4 Meat-Free Party Recipes to Try Immediately!

As promised yesterday, I spent some time this morning deciding on my favorite Veggie recipes, but truthfully, Pinterest (see my boards) has made that nearly impossible with so m any amazing options out there. I definitely have a few go-to recipes for having friends over, so I thought I would make it a themed post and share my top 7 recipes for a friendly gathering.

My home is meat-free, which can present a challenge when having carnivorous friends stop by for a visit. I hope by now that they all know the options for dinner will be delicious, but I definitely remember a few flops in the past where I knew my friends would be enjoying a McDonalds stop on the way home. A true Veggie-Dinner Fail.

A few helpful tips:

• Don't try to learn to cook amazing veggie meals quickly. It takes time to transition from cooking chicken to incorporating those same textures into a Veggie kitchen. Until 6 years ago, I lived on meat, so when it came to cooking, that's all I knew. 
• Not everyone loves Tofu. It took me years to develop a taste for Tofu - why should I expect my friends to love it immediately? I try hard to cook the basics for friends and stick to the dishes they know and love already.
• Vegan items are everywhere in the grocery store! From pasta sauces to some  Kraft dressings. It may take a little longer on your first trip, but once you find those staples, it's easy to keep a mental note and go back for more!  
• Don't try to trick your friends and family into eating Meat-Free. It never works and they will just avoid coming by in the future. I don't want to be tricked into eating meat, so I don't think it's fair to trick friends into being Meat-Free. What I do offer is a quick rundown of what the meal will be and when in doubt, make a veggie pizza! 

SALSA
My favorite go-to friend dish is a homemade salsa. It's easy to make, tastes incredibly fresh and you can pair it with some Heidi-Ho Vegan Cheese dip as a tasty duo. You can serve salsa with chips or veggies - I like to dip carrots in salsa, so I always keep carrots around the house. 

1. 4 medium sized tomatoes
2. 1/4 cup diced sweet onion
3. 1/8 cup chopped cilantro leaves
   Use less if you are not a cilantro fan
4. 1/2 chopped jalepeno
5. 1/4 red bell pepper chopped
6. Juice from 1/2 lime
   Add the other 1/2 later if desired
7. 1 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
8. 1 small garlic clove

Add everything except the tomatoes to your food processor, chop for a few moments, then add your tomatoes. Chop tomatoes until you have your desired constancy. I like a creamier salsa, so I leave mine in the food processor for a bit longer than most. Refrigerate for a few hours, then enjoy!

PIZZA

You absolutely cannot go wrong by serving pizza at a dinner party. It may not be the most elegant choice, but who doesn't love pizza? I will take a moment to brag on my pizza dough - it is incredibly easy and OMG so delicious. I sometimes turn my dough into breadsticks because it's so tasty on it's own. 

Dough Recipe

1. 2 cups organic vegan all purpose flour 

   

   The vegan pizza I baked this weekend. 

2. 1 tablespoon Himalayan pink salt (I love the flavor of the pink salt)
3. 1 tablespoon chopped oregano
4. 1 tablespoon dried basil - chopped
5. Mix dry ingredients, then add water 1/2 cup at a time until you have a nice firm dough - I usually end up using close to 1 cup water in the end, but it can vary based on your flour type. 
6. Roll your dough out to your desired size - keep in mind it will shrink around and rise in the middle a small amount.
7. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, turning around the 12 minute mark. Dough should be slightly crispy and thoroughly cooked when removed from oven.

Add your favorite toppings! I use Daiya vegan Mozzarella shreds and store bought vegan marinara sauce. While my crust is baking, I caramelize some sweet onion with vegan butter. Once my onions are caramelized, I add some bell peppers, pepperuccini and mushrooms to the mix and let them simmer with the onions until the crust is done, then arrange my toppings on top. Bake for another 12 - 15 minutes, with a 1 minute low broil at the end to crisp everything up. Serve and enjoy!

TACOS

I live in Austin, which may be known as the live music capital of the world, but we are also known for our amazing tacos! Every vegetarian can tell you that tacos quickly become a staple to our diets because of the versatility and how easy tacos are to make. I like to make my own tortillas at home, of course, you can browse for vegan tortilla options - it's a bit hard to find them in the average grocery store though. Plus, when making tortillas is this easy, who needs to buy them?

Tortilla recipe:

3 cups organic vegan all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt (again, I use the Himalayan pink salt)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup water

Mix ingredients until a nice firm dough appears, pull off golfball sized chucks. On a floured surface use a rolling pin to flatten the dough. You need to get them REALLY flat. 

Heat your pan to high - once pan is hot, toss on a tortilla. These cook fast - time can vary based on thickness, so turn them frequently. It usually takes around 1 minute per tortilla. Once the little brown warm spots appear, your tortillas are done! 

Toppings: 

Use some homemade salsa (see above), Avocado - lots of avocado, Caramelized onions and bell peppers, Beans - so many beans, Heidi-Ho creamy chia cheese is perfect for tacos

SPICY CAULIFLOWER BUFFALO BITES

These buffalo bites were among one of the first veggie recipes that made me feel like I really could give up meat for good. You can also make this recipe with chickpeas. Since I put my buffalo bites on top of a salad, the chickpeas work really well as a substitute. If you want to just enjoy the bites, I would stick with the cauliflower or sub for broccoli simply for the size and crunch. 

Recipe

Photo credit goodinnermom.com

1. 1 large head of cauliflower cut into tiny trees
2. 2 teaspoons garlic powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5. 1 tablespoon olive oil
6. 3/4 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
7. 1 large ziploc bag

Mix cauliflower, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil together in the bag until all are thoroughly coated. Arrange in a single layer on a baking pan and bake at 450 for 15 minutes. 

In a large mixing bowl, add hot sauce and butter, heat for a few seconds in microwave to melt butter. After the cauliflower has baked for 15 minutes, add to the bowl of hot sauce and toss cauliflower until all florets are covered. Arrange in a single later again and bake for an additional 5 - 7 minutes. Serve with your favorite dressing!

An easy ranch dressing: 

1 cup Veganaise or Just Mayo (both Vegan)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 packet dry ranch

1/4 cup unflavored soy milk

Mix all ingredients together, adding more soy milk for a more liquid ranch. Enjoy!

Being meat-free does not just mean salad, salad, salad - although I do really enjoy salads and eat them often. Being meat-free has opened me up to eating things I would have never given a chance before. I love eggplant - I didn't even know what an eggplant was before going meat-free. I love cauliflower, also an alien vegetable throughout my young life. 

Try something new this week and if you give any of my go-to recipes a try, let me know what you think!

Stephanie Conrad

Pet Studio Art | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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PETA Talks About the D..

PETA talks about the D, but fails to recognize that they are the real dicks here. 

I don't eat or harm animals, but I also don't support PETA. I have a huge problem with misreporting and hype just to promote an agenda.

PETA claims that eating chicken can
make your kid's dick small. 

PETA is an organization that has murdered thousands of animals in their Virginia 'shelter' (in fact, the numbers reported each year regularly show that they kill 78% - 95% of the domestic pets they get their hands on). 

Their latest shock ad claims that eating chicken while pregnant directly correlates with the penis size of your child. I had a laughing WTF moment when I first saw this and immediately thought it was an article from The Onion. When I realized that this was indeed a real article by the crazies who run the PETA marketing, I had to look into it a little more. The study in which PETA obtained their information is incredibly boring, but if you would like to read it for yourself, see here. Basically, what it comes down to is this: the study found that with a huge intake of phthalates, which are chemicals found in paint - and also chicken skin, some penises had a girth decrease of 0.0003cm and a length decrease of 0.059cm. Pretty irrelevant to me, and is an especially ridiculous reach because the study doesn't even mention poultry. Plus, the last time I checked, we measure the D in inches not centimeters. If you are worried about a fraction of a cm, I think there is a different issue going on in your bedroom.

Does size matter? 

In 2012, I personally fostered and adopted out more animals than an organization that took in close to $30 million in donations. Something is definitely wrong there. 

PETA has been caught dumping the bodies of healthy animals - including a mother cat and her kittens and healthy puppies (my heart breaks every time I think of it). Some of these animals were identified by a Veterinarian's office as animals that PETA picked up and promised to find loving homes for. It was discovered soon after that PETA employees had murdered (although, they will call it euthanized) those animals in their van and dumped the bodies before they ever arrived to the shelter. These animals were never input into their system, therefore their statistics were not accounted for. How many more animals were silently murdered in a van by this so-called 'animal rights' organization? 

Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA has been quoted as saying, "The animals… got the gift of euthanasia, and to them it was the best gift they’ve ever had. How dare you pretend to help animals and turn your back on those who want an exit from an uncaring world!" 

In October of 2014, PETA employees were caught on camera luring a little girl's pet Chihuahua (named Maya) from her front porch. Maya was a healthy, friendly dog and they killed her less than 24 hours later. 

PETA claims they euthanize animals because they are unwanted - I guarantee Maya's owners wanted her - in fact, they sued PETA later because of the trauma the whole ordeal caused their family. I can also guarantee that finding a home for a 6 month old Dalmatian puppy (one of the animals that was tossed in the dumpster) would not be hard at all. These two dogs are just examples of the countless, wonderful animals PETA has killed. 

What can you do? Don't support PETA - it's as simple as that. Don't fall for the lies. Don't join in and sing their praises because they 'Do so much good for promoting Veganism and stopping the slaughter of farm animals". Do that yourself by choosing to eat meat-free yourself and encourage your friends to do the same. Send your donations and offer your support to small, local rescues and shelters. Support organizations like Farm Sanctuary, who promote a Vegan lifestyle, but back it up by saving the lives of animals. If you don't know where to start - I am happy to offer some suggestions on amazing charities that could use some love!  So, is it okay to eat chicken? I don't think so. I am a firm believer that you can live a happy life without harming animals for food. I love chickens, they are beautiful, intelligent little creatures that do not deserve to die for a meal. I do hate liars, though, and feel that compassion for animals is a choice that one should make because they care for other beings on this earth, not because they are bullied by fear. I have many friends that eat meat and that is their choice. I do love when people have an open mind and heart and choose Tofu protein over Chicken. Tomorrow, I will share some of my favorite meat-free recipes in hopes that my meat-eating supporters will choose a veggie meal this week! No bullying, just delicious, tasty plant-based food!

Stephanie Conrad

Pet Studio Art | Owner | Artist www.petstudioart.com Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Learn more at www.whypetaeuthanizes.org

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"You can Milk an Almond??"

One of the challenges that I am constantly running into as a Vegetarian is Soy. It seems to me that most manufacturers of Vegetarian Foods just adore this flavorless, waxy substance.. and well, I don't! So you can imagine a challenge when we decided to cut back on our Milk intake at my house (I am not 100% vegan -we do still eat milk, cheese, etc in my home- I am, however,  conscious about the animal products that we do consume).

Typically, Soy Milk is the most recommended in the Cow-Free/Vegetarian/Vegan lifestyle, but that just isn't an option for me. I do love most nut-based milks however. So this weekend, Chris (my husband) and I decided to experiment with making our own Almond Milk! (Not only did this save us some $$ by not going out for entertainment --making this was plenty entertaining!-- but it gave us some fun, quality time together, which is great for a newly-wed couple!)

Here is the Original Recipe that we followed (--our own tips and ideas are below--)

What you'll need:

• 1.5 cups of blanched Almonds. ($5.99 per pound)
• 4 cups of Purified Water ($.70 per Gallon)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (I used imitation Vanilla, it was just fine!)
• 1.5 tbsp Honey (Wildflower or Clover, your choice!)
• 1 Dash of Cinnamon
• 1 Blender
• Metal Strainer
• Cheesecloth ($3)
  *Prices from our grocery trip to HEB Plus in TX

Prep: 

• Soak the almonds in about 1-2 cups of water (not the water intended for the actual recipe) for about 4 hours. We used the already sliced Almonds, which probably did not need to be soaked quite as long.)

Okay, so your almonds are nice and soaked for the recommended 4 hour time period! Great! Let's get started on our Almond Milk!

1. Strain the water from your almonds and place your almonds in your blender.
2. Add 1.5 cups of water. (Less water in the beginning really gets the almonds to a nice smooth paste and helps get them initially chopped up while they are closer to the blades.)
3. Blend the Almonds and Water for about 2 minutes. If you have an amazing blender, 1 minute should be enough. You should have a nice paste-like substance in your blender once they are finished with this step.
4. Add your Cinnamon, Honey and Vanilla Extract and then the remaining 2.5 cups of water. Blend well for another 2-3 minutes. (If your blender lacks in power, I might stretch that to even 4 minutes).
5. Once blended, you will have a frothy, delicious looking milk. Don't drink it! You can certainly have a taste, but right now, your milk is full of grainy pieces of almond. The texture is not the most pleasant. So, pull out your strainer and cheesecloth and we'll finish up our milk!
6. Place your Cheesecloth (We used 2 layers of Cheesecloth) into your strainer. Slowly pour the mixture through the strainer/cloth into a pitcher. Once your mixture is drained, gently pick up your cloth and squeeze out the remaining liquid. Be sure to squeeze gently so only the liquid is extracted. 
7. Set the remaining 'Almond Meal' that is left in your cloth aside, you'll want to save that for a later recipe (see below!)
8. Repeat step 6 and 7 to ensure that you have strained the gritty Almond Meal from your milk. (Use a new Cheesecloth!)
9. Refrigerate your Milk and Enjoy! (This recipe holds well in the fridge for about 3-4 days.)

Some Variations/Suggestions that we came up with were:

• Not using much Cinnamon if any at all. The Cinnamon flavor was a little overwhelming for two people that aren't really cinnamon fans. 
• Use a little extra Honey. I love sweet drinks, and the honey is a much more natural sweetener, which makes this even healthier!
• Use this milk with Chai  or Earl Grey Teas! Yummm!

So not only is Almond Milk fun to make as well as Cruelty-Free (Dairy Cows are among the most mistreated animals in the Animal-Farming Industry -- Constantly kept pregnant and hooked up to machines so they are always producing milk --) but Almond Milk has a lot of great health benefits as well:

• Typically (depending on your own additives/flavorings) Almond milk is only around 60 calories per 8oz serving. 
• Almond Milk is extremely heart healthy and contains no cholesterol and a minimal amount of sodium!
• Great for those with Diabetes, as you are using less processed sugars and with the addition of honey, you really don't need to add many other sugars or flavoring.
• Your skin will look great after a few weeks of drinking Almond Milk! Almonds are full of Vitamin E, which helps balance out your skin's health!
• Almond Milk contains about 1% protein as well as Vitamin B which helps regulate and promote muscle growth!

Left Over Almond Meal

Oh right! Now for that side of Almond Meal that was left-over! Your Almond Meal should have a stiff, almost wet-sand like texture to it. (Pictured above)

There are so many fun ideas that I have for this. Let me note that I have not tried a single one, but I have plans to see what I can do with the Almond Meal tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes!

My ideas:

• Mix it in to Oatmeal! Mmm! 
• Mix it in to Pancake mix... then once the pancakes are ready, add a few of the blanched almonds on top. Delicious!
• Make puppy treats out of it! (This is most likely what I will try since I usually sleep through breakfast! --plus it would be a fun, future blog post!)

For those that drink lots of Cow's Milk, Almond Milk does take a little getting used to, but once you start drinking it, you won't want to go back to the usual. Almond Milk is also a great conversation piece! You'll be asked a hundred times over, "You can Milk Almonds?".... to which I like to reply with several fun and witty answers! :-) Make your own game out of it!

I should also note, for the record, Jazz (see 'The Coffee War' post) does approve of the Almond Milk! He was offered a small glass for himself! :-)

Stephanie Conrad

The Pet Studio | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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