Original Recipe: Summer Corn Salad

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I live in the midwest so around here.. we like our sweet corn! It's sort of ironic that I use frozen sweet corn most of the time! Anyway... here is a yummy side dish!

Shelly's Summer Corn Salad


1 1/2 cups sweet corn (I used frozen and warmed it up)
3 small Campari tomatoes (or whatever tomatoes you have - about a cup or so) wedged
one small onion, diced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Combine corn, onion and tomatoes in a large bowl and set aside.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a measuring cup and whisk together.

Toss the veggies with the dressing and refrigerate for at least an hour so the flavors can meld.

Original Recipe - Not-Roast Crockpot Veggies

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My fave part of a beef pot roast was the veggies cooked along side it. This recipe gives you the yummy veggies minus the pound of flesh.

I use 'steak seasoning' in this.. it's just large grains of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, red pepper and mixed spices.

Shelly's Not-Roast Crockpot Veggies


4 to 5 russet potatoes (peeled and chopped)
1 onion, diced
5 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cups water (or vegetable broth)
1 1/2 tbsp No beef bouillon paste (if you use broth, cut this back to half)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp steak seasoning

Toss everything into a crock pot and cook on high for 2.5 hours, until tender. If you want gravy, take the liquid and heat it up in a pan. Mix in a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour to 1/2 cup water and slowly add to the veggie liquids while whisking until thickened.

Original Recipe: Cheesy Potatoes

Feel free to share this recipe but it needs to be linked back to my blog. 

I used to love au gratin potatoes. I didn't even care if they were the crappy boxed kind.... give me potatoes coated in a cheesy sauce and I'm a happy girl. Going vegan meant no more cheesy potatoes.. until now!


I created this recipe by adapting the 'Thyme for Creamy Scalloped Potatoes' recipe from Chloe's Kitchen cookbook. You should just go buy this cookbook because it's fantastic and you will not be sorry... any who... her recipe is perfectly fabulous as is but I wanted to make them cheesy so I had to experiment!

The first time I made Chloe's recipe, I halved it so you can easily do that. Just use a 9x9 pan instead.

If you have a Vita Mix, you can skip the soaking part on the cashews

Shelly's Cheesy Potatoes

1 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight or boil for 10 minutes to soften them)
2 cups water
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp sea salt
1 to 2 tsp fresh thyme (I sub in dried herbes de provence)
4 small to medium russet potatoes, sliced thin
4 to 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan

In a blender, puree cashews, water, garlic, sea salt, thyme, yeast, onion powder and paprika until perfectly smooth. Absolutely smooth!

Arrange half of the sliced potatoes in the pan and cover with half of the cashew mixture. Repeat for a second layer. Cover with foil and bake until the potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes) and then uncover and bake another 5 to 10 minutes until lightly browned on top. You may need to adjust baking time based on the thickness of the potatoes and the pan you use. Chloe's recipes says 45 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered but I found that to be too long with my mandolin sliced potatoes. Mine came out very mashed potato like.. which was fine but if you want a sturdier sliced potato dish then cook less.

Original Recipe: Herbed Cheesy Garlic Croutons

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I love croutons. You should know that about me. I've been known to eat a salad simply so I'm not noshing on a bowl of the bite sized goodness!

I must keep up appearances!

People always ask me for my various crouton recipes but I tend to dump and stir without writing things down.... but today.. today is your lucky day!

I took notes!

Now, I prefer sourdough bread to make croutons but feel free to use what you like or what you have. I also use Italian and French. Whenever I buy a loaf of bread and I use about half, I'll toss it in the freezer to save for croutons.

Shelly's Herbed Cheesy Garlic Croutons

9 oz of cubed bread (your choice)
1/2 cup olive or canola oil
2 tbsp Earth Balance 'butter', melted
2 tbsp plus 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp parsley (I used dried)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cube bread and set it aside in a large bowl. It needs to be big enough to toss the cubes.

In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, melted Earth Balance, 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.

Pour the wet mixture over the cubed bread and toss to coat well. Once it's coated, sprinkle the remaining tablespoon (or more if you like!) of nutritional yeast over the cubes. Pour onto a large cookie sheet with sides.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes and then start paying attention. You'll need to check on the croutons every few minutes and toss them around on the cookie sheet. Bake until they are evenly brown and crunchy.

Store in a plastic container on the counter. I usually stick a date sticker on it and it they aren't gone in 2 weeks, I toss them and make new ones.

Original Recipe: Cookies & Cream Mousse

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Did you know that Oreo cookies are vegan?

Yep.. of course, choosing a less junky brand of creme filled sandwich cookies, like Back to Nature or Newman's is better but you can use Oreo cookies here as well.

This is rich and decadent, full of dark chocolate flavor and full of protein.

Protein?! Yep!

Super quick and easy to make with just a few ingredients, this will fool all your meat eating friends and your suspicious kids! Just don't let them see you making it!

I make this into a pie (sans the added cookies) by pouring it into a cookie crust and one time I took this to a gathering and didn't tell anyone what it was beyond a simple 'it's a chocolate cream pie' ... I sat and watched a friend, his wife and their 4 kids eat and enjoy this while he made the proclamation that he'd never eat tofu.

When he was done, I broke the news and then he and his wife argued over who was going to get the last piece.

You can make this without adding the cookies but they add a nice treat feel to it.

This recipe can be adjusted for your personal taste in sweetness and level of chocolate. Start with 8 oz of chocolate and then taste test it. Add in the other if you want it. You may not want or need the maple syrup as the sugar in the chocolate may be enough for you. You can also sub agave for the maple syrup if you want to.

Cookies & Cream Mousse

1 pkg silken extra firm tofu (12 oz), drained
8 oz to 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
2  tsp maple syrup, optional
1 tsp vanilla
pinch or two of sea salt
cream filled sandwich cookies, like Oreos

Melt the chocolate chips and set aside.

Place drained tofu in your food processor along with a pinch of salt and the melted chocolate chips. Blend until super smooth and fully blended. Taste test and decide if you want more chocolate and/or the maple syrup added in.

I like to make individual servings of 1/3 a cup mousse with 2 broken Oreo cookies (did you know that 2 Oreo cookies is a serving? yea.. not an entire row!) and I like my Oreo cookies to be crunchy in the mousse so add the cookies right before serving unless you want softened cookies!

You can pour this into a cookie crust for a pie or even use it to make a trifle!

Respecting All Life.

Loving Animals Doesn't Mean I Hate Mankind.


One thing that frustrates me is when someone thinks that I love animals more than people.. .in some individual cases, that is true.... when we are talking about a specific animal abuser but being an advocate for the rights of animals doesn't mean I don't care about humans and their rights. 


That is like saying I can't shop at Old Navy because I shop at Target or I can't like apples because I like bananas. It makes no sense to have to choose who you love, support and care about. 


I can have my vegan cake and eat it too.... 


Why can't I love the planet and all it's inhabitants? Why is it some people think if I don't want to eat animals it's because I hate my fellow humans? It isn't about having to choose who I love more - animals or people.... love and kindness and decency isn't about picking and choosing who is worthy of those things.


If it lives... it should be respected.


If you have a heart that is capable of loving one being, you can love another. Clearly, there are many people who think they must pick and choose.. people are constantly closing themselves off from feeling anything for living beings not of our species. 


I invite everyone to sit down and really THINK about the topic of eating animals and animal ingredients like dairy and eggs. Search your belief system and heart and write down why you can keep a dog as a pet but eat a chicken. Why can you be anti-abortion but still drink milk when you know the horror of the mother cows who have their babies taken away? Why are you enraged when you see an abused or neglected pet but not equally enraged to see cows, pigs and chickens treated the same way or even be victims of far worse cruelty on a massive scale every single day? Why can you find eating veal so wrong when you can eat a steak?  Why is eating a pigeon so distasteful when you don't think twice about eating a chicken? How can you save a baby bird or bunny and then turn around and smash a bug or kill trap a mouse?

How can you respect life in one form and yet disregard it in another? What allows that divide within you?

Doesn't that divide scare the hell out of you? Don't you wonder how you can just shut yourself down from feeling empathy towards certain living beings?

Why have you elevated some species like dogs and cats to special privilege of being family members while eating others like cows and pigs and then deciding some species are not worth your kindness or worth eating, like rats or woodchucks?


I no longer consume animals or animal products and I can't even tell you how amazing it feels to know that my body is not a graveyard. My choice of diet doesn't cause suffering, fear, pain, abuse, neglect and death.


Kindness towards all living things is how you find inner peace. Harm no one.

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