Tag Archives: healthy recipes

My Big Fat Vegan Thanksgiving: Stuffed Bell Peppers

bell peppers

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. It was an interesting Thanksgiving this year for many reasons, one being there was no turkey on our table!! When you go from eating meat to eating veg it can be a little unsettling and you may feel like you don’t know how to cook anything you used to eat. Good news is,  it’s really not that complicated. I got in the kitchen to help my mom and show her that is it possible to make somethings you made before, but with some substitutions in place of the meat products. We ended up working with her idea to make stuffed bell peppers which were incredible, cooked collard greens, raw collard greens with a cilantro avocado dressing (I made mine raw), cranberry sauce, and Haitian sweet potatoes. Let me tell you something, if you have never had a Hawaiian (purple on inside) or Haitian sweet potato you are missing out! If you all are interested and haven’t had enough of my many ways to eat an avocado I can post the avocado cilantro dressing next week.

I went light on my usual industrious dessert making this year because the week prior I made coconut macaroons, and then the avocado key lime pie. So I just made a vegan blueberry pie with a spelt crust.  Below is the recipe for the stuffed bell peppers. The recipe is kind of vague because I totally improvised it, but you’ll get the gist. We had leftover black beans in the fridge so I mixed that in with the quinoa and added mushrooms and onions and stuffed it all in the pepper. A-MAZING. They are really festive and add to the holiday spirit if you buy various colors as well. What’s the best part about a big fat Vegan Thanksgiving? Your chances of actually getting fat or gaining those usual holiday pounds are slim to none. We all finished the meal and were full, satisfied, with waistlines still in tact, and had some yummy leftovers for the next day. -XoXo Raw Girl

Bell Peppers Stuffed w/ Quinoa & Black Beans

Ingredients:

Various Colored Bell Peppers (organic preferred)

quinoa

black beans

red onion

mushrooms

tomatoes

garlic

Spices: cumin, sea salt

Soak black beans overnight and cook them in whatever method you prefer. We cooked them using a slow cooker and then sautéed them with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, and sea salt. Also cook quinoa in separate pot. Mix the mushroom black bean mix with the quinoa, and add additional spices as needed. Wash the bell peppers and cut them into little containers by keeping a ‘lid’ with the stem attached.

Remove the white parts from the inside carefully with a knife and then scoop in the quinoa mixture until the pepper is full to the brim. Place the bell pepper lid back on. Wrap each pepper with its lid,  in foil, and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or eat the pepper raw, whichever you prefer. Remove from oven, serve and enjoy!

Juice! Sandy’s Cilantro Detox and Benefits of Cilantro

cilantro

Sandy’s Cilantro Detox

1 Bunch Green Kale Leaves (5-7 Leaves)

1 head of Celery

1 or 2 Limes

handful cilantro

handful parsley

1 apple (optional)

Juice, strain, serve. Enjoy! 🙂

To pay homage to the unfortunate Hurricane headed for the East Coast as I wrote and scheduled this post last week, I’ve named today’s juice Sandy’s Cilantro Detox. Cilantro also known as coriander is a lovely addition to a juice or smoothie. Full of antioxidants this herb also has a nice amount of vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, C,E, B6, K, phosphorous, iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, manganese. The iron and magnesium make cilantro great for fighting anemia. Ladies! Take note, adding cilantro into your diet once a month prior to the onset of PMS may be beneficial because it can relieve menstrual cramps and reduce hormonal mood swings of the condition I like to call Vegan Bi&% Syndrome. In addition to this, along with aged garlic and chlorella, cilantro is great at removing heavy metals from your body like mercury, aluminum, and lead. Incorporating cilantro in your diet will also natural remove accumulated pesticides from your body as well. Other benefits include reducing cholesterol, aiding production of digestive enzymes, promoting liver function, disinfecting and detoxifying the body, relieving arthritis, reducing nausea, lowering blood pressure, reducing cellulite, lowering blood sugar, and being an effective natural fighter of salmonella. Keeping all of these awesome benefits in mind, you may not want to reserve cilantro only for your salsa. Toss it in your juice, smoothie, or salad for a fresh green taste with great nutritional benefits to boot. -XoXo Raw Girl

Vegan Dish: Stuffed Zucchini w/ Brown Rice & Veggies

healthy living

So, I decided to make a vegan dish tonight while eating with the fam. Haven’t had brown rice in a few months, but I’ll live. Too much of it, makes me feel not so great, but little amounts I can handle. I tend to fluctuate between periods of all raw, and then I have cooked things like brown rice, quinoa, and steamed plantains that I love to incorporate every once in a while. I also really wanted to make something yummy to possibly encourage my father to get back on the veg bandwagon. My mothers stayed on as far as I know, but I hear he’s fallen way off since their 40 Day vegan fast. Anyhow, I was toying with doing stuffed bell peppers or zucchini, and stuck with the latter because I have so much from the garden right now. Below is the recipe. Remember that you can modify this any way you like to suit your taste buds. You can make a veggie version w/ no brown rice, or a version with quinoa, which is probably equally as delicious. You can even make a vegan version that includes daiya cheese (vegan cheese) as a topping. When I cook food, I choose to not cook things very long, because I don’t believe in zapping every last ounce of life force from my food, but you can modify the cooking times to suit your preference.

Ingredients:

Cooked brown rice

1-2 Zuchinni

red or green bell pepper

red onion

tomatoes

garlic (diced)

broccoli

Seasonings: Braggs, black pepper, curry powder, pinch of sea salt

Heat oven at 350 degrees. Cut your zucchini in half and scoop/cut out insides without breaking the skin. You can use a spoon and/or knife. Place on a baking pan or foil that has been drizzled with olive oil. Dice up veggies: broccoli, garlic, bell pepper, red onion, and insides of zucchini. Rinse thoroughly, and add all veggies to a wok or frying pan.  Add pinch of sea salt, two dashes of yellow curry, black pepper to taste, and generous amount of Braggs. Cover and let veggies cook/steam for a few minutes then add in brown rice. Heat until rice mixture is warm.  Use a spoon to scoop rice mixture into zucchini halves. Place zucchini in oven and let back for 15-25 minutes, depending on your preference. Serve & enjoy!!! 🙂

Juice!:Cucumber Lime Cocktail

cucumber

Had fun last weekend using ingredients left in the kitchen and mint from the garden to create this very refreshing summer juice. -XoXo Raw Girl

Ingredients: 2 limes, 2 large cucumbers, 1 carrot, 3 baby apples or 1 1/2 -2 regular sized apples, a couple mint leaves.

Juice everything but the mint. Strain juice into blender and blend juice with mint leaves. Serve & Enjoy!

How to Make a Watermelon Mojito

cleanse

Watermelon Mojito

Today is Day 3; the last day of this watermelon fast is finally here! Last night I got creative and concocted a watermelon mojito. This morning I continued to be inspired and whipped up an equally refreshing blend of watermelon, lemon juice, with a hint of cilantro. I feel like this fast is turning me into a watermelon bartender! Feeling good today, glad to be coming down of the fast tomorrow because I have an acting gig and need to keep my energy up on set. As promised here’s the recipe for the mojito. I’m going to try the watermelon soup from my last post tomorrow and see if it’s any good, will report back. Beginning tomorrow, my infatuation with all things watermelon is going to end for a little while. – XoXo Raw Girl

Watermelon Mojito

4-5 cups chopped watermelon

1/2 lime juiced (use the whole thing if you want it tangier)

2 – 3 sprigs of fresh mint

1 teaspoon grated ginger

Blend & enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN3paRwPpQs]

How to Make Vegan Spicy Curry Hummus :)

healthy recipes

Hummus is one of the very few things not raw, that I still incorporate in my diet.  I cook my chickpeas in a slow cooker, which heats on low around 170 degrees, so no, this not a raw hummus, but suitable for vegans, non-100% raw fooders, and fabulous people who love hummus as much as I do.  If you still buy hummus in the store, be weary of the preservatives and possible industrial materials that could be lurking in your whipped concoction which may have a pasty consistency.  The mission to make my own hummus started when I really went raw and became so sensitive to things that I would have immediate allergic reactions after eating something “toxic.” Store bought hummus always made me sneeze, immediately after! I make all kinds of hummus, but this is one of my favorite kinds, because I enjoy spicy dishes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n5gAUpYNvc]

Ingredients:

16 oz/1 lb bag of chickpeas, pre-soaked and then cooked, 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 3 Tablespoons of yellow curry, 1 tablespoon of paprika, 2 tablespoons sea salt, red pepper to suit your pepper tolerance,  dash of cumin , juice of 3 organic lemons

Put all in high speed blender and blend until a creamy, thick consistency. Pour into bowl and sprinkle the top with thyme, red pepper, and any other seasonings you like. Keeps in fridge, use for wraps, salads, or as a dip. Enjoy!

The copyright of this recipe is owned by Esosa Edosomwan (AKA Chef Eazy E.) Permission to republish this recipe in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.