Roasted Cauliflower with Vegan Cheese Sauce

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Ever heard of a comfort food dish that’s…

  1. low in calories
  2. a light meal
  3. ultra healthy
  4. easy to make
  5. vegan, gluten free, and nearly raw
  6. yet homey, delicious, and satisfying, totally masquerading as something calorie laden and tasty.

Not so much?  Well, now you have.

Behold, the summer dinner of your dreams.  Fitting in nicely with all the criteria above.  Get excited, foodie friends.  This is one of the better dishes Ive whipped up in a while.  Man oh man, you just might find yourself eating this weekly.  I know I may.

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Tofu Chocolate Pie or Mousse

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Love chocolate mousse or whipped chocolate pie?  But without all the cream, calories, and sugar?  I have just the thing for you, right here.  And with summer right around the corner, the deal is even sweeter.  This chocolate pie clocks in at just 150 calories per slice (out of a pie cut into 8 slices).  Upon tasting the finished product, you’ll be stunned its made from tofu.  Light, sweet, decadent, chocolatey, this one satisfies and satiates that chocolate hankering anytime youre feeling it, but without the overload of calories, fat, and sugar that a typical chocolate pie/mousse does.

This recipe is gluten/grain free, dairy free, and very low in sugar.

Without further ado, here is how to make this light, lovely, and delicious chocolate mousse/pie:

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Vegan Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

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Nostalgia, a smidge of rebellion, and the most delicious of sweet treats are what’s behind the eating of raw dough, if I say so myself.  Come on, so many of you can recall as a child sneaking spoonful’s of the raw dough (brownies, cookies, you name it) of whatever mom or dad was baking up, just before they slid it into the oven.  “Raw eggs!”  Your alarmed parent would most certainly caution loudly.  To which, as a child, you rolled your eyes and snorted, “who cares?  Ill be fine,” and continued spooning the raw dough into your mouth.  Yes, that was me 😉

Well, with this cookie dough, get excited.  There are: no dairy products, its low in sugar, gluten free, and low in calories.  Doesn’t get much better than that, folks.  Actually wait, it does.  You can whip this up in 5 minutes flat.  And yes, it tastes like actual raw chocolate chip cookie dough.  Dont believe me?  Try it yourself.  You’ve been warned though, this stuff is awesome and thus, quite addictive.

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Honey Mustard Creamy Chicken with Bacon

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Who doesn’t love that combo?  Honey mustard…bacon…chicken…mmmm.  Sounds like a Cobb salad to me.  Always a tasty treat to be sure.  Something about this melding of flavors is so savory, mouthwatering, homey, and just delicious.  Much like the pairing of chocolate and peanut butter, a match made in heaven.

This recipe is light in calories, but packs a homey, comfort food, satisfying punch.  Its gluten free, and without refined sugar.

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Chickpea Chocolate Chip Blondies

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Happy Sunday, all!

Turns out, sometime blondes do have more fun.  At least, in the vein of these particular goodies they do.  This past weekend, I discovered a delightful new baking ingredient that’s changed my life over the last 24 hours.  Replacing flour in baking goods with ground up chickpeas.  I know, sounds somewhat sketchy.  I was hesitant myself.  How could ground up beans possibly result in that cakey, delightful texture I so adore in all things cake, pastry, and cookie?

Shockingly though, they rivaled precisely that.  The texture of these blondies are in fact: cakey, slightly nutty, sweet, decadent, absolutely delicious.  I couldnt stop at just one.  More like just…four 😉

I can assure you, trying this recipe (which is super easy and ready in minutes, might I add) will have you never turning back.  These are SO good.  I already made not one, but two batches of them this weekend alone.  That’s how awesome these babies are.

So, the blondies: gluten/grain free, dairy free, vegan, and low in sugar.

Dont take my word for it though.  Whip up a batch for your own sampling pleasure!

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Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

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Inspired by and adapted from the book “Hungry for Change: Ditch the Diets, Conquer the Cravings, and Eat Your Way to Lifelong Health,” by James Colquhoun and Laurentine Bosch (which was excellent, by the way.  I recommend reading this if you are interested in the topics of health and nutrition.  Its an easy, quick but informative and inspiring read), I give you these fluffy, light, absolutely delicious blueberry ricotta pancakes.

Grain/gluten free, and low in sugar, these are basically great for you.  Yet they totally hit that pancake hankering spot one feels on weekend brunching mornings (at least that’s my quintessential weekend (and actually, weekday as well) morning ;-)).

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Roasted Squash, Goat Cheese & Pomegranate Salad

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Culinary Crafts by Brooke and Maxx is up and running once again.  This past weekend was spent engaged in much slicing, dicing, stirring, and sampling in the kitchen together.  While the both of us are devoted dessert die-hards, we tend towards eating healthier for the remaining picture of what makes up each of our diets.  Thus, this salad was the decided upon entrée for our lunch this past Sunday.

I know, I know, winter and cold weather typically call for all things comfort.  Homey and delicious.  Salads are for summer time, right?  Not this one though.  This salad in particular is just that.  Warm, comforting, and totally hits the spot.  Its also easy to make, really heathy, and quite light.  Throw this one together for a filling, satisfying and super yummy lunch or dinner.

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Healthy Coconut Macaroons

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Oh man, are these things addicting.  Lightly sweet, with a chewy texture, melt-in-your-mouth yumminess right here.  These coconut macaroons can pass for Paleo, are grain/gluten free, dairy free, and free of refined sugar.  They are easy to make.  And they are damn good, so get excited 😀

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Light and Healthy Oatmeal Soufflé

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Who doesn’t love oatmeal?  Especially on these blustery, frigid winter days of current.  I cant think of anything more fitting than such a heartwarming, comforting dish.  A warm cup of oats and milk, sprinkled with cinnamon and spices, a quintessential cold weather snack, treat, or breakfast to be sure.  This version though, is rather light and lovely.  As well as healthy to boot.  Made with gluten free oats, dairy free milk and just three spoonful’s of sugar for the whole shebang, its a good for your body breakfast treat worthy of getting excited over.

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Peppermint Grain Free Fudgy Brownies

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Being die hard dessert adorers and avid swooners over all things saccarine, we decided for our next column post on Brooke and Maxxs Culinary Crafts to do something, surprise, surprise, sweet.  Something comforting, wintery and rich.  And who doesn’t love a good brownie?  Fudgy, chocolatey, sweet, so delicious and satisfying.  However, much to many peoples disheartenment, brownies tend to be calorie bombs laden with grain/flour, dairy and sugar.

I am psyched to report to you eager eaters though, that this recipe has no gluten/grains, is dairy free (save for egg), and has almost no sugar.  How bout that for a sweet treat.  Even better, these take just minutes to mix up.  The one tough part: having to wait for them to cool overnight.  But as someone who sampled them both warm as well as chilled can attest, there is a major difference.  Its well worth the wait.

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