Ginger Lemonade

I love to drink this through the cold and flu season. The lemon, ginger and apple cider vinegar have many health benefits with vitamin C, probiotics and inflammatory properties - overall they provide a nice boost to your immune system.

I make a few jars of this at the start of the week and then just grab one a day.

Ginger Lemonade

Ingredients:

3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp liquid stevia
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (with "the mother" for the probiotics)
1 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced
32 ounces of water

Directions:

Put all the ingredients in a 32 oz jar and add the water. Let sit in the refrigerator until ready to drink. The ginger flavors permeate the drink more the longer it soaks.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Having fallen in love with golden milk chia pudding last year, I can't believe I was this slow in trying chocolate chia pudding. Now that I have tried it, I am in love with this version, too. Some folks blend their pudding ingredients, but I like the consistency of the chia seeds as they remind me a bit of tapioca pudding. So I just mix mine up and keep in the fridge for a really good snack, addition to breakfast, or a dessert when you want something a little sweet.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups soy milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup

3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup chia seeds
pinch of salt
dash of cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

Pour the wet ingredients (soy milk, vanilla, and maple syrup) into a container big enough to hold 3 cups.

Add the cocoa powder, chia seeds, salt and cinnamon and whisk vigorously to completely combine. Let it sit in the refrigerator to set (takes a few hours). Check the pudding a couple of times while it is setting up to give it another stir and then once it has thickened, enjoy!

If you use a large mason jar, you can shake it instead of stirring.

Vegan Cheeze Crackers

We love this recipe from Minimalist Baker and make these crackers all of the time for snacking, adding to soups, etc. I have adapted the recipe just a tad and these come out great every time. They are addictive and really do taste like the cheez-it crackers you can buy at the store. I often double the recipe so they will last a bit longer, as my family tends to eat them up quickly.

It is kind of cool to be able to make your own crackers at home and is a fraction of the cost of buying them prepackaged, which is a win-win.

Vegan Cheeze Crackers

Ingredients:

4 tbsp nutritional yeast
6 tbsp corn meal
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp Earth Balance Spread (or your favorite vegan margarine)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup cold water (or more; add water a little at a time until a ball of dough forms)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the dry ingredients to a food processor and pulse to combine. Then add the vegan margarine, olive oil, and a 1/4 cup of the cold water. Pulse to combine and add more water a little at a time until a ball of dough forms. You don't need to knead the dough, but use your hands to shape it into a disk.

Put the dough on a floured surface and roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness. Use a pizza cutter to cut out small shapes such as triangles or squares. I use a chopstick to make a small indent in the middle of each cracker. Put the crackers on baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.

Baked Ziti

This recipe has been a new family favorite for the past year. With the tofu and meatless meatballs it has a good amount of plant based protein. It works well as leftovers, too. We like to open a second jar of spaghetti or pizza sauce and add a bit more to each serving when we reheat it.

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

16 oz ziti - penne works too (cooked aldente according to the package directions)

1 block of firm tofu (about 16 ounces)
2  tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup plain unsweetened soy milk
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 -1 cup vegan parmesan cheese
3 cups pasta sauce (25 oz jar)
vegan meatballs (I have been using the ones from Trader Joe's - Gardein has some good ones too)

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain, rinse and set aside. Pre-heat oven to 350. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Make the tofu ricotta by combining the tofu, lemon juice, plain soy milk, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast. It works great to pulse the ingredients in a blender or food processor.

Toss the pasta with the tofu ricotta and then stir in the vegan parmesan cheese. Add one cup of the pasta sauce and mix with the noodles. Put the mixture in the prepared casserole dish. Top with your favorite meatless meatballs and pour over the remaining pasta sauce. Cover and bake for 45 minutes in the oven. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies come out soft and chewy with a nice balance of pumpkin and spice. I made them this week for a back to school lunch or snack option.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup vegan sugar
1 tbsp flax meal
2 tsp molasses

1 1/2 cups flour (I have used a gluten free mix before and they still turn out great)
1 3/4 cups rolled oats
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the wet ingredients and the sugar in a large bowl (margarine, pumpkin, sugar, flax meal and molasses).

Add the dry ingredients and fold them in until everything is combined (flour, oats, salt, soda, cinnamon, and allspice).

Drop rounded spoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. These cookies hold their shape in the oven, so I like to lightly press them with the back of a spoon before baking.

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is my husband's favorite dessert, and I have worked on perfecting a vegan carrot cake recipe forever. This recipe finally checked all of the boxes for carrot cake. It is moist but not oily (some vegan carrot cakes have this problem), sweet with a hint of warm spices and classic carrot cake flavor. The coconut milk does not add coconut flavor - letting the carrot cake remind you of ones from past omni-days.

Vegan Carrot Cake

Cake Ingredients:

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

2 cups grated carrots (4-5 medium sized carrots)

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
pinch of nutmeg

1 cup of coconut milk (full fat, mix before measuring)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of water

Cake Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Cover the raisins with hot water, and set aside to plump up while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Peel and grate the carrots.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. You want to mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg.

In another bowl mix the wet ingredients. These are the carrots, coconut milk, vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just mixed. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Let the cake completely cool in the pan and then frost with your favorite vegan cream cheese or vanilla frosting.

This is the frosting that I like.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Frosting Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese (Tofutti and Daiya both have good cream cheese)
1/4 cup vegan margarine
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups natural powdered sugar
1 - 2 tbsp water

Frosting Directions:

Set out the margarine and the cream cheese to let them come to room temperature. Put them in a bowl and add the vanilla, 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar, and 1 tbsp of the water. Beat with an electric mixer until it is smooth and well combined. Add more powdered sugar a 1/2 cup at a time and continue to beat with the mixers until the sugar is incorporated and the frosting is light and fluffy. Add a little water as needed to get the consistency you want.

Zucchini Noodles with (Mostly) Raw Creamy Alfredo Sauce

This turned out so much better than I expected. I ate two huge bowls and was very happy. Surprisingly a big pile of zucchini noodles filled me up and kept me satisfied for the evening. I have had this a few times since I first tried it and can say it is now a part of my regular recipe rotation; I like it especially in summer when light foods are most appealing.

Zucchini Noodles with Raw Alfredo

Ingredients:

2 medium sized zucchini

1/2 ripe avocado
2 tbsp hemp seeds
3 tbsp tahini (you can buy this with toasted or raw sesame seeds)
2 tbsp Bragg liquid Aminos (could substitute soy sauce or coconut aminos)
1 clove garlic
1/4 of a large fresh tomato
1/4 cup water
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast

Directions:

Wash the zucchini and cut off the ends (throw the ends in your blender with the other sauce ingredients). Spiralize the zucchini (you can also use a vegetable peeler to make long strips of zucchini if you don't have a spiralizer), and keep the core of the zucchini to add to the sauce mix as well. Sprinkle a little salt on the zucchini and set aside while you make the sauce.

Blend the sauce ingredients until smooth. This includes the ends and middle of the zucchinis, avocado, hemp seeds, tahini, bragg, garlic, tomato, water and nutritional yeast. Pour the sauce over the zucchini and add some cracked pepper and extra hemp seeds.