Marisa's Healthy Kitchen

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes

17 May 2015 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: almond milk, apple, apple sauce, breakfast, cinnamon, comfort food, flour, pancakes, quick and easy, sugar, vanilla, vegan, vegetarian

We have been all about weekend pancakes lately and are always all about apples! And seriously who doesn’t love pancakes!! These were super easy and quick to whip up. Just had the urge and then 20 minutes later we were all eating pancakes.

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes
Makes 12-15 pancakes

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 – 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients, then add the rest and mix well
Spoon batter (~ 2 tablespoons) onto a hot griddle. Cook until pancakes have a bubbly surface and slightly dry edges (1-2 minutes). Flip pancakes and let cook for an additional 1-2 minutes until golden.
Serve with Maple Syrup and Enjoy 🙂

Greens and Quinoa Pie

06 Apr 2015 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegetarian Recipes Tags: cheese, comfort food, dill, eggs, entertaining, feta cheese, goat cheese, green, green onions, Greens and Quinoa Pie Recipe, jewish, kid-friendly, olive oil, onions, Passover, quinoa, sides, spinach, vegetarian, vegetarian times, www.vegetariantimes.com quinoa

This is a delicious recipe that was perfect for Passover and will definitely be repeated throughout the year! SO good! We love to use quinoa since it is such a super food and so delicious! It is not a grain so totally great for Passover as well 🙂 I doubled this to feed the whole table. Super protein-riffic meal!

Greens and Quinoa Pie
Recipe adapted from http://www.vegetariantimes.com
Serves 6

½ cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
10 ounces chopped spinach
3 Tbs. olive oil, divided
2 medium onions, thinly sliced (2 cups)
2 green onions, thinly sliced (¼ cup)
¼ cup chopped fresh dill
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese (1 oz.)
¼ cup grated aged goat cheese (1 oz.)
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place quinoa in small saucepan, and toast over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until almost dry. Add 1 cup water, and season with salt, if desired. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and transfer to large bowl.
Heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, and sauté 10 minutes, or until browned. Add spinach and cook until wilted, stirring frequently or tossing with tongs. Stir greens into quinoa. Add cooked onions, green onions, dill, feta cheese, and goat cheese to quinoa mixture. Stir in eggs; season with salt and pepper.
Grease a 9-inch pie pan, then spread quinoa mixture in pan with spatula. Bake 40-50 minutes or until golden brown.

3rd Birthday!!!! & Artichoke Pesto Pasta Salad

29 Mar 2015 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: artichoke pesto, Artichoke Pesto Pasta Salad, artichokes in water, artichokes marinated in oil, basil, blog.fatfreevegan.com, entertaining, fat free pesto, fat free vegan, fat-free, fruit, fruit platter, g-f, garlic, gluten-free, lemon juice, low-fat, low-fat pesto, nutritional yeast, pesto pasta salad, pine nuts, quick and easy, quinoa brown rice pasta, raw, tomato, vegan, vegan pasta salad, vegan pesto, vegetable broth, vegetarian, veggies & hummus, whole wheat pasta

My amazing & beautiful kiddos turned 3 this last week. Beyond hard to believe but so wonderful to watch them continue to grow and surprise us all the time! We had a fun birthday party to celebrate them 🙂 Just a few food & goodie bag pictures and a yummy Vegan, Gluten-free, Super low-fat pasta salad that we served. FUN!!! Love big celebrations of course!!

Coloring Books

Artichoke Pesto Pasta Salad
Vegan – Gluten-free – Low-fat
Number of servings: 4
Recipe adapted from blog.fatfreevegan.com

1 cup basil, packed
1 can quartered artichoke hearts (packed in water)(I used 1/2 water, 1/2 marinated in oil)
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 tbsp. vegetable broth
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
salt, to taste
8 ounces whole wheat pasta, cooked (I used quinoa brown rice pasta)
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

Place the basil, about half the artichokes, garlic, nutritional yeast, vegetable broth, and lemon juice in a food processor and process until it becomes a thick paste. Add salt to taste.
In a serving bowl, combine the cooked pasta with the pesto and mix well. Add the remaining artichoke hearts, the tomato, and the (optional pine nuts) and toss. Serve at room temperature.

Butternut Squash Potstickers

26 Mar 2015 1 Comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: asian, brown sugar, butternut squash, Butternut Squash Potstickers, entertaining, ginger, h'orderves, potstickers, rice vinegar, scallions, sesame oil, sides, squash, Squash Potstickers, tamari, vegan, vegan potstickers, vegan wonton, vege, vegetarian, wonton, wonton wrappers

It was my MIL’s birthday so I wanted to come up with a special menu of her favorites. I know she loves Apples, Butternut Squash and Peanut Butter, so I thought those were good ones to start with. I made these potstickers, Apple Cider Caramel Dipped Apples, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites and White Bean Dip and crudite & sliced toasted baguette. (recipes to come!!) YUM!!!

On Lisa Dawn’s site I found an awesome recipe for Butternut Squash Potstickers and knew we would all love them. It was no joke, these are amazing!!!! I used her recipe, the original (from Martha Stewart), added more fresh ginger and we all loved them. I doubled the recipe and made the whole batch while keeping half in the warming drawer to serve a little later. (not too much later as these went fast!!) also used Lisa’s perfect dipping sauce. Perfection!

I had leftover filling and it was great as a pasta sauce and also for the babies, they LOVED it!

Butternut Squash Potstickers
makes about 20 potstickers

1 pound butternut squash, peeled and seeded, flesh cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup tamari
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
20 vegan wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen
1/4 cup canola or sunflower oil

Place squash, tamari and sugar in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook until soft and drain. Mash with a potato masher or immersion blender until smooth. Add the scallions and ginger and mix to combine.
Place 1 tablespoon filling in the center of each wrapper; brush edges with water. Bring up corners to make a triangle; press to seal. Place on a baking sheet; freeze until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add 10 potstickers, and cook, shaking pan frequently, until bottoms are golden brown. Turn pot stickers over; very carefully (holding the lid in front of you) pour in 1/2 cup water, and cover. Steam until most liquid is evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and repeat with remaining oil and pot stickers. Serve with dipping sauce.

Lisa’s Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup tamari
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 scallion, sliced thinly

Butternut Squash Filling

Filling as a pasta sauce

Mini Bean Black Cups Stuffed with Guacamole

25 Feb 2015 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: appetizer, black beans, cumin, entertaining, gluten free flour, Guacamole, Hors d'oeuvre, Hors d'oeuvres, olive oil, paprika, sides, snack, vegan, vegetarian, whole wheat flour

This was a really fun dish! I love the idea of the serving cup being edible and not being the typical chip or bread. For the filling I used avocado guacamole but you could try out something new and fun like Edamame Guacamole or Garbanzo Guacamole.

Mini Bean Black Cups Stuffed with Guacamole
Recipe from cakebatterandbowl.com

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup whole wheat or gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of your favorite guacamole

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 24 cup mini-muffin tray with cooking spray. Pulse black beans, flour, cumin, paprika, salt, and olive oil in a food processor until soft dough forms. Place dough evenly into the 24 mini-muffin cups and form mini-cups by spreading dough up the sides of each cup. Bake the cups for 15 to 20 minutes at 350ºF or until set. Cool completely, about 30 minutes, and fill cups evenly with guacamole.

Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins

29 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: almond milk, apple cider vinegar, baking powder, baking soda, breakfast, cocoa powder, dark chocolate chips, dessert, flax egg, flour, ground flax, maple syrup, quick and easy, salt, snack, sugar, vanilla extract, vegan, vegan egg, vegan muffins, vegetarian, walnut, whole wheat pastry flour, zucchini

Crazy Blizzard prep! Been playing inside all day, what else to do! Bake 🙂 I love to cook & bake with my kiddos. It can often be twice my mess, sometimes involves a meltdown or 2 but it really is fun and I love teaching them about their food. We wanted to bake but I still wanted to keep it healthy. Thank you Oh She Glows for these Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins! They were super excited to make (and eat!) muffins! We loved grating the zucchini together and measuring all the ingredients.

I used twice the zucchini so ended up with 10 mini muffins on top of the dozen full size ones. But my kiddos loved the “baby muffins” too.

Oil-Free Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Muffins
Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows
Yield: 1 dozen muffins

1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water)
1 & 1/4 cup lightly packed shredded zucchini, skin left on (I doubled this)
1 & 1/4 cup almond milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose) (I used 1 1/4 WW Flour and 3/4 cup AP)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life mini chips)
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray muffin with oil or grease with Earth Balance.

2. Mix flax egg in a small bowl and set aside. Grate zucchini using a grater box (regular grate size). Set aside.

3. Mix almond milk and apple cider vinegar (or sub fresh lemon juice) in a small bowl and set aside. It will curdle, but this is the point as we’re making vegan buttermilk.

4. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar).

5. Mix together the wet ingredients (flax egg, almond milk mixture, maple syrup, and vanilla) and then pour over dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and shredded zucchini.

6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin filling each tin 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 15-17 minutes at 350F, or until muffins slowly spring back when touched. A toothpick should come out mostly clean. Cool in tin for 5 minutes. With a knife, loosen around the muffin edge and transfer to a cooling rack until completely cool. (Mine took a bit longer because double the zucchini made it a little more moist, so took about 5 extra minutes to bake)

Simple Carrot Soup

26 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: butter, carrot soup, carrots, garlic, olive oil, quick and easy, soup, stone barns, stone barns soup, vegan, vegetable broth, vegetarian, yellow onion

Last week we had a wonderful afternoon at Stone Barns. I guess winter keeps away most of the crowds so we basically had the place to ourselves. We got to feed the chickens (greens and lettuce!), see the sheep, ducks and beautiful greenhouses. Then we went to cafe and ate a great lunch! We had the Carrot Soup (every time I am there the soup is Vegan, so it might always be!) and my kids loved it! Picnics outdoors in the winter tends to scream Soup! haha

We wanted to recreate the yummy soup for dinner. On the Stone Barns site there was a recipe for Simple Carrot-Ginger Soup so I made this and adapted it just a bit 🙂 Just simple and delicious! I’m sure you can jazz it up with some herbs or coconut milk for creaminess but it was delicious as is.

Stay warm everyone!!!!! Soup will be perfect food for the storm!!

Simple Carrot Soup
Recipe adapted from stonebarnscenter.org

3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2-1/2 pounds of carrots—peeled and sliced
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
6 cups vegetable broth

Melt butter or heat olive oil in a large soup pot.
Over medium heat, add onion and garlic, and cook until tender (about 7 to 10 minutes.)
Add carrots and a dash of salt.
Cook for five minutes then add the broth.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until carrots are tender.
Purée. (I love to use the immersion blender in the pot, so no need for transferring hot soup!)

Cauliflower Buffalo Wings

21 Jan 2015 2 Comments

by marisashealthykitchen in Home Cooking, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: apple cider vinegar, cauliflower, Cauliflower Buffalo Wings, cumin, dill, dip, earth balance, frank's, garlic powder, gf, gluten-free, gluten-free all-purpose flour, ground pepper, hot sauce, non-dairy milk, onion powder, paprika, parsley, Sea Salt, vegan Buffalo Wings, vegan dip, vegan mayo, vegan mayonaise, vegan ranch, vegan ranch dip, vegan wings, vegan worcesterchire sauce, wing sauce

I kinda have an obsession with hot sauce and vegan wings in general. Michael knows that if we go to Red Bamboo that we 100% have to order their amazing Barbecue Buffalo Wings. I love that there is a Cauliflower Buffalo Wing craze/trend these days! BEYOND better than so many of the other popular food trends of 2014!! And they are AMAZING!!!!!!!!

I had these at a New Year’s Party and had to make them immediately! I made them for a dinner party and even the biggest meat eaters enjoyed these! I doubled the recipe to make sure to feed a crowd 🙂 Loved the sauce & the dip together! But also soooo excited to try this recipe with a bunch of other flavors as well…. thinking Jamaican Jerk Marinade, Sweet Mango Barbecue, Teriyaki-Orange, Thai Chili and Thai Peanut! But I have a feeling we will return to the Buffalo ones again and again!!!

This is going to be perfect for Superbowl time too! Try this recipe! I think everyone will be so surprised and impressed with how yummy and substantial it is!!

Cauliflower Buffalo Wings

recipe adapted from hotforfoodblog.com

1 head of cauliflower
1/2 C non-dairy milk
1/2 C water
3/4 C gluten-free all-purpose flour
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp of paprika
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp earth balance buttery spread
1 C frank’s wing sauce (can also use hot sauce)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 450 F.
Wash and cut cauliflower head into small bite sized pieces.
Mix all the ingredients (minus the earth balance and hot sauce) into a mixing bowl. (The batter will be thin enough that it runs off your fork and the cauliflower florets)
Dip each floret into the mixture and coat evenly. You can shake or tap off the excess on the side of the bowl.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
While the cauliflower is baking get your ranch dip (recipe below) and wing sauce ready.
In a small saucepan on low heat melt earth balance and mix in hot sauce, bringing to a low simmer before removing from the heat.
Remove the cauliflower from the oven and put all the baked florets into a mixing bowl with the wing sauce and toss to coat evenly. Then spread all the florets in wing sauce out onto the same baking sheet. Bake in the oven for another 25 minutes.

Ranch Dip

1 C vegan mayo of your choice
1/8 C non-dairy milk
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp dill
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp vegan worcesterchire sauce

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins before serving.

Layered Lentil and Butternut Appetizers

04 Dec 2014 Leave a comment

by marisashealthykitchen in Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tags: 1 onion, appetizer, brown lentils, butternut squash, cinnamon, coconut, coconut milk, curry, curry powder, entertaining, green lentils, Hors d'oeuvre, Hors d'oeuvres, indian lentils, Salt and pepper, sides, vegan, vegetarian

I hope everyone had a great holiday!!! The season is just beginning! This is a great dish that can be an appetizer or easily adapted into an entree. Perfect seasonal food to keep you toasty & warm! Plus it was AMAZING!

The only thing I would do differently next time is make more and make some of them in kid-friendly serving-ware as they love love loved this dish! The lentils are so easy and similar to what I make often for us as a staple. And the butternut was so amazing and smooth with the coconut milk added to it. YUM!

Layered Lentil and Butternut Appetizers

Adapted from Eatwell101.com

Mashed Butternut

1lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded & chopped
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 pinch of cinnamon
Salt and pepper

Put butternut squash into a pot or a large saucepan and soak up with water, cover and cook until the squash pieces are tender.
Drain the butternut keeping the cooking water.
Then blend it with coconut milk and cinnamon adding a little cooking water to obtain the desired consistency.
Adjust seasoning and pour into the bottom of the glasses.

Mashed Lentil Curry

1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 lb green or brown lentils
2 1/2 cups water
Salt and pepper

In a large pan, sauté the onions in olive oil.
When the onion is softened , add the lentils, water and curry. Cover and cook until lentils are tender, add a little water during cooking if necessary.
Once the lentils are cooked, drain them keeping the cooking water.
Immersion Blend half of the lentils and add more water depending on desired consistency.
Season to taste.

To create the layers. Pour the squash into the glass first, follow with the lentils and finish by topping your with a second layer of butternut puree. Serve warm or hot.