Category Archives: Sauces

Easy Roasted Garlic Marinara (Oil-Free)

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I’ve tried a lot of marinara recipes but this one is my absolute favorite! That’s it, I’m never making another one again! This is really easy to make and the roasted garlic is a nice touch! Plus it freezes nicely. My toddler loved this too!

In an effort to reduce my pasta intake, I mixed the sauce with beans and pasta and served it over spinach (I got the idea from Melomeals!). It was delish!!!

Roasted Garlic Marinara with beans and pasta over spinach

Original recipe is from Melomeals… I changed it a bit to make it oil-free and a bit lower sodium.

Roasted Garlic Marinara

  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (for roasting the garlic)
  • 10 cloves garlic sliced
  • 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (I did less to make it toddler friendly)
    • 1 t marjoram
    • 1 t rosemary
    • 2 t dried basil
    • 2 T balsamic vinegar (for deglazing)
    • 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I used no-salt added canned tomatoes)
    • 28 oz can diced tomatoes with their liquid (I used tetra packed tomatoes)
    • Salt/Pepper to taste
    • 1 c fresh basil or parsley
    • 1 carrot, shredded (add to cut acidity instead of sugar)

    Method:

    1. In a cold pan place the balsamic vinegar and garlic in the pan. Turn heat to low and slowly caramelize the garlic This took me about 25-30 minutes.
    2. When garlic is golden and fragrant, turn heat up to medium and add the spices.
    3. Cook spices for 1 minutes, then deglaze with balsamic vinegar
    4. Add tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cover for 20 minutes
    5. Taste and adjust seasonings, stir in fresh herbs
    6. If the sauce is too acidic, add 1 shredded carrot or 2 t sugar (I added a shredded carrot)

    Roast garlic

    Add spices then tomatoes, simmer

    Add fresh basil

    Add carrot to cut acidity

    Yum!

     

Oil-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette

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This is a great oil-free dressing with lots of lemon zing to it!

Salad with No-Oil Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

* 1 Tbsp parsley

* 1 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped

* 1 Tbsp shallot, finely chopped

* 1/2 cup raspberry vinegar

* 2 tsp Dijon mustard, grainy style (I like the Trader Joe’s brand one)

* I add a teeny bit of Stevia to sweeten it up a bit

Directions:

* Blend all ingredients together until smooth, season to taste. I used my Magic Bullet to make this, so easy!

Makes about 1 cup

Blend all ingredients

Yum!

Oil-Free Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (AND Plant-Based RD info for you!)

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Ever since we watched the movie Planeat, I’ve been on a quest for a good oil-free hummus! I’ve been making these Kale Sandwiches from that movie about every other day, they’re so good! (Terrible picture, sorry! I was too busy eating the hummus to take a good pic!)

Kale Sandwich with Oil-Free Hummus

If you haven’t already read, we are trying to eliminate all added oils from our diet in an effort to “kick it up a notch” in the health department. I’ve been working with a fabulous plant-based registered dietician, her name is Elisa Rodriguez, RD, LDN and she’s available for online consultations through her website EatUrVeggies.com. So if you’re looking to get your health on track I HIGHLY recommend her!

I used up about 6 cups of chickpeas trying to create a tasty oil-free hummus recipe, this one was a hit!

Oil-Free Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

* 2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked in pressure cooker (You could use about 3 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed)

* Juice of 3 lemons, zest of 1 (Hey, I like lemon!)

* 2 roasted red peppers – I used roasted red peppers from a jar (COSTCO) and they were HUGE so maybe use a few more if they are small

* 2 pinches of sumac – great touch but if you don’t have any don’t worry

* 1/2 – 1 tsp salt, to taste

* 1/3-1/2 cup bean cooking liquid (Save from pressure cooking beans) OR use canned bean liquid OR water

* Handful of parsley, to taste

Blend in food processor until smooth and enjoy on sandwiches, pita chips, veggies and whatever else you like!

Yummy!

Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing

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I’ve been making this for years, tastes just like the real thing! This makes an excellent dip for veggies, salad dressing and anything else you top with ranch! My hubby likes it on his pizza. I recently served this with No-Buffalo Nuggets… Delish!!

No-Buffalo Nuggets with Vegan Ranch Dressing

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup vegan mayonnaise

* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

* 2 teaspoons parsley, chopped – I usually used dried parsley, turns out great!

* 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk (I star with 1/4 cup and add to make it thinner, depends on what I’m using it for – dip vs. dressing)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Whisk all ingredients together (or just put all ingredients into a container and shake until mixed) and chill before serving. Add a little more soy milk if you need to thin dressing.

Put all ingredients into a container, close and shake!

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No-Buffalo Nuggets

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These are so easy to make and really good! I love the taste of spicy buffalo sauce so when I saw these I had to try them! My hubby wanted a “football watching snack” too so the timing was perfect. Our toddler loved these too! I didn’t add any Frank’s Hot Sauce to hers, she’s not to that level of spice yet! Serve these with a side of Vegan Ranch Dressing.

No-Buffalo Nuggets

I found the nugget recipe on Babble.

3 Ingredient Vegan Buffalo Nuggets
vegan, makes 15 bites/nuggets

1 1/4 cups of GimmeLean Vegan Sausage (comes in a tube – fridge section of grocery store)
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp hot sauce — I like Frank’s Hot Sauce
for saute: 2 Tbsp safflower oil

swap spicy for sweet: substitute sweet BBQ sauce or ketchup for the hot sauce if you don’t want the bites too hot!

Directions:

1. Gather your ingredients. Heat the safflower oil in a sauté pan over med-high heat.
2. Tear your sausage into tiny nuggets – they don’t have to be evenly shaped (unless you’d like to roll them into nice balls or pound into nugget shapes).
3. When the oil is hot, quickly roll each sausage nugget in the Panko and place in the sizzling hot oil. Continue doing this until the pan is filled. Allow each nugget to sauté for about 2 minutes on each side. You want the Panko crumb to crisp and brown and saturate with the oil so that they are no longer a white color — but now a caramel brown.
4. When your nuggets are evenly cooked, and the oil mostly absorbed/cooked off. Turn the heat off and add in your hot sauce in a casual ‘splashy’ way. You want a nice splash of sauce to accent ( but not overly saturate) each of the bites. Toss the nuggets in the still hot pan with the sauce as they sizzle and cook.
5. Serve hot.

Easy ingredients!

Cut up or tear bite sized pieces of Gimme Lean Sausage

Coat each piece with panko breadcrumbs

Cook until brown on both sides

Okay, so a few of them are a little TOO brown but they were still good!

Add hot sauce and toss

Serve with Vegan Ranch Dressing

Spicy Sweet Cranberry Chutney (Great on oatmeal!)

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Just in time for your holiday meal! This cranberry chutney is really good and would be an excellent addition to any holiday dish – any dish for that matter! This recipe was written to go with seitan. We ordered Indian food last night and added it to that, it was delish! I don’t make things like this often so this was a real treat! (Trying to reduce the amount of sugar I use in my recipes.) This freezes well too.

*UPDATE* I recently made a batch of this with 1/4 tsp Stevia instead of sugar and it turned out great! I’ve been adding it to my daughter’s oatmeal. She loves it!

Spicy Sweet Cranberry Chutney

This is another awesome recipe from Melomeals, of course! 🙂

Cranberry Chutney

  1. 2 c cranberries
  2. 2 apples – I used organic Gala apples 
  3. 2 Serrano chilies – I deseeded mine
  4. 1 T chopped fresh ginger – I love ginger so I added 1 extra Tbsp
  5. Juice of 2 oranges
  6. 2 3 inch pieces of orange zest
  7. 1/2 c apple cider vinegar
  8. 1 t cinnamon
  9. 1 1/4 c sugar – Use 1 cup of raw sugar OR use 1/4-1/2 tsp Stevia 
  10. 1/2 t salt
Instructions:
  1. Place in saucepan and cover. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or so. Stir often.
  2. If you want to tone it down, remove the serrano chilies and reduce ginger to 1 teaspoon.  If you don’t have oranges you can use water or any fruit juice you have around.

Place all ingredients into saucepan and cover. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes

Stir often

All done!