Double Chocolate Muffins

 This recipe started from Veggie and the Beast. The changes we made are indictated with an *

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon flax meal *
• 3 tablespoons warm water
• 3/4 cup black beans (rinse and drain well, if from a can)
• 2 TBS applesauce *
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• ½ cup cane sugar
• 1 cup almond milk, room temp
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cup oat flour *
• ¼ cup high-quality cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup white chocolate chips (allergen free and vegan friendly) *

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine the flax, water, black beans, applesauce, maple syrup, cane sugar, almond milk and vanilla in a blender or food processor, and process until mostly smooth.
3. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt to the processor, and pulse until just incorporated. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips, and stir the remaining chips into the batter.
4. Divide batter among 12 well-greased muffin liners, and sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Carrot Muffins

 This recipe started from Natural Nurturer . Our changes are indictated with an *

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp ground flax meal
• 5 tbsp water
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce 
• 1 cup cooked and cooled green lentils about 1/3 cup dry. 
• 1/4 cup applesauce * 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or your favorite milk of choice
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour *
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt  
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1/2 cup raisins *
  

  Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 ℉ and line a 12-hole muffin tin with liners. Set aside
  • Combine flax meal and water in a small bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes to let it "gel". This will form a "flax egg" and work as a binding agent in the muffins.
  • After the "flax egg" has has a chance to gel, add it to a blender along with the maple syrup, applesauce, lentils, vinegar, almond milk, and vanilla.
  • Blend until mixture is smooth.
  • Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and process until just mixed.
  • Finally, fold in grated carrots and chocolate chips (if using).
  • Portion batter into prepared muffin tin and top with extra chocolate chips if desired.
  • Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  • Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy and let cool completely and store leftovers in an air-tight container in fridge or freezer.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

We are renovating our kitchen for the next couple of weeks and looking for easy breakfasts that freeze. This recipe starts from skinnyfitalious but we made changes to fit our needs. The changes are marked with *

Ingredients

• 15 ounces chickpeas drained
• 2 TBS flax meal and 6 TBS warm water , mixed together and allowed to rest for 10 minutes *
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sunflower butter creamy *
• 1/3 cup Gluten Free Rolled Oats
• 1/3 cup sugar *
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup raisins *
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon *

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a muffin tin with muffin liners or greasing it well with oil. 

2. Place all the ingredients except the raisins into a food processor or blender. Blend on high until smooth. 

3. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl and fold in the raisins. Fill the muffin cavities 3/4 of the way full with the batter.

4. Bake at 350 F 20 minutes or until slightly brown and a toothpick can be removed from the center clean. 

5. Let the muffins sit in the pan 5 minutes before gently removing and transferring to a wire baking rack. 

6. Store muffins in the refrigerator 7-10 days and in the freezer up to 60 days. 

12/28-1/1/2021 menu

 This week's menu is

Monday: Broccoli Cheddar Soup We added a drained and pureed can of chickpeas for a little extra protein and omitted the coconut oil in the aquafaba cheddar. This was served with Engine 2 Corn Muffins 

Corn Muffin recipe
1 1/4 cup oat flour
1 1/4 cup corn meal ground to flour
3 TBS flax
1 cup water
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup maple syrup
Directions: allow flax and water to set for 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Mix together the remaining ingredients. Makes 12 muffins. Bake for 18 minutes.

Tuesday: A birthday celebration night!!!

Wednesday: Quick Pasta E Fagioli
We used dried Black eye peas and used this recipe for today and Friday. We didn't have zucchini, so we used butternut squash and added mushrooms.

Thursday: Buffalo Cauliflower Wings with Vegan Ranch Dressing we used chickpeas instead of cashews. These are some of the best cauliflower wings we have ever had.

Friday: Tacos with Collard Wraps using black-eyed peas as our protein for New Year's Day. The citrus slaw was wonderful. It made the taco.

Our kitchen is being renovated so there won't be any menus for 2 weeks... 

12/21-12/25

 Monday: Mushroom Stew

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Moroccan chickpea stew 

Thursday: Buffalo Chickpea Burgers with slaw and a salad

Friday: Chili We omitted the meat and even the beyond meat and added a little quinoa.

Christmas at my parents. We have no idea what they are preparing. We pray each and everyone of you have a blessed holiday filled with joy, love, peace and miracles.

12/14-12/18 menu

 This week's menu is as follows

Monday: Hearty tomato, bean and veggie soup

Tuesday: Potato Leek Soup We add a can of white beans and puree them instead of the soy milk

Wednesday: Shawarma chickpeas 

Thursday: Jackfruit BBQ sandwich . We are also have baked beans with this meal.

Friday: Mushroom Tacos

12/7-12/11 menu

 Monday: Roasted Tomato  and Sweet Potato Soup

We don't blend it but have it more stew like.

Dr Neal Barnard’s Cookbook for Reversing Diabetes
Page 119

Makes 4 Servings
1 ½ cup peeled, quarter onion (roughly 1 large onion)
4 cups cubed sweet potato (roughly 1-1 ¼ pounds before peeling)
4 cups (about 1 ½ pounds) quartered Roma or other tomatoes, juices squeezed out
1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 ¼-2 ½ cups water
¼ cup chopped fresh basil (optional)
Preheat the oven to 450 F
In a large baking dish, combine the onion, sweet potato, tomatoes, basil, oregano, vinegar,
molasses, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, stirring a couple of
times, until the sweet potatoes are softened and the mixture is becoming caramelized. Transfer
the vegetables and any juices they’ve released in the pan to a medium soup pot, add 2 ¼ cups of
the water and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, use an immersion blender to puree.
(Alternatively, you can transfer everything to a blender to puree). Blend to the desired
smoothness, using the additional ¼ cup of water if needed. Stir in fresh basil, if using, and serve.
Serving Idea: Try adding ½ to 1 cup of cooked brown rice and pureeing for a thicker, heartier
soup.
Idea: Leftover of this soup make a fantastic pasta sauce!
My note: I added Great Northern Beans.

Tuesday: girls' night out

Wednesday: Mushroom Gyros with Patatosalata potato salad (we used the liquid from jarred olives instead of oil and redue the salt)

Thursday: vegan lasagna
We use gluten free noodles, vegan cheese whether it be store bought mozarella or aquafaba. We didn't add the beyond meat.

Friday: Southwest Mac and Cheese  Bake

11/30-11/4 menu

 We don't use oil. If a recipe meal recipe calls for oil we use the liquid from our olive jar and not add salt.

 This week's menu includes:

Monday: White Bean Vegetable Soup

Tuesday: Last of the leftovers, Shepherd's Pie 

2 cups green beans, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, diced
1 red bed pepper, diced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, season to taste
leftover bean gravy
leftover stuffing for the top.

directions: water saute until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the gravy. Pour the veggie mix into a pie pan. Top with stuffing. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Wednesday: Beet Falafels with Harissa roasted vegetables

Harissa Spiced Vegetables 

Dehydrator time: 1 1/ 2 hours
Equipment required: dehydrator

Ingredients:
1 1/ 2 cups cauliflower or broccoli florets
2 cups diced zucchini
1/ 2 bunch baby carrots or 3 regular carrots, peeled and cut into halves
2 red peppers
2 tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp cold-pressed olive oil
1 tsp harissa spice
1/ 3 cup almond meal
1/ 2 tsp sea salt
1/ 4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until all the vegetables are coated in the spice and almond flour. Spread onto a dehydrator sheet and dry at 115 ° F for 1 1/ 2 hours. Or bake at 375 for 30 minutes

May, Megan (2015-08-10). Raw Organic Goodness (Kindle Locations 3297-3305). Fair Winds Press. Kindle Edition.

Thursday: Vegetable pizza with a super salad
We make a gluten free crust and top with vegan cheese or aquafaba mozzarella
Aquafaba Mozzarella
1/4 cup cashews*
2/3 cup aquafaba (chickpea brine)*

1/3 cup water
2 tbsp tapioca flour (starch)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp refined coconut oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste*

Blend all ingredients in a high powered blender.  It will be a really thin liquid.  Pour into a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring fairly frequently.  (Ideally stir frequently but I was cleaning my blender at the same time so you can get away with a break every now and again.)  The mixture will become lumpy on the way to becoming smooth.  Just keep stirring and have faith.  It will take a few minutes.  Once it thickens and becomes smooth and pulls away from the pan while stirring it is good to use.  The mixture can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.

Friday: Vegetable Fajitas

11/23-11/27 menu

 This week's menu includes

Monday's soup is Vegan Lentil Soup

Tuesday's Taco is black bean, lettuce, tomato, salsa and guacamole

Wednesday's Mediterranean is a pasta dish which is altered to become vegan using chorizo seasoned chickpeas and a pinenut garlic parmesan cheeze. For the dressing we used the liquid from the olive jar instead of olive oil. We also added a 1/2 cup of sliced olives. Next time we will also add artichoke hearts and maybe sliced kale.

Chorizo seasoning 

1 small onion diced

3 garlic cloves

2 tsp Mexican oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp Spanish paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

pinch of ground cinnamon

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

saute the vegetables, add the spices and vinegar, and then marinate the chickpeas in the mix for at least an hour. Add it with the chickpeas to the cooked pasta.

Pine nut garlic parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
salt to taste
Blend in food processor

Thursday's American Thanksgiving menu is for meat eaters and vegans

Violife cheese platter with gluten free crackers

Cream cheese ball We substituted violife cream cheese and cheddar in this recipe.

Turkey and gravy

Chickpea cutlets

Bean gravy

GF vegan Stuffing with beyond meat Italian sauage and veggies.

Cranberries relish

Green bean Casserole

Vegan Cheesecake

a friend made a vegan pecan pie!!!

Drinks we had sangri, soy nog, lemonade and tea.

Friday will be leftovers. If there aren't any leftovers, maybe a pot of chili.

11/17-11/20 Menu

 Menu planning is something done every week for the evening meal and thought we would share our menus. We try to have soups on Mondays, Tuesday is Taco Tuesday, Wednesday a Mediterranean dish, Thursday an American dish and Friday is Southwest dish.

Monday's soup is an Italian Lentil Soup

Tuesday's Taco is from the blue zone

Wednesday's Mediterranean dish is roasted veggies with chickpeas over turmeric rice
Turmeric rice
1 cup rice
2 cups broth
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 TBS lemon juice

Thursday 's American dish is B&B Burgers with cole slaw and sweet potatoes

Friday's SW dish is SW Quinoa 

For breakfast we eat steel cut oats with a cup of shredded kale, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup cherries. For lunch we have a large salad and leftovers from the night before or  use our friend Jyl's recipe for chickpea salad 

Chickpea salad

1 can garbanzo beans, drained

1/2 cup finely diced celery

1/4 cup finely sliced green onions

Garlic powder (to taste -  used 3 shakes)

1 tsp lime/lemon

1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise

salt (if desire, I did not use any)

Mash chick peas with a fork, or better. yet - put in a food processor and pulse a couple of times - break them up but don't make them mushy.  Add remaining ingredients and mix.