Tag: easy vegan recipes

Vegan Food

Easy Homemade Vegan Bread

Samantha

Bread. My worst frenemy. I love it so much, but my hips feel otherwise. I don’t normally eat sandwich bread (lies, because avocado toast is now my new best friend), and the one time I hoard bread in my cheeks like a hamster is at Italian restaurants. So we made pasta one night and I thought, hey, why not make some bread, instead of going to the store to buy some with ingredients I don’t know about? My quest filled my home with the heavenly aroma of fresh baked bread. I know you smell it as I read it and want your home to smell the same too. Well do it. If the bread doesn’t come out great, at least you can thank it for the heavenly scents. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

VEGAN HOMEMADE BREAD – WHAT YOU NEED

DIRECTIONS

  1. Prep one half of your work surface with a dusting of flour
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and yeast
  3. Put your wooden spoon in the middle of the bowl and create a medium-sized hole–fill this hole with the water and the oil
  4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and work the mixture into a large ball
  5. Put your dough ball on the surface covered with flour
  6. Grease your second large bowl in preparation for the dough
  7. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes then place the dough in your greased bowl, loosely cover it with a thin towel or tea towel and let it rest for about 2 hours
  8. After 1.5-2 hours, preheat your oven to 375 degrees, then knead the dough on your floured work surface until you remove all the air bubbles
  9. Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside and the other half in your pan and into the oven once preheated
  10. Bake for 40 minutes
  11. Once this roll is ready, let it cool on a rack and use the same pan for your second roll of dough
  12. Voila! Enjoy with vegan butter.

Question of the Day

What is your guys’ favorite baked bread?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Food, weight loss

An Easy (Healthy) Vegan Meal – Avocado Toast

Samantha

Eating out as a vegan usually isn’t hard, but it can be boring, especially in your run-of-the-mill brunch places. My husband and I are fancy, yes, but we aren’t brunch fancy. Don’t get me wrong, I still drink my Evian with my pinky up 😉

I digress. We went to brunch with our lovely neighbors to switch it up (hi neighbors!) and it was a great time! Especially since I had more options than just oatmeal or a side of potatoes. On the menu was (drum roll please) avocado toast! Sorry for the spoiler.

Now believe it or not, but I may be the only vegan on the planet who has never eaten avocado toast. I can hear your gasp, I know. Well, I dove right into the millennial hype and had some and I gotta say, it was ah-may-zing. So I set out to recreate it. Here my friends, is my gift to you: healthy avocado toast.

Healthy Vegan Avocado Toast – What You Need

  • 1 slice of bread (toasted to your preference)
  • 1 tsp of vegan butter
  • 1/2 to 1/4 (depending on the size) of a soft avocado
  • 3-5 grape or cherry tomatoes
  • Everything But the Bagel (EBTB) Seasoning
  • 1/4 of a lemon
  • Red pepper flakes (optional)
  • A handful of arugula (optional)

Directions

  1. Toast your bread
  2. As your bread toasts:
    1. Cut your avocado in half and save the other half or the other quarter (depending on how big your avocado is)
    2. Cut your lemon into a quarter (you’ll only need a pinch, so you’ll end up saving the whole lemon)
    3. Half your cherry or grape tomatoes
  3. Once your bread pops up, spread a bit of your favorite vegan butter (you only need a bit)
  4. Dice your avocado and smush it onto the toast and press down throughout with a fork (really smash it in there)
  5. Top with a handful of arugula and also press that in with your fork.
  6. Top with your grape tomatoes (cut side up for artistic effect and to impress your friends)
  7. Sprinkle EBTB Seasoning on top
  8. Sprinkle with some red pepper flakes (if you like if spicy)
  9. Squeeze a bit of your lemon across the top of your avocado toast
  10. Enjoy!

Question of the Day

Have you tried avocado toast? If so, do you top it with balsamic vinaigrette? What are your favorite toppings?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Food

Healthy Vegan Dessert Recipe: Frozen Berry Pie

Samantha

Fourth of July is tomorrow, which means a spread of red, white and blue indulgences on the picnic table. It’s the night before your soiree and you’ve nothing to bring. Well I have you covered. At most, this takes <10 minutes to make, but about 4 hours to set in the freezer so be sure to make this easy vegan dessert at least the morning of if not the night before your July 4th party or get together.

Growing up, my house was literally behind a theme park. Not right behind…but it wouldn’t be far from the truth for me to say that we could hear the screams from the roller coaster #funtimes. One of the perks of living so close to a theme park was the free, unobstructed fireworks shows, and that was the extent of our July 4th celebrations. I always envisioned myself as that single boss-lady who threw Pinterest-style parties that were so on theme. Enter: Frozen Berry Pie. Let me tell you that I 100% envisioned this to be a layered “red-ish”, blue and white frozen pie…but that it 100% turned into a purple mush. HOWEVER, the star sprinkles saved me. None the less, it tasted good and thought it was worth a share. Forewarning though, when you go to buy your ingredients, make sure the star sprinkles are at the top of your list–they’ll save you.

Vegan Frozen Berry Pie – What You Need

  • Two large bowls
  • 1 cup frozen wild blueberries (thawed)
  • 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
  • 1 small cup (usually 5.3 oz) of vegan blueberry yogurt (I opted for Forager)
  • 1 small cup (usually 5.3 oz) of vegan strawberry yogurt (I opted for Forager)
  • 1 tub of cocowhip lite
  • 1 pre-baked graham cracker crust (while not healthy, the Keebler Graham Cracker Crust is vegan, although it does have palm oil in it…)
  • Vegan whipped cream
  • …and lastly, STAR SPRINKLES

Directions

  1. In one bowl, add the thawed wild berries, the blueberry yogurt and half of the cocowhip and fold them all together
  2. In the other bowl, add the strawberry slices, the strawberry yogurt and the rest of the cocowhip and fold them all together
  3. In your graham cracker crust, pour the strawberry mixture then even out the top
  4. Slowly pour in the blueberry mixture being careful to not let it blend with the strawberry base if you can
  5. Top with sprinkles
  6. Let freeze for at least 4 hours
  7. Once it’s set, top with whipped cream, more sprinkles, and serve!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite pie? Do you have a no-bake one?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Food

Vegan S’mores Dip – Easy Vegan Dessert

Samantha

I was watching Ayesha Curry’s cooking show on Hulu (how cute is she btw) and she created this S’mores Dip literally 10 minutes before serving it. I don’t know if it was TV magic but she left the dinner table and minutes later, came back with a S’mores dip fresh out of the oven. Well dang, I decided to test if it was TV magic or not and decided it to try the S’mores Dip magic on my in-laws during a late Father’s Day celebration. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t TV magic. It really is that simple!

For you readers in the United States, 4th of July is right around the corner and S’Mores is about as American as one can get. You need this on your picnic table (be sure to use a coaster for pans!) Try it out and let me know if it was just as easy for ya’ll!

Vegan S’Mores Dip – What You Need

  • 1 cast iron skillet (I used small skillet)
  • 1 bag of vegan chocolate chips
  • 1 bag of vegan marshmallows (I used Dandies Marshmallows. I think the minis work better than the larger ones)
  • Vegan graham crackers
  • 1 tbsp Vegan butter

Directions

  1. Place your skillet in the oven and preheat your oven to 450 F.
  2. While the oven preheats, bring out all your ingredients and prep the graham crackers by breaking them in half and prepping your presentation plate.
  3. Once the oven is preheated, carefully pull the cast iron skillet out of the oven and place on a heat pad. Add the tbsp of vegan butter and spread it around the pan.
  4. Add enough chocolate chips to cover the bottom of the pan.
  5. Optional: Mix in a bit of nut butter.
  6. Add enough marshmallows to create an even layer atop the chocolate – no chocolate should peek through!
  7. Optional: Sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon atop the marshmallow.
  8. Place the skillet back into the oven for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven (keep an eye on the marshmallow to see that it gets golden)
  9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Serve immediately after with your graham crackers.
  10. Enjoy!

Question of the Day

What’s your go to backyard BBQ vegan dish to make or eat?

Vegan Cruelty Free, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Food

Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones

Samantha

Do you ever walk into a Starbucks coffee shop and just ogle the baked goods case, because girl you know I do, and 0/10 something entices me…mostly because there’s absolutely 0 things vegan and partly because ya girl is trying to lost some L Bs.

I was working out of our Chicago office one day and a scone was calling my name when I went to get my latte. And so, the vegan orange cranberry scones below were born and let me tell you, ya’ll will take one taste and thank me. Not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but I verbally said I’m proud of myself after I tasted this scone so if you need a nice little self-esteem boost, make these vegan scones stat. It also works as a quick and easy vegan breakfast recipe or vegan dessert recipe.

Vegan Orange Cranberry Scones – What You Need

  • 1 medium sized orange (for zest and 2 tbsp of juice)
  • 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached All-purpose Flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup vegan sugar (I used Truvia and don’t care for the after taste, so I would recommend another vegan sugar of your choice)
  • 3 twists of salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk – be sure to not use the low-fat one
  • 1 cup dried cranberries (or cherries would work well in this too)
  • 1 9-inch circular baking tray

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar)
  2. Add in the orange zest and add in 2 tbsp of orange juice
  3. Melt the coconut oil and stir it into your dough
  4. Stir in coconut milk
  5. Fold in the dried cranberries and mix until combined.
  6. Move the dough into your baking tray, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes
  7. Preheat the oven to 400F
  8. Pull the tray out of the fridge and draw a knife through the dough to make even triangles
  9. Bake for 30 minutes, then cool for 10 minutes

The scones came out nice and soft and somewhat crumbly, and one will certainly fill you up!

If you try these, let us know what you think!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite vegan baked good?