Hearty Lasagna

Most of my experience with lasagna has been of the frozen variety.. not even close to the top of my favorite foods list. I would eat my serving and try to forget about it. I did have one pleasant lasagna experience about 5 years ago at a gathering, it was veggie lasagna, I don't remember who made it but I wish I did because I ate seconds and thirds and maybe even forths! Best of all, did not taste of freezer burn in the slightest! But that was one time in my 22 years with a great lasagna experience.. Needless to say I was a little hesitant about my decision to make the Hearty Lasagna dish from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's 30-day Vegan Challenge. But I thought I should try it now since I'm trying new things and it wasn't going to be all meaty and cheesy and ... grossest of all.. frozen.
The faux-cotta cheeze was surprisingly delicious (never liked the "real" stuff before) and adding one of my favorite veggies to it, spinach, really made this dish for me. Not to mention tons(!) of basil. MMM
I also felt this recipe was fairly simple to make, another reason I was a little scared to make lasagna, I've heard people gripe about making homemade lasagna (hence the abundance of the frozen type out there), and how much time it takes and blah blah, but this was delicious and easy.
Okay, so without further ado, here it is. Hope you try it and enjoy it, like we did :)

Hearty Lasagna
Recipe from The 30-day Vegan Challenge

Ingredients:
1/2-1 pound lasagna noodles
Two 10oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
16oz firm tofu (not silken)
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
1/4 cup nondairy milk, more or less as needed
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 2 peeled cloves garlic
Juice from half a lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp minced fresh basil (about 20 leaves)
1 tsp salt, or to taste
4-6 cups tomato or pasta sauce of your choosing

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions, and drain and set aside. Or use the "no-need-to-boil-" lasagna noodles.

Squeeze as much water from the spinach as possible and set aside. (If using fresh spinach, black it first, then squeeze out the water. Blanching just means to cook something very briefly in boiling water, then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process.)

Place the tofu, sugar, milk, garlic powder or garlic cloves, lemon juice, basil and salt into a food processor or blender and pulse or blend until smooth. The tofu "ricotta" should be creamy but still have body.

Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the spinach. Continue tasting until you get the amount of salt just right.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13in baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles (use about one-third of the noodles). Follow with half of the tofu filling. Continue in the same order, using half the remaining tomato sauce and noodles and all of the remaining tofu filling. End with the remaining noodles, covered by the remaining tomato sauce. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Variations:
Add a meatless ground meat to your sauce for a different texture.
Add a cheese such as Daiya mozzarella.

Quinoa and Black Beans

I've heard about quinoa for years, but never had the courage to try to cook it myself. And to my surprise it is super easy! Pretty much the same concept as cooking rice. Who knew?? I purchased my quinoa from Whole Foods in the bulk bins, $3.99/lb. The recipe I'm using came from www.allrecipes.com, and if you don't have an account with them (it's free!), then you should! (Seriously.)

Quinoa and Black Beans
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 (15oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro


Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.
 4. Enjoy!

**We also topped ours with a chilled medium salsa.
Total time: about 50 minutes (15 minutes to prep, 35 minutes to cook)

This is definitely a recipe we'll be holding on to. Next time we're going to try it in burritos! Maybe with some grilled red peppers. Let me know if you make this, what variations you experiment with :)
Happy healthy cooking!

PDX VegFest

This past weekend was the NW Veg Fest at the Portland Convention Center. It was super fun and very informative as someone trying to get started as a vegan. Tons of products to try out and demos to watch. I've got to say that my husband and I (and two of our close friends) are completely sold on the VITAMIX!!  Some of the products that I will be purchasing in the near future to experiment with are:
Earth Balance Soy milk (probably the best tasting soy milk I've tasted) -- WWW.earthbalancenaturals.com (will send you coupons if you contact them)
So Delicious Ice cream bars,
Tempt protein powder (made with hemp seeds, rich in omegas 3 and 6, with 10 essential amino acids) -- WWW.livingharvest.com
Upton's Naturals faux meats, made with Seitan, (wheat gluten) great flavor, we bought some at Whole Foods already -- WWW.Uptonsnaturals.com
Genesis Organics Juice, Amazing flavor, never heated/pasteurized, they use a high pressure method which gives you a fresh squeezed taste that you just can't get from other juices. We tried the strawberry lemonade, ginger lemonade and a cranberry lemonade. Get a coupon sent to you from their website WWW.genesisorganicjuice.com
Also tried gardein's meatless mandarin orange crispy chick'n YUM, Equal Exchange very dark chocolate and Orange dark chocolate, and Chia Seeds!
Got a list of some vegan restaurants in and around Portland, can't wait to check them out!
Leave a comment with your favorite veg products for me to try!
Thanks for reading :)

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome, I'm so excited to start this journey to being a healthy individual, I hope you find this blog inspiring and helpful in your life also. Over the years I've tried many diets, fad diets to be exact, and none of them worked for me personally because I only saw it as a diet, a short term deal, a four letter word, and definitely a restriction. I would "cheat" on the diet but what I didn't realize was I was cheating myself. But I've changed my mind set. I'm no longer going to consider what I'm doing a "diet". It is a lifestyle, a "norm" if you will. One definition of the word diet is "a selection or limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight". I don't want what I'm going to eat to be about limitation or "I can't have that, I'm on a diet". It is a choice and it should be treated as such. I want this to be about opening up new and exciting possibilities and trying recipes that would have been daunting in the past, and making healthier versions of old favorites. You might notice that the recipes I share won't include and animal products or their secretions (for the most part), but instead will be mostly food that is from the ground, with as little processed junk as possible.
So, with that in mind, let's move forward and choose to be healthy and happy. :)