Dairy free cheesy mushroom baked rice

 We got our first snowfall of the season here, This is my mind calls for oven roasted meals. I wanted to make something that was filling and savory and rice based. I came up with this recipe and it seemed to fit the bill of what I was looking for.

Dairy Free Cheesy rice
1/3 cup nutrtional yeast
3tbsp onion flake
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp each of pepper, salt,and  mustard powder
2.5 c  sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup shredded daiya chedder
3 cup cooked rice
1 cup soy milk
2 tbsp coconut oil


Mix first 6 ingredients together in a bowl,
Put into a greased casserole dish
Pour soy milk over it all and dot coconut oil over top
Bake covered at 400F until hot and done (About 40 minutes)

Blueberry Waffles, eggless, dairy free

I was dreaming about making brunch last night, I woke up and was so disappointed that my dream wasn't real. So I came down poured myself a cup of coffee and started making waffles, in the past I have tried making them from other recipes but they always left me disappointed and not quite what I was looking for. This time I used the little bit of knowledge I have about baking to create my own recipe, it seems to work well. I may change it over time to make it better but it is a REALLY good start

3 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp water
2 c unbleached white flour
1 cup pastry flour

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups almond milk
1/4 oil
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

In small bowl whisk together first three ingredients.
In another small bowl cream oil, sugar, vanilla, Add milk and stir again
Mix two flours and add all the wet ingredients, stir well, depending on your humidity level you may need to add more flour or more milk.
Place in a preheated oiled waffle maker and cook until golden, mine takes 6 minutes with the heat at 3/4 high.

Pie crust

Pie crust and I have a love hate relationship. I love to eat it, hate to make it. In the past I have always ended up with chewy tough crust. Today I didn't! The difference was today I used my food processor to cut in the shortening and I rolled out the crust on a silpat to make it easier to lift.
I used two recipes not just one, though I guess since I altered them both I could call it my own, though not really. Recipe source #1 Recipe source #2

Double pie Crust


2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Organic palm shortening- frozen chopped in cubes
6 tablespoons really cold water

(I did not write these instructions they are for the most part straight copy paste from Recipe 1)

Measure the flour into the processor with the regular blade attached. Add shortening, cut into cubes. (Your fat should be frozen or very cold. You may vary the proportions, or use some lard, but the total should be 9 tablespoons.) Add salt. Pulse three times with three counts per pulse to lightly mix the ingredients.
With the motor running, pour ice water into the workbowl just until the dough just starts to get noticeably crumbly. Don't wait until it is a big clump or it will be way too wet and will turn out tough.
Stop the machine, dump the crumbly dough into a bowl, and gather the dough into 2 balls with your hand. you can squeeze it a bit to make it stick together. If it just won't form a ball, add a tiny bit more water. (Note that if you are making crust in the food processor, you will use less water than most recipes call for.)
Wrap your dough ball in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill it about 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

 Roll it out on a cool surface if you can. Then follow your pie recipe for baking.

Pork Apple chops or Pork Apple tenderloin

1\2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1  quartered onion
1 Apple quartered and seeded (optional)
4 bone in pork chops or pork tenderloin
2 cups apple sauce

In a greased crockpot layer onion along the bottom
(Optional: Layer apple over top onion)
In a small bowl mix together first 7 spices and mix well
Coat pork chops/ tenderloin in spice blend
Place pork resting on onions Pour apple sauce over them
Cook on low for 6-8 hours

Oatmeal blueberry muffins

I woke up in the middle of the night craving muffins, so this morning instead of making the standard waffles or pancakes I made some muffins. I didn't have everything this recipe called for but it seemed like a great place to start from, and indeed it was. 

Blueberry muffins

Makes 18 small muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup palm sugar
3/4 cup warmed soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp spice (I used gingerbread spice, you could use cinnamon or whatever you choose)

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 cup blueberries (frozen, thawed)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake tins with liners.

Mix together sugar, soy milk, vinegar, spice, and coconut oil until combined.
In a small bowl mix together remaining dry ingredients.

Pour dry into wet and mix until no clumps remain. 

Fold in blueberries

Using a spoon place in muffin tins 2/3 full

Bake for 18 minutes or until they test done.

Sunflower butter chocolate no-bake crunch bars

I have been craving something sweet with the pregnancy. Problem is I can't put my finger on it as to what I have been craving! I appealed to my local Facebook moms group for suggestions and was overjoyed to have a variation of this recipe shared with me. I used this recipe as a place to start. I think the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for it to cool so you can cut and eat them.
I forgot to take a picture of these before we ate them at, pregnancy cravings at their worst!


Sunflower butter chocolate no bake crunch bars.

1 cup sunflower butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cups dark chocolate (I used a chopped up chocolate bar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the sunflower butter, coconut oil and honey together in a large bowl stirring once half way through (My microwave which is a weak one took 3 minutes)
Whisk in Cocoa, stir in chocolate and vanilla and microwave until chocolate is melted. (I only did 40 seconds)
Stir in oats and crisp rice cereal and continue stirring until evenly coated
Pour into a greased 9×13 pan (I used a tupperware with a lid) and cool in the fridge. If you’d like thicker bars, you can pour the mixture into a smaller pan.
When the mixture is hardened, cut into bars and eat. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Pumpkin latte

As per request I have created and posted my pumpkin latte recipe :) This makes a half sweet latte, if you prefer the full sweetness as offered by coffee chains add sugar to taste. Enjoy!

5 tbsp pumpkin pie syrup
1/2 cup soy milk
3/4 cup strong coffee
cinnamon to sprinkle on top

Froth your hot soy milk however you choose, I use a frother I can put in the microwave.
In your mug, stir together your hot coffee and syrup. Pour your frothed milk on top, sprinkle with cinnamon and and enjoy!

Pumpkin pie syrup

The beginning of fall, crisp nights, the end of my vegetable garden and pumpkin products. I created this syrup to go in coffee to make Pumpkin lattes.

1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 small can (398ml) of pumpkin
11/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Whisk everything together in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, turn off. Let cool and store in fridge

Dilled Chicken Salad

A tasty chicken salad, try it in wraps or if you are gluten free try it wrapped in a romaine leaf.



1 1/4 cup cold cooked chicken (I roasted one large bone in breast and that gave me enough chicken)
2 stalks of celery chopped
1/4 cup Veganese
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
 2 tbsp chopped Dill
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
Buns or Bread (I used cooled fresh whole wheat bread I baked earlier in the day)
Romaine leaves, cored

Mix first 8 ingredients together and serve on buns or bread topped with romaine.

Vegetarian Taco Salad (not a full recipe)

This one isn't so much a recipe as a post to remind myself how I made it so tasty. Sorry for the not so great picture and the not exact recipe, I hadn't planned on posting it on here until everyone started asking me how I made it.

For the bowls I took flour tortillas, coated both sides with oil, inverted quart canning jars and draped them over that, I baked them on convection 375 for about 10 minutes. 

For the corn I diced 1 ripe jalapeno, 1 yellow pepper, drained a jar of our corn from last year, roasted it in the pan on the stove with some chipotle powder, unscented coconut oil (One that Clay made last year, it is really smokey) near the end I squirted a little lime in, dumped it in a bowl to cool and added 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke.

 For the beans I quick soaked dry black beans, tossed them in the crockpot with chipotle powder, garlic powder. After they were done I drained them put them in a baking pan, salted well and baked for about 10 minutes at 375 until they were dry and the flavour turned a little smokey. For the dressing I added equal parts EVOO, lime juice and guacamole, a little garlic powder and pepper and emulsified it.

Roasted garlic pepper white wine creamy pasta

I love summer for all the great fresh vegetables that my garden provides me with.  This year our peas have done particularly well, I was looking to create a dish that utilized my over ripe peas. With a little inspiration from other moms on a Facebook group this dish was created. I love the how creamy it is, it almost reminds me of a dairy free alfredo sauce.

Roasted Garlic and Pepper White wine Pasta

Serves 6

1 yellow pepper halved

1 White onion cut in half

9 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

Coarse ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F

Pour a good dollop of olive oil in a glass pan and place vegetables in in. Drizzle more olive oil over top and sprinkle with pepper.

Roast for at least 45 minutes, 1 hour is better.

.304 kg sliced chicken breast

2 cups Spinach

1 cup Fresh Peas

1/3 cup All purpose flour (Can sub GF flour)

1 cup Soy milk

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp black Pepper

1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella shreds

1/4 cup Coconut oil

1 tbsp Dried basil

1/2 cup White wine

1 cup Poultry broth

Prepared linguine

Separate garlic from roasted veggies, mash

Slice the rest of the roasted vegetables into strips.

Toss sliced chicken in basil, salt, black pepper and mashed garlic

Pour about a tablespoon olive oil into a pan on medium heat. Fry sliced chicken until done. Remove from pan. Pour in half of the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan all the while.

Turn off burner or turn to low stir in Coconut oil and flour making a roux and cook for 2 minutes, Do not let it brown.

After two minutes turn burn back to medium low heat and whisk in chicken broth, milk and rest of white wine. Whisk until smooth then stir scraping bottom frequently until it starts to thicken

Whisk in Daiya cheese,

Bring to a simmer

Stir in peas, turn to low and cook for 6 minutes, stirring often

Mix in chicken, sliced vegetables, spinach, stir until spinach is wilted and everything is hot and bubbling.

Serve over linguine

Crockpot Sweet and Sour meat balls

I'm still on my really easy meals that can be made in the slow cooker. My husband loves meatballs and so does Orion.

Sweet and Sour Crockpot meatballs
18 medium cooked meatballs (I make my own with lean beef, panko, flax eggs and seasonings and bake them)
1 diced red pepper
1 diced onion
1 inch minced ginger
2 garlic cloves minced

Sauce
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar (You can use white if you want the cider is just a nicer flavour)
1 can of diced pineapple with juice
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes




Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce. Heat for 1 minute in the microwave to dissolve honey.
Place the rest of the ingredients except for the slurry in the crockpot, pour sauce over.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
15 minutes before serving gently remove meatballs,
Whisk in slurry, add meatballs back in and serve over rice or noodles

Granola

Today was a good day so I started to parcel out smaller more manageable ziplocs full of raw sunflower seeds. I had ordered 25lbs of raw sunflower seeds to use in baking and experiment with making our own sunflower butter. I was roasting a small batch and got to thinking that it wouldn't take much more effort to mix up a batch of granola to toss in the oven after the seeds were done.

I did a quick google and came across this recipe at www.elizabethrider.com, I changed the recipe a bit to suit me and what I had on hand.

Granola (Original unaltered recipe here)

This makes a fairly sweet granola.

4 cups old fashioned oats (I used bobs red mill)

3/4 cup Organic roasted non salted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup hemp seeds

1/2-3/4 tsp epicure pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

5 tbsp honey (Local)

4 tbsp coconut oil

Preheat oven to 300F

Mix first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Melt honey and coconut oil together, 

Stir honey mixture into bowl, mixing well.

Spread over a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 23 minutes. Keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.

Let cool and break up into clumps

Sweet and Sour Crockpot chicken

I have been very ill with morning sickness so I haven't been very inventive in the kitchen lately, honestly we have been mostly eating out of our freezer. This week almost every single of my meals on my meal plan can be made in the slow cooker. The easier the better at this point :) I like sweet and sour chicken but am not found of how most recipes call for a large amount of white sugar. The honey works very well in this recipe.  I got the idea for this recipe from here, but I changed it around a fair bit to suit me.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
1 diced green pepper
1 can of diced pineapple with juice
1 diced onion
1 inch minced ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
2 large chicken breasts diced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Sauce
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar (You can use white if you want the cider is just a nicer flavour)

Slurry
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup water

Whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce.
Place the rest of the ingredients except for the slurry in the crockpot, pour sauce over.
Cook on low for 5 hours.
15 minutes before serving whisk in slurry.
Serve over rice or steam fried noodles

Crockpot Garlic Mashed potatoes

6 small-medium sized russet potatoes
1 cup boiling water
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
4 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon roasted garlic (Epicure selections)
3 tablespoons coconut oil

Peel and dice potatoes in one inch cubes. Place in crockpot, dissolve salt in boiling water and pour over potatoes cook on high for 4 hours until cooked thoroughly  turn to low. Mash potatoes with a masher and mix in the last 4 ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste if needed.

Vegan chili

2 cups dried Kidney beans
1 cup dried black beans
1.5 cup dried pinto beans
1 cup dried mushrooms (You can use fresh I just had dried)
2 500ml jars crushed tomatoes
10 slices pickled jalapenos
2.5 tbsp chili powder
3 peppers diced
3 small onions or 2 small medium minced
1 head of garlic minced
3 cups veg stock
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp epicure bean dip mix



Soak beans over night, boil your kidney beans for 10 minutes (They contain a toxin that must be destroyed by boiling)

Put everything in the crockpot cook on high for 6 hours

Puffed Brown Rice chocolate squares

When Orion was really little we used to give him  organic puffed brown rice to snack on, or to let him feel like he was included in the meal. I still have multiple bags in my pantry, I was struggling to find something to do with them and thought of how much I used to love puffed wheat squares. Now the original version would not work with our allergies and the fact that I have an aversion to corn syrup. I had to laugh at all the versions I found that labeled them as healthy when they contain cups upon cups of sugar. My recipe is by no means healthy but it isn't made with refined sugars so I consider it ok in moderation. This would be really tasty with coconut stirred in but my husband hates coconut and would be very disappointed if he couldn't eat these.

1/2 cup palm shortening (You could sub coconut oil here if you would like)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Palm sugar
1/3 plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

8 cups organic puffed brown rice
1/4 cup chia seeds

Line a 9x 13 pan with wax paper
In a medium sauce pan, on medium heat melt shortening and honey together, mix in palm sugar and cocoa powder until a smooth consistency is reached.
In a extra large greased bowl mix brown rice puffs and chia seeds, Pour chocolate sauce over it all and mix until it is all evenly coated.
Firmly press mixture into your pan refrigerate for 30 minutes. Pop out of pan and cut into desired pieces

Oatmeal Raisin cookies

Spring is finally starting to show itself here. We played outside until our hands were too cold and we had to retreat back inside, Orions choice of snack lately has been cookies. I decided instead of denying him cookies yet again, we would bake some together. I found a great recipe  on Whole Grain Gourmet  and adapted it to suit our allergies and needs. It was already dairy free, so all I had to do was adapting it to be egg free. It is refined sugar free but does contain quite a bit of honey. Next time I make it I may experiment on cutting down the amount of honey.

Here is my version:
Original recipe here at Whole Grain Gourmet


Oatmeal Cookies (with Honey)

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour (a pinch more depending on the moisture of the mix)
1 1/2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats (quick cooking is ok too- do not use instant)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Epicure selections Gingerbread spice

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon full flavor molasses
1 flax egg (Mis 1 Tbsp ground flax with 3 tbp hot water, whisk and let sit until gooey)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup hemp hearts

1/4 cup chia seeds

Preparation:
In a medium bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add the wet ingredients to seperate bowl and mix together.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 

Add the raisins, hemp hearts and seeds. 

Cool the mix for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 335 degrees
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Cookies will not spread.

Press down with a fork to ensure even cooking.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until golden on the bottom of the cookie. (10 minutes for soft and 12 for slightly crispy around the edges)

Cool on pan for 5 minutes, remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack. 

Dairy Free Pizza Pockets

Yesterday I made pizza (Daiya cheese is great for dairy free pizza ) for dinner. My 2 year old is not a fan of pizza crust he picks the toppings off and leaves the crust, I usually make him a thin crust pizza on a whole wheat tortilla (I will post the recipe once I get it perfect) I had a little dough left after making our pizzas so I experimented and made some toddler pizza pockets, they tasted great but needed a little work. My toddler loved his Pizza Pie pockets :) I always have lots of pizza toppings left over, so today I perfected the recipe. This makes a large amount, perfect for freezing so you always have something to pull out of the freezer for a quick bite. You could make this vegan by subbing out the honey for alternate sweetener, don't leave it out all together since the yeast needs something to eat. I didn't have enough Daiya cheese or nutritional yeast to put any in the filling but I'm sure it would be delicious. You can use any sort of filling you would like, the combinations are endless. I've listed some ideas for fillings at the end of the recipe. Enjoy!

Makes 22 snack size or 12 meal size
Filling:
1 400 ml can tomato sauce
1 tbsp Italian spice
dash of garlic powder
 5 1/4 cups your choice filling (I used 2 c diced pepperoni, 1 cup mixed left over pizza toppings, 1 chopped cup mushrooms, 1/ 14 cup chopped fresh spinach)


Dough:
5- 5/12 cups 100% whole wheat flour (The amount of flour depends on many things, the humidity of your house, the moisture level in the flour, the age of the flour, I think your altitude may effect this as well, even the day)
1 1/2tsp salt
3 tbsp local honey
2 cups 105F- 110F water
4 1/2 tsp traditional yeast
4 tbsp Olive oil

In a small non metallic bowl or measuring cup dissolve honey and yeast in water stir well, let it do its yeasty magic for 5 minutes (If after 5 minutes it is not nice and frothy, your yeast might not be active, or your water is too hot)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix salt and flour well (Reserve 1/2 cup flour), make a well in the middle of it and pour oil and water mixture in, stir by hand until moistened (You can also use the paddle attachment for this part, I have done both and prefer not having to pick bits and bits and pieces of dough off the paddle)

Knead with dough hook for 4 mins, if mixture is too wet and sticky add the extra half cup of flour. When it is done kneading it should be smooth looking but slightly tacky.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled. (1 hour for me but I live at a high altitude)

Prepare filling by mixing everything together in a bowl and sticking in the fridge while your dough rises.


Preheat oven to 420F

Roll out dough 1/4" (I do half at a time) make into 5" by 6" rectangles (For meal size pops), for snack size roll out 1/8th of an inch and cut into 4" by 4.25" rectangles

How I do the edges

Put a heaping 1/4 cup of filling ( for meal size) Use a scant 1/4 cup for snack size in the  bottom middle of each rectangle, fold over and seal edges by pulling bottom edge over top pressing and crimping  with a fork.

Poke holes in the top of each one (This is an ESSENTIAL step or you will have exploded messy burnt on pizza pockets)

Bake on parchment paper (it is worth it to use the parchment paper, they will ooze a bit and make a mess of your pans) at 420F for 15-20 minutes (meal size) 10-15 for snack size, I measure the internal temperature of  my pizza pops to gauge when they are done, they should read at least 165F, I like them to read about 170F

Ideas for different fillings:
Ham, Pineapple (Well drained crushed works great) and mushroom
Pepperoni, mushroom, peppers
Daiya mozzarella, spinach and black olives
Chicken, red onion, pineapple
Salsa ground beef, red onion, chedder Daiya or nutritional yeast

Crockpot Chipotle bacon baked beans

I really enjoy using my slow cooker for anything involving beans, for some reason if I cook them on the stove I always seem to burn them. I haven't ever tried cooking baked beans in the oven since I don't own a dutch oven. As always these are dairy free, egg free, soy free,  nut and sesame free. They also happen to be gluten free. My husband is in love with these beans, he says he will never go back to eating canned beans again :)

Chipotle Bacon baked beans

3cups dried white beans (I buy my beans at the market and they aren't labeled but I am almost certain that they are great northern beans)
2 cup bacon chopped fine (I used bacon ends that I buy by the case and sent it through my food grinder)
1 onion minced
5 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup black strap molasses
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 400 ml can of tomato sauce
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1/3 cup palm sugar
1 tsp Chipotle chili powder



Soak beans in ample water and 1 tsp of baking soda overnight
In the morning boil beans with ample fresh water for 10 minutes
Drain and rinse
Put the rest of ingredients in crockpot  and mix well
Cook on high for 4-6 hours stirring periodically, until beans are cooked.
Serve with bread, biscuits or corn bread.

Delicious biscuits I made, I will post the recipe another day

Blueberry raspberry mini muffins

 I've got a thing for muffins, they are a delicious comfort food. After a night up with a cranky toddler I decided to make some muffins. I strongly dislike overly sugary muffins that leave you with a sugar high after eating them. With Orions allergies I have to make sure these are dairy and egg free as usual, I find it is helpful to look for vegan recipes. As usual I can never find a recipe that I like so I altered one to suit my purposes. I can't ever decide which type of berries to use, so I used them both! Mini muffins are perfect for portion control and for toddler hands. My toddler has such a short attention span, I was forever finding full size muffins with one bite taken stashed in creative places. FYI a stale month old muffin can double as a cat toy at the most inopportune moments. Enjoy these we certainly did :)

Original unaltered recipe here at egglesscooking.com





1/4 cup Ground Flaxseed

3 tbsp hemp hearts
1 and 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons  Alumininum free Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teasspoon epicure gingerbread spice
1/4 teaspoon  salt
1 cup Coconut Milk
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cupVegetable Oil
1/4 cup Maple Syrup

1/4 cup Local Honey
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1  cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup raspberries


Preheat oven to 375F/190C for 15 minutes. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and grease it well with non stick cooking spray.
Mix together the  milk and vinegar; set aside.
In a large bowl combine together the ground flax seed, hemp hearts, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, gingerbread spice and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, oil, milk mixture, vanilla extract and orange zest.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula until just moistened. Fold in blueberries and raspberries

Scoop into mini muffin pan, fill each cup 2/3 full.

Bake for 12 minutes

Lemon dill shrimp with green beans

Sometimes you have a night that you just really don't feel like cooking, or you get home late and don't have much time. In these cases it is nice to have an easy meal to fall back on, everything in this meal is something from the pantry or freezer. If I am in a big hurry I will make brown basmati rice or sprouted brown rice. Tonight I wasn't in a huge hurry so I made Calrose brown rice. This recipe is dairy less, casein free, gluten free, egg free. It contains no soy or peanuts. We are lemon lovers in our house, I have included a less lemony version.

2.5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup lemon juice + 1 tbsp (For the less lemony version only use 1/4 cup lemon juice)
3 tbs lemon dilly dip mix (Epicure)
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp coconut or other high heat stable oil
2 cups cooked shrimp
 3 tbsp corn starch (For the less lemony version only use 2.5 tbsp of corn starch)
2.5 cups Frozen green beans (I used mixed green and yellow beans since that's what I had in the freezer)

Thaw shrimp, toss shrimp in tbsp lemon dilly, 1 tbsp lemon juice pepper, pepper and garlic, set aside.
Whisk together lemon juice, chicken broth and and remaining  dip mix, reserve 1/4 cup liquid and whisk in corn starch.
On medium high heat sautee shrimp 2 minute in the coconut oil , take out of pan and set aside.
Pour first broth mixture in pan scraping pan bottom well,  add beans bring to boil, then lower to a simmer covered for 3 minutes. Whisk in reserved broth (You may need to give it a little stir before you pour it in), making sure you are stirring constantly, mixture should thicken nicely.
When mixture is thickened put your shrimp back in stir well and simmer for 2 minutes.
Serve over rice

Vegan fudgey brownies

This is the first baking recipe I have ever created from scratch. I originally wasn't going to make up my own recipe for brownies but I couldn't find a recipe that had all the elements I wanted in it, so I made up my own. It isn't a huge sugar overload but still will satisfy your cravings for fudgey brownies. This recipe makes 20 brownies.

2 cups Whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup Sugar (I used white sugar for this one)
1 cup Cocoa

1 small mashed over ripe banana (I always keep some in my freezer)
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup soy milk (Or any other dairy free milk)

1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips + 1 tsp coconut oil
1/4 cup Hemp hearts


 Preheat oven to 350F
In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together making sure to break up any clumps
In a smaller bowl blend the dry ingredients until a uniform texture in reached.
Make a small well in your dry ingredients and stir in your wet, mix until there are no large clumps and batter is smooth, it will be really thick. Spread in a greased 8x8 pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave (Don't burn it like I did the first time)

Spread over baked brownies and sprinkle hemp hearts,
Cool cut and serve

Dairy free left over turkey enchiladas

I look forward to this season every year for the leftovers. I love turkey, there are so many ways to use it.We had no left over turkey from Christmas celebrations with my family this year. I decided I would bake a turkey for New years day. I made a simple turkey dinner and have tons of left overs. I already made two batches of stock from the carcass, I will be canning the broth tomorrow and we will be having soup. Today I wanted to make enchiladas, they seem fairly labour intensive but it is more time then effort. Almost every enchilada recipe I have seen includes copious amounts of dairy. My recipe is gluten free, dairy free/ casein free, egg free, sesame free, nut free and soy free. If you prefer to not use fresh tomatoes you can use drained canned tomatoes. This makes a HUGE recipe, enough for two meals for the three of us, After I cooked it I froze half to thaw for a quick meal at a later date. This isn't too spicy so it is a toddler friendly meal :)

Sauce:

11 small to medium size cored and halved tomatoes (If you are using a variety of tomatoes that isn't very watery like paste you don't need to core unless you dislike seeds)

10 pickled jalapenos slices (I found this great little jar at superstore)

5 garlic cloves 

1 red onion quartered

1 400 ml cans of pure tomato sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1/2  cup mild salsa

Filling:

2 cups finely chopped Left over turkey (I used a mix of white and dark) (You really could use almost any meat here)

3 cups Mild salsa (I used frozen salsa (Whenever I make a fresh salsa I freeze the leftovers, mine has corn, peppers, onions, cilantro) 

1\4 cup nutritional yeast

(If you have really runny salsa add 2 tbsp of cornstarch)

 12 corn tortillas

Make Sauce

In a large pot put your tomatoes, onion, garlic and jalapeno on medium heat, 

Bring to to a boil, boil for 10 minute, mash tomatoes coarsely 

Turn heat down to a simmer and simmer with lid on for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, take lid off and cook for another hour, Puree,

Then add chili powder,  canned tomato sauce, nutritional yeast and  canned sauce, Simmer for 15 minutes

Make filling

Put everything in a pot and bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 5 minutes stirring often.

To assemble Enchiladas, 

 Preheat oven to 375F

Heat tortillas single layer on a baking sheet in the oven until just pliable (About 3 minutes) Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with sauce.

Dip each tortilla in sauce place in baking pan, put about 1/4 cup of filling in the middle, roll up, continue until finished.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes, remove foil  turn up the heat to 400 and bake for another 10 minutes

Let sit about 5 minutes before serving