Tag Archives: yeast-free

  1. Gluten-free + Vegan Lentil “Meat” Loaf

    Gluten-free + Vegan Lentil “Meat” Loaf

    Hey guys, sorry it was a bit quiet on here last week, we were getting ready for and working our (Hero Design Studio) Pop-Up Shop over the weekend. It went super well and I can’t wait to share some photos from the event with you guys. I am a bit behind on recipe posting from being so busy last week, so look for lots of new recipes this week!

    I am super duper excited to not only share this new recipe with you, but to also be the guest blogger at Healthful Pursuit today! If any of you follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, you will probably remember my extreme excitement about 2-weeks ago when I finally got this Lentil “Meat” Loaf recipe right. I had messed around with a few different versions, but no matter how delicious my loaves tasted, they just didn’t want to stay together, they ended up being a crumbly, sloppy mess on the plate when I would serve them. I finally got it figured out and I couldn’t wait to share it with anyone who would listen, it’s that good.

    Gluten-free + Vegan Lentil “Meat” Loaf

    When Leanne, from Healthful Pursuit, contacted me to share a recipe on her blog with her readers while she is on an incredible trip to India, I was in the middle of experimenting with this recipe, so I knew this was the one to share. Plus, knowing it would be out there in front of even more people, it gave me an even more incentive to try to get it right and perfect.

    Leanne’s blog has always been one of my favorites, I found her through her comments on my blog about a year ago and I was always so inspired by what she was making in her own kitchen. In addition to having a similar approach to health and well-being as I do, as a Holistic Nutritionist, Leanne, also has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to foods, eating and our health. Finding Healthful Pursuit brought a wonderful new breath to my cooking and has affirmed all of my decisions about food. I promise after just one visit to HP, you too will be adding it to your bookmarks.

     

    Gluten-free + Vegan Lentil “Meat” Loaf

    This Lentil “Meat” Loaf pretty much sums up so many of my feelings for food. It is healthy, comforting, satisfying and you won’t feel like you are missing out on a thing when you eat it. It is hearty without being heavy and it is packed full of foods that are great for you. In addition to all of that, the most important thing to me is that it stayed together when I sliced it and it looks beautiful, instead of a lumpy pile on the plate 🙂

    This lentil loaf is almost a little meaty and is sure to satisfy even the meatiest of meat-lovers in your family, I promise. My hubby, Mark, LOVED it. He even made up a song for it. Reheat a slice or two of this loaf up in a cast iron skillet to get it a little toasted on the outside and toss it on your favorite gluten-free (or not) bread, with a little more BBQ sauce and some pickled red onions for a delicious “meat” loaf sandwich. The perfect hearty and healthy lunch.

    Spicy Vegan BBQ Sauce

    In addition to the loaf, I also made a delicious and spicy vegan BBQ sauce to go on top. You could certainly use your favorite store bought BBQ sauce, but I urge you to try making your own, even if just one time. It is much easier than you think, you can skip all the gross refined sugar or corn-syrup laced store brands and you can tweak the ingredients to have a taste that is all your own. My BBQ sauce is a tad bit spicy (you can make it as spicy as you’d like), a little tangy and just a tad bit sweet. I love it.

    This recipe was originally shared on Healthful Pursuit.

    [print_this]Gluten-Free and Vegan Lentil “Meat” Loaf
    Makes about 8 slices

    2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
    6 tablespoons boiling water
    2 cups cooked green lentils, cooled and split into 1 1/2 cups and 1/2 cup
    1 cup mushrooms, diced
    2 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 onion, diced
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1 tablespoon fresh thyme, roughly chopped
    1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, split in half
    1/2 cup almond flour
    3/4 cup spicy vegan BBQ sauce (see below)

    Preheat the oven to 375º. Add the ground flax seeds to a small bowl, pour the boiling hot water over and stir to combine well. Set aside and allow it to thicken and cool.

    Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5-8 minutes until the onions are tender. Add in the mushrooms and cook another 3 to 5 minutes until the mushrooms are tender, add in the thyme and spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Add in 1/2 cup of the BBQ sauce, stir to combine and turn off the heat, add salt and pepper to taste, if it needs it.

    Process 1 1/2 cups of the cooked lentils and1/2 cup of the oats in the food processor until smooth (some whole bits may remain, that’s ok). Spoon the mixture into a large bowl, add in the remaining lentils and oats, plus the flax “egg”, almond flour and vegetable mixture. Stir really well to combine. Then get your hands in there, just like you would with a regular meat loaf or meatballs, and make sure it is mixed and mashed together really well.

    Spoon the mixture into a parchment paper lined 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, (leave a bit of the parchment paper hanging over so you can easily lift the loaf out when it is cooked). Using your hands, you really want to press it in good. Brush on the remaining 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce over the top.

    Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes at 375º. Cool in the pan for about 5, pull the loaf out by grabbing the sides of the parchment paper and lifting up and allow it to cool for another 5 to 10 minutes on a cooking rack. Slice and serve.[/print_this]

    [print_this]Spicy Vegan BBQ Sauce
    Makes about 1 quart of sauce

    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 large onion, diced
    3-4 garlic cloves minced
    1 teaspoon celery seed
    24-ounce jar of strained (or crushed) tomatoes (or a 28-ounce can)
    7-ounce jar of tomato paste (or a 6-ounce can)
    2 tablespoons Sriracha (if you don’t like spicy, you can skip this, add less or use just a pinch of two of red pepper flakes instead)
    1/4 cup cider vinegar
    1/4 cup whole grain mustard
    1/4 cup maple syrup
    1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
    2 teaspoons liquid smoke

    Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is slightly tender, add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine, reduce the heat to a medium-low and allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often. Taste the sauce and make sure you don’t want more of anything, you may want it more sweet, spicy, sour, salty. I like my BBQ sauce tangy and smoky, so I added another 1/4 cup of vinegar and another teaspoon of liquid smoke. Remove from the heat, allow to cool for a few minutes, then puree until smooth in the food processor or blender.[/print_this]

  2. Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Having a creative job means that sometimes you just can’t work. I know that sounds like an excuse, but when you are supposed to be creating something and you just don’t have any ideas, it’s quite hard to “work”. I am very lucky that we now work from home, so some days when that “creative block” happens – if I can’t find some silly administrative task like updating our webstore, shooting photos of new products or responding to emails, I can just walk away from my computer and get into any number of different things that are completely unrelated to work, like taking the dog for a walk, heading to a yoga class, watching TV, reading a book or magazine and my most favorite distraction from work… cooking! This week I have been feeling a bit stressed and the ideas just haven’t been flowing as freely. It has been a bit frustrating to say the least. We have a ton of work on the books right now, so it is no time to screw around or to just stare at a blank sketch pad. Wednesday, I decided rather than sitting at my desk with my sketchpad, that I would make our dinner early, so we could enjoy it for lunch and I could take photos when it was freshly cooked instead of trying to shoot them without daylight or shooting the leftovers the next day!

    Beautiful and fresh tomatillos for the Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Roasted butternut squash for the Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Tomatillo's cooking down for the sauce for my Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    So, I got up at my usual 7am and started prepping the squash and the tomatillos for the sauce. Then I went upstairs for a few hours, it was the perfect boost that I needed and I started working on a poster design that I was stuck on and I made some major headway! It felt great. When lunchtime came, I scooted downstairs, preheated the oven, heated up the sauce and started assembling the enchiladas. I popped them in the oven and went back upstairs to work for a bit. When the buzzer rang, I ran down, took some photos and served my husband and our assistant the best lunch we’ve had since we moved the business home. It was actually really fun to eat a bigger meal in the middle of the day. It felt like the right time to eat that way.

    These enchiladas, besides being a burst of beautiful colors, are so full of delicious and bright flavors. The squash has a bit of a rustic nuttiness, the tomatillo has a bright almost citrus flavor to it, with a little bit of heat from the lemon drop peppers I added. I thought about adding black beans inside of the enchiladas, but ended up deciding against it since I thought they would just be bursting open. I think even though it would taste incredible, it would be too many things inside with the big hunks of squash. But I will likely make them that way at some point. I used a simple traditional Mexican crumbly white cheese called queso fresca, it was the perfect compliment and didn’t make the dish too heavy and gooey cheesy, which can be a bit too much for me, sometimes. They were delicious topped with a fresh squeeze of lime juice, fresh green onions and cilantro and a little dollop of organic low-fat sour cream. If you are vegan, you could definitely leave out the cheese or substitute Daiya for the queso fresco. Or if you can’t find queso fresco, you could go with a small amount of good quality sharp cheddar cheese.

    I have made homemade tortillas in the past when making enchiladas and it is most definitely worth it, but since I didn’t really have an unlimited amount of time to make these, I decided to go with a high quality corn tortilla from the store. The key to making enchiladas keep their shape, is to steam the tortillas first, otherwise they will break apart a bit. I know this and I steamed mine, but I think they should have been steamed a bit more, some definitely fell apart just a tad when I rolled them up. I decided to just go with it, since I knew it would all taste the same, but some would just fall apart when I served them. Of course, the two that I decided to take a photo of did just that when I served them, but I kinda liked how rustic they looked and I love how you could see the color from the squash exploding out. So I said, screw perfection and just went with it! Life isn’t perfect, I’m not perfect and my enchiladas aren’t perfect – and I am OK with ALL of it! I embrace it.

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce
    Yesterday afternoon I had another one of those moments where I hit a creative road-block, for some reason this one hit me harder than ever. I actually felt sad over it and I let it beat me, a bit. I was working on a project that is seemingly very simple and should have an easy solution, but I was struggling. It broke me! I cried. I decided to take a step away “virtually” and move over to another project and then to editing the photos for this post. It definitely helped and today I am looking at it again with fresh eyes and I am ready to tackle it again. So I wanna hear from you….

    What do you do when you hit a creative roadblock?
    Do you find cooking and baking to be a good escape from everyday life and your work or does it stress you out too much?
    I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you get through when you are feeling stumped with a problem, creatively or otherwise. Share away!

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce
    serves 6

    Tomatillo Sauce
    1 1/2 pounds of fresh whole tomatillos, husked and rinsed
    2 hot chiles of your choice, stems removed (I used dried lemon drop peppers from my garden) – you can skip this or just use one if you want it less spicy
    enough water to cover the tomatillos
    3 whole cloves garlic, peeled
    1 handful of fresh cilantro (about 1/4 cup)
    1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

    Add your tomatillos and chiles to a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for approximately 5-7 minutes until the tomatillos are soft but still whole. If they aren’t all totally soft, no worries, still remove them from the heat and drain. Add the tomatillos and chiles to a food processor and add 2 cloves of garlic, fresh cilantro and salt, puree all the ingredients together and set the sauce aside.

    Butternut Squash Enchiladas

    1 – 2lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into 1-inch cubes
    1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
    1 red bell pepper, diced
    1 yellow onion, diced
    1 large garlic clove, minced
    6-8 ounces queso fresco, crumbled (you can skip the cheese or use Daiya to make this vegan) – reserve approximately 1/4 cup for the topping
    12 corn tortillas

    fresh lime wedges
    fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
    fresh green onions, thinly sliced
    organic sour cream

    Preheat the oven to 400º, place the squash cubes on a rimmed baking sheet toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and place into the oven to roast for 30-40 minutes until tender and lightly browned. Set aside when done.

    While the squash is baking, add the onion, garlic, red bell pepper and a dash of salt to the teaspoon of olive oil in a medium pan over a medium-high heat, sauté. Cook for 5-8 minutes until the onion is translucent and both the onion and pepper are tender. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

    Use the same pan from the onion and pepper mixture to heat up your tomatillo sauce. Bring it to a simmer over a medium-heat and allow it to heat through and slightly thicken. Just about 5 minutes.

    Once the squash is done, you are ready to start assembling your enchiladas.

    Start by spooning a small amount of the tomatillo sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish (I used an 8.5 x 11 pan and it was a bit crowded, but it worked) – just enough to cover the bottom with a very thin layer.

    You will need to steam the corn tortillas so that they don’t break when rolled. Moisten two paper towels, working in batches of 3 or 4 tortillas at a time, wrap the tortillas in the damp paper towels and microwave them for approximately 30-45 seconds. Once microwaved, dip each tortilla into the tomatillo sauce, one at a time, making sure both sides get coated in the sauce. Scoop a small amount of butternut squash cubes (probably about 2 tablespoons), the onion and pepper mixture and cheese, keeping in mind how much to use so that you can roll the enchiladas shut and also so you have enough to fill 11 more. Place the enchilada, seam side down, in the baking dish. Repeat until you’ve made as many enchiladas as you want or have filling for (this recipe made 12, with a small amount of squash and pepper mixture leftover).

    Spoon the remaining tomatillo sauce overtop all of the enchiladas and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of queso fresco.

    Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the cheese is slightly melted, golden brown and everything is bubbling. Pull it out of the oven, sprinkle a bit of fresh cilantro on top to make it even prettier and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Serve your enchiladas warm with fresh cilantro, fresh green onions and a squeeze of fresh lime juice, you can also add a dollop of organic sour cream, if you wish.

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