It’s crockpot season here at my house! I’m loving comforting soups, chilis, and warming dishes. Trader Joe’s had some jicama and I got inspired. What is better with slaw than a ‘pulled pork’ slider? And, these sliders will blow your mind. I served them at my friend’s baby shower, and our colleague’s husband ate them up not knowing that they weren’t pulled pork! Regardless if you eat meat or jackfruit, this slaw is as wicked good as the sauce I used on the jackfruit.
This jicama-mango slaw is served over mango BBQ pulled jackfruit is easy, gluten-free, and vegan. It features Wildtree Chipotle Lime Rub and Wicked Good Slower Cooker Sauce.
Purré the mango with 1/4 cup Wildtree Wicked Good Slow Cooker Sauce, add it to the jackfruit and let it cook in the slow cooker on low for ~3 hours. When the jackfruit is done, add the remaining 1/4 cup of sauce to the jackfruit. Shred it with two forks.
In a medium mixing bowl, prepare the slaw. Add the vegan mayo (I used Just Mayo) and lime juice, stir to combine.
Peel and chop the second mango in half.
Chop the jicama.
Incorporate the mayo mixture with the slaw, add cilantro, sliced mango, jicama and add salt and pepper to taste.
I was dying for some potato pancakes, but I’ve never made them without eggs. I combined the ingredients, but couldn’t get them to stick together, so I put in some applesauce. You would never guess that I used applesauce – they just tasted a tiny bit sweet. The spice from the poblano pepper is a great mix with the sweetness of the applesauce.
Finely chop the shallots, poblano pepper, and smash garlic with knife and mince.
Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well.
Add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil to a large skillet or frying pan and put over medium-high heat. I like avocado oil because it cooks well at high heat.
Form a handful of the potato mixture into a loose patty. The patty will be wet and soft.
Drop the patty directly into the hot pan.
Fry for 2 minutes until the bottom is golden brown, then flip and fry the other side. Add a little more avocado oil to the pan after flipping, and move it around the pan. The second side was done in a minute and a half.
Repeat until the potato mixture is used up, adding more oil to the pan as needed.
The avocado oil is so light that you won’t have greasy pancakes. If you use another oil, you may have to set them on a towel and blot the oil.
My mother-in-law makes these Black and White Bars, also known as Mound Bars. They rule, but are filled with dairy and gluten that I can’t have. So, I successfully transformed them into a vegan gluten-free treat. There are three parts to this recipe: the crust, coconut filling, and dark chocolate topping.
Crust
3.5 cups almond meal (I used Just Almond Meal Great for Baking & Breading from Trader Joe’s)
½ cup xylitol (you can use regular sugar, I just try to reduce it when possible)
I talk about my use of xylitol in my Vegan Broccoli Carrot Slaw recipe. I bought the XyloBurst brand made of birch sugar at Swansonvitamins.com.
Coconut Filling
2 cans coconut sweetened condensed milk (I used Nature’s Charm Evaporated Coconut Milk; I got it from Fresh Thyme, but you can get it on Amazon too)
2 – 4 cups shredded coconut (depending how much you like the taste and texture of coconut. My husband doesn’t like a lot of coconut, so I used only 2 cups)
FYI – This sweetened condensed coconut milk, has changed my baking world. I also use it when I make a vegan dulce de leche and vegan chocolate sauce. Everyone else agrees apparently, because it is constantly out of stock at Fresh Thyme.
3 packages dark chocolate vegan chips (I used Lily’s Baking Chips)
2 bars unsweetened baking chocolate (I used Lily’s)
Lily’s is sweetened with stevia. The sweetened condensed coconut milk has enough sugar, I’m sure. Also, Enjoy Life also makes a yummy vegan chocolate chip.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350
Melt 8 tablespoons of vegan butter in microwave or stove
Prepare crust by combining almond meal, xylitol or sugar, flour, and melted butter in a bowl.
In a large baking dish 12 x 13 spread the almond meal crust.
Bake crust at 350 for 15 minutes.
Prepare coconut filling while crust is in the oven. Combine coconut sweetened condensed milk and shredded coconut in a bowl
When the crust is done, spread the coconut over the crust, and bake again for 15 minutes.
Set aside and let it cool.
Prepare your topping. I tried melting the chocolate chips in a pot with the butter on the stove. However it was very thick. I had trouble spreading it on the coconut. Round two – heat the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments until smoothly melted. Then spread evenly.
Then, heat the 2 bricks of baking chocolate in the microwave. Pour it evenly over the top of the chocolate chips to make it look smooth.
Put the dish in the fridge for 2 hours.
Pull it out of the fridge and make lines on it with a knife so that it is easy to cut.
Put it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Pull it out and cut your squares. You can put them on wax paper and store them in a plastic container so that they are easy to pull out one at a time, and eat! They aren’t the prettiest looking. I should have cut them with a sharper knife. Regardless, it didn’t take away from the taste!
I was craving Shepard’s Pie (also known as cottage pie), but I only had three potatoes. So instead of Mashed Potatoes, I used Mashed Garlic Roasted Cauliflower on top. It added almost a cheesy taste, and it was great with the gluten-free vegan biscuits that I made using Pamela’s Biscuit & Scone Mix .
2 tablespoons gluten-free flour (coconut or almond flour make it Paleo)
2 cups beef broth (I used Home Goodness Organic Beef Broth from Costco)
I’m personally a huge fan of cooking with essential oils, because at the time I didn’t have any fresh thyme or rosemary at my house – I didn’t even have potatoes! The essential oils are so convenient, never expire, and still add great flavor. You can read about my dish with cooking with oils here. If you are interested in purchasing Young Living Essential Oils, you can click here. I’d love to help you learn to use oils not only in your kitchen, but in your daily life!
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, then add lamb. Brown lamb until fully cooked, about 5 minutes (I find there’s enough fat released in the beef that I don’t need to add oil to the pan). While it’s cooking, prepare your vegetables.
Chop onion, and garlic (smash with knife and then chop).
Chop carrots. I only had baby carrots, so I chopped them in fourths and then cut them.
We love muffins but spent a long time without them. It isn’t easy to make a gluten-free vegan muffin that rises and isn’t 80% gooey. I’m not saying this muffin isn’t dense because it is; however, it has more volume than I thought would ever be possible with a muffin that I was able to eat.
½ cup chocolate chips (Use Lily’s Baking Chips to make a sugar-free, Paleo & vegan – they are sweetened with stevia, or Enjoy Life chips to make them vegan)
¾ coconut sugar
¼ cup organic pure maple sugar or you can substitute coconut sugar (I bought Coombs Family Farms Maple Sugar at Fresh Thyme)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mash 3 ripe bananas on a plate.
In a large mixing bowl, combine mashed banana, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla.
Beat until smooth, and set aside.
In a separate small bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir and combine.
Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. The batter resembles a very thick pancake batter.
Fold in vegan chocolate chips.
Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin and spoon muffin mixture so that each cup is almost full.
Bake on center rack for 29-31 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one, comes out clean. 29 minutes was perfect for mine.
I know that I’ve been posting a lot of chocolate recipes lately, but in my house Valentine’s Day requires a lot of chocolate; it’s the way to my husband’s heart!
3 teaspoons egg replacer + 4 tablespoons warm water (I used Ener‑G Egg Replacer – it’s available at Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme and Amazon) – If you aren’t vegan or allergic to eggs you can use 1 egg + 1 egg white
1 cup vegan chocolate chips + ¼ cup chocolate vegan chips set aside (Use Lily’s Baking Chips to make a sugar-free Paleo cookie since they are sweetened with stevia, or Enjoy Life chips to make them vegan)
Add the banana and continue to mix until combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoons of dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet. I used a knife to get the dough out of the tablespoon. because they were very sticky, and then gently smoothed the top. If you don’t smooth the top – they will look jagged.
Bake for 14 – 15 minutes until they are browned and firm to the touch. (I baked them for 15 minutes)
Cool for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Put ¼ cup of chocolate chips in a glass bowl and microwave for 30 second increments stirring in between sessions until melted and smooth.
Every year we made an icebox cake for Christmas. My daughter wrote all about it in her tradition story project at school. That’s when I got scared. This was the first year with the kids being wheat, egg, and dairy free. How was I going to make a gluten-free and vegan cake without the Nabisco cookies and whipped topping? I couldn’t break the tradition. See how sweet they are making this cake! My son was 2 here.
Last Christmas, we traveled to Florida to see my mother-in-law, so my husband and I went to the local Walmart on Christmas Eve, in attempt to get Christmas gifts and the ingredients to recreate the treasured icebox cake. Peace & Calming to the rescue; seriously it helped me survive the crowds and chaos! I deserved the mother of the year award for a trip to Walmart, followed by Toys “R” Us on Christmas Eve!
While at Walmart, I bought Pillsbury Best Multi-Purpose Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend, Smart Balance (Vegan Butter), and Hershey’s Cocoa Powder. I was sincerely surprised at how delicious and crisp these gluten-free vegan chocolate wafers were, and very inexpensive! FYI, I don’t recommend the heavy coconut cream from Wal-Mart, it has tons of sugar and water, because of the dilution it doesn’t whip well – it tastes like marshmallows. I prefer the Trader Joe’s Brand or Tai Kitchen full-fat coconut cream. Or, if you’re lazy, you can use the CocoWhip!, but it will taste more like Cool Whip.
Since it was Christmas, my mother-in-law requested that I try to stick to traditional cane sugar and cocoa powder instead of cacao and coconut sugar. I get it, she didn’t want to “ruin” the cookies with my typical healthier experimentation. I’ll have to experiment another time and report back!
Regardless, my mother-in-law (who had wanted to go buy the Nabisco cookies and make her own separate cake) declared, “These are really really good! Are you going to put these on your blog? You should!” I take that as a vegan gluten-free win!
14 tablespoons vegan butter, slightly softened (I used Smart Balance)
3 tablespoons coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk (I prefer Trader Joe’s brand)
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
Directions
Combine the gluten-free flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
Using a pastry cutter, scoop 1 tablespoon of vegan butter at a time into the bowl, continually combining with the pastry cutter as you incorporate each tablespoon. (If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you could put them in a Vitamix or a food processor).
Combine the coconut cream and vanilla in a small cup.
Add the liquid mixture and continue to combine with the pastry cutter until it is fully combined.
Knead a few times to make sure that it is evenly blended with your hands.
Transfer the dough onto a cutting board lined with wax paper or foil.
Form the dough into a log about 14 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter.
Wrap the log in wax paper or foil and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour, or until needed.
Place your oven racks on the top and bottom slots.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Using a pastry cutter (the Betty Crocker with measurements printed is great for this), slice the cookies as thinly as possible.
Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper approximately 1 inch apart. The first time I placed them too close like this and they grew together but were easily separated. The next time I placed them 1 inch apart and they were perfect.
Cook for 6 minutes on the top rack of the oven. After 6 minutes, transfer them to the lower rack and cook for another 6 – 9 minutes.
Makes ~60 cookies if you slice them very thin. What’s good about these cookies is that they are flat at the bottom and are perfect for making an icebox cake!
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Icebox Cake (Gluten-Free & Vegan)
Ingredients:
Chocolate Wafers
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 can coconut cream or full-fat milk (refrigerated overnight)
Directions:
First, make the vegan coconut whipped cream. Since I made this dairy free, I used 1 can coconut cream (you can also use full-fat coconut milk) that had been in the fridge overnight and ¼ cup powdered sugar. Mix with a mixer on high until fluffy. If you don’t have a good mixer, you can use a Vitamix, or put your metal bowl in the freezer before whipping the cream.
Then, ice your gluten-free vegan chocolate wafers and create a stack of cookies.
After four sandwich cookies lay them on a wax paper covered tray, and continue to put a layer of whip cream on each chocolate wafer, lay it down on the tray creating a row of cookies. Repeat this for three rows. If you’re fancy you can try to make a design – like a Christmas tree with your icebox cake, but I’d try traditional rows for the first time.
Carefully push the chocolate wafer rows together with a cookie inside the filling of another. Then, smooth the vegan whip cream around the entire outside of the cookies.
The icebox cake needs to sit overnight. The wafers will soak up the cream and become soft. Note how the chocolate wafers absorb the coconut cream.
So in the meantime, the kids didn’t want to wait. I took extra chocolate wafers, put them in a cupcake liner, topped them with coconut cream, and enjoyed them right away! They are little mini-icebox cupcakes!
What are some of your favorite holiday food traditions or recipes?
I was craving pizza, and planned on making eggplant pizzas. However, when I started to brainstorm my meals for the week, I wanted a way to stretch my recipes and save prep time. So after making the Protein Loaded Pizza Sauce, I prepped the veggies for pizza, and then made extra for this dish. It’s a divine combination of tomato, eggplant, zucchini, cajun spice, and goat cheese.
Start with the Protein Loaded Pizza Sauce. It will take 30-60 minutes to simmer. Then prep your veggies and start your Eggplant Pizza Bake.
Slice zucchini into ¼ inch thick slices, and slice mushrooms.
Slice eggplant in ¼ inch slices, and place them on a couple cookie sheets.
Put 1/4 cup olive oil in a measuring cup with 4 drops Young Living Basil Essential Oil and 2 drops Young Living Thyme Essential Oil. I talk about my dish with essential oils here in this veggie pasta sauce post. I’m available to help you use them in and out of the kitchen. Click here to learn how to order them.
Brush the olive and essential oil mixture on the slices of eggplant. Salt and pepper generously. Flip them over and repeat with the other side.
Sprinkle 2 chopped cloves garlic on the eggplant.
Broil eggplant at 500 for 7 mins
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan on medium-high heat, add zucchini, shallots, and remaining 2 cloves of garlic, and sauté for 3 minutes.
Slice the sausages (if desired). I like this brand because it’s antibiotic, gluten, casein, nitrates, nitrites, and MSG-free. This flavor has a little kick, and one sausage adds just a hint of cajun spice to the dish. I’ve been in search of vegan / gluten-free sausages and they are a hard find
Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce at the bottom of a 10 x 12 glass pan – this prevents the eggplant from sticking without using a spray.
Place eggplant on top of the sauce
Sprinkle the goat cheese over the eggplant
Top with a layer of mushrooms, zucchini, and sliced andouille chicken sausage (omit for vegetarian, but consider a sprinkle of a cajun spice if avoided).
Repeat layers. Eggplant, sauce, goat cheese, mushrooms, zucchini, and sausage.
This cake has several flavors that make it unique. If you use it with a box cake, it doesn’t take much time. However, I had the 4 ounces vegan dulce de leche and 6 ounces The Best Vegan Chocolate Sauce prepared in fridge already, so I heated them in the microwave for 10 seconds until they were warm and spreadable, but not too liquified.
If you choose to make the vegan dulce de leche the day that you are making this cake, start the dulce de leche an hour and a half in advance. Make the cake, and while it is cooking, prepareThe Best Vegan Chocolate Sauce (it only takes 10 minutes), and then the Chocolate Coconut Filling. I feel the cake tastes best after sitting in the fridge overnight.
1 Gluten-free Yellow Cake Box Mix (I used Glutino, Gluten Free Pantry, but Live Gluten Free Mix will make a fluffier cake)
Pre-heat oven (according to the box).
Prepare the cake according to the box. I used egg replacer instead of eggs, vegan butter, and almond milk instead of cow milk in order to make it dairy and egg-free, and gluten-free vanilla. Adjust to your dietary needs.
Mashed 1 banana and place it in the mixer. This is necessary because the egg replacer alone did not make the batter as moist as it should be. It gave a nice flavor to the cake!
Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
Spoon mix into cake pans.
Bake according to box (my box was 40 – 45 minutes).
Let cool 10 minutes in the pan.
Chocolate Coconut Filling
1 can chilled coconut cream (I used Trader Joe’s. I keep a couple of coconut cream cans in the refrigerator at all times. It needs to be in the fridge overnight to be firm enough to whip.)
⅔ cup cocoa powder
⅔ cup powdered sugar
Spoon coconut cream in the mixer bowl, but do not include the water at the bottom of the can. I have a KitchenAid mixer that mixes very well. If you do not, you may want to chill a metal bowl in the freezer. A Vitamix also works great!
Whip coconut cream, chocolate powder, and powdered sugar until it’s fluffy.
Put the cake together
After it is cooled, put one of the rounds on a cake stand (you could use a plate).
Spread the chocolate coconut cream filling on the cake.
We love pizza, but finding gluten and dairy-free pizza in a restaurant is hard. So we make “pizza night” into a fun activity to do with the kids! It’s great, until my daughter has a breakdown after she slops the sauce onto the edge of the crust or doesn’t spread the cheese evenly (I keep my Tranquil Roll-On handy with this child at all times). Sometimes she complains that sauce is too spicey too. So, I set out to make my own. I found a recipe on food.com that included fennel seed, and I changed it a lot. I hate that most sauces have cane sugar and parmesean cheese. If I’m going to have cane sugar, it better be a very tasty dessert – preferably with chocolate.
I’m always trying to find more ways to increase protein in our diet. I was at Fresh Thyme looking for Baking Powder, and I came across Bob’s Red Mill High Protein TVP (textured vegetable protein). The bag says “it takes on the flavor of whatever recipe to which it is added.” I thought it would be great not only for the pizza sauce I was making, but also chili and soups. The sauce turned out great, and you wouldn’t know that I added anything to the sauce by the taste. It does have soy; if you have a soy allergy, make the pizza sauce without it!
This recipe makes 4 small gluten-free pizzas, and I tripled it in order to make 4 small gluten-free pizzas, and an eggplant pizza bake. I love it when I can to turn one dish into two for multiple nights! Plus, it’s always convenient to make extra sauce and have it ready in the freezer!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons organic olive oil
½ cup shallots finely chopped
¼cup celery (~1 stick) finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can organic tomato sauce (I used Kirkland brand from Costco)
If you are going to include Bob’s Red Mill High Protein TVP, boil the water. Add a little less than ⅓ cup of boiled water over ⅓ cup of protein. The bag recommends 1 cup protein to ⅞ cup water, so that’s how I did the math as best as I could. Set the protein mixture aside and let it set for 10 minutes.
Finely chop shallots and celery (I sliced the celery stick into 4 tiny strips and then chopped it).
Smash your garlic with the flat part of your knife and then mince.
Sauté veggies in a large skillet until very tender and almost translucent.
Add all remaining ingredients and let simmer for 30 – 60 minutes.
Look here for allergy friendly recipes that are gluten, and dairy and egg free, tips for baking vegan and gluten-free, traveling with food allergies, and health and wellness tips including essential oils. I explain more of my experiences dealing with extreme food sensitivities and gut issues in the About Section.
Interested in trying essential oils?
One of my passions is helping people start their journey with essential oils. I love making DIY beauty products and creams and cooking with essential oils! Essential oils give a great subtle flavor to sautéed vegetables and sauces! Feel free to contact me for more information about Young Living Oils or click on the link to purchase oils in the Health and Wellness Tab under Essential Oils.
Ingredients
This cake has several flavors that make it unique. If you use it with a box cake, it doesn’t take much time. However, I had the 4 ounces 
