3 Healthy Vegan Recipes from 3 Simple Ingredients - Artichoke Crabless Cakes, Potato-Avocado Salad, Quinoa Salad

"Veggie Might"

As an avid vegan home cook, I believe that using aromatic vegetables to impart flavor to my home cooked dishes can make a difference between a good dish and an incredible dish. There are many typical trios of vegetable combinations that are used as the base to flavor many traditional dishes. There is the Spanish "sofrito" of onions, garlic and tomatoes, the French "mirepoix" of carrots, celery and onion, Germany's "Suppengruen" of carrots, celeriac, leeks and the Cajun "holy trinity" of celery, green onion and onion. I'm a big fan of coming up with my own combinations depending on what I'm cooking. It's fun to experiment!

One big factor of determining what I'm going to use in my recipes is using the ingredients I have available in my fridge at the time. My current go-to trio is onion, celery and red bell pepper, similar to the Cajun "holy trinity"; we will call it the "veggie might".

How did I come up with my trio? Well, its what I had in the fridge at the time, quite frankly. Also, my trio, no matter which one I'm using at the time, ALWAYS includes onions. In fact, onions can be found as the base for nearly every dish. Next comes the red bell pepper. I'm not a big fan of green bell peppers, which are just unripened peppers. I much prefer the sweetness of more colorful peppers. So I always have red, orange or yellow bell pepper on hand. And finally, celery gives any dish a deliciously fresh crunch to any dish while adding fiber and nearly no extra calories. With the veggie might and a few extra add-ins, I have come up with 3 delicious recipes you'll love!

ARTICHOKE CRAB-LESS CAKES

This recipe is one of my favorite go-tos. Using the veggie might as the base, it really doesn't need much more! I added a mixture of cilantro and parsley for an added punch of flavor and color. You can, of course, add whatever fresh herbs you want, including basil, green onion, rosemary, sage, tarragon etc. Add an oil-free mustard/mayo sauce, a binder and some artichoke hearts, and you have an inexpensive guilty-free artichoke crabless cake your meat eater friends will love!!

The first step is to finely chop the artichoke hearts. Make sure to drain the artichoke hearts well beforehand. I hand chopped the hearts here but you can also pulse them in a food processor and get similar results.

Next, I added the fresh cilantro-parsley herb mixture. Add as much or as little as you like.

I added the diced red bell peppers. The peppers not only add a nice punch of color and flavor but also are a good source of vitamins, including vitamins A, C and B6.

Don't forget that celery for that extra crunch!!

Next comes the onions. I am using red or purple onions here, but any onion will do the trick. You can soak the onions in some cold water to take some of the bite out, since we are adding them in raw.

Give the mixture a good toss before adding any type of sauce. It will ensure that the ingredients are evenly mixed.

Next comes the sauce, which will add moisture and flavor. My sauce of choice is a mixture of mayo, mustard and a sweetener. I chose to go oil free here (except for the store bought mayo) but feel free to use your favorite dressing.

Be sure to give the mixture a good mix before adding a binder.

Here, I am using spelt flour for extra nutrition. Feel free to substitute oat flour or rice flour to keep it gluten free. One flour I do not recommend is coconut flour. It is too grainy. If you do use coconut flour, cut the amount down to 1/4 cup and add a couple tablespoons of ground chia or flax egg to help bind the cake together.

Another good mix and the cakes are ready to be formed into cakes.

Roll into balls and form into small palm-sized cakes.

You should get about 6 medium sized cakes. My cake making process ended here. You can choose to dip in a plant milk and coat in bread crumbs for an extra crunch. Bake in an oven or pan fry. I used my new Farberware air fryer. This amazing air fryer is not only inexpensive, it also allows me to "fry" foods with the use of little to no oil.

Voila! Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. The cake here is pictured with a drizzle of sriricha.

Yes, it is as good as it looks. The texture is crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

ARTICHOKE CRAB-LESS CAKES:

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 min

Total time: 35 min

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of Artichoke Hearts
• 2 celery ribs diced
• 1 cup spelt flour (any flour you have is fine)
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1/2 cup parsley minced
• 1/2 cup cilantro minced
• 1/4 cup mustard (spicy or yellow)
• 2 tbsp vegan-mayo (I used Sriricha Just Mayo)
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tsp old bay seasoning

Instructions:

1. Drain artichokes well. Dice by hand or with food processor into medium sized chunks.
2. Combined artichokes, celery, bell pepper, red onion, parsley and cilantro into a large mixing bowl. Mix well to combine.
3. Add the dressing to the artichoke mixture and mix to combine.
4. Add the spelt flour to the artichoke mixture and mix well to combine. 
5. Form the mixture into 6 equal patties. Set aside for 10 minutes and allow to firm up or cover and put into fridge. Can be made a couple of days ahead of time.
6. Cook on high in air fryer for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
7. Serve with favorite dipping sauce and enjoy!

Dressing:

1. Combine mustard, vegan mayo, agave nectar and old bay seasoning together and mix well.

VEGAN POTATO AVOCADO SALAD

Not good at memorizing recipes! Well, this is the perfect recipe for you! It is identical to the artichoke crab-less cake recipes, veggie might, parsley-cilantro herb mixture plus avocado.

For this recipe, I use my other favorite small appliance, the Cuisinart pressure cooker! Cook on high for 10 minutes with natural release and you have perfectly cooked potatoes. Make sure you add salt to the water otherwise, your potatoes will be bland.

For potato salad, I like my potatoes to be cooked all the way, almost falling apart. No firmness at all. This makes for a creamier potato salad.

I added the delicious dressing first. Make sure to add the dressing while the potatoes are hot. The potatoes will soak up every bit of dressing and will become so flavorful. The dressing recipe is identical to the first recipe with the substitution of cinnamon and salt in place of old bay.

Next, add the cilantro-parsley herb mixture.

Here, I thoroughly mix before adding the rest of the ingredients. This ensures every bite will have the perfect amount of herbs and dressing.

Next I add those beautiful red bell peppers. Yum!

And then the red onion.

And then the celery. I added extra celery for an extra crunch

I should have used a bigger bowl! I added some ripe avocado for a delicious healthy fat.

A little mix and you have the most delicious potato salad. It's even better the next day!

VEGAN POTATO AND AVOCADO SALAD:

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 10 min (plus 10 min natural release)

Total time: 25 min (35 min including release time)

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of boiling potatoes cut into large dices (red bliss or yukon gold)
• 4 celery ribs diced
• 1 ripe avocado medium diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1/2 cup parsley minced
• 1/2 cup cilantro minced
• 1/2 cup mustard (spicy or yellow)
• 1/4 cup vegan-mayo (I used sriricha Just Mayo)
• 3 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tbsp sea salt plus 3 tbsp (divided)
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Wash and scrub potatoes. Cut into large squares and keep the skin on.
2. Put the cooking rack into the pressure cooker. Add the potatoes, 2 tbsp of season and enough water to cover potatoes. For an electric pressure cooker, cook on high pressure for 10 minutes with 10 minutes of natural release.
3. Drain potatoes and put into large mixing bowl. 
4. Add dressing and parsley and cilantro and mix well to combine.
5. Add avocado, red bell pepper, onion and celery. Mix to combine. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Serve cold or at room temperature. Will keep up to 7 days.

Dressing:

1. Combine mustard, vegan mayo, agave nectar and cinnamon and 1 tbsp sea salt together and mix well.

VEGAN QUINOA SALAD

Once again, This recipe is super simple and easy. The veggie might shows up again with the addition of the parsley-cilantro herb seasoning. I added tomatoes to this recipe because I had it on hand. Add any fresh vegetables you may have to spruce up the salad.

I always rinse my quinoa for at least 30 seconds to remove the saponin, which can make the quinoa taste bitter. I then soaked the quinoa over night in some purified water. This helps the quinoa to cook up faster and fluffier.

Soaked quinoa needs less water than quinoa that has not been soaked. Instead of a 2 to 1 ratio (water to quinoa) I would use a 1.5 to 1 ratio.

For this recipe, I went with a southeast Asian twist. I added a can of coconut milk for creaminess. If you use the coconut milk, use a 1 to 1 ratio of quinoa to water.

Next, I added curry powder ...

.... cinnamon ...

... and some sea salt.

Make sure to mix well before cooking. 

I'm very new to the pressure cooker. I may have added too much water and cooked for too long. The quinoa came out delicious but was a little too wet for my liking. I have adjusted the water amounts and cooking times in the recipe below for a quinoa with a dryer and chewier consistency.

Combine our favorite veggie might plus tomatoes and herbs ...

... mix well and serve! It's great the next day too!

Vegan Quinoa Salad:

Soak time: 24 hours

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 2 min (plus 10 min natural release)

Total time: 17 min (27 min including natural release)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of quinoa (rinsed and soaked over night)
• 3 cups of purified/bottled water
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 celery ribs diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1/2 cup parsley minced
• 1/2 cup cilantro minced

Instructions:

1. Add soaked and drained quinoa, water, coconut milk, curry powder, cinnaon and sea salt into pressure cooker. Cook on high for 2 minutes and natural pressure release for 10 minutes. Then use quick pressure release.
2. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Serve immediately or later. Can serve cold or warm. Will keep up to 7 days in the refrigerator.

Let us know how you like these recipes. And what is your favorite trio that you use in your recipes? Thanks for visiting our blog. We hope to have many more recipes and tips for living a healthy, lean and green life. Peace, love and abundance friends!