Multiple Sclerosis Friendly Recipes

Vegan Spinach Sauce

1/27/2019

If you follow this website, you know I am always looking for new ways to add a vitamin punch to sauces. This recipe combines fresh spinach and basil to create a beautiful green, smooth and creamy sauce. It is a wonderful addition to any base you like. It is of course great on pasta, but it is also a fun topping for mashed or roasted potatoes and I promise you won't miss the butter!

This recipe is also very quick and easy to pull together...everything just goes in the blender and then cooks on the stove top. You can have it simmering away while you cook the base it will top. I love this recipe especially when I am in a time pinch but want something nourishing for my body.

Spinach Sauce Recipe
vegan, plant-based, refined-sugar free
Ingredients:

3 cups of fresh spinach
1 large handful of basil
1 cup raw nuts (almonds or cashews)
1 cup water
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp tapioca flour (alternatively you can use potato or corn starch...whatever you have on hand)
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 pinch of nutmeg

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a pot and heat on medium-high while stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn on the bottom.
Reduce heat and cook for about 10 min until it thickens up.
Serve over pasta, quinoa, potatoes, rice, etc.

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Spaghetti Squash

1/20/2019

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If you are like me, you might find yourself being intrigued and at the same time intimidated by all of the varieties of squash out there. For years I shied away from anything more "exotic" than yellow squash because I had no idea how to handle them. I also assumed these other varieties probably tasted similar to yellow squash, which further deterred me because I was never very fond of yellow squash!

My horizons (in terms of squash) expanded when a colleague brought in a bowl of spaghetti squash for lunch. To be honest, I had no idea this was a specific type of squash, I actually thought she had somehow grated a yellow squash into long strands. Boy was I mistaken, and I of course failed miserably trying to recreate this dish with a yellow squash. However, one day when I was shopping I suddenly noticed a sticker saying "how to prepare spaghetti squash" stuck an oblong, yellow pumpkin-like vegetable. That was when it hit me and I understood what spaghetti squash really was!

Spaghetti squash can also be pretty easy to prepare. The hardest part is cutting it in half. Scooping out the seeds used to also be quite difficult until I found a serrated ice cream scoop in the back of my drawer. At least I think it is an ice cream scoop...regardless of what its actual purpose was, it works perfectly for scooping out squash and pumpkin insides! I also always, always save the seeds and bake them along with the squash on a separate baking sheet. These are a fun, healthy treat; the oven is going anyway so you may as well pop them on in!

Spaghetti Squash Recipe
vegan, plant-based, refined-sugar free
Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash cut in half lengthwise
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp flax oil
1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Remove the seeds from each half**.
Coat both inside halves of the spaghetti squash with olive oil.
Place each half facedown on a baking sheet.
Bake for 30 min or until tender.
Remove the inside of one half of the squash by scraping with a fork. (Long strands that look like spaghetti will start to come out.)
To this half of the freshly removed squash add the flax oil, nutritional yeast, and salt.
Done!

**Note: Bake the seeds, too! Remove most of the squash parts stuck to the seeds, sprinkle with salt and spread on a baking sheet. Add them to the oven and bake at 400°F for 15 min.

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Blueberry Muffins

1/13/2019

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Muffins are something I have loved since graduate school. My lunch would sometimes consist of a coffee and nice big blueberry muffin. At that time I even thought I was having a healthy lunch! But knowing what I know now, I am a little appalled when I think of how much saturated fat and refined white sugar I would unwittingly consume, not to mention all the other unknown ingredients.

While I of course avoid eating those tasty looking treats from the bakery now, it doesn't mean I have to be totally without. It has taken some experimenting, but I finally have an MS friendly recipe that can fill the blueberry muffin void in my life. So if you are also a fellow blueberry muffin lover, try out the recipe below. If has become a family favorite, and as an added bonus, it is actually pretty quick and easy to whip up!

Vegan Blueberry Muffin Recipe
vegan, plant-based, refined-sugar free

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp white vinegar (or zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon)
3/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce or extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F and grease muffin tin with some olive oil.
Add the 1 Tbsp vinegar (or lemon juice) to the nut milk and set aside.
Combine and mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl: flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients: maple syrup, oil, vanilla, milk/vinegar and mix.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Add the blueberries and gently fold them in.
Add the batter to the greased muffin tin.
Bake about 20 min.
Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 min and then enjoy!

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MS Friendly recipes

Vegan Spinach Sauce

Spaghetti Squash

Blueberry Muffins

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