Entree

Vegan Pumpkin Baked Ziti (Easy Thanksgiving Vegetarian Main)

November 14, 2017ALL, Entree, Fall, Thanksgiving, Vegan183

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This Vegan Pumpkin Baked Ziti recipe (from the Veganomicon cookbook) is the perfect easy Thanksgiving Vegetarian main dish. It can even be made ahead of time and baked just before serving!

Okay don’t panic but Thanksgiving is next week. Are you ready? Yeah, me either. I think we all can agree that being a vegetarian around the holidays can be a bit tricky. After many years of going to holiday dinners and realizing I could only indulge in the salad and rolls, I’ve discovered that my best way to enjoy the holidays (and avoid pity smiles from others looking at my plate) is to take control. And when I say take control, I don’t mean run to the freezer aisle and pick out one of those deformed tofurkeys that your relatives will snicker about behind your back all day (darn you mean cousins!). I’m talking about whipping up your own vegetarian main dish that will smell so amazing, all your family members will scoop some onto their plates without even realizing it’s vegan. Here is a perfect example of this: after I whipped up this casserole this past weekend, Wyatt anxiously stood behind while I photographed these photos and asked “When do I get to eat this cheesy goodness? It smells amazing!”. I smiled, handed him a plate, and watched him devour the whole thing without even noticing that it didn’t have a drop of cheese (or any dairy) in it. I’m telling you is going to love this!

Ginger Sesame Tofu & Winter Vegetable Stir-Fry

November 7, 2017ALL, Entree, Side13

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This Ginger Sesame Tofu & Winter Vegetable Stir-Fry is the perfect quick and easy veggie packed weeknight meal for two! This post was made in collaboration with and sponsored by the generous folks at Taylor Farms but all opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make VV possible.

How is it already November? Is it just me or is the rest of this year going to fly by? Between getting ready to move into our new home, end of year freelance projects, and the holidays quickly approaching, I’m starting to feel overwhelmed by the thought of keeping up with everyday things like laundry and getting dinner on the table. Luckily for my sanity, I’ve discovered these super delicious and quick to make stir-fry kits from Taylor Farms! The Ginger Garlic kit I’ve been making has made it possible for me to have dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes. Like what? That is unheard of in our house if it’s not take-out!

Pumpkin Farro Risotto with Roasted Winter Vegetables

October 23, 2017ALL, Entree, Winter10

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This Pumpkin Farro Risotto with Roasted Winter Vegetables is a great vegetarian holiday entree option or the perfect dinner for a chilly winter evening.

DISCLAIMER: This post was sponsored by Nuts.com but all opinions are, of course, my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make VV possible.

I’m extra excited about collaborating with Nuts.com today because this post is part of their holiday Local Pantry Donation Program so all of the income I would normally be making from this will be being donated to my local pantry. They were even kind enough to send so much farro that I’ll be able to donate a few bags to my pantry as well! As if Nuts.com wasn’t already on my favorites list (how else do I get my hard to find ingredients in our small Indiana town?), this really wonderful charity initiative definitely put them up there!

Butternut Squash Ricotta Pierogi with Brown Butter Hazelnut Sauce

September 29, 2017ALL, Entree, Fall20

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These Butternut Squash Ricotta Pierogi with Brown Butter Hazelnut Sauce are the perfect fall meal. The dumplings are stuffed with a slightly sweet ricotta butternut filling and then served with crispy hazelnuts and sage.

And just like that, we’ve moved on from summer flavors like tomatoes and corn to hearty fall flavors like sage and butternut. I know a lot of people are bummed about summer coming to a close but fall is my favorite season so I can’t wait for sweater weather, apple picking, and all the changing leaves.

Walnut Meat Tacos with Peach Tomato Salsa

September 19, 2017ALL, Entree, Summer19

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This Walnut Meat Tacos with Peach Tomato Salsa recipe can be made in under 20 minutes and requires minimal cook time which makes them perfect for quick weeknight meals. They are also gluten-free, vegetarian, and can easily be made vegan by omitting the yogurt or sour cream. This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mission®. All opinions are entirely my own.

If you follow me on Instagram stories then you have probably noticed that I make quinoa taco “meat” almost weekly. We loveeeee tacos around here because they are such an easy way to load up on vegetables and a protein without having to spend hours preparing a bunch of different courses. The only drawback to quinoa meat for me is that it does take a good 45 minutes to make which can feel like all night when you’ve been working all day and just want something to eat right when you get home. And that is exactly why I’ve been turning more and more to walnut “taco meat” lately because it requires less than 5 minutes of cooking and you can have dinner ready in under 20 minutes without compromising flavor or texture.

Tomato & Cherry Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

August 18, 2017ALL, Entree, Salad, Side, Summer15

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This Tomato & Cherry Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette recipe is light but filling and ideal for a quick late summer starter or side.

Okay – it’s the middle of August and the summer has been flying by! It’s about time for a check-in, yeah? Here is what I’ve been up to lately:

I’ve been keeping super busy with interviews and event promotions for Vegetarian Heartland. It’s weird to think that the book only came out 6 weeks ago! I’ve loved reading all of the Amazon reviews, seeing the book on Anthropologie, and being able to walk into Barnes and Noble to pick it off the shelf. Very exciting time, to say the least!
June and July were super busy with wedding and family events so we’ve spent most of August enjoying the thriving garden and cooking up all the in-season produce. What have been your favorite recipes lately? This salad (listed below) has been on repeat for us (it’s so easy to throw together since Taylor Farm’s salad kit already has so much included) as well as this White Bean Caprese. Tomatoes on everything, please!
We’ve been on both the house hunt and a dog hunt (still can’t figure out which will come first). I really think it would be fun to have a small dog around here since Tuko is so big. Tuko may be a big boxer but he is also a big baby so I can already see the little dog bossing him around (which would be very good for his spoiled only child personality). We are thinking either a pug or chihuahua (whichever we can find at the shelter first).
Ive also been thinking that it’s time for a new blog design layout around here. I want something completely fresh and a little more unique than what I have right now – maybe a magazine style photo layout or even have it show up like a fancy menu or something? I’ve been trying to take inspiration from sites outside of the blogging world but haven’t figured out quite how to translate that yet. I just know I want something modern, simple, and different. Have you seen any site designs that you’ve been crushing on lately? I love this one.

And now lets talk about this salad! In the past, I usually just bought my greens on their own and made my salad based on what I had on hand but I was surprised by how much I appreciated that this Taylor Farm’s Salad Kit did all the heavy lifting for me. As someone who usually only makes one item for dinner a night, it was nice to be able to have use this salad kit as a healthy side without it feeling like a ton of extra work. The lemon dressing is tangy and bright which pairs wonderfully with the juicy tomatoes. I love the addition of the crunchy croutons (which are already included in the kit for – again – an easy assembly!) as they add another layer of texture. I also added a dash of salt and pepper at the end to bring out all the flavors.

And obviously, if you can’t find this Taylor Farms product near you, you can swap in a bunch of kale and your favorite dressing.

Is your garden or farmers market bursting with tomatoes? Are you craving a little healthy in your life? What are you waiting for? Go make this Tomato & Cherry Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette!

5 from 1 vote

Summer Salads For A Crowd

Print

Tomato & Cherry Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Prep Time

10 mins

Total Time

10 mins

This Tomato & Cherry Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette recipe is a light but filling and ideal for a quick late summer starter or side.

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Servings: 4 as a side or starter

Ingredients

1 Taylor Farm's Kale Chopped Salad Kit
2 medium heirloom tomatoes (or 2 small heirloom tomatoes and a few cherry tomatoes) sliced
1/2 cup cherries sliced (and pitted, if you'd like)
1/4 basil torn
salt and pepper

Instructions

Remove the dressing, asiago cheese, and croutons from the the Taylor Farm's Kale Chopped Salad Kit and set aside.
Add chopped salad to a serving bowl and mix in the croutons, tomatoes, and cherries.
Drizzle the dressing packet that came with the salad kit over the salad and serve right away.

This post was made in collaboration with and sponsored by the generous folks at Taylor Farms but all opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make VV possible.

White Bean Caprese Panzanella / The Lazy Girl’s Summer Lunch

August 2, 2017ALL, Bread, Entree, Salad, Summer15

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White Bean Caprese Panzanella is the perfect simple summer meal. This six ingredient recipe takes less than 10 minutes to make & is perfect for one.

It is very not often that I share a recipe this simple (outside of my ‘Simple Sunday’s series). But it’s summer and no one wants to slave away in the kitchen all day on a gorgeous afternoon that could be spent at the lake or pool. And, I don’t know about you, we’ve been busy busy busy with out of town engagements and family visiting so I don’t think I could even find the time to spent a whole day in the kitchen if I wanted. Luckily, summer’s bountiful harvest lends itself to light and easy meals since fresh herbs and juicy tomatoes are flavorful enough to steal the show (without much cooking involved).

I’ve been calling this recipe the ‘lazy girl’s lunch’ because it literally takes 5 minutes to whip up and only has 6 ingredients. It’s sort of a mix between a caprese (without the pesto) and a panzanella salad. Because the recipe requires so few ingredients, make sure they are all high quality and at their peak moment – tomatoes should be at their juiciest and go out of your way to get a fresh loaf of bread from a local bakery. Also, try to use a robust and quality olive oil if you have it.

Additionally, I added a punch of protein with the white beans which are so mellow that they don’t steal the show but help keep you full through the afternoon. Now what are you waiting for? Go whip this up for lunch!

5 from 2 votes

Print

White Bean Caprese Panzanella

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Total Time

10 mins

White Bean Caprese Panzanella is the perfect summer lunch recipe. This six ingredient meal takes less than 10 minutes to make & is great for tomato season.

Course: Main

Cuisine: summer, Vegetarian

Servings: 1 serving

Calories: 543 kcal

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil divided
2 pieces small sourdough loaf, torn
6 cherry tomatoes, halved, or 1 heirloom tomato slices
2 oz torn mozzarella
1/2 cup canned white beans drained and rinsed
6 small basil leaves torn
salt / pepper

Instructions

Heat a small saucepan over medium-high and add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add torn sourdough and a dash of salt and pepper. Toss bread until completely coated in oil and seasoning. Cook for five minutes, tossing the bread often so it evenly toasts on all sides. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.
Add tomatoes, mozzarella, remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil, and white beans to the bowl and toss to combine. Garnish with basil leaves and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy right away.

Nutrition Facts

White Bean Caprese Panzanella

Amount Per Serving

Calories 543 Calories from Fat 369

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 41g 63%

Saturated Fat 11g 55%

Cholesterol 44mg 15%

Sodium 382mg 16%

Potassium 671mg 19%

Total Carbohydrates 25g 8%

Dietary Fiber 5g 20%

Sugars 3g

Protein 20g 40%

Vitamin A 20.2%

Vitamin C 28.2%

Calcium 36.3%

Iron 20.1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Vegan Breakfast Polenta with Rose-Roasted Plums

June 14, 2017ALL, Breakfast, Entree, Summer, Vegan28

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This Vegan Breakfast Polenta with Rose-Roasted Plums recipe is from Aine Carlin’s cookbook, The New Vegan, and is the perfect whole food savory breakfast.

Today’s recipe comes from Aine Carlin’s cookbook, The New Vegan. This book is such an amazing reminder of how far along the vegan food culture has come in the last decade. I always try to get vegan at least a few days out of the week and became really into cooking vegan at home when I discovered Isa Moskowitz’s approachable vegan cookbooks in college. Aine takes it to a whole new level with not only approachable and simple recipes but insanely gorgeous modern photos to accompany the recipes. Unlike a lot of vegan cookbooks I’ve come across, she doesn’t rely on processed meat substitutes (tofu, seitan, etc) and instead focuses on whole foods and loading her recipes with veggies (my favorite thing to do for meal time). In addition to breakfast recipes like this one, you’ll find snacks, sweets, weeknight meals, and big gathering recipes in her delicious book.

Purple Corn Veggie Fritters

April 19, 2017ALL, Entree, Side6

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This Purple Corn Veggie Fritters recipe is so easy to make for weeknight dinner and can be altered to fit whatever ingredients you may already have on hand.

Checking in today before I start a rather exciting day. Today my copies of Vegetarian Heartland are supposed to come in the mail and I am beyond excited / gitty / reaalllllly nervous. I’ve day dreamed about the moment I would get to hold my own book in my hands for years and yet that day is finally here. What if it’s not everything I want it to be? What if I cry in front of the mailman? What if it’s perfect?

Potato Grape and Rosemary Pizza

April 5, 2017ALL, Entree, Winter7

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This homemade Sweet and Savory Vegetarian Potato Grape and Rosemary Pizza Recipe is the perfect meat-free weeknight dinner!

Anyone else beyond excited for spring produce? I feel like a little kid anxiously waiting for their birthday that is still weeks away. The weather feels like spring and my body is begging for a crisp spring salad but my garden is still all soil. I’m trying to give winter it’s one last hurrah while I (not so) patiently wait by incorporating winter ingredients into things that my taste buds just cannot resist, no matter how much they are over winter: pizza, pasta, and well…more pizza. That brings me to this gem I’m sharing today; this Potato Grape and Rosemary pizza skips the heavy tomato sauce for a light rosemary-infused olive oil spread over a crispy crust that is then topped with thinly sliced boiled tomatoes, juicy tart grapes, savory provolone, and salty Parmesan. It’s all garnished with more rosemary, a hint of heat from red pepper flakes, and the tiniest bit of sweet from a drizzle of honey. It has a lot going on all while perfectly balancing the irresistibly addicting sweet and savory flavor we’ve all come to crave (or maybe that’s just me craving it?).

Vegan Waldorf Wheatberry Salad

March 28, 2017ALL, Appetizer, Entree, Salad, Side, Snack, Vegan7

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This Vegan Waldorf Wheatberry Salad is the perfect simple recipe for a filling lunch or side at dinner. #Tastelikebetter

I originally planned to call this recipe ‘Healthy-ish Vegan Wheatberry Waldorf-Inspired Salad’ but dashes just don’t work in hyperlinks and that title is wayyyy too long so I went with ‘Vegan Wheatberry Waldorf Salad’ even though this is merely a riff on the classic.

Creamy Quinoa and White Bean Risotto with Crispy Brassica Florets

February 28, 2017ALL, Entree, Vegan, Winter23

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This Creamy Quinoa and White Bean Risotto with Crispy Brassica Florets is from The First Mess cookbook. This healthy plant-based main dish is chocked full of protein (from the quinoa and white beans) and satisfyingly creamy. A perfect cozy meal for chilly evenings or to serve to for a crowd.

Today’s recipe comes from Laura Wright’s new cookbook, The First Mess cookbook. I should warn you ahead of time that I may get a little fan girl in this post since I’ve been a huge fan of The First Mess since I got into blogging 5+ years ago. Laura has this way of making vibey plant-based recipes so flawlessly accessible that you can’t help but want to try them all. She manages to make these amazing healthy drinks and meals that feel like the perfect balance between something you’d find in a new issue of Bon Appetit and your hippie neighbor’s potion cabinet.

Vegetarian Polenta Pizza Stuffed Peppers

February 15, 2017ALL, Entree62

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This Vegetarian Polenta Pizza Stuffed Peppers recipe is the perfect weeknight plant-based meal. Chocked full of nutritious vegetables, filling polenta, and gooey cheese, this main is sure to please everyone in your family!

We are just getting back into the swing of things after being on vacation in California for 10 days. I’m in that blissful in between state right now of still feeding off of the excitement of new experiences while also being so glad to be back in the comfort of our home. Upon arriving home, I immediately showered Tuko (my boxer) in hugs and kisses and then raced into the kitchen to do some comfort baking (in the form of whipping up a batch of banana muffins from some bananas that had been ripening on our counter the entire time we were gone). All the fancy CA restaurants were amazing but I spent the second half of our trip itching to get back into the kitchen.

Healthy Vegetarian Lentil-Walnut Meatballs

January 23, 2017ALL, Entree, Winter44

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These Healthy Vegetarian Lentil-Walnut Meatballs are the perfect meat-free meal. Serve them with spaghetti and your favorite tomato sauce for a hearty main.

Hiiii! I’ve got ANOTHER veg main for you all today (BOOYAHH – take THAT New Year’s resolution). I’ve been spending a lot of my free time this month cooking up homemade meals (hellooo irresistible chili and addictive tacos), listening to inspirational podcasts while getting my steps in (gotta please that Fitbit), and snuggling under the covers on the couch with my boxer pup and a feel-good novel. What have you been up to to curb the winter blues?

Vegetarian Quinoa Taco Meat Tostadas

January 10, 2017ALL, Entree, Side, Summer, Vegan64

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This Vegetarian Quinoa Taco Meat Tostadas recipe is a quick and simple meat-free weeknight main entree. The quinoa taco meat is a healthy substitute for crumbled beef and a must-try for any vegetarian!

I so wish I could take credit for inventing the amazing thing that is quinoa taco meat. It’s smokey, slightly spicy, a complete protein, and even looks like taco meat from afar! But alas, I came across it on Pinterest way back when and it seems to have become most popular through Minimalist Baker. I’ve toyed with even adding it to VV since it’s already done so well in places but this is one of those recipes that I make weekly for dinner (and use the leftovers in quesadillas for lunch) so it seemed so silly to hide this recipe from you. Also, after making it so many times on the regular, I’ve tweaked the recipe here and there and have come up with what I consider the best version. My secret ingredient is smoked paprika for a smoky (almost meat-y) flavor.

Make sure you use white quinoa for this recipe as I find tri-colored quinoa to be a bit temperamental because, for me, it doesn’t always seem to cook evenly. I’ve kept the topping servings general below as the amount needed is all going to depend on how many of the toppings you serve and how much toppings people like to use. I’d recommend planning for about 1 cup of toppings per person (per every 2 tostadas).

I do think the quinoa taco meat is even better the next day. To store, place in a sealed container and keep in the fridge. When ready to enjoy, either warm in the oven or in a skillet on the stove-top – either work great!

Creamy Vegetarian White Chili

January 3, 2017ALL, Entree, Winter346

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Creamy Vegetarian White Chili recipe that is cozy and filling (with vegan option). Ideal for healthy weeknight meals or chilly afternoons.

First post of 2017 – woot woot! How are you all feeling? Refreshed? Excited? Or overwhelmed at the thought of all the things you put off at the end of 2016? I’m honestly feeling a little bit of all three. Instead of getting a head start on my taxes and working ahead on freelance projects, I’ve been spending most of my free time researching what to do / eat / see on our west coast trip next month.

I’m headed out to the west for a weekend blog retreat but it seemed silly to fly so far just for two days so Wyatt is going to meet me out there for a week of adventuring afterwards. We’ll be traveling down the coast, starting in SF, making our way through Big Sur, and then eventually ending up in LA. Knowing I want to see the ocean, cliffs, and Redwoods is the easy part – trying to figure out how to cram everything into 48 hours in LA / SF has been the trickier part…

I’m what you would call a bit of an over-planner (and really love it) so I have an Evernote going of our trip that is broken up into 4 hours segments (yup – I’m crazy, I know). Is it too crazy to plan 3 breakfasts in one day? Because the brunch scene in SF seems pretty insane according to Pinterest. Also, got any suggestions for us? Where are the best vegetarian places to eat in SF and LA? Please let me know because I don’t want to miss ANYTHING!

Okay, now back to why you came here – this Creamy Vegetarian White Chili! One of my 2017 goals is to share more vegetarian main recipes with you all and this chili fits the bill. I make this vegetarian chili recipe often in the winter and was honestly starting to fill a bit burnt out on it. Then, the other week, I came across this chicken white chili recipe and just knew I had to develop a veg version. Honestly, I didn’t even know ‘white chili’ was a thing until I saw this recipe! All the amazing flavor and spices of chili + creaminess? Sign me up! And you know what? It didn’t disappoint. Loaded with tons of nutrient-rich veggies, protein-packed beans, and flavorful spices, I can already tell this is going to become a regular in our house.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Main Entree Recipe: Mini Pumpkin Pot Pie

November 3, 2016Entree, Fall, Thanksgiving319

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These Mini Pumpkin Pot Pie are the perfect vegetarian Thanksgiving main dish. They also make great weeknight meals as they can be mostly prepped ahead of time.

This post is part two of a six part series on Hosting a Vegetarian Thanksgiving. Please visit post one for the full menu and tips a hosting your own meat-free holiday.

I want to cover two things in today’s post: tips for setting a simple and modern table and vegetarian main recipes. In part one, we talked about general tips for hosting your own Thanksgiving and I want to dive a little deeper and talk specifically about table settings today. As a rather young woman (in my late 20s), hosting my own dinner parties was SO intimating for so long. Not only do you have to time cooking 4 to 10 dishes but you have to think about the mood and vibe at your party: how is the table setting it going to look? What kind of music will you have playing? What about the lighting? Okay, maybe the second two aren’t as important to you (and that’s okay) but let’s at least cover the table since that is a major one. Here are my tips for setting a minimal and modern table for Thanksgiving (or any big dinner gathering, really):

Keep it neutral. Your dinner is first and foremost about the food so don’t pick out a bunch of tabletop items that are going to distract from the natural beauty of your dishes. I opted for a light beige tablecloth with beige napkins and wood and marble utensils. White, cream, grey, brown, and maybe even a light mustard would work well here.
Pick a few favorite items and create the theme around them. I created my table setting around these gorgeous beige napkins and little salt bowls so I made sure to pick out a table cloth that matched the napkins and utensils that went well with the wood. A lot of people may choose items based on a big centerpieces they have picked out which is also a great way to go. I personally ended up just picking out some orange flowers that I knew would work well with the beige and give it a little bit of a Thanksgiving vibe (without looking too cheesy).
Create a paper menu. It’s crazy how placing a menu on your guests plates can take the vibe from casual get together to full on fancy dinner party. I created the menus for this spread by purchasing a wedding package (YUP, who would have thought?) that included a menu template from CreativevMarket.com and then got it printed at a local printer (Kinkos should work if you don’t have a local place). It was an extra $20 expensive that I’ll be using over and over again.
Set a formal place setting. Do you know which side the knife goes on? What about the wine glass? Would you judge me if I told you that I had to google that? Because, well I did. And I know none of my friends would have noticed if it was wrong but my grandma sure would have said something when she sat down. If you have the silverware to set a full on formal setting, I’d say go for it but don’t feel pressured to go out and buy a soup spoon set and salad forks. If you don’t have them already then go that route – it’ll still look great if you set it up right! Use this chart to set your table correctly.
Don’t overcrowd the table with decorations. I’ve been to so many parties where the guests had to spend a few minutes before eating clearing the decorations from the table so there was room for food which just seems silly! Stick to a simple centerpiece and maybe a few candles so there is plenty of room for the main event – the food!

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu

November 1, 2016ALL, Entree, Fall, Thanksgiving, Winter, Wrap Up27

Today’s post is all about celebrating the season with a Vegetarian Thanksgiving! Below you’ll find a Vegetarian Thanksgiving menu, vegetarian recipe suggestions, and tips and tricks for how to host your own meat-free dinner.

I am so freaking excited that it is officially November 1st! This means it’s finally socially acceptable for me to begin talking to you about THANKSGIVING (sorry non-US readers as this post will be very helpful for you…)! I’m extra excited this year because I’ve spent the past few weeks working on a Vegetarian Thanksgiving menu for you. Inspired by several tabletop pieces sent to me by Bomisch, a rad home goods store run by a fellow veg head, this SIX part Vegetarian Thanksgiving series will be rolled out over the next three weeks.

Walnut-Crusted Brie Mac and Cheese with Apples

October 2, 2016ALL, Entree, Fall24

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This Walnut-Crusted Brie Mac and Cheese with Apples is the ultimate cheesy, carby, and slightly tart comfort food for chilly fall nights.

And my accidental fall virtual cookbook tour continues (three cookbook recipes in a row? Promise I have an original recipe coming next week)! This week, I whipped up a cozy comfort recipe for Walnut-Crusted Brie Mac and Cheese with Apples from Molly Yeh’s new cookbook, Molly on the Range. I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this book. I was expecting, based on the name of the book, another Pioneer Woman story about moving to a farm to build a country chic empire all while whipping up casseroles and ringing the cowbell for family meal time. Instead, it’s an intimate look at Molly’s city / country hybrid life in the form of funky illustrations, pie chart recipes, cleverly named cookies (Lindsay Lohan cookies, anyone?), and an entire chapter on cake. It’s the most intimate cookbook I’ve ever owned (with chapters split up by her life events) which is exactly what makes it so unique and approachable. It reads so casually that it makes you feel like you are sitting right next to Molly at a slumber party and she is revealing all of her silliest secrets to you.

Tomato Basil Tarts with White Bean Puree

August 7, 2016ALL, Appetizer, Entree, Summer16

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These Tomato Basil Tarts with White Bean Puree are a quick meat-free summer meal packed with protein-rich white beans and flavorful heirloom tomatoes and basil.

To be completely honest with you, I meant for this recipe to be a lot more complicated than it ended up being. Ever since the dead of winter, I’ve had this idea to brûlée tomato slices (similar to how you see brûléed grapefruit). I thought for sure they’d look gorgeous all shiny and darkened in spots. However, it ends up tomatoes don’t brûlée as well as you’d think. I put tablespoons of sugar on top of sugar over the tomatoes (until they were almost inedible which, obviously, totally defeats the purpose). I tried both a kitchen torch and the broiler but found no luck; the end result was just a mess of the sugar dissolving into the tomatoes to create even more watery tarts than when I started. In the end, I’m sure it was meant to be since the tomatoes right now are just too darn delicious to be masking under a pound of sugar or a broiler.

Instead I created a quick and simple tart that is stuffed with protein-packed white bean and basil puree and then topped with heirloom tomato slices and pepper. The pre-made puff pastry allows this tart to be whipped up in less than an hour and gives you a flaky and buttery crust that would be hard to replicate on a time crunch. Use the freshest tomato and basil you can find since they are the star of this dish. Simple summer munching at it’s finest!

Vegetarian Baked Ziti With Chorizo-Spiced Chickpeas

June 14, 2016ALL, Entree4

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This Vegetarian Baked Ziti With Chorizo-Spiced Chickpeas recipe is packed with vegetables, protein-rich beans, gooey cheese, and deliciously carb-y pasta.

Wyatt, who is not at all opinionated and very rarely comments on anything VV related, turned to me last week and goes ‘You should have a posting schedule for your blog so your readers know when to expect a new post’. I normally would have been glad for the suggestion but I was just so surprised to hear him taking an interest in my ‘readers’ that I was a little bit taken aback. In my mind, I already had a schedule of posting every Monday and Thursday. I defensively told him this and the moment the words came out of my mouth, I regretted them. They immediately held weight that I would have to keep up with this schedule now that I had acknowledged out loud that it was real. Fast forward to last night, I sat down at 10 PM (2 hours before my Monday “deadline”) and stared at the blank screen. What is it about structure and deadlines that so easily destroys creativity?

As I sat there wondering why no words were coming to fruition, I thought back to when I was a kid and had decided to embark on writing my first ‘novel’. I was somewhere in the range of late elementary school / early middle school (I was old enough to have my own computer in my room thanks to my computer engineer step-father building it for me but was too young to be spending Friday / Saturday nights out with friends). I would shut myself in my room late at night, turn my IM (instant messenger) on to chat with my best friend, and work on my novel. I’d get into the flow of writing and bouncing ideas around on IM until 1 or 2 in the morning. I’d be shocked to find the time had slipped away so fast but pleased that I’d written another 5 or so pages. That novel was about two human-like wolves that were abducted by friendly aliens and I was so proud of that 30 page manuscript which took months to compile.

Smoky Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice

May 31, 2016ALL, Entree, Vegan155

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This Smoky Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice recipe is loaded with up melt-in-your-mouth vegetables that are tender and packed with flavor.

If in the US, I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day. Sure feels like it switched from rainy spring to hot hot hot sunny summer vibes overnight for us Midwesterners. Most of the flowers in my neighborhood are shriveling fast and I picked as many as I could this weekend to enjoy their colors before the summer heat drops them and leaves all the bushes just lush green.

At the beginning of May, I made it a goal to post more entree and meal type recipes around VV as I was starting to notice my go-tos are breakfast and sweets recipes. Since then I’ve posted about Chorizo-Spiced Chickpea Fajitas, Vegetarian Spring Curry Ramen, and Green Tomato Stacks. And today I’m here with one of our all time favorite Sunday night meals: Red Beans and Rice! I started making this beyond easy recipe two winters ago when I saw Guy Ferrari (you know, the guy with the great hair) make it on a Food Network special. He managed to take a relatively simple item (beans) and pack them with an extraordinarily amount of flavor – we were hooked from the first bite. Since making it that first time, I’ve adjusted this recipe dozens of times until I found the perfect balance of savory, spice, and texture.

The secret ingredient in this vegetarian red beans and rice recipe is chipotle peppers in adobe sauce; they are smoky, spicy, and my go-to when wanting to add an extra depth of flavor to any soup or stew. You only use one or two in recipe so lay the remaining out, leaving space between each pepper, on a parchment lined baking sheet and stick in the freezer until frozen. Then wrap the peppers in that parchment paper, transfer to a sealable freezer bag, and stick into the freezer. Freezing the leftover peppers guarantees you’ll always have them on hand when needed and it cuts down on waste since you never actually need that entire jar in one sitting.

The other thing that makes this vegetarian red beans and rice recipe so flavorful is that the beans cook in the spices for several hours. I know, that sounds like a long time to make dinner but I promise it’s all hands-off time. You could be simmering the beans in the background while you go off and read a book, do some laundry, take a nap with your pup, or chill out with some Guy Ferrari television. It’s my favorite recipe to make on a Sunday afternoon when I know I’ll be around the house lounging for a few hours.

Last but not least, keep in mind that salt slows down the cooking process for beans and could even make them tough so resist the urge to add it until after they’ve cooked.

Smoky Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice recipe below:

Vegetarian Spring Curry Ramen

May 9, 2016ALL, Entree, Soup, Spring31

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This recipe for Vegetarian Spring Curry Ramen is the perfect comfort food on a rainy spring day. A curry broth chocked full of vegetables and noodles!

Living in smallish Midwest city has its advantages – I can get anywhere in town in under 15 minutes, I can find ramps at the market for $3 a big bushel, and I can’t remember the last time I had to wait to get a table for dinner. The university brings in people from all over the world so we still have plenty of music and food culture. The one set back is that it tends to take a long time for food trends to make their way into our local restaurants. For example, we don’t have any place in town that sells fancy Ramen. Heck, I even looked up places in Indianapolis (about an hour away) as I was willing to drive but they didn’t have any place that served vegetarian Ramen. What the heck Indiana? Not only are your super conservative laws whack (no alcohol on Sundays!) but you are going to deny me this food trend as well?

As any decent food blogger would do, I took matters into my own hands and whipped up my own. In this Vegetarian Spring Curry Ramen you’ll find noodles surrounded by an array of spring vegetables all wrapped in a rich spicy curry broth. I used ramps because I was able to easily get my hands on them but leave them out if they aren’t in your neck of the woods right now, because the scallions already give a great onion addition to the dish. Also, if it’s no longer spring, swap in whatever vegetables are fresh right now – think bell peppers, eggplants, fresh corn, etc.

Recipe for Vegetarian Spring Curry Ramen below:

Chorizo-Spiced Chickpea Fajita Pitas

May 5, 2016ALL, Entree4

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Spice up your taco night with this recipe for Chorizo-Spiced Chickpea Fajita Pitas! Switch out that boring old tortilla for pita and fill them with smoky chorizo-spiced chickpeas!

Happy Drink Margarita’s Day! Oh wait…that’s not right. I mean Happy Taco day! No…no… okay, one more time: HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO Day! There we go!

Okay, I’m not going to lie. I had to look up the real reason we celebrate Cinco de Mayo earlier this week; I had only ever jumped on the bandwagon as an excuse to eat tacos and skip out on responsibilities to day drink margs (despite it usually ending like this). With that being said, it’s a real holiday with real reasons to celebrate but, as is with most the holidays I get excited about, my celebrations are skewed towards making it all about food. No surprise there!

When I think of Cinco de Mayo and celebrating Mexican traditions, I think of my Mexican step-mother whom I grew up with. I was a stubborn kid who refused meat at an early age but that didn’t stop my high school friends from coming over on Sunday mornings to chow down on her homemade chorizo and scrambled eggs without me. I’d grudging nibble on a flimsy piece of warmed tortilla while my friends would go on and on about how amazing the chorizo was spiced while on their third helping.

In an attempt to get over feeling left out on those lazy weekend mornings, I invented a roasted chickpea that is flavored with all the spiced you’d find in chorizo. It’s spicy, smoky, bold, and beyond flavorful. They fit beautifully in a breakfast burrito but are even better stuffed in a pita with fajita style veggies and loads of sour cream. As I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, being vegetarian doesn’t have to be limited. WE GOT THIS GUYS!

Side note: Many fajita recipes call for marinating veggies for at least thirty minute before cooking but these chickpeas are so flavorful that I don’t think they even need more seasoning.

Chorizo-Spiced Chickpea Fajita Pitas recipe below:

Curried Veggie Patties with Coconut Quinoa

March 22, 2016ALL, Entree7

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These Curried Veggie Patties with Coconut Quinoa are the perfect meal to throw together when you are trying to get rid of leftover vegetables or just looking to incorporate more veggies into your diet!

I was eight and wiggling around in the front seat of the tan Ford Explorer. My parents divorced before I was one so my brother and I would split our time between two homes, both less than a mile apart from each other. However, my brother was off being a pre-teen by hanging out at a friend’s house so it was just my father and I in the car this time. We were stopped at the one streetlight between my parent’s houses and my stepmother’s (Connie) Shania Twain’s ‘Come on Over’ CD was playing in the CD player. I cracked a joke at my father that he must had been listening to this entire CD on his twenty minute car ride from work to pick me up and instead of denying it, he jokingly turned it up and began singing along. We both knew the words from Connie playing it around the house all the time and I belted out all the feels to “Honey, I’m Home” without truly understanding the lines I was singing (“This job’s a pain, it’s so mundane. It sure don’t stimulate my brain”). When the line “With all this stress, I must confess. This could be worse than PMS” came on, my dad turned the music really low to drown out “PMS” and gave me an awkward grin that I knew meant we shouldn’t talk about it. It was a moment I logged in my head as I so often did as a kid; I’d close my eyes as tight as possible and say to myself ‘remember this moment’ as if that would neatly file away the memory for years to come until I was ready for it to resurface. I was curious and wanted to know but felt very content in the idea that I would know the answer one day but that it didn’t have to be today.