Savory Chickpea Pancake

I found this beautiful looking recipe from the OhSheGlows blog.  It looked so interesting, and I am always trying to find different kinds of recipes to make for breakfast to keep things interesting.  When I tried this the first time, I was surprised by how different it was, but in a good way.  Tasty.  It definitely needed some more spices, and when I made it a second time, it came out great!  This was from the second time I made it - one for Hubbs and one for myself.  Sometimes he is really good about allowing me to take pictures the food I make and sometimes he is pretty impatient and just wants to dig right in.  This was one of those days.  And most of the time I give him the prettier of the dishes.  So his of course was beautiful and I was left to take a picture of the funky looking one. ;(  It was equally delicious though!  Take a look at the one Angela makes on her blog and see what is should really look like!

The cooked chickpea pancake.  Sad looking, but so delicious!

One side cooked, waiting to flip!

Savory Chickpea Pancake

Serves: 1

1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 cup filtered water
1/2 teaspoon unchicken boullion
1 green onion, sliced
1/4 cup red pepper, small diced
1/4 cup roma tomato, small diced


1.  Place the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. 
2.  Add the filtered water and the unchicken boullion and whisk together for several seconds.
3.  Add the veggies and unchicken/water mixture to the dry ingredients.  Whisk together until a medium-thick batter forms.
4.  Place a medium sized saute pan over medium-low heat and allow the pan to heat.  Spray pan with nonstick spray and pour the batter into the pan.  Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the top dries out and is able to be flipped over.
5. Flip pancake over and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.

Garnish with hummus, avocado and sriracha.


Enjoy!

Koko

Vegetable Shepherd's Pie with Spicy Vegan Chorizo and Mesclen Greens Salad

For the last two weeks I have been trying to follow the idea of writing down all of the dinners I am going to prepare for the week on a white board I have on my refrigerator.  So far I have followed 4 out of the 5 items for the two weeks I have done it.  The other three days of the week I either didn't make a big "meal" for the Hubbs and I or I ate leftovers, and one of the days we ate out (Valentine's!).  I think it is definitely a good idea and something I can manage to stick to if I don't get too crazy and rigid about it.  This was not one of the meal ideas for the week, but after looking through my fridge, I realized I had tons of miscellaneous items that needed using up (half used onions and bell peppers - thanks to the Hubby for doing that) as well as some spicy vegan chorizo I made for breakfast, but didn't finish up.  So was thinking of making a pot pie, but was feeling too lazy to make a crust.  I have been testing tons of recipes the last couple days, and the last thing I feel like doing is following another recipe to make the crust.  I decided on a Shepherd's Pie - easy and very tasty to make.  I was able to clean up the fridge and make room for preparing the rest of the dishes on the white board.

 

 

 

Delicious Shepherd's Pie with Spicy Vegan Chorizo

Shepherd's Pie:

Potato Topping:
4-6 medium red skinned potatoes, washed well and diced
3 tablespoons earth balance
unsweetened soy or almond milk
sea salt and black pepper to taste
granulated garlic or a couple cloves of roasted garlic

Filling:
1 cup veggie protein - I used spicy vegan chorizo, but could use seasoned tofu, seitan, etc.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, small diced
1/2 bell pepper - or whatever vegetables you need to use in the fridge
2 cloves garlic, minced
Nutritional Yeast Gravy
handful organic frozen corn or peas
sea salt and black pepper to taste

1.  Cover the potatoes with cold water and bring to a boil.  Cook till just tender.  Drain.  Put back in pot - add earth balance, desired amount of nondairy milk, sea salt, black pepper and granulated garlic or roasted garlic.  Mash till desired consistency.  Season to taste.
2.  Prepare the filling: have the gravy ready and set aside.
3.  In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and allow to become hot.  Add the veggies: the carrot, onion, celery and bell pepper.  Cook for several minutes until the veggies begin to brown.  Add the garlic and cook for a couple minutes. 
4.  Place the veggies in a large bowl.  Add the veggie protein and enough gravy to cover the mixture.  Stir in frozen peas or corn if desired.  Season with sea salt and black pepper.
5.  Oil a glass pie plate or baking dish.  Place the veggie-gravy mix into dish and smooth out with a spatula.  Top with the mashed potatoes and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden and the filling is bubbly.


Enjoy!

Koko

 

Vegan Broccoli Cheese Quiche

Quiche is something I used to love eating when I was simply vegetarian.  And it was always something that took a little bit more time, but was so worth it and such a great thing to make with guests.  I have made quiche several times since becoming vegan, but they have never really turned out so great before.  I think a lot of it had to do with the crust always being too health-foody.  I found a recipe for a quiche on the Oh She Glow's blog (I am a huge fan!) and decided to try it.  It was certainly the best vegan quiche I have made before, but it needed a little something extra.  So the next time around I made it, changing and adding a couple things, and it came out amazingly!  So delicious!  And who doesn't love broccoli and cheese? Yum!

 



 

 

Isn't this the most gorgeous thing ever?

Omg, I wish I could eat this again, after looking at the picture!

Base recipe from Oh She Glows website with the following changes:

-used homemade "buttery" crust
-blanched the tofu before blending - and blending it while warm
-used yellow onion
-didn't use: mushrooms, chives, basil, sundried tomatotes, spinach
-added an extra 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
-used 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-added 2 tablespoons cashew butter to make creamy
-added 1/2 teaspoon vegan boullion powder
-used 1/2 bunch of broccoli, blanched and cut into small pieces, folded into the mixture after it thoroughly blended
-added 1 cup of shredded mozzarella-stlye daiya
-baked for 45 minutes - anything less resulted in a too-soft texture

That's it - and it came out crazy good!


Enjoy!

Koko