The Veggie Gal

In preparation for my post of sweet oatmeal crepes I am posting this Berry Sauce.  I use this sauce all the time in many things and since it is not exclusive to the crepes I thought it should have its own posting.

I have had many people ask how I make this wonderful sauce and once they hear how super simple it is they are excited to go home and make it for themselves.  All you need is berries of your choosing (fresh or frozen work equally), sweetener of your choice and a splash or two of water.  Then you can pour this scrumptious liquid over anything you can think of.  I have used it for my raw cheesecake, rice pudding, oatmeal waffles or pancakes, cakes, muffins, on sweet socca and mixed with frozen bananas for a yummy vegan ice cream that is actually healthy.

If you want to make it thick use less liquid or add in some chia seeds as you blend and it will thicken right up, plus you get the added benefits of more fiber and healthy omega’s.

Berry Sauce

Fresh or frozen berries of your choice
Sweetener of your choice (I like stevia or agave nectar the best-or a combo of both) date paste works well too but does give it a date taste
water
chia seeds (optional if you want to thicken it)

Put desired amount of berries and sweetener into a blender and mix, adding water slowly to desired consistency.  Pour over something delicious and ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: berry sauce, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Vegan, vegan berry sauce, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

This Cucumber Cashew Ranch post is for my MIL (Hi J!), she enjoyed this dip that I served at my daughter’s graduation party.  She was excited to hear it was cholesterol free and only had good fats (the kind your body knows what to do with) in it so it is ultimately guilt free.

When I was a vegetarian Ranch was one of my must haves and something I used a couple of times a week.  When I went vegan I tried some of the tofu or “sour cream” ranches but they just did not hit the spot so I quite even trying.   I then started to play with cashews as our dairy source and triple SCORE!  I now make almost everything creamy that I used to love from dairy for out of them (Ranch, sour cream, ice cream, mac & cheeze, whipped cream and more…).  I can even get my kids to eat some of the raw veggies that they normally would not touch by dipping them into this creamy and delicious dip.

This recipe is not exact as everyone has a little bit different taste preferences and honestly I make it slightly different each time so I will just give you the ingredients, approximate amounts to use and you adjust it to your taste.  I have made a chipotle ranch out of this as well by just adding chipotle spices and it is a totally different dressing/dip.  Get creative and you could have many different recipes from this one base.

I used this dip to try the Gardein Buffalo Wings (pictured below) which unfortunately I do NOT recommend.  First of all the wings have to be fried in a lot more oil than it says for them not to stick which is just not healthy.  They never really crisp up like the Gardein Crispy Tenders (which I think would work much better with your own homemade hot sauce).  They are soft, slimy and the hot sauce is just hot and not tasty, BLAH.

**If you do not have a vita-mix I highly recommend you soak the cashews overnight to soften completely.**  If you do have a vita-mix or other high powered blender then I still recommend soaking for a couple of hours to get more nutrients from them, make them easier to digest and to soften them so it will be very smooth and creamy.

Cucumber Cashew Ranch

1 cup soaked raw cashews (NOT roasted or salted!)
1/2 cucumber, add more to taste and texture consistency
Enough clean water to just barely cover the cashews once placed in the blender or food processor
1 teaspoon (or more) garlic powder
1 teaspoon (or more) onion powder
1 teaspoon (or more) dried parsley
1 teaspoon (or more) chives
1/2 teaspoon (or more) dill weed
1/2 teaspoon(or more) lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon (or more) sea salt
pepper to taste

Make sure you soak your nuts, rinse completely and pour into your high powered blender or food processor.

Add all the rest of the ingredients in the order listed and blend until creamy.  If you are doing this in a food processor stop periodically and scrape the sides down.

Taste and adjust the spices to your liking.  If you need it to be thinner adjust the moisture with either more cucumber or more water.

Pour into a container with a lid and refrigerate until well chilled, although it can be eaten right away if you do not mind it slightly warm.

Once it is chilled serve on a salad, as a veggie dip,or  with your favorite vegan chicken wings and ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: Cashew Ranch, Cucumber Cashew Ranch, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick vegan, Vegan, Vegan Ranch, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

Trying to embrace the vegan food lifestyle my husband finds the most amazing recipes.  He found this wonderfully scrumptious recipe from the Herbivoracious blog.  He calls them “Vegetarian Frijoles Charros – Mexican Cowboy Beans with Smoked Onion” but since they are so freakin tasty in our house we call them AMAZING~Smoked Vegan Beans.

Call them what you want but make them and enjoy an amazing, savory and creamy dish that you can serve with just about a ton of things.  We have put them in fajitas, served on the side of veggie dogs, or simply with a salad and corn bread but the possibilities are vast.  We are going camping this weekend so we will precook our beans in the pressure cooker to bring along and the rest throws together really quickly.

These can be made low fat by replacing the oil with a quick spray of cooking oil.  We have made them without the chilies and with and both ways are amazing but we did not use the type of chilies he used so I can’t say how his are exactly. Obviously without the chilies this recipe is a little more kid friendly if your kids are sensitive to heat.  We also did not use the type of onion he suggests and I add a little more garlic because I love it.  Another change we made is how we smoked our onions so make sure to look at his recipe to choose which way you would prefer to smoke your onions.

Here is how we put his recipe together but the credit is ALL his, just marvelous!

AMAZING~Smoked Vegan Beans
Serves: 4+

1 handful smoking wood chips
1 large onion, chopped (depending on how you grill them you may need larger pieces then cut them down after you cook-ours fell through the grill plate we had)
2 whole dried chilies of your choice
Cooking spray (he used 3 T oil-your choice)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Salt to taste (the tomato paste and crushed tomato have a lot of salt in them so start with less and adjust up it can be too salty-our first batch was)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup canned crushed tomato
4 cups unsalted home-cooked pinto beans, and 1-2 cups of their cooking liquid

Prepare your home-cooked pinto beans the way you prefer.  We cook our in a pressure cooker for 26 minutes and they turn out perfect.  Make sure to keep all the cooking liquid.

Bring your grill to approximately 600° then put a handful smoking wood chips inside of some tinfoil, fold it securely, poke some holes into it and place onto your hot coals.

Slice up your garlic and set it aside until you need it. Chop your onions and place onto a grill plate with holes for the smoke to get through and place onto your hot, smoking grill and grill with the lid closed for 7-10 minutes.  Check at 7 minutes to be sure they do not burn, the end ones might burn a little but that is ok.

Cook your peppers for a minute or two on each side in a hot pan to soften them up a bit.  Pull them out of the pan and chop into small bite size pieces then put them back into the pan with a little cooking spray (or oil) and add the smoked onions, garlic and a teaspoon of salt and cook until it all softens up, maybe 2-3 minutes.

Add the beans, one cup of the bean liquid and the crushed tomatoes, bring it up to a simmer then reduce the heat and cook them for another 15 minutes.  Taste to see if you need to add more salt or more bean liquid to your desired consistency then serve and ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: Beans, Cowboy Beans, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick vegan, Smoked Vegan Beans, vegan camping, vegan recipe, Vegetarian, vegetarian beans

I bought a cantaloupe that was not ready when I was in the mood for it so it sat on my counter for a few days and then a few more because by then I was feeling a bit lazy about cutting it up. Then finally, I woke up to the smell of very ripe cantaloupe so I knew I could not put it off anymore. Well, I waited too long and it was a bit too ripe and a little too soft but was not bad by any means. Hmmm what to do with it? Cantaloupe Smoothie!!

I cut it up, froze half of it (for future use) and used the other half to make us some very refreshing Cantaloupe Smoothies. I was not sure if the over ripe taste would make it taste bad but mixed with other fruit and almond milk it was pretty darn tasty! Plus, I love smoothies because you get so much in one cup that you just would never really be able to eat in one sitting so this adds to my growing smoothie list.

This is not an exact recipe because I just made it taste and texture so you can do the same. It is in the order of amount from most to least.

Cantaloupe Smoothie

Ripe cantaloupe
Almond milk
Banana (I used some left over frozen bananas but fresh works great too)
Frozen pineapple
Frozen mango

Put into a great blender (I use my vita-mix for a perfect blend) and blend until very smooth, pour into a dazzling glass and ENJOY! Quick and Easy

Back to Top

Tags: Breakfast, Cantaloupe Smoothie, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, smoothie, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

These Peppermint Chocolate Truffles are a great party appetizer.  Because they are covered in candy canes most people won’t realize that underneath that these babies are healthy goodness.  If you really want to make them pure healthy goodness and completely raw just omit the candy cane and add peppermint flavoring instead.

My little ones think these are the best Christmas treat around.  I guess I tend to agree since I grab a couple every time I walk past the plate.

You can really change up the nuts you use by your own taste preference or what you might have one hand.  This is a make by taste recipe so you just throw in the amount that looks good to you and taste as you go.  I used cashews because they have the most subtle taste and make for a creamy texture.  For the chocolate flavor you could add bakers chocolate, regular dairy free chocolate chips or regular cocoa powder instead of the cacao powder that I am suggesting.

For those who may not know, cacao powder is a super food and is the raw and unprocessed powder straight from the cacao bean where all chocolate comes from.  It is loaded with antioxidants and is super duper good for you!

Peppermint Chocolate Truffles

Makes: as many as you want

Nut of your choice (I used cashews)
Dates (if pretty dry soak for an hour or more and drain off the water or save the water for a smoothie later)
Cacao powder (or chocolate form of your choice-see above)
Agave nectar as needed (it is pretty sweet without it and you can use the soak water to add moisture if needed)
Candy canes, crushed (or peppermint flavoring)

Use a half nuts and half dates ratio (approx).  Place the dates, nuts, cacao powder and agave necatar (if using) into a high powered blender or food processor (I use a Vita-Mix) and blend until very smooth.  Taste as you go to adjust the flavor.

Place candy canes on a paper towel and cover with another paper towel and hit with a hammer to crush.  Remove the plastic and pour onto a large plate.

Roll the nut/date mixture into small bite size balls and then roll in the crushed candy canes and continue until you have gone through it all.  They will be sticky so it is best to place them on a cookie sheet and let sit out for an hour or so so they dry out a bit or you can just eat them right away.  ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: Christmas appetizers, Gluten Free, Peppermint Chocolate Truffles, Raw Truffles, Vegan appetizers, vegan recipe, Vegan Truffles, Vegetarian

I hate going to the regular store and reading the ingredients listed on the back of pickles which always has things I would prefer not feed my family.  Things like; FD&C yellow dye no. 5, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, Polysorbate 80 (what the heck is that!?) and natural flavors (which could mean anything!).  Then if you want to buy pickles without all of that junk at a natural store you are going to pay twice or three times as much as you would for the regular kind, UGH.

This time of year is the time most people harvest all their garden goodies and then share with the friend and family what they can’t eat alone.  I love sharing but why not stockpile what you have to cut down on your grocery bill, start a long term food storage for when the zombies come or have something to give as Christmas gifts?

In my house pickles of any kind can go quickly since they are so snackable so making our own for the year makes so much more sense and it can cost pennies after the initial investment of the jars.  Yes, it will take a few hours but it is once a year, don’t be lazy!!

I combined the best of many recipes to come up with my own personal one that is made with a more natural sugar (apple juice concentrate) and no dye or any crap so you can feel like you are eating something that won’t cause harm.

Natural Home Canned Bread & Butter Pickles
Makes: 5-6 1/2 pint jars

8 cups cucumbers, sliced
3 medicum white onions, sliced thin
2 bell peppers (I used red, yellow & orange),chopped
1/2 cup canning salt (DON’T use table salt!)
2 cups vinegar
2 cups apple juice concentrate
2 cups water
1 teaspoon mustard seed
2 Tablespoons celery seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Clean your cucumbers and cut off any blemishes then slice thinly.  Mix the cucumbers, onions, green peppers and salt together in a large bowl and let stand for 2-3 hours.

Rinse and drain the cucumber mixture and put back into the bowl.

Boil the 2 cups of water in a large pot and then add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil again. Add the cucumber mixture to the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.

Pack your pickles into freshly sterilized jars leaving about 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe off the rim of the jar with a paper towel and add your prepared metal lids (read lid instructions) and then hand tighten the screw bands down (not too tight).

Once you have packed all the pickles (you may have a bit of liquid left over) cook the jars in your canning pot of boiling water for 5 minutes.  Carefully remove and place on the counter keeping several inches of space between each hot jar until well cooled.

After well cooled check that the lids have sealed down by pressing your finger on the center to ensure it does not pop back up then hand tighten the screw band again.  Refridgerate any jars that did not seal well and use in a timely manner.  Store the sealed jars in a dark cool area for a year or so.  ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: bread & butter pickles, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, homemade condiments, Natural Home Canned Bread & Butter Pickles, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

To expand on my love for Cashew Cream and my experiments with the raw food diet I decided to make a wonderful breakfast parfait last week and YUM.

This recipe works great for kids but you might have to cut back on the nuts a bit and increase the fruit.

Fresh berries work best but I made this on the fly so I used frozen raspberries.  Get creative with what ever fruit you have on hand or like best.  I did the same with the nuts by using what I had on hand.

I did not soak my nuts a head of time as most raw foodists do but if you want to really get the most benefit from the nuts it is best to soak them over night and either eat them freshly rinsed (which will make them a little soft) or dehydrate them back to crispness.  My dedication to raw food eating is not that far yet although I have soaked them before to just eat them and I love them that way.

I will post exactly what I used for my parfait so it can be a starting point for your own ideas, all created around the cashew cream as the base instead of yogurt.

Rawnola Parfait

Desired amount of Cashew Cream
Shredded apple
Handfuls of various nuts
Raw coconut
Chopped dates & raisins
Sliced banana
Raspberries

Place one layer of cashew cream on the bottom of your cup, sprinkle with nuts, coconut, apples and bananas then layer again with cashew cream.  Continue to layer until you have reached the top layer of cashew cream and sprinkle with berries.  ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: Breakfast, Dessert, Gluten Free, Healthy Meal, Quick vegan, Raw breakfast, raw dessert, Rawnola Parfait, Vegan parfait, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

As my time as a blogger has gone by I have learned a few things from looking at other blogs.  Photographs matter!  I am not a professional photographer, artist or writer so I have had to learn how to do those things as I have gone along.  I enjoy cooking healthy meals, sharing them with the world and am now enjoying learning how to take nice photos of what I make. One day I might go and take some photography classes to make them even better but for now I have at least learned about better lighting and will go from there.  I have to say I was a bit embarrassed to have some of the photos from the beginning of my blog on here but realized that it is ok to look backwards, learn from what mistakes you have made then move forward.  With that thought I decided to take some action and reshoot those outdated photos and update them and the recipe if needed.

I have been updating photos here and there for a while but just did 4 in the last week so I decided to make this a post so you all can see how tasty these dishes look.  The old photos might have made some readers just skip that recipe and not give it a second look but maybe these will entice you enough to give them a try.  Our family enjoys them very much and I know many more will too.  Each post of course has more photos but these are one of each.

I LOVE feedback and want to know how things go for you so let me know what you think!

Cheezy Vegetable Lasagna

Twice Baked Potatoes

Granola Yogurt Parfait

Homemade Granola

Back to Top

Tags: Breakfast, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Granola, granola parfait, granola yogurt parfait, Lunch, Quick and easy, Vegan, Vegan Lasagna, vegan recipe, Vegan Twice baked potatoes, Vegetarian

Lately I have been learning more about the RAW food diet and decided for my son’s 3rd birthday I would make a RAW-Vegan Cheesecake. I also made a non raw vegan chocolate cake since chocolate is his FAVORITE thing. He had a piece of both cakes along with some vegan chocolate ice cream. He was spinning around with quite a sugar high after that.

I have to say this is not my own recipe it is the standard one that is all over the Internet and who knows who the originator of it was. I did make my own little adjustments to it so I will just post it exactly as I made it since it turned out AMAZING!

I had a couple of pieces left over so my daughter took them over to her friends house and they all loved it so much they made it for their daughter’s birthday the next week!

As anyone who was researched raw foods knows that raw food recipes can be full of fat because of the nuts and the use of oils. I am usual one to keep the oils to a minimum in my recipes but I did not follow that rule here at all.

This cheesecake is fresh, amazingly tasty and full of fat but some would say it is the “good” fat, you decide that for yourself or just forget about it and enjoy an amazing piece of RAW-Vegan Cheesecake!

I am going to post some of his birthday party pictures below and some of them are blurry but I HAD to share anyway. My camera died after the cheesecake pics so I had to use grandma’s and it would not work well for me (I’m sure user error-duh!).

The official birthday cake was a chocolate cake (the recipe is not posted here-was one I found on vegweb) so everyone had two choices. I hand made the frosting and used a all natural food coloring and it did not turn out the color I wanted. I was supposed to be a red and blue but ended up pink and purple but he did not even notice.

RAW-Vegan Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
Makes 1 pie tin

Crust:
2 cups raw nuts of your choice (I used a combo of pecans, macadamia and cashews)
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1/4 cup shredded, dried coconut

Filling:
3 cups raw cashews (I only had 2 1/2 cups so I used 1/2 cup macadamia and yummy), soaked overnight or a couple hours minimum if you don’t have a vita-mix
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 water
1/4 cup lemon juice (could use lime too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted (set in a warm bowl-do not heat if keeping it really RAW)
Shake or two of sea salt

Raspberry Sauce:
1/2 bag frozen raspberries
4-6 dates to taste
1/4 cup agave or more to taste and thickness desired (supposed to be runny enough to drip over cheesecake)

Start with making the crust first by blending the nuts and dates in a food processor or vita-mix until well broken down and you can squeeze it together between your fingers.  Add the shredded, dried coconut and blend for a second or two more.   Press into a 9 inch pie tin, making sure to press up the sides to the top.  Set aside.

Drain the nuts from the soaking water then blend them along with the agave, water, lemon juice, vanilla, melted coconut oil, and salt until very smooth.  You can adjust the flavor as needed here.

Pour filling into prepared crust, tap on the counter to remove bubbles and smooth the top.

Place into the freezer for a minimum of 3 hours or until very firm or even slightly frozen.  This cheesecake is best taken from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving so it is still cold and firm.  If it is left out too long it has a key lime pie consistency, which some like but I don’t so you decide.

Next make the raspberry sauce by blending the raspberries, dates, and agave together until very smooth.  Chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat the cheesecake.

When ready to serve you can cut it easily with a knife because it is frozen.  Place each piece onto a plate and top with desired amount of raspberry sauce.  ENJOY!

Here are the promised (some blurry) birthday pictures of Jaden’s 3rd birthday.  Again, as mentioned above the chocolate cake is not a recipe I have posted on my blog, it was a quick one I grabbed off vegweb then I made my own homemade icing.  Those pink and purple colors were supposed to be red and blue but the natural food coloring was not working as I hoped and I’m too cheap to use as much as it would have taken to make it the right color.  He did not even notice the wrong color but was excited to eat it and the cheesecake too.  I had some left over vegan chocolate bunnies from Easter so I shredded it onto the cake for it to look even more yummy.

We spent the day at grandma’s house and she has a great backyard pushed up against a golf course so the kids played in the yard.  When they came in they were covered in mosquito bites so it is time to whip up some homemade mosquito repellent ( I will share it) grrr bugs!  Can vegan’s kill bugs with good conscious, hmmm??? I won’t tell

Happy Birthday

Time to blow out the mesmerizing candles (or should I touch them?)

Yuuumm CHOCOLATE!

Kairi has lost her 4 front teeth, plus Jaden running after his cousin

Headed in to sit on the brick wall and talk

Kairi made it but they kids are gone too fast, cute pic of her hanging out

Adorable picture, I wonder what they were talking about?

Back to Top

Tags: Dessert, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Quick vegan, Raw cheesecake, Vegan, vegan cheesecake, vegan recipe, Vegetarian

I know, I know every vegan website (and vegetarian for that matter) has a tofu scramble recipe on it.  So WHY should mine be any different and it is so damn good that if by some small chance you don’t know about it then you can try it for yourself and see how amazing it really is.

I usually try to stick with lower fat things and keep the oil to a bare minimum but using coconut oil on this one makes it the most amazing breakfast (lunch, dinner or snack) dish ever! The nutritional yeast gives it the yellow color (most ppl add turmeric too but I don’t like the taste) but it also adds a bit of cheesy flavor and you can add more cheese flavor with vegan cheese.

I have to stay, when I first went vegetarian more than 26 years ago I tried the boxed kind of tofu scramble and it was so gross I stayed clear of it until just a few months ago.  I did not know much about tofu in those days and never knew you had to press the water out of it or it would be a big mushy pile of goop that would take hours to cook down.  A few years later I figured out the trick of pressing the tofu but never dared go back to scramble since it was so nasty the first time and never liked eggs anyway so I figured it was not a big loss.

A few weeks ago I was in Minneapolis, MN (one of the vegan friendliest cities I have ever been in-more to come on that in later posts) and while dining at a restaurant that had vegan breakfast options I spotted a vegan combo meal.  It had a blueberry corn pancake, hash browns, vegan sausage and tofu scramble.  I figured I would try it out and OH MY G it was good.  I came home a few days later pressed my tofu of all the water and cooked it up in some coconut oil and my family was hooked.  We have now had it once or twice a week since, we will probably get sick of it but we are enjoying ourselves right now.  My 6 year old daughter asks for “scramble” now almost every day.

So if you tried it years ago like I did and hated it, never tried it before or want to revive an old recipe give it a try.  Also, scramble works great in a breakfast burrito or as crepe filling, as a egg salad sandwich sub with veggies and mayo added, inside of a lettuce wrap and probably a million other possibilities just use your imagination.

Cheezy Tofu Scramble
Serves: 4

1 block extra firm, organic tofu, pressed of all the liquid.
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 green onions, thinly slice
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup (or more) nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Daiya or other vegan cheese, salsa or ketchup
Coconut oil, oil of your choice or cooking spray

While your tofu is being pressed of the liquid chop the veggies and cook in 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil on medium heat until soft.

Crumble the tofu into the cooking vegetables and add your spices.

Press down into the pan a bit to brown and then stir, continuing until it is cooked through and the texture you like.  The last minute or so add the green onions and stir.

Serve warm with your favorite topping, ENJOY!

Back to Top

Tags: Breakfast, Cheezy tofu scramble, Easy Vegan, Gluten Free, Healthy Breakfast, Quick vegan, Tofu scramble, Vegan, vegan recipe, Vegetarian