Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Potato Cakes - Vegan

 

This recipe is super easy to make and is very filling. I was inspired by this recipe I found on Pinterest. I ate it with a store-bought chopped salad. I ate it with a fork and my husband ate it with his hands so I would say it is a great recipe for taking on the go! 

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Potato Cakes

Makes 4 servings/ 8 cakes| Prep Time: 15-20 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45-50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

For the Potatoes

8 Small Russet Potatoes

2 Tablespoons Flour

1-2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Almondmilk (optional)

Salt and Pepper

For the Stuffing

Olive oil for cooking

1 large White Onion, diced

8 oz White Mushrooms, sliced

½-1 cup Frozen Chopped Spinach

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

½ Teaspoon Thyme

½ Teaspoon Dill

1 Pinch Red Chili Flakes (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

For the Potatoes

1.       Wash and Peel the potatoes. Roughly chop and place in a pot. Cover with water and add 2 tablespoons salt. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

2.       Add the potatoes, flour, and almond milk to a bowl and mash until smooth. Taste for seasoning.

Note: It needs to be thick to form into patties. You are not making creamy mashed potatoes!

For the Stuffing

1.       Add some olive oil to a pan and add the onion. Sauté for about 5 minutes until translucent.

2.       Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.

3.       Add the frozen spinach, garlic powder, thyme, dill, chili flakes, salt, and pepper.

4.       Continue cooking until all liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. Taste for seasoning.

5.       Once the liquid has evaporated set aside until cool enough to touch.

For the Cakes

1.       Grab about 2 tablespoons of the potatoes and shape into a patty. Add a small spoonful of the spinach mushroom mixture onto the patty. Place another 2 tablespoons of the potato on top and gently form a round cake.

2.       Heat 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Gently add the cakes onto the hot oil and cook on each side for about 2 minutes or until nicely golden brown.

Printable Recipe 

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Potato Cakes - PDF

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Potato Cakes - 5x7 Card

Carrot Bread - VEGAN

 

Browsing through pinterest and came across this recipe for carrot bread from a food blogger. It looked amazing! I thought it looks like the perfect way to get my toddler to eat some kind of vegetable. 

Even though the bread is great the way it is, I decided to make it vegan and I replaced the oil. I've had breads in the past that have just too much oil and it upsets my stomach. So I swapped out the oil for applesauce and the eggs for flaxseed mill. I think it came out great and best of all, my toddler ate it!! 

Note: Use a food processor if you have one for the carrots unless you want a workout 😉 

Carrot Bread

Makes 1 Bundt Cake or 2 Loaves | Prep Time: 10-15 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

 

INGREDIENTS

4 Tablespoons Flaxseed Mill

¾ cup Water

3 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 ½ Teaspoons Baking Soda

¼ Teaspoon Salt

¼ Teaspoon Allspice

2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

¾ cup Sugar

¾ cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Unsweetened Applesauce

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

4 cups Freshly Grated Carrots, about 2-3 large carrots

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350*F

2. Mix Flaxseed Mill and water in a small bowl and set aside for at least 5 minutes.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice, and cinnamon in a bowl, and set aside

4. In a large bowl mix together the flaxseed mixture, sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, and vanilla extract.

5. Slowly add flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stir until just combined.

6. Fold in the grated carrot until mixed through.

7. Gently pour batter into a greased Bundt pan or separate into 2 loaf pans.

8. Place in the oven on the center rack and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

9. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

10. Gently remove bread from the pan(s) onto the cooling rack and let it cool off completely before serving.

Printable Recipe

Carrot Bread - PDF

Carrot Bread - 5x7 Card

Slow Cooker Black Beans - Vegan

 Here is a quick and simple recipe for slow cooker black beans. These black beans are great by themselves, as a side dish, or mixed into your favorite burrito! 

Slow Cooker Black Beans

Serves 4-6 people | Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 4-5 Hours | Total Time: 4-5 Hours

 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. Dry Black Beans, picked through

1 Large White Onion, roughly chopped

½ Green Bell pepper, roughly chopped

3-4 Garlic Cloves, smashed

1 Bay Leaf

½ Teaspoon Cumin

2 Vegetable Bouillon Cubes

2 Teaspoons Salt, or to taste

½ Teaspoon Pepper

6-7 Cups Water

 

DIRECTIONS

1.     Pick through your black beans to ensure there are no rocks or dirt. Rinse if desired. Place in a slow cooker.

2.       Roughly chop the onion and green bell pepper and add to the slow cooker.

3.       Smash 3-4 garlic cloves and peel and add to the beans.

4.       Add the bay leaf, cumin, salt, pepper, vegetable bouillon, and water. Mix to combine.

5.       Place the lid on the slow cooker and set to high. Cook for 4-5 hours.

Note: You can check at 4 hours to see if the beans are cooked. If still hard replace the lid and cook for an additional hour.

Note: If you want the beans to be soupier add an extra cup of water and taste for seasoning.

 

Printable Recipe! 

Slow Cooker Black Beans - PDF

Slow Cooker Black Beans - 5x7 Card

Simple Breakfast - Vegetarian

It was about time to clean out the fridge a little. So I made a super simple breakfast. Luckily I made just enough for me and my husband. You don't really need a recipe for this but I'll share how I made it. 

1. I roughly chopped up 1 potato and a tiny bit of leftover onion. I pan-fried those first and seasoned with some black pepper season salt. 

2. When the potatoes were just about done I added Fieldroast Apple Maple vegan sausage to the pan to heat up. 

3. Chopped up some mushrooms, added it to the pan after removing the potatoes. No need to add any extra oil. Saute for a few minutes then add fresh baby spinach and saute until wilted. Season with "bagel not included" seasoning from HEB. Remove from pan. 

4. Add a little bit of oil and add sliced tomatoes to the pan. Cook until slightly charred and soft. Flipping to cook both sides. 

5.  Make your eggs. I did over easy today at my husband's request, but I usually prefer scrambled. 

Plate it all up and enjoy! 

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Pasta - Vegan/Dairy free

I'm constantly looking for new recipes to try. I get bored of the same food over and over. I follow various food bloggers on Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube to get a variety of recipes.  The inspiration for this pasta dish came from Liv B's YouTube channel. It looked super simple and I figured I should try it since I haven't had pasta in a while. I switched it up a bit and I think it came out amazing and I'm extremely proud of myself! 

I recorded myself making it and it's a horrible video. My camera didn't even record some of the stuff I tried doing. I just wanted to play around with it and see how it's done.  You'll see in my video I don't really measure my ingredients. I eyeball some stuff and go with what feels right. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'll try to give approximate measurements down below so you can try yourself. 

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Pasta 

INGREDIENTS 

6-8  Roma Tomatoes, cut in half 

1 large white onion, roughly chopped 

3-4 garlic cloves, whole and peeled 

2 large carrots, roughly chopped 

2 Red bell peppers, roughly chopped 

2-3 tablespoons Italian seasoning 

1-2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 can Coconut milk 

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast 

Salt and pepper to taste 

1lb pasta of your choice, cook according to package directions 

Vegan Italian Sausage (optional)

DIRECTIONS 

1. Preheat oven to 425⁰f (always do this first!) 

2. Prep your veggies and place them in a baking dish or sheet pan. 

3. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the Italian seasoning, mix it all together. 

4. Place in preheated oven for 40 minutes, stirring about halfway through. 

5. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. 

6. Carefully poor cooked vegetables into a blender and blend until smooth. 

7. Add Coconut milk and nutritional yeast, blend again until well combined. Taste for salt and pepper. 

8. If using Sausage brown it in a large pot then add the sauce and pasta.  Stir to combine.  

9. Serve and eat! 

You can definitely make the sauce ahead of time. I used leftover Italian Sausage that we used for pizza the other day. That is completely optional. 

Printable Version 

PDF

Word Doc - 5x7 Recipe Card

Spiced Banana Bread Pudding - Dairy Free

 A couple weeks ago we bought a loaf of bread from the store and somehow it was not closed properly and half of the loaf of dried out.  We aren't sure if we bought it that way or one of use accidentally left it open. Either way, we had a loaf of bread that would not get eaten.  The only idea I had to save it was to turn it into bread pudding.  I searched through Pinterest like any good housewife and found one that looked pretty good. I had most of the ingredients and I changed out a few to fit with what I had. It was a great base that I added to and it came out AMAZING!

Spiced Banana Bread Pudding

Recipe adapted from temeculablogs.com

INGREDIENTS

1 Loaf of Sandwich Bread ( I used Sara Lee's Honey Wheat Bread)

3 cups Silk Original Soy Milk

3 eggs

3/4 cups Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 Ripe Bananas, sliced

A handful of Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (I won't judge your handful)

Baking spray

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350º. (Always do this first!)

2. Break apart the bread slices into a large mixing bowl. You can dice them up if you prefer more even pieces. 

3. In a separate mixing bowl or large measuring cup add the soy milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk together until well combined. You could even do it in a blender to make it faster! 

4. Poor milk mixture over the bread and mix gently. Let your bread soak in this mixture for about 10 minutes, or until the milk is completely absorbed. 

5. Once absorbed, gently fold in your sliced bananas and chocolate chips. 

6. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with baking spray or use butter/oil to grease it up. 

7. Poor bread mixture into the baking dish and evenly spread out. You can sprinkle some more chocolate chips if you want. 

8. Place in oven and baking for about 40 minutes, or until it is set and browned to your liking on top. 

9. Remove from the oven and place the baking dish on a cooling rack to rest for at least 10-15 minutes. 

10. Serve warm and enjoy!

Affiliate Links! 

Here are a few links for the cooking appliances and tools that I use. 

Pyrex Glass 9x13 Baking Dish  

Pyrex Measuring Cups

Ninja Blender 

Norpro Grip-EZ Measuring Cups & Spoons

Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls 

Corelle Winter Frost Dinnerware 

Vegetarian Pizza - Vegetarian

Went grocery shopping today and decided to make pizza for lunch since it is super easy.  Husband called during my shopping trip to request that I grab a frozen pizza. But I had already grabbed ingredients to make pizza. Its nice to know we share the same brainwaves when it comes to food.  So here is what we made! 

Remember this is pizza! Have fun with it. Experiment with different flavors and find what you like! 

VEGETARIAN PIZZA

INGREDIENTS 

- 1 pizza crust (I bought pre-made boboli brand crust)

-Pizza Sauce (again I used the boboli brand sauce. 1 sauce pouch covers 2 pizzas. Perfect for us since we made a plain cheese for the kiddo) 

- Vegan Italian Sausage, brown on the stove before adding to pizza (I tried Morningstar Farms Incogmeato today) 

- Vegan Mozzarella Shreds (Daiya brand FTW 😋)

- Baby Spinach 

- Diced tomatoes (fresh is best)

- Black Olives, sliced 

- Mushrooms, sliced 

DIRECTIONS 

1. Preheat oven to 450⁰F (or whatever your pizza crust says) 

2. Spread desired amount of sauce on your crust. (I won't judge your sauciness) 

3. Evenly spread a thin layer of cheese over the sauce. 

4. Throw your veggies and meat on top. (Add as much or as little as you like, not too much though or you should consider a deep dish) 

5. Sprinkle some more cheese on top to keep everything together. 

6. Place in preheated oven and bake for 10-15 mins. (Check it after 10 minutes to see how it looks) You can use a pan or just place it on the oven rack. If you don't use a pan you can probably take it out sooner. 

7. Once it's done cooking take it out and place on cutting board. Let it sit for a couple minutes to rest before cutting. 

8. Cut however you like and eat to your hearts content. 

I call it vegetarian because of the crust. You can make your own dough or find a vegan dough to make it completely vegan. 

✌