Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Friday, February 3, 2012

Berry Good Carrot Juice Recipe



This juice is sweet and hearty...and only 3 ingredients!
It amazes us how the flavor of the strawberries really take front stage in this recipe.
Yum!

Berry Good Carrot Juice Recipe

1 lb. of strawberries, tops removed
5 lbs. of carrots, tops removed
2 red apples

Wash all and feed through your juicer!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Crazy Cabbage Slaw Salad Recipe


This yummy, cold salad is my attempt to recreate a great meal I had while visiting my parents recently.
I have to say, this comes very close to the sweet, tangy, crunchy salad I enjoyed.
It lasts, too. You can refrigerate it for a few days and the cabbage stays crisp and becomes almost like a slaw.

Crazy Cabbage Slaw Salad

½-1 head of cabbage – shredded
A few handfuls of any assorted salad greens, chopped
1 can of corn – drained
About 10 pitted and chopped dates
1-1/2 cup of slivered raw almonds
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl

Creamy Citrus Dressing

About 1 ½ cup Veganaise
About 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
A splash of fresh orange juice OR ½ of an orange (squeezed)
A sprinkle of orange zest
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl

Mix the dressing into the salad, cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.
Enjoy!

*Optional - 1 chopped avocado as garnish
* Optional – Croutons

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Best Ever Vegan Cheese Sauce Recipe



I stumbled on this recipe and we decided to try it out…OMG!
SO good….cheesy and creamy…and super simple to make.

Best Ever Vegan Cheese Sauce

2 cups of water
¼ cup chopped fresh tomatoes
¼ cup raw almonds
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ tablespoon sea salt
½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons corn starch
¼ cup nutritional yeast

Blend all ingredients in blender until very smooth. 
Pour into a sauce pan and heat until thick, whisking consistently.

This is amazing! As it cools it gets thick like cheddar soup.

Recipe site: Melty Cheese
Recipe submitted by emily@pioneer-net.com

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Easy 1-2-3 Vegan Egg(free) Salad

We have missed the taste of egg salad and deviled eggs but not what they were made of.
I was SO happy to discover how to make a vegan version that satisfies that taste.
I have combined a few recipes and come up with something super simple that my family loves.
Play with the ingredients. Really anything goes.
What did you used to put in your more traditional egg salad?

Egg(free) Salad
1. A block of extra firm tofu, drained and dry
2. Crumble or mash it in bowl to desired egg-like consistency
3. Add the following “to taste” - as you would making traditional egg salad:
Veganaise
Sea salt
Pepper
Turmeric...for color
Onion powder
Yellow mustard
Optional: nutritional yeast
Mix gently, garnish with lettuce and tomato
 and enjoy!
....mmmmm

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Vegan Lace Cookie Crisps



These were one of my favorite kinds of cookies...way back when.
But they were loaded with butter, other dairy, refined sugar...maybe even corn syrup and processed salt.

I was searching for a new cookie recipe to try out for a vegan cookie swap we have coming up and I thought... just maybe... I could recreate these.

OMG!! Success! You HAVE to try these. So easy and addicting.
I know it looks like a lot of directions but they are really simple.
I pieced this recipe together from several I found online.

Lace Florentine Cookies
Let me know what you think!

1 ¾ cup sliced almonds
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cups non-refined sugar
2 tablespoon non-dairy milk (we used unsweetened  coconut milk)
2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
5 tablespoons non-dairy “butter” (we used Earth Balance)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·         Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
·         Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
·         Pulse almonds in a small food processor until finely chopped, but not in a paste
·         In a bowl combine chopped almonds, flour, zest and salt
·         In a small sauce pan put milk, sugar, “butter” and the brown rice syrup. Bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Sugar should dissolve completely. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute.
·         Remove the mixture from heat and add vanilla
·         Pour the sugar mixture over the almond mixture and stir until well combined.
·         Set batter aside for 15-30 minutes to cool and thicken a bit
·         Using a ½ teaspoon, spoon tiny, rounded balls of dough onto the cookie sheet.
·         These spread! I suggest only cooking 6 balls of dough per large cookie sheet.
·         Place the cookie sheet in the center of the oven
·         I recommend cooking one sheet at a time
·         Bake for 4 minutes and (for even cooking) rotate the cookie sheet and bake for another 4 minutes
·         Remove from the oven when they are fully spread and a light golden brown
·         Put the second cookie sheet in the oven while the first sheet of cookies cools for a few minutes.
·         When you are able, transfer them to a wire cookie rack to cool completely.
·         Load up the (now empty) cookie sheet with six more balls of dough
·         I used the same parchment paper for the entire batch of dough
·         About that time the second batch should be done in the oven  and you can switch…
·         Keep alternating  until the batter is gone.
·         Store in an airtight container
Tips:
1.       Find the cooking time “sweet spot” for your oven…they are too sticky if not golden enough…and too brittle if too well done.
2.       You can drizzle melted chocolate over the cooled cookies if you like, we preferred them plain
3.       Try and eat just one!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Vegan Chocolate Chipper Cookies



I LOVE chocolate chip cookies...I always have, but I don't eat pre-made, processed, conventional ones anymore because of some food allergies and personal ingredient choices. 
After experimenting with many cookie recipes over the last 8-9 years, I feel that this is the best at-home, veganized one so far.
I think that these really tatse like warm, yummy chocolate chip cookies and not like a bad, sad reproduction!
Let me know what you think...
Vegan Chocolate Chipper Cookies
½ cup vegan butter substitute, like Earth Balance
¾ cup organic sugar of choice
2-3 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 (or more) tablespoons of water
2 cups whole grain flour
½ cup finely ground walnuts
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ to ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350
In a large bowl, blend the butter substitute, sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of water until well mixed.
Stir in the flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and salt. Keep stirring until it forms together like dough. If it is too dry and crumbly add more water one tablespoon at a time, just until a small piece of the dough will hold together when formed into a little ball.
Form small dough balls and press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. When pressed, cookies should be about ¼” thick.
Bake for about 15 minutes and check. They should hold together but be sure the bottoms are not burning. My batch took a bit longer and I checked them about every 2 minutes.
Let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Mexican Madness Vegan Layered Dip


It was super simple to veganize this old favorite with just a few substitutions. This is ideal to bring to a party that has both veggies and non-veggies, as no one will EVER know it is animal friendly!

As with most whole food recipes, this is just a guideline to get you started. It is completely flexible and customizable to specific tastes, diets and available ingredients.

Mexican Madness Vegan Layered Dip

Dip Base:
1 Can of refried beans (I use refried black beans)
1 Can whole beans ( I like whole black beans)
1 tub of vegan sour cream
1 packet of taco seasoning
about 1 cup of your favorite salsa

Topping Options:
1 tomato, chopped
about 1 or 2 cups of vegan shredded cheese
Chopped black and green olives
Avocado or guacamole (drizzle lime juice on chopped avocado to keep it from turning brown)
Chilies or jalapeno peppers
Onions

* In a small bowl mix the vegan sour cream with about half the packet of taco seasoning. It is best to start with less and add to it, based on personal taste. Set aside.
* Rinse the whole beans and then in a separate bowl mash them with a fork
* Add the cup of salsa and the refried beans to the mashed beans and mix together
* Spread the bean mixture evenly along the bottom of a shallow casserole dish or pretty bowl
* Pour the sour cream mixture over the bean mixture and carefully spread to cover
* note - if you are adding guacamole, you can refrigerate the dip base a little to firm it up and then spread the guac right over the sour cream layer
* Then just sprinkle your favorite optional toppings on top and you’re done

Cover and refrigerate until it’s time to enjoy!

You can serve this with chips, small tortillas, veggies, etc…
Yum!

bean mixture
spreading the sour cream mixture over the beans
your dip base...waiting for toppings!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sunbutter Bombs



These are SO good! Like healthy little brownie nuggets…no baking, super easy and all natural ingredients!

This recipe is all approximate! I do it by “feel” but this should give you somewhere to start. If it seems too dry add more liquidy stuff like dates, vanilla or agave…if it is too sticky add more dry stuff like ground nuts.

Play with it a bit until the little bombs hold together with out being oily, crumbly or loose.

Sunbutter Bombs


2 cups of nuts of your choice. I used pecans.
1 to 2 cups of pitted soft dates
3 to 4 teaspoons of vanilla
½ to 1 cup of sunflower seed butter
1 to 2 tablespoons of agave syrup
2 to 4 tablespoons cocoa (optional)

* grind the nuts finely in a small food processor or a high speed blender
* move the ground nuts to a separate bowl

For the next steps, start with the smaller amount of each additional ingredient that is listed above…
* Put the dates into the food processor or high speed blender and blend until chopped very small and sort of chewey
* Add the ground nuts to the chopped dates (if you want you can reserve a small amount of the ground nuts to dip the bombs in after they are rolled)
* Also add the vanilla and agave
* Add the cocoa if desired
* Blend all until it binds together…add dry or wet ingredients as needed
* Roll into small balls and dip in ground nuts if desired.
* Refrigerate until ready to enjoy!
…mmmm

Monday, July 4, 2011

Quickie Quinoa Summer Salad



I just whipped up this super simple recipe for lunch. It was so light and cool on a hot, summer day. I combined what sounded good to me at the time, so be flexible and listen to what your body needs. Add or delete anything that seems right to you. I really loved the creaminess of the avocado with the snap of the quinoa.

Also, because I just threw this together, all measurements are approximate. It’s always a good idea to start with less and add to, it if needed

Quickie Quinoa Summer Salad

3/4 cup of cooked quinoa, at room temperature
1 teaspoon veganaise
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
A drizzle of good quality olive oil
½ of an avocado, chopped into small chunks
½ of a tomato, chopped into chunks
A BIG handful of fresh basil, washed and chopped
*Optional – a few black olives, chopped
Sea salt and pepper to taste if desired ( I didn’t use any and it was still really tasty)

Gently toss all ingredients together in a pretty bowl and enjoy!