I’ve long relied on soups as a way to cram as many vegetables as I can into my family’s diet, but the truth is, my daughter prefers to eat her leafy greens mixed into one of her two favorite foods: lasagna and tofu. Lasagna will always be her first choice, but for a super-quick meal that hits all of the nutritional bases, I love a veggie-packed scrambled tofu with a starchy vegetable on the side. And when it comes to leafy greens, almost nothing packs more nutritional power than kale or has such a mild flavor that goes with practically any seasoning.

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Read the rest of Simple Scrambled Tofu and Kale with Sweet Potato Fries (421 words)

© SusanV for FatFree Vegan Kitchen, 2012. | Permalink | 34 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: eat-to-live, gluten-free, higher-fat, soy

If, like me, you made a New Year’s resolution to start eating healthier, you might be just a little worried about what you’re going to eat at the Big Party coming up this weekend. I’m referring, of course, to the Super Bowl, the day when grown adults run and dodge and knock each other down in their quest to get to the guacamole bowl. Or maybe that’s just at my house. I live with two hard-core football fans who will insist that there be guacamole and tortilla chips to eat during the big game, and if I’m not careful, I’ll start mindlessly snacking all my healthy progress away.

That’s why I have a plan–and I suggest you have one, too. You may not be able to keep away from all the tempting snack food, but you can have just as tempting nutritious food on hand to grab when the snacking urge hits. Guacamole itself isn’t unhealthy as long as you don’t overdo it, but packaged tortilla chips are just fried flour and salt. So make your own baked chips, or better yet, scoop up your guac with baby carrots, celery sticks, red pepper slices, cucumber, or cauliflower florets. And be sure to have a filling, nutritious main course that tastes like you’re cheating on your diet (but you’re not).

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Read the rest of Healthy Super Bowl Party? Start with a Big Pot of Really Good Chili (702 words)

© SusanV for FatFree Vegan Kitchen, 2012. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: eat-to-live, gluten-free, KISSS, Nava Atlas, soy-free

I come from a long line of dessert lovers. When I was growing up, my family ate dessert every night after dinner, and my parents still end each day with a bowl of ice cream (though my mother opts for an artificially sweetened one now). It’s a hard habit to break and one I’m afraid I’ve passed down to my daughter. But our typical dessert isn’t ice cream or even Soy Dream but fruit, plain and simple. Of course, if sugary vegan goodies are around, we’ll jump on them like a pack of starving dogs, which is why I try to keep them out of the house entirely.

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Read the rest of Chocolate Chia Pudding and Other Sugar-Free, Flour-Free Desserts (898 words)

© SusanV for FatFree Vegan Kitchen, 2012. | Permalink | 49 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: eat-to-live, gluten-free, higher-fat, KISSS, Ridiculously Easy, sugar-free

Near the end of the first week of my KISSS healthy-eating plan, calamity struck–or at least what passes for calamity when you are trying to cook and eat healthy soups every day. I went to the pantry and found that I had no onions. No onions! Take a look at almost any of my savory recipes and you’ll see the same first step: “Saute onions in a non-stick pan.” Onions provide the flavor base on which all of my soups are built, and without onions, I definitely couldn’t cook the soup that I had planned to.

It was almost dinner time, so rather than make a trip to the store for one item, I took a look in my freezer and pantry to figure out what I could make with what I had on-hand. In the freezer I had a package of Cajun-Style Mirepoix blend (onions, green peppers, and celery) and several bags of mixed vegetables, including a gumbo blend. Using them and canned tomatoes and beans from my pantry, I managed to make an amazingly good gumbo in under a hour, and the only vegetable I had to chop was the garlic.

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Read the rest of Ridiculously Easy Vegetable Gumbo and Cooking From Your Pantry and Freezer (862 words)

© SusanV for FatFree Vegan Kitchen, 2012. | Permalink | 33 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: eat-to-live, gluten-free, KISSS, louisiana, Ridiculously Easy, Vegan 101

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to eat more greens but you just can’t face another lunchtime salad. Maybe it’s because of the prep involved, maybe it’s because it feels like the North Pole outside, or maybe it’s because you’re just sick and tired of chomping your way through a big bowl of raw veggies. So you either reach for something a little (or a lot) less nutritious or you use all your willpower to just force down that salad. If you’re lucky, you discover mid-salad that “Hey, I kinda like this salad.” If you’re not lucky, you wind up feeling either guilty for choosing something less nutritious or resentful for having had a less than thrilling lunch. So what to do? I have a few tips to make salad-eating easier and more enjoyable, plus a vegan ranch dressing that you can personalize to your taste buds’ content.

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Read the rest of Hidden Cashew Ranch Dressing Plus Tips for Eating Salads When You Really Don’t Want To (1,236 words)

© SusanV for FatFree Vegan Kitchen, 2012. | Permalink | 82 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: eat-to-live, higher-fat, KISSS, soy-free, sugar-free