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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Tofu Bacon
Bacon. It’s everywhere! People love bacon. And not just eating it, they wear it on t-shirts and earrings! I’ve seen Christmas decorations that look like bacon! It pops up in ice cream, on pizza, and wrapped around everything under the sun. It seems to be the one item that will make any food more attractive. You could say anything and if you include “bacon”, you’ve won over 99% of the population. Let’s be honest, it’s delicious. But what if you don’t eat bacon, for one reason or another? (There are lots of reasons not to eat bacon, but right now we’re going to assume that you’ve already got a reason.) Make some Tofu Bacon! Seriously. Is there anything tofu can’t do?
Tofu Bacon is easy to make, and it has all of the qualifications that you expect from bacon. We’re talking the salty, smokey, savory, slightly sweet, crispy traits that make bacon completely irresistible! I’ve made this recipe a million times for my vegan cooking classes, and many catered brunches (full of non-vegans) with menus that included tofu bacon, so I can assure you, it’s a crowd-pleaser! There’s a few different ways to prepare it, and it’s just as versatile as the ‘real’ thing! Think, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, salads, mac and cheese, etc.! Best of all, tofu bacon is cholesterol free, has lots of protein, and is way lower in fat than bacon. Once you’ve made this addictive tofu bacon, you’ll want to make it again and again. I’d actually recommend making a double batch, because my next two blog posts are going to be recipes that utilize this amazing tofu bacon…. and you may also be prone to eat several pieces while you’re making it… and you may have to fend off hungry kids and husbands that smell this delicious concoction coming from the kitchen and sneak in to steal several pieces off of the plate before your meal. It happens people!
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Confetti Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Confetti Stuffed Spagetti Squash
For my first recipe post, I thought I’d share a recipe that is not only satisfying, colorful and delicious, but also near and dear to my heart! It launched me on a path to find new and exciting gluten free, vegan recipes. A few years ago (2012), I had to make a shift in my diet from vegan, to GLUTEN FREE (I swore I’d never go gluten free!!), and vegan. This was really difficult for me. Even though I had a ton of experience with creating recipes, and helping others change their diets, to be presented with my own diet crisis, was really revealing. I immediately understood, and had boundless compassion for what others that are confronted with this mandate go through! I will link more about this experience, at a later time, but let’s just say, going gluten-free rocked my world… as in, I had no idea what to eat! :0 So, one Sunday morning, I decided to go to the Farmer’s Market, because I get a lot of inspiration there! I live in Ojai, California, which is a tiny little town, nestled in a fertile valley, about 15 minutes inland from the beach. Ojai is an eclectic mix of artists, movie stars, farmers, everyday folk, and tourists, united by their love of this unique place and deep concern for it’s preservation. Our local farmer’s market is almost exclusively organic, and between the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies, the flowers, and the artisan goods, it’s a great place to get inspiration. It’s like an event! Every Sunday morning, our little town is hopping with energy as tourists, and residents converge on the farmer’s market to buy produce, dance to the Iron Mountain Boys (a bluegrass band that performs atop a vintage flatbed truck), eat fresh tamales, get a free hug from Al, and meet and greet! So it was at the vibrant scene that I found myself on a hot Sunday morning in the summer of 2012, and it was here that I found what I was looking for! ~Inspiration~! Spaghetti squash has been a favorite summer treat of mine since I was a kid and my parents grew it in our garden, and since it’s so prolific, there was an abundance of it at the market that day. I picked it up, thinking I would use it as a side dish…. to what, I didn’t know, because what else could I eat?!
Spaghetti Squash Side dish
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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. 
