Orange Scented Chocolate Pecan Pie (vegan and gluten free)

 

I’m down in MA cooking and helping my SIL, but I wanted to quick post this delicious recipe. It’s super quick and easy to make. Before posting the recipe I will give some quick tips for a less expensive and calorie dense pie for those wishing for alternatives.  The crust is raw, just nuts and dates.  You can use raisins and a mixture of sunflower seeds and subs if you wish. In the filling, you can replace the sugar with a very scant 1/4 t of Kal Stevia powder if you wish. You can also use either my Chocolate Hummus ( with the addition of the orange zest and nutmeg ) or my Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting as the filling.

Crust

• 3 c toasted pecans
• 1 c pitted dates (if dates are hard, soak warm water for an hour before using)
• Pinch salt
• ¼ t nutmeg
• 1 t orange zest
• 2 T crystallized ginger
• Juice of half an orange

Filling

• 12 oz dark chocolate chips
• 2 T coffee
• 1/3 c packed brown sugar
• 1 T olive oil
• 14 oz extra firm silken tofu, drained
• Pinch Salt
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1.5 t balsamic vinegar
• ½ t orange zest’
• 1 t vanilla
• Juice of half an orange

 

 

Method:

1. Pulse all of the crust ingredients in food processor, adding the orange juice last
2. Press into 8 inch spring form pan; place in freezer while you prepare the filling
3. Place chocolate chips and coffee in a glass bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stir and microwave again until the chocolate is melted
4. Once chocolate is melted, place it in the food processor with the tofu and rest of the ingredients.
5. Blend for several minutes, scrap down the sides as needed
6. Once mixture is smooth,  spoon into crust.
7. Place in freezer overnight. Place plastic wrap over the top of the pie
8. Let pie sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving

Yield: 12 pieces

 

 

Obviously, I made this in a tart pan, but I think a springform pan makes a prettier presentation.. or best yet little individual sized tarts or springforms would be really cute and lovely.

 

The really great thing about this pie is that it can be made 6 weeks in advance and stored in the freezer!

What is your favorite pie?

Simple Gluten Free Chocolate Cake (vegan too!)

In honor of Valentine’s Day I will be posting some easy dessert recipes. This Chocolate Cake takes 5 minutes to whip up and uses pantry ingredients. This my version of the very popular chocolate cake using vinegar to help lighten it. I used my Low Fat Vegenaise Alternative with great results. Gluten free cake can be dry, so the mayo helps with that. Who wants to eat sandy cake? Not me!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

• ½ c flax meal
• 1 c rice milk
• ½ c strong coffee
• ½ c vegan mayo
• 1/2 c cocoa
• ½ c  olive oil
• 1 c sugar
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1.5 c Bob’s Gluten Free Baking Mix
• 1 t baking soda
• Healthy pinch salt
• 2 t baking powder

Method

1. Preheat over to 350
2. In a mixing bowl, add the flax, milk, coffee, mayo, olive oil, sugar and vinegar. Beat Very well
3. Sift together the rest of the ingredients and stir into the wet ingredients.
4. Stir really really well.
5. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray, pour batter into pan,
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.; allow cake to cool for 20 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a wire rack to continue cooling
7. Frost!

I will be posting the recipe for an Orange Scented Chocolate Pecan Pie later this week.

Here are a couple links to some more yummy desserts:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Pie
• Gluten Free Carrot Cake
• Gluten Free Brownies
• Coconut Key Lime Pie (almost raw)
• Chunky Monkey Mug Cake with Banana Pecan Ice Cream

For frosting, you can use my Chocolate Hummus (really you can! for a sugar free treat) ,my Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting or The Chocolate Sauce in this post.

By the way, I am working on getting a Recipe Index up on this site! This will be a work in progress, but so far I have around 50 recipes categorized and linked. I’ll work on it a bit each day and it will probably be finished in a week or so. Check it out!

Gotta love Brown Rice Pasta with Roasted Garlic Marinara and Raw Broccoli Salad with a Sunny Caesar dressing! The dinner was part of last weekends carb loading for my son! After all those carbs, can you believe his meet was cancelled? I think it’s reschedules for this coming Sunday!

Curried Sweet Potato Soup and 4 More Recipes

I think I could eat soup three times a day. What’s not to love about a one pot meal of goodness? I created this soup for Northeast Flavor Magazine’s website and wanted to share it with you guys as well. It’s a spicy, sweet, creamy and packed with protein from white beans. If you are watching your calories/fat then you use 1 tsp of coconut oil and light coconut milk instead of the full fat.

A tip about lite coconut milk: Buy a can of the full fat stuff, add it to a blender with a can full of water, broth or unflavored soymilk and blend. This way you get twice as much for the money. If I won’t be using the extra milk within a day or two I freeze it for future use.

 

My local Market Basket sells 3 lbs of sweet potatoes for $1.99 which usually gives me around 5 medium sized potatoes.

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

• 2 t coconut oil
• ¼ t cayenne (optional)
• 1 t ground cumin
• ½ t ground coriander
• ¼ t cinnamon
• Pinch nutmeg
• 2 T curry powder
• 1 large onion, diced
• 8 cloves pressed garlic
• 2 T freshly grated ginger
• Healthy pinch of salt
• 2  T balsamic vinegar
• 4 c peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
• 1 c drained cannelini beans
• 2.5 c vegetable broth
• 15 oz can coconut milk
• 1-3 T Siracha Chili Garlic Sauce
• Juice of 1-2 limes (around 3 T)
• ½ c cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste (between ½-1 t salt depending on how salty your broth is)
• Garnish with sour cream or yogurt and more siracha if desired

Method:

1. Heat a heavy bottomed soup pot to medium, add oil and spices. Toast for 15 seconds
2. Add the onion, garlic and ginger along with a pinch of salt. Sauté for 10 minutes.
3. Deglaze with balsamic vinegar and add the potatoes, beans, coconut milk and broth. Cover and bring to a strong simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are done
4. Stir in Siracha and lime juice; Puree with an immersion blender or in 2 batches in a regular blender taking care to remove the plastic top piece and cover with a towel to avoid burning yourself
5. Stir in cilantro, season with salt and pepper to taste
6. Serves 4 ( 2 cup servings )

 

Here are some links to some more Sweet Potato recipes:

 

• Sweet Potato Mash
• Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
• Sweet and Spicy Dahl
• Italian Chickpeas, Sweet Potatoes and Greens

What’s your favorite way to enjoy sweet potatoes?

 

Chipotle Hummus and Awesome Freezer Eating

Well, my sons track meet was cancelled due to weather. This winter has been nuts! I’m home for the first time since Thursday and it’s nice to be back in my own house.

I loved all of the pancake suggestions from my last post! I think the one I’m most interested in trying is the frozen corn kernels.

For lunch, I went to my freezer and grabbed one of my 2 cup portions of frozen food. Today’s deliciousness was my New Years Day Black Eyed Peas and Greens! Since I spiced it knowing I would eat it over rice, I decided to add a couple T of dried quinoa ( I have a very small stash I use very judiciously since quinoa is so expensive now ) and water to make a stew. What I LOVE about the freezer is that it actually IMPROVES the taste of many soups/stews. The flavor was out of this world. The little chunks of ginger were still crisp and gave delightful bursts of flavor with every bite.

If you aren’t utilizing your freezer, what are you waiting for?  Here are some links for several of my favorite freezable recipes:

• Chana Saag
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Pie (make this ahead for Valentine’s Day!)
• Creamy Tomato Soup
• Creamy White Bean Stew with Collards
• Chipotle Split Pea Soup
• Thai Tofu and Veggies

On a different note, I had some really good commercial Chipotle Hummus at my brother’s house. I don’t usually like commercial hummus at all, but this was really good. I think Tribe was the brand? I whipped up a batch when I got home today. Super simple and delicious!

Chipotle Hummus

• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1 t Tony’s creole seasoning
• ¼ t cumin
• ¼ t coriander
• 2 c HOT chickpeas (reserve ½ c cooking liquid)
• 1-2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 4 T tahini or peanut butter
• 2-4 T chickpea cooking liquid as needed or Olive Oil if you aren’t watching  your calories
• Juice of 2 limes ( around 3 T )
• ¼ c chopped cilantro (optional)
• Salt/pepper to taste

Method:

1. Pulse garlic and tony’s in food processor until garlic paste is formed
2. add the rest of the ingredients and puree until totally smooth
3. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add more lime juice if needed.

I just love hummus! It’s so versatile. I am planning on using a good portion of this in soup later on this week.

Here are some of my other hummus recipes:

• Black Eyed Pea Hummus Two Ways
• Black Bean Hummus
• Traditional Hummus
• Chocolate Dessert Hummus

I am going to have an entire chapter devoted to different types of hummus in my cookbook!

What are your favorite hummus flavors?

Vegan Banana Walnut Pancakes

My son has has a HUGE track meet tomorrow. The last of the winter season, STATES! He is running three races, so today we are feeding him lots of carbs. He made these pancakes while I told him what to do. Just a note, these pancakes are not my normal healthy ones, if you are looking for a super healthy recipe, here’s a link to one that uses chickpea flour and beans and is sugar free!

Banana Walnut Panckaes

• 2 c white whole wheat flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 c soymilk
• 1 T vinegar
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 large banana, mashed
• 1/2 c walnuts

Method:

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl
2. Mix wet ingredients together along with the walnuts and add to the dry
3. Cook in a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat for around 3 minutes a side

My breakfast was a green smoothie which I shared with my kids. It’s pretty rare that the three of us are together for a meal, so this has been a great start to my day!

 

What are your favorite additions to pancakes?

 

Chickpea of the Sea Burgers and Tartar Sauce

A friend on Facebook said she was looking through the blog and saw some chickpea burgers I had made back in 2008.(link also included how I cook an artichoke and a recipe for my Happy Chicken Soup) I didn’t have the recipe, but I remembered that day, so I whipped up a batch. These are another 3 ingredient burger containing oats. One tip with these oaty burgers is to let them rest overnight and reheat the patties. When they are first made, the oat flavor is fairly pronounced, but after a 12 hour rest, everything relaxes and you have yourself a yummy patty(pattie?) of healthy goodness.

 

 

3 Ingredient Chickpea Burger with Tartar Sauce

• 1 c cooked and drained chickpeas
• 1 c rolled oats
• 1 t Old Bay Seasoning

Method:

1. Pulse everything in a food processor
2. Form into 3 patties and cook over medium heat in a cast iron skillet

I topped mine with tartar sauce. It’s probably no surprise that I used my Low Fat Vegenaise Alternative as the base.

Tartar Sauce

• 1/2 c mayo
• 1/4 t Old Bay
• 1 t dried dill ( or 1 T fresh )
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1 t onion powder
• 3 T relish
• pinch lemon zest (if you have it.. I do because I zest ALL my citrus before I use it and keep the peels in the freezer. You should to!)

Mix everything together, allow sauce to sit for an hour for best results

 

The burgers are delicious in a collard wrap with lots of veggies and a nice cup of Chipotle Split Pea Soup. Yum! What a great meal!

I worked on some recipes yesterday using a fat free version of my mayo as the base. Honey Mustard ( using stevia ) and Ranch Dressing! I love being able to replicate flavors and textures of foods.

One tip I have for you is that if you have a picky family who might turn their nose up at a homemade sauce, ketchup, mayo or whatever, save the original container and fill it with the homemade version. You’ll be amazed that people will not know the difference.

We are getting MORE SNOW! I’m in the for the day. My car is safely parked in the area where it won’t get towed and I am going to work on editing some pictures of a very sweet baby!

 

Frugan: Roasted Garlic Simple Marinara

Pasta is probably one of my favorite foods and I have it at least once a week. I am so thrilled that Market Basket carries brown rice pasta for $1.99/lb.  I like to bulk up my portion with veggies and legumes. 2 oz of pasta doesn’t look like a lot when you eat it alone, but combined with healthier additions, it can be a very satisfying meal.

When I wrote about how I approach eating the way I do, I mentioned the importance of having sauces prepared and on hand. My Three Base Sauces are:

• Simple Marinara
• Base Nutritional Yeast Sauce
• Salsa

Having these sauces on hand along with 1 or 2 cooked legumes and 1 cooked grain enables me to throw meals together in less than 30 minutes.

So, since I have posed other base sauce recipes, here is my Simple Marinara recipe. I call for 4 T of Olive Oil in this recipe, but you don’t have to use that much. If you are using less then use 1 T of the balsamic vinegar to caramelize the garlic. The key to this simple sauce is to go lowlowlow and slowslowlsow! Start with a COLD pan and caramelize the garlic over a period of 20 minutes at least.

 

Simple Marinara

• 4 T evoo
• 10 cloves garlic sliced
• 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 t marjoram
• 1 t rosemary
• 2 t dried basil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes with their liquid
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 1 c fresh basil or parsley

Method:

1. In a cold pan place the oil and garlic in the pan. Turn heat to low and slowly caramelize the garlic
2. When garlic is golden and fragrant, add the spices, turn heat up to medium and add the spices.
3. Cook spices for 1 minutes, then deglaze with balsamic
4. Add tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cover for 20 minutes
5. Taste and adjust seasonings, stir in fresh herbs
6. If the sauce is too acidic, add 1 shredded carrot or 2 t sugar

There you have it. Once you make this sauce, you will not go back to jarred! It is so tasty and delicious and freezes beautifully.

Over the next week or so I will post my favorite Nutty Parmesan recipes.

What sauces to you keep on hand?