Plant Based U

Fat-Free and Low Fat Vegan Plant Based Recipes

Green Dishes

Raw Kale, Mandarin, Goji Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

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Low Fat Vegan Chef's Kale Mandarin Orange Goji Berry Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

Have you ever had a craving for a deeply satisfying and hearty kale salad? But you don’t want just a big pile of kale…. no you want all sorts of yummy textures and flavors in your kale salad to keep things interesting.

This is that salad.

It’s perfect for a dinner entree, a potluck, or a weekday take along for lunch. I like to make up big salads and then keep the dressing on the side that way I can have as much or as little dressing as I like and save any remaining salad in a sealed container in the fridge.



Low Fat Vegan Chef's Kale Mandarin Orange Goji Berry Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

Most kale salad recipes are heavily dressed with oil and salt and I find it hard to stomach. I want to taste my greens and not the oil so I paired this with a delicious homemade citrus ginger cashew dressing. It has some natural sweetness and creaminess from the cashews and is super easy to whip up in the blender with some fresh ginger and orange juice. Fresh squeezed orange juice is a great choice for liquid in salad dressings because it has some natural sweetness, and acidity and you can toss almost any fruits or veggies and/or nuts and seeds into it and blend it up.



So make up a big bowl of this hearty kale salad and you’ll have a light yet satisfying entree salad for 3-4 or a delicious side salad to serve along with baked potatoes, rice pilaff, pasta marinara and more. Enjoy!

Low Fat Vegan Chef's Kale Mandarin Orange Goji Berry Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

Raw(ish) Vegan Kale, Mandarin Orange and Goji Berry Salad

Serves 6-8 side servings

Ingredients:

1 head of kale, stems removed and chopped
1 head of romaine, chopped
3 cups loose packed spinach
1 english cucumber, sliced
4-5 mandarin oranges, peeled and sectioned
3 tbsp goji berries soaked and patted dry
2 cups cooked quinoa (I seasoned mine with vegetable broth) *can omit if you desire a 100% raw dish

Directions: 

1. Arrange salad greens in a large bowl and mix together.
2. Garnish with remaining ingredients.
3. Serve with dressing on the side, or toss dressing with salad for a marinated salad.

Raw Vegan Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

 Ingredients:

1 cup fresh squeezed clementine or sweet mandarin juice
2 medjool dates, pitted
1 tbsp Spicy Pecan Vinegar (or other fruit vinegar)
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 cup raw cashews (unsalted)
Dash of salt and pepper *optional

 Directions:

1. Blend dressing ingredients together. Best used within 3 days (due to fresh orange juice which is perishable).

Additional Tips:

If you prefer to make this your weekday lunch salad for 5 days a week, arrange the salad in 5 sealable containers and store the dressing in small airtight containers.

What are your favorite ingredients to toss into your kale salad?

Fat Free Vegan Greek Rice Stuffed Peppers Recipe

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I have done A LOT of travelling in the past few years (visiting over 30 countries around the world), and Greece was one of my favorite places I visited. (Greek rice stuffed peppers were a favorite I found) Greece was pretty incredible and unexpected as I had never seen anything other than photos of ancient ruins or the white and blue houses of Mykonos on postcards. I went on a 2 1/2 week journey back in August and September of 2010 and visited many different places in Greece.

I saw the ruins of Athens, the rocky shorelines and picturesque houses of Mykonos, the rolling hills and mountains of Naxos, The Palace of the Grand Masters of Knights in Rhodes, the mesmerizing Balos Lagoon and Palace of Knossos on Crete, and the Tholos of Athena Pronaia Sanctuary and Oracle at Delphi.

I also took a ton of photos and wrote about that journey here. (I wrote about it on an old blog of mine and have moved it to this one). So if you are a travel bug like me or just love gorgeous landscape photography definitely check it out!

In my time in Greece I learned that there was much more than just olive oil and seafood to Greek cuisine. Traditionally the Greeks and Cretans ate vegetables, grains, fruits, seafood and olives. In fact their diet was vastly healthier eating homemade unprocessed food, unlike what they do now (which is more like a SAD Westernized diet drenched in copious amounts of olive oil and wine).

So what I took from my travels was using vegetables, grains and herbs in a way that complimented each other to bring out the full flavor of simple vegetable based dishes. The Greek rice stuffed peppers served in Greece are generally stuffed with ground meat as well, but occasionally I found some that were vegan without meat. Mykonos served some at the beach cafes and a Taverna in Delphi had some as well. But these versions used white arborio rice (Italian risotto rice) and were drenched in olive oil.

For my version I decided to switch to whole grain brown rice and remove the olive oil (for health purposes dousing all vegetables in olive oil isn’t recommended). So while it’s not “traditional” it is still very rustic and delicious. I’ve packed it full of dill, parsley and lemon juice so you get all the flavor of the full fat version but without the extra calories.

This recipe is featured in my cookbook Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World which is available in a digital or physical version wherever you are in the world.

In fact it’s probably my family’s favorite recipe, my mom and even my friends make this recipe regularly as an entree for omnivores and they always receive rave reviews. So it makes me happy that something so simple can be delicious and satisfying to people on a wide variety of diets.

So scroll down for the recipe and get cooking!

Fat Free Vegan Greek Rice Stuffed Peppers Recipe

When I traveled in Greece I sampled several vegan versions of stuffed vegetables. Greek rice stuffed peppers was one of my favorites. I switched out the traditional Arborio rice for brown rice to make this a whole grain version. If you like the combination of lemon and dill, you’re going to love these.
Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 1 hour 20 min

Yield:Serves 3-4 for entrées or 6-8 as a side dish

Ingredients

6 large or 8 small bell peppers (any color but green)
1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 small zucchinis, peeled and diced
1 cup / 236 ml. low sodium vegetable broth
3 cups cooked brown rice (or other rice or grain of choice)
5 Tbsp. tomato paste
3/4 cup whole fresh parsley, de-stemmed and chopped
3/4 cup whole fresh dill, de-stemmed and chopped
Half to a full lemon, juiced (depending on how lemony you like it)
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
3/4 tsp. Herbamare or Sea salt (or to taste)
1 lemon—cut into wedges (optional for garnish)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F /175 C. Cut tops off of peppers like you would a jack-o-lantern,
    remove seeds, and wash thoroughly.
  2. Place in an oven safe dish arranged upright and put tops back on. Bake for 30 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a large pan, saut. onions, carrots and zucchini in vegetable broth for 5-6 minutes.
  4. Stir in the rice and tomato paste and coat thoroughly.
  5. Add parsley, dill, lemon juice, pepper, and Herbamare or salt and stir to combine.
  6. When peppers are ready, remove from oven and fill with stuffing.
  7. Place tops back on peppers and bake for an extra 30-40 minutes until peppers are soft.
  8. Serve additional wedges of lemon if desired.

Additional Tips:

I don’t suggest using green peppers. Green peppers are actually an unripe pepper and much firmer. They will not be done in time if you cook them along with red, yellow or orange peppers. To freeze: cut them in half lengthwise and freeze in airtight containers or freezer bags and lay gently in the freezer until frozen. Due to the rice these are best eaten within 3 days, please freeze any leftovers if you won’t finish them within that time. Rice can grown bacteria in a moist environment so it’s best eaten freshly cooked or reheated from frozen. Enjoy!

Variations:

If you don’t like the taste or texture of brown rice, you can use white rice or quinoa instead. Try different vegetables too, you can dice up mushroms, asparagus, celery or greens instead if you don’t have carrots or zucchini on hand.

Nutrition Facts: 6 Servings

Amount Per Serving

  • Calories 170.9
  • Total Fat 1.4 g
  • Saturated Fat 0.3 g
  • Sodium 325.7 mg
  • Total Carbohydrate 37.1 g
  • Dietary Fiber 5.6 g
  • Sugars 3.6 g
  • Protein 4.4 g
For more delicious Oil-Free and Low Fat Plant Based Recipes, check out my new cookbook Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World:

                          On Sale $21.95 plus shipping!

Or get the Ebook version for $17.95 to download and read now!

Have you ever made stuffed peppers before? What are your favorite ingredients?

Low Fat Vegan Cheezy Sauce For Steamed Vegetables

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Low Fat Vegan Chef Cheezy Cheese Sauce For Steamed Vegetables

Today I wanted to share a recipe with you from my upcoming second recipe ebook: Low Fat Vegan Chef Presents: Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World. All the recipes are done and photographed, I just have to write it and put it together. In total there is going to be about 60 recipes in it all with photos! It should be available in a few weeks, so keep your eyes out if you’re missing some home cooked comfort meals!

As I’m currently in Kauai (our second stop in Hawaii) and pretty much away from the kitchen (aside from throwing together cut up fruit, basic salads and steamed vegetables) I haven’t been making any new actual recipes in a week. I kind of feel like I should be making food, but when you’re on vacation you’d rather be snorkelling, swimming or taking pictures! (If you’re like me I guess!)

I thought this would be a great recipe for those not sure what to put on their steamed vegetables for dinner. Most of you have probably had some sort of cheese, Cheese Whiz or cheese sauce on your vegetables prior to eating vegan and have a craving for something cheese-like at the dinner table. Also sometimes kids (and even grown ups!) like to dip their veggies into a sauce or dip and don’t enjoy eating them plain.

Growing up my mom would always make this homemade butter+flour+milk+grated cheese sauce for us when we had pierogies, ham, mixed vegetables, or even a dish called Welsh Rarebit (essentially a fried egg on toast topped with cheese sauce. Her version anyways and no we’re not Welsh or Polish. I have no idea where these recipes came from!). We loved this sauce. We asked for it all the time, we wanted to pour it on everything and we wanted to dip everything into it.

Pretty much everything about my mom’s cheese sauce that made it delicious isn’t really healthy or vegan, so I wanted to create something that was much much healthier and still tasty for those who miss cheese sauce.

The trick to getting a cheese-like taste in your sauces is to use nutritional yeast (this is yellow yeast flakes that are sold at the health food store, this is not brewers yeast, quick rising yeast nor does it have anything to do with baking) and miso paste. Nutritional yeast has a cheese-like tangy flavour and can be used in sauces, dips, dressings, or even shaken onto salads and pop corn. The miso paste is what gives it a strong fermented salty flavour and gives the cheesiness more depth. Nutritional yeast and salt is really not enough, miso paste is essential. You can find this at the health food store or any local asian market. I usually buy yellow/mild or brown rice miso. I don’t use white shiro miso or red miso. But use what you can find. The miso won’t go bad and will last a while and you can use it for more asian sauces, dips and add to soup stocks or make miso soup with it. If you use my recipe ebooks you will find it in several of the recipes as well.

For this recipe I just used a pre pack of fresh mixed vegetables that I got at the store. I wanted to make it simple for people who are new to preparing fresh vegetables and don’t have a lot of time. You can also cut up your own assorted fresh vegetables, or use frozen vegetables as well. The key is to make sure you don’t overcook them and make them mushy. I am constantly checking on them while they steam and testing them with a knife to see if they are soft in the centre. When they are al dente and ALMOST cooked turn off the heat and take off the lid. The veggies will continue to cook with all the hot steam in the pan and they will be overcooked if you continue to leave the heat on them. Leave the cover off so you dissipate some of the steam. No one likes overcooked veggies! This takes some practice, but if you can set a timer and find out the exact time it takes when the water boils you will make things easier next time you make them. Broccoli is the first to overcook and cauliflower is sturdier so I usually put it in the pot for a minute first and then put the broccoli on top to cook.

Low Fat Vegan Chef Cheezy Cheese Sauce For Steamed Vegetables

Low Fat Vegan Cheezy Sauce For Steamed Vegetables

From Comfort Foods From Around The World 

Serves 3-4 for a side dish of veggies

Ingredients:

1 cup almond milk, unsweetened original (I used Blue Diamond brand. Don’t use sweetened or vanilla)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 tsp smoked paprika (available at Indian stores, spice markets and Amazon. McCormick also makes one available at Walmart)
1/2 tsp miso paste
Fresh ground pepper (if desired)
1 1/2 tbsp flour (GF if desired)

Directions:

  1. Add almond milk to a sauce pan and heat over medium (or medium low on gas stove) heat until warm. Sprinkle in the nutritional yeast and smoked paprika. Whisk it in.
  2. Add the miso paste and try to break it up so there are no large clumps. Let it heat through a little and keep whisking it. Taste test and add a little more smoked paprika and some ground pepper if desired. If you add more miso it will make it saltier so use caution. (You want a tangy zesty flavour.)
  3. Gently sprinkle in the flour and whisk in to combine. Try to ensure there are no clumps. Heat through for a minute or two until it’s thickened up. Stir it to prevent it from sticking or burning at the bottom.
  4. Have your steamed vegetables ready or turn off the element and cover to keep warm until your veggies are ready.
  5. Drizzle over vegetables and serve. (Have extra ready for your dinner guests to add more if they wish.)
Variations:
Feel free to use soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk etc as desired. I just have a preference for almond milk and don’t enjoy the taste of soy milk myself. To change some of the flavours in this sauce you could omit the smoked paprika and add some garlic and onion granules instead or add some tabasco or chipotle chili powder to make it spicy.

What do you think of this recipe? Did you ever have cheese sauce before you were vegan? What do you like to use now on vegetables?

Low Fat Vegan Tangy Collard Greens With Mushrooms, Onions and Coconut Milk

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Low Fat Vegan Tangy Collard Greens With Mushrooms, Onions and Coconut Milk

Tangy Collard Greens with Mushrooms, Onions and Coconut Milk

Here is my delicious low fat vegan collard greens recipe!

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This is an easy oil free and super delicious side dish that you can prepare to accompany any meal! A lot of people know of collard greens, but have no idea how to prepare them healthily, or at all. Generally in the southern United States, it is fried or deep fried and this pretty much negates the benefits of eating collards for health, because your body is dealing with all the denatured carcinogenic fats and free radicals from the oil slathered on it.

To get the health benefits of greens they should be prepared simply. Some of them like baby spinach and tender lettuces can be eaten in raw salads. Collards can be used in raw sandwiches (burrito style rolls) or steamed or sautéed gently.

Depending where you live it may be easy or difficult to find collard greens. I’m in Texas right now, and they are abundant, it only costs about 88 cents (USD) for a giant bunch of them! In Canada, I can only get them in Whole Foods and it costs about $2.99 (CAD) per bunch. So we’re loading up on them here!

Collard Greens Lower Cholesterol Better Than Kale or Broccoli!

“In a recent study, steamed collard greens outshined steamed kale, mustard greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage in terms of its ability to bind bile acids in the digestive tract. When this bile acid binding takes place, it is easier for the bile acids to be excreted from the body. Since bile acids are made from cholesterol, the net impact of this bile acid binding is a lowering of the body’s cholesterol level. It’s worth noting that steamed collards show much greater bile acid binding ability than raw collards.” Ambrosone CB, Tang L. Cruciferous vegetable intake and cancer prevention: role of nutrigenetics. Cancer Prev Res (Phila Pa). 2009 Apr;2(4):298-300. 2009.

Brief History of Collard Greens

Like kale, cauliflower and broccoli, collards are descendents of the wild cabbage, a plant thought to have been consumed as food since prehistoric times and to have originated in Asia Minor. From there it spread into Europe, being introduced by groups of Celtic wanderers around 600 B.C. Collards have been cultivated since the times of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. While collards may have been introduced into the United States before, the first mention of collard greens dates back to the late 17th century. Collards are an integral food in traditional southern American cuisine.

How to Select and Store Collard Greens

Look for collard greens that have firm, unwilted leaves that are vividly deep green in color with no signs of yellowing or browning. Leaves that are smaller in size will be more tender and have a milder flavor. They should be displayed in a chilled section in the refrigerator case to prevent them from wilting and becoming bitter.

Place collard greens in a plastic bag, removing as much of the air from the bag as possible. Store in the refrigerator where they should keep fresh for about three to five days.

Cooking Collard Greens

It is very important not to overcook collard greens. Like other cruciferous vegetables overcooked collard greens will begin to emit the unpleasant sulfur smell associated with overcooking. To help collard greens to cook more quickly, evenly slice the leaves into 1/2-inch slices and the stems into 1/4-inch pieces. You may boil or steam them up to 5 minutes and then season.

For more information on collard greens check out this website http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?dbid=138&tname=foodspice

 

Oil Free Baked Potato With Tangy Oil Free Collard Greens

Giant baked potato with salsa, hummus and "Tangy Collard Greens"

Low Fat Vegan Tangy Collard Greens with Mushrooms, Onions and Coconut Milk

This collard greens recipe is much lower in fat than traditional collard green recipes that call for frying onions in oil first and then adding the greens. I serve these with giant baked potatoes for a completely filling meal. (Yes, dinner can be this simple and delicious!)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 large bunch collard greens, washed
1/2-1 cup of sliced mushrooms of choice
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup light unsweetened coconut milk (So Delicious SugarFree Original is excellent for this, don’t use vanilla or sweetened for this recipe)
1/4 – 1/2 tsp herbamare or salt
1 tbsp of lemon juice (or more if desired)
1/2 tsp sugar or sweetener
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Take the stems off of the collard greens by turning them upside down and making a small circle with your pointer finger and thumb and squeezing the leaves down and off from the stem. Like you would straighten a pipe cleaner. Cut the remaining parts of the stem off the top if you miss any bits.

2. Bunch all the collards up together on a cutting board and cut into chunks.

3. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. When boiling, add the collard greens and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain well.

4. In a large non stick skillet, turn to medium heat. When it’s hot add the onions and sauté dry for 5 minutes. (TRUST ME, it will NOT burn if you use a non stick pan, and no oil is necessary!) Add the mushrooms, collards, coconut milk and seasonings except for pepper and sauté for 8-10 minutes until collards are at desired tenderness.

5. Taste test and add fresh ground pepper and any additional seasonings like more lemon if desired.

6. Serve as a side dish with your meal. (I love serving these with baked jacket potatoes, beans, or rice.)

Variations:

You can also try this recipe with other greens like kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, beet greens etc.  If you use baby spinach, DO NOT boil it, you can just wilt it in the pan with the coconut milk in a few minutes. Make sure your onions and mushrooms are cooked first before adding the spinach.

If you don’t want to use coconut milk, feel free to use a low fat almond or soy milk instead. The coconut flavour is very mild in this and not essential to the overall taste.

Try other seasonings as well, add some spices like paprika, chili, cumin etc instead of the dijon and nutritional yeast.  Mix it up!

*If you don’t want to use a non stick pan, you can put the collards, onions and mushrooms into a steamer basket, steam for 5 minutes over boiling water and then drain. Season to taste with the coconut milk and seasonings and stir to combine.

See non stick pans – are there safety concerns http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/healthandfitness/a/nonstickpans.htm  You should NOT worry about cooking oil free over medium heat in a non stick pan. If nothing is flaking off, or food is not being burned onto the pan on high heat for a few minutes this is not a concern.

Have you ever cooked collard greens before? What do you think of this recipe?