When my Beautycounter friend Amy Carter shared her secret spinach muffin recipe that fooled even her tiny humans into thinking they were dessert, let’s say I was intrigued … and relieved because now there’s hope for all parents struggling to get their picky kiddo’s to eat their veggies. I wish I knew about this clever recipe when raising my kids.
#SpinachMuffinMagic is what I’d call it!
The recipe Amy shared was called Popeye Muffins from thegreenforks.com. I made a few changes to make it whole food plant based no salt, oil or sugar (WFPB no SOS) compliant and they turned out super delicious. My first attempt I used oat flour while in the second iteration I opted for chickpea flour. Much to my surprise there wasn’t a noteworthy difference between the two. This recipe strikes a perfect balance of sweetness, effectively masking any trace of spinach flavor. The dark green color may look intense, yet funny enough, it could pass as camouflage on St. Patrick’s Day. With everything healthy in this recipe the more your little leprechaun’s eat the healthier they will be!
Ingredients
2 cups oat or chickpea flour (you can make your own flour by processing rolled oats or dried chickpeas into fine powder)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped raw pepitas
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 (6 oz. bag) fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 – 4 unsweetened dry apricots
Directions
Wisk together dry ingredients and set aside (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pepitas)
Place milk and spinach in a high speed blender until completely pureed. Add the banana, applesauce and vanilla and blend until completely mixed.
Pour pureed mixture into the dry mixture and fold together with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula until completely combined.
Fill silicone muffin pan with the batter 3/4 full.
Top the muffin batter with small pieces of dried apricots
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until tootpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Kids that like to get involved will think the colors are pretty cool (but then that blows the secret of the hidden spinach) I think the apricots look like little nuggets of goldVery moist with very little crumbling
These scrumptious little muffins earn an A+ in flavor, are highly nutritious (packed with dense plant based protein) and are nearly impossible to just have one. They are super easy to make and delicious right out of the oven or chilled in the refrigerator. You can use whatever combination of veggies you like, throw in your favorites nuts or seeds and season to your liking – the possibilities are absolutely endless. These tasty gems remind me of little quiche lorraine’s without the crust and using tofu to simulate the eggs and nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor. I haven’t quite decided whether these muffins should be on the breakfast, lunch or dinner menu – or maybe served as an appetizer or snack. Whatever you decide, I hope you find these healthy little muffins as irresistably delicious as I do.
Ingredients
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 serrano pepper chopped (seeds included)
1 medium zuccini cut in small pieces
5 button mushrooms cut in small pieces
3 green onions cut in small pieces (use both white and green parts)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. tumeric powder
14 oz. container extra firm tofu (pressed for at least 30 minutes)
1/2 cup chickpea flour (see notes)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 baking soda
2-3 tbsp. dairy free milk
1/4 cup unsalted sunflower or pepita seeds or chopped walnuts (optional)
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast (optional)
Directions
Place 1/4 cup water in a skillet then add the chopped vegetables and spices (first 10 ingredients) and saute for 5 minutes or until water evaporates.
Process the tofu, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast (if using), baking powder and baking soda in a food processor. Add the 2-3 tbsp. of dairy free milk and process again until the mixture is smooth and dough like.
Place the tofu mixture, sauteed vegetables and seeds/nuts (if using) in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly.
Pour the mixture in a silicone muffin mold.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until muffins are a golden brown. Wait until the muffins cool down completely before removing from the molds.
Such a savory aroma when sauteeing Eating one just isn’t enough!
Special Notes
You can use whatever vegetables appeal to you for a total of 2 cups chopped vegetables.
The nutritional yeast will give the muffins a cheesy flavor but is completely optional.
A tofu press removes excess water from the tofu. Failing to remove the water will result in a soggy muffins. If you don’t have a tofu press you can improvise as in the fourth and fifth picture.
This is the tofu press that I use called Tofuture. I purchased it on Amazone for about $22.oo.This is the block of tofu prior to pressingAfter 8 hours 200 cc of water was squeezed outDon’t have a press? No problem. Just wrap the tofu block in a clean dishtowel or several layers of paper towel and place in a large plate with a rim. Place a heavy object on top of the tofu like a frying pan. Place other weighted objects on the frying pan to weight it down even further. The water will soak into the towel and flow into the plate.
What is Tofu?
Tofu is made from dried soybeans that have been soaked, crushed and then boiled. The mixture is then separated into solid curds and soymilk. The curds are pressed into solid blocks which is the tofu. The Japanese word tofu means bean curd.
Plain tofu tastes bland but, like a sponge, it will soak up the flavors it is cooked in. Tofu is very low in saturated fat, rich in heart healthy unsaturated fat, has no cholesterol, is glutin-free and is an excellent source of protein, fiber and vitamins. Tofu is technically not considered a whole food because it is processed (although minimally). Despite this, it is still considered “green light”because of all the health benefits.
I hit the mother load last weekend at Heinen’s. I heard of purple sweet potatoes but have never been successful with finding them. Then right smack in the middle of the produce section was a big barrel overflowing with the Stokes Purple variety. I felt like I won the freaking lottery!
In my research Stokes Purple sweet potatoes are available late August through late spring. Unlike orange sweet potatoes which are high in beta carotene, purple sweet potatoes are high in anthocyanin. Anthocyanin is a potent antioxidant that helps boost the immune system and reduce inflammation. This compound, if eaten regularly, protects against adult onset diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Anthocyanin is abundant in blueberries, cherries and strawberries but is three times more potent in purple sweet potatoes.
If you are concerned about blood sugar, the glycemic index (how rapidly blood sugar levels rise) of a purple sweet potato is between 54-68. The glycemic index of a white potato is 93. There are varying reports of which taste sweeter but, in my opinion, the purple sweet potato (at least the Stokes variety) is only marginally sweet, drier and a lot more filling.
Fun facts about sweet potatoes: They are actually not a potato. Potatoes are tubers. Sweet potatoes are roots.
They come in a variety of colors – orange, purple, white or red
They are related to the morning glory flower. The flowers that bloom from the sweet potato look like morning glories.
The ornamental sweet potato vine (the plants often used as fillers in hanging baskets) has tuberous roots that are edible but are not sweet
Boiled Purple Sweet Potatoes
There’s something about the color purple!
According to nutritionfacts.org boiling is the best way to retain the antioxidant power of purple sweet potatoes. Boiling thins out the cell walls which enhances the availability of nutrients. Also, the glycemic index of boiled sweet potatoes is about half that of steaming, baking or roasting so less of a spike in blood sugar. The skin of the sweet potato has ten times more antioxidant power then the flesh so boil with the skin on and make sure to eat it as well!
Simply cut the sweet potatoes up in chunks or leave them whole and add them to a large pot with cold water. Bring the pot to a boil then cover on low heat for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft.
Mashed Purple Sweet Potatoes
Now these are mashed potatoes that would make a bold statement on the dinner table! I love the vibrant purple color. Simply boil the potatoes, remove the skin, add some unsweetened almond milk and mash them up! For even creamier consistency whip them using a hand mixer.
For some added flavor top them off with garlic crema. Simply add 1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbsp. corn starch and 1 tsp. garlic powder to a sauce pan and stir on low heat until thickened.
For added color and excitement garnish with minced fresh herbs like chives, sage or thyme.
Purple Sweet Potato Fries
I loved the way these fries turned out. I sprinkled a little extra vinegar on top when I ate them.
These are the perfect comfort food! Wash the sweet potatoes thoroughly then slice in long pieces. Place the pieces in enough cold water to cover, add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and soak in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The vinegar converts the starch to sugar (which pairs well with the vinegar) but also helps to retain the nutritional value. Additionally, the vinegar helps to keep the shape of the fry (so they don’t get soft and mushy in the oven) and makes them crispy. Here is an excellent article on the science of adding vinegar to water when cooking potatoes. Sprinkle savory spice blend over the pieces (or put seasonings in a bag, add the pieces and shake). Assemble on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 – 25 minutes turning them halfway through.
One of my favorite things to do is make this spice blend when I run out. I look at spices as though they are a food group because of their value. The anti-inflammatory spices are turmeric, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, cayenne and clove. Every spice has their own unique medicinal value which is why a variety of spices should be part of the daily diet. This is my “go to” spice blend. I add it to most anything to flavor up a dish instead of using salt. Note: If you have Crohn’s disease I would leave out the nutritional yeast.
Dehydrated Purple Sweet Potato Chips
Purple sweet potatoes add a whole new dimension to chips!
You can’t get a heathier snack than this! Using a mandoline slicer, slice the sweet potatoes into very thin pieces. Dip the pieces in apple cider vinegar then sprinkle with your favorite seasoning. Cumin, paprika or chili powder are good choices for some heat. I used black pepper. Line the pieces on the dehydrator tray and dry for 6-8 hours depending on desired crunchiness. It is okay to overlap the slices because they shrink quickly so will not stick together. If using the oven, line the pieces on a parchment paper lined baking pan, bake on 250 degrees for 30 minutes, turn them over and bake for another 30 minutes or until desired crunchiness is achieved.
Keeping the skin on adds to the health benefits
Purple sweet potato chips adds a different twist to chips and salsa – healthy salsa that is!
Now that is a healthy snack!
Purple Sweet Potato Powder
The high anthocyanin content and accompanying health benefits make purple sweet potato powder quite sought after. It is not easy to find the powder in grocery or health and nutrition stores but it is readily available online although it is quite pricey. It is easy to make your own powder by dehydrating sweet potatoes then grinding the slices into a fine powder using a high speed blender, food processor or coffee grinder. The shade of the powder depends on the type of purple sweet potato. The stokes variety has dark violet flesh whereas the Okinawan has deep purple flesh. Regardless of the degree of purple in the flesh all varieties have boastful anthocyanin benefits. Purple sweet potatoes are a really great example of why we should strive to eat the rainbow.
Unsweetened plant based milk, a few strawberries, a tablespoon of sweet potato powder, a scoop of collagen powder (optional) and a few ice cubes blended together make a refreshing and nutritious smoothie.
There’s a lot of literature supporting the benefits of eating a serving (1/2 cup) of berries a day. While all berries are award winning little powerhouses of nutrients, there is one berry that wins the blue ribbon – BLUEBERRIES. Blueberries are the richest in antioxidants which protects our cells from damage and helps keep us looking young and healthy. Eating plain blueberries is one of my favorite snacks but for something a little different frozen yogurt covered blueberries takes things to a whole new dimension!
Ingredients:
1 pint fresh blueberries
8 oz. container plain fat free yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
Directions:
Mix yogurt and honey together
Line a shallow container with parchment paper
Using a toothpick, dip blueberries in the mixture then place on the parchment paper in a single layer
Freeze until solid (minimum 1- 2 hours. Pop the berries off the parchment paper and place in a covered freezer safe container. Enjoy immediately or store until ready to snack on.
Dipping the blueberries in the honey-yogurt mixtureAssembled on a parchment paper lined container. Overlapping the berries will create little clusters.This is the first time I am using my honey harvested in early October. Honey, technically, is not considered a whole food nor is it considered vegan. It is predominantly sugar – although not an added sugar. For this reason I seldom use it, and when I do, it is in small quantities. The only approved whole food sweeteners are date sugar, date syrup or molasses. What a delicious little snack and super easy to make!
Potato chips are best known for two things – salt and fat. It is these two things that make them so satisfying and ridiculously addictive. Lay’s nailed it when they said “no one can eat just one.” That’s the reason why Frito – Lay sells more than 372 million bags of chips each year. But as delicious as these crunchy little snacks can be there are “side effects” to eating them – at least on any kind of a regular basis. These side effects include weight gain which then increases the odds of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
I don’t care how tasty potato chips are they are not worth it to your health. Next time you are grocery shopping completely bypass the snack aisle and go straight to the produce section and buy one thing – a bag of potatoes. That is the only ingredient you will need (other then the seasoning of your choice) when making these healthy little potato chip snacks.
The first time I made these I conducted a sneaky little test on my husband. He poured some of his 40% less fat kettle chips in a bowl. Unbeknownst to him, I removed some of his chips and replaced them with my Heathy Potato Chips. He chomped away happily on his bowl of chips without saying a doggone word. Now obviously if doing a conscientious side by side comparison, the chips will taste differently due to not being salted and saturated with oil. But when mixed in the bunch they are apparently delicious enough to not notice a difference.
Directions:
Slice an unpeeled Russet potato using a mandoline slicer on the thinnest setting. The slices should be approximately 1/8 of an inch.
Soak the potato slices in a bowl of warm water for 30 minutes to draw the starch out of the potatoes. The potato slices will become very stiff. If the starch is not leached out it will block the evaporation of water from the slices and the chips will be soggy instead of crisp.
Place the potato slices on a parchment paper lined microwaveable plate.
Sprinkle the spice of your choice over the slices. I like a little bit of black pepper but garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika or cayenne sound good too.
Microwave for 5 minutes. Turn the slices over and microwave for another 4 minutes or until the slices begin to curl and turn a golden brown.
My little mandoline slicer was $13.00 at Target. Please always use the safety guard with the hand held models. I found out the hard way the first time I used mine and sliced some of my thumb off. The blade is VERY sharp!Soaking for 30 minutes is a critical step. Soaking washes away the starch from the cut surfaces of the cells you damaged when slicing the potato. The water becomes cloudy and you can see the released starch settle at the bottom of the soaking container. There is nothing not to love about these potato chips.
After finishing my Roasted Pumpkin and Apple Soup with Toasties recipe I went into roasted pumpkin seed mode. It was great activity to do on a gloomy rainy Sunday. They made great little snacks for the football game.
The above picture is pretty expanatory for what I did. I laid my rinsed pumpkin seeds on the silicone matt which I placed on a cookie sheet. For the black pepper and cayenne/garlic powder seeds I simply sprinkled on the seasonings. For the miso brine I soaked the seeds in miso paste mixed with a little water. I Roasted the seeds in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes until browned. I flipped them over half way through, sprayed with a litte water and added a little more seasoning. Easie peasey! If you have a favorite no salt, oil or sugar recipe for roasted pumpkins seeds let me know.
Looking for a healthy dip for entertaining or snacking? This is the dip! It is ridiculously easy to make and completely WFPB no SOS compliant. You can whip this little number up in 5 minutes. It is tasty cold or warmed up. Serve it with cut up veggies, baked tortilla chips or my famous pepita, sesame and flaxseed seed crisp crackers. Leftovers store well in a closed container. Hope you enjoy!.
Spicy Green Chili Black Bean Dip
Ingredients
1 15oz. can rinsed black beans
1/2 medium red onion
1 tomato diced
2 large garlic cloves
1 tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. canned chopped fire roasted green chili peppers
1/2 lime
Directions
Chop the red onion, tomato and garlic toes in a food processor
Add the black beans, green chilis, cumin and juice of the lime and puree until smooth and creamy. If you want more kick add more green chilis.
These crispy and tasty crackers are a cinch to make, completely fat-free and super healthy. They essentially are just flax seeds, water and whatever other seeds and spices you care to add. That’s right, you are the author of how you want your crackers to taste. In this recipe I added pepita and sesame seeds, garlic and onion powders, and lots of black pepper. Not a fan of sesame seeds? No problem. Substitute for chia or poppy seeds or whatever else excites your taste buds. Play around with the seasonings. The sky is literally the limit.
I use a silicone pad on my baking sheet so I don’t have to use any oil. This pad may not look very pretty but it works like magic. TRUST ME NOTHING STICKS! And guess what? I bought it at Dollar General in the baking section. That’s right! And it was $1.00 and completely reusable. You can also use parchment paper if you prefer.
Are you wondering what pepitas are? Well it’s a type of pumpkin seed but not the kind with shells that you scoop out of pumpkins when making jack-o-lanterns. There are actually a variety of pumpkins called Lady Godiva, Naked Bear and a few others whose seeds have no hull- and these are called pepitas! The pepitas are the signature ingredient in these crackers. They give them an earthy and nutty flavor that will make you want to dig in for seconds.
Pepita, Sesame and Flaxseed Crisp Crackers
Ingredients
1 2/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup pepitas
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 1/4 cup water
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp whole flaxseed
1 tsp black cumin
Ground flaxseed, pepitas, sesame seeds, whole flaxseed, garlic powder, garlic pepper, black pepper, black cumin seeds, water
Directions
Mix and stir the first 7 ingredients
Pour the mixture over the silicone pad or parchment paper on the baking sheet
Spread evenly over the silicone pad or parchment paper using a rolling pin. Dough should be 1/8″ thick. Tip: because my rolling pin is large I usually roll the mixture on the silicone pad first and then transfer the pad to the baking sheet.
Using a pizza roller score the dough into bite size pieces (squares or triangles)
Sprinkle the whole flaxseeds and black cumin over the top
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Test the centers with a tooth pick. If the centers are still soft continue baking until crackers are crispy but not burnt.
This is the dough spread on the silicone baking pad and cut into squares. The pieces do not need to be perfect. The only thing that should be perfect is the taste!I love eating mine with my tasty Chili Black Bean Dip but they are tasty enough to just eat plain
