little bit then i put in the tomatoes and about 1/4 cup water from the potatoes I boiled. The water has alot of nutrients potatoes release when cooked!  I also sprinkled on tumeric for color.

I put a lid on top of the tomatoes and  to stew/steam them. And cut the potatoes up. Then added them as well and put them under the lid.

I cooked the suckers for 15 minutes on high then lowered the flame for another ten ( should take less time but i kind of undercooked the potatoes) anyways these were they half way! 

And then this is the final result :)

Pumpkin Granola (vegan and gluten free!)

My friend sarah came in for a super quick visit last week. And she introduced me to pumpkin granola. The minute I smelled the stuff I knew I needed to create my own!!

I bought a huge can of pumpkin puree that was on sale and some pumpkin spice.

After looking up recipes on Pinterest I kind of combined all of them into one to cater to what I had. 

These are the ingredients i used 

3 cups rolled oats

3/4 cups quinoa

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 rounded teaspoon of pumpkin spice 

1/2 tsp of Salt 

1taespoon ground flaxseed

1tsp cinnamon

1/3 Cup melted coconut oil

1/2cup pumpkin puree

1tsp vanilla

1/4cup honey

1 tablespoon of brown sugar 

The first thing i did was heat the oven to 325 degrees and melted my coconut oil. I greased two cookie sheets with coconut oil while the oil melted.

Then in a large bowl i mixed the dry ingredients. And in a smaller bowl the wet ingredients, i made sure everything was really well mixed. 

Finally i added the wet ingredients to the dry and mixed those thoroughly.

I spread out my mix super evenly on the two cookie sheets and baked them for 30 minutes; taking them out every ten minutes and moving the granola around. 

The kitchen smelled amazing! And the granola was delicious pumpkin-y and not to sweet! 

 

I had it for lunch today with bananas and apples!!

Baked apple with steel cut oats

I dont have work until 1030 on saturdays now which means...i have an extra hour in the morning to be a person!! But i cant sleep in and i was hungry; 

Therefore i decided to continue my fall inspired kick. And saw that i had two apple and two types of breakfast cereals. SO my mind instantly thought of this pin i saw  on pinterest and i looked it up.

The recipe called for some ingredients i didint have like eggs.so as usual i tweaked it a little.

First I brought

1/2 cup water with a pinch of salt 

To a boil then i added 1/4 cup steal oats. While that cooked i cored one apple.

Then i turned off the oats and mixed in cinnamon and brown sugar. 

I filled the apples with the steel cut oats. Put a little apple cider on the bottom of a baking pan  (the recipe called for orange juice) 

And baked it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. 

This was the beautiful result!

 

I let it cool then put it on a plate.

It came off the pan super easily because of the apple cider! Finally I just Sprinkled on some cinnamon and had an amazing, vegan, gluten free, protein filled delicious breakfast. And honestly it was super easy to make!

Breakfast Protein Flax Bars

My quest for a breakfast bake continues.....and the latest concoction/attempt to make a breakfast bake ended up becoming this amazing protein filled bar. that was extremely filling yet light and perfect to eat really quickly in the morning!

Also on a personal note;  Last week I bought peanut butter and bananas because I was craving protein, fat and potassium (to fight my aching body and early signs of a weird cold-flu that put me out of commission for this past week actually)
ANYWAYS
here is what I did and used this time around :)

• 2 cups GF Oats
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds
• 2 mashed bananas
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• about 1/3 cup coconut milk
• a pinch of salt

I mixed the oats, flax seeds, salt and baking powder. Then I added the peanut butter and bananas which I struggled with until my brain turned on and I added the coconut milk which instantly made the mix less stiff. It turned thick but not lumpy which was what I wanted. Last but not least I spread the oil on the round baking pan and poured in the batter.
I put it all into the oven
and after 25 minutes I got this nicely golden firm yet soft baked oatmeal which i cut into squares right away and let cool
I stored them in an airtight container in the fridge and ate them in the morning with some coffee and coconut milk.

I pretty much only had left over peanut butter and bananas so I put more on top of the bars some morning which enhanced the flavor :)

Protein filled Garbanzo Bean Cakes

I am constantly trying to add protein to my diet. Garbanzo bean flower has 6 grams of protein for every 1/4th cup thus
I decided to invest 4.59 for a bag of Bobs Mill Garbanzo flour and see what i could use it for. 

I have ended up perfecting these garbanzo bean cakes which I have eaten for dinner and lunch. They are really easy to make!

To make them I take 

1/2 a cup of garbanzo bean flour

1cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoon of oil (olive, coconut etc)

1tablespoon of seasoning (salt paprika cumin etc)  

I mix these all in a bowl and then pour the batter pancake style onto a hot griddle with a little olive oil on them and let each side cook for about 2 minutes and voila they are set!

As for toppings you get to play around with them heres a few ideas: 

The first time i made these I put sauteed kale and roasted butternut squash and a little crumbled goat cheese. 

I also made them with chili oil for a super spicy kick and had them

For lunch. i cut the pancakes up and dipped them in hummus

And most recently I made two very thick pancakes and created a type of sandwich!

I simply filled it with spinach an guacamole and hummus! 

Celebrating Fall with Apple Cider in an Apple

SOOO
This past week one of my best friends and I had our birthday. Yes, it is Strange we have the same birthday. Maybe it is also fate. Also it finally got chilly in the Big apple and its finally apple season and the farmers market is once again filled with local farmers selling apples, and apple cider and apple cider donuts.
And being true foodie fall babies, my friend and I spent a day together cooking and celebrating our birthday and the start of our favorite seasons...fall.
THUS WE HAD *you can insert a drumroll here if you wish

APPLE CIDER IN AN APPLE!!!!
It was sooo easy and fun to do!
we simply bought local apples at the farmers market
and cider.
then we cut out the center of the apples.
-This took the longest time in out preparation. We cut a square around the core and cut that out with a small, but sharp knife then we were lucky to have decently soft apples so that we could use spoons to scrape out the insides. I finished them off by trimming the inside with the knife. It was kind of like taking out the inside of a pumpkin before you carve one except... without goey stringy pumpkin stuff and pumpkin seeds.
also there is the exciting moment when you see there is a star flower in the center of the apple

I always am excited by these little pretty things you find in nature

Finally we filled our little apple mugs with hot apple cider that we heated on the stove and sprinkled on cinnamon and took a sip
:)

 It is so amazing how much the raw fresh apple enhances the flavor of the apple cider itself. Also our apples had a nice tangy-ness to them that contrasted with the sweetness of the cider. AND  the heat of the apple cider made the apple soft inside but crisp on the outside so when we were done we ate the apple and bit into the cup. It was crispy and soft and delicious!!! I felt like my childhood dream of trying the edible teacup in willy wonka and the chocolate factory was finally being full filled (the version with jean wilder. I clearly remember when he sits down drinks and then bites into the crisp yellow teacup thats supposedly a candy flower)

Taking her first sip :)

Kale Kraze

KALE 
its rich in iron. its rich in fiber. its a leafy green. its in season. i got a huge bag of it for 1.99 at trader joes
and ...I had a kale filled week last week!
its also easy to incorporate and fill up a plate.
I ate it steamed
and I ate it raw.
and  it was alll amazingly filling delicious and as I mainly prefer CHEAP and super fast!
 I had kale in multiple forms and here are my two favorites of the week

*Kale Tacos: aka fastest dinner I prepared last week
This was a surprisingly amazing result of a craving for my mothers mexican food and being to broke to buy any mexican food down the street.
 It actually took me about five minutes to make:
I took canned black beans and heated them. I heated tortillas. I took some of my mothers salsa (which is similar to salsa they have in alot of chinese restaurants. Its kind of like a chili paste but I cant give away the recipe :/ its also EXTREMELY spicy) and put the salsa on the tortilla.
I put the beans in the tortillas and added raw kale and chopped tomatoes and  VOILA
 one helll of a tasty meal.

KALE TACOS

 *any salsa would work for these tacos and im sure theyd be even more amazing with more toppings like cheese or if you eat meat...with steak etc.



* Steamed Kale with Sweet Potatoes and Tomatoes
 This was also ridiculously easy to make.

 I boiled 1 diced sweet potato in water until it was soft then I dumped out the water and finished it off in olive oil and salt and added some tomato slices. I have this thing were I love cooked tomatoes the combination of sweet and tangy makes me oh so happy :)
The Kale I simply put in a saucepan with some water and steamed it.
I put both on a plate sprinkled them with salt and then ate on my fire escape 

*Oh and another day I sauteed the sweet potatoes in my mothers salsa and had them with steamed kale which was also amazing :)

ANYWAYS kale is amazing and cheap and these are the cheap yummy meals of the last week
:)

Breakfast for this week:
Gluten free and Vegan Berry Almond Cereal
I experiment in the kitchen constantly.
....mainly because I don't ever really plan what I am cooking exactly so when I grocery shop I buy things; then dream up what I can do with them and whatever I have stocked in my pantry.
So this week I bought only fruits, veggies, nuts and coconut milk. BY THE WAY it was the first time I bought groceries in two weeks and after surviving off frozen vegetables and GF pasta for a week All I want is vegetables...that are not frozen.
Every sunday night I embrace my inner housewife clean, do laundry and then prep my meals for the week.  This saves me time during the week and guarantees I am eating a well balanced meal/enough during the week. Every day I mix up the core of my weeks meal with some different garnishes/spices.

This week for my breakfast I kind of envisioned a breakfast bake....and my experiment led to a some sort of moist granola.
It was simple to put together
I used

• 2 cups Gluten free oats
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds (you can adjust how nutty you want to be)
• 1/3 cup frozen berry cherry blend from traders joes  (aka cherries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries)
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 a tablespoon of coconut oil
• cinnamon to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

I simply chopped almonds and then mixed tall the dry ingredients together. I added the coconut oil first and then the milk. The oats absorbed the milk right away.

 I then heated the oven to 325 degrees and popped them in. I checked on the oats often stirring them to make sure they wouldnt burn. After 25 minutes I took them out. The oats were browned but not hard or crunchy like granola...thanks to the coconut oil and milk.

I put them in the fridge overnight in an air tight container and they stayed fresh and soft.

 Andddd then I put some in a bowl and added coconut milk and bananas!!!
It was pretty darn good :)

So even though I didnt get my envisioned breakfast bake....I love the result. And I now realized that I didn't use enough coconut oil because I had it in the fridge where it became a solid rock of white oil. Also I need to add something like peanut butter t make the ingredients stick to make the oats stick together. Luckily next I can continue my experiment