Vegan Mushroom Spinach Lasagna Roll

Vegan Mushroom Spinach Lasagna Roll

My boyfriend and I made this dish for valentine's day and it was really good! I've tried making it a few times since then, and I like the original recipe the most, but it's fun to change it up. Let me know if you try it or try something similar. Sorry for not being exact with my recipes- we all know I don't measure anything HAHA

Ingredients: 

Vegan Mozzarella Cheese (I used Follow Your Heart Brand)

1 Package of lasagna noodles (do not use the oven bake ones that do not require pre-cooking)

Garlic

White/ Yellow/ or Sweet Onion

1 Package of baby Bella mushrooms

1 package of Spinach

1 jar of your choice pasta sauce

Olive Oil

Salt and pepper for taste

Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)

Ingredients for Ricotta Substitute:

Cashews

Lemon

Basil

Garlic

olive oil

almond milk or any other dairy free milk

Salt and pepper for taste

Ricotta Substitute Instructions: 
1. Soak cashews overnight in water- i left mind to hangout in the fridge
2. Once soaked, drain cashews and add to a blender or food processor
4. Add in lemon juice, garlic, basil, and a tbsp of olive oil. (salt and pepper here too)
5. Add in a little almond milk and blend. add more as necessary while blending
6. Blend to desired consistency

Instructions: 
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Cook lasagna noodles- depending on how many you are making this could take awhile
3. In a deep skillet/pan saute chopped onions, garlic, mushrooms, and spinach. When done, set aside in a bowl.
4. Take casserole dish and add a layer of pasta sauce on bottom to coat pan.
5. Lay out one pasta noodle at a time and add vegan ricotta, and veggie mixture.
6. Roll lasagna noodle and place in casserole dish. Keep doing this for the rest of the noodles or until pan is filled.
7. Add more pasta sauce on top of lasagna rolls in dish and sprinkle whole bag of vegan cheese (add vegan parmesan if you have it)
8. I added red pepper flakes on top of mine. It's also good if you add rosemary or more basil on top.
9. Bake this dish in the oven enough to melt the vegan cheese (or to heat it up if the items got cold)
10. Towards the end of baking put the oven setting on broil and this may help melt the cheese or allow it to brown more.

Let casserole dish cool and serve!

Valentine's day dinner with the boyfriend.

Tried It: HelloFresh for 1 Week

So many of you have probably heard of HelloFresh. For those of you who haven't its a subscription box that sends you a weekly box of food. The box contains 3 different meals with recipe cards for the week. I chose the veggie box (for obvious reasons- I'm trying to go vegan). I chose the veggie box for 1-2 people.  You can skip or cancel your subscription at any time. I tried it out because I was given a coupon for free food (and free shipping) so... why not?! If you don't use a coupon it is about $50 a week for the box PLUS shipping costs. But if you are a student they have a little discount where you will get 15% off every box.

So here's what my box looked like when I got it:

Turns out that depending on the season you may get a different type of package for your box to keep your food cold. Their website explains what part of their packaging is recyclable- for those who recycle and care about reducing trash.

The meals that I was given were: grilled cheese and veggie jumble, creamy dreamy mushroom gemelli, and salsa verde enchiladas. I loved how easy they were to cook. The only thing I disliked was how much dairy was used in each recipe. For anyone who is lactose intolerant (like me) this is definitely not a box for you. For the veggie jumble and the enchiladas I was able to either substitute the cheese with a vegan one or just leave it out.

I made the veggie jumble with the cheese and picked it out because honestly, I loved the veggies and sauce on its own. I got my box on a Tuesday and I made this on Thursday. So flavorful. BUT. My issue with the veggie jumble was that my tomatoes were almost overripe (one more day and I would have tossed them in my compost) AND my avocado was under ripe and almost not edible. huge disappointment for such a big company that promotes sending you food that can be used right away. My avocado even had a sticker that said it should have been ripe. BUT LOOK HOW YUMMY THIS WAS!!!! I even had dinner for another day. This recipe definitely only served 2 people. The other thing I didn't like about HelloFresh is that they tell you to use like half an onion, or half the seasoning- what the heck am I suppose to do with the rest? I didn't follow the directions and completely used up everything to reduce my food waste (wasn't that the point of this box- get the proper serving size and reduce food waste?)

The next meal I made was the salsa verde enchiladas. I modified this recipe by not using the cheese that came in the box and used my Daiya vegan friendly cheese instead. It was really good and I was glad that I didn't have to modify this recipe very much. For the final presentation I added some avocado and lime. I definitely could have made this into 3 meals because I got 6 enchiladas and probably only needed 2 for one meal (but I got hungry- no judgement here). As nice as this was, i could definitely buy the ingredients in the store and meal prep so many of these for cheaper. I just wished I had a vegan sour cream to go with it (as the original recipe called for), so that's why I used the avocado. I also added some paprika on top- sorry I've a foodie and I like to add spices for flavor.







The last meal I made was the creamy dreamy mushroom gemelli. THIS WAS THE KILLER. So good, but horrible for my lactose intolerant friends. The sauce is literally butter, milk, and flour. I added the parmesan into the sauce because I substituted the milk for almond milk and it made it super thin- the cheese thickened it up. I also added some more flour for thickness. They had their own garlic herb butter to add and it made it heavenly. I topped it off with GoVeggie vegan parmesan. I took lactase pills, but it still hit me pretty hard. I made enough for 3 servings. I gave the extra servings to a co-worker since I obviously couldn't eat it.




Overall my experience with HelloFresh was pretty good.

Would I recommend it to a friend? yes and no. If you have any type of dietary restriction then you should not get this box. If you are strictly a vegetarian and can have dairy then the veggie box is perfect. If you have a large family, they do have that option for you too. If you eat everything and want the 1-2 serving size box, they have that too. I've looked through their recipe archive and their weekly plans for the next month. They have loads of options, but after awhile it looks like they start repeating the meals and you definitely have no option to substitute a meal or just leave one out altogether. Basically you are told to pick a box and serving size- and it will generate the meals for that week and you're stuck with them.

How much does this cost?
Classic or Veggie box
($59.94) 3 meals for 2 people
($119.88) 3 meals for 4 people
Family box
($69.92) 2 meals for 4 people
($104.88) 3 meals for 4 people

Is it worth the money?
Maybe. ~$50 plus shipping for 3 meals (~2 servings per meal). I think the family plan costs more- I obviously didn't get that. Not a bad deal for someone who can afford it and is not looking to spend a lot of time in the grocery store each week. As a vegetarian/vegan I think I could spend my $50 more wisely in the produce section of the grocery store to purchase enough food for more meals than that.

Is it environmentally friendly?
Probably not. Although the website does inform the customer of what part of the packaging is recyclable, they do use a lot of plastic for the individual ingredients inside each bag. I try to live as low waste as possible, and my trash can filled up pretty fast while using this box. I was very unhappy with the amount of packaging. But impressed with the company encouraging people to recycle as much as possible. Here's the page on recycling.

Is it truly lowering your food waste?
Kind of. The company will send you the perfect amount of food to make for the meals, except when making a few of my dishes it only called for half an onion or a tbsp on minced garlic- what the heck am I suppose to do with the rest? I like food, so I just used it all and ignored the recipe and it still tasted fine. Maybe food waste is lowered, but not completely if you follow the recipe exactly (how many of you will remember and know what to do with the leftover onion?!)

Does the food actually taste good?
YES. I thought the box was perfect for mixing up my normal spices routine. It was so yummy and I would definitely make the chimichurri sauce again (that I made with the veggie jumble).

Do you have a promo code? 
Nope, all I have is a normal referral code. Here it is- LINK. My referral link will give you $40 off. I don't plan on using this again, but if you want to- go for it.

Is this post sponsored?
NOPE. All opinions are 100% my own and this was my experience. I did my research before ordering this box so I had an idea of what to expect and I was super excited- definitely lost that excitement as I started cooking.

If you don't 100% recommend this box, what do you recommend?
Shopping on your own at the grocery store. Go on pintrest and find recipes and write out a list for the grocery store. Shop in the bulk produce and bulk aisles of the store. reduce your food and plastic waste at the same time and get yummy recipes. easy.

Tried it: Failed at Veganuary :(

So I'm starting this new type of blog post series on this site. I'm going to try new things and write about them and my experiences. For the month of January I tried something called veganuary. Basically you go vegan for the month. 

As many of you already know I've been vegetarian since May 2017 (the day after I graduated college). I chose to become a vegetarian for environmental and sustainability reasons- I love animals and I care about the cruelty but that is not my main focus. So for the last year I have omitted any meat, and fish  from my diet. The only thing I have allowed myself were dairy products- yes I ate eggs. I know eggs are a debatable topic for vegetarians, but I only ate it in certain situations where I couldn't avoid it. I'm also lactose intolerant so I should have been avoiding dairy too.

I decided to try Veganuary because I'm already halfway there, why not go fully vegan? Let me start off by saying, I failed. I did consume dairy (cheese) on a few occasions. I started off the month by making some tofu tikka masala as part of my meal prep. According to the label on the sauce it contained milk- oops- but I wasn't about to waste a perfectly good jar of sauce. The was my first mistake. I believe a few other cookies and crackers I ate throughout the month had egg or milk as an ingredient, but again- I was trying to use up food in my pantry. Then there was the night I went out with my friends for dinner. We chose this restaurant because it had something for all of us (2 vegetarians, 2 omnivores, and me being vegan). I ordered a vegan burger- but I still ate the one cheese stick my friend ordered as an appetizer. OH BOY did that cheese hurt my stomach later that night. Then I tried a box from HelloFresh- so much dairy- but I'll discuss that in my next post. So those were the times I failed this month. Not too bad eh?

So let's talk about what I ate during the month. I'll talk about different meals and how I kept it interesting so I wouldn't get bored.

I never really eat breakfast- I know it's a bad habit and I should. Breakfast was usually green tea, or oatmeal. I would boil water in my tea kettle and use the water for the tea and oatmeal. I was using quick oats with flax seed, hemp seed, chia seed, coconut sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, and fruit. I mixed up my fruit and sometimes I added cashew butter or a hazelnut almond butter (vegan of course). I also had some leftover bagels that I ate with a tofu "cream cheese" spread- sprinkled with the Everything bagel seasoning from Trader Joe's and some paprika. I also made some protein shakes or fruit smoothies for "breakfast."

Everything Bagel with tofu "cream cheese". Everything Bagel Seasoning from Trader Joe's and paprika

Oatmeal with blueberries!

Lunch time. Yes, I suck at this meal thing too. Some days I skipped lunch and did a workout instead- ate a banana and granola bar to sustain me. But I started off strong with salads I got from Whole Foods (I made them myself). Loaded up on the veggies. Now for lunch I'm sticking to my mini workout and apple, cashew butter, and granola bar for lunch.

One of my lunches I got from Whole Foods.

This was another salad I made form Whole Foods. The Grilled tofu was my favorite part. I also had so vegan chikn salad on the side!

Dinner varies all the time. I'm constantly cooking new food and trying new recipes so this changed. I did HelloFresh for a week and that's discussed in the next post- one of the ways I failed. I also made a stuffed pepper dinner for my friends- totally vegan friendly. Had some pesto pasta, vegan pizzas, salads, and sweet potato black bean soup/chili. I went on Pintrest and looked for recipes. I also looked at a lot of the food I was buying when I went out to see if I could make it at home. I watched many YouTube recipe videos for inspiration. I made cooking fun, so it was easy to make this stuff plus the meals lasted for a long time.

Vegan Stuffed Peppers with mashed avocado and lime

Sweet Potato back Bean Quinoa Soup/Chili

Homemade! Vegetarian Everything Pizza (Left) and Vegan Green Pizza (Right)

Dessert? Yeah still had that. I made banana nice cream a lot. Basically it's just frozen bananas in a food processor. I added cashew butter, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, agave, coconut sugar, and vegan chocolate chips.  This was the perfect dessert. Healthy and tasty!


Also beverage-wise, I drank mostly tea and water. I cut out soda about 8 years ago and only have it on occasion. I tried to increase my water consumption because I was also increasing the intensity of my workouts.



I found that because of my current restrictions on my diet, dairy was my main cut this month. I definitely had a hard time with this, but I wanted to see how would I feel about my body at the end. Its January 31st, and here's how I feel now.

A few days ago I would have told you I felt amazing and this vegan thing was amazing. BUT I ate dairy like 2 days ago because of that pasta in my HelloFresh box and my stomach is very messed up. Before that meal, I was feeling so much better about my body. I felt like I was losing weight because I was finally avoiding dairy (which is something I needed to do) and I had more energy. I'm not saying that everyone should go vegan- everyone has a different body and it may not work as well for others.

For me, it was perfect. I had a little slip up with the cheese and how did my body react? The most recent time I ate cheese was the worst, but the others just caused some cramping and pain in my abdomen. This time I had the full effects of being lactose intolerant. I'm definitely very bloated and my body is not happy with me. I plan to continue trying to fully transition to being vegan, but I don't think I'll ever be fully vegan with my diet. I'm hoping I can get my body back to what it was a few days ago since I threw it off with the dairy.

Yes, I know there are other aspects of veganism, but I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time. My diet is the most important thing right now, so I'm trying to figure out what works. As for material items, if I own something that is made from an animal or is tested on animals its usually because it was a gift or I have it and should use it instead of throwing it in the trash. Gotta focus on those low waste values too!

I would definitely recommend veganuary to anyone who is interested in a vegan lifestyle/diet. It's a fun challenge and much easier than you think. Many people don't realize how dependent our diets are on animals and animal products until they do this. There is a website where you can sign up and it send you daily emails with inspiration and facts about being vegan. Go ahead and check it out! https://veganuary.com/

January might be over, but you can participate in the challenge at any time. If you try it, let me know what your experience is and what yummy meals you made!

Gingerbread Muffins

Gingerbread Muffins

I made these yummy muffins for a work party and they turned out so well. I followed a recipe I found off Pintrest so I can't take credit for it. I will link it below. I have typed out a shortened version here to show you what I did. Basically mix the wet ingredients together and add the flour slowly, then bake it. easy. I made 2 batches of this (in total I made about 36 muffins).  I made a few modifications to the recipe to work with what I had, I switched our vanilla extract for almond extract and I used orange extract instead of orange zest since I didn't have any oranges. whatever works, right?

Here is the actual recipe from Fork Knife Swoon.

Muffin Ingredients: 

• 1 small/medium very ripe banana, mashed (
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract
• zest of half an orange (optional) OR orange extract
• 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or sub 2% dairy milk)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Ingredients for Maple Vanilla Glaze or Frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1-2 Tbsp milk
• 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp almond  extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. In a large bowl, mash the banana until there are almost no lumps. Mix in the egg, extracts, milk, oil, molasses, and spices.

3. once this is mixed well start adding in the sugars and baking power & soda.
4. Now, slowly add in the flour and use a spatula to fold the mixture until everything is mixed in and you have a batter.
5. Next, using your cupcake/muffin tins use little liners (or just spray them really well) and take a cookie scoop and start scooping batter into each liner/cup. Take the tray and tap it on the table a little to help the batter set better.
6. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. After this time is up, take them out and switch the trays around or turn them to make sure they cook evenly. Turn the temperature down to 375°F and bake for an additional 7-9 minutes until they are fully cooked (use a toothpick and -lightly- stab a muffin. if it comes out clean they are done). I chose to make some muffins bigger and some smaller to see what works best. if you add more batter definitely cook longer for the 2nd part of baking.

THE GLAZEEEEE!!!!

Add the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl. mix it up. add more powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency. I think I added about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to this recipe for a thicker glaze. it covered all of my muffins. although in the future I would make more and make it thicker.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

This was an easy soup to make for my boyfriend. I'll update this as I come up with better things to add, but I enjoyed it! He got sick and I wanted to make a soup, but I also wanted something that I could have (and taste). I added too much oregano, but I love adding extra spices so I didn't mind. 

This can easily be made vegan by not adding any cream or milk. I like my soup creamy so I always add almond milk. I had some half & half left over from my mac n cheese recipe, so I figured I would use it up here.

Ingredients:

Plum or Roma Tomatoes

Yellow onion

Garlic

Fresh basil

Half and half (or dairy free milk of your choice) -Optional

Veggie stock -optional

Oregano

Coriander

Paprika

Salt and pepper

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Sugar

Instructions:
1. Wash and cut the tomatoes into halves. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. season with salt and pepper
2. Bake tomatoes in oven at 350 degrees F until cooked/roasted/ or however much you want to cook them. I left mine in for about an hour because I was also cooking something else
3. While the tomatoes are cooking caramelize some yellow onion and garlic in a pan.
4. Once the tomatoes are cooked, take them out and let them sit for a bit to cool.
5. Using a food processor add the tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, oregano, and a little veggie stock. Puree this mixture. I had a small food processor so I had to do this in batches. I took my puree and put it into a deep skillet after each batch.
6. Once this is done I would recommend putting the mixture into a deep skillet like I was doing before and add in the half and half and more veggie stock depending on your desired thickness. Let this sit on medium-low heat. I only had a small amount of half and half left but I would have liked to add more to make it creamier. This is also where I added my spices, lemon juice, and sugar. The lemon juice and sugar is to keep it form being too bitter.

Homemade Mac N Cheese (not vegan)

Homemade Mac N Cheese

Hello again. Remember when I said I went to a Friends-giving dinner and I had to make food? here is the mac n cheese I made. Definitely NOT vegan. Lots of dairy and I'm proud of it. I took lactase pills- don't worry. I definitely think there's room to improve this recipe but I will figure it out. I also made WAY too much. I had enough for the party. my roommate and I, my boyfriend, and best friend. Let me know what you think?

Ingredients:

Elbow Macaroni (or whatever pasta you want)

Half & Half

Sour Cream

Cream Cheese

Milk (I only had almond milk)

Shredded cheese- sharp cheddar, cheddar jack, white cheddar, Gouda, and parmesan

Garlic

Garlic and Onion Powder

Paprika

Mustard Powder

Salt and pepper

Butter

Instructions:
1. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the box. make sure to take them off right before they are done cause they will cook more later
2. In a pot take a stick of butter and melt it down (add a second stick if you want- I used 2).
3. Add in some chopped garlic and cook that a little.
4. Add in the half and half and some milk and stir.
5. Add in 1 packet of cream cheese and sour cream. Stir. The key is to keep stirring till everything is combined. I also used a whisk to stir.
6. Slowly add in shredded cheeses. Make sure to keep stirring. We don't want clumpy sauce. if you think its getting too thick and the cheese is just getting stretchy. Add in more cream or milk or cream cheese or sour cream or any of the dairy options we have here. This is definitely not a vegan mac n cheese....
7. Once the sauce is done and to your desired thickness. Add in some spices (mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika) I kept this batch more bland since it was for a party so I didn't want to experiment too much.
8. Now that the sauce is done. Add in your macaroni and stir gently so you dont break the noodles and you just combine them. I used a spatula and folded the sauce over the noodles carefully.
9. Should be good to eat now unless you want to add anything else. LOL

Optional: place macaroni in a greased casserole dish and add a layer of shredded cheese on top with panko bread crumbs and bake in the oven to get a nice top on the dish.

For my buffalo lovers: Add in some buffalo wing sauce into the cheese sauce and use bleu cheese in the sauce and crumble on top when serving.

FAQ

How much did I make? A LOT
Can you give exact proportions? sure. just remember I made a lot so you can definitely cut back. I know i used 2 sticks of butter, half a container of sour cream, half of the carton of half and half (it was one of the small cartons), almond milk was added to make thinner as needed (so idk this), a huge bag of sharp cheddar and cheddar jack, one block of gouda cheese, one round container of shredded parmesan, one regular sized bag of shredded white cheddar cheese... I also ended up using 2 boxes of elbow macaroni (I probably could have made about 1/2 of another box but I was lazy).
Did you follow a recipe? yes and no. I found some recipes on Pintrest and I modified them I will link the ones I looked at here and here.

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake (not vegan)

Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake

Hello Friends! It's been awhile. I've been super busy crafting away the past month, but I finally starting cooking/baking again. I made this yummy cheesecake last night and it's for a Friends-giving dinner I am going to tonight. I made it the night before because I heard its better to let it set overnight. I also made some other yummy things last night, but I will share those later. Should I start adding more desserts to my blog? Let me know in the comments.

Ingredients:

1 packet cream cheese

2 eggs

2/3 cups of sugar

1 lemon

1/4 cup of lemon juice

6 oz of rasp berries (I just used one package I dont know how much that is)

almond extract

Agave Syrup

1 graham cracker crust (or make it on your own)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Use an egg wash on your crust and bake for a little in the oven till more brown. About 10 minutes. Use a baking sheet under the pan.
3. in a mixing bowl mix cream cheese and sugar. make sure cream cheese is softened before mixing. It is recommended to use a mixer, but I didn't have one so I did it by hand and it was fine.
4. Add in almond extract, lemon juice, and the zest of one lemon. If you don't want a strong lemon taste then you can add less of this. whisk everything in bowl.
5. Slowly add in eggs to mixture.
6. Pour this into the pan with the crust.
7. Take raspberries in a food processor or blender and puree.
8. Using a strainer strain the puree to separate the seeds. Feel free to add sugar to this mixture. I added sugar and agave syrup.
9. Using a spoon drizzle this raspberry mixture on top of the cheesecake. I used a knife and made a little design with the puree.
10. Carefully place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes until filling is cooked.
11. Once done let cheesecake cool for 3 hours or chill overnight before serving.

Enjoy!
Here's the link to the recipe I was sort of following.