Chef AJ’s Yummy Sauce

This recipe is great on anything! We like serving it with beans, rice and, kale.  Ashley made a bowl that included rice, beans, kale, sweet potatoes, avocado, cilantro, and this yummy sauce.

This recipe is from Chef AJ:

Ingredients:

• 1 – 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (or 1.5 cups of cooked beans)
• Juice and zest of one organic lemon (if the lemon does not yield 1/4 of a cup of juice, then add more lemon juice)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons salt-free mustard (we use Westbrae Stoneground)
• 3/4 ounce pitted dates (approximately 3 deglet noor dates)
• 1 clove garlic

Preparation:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Note: If you are using a high-powered blender, you can make this sauce warm to serve over rice and veggies. It is also delicious cold massaged into shredded cabbage for “Yummy Slaw”.

What would you put this yummy sauce on?

Hot Spiced Apple Cider

This is a sweet and warm drink to enjoy on these upcoming cold winter nights!

This recipe is from Kitchen Treaty:

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts (64 ounces or 8 cups) apple cider
• Six 3-inch cinnamon sticks, plus more for serving if desired
• 1 medium orange
• 2 tablespoons whole cloves
• Rum of your choice (optional)
• Additional cinnamon sticks for serving (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour apple cider into a 2.5-quart or larger Crock Pot or other slow cooker. Add cinnamon sticks to cider.
2. With a toothpick, poke holes all around the orange, about 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart. Carefully poke the cloves into the toothpick holes in the orange.
3. Place orange into the cider in the slow cooker.
4. Cook on low until hot and spiced through, about 4 hours. Ladle into mugs along with an ounce or so of rum if using. Place a cinnamon stick in each glass if desired and serve.

If you want to take this to a potluck, the recipe is simple to make and can easily be doubled!

 

Enjoy 🙂

Potato Corn Chowder

Looking for an easy meal for dinner? This is an easy recipe that can be made on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.

This recipe is from here:

Ingredients:

• 3 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped medium
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 large carrot, peeled, cut in half and cut into matchsticks
• 1 12 oz. Bag frozen corn
• 1 12 oz. Bag frozen cauliflower
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp. Black pepper
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Onion powder
• 4c veggie stock

Directions:

Stovetop:

1. Place large pot on stove over medium heat. Saute onions and celery in water for 5 min. Just so they start to soften a bit.
2. Add remaining ingredients, turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil. Stir well, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 25 min. Or until potatoes are very tender.
3. Use immersion blender to blend until semi chunky smooth.*
4. Check seasoning before serving. I recommend topping your soup with some smoked paprika.

Instant Pot:

1. In the IP combine all the ingredients, stir well and cover. Set to manual pressure, 13 min. Natural release.
2. Use an immersion blender to blend until semi chunky smooth.*

*If you do not have an immersion blender, you can add the soup in batches to a blender and pulse until semi chunky smooth.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The last 2 posts have been for dog cookies. They are made with people food so you can enjoy those with your dogs but, we thought we’d share one of our favorite cookies for people so you can enjoy a tasty treat too!

This recipe is from Detoxinista:

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups raw walnut halves
• 1 cup medjool dates, pitted (about 12)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax or chia seeds + 3 tablespoons water)
• Optional: ½ cup dark chocolate chips (We use these unsweetened kind so there is no added sugar)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, process the dates and walnuts together until a crumbly texture is formed.
3. Add in the baking soda, vanilla, and flax egg and process again until the batter is relatively smooth. Add in the chocolate chips and briefly pulse, just to combine.
4. Spoon the batter onto a lined baking sheet, and use your hands to gently flatten the cookie dough. (Tip: Wet your hands with water to prevent sticking!)
5. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Serve immediately, and store the leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer for best shelf life. These cookies should last a week in the fridge, and a month or more in the freezer.

Instead of chocolate chips try: cacao nibs, raisins, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, etc.

Instead of walnuts, you can also try pecans.

Enjoy 🙂

Peppermint Dog Cookies

Original recipe here:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup ground flaxseed mixed with ½ cup warm water
• 2 ripe bananas, broken into small pieces
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 3 cups white whole wheat flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Cream the coconut oil, flaxseed mixture, bananas, applesauce and peppermint together in a mixer (or mash together using a pastry cutter) until the banana is mashed well and the coconut oil is thoroughly incorporated.

3. Add the salt, 2 cups of the white wheat flour and 1 cup of the rolled oats. Mix well.

4. Add the oats and remaining flour.

5. Roll a small piece of dough into a ball and press flat on a baking sheet lined with a Silapat or parchment paper.

7. Bake about 30-40 minutes, checking on them and flipping as needed.

Pumpkin Chia Dog Treats

Original recipe here:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups organic oat flour (we just ground organic oats in the Vitamix)
• 1 cup organic canned pumpkin
• 2 T. organic blackstrap molasses
• 2 T. chia seeds
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients until it all comes together in a ball. The consistency should be sticky, but not so sticky that it sticks to your fingers much. If you need more water, add some. If you need more flour, add some.
3.Split the dough in half and wrap one half in plastic wrap to keep it moist.
4. Form into balls and flatten into cookies on a cookie sheet lined with a Silipat or parchment paper OR you can roll the dough out on a wooden board and cut out treats with cookie cutter.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn oven off and leave them in the oven to dry out a few hours.

Lentil and Barley Stew

This recipe was found in a newspaper a few years ago.  We just recently came across it and decided to try it in the Instant Pot, and it worked perfectly.  To make this recipe even easier, instead of cutting up onion, celery, and carrots, use one container of mirepoix from Trader Joe’s.

Stovetop directions are also given.

Ingredients:

• ½ onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water (or veggie broth)
• ½ cup dried lentils
• 1/3 cup pearled barley
• ½ teaspoon miso (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary (1/4 teaspoon if making in a pressure cooker)
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 large carrot, peeled and shredded or cubed

Directions:

For Instant Pot:

1. Dump everything in and stir.
2. Hit the manual button and time it for 18-20 minutes.
3. Allow it to come down naturally (not quick release).  We timed it for 20 minutes at first.  It was fine, but it may be okay to do a couple minutes less.  Will update blog the next time we try it.

For stovetop:

1.  Heat a small amount of water or vegetable broth in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook, stirring until tender, 3-5 minutes. Add celery; cook until softened, 5 minutes.
2. Add crushed tomatoes, water, lentils, barley, miso (if using), rosemary, and pepper to taste. Heat to a boil; reduce heat to simmer. Cover; simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the barely and lentils are almost tender, 25 minutes. Add carrots; cook until the barley and lentils are tender, 5 minutes.

Raw Apple Crumble

This past summer we went to our 2nd year of Vegetarian Summerfest! An amazing educational event with delicious food! There is a raw bar that everyone loves and this was one of our favorite desserts! We wanted to make this at home and asked for the recipe and they kindly shared with us. We’ve made this for potlucks and it goes so fast! This recipe is simple to make and definitely worth it!

This recipe is from VeganFusion:

Apple Layer

• 4 cups thinly sliced apple, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup pitted medjool dates
• ½ cup water
• ¾ cup freshly squeezed apple juice or orange juice
• ¼ tsp orange zest
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• pinch ground nutmeg
• pinch allspice

Crumble

• 1 ¼ cups chopped walnuts
• ¼ cup pitted medjool dates
• 2 tablespoons dried shredded coconut
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch ground cardamom

Directions:

1. Place the apples, and raisins in a bowl.
2. Place the dates, water, apple juice, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in a blender and blend until creamy. Add to the bowl and mix well. Transfer to an 8 inch by 8 inch casserole dish.
3. Prepare the crumble by placing all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse chopping until the walnuts are finely ground. Do not over process. Sprinkle on top of the apple layer just before serving.