Tag: vegan

Clean Eating Samoas (Vegan, Gluten Free)

Melissa King 47 Comments

Clean Eating Samoas.  It that time of year again.  When girl scout cookies are everywhere.  Since we are now vegan, we cannot eat them.  My husband was a huge fan of the Samoas, so he asked me to create a healthier samoa recipe.

I can’t think of a single person who doesn’t like Samoas, can you?  I think these healthy samoas came out pretty good.  The base of this cookie was inspired by my Gluten Free Coconut Cookies.

 

clean eating samoas

 

These healthier samoas are not only vegan, but they are also gluten free, dairy free and egg free.

Clean Eating Samoas

Clean Eating Samoas

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 11-13M Serves 15 cookies     adjust servings

The taste of the girl scout cookie with none of the guilt!

Ingredients

    For the cookie

    For the caramel

    For the chocolate

    • 3/4 cup chocolate chips or 1 dark chocolate bar
    • 1/4 – 1/2 cup almond milk

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350.
    2. Place the almonds and oats in a blender and blend into a fine powder.
    3. This works great in a Vitamix .
    4. Pour contents into a large bowl .
    5. Add the almond flour and the coconut sugar to the almond/oat mixture.
    6. In a smaller bowl , add the coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla, eggs and milk.
    7. Mix well and add to the dry ingredients.
    8. Mix wet and dry just enough to combine.
    9. Place the shredded coconut in a small bowl and set aside.
    10. Roll the dough into little balls.
    11. Take each ball and roll it around in the shredded coconut.
    12. Once it is covered, flatten it with your palm and place onto a lined baking sheet.
    13. To make the caramel, place the dates in a food processor or magic bullet and pulse into a thin sauce, slowly adding warm water to thin it out.
    14. Once it becomes the consistency or caramel, drizzle it over the top of each cookie.
    15. Once each cookie has caramel over it, place in the oven and bake for 11-13 minutes.
    16. As cookies are cooling, you can make the chocolate.
    17. Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate in a glass bowl slowly adding enough milk until you get a thin enough consistency. I added about 1/2 cup.
    18. Once the chocolate is thinned out, drizzle it over the tops and place in the fridge for the chocolate to set.

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    Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burger

    Melissa King 31 Comments

    I just love veggie burgers!  The store bought varieties are loaded with yucky stuff as you can read about in my Boca Burgers Exposed post.  I am always looking for new ideas for veggie burgers and this recipe was inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest.  I told my husband about it and he came up with his own version so here it is.

    mushroom lentil veggie burger

    It’s great having a man that can cook.  He doesn’t do it much anymore, but when he does, it is always good. He actually came up with my Black Bean Veggie Burger recipe as well. These burgers are delicious!  They would go really well with my White Bean Pesto spread on top. Yum!

    Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burger

    Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burger

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    Prep Time 30 min Cook Time 20 min Serves 8 burgers     adjust servings

    Ingredients

    • 1 1/4 cup green lentils
    • 4 cups of water
    • 2 T walnut oil
    • 1 cup food processed mushrooms (about i pkg mushrooms)
    • 1 cup bread crumbs (we used homemade bread crumbs made from Ezekiel bread)
    • 1/2 red onion, chopped fine
    • 1 flax egg
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
    • 1/2 tsp sage
    • salt to taste

    Instructions

    1. In a pot, boil the lentils in water until soft.
    2. Drain any left over water or let it boil off once soft.
    3. In a pan add the lentils, oil and onion and let cook for about five minutes covered on medium heat.
    4. Add mushrooms, garlic powder, sage, and salt.
    5. Mix the ingredients and cover for about another 5 minutes.
    6. Remove from heat and put in a bowl and let it cool off.
    7. Once cool, add bread crumbs and flax egg and stir.
    8. Once mixed, use a quarter cup measuring cup to spoon little burgers onto an oiled baking pan.
    9. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

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    Recipe Notes

    You can serve these immediately or refrigerate or even freeze for later. We got about 8 burgers. I was super stoked to discover that Food for Life makes sprouted wheat hamburger buns. That is what I used in the picture.

    Coconut Strawberry Muffins

    Melissa King 14 Comments

    My daughter has been requesting coconut trawberry muffins for a while now.  Strawberries have been very expensive lately so it’s been quite some time since we had some.  Well I was going through my freezer today and discovered a bag of frozen organic strawberries so I decided to try to make her some coconut strawberry muffins.

    coconut strawberry muffins

    This recipe is very interesting.  Since I have been doing my Budget Grocery Challenge, I have been unable to run to the store on a whim so I have had to make do with what I find in the pantry.  This has forced me to be pretty creative.  I am really glad this has happened, because it is opening my eyes to all kinds of different flours.  If you are expecting a fluffy muffin these are not for you.  They are pretty dense, but not in a bad way, I promise.  They are almost the texture of brownies.  In fact, next time, I will probably make them into brownies.  After all, they are kid approved! 🙂

    Coconut Strawberry Muffins

    Coconut Strawberry Muffins

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    Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 14 min

    Ingredients

    • 1 1/2 cup chickpea flour
    • 1/4 cup ground coconut or coconut flour
    • 1/4 ww pastry flour
    • 1 egg (I used a flax egg)
    • 1/3 cup coconut sugar
    • 1 T coconut oil
    • 1/3 cup applesauce
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 1 cup sliced strawberries (I used frozen)

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350.
    2. Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
    3. In another bowl mix all the wet.
    4. Add dry to wet.
    5. Fold in the strawberries.
    6. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake in the oven for about 12-14 minutes.
    7. Wait until they are completely cooled before removing from the pan.

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    Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

    Melissa King 37 Comments

    For these Gluten Free Coconut Cookies, I was forced to do something a little different for me. I wanted to make a batch of cookies, but I ran out of spelt flour.  So I had to make do with my hodge-podge of pantry ingredients.  I am glad I did because these cookies came out delicious!  Gluten free too!

    cookies watermark copy

    Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

    Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

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    Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 14 min Serves 16 cookies     adjust servings

    Ingredients

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350.
    2. Blend the oats and almonds together until they are the consistency of flour. Works great in a Vitamix. Pour the mixture in a bowl.
    3. Blend 1 cup shaved coconut into a fine consistency. What remains should equal about 1/2 cup.
    4. Add the coconut, the coconut sugar and the brown rice flour to the almond/oat mixture.
    5. In a small bowl, combine all the wet ingredients.
    6. Add the wet to dry.
    7. With wet hands, form dough into balls and place on lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. The dough will be sticky.
    8. Once all the dough is rolled into balls, you can add the chocolate chips to the tops of each ball.
    9. Bake in the oven for about 12-14 minutes.
    10. I got about 16 cookies. Not too many are left though. May be doing a second batch tomorrow!

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    Recipe Notes

    So now that I have caught the gluten free bug, what other gluten free cookies would you like to see? I am feeling inspired by this success!

     

    Date Filled Thumbprint Cookies

    Melissa King 12 Comments

    These Date Filled Thumbprint Cookies are so good!  I seriously could not stop eating them! Let me start out by saying I love the thumb print cookie. I always have.

    thumbprint cookies

    I may, or may not have eaten 3-4 of them when they were done.  Okay, I am lying.  More like 4-5!  They were just too yummy! I have made thumbprint cookies similar to this before.  I have Cranberry Filled Thumbprint cookies on my blog already. This was the first time making thumbprint cookies in my vita mix.  Previously, I had used my magic bullet.  They came out so much better in the Vitamix.  I had never even had a date until a few days ago.  I bought them to make This Rawsome Vegan Life’s vegan raw snickers.  Up until now, I thought they were similar to raisins.  They are so delicious and creamy and not what I expected.

    Date Filled Thumbprint Cookies

    Date Filled Thumbprint Cookies

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    Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 13 min Serves 18 Cookies     adjust servings

    Ingredients

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350.
    2. In a blender, combine the almonds and the oats into a fine powder.
    3. Place that mixture in a bowl with the flour.
    4. Add all the wet ingredients minus the water in a bowl.
    5. Add wet to dry.
    6. In a food processor or magic bullet, mix the dates and a bit of water until they form into a paste and set aside.
    7. Roll the cookie batter into little balls and place on a lined baking sheet.
    8. Once all the balls are rolled, press them flat with your palm.
    9. Once all the cookies are flat, take your thumb and put a print in each cookie.
    10. Spoon a bit of the date paste into each thumbprint and bake in the oven for 11-13 minutes.

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    Honey Roasted Almonds

    Melissa King 70 Comments

    These Honey Roasted Almonds should come with a warning label.  They are really addicting.  Who doesn’t like roasted nuts?  Add in some honey and salt and you have yourself a delicious combination!  These Honey Roasted Almonds are perfect for snacking!

    nuts

    These would probably make a great gift as well.  They have a sweet salty taste that reminds me of kettle corn.  I LOVE kettle corn!  Probably why I could not keep my hands off yummy roasted nuts.

    They are perfect for that time of day that you need something sweet, but do not want to grab a candy bar.  They also take only minutes to make.  If you like these, then you will probably love my Candied Pecans as well.

    If you want to keep these totally vegan, you can use maple syrup instead of honey.  That works great as well.

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