Recipe | Loaded, One Pan Breakfast Scramble

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What you'll need:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 red potatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, diced

4 eggs, whisked

1/4 cup fresh mozzarella, cubed or shredded

1 avocado, diced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric 

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Set a large, oven-safe skillet to medium-high heat. Start sauteing your potatoes in the olive oil until they start browning - about 10 minutes total, flipping occasionally. Next, add the onions, and once they start becoming translucent (after 5 minutes or so) add the garlic. Add some salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and add your whisked eggs, spices, tomatoes, and more salt and pepper. Scramble the egg mixture until they begin to set up. Add the mozzarella to the top of the mixture, and then transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the eggs are cooked through and the cheese is melted, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and top with your fresh avocado. 

Enjoy!

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Update | Snow Day

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Although snow is probably the most inconvenient form of precipitation EVER, I feel pretty relaxed today... probably because I don't have to worry about shoveling my car out of the snow for any use of it today, or tomorrow, or even Friday. I was going to put an extra day in at my internship today but the roads are pretty bad and my car doesn't exactly get along with snowy/icy conditions.

Oh yeah, it's been a while since I updated whoever the hell reads this thing- I got the internship I've been wanting! It's at a jail (relax -- it's as safe as safe can be). I started on Monday and it's really everything I was expecting/hoping for. It feels good to be in an environment that I eventually want to work in as my career.

Hmm what else... well classes started yesterday, sort of. With all the snow (10 freaking inches are you KIDDING ME?! it was 55°F last week!) my school actually closed the campus late afternoon yesterday and even today as well. I don't have classes on Wednesdays anyway, so this doesn't really feel like much of a treat. I don't have any work today, though, so I just get to hang out with Benji and binge watch The Mindy Project. Maybe I'll do some apartment cleaning. Maybe.

I don't really have a recipe for you today, I just made some toast this morning with some tasty toppings for breakfast.

One slice of toast was topped with hummus and slices of cucumber, and the other was topped with avocado and tomato chunks. Both were sprinkled with some salt, pepper, onion powder, red pepper flakes, and chia seeds. Quite a delicious start to a rather relaxing day.

I hope you guys are having a great day/week/month/year so far!

xoxo

Sam

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Recipe | Smokey Avocado and Chickpea Dip

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1 15 oz can of Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 avocado
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large food processor and pulse until the desired consistency is achieved. My food processor was small so I processed the garbanzo beans, added them to a bowl, then processed the garlic and onion and added that to the bowl, then I just added the avocado straight to the bowl without processing, added the spices and olive oil and mixed everything together with a spoon.

Serve this as a spread on a sandwich or just dip your favorite pita chips in it. I won't judge you if you decide to just eat it with a spoon, though

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Recipe | Vegan Veggie Melt with Crispy Tempeh

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This recipe will yield one sandwich for a super hungry person who hasn't eaten in about 8 hours :)

about 1/3 of a baguette - you can use whatever bread you like, this is just what I had on hand. If the baguette is HUGE then just use 1/4 or whatever looks like a decent size for a sandwich for you.
4 oz tempeh (1/2 of an 8 oz. package is usually 1 serving) cut into slices
A couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bell pepper, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 avocado, mashed
2 oz soy mozzarella, sliced
1 tbsp or so of your favorite hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

I used a toaster oven to melt the cheese, but you can go ahead and use a regular oven. Set it to 450°F before you start cooking.

Set a skillet to medium heat with some extra virgin olive oil. Begin browning off the slices of tempeh on both sides - about 3-5 minutes on each side.

When they're done browning, take them out of the pan and begin sweating the onions and peppers. Add some salt and pepper and cook them down for about 5-7 minutes.

While the peppers and onions are cooking, you can get started on preparing the bread part  of your sandwich. You're gonna want to cut the loaf in half, but don't bring the knife all the way through to the other side. You want one side still intact so your filling doesn't fall all over the place when you're eating it later. Then just gut out the bread-y part so you can fit alllllllll the fillings inside. My bread was a little stale so I just popped it in the toaster oven after I did this to toast it up a bit. If your bread is fresh, this toasting step isn't necessary unless you want it extra crispy.

When your peppers and onions are done cooking, you can start assembling your sandwich. Try not to drool all over it while you're doing this though. Especially if you have guests... I found this part especially difficult to avoid.

You don't have to assemble yours like I did. I'LL NEVER KNOW. I just found this way was best to keep everything all nice and glued together once the sandwich is finished.

Start off with the peppers and onions on one side of the sandwich and the mashed avocado on the other side.

Then, go ahead and add the strips of tempeh to the peppers and onions side, and the slices of tomato to the avocado side.

Top off the tempeh, peppers, and onions with your soy mozzarella.

Sprinkle the whole thing with some salt and pepper. Toast it up in the toaster oven, or an actual oven, for like 5-10 minutes... however long it takes for the cheese to start melting and the bread to crisp up. Top it off with your favorite hot sauce and enjoy!

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Recipe | Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers with Stuffed, Oven-roasted Avocados

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FOR THE BURGERS:

1 15oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 egg, beaten.
1 carrot, shredded
1 zuchinni, shredded
1/2 onion, chopped
2 gloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1 roasted red pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese - save 1/4 cup for after you combine it in the food processor
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup flat leaf parsely, roughly chopped
the zest of one lemon
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves
salt and pepper to taste
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil

(makes 8 burgers)

Add all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until everything is combined into a smooth-ish mixture. Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and incorporate the reserved 1/4 cup feta cheese. Add more bread crumbs if the mixture feels too soggy. To make these vegan, just omit the cheese and use an egg substitute - like arrow root or a flax mixture (i don't know the exact measurements. just google it)

Set a large skillet or griddle to medium heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray or add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Form the mixture into patties. Sear on both sides for about 3-5 minutes each. The burgers WILL be squishy and a little messy, this is OKAY! They won't fall apart, but they will be mushy.

FOR THE AVOCADOS:

4 ripe avocados, halved and de-pitted

1 cup button mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, chopped

1 soy sausage, diced

1/2 tomato, diced

some fresh mozzarella, diced

a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450°F. 

Scoop out the majority of the avocado's flesh from each half, mash up with salt and pepper, and set aside in a bowl.

Set a large skillet to medium heat and add some oil. Brown up the soy sausage pieces - about 3-5 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan, chop up into tiny pieces, and set aside.

Saute the onions in the left over oil for 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and some salt and pepper. Cook together for another 5-7 minutes, or until the onions get caramelized and the mushrooms soften up and brown a little bit. 

Combine the sausage pieces and the mushroom and onion mixture with the mashed avocado you set aside. 

Fill the avocado halves with the mixture... about 3 tbsp should fit into each. It really depends on the size of your avocados, though.

Stick in some pieces of the diced tomato and mozzarella in each avocado half. 

Bake at 450°F for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Enjoy!

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Recipe | Embellished Boxed Mac and Cheese: Recipe 1

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I love mac and cheese, but the boxed kind isn't very exciting or containing of any nutritional value, really. So I decided to take my favorite brand of boxed mac and cheese and embellish it a little bit. Not only does this stretch the box to more servings, but makes it more interesting with more ingredients and more nutritious and substantial.

1 box of your favorite mac and cheese. I use Annie's deluxe mac and cheese

2 soy sausage links, cut into half-moon shapes

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 avocado, mashed

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large skillet to medium heat and set on high a large pot of water for the pasta. Start by browning off the sausage pieces in the olive oil. This should take around 5-7 minutes.

Remove the pieces from the pan after they've browned and set aside. Add the chopped peppers and onions to the pan and begin to sweat them. Again, this should take around 5-7 minutes. Add some salt and pepper.

(I forgot to photograph the rest of the recipe, but I think it's all pretty easy to follow)

At this point, the water for your pasta should be boiling. You can go ahead and salt the water and drop the pasta in. Meanwhile, in the skillet, add the vegetable stock, mashed avocado, and the cheese sauce that comes in your mac and cheese box. If your mac and cheese comes with a powder, just add some milk along with the other ingredients. Stir everything together until the avocado and cheese sauce has incorporated into a creamy mixture.

Add the cumin, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes to the sauce. Stir to disperse the spices throughout the whole sauce. Add more salt and pepper if necessary Let this simmer until the pasta is done cooking (8-10 minutes). Drain and Add the pasta to the sauce along with the chopped tomatoes. Combine everything and enjoy!

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