Vegan Filipino Beefsteak Recipe

We had some requests for more vegan Filipino recipes... so here goes!  It is so easy to make and delicious too!

Ingredients:
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
2 8-oz. packages of seitan (or tofu)
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce

Directions:
Put the seitan in a container and add the soy sauce, lemon juice, and black pepper.  Shake it up, and let it marinate for at least 1 hour.  Once the marinating is done, chop the onion into rings and mince the garlic.  Heat oil in a pan and add the garlic.  Let cook for a minute, then add the onions and a pinch of sea salt.  Saute until the onions get soft.  Add the marinated seitan and stir.  Put the cover on the pan and let simmer for about 10 minutes on medium heat (adding water if it seems to be sticking to the pan).  Serve with some brown rice and vegetables.  Enjoy!

Note:
We made this again with tofu.  It turned out great.  I just cut the tofu into slices and followed the same directions.  I also added some spinach I had left over in the fridge for some extra nutrition!

tofu sliced

 tofu in the marinade

 all done and ready to eat!

my hungry little Mika looks on...

my hungry little Arneil joins my hungry little Mika...

Vegan Split Pea and Barley Soup Recipe

This is such a delicious and nutritious hearty soup to eat during the winter!  It will definitely warm you up on a cold night!

Ingredients:
10 cups water
2 cups barley
2 cups split peas
1 1/2 cups corn
1 1/2 cups butternut squash (or carrots)
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
black pepper to taste
4 tbsp oil (if you are using a pressure cooker, to help reduce foam)

Directions:
Put all ingredients into your pressure cooker.  Set it on high pressure for 30 minutes.  Once that is done, leave it on natural pressure release for 10 minutes.  Next do quick pressure release.  The soup is now ready--you can taste test it and add any other seasonings to taste.  Serve and enjoy!

Note:
If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can make this on your stove--it will just take much longer.

Vegan Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Ganache Recipe

My wonderful husband decided to make me a birthday cake this year.  Usually, if we even bother to get one, we just go to Whole foods.  The trouble is their cakes are FULL of sugar--not good.  That's why it was so thoughtful and loving that Arneil came up with this recipe and made it for me!

CAKE
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rice milk
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup oil
10 oz jar strawberry jam (make sure it is made with fruit pectin--st. dalfour is a GREAT choice)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together.  Pour approximately half of the batter into a baking pan.  Spread the entire jar of jam on top of the batter.  Pour the remaining batter into the baking pan.  Bake the cake for approximately 25 minutes or until you put a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.  Let it cool completely before serving.

FROSTING
Ingredients:
1/4 cup agave syrup
1 container of vegan cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Put all ingredients into a blender and mix thoroughly.  Set aside until the cake is ready to be frosted.

NOTE:
You can try making this with a different kind of jam, extract, and without the frosting.  We did this for the new year and made it with an apricot jam ganache, almond extract, and no frosting.  We also used organic coconut sugar instead of the agave syrup.  It cooks a little differently, so just keep an eye on it to know when to take it out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Vegan Berry Cheesecake Recipe

We have wanted to come up with a delicious and easy cheesecake recipe for quite some time now and we think we have found a winner!  We love Follow Your Heart vegan gourmet cream cheese because they don't use any gross sweeteners; they just use agave syrup!  Sweeteners are a big no no in our family--so thank you FYH!

Ingredients:
1 10 oz. package organic mixed berries
1 container of vegan cream cheese
1 pie crust
1/2 cup agave syrup
3 cups cashews (soaked overnight)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  Pour berries, entire container of cream cheese, and agave syrup into food processor or blender.  Blend thoroughly.  Add half the cashews to the processor and blend thoroughly.  Add the other half of the cashews and blend thoroughly.  Put this mixture in the pie crust.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Once done, let the pie sit until it is cooled and then refrigerate for at least an hour.  Then serve and enjoy!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Recipe

We love pumpkin and always have it on hand.  Our dogs love pumpkin too and always come running when they hear us open a can of it!  This is a recipe we came up with just before Thanksgiving because we were hosting family at our house for the first time.  It is a super quick and easy recipe that everyone can enjoy during the winter months!

Ingredients:
1 pie crust
1 cup cashews (soaked overnight)
1 can pumpkin puree (or 2 cup fresh pumpkin)
12 dates (soaked overnight and pitted)
1/4 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cardamom
dash sea salt
a little water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  Put pumpkin, cashews, dates, and raisins in food processor and blend thoroughly.  Next add the seasonings and blend thoroughly.  If the mixture seems too thick while blending add a tiny amount of water.  Once the mixture is completely blended pour it into the pie crust and bake for 20 minutes.  Once it is done, take it out and let it cool down.  Then put it in your refrigerator for at least an hour.  Then serve and enjoy!

Vegan Cheesy Harvest Casserole Recipe

This is a delicious recipe that we made using our homemade cashew cheese as well as many other super nutritious ingredients!  This is definitely a crowd pleaser!

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale
1 head of cauliflower
1 large sweet potato
a handful of shiitake and maitake mushrooms
approx. 1 cup quinoa
approx. 1 cup mung beans
vegan cashew cheese

Directions:
Cut the sweet potato into chunks and cut the skin off.  Cut the cauliflower into chunks.  Put sweet potato and cauliflower in a pot of water and bring to a boil.  When it is boiling reduce the heat and cook until they are very soft.  Drain the water and mash the mixture. Next chop the kale and set aside.  Chop the mushrooms and set aside.  Saute the kale and mushrooms.  Add some black pepper and garlic to taste.  Pour a small amount of water in the pan and simmer until the water is gone.

Commence casserole construction:
First put a base layer of sweet potato/cauliflower mash.  Second is a layer of mung beans.  Third is a layer of quinoa.  Fourth is a layer of kale/mushrooms.  Lastly, the layer of our very own vegan cashew cheese!  Put the casserole in the oven at 400 for about 10-15 minutes.  Then serve and enjoy!

Vegan Cashew Cheese Recipe

This is a super easy way to make a "cheese" at home that can be used in so many recipes or even as a dip!

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp minced onions (or onion powder)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 dash chipotle pepper (optional)

Directions:
Put all the ingredients into your food processor or blender.  Blend until the "cheese" is nice and smooth, making sure all the ingredients are thoroughly processed together.  Taste test your "cheese" and add any extra seasonings to taste.  You can store this in your refrigerator for up to 1 week.  Enjoy!

Vegan Quinoa Salad Recipe

A delicious, light, and healthy salad for you to enjoy!  Plus it is colorful--yay!

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup corn
1 cup peas
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
sea salt, minced onion, black pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix the quinoa, chickpeas, tomatoes, corn, and peas together.  Drizzle the sesame oil over the salad.  Drizzle the lemon and lime juice over the salad and mix (add more juice if desired).  Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt, black pepper, and minced onion over the salad and mix.  Add more seasonings if desired.  Then it is ready to serve!  Enjoy!

Simple Vegan Granola Recipe

Granola is so much fun!  You can have it for breakfast, as a snack, or even as dessert--it's so versatile!  If you want to get a high quality granola from the grocery store, it tends to be quite expensive.  So save yourself some money and make your own batch of it at home!

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 cups unsweetened (or fruit juice sweetened) cornflakes
4 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300.  Mix all the dry ingredients (except the dried fruit) together.  (Go ahead and mix it with your hands!)  In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix together well.  Put mixture into a baking pan and bake for 25 minutes.  Take it out of the oven, mix it up a little bit, and blend in the dried fruit.  Put it back in the oven for approx. 12 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely.  Then enjoy!

Vegan Chickpea Curry Recipe

Here is a delicious curry recipe!  Once again we have collaborated with the Food Empowerment Project on this one.  Be sure to check out their site here!

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
1 can chickpeas
1 cup frozen green peas (thawed)
1 tbsp ginger
1 heaping tbsp curry powder
Dash of cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, coriander
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small sweet potato
1 small bell pepper

Directions:
Chop the sweet potato into cubes.  Slice the bell pepper into thin strips.  Drizzle a pan with oil and heat over medium heat.  Add minced garlic and ginger to pan, let cook for a couple minutes.  Add sweet potato to pan and stir.  Cover and cook sweet potato for about 10 minutes.  If it starts to stick, add a small amount of water to the pan.  Add the bell pepper and the chickpeas, stir and let cook for 5 minutes.  Move all the veggies/chickpeas to one side of the pan and pour the curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and coriander into the empty side of the pan to let toast for 1 minute.  Mix all the spices and veggies together.  Add the coconut milk to the pan and stir evenly.  Add the green peas and mix.  Let simmer for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until coconut milk thickens up.  Remove from heat, and salt to taste.  Eat over brown rice and enjoy!

Vegan Banana Blueberry Bread Recipe

We absolutely love banana bread!  We love to experiment with it by adding different spices and such, and see what we come up with!  This is one of our favorite combos... bananas and blueberries!

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas
6 oz. blueberries
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup earth balance (melted)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
cinnamon (to taste)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork, set aside.  In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, earth balance, agave syrup, sea salt, and baking soda.  Pour the mashed bananas into the flour mixture and blend evenly.  Add cinnamon to taste, and mix evenly.  Pour the blueberries into the mixture and mix evenly.  Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until it is cooked all the way through.  Enjoy!

Vegan Five Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

I'm pretty sure most people LOVE cookies.  The problem is, cookies are not always good for you.  We have created a healthier version of the chocolate chip cookie, and it is DELISH!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp five spice seasoning (a mixture of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and black pepper)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In one bowl mix the maple syrup, canola oil, and almond extract evenly.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and five spice seasoning evenly.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and blend together evenly.  Do not over mix.  Add the chocolate chips, and mix evenly.  Spoon onto a greased baking sheet.  Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes.  Once they are golden brown, they are done!  Let cool for a couple minutes and serve!

Note:
This makes a small batch of only 9 cookies.  If you want more cookies, double or triple the recipe!