Veronica Grace

Karmyn Malone’s Review Of My Savory Raw Dinner Recipes DVD and Book Set

January 5, 2012 by Veronica Grace 2 Comments

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If you’d like to give the DVD set Savory Raw Dinner Recipes a try, you won’t
regret it.

Go to: http://www.plantbasedu.com/savory

Mediterranean Flax Tortilla Wrap

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My review of Veronica Grace’s Savory Raw Dinner Recipes System

by Karmyn Malone
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Aloha!

I want to share with you my thoughts on the new Savory Raw Dinner Recipes system
created by Veronica Grace the Low Fat Vegan Chef.

Once our daughter Rainbow was born I was ready for some new, raw, and savory recipes.
I’ve been getting “fruited out”really easily post pregnancy and need something savory
after each fruit meal.

Since I’m busy taking care of Rainbow (and Andrew!) I don’t have a lot of time to spend
in the kitchen creating new recipes.

I kept “bugging” Veronica to share her recipes with me,and once I tried making a few of
them I was thrilled at how most of them came out.

Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE recipe is her “Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad.” This
recipe alone makes owning her “Savory Raw Dinner Recipes” WORTH IT. If I could
make it everyday I would. It’s so good that once I went to four different stores looking for
fresh strawberries and was so disappointed when I had to come home empty handed!

Lower Fat Taco Salad

That day I decided to “settle” and made her “Low Fat Taco Salad” instead because I didn’t have
any strawberries. I have a similar taco salad recipe that I enjoy but she used a couple of KEY
ingredients in her salad that WOWED me! Hmmmmmm …. why didn’t I think to use those?

Thai Tom Kha Soup

“Easy Fat-Free Veggie Soup” is very light and refreshing. Another delicious, spicy and
hearty soup is ” Thai Tom Kha Coconut Soup.” I felt like I was in a cooked food Thai
restaurant but of course it’s prepared raw.

Definitely a recipe for the raw Thai food connoisseurs out there.

It’s so nice to have another raw recipe system that tastes great without resorting to using tons
of oil and salt (although some of the recipes do use a TINY amount of salt).

Also the recipes don’t take all day to prepare like the ultra complicated gourmet raw recipes
that will make you thirsty enough to drink toilet water, nor will they make you sick due to
the nuts, oils and avocado used in them!

I’m not kidding — many of those gourmet raw recipes will use nuts, oil AND avocado in one
recipe! I had a recipe like that recently that a friend prepared and I was sick to my stomach
for the rest of that night. I’m talking painful and laying in bed kind of sick.

Veronica Grace’s “Savory Raw Dinner Recipes” nicely compliments Roger Haeske’s
Savory Veggie Stews (http://www.veggiestews.com). In other words, they’re two distinctly different recipe systems.

Veronica's Amazing Raw Lasagna

There are simple recipes that you can make everyday as well as dinner party oriented recipes
to make for special occasions (I’m really looking forward to making “Veronica’s Amazing
Raw Lasagna”)

Some of the recipes do call for salt, onions and garlic. Of course this is completely
optional.

I’ve made some of those recipes without any salt and they’re still delicious.

And mind you the quantity of salt in these recipes is MUCH lower than what you’d find at
a typical gourmet raw food restaurant. I’m talking a pinch of salt.

BTW, I had a mega bowl of “Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad” for lunch just before writing
this review today. Boy that salad really hits the spot.

A great thing about their system is if you’re not at all into using garlic, onions,
apple cider vinegar and salt, the recipes still taste great even if you omit these
ingredients. I was surprised that the flavor was still good when I omitted some of
these ingredients.

Also you can adjust the seasonings to your taste preferences and they still taste
great whether you like your food mildly seasoned, medium or super seasoned! There
were even certain condiments that I didn’t use at all and the recipes I made still
tasted AMAZING!

Fat Free Stuffed Peppers

Overall I’ve found the “Savory Raw Dinner Recipes” to be just what I needed to
balance out my sweet fruit consumption with more savory meals.

As a nursing mom, my dietary needs are much different than when I wasn’t nursing.
A constant source of mineral rich savory meals after fruit is now mandatory for me.

I think you’re going to find a number of recipes that’ll satisfy your need for
something hearty and savory and yet are easy to prepare.

With much aloha,

Karmyn

P.S. My 4 1/2 year old son Andrew just loves these recipes. He constantly asks me to make
Veronica’s recipes.

He licked his bowl CLEAN after eating her “Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad” and her “Low
Fat Taco Salad” (when he does that then I KNOW it’s a new favorite dish for him!)
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Click the picture below to find out more about my program Savory Raw Dinner Recipes.

If you’d like to give the DVD set Savory Raw Dinner Recipes
a try, you won’t regret it.

Go to: http://www.plantbasedu.com/savory

If you’d like to find out more about Karmyn Malone and her raw food journey go to http://karmynmalone.com/ or find her on Facebook

Low Fat Oil Free Vegan Baked Maple Yam Pecan Casserole

January 4, 2012 by Veronica Grace 11 Comments

Low Fat Oil Free Vegan Maple Syrup Yam Sweet Potato Pecan Holiday Casserole

Low Fat Vegan Maple Yam and Pecan Casserole

Featured in my new recipe eBook: Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World with other holiday favorites like Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Holiday Stuffed Acorn Squash, Cranberry Apple Pecan Stuffing, Cheezy Sauce For Steamed Vegetables and 5 different gravy recipes and more!

I want to share some of my delicious Christmas dinner recipes I made last year with you. Baked Yam Pecan Casserole is super easy to make and one of my favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas dishes.

It was my extended family’s first “predominantly vegan” Christmas and holiday dinner. My mom was so thrilled not to have to deal with a turkey, so she just had her husband pick up some pre cooked roast turkey for himself and my grandmother, and the rest of us just at vegan and loaded up on all the delicious sides!

We made my new Cranberry Apple Pecan Stuffing, mashed potatoes and 2 kinds of gravy, vegetables in cheezy sauce. I know some of you will be wanting the recipes, so here’s another one for you to save for special holidays, or whenever you have a serious Yam craving! (Or if you are obsessed with sweet potato casseroles, or sweet potato pie, like they are in the South. I’m in Texas right now lol)

Now these are actually yams, but Americans will still call them Sweet Potatoes. Pretty much anything that seems like a potato and tastes sweet, they call sweet potatoes. In Canada and the rest of the world, they are called yams (In Australia kumara). Hence why I called the recipe a Yam Casserole. I think the name “sweet potato” is very ambiguous and confusing, as in the USA it encompasses basically any starchy root than is semi sweet, whether it’s golden yams, purple yams, orange yams (like above) etc. Check out the Wiki on yams if you don’t believe me!

This recipe is SUPER easy and you can of course scale it down if you don’t want lots of leftovers.

This recipe is also oil-free, Earth Balance-free and guilt free! If you don’t have maple syrup, you can certainly use some agave, brown rice syrup or other preferred sweetener.

Low Fat Vegan Maple Yam Pecan Casserole (Sweet Potato Pie -ish)

(You can also half this recipe, if you don’t want leftovers)

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

5 large yams (orange flesh sweet potatoes in the USA if you insist on calling them that 🙂 )
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp herbamare
1/2 cup pecan halves

Directions:

1. Peel and slice yams into 2″ thick slices. (This is so they cook faster)

2. Steam yams or cook in a pressure cooker just until tender. As soon as you can poke easily with a fork and break them apart they are done.

3. Drain and turn into a bowl and mash with potato masher.

4. Add seasonings and stir gently.

5. Pour into a casserole pan, garnish with pecans and keep warm in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until needed.

6. Serve.

What’s your favourite Christmas or Thanksgiving side? What did you have this year for Christmas dinner? Sweet potatoes or yams?

Special Occasions: Holiday Vegan Pecan Pie (Not Low Fat!)

January 4, 2012 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

This recipe I am mentioning as a special treat my mom and I made for our family this Christmas. It was the first time my mom was eating vegan for Christmas, and we wanted to make a holiday pie that everyone could have for dessert without dietary restrictions.

We were much too full after eating our Baked Maple Yam Pecan Casserole and Fat Free Vegan Cranberry Apple Stuffing so it wasn’t eaten until much later in the evening, and I waited until the next day. It’s just such a rich dessert!

I found the recipe here, and just a warning, in no way shape or form is this a low fat or oil free recipe! I just wanted to offer my feedback on how this vegan pecan pie came out, and if you are making it for your family who will be having pie anyways, at least you can have a bite or piece while making and serving it!

We did not have a pastry cutter OR a food processor down here, but my mom managed to cut in the Earth Balance and make the crust without too much rolling or mixing. It was pretty thick and sturdy, not greasy or flaky though and you can tell it’s definitely homemade and not store bought! 🙂

The filling set really well at the sides, but next time I would bake it longer as it was still not firm in the centre. So it did not come out looking like a perfectly cut piece of pie, but everyone that ate it, didn’t care and enjoyed it anyways! It is very rich, so we cut only tiny pieces instead of a standard 6 or 8 pieces that most people do.

I also specially bought whole wheat saltine crackers, because the recipe said to do so, but in an effort to lower the fat content you can use plain saltines as they have less fat in them than the whole wheat ones. (Whole wheat tends to be dryer, so they always add more oil to baked goods). This serves to thicken up the filling and add some strength to it. You could try adding an extra saltine or two as well, maybe it would be firmer in the middle.

Anyway, this is my first attempt on a vegan holiday pie, and it didn’t turn out too bad! Just make sure to not make it only for yourself and share it with your friends and family!

Oil Free Low Fat Vegan Cranberry Apple Pecan Stuffing

December 26, 2011 by Veronica Grace 11 Comments

This is a very delicious and healthy, but decadent stuffing recipe you can use for Thanksgiving or Christmas! It contains no butter, margarine or earth balance, and you won’t even notice! It’s full of flavour and very moist and tasty with so many colours and textures to enjoy.

We ate it along with my Baked Maple Yam Pecan Casserole and Decadent Vegan Pecan Pie. Make sure to book mark this!

This photo above was my first time making it and it turned out very well and since then it has become the stuffing recipe that I use from now on. I wanted something with cranberry and pecan in it, and then threw in mushrooms, celery, apple and apple juice as well. In fact my family DEMANDS that I make this savory stuffing recipe each year and no one minds not having turkey flavoured stuffing at all!

This recipe makes a large casserole pan full, so definitely only do the full recipe if feeding a family. If you’re a small family or a single you could half the recipe if you’d like to make less. It definitely won’t disappoint and everyone will rave about how tasty this home made vegan stuffing is.

Fat Free Vegan Cranberry Apple Pecan Stuffing

Ingredients:

15 cups large cubes of bread
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cups mushrooms, diced
1 cup cranberries
2 apples, diced
3 1/2 cups apple juice
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2/3 cup pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 1/2 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried margoram
1/2 tsp dried savory

Directions:

1. Toast bread crumbs at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until dry. Check after 10 minutes to prevent burning. Alternatively you can spread on a cookie sheet and dry out overnight.

2. Slice pecans halves in half. (This makes them spread farther and keeps the recipe lower in fat) Toast pecans at 350 for 5 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning.

3. Soak dried cranberries in 3 cups of apple juice for 30 minutes.

4. Saute onions, celery and mushrooms in vegetable broth over medium heat for 8-10 minutes until soft.

5. Saute diced apples in 1/2 cup apple juice, brown sugar and cinnamon until soft.

6. In a large bowl combine ingredients and mix thoroughly until all the herbs are spread out and the bread is moist. If your bread is still a little dry you can pour a little extra apple juice in the bottom of the roasting pan to prevent burning and drying out.

7. Spread out in a large lasagna size roasting pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until heated through.

What do you think? What’s your favourite type of stuffing?

Canadians Do You Do Extreme Vegan Couponing? Here’s How!

December 16, 2011 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

(For my American readers click here)

Extreme Couponing is not just for the thrifty American Shopper. There are lots of deals to be had by the Canadian consumer!

I’m part way through reading a book called Be Centsable – How To Cut Your Household Budget In Half that teaches you how much easier and worthwhile using coupons is than you ever thought before.

One thing that I didn’t realize is that you CAN stack coupons, but not the exact same coupon. For example you can use a manufacturers coupon that you get in the mail or online, on top of a store coupon (or sale) for the same product. So you can effectively get your product at 50%, 75% or almost 100% off!

This is especially helpful for those with families or babies that go through a lot of extra care products or that need specialty food items. Also for those on a student or single person budget. I was surprised how much I found out within an hour of looking for and signing up for access to free coupons online. It pays to do a little research!

Keep in mind that you will have to give out some personal information to either download or have online coupons mailed to you, but these databases are run securely, you can unsubscribe at any time and you don’t really have to use your real name or your main email address. If you’re concerned about it, make a new email address just for these coupon sites that way when you’re ready to look for your coupons they’re all in one place if you easily get distracted or overwhelmed with daily emails.

The trick to optimizing coupon usage is to do a little research before hand.

#1. Write down prices of products you regularly buy at your local grocery or discount stores (both regular and sale prices), you can also use the receipt and do it at home later and just try to remember if your products were on sale or not. You need to know exactly how much your products cost you at regular price, so you can be aware of cheaper or sale prices elsewhere.

#2. Pick up the weekly flyer at your local grocery store and see if they have any holiday sales on (like a certain % off of your purchase, or $ amount off a total purchase price) in store coupons, or sales on products you need to buy anyway.

#3. Stack your manufacturer coupons on top of the in store coupon or sale price at the check out counter and start saving!

Here is my list of awesome sources for Canadian Coupons:

(For my American readers click here)

Smart Canucks an awesome website that shows coupons from multiple websites including save.ca and brandsaver.ca

Save.ca

The Healthy Shopper For Organic and Natural Products – This one is awesome!

Well.ca doesn’t have coupons, but they do run sales and offers free shipping in Canada which is great

Now remember, you’re not going to start seeing many savings if you just use a coupon here or there and save $0.50 or $1.00 off at the till on top of the sale price, you want to start getting excited about it, watching for sales, stocking up on things you buy anyway when you have coupons and in store discounts and holding off buying extra until you do. You have MUCH better things to be spending your extra savings on like reducing debt, mortgage payments, RSP saving, tuition saving, investing, vacations, etc. Your grocery budget will expand to whatever you let yourself spend, so if you take those direct savings, watch for deals and sales, you will have extra money to do what you need with that didn’t get spent at the grocery store!

For more information on how to make using coupons and organizing your shopping easier check out these books:

Now that you have some awesome resources to get you thinking of ways to save on your every day groceries and household products, what are you waiting for?

Are you going to start looking for coupons before going shopping next week?

Extreme Vegan Couponing To Save On Groceries: Can You Do It Too?

December 16, 2011 by Veronica Grace 5 Comments

(For Canadian readers click here for your extreme coupon links)

You may have heard about this show called Extreme Couponing that shows how regular people live on an extremely tight or thrifty budget, often paying only a few dollars for hundreds of dollars of groceries and personal care products because their coupons paid the rest.

To some, it may seem silly, like a full time job in coupon scavenging and clipping coupons like crazy in every single flyer every week, but it doesn’t have to be this way to make a big difference in your food cost spending. But when it comes to quality ingredients, organic produce and products can be expensive, so it does pay to save.

Recently I ordered a book from Amazon called Be Centsable – How To Cut Your Household Budget In Half (what a great title I might add!) and I’m only part way through it and I’m convinced that we could be saving A LOT more money if I just collected coupons on products we already regularly buy.

The trick to optimizing coupon usage is to do a little research before hand.

#3. Stack your manufacturer coupons on top of the in store coupon or sale price at the check out counter and start saving!

I did some research and found some AWESOME sites for free coupons in both Canada (for my fellow Canadians) and the USA. I really thought that Canada would be at a disadvantage for some extreme couponing, but I’ve already downloaded a bunch of coupons for natural and organic products that we buy anyways, that I can now save money on next time at the health food store. How exciting!

Here is my list of resources for American Coupons:

For Canadian readers click here

Vegan Coupons Go to their Facebook page and great great coupons on vegan friendly products!

Be Centsable Coupon Database (Tracks every coupon, every store sale, including retail! Save big and plan out your grocery, clothing and personal care shopping at a deep discount)

All You Magazine Subscription Coupons: Every issue of All You contains valuable coupons for fashion, food, makeup and household basics. With high coupon totals each month (more than $60 recently), this magazine pays for itself many times over.

For more information on how to save big money on couponing check out these resources:

Be Centsable How To Cut Your Household Budget In Half

Pick Another Check Out Lane, Honey

The Coupon Mom’s Guide To Cutting Your Grocery Bill In Half

If you want to stay organized on the go, check out these cool wallets!

Deluxe Coupon Organizer Wallet

Double Deluxe Coupon Organizer Wallet

What about you? Have you ever clipped coupons, stacked coupons or gone to any of the sites I’ve listed above?

80/10/10 Recipe: Grapefruit Soup With Step By Step Pictures!

December 14, 2011 by Veronica Grace 5 Comments

Grapefruit soup is an easy 1 ingredient (mono) meal you can have for a breakfast or a snack. It’s 80/10/10 friendly and fat free. They key is to use very sweet juicy grapefruits. My favourite are red grapefruits. Right now we’re in Texas for Christmas, so we are using the Texas Star Grapefruits here. They’re quite good. I wouldn’t suggest using this recipe for more sour white grapefruits.

My friend made this for me and I photographed him doing so, so you can easily see how to get an easy to eat grapefruit meal with no seeds or excess peel or skins.

For this recipe I used 3 grapefruits. 2 to cut into chunks and 1 to juice over the chunks.

(Fat Free Raw Vegan) Grapefruit Soup

Using a sharp knife, cut off both ends of the grapefruit so you can see the flesh inside. Cut away enough that you don’t have any white pith or peel left.

Flip the grapefruit onto one of the cut ends and start cutting off the sides of the peel and pith all the way around.

Now cut the grapefruit into 3 slices and remove any seeds you see.

Continue cutting into slices.

Stand up the centre piece and cut around the middle, like you would the core of an apple. Discard this piece.

Line up your slices and now cut into bite sized chunks.

Your first grapefruit is done. Continue the same process with the second grapefruit and place the pieces into a bowl.

Slice the 3rd grapefruit in half. Remove the seeds.

Using a knife or a citrus reamer squeeze the grapefruit and turn to release the juice. Alternatively you can use a citrus juicer.

Continue juicing the other side of the grapefruit.

Serve!

What do you think of this simple recipe? You can also do this with sweet oranges or pineapple. The key is to use sweet ripe fruit. Makes sure to eat this right away as the fresh juice will oxidize and go sour if you leave it out or in the fridge for a few days.

Fat Free Plant Based Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Fennel and Portobello Mushrooms (Oil Free Vegan Recipe)

December 9, 2011 by Veronica Grace 20 Comments

FTC Notice: This blog post contains affiliate links that help support the blog.

Oil free roasted Brussels sprouts and balsamic vinegar are a delicious combo and a great accompaniment to any meal!

Ahh Brussels sprouts, you either love them, hate them, or fear them…. As a kid I definitely didn’t think I liked them. lol They looked like baby heads of cabbage, and they were green and my mom really never made them. So whenever I would see them at a restaurant or buffet I would avoid them because they were “new and scary”.

Brussels sprouts don’t really scare me now. But you do need to know how to cook them. If you undercook Brussels sprouts they can be really spicy and hard to chew, if you overcook them they can be quite bitter, mushy and unappetizing. I’ve most commonly had them just steamed, but I wanted to try a take on a vegan roasted side dish that had Brussels Sprouts in it.

If you’re going to boil or steam them instead, here’s a quick tip, if you cut an X in the stem of the Brussels sprout it will help it cook faster and more evenly inside, instead of being overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside!

I found a vegan Brussels sprouts recipe for inspiration from Celeste’s Vegan Goodness, omitted the oil and switched up portobello mushrooms for the shiitake and added some more seasonings to make it oil free and low fat vegan. If you’ve never tried fennel before either, here’s your chance to check it out. It has a licorice-eque flavour to it and contrasts well with the shallots. This is a delicious way to roast your Brussels sprouts without oil.

(Fat Free Plant Based) Roasted Brussel Sprouts With Fennel and Portobello Mushrooms (Oil Free Vegan Recipe)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4-5 cups trimmed Brussels sprouts (about 2 lbs)
1 fennel bulb, sliced into half moons
3 1/2 cups sliced portobello mushrooms (about 8 oz)
2 cups sliced shallots (about 3 large)
1-2 cloves of garlic sliced
1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tsp Herbs De Provence
1 tsp Herbamare or sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F/205 C.
2. Place sliced Brussels sprouts in a large mixing bowl.
3. Place sliced fennel in mixing bowl.
4. Slice mushrooms into thick strips and add to bowl.
5. Peel and slice shallots. Remove rings and place and add to bowl.
6. Peel and slice garlic and add to bowl.
7. Add vegetable broth, balsamic vinegar and herbs, salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine. We’re using vegetable broth here instead of oil to season and moisten the ingredients so the herbs will stick.
8. Lightly spritz a 9×12 large roasting pan with light cooking spray or use a reusable non-slip mat (my preference).
9. Pour in veggies and arrange so that they are evenly spaced out.
10. Roast for 30 min. Stir and roast an additional 30-35 minutes until Brussels sprouts are tender.
11. Serve as a side dish or add to salad or Buddha bowls for a savory ingredient.

Additional Tips:

To prepare Brussels sprouts, slice off the tough root at the bottom and peel off 2-6 of the outer leaves depending on how dirty or discoloured they are. Slice in half once peeled.

To prepare fennel, cut off the green tops and fronds. Discard. Slice fennel bulb in half and then cut out the bottom root in a triangle like you would cut out the core of a cabbage. Slice fennel lengthwise.

If you don’t like fennel or don’t have any fennel, you can omit it from the recipe as well. I would just use more Brussels sprouts then to bulk it up.

Serve with your favourite main dish and devour!

What do you think? Have you ever made roasted brussels sprouts in a dish?

Quick and Easy Thick Plant Based Pizza Sauce (Oil-Free Vegan Recipe)

December 8, 2011 by Veronica Grace 7 Comments

FTC Notice: The post contains affiliate links that go to supporting the blog.

Plant based or vegan pizza is probably something you’ll have to make at home, depending on where you live because not a lot of places offer vegan cheese, or are familiar with cheese-less pizzas if you go that way.

I really don’t like store-bought pizza or pasta sauces, they’re full of junk and usually bland. So I make my own. I wanted to come up with a really fast recipe for thick pizza sauce that you don’t have to spend forever cooking on the stove and adding raw ingredients too. Once mixed this is ready to go on the pizza.

I also like thick sauces, because low-fat healthy pizza crusts can be a little dry and you really want to have that moisture from the pizza sauce on there. Here’s one that’s oil-free, fat-free and vegan!

Quick and Easy Thick (Vegan) Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

1 small can of tomato paste
6 tbsp of water with 1/2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable base OR 6 tbsp water mixed with 1/2 veggie cube bouillon
1 tbsp liquid sweetener (honey, vegan honey, brown rice syrup)
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp freeze-dried garlic or garlic powder
2 twists of ground black pepper
dash of smoked paprika
dash of sea salt *if desired
A sprinkle of chili flakes *if desired

Directions:

1. Open the can of tomato paste and scoop into a bowl. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl and stir to combine. Taste test, adding additional seasonings if desired.

2. Spread over pizza crust leaving a small gap for the crust of the pizza.

This recipe should cover up to an extra-large pizza with sauce, or several personal pan pizzas.

I had extra leftover even after liberally topping my large pizza crust. I also topped it with my special recipe of sautéed baby portobello mushrooms and onions, frozen pineapple, kalamata olives, and fresh garlic. As you can see I really like pineapple! Mine is the side on the left lol.

If desired you can also sprinkle some Daiya mozzarella cheese or other vegan cheese on it, but for a truly fat-free recipe, you can skip it.

Let me know what you think! What do you put on your plant-based pizza?

The Best Ever Plant Based Banana Pancakes! (Low Fat Vegan Pancakes)

December 4, 2011 by Veronica Grace 24 Comments

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

These plant based banana pancakes are HEAVENLY. If you love pancakes, bananas, banana bread or anything banana related you will love these! You can even see the steam coming off these babies! (I served them with a side of my Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble) I just made these DELICIOUS vegan pancakes for my non veg family this morning for a delicious vegan brunch. Everyone loved them! I was looking for a perfect fat free vegan pancake recipe and thought I’d give these ones a shot. They were amazing. I made a little modification to the original recipe and it turned out great. We served these yummy pancakes with real maple syrup from Quebec and topped it with fresh bananas and cinnamon. It was a really great brunch! My mom commented on how light and delicious the pancakes were and she felt they were much healthier, even though I first made them with white flour. I think it was the ground chia seed I added, but really you couldn’t see or taste them anyway. It’s also a great way to get a little chia into a typically not so healthy breakfast food. I hadn’t really made vegan banana pancakes before, but when I bit into these -wow. It sure reminded me of warm banana bread, which is one of my favourite treats ever. So I will definitely be making these again and again. It really REALLy depends on having perfectly ripe non-starchy (lots of brown spots) bananas. Make sure your bananas are ripe! Use bananas with lots of brown spots on them. The one on the right is the sweetest and ripest banana. The two on the left are just starting to get sweet enough. Lots of spots on your bananas make them much better for recipes. Give these a try this holiday season and no one will know it’s oil free or vegan! This plant based banana pancake recipe is an adaptation from Susan Voisin’s Fat Free Vegan Pancakes recipe on the Fat Free Vegan Website Vegan brunch at home can be easy once you have a few tasty recipes!

Low Fat Plant Based Banana Pancakes (Vegan and Oil-Free)

Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups/150 grams of flour (I use half white all-purpose flour, half whole wheat flour when making for my family. Use a good gluten-free flour if you like instead, one you know will hold together nicely and not crumble) 2 tablespoons granulated sugar or coconut sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoon sea salt 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 cups/270-300 ml almond milk* (depending on how thin you want them) 1/2 tablespoon ground chia seed (or ground flaxseed or egg replacer) 2 tablespoons/30 ml water (to mix with ground chia/flaxseed or egg replacer) 1/3-1/2 cup diced ripe banana (see my ripe banana post if you are not sure) *To make this recipe nut free, substitute soy milk or oat milk for the almond milk. Tip: to combine ground chia with water, put water in bowl first and then sprinkle in chia and mix. If you pour water over the chia it can get clumpy and not mix properly. Directions: 1. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the almond milk, chia with water and bananas and stir just until flour is moistened. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes while skillet heats, and then stir gently one more time before using. Do not over mix. 2. Heat non-stick griddle or skillet over medium heat until drop of water sizzles. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle, making a few pancakes at a time. Cook until tops are bubbly and bubbles burst; edges will look dry. With pancake turner, turn and cook until undersides are golden. Place on warm platter; keep warm. 3. Repeat until all batter is used, spraying a little bit of non stick spray before each batch. Since they are oil free, this will be necessary to prevent any sticking. 4. Serve pancakes with maple syrup or fruit as desired. I also like to add some yummy ceylon cinnamon (this is sweet cinnamon, you can get it here) Variations: I also made another batch of blueberry vegan pancakes and put 1/2 cup of frozen wild blueberries in the batter. They were good, but the banana were the stand out pancakes this morning. Feel free to try both. I think wild blueberries work best as they are small and will keep it cooking evenly. Also if they are frozen when you add them, they won’t turn your batter purple! Additional Tips: To grind your own chia seeds, use a coffee grinder or a Vitamix and pulse the coffee grinder, or turn the Vitamix onto high until all the chia is ground into powder. It should take about a minute or two. Set aside into a container or plastic zipper bag and keep in the fridge or freezer until needed. This keeps it fresh and the nutrients intact longer. —- Serve with fruit, hash browns or my favourite Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble Give them a try! And let me know what you think of these vegan banana pancakes. What is your favourite kind of pancake?