Vegan Carbonara

This was my first time making this dish, even as a meat eater I never tried making my own carbonara recipe. Pasta recipes can get kind of repetitive sometimes so I decided to try something new. Usually I make my creamy sauces with a nut base but today I am showing you a low fat alternative that will give the same creamy results. Its also great for people who want to try more vegan recipes but have nut allergies. This one is for the bacon lovers;)

(mushroom and bacon sautéed)

Ingredients:

1 package of pasta of choice 

1 block of soft tofu

approximately 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast

approximately 1 cup of almond milk

1 tbsp. of tahini or olive oil

Italian seasonings

salt and pepper

garlic

1 package of shitake mushrooms

1 package of vegan bacon (I used the sweet earth brand)

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 onion

(Sauce added to mushroom and bacon)

Directions:

1. Boil pasta and set aside until time to mix in with sauce. I usually let it sit in cold water after cooking to avoid noodles sticking together.

2. In a high speed blender add tofu, nutritional yeast, tahini, Italian seasonings, salt, pepper, and garlic and blend until smooth and creamy.

3. Slice mushrooms and bacon into bite size pieces and saute in a pan until slightly crispy. Add more salt, pepper, and garlic to your liking.

4. Pour the sauce into pan with mushrooms and bacon and mix everything together

5. Drain pasta and toss together in the pan with the sauce.

6. Serve and enjoy!

(Dish complete)

This dish is a much healthier spin on traditional carbonara. If you want to make it even healthier you can ditch the vegan bacon but its a tasty option for those trying to transition from a meat based diet and are still having cravings. Remember pigs are our friends and they are sentient intelligent beings no different than a dog or a cat. They want to live just like you and me and all the other animals who are unnecessarily slaughtered by the millions. Give this recipe a try you will not only be doing a favor for yourself but also for the animals and the planet!

*Peace begins with your plate*

Potato Salad

Potato salad is the perfect side dish to bring to a gathering. Since summer is winding down get in as many barbecues as you can and whats a bbq with out a nice creamy cruelty free potato salad!

 Ingredients:

8 red potatoes

1 red onion

3 celery stalks

1 cup of vegan mayo

1/2 cup of brown mustard

1 cup or sweet relish

salt and pepper

paprika

Directions:

1. Boil or steam potatoes until tender when you stick a fork in them

2. Let the potatoes cool down and then chop them into bite size pieces and place into a bowl

3. Dice red onion and celery and put in the bowl with potatoes

4. Add vegan mayo, mustard, and relish and stir everything together. You can add as much or as little of these ingredients as your heart desires.

5. Season with salt and pepper and paprika.

6. Place potato salad into a nice dish that has a lid.

7. Garnish with a little more paprika pop a lid on it and let it chill until it is time to serve!

One of my favorite ways to eat potato salad is as a side to a hearty plate of soul food. Here it is pictured with collard greens, baked beans, and fried cauliflower which I have a recipe for on my blog as well. Hope you enjoy and be sure to let me know if you try this recipe.

~Peace begins with your plate~

Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy

Mashed potatoes is one of the most simple quick dishes you can make that are guaranteed to hit the spot! Here is a delicious recipe and I wouldn't feel right giving this recipe without my famous mushroom gravy recipe to go with it!

Ingredients:

8 red potatoes

 approximately 1.5 cups of almond milk

salt and pepper

garlic

onion powder

Gravy ingredients:

1 cup of mushrooms

1/3 cup of onion

approximately 1 cup of flour 

approximately 2 cups of veggie broth 

2tbsp of soy sauce

salt and pepper

garlic

Directions:

1. Boil or steam potatoes until they are soft this should take about 40 minutes you want them to basically fall apart. Drain them and put them back in pot.

2. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and onion to your liking then gradually add in almond milk.

3. Mash everything together and adjust the amount of milk for the amount of creaminess you like your mashed potatoes to have. For me its usually about 1 and a half cups maybe more.

4. Cover with a lid and keep on low heat until ready to serve.

5. For the gravy grab a large sauce pan.

6. Dice onion and mushroom and saute them in the pan with a couple tsp of veggie broth, garlic, salt and pepper until the onions are translucent. 

6. Add flour and veggie broth into the pan and whisk away. You control how thick your gravy is by adding more flour or thin it out by adding more broth.

7. Re-season with salt, pepper, and garlic and then add in soy sauce. The soy sauce gives the gravy a nice brown color.

8. Let simmer on medium low heat whisking occasionally until ready to serve!

This last picture is the mashed potatoes and gravy with tofu and green bean casserole which is also featured on my blog. This recipe is just as tasty as traditional mashed potatoes and gravy but it is going to be so much healthier for you! Definitely give this recipe a go!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Vegan Meatloaf

In this recipe I am going to show you how to make a delicious meatloaf loaded with great sources of protein and vegetables. No need to eat ground up animals when you can get even more flavor and nutrition from a cleaner, cruelty free option! I promise you will get zero complaints from this dish!

(this is before baking)

 Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked chickpeas

2 cups of cooked lentils
1 cup of walnuts (optional)

1 cup of mushrooms

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 onion

2 flax eggs (2 tsp flax mill mixed with 2 tsp of water)

1 cup of spelt flour (or whatever kind of flour you have)

salt and pepper

garlic

onion powder

rosemary

thyme

burger seasoning

1 cup of tomato sauce or ketchup

1 cup of bbq sauce
1tbs of agave
Italian seasonings

 Directions:

1. After rinsing and drying off chickpeas, place them in a high speed blender and pulse until shredded. Place them in a large mixing bowl along with the lentils.

2. Take the bell peppers, onion, and mushroom and either dice them in small pieces or if you are lazy like me put them in the blender and pulse away until they are shredded into small pieces. Place them in the same bowl with the chickpeas and lentils.
3. Pulse walnuts in blender until grounded to resemble ground beef and add to the bowl with lentils and chickpeas

4. Add onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper, rosemary, thyme, and burger seasonings in the bowl with chickpeas and lentils. Feel free to use as much or as little as you like to suit your taste buds.

5. Add the flax eggs and flour to the bowl with everything else.

6. Make sure hands are clean and use them to mash and mix all the ingredients together like you would do with traditional meat loaf. If its too dry add another flax egg and if its too mushy add more flour.

7. Grab a large baking dish and line with foil and cooking spray and mold your meatloaf into the shape you like on the dish.

8. Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees

9. While loaf is baking mix together tomato sauce, agave, bbq sauce, and Italian seasonings after the 45 minutes pour the sauce on top of the loaf and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

10. Remove meatloaf from oven and let it cool down for at least 20 minutes. This step is important because it gives the loaf a chance to really firm up and take the texture of actual meatloaf.

11. Slice and serve!

Here is the dish pictured with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, stay tuned because that recipe is up next! Name a better duo than meatloaf and mashed potatoes???? Hope you give this recipe a try and if you do be sure to let me know how you enjoyed it!

~Peace begins with your plate~

Fried green tomatoes

Everyone loves a good fried vegetable right? Although it may not be the healthiest way to eat your veggies it is still delicious and sometimes that's all your looking for! Its the peak of gardening season and we have an abundance of tomato plants so I had to take advantage. If you or someone you know has tomatoes in their garden definitely use them!

Ingredients:

Unripe green tomatoes

1 cup of spelt flour

1 cup of almond milk

1 flax egg (1 tsp of flax mill mixed with 1 tsp of water)

salt and pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

Cajun seasoning

Grapeseed oil or frying oil of your choice

Directions:

1. In a large frying pan coat the bottom with oil about half an inch deep and set it on medium high heat

2. In a large mixing bowl add flour, milk, flax egg, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder, and Cajun seasonings. Mix thoroughly until you have a batter like consistency adjusting milk and flour as needed.

3. Dice tomatoes into slices of your choice and one at a time coat the tomatoes with the batter and set them in frying pan. Oil should be hot before you do this.

4. Fry for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side then set them on a plate covered with paper towel

5. Try not to eat the whole tray:)

I ended up dipping them in ketchup but I'm sure they would be just as delicious with hot sauce, cocktail sauce, or any sauce you prefer! Give them a go and let me know how you like them!
~Peace begins with your plate~

Stuffed Shells

If you are looking for a filling cheesy pasta look no further! These stuffed shells will definitely hit the spot. This is a heavy meal that will not leaving you missing anything! You will need a high speed blender to make the cheese.

Ingredients:

1 package of jumbo pasta shells

2 jars of spaghetti sauce of your choice

1 cup of raw cashews or sunflower seeds

1/2 cup of nutritional yeast

1 cup of almond milk or any non dairy milk

garlic

Italian seasoning

Mushrooms

1/2 yellow onion

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper 

Spinach

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a high speed blender add cashews, almond milk, nutritional yeast, Italian seasonings, salt, pepper and garlic and blend until you have a thick cream cheese consistency. If its too liquidy add more nutritional yeast and if its too thick add more almond milk.

2. Place into a mixing bowl and mix in a couple handfuls of chopped spinach.

3. In a large pot saute diced onion, bell peppers, and mushroom. Add more Italian seasonings, salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook on medium high heat until veggies are to your preference for me that's usually about 10 minutes.

4. Reduce heat to low and add both jars of tomato sauce. Stir everything thoroughly and let simmer on low while pasta cooks.

5. Boil jumbo shells and then drain, I usually give them a cold water rinse to make sure they don't stick together. 

6. Grab a baking dish that can hold a casserole and coat the bottom of the pan with the pasta sauce.

7. Using a spoon take the cashew cheese we made and stuff the shells with the mixture and then line them up in the baking dish.

8. Pour the rest of the sauce over the pasta and cover with foil then bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

9. Remove from oven and allow to cool down before serving.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you want to give it even more of a kick you could add some vegan Italian sausage or meatless crumbles into the pasta sauce. Every time I serve a dish with the cashew cheese no one can ever tell its vegan. Its great for lasagna and manicotti dishes as well. Let me know if you enjoyed this meal!

~Peace begins with your plate~

12 week Loc Update!

Before the locs

Day 1

Week 3

Week 6

Week 9

Week 12

My Loc Journey <<<<Check out my youtube!

Hey guys! I figured its been a while since I updated my blog with how my locs are doing. I am still in the game and absolutely LOVING it. Today makes 12 weeks and on the 19th I will be exactly 3 months in. You can see from my pictures my hair has gone through some serious changes. Those smooth twist from day 1 are long gone lol.  I still have some 2 strand twist pattern in some areas where my hair is finer but most of the back is disappeared and I have tons of budding everywhere! I have only done 1 retwist and that is pictured in my 3 week mark. I did the retwist because I was being overwhelmed by the frizz and to just be real going from being obsessed with my hair and always having my hand in it to just letting it do its thing I got kind of bored and felt the need to do something so I retwisted.  I almost immediately regretted it because then I got the scalpy look and it thinned my locs out a lot. I am on a semi-free form loc journey which means I will do no retwist or they will be very far and few in between. I am hoping to not have to ever retwist again but I am just going to listen to my hair and do what it tells me to do. For now I just separate them everyday and that's enough to prevent them from all meshing together. I like the look of free form locs but that is not for me at this point in my life. I am loving how simple my life has become since I locked my hair up. All I do is shampoo once or twice a week with Dr. Bronners peppermint shampoo, oil daily w castor or coconut oil, and keep them separated. When I was a loose natural I had so many hair products it was ridiculous. Every week I was rushing to buy some more shea moisture or whatever products I thought I needed to achieve the "perfect" twistout.  I look back and I was doing wayyyy too much.  I couldn't even leave the house without prepping my hair hours in advance.  Knowing that I can now walk out the door in 15 minutes is priceless!

This journey for me is about so much more than just hair.  Everyone is different but for me this journey is about learning and accepting myself in my most raw form. Learning patience, letting go, and trusting the process.  Of course I cant wait for my locs to mature and I know the way it looks physically will make me happy but seeing myself transform week by week, month by month, I learn so much more about myself.  I am more than my hair.  I am more than an image. I have been living a pretty free lifestyle for the past few years and freeing myself from the hours of work and money I put into maintaining my loose natural hair has given me motivation to focus more on other things that I often put on the back burner.  I am putting my energy into things that matter. We live in a world where women are often made to feel like they need things like hair, makeup, clothes, and model type bodies to be complete. When you learn to truly accept yourself with out all the bullshit the world tells you that you need in order to be seen as attractive you reach a dangerous new level of freedom.  My locs may still be in the "ugly stage" in many peoples eyes, I don't do the beat face trend or any of the other silly shit that the world wants us to put our focus on but I feel more beautiful than I have ever felt in all my life. 

This journey has taught me self acceptance on a whole new level and I am very much so spiritually connected to my locs. They remind me of plants and nature, watching them grow and transform, watering them daily.  No one thinks anything of the tiny sprouts but everyone will enjoy the harvest. We are no different than anything else growing in nature.

Thank for following my journey and make sure to head over to my youtube channel for more frequent updates and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe.  My 3 month update will be up soon! My Loc Journey