Banana Buckwheat Flax Pancakes with Pecans

Yes, pancakes.  These fall more into the fruit and whole grains for breakfast category than veggies for dinner, but people have been asking about breakfast, especially for kids, and this puts a pretty good spin on the old classic.  Pancakes are typically problematic with the refined white flour, dairy, eggs, sugar, and additives and preservatives.  This version is pure whole, lightly refined, plant food, and they are delicious!

Banana Buckwheat Flax Pancakes cooked with Pecans and topped with Blueberries

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour 
1 cup freshly ground flax seed
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 cups nut/soy/seed milk (we use homemade hemp milk, or whatever we have on-hand)
1 cup applesauce
2 mashed bananas 
1/4 cup water (adjust to achieve a good batter consistency)

Optional:

Pecans or walnuts to cook into the pancaked
Frozen blueberries, raspberries, diced apples, sliced bananas, or any other fruit for toppings

Instructions:

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix.  Mash 2 bananas really well with a fork until they become soft like the applesauce.  Add the mashed banana and other wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and whisk to mix thoroughly.  

Preheat a large pan or skillet on the stove.  Lightly coat the pan with a spritz/spray oil to avoid sticking.  Ladle the batter into the pan to make whatever size and shape pancakes you like.  Add nuts and another dash of cinnamon if you like. Once they start to cook around the edges and bubble in the middle, flip them over and finish cooking on the other side.  

Server warm topped with warmed frozen or fresh fruit.  I like to heat frozen berries until they get soft and juicy like a fruity syrup, or dice fresh apples and bananas to put on top.  Now you have a delicious and healthy breakfast that will fuel you up and start your day off right!

The dry ingredients.  Clockwise whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, ground flax seed, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda.

The wet ingredients.  Nut/soy/seed mild, mashed bananas, applesauce, and water.

A pancake that's ready to be flipped

Ready to go, eat it up!

Lentil Shepherd's pie

Dr. Fuhrman emailed out this recipe in his newsletter and I was really excited to try it!  When the weather gets cold, I really enjoy really hot, comfort food and I think this recipe satisfies both while being totally plant based.  His recipe can be found here.

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 30 - 45 min (this took me a while the first time, but will be faster as I make it more often)
Cook Time: about 60 min (including time to cook lentils)

Ingredients:

1 bulb garlic
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into chunks
1/2 cup raw cashew butter
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 cup soy, hemp or almond milk, if needed to adjust consistency
1 1/2 cups dry lentils
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
10 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup low sodium or no-salt-added vegetable broth
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bring lentils and 3 cups water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils have absorbed all liquid and are soft, about 30 minutes. Set aside.  If you are trying to speed up this recipe, canned lentils can also be used, but try to get unsalted lentils.

While lentils are cooking, roast unpeeled garlic for about 25 minutes or until soft.  I like to chop off a small portion of the non-stemmed side of the garlic, wrap it in foil, and place the garlic right on the rack in the oven.  I absolutely love roasted garlic and I think it adds lots of flavor, but if you are trying to speed up the recipe, maybe for a weeknight meal, I think this step could be skipped.  If you do choose to roast the garlic, when it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out the soft cooked garlic, removing and discarding the skins and set aside.

Steam chopped cauliflower for about 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Place in a high-powered blender along with roasted garlic, cashew butter, nutritional yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of the black pepper and blend until smooth, adding a splash of non-dairy milk if needed to adjust consistency.  I did end up adding some non-dairy milk, but afterwards I think I would have like have the cauliflower mash more chunky and would probably add less next time around.  I wouldn't blend as much as I did either too keep it more chunky, but this you can adjust based on your preference.  I also didn't have cashew butter, so I blended some raw cashews ahead of time to make my own cashew butter.  Once the mash is blended, set aside.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons water in a large saute pan, add carrots and celery and cook for 5 minutes, then add onions and garlic and cook until vegetables are tender. Add the mushrooms and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add the lentils, rosemary, thyme, remaining black pepper and 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining vegetable broth as needed; mixture should be moist but not runny.  Everything is starting to smell delicious at this point!

Place the lentil mixture in a large casserole dish and spread mashed cauliflower evenly over the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower starts to brown.

Enjoy!  We loved this recipe and all four of us almost ate the entire thing for dinner one night!

Cashew Hot Chocolate

My 10 year old and I were invited to a get together where hot chocolate was going to be served.  Since we try to eat as healthy as possible, avoiding all dairy, sugar, and processed foods, I’m not into giving him traditional hot chocolate…  I still wanted to go, and I was thrilled when I found this recipe!  I made a batch and brought it with us so he wouldn't feel like he was missing out on the treat.   It was a huge hit, and if you like hot chocolate you MUST give it a try!!


I found the recipe on Our Fresh Kitchen.  Check out their site, I'm sure they have plenty of other healthy recipes to try!  http://www.ourfreshkitchen.com/snacks/cashew-hot-chocolate/

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
4 pitted dates
3 cups of hot water
2 tsp. cocoa powder
1 cup of raw cashews

Instructions:

Boil the water, put everything in the blender and blend until very smooth.  That's it!

Cashews, Dates, Coco powder, and water.

The Taste Test...

They love it!!

Beet and Black Bean Burgers

Beet and Bean burger on a sprouted whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and spicy mustard.

The recipe is only slightly modified from The Kitchn's Best-Ever Veggie Burger (recipe here).

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 30 min (not included roasting the beats and cooking the rice)
Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients:
3 large red beets (cooked-roasted, steamed, or boiled)
1/2 cup brown rice (slightly overcooked)
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (ground to a flour in a blender or food processor)
4 cups black beans (or 2 15 oz cans), drained and rinsed
1/4 cup prunes, chopped into small pieces.
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp brown mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cook the onions in a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Use a little water as needed to avoid sticking, and cook well until golden with a little caramelization on the bottom of the pan.  Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then quickly ad the vinegar and stir the bottom to deglaze the skillet.  cook until the vinegar evaporates and then set aside to cool.

Put half the black beans and the prunes into a food processor and pulse until they are chopped, but not total mush.  Put this mixture into a large mixing bowl, and add the remaining black beans.  Shred the beats, and press in a strainer to remove as much of the liquid as possible.  Add the dry shredded beets, cooked rice, and cooked onions, paprika, mustard, cumin, coriander, and thyme, and black pepper to the mixture.  Mix it a little and then add the oats, and mix well.  I started with a spoon, but was really only able to get it all combined well with my hands...

Shape mixture into patties, and cook on a pre-heated skillet with a very light spray of cooking oil, to prevent sticking.  The burgers cook well, and I was surprised at how well they stayed together.

Serve them on Food for Life sprouted whole grain buns (found here) with whatever toppings you like and enjoy with a big healthy side salad, and maybe some home made oven baked sweet potato fries!

Make them fun!

Cathy and I got together with our friends Leigh Ann, Josh, Chris, and our kids, and had a great time making and eating these.  We made a triple batch, which was a lot of work, mostly because of how much of everything we had to prep, mix and then cook.  It was also too much food.  I think we ended up eating 8 burgers total, and split the  remaining 10 or so that were left.  They do freeze well though, and I have been enjoying them ever since!  A single batch will still be a lot of work, but should not be overwhelming, and I think it is well worth it.  Next time I'll try to add some chopped mushrooms to up the nutrition factor even a little more.

A hearty salad

Dinner doesn't have to be complicated or involved to be healthy and delicious.  This is much more typical of what we eat for dinner on a daily basis.

The ingredients change all the time.  Sometimes it's over romain lettuce, other times it will be over steamed kale, baby spinach, mixed field greens, or any other greens or lettuce.  The elements are what's important.  I always try to include beans, onions, and mushrooms.  Everything else is bonus and should be changed based on whatever you feel like eating that day.

We usually have plenty of different cooked veggies, beans, and hummus around so we can throw a meal like this together in minutes.

Serves: 1
Prep time: 15 min (provided you have some cooked beans and veggies hanging out in your fridge)


Ingredients:
Romain lettuce
black beans
peppers and onions (water sauteed)
portobello mushrooms (water sauteed)
avocado
grape tomatoes
salsa

Instructions:
Take any amounts of the above ingredients that you want, toss it onto a plate, top it off with some low sodium salsa, or Cathy's Thai peanut dressing, and enjoy!

It's simple, and delicious!!

 

Tofu Scramble

Veggies for breakfast???    Yes! eat veggies all day every day!   The bottom line is the more vegetables you eat the healthier you will be, so try to incorporate as many vegetables as you can into every meal.
  
Serves: 2 to 4
Prep time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients:
2 onions, finely chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped or thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped or thinly sliced
1 clove garlic
2 tomatoes, diced
1 lb firm tofu, cubed
1 cup spinach, chopped
1 cup kale, chopped
black pepper to taste
1 avocado, sliced
a dash or two of hot sauce (optional)

Instructions:

Chop and slice all the veggies and the tofu.  Saute the onions, peppers, and garlic in a large saucepan with a little water to keep it from sticking.  When the onions and peppers are soft add everything else, and cook until the greens are cooked, and everything is hot.  Finish with a little black pepper to taste.  

Fill up a bowl and top with sliced avocado and a dash or two of hot sauce if you like.  The result is a healthy, delicious, sustaining breakfast that will start your day off right.  

Enjoy!!

Black Bean Soup with Kale and Mushrooms

As if Black Bean soup isn't already good enough, I added Kale and Mushrooms to push it over the top!!

I started with a Black Bean soup recipe from allrecipes.com (link), and changed it up a bit.  What I ended up with is below, and it's been a huge hit with our friends and families so far!  It's a hearty soup that covers 5 of the 7 GBOMBS (Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds) that we are suppose to be eating every day.

Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 min
Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients:

2 medium onions

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

black pepper to taste

4 cups low sodium vegetable broth

8 cups (or 4 15 oz cans) black beans

2 cups sweet corn (frozen is fine)

1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 bunch Kale, chopped

a dash or two of hot sauce (optional)

Instructions:

In a large pot over medium-high heat add onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms and garlic and cook for 10 minutes or so, until the onions and mushrooms are cooked. 

Add chili powder, cumin, and black pepper.  Stir, and cook for 3 minute or so before adding the vegetable broth, 4 cups of beans, and corn. Bring everything to a boil.

While that's cooking combine the remaining 4 cups of beans and the crushed tomatoes in a blender, and blend until smooth. Stir the blended beans and tomatoes into the boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium.  

Add the chopped kale, and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

If you want to spice it up, which I almost always do, add a little hot sauce when serving!  Delish!!

Onions, Celery, Carrots, Mushrooms, and Garlic in the pot!

All stirred up and cooking nicely, just before adding the spices.

Fast forward, and it's finished and ready to eat!!