WHITE BEAN & SPINACH ENCHILADAS and CILANTRO LIME BROWN RICE

These are great enchiladas to make for spring or any time if you like. These were a hit at Easter one year, everyone said how much they loved them and there were none left to take home. So here's to Karina at Gluten Free Goddess http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/03/enchiladas-griegos-for-two.html for very tasty encho's. My version is down below eliminating the dairy and tweaking it a bit. Do to the cannelini beans these are more on the creamy side. I do add a few tablespoons of tofutti sometimes if I want it even more creamy. Also I have used the original recipes sauce and it is really good but the green sauce makes it a bit lighter.

Next CILANTRO LIME RICE! When I saw this recipe in VegNews months ago I knew I had to make it. The result? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Gooooooooooooood! We all loved it! This went so well with the enchiladas I made. I am already planning to make this for my in-laws and for many future guests.

Recipe for Enchiladas

Preheat oven to 375
Makes 10 Enchiladas

1 lg can green enchilada sauce
10 corn tortillas
1 med yellow or white onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 16 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 15oz cans cannelini beans
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sage

dash of nutmeg

1/4 c. cilantro(optional)

1/4 c. tofutti cream cheese (optional)

sea salt & ground pepper to taste

Heat a T. olive oil in large skillet over med. heat and add onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Cook until the onions are on the soft side. Next add the spinach, stir a bit until most liquid is gone. Thoroughly stir in the seasonings then add the beans. Take off heat and mix in the cilantro and tofutti if you choose to.

Coat the bottom of a large casserole dish with sauce. Next heat up half the sauce in a med saucepan, just until warm. Take a corn tortilla, dip into the warm sauce just to coat, then fill with mixture. Repeat until all the filling is used. Pour the rest of the sauce(you probably won't use all of the sauce but use however much you like) over the enchiladas and cover with foil. Bake until cooked through about 30-35 min. Take out and let it sit for about 10min. or so.

Berry Smoothie

You know people are always asking where do you get your protein. I know it's frustrating but to you non-vegans who may read this, this shake has about 18 grams of protein. The banana is also good for calcium absorption. More on the protein issue at a later date.

This berry smoothie I made for my husband before he went to work. We usually have fruit smoothies to start the day out. This one consists of 1 lg. banana, 1 cup frozen mixed berries, 3/4 cup soy milk, 1/4 c. organic cranberry juice, 2 T. flaxseed and 2 T. hemp powder.

Barbecued Vegetable Salad with Seitan Ribz

Warm days, lot's of salads. My husband is a fan of the barbecued salads. You get the flavor of bbq and then use ranch dressing and then drizzle on the bbq sauce. We like the Follow Your Heart Garlic Ranch or something like that, it's the vegan one. We then bbq extra firm tofu or Seitan Ribz, recipe from Susan at http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ fatfree kitchen. I usually don't use iceberg, but for this one I add it to mixed green lettuce. This picture doesn't show the avocado or tortilla chips. I took the picture too soon and then my camera was acting up. Also the Real Food Daily cookbook has a really good cilantro dressing that goes well with this also.

Recipe:
Add as much as you want of the following this is what I used.

Vegan Ranch
Barbecue Sauce
Mixed Lettuce Greens w/iceberg
1/4 c.cilantro(optional)
1 red onion, diced
3 tomatoes
2 fresh corn, I boil for 15 min. then grill it.
2 zucchini, sliced
2 yellow crookneck squash, sliced
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
2 bell pepper, slice
2 carrots,(I love grill carrots)
1 can 15 oz. black beans, drained
1 avocado
tortilla chips, broken up
tofu or seitan ribz(optional)

If you are grilling tofu, I smother it in bbq sauce and let it sit for about an hour. I grill the tofu or Seitan ribz last. Slice the zucchini, bell pepper, yellow squash about 1/4 inch thick, and carrot,
put in large bowl or casserole dish. Trim asparagus and add to bowl. Mix with some olive oil and salt and you are ready for the grill. I like to grill the vegetables until they have that grilled look to them. When you are done boiling the corn you can brush on some olive oil and salt and add to vegetables. In a large bowl I mix the lettuce, red onion and tomatoes. Crush tortilla chips for topping. When everything is done grilling. Chop the vegetables and tofu or seitan. In the lettuce bowl add the vegetables, black beans. Plate the salad,add avocado, dressing, drizzle with barbecue sauce and top with tortilla chips. Wallah! SO GOOD!

BABY SHOWER CAKE

This is the cake I made for my cousin's baby shower last Saturday. The cake flavor I made was one I have previously posted. I was practicing. I also made the cupcakes. This was my second time using fondant and a bit of a mishap due to the chocolate. I had brown food coloring but when I was adding it to the fondant it was a clay color not brown! What to do in so little time before I had to leave. So I had to use cocoa again which dries out the fondant,those of you who use fondant would know this. So I didn't get a dark brown look like I wanted and it was a bit harder to work with because of it being dry. Anyways, it turned out alright. I actually preferred my practice cake the week before. Oh well. The baby's room is decorated pink & brown and the comforter has a ladybug on it, that's why I went with making the ladybug on top. My cousin and everyone loved it so I guess that's all that matters. I really need to take cake decorating classes.

Tofu Onion Tart w/Lentil Sauce

This Tofu Onion Tart is sooooo goood! I once made this for my in-laws when my son was going to stay the night at their house. No one knew that it was made with tofu. They loved it! The recipe comes from the cookbook The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld , it actually uses leeks but I didn't have any on hand so I used onions. The lentil sauce goes so well with this. I served this with brocollini and salad. The nice thing is that you can change up the ingredients, once I made it with green chilli's, onion and corn, delish! There are alot of really good recipes in this book, and well worth the time spent.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed peppers are one of our family favorites. It's so easy too! Usually I use vegan sausage, for this, one of the rare times I use store bought faux meats. I didn't have any on hand so I crumbled tofu and mixed with herbs and sauted in pan. Here is the recipe that again I got from Karina at Gluten Free Goddess, and just changed it up. Oh these are a picture before they went into the oven. I forgot to take one after and well, we ate them up!

Serves 6

3 whole bell peppers, cut in half and seeded

3 cups cooked brown rice or white

1 med. yellow onion, diced

1 cup corn, cooked

2 T. pine nuts

2 tsp. cumin

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

2 T. cilantro

1 package of vegan sausage crumbled

If using tofu I used firm and crumbled it and add following herbs: oregano, red pepper flakes, sage, garlic, fennel, caraway seeds, soy sauce, cumin, olive oil. and sauted until cooked through.

salsa

tofutti

Preheat oven to 375. First saute sausage through or tofu. Put into a bowl and set aside. In another pan or saute onion & garlic in oil. Add corn and saute. Add pinenuts and saute for about min. Next add cumin and oregano for a couple more min. Add rice, sausage and cilantro to the pan a stir through.

Lay the halved bell peppers in a casserole dish. Fill up peppers. Top off with a Tablespoon or so of tofutti and salsa.

Pour hot water into the dish about 1/4 inch or more and cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour until peppers are soft.

Bee hive

UPDATE!! THE BEES ARE GONE!!!! 5 DAYS!

See that mound of brown in the tree? Well those are bees. The other day we saw many bees flying around our tree and noticed this. We called the "Bee Control" and the lady said if they are in a tree 95 percent of the time they won't stay there so give the 4 or 5 days to leave. Today is day 3!
We can't mow the lawn, we have to watch to dog. I love bees but it would be nice if they could move on to somewhere safer. We'll see.