Peanut Butter Hummus

Peanut Butter Hummus PinThis Peanut Butter Hummus recipe was inspired by a freak weather event in Atlanta. Amelia had travelled back to Denver for her day job and on the day of her return flight to Atlanta, we had 8 inches of snow, which cancelled hundreds of flights.

She was able to fly back the next evening, but the roads were slushy from all the melting snow and the temperatures were predicted to drop below freezing after sunset. Since her flight wasn’t scheduled to arrive until 8PM, we decided to get a hotel room near the airport so we wouldn’t have to drive back to Marietta on icy roads.

Amelia has tons of Marriott points from her years of travelling for sales, so we reserved a room at the Renaissance Hotel. It’s still not easy to eat vegan at hotels (or on airplanes), but they did have a few options for us.

One of them was a version of hummus made from a local culinary favorite: boiled peanuts. We had never heard of boiled peanuts before our stay in Atlanta, but it’s a popular appetizer on area restaurant menus. We ordered some at a restaurant with some friends and Amelia loved them, but I didn’t like them. They were too messy for me. I’d rather eat them as nature (and ballparks) intended…out of the unboiled shell.

Or in delicious hummus! Rather than go through the hassle of boiling peanuts and deshelling them to match the Renaissance Hotel’s Boiled Peanut Hummus, we decided take the easy route by using peanut butter.

Basically, we used our Classic Vegan Hummus recipe and swapped out the tahini with peanut butter, and it’s absolutely delicious! It goes really well with pita chips, apples, celery or your favorite hummus delivery device.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Beet Greens

Beet GreensWe threw out our beet greens for years until one day, I asked Amelia if we could eat them. That led to an online search and this delicious recipe.

Beet greens are packed full of nutrients so throwing them out is just a waste of amazing food. According to researchers at William Patterson University, they pack more nutrients than kale and even spinach!

These researchers analyzed 47 types of produce for 17 vital nutrients—potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, zinc, and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, and K—then ranked them based on their “Nutrition Density Scores.” Beet greens came in at number four, following watercress, Chinese cabbage and chard. Spinach rounded out the top five.

Beet greens are a little too bitter to throw into a salad without some preparation unless you have a non-sensitive palette. But steamed and sautéd, they make a perfect base for your beet salad or a delicious stand alone side dish.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Chopped Asian Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

Chopped Asian SaladThis delicious Chopped Asian Salad recipe is a hearty, colorful, tangy and delicious asian salad with 7 grams of fiber, 11 grams of protein and your whole days’ worth of Vitamins A and C.

Asian salads are known for their unique combination of sweet and savory. Some even throw in some spiciness for good measure. This recipe has it all.

The orange and agave provide the sweet. The veggies and soy sauce provide the savory. And the ginger and Sriracha give it a spicy kick that will make your tongue impatient for the next bite of this delicious Chopped Asian Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Seitan & Swiss Chard

Vegan Seitan Swiss Chard PinThey don’t get much easier than this one. If you’re in a rush when you get home from work, you can whip this Vegan Seitan Swiss Chard recipe up in just a few minutes and enjoy a glass of wine while it cooks. And it tastes delicious!

With only 124 calories per serving and 16 grams of protein, it’s also a great recipe to support your weight loss goals. You should eat a starchy complex carb with it though, like a purple or orange sweet potato, or some brown rice.

That’s a purple sweet potato in the picture. We get them at the mercado near our home in Cuenca, Ecuador and they’re delicious. They’re so sweet and creamy that they don’t need anything else on them. Amelia eats hers plain, but I usually put a little tabasco on mine. The sweet and spicy flavor is to die for!

In case you’re not familiar with seitan, it’s a meat substitute made from gluten so if you’re a gluten-free eater, this recipe isn’t for you. However, if you don’t have any issues with gluten (99.3% of people don’t), seitan is a great addition to a vegan diet. It’s low calorie but it’s also a great source of protein and other healthy nutrients.

Vegan Seitan Swiss Chard

We bought our seitan from Fratello Vegan, a vegan restaurant here in Cuenca that makes their own seitan and other mock meats like vegan chorizo. That’s why it looks a little different (more yellow) than the packaged seitan you’ll find in the states, which is usually more brown in color.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Cajun Chickpea Fritters

Cajun Chickpea Fritters PinThese vegan cajun chickpea fritters are delicious adult dinner pancakes chock full of protein and fiber. They’re also gluten free since they use chickpea flour instead of wheat flour. Although, be sure all the other ingredient you use are also gluten free.

They pair well with wilted spinach, a side salad or healthy veggies. Or you can do what we did and eat them straight off the griddle or as a main dish.

We used an electric griddle instead of frying them in a saute pan with oil, which cut down on the calories and fat a little. Plus, we were able to cook most of them at once instead of a few at a time.

We also drizzled our Vegan Ranch Dressing over them, which was yummy.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan Artichoke Spinach Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip PinThis Vegan Artichoke Spinach Dip is a party favorite and one of my personal favorites. Instead of using sour cream and cream cheese, this recipe uses cashews and lemon juice to create that familiar texture and taste.

Before we went vegan, Amelia and I used to order artichoke spinach dip while sitting at the bar. It tasted great, but I never liked the greasiness of it and each bite was accompanied by a little pang of guilt from the spike it gave to my cholesterol. This vegan artichoke spinach dip is guilt free since vegan food doesn’t contain cholesterol.

Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, sliced veggies (carrots, red pepper, cucumber) or a baguette.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Vegan White Bean Chili

Vegan White Bean ChiliMy mom made this vegan white bean chili for Amelia and me when we went to visit. After a long drive from Denver to Kansas City, it was nice to have a hot vegan meal waiting for us. And it was delicious, too! It was even better as leftovers!

Mom slow cooked this in her crockpot for 10 hours, but you could just as easily cook this on the stove for an hour if you’re in a hurry.

With 151 calories, 6g protein and 5g of fiber, you can’t go wrong with this delicious vegan white bean chili.

Check out our more traditional Vegan Chili for a “meatier” tomato based version.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Sautéed Spaghetti Squash with Kale and Tomato

Sautéed Spaghetti SquashYou can eat as much of this Sautéed Spaghetti Squash as your stomach can hold. It’s full of fiber and nutrients, but only has 85 calories per serving. If you’re trying to lose weight, this recipe will help you achieve your goals without sacrificing flavor.

This is another recipe that Amelia whipped up one day with some spare parts we had laying around the kitchen. We love to eat spaghetti squash because it’s low calorie but very filling so she’s always thinking about how we can utilize it in new and interesting recipes.

This Sautéed Spaghetti Squash is a great main dish for lunch, or side dish with your Balsamic Portobello Mushroom Steaks.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Herbed Tomatoes

Herbed TomatoesMy mom made these Italian herbed tomatoes for me as a kid and I loved them! This was one of the first veggie dishes I ate. It has a lot of flavor and she peeled the tomato skins off, which my childhood palette really appreciated. As an adult, the skins don’t bother me and they pack a lot of extra phytonutrients so leave them on if you want to.

Mom made these with lots of olive oil, but now that we have a much better understanding of how oil harms our arteries, I changed the recipe to omit it. That will change the flavor a bit, but your heart will thank you.

You can serve these tomatoes as a standalone side dish or serve them over your leafy green salad as a delicious dressing.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.

Chickpea Kale Salad Sauté

Chickpea Kale Salad PinThis is a delicious Chickpea Kale Salad oil-free recipe that can serve as a main dish or a side dish. It’s also good warm or as a cold leftover.

It’s packed with nutrition, containing 10 grams of fiber, 15 grams of protein, 359% RDV of Vitamin A, 245% Vitamin C and 26% Iron. Eat this dish for lunch and you’ve hit much of your daily nutrient requirements.

It’s packed with nutrients, but 1 serving only has about 220 calories so if you want it to be a one dish meal, you may want to eat 2 servings. It pairs well with Oven Roasted Red Potatoes to give it a little more volume.

If you make this recipe, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And please share with your friends to help spread the word about healthy plant based eating.