Swedish Midsummer Strawberry and Cream Cake (Vegan low fat and oil free)

For the longest time I’ve had a huge appreciation for Swedish culture. One of my favorite days of the year when I get to attend the largest midsummer celebration in the world that takes place in battery park. It happens every June on the weekend at the start of the summer. Swedes celebrate midsummer as a holiday where they enjoy the sun being out for long hours compared to their dark winters. They have food, drinks, and music. They hand make flower crowns and dance around a midsummer pole. I hope one day, I will get to celebrate midsummer in Sweden. 

Unfortunately, this year due to work and other obligations, I wasn’t able to make it to the party. I did however celebrate on my own by making a midsummer cake. 
Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Wet ingredients:

3/4 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup water

1 ripe banana 

1 tbsp orange juice

Juice from 1/2 lemon

2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting recipe:

1/2 block firm tofu

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Juice from 1/4 lemon

1/2 cup plant milk, if it is not blending smoothly 

Toppings:

2 lbs fresh strawberries 

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 

Combine dry ingredients for the cake in a large mixing bowl

Blend all wet cake ingredients together

Add in part of the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly continue doing this until all wet ingredients have been mixed into the dry

Pour the cake batter into two cake pans that are lined with parchment paper 

Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown

Take the cakes out and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans

Blend all ingredients for the frosting together, add more sweetener if needed

Slice about 1/3 of the strawberries 

Assemble the cake by putting half of the frosting on the first layer and then top with the sliced strawberries 

Place second layer over it and spread the rest of the frosting and arrange the whole strawberries on top

Enjoy!

Low fat vegan carrot cake

I made this carrot cake a few weeks ago for a family get together. It came out surprisingly moist and delicious. It is best eaten right out of the oven. The hardest part about this recipe is grating the carrots. You must use the finest side of your grater to get the right consistency. If you have a food processor that can handle shredding carrots, consider yourself blessed. 

I used a sweet potato frosting recipe I four here: Feasting on Fruit or you can make your own cream cheese frosting. Honestly, it’s good enough on its own without any frosting at all!

Dry ingredients 

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tbsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 tsp nutmeg 
2 tbsp cinnamon 
1 cup brown sugar 
Wet ingredients 

6 tbsp orange juice

Juice from 1/4 lemon

1/4 cup Applesauce 

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract 

1 1/5 tbsp maple syrup 

2 cups finely shredded carrots 

2 tbsp flax seeds
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 

Combine flax seeds and 6 tbsp water. Allow it to gel to an egg like consistency 

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl

Combine all of the wet ingredients, including flax seeds in a separate bowl and mix well

Fold in wet ingredients to dry without overmixing

Pour batter into a parchment paper lined baking pan and bake for 40-50 minutes

Vegan Farro Salad

These past few weeks have been quiet. I’ve been spending my time writing, reading, rediscovering my love for painting and drawing, going for slow walks, sitting outside in the sunlight, catching up on tv seasons with my boyfriend, ordering in and the occasional cooking of tacos. But this past Sunday we experienced a rare weekend day off for both of us (well most of the day off for me). We decided to venture out into Brooklyn for a day party we used to go to a few years back. While it was nice getting to spend some time outside in the sunshine, around other people and away from screens, we both decided that we no longer enjoy drinking or partying like we used to. I guess we’re growing up. At the party, we grabbed food from a food truck situated nearby. After asking them to edit their ingredients to make something vegan for me, I enjoyed a delicious farro salad that left me excited to go home and create my own oil free and vegan version of it. While I definitely didn’t get the same version as the food truck, I was able to make a delicious, (mostly) whole food, and vegan dish. This farro salad is great hot but is also delicious cold which is perfect for summer months. It can be eaten as a side or a main dish. I found myself adding lots of black pepper to it afterward because I thought it complimented the tartness of the lemon and herbs well.

If you haven’t tried farro before, it is a tasty grain that I found similar to brown rice with a bit more of a chewy texture and nutty flavor. It does contain wheat so if you do want to stay gluten free, I suggest subbing the farro for another grain.

Also, I decided to top my salad with some vegan parmesan that a coworker gave me. I had never tried and vegan cheeses before and was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted a lot like the real thing. I think it’s important to have a supportive community of other vegans around you. If you don’t have vegan friends, I find that simply showing others how happy you are and how well you feel eating the way you do makes other more receptive to changing their lifestyles. It helps when you focus on the positives of your choices instead of making them feel badly about their own. Facebook groups, instagram, and apps like vegan amino are also great ways to surround yourself in a community of caring and kind vegans.

Ingredients

2 cups pearled farro

1 cup parsley

1 cup arugula

1 can chickpeas

1 carrot thinly sliced

1 turnip thinly sliced

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

Vegan parmesan for topping (optional)

Directions

Set oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Cook farro with salt and pepper according to directions
Boil carrots and turnips for a minute or two to soften

Drain and rinse chickpeas, coat with salt, pepper, and paprika and bake on a parchment paper lined baking tray for 15 minutes

Add parsley, arugula, and lemon juice to the farro

Season with additional salt and pepper, top with chickpeas and vegan parmesan if desired

Serve hot or cold

Tomato spinach spaghetti squash

My mind has been so busy lately. It seems that I’m focusing on food a lot less than I have been. Instead of spending hours thinking of what new recipe I would make this week I was focused on other things. So when it came time to make a meal to post, my eyes went right to the spaghetti squash that had been sitting on my counter and I quickly decided that it would be this week’s recipe. 

This is a simple recipe, it doesn’t require many ingredients or time. Perfect for after a long day. 

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash 

1 pint grape tomatoes

5 cups fresh spinach 

2 cloves garlic

2 cups vegetable broth

Directions

Make small holes in the sides of your squash and microwave it for about 5 minutes. This will make it much easier to cut later on

Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit 

When the squash is cool enough to handle,cut it in half and bake for about 20 minutes or until it is soft 

Slice tomatoes in half

Heat half of the vegetable broth and garlic into a pan over medium heat to brown the garlic

Add the tomatoes to the pan with the rest of the vegetable broth and let them simmer on low for about 10 minutes

Turn the heat off the stove, add the spinach into the pan and cover it to wilt it slightly 

Pour the tomatoes and spinach over your spaghetti squash and enjoy!

Lentil and Rice Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Yesterday I spent the day walking around dumbo in Brooklyn with my boyfriend. The weather was perfect and I felt so energized from getting some much needed sunshine. We stopped for lunch at Grimaldi’s, a famous pizzeria right next to the Brooklyn bridge. The (cheeseless) pizza was absolutely delicious and I was happy that my boyfriend finally got to enjoy it after years of saying he wanted to try it. 

On to the recipe. This week I made some lentil and rice filled cabbage rolls. I had picked up a really perfect looking cabbage this week at the supermarket instead of the normal ones that usually have lots of small tears in the leaves. All of the other ingredients were things that I always keep in the house, so I thought it would be a good time to make them again. 

Ingredients:

1 Small head of green cabbage

1 Cup brown rice

1/2 Cup green lentils

3 15 oz Cans of diced tomatoes 

9 oz Mushrooms 

1 Can tomato paste

4 Cloves garlic

1 Handful basil leaves

1 Tsp liquid smoke

Rosemary

Salt

Pepper
Directions:

Rinse lentils and beans and cook them in water and one can of diced tomatoes for 45 minutes 

Brown garlic in a separate sauce pan

Boil water in a pot big enough to fit the entire head of cabbage 

Once garlic is browned, add tomato paste and the other two cans of diced tomatoes to the saucepan and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding the bail to the pot for the last 10 minutes

Boil cabbage for 10 minutes and then turn it in the water and boils for an additional 10 minutes or until leaves are completely cooked

Remove cabbage from water and let it cook down enough to handle

Clean and chop mushrooms into small pieces 

Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit 

Once lentils and rice are finished cooking, add the spices and mushrooms. Add 1/2 cup water and stir rapidly over high heat until the water is soaked up. Blend the rice/lentil mixture(optional may need to add more water)

Carefully remove the cabbage leaves, making sure to keep them intact. I made 14 rolls, depending on the size of your cabbage,you may be able to make more or less. 

Line a baking dish with any extra leaves that you have

Scoop about 1/4 cup of the lentil/rice mix into each cabbage leaf and roll them up as you would a burrito. Place them in your pan, seam down

Cover the rolls with the tomato sauce and bake for 50-60 minutes 

Vegan Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers

The weather is getting warmer in New York! I’m becoming so excited for summer and beach days and just the overall happy feeling I get when it’s warm out. Unfortunately, the nice days haven’t been lining up with my days off and the vegetable garden project I’ve been planning with my brother keeps getting pushed back. I have hope that we’ll be able to start it soon. 

With summer also comes delicious grilled vegetables, some of my favorite fruit(I think I can eat an entire watermelon in one sitting), and burgers. So yesterday, instead of making squash for the third time this week, I made black bean sweet potato burgers. I’ve tried them before using a different grain but ended up ruining them by accidentally dumping half a container of whole peppercorns in my batter-I thought it had the grinder on top. 

These burgers are vegan, gluten free, and oil free. They contain no flour and is made mostly from whole starches and spices. Also, they can easily be made sos free by just skipping the salt. May also happens to be #NationalBurgerMonth so why not celebrate with burgers that don’t harm any animals and are good for you, too. 

Note: These burgers work best when you make the batter ahead of time and leave it in the fridge for several hours to firm up. 

Recipe

Makes 6-8 patties
Ingredients:

2 Large Sweet potatoes cooked until soft and skinned

1  3/4 cups of cooked black beans or 1 15oz can

1 1/2 cooked brown rice (1/2 cup uncooked)

2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed + 5 tablespoons water

Juice from 1 lime

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

2 chopped garlic cloves or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vegan liquid smoke optional

1/2 onion optional
Directions 

Mix the flaxseed and water in a small bowl and place in the fridge for 15 minutes or until it gels to an egg-like consistency 

Add sweet potato, cilantro, and 3/4 of the black beans to a blender or mixing bowl (if you have a hand blender) and blend until creamy

Add the rice, spices, lime juice, flaxseed, and remaining black beans to the mixture and blend on a lower setting to mix everything well and break the beans and rice up a bit. Taste the batter to see if you’d like more spices, I like mine spicy so I added more chili powder. 

Cover and refrigerate for 4+ hours 

Form your batter into 6-8 patties 

 Bake, grill, or pan fry the patties until the outside is crispy. I chose to bake mine on parchment paper at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes, flipping them around 35 minutes

Top your burgers with whatever you like. I had mine with fresh homemade pico de gallo, Trader Joe’s tomatoless corn salsa, lettuce, and guacamole. I didn’t eat the bun but I thought the picture might look sad without it. Let me know if you try it and what you top yours with! 

👩🏼‍🌾❤️ Heather

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

So I made this about a month ago around St. Patty’s day while we were getting ready for a big snow storm. It was such a big hit that I decided to turn on my oven to make this again this week even though it was so warm out. The lentils and mushrooms make this a really hearty dish that satisfies anyone including your meat eating family. The rosemary adds a lot of flavor that really make the dish. 

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes 
3/4 cup of green lentils 

100g mushrooms

4 carrots 

1 cup corn

1 cup peas

1 cup green beans 

1/4 cup plant milk

1 tablespoon cornstarch 

Salt

Pepper

Rosemary 

Thyme
Directions;
Peel, chop and boil potatoes until soft
Cook lentils in a separate pan
Preheat oven to 400 degrees 
Peel and chop carrot and chop mushrooms and add them to lentils when they’re done cooking
Add a small amount of water or gravy if you have and spices/herbs to the lentils and continue to cook it for a couple minutes
Drain water from potatoes except for 1/4 cup add plant milk and salt and mash them
Add corn, peas, and green beans to the lentils and cook for another few minutes until they’re warmed. (I used frozen so I just waited for them to thaw)
Add corn starch to thicken the mixture
Spread the lentil/veggie mix in a casserole dish or pan and then top a layer of the mashed potatoes
Bake for 20 minutes or until the potatoes look a little crispy on top