I had some leftover white beans from a dish I had made, not a whole lot left maybe about a little less than a cup. It was at the point where I had to either use them up or throw them out. I hate being wasteful when it comes to food so I definitely wanted to use the beans up but in what? Then I thought about creating a hummus. After all it’s just beans and olive oil and super super quick and easy to make. It’ll take all of 5 minutes of your life

- 1 cup white beans rinsed
- 1 small garlic clove (go as small as you can with this since 1 cup isn’t a whole lot in the end)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor or blender drop in beans, garlic, salt, pepper and about 2 tbsp olive oil. Hit blend. Keep adding olive oil until you get a nice creamy consistency. Once you have the desired consistency take out into a bowl and serve with pita bread or chips. Quick, easy snack

- 1 box red velvet cake mix
- 3/4 cup melted butter
- 1 egg (egg substitute)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 jar storebought caramel topping

Preheat oven to 325°F. In a baking pan (preferably 9×13 for this), spray non-stick spray. In a bowl combine all wet ingredients (egg, butter, water). Then add cake mix. Using a mixer (or you can stir) combine all ingredients until all lumps are gone and it’s a smooth batter. Pour into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Once brownies are done remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Once it’s cooled using a tray or large plate, place on top of pan and flip over. It should come out smoothly. Here’s the easy part. Heat jar of caramel topping (most found in grocery stores come in microwaveable safe jars) for 25 seconds. Remove jar from microwave and pour about half the jar on top of brownies. Use a spatula to spread caramel evenly.

Allow to sit for about 10-15 more minutes to allow caramel to set. Then eat and enjoy.

My dad recently started a new job, however it’s up in San Francisco and we live in Orange County. So these days it’s pretty much my mom and myself except for when he comes home on the weekends. I usually get home late during the week and I HATE having to think of something to whip up to eat, so I’m always racking my brain on what can be quick, hearty yet delicious for my mom and myself.  So one night I made these Lasagna Rollups. I LOVE lasagna but if you’ve ever made it before you know that it takes quite a bit of preparation and baking time before you get a chance to eat it. By using individual lasagna strips and ingredients that were already in my fridge, I cut down this time by over half and it was just as good as if it sat there baking for a half hour.

- 5 lasagna strips (Note: This recipe makes makes 4 ’cause that’s how many I made; It’s individual servings so if you want to make more for yourself or others just add an additional Lasagna strip — I have 5 because I cooked one extra in case one of my other ones tore)
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 cups shredded cheese (I used Cheddar and Mozzarella)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese (we had full fat in our fridge but you can use skim or try it w/cottage cheese)
- 1/4 cup zucchini diced
- 1/4 cup broccoli chopped
- 1/2 cup mushrooms chopped
- 1/2 cup ground beef (optional – obv omit to make it veggie)
- 2 tbsp garlic minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- handful of fresh basil chopped
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Add 1 tbsp olive oil (this is so the lasagna won’t stick to each other in the pot — you can also spray a non-stick spray like PAM into the pot). Slowly add each strip to pot. In a separate pan heat on medium and add remaining olive oil and garlic. Allow the garlic to slightly cook for about a minute or so — you don’t want it to get brown or burnt. Add ground beef to pan and allow to cook until browned. While lasagna strips & beef are cooking in a separate bowl add ricotta, veggies, basil, salt and pepper. Fold all together until they are well combined. Once beef is done cooking add to ricotta and fold again.

Once lasagna strips are done cooking strain. Warm up sauce in the microwave. Spray a small casserole dish with non-stick spray. Lay down one lasagna strip. Take a scoop of the ricotta mixture and place at one end of the strip. leave enough room though at the end for when you. Roll it up and place the seam side down in the casserole dish. Repeat with remaining strips (including the extra cooked strip if you want). Ladle sauce across the top of each roll up and sprinkle generously with cheese. Place in oven for 10 minutes just to cook veggies and melt cheese.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Individual lasagnas voila!

Fried food. Who doesn’t love fried food? One fried food I had always wanted to try but never did because no one would suck up and share with me was fried pickles. It’s a Southern classic and I’ve always been intrigued. I mean I know you can fry just about anything, after all fairs deep fry Twinkies, Oreos and the like (neither of which I’ve tried yet for fear of artery blockage) but I decided if I wanted to try something so badly I was going to have to make it myself. I went on a frying spree throwing in onions and zucchini rounds as well.  Lucky for me, fried pickles are pretty tasty no need to fear ordering them anymore!

- 1/2 package tempura batter (can be found in grocery store)
- cold water as needed according to tempura instructions
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying
- 1 cup sliced onion rings
- 1 cup sliced zucchini rounds
- 1 cup sliced pickles (don’t do thin slices)
- salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl follow tempura batter instructions (usually will just entail mixing the tempura with water). Place oil in a frying pan. Put the pan on medium heat and allow oil to start getting hot. Depending on what kind of stove you have this can take a coupe to several minutes. Set up another bowl with panko bread crumbs. To check to see if the oil is ready take a tiny dollop of the batter and slowly drop into frying pan. If it floats to the top and the oil is bubbling then it’s ready.

Take a slice of each veggie, dip in tempura batter, roll around in panko bread crumbs and SLOWLY drop into frying pan. Let it fry for about a minute or so or until the outside is a nice golden brown. Remove from pan, shake off any excess oil and place onto a paper towel lined dish (this will allow it to absorb any remaining oil). Hit it with some salt and pepper. How quickly each piece will cook will be dependent on how thick each slice is. Remember the thicker it is the longer it will take. Also, don’t forget the more you put into the pan, the temperature of the oil will go down and it will take longer to cook so try and make sure you don’t overload your pan. Repeat the steps above as necessary for each veggie and then eat on up!

I love this dish because it’s filling and delicious and practically effortless to make.  The ingredients are so simple yet combined they bring so much flavor to the dish plus the acidity of the lemon cuts right through everything. It’s great for lunch or dinner and perfect in the summer since it is a cold dish.

- 1 package of orzo pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- 1/2 cup cucumber diced
- 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop in orzo and cook for 5-7 minutes or until al dente. Carefully strain (to be safe I would put a bowl underneath your strainer as orzo is pretty thin and small and can easily fall through strainer holes — you can scoop whatever drops in the bowl after straining)

Transfer strained orzo to a large bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes occasionally stirring to release heat. Add olive oil and toss with orzo. Add lemon juice, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes & cheese and fold. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serve cold

One of my recent obsessions has been gazpacho. If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a Spanish tomato-based cold vegetable soup especially delicious during the hot summer months (i.e. now). I had never had it until about a month ago when a co-worker told me I could get some at a place called Le Pain Quotidien up in LA where we work. We made a trip there one day for lunch and I asked for extra avocado in mine (I’m a strong believer that avocado should be put in EVERYTHING). It was hands down one of the best things I’ve ever eaten and I try to eat it once a week if I can. I decided I would attempt to make this myself at home. I had a craving for tacos and coupled with my love for avocados, I decided to try an Avocado based gazpacho as opposed to tomato based. The results were nothing short of spectacular…

Avocado Gazpacho

Gazpacho is also one of the easiest and most flavorful things to make and doesn’t take long at all if you know what you want to put in it. It’s also completely vegan yet hearty enough to satisfy any appetite.

- 1/2 cup red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 cup white onion chopped
- 1/2 cup zucchini chopped
- 1/2 cup yellow squash chopped
- 2 ripe avocados
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 cup corn kernels
- 1/2 cup red tomatoes diced
- 1 1/2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- 1 tbsp Anaheim chile diced (you can use serrano or even jalapeno depending on how spicy you want it to be)
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 1/2 cups ice cold water
- 1 tsp dried cumin (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- sour cream (optional)
- Cotija cheese (optional)

Take the first 4 ingredients, throw them in the food processor and pulse for a few seconds to get finer bits of veggies.  Dump them into a bowl.  Add corn, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, cumin and chile.  Take one avocado, remove pit, scoop out the flesh and dice.  Add diced avocado to the bowl.  Add lime juice and generous amounts of salt and some pepper to bowl.

Take the second avocado, remove pit and scoop out flesh into a food processor (or you can use a blender for this if you don’t have a food processor).  Add about 3/4 cup ice cold water and puree.  Add more water if it’s still chunky until you get a smooth texture.  Add puree to the rest of the ingredients.  Add the remaining water and whisk all the ingredients together.  If it’s too thick add more water but be careful not to over thin it.  Add any seasoning as necessary.

The ice water is good if you are planning to serve right away but if you’re able, place the gazpacho in the fridge for up to an hour before serving.  When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and top with dollop of sour cream and sprinkle Cotija cheese.

Serves 4-6

Tacos

Chipotle Black Beans, Potato & Roasted Poblano Taco
- corn tortillas
- 1 can black beans
- 1 chipotle pepper marinated in adobo sauce (available at your grocery store)
- 2 small potatoes
- 1 poblano pepper
- Cotija cheese (optional)
- sour cream (optional)

Heat a pan on medium heat.  Slightly drain black beans (otherwise they come heavily salted). Dump them into the pan and allow them to heat through. Carefully remove 1 chipotle pepper and dice (if you don’t want to touch it drop it in a small food processor and pulse for a few seconds to chop up — you can also remove any seeds this way to lighten the heat).  Add diced pepper to beans and stir.  Add any other spices or ingredients you normally like to put with beans (I kept it to just the pepper since it’s already very spicy and the adobo sauce is a nice smoky roasted flavor; plus black beans alone are pretty hearty and flavorful).

On a grill, or grill pan (or in my instance we have a gas stove i just used the stove top), heat to a high heat.  If you are fortunate to use a gas stove like myself you can turn it on medium and place the poblano pepper directly on top of the flames.  If you are using a grill pan wait until the grill is completely hot before putting the pepper on the grill.  It will just be a slower process but should also do the job.  Roast the pepper until most of the outside of the pepper is blackened.  Once you are finished set aside and allow it to cool for a few minutes.

Your beans should be done cooking at this point. Reduce to a light heat to allow them to stay warm.  Take your potatoes and wash them thoroughly and remove any rough spots and “eyes” on the skin. You may remove the skin if you like but I preferred to keep mine on. Wrap the potatoes in saran wrap and microwave for about 3-3 1/2 minutes until just slightly tender.  You don’t want them to be super soft and mushy.  Remove from microwave and take off saran wrap and allow them to cool.

Back to the pepper, start peeling outside of pepper until all roasted skin is gone.  Then dice the pepper as normal.  Once potatoes have cooled cut into small wedges.

In a small pan heat corn tortillas.  As each one is heated place beans, potatoes & roasted pepper. Sprinkle Cotija cheese and add a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Ground Beef (”Beef”), Grilled Veggie & Chipotle Salsa Taco
- corn tortillas
- 2 cups ground beef or Morningstar Crumbles
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 3/4 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup sliced red pepper
- 1/2 cup sliced green pepper
- 1/4 cup sliced zucchini
- 1/4 cup sliced yellow squash
- 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
- Cotija cheese (optional)

Chipotle Salsa
- 1 tomato cut into wedges
- 1/4 of a white onion
- 1 small chipotle pepper marinated in adobo sauce
- 1/2 garlic glove
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat a pan on medium-high heat.  Add beef (”beef”) to pan and allow to heat.  Add taco seasoning for some flavor.  In a separate pan, heat on medium and add olive oil.  Add squash, zucchini, peppers and corn kernels.  Cook for about 2 minutes or until veggies are slightly tender.

For salsa, using a food processor, add all ingredients and pulse 4 or 5 times.  If you’d like it less chunky then blend until smooth.

Remove beef and veggies from stove.  Heat corn tortillas as you would. Place beef in tortilla. Add veggies.  Dollop chipotle salsa on top (careful it’s spicy!). Grate Cotija cheese as desired.

Happy belated Independence Day everyone! With every 4th of July it brings BBQ, Burgers and Beer (at least that’s what I think). This 4th of July was spent with my family and then an unexpected group of family friends. I had intended on making a feast since the original number in our party was supposed to be small, but with the welcome additions I reworked the menu so as not to get stuck in the kitchen all afternoon.  So I went with: Sweet Potato Fries w/Lemon Cilantro Dipping Sauce, Veggie Burgers with balsamic onions & mushroom w/a balsamic mayo, Watercress & Watermelon Salad, Green Chile Macaroni & Cheese, Blueberry & Raspberry Slushie, and Strawberry Lemonade Pie – my Vegan friends I will put substitutions for each recipe in pink so you can make the same at home

Sweet Potato Fries w/Lime Cilantro Dipping Sauce

- 1 bag frozen sweet potato fries thawed
- 1 1/2 tbsp Cajun seasoning

Dipping Sauce
- 1/2 cup light mayonnaise (vegannaise)
- 1/4 cup sour cream (vegan sour cream – try tofutti better than sour cream if you can’t find it in your store recipe to make your own below)
-  1 tsp lime zest
- 1 1/2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- salt to taste

Vegan Sour Cream
- 1/2 block firm silken tofu
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay out fries on a cookie sheet or pizza pan and bake for 10-12 minutes.  Once fries have been cooked sprinkle Cajun seasoning over them.  In a bowl combine mayonnaise, sour cream, lime zest, and cilantro. Add salt as necessary.  Serve with fries.

Vegans – In a blender combine all ingredients and blend until silky smooth. Follow directions above for creating dipping sauce as follows

Watercress & Watermelon Salad

- 1 bunch fresh watercress
- 1 cup watermelon chopped
- 1/4 cup feta cheese crumbled (soy cheese crumbles)
- 1/4 cup summer squash (optional)
- 1/4 cup zucchini (optional)

Citrus Vinaigrette
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (or you can use bottled)
- 1/3 tbsp fresh orange juice
- 1/4 tsp lemon & orange zest
- salt and pepper to taste

Rinse watercress and pat dry. The nice thing about watercress is that you don’t need to remove the stems or anything you can eat as is. Throw into a salad bowl. Add chopped watermelon and feta.  If you decide to add zucchini and squash I grilled it.  Preheat a grill pan on medium-high heat. Slice zucchini and squash into thin rounds (try and keep them all the same width so that they cook evenly). Place on grill pan and light salt. Allow to grill for 4-5 minutes and flip over. Once they are done cooking add to salad.

In a separate bowl combine olive oil, lemon and orange juices, zest and whisk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into salad bowl and toss salad to coat then serve.

Veggie Burgers w/Balsamic Mayo
- 6 Morningstar Original Veggie Burger Patties (or any veggie patties you like)
- 6 sets of Hamburger buns (I used cracked whole wheat)
- 6 slices Swiss cheese (soy cheese)
- 2 cup white onion sliced into rings
- 1 cup brown mushroom sliced
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Balsamic Mayo
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise (vegannaise or eggless canola mayo)
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat two pans on medium high heat (if possible for you).  In one pan lay out veggie patties and cook on one side for about 6-7 minutes.  In a separate pan add part of balsamic vinegar reserved for burger and onions.  Add onions and allow to cook for about 2 minutes or until soft and semi-translucent.  Add mushrooms and remainder of balsamic vinegar.  Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes then remove from heat.

Flip burgers to the other side and cook for about 5 minutes.  During the final minute or so add cheese and set on top of patty and allow it to melt.  Place a piece of foil over pan to allow fast melt and keep the patties from drying and allowing the cheese to melt quicker.  Toast buns in toaster oven for 1-2 minutes.

In a bowl combine mayo and balsamic vinegar.  Spread balsamic mayo on one side of top bun. Remove patties from heat and place in bottom buns.  Place balsamic onion & mushrooms on top of patties.  Top and serve.  Repeat steps for any additional burgers.

Green Chile Macaroni & Cheese

- 1/2 package elbow macaroni
- 2 1/2 cups pepper jack cheese shredded
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded (any combo of soy cheeses)
- 1 cup green chiles diced
- 1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (or plain bread crumbs)
- 1/4 cup milk (plain soymilk)
- 2 tbsp butter or unsalted margarine (unsalted margarine is suitable for vegans most times otherwise use a butter substitute)
- 2 tbsp unbleached white flour
- salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to boil.  Add macaroni and allow to cook for about 10-12 minutes or until al dente. Heat a separate pot on medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt.  Whisk in flour to create a roux.  Add milk and whisk.  Add shredded cheeses. Allow all cheese to melt.  Whisk frequently to remove any lumps. Add salt, pepper and chopped chilies.  Drain macaroni.  Add macaroni directly to pot to coat all the pasta.  Pour cheesy pasta into a baking dish. Pour bread crumbs over the top.  Bake for about 5-10 minutes in the oven.  Then broil on low setting until you get a nice crusty top.

Blueberry/Raspberry Slushie
- 1 cup frozen blueberries thawed
- 1 cup frozen raspberries thawed
- 2 tbsp sugar/sugar substitute (raw sugar)
- lemon-lime soda (i.e. Sprite, Sierra Mist) — (Diet Lemon-Lime soda)

In a blender blend raspberries and blueberries together.  Add sugar and continue blending until you get a smooth mixture.  Pour mixture into a freezer safe container (preferably something more wide than tall) — if necessary strain the mixture first to remove any seeds.  Freeze blueberry/raspberry mixture for at least an hour (i did it overnight).  When ready to make slushies, remove mixture from freezer and allow to slightly thaw.  Using an ice cream scooper, scoop slightly frozen berry mixture and put into glasses about halfway full.  Pour lemon-lime soda to top of glass. Serve with straws.

Strawberry Lemonade Pie

- 1 pre-made graham cracker crust (Vegans make your own crust below)
- 1 cup strawberries chopped pureed (frozen strawberries are ok just thaw first)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (bottled is also fine)
- 1/3 cup sugar/sugar substitute (raw sugar)
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 egg (egg substitute — you can buy egg substitutes at your local grocery store)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Vegan Crust:
- 8-10 whole graham crackers crushed to crumbs
- 1/4 cup sugar/raw sugar
- 1/3 cup melted unsalted/vegan margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a blender, combine pureed strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, zest and egg and pulse  for about one minute.  Add flour and baking powder. Blend until you get a smooth mixture.  Pour filling into ready-made crust.  Bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the filling is set.  Once pie is finished remove from oven and allow to cool.  Once pie has cooled put in the fridge for at least an hour to an hour and half before serving.  When ready to serve add mint leaves for garnish, slice and eat!

Vegans – in a bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and margarine and stir. In a circular pan pour in graham cracker mixture. Press down on the bottom and sides of the pan to form crust. You may slightly pre-bake the crust if you’d like by placing in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. Then follow the instructions above.

My friend Olivia recently started a blog Ohlivin! about her life in NYC and many of them contain a good amount about food.  I was rather inspired by this entry particularly the pasta dish. The though of a pistachio-lemon sauce to the pasta just sounded amazing.  I used Father’s Day as the perfect opportunity to try and create this dish since I am not in NYC and can’t order this.  I also found some big green bell peppers from our garden and decided to try my hand at making stuffed peppers. No meal would be complete without an adult beverage of sorts.  Both my parents are fans of wine however, I am not. The only wine based drink I like is sangria.  I noticed that we had an abundance of fruit in our kitchen as well so it was only natural I made some with white wine.

Farfalle in Lemon-Pistachio Sauce w/Peas

- 1 package farfalle pasta
- 1/2 cup finely ground pistachio (take unsalted pistachios and use a blender or food processor to grind down. I used a coffee grinder)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add farfalle and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Heat a sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil and ground pistachios. Make sure all the pistachios are covered in oil. The pistachios in the oil should create a paste. Allow that too cook for 1-2 minutes once paste is formed. Add cream, peas, lemon zest and parmesan cheese. Cook for another 2 minutes or so and salt and pepper then remove from heat.

Once pasta is done cooking strain it and immediately add fresh lemon juice. Quickly toss then add to sauce and serve.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Now I had never made stuffed peppers before nor had I ever even eaten one.  Instead of looking up ways to make stuffed pepper I just went ahead and winged it. It still turned out pretty delicious it just got a teensy bit messy so just a forewarning if you want to try this out.

- 1 8 oz. package cream cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped white mushrooms
- 1/4 cup white onion chopped
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take each pepper and cut the top off. Take out center and seeds of each pepper and rinse. In a bowl combine cream cheese, mushrooms, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold all the ingredients together (don’t worry about the onion and garlic being raw, they will cook in the oven). Scoop cream cheese mixture into each pepper until nearly to the top. Don’t fill it all the way to the top because you don’t want it to flow out of the pepper once it melts. Top each pepper generously with shredded cheese.

Place each pepper in a casserole dish. Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese on top is a nice and crusty.

White Sangria

The great thing about sangria is that it’s extremely easy and you can virtually put in any kind of fruit you want in it.  It’s better though to prepare a couple hours in advance of your meal just to allow all the fruit to settle into the wine to really give it the sweet fruity flavor found in sangria. Here’s what I used:

- 1 bottle of white wine
- 1/4 cup sliced Granny Smith apples
- 1/4 cup sliced white peach
- 1/4 cup sliced pear
- 1/4 cup fresh raspberries
- 1/4 cup fresh blackberries
- 1/4 cup fresh strawberries
- 1/4 cup sliced nectarines
- 2 slices lemon
- 1/4 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients into a pitcher. Stir to make sure all sugar is incorporated. Let it sit for a couple hours in the fridge before serving.

Ok so perhaps my photo taking skills don’t show this to be an appetizing dish, but as for someone who dislikes eggplant it was absolutely delicious. Our garden afforded us practically every veggie that was used in this dish. My mom discovered a HUGE purple eggplant and tomatoes have practically overtaken our entire garden.  As a result I was asked to make use of both and I feel I delivered. I usually try and make recipes that are “semi-homemade” so it’s easy for every one but in this case the lesson learned here is spending zero dollars to make a filling and home cooked meal from scratch. Just a forewarning it does take a bit of time so if you’re looking for something quick and easy I would opt out of this recipe Vegan substitutions are written in pink

- 1 medium size eggplant
- 4-5 cups fresh tomatoes pitted
- 1 1/2 cup green bell peppers cut into strips
- 1 1/2 cup white onion cut into strips
- 1/4 chopped basil
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds (optional)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1/3 cup milk (plain soymilk)
- 2 cups shredded cheese (soy cheese) (optional)

Heat a large pot on medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and allow to heat up.  Add fennel seeds and minced garlic and cook for about a minute. You don’t want to turn the garlic brown.  Add tomatoes.  Allow them to heat through for about 5 minutes. Using a spatula start smashing tomatoes in the pot until you’ve broken up most of them.  You don’t want to season them just yet because there may still be a lot of water in them even if you have pitted them.  Don’t be too concerned with how watery it is as it’ll evaporate as it cooks.  Let that cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (pretty much the standard).  Cut even (or as even as you can get) slices of the eggplant about 1/4-1/2 inch thick depending on how large your eggplant is. Just remember thicker slices will take longer to cook than thinner slices.  Arrange all slices on a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil onto both sides and sprinkle salt and pepper. Place in the oven for about 5 minutes on each side just to start the cooking process.

Back to the sauce pot, add the oregano, peppers, and onions as they’ll cook in the sauce — for about 5 minutes.  Add milk and stir in and allow to cook for an additional 5 minutes. Generously add some salt and pepper. Top off with basil.

Remove your eggplant slices from the oven.  Spray a casserole or oven safe dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Once the sauce is done cooking, ladle a little bit onto the bottom and sides of the dish.  Layer a few slices of the eggplant at the bottom of the dish. Pour sauce over the first layer. Sprinkle cheese on top if desired. Repeat the process until you run out of eggplant.  Top it off with the remainder of the sauce and generously add cheese.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.  If you want a nice crusty top on the final minute broil on low.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Like I said I dislike eggplant and I thought this was delicious! This easily served 6 people

Note: (I made this some time ago thus the crappy photo ha!) Also, this recipe is non-Vegan due to the boxed cake mix which includes non-fat milk. For the Vegan recipe click here.

Strawberries and lemonade two things that signify the start of summer. What’s more perfect then to combine the balance of sweetness and tartness into cupcakes topped with fresh strawberries? Recipe below:

- 1 box lemon cake mix (Duncan Hines/Betty Crocker whatever is your fix)
- water, vegetable oil, and eggs (egg substitute) according to cake box
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (or sugar substitute i.e. Splenda — raw sugar for Vegans) (optional) – this is optional because the cake mix already has sugar however depending on how sweet the strawberries you are using are, the cake could lean more on the tart side. this is just for added sweetness
- 1/4 cup strawberries, pureed
- 18-24 slices of fresh strawberry

Frosting
- 1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature (or 4oz of an 8oz pkge – you can also use light cream cheese here)
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
- 2 tbsp pureed strawberries
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs. Once all ingredients are incorporated add strawberry puree. Fold in puree and taste batter. If it’s too tart add sugar.
Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until it passes the “”toothpick test”

While cupcakes are baking, put together the frosting. In a bowl combine cream cheese, strawberry puree, rind, and sugar. Fold all ingredients together and set aside.

Once cupcakes are done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before frosting. Frost cakes and enjoy!

Makes 18-24 cupcakes.