Tag: snack

Plant Protein Powered Breakfast Cookies!

Plant Protein Powered Breakfast Cookies

These cookies make a great breakfast or snack on the go.  Pair a couple of these with some fresh fruit and you have a delicious and nutritious start to the day!  Need a compact quick energy source while out on a hike or bike ride?  These will definitely do the trick.  Chock full of goodies like wheat germ, flax, pumpkin seeds, and hemp seeds, these babies pack a protein punch!  Not to mention the vitamin E, zinc, omega 3’s, and iron they bring to the party too!  You won’t miss the oil, eggs, or dairy here.  If you tend to be pressed for time, double the batch and freeze some of the baked cookies for when you need something quick on the go.

INGREDIENTS:

DRY
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2  cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup hemp seeds

5 Medjool (or 10 deglet noor), chopped

1 handful dried cranberries

WET

1 flax egg (1 Tablespoon flaxseed meal mixed with 3 Tablespoons water)

1/2 large ripe banana, mashed

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3-1/2 cup sucanat (or organic brown sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons almond milk

DIRECTIONS: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.  Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Next, add the wet mixture to the dry one in the large bowl.  Mix well with a wooden spoon to combine.
  3. Drop by spoonfuls onto 1 or 2 parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pans after 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Once they cool, if you want to put some  in the freezer for future use, now’s the time.  Otherwise, if you leave them out they’ll be all gobbled up before you know it!  Enjoy!!

 

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Yummy Nutty “Truffle” Bites

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Well, the big V day will be here before we know it. (Valentine’s Day that is, Feb.14th)  Why not show your sweetheart how much you care by giving him/her a sweet treat that is actually GOOD for their heart.  These do pack a bit of a calorie punch (with all of those nuts), but they also pack in fiber, calcium, vitamin E and other nutrients that you can’t get with candy.

The ones pictured here were actually made by my (almost) 9 year old son this morning. He wanted to bring something to school for snack that was going to fill him up, give him energy and not take forever to eat.  There is playing that needs to be done at recess too, you know!  These worked out great; way better than a granola bar and easy enough for a child to make.  Can’t get much better than that!

They also provide a great opportunity to get creative.  Not a fan of almonds? Fine, try pistachios.  Love dried blueberries?  Go ahead, throw them in the mix! Have fun with it! The original recipe that gave us the foundation for these was found in Chef AJ’s book Unprocessed.  But we have since made  some of our own changes.  Enjoy!

YUMMY NUTTY TRUFFLE BITES

INGREDIENTS

about 2 Tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup raw walnuts

1/4 cup almond butter

1/3 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup dried cherries or dried apricots (or a little bit of both!)

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Place the coconut in a small dish  and set aside Place all ingredients (except the coconut) in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse for a while, until everything is chopped pretty finely and sticks together well.  Take a tablespoon at a time of the mixture and roll into a tight ball (If they are not compact, they’ll fall apart easily.).  Roll the balls in the coconut and place in an airtight container.  That’s it!  Store in the refrigerator or just dole them out right then and there.  Enjoy!

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Oatmeal Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

This a.m. I was in the mood to bake and had a cup of left over pumpkin puree in the fridge that needed to be used.  My first thought was pumpkin oatmeal cookies, bejeweled with cranberries.  Fortunately I came across this wonderful recipe on the Vegan Yack Attack website.  Click here for the original post and recipe.  These babies are so full of flavor without any oil, eggs, dairy, nuts or refined sugar.  Of course I can’t leave anything alone, so I switched out the whole wheat flour with spelt flour, used date paste (pureed dates and water) as the sweetener, and added an extra pinch of ground clove. Cloves add such a great earthiness and depth.  Enjoy!

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Melon Banana Split!

Here’s a fun, healthy alternative to the traditional banana split. Works well as a dessert, or a snack.  Feel free to experiment with different types of melon (watermelon, honeydew, etc.) and toppings too!

1 banana, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
Melon, seeded and scooped into balls with an ice cream or cookie scoop
nuts, chopped
fresh mint
unsweetened flaked coconut
drizzle with honey or agave nectar

Enjoy!

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Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Pecan Cookies

Holy cow are these cookies good!  If you love lots of chocolatey-oaty, sweet and crunchy goodness then this is the cookie for you.  It is also a great back-to-school treat you can share with the kids, without any guilt since the only things these little gems lack are eggs, butter, oil and soy.  To make them wheat-free, try substituting the whole wheat pastry flour with oat or barley flour.  These also freeze very well, so why not make a double batch and freeze some to enjoy later!  

A Helpful Note: The dough is a lot easier to manage if you can let it chill in the fridge for about an hour or so before baking, but this isn’t necessary.  Here I use applesauce and prune puree (baby food prunes).  If you only have one of the two on hand, it’s no problem.  Just as long as you end up with 1 cup of fruit puree, whether in the form of applesauce, prunes or a combo.  Mashed bananas may also work in a pinch, though I haven’t tested that substitution yet.  

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup water 
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 
  • 1/2 cup prune puree or baby food prunes 
  • 3 Tablespoons ground flaxseed meal
  • 1/2 cup sucanat or light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup evaporated can juice or raw sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  •  2 1/2 -3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
  • 1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips, or roughly chopped vegan dark chocolate
  • 1 cup raw pecans, chopped

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.  Place oven racks at 2nd and 5th positions.
  2. Combine water, flaxmeal, applesauce, prune puree and sugars in a large bowl and beat well.  Beat in vanilla.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Gradually add dry mixture to wet ingredients and stir until well combined.
  4. With a wooden spoon, stir in oats, cherries, chocolate and nuts.
  5. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight, if desired.
  6. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a parchment covered baking sheet.  Press to flatten slightly.
  7. Bake 10-12 minutes.  Rotate baking sheets half way into baking time.  Rotate 180 degrees and switch racks that the baking sheets are on, to insure even baking.
  8. Cool on baking sheet for 5-10 min., then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling…if you can wait that long.  🙂

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Coconut Date Nut Balls

These little treasures come from one of my favorite books on plant-based nutrition. Disease Proof Your Child by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. really helped me understand how to live a plant-based whole food diet and be sure that the kids are getting everything they need.  Coconut Date Nut Balls (or rolls, depending upon how you shape them) are so easy and delicious, not to mention nutritious (as far as sweets go).  There is no added sugar here.  All of the sweetness comes from the natural sugars found in the dates.  Try tucking them into little paper candy wrappers for a real special treat.

Ingredients

1 cup dates, finely chopped – If you have the time, try soaking the dates in water for  few hours or overnight to make them softer.  Be sure to drain well before using. 

scant 1/4 cup each of the following, finely chopped 

  • raw cashews
  • raw walnuts
  • raw almonds
  • raw sunflower seeds

¼ cup unsweetened coconut

Directions

Place ingredients in a large bowl and use clean hands to knead the ingredients together.  Roll into walnut-sized balls and arrange on a plate.  Store in the refrigerator, in an air-tight container, until ready to eat.


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