Lentil Patties (vegan, low-fat, gluten-free, oil-free)

Nothin’ fancy about these veggie patties, but they are easy, tasty and satisfying.  I ate mine plain, with catsup, but I would love to try one on a whole grain bun with caramelized onions and all the fixins.  Yum.  Make sure to use certified gluten-free oats and soy sauce (tamari) if you need these to be bona fide gluten-free.

Potato Chowder

Whenever I serve this thick and creamy potato chowder to guests (non plant-based), they can’t believe it doesn’t contain dairy or cheese.  For an even lower-fat version, leave out the cashews.  The result will still be delicious.

Tofu Scramble!

This recipe comes from Lindsay Nixon’s cookbook Happy Everyday Herbivore.  This is the basic version; feel free to experiment by adding potatoes, spinach, peppers, anything you’d throw in with scrambled eggs.  It calls for Himalayan black salt, or Kala Namak.  You can find this product on Amazon.  I couldn’t believe when I opened the jar!  Smelled just like eggs!  So strange…and cool! Try it!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes Recipe! My New Favorite Meal!

Recipe ideas come to me at odd moments, usually when I’m not even thinking about food (which, if I’m being honest, isn’t all that often).  The idea for this one came to me on an airplane in the middle of reading a novel.  Pretty random considering the story took place in 1940 Nazi Germany. Anyway, it occurred to me I’d never seen or heard of a recipe for twice baked SWEET potatoes, only russet.  I’ve since done some searching and found many recipes (can’t believe I’d never seen any before) but most of them have more fat than a cheeseburger, with ingredients that just didn’t sound appealing to me (I will never understand adding brown sugar to sweet potatoes, especially when consuming them as an entree not a dessert.  Hello!?! They’re already sweet!).

This recipe has the right combination of sweet, savory, tangy, spicy and salty.  Honestly, it turned out better than I could have hoped.  I was so excited for leftovers today.  It’s a more time consuming meal since baking of the potatoes is required before anything else, but it’s not difficult by any means; just takes some planning ahead.  Note:  I prefer the lighter colored sweet potatoes as opposed to orange yams.  I will be making this again VERY soon!

Amazing Basil Pesto! Oil and Cheese Free, Still Rich and Creamy!

Even though I have a gazillion vegan/vegetarian cookbooks, I don’t refer to them too often.  I have this thing about feeling like I have to create the recipes myself.  Whatever.  Anyway, last night I made my minestrone (I guess I should post that recipe too), but I wanted a pesto to top it off.  Prepared pestos and recipes for them contain lots of olive oil, cheese and nuts.  Well, this recipe, created by Del Sroufe – author of the Forks Over Knives Cookbook – ROCKS!  No oil, no cheese, and fewer pine nuts than traditional recipes.  It came out so creamy, so rich, you would NEVER know it didn’t have the traditional ingredients.  I haven’t tried it but you can leave the nuts out, and use lite silken tofu, to make it even lower in fat.  I seriously licked the blade of the food processor like I’d just made cookies.  Ridiculous. If you like pesto, try this recipe!! You won’t be sorry!

Mock Chicken Salad

I used to love chicken and tuna salad sandwiches, but I’ve have had to do without since I happily gave up animal foods years ago.  Sure, there are plenty of faux-chicken and even tuna products out there but they are not what I’d call healthy since they are highly processed and contain oil.  Well, thanks to Lindsey Nixon, The Happy Herbivore, I got the idea for this tasty sandwich filling.  Her recipe is for tuna, but I’ve made a few changes to make mine more like a chicken-salad.  Both of them use….wait for it…..smashed garbanzo beans!! Weird, right? I thought so too, but seriously people, it’s good!  And since the mayo is fat free, it truly is a guilt-free, healthy treat!  Try it and let me know what you think!