Berry Almond Muffins

These muffins are so moist and tasty your morning coffee will never be the same! Any berries—fresh or frozen—work well.

You can use white or whole-grain flour, or a combination…I like to use half spelt flour and half buckwheat, for a nearly gluten-free muffin:) Feel free to experiment with other flours—let me know! *

Keep out only what you’ll eat in the next day or two, then pop the rest into the freezer—they freeze beautifully.

If you make fresh almond milk the pulp leftover can be added. 

TIME 40 minutes, including baking time

MAKES 12 (1-cup) muffins 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour* (see note above)

½ cup sugar, I use raw cane sugar 

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup soured non-dairy milk **

¼ cup healthy oil, like olive, avocado or sesame 

Flax Egg Substitute equal to two eggs 

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup berries

½ cup chopped almonds, or almond pulp from making almond milk

Cinnamon and sugar or additional chopped almonds (optional)

PREPARATION 

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly oil muffin tins, or line with paper or silicone cups.

  • In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

  • In another bowl, stir together soured milk, oil, flax eggs and almond extract.

  • Add wet ingredients to flour mixture. Stir just to combine. Do not over mix.

  • Stir in berries and almonds/or almond pulp. Again, mix just to combine.

  • Spoon into muffin tins. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or chopped almonds.

  • Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until firm to the touch and lightly browned. Cool in tins on wire rack 5 minutes then turn out and cool completely.

* *To sour any kind of milk (dairy, soy, almond or otherwise) adds one teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk.  Then stir and let sit a few minutes to curdle. 

Guacamole

Guacamole

Stirring up your own guacamole couldn’t be easier!

Ingredients

  • 3 ripe (soft to the squeeze) avocados

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

  • 1 small clove garlic, minced

  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

  • ½ teaspoon sea salt

  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tomato

  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro 

Veggie Chili

This is my go-to for chili. It’s easy, quick and you likely have most of the items already in your house. Inspiration from this recipe comes from a recipe out of Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking, by Dana Shultz. This recipe gets better after a few days in the fridge, and freezes well.

Rob's Plant Powered High Protein Mix

Rob's Plant Powered High Protein Mix

My guy, Rob. 

He’s cute (don’t ya think?), 58 years young, and a plant-based ultra athlete. That’s right, Rob runs ultramarathons and only eats plants—no meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey. He’s hard core.

Ask Rob where he gets his protein and how he recovers so quickly following the grueling 50 and 100 mile mountain runs that he does and he’ll tell you in one word: plants.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to run ultras or be vegan like Rob to age healthily.

But you do have to eat plants, and a lot of them. You know, things like fruit, veg, grains, beans, nuts and seeds.

“What about protein?”

FACT: If you eat lots of different plants, you’ll most likely get enough protein. (Sure, if you’re an ultra athlete like Rob, you might need a little more than your average Joe, but you can still get what you need from plants.)

Which is why Rob eats things like this high-protein, plant-powered “mix,” as he calls it—a top-secret dish loaded with anti-inflammatory plant protein for healthy cells and strong muscles, complex carbs for fuel, fiber for pooping and a healthy gut, antioxidants like vitamin C to protect his cells from free radicals and for speedy recovery, magic mushrooms for magic, and  deliciousness for pleasure!

Rob’s mix is really good over quinoa or brown rice, or with roasted potatoes.

You’ll notice this isn’t really a recipe, rather a method. Rob’s method:)

Cauliflower and Red Pepper Soup

Cauliflower and Red Pepper Soup

Cauliflower is so underappreciated! Leafy greens get all of the play, potatoes all of the notoriety and asparagus is clearly an aphrodisiac. 

But what about this cruciferous beauty? She comes in several stunning colors, is readily available and ridiculously healthy. 

What are you waiting for? Grab a head, cook her up and have some fun! 

If you need some inspiration, check out this delicious recipe for cauliflower and red bell pepper soup. Low in calories—but who’s counting?—and ridiculously rich in vitamin C and other anti-aging antioxidants. 

The inspiration for this recipe came from team member Lauren, who says her family loves it! Maybe a sneaky way to get veg into your family?

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

How to Make Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Usually, fresh is best! Well, frozen broccoli is pretty darn good…but when it comes to cranberries, I stand by this assertion.

If you only know cranberry sauce as that giggly, super sweet stuff that slides out of a can, you must try this fresh version made with whole unsweetened cranberries. They’re bright, tart and bursting with antioxidants!

Note: This is more of a loose guide rather than a recipe. Toss in what you have on hand, experiment and have fun!

Split Pea Soup

Split Pea Soup

This ain’t your grandmother’s split pea soup! Nothing wrong with your grandma, but many traditional split pea soup recipes are loaded with ham bones, bacon, butter and/or chicken stock. 

This recipe is every bit as delicious and nourishing, but a whole lot healthier!  Enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli with Chickpeas

Roasted Broccoli with Chickpeas

Tired of boring ole’ steamed broccoli? Me too! Try this fun way to eat your cruciferous veg. Be sure and include any leaves attached to the stalk— they get deliciously crispy! Not sure about nutritional yeast, aka nootch? Give it a go, it’s a great plant-based substitution for Parmesan cheese.

Roasting is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to get your veg! We often think of roasting root veggies like carrots and potatoes, but don’t neglect roasting your cruciferous veg, too!

The chickpeas are optional, but give a bonus hit of plant-based protein.

Black Eyed Peas with Herbs

Black Eyed Peas with Herbs

The inspiration for this recipe comes from Madhur Jaffrey’s classic vegetarian tome, World Vegetarian. (It’s an awesome cookbook.)

This dish is so simple, and yet so delicious, proving that often less is more. I like to serve this with brown rice or quinoa, and a salad or a cooked green vegetable. It’s also good served like a stew, topped with more fresh herbs and fresh tomatoes. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

Aside from being easy and absolutely delicious, black-eyed-peas a nutritional powerhouse providing loads of:

  • fiber

  • plant-based protein

  • plant-based calcium

with the added benefits of being fat-free, inexpensive and easy peasy.

All of this is a round-about way of saying black-eyed peas are:

  • helpful for weight loss

  • good for your heart

  • good for your gut, which is good for your immunity and your mental health

  • and they’ll help you poop.

Cherry Vanilla Muffins

Cherry Vanilla Muffins

These muffins are so moist and tasty your morning coffee will never be the same! Any fruit and/or nut combination works well, but if you can get your hands on sour cherries, by all means toss them in. Also known as “pie cherries,” sour cherries are the old-fashioned kind I used to pick at from my Aunt Jo’s tree, growing up in Iowa. They are super duper good for you, fight inflammation and have a seductive tart flavor.

You can use white or whole-grain flour, or a combination…I like to use half spelt flour and half buckwheat, for a nearly gluten-free muffin:)

These muffins are very moist so they won’t last long on the counter— fortunately, they freeze really well—pop any you don’t gobble up right out of the oven into the freezer.

If you make fresh almond milk the pulp leftover can be added. 

Blueberry Superfood Smoothie

To be honest, I'm not a huge smoothie fan in general (especially if you're trying to lose weight), it can be so easy to load them up and before you know it you've slurped down like a day's worth of calories. But this Blueberry Superfood Smoothie is a good one, and a quick & easy way to load up with superfoods.

You may be surprised that something so chocolatey is full of such goodness, but yes! Chocolate in its raw form (as in cacao powder and cacao nibs) is absolutely a superfood. As are blueberries, maca and spinach. No worries if you don’t have maca powder on hand; substitute another superfood powder or skip it.

Roasted Asparagus

This is my go-to for fresh asparagus. I prefer to keep the preparation and seasonings simple, to really enjoy the taste of spring, but feel free to experiment with any of the following:

  • a dusting of nutritional yeast,

  • some chopped fresh springtime herbs like dill or mint

  • a sprinkle of crushed red chili flakes

  • orange or lemon zest

  • toasted chopped nuts—hazelnuts are nice with asparagus

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Delicious AND oh so much healthier than most other cookie recipes and for sure better than nearly all packaged treats, these are great with a cup of tea for a 3:00pm snack, with a nice glass of red for dessert or even with your almond milk latte for breakfast! This recipe is based on one from Angela Liddon’s, The Oh She Glows Cookbook, a book I highly recommend. 

Baked Black Eyed Peas w Collards

Baked Black Eyed Peas w Collards

This recipe is (vegan) comfort food at its best. I like to serve this dish on New Year’s Day.  According to tradition in the southern U.S., black-eyed peas and greens bring good luck and prosperity for the new year. The black-eyed peas represent coins, and the collard greens symbolize paper money. If you don’t have collards, you can use spinach, Swiss chard, kale or any other cookable, leafy green.

It’s not completely necessary, but if you soak your peas ahead of time for at least three hours or as long as overnight, it will expedite the cooking process.

Serve the peas over brown rice, quinoa or mashed sweet potatoes.

Baked Butternut with Herbs

Baked Butternut with Herbs

Baked Butternut Squash with Herbs

Butternut squash gets zipped up with fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme in this colorful dish. It’s perfect at your holiday table, cleanse-friendly (whole food plant based) and most importantly, delicious!

Tip: If you’re not up for attacking a whole butternut, you can buy butternut already peeled and cubed! Easy peasy!

Kitchari

Kitchari

Kitchari, which means “food of the gods,” is pretty, golden-colored  porridge made of rice, mung beans, sometimes called mung “dal” and spices. It’s a traditional Ayurvedic dish often used for cleansing because it’s easy to digest. Of course it can be enjoyed anytime. This makes a large batch so you may want to cut it in half if you aren’t feeding a crowd. Ayurveda frowns on leftovers.

*Split or whole mung beans can be used. If using whole mung beans (the green ones), soak the beans overnight before cooking. Split mung beans (the yellow ones) don’t need to be soaked.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho

Gazpacho season!

We’re at the height of the local growing season and the farmer’s markets are overflowing with gorgeous produce. This cold tomato soup is one of my favorite ways to enjoy lots of summer veg. Have fun experimenting with different colors of tomatoes and peppers; heirloom tomatoes are especially delicious.

Unlike many traditional gazpacho recipes, this version skips the bread, which keeps it nice and light and naturally gluten-free. A blender or food processor is needed for this recipe.