Cardamom Breakfast Cookies

These breakfast cookies are perfect with a cup of tea in the morning or for a nice, relaxing moment during the day.  Just the right little touch of sweetness, they are dense, crumbly and flavorful. Plus you don't even need to get out a mixer to whip them up, you just stir everything together and throw them in the oven. It's really nice having these ready to grab if i'm on the go or if I need a zen moment.  Seriously, with a cup of tea, they are heaven. Cardamom has magical calming powers! ;)

Recipe:

3/4t cardamom

1/4t cinnamon

1/2 cup almond flour or almond meal

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

4T coconut oil, melted

1 flax egg (1T ground flaxseed mixed with 3T water)

3T nut butter

3T maple syrup

1 cup oats

1/4t salt

1/2 cup golden raisins or chopped dates or dried apricots or a combination

1/4 cup chopped raw pecans (optional)

-Heat oven to 350* and spray a cookie sheet

-In a bowl, stir together coconut oil, maple syrup, peanut butter and flax egg.

-Add the cardamom and cinnamon and stir.

-Add the flours, oats, dried fruit, pecans and salt and stir to combine

 -Form cookie dough into balls and flatten a little bit with your hand into a cookie shape (these cookies will not spread out while they cook) and place on cookie sheet.

-Bake for 18 min (makes about 15 cookies) 

*these cookies are crumbly when they are warm, but firm up when cooled.

Hearty Carrot Lentil Soup

I try to cook a meal with lentils at least once a week because they are just so good for your body. This soup is thick and hearty and a great one to make when you barely have any groceries. Somehow I always have a bag of carrots (I guess because I make veggie stock on a weekly basis), and the rest of the ingredients are regular staples that we always have around. Give it a try on a cold day with a nice rustic slice of bread. It's really filling and hearty but wont weigh you down because the ingredients are so clean and healthy!

Recipe: 

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

8 peeled and chopped carrots

1t cumin

1t tumeric

1t coriander

1/2t paprika

1/4t cinnamon

2 cups red lentils

1 tomato chopped or 1 small can diced tomato

6 cups water or veggie broth

unsweetened coconut milk (or almond or soy)

cilantro and crushed red pepper for serving

-Chop and saute onion in olive oil over medium heat in large pot until translucent.

-Add minced garlic and spices. Stir around for a minute or two.

-Add carrots and saute for about 10 min, stirring frequently.

-Add water (or broth), tomato and lentils.

-Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to simmer for 20 min or until lentils are tender.

-Add salt and pepper to taste

-Carefully pour hot soup into high speed blender and blend until smooth.

-Pour back into pot and add some milk so thin to your desired consistency. 

-Serve with cilantro and crushed red pepper.

Holiday Almond Molasses Cookies

These were inspired by Spiced Chocolate Molasses Buttons which look like the peanut butter cookies that have the Hershey's kiss in the middle but are chocolaty and are rich with yummy molasses. I was going to add Carob so they kept closer to the taste of the Button cookies but I decided it wasn't needed...so they became more of a chewy (and crunchy!) gingerbread cookie and boy are they YUMMY!!

I am the kind of person that needs to always have cookies available in the house and I don't like to bake with refined sugar or butters. I'm always re-doing cookie recipes that look delicious with ingredients that I feel good about. Coconut oil, maple syrup, molasses, cinnamon, ginger....these are all ingredients that are good to our bodies! maple syrup has minerals and antioxidants (1T has 2% of our calcium need!), molasses has even more calcium and tons of iron, Coconut oil is mostly saturated fat so it is a bit contraversial. This is my opinion: It has antimicrobial, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties and is a plant based source of saturated fat which out body is able to process more efficiently as energy. Fat is essential to our diet and this along with fat from nuts, seeds, avocado, and olive oil are my diet's plant based fat sources. Cinnamon can lower blood sugar levels, reduce heart disease risk factors, and has a plethora of other impressive health benefits. Ginger can act as an anti-inflammatory, has anti-nausea effects, lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels....it's one of the worlds healthiest foods! As for flours, I bake with whole wheat flour a lot, but spelt flour is even easier for our bodies to digest and has even higher mineral content.

Feel good about what you eat (even cookies!!)

Recipe: 

1 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup plus 2T almond flour

1T ground flaxseed

1t cinnamon

1/4t ground ginger

1/4t grated fresh ginger

3/4t baking soda

1/2t fine sea salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup molasses
1/2t vanilla

Whole almonds for the top after baked

-In small bowl mix together flaxseed with 3T water. set aside

-In large bowl mix together flours, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking soda and salt. Set aside

 -In separate mixing bowl (or with a hand-held mixer), beat together the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla. 

-Whisk the flaxseed mixture for about 30 seconds until gelatinous and add to mixing bowl. Beat until combined. Add grated ginger.

-Add dry ingredients into the wet on a low mixing speed until combined.

-Cover cookie dough with parchment (pressing down the parchment onto the dough in the bowl so it's sort of air tight) and place in fridge to firm up for about 30 min. 

-After 30 min set oven to 350*

-Roll cookie dough into 1T balls and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper (about 12 cookies to a sheet).

-Bake for 14 minutes.

-Remove from oven and press a whole almond into the center.

Purple Cabbage Sauerkraut with Ginger

So many great health benefits to Purple Cabbage Sauerkraut. Purple cabbage is already a superfood in it's own right but when you make it into a raw sauerkraut the health benefits sky rocket! In addition to Vitamins A and C and loads of Antioxidants that the cabbage already provides, fermenting it in its raw state turns it into a powerful probiotic. This means it's great for your gut and your digestive system, feeding it with good bacteria and fighting off harmful bacteria! Probiotics have even been known to help with mental clarity and mood stability! We're all familiar with Kombucha Tea...it's all the rage right now with it's wonderful probiotic benefits. Well this Sauerkraut recipe boosts all the same health benefits and it's easy to make at home (and delicious!)!

Recipe:

1/2 Purple Cabbage shredded

1/4 inch-1/2 inch fresh ginger root, grated

1t salt

big mason jar

-Add shredded cabbage, ginger and salt to a large bowl and mix it and squeeze it and mush it and massage it with your hands for a while (5-10 min). The cabbage will start to release a lot of water. 

-After you've massaged it for a while, transfer it to your big mason jar, packing it all down in there and pouring all the water the cabbage released over the top. 

-Place the screw top on the mason jar and place the mason jar on a plate (the plate is necessary because the jar will leak out purple juices over the next few days).

-Leave it on the counter, out of sunlight for at least 7 days. The Fermentation process will have started on about day 4, but the taste will continue to develop the longer you leave it. 

-Give it a taste on day 7 and see if it's delicious. If it's too mild a flavor, leave it for a little longer...

-Once the flavor is what you like, store in the fridge. 

**Look for ideas about how to eat this Sauerkraut on my IG page: @riverlovesplants

Whole Wheat Flax Bread with Pepita Seeds

Homemade bread fills your house with the most amazing smell.....mmmmmm......and there is nothing better than a slice of bread right out of the oven with (vegan) butter. I make two big loaves every two weeks because we go through about a loaf a week. You can make this recipe into two big loaves or three smaller ones, just divide the dough up into two or three bread pans after the first two rises.

Recipe: 

8-10 cups whole wheat flour (I usually use Bobs Red Mill Whole Wheat)

3/4 cup flax seed (I usually grind my flax seed before putting it in the recipe because it's easier for the body to absorb and makes for a less-seedy bread but grinding is optional)

3/4 cup raw pepita seeds

5 cups warm water

2 T salt

4 T honey (or coconut sugar or raw sugar)

2 T yeast (two packets)

-In a very large bowl add warm water, honey, yeast and salt and whisk until dissolved.

-Add in 8 cups of the flour, the flax and the pepita seeds. 

-Stir with wooden spoon until combined. If it's very sticky add a little more flour and start to knead. You're going to knead the dough (in the bowl because it's less messy!) for 10-15 minutes. Add in more flour (up to 2 additional cups) a little at a time if the dough starts to stick to your hands as you knead. When the dough stops sticking to your hands, you know you have enough flour. 

-After 10-15 min of kneading, cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm dry place to rise (I usually put in the oven or microwave but make sure they are off) for 1 hour. 

-After the first hour, punch down the dough and knead a few times then cover to rise again as you did before for 1 hour. 

-After second hour, divide dough into two or three even portions (depending on how many loaves you want to make). Spray your loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray and place dough in each one. press the dough down so it spreads over the whole pan and tuck down the sides with your fingers so the top of the loaf looks smooth. 

-Cover and let rise as you did before for 45 minutes. 

-After 45 min, set oven to 375* and bake for 30 min (27 minutes if using 3 loaf pans)

-Take bread out of oven and flip it out of the bread pans and set to cool on cooking rack.

White Bean, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

Otherwise known in our house as "Superfood Soup"

This soup is a great was to ring in the colder weather and give your immune system a boost!

Sweet potatoes provide not just the A Vitamin they are so well know for, but an abundance of antioxidants and vitamins!

 Kale is widely known as a superfood because it has a little bit of everything that our body needs...vitamins K, A, C, B6, calcium, iron, folate, protein...the list goes on and on!

 ...And we LOVE Beans in a vegan diet for their protein, but white beans like Cannellini Beans are supercharged with antioxidants which protect your body and your skin from free radicals. The destructive actions of free radicals have been linked to the development of a number of degenerative conditions and diseases.*

Recipe: 

1 medium yellow onion

2 cloves garlic diced

2 celery stalks cut up into small pieces

2 large carrots cut up into small pieces

1 tomato diced (or a 15oz can diced tomato)

6 cups water

1 bunch kale torn into small pieces, stems removed

1 medium to large size sweet potato

1 can white beans drained and rinsed

 

 -Heat a little olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. 

-Add onion, celery, carrot and cook for about 8 min. 

-Add in diced garlic and cook for a minute or two. 

-Add diced tomato and cook for about 3 minutes until everything looks caramelized

-Add 6 cups water, sweet potato and beans. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes or until sweet potato is tender. 

-Season with salt and pepper

-Add Kale and cook a few minutes, until kale is just tender. 

-Serve with a little bread or even over a grain like farro or rice to complete the protein of the white beans! YUM!

* source: www.healthwithfood.org

Butternut Squash, Apple and Almond Muffins

I recently made these muffins to help celebrate my mom's birthday! They are every bit as sweet and delicious as cupcakes but without any refined sugar!

Recipe: 

3 cups diced and roasted (or steamed) butternut squash

3/4 cup rice flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 whole wheat flour

1/2t salt

1/2t baking powder

1/2t baking soda

1/4t cinnamon

1/8t ground ginger

3T ground flaxseed

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup coconut oil

1t vanilla 

1 sweet apple peeled and diced

2T chopped almonds 

-Heat oven to 350*

-Line muffin tin with 12 baking cups

-Smash or process roasted (or steamed) butternut squash into puree and set aside

-In a medium size bowl, mix ground flaxseed with 9T warm water and set aside

-In large bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger.

-Whisk up flaxseed/water mixture for about 30 seconds until gelatinous. add squash puree, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla. 

-Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix. 

-Fold in chopped apple.

-Scoop muffin mix into each of the 12 muffin cups

-Top muffins with some of the chopped almonds

-Bake at 350* for 35 min or until toothpick comes out clean.