Strawberry Peach Muffins

Delicious, healthy and vegan muffins using summer fruit.   This recipe can also be made as a bread in a loaf pan (cooking time will be doubled).   I prefer making them as muffins because they're already portioned and freeze better this way.

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Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Quick Oats
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2/3 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Vegan Butter (like Earth Balance), softened
1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1/3 Unsweetened Soy Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Pecans, finely chopped
1 Large Peach, peeled and diced small
1 cup Fresh Strawberries, hulled and diced small

Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a muffin pan, set aside.

Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl (flours, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon), set aside.

In another bowl add sugar, butter, applesauce, soy milk, vanilla, and pecans.  Whisk together until mixed.   Add dry ingredients to this and stir until just combined (you don't want to over mix).  Gently fold in the fruit.  Batter will be thick.

Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Nutrition Info: 165 calories, 6g fat, 2g fiber, 3g protein

Suggestions/Tips: 

- In lieu of oats you can use another 1/2cup of whole wheat flour or if you have rolled oats I'd recommend giving them a a few pulses in the food processor.
- You can substitute light brown sugar for half sugar
- For the applesauce I recommend buying a pack of the individual cups which are 1/2 cup.  This way you won't have to worry about a whole jar going bad if you don't use it.
- If you put the butter in the microwave to soften it, make sure you give it some time to cool a bit.  You don't want it to be scorching hot when you mix it with the other ingredients.
- I recommend dicing the fruit small, (about the size of a blueberry) and the totally should be about 1 heaping cup.

Couscous with Pine Nuts and Currants

This side dish is super easy to make yet seems sophisticated.  I created this recipe in an attempt to duplicate a delicious couscous Whole Foods had in their prepared foods section.  I used this Food Network recipe to adapt from and made it healthier and vegetarian (also vegan!) by using whole wheat couscous, vegetable broth, and Earth Balance vegan butter. 

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Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

2 tsp vegan butter (like Earth Balance)
1 small shallot, finely chopped (approx. 1/4 cup)
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup currants
1/4 tsp salt

Melt butter in a small saucepan.  Add chopped shallot and simmer for about 2-3 minutes, stirring a few times.

Add vegetable broth and bring to boil.  Once boiling remove from heat and add couscous.  Give it a quick stir and cover.  Let it sit covered for 10 minutes.

While it's sitting toast pine nuts.  Put the pine nuts in a small pan and cook over low-medium heat for about 3-5 minutes, until the nuts are fragrant. Shake the pan around a few times too.

 Lastly, add the pine nuts and currants to the couscous and stir to combine everything.

* TIP - You can buy the pine nuts and currants in the bulk section of Whole Foods or some supermarkets so that way you don't have to get more than need.

Nutrition Info (1/2 cup): 121 Calories, 5g fat, 1g fiber, 2g protein

Falafel Frenzy

Falafel, pita and hummus... three of my favorite things on a plate.  Of course traditional deep fried falafel is great but definitely not healthy.  Luckily I've finally created my own recipe for baked falafel which also happens to be vegan as well.  These will freeze well too so you can always have some ready to go!  Also see below for my favorite healthy store-bought falafel.

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Makes 10 patties

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup of diced onion
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley
1 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1-2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mash chickpeas in a bowl with fork until it's a crumbly mixture. Set aside.

Add garlic, onion and parsley to food processor and process until finely chopped and combined.

Next add the mashed chickpeas to food processor along with tahini, bread crumbs, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper. Process until combined, adding the water 1-2 Tbsp of water as needed. You may need to scrape down the sides with a spatula in between processing.

Once combined, empty into large bowl. Add the flour and mix, you should be able to form into large ball. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add a Tbsp of water. If it's too wet, add an additional Tbsp of flour.

Form into 10 small patties (approximately 2 inches). Place on baking sheet lightly greased with olive oil or cooking spray. Bake for 5-6 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.

Nutrition Info (2 patties): 96 calories, 3g fat, 6g fiber, 5g protein







Store Bought Falafel

My new favorite and top pic is by Falafel Republic.  These are very tasty and are also gluten-free and dairy-free. They get nice and crispy when cooked in the toaster making them a good substitute for the traditional fried falafel.  I've spotted these at Giant but the website also has a store locator.

My second pick is the Olive Valley falafel sticks.  These have a pretty good flavor and crisp up pretty well in the toaster.  They're also pretty low in calories and fat.  They also make them in round patties but those are uncooked so you would have to fully bake or fry them.  These guys were spotted at Whole Foods with the frozen foods.

Mashed Faux-tato

After hearing for a long time that cauliflower made a good substitute for mashed potatoes, I gave it try.  A little skeptical?  Of course.  But oh boy did that mashed cauliflower prove me wrong.  The texture is obviously less starchy, but close enough.  I also threw in some crushed garlic for added deliciousness!

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Serves 2

1 bag cauliflower florets (or 1/2 head)
2 tsp Earth Balance vegan butter
1/2 tsp jarred crushed or minced garlic or 1 frozen garlic cube
Salt and pepper to taste

Fill a medium to large pot with water and bring to boil.  Break up the large cauliflower florets in smaller pieces as this will help it soften faster.  Then add to boiling water and cook for 15 minutes.  Cauliflower should be tender and break apart easily.  Drain and reserve some of the water (1/2 - 1 cup is fine).   Return cauliflower to pot, add vegan butter, garlic, salt, pepper and a little of the reserved water.  Blend with an immersion blender, adding water as necessary to reach desired consistency.  Alternatively you can also blend in a food processor.

This will make approximately 2-3 cups depending on how much water you add.   I only used about 1/4 cup so that it had a thicker consistency.

Nutrition info (1/2 recipe): 84 calories, 3g fat, 5g fiber, 4g protein

Vegan Veggie Pizza

This pizza made with homemade whole wheat dough, topped with lots of veggies and vegan Daiya cheese shreds, which is the best melting vegan cheese I have found.  This would even be good without the cheese.

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Ingredients

1 recipe pizza dough (see below) or store bought
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 a zucchini, thinly sliced
1 small bell pepper, diced
1/2 a small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1 cup Daiya vegan shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

For the pizza dough I used the following recipe and halved it for one pizza and used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose.

Spray a 9x13 cookie sheet with cooking spray, spread dough onto the pan and place in oven for 5-8 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with sauce, veggies, and cheese.  Return to oven and bake until cheese melts and the edges of crust are lightly browned (approx 8-10 minutes).