Thick and Creamy Hearty Bean Stew

Last night I decided to up my college cooking and make a stew. One of my friends has a rice cooker so we made the rice in there then sauteed the veggies and un-drained beans with seasoning and added the veggie broth. It was kind of an all night adventure because we didn't know what we were doing and the rice took forever to cook.

Ingredients:
Veggie Broth
Celery- 1 stick washed and chopped
Red Onions Chopped- 1/4 a cup
6 mini red potatoes cubed and washed
1 can of great northern beans
Garlic herb seasoning
Rice cooker

I used about 2 cubs of broth, but I would use more depending on how you like it. I was originally going to make a soup then decided for a stew. Well I'd never made a stew before and didn't realize it would congeal so much. It is about the consistency I like my oatmeal, which is good but its not really a stew by any means. Adding more broth will fix this. Anyway this is a fun dish to make with friends in a dorm room if you have an open night.

Scrumpbeanylicious Salsarito

Ok, so I was hungry and didn't know what to make... so I splurged a bit and made a giant burrito!
This thing was the most delicious burrito I've ever had!!!

Ingredients:

Light Flat-out (or burrito roll, but these are healthier)
Hummus
Black beans
Chopped onions
Black olives
Parma Raw
Daiya
Salsa






Spread hummus on the flat-out, then pour drained blackbeans over it with chopped onions and black olives (and anything else you want) sprinkle on some parma raw and daiya then pour a line of salsa, microwave for 45 seconds-1 minute, wrap up ends then sides, flip and microwave for 20-30 seconds. pour some more salsa if you wish, and enjoy!!!

The last scrumptious bite!

Cheesy Spagheasy

Ok, so if you have been wondering where these awesome names are coming from, that is all thanks to my wonderful mother! My whole family is kind of a health buff family and my mom is always on the perma-diet! Anyway, despite her not wanting to transition, she and my father have both been very supportive of my choices. She alwayyyys used to make me pasta when I lived at home so besides her naming it, this is sort of a dedication to her! She used to just make noodles and parmesan but since I haven't found an accurate replacement for that just yet, I use spaghetti sauce. This recipe is sooo creamy and a delicacy (even though it is suuuper easy and is basically spaghetti!!) Hence the cheesy, spagh(etti) and easy parts to its name!

You will need:
Whole wheat noodles
Spaghetti sauce (I use prego veggie smart smooth and simple, since I HATE tomatoes this is a super smooth recipe that is full of flavor! and has two servings of veggies!)
daiya mozza shreds (btw I'm almost out of these and as you may have noticed I put it in EVERYTHING! sooo I'm running out of ideas since I LOVE cheese!)
Parma raw
A microwavable pasta maker (I use pasta 'n more, but other brands are pasta boat which can be found at walgreens, or you could make it on the stove top but I don't have one of those lol)

Make your pasta how you like it (al dente provides the most flavor) add your spaghetti sauce and stir in daiya and put a little on top, microwave for about 30 seconds or until daiya starts getting gooey. Add your parma raw on top for looks, texture, and taste!

Notice how the sauce almost becomes like a creamy red sauce, it gets
thicker and creamier and much richer and is so delicious!

Melted Galaxy

So I made what I like to call a "melted galaxy" because it is not a grilled cheese, it is melted galaxy cheese on arnold's bread with hummus and parma raw cheese. I forgot to snap a pic until I was almost done, but it was super melty and delicious. Normally I would say, "use whatever cheese you like" but the way the galaxy melts is so thick and creamy its delicious! I put it in the microwave for more than 30 seconds I think.

Frijoles Fiesta Nachos

HELLOOOO... i'm sick : ( so I don't feel like writing much, but I felt I should because it is my two month of being vegetarian. (the thirtieth will be my two month vegan) sooo, I am pretty much lying in my warm and cozy bed pretending the world doesn't exist and am about to watch a movie on my laptop!

Yesturday I made the most amazing nachos that you HAVE to try! The reviews were astounding, omnis everywhere said "I love this cheese" "that's not real cheese?!?!?" "Vegan is what's up!!"


You will need:

black beans
corn chips
daiya mozza shreds
salsa- I used hot!

put a thin layer of chips down so they are just covering the bottom of the plate, then add a layer of daiya, repeat, microwave for 45 secondsish, add beans in a circle on top, microwave for the 15 secondsish, then add salsa in a ring of fire around beans.

Daiyadilla

For lunch I made a Daiyadilla, as I like to call it. It was super super easy! All you need is a tortilla, meltable vegan cheese, and if you'd like, salsa vegan sour cream black olives, shredded match meat or anything else you'd like or have that you want to throw in! Results: unbelievably quick and tasty cruelty free quesadillas!
My tortillas were almost frozen so I popped it in the nuker for 10 seconds, then tore it in half. Poured on my daiya mozza shreds and nuked for 50 seconds. Took it out, poured some hot salsa and whamo!!

DELICOUSNESS, feast your eyes on that!

can you resist the undeniable gooyeness that is daiya? 

College Cooking

So, I am back at school! It's exciting and I am really enjoying it. However, there are things I miss. Here is my top things I miss

5. My single room
4. My car
3. My family
2. My cats
1. A stove

However, I can show you tons of great stuff using only a microwave (and sometimes a toaster)

I made a mini-pizza using the following ingredients:
Arnold's sandwich thins
pasta sauce (I used ragu veggie one or something)
daiya cheese

I toasted half of the sandwich thin and then put on sauce and cheese to my liking then NUKED IT for 30 seconds! it turned out a little soggy but the "cheese" melted perfectly and it smelled devine (even my omni roomie thought so!) I was too hungry to wait for it to cool and potentially congeal so I ate it with a fork and knife. In the past I used to make this in the toaster oven and it was much crispier but the cheese didn't melt as well, but I probably didn't put it in long enough. Either way, the microwave version was ooye gooey and delicious!

Taco Night Revisited!

So, this time I made taco's with great northern beans that were leftover from the chili recipe! I added red pepper, onion powder, soy sauce, white rice vinegar, taco seasoning, and brown rice! So delicious! We topped with daiya mozza shreds and lettuce, would have used olives but we were out : (
I also finished off most of the leftover desserts, only two buckeye balls left! I made like 50 so that's pretty impressive, although I did give most away and the ones I didn't my sister sneaked. My mom gave the last one to her boyfriend without me knowing it was the last one.... o well! Kinda sad though because we have a ton of non-vegan buckeye balls... I guess it's a compliment!

Couldn't take any photos though because I ran out of battery while taking pics of the desserts and everything and left my charger at school : (

Lesson Learned

Lesson Learned: Celery does NOT go in smoothies... period... the end... goodbye!
-But not really goodbye. I have made two different types of smoothies with celery and the texture is disgusting beyond belief! It is so pulpy! I have to admit though I HATE pulp! So, you may like it, but be warned it is extremely pulpy. Maybe I should have used a strainer or something to extracted the pulp, either way, I could barely finish that smoothie! It had- peanut butter (YUM) celery (normally yum...) 8th Continent Soy Milk (YUM and super low-cal!) and Agave (yumm!) would have been a great meal... but I decided I wanted to drink it instead of eat it... BAD IDEA!

So that was my short update, haven't been making much food lately, but I did go to another vegan event run by the St. Louis Animal Rights Team, or START, you should check them out if you are anywhere near the area. They are really great people and do some pretty amazing things! The food was great, and there was an AMAZING turn out!

I leave for school In exactly a week and I am not too thrilled, to say the least! There is still so much that needs to get done. I need to move, finish thank you notes, go to doctors appointments, pack up, hang out with everyone I never see, clean up, and relax.... somehow I don't think I will be able to relax, it is soo stressful moving! Wish me luck...whoever you are....!