You guys, this winter blew. Don't get me wrong, I love the snow, but I've been so over it since January. With spring trying to make it's comeback, my body is craving greens in a big way. Our garden is just waiting for us to plant it full of kale, spinach, and mesclun; so there will be no shortages of salad making. In the meantime I'm making sure I have plenty of recipes for salad creations in my arsenal. And no salad is complete without a nice dressing. 

Sesame Ginger Dressing

Ingredients

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 cup oil

Directions

Combine all ingredients, except oil, and mix well with a whisk or fork. Once ingredients are combined, slowly pour in oil while whisking to form an emulsion. 

Recently I was asked to guest post over at Tasty Table Topics and wanted to share that post here as well! Few thoughts on my nutrition journey and of course, a recipe to go with it! 

 Growing up on a farm in central Illinois, I was raised on a "meat and potatoes" mentality of eating. When the family would sit down for dinner each night, it was expected of us to finish all of our food on our plates and drink a whole glass of milk... even though I detested milk. It wasn't that we necessarily ate poorly, as my mother cooked us a lot of great meals with healthy veggies or grains in them, but the overall view of our diets was mainly focused on meat, lots of meat. 

As a student athlete I rarely thought about nutrition or the way I ate. All I knew was that I was hungry all the time and tried to consume as much food as possible. One of my best friends first memory of us eating in our college cafeteria was my huge platters of food and in particular a gross looking overcooked brat that I was so excited to eat. This was how I was known for a majority of my life - for eating unhealthy and being the "garbage disposal." 

I've always been super skeptical of vegan cheese. For someone who has ventured into a plant based diet because of the health benefits, eating processed vegan cheese just didn't seem like a good alternative and frankly I thought they all tasted like plastic. While researching some of my cooking curiosities I came across so many cool recipes for homemade vegan cheese... and immediately thought "how had I not tried this before?!" 

Cashews are so versatile and I'm finding out that in raw form they can make some really tasty treats. If you are looking for a subsitute for almost any recipe calling for a cream, butter, or cheese - cashews are the way to go. 

I've been experimenting with raw vegan cheese as well and have fallen in love with this version on the Rawmazing blog. Using just raw cashews and rejuvelac (a fermented liquid that you can make by soaking raw wheat berries) you can make an incredible soft cheese. We have been using this for quesadillas, grilled cheese, and pizza sauce. 

This cashew cheese can be totally customizable... adding in herbs, garlic, peppers, seeds, the list goes on. My favorite way to eat this cheese is with Whole Wheat Hippie Crackers and apples. 

Have you ever tried vegan cheese before? 

Vegan Cashew Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight

1 TB lemon juice

1 TB Braggs 

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt

2 tsp garlic powder

2 TB miso paste

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup water

5 tsp agar powder

1-2 TB sun dried tomatoes (optional) 

Directions

Soak cashews overnight. 

Using a food processor or blender, ground the cashews up into chunks. 

Add rest of ingredients (expect tomatoes, water, and agar) and blend. 

In a saucepan bring water and agar powder to a boil for 5 minutes or until mixture is dissolved. 

Add agar mixture to cashews and blend until creamy. Add in tomatoes and blend just so that the tomatoes are folded in. Pour mixture into a ramekin, loaf, or muffin pan. Put in fridge for a couple hours to set up. 

If someone would have told me in high school that in the future I would end up swearing off meat, commercial body products, and stop washing my hair every day... I would probably laugh at this future "hippie." Yeah, I'm a little bit granola, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I've learned more about myself, food, and our environment in the last three years than I have in the previous 24 years of my life... and I want to keep on that journey.   

I used to eat crackers like it was my business. During my summer job cross pollinating corn, I remember devouring packaged peanut butter crackers every single day. In college, Wheat Thins and cheese was basically a staple. Once I found out what was in both, I rarely ate crackers again. Until my mom made me these Easy & Gluten Free Vegan Crackers from Oh She Glows. 

A little thicker than normal packaged crackers, these babies were salty and crispy. And they didn't last the weekend in our house. I told myself I had to make these, but kept thinking how time consuming it probably would be. Oh was I wrong. 

Blend, Roll, Cut, Bake. 

That's it. And now I'm back on my cracker craze. 

These guys tasted amazing with a spread of homemade vegan cheese. 

I'm thinking peanut butter crackers will be happening soon as well. 

If I had to document my life based on one type of food, chocolate chips cookies would be it. For such a simple cookie, these bad boys sure come packed with a lot of memories. Childhood consisted mostly of Grandma's cakey chocolate chip cookies. It seemed like she always had a tupperware full of them on the counter or a bowl of cookie dough waiting for us to lick clean. I'd pick out the chocolates and just eat the dough. 

Coming home from school, my brother and I always demanded snacks and Mom rarely failed us. She'd make crispy chocolate chip cookies and we'd tease her for not being able to get them chewy and fluffy. They always tasted the best dunked repeatedly in a cup full of milk. 

When asked what my first kiss was like, I always tell people it was like eating a chocolate chip cookie...he had just inhaled a handful of fresh cookies and then felt the need to kiss me. 

Procrastination in college meant baking cookies late at night. Holly's cookies were the favorite and they guaranteed to make tests, hard workouts, breakups, and hangovers better. 

This is just one reason why I adore food - it is so powerful.  The memories it instantly locks within us change the way we think about that food, the people we shared it with, and how we feel.

Simple Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Coconut Oil 

Flax Egg (1 TB ground flax + 3 TB Water)

1/2 cup Almond Milk

2 cups Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Vanilla

Vegan Chocolate Chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix your flax egg together and set aside. You can either just soften coconut oil or warm it to liquid. If you choose to just soften it, decrease your flour to just 1 1/2 cups. Cream sugar and coconut oil together, adding flax egg and almond milk. Sift dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Slowly add to wet ingredients, making sure not to over mix. Using a spoon, scoop out a full spoonful and using your hands roll it into a ball. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes. 

What food would you say documents your life? 

Lately I've been reading several books and articles about the notion of simplicity. How so often we think of living "simple" in terms of having a lack of material possessions. While this is a great aspect of living this way, I am finding that this isn't the hardest part of maintaining that lifestyle... it's the complicated aspects of our social life, career, and endless responsibilities we put on ourselves that prevent most of us from that simple existence. With all the amazing technology at our reach to help us to become more efficient in our daily routine, you'd think we'd live a simpler life. Far from it. It seems like with this technology more distractions persist and the need to do more, because we can, is always chipping away at us. In an effort to become less stressed, better focused, and more efficient with my time I've started to pay attention to aspects of my day where I truly can simplify. For me that means not using social media as much, paring down my goal lists, stop multi-tasking, not attending every event I'm invited too, and cooking less fancy meals.

I once thought that a great cook (and wife) would never make the same meals over and over. That in order to become better at cooking I had to experiment all the time with different foods. As fun as that is, it's time consuming. When you don't know a recipe by heart, you can't just whip up dinner. So I'm stripping it all away. Going back to the basics. Because at the end of the day, we just want food in our bellies. No frills, just food. 

In my mind, sandwiches are the easiest thing in the whole to make; anyone can do it! You really can't go wrong with peanut butter and jelly, but for those days when you just want something more - spicy pb & jelly tofu sure doesn't disappoint. I know, it sounds bizarre, but if you love combining sweet, spicy, and savory flavors, you'll dig this guy. Not to mention, it makes a killer breakfast sandwich, so don't forget the coffee!!!

Spicy PB & Jelly Tofu Sandwich

Ingredients

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 TB Tamari or Soy Sauce

3 TB Rice Vinegar

1/2 TB Agave

5 TB hot sauce

1 pkg Firm Tofu

Greens

Peanut Butter

Jelly/Jam

Crusty Bread 

Directions

Press tofu for at least 15 minutes to drain water out of it. 

Combine garlic cloves, tamari, rice vinegar, agave, hot sauce, and mix well. 

Cut tofu into desired pieces. Arrange tofu in a baking dish and cover with marinade. 

Marinate for 15-30 minutes. Lightly oil a skillet and pan fry the tofu until the outside is well browned. Toast your bread then spread peanut butter on one or both bread pieces. Add lettuce and tofu, covering the tofu with lots of jelly. If you added more hot sauce, the jelly helps tame the spice! 

What's your go to sandwich?