Monday, May 28, 2012

My Favorite Recipes - Little House of Veggies

If I only had a nickle for every time someone asked me for a favorite recipe! I figured it was time to put them all in one place so I could send people here rather than send out multiple emails!

My first suggestion regarding ANY recipe is to Google for a vegan version rather than try and take a recipe that isn't vegan and change it. I can guarantee that the internet holds multiple vegan recipes for anything you can imagine.

Once I started putting this together it became clear that I couldn't do all my faves in one post.. it would be crazy long so I'm going to break them down into categories.

First up - Little House of Veggies!

Keep in mind that you can halve a recipe, leave things out, add things, sub things .. whatever.

Don't be afraid! Make it your own!

Side note - I always use almond milk and whole wheat flours in recipes. Always. So feel free to make that sub.


Morgan at Little House of Veggies


I'm not even sure how I ended up on Morgan's blog but I am certainly glad I found her! Not only has she given me some of my most favorite soup recipes, she introduced me to tempeh (well, she explained what the hell to do with it!) and she has also become a friend of mine and has been a great support to me.

Her blog is fantastic because she makes original recipes and shares important knowledge. She's also gorgeous, a fantastic mom, a very happy wife and a real vegan role model.

It was really hard for me to narrow down the recipes to post here... she really has lots of great ones.

Soups:

In my opinion, Morgan really shines in the soup department. I'm pretty sure all of my favorites soups come from Morgan's blog! I try to make soup every week because it's wholesome, nutritious and so easy to warm up for a quick meal. I haven't tried every single soup she makes and I won't list every single one I have tried, but I am confident you'll love any soup type recipe you find on Morgan's blog.

Black Bean Tortilla Soup - this is so easy to make and so delicious. I like to add some lime juice and ume plum vinegar when it's done.

Cheesy Chipotle Corn Chowder - This is my most fave soup recipe on the planet, not just on Morgan's blog. This is not a 'diet' soup, by any means. It's full of cashew cheese and potatoes! This soup is probably the most involved soup that Morgan has. There are a few steps and some forethought to make this but it's absolutely worth it. I can't imagine someone not loving this.

Split Pea Soup -  Yes, I know.. you think of The Exorcist when someone says split pea soup. I know I do. However, split pea is one of the most nutritious soups you can make! Split peas are really more like a lentil than anything. I didn't even know what a split pea was until I made this soup! Once I get the veggies sauteed, I finish this off in my crockpot. It takes about 1.5 hours. I've made this with and without rice milk and it's perfectly delicious without it so if you don't already have the rice milk, don't buy it just for this recipe.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup - Super easy with a big payoff! It's creamy and hearty but it's also very fresh and light! Weird, right? You can skip the mochi croutons if you want or use regular bread croutons.

Veggie Chili & Whole Grain Cornbread - great comfort food! I usually don't add the vegan hamburger or the peppers so I'll sub in some canned mushrooms and maybe corn and carrots. Whatever you like. The cornbread is yummy too!


Everything Else:


First, I recommend checking out her tempeh posting.. it tells you how to prepare tempeh and links to her tempeh recipes. The tempeh salad is just delicious. I make that all the time and have a wrap. I like to add campari tomatoes, shredded carrots and green onions

Amazing Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies - yummy and whole grain! One of the first vegan cookie recipes I tried and still a fave. You can sub cornstarch for the arrowroot.

Muhammara - Delicious and a little bit fancy! I like to take this to gatherings. I don't have the pomegranate molasses so I use regular.

Chocolate Fudge Muffins - I'm pretty sure this is one of Morgan's top recipes.

Stuffed Shells -  I've made this as lasagna roll-ups with 2 cups soaked cashews in for the tofu. I've had friends that have made the tofu version and loved it so give this a try for a fancier dish!

Buffalo Tempeh Salad - This is delicious but I gotta say... it's messy to make (but so worth it.) Her vegan ranch is simple and perfect too. I skip the jicama but at least try it if you haven't already.

Raw Sweet Almond Milk - I have Morgan to thank for homemade almond milk! I use wide mouth Ball jars with plastic lids. You'll need to shake the milk before using it. I took her recipe and adapted it to fit my taste. I use 1 cup almonds to 6 cups water and I leave the rest the same except I don't add the hemp protein. I make a half batch of plain, unsweetened for cooking and the other half sweetened with dates and vanilla for drinking, cereal or to use in smoothies. This gets me about 6 cups. If you want to do half and half, just mix the almonds and water as instructed with the sea salt. Strain and rinse your blender cup. Then, pour the strained milk back into the blender and add the melted coconut oil and blend again and pour half into your jar. Then make the sweetened milk by adding the dates (I use 2 in a half batch) and vanilla and blend again, strain and pour into your second jar. I always date anything I put in the refrigerator. It helps to know when it was made because you will forget. Usually almond milk will last a week or so.. it will go bad. It will smell bad!

2 comments:

  1. I'm not a soup person, but I've got to hand it to Morgan. That chili is AHHHHHHHHHHMAZING!!!!! I even made it at Christmas (my side of the family does an unconventional chili supper instead of the typical stuff-yourself-with-Christmas-ham Christmas dinner), and all the carnivores loved it too. And, yeah, I don't put the fake meat in it either. It's heavenly without!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is funny, Pam! MY family does chili on Christmas eve! We always have a meat version and I bring a vegan version.

    ReplyDelete