Meatless Monday Vegan Bread Recipes

Image credit Mattie Hagedorn

Going meatless only one day a week, you might not think it necessary to look up vegan bread recipes. But read the label on your favorite commercially produced sliced or artisan bread and you’ll likely see a host of animal product ingredients. Butter, eggs and honey are only the beginning. The price tag on specialty groceries will get you thinking about baking your own. The bonus is filling your home with the sweet, nurturing fragrance of fresh-baked bread.

Just because you’re baking vegan bread recipes, it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice anything. As you can see from the selection below, vegan breads can be baked using a variety of forms, methods and flavors. This short list includes breads for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

Image credit Stuart Spivak

For their Applesauce Bread, the Kingsbury family at Savvy Vegetarian demonstrates flaxseed and water as a simple vegan substitution for eggs. Flaxseed is easily found in the special diet section of the baking aisle at WalMart. Personal chef Amie Valpone prefers chia seeds and water - and a banana - in her Coconut Carrot Bread. In Chocolate Chocolate Donuts, Brooke McLay uses Earth Balance margarine, which I have personally tried and enjoy. Her vegan bread recipe calls for the donut batter to be placed in a plastic zippered bag and piped into the donut tins. This is a fun kid chef opportunity, along with applying icing and sprinkles.

Image credit Amy Alethela Cahill

Now, for a savory vegan bread recipe. You can use your bread maker machine to make the dough for Angel Flinn’s Focaccia, which is topped with garlic, herbs and tomatoes. 

These Vegan Bread Recipes are a great way to try something new and take your Meatless Mondays to a deeper, more meaningful, more flavorful level. Have you ever tried baking bread before? What kind?

Image credit Katrin Gilger

Applesauce Bread (DF, GF, SF, V, VG)

Judith Kingsbury/Savvy Vegetarian

Chocolate Chocolate Donuts (DF, V, VG)

Brooke McLay/Cheeky Kitchen

Coconut Carrot Bread (DF, GF, V, VG)

Amie Valpone/The Healthy Apple

Focaccia (DF, SF, V, VG)

Angel Flinn/Care2

Remember to check out our Recipe Index for more Vegan Bread Recipes. Bon appetit!

Cystic Fibrosis and Food by Lilly Guilbeau

Cystic fibrosis (CF) makes life, including having a family and job that you love, even enjoying food, incredibly challenging.  Cystic fibrosis also makes life far too short.  But life with CF can be lived with gusto.  As award winning sports journalist Brian Guilbeau said, "I don't want people to look at me and see CF."  Please join me in welcoming Brian's daughter, guest blogger and CF spokeswoman Lilly Guilbeau. - BYH

***

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. A lot of kids and adults have CF. When you have CF, thick mucus gets in to your lungs and can cause serious lung infections. The mucus also blocks the pancreas from doing its job and doesn’t let in all of the nutrients from your food.

Diet is very important for people with CF.  A high calorie and high fat diet is important for normal growth and development in children and offers adults a way to maintain optimal health. Extra calories help give CF patients more energy for breathing. So, it is important for people with CF to plan several snacks throughout the day for energy.

Almost everyone with CF needs to take enzymes, pills that allow all of the nutrients to be absorbed into the body.  The main functions for enzymes are:         

·         To digest carbohydrates, protein and fat (the three parts of food that supply calories)

·         To help with weight gain

·         To promote nutrient absorption

Enzymes should be taken before all meals and snacks, milk, breast milk, formula, and nutritional supplements. If CF patients don’t take their enzymes, this is what could happen:

·         Poor weight gain despite a good (sometimes ravenous) appetite

·         Frequent, loose and/or large bowel movements

·         Foul-smelling bowel movements

·         Mucus or oil in the bowel movement

·         Excessive gas and/or stomach pain

·         Distention or bloating.

To lead a healthier life, it is important for people with CF to be aware of their diet and nutrition. Here are some recipes* to follow.

Sweet Potato Muffins

One 29 oz can sweet potatoes, drained and mashed

Two 7.5 oz packages corn muffin mix

3/4 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400° F.  Mix sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, vanilla and spices. Add corn muffin mix and milk. Stir until smooth. Grease muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.

Carrot Raisin Salad

2 cups raisins

1.5 cup grated carrots

2 apples with skin, cored and cut into pieces

Two 8 oz cans crushed pineapple, drained

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Combine all ingredients. Serves 9.

Wheat Germ Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup wheat germ

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup applesauce

2 Tbsp canola oil

3 large eggs

2 cups grated zucchini

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Combine sugar, flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder and nuts in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the applesauce, oil, eggs, zucchini and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Grease and flour two 8-by-4 inch bread pans. Divide the batter between the two. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Makes 2 loaves of 12 slices each.

*Recipes and information courtesy of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. For more information, visit www.cff.org.

Brian Guilbeau: award winning sports journalist, devoted husband and father



Lilly at her dad's garden

The garden stone

                                                                    

                                                                                                                              

Lilly speaking at a CF Walk

Lilly modeling at the Candyland
fashion show fundraiser

Lilly Guilbeau: CF spokeswoman, freelance multimedia journalist, proud daughter

About Lilly Gulbeau

Lilly Guilbeau is a fifth grade honor student from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Lilly witnessed her father, Brian Guilbeau, live a happy and meaningful life with cystic fibrosis (CF). After a double lung transplant in 2004 and a single lung re-transplant in 2009, Brian, who was an award winning sportswriter, died in 2009 at the age of 38. Since that time, Lilly has dedicated much of her time to raising funds and awareness to fight CF. She has served as a statewide spokesperson for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She has appeared in various media campaigns for the organization, spoken to groups about CF and raised thousands of dollars for the cause.  Her efforts were recognized in 2011 when she was named the regional winner of the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program. She was chosen for the honor from more than 37,000 nominees nationally.

In addition to her work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Lilly also volunteers in the Children’s Department at the local women’s shelter, where she leads various programs for the children. She also has volunteered with the local soup kitchen preparing and serving food, and rings the bell for the Salvation Army.  Lilly hosts her own monthly web show called Community Chat where she highlights volunteerism and the arts from a child's perspective.

Lilly also loves to pursue her creative side.  She is a member of the district honor chorus and also takes voice lessons to grow her talent.  She also recently started guitar lessons. Lilly has acted in local commercials and participated in theatre and comedy improvisation workshops.  She has modeled for print campaigns and fashion shows.  She also enjoys writing, drawing, hanging out with her friends and participating in church activities.

Visit Lilly’s Links:

Brian Guilbeau – Breathe Deep

Community Chat with Lilly Guilbeau

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation



Sugar Free Italian Menu

Don’t you just love Italian cuisine?  It’s so comforting, yet amazingly healthy.  The sugar-free Italian recipes featured below will become your go-to’s when you’re in the mood for basil, tomatoes and pasta.

For delicious, simple and easy, this Minestrone Soup (from Connie J. of NH, posted at Veggie Crock) can’t be beat.  Chickpeas and barley add body to the aromatic tomatoes, garlic and onions.  Thyme and oregano develop the flavors of kale, zucchini and carrots.  Great for everyday or getting well.  Keep a batch in the icebox.

Blend some basil and garlic into this creamy Italian Salad Dressing (from Splenda®, posted at Cooks Recipes).  Don’t tell your family it’s homemade or sugar free.  Let them go on believing you bought a celebrity chef brand. 

Pass around some Flaxseed and Rye Breadsticks (posted at Diabetic Living Online) with your sugar free Italian meal.  With fiber from flaxseeds and Vitamin E from olive oil and honey, they’re simultaneously super healthy and melt-in-your-mouth marvelous.

Garlic and fresh cracked black pepper make this Fettuccine Alfredo (from Mary Creel/Alison Ashton, Cooking Light JANUARY 2007, posted at My Recipes) sing.  It takes the basics of fettuccine, milk and cream cheese to a new level, using lighter choices.

Have your cheese and eat it, too, with Veggie Cheese Ravioli (from Gertrudis Miller of Evansville, IN, posted at Taste of Home).  These ravioli could actually get your kids to eat their vegetables.  Zucchini, tomatoes and olives are an irresistible trio of tastes.

Time for coffee and dessert!  This Biscotti (from Sean Paajanen, former About.com Guide) should be called Now and Later.  Have some now with your espresso or latte, and later take a batch to your holiday cookie exchange.  Loaded with orange zest, walnuts, coconut and dates, you’d do well to keep this twice-baked treat on hand year-round, for breaks, meals and all occasion gifts.

Heavenly Tiramisu, “a website dedicated to the most heavenly dessert on God’s Earth,” offers this Tiramisu from William Bohannon.  Bohannon does his diabetic aunt proud by offering users the options of Marsala wine or raisin extract.  This masterpiece of patisserie features recipes for both the espresso-dipped Ladyfingers and the Mascarpone Mousse.  Look no further.

Visit our Recipe Index for more sumptuous Sugar Free Italian recipes!  Bon appetit.