Ingredients

2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 packages of vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
6 T ranch spices - I use the Penzeys ranch spice
2-4 cloves garlic pressed
Use what ever veggies you like chopped small. I used about 5 cups of broccoli, cauliflower, yellow peppers, carrots and tomatoes. You can use more or less veggies of your choice.

Method:
Roll the crescent rolls out on a cookie sheet and pinch edges together to form a pizza like crust. Bake according to instructions. Let cool completely. Meanwhile, mix the vegan mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, garlic and ranch spices together in a bowl. Top the pizza crust with the ranch mixture and veggies, slice in squares and enjoy!

Surprisingly, I never tried Little Debbie cookies. I wasn't a huge fan of oatmeal or oatmeal cookies growing up and by the time I grew up and expanded my food interests, I was already vegan. Despite never trying them,  I can tell you that these cookies are better because they are amazing. The cookies are soft and spiced perfectly, with the best sweet center. Give them a try yourself!

**This recipe is a variation of My Baking Addiction's recipe, but veganized!

I love this tea hot and cold. I also love the way my house smells so cinnamony while and after I make the tea!

Ingredients:

12 cups of water
6-7 large ceylon cinnamon sticks

Method:

Dump cinnamon sticks in water in a pot. Bring the water and cinnamon sticks to a slow boil. Turn heat off. The longer you leave the cinnamon sticks in the water as it cools, the more cinnamony it will be. Experiment!

To make Cinnamon Tea Chai flavored:

Cheesecloth Chai Tea sachet ingredients:

6 cracked open cardamom pods with inside scraped out
2 tsp alspice
1 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp whole cloves
3 Tbsp black tea
1 Tbsp peppercorns

Method:

After your cinnamon tea starts to boil, turn heat off and put the Chai sachet into the cinnamon tea.  Cover and let steep from anywhere to 5 - 10 minutes or more depending on how strong you like it.

Ingredients - makes about 10 small cupcakes

Cupcakes
2.5 cups Almond Flour sifted
1/2 cup Bee Free Honey, Agave, Maple Syrup or your favorite
1/2 t salt
1 tsp baking soda
14 T aquafaba
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup of powdered sugar

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together well. Mix aquafaba in another bowl with the cream of tartar and powdered sugar until peaks form. This will take some time but be patient. Add the Bee Free Honey to the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold the aquafaba into the dry ingredients and Bee Free Honey. Pour into vegan buttered cupcake tin. Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly browned and a knife inserted in the middle of cupcake comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Frosting

I based this frosting off of elizabethrider.com buttercream frosting recipe:

1/2 cup of soft vegan butter or margerine
1/2 cup of high ratio shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
2 t cashew milk or any other vegan milk
3/4 t vanilla extract

Mix vegan butter and shortening together well. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. Add the vanilla extract and finally the cashew milk. Mix until blended. You can save any unused frosting in a sealed bowl.

Ingredients - serves 6

1.5 T olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 leek chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 t dried thyme
1 T flour
6.5 cups vegetable stock
4.5 cups frozen corn or fresh corn
2 t garam marsala
1/2 t coriander
2 bay leaves
1 small sweet potato chopped
1.5 cups cauliflower chopped

Method:

Heat oil in a pot. Sauté chopped onion, carrot, leek, thyme, coriander, garam marsala and garlic until onion is translucent. Stir in the flour and cook for an additional minute and pour in the vegetable stock. Stir well. Add the sweet potato and cauliflower to the pot and turn up heat until boiling then reduce. Simmer for about 20 minutes while stirring frequently until the sweet potato and cauliflower are both soft. Stir in 3.5 cups of the corn and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. Using and immersion blender or regular blender, blend the mixture until somewhat smooth. Add the rest of the corn and serve. May top with toasted pumpkin seeds or croutons if desired.

I wanted to use up as many ingredients I had leftover from our trip to Florida to limit the things I'm bringing back to Michigan and what I came up with was pretty good. Even my non-vegan husband liked it. Basically, I followed the process I used to use when I was vegetarian years ago and I was making a cheese based sauce. Since I've been vegan, the only cheeze sauces I've made are from cashews and/or butternut squash which is my favorite, but this turned out pretty well also.

Ingredients:

1/2 - 3/4 10 oz pkg of rice noodles or whatever vegan noodles you might have
1/2 8 oz bag vegan cheeze mozzarella
1/2 8 oz bag vegan cheeze cheddar
8 oz chopped mushrooms
4-5 cloves garlic chopped
2 T olive oil or vegan margarine
2-3 T nutritional yeast
2 T four
1/2 cup plant based milk

Topping:
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup mix of vegan mozzarella cheeze and vegan cheddar cheeze
2 T nutritional yeast

Process:
Preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil in a shallow pan and add chopped garlic. sauté for a couple of minutes until deliciously fragrant. Add the chopped mushrooms and continue to saute until somewhat soft. Mix in the nutritional yeast well and set aside off of the heat.

Heat olive oil or margarine over a medium flame. While heating the oil, mix the flour with the plant based milk well. Try to eliminate chunks of flour but don't worry too much if you can't. Using a whisk, add the milk/flour mix to the heated oil and stir constantly. Slowly add the 1/2 cup of plant based milk and continue to mix with the whisk until creamy. You can add more milk if it gets too thick. Add the plant based cheezes and continue to mix well using the whisk. When the texture is nice and melted, set aside on a very low fame while you work on preparing the rice noodles per instructions on the box. When prepared, drain and add the noodles to the cheeze mix and fold the cheeze in well with the noodles. Meanwhile using vegan butter grease an oven friendly bowl preferably with a lid (you could cover with foil if you don't have a lid). Add the noodle/cheese mixture to the oven friendly bowl. Add the mushrooms to form another layer. Finally add the cheeze/breadcrumb/nut yeast mix sprinkle all over the top. Cover and heat for about 45 minutes. Remove foil or lid and let heat for another 10- 15 minutes until the top is nice and melted. Remove from oven and enjoy!

NOTE: I made the above with what I had on hand, but I really think this dish could be much more delicious by mixing in steamed broccoli and perhaps adding a layer of sliced tomatoes!! Or add your favorite veggies!

​​​So I was craving granola BUT I wanted a savory granola...Check out this recipe I conjured up to satisfy my craving! You can put this granola on salads, pasta or straight from your hand to your mouth. I even gave some to my puppy and he loved it 🐶.
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Ingredients:

Dry:
3 cups of old fashion oats 
3 T pumpkin seeds
3 T sunflower seeds
3 T sesame seeds
1 T Chia seeds
1 T Hemp seeds
1 T rosemary
1.5 T paprika
1 t cumin
1t curry
1 tsp tumeric

Wet:
1 Cup warm water

Method:

Heat oven to 325. Mix all of the dry ingredients together well. Add the water and mix well into a ball. Let sit if possible, for at least 15 minutes. Dump the mixture in a large parchment lined baking sheet. Spread on the sheet completely using a spatula. Put in the oven. You will be baking for about 2 hours but every 20-25 minutes or so, you will need to mix and re-flatten to prevent burning. Depending on how well your oven heats, you may have to do this more often. When you are satisfied with how crisp your granola is remove from oven and let cool. Alternately, if you have a dehydrator, dry over night at the highest temp (mine is 160). Let cool in the morning and for storage, place in a sealed bowl.

​If you have about 1/2 hour of time in the morning, here's a super easy delicious Cinnamon Roll recipe. I tried it with my family in Florida and they really liked it!

Ingredients:

For rolls:

1 can of Pillsbury dough sheet or crescent dinner rolls (if you use the crescent rolls, you will have to pinch together the perforations).
4 T vegan margarine softened enough to spread
1 t cinnamon
4 tsp granulated sugar

For topping:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 T of plant based milk 

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unroll dough (if using crescents, pinch together the perforations). Spread the vegan margarine across the rolls. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and sprinkle this over the rolls. Carefully roll up. Cut about 6 slices (8 if you would like smaller crescents). Carefully place them in a pie pan or round baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. While baking, you can make the topping by mixing the powdered sugar with the 1 - 2 T of plant based milk. Only use enough to make a slightly thick mixture. When cinnamon rolls are done baking, remove from oven and let place rolls on plate. Add the topping and glow in the compliments your family will give!

In this recipe, I had some leftover sesame ginger dressing from my asian salad and decided to saute it! Just press your tofu between paper towel and place a heavy item on the top for as little as 1/2 hour and cut into cubes. So easy! Just listen to how delicious it sound!

We were at the St. Petersburg Farmers Market on Saturday. Just as the market was ending, there were great deals on produce so I picked up a head of Cauliflower for $2.50 and figured I'd be able to make up something for it with the limited spices I have here in Florida. I really enjoyed the flavors I threw together and hope you do too!

Ingredients:

1 Head of Cauliflower cut up in small pieces
2 T olive oil
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t cumin
2 large cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 cup of vegan parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of vegan mozzarella cheese
chopped green onions or parsley to top (not necessary but it looks nice)

Method:

Pre-heat over to 400 degrees. Place the cauliflower in an oven safe pan. Add the olive oil and garlic and mix well with the cauliflower. sprinkle the spices over the cauliflower and then top with the parmesan cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, mix with a spoon and add the the mozzarella cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes. Plate and top with chopped green onions or parsley (optional). Enjoy all on it's own, or as a side dish!

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