Plant Based – The Spicy Spatula

Cheese, International vegan cuisine, Plant Based, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

New Vegan Product ALERT!! ~ Vegan Caviar!!!

Posted on June. 2022June. 2022 by writinstuff

As you all know things have been HECTIC around here with the final push before the launch of Let It Be Love just around the corner. My editor had a family emergency and I had to do a quick re-edit to send it off to my release team and that’s what I did yesterday instead of sharing a vegan food recipe with you yesterday.

But never fear, I have something else equally cool to share with you today.

Not a recipe, but a new vegan food product that you must try out if you can find it or get it shipped to your neck of the woods.

Vegan. Caviar.

Yep, that’s what I said, vegan caviar.

Specifically, vegan black caviar.

Sounds a little strange but as a fellow vegan and a vegan blogger, it is my responsibility to try this out and let you know if it’s worth the cost and the taste.

Continue reading →

Beans, Desserts, International vegan cuisine, Plant Based, Sandwiches, Soup, Travel, Vegan

More Vegan Travels & Food ~ Constanta, Danube & Tulcea (Romania)

Posted on June. 2022June. 2022 by writinstuff

One of my favorite things to is travel to new places and explore new cultures, history and art. I love to see how people live all over the world and whenever I can find time I like to go pretty much anywhere that has a few items of interest.

My partner and I had been planning a trip to the Danube Delta and then COVID struck and we postponed it. Twice.

But we finally got there and we took a rather circuitous route, starting with Constanța to see the port and the Black Sea, which is a place my husband and his family often spent summers when he was a kid. The day was nice and warm and we walked around the city before taking in the Museum of History and Archeology which was incredible. There really is a lot of Roman history to be found in Romania, in addition to the Austrian and German influences found throughout their history. It was a wonderful day of sun and history and exploration.

I love the town signs that give you a silhouette of each town entering and leaving

So we started with Constanta and if you don’t know it is the birth place of tennis player Simona Halep and actor Sebastian Stan! Just a little bit of fun trivia for ya.

Continue reading →

Plant Based, Potatoes, Sandwiches, Vegan

Easy Vegan BBQ Mushroom & Onion Sandwiches

Posted on June. 2022June. 2022 by writinstuff

Open or closed, that is often the question I have these days when it comes to making vegan sandwiches. On the one hand a regular closed sandwich is delicious and it has the potential to get really messy, which only makes a vegan sandwich even more enjoyable. On the other hand, an open-faced vegan sandwich allows you to get more sandwich insides without increasing the amount of bread on your plate.

So the question then becomes, open-faced or closed-face sandwiches?

In our house, it depends. When it comes to burgers I am strictly a closed-faced, two-handed juicy burger with the works kind of girl while The Hubs will almost always ask for me to split is Beyond burger into two small diner style patties and serve them open, which I’m happy to do. For him.

But when it comes to things like lentil Sloppy Joe sandwiches or Spinach & Artichoke Sandwiches, I prefer to keep it open face so I can have more creamy, spicy, Sloppy Joe goodness.

So when I found the most beautiful pack of oyster mushrooms I have ever seen, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. Vegan barbecue shredded mushroom sandwiches. They’re like pulled pork but without the suffering.

Open faced vegan bbq mushroom sandwiches

This is an easy to make vegan recipe that can be ready in 40 minutes…or less.

Click here for more Easy Vegan Sandwich ideas!

Keep Reading

Cheese, French, International vegan cuisine, Pasta, Plant Based, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Creamy Vegan French Onion Pasta

Posted on June. 2022June. 2022 by writinstuff

Anyone else have a serious carb addiction? Just me?

Okay.

Anyway…

I spend some of my time perusing the vegan food blogs for recipe ideas because as much as I am creative and well-traveled and experienced with new cultures, there are many, many times where someone else is more so. When that happens, I make an effort to defer to those know either know more or do it better. At least…somewhat.

So when I came across tons of vegan recipes for variations on French onion pasta, I was eager to try it, experiment with it and make it my own. Because that’s what we do as creatives, as vegans, as home cooks, as…humans.

Right?

This is a simple vegan recipe that also happens to be a 30-minute vegan recipe which in my eyes kind of makes it the gold standard of the perfect vegan weeknight dinner. The only thing is, this one was of my recipe requests which means that my partner, Cos, made it.

And it was simple, delicious and exactly what I wanted.

Creamy Vegan French Onion Pasta (tagliatelle)

Ready to get started?

Continue reading →

Asian Food, Bowls, oil free vegan recipes, Plant Based, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Easy Vegan Lunch Recipes ~ Mushroom & Snow Pea Bowl

Posted on May. 2022May. 2022 by writinstuff

Whether you work at home like me or you have to head to an office each day, lunch is inevitable. By the time noon rolls around, your belly might rumble with hunger or maybe you skipped breakfast, or maybe you just practice intuitive eating and lunchtime is when your hunger kicks into overdrive.

Enjoy some of these vegan lunch recipes:

Veggie Ramen & Miso
Smoke Tofu Bahn Mi
Soul Food Lunch Plate

Whatever the reason you need to eat lunch and you have choices. Will you head to the nearest drive-thru to satisfy your hunger with something greasy and delicious but that won’t provide you for much energy to get through the day? Or will you load up on something healthy and full of vegetables and nutrients to keep you going?

I know which choice we all want to make. The easy choice and that’s a given since our brains are hard-wired to maintain the status quo, to avoid doing anything that might cause the smallest amount of pain or discomfort. But with a few seconds of thought and good decision making you’ll reach your health, work or life goals much easier.

And all of that was just my way of introducing my latest dish, Mushroom & Snow Pea bowl. So simple, right?

Darn tootin’!

Simple and delicious.

Continue reading →

Grains, Herbs, Italian, Plant Based, Vegan

Creamy Vegan Polenta & Oven Roasted Vegetables

Posted on May. 2022May. 2022 by writinstuff

Some people might say that Spring is too warm for vegan polenta recipes and I say those people are wrong. 😛 Sometimes I get so deep into the writing cave that I’ll look up and find it’s 10:30 and it’s my night to cook, and that’s when a dish like this is a gift.

Seriously though, sometimes you want a homemade vegan meal that’s simple to throw together and doesn’t take a long time to make. Polenta does take about 10 to 15 minutes if you want it really creamy and delicious, but the good news is that the oven is doing all the work for the vegetables so you have plenty of time!

And this is also a perfect whole food vegan dinner, but if you want to add a vegan meat alternative feel free since you’re the one who has to eat it.

This is an easy vegan dinner made with sheet pan vegetables so it’s also an easy weeknight dinner any vegan will enjoy!

Continue reading →

Asian Food, International vegan cuisine, Noodles, oil free vegan recipes, Plant Based, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Easy Plant Based Vegan Udon w/Veggies

Posted on May. 2022May. 2022 by writinstuff

The 2020’s have been wonderful for vegans. There’s a plethora of vegan meat alternatives available for you to satisfy your appetite from old faithful tofu to vegan sausage, steaks, chicken and even seafood. If you live in one of the major cities around the world, there’s no end to the vegan options available to you to try out and enjoy. Even if you live in a smaller town, the internet makes it easy to order just about anything that strikes your fancy.

But some days you just want to keep it simple. An easy plant based vegan recipe that’s full of vegetables and creamy udon noodles.

This is a simple vegan recipe that is the perfect answer when you want to use up the rest of your vegetables before your next shopping trip, or if you’re out of ideas but you really need to eat. 🙂

Cooking vegan food at home doesn’t mean that you need to whip up gourmet food every single day, sometimes it’s about simple and vegan and nutritious.

There are really just three components to this dish: noodles, veggies & sauce. If you want anything else, feel free to add it and I’d be happy to see/hear the results.

Continue reading →

Desserts, Fruit, Plant Based, Vegan

Vegan Dessert Recipes ~ Vegan Banana & Pineapple Cake

Posted on May. 2022May. 2022 by writinstuff

Who doesn’t love cake? Truthfully? Me. I mean I like cake but it’s not something that I just have to have or can’t live without. If it’s too sweet then I’ll have a bite of my husband’s piece but that’s where it ends.

Unless we’re talking Devil’s Food Cake, which I happen to LOVE!!!

I also quite enjoyed this Apple Crumble Cake recipe.

But he has quite a well-developed sweet tooth which means I get to try out all my vegan dessert recipes on him. A win-win for us both.

This banana and pineapple cake, titled Bananananas Cake because of the English word for Banana and the German word for pineapple, ananas. Get it?

Well even if you don’t, this is what we have for today’s vegan recipe, so let’s dig right in!

This vegan cake is easy to make, delicious and you can add more or less sugar, as needed.

Continue reading →

Asian Food, Bowls, Grains, International vegan cuisine, Plant Based, Sauces & Creams, Vegan

Vegan Takeout Recipes ~ General Tso’s Cauliflower

Posted on May. 2022May. 2022 by writinstuff

This week (and maybe next week too) I’m going to keep the recipes as short as possible because I must start editing Let It Be Love, which is book 5 in my Mustang Prairie series.

If you’re interested, check out the link here.

Anyway my schedule is a little packed so I will try to make this as quick/short as possible.

Today we’re doing vegan takeout right at home. It’s faster, it’s cheaper and the only thing it’ll cost is some of your time.

Vegan takeout recipes at home – General Tso’s Cauliflower

When it comes to this recipe, you have choices and I strongly urge you to exercise them because this dish can be so wonderful in so many different ways.

So let’s jump right in.

Continue reading →

Grains, Plant Based, Vegan

Stuffed Butternut Squash with Vegan Mince, Mushrooms & Mustard Greens

Posted on April. 2022April. 2022 by writinstuff

These are some strange times that we are all living in…right? It’s April but there’s still an abundance of squash at the grocery store as well as the farmer’s market. It’s weird. Uncanny, even.

More so when I think about all the time I put in to learning when vegetables were in season so that I could adjust for local ingredients in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint. But now we’re living in the Upside-Down where birds don’t leave Romania in the winter, squash is available year round and now, suddenly, you can purchase turnip and mustard greens wherever you go.

Okay, rant over. Was that technically a rant?

I don’t think so, let’s just call it an energetic questioning of events, shall we?

Anyway since butternut squash is still available and I LOVE it, you know I grabbed one and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Stuff it.

Looking for other butternut squash recipes?

Squash & Lentil Stew
Butternut Squash & Spinach Queso
Chocolate & Squash Blondies

That’s right. Even though it’s April and the weather is–finally–warming up, I decided that I would make a hearty vegan autumn meal and it’s my house and my blog and I can do what I want.