Cooking Recipes

A common misconception held by many individuals is that a vegan diet is lacking in nutrition and variety. Many apparently believe that meat and animal products must be in a diet to help them sustain a healthy life filled with tasty food, but that is certainly not the case.

There are many variety-filled vegan recipes out there for all meals during a day. Some of the most simple and scrumptious are vegan breakfast recipes, which use absolutely no animal products on the path to making a nutritious, wholesome and delicious meal to start the day.

One simple vegan recipe is for blueberry pancakes, an all-American breakfast table staple. To make this dish, simply combine two cups unbleached white flour, three tablespoons sugar, three tablespoons baking powder and one teaspoon salt together in a large bowl. Add two cups vanilla soy milk and three tablespoons canola oil to the dry mixture and stir it all together until the batter is smooth. To one side prepare a bowl full of 1/2 cup frozen or fresh blueberries. Ladle the batter onto a hot pancake griddle or skillet, adding blueberries to the top immediately. Cook two to three minutes per side and serve warm.

Another recipe is a vegan take on potatoes and bacon. To make a potato and “bacon” hash, dice four medium white potatoes, place them into a pot, cover them with water and bring them to boil over medium heat. Allow them to boil 10 to 15 minutes, then drain and rinse them with cold water. While the potatoes cool, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet. Add 8 ounces of tempeh that has been cut into 1/2 inch cubes, along with 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 1/2 tablespoons liquid smoke. Cook the mixture until all liquid has been absorbed, then flip the pieces of tempeh over and sprinkle with the remaining soy sauce and liquid smoke. Cook until the tempeh is crispy. Finally, heat three tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet, then add one diced onion and the potatoes to the hot oil. Cook approximately 10 minutes before stirring in the tempeh, salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Being vegan does not have to limit a person’s food choices at all. With a little research and time, anyone can cook delicious vegan breakfast recipes to start their day off on the right foot.

Transitioning to a raw food diet can be difficult, especially when you find yourself with cravings of former comfort foods, like cheese and milk and ice-cream. Fortunately, there are hundreds of raw food vegan recipes to satiate your dairy-desires that are simple and delicious. They encourage amazing nutrition, taste fantastic, and are super easy to make.

Dairy-Free Raw Cheese
Raw “cheese” can add delicious flavor and texture to your raw food vegan recipes. Most recipes require very few ingredients and utilize nuts and seeds as their base. Nuts such as almonds, cashews, and macadamia nuts have fantastic nutritional value! Almonds for example can help lower your LDL-cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease. They are rich in Manganese and Potassium, which is an important electrolyte involved in nerve transmission.

Raw cheese recipes can vary in complexity depending on what type of cheese you want to emulate. You will need some form of food processor or blender capable of mixing various nut bases while certain recipes may use a dehydrator to create “cheese” slices that can top sandwiches or raw burgers.

Dairy-Free Raw “Milk”

Raw “milks” are incredibly simple to make and can be used in numerous raw food vegan recipes. Milks can be used on raw cereals, in raw breakfast smoothies, or raw salad dressings. Various spices or sweeteners such as cinnamon or honey can also be added to raw milk depending on your personal preference.

Only two tools are needed to make raw “milk:” A blender and strainer. You can use a nut-milk bag or simply double layer cheesecloth to attain the same result. Raw “milks” commonly use a nut base such as almonds, Brazil nuts, or Hazelnuts, but may also be made of a variety of seeds including pumpkin seeds or hemp seed. Hemp is a great choice as it is high in protein and contains all nine of the essential amino acids. Each nut and seed will contribute its own unique flavor to your milk, so experiment and find which you prefer!

How to Make Raw Nut “Milk”

All raw food vegan recipes for nut milk will begin with soaking. Soak the nuts or seeds of choice for 6-8 hours or overnight. The next morning, drain the soaking water and combine soaked nuts in a blender (or Vitamix) with just enough water to cover them. Blend the mixture until it is a very smooth, uniform mixture and there are no longer chunks of the nuts or seeds visible. Arrange your nut milk bag or cheesecloth over a bowl and carefully pour the mixture through the strainer. Carefully strain your milk until nut pulp is all that remains in your strainer. The “milk” will keep for two to three days in your refrigerator while the pulp can be discarded or dehydrated into flour.

Vegetables are a very important part of the diet, whether you eat them raw, use them in salads, make grilled vegetables recipes, or juice them. A lot of people know about juicing fruits to make fruit juices but why not apply the same technique to your veggies to make healthy drinks?

Vegetables do not raise insulin levels like fruits do, unless you are using sweet ones like carrots or corn. The body is more able to absorb nutrients from a liquid that from a hard source, since it has less to process first. You can buy commercial juices but it is preferable to make your own because they will be fresher. Also, you can decide exactly what goes into your juice recipes.

Step By Step Guide

First you need to rinse the vegetables and scrub them, to get rid of any dirt, fertilizers, or pesticides. Take off the large pits or stems because a juicing machine cannot process them and they might damage the screen or blades. Run the juicer for ten seconds to let the blades reach their top speed, then put a glass under the spout.

Feed green leafy vegetables into the juicing machine, rolled up into a ball, using a steady pressure while you push them in. It is a good idea to alternative hard vegetables and soft ones to maximize the amount of juice you will get out of them. Soft veggies sometimes clog the screen, which is another reason to alternate.

The beverage tastes nicer when it is fresh and it loses vitamins if it stands too long, so serve it immediately. If you want to make extra and drink some later, you can fill a glass jar right to the top and seal it with an airtight lid. The oxygen in the jar oxidizes and damages the juice, which is why you need to minimize the amount of oxygen in there. Keep the drink in the refrigerator until you are ready to drink it and drink it within a day.

Which Veggies To Use

If you are completely new to this, try a mild mixture such as cucumber, fennel, and celery. Green leafy vegetables contain the most minerals but they also taste quite strong which is not something that everyone likes.

Red leaf, romaine, green leaf, and escarole lettuce are all very good for juicing, as are kale, spinach, and cabbage. Add some cilantro or parsley for flavor.

A Few Handy Tips

Why not add an apple or two to the veggie mixture? These will add extra nutrients and give the drink a sweeter taste. Seedless grapes would be another way of making it taste nicer, especially if you are trying to get your kids to drink it.

You should clean your juicing machine as soon as you have made the juice so mold does not begin to form. You can drop a little bleach into it, then run it for a minute and rinse it thoroughly.

Bruschetta is a delicious appetizer, which originates from Italy. This wonderful snack has been popular there since at least the 1400s and it is a basic dish made with garlic-rubbed bread, which is topped with olive oil and seasonings. There are plenty of variations of this recipe and sometimes cured meat, spicy red pepper, cheese, vegetables or basic might appear in bruschetta recipes, as well as garlic, onion or fresh tomato.

If you enjoy Italian flavors, you will love bruschetta since many recipes for it combine classic Italian ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onion, fresh juicy tomatoes, Italian cheese and more.

You will be able to experience all these tastes together in every mouthful of this wonderful snack. It is also economical to prepare and you do not need any expensive ingredients to make it. Extra virgin olive oil is recommended but you only need a tiny bit, because a little goes a long way.

A Great Appetizer Choice

This is a wonderful snack to serve if you do not want to fill your guests up too much but you want to offer them something delicious to nibble on while they enjoy their first drink. Warm bruschetta fresh from the oven smells heavenly, as you can probably imagine, and these are really easy summer appetizer recipes to prepare. You can even make a few varieties so people can taste different ones.

The following recipe combines mouthwatering artichoke hearts with goat’s cheese for a real gourmet bruschetta recipe. The unique artichoke heart flavor is beautiful with the creaminess of the cheese and the parmesan also adds a nice touch. For the best results use a block of fresh parmesan and grate your own.

The Recipe Step By Step

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cut a French baguette into eighteen slices, which are about quarter of an inch thick. Brush extra virgin olive oil on both sides of the bread and lay them on a baking sheet. Bake them for about three minutes per side until they are crisp. You can toast the bread up to three hours ahead if you like. Cover it with foil and leave it at room temperature until you are ready for the next step.

Drain two jars of marinated artichoke hearts and keep a couple of tablespoons of the oil they are in. Put them in a food processor with the reserved oil, half a cup each of parmesan cheese and fresh parsley and some black pepper. Process the mixture until it is a coarse puree. If you want to make this puree ahead, just cover it and keep it at room temperature until you are ready to use it.

Spread some artichoke puree on each bread slice and sprinkle some creamy goat’s cheese over the top. You will need about six ounces of goat’s cheese for the eighteen bruschetta.

If you want to assemble them an hour ahead, just leave them uncovered at room temperature and then bake them for five minutes or until the cheese melts. Sprinkle some parsley and black pepper over the top and serve them warm.