Craving Something Sweet?! Try These Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegan Valentine's Day Treats!! RECIPES!!:-))

Well its that time of year--the really challenging time of year for those of us who have chosen a sugar-free, gluten-free life :-)  Its chocolate selling season--um, I mean Valentine's Day!  


To help us all stay plant-strong, sugar-free & gluten-free while we celebrate the ones we love, here are some Valentine's Day-friendly dessert recipes I've sampled from the blogosphere!


What are YOU doing for Valentine's Day this year?  Any special recipes you want to share?!:-)

ALL RECIPES ARE VEGAN & GLUTEN-FREE

Completely Sugar-Free Recipes:

• Chocolate Chia Pudding by Susan Voisin from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
• Ambrosia by Susan Voisin from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
• The Healthy Librarian's "No-Fat Pina Colada Dessert" (scroll to the bottom of the post for the recipe)
• Healthy Girl's Kitchen's post on "Rip's Dessert ideas": "The Unnamed Dessert" (that features dates--YUM) and "Avocado & Raspberry Pie" (sounds bizarre but Wendy insists avocado & chocolate combos are good & I trust her judgement!)
• The Vegan Epicurean's Strawberry & Banana Sorbet

One of my favorite gluten-free, sugar-free bloggers Amy Green of "Simply Sugar & Gluten Free" is having a baby and a bunch of the bloggers in the gluten-free, refined sugar-free community are having a virtual baby shower for her!  The result is some awesome recipes (most use coconut sugar)--I've tried to pick out a few of the Vegan ones!

• She Let Them Eat Cake Blog's Gluten-Free & Vegan Gingersnaps
• Cook It Allergy Free Blog's Gluten-free Apple Streusel with Maple Cinnamon Glaze (obviously the Maple part has Maple Syrup in it so if you eat that, this recipe is for you!)  
• And since I mentioned Amy--here is one of her recipes:  Raw Date Truffles

If you eat agave nectar:

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Icing
• ICE CREAM:  The Golubka blog has recipes for Vanilla Ice Cream, Rose Ice Cream, Pomegranate Sorbet and something called a "Rose Petal Mille-Feuille" which sounds very fancy and looks delicious!!  All are made with coconut as the base.

If you eat coconut sugar:

• Diet, Desert & Dogs Blog's Chocolate Mint Truffles
• Post Punk Kitchen's Raspberry Truffle Brownies--can sub in date sugar, coconut sugar or any other dry cane sugar substitute

Ok folks I hope that helps!!

Happy Heart Day to You & Yours! :-))

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

RECIPES: What the Happy Nurse & I Are Eating This Week! Soups, Falafels, Parsnip Fries, Quinoa Salad, Zucchini Hummus, Mac & Cheese, Chocolate Chia Pudding & MORE!!!

Well I'm super excited about our food plan for this week!  What I've made so far has been delicious (with only one minor kitchen disaster:-))!  I've happily tried a bunch of new, very simple recipes from the Everyday Happy Herbivore Cookbook (which I FINALLY got from Amazon this week after being back ordered since December!!).  No time for bulk cooking again due to my call schedule.


What do YOU have on your food plan for this week?!  Any recipe ideas to share?

Dinner Monday Night :-)
Spinach & Dried Cranberries
Homemade baked tortilla chips &
 Gluten-Free Crackers
Homemade tahini-free hummus & veggies
Tarragon Rice w/ Kalamata olive
Ambrosia

On top of a busy clinical week, I have an exam on Friday (yes, Doctors continue to have exams forever--we have to retake our specialty board exams every 5-10 years in order to continue to be described as "board certified!")  For me, this time its an important mock Board exam as I'm nearing the end of my specialty training.  Thus, I'm throwing in a bunch of familiar favorites this week to keep the pressure off as I study!  That said, I need variety to keep my disease of compulsive overeating at bay--so I've also chosen a few simple new recipes AND used the slow cooker!    

Soups:  (Slow Cooker, YAY!)

My FAV:  The Healthy Librarian's version of Robin Robertson's Sweet Potato, Spinach, Fire-Roasted Tomatoes, and a Bit of Peanut Butter Soup:  Tried it in the slow cooker this time and it worked beautifully.  Just threw everything but the oat milk and the spinach in at first and then right before taking it off the heat I transferred it to a big pot and added the oat milk & spinach & cooked for about 3 mins.  YUMM.  I like a little more spinach in the soup so this time in addition to the fresh spinach I added a bunch of frozen spinach too.  I also cut the sweet potatoes up into tiny cubes instead of big ones--just a preference thing.  I think more flavor soaks in!


My Own Split Pea Soup:  Yes I'm biased but I love this.  Basically I put 4 cups (one box) of Vegetable Broth in, a lot of green split peas (enough so I can see them about 1 inch under the surface of the broth), 2 chopped up carrots, 2 celery stalks chopped and two bay leaves.  Literally thats it!  SO good!


Black Bean & Salsa Soup from The Everyday Happy Herbivore Cookbook!  Can't wait to make this--another extremely easy recipe using canned salsa!


Chana Saag (not a soup but a slow cooker recipe!) from the  Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester--I LOVE Indian food & I love spinach so this dish is perfect!  Really looking forward to this!


Main Dishes

Falafels from the Party Vegan by Robin Robertson:  Ok these were amazing and super healthy.  I didn't fry them in oil, instead I used a bit of spray oil on both sides of each patty & it tasted great!  I think the key is processing the chickpeas into a fine powder, refrigerating per her instructions and not skipping out on the fresh parsley (don't use dry).


Healthy Girl's Kitchen's Butternut Mac & Cheese:  Going to do this AWESOME looking dish (and one of my recipes of the week on the Best of the Blogosphere post) this weekend after the exam is over!


Lemon Basil Pasta from The Everyday Happy Herbivore Cookbook!  Made this two days ago.  SO easy and super yummy except for one small disaster--I added a ton of dried basil instead of fresh.  Not as yummy as it could be I'm afraid!  Next time it'll be fresh basil!  I love that this is oil-free and basically uses lemon juice as a sauce :-)


Curried Quinoa Salad from The Everyday Happy Herbivore Cookbook!  I love Quinoa and I love curry--hello awesome lunch (with the perfect balance of all essential amino acids).


Sandwich Spreads, Snacks & Side Dishes


Lentil Spread--still haven't made it--like I said, crazy week! I LOVE this spread though and talked about it last week.  Its on the docket to be made tonight. 


Parsnip Fries with Roasted Tomato Ketchup from My New Roots:  Can't wait to make these!  She made them with parsley root--first of all, I have no idea what that is and second of all, we have a bunch of parsnip in the fridge and she said we could substitute with parsnip!  I'm going to alter the recipe a bit by forgoing the canola oil thing in favor of a little bit of spray oil.  On the roasted tomato ketchup front I've cheated and bought a can of roasted tomatoes!!  Ah time saving techniques!


Zucchini-Almond Hummus from Choosing Raw.  This looks amazing and I'm really enjoying this new (to me) blog!  (Thanks Wendy for the rec!)

Green Olive & Sundried Tomato Biscotti from the Party Vegan by Robin Robertson:  Repeat effort as promised to reduce the oil in the recipe--I've now gotten it down from 3 Tbl to 1 Tbl and am delighted to report that it is still just as delicious!  Next time, no oil, only water!  This time around I saved time by skipping the crushing the pine nuts step and threw them in whole!  It worked great :-)

Spiced Rice-Lentil Squares from Susan Voisin's Fat Free Vegan Kitchen:   Ok so I made a kitchen error with this one and used long grain brown rice instead of short grain--the result--it completely (and I mean completely) fell apart when I was baking it--nothing to stick it together & the chia egg wasn't enough.  (by the way first time using a chia egg and I loved it!!!)  So instead I poured the cooked mixture into a bowl and ate it cold as a salad.  Oh OH SO yummy!!  The spices were perfect--very Persian.  Ah kitchen improvisation!


Cool Slaw from "Appetite for Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz:  This was recommended by a reader and wow was she spot on!  Easy due to the store bought bagged shredded cabbage and carrots (coleslaw kt)


Desserts!!! (not a regular category for us but I'm feeling like some this week!)

Chocolate Chia Pudding by Susan Voisin from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen:  Ok so this was extraordinarily good!!!!!!!!  I can't even explain how good!  I had no idea that you could use chia seeds (a great source of Omega-3's) this way!  If you like the consistency of tapioca pudding you will LOVE this!

Ambrosia by Susan Voisin from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen:  Once again SO delicious.  I just finished the last of it and can't wait to make more.  I loved that she just peeled the orange and chopped it up--no intricate peeling of the individual slices.  The pineapple really add a lot to this dish!


Post Punk Kitchen's recipe for Raspberry Truffle Brownies: Making these as a treat after the exam.  Will need to eat and give away the rest immediately as my husband can't have sweets in the house.  See my post for my ideas on how to alter the sugar aspect.

Ok that's all folks!  Enjoy! Oh!  And let me know if you have any ideas for recipes for Spaghetti Squash!  I've had one sitting on the shelf for awhile!! 


The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.

RECIPES: Thanksgiving Ideas for Plant-Based Folks Like Me!

Ok so if you are like me and are JUST starting to figure out what you are going to bring to Thanksgiving Dinner than this post is for YOU!!  I"m going to come back to my medical series after the holiday but for now its time for a favorite topic for a Compulsive Overeater like me....FOOODDDD!!!!:-)  Its nice to be able to laugh about that now :-)


This is going to be my first Vegan Thanksgiving--and now that I think of it, it will be my first Thanksgiving being Gluten & Sugar Free too!! Ack!!  So in this post, I've turned to other bloggers to get some much-needed advice and ideas on what I can eat/bring to the family table!


Totally Vegan:

Happy Herbivore: Vegan Thanksgiving

VegKitchen's Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner

The Fat-Free Vegan's Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf  (a bunch of other bloggers are raving about this too!)

A Plant-Strong Thanksgiving (post by Rip Esselstyn on Whole Foods site!)

Vegetarian But Lots of Great Ideas:

New York Times: A Thanksgiving Feast, No Turkeys Allowed!


New York Times: Well's Vegetarian Thanksgiving


Vegan & GLUTEN & SUGAR FREE!!


Vegan Pumpkin Bread (this recipe is from one of my favorite bloggers (Amy Green) that I've been following ever since I became sugar-free and gluten-free last spring!!  Her baking recipes are just amazing.  Check it out:  Simply Sugar and Gluten Free!)


Vegan Peanut-Butter Cups!  (Ok we really don't keep peanut butter in the house anymore but maybe for a holiday....:-))


Ok and now what I'm certain I'm bringing:

1) Ann Esselstyn's Artichoke & Spring Onion Dip (from Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (Amazon link) with my favorite non-oil, gluten-free, vegan crackers:  "Mary's Gone Crackers" Mary's Gone Crackers!!!
2)  Herbivore's Brownies!! (made out of black beans!!  I'll let you know how they turn out!)

....The rest....we'll just see!!! 

Next time:  Tip #6:  Know the Role That Each Person Plays In The Hospital Team ((Who ARE These Different People Taking Care of You & What DO They Do??!!))

Coming Up AFTER Thanksgiving:

• SuperImmunity Foods for KIDS (Calling All PARENTS!)
• RECIPES & Ideas: Snacks!  YUMMY & Portable Plant-Based Snack Food--all sugar-free, gluten-free & without adding oil or fat!!

The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions.