Tag: vegan

Breakfast Tortilla Pizza

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Breakfast Pizza (2)

This breakfast feels special enough for weekend mornings, but is quick enough to throw together even on a school day! Kids get to take charge of decorating the “pizzas” with their own choice of fruit topping.

Ingredients:

  • 2 whole wheat tortillas
  • 1 teaspoon Earth Balance
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup non-dairy cream cheese
  • 2 teaspoons agave nectar
  • Mixed fruit, for serving
  1. To prepare the tortillas, place on a baking sheet lined with foil and spread evenly with the butter. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, then sprinkle evenly over the tortillas. Bake at 400 degrees F for 3 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, mix together the cream cheese and agave in a bowl with a fork.
  3. Spread the tortillas evenly with the cream cheese mixture, then invite kids to top their “pizzas”! We used a mix of bananas, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, and blackberries.

Breakfast Pizza (1)

Tropical Celery Boats

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Carribean Dream Boats

This fun snack actually encourages kids to play with their food! The bright colors and touch of whimsy from small drink umbrellas turn ho-hum celery into a little Caribbean “boat”. Serve this snack in the winter if you’re dreaming of warmer days, or save it for an actual summer day, where it would be perfect poolside.

To start, I like to steam the celery stalks for just a minute or two to make them easier for toddlers to chew, but you can also leave the celery crunchy. Spread the insides of the celery pieces with your favorite non-dairy cream cheese, then sprinkle with shredded coconut to taste. Spoon a little crushed pineapple over the top of each piece.

Add a drink umbrella as the “garnish”, and your boats are ready to set sail.

Easy Spanish Rice Burritos

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Spanish Rice Burritos (1)

This flavorful rice can either fill bean burritos or be served alongside them to round out a hearty meal.

Ingredients:

For the rice:

  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1/4 cup shredded vegan cheddar
  • 1/2 cup mild salsa

For the burritos:

  • 1 (15-ounce) drained and rinsed can black beans
  • 1 (4-ounce) jar carrot puree
  • 1 cup cooked and chopped Gardein chick’n strips
  • 3/4 cup shredded vegan cheddar
  • Whole wheat tortillas
  • Salsa for serving
  1. To prepare the rice, cook according to package directions. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup cheddar and 1/2 cup salsa; set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, combine the black beans and carrot puree in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, until heated through. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher, then stir in the chick’n and 3/4 cup cheddar.
  3. To serve, warm whole wheat tortillas according to package directions. Spoon the bean filling and cooked rice into the tortillas to taste, and roll up.
  4. Add a little extra salsa on top to serve!

Spanish Rice Burritos (2)

Tofu Scramble

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Tofu Scramble

This quick scrambled tofu comes together in moments. Savory soy sauce makes it a great option as part of a “breakfast-for-dinner” night; we love serving it with waffles on the side!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 minced garlic clove
  • 1/4 cup minced onion
  • 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed
  • 1 (15-ounce) package extra-firm tofu
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onion, and saute for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for 1 minute.
  2. Crumble the tofu into the pan, then stir in the soy sauce. Continue to cook for 7 minutes, until heated through.

English Muffins with Cinnamon Butter

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English Muffin Cinnamon Butter (1)

This cinnamon-laced vegan spread works great on just about any breakfast bread (toast, waffles, pancakes), but we especially love it on toasted English muffins!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup agave nectar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • English muffins
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the Earth Balance butter and agave nectar until well combined. Add the cinnamon and beat to incorporate.
  2. Meanwhile, toast the English muffins (or other bread of choice), and spread with the desired amount of cinnamon butter. The butter keeps well in a glass container in the fridge, ready to be used for breakfast all week long!

English Muffin Cinnamon Butter (2)

Toddler Valentine’s Day Treats

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Valentines Cupcakes (5)

Valentine’s Day is full of sweet treats, and here are a few food ideas that even a toddler can help out with… or just enjoy!

Edible Valentines (4)

Edible Valentines: This first idea comes from the classic Toddler’s Busy Book. I tinted a little store-bought frosting pink with food coloring and showed Veronika how to smear this onto graham crackers (Nabisco’s original are vegan).

Edible Valentines (3)

Since candy hearts are not vegan, we topped the graham crackers with the seasonal gummy hearts from Annie’s bunny packs! This made for an adorable craft project and snack rolled into one.

Edible Valentines (2)

Valentine Cupcakes: What would Valentine’s Day be without a little chocolate? For this toddler-friendly baking project, I simply whipped up cupcakes from a dairy-free chocolate mix. The Valentine twist, though, is to make them heart-shaped. After spooning the batter into cupcake liners, place a marble at one edge of each liner which will indent it like a heart!

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And of course Veronika loved playing with leftover marbles and liners.

Valentines Cupcakes (1)

The effect wasn’t quite as pronounced after baking, since the cupcakes rose so high in the liners, but we could still sort of see them as hearts. Veronika loved helping spread on chocolate frosting. In general, frosting cupcakes like this is a perfect toddler skill in the kitchen.

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We added a few final decorations (like more of those Annie’s hearts). Sprinkles would look pretty, too!

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Sweetheart Sandwiches: Next up, I made little sandwiches which are perfect for a snack or lunch on Valentine’s Day. For the first version, I stirred a little cinnamon into plain non-dairy cream cheese.

Sweetheart Sandwiches

For an alternate version, turn it pink! Use strawberry flavored non-dairy cream cheese (such as Kite Hill), or just tint plain cream cheese pink with food coloring, then stir in a little agave nectar. Finally, use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make a heart.

Sweetheart Sandwiches (2)

And for a final edible treat, I spelled out L-O-V-E for the kids’ Valentine breakfast, thanks to this sweet idea from Parents magazine.

Edible Valentines (7)

On a large plate, form an L from tater tots, an O from a kiwi slice, a V from a toasted waffle cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and an E from raspberries. The kids’ reaction to all these goodies? They loved ’em!

Edible Valentines (5)

 

Roasted Winter Vegetables

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Roasted Winter Veg (1)

This quick roasted veggie recipe is a great way to introduce unfamiliar ones (like parsnips) to the more familiar (such as sweet potatoes or butternut squash). Mix up the recipe simply by varying which root veggies you use next time! Rutabagas, carrots, or beets might be nice, too.

Ingredients:

  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 small butternut squash
  • 2 parsnips
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  1. Peel and cube all of the vegetables and transfer to a 9×13-inch baking dish. Drizzle with the oil an sprinkle with the salt.
  2. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Roasted Winter Veg (2)

National Pizza Day

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National Pizza Day (1)

Today is National Pizza Day and Travis’s latest issues of Highlights magazine had lots of fun topping ideas to help us celebrate the day. It seemed such a shame to choose just one that we made it more of a pizza week, testing out the following over a few days.

Of course we also celebrated by learning a little pizza history (Google the story behind the margherita pizza, for example, for some fun trivia facts).

For all of the following pizzas, we used the premade crust from Banza; the crust is vegan and gets a nice protein boost from chickpea flour! I didn’t bother to measure the quantities of ingredients for any of Highlights’ suggested toppings; just add as much of each as feels right for your family!

Bright and Early: For this breakfast spin, we spooned pesto onto the crust in place of tomato sauce, then sprinkled with a little of our favorite scrambled tofu (1 block of crumbled firm tofu sauteed in oil with 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, and 1 teaspoon turmeric). Sprinkle on a little chopped red bell pepper. After baking according to pizza crust directions, top with avocado slices.

National Pizza Day (6)

Tasty Taco: This time we spooned salsa on top of the crust in place of tomato sauce. Layer that with cooked meatless crumbles, a sprinkle of shredded vegan colby jack, and sliced black olives. Bake according to pizza crust directions, then add a little shredded lettuce and a drizzle of non-dairy sour cream before serving.

National Pizza Day (2)

Bold Barbecue: Spoon on a little barbecue sauce in place of tomato sauce. Arrange torn slices of vegan Gouda over the sauce, then sprinkle with chopped and cooked Gardein chick’n, thinly sliced red onion, and chopped cilantro. Cook according to pizza crust directions.

National Pizza Day (4)

Keen on Green: Leave the pizza crust white and sprinkle with lots of vegan cheddar. Add chopped steamed broccoli florets and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with oregano… or add red pepper flakes if your kids like a little heat!

National Pizza Day alt

The final night was a return to the classic margherita in the colors of the Italian flag: red tomato sauce, white mozzarella, and green fresh basil leaves.

National Pizza Day var

Which does your family like best? Please share in the comments!

National Pizza Day (5)

Valentine Cookie Play

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Valentine Cookies (10)

Sugar cookie recipes are a perfect way to involve a toddler in the kitchen. There’s rolling, frosting, and decorating, not to mention tasting! Because sugar cookies involve multiple steps, a recipe can easily fill a snowed-in morning together, as Veronika and I made it do today!

For the cookies, we used this recipe except (whoops!) accidentally added 1 cup Earth Balance butter instead of 3/4 cup. Luckily, the dough still worked great. If your toddler wants to help with some of the easier steps of making the dough, be sure to let him or her! Veronika wasn’t interested though until I pulled the chilled dough from the fridge and set it down, along with a rolling pin and cookie cutters.

Valentine Cookies (1)

She loved helping roll out the dough with the purple rolling pin!

Valentine Cookies (3)

I helped her press our heart cookie cutters in hard enough to push all the way through the dough, and showed her how to arrange our hearts on cookie sheets. She was so proud and delighted with all these steps! When there were only a few dough scraps left, I let her continue the play solo while I baked the cookie batches.

Valentine Cookies (2)

Once the cookies cooled, it was time to decorate! We nixed homemade icing and instead just tinted a can of store-bought vanilla frosting pink with a little food coloring. Veronika was so proud standing at the counter, just like big brother Travis can! She helped frost the cookies…

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…and loved using a spoon to add little white sprinkles.

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Of course all of this was combined with lots of nibbling and taste-testing, making for a happy sugar-fueled morning.

Valentine Cookies (6)

Mango Sticky Rice

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LP Thailand (8)

We loved this recipe from Little Passports’ blog that helped Travis learn more about Thai cuisine and culture as he explored the country in this month’s kit! It was the perfect tropical treat to warm up our kitchen during a winter snowstorm.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sushi rice
  • 1 and 1/2 cups room temperature water, divided
  • 1 (14-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk, divided
  • 4 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 mangoes, peeled and chopped
  1. Combine the rice and 1 cup water in a saucepan; let stand for 30 minutes.
  2. Add the remaining 1/2 cup water, half of the coconut milk (about 3/4 cup), 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
  3. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for an additional 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, warm the remaining coconut milk in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons brown sugar; set aside.
  5. Divide the rice mixture evenly among 4 bowls. Drizzle each with a little of the brown sugar sauce, and top evenly with the chopped mango.