Posts Tagged: vegan
Quick + Easy: Nut-Free Brownies [PALEO]
In the search for a quick weeknight dessert, that can be sent to school the next day as a healthy treat? I was! Luckily, my friend the Baker Babe came to the rescue a while back with this recipe. Except it featured almond meal, so since then I revisited it and experimented a bit and came up with these delicious little suckers.
Again, they are totally 21 Day Fix approved for those of you who give a care, so rock those yellows when and if you wanna! Heck, have an extra one because I said so! You’re welcome!
- 10 pitted Medjool dates (blitzed in food processor with a wee bit of hot water until a paste is formed)
- 2 tbsp. unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 tbsp. coconut flour
- ¾ raw cacao powder
- ½ c. melted coconut oil
- 1 tsp. real vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1.5 c. sunflower meal (pre-food-processor blitzed sunflower seeds to resemble flour)
- ¾ tsp. g-free baking soda
- ½ tsp. pink Himalayan sea salt
- Preheat over to 350 F and grease an 8x8 baking dish with coconut oil
- Whizz sunflower seeds in food processor until a rough flour-like consistency is formed (like almond flour), remove and set aside.
- Whizz medjool dates with a wee smidge of boiling water in the food processor until paste is formed.
- Add coconut flour, cacao powder, melted coconut oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt, eggs and whizz/pulse again until mixed (stopping to scrape down sides as needed).
- Pop in the oven for 35-40 minutes depending on the heat of your oven.
- These need to set for about 20 minutes after baking as they are gooey and I've found that all paleo baked good need time to set as they continue to cook a bit in doing so. Enjoy!
Curried Sweet Potato, Kale and Mango Stew
A versatile dish, this can be made vegan or vegetarian. You can add chicken or leave it out as I have done. Curry is a soul-food. It sticks to your ribs, warms your tummy and can be made to your own heat preference. Our kids like it with yogurt (tames the spice a bit). Do you have your kids eating curry yet? Try our this version! The mangos and a natural sweetness to the more savoury elements of this dish.
I used to purchase pre-made curry powder (because easy), but I’ve gotten into the habit of making from-scratch pastes each time I give curry a whirl as the depth of flavour is incomparable once you’ve gone there. I’ve tried to simplify the process as much as possible from some of the more conventional/traditional curry adventures, it doesn’t always have to be a huge time commitment! Enjoy!
- 2 large yellow cooking onions, chopped
- 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp fresh ginger, roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp ghee (or grassfed butter or coconut oil)
- 3 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp fennel seed
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp cayenne
- 1½ tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 400g can chopped/diced tomatoes (or diced fresh plum tomatoes)
- 1 250ml can of full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup veggie broth
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander
- 3 sweet potatoes, cubed (about 1 lb worth)
- 1 lb carrots, cubed
- 2 mangos, cubed
- 1tsp. pink himalyan sea salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- Fresh minced kale to garnish (I like to sprinkle at least ½ cup's worth per serving)
- ***Optional: 1 can of garbanzo beans, ½ lb of baby potatoes and 2 cups of frozen peas
- Saute the chopped onions in ½ of your ghee/oil with the garlic cloves (whole) until translucent. Transfer to a small food processor, adding in the ginger, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, chili, cayenne, garam masala and turmeric, with 1 tbsp ghee/oil (of the remaining 2) with 2 tablespoons of water - process to a slack paste.
- Heat the last of the ghee/oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Scoop the paste out of the blender/processor into the pot. Swirl everything around for about 30 secs until the spices release a fragrant aroma.
- Tip in the tomatoes, broth, coconut milk and carrots. (You can add the garbanzo beans and baby potatoes if you've chosen to add these). Continue cooking on a medium-low heat for about 25 mins without a lid until the liquid begins to reduce and darken.
- Add in the sweet potatoes and mango and simmer for another 40 mins without a lid until the carrots are nicely stewed and the sweet potatoes are fall-apart tender. The masala should be thickened now – you might need to add an extra ladleful of broth or water if the curry needs it. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and stir.
- Serve with minced kale and cashew yogurt or regular yogurt and sprouted brown rice for the non-paleo eaters at your table!
Quinoa, Spelt: Banana Blueberry Muffins
The ultimate breakfast, (anytime) muffin. These moist and not-too-sweet morsels were created out of the usual need for me to feed the WSL healthy snacks and mix up his breakfast menu. Also, I have a friend who recently gave birth to baby no. 2. She was wishing on FB for a really good muffin, and I noted her previous posts on having to avoid dairy/sugar when nursing the newbie. So. I played. A few rounds later and I was satisfied.<!–more–>
How much healthy can one pack into baked goods you ask? Lots! And why not? If it tastes good? Ahm, isn’t a no-brainer? Of course I covet the usual sugar and butter laden treats like most – but not for everyday. Some of us have dietary concerns, allergies and nursing. Oooo, yes – newborns are finicky little miracles. I’m all about not totally restricting my diet if certain foods cause my little sweetie gas (=discomfort and CRYING). Lets have us some options! Because food and health are beautiful things. Hence these quinoa, spelt, flax, oatmeal, blueberry banana muffins. Spelt flour is delicious, nutritious and slightly nutty coupling beautifully with protein packed quinoa. You may have read some of my previous posts where I go on about how it has a lower gluten, therefore carb count, therefore fat, than in white or whole what flour. I could go on to surmise that carbs are responsible for the current crisis in overdone hispster fashion, explains why Adobe and Apple can’t make nice, and is indubitably why Harper is is just plain evil.
Alright, enough blathering and on with the recipe. This is a double whammy, so decrease the ingredients by 1/2 if you really want, but why bother? These suckers freeze beautifully.
What You’ll Need:
* 2 cups of cooked quinoa
* 2 cups of fresh organic blueberries
* 6 ripe bananas, mashed
* 4 tablespoons flax seeds
* 8 tablespoons of water
* 2/3 cup of sunflower oil
* 1/2 cup maple syrup (the real thing, no high fructose corn syrup knock offs yo)
* 1/2 cup of agave nectar
* 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 2 teaspoon vanilla
* 4 cups of spelt flour
* 2 tablespoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon cardamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups of oatmeal
How You Do:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Oil a muffin pan or use disposable muffin paper cups. You can find recycled and compostable paper cups easily nowadays. Go green. Put the flax seeds and water in a blender and shazam until crushed and gelatinous. This is actually the binding agent (along with the bananas), and replaces eggs in some vegan baked recipes. Flax is also rich in omega 3 fatty acids. Good for the brain and mood, and growing babies, ya. Use it anytime you would dig a nutty earthy flavor. Place in a bowl and mix in the oil, maple syrup, apple sauce, mashed bananas and vanilla.
Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamon, salt and 1 cup of the oatmeal (save the other 1 for the topping), together in a medium bowl. Add the wet to the dry, do not over mix. Gently fold in the quinoa and the blueberries. Divide evenly among the muffin tins (I like to use an oiled ice-cream scoop), and sprinkle with the remaining oatmeal. Mayhaps some brown sugar for added crunch. I even sprinkled some flax seeds on top. Do’er up. Bake at 375 degrees for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick comes cleans and muffins are lightly browned on top. Et Voila! Butter up generously (especially since there is none in the muffin!) and devour. Share.
Black Cherry, Raw Chocolate Pie
About that raw chocolate pie I made last weekend. Passed down from a friend at a potluck for Summer Solstice years ago, herein lies my own twist on what was originally to-die-for. I often am experimenting with raw/vegan cuisine for various reasons. Shockingly tasty. One can indulge more or less healthily. No butter? No way! This is what my mantra most usually is. Although, the baking/non-baking of treats this way is very interesting to me as a foodie and slow thyroid avenger = slow metabolism. Especially when stumbling across such gluten-free, gourmet goddesses as Elana Amsterdam of Elana’s Pantry. *Swoon* Of course, I still bake with all the unabashed; buttery, sugary, white flour tradition of our grannies. Because,
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