Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Green Pancakes with Maple Cinnamon Apples

Happy St. Patty’s Day! I hope everyone remembered to wear their green today! We celebrated the day with some green pancakes. You can easily make your pancakes green by adding food coloring but I am all about keeping things natural so I used kale instead! This is my classic pancake recipe that I use all the time (minus the kale). It is so easy and versatile. I have made so many variations and they all turn out fluffy, moist, and delicious! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do!

St. Patty’s Day Green Pancakes with Maple Cinnamon Apples

by Katie Barlow

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Keywords: breakfast vegan nut-free pancakes apples St. Patrick’s Day

Ingredients (12-15 dollar sized pancakes)

For the maple cinnamon apples

• 1 large or 2 small apples, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• couple dashes cinnamon

For the pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
• Handful kale or spinach
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup
• 2/3 cup spelt flour
• 2/3 cup oat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the maple cinnamon apples

1. Place peeled and diced apples in a small saucepan and cover with water. Place pot over high heat and boil until apples are nice and soft, about twenty minutes or so.

2. Turn off the heat, drain the water, and add the maple syrup and cinnamon to the saucepan and mix well.

For the pancakes

1. Preheat your grilling pan.

2. While the apples are boiling, prepare the pancake batter by adding the non-dairy milk, handful of greens, coconut oil, and agave to a blender and blend until the greens are pureed.

3. To a large mixing bowl add the spelt flour, oat flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Pour in the “green milk” and mix well with a wisk.

4. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup spoon 1/4 cup of batter onto preheated grilling pan (grease pan first if needed). Fit as many pancakes as possible on your grilling pan and cook over medium heat until you start to see bubbles on the surface. Flip each pancake over and cook the other side until browned. Remove cooked pancakes to a plate and repeat Step 5 until all the batter as been used.

5. Serve hot with maple cinnamon apples.

Pesto Quinoa with Garbanzo Beans and Sundried Tomatoes

Hello Friends! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! I am visiting my parents up in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is my first weekend away from my daughter and I am having a variety of mixed feelings about it. Excited, nervous, sad, and freaked out to name a few! I know that Harper is in safe hands with her daddy and that it is good for her and daddy to spend some quality time together. It is definitely good for me to get some relaxing alone time as well! And you know what? So far so good! No meltdowns from daughter or mommy!

This pesto quinoa dish is one of my staples. I make it almost every week. It is so simple and absolutely delicious! Feel free to use your own recipe for pesto in place of mine!

Also, if you notice in the picture (sorry, I know it is not a great picture!)  that the sundried tomatoes I use are not bright red like the ones you buy in the store. That is because they are unsulfured sundried tomatoes. What keeps tomatoes bright red when they are dried is sulfur dioxide and I hate preservatives in my food so I order these ones from amazon. I get them in bulk so I always have yummy unsulfured dried tomatoes at my disposal to use in all kinds of recipes!

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do!

Pesto Quinoa with garbanzo beans and sundried tomatoes

by Katie Barlow

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: entree lunch side gluten-free soy-free sugar-free vegan vegetarian quinoa pesto

Ingredients (4 main servings or 8 side servings)

For the Pesto

• 3 large handfuls of basil leaves
• 3 large handfuls of spinach leaves
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1 cup good quality olive oil

For the Quinoa

• 4 cups of cooked quinoa
• 2 cups cooked or 1 can garbanzo beans
• Handful of unsulphured sundried tomatoes, soaked in boiling water to soften
• Pesto

Instructions

For the Pesto

Add the basil, spinach, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pine nuts or walnuts, and nutritional yeast (if using) to a food processor and process until finely ground.

With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil.

Taste and add more salt or lemon to taste.

For the quinoa

Finely chop the soaked sundried tomatoes.

In a large bowl, mix the cooked quinoa, cooked garbanzo beans, and chopped sundried tomatoes to a large bowl and mix together.

Add the pesto (I usually use the whole recipe but you can just add less if you prefer and save the rest to use as a spread or marinade in other dishes)

Mix to combine and enjoy!

Note: This dish is delicious hot or cold. If you prefer it warm make sure your quinoa is warm before mixing it with the other ingredients. If it is cold, preheat the quinoa separately before mixing it with the other ingredients.

Raw Taco Dip

Hi Friends! I hope everyone is enjoying their week. We adopted a puppy on Sunday so we have been very busy getting our new little girl and our other dog adjusted to each other and potty training the puppy. I forgot how much work a puppy is! But she is the sweetest thing and Daisy (that’s what we named her) and Chester (our other dog) are starting to get along great and the play like crazy!

This recipe is inspired by a good friend of mine. She made a version of this the other weekend and I was blown away at how delicious it was! I have to admit her dip was much richer and tastier than mine is and I suspect it was because the taco “meat” base was nuts. I wanted to make mine a little bit on the lighter side so I used mushrooms mixed with walnuts as my taco meat. Although not as rich as my friends dip I was still really happy with how this dip turned out and it tastes great with your favorite raw cracker, wrapped inside some romaine lettuce, or even with tortilla chips!

The sour cream is made with almonds and is so easy to make. Only two ingredients (plus salt)! And sour cream is great in so many different recipes, salad dressing, dips, ect! I used this sour cream the other day on my enchiladas (Recipe found here) and it tasted amazing!

Raw Taco Dip

by Katie Barlow

Prep Time: 30 minutes + 2 hours soaking time for the almonds

Keywords: raw appetizer lunch dinner gluten-free low-carb soy-free sugar-free vegan avocado mushrooms walnuts almonds

Ingredients (Serves 3 as a main or 8-12 as an appetizer)

For the almond sour cream

• 1 cup almonds, soaked for two hours or more
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the guacamole

• 4 avocados
• Lemon juice
• garlic powder
• green onions, minced
• parsley, minced
• salt
• tomatoes, chopped

For the raw taco meat

• 3 cups mushrooms, choose a variety!
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• Your favorite taco seasoning (I use the one from Trader Joes)
• Salt

Instructions

For the raw almond sour cream

Once the almonds have soaked a few hours, use your fingers to squeeze the almonds out of their skins. Removing the skins will make the sour cream look white and more authentic and will help get the almonds to that creamy, silky consistency.

Place the peeled almonds in a high speed blender (note: you can still make this without a high speed blender but you will not get the silky creamy consistency you would with one!).

Add 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Blend until creamy, adding more water if needed to get a good consistency. (Because the almonds were so soft from soaking, I noticed I did not need very much water!).

Taste, and add more apple cider vinegar or salt to taste if needed.

For the guacamole

Note I did not use measurements because everyone has such different tastes when it comes to guacamole!

Mash the avocados in a large bowl.

Add the lemon juice (I would start with 1/2 lemon)

Add the salt and garlic salt (I would start with 1/2 teaspoon of each)

Mix and taste ( I always end up adding more garlic salt and lemon. I really like very garlicky and lemony guacamole).

When you are satisfied with the amount of lemon and garlic and salt, add the parsley, green onion, and tomato and mix to combine. (I usually use a handful of parsley, 2-4 green onions, and 1 pretty large tomato because I like a lot of tomato mixed in my guacamole).

Mix to combine, taste and adjust ingredients to your liking.

For the raw taco meat

Place the mushrooms and walnuts in a food processor and process until finely ground.

Add the taco seasoning and salt to taste. (I usually start with 1 tablespoon taco seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon salt and always end up adding a little more of each)

Pulse to mix. Taste and add more seasoning and salt if needed.

To put together the raw taco dip

In a square pan, Spread the raw taco meat on the bottom.

top the raw taco meat with raw almond sour cream.

Top the raw almond sour cream with guacamole.

Serve with romaine lettuce leaves, raw crackers, or tortilla chips.

Kiwi Strawberry Chia Pudding

Hello Friends! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! My husband and daughter are having a daddy-daughter morning and are on a hike together. This means I have the morning to myself. Ahhhhhh. I have really come to enjoy these rare, peaceful moments in my life.

Today I bring you a recipe for chia pudding. If you do not know anything about chia seeds, here is a quick summary of their awesome properties:

1. They give you a ton of energy without spiking blood sugar and without that awful crash you feel from drinking coffee or eating something with a high sugar content.

2. They have tons of fiber, both soluble and insoluble, so they help you become more regular without leaving you with lots of gas that can come from eating too many raw vegetables and cooked beans.

3. When you mix chia seeds with water they become very gelatinous. This property makes them a great substitute for eggs in baking, thickeners in soups, and they make great puddings like the one below!

4. They have tons of anti-oxidants!

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of chia puddings. I think it is something about the texture and I was having a hard time finding a recipe that tasted truly delicious to me. However, I am not one to give up on something very easily, especially something this healthy! So, after several experiments I have found two recipes for chia pudding that I really like! One has chocolate in it (DUH!!) and the other is this kiwi strawberry chia pudding. It is rich, creamy, and full of bright and fresh flavor. And can you really go wrong when you mix kiwis together with strawberries?

 

Kiwi Strawberry Chia Pudding

by Katie Barlow

Prep Time: 5 minutes + 20 minute waiting

Keywords: raw breakfast dessert snack gluten-free low-carb low-sodium soy-free sugar-free vegan vegetarian chia

seeds strawberry kiwi spring summer

 

Ingredients (1 Serving)

• 3 Kiwis, peeled
• Handful of frozen or fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (from a can or homemade raw coconut milk)
• Honey, to taste
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds

Instructions

In a blender, puree together the kiwi, strawberries, and coconut milk.

Add honey to taste.

Add chia seeds and just pulse to combine.

Pour into a cup or bowl and let sit for about twenty minutes or longer in the fridge to allow the chia seeds to gel.

Enjoy!