Thursday, September 25, 2014

Rainbow Greens

This recipe is from Lindsay S. Nixon's Everyday Happy Herbivore vegan cookbook. One of the things I love about this book is all the recipes can be made in 30 minutes or less. In this recipe Lindsay offers the option of adding additional ingredients to make it a full meal. It's light and simple and works perfectly with fresh chard from the garden (or supermarket!).


Rainbow Greens with chickpeas, peppers and quinoa
Rainbow Greens
1 bunch rainbow chard (or collards/kale)
4 cloves garlic
pinch of dried oregano
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup raisins

optional additions: chick peas, peppers, a grain of your choice

Wash and chop greens.
Line a large pot or skillet with a thin layer of water.
Add garlic, oregano, and vinegar and bring to a boil, sautéing garlic over high heat for a minute.
Add raisins (and any additional ingredients) and cook for another minute, then add chard. Use tongs or spatula to stir chard around so it cooks down and incorporates with the other ingredients.
Once chard is softer and brighter in color, turn off heat and mix everything well.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Recipe from Everyday Happy Herbivore by Lindsay S. Nixon

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Vegan Banana Carrot Muffins

As a kid I always loved baking and helping out in the kitchen, and I'm so happy that our son Levi feels the same way. As soon as he found out I was making muffins he wanted to help out! Since we had a whole bunch of old bananas in the freezer that needed to be used, I looked up vegan recipes that had lots of bananas but were more than just a banana muffin (as much as I like banana muffins, we were in need of a change). I came across this amazing recipe.
As much as we can, we try to buy organic. I was happy to find these organic oats at Provigo.
We pretty much followed the recipe, only changing the Whole Wheat Flour for organic Kamut (I find it a bit lighter), and replaced the Almond Milk with a sample of Coconut Milk I had been given from So Delicious at the Wanderlust Festival. They turned out moist and delicious!
Levi waited patiently to lick the spoon after we finished filling the muffin tray.

Vegan Banana Carrot Muffins.
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cups carrots, grated
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup rolled oats
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas until only a few chunks remain. Add the vanilla and almond milk and mix with a fork. Whisk in the brown sugar until no clumps remain.
In a medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients. Fold into the banana mixture about half a cup at a time.
Add the oats and grated carrots, lightly folding until fully incorporated. 
Put batter into muffin tins or ramekins, filling only about 3/4 of the way.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.
Recipe by The Veggielogues