Making dinner healthier, one slow cooker at a time.
No matter how busy or behind I get, I go on the deck and look out at the trees and listen to the birds before I leave for work. This morning I was rewarded with a magical rainbow. So I feel pretty lucky. I have an experimental agave mustard tofu in the slow cooker so everyone keep your fingers crossed for me!
Today’s Vegan Mofo recipe is made in a 1 1/2 to 2 quart slow cooker. It’s basically an enhanced applesauce, well…with pears instead of apples. [Read more...]
Having a mid-week crisis? Lavender calms and soothes you in this small lemon chocolate chip cookie. They are certainly getting me through this after Labor Day funk. I hope they help you too.
You may not notice that there’s avocado in these cake-like cookies. But it’s standing in for the typical oil. Avocados are cool like that! [Read more...]
I originally made this as a Valentine cocoa, but romance shouldn’t be limited to just one day. Surprise your someone special with the yummy dessert cocoa. The lavender and rose flavors blend together to form its own taste that’s not as floral as you think.
I used lavender extract which I got at Savory Spice Shop, but if you can’t find any you could fill a muslin tea bag or tea ball with 1 to 2 teaspoons of culinary lavender and add this at the beginning of cooking. This will infuse the milk with a great lavender flavor too.
I do use real sugar in this recipe, because it helps to thicken it up. The longer you cook it the thicker it will be. You can substitute stevia or agave, but the hot chocolate will be thinner.
Slow Cooker Lavender Rose Cocoa
soy-free, gluten-free
Serves 2 to 3
**Uses a 1 1/2 to 2 quart slow cooker**
Add all the ingredients and cook on low for 2 to 3 hours or on high for 1 to 1 1/2 hour.
Stir once or twice during this time with a whisk to help the chocolate mix in well. Whisk a final time and serve.
Trying to cut down on sugar? Today, it may be a little more difficult. Valentine’s day candy seems to find its way into work break rooms, lunch bags, special deliveries, and even in your own home.
What can you do? Make some yummy stevia sweetened donuts. These donuts are the perfect Valentine’s breakfast, afternoon snack, or even a cute dessert. The best part is you won’t feel deprived at all. Plus each mini-donut only has 47 calories and 1.4 grams of sugar.
After the glaze debacle the first time I made these, I decided to go for a powdered sugar look. Typically I hate powdered sugar, but this concoction is really quite good. I’ve even saved the leftovers to sprinkle on pancakes one weekend. (Maybe with a lavender vanilla syrup? hmm…)
I used cornstarch as my powder base because it’s actually used in regular powder sugar. You could probably use arrowroot or another base, but be warned that I’ve only used corn starch so far myself.
I also ground some culinary rose petals separately to get the pink color you see in the photos. The middle donut got rubbed in it and I sprinkled it on the others.
Make sure to check out my Baked Almond Donuts with Chocolate Glaze and Lemon Donuts with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting - they are all sweetened with stevia too!
Baked Lavender-Rose Donuts
soy-free
makes 12 mini donuts
wet ingredients:
dry ingredients:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another. Spray your mini donut pan with a little oil so they will be easier to get out.
Then add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix just until it’s mixed. Divide the batter between the 12 donut molds. Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.
Let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then carefully remove. (If you don’t wait they will stick in the pan even though you oiled it.)
Take donut by the top and dip the bottom into the rose powdered stevia (recipe below). You may have to rub it in a bit to get it to stick. (Why the bottom? It has more moisture on it from cooling in the pan.)
Rose Powdered Stevia
I had the best lavender latte the other day and it got me craving some lavender oatmeal. This oatmeal is over the top and adds rosewater and blueberries to complement the lavender flavor.
If you hate the flavors of rose or lavender this probably isn’t the oatmeal for you. But if you like them you’ll be in heaven!
Don’t forget to enter the So Delicious Giveaway. You can get all the details here.
Slow Cooker Blueberry Lavender Rosewater Oatmeal
2 to 3 servings
**This recipe uses a smaller slow cooker that’s 1 1/2 to 2 quarts
The night before: Spray your crock with some oil to help with clean up later. Add everything except sweetener. Cook on low over night (7 to 9 hours).
In the morning: Stir your oatmeal well. It may seem watery at the top but if stirred it should become a more uniform consistency. If you used fresh blueberries they will have floated to the top of the crock. Just smash them a little with the spoon while you’re mixing the pot to incorporate them into the mix. Stir in sweetener.
Top each serving with more fresh blueberries if you want.
**See Page Link on Menu Bar to get to Slow Cooker Oatmeal FAQS)
I was going to make an oatmeal with rosewater, but I can’t find it anywhere! (It is somewhere in my house and has only been used once a few months ago.) I used lavender instead to still get that sweet floral note. Vanilla also tastes floral to me so I amped it up with extract, vanilla bean paste, and vanilla yogurt.
When you use whole vanilla beans make sure to keep the pod after you scrape out the paste. Stick them in a jar and cover with sugar and seal it tight. In no time you’ll have your very own batch of vanilla sugar. Just keep adding more sugar as you use it, the pods will keep scenting for multiple batches.
(I did run by Whole Foods to get more rosewater, so stand by for an oatmeal with it later in the week.)
Slow Cooker Triple Vanilla Lavender Oatmeal
2 to 3 servings
**This recipe uses a smaller slow cooker that’s 1 1/2 to 2 quarts
vanilla creme topping:
The night before: Spray your crock with some oil to help with clean up later. Add oats, milk, lavender and vanilla extracts. Cook on low over night (7 to 9 hours).
In the morning: Stir your oatmeal well. It may seem watery at the top but if stirred it should become a more uniform consistency. Stir in sweetener.
Top each serving with the vanilla creme topping. It will add sweetness and extra vanilla flavor.
**(See Page Link on Menu Bar to get to Slow Cooker Oatmeal FAQS)
The Virtual Vegan Potluck is over, but the virtual feast lives on!