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Cheesy Ham and Quinoa Skillet

I’m often inspired by the ingredients in my fridge or freezer to make easy weeknight dinners like this. To be more accurate, I’m more often inspired by the LACK of ingredients, so I throw something together like this.

Casseroles are not common in our weekly menu, but I really enjoy recipes like this that are one pan-dishes. The less dishes I have to do the more time I get to spend with my family, and that’s always a win.

You can use any vegan cheese sauce you prefer for this recipe. I am particularly partial to the carrot-potato cheese sauce, but hey, that’s just me. You could also sub the quinoa for rice or noodles. For some reason I always forget about quinoa in the back of my pantry, but it’s delicious and good for you, so I probably should remember it more often.

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Tags: american, casserole, dairy free, dinner, gluten-free, ham, onions, recipe, vegan, vegetarian, zucchini

Comments 2 Comments
Categories american, casseroles, gluten-free, vegan

Chocolate Mousse

8 Oct

I’m going to be completely honest in writing the post. I actually screwed up this recipe in my own impatience, resulting in seized chocolate in my mousse. However, the recipe itself should work if you have more patience than I.

My advice to you is to stir slowly and add your chocolate to your meringue a little bit at a time. Also, definitely wait for it to be at room temperature. If you happen to screw it up like I did, just pour some more chocolate on top. Your husband won’t notice unless he’s a French chef.

And in that case, why isn’t he making you dinner?

P.S. Check our the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more great aquafaba recipes!

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Tags: aquafaba, chocolate, dessert, gluten-free, mousse, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories aquafaba, desserts, gluten-free, vegan

Salt and Pepper Tofu

5 Oct

When I was in 6th grade my teacher, Mrs. Dagle, gave the class a get-to-know-you survey. She asked for everyone’s favorite color, book, food, etc. I remember answering my favorite food as “anything except tofu.” I hated the texture of tofu for years-I would often buy it and leave it in the fridge for weeks until I finally cooked it, only to throw half away. Salt and pepper tofu was the first recipe I tried where I really enjoyed the texture and the taste. Something about frying tofu to give it a crunchy texture made it more palatable to me.

I bookmarked this recipe years ago and it’s become a favorite for busy weeknights. I’ve also experimented with cooking the tofu in sauce afterwards, but I prefer to leave it crunchy just the way it is. Feel free to use it in other dishes or as a beginning step to making barbeque tofu.

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Tags: asian, cake, dinner, easy, egg free, food, gluten-free, recipe, spicy, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 15 Comments
Categories asian, chinese, gluten-free, vegan

Spicy Thai Noodles 2

3 Oct

This recipe for spicy Thai noodles has been one of my most pinned and viewed recipes. I still make this regularly, but my cilantro hating husband requested I change that part of the sauce.

I usually have basil around from my herb pot, and when it’s not being made into pesto, it goes great with this recipe.

Try Thai basil if you can find it. If you can’t, that’s fine, but it’s definitely more authentic.

Another note; dark soy sauce can be subbed for a tablespoon or two of the regular sauce sauce if you want a darker color.

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Tags: basil, broccoli, carrots, dinner, easy, noodles, pasta, plant based diet, recipe, rice, spicy, thai, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 8 Comments
Categories asian, thai, vegan

Peanut Butter Cookies

30 Sep

Cookies are delicious. This is a known fact of the universe.

Peanut butter is delicious. This is another known fact. (Unless you’re allergic, in which case, avoid this recipe at all costs.)

Peanut butter cookies?

Let’s just say these are best for a day when you are leaving the house, otherwise you will eat the entire container. Or bring them with you and share with your coworkers, because shared calories don’t count. That is another known fact.

Aquafaba is a great binder in these cookies. In fact, these are better than any other vegan peanut butter cookie I have tried. They are crunchy with a bit of give, like a perfect cookie should be. But don’t just listen to me, try them yourself!

P.S. Check our the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more great aquafaba recipes!

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Tags: aquafaba, cookies, desserts, food, peanut butter, recipe, sweets, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 5 Comments
Categories american, desserts, vegan

Almond Birthday Cake Dacquoise

29 Sep

What does one do when one has leftover cake?

Well, if you’re me, you bake it into an entirely new cake! I have gotten such a positive response on my birthday cake macarons, I wanted to make a birthday cake flavored dacquoise. I didn’t feel that hazelnut would go well with this flavor, so I chose to only use almonds to keep the flavor mild.

Be sure to check out my other dacquoise recipes!
Birthday Dacquoise
Hazelnut Almond Dacquoise with Espresso Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache
Strawberry Buttercream and Lemon Curd Dacquoise

Be sure to also check out the vegan meringue Facebook group for more amazing aquafaba recipes and Aquafaba.com for frequently asked questions.

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Tags: almond, aquafaba, birthday, cake, chickpea, dacquoise, dessert, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories aquafaba, desserts

Galaxy Cake

24 Sep

On a similar theme as my galaxy macarons, I wanted to create a galaxy cake. The cake portion is simply a no egg, no dairy chocolate cake. The recipe is available in the Vegan Meringue Facebook group recipe files: it’s the chocolate midnight cake by Rebecca August.

The frosting is a vegan buttercream. I originally made about 2.5 cups, but realized with the petal technique I was going to need quite a bit more. I made another 1.5 cups of icing and it ended up being just enough. I highly recommend using Earth Balance butter for frosting recipes. We normally wouldn’t eat a lot of artificial color like this; I usually pawn most of my baking off on coworkers and friends!

I topped the cake with these galaxy meringues, which were made with 1/3 cup reduced aquafaba and 1/2 cup sugar. I dripped gel color down the inside of the piping bag to achieve the galaxy effect. I also crumbled one of the meringues, sprinkled on a little powdered sugar, and used pearl sprinkles for the stars and moons.

The petal technique is extremely easy. Pipe a blob of frosting with a piping bag fitted with a round tip, and spread it to the right with a spoon or spatula. Continue piping and spreading all the way around.

The cake itself is moist and delicious and we’ve been slowly enjoying it over the past few days.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Tags: aquafaba, cake, chocolate, dessert, galaxy, recipe, space, vegan, vegetarian, what vegans eat

Comments 2 Comments
Categories desserts, vegan

Healthier Banana Bread

8 Sep

I’ve been making the same banana bread for well over a year now. It’s a solid recipe, but sometimes I feel guilty for the high amount of sugar (especially after adding chocolate chips.)

I’ve also been making these lactation cookies regularly. I wanted to combine the idea of oats and extra nutrition from flax seeds and nutritional yeast with my normal banana bread recipe.

I was really worried these loaves would be too soft to hold together, but they are tender and delicious. I ate at least three slices with zero guilt last night and couldn’t get over how delicious it was.

I hope you try it too!

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Tags: banana bread, breakfast, breastfeeding, dairy free, dessert, egg free, lactation, recipe, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian

Comments 4 Comments
Categories breakfast, desserts, vegan

Eggplant Stacks

6 Sep

Our local farmers market runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays and I like to take my daughter with and pick out a few vegetables for meals during the week. Last week we found this pretty purple and white striped eggplants.

Tonight I wanted to combine the remaining eggplant and my favorite cheese recipe, from here.
It’s not quite eggplant parmesan, but you could easily fry these during the saute step! I served them with fettucine, but angel hair or capellini would be equally as beautiful here.

Our garden is still producing massive amounts of cherry tomatoes, so they’re making another appearance here. Substitute regular tomatoes if you don’t have cherry tomatoes.

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Tags: aquafaba, cheese, dinner, eggplant, food, meal, plant-based, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories aquafaba, Italian, vegan

Galaxy Macarons

4 Sep

My first attempt at these were a failure; albeit a beautiful failure. People seemed to think they were pretty cool, so I wanted to share the recipe anyway. BUT since I’m a bit obsessive, I wanted to make sure they worked as an actual macaron with feet and everything.

Spoiler:they do.

If you want to have these just as “almond galaxy cookies” add extra color and bake them immediately without the resting period. If you do want macarons, make sure to rest and go lightly with the gel color.

If this is your first time here, be sure to check out Charis’s recipes at Floral Frosting, as she is the creator of this recipe. She’s got some beautiful recipes there, her buttercream is one of our favorites! You also should take a look at the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more amazing recipes. If you have trouble with the directions, try reading my troubleshooting guide for a little more in depth description.