Vegan Cooking with TLC

Recently while travelling I started thinking about an Instagram post I saw a month or so ago that talked about being vegan as being "privileged". I didn't really think much about it at the time though I am aware there are food deserts in many places.  As I shopped for groceries in a place where I couldn't find the things I easily buy at home, I started to think about how there are places where being vegan or finding healthy food options aren't so readily available, even if they aren't full on food deserts. There are places where options are so limited that people have to make do with what they can find. I don't know how we can address this issue in a widespread way, but I think it behooves us to recognize that it's easier to find some ingredients in some places than in other places. This is why I often include links to my ingredients and tools on Amazon. I figure if one is online, one can at the very least order some of the ingredients, but after g...

Chocolate and mint always work well together. Using mint in these brownies give them a little extra punch. These never last very long around my house. Peppermint Spelt Brownie Recipe 1 ½ cups spelt flour * ½ cups unsweetened cacao powder 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds 2 tablespoons hot water ¼ cup cashew butter** ½ cup date sugar 1 medium banana, mashed with a fork ½ cup water 1 teaspoon peppermint flavoring *** ½ cup cacao nibs or chocolate chips , optional Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8x8 square pan with parchment paper . Mix flax seeds and hot water. Set aside to thicken Stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a large bowl . In another bowl, cream sugar, flax seed mixture, cashew butter, and banana. Stir in water and peppermint flavoring until smooth. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well mixed. Spoon batter into pan.  Bake 20-30 minutes until tooth...

This week I'm sharing a salsa recipe that we often make instead of a salad. It's one of those things I'd never bothered to write down until recently. While I've made several versions of salsa, this one tends to be the one I return to consistently.I love that it's made with primarily fresh ingredients. Salsa 2-3 medium to large tomatoes 1 green pepper 4-6 spring onions ¼ small red onion 1 clove garlic ¼ cup fresh cilantro ½ fresh jalapeno pepper ¼ teaspoon ground cumin * ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper 1 lime Chop tomatoes and green pepper into bite-size chunks. Dice spring onions and red onion. Mince garlic. Chop cilantro. Dice jalapeno pepper. Juice lime. Place ½ the chopped ingredients in a food processor . Pulse a few times.** Place rest of ingredients in a bowl . Stir in the cumin, black pepper, and processed ingredients. Add lime juice. Stir together. * I was out of cumin today...

I woke up craving pumpkin muffins this morning, so I decided they would be this week's recipe. I usually prefer to make the recipe for the blog earlier in the week, but this week hasn't been conducive to that. So here we are. I couldn't find the previous pumpkin muffin recipe I wrote, so I rewrote it this morning and made them. I know this isn't my original recipe, but I'm happier with this one than my previous one. Pumpkin Muffins 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds 2 tablespoons hot water 1 can pumpkin puree * ½ cup maple syrup ** 2 cups spelt flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves ½ cup pecans broken into pieces, optional Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together flax seeds and hot water in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken. Combine spelt flour, baking powder, and the spices in a medium bowl . ...

We often used to eat ramen noodle soup when we'd get sick, yes, those cheap packets, even though we eventually started throwing the flavor packets away and use our own stock.  When I found ramen rice noodles without packets a few years ago that were vegan I was excited. I ended up developing a couple of ramen noodle recipes. This week I ended up making ramen noodle soups a couple of nights because my household is dealing with colds right now. I decided to share my version of this comfort food now instead of later in case anyone else is looking for an alternative soup to eat while sick. I make each serving in its own pan because I think it turns out better that way. The photo shows ingredients for two, but the recipe is for one serving. Miso Ramen Noodle Soup 2 mushrooms 1 carrot 2 cups vegetable stock ¼ teaspoon fresh ginger** 1 block ramen noodles ** 1 tablespoon miso Cut mushrooms into small pieces. Shred carrot. Add mushrooms, carrot, and ginger...

I decided to talk a bit about snacking today because that's what's on my mind. Are you a snacker? I tend to only snack when I don't eat full, nutritious meals. I've noticed lately that I've been snacking more than usual at the same time I noticed I wasn't putting in the effort to eat meals. My snacks are nutritious, but a handful of nuts isn't going to provide the energy, fullness, and nutrition to keep me going through the day. I know this. I know it's worth taking the time to fix breakfast and a light lunch to avoid snacking all day, but sometimes I convince myself I'm too busy or I'm not that hungry or... whatever excuse I give myself for not taking the time to fix myself a nutritious and healthy meal. My snacks tend to be nuts, dried, fresh, or frozen fruit, and sometimes air-popped popcorn. But, even when I choose healthy snacks, they don't have the same positive effect on my body as eating a full meal. As I was writi...

I developed this recipe several years ago when my niece started college. She wanted some healthy, plant-based recipes she could make in her crockpot. I was happy to oblige. I usually make pumpkin soup with fresh pumpkin, or other squash, but this seemed like it might be more practical for people without access to fresh squash or without the room to store fresh squash. I remembered the origins of this recipe and thought it might be a nice recipe to share with school starting. It can easily be expanded to feed more people by using a larger can of pumpkin or multiple cans of pumpkin. Crock Pot Canned Pumpkin Soup 1 15-oz can organic pumpkin 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds 2 stalks celery 1 medium carrot 1 medium onion 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried rosemary ½ teaspoon chili powder ½ teaspoon ground ginger ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom , optional 2 ½-3 cups vegetable s...