Tag: dairy free

Healthy Gingerbread Pancakes (Vegan)

Melissa King 39 Comments

Healthy Gingerbread Pancakes. We made some healthy pancakes this morning and they came out so good!  We have been creating a Saturday morning tradition with pancakes.

So today was gingerbread pancakes.  We used to go to Starbucks on Saturday mornings until I found out what they put in their pastries.  This is so much better and I can stay in my PJ’s!

 

gingerbread pancakes

 

To make things easy, because Meadow tends to want breakfast pretty quick, I mixed the dry ingredients the night before.  That way,I just have to add the wet and cook.  Super easy!

Meadow loved these so much that she asked for thirds and didn’t seem to notice that they were served without syrup.

 

 

Even Olive tried some.

 

 

These would be perfect on Christmas morning…or whenever!

Gingerbread Pancakes

Gingerbread Pancakes

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 10 min

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl |.
  2. In a small bowl mix the wet ingredients. 
  3. Add wet to dry. 
  4. Using a 1/4 cup scoop, scoop the batter onto a heated and greased pan. 
  5. When the batter starts to bubble, then flip to the other side. 
  6. Serve immediately, or refrigerate or even freeze for later.

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Recipe Notes

For another festive pancake, click here .

Healthier Sugar Cookies

Melissa King 16 Comments

This is the season when the holiday goodies are everywhere.  It’s hard to resist those delicious looking sugar cookies. That is why I created a healthier sugar cookie option.

When I was pregnant with my first daughter, Meadow, I had envisioned the days when I would get to make holiday cookies with her.  Now, at three, she is able to help a bit.  She loved helping me roll out the dough and cut the pieces out.  That is why they may not look perfect.  Sometimes, as a mom, you need to just let that go and let them make their imperfect cookies. 🙂  I knew I was making memories for her.

Healthier Sugar Cookies

Healthier Sugar Cookies

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Prep Time 70 min Cook Time 7 min Serves 18 Cookies     adjust servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup spelt flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose gluten free flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 2 T coconut oil
  • 2 T applesauce
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg (I used a flax egg)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Soften the coconut oil and place it in a large mixing bowl with the sugar and applesauce.
  4. Mix until smooth.
  5. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
  6. Slowly add the flour and mix just until everything is combined.
  7. Gather dough up in a ball, wrap and throw into the fridge for at least an hour.
  8. Roll out dough on a floured surface, cut into shapes and place onto a lined baking sheet.
  9. Bake for about 5-7 minutes. Enjoy!

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Black Bean Vegetable Soup

Melissa King 31 Comments

Who doesn’t like a good homemade soup on a cold winter day?  Especially if you have been out dealing with the crowds shopping this time of year.  It’s nice to kick off your shoes and curl up with a warm bowl of homemade soup.  This Black Bean Vegetable Soup is the perfect comfort food to warm you up.

We made this soup with vegetables we had gotten in our organic co op basket.  My husband wanted to do the Mexican add on this week, so this soup has a bit of a kick.  Just a warning.  Personally, I am quite wimpy when it comes to spices. Growing up in Boston, we didn’t eat much spicy food.  So this is more a soup for my husband than for myself.  It made about 5-6 servings so you could freeze some for later if you want.  I actually do that a lot.  So here is the recipe.

Black Bean Vegetable Soup

Black Bean Vegetable Soup

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Prep Time 20 min Cook Time 5 hr

Ingredients

  • 1 onion diced
  • 4 carrots cut in circles
  • 4 celery stalks chopped
  • 5 tomatoes chopped
  • 3 cups black beans (soaked overnight and then boiled until soft)
  • 2 green peppers chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 cups corn (we used organic for all of you wondering )
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 T cumin
  • 1 cut up chipotle chile

Instructions

  1. To save my eyes from burning, I usually cut the onions in the food processor .  In fact, if you want to make it easy, you can chop the veggies up the night before.
  2. Once the beans have been cooked to get a little softer, throw everything in the crock pot   and cook on low for at least 4-5 hours. 
  3. You can cook it on high for 2-3 hours if you wish.

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Recipe Notes

The longer it cooks the more flavor the soup will have. This should last at least a week in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer. That’s it.

Cranberry Filled Gingerbread Muffins

Melissa King 16 Comments

The holidays are here and I cannot seem to get enough gingerbread flavored goodies!  This recipe is a great use of leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce.  I had mine in the freezer and pulled it out to make these gems.  For the cranberry sauce recipe, click here.

Jelly filled Muffins FG

These would be a perfect Christmas morning breakfast to nibble on as you opened your gifts.  It will also make your house smell amazing!  When they first came out of the oven, my husband, Marcus, inhaled two of them so I knew they had to be good.  These muffins are made with whole grains so they are much healthier than traditional muffins.  This recipe is similar to my healthy gingerbread donuts.  For that recipe click here.

Cranberry Filled Gingerbread Muffins

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.  Mix wet into another.  Add dry to wet.  Spoon a small amount of batter into each lined muffin cup.  Add a dollop of cranberry on top of each one.  Fill muffin cups until they are about 3/4 full.  Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Wait until they have cooled a bit before removing from the muffin pan.  Enjoy!

Guacamole With Roasted Tomatillos and Chipotle Peppers

Melissa King 13 Comments

Living in the Dallas, TX area means one thing for food: there is never a shortage of Mexican food around (fajitas, beans, grilled peppers and onion, and the list goes on).

A favorite of mine is guacamole and this roasted tomatillo and chipotle pepper gaucamole is no exception. This gaucamole recipe adds a few more flavors to a traditional gaucamole, but I can promise it is delicious.

 

Homemade Guacamole with Roasted Tomatillos and Chipotle Peppers - My Whole Food Life

For those of you not familiar with Hispanic foods, guacamole is essentially mashed avocado with some spices and other veggies for flavor, namely tomato, onion, and garlic.

It’s meant to be used as a dip for chips or as a spread on sandwiches or tortillas.

We received a bunch of avocados and other Mexican veggies the other day with our organic co-op basket we order.  Two special things we got were tomatillos and smoked chipotle chiles which inspired the dish below.

Guacamole With Roasted Tomatillos and Chipotle Peppers

Guacamole With Roasted Tomatillos and Chipotle Peppers

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Prep Time 15 min Serves 4 servings     adjust servings

Ingredients

  • 4 avocados
  • 4 Tomatillos roasted
  • 4 cloves garlic roasted
  • 2 T chopped cilantro
  • 2 chipotle chilis
  • 1 small lime squeezed (We used an organic one and it was tiny)
  • 1/2 T cumin
  • 1/2 small red onion
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Remove the leafy outside of the tomatillos and rinse under some warm water to remove the sticky outside.
  2. Peel the garlic cloves as well, but leave them whole.
  3. Turn on your broiler in the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) and insert the tomatillos and garlic to roast. This should take about 5-7 minutes.
  4. Afterward, peel the avocado removing the dark green skin.
  5. Remove the pit (Quick tip here, if you store avocado with the pit after opening it, it will stay greener longer and keep longer).
  6. Put everything in the food processor including the garlic and tomatillos and mix/chop until right before the avocado is smooth as you want a bit of chunk to it.

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Recipe Notes

I wanted to note two things here. These chiles do have a bit of heat, so if you don’t like spicy foods, remove the pepper seeds from the dish. The seeds in peppers are where the real heat is. You remove the seeds and you get the same great smoky flavor without the heat (forgive the pun). Next, the acid from the tomatillos and lime will keep this dish very green. Avocado tends to turn dark green as it oxidizes. This dish stayed in our refrigerator for three days and looked as fresh as the day I made it. We ate these with our Healthy Corn Tortilla Chips. You can find that recipe here. Pretty amazing. I hope you enjoy this as much I did.

Quinoa Pine Nut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Melissa King 32 Comments

I love quinoa.  Up until now, I have always used it in savory recipes.  I had heard of people making cookies with it, so I wanted to try.  This is my first attempt and I think these quinoa pine nut and chocolate chip cookies came out pretty good. The earthiness of the pine nuts and the sweet bitterness of the chocolate combine really well with the sweetness of the dough. This chocolate chip cookie recipe is a must-try.

These cookies are hearty and high protein.  Quinoa is a great food for vegans because it is a complete protein..  One cup packs 8 grams of protein.  Also, when you add in the oats and pine nuts that is a heck of a lot of protein in these little cookies.  If you subbed the chocolate chips for dried fruits, you could probably make these a decent little breakfast cookie as well.  🙂  They are kid approved too.  Meadow has been sick the last few days, but she still taste tested them and gave her approval.  I swear that kid will eat anything in cookie or donut form.  For another cookie recipe, click here.

Quinoa Pine Nut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quinoa Pine Nut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 15 min Serves 18 cookies     adjust servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl .
  3. Mix the wet in a smaller bowl .
  4. Add the wet to the dry.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips and the toasted pine nuts.
  6. Drop cookies onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes. Enjoy!

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