Fun Stuff

This is my favorite cheese dip ever!!! Its VEGAN, HEALTHY and SO DELICIOUS!!!

There are loads you can do with this – I eat this with Veggie chips for lunch almost every day with a sandwich.

Fold warm queso into a wrap with fresh Veggies such as peppers.

Pour over: enchiladas, tamales, taco salad, beans, scramble, potatoes, steamed broccoli, picadillo, tacos, greens, tostada’s,casseroles of all kinds, etc.

The uses are endless- and guarantee you can fool any friend or family member into thinking this is just normal queso. Click on the photo above to learn more about this awesome dip- I get mine from whole foods.

While on my quest to find some really great winter soups I also fell in love with this butternut squash soup. You can make this recipe vegan by swapping out the butter for a vegan butter and leaving the cream out at the end. I think this soup is so amazing! Its like eating a bowl of cozy winter and autumn spices- YUM!

Oh my! So dreamy delicious and such a fun, cozy and timeless recipe. If you click on the photos below you will be directed to the cookies website where you can find a video about making these awesome cookies! xoxo

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Earth Balance*, softened (although Earth Balance is the best, you may use any other non-dairy butter/margarine)
• 3/4 cup granulated [white] sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Egg Replacer for 2 eggs**
• 2 cups (12-ounce package) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

*Earth Balance can be found at Whole Foods, Lakeshore Natural Foods, and other natural health food stores.

**ENER-G Egg Replacer is a brand-name powder mixture of vegetable starches that simulates eggs in baking. It can be used in recipes calling for unbeaten eggs, egg whites beaten stiff, and egg yolks. It can be found at Whole Foods as well as natural health food stores.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl.

3. Add egg replacer one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture.

4. Stir in chips and nuts.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

6. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Yum! I juice almost every morning and I make alot of smoothies so I am always eager to find new recipe’s and this one is so yummy! Have fun and try adding some of your own ideas to this, perhaps coconut or mangos mmm! Delicious! Also here is a tip—when making smoothies cut up your fruit and freeze, this way when you make your smoothie you will have the frozen iced taste without needing to add ice. xoxo

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

2 cups fresh pineapple
3 large leaves romaine lettuce
1 handful fresh parsley
1 cup apple juice

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in blender.

2. Blend until smooth and a bit frothy. Enjoy your super refreshing beverage!

Source of recipe: I made this recipe: http://thewitchykitchen.blogspot.com/

Makes: 3 Servings, Preparation time: 5 minute, Cooking time: 1 minute

My mouth is watering as I add this item-I love pizza! This is a fantastic and super easy recipe. My all time favorite pizza topping is pineapple but I love spinach on pizza as well. yum! xoxo

Spinach “Chorizo” Pizza

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 (12 ounce) package vegan chorizo
1 prepared vegan pizza crust
1 cup vegan pizza sauce
1/3 cup cheddar flavored vegan cheese
1/3 cup fresh baby spinach, chopped
1/3 cup mozzarella flavored vegan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Cook chorizo according to package directions.

2. Place pizza crust on a pizza pan. Cover with pizza sauce.

3. Add the chedder vegan cheese and then add spinach and chorizo. Finally, add the mozzarella vegan cheese.

4. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Source of recipe: Tonight was family pizza making night at my house. And I’m the only vegan at my house, so this is what i came up with.

Makes: 1 pizza, Preparation time: about 15 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes

I have really been into trying to make my own cheese and this is a fantastic recipe. I also found a really cool video which I will add below as well. She is NOT doing the same recipe so make note when purchasing your products that the video and the recipe below are two sepeate things. Enjoy! xoxo

Easy Raw Almond “Cheese” (Fermented & Peppered)

Ingredients:

290 g. raw almonds (organic is best of course) soaked for 8-10 hours, drained, rinsed and skinned (see tips below about removing skins)
250 ml water
1 tsp. light miso
½ tsp. probiotic powder (I use Udo’s Choice, see tips below)
1/8 tsp. nutmeg powder
½ tsp. dried garlic powder (see tips below)
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes (see tips below about gluten-free)
10 g. organic cold-pressed flax oil
black or other peppercorns and/or cracked pepper
coarse salt

Instructions

• Put soaked, skinned almonds in Thermomix bowl with water, miso, and probiotic powder. Blend for one minute on speed 8.
• Line a colander or strainer with cheesecloth and set over a bowl to collect liquid as it drains. Put blended (almond meal) mixture into cheesecloth and overlap with extra cheesecloth. Place a small plate and weight on top. Allow this almond meal to ferment in a warm (not hot) place for 12-24 hours. (Less time is needed in warmer weather.) I put mine in the oven with just the light bulb turned on for 24 hours. (See tips below for more about fermenting.)
• Once fermented, do the following: put garlic powder, nutritional yeast, 1/2 tsp. salt and nutmeg into dry Thermomix and whiz 5 seconds on speed 8.
• Add the flax oil and the fermented almond ‘cheese’ and mix gently for 5 seconds on REVERSE speed 1.
• Press into molds (use a bowl, container, or mini cake pan) and refrigerate. After about four hours (or more), gently remove from molds and coat the rounds with a mixture of peppercorns and ground salt. (Depending on what type of pepper you are using, you may want to loosely grind peppercorns with coarse salt in Thermomix before doing this.) Keep wrapped in parchment paper or butchers paper in fridge for up to 5-6 days.
• Serve as you would cream cheese or goat cheese. Consider blending with more healthy flax oil and minced fresh garlic or herbs to make a healthy dairy-free veggie dip as shown in photos. (Corn chips anyone?)

Tips:
How to skin almonds: drain almonds and rinse well. Pinch the almonds one at a time to easily slip off the skins. Much more easily done, than said. Truly easy. If using both hands, you can pinch about 3 almonds per second. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes once you get going. If the skins are resistant (I’ve yet to experience this) all you need do is cover them with water heated just below boiling point and soak for 2 minutes, drain, rinse, and start pinching.

About probiotic powder: this is needed for the fermentation process. You’ll find pro-biotic powder in natural food stores and in some countries, in the vitamin section of regular grocery stores. I keep a supply of Udo’s Choice probiotic capsules in my fridge for health purposes and for adding to the Thermomix yogurt recipe. For making almond cheeze, I simply open three capsules for using in the recipe. (This probiotic is gluten-free.)

About garlic powder: as a rule, I always use fresh garlic, but for this recipe, the fresh garlic is too strong. I tried it with fresh, and have to say, garlic powder is better here.

About fermenting the ‘cheese’: according to the original recipe, the best indication that your ‘cheese’ has properly fermented is to give it the olfactory test and watch for a change in aroma. “Unfermented cheese does not have much aroma at all; properly fermented nut cheese will have a distinct, cheeselike smell.” Also watch for slight bubbling or rising on the surface.

About gluten-free: check to make sure your nutritional yeast and probiotic powders are gluten free — most of them are, so it should not be a problem. You can omit the yeast flakes if necessary, but not the probiotic.

Want even more tips? click the small photos above for additional notes.

I love shortbread cookies and really love desserts using lavender. Here is an awesome recipe for yummy shortbread lavender cookies-great for spring! Serves great with Zhenas Gypsy tea ” Red Lavender”. mmm! yum! xoxo

Lavender Shortbread
Makes Approximately six 4.5″ rounds

1 Cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1-2 tsp Rosewater
1 1/2 Tbs Dried Culinary Lavender
2 Cups All Purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 325º F.

Cream earth balance, sugar, lavender, and rose water together in an electric mixer until very soft and fluffy. Mix in four by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. If needed, use your hands to work the dough but do not overmix. The dough should be very soft but not overly sticky.

If making free form rounds: Divide dough in half, form into flat rounds, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Roll out dough on parchment paper into rounds that are 1/4″ thick. It doesn’t really matter how large they are in diameter, just make them all consistent so they they bake evenly. I recommend between 4″ and 8″. Place the parchment paper, dough and all, on cookie sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden around the edges. See the last photo for the last set of instructions.

If using springform pans:Divide dough between greased springform pans pans.

Pat down on the dough to evenly distribute it. Make sure it is no more than 1/4″ thick. To test for thickness, insert a butter knife into the dough vertically and remove – just like checking your oil in your car.

You do check your oil, don’t you?

You can further smooth your shortbread round by greasing the back of a spoon and pressing lightly on the dough. This is great for evening out the edges especially. Be gentle here, or you could accidentally tear the dough. If you do, simply press it back together.

Carefully place plastic wrap over the surface of the dough (so no part is exposed to air) and refrigerate for at least an hour. Though dough should feel firm once fully chilled. Simply remove the plastic wrap and place directly in your preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

When the shortbread comes out of the oven, remove the rings if using pans, and lightly use a spatula or the back of a long knife to score the tops of the shortbread. Once the bread cools, it will become harder and crispier and will easily break along these lines. Allow to cool completely before serving.

This would be extra nice served with tea!

I prefer warm soup but this is pretty darn good! The recipe is from Ani Phyo’s book “Ani’s Raw Kitchen”. You can find Ani’s books everywhere and will fall in love with her mouth watering treats! xoxo

Directions

1. In a blender, combine 2 1/4 cups of the corn with the water, cashews, olive oil, garlic and salt and puree until smooth. Pour the soup into bowls. Garnish with the remaining 1 cup of corn kernels, the cilantro and a sprinkle of pepper, then serve.

Make Ahead

The corn chowder can be refrigerated overnight.

Notes

One Serving 402 cal, 31 gm fat, 4.6 gm sat fat, 30 gm carb, 4 gm fiber.

Oh how I love brownies! A brownie can cure just about anything! This recipe is so good and vegan! I hate to use eggs when baking, if I had a chicken running around outside of my home living a weet and happy life I have no issues using an egg from her but I hate the horrible mass production of eggs-its so cruel and its pretty unreal that the way we these farmers treat their animals is legal-blah! So if you can find a vegan yummy recipe, by all means use it and stick to it! swak! xoxo

Ultimate Vegan Brownies

1 cup coconut oil
4 oz. (or 112 grams) bittersweet chocolate or to be even more strict just use unsweetened chocolate with 70% (or more) cocoa solids.
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
1/2 cup hot water
2 cups sugar**
1 cup cake or pastry flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup dutch process cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp flax seeds (ground)
6 Tbsp hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease an 8 x 8 pan.
2. In a double boiler or a bowl set atop a pot of gently simmering water, melt the coconut oil, chocolate squares and vanilla together.
3. Mix the coffee (or espresso) powder with the 1/2 cup of hot water and stir into the coconut/chocolate mixture. Add sugar and remove from heat. The sugars will dissolve a bit but you don’t need to completely dissolve it.
4. In another bowl, sift together the flours, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
5. In yet another bowl (small one), mix the flax seeds and 6 Tbsp of hot water, allow to sit for 2-3 minutes.
6. Combine the chocolate/coconut oil mixture with the flour mixture and stir to incorporate. Add the thickened flax and stir that in as well.
7. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. Start checking the brownies after the first 30 minutes to ensure it is baking evenly.
8. When finished, remove the brownies from the oven, set atop a cooling rack and get busy somewhere else. These babies need to be utterly cooled before consuming. If you attempt to eat them before they are properly cooled, they will crumble. When they are properly cooled, you can’t even tell they are eggless, I promise!

** Most popular brands of white and brown sugar are NOT vegan. An animal product called “bone char” is used in the bleaching or whitening process and therefore renders the sugar useless in vegan baking. Although I’m sure some vegans are not aware of this, it is better to use something else just in case. In this recipe I used 1/2 cup of sucanat, 1/2 cup organic cane sugar in the raw and 1 cup of organic demerera (just because I had all three!). Any sugar will do (I prefer 1 cup white and 1 cup brown for flavour) but if you need a truly vegan product, look for the sugars I mentioned. Be sure to click on the brownie photo for the full details on this recipe!