Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Vegan Meal - Can Be a Delight

I am not a vegan but sometimes a good vegan meal is quite delightful.  You may be fasting from meat for various reasons and this might fill you up with much delight.

Of course, when I cook I use The Pampered Chef tools because they make cooking so much easier!  Below is the delightful lunch I had today!

Clockwise starting at the top is a vegetable salad of Spring Mix, spinach, kale and carrots.  You can see how I used the salad choppers in the Salad Made Easy post.  The salad choppers ($27.50)
are especially helpful in completing the salad.

On around the plate and somewhat centered in the plate is the pile of vegetables that were so yummy!  First I peeled two potatoes using The Pampered Chef Vegetable Peeler ($9.50) and then cut them up using the Forged Cutlery 5" knife ($41.00).  I placed this in the Large Micro Cooker ($11.50) with a little bit of water in the bottom and cooked them in the microwave for 5 minutes.  I happened to have a package of mixed vegetables with green and white beans, squash, carrots, and broccoli but if I would have had fresh I would have cooked them in the micro-cooker as well.  This package was one that you can warm up in the microwave.  I then sliced up some onion using the Forged Cutlery 5" knife again.  I placed all of these cooked vegetables and the uncooked onion in a bowl and poured 1 - 2 Tbsp. of The Pampered Chef Garlic Infused Canola oil ($12.25) on top of them.  Use as much as you need to cover the vegetables well.  Once this was completed I sprinkled the vegetables with some salt (to taste) and some Bell Pepper Herb Rub ($5.00).  You could use many of the different spices that The Pampered Chef has.  Another favorite of mine is the Smoky Applewood Rub or Smoky Barbecue Rub which are also $5.00 each.

Grilling:
I placed this mixture in The Pampered Chef BBQ Grill Basket ($29.50) and placed them on the Traeger Grill for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees (I did not pre-heat the grill), stirring every 10 minutes.

Underneath this yummy treat was a 1/2 cup of Quinoa & Brown Rice.  I used a prepared mix that was in a microwavable package but often times I use The Pampered Chef Rice Cooker Plus ($27.00) to prepare my rice.  I read the directions for stovetop preparation and rather than using the stovetop I place it in the Rice Cooker Plus for the same about of time as stovetop but at 50% power.  It is important that you use the 50% power otherwise your rice will not be any good.  I know from experience!!!!  I like this method because you do not have to worry about scorching the rice, just put it in and let it cook while you prepare the rest of your meal.

Ahh the Fruit Salad helps satisfy that need for sweet food!  Using The Pampered Chef Citrus Peeler ($1.25) to peel an orange makes peeling easy and the Color Coated Utility Knife ($15.50) works nicely to slice the orange.  The Pineapple Wedger ($20.00) to peel and slice my pineapple is fantastic!  The Core and More ($12.00) to hull the strawberries and the Egg Slicer Plus ($13.00) to slice them makes preparing strawberries quite easy.  The Egg Slicer Plus also works well with the bananas.

Place it all on one plate like I did or put in separate bowls and enjoy this delightful vegan meal.

To find and order these products please visit my website, www.pamperedchef.biz/skoop.  Happy shopping, cooking and eating!!!!

Sheila Koop
www.pamperedchef.biz/skoop

Salad Made Easy

When I want a variety of lettuce leafs and don't want to buy a bunch of different types, I buy the bags that are mixed.  The thing I don't like about them is the fact they do not always cut the lettuce up a small as I like it.  That is when the salad choppers ($27.50)
from The Pampered Chef come in very handy.  I just use the choppers and begin chopping the lettuce.  In the video that you watch on this, please keep in mind that I was holding the camera while trying to show you how the choppers work!

Once I got my lettuce chopped I wanted to add some julienne sliced carrots.  It is very easy using the julienne peeler ($11.00)
from The Pampered Chef collection.  Of course you can also use the vegetable wedger ($19.50) 
to cut your tomatoes and the the paring knife to cut up some green onion and cucumbers to add to your salad.  To clean out those bell peppers, the scoop loop ($5.50).  You can find all of these amazing items at my website www.pamperedchef.biz/skoop.  I hope you will check them out and do some shopping!


Sheila Koop
The Pampered Chef Consultant
www.pamperedchef.biz/skoop