As with all of my favorite recipes, this recipe is flexible and delicious every time. Want it sweet? Add more sweetener. Want it peanut buttery? Add peanut butter. Want it free of nuts and seeds? Don't add any. In the mood for intense, dark chocolate? Dump in cocoa. Want a lighter flavor and lower stimulants? Add less chocolate. You're the boss.





















Put all ingredients in a high-powered blender (such as a Vitamix) and blend until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape the sides a couple of times.

Ingredients:

2 pounds tofu (whatever kind you buy, I use firm)
1/2 - 2/3 cup cocoa powder, amount depends on how chocolatey you want your pudding
heaping 1/3 cup chia seeds
1 large cup of plant-based milk alternative (I use almond milk.)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of maple syrup (I like to use 55% of 1 cup because I want a less sweet pudding). If you don't use maple syrup, use a different sweetner and add a bit more plant milk.
2 tsp vanilla
Optional: scant 1/4 cup peanut butter or nut butter of choice (I use a soup spoon to scoop in a spoonful.) Double this ingredient if you want the pudding actually taste the peanut butter. A spoonful gives the pudding a nice, creamy mouth feel. If you want a lower fat pudding, leave the nut butter out.
For spicy chocolate pudding add:
2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder
Sprinkle with cayenne and raw pumpkin seeds
I like to make both a sweet and a spicy batch at the same time. Then I tell my family which one is which because not everyone likes spices.

Enjoy!

I like recipes that are fast, easy, forgiving and provide a good result every time. This not-too-sweet cake has become a staple at our house this Fall and we have been eating up all of the huge zucchinis my husbands garden has provided. If you don't want to make this huge of a batch, divide it by 2 for a more normal sized recipe.

This cake is gluten-free, egg-free (vegan) and also refined sugar free. I call it Everyday Cake because we eat it everyday and sometimes for more than one meal (breakfast, snack and/or dessert). The final product is not terribly sweet and my kids like to serve it with a thin layer of nut butter and a drizzle of maple syrup (very fancy!). For dessert or a decadent breakfast, I like the kids' version plus some thinly sliced fresh organic strawberries on  top which is both delicious and visually stunning. My husband enjoys it plain every time. My brother in law likes it with a smear of butter. You can add sugar or more maple syrup if you like your cake sweeter. Make it your own. Besides eating this every day, the "big batch" started by grating a big (at least as big as the one on the left pictured above) zucchini and filling my Cusinart container with grated zucchini. I don't bother measuring the zucchini, but I think it's about 8 cups and you don't have to have exactly the right amount. Maple syrup and zucchini both bring a lot of moisture to the recipe so bake it on a low level (325 degrees F) and leave it baking long enough to have a clean knife and to be not soggy.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees,
Grease cake pans (I use coconut oil), bread pans, cast iron pans, muffin tins, whatever floats your big batch zucchini cake boat.
 Mix dry ingredients:
4 cups amaranth flour
4 cups millet flour
2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup flax meal and/or blended chia seeds (This is your the egg replacer, sometimes I use a more than 1/2 cup)
1 rounded Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon (use less or more. I never really measure this, but sprinkle or dump depending on my whim)
1 tsp salt
Add wet ingredients:
1 extra large zucchini grated (approx 8 cups or a Cuisinart food processor filled with large-gauge grated zucchini, size is flexible)
3 cups maple syrup
1.5 cups melted coconut oil (I've used avocado oil, too)
Add 1 cup sugar if you want a sweeter cake.
Mix all ingredients. The batter will be stiff. This is good! The zucchini will release a lot of moisture while it's baking so you don't want to add more liquid. Don't expect it to look like cake batter. For baking, I use a large cake pan (9x13), medium cake pan (8x12) AND either a 8" or 10" cast iron pan depending on the size of the particular batter. I set my timer for 35 minutes and the small cast iron is sometimes done in that time. Then I add more time as needed for the bigger pans. Adjust bake time depending on the size of your pans. Maple syrup holds moisture in baked goods and zucchini is watery so the trick of this recipe is watching for it to be baked and dried out without getting overcooked and chewy.  I use both upper and lower racks for my big batch and rotate the top and the bottom pans after the first 35 minute timer.

Serve plain or with toppings you enjoy.

You may be familiar with Golden Milk; it's a yummy warm drink made with turmeric, black pepper and a sweetener in some milk. It's a traditional Indian drink to keep the doctor away. Golden milk is simple, delicious and healthy. If you want to make a simple drink, just stick to the basic recipe. The recipe I provide is plant based, but use what you have, like or need.

I started out trying to make a non-dairy egg nog for my kids, using turmeric for color only, and ended up making a drink that tastes like spicy gingerbread that is satisfying, immune system supporting, gut-healing, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, calming, liver-moving, supportive of adrenal glands and more. I make a double batch of this every week and then use the concentrate out of the fridge for a warm snack, dessert or small meal. A high quality blender is recommended.

Ingredients (will make a concentrate that can be diluted):
1 can coconut milk (14 oz)
equal amount of filtered water
1/4 c turmeric
1 Tbsp peppercorns (a little less if pepper is ground)
2 inches of ginger
5-10 dates (I use 5 big medjool dates and 10 deglet noor dates about 3-4 ounces of dates)
1 Tbsp maple syrup or more to taste
dash of mineral salt or sea salt

Turbo ingredients:
1 rounded Tbsp cinnamon
1 scant Tbsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
1/2 tsp cayenne or just sprinkled on top as garnish (visually worth it!)
1 Tbsp Ashwaganda powder (optional)
1 Tbsp dandelion root (roasted or unroasted)
1-2tsp coconut oil, melted into your serving when you heat it (optional)


Blend everything in your blender. I mix this concentrate 1:1 with water when I want a rich sweet drink and 1:2 when I want a big, hot drink. There are a lot of herbs and spices in this drink. Since people have different reactions to oodles of spices please start with a small serving of this drink and work your way up.
Spices are medicine! Use with care.

I make a giant, several-gallon batch of this soup to have it on hand for 1-3 meals or healthful snacks per day. You can rough-chop the ingredients and then puree the soup once everything is cooked or you can meticulously chop, dice and mince the ingredients to your preferred texture. This soup is based on a recipe from Ashley James, the host of Learn True Health who used a simpler version of this soup to heal her husband's constipation. There is ample fiber in this soup for anyone working on a healing cleanse. Use the recipe as a guideline and add ingredients you have from your garden or that you want in your diet.  When I eat this soup daily, I get fewer food cravings and make better food choices and feel better. I hope it works for you, too! 

Ingredients - Amounts can be flexible based on what you have on hand. 
1/4 cup coconut oil
2-3 onions
1-2 heads of garlic (I use a big handful of pre-peeled garlic from Costco)
1 large green cabbage
1/2 large purple cabbage
1.5 pounds of beets 
1 large head (2 pounds) of cauliflower
2-3 carrots
5-10 kale leaves (I cut the kale small and add it at the very end)
1/2 cup turmeric 
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne or chipotle powder (more or less depending on how much you like spice)
2-3 inches of ginger, cut into big chunks
Himalayan Mineral Salt or your favorite salt to taste
3 quarts Bone Broth or Veggie Broth (or enough to cover simmering ingredients)

Optional additions:
Potatoes (I add potatoes when I make the chopped chowder version with coconut milk.)
Tomatoes ( I only use tomatoes when I want to puree the soup because tomato skins-eww!)
If you want to make this a richer, more satisfying, vegetable chowder, add
2 cans of coconut milk 
​Cilantro (cooked or as a garnish)
Gelatin (I use this brand here.)

Directions:
Sauteé onions and garlic in coconut oil, add all other ingredients and simmer until soft. You can use water if you don't have bone broth or veggie broth. Bone broth is especially healing for your gut. If you don't have any bone broth, you can add gelatin. Plant-based eaters can leave out the broth/gelatin. Simmer until soft. Puree when cooled. As I said above, I sometime puree half. Find what you like the best. Add kale, cilantro and coconut milk at the end of cooking. 
Musings:
This is my first blog. I'm excited because there are 3 hyphenated words in the title. I thought it would be nice to have this recipe somewhere where my friends could reference it when needed. If I forgot anything, I'll update it. This is a "kitchen sink" kind of recipe and you can drop off or add ingredients that you need for your health. The beets are great for your liver and the cabbage is good for your gut, the turmeric is an important anti-inflammatory and all of the ingredients have a purpose. After all that, it also TASTES very good and is very satisfying, too. My husband likes it best with coconut milk. I usually include coconut milk, but left it out this time because I feel like having a cleaner soup (so I can eat more vegan muffins).