Herb Roasted Potatoes

Vegan with a Vengeance is one of my new favorite cookbooks. We have found many new favorite dishes in this book that are family and kid friendly.

One of our absolute favorites is Herb Roasted Potatoes. I love that this dish is relatively inexpensive to make, quick, and easy!

Herb Roasted Potatoes

3 lbs. potatoes - cut into small wedges
1 medium onion, diced into small pieces
1/4 cup coconut oil
4 tsp. thyme
4 tsp. rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt coconut oil in a large pan. Add potatoes, onion, and seasonings. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are soft.

Ratatouille

One my toddler's favorite movies is Ratatouille, by Pixar. For a fun family evening, we enjoyed a fun picnic in our family room with a nice plate of Ratatouille while watching Ratatouille.

Although our Ratatouille did not look even remotely close to Remy's masterpiece, my toddler (and husband) loved this dish!

Ratatouille

1 egg plant, cut into large chunks
1-3 zucchini, cut into large chunks
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
3 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 carrot, grated
3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon oregano or basil (I used 1/2 tsp. of both)

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the egg plant and zucchini on a baking dish that has been lightly oiled with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Saute the celery - when the celery is soft, add the pepper and carrot. Once the vegetables are soft, add tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasonings.

Add the tomato mixture to roasted vegetables.

Serve on whole wheat noodles, brown rice, or by itself!

To make this dish more Kid Friendly, I pureed all of the roasted and cooked vegetables in my Vitamix - any blender will do the job.

-- This recipe was adapted from: The Yoga Cookbook: Vegetarian Food for Body and Mind

Peanut Butter Granola Cereal

This cereal recipe is unbelievably sweet! We love it with cold vanilla soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, or even soy yogurt.

• 5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup flax seed
  
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup peanut butter
  
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.
3. Spread dry ingredients out on two large cookie sheets.
4. Heat coconut oil and honey on medium heat until smooth.
5. Evenly pour honey mixture over the dry ingredients.

Bake for 20 minutes until oats and nuts are toasted. Let stand until cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

--For more granola recipes, check out Irresistible Granola

Twas' the Last Post Before Christmas - Gingerbread Cookies

Twas the last post before Christmas and all through the house,
Every creature was cooking... yes, even our mouse.

We just made these fantastic gingerbread cookies! I never knew that sugar-free vegan cooking could be so delicious!

No, I am not posting pictures for these fabulous cookies... my toddler helped with the cookie cutters... and the pictures, well they do not give this recipe justice!

Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies
Makes approximately 16 cookies

• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup plain soymilk
  

• 2 - 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  

Spices:

• 1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  

Directions:

1. Mix oil and sugar. Add molasses and soymilk.
2. Add in all of the dry ingredients. Mix until a dough is stiff. It is helpful if you allow the dough to chill for at least 10 minutes.
   

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. On a pre-floured surface, roll the cookie dough out flat. Use cookie cutters to create desired shapes. Transfer to a greased cookie sheet. Do not forget to create a hole at the top of the cookie if you wish to hang it.
   
2. Bake for 8 minutes
3. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes before removing from pan.
   

Have a Merry Christmas!

Holiday Nut Balls

I have been on the search for sugar-free holiday treats. This one took me by surprise... it is absolutely wonderful!


Makes 12

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup unsalted nuts (I used almonds)
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
  

Grind your nuts in a food processor or blender until smooth. Mix honey, nuts, and peanut butter in a bowl. With clean hands, form small balls with the peanut butter mixture. Roll these balls in coconut. Serve!

This dish can be "veganised" by substituting the honey for raisins.

Banana - Pecan Pancakes

This picture does not give these pancakes justice. These pancakes are fabulous! Enjoy a sugar free breakfast that contains a side dish of protein! My toddler loves these pancakes, and will often eat two or three in one setting.

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups mashed bananas
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk (regular cow's milk will work as well)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 cups pecans, chopped

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, milk, and oil. Combine both bowls. Once the ingredients are mixed, add pecans to mixture.

Oil a large skillet and place on medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each individual pancake onto the skillet. Cook until pancakes are lightly browned.

Serve with agave nectar.

Farewell, Dear Sugar

After reading this article, 146 Ways Sugar Ruins Your Health, I am ready to say "Adios" to sugar. I now commit to cooking without sugar. I apologize that all of the recipes on this blog are not sugar free... yet.

If you desire to convert one of the recipes to be sugar free, keep reading! The tips are below.

I am amazed at all of the negative side effects found within sugar. I challenge each of you to look through your recipe books... how many recipes contain even a small amount of sugar? If sugar has such a negative effect upon our bodies, why do we consume it on such a regular basis?

Unfortunately, many individuals have turned to other forms of artificial sweeteners such as Splenda. I am sorry to burst your bubble, but these sweeteners are harmful to your body as well. Many of these sweeteners contain the chemical called aspartame. Aspartame was originally created for biochemical warfare! When they discovered that the molecule possessed a sweet taste, they started to add small amounts to our food. Does that scare anyone else? To learn more about aspartame, click here.

So, if our processed white sugar is harmful to our bodies and our artificial sweeteners are dangerous as well... what should we use to naturally sweeten our food?

Agave Nectar is a natural sweetener extracted from the agave plant. This wonderful sweetener contains no chemicals and does not spike glucose levels.

Replace table sugar with agave nectar by using 1/3 of the desired amount of sugar. Example - if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, you would add 1/3 cup agave nectar. Notice as well that this simple substitution decreases the amount of calories!

Apple Juice or White Grape Juice are an inexpensive substitution for table sugar. Replace all liquid found in a particular recipe with apple or white grape juice. By substituting these juices for your liquids, you no longer need to include your table sugar in your recipe.

If you choose to use this form of substitution, ensure that your juice does not contain any high fructose corn syrup... this is a dangerous and harmful sweetener as well. The whole high fructose corn syrup controversy has been confusing - for clarification, click here.

Honey is composed of fructose, glucose, maltose, and sucrose. Honey may be the easiest sugar substitution as it is easily available at any grocery store and quite inexpensive! To substitute, use ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon honey for every 1 cup of sugar. In addition, you will need to reduce the other liquid ingredients by 2 tablespoons.

• If the recipe calls for sour cream or butter milk, you will need to add a pinch of baking soda.

Molasses is composed of sucrose, glucose, and fructose; in addition, it contains B vitamins, calcium, and iron. Do not replace more than 1/2 of the sugar with molasses. Molasses is a bit more complicated to substitute, here are the basic guidelines:

• Use 1 1/3 cups molasses for 1 cup sugar
• Decrease the amount of liquid by 5 tablespoons
• Add ½ teaspoon baking soda for each cup of molasses used

Pure Maple syrup is naturally made from the sap of sugar maple trees. To substitute, use ¾ cup for every cup of white sugar and decrease the amount of liquid in your recipe by 3 tablespoons. Be careful - most maple syrups that you purchase at the supermarket is made of harmful sugar and artificially flavored with maple.

Sucanat is an awesome brown sugar replacement. Sucanant retains its molasses content due to the manner in which it is prepared - it is basically dried cane juice. This form of sugar is not refined and processed like standard table sugar. To learn more about sucanant, click here.

Turbinado and Demerara are sugar cane substitutes for your table sugar. I have actually found turbinado at Wal-mart in the Latino section entitled as "Sugar in the Raw". To substitute, add the equal amount of sugar the recipe calls for. Example: 1 cup table sugar = 1 cup of "raw" sugars.

Wow - did anyone else know that there were so many healthy sugar substitutions available? Let's make 2009 our healthiest year yet by replacing all of our sugar with these awesome substitutions!