Veggie Staples

dairy free, gluten free, refined sugar free, plant based recipes

Archives for July 2014

Paleo & Vegan White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

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Well, I’m now one week away from my due date! I can’t believe it. It seems like yesterday I was telling people that I was pregnant. The hospital bag is packed, I am super nesting, and we are playing the waiting game. Jake is doing a lot of nesting of his own, making a lot of last minute house repairs and everything.

I’ve definitely been getting lazier with making dinners… I’ve had quite a few lunch/dinners at the Bridge St. Cafe over on the corner of Elm and Bridge in Manchester. They have the best coffee ever, too. The past few times I’ve gone, they’ve had white chocolate raspberry (or cranberry) scones, which are my favorite. Way back in the day, Dunkin Donuts used to make/carry them, and I ate quite a few. Loaded with sugar and lots of other bad stuff, I’m sure (I’m just not going to think about it).

I did start thinking about them, however, when I saw the recipe for dairy free, paleo, soy free, white chocolate chips recipe from Whole New Mom, I was back in the game. So along came this recipe. Even my husband (who always asks me, ‘is this healthy?’ really loved them), so we have ourselves a winning scone recipe. These didn’t last long in our house, and I don’t think they’ll last long in yours too!

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Paleo & Vegan White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

Ingredients

  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 2 tablespoons of potato or arrowroot flour
  • 1 tablespoon flax seed with 3 tablespoons of water OR 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons almond milk
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup organic dried cranberries or raspberries
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. If making the scones vegan, make flax seed mixture (1 tablespoon flax seed and 3 tablespoons hot water) mix well and set aside
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
  3. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl except cranberries and white chocolate chips
  4. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl and gradually mix in the wet to dry ingredients
  5. Once ingredients are well combined, slowly fold in cranberries and white chocolate chips
  6. Grease cookie sheet with coconut oil or use a silpat (no oil needed)
  7. Press dough into a large cookie form
  8. Using a knife, cut dough into 8 triangles (or 6 if you prefer)
  9. Bake scones for 10-12 minutes or until the edges brown
  10. Devour!
http://veggiestaples.com/paleowhite-chocolate-cranberry-scones/
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Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

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Yesterday here was a scorcher. 93 degrees and severe humidity. This is not fun for anyone, let alone a woman who is a week away from her due date. And I don’t know about anyone else, but even being pregnant when it’s really hot like that, I don’t feel much like eating anything but popsicles. And I also want to stick my head in the freezer all day.

I had been dying to try the coconut water lemonade, so I picked up a few boxes and it definitely lived up to it’s hype. Totally refreshing and delicious, just like I was told. I knew after Tuesday’s heat (and the oncoming Wednesday heat) that I needed some popsicles. With my second container of coconut water, I decided to make some popsicles. What’s more refreshing than lemonade and fruit on a hot day? Voila! Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles were born! I ate two yesterday afternoon. I hope you find them as refreshing as I do! The best part is you can use any extra for a delicious smoothie! These are my favorite popsicle molds!

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Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

Ingredients

  • 1 container (11 ounces) of VitaCoco Lemonade Coconut Water
  • 2 cups frozen strawberries (or other berries)
  • water to make the mixture less thick, if needed

Instructions

  1. Blend strawberries and lemonade in a blender or food processor
  2. If the mixture is too thick, add water (1/2 cup at a time) until the mixture is able to easily pour
  3. Pour mixture into popsicle molds and let set in the freezer 1-3 hours
  4. Enjoy!
http://veggiestaples.com/strawberry-lemonade-popsicles/

 

 

2 Ingredient Vegan Nut (& Fruit) Bark

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We were at Trader Joe’s the other night, and my mom picked up a bag of almond bark. Unfortunately, it had a lot of junk in it - surprise, surprise. Soy emulsifier and all that other good processed stuff. So, of course I took my raw nuts (and on my moms request, raisins) and went home with some super dark chocolate (85%) and went to work.

This was so easy to whip up. Less than 20 minutes in the kitchen for the BEST snack/dessert - and only TWO ingredients! You can make your nut bark with only your favorite nuts (like mine, cashews and walnuts) or do it mixed, with or without raisins, endless possibilities! So easy! The chocolate (dark chocolate or Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, my other fav) makes this snack vegan, paleo, gluten free… How could you go wrong? I’m totally going to make this for Christmas presents this year (with peppermint, of course)!

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2 Ingredient Vegan Nut (& Fruit) Bark

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of raw nuts (mixed with or without fruit)
  • 2 cups of dark chocolate (I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips)

Instructions

  1. Spread nuts out evenly on a piece of parchment paper (on a cookie sheet so it's easily transportable)
  2. Melt chocolate in a saucepan over low/medium heat until completely liquid form, stirring frequently so it does not burn
  3. Pour and distribute evenly over nuts
  4. Place in the refrigerator for 20-40 minutes until chocolate is hardened
  5. Enjoy!
http://veggiestaples.com/vegan-nut-fruit-bark/

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Gluten Free Crumbly Cereal Bars

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Back before I started reading labels I used to eat cereal bars in the morning for breakfast or as a snack.

Let’s review what is actually in a nutri grain bar: WHOLE GRAIN OATS, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, VITAMIN B1 [THIAMIN MONONITRATE], VITAMIN B2 [RIBOFLAVIN], FOLIC ACID), WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SOYBEAN AND/OR CANOLA OIL, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, FRUCTOSE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, WHEY, WHEAT BRAN, SALT, CELLULOSE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, CARRAGEENAN, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON

YUCK! That ingredient list is terrible! For a while I did buy the gluten free cereal bars, a little bit better, but really wanted to start cutting down on sugar. So I just gave them up completely. Being summer (and being on vacation, yeay for being a teacher!) you tend to eat a little lighter. I have been trying to make things that will be easy to remake once the baby is born (2.5 weeks! eek!) I know I’ll be eating fast, quick foods will little to no prep time. Either way, these were really good for snacking. They were crumbly and delicious! There is nothing like making your own snacks knowing that they have no added sugar or artificial ingredients in them! The awesome part about these, too, is that you could really add any fruit in there. I love the strawberry blueberry blend, but you could even use peaches, apples or raspberries.

What are some of your favorite, super easy go to snacks or dinners?

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Paleo Gluten Free Cereal Bars

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Paleo/Gluten Free Crumbly Morning Cereal Bars

Ingredients

  • for the crust
  • 3 cups almond flour
  • 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • for the filling
  • 1 1/2 cups blueberries
  • 1 1/2 cups strawberries

Instructions

  1. Mix together all ingredients until well combined
  2. Roll dough into a ball and place in a bowl or on a plate in the refrigerator for an hour
  3. Wash blueberries and strawberries and place into a frying pan with a teaspoon of coconut oil
  4. Heat fruit on medium/high until the fruit is softened, stirring often
  5. Smash fruit with the back of the fork or potato masher to break down the fruit
  6. Once the fruit has been mashed to your liking, remove from heat and set aside
  7. Remove dough from the refrigerator and divide into two equal parts
  8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  9. Roll out dough in between two pieces of parchment paper to prevent sticking
  10. Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick
  11. Cut 3 inch by 5-6 inch pieces (I used a plastic knife to separate my pieces)
  12. Fill each half with a few tablespoons of the fruit mixture leaving room on the edges
  13. Roll out the other half of the dough (in between parchment paper)
  14. Measure sections about the same size and lay pieces on top
http://veggiestaples.com/gluten-free-crumbly-cereal-bars/

Mango Ginger Lime Sorbet

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There have been very few times this past week where I’ve wanted to even look at the oven. It’s been pretty hot here, don’t know about where you are! In New England, despite how cold it is, we are the number one ice cream eaters in the country! Hard to believe with what seems to be almost 3/4 of a year full of winter. Then again, we are the birth place of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream!

Because of the hot weather, I haven’t felt too much like making ice cream, but that was the theme over vacation at the Cape last week with my family (if you have not bought an ice cream maker, you really need to buy one - I have this one, and it is tried and true). So sorbet it’s been! I came up with this last week with my Mom in mind, two of her favorite flavors are mango and ginger. It gobbled up immediately - I barely had enough left to take a photo!! The lime gives it just a little bit of a tart kick to round out the mango and lime flavor, which makes it truly refreshing on a hot day. Enjoy!

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Mango Ginger Lime Sorbet

Ingredients

  • 2 mangos, washed, peeled and chopped
  • 2 inch knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
  • Juice of one lime

Instructions

  1. Wash, peel and chop mango and ginger
  2. Add mango and ginger to food processor or blender
  3. Squeeze in fresh lime juice
  4. Blend until smooth
  5. Freeze until the sorbet is solid (an hour or so)
  6. Serve when ready!
http://veggiestaples.com/mango-ginger-lime-sorbet/

 

 

 

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

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Sorry I’ve been so MIA - I’ve been on vacation here at the Cape since school has been out (after an amazing baby shower given to me by my family). I’ve actually made a couple of really good coconut milk based ice creams, so I think I’ll post those soon. Here is a quick update on my pregnancy - if you care to know, I’m now 36 weeks pregnant. 4 weeks to go! I cannot believe the baby will be here soon. I don’t know if I’m ready (are we really ever)?!!


This week while everyone was down at the cape house, my family wanted salted caramel cupcakes. I’ve definitely not been so great with being gluten free since I’ve been pregnant, but I do the best I can when I can. So I went out and got the ingredients to try to make my own. Because I used coconut flour for the cupcakes, they ended up tasting more chocolate/coconut than salted caramel, but I did make homemade caramel sauce to mix with the frosting. It’s not very hard to find gluten free and/or paleo cupcake mix anymore, but most of the boxes are full of junk (i.e. lots of sugar).

I had previously made a great cupcake base from my St. Patrick’s Day Cupcakes. I used this base, and then made my own homemade frosting (in 2 parts). The actual cupcake is gluten free and paleo! They are really delicious, although not salted caramel… I’ll be working on that (stay tuned).

 

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Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • for the cupcakes:
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 cup non dairy yogurt (I used so delicious, greek yogurt)
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
  • 1/4 cup raw honey, softened
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • for the frosting:
  • 1/2 cup enjoy life chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon almond butter
  • for the caramel drizzle:
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Instructions

  1. for the cupcakes:
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Place all cupcake ingredients in a food processor or blender and buzz until smooth
  4. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners or grease with coconut oil
  5. Distribute batter equally among each cupcake liner
  6. Place in oven for 20 minutes (or until a cake tester/knife comes out clean)
  7. for the frosting
  8. melt chocolate chips for 30 seconds in the microwave (keep trying another 30 seconds or so until they are softened enough to be mixed in with the other ingredients)
  9. mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined
  10. once caramel drizzle is done, mix half into the frosting and place in refrigerator until the frosting becomes thick
  11. frost cupcakes generously
  12. for the caramel drizzle
  13. mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined
  14. drizzle over cupcakes once frosted
http://veggiestaples.com/chocolate-coconut-cupcakes/