Vegan/Gluten Free Coconut Pie

I dont know about the rest of you but with Christmas on the horizon I am craving all the christmas baking and goodies. Lucky for us we have the resources and people that can help us bake yummy goodies that fit within all sorts of different diet choices.  Later this week I will post a few more such Christmas friendly recipes :)

                                              Classic Vegan/Gluten Free Coconut Banana Pie

Ingredients: 

Crust: 

2 cups Brazil nuts 

1⁄4 cup shredded coconut 

5Lg pitted dates

3 TBSP coconut oil 

1⁄4 tsp sea salt

Filling: 

5 med ripe bananas 

3⁄4 coconut cream 

1Tbsp honey 

1 Tbsp lime juice 

Pinch of salt 

1⁄2 tsp vanilla

Topping: 

3⁄4 cup shredded coconut 

1/3 cup macadamia nuts 

2Lg pitted dates 

Pinch of salt

1. Combine nuts/dates and salt into processor, process until fine. Add coconut and coconut oil, process until well combined. Oil 9” pie plate with coconut oil and press crust mix along sides and bottom, place in fridge.

2. Blend all ingredients, until creamy, pour into pie crust set in fridge overnight or up to 8hrs.

3. Process nuts, dates and salt till fine. Add coconut, pulse and sprinkle evenly on top of pie and serve.

Compliments of Nichole G

Vegan Tomato Soup

Tis the season for soup!! Here is another great soup recipe to try from our very own Nichole G :)

Vegan Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes

 ½ cup sun dried tomatoes (soak for 30 mins)

 ½ cup macadamia nuts

 1 tsp sea salt

 ¼ cup fresh basil

1 tsp black pepper

 2 garlic cloves

4 cups hot water (or 3 cups hot water, 1 cup veg broth)

Put all ingredients in a blender blend until smooth.

Carrot Raisin Bran Muffins

These are wonderfully moist muffins that claim their 'healthy' points from all the bran in them :)
If you would like to do these wheat free I will add the recipe I used with spelt in brackets.

Carrot Raisin Bran Muffins

Preheat oven to 400 F

Combine first 10 ingredients in a bowl

1 1/2 c Flour ( or Spelt Flour)

1 1/2 c Natural Bran

1/4 c Wheat Germ  (or 1 3/4 c Spelt Bran)

1/2 c Brown Sugar

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 c walnuts (optional)

1 c raisins

In a separate bowl mix the following ingredients

2 eggs (beaten)

1/4c molasses

1/4c oil

1 1/2 c milk 

2 Tbsp vinegar

1c Grated Carrot 

Create 'well' in dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients.  Mix until just combined (for spelt you can mix a bit longer as it won't over mix as easily due to the low gluten)

Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way 

Bake at 400 for 20 Min.

Winter Delight Soup from Jen B

So this week has been a week of introductions and today's contribution comes from our regular contributor Jen B!  So you have now met all of our regular contributors Super Dave, Kate S, Nichole G and last but not least Jen B.  We will be adding a profile for Nichole and Jen hopefully within the month so you can hear a little about who they are and their thoughts on food and health.  Don't forget to  follow our blog (see sidebar) and to leave comments  - its encouraging to see you all droping by and hearing your feedback!

Winter Delight

Ingredients

1                                 Large white onion, grated

1                                 Granny smith apple, grated

6                                 Carrots, shredded

2 TBSP                     Butter

1                                 Large squash, cubed & roasted

1 BOX                       Vegetable stock

2 TBSP                     Sugar

1 TBSP                     Ginger

1/2 Tsp                     Salt

1/2 Tsp                     Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp                     Cayenne

1 C                           Cream

Directions

Heat pot @ med-high heat

Add butter, melt

Add onion, apple, carrots & 1/2 of stock

Stir, cook 10 mins

Add squash, broth, ginger, salt, cinnamon, sugar & cayenne

Bring to boil & boil for 10 mins

Simmer on med-low heat for 10 mins

Remove from heat

Put in a blender & blend or blend using a hand blender until smooth

Return soup to pot, med-high heat

Add cream, stir & warm

Enjoy!

Squash needs to be roasted before hand in the oven at 400 for about 15 mins

I usually toss the cubed squash in a bowl with olive oil, salt & pepper before I put it on a pan to roast

You can switch squash with pumpkin, if you want J

Introducing a New Contributor and Goji Zip Brownies

So I am super excited to introduce a new contributor to our blog, Nichole G.  She has been an amazing resource to me and many others at the club with her often gluten free or vegan but always super tasty recipes!!  When I first was going wheat free Nichole was the one that assured me that alternate diets did not mean flavour free.  To kick off her contributions here is a brownie recipe that looks absolutely divine.... I must go shopping today!

Goji Zip Brownies:

8” square pan

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups cashews

1 cup cocoa nibs

1 cup cocoa powder

 ½ cup pitted dates

 ½ cup cocoa butter /or coconut oil (melted)

 ¼ cup honey

¼ cup coconut cream

 2 Tbsp mesquite powder

 zest of a whole lemon

 1tsp of goji berry power (grind from goji berries)

 ¼ tsp salt (sea salt)

 ½ goji berries.

1.     Process cocoa nibs until fine, add cashews and process until a fine ground. Put in mixing bowl.

2.     Process dates and honey until smooth, no large chunks, leave in processor.

3.     Pour ground nibs and cashews into processor along with all other ingredients EXCEPT berries, process until combined.

4.     Oil with coconut oil a 8” square pan crumble mixture into pan (do not press down) sprinkle with Goji berries then press down so they set in the top of the brownie.

5.     Place in fridge for 1 hr or until hard. Eat at room temperature.

Homemade Hamburger Soup

Now when you think of health food, hamburger soup may not be the first thing that pops into your head but by my definition of 'health food' (whole, real foods) I think we can make it fit.  For you veteran cooks this may be old hat but I figured for those young GB folks that have recently moved out on their own - this may provide some inspiration.  Especially when they see how easy making soup from scratch can be.

Homemade Hamburger Soup

1 onion (med to large) diced

2-3 cloves of garlic crushed and minced

1 tbsp olive oil

Start to saute the onion and garlic over med heat until the onions are translucent and begin to brown

Add and brown

1 lb extra lean ground beef

Now normally (especially if using anything other than extra lean beef) you would drain the beef but I keep all the juices in the pot to help flavour the soup stock.

I then add virtually any and all veggies that I may have around.  This last soup I added

2 carrots diced

2 celery stocks diced

1 green pepper diced

1 red pepper diced

3 Roma tomatoes roughly cut

(get creative at this point!! I often add black beans as well but didn't have them on hand this time. If you have a favourite ingredient add a comment at the bottom of this post and share your inspirations!)

I saute all the veggies in the hamburger mixture starting with 'hardest' veggies and working my way up to the softest.  Usually its a minute or two between adding the next textured veggie.  This isn't mandatory, I just make this a practice so that my carrots are equally cooked with my peppers ext.

Next I fill the pot with water and calculate how much 

Beef Bullion (For my pot I use two containers but read the directions on your bullion)

And lastly I add seasonings!

This last part is really by taste so I hesitate to give measurements and such but I ALWAYS taste the soup broth after adding the bullion.  From there you can gauge if you will even need to add salt (usually not...)  As a side note try to find a bullion that is not just salt and food colouring ;) I have found a condensed gelatin bullion that is not as salty as others I have tried and adds some nice flavour.

Anyway back to spices...

For this soup I added oregano and rosemary with a pinch of sage as well as shake or two of my Montreal steak rub (Epicure has some great spice mixes that do not have any preservatives)

Good Luck!

I just realized that I didn't take a picture of the finished soup :( It was awesome though!