Saturday, 21 Dec 2024

If you, like many people first fell in love with vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower smothered in a cheese sauce then this recipe is for you. It doesn’t contain any cheese but with this fragrant creamy sauce who needs cheese anyway?
p.s. This is a good recipe to keep handy for your Thanksgiving menu.

Purple pepper, purple pepper, purple pepper!  I like saying it as much as I like eating them.  This last week my local grocery store was bursting with peppers- red, green, orange, yellow and of course, purple.  I might have gone a little pepper crazy but I put them to good use!  I had some limes that I needed to use up so I threw together this delicious pepper inspired salad.  I put some on top of salad greens for lunch one day, later my husband and I enjoyed it as a dip with tortilla chips and the other night I used the last of the salad in quesadillas.

It must be that I know the end of summer is upon us because I have been having this weird craving for cucumbers.  I bought 3 of them at the market the other day and less than 2 days later they were gone.  I’ve been eating them with everything and sometimes I just chop them up and eat them raw.  My husband has been obsessed with Chef Matthew Purnell’s Raw Tacos and we’ve been eating them almost every night for dinner.  I wanted to get my cucumber fix in so I decided to whip up this light and refreshing cucumber salsa.  I used the last of the cherry tomatoes from my garden and got the other ingredients fresh from the market.  It made for a delicious end of summer meal.  Enjoy!

It might be the end of summer but it’s the peak of many fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmers market. Cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, onions, apples, peaches, pears and so much more. This salad is comprised of many of the seasons peak ingredients tossed with the most creamy, mouthwatering and to die for vinaigrette that you will ever taste.

I’m a crackers and dip kinda girl.  When I made my Rawesome Crackers last week for Vegan MoFo, I knew I would need a tasty dip to go with them.  Normally I would whip up a batch of Homemade Hummus but I was out of chickpeas so I had to get creative.  I literally threw this recipe together by mixing a few of my favorite things.  I love sweet potatoes and the Asian flair added such a great flavor.  While I used this as a dip for my crackers and veggies, it would be perfect as a healthy alternative to traditional mashed potatoes too.

I almost always have a large bowl of cooked brown rice on hand at home.  My husband is a big fan of rice and we usually have Crispy Fried Rice for dinner at least once a week.  I had a bit of leftover rice left at the end of the week and threw together this delicious cold salad.  For a bit of fun I decided to take half of the recipe and make it into cute bite sized rice balls.  This salad is also super yummy wrapped in a Nori wrap.  Any way you serve it it’s sure to be delicious.

Aren’t these beautiful?!  I had a version of these a few weeks ago that were made by my very good friend, Chef Matthew Purnell from Living On The Veg.  He made these during a raw foods class that he was teaching and they were amazing!  The original recipe featured a wrap made of coconut meat that was created by dehydrating it until it was a pliable wrap.

This is my favorite time of year and Thanksgiving my favorite holiday but after the feasting is over I like to cleanse my pallet with more refreshing flavors before thoughts of the next holiday meal take over. This cauliflower dish is light and bright and just the thing to offset some of the heavier holiday fare. It makes a great side dish or it can be made into a meal by adding chickpeas or serving over a grain like orzo, barley, farro or whatever you prefer.