Chickpea “Blondies”

Originally saw this recipe here. I love that the secret ingredient is Chickpeas!!! You really can't taste them in this recipe AT ALL. They are a sweet peanut buttery dream and pack some awesome nutrients from the beans, nut butter, and flax meal. If you don't care about making these gluten free then sub all the flax and flour for regular flour. You won't regret making these!!!

Chickpea “Blondies” Yield: 8 servings

Non-stick cooking spray
15 ounces (1 can) cooked garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup strawberry or other all-fruit spread
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flax meal (sub with other meal or flour if you’re not looking to make these gluten-free)
2 tablespoons brown rice flour (sub with other meal or flour if you’re not looking to make these gluten-free)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Lightly coat an 8-inch (20-cm) square baking pan with spray.
• In a food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until perfectly smooth, scraping sides often.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 26 minutes.
• Place the pan on a wire rack and let cool completely before placing in the fridge and slicing.
• Enjoy cold from the fridge. These blondies freeze well, too.

Muhammara

This dip is out of this world amazing. I can't believe I've never had it before?? It can be served with pita bread, chips, or fresh veggies or on a wrap just like hummus. I researched this recipe all over the internet and this is the version that I came up with. It's best to make ahead of time so that the flavors can mingle while in the fridge.

Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread)

2-3 whole roasted red bell peppers from a jar

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup walnuts

2 large whole garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp agave nectar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

In a blender, combine all ingredients and puree to a smooth consistency. Yields 1 cup.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are so yummy!!! I brought these to a party and they were all gone by the end of the night =] If these seem time consuming, you could just put the batter into a rectangular pan and make cookie bars instead!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Makes 30 cookies

• 2 cups walnuts
• 1 cup liquid sweetener (agave or maple syrup)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1½ cups oat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1½ cups vegan chocolate chips (12 oz.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.

2. Blend walnuts in food processor 30 seconds, or until ground into a fine meal. Add half of the sweetener, and blend 2 to 3 minutes more, or until mixture has the consistency of natural peanut butter, scraping down sides of food processor occasionally. Transfer to bowl.

3. Pour remaining sweetener over ground walnut butter, add vanilla extract, and stir until no lumps remain.

4. Whisk together oat flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in separate bowl. Stir oat flour mixture into walnut mixture. Cool 10 minutes in the fridge or freezer. Fold in oats, then chocolate chips.

5. Shape cookie dough into 2-inch balls, and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten cookies with bottom of drinking glass dipped in water. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry. Cool 3 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!!!

Nutritional Information: Calories: 173, Protein: 3g, Total fat: 10g, Saturated fat: 3g, Carbs: 21g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 122mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugars: 12g

Pasta Primavera with Fresh Veggies and Herbs

So this recipe is from The Vegan Table, but I adapted it so that I could make it in less than 20 minutes because I didn't have much time! I brought this to my grandma's for Easter dinner and everyone loved it!

Pasta Primavera with Fresh Veggies and Herbs

12 oz penne pasta

4 garlic cloves equivalent from pre-chopped garlic jar

2 bell peppers (red, orange, or yellow), cut into strips

10 oz bag of shredded carrots

2 zucchini squash, cut into 1 inch strips

8 stalks asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces

1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes in juice

1 cup vegetable stock (from the box)

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish

1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

4.2 oz small can of sliced black olives

pinch of red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

• Cook the pasta according to package directions.
• While pasta is cooking, chop up the peppers, zucchini, asparagus, basil, and parsley.
• In a large pan, spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the garlic and cook until lightly browned.
• Add bell pepper, shredded carrots, zucchini, and asparagus. Sauté for about 10 minutes until veggies are tender but still crispy.
• Reduce heat to low and add tomatoes and vegetable stock. Stir well to combine.
• Once everything is heated through, add the olives, basil, parsley, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and add the pasta, tossing well to combine.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. Add extra basil as garnish to your plate and enjoy!!!

Mediterranean Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

So I used the recipe from this website to create a smaller batch of these burgers that come in at only 125 calories a piece. The awesome thing about making your own veggie burgers is that it's fast and cheap. You can easily cook up what you want and then freeze the rest (cooked or uncooked) for another time. I made these 2 weeks ago with a salad when Mike was away and put the remaining 3 uncooked burgers in the freezer for another time. I took them out tonight, popped them in the oven at 400 for 20 minutes. While they were cooking, I prepped veggies for a salad and burger toppings, made some guacamole, and toasted up the buns. We had an easy dinner that was delish and ready in no time!

Mediterranean Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

1/2 Tbsp flax meal mixed with 1.5 Tbsp water (mixed ahead of time, separately)

1 can black beans (1.5 cups)

1/3 cup cooked quinoa (or any grain like brown rice)

2 Tbsp flour

6 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, roughly sliced

salt and pepper to season

1 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

• Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined but not pureed.
• Form into 4 patties.
• Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes so that they won't fall apart when you try to cook them.

For cooking, either pan fry these on the stove top until slightly brown on both sides or pre-heat oven to 400 and cook for 20-25 minutes, flipping half way through.

Serve on a toasted bun with all the fixin's or on top of a bed of greens as shown below.

Cinnamon Rolls

These really are the best cinnamon rolls that I've ever made. They're really easy to put together and are relatively healthy!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup almond milk
2 cups organic all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons applesauce

Filling:
1/4 cup sugar (or agave)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
non-stick cooking spray

Icing:
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon almond milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375.

Warm the almond milk so that it’s luke warm and stir in the yeast until it’s dissolved. Let sit for 5 minutes.

While the yeast is sitting, prepare the filling. In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the filling and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Add applesauce and yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix until the dough becomes a sticky mass.

Spread flour onto a flat surface and onto your rolling pin. Plop dough onto the floured surface and carefully roll it out to a rectangular shape.

Spray the dough with some non-stick cooking spray and then sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar filling to cover the entire surface area. Spray again with non-stick spray so that the cinnamon sugar mixture isn’t dry.

Roll the dough into a tubular shape and cut into 10-12 rolls depending on how big you want them.

Bake 9-12 minutes. While rolls are baking, measure out confectioners’ sugar, almond milk, and vanilla and combine with a whisk or hand mixer.

When rolls are lightly browned, remove and top with icing.