It was easy to make. I didn’t have apple cider, so I used apple juice instead. It tasted great anyhow. I hope you try the recipe and enjoy it as much as we did.
Recipe: http://www.wheatfreemeatfree.com/kale-apple-shitake-risotto/

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

for the salad:

• 1 cup barley
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
• 1 pear, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• 3 cups vegetable bouillon

for the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons walnut oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons agave or maple syrup
• 1 generous teaspoon vegetable bouillon powder

Directions:

1. Cook the barley in 3 cups vegetable bouillon until the barley is soft.
2. When the barley is cooked (about 1/2 hour), drain of the excess liqid and place the barley in bowl.
3. Cool the barley in the refrigerator.
4. Place the raisins ia small bowl and cover with boiling water.
5. Chop the walnuts and toast in a dry frying pan, stirring constantly to keep from burning.
6. Chop the leafy parts of the parsley very finely.
7. Mix the ingredients for the dressing and season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Bring the barey from the refrigerator.
9. Mix in the waluts.
10. Drain the excess water from the raisins and add them to the salad.
11. Mix in the parsley and stir the dressing over the top.
12. Mix once again well so that all the pieces have been seasoned with the dressing. Peel the pear slice along the core and chop the slices into small pieces.
13. Add the pear pieces to the salad and mix.
14. Serve the salad cooled, but at room temperature.

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:

for the pancakes:

• 2 cups wholewheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons agave or maple syrup
• 1 capful vanilla extract
• oil for the frying pan

for the strawberry syrup:

• 1/2 cup strawberry jam
• 1/3 cup water
• splash lemon juice
• 1 pint of strawberries

Directions:

to make the pancake batter:

1. Place flour, baking powder salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, combine the soy milk, vanilla 1/2 cup water and the syrup.
3. Fifteen minutes before serving the pancakes, combine the wet ingredients with the dry and mix.
4. This will be a thick batter, allow the batter to set for 10 minutes.

to make the strawberry syrup:

1. Clean and slice the strawberries.
2. Add the strawberry jam, water and splash of lemon juice in a small sauce pan.
3. Mix well and bring to a gentle heat to melt the jam.
4. Add most of the sliced strawberries, saving a few as fresh garnish.

to make the pancakes:

1. If the batter is still too thick, use the other 1/4 cup of water to thin the batter. It should be a thick batter, but slightly liquid.
2. Heat a small amount of oil in a large non-stick frying pan and ladle the batter into the pan.
3. Allow small bubbles to form in the center of the pancakes, then flip over.
4. Serve the pancakes with strawberry syrup and garnished with a couple of fresh strawberries.

The dressing is quit important and we deviated a bit from the original. We made elderberry vinegar in the late summer and used that, we used walnut oil, and a sweet grainy mustard. We sweetened the dressing with agave so that the dressing was not to dark in color otherwise, we would have used elderberry syrup. The combination was delicious, and so nice to be eating fresh in winter. We hope you try this tasty salad that was published by the Vegetarian Times in March 2010.

We also made a light vinaigrette dressing from olive oil, lemon juice and some taco seasoning. Spelt or whole wheat tortillas were not available, so we used whole wheat pitas and also made pita sandwiches as well as wraps. The pita bread does not wrap well. I hope you give this nice recipe a try, it’s very tasty.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2-3 tablespoon sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups prepared chestnuts, chopped
• 2 apples
• 1 tablespoon vegan margarine
• 1 lemon or lime juice
• 1 tablespoon agave
• pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch cinnamon

Directions:

1. Warm the water in a small saucepan.
2. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons sugar as well as the chopped chestnuts.
3. Cook the mixture on a low heat.
4. Cut the apples in half, remove the seeds and core.
5. Melt the vegan margarine in a frying pan.
6. Place the apples, cut side down in the melted margarine and cook the apples for 10 minutes to soften.
7. Puree the chestnuts to make a soft, smooth puree.
8. Season to taste with a pinch of salt and possibly another tablespoon of sugar or agave.
9. Remove the apples from the frying pan.
10. Zest the outside of the lemon or lime and squeeze the juice.
11. Mix the lemon and zest with the agave syrup.
12. Add the 1 tablespoon of sugar to the pan and cook to caramelize the sugar.
13. Return the apples to the pan and lightly dredge the apples through the caramelized sugar to coat the top of the apple. Place the apple on a plate to serve and dust with cinnamon.
14. Fill the hollow where the core and seeds had been with the chestnut mixture.
15. Drizzle the lemon zested syrup over the top or around the plate and serve warm.

The recipe is very tasty and we enjoyed having our own fruit in the winter. I do suggest you put the spices in a mulling bag as suggested on the blog, as otherwise, you will be picking individual cloves and star anise pieces out from the compote. Instead of Greek yogurt we used plain soy yogurt. This is  a very nice, sweet treat to enjoy over the winter.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

for the dressing:

• 4 tablespoons walnut or pumpkin seed oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon sweet grainy mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1-2 tablespoons syrup (maple, agave, or fruit)
• pinch salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon Thai sweet spicy sauce (optional)

for the salad:

• 1 & 1/2 cups pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and grated
• 1 & 1/2 cups apple chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• red chicory or radicchio

Directions:

to mix the dressing:

1. Place the oil, mustard, syrup, ginger and lemon juice in a cup or small bowl.
2. Mix well.
3. Add the salt and pepper and Thai sauce if desired.

to make the salad:

1. Peel and grate the pumpkin or winter squash.
2. Place the grated pumpkin in a bowl.
3. Chop the apple in small pieces or optionally grate.
4. Add the apple pieces to the grated pumpkin.
5. Add the raisins and stir to mix.
6. Chop the walnut pieces.
7. Add most of the walnut pieces to the salad, reserving a few pieces as garnish.
8. Add the dressing to the salad and mix well.
9. Clean the red chicory or radicchio and separate the leaves.
10. Place a leaf on each salad plate as a cup to hold the salad.
11. Fill the leaf with the salad.
12. Top with a few walnut pieces and optionally garnish with a parsley leaf or chervil leaf.

In general it has mild flavors that do come together to make a very tasty meal. The recipe was simple to veganize by substituting vegan cheese for the feta. Her blog is bi-lingal, just scroll down for the English version.

Yield: 12

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 2 egg replacements (I used No-Egg from Orgran)
• 8 tablespoon vegan margarine, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup apple, peeled and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F / 177 C.
2. Grease the muffin pans and paper muffin liners.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder cinnamon, ginger and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg replacement and sugar.
5. Add the melted, cooled vegan margarine, non-dairy milk and vanilla.
6. Put the chopped apples and cranberries in the dry mixture and mix lightly. This will allow the fruits to stay suspended in the mixture rather than dropping all down to the bottom.
7. Fold the wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mixing until just moistened.
8. Spoon into prepared pans, 3/4 of the way full for each muffin.
9. Bake large muffins 25 to 30 minutes or miniature muffins about 20 minutes.