Orange Creme Protein Smoothie (GF, Vegan, Soy free)

This is a real simple smoothie and it doesn’t use nut milk. I’ve been reading up on the effects of carrageenan in our food. Just a quick explanation; it’s used to make creamy things hold together & not separate… dairy & nondairy alike, unfortunately. There are several almond and coconut milks that use it. If you want to read more about carrageenan here is an article on it.

<a title="Carrageenan Article" href="http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/carrageenan-natural-ingredient-you-should-ban-your-diet?">Carrageenan Article</a>

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So, l have a renewed focus on making my own nut milk (and not just being lazy). I didn’t have any made today, but happened to have some coconut water in the fridge. Coconut water is great for you, some people aren’t crazy about the taste though. Why not use it to make a nice creamy smoothie? Hydrating and gives you protein plus orange cream is a great flavor. Fabulous for a lighter breakfast or a post workout drink.

<a href="https://limitlesslifeladies.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/orange-creme.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-358" src="http://limitlesslifeladies.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/orange-creme.jpg?w=652" alt="Vegan Orange Creme Coconut Water Protein Smoothie" width="652" height="790" /></a>
<strong><em>Makes about 30 oz</em></strong>

<strong>8 oz coconut water</strong>
<strong> ½ banana</strong>
<strong> 1 orange, peeled</strong>
<strong> 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Vega’s <a title="Viva Vanilla" href="http://www.naturalhealthyconcepts.com/protein-smoothie-viva-vanilla-V12-p-vega.html">Viva Vanilla</a>, love that stuff!!)</strong>
<strong> ½ TBS Maca powder (<em>optional</em>)</strong>
<strong> 8 ice cubes</strong>

Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth. My personal recommendation is: start with the coconut water and end with the ice cubes, it’ll make things blend better.

Much love!!

Italian Quinoa Sprouted Lentil Balls (GF, Nut Free, Soy Free, Vegan)

I'm excited to share this recipe for a couple of reasons. First off, it's fabulous. Secondly, I don't often see burgers, patties, balls or any of the like using fresh sprouted lentils, and I have looked! So I took the Italian Lentil Sliders from The Tolerant Vegan and made them gluten free as well as put my own twists on it. I didn't want sliders. They look cool, but dealing with GF buns just isn't my thing. But I think making this as an "Italian meatball sub" would be pretty cool. But, I really wanted to have these meatball style over noodles. I spiralized some zucchini (made it into noodles) and then boiled it for about 3 minutes and strained. My parents are in love with spaghetti squash, and will make these again and put them over spaghetti squash for sure. Of course, regular pasta is lovely too.
These balls hold together well so long as you make sure to pack them when you make the ball before they bake. Also, if you don't feel like going through all the hassle of making the sauce to go with it, just use your favorite marinara sauce. Simple as that!
When I made these, I sprinkled some homemade raw parmesan over the top of it, and it was an amazing addition. For my fiance (non-vegan) I put some mozzarella over it and let it melt as well as the raw parmesan. I would maybe sprinkle some daiya over it for myself next time, didn't have any on hand, but it certainly wasn't lacking because of it.

right before the balls hit the oven

sauce after being processed

spiralized zucchini

Makes 15 balls


Quinoa Lentil Ball Ingredients:
1/3 of a red onion
3 garlic cloves
1 1/3 C cooked quinoa
2/3 C sprouted lentils (fresh/raw)
1/4 C gluten free oats
1/2 TBS ground flaxseed (flax meal)
1/4 C + 2 TBS oat bran
2 TBS coconut aminos (or braggs/tamari/soy sauce)
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 c buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp real salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp yellow mustard powder
2 tsp molasses


Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 TBS grapeseed or coconut oil (or other cooking oil of choice)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
3 celery ribs, finely chopped
3 springs (fresh) Italian parsley (can use regular parsley), finely chopped
3 clove garlics, minced
1/2 TBS coconut aminos (or preferred soy sauce)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted tomatoes)
1 TBS capers (can omit if you don't have any on hand)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp italian seasoning
1 TBS sundried tomato
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 TBS nutritional yeast (optional)
 

QL Balls... In a food processor with an S blade, put in the onion & garlic, pulse until it's chopped small. Scrape down the sides and add all of the other ingredients to the food processor bowl. Pulse until combined. I did about 20, 1/2 second pulses *Make sure to pulse it because you don't want it to become a puree which will happen if you just turn it on.

**If you don't have a food processor, or it's a small one, don't fret! This is really easy to just finely chop the onion & garlic, then put it into a medium-large bowl and add the other ingredients and stir together. It won't combine quite as well, but still will turn out just lovely. I promise.   I'm kinda lazy and if I am going to be using my food processor for one thing in the meal I will use it as much as I can to save me time.

Heat your oven to 300 degrees F.
On a baking sheet, lay out parchment paper (if you don't have any, you can grease up some foil).
I used a 2 TBS Cookie Scoop packed tightly. Then put them out on the baking sheet.
Cook for 12 min, pull out, flip all the balls over and return to oven for an additional 15 minutes.

Sauce... put the onions & shallots in a medium size pot with oil. Saute for about 5 min on medium heat. While onion mix is cooking, throw the celery, carrot & parsley in the food processor and process to a fine chop. Add to onion mixture, mix, cover and let cook for 5 min
Now add the rest of the ingredients and bring to simmer. Cover and let simmer for 10 min. Remove from heat and let it cool off for about 2 min. Pour back into food processor (or blender) and blend for about 30 seconds. Then return to pot.
Once you are ready to eat, heat sauce on low heat. Prepare preferred pasta. I spiralized zucchini and blanched it. Another great option would be spaghetti squash, or of course regular pasta. When you drain your pasta from the water, go ahead and bring the sauce to a simmer put the balls that you will be using for the meal into the sauce for 2 min. 

Tomato, Basil & Millet Salad with Pesto Dressing (GF, Vegan)

Pesto is great with every vegetable and or grain, I swear! I have been doing a no grains diet lately and figured that I hadn't explored millet quite enough. I have made it a handful of times, but it has been a while. So, this dish was created. If you are worried about using millet, you could easily sub it for quinoa or quinoa (or couscous if you don't avoid gluten), you will just need to adjust the amount of vegetable broth you use (for quinoa or brown rice, use 2 cups vegetable broth instead of 3).

Tomato, Basil & Millet Salad with Pesto Dressing

• 1 cup uncooked millet, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
• 3 tablespoons thinly sliced basil
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• Pesto dressing (recipe below)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 
  
• Directions
• Toast millet in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and carefully add broth. Return to heat and bring to a boil over medium high heat then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered until liquid is absorbed and millet is tender, 20-25 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Transfer millet to a large bowl, fluff with a fork and set aside to let cool. 
  
  Add cannellini beans, green onions, tomato, spinach and basil to large bowl, toss gently and set aside.
• Make pesto dressing then add millet to bean tomato mixture and toss to coat.  In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, then pour dressing over millet mixture and toss to coat. 

When serving, top with a dollop of pesto. Salad tastes better once the flavors have had a chance to mix, so let it sit for 30 min before eating it if you can.

Pesto Dressing
3 tablespoons your favorite basil pesto (mine is vegan, nut free Pumpkin Seed Pesto)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
salt, to taste

Sweet Potato Pie With Spiced Oat Pecan Crust (GF, Vegan)

This is a great Gluten Free, Vegan Sweet Potato Pie. I wanted to make one from scratch, so I cooked the potatoes myself rather than using the canned stuff. But I put the instructions for using the canned stuff in as well.

the crust

before the oven, I thought it would be cute if I made a heart in it with my fork

tastes great!!!

Makes 1 pie

Crust
1 cup oats, ground (or oat flour)
3 TBS brown sugar, packed (or coconut sugar)
1/4 cup pecans, ground
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 TBS coconut oil mixed with 1 TBS water

Filling
1 1/2 cup cooked sweet potato
2 TBS flaxseed, ground
1/3 cup brown sugar, (or coconut sugar)
3 TBS pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of cloves
3/4 cup coconut milk (from the can)

Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate and heat oven to 425° F.
Grind oats & pecans then combine with, brown sugar and cinnamon. Work oil mixture in until well blended, I just used my hands to blend it. Pat into the prepared pie plate. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until browned around the edges. Then remove.

I cooked my sweet potatoes before hand (like a baked potato) then peeled off the skins and measured out 1 1/2 cups worth. You can also just get the sweet potato puree from the store. I ground my flaxseed in my high power blender alone, then added in the rest of the ingredients & blended until smooth. You can also use flax meal instead of grinding them yourself.

Pour in the filling to the prebaked crust, then bake your pie. Bake on the lower rack at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until filling has set.