Delicious-Eggplant Rollups & No-Meat Balls (Eat to Live)

Smell the garlic and onions.  Feel the warmth as you step inside your house from the cold weather. Doesn't that sound so nice? 

I was so happy to finally check out Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, MD from our library. 

Now I need to buy it because I wasn't able to re-check it out due to other holds on it.  Bummer!

Dr. Fuhrman writes about the science of how food works in the body and how you should consume as many nutrients as you can in each meal.  I was able to make a few recipes which were all very flavorful and packed with veggies.  Dave and Keaton really loved all of these recipes too. 

Eggplant Rollups

These were more flavorful than the tofu ricotta spinach ones I usually make.  Next time I'm doubling the recipe because they were eaten way to quickly. 

Towards the end of summer my heirloom tomatoes were abundant so I was able to use them up by making lots of marinara sauce which I used in both of these recipes.  Dave actually had his fill of tomatoes because I was using them on a daily basis.  Personally I don't think you can eat too many tomatoes. 

No-Meat Balls

from Eat to Live

Makes 16-18 balls

1-2 T. water or low or no salt sodium vegetable broth

1/2 C. diced onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C. diced celery

2 T. parsley, minced

1/4 tsp. dried sage

1 tsp.dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 1/2 C. cooked lentils or 1 15 oz. can lentils

1/4 C. cooked brown rice (I needed to use 1/2C.)

2-3 T. tomato paste

1 T. arrowroot powder or whole wheat flour

2 T. Dr Fuhrman's MatoZest or other no-salt seasoning

2 T. nutritional yeast

ground pepper to taste

optional: vital wheat gluten for a chewier consistency

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a saute pan heat 1-2 T. water or broth.  Add onion and garlic and saute for 5 min or so.  Add celery, parsley, sage, basil and oregano.  Saute for another 5min. adding more water or broth as needed to prevent sticking.

In mixing bowl  combine sauteed vegetables with remaining ingredients.  Mix well.

Mash lightly with tomato masher.  With wet hands for 2 T. of mixture into a smooth ball.  Place on very lightly oiled baking pan and bake for 30-40min.  (I used a spray oil for pan and then lightly sprayed the balls).

Serving suggestions:  serve with marinara, over pasta or as a sandwich filling.

Have you tried any recipes from Eat to Live?  How did you like them?

Have a great weekend and stay warm and dry!

Liebster Award + Quinoa Basil Stir Fry (under $7)

Previous post: 4 ingredient African Stew for under $8.  I hope you all check it out and try it.



I was awarded the Liebster Blog Award by Nuestracena-Vegan Cuisine  who is just too sweet.

"Liebster" in German means 'dearest' or 'beloved'.  In this case I think it means 'favorite'.

The rules of winning this award are as follows:
1. Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal 5 of your top picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the www!

I get so much from all of your blogs and it's so nice to see the vegan love all around us.  Every blog is special but there are always those that stand out to each of us a bit more.  The following blogs do that for me.

happyveganface - Jessy always seems to bring a smile to my face when I read her blogs and with her comments too.  Along with her wonderful GF recipes.
VegSpinz - she always amazes me with her food art and original recipes
MELOMEALS: $3.33 A DAY - fresh, colorful, nutritious meals for under $3.33.
seitan is my motor - lots of beautiful and original baked goods

Thank you ladies!

Since my last post was a meal under $8 I thought I'd reshare the Quinoa Basil Tofu that cost's under $7 to make.  See vegan food doesn't have to cost much.
Have a great day!

4 Ingredient African Stew + birthday cake

Good chilly afternoon everyone!  Hope you are all staying toasty and warm.  I think we just may put a fire on tonight.

A couple of  months ago a co-worker of Dave's invited us over for dinner. 

They know Keaton and I are vegan and Dave was told not to worry about the meal that they were making a meal they usually  make but with changes to accomadate us.  To our surprise the whole meal was vegan. 

We had a lovely mixed green salad with fresh berries and a light vinaigrette.  Then the main meal was a very delicious...

African Stew with Portobello Mushrooms

We kept talking about how good this meal was I had to get the recipe.

To my surprise there was only 4 ingredients listed in the recipe. 4 ingredients!  I couldn't believe it!

You serve this over a nice bed of brown rice and wallah!  The key to this recipe is letting it cook over a low heat for a couple of hours to let the tomatoes really melt down and the flavors mingle together.  I think this would be a great to make in a crockpot.  Sometimes simple is better and this dish is wonderful left alone without any fancy spices.  Although it makes a great base for adding other veggies, I still like the simplicity for a change.  It makes 4-5 servings. This would be an easy recipe to double for company.  It cost's less than $8 to make.

African Stew

by Eulalia

1)  3 large yellow onions chopped and cooked in olive oil or water for about 45min on low heat until soft and start to sweeten.

2) Add 2 16 oz. cans of stewed tomatoes, drained( I like a bit more tomato so I used 1 28 oz can  + 1 16 oz. can.- if you can't find stewed just add whole plum tomatoes in a can

3)  Add 2 cans of coconut milk(I used lite just because I had it on hand but using regular would give it a bit more thicker consistency and an even richer flavor. The boys loved it with the lite milk just as much)

4) Allow to cook together at least 30 min on low heat.( I found that cooking it for a couple of hours  really helped develop the flavors more and cooked the tomatoes better.)Note- as this cooks you want the tomatoes to break down into it so you can use the back of a spoon or something to help do this. 

5) Once cooked through add salt and pepper to taste.

6) At this point add mushrooms, tofu or anything else. ( I sauteed 8 oz. of portobellos and 8 oz. cubed firm tofu I broil on low until almost golden).  Let cook for about 15 or more minute until ready to serve.

Let me know how you like it!

This was my Halloween Birtthday cake I made for myself.  Chocolate cake, chocolate rice mellow creme filling, thin layer of white frosting and topped with chocolate ganache.  The ghosts are made with rice mellow creme.  I found a recipe at Annie's Eats for a marshmallow filling and adjusted it to a vegan recipe.   My go to chocolate cake recipe is down below.


Moosewood Chocolate Cake
(double the recipe for layer cake)

adapted by dreaminitvegan

- 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
-  1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 c. oil + 1/4 c. apple sauce/canned pumpkin.(The original recipe calls for 1/2 c. oil but I found it's    more moist using apple sauce or pumpkin. Added perk, less fat)
- 1 cup brewed coffee, cooled down
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar


Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into an big bowl.
In a separate bowl,mix the oil, water or coffee and vanilla.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix the batter just until incorporated.

When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir only until the vinegar is evenly distributed into the batter.

Transfer the batter into an 8/9 inch round pan... or two if you doubled the recipe.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until cake tester/ toothpick comes out clean or the top springs back when touched. Cool completely.


Rice Mellow Fluff Creme

1 cup Earth Balance


2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

7½ oz. Rice Mellow Creme

2 tsp. vanilla extract


Beat together the Earth Balance and confectioners sugar.  Then add in rice mellow creme and vanilla extract.  Beat until smooth and fluffy.
This is so nice and light in between the layers of cake.

This is my first time using Rice Mellow Creme.  Have you used it before?

Creepy Fingers! BOOOOOOOWAHHHHHHH!

It's that time a year again when all things scary come out!  Boo! 

This is such a fun time a year, I love seeing all of the original costumes people come up with.  I especially love all of the scary movies playing all month long.  The classic black and white monster movies are my favorite, but then again I love all of those classic movies.  Getting back to the old monster movies , I really love to watch them all.  The music and the way they acted were just so cool.  Some of my favorite black and white monster flicks are Nosferatu(1922), White Zombie(1932),  Vincent Price movies, Bela Lugosi's Dracula,and Frankenstein to name a few.  The other day I watched for the first time Curse of the Demon(1957)with Dana Andrews, the demon in it was pretty silly but for back then these were scary movies.  Then there is the Uninvited, A Ghost Story with Ray Milland.  The list goes on and on and I'll watch them all plus so many in between then and now.  Carrie with Sissy Spacek....great one.  Then there is the fabulous movie...The Shining with Jack Nicholson, even Dave will watch this one and he does not like scary movies AT ALL

Oh and how can I forget The Nightmare Before Christmas!  Tim Burton movies rock! I even have The Nightmare Before Christams mug that a friend got me a few years ago and a couple of t-shirts.  Wear them every Halloween, the t-shirts that is. Then there is Casper and Hocus Pocus which bring back memories of the first time my son Keaton and I watched them together,then every year after.
What are your favorite Scary/Horror movies if you are into them?

Yesterday Keaton attended his last Halloween dance in middle school..(tears).

I made these Spooky Fingers. 

These were alot of fun to make and you make them plain or gory like I did.  Although I think some of the kids were leary because they were more on the gory side.  I found the recipe a couple of different place but the one that shows how to roll the dough is here.    These would be fun to make with kids.

SPOOKY FINGERS

by Novel Eats

adapted by dreaminitvegan

•1 cup vegan butter, softened

•1 cup Earth Balance or other vegan butter (I believe Earth Balance makes for better baking)
•1 cup vegan confectioners’ sugar

•1.5 tsp Ener-G egg replacer with 2T. water, whisked together

•1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

•1 T. soymilk or other non-dariy  milk

•2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

•1 teaspoon baking powder

•1 teaspoon salt

•3/4 cup whole, blanched almonds or pumpkin seeds.

Combine the vegan butter, sugar, egg replacer,  and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer.

OnceAs it is mixing gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt
Once your dough is well mixed, refrigerate it for 30 minutes. This will make the dough easier to handle when you are shaping the witches fingers.


Just before you take the dough out of the refrigerator, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the dough from your refrigerator, and using a teaspoon or tablespoon scoop a heaping spoonful onto a piece of wax paper. Use the wax paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie
Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail.

Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance
Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets, being sure to give each cookie a little space so that they do not bake into each other.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 18-20 min. or until the cookies are slightly golden in color.

Tips: Rolling the dough on the thinner side will give you more cookies and since they do puff up quite a bit while baking.

Optional Gore: After you have allowed your cookies to cool, remove the almond from the end of each cookie. Squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel (not all decorating gels are vegan, so be sure to check the ingredients).  I melted chocolate and spread it on the back side of the cookie to give a nice contrast in taste.  Then I dabbed some chocolate under the almond(it helps the almond stay on better) added some red gel then pressed the almond back on.  I stuck the fingers in crushed chocolate sandwich cookies, so having the chocolate under the almond kind of looks like they are dirty.  Yuck!  You can also add some green tint to the dough to make them look like Witches fingers.  So many ideas!


Let me know if you have  made these before or if you do.
Have a fun weekend everyone!  Stay safe and don't drink and dirve if you are going to a party.

Next Post will be my Halloween B-day cake that I  make for myself each year.

Pet Food

Wow I've just been slacking in my posts these last few months.
  Hello all I hope you are having a good autumn day.  It's been quite cold and foggy these past couple of mornings.  We are pretty lucky it clears up mid morning to a beautiful sunny day.

Just when I think I'm starting to deal with controlling my emotions regarding the loss of our dog Cleo we receive a cremation certificate from Oak Hills Memorial Pet Care.  It brought up all of my emotions again but at least I know she was treated with care.  I'd like to share with you a bit of what the card said. 
"You may be assured that your beloved pet Cleo was treated with dignity and consideration during our special process.  We have placed your pet's cremains beneath a stand of great trees in a serene country setting."  I feel now I can truly move on knowing she is at peace and was taken care of.

Regarding pet food, I've always tried to feed my animals the best food while not breaking the bank.  When Cleo got cancer I took another look at her food.   Researching all of the sites on canine cancer I found when it came to feeding dogs with cancer they all mention getting off store bought pet food and making your own. 
Hmmmm....it sounds like with  humans, fresh whole foods are just healthier.  It totally makes sense!

The first dried biscuit for dogs was processed in 1860, right after World War II bagged and canned pet food became popular in the U.S. because it was more economical.  Before that time dogs ate table scraps, vegetables etc.  You can read about the history of commercial dog food all over the internet or at   History of Dog Food  Like with people, the more processed food you eat the unhealthier you become.  Also the more organic ingredients the better as well.

If you can't feed your pet a completely fresh diet try to feed a higher quality kibble then add fresh veggies to it like I've been doing.  You can mix all kinds of veggies, omega oils, etc.  Wheat, corn and soy are the biggest allergens for dogs.  Wheat especially is not good for dogs.  Sweet potatoes are alot better than white potatoes which are real starchy.

  This is a mix of kale, swiss chard, carrots, peas, quinoa and a bit of barley.  Ace loves this stuff!

Some of the research I've done has been on finding companies that also use organic ingredients. I've e-mailed quite a few regarding their ingredients. I'm surprised to find that Halo the one Ellen Degeneres recommends, doesn't use hormone free chicken or eggs from small farms.  There are a couple of companies that carry dehydrated food which is made using very low heat but enough to kill pathogens.  Here are a couple of those-  Dr. Harvey's  you would add a protein to it.  Alicia Silverstone has been feeding her dogs for years using this food and for a protein she adds lentils, beans or tofu to it and her dogs are healthy as can be.  You need to add an omega oil to this food as well as l-creatine and taurine if no meat is used.  Then there is The Honest Kitchen , one of their food items is all veg.  This food is alot pricer especially if you have a bigger dog like our 80lb Ace dog.  Carna4 is a  newer line of baked kibble from Canada.  They had a great response when I emailed them regarding where their chicken came from.  They say they choose the freshest like they do for themselves. You can truly see that the owners care about their pets.  Now while I'm vegan I don't believe in factory farming but most of the meat in dog foods come from factory farms. So when even buying a kibble that has some meat in it I prefer organic ingredients.   Petguard Organic Pet Food  is good and they have a vegetarian option as well.  

Amongst my research I found that Natura Pet food brand which includes EVO, Innova, California Natural and Karma( 90% organic)was bought out to Proctor and Gamble.  Here is a company that was supposedly a high quality pet food yet they sell out to a company like Proctor and Gamble.  It's also interesting that there was a class action lawsuit against them filed regarding their claims regarding the description of their dog food.  It's always good to research a pet food before you purchase.  I also don't get the addition of cottage cheese in some of these dog foods because just like people alot of dogs can have an allergy or be lactose intolerant.  Milk is for babies is what I say.  If you feel you want to give your pet yogurt because it contains probiotics then add a capsule or two of probiotics.

All in all when it comes to your pets, fresher is better.  If you have a question regarding a product e-mail the company they always reply rather quickly.  
What do you feed your dogs?

Saying goodbye to a furry loved one

Hi Everyone!  I'm back. Dave and Keaton keep asking if I've been blogging and I said I haven't been.  The reason?  I Just haven't wanted to post about our dog Cleo and I knew that would be the first thing I'd have to do.

Our dog Cleo was put down to sleep last month.  She was only 8 yrs old.  She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma(bone cancer) only a month before and it was very aggressive.  It was so hard to see her go and I don't ever want to make the decision to put a dog down again.   She picked us, our son, when she was a puppy and that made her even more special to us.  She was such a joy and brought so much happiness to our home and to those who came over to visit.  Cleo was so vocal, looking out of Keaton's bedroom window barking at passer by's or animals, greeting Dave when he would get home from work or whining because she wanted us to pet her.   All of those things we now miss.  Even until the end she still had a wag in her tail.   We will miss her each and every day.  We are lucky to have Ace dog during this time of change in our family, but his personality is just so different than Cleo's.

                                                       She'll always be our (Queen) Cleopatra.

                                             R.I.P.  Cleopatra Teabag Blues  5/1/03-8/31/11

When I first found out about her cancer the first thing I thought of was...What did I do wrong?  Then I started doing research on canine cancer. I was also finally able to track down the couple who own Cleo's dad, they also kept one of her siblings.  They told me that Cleo's mother died from cancer 3 years ago which would put her at about 8/9years old.  The pup they kept and another sibling has tumors starting to grow but they are not cancerous.  Another sibling has hind leg issues.  The rest so far are healthy like the father who is still alive at age 13.  So it seems that the  mother passed on some unhealthy genes but like humans I do believe in diet and disease.

I then started researching more about dog food.  I already try to feed them the best kibble but even at that I'm always on the lookout for something better. .  What I have found out is that the more fresh a dog's food is the healthier it is for them.  Like us humans, eating cereal and processed foods only....we are not going to be the healthiest.  When we eat fresh foods that's when our health is optimal.  Dogs are the same.  The first dry dog treat was invented in the 1800's than after WWII dry kibble became popular because it was less expensive.   Feeding our animals human grade food or fresh food rather than a kibble just makes more sense but it does come with a price tag.  My goal is to slowly add more fresh food into the diet of Ace than hopefully completely change over.  I'll let you know of a couple of good pet food companies I've found in my research next post.

Until then...which I promise will be sooner than later.

Perfect Summer Grilled Dinner & Cleo dog

I hope you are all having a great summer.  We've pretty  much just been hanging out.  We got some bad news regarding our lab Cleo a few weeks ago.  She has osteosarcoma(bone disease) and it's progressing pretty fast.  Her xray showed her shoulder bone is mothlike all the way through..she only has a very thin solid strip of bone on her front right leg.  Sooooooooo....only option is to keep her comfortable and keep her pain under control as much as possible.  We are taking it day by day.  Lot's of emotions flowing...Keaton has taken to sleeping on the floor so Cleo can sleep with him.  It's hard to watch your kid go through something like this while Dave and I are so sad as well.  Sorry, this is really hard for me to write right about right now so I'll let you know more soon.

Keaton playing video game with Cleo

                                          Cleo, Ace and Merlin on a sleeping bag one evening.

I'd like to share with you a really good Tofu Lasagna that is from the Martha Stewart mag. that I made last night on the grill.  I was wanting to make this for months now and I finally got to.  I was so excited at how the finished product turned out and tasted....like so excited!!! 

It has grilled zucchini, crookneck squash, tofu, basil, pesto and tomatoes..  Yum, yum, yum!

We ate this with some Rustic Wheat Bread and Grilled Artichokes.

It isn't heavy which is really nice.  Just perfect!

I made Dave a sandwich with the leftovers for lunch today.

I highly recommend  making this...It's just so pretty too.  Get thie recipe by clicking here.  The marinade it says to make...well I actually used that on the vegetables before grilling.  They have a slight lemony taste which is so refreshing.

More good food to come.  I've been so slacking with my blog lately but I have been cooking and have pics to share.

Peace....