Gluten Free Vegan Living

Salads are a great summer meal for a Gluten Free Vegan — but without a good salad dressing, a salad can be short of great.

Frustrated with the options available in the stores, I resorted to making my own dressing.  Actually, this is a short cut dressing — not complete homemade.  But I and my husband (along with others) love it.

Before I was Gluten Free and Vegan, Ranch was my favorite dressing, so I wanted something creamy.  Here is what I came up with:

• Fill a pint jar about 3/4 full with GRAPESEED OIL VEGENAISE (we are a soy free — or as close as we can get to soy-free — household, so prefer the grapeseed variety of vegenaise)
• Add about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Add about 2 tablespoons of Coconut Aminos
• Mix in your favorite seasoning.  I like to add lots of herbs, onion, garlic, spinach flakes etc.
• Shake well.  If mixture is too thick, thin with a bit of water of milk substitute.   Mixture tends to thicken up in the refrigerator.

I have used this dressing on nearly ALL the salads I make whether they are leaf lettuce based salads or just mixed veggies.  It has always been a big hit at potlucks — even for non-vegan eaters!

For more Vegan salad dressings, check on the 25 recipes compiled by the Raw Vegan Power website.

The list here includes the following recipes:

1. Crunchy Green Salad with Lime Avocado Dressing
2. Creamy Tri-Pepper Dressing
3. Raw Ranch Dressing
4. Raw Red Pepper Caesar Salad Dressing
5. Raw Vegan Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing
6. SRV SuperHero Stacker with Lemon-Chia Dressing
7. Creamy Tahini Dressing
8. Almond Ginger Dressing
9. Spring Salad with Italian Herb Dressing
10. Creamy Herb Dressing
11. 3 ingredient pink dressing
12. Mango mustard dressing recipe
13. Ranch Dressing or Dip
14. Avocado Cilantro Dressing
15. Raw, Vegan Ranch Dressing Recipe
16. Fresh Dill Salad Dressing
17. Vegan Ranch Dressing Made from Cashews
18. Raw Vegan Roma Tomato and Tahini Dressing
19. Raw and Vegan Creamy Salad Dressing Recipe
20. Cherimoya Ranch Dressing
21. Raw Spinach Walnut Dressing Sauce
22. Vegan and Almost Raw Caesar Salad Dressing
23. Yeast Free Basil and Garlic Salad Dressing
24. Lemongrass Dressing
25. Creamy Lemony Garlicky Salad Dressing

Do you have a favorite Vegan Salad Dressing recipe you would like to share with us? 

We don’t use many prepared foods, but we do have some can products (in particular) that I like to keep on hand for last minute meals.

Those include the following:

• Amy’s Organic Soups — I LOVE Amy products, but I especially like her Split Pea Soup, Chunky Vegetable Soup and her Lentil Vegetable Soup.
• Amy’s Organic Bean Mixes — Amy’s makes a wonderful Refried Black Bean and Black Bean Chili that we frequently buy in case lots.  Either one of these bean mixes makes a wonderful base for Vegan Tacos (we are allergic to pinto beans, so use black bean products instead.  Amy also has pinto bean products.)
• Organic Corn — I like to keep this on hand so I know I have organic canned corn not GMO corn!
• Black Olives — Great addition to lots of dishes is Black Olives
• Organic Tomato Products — I use Diced Tomatoes or Diced Tomatoes with Onion & Garlic in many of the dishes I make as well as Tomato Sauce
• Organic Marinara Sauce — Amy’s, once again, is a favorite Marinara Sauce

I also keep some processed Dry Products on my shelves.  They are:

• Dried Mushrooms — mostly for convenience
• Quinoa Spaghetti — lots of other gluten free noodles are available, but quinoa is my favorite
• Gluten Free Cereal such as Rice Chex or Granola (I am not going to list any as I have to be very careful which brands I buy due to my almond and sunflower seed allergy!)
• Mary Janes Farm Dried Organic Black Bean Chili Flakes — great ‘seasoning’ for Mexican dishes.
• Salsa Seasoning — we use Oregon Spice, and we order it from our local health food store
  
• Spinach Dip — also from Oregon Spice.  Makes a great potato topper or chip dip.
  

I also like to keep the following on hand that needs to be kept in the Refrigerator or Freezer:

• Mixed Stir Fry Veggies — quick easy meal (I like the big bags from Costco)
• Mixed Fruit — I like the tropical blends with pineapple, mango, papaya and strawberries
• Gluten Free Bread — various kinds
  
• Grapeseed Vegenaize — sandwiches, salad dressing, dips etc.
• Earth Balance — toast mostly
• Coconut Aminos — I use it like soy sauce and it is the secret ingredient in my homemade salad dressing!
• Organic Catsup — love this on home baked french fries
  
• Food for Life Organic Sprouted Corn Tortillas — we eat lots of tacos!!
• Misc. pickles, pickle relish often bought at the local farmers market or Bubbies brand.

A few more things we keep around that don’t fit any category in particular

• Coconut oil — I use it to fry everything and anything — especially my popcorn!!
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil — for salads or anything that does not need cooking
• Thai Kitchen Pure Coconut Milk — Just Thai, no other brand, for desserts, whipped cream, soups, smoothies …
• Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (with mother) — only vinegar I use (and don’t use much of that!)
• Organic Lemon Juice — when I don’t have fresh lemons around.
• Organic Raisins — for my salads!
• Organic Dark Chocolate Chips
• Kirkland Organic Tortilla Chips — from Costco

So now that you know what is in My Pantry, what types of foods do you keep in your pantry?

Remember yesterday, I promised a wonder Vegan Pizza recipe!

The recipe is  Holy Three Cheese Pizza! by Emily Von Euw: Blogger, from ‘This Rawsome Vegan Life’ and posted by One Green Planet.

Picture courtesy of https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/recipe-holy-three-cheese-pizza/

Make sure to check the author’s recipe for Parma Cheese.

Check out more Gluten Free pizza recipes and Gluten Free Pizza crust recipes!

And, personally, I stay away from tamari sauce and use Coconut Aminos instead:

My fellow Gluten Free Vegan Blogger, Megan,  posted a list of items that should be in every Gluten Free Vegan Pantry.  Looking at the list, I can see that she eats many of the same things as I do and has lots of the same food in her pantry as at our house.

She suggests we keep on hand several different flours, which I do too, but alas! I am lazier than her and use mostly blends!  My favorites are Jules (for cookies and cakes) and Pamelas for my bread (although Bob’s Red Mill is good too!).

THE FLOURS

Pre-Mixed

I don’t use any of the store-bought premixed flour blends often. But for someone new to gluten-free baking it might be a good way to ease into it. I recommend using Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour. ….

THE GUMS

Using gums like xanthan and guar gums are necessary in gluten-free baking. It helps give elasticity to baked goods that is lacking because of not having gluten. …

THE FAUX EGGS …

CONDIMENTS …

MILK …

FOOD AND STUFF ...

READ FULL STORY

We try to avoid soy, so we prefer Coconut Aminos rather than Bragg’s brand.  Coconut milk — the kind in the dairy case — is my milk of choice although I do use others.  And of course, I eat LOTS of salads … so our fridge is stocked with several different lettuces, tomatoes, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, cauliflower, summer squash, carrots, sprouts  …… I am the salad queen!!

What does your Gluten Free Vegan Pantry look like?