Vegan Crock Pot Chili

This has to be one of the easiest recipes on this planet. Sunday I started to come down with a cold and an upper respiratory thing so I really didn’t feel like doing much in the dinner category so that is where my crock pot came into play. I love simple crock pot meals that I can set and go (and in this case nap). It came out fantastic and you can’t even tell that it is meatless. So no more missing out on yummy chili nights during the winter.

Ingredients:

1 package Gardein Meatless Crumbles

2 cans of Busch’s Black Beans (drained and rinsed well)

2 cans of Rotel Tomatoes with Chili’s

1 can of Sweet Corn, drained

2 small onions

5 cloves of garlic

1 cup of tomato sauce

Spices to taste:

Cumin Coriander

Paprika

Chili Powder

Cinnamon

Instructions:

Dice the onion and garlic. To make it easier on yourself throw it into a food processor and let it do all the work, that is what I like to do when a recipe calls for more than 1 onion.

Drain the beans and corn and rinse together.

And now hear comes the hard part:

Throw everything into your crock pot and turn it on low. When you come home the house will be smelling so good and dinner will be ready.

I paired the chili with some homemade Jalapeno Corn Bread Muffins. That recipe can be found in the side dishes category under the recipe tab.

I hope you enjoy this as much as my husband and I did.

Help China Stay

We have had our wonderful Pit mix for about 3 years now and we have never had an issue with her. Yesterday my husband was out walking her when he got stopped by the Red Hill Mobile Park (where we live) manager and he asked what kind of dog China was. Without thinking anything of it my husband responded “pit Mix”. This manager has been in our house before and he has patted her on the head a few times so us having a dog should of been no shock to him. But his response to Matthew was shocking. He stated that “those things” are not allowed in the park and that it is a liability to have her. There is nothing on our lease saying that we couldn’t have certain breeds and BSL is illegal within the state of CT. So what I am asking is for anyone who comes across this blog post to sign the petition and help us keep our dog and take down the manager at Red Hill Park.

https://www.change.org/p/red-hill-mobile-park-management-let-the-delucia-family-keep-their-dog-china

 

She is a very loving and sweet dog and is a companion to my husband.

Tofu Lasagna

 

 

 

 

 

So I am not necessarily a Tofu person, but my husband loves the stuff. I am constantly trying to figure out new ways to prepare a food that has no flavor. Fortunately tofu will take on the flavors that you put with it (it is nothing but a big edible sponge). This is tonight’s creation.

1 Block of Tofu, drained and pressed

1 onion, diced

1 cup of diced mushrooms

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup diced asparagus

1 can hunts diced tomatoes

1 cup marinara sauce

1/4 cup vegan cheese

Press your block of Tofu under some heavy pots and pans for about an hour (this way it doesn’t have that much water in it when you go to cook it)

As the tofu is pressing go ahead and dice up all your veggies and saute them in a pot

When translucent add in the diced tomatoes

Slice the tofu

In a casserole dish put a spoonful of marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish

Place some of the sliced tofu on the bottom and then a layer of the veggies. Keep on layering. After the last layer of tofu add another spoonful of sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melty and the tofu is warmed through the center.

 

 

Re-using Items

So this probably has nothing to do wit being Vegan or what not, but I was cleaning out some of my stuff the other day and I found this awesome looking cheese plate that has a lid to it. I didn’t get rid of it thinking that I might find a use for it and tonight I did. I went to go make my breakfast pastry so that I could have something to snack on while at work and the dough didn’t come out right (the issue with backing and reworking recipes). So I turned my frown upside down and ended up making them into breakfast biscuits. Long story short I ended up putting the finished biscuits on the plate and placed them on my counter so that I wouldn’t forget to eat them (like I normally do) I think it looks pretty nifty

My Apologies

Good evening there, Moosettes

Sorry I have not posted in oh 6 days or so, life sorta got in the way (and Doctor Who, but who is REALLY judging me on that). But since my last post a couple of really cool things happened. First of all take a look at this…

I somehow managed to round up enough bottles (from multiple households and my aunts dental office) and I was able to put $32 into my savings account, Go me!!!! So if you don’t already you better start saving those bottles and cans.

The second awesome thing that happened is that my husband loves me and bought me a ton of Vegan chocolate and baking goodies from http://veganessentials.com/. This makes me extremely happy seeing as I LOVE baking.

This cite has literally everything Vegan that you could possibly ask for. I highly recommend heading over and taking a peak.

Whole Foods Disruption

Yesterday, January 10,2015, all around the United States and Canada, activists walked into their local Whole Foods to help shine light on where the chain gets their eggs from. Here is a link of the youtube video. It even made it onto Fox News CT last night after the patriots game. I know it has nothing to do with Vegan Recipes but it has something to do with Veganism and my awesome husband.

Homemade Breakfast Pastry

Living the vegan life style there are not many quick on the go breakfast options, and being gluten free vegan go ahead and cut that number in half. But have no fear for Moose is hear to save the day. I have come up with a simple breakfast pastry recipe that you could put what ever you please in the middle.

Crust:

1/2 cup of coconut oil

3/4 cup non-dairy milk

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1 egg substitute

2 cups of gf flour

1 cup of gf oats

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling:

What ever it is you want

 

Cream together the coconut oil, agave, vanilla, “egg” and milk with a mixer.

Combine the flour, outs, salt and baking powder together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time.

wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350

Roll out the dough and cut into 3×3 inch squares.

Put filling on one side and fold over and pinch the sides closed

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

           

Store in a container for about a week.

What is coming up

Working on perfecting some breakfast pastry recipes, curry cauliflower pancakes, curry cauliflower and potato’s and maybe some gluten free naan if I get around to it.

But until then, enjoy a picture of me and my baby girl, Ida Bobo

 

Sweet Potato and Lentils- Slow Cooker

Thursday night I decided I wanted to try my hand at making lentils. We have a local Asian market down the street from where I live that sells a lot of lentils/beans/legumes/rice and spices in bulk, which is sometimes cheaper than buying them in smaller batches. This recipe is for the slow cooker, but feel free to place it on the stove in a heavy bottom pot such as a dutch oven.

Ingredients:

1-2 large sweet potato’s, diced

3 cups veggie broth

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons of each: coriander, garam masala, chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups of uncooked lentils

1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)

Put everything into the crock pot, except for the lentils, and cook on high for 3 hours.

Add in the lentils and stir only once and cook for an hour and a half.

Stir in the coconut milk at the end if you chose to do so.

I left the sweet potato’s quite large in this batch, but go ahead and cut them to the size that you would like.

*My dogs loved this for dinner with us, so go ahead and give them a taste*

 

Lunch

Are you in a time crunch for making lunch? Don’t know what to make for lunch? Here is one of my favorite lunch’s and it is quick and easy to make

All it is is gluten free pasta with a little sea salt, onion powder and olive oil/earth balance with some quick dry saute or steamed veggies. Today I did sliced mushrooms, carrots, broccoli florets and kale. Enjoy

 

Moose-a-Moose