Category Archives: Dip

October 2, 2015 · 5:39 pm

Low Cal Chocolate Pudding Recipe

Low Calorie Chocolate Pudding Balanced Grettie

This recipe couldn’t get any easier.  I have been eating this for dessert lately and can’t believe how good it is for how few calories there are.  Is it the exact same as regular pudding taste-wise?…No, but it is pretty darn good.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 2Tbs. cocoa powder (I like THIS one by Valrhona)
  • 1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • Sweetleaf Stevia to taste (THIS one is my favorite)

Possible add-ins:

  • Chia seeds (I use 15g)
  • PB Powder
  • Organic Flavors like mint, almond, butterscotch, cherry

Place the almond milk, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, and stevia in the blender alond with 4 drops of organic flavor (if using).  Blend until nice and creamy.  If adding chia seeds, pour them into the blender with the pudding and pulse very quickly (you want to mix them in, but not blend them).

When I make the pudding with the chia seeds I like to pour the mixture into a container and put it in the fridge to allow the chia seeds time to expand.

Thanks it!

Here are the macros for the pudding:

Low Calorie Chocolate Pudding Balanced Grettie NO CHIA

Here are the macros for the pudding WITH 15g of chia seeds:

Low Calorie Chocolate Pudding Balanced Grettie WITH CHIA

6 Comments

Filed under Dessert, Dip, Gluten Free, Paleo, Pudding / Mousse, Recipes, Vegan

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June 15, 2012 · 1:30 pm

CREAMY SMOKEY SPANISH DRESSING

I have been missing Spain lately and wanted to create a dressing/dip/sauce (It is very multi-functional) that would remind me of our summer there and the wonderfully flavorful meals we enjoyed.

This dressing/dip/sauce makes me smile every time I eat it.  I have been enjoying it on salads, brown rice bowls, and as a dip for veggies, gluten-free crackers, you name it.

In my never-ending quest to try and eliminate oil from my diet (click HERE to find out why), I used nuts as the base and thickener for this recipe.  You will be amazed by the wonderfully creamy texture you can achieve using nuts.

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INGREDIENTS

1 cup roasted nuts (any variety)
1 ¾ cups filtered water OR for a creamier dressing, So Delicious Milk of choice
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
¼ cup hemp seeds
½ Tbs Bragg’s liquid aminos
Heaping ½ tsp hot pimenton…more if you like spice (Spanish paprika)
Heaping ½ tsp sweet pimenton (Spanish paprika)
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs maple syrup
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Place all of the ingredients in your high speed blender (I use my Vitamix) and blend until very creamy and smooth.

NOTE – The dressing will thicken when refrigerated.

For a printable version of this recipe click HERE. .

Please note that I am a Vitamix affiliate…and I wholeheartedly endorse the use of their wonderful product.

7 Comments

Filed under Dip, Nuts, Recipes, Salad Dressing, Sauce / Spread / Jam / Yogurt, Vegan, Vegetarian

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February 13, 2012 · 2:30 pm

VEGAN HOLIDAY KITCHEN – Giveaway

Over the holidays I was gifted a copy of Nava Atlas’s Vegan Holiday Kitchen by my parents and I absolutely love it.  I was recently offered a copy of the book to review and when I mentioned that I already owned it we agreed that it would be wonderful to give a copy to one lucky Veggie Grettie reader.

Nava Atlas is the author and illustrator of many books on vegan and vegetarian cooking, most recently Vegan Holiday Kitchen, Vegan Express, Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook, and The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet. A book on leafy greens, Wild About Greens, will be published in June 2012.

I have been given permission to share three of the recipes from Vegan Holiday Kitchen with you…the hardest part was choosing which ones to share!

CORN FRITTERS WITH CILANTRO SAUCE

Click HERE for the printable recipe

HEARTY LENTIL AND MUSHROOM SHEPHERD’S PIE

Click HERE for the printable recipe

CRANBERRY-CARROT CAKE

Click HERE for the printable recipe

 *** WE HAVE A WINNER ***

ASHLEY won the giveaway with the following comment-

I would really appreciate this book because I have recently been diagnosed with Lupus and as a part of keeping myself healthy (as well as my family) I have changed to a vegetarian/vegan diet as it helps keep my symptoms better controlled.
Thanks!!

All recipes and images reprinted with permission from Vegan Holiday Kitchen © 2011 by Nava Atlas, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.  Photographs by Susan Voisin

132 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Cake, Dessert, Dip, Giveaways, Holiday, Main Dish, Recipes, Sauce / Spread / Jam / Yogurt, Vegan, Vegetarian

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January 27, 2012 · 2:30 pm

DESSERT HUMMUS – PB Chocolate Chip

About a week ago my daughter’s teacher and I were chatting when she mentioned that another teacher at the school just made a sweet hummus that she said was really good.  She found the recipe on Chocolate Covered Katie whose blog I adore.

I decided to give the sweet hummus thing a whirl and came-up with a recipe that I am a bit obsessed with.  I have seriously made 5 batches in the last 5 days (some of which was given away, but not much)!

This hummus is free of added salt, oil (just natural peanut butter), and refined sugar.  The dates add such a nice sweetness to the hummus without leaving you with the crash and burn that follows a traditional sugar rush.  Thanks to the fiber and nutrients in the dates your body will be happy.

While this may taste like cookie dough, you won’t be able to eat the whole bowl because the chickpeas will fill you up so quickly.  My favorite ways to eat the hummus are with either a banana, some sliced apples, or celery spears.

This recipe is dedicated to you Nicole!  Thanks for the inspiration.

INGREDIENTS

8 Medjool Dates, soaked (I buy mine at Costco)
Soaking water
15 oz. can Eden Organics Salt-Free Garbanzo Beans (aka chickpeas)
1/3 cup organic peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla
2-3 Tbs. Enjoy Life mini-chocolate chips (optional)
 

Pit the dates and put them into a bowl.  Press the dates down into the bowl and cover them with filtered water until they are JUST covered (it is ok if a tiny bit of the dates peak out through the water).  Soak the dates in the water for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dates have soaked, place all of the ingredients (except the chocolate chips) in the food processor and process for 1-2 minutes.  Stop and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.  Repeat this process a total of three times until the hummus is very smooth.  I usually use this time to catch-up on dishes or mail… multi-tasking rules!  Note that the hummus will be thinner than you are used to since it is warm from the processing.  Rest assured the hummus will firm-up a bit once refrigerated.

Pour the hummus into a bowl and mix in the chocolate chips if so desired.  That’s it.  You are done.  Place the completed hummus in the fridge to firm-up.  Personally I always have a little serving of the hummus at this point with some apple or banana since I don’t have the patience to wait for it to set.

I also prefer to make the hummus without the chocolate chips and keep the plain version in the fridge since I don’t like to have chocolate chips in my dessert hummus if I will be eating it with sliced apples.  In general I prefer the hummus without the chocolate chips, so I just mix the chocolate chips in for the kids at serving time.

For a printable version of this recipe click here.

39 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Beans/Legumes, Dessert, Dip, Gluten Free, Kid Friendly, Quick, Recipes, Snacks, Vegan, Vegetarian

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December 29, 2011 · 2:30 pm

VEGAN NACHO CHEESE aka VEGAN QUESO

I have to apologize for the fact that the picture for this post is not up to par, but I had to put my pride aside and post this recipe anyway because it is SO GOOD!

What would New Years Day be without nachos???  The other day I had a craving for nachos and with the New Year coming-up I decided to figure this one out…How do you make a yummy vegan nacho cheese sauce?  It turns out the answer is really easy.

My family had so much fun building their own nachos and I think everyone was happy that mama had a nacho craving!

INGREDIENTS
 
1 bag Daiya Cheddar Cheese
1 ½ cups So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1/3 cup Trader Joe’s Serrano Salsa Fresca (so good!)
 

Warm all ingredients over medium to medium-low heat until completely melted and incorporated.

I really encourage using a good quality salsa as it will have a big impact on the final product.  Trader Joe’s Serrano Salsa Fresca is seriously good.

This would also be really great in a vegan 7 layer dip.

What do you like to serve on New Years Day?

For a printable version of this recipe click here.

12 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Cheese, Dip, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holidays, Kid Friendly, Quick, Recipes, Sauce / Spread / Jam / Yogurt, Vegan, Vegetarian

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October 31, 2011 · 8:31 pm

VEGAN RANCH DRESSING MIX – Orphaned SRC

Happy Halloween!

On a day like today when candy is king, here is a great recipe to use in order to get some salad into your little ones before they go out trick-or-treating.

I was contacted this morning by Amanda from the  Secret Recipe Club because the blog, A Cooks Quest, was orphaned in this mornings reveal.  I checked-out her blog and instantly found the recipe I wanted to make.  My son has been begging me lately to make a vegan ranch dressing that ACTUALLY tastes like ranch and thanks to A Cooks Quest I just made a vegan version that will fool the most discerning ranch aficionado!  My little guy is going to be soooooo  thrilled with me (major mom points!).

I did need to alter the recipe a little since I could not find dried minced onions (my grocery store had 4 different brands of onion powder, but no minced onions) and I think that the next time I make the mix I will reduce the salt a little.  It did not taste overly salty, but I am trying to reduce my family’s salt consumption.

Click here for the original recipe from A Cooks Quest.

INGREDIENTS for Ranch Dressing Mix

3 1/2 teaspoons organic onion powder
8 teaspoon parsley flakes
4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika

**Cook’s note-this recipe is easily modified!  I love to add salsa to it for taco salads and roasted garlic for a delicious dip**

Mix together in a bowl and then pour the contents into a coffee grinder to reduce the size of the parsley flakes.  That’s it!  Store the mix in an air tight container (I used a small mason jar).

Now you have a great mix that you can use to make Ranch Dressing and Ranch Dip.  Since I did not use the minced onions and the powder had a smaller volume, I had to adjust the amount of mix you use to make the dressing and dip.  Thank you Google for helping me figure out that 1/3 cup total mix – 16 teaspoons.  I knew that the mix would yield 4 full size dressing or dip recipes, so I was able to figure out that 4 teaspoons of mix is needed for each recipe.

To veganize the recipes I used Vegenaise and Sour Supreme by Tofutti sour cream.  I also reduced the amount of mayonnaise (originally was 1 cup) to reduce the amount of fat in the total recipe.  I replaced 1/3 cup of the mayonnaise with So Delicious Original Creamer.

DRESSING RECIPE *
 Mix 4 teaspoons dry mix with
2/3 cup Vegenaise
1/3 cup So Delicious Original Creamer and
1 cup vegan sour cream

DIP RECIPE *

Mix 4 teaspoons dry mix with 2 cups vegan sour cream

*Mix up a few hours before serving, so the flavors all blend nicely.

Enjoy!


13 Comments

Filed under Dip, Gluten Free, Quick, Recipes, Salad Dressing, Sauce / Spread / Jam / Yogurt, Secret Recipe Club, Vegan, Vegetarian

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May 27, 2011 · 1:30 pm

FLUFFY PEANUT BUTTER DIP

I think by now you can tell that I have a real love affair with peanut butter.  The only problem is that peanut butter is a bit high in fat (as are all nut butters).  We can totally enjoy nut butters, but we need to show some restraint and not eat them with abandon.  In an attempt to up my intake volume of PB without upping my fat intake, I made this dip.  I LOVE peanut butter with apples and for years have been cutting my apples in half and filling the hole with PB, but only 2 Tbs or so total.  With this dip I can make myself a nice little bowl of it, slice my apples, and dip to my heart’s content.

INGREDIENTS – Makes 4-6 servings

½ cup organic peanut butter

½ cup So Delicious Vanilla coconut milk yogurt

1-2 packets stevia

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Mix the peanut butter and yogurt together until smooth.  Add the stevia (one packet at a time, so you can sweeten to taste) and mix.

*Also tastes great with bananas!

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Filed under Dessert, Dip, Gluten Free, Recipes, Snacks

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