Fantastic Five Layer Dip

The season for Holiday gatherings is upon us. If you are like me, the majority of your friends, families, and acquaintances don't share the same zeal for healthful, nutrient dense, plant based foods. You may hear questions like "What? No Meat?" or "Where's the cheese?" Or you may hear declarations such as "I could never eat like that." or "I love my meat, there's no way I could ever give that up."

I always find that if I introduce a dish as vegan, plant based, vegetarian, most of the above mentioned folks automatically decide that they won't like it. I decided to try a different angle this weekend at a pot luck BBQ for my daughter's basketball team.

I thought about it and decided to bring a healthful version of an all time party food favorite. Normally it's a seven layer dip with a layer of cheese and sour cream, but I omitted those two and piled on extra fresh goodness. I placed the dish on the table and didn't excuse it or introduce it as healthy or vegetarian. I walked away and watched it disappear! Everyone raved over it, which made my heart happy! Luckily someone brought a couple fruit trays, so with a nice generous helping of the five layer dip and a mound of fruit, I had a fantastic BBQ lunch.

 

Fantastic Five Layer Dip

 

You will need:

 

2 large cans fat free refried black beans (I think they were 1.5 lbs each)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 limes

4 avocados, chopped

4 green onions, sliced all the way - white and green part

1 jalapeno

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t cumin

 

In a large bowl, combine the beans, juice of 1 1/2 limes, garlic powder, and cumin. Spread this mixture in the bottom of a glass 9x13 dish.

 

Toss the chopped avocados with the juice of 1/2 lime.

 

In order, layer the following ingredients evenly over the beans: tomatoes, avocados, green onions, cilantro.

 

Seed and chop the jalapenos. I like to sprinkle these over half the dish so that the spicy food lovers and the mild food lovers can both enjoy the dip. I like to identify the spicy side with half a jalapeno or a few slices that are visible because the chopped ones are camouflaged in the cilantro.

 

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. In the spirit of keeping this healthy, try some organic sweet potato tortilla chips or multi seeded tortilla chips.

 

Enjoy and Shhh! Don't tell them it's vegan!

 

Mmm

Spicy Oven Roasted Cauliflower

Oh, mama.

It's hard to describe the sheer deliciousness of this dish.

I can, however, tell you that it makes this mother's heart happy to see her children devour every last morsel of a vegetable that isn't exactly famous for pleasing picky palates.

I've been seeing a few versions "Buffalo Cauliflower" floating around the internet lately, especially on Pinterest. I've clicked on several of them, but they all seem to have a considerable amount of butter or some other kind of fat in them. When I read reviews, one of the most common responses is something like this: "Looks good, but what about an oil free version?"

While I am not 100% oil free, I am working towards that goal, so I do look at all recipes now with a different perspective. Anything I recreate is going to have lesser amounts of oil. I will still use some, but it definitely won't have a major role in any dish I make. Actually, if you want to make my recipes, just omit the oil and you'll be fine.

One of my favorite pre-vegetarian meals was buffalo wings. I love the flavors, the spicy sauces and the sticky fingers. I DON'T miss the meat stuck in my teeth or the tummy aches that soon followed, not to mention the number of birds that went into that meal.

I made this recipe to be a delicious vegetable dish, and I struck from my mind the thought that this is supposed to be a substitute for Buffalo wings. I used an enormous head of cauliflower and roasted half the old fashioned way (I have a couple kids that don't like spiciness as much as I do) and the other half I made spicy for the Dannys and me. The spiciness of the Sriracha is a perfect combination with the creamy sweetness of the coconut milk, while the garlic gives it a tantalizing aroma that makes the whole house smell delicious. There isn't a single bite left behind! I served the family a little piece of chicken breast, salad, and a big mound of the cauliflower. For myself, I had just the salad with it. Two hours later, I still feel satisfied!

Spicy Oven Roasted Cauliflower

 

Preheat oven to 375

 

You will need:

1 large head of cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces. Separate into two equal portions

1/3 c coconut milk

2-3 t Sriracha (or more to taste)

1 t garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

 

In a large bowl, combine coconut milk, Sriracha, and garlic powder. Toss half of the cauliflower in the mixture till evenly coated. Spread on a large cookie sheet that has been lightly oiled, sprayed with non-stick spray, or covered in parchment paper.

 

You can either double this recipe or you can roast half of it tossed with a little bit of olive oil (1-2 T) plus seasoning of choice. I used salt and pepper and garlic powder. Spread this on a second cookie sheet.

 

Using two oven racks, place pans in oven. After 10 minutes, check on it. Give a little stir to ensure even browning. After another 5 minutes, see if it needs another stir and swap the pans on the racks. Check every 5 minutes or so and remove from oven when the cauli is GBD. I am sad to say that mine didn't make it to the golden part because my kids were salivating over the aroma of the roasting cauliflower and assuring me that they didn't need them to be GBD, they just wanted to eat it. They stood over the pan and ate a bunch of very hot cauliflower before it even had a chance to make it to their plates! I, on the other hand, sat down and savored every last bite. This is some good stuff!

 

Enjoy!

Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchilada Bake

You can tell when a Mexican restaurant is good by the way their enchilada sauce tastes. At least, that is the way I could tell, even though I never ate them. I did always take a bite of kids' enchiladas, though, and the enchilada sauce was always a good indicator of the quality of the food served there.

In the last year, as you can well imagine, I have eaten at very few restaurants. My favorite food is Mexican, but not all the MX restaurants in this area are vegetarian friendly. The ones that are, are definitely NOT vegan friendly. In fact, with a little questioning, I found that most sauces (even though dish is labeled vegetarian) are made with chicken or beef stock. Unfortunately, most places believe that lack of actual meat equals vegetarian. And let's not even address the cheese and sour cream issue!

OK, rant over. Here goes the recipe talk.

My little old Hispanic neighbor lady taught me how to make her special enchilada sauce when we moved in here about 12 years ago. Oh yes, it was a lovely sauce. Very tasty indeed. However, it wasn't lacking in fat, not at all! In fact, her sauce was appx 1/3 vegetable oil! It was fine back in the years when I didn't give much of a thought about what I was eating. I even tweaked the recipe with less oil and the use of bouillon and ground beef, as well as LOTS of cheese, but now there is no chance that I'd prepare that recipe for myself or my family. Seriously, it was delicious and I am not knocking her food, we've just become more conscientious eaters and choose to make better choices with what we eat.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went on a little field trip to a neat little restaurant in a neighboring town. I ordered the black bean sweet potato enchilada stacks, which were ridiculously delicious. As with all dishes that I try and enjoy, I promptly start formulating a way to recreate them in my own kitchen.

While the restaurant version is a little saucier (I think the tortillas had a coating of oil that prevented the sauce from getting absorbed) I think I came pretty close. I also didn't use cheese or sour cream in mine, choosing to use avocados instead.

I did a little research online, comparing different recipes, and ended up creating my own version. Boy was it good! I will definitely make this again, and I am thinking it would be a fabulous dish to take to a pot luck. My meat eaters loved it, so I think it would be a hit in mixed company.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchilada Bake

 

Preheat oven to 375

 

For the enchiladas, you will need:

 

1 dozen corn tortillas (I used homemade, but any will do)

3 small to medium sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed, and cooked*

2 c black beans, drained

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 t olive oil

salt and pepper

 

*cook sweet potatoes any way you like. You can bake them first, then remove from skins and roughly chop. You can steam them for 10-15 minutes (I did that). Sautee in a little olive oil, or roast cubed potatoes in the oven.

 

In a large skillet, sautee the onions in olive oil till translucent. Set aside about a third of the sautéed onions for the sauce. Add cooked sweet potatoes and beans and stir together, lightly mashing everything together. You want it to be chucky but with enough of it mashed to hold things together. When your sauce is done, add about 1/4th cup of it to the mixture for added flavor and moisture.

 

For the sauce:

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes

4-5 arbol chiles, soaked in a half cup boiling water

1/2 t garlic powder

1 t chili powder

1/2 t cumin

the onions that you set aside from the enchiladas

 

Put all sauce ingredients into a blender and let 'er rip on high for a couple of minutes. I don't usually go over 1 minute, but you can adjust the time according to the strength of your blender. I use a Nutribullet.

 

In a 9X13 baking dish sprayed with non stick spray or lightly oiled or lined with parchment paper (I use a pampered chef baking dish and don't need any spray because it's well seasoned), add about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce. Line the bottom of the dish with 6 tortillas. I place them down, one by one, and flip them so they are coated on both sides. Add the sweet potato and bean mixture. Dip the remaining tortillas in the sauce and place on top of the filling. Pour remainder of the sauce over the top, making sure to evenly coat everything and to get sauce down into the nooks and crannies.

 

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, till heated through.

 

Serve with sliced avocados on top.

 

Confession, I added cheese to the 2/3's of the casserole that my family ate. I added just enough to say there was cheese. This quieted the "Is there meat in there?" questions with a "No, but there is cheese." "Ok."

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Vegan sweet potato casserole

My mother in law loves the sweet potato casserole I make every year for Thanksgiving. I've made it many different ways, but I absolutely refuse to make it with marshmallows! LOL I just NEVER liked it that way, even in my reckless-eat-whatever-the-heck-I-wanted years.

My mom once shared a delicious sweet potato praline casserole recipe with me one year, and I made it, but it was so incredibly decadent that it ranked up there in the very rich dessert category. It was yummy, though.

Now that I have been striving to remove the use of animal products from my recipes, I had to come up with a way to make the sweet potato casserole that would appeal to those that don't care whether it's plant based or not. With a couple of easy substitutions, I was able to make this delicious version that everyone loved!

I will also share with you my method for easy glazed pecans that I have been doing lately. The trick with these is to keep your kids away from them because they love to pick the pecans off the top of the dish, leaving little holes behind. At least my kids do that. Thieves!

 

This recipe makes a large amount, perfect for sharing at a potluck.

 

6 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed, and boiled till tender

1/3 c coconut oil

2/3 c unsweetened almond milk

1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 t salt

 

Easy glazed pecans

 

1 c pecans, chopped

2 t maple syrup

1 1/2 T brown sugar

1/4 t cinnamon

 

Preheat oven to 350. Mash the sweet potatoes with coconut oil, sugar, salt, and almond milk. Pour mixture into a greased 9X13 baking dish (I used a pampered chef stoneware pan). Spread evenly.

 

In a small bowl, combine pecans with maple syrup to coat. Add brown sugar and cinnamon and toss till all pecans are covered. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the sweet potatoes.

 

Bake for 20-25 minutes till the pecans are GBD and glaze-y.

 

Enjoy!

Holiday Kale Salad

With Thanksgiving behind us, I am finally finding the time to sit down and share a couple of recipes that I prepared for our family.

My lovely sister in law in San Antonio hosted TG this year, which turned out to be a plus for me because I didn't have to cook a turkey. It was my pleasure to prepare a few meat free side dishes and watch the family enjoy them.

My mother in law put in a special request for corn casserole (not plant based) and sweet potato casserole (vegan version!). I took it upon myself to create this new dish which I call Holiday Kale Salad.

A few of my in-laws looked at it and said, "Too green!" but for the brave ones who tried it, they loved it. It is a great combination of tantalizing fall flavors set on a crisp green palate rather than a heavy starchy calorie laden one.

 

Holiday Kale Salad

 

For a large, family sized amount, you will need:

 

2 bunches kale washed and dried, stemmed and chopped into small bite sized pieces

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 c dried cranberries

1 c pecans, chopped

 

for the dressing:

1/3 c lemon juice

2 t olive oil

1-2 T maple syrup (adjust to taste)

2 t brown mustard

dash salt and pepper

 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking pan with non stick spray or a smear of olive oil. Alternately use a silicone liner for oil free baking. Bake cubed sweet potatoes till tender and GBD (golden brown delicious). Stir in pan after 10 minutes to check progress and ensure they are evenly browning. In total, 20 minutes or so.

 

If your pecans aren't toasted, put them in another pan and toast in the oven for the first 5-7 minutes while the potatoes cook.

 

Toss kale, sweet potatoes, pecans and cranberries together in a big bowl.

 

Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving, tossing once or twice during that time to redistribute the dressing.

 

(I ate this for leftovers the morning after, and it was still wonderful!)

 

Enjoy!