Strawberry Banana Smoothie (Vegan)

1/2 cup soy milk (vanilla is good in this)
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup water (less if you like it really thick)
Blend all ingredients until smooth

There is only around 150 calories in this (50 from the soy milk, 35 from the strawberries and 65 from the banana).  Makes a good after-workout treat.

Baked Beets (Vegan)

4-8 small to medium beets.  Beets still attached to greens are best.  (You can also eat the greens)

Cut greens 1-2 inches above beets.  Scrub beet (I use a green scrub pad) to remove dirt.  Do *not* peel or remove root.

Place beets in foil lined pan.  Wrap foil around beets to make a pouch (to keep moisture and heat in)

Bake in 325 degree oven for an hour.  Turn down to 250 and cook for another 20 minutes. 

To peel (this is easy) Take cooked beet (hold by remaining green top) and run under cold water.  Use a scrubber (I use the green scrubby) to brush off skin and root.

Hold by root top, and slice up to top.  Place slices in baking dish, garnish with herbs if preferred (I like fresh parsley), add a little olive oil if you want (not needed) and return to oven to bring back up to heat.

Beets are very good for you.  They help your liver and kidneys remove toxins from your blood.  They are also fairly cheap to buy, and are naturally sweet.

Oh, and lemon juice gets the stain out of your hands

Easy Minestrone (Vegan)

1 Can Kidney Beans (Drained and rinsed)
1 Can Dark Red kidney beans (Drained and rinsed)
1 Large Can Tomato juice
2 Cups frozen green beans
2 Potatoes, diced
2 Carrots, sliced
2 Stalks celery, sliced
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 Cup elbow macaroni
2 cups veggie broth

Combine all ingredients except macaroni and broth.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until veggies are soft.  Add macaroni and veggie broth, and cook until macaroni is al dente (don't cook too long or you'll have really mushy noodles in your left overs).

I've been neglecting my thread!

Pasta a la Sausiche (Vegan)

I ate a meal at a local vegetarian restaurant that I *had* to try to make at home. They used a vegan sausage that was different (it was more like a hard sausage) but the overall taste was much the same (and they used a different name...I like mine better):

1 1/3 cup dry rigatoni (cook per instructions to al dente and drain)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 Portobella mushroom caps (diced)
1/2 package vegan sausage. (I used Gimme Lean sausage style)
red pepper flakes to taste
1 TBS fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Heat oilve oil, red pepper flakes and garlic in large sauce pan on medium heat. When oil is hot, drop small amounts of the sausage (I made mine about 1/2 to 1 tsp in size) into the oil. Salt and pepper the sausage (you could leave out the salt....I just like salt). Fry until the sausage is brown on all sides. Add mushrooms and cook until the are barely cooked (longer if you like mushier mushrooms). Add rigatoni and toss. Cook together covered for about 3 minutes. Turn off heat and toss with lemon juice.

Makes 2 heavenly servings.

This is good with a side of Kale.  I'm thinking of making this (along with some other treats) for my Mom's birthday since it's *really* hard to tell that this is vegan if you didn't know.