Tag: brooke english-barss

Vegan Pumpkin Oat Bars

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With autumn just around the corner, I am finding myself unearthing every excuse in the book for baking with pumpkin.  One of my favorite flavors and tacked tightly to the long list of reasons why autumn is my favorite season.

These pumpkin bars are just the ticket for an ideal fall snack or dessert.  Gluten free, easy to make (I threw the “batter” together in roughly 5 minutes, then popped it in the oven and viola, done), low in calories and much healthier than a usual pumpkin bar dessert item.

Lightly sweet, filling, oaty, with just a bit of chocolate thrown in (optional of course, as if you aren’t a chocolate lover, they would be just as great without chocolate chips)

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Superfood Pesto Sauce

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Recipe #100!!  This ones a sauce, and a damn good one at that.  As long as you have a food processor (you can get a great quality one for just $40 on Amazon.com, and you’ll use it all the time once you have it.  Totally worthwhile purchase), this recipe is finished in mere minutes.

Made with just kale, basil, parmesan cheese, olive oil, cashews and garlic.  Man oh man, I could eat a jar of this weekly.  I basically already do (the store bought kind.  Pesto being close to my heart for years now).  This kind though?  Light-years better.  With a subtle bite from the garlic.  Earthy flavor from the basil and kale.  The parmesan offering the perfect pinch of zest.

Kale, by the way, is awesome for you.  Its high in fiber, great for aiding in digestion, its loaded with nutrients, vitamins, folate and magnesium.  For a short list of additional health benefits, click on this article.

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Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza

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Holy crap.  If I had known pizza without crust/gluten/grains could be this amazing, I would have started making this stuff years ago and ditched the real thing.  I know.  Die hard pizza fans are probably slamming their laptops shut right now, giving me the hand.  I am telling you though, made this for my mom tonight who said upon tasting “whoa, absolutely delicious.  That was incredible, Brooke.”  Though she has liked my other recipes and remarked on them being tasty, her feedback hasn’t been this enthusiastic prior to tonight with this recipe.  I too was skeptical on biting the bullet and giving this one a go.  No longer.  I swear, try this.  You will be stunned, mouth watering as you consume the entire thing, and promptly hooked.

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This recipe is grain/gluten free.  Its low in calories.  Loaded with flavor.  Also, you don’t need to follow the measurements to a T.  I improvised a bit myself and it came out incredible.  Make your measurements roughly what I’ve listed below but don’t worry at all about being exact.

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Pumpkin Turmeric Buckwheat Pancakes

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Can you smell it?  Yes, its still summer, but autumn is in the air.  Just around the corner.  Especially for us New Englanders 😉  (So cool that I can say that once again!).  Whether or not this excites or depresses you depends on who you are.  I think autumn is the ultimate season though.  The brisk air, vibrant colors on the trees, autumn nights, leaves rustling in the breeze, bonfires, walks in the woods, hot drinks in hand, bookstores, all things pumpkin flavored.  Just a few of the awesome aspects of autumn.

These Pumpkin Turmeric Pancakes are another 😉

Grain/gluten free, dairy free and sugar free.  Moist and totally delicious.  And taking less than 15 minutes to whip these babies up.  I had five for breakfast this morning.  No regrets there.

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Zucchini Coconut Bread

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Hi all,

Happy Hump Day!  Get excited!  This recipe is sweet, delicious and ultra healthy.  Its Paleo compliant, grain free, dairy free and sugar free.  Whip up a batch and you’ll have a healthy, tasty treat for tea/coffee time every day this week.  Awesome stuff, eh?

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Coconut Blueberry Pancakes

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Hi all,

Happy weekend!  You know what that means…pancake time!  Here’s a spin on my latest recipe but with blueberries.  Summertime means berry pickin and eatin.  Plus lighter recipes.  This one fits the bill on all accounts.  Light, fluffy, lovely.  Yet grain/gluten free, dairy free and sugar free.  Yum, yum!

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Coconut Turmeric Pancakes

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My first coconut flour pancakes!!  I have to say, these are far lighter and fluffier than buckwheat ones are.  Buckwheat pancakes are delectable, filling and bready.  Tasting totally like the real deal, grain and all (yet, without any ;-)).  However the coconut pancakes offer a different texture.  I am loving the lightness to them.

Loaded with majorly healthy ingredients.  To start, coconut flour.  For a short list of health benefits on this gluten free flour alternative, check out this link.

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Second, turmeric.  What’s being touted as a new superfood and for good reason.  To name just a few of the health benefits potentially earned by consuming this spice: can help prevent breast cancer and skin cancer, a natural painkiller, may aid in boosting metabolism, is used in Chinese medicine to treat depression, etc.  Whoa.  Who knew a single spice could be chock full of such power.  For a full list of way cool benefits, check out this link.

Now, how to make these tasty treats:

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Quinoa, Bacon and Sweet Potato Salad

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Ready for this one?  A five ingredient entrée.  Its grain-free, dairy-free and sugar-free.  Super tasty.  Filling.  Light.  The combo of different flavors and textures surprisingly awesome together.

So without further ado, the five ingredients are:

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Matcha Blueberry Chia Pancakes

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Oh man, its the weekend.  And you know what that means…brunching time!!  Weekends are for long, luxurious brunches.  And this unquestionably means pancakes, at least in my world ;-).  A tall stack, ideally doused in maple syrup, couples with eggs and bacon.  These ones are filled with several unique flavorings, all tossed together resulting in this loveliness.  Both to look at as well as for eating.  Pretty, aren’t they?

Matcha.  Blueberries.  Chai Seeds.  Chocolate Chips.  Honey.

Plus, they are gluten/grain free, dairy free, sugar free.  Enjoy!

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Mint Rice with Shrimp and Vegetables

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Hi all,

This recipe is actually called Pudina Rice.  Its an Indian recipe, which I had the honor of sampling when my dear friend, Bhakti invited me to dinner last week.  A celebratory and farewell gift for my big impending move.  And man, what a gift it was.  This was DELICIOUS, wow.  Not generally a fan of mint, finding myself hesitant when she told me it was one of the main ingredients.  But, whoa.  It was so yummy, loving every bite and even heaping a second portion onto my plate.

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