Spring Rolls with Avocado Sauce

Spring Rolls with Avocado Sauce:
(makes 6 large rolls)

12 sheets of round rice paper (12 cm)
6 large romaine leaves, folded in half to fit onto the paper (or collard leaves)

2 carrots, cut into thin strips about 2-3 inches long
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut into thin strips about 2-3 inches long
2 green onions, cut to about 2 inches long (optional, they can be pretty strong)
2 stalks celery, cut into thin strips about 2 inches long
1/2 package kelp noodles, rinsed
Avocado Dressing for dipping

Lay all the ingredients out, so you can easily fill the rice paper. Follow the instructions for softening the rice paper (swirl around in warm water for 20 seconds or so.) Do this for one piece and lay it down on a clean towel and add a second on top (so it doesn't break). Put the lettuce leaf or collard leaf down on the paper at the bottom end. Top it with a small handful of kelp noodles, then 3 sticks each of the celery, carrots, cucumbers, and green onion (if using). Starting at the bottom, roll up the paper, holding in the stuffing, as tightly as you can, then fold the ends under. It will stick together. Put it aside and continue with the rest of the rolls. Serve with the avocado dressing.

*Tip: Sometimes it helps stay together if you let them sit for 30 minutes or so before serving. It gives the rice paper time to re-harden a little so that it's not still sticky when you hold it.

I think a cold front is coming in and it's very windy. It was still in the 80's today, but I think tomorrow's high will only be 69!! Brrrrrr.......and, I may be testing out a new place with vegan food! I will definitely post about it.

Eat smart,
T.

Fresh Avocado Dressing

I've been eating salad lately with my new favorite dressing. It's sooooo good! And guess what? It's easy! Ok, so maybe I can't really call it a recipe, but still.....

(source: www.bigoven.com)

Fresh Avocado Dressing:
(enough for 2 large personal salads)


1 Hass Avocado
2 TB lemon juice
1/2 cup cold, filtered water
1/2 cucumber, peeled
handful of fresh basil leaves
salt to taste


Scoop the avocado out of its flesh into a small blender or food processor, minus the pit, obviously. Add the lemon juice, water, cucumber, and basil. Blend until very creamy. Add salt to taste. Feel free to double or triple the recipe.


You may want to massage the dressing into your greens (kale, lettuce, etc.) first, then add the other salad ingredients. 

This is a pretty popular type of dressing. I used to just put avocado and lemon juice into my bowl of kale and massage it in to mix it. But I kind of like the idea of a pre-mixed dressing to pour on....

What are YOU doing to celebrate Fall? I'd really like some Pumpkin Ale. I did just buy some spaghetti squash though...yay! And I planted some broccoli and cauliflower....hopefully they won't die.

Eat smart,
T.

Awesome summer foods!

I wanted to tell you about some of the great things I've been eating since I got back from the big Europe trip (you can read about my trip here and here).  Let me go back and start with 4th of July:

I made some gazpacho and it was perfect for a hot day:

We had black bean burgers (on a sprouted english muffin, since that's all we had) and my potato salad:

And for dessert we had Kathy's awesome Silk Chocolate Mousse:

Moving on, I made Gena's Hemp Hummus, which is really delicious:

Then I put some in a sandwich with my kale salad:

I don't have a picture of it, but I'm totally addicted to Angela's  Tahini Lemon Dressing!! It is the best thing ever and so perfect for this hot summer weather!! I make large batches at a time now and it's great for dipping too, because it thickens up in the fridge :) Go make it...now!

I recently bought a Gardein product, because I had a coupon for it. We don't often buy this kind of thing, but once in a while is fine. I've heard good things about them, so we picked this up:

I heated them up in the microwave, like the package directions said. S liked them. He called them "smoky". They weren't my thing at all. The flavor of it was just weird. I didn't mind the texture, but...I don't know. I found the sauce to be a bit thick and gluey.  Have you had these before? I guess I'd be willing to try another "flavor" if I had coupons or something for it. But I wouldn't go out of my way for them.

I made them with my pesto:

Lemony Spinach Avocado Pesto:

1 avocado (Hass)
2 cups packed raw spinach, washed
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1 small tomato, chopped (if adding to pasta)
raw almonds, chopped small (if adding to pasta)
salt to taste

Scoop out the avocado, minus the pit, and put it into a food processor. Add the spinach, lemon juice, and garlic. If you have a small food processor, like I do, you may want to add the spinach a handful at a time. You can scrape it down and add the next batch of spinach, etc.  Process until nice and creamy. Add the salt and process again. Add it to your pasta in a pot (if eating it with pasta) and add in the tomatoes and almonds. Let the tomatoes heat up and then it's ready! I liked it cold too. You can use it as a dip, with or without the tomatoes, and without the almonds.

And here a couple of finds from the store:

Coconut Bliss Ice Cream (If you want to win a coupon for this, and other items, enter today!!)

This stuff is GOOD!!!

And the latest from Galaxy Foods-vegan cream cheese (yum):

So, don't forget to enter to win some cool vegan food coupons....contest ends tonight!

What cool summer foods have YOU eaten lately?

Eat smart,
T.

Burritos, Tacos and Spring Rolls, among other things...

First, Saturday's market share: cucumbers, spaghetti squash, shiitakes, watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, herbs, sprouts, mustard greens, peppers, eggplant, okra, and local black bean salsa!

After our trip to Texas, I was inspired to make burritos and tacos :)

Tanya's Veggie Burritos:
(makes ~4-5 burritos)


4-5 tortillas (I used sprouted grain)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 avocado
~1 cup coleslaw/shredded cabbage/broccoli slaw
diced dried jalapenos (or fresh)
taco seasoning
lime juice & salt to taste


Saute onion & celery in about 1/4 cup water until soft.  Add peppers, carrots, and jalapenos.  Cook about 5 minutes more. Add the cabbage/coleslaw mix and cook about 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the cooked rice and taco seasoning.  I also added tomato powder (optional).  Mix well.  Add salt & lime juice to taste.


Scrape out the avocado and mash up.  Spread on the tortilla, top with veggie mix, and fold!

Tanya's Pea Tacos:
(makes ~5-6 tacos)


5-6 corn tortillas
1 cup cooked pink-eyed peas (or black-eyed)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1 tbsp minced garlic
Creole Seasoning
Taco Seasoning
diced dried jalapenos
crushed red pepper flakes


Wrap the tortillas in tin foil and put in a 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes to heat up.  Saute the onion, garlic, & celery in 1/4 cup water until soft.  Add the peppers & cabbage.  Cook another 5 minutes, then add the peas and seasonings, including the jalapenos & red pepper flakes.  Stir well. Add more water if sticking to pan.  Cook about 5 minutes.  Try to mash up the peas a bit in the pan so the mixture sticks together a bit more.


Remove tortillas and fill. Top with guacamole (recipe follows).

Tanya's Guac:

1 Hass avocado
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 tsp dried diced jalapenos (or use fresh)
juice of 1/2 key lime (or use from a whole lime, if you like it)
1 tsp dried cilantro (or use fresh)
salt to taste


Mix all together.

Other stuff I made:

Mama Pea's Gazpacho:

Averie's Crackers:

Pink-Eyed Pea salad:

Golden Zucchini Bread:

Marinated veggie spring rolls (turned out to be a bit too soggy):

I also made the Peanut Passion Sauce from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.  I used almond butter instead of peanut butter.  I left out the lime zest, and I only used a tiny drop of sesame oil.  It was quite good...I used it as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.

My one year bloggiversary is almost here!  Look for a book giveaway as a celebration!!

By the way, I'm thinking of changing my blog name. Any ideas?  My husband likes "Cooking With T" so I may keep that as a subtitle.  I also would like my blog title to match the url.

Oh, and if you're interested, there was an article on trying to be vegan in New Orleans here.

Eat smart,
T.

Food for a Stormy Day

Yes, I made the stuffed pattypan squash again.  But, I decided to try some fried okra on the side.  Was pretty good, needed perhaps a bit more salt in the breading.

Tanya's Fried Okra:


7-8 large okra, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
3/4 cup or so of yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
creole seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil

Sprinkle a lot of salt over the okra, then cover with cold water and let sit for an hour.  (I read about this somewhere on the internet...not exactly sure what it does).  Then drain the okra.  Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a pan.  Add okra to the dry ingredients, mix well.  Put okra in pan and fry about 8 minutes, before starting to flip them over.  Mix it up every couple of minutes.  You want to get it nice and brown on all sides.


Now don't forget, my amounts aren't totally exact.....hahaha......because I never write them down.  So I'm just thinking back to when I made it....."hmmmm, how much did I use??".  


And for my pre-dinner snack: Guacamole!

Tanya's Guacamole:


1 large Florida avocado, peeled and pitted
juice of 1 key lime
1/2 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp ground cumin
cilantro, salt, pepper


Mash up the avocado.  You can leave some of it chunky if you want.  Add the lime juice and mix.  Then add the tomato, onion, and spices. Done!


(The Florida avocados tend to have fewer calories than the California ones)


And so that's the end of my post.  Tomorrow's a busy work day, not sure I'll get to any recipes.  Probably will have leftover veg. bake from yesterday.  And I didn't have to make lunch today because food magically appeared at work today, yay!  AND there was a veg. option, double yay!  Usually we can't eat it, because it all has meat in it.

So take care and come back soon!
Eat smart,
T.

A Vegan Roll

Wow! I have to tell you, this is one of the most amazing dishes ever! It's really high on my list to make again and again. This is the 2nd time I've made it and I'm getting better at it.

Today for lunch we had the "Carpe

Diem Carrot Almond Pate Nori Rolls" from Vegan Fusion World Cuisine. I'm not going to post the recipe, just some of the ingredients that I used. The ginger, fresh dill, and lemon juice in

the almond pate give it such a zing! The flavors are really creative.

The vegetables I used in the rolls (you can pretty

much use any you want) were: carrots,

cucumbers, sprouts, and avocado. The key is rolling them up really tightly, otherwise stuff will

just fall out after you cut them. And use a sharp knife to cut them.

And so there you have it! The amazing vegan rolls of the day! You HAVE to try them.

See you for dinner :)

Eat smart,

T.