 Just because you are trying to eat clean and healthy, does not mean you have to give up the joys of comfort food...you just have to find a way to make it suitable to your way of living. For our house, the ultimate breakfast comfort food is pancakes. Pancakes are requested almost every weekend. Ours are typically topped with peanut butter, honey, and blueberries. You can also use flax seed oil on top as a butter substitute. Another great topping for these is homemade chocolate spread! You can also add blueberries or strawberries directly to the pancake while it is cooking on the stove. Make sure if you do use syrup, that you are using real maple syrup and not imitation syrup that is loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients that are not part of a clean diet.  Dairy-free Pancake Recipe dairy-free, plant-based, refined sugar-free Ingredients:
Instructions:
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 Sunday is when I take the time to prepare my lunches for the week or at least lunch for a few days. I like to prepare something that will be nutritious and satisfying. This Red Pepper and Onion Sauce is quick and easy and requires no additional cooking; just place everything in the blender and top on base of choice: pasta, quinoa, rice, or potatoes. I also usually add a can of beans to any recipe I make to boost the protein content. This week I am making black beans and rice with red pepper and onion sauce. You can make the sauce while your rice is cooking and then once cooked, add the sauce and beans and voila, you have lunch for at lease three days!
Red Bell Pepper and Onion Sauce with Brown Rice and Black Beans vegan, plant-based, refined sugar-free Ingredients: Sauce
Rice and Beans
Instructions:
 One of my favorite dessert flavor combinations is chocolate and mint. It is difficult to find a vegan substitute that is not loaded with saturated fat. However, a friend of mine discovered a thin mint recipe that is vegan, raw, and refined sugar-free. There was again, disappointingly, that issue of too much saturated fat in the final product; if you look at the recipe in the link you can see there is one no-no ingredient in the list, coconut oil. But my friend substituted the coconut oil for olive oil, and let me tell you this is seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten. AND it is actually quick and easy to make.
I have used both olive oil and avocado oil as substitutes and both work wonderfully. This is best made the day before an event so it has plenty of time to harden up in the freezer. If you like chocolate and mint, you are going to absolutely adore this recipe like I do. Mint Chocolate Squares Recipe dairy-free, plant-based, raw, refined sugar-free Ingredients: Base:
Instructions: For the Base
 This is a quick and easy tomato sauce; all it takes is adding the ingredients to the blender and then heating for 15 min on the stove. It can even be used raw, but be cautioned that the garlic flavor will be very overpowering if they are not cooked and in that case probably only use 1-2 garlic cloves. I am partial to 'creamier' sauces and a creamy consistency is easily added to any sauce by mixing almonds or cashews in a 1:1 ratio with water, e.g. 1 cup water blended with 1 cup raw almonds. This almond cream can be used as a substitute for recipes calling for heavy cream. You can make the below sauce without the creaminess (i.e. leaving out the 1 cup almonds and 1 cup water), and in that case just reduce the salt to 1/2 tsp.
Creamy Tomato Sauce Recipe vegan, plant-based, refined sugar-free Ingredients:
Instructions:
**Note: Feel free to add any vegetables you like here. I sometimes add a few chopped carrots and a chopped onion. You can even add broccoli or cauliflower depending on what you have on hand. Sauces are a great way to "hide" vegetables and at the same time boost nutrient content. |
AuthorAmanda Windhof, PhD is an MS lifestyle advocate who wants to ensure a healthy diet is accessible to everyone. Archives
April 2025
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