Plant Based U

Fat-Free and Low Fat Vegan Plant Based Recipes

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Low Fat Vegan Chocolate Banana Silken Tofu Pudding

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Hey everyone!

Here is a super easy recipe for those of you looking for a plant based dairy free version of chocolate pudding, perhaps a lot healthier and cheaper than some of the store bought versions like Belsoy or Silk.



I use Mori-nu Silken tofu, I find the firm style is a bit better and save the soft version for sauces like my Alfredo sauce. You can add more or less banana if you like, just make sure it is ripe (lots of yellow spots on it) before using so that it is sweet and not starchy and sour. You can also use a frozen banana if you like.

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Low Fat Vegan Chocolate Banana Silken Tofu Pudding
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Vegan
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 servings
 
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Place the ingredients into your blender or Vitamix in the order listed and blend. (If you have a low power blender you may need to add a few tablespoons of plant milk to get it to blend.)
  2. Pour into pudding cups or tupperware
  3. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour until firm.
  4. Serve with your favorite fruit!

Vegan Chocolate Cherry Blender Ice Cream

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With Summer coming soon you might be craving some sweet warm weather desserts. My favorite is always a fresh homemade blender “ice-cream”, which uses frozen bananas for a creamy texture and natural sweetness. Instead of my old staple of “vanilla” I decided to switch it up with some frozen cherries and I have to say I’m absolutely hooked on this recipe! Chocolate cherry anything was basically my weakness growing up, but this version is all natural and actually good for you so there’s no guilt!

All you need are a few simple ingredients, unsweetened almond milk, frozen very ripe bananas, frozen cherries, cocoa powder and a blender. I recommend using a Vita-Mix if you’re planning on making blender ice-creams frequently (along with smoothies, blended soups, salad dressings and home ground flours). But you can also use a regular blender or food processor (just make sure to let the bananas defrost a little and chop them into smaller pieces to make them easier to blend.

In my Vita-Mix this recipe is ready in about 30-60 seconds (reg blender a minute or two) so it’s easy to whip up. You can also serve it as a snack or a light meal instead if you want to! I often make blender ice-cream for my family or dinner guests and everyone raves about how delicious it is, they can’t even tell it’s vegan. All they know is it’s some delicious soft serve ice-cream. I hope you like it too!

Vegan Chocolate Cherry  Blender Ice Cream

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, or other non dairy milk
1 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder
1 large frozen banana (make sure it’s very ripe before freezing, this makes your ice-cream naturally sweet)
1 cup frozen pitted cherries (often found at the grocery store or Costco)

Directions:

1. Place ingredients into blender or Vita-Mix in order listed. (If using a regular low powered blender make sure to let the frozen bananas sit for 2-3 minutes on the counter to partially defrost. Then slice them into small chunks so they become easier to blend. Also cut the cherries in half.)

2. Blend the ingredients on medium low to medium speed. If using a Vita-Mix use the tamper to plunge the frozen fruit down into the blades until well combined (30-60 seconds). If using a regular blender or food processor stop the blender periodically to stir as needed. Blend until smooth and cocoa is evenly distributed.

3. Serve immediately. Blender ice-cream is best eaten fresh, but can be frozen if needed.

Variations:

Instead of cherries you can add different berries such as frozen blackberries, raspberries or strawberries. But you made need to add additional sweetener if using tart berries such as a tablespoon of maple syrup.

For regular chocolate ice-cream, substitute another banana for the cherries.

Have you ever had banana ice-cream before? How do you make it? 

Antioxidant Omega-3 High Protein Vegan Granola Bars

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(made with quick oats)

The other day I was looking at granola bars at the grocery store and I was starting to get frustrated. Most granola bars are pretty unhealthy, they contain a lot of high fructose corn syrup, milk ingredients, oil, nuts and salt.

When you’re looking for a quick high energy snack for traveling, hiking or to have before your work out it’s nice to eat something that’s just as healthy as a home cooked meal. So I decided to make my own homemade no-bake vegan granola bars, and came up with this bar which is high in protein and contains lots of omega 3’s and antioxidants in it too.

Instead of using oil and corn syrup to bind the oats together I used really ripe mashed bananas and it almost makes these bars taste a little bit like oatmeal banana bread. I also threw in lots of goodies like sultana raisins, Sun-Maid raisins, dried cranberries, goji berries, ground flax seed, ground chia seed, hemp hearts, dark chocolate, and coconut flakes.

All in all they are pretty darn tasty! I definitely don’t mind eating one of these and they’re perfect for traveling or hiking too. I decided to make two batches to test out the difference between instant/quick oats and traditional rolled oats.

They basically tasted the same, but the instant oats were a little easier to chew as the oat pieces were smaller. So it’s up to you on what type you’d like to use. (But don’t use steel cut oats, or oat groats as they aren’t cooked yet and are too hard to chew.)

It’s also a high raw food bar, as many of the ingredients are naturally raw like the bananas, raisins, goji berries, flax, chia, and hemp.  For this reason they need to be stored in the freezer because raw banana is perishable and it will spoil quickly if left on the counter or in the fridge.

Vegan chocolate chips can be hard to come by depending where you live, almost every chocolate chip I saw at the store contained milk ingredients, so instead I just bought a Lindt 70% cacao chocolate bar which was dairy free and chopped that up to use as chocolate pieces. It’s also much lower in sugar than traditional chocolate chips as well.  40 g equals 4 squares out of the Lindt bar. You could also substitute 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips, or vegan carob chips as well.

(made with rolled oats)

Omega 3 Antioxidant Vegan Protein Bars

Makes 10 bars

Wet Ingredients:

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup maple syrup (or other vegan syrup)
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups quick oats or rolled oats (I tested both)
3 scoops vegan protein powder (I used Vega Sport chocolate flavour, but you can also use unflavored hemp protein powder)
1/4 cup shredded coconut *optional
2 tbsp hemp seed (hemp hearts)
3 tbsp chia seed, ground
3 tbsp flax seed, ground
2 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (I used golden and Sun-Maid)
40 g dark chocolate broken into pieces or chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup goji berries

Directions:

1. Mash the banana with a fork and mix wet ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

3. Stir until well combined.

4. Line a square pan with saran wrap and press mixture into pan.

5. Place pan in freezer for 3-4 hours until firm and then remove from pan.

(rolled oat bars)

6. Slice into 10 bars with a sharp knife.

(Quick oat bars)

7. Wrap each bar in saran wrap and store in freezer.

8. Let come to room temperature before eating.

Nutrition Facts 10 Servings Amount Per Serving: Calories 282.0 Total Fat 10.1 g Saturated Fat 2.2 g Polyunsaturated Fat 2.8 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g Cholesterol 0.2 mg Sodium 335.9 mg Potassium 301.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 34.4 g Dietary Fiber 6.7 g Sugars 18.1 g Protein 15.2 g

Have you ever made homemade granola or protein bars before? What do you put in them?  

 

Oil-Free Vegan Fudgey Blackberry Brownies

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So these brownies are a little “healthier” for you than the standard recipes (as it avoids added oils, butter and eggs) but they’re not completely sinless. Brownies are treat, let’s face it and sometimes you want to have a better-for-you treat for yourself or your loved ones. I have tried fat free brownies with just cocoa powder, flour, sugar and applesauce but they weren’t really brownies, more like dense little cakes and ended up being just ok and nothing to rave about. These brownies however are delicious!

This recipe is inspired from the Post Punk Kitchen’s Raspberry Truffle Brownies, but I changed the recipe around. I made a big double batch of these brownies because we had a lot of fresh blackberries on hand and I was thinking of something to make for my friend’s birthday and the Canadian edition of Vegan Food Swap.  (If you have a vegan food blog in the USA or Canada and are interested in swapping goodies every month with fellow vegans check it out!)

These vegan fudgey brownies feel a lot more decadent when you eat them than they really are. You may have noticed I try to cram as much fresh fruits and vegetables as I can into my recipes as I don’t enjoy eating a dish without them.

I think you’ll have a lot of fun making these and enjoy them too. You can impress your guests or make them as a little treat for yourself and freeze any leftovers in individual plastic wrapped pieces. The pieces shown below are the size you get if you cut into 9 pieces. You can of course cut them smaller as well.

I even put some extra blackberry pieces on top and it made these turn out very pretty looking, so you don’t need any frosting either.

Oil-Free Vegan Fudgey Blackberry Brownies

Serves 9

Ingredients:

1/4 cup/3 oz./85 grams semi sweet chocolate chips or semi sweet baking chocolate
1/4 cup/59 mL blackberry or mixed berry jam/preserves
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp/~210 mL sweetened apple sauce (plain) (you could probably try adding ripe mashed banana as well)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or AP white flour. Do NOT use regular whole-wheat or whole grain flour)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries, blueberries or raspberries
2 tbsp semi sweet chocolate chips (1.5 oz./43 g)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F/177 C. Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. If using fresh blackberries you can chop them in half. Put in the freezer to firm up while preparing brownies. If using frozen ones keep in freezer until ready to use.
  3. Melt the chocolate chips using a double boiler or in a dish carefully in the microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the jam and applesauce. Stir in the vanilla and almond extract and the melted chocolate.
  5. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix very well until a stiff batter forms. Fold in the blackberries and chocolate chips.
  6. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan if you can. You may need to use your hands as it’s very thick. Crush some of the berries on top of the brownies if you are having a hard time mixing them in.
  7. Bake for 16-18 minutes for gooey brownies, bake for 20 minutes for slightly drier brownies. (Tinfoil pans will be done at 15-16 min.) A toothpick will NOT come out clean when inserted in centre, this is normal.
  8. Let the brownies come to room temperature and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to firm up and become fudgey inside. Do not serve right from the oven.

Additional Tips:

If you want to use unsweetened chocolate and unsweetened applesauce you will need to add some granulated sugar (don’t use liquid sweetener). Use 1/4-1/2 cup depending on preference. If you like your brownies really sweet you may want to add another 2-3 tbsp of sugar to the existing recipe.

Whole wheat pastry flour or white all purpose flour works best for a lighter brownie (as they are already pretty dense). If you use straight whole wheat or another whole grain flour it will be way too heavy and too dense and have a grittier texture. Make sure you use the suggested flour for best results. Pastry flour is made from soft wheat, white flour is also softer than hard whole wheat or whole grain flour. If you can’t find pastry flour you can try this: To make two cups of pastry flour, combine 1 1/3 cups (185 grams) all-purpose white flour with 2/3 cup (90 grams) white cake flour.

Sifting in the dry ingredients is essential so you don’t get any uneven lumps. Using a large fine mesh strainer to sift works well. (Pour your powders through the strainer and shake. Discard any rough particles that don’t go through.)

For these brownies to be fudgey in the middle they WILL NOT be baked all the way through like a cake or muffin. If you bake them until a toothpick comes out dry in the centre they will be rather dry and like a very dense cake, and thus not fudgey. In the pictures you can see that the center is not baked and has solidified. Once they’re refrigerated they will become fudge-like in the middle and be ready to eat.

FYI I don’t often make desserts or treats, so don’t get all angry and freakout if this recipe isn’t for you. I made these for friends and thought I’d share the recipe in case others were interested in healthier alternatives for those not on strict dessert free diets. 

Sinless Fat Free Vegan Chocolate Banana Shake Recipe

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Low Fat Vegan Chef Chocolate Banana Shake

I don’t usually eat a lot of chocolate or use cocoa or cacao in my smoothie recipes, but I’m sure some of you out there have cravings for a chocolate milk shake or smoothie once in a while and I thought I’d make a little treat for us!

There are few things more delicious than the combination of bananas with chocolate and even without the traditional ice-cream, this shake is still delicious. The key to making it creamy and naturally sweet is to use fully ripe (lots and lots of spots) bananas. To make this recipe truly fat free I just use a little water, but you can use some soy or almond milk if desired instead.

Although the bananas in my smoothie picture do have lots of spots on them, I still prefer mine slightly riper (by a day or two with even more spots) and no green at all on the stems of my bananas for the absolute best tasting smoothie recipes. The bananas are still firm (not mushy or over ripe) and are even sweeter this way  and then you don’t need to add any additional sweetener. The best smoothies always start with quality fully ripe fruit, so it’s best to taste test things before tossing them in a smoothie if you are unsure if they are sweet or tart.

Low Fat Vegan Chef Chocolate Banana Shake

Fat Free Vegan Chocolate Banana Shake

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas (see my post on ripe bananas)
1/4 cup water or as needed for your type/size of blender
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Handful of ice cubes (or sub 1 fresh banana for a frozen banana)

Directions:

Place ingredients into Vitamix or Blendtec or other blender in the order listed aboove and blend until smooth. If your bananas aren’t quite sweet enough add a teaspoon or two of liquid sweetener of choice and blend again.

Serve in your favourite smoothie cup or in a glass with a glass straw!

Variations:

If you’d prefer raw cacao powder you can use that instead. I find I don’t like it as much as cocoa personally and I find it less stimulating. You can also substitute carob powder if you’re looking for a caffeine/chocolate-free option.

To get some greens in this recipe you can throw in a handful or two of fresh spinach.

What’s your favourite chocolate smoothie or shake recipe?

Is There A Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Butter? (Like Nutella) Why, Yes There Is!

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Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend (It's Vegan!)

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend with Strawberries

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Is there a chocolate hazelnut butter or spread that is vegan?” I have. And when I previously googled it, I came up with nothing but homemade recipes for chocolate hazelnut butter spread. Hazelnuts are expensive, and I didn’t plan on making it for just a small sample. Plus if it’s fresh it also goes bad within a week and I was not about to eat the whole batch in one week.

I think everyone remembers eating Nutella as a kid, or if you live in Europe, you probably ate it or still eat it regularly. They have this serious OBSESSION with Nutella in crepes filled with fruit. Very decadent indeed… That get’s me thinking I need to make a vegan chocolate hazelnut crepe recipe soon, I’ve never had one… but for now we’re going for chocolate hazelnut butter on toast with strawberries.

Since I’ve traveled in Europe a lot and there are also many creperies in Vancouver, Canada many places I’ve seen serve crepes with Nutella and because it had dairy in it, it’s not vegan. (The crepes are also not vegan as well.) I’ve often wondered if ANY company was going to get up the guts to actually make a healthier chocolate vegan hazelnut spread without the dairy and for the longest time could not find any. I checked the health food stores in Canada and no dice. I checked a bunch in the USA as well, and just recently found 2 different brands that were dairy free! This was a surprise to me because I had been casually reading labels for a while.

Since the dairy industry has been so adept at lobbying for companies and restaurants to put milk and cheese into everything, it can be very hard to find plain chocolate ANYWHERE. Almost every chocolate and chocolate bar EVEN DARK CHOCOLATE that is manufactured in the USA contains milk fat solids.  They do this because dairy is highly addicted, just as addictive as opiates are actually and it makes people eat and crave more. So they now put dairy in all of the dark chocolate to make you eat MORE. How rude!

Same goes for creamy chocolate hazelnut spreads, they put dairy in it to make it more addicting and get you to eat more. Plus it probably is cheaper to add milk to it and less hazelnuts as those are more expensive.

I started looking for vegan alternatives a while ago, but never found any until now. It’s not something I would eat regularly, but more of a treat to put on a slice of toast or a crepe or for a vegan waffle or something.  You know, a healthier-than-the-original-version treat.

Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend on toast with strawberries. A filling snack or treat for you or your kids.

The strawberries are nice because it makes it not too sweet and has a little tartness to it.

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend (It's Vegan!)

This little baby I found in Portland, OR at Whole Foods Market on a recent trip. I have sampled Justin’s peanut butter cups (the dark chocolate variety are vegan) and was quite impressed at their not too oily or  too sweet peanut butter cups. (Christmas treat).

Here they had an entire line of natural nut butters. Including chocolate peanut butter and chocolate almond butter. Crazy! I know…

Let’s take a look at the side. Ah a nice note, it shows they are trying to make a product that is healthier than the major competitors. Who eat’s frosting for breakfast indeed? Nutella eaters that’s for sure. Here are the list of ingredients in Nutella from their website: INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, PALM OIL, HAZELNUTS, COCOA, SKIM MILK, REDUCED MINERALS WHEY (MILK), LECITHIN AS EMULSIFIER (SOY), VANILLIN: AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Ingredients and nutritional information. It still contains some oil in the form of palm oil (saturated fat), so sad face 🙁 but at least it’s not hydrogenated and it’s one of the last ingredients on the label, not the first.  It’s 90 calories and 7.5 g of fat per tablespoon. Ok good to know. One or two tablespoons max is all you should use for a serving.

Nutella comes in at 100 calories per tablespoon and 5.5 grams of fat, so  it’s a little less fat than Justin’s… but Nutella’s first ingredients are sugar and oil and then it’s hazelnut taste is watered down by milk and whey. Justin’s doesn’t have sugar until the third ingredient, and oil is the third last, before vanilla and salt. If you were going to pick one that was a healthier option between Justin’s and Nutella, Justin’s would win. It definitely has more natural ingredients and whole foods in it than mass produced Nutella.

Here is Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend inside. It’s quite thick. There’s no oil on top and it doesn’t look rock solid like coconut oil does at room temperature.

Here’s another vegan Hazelnut Butter. This is the first vegan chocolate Hazelnut Butter I found by New World Natural Foods, it’s from a local health food store in Bellingham, Washington. I thought they were the only brand that made a vegan hazelnut butter, so I picked it up.

Upon closer inspection though, it is fattier than Justin’s. 100 calories and 8 grams of fat per tablespoon.

They use cocoa butter instead of palm fruit oil. This butter is stable at room temperature (a saturated fat), which means it is a solid at room temperature and not a liquid. So this must be why they chose to use it in their butter.

Here is what the chocolate hazelnut butter looks like inside. It’s very solid looking and actually looks like cacao or coconut butter. If you seen these you might see the resemblance. There’s little white solid flecks in it, and this is the oil, solidified.

Here is a comparison on warm toast for you. Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter Blend is on the left and New World Natural Food’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is on the right.  Immediately I could tell the difference in the two. The one on the right melted very quickly into a liquid. Justin’s was a little harder to spread but more like a nut butter.  New World Natural Food’s was more like chocolate sauce when spread.

Here it is again from up top.

So there you have it, there are at least TWO options for vegan chocolate hazelnut butter for you. Justin’s also makes chocolate peanut butter and chocolate almond butter (it is cheaper than the hazelnut butter) if you’re looking for a more affordable treat for your family.

Like I said I was mostly curious because there was a lack of vegan options for this kind of product and I remember eating Nutella as a kid. If it’s your only source of nuts for the day and you have 1 or 2 tbsps, you should be ok. If you’re still eating oils, lots of nuts and avocados and meat and dairy however, this may be a diet of too many rich foods already. Adding this on top of it won’t be healthy.

So which one do I prefer? Hands down I prefer Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Blend.  I like that it isn’t too sweet, it’s a little thick, it doesn’t melt into chocolate sauce and it’s ingredients are much more natural than Nutella. For an occasional treat I like this product and they make a ton of different nut butters you can get at Whole Foods Market as well.

Have you ever tried a vegan chocolate hazelnut butter? What did you eat it with?

 

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

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Valentines Day Fat Free Vegan Two Bite Chocolate Brownies Oil Free

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Valentines Day Fat Free Vegan Two Bite Chocolate Brownies Oil Free

This is what they look like un decorated.

Valentines Day Fat Free Vegan Two Bite Chocolate Brownies Oil Free

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

Valentines Day Fat Free Vegan Two Bite Chocolate Brownies Oil Free

Fat Free Vegan Two-Bite Banana Brownies

Makes 24 mini muffin tin brownies

Ingredients:

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

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

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional Tips:

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

Valentines Day Fat Free Vegan Two Bite Chocolate Brownies Oil Free

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

Valentines Day Fat Free Vegan Two Bite Chocolate Brownies Oil Free

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