Knead to Cook

Food & fitness obsessed girl.

Air Fried Crispy Brussel Sprouts. Vegan and Gluten free.

by Filed Under: Air Fried, Appetizers, Brunch, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Italian-inspired, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations

Hellllllllooooo! Yes, I know. I’ve abandoned my blog. However, as I’ve shared in the past I do have another job (just hit my 1 year anniversary there) and every other week is full-time for me so that leaves me pretty much no spare time for blogging. Now that I’m a bit more into a schedule, I’m committing to blogging every other week a new recipe. Fingers crossed I can maintain that. 🙂

So these… Bill got an air fryer for father’s day and although we’ve been terribly reluctant to purchase another kitchen gadget, this one has been awesome. Its not huge, fits nicely on the counter and we’ve been loving it for tofu and veggies!

This recipe, like most of mine, is super easy and quite flavorful. You can easily bake in the oven if you don’t have an air fryer too.

This is the link for the air fryer we have and recommend.

Ingredients:
1 lb of Brussel sprouts trimmed and halved or quartered if they’re large.
1/4 cup of a good quality aged balsamic vinegar
1 tbl of oil (I used olive oil but any other neutral oil will work)
1 tbl of a quality Dijon mustard
1 tsp of maple syrup

Method:
Into a bowl, whisk your balsamic, oil, Dijon and syrup until blended. Add your trimmed Brussel sprouts and toss to coat. I allowed them to marinade a bit in the sauce for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your air fryer to 375 degrees. Once ready, spoon the Brussel sprouts out and into the basket. Close and set the timer on the air fryer for 10 minutes. At that point, toss them around, then return for another 8-10 minutes or until crispy and perfect.

If you are baking, add the Brussel sprouts to a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven (375 degrees) for 20-30 minutes, tossing occasionally, and remove when crispy brown edges are evident.

Remove and place on a platter. I drizzled a bit more balsamic over the top and sprinkle with parsley. Enjoy!

Hope you enjoy and try this recipe out. If you do, please leave a comment/review for me.


— Knead to Cook

Easy overnight oats. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Gluten Free, Snacks, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations

Overnight oats always seem to surface to my breakfast option list when the weather warms up. But I’ve been making these lately for my sweet dad. He has long been a fan of cold cereals… think Cheerios, Bran flakes etc. But with a recent & alarming (to me) LDL cholesterol level – I’m initiating a few more dietary changes into his repertoire of food. He wasn’t previously a fan but today announced that he actually doesn’t mind it. 🙂 I wanted to share the recipe I’ve been using. It’s super easy and fast to make. It takes about 1 minute of prep time and simply chills in the fridge overnight until he’s ready for breakfast.


Ingredients:

1/3 cup of rolled oats (certified gluten free)
1 tbl of chia seeds
1 heaping tablespoon of your choice of nut butter (I’ve been using my homemade nut butter)
1/2 tsp (less or more) of maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of nut based milk

Method:

To a jar add your oats, chia and nut butter. Then add your spice and maple syrup and then finally, add the milk. Stir well to combine and soften up the nut butter and blend. Add your lid and store in the fridge for at least 6-8 hours. Stir and blend again. Add your favorite toppings like nuts, seeds, Hemp hearts, flax, more nut butter or fruit of your choice.




Add as little or as much maple syrup as you prefer.

You can easily prep a few of these for the week and store in the fridge for easy grab and go breakfast. Hope you enjoy!


— Knead to Cook

Lemon garlic no-oil tofu.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Easter, Gluten Free, Grilling, Grilling/Rubs/Sauces, Tofu, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations Leave a Comment

Hello my friends. Today I’m sharing one of my favorite spring preparations for a super easy tofu dish. This tofu is perfect to make on the weekend and have as a meal-prepped idea for lunch or dinner all week long. Super easy to make. Oil-free recipe. I’m also sharing my no-pressing required tofu brand that works so nicely in this recipe. This tofu is great atop greens, in a Buddha bowl like pictured, along side veggies or if you slice into large “steaks” on a sandwich. Would also be a lovely protein for your Easter celebration. So without further adieu, let’s get started….

Ingredients:

One block of extra firm tofu (I prefer Wildwood extra protein tofu)
3 tbl of liquid aminos or soy sauce
1 lemon, juiced
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced

Method:

To make the marinade add your aminos, juice of the lemon and minced garlic to a bowl. Whisk to combine.

Remove the tofu from the package and drain the water. Dry the tofu off with a paper towel and slice into small cubes. Add the cubes to the marinade and allow to sit for up to 1 hour, tossing to coat often.

To cook: Heat up a cast iron pan over medium heat. Once hot, using a slotted spoon, add the tofu to the pan. Allow to brown on all sides. Once that step is complete, add the remaining marinade to the pan to infuse into the tofu one last time. Cook for 1 additional minute then remove. Serve immediately or allow to cool and store in an airtight container. Use within 4-6 days.


One large fresh lemon is best v. bottled lemon juice.

Use 2-4 cloves of garlic, or more if you prefer.
Whisk to combine the marinade.
I purchased this tofu at Whole Foods and it is the best in my opinion. No pressing required.
I prefer to cut my tofu into small cubes for maximum marinade surface/flavor.
After marinading for about an hour, cook in a hot cast iron pan sans oil until golden.


I hope you give this super easy recipe a try. Don’t fear tofu… it’s a wonderful protein that is super easy to work with and takes on flavor beautifully.

Happy Spring dear friends!

— Knead to Cook

The easiest triple nut butter. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Condiments, Gluten Free, Nuts, Pantry, Vegan, Vinaigrette, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations 1 Comment

While testing some breakfast cookie recipes yesterday I ran out of almond butter. Needless to say, I whipped out my food processor and got to work. Any nut butter is truly so simple to make and I’m a huge fan of controlling what ingredients go into my food so this one is super clean and oh so tasty, with the help of a simple tip listed in the recipe below. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 cups of nuts (your choice) I used raw walnuts, almonds and cashews. Pecans, pepitas or sunflower seeds also work beautifully too!


Optional mix-ins:

1 tsp Celtic or himalayan salt
Medjool date
maple syrup
chia seeds
flax seeds

Method:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a single layer of your nuts onto a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until fragrant and lightly golden. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Place the cooled nuts into your food processor and blend for about one and a half minutes. The mixture should be creamy (if you want chunkier, check after 45 seconds). If you’re adding salt or any other mix-ins, add and blend again quickly.

Store in an airtight glass container in your pantry. Enjoy!

No need to pre-soak your nuts of choice.

Allow the nuts to cool before processing.
Still a bit chunkier for me, I blended to 1:30 minutes for the perfect creamy texture.

— Knead to Cook

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

Whole roasted cauliflower. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Holiday, Potatoes, Thanksgiving, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations 2 Comments

Happy Thursday.  Now my next statement will either evoke one of two responses… I’ll let you guess mine.  It’s snowing outside.  (Insert eye rolling here).  Okay, shaking my dismay and focusing on my to-do list.

So I’ve been testing out a bunch of new recipes for Thanksgiving dinner. Not only a beautiful presented dish (with minimal effort and clean up).  It’s either the perfect side dish or main attraction depending on your dietary preferences.  It’s flavorful and my current favorite.  I hope you try this one! 

Ingredients:

1 larger head of organic cauliflower
2 tbsp Dijon (I prefer Maille)
3 tbl of veg broth
2 tbl water for mixture
1 tbl oil (I used avocado but olive would work well too) + more for the pan
1 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
Salt (per your taste) I used two pinches
I added new potatoes around the cauliflower but large chunks of carrots would be fun too!  Just wash/slice into larger pieces and toss with a bit of oil. Season with salt and pepper and add around the cauliflower (once prepared).

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Wash and trim the leaves off of your cauliflower head.  Be careful not to cut any florets off. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the bottom of your pan or small baking dish (whatever you’re using).  Into a bowl, add the Dijon, 2 tbl water, oil and seasonings to a bowl. Whisk to combine.  Then brush the mixture all over your cauliflower head.  Place your prepared cauliflower into you pan or baking dish.  Pour the 3 til of broth into the bottom of the pan not over the cauliflower so it can steam and cook quicker (Thanks to Minimalist baker for the tip).  Bake for 35-60 minutes or until fork tender.  The cooking time is dependent upon the size of the cauliflower. 


All my love,

— Knead to Cook

Super easy and fast barbecue tempeh.

by Filed Under: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Your Life Edit Foundations 2 Comments

Vegan & gluten free.

With working outside of the house since May, quick dinners on busy nights are a must for me!  This protein is ready in less than 30 minutes and pairs beautifully with some quinoa or brown rice and some roasted veggies.  Leftovers make an awesome lunch idea and tempeh is a great source of plant-based protein which is low in carbs, if you’re watching your macros.

Ingredients:

1 block of packaged tempeh
1 bottle of your favorite vegan & gf barbecue sauce you have on hand

Method:

Begin by adding a pot with a steamer basket inside over a medium flame (you only need a few inches of water).  Bring to a boil and then add your unpacked tempeh block.  
Steam for 12 minutes which removes the bitterness.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Once done, remove and slice however you prefer.
In a baking safe dish, pour your barbecue sauce and then add your sliced tempeh.
Spoon the sauce over each piece to ensure coverage.
Cover with lid or foil.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Serve immediately.


Enjoy!

 

This tempeh is very common in most grocery stores.

— Knead to Cook

Simple rainbow Swiss Chard recipe. Vegan. Gluten free.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Gluten Free, Side dish, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations 1 Comment

Have you ever tried Swiss Chard?  Our garden is brimming with it.  I love it.  Its truly just lovely in color, which admittedly, why I’m drawn to plant it each spring.  Nutritionally it has a strong nutritional profile.

  • 18 milligrams (mg) of calcium.
  • 0.65 mg of iron.
  • 29 mg of magnesium.
  • 17 mg of phosphorus.
  • 136 mg of potassium.
  • 10.8 mg of vitamin C.
  • 110 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A.
  • 0.68 mg of vitamin E

We’ve been prepping chard this way for about 20 years and we just love it.  Fast and quite tasty. I’ll admit that I eat a big of serving of this for dinner many nights.  Swiss Chard is quite similar in a lot of ways to other greens like spinach.  And yes, it’s one of those veggies that cooks down to pretty much nothing.  The recipe is a mere guideline for portions.  Feel free to use more if you have more on hand.  Okay, let’s get cooking!  And happy weekend.

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— Knead to Cook

Breakfast oatmeal chocolate chip muffins. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Gluten Free, Holiday Baking Ideas, Muffins, Snacks, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Wheat Free, Your Life Edit Foundations Leave a Comment

Hello dear friends!  Happy Monday, fresh new week and hopefully beautiful weather.  Pennsylvania has converted over to Seattle last week & I started to think the rains were never going to end.  However, the sun finally came out today, beautiful temps and everything is so lush and green!  Doors are opened and we are breathing in all the wonderfully clean air till the allergens pop back up. Ha.

Today, as it is every Monday, the day to refresh snacks for the week.  These oatmeal muffins are a long-time fave. The recipe morphs a bit each time I make them, depending what I have on hand, but they are delightful nonetheless.  Packed with fiber and healthy fats to keep you satisfied for hours.  My kids love these when running out the door to school, work or babysitting jobs.  They also make a nice, healthy dessert after dinner.  Pack up well in lunches.  Great on-the-go snack.

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— Knead to Cook

Split Pea Vegetable Soup. Vegan. GF.

by Filed Under: Brunch, Evolution Power Yoga 40 Days, Gluten Free, Potatoes, Soups, Vegan, Vegan proteins, Vitamix, Your Life Edit Foundations 3 Comments

Winter is in full swing.  60’s one day to snow… again.  I don’t mean to complain or whine but I really, truly appreciate dry ground just about now.  I prefer not to wipe out if at all possible. But I’m trying to rally & embrace all things winter like cozy sweaters, warm cozy blankets, reading by the fire and yes – soup!

I made this soup when my house was packed with company before Christmas one cozy evening.  Served it with crusty bread, crackers and some lovely gluten free rolls and the pot was gone.  My youngest mentioned it this weekend and I had all the ingredients to make round 2 of it.  Sadly, the in-process pics were the only ones I got as it was gobbled up in a snap before staging a pretty pic.  The soup is really hearty and filling. Packed with vegetable protein and oh so good for you.  Great for leftovers.  Not a frightening green color that may scare little kids away either.  Hope you enjoy!

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— Knead to Cook