We made it vegan: Korean Beef

I'm a sucker for a simple, kid-pleasing recipe.  I stumbled across this Korean Beef recipe on Pinterest a while back.  I made it once and the kids loved it, so it quickly became a favorite.  Other than making sure I had beef in the freezer, it was a pantry item menu filler.  At least at our house.  I did modify it just a bit to make it more pleasing to my kids (they don't like green onions) and hubby (he loves water chestnuts) and me (not a fan of ginger).

Ingredients:
"beef" crumbles
1/4 c. soy sauce (organic, low sodium is our preference)
*1/4 c. brown sugar (or sugar and molasses)
hoisin sauce (1-2 T)
1 tsp sesame oil
small can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
crushed red pepper (I usually leave this out, but you can definitely add it to desired spiciness)
green onion (see above)
ginger (see above)
**cooked rice

Put sesame oil in skillet with garlic for a minute on medium.  Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and hoisin sauce.  Stir carefully.  Add "beef" crumbles and water chestnuts (and optional ingredients as you wish).  Allow crumbles and water chestnuts to soak up the delicious sauce and warm through.

Serve over cooked rice.  Garnish with green onion if desired.

*I used the information in the sugar & molasses link to make a substitute for light brown sugar using vegan sugar.
**I use a rice cooker to make life easier.  I always burn stovetop rice. ;)

Recipe review: Banana muffins!

I got lucky.  I googled "vegan muffin recipe" and this one was the first on the list.  That seems to keep happening.  The first one I tried is the one that we're going to stick with.  I did find one other one, but the muffins fell and were too dense.  We still ate them, just took us a bit longer to scarf them down.  This one is the one I went back to when Punky had to take snack to preschool.  I love that my kids want to help, and we had fun baking these vegan banana muffins.

(The first time I made them I added pecans to half of the muffins, and I loved them.  This time we left the pecans out completely because I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about them.)

Punky couldn't wait for the muffin to cool so she could gobble it up!
She had one as a bedtime snack and one for breakfast the next day.
Then another for school snack.  They were delicious!

Refreshing strawberry milk!

A couple of weeks ago, my girlies went out to lunch with some family members while I was hanging with friends.  My sweet Punky ordered chocolate milk—and then everyone remembered that cow's milk was a no-no.  Yes, I said that I would let my kids eat/drink what they wanted, but what I didn't disclose is that Punky hasn't really tolerated straight dairy since she was a tiny Punky.  Everybody knew that the chocolate milk might make her feel yucky, so they intervened.  She was NOT happy.  Poor girl didn't understand why her cousin could have the milk and she couldn't.  At home she drinks chocolate milk, why not at the restaurant?  Later that afternoon, my mom called to tell me what happened and asked that I please make Punky some special milk that night.  I didn't have any chocolate milk, but I had fresh strawberries, so we improvised.

Ingredients:
almond milk (or soy, if that's your thing)
fresh strawberries (greens & all)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Place all ingredients in a blender, liquify.  Pour into a "fancy" jar and add a straw.  Everything tastes better through a straw.

Bonus points for using fresh strawberries!  Double bonus for keeping the greens on (they can't taste the greens but they can use the vitamins)!!

Recipe review: the best ever ranch dressing!

Our kiddos are ranch dressing lovers.  Okay, let me be honest, we are all ranch dressing lovers.  One of the initial priorities when starting this journey was to find a delicious replacement.  We hit the jackpot on our first try.  While standing in Whole Foods, Daddio did a google search for vegan ranch dressing.  We made the first one that came up.  The kids loved it so much, I think they would've had it as a drink.  We have tried one other variation just to double check and we were not nearly as happy.  This recipe is so good that I've even told several non-vegan friends to try it.

Store leftovers in a mason jar and use within a few days.  This is also a really good base for vegan, creamy jalapeño dressing/dip.  Slurp!

On the 11th day...

And on the 11th day, the three year old has a breakdown realizing that there is no turkey & cheese in the house.  "But I need turkey and cheese not made out of animals!"  Sweet girl.

To the rescue....

Daddio heated the hot dogs stove-top in a skillet.  They had the right flavor and a very similar texture to a hot dog...without all of the hot dogness of a hot dog.  You know what I mean. ;)

These will become a refrigerator staple now that I know Punky will eat them when all else fails.  Whew!  Crisis averted!

Bring on some vegan Tex-Mex!

Daddio was on the road (in the air?) for five days, maintaining his goal of a vegan diet, and it was a challenge.  I'm hopeful that I can convince him to blog about it because I think it will be interesting to look back on this point and think about how far he's come...some day.

On his last day out, I sent him a text: What do you want for dinner? Anything you want, I'll make it.  Just name it.

I knew he was hungry.  

He replied:  Black bean enchiladas?  Or any Tex-Mex recipe.  Creamy jalapeño?  

My man has a thing for Tex-Mex.  He could eat it every meal.  I'm not kidding.  

I quickly set out to find some recipe options.  I have several enchilada recipes, but all would require too many substitutions to be a safe, homecoming dinner.  I knew this had to be a tried & true recipe.  And I found a couple.  First, I used this black bean enchilada recipe.  I doubled it because I knew it would be good and I wanted leftovers.  My mouth started watering as I was reading the recipe.  (Actually, my stomach is growling just thinking about it.)

I also stumbled upon this recipe for another version of vegan enchiladas and avocado cream sauce.  I decided to make the cream sauce to slather on the top of our finished product after it came out of the oven.

Bottom line: really good choices.  Both recipes were delicious!  Honestly, I can't think of anything that would've made them taste better.  We didn't miss meat or cheese at all.  

I served this with vegan creamy jalapeño (Chuy's inspired) and Corona margaritas.

Everybody was home with full bellies.  Moma was happy.  ❤

Raspberry Peach Smoothies

YUM!  We love smoothies.  The girls think they're getting a treat and I know they're getting good nutrition.  Okay, let me rephrase.  We all love the deliciousness, but the only one I'm still fooling is Punky.  They're growing up! <sniff, sniff> ;)

Last week on our Costco trip, I picked up a flat of organic peaches.  They weren't quite ripe, so we placed them in a large paper sack for a day (just leave sack on the counter).  Fast forward, the next day they were fragrant, juicy, and ready to devour.  But, for some reason, by the very next day, they needed to be used ASAP!  Into a smoothie was the best way for us to use up this fruit.  I decided to pair it with some raspberries that were also aging in the fridge, and a banana, of course!  I think every smoothie has to have a banana for creaminess and flavor.

The girls loved these smoothies so much that I made them again the next day!

Peach-Raspberry-Banana Smoothies

Peach-Raspberry-Banana Smoothies
Recipe (4 good size smoothies)

4 peaches, pitted and roughly chopped
2 bananas
1 pint raspberries
1 c coconut milk yogurt (we used vanilla)
1/2-1 cup almond milk
ice
*flax seed
*brown rice protein powder

*optional

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.  Add almond milk (or other dairy free milk) as needed.

Product Review: Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free (and vegan!) Brownies
(Paper plate dress up idea courtesy of Pinterest)

Belle was invited to a friend's house over the weekend for a small gathering.  She asked me if there would be food: yes.  Then she asked how she would know what was okay for her to eat.  I gave her what I assume will become my standard reply: Eat what you are comfortable eating.  Eat what you want to eat.  Do not make a big deal out of it.  If you want to eat something that is not vegan, eat it.  Nobody is going to give you a hard time, nobody is going to judge you, nobody is going to say you're not doing a good job.  You're nine years old.  Enjoy life.  Period.

And then the question I actually had prepared for: Can I take something to share that is vegan?

But, of course!  I had planned for this, but not entirely.  It was a project filled weekend for me, so I decided to grab a pre-packaged mix for brownies while I was picking up other groceries.  I had a sneaking suspicion that my girlie was going to want to take a snack to share.  She was excited to hear that she was taking a family favorite, but I think she was a little leery when I pulled out the ingredients.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix calls for butter & eggs.  Instead, I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread and applesauce.  Yum!  I love applesauce as a substitute for eggs in sweet recipes like brownies, muffins, cupcakes, etc.  It really helps keep the final product moist and delicious.  (Next time I'm going to use coconut oil in place of the buttery spread.  Doesn't that sound delicious?!)

One line reviews for the brownie mix:

Sunshine (13):  They are very moist and chocolatey.  Very delicious!

Belle (9):  Sticky, milk chocolatey, delicious!

Punky (3):  I think they are yummy and juicy!  (Me: Juicy?! o.O)

Simple and delicious!

Did I mention that we're a homeschooling family?  Nope?  Now ya know!  :)  Since today is Labor Day, the kids woke up trying to convince me that we should take a school break.  It didn't take much convincing, honestly.  We had a long day yesterday (our A/C broke and the outdoor temp was 105) so I figured a day off would be nice.  We've been working on fun projects instead of school work.  I have a to-do list a mile long, and was really in the zone, so I forgot what time it was.  At 12:57, Belle asked if we could have lunch.  Oops!  :)

I decided to keep working and let Sunshine & Belle figure out what we'd have for lunch.  They settled on tomato & avocado sandwiches, chips and apple slices.  So simple and satisfying!

Belle set forth cutting a deliciously ripe avocado into chunks.  We happened to have a beautiful tomato already cut (leftover from yesterday's salad).  Sunshine spread soy-free Vegenaise on the soft bread.  They put all of the ingredients together and made a yummy sandwich!

Tomato & Avocado Sandwich
(Yes, I know that looks like bacon in the picture but I promise it's a tomato!)

Belle was reading labels while choosing her chips, she's getting really good at figuring out what's vegan and what's not (we're still finding food in our pantry that we didn't clear out the first time through).  It's nice that she's able to identify the hidden non-vegan ingredients.  Great learning experience!