Granola Bars

This recipe for Granola Bars is from Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook written by Lindsay Nixon. This snack is gluten-free and mixes up in just a few minutes.

Makes 5 (or 4 when I do the cutting)

Ingredients

1 cup of instant oats

1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce

3 tablespoons of agave nectar

2 tablespoons chocolate chips

1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Directions

1) Stir all of the ingredients together

2) Once combined, let the batter rest while the oven preheats to 325F

3) Grease a bread pan and pack the mixture down firmly and tightly

4) Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden, firm and light brown around the edges

5) Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before cutting

Nutritional Information

99 Calories

2 Grams of Fat

1.1 Gram of Fiber

13.6 Grams of Sugar

1.6 Grams of Protein

Kale and Pear Smoothie

In this smoothie you can swap out the pear for an apple, and as always, most any green leaf will work in place of the kale.  I often switch between spinach and kale.

Ingredients

1 cup of green grapes
1 orange, peeled
1/2 Bartlett pear
1 banana, peeled
1 cup of kale
1/2 cup of water
2 cups of ice

Directions

Blend and serve

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette is a salad dressing which is both easy to make and flavorful.  This recipe is both oil and dairy free.  

Ingredients

1 large roasted red pepper
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Blend all of the ingredients using either a blender or food processor

Shake before pouring

Sweet Potato Chips

This recipe for Sweet Potato Chips came from the companion book to the Forks Over Knives documentary.  The book is called Forks Over Knives, The Plant-Based Way to Health.

I like to make these chips and leave them out on the counter to snack on during the day.  No oil or salt is used to make these chips, yet they are still tasty.

Slice Thinly

Scatter Over Plate
Microwave

Eat, which I did.  Downed most of the chips before I remembered to take a picture.

Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato

Directions:

Thinly slice sweet potato
Scatter over microwave save plate
Microwave for about 7 minutes
After 7 minutes you may need to flip them and microwave a little longer

Be careful as you can go from just needing a minute to finish drying them out to burnt.

Snow Man Door

Wow, the girls and I can do this.  We will skip the lights and have a snow man door for the month of January.

Pepper and Onion Stir-Fry

One of the easiest meals to go meatless is stir-fry.  Pick your favorite stir-fry recipe and increase the vegetables and eliminate the meat.  It really is that easy.

The following recipe was called Peppered Chicken Stir-Fry and came from The Complete Low-Fat Cookbook.

I have removed both the Chicken and the Pepper Corns.

Pepper and Onion Stir-Fry

Serves 2

1 tablespoon oil (I use Olive or Coconut)

1 onion, cut into thin wedges

2 red, orange or yellow peppers, cut into strips

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups cooked rice

Heat wok or frying pan over high heat

Add oil 

Add onion and peppers, stir-fry until vegetables are slightly soft

Mix oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar together

Reduce heat and stir in sauce

Serve over rice.

In this picture I have added a sprinkle of sesame seeds