My parents were from Germany so I was brought up on marzipan. They always bought it at the German Import House in Detroit on Gratiot Ave. I absolutely loved it and my Dad always had a stash in his bottom dresser drawer which he would always let me get a piece for him and I. So now I know how to make this delicious treat myself!

Ingredients:

2 cups ground almond or almond flour (Trader Joes has a great price on this)
1.5 cups of powdered sugar
1 t almond extract (imitation almond flavor works well also)
1 t water
3 t rose water
1-2 cups of vegan chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate chips in a hot water bath or double boiler. Place first 5 ingredients in a food processor and process until it forms into a paste like ball. Roll the marzipan paste into balls and stick toothpicks in them. Place in the freezer for about an hour.  Grabbing the marzipan by the toothpick, dip into the melted chocolate and freeze for about another hour. These will last a month or so in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of romaine lettuce
2-3 garlic cloves minced
2 T nutritional yeast
1-2 T lemon
1 t white wine vinegar (not necessary if you don't have it)
1/2 cup of vegan mayonnaise
2 t dijon mustard (also not required but gives a nice flavor if you like mustard)

Process:

Clean and chop the romaine lettuce. Mix all of the other ingredients together in a bowl. Put your as much romaine lettuce as you crave in a bowl and top with the desired amount of dressing.

I love tomatoes and any derivative of tomatoes (think paste, sauce, diced, etc.). So to satisfy my strong desire for this delicious fruit (although considered vegetable by nutritionists) I came up with this yummy salsa. 

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups tomato (chopped or cherry tomatoes)
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 T garlic powder (or 5 cloves fresh garlic)
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1/2 t cuman
water as needed to get to your desired consistency

Mix all of the above in either a food processor or blender and process enough to keep it somewhat chunky.

Ingredients

1/2 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 T Mexican seasoning (click here for the mixture I used)
3 cups dry pinto beans  
1 t cilantro
1 t chipotle peppers in adobo (more if you really like spice or less if you don't)
​1 cup water

Method:

Using the fry function of your pot, saute the chopped onions and garlic until translucent. Add all of the rest of ingredients. Follow your instant pot instructions on how long to pressure cook the pinto beans. My instant pot requires pressure for 25-30 minutes. You can speed this time up if you soak your beans the night before. I selected high pressure to cook my pinto beans per my instant pot instructions. Select the time and follow any other of your instant pot instructions for pressure cooking. When the pressure cycle is complete, remove any excess remaining water in the pot. Blend the beans using a hand held emulsion blender ( or throw beans in a blender) and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/2  t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
4 T canola oil
2 T Vegan Milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips (vegan)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts and continue to mix. Cool the dough in the freezer for about and hour or so. Roll into 1- 1.5 inch balls and space appropriately on a baking sheet as the cookies will spread while baking. bake for about 12 minutes. Enjoy! NOTE: You can add whatever nuts you like. I happened to have walnuts. You can add other things you like such as raisins, dried cherries or remove chocolate chips. Do whatever suits you.

Vegan Stuffing

1 loaf of vegan bread torn into pieces dried out a day or two
4 celery stalks chopped
1 onion chopped finely chopped
2 cups of vegan stock
1 lb of vegan sausage cut into smaller pieces
2-3 oz maple syrup
8 T vegan butter
t T Sage, Thyme, Rosemary and any other herbs you like

Heat oven to 350. Melt the vegan margarine in a large saucepan. Sauce the onion and celery and sauce until translucent. Brown the sausage. Add the maple syrup and stir. Add the dried bread and mix well into the butter. Add as much of the Vegan stock as necessary to make the dressing moist. Put the stuffing into a square oven proof casserole with a top and place in oven for about 30 minutes. Remove casserole lid and keep in the oven for another 15 minutes or so until the top of stuffing is crispy. Top with vegan gravy (recipe below)

Vegan Gravy

6 cups of vegetable stock 
1/2 cup sweet onion finely chopped
4-6 oz of mushrooms chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp soy sauce 
1 tsp sage
1tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste


In a large sauce pan, heat about 1/2 of the stock until boiling. Add the onion, mushrooms and garlic and cook until onions are translucent about  5 -10 minutes. Add the spices and the soy sauce. Sprinkle in the flour and cook. Stir continuously to make a roux until brown. Slowly add as much as the stock as necessary to make a gray of your liking while whisking until smooth while keeping the mix on a low simmer. 

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This recipe is super simple. I use Organic Cabbage which I chopped into bite sized pieces, cashew pieces and my asian dressing below:

Asian Dressing

4 T sesame seed oil
4T Bee Free Honee
4T soy sauce
2-4 T apple cider vinegar
1 T sesame seeds
salt to taste

Mix all of the above and top chopped cabbage and cashews. Simple, healthy and tasty.

3 large, ripe bananas
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
3 tablespoons aquafaba (if you don't have aquafaba on hand, you can also make a flax egg)
2 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup +1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin pan with wrappers.

Mash bananas until they look pureed. Ad the milk, aquafaba, oil, and vanilla. Stir until combined.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon in a bowl and sift into wet mixture. Mix until incorporated. Fold in the 1 cup of nuts.

Fill each muffin wrapper until 3/4 full with batter.  Sprinkle remaining nuts on top of batter. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. You should be able to stick a toothpick in without any batter sticking.

Remove from the oven and place on cooling rack. Enjoy!