Green Leaves and Jam

Well, we have been super busy over here! Our home is in complete disarray at the moment while we are waiting for our “wood” floors (laminate flooring) to go in. They were supposed to install it yesterday but when they arrived they informed me that we couldn’t install an island on top of the floating floor (it would cause buckling in the flooring). Therefore we postponed the flooring until Saturday. In the meantime our playroom/movie room/ our hang-out room while they work looks like this:

YIKES! The upper floor is currently stripped down to sub floor and has been for a few days now. We are also appliance-less all except for our refrigerator currently. They installed our microwave today though so at least we have that now too. We also got our beautiful quarts countertops this morning and our house is finally coming together.

I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and feeling more and more like it has all been worth it!

Well, on to the fun, BIG news!

I am pregnant and we are expecting baby number 3 in December! We are super excited and can’t wait for the new addition. I will find out the gender in about 5-6 weeks! We are such planners that I can not wait to find out.

You may have also noticed the addition to the blog. My cousin, Danielle, has decided to join the blog and I couldn’t be more excited! She has had a blog for quite some time and I have always loved reading the fun and witty things she has to say on her blog, so I can’t wait to see what she has to add to the website! She is currently working on her “about me” section and we will shortly have that up as well so you can get to know her. She is one neat girl, OH! And might I add that she is also pregnant and ironically due on THE EXACT SAME DAY! Isn’t that insane?!?! Here is one of their cute announcement photos:

Keep checking back to see her upcoming posts!

This is a great meal to spice up an ordinary salad. The sauce is creamy and the meal makes great leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch!

Vegan Burrito Bowl with Creamy Chipotle Sauce

Prep time

20 mins

Total time

20 mins

Author: GreenLeavesAndJam.com

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice
1 can yellow corn
1 can black beans
chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped tomatoes
¼ cup chopped green onions
1½ cup soy or coconut yogurt
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of lime juice
⅛ teaspoon cumin
1 chipotle in adobo sauce

Directions

Cook brown rice according to instructions.
Mix corn and black beans in with cooked rice.
Continue by layering chopped lettuce, tomatoes and green onions on top of rice mixture.
To make the sauce, blend all ingredients in high powered blender until smooth. Adjust the spice of the sauce to your liking by adding more chipotle peppers (but be careful, they're hot).

I’ve learned a couple of things since I have started eating vegan:

1. Plan your week’s meals ahead of time.

2. Do as much prep work at the beginning of the week as possible.

Sometimes, I’ll cook two cups of brown rice at the beginning of the week, mix some corn and black beans in it and make it work for a couple of dinners. The more things I have on hand ready to go, the easier it makes my life! If we are having burrito bowls during the week, it means we’re probably also using the leftover brown rice/bean/corn mixture for some vegan quesidillas later on (yum)!

On Sunday someone from my church brought some homemade granola for everyone, and it was so tasty that I decided that little amount wasn’t enough. So I researched some granola recipes and made some of my own! I found the recipe on Chow.com. Here is the link for that recipe:

http://www.chow.com/recipes/30062-basic-granola

It calls for honey, which yes, I used, but you can use either maple syrup or agave in it’s stead. I also used craisins for the dried fruit, almonds for the nuts, and a handful of chopped chocolate chips. However, if I had had mini chocolate chips I would have used those instead. The granola is fantastic! The flavor is so great and the texture turned out perfect!

As a side note, my baby boy is 6 months old already!! Where does the time go? With my first I remember time going by a little slower, but with this little guy the time is flying by WAY too fast!!

School is about to get out for the summer, if it hasn’t already for you. I hope you have some fun plans for the summer! We don’t have anything major besides renovations and lots of projects that we have to get done here around our new/old house. Today I have someone coming to give us a quote on wood (laminate) floors and also on moving a heating vent that is currently in a wall we are wanting to remove.. so we shall see! Can’t wait until we have some great before and after photos to share!

Kristin

Mother’s day is right around the corner. There’s no better time to talk about amazingly tasty breakfasts that are perfect for breakfast in bed!

The pancakes alone are so flavorful, but then you add the homemade blueberry syrup and it’s divine. My husband isn’t a fan of fruity “desserts” or almost anything fruity, so he had the pancakes with plain syrup and loved them that way too. So either way, it’s a win with these!

For some reason, my normal recipe formatter isn’t working right now, so for now (until the hubby can look into it for me..:) ) I will just type out the info.

Cinnamon Walnut Pancakes

Yeild: 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp flax
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

In a small bowl, or a 2 cup measuring cup, stir together the soy milk and vinegar and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, then add in the soy milk and vinegar mixture along with the remaining ingredients. Stir until smooth. Heat your skillet or griddle to medium heat and using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour out your pancakes and spread if necessary. When the pancake edges begin to look bubbly and slightly dried out they’re ready to flip! If you would like a garnish of walnuts, feel free to chop a few for topping.

Homemade Blueberry Syrup

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In a saucepan, bring the ingredients (all except the vanilla) to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir with a whisk often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Once it cools a little you can either use a hand blender or throw the contents into the blender and puree to desired consistency. If you want it a little more chunky you could use a potato masher instead. If your are going for more of a Smucker’s Blueberry Syrup kind of consistency then blend it until it’s smooth.

We finished every last bite of these with a giant smile on our faces. Hope you do to!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Easter is this weekend! I can’t believe how time has flown. Things have been super busy for us here since we moved, and I just barely went shopping on Saturday for our Easter basket treats. I realize that most of you have probably already gone shopping for your Easter this year, but maybe this will give you ideas for next year.

Here are my 3 steps to having a healthy, happy and inexpensive Easter this year:

Step 1: Buy things your children already need. My daughter’s markers have recently all dried out and when we moved I threw them away. I also threw away her chalk because she didn’t have many pieces left and most of them were broken into tiny pieces. This was the perfect opportunity to get those things that I had already decided I wanted to get her. This way you aren’t buying unnecessary trinkets.

Step 2: Go to your local health food store and pick out a few healthy snacks. I headed over to Sprouts and picked out a few things that my daughter rarely gets, but that I know she loves. I may have also picked up a small bag of mini Cadbury eggs that we will all divvy up amongst my daughter, my husband and I. But at least this way there is only one unhealthy treat, instead of the entire basket being full of things that will make your child hyper and make you regret what you got!

Step 3: Go to your local thrift store and pick out a few books. I love to do this. I am always able to find books that I know my children will love that are in almost perfect condition. My kids don’t realize they are getting something used, but my pocket-book sure does! I bought 4 great books for a grand total of $2.00. (P.s. Don’t forget to remove the price-tags before inserting them into your child’s Easter basket..)

I just recently got this book from the library and I am really enjoying reading it. The author even talks about giving books for your kids for holidays.:)

Last year we received an Easter basket for my daughter from my in-laws so we didn’t bother doing one for her. However, this year I decided to make Easter Bags. I love that with Easter bags you don’t have to stuff them with the messy grass stuff in order for your kids’ baskets to not look like they don’t have much in them. I strongly dislike that grass stuff because it just ends up all over your house!

I saw the idea for Easter Bunny Bags over on http://nanacompany.typepad.com/nanacompany/2012/03/simple-and-sweet.html. They used the bags for Easter gifts to people, but I liked the idea of using them instead of Easter baskets for our kids.

Here is a brief explanation of how I made the Easter Bunny Bags. I cut out one large piece of muslin that had a fold at the bottom. I then drew out an Easter Bunny pattern and cut that out from different patterned fabric. I sewed a tight zig-zag stitch around the bunny design to attach it to my muslin bags. Then I sewed my bags together by sewing htem right sides together and then flipping them right side out. I made 2 buttonholes to thread the ribbon through. and then rolled my fabric down twice and stiched along the inside edge of that.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Kristin

Well. We officially moved to Utah. We had a last second change in plans when about 4 days before we were scheduled to leave for California my husband got a call from a buddy to interview for a job here in Utah. Long story short, he got the job, and 2 days later we left Austin, Texas for our new home of Salt Lake City, Utah. My husband is really enjoying his job and working with some of his buddies so that is great. Life has started to fall into place for me and the kids as well here. There are quite a few things that we miss about Austin, such as our beautiful home (and especially for me – our beautiful kitchen!!!). We are currently living in an apartment complex until our house in Austin sells so we can buy a house here. We went from this:

To this:

Yeah.. I prefer the first..

Life has been good here though. We just bought a second car that I am really excited about! We have had one car since we got married (3 1/2 years ago), so this is quite the milestone and I am really excited to just have the freedom to go anywhere if I want to. We are totally going to the library this afternoon, just because we can!

My little boy is now 4 months old and halfway to 5 months old already. Time is-a-flyin’!

Now on to talk about the wonderful healthy butterfinger dip!

Ok, I LOVE butterfingers, but don’t love all the junk that is in a piece of candy like that nor the calories attached to it. Therefore, I love a healthy alternative that has that same great flavor. This dip is also SUPER easy to make. You just throw everything into a bowl and mix. That’s it. I Promise.

To say that Sydney was a fan of the dip is an understatement… I had to tell her multiple times that it was for dipping, and not for drinking.:)

Healthy Butterfinger Dip

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

Author: greenleavesandjam.com

Serves: 5

Ingredients

⅔ cup non-dairy yogurt, unsweetened
½ tsp vanilla
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 tbsp sticky sweetener (I used agave, but you could use maple syrup, honey etc.)
¼ tsp blackstrap molasses (Highly recommended but optional)

Directions

Place all your ingredients into a bowl and stir with a whisk until well combined. Cut some apples or something of your choice and dip!

Note about Yogurt: I used my homemade yogurt for this recipe. It is a little less thick than most store bought yogurts, and therefore it resulted in a little runnier dip, but I don't mind. For a thicker dip that would hold it's shape well you could even try using a non-dairy greek yogurt.

Note about Molasses: I said it was optional because I know that not everyone has this ingredient and it will taste pretty close to butterfingers without it, HOWEVER I highly recommend the molasses because it gives it more of an authentic butterfinger taste.

Here is the link for my homemade crock pot yogurt I used for this recipe: http://greenleavesandjam.com/the-easiest-crock-pot-homemade-yogurt-vegan-plant-based/

Hope you enjoy this healthy butterfinger dip!

Kristin

Mmm. Biscuits and gravy. This is a classic comfort food that I have loved since a kid. Every time we went to visit my Grandma in North Carolina, I would ask her to make me some of her amazing biscuits and gravy. Unfortunately, a normal biscuits and gravy recipe is chock full of unhealthy things that will clog your arteries.

The good news is that this recipe tastes like it’s that good ol’ artery clogging recipe, but it’s much more healthy for you. I love finding new recipes that will take the place of something that I loved as a kid.

This recipe is great for left-overs. When I make these biscuits and gravy I usually double everything so we have extras for left-overs the next day or two. Sometimes I like to fix this gravy with some peas too to add an extra element and texture.

We love having this as a main dish for dinner. This is one of my go-to meals when I need something quick that I know I already have everything in my pantry/fridge to make it. Maybe it would work for you as well.

Here is the link for the recipe for my homemade drop biscuits that I make to accompany this gravy: http://greenleavesandjam.com/whole-wheat-drop-biscuits/

Southern-Lovin' Plant-based Gravy Recipe

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

Author: greenleavesandjam.com

Ingredients

⅓ cup flour
½ cup vegetable broth
2 cups unsweetened soy milk
½ tsp dried sage
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Whisk together your flour and vegetable broth in a small pot over medium-high heat until well combined.
Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to desired temperature. Pour your gravy over your biscuits and enjoy!

If your gravy is too thick for your liking, simply add in some vegetable broth or soy milk a little at a time until it is at your desired thickness. If it is too thin, boil your gravy a little longer, but remember that as it cools it will continue to thicken.

Hope you Enjoy!

Kristin

Valentine’s day is shortly approaching. Everyone knows that Valentine’s day is notorious for being a day full of sugary, unhealthy treats that leave you feeling awful at the end of the day. Well, why not try a healthier option that still feels like a fun splurge? My daughter and I had a lot of fun making these together, and then eating them together (of course).

This is an old recipe that I used to make but I tweaked it a bit to make it healthier. I reduced the oils amount by more than half and cut the sugar in half as well.

I used our homemade mixed berry chia seed jam for this recipe and it was great! I also used our easy homemade crockpot vegan yogurt for this.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Valentine's Day Healthy Thumbprint Biscuit Cookies

Cook time

14 mins

Total time

14 mins

Author: greenleavesandjam.com

Serves: 30 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups wheat flour
¼ tsp sea salt
⅓ cup sugar
½ cup vegan butter or coconut oil, melted
½ cup vegan yogurt (see the link below for my easy homemade vegan yogurt)
½ tsp almond extract
jam

For the Icing Drizzle

½ cup powdered sugar
¼ tsp almond extract
2½ tsp milk

Directions

Mix together the wheat flour, salt, baking soda and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Add in your butter, yogurt and almond extract and stir until they are thoroughly incorporated.
Shape the dough into heart shapes or just roll into 1 inch balls and then flatten on your greased cookie sheet.
Push your thumb into the center of your cookies, making an indentation for the jam. Add a spoonful of jam to the center of your cookies and bake them in the oven for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I hope your Valentine’s Day is wonderful and shared with lots of loved ones!

Kristin

What you waitin' for?

A Super Lightweight Slider

Visualize Your Ideas.

Green Leaves and Jam, a Plant-Based Diet

Fun New Additions

Vegan Burrito Bowl with Creamy Chipotle Sauce

Homemade Granola with Almonds, Craisins and Chocolate

Cinnamon Walnut Pancakes and Homemade Blueberry Syrup

3 Steps to Having a Healthy, Happy and Inexpensive Easter

Healthy Butterfinger Dip

Southern-Lovin’ Plant-based Biscuits and Gravy

Valentine’s Day Healthy Thumbprint Cookies