Knead to Cook

Food & fitness obsessed girl.

Double chocolate Chobani muffins. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fruit, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Muffins, Product Review., Quick Bread, Sponsored, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Wheat Free, Yogurt, Your Life Edit Foundations 2 Comments

Hello dear friends! A few years ago, I worked extensively with my favorite yogurt brand, Chobani but then I migrated to my plant-based diet. With that, I moved away from dairy based yogurt and that included Chobani. Well, much to my wonderful surprise, they reached out to me a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in trying their new plant-based yogurt… ummm hell yes please & thank you! Well it arrived last week, amidst my crazy work schedule, and I couldn’t wait to try it & bake with it.

The yogurt and drinkable yogurts are coconut-based. They aren’t overly sweet yet perfectly balanced. The flavor options are heavenly and seriously, this is the best plant based yogurt I’ve eaten yet! They didn’t disappoint.

So today, being a day off, I jumped at creating a new recipe using their yogurt. First, the flavors are insanely awesome! I’m obsessed. Elated. In love. Smitten. You get the point. Then I baked this recipe up & the muffins are so moist and soft. Packed with healthy goodness. Seriously, these aren’t going to last very long. I hope you get to try these as soon as you locate some vegan Chobani in your area.

Ingredients:
Wet ingredients…
2 flax eggs (2 tbl ground flax meal plus 6 til water – mixed & allowed to sit for 8-10 minutes)
2 medium, spotty bananas
1 container of vanilla Chobani vegan yogurt
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry ingredients…
2 cups of oat flour, gluten free
2 tbl of raw cacao powder
2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)
By hand: Add 1/3 cup or more of vegan chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray your muffin wells or use liners. Into you stand mixer, paddle attached, add your flax eggs, bananas, Chobani yogurt, syrup and extract. Blend well. Then add your oat flour (blend oats in your blender until a flour is achieved), cacao, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. Blend again until incorporated. By hand, blend your chocolate chips. Spoon into your prepared muffin pan. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely for 15 minutes.


Drinkable and conventional dairy free yogurts are brand new from Chobani.


The yogurt I used in this recipe.


Thanks Chobani for sending me this epic care package. I wholeheartedly love this yogurt and plan on enjoying this often. I haven’t found this in any local stores yet but I’m keeping my eyes peeled.

-ox


— Knead to Cook

Mushroom, leek and tomato risotto. V. GF.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Easter, Gluten Free, Holiday, Side dish, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free Leave a Comment

Happy hump day… or shall I say fizzled out Nor’Easter snow day?  All the hype… none of the punch.  Not complaining however all the schools closed here in anticipation for the storm impact & now it’s just a day the kids need to make up… again!

I recently got my hands on a copy of Lauren Toyota’s Hot for Food cookbook which you can find here.  I have always been a fan of ordering risotto out at restaurants but honestly, as I had kids, I moved away from cooking it.  It needs constant attention, which I’m apparently not a fan of… at all.  I prefer something to cook while I run around doing laundry, cleaning up and blogging.  Who’s with me?  Well, I have to say this recipe renewed my passion for risotto. This recipe is five stars!  I’m not even a fan of mushrooms but cutting them up into smaller pieces helped.  I have been eating leftovers for dinner all week long & not regretting it for one second.  On a side note, I’ve made 3 recipes from Lauren’s cookbook & this one is a winner!

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— Knead to Cook

Chocolate Glazed Baked Donuts. Vegan. Gluten Free.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Cakes, Desserts, Fitness., Holiday Baking Ideas, Party Foods, Running/Races, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Wheat Free 9 Comments

Chocolate Glazed Baked Donuts. Vegan. Gluten Free.

Chocolate Glazed Baked Donuts. Vegan. Gluten Free.

Be my Valentine?

I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t appreciate these little sweet Valentine treats.  These would be perfect for a school Valentine party, take to the office to share, gifts for your GALentine or for your sweet loves.  They are vegan and gluten free. They are totally moist and quite decadent on top of being super cute and fun.  Wouldn’t these be perfect for Valentine’s Day breakfast or brunch?

Updated recipe from my original 3 years ago.

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— Knead to Cook

Boxed cake hack. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Cakes, Easter, Fitness., Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Running/Races, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Wheat Free 7 Comments

Does anyone make cakes from scratch anymore?  I mean seriously.  Who has the time unless you’re a baker by choice.  I have to admit 2 things.  I hate baking – now I don’t mean muffins, bars or granola.  NOT that.  Cakes in particular which then leads me to revelation number 2 about me… I hate cake.  I don’t know what it is but if I never saw another one the rest of my life I wouldn’t be sad.  Some times, on rare occasions, cupcakes are fine but they honestly leave me despondent.  I don’t know… maybe there is something wrong with me.  And apparently this cake-hating is genetic or something.  My kids are the same.  They’ve always asked for cookie cakes or ice cream cakes to celebrate their birthdays.  Even my husband…. it’s a no-go!  But today is my dad’s 79th and he LOVES cake.  So I suck it up & make one.  Well, a box one but he doesn’t know.

So I instal-story a lot.  I asked my watchers if they would be interested in my hack for the boring box cake and within 1 hour I had received over 100 DM’s letting me know they were interested so here it is!
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— Knead to Cook

Pancake Mix Baked Dark Chocolate Donuts. Vegan. Gluten free.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Easter, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fitness., Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Snacks, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Yogurt 4 Comments

Pancake mix baked dark chocolate donuts.  Vegan & gluten free.

Happy Monday!  So the new week is here and I was in a rush for a quick & easy snack item for my kids before they got home from school.  I picked up a vegan & gluten free pancake batter to try at Home Goods last week & in my rush today – I thought I would try to whip up a baked donut recipe using the batter.  Turns out… it worked perfectly and could double as breakfast too!  Now I did douse half of the donuts with melted dark chocolate but you can easily omit & serve with powdered sugar or maple syrup for breakfast.  I also made these in mini form but they would totally work in normal sized donuts.

Now I’ve only tried this with the mix I have but I don’t see why any pancake mix wouldn’t work.
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— Knead to Cook

Chocolate Ricotta Mousse. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Holiday, Nuts, Party Foods, Raw, Running/Races, Snacks, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Vitamix, Wheat Free 1 Comment

Chocolate ricotta mousse (vegan and gluten free).  Sharing one more decadent, super easy, recipe to prepare for Valentine’s Day tomorrow.


I’ll admit, I normally don’t get wrapped up in all the to-do surrounding Valentine’s Day. I’m more of a practical mind & we just wrapped up Christmas gift-giving, right?  Plus my focus has been hard and fast surrounding my oldest, who turns 18 this week, university decisions and all that.  How did I ever get this old so quickly? Ha.

I do normally get tiny, albeit thoughtful, presents for my girls and my husband.  I found these super cute felt envelopes at Target and instantly was smitten.


I filled them with fun little goodies from lip gloss, vegan chocolates etc.  I did buy several things for my husband but I can’t share quite yet as he reads my posts.  But today, I also picked up some of his favorite snack items (think nut/berry/seed blends to snack on, seaweed wasabi strips etc. and a cute Valentine to leave in his car tomorrow morning for his drive to work.  I like the thoughtful little presents that spread love.

As for dinner… I don’t really like going out to restaurants that aren’t vegan.  PLUS going out on the busiest day of the year – getting less than adequate service, being overcrowded and sub-par food isn’t our style.  SO… I’ll be cooking at home for my entire family. Not sure of the menu yet.  May go super cheesy and make heart-shaped pizzas or some other themed dinner.  Who knows.  But this will be on the dessert menu for sure.  I whipped this up on Saturday to test it out and my daughters couldn’t wait to dive in.  They both loved it.  It reminds me of a cannoli cream filling… & we all know that can’t be a bad thing.  Totally vegan and gluten free.  I was happy I special ordered a case of this vegan ricotta from a local market.  Toppings are optional.  Enjoy!
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— Knead to Cook

Almond cutout cookies. V. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Cookies, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fitness., Gift ideas, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Nuts, Party Foods, Running/Races, Snacks, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free Leave a Comment

Almond cutout cookies that are vegan, gluten free and oh so delicious.  Looking for some simple Valentine’s Day treat to share with your Galentine? Valentine?  Or some special people in your life?  These are perfect!  You can get fancy and cut the dough out into BIG or little hearts, I didn’t use a cookie cutter just my knife, or roll into traditional rounds.  Top with melted chocolate or icing and sprinkles or leave plain. These cookies are my new favorite!

This recipe is inspired by Marco Borges.  Refined sugar-free.  Really simple to make and totally kid-friendly. Would be fun with some red or pink (even a few drops of beet juice for natural coloring) to make pink!  These cookies will replace the old butter cookie recipe ANNNNND won’t blow your gym efforts.  1 cookie is around 60-70 calories and has 2 grams of protein!

Okay without further adieu… let’s get started!
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— Knead to Cook

Lucy Let’s Go Blog Post – Coconut Butter Protein Bites. V. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, No bake/cooking required!, Raw, Sponsored, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Vegetarian, Vitamix, Wheat Free 2 Comments

Ah it’s the month of love.  Love for your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, kids, friends and yes – even yourself!   I know tradition dictates that enormous heart-shaped box of chocolates & roses but let’s be honest here.  Homemade treats to me are best and honestly, most of those chocolates in the box aren’t even favorites.   I prefer to spend time creating a special treat from my heart to share.  If you wish to have chocolate – feel free to dip these bites into melted dark chocolate.

So recently I’ve learned & embraced coconut manna (aka butter) thanks to my dietician.  It’s a medium-chain fat & is used by the body for energy. Coconut manna is available at most grocery stores near the coconut oil.  Manna is known to helps you burn more calories & is an appetite suppressant. And the fatty acids can help boost brain activity!  Food is powerful.  So what is it actually? Coconut manna is made from the meat of the coconut, very similar to the consistency of a nut butter.  It’s decadent and heart-healthy.  It’s a lovely alternative to your normal nut butter routine so think topping toast, oatmeal or just out of the jar.  As for this recipe, these bites are chock full of protein & healthy fats leaving you satiated unlike those chocolates.  This recipe yielded 15 bites & took about 10 minutes to make.  Store perfectly in the freezer or fridge.

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— Knead to Cook

Flourless Salted Peanut Butter Cookies. V. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Cookies, Desserts, Easter, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fitness., Giveaway!!!, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holiday Baking Ideas, Life., Nuts, Party Foods, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free 37 Comments

IMG_8816

Happy Leap Day – let’s celebrate an extra day with a cookie!  I’m so happy to finally be working back in my kitchen – it’s seriously been over 3 weeks that I’ve been renovating/updating/face-lifting my master bathroom. The last piece of the puzzle gets delivered today – my shower door and fingers are crossed that it fits!  But I digress, I’m locking myself in my kitchen today and making several recipes while I await the delivery call.

I always make muffins as a go-to snack for my family but I’ve been craving salt lately.  Why?  Well I’m a bit of a salty runner and that seriously drives my craving.  I know you typically see salted caramel but I wanted to do a salted pb cookie.  Peanuts… a touch of salt… sounds good to me!  Again, I used a very small amount not to offend my kids by the addition.

These cookies come together really quickly and I will warn you that the dough is quite heavenly if you accidentally sample it 😉  Totally safe to eat as there are no eggs in it or risk of food contamination. Okay onto the recipe and my next recipe is awaiting my attention.
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— Knead to Cook

Cacao Peppermint Protein Bites. V. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Desserts, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Fruit, Gluten Free, Holiday, No bake/cooking required!, Nuts, Raw, Running/Races, Valentine's Day, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free 1 Comment

Cacao Peppermint Protein Bites. V. GF.

Well if I can’t post on the first Monday of the week I’ll post on the second… ha ha.  Sorry I missed yesterday but we are renovating our master bathroom and that has overtaken my life at the moment. That’s probably the one thing that I’ve never managed to share on my blog but I do love a construction project.  I love sledgehammering walls, cabinets – whatever!  This year my resolution is to update, repaint, refresh any room in my house that I haven’t touched over the past 2 years.  We’ve updated a lot in the 11 years we’ve lived here but my master bath has always been THAT room I really hated.  And with one getting ready to head off to college, my goal was to update it as cost effectively as I could.  So with a few roadblocks this weekend that I’ve overcome… my plan is coming together.  It isn’t a whole gut job but it’s taking shape and I love it.

Onto food.  So how was your Valentine’s Day?  I made several little treats for my kids and husband that were healthier than store-bought goodies.  These were one of those treats.  My girls love peppermint (so do I) and I thought it would be fun to do a mint version.  Store perfectly in the freezer.  I opted to roll them in cacao powder but sprinkles or left plain would also work perfectly if the bitterness of the raw cacao is too much for you.
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— Knead to Cook