Vegetable bean soup

 Nice easy soup for lunch: I did add some lemon juice and tamari sauce and rosemary and thyme along with the other ingredients. Recipe here: https://minimalistbaker.com/simple-but-perfect-vegetable-soup/

Almond cookies

 Easy fast almond cookies for a quick snack. Makes 8 small cookies.

1 cup almond flour

3 tablespoons sugar 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons water

Optional: chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven 350. 

Mix throughly until batter clings together. Form into cookie shapes. Place on parchment lined pan. Bake 11-13 minutes or until done. These can brown on the bottom so watch as it nears the end time.

Chickpea omelette

 

This recipe really surprised me— I love it! 

Recipe and directions found here: https://thehiddenveggies.com/chickpea-omelette-the-best-vegan-omelette/ 

Ingredients 

1/4 cup chickpea flour 

1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast 

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup vegetable of choice/— I used onion and orange bell pepper 

Oil for pan

Go to link for directions 

Tofu pastrami

 Great in sandwich with shredded kraut ! Coleslaw too! 

Best if marinated overnight.

Here is the link https://cookingforpeanuts.com/wprm_print/18239

Ingredients I used:

1 15.5 ounces of extra firm tofu 

Canned beets- about the size of two walnuts

1 cup vegetable broth 

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 

2 tablespoons tamari ( recipe calls for mellow white miso— I was out)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

1 teaspoon black pepper( I used way less and just added more individually )

1 teaspoon ground coriander 

1 teaspoon paprika 

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1 teaspoon onion powder 

Vito link for all information.

Nut butter cake

 Easy dish and nice way to use ripe bananas.

Ingredients 

3 ripe bananas - mashed well

1/2 cup creamy nut butter of choice

2 cups gf rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips dairy free

Optional

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

Walnuts- up to 2/3 cup, chopped 

1:4 teaspoon salt if your nut butter is unsalted 

Directions 

350 oven .

Place parchment in 9 by 9 pan

Mix mashed bananas and nut better well and then add the rest.

I place in pan and cook 20-25 minutes until it starts turning golden brown on edges.

Almond flour wraps

 Easy and delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

2 & 1/2 tablespoons WHOLE Psyllium husks

1/2 cup room temperature water

Optional 1/4 teaspoon of salt and if desired any other seasonings like 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder etc

Mix all of the ingredients together and let sit 5 minutes. Then divide into 3 or 4 balls. Roll balls between parchment paper and cook on a nonstick pan for about 1-2 minutes per side at medium temperature on my stove.

cake, 8 layer vegan mini cake

 The above picture is a four layer little rectangular mini cake made from the left overs.

Above is the 8 layer--

A complete video and directions can be found at this link: https://plantbasedcookingshow.com/2023/12/10/vegan-chocolate-little-layer-cake/

This uses dates for the sweetness (no sugar). It uses oat flour and arrowroot powder for the flour part of the cake. There is a bit of almond flour in the icing.

Go to link for the complete ingredients and directions.

Note: this is a sponge type cake in consistency, I used my Pyrex custard cup to cut the circles for the layers. 

Next time a bit more cocoa powder.

Broccoli rice casserole vegan

 Nice holiday dish. Recipe can be found here: https://eatplant-based.com/wprm_print/18932

Note: I substituted my favorite vegan cheese sauce which is similar to the one in this recipe. 

Note: I like this much better cooked in oven and without the paprika! I like a bit of stone ground mustard added and no steak sauce.

This is the link for just the cheese sauce I like: https://nannykimsrecipes.blogspot.com/2023/11/macaroni-and-cheese-sauce-vegan.html?m=0

Tofu cutlets

 Nice satisfying recipe. I used gf panko crumbs. Here is the link for the recipe: https://plantifullybasedblog.com/wprm_print/11052

Peppermint truffles vegan

 So good and easy. Makes 9 big ones— more if made in the size of walnuts.

The directions and info can be found here: https://plantifulkiki.com/chocolate-peppermint-truffles/

These are the ingredients but go to link for information:

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon peppermint extract ( might use a bit less)

3 tablespoons cocoa powder 

4-5 tablespoons maple syrup 

1/2 cup dairy free chocolate,, melted 

Optional 1 peppermint candy cane crushed

whole wheat vegan pancakes

 Fast and easy. Must have non-stick skillet

INGREDIENTS

1 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons coconut sugar (or regular sugar)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup dairy free milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Batter will be thick. 

Preheat your non-stick skillet to medium. Cook as usual. Makes about 4 pancakes.

Blueberry oat bars

Found this from a Publix recipe- Note: after baking it is nice with this added topping: Also instead of the chia seed you can do 2 tablespoons flax and 1 tablespoon chia.

TOPPING 

The topping used is  mixed in food processor and placed on the top after the dish is done cooking;

a cup of nuts of choice- walnuts, pecans

2 medjool dates 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

For the main dish:

• 
  
• 2 cups rolled oats
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup chia seeds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 ½ cups Elmhurst almond milk
• 1 ½ cup Dole frozen blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine the oats, baking powder, salt and chia seeds. Stir until combined.
4. Add the vanilla, maple syrup, and Elmhurst almond milk. Stir until well combined.
5. Gently fold in the blueberries until just mixed.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until brown on the edges.
7. Let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.
8. Cut into 6 pieces.
9. 
   

 

Oat biscuits oil free dairy free

 

Quick, easy, gf. Great with soup/ whatever. Makes about 8. I think these are better with King Arthur measure for measure,

1 cup oat flour ( gf if needed)can use King Arthur measure for measuring instead 

2 tablespoons flaxseed meal

1 teaspoon baking powder 

3 tablespoons almond meal

Dash of salt if desired 

2/3 cup plant milk of choice .

Preheat 400F

Mix dry ingredients 

Add milk and mix briefly— don’t over mix.

Drop by spoonful on parchment lined baking pan. Cook 14 minutes. If using King Arthur then more like 11-12 minutes.

Note: you can make these without almond meal , but then they don’t rise as high and they come out more like a cookie biscuit 😆

Cranberry fruit salad 2023

 Nice recipe from https://monkeyandmekitchenadventures.com/cranberry-fruit-salad/print/10016/

Note: I used only one small can of drained crushed pineapple instead of the tidbits. I think I would also like this without the added nuts.

Potato curry

Easy , tasty dish. The advantage of this dish is I normally have the ingredients on hand. Recipe found:

https://theplantbasedschool.com/potato-curry/

This website has lots of  nice dishes!

Serve with rice or naan. Adjust your spices according to your desire. 

PS for a gf naan recipe go here https://elavegan.com/vegan-gluten-free-naan/

I substituted drinkable coconut milk for the yogurt in the naan recipe.

 

Almond crackers 2

 Tasty-3 ingredients 

Ingredients

2 cups fine almond flour (meal)

1/2 tsp salt or sea salt ( me sometimes a bit more)

1 golden flaxseed substitute for egg ( 3 tablespoons water mixed with 1 tablespoon of golden flaxseed)

Directions 

Preheat oven 350

Mix water and flaxseed letting sit 5 minutes to thicken.

Meanwhile mix flour and salt. 

Mix all ingredients together and form a ball.

Place between 2 parchment sheets and roll to desired thickness. Place on cookie sheet with parchment still underneath the dough. You can cut rectangles or squares now or half way through. Same with puncturing with fork.

Place in oven and bake 10 minutes. Cut into cracker shapes with pizza cutter or knife. Pierce pieces with a fork. Return to oven cooking about another 10 minutes watching carefully. 

As individual crackers turn golden remove and place on cooling rack.

After cooling eat or place extras in a container in fridge or freezer. I often eat homemade crackers frozen .

Note: the cooking time varies according to thickness.

Gingerbread oatmeal

This is pretty good for a vegan change-up. The more the apples the better. There was an option to place some on top as well and a vegan icing. NOTE: I cook it much longer.

I also like a bit of golden raisins added to the mix,

Here is the link: https://thatveganbabe.com/gingrbread-baked-oatmeal/
 

A different icing can be found here: https://plantbasedjess.com/vegan-cashew-vanilla-icing-no-powdered-sugar-no-butter/

The icing I ended up using is:

3/4 cup cashews soaked and drained 

1/4 to 1/2 cup plant milk

2-3 pitted method dates

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Blended in high speed blender 

Spaghetti squash roasted

 I love this, but the spaghetti squash Itself didn’t come out as tender as I am used to. The temperature called for 400 degrees for about 60-to 75 minutes. I am wondering if it was too high. But I love the flavors in this dish. The recipe can be found here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx_meCVxdwW/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

You cut it in half and sprinkle olive oil salt and pepper on it. I left out the cheese and did fill it with the grape tomatoes. I used a bit of Italian seasoning too. 

Part way through near the end you mix it in the shell—

At the end I used 1/4 cup cashews ( that had been soaked in water and drained ) blended with 1:4 cup soy milk. I spread that over the top and let it heat another ten minutes.

Chocolate baked oats

 This is easy and vegan/ gf if using gf oats. Your kids will eat this 😁🙌.  Recipe found here— https://elavegan.com/chocolate-baked-oats/     We also like making an other icing different from the link. We melt chocolate chips in some soy milk and spread over the top(dairy free chips)

The consistency is slightly odd/ but hubby loves it.

We love this with wild frozen blueberries served on top.

Apple pie crumble

 Very good/ I haven’t tried the bottom crust yet, but will soon.  I used honeycrisp apples so didn’t use dates in the apple filling part, but did use in the crisp part. This is vegan and gf, only sugar is the dates. The recipe can be found under the YouTube video by hitting more. 

The topping used is  mixed in food processor and placed on the pie after the pie is done cooking;

a cup of nuts of choice- walnuts, pecans

2 medjool dates 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

https://youtu.be/kflCZc28zhU?si=Cn65CiqT16QS8K4f

Tuscan white bean soup

 Good fall soup and nice way to use lots of greens!! Recipe here : https://theplantbasedschool.com/tuscan-soup/

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

 

So easy and simple and good. I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE BEFORE WE DUG IN!!! You can make a crust or buy one already cooked, but we did crustless to save on calories!

1 and 1/4 non-dairy dark chocolate chips

1 can 14 ounce pumpkin (no seasonings added)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

2 tsp arrowroot powder

1/8 tsp sea salt

2 tablespoons non-dairy chocolate chips for top 

Preheat oven to 425.

Melt 1 and 1/4 cups chocolate chips in the microwave.

In food processor mix pumpkin , sugar ,maple syrup, arrowroot and salt.

Mix the pumpkin combo with the chocolate.

Lightly grease your pie pan if not using a crust. Place your filling in and sprinkle the top with the 2 tablespoons of chips and cook at 425 for 15 minutes. THEN reduce heat to 350 and bake 35 minutes.

Remove from oven--the center may be soft, but it will set as it cools . After it has cooled a bit you can take a silicone spatula and spread the chips you had on the top to make a nice topping or leave as it. Wait till cools to serve. Of course we ate about 1/3 before it had cooled.

Holiday chickpea torte vegan

BELOW IS THE GRAVY

This is very tasty. Good for a holiday dinner or any dinner. It serves 6-8 and can be the main dish in place of turkey .The complete recipe and directions can be found

https://dreenaburton.com/vegan-holiday-main-torte/

The only changes I made is I used a combo of walnuts and cashews instead of the pumpkin seeds in the batter and on the top I used sunflower seeds instead of the pumpkin seeds.

 

Here are the Ingredients--but go to the link for details:

1 & 1/2 cup diced apple smallish chunks (I peeled mine)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup dry white wine or water (me water)

1 & 1/2 cups diced onion

2 large cloves garlic roughly chopped

2 &1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning (she has a note if you don't have this)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt for saute

freshly ground black pepper

2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas, rinsed and drained

3 & 1/2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce, plus 1-2 tablespoons for topping

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (optional--I forgot!)

1 tablespoon tahini

1/2 tsp rounded salt (for puree)

2 &1/2 cups cooked brown rice

3/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds plus 2 tbsp for topping ( I  used a mix of cashews and walnuts and then sunflower seeds for topping)

1 cup rolled oats

2-3 tablespoons dried cranberries for topping (optional, but really adds flavor --I didn't put enough so added when serving.

Note: She used a 16 cup food processor which I don't have so I had to do mine in batches.  Here is the link to her vegan golden gravy: https://dreenaburton.com/easy-vegan-gravy/

Oat wraps

Easy1 cup oats1 cup water1 tablespoon poultry seasoning or Italian seasoning or whatever desiredFresh herbs 
Directions Blend all in blender and put into nonstick pan medium heat. Cook one side then flip like pancakes cooking other side.
Makes2 good sized wraps 

Chocolate nice cream tart

This was so tasty. Next time I will have to add more peanut butter to the crust, as it fell apart a bit. We just sprinkled it on the top of our servings.

Crust: 

Preheat oven 375

Grease a tart pan that has a removable bottom or a springform pan- 9”

1 cup quick oats

1/3 cup peanut butter( I used chunky) — needs more

1/3 cup all purpose flour ( I used King Arthur gf measure for measure)

A tablespoon or so of water

Stir well and add just enough water to form into a ball, then press into greased pan bake 13-15 minutes till browning. Place in freezer.

Nice cream:

5 frozen ripe bananas 

1/2 cup cocoa powder 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

1-2 tablespoons left over decaf coffee (optional)

Soy milk or whatever milk desired- enough to blend 

Place nice cream ingredients in a food processor and fully blend. Spread over the pie crust and place back in freezer.

Topping:

1/3 cup soy milk (or milk of your choice)

1/3 cup dairy free chocolate chips

Place milk in small sauce pan and heat until simmering. Remove from heat and stir in chips— stir until melted. Let cool a few minutes. Spread over the nice cream by carefully dropping in spoonfuls and lightly spreading.

Optional— sprinkle coconut flakes on top if desired.

Place back in freezer for 4 hours.

When serving bring out about 20 minutes before serving so it has a chance to soften a bit. Place back in freezer if you have leftovers.

 

Macaroni and cheese sauce vegan

 I think this may be my favorite vegan cheese sauce so far. The recipe is found here: https://elavegan.com/wprm_print/2209

I like more lemon in it- sometimes use 2 tablespoons depending on taste. The taste changes depending on how big the potato is.

Shredded potato cups vegan

Fantastic. Note: squeeze them into shape after removing from muffin tins. This recipe only made 9 for me. I found the recipe here: https://healthydiet4ever.com/vegan-hash-brown-cups/

I used fresh thyme at the end. I thought you could make a little more filling for these, but they are scrumptious.

Here are the ingredients— go to link for details.

Ingredients 

2 cups shredded potatoes (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup chopped onions 

1/4 cup all purpose flour (me gf King Arthur measure for measure)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup soy milk ( or whatever)

Optional: chopped fresh herbs 

Oven 375

Go here https://healthydiet4ever.com/vegan-hash-brown-cups/

 

Lentil mushroom stew

 This is a hearty tasty stew. We served ours with polenta. I chopped our mushrooms finely as my hubby doesn’t like chunks of them 🤣.

Makes about 6 servings. 

1 sweet onion chopped 

1 cup chopped carrots 

1 cup chopped celery 

8 ounces mushrooms chopped 

3-6 chopped garlic cloves

2 teaspoons dried thyme 

1 teaspoon dried oregano 

1/2 teaspoon dried sage 

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 

2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

1 pound potatoes chopped 

1 cup split red lentils ( I actually used the combo pictured above)

1 14 ounce can tomato sauce or marinara 

3 cups vegetable broth 

2 bay leaves 

Salt

Black pepper 

DIRECTIONS 

Place a bit of water in large pot.

Add onion, carrots, and celery with a bit of salt and pepper. Cook about 8 minutes.

Add mushrooms, garlic, thyme, oregano, sage.

Cook 3-4 minutes.

Stir in balsamic vinegar and soy sauce.

Add potatoes, rinsed lentils, tomato sauce, broth, and bay leaves. 

Simmer 30-40 minutes until potatoes are tender and lentils are done.

You can serve with rice, Or mashed potatoes, or mashed cauliflower, or polenta, or grits — whatever.

Fall salad

 I want to remember this combo. Romaine lettuce, red cabbage, slivered almonds, hemp hearts, red grapes , raisins and an Asian ginger soy dressing from Mcdougall’s recipe app.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/recipes/asian-ginger-sauce/.    I omitted the corn starch and the red pepper flakes and the mirin. I used a tiny bit of honey for my sweetness instead of what they used.

3/4 Cup  Water 

1/2 Cup  Low sodium soy sauce 

1/4 Cup  Rice vinegar 

1 Tbsp  Mirin —I omit

1 Tbsp  Agave nectar (honey)

1 Tsp  Garlic, crushed 

1 Tsp  Ginger, grated 

2 Tbsp  Cornstarch omit

Another salad we like is kale massaged with avocado and lemon— adding apples, raisins, purple onions, sunflower seeds a bit of red bell pepper and the above dressing. We sometimes top with fresh broccoli sprouts.

Another one is kale massaged with avocado, walnuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, pomegranates. Soy ginger dressing,

Strawberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pomegranate ,grapes and kale massaged with avocado is also good!