Artichoke Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of organic brown lentils

1 organic artichoke

8 cups of artichoke broth (or vegetable broth)

1 bag of frozen organic peas

1 bag of frozen organic green beans

2 stalks of organic fresh broccoli

1 organic yellow onion

1 teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sea salt 

1 teaspoon organic cayenne pepper

Directions:

To make the artichoke broth I first put 8 cups of water, whole artichoke, half onion, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper in stockpot.  Let the artichoke boil on med-high for 30 minutes or until artichoke is tender. Once artichoke is done remove artichoke and 1/4 cup of the broth to use for the vegetables later.  Remove all tough outer leaves from the artichoke until you reach the light green leaves.  Use a spoon to remove the fuzzy choke and purple and white leaves from the center of the artichoke.  Slice the artichoke into quarters and add to the broth.  Bring the lentils to simmer and cover for one hour, stirring occasionally. 

When lentils are just about done heat skillet to med-high with the 1/4 cup of the broth you set aside. Combine the other half of the onion, broccoli, green beans and peas.  Heat until desired tenderness. 

Stevia Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

If you haven't tried any of my recipes yet, definitely try these cookies!

Honestly, I was really hesitant to see how these were going to turn out since I used such a small amount of stevia.  I came across a conversion chart on eHow where you can substitute 1 teaspoon of stevia powder for a cup of sugar.  So I added the 2 pureed bananas for the natural sweet taste plus the pure maple syrup, which gave these cookies that perfect boost. I don't usually say this about my recipes, but these are by far the best cookies that I have ever had.  They are really moist and sweet!  Even my family said that they were amazing and couldn't believe that they were sugar free.  

Ingredients:

(yields 20 medium cookies)

1 tablespoon flaxseed + 3 tablespoons of water*

6 tablespoons softened earth balance butter + 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 bananas pureed

1 teaspoon stevia in the raw extract

1 1/2 cup all purpose baking flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon grade b pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips (dairy, nut & soy free)

What to Do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  *Mix flaxseed and water and set in fridge to gel. Puree the banana and set aside. Combine the softened butter and oil together until fluffy.  Add the stevia and banana to the butter/oil mix.  Beat in flaxseed mix, almond extract, maple syrup, and the remaining dry ingredients.  Lightly grease baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  

Blissful Smoothie

Having a diet rich in antioxidants can help your mind and body, feel and live the best.  

Cacao nibs are known for having high amounts of antioxidants, which help skin elasticity and brain health.  They have been recognized by nutritionists for cognitive, mood and bliss enhancement as well as preventing cancers.  Chocolate is a brain food but the benefits depend on how and if it's processed.  Cacao beans untouched and unprocessed are the best.  If chocolate is desired, it would be a lot healthier to make your own chocolate from the cacao nibs than to buy processed chocolate with ingredients that contain more sugar and dairy fat than cacao beans.  The cacao beans are also very high in magnesium and low in calcium, so it goes better in the body when balanced with a source of calcium.  Many people eat chocolate with milk, so I wanted to point out the almond milk which contains 50% more calcium than dairy milk does and contains a high amount of vitamin E (also a great source of antioxidants). I always recommend people to try mangos in their smoothies.  My reason is that mangos are also brain foods containing omega-3 and -6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant vitamins A, C and E.

Ingredients

1 mango, 2 ripe bananas, 1 tablespoon cacao nibs and 2 cups almond milk.

Cinnamon Breakfast Date Bread

Through experimentation with dates I've realized that the only way I like them is if they are baked, otherwise I find them to be extremely too sweet.  As you will see below I only needed to use 4 tablespoons of agave because of the dates sweetness.  This bread I found perfect for breakfast.  Tastes great with either almond butter or apple butter on top and a cup of warm chai.  

Ingredients

2C organic spelt flour

1C + 1T original almond milk

dash of sea salt

1/4t baking soda

1T organic ground cinnamon

5 dates (diced)

4T agave

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease loaf pan with olive oil or use non-stick.  Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.  In separate bowl mix the milk and agave.  Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until blended.  Fold in diced dates.  Bake for  approximately 25-30 minutes or until center has cooked thoroughly.

Plain & Simple Vegan Super Moist Pumpkin Bread

Autumn is just about here, the air is cooler and leaves are beginning to fall.  What better way to start out the season than to make pumpkin bread.  I made this bread for my family Sunday night and it was devoured...gone within the hour!  One man, a 2 year old and 11 month old ate the whole thing.  Since I'm a new vegan the pumpkin bread below is the first pumpkin recipe I've ever made without dairy products.  I also substituted stevia instead of granulated sugar, since I don't use that in my baking either.  This pumpkin bread is plain & simple!  The texture is evenly moist with a crunch from the toasted pumpkin seed.  I have an alternate recipe for this pumpkin bread which is a pumpkin spice cake-bread with cinnamon toasted pumpkin seed, but that will be in another post.  Keep checking back for more recipes! 

Ingredients

3 cup organic spelt flour

1/2 cup Stevia Extract In The Raw

1 tsp organic ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp organic ground nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

15oz can organic pumpkin puree

1/2 cup Silk vanilla almond milk

1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toast 1/4 cup organic pumpkin seeds on baking sheet for about 15 minutes.  In a large bowl, stir together the flour, stevia, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.   Add the pumpkin puree, oil and almond milk, and mix until all the flour is absorbed. Bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Moringa Dandelion Green Smoothie

An official remedy for disorders???  Something that will purify your blood, treat infections and/or disease among so many other things....well dandelions and moringa help cleanse your body.  I'm not a doctor but from all the research I've done and all the herbalist I've spoke with they have vouched for dandelions...and yes, these are the "weeds" in your yard.  Just make sure your yard hasn't been sprayed or chemically treated.  The whole plant can actually be used from the flower to the root, but for this simple smoothie we will just use the leafs.  To get the most amazing nutritional benefits from your food try them raw.  They are bitter, which is why I prefer them in a smoothie with fruit to offset the bitter taste.  

What about potassium?  Potassium is used in penicillin in order to fight infection.  With that being said add moringa to your smoothie instead of spending money on a pharmaceutical drug that has other "unknown" ingredients in it.  Moringa is a vastly growing popular herb that contains about 41% potassium per gram.  That's about 4 bananas per tablespoon of Moringa check it out: MORINGA

So what's in this purifying smoothie?

Ingredients:

1 handful organic dandelion (chopped)

2 organic bananas

1/2 organic mango

2 cups alkaline water

1 tablespoon organic Moringa

Delectable Coconut Kamut Stir-Fry

This is something quick and easy you can whip up for your family.  Instead of using bleached flour high in gluten make the decision to use a low gluten nutritious wheat.  Kamut is a wild ancient grain and is part of the wheat family.  It originated from Egypt, also known as Ancient Kemet, and today grows in Montana.  Since the wheat is low in gluten it is usually more tolerable for people who have gluten allergies and is easier digested than any other common wheat.  Fortunately it has been able to stay away from being hybridized, thus making it more nutritious.  Some of the nutritional benefits of eating Kamut is the high content of minerals such as iron, calcium, and potassium.  Kamut also contains about 40% more protein and 60% more amino-acids.

Ingredients:

1 organic zucchini (cut into 1-inch long thin sticks)

2 organic broccoli stalks (cut off the florets to use)

1/2 organic yellow onion (sliced)

1 package sliced organic crimini mushrooms

3 organic Roma tomatoes (sliced)

6-8 sliced organic black pitted olives

1/4 cup organic extra-virgin olive oil

6 cups spring water

1 box organic Kamut spiral noodles

1 can organic coconut milk

1 teaspoon organic thyme

sea salt & cayenne pepper to taste

For this delectable dish, start off by heating the water on high to prepare for your Kamut noodles.  While waiting for the water to boil cut up all the veggies.  Put the Roma tomatoes and black olives aside to add on top of the pasta later.  If water is boiling now, add Kamut noodles and put on low-med heat for 6-8 minutes.  For the stir-fry, heat the wok on med-high with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Once wok is sizzling a bit throw the veggies and stir.  Saute' for no longer than 5 minutes for slight crunchy veggies.  Add more olive oil if needed (just don't over do it).  Once removed from burner add sea salt & cayenne to taste.  When the noodles are tender remove from burner and drain water.  Add the coconut milk and thyme to noodles. Combine meal and enjoy!

Delicious Triple Banana Mango Smoothie

A couple of days ago co-workers kept telling me about the smoothies that they sell at McDonalds and how they are "so good."  Well, I don't eat or drink anything from McDonalds, nor do I stop by there.  My co-workers know this about me, which makes them try and push me even more to go....typical!  On my way home from work I started craving a mango smoothie.  Only makes sense right, since people were talking about them all day long.  So I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up one organic mango and three ripe organic bananas.  I wanted this smoothie to be 3 times as thick and extra sweet.  Now for those who know me I have been drinking smoothies daily for the past two months.  I always throw greens in them, but tonight I wanted something sinful!  In order to get that perfect cold smoothie I was wanting I cut the mango and bananas up, put them in separate freezer-safe containers and let them freeze for 30 minutes.  Once the time was up I put it all in a blender with 1/4 cup of Silk vanilla almond milk and pressed the smoothie button. The taste was amazingly sweet and the consistency had just the right thickness to be considered deliciously filling.

Veggie Vegan Tacos

A typical dinner night at the saavy vegan momma's house. Yummy & delicious, quick & easy!  Really what more can you ask for when you have two kids screaming, getting into things and running around LOL.  So this is exactly what's below.  No short-cuts needed!  Comments welcome on additions and/or substitutions to this amazing dish!

Ingredients

Organic Romaine Leafs

1 Organic Haas Avocado

1/4 Organic Red Onion

10 Organic Grape Tomatoes

1/4 Organic Yellow Pepper

1/4 Organic Red Pepper

1 can Organic Garbanzo Beans

Organic Spinach

Sea salt (as needed)

These are folded up like tacos.  Instead of using tortillas, we are using the romaine leafs which work perfectly!