Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothies

Planty kid 2 is a very picky eater. She likes peanut butter and jelly, boxed macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and french fries. She does not like anything green, or red, and she especially hates beans. She also hates tortillas, and soup. All of this means she goes to bed hungry a lot, because we have the rule,
"eat it, or starve". It also means I worry about her nutrition, because lets face it, the above list is not super full of vitamins and minerals. All of this leads to a couple days ago, when she was being silly and said, "Mom, wouldn't it be crazy if we had peanut butter and jelly smoothies?!?". 

Challenge Accepted. 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie

• 3 bananas (put them in the freezer overnight before smoothie time, it'll help make it frosty)
• 1/2 c peanut butter
• 1/2 block firm tofu
• 1 bag frozen strawberries 
• Almond Milk (or whatever kind of non-dairy milk you like, I really hate the taste of soymilk, so I pretty much stick to almond and coconut)

  

• Cut the tofu into 2 equal parts. 
• Dice the bananas, put them in your blender, along with the peanut butter, half the tofu and about a cup of almond milk, more or less depending on how you like your texture. 
• Blend baby, blend. 
• Pour the PB mixture into cups, filling them about halfway full. 
• Rinse out your blender.
• Next, toss the strawberries, second tofu half, and almond milk into the blender. 
• Blend it again. 
• Pour the Jelly smoothie on top of your peanut butter already in the cups. 
• Give it to your picky eater, and watch her slurp all those nutrients without a whimper. 

Yummy yummy. 

I wish I had a shot of her drinking this, but it was pretty much gone by the time I got the camera turned toward her. 

Empanadas

I must be in a Mexican sort of mood these days, because it is all I want to eat. Yesterday, I had a bean and rice breakfast burrito, a burrito bowl from my favorite restaurant for lunch, and a tortilla casserole for dinner (don't worry, recipe coming soon, and it's good). I think I get it from my husband, he lived in Mexico for 2 years, and his love is seriously rubbing off on me. Of course, I think he regrets it when he has to deal with barking spiders in his bed at night. 

Empanadas are Latin American pastries that are either savory or sweet. They are usually stuffed with meat and cheese, and veggies, then deep fried. We ate a lot of them when we visited Mexico. This is probably why I gained about 5 lbs that week. But it was so worth it. So, this week, when I've been craving Mexican food like crazy, these were on the top of my list. But I had a couple requirements, 1) Not deep fried. It's one thing to gain 5 lbs on vacation, it's quite another to gain 5 lbs while at home. 2) No meat, and no cheese. And 3) fast and easy. I have 3 kids, I don't have time to make pastry dough by hand and all that business. And I'm kind of lazy. 

A quick word about cheese, and a confession. I used soy cheese in this. Don't. The only vegan cheese I've found (and I've tried a lot of them) that even comes close to dairy cheese is Daiya. The other stuff is not even worth your time, unless cheese isn't that important to you. Cheese is definitely that important to me. Which leads to my confession. Daiya is not readily available to me here in Ohio. And that makes me sad. But you know what makes me sadder? A life without cheese. So sometimes, I might post a recipe with cheese. Don't light your torches and grab your pitchforks, I just really like cheese. I guess I'm a vegan+cheese? Or a vegetarian-with-no-milk-and-eggs? I think I'll just stick with planty. 

Anyway, less words, more FOOD! 

Empanadas

Makes 4 pastries, but easy to double

• 1 Pillsbury pie crust (only Pillsbury, generics are made with lard, Pillsbury is made with shortening)
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 cups prepared rice
• 1 tbsp cumin 
• 1/4 c fresh cilantro
• Daiya or other cheese of your choice
• Lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, other taco-type toppings of your choice

Soy Cheese, blech.

• Preheat the oven to 350. 
• Cook the rice, rinse the beans and pour them into a bowl.
• Add the cumin and the cilantro to the rice, mix it all up. 
• Add the salsa to the beans, mix it all up.
• Put the lime in the coconut and mix... wait.... wrong day. Sorry. 
• Unroll the pie crust, and cut it in half.

Like so. 

• Put some rice, and some beans on the bottom of one half. Top with cheese. But not soy cheese.

Like so. 

• Fold the pie crust over, and crimp the edges. 
• Repeat with the rest of the pie crust. You will end up with 4 pastries.  

• Bake these for about 30 minutes, or until the crust in flaky and beginning to brown. 
• Top with the taco toppings, and eat with a fork.

Man, just writing this makes me want to go back to Mexico... And as treat for you, a picture of a very pregnant Planty Mom in Mexico, drinking some coconut juice with plenty of lime. :)

The Easiest Soup EVER

The is seriously, the easiest soup ever. This is the soup you make when you are sick. This is the soup you make when you know it's going to be a crazy day. This is the soup you make when you are feeling lazy. This soup is also amazingly good. Like, serve to your mother-in-law good. Not-so-planty Dad loves this soup. Serve it with some tortilla chips, a little tofu sour cream, and you'll be in love too. 

Tortilla Soup

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can diced chilies
• 1 can enchilada sauce (I use green, but you could use red)
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 c water
• 2 c veggie broth
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 bag frozen corn

• Chop the onion
• Open the cans and pour everything into the crock-pot
• Cook for 6 hours on high
• Yep, that's it. 
• I feel like there should be more bullet points. 
• But there isn't. 
• Darn. 

I like to eat mine while watching "House" and drinking a tall glass of almond milk. It makes me happy. 

Slurpy Chinese Noodles

Here in the planty house, we LOVE Chinese food. I mean, LOVE it. In fact, one of the hardest things for me to give up as a vegan was General Tso's chicken. It's like my crack. We have to drive by our favorite Chinese place on the way to my daughter's cheerleading practice twice a week, and it makes my mouth water every time. So I decided to try my hand and making a planty version of Chinese takeout. I still haven't gotten the General just right, but these noodles make me and my kids pretty happy. 

But beware General Tso, planty mom is gonna get 'cha... 

Slurpy Chinese Noodles

• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 inches of peeled and chopped ginger
• 2 bags frozen stir fry veggies (it's cheaper than fresh, and I'm lazy)
• 1 package Tempeh (or you could use Seitan, but once again, I'm lazy and didn't feel like making any)
• 1 package rice noodles (or you could use Udon, but I prefer rice because it doesn't get as gummy)
• 1/2 c Hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 c rice vinegar (1 tbsp white vinegar would probably work too, you're just trying to cut the sweetness of the Hoisin sauce a bit)
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil (this is just to give it a little heat, if you don't have sesame oil, use some red pepper flakes for the same effect)
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups of water

That's everything!

• The first thing you want to do is cook the pasta. Cooking it in a separate pot works the best I've found. Is it authentic? No. But I've always had issues with my veggies scorching when I try to cook both in the same pot. 
• You'll want to cook this in a big pot. I use my 5 quart dutch oven. 
• Add the oil to the pot, let it get a little hot, then toss in the onions, tempeh, and ginger. Let the onions sweat and get soft. You're not trying to caramelize them, just let them get soft. 

Like so... 

• After the onions are soft, toss in the frozen stir-fry mix. Or make your own by chopping up and dumping in whatever veg you have on hand that sounds vaguely Asian. I usually throw my veggies in frozen, as they thaw, they release some liquid that helps deglaze the pan a little. If you are using fresh, you'll want to add about a cup and half of water at this point. If your using frozen, add about a cup of water. 
• While those are cooking mix your sauce in a separate bowl. Mix the Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil until well mixed. 
• Now toss that sauce in with the veggies. It will smell really, really good. 

And will look something like this... 

• Let that simmer and reduce for about 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken a bit and the flavors will intensify. Basically, it will get super yummy. 
• Now, toss in those noodles you cooked earlier, and serve!  

This is really, really good. Most people think the secret to Chinese noodles is soy sauce, but I've found that Hoisin sauce gets you much closer than soy sauce. And honestly, large quanities of soy sauce are nasty. Have you ever tasted that stuff on it's own? Bleh. So, in other words, go easy on the soy sauce, hard on the hoisin, and you'll pass on paying $12 for takeout from now on.

Yummmm.... 

Easy Peazy Crock Pot Curry

Here in Ohio, we've been hit with a mid-fall warm spell. It's been in the high 70's and low 80's for the past week. So, as you can imagine, the Planty family has been trying to soak up as much outside time as possible before hardcore fall sets in, and hats and jackets take the place of flip-flops. Hence, a longer than desired interval between recipes. Sorry. But not really, because playing outside has been super awesome. 

But one of my favorite things to do during the fall is make something in the Crock Pot. I love my Crock Pot. Dump a bunch of things in it in the morning, and if you've made the right choices, something delicious comes out in the evening. Honestly, it makes me feel like I'm living with the Jetsons. This is another Planty fave, and I usually serve it over quinoa (Keen-wah). Here's the great thing about quinoa, it's a complete protein! Yay! Do the complete protein dance! Here's the skinny on protein, and why a complete protein is such a big deal. Proteins are long chains of 9 amino acids. Meat is a complete protein, meaning that you get all 9 amino acids, in the correct quantities, just by eating one thing. Most plants are incomplete proteins, meaning you need to eat several different kinds in a day to create complete proteins in your body. BUT, there are several plants that are complete proteins, and one of them is quinoa! So quinoa is definitely a vegan must eat food. And it's wicked tasty. A nice, almost nutty flavor, with a soft, yet crunchy texture. So. Good. 

Easy Peazy Crock Pot Curry

• 1 chopped onion
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 4 tbsp curry
• 1 tsp coriander (if you don't have this, just chop up some cilantro and add it)
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 can chick peas
• 2 cups veggie stock
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I like petite diced, because no one in my family likes big chucks of tomato)
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 bag mixed veggies
• 1/2 bad of frozen southern style hashbrowns (the cubed kind) OR 3 chopped potatoes

I used shredded potatoes because I need to get rid of them. They pretty much disappeared, that's why you shouldn't use them. Also, I decided at the last minute to change out the chili powder for cinnamon. So just pretend that's cinnamon.

• Dump everything in the crock-pot, EXCEPT coconut milk.
• Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8. 

• About 30 minutes before serving, dump in the coconut milk. Stir it up, and let it warm up. 
• Cook the quinoa. I use my rice cooker. It works great. I do 3/4 cup quinoa to every 1 cup water. I'm not sure how to cook quinoa any other way, but just follow the directions on the bag. 
• Add a little salt to the curry, then serve over quinoa! 

Fast, simple, AND cooked by a robot? Yeah, this is my kinda food! 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I am getting over a cold. Which means I need pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Other reasons to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls include...

• Getting up early.
• Getting up late. 
• Going to the gym.
• Not going to the gym.
• Saturday
• Sunday
• A good day
• A bad day

I could go on. But these are some fantastic cinnamon rolls. And really versatile. I've made cherry and strawberry cinnamon rolls just by changing out the filling. These are more of a biscuit type roll than a yeasty roll, which I like. I like the richness of the biscuit with the sweetness of the pumpkin.  A pan of these never lasts more than about a day in my house. Even Not-So-Planty Dad loves them, and his reaction to most vegan food is tepid to say the least.  

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls 

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp vegan margarine (I like Best Life, it's cheaper than Earth Balance, and still totally parve*)
• 3/4 c non-dairy milk (I use So Delicious Coconut Drink, it's pretty flavorless, and the closest I've come to dairy milk for cooking)
• 2 tbsp softened margarine
• 1/4 c white sugar
• a whole lotta cinnamon
• 1 cup pumpkin pie MIX (don't use plain canned pumpkin, it's not sweet enough to get the flavor your looking for, I've tried mixing the spices on my own, but I never get it quite right)

Icing

• 1 tsp margarine, melted
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk 

I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted, because I had 3 little children jumping around me doing the "Yay for Cinnamon Rolls!" dance. But I managed to get a few. 

• Preheat oven to 450.
• Mix Flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. 
• Cut in 6 tbsp of margarine. Basically, put in your margarine, then, either with a pastry cutter, or a fork, go to town on that stuff. What you are trying to do is create itty-bitty-teeny-tiny balls of margarine coated in flour. It'll be a little bit courser than flour, but not much. When you bake it, all those whittle-bitty ball of margarine are going to melt, and make the pastry nice and flaky. 
• Mix in milk until dough is soft. You're going for a soft solid, not a drip through your fingers soft, or a crumbly hard. Just nice and soft. This is where pictures would be nice... :/
• Take the dough and make a rectangle. 

Yay! A picture! Of a doughy rectangle... 

• Spread the softened margarine all over this bad boy. Then the sugar. Then as much cinnamon as you can handle. Then, take the pie mix, smell it, breathe in the scent of fall and all things beautiful on the world, and dump all over that doughy rectangle. 

Isn't it beautiful?

• Now, roll it up. The slice that roll into 12 1 inch slices. 
• Bake it for 20 minutes. In that time, send your kids to bed. Because believe, me, you don't want to share. 
• Also during that time, mix up the icing. Just dump everything in a bowl, and mix it up. It'll be kind of thin, but that's the way I like it. If you want it to be thicker, just don't use as much milk. 
• When the rolls are done, take them out of the oven, and you really SHOULD let them cool before dumping the entire bowlful of icing on top, but I've never been one known for my patience. So I usually pour it on straight out of the oven. 
• Then, I devour them while they are still warm. And all is right in the world. 
• Mmmmmmmmm. (Yes, it is part of the recipe, so you have to say it. That's the rule)

And no, I still haven't shared with my children yet.

*Parve is basically Yiddish for neutral. Meaning it doesn't have any dairy in it. So when on the hunt for vegan margarine, if you see Parve anywhere on it, you're good. 

Mommy Marsala

Welcome to Planty Mom! I'm a mom who likes plants. For dinner. I've finally gotten tired of people saying, "You're a vegan, eh? So, what DO you eat?" and started a blog to post my favorite recipes. For the record, I've got 3 kids, all veggie eaters, and an omnivore husband. Who eats plants for dinner because I'm the cook in this family. But enough about me! You came here for the food! That's why I would be here anyway. 

I call this Mommy Marsala. This is definitely one of my many, go-to, oh snap, these kids want to eat, recipes. It's really tasty, and full of delicious, delicious plants. Side note: I'm usually super good about sticking to my list at the grocery store, except when it comes to produce. Sometimes things just end up in my cart because they are pretty. Good thing most plants are cheap. The most expensive thing is probably the Marsala wine. Word to the wise, don't buy Marsala cooking wine, go for the real stuff. It's only about a $1 more than the cooking wine, and the flavor is ah-mazing. 

Alright... here we go. 

Mommy Marsala

• 1 box of your favorite pasta (Spaghetti is best, but really anything will work, we used Penne)
• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 package pre-sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup Marsala Wine
• 1 1/2 cups Veggie Stock (don't get brock, get stock, there is a difference. I usually get the 32 oz box at Kroger for about $3)
• 1 diced onion
• 1 tbsp Oragano
• 1 tbsp Basil 
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (I usually use the jarred kind. Prep is way easy, and the flavor is pretty close to fresh)
• 4 chopped tomatoes
• a bunch of spinach 
• Salt to taste

Here's a picture of everything, except the mushrooms. They were already in the skillet. Please excuse my teeny tiny kitchen.  OH, and this recipe is fantastic for using up produce that is about to go bad. Hence my kind of slimy looking spinach. It was just so pretty, sitting there in the produce section... 

• Start cooking the pasta. If you need help with this step... maybe this is not the right blog for you. Try this, then come see me. 
• Heat up the olive oil in a skillet, then toss in the mushrooms and onions. Let them get nice and brown, the mushrooms will release their liquid, and it will be beautiful.

• Toss in the garlic and other spices. This will smell very, very good. 
• In a measuring cup, mix the wine, and the stock. Then dump that into the skillet with everything else. Let all that simmer for about 3 minutes.

• Chop up the tomatoes and spinach. Then toss them in. You can add the spinach in bunches, it may not all fit at once. But that's OK, because it will wilt quickly, and leave plenty of room. 

• Let it reduce for about 8 minutes. 

• Salt to taste. Don't be afraid of the salt. In the correct dose, it helps develop the flavor and can really bring out the hidden tastes (Wow! Who has 2 thumbs and sounds like a food snob??)
• Mix the sauce with the pasta you already cooked, and serve it up! 

Doesn't that look tasty? 

"Thanks Mom! This dinner is super great!" 

(which is what she would have said, if she wasn't so busy cheesin' it up for the camera)