Summer Chowder with Fresh Chives and Tarragon

Fresh, light, and floral- perfect way to kick start summer.

3 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound summer squash (I used three small yellow squash and 2 medium zucchini), cut into rounds
16 ounces frozen organic corn kernels, if you have fresh that will work too
1 can light coconut milk
1 cup vegetable broth broth
2 tablespoons chives, chopped
3/4 tablespoons tarragon, chopped
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
Lime, cut into wedges

In a stock pot over medium heat saute the garlic and shallots in the olive oil for 3-5 minutes. Add in the summer squash and saute for another 4 minutes. Toss in the corn and continue sauting for another 2 minutes. Add in the coconut milk and broth, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and add in the chives, tarragon, and salt. With a lid over top simmer for 15 minutes, until the squash is soft and the corn cooked through. Carefully transfer to a blended and blend to desired consistency. Squeeze juice from a lime wedge over top of each soup bowl before eating.

Serves 4-6

Simmered Collard Greens

This past weekend my mom and I took a mini vacation to Orlando to spend some much appreciated quality time together. We mostly spent our trip lounging at the pool, soaking in as much sun as we could get between the reliable afternoon rain showers of Florida Summers. I took her to Ethos Vegan Kitchen, my all time favorite vegan restaurant in the entire continental United States, where I was inspired by yet another one of their dishes. I had the most yummy simmered collard greens that accompanied my main dish of BBQ 'Chikun' with mashed potatoes and gravy. Apparently what they're saying is true: Collards are the new Kale. I've made collards before, but I've never had them simmered so simply. I thought they were drool-worthy. So the day we got back I ran out to the store and bought a bundle of collards and simmered away.

1 bunch collard greens
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups vegetable broth*
Seasonings (optional)*

Remove the stems from the collards and rip the greens into smaller pieces.

In a pan over medium heat saute the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant. Add in the greens and vegetable broth and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 hours with a lid over top. Strain out any remaining liquid before serving. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

*The broth you use will determine the flavor profile of these collards. I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base which has great flavor.

*A lot of people enjoy adding red pepper flakes or hot sauce to their simmered collards, but I loved how I had them at Ethos, so flavorful and simple, so I did without.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I had two green peppers in the fridge, a box of mushrooms, and not much else. This was very a much a 'throw-something-together-and-lets-hope-it-works' meal. I made it for my family quickly and ran out of the door as I had plans for the night. Several hours later I received a text from my mom saying 'dinner was awesome!'. I was elated since I always struggled with turning bell peppers into an enjoyable meal. Not only is it up to par in the taste category but it is insanely easy to throw together too.

 2 green bell peppers
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 box white button mushrooms
2 tablespoons braggs liquid aminos/soy sauce/ tamari
1 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 cup steamed broccoli (you can sub this for any other leftover veggie you have in your fridge)
1/4 cup diaya cheese + extra
Small bundle of scallions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Halve the bell peppers, removing the seeds. Place in a small casserole dish that has been sprayed with non stick spray.

Rinse quinoa until water runs clear, then add it to a pot along with the broth and bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce head to a simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking quarter the mushrooms. Saute them in a pan with a little olive oil until they let out all their liquids and start to shrink down in size. Add in the liquid aminos and steak seasoning, continue to saute until tender. Remove from heat and place the mushrooms in a large bowl.

Cut the steamed broccoli into bite sized pieces and add them to the bowl with the mushrooms.

Dice the scallions and saute for 2 minutes, then add to the bowl with the mushrooms and broccoli. Toss in the diaya cheddar and the quinoa once it is done cooking. Stir the contents of the bowl until fully incorporated, then spoon into the bell pepper halves.

Bake for 55 minutes, until the peppers are tender. Sprinkle a little more diaya cheddar over top and broil for 1-2 minutes before serving.

Chikun Bruschetta Sandwich (Replicated from Ethos Vegan Kitchen)

I spent the better part of April in Georgia attending a Vipassana meditation course which explains my absence from this blog. I've honestly been absent in all aspects of my life, as the course did not allow for any technology, cell phones, or human contact. To put it simply, I've been off the grid. But now that I'm back I've been dying to blog.

On the way home from Georgia I stopped in Orlando to visit my childhood best friend, Danielle. We went to Ethos Vegan Kitchen to catch up a bit. If you've never been to Ethos, plan a trip. That restaurant alone is worth the drive. It is by far my favorite vegan restaurant. It tops Sublime and Darbster by a long shot. Dani and I split the Chikun Brushetta Sandwich to start off with, something I wouldn't normally order but trusted Danielle's judgement. Holy Shit. That sandwich. Extraordianry. I came home and immediately replicated it. It was super easy to recreate and was a huge hit with my family- who are, in case you were wondering, still alive. I thought for sure they would have starved to death in my abscense, but somehow managed to live. Next time they complain that me leaving them will result in their starvation I'll keep this in mind.

Chickun Bruschetta Sandwich from Ethos

Recreated version which honestly tasted spot on!

4 pieces of thick sliced bread
2 Gardein Chick'n Scallopini (found at Whole Foods in the freezer section)
Follow Your Heart Mozzarella cheese alternative block (found in the cheese section at Whole Foods)
Lettuce, just a few pieces
1 extra large tomato
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup basil, chiffonade (cut into little ribbons)
2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar (the longer it is aged the sweeter it is)
2 tablespoons light olive oil


Dice the tomato into little cubes and place in a bowl along with the minced garlic, chiffonade basil, vinegar, and olive oil. Place in fridge and allow for flavors to marinate. Take 1/3 of the block of Mozzarella and dice the cheese into 1/2 inch cubes, set aside.

Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil over the bread and toast until crispy. Prepare the Gardein Chick'n according to package instructions.

Assemble: Lay down a couple pieces of lettuce over the bread, then top with bruschetta and cubes of Mozzarella cheese. Drizzle a little bit of the bruschetta sauce over top. Place a piece of Chick'n over top and finish it with another piece of bread. Serve warm.

*I made two sandwiches and cut them in half to serve four.

*I layered my bruschetta and cheese last, which made it harder to eat. I recommend layering them first, then adding the chicken to the top before finishing it off with a slice of bread. 

Mushroom Stout Pie with Potato Biscuits

I'm just going to go flat out and say it, although I adore everything the queen of vegan cooking, Isa Chandra, stands for, I don't always adore her recipes. I find them to be very hit or miss. But she is pioneering her way into bookstores with her top selling cook books like Vegan with a Vengeance, Veganomicon, and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World- just to name a few. I've been wanting to make this recipe of hers for a while, and a year later- phew- I did it! Honestly, this isn't hard to make, but the thought of schlepping to Total Wine to find a non-Guinness stout was enough to keep me away. I'll totally be making this one again, it is the perfect dish for cold winter weather (not that I can expect much of that down South).

For the stew: 
1 oz dried porcini or mix blend mushrooms
3 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons dried thyme
5 carrots (about 1/2 pound), peeled, sliced into thin half moons
1 1/4 cups stout beer (Caution: many stouts are not vegan friendly, like Guinness,  click here for a list of stouts and their vegan friendly status)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 15 oz BPA-free cans of kidney beans, rinsed and drained

For the biscuits:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup leftover mashed potatoes (refer to bottom for instructions on what to do if you don't have leftover mashed potatoes)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Make the stew:
Tear the dried mushrooms into bite sized pieces if they aren't already that size. Stick the mushrooms in a large bowl. Boil the vegetable broth, then pour the hot broth over the dried mushrooms and cover with a plate or lid to keep it hot. This step is crucial for re-hydrating the mushrooms. Meanwhile, prep (all the dicing and mincing and such) everything you need for the recipe.

In a stock pot saute the onions in some oil over medium heat until translucent, 4-7 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Add in the sliced fresh mushrooms, celery, thyme, rosmary, and saute for 5 more minutes, until the mushrooms release their liquids and they start to brown a little. Add in the carrots, stout, tomato paste, black pepper, and salt- boil for three minutes. Add in the dried mushrooms along with the broth they've been re-hydrating in. Cover and bring to a full boil for about five minutes, this will finish cooking the dried mushrooms. Careful not to burn the bottom of the stew, stir on occasion.

Now that the dried mushrooms are soft, in a measuring cup combine the flour with one cup of cold water and whisk with a fork until it is clump-free. Turn the heat down to medium and slowly add in water/flour mixture into the pot, mixing as your pour it in. Allow to thicken for five minutes before adding the kidney beans and removing from heat.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. 

Make the biscuits:
In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the mashed potatoes, olive oil and water. It should be very liquidy and mushy. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the potato mixture. Mix with a fork until a stiff dough starts to form, then turn the dough on to a cleaned counter and knead a few times to smooth out. I flattened my dough out to about 3/4 of an inch thick, next time I would make it thicker (maybe to 1.5 inches) since it didn't rise as much as I expected it to. Cut the dough into pieces, mine are sloppy, large, and awkwardly shaped, you can probably do a better job than I did...

Spray a large casserole dish with nonstick spray. Pour the prepared stew into the casserole dish and line the top with the biscuits you just made. Bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned on top, let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

*If you don't have leftover mashed potatoes: don't panic! Isa says: "to make about the cup called for here, microwave a russet potato, and mash with 1/4 cup unsweetened vegan milk, 2 tablespoons olive oil and a pinch of salt. Let cool, then measure and use!"

Kale Burgers

I don't know about you, but I've had it up to my eyeballs with kale. I get it weekly in my organic food co-op box and frankly, eight months in, I'm sick of it. I've steamed it, sauteed it, served it raw, dehydrated it, juiced it, blended it, and baked it. I was officially going mental- yes, the kale was making me crazy. How much kale can one person eat? But then, by sheer miracle, I landed on a recipe that took kale and spun it in a completely different direction. Meet: The Kale Burger! And because I was so impressed with this oddity I am passing it along to you.

1 large bunch kale, well-washed and mostly dried
Hefty pinch of sea salt
1 tomato, chopped (try and get a Roma, they're less juicy)
1 tablespoon almond butter or tahini
2 garlic cloves, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup almond meal (or finely ground up blanched almonds if you're in a pinch)
1/4 cup all purpose of GF flour
Olive oil
1 tiny onion, sliced
1/4 cup plant-based mayo
Zest of a lemon
Juice of half a lemon

Derib kale (and ribs aside for future use- toss them in a smoothie or something), take the leaves and sprinkle with sea salt and massage with your hands for a second. Let rest for 15 minutes. In the meantime toss the tomato, almond butter (or tahini if you don't have it), one garlic clove, coriander, and cumin into the food processor and blend until smooth.



Rinse the salt off the kale. In a large saucepan heat a little olive oil, then toss the rinsed kale in and saute for just a few minutes until it wilts. Meanwhile, mix the almond meal and flour in a small bowl.  Once the kale has wilted down, transfer it to a bowl and allow to completely cool- if you're in a rush you can throw it in the fridge for a few minutes.

While the kale is cooling dice the remaining garlic clove and add it to the vegan mayo, along with the zest of the lemon and the juice from half of it. Refrigerate to allow flavors to marinate. Slice the onion and saute in a pan with some oil over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, until completely caramelized, then set aside.


Once the kale has cooled squeeze out all the excess water. Add the kale to the food processor with the tomato mixture and pulse several times until the kale is finally chopped. If the kale mixture is too wet to form into patties add a few tablespoons of the almond flour mixture. If it's too dry, then add some olive oil or water. After forming each burger, carefully coat each side in the almond flour mixture.

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan (if you're not using a non-stick, spray it with non-stick spray before adding the oil, trust me on this one). Once the oil is hot add the burgers in, cooking three minutes per side.


Assemble: I served these bunless. I added a half teaspoon of the lemon garlic aioli to each burger and finished it off with the caramelized onions. I also had some leftover 'steak' mushrooms that I threw on top but the burger itself is so good I wouldn't worry about not having the mushrooms. Twice I paired these with potatoes, once with these sweet potato fries and the second time with potato skins, that recipe is coming soon.

This roughly make six mini burgers (which are very filling).

Quick Stuffed Mushrooms

You won't come across an easier stuffed mushroom. You can practically whip these up in your sleep. This is what drew me to the in the first place. I had 25 minutes before I had to run to the gym and was able to get these guys made and just popped them in the oven when I got home. Yeah- my kind of recipe!

2 boxes 1-inch mushrooms with stems, about a pound
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and Pepper
4 tablespoons plant-based butter
1 cup white onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup white wine
1 cup panko or regular breadcrumbs (I only had GF on hand and it worked perfectly)
1 bunch (3 ounces) chives, minced

Preheat oven to 350° F. Carefully remove the stems and place them in a bowl, as you will be using them later. Using a damp clean kitchen towel rub the tops of the mushroom caps to remove that thin layer of skin and/or any dirt. Then toss the caps in the olive oil, and a few grinds of salt and pepper. Spray a glass dish with non-stick spray and bake (tops up) for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Place the hot mushroom caps onto a plate to cool and set aside- do not throw away the mushroom liquid that was released during the baking process, we will be using this!

Rinse your stems to remove any dirt, then roughly chop. Add the plant-based butter to a pan over medium heat and melt, then add in the onion and garlic and saute for 3 minutes, or until they start to turn slightly brown. Add the chopped mushroom stems into the the pan with the onion-garlic mixture, saute for another 5 minutes. Next add in the white wine and saute until the wine is almost cooked. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a bowl, stir in the breadcrumbs, chives, and reserved mushroom liquid.

Stuff mushrooms, then bake for 8-10 minutes, until warmed through and the tops start to turn golden brown.

*I had a lot of extra stuffing leftover, you can always freeze the stuffing and thaw it for future stuffed mushrooms. Or just bake it and eat it like a holiday stuffing.

Recipe from Sublime Restaurant Cookbook