Gingerbread Granola (vegan, GF)

Recipe from http://cookieandkate.com/

Jeff and I eat a lot of granola.  There are many delicious brands that you can buy at the store.  I decided to try this recipe because I wanted to try and make my own and because gingerbread reminded me of the holidays.  This was SO EASY!  I can't wait to eat it tomorrow in my yogurt for breakfast.  It would also make a great holiday gift.  Enjoy.

Ingredients

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (I used GF oats)

1 1/2 cups raw pecans and/or walnuts

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup melted coconut oil (or olive oil)

1/3 cup real maple syrup

1/4 cup molasses

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, nuts, salt, cinnamon and ground ginger. Stir thoroughly to combine.
Stir in the oil, maple syrup, molasses and vanilla. Turn the granola out onto your prepared pan and use a large spoon to spread it in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and top with coconut flakes. Mix in the coconut and stir up the mixture to make sure the granola cooks evenly. Return the pan to the oven for 10 more minutes.
After 10 minutes is up, remove the pan from the oven and add the cranberries.
Let the granola cool before enjoying. The granola will continue cooking just a bit in the cooling process, so if it seems a little wet at first, don’t worry.
Store the granola in an airtight container. It should stay fresh for 1 to 2 weeks. Store in the refrigerator for longer shelf life.

 

  

The Perfect Vegan GF Waffle Recipe

Recipe from http://www.forkandbeans.com

These waffles are light and fluffy, yet perfectly crisp on the outside.  The flax seed gives then a nutty flavor.  I make mine in a Belgian waffle maker and I get about 5 waffles out of this recipe.  I often add in frozen blueberries or a chopped up banana once I pour the batter into the waffle maker.  Don't forget the Earth Balance and real maple syrup!

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. all purpose gluten-free flour mix
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 c. rice milk (I used almond milk)
3 Tb oil
1 Tb flaxseed meal + 3 Tbs water (mixed and set for 5 minutes)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1.  In a medium bowl, combine flour with baking powder and salt.

2.  Make a well in the center of the bowl. Pour remaining ingredients inside the well.

3.  Mix until fully combined. Allow to sit for 5 minutes while the waffle iron heats up.

4.  Heat as directed by your waffle iron.

My Favorite Vegan Sugar Cookie Recipe

Roll and Cut Sugar Cookie recipe from 'Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

I love a good, frosted sugar cookie.  These always come out great.  Easy to make, easy to roll and cut.  I will post a good frosting recipe, as well as photos of the finished product, some time in December.  My nephews are coming to visit this Christmas, and frosting the cookies will be a fun holiday activity.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Earth Balance, slightly softened
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/4 non dairy milk

1.  In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder.  Set aside.
2.  In a large mixing bowl, use electric beaters to cream together the margarine, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy (at least 4 minutes).  Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.  Beat in the vanilla, lemon extract, and the non dairy milk to combine.  Beat in half the flour, then carefully mix in the remaining flour mixture to form a soft dough.
3.  Divide the mixture in two and pat into discs.  Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight.
4.  Preheat the over to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Lightly flour a clean work surface.  Roll the dough to 3/8 inch thickness and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.  Bake for 8-10 minutes (I went longer, at least 12 minutes).  Remove from oven and let cool completely before decorating.

Pumpkin Tart (vegan and GF)

Crust recipe from:  http://tasty-yummies.com

Filling recipe from:  http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com

This is my second attempt at a pumpkin dessert in the last few weeks (see my initial post on this blog).  The crust recipe suggest making a tart, so I thought I would give it a shot.  The filling recipe was deemed "healthy" and all you had to do was throw everything into a blender. 

This filling recipe made way more than I needed for a 9" tart (it was intended for a 10" pie), so I threw the extra into a few ramekins and baked them as well.  Pumpkin custard!  Alternatively, you could make two of these tart shells and fill them both with one batch of filling.

I think this tart is the best pumpkin dessert I have made so far.  Perfect for any Thanksgiving feast.

UPDATE:  Jeff just tried the tart this evening and said it was the best pumpkin pie he has ever had.  I would call that a success!!!

Crust recipe:

2.5 cups almond flour (aka almond meal)
3 tablespoons flax seed meal
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375º F. Lightly grease a 9 or 10-inch tart pan. In a large bowl, add all of the crust ingredients and mix very well. I like to get my hands right in there to make certain it is all mixed up. Add the crust mixture to the tart pan and press down firmly into the pan, going up the sides just a tad bit. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Filling recipe:

1 can (15oz) pumpkin or sweet potato puree
1 (13.5oz) can full-fat coconut milk
1/4 cup rolled oats (20g)
2 tbsp ground flax
1/3 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar (I used brown sugar)
pinch pure stevia, or 2 tbsp extra brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400F. Blend all ingredients together until smooth, then pour into a prepared pie crust (such as the recipe below) in a 10-inch round pan (or in this case, the par baked tart crust from above).  Bake 27 minutes (I baked a little longer, maybe 35 minutes), let cool, then refrigerate at least 5 hours uncovered for the pie to thicken and “set.”

My Favorite Vegan Pesto Recipe

Modified "The Bestest Pesto" recipe from http://www.theppk.com

The recipe is great on pasta, but I love it on a homemade pizza crust with fresh tomatoes.  Lately, I have been buying a lot of celery and tossing the leaves into this pesto.  Any combo of greens will be great.  The pesto freezes really well, just put it in a Ziploc bag.

 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (or a mix of pine nuts and walnuts)
1 clove roasted garlic (or use regular raw garlic)
3 cups greens (use any combo of basil, spinach, arugula, cilantro, celery greens)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Fresh black pepper (to finish)

Transfer toasted nuts (right out of the pan, still warm) to a food processor.

Add the garlic and pulse everything into fine crumbs.

Add the greens, salt, nutritional yeast and water and puree until relatively smooth, scraping down the sides at least once to make sure you get everything.

Stream in the olive oil and blend until well combined.

Last but not least, blend in the lemon juice.

Cranberry Walnut Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Recipe from http://thesimpleveganista.blogspot.com

This chickpea salad is sweet, savory, and crunchy.  Great on bread or in a GF wrap with some lettuce.

No photos are really needed here, but I took some of the ingredients.  I meant to take one of the final product, but we ate it all and I forgot.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked or 2 cans (15oz) garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
• 1 cup celery, diced 
• 1/2 cup organic dried cranberries (chopped fresh would be great too)
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup scallions (green onions), thinly sliced, white & green parts
• mineral salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon each)

Dressing ingredients (slightly modified from original recipe)

Veganese (as much as you want.  I just threw in a giant spoonful ~1/3 cup)
A splash of white wine vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
~ 1 tsp maple syrup

In a medium to large bowl, add your garbanzo beans and roughly mash with a strong fork or potato masher. Add in celery, cranberries, nuts, scallions, salt, pepper. Add in dressing ingredients and mix well. Serve at room temp or let chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

 

Chocolate Glazed Donuts (vegan, GF)

This recipe is from http://happyherbivore.com

In my youth, we used to go to Dunkin Donuts.  My favorite donut was the glazed chocolate cake donut.  So good.  When I saw this recipe from Happy Herbivore, I had to try it.  I decided to make this last night after drinking a bit too much wine at a friend's party.  They are easy to make and easy to eat.  I changed up the recipe a bit to make them GF.  Great with a cup of coffee in the morning.

NOTE:  I don't recommend putting the glazed donuts into a Tupperware for storage.  I put them in a tupperware in the evening, and by morning the glaze was all soaked into the donuts.  I think your best bet is glazing the donuts near the time you want to serve them and leaving them open to air.  I may make another batch this weekend.  I will let you know how it goes.

Donut ingredients:

• 1 cup plant-based milk (I used almond)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used GF flour blend plus 1 tsp xanthan gum)                   
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ cup vegan chocolate chips                    

Glaze ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp plant-based milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl, whisk 1 cup non-dairy milk, lemon juice, 3 tbsp maple, light brown sugar & 1-2 tsp vanilla together until foamy and bubbly.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, baking soda and chocolate chips (crushed).

Pour wet into dry and use a spatula to combine.

Spoon into a greased 6-donut pan. Bake 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make icing by whisking the last ingredients together (confectioners sugar, 1 tbsp maple, 1 tsp vanilla and 1-2 tbsp non-dairy milk).

Submerge cooked, but cool, doughnuts into icing and let glaze drip off. Transfer to wire wrack for drying.                                       

Cheesy Cornbread Waffles (vegan, gluten free)

This recipe is from http://keepinitkind.com

These are delicious topped with vegan sloppy joes or Earth Balance.  I also added green chile to a few once I poured the batter in the waffle iron.

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or agave syrup) 

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups ground cornmeal
• 3/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (all-purpose would also work)
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of Ener-G egg replacer
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 

1. Combine the almond milk and the apple cider vinegar and allow to sour for about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients and thoroughly mix. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup, and soured almond milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Let stand for 10 minutes, while you let the waffle maker heat up.
4. Cook waffles according to your waffle maker's instructions. 

Vegan, Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free Pumpkin Pie

This recipe is from http://helynshealthykitchen.blogspot.com

The crust only has 2 ingredients - almond meal and flax seed!!  I found the crust a little hard to roll out and get into the pie plate but once it was par baked and filled it was fine.  The pumpkin filling is not very sweet, so it is perfect with some sweetened vanilla coconut cream.  (I recommend Trader Joe's Coconut Cream.  Unlike coconut milk, you don't have to separate anything.  You just scoop it out of the can, add some powdered sugar and vanilla, mix and eat.)

Here is the final result:

Here is the recipe.

For the crust:

Ingredients:

• 1½-2 cups tightly-packed almond flour (use 2 cup for a deep dish pie plate)
• 1 TBS flax meal + 3 TBS water (NOTE: use golden flax seeds to make your flax meal if you would like an even color to the crust. Simply grind them in a nut/seed grinder, or coffee grinder, to make the flax meal.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix the flax meal and water together and let sit for about 10 minutes.
3. Place almond flour in a food processor and turn on.
4. While running, pour in the flax mixture.
5. Pulse until the flax is completely incorporated and the dough is sticking together.
6. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap.
7. Press it together tightly and form a disc.
8. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
9. Roll the dough in between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, then turn it out into a pie plate. Don't worry if it's not perfect. You will shape it when it's in the pie plate.
10. Use one of the sheets of plastic wrap to smush the dough up the sides of the plate and level it down as best you can. The BEST way to do this is with something called a pastry and pizza roller (see photo above). It makes everything even and smooth. It's very inexpensive and I highly recommend having one in your kitchen.
11. Flute the edges using your fingers or a fork, making any design you like.
12. Dock the crust (poke it all over with a fork).
13. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges of the crust are golden. (NOTE:  you par-bake this crust for 20 minutes, then fill, then bake an additional 45 minutes)

For the filling:

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. pumpkin purée
• 10 medjool dates, pits removed
• 1¼ cups raw cashews
• 1½ cups unsweetened soy milk or other unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 vegan pie crust (see below)

Directions:

1. Place dates and 1 cup of the milk in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth.
2. Add remaining milk and cashews and blend again until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed.
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add remaining ingredients and whisk well to combine.
4. Pour into the pie crust and smooth the top with a spatula.
5. Bake for 45 minutes until firm and slightly cracked on the top.
6. Refrigerate overnight before serving.