Vegetarian pasta bolognese

So pasta bolognese....what is it not to like? I have never made this one before and for sure it will not be the last. We loved this version a lot.

The only difference here is that this one is actually vegetarian, so in my book?......another pasta dish winner........ Why? because it is tasty, easy, fast to put together, and healthy all at the same time :-)

For this variation I used soy chorizo from Trader Joe's. I am just in love with this product. So far I have used it in amazing nachos, and a couple of other recipes that are to come to the  blog very soon. One is vegetarian lasagna and the other one is vegetarian chili.

I haven't had pasta bolognese in for ever, perhaps the last time I had it was when I was little and my mom actually made it for us. After whipping this variation together I am just going to have it at least once a week, or until I get tired of it i guess!!

Anyhow, not much else to elaborate here so until my next post have a great weekend.

Enjoy!!

This is the soy chorizo I have been using in many recipes. So far on this one, this nachos, a vegetarian lasagna version coming soon and also another version of vegetarian chili.

Ingredients

Yields 4-5 servings

1 lb whole wheat spaghetti
4 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 carrots, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
12 oz soy chorizo, I got mine at Trader Joes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
6 oz tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
14 oz marinara sauce
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup heavy cream
Parmesan, optional
Red pepper flakes, optional

Cook pasta to aldente stage and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes if using and cook further for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Add the white wine and cook until it is reduced, about 4-5 minutes. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes and soy sauce and stir to combine. 

Pour in the heavy cream and stir. Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes or so. If you find the sauce is too thick for you you can add a little bit of water. Add the soy chorizo and combine.

Incorporate the cooked pasta to the sauce and serve with Parmesan cheese if you like.

Nutrition facts are calculated based on the recipe giving 4 servings. It is high in manganese, selenium and vitamin A. To reduce the sodium content you can omit the teaspoon of salt.

Double chocolate banana breakfast muffins

I have not made muffins or cupcakes in a very long time and even though I have plenty of muffin variations on my baking to do list I just don't have enough time to get to them all quickly enough. I really need more hours in the day...but, who doesn't?

These double chocolate breakfast muffins are super good. If you are having breakfast on the go, which many people do, these are a fast and very convenient way to get some healthy fats and fiber in your day.

You can even freeze these and microwave for 20-30 seconds and they would be as good as freshly baked. The recipe came from my old banana, apple and oatmeal muffins I made a while back. I just made some adjustments and got the chocolate version :-)

On another note, has anyone heard of the HCG diet? I think it is the most ridiculous diet I have ever heard. It is not only extremely dangerous but please...are you serious on this? IT DOES NOT WORK. All I can say is good luck to those on it. I would like to see them 3 to 6 months post diet and see their results...or the lack of them for that matter!!

I mean, 500 calories a day (no carbs what so ever) an injection of the HCG hormone (which by the way, it is found on pregnant women's urine) Really?
You will lose weight fast and a bunch of it. With 500 calories a day you bet your ass you are going to loose weight......

I wish the FDA would be a little more diligent and have the consumers back when it comes to allowing such crazy things to flow freely in the market...but then again, everything is about money so what would they care right?

Anyhow, enough of this because the subject makes me super furious.

I am leaving you with these chocolate breakfast muffins that are fabulous on the go, especially for breakfast :-) 

Enjoy!!

The batter looks really dark because of the dark chocolate cocoa that I used. Dark chocolate cocoa has much better antioxidant properties so try to go with this option if you can.

You can freeze these chocolate muffins no problem. I use zipper plastic bags. Just before eating microwave for 20-30 seconds and you will be good to go.

Ingredients

Makes 14 medium to large muffins. I got 17 but mine weren't that big

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy milk
3/4 cup unrefined sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup dark cocoa Powder
1  3/4 cup oats
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon chocolate extract, you can use vanilla extract as well

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Lined muffin pan with muffin paper cups.

In a bowl combine bananas, milk, oil, sugar, chocolate extract, and egg. Add dry ingredients, flour, dark cocoa powder, oats, and baking powder and whisk until well incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

Place two scoops (about two tablespoons) of the mixture evenly into each muffin cup (you want 3/4 of the muffin cup to be filled with the batter).

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Make sure you remove the muffins from the pan immediately after they are done. Let them cool on a wire rack. 

You can freeze them on zipper plastic bags and microwave for about 20-30 seconds when you are ready to eat them again :-)

Nutrition facts are calculated based on 14 servings. Each serving equals to 1 muffin. This is high in fiber, manganese and phosphorous.

pumpkin spice smoothie

I kind of despise pumpkin. I am by no means a picky eater and there are very food things in the world that I actually don't eat or don't like much, puree pumpkin been one of them!

Because I have a couple of pumpkin cans left from thanksgiving and I really want to free the space in my pantry I decided to use them in smoothies. Even though they were OK next time I will use more banana to kind of get rid off the pumpkin flavor even more :-)

On another note, have you notice the nutrition facts on some of my recipes? I am hard at work trying to add them to all of my recipes....it will take me a while but be patient, it will get done!

As I have said in the past, I am not to fond on getting fixated with calories, as I find much more important to focus on the quality of ingredients and moderation. Also, even though many of my recipes are much healthier than other versions out there some of them are getting bad grades.....Oh well...this is not going to stop me from eating them, I can tell you that much :-)

Like I said before, just use your common sense, don't eat the entire batch of what ever you are making at once :-)

Anyhow, until my next recipe,

Enjoy!!

Pour all ingredients in the blender and pulse for 20-30 seconds. YOU ARE DONE!!

This smoothie is very rich in Vitamin A among other wonderful properties :-)

  
These are other smoothies you may like. 
Blackberry, banana and mint smoothie
Papaya and coconut smoothie 
Spinach and strawberry smoothie
Chocolate, peanut butter and banana smoothie.

Ingredients

Makes 4-5 servings

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cardamon
1 14 oz can pumpkin puree
4 tablespoons honey
2 frozen bananas
1/4 cup flax seed meal, optional
3-4 cups unsweetened soy milk

Place all the ingredients in a blender and pulse for 30 seconds or so. Enjoy.

Nutrition facts are calculated based on 4 servings. This is high in manganese, magnesium, vitamin A and fiber. 

If you want to decrease the sugar by adding 2 tablespoons of honey sugar will drop to 30g. By omitting the honey you drop the sugar to 22g.

To the max irish cream chocolate cream cheese brownies

Dark chocolate brownies to the max......yeap that is how I called these amazing brownies not only because they were super fudgy, but also because they tasted awesome.

Chocolate brownies with home made Irish cream? What could go wrong with this combination?.....NOTHING!!

I used Irish cream in the brownies, in the cream cheese topping and in the heavy cream. It can't get better than that!!

I know my cream cheese brownie swirl didn't turn out as good as I would have hoped for, but never the less it was OK. Next time around I just hope it turns out a bit thicker so less Irish cream in the topping may work better :-(

I will leave you with this sensational brownie combination hopping you try it soon and if you do I hope that you like it as much as we do :-)

Enjoy!!

These Irish cream chocolate cream cheese brownies are sensational. They are really fudgy, moist and super tasty....chocolate and Irish cream? What could go wrong with that!!

Here you can see the brownie mix. Pretty thick and super chocolaty :-)

The cream cheese brownie swirl did not look as good as I would have hoped. I think I put too much Irish cream. I did adjusted the quantity in the recipe though so you won't have the same problem.

To decorate the brownies I used 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 2 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar and 2 tablespoons of Irish cream.

Ingredients I used my recipe for best ever healthier brownies

1/2 cup olive oil, minus 2 tablespoons
2 eggs
1/2 cup Irish cream liquor, I used my home made Irish cream version
1/2 cup unrefined sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, I sometimes use chocolate extract or amaretto liquor
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, minus two tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12 oz dark chocolate chips, 1 bag

Cream cheese topping

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoons powdered sugar, more if you like
1 egg

2 tablespoons Irish cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a square baking pan and set aside.

In a bowl whisk first 5 ingredients. Add flour and baking powder and incorporate well.

In a bowl place chocolate chips and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir well. Continue microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Incorporate melted chocolate into the batter and mix through. Pour batter into prepared pan.

In another bowl mix cream cheese topping ingredients until smooth and pour over the brownie batter making a swirl effect. You made want to use a toothpick or other item of same sort for the effect.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Let the brownies cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes. Remove brownies and cut and serve as desired. I used heavy cream infused with Irish cream to decorate the brownies:-)

Nutrition facts are based on 12 servings. Note this got a grade of F because it contains alcohol and it is considered high in sugar and saturated fat. The minus 2 tablespoons of the oil and flour were not considered in this calculations.

Pasta with Creamy tomato sauce and spinach

Do you have 15-20 minutes to prepare dinner? You do? Well this is the next thing you should really prepare....no joke it is that good!! The pictures I was able to get don't do this dish justice but I felt I had to post this recipe anyways.

I really don't know why I haven't posted this simple and delicious creamy tomato pasta recipe before. It is one of those recipes that take 15-20 minutes to make but it tastes like you spend at least an hour preparing it.

This creamy tomato pasta is not only comforting, creamy but super tasty. To me anything to do with cream is comforting to eat....just not too much of it though......a little goes a long way!!

I think this pasta dish could be one of my top five favorite pastas. It kind of resembles a bit this other creamy cajun pasta a made a while back, which by the way it is also super awesome. You just need a good quality cajun seasoning blend, and if it is home made even better :-)

Pasta is a big food staple at our house hold. I am sure we eat pasta at least twice a week. It is ok with me, not so much for my hubby.... but oh well. I just find it super versatile, easy to make, fast, nutritious and cheap :-) What else could I ask for right?

Anyhow I hope you try this pasta dish, because like I said, it is tasty, easy and fast to prepare. You will be done is just 20 minutes....I promise....

Enjoy!!

Ingredients

Makes 4-6 servings

1 lb whole wheat penne, You can use any other type of pasta
2 14 oz can chopped tomatoes, juice drained
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pepper flakes, optional
1 10 oz bag fresh spinach
1 cup shredded Romano and Parmesan cheese (You can add any other type of cheese. Sometimes I use a combination of Gorgonzola and Parmesan cheese )
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste

Cook pasta to aldente stage.

Meanwhile, In a heavy sauce pan, over medium to high heat, place oil and garlic and cook for 1 minute, just until fragrant. Add drained tomatoes, salt and pepper flakes if using. Cook tomatoes for about 8 minutes.

Add cheese and heavy cream and stir. Add more seasoning as need it. (If you find the sauce is too thick for your liking you may add more cream) Turn heat off and add fresh spinach. Toss in the drained cooked pasta and stir to combine.

 Nutrition facts based on 4 servings. This is high in vitamin A, C, thiamin, and fiber.

Sweet and Spicy barbeque chicken with snap peas

This chicken dish it is to die for. Not only this barbeque chicken recipe is super tasty, fast and easy to make but the sauce it is just out of this world.

I have never used barbeque sauce in any of my cooking unless I am grilling so I was a little bit skeptical about this dish. I am so glad I try it though because in the span of one week I have made this dish twice already.

I normally invite some of my girlfriends for lunch. This sweet and spicy chicken is what I end it up making for that day. It was a huge hit. All of them wanted the recipe but I told them they had to wait until I post it in the blog :-)

On another note, for the past few weeks I have noticed that I have posted less baking recipes. The reason being is that I have been making a few of my favorite baking treats from my blog that I have been craving for a while, just in case you were wondering......but don't worry, I will keep up with the baking posts.....you know I can't live without sugar :-)

Anyhow, until then....

Enjoy!!

Here are the sauce ingredients that you need to mixed in a bowl. I used Spicy barbeque sauce from Trader Joe's.

Ingredients

Makes 4-6 servings

1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon cornstarch, you may need an extra one if you like the sauce a bit thicker
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
9 oz snap peas
1 cup spicy barbeque sauce, I use Trader Joe's brand
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 lbs chicken breast, cubed
1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds
1 teaspoon pepper flakes, optional
4-6 Green Onions, chopped
Brown rice to serve

In a small bowl mix the soy sauce, honey, corn starch and barbeque sauce. Set aside.

In a large non stick skillet, over medium to high heat, heat the oil and add the chicken. Cook for about 6- 8 minutes until lightly browned stirring occasionally. Add the onions and pepper flakes, if using, and cook further for another 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the barbeque mixture and stir into the chicken and onions. Add the coconut milk and mix through. Stir and cook the mixture further for about 2 minutes. Add the snap peas and cook for another minute.

Turn heat off and add the green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over brown rice.

Adapted from here

Nutrition facts calculated based on the recipe giving 6 servings. If you want to decrease the amount of Saturated fat use 1/2 cup coconut milk, the saturated fat will go down to 6.5g. 

This recipe is very high in Niacin, selenium and vitamin B6.

Blackberry, banana and mint smoothie

Here it is, another amazing smoothie. This one is blueberries and banana pretty much with a little hint of mint coming from fresh mint leaves. A very refreshing smoothie indeed!!

One important note I want to add is that blackberries are important to get organic. If you go to my health and nutrition link I mention that certain foods are more important than others to get organic. Berries are one of them. If you are on a budget try to save some for organic berries, it does make a lot of difference, and I am not talking just about the taste.

As the weather is getting better I am finding myself making more smoothies.
Not long ago I mentioned a pumpkin spice smoothie, well, that one is also coming soon, I haven't forgotten, so stay tuned.

Enjoy!!

I first blend the mint with a little bit of the soy milk before adding the rest of the ingredients but you can just blend them all at once if you prefer.

Believe it or not but the mint gives the smoothie a really refreshing subtle flavor. You can omit it if you wish but I strongly recommend you use it.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

1 cup Greek yogurt
3 cups soy milk, more or less if you like
6 oz organic fresh blackberries
2 frozen bananas
2 tablespoons honey, more or less if you like
1/4 cup flax seed meal, optional
Fresh mint

Place mint leaves and 1 cup of soy milk in a blender and blend for 10 seconds. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve.

It is high in dietary fiber, manganese, magnesium and vitamin B6. Low in cholesterol, saturated fat and sodium. If you want to lower the sugar content just omit the honey :-) This calculations are based on the recipe giving 4 servings.

Home made Irish cream

Irish cream is one of my ultimate favorite alcoholic drinks. It is up there with Moscato wine and Kahlua....all of them sweet drinks of course :-) so when I came across a home made version of Irish cream I could not resist. I actually made it the first day I saw the recipe.

This recipe could not come at a better time since St Patrick's day is just around the corner. Now, I have researched this recipe and I have seen it all over the place so to be honest I could not know who to credited to.

To keep the calories a bit lighter, not that it matters really with the whiskey and all, I used some soy milk in place for some of the heavy cream. You can stick with the heavy cream all together and if you want a mint Irish cream version just add a few teaspoons of real peppermint extract to the mix.

If you have any questions about the glass containers, well I got them at home goods for $2.99 each, a steal as far as I am concern because these funky bottles are reminiscent of some other ones that are something like $34 just because they are from France.

To be honest I don't care where they come from, the cheaper the better :-)

Anyhow, I hope you try to make this Irish cream because, like I said, I am never buying it again it is that good. I am making it at home from now on.

Enjoy!!

These are some of the glass bottles I got at home goods to be able to store the nut butters, salad dressings and many other goodies I will be making soon. I got them for just $2.99 each :-)

Pretty much this is what you need. If you want to make a mint version just add some peppermint extract to the mix. I will do that next time :-)

I used Jameson whiskey but next time I will use another Irish brand whiskey I found at the store that was cheaper. No need to spend and extra $7 dollars on brand names :-)

Ingredients

Makes about 26-28oz

1 14oz can condense milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup soy milk
1 cup Irish Whiskey, more if you like
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
2 Tablespoons chocolate syrup

Place everything on a blender for 30 seconds or so. Store in a hermetic glass container in the fridge for up to 1 month.

Dark chocolate and orange avocado pudding

Holly molly.......this is just to die for..... you really have to try this dark chocolate pudding.

I actually dislike regular pudding. I have never tried a pudding that I have liked because normally people make it with eggs (which I don't like) or maybe because they just prepare it from a box, which by the way, I think it tastes just awful!

I was a little bit skeptical using avocados to make pudding but I knew I had to at least give it a go. I do like avocados, and since they are very nutritious I thought this could be a good idea. I just found avocados to be a bit strange when used for something sweet, that's all :-)

Anyhow, I am really glad I tried it. It is not going to be the last time I actually make this chocolate pudding. Not only it is super easy to put together, but it is healthy and super good for you. My kids really loved it (in spite of the triple sec.....the alcohol flavor was very subtle though)

I got inspired by two of my favorite blogs, food doodles and texanering baking. Go on over and take a look what they did. They also have very beautiful pictures and superb recipes so browse around for a while.

I used dark chocolate cocoa because dark chocolate has healthier properties, like antioxidants but you can use regular cocoa powder if you like. I think next time I make this  chocolate pudding I will make it raspberry flavor :-)

You really need to try this. If you do, let me know....I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Enjoy!!

I used the zest of organic oranges. You don't need the nasty pesticide residue in your pudding!!

Ingredients

Makes 2-3 servings

3 ripe avocados
1/4 cup honey, more or less if you like, you can also use unrefined sugar if you prefer)
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
zest of two organic oranges
Juice of two oranges, you can use more if you like
2-3 tablespoons triple sec or Cointreau, optional
2 teaspoons real orange extract, optional

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until well incorporated.

Refrigerated for 2 hours or so before serving.

Adapted and inspired from food doodles and texanering baking

Nutrition facts are based on the recipe yielding 3 servings. Sugars can be decreased if adding less honey, for example 3 tablespoons will decrease the sugar content to 29g rather than 35g.