A lot of people have been telling us lately that they can’t do plant-based because it’s too hard and it takes too much time. For this weeks cooking day, we wanted to debunk that myth 🙂 Nicole made a spaghetti-like dish using spiralized veggies, and a new dip Nicole found at the Royal Oak Farmers Market. The dip is plant-based and oil-free, so it was a great alternative to other dips with additives in it. The total time from start to finish for the dish was only 17 minutes!

Radical Plants it the company that is the creator of these plant-based dips. They have 3 different flavors: Chipotle Lime, Better than Ranch, and Basil Alfredo… ALL PLANT-BASED! 

Where can you find Superdip? Check the list below for a store near you 🙂

• Arbor Farms Market, 2103 West Stadium, Ann Arbor
• The Better Health Store, 42875 Grand River, Novi
• Royal Oak Farmers Market, Royal Oak
• Eastern Market, Detroit
• Zerbos Health Foods, 34164 Plymouth Rd, Livonia 48150
• Western Market, 447 West Nine Mile, Ferndale
• The Pantry in City Market, 401 Central Ave, Bay City
• Johnny Pomodoro’s, 32906 Middlebelt Rd, Farmington Hills
• The Better Health Store, 14105 Hall Road, Shelby Township
• The Better Health Store, 19151 Mack Ave, Grose Pointe Woods
• Green Space & Go, 32867 Woodward, Royal Oak
• Kingmas Market, 2225 Plainfield Ave NE, Grand Rapids
• Market Fresh, 31201 Southfield Rd, Beverly Hills
• Bridge Street Market, 405 Seward Ave NW, Grand Rapids

You can also visit their website by clicking this link.

Ingredients:

1. Spiralized veggies (we used zucchini, squash, butternut squash, cabbage, red pepper)
2. 2 containers of cremini mushrooms
3. 1 cup Basil Alfredo Superdip
4. Splash of Veggie Broth (for sauteing the veggies in)
5. 1 Tbsp Paprika
6. 1 Tbsp Thyme
7. 1 Tbsp Oregano
8. 1 Tbsp Rosemary

1. Start by filling a big pan halfway up with water and bring to a boil. This is going to be for your spiralized veggies.
2. In a separate pot, add a splash of veggie broth and start to saute all of your mushrooms. This will take roughly 8-10 minutes. Remember when you are cooking with veggie broth you may have to keep adding some in the pot every once in a while. Continuously stir your mushrooms too 🙂
3. While the mushrooms are cooking add spiralized veggies to boiling water and boil until it’s cooked to your liking. For more al dente, cook for 5-6 minutes. For softer, cook for 10 minutes. We cooked our veggies for roughly 10 minutes.
4. Add paprika, thyme, oregano, rosemary to mushrooms and mix.
5. Combine veggies together with the mushrooms
6. Add Basil Alfredo sauce and mix.
7. Wah-La! Your meal is complete:) Enjoy!

**Optional- Nutritional Yeast for a cheesy flavor. 

These are the spiralized veggies we used:

Another option is to spiralize your own veggies 🙂

The post 17 Minute Dinner appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Check out the recipe below 🙂

 Ingredients

• 1 cup Quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Lentils
• Organic wild mushrooms
• Large portabella mushrooms 
• 1 Shallot
• 3 large cloves of garlic 
• Vegetable Broth
• Splash of balsamic vinegar dressing
• Oregano
• Paprika
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• 1 cup walnuts

1. Start by cooking quinoa. Add your water to a pan and bring to a boil. Add Quinoa to water and reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, start boiling and cooking the lentils in a separate pan filled with 1 1/2 cups of water.
3. Cut up your shallot and garlic.
4. In a separate pan start sauteeing the garlic and shallot in a splash of veggie broth. Cook for about (?) mins. Remove from heat when you’re done cooking and set aside.
5. When shallots are ready, put them in a bowl and start sauteeing wild mushrooms.
6. Remove the stem of each portabella mushroom. The gills however are edible, so you don’t have to remove them unless you don’t like the texture. In a separate pan, cook the portabella mushroom face down with some balsamic vinegar until they are mostly cooked. We will also bake them in the oven at the end to add a bit of a crunch.
7. Combine the quinoa with shallots and garlic.
8. Combine lentils into quinoa mixture.
9. Season with oregano, paprika, rosemary, and thyme.
10. Blend walnuts and add to the quinoa mix.
11. Remove the portabella mushrooms from the pan and stuff them with the quinoa blend, and top them with wild mushrooms. Place them in the oven at 400 degrees for 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven.
12. Serve and enjoy 🙂

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Ingredients:

• 1 12 ounce bag Organic Sprouted Quinoa (Tru Roots is our favorite brand)
• 2 tbsp veggie broth (add more as needed)
• 1 sweet onion
• 2 packets mushrooms
• 1/2 lemon
• 4 tbsp Hemp hearts

Directions:

1. Start by adding quinoa to boiling water and reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes (cook according to package)
2. While the quinoa is cooking, chop onion and add mushrooms to a pan.
3. Saute mushrooms on medium heat with a splash of vegetable broth. (cover and occasionally stir) After 5 minutes add onion to the mushrooms.
4. After about 10 minutes the onions and mushrooms should be done.
5. Once quinoa is done combine with mushrooms and onions.
6. Add hemp heart seasoning to quinoa or your favorite spices.  

Now you have a big batch of flavorful quinoa! Throughout the week you can heat it up in a pan an add to it. Today we sautéed asparagus and steamed kale to add to our meal. 

For those of you who are working and like hot food for lunch, purchase a steamer and use it to quickly steam a sweet potato, kale, spinach, or any other veggie! This is the steamer we use at our office and it is a lifesaver during times when we didn’t bring a meal with us to work.

We proudly believe our steamer is used more than any other office steamers 🙂    

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Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy Free

With the holidays coming up and the snow starts falling on the ground, it’s a perfect time for warm vegetables. This recipe is so incredibly colorful and easy to make.

Ingredients

• 3 heads of Broccoli
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 1 squash
• 2 carrots
• 2 peppers
• 3 portabella mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons balsamic
• 2 tablespoons Rosemary
• 2 tablespoons Thyme
• 2 tablespoons Oregano
• 2 tablespoons Paprika
• 3 cups spinach

Directions

1.     Cut up broccoli and add to a sauté pan with ½ can of coconut milk

2.     Cut up squash and add to pan

3.     Cut up carrot and add to the pan. We are adding the vegetables that need take the most time to cook. Add the rest of the coconut milk in with the carrots

4.     Cut up peppers and add to the pan

5.     Lastly, add the spinach and spices, then let cook for about 10- 15 minutes or until cooked all the way.

6.     In a separate pan sauté portabella on medium-low heat in some balsamic dressing. It’s very easy to cook with balsamic dressing, you just may have to stir the mushrooms a little bit more.

7.     Top mushrooms with stir-fry.

8. Enjoy 🙂

* You can add more or less coconut milk, the more “soup-like” you want to make it add more. If you want it to be more of a “stir fry” add less.

Optional: Nutritional yeast as a topping 🙂

The post Creamy Vegetable Stir Fry appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

Creamy Coconut Soup

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Oil Free

This creamy soup is so delicious! We used coconut milk as an alternative to dairy and we find it gives it a nice creamy taste. The base of this soup is the quinoa surprise which you can find here.

Ingredients:

• Quinoa surprise
• 1 can coconut milk
• Cayenne
• Cumin
• Coriander
• 1 can of black beans

Directions:

1) Heat up coconut milk in large pan.

2) Add Quinoa Surprise and black beans into coconut milk and stir

3) Heat for 10 minutes until warm and enjoy! (The longer you cook the thicker the consistency becomes)

Enjoy 🙂

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Mushroom Cream Sauce

Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free

This is a great alternative to a standard creamy mushroom sauce that would use dairy products. We like to use plant-based alternatives instead dairy because of the inflammatory problems associated with dairy, check out our blog The 4 Reasons You Should Stop Eating All That Dairy here to learn more!

This sauce is great on top of veggie noodles, or as a dip for vegetables!

Ingredients:

– 1 small red onion (chopped)

– 1 container mushrooms

– 3 cloves garlic (chopped)

– 2 cups cauliflower

– 1/2 cup cashews

– 1 cup almond milk (try our homemade almond milk recipe here)

Directions:

– Heat a saucepan on medium with about 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth (enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan).

– Add onions, mushroom, and garlic and cook for about 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add more vegetable broth as needed to keep the bottom of the pan from sticking.

– Blend cauliflower, cashews, and almond milk in a food processor or blender.

– Once cooked, add onions, mushrooms, and garlic to the blender or food processor and blend to desired texture. 

Helpful tip: If you boil zucchini and squash noodles for a few minutes before serving it gives them a softer texture!

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Cashew Sour Cream

This cashew sour cream is easy to make, and it is dairy-free!  It is PERFECT for tacos, nachos, soups, stir fry’s, veggie sandwiches, or just about anything else. 

Ingredients:

– 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight (or for at least 8 hours)

– 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

– ½ lemon, juiced

– 1 clove garlic

– 1 tbsp. water

Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.  The longer you blend, the more smooth the texture will become.  Add more apple cider vinegar or lemon as needed to thin out.  

This is all you need! 

This Sour Cream is great on Nachos!

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Creamy Zucchini Alfredo (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free)

This recipe uses our creamy garlic herb sauce to make a delicious Pasta Alfredo that is completely plant based, oil-free, and gluten-free!  

Ingredients:

– 5 zucchini, spiralized (here is the spiarlizer we used, but any spiralizer will work!)

– 1 cup low sodium vegetable broth

– 2-3 cups mushrooms

– 1-2 cups creamy garlic herb sauce (see recipe here)

– 3 cups spinach

Directions:

– Heat ½ cup vegetable broth in a saucepan or wok, and add 2-3 cups sliced mushrooms. Stir frequently.   You should not need to add much more broth to this because mushrooms have a lot of water in them already. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

– After 20 minutes of cooking, drain out some of the excess broth / water in the mushrooms, then add the creamy garlic herb sauce into the saucepan and mix. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.

– In a separate pan, heat 2 cups water on medium heat.  Add 3 cups spinach, and let cook down for 1-2 minutes, or to desired texture.  Drain the water.

– While the spinach is cooking,  heat 3-4 cups water to medium heat. Add spiralized zucchini, and heat for 2-3 minutes. You don’t need to let the water boil, or let the zucchini stay in the water for too long, because they can overcook quickly.

– Strain the zucchini noodles, add the strained spinach, then add to the creamy mushroom sauce. Stir, and enjoy!

– Add red pepper flakes for some spice!

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Vegetable lasagna

 Gluten Free, Dairy Free 

Nicole made this vegetable lasagna for our December Cooking Class, it is super easy to prep, and bakes in under an hour!

Ingredients:

– 4 cloves garlic, 2 chopped, 2 whole (let the chopped garlic sit for 10 minutes after chopping to preserve the alicidin, which is the active component of garlic that contributes to it’s anti-inflammatory benefits)

– 1 yellow onion, chopped

– 5-6 zucchinis, thinly sliced lengthwise

– ½ tsp. himilayan sea salt

– 1 full jar of tomato sauce (organic, with no added sugar)

– 1 can organic artichokes, blended in a food processor

– 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (more or less depending on your spice preferences)

– 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast

– 1 cup cashews, soaked 6-8 hours or overnight

– 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves (chopped) *save a few to place on top after it has baked

– ¼ cup almond milk

– Juice of half a lemon

Directions:

– Preheat oven to 375F

– Chop 2 cloves garlic, do this first so that it can sit for 10 minutes before cooking.

– Warm a sauce pan on low-medium with ½ cup vegetable broth, add onion. Stir frequently, and add more vegetable broth as needed! (Add garlic after it has been sitting for 10 minutes) 

– While garlic and onion are cooking, line a casserole pan with paper towel, and place sliced zucchini on top, sprinkle himilayan sea salt on top (this helps to draw water out of the zucchini).

– After onions and garlic have been cooking for 10-15 minutes (or until they are translucent) add tomato sauce, spices, and blended artichokes.

– For Ricotta Cheese Sauce: Blend cashews, almond milk, remaining garlic, 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, lemon juice, a sprinkle of himilayan sea salt in a food processor, and blend to a chunky texture. (You can also use Kite Hill dairy free ricotta as a substitute for making your own cheese sauce)

– Layer some of the sauce (combination of tomato sauce, onions, garlic, etc.) on the bottom of the casserole pan. Pat down zucchini one more time before using, and layer them on top of the sauce. Add second layer of sauce, then add a layer of cheese sauce, then add another layer of zucchini. Continue like this (you should have about three layers of zucchini, sauce and cheese) until you have used up all the zucchini. Top the final layer off with sauce and remaining cheese sauce.

– Bake for 30 minutes covered with tin foil, then uncover and bake for 25 minutes.

– After baking sprinkle a some chopped basil on top.

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Cheesy Potatoes

This recipe was inspired by our Wellness Director Nicole’s favorite holiday dish growing up… cheesy potatoes!  She created this delicious dairy-free version of the classic dish, try it out for your next party or holiday!

Ingredients

– 5 white potatoes

– 1 large yellow onion, chopped

– 1 ½ cup vegetable broth (low-sodium)

– 1 package of organic tempeh

– 1 tbsp. liquid aminos

– 1 lemon (juiced)

– ½ cup cashews, soaked 6-8 hours or overnight

– 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Directions

– Pre-Heat oven to 350F.

– Heat a large pot of water, and boil 5 potatoes (set timer for 20 minutes)

– Heat a saucepan on medium low in ½ cup vegetable broth, and add onions.  Cook for about 15 minutes.

– Cut the tempeh into lengthwise slices, add to a separate saucepan. Heat saucepan on medium low with ½ cup vegetable broth, and 1 tsp. liquid aminos, cook on medium low for about 5 minutes.

– Once potatoes are cooked through, chop into approx. 1 inch cubes & add to a casserole pan.

– For cheese sauce: Blend cashews, lemon juice, ½ cup vegetable broth, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, and nutritional yeast in a food processor (add more broth if needed to thin, or more cashews to thicken).

– After onions have been cooking for about 15 minutes add on top of the potatoes, then add in tempeh. Pour the cheese sauce on top.

– Bake on 350F for 15 minutes.  Check potatoes with a fork to make sure they are cooked through.

*You could also add sauteed kale to this.

– Enjoy!

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