Cheesy Vegan Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa Recipe

A delicious alternative to meat, quinoa, black beans, Vegan cheese and other ingredients make this a delish’ dish!

 

It’s always a good sign when the kids celebrate with a “Hooray!” when you tell them what’s for dinner.  Tonight’s celebration involved stuffed peppers that is loaded with nutrients, filling and will have your taste buds dancing, along with some eager (and hungry) people!  (Psst… if you don’t like bell peppers, the stuffing is awesome without them so Try it!

Carve out a little bit of time because this isn’t something you can put together in a pinch but it DOES make for awesome leftovers as the flavors intensify overnight 🙂

TiV Vegan Stuffed Peppers Step 1

 

TiV Vegan Stuffed Peppers Step 2

 

TiV Vegan Stuffed Peppers Step 3

 

TiV Vegan Stuffed Peppers Step 4

 

 

 

Serves 8-10

What you need:

• Olive oil (or grape seed oil) to coat pan
• 1 cup of onion diced small (1/3 -1/4 large sweet onion)
• 2 large or 3 medium stalks of celery diced small
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes (drain but save the juice)
• 1 package 11oz. frozen spinach defrosted and drained
• 3 medium to large carrots grated small
• 1 1/2 -2 cups sweet corn kernels (canned or frozen is fine if you don’t have fresh)
• 3/4 cup sprouted quinoa (or regular quinoa) rinsed very well
• 1 can drained and rinsed black beans (or 1 1/2 – 2 cups cooked)
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups shredded vegan cheese (we like Enjoy Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella & Cheddar mix)
• 5 bell peppers -we prefer red, orange and yellow  (Go crazy, get organic if you can with all of the ingredients 🙂

 

What to do:

 

Step 1:  Add oil to pot over medium heat.  Once heated, add celery and onion and cook until tender (5 min.).  While cooking, drain canned tomatoes and pour tomato juice into baking dish (we recommend a pan with a higher lip).  Mix in cumin and garlic for one minute.

Step 2:  Add tomatoes, spinach, grated carrots and quinoa.  Stir and allow any liquid to evaporate (around 3-5 minutes)

Step 3:  Continue by adding beans, corn, and mix in 2 cups of water.  Put the lid on the pot, bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium low for 15 minutes.  Turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Use this time to grate the cheese and clean & cut the bell peppers.  Place the peppers in baking pan or dish atop the tomato juice.

Step 4:  Use 3/4 of your cheese and mix in pot.  Fill the peppers with mixture and place in the oven, covered with aluminum foil, for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and sprinkle remaining vegan cheese on top, turn broiler on to melt cheese (10-15 minutes – keep an eye on it)

We choose not to use salt and pepper and those in the house that prefer it normally have admitted that it doesn’t need it however feel free to add if you please 🙂

 

Great for parties and all seasons!  Enjoy! 🙂

 

A delicious alternative to meat, quinoa, black beans, Vegan cheese and other ingredients make this a delish’ dish!

 

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Fruit Sushi “Frushi” Dessert – A Try it Vegan Summer Dessert Recipe

Try it Vegan Fruit Sushi “Frushi”

Introducing your new favorite:  Fruit Sushi  “Frushi”

Bite sized.  Sticky, sweet rice.  Fresh juicy berries atop melted vegan chocolate, strawberry preserves or, better yet, coconut jam.

Finger.  Licking.  Good.

There are many variations but fruit sushi or “Frushi” is a dessert that is a great party pleaser and tastes better than it looks which was once thought impossible! 🙂  Take advantage of the delicious summer fruit and “Try it”!  Let us know what you think 🙂

***This is a Cool Kid Corner Favorite!!***

(You are viewing my husband’s birthday cake… instead of a typical flour cake, we decided to take a different route and it was worth it!!)

Try it Vegan fresh fruit atop sweet rice … delish’!

Suggested ingredients:

• 1 can (14 oz) of unsweetened coconut milk (go crazy… buy organic with all ingredients if you can, your taste buds and health will thank you!)
• 14 oz. water
• 1 3/4 cups of dry sushi rice (rinse very well first)
• 3 1/2 tbsp Vegan sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Fresh fruit washed, dried and larger pieces cut to fit  (We used champagne grapes, blackberries, raspberries & strawberries but other fruit makes it incredibly colorful such as kiwi, pineapple, mango and mandarin oranges to name a few)
• Fruit preserves (we used Strawberry preserves, coconut jam ((SO SO GOOD!  We found this in a specialty store but completely worth the splurge if you can find it!)) and also orange marmalade
• Vegan chocolate melted (not necessary but for the chocoholics out there like us… you are welcome 😉

TiV Fruit Sushi Frushi Ingredients that will make it difficult for you to wait until it’s done.

What to do:

• Pour unsweetened coconut milk, water and rice into pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer, put a lid on it and let it sit until the rice has absorbed the liquid.  Once absorbed, mix in sugar and salt then fluff with a fork and let cool.
• Once the rice has cooled, scoop a small amount of rice and roll into an oblong shape and flatten on top (like a Mounds bar, if you are familiar with the shape and size).
• Spread your choice(s) of preserves atop to act as a “glue” (for my fellow chocoholics, vegan chocolate makes another great choice but hurry and put the fruit on before it dries!)
• Place fruit of your choice on top.
• *Option for some, necessity for others… drizzle vegan chocolate atop some (but not all! 🙂
• Lick fingers clean  Enjoy!

Try it and let us know what you think!

Wishing all of you special Dads a very Happy Father’s Day!

Meatless Monday: Lemon Infused Zucchini Bean Salad Recipe

Some of the most delicious dishes are so simple, inexpensive and fast, it’s almost a crime.  This dish is equally as good hot, room temperature or straight out of the refrigerator so it makes an awesome meal yet the leftovers are perfect for lunch at work or school.

My Greek Cypriot mother in law makes it with fresh black eyed beans something here in the States, I have yet to find.  (If you know where we can find some, let us know!)  It’s a dish the kids love as well and is filling, also great to serve with a high quality dense bread to absorb all of the “liquid goodness” 🙂

***This also goes very well as a side with our Vegan Cypriot Greek Meatballs -Keftedes***

Of course you can add your spices as we often desire in our other dishes but we would encourage you to keep this one simple and enjoy the flavors of these few ingredients on their own.

TiV TIP:  Not only are organic zucchini’s eliminating a ton of harmful chemicals and free radical damage to your body but there is so much more flavor in organic produce, period.

For 1-2 people, you will need:

• 1 can of white beans or black eyed beans
• 1 lemon
• 1 zucchini sliced in even chunks
• pink Himalayan salt (or salt of your choice)
• olive oil
• **lemon infused olive oil**  (not a must have but a nice little final touch!  If you have never tried an infused olive oil, treat yourself and try it 🙂

Simple Steps:

Add olive oil to pan (this is one of the few dishes that we are heavy on the olive oil… a few tbsp).  Heated on medium heat.  Add zucchini (we sliced longways once and cut larger sized chunks) and cook until soft, about 7-10 minutes if larger, 3-5 if you prefer chopped size.

Add drained and rinsed beans (removing some of the salt to add our own), sprinkle some salt to taste (we love pink Himalayan but if you don’t have it, use what you do have).  Add to bowl.

Squeeze at least 1/2 lemon and top with a small bit of lemon infused olive oil or plain if that is what you have.

Meatless Monday:  Simple, delicious, inexpensive, healthy and a great protein choice.  Try it!

Sexy Summer Pasta Salad Recipe! (with Photos)

Need a dish to bring to a summer BBQ or have a party that needs a dish that will “WOW!” everyone?  You will LOVE this and after one bite, they will love YOU!

This is by far, a favorite request and it’s versatile so have fun adding more ingredients!  If you are new to Try it Vegan, note that we LOVE to eat with our eyes first so that is why there is a rainbow of colors in this salad.

Sometimes there are some dishes that require some extra love and this is one of them so plan accordingly and plan to make this the night prior to let all of the flavors marinate or if you don’t have time, make extra because it is AWESOME the next day like some other dishes.

For the record, the hot dog is vegan 🙂

Ingredient Suggestions for Pasta Salad:

(I didn’t measure this time around but offer suggestions below)

• small jar of artichoke hearts in oil (2 cups chopped)
• sun-dried tomatoes in oil (about 10 or 1/2-3/4 cup chopped)
• 2 small cucumbers diced
• 1 zucchini diced
• 1/2 small jar of roasted red peppers or 1/2-3/4 cup chopped
• red, yellow and orange small sweet peppers (2 of each color or 1/2 of bell peppers) chopped
• cup of sliced cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/4-1/2 cup of diced red onion
• 1 pound of pasta

(broccoli florets cut small make a great addition to this salad along with black olives, not shown)

Dressing:

(*****if making a day ahead, make half of the dressing, mix all ingredients and allow the flavors to set overnight.  Prior to serving, make and add the second half)

• 1 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 2/3 cup red vinegar
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
• 2 avacados
• 2 cloves of garlic

Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse with cold water.  Add all ingredients in large bowl.  In a Vitamix or blender, add half of the dressing ingredients (or all if you will serve immediately) and blend until smooth.  Pour over vegetables and pasta and chill prior to serving.

Try it! 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day!!

 

Hoping all of our Moms have had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Cool Kid Corner Announcement: New Addition… Meet Nico!

We are excited to be launching our Cool Kid Corner headed up by a kid that has been Trying it Vegan for the past four years now!

“Hi!  I’m Nico.  I’m an 11 year old kid who has been eating Vegan food since my mom started eating this way (‘How long, Mom?’)… Yeah, four years ago.

I know there are other kids who were like, (picture VERY scared face here) but it’s actually really good and Mom knows how to make the food fun for us.

Some foods are ok, others are just…

Our Sunshine Award Nomination!

It’s embarrassing to admit, yet it’s been nearly a month since sammysfood nominated us for the Sunshine Award on her awesome blog, “An Ode to Mung Beans”.  We are incredibly grateful for the recognition and wish to apologize for not showing more graciousness sooner!

If you have yet to come across her blog, you will be pleased to see that she is worth following with a bunch of delicious recipes to try and great info to absorb!  Go check her out!

To keep it fun and interesting, we’ve chosen to answer some of her questions while creating some different ones.

No Judgement. No Pressure. It’s not About a Title or a Label, it’s Simply Encouragement to Try it… Vegan

This post explains our “mission”, who we are and will hopefully show you that we are not your typical Vegan blog.

No one wants to be pressured into anything.  Sometimes it’s important to develop a curiosity.  Other times, it just feels right to give it a try.  That’s how we started… simply wanting to Try it…Vegan.

Like many people, when I heard the term “Vegan”, a certain stereotypical image would come to mind.  I will admit that I had  thought that you had to be a certain type of person, like certain activities, dress a certain way or even, become an activist.  For some, it may in fact be important to live up to that stereotype or to to take on that title but that is not what  Try it Vegan is about.

Arugula & Farro Wheat Salad with Pesto Dressing: The Perfect Heart Healthy Spring Salad!

If you are looking for a new twist on salads, this is a great healthy option that is loaded with flavor!  Pesto is a great dressing for salads- not just pasta- and we must admit, we are hooked 🙂

Whether it’s for one, family dinner or even great for a party or BBQ , it will be sure to please!  Try left over vegetables from your previous meal and toss them in, really, anything goes…

What you need:

• Fresh Arugula
• Toasted Farro Wheat
• Baby Spinach
• Grape Tomatoes
• Grilled Asparagus
• Onion
• Pesto

Farro

Farro is a whole grain and soft on the outside, a bit firm and crunchy on the inside and worth it to give it a try!  Simply pour grain in pot and cover with water (a couple of inches above the grain) and bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour.  You don’t need to soak them but you certainly could to increase your body’s ability to digest it.

Pesto

There are so many ways to make a really, really good pesto so play around and Try it!  We have a favorite that we talk about HERE   but here is another suggestion:

(for a salad and some extra)

• 1 cup of basil or 1/2 cup basil, 1/2 parsley or cilantro
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp pine nuts or walnuts

Throw in a Vitamix or blender and Ta-Da!  Your new salad dressing 🙂