Pineapple Cookies

It seems as though I have fallen off of the bandwagon again.  This last month has been a little crazy: from moving and applying and interviewing for new jobs to starting school.  All is well, but I need to catch up.  In the next couple of days I will be working on a few updates to the blog, but to tide you over I have a quick and sweet recipe to share with you.


Pineapple Cookies

Pineapple Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 9 oz. crushed pineapple
• 3-1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

1. Cream together the shortening, sugar and egg.
2. Once combined add the crushed pineapple, flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.
3. Spoon onto ungreased baking sheets and bake at 400° F for 8-10 minutes.

When making cookies I like to use parchment paper on the baking pan for easy cookie removal (and clean up).  Also, when making the dough don't add all of the flour in at once.  If you have never made cookies before, just try it...but keep a broom near by.  HAHA!  To avoid the mess though, adding in the dry ingredients slowly and in smaller increments to the wet will help you to avoid flour EVERYWHERE!!!

But that is all I have for everyone tonight.  Keep an eye open for some upcoming recipes and reviews.
Until then...

Happy snacking!

Luke

Bread and Pesto

Today's recipes are short and simple.  Bread and pesto... Here we go.

Pesto

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup pine nuts
• Basil, a good handful (about 1 cup if you are measuring it out)
• Garlic, about 3 cloves
• 1/4 Cup parmesan cheese
• 1 Cup Oil (traditionally Olive Oil, but any oil will work)

Directions

1. Roast the pine nuts in an oven set to 350° F for about 5 minutes. Make sure to stay close because you don't want to burn the nuts. If you start to smell them, pull them out quickly! Let them cool to room temperature.
2. In a food processor, blender (or even use an immersion blender if that's what you have) add all ingredients except the oil. Drizzle a little bit of the oil in before the first round of blending. As the pesto is blending slowly add the oil to get a better emulsion of ingredients. Once ingredients are blended you are all set.
3. Cool in the refrigerator and then serve or use!

Bread

Ingredients

• 2 Cups tepid water (about 100° F)
• 1 Tbsp instant yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Cups flour

Directions

1. Combine and whisk together water, instant yeast, sugar and salt. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Slowly add flour into the wet mixture making sure to break up any clumps. Once thoroughly combined the dough will be watery. Continue to add flour until the dough sticky, but firm enough to pull out of the bowl.
3. Flour your workspace and place dough onto workspace and flour dough. Knead the bread until the dough is firm, but still a little pliable. 
4. In a large ovensafe bowl, spread some oil to cover the inside of bowl. Place kneaded dough into bowl and cover with oil from the bowl. Place cling wrap over the bowl and make it air tight. Method I use to raise dough: place covered dough in a gas oven that has NOT been turned. Turn on the oven to 500° F and keep it on for 30 seconds only then turn off the oven. Keep oven closed and leave the dough in there for 1 hour.
5. Next, place the dough in any pan you wish to bake it in. I usually use this bread for dipping and such, so I will usually bake it in a shallow pan. Preheat oven to 350° F and bake for about 15 minutes or until the crust begins to turn a golden brown. Take out of the oven and enjoy! 

This is all really less complex than I make it sound.  Go out and have fun with this recipe and enjoy!!!!

Until next time...

Happy Snacking!

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel and Mirin Ginger Cranberry Sauce

I'm just going to update with a quick recipe today. Not too long ago I posted a recipe for Shichimi Mushroom Rice Bowls. The picture that I posted also had also featured the Baked Sweet Potato Falafel. Falafel happens to be something Oriana and I enjoy a lot. While searching for what would be on our Christmas dinner menu Oriana found an interesting twist on preparing it. The recipe comes from http://www.101cookbooks.com/ by way of Allegra McEvedy of Leon Restaurants. I really like sweet potatoes and this was amazing! Check it out!

The Recipe

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel and Mirin Ginger Cranberry Sauce (on the upper plate)

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel
Adapted from 101cookbooks.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes (orange inside), around 700g or 1 1/2 pounds in total
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 1/2 fresh cilantro, chopped
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 cup chickpea flour 
• a splash of olive oil
• a sprinkling of sesame seeds
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F degrees (220°C) and roast the sweet potatoes whole until just tender - 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn off the oven, leave the potatoes to cool, then peel.
2. Put the sweet potatoes, cumin, garlic, ground and fresh coriander, lemon juice and gram/chickpea flour into a large bowl. Season well, and mash until smooth with no large chunks. Stick in the fridge to firm up for an hour, or the freezer for 20-30 minutes. When you take it out, your mix should be sticky rather than really wet. You can add a tablespoon or so more of chickpea flour if necessary (the water content of sweet potatoes varies enormously).
3. Reheat the oven to 400°F/200°C. Using a couple of soup spoons (put a well-heaped spoonful of mix in one spoon and use the concave side of the other to shape the sides) or a falafel scoop if you have one, make the mixture into falafelly looking things and put them on an oiled tray. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes, until the bases are golden brown.

Makes about 18 falafel, enough for 4 - 6.


Unlike normal falafel we went with a festive, holiday menu and decided to use a cranberry sauce to serve with the falafel. We decided on a Mirin Ginger Cranberry Sauce. This may not be for everyone, but it worked well with this recipe.


Mirin Ginger Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mirin (sweetened cooking sake)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 bag cranberries, washed
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 clove garlic, finely sliced

Directions

1. Dissolve the sugar in the mirin. Bring to simmer. Add cranberries and continue to simmer until cranberries begin to crack. 
2. Once the cranberries begin to "pop" add the juice from the lemon, ginger and the garlic. Stir cranberry mixture to ensure it does not stick to the bottom of the sauce pan and set the heat to low. When cranberries reach desired thickness remove from heat.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Enjoy!

And until next time...
Happy Snacking!

Green Tea-Mango Shortbread Cookies

You are in for a treat this week. It is not often that I share my family's or my own recipes. However, I decided to share with you a recipe that I am currently working on. (Oh, no! I have to make these cookies over and over until they are just right.) It is truly a rough life I lead.

Anyway, this is just a general recipe as it isn't solidified into how I like to make it just yet. I was inspired to make it by the tea I was drinking one day. Obviously it was a mango green tea and I was obsessed with cookies at the time. Working with mango which can get very juicy, and shortbread, which is essentially just butter, can get very tricky. Right now I am trying out variations of mixing in the mango straight into the cookie batter and a thumbprint shortbread with a mango compote.

The first time I made these cookies I just lightly chopped the mango and mixed it directly into the cookie batter and it turned out well. The second time that I made these cookies I put the mango into a food processor and it dulled out the green tea flavor because there was a lot of juice. Because I think that I am going to be solidifying the recipe as a thumbprint with the mango compote I will give you the recipe with the mango mixed it, but also feel free to play around with it.

The Recipe

Basic Shortbread Recipe

• 1/2 pound (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature 
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar 
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla and mix. 
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. 
3. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and bring everything together with your hands. Divide dough into two pieces and flatten slightly. Wrap each piece in plastic and chill OR prepare the shortbread cookie recipe below. 

Green Tea-Mango Shortbread Cookies

• 2 Tbs matcha powder 
• 1 cup chopped mango (about one whole mango) 
• Ingredients from above Basic Shortbread recipe

1. Add matcha (green tea) powder with the flour and salt and sift all ingredients together. 
2. As dough starts to come together add the chopped mango to the batter and lightly mix it enough to incorporate it into the batter, but not enough that it releases all of it's juices into the batter. 
3. Roll shortbread into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with your palm. 
4. Chill for 30 minutes. 
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for about 8-10 minutes and golden on the bottoms. 

Makes about 2 dozen small shortbread.

This is just intended to give you something to play with, as this by no means a solid recipe...YET! Enjoy, none-the-less.

Until next time...
Happy Snacking!

Vegan Pecan Pie

Everyone loves dessert! Period. Don't try and deny it because you know if you weren't on that "New Year, New You" diet you would have a second helping if you allowed enough room after dinner. And if the dessert was good enough, it wouldn't matter if you had room or not because you would probably make room. My point is this: dessert is amazing so I am going to give you another amazing vegan dessert recipe - Amazing Pecan Pie

I found this recipe on VegWeb.com again and made it for Christmas dinner with my friend, Oriana. Needless to say, it didn't last long. This is another simple and delicious vegan dessert recipe, so check it out.

The Recipe


Amazing Pecan Pie

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 4 tablespoons nondairy milk (I use soy)
• 2 egg substitutes (I use Bob's Red Mill substitute)
• 8 tablespoons vegan butter, melted (I use Earth Balance)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 9" unbaked pie crust

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix ingredients. They come out watery.

2. Pour into the pie shell. Place on a cookie sheet and put into the oven for 20 minutes.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 20 minutes or longer.

4. Check, center should be slightly soft, but if it seems too watery, bake for 20 more minutes.

Makes: 1 pie, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 40-60 minutes
Original recipe can be found here.

In this recipe I modified it a bit as I had a moment of weakness and bought a few eggs during the week for breakfast. As I said, I am not 100% vegan, but like to eat that way when I can. So, because I had a few eggs left over I used real eggs in this recipe instead of egg substitute. The guy that wrote the recipe said that he used soy milk, but I try to stay away from soy so I used hemp milk or almond milk - I don't remember which one I used as I usually have both in my refrigerator. Everything else stayed pretty much the same except I used a bit more than a cup of pecans to give it the slight design on the top.

Simple and simply amazing! I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Until next time...
Happy snacking!

Raw Key Lime Pie

Okay, so if any of you are like my lovely mother you are wondering..."Raw" Key Lime Pie.  What the #*!! does that mean?  As defined by Dictionary.com:

Main Entry:	raw food
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	any uncooked, unprocessed, and often organicfoods, esp. as eaten as a large percentage ofthe diet
Example:	The most popular raw food diet is a raw vegan diet.

So, this is just a quick and easy Key Lime Pie that is amazing and completely vegan!


The Recipe

Key Lime Pie (Raw)

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    Filling:
    2 avocados
    2 tablespoons lime juice
    1/2 cup coconut oil
    2 tablespoons agave or other sweetener

    Crust:
    1/2 cup almond pulp/flour
    1/2 cup dates (not soaked)
    pinch salt
    pinch cayenne (or nutmeg)

Directions:

1. Lightly oil a muffin tin (springform could work if you doubled the recipe). Blend the filling ingredients until smooth.
2. In processor, combine crust ingredients until fairly smooth, no big chunks of dates.
3. Press crust into prepared muffin tin. Spoon in filling.
4. Freeze 1-2 hours. 3-4 hours gets it hard like ice cream cake. If that happens, set out for 5 minutes before eating.

Makes: 2-4 servings, Preparation time: 10-15 minutes


As I said, quick and easy and you will not be unsatisfied with this recipe. Add a few sliced strawberries on top and have at it!


Until next time...
Happy Snacking!

Vegetarian Chili

It began on a rainy day. The sun was ... not out. The air was ... filled with fog. You could see ... well, about five feet in front of you. Needless to say, this was going to be a blah and lazy day. I woke up to an incredible headache that I couldn't make heads or tails of why I had it. But I knew that I had to get out of my apartment, so I put on my rain boots, dug out my umbrella and headed out to The Growling Rabbit - my local coffee shop and café. A 12oz coffee and one salted caramel cupcake later and I was feeling better, but the momentary relief of my headache was just that...momentary. I knew that only comfort food was going to make me feel better. What better comfort food to make on a cold and rainy winters day than a hearty chili?

A simple search for Vegetarian Chili lead me to FoodNetwork.com featuring Emeril Lagasse's Vegetarian Chili recipe. Let's just get to it, shall we?

The Recipe


Vegetarian Chili
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2003
Prep Time: 25 min

Cook Time: 30 min 

Level: Easy 

Serves: 6 to 8 servings


 Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons canola oil 
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions 
• 1 cup chopped red bell peppers 
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic 
• 2 to 3 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, and minced, depending upon taste 
• 1 medium zucchini, stem ends trimmed and cut into small dice 
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears) 
• 1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms (about 5 large), stemmed, wiped clean and cubed 
• 2 tablespoons chili powder 
• 1 tablespooon ground cumin 
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 
• 4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped 
• 3 cups cooked black beans, or canned beans, rinsed and drained 
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 
• 1 cup vegetable stock, or water 

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves 
• Cooked brown rice, accompaniment 
• Sour cream or strained plain yogurt, garnish 
• Diced avocado, garnish 
• Essence, recipe follows, garnish 
• Chopped green onions, garnish 

Directions

1. In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and serrano peppers, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. 
2. Add the zucchini, corn, and mushrooms, and cook, stirring, until soft and the vegetables give off their liquid and start to brown around the edges, about 6 minutes. 
3. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
4. Add the tomatoes and stir well. Add the beans, tomato sauce, and vegetable stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro. Adjust the seasoning, to taste.

To serve, place 1/4 cup of brown rice in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle the chili into the bowls over the rice. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream and spoonful of avocado. Sprinkle with Essence and green onions and serve.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika 
• 2 tablespoons salt 
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder 
• 1 tablespoon black pepper 
• 1 tablespoon onion powder 
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano 
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme 

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch can be found here.
Published by William and Morrow, 1993.


This recipe is so simple and so delicious! The way that I prepared it was just slightly different. Instead of serving it over a bed of rice, I wanted to do it served with cornbread. However, trying to keep the budget low I didn't want to buy cornbread mix. In my refrigerator I had a package of quick biscuits, so I used those instead and it tastes wonderful!

I am also a huge fan of cilantro, so instead of mixing the cilantro into the big pot I was chopping it up for each individual bowl. Add a dollop of sour cream - or in my case Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream - and the Essence seasoning and "Whallah!" Dinner is served.

For this recipe I paid a whopping $11.07 including tax. Eleven dollars to feed a family of four AND have leftovers? You can't go wrong here!

Until next time...
Happy Snacking!

Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowl

This year Christmas was spent away from my family and in the big city. For my friend, Oriana, and myself it was our first year alone on Christmas in Chicago. Naturally we spent it together. There was the traditional gift exchange, and movies. And just like every other time that we hung out together there was hookah, board games, and of course, food!

As we are both vegetarians it was puzzling us on how we were going to pull off a Christmas dinner. The friends that we had invited to share this dinner with us all found their ways back home, so cooking without having to have them in mind made the planning a lot easier. For me, I was all about the desserts - Raw Key Lime Pie and a Vegan Pecan Pie. (Will post those later in the week)

Oriana, on the other hand, had ideas left and right and after a trip to the grocery store, where everything seemed to be on sale, we had our ingredients. But what were we going to do with them. It wasn't until Oriana found the recipe for Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowls that we knew that Christmas dinner was going to be Japanese inspired.

I didn't have anything to do with this recipe, but I needed to share it because it was so delicious.

The Recipe

Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowl (in the bowl) and Sweet Potato Falafel (on the plate) 

Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowl

Ingredients 

• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
• Fine-grain sea salt
• 12 ounces / 340 g mushrooms of your choice (I used shiitake, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 8 ounces / 225 g firm tofu, cut into tiny cubes
• 1 small bunch kale / 3 oz / 85 g, well chopped
• Shichimi Togarashi or red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over high heat. 
2. Add the mushrooms in a single layer, stir well, and cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, and then brown, about 5 minutes more. Stir a few times along the way, but don't overdo it; you want the mushrooms to be deeply browned on both sides. 
3. Stir in the garlic roughly 20 seconds before the mushrooms finish cooking. If you need to cook the mushrooms in two batches, do so. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate, set aside.
4. Using the same large skillet, no need to clean it out, cook the tofu along with a couple pinches of salt over medium-high heat until heated through, and until it starts to brown a bit. Roughly one minute before the tofu is finished cooking, stir in the kale. It should collapse and cook down over the next 60 seconds.
5. Season all the components generously with Shichimi Togarashi and salt to taste. For each serving, dish up a heaping spoonful of brown rice along with some of the tofu/kale mixture and a some of the mushrooms.

Serves 3-4.


This recipe was so delicious that I have made it three times in the last week. Not only that, but it includes two of my favorite super foods: Mushrooms (Shiitake, in our recipe) and Kale. When we made this recipe we didn't use tofu as I am limiting my soy based products that I am eating. It still turned out amazing and it is probably better because it didn't have the tofu. We also topped the entire bowl off with soy sauce to taste.

I can guarantee you that if you make this you and are not a vegetarian that you will not miss any meat in this meal. It is simply seasoned, but with a bit of soy sauce the flavors will be bursting in your mouth. Be careful not to over salt the kale as I did the first time that I tried to recreate this dish. Honestly, I would say not to salt the kale as it is just going to get some soy sauce before you eat it anyway.

Cost for this meal is around $5 for the rice, the kale and the Shiitake mushrooms. I only suggest shiitake, but that is my own personal preference for this recipe. I hope you enjoy this one!

Please comment if you have tried this and tell me how you like it.

-------------------------------

Thank you to Heidi from 101cookbooks.com for sharing this recipe.
Recipe can be found here.

-------------------------------

Until next time...

Happy Snacking!

First Recipe - Vegan Seitan Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Welcome to my blog!

I am so excited to share this first recipe with everyone. My diet has recently changed to slightly vegan/vegetarian, whole foods, plant-based diet. Growing up in WI means that I LOVE dairy. It has been really hard to take out all dairy, but I have finally been able to do it fairly easily, however, I do find that on occasion I have some cheese in a meal or use butter to cook. Make it known that I am not doing this diet because I am against an animal losing it's life for my consumption, but more to see how this diet works for me.

Anyway, so before I started this diet I had come to know the amazing food known as the Gyro. Being in Chicago means that I can get one on any corner, almost literally. Each one has it's ups and downs and I have come to know where to get a gyro around Chicago and where to avoid. Since I am eating vegan/vegetarian meals I can't eat gyros. Lately I have been craving them, but have not wanted to give in to eating meat, so naturally the next option is to find a vegan gyro recipe.

My default website to find vegan recipes is VegWeb.com and after a short search, I came across an amazing Vegan Gyro recipe with Tzatziki Sauce. Having eaten a real gyro before (and I have had a large variety of them in just about every city I have visited) I was worried that this would taste nothing like a real gyro. Obviously a vegan gyro will not taste like a real gyro, but the last recipe I found was created by someone who has never had a lamb gyro and admitted that it tasted nothing like them. This is not the case for this recipe. The seasoning is very on and topped with the amazing Tzatziki Sauce I almost forgot that it was vegan.

Having never made seitan before, I was a little worried that this wasn't going to turn out well. The recipe called for it to be steamed, but since I have such a small kitchen and limited supplies, I just used my rice cooker and steamed the seitan in the steaming tray. After it was done steaming I cut the loaf into slices to be cooked and then eaten!

It looks so good, right?

The way that I like to load up my pita is with a mix of salad greens, red onion, sliced tomatoes and tzatziki sauce. I got most of my ingredients from Whole Foods, but you should be able to get the ingredients from any health food store as well. Here is the recipe.

Seitan Gyros

Ingredients

Gyro spice mix:

• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon curry spice powder (I use McCormick mild)
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Seitan:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons gyro spice mix (recipe above)
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Gyros:

• 4-6 vegan pitas
• 1 onion, finely sliced, optional
• 1 tomato, finely sliced, optional
• cucumber sauce, to serve, optional

Directions:

1. To make spice mix, combine all spices. This makes enough spice for several batches of gyros. Store in a tight lidded container between uses. For seitan, place all dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with a fork until well mixed.

2. Add in cold water. Stir with fork until well blended. Knead dough about 23-30 squeezes by hand to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Let dough rest 10 minutes or so, and knead dough again for another 2-3 minutes to build up elasticity. Prepare steamer or steamer basket.

3. Form dough into loaf type shape, keeping the loaf about 1" thick (will rise while steaming). Tear off tin foil sheet about 12" long. Spray shiny side of foil with cooking spray. Lay seitan loaf in center of foil. Fold tinfoil up around seitan loaf making an envelope type shape (be sure to leave room around loaf to allow dough to expand while steaming).

4. Fold and pinch outside edges of foil together to make a tight seam (middle seam should be overlapping, it is ok if it is not pinched). Steam dough in foil envelope for about 50 minutes. Remove from steamer, and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Unwrap finished seitan loaf, and slice into strips 1/8-1/4" thick. Squeeze lemon juice over seitan slices, and allow to sink in while oil heats in pan.

5. Heat oil in a large pan. Add seitan slices, and fry until slightly browned on all sides, about 3-5 minutes each side. Remove from pan, but keep warm. Heat pitas, one at a time, in hot pan. Place on a plate and spoon gyro "meat" mixture into each pita. If desired, top with favorite cucumber sauce recipe, onions, and tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Makes: 4-6 gyros, Preparation time: 20 min, Cooking time: 1 hr +/-

Recipe can be found here.



And let's not forget the Tzatziki Sauce!

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients 

• 1/2 (8-ounce) container vegan sour cream
• 1/2 lemon, squeezed
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cucumber, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients. Mix well.

Recipe can be found here.


For this recipe I like to use Cilantro instead of parsley, but that is my personal taste. I usually just do dill in the normal Tzatziki Sauce that I make, but wanted to share this version.



Mad props to Jamie Monster on VegWeb.com for this gyro recipe and veganmiss for the Tzatziki recipe!

Finished Seitan Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce

For this meal I paid about $15 for all of the ingredients. Most recipes that I have I won't include the cost of everything because I usually have those things stocked (such as seasonings, herbs, etc.). Here is the list of everything that I purchased:

• Sanabel Bakery Fresh Whole Wheat Pita Bread (local) - $2.99 for a pack of 8 large pitas.
• Earthbound Farm Organic Mixed Baby Greens (4oz bag) - $2.49
• Tofutti Milkfree Sour Cream (12oz container) - $2.39
• Small Organic, Fair Trade Cucumber - 48¢
• One Bundle of Cilantro - Free because is wasn't ringing up right at the register
• One Organic Lemon - 93¢
• One Cup Vital Wheat Gluten (.36 lbs @ $3.99/lb) - $1.44
• One Bundle of Dill - 69¢

Total - $11.41 for 4-6 gyros

(I didn't include the cost of the seasonings, garlic, tomato, onion or olive oil because those are things that I always have in my kitchen.)

Price of a Gryo at a local restaurant: $4.95 for one sandwich.

Until next time...
Happy Snacking!

Welcome!

Hello Everyone and welcome to Eat At Home For Less - the blog devoted to sharing the best (and worst) vegan/vegetarian recipes on the web!


Each week I will choose a recipe that I want to share and show not only how eating at home can be a lot cheaper, but also go over meatless and vegan options to some of your favorite dishes.  I am in no way trying to force vegan or vegetarianism, it is merely the way that I have been eating for the last few months and am amazed at the amazing options there are for dishes.


I also want to point out that I am not a professional chef, nor am I dietician or a nutritionist.  What I show and go over on this blog is merely for my own enjoyment and in the process hoping to share some of the best and affordable whole food, plant based meals!


WELCOME!