Garlicky Broccoli Cashew Fried Rice

This 7 ingredient fried rice is incredibly easy.

I'm a huge garlic fan, but if you're not as much, feel free to cut down on the garlic. This recipe also uses a fair amount of olive oil, so be sure to use fresh oil that was sourced close to home.

Garlicky Broccoli Cashew Fried Rice by Mr. Peasy

Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 + 1 Tbsp olive oil (3 Tbsp to start, one set aside)
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 3 cups cooked rice
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp salt

For the rice, I used a medium grain Japanese rice, but I generally use that for everything. I'm not picky if you're not picky. Leftovers that have been sitting in the refrigerator for a day or so would probably work great.

1. Chop the garlic roughly. I like larger pieces of garlic, so I made sure to keep a good portion of the pieces pretty sizable.

2. Over medium heat, saute the garlic in a large skillet or wok in 3 Tbsp olive oil. After a minute or so, add broccoli and cashews and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add another 1 Tbsp olive oil and then dump in the rice, 2 Tbsp soy sauce and 1/4 tsp salt. Continue to saute, using the spatula to get everything mixed together, then remove from heat and serve.

Vegan Mac Attack Burger

I made the best worst thing ever today (deliciously unhealthy). Billy Dec from Rockit Burger Bar in Chicago recently came up with this burger that uses deep fried mac and cheese instead of a bun, so I decided to give a vegan version a go.

Please be forewarned that this recipe could use some major tweaking--it's not even nearly perfect. What I did was use this fantastic vegan baked mac and cheese recipe from To Live and Eat in LA, but omitted the vegan ham, the paprika, the red chili flakes and the panko (I used panko later, though, so it was good to have on hand!). I assembled it, minus the omitted ingredients, and baked it according to the recipe directions, except that I spread it out a little and tried to make a bit less thick in the pan.

After baking it, I just let it cool to room temperature, BUT when it came to making it into bun shapes and frying it, most of the mac and cheese fell apart--some of it when being dipped into the liquid. Out of this whole recipe, I only got four usable mac and cheese buns. The rest of it became a pile that will now be lunch (most fell apart before I even got to dredging it, so it's still good... phew). What I would probably do differently next time would be to compress the mac and cheese for a few hours and/or put it in the refrigerator for a couple hours to allow it to firm up more before coating and frying it AND/OR use more daiya cheese in the recipe to make it hold together more.

Once I had the mac and cheese, I cut it into burger-ish shapes (mainly squares, as the edges of mine started to fall off as I coated them in flour, etc, anyway), then I coated them in flour, submerged them in almond milk (you could use soy or rice milk, as in the mac and cheese recipe), and coated them liberally with panko bread crumbs, then dipped* each into hot oil, in turn, and let them deep fry until golden brown.

*In order to better hold their shape, I used one of those big strainer spoon things and carefully lowered each bun into the oil, letting it fry for a moment or so before letting it go completely. If I'd just dropped them in, they might have broken apart more.

While my four mac and cheese buns drained, I heated up a couple of Hilary's brand veggie burgers over the stove, sliced tomatoes, chopped green onions and washed some lettuce, then prepared the mandatory sriracha ketchup by mixing 2 Tbsp Ketchup with 1/2 tsp Sriracha. When the burgers were cooked, I assembled everything--

A mac and cheese "bun" went on the bottom, a piece of lettuce on top, a slice of tomato on top of that, then the veggie burger patty. I slathered some sriracha ketchup onto the veggie patty, piled on the green onions, topped it with another "bun" and staked it with a toothpick.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Vegan Mac Attack Burger:

If you have any ideas for improvements, please share! This was a fun experiment. The burger was an absolute mess to eat, and mine were a bit oily, but overall it was pretty epic.

Thai Peanut Kale Salad Recipe

This is my favorite way to eat kale in the whole world, so here goes...

This Thai Peanut Kale Salad is a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy.

THAI PEANUT KALE SALAD
(Serves one)

MASSAGED KALE SALAD:
- 1 bunch of Dino Kale (or your favorite organic Kale)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt

THAI PEANUT DRESSING:
- 3 Tbsp all natural peanut butter (no salt, no sugar, just peanuts)
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp agave nectar
- 1/4 clove garlic
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- Pinch cayenne

FOR ASSEMBLY:
- 1/2 large carrot, peeled and grated
- Small handful of crushed blanched peanuts (optional), separated
- Cherry tomatoes (optional)

Directions:
To make the Massaged Kale Salad:
1. Rinse and inspect the kale VERY WELL (bugs love hiding in kale), then hold it together in a bunch and cut into approximately 1-inch pieces.
2. Put the kale into a large bowl and add salt and lemon juice. Massage the kale with your hands for about five minutes (squeeze, rotate, squeeze, rotate). It will become very tender and shrink tremendously. Drain some of the liquid from the Massaged Kale Salad and set aside.

To make the Thai Peanut Dressing:
3. In a food processor, combine the peanut butter, water, sesame oil, rice vinegar, agave nectar, garlic, ground ginger and cayenne until well blended

Assemble:
4.Add the Thai Peanut Dressing, grated carrot and about half of the crushed peanuts to the Massaged Kale Salad. Mix everything until well combined. Transfer your salad to a serving bowl, then top it with the remaining crushed peanuts and cherry tomatoes for garnish.

Enjoy!

Maple Popcorn Recipe

Welcome to my blog!

The idea of this blog is to provide recipes for simple snacks and other dishes that happen to be vegan. I try to be healthy generally, so most days I start my morning with a smoothie and try to eat a salad either for lunch or dinner.

I do LOVE popcorn, though, and I also enjoy the occasional tasty sweet. This maple popcorn is a combination of both! It tastes kind of like vegan kettle corn without the refined sugar.

My maple popcorn contains no butter and no added sugar. It is delicious and SO easy, with just a few ingredients. I guarantee this will not be my last popcorn recipe, but I think it's a fitting first, because it's soo freaking delicious.

Maple popcorn being all sticky and delicious in the bowl.

MAPLE POPCORN
-3 Tbsp coconut oil + 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil (separate)
-Popcorn kernels (enough to cover the bottom of a large pot in a single layer)
-2-4 Tbsp pure maple syrup, to taste
-Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Pop the popcorn over the stove (or some other way) to make about 6 cups popped. I cook it in 3 Tbsp coconut oil, as listed above. You can cook it however you want, or use my method...

Mr. Peasy's Popcorn-Cooking Method:

For me, this is the popcorn popping method that yields the best results.

Add 3 Tbsp coconut oil to a large pot (I use a 4-quart pot) and heat over the low end of the medium-low heat spectrum. When the coconut oil melts, add three kernels of popcorn to the pot and cover with a lid. When you hear all three kernels pop, the oil is hot enough to cook the popcorn evenly, so remove the lid and pour in just enough popcorn to coat the bottom of the pan with a single layer of kernels. Cover once again and wait for popping to increase dramatically and then slow. When there are only one or two pops every few seconds, remove your pot from the heat and wait about 30 seconds. Then remove the lid and pour the popped popcorn into a large bowl.

2. For the coating, mix 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil with 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup. Pour the maple syrup mixture over your popcorn and, using a rubber spatula, gently mix it with the popcorn. Try to spread it throughout the popcorn as much as possible. Add salt and continue to mix. Taste. If you like it sweeter or saltier, add up to 2 Tbsp more maple syrup or more salt.

You can spread your maple popcorn out on a cookie sheet to dry for cleaner enjoyment later.

I've been told it tastes a bit like kettle corn, and I agree. It may be slightly sticky, especially depending on how much maple syrup you add, so if you would like, you may spread it out on a cookie sheet to dry. If you use less maple syrup, however, it shouldn't be too sticky.