This veggie enchilada recipe is one of my favorites and has been finalized after several iterations over the last 2 years! The enchiladas are easily better than any enchiladas I have had at Mexican restaurants and they are relatively easy and quick to make. One more awesome thing about this recipe is that you can eat it without any dairy, making it a perfect dish for vegan dinners.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 Onion
2. 3 bulbs Garlic
3. 4 Mushrooms
4. 1/2 green pepper
5. 1/2 cup white corn
6. 1 Jalapeno
7. Can of black beans
8. 2-3 Tbsp Olive oil
9. Enchilada sauce (this can be found in Mexican section in the grocery store)
10. Shredded cheese (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Finely chop onion and sauté with one tbsp of olive oil
3. Use a garlic crush or apply pressure with knife to crush the garlic. Add to onion in pan. Wait till onion caralmalizes
4. Add chopped green peppers and mushroom. Cook for 3-4 mins
5. Add 1/2 cup beans with a little bit of water from the can. Let it cook for another 2-3 mins
6. Add 1/3 cup of enchilada sauce to the pan. Add salt and pepper or Mexican seasoning to taste
7. Add frozen corn. Cook for for 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring to make sure the mixture doesn't stick to the pan too much
8. Use a non stick pan or place aluminum sheet in a baking tray. Spray oil to make sure the tortilla doesn't stick. (Its better to use a non stick pan - I rarely have luck with foil)
9. Place the tortilla in the pan and add the mixture.
10. Roll the tortilla into an enchilada. Place finely cut jalapenos on top and pour 1-2 tbsp of enchilada sauce on the enchilada
11. Optional: Add shredded cheese 
12. Bake for 20-30 mins or until the enchilada looks cooked and somewhat crunchy.
13. Serve with sour cream and/ or guacamole

Chopped onions in the pan (top left) with mush rooms and peppers (middle) and beans, corn and enchilada sauce (top right)

Tortilla rolled out on pan (top left) and filling in the tortilla (top right)

Rolled enchilada with jalapenos and enchilada sauce (top left), shredded cheese (middle) and final enchilada after being baked (top right)

This is a really yum recipe and I haven't followed any online recipe to make this. The extra mix can be stored in a container for a few days so you can make enchiladas easily multiple times a week! Hope you enjoy this delicious enchilada recipe!

There's no better way to start your morning than with a glass of fresh veggie juice! The juice has tons of micronutrients that your body absolutely loves and it gives your digestive system a kickstart. Plus the fiber helps with digestion. Here's a quick recipe for the juice:

1. 1 Apple
2. 3 Carrots
3. 2-3 Pineapple slices
4. 2-3 Kale leaves
5. 1 inch Ginger
6. 1 Teaspoon chia seeds (added to the juice after juicing)

I end up making a green juice once or twice a week. Typically, I try to have juice every morning before eating a small breakfast. The chia seeds are high in protein and therefore I don't feel hungry until lunch time, so they're great for weight loss too!

Fresh, yummy veggie juice!

Since its Halloween weekend and pumpkin is literally everywhere, I figured, might as well use it to some good! This cocktail is oh so good and just melts in your mouth. Its comparable to Old Fashioned except the pumpkin bitters used in this drink are delight to the taste buds. Here's the recipe:

1. 2 oz pumpkin bitters (recipe below)
2. 1.5 oz bourbon (I used Jim Bean bourbon)
3. Dash of Couintreu 
4. Ice!

Mix up the ingredients for a divine halloween cocktail and show off as a classy mixologist to all your guests!

The Pumpkin Bourbon wonder looking smashingly good!

For pumpkin bitters:

1. Cinderella pumpkin chopped
2. 1 star anise
3. 1 cinnamon stick
4. 6 cloves
5. 1 tsp allspice
6. 1.5 cups sugar
7. 1 quart water

Chop up cinderella pumpkin and add with rest of the ingredients to a pot. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 - 40 mins. Keep stirring once every 5 - 7 minutes. Drain and strain the concoction into a separate bowl. I put it in the freezer to cool. Can be stored for a couple weeks. When serving with the cocktail, make sure to completely remove the sediments - it tastes way better!

Chopped pumpkin with star anise, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, sugar and water simmering away!

Hope you enjoy this Halloweeny/ Fall cocktail!

As a vegetarian, I am the odd one out when visiting Justin's family and when friends invite me for dinner. Part of the reason I wanted to start collecting some of my recipes and favorite dishes was to share them with friends and family who can't figure out how I can survive without meat. Strange, eh? Seriously though, I love those guys. But being vegetarian is awesome and I love it all the time.

Justin mentioned that I tend to look for food options only for myself when planning dinner and looking for restaurants. Oops! Thats a bit a selfish of me! But living in Idaho and finding good veggie food options is like spotting a mountain goat in Atlanta. So, I tend to cook at home a lot and get worked up when looking for a restaurant to eat at. I recently decided, for fun (and naturally to be a better person...) that I will match my dinners to what Justin wants to eat.

Halloween night, Justin wanted Chicken Cordon Bleu. I have been wanting to make that for him forever! So finding a veggie recipe to go with it was really exciting. I found a recipe for Aubergine Cordon Bleu and modified it a bit so we could cook our dinner together without too much extra mess. Plus its fast and oh so yum!!

What you need for one serving:

1. 1 Aubergine sliced to 5mm thick slices
2. Swiss cheese slices (I do think that Pepper jack cheese would taste even better)
3. 1 Tomato thinly sliced
4. Handful chopped thyme, basil
5. 2 Tbsp breadcrumbs (add more if needed)
6. 2 Tbsp all purpose flour (add more if needed)
7. 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese
7. 1 egg
8. 1/2 teaspoon paprika
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. Toothpicks

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. In a baking pan, spray non stick spray so that the aubergines don't stick to the bottom.
3. Layer the cheese, tomato, thyme and basil on the aubergine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Roll the aubergine slices along with the cheese and tomato and secure these rolls with toothpicks.
4. Crack the egg in a separate bowl. Either brush the egg on the aubergine rolls or dip the aubergine rolls in the egg bowl so that the aubergine rolls are fully coated with egg.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the paprika, flour, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese and mix them up. Roll the egg coated aubergine rolls in this mix so that they are totally coated with the mix.
6. Place the rolls in the baking tray and bake for 15-20 mins. You want the rolls to be crispy brown so be patient.
7. Remove, serve and enjoy!

Sliced Aubergine and tomato (top left) and the mix of flour, breadcrumbs, cheese and paprika (top right)

Rolled aubergine slices with cheese, tomato, basil, thyme and salt and pepper (top left). Aubergine rolls covered with first egg and then the flour breadcrumb mix (top center).
Ready to eat Aubergine Cordon Bleu! Yay!

This is really delicious recipe and I am so glad I came cross it. I will definitely repeat at least monthly (if not more) because its quick to put together and you can't go wrong with it.

Hope you enjoy this vegetarian cordon bleu!!

As a crossfitter, it is almost a crime to not try to follow a paleo diet! But being paleo as a vegetarian comes with significant challenges because your protein sources are totally cut down. You cannot eat beans, legumes, dairy, grains (no quinoa, rye, oats, barley), tofu, any starchy food, etc etc. Its the ultimate Ron Swanson diet if you're into meats but I aint, so it was hard for me to find the foods that I could eat and enjoy. I followed the Paleo diet for a week and found this gem of a soup recipe. Its easy to make and tastes gourmet. I ended up eating this soup 3 times during the Paleo week (lol!) and continue to make it to this day!

So here's what you need for it

Ingredients

1 sweet potato
4-5 garlic cloves
400 ml of vegetable stock
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 lemon peels
2-3 tbsp pine nuts
Salt to taste
Unground pepper with a grinder (can substitute ground pepper too)

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan (that you will cook the soup in) sauté the garlic and olive oil till garlic is medium  brown. Stir regularly to avoid the garlic from burning.
2. Add the sweet potato, lemon peel, cumin seeds, vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Let it simmer till the sweet potato is quite soft. This usually takes me about 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and either food process in a processor or use a hand held blender. I use a blender to minimize the mess of transferring. Puree till very smooth. Note: Be careful using the blender as the mixture is quite hot!
4. I now add whole peppercorns and grind some pepper to taste. This soups is very peppery and I love the whole peppercorns. But you can easily use ground pepper to your taste.
5. Add salt to taste. 
6. Separately, roast some pine nuts in a pan till they are a little brown. Add to the soup and serve.

The steps are pretty straightforward!

The finished product! Delish soup!

This soup can be stored for at least 7-10 days in the fridge as it has no dairy so nothing particularly goes "bad". Its also great to serve guests for its unique flavors and the pine nuts add a touch of luxury. Hope you enjoy this yummy soup! :)

This is one of my absolute favorite meals and I make it at least once a week. Its very quick to make, very healthy and totally yummy!

Here's what you need for it:

Ingredients
1 - 1/2 cup canned black beans
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tomato
1 jalapeño
1/2 lettuce head
sour cream
Mexican cheese
Taco seasoning
Guacamole seasoning
small size tortillas

For Guacamole 
1 avocado
1 lime
Guacamole seasoning

Approx cook time: 25 minutes

Directions
1. Finely chop the onions and garlic and sauté them with olive oil in a sauce pain. Sauté till the onions are brown and transparent so about 10 minutes
2. Add the beans to the sauce pan and cook for about 2 minutes
3. Add 1 table spoon of taco seasoning and cook for another 3-4 minutes
4. In the meantime, chop the tomatoes, lettuce and finely chop the jalapeños 
5. Serve the beans, tomatoes and jalapeños, lettuce in a separate bowl along with sour cream and cheese
6. Heat the tortillas one at a time in the microwave. I eat these each time I want a new one.

For Guacamole
Mash the avocado in a bowl with 1 table spoon of guacamole seasoning and juice from 1 lime

In the tortilla, add beans, tomatoes, jalapeños, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and guacamole and make your very own soft shell taco! 

This is an awesome dish and its super easy! I made this fresh on my trip to Glacier National Park so it makes a great camping dish too!

Hope you enjoy this =)

The assortment of fillings for soft shell tacos. Justin eats this with chicken instead of beans and the process is is exactly the same.

Fully made soft shell taco!