December 2017 – Earth Angel Vegan

EARTH ANGEL VEGANS NACHO SALAD IS a delicious way to get your daily dose of veggies! It was so good and filling that it could make a whole meal! The pumpkin cheezy sauce is so easy and so tasty you will want to put it on everything. Put all the ingredients out and your family can build their own salad bowl with all their favorite toppings!

Recipe: 4 large salads

Salad Base – my salad base was butter crunch lettuce, romaine, red cabbage, chopped peppers, cucumbers, and green onions. Use your favorite salad base for 4 large salads. Add the rest of the ingredients in order making a layered salad!

2 Cups frozen corn thawed (1/2 cup on each salad)

2 cups black beans (1/2 cup on each salad)

1 hand full of nacho chips crunched up per each salad (I make my own oil free in the air fryer)

2 cups pumpkin cheezy sauce (recipe will follow) 1/2 cup on each salad!

2 cups guacamole (prepared or home made) 1/2 cup on each salad

2 cups of your favorite salsa… hot, med, or mild… (1/2 cup on each salad)

Garnishes like jalapeno slices, lime wedges, cilantro, olives… your choice

Pumpkin Cheezy Sauce (makes 2 cups)

1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not seasoned, just plain)

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 – 1 teaspoon of salt (may be omitted but salt adds to the cheese taste)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

a pinch of tumeric

a pinch of black pepper

1/2 to 1 cup plant milk

Add pumpkin and all dry ingredients to a small sauce pan and whisk together. Over medium heat add 1/2 cup plant milk and whisk… add more plant milk to get to the consistency you like for cheese sauce up to 1 cup. Bring to bubbling and taste… add more salt if you think it needs it.

I serve it warm on the salad!

ENJOY!

EARTH ANGEL VEGAN’S CROCK POT STUFFING was the highlight of Thanksgiving dinner this year. My sister-in-law came for dinner and then woke up dreaming about this stuffing in the middle of the night! My mom always made a simple but delicious stuffing. She actually stuffed it into a turkey and it was moist and delicious. It was however, loaded with butter and turkey fat :(. I wanted to mimic the flavor as well as the moist texture and came up with this recipe. Topped with mushroom gravy it was the highlight of our Thanksgiving dinner! Give it a try at you next holiday meal.

RECIPE:

1 loaf bread (preferably no oil) *If you are local Giant Eagle Tuscany bread works well

1 carton vegetable broth

1 yellow onion diced

1 stalk celery diced

2 tablespoons good poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Cut bread into bite sized cubes and let dry out for a few hours on a cookie sheet

In a skillet add 1/2 cup broth with onion celery and poultry seasoning and simmer until the onion is soft

In a large bowl add the slightly dry bread cubes and sprinkle the salt and pepper over them. Then add the cooked warm onion celery mix and toss it up with your hands.

Throw it all in a crock pot and pour the rest of the vegetable broth on and stir it up. Cook it on low for about 4 hours. It will seem like it too sticky in the middle and getting dry and stuck to the sides but keep the lid on and stir it around every 20-30 minutes. After 4 hours on low turn it to the warm setting.

*I tried this with a multi-grain seed bread and it did not work out well. I also used a sour dough but you could really pick up the sour flavor. I think a plain oil free Italian or French bread would work the best. The crock pot should be pretty full of bread and you will use a whole carton of vegetable broth. It will seem like it is going all wrong about an hour into the process but keep it on low and stir it every 20 minutes or so and it will turn out fine! I did actually make two crock pots full for our family… we love stuffing 🙂