Tag: vegan

Cheesy Baked Potatoes

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Cheesy Potato (2)

Potatoes have been a hard sell for my three-year-old… until this recipe, that is!

Ingredients:

  • 4 russet potatoes
  • 1 bunch broccoli (about 2 cups florets)
  • 1/3 cup plain non-dairy milk
  • 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons shredded Daiya cheddar
  1. Cook the potatoes in the microwave or oven until very soft. Let cool, then cut in half and scoop out the flesh into a bowl, leaving 1/4-inch thick shells. Set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli for 5 minutes, until tender. Drain.
  3. Add the broccoli to the bowl with the potato flesh, along with the milk, mayonnaise, butter, and salt.
  4. Divide the broccoli mixture evenly among the 8 potato halves. Top each half with 1 tablespoon cheddar.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

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Asparagus Fried Rice

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Asparagus Fried Rice.JPG

I more aptly call this recipe “picky preschooler fried rice” because it has only three ingredients – asparagus, rice, and soy sauce. Older kids and adults might like a few additions: Add a teaspoon each of garlic and fresh ginger to the mix while it cooks, and a drizzle of sesame oil at serving time.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • 2 cups cooked and cooled white rice
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  2. Chop the asparagus and add to the pan; cook for 4 minutes.
  3. Stir in the rice and soy sauce; cook for a final few minutes, until warmed through.

Juicy Blueberry Smoothie

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Blueberry Smoothie (5)

This month’s recipe offering from High Five magazine involved lots of fun equipment. Juicers and blenders and spoons, oh my!

Ingredients:

  • 1 orange
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup white grape juice
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Plain non-dairy yogurt
  1. Adults, cut the orange in half, and then help your child squeeze on a juicer to extract 1/4 cup fresh orange juice – definitely my son’s favorite step!Blueberry Smoothie (1)
  2. Combine the orange juice in a blender with the blueberries, white grape juice, water, and cinnamon. Process until blended.Blueberry Smoothie (3)
  3. Pour the smoothie into cups. If desired, spoon a dollop of non-dairy yogurt on top just before serving.

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Ribbit Ribbit Toast

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Ribbit Toast

We brought a spring pond in to snacktime today!

Toast one slice of whole wheat bread; meanwhile, mash half of an avocado. Spread the avocado evenly over the toast.

Cut two round pieces of carrot for the frog’s front legs, and a carrot ribbon for a smile.

Add circles up top for eyes – cucumbers or green olives work well!

Finally, for the big back legs, slice pieces from a green bell pepper and place one on each side.

This recipe hopped very quickly into my son’s tummy!

Crispy Asparagus Fries

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Crispy Asparagus Fries.JPG

After I prepared this dish, my son turned and told me he prefers “regular asparagus” – simply roasted in a little olive oil that is! But for those of you whose kids might like a change of pace, crisp asparagus stalks become almost like french fries in a few simple steps!

Set out three bowls on the counter: the first with a layer of flour, the second with 4 Ener-G eggs, and the third with a mix of panko and vegan Parmesan sprinkles.

Wash and trim one bunch of asparagus. Dip the spears in all three bowls, starting with the flour, followed by the Ener-G eggs, and ending in the panko mixture. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes, until crisp.

Easter Nest Cookies

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I meant to post this recipe yesterday, but the Easter holiday ran away from me! Luckily, the nest-themed cookies work great for any point during the spring, as baby birds make their way into the world.

Prepare one package of vegan sugar cookie mix according to package directions and bake.

Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven, indent the centers with a spoon. Transfer to wire racks and cool completely.

Fill the centers of each cookie with frosting (any flavor will do!) and sprinkle with shredded coconut as the “twigs” of the nest.

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Finally, nestle in jelly beans or your favorite round vegan candies as “eggs.”

 

Easy-Freezy Breakfast Burritos

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Freezy Burrito alt

Make a big batch of this burrito filling on the weekend, roll up the filled burritos in foil, place them in the freezer, and bam! Breakfast all week is solved. Or in a pinch, we love these for dinner!

For my picky preschooler, I leave the scrambled tofu rather plain – just a dash of turmeric for color. Feel free to add additional spices or chopped veggies for older kids and grown-ups. We like to use the slightly-sweet breakfast sausage from Field Roast for these burritos.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 cups frozen hash browns
  • 6 ounces chopped vegan breakfast sausage
  • 1 (14-ounce) package firm tofu
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 to 8 flour tortillas
  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the hash browns and cook for 4 minutes.
  2. Stir in the chopped sausage and cook for an additional 3 to 4minutes, until browned.
  3. Mash the tofu with a fork until it resembles scrambled eggs. Add to the pan, along with the turmeric and salt. Cook for a final few minutes until heated through.
  4. Warm the tortillas for about 15 seconds each in the microwave. Divide the filling evenly among tortillas – depending how stuffed you want your burritos, you’ll have enough to fill 6 to 8 tortillas.
  5. Roll up in foil. Store in the fridge up to 3 days, or place in the freezer until ready to eat!

 

Quick Steel-Cut Oats

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Quick Steel Oats.JPGI used to prep steel-cut oats at night, but somehow this was much easier when my son was a toddler versus now in preschool. And as much as I love the taste and nutrition in steel-cut oats, they’re way too time-consuming to make in the morning. Enter quick steel-cut oats, sold much like quick-cooking barley so that the cooking time is nearly a third. This recipe comes together while your crew is stumbling out of bed and getting dressed.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups vanilla non-dairy milk
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup quick steel-cut oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Pinch of ground nutmeg
  1. Combine the milk and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
  2. Stir in the oats, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 7 minutes, until thickened. Cover and let stand for 1 minute.

We like the oats drizzled with maple syrup and then topped with strawberries and chopped pecans. How do you top your oats in the morning?

Colorful Confetti Eggs

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confetti eggs (5)

We love creating our monthly craft from High Five magazine… so I was a bit dismayed when we saw that this month’s project was decidedly not vegan. Cascarones are confetti-filled eggs, traditionally made in Mexico during Easter and crushed over a friend’s head as a surprise. Although it’s easy to paint or dye wooden eggs for vegan kids, how were we going to make a vegan egg that could crack? With a little advanced planning and some ingenuity, we made it work!

First, I searched online for hollow vegan chocolate eggs, and was rewarded with Peek-a-Boos from No Whey Chocolates. This actually have a little white chocolate chick inside, but still plenty of room for confetti!

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It took a few tries before we learned how much pressure was needed to crack the eggs with a butter knife, but we got a small hole in a few of them. Don’t make the hole right at the apex of the oval, or the chocolate egg will cleave in half.

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Travis of course needed to do a taste test at this point! I recommend setting aside a few of the eggs for eating, since the ones you’re about to use for the rest of the project won’t remain edible.

Next up we painted our eggs. Since we were painting on chocolate, we used food coloring.

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Roll a piece of paper into a funnel, and insert into the opening you’ve made in each egg. Carefully pour in confetti through the funnel.

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Finally, we glued a colored piece of tissue paper (pastel, in keeping with the Easter theme!) over the hole we’d made in each egg. Set aside to dry.

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Now of course you won’t really want to crush these over a friend’s head – unless you enjoy shampooing chocolate out of your hair!

Instead, I set up a large surface area covered with newspaper and gave Travis a mallet and let him go to town crushing the eggs. Perhaps they weren’t exactly cascarones, but I’m glad we were able to capture the spirit of the craft!

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We’ll be hopping toward Easter with a few other crafts this week, so stay tuned!

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Berry Good Baked French Toast

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French Toast (1)

Yes, you can make weekday mornings feel less frazzled and more special. Prepare this dish the night before, pop it in the oven, and a weekend-worthy breakfast is ready on a weekday morning!

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon Earth Balance butter
  • 1 (12-ounce) loaf French bread
  • 1 and 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, divided
  • 4 ounces Daiya cream cheese, divided
  • 4 Ener-G eggs
  • 1 and 1/2 cups plain non-dairy milk
  • 2/3 cup plain non-dairy creamer
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  1. Butter a 3-quart baking dish and set aside.
  2. Cut the bread loaf into 1-inch pieces and arrange half of the bread in the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with 2/3 cup blueberries and 2 ounces cream cheese (cut into small pieces). Repeat the layers with the remaining bread, blueberries, and cream cheese.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the Ener-G eggs, milk, creamer, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour over the bread mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, and up to overnight.
  4. Bake the French toast a 350 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Dust with powdered sugar if desired, or top with a drizzle of maple syrup!

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