Grain-Free Sprouted Bean Bread (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Grain-free sprouted bean bread

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If you followed my sprouts recipe from a few weeks ago, you’re probably already a sprout-making pro! But you might be wondering what else you can do with sprouted mung beans and sprouted lentils, besides adding them to salads and sandwiches. Not to mention, if you’re eating gluten-free, you might not even be eating sandwiches!

This bread is a delicious, wholesome alternative to store-bought breads and it’s also a fantastic way to use your sprouts!

Grain-free sprouted bean bread

This bread is an adaptation and blend of a couple of recipes I found online. It’s artisan-style, so not necessarily something you’d use to build a club sandwich or a Reuben But it is excellent toasted and spread with nut butter or cream cheese.

I apologize for the lighting in the photos, but sometimes you just have to work with what’s available…know what I mean?

Grain-free sprouted bean bread

Grain-Free Sprouted Bean Bread (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sprouted lentils
• 1 cup sprouted mung beans
• 1 cup garbanzo flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 chia egg (see recipe)
• 4 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. brown rice syrup

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a blender or food processor, blend the sprouted beans at medium speed until pasty.
3. Use a hand mixer to mix in the flour, sunflower seeds, and all other ingredients.
4. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil.
5. Spread the mixture evenly in the loaf pan. Sprinkle extra sunflower seeds on top if you like.
6. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.
7. Turn the oven off and let the bread sit inside for 1 more hour. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Have you ever used legumes in bread?

Do you have a favorite bread recipe?

Easy Cashew Cheese (Vegan, Raw)

Easy Cashew Cheese

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

Cashew cheese is one of those yummy raw vegan treats that is WAY easier to make than you might ever think.

Before I made it, I thought it would require fancy ingredients or some expensive kitchen tool that I didn’t have. And while there are recipes for cashew cheese that require a dehydrator, this one doesn’t! All you need is a blender or a food processor.

Easy Cashew Cheese

I’ve tried a few variations on this, including adding dill and chopped parsley, both of which are good ~ although it’s great plain, with no additions!

You can also play around with blending it to various consistencies. I usually like it best a little bit textured, as in the pictures here. If you have a super-powered blender, you can get this very smooth.

This cheese is great as a dip for fresh, cut veggies. It’s also great on amaranth bread (see my recipe!), flax crackers (like Mary’s Gone Crackers), and in collard wraps (recipe coming soon!). If you have a favorite way to eat cashew cheese, I’d love to hear it!

Easy Cashew Cheese

Easy Cashew Cheese (Vegan, Raw)

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked 4-6 hours
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• purified water
• 1 tsp. parsley or dill (optional)

Steps

1. Drain the cashews.
2. Put cashews, lemon juice, and salt in a food processor and blend well.
3. Gradually add water by the Tbsp. and blend until the cheese reaches your desired consistency. Stir in parsley or dill until mixed.
4. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Do you eat non-dairy cheeses?

Do you have a favorite vegan dip or spread?

Chocolate-Almond Butter Freezer Bites (Vegan, GF, and Sugar-Free!)

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

A little bite of chocolate is always a good thing.

A little bite of chocolate and almond butter is a very good thing!

These little treats are not only adorable, they’re also healthy! It’s true!

Made with coconut oil and stevia, they are loaded with antioxidants, healthy fats, alkalizing properties, and pure deliciousness.

You could use liquid stevia, but I like the slight crunch of the granulated kind in these candies.

Since coconut oil melts at body temperature, it’s important to keep these nibbles in the freezer or fridge until you’re ready to chomp.

They’ll also start to melt onto your fingertips, but that just means you get to lick off the melted tastiness. Oh, well

I made these in an empty ice cube tray, but you could use candy trays, or even mini muffin tins. Whatever makes it easier to get them into your mouth quicker will probably be the best choice.

Chocolate-Almond Butter Freezer Bites (Vegan, Gluten-Free, and Sugar-Free!)

Ingredients

• 1 large bar of unsweetened dark chocolate (113g). I used Ghiradelli 100% cacao.
• 6 Tbsp. raw coconut oil
• 8 Tbsp. granulated stevia
• 2 Tbsp. raw almond butter

Steps

1. Melt the chocolate and coconut oil.
2. Add the stevia and blend well until melted together.
3. Drop 2/3 of the chocolate mix into an ice cube tray and freeze for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer and divide the almond butter among the 14 pieces.
5. Cover the almond butter with the remaining chocolate mix.
6. Freeze for 15 minutes. Keep chilled until ready to eat. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Do you prefer small bites of treats like this, or would you rather have one larger piece (of pie, say)?

How dark do you like your chocolate?

The Versatile Blogger Award & Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

On the surface, this was a fairly normal weekend: ran 12-miles in the rain, which was actually fine, even good; got some new bike handlebars with my REI dividend; watched The Help while it rained, rained, rained; went on a bike ride with said new bars once the sun came out; ate a bunch of coconut meat.

But there was one thing that made this weekend extra-special. I am beyond thrilled to share that one of my favorite bloggers, Jasmine at Paintbox Kitchen, has tagged me with two awards: The Versatile Blogger and the Very Inspiring Blogger Awards! The warm fuzzies and gooey innards hardly touch what this means to me. Thank you, Jasmine!!
 

The premise is simple: Jasmine herself was nominated by a blog friend of hers, who was previously nominated by a blog friend, who was previously nominated by a blog friend, and so on, backwards through time. The winner shares 7 things we might not have known about them, then they link to a) the person who nominated them, and b) the new winners of the award. I guess the original rules say you’re supposed to link to 15 people, but Jasmine linked to 4, and I am still quite green so will link to 5. In good punk rock fashion, we’re making up our own rules. DIY, baby!

So, the deeper, and extra-cool part of this award system is how connected it makes us. I read the blogs I do because I like the personality of the blog writer, trust their opinion (even if I don’t always agree with it), and simply think what they have to say is valuable. Then it goes without saying that I would probably like the other blogs that Jasmine nominated and I would probably like the blogger who nominated her, and so on and so forth, backwards through time. It’s a web, see, that spreads across the world! A world-wide web! THAT IS SO COOL.

Now, I’ll go ahead and let you in on a few tidbits you might not know. After that, the new winners of the awards. Onward…

7 Things You Might Not Know About Me

… in no particular order

1. I’ve been to Burning Man nine times. And while I no longer go every year, I still hold dear to my heart the 10 Principles and include them in my everyday life, particularly Radical Self-Expression, Radical Self-Reliance, Participation (No Spectators), and Leave No Trace.

2. One day a week, usually Sunday, I spend 2-3 hours prepping food for the week. This makes it easy to grab healthy, well-rounded, veggie-tastic, protein-filled meals and snacks whether we are working from home or on the go. Prep includes things like roasting chicken and turkey breasts, hard-boiling eggs, pre-making lunch salads and wraps, making a big batch of protein pancakes, dehydrating veggies and/or crackers and flatbread, soaking beans and nuts for sprouting, soups, and snacks.

3. I am not vegan, though I was for 4 years. I’m also not vegetarian, pescetarian, Paleo, carnivorous, raw foodist, strictly gluten-free, strictly sugar-free, or any other label that makes it easy to pigeonhole or stereotype my eating habits, because really, no one needs to care that much about the details except me. The recipes I share tend to be on the healthier side, though

4. I discovered my love of open-water swimming while training for my first triathlon and hope someday to do an Alcatraz swim. That’s when you take a ferry across the San Francisco Bay and jump into the water when you reach the famous island ex-prison, then swim across the bay until you reach land. Like an escapee, get it? The SF Bay is about 55 degrees year-round, but with a wetsuit, it’s totally fine. I haven’t yet reached no-wetsuit bravery, but people do it all the time. I think the Alcatraz swim is 1.5 miles.

5. I’m running my first marathon in July, the San Francisco Marathon, with my sister, who has run 3 marathons already. The whole point, for me, is to run this thing with her. I don’t care about time at all. So, I’ve decided not to publicly share my final race time, whatever it is, because it won’t matter. The whole point is to run with her and to cross the finish line with my sister

6. My birthday is next Saturday ~ March 31! That makes me an Aries, but I have a Cancer moon and Cancer rising, so I’m like a ball of fire surrounded by water. Like some beautiful Polynesian-esque display where there’s a giant, roaring fire pit set up in the middle of a pool. Or something like that.

7. An astrologer once described me as, “the exact middle point between introverted and extroverted.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

And now… I’m very happy to announce the newest winners of the Very Inspiring Blogger and Versatile Blogger Awards! The rules are simple ~ when you’re tagged, link back to this site, share 7 things about yourself that we might not know, and then pass the award on! Of course, you’re welcome to ignore all of this, too. And that is totally fine. But I think you’re cool, so that’s all that matters!

The Healthy Diva

Diva Sarah is a California girl turned Aussie whose interest in heath, food, and fitness never fails to inspire me. Her blog’s tagline, “Balancing Fitness, Food, and Feeling Good!” sums it up with a big, motivated smile!

Marin Mama Cooks

Jackie is a mom of 2 who cooks delicious and healthy meals for her family… and she is a fantastic food blogger! She includes very clear instructions and beautiful pictures of all the steps, which makes everything easy to understand. I always feel like I’m right there with her when she’s cooking, which is a cozy, if hungry, feeling

You Just Did What?!

In just a month, Erika has jumped right in and shared her friendliness, adorable family, and motivation to run a half-marathon! Her smile and sense of humor are infectious. I just can’t wait to hear how the Hot Chocolate run went!

Weddings & Workouts

Megan also lives in Australia! She’s super-motivated, inspiring, and like a burst of sunshine and fresh energy. Smiles all around, Megan!

Naturally Healthy and Gorgeous

You can’t argue with a title like that! Rebecca posts super-interesting information about various natural items and their benefits, plus not-so-great items and why to avoid them. She covers everything from BPA to tea tree oil to garlic and it’s always presented clearly, with references and source info, so you gotta trust her!

Well, I hope you’ve all enjoyed this round of Blog Awards. May the web continue to be woven and the connections continue to grow!

No-Sugar-Added Apple Tartlets

To see all recipes, scroll to the top and click on Recipes or just click here!

Made with a whole wheat crust and with no sugar in the filling, these 5-inch apple tarts are the perfect, healthy dessert. They’re filling enough to share, but delicious enough to be indulgent without completely going overboard.

They’re perfectly sweet as-is, and they’re hearty enough to eat for breakfast! Ahem.

I made two 5-inch tartlets, but if you could also make one large tart. An 8″ or 9″ pie pan could work well, too!

The dough recipe below makes enough for 4, 5-inch tarts. If you only are making 2 tarts, you can freeze the extra dough for future baking.

You can also easily make this recipe vegan or gluten-free!

To make the tartlets vegan:

• Replace the butter with Earth Balance (or other vegan substitute)
• Replace the egg with Ener-G egg replacer 

To make it gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour of your choice. Garbanzo flour would probably work well for the consistency needed in this crust.

No-Sugar-Added Apple Tartlets

Crust Ingredients (makes 4, 5-inch crusts)

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. stevia
• 1 3/4 sticks butter
• 1/2 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 1/2 large egg (whisk first then separate half)
• 1/2 cup ice water

Filling ingredients (makes 2, 5-inch fillings)

•  2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced very thin
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon (optional)

Steps

1. Combine the flour, salt, and stevia in a large bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, forks, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
2. Whisk the vinegar and egg together. Mix the liquid into the flour mixture with your hands until just combined. Add the water 1 Tbsp. at a time until the dough sticks together in a mound. Press together firmly.
3. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Shape each into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill 2 disks for at least 1 hour to overnight. Freeze the extras for up to 3 months.
4. Preheat the oven to 400F.
5. Press the dough firmly into the bottoms and sides of two 5″ tart pans.
6. Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.
7. Reduce the temperature to 375F.
8. In a medium bowl, toss the apples with the applesauce and lemon juice. Add the cinnamon if desired. Reserve 8-10 slices for decoration.Transfer to a medium skillet and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the apples have softened.
9. Fill the crusts with the applesauce mixture, then place the remaining apple slices on top.
10. Bake at 375F for 45 minutes.
11. Cool completely. Serve with ice cream or soft-serve bananas. Enjoy!

Adjust the recipe as necessary for your needs and tastes. You can determine the nutritional content of your final product using Recipe Calculator.

Do you like to share desserts?

Do you enjoy mini-desserts or would you rather have a slice from a large pie?