Carrot Cake: Dessert Squares Recipe (Dairy Free, Vegan)

If you are looking for a healthy carrot cake recipe, look no more.

I found this recipe in the Tofu 1-2-3 cookbook by Meribeth Abrams and I decided to give it a try. It turned out very tasty, although a bit too sweet for my taste. Next time I will use  a bit less sugar/syrup. I’m also going to experiment with less oil.

Carrot Cake Squares

Servings: 24 squares

Carrot Cake: Dessert Squares Recipe (Dairy Free, Vegan)

Carrot Cake: Dessert Squares Recipe (Dairy Free, Vegan)

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup silken tofu (I used Nigari from Trader Joe's - this stuff is amazing! I heard Nasoya is also excellent)
  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup maple syrup or agave syrup
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup soy, rice or almond milk
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (skip it if using vanilla milk)
  • 3 cups shredded carrots (about 6 medium or 4 large carrots; I used my food processor to do the job)
  • ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
  • ½ cup raisins (she recommends golden, but I didn't have them, so I used dark)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Prepare a 9 x 13-inch baking pan by spraying it with non-stick cooking oil (I don't have a spray, so I just used some coconut oil to moisten the pan.
  3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, sugar and salt.
  4. In a blender, combine the tofu, syrup, oil, vanilla extract and non-dairy milk and blend until smooth.
  5. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
  6. Mix in the carrots, walnuts, and raisins and stir well. The mixture will be thick and sticky.
  7. Transfer the dough to the baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes our clean.
  8. Remove from the oven, cool and cut into squares and serve as is.
https://greenreset.com/carrot-cake-dessert/

carrot-cake-squares

To make coconut frosting for the cake (optional):

8 ounces silken tofu
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon coconut extract
3/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes

What to do:
Blend tofu with maple syrup and coconut extract, and until smooth. Stir in coconut. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Decorate with coconut flakes, walnuts and raisins.

carrot cake recipe

The carrot-tofu-mixture was so delicious I literally licked the bowl. It had no raw eggs, so that was safe!

Who would have thought that a dessert may contain so much of a healthy stuff and still be delicious!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!

I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!


Strawberry Mousse: Easy Dessert Recipe

I’ve been experimenting lately with easy, no-bake desserts, such as chocolate mousse with tofu and chocolate mousse with avocado. Since I had a bag of frozen strawberries and a package of silken tofu, I thought “Why not try this combination?”

Turns out, this strawberry-tofu combination produces another winning dessert (or snack) that’s rich in protein and low in sugar.

Here is what you’ll need:

Strawberry Mousse Recipe

1/2 cup tofu, silken, firm or extra-firm
1/3 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen
2 tablespoons agave nectar (or to taste)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (orange juice can be used too)
a dash of vanilla extract
a dash of salt (optional)

mousse-strawberry05

Blend all ingredients until very smooth in a blender, food processor, or using a hand blender. Refrigerate for at least two hours or until chilled and transfer to a serving bowl or individual dishes. Serve topped or layered with more strawberries and garnished with chocolate curls, or let your imagination run wild. Makes 2 servings.

strawberry-mousse01

Note: You can reduce the sugar even further in this recipe by reducing agave nectar or substituting it with stevia (the herb).

strawberry-mousse02

Many mousse recipes that you will find online contain lots of eggs and heavy cream. This recipe contains neither, resulting in a much healthier desert (for humans, but especially for hens and cows).

On its own, silken tofu has almost no flavor (or, tastes slightly chalky, depending on the variety and whom you ask;-)), but blended (or cooked) with flavorful ingredients, it can take on a myriad of flavors.

By the way, you might have read various scare articles on the Internet about soy (usually based on misleading articles from the Weston A. Price Foundation) but they’re misinterpretations of science. Soy is a healthy food, just like other beans and legumes, and most people can eat it safely (some people are allergic to it). I eat soy in moderation and try for whole soy in natural forms (tofu, tempeh, soy milk). Just make sure you buy organic or GMO-Free soy products.

strawberry-mousse03

I added a splash of soy milk into my blender, which resulted in less thick dessert than I would like, but it was still delicious.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins Recipe: Simply Delicious and Oh-So-Good-For-You

Although the pumpkin and cinnamon flavorings are generally associated with autumn, they made for an excellent two-day muffin party in February. Last week, I created a batch of these delicious, healthy treats for my house… and they disappeared shortly thereafter.

Filled with cholesterol-reducing organic oats (I bought as organic as possible to get the best results), the multifaceted superfood flax, and mixed with almond milk, containing plenty of calcium and vitamin E, these were an amazing combination. They also contain cinnamon, which has its own benefits on top of being tasty, like regulating blood flow and circulation.

They tasted perfect, were extremely moist, and were an ideal meeting of a few of my favorite qualities in food: sweetness (but not too sweet) and nourishment.

This recipe makes 12 muffins, and you can play around and add or subtract or modify as you see fit. I made mine on the thicker side, with more oats for texture, but you can use the recommended amount below if you like a lighter muffin.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins Recipe: Simply Delicious and Oh-So-Good-For-You

Ingredients

    • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
    • 1/2 cup old fashion oats (more for topping)
    • 1/2 cup raw sugar
    • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
    • 1 flax egg-replacement (1 tablespoon flax meal, 2 1/2 tablespoons water)
    • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 cup almond milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Fold a paper towel and add a drop of oil, then prime the muffin pan. Warm oven to 375F.
  2. Mix the flax egg in a large bowl. Combine almond milk, pumpkin, oil, vanilla extract, and raw sugar to the same bowl.
  3. Delicately combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a sifter and add to wet ingredients, then whisk together until well blended.
  4. Spoon batter into muffin pan until each cup is filled to the top. (Go just above if you want larger muffins.) Add oats to the tops if desired.
  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes (depending on oven power and batter thickness - mine took 25) or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
  6. Allow to cool and store in air-tight glass or plastic.
https://greenreset.com/vegan-cinnamon-pumpkin-muffins/

Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

Although the pumpkin and cinnamon flavorings are generally associated with autumn, they made for an excellent two-day muffin party in February.

Although the pumpkin and cinnamon flavorings are generally associated with autumn, they made for an excellent two-day muffin party in February.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins: Simply Delicious

Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins: Simply Delicious

This guest post is provided by echealthinsurance.com/wellness/eat-well/recipes/. Visit their website to absorb some more healthy, organic and delectable food ideas you can make at home.

Making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy & Reflecting on Global Climate Change

What do oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have in common with the Hurricane Sandy and global climate change? Let me explain.

I live in Northern New Jersey, in an area that has been affected by the recent hurricane Sandy.

I’m grateful that my family has not been greatly affected by this disaster, even though our area got a lot of flooding and trees had been broken.

Our storage compartment and our parking area got completely flooded, but we had moved our cars to safe locations prior to the storm, so the only things we lost is our AC unit that is located in the storage is not functioning, and our Christmas tree decorations getting completely soaked – so we had to discard them.

These are not devastating losses, I know, many people were not as lucky, losing their homes to water and fire.

As we recover from the disaster, I hear that now over 60% of people in the New York City area now believe in human-caused climate change, so the number of climate-change deniers is going down.

But does it mean we are taking the actions that are needed to reverse the damage that has been done and prevent any further damage?

Hardly.

As the Eastern coast recovers from Sandy, I listen to the Democracy Now! broadcasting from the annual U.N. Climate Change Summit, as it convenes in Doha, Qatar.

A shocking new report commissioned by the World Bank is warning temperatures could rise by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, causing devastating food shortages, rising sea levels, cyclones and drought — even if countries meet their current pledges to reduce emissions.

If these promises are not met, the increase could happen even sooner. Meanwhile, scientists say it is still not too late to minimize the devastating impact of climate change. A separate report by the Climate Action Tracker says global warming could be kept below 2 degrees.

“This is an imminent risk that will affect every living person on the planet if we push the ecosystems of the world into a major extinction crisis, says Bill Hare, a leading physicist and environmental scientist who helped produce both of these latest reports.

I believe we should all get educated about what is happening in the world today. We all seem to be living in a bubble, not realizing what is going on around us, or – as Mary Robinson said in her interview for Democracy Now! “We’re all in a kind of sinking ship together, going into a 4-degree-or-plus world. ”

Well, climate change is very real and it is an imminent risk that will affect all of us – every living being on the planet. It will push the ecosystems of the world into a major extinction crisis. It will cause massive problems for us humans.

Listen to the full interview here. You can also download it to your iPod or mp3 player and listen whenever you can. I also listen to it at Pacifica WBAI.

So we need to get educated, but education is just the first step. The second is start taking action.  We all need to become activists in the modern world.

And, even though, there is no easy way out of this horrific situation, and it’s easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed, there are certain easy-to-implement things that each and everyone of us can do – beginning today – but more about this later.

Post Hurricane Sandy

As I took a walk around my neighborhood with my son Adam assessing the damage (I live in a condominium complex) – he was happy and running around excited (no school for the whole week!) – I couldn’t help but wonder what will the world be like for him in 20, 40, or 60 years.

What will the future bring?

What kind of world will it be when we have far more weather shocks, far more drought, far more food insecurity and water stress?

After Sandy - Taking a walk in my neighborhood

After Sandy – Taking a walk with my son around our neighborhood

After Sandy - Taking a walk in my neighborhood

After Sandy – despite the disasters – the moods are high

After Sandy - Taking a walk in my neighborhood

After Sandy – Fallen trees and broken branches

After Sandy - Taking a walk in my neighborhood

My son hiding under a fallen tree

After Sandy - Taking a walk in my neighborhood

After Sandy – Taking a walk in my neighborhood – flooded deck

After Sandy - Taking a walk in my neighborhood

After Sandy – flooded parking lots and destroyed marina (in the back)

In the Wake Of Hurricane Sandy

It easy to feel frightened and powerless in the face of such disaster.

But what can an individual do?

Do individual actions even matter?

Will individual actions be enough?

Of course, an individual cannot reverse the damage that has already happened. Individually, we can only do so much.

But, does it mean we should just give up?

There is still a lot each of us can do – without impacting our lives too dramatically or causing too much hardship.

“Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something. Anything.” says Colleen Patrick Goudreau on one of my favorite podcasts  “Food For Thought” at CompassionateCooks.com

One thing we can do easily do is to change our diet.

So my action for the day following Sandy – after taking a stroll around my neighborhood – was to make vegan oatmeal chocolate cookies.

Why make vegan cookies? I wrote about the benefits of switching to vegan diet here.  People do it for health or ethical reasons.

But you can also do it for the environment.

Did you know that our entire food production system – from growing crops and raising livestock, through distribution, and waste removal – is responsible for approximately one-third of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions?

While most people are well aware that meat and dairy consumption are associated with heart disease, cancer and diabetes; few of us realize that raising animals for food is one of the top contributors to the worst environmental problems around the planet at every level – from local to global.

Here are a few more facts for you it’s worth to know about:

– Livestock production alone is responsible for as much as 18 percent of the global climate change.

– Animal agriculture is a greater contributor to global warming than transportation, according to the United Nations. And due to their high methane output, cattle are one of the worst offenders of all farmed animals.

– The livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, about 40 percent more than the entire transport sector – cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships – combined (according to the UN).

– Nearly 10.2 billion land animals were raised and killed for food in the US in 2010. Globally, the number of land animals killed each year for food has exceeded 65 billion. Approximately 53 billion aquatic animals were killed for food in the U.S. in 2010.

– Animal agriculture uses enormous quantities of water, monopolizes land that could be more productive for crops, and contributes to deforestation of critical rainforest and other habitats.

– It takes over 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat.

– 55% of our fresh water is being given to livestock.

– Over 70 percent of the grain in the US is fed to livestock.

– 70% of rainforests have been slashed and burned in order to raise livestock.

– One acre of land, if used for vegetables, grain, and/or legumes, yields 10-20 times the amount of food in pounds than if devoted to meat production.

– Omnivores contribute seven times the volume of greenhouse gases that vegans do.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe For the Changing World

So here is a vegan oatmeal chocolate cookies recipe for you.

I’m making the cookies dairy and egg-free. Making egg free and dairy-free cookies is actually very easy and fast once you learn about some good egg substitutes for baking and cooking (check out this easy pancake recipe too!).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup nondairy milk
  • 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
  • 1 cup chopped pecan pieces
  • ½ cup vegan chocolate chips (or more 🙂
  • ½ cup shredded coconut
  • Additional nuts and chocolate chips for decorating tops of cookies (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line tow baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium size bowl mix oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together oil, nondairy milk, sugar, flax seeds, and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture, and add chocolate chunks, and pecans. Don't overmix. The dough will be thick and sticky.
  4. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto cookie sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350F for 15 to 20 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes. Enjoy!
  5. Yield: 2 to 3 dozen.
https://greenreset.com/making-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I’m making cookies with my son, I find it hard not to think about what will future bring for him in the next 20, 40, 60 years…

Making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Making faces – mostly happy, smiling, but some sad and angry, too.

Making Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tasting Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (my son, Adam)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate-Chip-Cookies02a

chocolate chip cookies

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this blog for others to enjoy too!

I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!

Yummy Chocolate Cabbage Smoothie

As I prepared my smoothie this morning, my plan was to stick to the cabbage-apple-oats smoothie recipe that I made yesterday.

However, as I was making it, I had a change of heart. As I was drinking my smoothie, I got this – radical – idea to add some…. chocolate to my cabbage smoothie.

It turned out quite delicious, so I tried a few different combinations and I have to say, it’s hard to not like this chocolate smoothie. You can have it for breakfast, as a snack, or for dessert.

You can also give it to your kids – and they will never know they are drinking their cabbage.

Yummy Chocolate Smoothie Recipe

Yummy Chocolate Cabbage Smoothie

Yummy Chocolate Cabbage Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1-2 cups cabbage
  • 1 very ripe banana, fresh or frozen
  • 1/4 cup almonds, raw
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 5 dates, pitted
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon cacao
  • 2 cups water or non-dairy milk
  • Optional Ingredients
  • Substitute some of the liquid with ice cubes
  • 1/2 tsp stevia
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • dash of cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Blend all ingredients until smooth. Serves 1-2
https://greenreset.com/yummy-chocolate-cabbage-smoothie/

As I said, I had no intention of making a chocolate smoothie.

So, I started out with some of the usual ingredients for a breakfast smoothie, including these:

Green Cabbage Smoothie

Some of The Ingredients for Chocolate Smoothie

The smoothie turned out quite tasty, and it looked really pretty in the glass with cinnamon sprinkled on top, but it still seemed to be missing something “je-ne-sais-quoi.”

Cabbage Smoothie

My Breakfast Smoothie: still missing one critical ingredient….

And then, as I was taking photos of it (that’s my new addiction- I take pictures of my smoothies, like new mamas take pictures of their newborn babies)– it hit me.

*Chocolate*.

This may seem like a radical idea for a breakfast smoothie with cabbage and oatmeal, but why not?

I mean just putting cabbage and oatmeal together is radical. How much worse can it be?

So here it is, in it’s full, delicious glory.

Chocolate Oat-Cabbage Smoothie.

Chocolate Smoothie

Chocolate Smoothie: It really turned out to be quite delicious!

You may have noticed by now that I only recommend non-dairy milks in my green smoothies. Find out more about that here:

Milk alternatives


For all my blending recipes I use Vitamix. If you don’t already own a VitaMix, I strongly encourage you to check out what this machine is capable of! For more information about VitaMix you can go directly to the VitaMix website. You may also want to read my post about the Best Blender.

I LOVE my VitaMix and highly recommend investing in one if you are ready to make serious changes to your diet. I have had mine for almost 5 years and use it daily!

If you decide to purchase Vitamix – be sure to use Promotional Code 06-004554 to get free shipping.


Chocolate Smoothie in Vitamix

The Making of Chocolate Smoothie: Inside of my Vitamix


Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!

I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is a decadent recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Some of you may object that it’s not a super healthy recipe for people on extreme diets, as it includes all purpose flour and sugar, and oil, but we all deserve a treat once in a while, and this is certainly rectified by loads of healthful ingredients, such as oats and pecans (you can toss in more nuts if you like).

This is also a recipe full of compassion. As with all baking recipes, I’m making the cookies dairy and egg-free (read here why). Making egg free cookies is actually very easy and fast once you learn about some good egg substitutes for baking.

The recipe is inspired by a recipe from a delightful little vegan book “Vegan Cookies invade your cookie jar” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup nondairy milk
  • 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
  • 1 cup chopped pecan pieces
  • ½ cup vegan chocolate chips (or more 🙂
  • ½ cup shredded coconut
  • Additional nuts and chocolate chips for decorating tops of cookies (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line tow baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium size bowl mix oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together oil, nondairy milk, sugar, flax seeds, and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture, and add chocolate chunks, and pecans. Don't overmix. The dough will be thick and sticky.
  4. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto cookie sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350F for 15 to 20 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes. Enjoy!
  5. Yield: 2 to 3 dozen.
https://greenreset.com/oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: Making of the dough

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: Ready to be devoured!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this blog for others to enjoy too!

I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!