Dairy Free No Bake Cookies

These are super easy!

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup almond milk (or soy milk, etc.)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 cup almond butter
  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

Melt coconut oil, milk, sugar and cocoa powder over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and boil one minute. Remove from heat and stir in almond butter, oats and vanilla.

Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Allow to cool before serving.

Makes about 24 cookies.

(Dairy Free) Cream of Asparagus Soup

Last summer we picked a TON of asparagus from our CSA farm. We ate lots of it fresh, but I also pureed a whole bunch of it. It’s March, and we still had a few cups of the puree left in our freezer. I decided it was time to use it up so I hesitantly made this soup. And it was surprisingly good! I’ll be making it again.

4 cups pureed asparagus (Blanch about 8 cups of chopped asparagus, cool and puree.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups vegetable stock
1 can cocounut milk
salt
pepper

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until transluscent. Add the thyme.

Add the vegetable stock, lemon juice, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the onions are as tender as desired.

Add coconut milk and heat through.

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients:
• 1 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cups sugar
• ¼ cup applesauce
• 3 eggs
• 3 Tb. lemon juice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 8 oz. yogurt (use almond or coconut to make this dairy free)
• 3 cups fresh strawberries, diced
• Powdered sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan (10-15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the oil and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in lemon juice, applesauce and yogurt.
3. Mix together flour, soda and salt and add to the batter, mixing until just incorporated.
4. Gently mix the strawberries into the batter.
5. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar, if desired.

Dairy Free Quiche

Can it even be called quiche if it’s dairy free and crustless?! Well, whatever this is, it’s good!

 

  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 cup frozed spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 5-10 asparagus spears, ends trimmed then chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 6 eggs
  • 3/4 cup almond milk
  • 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/8 tsp. black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Over medium heat, saute the pepper, asparagus and onion in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add spinach and heat through.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Stir in the sauteed vegetables, and stir until well combined.

Grease a pie plate, and pour egg mixture into pan. Place in oven and cook for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Quiche will rise while baking, but should settle back down once you remove it from the oven. Remove from the oven and allow the quiche to set for at least 5 minutes.

 

Adapated from www.gimmesomeoven.com.

Chicken Curry

This is great with additional vegetables, too. Add turnips, potatoes, snap peas, etc.

  • 1-2 pounds chicken (I like to use a mixture of breasts and thighs)
  • 1 pound carrots (about 6-8), diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 bell peppers, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon garam masala (if I don’t have this, I substitute 1 tablespoon cumin +1  tsp coriander+1  tsp ground black pepper+1 tsp cinnamon+1/2 tsp cloves+1/2 tsp nutmeg)
  • 1 jalapeno, minced (or, 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes)

Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-7 hours. Serve alone, or over rice or pasta.

South American Stuffing

My aunt is from Peru, and she is a fabulous cook. One year for Thanksgiving she made us this ‘Turkey Dressing’ as she calls it, and it was immediately my favorite. It has ingredients you might find strange to put together, but it is fantastic.

 

  • 2 cups bread crumbs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 pound bacon
  • 1  large onion, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 tsp thyme
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • pepper
  • 1 cup ground almonds
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup sliced green olives
  • 3 hard boiled eggs, diced

 

Soak the bread crumbs in milk.

Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook in a dutch oven over medium high heat until crisp. Remove bacon and all but 2-3 tablespoons of the bacon grease.

Add onions and peppers and saute over medium heat until soft and translucent,  about 5 minutes.

Add ground pork, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until no pink remains in the pork.

Stir in remaining ingredients and soaked bread crumbs. Taste for seasoning and serve. Alternatively, if you want to put it in a dish and bake it for a few minutes that is good too!

Braised Beef with Bacon

I’m not a huge fan of roasts, typically, but this recipe was very good. I used roasts from our cow that we purchased that were labeled “seven bone roast” and an oxtail. I think any chuck roast would be great. I cut off the large, obvious chunks of fat before cooking. When it was done, I let it cool a bit and scraped some of the fat off of the top. You could make this a day ahead, refrigerate it, and easily scoop the fat off the top before reheating and serving.

The vegetables, also, are flexible. You can substitute other veggies or change the quantities very easily.

We eat this served with a salad and roasted potatoes. Once you eat the large chunks of roast, you will have a lot of the sauce left. Shred any leftover meat into the sauce, and serve it leftover over noodles. Yum!

  • 4-6 pounds beef roasts
  • paprika
  • salt
  • pepper
  • flour
  •  3/4-1 pound bacon, cut into smallish pieces
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 tsp garlic, minced
  • 2 large carrots
  • 3 stems celery
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 3 cups tomatoes, chopped with juices
  • 2 cups red wine
  • 3 stems rosemary
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, diced and blanched

Preheat oven to 300.

Sprinkle oxtails with paprika, salt and pepper. Coat with flour. Cook bacon in heavy Dutch oven over medium heat until fat is rendered, about 10 minutes. Remove bacon, using slotted spoon and reserve. Increase heat to high. Working in batches, add roasts and cook until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. If you need some more oil, pour in a bit if vegetable or olive oil to avoid burning. Transfer beef to plate.

In a food processor, finely dice the celery and carrots.

Add onions, garlic, carrots and celery to the Dutch oven, reduce heat to medium and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Mix in tomato paste and wine. Scrape up any browned bits of the bottom of the pan.  Add tomatoes and rosemary stems.  Return beef with any juices and bacon to Dutch oven.

Braise in oven for 5-6 hours, until meat is falling off the bones. At this point, you will refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or cool slightly to skim the fat off the top. Remove any bones and the rosemary stems. Stir in the blanched snap peas and reheat for 20-40 minutes depending upon the temperature of your roast.

Adapted from a recipe at http://www.epicurious.com