The Happy Gluten Free Vegan

Here’s a really easy Thanksgiving dessert, in fact it may be the queen of easy Thanksgiving recipes! And if you’re wondering what to do with those leftover sweet potatoes or with that can of sweet potato puree, this is it! Our sweet potato pudding is the perfect last minute addition to any table (Thanksgiving, breakfast, after dinner, you name it) and the perfect way to use up those sweet potatoes!

Think that gluten-free vegan scones are impossible? Or that making your own vegan and gluten-free scones is complicated or difficult? Think again, because our vegan scone recipe is gluten-free, easy, uses regular ingredients that you almost certainly already have, and, best of all, it’s delicious! In fact, these scones are (or can be made to be) reminiscent of the maple oat scones of Starbucks fame, if you like!

Even though the Just company doesn’t recommend it, you can freeze Just Egg just fine (see what we did there?), and neither you nor the Just Egg will suffer any ill effects. Now, to be clear, we are talking about bottles of Just Egg, the kind that you find in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Just Egg does also put out a frozen, precooked product, called Just Egg Folded, that you pop in the toaster and then put on a sandwich; that’s not what we are talking about here – we’re talking about the original, liquid Just Egg.

We love us some hash brown potatoes, and we particularly like the shelf-stable cartons of dried hashbrowns (the manufacturer has it as one word even though technically it’s two words) that you can get from Costco. You just open the top of the carton, pour in boiling water, and let it sit for 12 minutes: presto! Enough shredded raw hashed potatoes to feed a small army – if that army is 2-4 people. The carton says it makes seven servings, but c’mon, who do they think they’re kidding?

You will not believe how easy it is to make homemade cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. Don’t like cranberry sauce? If your entire experience with cranberry sauce is with that gelatinous stuff from a can, we urge you to try fresh cranberry sauce. The difference is night and day. It’s like the difference between canned green beans and fresh green beans, or canned mushrooms and fresh mushrooms, or…well you get the point.

With the holidays coming up, we figured we’d share our super-easy, super-yummy, vegan, gluten-free ginger snaps recipe! Of course, while we’re writing this in November (hence the reference to the holidays), ginger snaps are good any time of year!

The following recipe is contributed by Chef Andrea Young, founder of Sweet Vegan in New York City. We have had Sweet Vegan’s chocolates, and we’re here to tell you that they are amazing! And if you aren’t in or near New York City, you can order them online and they will ship them to you!

Whether you call it vegan shepherd’s pie, vegan cottage pie, or vegan hachis parmentier, this easy and delicious gluten-free vegan recipe will delight you! Made entirely with shelf-stable products, the majority of which we get from Costco, this is a perfect recipe to make from things you have on hand in your pantry (and so it is both a ‘quarantine recipe’ and a ‘Costco recipe’).

We’re huge fans of vegan cheese sauce. Vegan cheese sauce made from cashews, vegan cheese sauce made from coconut milk, you name just about any vegan cheese sauce made from pretty much anything, and we’re there. So we were surprised to realize one day that we’d never had, let alone made, a vegan cheese sauce out of tofu! Like, how obvious is that?

If you are mourning the disappearance of Costco’s all-natural organic peanut butter, take heart! It’s easier and, we think, better to make your own! And you can make it smooth or chunky! All you need is a food processor and organic peanuts, and you can use either raw peanuts or roasted peanuts!

Here’s how to cook your pasta right in the sauce with your Instant Pot or other digital, electronic pressure cooker! With this method you can create a wonderful one-pot meal in no time, and with no fuss! It’s so easy, and it works for both regular and gluten-free pasta!

If you are struck by a sudden craving for almond cookies, this is the recipe for you! Easy, gluten-free, vegan, and utterly delicious, these cookies will definitely hit the spot! They are reminiscent of those almond cookies that you get at a Chinese restaurant, although if you are used to the super-crunchy almond cookies from a Chinese restaurant, these are a bit softer and chewier (which frankly we prefer – fewer crumbs and no sharp edges stabbing you in the gums or the roof of your mouth!)

Everybody needs adequate good fat in their diet, yet many people don’t get enough good fat, or even pay attention to the amount of fat they eat on a daily basis. While the term “fat bomb” may not be familiar to you (unless you or someone you know is doing a keto diet), homemade vegan fat bombs are a great way to help make sure that your body gets enough of the good fat that it needs for brain and organ function, vitamin and nutrient absorption, and hormone and energy production.

Gluten-free vegan carrot cake is one of the holy grails of those who are gluten-free and vegan, isn’t it? Maybe even the holy grail. Fortunately, as you’re probably aware, gluten-free vegan desserts are much tastier than the poor rep they so often receive. They are often way more delicious and complex than the nut and seed bars you probably ate when you were first exploring a vegan lifestyle. This incredible carrot cake contains no gluten or animal products whatsoever; you’ll be in gluten-free vegan heaven at the first bite.

If you are unable to use or don’t have access to fresh celery to juice, but want to start your day with celery juice, you may have opted for celery juice powder. Now you have the celery powder, but have no idea how much celery juice powder is equal to one bunch of celery – which is the amount it is recommended you use when juicing fresh celery. Well, we researched this, contacting leading companies that produce celery juice powder, and here’s what we found out.

So many people have asked “Can you cook pasta right in the sauce in the Instant Pot?” and the answer is yes! You can cook the sauce and pasta together at the same time in an Instant Pot! Here’s how! We call this a Costco recipe because we use one or more ingredients from Costco, but of course you don’t have to.

Isn’t it funny how some vegan recipes are even easier to make than their non-vegan counterparts? That’s the case with this vegan chocolate mousse, and this isn’t just any old chocolate mousse! This is an almond joy chocolate mousse! We use the almond butter and maple syrup from Costco in this recipe.

Did you know that you can make vegan jerky out of tofu? Even if you knew that, this vegan tofu jerky recipe is going to rock your world! It’s delicious, it’s so very good for you, and it’s so darned easy to make! If you have a dehydrator use that, but if you don’t have a dehydrator you can also use your oven. The House brand (which is the name of the brand, as compared to “house brand”, which means the store’s own brand) of tofu at Costco is great for this, and is what we use, but you can use any brand of firm, water-packed refrigerated tofu.

Sometimes the easiest things are the best, and that is definitely true for these caramelized sweet potatoes! This recipe is a healthy way to enjoy sweet potatoes, and because it’s a baked sweet potato recipe you don’t even have to babysit it! What could be easier? Of course, it’s also true that while something can be easy as pie (or easy as sweet potatoes, in this case, even easier than pie!), if you don’t know about it, it doesn’t matter how easy it is. And that’s why we have written this up for you! And check it out, if you have a Costco nearby you can get 6 1/2 pounds of organic sweet potatoes for $10!

We did it! We veganized honey walnut shrimp, that dish found coast to coast in Chinese restaurants and made popular by Panda Express! And we can’t wait to tell you how we did it! There are a few steps to this (pressing and marinating the tofu, preparing the sauce, preparing the sugar syrup which takes the place of the honey) but we promise you that it’s easy, and well worth it!