Tag: vegetarian

Recipes, Uncategorized

Raspberry Breakfast Bars

veganlivingbydanielle

Raspberry Breakfast Bars

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 3 Tbsp water)
  • 2 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
  • 3/4 cup flour (I used rice flour, substitute other gluten free flour if desired)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 2 Tbsp apple sauce
  • 1/4 cup hemp seeds
  • 1/2 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
  • 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips

Raspberry Breakfast Bars Ingredients

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 8 x 8 cake pan or muffin tin with parchment paper or muffin papers.
  2. Drain and rinse chickpeas. Add the chickpeas and water to a sauce pan. Place on the stove and cook on low for 15 min. Then drain and allow chickpeas to cool for 5 minutes.
  3. While chickpeas are cooking and cooling, continue with the remaining directions.
  4. Make your flax egg. Whisk 1 Tbsp flax egg with 3 Tbsp water and let stand for 5 minutes.Raspberry Breakfast Bars Flax Egg
  5. In a bowl, mash the two bananas with a fork until all the lumps are gone.
  6. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt.
  7. Once chickpeas are cooled, mash them in another mixing bowl with a fork until smooth.
  8. Add bananas, chickpeas, flax egg, apple sauce, and maple syrup to a food processor or blender. (I use a manual food processor that works pretty well. Mixing with a wooden spoon in a mixing bowl works well too.) Raspberry Breakfast Bars Food Processor
  9. Once smooth, add in dry ingredients and mix/blend more until smooth.
  10. Mix in hemp seeds, raspberries, and chocolate chips with a spoon.
  11. Scoop batter into the pan or tins.
  12. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. It might be longer, periodically check how they are baking by inserting a toothpick skewer into the middle.
  13. Remove from oven when it’s thoroughly baked and place on a cooling rack.
  14. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.
  15. Allow to completely cool before storing in Tupperware in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Lifestyle Tips, Uncategorized

Tips for Cooking Beans

veganlivingbydanielle

Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit…

It’s a topic we don’t talk about enough, but there are ways to cook or consume beans to reduce uncomfortable gas. Beans cause gas because they are complex carbs and have sugars (healthy sugars) that cause gas as they break down in our digestive tract.

**Note: This post is not intended to replace a visit to a medical specialist. I am not licensed or certified to give medical advice. This list contains suggestions that I have personally found useful.**

  1. Progressively add beans into your diet so your body can get used to digesting them.
  2. Avoid eating fruit or other sugary foods at least two hours before or after consuming beans. Adding different types of sugars makes digestion harder and produces more gas.
  3. Don’t just drain canned beans, but rinse them thoroughly.
  4. Chew your food slowly. The process of digesting foods begins in your mouth. The more the food is broken down before entering your digestive tract, the less work has to be done by your stomach and intestines, where gas produces.
  5. Don’t have a meal that combines beans and potatoes. Potatoes also have sugars that conflict with the sugars in beans that makes digestion more difficult.
  6. Avoid cooking meals that combine beans with other proteins. Each type of protein requires different enzymes and they don’t play nicely together.
  7. Make sure your meal is made up by 75% veggies to aid digestion.
  8. Be aware of the types of beans you consume. Mung beans, lentils, and peas have high protein, and produce less gas.
  9. Drink herbal tea after your meal. Certain herbs can reduce uncomfortableness associated with gas. Teas with ginger, peppermint, and/or fennel work best. (Try these: Simply Balanced by Target and Traditional Medicinals.)
  10. Consider seeing a specialist.

 

sources:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/diana-herrington/pass-on-the-gas-7-ways-to_b_3080786.html 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228670/

 

Recipes, Uncategorized

Potato Leek Soup

veganlivingbydanielle

vegan-living-by-danielle-potato-leek-soup-ingredients.jpg

Ingredients:

  • 3 leeks, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 leafs of kale, stems removed
  • 1 Tbsp thyme
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 4 cups of broth
  • 2 medium potatoes, diced (peeled, if desired)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 drained can of chickpeas (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • chives (optional, garnish)

Directions:

  1. Chop white parts of the leeks. (I also use the very light green parts.) It is easiest to wash the leeks in a strainer after they are cut.
  2. In a soup pot, sauté the leeks and garlic over medium-low heat until slightly wilted (about 5 minutes).
  3. Remove kale leaf from the stem. Roughly chop the leafy part of the kale.
  4. Add the kale, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Add broth, diced potatoes, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil.
  6. Once boiling, reduce to low heat, add chickpeas, and cover.
  7. Once potatoes are soft, remove the pot from heat.
  8. Remove the bay leaves.
  9. Use immersion blender to blend soup until smooth.
  10. Alternative to using the immersion blender: allow soup to cool off to luke warm temperature, ladle into a blender, and blend in batches. Dump the blended batches into another container or directly into bowls.
  11. If desired, serve garnished with snips of chives.

Enjoy!

Vegan Living by Danielle | Potato Leek Soup

Recipes, Uncategorized

Easy PB Cookies

veganlivingbydanielle

Vegan Living by Danielle | Easy PB Cookies

These vegan, gluten-free cookies are super quick and easy to make. The ingredients are simple and healthy, and the results are amazing! My boyfriend is super picky and he loves these. He had one the other day and assumed they are loaded with sugar…SURPRISE! They aren’t. When I told him the only ingredients are peanut butter, maple syrup, almond flour/oat flour, and a sprinkle of sugar he was so surprised and had another!

I normally use almond flour for these cookies, but I was craving them the other day and didn’t have any almond flour left. I was not going out to the store for it either, so I experimented with ground oats. It worked just as well as the almond flour, and it’s cheaper! I used the same technique as my banana bread recipe: put 1 1/4 cup oats in the blender/food processor and grind until it forms a powder like flour. Substitute in the recipe for the almond flour.

Vegan Living by Danielle | Easy PB Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of almond/oat flour
  • 1/2 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter (if PB doesn’t have salt, add 1/4 tsp salt)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • a few Tbsp of unrefined sugar (to roll dough in)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, or use a stone cookie sheet like I have.
  2. Mix flour, peanut butter, and syrup with a wooden spoon until smooth.
  3. Take chunks of the dough and roll the dough in your palms to make 1-inch cookie dough balls.
  4. Put sugar on a plate and roll each cookie dough ball until covered in sugar.
  5. Evenly space the cookie dough balls on the cookie sheet.
  6. Squish the cookie dough ball down with a fork in an “x.”
  7. Bake for 8 minutes. They do not need more time or they will be very dry.
  8. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.
  9. Allow to cool completely on a plate.

Enjoy!

Recipes, Uncategorized

Corn Chowder

veganlivingbydanielle

I have missed chowder so much! A perfect mix between the New England and Rhode Island style chowders. Feel free to substitute more non-dairy milk for water and add extra cornstarch for a chowder that is more creamy.

 

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil or butter flavored coconut oil
  • 1 cup white onion, diced (about 1 small onion)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup celery, chopped (about 4-5 stalks)
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped (about 4-5 carrots)
  • 2 cups unsweetened, original non-dairy milk
  • 4 1/2 cups of canned sweet corn (about 28oz)
  • 2 cups potato, diced (about 1 medium potato. Peel potatoes if you prefer, I leave them on because a lot of the nutrients are there.)
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 tsp garlic
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Chowder Ingredients | Vegan Living by Danielle

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, over medium heat, sauté the onions in oil until soft.
  2. Once the onions are soft, add the water, celery, and carrots. Cook for 12 minutes.
  3. Add non-dairy milk, corn, potatoes, and spices. Cover and cook for 20 minutes over medium-low heat.
  4. Serve warm. Add salt and pepper to taste if desired.

Enjoy!

Meal Prep Tip: Let the chowder cool, stir, and portion into 8oz – 12oz Tupperware to take with you for lunch! I can normally eat the same thing for lunch for the whole week and not get tired of it, but if you like more variety, throw a couple of the Tupperwares in the freezer. Just be sure to leave about an inch or more of space because liquid expands when it is frozen and you don’t want to crack the Tupperware. Also, I have found that soup can look a little strange as it defrosts, so don’t be alarmed if it does. Stir it up and thoroughly heat in the microwave or on the stove.

Corn Chowder | Vegan Living by Danielle