Video: Easy, Eco Organic Peppermint Holiday Hot Chocolate

Happy National Hot Cocoa Day! Yep, that's actually a day (look it up if you don't believe me). To celebrate I finally recorded my new vegan hot chocolate recipe, which I've been perfecting over the last few weeks. I've experimented with different nut milks and flavors and this one is the richest and tastiest yet! Plus, it's free of gluten, soy and sugar and you can use all bulk ingredients. Enjoy!

Video: Healthy, Guilt-Free French Toast, Free of Gluten, Soy, Sugar, Oil, & Salt

Is it possible to make vegan french toast that is gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free, salt-free and even oil-free? Absolutely! In fact, here are 3 recipes from different sources so you can choose one that sounds most appealing or based on ingredients you have on hand - you could even mix and match ingredients from each recipe. No matter how you do it you'll have a delicious breakfast in under 10 minutes and for less than $3 a serving. 

Video: Lemon-Kissed Brussels and Butternut Squash from The Blissful Chef

Last week Christy Morgan, aka The Blissful Chef, was in San Francisco as part of her book tour. Christy and I became friends while living in L.A., so we made sure to squeeze a video in before she left my new town. I did a poll on the EVG Facebook page and I was surprised that the recipe chosen by the majority featured Brussels sprouts, a vegetable few people seem to like. However, I was thrilled because I love Brussels, butternut squash, and almonds.

Video: Vegan "Tuna" Salad Using Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

In a video I did on Easy, Cheap Vegan Meals I mentioned Chickpea "Tuna" Salad, which costs about $1.50 to make per serving. A reader named Lindsay asked if I could share the recipe, so I thought I might as well do a video too!

Quinoa: What Is It and How to Make It - Healthy, Simple Recipes

What is quinoa? Pronounced keen-wah, this grain-like seed is full of protein and calcium (who needs meat or milk?!) Very versatile and can be used like rice, and it's gluten-free. Wanna learn more? Check out my article on Organic Authority. 

Where to find quinoa: any natural market, but it's slowly creeping its way into most major grocery store. It often comes in a bag and can occasionally be found in bulk. Organic quinoa runs around $4 a pound in bulk (which is about 9 servings).

How to cook quinoa: place it in a pan with water at a 1:2 ratio, bring to boil, the simmer for 15 minutes

Vanilla Coconut Chia Seed Pudding - inspired by Vida Vegan Con

There is a lot of talk about the scrumptious food at Vida Vegan Con this past weekend, but I was especially excited to hear about the chia seed pudding, a dish many attendees experienced for the first time. Yesterday I posted my favorite recipe for it, Mint Chocolate Coconut, and today I decided to try making the version from the conference, despite it's lack of chocolate. I found a recipe from The Svelte Kitchen and adapted it a little based on my dietary preferences - replaced the agave nectar with stevia powder, the almond milk with cashew butter, skipped the salt, and added in a little coconut oil - pure bliss! Whether you were at VVC and want to mimic the incredible dessert you had or are just looking for something new to do with chia seeds, you're gonna love this!

It's creamy and simply sweet - rolls down the throat and lands happily in the belly. Have for breakfast or dessert. Gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free, and can be made anti-candida friendly if you use almond butter and leave out the coconut (replace with cinnamon or your other favorite spices). It can also be raw if you use agave or dates to sweeten it.

Video: Mint Chocolate Coconut Tapioca Pudding - Raw, Gluten-free, Sugar-Free, Soy-free, Anti-Candida Friendly

I've been trying to perfect chia seed pudding and have fallen flat so many times...until recently. I was inspired by my friend Vanessa's recipe on The Green Girl Next Door, and with a few little adjustments to fit my diet and palate I came up with something insanely heavenly! As Vanessa mentions in her post, chia seed is not just a great thickener, it's also very nutritious and contains: omega-3 fatty acids, protein, antioxidants, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, molybdenum, niacin, and zinc.

Steamed Eggplant with Ginger Garlic Chive Dressing

This is one of those recipes that I kinda made up as I went along and didn't expect to taste very good, so I didn't measure anything. Low and behold it was really tasty, so I'll make a guess how much of each ingredient I used but would recommend that you taste as you go along. It's free of: gluten, soy, sugar, salt, and is anti-candida diet friendly. I suppose it could be made oil-free as well. 

Raw Goddess Salad Dressing, Adapted from Crazy Sexy Diet

This organic dressing is super easy and quick to make - full of flavor and can be modified to fit your taste buds. I modified it a little from the Raw Green Goddess Dressing Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet.

It's gluten-free, soy-free, salt-free, sugar-free, and anti-candida diet friendly. I used a little olive oil, but it could probably be omitted and subbed with more water.

Video: Sweet Pea Guacamole Recipe - raw & free of dairy, salt, oil, and avocado!

One of my favorite recipe books is called "Unprocessed" by Chef AJ. It is full of great food that is oil-free, salt-free, and refined sugar-free, and the tag line is "how to achieve vibrant health and your ideal weight" - sounds good to me! Everything is very easy to make and usually consists of ingredients that are in the kitchen already. This recipe caught my eye because it's a unique twist on one of my favorite snacks: guacamole. Guac can get expensive and it's also pretty fattened (though it consists of healthy fats). Sweet peas have a similar appearance to avocado, so if you blend them just right this turns out very similar to traditional guacamole.

Video Recipe: Raw, Vegan "Stir Fry" - Free of Oil, Salt, & Sugar

Last week when I did a poll on the Eco-Vegan Gal Facebook page about what video recipe you'd like to see next the majority voted for "entrée" - you wish is my command. Since I'm on a raw food kick, I decided to make a living foods dish for dinner last night. I flipped through my favorite raw recipe books and felt that it was a sign when I found the same dish in 3 of them (give or take a few ingredients)! With a few modifications I whipped up a satisfying, filling, nutritious dish that my boyfriend even liked, and almost no packing was used (completely plastic free!). What I ended up with is most like "Stirred, Not Fried" from Chef AJ's "Unprocessed" book.

This recipe is free of oil, salt, and sugar, and it's anti-candida. I purchased all organic ingredients at Whole Foods for a cost of $20, and it yielded about 4 servings. 

Vegan, Alkaline Recipes from Nik Tyler

Way back in 2009 Nik Tyler (aka, the man who inspired me to be vegan) went to "two transformative weeks at The Rancho De Sol-Ph Miracel Ranch" and came back with incredible enthusiasm and energy. So much so that he sent me daily emails of the foods he had been making, with beautiful pictures. I posted these on Eco-Vegan Gal and they are some 

of the most popular recipes on the site. 

These recipes are also gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free, sugar-free and anti-candida. Some are also salt-free and raw.