Blog Archives

Lemony Coconut Clusters [vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, nut-free, soy-free)

Reply

LemonCoconutClusters1I threw these together one morning when I knew my green smoothie wasn’t going to be enough.  I just needed something to chew and help me feel satiated.  These little bundles did the trick. If you’re looking for light, airy and fluffy, run away.  They are dense, fiber-filled clusters of lemony, oaty goodness.  I love oats, and I adore lemon, especially during warm months, so the combo seemed like a good fit.  Just zesting lemons instantly elevates my mood so I especially love dishes that call for lemon.  This recipe is super easy and quick to make, and very healthy consisting of healthy, whole foods.  These are every bit as good without coconut so if you don’t care for it or can’t have it, feel free to omit.  Make sure your bananas are very ripe; if they aren’t you may need to add more than the called-for 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Loaf [gluten-free + vegan + oil-free]

Reply

LemonLoaf2 This was one of those recipes in which I had a craving for flavor (in this case, lemon) and a new dish was born.  Yummy! I’ve been experimenting more and more with aquafaba, the juice from canned chickpeas, and really liking the results.

It looks like there are a lot of ingredients here but a lot of them are spices.  It really isn’t any more labor intensive than any other loaf, muffin or cookie recipe I’ve got.  The key is to put the blueberries in the bottom of the loaf pan so that when it cools and you flip it over, you have a yummy, dark purple blueberry topping.  Cool looking and even better tasting.

Low-Fat Cheesy Sauce [vegan + gf + no nuts + no oil]

Reply

cheesesauceI think I’ve finally done it and I’m really excited.

I have made a LOT of cheesy sauces over the years.  I mean, it’s crazy how many; recipes I’ve found and tweaked, recipes I’ve created, etc.  After all, mac-n-cheese was my favorite food before I went vegan 10+ years ago.  While I don’t crave the real thing, I still really love comforting foods like noodles with a creamy, cheese-like sauce.  Anyway, all the recipes I tried were similar to each other, all yummy, but all left me feeling like I wasn’t there yet;  that my quest for the perfect sauce wasn’t complete.  Getting the perfect combination of texture, mouth-feel, flavor and nutrient profile was beginning to seem impossible.

Sure, there are rich and amazingly delicious sauces out there but many of them call for a ton of nuts or a bunch of oil.  Any vegan food can taste delectable when adding a bunch of fat – there’s no creativity or skill in that.  The real challenge and test lies in making something that’s healthy, rich and delicious without exceeding your daily fat quota in one meal.

Yep.  I think I’ve finally done it.

Tahini Sauce || vegan | oil-free | gluten-free

4
Brown rice, sweet potato, kale and baked chickpeas topped with Tahini Sauce.

Brown rice, sweet potato, kale and baked chickpeas topped with Tahini Sauce.

I first created this sauce to use with the kale chips I made in my new dehydrator (still learning and experimenting, but that thing is FUN!).  They turned out great, btw, but I didn’t end up using all the sauce and shortly realized how delicious it was on steamed greens, and as a salad dressing.  It packs a lot of flavor so a little really does go a long way.

Dragon Fruit Delight

Reply

So, I took a food photography class (http://www.mdrphotographyclasses.com) last weekend in LA and it was awesome.  I’m trying to be better about not just using my cell phone to take pics of my culinary creations.  I mean, the phone takes great pics and all, but it’s time to get real and ‘master’ that fancy camera that has been collecting dust in my closet.  I love photography – the creative part.  The technical aspect is a whole different animal, one I’m committed to not being intimidated by, moving forward.  Anyway, in class we had to take pics of food (duh) and I chose to capture dragon fruit.  If you’ve never seen it, it’s a mixture of scary and insanely beautiful, inside and out.  My instructor kindly gave me some to take home and challenged me to come up with a way to prepare and eat the lovely fruit.  So, I did.  It’s very simple, with only a few ingredients, but it’s delicious.

Frieda’s is an exotic fruit distributor (they kindly donated the fruit for the class) running a campaign right now called #FearNoFruit.  I love that!  The challenge is to eat a different, scary, obscure fruit each day.  If you aren’t able to locate Frieda’s produce in your store, speak to your retailer’s produce manager and ask for Frieda’s products by name.  If that doesn’t work, visit www.friedas.com.  The site is also a great resource for funny and informative how-to videos if, for example, you have no idea what to do with a raw artichoke.

Now go eat something beautiful!

Lemon-Tahini Dressing

Reply

It’s been a long time since I posted a recipe! Not that I haven’t been creating in the kitchen – I’m always doing that.  Just life.  You know how it is.  Anyway, I love tahini dressings but they are usually so high in fat.  Tahini, or sesame seed paste, is high in fat of course because seeds are high in fat.  Tahini, and other seeds and seed pates are very healthy but can easily be overeaten.  However, there is a way to use tahini in dressing, still get that flavor, and cut the fat.  The secret is in the BEANS.  Yes, beans.  They not only help cut the fat, they add creaminess, body, nutrients, fiber and protein.

I made this dressing with a salad in mind, but I ended up pouring some over my steamed kale and sweet potato, and it was tasty!  You can use any kind of soft, white bean.  I had made my own flageolet beans the day before because I like to have a batch on hand, but you can use cannellini, great northern, etc.  If you use canned be sure to rinse and drain them.  NOTE: I get a lot of my dried beans from Rancho Gordo. They sell the BEST heirloom beans!  You can purchase from their website at ranchogordo.com.

Happy New Year AND my guest blog post at Yummly.com featuring my delicious Zucchini Oat Muffins Recipe

Posted on by
Reply

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  I hope you all had wonderful holidays and are getting back into the groove, ready to take on 2014!  It sure got here quickly, didn’t it?  For those of you who have made a resolution to eat better (and, let’s be honest, who hasn’t), I’m hoping you will utilize my website more often.  I have big plans to revamp and improve it, making it easier for recipe searches, etc.  As well, I begin my plant-based cooking school this month and hope to come up with lots of new dishes.  Let’s get things started off right with a low-fat, gluten-free, vegan, tasty zucchini muffin recipe (see below).

I came up with these on a Sunday morning when I was feeling that creative cooking bug that pokes at me so often.  Seemed like a good time to create a muffin of some kind.  I opened the fridge to seek inspiration only to have the zucchinis practically throwing themselves at me.  Hence this Zucchini Oat Muffin recipe was born.  Many recipes I come up with require tweaking and a second or third go around before I can share, but not this one! I got lucky first time around.  And now you’re getting lucky!

For this recipe, I used a combination of gluten-free flour (I really like Trader Joe’s brand)  and oat flour made with certified gluten-free oats.  You can make your own oat flour by using your blender to grind the oats.  Super easy! These muffins are only slightly sweet and are especially delicious warmed, with a TINY bit of vegan butter if you’re feeling dangerous, (and I was).   🙂 I find these keep best refrigerated after the first day, wrapped in a cloth napkin.  Also, if you are feeling adventurous, sub some of the zucchini with carrot!

Feel free to leave out the walnuts if you don’t like them or are eating an extra low-fat diet.  I love their flavor and texture in this dish, and the nice dose of Omega 3’s they (and the chia seeds) provide.  Enjoy!!

I’ve posted this recipe to Yummly.com as a guest blogger.  Please visit my post at http://blog.yummly.com/blog/2014/01/healthy-vegan-gluten-free-zucchini-oat-muffins/  Enjoy!!

Approximate nutritional info: with walnuts – 153 cals, 3.75 fat grams; without walnuts -125 calories, 1 fat gram.

UPDATE: I made these muffins with ALL oat flour when I was out of gluten-free all purpose and they were great!! 

Lemon-Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Reply

Roasted Brussels sprouts are really popular right now and we eat them a lot in our house.  Wanting to change up the flavors just a bit, I decided to add some sweet (maple) and sour (lemon).  I think this is my new favorite way to eat them.  I made them on the same night I made Spicy Butternut Squash Soup.  The soup was a bit too spicy for me and I found myself taking bites of soup and sprouts together to tame some of the heat.  Ultimately I dumped my entire plate of sprouts into the soup.  I may eat it this way forever.  Really good.

Pumpkin-Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Reply

Pumpkin-Spice Cupcakes. Vegan. Gluten-free. Oil-free*

I know.  It’s getting a little ridiculous.  Another pumpkin recipe.  I can’t help it! I told you I love all things pumpkin.  The season is short – I must embrace it!

So, I made a pumpkin-spice cake for my sister’s birthday this past week.  It was really good.  The next day I tweaked the recipe just a bit and made delicious cupcakes.  The next day I tweaked it even more, making them gluten-free, and a sharable recipe was born!

If you don’t care to make these cupcakes gluten-free, whole wheat pastry flour is fine.  Also, use 1 TBS pumpkin pie spice if you’d rather not bother measuring out the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves.

I don’t generally make or eat things that are frosted due to the high fat content of frosting, even if it is vegan, but I’ve managed to keep the fat pretty low on these by only using no more than 1 tablespoon of frosting per cupcake, which is plenty and just right.  Still, these are a treat and not something I’d recommend be eaten regularly.  🙂

*Oil-free if left unfrosted. The cupcake itself is oil/fat-free but Tofutti Cream Cheese is made with oil.