snow fun & mucho mas pantry challenge deliciousnesses!

since we're still working through our pantry items we're not creating too many new recipes to share, but that doesn't mean we haven't been enjoying some deeeeelicious eats.....

this past week we've enjoyed katie's tempeh wingz (hooray for local tempeh awesomeness) with a side o' green beans & oven baked potato rounds. this is one of dan's top 10 favorite meals. he loooooves katie's tempeh recipe (so do i!) and anything green bean or tater related he's all about. we make ours with gluten-free with brown rice flour, cornmeal, gluten-free bread crumbs.

we've got a lot of dried beans & peas to work through - so many salads topped with bac'uns, homemade gluten-free garlicky croutons, and cooked chickpeas have been enjoyed. yum!

moving on to more chickpea goodness - chickpea 'n brown rice burgers. we simply sauteed up a small yellow onion, carrots, and collards for the veggies and added in some cooked 'n smashed chickpeas, a few handfuls of cooked brown rice, and a few dollops of homemade hummus (sea salt 'n pepper for the seasoning) - these were super stellar, easy to make, and they made for tasty leftovers. dan stuffed his burgers in pita pockets and drizzled on the tahini dressing, while i enjoyed mine over gigantical salads. :)

there have been some lazy nights where smashed potatoes & roasted brussel sprouts were smothered in a tasty 'n quick onion gravy. comfort food, fo 'sho!

rock'n pizzas have been made to use up gluten-free flours .....

and we also made more of isa's gluten-free buckwheat pancakes this past snowy saturday for brunch. there was a lonely banana that was getting pretty brown & some shredded coconut i found while digging through the pantry that had just expired - so we toasted up the coconut, smashed the banana, and made these pancakes even more delicious! they were sooooo scrumptious and really filling - which was perfect before heading outside with julie to play in the snow. she loves going for walks and playing around in the snow, so before dan took off to help out at the fire station, we got out after brunch and enjoyed the wintery weather!

we hope everyone's week is off to a stellar start & may you all have the happiest of holidays! yay!

more brown rice split pea burgers, Tasha's fire roasted red pepper smoky black bean soup with chili lime croutons, & many more pantry challenge eatz.

helloooooooooooooooooo! we're over a week into our pantry challenge & going strong. we've still got TONS of foods to work through, but we're making a dent. w00t! here's what we've been enjoying with what we have on hand this week...

sunday night we made Tasha's (of the gloriously awesome site The Voracious Vegan) most magnificent and super stellar fire roasted red pepper smoky black bean soup with chili lime croutons. i've been wanting to make Tasha's soup since she posted it a few weeks ago, but i had been holding off because we didn't have any black beans on hand. i couldn't stand the wait so we used cooked kidney beans in order to keep with our pantry challenge and i'm sooooo glad we made this soup - it's so good it's ridiculous! hands down - amazing. Tasha, my friend - you are too good & your soup made us most happyfaced. thank you! (the changes made: our croutons were gluten-free, subbed in kidney beans for black beans, and roasted our own tomatoes instead of using canned.)

a little b for d (brown for dinner breakfast for dinner) monday night - complete with Isa's gluten-free buckwheat pancakes, Bianca's damn delicious tempeh bacon (a tester recipe for her upcoming southern style cookbook that is gonna rock your socks!), and spicy hash browns (made with the last of our csa potatoes). yummers, 'fo sho.

i snagged the last of the basil that we were growing and made pesto a few weeks ago (we now have a glass jar full of raw pesto cubes in the freezer. superhappyface.), so we enjoyed some pesto covered brown rice pasta & salads (using some old gluten-free bread ends that we'd saved in the freezer for garlicky croutons) wednesday night for dinner.


and now onto the pantry challenge split pea brown rice burgers..... what we loved the most about these burgers was that the mushrooms & carrots used in 'em were from the veggie tray from my company's christmas party. we ended up staying really late while chatting it up with everyone & they sent the leftover veggies home with us. we used some of the celery from the tray in Tasha's soup & we cut up 'n froze the other half for later; the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes made for tasty snacks, and we froze the leftover bell peppers from the tray, too. hooray for no food waste!

ingredients:
1 cup cooked split peas
1 cup of cooked brown rice
3 large leaves of swiss chard, chopped well (kale, collards, or other tasty greens)
2 small carrots, chopped
1 small yellow onion, diced
10 (or more) button mushrooms, sliced & chopped
3 large cloves o' garlic, crushed & minced
a few pinches of sea salt & pepper
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp safflower oil

what you'll need:
- large skillet
- large mixing bowl
- food processor
- olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
heat the skillet to medium & saute the onions, mushrooms, 'n carrots in the safflower oil until the onions begin to soften up. add in the garlic & chard and saute until the greens wilt a little & the garlic is fragrant. add in the garlic powder & a little sea salt 'n pepper - then transfer it all to the mixing bowl. toss the cooked brown rice & cooked split peas in the food processor with the 2 tbsp of water & give it a few whirls around. place the whizzed peas 'n rice in the large bowl with the sauteed veggies, toss in the cornmeal & nutritional yeast - and combine well (adjusting the seasonings to your taste). if the mix is a bit too dry, add in a little more water - if it's too wet add in a little more cornmeal (or gluten-free bread crumbs, crushed gluten-free crackers, etc.). form patties to your heart's delight & heat up a little olive oil cooking spray in the skillet over medium heat. saute the burgers until they're a little brown on both sides, remove from the skillet, & enjoy! (these bake up great, too - 350 degrees for about 20 minutes - just flip 'em over half way through the cooking time and you'll be good to go. yay!)

uno mas: with the remainder of the mushrooms from the veggie tray i sauteed 'em up for a tasty gluten-free mushroom reuben that was topped with some forgotten about kraut & the last of some cheeze that was about to expire. :)

pantry challenges = the best!

happy friday, everyone!

yum yum yum

happy december, hello, & hiya! we’re hoping everyone had a wonderful & relaxing holiday filled with lots of family, friends, good food, laughter, hugs, and happyfaces. :)

it’s been a bit since our last post, and we’d thought we’d share our thanksgiving eats and a few others with you as well. it’s been so much fun seeing what everyone enjoyed over the holiday and i’ve been drooling over all the pictures of such deliciousnesses. mmmmmmmm!

we (dan, julie (our pooch), and i) spent thanksgiving dan with dan’s family. the night before we cooked up a storm so that we wouldn’t have take up too much space in the kitchen the day of while all the hustle’n and bustle’n was go’n on. for our meal we enjoyed cornmeal crusted tempeh smothered with chickpea gravy (we simply added in a cup of lightly smashed chickpeas to our easy gravy recipe), dan’s fabulous garlicky smashed potatoes, roasted asparagus ‘n green beans, a suuuuuper scrumptious warm bean salad with herbs dan’s mom cooked up for us to enjoy, and salad with balsamic vinaigrette. yum!

for dessert we made isa’s chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookies, whipped coconut cream to go on top of the strawberries dan's momma bought, & chocolate pudding pie (from vwav) in Jes’ perfect gluten-free crust (which by the way, rocks the most socks!). it was all so deeeelicious! dan’s mom even picked up some vegan chocolate oatmeal cookies for dan to enjoy as well. his family is so accommodating and open-minded towards our vegan lifestyle – it’s the best!

the bean salad dan’s momma whipped up made for the tastiest of leftovers saturday morning (breakfast friday morning was pudding pie!). i sauteed up some tofu ‘n collards and stacked them high on a slice of gluten-free bread, topping it all with the bean salad. delish!


these were some uber tasty collard-azuki bean-brown rice burgers we whipped up sometime in the past few weeks. i must admit i forgot what we put in 'em, but when we make them again you better believe we'll let you know what they've got going on. they were most excellent, and absolutely perfect alongside some cheezy broccoli and tater tots. yay!


last night was pizza night (in order to use up some follow your heart cheeze a friend had passed along to us. it was nearing expiration and we didn’t want to go to waste – instead we wanted it in our bellies!).

here’s a fun little raw breakfast i've been enjoying lately: a granny smith apple with raisins, shredded carrots, raw walnuts, and a little “raw” agave nectar. easy & yummy. huzzah!


last night’s dinner had to be a quick one (as dan was off to join up with his bandmates for a recording session) - so we made tacos! i have a taco salad & dan enjoyed his fix’ns (homemade spicy soyrizo, Jennifer's traditional refried beans, tomatoes, spinach, homemade vegan ranch dressing, cabbage, and sauteed peppers 'n onions) in the taco shells that were needing to be used up since they’ve been hanging out in a our pantry for a while.

Liz, of the ever-so awesome Food Snobbery is my Hobbery, is starting up her own pantry challenge, and since i spent waaaaaay to much on groceries last month as well – we’re going to work through all the yummies in our pantry this month. thanks, Liz! i noticed that many of our staples have been hanging around for a while and it’s time to put ‘em all to good use, avoid food waste, and make lots of yummies with what we’ve got. yay!