Marinated Cucumber Tomato Hemp Seed Salad, Butternut Squash Lentil Walnut Kale Curry, Today's Lunch!

TGIF!  What am I eating today!?  Well, here's a peak!

From top left - Butternut Squash, Lentil, and Kale Curry (Recipe Below), on the side - Cucumber, Tomato, and Hemp Seed/Hemp Heart Marinated Salad (Recipe Below), at bottom - store brought dried crisp "snapeas"...I found at a random store that aren't too bad but I will be dehydrating some of my own in the near future.

I used a Cucumber and a half and a Large Tomato for this.  After I cut them...I added the following...

3 T Red Wine Vinegar
2 T (or less) of Wholesome Sweeteners' Organic Sugar
1 to 2 T Hemp Seeds/Hemp Hearts (Manitoba Harvest)

I marinated it overnight in the frig.  It's very flavorful and yummy!  Since I haven't gotten cut with the decor in the Bento Boxes I'm hoping the colors of Red & Green will qualify for this week's Christmas Theme?

For the Butternut Squash, Lentil, Walnut, Kale Curry
I did the following...

1-pound of Butternut Squash
1 C Kale
1 Shallot
Splash of Grapeseed Oil (Wildtree Basil Pesto Flavor)
2 tea Curry Powder
1/2 C Walnuts
2 T Cilantro
Lime Juice to Taste

Participating in: Pin Me #64, Bento For Kidlet's Meatless Monday, Freedom Fridays, Bento Blog Network #116, Leftovers On Fridays, 

Vegan MoFo Coming TO A Close ~ Raw Vegan Swiss Cheese Spread & Altered Framed Art

I've been taking it easy getting back into crafting lately.  I have been working on this upcycled frame.  I used Powdered Chalk blended with acrylic and metallic type paints to get this color.  I painted on several layers.  I also painted right over the glass frame.  No real reason - just felt like it!  On top of the glass I used these embellishments.  I think it would look neat over our faux fireplace mantle for Fall/Autumn.  I bought this frame a while back for a dollar at the Dollar Tree.  I think I bought a few others as well so I will probably end up doing more altered and upcycled art with it.  I've also been into Mixed Media and Art Journaling more lately, too!

Vegan MoFo 2013 is coming to an end.  The last day is Monday which also marks the end of the month.  I will miss it but will continue to post more Vegan Dishes and Recipes here on my site as I did before.  I've meet a few great people thru it this year and I hope to keep in touch with them and their blogs.

As for today's food related post - I decided to try and do a Raw Vegan "cheesy-like" spread.  It ended up tasting VERY good and resembles the flavor of Swiss Cheese.  I would like to try this again and get it more firm to try and slice it for 'cheese slices'.  

Here's the recipe for this one...

Raw Vegan Swiss Cheese Spread:

1/2 C Pine Nuts

1/4 C Hemp Hearts/Hemp Seeds

1 T Nutritional Yeast

1 T Lemon Juice

1/4-1/2 C Water

Splash of Garlic Grapeseed Oil

Pinch Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

The Grapeseed I use is organic and in raw form.  I realize Nutritional Yeast isn't necessarily raw but many raw foodists still use it in their foods.  I think that if I try and dehydrate the spread for a bit it might be able to be sliced but I will experiment with that at some point.  This works well for a dip and/or a spread as it is right now and full of flavor!

Vegan MoFo ~ Powerful Creamy Vegan Corn Chowder

 I have several posts today so be sure to scroll down!  I was going to post this tomorrow but thought 'why not today'.  Last week I made a POWERFUL Creamy Vegan Corn Chowder that I am fairly proud of!  This has more ingredients in it than most of my dishes but it sure was tasty!

Here's what this has in it...

1 Tomato
1 C Frozen Corn - Blended
2 C Frozen Corn - Whole
3 Cloves Garlic
Handful of Walnuts
1 Avocado
1 tea Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1 C Water
1 tea Dill
2 T Agave
1 T Cilantro
1 C Chopped Carrots
1 T Hemp Seeds

This made a LOT of soup!  It was very creamy and VERY flavorful!  It was quite hardy as well!

Vamping up Convenience Foods & A Homemade Dressing!

I cheated.  I have been gnawing on some store bought vegan Sloppy Joe's from Fantastic Foods.  I had them on hand and my non-veg husband made some of his for himself so I thought I would make some of the vegan version, too.

As far as store bought goes - these are pretty good.  It's not something I eat a lot of.  Plus, I usually am not a fan of fake meats, anyways.  But these were pretty good.  I topped them with Vegan Rice Cheese Shreds from Galaxy Foods.  The shreds were pretty good, too.  The shreds melt MUCH better than their slices.  I'm not really a fan of their slices to be honest.  But in smaller quantities they are a good substitution.

Yesterday I left the house in a hurry - I was running a bit behind - so I grabbed some Tomato Soup - yes - in a can!  Eeeek!  But I found my secret stash of Nutritional Yeast and Hemp Hearts/Seeds in my desk and doctored it up a bit!  That is what you see here!  Tomato Soup with Nutritional Yeast and Hemp Hearts/Seeds.  It actually tasted MUCH BETTER with these additions than stand alone.  This certainly wasn't my first choice but it was what I had to work with because I didn't pre-plan my meal...at least I made an effort to pump up the nutritional value a little, I suppose!

After feeling a little guilty about these two processed (yet still vegan) meals - I decided to go in the kitchen last night and make a new-to-me dressing to use over the next several days.  I like to call this Tangy Avocado Dressing.  Here is what it has in it:
2 Avocadoes
1/2 Onion
1 T Minced Garlic
1 C Soy Milk
1/2 C Water
1/2 C Coconut Vinegar

It was pretty good but I might use less Vinegar next time...that was really why I added the water and more Soy Milk because it was too vinegar-E.  But I love the texture and color and hope to use some of it tonight and more tomorrow.

So here are just a few foods I have been messing around with.  In other Food Related News I think I am going to try an increase my intake of Magnesium and Potassium (en)rich(ed) foods to try and help me with my leg discomfort.  A few of you know the only fruit I cannot stomach is Bananas.  I have always hated them but I am going to try and force myself to eat them somehow.

Have you ever overcome certain food dislikes?  How did you do it?  Do tell!

Bowtie Pasta Jobber

This past weekend I needed to make a quick meal in minutes and had little ingredients to do much with!  I ended up with this little Bow Tie Pasta Jobber!

I had some Tomato Pasta Bow Ties and threw in...

Wildtree Chili Grapseed Oil
Wildtree Onion & Chive Blend
Stewed Tomatoes (with Garlic and Basil)
Corn
Hemp Hearts

Surprisingly, it was more fantastic than I ever thought it could be!

Or maybe I was just that hungry!

Either way...I was VERY happy!

Participating Post In:

My Meatless Monday

Veggie Mama's Meatless Monday
Just Another Meatless Monday
Made By You
Simple As That
Make The Scene Monday 
Mix It Up Mondays 
Clever Clicks

A Vegan Mash of Sorts

I'm not one to toot my own horn but this Vegan Mash of sorts was extremely tasty if I do say so myself!

(As far as I know) this is a completely original creation!

It consists of:
Wildtree Grapeseed Oil 

Cubed Quinoa Polenta

Stewed Tomatoes

Black Beans

Corn

Rice Crumbs

Hemp Hearts

Nutritional Yeast

Wildtree California Garlic Pepper Blend

I was darned proud of myself for this one!

2 Vegan MoFo Posts for today!  Yay!

Nacho Cheese "Dorito" Flavored Raw Vegan Kale Chips

I'm writing to you from Tim Horton's because my internet is on the fritz at home for some reason!  But I wanted to quickly tell you about this awesome Raw Vegan Sauce I made not only for a veggie or 'chip' dip but for a Zuke Pasta Sauce AND for a flavoring on my Kale Chips - which are in my dehydrator right now, actually!

I added the following into a blender:

1/4 C Raw Sunflower Seeds after soaking in water for 2 hours
1/4 C Hemp Hearts
1/4 C Nutritional Yeast
1/4 C Salsa (just tomato, onion, spices)
1/2 of a sweet red bell pepper
1 Clove of Garlic
2 T Lemon Juice
2 T Water
1/2 Teaspoon of dried Oregano
pinch of sea salt and pepper
dash of cayenne pepper

Oddly...this tasted JUST LIKE Nacho Cheese Doritos but it's Raw and Vegan!  It makes enough to coat two bunches of kale OR a medium zuke to top for a pasta sauce substitute and a bunch of green chard or kale.

I spent $10.38 at my local Herb Store today...

I only spent $10.38 at my local herbs store today and here is what I walked away with...

1/2 pound of organic raw dates rolled in coconut - $2.65
Hemp Hearts - $1.50
Forbidden Rice - $3.99 (More info in an upcoming post)
And my Bulk purchases totaled $2.24 and here is what I got for that $2.24:

Organic Nutritional Yeast .08# Mini Flakes ($1.36), Himalayan Pink Sea Salt .04# ($0.40), Radish Sprouting Seeds.06# or 3 Tablespoons ($0.48)

This is why I LOVE Bulk!

I am VERY happy with my thrifty purchase!