Recipes from Vegetarian Vegan Cooking Classes

A bowl of this delectable Russian potato-green bean-sauerkraut soup (or borscht) will satisfy your tastebuds and your need for something warming and filling on a cold fall or winter evening.  I have vegan-ized the recipe to eliminate any animal products and use an easy-peasy cashew sour cream recipe that you can find on our Veggie School site HERE , or feel free to use a commercial vegan sour cream (or even the real stuff if you are flexitarian). There is no flour thickener, so no worries about gluten. INGREDIENTS 1 T. Coconut Oil (or veggie oil of choice) 1 large or 2 medium Onions , cut in half and sliced thin 2 C. Green Beans, cut in small pieces or left large 3 large Potatoes , peeled and cubed (or unpeeled red potatoes)  5 C. filtered Water or vegetable broth 1 T. dried Dill (or fresh, slightly more)  1/2 C. Cashew Sour Cream recipe (cashew pieces, lemon juice, water, coconut oil) 3/4 C. Sauerkraut and Juice Salt and/or Pepper , to your taste METHOD:  Heat o

This pecan nut roast is one of the most popularly viewed recipes on this site.  And it should be cooked up anytime you want a simple, delicious, high nutrient-dense dish for your family or to take to a potluck. Watch this short video  where Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org explains what scientific studies show to be the health benefits of the pecan in staving off cancer!  Measure and assemble the following ingredients: 4 C. Water 1 C. Pecan Halves (or pieces) 1 1/2 tsp. Salt 1 T. Chicken-style Seasoning (Optional) 1 T. Nutritional Yeast 1 T. Turmeric powder (Optional) 1 C. Chopped Onions 3 C. Rolled Oats Blend together: Water, Pecans, Salt, Chicken-Like Seasoning, Nutritional Yeast, Turmeric (no pecans?  Substitute walnut pieces). Add the blended items to a bowl.  Then ad in the onions and oats.   Let stand for at least 30 minutes. I laid down a layer of Parchment Paper in my pan-- you could just dust it with flour   Spoon in the pecan nut roast and cove

Mary Lou Johnson is our Church's star dessert-maker.  Here is the picture of a torn-apart Apple Duff she made for a recent Fellowship Dinner... yes, it was delicious! As the Irish baker in the video (following) states, the apple duff is "not the prettiest dessert in the world" but delicious, nonetheless.  I've taken the recipe in the video and made it both gluten-free and vegan, and somewhat less sucrose-sweet (by using lower-glycemic-indexed Coconut Sugar vs. regular brown sugar). GLUTEN-FREE and VEGAN PIE CRUST: 1 1/2 C. Gluten-free All-purpose Flour (Bob's Red Mill or Pamela's or other) 1/2 tsp.  Salt 1/2 C.    Organic Coconut Oil, cold, not melted 4 - 6 T.  Almond Milk Combine the flour, salt and coconut oil in a bowl and use a pastry blender to cut the mix until it looks like coarse meal Sprinkle on the Almond Milk and mix together with a fork until it is combined and moist Press or roll into a rectangle between two pieces of wax paper.  Remo

This Green Bean-Potato-Garlic Soup is an invention as the result of coming home from the Church fellowship dinner with about a pound of cooked organic Green Beans (the really long ones that you get in the freezer at Costco, if you're lucky-- *Family Tradition* Brand). The beans had already been frozen and thawed, I didn't want to risk illness by going through the process again.  And I confess, I'm hooked on green beans. Before cooking this soup, assemble, measure out and prep: ~Garlic Cloves, slivered or minced (quantity up to you) ~1 pound Green Beans, bite size pieces ~4 medium large Potatoes, peeled and diced ~1/4 tsp. Marjoram powder (or other desired herb) ~Filtered Water, to cover ~1 C. Almond Milk (unsweetened)   ~Salt and Pepper to taste ~Daiya Shreds for garnish (optional) (or other vegan cheese, or not) Add all ingredients above (except the Almond Milk, Salt and Pepper and Daiya Shreds) to a large pot and bring the water to a boil.  Immediately tur

Here is yet another lovely recipe from the Healthy Choices Cooking Demo by Darlene Blaney, PhD Nutritionist.  It is a simple recipe, but delicious!  And for those who really love quinoa salad, I've included a recipe for Thai Quinoa Salad as well, so if you cook up enough quinoa you can have a couple of different salads with minimum work load-- always nice to have in the fridge for summer meals! HEALTHY CHOICES QUINOA SALAD 2 1/2 C. Water 1 1/2 C. Quinoa 1/2  tsp. Celtic Sea Salt  Wash quinoa very well in fine-mesh colander under running water. Bring water to boil. Add Sea Salt and Quinoa. Cover and simmer for approximately 15 minutes until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and chill. Add to the Salad: 1/2 C. Sliced Green Onion (or Chives) 1/2 C. Sliced Black Olives 1 Medium Ripe Tomato, diced 1/2 C. Cucumber, diced 1 Red or Orange Bell Pepper, seeded and diced Dressing: 1/3 C. Olive Oil 2 T. Lemon Juice 1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder Sea Salt to

Here is the delicious recipe for a Lentil Roast, as presented by Dr. Darlene Blaney at the Healthy Choices Cooking demo and sampling at our Comox Valley Adventist Church on March 2, 2015. Wish you could have been there! INGREDIENTS 2 C.        cooked Lentils (Beluga or green lentils work well) 1 C.        finely-ground Pecans 1 3/4 C.   Soymilk (or other unsweetened non-dairy milk of choice) 1 small   Onion , chopped finely 1/2 tsp.   Celtic Sea Salt OR   1 T. Bragg All-Purpose Seasoning 1/2 tsp.   Poultry Seasoning 1/4 tsp.   Garlic Powder 1 1/2 C.  Crushed Cornflakes* ( Nature's Path Cereal ) METHOD Mix well all ingredients together in a bowl. Pour into a lightly oiled 9" square casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour. * crushed cornflakes can be substituted with crushed corn chips or other unsweetened cereal flakes, crushed plain crackers, dry bread crumbs, panko, mashed potato flakes, and crushed croutons.  Tonight's lentil roast

Delicious Vegan "Pumpkin Cheesecake" This "Pumpkin cheesecake" is another one of the recipes that was demonstrated at the Healthy Choices cooking class by Dr. Darlene Blaney, PhD Nutritionist, on March 29th at our Church. It's baked in a casserole dish or a spring-form pan, maybe the reason for calling it a "cheesecake", but to me it tasted like the perfect Pumpkin Pie! For the Crust: 1 1/2 cups/150 g Graham Cracker crumbs (or GF cookie crumbs) 1 cup/120 g      Raw Walnuts, ground fine 1/3 cup/72 g    Grape Seed Oil 1 tablespoon/14.8 ml. Liquid Honey or Maple Syrup Mix ingredients together in a mixing bowl. With a fork, press mixture in the bottom of a lightly oiled (use a non-stick spray) 12" spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees F/277 degrees C. for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool before filling. OR Ginger Snap Crust:  this recipe was just suggested by a member of the Best Adventist Recipe Swap on Facebook. Great id

Quick Mexican Tortilla Casserole with Cheeze Sauce This is another one of Dr. Darlene Blaney's fab vegan recipes from the Healthy Choices Cooking Demo that was held at our Comox Valley Adventist Church on the weekend of March 27-29, 2015. This was a favourite that day for many of us! First off, I would go ahead and make the "cheeze sauce"recipe: CHEEZE SAUCE INGREDIENTS 1 C.     Raw Cashew Pieces 1/4 C.   Nutritional Yeast Flakes 1 T.     Braggs All Purpose Seasoning 1          small Garlic Clove Pimento , unpickled (pimento is just roasted red bell pepper!) 1/2 C.   filtered Water 3 T.      fresh Lemon Juice 2 T.      finely chopped Onion 1 tsp.     Celtic Sea Salt Blend all the above ingredients together and set aside. QUICK MEXICAN TORTILLA CASSEROLE INGREDIENTS 1       small Onion , minced 1 C.   Salsa 1       Red Bell Pepper , chopped and seeded 1       large bunch Spinach , chopped 4 C.  thick Tomato Sauce 1 recipe of " Cheez

Try a simple bread recipe first. Salt and fat both slow the growth of the yeast and should not be added to the yeast mixture until it has grown strong and lively by feeding on sugar and starch. (Too much sugar can also slow the growth) Develop the gluten of the wheat flour in the batter by beating thoroughly before adding other kinds of flour. It is important to do a thorough job of kneading before the first rising. Never fill pans too full.  Give the bread enough room to expand without having to billow out over the sides, causing cracked, over-browned crusts. It is important each loaf is thoroughly baked. (It is better that the loaf is smaller than unbaked) Careful not to "over raise" the bread when in loaf pans.  Bake bread when loaf is approximately double in bulk. Bread should slip easily out of the pan if thoroughly baked. *Bread just out of the oven is difficult to digest.  Bread should be at least 12 hours old before  it is eaten. *Bread freezes well.

INGREDIENTS: 3 C.  Orange Juice 1 T. Baking Yeast 1 T. pure Lemon Juice 1 T. Gluten Flour 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt 1 C. chopped Pecans 1 C. dried Cranberries 3 C. Whole Wheat Flour 4 C. Spelt Flour or Unbleached White Flour (or as needed) METHOD: Warm orange juice to above room temperature, but not hot.  Place in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast into orange juice.  Wait 10 minutes, or until yeast bubbles up to the surface. Add remaining ingredients.  Add enough flour so dough is not "sticky". Cover mixing bowl with a towel and set in a warm area.  Allow dough to rise for approximately 1 hour or until double in size. Knead dough, and divide in half into a round loaf and place on a baking sheet that has been prepared using a non-stick spray. Cover loaves again in a clean dish towel and let stand 20 minutes or until double in size. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cool bread on racks. *These loaves freeze well. Makes 2 loaves.  

On Friday March 27th until Sunday March 29th, 2015, our Comox Valley Adventist Church hosted a "Healthy Choices Wellness Weekend" with gracious, much respected, and well-seasoned presenter, Dr. Darlene Blaney.  Darlene has been involved with showcasing the "Adventist Health Message" for many years.   I recall her speaking at a Camp Meeting in Saskatchewan in the '90s when I was a recent convert to the faith, and how impressed I was with her knowledge then.  Since that time she has been involved in the CHIP health and lifestyle outreach  , obtained her Ph.D. in Nutrition, and established Total Health School of Nutrition   where you can study nutrition by correspondence, learn about the vegetarian lifestyle, and receive counseling about any of a legion of modern diseases that often are not properly diagnosed or reversed by orthodox medicine, but that frequently respond to Dr. Blaney's knowledgeable application of traditional and lifestyle methods

I ran across this cheezy sauce recipe via Pinterest and have modified it a little (as often happens with online recipes).  It's great to go on baked potatoes, or to use in the preparation of vegan scalloped potatoes, and as a yummy sauce for various veggies.  No cholesterol.  No gluten. No dairy.  Very little fat. No refined sugar.  Guilt-free, pretty much! Spud2Spud - Fantastic Sweet Potato "Cheez" Sauce on a Baked Potato INGREDIENTS: 1 large Sweet Potato 1/3 C. Nutritional Yeast ( not Brewer's Yeast, not Baker's Yeast) 2 tsp. (or more) Garlic Powder (organic if possible) 1/2 tsp. Celtic Sea Salt 1 1/2  C. non-dairy Milk (I used unsweetened Almond Milk) INSTRUCTIONS: Peel and cook up the potato until it is soft Add potato and other ingredients to blender and blend up until smooth and creamy Enjoy this -- feel virtuous!

Extremely yummy Cherry-Apple Pecan Crisp This particular recipe is a little too rich with nuts and oil to be considered a "classic" Adventist dessert recipe-- but you could cut the oil and leave out the pecans and have a fairly yummy dessert, but... Let's just consider this something to set aside to be eaten in small portions at a celebratory meal instead of cake.  I left the skins on the apples, so there is probably more fibre in this delicious pudding than there is in, say, chocolate cake. But enough of the rationalizing of tastiness... INGREDIENTS: 2 C.     Dark Sweet Cherries, frozen, from Costco 3         Large Tart Organic Apples , cored, chopped into small pieces 1/3 C. Maple Syrup 2 T.     Tapioca Starch (or 3 T. Corn or other Starch) Juice of 1/2 organic Lemon 1 tsp.   Pumpkin Pie Spice or just 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon Topping: 1 C.     G/F  Rolled Oats  (or regular Rolled Oats if Gluten is not an issue) 1/2 C.   Almond Flour or Meal , fir