Vegan Zucchini Bread

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch +
1 Tablespoons water
1 cup almond milk or hemp milk
2 inches vanilla bean, scraped out of the hull
2 cups grated zucchini (1 medium)
zest of 2 to 3 lemons

1. Use a wire whisk to fluff the dry ingredients until well blended, in a large bowl.
2. Add walnuts now, if they are desired.
3. Grate the squash and measure it into another bowl.
4. Make a paste with the cornstarch and water, add to squash and incorporate with a wooden spoon.
5. Add almond or hemp milk and stir together gently.
6. Add zest of lemon.
7. Now gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with your wooden spoon.
8. Let the batter rest on the counter, while you preheat the oven at 350 degrees farenheit.

9. Spray the inside of three bread pans or a large cake pan with alcohol free cooking spray and divide the batter evenly between the bread pans, or pour it all in the large cake pan and bake it about 45 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

10. Serve warm, with plain yogurt or vegan cream cheese.

Filafel

1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained
5 small or 2 large cloves organic garlic
1 bunch fresh organic parsley or 3 Tablespoons dry parsley

1/4 bunch fresh organic mint or 1 Tablespoon dry mint (optional)

1 cup Garbanzo and Fava flour

2 Tablespoons Filafel spice

1 Tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoon sea salt

just enough water to make a stiff dough, add it 1/4 cup at a time until the dough feels right

canola oil (for frying)

Directions

1 place washed fresh parsley and mint leaves and garlic cloves into the food processor. If using dry parsley and dry mint, wait on that.

2 drain the can of chick peas (garbanzo beans) and gradually add them to the garlic and fresh parsley while the food processor is on. You want to make it into a thick paste. If using dry parsley and dry mint, add that into the food processor after the garbanzo beans are in it, so it can be incorporated into the paste really well)

3 in a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients to incorporate them thoroughly

4 now combine the paste with the dry ingredients, with a wooden spoon, and add your water little by little, to make sure you don't use too much. The final dough should look like a thick dough that you can easily roll into balls, which you may want to do, if you don't happen to have a filafel press, then flatten the balls a little between your hands before cooking them

Dough should look like this.

If you aren't ready to cook it right away, cover it tightly with plastic until you're ready to use it. You can even keep it in the fridge and cook it the next day.

5 Heat your oil until it is hot,

6 using a filafel press, form the dough into little patties and fry them. If they appear to be getting dark too fast, reduce the heat to ensure they will be done in the middle when they are golden brown on the outside.

7 using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked filafel from the oil and place them in a newspaper or paper towel lined bowl to absorb any excess oil

Serve with salad and plain yogurt from grass fed cows for dressing. This salad contains cucumbers, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, turnip pickles, kalamata olives, green onions and fresh lemon juice


Make sandwiches with home made Arabic Flat bread, or even use store bought pita or flat bread.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1/2 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup Heart Smart Bisquick

Preheat the oven at 450 degrees Farenheit.

Whisk the olive oil and sweet potatoes together until creamy.

Add the Bisquick and use a fork or pastry cutter to cut it into the wet mixture.

End product should be soft and lumpy, like regular biscuit dough.

Roll your dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut with a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter or just with the top of a drinking glass.

Spray baking dish with cooking spray and place biscuits with a little space between each one, to allow room for rising.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Hint: My family likes small biscuits, so I make ours small. You may make yours bigger and thicker by not rolling the dough out so thin, and by using a bigger cutting device. You may need to increase your baking time if you make them bigger, but not by much. For bigger biscuits 12 to 15 minutes should be enough.

Wonderful Vegan Carrot Cake

In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients:

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cups Sugar in the Raw
1 cup shredded coconut

In another bowl, mis together wet ingredients:

3 Tablespoons cornstarch powder (mix with wet ingredients)

3 inches vanilla bean, scraped out of the hull
1/2 cup melted unrefined coconut oil
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup crushed pineapple, with juice

1/2 cup pureed carrots
1 cup water or non-dairy milk

optional:

1/4 cup walnuts and

1/4 cup dried currents or raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mix water and cornstarch add vanilla, then add coconut oil, pureed carrots and crushed pineapple. In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and add walnuts and currents if desired. Do not over-mix. Bake for about an hour, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool to room temperature before icing.

Fake Cream Cheese Glaze:

1 single-serving cup non-fat Greek yogurt or softened vegan cream cheese

2 Tablespoons unrefined coconut oil, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Beat softened coconut oil then add some of the sugar and whisk it till it's creamy. Add some of the yogurt or softened vegan cream cheese and whisk it in, then add the rest of the sugar, and so on, until all ingredients are in it.

Apply it to the cake when it has cooled to room temperature.

ARABIC FLAT BREAD

Not bad for my third attempt? I I failed my first two attempts. My husband laughed at me too. I determined to keep trying until I learn this skill.

1 packet Fleischmann's active dry yeast
1 T. honey
1 1/4 c. lukewarm water (105-115 degrees)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3 c. bread flour

In a large bowl, pour the room temperature water.

Empty the yeast packet into the water.

Add the honey and let it sit for about 10 minutes, so the yeast can begin to grow.

Then add the flour, all at once.

Work it in with a spoon until it's mostly incorporated.

Wet your hands with plain water to prevent sticking to your hands and keep working, kneading and pounding on the dough until you feel tired.

Then shape the dough into a ball and grease the inside of the bowl and the top of the ball with a little olive oil.

Cover it and let it sit in a warm environment until it doubles in size.

Punch it down, re-shape it into a ball, grease the top of the ball and cover it again.

Let it rise again and punch it down again.

This time divide the dough into 5 to 8 balls and line them up on a tray or large plate.

Roll them out one by one with a rolling pin, on a lightly floured surface, or if you have sculptor's hands, just use your hands to flatten the balls one at a time once you are ready to bake it.

Preheat the oven at 500 degrees farenheit with a pizza stone inside, if you have one.

If you don't, just use large pizza pans and don't preheat those, they heat fast enough when popped into the oven.

It only takes a few minutes to bake each one.
When I use pizza pans I wait until the bread has lots of bubbles across the top, then I flip it over and return it to the oven for about 30 seconds longer to brown the other side a little.

Be very careful not to over-bake it, it'll be as hard as a rock.

I cover them with either paper towels or clean tea towels until they have cooled and then store them in plastic to keep it soft until ready to serve.

Plain and Simple Lentil Soup

1/2 package red lentils
1/4 cup Inca Red Quinoa
1 small garlic bulb, peeled and chopped
1 quart water
1 Tablespoon mild curry powder
1 cup V-8 juice
salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer over medium heat for about 30 to 45 minutes. Stir occaisionally to prevent burning.

Serve hot with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. This soup has a buttery taste without having any butter or oil in it at all.

This was yummy in my tummy at lunch time today.

Note: You could substitute regular tomato juice for the V-8. Either 1/2 cup of plain tomato sauce or 1/4 cup of tomato paste would also work, I have done it with either one. However, we like the V-8 best.

Marinated Eggplant

1 eggplant, sliced and sprinkled with salt
Balsamic vinegar
1 pint of grape tomatoes, cut in quarters
12 to 16 kalamata olives, sliced
3 Tablespoons capote capers
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, grated or minced
2 to 3 lemons juiced

Let the sliced and salted eggplant sit in a bowl on the counter for an hour or more. When you see a small puddle of brownish liquid start to accumulate under it, take each slice and sqeeze them real hard between two thick paper towels to get rid of any liquid that is in it.
Pre-heat your oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Spray a baking sheet with alcohol-free cooking spray (crisco and mazola make some) place the eggplant on the sheet in a single layer, drizzel a few drops of balsamic vinegar on each slice. Bake it for about 30 minutes, then pull it back out and flip them over and bake for about 15 minutes longer.
Meanwhile, cut your grape tomatoes in quarters, and toss them with the lemon juice, garlic, capers and olives.
Let it marinate until the eggplant is done, then layer it in a dish with the cooked eggplant slices and cover with plastic wrap.
Put in the refridgerator and let everything marinate together for at least an hour, but is best if you let it marinate over night.
You can eat it as it is or use it in sandwiches.

Hint: Rachel Ray uses the tomato and olive mixture on fish. Marinating eggplant in it was my idea.

Eggplant Parmasean

*I used two kinds of cheese in this picture, but it is unnecessary and unhealthy to eat that much cheese at one time when you have high triglycerides like I do. So after this picture was taken I started making it with only one kind of cheese and it tastes just as good as it did with two kinds. Note: this recipe has no bread and no pasta, so you get full, without all the starch in traditional eggplant parmasean dishes.

1 medium eggplant

Balsamic vinegar

Salt

Classico's spicy tomato and basil pasta sauce

roasted red peppers

kalamata olives

organic baby spinach or baby arugula

romano or parmasean cheese, grated

Peel 1-inch strips of the eggplant's skin off, and leave 1-inch strips on it too, for color and added stability. Slice the vegetable in 1/2 - inch slices, lay them on a plate and salt them. Leave them at least a half hour, or until you see beads of moisture on the slices. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit. Press each slice between thick paper towels to get rid of the bitter liquid that the salt drew out of them. Cover a baking tray, like a cookie sheet or a pizza pan, with foil and spray it with cooking spray. Arrange the eggplant slices on the tray in a single layer and drizzle some good balsamic vinegar onto each slice. Spray the tops with a little more cooking spray. Bake them for about a half an hour, flip them and bake them for about 15 minutes longer. Arrange the hot eggplant slices on a bed of either baby spinach or baby arugula, pour the warmed sauce over that, then grate your romano or parmasean cheese on top. Roasted red peppers can be chopped and layered onto the plate too. Garnish it with kalamata olives.

Roasted 'Tatoes

1 to 2 pounds of purple creamer potatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
crushed rosemary

Preheat the oven at 400 F.
Wash and dry the potatoes.
In a medium bowl drizzle olive oil over the potatoes.
Sprinkle in the seasonings.
Toss the potatoes around until you're satisfied with the amount of spice and oil on them.
Place them in a baking dish and bake at 400 F for about 45 minutes, or until done.
Serve warm.

My kids get very excited when I serve them this dish.

Zucchini Butter

3 medium zucchini's cut in 1 inch chunks

1 large shallot, chopped

1 large garlic clove, grated

vegeta or other seasoning

alcohol-free cooking spray

Preheat the oven at 400 F.

Spray the inside of a large [glass] cake pan with alcohol-free cooking spray.

Layer the cut squash in the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle chopped shallot and grated garlic across the top.

Sprinkle vegeta or seasoning of your choice to suit your taste.

Cover the top of the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Let the zucchini bake for about 30 minutes.

After removing it from the oven, leave the foil on it to keep the steam inside until ready to serve. May eat as is, or pulse it into a coarse paste in the food processor.

Serve with fresh Simple Rosemary and Olive Oil Bread. This zucchini butter will make you forget there is such a thing as cow butter! I could eat all of it myself and lick my fingers afterwards, but I share it with my husband just because I'm so nice.

Zucchini Fritters

Helpful hint: you can pulse your zucchini, garlic and shallot in the food processor if you have one. It gets much finer then the grater does it. But if you don't have a food processor, a regular old hand held grater from the Dollar Tree works just fine. I have done it both ways.

3 small zucchinis, shredded, about 2 cups
1 large shallot, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, grated
1 cup heart smart Bisquick
3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (adjust to taste)
1/3 cup oatbran
3 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
1 Tablespoon paprika
salt
1/2 cup almond milk

Mix all ingredients together gently, avoid over-mixing. Let it sit for at least ten minutes before cooking, to allow the chemistry a chance to marry the ingredients together very well. I have let it sit as long as an hour before cooking it. Heat an iron skillet on high, when it gets hot, cover the bottom with extra virgin olive oil, and dip your fritter batter with a 1/4 cup or large spoon to make your fritters uniform in size. Cook over medium heat to avoid scorching the outside before they are cooked through. Add more olive oil as needed.

My family will eat a plate full of these and nothing else in one meal.

hint: I cook mine in a seperate skillet with alcohol-free extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, from either crisco or mazola.

Eggless Banana Oat Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1 and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Quick oats
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup almond or soy milk
1 and 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 and 1/2 cups Sugar in the Raw
In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients, except sugar.
In another bowl mix together milk, sugar and the mashed bananas, combine thoroughly.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture, a wooden spoon is perfect for this task.
Let the batter rest for about 10 to fifteen minutes.


Spray the inside of the muffin tins with alcohol-free cooking spray, fill the muffin cups to the top, because this muffin does not rise exceptionally high.
Makes 48 mini muffins. I use the tin once, and when they are finished, I place the first batch on paper towels to cool, while I bake the rest of the batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  

Note: If you do not have a mini muffin tin, you can just use a regular one, but increase the cooking time to at least 30 minutes.