Breakfast Tortilla Pesto Pizzas

Breakfast Pesto Pizzas
Renee Press / Fire and Earth Kitchen

Fact—Pizza is one of those meals that’s so delicious it can be eaten at any time of the day, including breakfast time.

A big thanks to Renee Press, founder of Fire and Earth Kitchen, who clearly understands this very important fact. Forget your bowl of cereal tomorrow morning and give this recipe a try!

Breakfast Tortilla Pesto Pizzas

Yields 1 personal pizza.

Ingredients

  • 1 tortilla

Pesto

  • ¼ cup nuts or seeds of choice—pumpkin, sunflower, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, or almonds work well
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup spinach—kale, Swiss chard, or arugula will also work
  • ¼ cup fresh basil—parsley, mint, or cilantro will also work
  • ⅓ cup water

Suggested Toppings

  • Thinly sliced potato
  • Mushrooms
  • Onions
  • Corn
  • Chives
  • Spinach
  • Greens
  • Peppers
  • Avocado
  • Broccoli

Directions

  1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400°F.
  2. For the Pesto: Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process for 30 seconds—scraping down the sides a few times—until creamy.
  3. Pour onto tortilla and spread out evenly with a spoon. It should be a nice thick layer.
  4. For the Toppings: Prepare desired veggies as needed and arrange on top of the tortilla. Place tortilla on baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, or until it starts to brown and gets crispy and toppings are soft and cooked through.
  5. Remove from oven and top with avocado, salt, pepper, and any other favorite flavors. Cut into slices or roll up like a burrito. Enjoy!

Recipe Tips and Variations

  • If you’re using avocado slices, don’t add them to the pizza until it comes out of oven.

For Renee’s original recipe, click here.

Easiest Mac and Cheese Plus Peas

Gena-Mac-Cheese
Gena Hamshaw / The Full Helping

Get ready for a bowl of mac and cheese that’s pea-licious!

A big thanks to our good friend—and vegan food blogger—Gena Hamshaw, who shared this unique and tasty recipe.

Enjoy!

Easiest Mac and Cheese Plus Peas

Yields 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

  • ⅔ cup (about 3 oz) raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours (and up to 8), drained
  • ½ cup cooked cannellini, great white northern, or navy beans
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons miso (mellow white miso or chickpea miso)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Dash cayenne
  • ½ cup water
  • Salt
  • 12 oz elbow pasta (for a gluten-free recipe, use brown rice pasta)
  • 1 cup green peas (frozen or fresh)

Directions

  1. First, make the pasta sauce. Place the cashews, beans, lemon juice, paprika, turmeric, miso, nutritional yeast, garlic, cayenne, and water into a blender or a food processor and blend/process until totally smooth. The sauce should yield about 1 ½ cups. Set it aside until you’re ready to use it.
  2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta, stirring frequently, until the pasta is tender, using the package instructions to help inform cooking time.
  3. While the pasta is cooking, cook the peas accordingly—this will depend on whether you’re using fresh or frozen.
  4. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the cooked peas. Add the sauce and fold everything together gently, until the pasta dish is creamy and evenly coated. Adjust seasoning to taste. You may not need to use all of the sauce—if you have a few tablespoons left over, you can reserve them as a dip or a dressing for a salad or a grain bowl, or you can use them to top leftovers.
  5. Divide the mac and cheese onto four plates or bowls and serve. Leftovers will keep for up to three days in an airtight container in the fridge.

You can get Gena’s original Mac and Cheese recipe here.

Video: Cozy Cream of Broccoli Soup

By Allison Rivers Samson, Guest Contributor

Cozy Cream of Broccoli Soup

In the spirit of Vegan Outreach’s June giveaway, we’re bringing you a recipe from The Dairy-Freedom Cookbook! Co-author Chef Allison Rivers Samson demonstrates how easy it is to transform plants into delicious, familiar dishes like this creamy broccoli soup.

Cozy Cream of Broccoli Soup

Yields about 6 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews, soaked at least 4 hours, and drained
  • 8 cups water, divided
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup diced yellow onion
  • 1 medium head cauliflower, leaves removed, cored, and cut into medium chunks—about 3 cups
  • 3 medium stalks broccoli, separated into bite-sized florets—about 4-5 cups—and peeled stems cut into medium chunks—about 1-2 cups
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. In a blender, process cashews and 1 cup water to make a completely smooth cashew cream.
  2. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat and add oil. Sauté onion, cauliflower, broccoli stems only, and marjoram for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add remaining 7 cups water, cashew cream, and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower to medium heat, cover, and cook until vegetables are very soft—approximately 20 minutes.
  3. Using an immersion blender, or carefully in 2-3 batches using a standard blender, purée soup base until completely smooth. Add broccoli florets and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes until broccoli is bright green and tender. Add pepper to taste and serve hot.

Recipe Tips/Variations

  • This soup is exceptionally versatile. If broccoli isn’t your favorite, feel free to substitute different veggies instead—like potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, or corn.

Visit World of Vegan for the original recipe.

Doormét Adds Vegan Cheese Pizza!

By Taylor Radig, Campaigns Manager

doormet

Vegan Pizza Customer

Vegan Outreach is proudly working with Doormét in Tampa, FL to launch their newest menu addition—dairy-free cheese! The cafe is known for its wide range of sandwiches, salads, pasta, and pizza, so expanding their cheese offerings to include a vegan option was an easy addition.

Tampa locals can enjoy a vegan pizza with Daiya cheese melted on top of their regular or gluten-free crust—both are vegan—with red sauce and endless combinations of fresh herbs and vegetables.

Want to support our efforts in veganizing restaurant menus? Make a small donation today!

Vegan Cinnamon Banana Oat Muffins

By Nzinga Young, Greater NYC Community Engagement and Events Coordinator

Stephanie-Vegan-Head-to-Toe

Meet Stephanie—a vegan hair blogger who adopted a plant-based diet after her first son was born.

Her husband wasn’t excited about her new lifestyle.

“He asked me, ‘What are you going to eat? Grass? Don’t turn into one of those tree huggers.’”

But the more her skin cleared up, her hair grew fuller, and her Lupus symptoms faded, her husband saw the benefits of plant-based eating and fully supported her decision.

Their youngest son eats vegan after his allergist suggested staying away from animal products. Aside from the occasional slice of pizza, her 3-year-old, Lucas—who inspired her to go vegan—follows the same diet as his brother and mom.

Stephanie-Vegan-Head-to-Toe2

Despite his tree-hugging household, Stephanie’s husband is still an omnivore. Cooking for different diets was hard, so she wanted to stick to recipes all the men in her life would enjoy.

“My husband loves my banana muffins,” she says, “He won’t eat any other kind.”

This recipe uses Trader Joe’s Banana Bread Mix, but feel free to use any other variety of commercial brand banana bread mix. Most brands will call for eggs and/or cow’s milk, but if you swap out those ingredients for the ones listed below, your results should be banana-y and delicious!

Banana-Cinnamon-Oat-Muffins

Vegan Cinnamon Banana Oat Muffins

Yields about 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

  • Trader Joe’s Banana Bread Mix—or any other commercial brand of Banana Bread Mix
  • ¼ cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon—tweak the amount to your preferred amount
  • ¾ cup filtered water
  • ⅓ cup unrefined coconut oil—or other oil of your choosing.

Directions

  1. Follow preheating instructions on the Banana Bread Mix package.
  2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
  3. Pour mix into greased or lined muffin tin—filling each section about ¾ full.
  4. Bake according to recommended time on package.

Click here for the original banana muffin recipe and other great vegan recipes from Stephanie’s Healthy Hair To Toe blog!

Four Reasons to Donate—and a Bonus Fifth Reason!

FourReasonsToDonate
1. We go to colleges throughout six countries—educating students with pro-veg booklets, Animal Equality’s iAnimal virtual reality slaughterhouse videos, and humane education presentations.

Question: Do you ever wonder how our staff and volunteers can be on the ground throughout the U.S. and five other countries, representing veganism with a smile and talking one-on-one about going vegan?

Answer: Because donors pay to print and ship leaflets, provide food samples, and everything else that goes into making our widespread grassroots activism happen!

2. We are committed to diversity and inclusion. We want to cultivate a diverse staff, promote women to leadership, foster social justice conversations, and engage more communities in learning about veganism.

3. We make connections that help people stay vegan. We have connected more than 2,800 veg-curious people in 60+ countries to individuals who are helping them move toward and maintain a vegan lifestyle. Teaching people about speciesism and introducing them to vegan food is only the first step—these critical social connections will help people cope with family pressure, avoid common nutrition mistakes, and stick with their decision to be vegan.

4. We measure our effectiveness. We want to ensure what we’re doing is what we should be doing. We test our booklets and make improvements to our information and approach. We partner with experienced researchers to conduct measurement studies.

Bonus—A Fifth Reason to Donate Now:

As part of our Team Vegan fund drive, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by other donors! Your $20 becomes $40! Donate now to have it doubled!

Thank you!

New Vegan Alternatives Food App!

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

Vegan-Alternatives-homepage

Let’s be honest—there’s an app for everything these days. I don’t think I need to provide an example list of the apps many people use on a daily basis to prove my point. In fact, always being two steps behind in the technology world, many of you could probably provide a longer list of apps than I could.

You may be saying, “A vegan food alternatives app—big deal. Something like this has already been done.” Well, not quite.

The simplicity and audience size that this app serves is what sets Vegan Alternatives apart from the others. I’m not kidding when I say that this is probably one of the easiest and simplest vegan food alternatives apps out there.

Made for veg-curious folks in Europe and the United States, this app provides hundreds of recommendations for vegan food alternatives, including vegan meats, dairy, eggs, and even foods like honey and gelatin.

Other cool features include product prices, as well as a link to the website of each recommended brand. It’s even got vegan recipes and a news page! You’ve seriously got to check it out for yourself! There’s more that awaits!

Vegan-Alternatives-200

The app developer, Ayush, is a 15-year-old student from Europe! Pretty cool, right? He developed this app because he personally found it difficult to transition into a vegan diet, so he wanted to do something to promote the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and help make life easier for new vegans.

This app will be continually updated, and Ayush has requested feedback from Vegan Outreach supporters regarding the types of vegan alternatives you all use! Folks in Europe and the United States, let’s help Ayush out by telling him what vegan products you use instead of animal food products! Feel free to contribute in the Comment section below!

Vegan Outreach has also recently updated our Meat, Egg, and Dairy Alternatives page! Like Ayush, we want to help make it as easy as possible for people to replace animal products with tasty, vegan product alternatives. We encourage you to check out this page in addition to looking at the Vegan Alternatives app!

Currently, the Vegan Alternatives app is only available for Android. If you download the app and have feedback for Ayush, please make sure you leave a review at the app site!

Tofu Pho

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

Vegan Tofu Pho
Sharon Palmer / The Plant-Powered Dietitian

Pho is one of those dishes I don’t enjoy unless I’m at a restaurant that serves it—and prepares it vegan! Why? I have no idea. There’s no reason to not make this at home, especially with Sharon Palmer’s easy Vegan Tofu Pho recipe.

Vegan Tofu Pho

Yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

Broth

  • 4 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
  • ½ medium yellow onion, chopped
  • ½ cup sliced shitake mushrooms
  • 1 medium carrot, sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 8 thin slices peeled fresh ginger root
  • 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium, gluten-free soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon agave syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 star anise pods
  • ½ teaspoon whole coriander
  • 6 sprigs of fresh basil
  • 6 sprigs of fresh cilantro

Noodles

  • 1 8-oz package gluten-free flat brown rice noodles

Toppings

  • 1 15-oz package extra firm tofu, pressed, cubed
  • 2 bunch greens (i.e., Swiss chard, spinach, kale) sliced thinly
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped basil
  • 1 small lime, cut into wedges
  • 1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
  • 4 green onions, sliced

Directions

  1. To Prepare the Broth: Combine all the broth ingredients in a large pot, cover, and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the broth, discarding the vegetables and seasonings. Return the strained broth to the pot, cover, and keep warm (broth should be bubbling right before serving time). While broth is cooking, prepare noodles and toppings.
  2. To Prepare the Noodles: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the rice noodles, cover, and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes, or according to package directions. Drain the noodles immediately and rinse with hot water. Return the drained noodles to the pot and cover.
  3. To Prepare the Toppings: Arrange the toppings on a large platter.
  4. To Serve the Soup: Divide the noodles among four very large soup bowls. Either garnish the noodles with desired toppings or let your guests do their own. Ladle boiling broth over the noodles and toppings, and serve immediately. Allow hot broth to wilt vegetables and cool slightly before eating it.

Cheese Fondue

By Lori Stultz, Communications Manager

Cheese Fondue
Photo: Sharon Palmer

If you’re hosting a party in the near future and want to impress your guests with a unique eating experience, look no further. They’ll be raving about this cheese fondue from their first bite to long after their last!

Try serving it with the list of suggested veggies or breads, or any other dip-worthy foods that that sounds good to you!

Thanks to our good friend Sharon Palmer for providing this awesome recipe! Be sure to check out Sharon’s blog for other great meal ideas like this one!

Vegan Cheese Fondue

Yields 8 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound small, fresh yellow potatoes (i.e., Yukon gold, fingerling), peeled (see Recipe Tips section below), quartered
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 cup dry white wine (i.e., Chardonnay)
  • ½ cup reserved potato water
  • ½ cup unsweetened, plain plant-based milk (i.e., soy or almond milk)
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • Salt to taste

Dipping Ideas

  • Cubed tofu
  • Seitan strips
  • Veggie sausage chunks
  • Cube seitan
  • Bell pepper chunks or strips
  • Mushrooms
  • Broccoli florets
  • Cauliflower florets
  • Cucumber slices
  • Asparagus spears
  • Snow peas
  • Bread cubes
  • Pita triangles

Directions

  1. Place potatoes and carrots in a medium pot, cover with water, cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes, until tender. Drain, reserving ½ cup of water, and place cooked vegetables in a blender container.
  2. While potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet and add onions and garlic. Sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add onions and garlic to the blender container.
  3. In the skillet (do not clean), add cornstarch and white wine and stir with a whisk over medium heat. Stir in reserved potato water and plant-based milk until smooth. Add pepper, turmeric, nutmeg, nutritional yeast, and mustard and heat until thickened and bubbly.
  4. Pour white wine mixture into the blender container with the potatoes and onions and process until smooth. Adjust seasonings with salt as desired.
  5. Transfer this fondue mixture to a fondue pot and heat until bubbly.
  6. Serve with dipping ideas, such as cubed pieces of bread, fresh vegetables, and tofu.

Recipe Tips

  • You can peel these potatoes easily if you cook them first, and then slip off the peels when they’re done.

Fancy Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza

By Alex Bury, Organizational Development Consultant

Fancy_Squash_Pizza

Last week, I shared a scrumptious Fancy Pear Pizza recipe. This week, I’m keeping it just as fancy with, you guessed it, squash!

Roasting the butternut squash will take a little bit of time, but not a lot of effort. You’re going to love the end result of this pizza—it’s creamy and sweet with a savory and salty tang. And the nuts add a crunchiness that rounds out this pie quite nicely!

Fancy Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza

Yields 8 slices.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium butternut squash, roasted
  • 1 package of Vicolo frozen Corn Meal Pizza Crusts (some stores like Trader Joe’s sell these in the cooler section instead of the freezer section)
  • 1 cup walnuts, almonds, or pecans (halved and/or pieces—not finely chopped)
  • ½ cup pitted and roughly chopped Kalamata olives
  • Sprinkle of salt and pepper
  • 1 cup shredded Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Shreds (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Place the whole, uncut, unpoked squash on a cookie sheet or in a Pyrex dish for 40 minutes. Turn the squash over after it’s been roasting for about 20 minutes. You can tell it’s done when the outside is golden brown—you’ll be able to easily insert a knife into the thick “neck meat.” Remove from the oven and let cool. Once the squash has cooled, you can easily cut it in half and scoop out the sweet, creamy, squashy goodness!
  2. Turn up your oven to 400°F.
  3. Cover the base of each pizza crust with the cooked squash. You’ll need about 2 cups of squash per crust, but the amount you put on the crust is up to you! More squash makes it creamier and sweeter, less squash makes it crisper and savorier.
  4. Sprinkle the nuts and olives over the squash, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you’re using vegan cheese, sprinkle it on top before putting the pie in the oven!
  5. Bake the pizza until the nuts and crust are golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe Tips/Variations

  • Even with the salty olives on top of the pizza, you’ll likely want a bit more salt sprinkled on top.
  • This is great with sliced Tofurky Italian Sausage mixed in with the olives and nuts.
  • You can season the squash before putting it on the pizza. Try seasoning it with salt, pepper, olive oil, and nutmeg.