Category: healthy eating

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Perfect Fluffy Oat Pancakes

Venturing into egg-free baking and cooking can sometimes be a bit of an intimidating process. Eggs are used as a binding agent in many baked goods, and sometimes for leavening. When you subtract eggs from a recipe that calls for them, often the result is a crumbly or gummy mess, or completely flat.

Pancakes are a simple way to start incorporating egg-free options in your weekend baked treats. I’ve made some pretty flat, sticky textured pancakes over the last 8 years of vegan baking – so I know how they can pretty easily go south for satisfaction value.

These pancakes were born from a desire to make something that is:

  • Healthy
  • Whole grain
  • Fluffy and light
  • Vegan (free from eggs and dairy)
  • Quick to throw together

My son is a “pancake monster” and routinely inhales four pancakes, PLUS additional breakfast foods. Given his love for pancakes any day, I wanted a mix that was already put together, and could easily be measured out without following a recipe every time I make them.

To prepare as a “pancake mix” – just stir all the dry ingredients together and store in a zipper bag or container. When ready to make, Measure out 1:1 ratio of dry ingredients with your choice of milk. (I.e. 1 cup of dry mix + 1 cup of milk + 1/2 T. ACV, 1/2 tsp vanilla.)

Let me know if you try these and what you think! The AP flour could probably be subbed for simply oat flour or GF AP flour to make these gluten-free, but I haven’t tried with these ratios to say if it affects the fluffiness/lightness of the texture.

Perfect fluffy oat pancakes

1/2 cup organic AP flour

1/4 cup oat flour (ground whole oats)

1/4 cup quick oats (or old fashioned)

1 T baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1 T monk fruit sweetener or xylitol 

2 T coconut (optional)

1 cup nondairy milk (such as unsweetened almond)

1/2 T apple cider vinegar 

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients (can be mixed in advance like a pancake mix to store for later!).* Whisk ACV in milk and let sit a moment to curdle. Mix into the dry and add vanilla. Let the batter rest 5-8 minutes while your skillet heats. Measure by 1/4 cup fulls onto the skillet flipping when golden browned. Top with your choice of favorite toppings! 

*I routinely quadruple this recipe and then store as a dry-mix for a quick prep on a weekend morning. Measure out by 1 cup dry + 1 cup milk + 1/2 T. ACV + 1/2 tsp vanilla.

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Healthy cashew queso dip

Whitney Werner, Certified Holistic Health Coach, featured on Keloland Living, May 19, 2020

One of the most versatile skills to master in your plant-based cooking is incorporating cashews to your dairy-free sauces. Including cashews in your diet is a great way to get some extra protein, calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorous. Cashews are also one of the only food sources high in copper – which is great for supporting elastin and collagen in your muscles and bones.

Cashews have a beautiful silky consistency when blended – mimicking the creamy texture we all know and love from dairy creams and cheeses.

The key in a quick cashew sauce is soaking your cashews! Buy raw cashews (pieces are fine), and place in a bowl of water for a few hours, or overnight. Alternatively: you can quick-boil the cashews for 10 minutes, although this method may destroy some of the nutritional benefit to the raw cashews. Soaking your cashews makes them soft and easier to blend into a silky smooth sauce. They are also more easily digested! Important: Do not try to make cashew sauces with roasted cashews – the flavor does not turn out right! It will have a distinctive roasted-nut taste (trust me, I’ve made this mistake! Ha!).

FUN TIP: If a nut-allergy is a concern, RAW SUNFLOWER SEEDS can be used in many if not all of the same ways! Soak in advance, and use in place of cashews. The flavor is still very similar – but the seeds take a little longer to blend.

Cashew Queso – recipe by Whitney Werner

In this recipe, feel free to play around with spices to your particular liking and preference. I rarely measure exactly when I throw together a sauce or queso. Use it as a springboard to get creative!

¾ cup raw cashews, soaked several hours or overnight

1 ½ cups broth (or unsweetened plant-milk would work)

4 T. nutritional yeast

2 cloves of garlic 

1 T. tomato paste

½ tsp red pepper flakes (to taste, add more for spicier!)

½-1 tsp pink salt (to taste, I prefer 1 tsp)

1 T. tapioca flour or cornstarch (add more to yield a thicker, stickier gooey cheese, or omit for thinner consistency)

Hot sauce, optional – to taste

2 T. to ½ cup of salsa (to your taste preference)

Blend all ingredients except the salsa in a high speed blender until smooth and no grit remains. (It may take a few minutes if using a food processor or not a high speed blender.) It will be watery/thin. Transfer to a small spot and heat on medium, stirring constantly. As the mixture thickens, add salsa to taste (I use about ¼ cup). Cheese will thicken very quickly, so do not leave unattended. Adjust spices to your preference, and remove from heat. Serve with tacos, nachos, quesadillas, or just as a dip for veggies or tortilla chips!

Interested in learning more about cooking with cashews? Check out my coaching offerings and individual cooking lessons, where I have a three-part series on making several varieties of cashew sauces and cheeses!

Did you try this recipe? Let me know what you think by dropping a comment below. Happy healthy eating and living, my friends!

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SPARK in 2018: Simple Strategies for Success

Here we are again: days into the start of a New Year, the cushion of holiday indulgences straining our waistlines, reminders of the self-control we lacked for weeks (or possibly months). Leftover cookies litter the counters, and dusty hand weights sit neglected in our home gyms. We know we should put on sneakers and head outside for a run, but the call of the couch beckons, the incomplete to-do list nags our minds, and the thought of the cold air stinging our lungs keeps us stationary.

A new year always brings a renewed sense of hope, while the end of the last curdles with hindsight and perceived failures. I know personally I tend to set sights too high, and then feel tremendous frustration when the path takes unexpected turns that do not lead me to where I envisioned. It’s human nature to hunger for more than we can deliver, more than we have or can create.

So how do we reconcile this disappointment with the surge of a new beginning in 2018?

I have no fool-proof answers, or magic shortcuts to weight-loss or wellness. Ultimately, success lies in your dedication to make it happen. But I do have steps that can help us each get off on the right tract, and hopefully carry us through the challenges and setbacks that life will inevitably throw our way.

Here are a few simple strategies that will reap great rewards over the course of the next year.

S-P-A-R-K in 2018

Start Small
It is often the things that seem insignificant that become the greatest springboard for change over time. What is one small step and goal you can set that will give you momentum into a healthier lifestyle and happier you? Do you rely on a soda in the morning at your desk? Try gradually reducing that habit with substitutions and additions of healthier snacks and drinks. Can you spare 10 minutes on a break to do wall push-ups and body-weight squats? Even a simple habit like this can build into something greater over time.

Practice Consistency
When it comes to change and redirection, it is not what you do 10% of the time that matters, it’s what you do 90% of the time. Practice repetition of your small habit. When you catch yourself longing to ignore or brush it off, stop and remind yourself that this step will give you the foundation for the next step and the next. When you slip up and make a choice counter to your goals, return to your simple habit and value the practice of consistency most of the time. Practice may not make perfect. But practice makes consistency possible.

Advocate for yourself
You are a priority. Your needs and goals are a priority. When you start advocating for your own wellbeing and your goals, you make space for change to happen. If you are constantly putting yourself aside for others, and neglecting your needs, you wear yourself down and cannot offer your best to anyone or anything. This new year, start being your own advocate. What it is YOU need to feel better?

Rest and rejuvenate
Continual mental and physical energy forward requires recovery time. Even from small bouts of repeated self-control exercises, you need to award yourself the time and space to rest. Reconnecting with your spiritual health can be a profound way to rejuvenate in times of stress and intense attention.

Know your long term goal
How would your year shape up differently if you framed your choices around your long-term goal and dream for yourself? If you wake each day with your vision in mind, and your action steps in place to consciously create the reality you desire? Keeping your long term goal for yourself in the forefront of you daily decision making can radically redirect your life and your health. Who do you want to be in 2018, and how can you take small steps each day to make that person your reality?

As we head into a fresh new year filled with great potential and possibilities, I hope you can keep these simple strategies in mind to reignite your “SPARK” for your health and wellbeing.

Today, I challenge you to write a brief mantra and reminder for your first small step to begin. How will this year start off different than others? What will set your year up for accumulative success that does not stall at January’s end?

Let 2018 be the year for your wellbeing.

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Skillet Chili with Spaghetti Squash

 

IMG_3773I am a big fan of meals that work together lots of my favorite vegetables and spices into one skillet, and provide for delicious “planned over” meals for lunches later! In my coaching clients, we work through many quick and easy meal ideas that build on this concept of combining existing fresh vegetables you enjoy with new flavors, and using previously prepared staple ingredients to make the process fast and simple!

Tonight’s meal was not quite as fast as many others I make on a weeknight, simply for the fact that I had to cook the large squash first, which made it a perfect Sunday dinner when I’m busy preparing other things around my home. Roast the squash in advance to make this a super fast weeknight meal!

[yumprint-recipe id=’3′]Let me know if you try this “template” for a dinner – and how it turns out! Be creative – mix it up, and try new vegetables and combinations weekly. 

 

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What to do when your partner or family eat differently

 

Over three years ago, I started transitioning to a healthier diet and lifestyle. This was my choice–  it wasn’t a decision made in tandem with Paul. I told him things were changing, and I was going to start cooking healthier meals, and then I did. Thankfully, Paul was quite supportive and went along with the flow as I flopped through some pretty mediocre meals to start. But gradually, as my confidence grew in the kitchen, my cooking improved, and Paul had very few complaints. Occasionally, he would buy some junk food I didn’t want in the house, or make brownies when I did NOT want them around, but overall he was really supportive.

Things were a little trickier when I made the shift to a vegetarian diet. We had some pretty heart-to-heart conversations about what it would mean in our home, and though it was hard initially, things got easier with time and practice. Again, it was a transition time with food, trying lots of new types of meals and omitting the old basics. Now, having transitioned yet again to a vegan diet, Paul has been on board with the changes. Although he does not consider himself vegan and will still occasionally eat animal products, he does primarily eat plant-based and has no problem with it in the home.

That being said, it was a lot about communication, honesty, compromise, assertion, and willingness to respect each other through the process. It wasn’t just a “snap of the fingers” and everything is easy peasy. 

Any change you make in diet or lifestyle is going to affect your loved ones. Spouse, partner, children, and even extended family will notice a difference in you — both in what you’re physically choosing to put into your body and how you THINK. (The “how you think” change is, I’d say, the most challenging for others to adapt to.) Like it or not, there will be challenges associated with the change, particularly if you are lacking the support from those with whom you live. Since every relationship and family dynamic is unique, there is no “one size fits all” nugget of advice that works across the board in dealing with this challenge. But today, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on how to deal with differing views on diet in your household.

Today’s vlog topic comes from Jackie, who asked, “How do you create balance in a home where you have different eating preferences?”

Thanks for the question, Jackie! I hope this vlog is helpful.

How do YOU personally work to create balance when your family isn’t so keen on changing? Do you have any additional words of wisdom to share? Please do so below!

What should I talk about next week? Pick my brain! Comment below.

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How to Break a Coffee Addiction (Vlog)

 

If you’re like most other Americans, you may enjoy a certain beverage every morning as a daily “pick-me-up.” The ol’ cuppa Joe. 

I’m not exempt from the majority on this one. I LOVE my coffee, and enjoy it in many ways: just black, espresso, Americano, cappuccino, latte, sweetened, unsweetened, creamer, spices, and even iced.

Yes, I enjoy coffee.

But I don’t enjoy it every single day. And I’m not addicted anymore!

At the early part of last year, I used to think I wasn’t addicted but just LIKED my coffee and could quit anytime. After going cold-turkey for a bit, subbing green tea even, I had the most brain-splitting headaches and was super tired and crabby. Ha! NOT addicted? I was totally kidding myself there.

Since breaking the addiction, I still enjoy my coffee a few times per week, but don’t feel horrible without it. (I do feel like I can FLYYYYYY when I drink it, though! LOL.) Over the past year, I have found several things helpful in replacing this addiction with healthier and happier habits. 

I hope you find this video helpful if you’re a coffee addict! 

Here is a link to the brewed cocoa I mentioned: http://www.criobru.com

What topic should I talk about next week? Share your thoughts and questions below, and I may choose your topic to discuss in the future!

 

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What do I eat on a daily basis? (Vlog)

 

Last week I posted my first video blog and asked for YOUR questions for me to talk about. The question I chose for today’s post was from Briana Kiefer, where she suggested, “How about one vlog about how you eat in a day?”

Excellent! I love talking about food (although now I’m feeling kinda hungry… going to sip my orange-colored-juice [with no oranges in it]). 

I hope you enjoy today’s vlog and glean some new ideas for daily eats! Also, please enjoy this week’s video-bombing star: my cat Nina. (If you remember in last week’s post, my husband and my dog both video-bombed while I was recording [at 6:33]. LOL!)

What do YOU eat on a daily basis to feed your healthy happy life?

As with last week, I would love your questions for future topics! What should I talk about next week? Ask below, and I may choose your question for the next topic!