Vegan Recipes from Cassie Howard

Vegan Insanity >> Vegan recipes that are delicious and easy to make. Plus, kitchen, cooking & shopping tips!

Gluten-Free Chilled Chocolate & Hazelnut Torte

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Gluten-Free-Chocolate-Torte-Vegan

I’m not the only one still holding on to summer, am I? I am trying to squeeeeeze just a FEW MORE days, then a few days more, then a few days more. Why does summer have to end? Can’t it be summer forever? It’s not like the other seasons are any better. Just say bye bye those, and keep summer forever and ever and ever.

Maybe I need to move to California. Or Florida. Or anywhere other than Canada where it ‘s cold for about 8 months of the year. So lame.

Hazelnut-Crust

ANYWAY. Let me introduce you to my SUMMER (ahem) chilled torte. Look at that crust! Look at that chocolate! Chilled. to. Perfection. But then we have to make it pretty of course. Because it would be wrong to eat ugly food.

Vegan-Gluten-Free-Chocolate-Torte

Vegan-Chilled-Chocolate-Torte

A drizzle of sweet cashew cream, some shaved chocolate and a bunch of chopped hazelnuts on top. Done and done.

Sigh. I love pretty food.

This torte is gluten-free, and you can even make it raw if you don’t bake the crust and use agave instead of maple syrup.

Chilled-Chocolate-Torte

You MUST serve this cold, otherwise it takes weird and not right and PLEASE don’t do it. Once you take it out of the freezer, pop it out of the pie plate and let it sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before slicing and eating. That’s it. 15 minutes. You can do it!

Confession: Sometimes when I am crazy hungry and need chocolate, like YESTERDAY, I will only wait 10 minutes. Don’t tell. Do as I say, not as I do, friends.

Now LET’S EAT!

Gluten-Free-Chocolate-Torte

Gluten-Free Chilled Chocolate & Hazelnut Torte
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Crust
  • 3/4 cup hazelnuts
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup oat flour
  • 1 cup gluten-free oats
  • Chocolate Filling
  • 1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/3 cup dairy-free chocolate chips, melted
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp almond milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Sweet Cashew Drizzle & Toppings
  • 1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
  • 2/3 cups water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • Shaved dark chocolate, for garnish
  • 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts, for garnish
Instructions
Crust
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a pie pan with coconut oil or non-stick spray.
  2. In a food processor, process the hazelnuts until it resembles crumbs & sand. Add in the coconut oil, maple syrup, salt, and oat flour. Process until the dough starts to come off the sides of the food processor, then add in the oats and process just until combined.
  3. Crumble the dough over your pie dish, and then firmly press it down, making sure to completely cover the bottom of the dish, and about halfway up the sides.
  4. Poke some holes in the bottom of the crust and place the dish in the oven. Cook for about 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Set aside to cool for at least 20 minutes.
Chocolate Filling
  1. In a high-powdered blender, add the cashews, maple syrup, coconut oil, cocoa powder, melted chocolate, vanilla, almond milk and salt. Blend until smooth.
  2. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust, smoothing it out with a spatula.
  3. Freeze for at least 4 hours.
Sweet Cashew Drizzle & Toppings
  1. Add all ingredients, except shaved chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, to a high-powdered blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Drizzle this on the chilled torte. Sprinkle some shaved chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.
  3. Freeze for another 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes before removing from the pie plate, cutting and serving.

 

Quinoa, Lentils & Sauteed Greens with a Creamy, Savoury Dressing

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It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of quinoa bowls. They’re easy, they don’t take long to make, you can prepare them in advance, they’re a simple solution to excess food in your fridge that needs to be used up, AND they travel well. If those aren’t good enough reasons for you to go make yourself a quinoa bowl RIGHTTHISSECOND, I don’t know what is.

Vegan-Quinoa-Lentils-Greens

I often make pretty simple quinoa bowls because I can’t be bothered to slave away in the kitchen for hours on end (usually). So recently, I made this bad boy.

And he was YUM. Only 3 things in my quinoa bowl (including the quinoa) and a delicious, savoury dressing smothered on top. Awww yea! It doesn’t look like much, but it was perfect. The dressing really makes this bowl, though, so if you skip it, you will have a very sad, bland, boring quinoa bowl on your hands.

Lentils-Quinoa-Greens

I’m still working on getting my little ones to eat quinoa bowls, but they are stubborn! They’ll eat the quinoa, but only if it’s plain. One of them will eat the lentils, but only if the other one isn’t around telling her how “gross” they are.

Sigh. One of these days my kids will like more than just bread and chocolate – right? Please tell me I’m right!

So – on to this delicious quinoa bowl masterpiece [not]…

Quinoa-Lentils-Greens

First, cook up some quinoa and divide between bowls. Cook up some lentils and do the same. While those two are cooking, sautee some greens with a tiny bit of oil, salt, and black pepper. Then, make the dressing.

Ta-da! No muss, no fuss. Simple, easy, delicious.

Quinoa, Lentils & Sauteed Greens with a Creamy, Savoury Dressing
Recipe Type: Lunch, Dinner
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Lentils
  • 1/2 cup brown or green lentils
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 medium-large garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Quinoa
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups water
  • Greens
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup greens of choice (kale, spinach, swiss chard)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
  • Dressing
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 3 tbsp tamari
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 medium-large clove of garlic, grated
  • 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1.5 tbsp tahini
Instructions
Lentils
  1. Add lentils, water, garlic and bay leaf to a small pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low-medium and simmer about 25-40 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the lentils are tender. Remove bay leaf and crushed garlic. Set aside.
Quinoa
  1. Add quinoa and water to a small pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low-medium and simmer about 12 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender.
Greens
  1. Heat oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Once warmed, add the greens and cook until softened. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper, turn off the heat, and set aside.
Dressing
  1. In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
Putting it all together
  1. Divide quinoa between bowls, then add in the lentils and sauteed greens.
  2. Pour a healthy amount of dressing over each bowl. Serve warm!

 

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes with Blueberry Compote

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Lemon-Poppy-Seed-Pancakes

You guys – LEMON. And BLUEBERRY. Together forever in these delicious, fluffy pancakes pancakes, loaded with their other best friend – poppy seeds. And then into my belly one after one because omg yumzzzzz.

The lemon and blueberry combination has always been a favourite of mine, but in pancakes it’s the best. THE BEST.

Vegan-Lemon-Poppy-Seed-Pancakes

Normally I just add blueberries to the batter, but this time I went ALL. OUT. (not really, it takes less than 10 minutes, and all you do is throw 3 ingredients into a pot) and made a blueberry compote to go on top of the pancakes. And it was the best decision ever and I will never go back to blueberries inside the pancakes again.

Not. a. chance. Just look at that blueberry goo! Now imagine biting into those pancakes with a scoop of blueberry compote on top, and then close your eyes, chew slowly and OMG are you drooling yet?

I am. I must make more lemon pancakes. But I have a basket of peaches on the counter so maybe I will make a peach compote this time.

Oh my, I think I have created a monster. A delicious, lemony, amazing breakfast monster that just won’t stop! Not that I want it to, of course…

Lemon-Poppy-Seed-Pancakes-Vegan

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes with Blueberry Compote
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6-8 pancakes
Ingredients
  • Pancakes
  • 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp water)
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup kamut flour (or all-purpose)
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest (1 medium lemon)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds
  • Blueberry Compote
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 3 tbsp water
Instructions
Pancakes
  1. Make your flax egg and set aside to allow it to thicken up.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add in the non-dairy milk, vanilla, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, poppy seeds and flax egg. Mix everything well, but do not over-mix.
  3. Warm your pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Spray with non-stick spray and scoop 1/4 cup of the pancake mix (per pancake) onto the hot pan. Cook for about 2 minutes or until bubbles start to form, then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until cooked through.
  4. Repeat until all batter is gone.
Blueberry Compote
  1. Add all ingredients to a small pot and heat over medium-low for about 10 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Mash down the blueberries with a fork and cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until it reaches your desired consistency. Serve over pancakes and top with shredded coconut, if you’d like!

Lemon-and-Poppy-Seed-Pancakes

Fruity Wheatberry Salad with Greens & Chickpeas

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Have you ever made a recipe that was SO GOOD that you just couldn’t wait to shout it from the rooftops and tell all of your friends? Well, I have. (Often.) And this is one of those recipes.

fruity-wheatberry-salad

This past weekend, I was struggling with my menu plan. Nothing on it sounded interesting to me. I needed to change it up. So I did what I always do when I can’t think of what to make: I turned to my dear friend Pinterest. She gets me. She solves all of my [food-related] problems.

While I was browsing Pinterest, I came across this older recipe from Angela – Heat Wave Summer Salad. I wouldn’t say we were having a heat wave that day, but we certainly were experiencing a really hot summer’s day, so  I checked out the recipe.

vegan-wheatberry-salad

And…. I’m not gonna lie, I almost went back to searching Pinterest. Wheatberries with peaches and berries? Plus chickpeas and sauteed greens? What? How does that even work?! And the dressing has mustard and CINNAMON.

Everything just sounded so… weird. Like, there’s no way that combination of food would actually work.

wheatberry-salad-vegan

And then I remembered that it was Angela sharing the recipe, not some random person that just started a food blog 2 weeks ago. Angela is a well-respected vegan food blogger, and has been for years – there’s no way she would post a recipe that tasted weird!

So, I decided to give it a go.

vegan-fruity-wheatberry-salad

And all I can say is – YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS RECIPE. Holy wow is it ever good. The ingredients combine so well, and it’s like a flavour explosion in your mouth with every bite. The dressing, as weird as it sounded to me in the beginning, really helps pull everything together and make it a well-rounded, satisfying dish.

This recipe makes a lot, but I don’t suggest cutting it in half, unless you’re just making the recipe for one person. Because, hello – LEFTOVERS!

I had leftovers of this yummy meal for lunch yesterday and it was marvelous. Just as good as when I’d made it the day before.

wheatberry-salad

So don’t be weirded out by the ingredients in this dish. Just trust me (and Angela) when I say that this recipe is AMAZZZZZING.

Fruity Wheatberry Salad with Greens & Chickpeas
Recipe Type: Lunch, Dinner
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • Salad
  • 1 cups wheatberries
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
  • 1 cups chopped peaches, skins removed
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup sliced strawberries
  • 4 cups chopped raw kale or spinach (I used kale)
  • 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Dressing
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp hemp oil
  • 1 tsp flax oil
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
Salad
  1. Cook your wheatberries by combining 1 cup wheatberries and 3 cups water to a large pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook for about 1 hour.
  2. Sautee your kale in a pan of water (just a bit of water is fine), until wilted. Set aside.
  3. Chop your almonds and add to a large bowl with peaches, blueberries, strawberries, chickpeas, sauteed kale and cooked wheatberries. Add in the dressing (all of it), and mix well, being careful not to smash the fresh fruit.
  4. Serve cold or at room temperature (I think it tastes best at room temperature).
Dressing
  1. Add all ingredients to a small mason jar (or small bowl) and shake/whisk until combined. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from [url href=”http://ohsheglows.com/2011/07/21/heat-wave-summer-salad/” target=”_blank”]Oh She Glows[/url].[br][br]*For a nut-free dish, omit the almonds. Replace with sunflower seeds.[br]*If you don’t have hemp or flax oil, replace either with extra virgin olive oil.

 

Vegan Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

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I have never met a Caesar salad I didn’t like, but this recipe – this recipe is the best. BEST Caesar salad recipe ever, ever, ever.

That is no lie. It’s the absolute best vegan Caesar salad I have made, and every Caesar lover that has tried it agrees.

Vegan-Caesar-Salad

The dressing is smooth and creamy, perfectly coating every piece of romaine lettuce. With just a hint of liquid smoke, the dressing gets that bacon taste that traditional Caesar salad has – without using bacon. Yippie!

Liquid smoke, where have you been all my life?

Caesar-Dressing

I like to keep my Caesar pretty simple, with dressing and homemade croutons, but you can definitely add other things, such as meat substitutes, sprouts, chickpeas, or lentils.

Vegan-Caesar-Dressing

If you’re a big Caesar salad lover like me – you MUST try this recipe! Then report back and tell me what you thought!

Also, some big news ’round these parts: this is my 100th post on the site! 100 posts since I first started blogging about delicious vegan food in March of this year. YAY!

Thank you so much for reading. I love sharing my passion for vegan food, and I appreciate you for reading these words that I write, scoping out the photos that I take (that are nowhere near as awesome as my favourite food bloggers photos are), and trying out the recipes that I create. I’m honoured that you visit me each week!

Vegan Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons
Recipe Type: Salad
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • Dressing
  • 1 3/4 cup cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours, then drained
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp tamari
  • 1 tsp liquid smoke
  • Salt & pepper, to taste
  • Salad
  • 3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 serving Caesar dressing
  • [url href=”http://www.veganinsanity.com/how-to/homemade-croutons/”]Homemade croutons[/url]
Instructions
Dressing
  1. Add all ingredients into a high-powered blender or food processor and blend/process until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Salad
  1. Add lettuce to a large bowl and add 1/2 of the vegan Caesar dressing. Mix very well.
  2. Divide salad among bowls and top with croutons. Enjoy!

Caesar-Dressing-Vegan

2 Minute Vegan Parmesan Cheese

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Vegan-Parmesan-Cheese Have you ever stumbled across one of those recipes where, after you read it and make it yourself, you think: “why have I not made this before?!”? I have – and this is that recipe. Vegan-Parmesan You see, before going vegan, parmesan cheese was my bestie. We did everything together. Sometimes I would grate parmesan directly into my mouth, I loved it that much. So imagine how heartbroken I was when it was time to go our separate ways. But than – THEN I found vegan parmesan cheese. A friend shared this recipe with me, and if you can believe it – it’s just as good as the dairy-based stuff. Except it’s free of animal products. And I can make it myself. Because you certainly would never have caught me making cheese out of cow’s milk. No way, no how. Homemade-Vegan-Parmesan This vegan parmesan takes just 2 minutes to make. That’s it. I’m not kidding. 2 minutes. Set a timer if you don’t believe me. All it is, is nuts (I use almonds, but many others would work, such as cashew or walnut), nutritional yeast and salt. Put it in your food processor, process and them BAM. You’re done. Sprinkle it on everything. For a nut-free version of this cheese, combine 1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds with 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Homemade-Vegan-Parmesan-Cheese

2 Minute Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Recipe Type: Vegan Cheese
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 cup raw almonds, unsalted
  • 1 tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and process until powdery (I like mine with just a bit of texture and not super smooth of a powder).
  2. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight jar for up to 2 weeks.

 

Loaded Vegan Strawberry Spelt Muffins

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Vegan-Strawberry-Muffins
 The best way to wake up in the morning? With muffins in your face. Duh. Strawberry muffins were on the menu for me last week, since we had just scored a huge lot of strawberries from a local farm for next to nothing. We threw a ton in the freezer for smoothies, and I also whipped up a batch of these delicious vegan strawberry muffins. Strawberry-Muffins-Vegan I used spelt flour for these muffins because I love the mild nutty, sweet flavour that it gives to my baked goods. It’s also much better for you than many other flours on the market! These muffins were just begging for strawberries so I loaded them up, even adding a bunch more on top, right before baking. This ensured that you got a taste of strawberry with every bite you took. Deeeelish! If you’re looking for a yummy breakfast to wake up to, try these strawberry muffins. Make them the night before and store them at room temperature, and when morning comes – dig in! Strawberry-Muffins

Loaded Vegan Strawberry Spelt Muffins
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax seeds + 6 tbsp water, mixed together)
  • 1 1/2 cups spelt flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups strawberries, diced
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F and grease a muffin pan, or line with paper or silicone cups.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and coconut sugar.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, butter, vanilla and 2 flax eggs.
  4. Add your liquid ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined well. Do not over mix.
  5. Fold in 1 1/2 cups strawberries.
  6. Scoop muffin mix into your muffin pan, filling about 3/4 of the way full. Add more diced strawberries to the top (the 1/2 cup you have remaining).
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing muffins from pan.
Notes
*Use soy-free vegan butter to make this dish soy-free.[br]*Use soy, rice or hemp milk to make this dish nut-free.

Strawberry-Vegan-Muffins

Tofu Teriyaki Bowl with Broccoli & Peppers

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Vegan-Broccoli-Rice-Tofu If you were to to ask me a year ago if I liked tofu, I would have responded with one of the following things: EWWWWWWWW TOFU, YUCK YUCK YUCKY YUCK. GROSS, NO! ARE YOU CRAZY?! Today, tofu is one of my favourite things to eat. Love it. Any excuse to eat tofu now and I’m all YES PLEASE, GIVE IT TO ME NOW! Vegan-Broccoli-Tofu-Rice My favourite way to eat tofu is with a big pile of rice. Rice, tofu, veggies, sauce. Awesomeness in a bowl. This dish is filled with yummy things: Crispy baked tofu Flavourful rice Steamed veggies The most delicious teriyaki sauce ever Eat it up, then eat some more. A satisfying bowl of delicious food. Time to eat!

Broccoli-Tofu-Rice

Tofu Teriyaki Bowl with Broccoli & Peppers
Recipe Type: Entree
Author: Vegan Insanity
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • Rice
  • 1 cup rice (I used basmati rice)*
  • 2 cups water*
  • Baked Tofu
  • 1 block extra firm tofu
  • 1 tbsp oil (I used avocado oil)
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • Veggies
  • 1 small head broccoli, chopped small
  • 1 small bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used yellow)
  • Teriyaki Sauce
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sweet rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water (mixed well)
  • Putting it all together
  • Sesame seeds
  • Green onions, chopped
Instructions
Rice
  1. Cook rice according to package directions (usually 1 cup rice to 2 cups water*). Set aside.
Tofu
  1. Preheat oven to 425F. Wrap tofu in a clean towel, add something heavy (I usually use a few heavy cookbooks), and set aside for about 15 minutes to press out some of the water in the tofu. Slice your tofu into cubes or thin squares (like I did).
  2. Mix together cornstarch and oil. Add the tofu and coat each piece evenly. Spread tofu on a large baking sheet, lined with parchment paper or a Silplat baking mat. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, then flip and bake for another 20 minutes until browned (a nice deep brown is ideal, but not black!).
Teriyaki Sauce
  1. Whisk together the soy sauce, sweet rice wine vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, ginger, and fresh garlic. Then add the cornstarch/water mixture. Bring to a simmer in a small pot. Simmer for 3-5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
Broccoli
  1. Steam broccoli & sliced peppers until fork-tender. Set aside.
Putting it all together
  1. Add rice to your bowls, and top with tofu, broccoli and peppers. Drizzle the teriyaki sauce on top, then sprinkle some sesame seeds and green onions on top.

Broccoli-Rice-Tofu