Creamy Rosemary White Beans

These rosemary white beans are on par with comfort foods like mac and cheese - except they're vegan, healthy, and super quick to make! A pot of beans takes about 30 minutes from start to finish!  And, your non-vegan friends will absolutely beg you for the recipe!

Serves 1 to 2 as a main dish

Serves 3 to 4 as a side dish

Ingredients
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped

1 1/4 cups water

1 Rapunzel brand vegetable bouillon cube
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup cashew milk
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose or brown rice flour (use the later if you'd like to make this dish gluten-free)
2 15 oz cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
Salt to taste

Hot Sauce - optional, but can be drizzled over the top of you prefer a spicier dish!

Instructions
To a medium size pot, add onion, vegetable bullion cube, and 1/2 cup water, and cook over medium heat until soft (about 8 minutes) - until the onions are very tender/translucent.  Check the onions toward the end of the cooking time to make sure the water doesn't completely evaporate.

Add the garlic and extra water if needed, and cook 2 more minutes.  The water should be mostly evaporated now (but not so much that the onions and garlic are completely dry).  Turn off the heat (and remove the pan from the burner if needed), while you add the rest of the ingredients.

Add the remaining ingredients including 3/4 cup water, cashew milk (you can use coconut milk or a blend of coconut/cashew milk as well), rosemary, pepper, and flour. Whisk to make sure all the flour is smooth. Finally add the beans; you want to add them after the whisking so you don't break up the beans too much.

Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until bubbly and hot, stirring occasionally (the beans may stick to the bottom of the pot, so keep an eye on them). Add salt, to taste (I usually don't need to add any salt, as the canned beans already have sodium in them).  If you like spicier beans, serve with a drizzle of hot sauce.

Note: You can use store bought nut or cashew milk in this recipe, but it's also really easy to make your own cashew milk, which is fresher and healthier.  To make cashew milk, simply add 1 cup whole raw cashews to a Blendtec or or other "high powered" blender (e.g. a Vitamix) with 3 cups water, and blend until smooth (no need to strain it).  Store up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Kelley's Green Smoothie Recipe

I love the green smoothie concept; you can pack in 7+ servings of fruits and vegetables before 10 am by swapping your normal breakfast for a green smoothie; by doing so, you'll get 700 percent more plants into your diet than the average American.  There is a strong, studied correlation between plant foods consumed, and your risk for heart disease and cancer - the more plants you eat daily, the lower your risk!  This is one simple change everyone can easily make.  Green smoothies take very little time to prepare, and it's no trouble to clean-up a blender (unlike juicers which generally have a lot of parts).  Cheers to your green smoothie health!

Using an (inexpensive) Oster blender from Walmart (but if you have a blendtec or vitamix, it's even better)...

In the following order, add to the blender:

1 cup room temperature water.

4-5 cups of fresh superfood greens (my favorite is Kale; be sure to remove the woody part of the stem and tear up slightly if using whole leaves).

Blend until greens are drinkable, then add:

1 scoop powdered superfood greens; I like doTERRA TerraGreens (be cautious about the brands of supplements/superfood greens you choose to buy; many of them aren't organic and actually contain harmful contaminants).

1 scoop unflavored protein shake; I like doTERRA's V Shake (which is vegan); this is completely optional - your smoothie will be great without the scoop of protein shake.

Blend until incorporated; finally add.

2 cups of frozen organic fruit (my favorites are blueberry, mango, and strawberry).

Blend thoroughly until smoothie consistency.

Drink immediately!

Vegan "Green" Pizzas

Adapted from the Engine2 Diet Cookbook

Makes 2 pizzas

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe Kelley's Best Bread Machine Pizza Crust (found on this blog)
1 jar pasta sauce
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed, rinsed and excess water squeezed out
½ cup fresh whole basil leaves
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 cups broccoli florets (the smaller the better)
½ cup sliced mushrooms
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely ground raw cashews


INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare the pizza crusts according to the other recipe mentioned above; this should take 1 hour in a bread machine.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Generously spread sauce on the crusts, and layer each pizza with 1/2 remaining ingredients, starting with the basil and spinach on the bottom.

Top with cashews.

Bake (parchment and all) 15 minutes on a baking steel (from bakingsteel.com) or on on a pizza stone, rotating 1/2 way through.

Kelley's Best Bread Machine Pizza Crust

Makes 2 medium pizza crusts...enough to serve four adults.

1 cup lukewarm water.
1 package rapid rise yeast (2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast will also work)
2-3 Tbs white sugar or honey
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbs olive oil, plus more to grease parchment paper

Place water, yeast and sugar/honey in bread machine and stir lightly; allow to sit for 3 minutes, so the yeast can get started. Add flour, salt, and olive oil. Set-up the machine for "dough" and press "start." The cycle time should take about 1 hour.

When the cycle is finished, lay out two generous pieces of parchment paper (18" wide).  Drizzle about 1 Tbs olive oil on each piece, and use your hands to spread out into a large disk, about 16" wide.

With your hands still lightly oiled, remove the finished dough from the bread maker and place on one piece of the parchment paper.  Using scissors, cut the dough into two even pieces (do not cut through the parchment).  Lightly shape each piece into a round disk, and place one half each piece of parchment.

Let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes, so it can relax...then begin shaping with lightly oiled fingers.  Bounce your fingers on the dough, pressing it outwards in an even circle.  When the dough starts to pull back and won't easily stretch further, stop and allow it to rest for another 2-4 minute (this lets the gluen relax), then begin to press it again.  I usually have to stop and let it relax twice before I can get it stretched out into a thin, approximately 14" round circle.  If you notice any holes or areas that become too thin, simply pinch the dough back together.

Immediately add desired toppings and then use a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet to transfer pizza (parchment and all) to your heated baking steel (or stone; I personally prefer to use a baking steel - bakingsteel.com - as I feel it delivers superior results).

Notes about baking times/temps:

If I have a lot of "raw" veggies that need to cook (like broccoli) on top of the pizza, I generally prefer a lower oven temperature (425 degrees) and will bake the pizza 13-15 minutes, rotating the pizza half way through.

If the pizza toppings are not thick or are somewhat pre-cooked, I typically prefer to bake my pizza at 475 for 9-11 minutes; the higher temperature produces a darker, crispier crust!

Your ideal oven temperature may vary from mine, the best way to determine the best temperature will be to experiment...you may be able to take your oven to 500 without any problem, or 500 may be too hot.  I would suggest starting at 450 and adjusting as needed from there.

Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Peppers, Greens and Cashew Sauce

From the Engine 2 Diet cookbook

Ingredients:
4 large sweet potatoes scrubbed with ends sliced off
3 red, yellow or orange bell peppers halved and seeded
1 large bunch fresh mustard greens, rinsed and coarsely chopped
4 tbsp orange juice
1/2 c home toasted cashews
2 tbsp tamari
2 cloves garlic
water for thinning the cashew sauce to desired consistency

Directions:

For Sweet Potatoes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place potatoes in a casserole dish, and bake for 45 minutes, until they indent easily with finger pressure. Set aside to cool. Slice in half and serve with the skins on.

For Bell Peppers

If you have a gas stovetop, turn the flame to medium low and place peppers directly on top of the burner; turn using tongs until the pepper is completely blackened.  Remove from heat and place in a bowl until cool enough to handle with bare hands.  Under running water, gently rub away the charred skin.  Using a knife, gently remove the top of the pepper, which should contain most of the seeds.  Rinse away any remaining seeds and slice into strips.

For Mustard Greens

Place coarsely chopped mustard greens and juice (you can also substitute water) in a large covered pot over medium heat. Cook the greens for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until wilted and tender.

For Cashew Sauce

Using a Cuisinart with a metal blade, pulse the toasted cashews until pulverized; add garlic and pulse some more until finely chopped.  Finish by adding tamari and a few table spoons of water (pulsing to combine); add water until the sauce has a "smoothie" consistency and is runny, but still thick.  Note: sauce can also made with toasted walnuts (instead of cashews).

To serve, split open each potato with a knife and gently mash the soft insides with a fork.  Layer greens and then bell peppers on top.  Finish by spooning a generous amount of cashew sauce on top.

Big Cereal Bowl Breakfast!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup raw old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup Grape Nuts
1/4 cup bite-size shredded wheat
1/4 cup Uncle Sam cereal
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
2 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons walnuts
1 banana, sliced
¾ cup Very Vanilla Soy Milk or other milk substitute

Instructions:

Toss all dry ingredients, add banana, and finish by adding milk substitute into a bowl.

Vegan Millet Butter

Makes a generous 1 cup!  This stuff is GREAT on toast with honey!

To cook raw millet, place the following in a small pot:

• 1/2 cup raw millet
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 piece of peeled raw carrot cut into chucks or 2 pieces of baby carrots
• generous pinch salt

Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then turn heat to low and cover.  Cook 25 minutes or until millet and carrot are soft; remove from heat.

To make butter, you will also need:

• 1 tbs agar-agar
• 1/4 cup raw (unsalted) cashews
• additional water and salt, to taste

Place hot millet mixture in a food processor with a blade (you can also use a blender).  Add additional 1/4-1/2 cup room temperature water and agar-agar; pulse once and leave for a minute to let agar-agar melt.  Add 1/4 cashews, and process until smooth. Mixture should be thick and creamy (similar to peanut butter); taste and adjust salt (and water) if needed.

Store refrigerated in a covered container up to a week; alternatively, may be frozen and re-heated in a microwave for an even smoother texture.

Variations:  Add garlic powder or fresh garlic to make "garlic butter."  Add orange zest and honey to make "orange honey butter."