Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted raw almonds

2 oz fresh basil

4 oz fresh spinach

8-14 cloves garlic 

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons salt

½ cup olive oil(plus more to adjust)

1) Blitz almonds by themselves in a food processor until fine.

2) Add remaining ingredients. Start with ½ cup of olive oil and drizzle in more as needed until a perfect thick-yet-spreadable texture is reached. Also since garlic cloves come in many sizes, start with 8 and see how it tastes before adding more.

3) Store for up to a week in the fridge.

This recipe is about as easy as it gets and delicious!

Ingredients:

Chicken (I usually use a package of 4-6 breasts but it can be whatever you like)

Jar of salsa (can be smaller or larger can depending how saucy you like things)

Shredded cheese (optional)

Rice or any sides you want (It goes really with Uncle Ben’s Spanish style rice)

Put chicken in a baking dish (I use a glass rectangular one) dump the jar of salsa over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 mins or until chicken is cooked. Take chicken out of oven and (if you want) cover with shredded cheese and either put it back in the oven for a couple minutes or just cover the dish for a few minutes to melt the cheese. I usually make Uncle Ben’s Spanish style rice to go with it but you can make any rice or any other veggies or sides you want. (You could also make the chicken in a slow cooker if you prefer).

I’ve been cooking this recipe for a very long time. I learned it from a friend, who learned it from a friend, whose mom taught him. This is the sauce you bust out to impress someone, but it’s not hard at all. It’s full of veggies and it’s really chunky and looks as amazing as it tastes. This recipe calls for a lot of chopping of vegetables, so you should be able to handle a knife. It’s vegan, and if you water saute and buy the salt free versions of the canned tomatoes, it is SOS (salt, oil, sugar) free. And you can use a gluten free pasta, as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 tall pot for the sauce, 1 pot for the pasta, a strainer for the pasta, a sharp knife and cutting board
• 1 pound (0.5 kg) box pasta of your choice (you don’t have to cook all of it, depends on how many people are eating. About a quarter of the box per person)
• 1 29 ounce (822 grams) can of tomato sauce (you can get salt free versions of all of these)
• 1 15 ounce (425 grams) can of diced tomatoes
• 1 8 ounce (226 grams) can of tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons (10mL) oil for sauteing (or water saute)
• 1 medium to large yellow or white onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (I love garlic so feel free to add more)
• 1 green bell pepper (capsicum)
• 1 yellow or orange bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper (some stores sell a package with all three colors together)
• 1 8 ounce (226 grams) box of mushrooms (sliced or whole)
• Seasoning: A jar of Italian herbs (or basil and oregano and rosemary and thyme)
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Chop all your vegetables first! The French have this thing called “mise en place” which means get all your prepwork done first and things will go a million times faster. 
• The onion and garlic are going in first, so dice them and set those aside. Clean and chop the bell peppers into fairly large pieces (about an inch square). Clean and slice the mushrooms (if you bought them whole). Open up all your cans and set those aside.
• Turn the stove onto medium high (8) and heat the oil. When it’s hot, add the onion and garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add the peppers and mushrooms (your pot is going to pretty full). Stir those around for a couple of minutes, getting them hot and softening them just a little. They’re going to cook in the sauce for a while and get soft anyway.
• Add the three cans of tomatoes. The paste is really thick and you’ll have to stir it to get it to mix in.
• Add the Italian seasonings, about 3 tablespoons of the blend or 1 tablespoon of each)
• Bring the sauce back up to a bubble and then lower the heat to about a (4) and simmer for a while. Twenty minutes is a good number. Keep an eye on it and stir it every few minutes so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
• Once it’s simmering, start the pasta according to the directions on the box. When it’s done, drain the pasta and you can eat!

Required:

* 1 can baked beans (any size or brand)

* water

Optional:

* 1 can meat (go for meat in water, not in any kind of gravy or sauce)

* dried onions (if you have the spoons, diced onion are great and caramelized onions are even better!)

* minced garlic

* salt and pepper

* brown sugar, bouillon, bbq sauce

Basic recipe is to dump beans into a cooking vessel and then add just enough water to thin it out without losing too much flavor. Heat it until hot. Enjoy.

If you want caramelized onions, do that first. Everything else can go in at the same time as the beans. 

If you add too much water, you can just let it simmer off the extra water. I usually just add some bouillon and brown sugar or bbq sauce. No matter what you add, start slow. 

I like to keep the basic ingredients on hand because this is my go to on a slow spoon day. 

I got this recipe here on YouTube and it’s called five minute curry, because they timed it, lol. It’s definitely easy, but they made it look a little dangerous, too. Best to take your time. But it is simple and it’s really good. I gave you bare bones and I added some extras, too. This is vegan and you can make it SOS free (no salt, oil or sugar).

• 1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed) (no/low salt if you prefer)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (no salt if you prefer)
• 1 can coconut milk (low fat if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons oil to saute (or water saute if you’re oil free)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of Garlic (or add 2 tsp powdered to the Cumin and Curry)
• 1 tablespoon Cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon Curry powder
• salt to taste (or omit and/or salt when serving)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Saute the diced onion and chopped garlic in the oil or water in a pan. Add the cumin and curry (and garlic powder) and black pepper to the pan and stir, to warm up the spices. Then add the three cans, and the salt and you’re done!

fBut! If you want to get fancy, add the following spices when you add the cumin and curry:

• 1 teaspoon ginger powder (or a thumb of chopped ginger when you saute the onion)
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika

and then if you want:

• throw in a handful of greens (kale or spinach or parsley or cilantro)

This can be served with rice or couscous or quinoa, so get that going before you start this. If you measure out all your spices before you begin it’s super quick, but if you have time, let the whole thing simmer for about 20 minutes (or until your grain is done.)

This probably seems super easy, but since I live in a college dorm I was blown away when I realized I could do this. 1 serving banana smoothie, no blender required! (I would suggest using browning bananas for ease of mashing though)

What you need:

• bowl or wide cup
• fork
• spoon
• plastic bag
• banana (as many as you want your smoothie to be)
• milk (I prefer to use almondmilk for this)
• honey
• ice

What to do:

1. Peel your banana and cut it up into the cup/bowl. Use your fork and spoon (whichever is easier) and mash the banana into babyfood consistency.
2. Add milk a little at a time, stirring and mashing like mad.
3. Add a little bit of honey for some extra sweetness, then keep mashing and stirring. Get out all the lumps!
4. Fill the plastic bag with ice. Smash the heck out of that ice bag until the ice is finely crushed.
5. Add some of the ice to your smoothie and stir it up. This is if you want it immediately, you could also just stick it in the fridge for an hour or two for the same effect.
6. Enjoy!

Vegan Keto Eggnog Bread Pudding (gluten-free, nut-free)

Vegan Keto Eggnog Bread Pudding (gluten-free, nut-free)

Hello, friends! It’s late December and I hope you’re feeling as festive as I am. “Festive” to me means baking vegan keto versions of all my favorite holiday treats and this week I’m tackling bread pudding. I know what you must be thinking – “but isn’t bread pudding mainly made up of bread…and eggs? How can this be remotely low carb or vegan?” And yes, yes it is. Fortunately, there’s a…

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I’ve been spicing up my dinner routine lately with this Low Carb Vegan Mediterranean Noodles & Lupini Beans dish! It just so happens to be gluten free, keto friendly, soy free and low-FODMAP!

Do you ever see a new food somewhere, and then suddenly it’s all over the place? That happened to me with lupini beans. I saw them as a snack in the hippie section of my local grocery store and was really excited about the fact that they boast 7g of protein and 0g net carbs per serving. That’s a pretty solid profile for adding in some much needed protein to a vegan keto diet. A few days later, I…

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