Make 16 bars in just 16 minutes: sweet!   They’re perfect for budding athletes, full of whole grains and fruit with no cholesterol or added fat. The bars hold together well and aren’t sticky, so you can bring a plate of them into the TV room without hesitation. Of course, they pack well in a lunch bag too.  

Make them your own buy using local nuts and whatever scraps of dried fruit you have on hand.  (Mmmm, pecans and dried cranberries.) I’ve included the weights because I love, love, love baking with my kitchen scale. It saves time in cooking and means fewer dishes to wash.

A recipe from Linda Watson of  Cook for Good, a devoted to thrifty, real-food vegan cooking. Please join her on Facebook for more recipe ideas.

serves 16

• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (14 grams)
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup apple sauce (128 grams)
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (190 grams)
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (120 grams)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (165 grams)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup walnut pieces (110 grams), coarsely chopped
• 1 cup raisins (160 grams)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Make flax eggs by heating ground flax seed and water in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir until texture becomes eggy. Stir flaxseed eggs into applesauce and let come to room temperature.
Put oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix on low speed using an electric mixer until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add apple-sauce mixture and vanilla and mix on low until mixture is well combined and evenly moist. Stir in walnuts and raisins.
Spread dough evenly in prepared baking pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until top just begins to turn golden brown. Let cool in the pan set on a wire rack, then cut into 16 bars. Keeps covered at room temperature for about four days and freezes well.

© cookforgood for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: higher-fat, Quick & Easy

Sometimes you just need comfort food–and you need it now! But without all the guilt, thanks anyway.

This spinach answers the call. It has the velvety texture of old-school creamed spinach, yet is low fat, plant based, and gluten free. Better yet, you can make it in under 20 minutes!

Read the full post on VEGGIE QUEST, where you’ll find fun, plant-based recipes and tips for kickin’ nutrition.

Quick and Easy Creamed Spinach

This recipe is a snap to make, but be sure to measure out the spices and flavorings first, because the sauce cooks in no time.

Prep time: 20 minutes                    Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water
1 lb fresh spinach* (you can also use 1 lb frozen spinach—see note)
1 c unsweetened almond milk
1½ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
⅛ tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp almond butter (optional)
pinch of salt, or to taste (optional)

Directions
In a small bowl or ramekin, mix cornstarch and water with a fork until uniformly combined. Set aside.

Line the bottom of a large pot with water, bring to a boil, and add spinach. Reduce heat to medium and steam-sauté, stirring frequently, until spinach is wilted. (Add small splashes of water if needed to prevent sticking.) Remove from heat and drain spinach in a colander, pressing to remove excess water.

In a small pot, wisk together almond milk, onion powder, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Wisking continuously, add cornstarch/water mixture in a thin stream; sauce should begin thickening immediately. Reduce heat and simmer sauce for 1–2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Wisk in nutritional yeast, nutmeg, black pepper, and (if using) almond butter and salt.

Gently stir in spinach.

Serve hot with freshly ground black pepper.

(Delicious with veggie burgers and baked sweet potato fries if you want the full comfort food effect.)

*Note: If using frozen spinach, prepare according to package directions. I like to microwave mine in a glass storage container, so I can pop leftovers right back in—one less dish to wash!

© veggiequest for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eat To Live, gluten-free, Quick & Easy

Another recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking. Check out my  new books, The Great Vegan Bean Book and Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just You for more healthy recipes!

This is a quick and easy slow cooker soup that’s soy and oil free. I threw in some turnips I had in the fridge, but you can use potatoes, carrots, or even sweet potatoes if that’s what you have. The spices add layers of flavor that turn this simple soup into something you can even serve at your next dinner party.

Slow Cooker Farro and Veggies Split Pea Soup
serves 6 to 8

This recipe uses a 4 quart slow cooker

• 1 package Tuscan Fields farro ai funghi (or 1 1/2 cups plain farro plus 2 veggie bouillon cubes)
• 1 cup split peas
• 8 cups water
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cups chopped turnip or potato
• 2 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• salt and pepper, to taste

Add everything but the salt and pepper to your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours (or high for 3 to 4 hours).

Before serving add salt and pepper to taste. You can add 1 to 2 cups water to thin out the soup if it’s too thick for you.

© geekypoet for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eat To Live, McDougall

Another recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking. My new books, The Great Vegan Bean Book and Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just You, are available for pre-order now.

This recipe is one of my favorites because it has a ton of leeway. No red peppers? Use green peppers or toss in the leftover cooked veggies from last night. No quinoa? Leftover millet or even brown rice would do the job just fine. Just imagine cleaning out the fridge one a week on taco night!

Tri-color Quinoa and Greens Taco Filling
Serves 4 to 6

• 1 cup water or vegetable broth
• ½ cup Roland® Pre-washed Tricolor Quinoa
• 2 tablespoons water or broth, for sauteing
• ½ small onion (about ½ cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ medium red bell pepper (about ½ cup)
• 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons cumin powder, to taste
• 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons chili powder, to taste
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 ½ cup chopped greens (collards, kale, spinach, etc.)
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
• salt, to taste

Add the water or broth to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add quinoa, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until you see the tiny white tails unfurl on the quinoa. Set aside.

Add the water or broth to a non-stick large sauté pan and heat over medium heat. (Use water or broth instead of olive oil to make this dish oil-free.) Add onion and sauté until translucent. Then add the garlic and red pepper. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes more or until the peppers become tender.

Stir in the cooked quinoa, 1 ½ teaspoons cumin powder, 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder and all the paprika. (If the pan is dry add a few tablespoons of water or broth so the mixture will not stick to the pan.)

Cook and stir until the mixture just starts to get rid of the excess liquid. Then stir in the collards and the nutritional yeast. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes more or until the collards become tender. Mix in some salt, taste and add more spices if needed.

Serve in taco or burrito shells and pile on your favorite toppings. If you are avoiding taco or burrito shells this also makes a tasty and nutritious salad or baked sweet potato topping!

© geekypoet for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eat To Live, gluten-free, McDougall, Quick & Easy

Another recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking. My new books, The Great Vegan Bean Book and Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just You, are available for pre-order now.

The more I cook with oats the more I find they have an endless amount of uses. Savory oats are my latest obsession. These steel cut oats retain an al dente quality to them just like arborio rice does in a risotto.

Mushroom Sun-dried Tomato Oat Risotto

serves 4

1 to 2 tablespoons water or veggie broth
½ small onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup minced mushrooms
¼ cup minced green bell pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
⅛ teaspoon ground rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon regular rosemary
1 cup Roland© Steel-cut Oats
2 tablespoons minced sun-dried tomatoes
4 to 5 cups water (as needed – see instructions)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste

Water saute the onions over medium heat, cook until translucent then add the garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper and herbs. Saute for 5 to 20 minutes, until the mushrooms have browned and released their juices.

Add in the oats and stir to prevent them from burning. Cook until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.

Add the sun dried tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Simmer over medium heat stirring often to keep the mixture from burning on the bottom.

Once the first cup of water has been absorbed by the oats add a second cup of water and keep stirring. Add the third cup of water once the second is absorbed and keep stirring (isn’t risotto fun?).

Once the third cup is absorbed add one more cup water (the forth) and after it’s absorbed try a piece of the oats to see if it’s cooked through. You want it to be al dente so tender but a little chewy.

If it’s not tender yet add an additional cup of water to insure the oats are cooked through. They should still have a chewy texture and not be mushy.

Right before serving add the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.

Don’t forget you can use the same technique to make a clean out the fridge oat risotto!

© geekypoet for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eat To Live, McDougall

Recipe by Jarafel.

Well, it was my first time to make stuffed mushrooms with this recipe and it tasted soooooooooooo goood!!!!

I have looked at stuffed mushroom recipes for a while and never tried any of them because I always felt intimidated some how. stuffing little mushrooms one by one is one thing but just baking mushroom cups plain never seemed appealing. So one day i saw recipe for vegan cheesy spinach stuffed mushrooms. I didn’t try this recipe but I used it as a base for creating my own version. Now funnily enough my recipe might seem a little intimidating, it has few steps to go through, but actually it is very easy to do once you have prepared accordingly.

1. First you need to marinate your mushrooms over night and for that you need:

1. about 30 crimini mushrooms

2. 2 times 1/5 cup of apple cider vinegar

3. 2 times 1/5 cup of bragg’s liquid aminos or tamari or soysauce

4. 2 large cloves of garlic

5. equal amount of ginger to the garlic

6. water to cover mushrooms

7. 2 large jars (I used my leftover pickle and sauerkraut jars)

So wash your mushrooms well, so they are nice and clean. Take your 2 jars and into them add equal amount of cut garlic and ginger. Then add 1/5 cup of apple cider vinegar and Bragg’s to both jars, then add about 15 mushrooms to both jars and then cover them with water. Close a lid and put them in the fridge over night or for even stronger flavor you can marinate them for 2 days but them you have to be more careful with removing the stems later on. Good thing about this marinade is you can reuse it for about 3 times

2. Next you will need to bake one sweet potato until tender (about 35 minutes) in the oven at 375 F.  You can also do it night before or once you are ready to do your recipe.

3. Next you will  make a cheesy tofu sauce yum yum

for that you will need:

1. 1 package or firm tofu

2. 5 tbs. of nutritional yeast

3. 2 tbs. of onion powder

4. 2 tbs. of Morton and Basset Italian mix (the best one!!!)

5.  3 gloves of garlic

6. 1/2 tsp. of salt

6. 1/4 tsp. of kala namak salt

7. 1/2 tsp. of smoked paprika

Blend all the ingredients in the blender or food processor until smooth.

4. Now you take your mushrooms out of the jars and carefully take off the stems. Put mushroom cups on baking paper covered baking dish and bake for 10 minutes on 375 F.

5. For filling you need:

1. 1/4 onion cut small

2. 3 gloves of garlic cut small

3. 2 cups of spinach cut small

4. 1/2 sweet potato baked and mashed

5. 1/4 tsp of ground cumin powder

6. mushrooms stems cut small

7. about 1/2 of the cheese sauce

While your mushroom cups are baking you will prepare your filling. Heat the pan on the medium heat and add cut onion. Roast until starting to become translucent. Add garlic and cook about 1 more minute. Add mushroom stems then spinach. Cook until spinach is soft. Then add mashed sweet potato and cumin and cheese sauce, mix well and set aside.

6. Take your baked mushroom cups and empty from water. Fill each one of them with little bit of filling and then bake for another 10-15 minutes, so you can see that fillings have started to brown. Take out and let cool for a little while before serving. Enjoy!!!

ps! you can make recipe without sweet potato and cumin, that’s how i did it first time and that’s what you see on the picture, but I find it a lot tastier with sweet potato and cumin added.  Maybe I am just a sweet potato lover. Good luck and let me know how you liked it

© jarafel for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eat To Live

Full post:  www.sweethealthyliving.com

I was very happy and surprised with the results of this cake. The main flour used is brown rice flour with some cornstarch which gives it a lighter texture; the xanthum gum takes the place of gluten. This cake is incredibly moist without any added oils. The pears, spices and almond extract compliment each other beautifully. This is definitely a cake you can serve to guests without anyone knowing it is gluten free or “healthy!”

Recipe: (note t=teaspoon T=tablespoon)

• 1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch (or potato starch)
• 1 cup unsweetened soy yogurt (or other nondairy yogurt)
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1 banana mashed
• 2 pears (1 diced into small cubes, 1 sliced for the top)
• 3/4 t xanthum gum
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 2 t chai spice (or 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/2 t ginger, 1/2 t cardamom, 1/2 t allspice)
• 1 T vanilla
• 1 T almond extract (optional)
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 c non-dairy milk (if needed)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all of the wet ingredients together including the mashed banana and one diced pear (not the nondairy milk) and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the non-dairy milk only if the dough is very dry. The dough will be slightly more stiff and sticky than regular dough, restrain yourself from adding extra liquid. Press the dough into an oiled 9×9 or 8×8 baking dish. Lay the sliced pears on top and sprinkle and extra tablespoon of coconut sugar on top if desired. Bake at 180 C or 350 F for 50-60 minutes (I did 60), because it is a very moist cake. Remove from the oven and let cool an hour before serving.

© healthyvic for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gluten-free

Jarafel says: This is yummi recipe popular in our family.

for the recipe you will need:

2 large baked sweet potatoes, yams
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp. of salt or to taste
1/2 of red onion cut fine
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro cut small
1/4 -1/2 tsp of smoked paprika( depending how smokey you like it )
1/2 tsp of paprika
1/4 tsp of chili powder
1/4 tsp. of chipotle powder + 1/4 tsp for crust
1 cup of  dried shredded coconut
1/4 tsp. of ground cumin powder
1 tbs. of psyllium husk powder

1. So, to make sweet potato balls, first you need to bake your sweet potatoes and let them cool down. You can bake them night before. Them peel them and mash them in a bowl. Add lemon juice and spices and mix well. add onion and cilantro and mix again and finally add psyllium husk powder and mix until well combined.

2. In the blender or food processor add your shredded coconut and blend until its finely shredded. its should be now down to 1/2 cup or so. put it in the bowl and add remaining chipotle powder. mix and set aside.

3. preheat oven to 375 F. Now take little bit of your sweet potato mix on your hand and make it into ball, then dip it into shredded coconut until covered and set it on baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

4. bake about 35 minutes and then let it cool down for 5-10 minutes before eating. I like to eat them plain or with little maple syrup mixed with little bit of apple cider vinegar, my husband likes coconut sauce.. so find one that suites you ! I hope you will enjoy them

© jarafel for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gluten-free, higher-fat

Another recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking. Make sure to check out my new book, The Great Vegan Bean Book, available for pre-order now.

The perfect healthy sweet to show your Valentine just how much you really care! These donuts are baked, sweetened with stevia, made with whole wheat pastry flour and full of romantic floral flavors.

Baked Lavender Rose Donuts
makes 12 mini donuts (or use a mini muffin pan to make 12 mini muffins)

wet ingredients:

3/4 cup unsweetened So Delicious coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon stevia (I used Nu-Stevia brand)
1/2 teaspoon lavender extract
1/4 teaspoon rosewater
dry ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (use gluten-free flour as a sub)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another. Spray your mini donut pan with a little oil so they will be easier to get out.

Then add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix just until it’s mixed. Divide the batter between the 12 donut molds. Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

Let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then carefully remove. (If you don’t wait they will stick in the pan even though you oiled it.)

Take donut by the top and dip the bottom into the rose powdered stevia (recipe below). You may have to rub it in a bit to get it to stick. (Why the bottom? It has more moisture on it from cooling in the pan.)

Rose Powdered Stevia

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon stevia (I used Nu-Stevia brand)
1 teaspoon rosewater

Add cornstarch and stevia together and mix. Add in the rosewater little at a time so it makes little balls instead of one big mess in the center. Mix with a spoon or in a mortar and pestle until it’s finely ground and looks like powdered sugar.

© geekypoet for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: holiday

2 Tbs ground flax seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup balsamic vinegar

1. Shake all ingredients in tightly covered container or mix in a Vitamix or blender.

2. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

3. Shake before serving.

Servings: 6
Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cup dressing

Submitted by S. Ann Andrews.

© Ann for Fatfree Vegan Recipes, 2013. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Eat To Live