These vegan peanut butter s'mores bars are delicious campfire vibes in a bar. The base of these bars is a peanut butter graham cookie topped with gooey marshmallow cream and chocolate. They're all baked together to create a decadent, soft and gooey medley of texture and flavors. Enjoy the s'more without the campfire with this easy recipe!
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A local restaurant in Pittsburgh, DiAnoia's Eatery, serves a gnocchi bowl in a pumpkin. It's cheesy and creamy so I wanted to create a lighter vegan version. These vegan pumpkin gnocchi bowls are fall in a bowl. It is perfect for Thanksgiving, ThanksLiving or a Friendsgiving dinner, or even on Halloween before trick or treating. It's fairly simple to make so it can also be made for any kind of occasion, even a Wednesday night!
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These fudgy and decadent peanut butter black bean brownies are vegan and flourless. I love making these because I can eat one without feeling too guilty! They're a tasty source of fiber, protein and antioxidants. If you love brownies, you are going to love this healthier version.
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We used to live in Erie, PA and there was a little cafe there that had an asparagus soup. It was honestly one of the best soups I ever had in my life. When I finished my first bowl, I asked for a second. And from then on, I would order it to-go all the time. When we moved, I had to find a soup to make that matched THE asparagus soup. This vegan asparagus bisque is it, it is absolute perfection in a bowl AND it's healthy!
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This easy vegan mac and cheese takes less than twenty minutes to make. It's so creamy and actually tastes like macaroni and cheese. I've tried several vegan mac and cheeses that look like mac and cheese but when I taste it, it falls flat. Not this one and it comes together quickly so it's the perfect weeknight meal!
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This delicious vegan vegetable lasagna is loaded with a creamy vegetable tofu ricotta. It has the comfort food flavors we love in a traditional lasagna without any of the cheese or eggs that usually goes with it. It's packed with peppers, carrots, spinach and corn making it a healthier lasagna too! This kid-friendly vegan lasagna is a hit with vegans and non-vegans alike!
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This vegan vegetable tofu ricotta is simple to make and so versatile. Use it in lasagna, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, stuffed mushrooms or as a dip. Made with just a few basic ingredients and combined with sauteed pureed vegetables, it's out of this world.
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If you're like me, you've started stocking up on pumpkin puree in preparation of the amazing fall recipes to come. I am always looking for something to put pumpkin in and these vegan pumpkin coffee cake muffins are PERFECT. They are moist, crumbly and bursting with fall flavor. They are perfect in lunch boxes, as an after-school snack or with your coffee in the morning (or in my case, pumpkin spiced coffee).
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The mornings here in Pittsburgh are turning chilly and I've been putting pumpkin pie spice in my morning coffee. This could only mean autumn is right around the corner! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little excited and Halloweentown may or may not have been watched in my house recently. So of course, I've been starting to look into some fall recipes. These vegan autumn spiced chocolate chip cookies fit the bill. The flavor is SO unbelievably delicious and fall-ish while the cookie itself is gooey, light and fluffy. You are going to love them, and I guarantee they're going to become a fall favorite in your house!
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Cozy up with the best vegan corn chowder. It's made with simple ingredients and the great corn flavor comes from using fresh corn and cooking the cobs with the soup. Satisfying potatoes, sweet corn and fresh peppers come together to make the perfect healthy soup.
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These vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are thick, gooey and loaded with flavor! Cookies are my favorite dessert, and I make a lot of them, so I know a good cookie when I taste one. And I wouldn't waste the calories on mediocre cookies that taste strange or have a weird texture. I promise these cookies don't taste vegan; they taste just like the real deal.
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This creamy vegan mushroom stroganoff is creamy deliciousness in a bowl. This is an easy weeknight meal that your family will love. There's very little prep and it's made in one pot making cleanup a breeze!
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Who says vegan can't be fun?! This edible vegan cookie dough is spectacular and perfect for a party. I don't know anybody who doesn't love cookie dough, and this variety is dairy-free and completely safe to eat raw! Serve this up at your next gathering and I guarantee kids and adults alike will be going hog-wild for it!
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This sweet and spicy Asian broccoli is one of the easiest side dishes you'll ever make. It only takes about 5 minutes, and you don't even need to cook the broccoli. I make this for get-togethers, and it always gets rave reviews.
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Old fashioned vegan stuffed peppers is comfort food to the extreme. It brings back memories of sitting at the dining room table with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a special occasion type of meal when 'company' came over. I can't think of a better meal on a chilly winter night. It always felt like they took so much time and effort, but now that I'm older I realize they are actually fairly simple to make! I love making these for my children to pass on those comforting meal memories.
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We grew up eating mashed potatoes regularly. At least 3 times a week our family was eating mashed potatoes with something. Potatoes in general were popular in our house. Whether scalloped, baked, fried, grilled, in potato salads, as twice baked potatoes, we ate them any way we could get them! These vegan mashed potatoes are based off of the ones I grew up eating.
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You are going to love this healthy vegan creamed spinach. I eat this year-round because it is so surprisingly light and healthy, but it very much feels like a comfort food. The nutmeg in this gives that warm spice vibe we all crave in the chilly season making this especially good as part of your holiday spread or anytime in the fall.
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You are going to love this creamy vegan cauliflower sauce. I used to live by a Wegmans grocery store. If you have ever been to one you will totally relate when I say they are the best. They're like a Trader Joe's x 1000, they have all kinds of delicious foods that are exclusive to them, including their Cauli 'Creme' sauce. When we moved away from a Wegmans, this was one of the main items I missed. I needed to find a way to make it myself at home. After searching the internet, I found an amazing recipe at Creamy Cauliflower Sauce Recipe - Pinch of Yum and easily veganized it.
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This vegan tortilla soup is 'da bomb dot com' (I grew up in the 90's and I will always use this phrase). It's easy to make and with beans, corn and lentils as the main ingredients, it's so healthy. Cashew cream gives it a slight richness and finished with your favorite toppings, it's comfort in a bowl.
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During the Great Depression, my great-grandmother would make Elephant Ears and Hummingbird Tongues for my grandma and her three brothers. It was incredibly cheap and so delicious! My grandma made it for my dad growing up, and he made it for us growing up. It's my favorite breakfast and it's our family's special occasion breakfast. Every Christmas and birthday we have fried dough slathered with butter (or vegan butter) and powdered sugar.
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Sometimes a chickpea salad can taste just like mayonnaise. Not this salad, it's loaded with flavor! It's made with grapes two ways, blended into the dressing, and chopped into the salad. This gives the salad an amazingly sweet and fresh flavor. There's also Dijon mustard in the dressing which gives it a fantastic kick, plus diced red onion adds a little heat. It's the perfect chickpea salad and one of my husband's favorite sandwiches, whenever I make it, it's gone in a day. This sandwich is not only delicious, creamy, fresh and crunchy, it's also healthy with protein, fiber and antioxidants.
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BBQs can be tricky if you don't eat meat, and even harder if you're a vegan. So many pasta salads, potato salads, and side dishes sneak bacon, cheese, mayonnaise or eggs in there! These baked beans are perfect to bring along. First of all, they're vegan friendly and second, they're AMAZING! My mom requests I make these anytime we have a family BBQ, they have become a family BBQ staple, they're that good!
The idea for this recipe came from a local Pittsburgh PBS station, WQED. They have a cooking show, QED Cooks, where local chefs or home cooks go on television and present their favorite recipes. It's the best show and if you're ever in Pittsburgh I highly recommend tuning in. But anyway, a Pittsburgh chef, BBQ Stu presented his locally famous baked beans recipe. I needed to try them so had to transform the recipe and they turned out to be the best baked beans I have ever had.
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Enchiladas are a must in my house. I've made every variety imaginable and continue to experiment with new fillings and enchilada sauce. The idea for this recipe came from a local PBS station here in Pittsburgh, WQED. They have a show called QED Cooks where they cook local favorites and some non-local favorites. On a recent episode, they made chicken enchiladas, and they blended up enchilada sauce with kidney beans as part of the filling. I had never thought of doing that and was instantly intrigued. So, of course, at my first opportunity I needed to go to the store and try this out. Thus, these vegan enchiladas were born!
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I love having muffins in the house. They're an easy breakfast, lunch or snack. I love even more when they're healthy and easy to make! These muffins are loaded with blueberries, strawberries, oatmeal, flaxseeds and sweetened with maple syrup. Did I mention these wholesome muffins are so delicious too? They're amazing just as is, and I eat them that way all the time, but sometimes slicing them and spreading a little vegan butter on just puts it over the top.
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This vegan tortellini soup is healthy and delicious. It's light enough for a summer lunch and also comforting enough for a winter night. And it comes together so quickly! This recipe adds white beans and cashew cream to add protein and creaminess. And I add kale at the end to give it a little extra bite.
To make this recipe, start by making your cashew cream, which is one of the most awesome recipes in a vegan's arsenal! For this soup, I keep the cashew cream super simple because I only want it to add creaminess. Put 1 cup of cashews in a small pot and cover with water. Boil for about 20 minutes and then drain. Add the cashews and ½ cup of fresh water (not the water from the pot) into a high-speed blender and blend until creamy. You may have to add 1-3 tablespoons more water to get the right texture. I just make sure there's not small chunks of cashews left and it's a smooth puree.
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This chili is near and dear to my heart. It's a staple in our house, we have it at least twice a month. It's so delicious, healthy, easy and fast! It's like an "I went all out for dinner tonight" kind of meal when in reality it was really easy (but nobody needs to know that). This recipe makes enough for our family of four plus leftovers for the next day. I always try to make enough so there's leftovers. If I make a recipe and it's gone the same day, I feel cheated somehow, you know what I mean?! Like I put all this effort in and it's just gone, done, the fridge is empty again, like I have to do this all again tomorrow? So, if you have a very large family you may want to double this!
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These mouth-watering nachos are a cinch to make! Freshly baked flour tortilla chips topped with colorful vegetables, they're a total showstopper. They're perfect for a movie night, holiday gathering, family party or even just for dinner.
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This vegan chocolate pudding cake is made with a few ingredients that you probably already have in your house. It's so quick that it can be made on a weeknight but it's also impressive enough that it can be served at a dinner party.
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Party popcorn was created in our house one night when we needed a movie night snack. It's wildly simple and there's a good chance you may have these ingredients on hand already! The 'recipe' (if you can even call it a recipe!) is popcorn and crumbled cookies drizzled with melted chocolate and topped with vegan sprinkles. It's the easiest thing to make for a party, movie night, holiday or a midday sweet. It's the most versatile and forgiving recipe and you can easily swap out ingredients. You just need something to mix in with the popcorn, like a cookie or candy and something melted to drizzle over to combine everything, and you can top with vegan sprinkles if you have them on hand!
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I met my match with the chocolate chip cookie. It was my white whale so to speak. I couldn’t find a vegan version that was both perfect in texture and taste, so I set out on a path to create one. It took months, literally, and many failed attempts. Until one day, the stars aligned, and fortune smiled down on my cookie tray. This recipe was the one, the chosen one, the Harry Potter of chocolate chip cookies if you will. I thought they were the spitting image of their counterpart standard cookie, so I brought my daughter and her friends inside for one. Two minutes and three chocolate-smeared faces later I knew I wasn’t alone, these ultimate vegan chocolate chip cookies were a hit!
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