Foods of the Week

This is the 2nd post of mine, today, be sure to scroll down for more!  Here are the foods I have been grazing on this week!  This first one I have done before or a quite similar dish with a few variations. 

This is simply - Cooked Quinoa with Black Beans, Corn, a handful of Hemp Hearts/Hemp Seeds, and I stirred in Salsa that I cooked down and added some Agave Nectar.

This was a large batch that lasted me two days!  This is one of my favorites the more and more I make it and eat it!

This plate, here, is literally a bunch of stuff I threw on a plate based on what was handy and quick!  I had some Lima Beans that I seasoned with just a sprinkle of Wildtree Lemon Pepper and nothing else.  I also cut up some tomatoes and the larger portion of this plate contains cut up Quinoa Polenta topped with Pepper Jack Daiya Cheese and Salsa.  It was quick, it was easy, I worked from my cupboards and Frig, and it was tasty!

Today I didn't break for lunch AGAIN but I was able to go down the street and get a HUGE salad from Wellness Cafe.  They made a vegan version of their Salad for me and when I got back to the office I sprinkled some Nutritional Yeast on top of it.  This salad had Strawberries, Grapes, Walnuts, Baby Spinach, and a Balsamic Reduction of some sort. 

It totally hit the spot!  I had some fresh squeezed Lemonade, too!  YUM!

Earlier this week I made some Salad Dressing!  I knew I wanted to use carrots and Avocado.  Here is what I came up with in my Ninja!

2 Carrots
1/2 Onion
1 tea Ginger (powder)
2 T Miso
2 T Rice Vinegar
1/4 C Grapeseed Oil
1 C or less of Water
1 Avocado

I'm pretty excited about this attempt!  I loved the creaminess of the Avocado, the sweetness of the Carrots, and the vinegar notes, with a gentle hint of saltiness from the Miso!

What are these?  You might be thinking, right?  Well, there were supposed to be Vegan Cheese Sticks but I turned them into Spicy Vegan Cheese Balls instead.  It was my very first attempt and altho it was a FAIL they ended up being quite tasty as a mistake!

I used Pepper Jack Daiya Cheese and added some Soy Milk.  I froze the mixture and then TRIED to make 'sticks' out of them.  When that didn't work I ended up 'rolling them' into BALLS instead.  The Cheesy Mixture in with Vegan Bread Crumbs.  I then used a little bit of Wildtree Chili Grapeseed Oil (it's now discontinued) from my stash to 'fry' them.  I just did them in a frying pan.  They were creamy, cheesy, crunchy spicy, and tasty for a vegan "cheat" food.

Here is a photo of one of them 'cracked open' showing the inside!

They were a treat - I wouldn't do them often because I technically 'fried' them but still...on a rare occasion...these were fun!

So...what kind of foods did you experiment with this week!?  What are some of your favorite things to throw together from frig/cupboard/pantry to bowl on a whim?  What are some of your 'cheat' foods?  Have a great weekend!

Polenta Marinara with French Fried Onions

Polenta!  Quinoa Polenta, to be exact!  I LOVE Polenta with Tomato Sauce but lately I have found a pretty awesome way to make Spaghetti Sauce or Marinara Sauce with a popular leftover in my frig!  Store Bought Salsa!  So...here is what I did...

And of course what it looked like!

I took store bought Quinoa Polenta and sliced it into discs as you can see above.

Of course I used my Wildtree Grapeseed Oil to make them slightly Golden Brown.

I made a circle with the disks and added one in the middle to complete the layer base.

I topped with marinara!

Here is how I made my sauce:

1 Cup of Salsa

2 to 3 T Agave Nectar 

and I cooked down a bit.

I found a few different brands of French Fried Onions that were vegan so I bought them.  Normally I would just eat this with the Polenta and the Sauce but I was looking for something slightly crunchy so I tried them and I will say they were really awesome on top!

Participating Post: 

Aloha Friday

Find + Follow Fridays

Foodie Friday

Foodtastic Friday

Freakin' Friday

Hop Along Friday

Midweek Munchies

Read More About Midweek Munchies HERE!

Here's what I found this week!

Store Location:
Whole Foods Co-Op, Erie, PA

Since cutting Dairy I've just been doing veggie pizzas with no cheese on them.  I found this one and already ate it!  It's pretty good!  I would eat it again!

 I've been looking for something close to a vegan version of Nutella that I can get semi-Regionally.  I just tried a little bit of this for the first time last night and it's DARN Tasty!

 I haven't cracked open these two Nature's Path Chia Products yet but I'm pretty excited about them!  I have been looking for some Breakfast Foods to have on hand.

It's been a while since I have bought this Lightlife Brand for anything not to mention the Fakin' Bacon.  Now that I am a fan of the Tofurky ones I'll have to see which is better.

 This Almond Milk was on sale for $1.99 so I decided to try it.  I haven't opened it yet tho...I still have a little left of my last Almond Milk Purchase.

 I've blogged about this Quinoa Polenta before but they had it for a pretty good price and I decided to stock up on it while I could!

And I got more of these shreds since I ran out AND they had them on sale!

I also caved and bought the last 'home made' Cashew Cheese from their Cafe/Deli as well as Vegan Cheesecake they had two left of.  It's the first Vegan Cheesecake I have had since deleting Dairy, too!  It was AMAZING, btw!

There are a few things I got at the Co-Op this past week and I am pretty excited!  What were your purchases this week?

I'm also going to post this for What I ate Wednesday.  You can also take a look at my Meal Plan for the week HERE.

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!

Quinoa Polenta with Stewed Tomatoes

I've been on a Polenta kick lately!  Not only did I find Polenta but I found Quinoa Polenta!  YAY!  You know I LOVE my Quinoa!  One of my FAVE ways to do Polenta is to do slices and cook on each side with Grapeseed Oil.  I top the sliced-circles with Stewed Tomatoes!

The best part of this whole dish?  It takes 5 minutes or less!  YUMMO!

Vegan MoFo 2012 Continues!