Southwestern Taquitos.

My sister-in-law, Jenn, told me about this recipe she found and made off pinterest. She LOVES it... and it totally delivered. Instead of in egg roll form, I used wheat tortillas and did taquitos instead. Yum.

2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1-15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-9 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry with paper towel
1-7oz can diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
10-12 wheat tortillas

Preheat oven to 425*F. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.In a large bowl mix together corn, beans, spinach, chiles, onions, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Scoop and roll in tortillas. Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly brown. They'll crunch up some more as they cool. 

Adapted from Cake & Allie who adapted from Annies Eats then adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Broccoli and Cheeze Soup.

Well played OhSheGlows. Well played.

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup chopped celery

4-4.5 cups chopped broccoli florets (2 heads, stems removed)

1.5 cups peeled & chopped potatoes (about 3)

3 cups vegetable broth

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or crushed red pepper flakes)

Low-fat vegan cheeze sauce, divided (see below for recipe)

1/2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

herbamare & onion powder, to taste

Kosher salt & black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup fresh minced parsley, plus more to garnish

Daiya cheese, to garnish

Smoked Paprika, to garnish (optional)

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil, onion, and garlic over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Cook for about 5-6 mins.

2. Add in the celery, broccoli, and potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Now, add the broth, nutritional yeast, and cayenne pepper and simmer for another 15 mins or so until the potatoes are just fork tender.

3. Meanwhile, prepare your cheeze sauce (see below) while the soup simmers.

4. Carefully transfer the soup (in two batches) into a blender. Blend until almost smooth (I left it a bit chunky, but you can blend as much as you wish) and place back into the pot. Stir in the cheeze sauce, reserving 1/3 cup for later.

5. Stir in optional lemon juice, salt, pepper, and optional herbamare all to taste. Finally, stir in the minced parsley and spoon into bowls.

6. Top the soup with croutons, Daiya cheese, remaining cheeze sauce, and smoked paprika.

Low-Fat Vegan Cheeze Sauce (double batch)

Adapted from here. I basically just doubled my old recipe and added a couple extra spices.
Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup unsweetened, unflavoured almond milk
• 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance or other non-dairy buttery spread
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. In a skillet or pot, melt the Earth Balance over medium heat.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and 1/4 cup milk until all clumps are gone.

3. Whisk in the remaining milk (1.25 cups) as well as the milk and flour mixture into the pot. Now whisk in the nutritional yeast. Reduce heat to low-medium.

4. Add Dijon, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste and whisk frequently over low heat until the sauce thickens up, for 3-5 minutes. Be careful not to burn it. Remove from heat once thick.

Cajun Oven Fries.

An awesome go-to for homemade steak oven fries. Nice and spicy! Although, don't eat with leftover BBQ Chipotle Burgers and Sweet & Spicy Cucumbers. Holy Moly, our family was one big sweaty mess by the end of dinner. Ok, not that bad. But way too much spicy for one meal!

4 medium thin-skinned white potatoes
3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce
1 teaspoon ground thyme or poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Coarse salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Cut potatoes into wedges. In a large bowl, combine oil, hot sauce, thyme, paprika, and cumin. Toss potatoes in dressing and spread out in a single layer on a nonstick cookie sheet. Season wedges with salt and pepper and roast for 25-30 minutes, turning once. [or, I like to cook the fries on a cooling rack ontop of a cooking sheet... that way the heat goes all the way around the frie and you don't have to flip them... a RR Tip]

a Rachael Ray recipe

Spicy Doritos Cheezy Dip.

My friend Crysta turned me onto the blog, loveveggiesandyoga. And what I've tried has been some pretty good stuff. This one included. I have a dream of my kids sitting in front of a platter of all raw veggies and gobbling them up with some really yummy and healthy dip. The did like, but didn't gobble... at least not yet. But I'll try again. But that night for dinner we had this with nachos... yum!

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup hemp seeds (if you don’t have these, use Cashews, all Sunflower Seeds.Mix & Match your seeds as necessary)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 of a red pepper
3 tablespoons lemon juice 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (add more to taste if desired)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and well combined.

lovesveggiesandyoga