I was in the mood for a smoothie this morning and I had a peach that had seen better days, so this is what I came up with:

Fruity Smoothie

1 cup apple juice (or more if the blender needs more liquid)

1 peach (skin and all)

1/2 cup mango chunks

1 cup frozen banana chunks

1 cup kale, stems removed

Put everything into the blender and let ‘er rip. This was SO delicious!

I was in the mood for a big breakfast yesterday, so I decided to make some blueberry pancakes and tofu scramble.

For the pancakes, I followed the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. The recipe gives you the option of using all all-purpose flour or by using half whole wheat and half all-purpose. I opted for the latter and used half all-purpose and half white whole wheat flour. While the cakes were cooking up on the griddle, I sprinkled in a few frozen blueberries into the uncooked side (I used vegan chocolate chips for Emma’s, though, just for a special treat). These are the absolute best pancakes I have ever had! I can’t wait to make them again.

Here’s how I make my tofu scrambles:

Tofu Scramble

1 package extra firm tofu

1 1/2 to 2 cups soy sausage

1/2 tsp. chili flakes

1 medium onion, diced

3/4 cup roasted red peppers, diced

pinch of turmeric

S&P

Start by sauteeing the onion in a little bit of olive oil until the onion begins to get tender. Add the roasted red peppers and red chili flakes and cook a few more minutes. Add in the sausage and fry it up a bit until it is crispy (if it is in patty form, you will need to chop it up. I used soy-rizo, which comes in a long tube, so there was no need for me to chop). Scoot the veggies and sausage over to the side of your skillet and add in the tofu (chopped into small squares). Fry the tofu a bit to give it a firmer texture, then combine it with the sausage and veggies. Sprinkle some turmeric over the top and stir it in. Add S&P.

Other fun add-ins: fresh or frozen spinach, mushrooms… just about anything that would taste good in an omelet. A note about the tofu- typically, I would mash it up so that it resembles scrambled eggs when the dish is all cooked. Since the sausage I used was kind of a mushy mess, I opted to chop the tofu instead.

I got up early this morning and whipped up a batch of waffles for Matt and I to enjoy for breakfast.  Emma does not eat breakfast, so she missed out; although, I did offer them to her several times.  That kid just isn’t hungry until lunch time for some reason.

Anyway, I used the same waffle recipe that I’ve written about before, except that I made a few minor changes.  The last time I made these waffles, I thought that they turned out too fluffy, not dense like a waffle should be.

Vegan Multigrain Waffles, v. 2

2 cups soymilk + 1 TB apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup oats

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

2 TB ground flaxseeds

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 TB canola oil

Add the vinegar to the soy milk and set aside.  Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in all of the wet ingredients.  Stir until just combined (be careful not to overmix).  Cook them up in your waffle iron and enjoy!

This recipe made 4 waffles in my iron.  One was so filling that I could barely finish it, but I definitely thought they turned out better this time with the minor changes that I made to the recipe.

For breakfast this morning, I went out on a limb and tried the “Drink Your Greens Smoothie” from ED&BV. It’s basically a smoothie made from frozen bananas, mangoes, fresh OJ, avocado and kale. Yes, avocado and kale in a smoothie.

It looks disgusting, but the only thing I could really taste in it was the bananas. I’ll definitely be making this again because Emma even had a cup of it. If she liked it, so will you.

I had mine with some decaf tea and half of a whole grain bagel with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese. Tofutti is awesome and tastes exactly like cream cheese, but is better for you and is cruelty free! You may be surprised to learn that dairy cows (even ones raised for organic milk) live shitty existences and eventually become steaks and hamburgers. Ditto for egg laying hens. I had never considered this before when I consumed these products.

I digress… back to the Tofutti. Be sure to buy the kind that is made with non-hydrogenated oil (it comes in a yellow tub). I’ve also added it to mashed potatoes and they turned out so creamy and delicious!

Thanks to Brianne, Paul and Tater, we received our waffle iron on Friday afternoon.  I was so excited to use it that I decided to make some homemade waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning.  The only problem was that I had a really hard time finding a recipe for vegan multigrain waffles, which is what I had hoped to make.  Here’s what I came up with, which ended up being a combination of a couple of different recipes:

Vegan Multigrain Waffles

2 cups non-dairy milk

2 TB white vinegar

1/2 cup oats

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 TB ground flaxseeds

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 TB canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup organic unsweetened applesauce

Add the vinegar to the non-dairy milk and set aside.  Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in all of the wet ingredients.  Stir until just combined (be careful not to overmix).  Cook them up in your waffle iron and enjoy!  Although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure this recipe would make some tasty pancakes too.

To go with our waffles, we had a bowl of fruit and fresh squeezed OJ.  So delicious!  I have found the most wonderful permanent farmer’s market near our house (thanks, Amy!)  and have done all of my produce shopping there the last few weeks.  They have an amazing selection of locally farmed organic fruits and veggies, and their prices are very reasonable.   Anyway, all of the fruit for breakfast came from there– organic strawberries, mangoes, bananas and oranges.

As you can see, my waffles turned out a little bit dark.  I could definitely use a little more practice with my iron, but they were still really, really good and I’ve been enjoying the leftovers all week.

I love reading Carrie’s blog and, when she posted about Dreena’s Easy Pleasin’ Oat Bars, I decided to give them a try. The first time I made them, I had thought that Emma would enjoy them, but I ended up eating most (all) of them. The bars were too crumbly for her to eat and they sort of just fell apart. So I made up a new batch this weekend and decided to bake them in mini-muffin tins instead just to see if that would appeal more to her. This recipe is really very basic- you can leave it as is, or you can add just about anything to it. I decided to make a cinnamon raisin version, so I added an additional 1/4 tsp of cinnamon (1/2 tsp total) and a bunch of raisins (I didn’t measure… just poured some in until it looked like enough). I greased up the muffin tin with a little cooking spray and Emma helped me fill them with the batter. Baking time was about 20 minutes, but you can tell they are done because the top gets golden brown and the sides of the muffin starts to pull away from the tin.

These were really, really good and, once again, Matt and I ended up eating all of them. Emma had a few bites of one (I thought she’d be really excited to taste it since she helped make them), but she just doesn’t seem to dig these. She eats like a bird anyway, so don’t trust her opinion of them.

After a trip to the grocery store, where a teeny tiny bag of granola costs more than $3 and is full of sugar and fat, I decided that it was time to bust out the cookbooks and figure out how to make it myself. My mom makes a really yummy granola, but it is loaded with butter and sugar, so I unfortunately couldn’t turn to that recipe. One of my favorite cookbooks, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, came to my rescue. Even though the book is not specifically vegan, it is my new favorite because it has TONS of recipes in it and many of the recipes can be made vegan very easily. If you are considering becoming a vegetarian, this will be your bible.

Back to the granola… I flipped to the table of contents and found the basic granola recipe. To my surprise, it didn’t have any butter in it and there was a handy chart with all sorts of things that could be added to the granola to change it up. I went for the very plain style granola and decided to add in a few things not listed in the chart to boost the nutritional value. Here is the recipe that I created, based on the one in the book:

Healthy Granola

6 cups of oats

2 cups of nuts, chopped (I used 1 cup of pecans, and 1/2 cup each of almonds and pistachios)

1 cup pumpkin seeds

2 cups (or more) of dried fruit (I used cranberries, apples, apricots and white peaches)

1/2 cup maple syrup (the real deal, not Log Cabin)

1/2 cup any nut butter (I’ve used cashew and almond. Both turn out tasting pretty much the same)

1 TB ground flaxseeds

1 TB wheat germ

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Put all of the dry ingredients into a large roasting pan. Combine the nut butter with the maple syrup and heat it up in the microwave (or on the stove, if you prefer) to stir them together. Add the flaxseeds and wheat germ to the syrup/nut butter mixture, mix it up really well, and pour over the oats, nuts and fruit. Toss it together to coat all of the dry ingredients. Pop it into the oven to bake. You will need to stir it often to keep it from burning. It will be done when the oats are crispy (you’ll know what I mean when you make it). This granola is really good! I have been eating it for breakfast every morning with some vanilla soy milk and it keeps me full until lunch. It’s just sweet enough without being overwhelming. Next time, I may add more flaxseeds and wheat germ because you really can’t taste them at all. I was worried at first that it would be too much and they would be overpowering, but I think it will be safe to add more and still have them be imperceptible. This makes a big batch of granola and it will keep in the fridge probably indefinitely.