Recipe: Vegan bolognese sauce

Today I'll show you how to do bolognese sauce the vegan way :). I found this recipe when I was searching for more exciting ways to use tofu and it was love at frirst try. So, here it is ...

Ingredients:
- 1 leek, chopped
- 2 medium sized carrots, peeled, chopped
- 150 g of tofu
- 1 table spoon of tomato paste
- 3-4 dl of tomato sauce (I used pureed tomatoes that we keep in our freezer)
- salt to taste
- 1/2 tea spoon of curry powder
- pinch of red chili powder
- 2 table spoons of olive oil

Instructions:

1. Pour olive oil into preheated pan. Transfer chopped leek and carrots in it as well. Lower the heat and cook for about 2 minutes, so both vegetables become softer.

2. Place tofu in a food processor and process until minced (it should look like minced meet). Transfer it into a pan with vegetables. Stir.

3. Now add tomato paste and seasoning. Stir again. Add tomato sauce and place pan cover on top. Let it cook for at least 45 minutes (to 1 hour) on low-medium heat. Make sure you stir it occasionally while cooking. If tomato sauce evaporates, add some water. Serve with gluten-free pasta.

I served it with corn pasta, because that's what I had and wanted to eat, but it would be delicious combined with quinoa, amaranth, brown riceor even on its own.

Instead of leek use onion, instead of carrots use portobello mushroom, or use any kind of vegetables you prefer.

More recipes will be available in my cook book (it's in its last finishing touches :)).

Bon appetite :)

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Recipe: 2 INGREDIENT COOKIES

I love simplicity. I always prepare the simplest recipes, because I don't like the mess that is left after and I don't like it to be time consuming. I have more important stuff to do in that time :)

Anyhow, today I'll show you how to make sugar-free, super fast and simple 2 ingredient cookies. But if you feel "fancier" you could make them in to 4 ingredient cookies ;)

Ingredients:
- oatmeal (I used around 120 g of oatmeal, but 100 g would be enough too)
- 2 bananas
- raisins (optional)
- cinnamon (optional)

Preheat your oven to 175˙C. Mash both bananas. You could use your hands or fork, I prefer using my hands :).

Then you add oatmeal and mix them well together.

If you feel fancy, add raisins to taste and about half of a teaspoon of cinnamon, mix again. You can also use almonds or any other nuts. Be creative ;)

 

I used a teaspoon to form the cookies directly in to a cookie sheet and kinda pressed them down a little as seen in the picture above. Continue until you run out of mixture then place your cookies in the oven.

Bake them for about 15 minutes. You can eat them right away, but they are also good the next day or day after ... if there's anything left ;)

Enjoy your cookies and let me know how you like them :)

Bon apetit!

P.S: Enter my giveaway HERE :)

Recipe: QUINOA PANCAKES

I'm trying to eat gluten-free for a month or so now. And I'm doing pretty well, I must say :). Finding gluten-free flour can be challenging in Slovenia, I've been searching for coconut, almond, quinoa ... flour, but no luck. I found a recipe how to make a quinoa flour at home and so I made my first quinoa pancakes and I've been obsessed with them ever since :).

Ingredients:
- 2 cup quinoa flour (recipe how to make it here) - we don't use "cup" measurments here, but I take one random cup and measure it out (today I used 90 grams of flour)
- you need the same amount of water
- pinch of salt
- baking powder (for 2 cup measurement use 4 tsp, I used around 2)
- olive oil (around 2 tsp)

Firstly, mix all dry ingredients together.

Then add water and oil and whisk them all together until well combined. Add water if it's too thick, add flour if it's too liquidy, but if you followed the instructions, it should be ok.

If you use 2 cup measurement (2 cups of quinoa flour and 2 cups of water), it should make around 10-12 pancakes. Pancakes should be smaller and thicker, because consistency of pancake won't allow you to make them bigger and slimmer.

Today I made them too big and they fell apart. But no biggy, they are still good tasting!

Put little bit of olive oil in a pan and use spoon to take mixture and create little pancakes. Flip them around when slightly brown.

They should be slightly brown on both sides.

Et voila, you (successfully) made your first quinoa pancakes. I like to eat them immediately, still slightly warm. You can also store them and use them instead of bread and I always love pre-planned meals :). They can be served with veggies or with fruit, can be perfect breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner option, so versatile! :)

Today I had them with spinach, red chicory and hummus. I ate 2 of them, they are quite filling!

If you try them out, tell me, how did you like them and how did you serve them? :)

Oh, and here are some other options:
1st picture: with spinach and portobello mashrooms and little bit of mustard;
2nd picture: half of banana, homemade chocolate and tea (made this for my mother for Mother's day, I'm such a good daughter ;)).

 

Bon apetit!

Recipe: GREEN SMOOTHIE

Oh, I love green smoothies in the morning. Why? Because I get so much energy from this vitamin bomb. The best part is that you can arrange it your taste and likings. Today, I will show you my favourite combination, but keep in mind that you can add any fruit or green vegetable. I will tell you some other options at the end of this post.

 
Ingredients:
- spinach (you need something to make it green :))
- blueberries (great anti-oxidant food)
- kiwi (vitamin C!; I don't even bother peeling it, just wash it really well)
- half of banana (gives nice sweet taste, you don't need any sweeteners)
- coconut water (about 1dcl, you won't even feel the taste of it)
- almonds (optional)
- and the magic ingredient: CHIA SEEDS (around 1 tsp)

Chia seeds are amzing because they have more omega 3 than salmon, more anti-oxidants than blue berries, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach ... It's high in protein, fiber, healthy fats, recommended for fat and weight loss. The best part is that they don't have a taste and you can add them in smoothies, soups, salads, desserts, you can also use them instead of eggs. I highly recommend them for vegeterians and vegans, because I know it's hard to get your protein source in every meal. Just add chia seed ;). Anyway, I think they deserve whole post for themselves. Oh, and they are gluten free as well!! :)

Making smoothie is easy peasy: I put all ingredients (without almonds) in blender and blend until it's blended :D. At the end I put some almonds (around 8) to give it a little crunch ;). I wait for about 5 minutes, so chia seeds enlarge a little. I "cheat" sometimes and make my smoothie the night before and keep it in fridge.

You can use regular water instead of coconut water, or use lemon or orange juice ... I don't recommend using any kind of milk, this smoothie should be refreshing and pure, not like a milk shake or sth. If you want more creaminess and richer taste, add some avocado - it's neutral taste, you won't taste it.

Sometime I add hemp seeds or hemp protein (great source of protein and heathy fats as well) instead of chia seeds. You can also add maca powder (great for increasing your energy levels and figthing PMS ;)) and psyllium husk (high in fiber and really detoxifying).

You can use grapes, mango, pineapple, apple, strawberries ... and I promise you won't even feel spinach taste. If you don't have or like spinach, add kale or green salad ...

The benefits of green smoothie:
Leafy greens are one of the most nutritious foods, prevent cancer, purify your blood, improves liver and kidney function, strengthens immune system, lifts you spirit, gives you energy, can help you with better looking skin, nails and hair ... Greens are a great source of potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, vitamins A, C, E and K. If you can get, buy organic, if not don't stress over it, it's better to eat non organic than no greens at all.

I feel like this is one long informational post and not a recipe :D
Enjoy your green smoothie and share your recipes with me ;)

Recipe: Cabbage roll-ups/wraps

Yesterday I mentioned on my Twitter what I ate for dinner and some of you asked me for the recipe because you need more ideas for healthy meals. So, here it is: my famous (or not so famous :P) vegan cabbage roll-ups, wrap-ups, wrap or however you'd like to call them.

Like I said, it's healthy, super easy to prepare, it takes around 15 minutes and I've been preparing it at least 2 times a week, it always tasted different and you can improvise a lot. :)

Ingredients:
- cabbage head,
- mixed veggies (I used: aubergine/eggplant, onion, garlic, carrot, brussels sprouts, green pepper)
- beans,
- salt & pepper (any other spices according to your taste),
- extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.

Preparation:

Firstly, you put whole cabbage head (is this correct? :P) in a bowl, boil water and pour it in a bowl with cabbage in it. It should be completely covered. You leave it for about 10 minutes, this will make leafs softer so you can unwrap them without breaking (although I still manage to break them sometimes ^^).

Meanwhile you can prepare your filling. Chop all vegetables and put them in a pan with heated olive oil (or coconut oil). I left only carrot and use a skin peeler to get really thin slices and I add them at the end. Add salt, pepper and any other spices. Mix few times while cooking. Like I said, I add thin slices of carrot last 5 minutes (or less) of cooking and in last minute I add beans (1/3 of can). Mix again.

Drain you cabbage head, let is cool a little (you can pour cool water over it) and carefully peel some leafs. It depends on how your cabbage head is big/small, if it's bigger, use only one leaf, if it's smaller use two or three leafs (for one person).
You put leafs on a plate and fill them with veggies. I eat wraps with my hands just like a sandwich. Veggies will probably fall out of your wrap and you will have dirts hands, so I don't recommend eatting that on a first date :P.

Other options:
You can even just boil your veggies or fill them with a salad. Instead of beans you can use other lean proteins, such as: white meat, salmon, eggs, tofu, quinoa ... I like using beans, because I am a vegetarian and I always have beans at home. Sometimes I even add avocado and tomatoes.

Tell me how it turns out if you try it!

Enjoy your meal! Bon apetit!

Recipe: hot cocoa

I've tried this cocoa recipe not so long ago, it's nice comfort healthy food/drink in this cold snowy days. Because it is so delicious, I decided to share recipe with you and hope you'll like it as much as I do :).

Ingredients:

- soy milk
- cocoa (un-sweetened, organic is the best choice)
- maple syrup
- cinnamon (optional)
- virgin coconut oil
- peanut butter

Firstly, I warm up soy milk, little less than 2 dcl, not too hot. 

Then I pour soy milk in to the blender, add little bit of cinnamon, one table spoon of virgin coconut oil, one table spoon of peanut butter, about 3 table spoons of maple syrup (it depends how sweet you like your cocoa) and about 4 table spoons of cocoa.

Then I blend everything together for few seconds (I think 15 seconds is ok). It has to be bubbly (fluffy? :P), you know like a bubbly milk on capuccino? :)

I pour the bevarage into a cup and enjoy it :)

Recipe: apple pie

Today I want to share with you a really yummy apple pie recipe. It's healthy, vegan (if you use chia seeds instead of eggs), it's a little bit time consuming, but I think you'll love it :).

What do you need:

for dough:
100 g whole wheat flour
100 g oat bran
50 g almonds
50 g coconut oil
2 spoons of stevia
2 eggs or 2 spoons oh chia seeds (you just have to soak them in water for 10 minutes before doing anything with them)

for topping: (is this how it's called?)
2 big apples
half tsp cinnamon
juice from one lemon
handful raisins

Firstly, you process almonds and you put all dry ingredients for dough in a bowl. Mix them all together. Melt the coconut oil on heat. Add coconut oil and eggs or chia seeds (make sure you soaked them in water). Mix all together. Dough mixture is not supposed to be well combined, it should be a little bit crumbly.
Coat your smaller baking pan with coconut butter and spread the dough in it. Put it into a preheated oven (175˙C) for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile you prepare your topping. Peel the apples and you can slice them into really tiny pieces or grate them. Add cinnamon, lemon juice and raisins. Mix them all together.

After 25 minutes of dough baking you take out your pan and put the topping on. Spread it evenly and put it back in the oven for another 20 - 25 minutes.

Let it cool down a little and serve.

Tell me what do you think of this recipe if you try it out. Do you have any similar recipes?

I love this apple pie! :)
I send you apple pie love ❤