House of Grumble

Harissa Spiced Veggies with a Sweet Tahini Orange Sauce

It’s a nice filling meal without too much effort. Depending on which harissa paste that you use, this can have some heat. Remember to start small and add the harissa accordingly.

Serves 4-6

Vegan/ Gluten Free Option

Roasted Veggies:

Ingredients:

1 small to medium sized head of cauliflower (about 4 cups), broken into bite-sized florets
1 red onion, roughly chopped
4 carrots, cleaned, peeled, and roughly chopped
1 can of cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 Tbsp harissa paste
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Stir olive oil and harissa paste together at the bottom of a large bowl.
Add the chopped veggies and chickpeas.
Sprinkle salt, pepper, and cinnamon over the veggies.
Use to hands to mix until everything is evenly coated.
Roast in the oven for 25 minutes. The veggies should be slightly browned at the edges and tender.

Couscous:

Prepare couscous according to package directions.
For a gluten free option, serve over roasted sweet potato halves, or cooked quinoa.

Sweet Tahini Orange Sauce

Ingredients:

Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Whisk together with a fork to incorporate all of the ingredients.

For serving :

Raisins
Sliced Almonds

Scoop a small amount of couscous, sweet potato, or quinoa onto a plate.
Top with Roasted Veggies.
Drizzle sauce on top.
Add a small amount of raisins and sliced almonds to the top of each dish.

Fall Oats- 3 ways

A little bowl of warm and toasty in the morning.

Its starting to get realllly cold here in Pennsylvania. Our house has quite a chill in the morning and I cannot make myself eat a breakfast that isn’t warm. So I put together a nice overnight oats recipe that can be easily warmed up in the microwave or on the stovetop. Since it is the heart of Fall, I like to stir in applesauce, pumpkin purée, or a mashed banana. You can eat these just as is, or top with a spoonful of my new favorite yogurt- Forager vanilla cashew yogurt. Enjoy!

Fall Oats

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 Tbsp chia seeds
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp maple syrup
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Choice of: 1/4 cup of applesauce or pumpkin purée OR 1 mashed banana

Take all of the ingredients and combine them in a bowl or a mason jar. Let it sit overnight and in the morning, heat it up.

Fall Oats with Pumpkin — This is the oatmeal made with puréed pumpkin.

Top it with some tasty vanilla yogurt and eat it up.

Summertime Oats

So when Freddie first started eating solid food, we gave him baby oats. It was usually mixed bananas or some other kind of soft fruit. He loved it! After he turned one, I couldn’t bring myself to buy the baby oats anymore. He wouldn’t touch regular oatmeal and that made me a little bit sad. I started making this concoction a few weeks ago, and he asked me to taste it. I, of course, gave him a taste. It wasn’t long before he was eating the whole bowl out from under me and I had to make a double batch for us in the morning.

I have used coconut and cashew yogurt in this mixture and both are delicious. If you are watching your sugar intake, obviously buy unsweetened.

‘Bee free honey is a tasty mixture that I found at Whole Foods. It’s reminiscent of honey but a little bit different. It is made from apples, and is pretty much super natural. Best part is that no bees were harmed in the making of the stuff. Use a drizzle on top if you are a big fan of the yogurt honey combo.

Summertime Oats

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup nondairy yogurt
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a mason jar or bowl and refrigerate overnight. Stir in the morning and add any additional toppers. Enjoy!

Optional Additional Toppers:

‘chopped strawberries
‘sliced banana
shelled pistachios
toasted coconut
chocolate chips
chopped peaches
chopped pineapple
maple syrup
bee free honey
or basically anything else you’d like to sprinkle on top

Cruciferous Chocolate Brownie Smoothie

So forgive me for not taking a picture of this tasty treat. It gets consumed way too fast. Instead here is a lovely shot of cauliflower.

Yup- that’s the secret healthy ingredient in this smoothie. You’d never know it though.

Caulflower has never been my favorite. It just doesn’t get me that excited. I know people like to have mashed cauliflower or roasted cauliflower, and cauliflower is frequently the vegan option at many non-vegan restaurants- bleh.

I have to sneak mine in so that I don’t get any of that yucky cauli-taste, but still can reap the benefits of eating this veg super rich in vitamins.

So behold-

The Cruciferous Chocolate Brownie Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup non sweetened almond milk
1 frozen banana
1 cup frozen cauliflower
1/2 cup black beans
2 dates (remember to take the pits out)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
optional- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
optional- 1 tablespoon nut butter

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend it up. Sip and enjoy.

Root Chakra Smoothie

Is your root chakra spinning to slow? Too fast? Are you hips feeling a little bit tight? Or are you experiencing a little bit of increased self doubt? Time to do some grounding activities and maybe try this bright red smoothie! Beets from the earth give it a nice base. Berries make it sweet and brighten the flavor. Some greens thrown in for some nourishing nutrition and seeds to help you feel satisfied. So go get your Muladhara on…

Root Chakra Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup of mixed frozen berries (I like strawberries, cherries, and blackberries)
1/2 of a small beet (about 1/3 cup) raw with skin on- washed and scrubbed
1 banana (frozen preferable)
small handful of basil- about 10 leaves
10 ml water- about 1 1/4 cups (or coconut water)
1 tablespoon hemp hearts
1 tablespoon chia seeds
2 large leaves of kale (Ilike to use red kale to keep with the theme)
optional- 1/4 cup applesauce or 1/2 an apple

Place everything in a blender and process until smooth. it might take a while for the beets to incorporate, but have patience.

Rehoboth Beach Vegan Whirlwind

Three Days to hit all of the good spots

Every summer we make a trip to Rehoboth Beach for a Board meeting that Aaron is required to attend. On the “way” there and back, we stop at his parents’ house on the New Jersey Shore where the dogs take there own little vacation. This year is no exception. We packed up the Tiguan and headed east. I always have to get a bit creative with vegan eats while we visit these beach towns. They aren’t known for being particularly vegan friendly. I think I do a pretty good job of keeping everyone fed and happy.

As soon as arriving, I always check Happy Cow just to see what’s around. A restaurant that has never popped up made a surprise appearance. I never know if they added a few vegan options or if they were an undiscovered vegan gem. We headed over to “The Cultured Pearl” and enjoyed some vegan teriyaki bowls with edamame, and ginger salad.

‘The next day we ran into a minor challenge. None of the breakfast restaurants open until 8:00 or 8:30 and Freddie wakes up around 6:00. What do you do with a hungry toddler for two hours? We occupied him the best that we could. And showed up for breakfast with a very cranky Little Man at 8:00.

We have been going to a breakfast/lunch place and juice bar for several years. They always have something that the whole family can enjoy. This place is called “Green Man”.

We order two smoothies and “The Curious George” for Freddie. It is a peanut butter and banana sandwich (we asked them to hold the honey). It comes with more bananas and yellow raisins. I had the Peachy Green Smoothie and he had the Vegan Beast. In the past I have gotten the tofu scramble. It’s good, but I wasn’t feeling a heavy breakfast today.

Around 11:00, my tummy was starting to talk to me. We stopped at a health food store that also appeared on the Happy Cow Ap called “Good News Natural”. We got supplies for snacks and Freddie breakfast foods. We also got some veggie milk for coffee. I had some chickpea salad and plantain chips as a snack to tide me over until lunch. Freddie ate one of his favorite Lemon Poppyseed cookies from The Alternative Baking Co.

We tend to eat lunch on the later side, so at around 1:30, we started to make our way over to “Arena’s Deli”. It’s mostly a sandwich shop with a few salads and of course a beachy drink or six. I got a salad wrap with hummus (making sure to have them leave the cheese off). Freddie just had a few tater tots. I think he was still full from the cookie.

Dinner was a work affair. The hotel puts together a backyard picnic and has the usual grilled meats and mayo salads. We just had a veggie burger and some watermelon. It was a decent dinner.

The next morning I found this stand right off of the boardwalk that makes green smoothies, oatmeal and açaí bowls. Jackpot! It was pretty awesome.

Of course we have been occupying ourselves with plenty of beach time. We’ve also been visiting a lot of the local shops along the main drag. Our favorite so far has been “Browseabout Books”. We grabbed a few items for beach reading and played with every toy that they had.

I would be remiss to not mention “Dogfish Head Brewery and/or Restaurant” when talking about Rehoboth. The last time we were here, the vegan eats there were a bit limited, but now….They have the Beyond Burger! What a delightful surprise! I ordered mine Cali Style (hold the cheese obvi). I also had a beer called Dragon YumYums which was designed in part by The Flaming Lips.

Aaron suggested a place for dinner called “Stingray”. It was super close to “The Cultured Pearl” and boy was it tasty. It’s Asian inspired and the food was surprisingly tasty. I think the waiter didn’t know how to handle Freddie and seemed to be terrified of small children, but he kept trying to give us free stuff. No complaints here Mister. We had some miso soup, salad, dumplings, edamame hummus, crispy wonton chips, and General Tso’s Cauliflower. All of this was accompanied by a tall glass of wine.

I can’t leave out the amazing hotel where we stayed. Thanks Boardwalk Plaza! They hosted Aaron’s board meeting and kept us organized the whole time. Emro and Peanut (the two tropical birds that live in the lobby fascinated Freddie and kept us entertained constantly.

Chickpea Scramble on Toast

Beans on Toast to fill your belly at breakfast

Sometimes you just want a hot, filling breakfast. Something that really fills you up and keeps you happy until lunchtime. Beans on toast is a classic combo especially in UK and it is definitely one of my favorite breakfasts. This version with chickpeas is not traditional at all, but is Oh-So-Good.

It slightly reminds me of scrambled eggs on toast, but so much better and healthier. Make the whole recipe on the weekend and add to toast throughout the week to save time in the morning.

Chickpea on Toast with tahini drizzle with tomato slices

Chickpea Scramble:

1 red onion cut into large cubes
2 Tbps olive oil
3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 cans)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
3 cloves garlic
handful of baby spinach
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 slices of toast (I like Ezekiel bread,but whatever floats your boat)

Sauté the red onion in 1 Tbsp of olive oil until translucent. Add the chickpeas, salt, pepper, and turmeric and heat through. Use a sturdy fork or potato masher to smash the chickpeas until no whole chickpeas remain.

Push the chickpeas off to the side of the skillet and add the other tablespoon of oil to the empty space. Sauté the garlic in the oil for about 30 seconds. Add the handful of spinach and cook until wilted. Turn off heat and squeeze the lemon juice into the skillet. Stir everything up. Serve spread on toast, over home fries, or maybe even in a tortilla. Use your imagination.

I like it on toast with a drizzle of tahini and tomato slices as you can see pictured above.

June Baby Smoothie

Freddie’s second birthday is coming up and I’m starting to reminisce about what I was doing during the month of June these past two years. Since I’m so food-centric, I always remember what I was eating or making in the kitchen. At this time of year, I get a sudden mood bump when the weather starts to get warm and Farmers’ Markets start to open. More fresh produce available everywhere.

I remember when I was pregnant and Aaron would go to the Farmers’ Market in front of his office and bring me home pints of berries. The raspberry bushes in our yard start to produce the first fruits of year. I would stuff my face with berries and not even attempt to save room for non-berry food.

Last year, Freddie was just starting to eat larger varieties of food and I remember giving him his first blueberries. Of course, he took after me and began to consume every blueberry in sight. We started referring to them as “bluebs”. Scenes of the girl in Willie Wonka swelling up into a giant blueberry and being rolled away by Oompah Lumpahs would flash through my mind.

This year, since we have had so much luck with smoothies, I have begun blending our favorite berry into our morning smoothie. I must say that this tasty concoction hits the spot and keeps me full well into the morning.

I hope that this June Baby Smoothie makes it into your repertoire and has you waxing romantic about June’s past during breakfast.

June Baby Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of water
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon almond butter
one large handful of spinach
1 cup ice (optional)

Ingredients for June Baby Smoothie

Place everything in the blender. I prefer to add them to blender in the order that I have listed the ingredients. Ice is optional. Use if you like a super cold smoothie. I only add it when it is super hot outside.

The June Baby and His Smoothie

Sweet Potato Pie in the Sky

Now I love a good smoothie, but it’s the middle of March and the thought of blending up an icy concoction gives me the literal shivers. It better be a really damn good smoothie for the chill to be worth it.

Enter the child approved Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie. Freddie drinks these down like water. We usually split one, but sometimes I have to blend up two. It has warming spices and it helps to increase your daily antioxidant intake. It also brings back cozy memories of the holidays.

I got the idea for this from from a new Amazon cookbook find.

Sweet Potato Soul by Jenne Claiborne

The recipe in the book is good, but I tweaked it a bit to make it more to our liking. I do enjoy that someone else shares my affinity for sweet potatoes.

Our friends enjoying a little bit of smoothie — I know. Ridiculous…

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup roasted sweet potato
1 cup nondairy milk (I use almond or soy)
1 banana (it can be frozen if you are the plan ahead kind of person)
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
2-3 medjool dates (soaked in hot water for 10 minutes if you aren’t using a high speed blender)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3-4 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend.

Vegan Apple Pie

During our Thanksgiving dinner, Freddie ate nothing but the apple pie. I don’t know if it was too many different tastes and textures, but the little man would have nothing to do with any of the other dishes on the menu. I found this extremely ironic since he doesn’t really like plain apples. The pugs really enjoyed the bits of dinner that he threw to them though.

Vegan Apple Pie Ingredients

For my apple pie, I used golden delicious apples, but everyone has their own theories about which apples bake the best. The Grumblers aren’t really fans of Granny Smiths or Red Delicious’s.

Vegan Apple Pie pre topping

I also used a pre-made pie crust because I ain’t got time for that shit, but if homemade pie crust strikes your fancy, have at it. Make sure the check the ingredients. A lot of pre-made pie crusts just happen to be vegan. Go figure.

Vegan Apple Pie before it hits the oven

It tends to get a little bit messy, so I would recommend baking the pie with a cookie sheet underneath.

Vegan Apple Pie with Almond Milk ice cream

Vegan Apple Pie

Serves 8

Ingredients for Pie:

1 pre-made pie crust
8 cups thinly sliced apples (6-8 apples)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
dash of salt

Ingredients for Topping:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl. Mix in the apples. Once mixed, pour into the pre-made pie crust.

3. Mix the Topping Ingredients together in a bowl until crumbly.

4. Sprinkle the topping onto the pie. It will look really full, but don’t worry, it will cook down.

5. Bake in oven for 40 minutes. Place a cookie sheet under the pie just in case the pie drips over the edges. Cover with foil to prevent further browning and bake another 20 minutes.

6. Let cool and enjoy. Serve with vegan vanilla ice cream and/or vegan whipped cream.