Gluten Free Vegan Living

If you are wanting to add more beets in your diet, this beet salad recipe works perfectly.

Personally, fresh beets are just too ‘earthy’ for me to eat plain!  Pickled beets are pretty good, but that means eating lots of extra sugar that I would rather avoid.

So, I developed this recipe that is just the right amount of natural sweetness to mask the ‘earthy’ beet taste!

I have also made this recipe using left over zucchini in addition to the other ingredients — and it turned out equally as good!

I love fresh raw salads!  Every year, I look forward to spring and summer when I can find wonderfully fresh organic (when possible) veggies!

And because of my love of raw veggies, I have developed numerous recipes — mostly ‘spin offs’ from popular recipes — for my veggies!!

Last week, I made this “Healthy Coleslaw” that my husband has voted as one of his favorite salads!

Simple to make and well liked for anyone who loves raw veggies!  Great for potlucks as well!!

We are big black bean fans (I suppose that is partly because we are allergic to some of the other beans).  I use black beans in lots of my recipes, but none of my recipes are as famous as my husband’s black bean humus.

When Malcolm makes this recipe for potlucks, it is usually a huge success.  We have learned to print off copies of the recipe before we head out the door — because we get so many requests.

Malcolm’s Famous Black Bean Humus Recipe!

In Vitamix, add:
2/3 cup sesame seeds
½ cup first cold pressed olive oil
2/3 cup lemon (or lime) juice

Start SLOW to prevent splashing, build VERY slowly, up to full speed. (Makes a tahini-like mush, or may substitute ½ cup tahini instead of seeds)

Add Spices:
1 slightly rounded tsp Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 T Oregon Spice salsa seasoning (available from OregonSpice.com or use any taco or salsa seasoning available)

Add:
2 cups cooked black beans or 1 can, undrained or may drain and rinse to reduce sodium
2 cups cooked garbanzos (chickpeas) or 1 can, DRAIN and RINSE

3-6 cloves garlic (peeled)
1 large handful (1/3 cup) pitted black olives
½ large or 1 medium onion, peeled (may also use or substitute 6 green onions and/or 4″ of large leek)

Add up to 1 cup water, just enough to turn the Vitamix (only need ½ cup water, if used un-drained black beans)

Recommended:
1 or 2 jalapenos, or ¼ cup canned jalapeno slices, or cayenne to taste

Optional variations, add to taste:
Cilantro, Basil, Green Olives, etc.

Blend well in Vitamix, transfer to container(s), refrigerate – keeps up to 2 weeks.

Great as appetizer! Serve with chips, pita bread, tortillas, bread or crackers!!

Black beans are really good for you!  They are our ‘go to’ bean for most Mexican dishes as well as this humus recipe.

For more black bean humus recipes, check out my mini website:

Easy Nutritious Vegan Black Bean Humus Recipes

Vegan Taco Salad is one of my favorite salads — and favorite Mexican style dish.  This dish is high in protein making it very fulling as well as delicious.

I have seen taco salads make in numerous different ways, but most contained either meat or flour tortilla sheet — which, of course will not do!  After some experimenting, I have developed the following recipe:

If you like your salads spicy, add some salasa seasoning.

If you like heat in your salads, add some chopped jalapeno peppers.

For the salad dressing, I make my own.  Here is my special recipe:

Fill a pint jar 2/3 to 3/4 full of grapeseed Vegenaise
Add 1-2 Tablespoons of extra virgin Olive Oil
Add 1-2 Tablespoons of coconut aminos
Add your favorite seasoning (I often use a garlic herb seasoning)

Shake jar well.  
If the dressing is too thick, add a tablespoon of two of water.

You could also add taco sauce to this salad dressing in place of the coconut aminos.

Vegetable type soups have always been my favorite – even when I was a little girl!  The old standby, Chicken Noodle soup, was good when I was sick, but veggie soups were my favorite.

When I got older, I graduated from the ‘Campbell’ soups to Healthy Choice soups and I loved Minestrone.  Naturally, when I became Gluten Free and Vegan, I went to work to find a Minestrone soup that worked for my new lifestyle — and one that tasted good.

After a few tries, I came up with the following recipe — thick enough to eat with a fork!:

Rather than add so many canned beans, I will often cook up a large batch of mixed beans (I keep several different types in my pantry) and freeze some of them for later use.  If you use this method, you will need 6 – 7 cups of cooked beans.

I have also tried this recipe with various other Gluten Free pasta.  Tastes good with any or all of them!

Of course, if you want a thinner soup, you can adjust the water accordingly.

Great soup to eat on a cold snowy day!