Thanksgiving Counter Top Stuffing

I may not always be very eloquent when it comes to describing the food I make, but sometimes when you make a really amazing meal the only thing you can say is: Damn. This is really good. And so this leads me to my most recent holiday food endeavor. The following recipe is a part of my own Thanksgiving meal plan, but I have to confess that I've eaten it more than twice over the last week...and I'm really looking forward to eating it again this coming Thursday.

 

Counter Top Stuffing

* See end of post for substitutes

Step 1. Dry Seasoning Mix (yields roughly 5-6 servings):

3 heaping tsp Onion powder

1/2 tsp Garlic granuels

2 tsp Italian seasoning (dried: Basil/Oregano/Thyme/Rosemary/Marjoram)

2 tsp dried Parsley

1 tsp Tarrogon

1 tsp ground Celery seed

2 tsp Dillweed

1/2 tsp cracked Pepper

Sea Salt - to taste

*3 tbsp Nutritional yeast

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Mix the above dry ingredients well and set aside

Step 2. Raw Stuffing mix:

*1 & 1/4  c Cashews (soaked for 2 hours and finely chopped)

1 & 1/2 c Celery (minced)

3/4 Carrot (shredded & chopped)

1/2 c Onion (finely chopped)

1 and 1/2 c Zucchini (shredded and finely chopped)

1/2 One (or both) of the following: Sweet/tart Apple chopped, or handful of Raisins that have been soaked in warm water, drained and chopped

Optional: 1-2 handfulls of dried Crimini (or other) Mushrooms - crumbled into the mixture

4 to 6 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp of Dry Seasoning Mix (see above)

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Mix the above ingredients well.
*Nutritional Yeast: You can sub with a pinch of Paprika and a dash of Nama Shoyu

* Cashews: You can either drop them from this dish entirely, or sub them with Jicima

Share this exciting new Holiday food with loved ones who have special dietary needs, or boast it at an Omni Thanksgiving pot luck - it won't disappoint!

But you'll definitely want to stay tuned for more...

xoxo,

Sarahfae - AtV

Double Dressed Swiss Chard Salad with Sweet Mustard Vinaigrette

One of my most recent intense food loves is Swiss Chard. Not only is it a wonderful source of calcium, protein, fiber, and a plethora of other fabulous vitamins, Swiss Chard is SO tasty! It's texture is versatile, it's flavor non-combative, and it's nutrients are very rich. So, of course I've been making a point to include this wonderful veggie in my "daily dark green" intake.

Double Dressed Swiss Chard Salad w/ Sweet Mustard Vinaigrette

(** See Below for Substitutes)

5-6 Stalks of Swiss Chard, stems removed, roughly chopped, and massaged for about 3 minutes

1/2 c Shredded Carrot

**1/2 c Shredded Parsnip - dehydrated, soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, then drained
**1/4 c dried blueberries - soaked in warm water for 5 minutes, then drained

Toss salad with 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a drizzle of Balsamic, and Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper.

**You can sub fresh Parsnip instead of dehydrated, however if you do I recommend soaking the shredded Parsnip overnight in room temp water to remove most of the starch.

**You can sub fresh blueberries for dehydrated, or just about any fruit if you feel so inclined.  :)

Sweet Mustard Vinaigrette

1/2 c Apple Cidar Vinegar or Balsamic Vinegar

2 tsp Onion Powder

8 Medjool Dates (pits removed)

1 tsp dried Tarragon

1 tsp dried Parsley
1/2 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp Cracked pepper

1/2 c Cashews

1 and 1/4 c water

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Process for roughly 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Enjoy over your favorite salad!

xoxo,

Sarahfae - Atv

Lunch: Dolma Stuffed Tomatoes

Just a simple lunch...and it was YUM.

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Tomatoes stuffed with Dolma Salad

Topped with a green version of my Aged Monsterella-Parm Cheeze Spread

(green because I didn't peel the Zucchini).

Cheers!

xoxo,

Sarahfae - AtV

Thank you

Addicted to Veggies went on the road last weekend - to visit and feed some of their most favorite friends

I have to say a word of thank you.
Thank you to all of you who have stopped by and checked out this budding blog over the last couple of months. I've excitedly watched as we've slowly grown our list of "followers", only becoming inspired and motivated to do more in my kitchen, more in my community, and more in my little food/recipe journal as a means to share with those of you who are just as passionate about veggies as we are.
So thank you. Thank you for reading this blog. Your presence is the fuel for positive growth.
If you ever feel compelled to make a recipe that you've seen here and would like to share your feedback, be it good, bad, or constructive we'd LOVE to hear from you.
Addicted to Veggies is constantly looking for new food ideas, so tell us what you want to see. What comfort foods did you at one point in time enjoy eating, but now have eliminated from your diet? We love a challenge here - and converting familiar cooked foods into approachable raw variations is the name of our game.

Lots of love,
Sarahfae - Atv

Almond Mushroom Gravy

I'm sure that every one of you has eather tried or created their own version of an Almond Mushroom Gravy...so I hope you don't mind me sharing my own personal favorite recipe. It's quick, easy, and seriously good on just about anything. If you you're a picky eater and don't like mushrooms, then this gravy/dressing will work just fine without...maybe a little lacking in my opinion, but still good.
I've been eating this a LOT lately - on dark greens (especially massaged kale), big salads, stuffed zucchini, broccoli spears, and more. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Almond Mushroom Gravy

Tools you will need for this: A medium sized mixing bowl, and a whisk

4 (heaping) tbsp  Almond Butter

Roughly 1 lg stalk of Celery - finley chopped/minced/or even pureed

1 tsp dried Parsley

1 tsp dried Tarragon

2 to 3 tsp Onion powder

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Nutritional yeast

Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper to taste

*1 C Warm Water (you may not use all of this water)

*1 to 2 big handfuls of dried Crimini mushrooms (or any other dried mushroom)

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*Set aside the Warm water and Crimini mushrooms (both in seperate bowls)

In mixing bowl combine all of the above ingredients except the water and mushrooms

Slowly wisk in the warm water - half cup first, then more as needed. The gravy will thicken slightly as you wisk it. I use about 3/4 cup water, this makes for a perfect creamy constistancy.

Once the gravy has been evenly wisked take the dried mushrooms and crumble them over the gravy and mix in.

xoxo,

Sarahfae - AtV

Raw Dolmas!

I won't lie, Dolmas have been a source of weakness for me where my eating habits are concerned. There's a neat little Greek fusion cafe in my town that I stop by every once in a while, and when I do the result is always yummy...because it includes an order of Dolmas.
Naturally my love for dolmas, and my obsession with food got me to thinking about creating a raw variation that is both satisfying in taste and texture. I knew if I was going to translate this food into a raw dish that it had the potential to be really good, or really bad.
So I threw myself into the challenge, and I am SO happy to report that the results did not disappoint...

(Apologies in advance for the wordiness in this post, but I promise that it's all very pertinent!)

Raw Dolmas

This recipe truly revolves around the dressing - I feel that it is one of the most important components of this dish. The "rice" stuffing can be tweaked and altered, but I've marked (*) the necessary components for the stuffing so you don't loose the important rice-like texture.

Step 1. Dolma Dressing

1/2 C Lemon Juice

1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 or 5 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2-3 (heaping) tsp Minced Garlic (raw: less/pickled: more)

3 to 4 pinches Sea Salt

1 tsp dried Parsley

1 tsp dried Dill weed

1/2 tsp dried Oregano

1/2 tsp dried Margoram

1 tsp dried Chives (or 2 tbsp fresh)

2 (heaping) tsp Onion powder

1 tbsp Nutritional yeast

2 or 3 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked for 5 min.

1/2 C Cashews

1/4 C Water

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Place all of the above ingredients in food processor and process for about 2 minutes, until mixture becomes creamy.Refrigerate the dressing for half an hour, until it settles and has thickened. You want it to be a thick creamy "dip like" dressing - this will help in binding the stuffing together, and make for a less messy eating experience.

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Step 2. Dolma "Rice" Stuffing

I've marked with an asterisk (*) the ingredients that I feel are important  and must be included in order to create the proper Dolma stuffing taste and texture. Those that are not marked can be excluded if you wish. 

Also, this recipe is enough for roughly two people, or five to six small Dolmas - you won't use an entire batch of the Dolma dressing for this mixture, only about half of it.This is a good thing because you will want to make this again!

*3/4 C Zucchini - shredded, then chopped into rice-sized pieces  

(Do this by hand if you have the time, if you use your food processor to chop the Zucchini I've found that it breaks it apart too much therefore releasing a lot of the water from the Zucchini - and you don't want that to happen!)

*1 heaping tbsp Minced Onion

*1 heaping tbsp minced Celery

(mince the celery leaves too - they lend a wonderful deeper flavor!)

*5 heaping tbsp Cashews that have been soaked for 2 hrs and finely chopped

1 handful Dried Crimini Mushrooms - chopped well

1 to 2 tbsp raw Kalamata Olives (chopped), or Capers

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Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl
Toss in 4 heaping tbsp of the ever important Dolma Dressing
Mix well and eat as either a salad, or wrap in Swiss chard  leaves for the perfect raw Dolma experience!  
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Side note: Wait to add the Dolma dressing until right before you plan on eating this recipe, this will ensure a good stable texture. The longer that a dressing sits in a salad the more watery it becomes...and that's not a good thing in my opinion.

xoxo,

Sarahfae - AtV

Quick and Easy: Blueberry Walnut Date Bars

Things have been busy as usual in the Addicted to Veggies kitchen - and I'm happy to report that I'm still focusing on "Quick and Easy" recipes to share with you all. So with that, I'm excited to share the following recipe.
These bars have become a part of my current breakfast routine (in addition to at least two pieces of fresh fruit, and a big bottle of water), as I run out the door every morning in an attempt to make it to work on time, as well as fully nourished and energized until the next meal. Once you make a batch of these buggers you'll be happy you did, and so will your taste buds.

Blueberry Walnut Date Bars

1 C Medjool Dates (pitted and soaked in warm water for 5 minutes)

1 C dried Blueberries (can sub with any other dried fruit)

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 C Walnuts (or Pecans)

1 C Cashews

1 tsp Vanilla

Pinch of Sea Salt

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Place the above ingredients in food processor and chop. The Mixture will clump (because there is a lot of it!), as this happens turn mixture over in food processor and chop again. Repeat the following step 3 to 4 times until mixture is evenly mixed and chopped.

Remove mixture from processor and flatten into desired thickness. Cut into desired shape/size (you could have fun with this and use cookie cutters if you have kids).

*Dust/coat lightly with ground Golden Flaxeed (this keeps them from sticking together if you stack them), store in air tight container in the fridge.

Enjoy as in between meal snack, or pair with fresh fruit for a breakfast or lunch on the go!

xoxo,

Sarahfae - AtV

Coming soon...

Raw Dolmas (you will die for)!