About Me

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I have a health ministry for friends, family, and health lovers world-wide. I'm totally into all-natural and avoid chemicals, food additives, etc. even in my cosmetics. I am working toward eating Vegan, Organic, and raw as much as possible (my family too). I'm married, and have two teen daughters that I homeschooled up until high School and two grown step kids. Optimal Health - God's Way ".....and the fruit thereof shall be for meat (FOOD), and the leaf for MEDICINE." Ezekiel 47:12 KJV

Monday, December 29, 2014

Vegan Baked Beans recipe in rice cooker (dairy, gluten, egg, soy, and refined sugar free)

Delicious! I'm not even a fan of baked beans, but I love these! Since it was my first time making these, I only used half the recipe with beans that I had previously cooked.

Serves 6ish
4 cans navy beans or 3 cups dried beans cooked
Coconut oil for sautéing
1 large yellow onion, cut into medium dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ketchup (Organicville has no refined sugar)
1/2 cup molasses
2 TBS coconut palm sugar
2 TBS maple syrup
1 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup yellow mustard or 1 tsp ground mustard 
2 tsp Colgin liquid smoke
2 tsp sea salt
pepper to taste

If you are using dried beans, soak them overnight and then boil until tender, 3-4 hours. For canned beans, simply read on.

Turn rice cooker to "on" setting and add coconut oil. Add onions to rice cooker and cook until they begin to soften, then add the garlic, stirring well.  Be careful that your garlic does not burn. Add the ketchup, molasses, sugar, syrup, broth, vinegar, mustard, and liquid smoke.  Stir to combine.  Add the beans. Season with salt and pepper.  Close the cooker. Stir occasionally. Allow to cook until the sauce has reduced to a delicious thick coating on the beans and the beans are soft.  Taste after about 1/2 hour to check the seasoning.  You might find you need a little more broth, vinegar, sugar, or molasses.  Adjust as necessary and continue cooking, tasting every 15 minutes or so.  Remember your flavors are going to concentrate as the mixture cooks down, so use a restrained hand when cooking. 
P.S. Use as many organic ingredients as possible.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Raw Vegan Avocado Dip recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

This is amazing! My friend Kerry made this for a charity party we hosted, and I couldn't stop eating it!

I made it tonight and didn't have any black olives so I added organic black beans (with the black beans it's not 100% vegan but still close).

I also used Culantro instead of Cilantro, which I ended up loving.

If you have fresh lime juice, add that also in addition to the lemon in the recipe. So good!

We ate it as a meal with organic blue corn tortilla chips.

Avocado Dip
1 bunch of cilantro
2 jalapenos (mine did not have these)
4 avocados
1 small onion (chopped very small)
5 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 16 oz. can of corn
2 4 oz. cans of black olives
1/3 c. olive oil
¼ c. lemon juice
3 T. of cider vinegar
Oregano, salt, pepper to taste

Chop up and mix all ingredients EXCEPT the avocado.  Add the avocado right before serving. 

Enjoy with organic tortilla chips.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Raw Cookie Dough Bites recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, and soy free)

OMG! I made these last night for the first time. Big hit with the whole family! It's hard to stop eating them!
If you have a dehydrator, I recommend soaking the nuts for several hours and dehydrating them overnight before making the recipe. Also, if you have digestive issues I recommend using organic instant oatmeal instead of raw oats. I use organic mini chocolate chips that don't require being added to the food processor; you can just blend them in by hand. I make these pretty small, so I end up with 24 cookie bites.


Raw cookie dough bites

  • 2/3 cup raw almonds
  • 2/3 cup raw walnuts
  • 2/3 cup raw oat flakes (see note below)
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 cup raw agave nectar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, process the almonds, walnuts, oats, cinnamon and salt to a fine meal.
  2. Add the agave nectar and vanilla and process to combine.
  3. Next, add the cocoa nibs (or chocolate chips) and pulse just to combine.
  4. Roll the cookie dough into balls (about 1 tbsp each) and place them on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Place the pan in the freezer for about an hour to firm up. Store balls in a tightly covered container in the freezer.
Notes
Raw oat flakes can be substituted for regular rolled oats (or certified gluten-free oats, if necessary), but if you want this treat to be truly raw, look for raw oat flakes, which haven't been steamed or toasted during processing. I buy mine locally from a company called Grainstorm.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Gluten-free Chicken-optional Pot Pie rice cooker recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

This is so easy and yummy! My oldest daughter is a huge chicken pot pie lover and thinks this is fabulous! She says that the pie crust isn't even necessary because the filling is so good.

Filling recipe:
Number of Servings: 6

Ingredients

    1/4 C onion, diced
    1/4 C green pepper, diced
    A little olive oil
    1 - 14.5 oz. can chicken broth
    2 C cooked chicken breast
    2 C frozen corn
    2 - 10.5 oz. cans cream of potato soup
    1 C milk, 1%
    2 C frozen peas & carrots
    2 teaspoons black pepper
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=867218


My changes:
I use organic creamy potato leek soup instead of regular cream of potato soup. I've also done it with my own organic potatoes chopped small and organic coconut milk.

The last time I made this I added 1/3 cup gluten-free all purpose flour mix for thickening.

I've also made this with frozen organic veggie blend that contains carrots, corn, green beans, and green peas. If you do that just use an equal number of cups as listed in the recipe for the individual veggies.

I don't use green pepper in mine since my kids aren't fans but add a little minced garlic.

I don't use a lot of black pepper; I just use salt and pepper to taste.

I use organic coconut oil instead of olive oil.

To make this vegan, leave out the chicken and use vegetable broth. It's great with just veggies.

For the crust use this recipe if you need gluten-free (use a large pie pan since you will have lots of filling available):
http://www.allergyfreealaska.com/2013/11/04/perfect-gluten-free-pie-crust-pastry-vegan/



Grain-free Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, and soy free)

Just made these tonight! Wow! So good and so easy. I had to fight my kids for them.

I used mini dark non-dairy, non-gmo chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand).

Update: The last time I made these I used organic palm fruit shortening instead of coconut oil, and they were the best ever! They look different depending on which oil you use.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies 
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen small cookies.

Ingredients:
2 cups (200g) fine ground blanched almond flour (like THESE brands)
1/4 slightly rounded teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted palm shorteningghee or mild tasting coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey (I like clover honey for its mild flavor)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon canned full fat coconut milk (like Natural Value)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (like Enjoy Life)
Note: Be sure to ‘scoop’ up the AF with the cup and sweep over the top with a flat edge for this recipe. If you spoon it into the cup, you are likely to not have enough AF for the recipe, if you pack it you will have too much.
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/176C degrees
2. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda and salt until well blended. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the liquid ingredients. Blend well.
3. Add the fat and other liquid ingredients directly to the flour mixture and mix till combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Let the better rest for a few minutes while you line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

4. Using a (measuring) tablespoon, scoop out slightly rounded amounts of cookie dough and tap it out of the spoon. Gently form smooth, round balls with the cookie dough. Place them on the cookie sheet about two inches apart. Using two fingers, lightly press down on the tops of the balls of dough. REALLY, you barely have to press at all for the ‘pudgy’ style cookie, just enough to flatten the top a little. Place another cookie sheet under the one with the cookies. (This will help keep the bottoms from browning too fast.)
5. Bake 11- 12 minutes. Keep an eye on them toward the end of baking, as times will vary from oven to oven, as well as thickness and size of cookie. They should be light in color as shown in the picture, with some amount of browning on the edges and bottoms. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring.
6. When cool enough, eat at least 4 of them before alerting others that they are finished. Allow everyone to be impressed with how selfless and giving you are when you split the remaining cookies evenly. But do this quickly because all chocolate chip cookies are best served warm and you don’t want to give away your secret!
When they are all gone, return to the top of this page and repeat!

http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2012/07/perfect-grain-free-chocolate-chip.html



Vegan Apple Crisp recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

My version:
6 medium green apples (use apple slicer, peeler, corer and cut in half)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup my flour mix (I use this base blend: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/01/cooking-baking-gluten-free-tips-for.html)
1 TBS coconut palm sugar
3 tsp arrowroot starch
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
2 TBS coconut oil melted
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 TBS butter, soft (add to full mix after adding all other ingredients) 
1 TBS lemon juice (to toss apples in bowl before putting in pan)
Brown rice syrup to coat apples after lemon juice





Follow baking instructions below:


Vegan, raw Key Lime Pie recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

Raw Nut Pie Crust Ingredients:

1 cup almonds
1 cup pecans (or walnuts)
1 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp lime zest
¼ “piece of vanilla bean OR 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Celtic or Himalayan salt
Blend in food processor until combined. Press into bottom and sides of pan. When finished put in the fridge till ready to fill.

Filling 
Ingredients:

3 medium avocados (peeled & pitted)
1 cup cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours)
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
1 teaspoon lime zest
½ cup raw unfiltered honey or agave nectar
¼ cup organic coconut oil
¼ of fresh vanilla bean or 1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Celtic or Himalayan Salt


Directions:

Place all ingredients into Blendtec, Vita Mix, or other powerful blender and process until smooth and creamy. Pour into crust and freeze for 3-4 hours.


Topping:

I used this recipe for the topping:
http://tasty-yummies.com/2014/03/04/make-whipped-coconut-cream/






Sunday, December 14, 2014

Vegan, raw Lemon Coconut bars recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

These are so good! It's hard to have just one.

From this site (scroll down to find it):
http://www.barefootandfrolicking.com/2009/11/first-raw-uncooking-class.html







Vegan, raw Lemon Cream Pie recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)


So yummy! I only made half the recipe since it was my first time trying this. If you make the whole thing use a springform pan.

You can substitute one of the nuts in the crust with pecans or walnuts. I used pecans instead of macadamia nuts.

I used small pitted dates instead of medjool dates.
I used the 3rd of these powdered sugar substitutes:

Stevia

If you want to use stevia as a powdered sugar substitute, here are three versions to choose from.
  • Take 2 packets of stevia with 1 cup of arrowroot or potato starch and process them in a food processor.
  • Alternatively, you can process 4 packets of stevia with 1 cup of arrowroot or potato starch and 1 cup of whey protein powder.
  • Finally, you can process 4 packets of stevia with 1 cup of arrowroot or potato starch and 1 cup of powdered milk.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Tarts recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

I made these for Thanksgiving. Yum!

Instead of 2 cups almond flour for the crust I used 1 cup almond flour and 1 cup organic coconut flour. Almond flour is pretty expensive.

In the filling I used less than 1/2 tsp ground ginger.

http://tasty-yummies.com/2012/09/22/grain-free-mini-pumpkin-pie-tarts-gluten-free-vegan-refined-sugar-free/


Vegan Yogurt and fruit bark recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)!

So yummy and simple. I forgot to take a pic before we ate almost half of it. Lol

Instructions:
Place wax paper on cookie sheet. 
Spread yogurt on wax paper with a rubber spatula (I used my homemade vegan and soy free yogurt recipe posted on this site.)
Gently press in your favorite fruit. We used grape halves, pineapple chunks, and blueberries. 
Freeze until hard and you can break off pieces in big chunks.



Vegan Cornbread recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

Yum!

Just make sure to buy organic, fine ground cornmeal or regrind it yourself till it's powdery.

I used organic coconut palm sugar as my sweetener.

Recipe:

Combine dry ingredients:
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (I get mine at Trader Joe’s. It’s a blend of brown rice glower, potato starch, rice flour, and tapioca flour.)
  • 2 T sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
{You can store this mix in your pantry for a few months, if you wish.}
When ready to bake, you need to essentially make a dairy-free buttermilk. The buttermilk will substitute for egg as a leavening ingredient in your cornmeal. To make this buttermilk, mix together:
  • slightly less than 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1T distilled white vinegar
Let it sit for five minutes.  Satisfy your inner scientist as you watch it bubble up like an experiment. :)
Then, add:
  • 1/4 c palm shortening or coconut oil
  • additional 1/4 c of coconut milk
Pour the buttermilk and shortening into the dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Do not overmix.
Pour into greased muffin tins, or a greased 9 x 9 glass baking dish. For muffins, bake at 375 degrees for 22 minutes. For the 9 x 9 pan, bake at the same temperature, testing at 20 minutes for done-ness.
I love to top with butter and a drizzle of honey, and crumble over whatever chili or beans I’m serving up. Just home-fried, down-home, southern-baked amazingness. The end.

http://smarttereachday.com/?p=1743



For a more moist, super yummy muffin, add "some" of this delicious creamed corn:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Corn-Like-No-Other/

Note: I left out the pepper and cheese. I  used coconut cream instead of heavy cream and unsweetened almond milk instead of whole milk. For the sugar I used coconut palm sugar. I also used my gluten free flour mix instead of regular all purpose flour. I made it in the rice cooker instead of on the stove. After about 10 minutes I switched it from "on" to "warm" and let it sit for a while till the liquid reduced.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Vegan Pecan Pie recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

I made this for Thanksgiving and liked it. But be sure to add more maple syrup or other natural sweetener and more brown rice syrup. The recipe is not sweet enough as is. Also, I think the 15 minutes for pre-baking the crust was too long. Might also need a little less total oven time on the 60 minute final bake. Otherwise, really good stuff.

I used organic palm fruit shortening instead of butter.
I used stevia instead of xylitol since I didn't have any xylitol on hand.
I used 3 flax eggs instead of regular eggs. (1 flax egg is made from 1 TBS ground flax seed mixed with 2-3 TBS WATER)

http://gluten-dairy-sugarfree.com/?p=1356


Vegan sour cream recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

I made this minus the optional milk:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/plant-based-recipes/homemade-coconut-sour-cream/

Vegan yogurt recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

Homemade yogurt from cultured organic coconut milk!

I used this recipe minus the heavy whipping cream; added vanilla, stevia, and honey [optional] to taste and put in the fridge to thicken:
http://www.ruled.me/coconut-cream-yogurt/

Vegan whipped cream recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

I've used this several times and love it!

http://tasty-yummies.com/2014/03/04/make-whipped-coconut-cream/

Vegan, raw Overnight Refrigerator Oatmeal recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

Another successful new meal today! I made the raspberry vanilla version of this for breakfast. So easy and yum!

P.S. I used my own homemade yogurt from cultured organic coconut milk (used this recipe minus the heavy whipping cream; added vanilla, stevia, and honey [optional] to taste: http://www.ruled.me/coconut-cream-yogurt/)

http://www.theyummylife.com/Refrigerator_Oatmeal

Vegan, "Cheesy" Lasagna recipe (dairy, gluten, egg, refined sugar, and soy free)

OMG! An amazing thing happened at dinner tonight. My picky kids went for seconds, and Brianna even asked if I'd save her some for tomorrow! The whole family loved it and asked for me to make it again.

I used the following:

Pastariso Organic Brown Rice Lasagna Noodles or no-bake lasagna noodles

Organic Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce

Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds (non-dairy, soy-free)

Homemade organic cashew ricotta cheese (recipe below): 


CASHEW RICOTTA CHEESE

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked
  • 1/2 cup water
  • juice of 1 large lemon or 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, optional
  • 1 garlic clove
  • dash of onion powder
  • himalayan sea salt & cracked pepper, to taste
Soak the cashews for at least 2 hours in a bowl of water, covering the cashews about 2 – 3 inches of water as they will swell up.
Drain cashews and place all remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor, process until creamy stopping to scrape down the sides every few minutes. Taste for flavors adding any additional ingredients. Some like a salty ricotta so feel free to add as much salt as you want.
Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for an hour or two, this will stiffen the mixture a bit. You can also prepare your dish straight away without refrigeration if needed. Refrigeration will thicken the mixture a bit. If it becomes too thick, add a tad of water and mix well.
Makes approx. 2 cups. Stores in refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes:
You could do just as well without the nutritional yeast if you don’t have it. I only added a small amount, probably pretty unnoticeable. I will be trying more next time to play around with it a bit. If you do add it, it will add a bit more cheesy flavor and some good nutritional value.
If you have trouble with the mixture blending on it’s own try this because it’s too thick, add a little extra water. More details here:
http://thesimpleveganista.blogspot.com/2012/10/cashew-ricotta-cheese.html

For assembly I just used the instructions on the lasagna noodle box using the ingredients above.