Tomato Spice Muffins

Made some tomato spice muffins this morning. I adapted a regular cinnamon muffin recipe, since my fridge full of tomatoes needed to be put to good use  Surprisingly the muffins had more of an apple flavor  

1 cup sorghum flour + 1 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder
3 tomatoes blended with 6 dates and a 1" piece of dried tamarind
2 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp of agave + 2 tbsp of 'honee' (its this amazing plant based honey made from apples! Additional agave would also work)
topping:
1 tbsp cinnamon sugar mix

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with 2 tsp oil.
mix the flour, baking powder, vanilla, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir well.
In a blender, add the tomatoes, dates, oil, vinegar, sweetener, and tamarind. Blend until smooth.
Pour the wet mixture into the mixing bowl and stir until a batter forms.
Spoon batter into muffin tins and top each muffin with the cinnamon-sugar sprinkle - generous amounts.
Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake another 8 minutes. Serve warm or store in the fridge or freezer if not eating within a day.

Eggplant tacos

Super easy, super delicious!

Eggplant tacos
Serves 7 or more

taco 'meat'
2 eggplants
3-4 zucchinis
2 tomatoes
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 pckg taco seasoning OR 2-4 tbsp chilli powder 1 tbsp paprika 2-3 tsp cumin powder 1-2 tsp salt or veggie bouillon, pepper... can also add soy sauce, a bit of agave, onion powder.. have fun with it :)

1 package of corn tortillas

Additional Adornments::
1 tomato chopped
guacemole or avocado
6 leaves of lettuce chopped
1-2 cups cooked rice
plain vegan yoghurt
ketchup
and or any other ingredients you may like on your tacos

Chop all eggplants through tomato in a food processor to make it easy.

Sautee onion in oil with garlic until transparent, add zucchinis through tomatoes (all within filling ingredients) to cook
and season with taco seasonings.

Add mixture to corn tortilla and adorn with chopped tomato, lettuce, ice... ketchup whatever you like to eat with tacos :):)

Raw tomatillo soup plus black bean basil muffins

raw tomatillo soup:

1/4 cup kalamata olives

2 cups tomatillos

1 bunch kale

juice of 1 lemon

handful of cilantro

1 tbsp brown rice syrup

1/2 avocado

1/4 tsp red pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Blend all ingredients :) 

Great with Black bean basil muffins :):)   
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups black beans cooked
1 cup non dairy milk
2 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (leave out for the kids)
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup fresh basil leaves chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F and oil muffin pans

Mix dry ingredients

Puree all wet ingredients apart from basil.  

Add the puree to the dry ingredients, mix with a wooden spoon and pour into
muffin tins.  Bake for 20- 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  

Quiche!!

I have been wanting to get back to posting on this!! Things with school have been really busy with the start of a new semester -- living off of a lot of Pro bars, oatmeal, cereal (corn flakes, dried raisins plus flax seed milk), ready made burritos (Sweet Earth) and going out to eat... I know it's terrible.

And I actually did sick for about a week -- which kind of got me behind in classes and everything -- I blame my husband lol. He went on a trip to Singapore and came back with a terrible virus.  Which I fortunately got.  I know. Lovely.  I consumed about 3 bags of coughdrops in a week, lots and lots and lots of tea.  Natural Philosophy (a local health food store/yoga studio) was wonderful and specially mixed some healing tea for me :) :)

I also did my best to get back into preparing fresh healthy meals and juices -- I am rather time constrained with my schedule, but I am doing the best that I can :)

I have taken a few pictures of some meals that I have made within the past few weeks, which hopefully I will post sooner rather than later... :)

I made this quiche today.. and it was amazing!!

Simple and amazing!

Tofu Quiche:

2 fresh tomatoes chopped
2 cups of swiss chard chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 package of white mushrooms chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp all purpose herb mix
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
3-4 drops liquid smoke (optional)
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce (optional)
1 tsp vegan worcester sauce
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper

1/3 - 3/4 cup nut, seed, grain or soy milk
14 oz firm tofu
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp veggie bouillon powder or 1/2 - full veggie bouillon cube -- to taste

2 ready made pie or pizza crusts (deep dish).

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Saute onions, garlic and mushrooms in oil, until onions are transparent.  Add seasonings from herb mix to black pepper and mix well.  Turn off heat and add tomatoes and swiss chard and mix.  Set aside and pour milk into blender with tofu, turmeric, salt and veggie bouillon.  Blend until smooth.

Combine blended mixture with veggies.

Pour into 2 small pie crusts or 1 large.

Serves 4

No-so-Gnocchi, Greens and Portobello Steak

This reminded me of gnocchi, even though it's totally not, but I enjoyed it none the less :)

Not-so-gnocchi, steamed greens and a portobello steak
serves 1

3 red potatoes 1/4 inch cubes
1 small bunch of greens chopped
3 green onions
1 can of tomato sauce
1 portobello mushroom
2 tsp coconut aminos (soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
6 dashes garlic powder
5 dashes black pepper
3 dashes red pepper flakes
2 tsp vegan worcester sauce
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2-4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

Cut potatoes up and throw in a steamer for 30 minutes, add the greens + green onions for a minute at the end.
heat 1 can of tomato sauce with 3 dashes of garlic powder, 3 dashes of black pepper, red pepper flakes 1 tsp oregano, italian seasoning and apple cider and white wine vinegar.  Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Place portobello mushroom on a baking tray, remove stem, make sure gills are face side up, drizzle aminos, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar on top.  Then add 3 dashes of garlic powder, 2 dashes of pepper, 1 tsp of oregano and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Once the potatoes and greens are steamed put them on a plate and generously scoop tomato sauce on them, take out the portobello steak and put it on your plate -- either to cut up to put on top or eat on the side, can drizzle worcester sauce on top.. leave it on the side as a dip.

and finally generously top with nutritional yeast
:) 

And it's Monday again

For breakfast I had:

Apricot Mesquite chia cereal
2 tbsp chia seeds
soaked in 1 cup water
4 sliced apricots
1 sliced mango
1/2 tbsp of mesquite

I also had a small bowl of millet cereal with flax milk-- at breakfast late and wasn't sure when I'd be getting lunch.

Fo lunch I made:

Refried Black Bean Quesadilla with pumpkin seed cheese smothered swiss chard
Makes 2

2 rice tortilla
1 tomato chopped
6 tbsp refried black beans
1 small bundle swiss chard

cheese--
1 cup pumpkin seeds
 2-3 tbsp water
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons agave
1 dash braggs

Mix the cheese ingredients in a blender until chunky -- consistency of ricotta.

Wash and chop the swiss chard, and pour cheese mixture on top, mix well.

Spread out 3tbsps refried beans onto the middle of the tortilla and put it in the oven
or broiler for 5-7 minutes until rice tortilla gets soft in the middle and crispy on the outside.

Remove tortilla from oven and spread tomatoes, in the middle and half of the swiss chard cheese mixture.


Dinner:

Veggie burgers
Sauerkraut
Daiya swiss cheese
ketchup
bread
bread and butter pickles

I got home late tonight.. so picked up some of my favorite veggie burgers, put on the cheese -- can throw them in the oven or microwave and then add the rest of the ingredients :)

Super easy.

Speedy meals on the go

I'm not home much these days, with work/school picking up, I'm easily working over 12 hours a day.

Unfortunately this means more on meals bought outside of the home, but a couple days ago I could tell between lack of sleep and home cooked food, I needed to start taking better care.. well it could have been actually closer to my bodies decision, because yesterday all I felt like consuming was, seaweed-- spirulina -- the tiny blue green algae is one of the oldest inhabitants of the planet.  It's a high source of protein, minerals and vitamins.  It has the richest source of absorbable vitamin A and the best source of Iron-- even over supplements! High in Vitamin B's, even B12!  It even has 300% vitamin D per 10 grams.

I ate about 1/3 cup of spirulina yesterday... wasn't sure if it's something you can overdose on.. but I felt fine!  I also had the juice of 2-3 lemons.

I also had a couple spicy vegan chikn patties with ketchup :) lol talk about quick food... strange combination of stuff, but seemed to work!

Today for Breakfast:
2 ezekiel toast spread with vegan butter, peanut butter and raw cocao/coconut butter, topped with raisins AND cherry smoothie -- the smoothie came out thick I made it the other day, and it actually works as a jam (there is even spinach in the smoothie)

Cherry Smoothie:
1 cup strawberries
2-3 cup pitted cherries
2-3 cups spinach
1 tbsp lemon juice
start with 1 cup water, if it's not enough to blend add more.
(I only used a couple dollops for the smoothie, and I am planning on putting the rest in ice cube containers.. for a fun version of ice)

Lunch:
veggie burrito no dairy substituted for guacamole for lunch with hot sauce.

Dinner:

Fresh Green pea and lemon juice:
2 cups fresh raw green peas (can include edamame)
3 carrots
2 celery sticks
2 lemons one peeled and one whole
2-3 cups of red lettuce
(I only had about 1/2 the juice)

another ezekiel toast -- made just the same but without the smoothie addition

sweet potato throw together:
1 baked sweet potato peeled and cut into fourths
1/2 cup black beans
1/4 cilantro
1/4 sliced tomato
2 tbsp salsa
2 cups mustard greens simmered till bright green
1 tbsp lemon juice

Voila dinner salad :) I had actually brought this for lunch today, but wasn't sure if I would make it home for dinner, so decided to save it for dinner, and go out for lunch instead.