Still looking for ideas for Mother’s Day brunch?

Mother’s Day in Poland is May 26^th, but since my mom lives in the US, she get 2 cards. Sometimes, though, I wish I could treat her to an awesome vegan brunch. If you’re that lucky and are still looking for some Mother’s Day brunch ideas, Broccoli Addict comes to the rescue. Here’s some ideas for vegan deliciousness to serve your mother this Sunday from this and other blogs.

Blueberry oatmeal waffles

Buckwheat banana pancakes

Carob muffins

Carrot cake bars

Carrot cashew butter

Eggless-cellent salad

Fig coconut teacakes

Glowing morning juice

Hibiscus-blueberry cooler

Love potion parfait

Mango butter

Minty raw pea and spinach soup

No bake single serve chocolate cream berry fireworks pie

Poached pears with vegan chocolate sauce

Vanilla banana bread

Raw strawberry lavender cheesecake

Sesame milk

Strawberry banana kiwi chia fruit tarts

Triple chocolate salted caramel brownies

Vegetable breakfast muffins

As you can see, these are a bit on the sweet side, because shouldn’t we try to make their life sweeter? Hopefully not only on Mother’s Day.

Virtual Vegan Potluck – sesame snap amaranth cookies and sesame milk

I’m very excited to be participating in the third Virtual Vegan Potluck. I decided to sign up for a dessert. Usually, when you think of dessert, you think of decadent, rich, sinful, and even vegan dessert can be quite indulgent. There is a large group of bloggers writing about desserts for Virtual Vegan Potluck, so I’m sure there will be plenty of decadence and indulgence, but also some healthy alternatives. I decided to go with simple, understated, and good for you – yes, good for you.

On top of that, this is a two for one recipe. First, you’ll soak sesame seeds to make milk, and the leftovers get used in the cookies. How’s that for thrifty?

unhulled sesame seeds

I really love sesame, and especially sesame desserts. I hope you feel the same, but even if you don’t, give these cookies a try, they may surprise you. If you don’t feel like making milk, you can just skip that part and use soaked sesame seeds.

sesame snap amaranth cookies

This recipe came about out of necessity and a bit of pure luck. I only had unhulled sesame seeds at home and needed to make milk. Our usual homemade favorite is a mix of oats and coconut (I’ll be sharing a recipe for that really soon), but I didn’t have oats or coconut flakes, so I decided to try sesame milk. I never throw away what’s left over; it seems like such a waste. Sesame cookies popped into my mind; I was thinking something that was a cross between sesame snaps and a cookie, and I got it right. I’ve tinkered with the proportions a bit since then to get the recipe just right for you. Every time I have made these, they have been a hit. I hope you enjoy them as well.

sesame milk leftovers

Sesame snap amaranth cookies

Sesame left over from making sesame milk (see below – picture above)

1-2 tbsp. tahini

2 tbsp. carob molasses (or your favorite sweetener)

½ cup popped amaranth

¼ cup amaranth seed flour

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients. Should form a fairly uniform mass that you can manipulate with your hands. Roll into a ball.

2. Roll out onto a cookie sheet with your hands or a rolling pin. It is best to moisten your hands or rolling pin first.

sesame snap cookie dough before baking

3. Bake at 175°C/350°F for about 15 min.

4. Remove from oven. Let cool for a few minutes. Cut into smaller shapes.

Yield: over two dozen

sesame milk

Sesame milk

½ cup unhulled sesame seeds

4 cups filtered water

Instructions

Soak sesame seeds in 1 cup of water for 4 hours. This will soften and expand the sesame seeds a bit. After soaking, add 3 more cups of water and blend for a good while. I use an immersion blender that works fine. Then pour through gauze, and squeeze any liquid from the pulp.

This milk keeps for about 2 days in the refrigerator, so you should use it up fairly quickly.

Yield: about 1 liter

Allergy/sensitivities information: This is free of wheat, gluten, nuts, sugar. Some people are allergic to sesame seeds.

I hope you enjoy my creation. Sign up to follow me through email, RSS or Facebook.

Now you can go forward to vixbakes to check out the next dessert.

Or you can go back to Baking Backwards.

To start at the very beginning, go to Vegan Bloggers Unite, the home base for VVP v.3.

Buckwheat banana pancakes (sugar-free, gluten-free)

One of my favorite memories from childhood is a ritual from someone else’s family. Growing up in Chicago, I had these friends in grade school with whom I spent inordinate amounts of time. I loved sleeping over and hanging out with my “sisters.” Their family had a Sunday brunch tradition of homemade waffles with cranberry applesauce. It wasn’t vegan, but it is a taste I can remember to this day. It isn’t that those waffles were something extraordinary, they were good, but what I really appreciated was the sanctity of treating Sunday morning as something special, something that cannot be canceled. This was a time reserved for eating this one meal together, EVERY Sunday.

As a parent, I want to make those kind of memories for my son, so weekend breakfasts/brunch tend to be a bit more special and definitely a lot less rushed. Actually, our breakfast time on the weekends is extended and breakfasts sometimes last well into the afternoon. I hope someday my son will look back fondly on lazily spending time together as a family celebrating food and each other.

You can make buckwheat flour from buckwheat groats in a coffee grinder. I often incorporate the leftovers from making plant-based milk in this recipe. If you do this, you may have to reduce the milk.

Ingredients

3 large very ripe bananas

2 cups buckwheat flour

½-1 tsp. baking soda

2 tbsp. ground flaxseed

1 tbsp. oil

plant-based milk (cup or less)

1 tsp. cinnamon (or more, to taste)

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. ground cardamom

Oil for frying

Instructions:

1. Mash bananas with a fork, add flour, baking soda, oil and spices. Add a bit of milk, mix, and keep adding until you achieve a good consistency. The batter should not be too runny, but also shouldn’t be too clumpy and dry.
2. Heat a frying pan with a bit of oil. Fry on both sides on medium-high heat. The pancakes fry fairly quickly. . If you don’t want to fry, these bake well. Spoon onto a cookie sheet, and bake at 175°C/350°F for 20 min.

Serve on their own or with maple syrup or jam.

Variations: You can use a cup of unsweetened applesauce instead of bananas. You can also add fresh or frozen blueberries.

Allergy information: These pancakes are free of wheat, soy, nuts, gluten, and of course milk and eggs.

Guest post on Vegan Bloggers Unite

I forgot to mention that in April I was a guest blogger on Vegan Bloggers Unite. You can go check out the post here.

Also, I will be participating in the Virtual Vegan Potluck taking place May 11. There will be 169  bloggers from all over the world. Come back here to follow the links or you can start on the May 2013 Potluck homepage.

Vanilla banana bread and sweet sunflower seed butter (sugar-free, gluten-free)

I am starting a series of breakfast posts. For the next few weeks, I will add at least one breakfast recipe a week.

I have to say this is one of the best banana breads I have ever tasted. I know everyone says this about their recipe, but I am willing to bet on this one. What makes this one so special? First of all the vanilla, secondly the brown rice flour adds an unbelievable texture. This recipe is sugar and gluten-free, which is an added bonus.

Although the bread is perfect on its own, the sunflower seed butter is a nice addition. It works well on plain bread for breakfast or as a snack.

Banana bread

3-4 very ripe bananas

2 tbsp. oil

2 cups brown rice flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ cup plant-based milk (unsweetened)

½ tsp. ground cardamom

½ vanilla bean

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175°F/350°C.
2. In a bowl, mash all bananas with a fork. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The banana bread tastes even better with pieces of banana.
3. Add oil, brown rice flour, baking soda, and mix with a fork. Pour in milk and add cardamom.
4. Slice vanilla bean in half, scrape out the insides, and add to the batter.
5. Line loaf pan with wax paper (or lightly grease), pour in the batter. Bake at 175°F/350°C for 40-50 min.

Sunflower butter

1 cup sunflower seeds

juice of 1 blood orange (or another juicy orange)

1 tbsp. coconut oil (melted) or coconut cream

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tbsp. carob molasses (or your favorite sweetener)

Blend all ingredients together.

Optional (these will slightly change the taste): You can soak the sunflower seeds overnight before making the butter, or you can toast them at 175°F/350°C for 6-10 min.

Chana dal lentil stew

I love legumes – truly, madly, deeply. I also love soups that can double as a meal. Therefore, this stew is perfect. It is inspired by Indian cuisine, but it’s definitely my own take.

I try to stock our kitchen with a variety of legumes, so we don’t get bored with eating the same beans or lentils all the time. I love to experiment with different varieties – each one has a different flavor and texture. Chana dal is a legume from India that is related to the chickpea and looks a bit like yellow split peas. I really enjoy how it tastes and hope you will give this stew a try.

 

 

Ingredients

1 tbsp. coconut oil

1½ tsp. black onion seed

1 tsp. whole fennel seeds

½ tsp. whole cumin

½ tsp. ground coriander

½ tsp. turmeric powder

½ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

6 cups vegetable broth or water

1 cup dry chana dal (rinsed and soaked for 3-4 hours)

1 cup dry green lentils (rinsed and soaked for 3-4 hours)

½ cup dry red lentils (rinsed)

2 large carrots

3 potatoes

1 small cauliflower (about 500g)

3 tbsp. tomato puree or paste

1 tbsp. coconut cream

2 tsp. salt

½ tsp. freshly ground white pepper

 

Instructions

1. Rinse and soak chana dal and green lentils.
2. Peel and chop carrots and potatoes. Cut cauliflower into small florets.
3. After legumes have soaked for at least 3 hours, drain water and rinse. Rinse red lentils.
4. Heat coconut oil in soup pot. Add black onion seed, let simmer for a minute, then add fennel seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric and nutmeg. Let simmer for 30 seconds, and add vegetable broth.
5. Add chana dal, green lentils, red lentils, chopped carrots, potatoes and cauliflower florets. Bring to a boil and reduce heat.
6. When vegetables and legumes are almost done, in a small bowl mix a bit of heated broth with the tomato puree and add to the stew. Add coconut cream. Stir.
7. When everything is done, add salt and pepper in the above amounts or to taste.

Serve on its own or over a dollop of basmati rice.

Thin crust pizza dough (yeast & gluten-free)

Having a child with various allergies and food sensitivities can have some limitations, but one thing I’ve learned about myself over the last few years – I am most creative when limitations are set upon me. This is especially true in the kitchen. When we first discovered that Alex is allergic to wheat, we were shocked at how many things contain wheat; we were also a bit disappointed about pizza. Just how do you make a good pizza dough without wheat? On top of that, yeast is also a problem for us. All the recipes I found online called for yeast. So, we got creative and started experimenting.

The result is truly astounding. This dough is our go-to for parties that include kids, but also whenever we want to impress upon people that a vegan diet is not boring and can include “regular” food. As those who’ve tried it can attest, this is just a good thin crust pizza dough recipe. The fact that it’s vegan and allergy-friendly is just an added bonus. Did I mention how quick and easy this dough is to make?

Ingredients

2 cups finely ground chickpea flour + some for sprinkling (we use gram flour)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2-3 tbsp. oregano, or to taste

¼ cup olive or canola oil

⅔ cup water

Instructions

1. If your chickpea flour isn’t finely ground, sift it. Otherwise it isn’t necessary.
2. Combine all dry ingredients. Add oil. Add water and start kneading by hand. The amount of water needed depends on the moisture content of the flour, therefore you may need a bit less or more water than specified above – adjust as necessary. Knead dough until it doesn’t stick to the sides.
3. Sprinkle pizza pan with a bit of the chickpea flour. Roll out dough onto pizza pan. Bake at 180°C/355°F for about 7 min. Watch the time and monitor the dough carefully as it has a tendency to crack if you leave it for too long.
4. Add your favorite toppings and bake for another 10-20 minutes (time varies depending on what you add).

Toppings: We usually add some sort of homemade tomato paste or sauce, bell pepper slices, onion, and lightly steamed veggies like spinach and broccoli. Sometimes we spread some more tomato paste or sauce on top or add some sort of other sauce like this vegan cheese sauce. Next time we make pizza, we will try this vegan moxarella cheese from Vedged Out.

Variations: If you don’t have chickpea flour, don’t fret, this recipe works well with other flours – we’ve tried millet, buckwheat and barley. Millet is our second favorite after chickpea.