Veronica Grace

Free Sample Chapter from What Do Raw Fooders Eat Volume 2

August 15, 2015 by Veronica Grace 1 Comment

Would you like a “sneak preview” of one chapter from Nomi Shannon’s new collection: “What Do Raw Fooders Eat?”

To thank you for being a loyal reader, here’s a link to the chapter on Martine Lussier, the Culinary Program Manager at Living Light Culinary Arts Institute.

FREE CHAPTER

(Please note: in the full version you will be able to copy and paste and print but not in the sample.)

If you ever feel guilty for eating “too much” cooked food, chapters like this one are sure to give you some comfort.

Martine is a great example of a “high raw” person who combines raw food with healthy cooked foods like hot soup and quinoa

Besides getting access to her fascinating food log, you’ll get four of Martine’s best recipes:

• Good Morning Juice

• Green Smoothie

• Cashew and Sunflower Curry Pate

• Chia Pudding With Fruit

So what are you waiting for?

FREE CHAPTER

This collection will give you hundreds of brand new ideas to thrill your taste buds and shake up your menu plan. You’ll never again settle for the same boring meals, or wonder what to eat. And it’s yours risk free for 3 months.

If you’re among the first 500 people to order, you’ll get a huge early bird bonus package worth $212.72 This email is going out to a lot of people, so check it out now.

Veronica Grace

What Do Raw Fooders Eat Volume 2 Recipes!

August 13, 2015 by Veronica Grace Leave a Comment

How would you like to visit the homes of 24 busy people who thrive on raw foods, peek inside their private kitchens, and “spy” on them as they prepare their meals for an entire week?

I’m talking about well-known raw fooders like:

• Rhonda Malkmus

• Russell James

• Elaina Love

• Philip McCluskey

• Penni Shelton

• Tonya Zavasta, and

• Nathan Crane

Plus, a variety of people who eat 50-90% raw such as:

Kemi Nekvapil, a leading speaker in Australia and author of ” Raw Beauty”
Myself! (Veronica Grace), author of “Vegan Comfort Foods From Around the World”
Lisa Books-Williams, Raw Chef and Vegan Cooking Instructor

Well you might not be able to sneak into their kitchens.

But now, thanks to my friend Nomi Shannon’s groundbreaking latest project you’ll get the next best thing ……It’s her all new collection called:

What Do Raw Fooders Eat? Volume 2

Discover Exactly What the Successful Ones Do

http://whatdorawfooderseat.com/?ref=113

Here’s the scoop. 24 raw fooders kept meticulous food journals for an entire week. (Raw fooders = 50% or more raw.)

The difference between What Do Raw Fooders Eat, Volume 2 and a recipe book-despite the fact that there are hundreds of recipes in the book-is that you are seeing actual meal plans, not just a pile of unrelated recipes.

Is this the key to your success as a raw fooder? Nomi thinks that it very well might be, and so do I!. Finally, you get to see the full picture. 7 full days of eating from 24 successful raw fooders. 504 Meals! Plus snacks!

Here is one out of the many hundreds of recipes from What Do Raw Fooders Eat, Volume 2:

http://whatdorawfooderseat.com/?ref=113

Strawberry Carob Fig Crunch Parfait

This pretty layered dessert is perfect for entertaining. The best part? It’s nut free*

Layer each part of the parfait with chopped fresh strawberries between the layers and topped with Brazil Nut Fig Crunch.

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy.

*technically Brazil nuts are seeds

Layer 1: Carob Hemp Pudding Ingredients:

¾-1 cup young coconut water

¹/³ cup hemp seeds

¹/³ cup pitted, packed dates

¼ cup carob powder

1 teaspoon each: maca and mesquite powders

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¹/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Layer 2: Strawberry Pudding Ingredients:

1½ cups chopped strawberries

¾ cup packed young coconut pulp

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons each: maple syrup and melted coconut oil

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Directions: Blend all but the coconut oil until smooth and creamy. Add the oil and blend again to incorporate.

Layer 3: Brazil Nut Fig Crunch Ingredients:

½ cup each: chopped black mission figs and chopped Brazil nuts

¼ cup goji berries

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons each: maple syrup and melted coconut oil (i skip this and don’t use oil)

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

Directions: Toss all ingredients together

This parfait recipe comes from Phillip McCluskey’s chapter in

What Do Raw Fooders Eat, Volume 2.

PS. Don’t forget Nomi is offering over $200 in bonuses to the first 500 people who buy this amazing collection! And, she is so confident that you’ll love What do Raw Fooders Eat, Volume 2, she’s offering a risk free 90 day warranty. This email is going out to a lot of people, so check it out now

Improving Skin Condition and Cellulite Dimpling with Homemade Seaweed Powder Masks

May 28, 2015 by Veronica Grace 4 Comments

#1 Kelp (Seaweed) Powder (To Tighten Skin and Reduce Appearance of Cellulite)

#2 Bentonite/Green Clay To Mix Seaweed Powder With To Form a Paste for Cellulite Mask

#3 Rubberized Skin Brush To Improve Circulation and Reduce Appearance of Cellulite (Use Daily)

I am a naturally skeptical person, especially when it comes to spa/health products that seem to be hyped up. On a whim I decided to order the three items above from Amazon after reading a lot of reviews and narrowing my choices down. You see it’s bikini/short season and my legs are already pretty short and stubby as it is and I’d prefer they look half decent with as little cellulite as possible. Sitting all winter and doing a lot of driving has not left my legs in the best shape they could be in. So I thought what the heck, I will see if a cellulite skin brush and a homemade seaweed mask would make a difference at all. All in all it only cost me about $48 with free Amazon Prime shipping (I like to order a few things at once and drive across the border to get them on my US trips) and was cheaper and in a larger quantity than what the local health food store was charging. I also like that Amazon offers reviews and refunds which local stores can’t really compete with when it comes to spa products.

I have done skin brushing before with a few different items. I’ve used a “soft” bristled skin brush (made my skin a bit itchy), a copper skin roller (takes some getting used to), and this new rubberized “cellulite” skin brush. I don’t think it matters too much what kind of brush you get. But this rubber one is easy to hold and pretty cheap which is nice.

The first thing you want to do (and you want to try to do this every day) is to brush any of your “problem” areas gently with a skin brush in an upward motion, moving the brush up towards your heart. This will bring in more blood and improve circulation along with oxygenation of your skin and slough off old dead skin cells and make your skin brighter and smoother. This alone is beneficial to do every day. If you’re wanting to do your face, make sure you get a small gentle brush and brush down towards your heart, only for a few minutes so you don’t irritate your skin too much.

The next step (and you can do this once or twice a week if you want) is to make your seaweed skin mask. I mixed one part kelp powder, with one part green clay and added enough water for it to become a loose paste. I would suggest using about 1/4 cup of each if doing a large portion of your body, or 2 tablespoons of each if you’re only doing your thighs. You can use water, olive oil, lemon juice etc to bind the paste together. If you end up getting the Natural eSCENtials kelp powder I mention above they send you a free mask recipe book to make all different kinds of masks which is helpful. They will personally email you after purchase with the ebook, which I thought was a very nice touch. You can also ask them questions too!

Once you have made your seaweed mask you can (in the shower or bathtub, trust me) gently rub it onto your desired area. Smooth it on in one direction for best results so it stays on and covers the most surface area, as opposed to rubbing it on in circles. You can either wrap your body in saran wrap, gauze or paper towels and stand or lay down (on some more towels) for about 30 minutes to let the product absorb into your skin.

Lastly just head back to the shower/tub and rinse off the seaweed mask. You should notice that your skin is much much smoother to touch and in appearance, and you’ll have far less dimpling from cellulite as well. When I was rinsing my mask off for the first time I was kind of in shock, it made such a big difference and that’s the reason I wanted to share this with you guys. I’m pretty happy overall in my small investment and will make this part of my weekly routine especially in the summer.

Alternatively if you don’t want to make a mask or don’t have time to lay around and wait for it to absorb, you can mix the kelp powder with some coarse sea salt and oil and make a bath/shower scrub with it and use it every day or every other day. Just be sure to be gentle at first as your skin won’t be used to being scrubbed with the large salt granules.

This was a pretty exciting experiment for me to try and I’m glad in this case I took a chance. I have no affiliation whatsoever with the makers of these products, I’m just sharing my positive experience with it as I know a lot of my readers are curious about seaweed masks and body wraps. Take it for what you will, and at least if you find it’s not for you, Natural eSCENtials offers a money back guarantee on the kelp powder which I appreciate. 🙂

Can I use this seaweed powder in drinks and smoothies as well?

Natural eSCENtials kelp powder is a spa product for use in scrubs, masks and wraps. I wouldn’t recommend eating it. If you are looking for a food safe type of kelp to add to drinks or smoothies I would suggest this. Actual food grade powders are going to be safer for consumption.

What about those Body Wrap Things?

I knew I was going to be asked about the “body wraps” that are all the rage. I have a few friends that are into these body wraps, and there are a few brands going around online and privately. Although they are more expensive in the long run than making your own seaweed body mask, it’s an option if you want to save some time. I did find they don’t stay on too well on their own and I suggest wrapping saran wrap around it to hold it in, or using a corset or body shaper to hold it on (one you don’t mind getting a bit dirty). You CAN also add your homemade seaweed mask to these body wraps as well, but that’s optional.

Have you ever tried a seaweed mask or body wrap before? What did you think of it? Did you notice any difference in your skin’s appearance?

Raw Vegan Blender Applesauce

May 22, 2015 by Veronica Grace Leave a Comment

This is a really easy recipe 80/10/10 style recipe that you can use as a quick breakfast, a snack, replacement for cooked applesauce in baking or a raw dessert. If you have a few bruised apples laying around, it also takes care of those too!

Raw vegan apple sauce is also very kid friendly for a quick meal or snack for your little one. I use ceylon cinnamon in this applesauce recipe. It is OUT OF THIS WORLD! You can check it out here at our store. It doesn’t have a dry bitter flavour like the regular hard cinnamon sticks you find at the grocery store. Ceylon cinnamon is made from a different cinnamon tree and actually tastes like sweet cinnamon, almost a mix between powdered sugar and cinnamon. It’s sugar free of course and tastes great for many different dessert toppings.

Fat Free Raw Vegan Blender Applesauce

Serves 1 or 2

Ingredients:

3 medium apples, peeled and cored
1 banana fresh or frozen
1 date, pitted
1/2 cup water
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon (this is the true sweet cinnamon you can get it here at our store)
dash of allspice

Directions:

1. Place apples, water, banana, cinnamon and allspice in a Vitamix (or food processor) and push down using the tamper, and blend until creamy. Using a frozen banana will give you a nice cool applesauce.

2. Garnish with sliced or chopped apple, raisins, shredded coconut or additional cinnamon.

3. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for later.

Makes 3 cups

Additional Tips:

I use this when I also need some applesauce for baking, and just omit the date and cinnamon if it would affect the recipe. It’s a great way to use up some extra apples and banana when you don’t want them to go to waste!

Raw Vegan Plant-Based Mexican Cilantro Corn Chowder

May 22, 2015 by Veronica Grace

This recipe is featured in my 2 part Savory Raw Dinner Recipes DVD set. It is super easy and very delicious!

When I was thinking up raw soups to make, that would look great and I would enjoy eating, I got the idea of packing in more and more veg into it instead of having it be all heavy from nuts or lots of avocado. The solution was to add some fresh yellow bell pepper, for flavour, bulk, and colour. It really adds to this simple combination of corn and avocado and took it to a whole new level.

Whenever I show people pictures of this soup, they can’t believe it’s raw and think it looks so great. Well it tastes even better too. You can also get very creative with the garnishing. I went for a very simple look to display the solid soup ingredients and garnishes. Of course if you make the recipe you can add as much as you like. You can also make this a little spicier by adding more chili powder.

The beauty of raw soups, is that they are quite fast to make (aside from cutting fresh corn off a cobb, you can use frozen if you must) and you can blend them until they are the temperature you want in the Vitamix. So they can be room temperature, warm or quite warm. Just blend for 30-60 seconds for room temperature 1-2 minutes for warm, and then once you get past 2 minutes you are essentially really heating the soup and can cook it a little. So keep this in mind, depending whether you want a room temperature raw soup, or a transitional warm “raw” soup.

This plant-based corn chowder will please even the most skeptical people of raw vegan soups. Just blend it a little longer so it’s warm and not cold if you’re using corn and bell peppers straight from the fridge.

Please let me know what you think! I love your feedback. For more delicious recipes check out my Savory Raw Dinner Recipes

Creamy Raw Mexican Cilantro Corn Soup

Ingredients:

3 cobs of corn
2 yellow peppers, cut into chunks
1 small onion, cut into chunks
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 small avocado or 1/2 large
1/2 cup cilantro diced
2 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp herbamere/salt
1 1/2 large limes juiced
1/2 red pepper, diced
diced chili peppers or chili pepper powder to garnish
green onions to garnish
Directions:

1. Cut the corn off the cob. (Make sure you have a sharp knife, a bowl or plate to catch the corn, and a towel. It’s messy!)

2. Put half of the corn, both yellow peppers, avocado, onion, garlic, half of the cilantro, cumin, lime and salt into the Vitamix or food processor.

3. Use the Vitamix tamper to push ingredients down into blade and blend until creamy. (If you don’t have a Vitamix and need to add a little water to make it blend, do so)

4. Pour into 2 bowls. Add remaining corn, and red peppers. If you like it spicy add diced chilli peppers.

5. Garnish with cilantro, red pepper, green onions and a sprinkle of chili pepper powder.

Serve!

How did you like this soup? Did you know you can use the base of this as a raw salad dressing too?

21 Confessions From Plant Based U’s Veronica Grace

December 14, 2014 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

21 Confessions by Veronica Grace

1. I do not actually consider myself a chef, nor do I claim to have any culinary training. I am sell taught, having lived and traveled to some remote areas and had to rely on making my own raw and vegan recipes for myself and others. Ever since I was very young I have always been in the kitchen though. I loved to eat and once I figured out I could bake my own goodies and make my own lunch I was in love with food. I like to eat and so I often find a healthier way to make what I’m craving or something intriguing I wanted to try. I have a little over 4 years of experience since I quit doing office work and started being a homemaker and opening my own business online. I also watch a lot of Food Network, most shows actually lol. So the term chef is used loosely, I’m more of a hands on teacher.

2. My family were quite apprehensive of eating my recipes and not very interested until I started making recipes for my first 2 cooked recipe ebooks Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm and Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World. For the most part I would say they enjoy my recipes now lol. Now they enjoy eating more plant based because they have had some tasty recipes.

3. I’ve never been a vegetarian. I’ve gone straight from SAD (standard eating) to raw vegan twice and to whole food vegan/plant based. I never did much care for dairy and gave up cheese a long time ago back in my calorie counting days! (Cheese is extremely high in calories and fat and I gave it up on those merits alone.) I also have never successfully cooked a real omelette. Vegan omelettes though I can do!

4. I hate spicy food… Really, if it’s spicy, I’d prefer it not be spicy at all. I’m just not used to it. I used to not even be able to tolerate mild to medium spicy food. Only in the past few years have I grown accustomed to some spice in my food from Thai and Indian cuisine. That’s why I always say chilis and chili powder is optional in my recipes because some people like their food much spicier than me and some not at all. In my world all would be fine without spicy chilis… I will not however give up my smoked paprika, cuz that’s not spicy, it’s just smokey and delicious!

5. I would probably put mushrooms in every cooked recipe if I could. I love mushrooms that much. You may have noticed from some of my recipes such as Deluxe Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna, Fettuccine Alfredo with Spinach and Mushrooms, Rotini Marinara with Mushrooms, Portobello Bean Burritos, Gourmet Cream of Mushroom Soup, Deluxe Dijon Tofu Scramble and more. But not everyone likes mushrooms as much as I do, so unfortunately I can’t put them in everything….

6. My 3 secret spices are roasted cumin, smoked paprika, and Herbmare (an herb seasoned salt). You can pretty much put them into any recipe and make 2 out of 3 of those work. Roasted cumin goes well in Latin and Indian dishes and smoked paprika can be added as a garnish or a flavor enhancer to almost anything. Instead of salt I like to use Herbamare as it also has some herbs in it which give a nice flavor if you’re the type that like just a little surface sprinkle of salt to your dishes.

7. I don’t drink alcohol. At all. Zilch. I have no idea what wine goes best with my recipes, so don’t ask! LOL. I have used wine in maybe 3 recipes from time to time for flavor, but that’s about it.

8. I stay home a lot…. like most of the time. I’m kind of a hermit, people don’t see me very often. I’m always at home working, cooking or cleaning. Usually I only leave to get groceries or get the mail. I should probably be more social at my age… hmm

9. I used to really dislike tofu. I used to try to avoid tofu because I “heard” it wasn’t good for you, but have since learned there’s no problem eating soy in moderation, especially if it’s minimally processed and organic. See The Truth About Soy. (I just avoid soy protein isolates as they are a processed food). Now I enjoy smoked tofu in stir fries, pressed tofu in my tofu scrambles, and silken tofu in my Alfredo sauce and my vegetable lasagnas. Soft tofu plain in Asian dishes is not my favorite, but I’ll still eat it once in a while!

10. When I don’t feel like cooking I’ll eat a giant bowl of sliced up fruit or a green smoothie. It’s also a great time saver as it doesn’t produce a lot of dirty dishes. (Fruit has more calories than salad or vegetables so I find it more sustaining than just having a salad on it’s own)

11. I actually don’t enjoy eating raw tomatoes or bell peppers… Ketchup, tomato sauce and (mild) salsa are fine, but plain fresh tomatoes in a salad or a sandwich/burger is not for me, I pick them out and just don’t eat them. Bell peppers I can tolerate if cooked, but if I’m making something just for me I won’t use them. I use bell peppers a lot in my cuisine because they are pretty, healthy and most people like them! Growing up we never used these foods and we never got used to eating them. I have made great progress, it’s not a mental thing it’s just a taste. I wish I liked them more but I don’t. My younger sister still won’t eat any of them! (She still avoids tomato sauce too.)

12. I never ate beans, lentils or eggplant until about 5 years ago. Aside from kidney beans in chili and refried beans in burritos we never ate beans growing up. The first time I had lentils was in a recipe I made and I was always afraid of eating eggplant because some people don’t like it. But beans, lentils and eggplant are probably my top favorite foods to eat because they are so versatile, they absorb the flavors of whatever spices you use and they fill out your recipes making them look and feel heartier.

13. I cannot stand to eat olives or olive oil! The taste totally grosses me out, even if it’s “high quality” nope. I will not eat olives, nor can I enjoy anything drizzled in olive oil. Total gag factor. I really do make my Greek and Italian cuisine without olive oil too. I’ve also never ordered a vegetarian special pizza because it comes with all kinds of things like black olives, peppers and raw tomatoes that don’t do it for me. What’s on my vegan pizza? LOTS of mushrooms, pineapple, spinach, caramelized onions, garlic and sometimes tempeh, smoked tofu or artichoke hearts (packed in water.)

14. I had never had real Indian food until about 5 years ago. I had avoided it because I heard it was spicy and assumed I wouldn’t like any of it. (How sad!) Now I love Indian food and could probably eat it every day. I still prefer making my own that way it’s oil and dairy free (for sure) and I can make it less spicy! He he.

15. I first got interested in cooking through baking. As a kid I was addicted to sugar, candy and baked goods and I loved making things myself (you know, for instant gratification). Now I hardly ever bake. Why? #1. If I make it I will probably eat all of it… or most of it… #2 flour and sugar aren’t health food or necessary for every day recipes and #3. oil free baking isn’t as nice. You can do it… but where do you draw the line? It’s low in fat, but then full of sugar and flour and still not really health food. So I prefer fruit for the most part. Except if it has chocolate, then I might want a bite…

16. I don’t actually cook from scratch every single day. I’m just like everyone else, I get busy with work, house cleaning and errands too. If I cooked scratch every day 3 meals a day and still had to work on top of that I might die of exhaustion… so I try to space it out. I like to make a lot of double meals that way there is leftovers for lunch or another quick meal. I cook brown rice and beans in large quantities as it’s nice to have on hand in the fridge or freezer when I’m short on time.

17. Sometimes I wish I could keep things simple, buy far less groceries than I do and just eat the same thing every day and not have so many different ingredients (you don’t want to see my cupboards… really.) But I do like to try new things and learn new recipes and techniques so I can share them with you.

18. I don’t only cook my own recipes all the time. Although I really do like many of my recipes after I know it’s good I move on and create a new recipe, as there are far too many dishes I will never get to try for me to settle on cooking from my own recipe books every week.

19. I think I’m the only one in my family that loves green peas and split peas. And I mean love! I can eat green peas raw out of the pod or just steamed in a giant bowl with a little salt. I love split pea soup and Kik Alicha (Ethiopian Split Pea Stew). I will never get tired of eating peas. My mom and sister however avoid them like the plague and are horrified by how much I love them lol. Sad…

20. I’m not very good at taking care of plants. If it can go a week or two without being watered, then it should be safe. This is why I don’t buy flowers, don’t plant flowers and don’t have many ornamental plants. If it’s not food related it’s hard for me to keep track of it’s life cycle!

21. I do this because I really like teaching and helping people help themselves and not for the money. I only make it pay check to pay check just like everyone else and most of what I create and share is free. I often care too much about others and seeing people around me suffering is very hard for me and I feel compelled to make a difference. If I can help someone try a new food, learn how to prepare something healthy, enjoy a new recipes or get some confidence in the kitchen where they had none before it really makes me feel good about what I do.

And there’s my little list! I’m sure you learned some new things about me. What are some of your little confessions?

How To Make Thanksgiving Vegan or Plant Based and Still Enjoy It

November 6, 2014 by Veronica Grace Leave a Comment

Our Thanksgiving is already long gone in Canada, but I saved this post for my American readers as many of you have a hard time deciding on what to make and spend a lot of time worrying if your guests or family can survive a meal without turkey or ham on a big holiday. Lol. Well never fear I can help give you some ideas for filling out your plant based Thanksgiving menu with ease.

I make everything from scratch and find that whipping up mashed potatoes and mashed yams/sweet potatoes an absolute BREEZE in my pressure cooker. I actually have 2 now, one is an EZ Bean Cooker pressure cooker that I can set manually for cooking anything else other than beans as well, so I fill one with potatoes, one with yams and then I don’t have to sacrifice stove top space and watch the pot. This is a huge time saver and I use my pressure cooker every holiday to makes my potato recipes.

A few things I’ll mention, I actually forgot about making stuffing this year as I focus more on making my lentil loaf recipe, stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes. No one seemed to mind though and having an alternative side of Greek Stuffed Peppers was actually a healthier option than traditional stuffing. The other thing is that I ran out of pecans and didn’t have any for my mashed yams but they were still delicious none-the-less. I also just realized that this Thanksgiving dinner was essentially gluten-free as well so everyone with dietary restrictions can enjoy it! And best of all we had so much leftovers for the rest of the week it was SO nice not having to cook each day. (As my lentil loaf recipe makes 2 loaves and I made a double batch of gravy!)

Here are my favorite veganized Thanksgiving dishes to share with you since many of you will be dining plant based or trying to dine mostly plant based this year and still feeding some carnivores too! All of these recipes have been tested on my family and their non vegan friends, so I assure you they are crowd pleasers. 🙂

Some of these recipes are featured in my blog, and some are in my recipe cookbook Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World has loads more delicious and hearty entree recipes for every occasion.

Vegan Thanksgiving Menu Ideas

Raw Vegan Salads:

The Best Caesar Salad

Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad

Vegan Thanksgiving Entrees:

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Holiday Stuffed Acorn Squash

Greek Stuffed Eggplant

Herbed Lentil Loaf with Miso Gravy

Greek Stuffed Peppers

Vegan Side Dishes:

Holiday Baked Maple Yam Pecan Casserole

Cranberry Apple Pecan Holiday Stuffing

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Brown Gravy

Steamed Vegetables In Cheezy Sauce

Tangy Collard Greens in Coconut Milk

Vegan Decadent Desserts (These are not low fat):

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

(mine was based on this recipe here, I skipped the oil and t I put it in a pre made graham cracker crumb to save on time and added more spices to my tastes)

Holiday Vegan Pecan Pie

Vegan Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote

Vegan Lower Fat Desserts:

Fudgey Black Berry Brownies

Vegan Rice Pudding

Apple Strawberry Strudel Pie

There are lots of delicious and healthy recipes to choose from. I hope that I included some of your favourites or gave you some inspiration to try something new. 🙂

So if these goodies entice you be sure to check out my book Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World and grab it before Thanksgiving is here! (Available in digital and physical format.)

What are you looking forward to having for Thanksgiving this year?

Plant Based U’s Favorites for 2014 By Veronica Grace

October 21, 2014 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

Low Fat Vegan Chef’s Favorites for 2014

Here I will share some of my well known and new favorites that I want to rave about. Do any of my favorites make your list this year?

Favorite Kitchen Appliance:

EZ Bean Cooker (Great for ALL pressure cooker style recipes and not just beans) See my video demonstration here I use my pressure cooker a lot, I even have two! Mashed potatoes, mashed yams, vegetable broth, beans, lentils, and soups can all be made very easily in this digital and safe to use pressure cooker. Simply add your dry ingredients, add sufficient water and spices, turn the lid to the locked position and use the auto program for beans, or manual timer for other recipes and voila! Cooking is a breeze.

Favorite Kitchen Gadgets:

Benriner Mandolin Slicer Mandolins are great to use when you don’t have a food processor or a gourmet knife and want to make quick slaws, salads, potato chips and more!

OR get even fancier and make shoestring potatoes, zucchini noodles, or carrot and beet curls with the Benriner Turning Slicer I love making vegetable curls to add to salads and tacos. Everyone loves how pretty they look and and are always impressed.

Favorite Seasoning:

McCormick Smoked Paprika I use smoked paprika in all my Mexican, Tex-Mex, Indian and even some Italian dishes for a more interesting flavor. If you’ve never had it before, you have to try it. I do not like regular paprika at all, but I love the sweet smokey flavor of smoked paprika and find it livens up all my favourite recipes.

Favorite Recipe Ingredient:

Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes make every other canned tomato jealous, and for good reason. These slightly sweet smokey tomatoes are a great base for pasta sauces, curries, soups, stews and chillis. I always buy them in bulk to make sure I have them on hand and find every recipe tastes better when I use these over plain tomatoes.

Favorite Organic Skincare Line:

My friend Annmarie Gianni makes these delicious and almost entirely edible skin care products that are organic and wild crafted. No harmful chemicals, parabens, sulfates or harsh cleansers here just delicious smelling skin rejuvenating cleansers and creams. Available in normal, dry and anti aging formulas for all ages. Get a sample kit of YOUR choice for only $10 including free worldwide shipping!

Favorite Supplement Brand:

Dr. Fuhrman’s Supplements are premium, whole food formulations that are not only safe, but highly effective as well. Many traditional store bought supplements contain too much folic acid, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Selenium, Iron and Copper. Dr. Fuhrman’s formulations are non-GMO and contain only the safest amounts of the recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals with some having the added benefit of Vitamin D3 which many vegans lack.

Favorite Blog Recipe:

Baked Butternut Squash Mac and Cheezy is probably my top blog recipe because cheese lovers and vegans alike can rejoice in this healthier whole food version of their old favorite. I’ve made this recipe so many times I can’t even count, and it’s one of my family’s favorites too. (Psst. It also uses smoked paprika hint hint!)

Favorite Current Plant Based Recipe Book:

Eat To Live Cookbook by Dr. Fuhrman This book contains over 200 easy to follow recipes, goes over the basics of what not to eat and what to eat more of, and introduces you into the world of making your own dressings and sauces. I find this approach very appealing because it is how I learned to season and taste test recipes and adjust them to my liking. I was doing this before I even knew about Dr. Furhman so I find this wonderful that we both like to cook the same way and build recipes to taste from fresh ingredients.

Favorite NEW Plant Based Book:

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by Dr. T. Colin Campbell (also the author of the world-famous China Study) is a great read for those who are often confused if their current diet really is enough to live a long healthy life. If you want to know more about why a whole food plant based diet isn’t the norm and how to stand up to naysayers then this book is for you.

Favorite Plant Based Blog:

FatFreeVegan.com is one of the original oil free plant based blogs and is probably already on your list of go to recipes and food porn. But just incase it isn’t on your radar yet, please check it out. I had the pleasure of meeting Susan in person at a Vida Vegan Con event and it was nice to spend sometime with a link minded lady in a world of tempting high fat vegan treats. 🙂

Favorite Other Blog Recipe:

Lentil and Cauliflower Rice Tacos by Susan Voisin You have to check this out, she is a master at making cauliflower taste delicious and your taste buds will be dancing with this recipe!

Favorite Vegetarian Restaurant in Canada:

Nourish Bistro is hands down my favourite vegetarian restaurant because it is so incredibly unique in flavor. Everything they make is handmade, often local and very seasonal but that’s not even a primary reason for me to love it. They use whole foods such as fruit, nuts, seeds and sprouts to flavor and garnish all of their unique dishes so it’s not like anything you’ve ever had before. They have strawberries and beans on their nachos and burritos and ground cherries and sprouts on their curries. Everything is beautiful and they’ve been slowly growing a following over the past decade, they are even now the #1 tourist restaurant in Banff. If you ever get the chance, please go and let the owners know Veronica sent you. 🙂 (I’ve also been bugging them to put together a recipe book for years as well!)

Favorite Vegetarian Restaurant in the USA:

Natural Selection in Portland is my favourite US based restaurant because it’s the kind of cuisine that I would never make myself at home and is a luxurious treat once in a while. The menu changes weekly and the head chef Aaron Woo truly cares about his craft. Although not totally vegan, they always have vegan and gluten free options. My next runner up is Millennium in San Francisco where you can get a truly fine dining experience all meat free and feel like a celebrity.

Favorite Vegan Friendly Travel Destination:

Chiang Mai, Thailand has a large Buddhist, Expat and University population for this moderately sized city. It’s very easy to eat fresh fruit and vegetable dishes at the street markets on the go and some of my favorite snacks were: fresh pineapple slices, peeled pink pommelo (sweeter than grapefruit), jackfruit, durian and Thai coconuts. There’s also an abundance of vegetarian (mostly vegan) restaurants around the city as well as numerous places to take Thai vegetarian cooking classes. There’s also an annual 9 day vegetarian festival every October which means many local vendors make all their food vegetarian and skip the meat as well. I highly recommend putting Chiang Mai on your bucket list of vegetarian travel adventures!

What are your favorite dishes, ingredients, gadgets, restaurants and travel destinations?

Missing Summer Already – Plant-Based Harvest Soup (Butternut Squash, Sweet Corn and White Beans)

September 15, 2014 by Veronica Grace 5 Comments

Ah summer… I think it’s everyone’s favourite month. (At least mine as it’s the sunniest/warmest time in Canada.) But now the weather is growing colder already and I can tell I’m missing the heat…. I was looking around the freezer the other day and wanted to make up something quick and healthy and I saw I had some bags of frozen butternut squash and some fresh corn. I decided to put it together with onions and broth and make a soup out of it, but it wasn’t thick enough so I thought, hey why don’t I try some white beans to add some bulk and cream it up? It turned out to be a great idea and a totally delicious combination. This soup doesn’t need any butter or cream to make it creamy and delicious, the white beans work perfectly. It also needs very little seasoning since it’s so sweet naturally from the sweet corn.

In fact you could even eat this soup without any of the seasonings at all, it would be a great soup for fussy children, or even a good choice for toddlers. Everyone knows children enjoy soft naturally sweet foods and butternut squash and corn is a favourite.

I decided to kick things up a bit with some smoked paprika which added a delicious smokey flavour to the soup. Smoked paprika isn’t of the spicy variety, but sweet so it adds some nice flavour without being spicy.

Summer sweet corn goes really well in almost any dish. It’s a great topping for salads, adds natural sweetness to soups and is great on it’s own, no seasonings required.

Give this soup a try! It’s super easy (especially if you have frozen squash already, available at most health food stores.)

Fat Free Vegan Summer Harvest Soup (Butternut Squash Sweet Corn and White Bean Soup)

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

4 cups/1 qt./946 mL vegetable broth (homemade or low sodium)
1 large sweet onion, diced (such as Vidalia or Walla Walla)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
6 cups/25 oz./1.5 lbs butternut squash, peeled and cubed (fresh or frozen)
2 1/2 cups sweet corn (fresh, frozen or canned – no sodium)
16 oz./453 g can white beans or chickpeas, drained
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (or any other seasoning of choice)
3/4 tsp Herbamare or salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Sauté onions and garlic in a large pot over medium heat in 1/2 cup of vegetable broth until soft 5-6 minutes.
Add squash, corn and beans and remaining broth and cover. Cook until squash is tender.
Carefully spoon mixture into a Vitamix blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour mixture back into pot, add seasonings and mix thoroughly. Taste test and adjust seasonings if desired.

What do you think of this summer soup? Have you ever tried smoked paprika before?

Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian Cinnamon Fruit Oatmeal (Eat To Live Recipe)

September 14, 2014 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

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

Now that’s it’s cooling down, you may be craving something warm and comforting for breakfast these days instead of smoothies or cold cereal. So I decided to make up one of Dr. Fuhrman’s (author of Eat To Live and Super Immunity) ultra healthy nutritarian breakfast oatmeal recipes.

This is ultra healthy because it contains zero processed ingredients and zero sugar or sweetener. It relies on whole foods for fibre and nutrition and naturally sweet fruit for flavor. It’s got healthy omega 3’s in the form of walnuts and fresh ground flax seed (which I use my coffee grinder for) .

I whipped this up and it was a nice change from the same old oatmeal. If you prefer steel cut oats instead you can definitely use those for the base and then just add the fruit and nut toppings to it. (I often make steel cut oats in my rice cooker for a no fuss breakfast.)

I used a little more cinnamon than in the recipe because I just love my ceylon cinnamon. It’s a delicious sweet variety that tastes almost like candied cinnamon. You should try it, it makes oatmeal and baked goods taste even better!

I also like that this is a high raw recipe, in that a lot of the ingredients are raw and not cooked, such as the apples, flax and walnuts.

My oatmeal turned purple because I only had frozen mixed berries, so if you use fresh yours will look a little less colorful! 🙂

Dr. Fuhrman’s Cinnamon Fruit Oatmeal

Serves 2 (Prep time 15 minutes) (Mandi/Andi score 7)

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not instant/quick/flaked oats)
1/2 cup blueberries or mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan add the water, vanilla and cinnamon. Bring to a boil.

2. Add oats and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. When the oats are soft add the berries and stir in. Continue cooking until heated through.

4. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 15 minutes until thick.

5. Mix in the apples, walnuts, flax and raisins.

6. Serve.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving 240.7 Calories 12.7 g Protein 40.8 g Carbohydrates 8.1 g Total Fat 6.8 mg Sodium

The Mandi/Andi score refers to a nutrient dense value of the recipe that Dr. Fuhrman uses in his program. He now recommends that you aim for 100+ in Mandi points a day for nutrient dense foods. One serving of this recipe will give you 7 points.

Have you ever tried one of Dr. Fuhrman’s recipes before? What’s your favorite healthy breakfast?