High Protein Vegan Cake

ב"ה

I was energetic in the kitchen yesterday and decided to make a cake with pea protein. I often make sweets with stevia and pea protein (I don't like to have smoothies/vegan shakes every day and even if I wanted to, I can't on Shabbat and Jewish Holidays). Yesterday, I even did a spread sheet of the nutritional breakdown of the base recipe.

This is the recipe for a base cake -- you can add all sorts of things for the flavor -- vanilla (the cake I made yesterday was vanilla spice -- I put in 1 teaspoon of powder vanilla, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon each ground coriander and ground cloves and 1 teaspoon -- equal to about 4 cups of sugar in sweetness -- powdered stevia [when it comes to stevia, different types sweeten differently, so my advice is to get used to the sweetness of the stevia you use and adjust to taste]), you can try cacao powder for chocolate (with or without cacao nibs to simulate chocolate chips), lemon (using lemon juice and/or grated lemon rind/zest), fruit in general (frozen blueberries work nicely), nuts (pecans and walnuts are probably best, almond would probably work also), etc.

Cake Base recipe:

1/4 ground fax seeds (whirred in the food processor with 1 cup filtered water) = "flax eggs"
2 cups Unflavored Unsweetened pea protein powder
1 cup each Almond and Hazelnut meal/flour (or any combination of nut meals to equal 2 cups)
2 Tablespoons Cashew (or other nut) butter
2-3 cups Cashew (or other non-dairy) "milk"
Flavor ingredients (including Stevia) -- see above

Add the Cashew butter to the "flax eggs" and whir until blended. Put the protein powder and nut flours in a bowl, add the flavor ingredients, "flax egg"/nut butter mixture and Cashew "milk" and mix (with a mixer or a spoon) until all ingredients are blended in and the batter is "cake batter" consistency. Put it in an 8" square pan (I line mine with parchment paper so it comes out easily) and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees (check at 45 minutes and then every few minutes after that).

Table of nutritional information:

Serv size	Calories	Fat grams	Sat Fat grams	Carbs	Protein
Entire Cake	2485	150	11	70	222
1/16 Cake	155.3125	9.375	0.6875	4.375	13.875
1/8 Cake	310.625	18.75	1.375	8.75	27.75

I try to get around 30 grams of protein per meal, if possible, so I like the 1/8th of the cake -- I put on "icing" -- which I made from cashew butter, stevia and cashew "milk" and a bit of vanilla (1/4 teaspoon), and cinnamon (also 1/4 teaspoon) -- about 1/3-1/2 jar of cashew butter and "milk" until I get the consistency I want. (I whir it up in the food processor -- my food processor has a place on the cover where I can add liquids without stopping and opening the cup)

I'd love to hear from anyone who tries this how the base recipe works with different flavor additions.

Slow Cooker Easy Barley Mushroom Soup

ב"ה

I know it's been a while since I put up a recipe. That's because I'm currently on a high protein low carb diet. So I'm making a lot of almond/hazelnut "flour" cookies (with pea protein powder) and other things with those ingredients (to get protein).

But I also have been doing some cooking for my parents. While much of it isn't vegan (neither of my parents is vegan, but my Mom can't eat dairy and my Dad can't eat white flour, sugar, etc.) but I do make them a Barley Mushroom soup that they like (I can't eat it, so I have to go by their opinion). Over the weeks I've been making it, I've sort of perfected it into a pretty easy recipe.

This is for a slow cooker. Into the slow cooker, I put one 32 oz container of " Imagine Portobello Mushroom soup " -- add one cup pearled barley, one 8 oz container (or more) of (rinsed) sliced mushrooms (baby bella are best, but white mushrooms are good, too), slice up two carrots, and one stalk of celery (with leaves, if there) -- I also add spices (I don't put in salt because my Mom uses no-salt and my Dad uses sea salt) -- black pepper, parsley flakes, onion and garlic powders, and paprika -- I mix it together in a spice bottle and use 2 teaspoons.

Fill the pot up with filtered water (leaving room at the top so it doesn't boil over) and cook on high until it's warmed through, then cook on low until you're ready to eat it (I usually make it about 8 or so hours before it's eaten, but we leave it on and the next day it's still good).

Veggie Lasagna

ב"ה

I love Lasagna. This recipe is based on the Hungry Girl's Lasagna Recipe after I saw the Hungry Girl on Dr. Oz . My version of the recipe, besides being vegan, is a little different. For example, I can't eat nightshades (which includes tomatoes and eggplant, both in her recipe).

This all started today when I went to one of the local Shop-Rites (because I wanted to go to Green Acres, which is a health food store across the road) and I found red cabbage and cauliflower in the organic section and I was telling the cashier what I was planning on using the cabbage and cauliflower for and I found out she was also a vegan, so I told her to look for my blog (if you read this, which means you found it, let me know in the comments and let me know what you think of the recipes here).

So I took pics as I was making the lasagna (which I haven't tasted yet) -- so here goes (sorry about the quality of the pictures):

This is how I sliced up the zucchini on the cutting board

I started up by slicing the zucchini lengthwise into Lasagna Noodles type slices. Then I lined them up on the bottom of a loaf pan.

I sauteed veggies in olive oil (I used sliced fresh red cabbage, frozen and dehydrated organic mushrooms, frozen kale, spinach, and mixed veggies -- cauliflower, broccoli and carrots -- for the most part) 2 teaspoons of my spice combo (into which I mixed 2 teaspoons each of smoked paprika, chili powder, turmeric, coriander, ginger 1 teaspoon of chipotle (ground), cinnamon, cumin, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, all spice, nutmeg but you can create anything you like a lot) and flaked dulse (a red sea vegetable)

Zucchini lined up in a loaf pan

This is the veggies sauteing in the pan

While the veggies were sauteing, I steamed a small to medium head of cauliflower. I steam it until it is very soft

This is cauliflower in a steamer pot

I sprinkled almond meal/flour on the zucchini

I sprinkled almond meal/flour (3 Tablespoons) over the zucchini (to simulate cheese). 

I spooned some of the sauteed veggies on top of the almond meal

When the cauliflower was soft enough, I took the cauliflower and about 2-3 cups of cashew (or almond, if you prefer) "milk" (unsweetened!!!!) in a blender -- I added a teaspoon of my spices and about 3-4 serving (large) spoons full of the sauteed veggies and whirred it all up (stopping and stirring as needed). I then spooned the sauce over the veggie layer. I then added another zucchini layer and another layer of cauliflower and baked in the over at 200 degrees until it was warmed through.

Spoon the Cauliflower sauce over the veggies