Monthly Archives: April 2014

Strawberry Orange Smoothie – 30 Day Raw Vegan Challenge

Breakfast, Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, Smoothies, Vegan, Vegetarian, ,

Strawberry Orange Smoothie

Back in 2007 my family and I became raw vegans. We obviously didn’t stay raw vegans over all these years, but I will never forget how healthy we all felt and looked. I have told Athanasia about this many times and she has read other raw vegan testimonies on the internet as well. So, we decided to create and take a 30 day raw vegan challenge for ourselves. We are going to share with you some of our thoughts, food cravings, results and recipes during this time period. We of course already have many raw vegan recipes posted on our site so we will be using a combination of those and some of our new recipes over the next month. After we are done, I will create a 30 day raw vegan challenge post to put all of our raw vegan recipes in in case anybody else out there wants to take a 30 day vegan challenge themselves. The most important thing to keep in mind during a personal challenge is you are doing it for yourself so stay strong! We kicked off our challenge with this delicious strawberry orange smoothie and it was perfect! It is very quick and easy to make as well.

Strawberry Orange Smoothie Raw Vegan Recipe
Served Ice Cold!

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Potato Salad

Appetizers, Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, Salads, Side Dishes, Snacks, Vegan, Vegetarian, , ,

Potato Salad

The lightest, tastiest, easiest potato salad with vegan mayo I have ever had 🙂 Only 4 basic ingredients! How cool is that? A cool dish for those warm days that are coming up. Top it with red or green onions, pickles, raw peppers or capers. Even multi-eyed monsters love it, as you can see in the photo below:

!Potato Salad Continue reading Potato Salad →

Sheese Cheddar Vegan Cheeses Review

Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, Product Reviews, Vegan, Vegetarian

Sheese Cheddar Vegan Cheese

In a trip to Bamboo Vegan a few months back we saw they now carry Sheese vegan dairy free cheeses. We had seen Sheese on the internet before but could not find a way to get it to us here in Greece. So, thank you Bamboo Vegan! In this review we will be taking a look at two different kinds of the Sheese cheddar vegan cheeses available.

Sheese Cheddar with Chives Product Review

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Vegan Meatball Marinara Sub – Gluten Free

Gluten-Free, Main Courses, Product Reviews, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan Meatball Marinara Sub - Gluten Free

Before I was a vegan I used to love to eat the Subway meatball marinara sub. It was the inspiration behind making this vegan meatball marinara sub and I must say it was delicious! We used a Schnitzer’s gluten free vegan bread from Botanica Bio-market (we have noticed Bamboo Vegan carries Schnitzer’s bread in Athens as well) as the bread for this sub. You could always make our simple gluten free vegan bread (click here for recipe) as well. Other than that, here is what else you will need to prepare to make this sandwich yourself:

Vegan Meatball Marinara Sub Continue reading Vegan Meatball Marinara Sub – Gluten Free →

Lentil Sloppy Joes

Gluten-Free, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetarian

Lentil Sloppy Joes

Today is Good Friday for the Orthodox Christian Easter Holiday, a beautiful spring day, the church bells ringing. Part of the Orthodox Easter is fasting from meat, cheese, eggs and oil. It is kind of like having a country full of vegans for one day here in Greece! We thought of making a lentil version of our Vegan Sloppy Joes (click here), (meaning I wanted to make lentils that Jake would actually enjoy), without olive oil for our friends who fast today! This is especially great for kids who want to follow tradition for their mother’s sake! So we made Sloppy Joes with lentils without olive oil, a quick and easy recipe that leads to a very enjoyable and nutritious dinner. Continue reading Lentil Sloppy Joes →

Roasted Eggplant Sandwich

Gluten-Free, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetarian

Roasted Eggplant Sandwich

We have been on a sandwich kick lately and for good reason… they are delicious and there are so many ways to make them! Ever since we found Schnitzer’s gluten free vegan bread at Botanica Bio-mart I have been able to focus more energy on what to put in the sandwich (instead of using energy to make the bread).  Don’t get me wrong, I love making bread, but it is time consuming! So, one day Athanasia brought home another kind of bread from Schnitzer’s and that’s when the idea for this roasted eggplant sandwich was born. I would say it is a fairly simple recipe too. It can take a little bit of time to slice the eggplants I suppose, but it is worth it!

Roasted Eggplant Sandwich

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Artichokes a la Polita

Gluten-Free, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetarian,

Artichokes a la Polita

Artichokes bloom in the Spring, so in Greece the time to eat them is now! The simplest recipe, no sea salt, no spices, only the fresh vegetables to flavor each other. Artichokes a la Polita is a traditional Greek recipe from Constantinoupolis, or Istanbul as it is called now. The food is amazing there, where east meets west.  Continue reading Artichokes a la Polita →

Vegan Italian Sausage Pizza – Gluten Free

Gluten-Free, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan Italian Sausage Pizza Gluten Free

We recently discovered how our walnut “meat” bakes so nicely on pizza while making our vegan bacon cheeseburger pizza. So, obviously this meant we had to make a vegan Italian sausage pizza! When I developed the Italian sausage recipe I mentioned how it reminded me of the flavor of Rocky Rococo’s Italian sausage I had growing up. Well, this pizza certainly did not fail to deliver on those flavors I remember from childhood! We both loved this pizza and it is even more delicious than it is beautiful to look at. Here is what you will need to make it:

Gluten-free Dairy Free Vegan Italian Sausage Pizza Continue reading Vegan Italian Sausage Pizza – Gluten Free →

Stove-top Mushrooms

Appetizers, Gluten-Free, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Stove-top Mushrooms

My mom always has stove-top mushrooms ready when we visit, they are a must on the menu. Not to mention she makes them perfectly every time! She says for stove-top mushrooms to be good, you need to saute them until right before they start loosing their juice, otherwise they get soggy. It took me some time to actually figure it out, but when I did, I was the winner of that day’s food contest :). Yes, there is a contest going on (Editor’s note: Athanasia is very competitive). What are you gonna do? We are a Leo and an Aries cooking together, they will try and kick each other’s butt! Unfortunately Jake is such a talented cook so he usually makes the most mind blowing food, but I have some tricks up my sleeves too 🙂 One of them is stove-top mushrooms! Continue reading Stove-top Mushrooms →

Billie Jean Burrito – Gluten Free Vegan Chili Cheese Burrito

Gluten-Free, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetarian

Billie Jean burrito gluten free vegan chili cheese burrito recipe

You may be wondering what a Billie Jean burrito is. I am sure there is a former Taco Bell employee somewhere in Minnesota that is still wondering what a Billie Jean burrito is as well…

As the legend goes, back in 2005 I was the bass guitar player in a band known as Sonic Alchemy. Continue reading Billie Jean Burrito – Gluten Free Vegan Chili Cheese Burrito →