healthy vegan blog

I am very excited about this recipe! I wanted to make an appetizer type thing that would be enjoyable to non-vegans. I love my cashew cheese so I thought that maybe I could make a cashew cheese ball. It worked! This is officially approved of by cheese eating friends.

• scant 1/4 cup dry roasted almonds (to roll in when finished)
• 1 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh chives (cut into bits)

1. Soak cashews in water for about an hour prior to beginning recipe.
2. Use a food processor to pulverize the almonds. Spread almonds on a dinner plate.
3. Drain and rinse cashews. After rinsing, drain well. You don’t want extra moisture on them.
4. Add cashews to food processor. Process until smooth.
5. Add salt and process.
6. Add lemon juice slowly. Watch the consistency. It needs to be moldable, not too thin. Use less juice to keep it dryer. It will solidify in the fridge.
7. Lastly add fresh chives, and process lightly (too much and it will be a green spread, still tasty, but odd).
8. Scoop out “cheese” with your hands and roll into a ball. It will be oily and soft. Roll the ball in the almonds.
9. Place on a plate and cover with a bowl. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, over night is best.
10. Spread on crackers or crusty bread.

I love the sloppy lentil recipe that I posted previously, but I don’t always have time to cook them for hours in the crockpot so I created a stove top quick version. This isn’t super quick, it takes about an hour, but it requires very little work from the cook, which I love.

• 1/2 pound dry lentils (about 1 and 1/4 cups)
• 3 cups water
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 1 large pepper - any color (chopped)
• 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon each of chili powder, powdered mustard, soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon vegan sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Rinse lentils and drain.
2. Place lentils and water in a medium pan.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Boil for about 10 minutes until a lot of the water has evaporated.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients (onion, green pepper, tomato sauce, chili powder, mustard, soy sauce, sugar, and salt).
6. Return to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low (about 2 out 10 on my stove) and cook uncovered for about 30-40 more minutes, until desired texture.

This makes about 6 cups. One cup has 192 calories, zero fat, and 12.5 grams of protein. Super good for you!! We like to eat it over noodles and a side of something green. YUM!

We had steamed green beans, baked corn, rum cranberries, mashed sweet potatoes and Celebration Loaf. This is the first time that we had Celebration Loaf, and we thought it was quite yummy. Since we were at my parents house, we just microwaved it very briefly, and this worked fine. Recipes for baked corn and rum cranberries can be found on this blog.

These cookies are soft, light, and not overly sweet - they go great with tea! The recipe is based on a recipe from 1956 edition of Betty Crocker Cookbook that I found online. I made these last year with Arrowhead Mills Organic Pastry Flour, and this year I made them with 100% Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour from Daisy Organic Flours (a local mill). I was surprised at the difference, using Arrowhead Mills the cookies kept more of a ball shape, and with the Daisy Organic, the cookies spread out a bit more. I liked this year’s version better, but both were good. The Daisy Organic suggest adding and extra 1/8 cup per cup of flour in recipes.

• 1/2 cup of Spectrum Shortening
• 1/4 cup organic brown sugar (packed)
• 1 “egg” (prepared Ener-g Egg Replacer)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup of flour (I used 1/2 cup unbleached flour and 1/2 cup + 1 TB whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir flour and salt together in a small bowl. Mix shortening, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir flour mixture into shortening mixture. Roll in 1″ balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place a “thumbprint” in each cookie, I actually used my finger to make print. Fill each cookie with a bit of jelly. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, and then remove to cool on a cookie rack. This recipe only makes about 16 cookies so I usually doubled it.

I could not find vegan chapstick without chemical sunscreen any where locally so I decided to make my own homemade vegan chapstick. It was so incredibly easy that I will never buy chapstick/lip balm again. This recipe provides a perfect consistency; it goes on smoothly, but I can keep the tube in my pocket all day and it stays firm. I think in the summer, I may add another 1/4 teaspoon of wax to help it hold up to the heat.

• 1 1/4 teaspoons of candelilla wax
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon jojoba oil
• 1 teaspoon vitamin e oil
• 1 drop of agave (optional for slight sweetness)
• 6 drops of spearmint essential oil (optional for flavor)

Put wax and coconut oil in a glass measuring cup and hang the cup over a pan of water. Bring the water to a gentle boil. After the wax is completely melted, add jojoba oil and vitamin e oil and continue heating for about 30 seconds until it looks combined. Stir with a metal spoon. Remove from heat, add agave and essential oil, stir. Cool for a few minutes. Pour into empty chapstick tubes. This recipe makes 3 tubes. Wash the measuring cup and spoon right away while it is still warm.

Note about tubes: I have heard that you can reuse regular store bought chapstick tubes, but I ordered mine from Mountain Rose. I am in the process of looking for “safe” plastic tube, but have not found any yet.

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This cheesy sauce is so good, I think nonvegans could be fooled. Before going vegan, I used to love mixing salsa with Velveeta cheese (talk about heart attack on a plate), and this recipe is reminiscent of that unhealthy treat. Nutritional yeast is full of healthy vitamins, minerals, and protein so this cheese sauce is like a health food (don’t tell your guests).

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (not bread yeast)
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup soy milk (or water)
• 1/4 cup of salsa
• 1 teaspoon of Earth Balance buttery spread (optional)

Mix dry ingredients in a small sauce pan. Add milk, whisk well. Heat over medium low (4 out of 10 on my stove), stirring constantly. Heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add salsa and Earth Balance. Stir and heat for another minute. Serve as close to immediately as possible. If you need to put it on hold and keep it hot, turn to the lowest setting and stir often, add more soy milk if it thickens. We love it on tortilla chips, rice, veggies; really it is good on EVERYTHING!

This recipe makes about one cup of sauce. One half of this recipe contains 103 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 7 grams of protein.

I made delicious pumpkin cookies for Thanksgiving following Fatfree Vegan Kitchen’s recipe. I made a few very slight changes. I am in love with my 100% Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour from Daisy Organic Flours (a local mill). It is so light and fluffy and whole wheat - it is beautiful! For baking, I also love Spectrum Shortening which has only one ingredient, palm oil, and it is rated for up to 450º.

• Medium Bowl Ingredients
• 2 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup oats (regular oats, not quick oats or instant)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Large Bowl Ingredients
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup vegan brown sugar (packed)
• 1/2 cup vegan sugar
• 8 ounces of silken tofu
• 1 15 ounce can of pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

(A note about the tofu. I used Mori-Nu Organic Silken which comes in 12 ounce packages. I cut the block into thirds and used 2/3 of the block.)

1. Mix the first set of ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Put all of the second set of ingredients in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer and mix well.
3. Slowly add medium bowl ingredients to large bowl, continuing to mix with electric mixer.
4. Preheat oven to 375º.
5. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with high heat canola oil.
6. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto sheet.
7. Bake for 14 minutes.
8. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Makes about 30-40 cookies depending on size.

My husband is a videographer, and he usually makes climbing films (seen on his website chetroy.com). He came across a commericial contest and has submitted his first commercial to YouTube. Although this has nothing to do with veganism, we promise to buy all vegan products with the winnings. The more views his vid gets, the better so check it out, hopefully you’ll find it funny. thanks

I have been using my recipe for dishwasher detergent for about 6 months. Sometimes my dishes had a dull film on them (as report on other sites). To fix this, I used Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent once per week. It seemed to keep things under control, but I wanted to create a formula that worked all on its own. I read about using citric acid and finally ordered some from Mountain Rose. The citric acid was THE ANSWER!! After using my new and improved dishwasher formula one time, the inside of my dishwasher was white and clean. And my dishes were sparkling!! I have been using it all week with excellent results - no film, only squeaky clean dishes. I am very excited!!

• 1 1/2 cups borax
• 1 1/4 cup baking soda
• 4 tablespoons of ground castile soap
• 1/4 cup citric acid

Pour ingredients in a container with an airtight lid. Shake. Use about 2 TB per load.

I have soft water. I have read other recipes that call for about 1/4 cup salt, which may help for hard water areas.

Notes about soap: I use a food processor shredder attachment to shred Dr. Bronner’s bar soap (any flavor) and then I use the regular food processor blade to mince it into a powder.

I love fall. I love the cool crisp weather and the beautiful colors on the trees and the APPLES. My cousin, Christy, and I went to the Cherry Hill Apple Orchard today. They have a crazy selection of apples that they grow right there in their orchards. The apples are not organic, but Cherry Hill uses integrated pest management to reduce the need for pesticides, and they make efforts to be good stewards. I bought a 1/2 bushel of apples (about 22 pounds) for $12, which is 55¢ per pound - a great deal. Now I am not sure what I was thinking when I bought 22 pounds of apples. It didn’t look like that many apples when surrounds by gazillions of other apples, but in my kitchen, it sure was a lot of apples. I made two batches of applesauce and still have about 1/3 of the apples left in my fridge. These apples are so crisp and fresh (getting them right from the grower) that I think they will keep until next fall.

So here is how to make very easy homemade applesauce. Wash the apples, quarter them, cut out the seeds, and keep the skins on. Put them in a large pot. Fill the pot about 3/4 full with water. Put the lid on and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down a bit, keeping a gentle boil. Stir them a few times because the apples on the bottom cook more quickly. When the apples are soft, remove from the heat. (Using cold water it takes about 25 minutes to come to a boil and cook the apple.)

Use a fine mesh strainer to scoop the apples out of the pot. Strain and dump into a food processor. Fill food processor about 3/4 full. If you want, add a dash of cinnamon and a teaspoon of sugar. Food process until sauce reaches your preferred consistency. Dump applesauce into a container. Continue until all apples are sauce. You can have delicious homemade applesauce in less than 45 minutes! And it freezes very well.

What kind of apples make the best applesauce? I have no idea. I have made it with many different kinds of apples, and I think it usually tastes the same. I like to use sweet apples so that I can use little or no sugar. These were red delicious apples.