Recipe 13: Vegan Sloppy Joes

A semi-healthy comfort meal that vegans and non-vegans are guaranteed to enjoy!

Vegan Sloppy Joes

(Serves 4-5 people)

• 1 package of soy ground beef of choice
• 1 chopped yellow onion
• 1 chopped green bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cup tomato sauce of choice (I used a mushroom marinara)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• garlic salt to taste
• pepper to taste 
• hamburger seasoning to taste (I used Grill Shakers Hamburger)  
• hamburger buns of choice

Method: Sautee chopped onion with small amount of olive oil in a pan until golden brown. Add in green bell pepper and ketchup. Cook for approximately 5 minutes or until green bell pepper is soft. Stir in soy ground beef and cook for 3 minutes. Add in remaining ingredients and serve on buns of choice. I used onion hamburger buns. Yummy!

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Recipe 12: Garden Fresh Quinoa Salad

This past weekend I visited my Grandpa in San Diego for a Bastille Day Party. I had a great time, and got to harvest some vegetables from my Grandpa's garden! He's an avid gardener and grows a variety of things. I hope one day I can have a nice garden to grow fresh food. He sent me home with red onion, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, and tomatoes. He also gave me a bottle of rosé wine. I usually prefer red wine, but this wine is perfect for summer time! It's called Quinson Fils Cotes de Provence Rosé. I enjoyed a couple of glasses at the party, and you can pick it up at Trader Joe's for only $4.99!

With the vegetables just one day old (awesome!) I decided to make a cold quinoa salad. I used most of the ingredients for this recipe from my Grandpa's garden. I wish I could cook with produce like that everyday!

Garden Fresh Quinoa Salad

-2 cups organic quinoa
-4 cups water
-3 diced zucchinis
-1 diced yellow squash
-1 diced eggplant
-3 diced tomatoes
-1 diced red onion
-3-4 segments/cloves of minced garlic
-1 3/4 teaspoons cumin
-1 teaspoon red pepper
-Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
-olive oil
-red wine vinegar
-dijon mustard

Method: Sautée garlic in pan with olive oil until golden brown. Stir in the zucchini, squash, and eggplant. Cook for approximately 8-10 minutes or to desired. In rice cooker, cook 2 cups of quinoa and 4 cups water. Mix cooked vegetables and quinoa together in a bowel. Top with tomatoes and red onion. Chill salad for about an hour. Mix dressing in when ready to serve.

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Recipe 11: Blueberry Flaxseed Smoothie

Flaxseed is a great source of non-animal Omega-3 fatty acids.

10 Benefits of Flaxseeds and Flaxseed Oil  

1. Flaxseeds are a a great source of fiber and work as a natural laxative. They are a great way to keep things regular.
2. Flaxseed oil contains concentrated amounts of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fat. Vegetarians and vegans often use this as a substitute for fish oil, although there are differing opinions over whether the Omega-3 in flaxseed oil is as beneficial as that in fish oil.
3. Ground flaxseed has been shown to work just as well as statins in lowering cholesterol.
4. Flaxseeds are a good source of magnesium.
5. Flaxseeds contain high levels of lignans. Lignans may protect against estrogen-dependents cancers such as breast cancer.
6. An ounce of ground flaxseed per day was shown to regulate estrogen levels in post-menopausal women.
7. Flaxseeds have been shown to protect post-menopausal women from heart disease.
8. Flaxseed decreases insulin resistance and may protect against diabetes.
9. Preliminary research in mice shows that flaxseeds may prevent or slow the spread of prostate cancer.
10. Studies in mice show that flaxseed may prevent or slow the spread of melanoma.

Blueberry Flaxseed Smoothie

• 2 tablespoons of Trader Joe's flaxseed with blueberries (or flaxseed of choice)
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup strawberries
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 1 cup vanilla almond milk (or nondairy milk of choice)
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter (or almond butter)
• 1 1/2 cups ice

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Enjoy anytime of the day!

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Recipe 10: Texas Caviar

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July! I went to a friends house for a party and brought along some Texas Caviar!

Sara's Texas Caviar

• 1 can black-eyed peas
• 1 can corn
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 4-6 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 3 avocados
• 1 large English cucumber, chopped
• 2 tsp. garlic salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. (or to spice preference) Tabasco sauce or Trader Joe's Jalepeno Pepper Hot Sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Drain and rinse black-eyed peas and corn. Combine in a large bowl chopped peppers, onions, cucumbers, avocados, and tomatoes.

Mix red wine vinegar, hot sauce, sugar, garlic salt and pepper. Pour over salad and stir gently to coat. Refrigerate for several hours to overnight before serving.

Serve as a dip with tortilla chips or as a side dish.

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