Happy Heart Juice (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Paleo)

Pretty simple and straight to the point from the picture. If you are looking for an interesting & pleasant twist, add 1 green onion to the list of veggies that get juiced. I drink this for breakfast often!

1 Red Bell Pepper
3 Carrots
4 Celery Stocks
1 Cup Spinach
1 Cup Parsley
1/2 Lemon

Juice em all!!

Creamy Oregano Hemp Dressing (alkaline, gf, nut free, raw, vegan, paleo)

I have fresh oregano growing in my pots outside, and there havent been too many good uses for it for me. Seems like most recipes that use fresh oregano include meat. Here is a recipe I've come up with that goes really well over all sorts of salads! I just throw all the ingredients into my blender and blend for about a minute. Pretty simple. Hope you enjoy!

1/4 C hemp seeds
1/3 C water
2 lemons, juiced
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 C fresh oregano
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1/2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

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. 

Vegan Coconut Bacon (Soy-free, GF, Vegan)

So here is my take on the oh so wonderful coconut bacon. There are a decent amount of recipes out there. I used coconut aminos so as to avoid the mass amount of sodium in soy sauce, and to avoid unfermented soy that is Braggs liquid aminos. Personal preference really. But coconut aminos don't have as deep of a salty profile as soy sauce does, so salt gets added to the recipe.
I used 2 different flavors of liquid smoke to give it a bit more depth. I used Colgin brand of liquid smoke, they have both hickory flavor and mesquite flavor, and are vegan. I hear that there are some liquid smokes on the market that aren't vegan.

2 1/2 cups flaked coconut, unsweetened
2 TBS liquid smoke (I used 1 TBS Hickory flavor & 1 TBS Mesquite flavor)
1 1/2 TBS coconut aminos (or braggs or soy sauce)
1 TBS maple syrup
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprkia
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp salt of choice  <--- omit if using soy sauce

In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients, except for coconut.
Combine coconut flakes with wet mixture. Stir the coconut around to get it entirely coated. Let sit and soak in for 30 minutes or more, I did it for about an hour.
Heat the oven to 325 F.
Grease a foil lined baking sheet and pour everything from the bowl onto it. Spread the coconut out in a thin layer. Bake for about 18-20 min, pull out every 5-6 min and mix the coconut then slide together in a pile, then spread back out into a thin layer.  This will prevent burning as well as make sure all of the coconut bacon is equally cooked.
You will see the coconut start to darken considerably on the 3rd time you pull it out, make sure the darker coconut is closer to the center than the edge. Coconut bacon is done when they've all browned a medium amount.
When you take it out of the oven, the coconut will still be somewhat soft/pliable but will quickly harden up as it cools down. Shouldn't take but a few minutes until you can enjoy the crunchy goodness!

Caramel Millet

 After quite some time and many requests, I am finally posting my yummy caramel millet recipe. I'm posting the healthier version, but also the more pricey and a bit more rare ingredients recipe. But, if you go with that I put in parenthesizes, it will turn out just fine and cheaper. Coconut oil acts like vegan butter, and coconut sugar acts like brown sugar in this recipe. So, easily switched. Also, it doesn't have to be puffed millet, it can be puffed rice, puffed kamut, puffed wheat, or even a rice krispie type cereal.

 Caramel Puffed Millet Treats

1/4 c coconut oil (can use vegan butter sub)
1/2 c coconut sugar (can use brown sugar)
1/2 c brown rice syrup
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups puffed millet (or any other puffed 'cereal')

In a small pot over med-low heat add the oil and sugar. Mix well, and add in brown rice syrup. Keep stirring, it will come to a boil, turn heat to low as you are still stirring. Let it boil for 4 min, stirring randomly so it doesn't stick to the bottom or burn.
Cut the heat & mix in the soda. There will be a chemical reaction when it mixes, so it will bubble up and become a lighter brown. Then mix in the vanilla.

In a brownie pan, pour the puffed millet. Follow up with the caramel sauce and mix it all together. Once the caramel has coated the millet, press it into the pan.

**Sometimes I mix other things into it, like nuts, coconut and or dried fruit. I have mixed in chocolate chips a few times as well, but you have to know they won't really stay chips, it will turn into more of chocolate streaks, the caramel melts the chocolate. It goes very well being melted on top though, like chocolate frosting!

 

Virgin Bloody Mary Juice (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

Sorry for no picture, but I liked how this turned out so much that I almost just want to have it documented for myself because I know I will come back to it. This can be drank as juice, or had as a smoothie, or what I did 3/4 juice and 1/4 smoothie mixed together.

Makes 32 oz w/fiber

2-3 tomatoes (I used 2 BIG ones, if you use Roma, will need 3 possibly 4)
1 red bell pepper
2 celery ribs
1 carrot
1/2 zucchini
1/2 lime
1 clove garlic
Large handful of fresh herbs (oregano, basil, cilantro & parsley are what I used, but use what you have all else fails add in some dried herbs)

Salt to taste (I used Real Salt)
1 TBS optional Vegan Worcestershire sauce (nonvegan ones have anchovies in them)
1/2 tsp black pepper
Ice

Juice all ingredients together in first section and add the salt, pepper & vegan Worcestershire sauce after you have juiced it, and pour it over ice.

If you have a juicer, run em all through that. If you are using a high power blender like I do, I used the 'whole juice' mode on my Blendtec. It tastes great just to have it as a smoothie, but removing some of the pulp gives you a stronger taste and it's more like the Bloody Mary feel. So I strained 3/4 of the liquid through my nut milk bag and then added it back to the remaining 1/4, added 4 ice cubes, the salt, pepper & vegan Worcestershire sauce. After that I poured it into a BIG cup that had 4 ice cubes in it. So good, so good!

Kale Salad with Creamy Mango Vinigrette Dessing (GF, Vegan)

I know I am a slacker and never post anything on here lately. I wish I could say it was because I am so busy with work that I just don't have time, but that's not the case. It's basically that I'm lazy and get caught up doing other stuff. At any rate, this mango dressing is soooo amazingly good. I find myself just trying to eat IT! I use it in other salads as well, hopefully I will post another one somewhat soon.

Serves 4 as entree salads

Salad
1.5 cup quinoa, cooked in 3 cups water
4-5 cups kale torn (I also used baby greens mixed in)
1 cup tomato, chopped
1 cup cucumber, quartered and sliced
1 large mango, diced
1 red onion, sliced thin
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (or herb of choice, I've done it with basil & it's great)
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup currants, cranberries or raisins
1/4 cup pepitas (can sub slivered almonds, or cashews)

 Cook quinoa first and allow it to cool down some before putting it with the salad. In a medium-large bowl combine all salad ingredients except quinoa, kale, currants & pepitas.
To serve, place greens on 4 seperate plates (or bowls) top with 1/4 the amount of cooked quinoa. Top with salad ingredients from the med-large bowl, then put desired amout of dressing on top, it is creamy and somewhat thick. Then sprinkle with currants and pepitas. I usually sprinkle on some salt, black pepper & cayenne pepper as well, but it depends who I'm serving it to.

 *If you are making this as a large salad for individuals to dish themselves, put kale in a large serving bowl first, then add the quinoa & ingredients from the bowl, mix. Then add in a little more than half of the dressing and toss, if it seems somewhat dry, add in more, I like mine drenched in the stuff, but some people may not. Sprinkle currants & pepitas on top of the salad.

Creamy Mango Vinigrette 
1 VERY FULL cup mango
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sweetener of choice (I've used maple syrup, coconut sugar, stevia & agave all in different amounts or individually, just needs to be equal to 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 large clove garlic
1/2 inch knob fresh ginger
pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

Mediterranean Chopped Salad (Alkaline, GF, Vegan)

One of my favorite things to order at True Food Kitchen is the Mediterranean Chopped Salad (the other is their GF Kale & Roasted Garlic Pizza, but that recipe is a major work in progress), but I always put my vegan spin on it as well as my "Amber-spin". I've since been making my own version of the salad, and I thought it was time to share! The salad ingredients and portions are pretty flexible, I don't measure any of the stuff out.

Makes 4 entree salads

Lemon-Oregano Vinaigrette
2 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons stoneground mustard
3 little scoops of stevia powder (enough to equal 2 tsp)
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons hemp oil (or use olive oil if you don't have hemp)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Salad Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, cooked in 2 cups water
2 cups baby kale/spinach/chard/arugla (any combo)
2 cups watercress, chopped
1/2 english cucumber, thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup marcona almonds
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1 avocado, cut into small cubes

OPTIONAL:
bee pollen
sprouts
fresh green beans


For the salad dressing, put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, makes it so you can taste the oregano better. You CAN chop up all the ingredients and just whisk them together though, but the blender method tastes better (to me) and makes all of the tastes blend better.

Put all of the salad ingredients together however you see fit, and top with salad dressing as well as some fresh ground black pepper & (sea or Real) salt.

Black Forest Smoothie (GF, Vegan)

Thanks to those brilliant people at Vega, this smoothie is delicious. I used their Choc-o-lot smoothie mix as the protein powder. But you can use whatever kind you have/like. I saw a similar recipe on the thriveforward.com site from Vega. Those people are great! So I thought I would share my version.

Black Forest Smoothie
 Serves 1

1 cup vanilla [I used unsweetened] almond milk (or nondairy milk of choice)
1/2 banana
1 cup frozen cherries
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1/2 tablespoon cacao powder
1 teaspoon maca
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


If you have a high power blender, throw in all of the ingredients and blend. If you don't, blend the banana & cherries with the almond (or whatever milk you choose) milk and after it's blended then add the powdered ingredients and vanilla.

Macaroni and Cheese (GF, Vegan)

The basic recipe I got from VegNews's recipe club, there are a few edits that I put on it to make a couple of taste changes on their already fabulous recipe. I think you could easily use the sauce recipe as a cheeze fondue, or a sauce to go over nachos!! I made this for a potluck with 8 nonvegan friends and they thought it was great. My boyfriend says its the best vegan Mac & Cheese he's had. Dairy-free Mac n Cheese    Makes 6 large dinner servings 4 quarts water 1 tablespoon salt 1 16-ounce package of brown rice macaroni 1/3 cup non-hydrogenated dairy free butter/margarine. (I used Earth Balance Coconut Butter spread) 2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and chopped 1 1/3 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped 1/3 cup carrots, peeled and chopped 1/2 cup onion, peeled and chopped 1 cup water 1/3 cup raw cashews 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped 2 teaspoons salt 2 small garlic cloves 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed 1/2 tablespoon Bragg liquid aminos 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions: In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add brown rice macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft. In a blender, process the rest of the ingredients in the list. Add cooked vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth. Spread pasta into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, pour blended cheese mixture over the top and mix.. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling.

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

GF Ginger Snaps (GF, Vegan)

I really like ginger snaps, but I don't like the hard ones from the store, I like more of the soft ones with the outside that is crisp. So, these are nice and soft and actually stay soft and not stale after a few days either.

 Gluten Free Ginger Snaps

Makes about 22 cookies 

2 tbs turbinado sugar (ie sugar in the raw)

1 c gf flour  (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1/8 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt 

1 1/4 tbs ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 c coconut oil
1/8 c molasses
1/8 c almond milk
1/2 c sugar (I used half coconut sugar & half turbinado sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine liquid ingredients with half cup of sugar until well combined. 

In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients and mix. Then add to wet mixture until well combined.

Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls and place on cookie sheet. Then flatten the balls, keep in mind that the flatter you make them the crisper the cookies will be. I don't like my cookies very crisp, so I don't flatten them too much. Sprinkle the additional 2 tablespoons of sugar over the flattened cookies.

Bake for 12 minutes.