Incredible! From Chakra 4 Restaurant in Phoenix, their Noritos are made from raw Nori seaweed smothered in a sunflower seed “nacho cheese” served with creamy guacamole and piquant sunflower sprout pico de gallo.
Non-Dairy Gluten-Free
Awesome Crunchy: Mariposa Vegan, Gluten-free Herbed Crackers
These Herbed Crackers from Mariposa Baking are so crunchy and tasty, I could not believe they were gluten-free AND vegan plus nut and soy free. To me, these crackers are more like tiny crostini. I envision a vast array of gluten-free appetizers. These herbed crackers are awesome dipped in roasted red pepper hummus.
Continue reading "Awesome Crunchy: Mariposa Vegan, Gluten-free Herbed Crackers" »
Artisan-crafted Chocolate-covered Gluten-free Donuts From Mariposa Baking
These artisan-crafted chocolate-covered gluten-free donuts from Mariposa Baking are so pretty.
Cranberry, Walnut Oatmeal Cookies
For Fun Food Friday, I made a holiday themed vegan Oatmeal cookie using dried cranberries instead of raisins based on this recipe from About.com Vegetarian. This oatmeal cookie is not only fun, but is allergy-friendly as it is egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and gluten-free.
For Fun Food Friday, I made a holiday themed vegan Oatmeal cookie using dried cranberries instead of raisins based on this recipe from About.com Vegetarian. This oatmeal cookie is not only fun, but is allergy-friendly as it is egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and gluten-free.
To make the cookies soy-free, in place of soy milk I used rice milk, and for butter, I used Earth Balance Soy-free buttery spread.
I also used organic vegan sugar and brown sugar made by Wholesome Sweetener brand. Make the cookies gluten-free by using gluten-free oatmeal from brands like Bob's Red Mill and Glutenfreeda.
For a softer cookie, bake for 12 minutes, and for crunchy cookies bake for 15 minutes. These cookies are so easy to make, and great to take to a holiday party or give as a gift.
Allergy-friendly Semi-Homemade Pecan Sweet Potato Pie
I love pumpkin and sweet potato pie. For Thanksgiving this year, I made this vegan pecan sweet potato pie modifying a recipe from Dr. Andrew Weil's squash pie recipe.
For my pie, instead of squash, I used 3 cans of Farmers Markets Foods brand organic sweet potato I got at Whole Foods.
I omitted the brandy to make the pie alcohol-free.
I used arrowroot because I like it better as a thickener and it's GMO-free. With cornstarch, unless you get organic, it's most likely going to be made from GMOs because corn is one of the top GMO crops in the world.
Instead of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, I used 2-3/4 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie spice because it's sold in one jar and easier.
I bought a pre-made organic vegan pie crust by Wholly Wholesome because Whole Foods had it on sale for $3.50 for two pie shells - a bargain and less work. On a side note, Wholly Wholesome also makes whole wheat and spelt pie shells, and a gluten-free pie shell. Over at Oh She Glows, there is a wonderful post on three ways to make vegan pumpkin pie including a nice vegan, gluten-free crust recipe.
Back to my pecan sweet potato pie, after pouring the filling into the pie shell, place all the pecans on top. I tented the pie crust edges with aluminum foil to help prevent burning. Make sure to bake the pie in the middle rack and not too close to the top heat source of your oven so the pecans won't burn.
At the 35 minute mark of baking, check on your pie to make sure the pecans aren't blackening. Mine started to darken a little so I laid a piece of foil on top of the pie. I didn't seal the foil, I just let it rest on the pie.
It's important to make this pie a day ahead of time before eating because the time overnight in the fridge is crucial to the filling firming up.
For the dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free whipped cream, here's our recipe.
Enjoy!
10 Allergy-friendly Thanksgiving Dish Ideas
This year, for the family Thanksgiving dinner, I'm responsible for cooking the side dishes which is fantastic because I know I'll be able to eat everything. Score! If you're like me, I'm a last minute Thanksgiving planner. In fact, I'm doing my shopping today.
For some allergy-friendly Thanksgiving dishes, here are some ideas from us and from other delicioso foodies around the noshosphere:
- Roasted Brussel Sprouts With Pecans and Pea Shoots: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free [Noshtopia]
- Crunchy Garlic, Rosemary, Sage Croutons To Make Dressing: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free [Noshtopia]
- Roasted Heirloom Carrots With Sweet Potato, Rosemary, and Leeks: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free [Noshtopia]
- Creamy Kale and Spinach Gratin with Jalapeno Garlic Havarti: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free (use GF bread crumbs), soy-free [Noshtopia]
- Whipped Cream: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free [Noshtopia]
- Farro and Roasted Squash Pilaf: dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free [Rachael Ray]
- Cranberry Orange Quinoa Stuffing With Pecans in Acorn Squash: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free (use GF croutons), soy-free [Fake Food Free]
- Oat and Almond Drop Biscuits with Herbed Olive Oil Gravy: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, soy-free [Sweet Roots]
- Chickpea Caulipots- a healthy, and high protein alternative to mashed potatoes [Keepin' It Kind]
- Squash Pie: dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free (use GF graham crackers), soy-free [Dr. Andrew Weil]
Got any last minute Thanksgiving dish ideas to share?
Meatless Monday Idea: Fava Hummus Sandwich With Avocado, Arugula, And Tomato on Ezekiel
At one of my local Whole Foods, they were sampling Fava brand fava bean hummus and I fell in love with their hearty Roasted Red Pepper fava hummus. I've never had a hummus made with fava beans before. I was easy to convince to try it because I have an affinity for Roasted Pepper flavored hummus.
Silence of the Lambs made fava beans with chianti thrilling, but no need to fear here with this hummus. Fava beans are nutrient-dense, high in fiber, and high in protein. From Livestrong, here are some of the health benefits of fava beans.
For Meatless Monday, I have here a half Roasted Red Pepper fava hummus sandwich with avocado slices, tomato, and arugula with Brianna's Poppy seed dressing on Ezekiel Sprouted Whoe Grain bread. The chips on the side are Enjoy Life's new Margherita Pizza flavored Plentils which are awesome and free of the 8 common allergens.
Dipping Time: Sweet Roasted Red Pepper, Smoky Peach Hummus Salsa
I experimented and combined hummus with salsa and bam! I found myself a new favorite dip. Besides, a palate win, this hummus salsa requires zero cooking! I just used pre-made hummus and bottled salsa, and mixed the two together.
I've never seen a hummus salsa before because it almost seems odd to combine the two dips together. I think the key to my palate success was the flavors I combined.
For the hummus, I used Tribe brand Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Whole Foods has a similar hummus. For the salsa, I used Trader Joe's brand bottled Spicy, Smoky, Peach salsa. I love that peach salsa because of the sweet and mild heat combo. The flavors of the Sweet Roasted Pepper with Spicy, Smoky Peach combined together is just awesome. I love using this dip as a sandwich spread as well.
To make my hummus salsa, I used 1 part hummus to 2 parts salsa. As an example, that would be something like 1 tbsp hummus with 2 tbsp salsa. To make the hummus salsa a little thinner, I'll add more salsa.
The chips in my photo are Late July Organic and Sweet Potato Multi-grain chips which are also, gluten-free, vegan, peanut/tree nut-free, soy-free, and GMO-free. I like that there are Chia seeds in these chips.
Have you ever had a hummus salsa? What flavors did you try?
Evolution Juice: The Cold-Pressed Difference Complemented With Healthy Food
One of my favorite bottled juices is Evolution Juice because I can literally feel the life force in the juice which makes me feel vibrant and fantastic, and there is a reason for that which I'll get into in a bit.
Their Pineapple Coconut Water is one of my favorite post workout drinks because I can replenish electrolytes with the light fruity goodness of pineapple. Here are seven health benefits of pineapple which includes strengthening of the bones. By the way, because of the electrolytes, coconut water is also excellent for hangover recovery in case you have one too many cocktails.
The Evolution green vegetable juices like Vital Greens and Essential Greens only has 2 - 3g of sugars which is wonderful because most bottled green juices average 28g of sugars per serving. I want to drink vegetables not sugar.
Evolution opened their first store in San Francisco, and Founder Jimmy Rosenberg gave us a preview of what the stores have to offer. There are two other Evolution stores in Washington state in Seattle and Bellevue where they are headquartered.
Of the samples we tried, my favorite juice was the Sweet Burn (the red juice in the photo) which has Coconut Water, Pineapple, Organic Apple, Beet, Cayenne, and Ginger. The kick of cayenne and ginger is a fun pick-me-up.
My favorite food was the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Collard Wrap (in the photo) with Grilled zucchini, Kalamatas, oven-roasted tomatoes, sesame seeds, and fresh herbs. Using collards as the wrap is brilliant because it makes the wrap gluten-free, and collards are one of the most nutrient-packed foods you can eat.
One of the salads they offer is this Farmer's Garden salad with organic kale, baby spinach, julienned carrots, beets, snap peas, grape tomatoes, cucumber, pepitas, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds. In my book, this is a perfect post workout meal.
The overall food menu in the store is nutritionally impressive and very allergy-friendly. I loved seeing kale, quinoa, and collards on several of the menu items. They can make anything vegan, dairy, soy, or gluten-free. Meals include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks along with building your own bowls and salads. There is also a wonderful array of foods to-go which are nice small portions and make for great meals to take to work, a sporting event, plane rides, and road trips.
So, I mentioned that I can feel the life force in these juices. For some people that may sound woo-woo, but in actuality it isn't. What's going on here is the cold-pressed difference. Evolution juices are cold-pressed using High Pressure Processing which preserves the flavors, nutrients, and enzymes of the fruit and vegetables used in the juice.
Most bottled juices are heat pasteurized which robs the juice of all that goodness cold-pressing keeps. Cold-pressed bottled juices are as closest to raw juices as you'll get if you want convenience versus buying a juicer and making raw juices for yourself at home. Because of the cold-pressing, Evolution juices are a bit pricier than your mainstream juice brands, but to me it's worth it because you get raw juice-like benefits without the work or cleanup of doing your own juicing.
Here is a list of retailers that carry Evolution juices, and if you live or visit San Francisco, Seattle, or Bellevue be sure to stop by an Evolution store and try one of their meals with some vitalizing juice. Hopefully, you will love it as much as we did!
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