soy free

DIY Wednesday: Cheesy Garlic Spread

/ ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

Cheese and garlic are two words that need to be put together as often as possible.  Who doesn’t want something cheesy and garlicky?DIY Wednesday: Cheesy Garlic Spread | Life Healthfully Lived

People who are lactose intolerant, vegan, or a vampire.  While I can’t make a cheesy garlic spread that would be suitable for a vampire, I can make one for those people who don’t or can’t do dairy.

This spread could not be easier to put together, especially if you already have roasted garlic on hand (which you should ALWAYS have roasted garlic on hand), and it goes with everything.  On top of soup or stew, in tacos, as a salad dressing, on crackers, as a vegetable dip.  The possibilities are endless! Heck, eat it with your finger.  I won’t judge.

Make sure you have a batch of this on hand for Friday’s recipe because you aren’t going to want to miss that one.  It’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Cheesy Garlic SpreadDIY Wednesday: Cheesy Garlic Spread | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 2/3 cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight or very hot water for 4 hours
  • 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp roasted garlic
  • 3 to 4 tbsp nutritional yeast, depending on how cheesy you want it
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  1. Drain and rinse the cashews and place everything into a blender or food processor.
  2. Blend for 3 to 4 minutes until everything is completely smooth.  It will probably take less time if you have a high-speed blender.
  3. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

That’s it!  Now go put this on everything and save a little bit for later in the week! DIY Wednesday: Cheesy Garlic Spread | Life Healthfully Lived

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup

/ ktbuchs87

Roasted Pepper Tomato Vegetable Soup | Life Healthfully LivedYou guys know I’m having a thing with soup lately.  Especially now that Christmas and New Year’s are over.  Brothy soups chocked full of vegetables, herbs, and spices sound pretty amazing right now.  Plus, winter has finally decided to come out to play and cold temperatures always make me crave warm meals like soups or stews.

This is my soup of the moment because of two reasons.  1.  It is absolutely delicious and 2. It is quick and versatile. While the base always stays the same, I can change the vegetables up to whatever I have in my fridge.  Sometimes that includes mushrooms or leeks, other times it’s more peppers and some corn.Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

If you can’t or don’t want to do a certain vegetable I have in this recipe, then don’t put it in your soup.  If you want to add a vegetable that I haven’t included, go for it!  That is the beauty of this meal.  As long as the main components are there, you can play around with the other flavors.

If you’re looking for a lighter meal that will still fill you up, give this soup, or any soup for that matter, a try!

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato SoupRoasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 2-3 red or orange bell peppers
  • 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup celery, sliced
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • 1 leek, green top cut off and white part sliced thin
  • 8 oz package of bella mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels
  • 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
  • 6 to 8 cups vegetable broth or water
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp roasted garlic or 3 cloves minced
  • 2 tsp Mexican oregano (regular if you can’t find Mexican)
  • salt and pepper
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 and arrange the peppers on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Roast the peppers until the are slightly brown and starting to collapse. Remove and let them cool.  Once they are cool, remove the skins and slice into strips.
  2. If you would like, you can toss the mushrooms with a little oil, salt, and pepper and roast those for 15 minutes.
  3. Heat a little olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot.  Saute the carrots, onions, leeks, and celery until they are soft and starting to brown on the edges.  Sprinkle with a little salt and add the roasted peppers, mushrooms, and corn.  Stir everything together.
  4. Add in both cans of roasted tomatoes and then the vegetable broth or water.  Make sure all the vegetables are covered with liquid.  Add all the seasonings and bring the soup to a bowl.
  5. Once boiling, cover with a lid and lower to a simmer.  Let it simmer for 20 minutes.  Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as needed.Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

Salted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars

/ ktbuchs87

Salted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars | Life Healthfully LivedWhew!  Yes that is a long name, but I had to get everything in there so you can understand just how awesome these things are.  I was really shocked when I came up with this recipe.  I had been experimenting with making caramel out of dates and after the caramel pieces that I had planned didn’t turn out as I had hoped, I thought about making a no-bake cookie bar.

These aren’t totally no bake, you do have to cook the cookie base, but that takes less than 15 minutes.  The rest you just stir together, pour, and swirl!  Which makes this perfect if you realize at the last second you said you would bring a dessert to that Christmas party you’re going to.Salted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars | Life Healthfully Lived

I have a few other Christmas-y recipes and posts coming your way next week before the big day, so be on the lookout for those.  I plan to spend the majority of my weekend in the kitchen.  The only time that I will be out and about is to go see the new Star Wars movie with my husband.  I have been getting a countdown for about two weeks now, so I think the man is excited.  To be honest, I am too.  While I might not be as passionate about Star Wars as he is, I really do enjoy the movies.

So if you’re going to see the movie this weekend, enjoy!  Then come home and make some hot chocolate and eat these salted caramel chocolate swirl cookie bars!  If the empire, hot chocolate, and cookie bars don’t put you in the Christmas spirit… you may have already crossed over into the dark side.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie BarsSalted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars | Life Healthfully Lived

Cookie Base- slightly adapted from this recipe by Plated with Style

  • 3/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup solid coconut oil (if your oil is liquid-y, put it in the freezer for a few minutes)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  1. Preheat oven to 350.  In a blender or food processor, pulse all of the ingredients together until you have one dough ball.
  2. Grease an 8 x 8 pan with a little more coconut oil.  Don’t skip this step or you will end up with crumbled mess.
  3. Take the dough ball and press it onto the bottom and a little up the sides of the pan.  You can use a cup if you’re having a hard time rolling the dough out. Make sure you have a fairly even layer.
  4. Bake for about 9 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let it cool before you pour the rest of the layers in.

Salted Caramel

  • 10 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked in hot water for at least 20 minutes (preferably overnight if you remember)
  • 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
  • 6 tbsp liquid coconut oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp almond butter (could use cashew or peanut butter)
  • 1/4 tsp salt (a touch more if your nut butter isn’t salted)
  1. While the cookie layer is baking, make the caramel and chocolate layers.
  2. Make sure that your dates have been either soaking overnight or in boiling hot water.  You want to be able to remove the skins easily.
  3. Once your dates are done soaking, slip the skins off.  Most of them will slide right off, a few might give you a little fight.  As long as you get most of the skin off you should be just fine.
  4. Put the dates and the coconut oil into a blender and blend until you have a smooth and creamy paste.  You may have to scrape down the sides a few times before everything comes together.
  5. In a bowl, combine the date paste and the rest of the ingredients.  Mix until everything comes together.

Chocolate SwirlSalted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 4 oz dark chocolate (I used 100% chocolate)
  • 2 tbsp liquid coconut oil
  • 1-2 tbsp maple syrup (if you used 100% chocolate like I did)
  1. In a medium bowl, grate the dark chocolate so you have little shreds.
  2. Add the coconut oil and maple syrup and stir.
  3. In the microwave or a double boiler, melt the chocolate until it is all melted and smooth.

Putting It All Together

  1. Once the cookie layer has cooled, pour in the salted caramel and smooth evenly over everything.
  2. Pour in the chocolate swirl over the top.  Using a chopstick, toothpick, or butter knife, swirl the chocolate throughout the caramel layer.
  3. Place the pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes so the caramel and chocolate harden.
  4. To serve, Run a butter knife under hot water for a little bit and slice the bars, wiping the knife clean each time.

Ok, I know you’re panicking at this point because this does NOT look like a simple recipe.  Trust me, this comes together a lot faster than it seems.  I finished making this in about 30 to 40-ish minutes.  And  once you taste these bars, you’ll forget about this super long list.Salted Caramel Chocolate Swirl Cookie Bars | Life Healthfully Lived

Have a great weekend friends and may the force be with you!

Italian Pasta Bake

/ ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

MozzarellaItalian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived that isn’t really mozzarella.  Confusing I know, but totally awesome.  There are tons of recipes out there for fake cheese as well as plenty of products that you can buy.  My issue with store bought “cheese” is that it’s usually full of ingredients that I would rather not ingest.

I’ve made cheese sauce before for my Fusilli N’ Cheeze, but I wanted to make a cheese that was a little thicker.  My goal?  To try and recreate the mostaccioli that Adam made for me when we first started dating.Italian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

About a month or so into our relationship, Adam decided he was going to cook for me.  He made me his mom’s mostaccioli and it was delicious.  It was super simple, but watching him make that meal for me was one of the first times that I started to fall in love with him.  When I stopped eating gluten and dairy, mostaccioli kind of went out the window. But not anymore!

Don’t be freaked out by making “cheese” that isn’t really cheese.  It isn’t difficult and there really aren’t any weird ingredients unless you think tapioca starch is weird. It isn’t.  It’s just a thickener and helps make this cheese stretchy.  You could also use potato starch, but I like tapioca better.  Once you make the cheese, this is a really fast meal and a great one to prep early and pull out for a quick weeknight meal.

Not-Mozzarella, Mozzarella Italian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in warm water overnight
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp roasted garlic
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 2 1/2 tbsp tapioca starch (or potato starch)
  • 1 cup hot water
  1. Add everything to a blender and blend for 2 to 3 minutes until it is completely smooth.
  2. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat.  Cook while constantly stirring.  After a few minutes, the mixture will start to thicken.
  3. Turn the heat to low and keep stirring it until it is very thick and stretchy.  You can use it right away or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

Italian Pasta BakeItalian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 1 batch of Not-Mozzarella, Mozzarella
  • 1 batch of my tomato sauce
  • 1 package of gluten-free pasta, I used brown rice shells
  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.  Drain and set aside.
  2. Get a 9 x 13 casserole dish and spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom.  Next, put a layer of pasta and then top with tomato sauce.  Spread some of the cheese on top of that.
  3. Keep layering the pasta, sauce, and cheese until it’s gone.  Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven and take off the foil.  Cook for another 5 minutes until the cheese on top is starting to brown on the edges.
  5. Take out of the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before you serve it.Italian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

DIY Wednesday: Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache

/ ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

AfterDIY Wednesday: Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache a week off, DIY Wednesday is back!  I know you missed it and were totally lost without a fun DIY to fill your Wednesday.  At least that’s what I would like to think.

I’m SUPER excited about this DIY because I didn’t think it was going to work and it did and it is amazing.  If you don’t know what a ganache is, then you obviously don’t spend enough time in bakeries or watching the Food Network.  A ganache is a glaze, sauce, icing, or filling that is typically made with cream and chocolate.  It can be used for cakes, cupcakes, truffles, or donuts.  Basically, anything that is delicious can be made even more delicious with ganache.DIY Wednesday: Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache | Life Healthfully Lived

Ganache used to be one of my favorite things.  It isn’t super heavy or super sweet like typical frostings and it really lets the chocolate flavor shine through.  And let’s face it, chocolate is the reason many of us get up in the morning.  Wait, is that just me?  Oh well, it’s true and I ain’t ashamed of that.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I was able to make it without dairy but still just as delicious.  I figured I would share this one with you right as the holiday season is upon us because this will definitely come in handy for all your baking needs.  You can use it as a frosting or icing for you cooking, as a decadent hot chocolate drink, as a filling for pastries or sweet breads, or stick it in the fridge for a rich and creamy mousse and a simple dessert.  The possibilities are endless and with just a few ingredients you can have this on hand at all times.  That is a very good thing!

Dairy-Free Chocolate GanacheDIY Wednesday: Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 1 cup full-fat coconut milk, unsweetened
  • 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (I used Baker’s brand)
  • 2-3 tbsp maple syrup, honey, molasses, whatever liquid sweetener you have on handDIY Wednesday: Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache | Life Healthfully Lived

 

  1. Using a microplane or fine grater, grate the 2 oz of chocolate into a medium bowl until you have a little pile of chocolate shreds.  Set bowl aside.
  2. Get a small to medium saucepan and pour the coconut milk in.  Heat the milk over medium heat and whisk frequently.  You don’t want the milk to boil or scald.  Whisk in the maple syrup or other sweetener and whisking until you get a light simmer.  This should take about 10 minutes
  3. Remove the milk from the heat and get your bowl with chocolate shreds.  Slowly pour in the sweetened warm milk, whisking the whole time.  Keep whisking until the chocolate is completely melted and everything is smooth.
  4. You can use the ganache right away or you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.DIY Wednesday: Dairy-Free Chocolate Ganache | Life Healthfully Lived