Today I have a treat for you.  A guest post from a pretty amazing cook – Skylor.  She has awesome vegan recipes and has one to share with us but she specializes in gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free recipes.  After looking at her website I wish she lived closer and could cook for me

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Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hate cleaning the grimy stuff…like the shower?  Putting off scrubbing the fridge?

Hate the chemicals and the price of the clearers that actually work?

A few months ago I posted about simple homemade natural cleaners.  I have been cleaning with these cleaners for the past few years and have been happy with them except for the tough jobs.

That changed last week !!

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For the recipe today I wanted to talk about simple cleaning.  I clean almost exclusively with baking soda and vinegar.  I love the fact that they are both cheap and safe to use around the kids. Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to Super Simple Suppers.  Every Thursday I share a vegan recipe that can be made with a simple kitchen.  I do all my cooking in a tiny apartment kitchen with just a few cupboards and minimal counter space.  There are times I wish it was bigger, but I like how it keeps me cleaning as I go so I never end up with a huge kitchen mess at the end of the day.

Today we are doing a vegan fried rice.   Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to Super Simple Suppers!  On this Thursday series I am sharing simple vegan meal ideas that can be made in a minimalist kitchen.  Check the recipe page for lots more great ideas.

Today is pretty simple. Baked potatoes are a gold mine for a simple, nutritional, filling meal.  My husband is a big gravy guy so this time we did them up with a garlic dill gravy.   They are also great with chili.  Click through for the recipe. Read the rest of this entry →

Welcome to our simple minimalist kitchen!  Lunches or ‘sack-meals’ can be tough when trying to go natural, simple, and vegan.  I wanted to share a few recipes with you today for home made bread and a seitan hummus spread that is really yummy.  I have been taking this for picnic lunches on hikes this spring. Read the rest of this entry →

My husband doesn’t like spaghetti but will sometimes let it pass if I make meatballs like this.  Often, like this week, we are just eating the meatballs by themselves because they are good. Lots of vegetarian meatballs have lots of eggs and cheese in them. While that tastes good  here is a vegan option that also works.  I use this recipe when I have bread crumbs to use up.  Whenever bread starts getting a bit old in the fridge I grind it in the blender and store it in the freezer to use in recipes like this.

Meatball Ingredients

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Welcome to Loving Simple Living.  Every Thursday we focus on simple recipes for healthy, vegan living that can be made in a minimalist kitchen.  The days are getting warmer where I am at and I am ready for more salads.  Quick cool and full of lots of vitamins.

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Yum!  If you are new here this week “Welcome”!  This week has been crazy, fun, and exciting with the book release for 321-Stop.

Here at Loving Simple Living we talk about food on Thursdays.  Specifically food that requires simple preparation, minimal kitchen tools, and is a vegan recipes.  Don’t let the word vegan scare you  We are simple here, all about minimalist simple living, and I am not here to convince you to go totally vegan.  I am frustrated by the idea that people have to live on two drastic sides of eating meat and animal products for every meal or people who refuse to touch anything with any animal product in it.  The first group is loosing the health and environmental benefit of less animal product and the second group often make it a stressor.  So, I feature vegan meal ideas for more health and less stress  Try and fit some of these vegan meal ideas into your week and I would love to hear of more that you might know of.  Personally, I am a vegetarian wanna be vegan but there are many steps and stages between the two extremes.

So on to the chili recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups dried beans of 2-3 cans canned beans.  I used pinto, but you can use a combo  if you want.  I like half pinto half black sometimes.
• 3-4 cups ground seitan patties
• 2 tbsp of canola oil (or other med to high heat oil)
• Chili pepper to taste (I like about 1 tbsp)
• Cayenne pepper to taste (love this stuff too)
• 14 oz of crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• pepper to taste
• Optional ingredients (onion diced, or a few tsp of dried basil or cilantro)

Cook beans if using dried (rinse, soak 8 hours, rinse, and cook on low till soft).  Heat oil in skillet.  Add ground seitan and fry until it starts to brown.  Depending on your pan you might need more or less oil. More oil will give it more of a meaty texture and taste.  Mix in the rest of ingredients and simmer for a 5-10 minutes to mix the flavors.  Serve with corn chips.  Enjoy!

Update on 321-Stop:

Released yesterday with the help of so many amazing people.  Thank-you!

Giveaways that started yesterday:

• Raising Memories
• The Things I Love Most
• Overcoming Busy
• Midwesternsewinggirl
• Townsend House
• Minimalist Mommi

Welcome to super simple suppers.

Now this post is painfully simple but makes a great meal.  Potatoes are great at any meal.  Somehow in the last few years white potatoes have gotten a bad reputation.  I have never understood why.  This is probably a good example of heath information going crazy.  Check out the nutritional data.  In a world full of tons of processed full of preservative foods, this whole food is a meal.  This is whole, natural, vegan, low fat (depending on how much oil), no sugar (depending on the amount of ketchup), and low sodium.

I never realized that potatoes would cook up into these nice patties until I learned it from some friends (deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, but that is another story).  Not only is it pretty this way, but it uses lots less oil to fry.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes
• 1 Tbsp Oil (canola works good), spray oil also works
• Salt to taste
• Optional ketchup

Heat skillet and oil to medium heat.  Shred potatoes with cheese grater.  Place potatoes on hot oil and form patty.  Flip when bottom is brown and brown on the other side.  Serve

For more vegan meal ideas check out the recipe page.

’321 Stop – stop running and start living’ book update:

6 days till release on March 21!

“I have been a simple living blogger for two years and yet I still found lots of tips and ideas for simplifying all aspects of life while reading 3-2-1 Stop. In fact, the book not only teaches how to get rid of tangible clutter, but also how to simplify our emotional clutter. There are many things that made 3-2-1 Stop a standout, but I think what impressed me most about the book is the simple, conversational tone in which it was written.” — Amanda Amanda Bretz.com