Category Archives: Soy-Free

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

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I used to make cauliflower with olive oil, rosemary, 16 cloves of garlic (yes, 16!) and salt but since I’ve stopped using added oils and salt I’ve had to find new recipes. This soup turned out really good! It’s nice and creamy yet dairy-free, oil-free and very low salt (depending on what you decide to use for broth). The cashews are an excellent addition. Our toddler loved this soup!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

The original recipe is from Healthy Blender Recipes. I added lemon thyme, black pepper and cayenne sprinkled on top. I chose buckwheat for my grain since that’s what I had on hand for the day.

  • 8 cups of strong vegetable broth – I used half low-sodium veggie broth/half water
  • Leftover bean cooking liquid for sautéing OR just use water if you’re trying to stay oil-free (Olive oil if you’re not) **NOTE: I save the leftover bean cooking liquid from my pressure cooker and use it in place of oil in recipes… works great and it’s much better for you! I use mostly chickpea 🙂
  • 1 whole head of garlic roasted
  • The white part of 2-3 leeks washed and chopped
  • 1 large head of cauliflower chopped
  • 1/2 tsp dried lemon thyme (or regular thyme is fine)
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews (you could also use raw blanched almonds) – soaked in hot water for around 20 minutes
  • 4 Tbsp chives chopped finely to garnish
  • cayenne pepper to serve on top
  • white or black pepper, to taste
  • organic brown rice, quinoa or millet to serve – I served with buckwheat
  1. Place the whole head of garlic unpeeled in an oven at 400 F for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. (This makes the house smell REALLY GOOD!)
  2. In a large saucepan fry the leek in a little bean cooking liquid until soft. (About 3 minutes)
  3. Add in the cauliflower and stir for a couple of minutes until well coated. Squeeze in the roasted garlic pulp.
  4. Cover with the vegetable broth/water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a medium flame, and simmer partially covered for about 30 minutes until the cauliflower is soft.
  5. Let the mixture cool enough to put batches in the blender (I like to use a Vitamix), and puree with the cashews until smooth and creamy.
  6. Transfer to a clean pot and heat on low to serve. Season with salt (if you wish) and white or black pepper, to taste.
  7. To serve – top each bowl with a grain ball and a generous sprinkle of chives. Top with a little cayenne pepper.

This soup serves six people and makes really great leftovers!

Saute leeks in leftover bean liquid

Add cauliflower and roasted garlic

Add broth, bring to a boil and simmer half-covered for 30 minutes

Time to blend soup with cashews!

Yummy!!

Lentil Quinoa Stew with Red Chard

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This is one of our new favorites FOR SURE! My hubby loved it and so did our toddler, she ate two bowls! I reduced the amount of spice for her and I have to admit, I was a little surprised she ate so much because it still had quite a kick!

The original recipe is from Melody from Melomeals – I made a few changes to make it a wee bit healthier.

This recipe calls for her Goaty Cashew Cheeze and Easy Garlic-Roasted Marinara Sauce (Oil-Free) so if you just made the sauce from my post yesterday… save some for this! The Goaty Cashew Cheeze is excellent to have on hand so whip up a batch of that tonight so it will be ready to use!

I’ve learned a ton from Melody’s website! She uses a few base recipes to make a bunch of different dishes, all delicious!

This stew is nice and thick, perfect for turning into burgers!! I mixed 1 cup of the leftover soup with 3/4 cup rolled oats and 1 Tbsp flax meal. It’s sitting in my fridge tonight and will make perfect burgers tomorrow! I think I’ll wrap them in collard greens, that sounds delish! Here’s the “How to Make Burgers Out Of Leftover Soup” recipe if you need a reference.

Lentil Quinoa Stew with Red Chard

  • Water or broth for sautéing
  • 1 tsp good quality Italian Seasoning
  • 1/4 – 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (omit if you don’t like hot – I only used a few dashes and it was a little spicy but good)
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 3 c cooked lentils – I used 2 cans of Lower Sodium Organic Black Lentils, rinsed well (Sprouts sells them)
  • 3 cup water or broth – I used water
  • 2 cup Easy Garlic-Roasted Marinara Sauce (A MUST!)
  • 3 Cup greens of choice, chopped – I used a whole bunch of red chard, stems included
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms – I used one whole package of sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 – 4 Tbsp Goaty Cashew Cheeze (I used 4Tbsp)
  • 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp t lemon zest (I zest all citrus before using and freeze it!)
  • Pepper to taste
Method:
  1. Saute dried spices, onions, chopped chard stems and garlic for 3 minutes
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the chard leaves, balsamic vinegar, Goaty Cashew Cheeze, nutmeg, lemon zest and pepper – cover and bring to a boil for 15 minutes
  3. Remove lid, add chopped chard leaves and cover, cook for a few minutes or until chard wilts
  4. Take off heat, stir in vinegar, goat cheese, nutmeg, zest and add pepper to taste

Saute onions, garlic and chard stems with red pepper flakes and italian seasoning

Add selected ingredients (I messed up and added the Cheeze early but it was still good!)

Add chard leaves

Add balsamic, Goaty Cheeze, fresh nutmeg, lemon zest and pepper

Enjoy!!!

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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!

Kale Lemon Sandwiches

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My hubby and I both agreed that these are one of the best veggie sandwiches we’ve ever had!

Kale Lemon Sandwiches

This recipe is from the online movie Planeat. We REALLY enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it to anyone who likes food movies.

Kale Lemon Sandwiches

Ingredients:

  • 4 slices Mestemacher of Feldcamp (Whole Foods) or any whole grain bread – I’ve used squaw bread from Sprouts or Ezekiel sprouted bread
  • 1 bunch of kale, chopped in bite sized pieces (remove thick stem) or Swiss Chard or greens of choice (4 cups or more) – I use kale (Lacinato)
  • hummus without tahini (easy to make blending  a base of chick peas, lemon and garlic then adding to taste cumin, vinegar, red peppers, parsley or cilantro
  • Green onions chopped  (1 per slice of bread) – Red onion is good too!!
  • 1/2 to 1 bunch cilantro or parsley, chopped – I use cilantro
  • 1/2- 1 lemon, center part VERY, VERY thinly sliced and the ends squeezed and zested – I love lemon so I use extra
  • 1 large tomato, sliced in 4 thick slices (optional)
  • Broccoli sprouts (optional but good!)
  • Black pepper, to taste
  1. Toast bread well.  If using Mestemacher or a rye or pumpernickel double or even triple toast. Make it almost cracker-like. (I double toast the squaw or sprouted bread)
  2. Put kale in a pot with about 3-4 inches of water in the bottom.  Bring to a boil, cover and cook until kale is tender, 3-5 minutes. Check frequently. Kale is good when cooked almost spinach-like. (STEAMING KALE FOR A FEW MINUTES WORKS TOO!)
  3. Spread toast thickly with hummus, sprinkle green onions on the hummus, pile cilantro on top of the green onions and then place a few thinly sliced lemons pieces on the cilantro.
  4. When Kale is tender, drain well.  Shake the strainer so all water is gone, sprinkle the kale in the strainer with lemon zest and remaining lemon juice.  LOTS of lemon makes this good!
  5. Then put a big handful of lemon filled kale on top of each piece of bread.  It is delicious just like that or top with a tomato slice and/or sprouts. Season with pepper.

And there you have health in a bite!  A bit of a messy one at that!

Chop up your toppings

Steam or boil kale and drain, add lemon juice and zest

Double toast bread, top with hummus and onion

Add cilantro

Add sprouts (optional) and lemon slices

Top with kale, tomatoes and season with pepper

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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!

Banana Walnut Pancakes

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These are really good and easy to make, plus this batch makes a bunch of leftovers – great when you’ve been up all night with your 4-month old and you need a quick breakfast for your toddler! That’s my story lately so I really appreciate these kind of easy recipes. My toddler loves these pancakes! I top them with peanut butter and bananas for her… pure maple syrup for me. I put the leftovers in the fridge and toast them the next day.

Banana Walnut Pancakes

This is another… wait for it… Melomeals recipe! I used applesauce instead of oil because I’m really trying to cut down on my oil consumption, you can use oil if you wish.

Banana Walnut Pancakes 
* 2 c white whole wheat flour

* 1 T baking powder

* 1 t cinnamon

* 1/4 c brown sugar

* pinch salt

* 2 c soymilk – I used my homemade hemp milk

* 1 T vinegar

* 1/3 c olive oil – I used about 1/2 cup applesauce instead

* 1 t vanilla

* 1 large banana, mashed

* 1/2 c walnuts 

Method:

  1. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl
  2. Mix wet ingredients together along with the walnuts and add to the dry
  3. Cook in a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat for around 3 minutes a side 

Mix dry ingredients together

Mix wet ingredients together

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients with walnuts

Spoon out batter, cook until brown on each side. Enjoy with maple syrup!

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