My favorite vegetarian sandwiches

I have to tell you, one of my favorite things to eat is the soup and sandwich combo. (Or soup and salad). I could live at Jason's Deli, but I'd be dirt poor.

I love making sandwiches and after going vegetarian, I found myself wondering what on earth I would put in a sandwich besides PB&J. I'm not a huge fan of faux meat, so I started by thinking about what sandwiches I like the best, and what I could substitute. So I wanted to write a little diddy on three easy vegetarian sandwich options!

Note: these photo's are not of my food. I am too much of a pig, and inhale my food before I can get to taking a picture of it! But mine look just as yum :)

First, the Vegetarian Caprese sandwich.

note: this is not my photo, this is a google search photo. But mine are just as yummy looking! (I prefer softer bread myself.) 

Ingredients:
Your favorite bread (preferably whole wheat or whole grain)
Tomato, sliced
Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
Avocado (optional.. but it makes everything better)
Mozzarella cheese (I use the block, and cut little strips)
Fresh basil (grow a garden, friend! That's where I get mine)
Spinach (organic, folks!)

Directions:
Toast your bread how you please. I stick mine in the toaster, and then I usually put my bread on a cookie sheet, with cheese on one piece. Stick it in the oven, turn on the broiler, and broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melty. Add tomato, spinach, and avocado, top with basil and balsamic vinaigrette dressing and your other piece of bread. Cut that sucker in half (if you like) and enjoy! (Great with tomato basil soup)

Next up, the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich

note: this is a photo of Panera Bread's Mediterranean sandwich. This is what inspired me to make them at home!

Ingredients:
Bread of your choice (again, whole wheat or whole grain)
Spinach, arugula, or kale
Hummus (store bought or home made)
Feta cheese
Tomato, sliced
Cucumber, sliced

Directions: toast bread in toaster. Apply hummus generously to one piece of bread, then sprinkle feta on top. (Your hummus acts as glue). Then, pile on remaining ingredients, cut in half , and eat!

And lastly, an all american favorite that I used to eat probably way too much when I was still a carnivore. The BLT. But we call it the BLAT, because we throw Avocado in there (I told you.. on everything.)

Vegetarian BLT with Avocado (BLAT)

I'm not a huge fan of faux meat, but this stuff seriously.taste.just.like.bacon. It's great!

Ingredients:

Morning Star Farms Veggie Bacon strips (I use about 2-3 per sandwich)

Tomato, sliced

Whole wheat bread

Mayo (or vegan mayo)

Avocado, smashed

Directions:

Cook "Facon" according to package. Assemble bread, cooked "bacon", tomato, mayo and avocado. Enjoy!

I'll leave you with a shot of my basil plant which I obsess over daily. Have you noticed how expensive fresh basil is in stores? And it doesn't usually last long, and it seems all the best recipes call for it. Basil is super easy to grow, and once you get the hang of taking care of it, it will really pay you back for loving it so much. Go get some seeds, friends! (p.s. it's a great indoor plant and windowsill herb)

Follow me on instagram: LuckyLightning

XoXo

Vegetarians can Barbecue, too!

So in Texas, BBQ is a big deal. I mean a really big deal. We have competitions, miles of BBQ restaurants (espeically in Austin..) and a serious love for the art of grilling food. 

Well, enter in two (new) vegetarians. As much as we love corn, and asparagus.. it's tough to be satisfied with only sides or vegetables whenever everyone has burgers, hot dogs, ribs, fajita's, etc. 

I had already been cookin' up ideas in my head for what I could BBQ for us (after all, we have a propane grill we've used all of one time.) And I tried BBQ'ing tofu and faux sausage over Easter..and I was not happy with either. 

So perfect timing, I was chosen for a Crowdtap Sample and Share from McCormick's! They sent us loads of goodies to use to grill up some delicious food. And my challenge, make it vegetarian! 

So here's what we did, and some delicious vegetarian BBQ recipes! 

Here we are at my father in law's house, grilling up some veggie's for Veggie Fajita Taco's. These always kick my craving for Mexican food and fajita's. We used McCormick's Spiced Brandy and Herb mix, which we made in to a marinade (with just vinegar, oil, and water.) It was delish!

The family hanging out while my hubs grilled up veggies for us. The rest of the group ate fish, but munched on some of our veggies as well. 

 Yum! Isn't that thing he's cooking on neat? It's a steel plate hooked up to propane that gets hot. I love it!

The finished product. We grilled zuchini, yellow squash, onions, mushroom, and green bell pepper. We marinated it in McCormick's Grill Mates Spiced Brandy and Herb marinade for 15 minutes, grilled them until soft, then ate them as taco's in flour tortilla's! 

When we got back to town, we were taxed with what we would cook up for 4th of July. All of our friends and family are meat eaters, and it's tough to find good stuff to throw on the grill. So we got creative. 

We used Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (If you haven't tried these, you have got to go and get them now!) We used the McCormick's Grill Mates Memphis Pit BBQ rub, and rubbed them on the "chik'n" pieces and let it set for a while. 

We also made Portabella burgers (a staple in most Vegetarian BBQ..) We used McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning for this, and used olive oil and soy sauce to make a marinade for these mushrooms. (The directions are on the back of the seasoning.) 

This one was probably my favorite. Growing up my best friend's dad would always have the best ranch style beans, and I couldn't figure out how he did it. They were always sweet and tangy.. and he admitted to using two secret ingredients. I'd always known brown sugar was one of them.. but finally found out the other was BBQ sauce! 

Well, imagine my excitement when I got this pretty bottle of sauce in my sample, Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ sauce. The first thing I did was add it into my beans!

We also marinated some Lightlife Backyard Grill'n Burgers (vegetarian) in the Montreal Steak Marinade for ten mintues. (These are excellent burgers, whether they are nuked, pan fried, or grilled!)

Here's a pic of the veggie burgers and "chik'n" grillin. I love that you can see the rub on the chick'n.. and it's crazy how much it looks like chicken to me! (But I swear it's vegetarian..) 

Here's all of our items grilin'.. (We did our BBQ at night because it was too damn hot during the day!) It's Texas, y'all.. 

 Our beans with added BBQ sauce..

The beautiful, grilled finished products!

My final plate.. half a Portabella burger, "chik'n breast", beans and a Veggie burger. Yum! Vegetarian's can grill, too!

Here's some delish recipes for you veg's out there. They can be Vegan as well, depending on what products you buy and what cheese you use. Happy grilling, fellow vegetable fanatics!

Big Boy Portabella Burgers: 

Ingredients: 

Portabella mushrooms (treat 1 as a patty.)

Burger toppings

Burger buns (or bread)

McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning

2 tbs soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions: Leave mushrooms in marinade for 10 minutes, flip, then leave another 5-10 minutes. Throw them on the grill for 10 minutes or so, until they become soft (but not mushy). Chop burger toppings and add Mushroom to bottom bun, load toppings, then eat!

add to grill for approx 10 minutes. Then, create burger! (don't forget to add cheese!) 

 

Memphis Pit BBQ Vegetarian "Chik'n" Breast

Ingredients: 

McCormick's Memphis Pit BBQ rub

Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (pictured above)

Clear plastic wrap

BBQ sauce, for drizzling

Directions:

Take frozen Gardein "Chik'n" patties and apply Memphis Pit BBQ rub thoroughly to each side. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate, and let set for 2 hours (or up to overnight. I did 2 hours.)

After time has passed, throw them on the grill until they are done (about 10 minutes max.) Drizzle or dip in BBQ sauce and enjoy!

Note** This will make you totally forget that you aren't eating real chicken. The rub is delicious, and I'm telling you, Gardein makes the best chicken substitute out there. (Plus their ingredients are actual ingredients that you can recognize.) 

Sweet and tangy Ranch Style Beans:
Ingredients:
1 can ranch style beans
1 tbs McCormick's Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ sauce

Directions:
Mix in 1 tbs BBQ sauce into ranch style beans, then heat through either using microwave or stove top.

**Note: If you like baked beans and sweet beans, you could add 1.5 to 2 tbs.. I kept it at 1 because the husband is not a fan of sweet beans.


Veggie Fajita Taco's
Ingredients:
-Any veggies you like! We chose Zucchini, yellow squash, onions, mushrooms, and a green bell pepper.
-McCormick's Spiced Brandy and Herb marinade - **note, this would be great for asian food. It's got cinnamon and ginger it in, so it has a tangy, sweet taste.
-vinegar
-oil (olive, vegetable, canola, etc.)
Flour tortilla's for taco making

Directions: create marinade by following instructions on McCormick's marinade packet (using oil and vinegar.)
Chop all vegetables and let marinade for 15 minutes.
Grill veggies until soft, or to your liking
Stuff into taco's and chow down!

Note: McCormick's Molasses Bacon was sent in the kit but is not vegetarian. It does, in fact, contain bacon. We gave it to my sister in law and suggested she mix it in with her 4th of July potato salad (which she did) and she said it was fabulous! 1 tbs per quart of potato salad, and I also thought it would be delicious on green beans and eggs as well!

Happy eating! xoxo

Old Navy Beachwear: great summer finds at great prices!

I was fortunate enough to do another sample and share from Crowdtap, and it was again for Old Navy (which are my favorites!)

After our last Old Navy sample and share the girls kept asking when we would get to do it again! Lucky for us we got to do a beach accessory sample, and it was fun! Old Navy seriously has the best basics. Swimwear, flip flops, beach towels, sunglasses.. and beach bags!

And man, if you haven't seen their newest jewelry collection, you need to get in there. It's seriously beautiful, so many different styles. There's boho, chic, romantic, gypsy and more styles of jewelry. I loaded up on earrings the last time I stopped in so this time I was tempted with hair clips and necklaces! All at Old Navy's traditional great prices. (Get in there and get some!)

Here's a sneak peek of our summer Sample & Share courtesy of #Old Navy & #Crowdtap

 Amanda (top) has a cruise to Cabo coming up in July, so she was shopping for goodies for that. She tried on this cute black jersey knit dress with her adorable Old Navy bag that was part of the sample. (I got a matching one! I'm a sucker for blue.)

 Above, the lovely Adrianne grabbed the bag Amanda and I have in a red. We love these, they are the PERFECT pool or beach tote. They fit our flip flops, towel, and more in them!

Amanda in front of the Flip Flop display.. to many colors to choose from! Good thing they are 2 for $5.. these are great beach flip flops or pool ones. I always get my good sandals dirty at the beach, but alas, no more! Thanks Old Navy :) 

I'm a sucker for turquoise anything, so I was drawn to the turquoise flip flops! They match my sweet pool bag. 

Adrianne had quite a few garments to try on, she left with some great dresses and beachwear!

Adrianne in front of the more subdued flip flop colors. I'm telling you there is every color under the sun! The girls each bought an extra pair, they are so afordable!

A & A comparing garments. I love these shots.. their expressions are so cute! I love the pink hoodie, too. That's an Old Navy goodie and I think I need one myself. (Adrienne was not taking that flower out of her hair.. that's Old Navy too, and she added that to her bag! so cute on her.) 

 A was kind enough to let me borrow it for a shot with her. (Check out how much swag she has.. this is on the way to the check out line. That girl can shop!) She ended up with a red, orange, and black beach towel. 

A & A in front of the flip flops. I can't get over how many there are! 

This was the perfect time to have this awesome Sample & Share. I needed pool flip flops badly (and a beach towel.. I don't own any. Which is embarassing coming from a beach town!) Adrienne is heading to a lake house for 4th of July so her sunglasses, towel and flip flops were perfect. 

Amanda is heading to Cabo so she picked up a comfy skirt to wear on the plane, and some cute tank tops to wear in Mexico. And she can take her flip flops, sunglasses, bag and towel with her!

 She's such a star ;) We tried to convince her to get these, but no go. 

Adrianne ended up with these, we kept calling them Lady Gaga glasses. They are so chic on her though! 

And I myself am heading on a cruise soon, so all this swag is the perfect summer accessory. Thanks #Old Navy and # Crowd Tap for outfitting us Austin gals for summer! (The triple A's.. in case you didn't catch that!) 

Thrifting!

picked up this sweet little school desk while out thrifting today.

Vegan "Carne" Guisada recipe

One of the biggest challenges I have with cooking is recreating traditional Mexican food dishes. My husband is hispanic and grew up on enchilada's, carne guisada, spanish rice, and home made beans. So I'm always setting out to try and recreate them in a healthier way.

Well imagine how much harder that gets when you give up meat. I've made some pretty great black bean & corn enchilada's recently, but we had been craving Carne Guisada. If you don't know what Carne Guisada is, or haven't ever eaten it, it's a traditional Mexican dish of beef tips stewed in a savory gravy. It's delish with avocado on top of a flour tortilla. I scoured the internet for a "vegan carne guisada" recipe, but couldn't find anything I was enthusiastic about. I mainly was faced with the question of what do I use as a meat replacement?

So that came first, I used Isa Chandra's simple Italian sausages as my meat base. (Picture below) I steamed them in my rice cooker for about an hour, and was pretty pleased with them. Sausage is one of the things I have had the most cravings for after giving up meat (weird when you think about what a disgusting product sausage really is..) But a lot of the Vegan sausages on the grocery store shelves have disappointed me.

source: theppk.com

So I tweaked a Carne Guisada recipe I had used when I was a carnivore (hehe) and came out with a pretty great result. The husband was thrilled, (like really excited) even though it was missing meat! These sausages can be used in stews, soups, and even Carne Guisada. Read below for the recipe. 

*Note: you should be comfortable with the flavor of Seitan and meat substitutes to enjoy this dish. Or at least open to trying it!

Vegan "Carne" Guisada (adapted from a recipe in Everyday Food mag)

ingredients:

-2 of Isa Chandra's Vegan Sausages, or store bought vegan sausages/Gardein Beefless beeftips

-1/8 tsp of salt, and more to taste

-pepper to taste

-2 tablespoons oil of your choice (I used canola)

-1/2 medium white onion, diced

-1 medium green bell pepper, seeded, top removed, and diced

-1 large jalepeno, seeded and diced small

-5 garlic cloves, minced

-1.5 tsp ground cumin (comino)

-1 tsp chili powder

-3/4 tsp dried oregano

-3 tbs all purpose flour

-1 & 1/4 cups "no chicken" chicken broth, (or vegetable broth if you can't find it)

-1 14oz cans diced tomatoes, (onion & garlic flavor if you can find it.)

-2 bay leaves

-flour tortilla's, warmed up (or whole wheat if you wanna be healthy!)

-avocado for topping

Instructions:

1. Dice all vegetables

2. Using oil, saute bell pepper, jalepeno, onion, and garlic until soft. About 5 mins

3. Add spices and flour, and simmer for one minute. (It will not blend in right away, it's normal for the flour to be a bit stiff.)

4. Slowly pour broth into skillet, scraping bits off the bottom of the pan. Add tomatoes and bay leaves, along with salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Cover and cook for 1 hour on low to medium heat.

6. Serve in tortilla's with avocado on top (if that's your thing.) 

Enjoy! We served ours up with home made rice and beans, and fresh avocado on the side. Yum!

-

I feel good knowing that one of the tougher Mexican dishes can be made Vegan. I am thinking of making this with potatoes instead of the vegan sausages. It would be "papa's guisada" I suppose :) More Vegetarian Mexican food to come!

XoXo

Ash 

Vegetarian eggplant parm

delicious meatless alternative. Baked so it's healthy and pretty easy!

I used this recipe (but honestly it was waaaayyy too much food. One eggplant could have fed both my husband and I. Only use two if you are feeding 4 or more)

Eating Well Eggplant Parm

I used whole wheat bread crumbs, and Beth's marinara sauce recipe (which is so worth the effort.) And fresh basil from my garden. I froze some for later hoping it will be good!

An Ode to beans.. and Parsley hummus.

Ah beans, I've always loved them. Super healthy for you (talk about protein).. and so versatile. It was a match made in heaven when I gave up meat that I could eat beans all day, every day.

Beans & Spanish rice were my favorite part of eating at a Mexican restaurant (other than the cheese.. mm..) I would joke that I could live off of rice and beans all day. And now, I basically do.

I thought I'd talk a bit about beans & hummus here, and how EASY hummus is to make. You have to splurge on the Tahina / Tahini to make hummus, but I bought a pretty decent size bottle at my HEB for about $5. You can make Hummus tons of times after that, while if you bought hummus at a store once it would be around $5.

First things first, I try to no longer used canned beans. Beth over at Budget Bytes has a great article on "kicking the can.." but I must say that I now make almost all my beans at home, in the crock pot. It's such a better value. A bag of black beasns (1lb) is about .99 cents, and it makes enough for me to freeze. (I usually use 2lbs if I can..) Which is at least two cans of beans.

So easy. To make home made beans in the crock pot (I've done this with Black beans, garbanzo beans/chickpeas, and navy beans. all a success.. ) follow these easy peasy steps. Of course, this can be done in a pot on the stove as well, but I love the "forget about me" aspect of a crock pot.

Dump out your beans on a cookie sheet or flat surface. Sort through them, tossing any broken or bad beans and rocks. (I've only ever found maybe one or two rocks in my time.. but worth the extra step.)

Rinse the beans well in a colander. Get rid of all that dirt & yuck! I don't soak my beans unless they are pinto, personally.

Dump them in your crock pot, and pour in enough water to where there is about two inches of water above the beans. Cook on low 6-7 hours or high 4-5 hours. If you are planning on leaving these to cook while you head to work, give yourself plenty of water in the crock pot for them to soak up, maybe an extra cup or two. You can always get rid of it later, so it's better to use more water than you think you need. I don't add anything else, but you could add salt if you like. 

And that's it! I didn't take an after pic, but let the beans cool, then sort them into tupperware and leave some liquid in the tupperware with them. (For example, like a can of beans has liquid.) I freeze a big batch and then portion them out into dinner sized portions. Viola! No preservatives, no BPA from the can (eew..) and no crap in your food. Plus, you made them!

So now, let's talk about Hummus. I. love. hummus. And honestly, my new favorite hummus is white bean hummus. Hummus is basically bean dip, when you think about it. So you can make it with any kind of bean. I usually make it with whatever beans I have left over, and white beans are my new favorite. 

I like to add hot sauce. I used Frank's Red Hot that I had left over, and wasn't all that thrilled. I prefer my signature Tapatio, or Valentina. Beth likes Siracha. Hummus is so customizable! It's great :) 

So here's the skinny. My favorite white bean hummus recipe:

1 cup cooked white (or navy) beans (you can use almost any bean on hand.)

2 tbs tahini

Fresh squeezed 1/2 lemon

1 small garlic clove, minced

1/8 teaspoon salt, more to taste

Handfull of parsely (optional, but I LOVE the flavor it gave this batch. Fresh parsley is fairly cheap)

Generous amount of hot sauce (I probably used 1/2 tbs or so.) Taste as you go!

Paprika, for garnish

Throw everything into the food processor, and pulse 4-5 times until it is the consistency you like. Taste, and add salt or hot sauce until hummus is the consistency you like. Sprinkle paprika and/or olive oil on top, if desired.

I keep this in the fridge for a week to two weeks, and snack on it with everything!

I am on a Buffalo kick right now, and so I like to eat my hummus with these yummy buffalo wing pretzel crips. Pita chips are delish as well. I hope you get the chance to make some delicious hummus of your own! And experiment until you find your own liking.

Xoxo,
Ash