"What a CREPE idea!"

I love crepes, and they can easily be made vegan! However, these are not...I used dairy and eggs. Click here for the vegan crepe recipe I use, and just leave out the cheese, and voila! vegan!

CREPES!

These crepes use a basic crepe recipe, which is not intimidating at all--just don't forget to swirl your pan around to make a nice thin, round crepe.

FILLING!

For an easy (and healthy!) filling, chop up an apple, a zucchini, half an orange (or yellow) bell pepper, an eighth of an onion and saute it with (just a little!) olive oil and a touch of salt. If you eat dairy, a smoked gruyere pairs really well with this. Add some fresh green onion, marinated olives, and slices of apple to garnish

TOPPING!

To pull everything together, I topped my crepes with a homemade raspberry reduction. This is super easy to do! Put 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar (I use turbinado sugar), and 6 oz raspberries in a small sauce pot and bring to a simmer--don't forget to stir. Add some lemon juice (about 1/2-3/4 tablespoon) and a dash of balsamic vinegar (I like to use balsamic infused with pomegranate), and simmer until the water is reduced--about 15ish minutes. Then, puree in a food processor and strain out the seeds using a sieve and cheesecloth.

If you leave out the vinegar, this sauce is also really good on things like cheesecake or ice cream!

Robin Harts on Season 2 Episode 3 of Let's Have a Fefe: The Menu!

I was so excited when local drag personalities Felicia Minor and Freddy Prinze Charming invited me onto their weekly web show to have a cooking segment! Finally, I can share a quick and easy vegan meal with the masses! If you can pour, chop, and boil, you can make this meal! To see their show's FB page, click here.

I'll be making a Panko-crusted lentil and bulgar wheat patty, halved avocadoes with agave and lime, and garlic-salted crescent rolls. Yes, crescent rolls are vegan! For dessert, I was originally going to go the lazy route and serve Oreos, which also happen to be vegan, but then changed my mind...I'll have sliced bananas and be showing how to whip up a quick and easy and, most importantly, DELICIOUS chocolate sauce. 

Recipes are below! All of the ingredients can be found at a "regular" grocery store, promise! Additionally, all of my recipes are very flexible! This makes them easy for the beginning chef ;)

Panko-Crusted Lentil and Bulgar Wheat Patty

It's easy to prep this mixture on the weekend, and eat it throughout the week! You can serve it as a dip, a filling for pita bread (along with some squash and onions or other veggies) or this patty!

a couple/few cups red lentils
a half-ish cup of bulgar wheat
a few cloves minced garlic
half of a diced onion
a few tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
white pepper
paprika
turmeric 
cumin
coriander
chili powder

optional: firm or silken tofu (break it up into very small pieces), shredded carrot, shredded squash.

Feel free to sub in other spices or not use all of them if you like a different sort of flavor! If you don't have bulgar wheat, don't worry about it - the patties will be fine without it.

First, rinse the lentils in a colander in cold water until they stop foaming - that's the starch rinsing off. 

Optional: saute the garlic and onion in a separate pan in olive oil to release their tasty, tasty juices

Then, throw them in a pot with enough water to cover them by about half an inch. Bring to a slow boil. After they've been gently boiling a couple minutes, add in all the other ingredients except for the dried spices. Add more water as needed - you want them to be a mush, but not so dry that they start burning on the bottom of the pot. If you're including any tofu, carrot, or squash, throw that in about now. 

Once the lentils really start breaking down (it'll start resembling thick mashed potatoes), add in the spices. Keep tasting and adding more spices as necessary. Add salt last!

When it is sufficiently mushy, you're all done! If you're using this to make patties, refrigerate it until it is cool - this'll help the patty stay together. 

To make patties, take a spoonful of the lentil mix, flatten it into some Panko crumbs, mash some more Panko on top,  and fry in a pan with a little olive oil. 

Halved Avocado with Agave and Lime

This quick and easy (and health!) side dish is easy to throw together while your lentil patties are frying!

Simply halve an avocado and remove the pit. Squeeze some lime over it, give a quirt of agave nectar in the center, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a Mrs. Dash spice blend of your choice. Garnish with green onion....and you're done!

Garlic-Salted Crescent Rolls

Yes, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls are vegan! Simply bake as directed - I like to sprinkle mine with a little garlic salt before throwing them in the oven. Who knew being vegan was this easy??

Vegan Homemade Chocolate Sauce

This is much cheaper than Hershey's, and probably healthier, too...as healthy as chocolate sauce can be, anyway! No preservatives or high fructose corn sugar!

Whisk together 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1 cup coconut milk, then heat over a low/medium heat. Keep whisking or stirring to make sure they completely combine. Once it gets near a boil, whisk in 5 tablespoons of turbinado sugar, 1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla, a dash of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt...and that's it! Let it cool before sticking it in the fridge - it'll stay good for a month!

Serve this over soy or coconut ice cream, fresh fruit, or use it to make chocolate milk!

Vegan Mini Quiches

These are great for a breakfast, brunch, or potluck! Super easy, so delicious, and not horribly unhealthy!

Ingredients:

olive oil or Earth Balance
2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 chopped onion1-2 tablespoons minced fresh chives (or green onion or cilantro)
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary (or 1/2 tsp. dried, crushed)
1 package tofu (I used firm)
1/4 cup non diary milk

1 tablespoon flax seed

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon tahini 
turmeric, paprika, salt, pepper, to taste

Optional additions: mushrooms, bell pepper, etc!

Preheat your oven to 375. 

Throw the garlic and onion into a pan with some olive oil or Earth Balance and sauté until they start to smell reeeeeeally good. While they're cooking, throw all the spices, etc into a bowl. Combine the flax and non-dairy milk in a small separate bowl, and let them sit for now. Drain the tofu, and press out the excess water. 

When the garlic and onion (and anything else you have in the pan) are done cooking, put them and your spices and flax mix into a food processor or blender. Throw in cubes of tofu, and blend until super smooth.

Oil up a muffin tin (you can use either a regular sized muffin tin, or a mini muffin tin), and fill each cup with some mixture.

Pop in the oven, and bring that temp down to 350. Start checking after about 20 minutes, though it'll probably take more like 25-30. They're done when the tops start to turn golden and you can stick a knife in and have it come out clean. Let them cool 5-10 minutes before taking them out of the tin!

Enjoy!

Vegan Creamy Potato Soup

This soup is based on a recipe from my German mother. It is definitely comfort food, and SOUPer easy to make! This is a recipe where I don't really bother measure anything...this soup usually takes me an hour or less to prepare. 

Ingredients:
2-6 carrots, shredded or diced
1/2 - 1 sweet onion, diced/minced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 stalks celery, minced
1-2 tablspoons parsley, dried or fresh, minced
3-5 potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces (I use Russet or Yukon Gold)
4 tablespoons vegan butter
a few cups non dairy milk - if you want it less creamy, use half milk and half vegetable broth
spices (salt, pepper, etc)
nutritional yeast (optional)
green onion, vegan cheese, diced onion, or whatever you'd like to garnish with

Suggested side: Crescent rolls! Yes, they're vegan! Dash some garlic salt on top before cooking for extra tastiness.

Throw the diced/minced carrots, onion, garlic, and celery into a soup pot with your melted butter over low-medium heat while you chop up your potatoes. You want them to be nice and soft before you add any other ingredients. 

Add the chopped potatoes and just enough milk to cover them. Bring to a low boil and let simmer. 

Once the potatoes get soft, mash them! Either use an immersion blender or potato masher to mash right in the pot, or put the soup into a blender (be careful, it'll expand as you blend!). The goal is a nice smooth consistency, but leave some chunks if you like them. 

Add some nutritional yeast, parsley, and spices. I use salt, black pepper, white pepper, a little paprika, a little turmeric, garlic powder, and a little mustard powder. 

Stir well, throw in a bowl and garnish with some fancy shit, and enjoy!

Refreshing Summer Salad!

It's summer! That means temperatures of 120 degrees here in Phoenix! Today I cooled off with this delicious cucumber and carrot salad with a super simple homemade vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette!

For the vinaigrette, combine the following in a jar and shake it up. Alternatively, whisk it together in a bowl - not made of aluminum. Aluminum + vinegar = gross flavor...because of science.

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
1/4 balsamic pomegranate vinegar
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup cherry juice
1 healthy squirt raw agave nectar
1 squirt vegan (check the ingredients for honey!) dijon mustard
1 dash salt (to taste)
1 dash white pepper (to taste)
1 dash paprika (you guessed it - to taste)
sprinkling of raw sesame seeds, raw sunflower seeds, and raw-ish slivered almonds*


Salad!

I use a veggie peeler instead of chopping my cucumbers and carrots to get nice long strips of them. Then I slivered up a little bit of onion and added that in, as well. As a German, I like onion at every single meal.

Salad ingredients:
1 carrot per person
1/2 cucumber per person
2 slivers of onion per person

*For information on the drama surrounding "raw" almonds, click here.

If you can chop, stir, and sort of measure, you can make roasted tofu satay...that happens to be vegan.

Every time I go to the grocery store by my house (one of the grocery stores by my house, that is - I'm surrounded!), I end up with the lovely cashier named Lola...she's become intrigued by my purchases, and regularly asks what I'm making for dinner. Tonight she said she wishes she could make fancy things like roasted tofu satay...but really, it's so easy! If you can chop, stir, and sort of measure, you got this.

Marinade

2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp white cooking wine
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1" ginger, minced

1/2 lb extra firm tofu - slice it about 1/2" thick and squeeze all the water out of it!
1 red bell pepper, chopped

Gently toss the tofu around in the marinate and let it soak in for at least 30 minutes - you can toss it around every once in a while to make sure it evenly distributes. Almost all of the marinade will end up soaking into the tofu. 

Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
2 dashes cayenne
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp mild curry powder
1 1/2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 minced onion
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup ish green onions, chopped

Mix the sauce up while the tofu is marinating! Whisk all the ingredients together, and taste and adjust accordingly. 

Put the tofu (and everything in the marinade dish) into a 9x9" ish pan, drizzle about 1/3 of the sauce on top, and top with sesame seeds (or, as I like to call them, SEXame seeds).

This is when you'll realize you forgot the green onions, so go ahead and chop those up and mix them in. 

Roast tofu for 25-30 minutes (or until golden brown) at 450 degrees.

Serve on top of jasmine rice, with a garnish of lime for extra squeezings...and, of course, all that leftover sauce is available to put on top! So delicious!!!!!!!

Split into four servings (not counting the rice)...

Update....maybe you should split this into two servings, instead...it's too delicious to not gorge yourself. I just ate the whole half pound of tofu myself.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 342 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 473 Calories from Fat 338

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 37.6g 58%

Saturated Fat 14.2g 71%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 259mg 11%

Total Carbohydrates 109.4g 36%

Dietary Fiber 6.0g 24%

Sugars 9.9g

Protein 17.4g

Vitamin A 38% • Vitamin C 75% Calcium 16% • Iron 21%

Nutrition Grade B

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• No cholesterol
• High in vitamin B6
• High in vitamin C

Bad points

• High in saturated fat

Adventures in Juicing: WAKE ME UP GO GO GO

After a quick trip to the farmer's market yesterday, I decided to try out something new. 

This juice is delicious, and packs a little punch because of the citrus and ginger. Enjoy!

5 small gala or fuji apples
2-3 inches of ginger
2 grapefruit
1 lime

BAM. Also, look at all that fiber! Soooo much fiber! And even more Vitamin C! And 11% of your calcium! Everyone should just drink fresh juice ALL THE TIME. 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1083 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 542 Calories from Fat 12

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 1.3g 2%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 14mg 1%

Total Carbohydrates 141.2g 47%

Dietary Fiber 24.5g 98%

Sugars 96.9g

Protein 3.5g

Vitamin A 57% • Vitamin C 238% Calcium 11% • Iron 18%

Nutrition Grade A

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• Very low in saturated fat
• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in dietary fiber
• Very high in manganese
• High in vitamin A
• Very high in vitamin C

Bad points

• Very high in sugar