Cuban Rice and Beans

As most of you might have already noticed, my favorite dinners are either made with starches like potatoes, rice and/or beans. Couldn't but simply LOVE this one; so spicy and satisfying... Then I added some guacamole just because :P

I made the lazy/easy version using cooked rice and beans. You just have to stick to steps 1 and 2 and then mix them all and heat through before serving.










From Gen Y Foodie
Recipe: http://www.generationyfoodie.com/2011/10/cuban-style-rice-and-beans.html

Vegan Shredded Smoked Coconut Gouda

Tastes as good as it looks. And it melts. And it's good. And it melts. And it’s good (loop
of happiness)…

IMPORTANT: Since the cheese mix needs to be blended right after being boiled, you
must have a blender/food processor that can handle high temperatures (one with a glass cup, for example).

Ingredients:

Base mix:

1 can full fat coconut milk
1 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS. liquid smoke
¼ cup water
2 tsp Hymalaian salt
2 TBS nutritional yeast
4 TBS agar powder
1 TBS apple pectin

Dry mix:

2 TBS potato starch (cornstarch or arrowroot would work)
1 TBS tapioca starch
1 tsp ground psyllium (I think it could work with ground chia or ground flaxseed, too;
but didn’t try)

Directions:

1. Prepare yourself first: Add dry mix to a small bowl and set aside. Lightly oil a ramekin (or a glass container where you’re pouring the cheese). Set aside. Have a spatula at hand.

2. Blend base mix until fully combined in your blender or food processor. Pour it then intoa small pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium (still boiling) and continue to stir the mix for 5 more minutes so the agar can make its magic.

3. Remove from heat and pour the heated sauce directly into your blender. Quickly add dry mix and process until thick. You gotta be fast in this part because the agar tends to harden pretty quickly. Immediately pour into a lightly oiled container with the help of a spatula. 

4. Put the uncovered cheese in the fridge. Allow to set up for an hour or two. Flip it onto a plate and leave uncovered overnight in the fridge. It tends to get harder the longer it stays there. Then, move your delicious gouda to a covered container and store in the fridge for up to a week (it freezes well if you want to save for some other time).

PERSONAL NOTE: I find the use of nutritional yeast and liquid smoke a must for this
recipe.

Adapted from this recipe here: http://vedgedout.com/2012/10/22/smoked-coconutgouda/

Banoffee Pie

This is amazing. 

At first I though this was "too complicated", but it was actually so simple to make! Do it.

 The toffee filling is the best caramel recipe I've tried so far, gonna be a staple here. Next time I'll even double the amount!!!

From Oh She Glows
Recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2015/04/04/banoffee-pie-from-my-new-roots/

Cool Ranch Plantain Chips

Healthy chips with a super delicious spice blend. I admit, I'm again with "plantainitis" -- the house is full of plantains! 








From Purely Twins
Recipe: http://purelytwins.com/2014/09/10/how-to-make-homemade-cool-ranch-baked-chips/

4-Ingredient Vegan Quinoa Fudge

This is the proof you can turn that bitter quinoa into sweet dreams.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked quinoa, any type
8 Medjool dates (or normal ones, but softened in warm water)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

Directions: 

Blend all ingredients in your food processor. Pour over a small container, flattening the dough with your hands. Put in the freezer to harden for at last 2 hours. Cut into bites and keep them stored in the freezer. Before serving, let them thaw at room temperature.

Inspired by this recipe: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/five-ingredient-vegan-quinoa-fudge/

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Burritos

Raise your hand if you like burritos! o/



And now, super healthy and with squash.







From Oh She Glows
Recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/10/24/black-bean-and-butternut-squash-burritos/

Sushi Bowl

You don’t have sushi rice? Don't worry! Use the one you have and make a bowl with your favorite ingredients! It tastes the same ;)

Brown rice + raw carrots + cucumber + black sesame + nori sheet + tamari. No salt needed, since tamari is already super salty.

Baby Oatmeal Cakes

Love quick fixes like this; perfect for days when you don't have time to cook.










From Chocolate Covered Katie
Recipe: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2010/11/14/mini-boatmeal-cakes/

Crispy, Oven Baked, Fat-free Wedges

Boiling them before putting in the oven is the key for more crispiness. Boiling! What a wonderful idea, genius :) 

(Used gluten-free flour — tapioca)

From Brand New Vegan
Recipe: http://www.brandnewvegan.com/recipes/crispy-oven-baked-fat-free-french-fries/

Healthy Thin and Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

FILLED WITH BANANA ICE CREAM HERE

Any peanut butter lovers there? Too many cookies for just one belly! But who said I'm not a fighter? :P


(made Version 1)

From Desserts with Benefits
Recipe: http://dessertswithbenefits.com/thin-chewy-peanut-butter-oatmeal-cookies-2-ways/

Rice and Beans with Guacamole and Salsa

It’s just cooking and mixing at your own will. Extra nourishing and delicious.

The combination of excessive carbs will make nutritionists cry, sorry hehe; but this is one of my favorite dinners and fix myself one big bowl of this at least once a week.

Just combine:

Beans with cumin, cooked
Brown rice with mushrooms, cooked
Guacamole
Homemade Salsa (see recipe below)
Potato wedges baked with spices
Green leaves

For the Homemade Salsa:

4 fresh tomatoes
1 handful of fresh cilantro
½ lemon
Chili flakes
Onion/Garlic, sautéed (or asafoetida powder*)
Pinch of Himalayan salt

*Asafoetida is NOT gluten-free. It contains tiny amounts of wheat in the mix.

Inspired by this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfJUTajhyc8

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Stuffed Medjool Dates

As a peanut butter fan, I devoured these ones in a second. Dates are naturally super sweet and give everything a caramel taste.

I used my homemade chocolate (it's raw) to cover them.

From Happy Healthy Life.com
Recipe: http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2015/09/chocolate-medjool-dates.html

Cheesy Skillet Pancake

You’re gonna have a serious crush on it. SO easy and quick… It's crispy outside but
remains amazingly soft and chewy inside.

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 TBS cream cheese (lactose-free, if you want)
1 TBS water
2 TBS tapioca starch
1 TBS coconut oil
1 TBS whole flax seed
Salt, to taste

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk egg until somehow foamy. Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a pre-heated skillet (medium-low heat). Cook both sides until golden (3-min
each side, approx.). I didn’t even need to grease the skillet because the coconut oil in the
batter helps things out.

Shortbread Cookies with Coconut Flour

Coconuty crunchy treats. It's definitely on the dry side, but irresistible. So easy to bake! They are ready in 8 minutes.

From Empowered Sustenance
Recipe: http://empoweredsustenance.com/paleo-shortbread-cookies-coconut-flour/

Vegan Soy Beef Sandwich with Roasted Pepper and Eggplant

This is one of the recipes created like this: “what’s in my pantry”? Actually it’s not even
a recipe; I would say it’s just an idea with what you can do with leftovers and with
whatever you have there.

Ingredients:

2 yellow bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
1 eggplant, sliced in rounds
Olive oil, to taste
Salt, to taste
Soy beefs (I used this)
Vegan Moxarella (or any other cheese, optional)
Your favorite bread (gluten-free, if preferred)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 200°C. Brush peppers (whole) with olive oil. Place whole peppers on a
lined baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, turning them after 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, put eggplant slices on a colander and sprinkle salt on them. Rub the each
slice a bit to better spread the salt and let them sweating and draining its extra water
content and bitterness.

Remove peppers from the oven and don’t turn it off.

Now, rinse eggplant slices and pat them dry with kitchen roll. Brush them with some
olive oil and sprinkle salt if you want (I didn’t, I like to salt things later because I like
my food low in salt). Put them in the oven to roast for 30 minutes, flipping them after
15.

Let peppers cool. Remove skins, core and seeds. Slice each pepper into thick strips and
put in a bowl. Set aside.

Make soy beefs according to package instructions.

When beef, peppers and eggplants are ready, mount your sandwich. If you’re using the
Moxarella or any other cheese, lay it over one slice of the bread and heat the bread in
the oven for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.

Dreamy Vanilla Gluten-free Cake

This was the perfect recipe after a stressy working day, talk about timing!!!

It was also my first experiment with aquafaba (the water from chickpeas); it really seems to be the new generation of egg substitute! Loved it. It's said that, generally, adding 3 TBS of aquafaba should substiutute 1 egg (but it's not a rule).

As for the glaze I used her suggestion, except that it went "wrong"... or right, it's a matter of perspective :P I couldn't AT ALL beat the glaze with a handmixer; chocolate flew everywhere, LOL! I just put some gloves on and worked on the ingredients until they formed a big gooey dough and looked like cake fondant.

From The Vegan 8
Recipe: http://thevegan8.com/2015/10/20/dreamy-vanilla-vegan-gluten-free-cake/

15 minute, Slice-able and Melt-able Vegan Cheese

I've been trying every interesting vegan cheese recipe. Since I've started playing with veganism I've noticed that cheese is still a weakness.

This one is super simple and fast to make, and it also has the advantage of being comparably lower in calories to both dairy cheese and nut cheese.

I used a soy creamer for a thicker result, it worked incredibly good.

As I always say, I find vegan cheese without nutritional yeast pretty dull. If you're vegan, I would highly recommend having nutritional yeast as a staple food at home.

From Bunny Kitchen
Recipe: http://bunnykitchen.com/2014/03/02/15-minute-grate-able-and-melt-able-vegan-cheese/

The Most Amazing Potato Nachos

Makes justice to the name. It IS amazing. A healthier way to enjoy this adored Mexican dish.















Personal advice: be careful with the chillies and hot sauce if you're not used to eating super zingy foods. Be sure to remove chilli seeds to smooth things a bit.

I LIKE GETTING ORGANIZED
BEFORE STARTING

For a gluten-free version, use GF flour for the sauce (I suggest some starch like tapioca, like I did) and use some other meat-sub for the seitan.

From The "V" Word
Recipe: http://thevword.net/2015/06/the-most-amazing-potato-nachos.html

Autoimmune Protocol "Chocolate" Cake

This is an allergy-free cake. EVERYBODY can (and should) try this. I was a little worried aobut the carob because I usually don't like how it smells, but it was one of the best cakes I've baked so far, no kidding.

This comes from a blog that cooks AIP (Autoimmune Protocol). Free from processed sugars, no eggs, no nuts, no chocolate, no flour. A healthy mix of pumpkin puree (because they are here!), carob, plantains and banana! Use maple for the honey to make a fully vegan version (I did). If you don't have mace, ignore it.

TIPS:

Don't use ripe plantains, they will give too much of a banana flavour and will turn your cake into a banana bread for sure, I know my plantains! It MIGHT work with green bananas if you can't find plantains, but can't guarantee good results.

You can also sub raw cacao powder for the carob, but then it's not AIP anymore, if it's not an issue go for it.

Depending on your batter and banana sizes, you might have to bake longer, I needed 40 minutes!

From A Clean Plate
Recipe: http://www.acleanplate.com/recipe/aip-chocolate-cake/

Buckwheat Kasha

Excellent substitute for rice and also gluten-free. Make it vegan with a vegan butter.

TOASTING THE BUCKWHEAT

It took me more than 5 minutes to toast the groats before cooking them -- around 20, actually! But I believe there are just too many variables; if you soaked the groats, your kind of stove, the pan...

From Natasha's Kitchen
Recipe: http://natashaskitchen.com/2015/02/15/how-to-cook-buckwheat-kasha/

Best-Ever Veggie Burger

This is so DAMN good! The smoky taste is out of this world, I have to keep batches of these in the freezer. Without a doubt.

It paired gracefully with some mushroom spread and a gluten-free sandwich bun.

Made a vegan version using "chia egg" for the egg. I tried it oven-baked and I bet it was even better (I suck at frying and it's anyway healthier not to). It took ca. 40 min at 200°C flipping them halfway.

From The Kitchen
Recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-best-ever-veggie-burger-96967