Plant Based U

Fat-Free and Low Fat Vegan Plant Based Recipes

Cooked Vegan Recipes

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

by 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.



All done!

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)

by 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)

by 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?

Special Occasions: Plant Based Cheesecake and Blueberry Rooibos Compote (Vegan Cheesecake)

by 9 Comments


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

Today I made a special recipe for my friend’s birthday. A vegan cheesecake with vegan graham cracker crust and blueberry rooibos compote. When trying to impress friends and especially non-vegans, having a great vegan comfort food treat can be a little daunting, but trust me this recipe is easy.



Since I have never made a vegan cheesecake before, and the last time I made actual cheesecake was almost a decade a go, I decided to look online and see what I could find. My friend requested an almond-lemony flavoured cheesecake, and what do you know? I found one here. It uses firm silken tofu and Tofutti better than cream cheese. With the almond extract and fresh lemon juice, it really tastes nice, and I could not detect any tofu flavour at all. I made the recipe almost exactly as the post, but the only firm silken tofu I could find was by Mori-nu and it comes in a 12 oz size and not 14 oz. It seemed fine and enough filling anyways for the cheesecake.



The cheesecake part was very easy, since I had a Vitamix and I could just combine everything and blend. I still blended a little longer than normal for good measure, just to be sure there was no sugar granules or chunks of corn starch.

The hard part of this recipe was that there are no vegan graham crackers (they contain honey) or crusts at Whole Foods in Vancouver, BC I could find. So I had to do it old school and make my own graham crackers… I’ve never even made any crackers before… so here’s how what I did…



I found a recipe here for vegan graham crackers and smores. I didn’t know how much of the recipe I would need for the crust, so I made the whole thing. But now I know I could have halved or even thirded the recipe since I now have a lot of extra graham crackers. I froze them for later in case I need a dessert crust again.

You definitely DO NOT need to make a crust for vegan cheesecake, your recipe will be much lower in fat if you don’t, since I can’t see any way to make a fat free or low fat pie crust.  The graham crumbs are held in by Earth Balance, which is a highly processed food so I don’t recommend making this recipe regularly, just for special occasions like birthdays and holidays for your friends and family. My friend likes graham cracker crusts so that’s why I made it.



A note about the graham cracker recipe if you make it, I wouldn’t bake them so long. My crackers were baked for the full time and were SO freaking hard. Like dangerous to chew hard. It took me forever to break them down in the food processor. I should have used the Vitamix instead, but it had the cream cheese filling in it. But it took forever to get down to crumbs. It would barely crush with my stone rolling pin! Try baking 30-35 minutes only. They don’t need to be totally firm when you take them out, they will solidify. And if you roll them too thin they will turn too brown and burn. The texture is not that great for eating, as it’s a little gritty, but if you’re into whole wheat treats you might not mind.



Now on to the part where my recipe comes in. Earlier this week some friends and I had a vegan tea cook off and I made a blueberry rooibus tea compote for my raw banana ice-cream made with Provence rooibus tea. It was very delicious, I decided to replicate it again for this cheesecake.

Here’s the recipe:

Plant Based Blueberry Rooibus Tea Compote

Ingredients:

3 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup blueberry rooibos tea or other rooibos tea (steeped at double strength)
3-4 tbsp granulated sugar,  maple syrup, honey, or vegan honey
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice



Directions:

1. Add 1 1/2 cups of the blueberries, the tea, sugar and lemon juice and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
2. Add the remaining blueberries and cook for another 6-8 minutes.
3. Taste test and adjust to your liking, add more sugar for more sweet, or more tea for less sweet.
4. Serve over vegan cheesecake, ice-cream, yogurt, and more.

My suggestion for a healthier decadent vegan treat would be to serve this compote like I originally did, over fat free banana ice-cream made in the Vitamix or a juicer. Then it’s completely fat and guilt-free.

My rooibos banana ice-cream was:

1/2 cup Provence rooibos tea (steeped at double strength)
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 frozen bananas (make sure your bananas are ripe, see my post here about how to tell if bananas are ripe)

You’ll need a Vitamix to make this, or let the banana thaw a little bit and slice into small pieces for your regular blender or food processor. Add the tea and extract and then the bananas. Turn the Vitamix onto 5 and use the tamper to push it down and cream the bananas. Continue pushing it all down until it’s blended evenly. This should take no more than 30-60 seconds, since you don’t want your ice-cream to start melting.

Serves 2 large servings, 4-6 small dessert servings.

Let me know what you think!



Update!

I made this vegan cheesecake again crustless and with the same blueberry sauce but without the rooibos tea. If you make the vegan cheesecake crustless, make sure you spray some cooking spray on the bottom of your dish! Mine would not come out, so it was messy.  Also the blueberry sauce was rather 1 dimensional. I really missed the subtle complex flavours left by the fruity blueberry rooibus tea. So I really hope you will try it. It will not be the same if you get another kind of blueberry tea, like green tea because it’s less fragrant.



How To Roast A Bell Pepper Over A Gas Flame

by Leave a Comment

How To Roast A Bell Pepper Over A Gas Flame

Roasting peppers are pretty easy when you have a gas stove. If you don’t have a gas stove, you can roast them over a barbecue flame or in a dish in the oven under the broiler and turn as the sides blacken.

*You may want to use tinfoil around your flame to catch the drippings, it makes quite a mess!

1. First select your pepper, make sure it is ripe (in the case of green peppers, they are actually unripe red peppers…) Turn your flame onto high/medium high and place the pepper over it. You will want to have some sort of tongs to pick up the pepper and turn it.

2. Once a side or portion has turned black, you are going to turn it over to another part. (Please use tongs, not hands…) Continue doing this until every side of your pepper turns black. Including the top and bottom!

3. When your pepper is all ugly and blackened place it into a metal pot with a lid, or wrap in some tinfoil if you want. But the pot is easier and less wasteful. You want a lid on the pot so that it can steam it and continue to cook the insides. Let it sit in here for 10-15 minutes.

4. Take your pepper(s) out of the pot/tinfoil (with tongs) and place on a cutting board. Slice it in half and scoop out the seeds, juices and take off the top.

5. Slice each half into another half and start sliding the blackened skin off of the pepper. Do NOT run it under water, as you will wash away a lot of the flavour. Just use a spoon or a knife to scrape off the little tiny black bits once you’ve removed most of it with your hands.

6. Now your peppers are ready to use. You can add them on top of pizza, blend into hummus, put into burritos or quesadillas, add to salads and more.

Enjoy!

Kik Alicha (Vegan Ethiopian Yellow Split Pea Stew)

by 23 Comments

I love Ethiopian food, when it’s fresh especially, but also because it is very tasty and filling as well.

Some of the dishes are very easy to make, and taste perfectly fine using zero oil. The lentil and split pea dishes are especially tasty and easy to make.

This yellow split pea stew one is my absolute favourite of all Ethiopian dishes because it is mild and savoury. I’m not one for the spicy dishes like mesir wot, but you can always add some spiciness to this dish if you desire.

Serve this Kik Alicha with injeera, rice or even Indian bread like chapati or roti for a whole meal.

 

Kik Alicha (Ethiopian Yellow Split Pea Stew)

Serves 2 as mains for an Ethiopian dinner

Ingredients:

3 cups water
vegetable broth as needed
1 cup dried yellow split peas, rinsed
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled, and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 – 1 tsp herbamare or salt
pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place water and the split peas in large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; and cook about 30 minutes, just until tender. (Alternatively you can cook them in a pressure cooker, use a digital electric pressure cooker as it has a non stick pan, don’t do this in a metal stovetop pressure cooker as it can burn to the bottom.)

2. In a frying pan, add some vegetable broth and bring to high heat. Add onion, reduce to medium high and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add more broth as needed Add the garlic, ginger and turmeric; cook another 5 minutes.

3. Once done, add the mixture to cooked peas; stir in salt and pepper. Simmer until peas are very soft, and almost mushy about 30 minutes more. Taste test; adjust seasonings if needed.

What’s your favourite Ethiopian dish?

Fat Free Vegan Pumpkin Raisin Muffins Sweetened With Maple Syrup

by 25 Comments

I love pumpkin muffins. I remember the first time I had them as a kid, I was at school and one of the teachers brought us some. They were so moist and delicious. Even though I’m not a big fan of desserts like pumpkin pie, I enjoy things like pumpkin loaf and pumpkin muffins.

But often the really delicious muffin recipes can have a lot of sugar and oil in them. So I’ve created a new recipe that has no oil, and much less sugar.

Feel free to make these with whatever kind of flour you have on hand, but I try to mix it up once in a while and stay away from refined white flour. Also light maple syrup is less sweet than sugar, but adds nice moisture to these along with the canned pumpkin. I really love maple syrup added to baked goods.

Sometimes organic canned pumpkin is on sale at Whole Foods, so I stock up so I can make more pumpkin inspired recipes!

Fat Free and Vegan Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups spelt flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup oat flour (you can grind your own steel cut oats in Vitamix, or coffee grinder for this)
2 tsp celyon cinnamon (this is the sweet “true” cinnamon and tastes so yummy amazing!)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 14 oz can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup light maple syrup (or 1/3 cup agave + 1/4-1/3 cup water)
2/3 cup raisins (or as much or little as you like, I love raisins in baked goods!)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees F.

2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. Add the pumpkin, maple syrup, raisins and mix until combined.

4. Spray muffin pan with non stick spray or use a silicon muffin tray.

5. Spoon batter into cups with a tablespoon filling just below the top about 2/3 – 3/4 full.

6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing and placing muffins on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Nutritional Info
• Servings Per Recipe: 12
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 160.3
• Total Fat: 1.1 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 235.5 mg
• Total Carbs: 35.5 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.0 g
• Protein: 3.2 g

What’s your favorite addition to pumpkin muffins, raisins, walnuts, cranberries? Something else?