Veggie Staples

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

Archives for September 2014

Pumpkin Pie Coffee Shake

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More pumpkin, can you handle it? I’m not going to lie, I definitely splurge on a pumpkin iced coffee here and there even though they are not very good for me. I sat down and whipped up this pumpkin pie coffee shake of my own (vegan and paleo, mind you). Nothing fancy, but a lot more ‘clean’ than Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts! Not to mention all the added protein and fiber from the actual pumpkin, which makes you feel a little less guilty about enjoying this! Fun to drink in the morning or an afternoon treat! (and of course, you could make it decaf too)!

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Pumpkin Pie Coffee Shake

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup non dairy milk
  • 1/2 cup iced coffee
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • coconut sugar, honey or maple syrup to taste (depending on how sweet you like it!)

Instructions

  1. Buzz all ingredients in the blender and enjoy/serve immediately!
http://veggiestaples.com/pumpkin-pie-coffee-shake/

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Butternut Squash Shoestring French Fries

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It is the season of squash! These are so many uses for this awesome vegetable, but one of my favorites are these shoestring french fries. I make these every year in the Fall… almost never have the chance to take a photo because I want to gobble them all up! These butternut squash french fries are super kid friendly - taste just like french fries but much healthier! And your kids will love them, really! I can’t get enough when I make them. Hope you enjoy them just as much - perfect for snack or as a side dish at dinner! (these are the dipping cups I used, so cute!)

 

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Butternut Squash Shoestring French Fries

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
  • sea salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
  2. Peel and wash butternut squash and cut into long thin strips (like french fries)
  3. The thinner the better (thinner = crispier)
  4. Toss squash in a bowl with oil and salt, distributing evenly
  5. Place fries onto a greased cookie sheet or a Silpat spaced 1/4 inch apart
  6. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven
  7. Flip fries when time goes off and place in the oven for another 15 minutes
  8. Enjoy!
  9. Suggested homemade ketchup recipe: Holistically Engineered
http://veggiestaples.com/butternut-squash-shoestring-french-fries/

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Chocolate Pumpkin Candies

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My Mom loves Halloween. Every year she would go all out decorating and make is super fun for us. She also is an amazing seamstress and would make us the most unbelievable costumes - I had a seriously authentic Snow White costume in the 2nd grade, and I was purple unicorn in the 1st grade (complete with a standing horn and a white fluffy mane running down my back)! I know that Zoey will be getting some awesome costumes herself! I just started picking up decorations to start my own collection.

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I wanted something simple and easy to bring as a treat to work with me (I haven’t visited with the baby yet), and I also wanted to experiment with some molds. I haven’t used them too much before, and I thought they would be fun to experiment with! They were really fun to use and I think I’m going to be going back to the local cake decorating shop to see what else I can experiment with! If you love pumpkin, these homemade chocolate pumpkin candies are really fun to make and to share! (see the fun mold I used below, I also have this one, which I love too)

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Chocolate Pumpkin Candies

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat chocolate 30 seconds at time in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave
  2. Between each 30 second interval, take the chocolate out and stir it with a fork, many times the chocolate will be melted enough when stirred that it won't have to be heated again (I had to heat mine 4 times)
  3. Have chocolate mold(s) and pumpkin ready when the chocolate is melted (you can can mix the pumpkin with a tablespoon of honey if you like your candies sweeter
  4. Add a teaspoon of melted chocolate to the bottom of the mold
  5. Add a teaspoon of pumpkin on top of the chocolate
  6. Fill the rest of the mold to the top with the melted chocolate
  7. Do each of the molds one at a time so the chocolate doesn't harden before you have a chance to pour the pumpkin or second layer of chocolate
  8. Place mold in the fridge until the chocolate sets
  9. When chocolate is hardened flip mold over gently on a flat surface and push lightly on the molds until they pop out.
  10. Repeat steps to make more chocolates if desired
http://veggiestaples.com/chocolate-pumpkin-candies/

 

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Paleo Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

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There are few things I love more than I love pumpkin. Really. No, I’m not kidding. And oh, yes, my friends.. the pumpkin season is upon us. I cannot wait until Fall rolls around every year, it really is the best season. Apple picking, pumpkins, sweater weather, brisk air, the colors of the leaves… I could go on and on. The perfect time to be in New England. Very romantic, in my opinion, which is why I got married in September, too (two years ago today, in fact!).

I’ve made lots of other pumpkin recipes: Pumpkin Hummus, Pumpkin Ginger Muffins, Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, Chocolate Pumpkin Mini Muffins, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Pumpkin Parfaits, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Mac & Cheese, Pumpkin Risotto…. okay, you get it.

I have wonderful memories as a child always making and decorating sugar cookies with my Mom and sister, and I hope to one day do that with Zoey! I just hope she loves being in the kitchen as much as her mama does! This paleo pumpkin cookie recipe is a keeper, too. I hope you like it as much as we did!

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Paleo Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups almond flour
  • 1 cup arrowroot or potato starch
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin (puree)
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
  • 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  1. Mix ingredients all together (no fuss!)
  2. Place dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  4. Roll out dough into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick slabs
  5. Press cookie cutter into cookie dough and place on Silpat or greased cookie pan
  6. 12 cookies should fit on each sheet depending on the size of the cookie cutter
  7. Bake cookies in the oven for 15 minutes or until edges are brown
http://veggiestaples.com/paleopumpkinspicesugarcookies/

 

 

Paleo Lactation Cookies

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New Mom Post: If you’ve ever had kiddos and you’ve breastfed, you know that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with supply and demand. I’ve been drinking lots of Mother’s Milk Tea, which helps a lot, but I also starting looking for other foods that helped with milk production. I actually spoke with a lactation consultant and there haven’t really been too many tests proving that any certain foods do so, although many people believe they do (Carrots, Garlic, Spinach, Hummus, Nuts, Seeds, Ginger, Oils, Rice, Sweet Potato, Flax Seed, Oats, Brewers Yeast to name a few). This is a really article about galactogogues (foods that help milk supply)!

So either way, what harm can a lactation cookie do? I found lots of recipes but nothing that was gluten free or paleo friendly, so I set out this weekend to make my own version. I made two versions of these cookies, one with gluten free instant oats, and one with ground cashews. You could do either, depending on if you just eat gluten free or if you eat paleo (both work great).

The next question is how to get Zoey to sleep through the night…. I just began reading Baby Wise. Anyone else have any tips?

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Paleo Lactation Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 c. ground cashews or gluten free quick oats
  • 3/4 cup almond butter or peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons ground brewers yeast
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • add ins (optional)
  • 1/2 c. Enjoy Life chocolate chips
  • 1/2 c. almond slivers

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Combine wet ingredients together (eggs, almond butter, coconut oil and vanilla) and set aside
  3. Grind flax seeds in a blender or food processor until powder like if necessary
  4. If needed, grind cashews in a food processor or blender until they resemble bread crumbs
  5. If your brewers yeast is in pill form (with no casing) place 10-15 tablets in a sandwich back and smoosh with the back of a spoon until it is in powder form
  6. Combine dry ingredients together (flax seeds, ground cashews, brewers yeast and baking soda) and mix with wet ingredients
  7. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until well combined
  8. Add chocolate chips and almond slivers if desired
  9. Place 2-3 inch balls of dough (12 on a sheet) onto your Silpat or aluminum foil (sprayed or greased with coconut oil)
  10. Bake for 15-17 minutes at 350 degrees
  11. Enjoy!
http://veggiestaples.com/paleo-lactation-cookies/

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Vegan Cinnamon Crunch Snack Bites

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Okay all you Mommies out there, I am impressed on how you balance it all. I’m 4 weeks in to mommy hood and I’m finding I’m not doing too much besides sleep and laundry! Either way, I have been trying to get in one recipe a week, and honestly, I really miss being in the kitchen! Most of our meals have been slow cooker ones these days, just because I can throw everything in there and not have to think about it again. Do any of you other Moms out there do a lot of slow cooker meals?

Have you ever heard of somersaults? They are a small snack bite that my husband loves, but they have wheat (I do admit, they are delicious). So when I saw them at Target (I usually have to get them at the health food store) I decided to go home and try to make them. They took me a few tries, but I think I got it (my husband really liked them)! Awesome thing is a small batch makes a lot, and they are super quick and easy to make - just a few ingredients! These are great for me because I find I forget to eat (I never thought that would happen) as I’m so busy tending to the baby, trying to keep the house tidy, etc. So I can leave these out on the counter and munch during the day when my belly starts to rumble! (I also think you could sub out the cinnamon for chocolate powder to make cocoa snack bites, but I haven’t tried it yet!)

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Vegan Cinnamon Crunch Snack Bites

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
  • 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  2. Buzz pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in a blender or food processor until crumbly
  3. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
  4. Grease cookie sheet (with coconut oil) or use a Silpat
  5. Make small bite sized pieces (1/2 tablespoon measured) out of the mixture (rolling each 1/2 tablespoon into small balls)
  6. Place pieces on greased cookie sheet (can place them close, they will not expand)
  7. Bake for 18 minutes in the oven
  8. Allow to cool before eating
http://veggiestaples.com/vegan-cinnamon-crunch-snack-bites/

vegan and gluten free cinnamon snack bites