Oven Baked Fajitas

I think I saw this recipe on Facebook and wanted to try it using Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Strips. 

Chicken-free strips, red and green bell pepper, some red onion, and seasonings. 

A good old-fashioned white flour tortilla to hold all the goodies. 

I served the chicken-free fajitas with some homemade spanish rice. 

So yummy! The hubby said "make this again"! 

Here's the recipe:

Oven Baked Fajitas

2 pkg. (11 oz.) veg chiken strips (I used Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Strips; grilled or seasoned)

-I put the pkgs. in the fridge in the morning and they were slightly thawed when ready to cook. 

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp seasoned salt

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes

1 md. onion, sliced (yellow or red onion)

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chiken strips in greased 9x13 pan. In small bowl, combine oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and salt. Drizzle spice mixture over chiken and stir to coat. Add tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Stir to combine. Bake, uncovered 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are done. Serve in flour tortillas. 

Three Quick & Easy Meals

Whew! I finally had my sinus surgery after dealing with this for seven months this time. My last surgery was 15 years ago so hopefully this will last for another 15! Recovery is not a breeze but it will be worth it in the long run. Cooking is the last thing I want to do but I'm slowly getting back into it. In the meantime, I just keep ordering cookbooks! heehee. I got Vegan Casseroles by Julie Hasson; OATrageous Oatmeals by Kathy Hester; Super Seeds by Kim Lutz; Thug Kitchen(!) and The Mystic Cookbook-the secret alchemy of food by Denise & Meadow Linn. The last has a few recipes (not all vegan) but more of our spiritual connection to food. It's dangerous when you're lying around recuperating with an ipad in your hands!  I'm still browsing through them making lists of what I want to cook first. Here are three fairly simple and quick meals to fill the belly without resorting to crappy fast food. 

~ Fast & Fresh Tomato Sauce ~

La Dolce Vegan

Such an easy pasta sauce using fresh tomatoes and a few spices. 

I love Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Strips. I found this recipe for Chicken-Free Salad Sandwiches in Everyday Vegan Eats.  It tastes just like I remember chicken salad should taste. 

~Chicken-Free Salad on Pita Bread ~

The hubby really liked this chicken-free salad. 

Ok, now I'm almost embarrassed to add this one. When I found out about earth balance mac & cheese I ordered some from Vegan Essentials; I got the regular and the white cheddar. This is an old standby from when my kids were little using the traditional nitrite hot dogs and kraft mac & cheese . But this version is guilt-free! And so simple it's ridiculous. Make your mac & cheese per box instructions; heat up 3 or 4 veggie hot dogs in microwave and cut in coins; mix all together and eat! 

~Guilt-Free Mac & Cheese with Veggie Dogs ~

I served my "gourmet" mac & cheese with some Dry-Sauteed Green Beans. I love these things! They taste just like the ones at P.F. Chang's. Here is the link to the recipe. 

September Craziness!

 ~ Happy Autumn Equinox! ~ 

We don't see too many leaves this color around here and the temps are still in the 100 degrees but things really get hopping this time of year. As you can see I didn't have too much success with Vegan MoFo! We spent a wonderful week in Iowa visiting my hubby's family; I have been busy making teas, incense and other goodies for a local craft show next month; babysitting grandkids and celebrating our oldest grandson's 4th birthday! The cooking I did do used a lot of convenience foods and whatever food I had left in the fridge and freezer after our Iowa trip. So, here's a rundown on the last two weeks! I did try four new recipes with mixed results.

 I found these StarLite cuisine frozen meals at Sprouts. They have a whole line of taquitos and enchiladas. I like to keep my freezer stocked when I don't have time to cook. Very tasty!

 ~ Sauteed Collards ~
I love collard greens! I'm always looking in my cookbooks for different ways to cook them. I found this recipe in Veganomican. Yum! I served the collards with some baked potatoes and Gardein Crispy Tenders.

~ Basic Guacamole ~
I had an avocado ready to expire! and this recipe is another one from Veganomican. Yes, it's really basic; lime (too much), onion, salt and pepper. But it was a quick, easy way to use up that overly ripe avocado. She does give optional ingredients to add like cilantro, jalapeno and garlic which I didn't have which would have spiced it up.

~ Spinach, Peppers and  Cherry Tomatoes with Penne Rigate ~
I was browsing recipes online and found this at vegetariantimes. I had some roasted red peppers I had frozen, so this was a quick meal to put together. Everything gets cooked in a skillet and then tossed with cooked pasta. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes on top for a little spice.

 ~ Hot Tamale Pie ~
I love a good tamale pie and sadly this one didn't turn out. The recipe is from Cookin' Crunk and sounded really good. I think I must have used cornmeal that was too fine because the cornmeal really never thickened up to the right consistency. The filling had pinto beans and lots of spice and was really delicious. I poured the cornmeal mixture over the bean mix and went ahead and cooked it. Not a success. It was like eating cornmeal mush mixed with chili. The flavors were good so that's the way I ate it. I would like to try this again with a different kind of cornmeal.

I was so excited to see these frozen tamales at Sprouts!

Easy to steam in the microwave.

 I served the tamales with some homemade Spanish rice and Smoky Collard Greens with Vegan Bacon from Betty Goes Vegan. Another convenience foods success!

I made some Chili Dogs one night using Yves vegan hot dogs and a can of Sprouts spicy vegan chili. I had some hot dog buns in the freezer! and used those. I topped the chili dogs with some chopped onion and Daiya cheddar shreds and served them with some sweet potato fries!

My new favorite frozen "chicken". I used the Southwest Style to make some Chicken-Free Fajitas.

I sauteed a little red and yellow bell pepper in some olive oil along with the chicken-free strips. I would have used more peppers but that was all I had.

~ Chicken-Free Fajitas ~
I layered the sauteed chicken-free strips and bell peppers in a warmed flour tortilla then topped them with Daiya cheddar shreds, cilantro, green onions, chopped tomatoes and romaine lettuce and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce for some hotness! YUM!!!

Here's to a new week (hopefully with more fresh ingredients incorporated-hehe). Well, I did do some green juicing so that counts!

Homemade Chick'n Salad

Where did this week go?! I signed up for Vegan MoFo 2014 starting in September. It seems like I just finished doing that! 

I found this recipe for some chick'n salad at FettleVegan.com. I used Beyond Meat Grilled Chicken-Free Strips. The texture of the chick'n really holds up in a salad. It doesn't break down and get all mushy. 

~cubed chick'n, celery, onion, almonds and parsley~

 The dressing recipe calls for way too much salt-2 teaspoons! I foolishly added the 2 tsp. and found out the hard way. I had some sweet pickle relish, so I added about 1/4 cup to the mix. That fixed the saltiness and was a great addition. I think I'll add the relish from now on. 

I toasted some Veganic Lentil Grain bread for my chick'n salad. This is the second time I've tried this bread; still not too sure about it. It kind of has a rubbery texture unless it's toasted. I still like Ezekiel bread better. 

 ~Chick'n Salad Sandwich with romaine~

The rest of the week I made some favorites:

~ Pasta with 5 Minute Roasted Red Pepper Pesto ~
La Dolce Vegan

I added some mixed veggies in this time. 

~ Light and Fluffy Pancakes ~
Give Them Something Better

There is a recipe for making up a mix which uses powdered soymilk. Great to have on hand. I needed to restock the freezer with pancakes! 

~ Cherry Almond Cookies ~
Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar


~ Lentil and Chard Ragout ~
Crazy Sexy Kitchen

Cooking This Week!

I made a few old favorite recipes this week along with a couple of new ones.

I made this yummy bread for my daughter's family; the grandsons love this. I just bought some more zucchini to make two more loaves.


~ Zucchini Apple Bread ~
Betty Goes Vegan

I had a pound of fresh organic green beans and this recipe I found here. These remind me of my favorite green beans I order at P. F. Chang's. Yum! They could use a little more heat for my taste; a sprinkle of red pepper flakes would be good. 

~ Dry-Sauteed Green Beans ~ 

I served the green beans with another long green veggie-some roasted asparagus; a loaded baked potato and Morning Star Farms BBQ Riblets. 

I've had this cookbook Peas and Thank You for about a year now and I have to admit this is the first recipe I have made out of it. Hmm~I wonder if I have too many cookbooks! It looks like there are lots of delicious recipes; so I'll be trying a few of them soon. 

This smoothie recipe sounded so tasty I had to try it.

Ingredients for smoothie ~ blackberries, lime, basil, ginger and soymilk with stevia to sweeten. It took alot of stevia to sweeten this to my taste. Kind of tart and tangy! 

~ Blackberry Basil Smash Smoothie ~ 

This made enough for two servings so I poured the rest into some popsicle molds for the grandkids. 

Another favorite recipe I like to make is the "Mock Beef & Rice Noodle Toss" from La Dolce Vegan. I have made so many variations of this using whatever veggies I have on hand. The Teriyaki Marinade really brings it all together. I usually end up using all of the marinade and thickening it with a little cornstarch for the sauce. This time I used Gardein Beefless Tips, broccoli and snow peas over quinoa. 

~ Mock Beef & (Rice Noodle) Toss ~

La Dolce Vegan

The lasagna recipe from Chloe's Kitchen is the best! This is the second time I have made this. It's so easy using no-boil lasagna noodles. My brother and his family came to visit the day after I made this. He ate the leftovers and wanted the recipe! I couldn't believe he wanted to make a vegan recipe; I was so thrilled and he wanted to make it for company!

before baking

~ Ooh-La-La Lasagna ~

Chloe's Kitchen

I was so excited to see Beyond Meat chicken at my local Sprouts. They have all the different flavors of chicken but no other products yet. I knew just what I wanted to try it in. Give Them Something Better's cookbook has so many homey, comforting, familiar recipes. I wanted to try the Chicken Stew and Easy Biscuits. 

Easy Biscuits hot from the oven.

 You use whole wheat pastry flour and make them in a muffin pan. They were flavorful but I still like light, airy cut biscuits better. The Chicken Stew tastes just like my grandma's (well, almost!) I should have put the chicken pieces in at the end of cooking because they did get a little spongy but it didn't affect the flavor at all. This makes a big pot of stew; I need to remember to start halving these recipes. 

~ Chicken Stew & Easy Biscuits ~
Give Them Something Better

Now, what to cook for this week?!!