More GF / Vegan Goodies

Granola -Take Two
I've been reading a lot of granola recipes trying to come up with the perfect healthy granola. Sorry to those who received my first batch. This one was much better!
Preheat oven to 320 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a big bowl mix the wet ingredients:
3/4 c pumpkin purée
2 TBS apple sauce
1/2 c date sugar
1 TBS vanilla
2 tsp. pumpkin spice
Then add dry ingredients:
3 c GF oats
1 c pistachios
1 c walnuts
Mix well and spread on baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes stirring once.
Add 1-2 c of dried fruit, I uses raisins and cranberries. Bake for another 5-10 minutes. Let cool and put in an air tight container!

Brownie Bites

I made these wonderful no bake brownies - to me, they seemed more like truffles.  They do call for honey, but you can use brown rice syrup instead to make them vegan.  My omnivore friends  loved these as much as I did!  Super easy to make.

http://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/stories/gluten-free-no-bake-brownie-balls

What I Made on Sunday

 Gluten Free / Vegan Chocolate Covered Pretzels

1 bag of GF / VG chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli )
1 TBS Earth's Balance VG Margarine
1 bag of your favorite gluten free pretzels - I used sticks (easier to dip) from Whole Foods
And, you can use any toppings, for some I used unsweetened coconut flakes, you could also use crushed peppermint sticks, sprinkles, chocolate shavings etc

First line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Put any toppings you may want on a plate, to roll the pretzels in once they have chocolate on them.

I did not have a double boiler, so I put a glass bowl over a pan with about an inch of water in it, once the water started boiling, I put the Earth's Balance and chocolate chips in the glass bowl.   You must keep stirring the chocolate the whole time!  

Start dipping your pretzels in the chocolate and rolling them in the toppings.  Lay flat on parchment paper.  Once you have made all the pretzels you want, put the baking sheets in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

Gluten Free / Vegan / No Oil Granola
The great thing about granola is that you can make it with whatever ingredients you feel like.  Try different  nuts, seeds, dried fruit, sprinkle in some chocolate chips or coconut or both.  This recipe used what I had on hand.  Have a medium bowl and a large bowl ready, pre-heat oven to 320 degrees.

In medium bowl:
Wet Ingredients
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c brown rice syrup
1/2 c date sugar

In large bowl mix together:
Dry Ingredients
6 c GF oats
1c walnuts
1c pistachios
1c pumpkin seeds
1c dried cranberries

Pour wet ingredients in with the dry, mix until thoroughly coated, then transfer onto two baking sheets covered in parchment paper.  Bake at 320 for 10 minutes, stir the granola, then another 10 minutes.  I baked mine for an extra 5 minutes which made it extra crunchy. This makes a LOT of granola - get ready to share.

Dinner - Mary McDougall's Black Bean Chili
I have posted about this before, so I will spare you the details, but Chad and I both LOVE this recipe.  Super easy, after making the above two recipes I was ready to get out of the kitchen.  It is spicy, so only one girl liked it. We do not use yams, I added white potatoes this time, but will leave them out all together next time.  Scroll down the newsletter to find the recipe for Black Bean Chili

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2011nl/sep/recipes.htm

New Cookbook!

I just received Everyday Happy Herbivore in the mail.  If you are looking for a new vegan cookbook, go order this one right now!  I usually only find a couple of good recipes per cookbook.  Just perusing this cookbook last day, I have not seen one recipe that I do NOT want to try.  I am so inspired, and so excited to get cooking.  So, next week's menu is all based on Everyday Happy Herbivore.
My dinners:
Cajun Chickpea Cakes page 188
Sweet and Sour Tempeh page 145
We will not be eating at home most of the week. 
But this weekend, I am also going to make these treats:

Oatmeal Chews page 253

And, from Mother Nature Network, no bake brownie balls:
http://www.mnn.com/food/recipes/stories/gluten-free-no-bake-brownie-balls

Best meal I have ever made myself!

Well, not sure if my family agreed, but I loved every bite.  And, unfortunately the final meal's photos were somehow deleted from my iphone.  My best creation ever - all proof GONE.  I do not understand how things disappear from my phone, my computer and my saved blog file.  But I do have one lonely photo of the tofu before it went into the oven!

 

On to the meal:
Spicy Orange Greens
This recipe is from a new cookbook Everyday Happy Herbivore.  And the recipe is found in a downloadable pdf with several of her recipes.  Here is the link:
http://www.forksoverknives.com/sample-recipes-from-everyday-happy-herbivore/

I will not write out the recipe, because I really want you to check out the pdf, it has several great recipes.  For my spicy greens, I could not find an orange marmalade without corn syrup, so I used apricot preserves.  For my greens, I used kale.  This recipe was AMAZING.  I wish I still had my beautiful picture.


Orange Beets
I bought the prepackaged, already cooked beets from Trader Joes.  Yes, I would prefer to buy them from the Farmers Market, but sometimes I use short cuts.  I emptied the beets in a dish and poured a little balsamic vinegar and orange over them.  No precise measure, just enough to give flavor.  I served these cold. 

Tofu
My description of this tofu is simply - AWESOME.  I sliced the tofu (extra firm) and pressed the water out.  (This is key to the final tofu not being soggy)  I wrap mine in a dish towel and put a heavy dish on top while I prepare the marinade and crust.  Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Marinade:
2TBS Tahini
2 TBS Water
1 tsp GF Tamari
whisk these together, and spread on the top and bottom of the tofu (I put little slits in my tofu, so the marinade will soak through the middle).  Do not use all marinade, save half for later.
Put tofu on baking dish and roast at 350 for 12 minutes.
Crust:
In my Vitamix, I combined
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup walnuts (You can use any nuts that you like, I try to incorporate walnuts for the Omega 3)
2 tsp cornmeal (makes this recipe gluten free!)
1/4 tsp cumin
2 TBS cilantro
turn vitamix on low - medium for a few minutes
Take tofu out of the oven, put more marinade on, and pour the crust on top (I did not use all of the crust). Place back in the oven for 10 more minutes.  I broiled mine at the end to make the tofu a little more brown, but watch it carefully. 

Omnivore hint - I saved some of the marinade and crust for Chad to use on his grilled chicken!  He loved the kale as well.  He is not a beet fan.  The girls enjoyed the kale, tofu and chicken.  Not the beets.  Which just meant more beets for me.

Picky Eaters

Yesterday was another food challenging day with Ry.  She simply doesnt know what she wants to eat.  After offering her several choices of food she previously enjoyed, I threw one last option out.  Ry, would you like to make your own pizza??  YES, she exclaimed!  This was a lazy Sunday, when we had the time for this option.  So, I pulled the Udi's frozen, gluten free pizza crust out of the freezer, along with 2 flavors of Daiya gluten free, vegan cheese, and Trader Joes' marinara sauce.  I gave Ry a spoon and told her to have fun.

She did a great job and enjoyed every bite of her lunch!

Dinner tonight

Colleen's chick pea burgers:
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/10/colleens-chickpea-burgers-with-tahini-sauce.html
So incredibly easy - I actually made the patties yesterday and put them in the frig last night.  I cooked them in a pan for dinner tonight.

Sides:

1. Served the burgers with Trader Joe vegan sour cream
2. Trader Joe frozen fajita peppers and onions - stir fried with a little low sodium veggie broth
3. Spinach, cucumber, and hemp seed salad with a no fat raspberry vinaigrette
4. Sliced new potatoes, with a little olive oil spray and sea salt - baked at 400 for about 15 minutes, then roasted them  - I did have to keep an eye on these

All I have to say is that EVERYONE LOVED their dinner tonight.  

Thanksgiving 2011!

Oh the holidays!  How does one eat a gluten free, whole foods, plant based diet during the holidays?

Thanks to a friend, Laura, who came up with this adorable idea, this is the turkey I brought:

Yes, and a plug for my favorite movie: Forks over Knives

I also brought gluten free, vegan yeast rolls from Sally's Bakery.  I was very skeptical that yeast rolls would turn out alright, but these were AMAZING.  Soft rolls that did not have the gluten free feel or taste.  Thank you Sally's Bakery!  None GF people enjoyed them as well.  sallysbakery.com

On to the sides I brought:

Citrus Salad

I put these ingredients on the platter:

spinach

beets

asparagus

mandarin slices

walnuts

And, I made a salad dressing from Forks Over Knives Companion Book page 116

1 cup of orange juice

1/2 cup frozen raspberries, thawed

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in blender and voila!

I put mine in that cute pitcher you see and have it in my refrigerator all week - I use it on everything!

 

Maple Glazed Brussel Sprouts

This recipe is also from Forks over Knives Companion Book page 165.  The recipe was created by Chef AJ Unprocessed.  She is another great resource, check out her website: http://www.thinnervention.info/

 

Ingredients:

Brussel Sprouts, I used two Trader Joe bags

1/4 cup finely minced shallots

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 tablespoon tamari

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

Diced red bell pepper

chopped walnuts

After cutting the stems off and slicing them in half, I steamed my brussel sprouts or you can boil them for about 2 minutes.

In a large sauce pan, saute the shallots in a small amount of water or veggie broth for about 2 minutes, then add brussel sprouts, saute for a few more minutes.

Dressing - whisk maple syrup, dijon mustard, tamari and arrowroot powder in a small bowl.  Pour mixture over brussel sprouts and shallots, cook for about 2 minutes, until sauce thickens.  Add peppers and nuts and serve.

This may be one of my all time favorites.  I even ate it cold the next day.  Delicious!

Dessert - Pumpkin Bites by fatfreevegan.com

Wow!  These turned out great.  I added vegan / GF chocolate chips to the recipe. You can find the recipe:
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/11/pumpkin-pie-bites.html

I ate these for breakfast the next day :)

So, I was completely satisfied on Thanksgiving, I did over eat, but I over ate and stayed with in my diet integrity.  All healthy food!

Check out Forks Over Knives - the documentary is a must see, the companion book as tons of great recipes, and the website is a great resource.

Mexican Pie

 

Are you looking for a super easy, delicious meal?  I have one that passed all four taste test - mine, omnivore Chad, picky Ry, and veggin lovin S.  I found this recipe in the companion Forks Over Knives Book - The recipe is actually by Karen Campbell, of the The Campbell Family - The China Study.  The recipe is called Polenta with Rice and Beans, it is found on page 143.   I made modifications and will share how I prepared it.

(my family calls it mexican pie!)

Ingredients (I found all ingredients at Trader Joes):

One tube of organic polenta

1/2 cup of low sodium, no fat veggie broth

1 can of Trader Joes' fire roasted tomatoes

1 cup of Trader Joes' frozen organic brown rice

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 can organic black beans drained

1/2 cup fat free, low sodium salsa (I used TJ's green salsa)

• I evenly, yet thinly sliced the polenta and laid the rounds flat in a pie dish.  You want to create an even layer of polenta to serve as the crust.  So, I used my fingers and mashed the polenta together.  Very fun!
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large sauce pan, I combined all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the salsa and black beans.  I stirred and let this simmer until the rice was fully thawed.  The recipe says to let all of this cook for about 45 minutes until the liquid is gone.  I did not have time for that, so  I added the black beans, let it cook for awhile longer, then drained the liquid.  
• I poured the rice and black bean mixture over the polenta, then layered the salsa on top.
• Stick the whole pie in the oven for 30 minutes.
• 
  After it cools a few minutes slice, and top with avocado or vegan sour cream.

There are many variations to this dish, dont be afraid to add your favorite veggies, more spices and try out different salsas.

This pie made enough for one dinner for the four of us, S's lunch the next day and my lunch the next two days.  (S and I even ate it cold!)