Vegan Smokey BBQ Soul Bowl (GF, Vegan, Soy free, Nut free)

I posted this recipe over on the other blog that I have going on LimitlessLifeGirls but thought that I would share it on here too. "I'll Take Some of That" could use some love. ENJOY!!

This has a few different components to the meal. None of them are real complicated, and really none of them are a MUST for the meal. Its very flexible and I've made it a bunch of times, each slightly different. But I've had requests for the recipes, so, here we go!

BBQ Pulled jackfruit! I make it into a bowl, but like i said, the different components of this can be used to make whatever you like. Sandwich, taco, burrito, bowl, salad...
I am posting pictures from a few different times that I've made it, each different. I keep consistent on the jackfruit, butternut squash, coconut bacon & kale, but that's about it. Sometimes I have a dressing on it, sometimes not. (See below pics)

Little FYI on the jackfruit, you can find it at Asian markets/grocery stores in the canned fruit section. Get the kind IN WATER, not in syrup. It doesn't have much of a flavor, so it lends itself to being marinated very easily!

This is the pre-marinade. You can see the hard parts of the jackfruit in the upper right.

butternut squash mid way though

individual parts of the meal

One way I've had it, more a salad type and drizzle a lemon tahini dressing over the top with pickled onions & avocado.

Little fyi on the jackfruit, you can find it at asian markets/grocery stores in the canned fruit section. Get the kind IN WATER, not in syrup. It doesn't have much of a flavor, so it lends itself to being marinated very easily!

▶▶BBQ Jackfruit
2 cans jackfruit in water
1/2 bottle of favorite vegan BBQ sauce. (I used Annie's)

Open the cans, drain & rinse the jackfruit. Pull the jackfruit apart and put into a medium discarding hard end pieces. Then pour in 1/2 the bottle of BBQ sauce and mix. I suggest letting it sit for at least an hour to marinate. However you can do it all crockpot style & just dump it in & leave it to slow cook for a while.
After marinating, put in pot & cook, covered, on medium stirring every few minutes. Cook for 20 minutes.

▶▶Roasted Butternut Squash
1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled then cubed.
3 TBS nutritional yeast
1 TBS coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice, I like coconut sugar for this because I don't like the extra liquid from liquid sweeteners)
1 TBS oil (i use coconut or grapeseed generally)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 onion chopped
Black pepper to taste
Few shakes of dried oregano
Few shakes of dried rosemary

Heat oven to 375° F. I peel the squash with a vegetable peeler, like peeling a potato. You have to make several passes on one section, its peel is thicker & harder than a potato's skin is.  Cube the squash into 1 inch cubes, or smaller & put in an ungreased casserole dish (i line mine with foil) with garlic & onions, then sprinkle ingredients over the squash as evenly as you can, no need to be perfect. Drizzle oil over squash and cover with foil.
Bake for 15 min, pull out and mix it then put back in the oven for another 15 min uncovered.

▶▶Quinoa
Bring 2 cups water to boil and add 1 cup quinoa. Turn down heat to low & cover. Let cook covered for about 17 min, until all the liquid has been absorbed. For additional flavor, cook in vegetable broth.

▶▶Kale
I use either lacinato kale or regular curly green kale. Pull the cleaned kale from the stem and rip into medium pieces and put in a large bowl. If i am making the bowl immediately after the quinoa and vegetables are cooked, so they are really hot, i just put the kale down & the quinoa & vegetables over the top. It wilts the kale slightly making it softer, less bitter & easier to eat.

▶▶Coconut Bacon (put over the top)
If you haven't had coconut bacon, you should invest in the time to make it. So good! Recipe here

▶▶Options to have it with:
●Roasted Brussels Sprouts (i roast them with garlic & onions)
●Steamed cauliflower & broccoli
●Roasted sweet potatoes (sometimes combined with the vegetables below)
●Sauteed vegetables (I've done shallot, onion, bell peppers & zucchini w/garlic)

Creamy Oregano Hemp Dressing (alkaline, gf, nut free, raw, vegan, paleo)

I have fresh oregano growing in my pots outside, and there havent been too many good uses for it for me. Seems like most recipes that use fresh oregano include meat. Here is a recipe I've come up with that goes really well over all sorts of salads! I just throw all the ingredients into my blender and blend for about a minute. Pretty simple. Hope you enjoy!

1/4 C hemp seeds
1/3 C water
2 lemons, juiced
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 C fresh oregano
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1/2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Parsnip Hummus (Alkaline, GF, Vegan)

4 medium to large parsnips, chopped about 1 inch thick
2 TBS Tahini
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
2 TBS parsnip boil water
3 TBS lemon juice
*4 roasted garlic cloves (optional)
1/2 tsp sea or real salt

In a small pot, boil about 2 cups of water. Add the parsnips as well as some salt. Boil until the parsnips are extra soft, 10 to 15 minutes. If some pieces are hard while others are soft, pull out the soft ones, and let the harder ones to cook for another 5 minutes. You want to make sure all pieces are completely cooked so that the hummus will be smooth.

In a food processor, add ingredients and blend until smooth. Optional roasted garlic cloves are to make the hummus be roasted garlic flavored. If you would like roasted bell pepper, you can add in 1/2 roasted pepper, or just leave the hummus as it.

White Bean Fennel Kale Soup (Alkaline, GF, Vegan)

Serves 5
 
1 large onion, chopped
1 small fennel bulb, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBS olive oil (optional)
4 cups reduced sodium vegetable broth
1 (15 oz can) great northern beans, rinsed well
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 bay leaf
sea salt, to taste
3 cups shredded kale

Directions:

In a large saucepan, saute onion, fennel and garlic until tender (add oil if you want). Add the broth, beans, tomatoes, thyme, pepper and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 min then add kale; cook 5 minutes longer or until kale is wilted. 

Dry beans option:

If you want to use dry beans; soak 1 cup beans in water for 12+ hrs, then boil the beans in broth for 40 min. While beans are cooking, saute the onion, fennel and garlic. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the beans (except kale) along with another 1 1/2 cups of water and cook for 5 min. Rinse kale and tear into pieces/shreds, then saute in the pan that the onions/fennel/garlic were cooked in (w/out cleaning the pan out) until kale is wilted. Add kale to the rest of the soup, adjust salt & pepper to taste, then serve.

Chana Saag (Alkaline, GF, Vegan)

Every time I go to an Indian buffet for lunch, I find that I adore the chickpea (garbanzo bean) dishes that they have. Indian food usually has a good amount of vegan dishes that are naturally vegan (instead of veganized, if that's a word), which I adore.
For those of you who don't normally eat indian food, it may "look scary" but really tastes great. My mom was a bit freaked out by it, but tried some and then ended up having a whole serving after discovering it tastes quite good! My hint is, get a little bowl and put all of the spices in it measured out, then when it's time to put them all in, you just dump the bowl. ENJOY!!

 
2 Tbs oil of choice (I used olive)
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
1 tsp. sea salt
4 roma tomatoes (or like size) chopped
1 lb spinach, chopped well
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed several times

1/2 cup almond milk (or other nondairy milk)

Saute onions and garlic in oil until the onion is translucent.  Add all the spices and saute for a minute or two more before adding chopped tomatoes.  Let simmer for about 10 minutes stirring often, then and the rest of the ingredients.  Spinach looks like a lot, but cooks down considerably. Simmer them for at least another 10 minutes then add in the almond milk, mix well and cook for about 2 min.

Summer Kale Salad (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

I haven't had many truly alkaline dishes posted on here lately, so here is a great one!  There are tons of kale salads around, and basically you can add whatever types of vegetables you want over the top, I think these go well though. The dressing is an awesome pair with kale, so even if you don't love the combo of these veggies, try the dressing over the kale. 

The salad before all of the the ingredients being tossed

The salad tossed

Salad is served!

Serves 4-6

Summer Kale Salad

1 bunch of kale (about 4-6 cups)

1 cup finely chopped sweet onion

2 small carrots, chopped or julienne sliced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped halves)

1 avocado, chopped or cubed

1 & 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

¼ cup cranberries or other dried berry (exclude to make 100% alkaline)

¼ cup raw pepitas

fresh or dried herbs, personal preference (basil, cilantro and oregano go great!)

Dressing:

1/4 cup Tahini

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1/4 cup liquid aminos

1 tbsp agave nectar (sub with 6 drops of stevia to be 100% alkaline)

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp real salt + black pepper, or to taste 

2 tbsp flaxseed

Blend all ingredients for dressing in a high powered blender. Dressing will thicken up in a few min, from the flax (intentionally). So after you blend it, if it seems thick already, you may want to add another tbs of water.

Rinse kale and tear into salad sized pieces and put into a large bowl. Marinate the kale in about half of the dressing, and make sure it gets all over the kale. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least 30 min. If you don't have time to let it marinade, before you put the dressing on, drizzle lemon juice over the kale, making sure that it's totally coated, wait for 5 min, then toss with dressing to serve after salad ingredients have been added.

When ready to serve, add salad ingredients over the top. Toss optional.

Pumpkin Seed Pesto (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

This is one of the BEST pesto's I've ever had. It has a buttery flavor to it, I guess it's something about the basil oil and pumpkin seeds. It makes an awesome mix to go with pasta (be it a raw version of pasta or not). It also is fabulous on a Pestocado Sandwich or just with crackers. Either way, it's simple to make and really really good to eat.

yellow squash 'noodles' tossed in  and topped with pumpkin seed pesto with sundried tomatoes and a side of Onion Flat Bread pt 2.

Makes about 3 cups

2/3 C raw pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds without the shell)
2 C packed basil
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp Real Salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 /2 C extra virgin olive oil

I recommend putting the garlic cloves into the food processor first and turn it on until basically all of them have stopped getting spun around by the blade. Then scrape down the sides and put in the basil. Pulse a few times to get a rough chop, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Some people like their pesto runnier than others, so if you like it more runny, feel free to add in more olive oil.