Roasted Vegetable Medley

I've decided that since I do so much creating recipes at work, that I'm going to put all my creations on my blog! Granted, majority of them are not gluten free because they are on sandwich breads, but this one would be a perfect way to add vegetables as a side! Once again, for the portions, they're going to be off, since we make them in bulk. 

Roasted Vegetable Medley

glutenfree~vegan

serves 8

2 red onions, sliced

4 red bell peppers, ends cut and sliced into rings

6 carrots, sliced

3 zucchini, sliced

3 squash, sliced

1/4 cup herbes d' provence

1/8 cup olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper, to taste

in all honesty, for this part I would eyeball it and do it to your taste preference- i love balsamic so I have more!

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Put all your sliced vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Add in your olive oil, herbes d' provence, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix around with your hands

3. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the carrots are nice and tender. 

4. Use it as a side of vegetables, put it on a sandwich, or complement with a salad or starch!

Chocolate Banana Chip Munchkins

Instead of going out to eat, Bill and I decided that we would just get takeout from one of our favorite places- le sushi! This sushi place is prime time because it has many vegetable sushi rolls, as well as raw fish for Bill, and the people know us well enough that they cater to my diet. Usually, we will get a bunch of rolls made by them and I'll trust them enough to make some really good rolls for the both of us. They never cease to deliver. Of course Bill and I can't be serious about anything and just made faces for the full 20 minutes waiting for our sushi. 

Anywayyysss work has been kicking my bootay lately and I've been working so many hours and haven't had much downtime. One thing I've been doing good at is waking up early and working out before work. This makes me feel so much better a because it's one less stress I don't have to worry about accomplishing when I come home from work! I'm just really lucky Bill wakes up at 6:30AM for work- otherwise I probably wouldn't have the willpower to wake up in the AM. 

After my workouts, I need something to hold me down and build up my protein. I don't like to eat a really big meal after my workouts but I definitely need something to hold me down for a little. Meet these baby munchkins. They are so delicious and are so amazing, I ate them up really fast! And the best part is that they are raw, gluten free, vegan and sooo simple! Friends I give you one of my greatest, most luxurious recipe: my chocolate banana chip munckins!

Makes 12 

16 Mejdool Dates, chopped

1 cup Banana Chips

1/2 cup fresh almond pulp from almond milk (or almond meal)

1/2 cup raw pecans

pinch cinnamon

pinch ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

1 teaspoon celtic sea salt

unsweetened cocoa powder for garnish

1. first, add your pecans and almond pulp to the food processor and process until fine

2. Add in your banana chips and process until chunks

3. Next, add in your cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract/bean, celtic sea salt and incorporate

4. In 4 batches add in your Mejdool dates until you get a dough-like consistency.

5. Roll your dough into a ball and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

6. Take out your dough and roll into balls. Sift unsweetened cocoa powder and top it with it.

Eden Cafe and Italian Vegetable Soup

What a tremendously hot day it way! I've been working my little booty off lately for the opening of the season. I've been managing to keep up with the cooking, the working out and whatnot- but I've been eating a little more every day: WOOPS! It's tough to go sometimes an entire day without eating and my willpower slowly begins to deteriorate. Thankfully, starting tomorrow I'm probably going to go on a diet consisting of eliminating processed foods and focusing on natural, simple ingredients. My face breaks out tremendously at work being around all the fryer oil; on top of that having to sweat and have a rather unhealthier diet than usual. 

Before my mother went to Wanderlust in Vermont (the lucky duck!), she took me out to my FAVORITE vegan cafe- Eden. It is located in the city of Scranton, PA- probably 30 minutes away from us (which isn't bad at all!). It is right next to Lackawanna College, where one of my good friends went to school. I had a carrot-almond soup that was so heavenly. I am definitely recreating this and I could probably make it into a raw soup, chilled for those summer days. Then we had a hummus and veggie platter and since the place is gluten-free friendly, they gave us some toasted almond bread on the side. The hummus was homemade and it was so delicious! I brought home some mock tuna salad for dinner as well as a grilled chicken cheesesteak for Bill. It definitely was a good day for me :]

                     

The next day, I decided to try and recreate one of my family's traditional recipes: our italian vegetable minestrone. I have been in the mood for soup lately, because it has been rather chilly every day except the last two days. The idea first came up when I was in the grocery store browsing for dinner idea's and I saw Amy's Rustic Italian Vegetable Soup. I decided to recreate it a little bit and use their secret ingredient for the little baby noodles: CHICKPEAS! And instead of spinach, I used kale. These were probably the only two things I really used from the Amy's...but the chickpea idea was so perfect! I'm not sure if I want to give out my momma's italian vegetable soup recipe, because her "broth" has been our family's grandest pride because it is a homemade "broth" that my father taught us and we use it for many bases for italian entrees; ie there's not gonna be a recipe for this :x But I will give you the vegetables I used to make mine!

Italian Vegetable Soup

Serves 4

1-15oz can chickpeas, drained (reserve the chickpea water)

2 medium shallots, diced

2 teaspoons minced garlic

4 red bell peppers, chopped

2 zucchini, chopped

2 bunches curly kale, taken off the stem

1 cup oyster mushrooms, destemmed

some vegetable broth (this is where my broth is secret :])

1 tablespoon EVOO

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

sea salt and white pepper to taste

1. Preheat EVOO in a 4-qt saucepot medium-high heat. Add in your shallots and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Next, add in your garlic and cook for an extra minute.

3. Add in salt, pepper, and your red bell peppers and zucchini and cook for approximately 5-10 minutes, until they are pretty soft.

4. Add in a good amount of vegetable broth that just covers your mixture and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and add in your chickpea water, oyster mushrooms and chickpeas. Simmer for 12-15 minutes.

5. When your water has reduced a good amount and your mixture seemed very thick, mixe in your fresh basil and take it off the heat to serve.