Veronica Grace

How To Roast Garlic In The Oven Without Oil: Fat Free Roasted Garlic

February 29, 2012 by Veronica Grace 20 Comments

Yes you can make roasted garlic without oil! There’s actually no real need to use oil when roasting garlic in the oven. When you add oil to oven baked foods it makes them cook faster and at a hotter temperature and the oil does retain a little moisture so they don’t dry out. But when you are putting your garlic in tin foil anyways to steam, it’s unnecessary. It might take a few more minutes to roast, but it will be calorie free and still delicious.

I’ve seen some peoples’ directions recommend a teaspoon or two of oil for each head of garlic! Holy calories! Let’s skip that shall we?

My roasted garlic turns out perfectly fine without any oil in my convection oven. Just watch!

How To Roast Garlic In The Oven Without Oil

Or Make Roasted Garlic Without Oil For Recipes

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 F / 205 C (or 375 F on a convection oven).

How To Roast Garlic In The Oven Without Oil For Roasted Garlic

Cut off the tops of the garlic cloves

Step 2: Slice off a good chunk off the top of the head of garlic. Make sure all of the cloves are exposed so you will be able to get them out. (It’s best to have garlic with no green sprouts in it, but mine had some as they sat for a while on the counter. I used them anyway.)

Wrap the garlic cloves in tinfoil

Step 3: Wrap the garlic cloves individually in tinfoil and place on a baking sheet or in a muffin tin. If using a muffin tin you can add some water to the muffin holders you are using. I think this will help with the moisture of your garlic and help it cook faster. It seemed to cook faster for me than usual.

Step 4: Bake in the oven (when it’s up to temperature) for 35-45 minutes until the cloves are soft. They will be very hot, so you need to use oven mitts to squeeze them gently to see if they are done.

Cool and gently unwrap to see the caramelized roasted garlic cloves inside

Step 5: Let the garlic cloves cool before touching. Unwrap the tinfoil.

Squeeze out the roasted garlic for your recipe

Step 6: You can either squeeze each clove of garlic out one at a time (careful to not let hot garlic burn you, or slip out of the bottom) or you can peel the cloves and remove them one by one if you are stickler for maximizing your garlic output! How do you know if your roasted garlic is ready? It will be a golden brown color and be very soft inside. If it’s still white and not fully soft, it’s not ready yet.

Step 7: Your (oil-free) roasted garlic is ready to use in soups, mashed potatoes, dips, or just to spread on bread. Save any leftovers in a container in the fridge.

Enjoy!

How did you like my tutorial for how to roast garlic without oil?

80/10/10 Recipe: Banana Cherry Pineapple Green Smoothie, Green Smoothie FAQ and How To Make Your Green Smoothie Look More Appetizing

February 28, 2012 by Veronica Grace 22 Comments

Today I thought I’d share another fat free raw vegan smoothie recipe with you (this one includes cherries and pineapples) and go over some questions some of you may have on green smoothies. If you’re looking for the recipe, you can scroll to the bottom of the post.

What is a Green Smoothie?

A green smoothie is basically just a raw fruit smoothie with some raw greens added to it for more nutrition. It can look green, red, purple or even brown coloured depending on what the ingredients are.

Why Would I Want To Add Greens To My Smoothie?

Most of us don’t eat giant raw salads or plates and plates of green vegetables every day and when we do eat greens we often don’t chew them well enough or even that long at all. A green smoothie is a great compromise for those who want to get more fresh greens in their diet with little fuss. It’s also great for those who don’t like the taste of leafy greens or want to eat all their greens raw. Eating heads and heads of leafy greens every day can be tough too.

What Kind Of Greens Should I Put In My Green Smoothie?

If you’re just starting out and not sure what would be a “safe bet” to have your first green smoothie or you’re making one for someone else who is really skeptical, you should try something mild like a cup or two of baby spinach, mâche (lambs lettuce/corn salad) or a few leaves of lettuce.

If you’re already used to green smoothies you can use the above, or also try adding celery stalks, kale, Swiss chard, dandelion greens, turnip greens, beet greens, etc.

If you’re really adventurous and can stand bitter/strong greens like mustard, baby spring mix and collards you can try a little of those to start.

How Do I Make A Green Smoothie Then?

I would recommend to start with ripe bananas, a little bit of water, your favourite frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, peaches, berries etc) and a cup or handful or two of greens. Blend it and then taste test it before deciding if it needs more fruit or greens to your liking.

BTW, these are ripe bananas. Please DO NOT use anything less ripe than these or you could end up with s starchy (dry and pasty) bland smoothie and not enjoy it. Note the one on the right is the ripest and will taste much sweeter than the two on the left.

Your first green smoothie might look like this:

2-3 ripe bananas
1-2 cups baby spinach
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup water

Green Smoothie Troubleshooting FAQ:

My Green Smoothie Tastes Awful/Bad! What Did I Do Wrong?

The first suspect is that you used unripe/sour fruit for the base of it. Unripe bananas, sour peaches, sour nectarines, sour mango etc. Your fruit should be soft and give to the touch. I made a youtube video about How To Tell If Fruit Is Ripe if you want to check it out.

If your smoothie is really bitter/smelly/awful tasting you probably used too strong of a green or too much of it. I would scale back to a handful or two and blend and then taste test before deciding if you want to add more greens to it.

If you did not add unripe fruit or too many greens, you probably added some kind of bitter powder to your smoothie and the taste is overpowering the flavour. Omit or reduce this amount.

My Green Smoothie Is All Gritty And Has A Weird Texture! What Did I Do Wrong?

If your smoothie has a weird texture like you are drinking juice with the fibre put back into it and it’s lumpy and not smooth you used fruit with mostly insoluble fibre.

Apple skins have insoluble fibre (think hard to digest and sweeps through your digestive tract) and some soluble fibre inside their flesh. Same with pears, pineapple, berries, grapes and greens. If you just make a pear/apple + greens smoothie or a berries + greens smoothie you are going to have a really BAD smoothie. It’s not going to be very nice to drink and the fibre will sink to the bottom.

Fruit that makes smoothies “stick” together (because of higher amounts of soluble fibre) and have a creamy taste are bananas, mangoes, papaya, peaches, nectarines etc. You want to make sure you add at least 1 or 2 large pieces of these fruits for the base of your smoothie to have an even texture.

What Should I Not Add To My Green Smoothie?

Most importantly, please do not add anything like oil (flax oil, olive oil, coconut oil, coconut butter, fish oil etc) to your green smoothie. These are refined products and are 100% fat at 120 calories per tablespoon. If you are trying to lose weight or eat for health you do not need to add a 100% refined product to your otherwise healthy smoothie. If you want some “good fats” you can try a tablespoon or two of ground chia, ground flax seed (linseed) or hemp seed (hearts). Getting your omega 3 essential fatty acids from a whole food and not a processed (and possibly rancid) source like oil is preferred. Also, you would probably enjoy a tablespoon of oil much more over a salad or steamed greens than hidden in a smoothie (if you chose to eat it).

I also don’t recommend adding any raw animal products (like raw eggs) to smoothies because of the potential health hazards. I don’t recommend animal products for health anyways, but it is especially hazardous to eat animal products raw mixed into something as you won’t be able to tell if it was “off” or contaminated.

Other things I find unnecessary in smoothies are: yogurt, sugar, sorbet, ice-cream, artificial sweeteners, pop/soda etc. These foods are not health foods and aren’t necessary for a healthy diet, and they just add more processed food and sugar to your smoothies anyway. In the case of yogurt, I am against dairy for health reasons. Non-dairy yogurts are more of a treat food. Often they contain a lot of sugars, fat, chemicals and preservatives so it’s not something I would recommend to eat daily for health. Probiotics can offer health benefits without excess chemicals or calories as well. If you want to make your own yogurt this is certainly much healthier than store bought too.

Green powders like wheat grass or barley grass are pretty strong. If you add them to your smoothie, it’s going to taste like grass! And Possibly make you gag… (that’s me anyway) And unless you REALLY love the taste of grass in your smoothie, I wouldn’t recommend doing it.

Raw cacao and cocoa should be avoided, or used only occasionally. They have a lot of caffeine are highly addicting. If you are doing so already you might notice that you can’t wait to have your daily chocolate hit and could eat more than just one chocolate smoothie given the chance. I also don’t like using cacao to mask bitter tasting raw powders and protein powders as it tricks you into drinking something you otherwise would not eat and can lead to overeating as well. I found banana cacao smoothies far too addicting and had to cut it out.

Raw vegetables especially ones like carrots or beets, they are really hard and gritty and will not add a nice flavour or texture to your smoothie. Celery I find works ok if it’s 2-3 stalks and you add some bananas to it. This is just personal preference. If you’re a beginner or serving someone else try a few fruit and green smoothies first before adding any veggies. Something that is a little safer would be raw cauliflower, cucumber, celery, zucchini because they are super mild tasting. I don’t recommend blending raw broccoli because it’s so strong tasting.

A smoothie should be a healthy meal, not a witchy concoction of fragmented processed food you would never eat on it’s own. In the sense where you wouldn’t open up a jar of powder or pills and eat it with your meal. A smoothie is for getting healthy food into you easier if you don’t have time to chew, not to be your own “vitamin water” to dump all kinds of junk into.

If you want to add some supplements or powders to your diet, it’s best to know if you need them or not. Get a blood test and test for any deficiencies and then if you add something use one thing at a time, and not half a dozen different things. If one is giving you benefits, another negative reactions and the rest are doing nothing, you won’t really know, you’ll just have wasted a lot of money on supplements. It’s much better to experiment with one thing at a time on your body if you are unsure if it is good or bad for you to include in your diet. (This does not pertain to fruits and vegetables, unless you suspect an allergy towards a specific one)

Other things I don’t add to smoothies are milks or ice. Milks are not really necessary in that I prefer to get most of my calories from whole foods like fruit and I use milks more in dressings or creamy soup recipes, so there’s no need to double up and add them to my smoothies and make them fattier. Ice is also unnecessary as it waters down your smoothie and if you have a cheaper blender it makes it really hard to blend and gives it a gritty texture as well. I prefer to add frozen fruit if I want to cool my smoothie down.

How Do I Make My Green Smoothie Look More Appealing/Appetizing and Not So Ugly?

This is especially important for those new to green smoothies and children and/or spouses that would probably refuse to drink a smoothie with greens or “vegetables” in it. How dare you try to sneak in healthy veggies into their breakfast right?

It’s fairly easy. Basically start with a base of something white or yellow like bananas, mangoes, peaches etc. and then add your greens and pick a purple, red, or blue fruit or berry to add to your smoothie.

This smoothie below has greens in it, but you would never know. It just looks like a red smoothie and is pretty “normal” looking.

If you add something like black kale and some berries to your smoothie it may end up looking more brown. For yourself you may not mind but for newbies to smoothies prettier always gives a more positive reaction to it.

I used to get teased constantly at my old job for bringing in “monster green concoctions” for breakfast every day and my boss would stop the meetings and ask me what I was drinking it freaked him out so much. As soon as I started putting blueberries in it, people stopped caring! lol

80/10/10: Banana Cherry Pineapple Green Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Approx: 506 calories

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas
2 cups packed baby spinach
1 cup frozen or fresh pineapple
1 cup frozen black cherries (or fresh) (or berries of choice)
1/2-1 cup filtered water (optional to thin or blend)

Directions:

Place ingredients into Vitamix in order listed and blend until smooth. If you have a cheaper blender you may want to add the water and bananas first and blend and then add the other ingredients and blend.

Additional Tips:

I get my black frozen cherries from Costco in Canada. I don’t know if they just started carrying them, but I was pleased as cherry and pineapple go together so well and is one of my favourite combos. If you’re in the USA I know that H-E-B (in Texas) and Dole have black cherries in the frozen fruit department of many grocery stores. You can also use frozen raspberries if you don’t have cherries. It just adds more seeds to the smoothie, so get out your dental floss!

What do you think of this recipe? Did you learn something about green smoothie making today?

How To Make Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat To Live “Anti Cancer Soup” With Step By Step Photos

February 27, 2012 by Veronica Grace

FTC Notice: This post contains affiliate links that go towards supporting the blog.

Holy mackerel this “Anti Cancer Soup” recipe makes a ton of soup! You can eat for a whole week off of this one recipe. I decided to try and document Dr. Fuhrman’s famous “Anti Cancer Soup” as it seemed like a fairly intensive recipe and I took it as a challenge to make a soup an entirely new way. For this recipe you’re going to need a good juicer that can handle juicing a lot of carrots and celery. This is the one I use, it’s a medium priced Breville juicer and it does the job.

I met Dr. Joel Fuhrman last February (2011) at Dr. John McDougall’s 3 Day Advanced Study Weekend and he mentioned in his lecture about chopping onions, cooking them and then blending them into the soup for some additional nutritional benefits on how everything combines together. I do NOT remember the exact processes going on, he had a very scientific explanation for this. I will have to watch the recording of the lecture again to get it straight. But all you need to know is, this soup is HEALTHY for you and highly recommended by Dr. Fuhrman as a nutrient dense soup that’s crammed with veggies. Might I just add that Dr. Fuhrman is totally ripped and in amazing shape and his “Disease Proof” diet is definitely working well for him. I saw some pictures of his wife and daughters and they are all very slim and quite beautiful too. He should be very proud to have such a happy and healthy family setting such a great example on a oil free plant based diet.

I just finished up a low fat vegan recipe book of my own called Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm, so I’ve made quite a bit of soup these past few months. I have actually nicknamed myself the “Vegan Soup Queen” I’ve made so much soup lol! Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s “Anti Cancer Soup” recipe comes from his book Eat To Live (which is actually less than $10 on Amazon right now so check it out.) One thing about this anti cancer soup is that you can definitely tell it was designed by a man without any need for great culinary skills. It is very simple in presentation as everything is pretty much just blended together, and it’s something that you start cooking while you continue to prep the rest of your veggies as you go. So this seems very practical, albeit because of the amount of soup this recipe makes it can be a bit of work. What I like most about Dr. Fuhrman’s recipes is that they are oil free and really healthy, so this is right up my alley and I am happy to be able to make his recipes without any major modifications.

Dr. Fuhrman recommends that you make a big pot of this once and then eat it for the rest of the week, or freeze portions of it. It does take much more time and effort than my other soup recipes, but it makes a ton of soup and if you’re only doing this once or twice a month on a Sunday afternoon it’s no big deal. Better yet, get a helper to help you prep the veggies and then you can relax in between cooking steps! I really wish I had had a helper… haha Since his “Anti Cancer Soup” is such a big recipe with so many ingredients I wanted to estimate the cost of making it. Now just FYI this is approximately what I paid in Canada at a discount grocery store in 2012, and none of these items were bought in bulk. If you live in the USA and/or buy in bulk it will probably be a bit cheaper. But if you buy all organic produce it will definitely cost more.

Split peas ~$0.50
Raw cashews ~$5
Onions ~$5
Zucchini ~$4
Carrots ~$3
Celery $2.60
Leeks $3.49
Mushrooms $4.50

Total Cost: ~ $28.09

Divided by 12 servings:

$2.34 a serving

So when you divide the “Anti Cancer Soup” costs out by the number servings (and you will get at least 12 servings) it’s not too expensive. It’s a little less than the price of an organic canned soup and definitely less than buying lunch somewhere else. If I had to describe the taste of this anti cancer soup I would say that it mostly tastes like mild split peas with leeks and mushrooms. It’s not very strong tasting or in any way offensive. You can definitely eat it as is, or add some more herbs or spices to it. When I make soup I like to add things like thyme, bay leaves or other seasonings. I like really flavourful soups.

Now on to my step by step (with photos!) instructions on how to make this soup. My soup recipes have way less directions btw, I just wanted this to be clear as even I was scratching my head at all the steps when I made it the first time. It also looked very strange while cooking, so I didn’t want anyone else to be afraid or discouraged and not know what to expect! I took over 100 pictures of this recipe preparation! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 Dr. Fuhrman also likes to add a cruciferous leafy green to his soup now too. So you can add a bunch or two of kale (stems removed) or collard greens if you desire.

Dr. Fuhrman’s Anti Cancer Soup (From Eat To Live) With A Low Fat Vegan Chef Twist

Total Time: 1 h 30 min

Serves 12

Ingredients:

1 cup dried split peas (green)

4 cups/1 L filtered water

4 large onions

4 large zucchinis or 8 small

3 medium leeks

leafy greens, broccoli or cauliflower (optional, about 2 bunches)

5 lbs./2.26 kg carrots

2 bunches of celery

1 cup raw cashews (un-roasted, unsalted)

1 lb/454 g mushrooms

2 tsp granulated garlic powder (his recipe has 2 tbsp VegiZest)

2 bay leaves (my addition)

1- 1 1/2 tsp Herbamare or salt (my addition)

Directions:

In a large 6 qt soup pot add 4 cups/1 L of water and the split peas and bring to a boil. Slice off the tops of the onions, shave off the roots and peel the outer skins and place them into the pot whole. (Update: Fuhrman now recommends cutting the onions up so their enzymes can react while cooking as this increases their nutrition.) Cover with a lid to start the steaming process. Once at a boil reduce heat to medium low.

Peel the zuchinnis, and place in the pot uncut. (If they are large cut them in half lengthwise). Cut the bottom roots off the leeks and slice them up the side so each leaf can be thoroughly washed, because leeks have lots of dirt hidden inside. (This is a good tip, I found a little worm in one of my leaves. Gross.) Cut off the top inch of the leeks and discard. Then place the entire leek (leaves uncut) into the pot and cover again.

Oh, so THAT’S what 5 pounds of carrots look like…

Peel the carrots. (If they are organic, this is optional) Whew that was hard…

How To Make Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live Anti Cancer Split Pea Mushroom Soup Carrot Juice

That’s a lot of juice! About 32 ounces worth

Juice the carrots in a juicer.

Wash the celery and cut off the tops and bottoms.

How To Make Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live Anti Cancer Split Pea Mushroom Soup Celery Juice

Makes about 22-23 ounces

Juice celery in a juicer.

How To Make Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live Anti Cancer Split Pea Mushroom Soup

(Ok now this is starting to look like witches’ brew….)

Add the juices to the pot.

How To Make Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live Anti Cancer Split Pea Mushroom Soup Mixed Mushrooms

I got a 1 lb pack of mixed mushrooms for variety. Really it was just a few different mushrooms on top of a layer of dirty white mushrooms… Marketing can be deceptive!

How To Make Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live Anti Cancer Split Pea Mushroom Soup Cleaning And Chopping Mushrooms

While the soup is simmering, clean the mushrooms with a mushroom brush. Cut and slice up the mushrooms. By the time you get to this stage, the zucchini, leeks, onions should be soft. If they aren’t just keep cleaning and chopping the mushrooms.

Pretty mushrooms…

Ladle some of the liquid from the pot into a Vitamix or food processor. Use tongs to remove the soft onions, zucchini, and leeks. Be careful to leave the split peas or beans in the bottom of the pot.

In a few separate batches, completely blend together the onions, zucchini, and leeks. Pour the blended mixture back into the pot.

Add a lot of liquid to blend the cashews, don’t make the same mistake I did or it will become thick like cashew butter.

Add more soup liquid (lots) and cashews to the mixture, and blend in.

Return the blended, creamy mixture back to the pot.

Add the sliced mushrooms and bay leaves. Simmer another 20-30 minutes until mushrooms are tender.

(This time I used to cleaned my kitchen, which now looked like a soup bomb went off in it! The funny part is, this is EXACTLY what Dr. Fuhrman and his wife do too. See how this recipe is obviously designed by a man? Very practical. haha)

Season to taste with granulated garlic and Herbamare or other salt free seasonings if desired.

Remove bay leaves and serve. (Now that your kitchen is clean you can sit down, relax and enjoy!)

If you LOVED this recipe you’ll love my new ebook Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm:

You WILL have lots of leftovers from Dr. Fuhrman’s “Anti Cancer Soup”. Save the rest in containers and use for lunches for the next week. Might I add that this was probably the hardest soup I’ve had to make look delicious in a photo. I tried really hard. It tastes better than it looks!

Nutritional Information: 12 Servings

Amount Per Serving: Calories 179.2 Total Fat 1.0 g Sat. Fat 0.2 g Poly Fat 0.5 g Mono Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 0 g Sodium 593 mg Potassium 1,577.9 mg Carbs 40.0 g Fiber (unknown due to carrot and celery juice data unavailable) Sugars 12.7 g Protein 7.1 g

80/10/10 Recipe: Fat Free Raw Vegan Banana Crepes

February 23, 2012 by Veronica Grace 39 Comments

80/10/10 Recipe: Fat Free Raw Vegan Banana Crepes or Banana Fruit Roll Ups

One of the things that are really hard to make on a raw vegan diet are brunch type recipes, especially low fat or fat free ones. While this raw banana crepe recipe is not anything like a real cooked crepe, they are easy to make and fun to eat when you stuff them full of fresh fruit. They look great and kids will like them too.

This is a recipe I made when I was first working on Savory Raw Dinner Recipes, and as this is not a dinner recipe, I couldn’t include it. But if you love this simple and fresh recipes, you will LOVE my tasty low fat creations in Savory Raw Dinner Recipes. I think the pictures speak for themselves, but we’ve had resounding positive feedback on just how much everyone loves these recipes.

These raw vegan crepes are so easy to make you don’t even need a recipe, you just want to start with ripe spotted bananas and blend one with a little bit of water if necessary in a blender. Get out your dehydrator tray and put a teflex sheet on it and pour the pureed bananas in little rounds about 6-7 inches across. Don’t let them touch each other. Dehydrate them at 105 or 110 F overnight, or until pliable and dry like a fruit roll up.

Roll them up on a plate and serve with chopped fresh fruit, pureed fruit, cinnamon or maple syrup if desired. I put banana ice-cream on mine, but that was a bad idea. It made the roll up freeze and was brittle and hard to eat, so I don’t recommend it! It looks nice though…

For variation, try blending bananas with other ripe fruits to get different flavours. You can also easily create your own home made raw fruit roll ups for a fun treat for kids. When they are dry you can put them on a piece of plastic wrap and roll up like a taquito, making sure that the plastic wrap keeps everything from sticking.

Also if you are into 80/10/10 style raw food recipes with no seasonings and just using fruits and vegetables, check out Frederic’s Low Fat Raw Vegan Cuisine DVDs

What do you think of this recipe? Have you ever made raw crepes or fruit roll ups?

Fat Free Vegan “Clean Out The Refrigerator Fuhrman Soup” or How To Make Homemade Soup From Scratch Easily

February 15, 2012 by Veronica Grace 27 Comments

FTC Notice: This post contains affiliate links that go towards supporting the blog.

This recipe is featured in my Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm recipe ebook along with 29 other AMAZING vegan soup recipes, vegetable stock recipes, and all the tips and tricks to making ANY kind of soup. It’s going to teach you basically to be a soup making expert and be able to cook delicious healthy meals at home, very easily from what you have around.

Somedays you just don’t know what to make for dinner, or only have odds and ends leftover from previous recipes. You look in your refrigerator and see a few carrots, an onion, some celery, some greens and maybe some mushrooms that have seen better days.

What do you do with it all?

You make homemade vegetable soup of course! This is what I do when I feel creatively drained or uninspired to make a new recipe from scratch.

This is also a great way to eat a “Nutrient Dense” or “Eat To Live” style vegan meal like Dr. Joel Fuhrman recommends. (Check out his books Super Immunity, or Eat To Live, if you already haven’t) Lots of low calorie, high antioxidant plant foods, gently cooked together are wonderful. In Feb 2012 I was at the McDougall 3-Day Advanced Study Weekend, and Dr. Fuhrman was telling us the benefits of eating just 1/2 an onion a day, about 1 tomato and just 1 mushroom and how nutritious these are to add to your diet regularly. He has an amazing wealth of knowledge, and I am definitely going to be making more nutrient dense, low calorie green vegetable based dishes from now on.

This soup is a great way to get more of these antioxidants and phytochemicals into your diet in a fairly easy no-fuss way. It’s also a great vegan cabbage soup recipe that is low calorie and packed with veggies.

It is also especially handy to keep some vegetable broth on hand (low sodium is always preferable) for just such an occasion, so you don’t have to make your own vegetable stock as well when you’re short on time. (When I do have time I like to make fresh vegetable stock every week and keep it in the fridge for daily sautéing and making soup with)

Making your own nutrient dense vegan homemade soup from scratch is quite easy. The hard work is only peeling and chopping your veggies. Basically use what you have and always start cooking the onions and the hardest vegetables first (so peel and prepare those first) and they can start cooking while you finish peeling/washing and slicing the other veggies.

It also helps to have some fresh herbs on hand. My top picks would be thyme, dill, basil, cilantro or parsley. These can easily be used up in soup recipes if you have any stray or wilting bits left, so don’t throw them away.

And as with making almost any homemade soup, I always throw in a few bay leaves. They really add a lot of flavour and are great for seasoning soup, vegetable stock or dried beans.

Basic Ingredients For Making Your Own Homemade Nutrient Dense Soup

Low sodium vegetable broth (water and salt is not a good enough substitute for this, low salt bouillon and water will do in a pinch)
Any vegetables such as carrots, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, yams/sweet potatoes, golden beets, turnips, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale, swiss chard, peas, corn, etc
Beans or grains (if desired) white beans, lentils, chickpeas, pinto beans, black beans, barley, rice, pasta, etc (make sure beans are pre cooked, or canned before adding)
Fresh herbs/dried herbs like thyme, bay leaf, dill, basil, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, Italian herb seasonings, Herbs De Provence etc
Base flavor enhancers like canned tomatoes, tomato paste, coconut milk or almond milk (depending whether you want a tomato-ey or creamy soup) *This is optional
Seasonings like salt, pepper, lemon juice, lime juice, sweetener (to balance acidity from tomatoes or lemon if desired) cumin, chili pepper, cayenne, smoked paprika, etc

If you add some things from each category (especially ones that you personally like…) and can season to taste and balance out blandness by kicking it up with some lemon, salt and a little sweetener if desired you will have a great soup on your hands.

Also a trick I have for bringing out sweetness to tomato based soups is to add golden beets to it. Golden beets can be found at your health food store, and some grocery stores or farmers markets. They are becoming more popular nowadays. They look almost like small yellowish turnips, but they are beets! (For one thing they don’t turn your hand red and make a mess) They contain natural sugars that leak out into the vegetable broth, so it balances out the harsh acidity of tomato based vegetable soups and goes really well with beans or barley as well. Just make sure you cut the pieces into little cubes, and start cooking them right away with the onions in broth. They take the longest to cook, so you don’t want them to be crunchy while the rest of your vegetables are soft.

Additional Pointers For Cooking Homemade Soup

If you want a fast soup, cut all your veggies (especially potatoes and beets) into smaller cubes so they cook faster. Always add these first to the pot along with carrots and celery. Fresh hard herbs like thyme or rosemary need to go in at the beginning of the soup. Dried or tender herbs like basil, cilantro or parsley can go in near the end of cooking to retain their flavour. Quick cooking veggies like greens, broccoli, asparagus or cauliflower should be added 3-5 minutes before your soup is done so they don’t fall apart and go mushy. Canned corn is very forgiving and can go in at the beginning of cooking and will hold it’s firmness. Canned beans should go in the last 10 minutes or so of cooking as they are fairly soft already and you don’t want them to be mushy and overcooked. Always salt and pepper your soup at the end. Don’t just keep adding salt every time you stir it. When some of the water dissipates you can be left with an over salted or over spiced soup. Always reserve taste testing for the end when everything’s cooked and you can doctor up the flavour from there. Start with a little salt, pepper, spice, or sweetener and keep tasting and adding until you get it right to your liking. Always use low sodium, sodium free and sugar free canned foods so you can control the salt and sugar content of the soup. Read labels! *Note about adding pastas to soup. I really prefer cooking most pastas separately and then putting it into serving bowls and pouring the soup over it. This makes your soup nice and clear and pretty and reduces the risk of over cooking it. If you do cook the pasta in the soup, it’s going to use up some of the water and make it murky with the starch. Check the cooking time of your pasta and add it part way through the soup when the vegetables are starting to be almost soft enough.

And now my made up on the spot “throw it all in a pot” and cook it soup. This is a great way to get more greens into your diet or use up any extras that you don’t have a recipe planned for. This soup is packed with green vegetables, but is light and refreshing. We ate this by itself and basically ate the whole pot because it’s very low in calories. This is a great first course or “weight-loss soup” as well. Fill up on healthy vegetables!

“Clean Out The Refrigerator” Homemade Vegetable Soup

Featured in Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm by Veronica Grace

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 litres/quarts vegetable broth, (low sodium or homemade)
1 large onion, diced
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 bay leaves
1 tbsp fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried (or favourite herbs, like dill, basil, etc)
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1 medium golden beet or turnip, diced small (smaller is better)
1-2 cups of sliced mushrooms
6-8 asparagus spears, ends trimmed and cut into thirds (or other green vegetable of choice like zucchini)
2 cups broccoli or broccolini florets
2 cups sliced green cabbage, or other greens like kale or Swiss chard
handful of parsley, chopped
juice of half a lemon
Herbamare or sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add 1 cup vegetable broth to a large soup pot and turn onto medium heat. Add bay leaves, thyme, onions and beets and sauté for 5-6 minutes. Add more broth if necessary to beets until they are almost covered. (While this is cooking you can continue peeling/slicing your other veggies)

2. Add the mushrooms, garlic, carrots, celery, cabbage and the rest of one carton of vegetable broth. Stir and let it keep cooking over medium-medium high heat for about 10-15 minutes. Add more vegetable broth if needed from the other carton. You want your vegetables to be almost done before adding the broccoli and asparagus. Check on the beets, if they are still too hard keep cooking until they are almost done.

3. Add the remaining vegetable broth and bring it up to a boil. When it’s boiling, turn it back down to medium-medium high and add the asparagus, broccoli and parsley (and any spinach if using). Cook for 2-4 minutes (depending on the size you cut them) and test the broccoli and asparagus for doneness. You don’t want them too wilted or mushy. When done immediately take off heat.

4. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and season to taste. Adjust seasonings if desired.

5. Serve!

What do you think of this “Eat To Live” style recipe? Have you ever made homemade soup before? What do you do with your leftover vegetables?

Fat Free Vegan Valentine’s Day Dessert: Two-Bite Banana Brownies

February 14, 2012 by Veronica Grace 10 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

Not that I am much of a Valentine’s Day person. It was probably my most dreaded holiday actually! Being single on Valentines Day kinda sucks a little more than just a normal bad day, but cheer up! I have a treat for you… These deliciously fat free vegan Two-Bite Banana Brownies! And if you do have a Valentine this year, they will love you if you make these for them!

My sweetheart told me for my Valentine’s Day gift he was going to clean the whole house for me and take me out to dinner, so I surprised him with one of these yesterday. I’m not much for material things, so thoroughly enjoy being able to just relax after making a big mess in the kitchen after cooking and photographing for you… 🙂

I was tinkering around yesterday trying to come up with something that would still be tasty even when I sucked all the unhealthy fat out of it. We have a winner for fat free vegan brownies and a great compromise for those that like to have a little treat after dinner, but not something too big or too rich.

The secret to these babies’ extra flavour is the bananas. I have to admit I am totally devoted to banana bread and always will be. And I just love packing banana into whatever baked goods I can, because honestly I never bake. I only bake for you!

Normally you’d expect a really dense rich brownie, or muffin with a chocolate chips in it, but these taste great on their own. They’re also really easy to make and even kids will love them too!

This is what they look like un decorated.

Mmm… Is your mouth watering yet for my fat free vegan brownies?

Fat Free Vegan Two-Bite Banana Brownies

Makes 24 mini muffin tin brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp whole wheat flour (or gluten-free flour, see note)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp ground chia or flax seed
2 tbsp water
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp ripe mashed bananas (about 2 large) or applesauce
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Non stick cooking spray

*Note, if making these gluten-free I suggest adding 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum to the recipe to help the batter stick together.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Combine dry ingredients, except brown sugar and chia in a medium sized bowl.

3. Add 2 tbsp water to a small bowl. Shake in ground chia and stir until combined.

4. Add wet ingredients and brown sugar to another bowl and stir in chia.

5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until mixed

6. Spray a mini muffin tin with non stick spray.

7. Spoon a teaspoon size amount into each cup, filling about 3/4 full.

8. Bake for 15-16 minutes, or until done in the centre with a toothpick.

9. Let brownies cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes to set up.

10. Remove and place on wire rack to finish cooling.

Additional Tips:

If you don’t have chia or flax, you can try using egg replacer mixed with water, use the equivalent of one “egg”. Really ripe bananas are best for this as they are sweeter and will add depth to the brownies. Almost as dark as you would use for banana bread is good. If you want to substitute applesauce you can, but they will be much plainer tasting and you might want to add a touch more sweetener. These are easily frosted or glazed if serving for a holiday or a kids birthday party. You can easily freeze these in ziploc freezer bags to have a quick treat ready to go.

If you’re like me and you’re a “seconds” kind of dessert fan, fear not! These are packed full of fibre and are low calorie too.

What are you doing for Valentines Day this year? Have you ever had a vegan two-bite brownie?

Raw Vegan Valentines Day 80/10/10 Style: Cherry Mango Love Smoothie

February 13, 2012 by Veronica Grace 10 Comments

Whether or not you have a sweetie on Valentines Day this year, you can make your own 80/10/10 style holiday meal pretty easily. Make a beautiful breakfast smoothie for yourself or your loved one, or slice up some mangoes into heart shaped pieces. There you go, festive and edible!

It’s just starting to become mango season, you will see them available at grocery stores slowly, but they will be in full availability starting in April.

I got these mangoes from Costco and they are starting to ripen up.

How To Cut Mangos Into Heart Shape Pieces

To make heart shaped mango slices, you’re going to need a really sharp preferably thin knife. Slice off the cheeks of the mango (around the inner woody pit) and trace an outline on the skin in a heart shape, or any desired shape. Carefully cut out the mango trying to be as smooth in your cuts as possible. When you’re done you can trim any choppy bits after to make it look more streamlined.

Serve your mango pieces on top of a fresh fruit salad or smoothie. You can use any leftover scraps in a delicious smoothie as well. I saved mine for the smoothie below.

Raw Vegan Valentines Day Smoothie: Cherry Mango Love

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2-3 ripe bananas (spotted all over)
2 ripe mangoes (very soft and wrinkly all over)
1-2 cups frozen black cherries (Dole, H-E-B and Costco all have these available. Costco in Canada)

Directions:

Place mangoes in the bottom of your Vitamix or blender, then bananas and then frozen cherries on top. If you need to you can add a little water to make it blend easier, but I like my smoothies thick. Blend until smooth.

Serve and garnish if desired.

Additional Tips:

If you don’t have frozen black cherries, you can use frozen raspberries. Strawberries are a possibility, just make sure they are sweet.

You can easily make this a green smoothie by adding some spinach to it. The cherries will mask the green colour and make it look more purplish.

What do you think of this recipe? Are you doing anything special for a raw vegan Valentines Day?

Fat Free Vegan Eggplant Chickpea Indian Curry With Fire Roasted Tomatoes

February 12, 2012 by Veronica Grace 27 Comments

Fat free vegan cooking is really easy, once you know how to skip the oil and prepare delicious home cooked meals that taste just as good if not better without the extra grease and calories.

I love eggplant (aubergine) and eggplant curries, I also love chickpeas in almost everything. The bad thing about Indian food is that it is normally so oily and greasy and this can make it unhealthy and too rich. Eggplant absorbs MORE oil than ANY other vegetable just from sautéing in oil. If you cook it in oil on the stove it absorbs it so well that it becomes 50% fat by calories just like a potato chip. So I suggest to not slather oil on your eggplant or deep fry it, ever… Regardless of how delicious it may be. Your waistline and arteries will thank you.

The best Indian food I’ve ever had, has actually come from my kitchen. Not because I am an awesome Indian cook or anything, but because I use the freshest ingredients, and absolutely no oil, and we feel awesome after eating it, not like taking a nap as you do from take out. Any time we eat Indian food at a restaurant, we almost immediately regret it. Despite pleading with them to use very little oil, it is still very greasy. Indian and Chinese food in general are prepared with so much oil to keep things from sticking to the pan and slide out easily onto the plates. Also because people kind of expect it to be greasy.

There aren’t too many already vegan Indian staple dishes but Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry) and Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry) are two of them, and of course my favourites. I have made them separately before, but I wanted to start practicing my photography for a new cookbook I’m working on, and this means I pretty much have to shoot in portrait style. As I am mostly a landscape photographer, this is difficult for me to get used to and setting up the shot. As you have way more background in it, you need to add things to decorate.

This isn’t my best. I need some more props, but I didn’t have white rice, or dal or anything to put in the background, so it’s a little sparse.

I will continue practicing, and I spent the evening ironing all my pretty coloured napkins so they are ready to go for next time.

This recipe is not an original of mine, it is adapted from Fat Free Vegan. I also doubled the recipe as this was my main I and served it with rice and saved the leftovers. Another good reason to double recipes, is that it doesn’t really take more time to make more of it, and then if you have left overs you can eat it for lunch, or even use this as filling for a delicious wrap on the go! The recipe below is the single version.

Fat Free Vegan Eggplant Chickpea Curry

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant/aubergine, or two small (this needs to be prepared in advance)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper seeded and diced
1 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 1/4 teaspoon ground roasted coriander (or regular)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 cloves of garlic, minced
14 oz can Muir Glen Fire Roasted diced tomatoes (or regular)
2 tsp of ginger root, finely minced
1-2 tsp sugar or sweetener (to balance acidity, or as desired)
1/2-1 tsp herbamare or salt
1/8-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I don’t like spicy, so I use very little)
15 oz can chickpeas (like Eden Organic) , rinsed and drained (low sodium) or 2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 -1 cup water, to keep mixture from sticking
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (start with less and add more to taste)
non stick spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the eggplant(s) with a fork all over and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, until the eggplant(s) is/are collapsing and soft in the middle. Remove from the oven when done and set aside until cool enough to handle. Slice open the peel, pull the peel off and chop the eggplant flesh into cubes.

2. Heat a non-stick skillet and then spray it lightly with non stick spray (normally I do not do this, but as it’s going to cook for a while, mine started sticking and burning as I have a gas stove). Add the onion and cook until it begins to turn golden about 5-6 minutes.

3. Add the bell pepper and cook for a 3-4 minutes. If anything starts sticking use a tbsp or 2 of water.

4. Clear a spot in the center of the skillet and sprinkle the cumin seeds directly on the hot surface. Stir and toast them gently for about a minute, until they are browning.

5. Stir and then add the coriander, turmeric, garlic, tomatoes, ginger, and cayenne (if desired).

6. Add the eggplant and cook over medium heat, for about 10 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep from sticking.

7. Add the chickpeas and enough water or chickpea cooking liquid to keep the mixture moist, cover tightly, and turn heat to low. Cook for at least 10 minutes, stirring periodically, until sauce has thickened and flavors have blended. Don’t let it burn. (You can hold this dish on low for up to 45 minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal, but add additional liquid as needed and don’t forget to stir, scraping the bottom.)

8. Add sweetener (if desired), herbamare or salt and garam masala. Always use a lower amount first and then taste test, so you don’t use too much of either. Season as desired.

9. Scoop into bowls and garnish with fresh cilantro.

10. Serve with basmati rice or dal.

Additional Tips:

Fire roasted tomatoes make every recipe that calls for canned tomatoes, even better. There is a huge difference. My favourite are Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes (now BPA free). If you don’t have time to make your own chickpeas, Eden Organics also come BPA free too. Roasted coriander has a nicer flavour than regular, McCormick (available at many regular grocery stores) makes a great selection of roasted spices. You can make your own roasted spices if you want too. If you have coriander seeds, you can toast them in a pan dry and then grind them in a coffee grinder. Cumin powder can be substituted for cumin seeds if you like, the flavour will be a little different however.

I buy my garam masala from a specialty spice store. If you want to make your own Susan’s V’s recipe is here: 1 tablespoon black cardamom seeds, 1 cinnamon stick (about 2 1/2 inches long), 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon whole cloves, 1 teaspoon black peppercorns. Grind in coffee or spice grinder until powdered. Heat a small, dry pan. Add spices and toast just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, and allow to cool. Once cool, store in a sealed jar for future use. Garam masala is always used after cooking is complete to control the spiciness of the dish. Do not add it in while a dish is cooking as you may over spice it and make it too hot.

What do you think of this dish? What’s your favourite use for eggplant or chickpeas?

Raw Vegan No Fat Sweet Onion Salad Dressing Recipe And Why Fast Food Salads Are Bad For Your Health

February 6, 2012 by Veronica Grace 38 Comments

This is an oil free and fat free bonus recipe that comes in my Savory Raw Dinner Recipes book and ebook (not shown in the dvd) that I’m going to share with you today. If you are looking for some amazingly delicious and healthy raw food recipes, please check it out. I’ve gotten so much positive feedback on my spin on oil free raw vegan dinner recipes. (Scroll down for the recipe.)

Travel update: We are back home now in Vancouver, BC this week after spending 2 months in Corpus Christi, Texas and enjoying the sun down there (and avoiding the dark clouds and rain here). It’s nice to be back home, but it feels a little surreal. I have to get used to my kitchen again and finding all of my seasonings and kitchen gadgets. So I’m going to ease back into making recipes, as I’ve totally broken my groove from traveling and moving back in and unpacking everything.

Sweet onion dressing was one of my favourite dressings I used to buy from a bottle (because it’s low fat), but it’s filled with high fructose corn syrup, so I decided to make my own and it tastes pretty similar and is much healthier.

Why Do I Make And Prefer Fat Free Raw or Vegan Salad Dressings?

Well because salad is supposed to be healthy and full of nutrients, and not be a fat bomb of a meal. When I was at the Houston, TX airport we grabbed a bite to eat at Wendy’s and I was just curiously looking around me at what other families were getting. I noticed the woman beside me was eating what she thought was a really healthy meal, because there were no burgers or fries in sight: a BLT Cobb Chicken Salad, a cup of chili and a large soda.

Now I don’t know if you know this, but all restaurants and fast food companies market their salads to women, especially mothers and older women who are trying to eat healthier, watch their weight (or lose weight) as their children and husbands love ordering a burger and fries regularly. Everyone generally thinks burgers and fries are less healthy and salads are on the top of the list of healthy meals so this can be misleading when it comes down to the details.

The woman who ordered this was also probably 35-45 lbs over her ideal weight. I don’t say this to be critical, just to give you an idea of who buys these fast food salads and how they are being seriously deceived. The thing that shocked me the most was that she squeezed every last drop of dressing out of her packet and then proceeded to suck on the packet just to double check! Gross! I thought people knew these dressings were very fatty and to only use half the packet or less. I guess not in Texas…

Why Wendy’s and Fast Food Salads Are

NOT Healthy and Actually Bad For You.

Let’s take a look at her “healthy” Wendy’s meal. <- Go here for the nutritional info.

BLT Cobb salad, chicken, bacon, feta cheese, tortilla strips, dressing

Let’s add up her totals here just to get an idea of how “healthy” this meal is. I’ll pretend she only got a small soda, as Wendy’s doesn’t want to acknowledge people drink more than this… yeah right!

Menu Item	Calories	Fat	Sat Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Fiber
Wendy’s BLT Cobb Salad	450	25g	11g	270mg	1610mg	3g
Thousand Island Dressing	160	15g	2.5g	15mg	290mg	0g
Large Chili	310	9g	3.5g	60mg	1330mg	10g
Small Cola Or Sprite	160	0g	0g	0g	0mg	0g
Total:	1080	49g	17g	345mg	3230mg	13g
Rec. D. Allowance:	2000	65g	20g	300mg	1500mg	25g

Thousand Island Dressing is the highest calorie dressing they offer. Avoid it at all costs!

Sodas: Wendy’s CONVENIENTLY only lists the amounts for a SMALL cup of every beverage in their nutritional info. This is insanity. Combo meals come with a medium or large drink! This is total deception.

This salad meal with chili is over half the recommended daily calories for an athletic adult women or an inactive man. Most woman in their 40-60’s only need 1600-1800 calories if they are fairly sedentary. So the RDA of 2000 calories is obviously too high for her. It blows the RDA for cholesterol and sodium out of the water, and is almost maxing out the fat and sat fat for the entire day.

Let’s compare this to a typical combo meal at Wendy’s, just to see how it stacks up as a “healthy choice” for woman.

Menu Item	Calories	Fat	Sat Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Fiber
Single 1/4 pounder	580	33g	14g	105mg	1240mg	3g
Med. Fries	420	21g	4g	0mg	450mg	6g
Small Cola or Sprite	160	0g	0g	0g	0g	0g
Total:	1160	54g	18g	105mg	1690mg	9g
Diff Between Salad Meal and Burger Combo	-80	-5g	-1g	+240mg	+1540mg	-3g

There isn’t any real health benefit in going for a salad with chicken, bacon, feta cheese, creamy dressing, croutons/tortilla strips, and ground beef chili instead of a burger and fries. You save a little bit of calories, but let’s face it, if you’re a woman you blew your calorie budget for almost 2 meals on one meal, and you killed your cholesterol and sodium recommendations for the day. This is bad news for your heart, arteries, blood pressure, and waistline ladies. Don’t be fooled that restaurant and fast food salads are in ANY way shape or form healthy, low in fat, or low in calories. If you want a salad, the best bet is to bring your own fat free dressing (store bought or homemade) and get a large green garden salad. No croutons, no cheese, no bacon, no meat, no fried noodles, no tortilla strips etc. You can also bring or order a fruit plate, fruit cup, piece of fruit (if available). Or try going somewhere that can do steamed vegetables and plain rice, that’s a healthy meal as well.

Now, are you curious what we got instead at Wendy’s? Bet you had no idea you could eat Low Fat Vegan at Wendy’s!

We got a side salad and a plain baked potato each with a small packet of Italian dressing (they didn’t have light so we made do).

(DO NOT eat the fried croutons this can come with the garden salad!)

Menu Item:	Calories	Fat	Sat Fat	Cholest	Sodium	Fiber
Wendy’s Garden Side Salad	25	0g	0g	0g	30mg	2g
Wendy’s Plain Baked Potato	270	0g	0g	0g	25mg	7g
Italian Vinaigrette (Low Fat)	70	6g	1g	0g	180mg	0g
Total:	365	6g	1g	0g	235mg	9g

This is your best option at Wendy’s for a low fat, filling, nutrient and fiber rich meal. You can even get an extra baked potato for a more filling meal.

If you want to know more about why oils, nuts and seeds are NOT good for your health check out this great dvd by vegan RD and Nutritionist Jeff Novick From Oil To Nut s. It will dispel every half truth and myth you’ve ever heard about oils and nuts being “heart healthy”, “good for weightloss” “super foods” and more. I’ve shown it to all of my friends and they were just shocked. They are much more conscientious about their food choices now and have lost weight and lowered their cholesterol and risk for heart disease and cancer.

Wow, what a difference it makes just ordering vegan sides (that are not deep fried and free of creamy dressings/butter/margarine) compared to the regular fast food fare. You can get a large snack or a mini meal, for about $3.50 or less. If you want a larger meal, just order 2 baked potatoes. We always skip the butter, margarine, sour cream and fatty dressings. You can use ketchup or a vinaigrette to season it, or better yet bring a little packet or container of salsa, or barbecue sauce etc if you’re planning ahead.

It is actually NOT that hard to eat vegan and relatively low fat when traveling. Of course it’s not 100% unrefined and ideal, but it’s a heck of a lot better than just saying oh well and getting that pack of fries or fatty oil and cheese salad like many vegans and vegetarians do.

Our first option of course when in airports is always to scope out the Asian food and look for steamed veggies, rice, vegan sushi rolls, rice paper wraps, or stir fries. Keep that in mind next time, if you are new to eating vegan or low fat vegan and worry about eating on the go.

Now on to my recipe oil free vegan salad dressing recipe.

This is a really easy no oil, fat free vegan salad dressing recipe that you can make with ingredients you probably already have on hand. I know I had all of these already, so it was simple enough. I put mine into an empty condiment style bottle so it could be squirted easily on the salad in small amounts.

(Oil Free) No Fat Raw Vegan Sweet Onion Salad Dressing

Makes about 1 1/2 cups of dressing

Ingredients:

5-6 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
1 cup peeled cucumber, chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 cup of sweet vidalia onion, diced (about 1/2 large onion) (Walla Walla is another variety you can use too)
8 small dates, pitted
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2+ tbsp water (to blend or thin as necessary)

Directions:

1. Place ingredients into a Vitamix or food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Taste test and adjust seasonings if desired.
3. Serve over green salad and refrigerate any leftovers.

Tip:

To make the onion flavour more mild, you can chop the onion in advance and let it sit out or in the fridge and oxidize so that some of the strong oils dissipate and it won’t be as intense.

This is a dressing I would use in smaller quantities because of the bite. I wouldn’t make an entire family sized salad with it, and eat it myself. It might sting your tongue a little if you eat the whole recipe in one meal. Side salads or a medium sized salad would be best with this recipe.

For more information on Savory Raw Dinner Recipes click here

What do you think of this recipe? What was your favourite salad dressing you now make vegan or raw?

How To Cook Steel Cut Oats (Irish Oats) In a Rice Cooker Or On The Stove

January 29, 2012 by Veronica Grace 52 Comments

What Are Steel Cut Oats/Irish Oats?

Steel cut oats are whole grain oat groats (the inner portion of the oat kernel) which have been cut into only two or three pieces horizontally. They are golden in color and resemble mini rice particles and are cylinder-like.

LivingPrepared has a good picture of rolled oats vs steel cut oats. Rolled oats are on the left, steel cut are on the right.

How do steel cut oats differ from rolled oats (old fashioned oats)?

Rolled oats a.k.a. old fashioned oats, are flake oats that have been steamed, rolled, re-steamed and toasted. Due to all of this additional processing they have lost some of their natural taste, nutrition and texture. They are just a more refined form. Most people get confused and think rolled oats are unprocessed and naturally come this way, and that instant oatmeal is the only oat that is processed. This is not quite correct. Rolled oats are still pretty processed and have undergone many treatments.

What is oatmeal or instant oatmeal then?

Instant oats are very processed compared to steel cut oats, they are pre cooked, dried and partially powdered with some flakes left. All you do is add hot water since they are already cooked and broken down. They usually come in packets with sugar and seasonings already in them.

This is why some people choose to eat only steel cut oats, or Irish oats as they are like the whole grain version of oats and the least processed.

Oatmeal Helps Lowers LDL (Bad) Cholesterol

Oatmeal is full of soluble fiber, which we know lowers LDL levels. Experts aren’t exactly sure how, but they have some ideas. When you digest fiber, it becomes gooey. Researchers think that when it’s in your intestines, it sticks to cholesterol and stops it from being absorbed. So instead of getting that cholesterol into your system — and your arteries — you simply get rid of it as waste.

In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers tested cholesterol-lowering drugs against cholesterol-lowering foods in a group of thirty-four adults with high cholesterol. Oat products were among the chosen foods. The results were striking. The diet lowered cholesterol levels about as well as cholesterol drugs. WebMD

Even if you’re not eating cholesterol containing foods (all animal products contain cholesterol because only animals produce cholesterol, not plants) you can still lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol by eating oatmeal, which is helpful for some who still have high cholesterol on a vegan diet. The main reason some vegan diets don’t completely save you from having high cholesterol, is because of the amount of rich plant fats we tend to eat when compensating for a lack of meat and cheese. Salad dressing oils, battered or fried vegetables, fried snacks, vegan pastries and cakes, cookies, crackers etc. When you eat a lot of fatty foods this raises the amount of cholesterol you produce yourself, which is not good. So switching a high fat vegan meal to a low fat meal of oatmeal can make a big difference in your cholesterol numbers and health.

How much oatmeal do I need to cook for one person?

Steel cut oats can expand up to 4 times their dry size. For one person you can make about 1/4 cup for a single serving. When I’m making steel cut oats for my family, I usually make at least 1-1 1/2 cups because then there’s enough for everyone to have a satisfying breakfast. You can also save any leftovers and store it in the fridge for a quick breakfast the next day.

How To Cook Steel Cut Oats (Irish Oats) In a Rice Cooker

(For stovetop or microwave directions scroll down to the bottom)

To make your oats, you have to decide how thin you like them. I personally like mine a little thick, like in the picture, as opposed to a thin porridge, so I use a ratio of 3 parts water to 1 part oats. You can use a 4:1 ratio of water to oats if you like it thinner.

I have used several different types of rice cookers. At home I have a Zojirushi 5 1/2 cup rice cooker which has a lot of functions like white rice, brown rice, mixed rice, porridge and even a cake setting! It works awesome and I use the porridge setting for steel cut oats on it. What’s great about the Zojirushi is it has an internal programmable clock and you can tell it EXACTLY what time you want your rice/grain/porridge ready. So if you want to eat breakfast at 7 am, you set it for 7 am (in military time 07:00) and it will be ready to go at that time. Just do the process below, put the oats and water in and press start the night before and your breakfast will be hot and ready with no hassle the next day. If you’re a single or a couple they have a smaller version the Zojirushi 3 cup rice cooker as well.

I’ve also used this Hamilton Beach Digital Deluxe Rice Cooker that is great for a family on a budget, it has a white rice and a whole grain setting. I use the whole grain setting on this rice cooker for steel cut oats. It works a little differently, it has a delay timer. So what I do is set it so that it starts while I’m sleeping. If I go to bed at 11 pm and want to eat at 7 am, I would set the delay timer for about 5-6 hour delay. 5 hours for a large portion, 6 hours for a smaller portion (single size) and then it will start cooking when the delay timer hits zero and your oats will be ready for breakfast.

(Please do NOT put anything like dairy or animal products that should be refrigerated into a rice cooker overnight as this is a health risk. Only use water and dry grains when using a delay or programmed timer. So don’t add milk or cream to your oats and let it sit out all night, you can stir it in in the next morning before eating)

This is great for when you don’t have time to cook steel cut oats on the stove and want a quick breakfast.

Step 1: Measure out 1 cup of steel cut/Irish oats (or your desired amount). Pour it into a mesh strainer. Give it a rinse to clear any dust or debris. Pour it into the rice cooker.

Step 2: Measure out 3-4 cups of water (or your desired amount) and pour it into the rice cooker.

Step 3: Press the porridge/whole grain/brown rice setting (whichever setting your rice cooker has) and let it cook. It’s going to take a while to cook, similar to cooking brown rice. It should take about an hour to hour and a half depending how much you put in.

Step 4: Your steel cut oats are done and ready to season. You can add more water to thin if desired, add almond milk, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, sliced bananas, granola etc. Whatever you’d like to dress it up. This way you can control the amount of sugar in your oatmeal instead of eating the prepackaged instant oatmeal.

Step 5: Serve!

How To Make Steel Cut Oats In A Rice Cooker Or On The Stove with cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins

How To Cook Steel Cut Oats (Irish Oats) On The Stove:

Add your 1 cup of oats to 3-4 cups of water to a large pot and bring to a low boil over medium high heat. When it’s boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes and stir every few minutes to prevent sticking. Season as desired and serve.

Time saving tip: Boil 4 cups of water the night before and add 1 cup of dry steel cut oats. Stir and let it soak over night. In the morning put it into a pot and cook over low heat for 9-12 minutes until the oats are tender. Season as desired and serve. (If you use this method, disregard the method above)

How To Cook Steel Cut Oats (Irish Oats) In a Microwave:

I have not tried this method personally, but it should be really easy. Place 1/2 cup of steel cut oats into a large (at least) 8 cup microwave safe bowl (not metal) and pour 2 cups of water into it. Make sure you use a large bowl to prevent it from boiling over in the microwave. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Remove and stir and microwave on high for another 5 minutes. (Microwave times might vary depending on strength) Season as desired and serve.

What if I don’t have time to make steel cut oats every day?

The solution is pretty easy, just make a big batch and save the leftovers in individual portions in the fridge. If it’s for one person, multiply your recipe by 5 so you have enough for each day of the week. So you might use 1 1/4 cups to 2 cups of dry steel cut oats, depending if you’re a woman or a really athletic man. And then you cook it with 3-4 times the amount of water. Season it and then separate into containers. Then all you have to do is reheat it in the microwave the next day and add any additional water or non-dairy milk to thin it out, stir and eat. It’s a great time saver if you want to eat more whole foods, without having to rely just on instant oatmeal.

What do you think of this recipe? Have you made steel cut oats before? Are you going to try now?