Vegan

Curried Cauliflower with Spinach & ChickPeas

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 8 Comments

We eat a fair amount of curry and chick peas in our house. Now I’m not talking all the time but everyone will eat it which is a big success when you have two little kids and a vegan. One of our other favourites is Curried Cauliflower & Chickpeas with Coconut Milk that I shared back in August and wanted to share this one today!

It’s so easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of prep time. Though you need to make sure you have all the ingredients (as with any recipe). Yesterday, I had to run to the store – literally – to pick up an onion. I wasn’t to upset as I wanted to get my first post half marathon run in and my hamstring was feeling good.

I got the recipe from my mother a few years ago. She found it in a magazine and thought my husband would like it since it was vegan. She’s always trying new vegan recipes for him and follows all the directions 100%, me not so much 😉

Curried Cauliflower with Spinacn and chickpeas PR

Curried Cauliflower, Chick Peas and Spinach. 

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger (yum)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (I always put way more 3-5 cloves)
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
  • 1 small head of cauliflower
  • 1 can (19oz/540ml) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 4 cups of baby spinach
  • Rice or quinoa or other grain.

Directions:

1. In frying pan heat oil and cook onion and sugar, stiring occasionally until beginning to brown.

2. Add ginger, garlic, garam masala, vinegar, cayenne, salt and pepper; reduce heat to medium-low and cook until onion is golden brown.

3. Cut cauliflower into florets to make 6 cups (I never measure this). Add to pan along with chickpeas and raisins; cover and cook, stirring once or twice until cauliflower is tender (about 18 minutes).

4. Remove from heat and stir in spinach. ( I don’t remove it from the heat when I put in the spinach).

5. Surve over rice of your choice.

Our girls actually eat this!!!!!!! I find this one really good after a day as the flavour is that much stronger. What’s even better – apparently I’ve shared this recipe on my blog before, whoops! Oh well, I took the time to write this up so I’m going to hit publish anyway. Enjoy 🙂

Do you find curry better the day you make it or a day later ?

Ever run (or walk) to the store for an ingredient you forgot?

Ever shared a recipe twice on your blog? Or something else?

Summer Salad {vegan} Recipe

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 17 Comments

A few weeks ago we all went to a Pot Luck dinner and I was to bring something vegan for my husband that everyone could eat. I wanted to make sure that he got some protein, good grains and of course some veggies. So when I found this recipe at Once Upon a Chef, I figured it was a win-win.

I love salads in the summer time for some reason more than in the winter. Maybe I just feel there is more variety in local veggies and fruits which to me, makes the salad. In searching for something vegan on Pinterest that would appeal to everyone, I thought this would be it. I had a bulgur/quinoa mix to use up and picked up the remaining veggies we needed. Well, my husband did 🙂

Vegan Summer Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of chic peas (drained, washed)
  • 1/2 Red Onion
  • Cucumber
  • Red Pepper
  • 1/2 Cup fresh Dill
  • 1/3 Cup fresh Parsley
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1-2 lemons (juiced)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1-2 cups Quinoa (I put in a mix of Quinoa and Bulgar @ 2 cups and it made a tone of it).

It goes with everything! We had a BBQ pot luck and then I ate it with salmon and asparagus the next day. I changed the recipe a little and had 2 cups of quinoa/bulgur mix which in the end was a lot but good for a pot luck. If I was only making it for us as a family, I would have stayed with the 1 cup.

Again, the original recipe can be found at Once Upon A Chef.

What’s your favourite summer salad to eat?

What do you make for a Pot Luck?

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve put in your salad?

Vegan Creamy Avocado Pasta ~ Yum ~

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 2 Comments

Recently I’ve been purchasing a lot of avocado’s for our family. In the past I haven’t been a big fan of avocado’s. I guess because of the texture but over the last few months have been pushing myself to eat them with other foods. Avocado’s with eggs or as a creamy base in a sandwich and this delicious Vegan Creamy Avocado Pasta.

I found the recipe on Pinterest “From the Little Yellow Kitchen” – check out their blog…their pictures are WAY better. The original recipe came from “Oh She Glows” – one of my favourite go to vegan blogs.

Oh – and you don’t have to be a vegan to make this…just give it a try and you’ll LOVE it! Trust me.

Creamy Vegan Avocado Pasta

Creamy Vegan Avocado Pasta

Creamy Avocado Pasta: (Adapted from: Oh She Glows, makes 4 servings)

2 medium California avocados

1 lemon juiced + lemon zest (I omitted the lemon zest mainly because I forgot about it – whoops!)

3 garlic cloves to taste

1/2 cup Fresh Basil (I used 8 tbsp of dried basil since we didn’t have fresh basil on hand)

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 servings of pasta shells

salt and pepper to taste

My ingredients

My ingredients

Directions

  • Add your pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions.
  • Make sauce by blending the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil together in a food processor. Then add avocado, basil salt and pepper and process until creamy.
  • Pour sauce onto pasta and toss. Garnish with lemon zest and pepper.
  • Little Yellow Note: If you want to save the leftovers, add extra lemon juice to prevent the avocado from browning.

Piper’s Run Notes: 

  1. I completely didn’t follow the directions and put everything in our blender at the same time. Those poor garlic cloves had no chance of going anywhere fast. Good lesson learned – ALWAYS follow directions even when you are in a hurry and think you know what you are doing 🙂
  2. I put a little parmesan cheese on Lilly’s and she thought that was just great.
  3. I also found that this made tones of creamy avocado sauce; too much for the full box of pasta shells we made. We kept the remainder (almost 1/2) for the next day. We used it as a base for pizza – talk about delicious!
  4. We thought this would be a great dish to have with a big group of people since the above recipe makes so much. And would be great paired with chicken…we’ll I thought this, my vegan husband agreed but said he’d pass on the chicken next time 😉

Would I make this again? In a heart beat. My husband and Lilly (almost 3 years old) loved it. She had no idea there was avocado in it, something she would not eat normally.

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Pumpkin Pie {Vegan}

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 3 Comments

Side note: I’ve added some new Sweat Pink Ambassadors’ blogs to my BLOGROLL – you should check them out 🙂

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Apparently this week is all about food’s that I’ve made over the last month…so I figured I’d continue with the theme 🙂

My first pie was the Vegan Amazing Apple Pie which was my trial run for the “Perfect Pumpkin Pie”. Now, I’m not a big lover of pumpkin pie but I thought I would give it a try.

And yes….it had to be vegan.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup and 1/2 cup of soy milk

egg replacer (to equal 2 eggs)

1 16oz can of pumpkin

1/2 cup sweetener

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1 pie crust

NOTE: this was the easiest pie I think I’ll ever make!

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and the egg replacer.
  • Add the pumpkin, sweetener, cinnamon, and ginger and mix together well.
  • Pour into a pie crust and bake for 30-40 minutes, until centre is firm

Pie Crust – you can get from my “Amazing Apple Pie” post the other day.

Pumpkin Pie, Muffins and mini pies!

I had a little extra pie crust, so I made some mini pie’s for Lilly.

Then made Vegan Pumpkin Banana Muffins with the left over can of pumpkin.

Eat and enjoy!

What’s your favourite pumpkin pie recipe?

What’s your favourite type of pie?