I love yogurt, but it no longer loves me so I decided to make vegan yogurt. I know the grocery stores are filled with options today so why attempt to make my own? Two reasons. One is I can choose my own flavor combinations. The other reason is quantity as this recipe makes 4 servings which as far as I know you can’t buy big tubs of plant-based yogurt yet.
I guess there is a third as since I have all the ingredients handy always. So then why not? I like making food from scratch. I know what’s going into it and I can modify to my tastes.
Vegan Yogurt Made Easy
It is pretty easy to make. I’ve tried to make my own dairy yogurt before. It failed miserably on more than one occasion. So when I saw how easy the recipe was for making plant-based yogurt, I thought I’d try it.
Five ingredients: frozen fruit, extra firm tofu, cashews, maple syrup, and lemon juice. I used a frozen cherry berry blend, but you could use frozen peaches or mango. Or a combination. As I attempt to be plant-based, I use maple syrup, but you can use honey.
It is nice to have yogurt back into my breakfast routine as it was creamy. I will continue to refine this recipe as I wasn’t so sure of the texture of cashews.
Are you looking to top the vegan yogurt with something then try my granola recipe.
2 Cups Frozen Mixed Berries (or frozen fruit of choice.)
1/4-1/2 cup Cashews
12-14 ounces Extra Firm Tofu
1/4 Maple Syrup
2 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
Preparation
1. Put everything in a blender blending at high speed until very sBlend everything together on a high speed setting until very smooth about 5-7 minutes.
2. Store in a container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Berry chia seed jam got me out of a sticky situation. Raise your hand if your overbuy fruit. Yup, raises hand. I do this all of the time. Especially when I go to BJ’s Wholesalers and the huge boxes of strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries lure me into buying them. I always promise myself I’ll eat all of that fruit. Promise broken and recently I was left with good fruit that going to go bad. And quickly.
What’s a girl to do? Make jam.
That’s what. The favors are fresh and bright. It is sweetened with pure maple syrup allowing for the berry flavors to come through. My neighbor says that it tastes of fruit not sugar. Adding the chia seeds gives it fiber. I know when I just eat a slice of bread with jam, I’m starving an hour later. This jam has some bulk in a good way.
Depending the size of your jars, you can make enough for the freezer or better yet share with friends and family.
Look for another recipe with the super chia seed? Try Chia Pudding.
Who has time to make overnight oats? The recipes are complex with lots of ingredients. This easy overnight oats recipe to the rescue for those of us who are breakfast lazy and want to start the day off healthy.
While I’m a breakfast person, I’m not a make a breakfast person. When I get up in the morning, I want to grab and go not stand around making something. I admit it. I am a lazy breakfast person which makes me make some questionable breakfast choices. My husband usually eats bread for breakfast. He makes the breakfast and I usually like Nutella on my bread without butter. There is nothing wrong with eating bread and Nutella. No shaming here. BUT. It doesn’t fill me up and give me the energy to power through my morning.
Overnight Oats
A couple years ago, I was turned on to overnight oats when a friend shared their swag bag from an event with me. They came in a jar, just add milk of choice, and put in fridge overnight. I was hooked. There was a catch. The brand was hard to find and expensive. So I started looking for recipes online. So many. Too many actually. With too many ingredients. And high in calories as well as other things. It was overwhelming.
Finally I found a basic recipe that can be built on. Four ingredients: old-fashioned rolled oats, plant-based milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. From there, any other ingredients can be added like chia seeds or a nut-butter for extra protein. Mix ingredients in a glass jar with a lid popping in the fridge. The overnight oats can be then topped with fruit. Quick and easy breakfast that’s filling and healthy. To mix it up then try chia pudding.
Chia pudding. Up until a couple of years ago, if you were to say “chia,” the first thing that came to mind was “chia pet.” Yes. That. For those of you who didn’t grow up with commercial TV and when you couldn’t fast forward through commercials, here is one of the commercials for the infamous “chia pet.” Sorry that I now gave you an ear worm from the past and it will be stuck in your brain for hours.
Fiber, Omega-3, and Protein
Low brow, I know, but that’s how I knew the word “chia.” I didn’t know you could eat it. Let alone how good it is for your health. Honestly, I discounted it all of these types of seeds as well weird until I moved towards a plant-based diet. I need to find replacements for animal-based proteins. Chia seeds has large amounts of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, plenty of high quality protein, and several essential minerals and antioxidants. Recipes kept coming up with chia seeds. As I watched Mary McCartney Serves It Up on the Food Network, she made a chia pudding as part of a brunch. It look good topped with fruit and easy. I tried it. And loved it.
Chia Pudding is easy to make
It does look very appealing, but the end result is yummy. The ingredients are simple: chia seeds, plant-based milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Mix it throughly and pop it in the fridge overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning. Since I’m the only one enjoying it, a batch will last me a week. You can top it with anything you like, but I prefer fruit. It is very filling so start with 1/4 or 1/2 cup. Mary McCartney’s recipe is so simple and worth checking her show and recipes out.
2 cups unsweetened plant-based milk (Mary uses almond milk while I prefer oat milk)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (add in more cinnamon)
Preparation
1. Add the chia seeds, milk, maple syrup and cinnamon to a bowl and whisk together with a fork for a couple of minutes so they are well combined and evenly distributed.
2. Cover and place in the fridge to chill overnight. By the morning it will have set into a pudding.
3. Top with fruit, granola, etc. Make it your own.
A world without Nutella is a very sad one. At least for me anyway. As I moved to plant-based eating, I decided I needed to find a recipe for vegan Nutella. It is a creamy smooth chocolate hazelnut spread you can put on bread or pancakes or dip fruit into it usually has milk and processed sugar. A main part of plant-based eating is removing processed foods including sugar and grains.
Vegan Hazelnut Spread
After some searching, I found a recipe for vegan hazelnut spread. While it is only five ingredients, there is some work to take place. You’ll need raw unsalted hazelnuts, vanilla extract, sea salt, dairy-free dark chocolate or a cacao powder, and pure maple syrup. And a good blender or food processor to blend it all together.
There are some keys to making this yummy spread. One is to roast the hazelnuts. Even if you purchase roasted hazelnuts, re-roasting will warm the natural oils and loosen the skins. And a sturdy towel to remove as much of the skins as possible. That will make a creamy spread. Chocolate is another important element. Chose quality chocolate or cacao powder to make your spread. There will be a sticker shock when you purchase quality cacao powder. I use Trader Joe’s 72% Dark Chocolate bar.
In making this vegan Nutella, you can customize it to your taste. It is all natural without stabilizers so stirring is a must. It is perfect to put on homemade bread.
When I bake it involves butter, eggs, sugar, and cream. And lots of of it. Usually that is until now when I made vegan almond cranberry breakfast cookies. No eggs, butter, or sugar involved in making these cookies.
As I move into plant-based eating, I need to evolve my thoughts on baked goods. The plant-based model discourages most of the ingredients used in traditional baking in western culture. While it is easier to be creative in making veggie dinners or as I say winging it, my confidence in vegan baking didn’t exist. I started following some plant-based blogs. One was Flora & Vino where I came across their recipe for a cranberry almond breakfast cookie. Intrigued I printed it out. (Check out Flora & Vino blog and give them some love.)
Flax Egg?
The first ingredient was a flax egg. OK? A flax egg? What on earth is that? Turns out it isn’t scary. All it is flax seed ground and water whipped together then left to sit for 5 minutes to gel. It was pretty cool.
Make Your Own Flour
The ingredients for this almond cranberry breakfast cookie are pretty simple: flax egg, banana, sunflower butter, maple syrup, rolled oats, oat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, dried cranberries, and slivered almonds. My pantry is pretty well stocked. I had all of the ingredients except for oat flour. I went to the stores to find it, but no one had it. That’s when I went to the Googles and looked up how to make oat flour. Guess what? All it is is rolled oats put through a blender. That’s it so that’s what I did. I got out my trusty decades old Braun Handmixer using an attachment I had never used before: the little chopper bowl. In 15 seconds I had oat flour. I am now kicking myself for buying almond flour when I could have made my own. So live and learn.
These cookies were amazing. So tasty. I didn’t miss the eggs, butter, and cane sugar. Such a yummy treat that even got a thumb’s up by my guys those my son said they were good, but not his favorite. I’m still counting it as a win.
A great grab and go with some tea to start the day off running. For more vegan recipes.
Hello! I'm Ann Marie and I wear the well-worn apron. Join me as explore plant-based eating while I live on an island off the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
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Hello! I'm Ann Marie and I wear the well-worn apron. Join me as explore plant-based eating while I live on an island off the U.S. state of Rhode Island.