These Braised Garlic Green Beans are awesome. Period. Seriously, if you want to get your kids to eat their green beans, make them this way! My kids go crazy for these, and every time I make them, I make more than we need for one meal, because they will snack on them! I first fell in love with these delectable green beans when my husband and I used to camp in Santa Barbara. We would drive up the coast, and when we got to Santa Barbara, we would stop at a health food store and get some deli items to eat while camping. Our favorites included BBQ’d tofu, and these green beans. When we bought them, they would sometimes have sesame seeds and red pepper flakes on them. Occasionally, I make them like that too, but to keep this recipe kid friendly, we’ll stick to basics and add the sesame and red pepper as options….
Braised Garlic Kale
Juicy, Braised, Garlic Kale
Hey everyone! So, if you read my blog regularly, and I hope you do (!), you’ll notice that I use Braised Garlic Kale in a bunch of my recipes… I’m just kind of in madly in love with it! It goes with just about anything, and when I make a big batch of it, I keep it in the fridge for a few days and use it as a side dish, add it to rice, eat it on some pasta, put a little in my soup… my kids love it on top of baked potatoes with a little vegan ranch! It goes with almost anything. Best part is that it only takes a few minutes to prepare. So even though, you can find the instructions for this, within several of my other recipes, I thought I’d just pop on here quickly and write a quick post and give this little gem to you separately, so you can dream up your own scenarios for this awesome veggie!! And so you don’t have to go searching for them… here’s a couple of links to recipes that I’ve used this Braised Garlic Kale for.
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Simple Sesame Garlic Buddha Bowl
Have you ever had one of those days, that’s just one of those days? The kind where you just wake up feeling bad for no particular reason, and everything is just off? Well, that was me last Sunday, and that is just crazy, because I always feel GREAT on Sunday! It’s my favorite day of the week. I don’t worry about stuff on Sunday. I don’t do chores or things that I don’t enjoy on Sunday. I always try to have fun and relax on Sunday. I just love the whole vibe of Sunday. So I have no idea what happened last Sunday, and why it started out like that, but what happened that day, turned the whole day around, and inspired this Simple Sesame Garlic Buddha Bowl too!
My husband, being the sweet (and super intuitive) man that he is, recognized immediately that I definitely needed something therapeutic to rescue the day, so he suggested that we just meander up the coast and stop when we saw something of interest. I’m ALWAYS up for a road trip of any proportion, so I threw on something comfy, packed some sandwiches and snacks, grabbed my camera, and we were off! We are blessed to live in a beautiful area that is just a few miles from the beach, so in no time at all we were driving up the Coast Highway, listening to music (I’m loving the new Anderson East record right now- SO GOOD!!) and enjoying a day that was a a perfect mix of sun and clouds (mostly clouds, but still beautiful), and a warm breeze. We had no particular destination in mind, and that was fine!
First stop – a little picnic area and park in Summerland, just south of Santa Barbara. We had our lunch and let the kids play on the playground. My husband has a drone that he likes to fly, so he played with that for a while. I kept myself busy with a patch of wildflowers and agave that were growing there, and taking shots of the beach from the cliff.
Anytime I can get out with my family and do some photography, I’m a happy girl! When everyone was ready to go, I remembered that a dear friend of mine from my photography club, had told me about a store nearby called Sacred Space. I had always wanted to go, so we decided to check it out, and that is when the day really got interesting! When we pulled up to the address we noticed that the landscaping and decor made you feel like you are in Bali or Thailand!
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Vegan Broccoli ‘Beef’
Vegan Broccoli ‘Beef’?! Yep. This is happening! It’s make-over time!! Traditional Broccoli Beef gets a vegan, gluten free make-over, with meaty, succulent, portabello mushrooms standing in for the beef. (That’s why the ” around ‘Beef’ in the title of this recipe!) Subbing portabello mushrooms for beef in this recipe takes the cholesterol down to ZERO (all plant based foods contain no cholesterol, so if you need to lower yours, eating more plant based foods is a great start!), and they are also a good source of protein and iron. Oh, and let’s not forget to say that this recipe is DELICIOUS! That’s fairly important right?! You will definitely enjoy the full flavors of the sauce and the crunch of broccoli cooked just until it’s crisp, tender. I know that you have food on your mind, so let’s get right into it!…
The Best Stuffed Mushrooms Ever
Hi Everyone! I have a REALLY awesome recipe for you today! This is one of my favorite recipes, and actually, the Best Stuffed Mushrooms Ever, there I said it. I’m usually a very modest person, but I will proudly own this one. So what makes these so great? Let’s talk about juicy sundried tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, and cream cheese, all mixed up, getting friendly with each other, and stuffed into bite sized mushrooms! YUM! The mushrooms get so succulent when you bake them, and make the perfect little vehicles to transport that heavenly mixture right into your mouth! Seriously, if you haven’t already started your shopping list, do it now! These mushrooms are the perfect appetizers, and they cozy up nicely to any Holiday or Italian style meal as well. They are also awesome party food, and they’re easy to make. Seriously, MAKE THEM FOR YOUR NEW YEARS EVE CELEBRATIONS – whatever that looks like for you. It doesn’t matter. Huge, fancy party, or stay at home on the couch, either way, these guys don’t care, they’re ready to party on your plate! We have them every Christmas with our lasagna, and it’s a tradition that everyone loves, Vegan and Not Vegan! And, confession time… I had more than a few (with that lovely glass of white wine in the photo), right after this little photo shoot! I could hardly keep my 5 year old, Teddy, from taking them off of the plate, WHILE I was taking pictures! That was BEFORE he broke his leg, 4 days before Christmas! :0 Poor little guy! He’s mending well, and even hobbling around in his cast shoe now, so thank God for that! But that’s a whole other story… Anyway, Mushrooms!!
Thoroughly remove dirt, and then remove stems by giving them a little twist as you pull on them. This particular package was said “Stuffers” on them, but usually I just buy the organic, white mushrooms.
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Angel McNall is the author and photographer of High Vibe Lifestyle. For over 20 years, Angel has been teaching people how to live more vibrantly by eating a plant based diet, and using plant based medicine. 
