Blend berries, vinegar and water together and pour through a nut milk bag or sieve to remove most of the little seeds. Combine and whisk in remaining ingredients until emulsified.. Dress salad greens and enjoy. The vinaigrette will keep for about a week, refrigerated.
Make simple sides and build a buffet for making lunch/dinner bowls or lay out a prep area for making meals to grab-n-go. Layer your choices and enjoy or seal up and refrigerate to grab on your way out.
The dishes just need to work together. For this post I’m serving up burrito bowls with rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice topped with the fajita beans, fruit salsa, guacamole, cilantro corn salsa, carrot-cashew queso sauce, tomato salsa, romaine and peppers. Give it a try and let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.
For cauliflower rice: Add 3 cups cauliflower florets to a food processor along with 1 T sesame seeds or cashews, 1/4 tsp salt & pepper, and 1/2 tsp turmeric. Pulse on and off until the cauliflower is “riced” or about the size of rice.
For the Fajita Beans : Combine 1 chopped onion and bell pepper in a skillet and saute to soften. Add a can of pinto, kidney or black beans that you’ve strained and rinsed. Add 2 T of water and 1 T each of chili powder and cumin, stir well to coat everything with spices and turn to low heat to gently simmer and combine flavors.
For the fruit salsa: finely chop or use a food processor to pulse & chop 1 cup pineapple, 1/2 mango, 1 tomato, juice of one lime and 1 jalapeno, seeds removed. Pulse one and off quickly to chop, you want there to be texture, not all mush. (mush tastes good too, though)
For the Corn salsa: use 2 cups of thawed frozen corn or cut corn off the cob. Combine the corn in a bowl with 1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro, 1/4 cup diced red onion, diced jalapeno to taste and 1 lime juiced. Stir to evenly mix and enjoy!
For the carrot-cashew queso: Chop 1.5 cups carrots, 1 onion and 3 cloves garlic, and add to 1/2 cup water in a saucepan, cover and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes. Pour the contents of pan into a blender and add 1 cup cashews, 1 cup dairy free milk, 3 T nutritional yeast, 1 tsp each of cumin, smoked paprika and chili powder. Blend for a minute or two until it’s smooth, thick and creamy. Taste and season with salt and pepper and maybe some cayenne if you want it spicy!
Chop your favorite raw toppings and add to the line up. some suggestions are shredded cabbage, fresh cilantro, red onion, bell peppers, radish, cucumbers, crispy lettuce, chopped tomatoes, olives, sliced or mashed avocado, and lime wedges. A few toppings or many work, but having them prepped and ready to go makes for ease in putting meals together. I hope you’ll try and let me know.
I have a hard time paying the price of dairy-free yogurt and then not liking it once I get it home. Do you have a favorite store bought brand? If you like yogurt, but have never tried making your own dairy-free yogurt, I hope you give this easy yogurt recipe a try.
You’ll need to allow time ahead to soak the raw cashews. I typically put them in a jar and fill the jar with water covering the nuts by at least two inches. They will expand a bit. This soaking allows the cashews to absorb some of the water and soften, so that they will blend very smooth. The soaking also releases the enzyme inhibitors that coat nuts and that helps them digest better and you to get the most nutrition out of them.
To culture the mixture, you’ll need a powdered probiotic. Some probiotic supplements will not culture, so if you take a capsulated probiotic powder, you can try it and see if it works. I use Probiotic Eleven found HERE. You can also find packets of dairy free yogurt starter at health food stores.
If you need nut free option, oat milk can be heated and thickened with a little oat flour or arrowroot, cooled a bit and then add starter. Continue as recipe indicates by keeping warm for several hours. You can also use all seeds or canned coconut milk instead of the cashews for nut free yogurt. There are options and they all taste a little different. So try some and see what you like.
Use a blender to blend everything until smooth and creamy.
This is great dressing for a slaw with cabbage, peppers, spinach and sprouts or tossed with kale and dehydrated to make kale chips.
*immune vinegar is cider vinegar infused with mustard seed, horseradish, peppers, ginger and turmeric. Substitute plain cider vinegar if you don’t have Immune vinegar. 
I love soups year-round, but this rustic potato and bean soup is so satisfying in the winter when you just want to hunker down with a warm bowl of soup. This soup is the perfect one-pot meal and doesn’t take a lot of prep time.
Soup made ahead and portioned make great grab-n-go lunches or dinners on busy evenings. I like to store soup in quart canning jars, they stay fresher longer. Soups can also be frozen, so if you have leftovers, stock your freezer and you’ll have meals ready to go.
Sprouts are filled with vitamins, minerals and proteins and chlorophyll all necessary nutrients for building our red and white blood cells and easing inflammation.
Activated Almond Salad
Add almonds or seeds to a food processor and pulse to break up into a flaky texture. Add chopped zucchini and pulse a couple times to chop and mix with the almonds. Place this mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the chopped celery, diced onion, shredded carrot and chopped pickle. In a small cup or bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey or maple syrup and mustard. Stir in the dill and sea salt. Pour this dressing over the nut and vegetable mixture and stir well to incorporate and coat everything with dressing, Scoop this mixture onto lettuce or cabbage leaves or onto a slice of your favorite bread.
Crunchy Super Sprout Salad
Combine all salad ingredients and toss with your favorite dressing or drizzle with the citrus vinaigrette below :
This vegetable curry is delicious and satisfying. Perfect when the temperatures start to drop. The warming curry spices are very comforting but also help to activate digestion and circulation.
This is comfort food for me. The warm curry spices and the full belly satisfaction afterwards makes me want to make this every week.
In this recipe you can really use a variety of vegetables, please try different combinations. I usually have on hand, celery, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli. But try sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, kale, spinach, turnips, kohlrabi. Get creative.
This is a mild curry, but if you like extra spiciness, add some cayenne powder.
You can print the recipe by jumping to the bottom of the post, but the following directions show you steps with pictures.
Chop one yellow onion, one carrot and two stalks of celery. Add these to large high sided skillet or soup pan. Over medium high heat, sauté until onions soften.
Chop one stalk of broccoli, separating florets, peel the stalk and then chop the stem. Chop 1 cup of cauliflower into small florets.
Gather 1/2 cup of red lentils, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of coconut milk and 1tablespoon of curry powder. 
Add the chopped cauliflower and stems of broccoli to the pan along with the tomatoes, lentils and curry. Fill the tomato can 1/2 full with water and add to the pan and stir everything together. 
Then add the can of coconut milk. Full fat or lite can be used. 
Stir together and bring to a simmer, cook uncovered for about 15 minutes. 
Then add the broccoli florets and cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes. The lentils and vegetable should be tender. If it is too thick add a 1/4 cup more water. 
When the vegetables are tender stir in 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro and serve!! This fills the kitchen with a warm curry aroma and tastes fantastic.
Toast, toast, toast can be for any meal. And it can definitely be more than avocado toast. Toasts are easy to whip together and can pack a flavor punch, yet really satisfy. You do need to find a bread that fits into your dietary needs. The gluten free bread I like is by Sami’s Bakery, both the millet-flax and the sourdough millet bread. There is a sprouted grain bread that has a great texture by Angelic bakery. Both of these brands can be ordered online and requested through grocery stores.
I hope the suggestions are helpful. Keeping some staples on hand or in the pantry can make for a quick meal. Toast is great when there’s only a few things left in the fridge or you’re short on time. It’s healthy, easy and delicious. I hope you enjoy!
This mushroom and wild rice soup is super creamy without the dairy found in traditional creamy soups. Oats and cashews are blended into a cream and added at the end of the cooking time.
This soup does not take much prep time, just enough to slice the mushrooms or you can purchase pre-sliced mushrooms and just dump them in.
I love a warm bowl of this soup when the temperature starts to drop, but it’s delicious enough for the holiday table.
Let me know if you give it a try.
Preheat oven to 350.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the pumpkin, bananas, applesauce and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine the oat flour, spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add cranberries if using, and coat with flour mixture.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix with a spoon until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated.
Lightly spray or line a muffin pan with papers. Divide batter between muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before removing muffins from the pan.
Notes: Spelt or Einkorn flour can be substituted if gluten is not an issue, You can make your own apple puree by blending a chopped apple with a little water and adding to the recipe. To make your own oat flour, grind rolled oats in a blender until fine.
