Totally Vegan Sriracha Cauliflower Bites

You want these.
Trust me.

Vegan. Not vegan. I don't care.
You. Want. To. Eat. This.

This was one or our first Vegan foods that didn't come from a box and it's a huge hit. We've even made it for non-vegan friends, and guess what, they love it too! Even our kids love them.

You're welcome.

What you need:
1 whole head of cauliflower
1/4 cup (or 1/2c for more spice) Sriracha (or another hot sauce. Buffalo Sauce is tasty too)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (we usually omit this if we're feeding it to our tiny humans)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup (or more because we like it) nutritional yeast (optional.. but why not)

What you do:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F)

Mix the flour, milk, 1/2t salt, 1/2t pepper, garlic powder, sriracha, and 1/2t red pepper flakes (and optional nutritional yeast - because YAY for nutritional yeast!) in a bowl.

Take all the florets off you cauliflower and chop them into bit size chunks.

Mix your florets into your mixture until well coated.

In another bowl, mix your panko breadcrumbs and the remaining salt, pepper, and red pepper (and go ahead and toss in some more nutritional yeast, because B12, brah!)

Toss your cauliflower into your bread crumb mixture a bit at a time until they are all coated.
Spread them out on a sprayed baking sheet and spray some cooking spray on top of your bites (this helps crisp them up during baking without having to flip them. Umm. Yes please!)

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes.
Remove and serve immediately (why would you want to wait anyway?!)

The bites are tasty on their own or with a dipping sauce or (my favorite way) topped on a salad.

Enjoy!

Homemade DIY Vegan Southwest Dressing

Here we go again, making dinner and sitting in our kitchen going "Man, I wish we had some southwest dressing to go with this..."

And then I do a little research, tweak a few recipes, read some ingredients aloud and like magic, BAM. Cor makes southwest dressing.

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise (or more if you want a thicker dressing)
1 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon of maple syrup or agave nectar (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
the juice of half a lemon (or 1ish teaspoons of lemon juice)
1 small pinch of cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Here's what you do:

Try not to spill cayenne pepper all over your kitchen and your pants (*cough cough CORY cough cough*)
Mix it all together with a spoon, fork, whisk, the tablespoon you just used... Whatever ya' got. (You could throw it in a blender if you wanted... But who wants more dishes, am I right?)
Eat it.
Say "Yuuummmm!"


Hey! You just made salad dressing! Look at you being all thrifty and stuff! Horray!

DIY Simple Cajun Seasoning Mix

You know those times when you're making a recipe and you're totally in a groove...

And then it happens.

You reach an item on the ingredient list.
and Oh Crap.

You're out.

It's usually something small but totally important to the integrity of the recipe and then you go on a google search hunt for substitutes for that item.

And that's how you go this post. We (uhh... Cor) was making our favorite Gumbo recipe and we we're out of Cajun seasoning. So here you go. Catastrophe averted. You're welcome.

Super Simple Cajun Seasoning Mix.

2 1/2 Tablespoons of Salt
1 Tablespoon of Dried Oregano
1 Tablespoon of Paprika
1 Tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper (Red Pepper) (adjust based on your spicy preference)
1 Tablespoon of Black Pepper

Stir that mess up. Toss the appropriate amount into your soup/gumbo/recipe.

Enjoy!

Weekly Meal Plan

We have a lot of Father's Day Activities going on this weekend, so we didn't meal plan for those day. But we've got a few of our summer favorites on the meal plan this week.

 

Full disclosure - Cor made the plan this week. And he did awesome.  

 

Day	Dinner
M	Cheesy Buffalo Cauliflower ‘Wings’ with a simple salad
T	Chickpea Salad
W	Pasta & Sauce with Salad
R	Summer veggie pasta
F	Orzo Salad
S	N/A
S	New Night!

 

Produce Dairy Packaged Goods Spices/Sauces Bread

 

M

• 1 small head cauliflower
• ¼ to ½ cup hot sauce (we use siricha or buffalo sauce & omit for kid ‘nuggets’)
• ½ cup sharp shredded cheddar cheese
• ½ cup flour (whole wheat flour works fine, so does white flour)
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

 

T

2 Cans of Chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Tomato, diced

2 Celery Stalks, diced

1 Dill Pickle, diced

1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Onion Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Teaspoon of Paprika

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Mustard

Pitas

 

W

Bag of Salad
Cucumber
Tomato
Croutons
Dressing
Bag of Pasta
Sauce

Bread

 

R

 

12 oz. bow tie pasta $1.39

2 medium roma tomatoes $0.61

1 medium summer squash $0.39

1 medium zucchini $0.39

1 medium broccoli crown $1.27

½ medium red onion $0.57

⅔ (15 oz.) jar roasted red peppers $1.34

½ bunch parsley $0.49

VINAIGRETTE (Or store bought vinaigrette)

F
4 cups water
1 1/2 cups orzo
1 cup garbanzo beans, rinsed (canned or pre-cooked from scratch)
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil and mint leaves, chopped
1/2-3/4 cups red wine vinaigrette
salt and pepper to taste

Vegan Tofu Stuffed Shells

Tofu Stuffed Shells - For the win

I'm not gonna lie - with 4 kids we eat pasta often. At least once a week. It's an easy meal to throw together on days when... well, days when we don't have anything together. A friend brought over tofu stuffed shells after we had Baby Ay two years ago, and ever since then, it's been a repeat contender on our meal plans.

Here's our favorite recipe.

Totally Vegan Tofu Stuffed Shells
What you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
16oz extra firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (for reals, we put this stuff on everything).
10oz frozen spinach, defrosted
1 box jumbo shells
1 jar of marinara sauce.

What you do:

1. Drain the tofu and pat it dry. Crumble it into a bowl. Add olive oil, salt, oregano, garlic, and nutritional yeast and mash that good stuff all together with your hands.
Note: You can also use a food processor and blend it on high if you want to do extra dishes tonight... (Uh... No Thanks)

2. Add the defrosted spinach into the mixture.

3. Cook the shells in boiling water until al dente (or soft... because you forgot to pull them off early. It doesn't really matter.)

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour 1/2 a cup of pasta sauce into the bottom the a 9x13 inch pan. Stuff each shell with 2T of filling (or more. or less. Who measures this stuff??). Place the shells in the pan, seam side down. Find out you have a few extra unstuffed shells. Throw them in the pan anyway. Some kid is going to not want the "white stuffs" anyway. Winning.

5. Pour the rest of the sauce over the shells, cover with foil, bake for 30 minutes.

6. Eat. Get seconds. Be sad there's no leftovers.
(makes 6-8 servings)

Weekly Meal Plan

I've been trying to theme plan recently by including a soup, salad, and pasta dish in the meal plan. It's helping me focus my searches more and pulling out a new plan seems quicker. Our garden is blooming and we have an abundance of cucumbers, so I made sure to include a salad that would help use some up. They also make great snacks for the kids and we've been cutting them up to take to the beach. The Philly Sub recipe is one we've made before and thought it would be better as just a pepper/onion sub situation so we will probably not include the seitan this time around. 

Day	Dinner
M	Black Bean Soup
T	Cucumber Avocado Salad
W	Lemon Asparagus Pasta
R	Vegan Philly Subs
F	Chickpea Salad
S	Pizza (Whole Foods)
S	New Night

Produce Dairy Packaged Goods Spices/Sauces Bread

M

1 pound dried black beans (about 2 1/2 cups), rinsed

2 medium onions, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/2 ripe avocado, chopped

T
1½ cups of chopped tomatoes - I used cherry tomatoes

1 cucumber - peeled and seeded then diced

1 avocado - diced

4 oz feta cheese - cubed (or not)

2 tbs minced red onion

1 handful parsley - minced - about 2 tbs

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs red wine vinegar

8 twists of black pepper from a pepper mill

W
1 bunch asparagus (12 ounces), trimmed and washed

Sea salt and black pepper

2 lemons

Olive oil

3-4 large cloves garlic, minced (~2 Tbsp)

10 ounces (~5 cups) bow tie pasta (see notes if GF*)

2.5 cups unsweetened plain almond milk

3-4 Tbsp all purpose flour (sub another thickener if GF*)

1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (for a subtle cheesy flavor | optional)

R

2 vegan hoagie rolls

spicy saute:

1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced into strips (use red an/or green peppers)

1 medium sweet onion, sliced

1/4 tsp black pepper

a few dashes chipotle or cayenne powder for heat

salt to taste (I used Penzey's seasoned chili salt 4/s)

1-2 tsp oil (EVOO, safflower or other to saute)

optional: 1 small Anaheim chili, sliced (or any spicy chili - jalapeno works too)

2 Tbsp hatch chilies, diced (canned)

cheese: 2-5 Tbsp Teese vegan cheddar cheese

seitan: 3/4-1 cup seitan strips (WestSoy brand was used) (or not)

garnish: fresh cilantro, chopped, fresh tomato, sliced fresh chilies or jalapeno

F

2 Cans of Chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Tomato, diced

2 Celery Stalks, diced

1 Dill Pickle, diced

1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Onion Powder

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Teaspoon of Paprika

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Mustard

Pitas

Weekly Meal Plan

We're trying something a little different this week. We are stuck pulling from a bunch of old meal plans and things have been a little repetitive. So, instead of searching for vegetarian/vegan meals this week, I searched for meal plans -- that's right -- I'm stealing another blog's plan for the week. I was really excited to find a FOUR week plan at Plant Based on a Budget here. The plan is for one person and sticks to a 25$ a week budget, but we will obviously need to make larger batches if we want to stretch the meals for lunches like she did.

Since we just meal plan for dinners, this is what our week looks like. Now that it's warm outside, we've been grabbing a vegan special pizza at Whole Foods on Fridays to save some time and have some pizza party movie time with the littles. I know, I know... Our plan says Saturday. We don't really go by 'plan.' We just want to make sure we have enough food in our house and enough meals to get us through the week.

Happy Eating!

Day	Dinner
M	Brown Rice and Vegetable Soup
T	Pasta (PBoaB)
W	Curried Chick Peas and Rice
R	Veggie Pasta Soup (PBoaB)
F	Potato Tacos (PBoaB) with bean dip and mexican rice
S	Pizza (Whole Foods)
S	New Night

Produce Dairy Packaged Goods Spices/Sauces Bread

M

2 tbs oil,
2 cloves garlic – minced,
1/3 one of your onions – diced,
1/2 of the celery stalks in your bunch – chopped,
1 carrot – chopped,
12 cups water,
4 bullion cubes,
1 lb brown rice,
1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli,
handful cilantro – chopped,
red chili flakes to taster

T

1/2 lb pasta – cooked,
1 tbs oil,
3 garlic gloves – minced,
1/3 yellow onion,
1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli,
2/3 of the can of 15 oz tomato sauce (save the rest),
any Italian-tasting dried spices you have on hand. I chose:  1 tbs oregano, 1/2 tbs parsley,  1/2 tbs basil.

W
1 Can of Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 Cup of Diced Yellow Onion
1 15oz Can of Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons of Curry Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon of Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon of Ginger
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
4 Kale Stalks, stem removed
1/8th Cup of Water

R
1 tbs oil,
2 cloves garlic – minced,
1/3 of your yellow onion – diced,
1 1/2 cup frozen broccoli,
1 carrot – chopped,
the celery you have left – chopped,
the rest of your chickpeas,
1 cup pinto beans,
1/2 bag mexican pasta shapes* (i put a link on the grocery list and it is just as tasty if you decide not to include it),
10 cups water,
4 bullion,  
handful cilantro – chopped,
1/2 tbs cumin

F

bean dip
1 can pinto beans, drained
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup pepper of choice (anaheim, pasilla, jalapeno, etc), chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp fresh lemon or lime juice
1 Tbsp olive oil

rice
1 cup medium grain rice
1 can tomato sauce
1/4 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste

5 russet potatoes
salt
tortillas
tomato
avocado
lettuce