Vegan for a Day: Artichoke Stuffed Portobellos

Happy Meatless Monday (again)!  I am pretty psyched to be sharing this recipe with you because I'm still thinking about it today--even though we had it last night for dinner. It was that good.

I'm also excited because this recipe came totally from my creative, food-loving brain rather than a simple modification of a recipe I already had.  All of my cooking has really paid off.

***This recipe is a bit more adventurous for non-vegans because it includes tofu cream cheese, vegenaise and nutritional yeast (aka nooch) and vegan parmesan cheese.  While I challenge you to find and use these items, if you simply want to make your Monday meat-less (not vegan), you could use regular cream cheese, mayonnaise, and regular parmesan cheese to replace the nooch/vegan parm.  But I seriously don't think it will be as good.***

Artichoke Stuffed Portobellos
serves 2

INGREDIENTS
 2 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed 
4 artichoke hearts, chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup red pepper (about half a medium sized pepper), finely chopped
1/2 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
1 heaping Tablespoon nutritional yeast
6 Tablespoons whole wheat breadcrumbs
4 oz. Tofutti Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons vegenaise (vegan mayo)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 350. Remove stems from portobellos and scrub outside of mushroom gently with a damp washcloth to remove any dirt. Place mushrooms on nonstick baking sheet and set aside.
2.  Heat olive oil in large pan.  Add garlic, onion, artichoke, and red pepper.  Saute until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

3.  Combine cream cheese, vegenaise, nutritional yeast, and seasonings in a bowl.  Mix well.
4.  Add cooked veggies and breadcrumbs to the cream cheese mixture and stir until well blended.
5.  Stuff each portobello with the filling. Press down gently after first scoop to fill inside of mushroom. Don't be afraid to heap on top!


6.  Sprinkle tops with vegan parmesan cheese.
7. Place into oven and bake for 15-17 minutes, until tops/parmesan are slightly brown.

 

They were absolutely amazing! So many rich flavors that went well together.  You won't miss the meat at all...trust me.  Q grilled up some zucchini w/ just olive oil, salt and pepper on the side, and we were both extremely full at the end of the meal.

Aurora didn't have a portobello, but instead, indulged in some of her favorite foods: cheese,  hummus (on a tortilla) and peaches.  She tried the zucchini, but wasn't a fan...but she still went meatless!

 

You could also make this filling and fill up a bunch of button mushrooms as an appetizer for a summer party/BBQ (I'm hoping to throw one in the near future and plan on doing this!).

Try it, and I promise you won't regret it!

Bon Appetit,
Amanda

Vegan for a Day: Salt n' Vinegar Potato Salad

I'm so excited to share my very first vegan recipe post! I hope to do one of these posts every Monday.  Have you heard of Meatless Mondays? A lot of people across America are choosing to go meat-free once a week. Not only is is great for your health, but it's also great for the environment. Check out the link to learn more!  I thought it made perfect sense to share a recipe on the blog on Mondays for this very reason. You can be Vegan for a day and see how you like it! It's not a huge commitment, but it makes a huge difference.

My parents make an awesome redskin potato salad...heavy on the hardboiled egg and mayo.  Potato salads are a summer BBQ staple, but I didn't think just substituting vegenaise for the mayo and eliminating the eggs would do the job.  So I decided to look for a vinaigrette-based potato salad.  I adapted this recipe from Gourmet and I couldn't have been more pleased!  (Neither could my non-vegan husband and parents, who loved it too!)

Salt n' Vinegar Potato Salad
adapted from Gourmet

INGREDIENTS

• 4-5 green onions (scallions), chopped
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3-4 lbs. baby redskin potatoes, boiled (or microwaved), cut into quarters
• 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning*
• 1 T agave syrup
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

Toss together onions, 2 tablespoons vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Marinate at room temperature, tossing occasionally, until slightly softened, about 30 minutes. 

Cook potatoes until tender.

While potatoes cook, whisk together 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning with sugar, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and remaining 1/2 cup vinegar in a small bowl. This will form your "sauce."

When potatoes are cool enough to handle but still warm, cut into wedges (peel if desired, but personally, I like to leave the skins on!). Toss warm potatoes with vinegar mixture in a large bowl. Add onion mixture and oil, tossing to combine. Add more Old Bay seasoning (to taste) if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature (though it's still yummy when it's cold too!)

*I didn't have Old Bay seasoning, so I made this mixture with paprika, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano, cayenne. It was still delicious!

I know potato salad is more of a side dish than a meal...but we made it an easy vegan meal by pairing it with grilled zucchini strips and pineapple/veggie kabobs.

 I brushed the zucchini strips with a mixture of:  

2T olive oil, 1T Italian seasoning and 1-2T white wine vinegar.

white button mushrooms, red pepper, green pepper, pineapple, and sweet onions. Brush w/ olive oil and add salt and pepper before grilling.

Our rustic, cinder block grill. 

This was a refreshing, healthy and filling meal. A great way to end a busy summer day!

I hope you'll try the potato salad...and let me know how you like it.

Bon Apetit!
Amanda

A Secret Revealed

I'm not good at keeping secrets.  And this "secret" isn't really a big deal, but it's just something I needed to keep to myself for a while so I could think, process, and develop a language to talk about it.

As most of you know, I have really struggled with losing the pregnancy weight.  I wasn't just making bad food choices (although I was--out of convenience), but I also wasn't getting much activity.  But I finally realized that the lack of activity wasn't because I was lazy--it was because I was exhausted.  I felt unnaturally tired most of the time.  Yes, Aurora still wakes up maybe once or twice in the night, but it was more than that.

I went to the doctor (but only saw my PA) to talk to her and hopefully get a remedy.  She pretty much made me feel stupid, like, "You're just overweight, that's why you're tired." I told her I had started doing Zumba 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes, and she said, "You really need to step it up. You should be getting at least 300 minutes of exercise in a week."  I almost cried.  I almost needed to triple my exercise?! I felt more energetic after working out, most of the time, but it took a lot of effort ot get moving and motivated to work out in the first place.  The PA (who I will NEVER see again) humored me with a blood test.  The results revealed my iron was low, but she said that wouldn't be a reason I'm so tired all the time.

I've had mild acne since I was 18, with bouts of clear skin here and there (mostly thanks to medication/birth control), but since Aurora, my skin has gotten worse.  Many people think acne is not a big deal, but it can be debilitating and embarrassing.

So here I was, feeling like the fat, pimply girl...at age 29! I wasn't a teenager with some blossoming to do. I was unhappy, not just with how I looked, but how I felt.

There was a moment of clarity for me when a bunch of different blogs and sites I read or people I would run into mentioned "veganism."  I did some research, and here I am, over a month later, eating a purely plant-based diet.  Yes, that's my little secret.

I am reticent to call myself a vegan for many reasons, the largest being that in the past, I have met a lot of vegans I didn't like, people who have been militant about their choices and seemed to care more about animal rights than real people.  I know this is a common complaint, but I have to say it's been true for me.  I think that the way we treat animals and our planet is a travesty, and something that needs to changed.  But that change starts in the human heart.  Until we learn to treat our own species better, I'm not sure we'll learn to treat other species with respect and dignity. And then, of course, Oprah and staff went vegan for a month and Bill Clinton went vegan, and it became sort of trendy--not to mention the association of the vegan lifestyle with hipster culture.  It all made me feel a little uneasy about giving myself a label.

Then I discovered Alicia Silverstone's book (and blog!), The Kind Life, and realized there was a way to talk about these choices that was just that:  kind. No one listens when you shout and throw red paint all over the place (looking at you, PETA). And I watched the film Food, Inc., which made me think a lot about the food choices I make, not just for me, but for my entire family! The animal industry has a huge impact on our lives. It's not about unethical treatment of animals (though it is about that too):  it's about abuse of power, ignorance, and a scary, growing trend in our country where healthy foods are almost prohibitively expensive and fast food and processed meals full of chemicals, fats, and other unhealthy elements are so easily accessible.

Something just clicked.

What does it mean to be vegan?  I don't eat animals (meat) or animal products (dairy, eggs, etc.) and try my best to avoid anything overly processed (this is a more RAW element of the diet. I occasionally have tofu, tempeh, or veggie burgers, but I try to avoid chemicals or any words on labels that I don't really know.) I eat a lot of veggies, fruits and whole grains. Yummy stuff, like this:

black beans and tomato corn salad

steamed artichokes w/ garlic "butter"

roasted Italian veggie pizza (cheese free!)

I made a decision for my health, and it's pretty much changed my life.  I have an amazing amount of energy--Q and I have been biking 20 miles or more a week (I used to have trouble biking 5 miles).  My skin as we speak is almost completely clear (though it did get worse in the first 2 weeks before it got better, which I read is pretty common).  I've lost a little over 6 pounds in a month, pretty effortlessly. I feel healthy. I'm not on a diet, so I don't feel deprived. I love the food I eat. I love cooking new recipes. And all of that no-chemical stuff has become important to me as well..I switched my skincare products to all natural, and have been slowly replacing items in our house with natural  products.  Even Q is pretty much eating what I eat, except for the occasional milk/cheese or lunch item.

I think about cooking, but I don't think about "food" all the time. I feel good about my body, even though I'm nowhere near my goal weight.  I love having the energy to do all the things I want to do and feeling my body getting healthier from the inside out. 

Think I'm a little crazy for going veg?  Q sent me this great article when I told him I was first considering the idea.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because I'm hoping to share a little bit of my journey here, including a family-friendly vegan recipe each week and some more posts/giveaways/etc. about eco-friendly living. You know what is really eco-friendly too?  Buying vintage! :) 

Thanks for letting me share with you.  Do you have questions? Comments? Concerns?  Share them below!

xo,
Amanda