Once you’ve made these, you’ll understand why it is completely necessary to call them “supreme.”

You want to hear something kind of crazy? This is the first time I’ve ever had nachos. Ever.

I fully realize what a complete oddball that makes me, but in my defense, even before I went vegan the sight/smell of “nacho” cheese has always been enough to keep me far, far away. It grosses me out on a level I can’t even describe. I will actually get up and move if someone sits down somewhere close to me with a container of nachos, it’s that serious.

However, when I saw this post from Kathy Patalsky last week in advance of Cinco de Mayo, I thought, “now these are nachos I can get DOWN with!” I whipped them up last night – making way too much for a solo meal – and actually had to throw them away to make myself stop eating. It was a little ridiculous.

Anyway, I can’t wait to make these again sometime when my husband is home. Taking a cue from Kathy and using a metal pie plate makes a perfectly sized serving for two. Of course, the beauty of something like this is that you can pretty much do whatever you want, but my ingredients list below can be used as a good starting place. Enjoy!

Vegan Nachos Supreme

Ingredients

Tortilla chips
1 small jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
Daiya Pepperjack cheese, to taste
1-2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 avocado, diced
Red onion, diced small, to taste
Black beans, to taste
1/3 package Tofurky Chorizo Style
1/2 recipe, Lime Cream
Fresh cilantro, chopped, to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Spread a single layer of chips into a metal pie plate. Sprinkle with cheese and jalapenos. Repeat once more
• Bake layered chips, cheese and jalapenos for 10 min.
• Meanwhile, heat beans and prepare meatless ground
• Remove chips from oven and layer beans, meatless ground, tomatoes, avocado, drizzled lime cream, red onions and cilantro to serve

Yield: Serves 2

Admittedly, taco salad is one of those things you don’t really need a recipe for. If you want to make it vegan and healthy-ish though, it might just come in handy.

This is my variation on Isa Chandra‘s Big Fat Taco Salad from Appetite for Reduction. As usual, I fattened it up just a hair but I didn’t monkey with what I think was one of the most important parts (and what makes it possible for you to eat this without it being covered in cheese and/or sour cream), her fresh tomato salsa dressing. That stuff is aces.

Tinker as necessary and enjoy!

Vegan Taco Salad
Recipe courtesy of Appetite for Reduction

Salad Ingredients

4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 oz baked tortilla chips
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 0z vegan Chorizo sausage
1/2 cup diced red onion

1 cup Guacamole (fresh or store bought)

Dressing Ingredients

1 lb tomatoes (~3 average size), diced small
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tsp cayenne hot sauce
freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp salt

Salad Directions

• Add a small amount of oil to a skillet and cook Chorizo over medium-high heat for about 2 min.
• Layer salad in four big bowls: lettuce, beans, salsa, Chorizo, chips, onion, guac and cilantro

Dressing Directions

• Place diced tomatoes immediately in a mixing bowl so that not much liquid escapes on your cutting board
• Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and use your hands to mash everything up well
• Let sit for 10 minutes or so to let flavors meld (while you prepare and arrange the salad works well)
• Chill remaining dressing in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days

Yield: Serves 4

Round these parts, it’s a perfect day for soup.

This is another recipe from Appetite for Reduction and it’s really, really yummy. Because I like to work against myself, I fattened it up a little by using regular tortilla chips instead of baked and adding a lil’ Daiya to my bowl. I think it would still be good the skinny way but you’ll never hear me turn down an opportunity to sneak in some (vegan) cheese.

Vegan Tortilla Soup
Recipe courtesy of Appetite for Reduction

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, sliced thinly
2 jalapenos, seeded and sliced thinly
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped into 1/2 in. pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
24 oz whole tomatoes
24 oz vegetable broth
4 oz baked tortilla chips (~2 cups)
1 tbs ground cumin
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice from 1 lime

Directions

• Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium-high heat
• Saute the onions, jalapenos and green pepper in the oil until the onions are translucent, about 5 min. use a little nonstick cooking spray or broth, if needed, to keep it from burning
• Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and saute for another minute
• Break up the tomatoes with your fingers and add them to the pot, including the juice
• Fill the tomato can with broth and add it in
• Mix in the cumin
• Crush 2 oz of the chips into crumbs and add to the pot
• Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to simmer, add the beans, corn and cilantro and simmer for 5 min.
• Add lime juice, ladle soup into bowls
• Crumble remaining chips over the top (sprinkle on some Daiya cheddar if you like!), garnish with cilantro and serve

Yield: Serves 4

Hey Friends, I’m alive!

Sorry about the unannounced hiatus. Things got busy, yadda yadda, etc.

Anywho, I’m back and I come bearing many yummy new recipes. I got a new cookbook for Christmas, Appetite for Reduction,  and I’ve been quietly pounding away at it over the past few weeks. AFR is from the fabulous Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of the fantastic PPK blog and many wildly popular vegan cookbooks, including the holy grail: Veganomicon.

As you can probably deduce from the title, AFR focuses on lean, healthy and quick vegan cooking. I’ve made several drool-worthy things from it so far, including this salad. The original recipe calls for 4 cups of bean sprouts. However, I am not a fan of sprouts, as I think they taste of dirt. I replaced them with sliced mushrooms. Mushrooms lend a similarly “earthy” flavor sans hint of funky potting soil. Feel free to do it your own way.

Vegan Pad Thai Salad
Recipe courtesy of Appetite for Reduction

Ingredients

8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
4 cups sliced mushrooms (or bean sprouts, if you insist)
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 recipe Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing (recipe below)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro
Lime wedges as garnish

Directions

• In a large mixing bowl, toss lettuce, mushrooms, red onion and carrot
• Add dressing and toss to coat
• Distribute salad among four bowls, garnish with roasted peanuts and cilantro and serve with lime wedges

Dressing Ingredients

1/4 cup roasted peanuts*
2 tbs chopped shallot
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup water
2 tbs agave nectar
2 tbs shoyu/soy sauce
1 tsp Sriracha

*Note: The next time I make this I will definitely replace half the peanuts with 2 tbs of natural peanut butter (in the first step, below). This dressing is awesome, but it doesn’t have anything in it to make it adhere to the salad. I think peanut butter would accomplish that quite nicely without adding too much extra calories and fat.

Dressing Directions

• Pulse 2 tbs of the peanuts (peanut butter!) and the shallot in a food processor, just to chop everything up well
• Add the lime juice, water, agave, shoyu and sriracha and blend until very smooth
• Add remaining 2 tbs of peanuts and pulse for a bit, just to chop them up small

Yield: Serves 4

This recipe is one of my favorite party snacks and one that I’ve relied on pretty regularly over the past several years. It’s also a crowd pleaser – once people get past the fact that it looks a little frightening. I got around that this past weekend by sprinkling diced red bell peppers over the top before serving and it really, really helped. I’d highly recommend doing the same when you serve this.

Vegan Black Bean Dip
Recipe courtesy of Epicurious

Ingredients

1 medium red onion, chopped
2 (15-16 oz. cans) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs fresh lime juice
1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1/8 cup red bell pepper, diced (optional)

Tortilla chips and assorted cut-up raw veggies

Directions

• In a blender or food processor, puree the beans, red onion, vinegar, lime juice, cilantro, oil, garlic and cumin
• Transfer the dip to a bowl, add salt and pepper
• Sprinkle with red bell pepper and serve with chips and veggies

Yield: Serves 8-10

This time of year it’s highly likely that you’ll find yourself playing hostess for a holiday party or two (or three!).  Even though it’s super fun, we all know holiday entertaining can be a stressful concept any way you slice it. When you throw in the fact that you’re a vegan and the majority (or in my case, all) of your guests are omnis, it can make menu planning for a crowd seem even more challenging.

The good news is, it doesn’t have to be! Relying on some of your favorite everyday recipes, thumbing through your cookbooks and spending a little time perusing recipes online are all surefire ways to net yourself tons of fantastic ideas that will please any crowd.

To get you started, here’s my menu from a casual afternoon gathering I hosted this weekend for my mom and a small group of her friends. By sticking to familiar recipes and keeping things simple, I was able to pull off a successful holiday shindig for ten. The food got rave reviews and I know they weren’t just being polite because they ate every last bit (I almost didn’t even get to try the Bruschetta)!

Holiday Party Menu

Finger Foods:

Bruschetta with Tomato & Basil
Spicy Mixed Nuts
Black Bean Dip with Chips & Fresh Veggies

Entree

Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato & Vegetable Soup

Dessert

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Snickerdoodles

Beverages

Water
Iced Tea
Pomegranate-Champagne Punch

A few of these recipes have already been featured on the blog. Over the next several days, I’ll be posting the rest. Let me know if you need one in a hurry though. I’ll send it your way!

This salad is a take on your typical Italian house. I’d venture to say that the addition of avocado and cucumbers coupled with turning the volume way up on garlic gives this version an edge over the standard fare.

The next time I make this, I think I’ll sub out the green onion for red and will use half as much dressing, but it’s good as-is too.

Vegan Italian House Salad
Recipe courtesy of Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook

Ingredients

2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp vegan Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt and pepper, to taste
1 (9 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained, leaves or spikes removed
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (peeled,regular cucumbers work too)
1 large avocado, cut into slices or chunks
3 green onions, minced
1/2 cup garlic croutons, crushed

Note: I mentioned it before, but it’s worth saying again, I would strongly advise making 1/2 the dressing this calls for.

Directions

• In a medium saucepan, prepare the dressing by combining the vinegar, oil, cheese, mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper
• Cut the artichoke hearts into quarters
• In a large bowl, add the lettuce, cucumbers, artichokes and avocado
• Sprinkle with green onion and then toss with dressing
• Plate and sprinkle each serving with crouton crumbs

Yield: Serves 3-4

Oh, yeah. I went there.

I’ve found a way to make avocados unhealthy, you guys – and it’s good in a very bad way.

Obviously, these are to be deployed as an occasional treat only, but if you’re in the mood for seriously delicious comfort food, these are an excellent choice. The good news is, they’re very filling, so it would be really hard to do any hard-core diet damage here.

Regardless, I think it’s best to just forget about fat and calories if you make these and enjoy them for the perfect balance of rich, crunchy/creamy goodness that they are!

Avocado Fries
Recipe courtesy of Sunset

Ingredients

Canola oil for frying
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 Ener-G eggs
1 1/4 cups panko
2 firm-ripe medium avocados, pitted, peeled and sliced into 1/2 in. wedges

Directions

• Preheat oven to 200°F. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 1/2 in. oil on medium high
• Meanwhile, mix flour with 1/4 tsp salt in a shallow plate. Put Ener-G eggs and panko in separate shallow plates
• Dip avocado in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg substitute, then panko to coat. Set on 2 plates in a single layer
• Fry a quarter of avocado slices at a time until deep golden, 30 to 60 seconds
• Transfer slices to a plate lined with paper towels. Keep warm in oven while cooking remaining avocados
• Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and serve

Yield: Serves 4

So this is the first recipe I’ve posted for a salad on this site and that’s no coincidence. For one, I’m not all that big on salads (which is funny because this is always what non-vegans try to feed me, this or a veggie burger). I think my aversion is mostly to salad dressings in particular. I find most of them repugnant. When you narrow down to only those that are vegan, the options are pretty slim.

Second, salads are too obvious – you know what I mean? “Oh, you’re a vegan? You must really like salads.” There’s a lot more out there for vegans besides big bowls of raw vegetables, so authoring a vegan blog that is chock full of recipes for salads feels a little like perpetuating a stereotype.

All that said, this salad happens to be pretty yummy and (as most salads are) really simple to prepare. It’s also very pretty, which I know doesn’t really matter all that much, but it’s a nice bonus! I love this in the spring and summer months with something hot off the grill.

The dressing I pair with this is equally basic and equally delish. I actually found it in an old GOOP posting in which Gwynnie was interviewing Jamie Oliver. It’s since become my go-to dressing and it works particularly well with the sweet flavor of the strawberries in this salad. Happy munching!

Strawberry Spinach Salad
Dressing recipe courtesy of JamieOliver.com

Salad Ingredients

1 package baby spinach
sliced red onion, to taste
1 carton strawberries, quartered or halved
choppped pecans, to taste
poppyseeds, as garnish

Dressing Ingredients
5 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon (to equal 4-5 tbs)
pinch of sea salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Combine all salad ingredients (except poppyseeds) in a large bowl
• Combine all ingredients for dressing in a jam jar or container with a tightly fitting lid and shake
• Drizzle 1/2 of the dressing over salad, sprinkle with poppyseeds and toss to combine
• Drizzle remaining dressing over salad, sprinkle with poppyseeds and toss again

Yield: Serves 6

No, that’s not a typo.  This is (another) recipe I picked up a bit ago from one of the blogs I read. Meant as a lower fat/cal stand-in for guacamole, this recipe replaces the avocado with edamame.

I’ve got to say, given the choice between this and guac, I choose guac. At the same time though, I tend to get carried away with guacamole (and even though it’s healthy fat, it’s still a lot!). So, if you want a similar taste and a bigger portion, edamole is a great alternative to throw in the mix now and then.

Edamole
Recipe Courtesy of FitSugar

Ingredients

3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
3 tbs water
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce (we used Cholula)
1 garlic clove, halved
2-3 tbs mild Pico de Gallo, to taste

Directions

• Combine all ingredients except for the Pico in a food processor until smooth
• Add 1-2 tbs of Pico and stir gently
• Top with another tbs of Pico and serve with chips or veggies