Seasoned Brown Gravy

By: Elizabeth Beals

This gravy is very simple to make and can be used for many different meals. My favorite way to enjoy gravy is still with mashed potatoes. Or I will make my Shepherd's pie which is a comfort food filled with veggies, topped with creamy mashed potatoes. Cover all that with gravy and you have a wonderful and very filling meal. It's healthy too!

You will need: 

a small sauce pan

1 cup water

1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Amino 

1 tablespoon Poultry Seasoning

2 tablespoons corn starch 

1 tablespoon cold water

1. Mix corn starch and cold water together, set aside.

2. Bring water, Bragg's and poultry seasoning to a boil in the small sauce pan.

3. Lower the heat to simmer and slowly stir in the corn starch and water mixture. You may not use it all, it will depended on how thick you like your gravy.

4. Take off heat once the gravy has thickened. 

Serve and enjoy.

Vegan Super Bowl Snacks

By: Genevieve Melzer

It's that time of year again football season is coming to a close and the Super Bowl is upon us. I have been to countless Super Bowl parties and had to navigate through the dishes because so many of them revolve around meat and cheese.

I usually end up only eating cut up vegetables with no dip and chips. This year is going to be different because no longer do us vegans have to miss out on delicious signature Super Bowl dishes we can make them vegan and healthy.

I have wanted to make my own version of hot wings with cauliflower instead of chicken for a long time now and what a perfect excuse but for the Super Bowl.

Cauliflower Hot Wings

You will need:
1 medium to large head of cauliflower
12 oz. hot wing sauce (I used Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, as it was the only one that didn’t have butter flavoring or egg yolk, feel free to make your own if you have the time)

Warning: The sauce I picked is incredibly spicy, not for the faint of heart!

1. In a large pot boil water.
2. Cut cauliflower so that florets are separated from stalk and discard.
3. Place all florets into the boiling water, boil for 10 minutes.
4. Drain cauliflower and set aside, pour hot wing sauce into a medium saucepan and put heat on low.
5. When the sauce is warm, using tongs grab cauliflower florets and place into the sauce, move around so all sides are touched by the sauce. After 1-2 minutes take cauliflower pieces out of the sauce and set in a bowl.
6. After all cauliflower florets have been in the sauce. Pour leftover sauce all over them. Serve and enjoy!

Another Super Bowl recipe that that I changed from its original version is oven-baked pickles instead of deep fried pickles. Deep-friend pickles are usually made with some sort of dairy and deep-fried to perfection. In my recipe I have discarded the dairy and I baked the pickles instead of deep-frying them because baking them is healthier.

Oven-Baked Pickles

You will need:
8 oz of dill, sliced pickles (I used the pickles they call “bread & butter” pickles)
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Nutritional Yeast

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a baking sheet with oil (olive or other)
3. Place pickle slices on sheet, so they aren’t touching.
4. Generously sprinkle sliced pickles with salt, pepper, garlic powder and nutritional yeast.
5. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, serve and enjoy.

I hope you enjoy my recipes and the big game. Try creating your own vegan Super Bowl snacks for this year’s big game. You can really recreate any traditional recipe and make it vegan and not lose the flavor. Eat, drink and have fun this Super Bowl Sunday!

Healthy, Vegan Pancakes

By: Genevieve Melzer

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I usually end up eating oatmeal nearly every morning, because it’s very healthy and fuels me for many hours. But sometimes I feel like shaking things up and eating something different.

I wish pancakes or French toast could fuel me the same way oatmeal did. I started to research healthy pancake recipes on Pinterest and came across some healthy, easy to make pancake recipes using bananas, oatmeal and egg whites. As soon as I saw this I got to thinking, can I make a healthy vegan pancake without using egg whites?

I rated the kitchen cabinets and found a few key ingredients and thought this will work. So I attempted my own creation…healthy, vegan pancakes. No longer do we have to miss out on delicious pancake breakfasts.

You will need:
2 bananas
2/3 cup of oats
1 cup almond milk (option: can use coconut milk, flax milk, rice milk)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons agave
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup gluten-free all purpose flour

Combine all ingredients into a Naturibullet or blender and blend on high until all ingredients are blended together.

Oil your griddle or large skillet with coconut oil or other oil. Turn heat on medium and let pan get hot. Pour ½ cup of mixture onto the griddle. When the mixture starts to bubble from the heat of the griddle flip it, usually 30 seconds- 60 seconds. Let other side cook for 30-60 seconds then remove from pan.

Pancakes will be golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is used. This recipe makes 6-8 pancakes.

Top your pancakes with any of the following:
Earth balance (vegan butter), jam, maple syrup, fruit, almond butter, apple sauce, vegan chocolate chips…or whatever you love to put on your pancakes.

After making these pancakes I realized what an easy recipe this was and how easy the pancakes were to make. I remember as a kid, my mom slaving away making pancakes and this recipe seemed so much easier. By blending the ingredients together you save so many steps.

I also felt this recipe was less messy than other times I have made pancakes; I barely had any clean-up which was nice.

This recipe would be a fun and easy recipe to make with kids and a healthy alternative to conventional pancakes.

These healthy, vegan pancakes look and taste just like regular pancakes…but you don’t feel guilt eating them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

5 Steps for Losing Weight in 2015

By: Genevieve Melzer

Every year we all make New Year’s resolutions many of them are about getting healthy and losing weight.

It’s the middle of January and some New Year’s resolutions have already been broken, but it’s not too late to stick with them. January is the perfect month to get motivated and say “this is the year I’m finally going to get the body I have always dreamed of.”

It is never too late to follow your dreams and stick to your goals. Losing weight can be a daunting task; if you have a lot to lose it can even seem impossible. But if you choose to make small changes in your life you will start to see big results. Follow these 5 steps and see your life change in front of your eyes.

1. First clean out your kitchen, get rid of anything that is unhealthy for you, anything you binge on. For me it was potato chips I knew I had to get them out of the house, because once the bag opens I would have to finish it. By removing any unhealthy/binge foods you won’t have the temptation to eat them every time you are in your kitchen.

2. Plan out your meals in advance every week. If you plan out your meals then you will be less likely to deviate and eat unhealthy foods. We tend to eat unhealthy when we are tired from our work day and just want something fast. If your meals are planned out you know exactly what you are to eat and when. Another tip to help you stick with this is making all your food in advance; cook all your food for the week on Sunday.

3. Portion size is key. America is known for huge portion sizes which leads to us overeating. If you eat the correct portion of protein, veggies, carbohydrate, etc. you will start to see weight lose because you will only be giving your body what it needs.

4. Therapy! It doesn’t matter how big or small you are everyone can benefit from therapy. If you are carrying around baggage about whatever happened to you in your life, you have to deal with it. Sooner or later everything catches up to you and if you don’t work through your baggage it can manifest itself into others things including your weight.

5. Start an exercise plan. Whether it walking, yoga, Pilates, running, etc. start an exercise plan where you are held accountable. Maybe start with a friend so you are more likely to stick with it because your friend is there to push you. You have to get active if you want to lose weight, start off slow and build on your exercise program.

If you stick with these 5 steps you will start to see positive changes with your weight and your life. These 5 steps will get you on the right path and lead you where you want to go.

Kid Friendly, Mother approved Mac and "Cheese"

This was last year's garlic and my dog Luke                        

That same garlic you saw with Luke

 By: Elizabeth Beals

I have been a fan of mac-n-cheese for as long as I can remember. Homemade, gourmet, or the cheap blue box, you know the one, it didn't matter I ate it all. I love the rich, creamy sauce over what else, pasta! It just didn't love me back. So began my quest for a healthy mac-n-cheese. Little did I know how rough of a start it would be. After many months of trying this recipe and that, I cooked a few veggies and blended them together with some spices. Amazingly, I wound up with a thick rich "cheese sauce" to pour over veggies, rice, or whatever pasta I like. So far, my favorite is brown rice pasta, it doesn't fall apart on you.

Brown Rice pasta

What you will need: A medium sauce pan and a blender.

Ingredients:

1 medium white onion, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped 1/2 cup to 1 cup

1/2 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped (save the other half for mash potatoes with a brown gravy)

4 cups veggie broth

1 heaping tablespoon garlic, minced

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 heaping tablespoon nutritional yeast (more or less if you like)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place onion, carrot, cauliflower and veggie broth in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook covered for 15 min or until you can easily pierce the cauliflower with a knife.

2. Spoon out the cooked veggies into the blender. Don't toss the veggie broth yet, you will need a cup or so to thin the cheese sauce. Add the garlic, turmeric, mustard powder, and nutritional yeast. Close the blender and cover with a towel, just in case. Blend until smooth adding broth until you reach the consistency you want. I use about a cup of broth. 

3. Pour over you favorite pasta, rice or veggies and serve while hot. 

 

Cauliflower, Carrots, and Onions I swear