Raw and Cooked Vegan Dishes

I made a committment to try a vegan diet during the month of January 2012. Although it has been a lot more work for me as far as food prep goes, I have stuck with it and am loving the way I feel! I definitely have more energy, and I’m not relying on coffee for it either. Some recipes I have tried have been horrible, but others have been very good. I will be sharing pictures of some of the food I have really enjoyed and links to where you can get the recipes. Bon appetit!

Vegetarian Kale Soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, our heater stopped working, and it was really cold in the house for a few days. I wanted something to warm me, and as I looked in the fridge, I noticed I had a lot of kale. I did a search and decided to try this recipe for a vegetarian kale soup. I didn’t have the vegetable bouillion the recipe calls for, but I used half water and half low sodium vegetable broth that I had on hand. This is my favorite vegan soup that I have tried so far. The whole family liked this one. Click here for the recipe.

Hallelujah Blue Salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole family enjoys this salad(Paul likes his without the red pepper strips). On the recipe page, there is also a link for a raspberry vinagrette that is recommended to go along with the salad. The first time I made the salad and was going to make the dressing, I realized that I didn’t have enough raspberrries. I substituted blueberries instead, and the dressing turned out great. It has a wonderful flavor and texture. To get the salad recipe, click here.

Raw Zucchini Hummus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was a bit hesitant to try this, because I tried a raw garbanzo hummus last month and didn’t like it. The consistency was too gritty, and being used to cooked hummus, I just did not like the raw taste. The zucchini hummus is really good. The consistency is smooth and creamy, and I think the almond butter that is in it adds to the flavor. This is a good dip for vegetables, pita bread slices, etc. and also can be used as a substitute for mayonnaise on sandwiches. Click here for the recipe.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to use up the broccoli I had in the refrigerator, so I did a search for a vegan cream of broccoli soup. This recipe turned out very nice. The soup has the consistency of regular cream of broccoli soup, but there are no dairy products used. They recommend using broccoli florets and toasted pine nuts as a garnish. I just used the pine nuts. The husband and kids liked it too. Hurray! To get the recipe, click here.

Batter Whole Wheat Bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my every day bread that I have been making quite often. The recipe comes from Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads. I tweaked the recipe a little by substituting raw honey for sugar. I like the firm but chewy consistency of this bread, and it is fairly easy to make.

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour

1  3/4 cups hot water

1/2 tbsp. salt

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

1 tbsp. raw honey

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Fill measuring cup with the hot water and stir in the raw honey until it is dissolved. Add the honey water to dry ingredients and mix 50 strokes by hand. Pour batter into a greased bread pan.(You should definitely grease the pan. Even if you use a Teflon pan and don’t grease it, I’ve found from experience that the bread will stick badly to the pan. I grease my pans with a little coconut oil) Cover the bread pan with wax paper and let rise for approximately 30 minutes. After 10 minutes of rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees. When rising time is done, stick bread in oven and let cook for 15 minutes on 400. Turn the oven down to 350 and allow the bread to cook for 45 minutes. Remove bread from oven and let cool for about half an hour before removing from pan. You may need to work it out of the pan slightly with a plastic spatula. Enjoy!

Raw Vegan Caramel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This caramel is the absolute bomb! It is a wonderful dip for apple slices. We also like to take a banana, cut it up and mix in some caramel and nuts for a quick, delicious and nutritious dessert. If you do not try any other recipe on this page, you have to try this one. It only takes 5 simple ingredients and a food processor to make this wonderful concoction. Click here for the recipe.

Rice/Black Bean/Pecan Dish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The picture I took doesn’t do this dish justice. With the black beans, celery, purple onion and red and yellow peppers that are added to the rice, it looks very colorful and appetizing. I had a big plateful of this rice along with a salad for dinner and felt satisfied. This is a recipe I will definitely make again. To learn how to make this dish, click here.

Applecado smoothie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is good for you

and so easy to make. Pour one cup of apple juice into blender. Add one peeled avocado and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Raw apple blueberry cereal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I first heard about “raw oatmeal”, it sounded kind of disgusting, but this raw cereal with apples, blueberries and nuts is very tasty and filling. Click here to get the recipe.

Raw apple pie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually combined two different recipes from the Hallelujah diet website to make this pie. The crust is made with nuts, maple syrup and vanilla in your food processor. It’s yummy! Click here for recipe. The filling was made in the food processor also. Just combine 10 pitted Medjool dates(got mine at Trader Joe’s), 1/3 cup maple syrup and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Let it process until it becomes doughy. Remove from food processor and combine in a larger bowl with 4 apples that have been peeled, cored and diced. Spread this mixture into the pie crust, and let the pie chill in the refrigerator for a while. My husband thought this pie was great, and said that if he would have been blindfolded and fed this pie, he would never have guessed that it wasn’t cooked.