Luiz Antonio- "I'm not eating this octopus!"

Luiz Antonio

This little boy made it all over the news when he realized what he was eating. His mother told him to eat his octopus and by the end of the video, he came to the conclusion that he would never eat an animal. He knows we should take care of animals, instead of kill and neglect them. If more children thought like this little boy, the world would be a better place for animals!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/luiz-antonio-vegetarian-where-meat-comes-from_n_3366242.html

VEGETARIAN SPINACH MUSHROOM LASAGNA!

Preparation time: 30 minutes 

                                                                                    Cooking time: 40 minutes 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

6 lasagna sheets

1 bunch of spinach

12 button mushrooms

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

3/4 cup of ricotta cheese

3/4 cup of grated mozarella + cheddar (or use pizza cheese)

1.5 cups of canned tomato sauce (use pizza or pasta sauce for a different flavor)

1 of onion, sliced

1 tsp of dried herbs like basil, chives, oregano, or a mix

2 tsp of olive oil

1. Cook the lasagna sheets according to the packet instructions and set aside.

2. Heat the oil and add the sliced onion and garlic.

Saute until soft and then add the mushrooms and spinach.

Add some salt and cook until the water given out by the vegetables

 is absorbed and they are cooked. Set aside.

3.Mix the dried herbs and some salt with the ricotta.

4. Take our your baking tray - you can use metal or glass but I recommend glass. I used my pyrex rectangular baking/storage tray which also has a lid for easy storing later. Add a few drops of oil in the tray and spread evenly. Spread about 1/4 cup tomato sauce at the bottom evenly.

5. Lay two cooked lasagna sheets over the sauce. You may need more or less depending on the size of your lasagna sheets and your tray. It's okay if they overlap a bit but no gaps please.

6. Spread half the ricotta cheese mixture over this evenly

7. Top it off with the cooked mushroom spinach mixture.

8. Lay more lasagana sheets over this. You can add the tomato sauce over the lasagne sheets this time and proceed with the rest of the layers.

9. I did a total of 2 layers, ending with the lasagne sheets. So I spread the remaining tomato sauce over this and added the mozzarella cheddar mixture on top. Thrown in some dried herbs and pepper over this too.

10. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and bake in a 180C / 350F oven for 30 mins. Then, remove the foil and bake for a further 10 mins. The cheese on top will bubble up nicely and the edges will start to curl away slightly from the tray. Remove and let cool down a bit before you slice it. Serve hot.

Thanks Pinterest :) 

Food Network

I'm sure we have all heard of the Food Network before! Whether you're changing channels and catch a glimpse of that delicious pizza or watch it religiously, you've seen it! The Food Network website contains TONS of recipes for us vegetarians! 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/vegetarian/index.html

Vegetarian Green Bean Casserole

Vegetarian Green Bean Casserole

At Thanksgiving, many vegetarians find themselves "loosing their cool." Turkey is a temptation, as well as stuffing and all of the goodies that come along with the holiday. This was my second Thanksgiving as a vegetarian and definitely not my last. Last Thanksgiving, I found myself resisting temptation but also struggling with it as well. This holiday, I thought to make a few meatless dishes to put out for the guests and myself as well. Many of the "meat lovers" at the table were digging into my Green Bean Casserole! It may not look too appetizing to some in the pictures, but everyone wanted seconds! This is an easy dish and a great recipe for holidays! 

What do you need?

2 cups vegan cream of mushroom soup 

1 cup vegan sour cream 

2 teaspoons onion powder 

2 teaspoons garlic salt salt and pepper, to taste 

2 cups vegan corn flakes cereal

divided 4 (14 ounce) cans French cut green beans, 

drained 1 (10 ounce) block vegan mozzarella, grated 

What do you do? 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream of mushroom soup with the vegan sour cream. Use a whisk to make it creamy. Add onion powder, garlic salt, and salt and pepper to taste.
2. In a medium sized casserole dish, crumble 1/2 the cornflakes as sort of a bottom crust. Add green beans to top of crust. Pour sauce mixture from the saucepan on top of the green beans and cornflakes. Crumble the remaining cornflakes and sprinkle them on top.
3. Top with vegan mozzarella. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Indulge and Enjoy! 

Vegetarian Black Bean Tacos

Vegetarian Black Bean Tacos!

If there is one thing that I crave being a vegetarian, it's Mexican Food! It may seem impossible to eat Mexican when you're not eating meat but it really isn't. These delicious black bean tacos have gotten phenomenal reviews across the globe and in my kitchen as well! They are ready in minutes and are an easy dinner for the family or when you're out the door.

Ingredients needed: 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (7 ounce) can green salsa (salsa verde)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 6 taco shells (optional)
• 2 ounces shredded Mexican cheese blend (optional)
• 1 tomato, diced (optional)
• 1 avocado, sliced (optional)
• 1 cup shredded lettuce(optional)
  
  
  
  
  Directions 
• 1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat; cook onion in hot oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir black beans, green salsa, garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin with the onion. Reduce heat to low and cook the mixture at a simmer until it thickens, 5 to 10 minutes.
  2. Serve with taco shells, Mexican cheese blend, tomato, avocado, and shredded lettuce.
  
  
  For more information and consumer reviews, visit allrecipes.com
• 
  
  
  

Pao De Mel - Honey Bread

Pao De Mel is a very good Brazilian Bread. It is very unique to anything I have ever tried before in the mix of flavors that it has to offer. The ones that I have tried are relatively small in size. They are round in shape 3 inches by 3 inches approximately.

The composition of the Pao De Mel tastes like gingerbread and has a gingerbread color as well. There is a layer of thick honey in between the layers of bread. On the outside is chocolate covering the entire thing. On top of the chocolate is a gold coloring that looks like spray paint if I just looked at it, but I realize that it is really something different. The pictures above don't showcase the gold coloring form the Pao De Mel I have tried.

When you bite into the Pao De Mel, it tastes strongly like gingerbread. It is not a very subtle taste but instead something a little more powerful yet very good. The honey to bread ratio is pretty satisfying. The honey keeps the bread from tasting too dry and strong and the bread keeps the honey from tasting too sweet. The chocolate on top gives just enough of a sweet touch to pull the whole thing together without tasting too sweet. The whole thing is very delicious! 

Garotto- Ao Leite: Brazilian Chocolate

Brazilian Chocolate:


Just like any other chocolate...delicious. I am one who likes to eat chocolate, and I am with a Brazilian who is a Carnivore and a chocoholic to boot. You can imagine all the sweet treats he likes to eat, and all the treats he likes to share with me to make me just a little fatter.

Anyway, this is one of the sweet treats, that we like to eat together. In his family, they eat this for dessert sometimes and just have the chocolate by itself. For me, I can't have too much because it tastes too sweet after you start eating it for a while. To compensate, I have more with a glass of milk. This is a very nice combination. Chocolate and milk sure do go perfectly together.

Getting back to the chocolate though, Brazilian chocolate is very rich and very sweet. The kind that I tried was milk chocolate, however there are other kinds of chocolate in Brazil that I have not tried yet by itself. If I didn't know it was Brazilian when I tried it, I think I might have noticed a slight difference in the taste from what I normally have, but very slight, seeing as the taste is very similar.

Ambrosia: Brazilian bread with dried fruit

Ambrosia

Also known by a different Brazilian term, this Brazilian bread is made fresh with dried fruit inside to enhance its flavor.  The most distinguishable feature of the bread is its braid like shape and structure which is very unique. The bread is very light colored on the inside, just like regular white bread. However the top of the bread is a lot darker. You will surely notice a difference in the color between the outside and the inside.

The bread is very light in both texture and taste and I would recommend eating it with something on top to add moisture. I tried some for the first time a week ago and had Brazilian cream cheese on top of it.

I discovered that Brazilian cream cheese on top of the Brazilian bread was a good match because the two flavors mix very well together. I am quite accustomed now though to be eating Brazilian or other bread with Nutella in the morning, which I have a weakness for, but hey, who doesn’t?

To talk more about the actual bread, there are raisins inside of the bread which add a nice texture and moisture to the bread, which it definitely needs. As far as what other fruit is inside of the bread, that is very hard to tell. The only thing I could definitely taste when I had it was raisins, which I like very much.

In addition to the raisins inside, there is a creamy texture that covers the top of the bread. Infused within the “cream” or whatever it is, I’m not really sure, are coconut shavings which add to the delicious flavor. There are probably many different ways to make this, however the one  I tried I know was purchased in a Brazilian supermarket.

Here is a picture of what Ambrosia looks like:
http://ambrosiasoulfulcooking.blogspot.com/2013/09/brazilian-fruit-bread-egg-less.html  

Here is a recipe I found for Ambrosia:

Ingredients

·         2 cups all purpose flour

·         ½ cup milk (plus a tablespoon more if needed)

·         2 tablespoons sugar

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         1 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder

·         ½ teaspoon nutmeg powder

·         1 tablespoon raisins

·         2 figs chopped finely

·         5 dried apricots chopped finely

·         1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

·         5 almonds chopped finely

·         Milk wash

·         2 tablespoons sugar dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm milk

Method

1.      Heat milk till very hot. Add sugar and stir till sugar dissolves. Let it cool.

2.      Toss the chopped fruits and nuts in one tablespoon of flour.

3.      Whisk together remaining flour and salt. Add olive oil. Mix well.

4.      Add powdered cinnamon and nutmeg to flour.

5.      Add instant yeast to the luke warm milk. Cover and keep for 15 minutes. It should turn frothy

6.      Add milk mix to flour and knead for 6 to 8 minutes to get soft dough.

7.      Add more warm milk if the dough feels tight.

8.      Stretch the dough in the kneading plate and sprinkle dry fruits and nuts.

9.      Knead for another 5 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.

10.  Knead again for 2 to 3 minutes. Divide the dough into three parts.

11.  Make a braid as shown in the picture. Cover and keep it to rise for one hour.

12.  Coat the risen braid with milk wash using a brush

13.  Bake in a pre heated oven at 190 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cover with a foil if the bread turns brown and there is still some time left.

14.  Remove from the oven and cool in the rack. Slice when cold.