Today’s treat is Spiced Chocolate Chia Pudding, a sweet and spicy Fall favorite of mine that’s yummy enough to be a dessert, but healthy enough to enjoy for breakfast.  In case you’ve been missing out on the chia goodness until now, they’re an easily digested, high fiber, nutrition-packed seed that form a gel when mixed with liquid and take on the taste of whatever you mix them with.  When left whole they remind me of tiny tapioca.  When mixed with chocolate they become a tasty and wholesome way to indulge your sweet tooth.  I love chia seeds almost as much as I love Fall.

Spiced Chocolate Chia Pudding

• 1/2 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2 cups coconut milk beverage (or nut milk of your choice)
• 1/3 cup raw cashews
• 1/2 cup agave or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• pinch sea salt

Stir together the chia seeds and shredded coconut in a mixing bowl.

In a high powered blender mix together the rest of the ingredients until completely smooth. Stir the wet mix into the seed mixture.

Let sit for 15 minutes and stir again. At this point the pudding can be divided into individual serving cups or left in the bowl to refrigerate. I like to put mine in 8 ounce juice glasses. Refrigerate at least 2-3 hours before serving. Makes about 4 servings.

Now, this recipe is super flexible so you can make this completely raw or less raw depending on your nut milk, sweetener and cacao vs. cocoa.  It’s just a little bit spicy.  Adding more cayenne will heat it up if you’re into that sort of thing.  Enjoy!

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Healthy, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Hi everyone and thank you for the opportunity to guest post on the amazing xgfx site! My name is Carrie and I’m the author of Carrie on Vegan, a blog for healthy, plant-based recipes.

This is me at the pumpkin patch last weekend. Clearly, I love pumpkins:

Before I get to today’s recipe, let me tell you a little about me. I’ve been vegan for just over a year for reasons of animal welfare, health and environmental protection. I am really passionate about using food to prevent and treat chronic disease, so much so that I am pursuing a career change to become a registered dietitian and earning my master’s degree in public health nutrition. For more about me, please click here.

My interest in gluten-free cooking began just this past summer when I developed food allergies and total body hives. Yikes! After about a month of itching I realized I better start avoiding common allergens including gluten. My allergic reaction symptoms immediately improved and my hives have steadily diminished. The more reading I did on gluten and grains in general, the more I learned how common these sensitivities are.

So, I am really at the beginning of a gluten-free diet, but I am looking at the experience as a creative challenge to learn to cook and eat a new way. Life without wheat and other foods I am avoiding is sad in some ways, but in other ways I am simply grateful to have my health back.

When I was deciding on a recipe to develop for this guest post I realized I was craving some muffins to serve along with all of the comforting soups and stews I’ve been making.

As mentioned, I visited my local farm stand last weekend where the pumpkins were rampant!

I love the transition from summer to fall and all of the wonderful squashes:

The recipe I developed is a Healthy, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Muffin. It’s healthy because, like all my recipes, it has no added sugar, salt or fat. In other words, it’s a whole-food recipe.

It’s also very simple to make!

First, you will need to preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Then, combine two cups of garbanzo bean flour, one tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice, 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds and ½ cup of raisins in a large bowl. If you like, you can also add ¼ cup of chopped walnuts for extra crunch.

Next, use a high-speed blender to combine 1 cup of unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used soy milk) with 10 pitted Medjool (large-sized) dates. Add ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce, ½ teaspoon of vanilla and ½ cup of pumpkin puree (I used canned).

You’ll get this aromatic mixture:

Stir or whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and divide into a lightly oiled muffin tin:

30-35 minutes later and you’ll have a delicately sweet muffin that has great texture and flavor.

Thanks again for the opportunity to guest post during VeganMoFo, and please come and say hi on my blog. You can also find me on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Hello to all who MoFo! With Canadian Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’ve been thinking about food. (Oh, wait, I always think about food. Anyway. . .). What I mean by that is: I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving-related food.

And when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of rich, dense, and toothsome nut roasts, savory pies, casseroles and other labor-intensive, slow-cooking main courses. I think of rich, creamy, mousse-like desserts and sticky, sweet, flaky-crusted pies. I think of au gratin vegetable bakes, Brussels sprouts, root vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes.

But mostly, I think about cranberries. What would Thanksgiving be without cranberries, right?

This recipe is a Thanksgiving-themed version of one that appeared on my blog some time ago, revamped to include both pumpkin and the ubiquitous ruby berries. It’s blended and then baked for a smooth, luscious pumpkin-kissed interior that’s fragrant with autumn spices and dotted with juicy cranberries throughout. It’s wonderful served warm right from the oven, but also fantastic the next day, straight from the fridge (and I must admit that I prefer the cold version!).

Certainly, this pudding is healthy enough to eat for breakfast, but once baked, it becomes so thick, rich and silky smooth that it takes on more qualities of dessert (and, in fact, when I offered some to my hubby for brunch, he turned it down, saying, “That’s too much like a pudding for breakfast—I’ll eat some after dinner, with cream.”). If you bake it in a fancy ceramic casserole or springform pan, call it a soufflé and set it out for dessert at your Thanksgiving meal with some Coconut Whipped Cream, and I guarantee you’ll be the hit of the holiday this year.

Baked Pumpkin-Cranberry Oatmeal Pudding
Adapted from this recipe

Partway between a mousse, a pudding and a custard, this baked dessert bears no resemblance to regular oatmeal (except, of course, that it’s highly addictive).

1/2 cup (75 g) lightly toasted hazelnuts (filberts), with skin
1/2 cup (75 g) lightly toasted walnut pieces
2/3 cup (100 g) old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant or quick-cook)
1 cup (240 ml) packed pumpkin purée
2 tsp (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp-1/4 cup (30-60 ml) agave nectar or maple syrup, to your taste*
1 Tbsp (15 ml) cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) ground ginger
1 tsp (5 ml) Chinese 5-Spice powder (or use 1/8 tsp/.5 ml cloves and about 1 tsp more cinnamon, to taste)
1/8 tsp (.5 lm) fine sea salt
1-1/4 cups (300 ml) unsweetened plain or vanilla soy, almond, rice or hemp milk
1 cup (240 ml) cranberries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw if frozen)

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 4-6 cup (1-1.5 L) casserole dish and set aside.

Place all ingredients except for cranberries in the bowl of a high-speed blender and blend until smooth (you will need to scrape down the sides as you go). If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you can still make the pudding, this way: place nuts, oats, and milk in a blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Add remaining ingredients except for cranberries and blend until smooth (you may have to blend this part in smaller batches).

Pour the mixture into the casserole dish, then gently fold in the cranberries (scatter a few extra berries over the top as garnish if you like, as they won’t sink).

Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, rotating the casserole dish about halfway through, until the edges begin to puff and crack and the top appears dry (it will still seem unbaked in the middle—this is how it should be). Allow to cool about 10 minutes before scooping out and serving; may be served warm, at room temperature, or cold. Top with coconut whipped cream, if desired. Makes 4-6 servings. Store, covered, for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, or freeze.

This post is linked to Ricki’s October SOS Challenge.

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I love pancakes. To say I have an obsession would be an understatement. It’s more like an obsessed obsession.

Did that make any sense?

I am forever experimenting with every possible variety and variation of pancakes I can think of—with different ingredients and flour combos, I’ve done banana herb pancakes, chocolate pancakes, and cookie dough pancakes (eek!). Another brilliant discovery was the savory pancake—perfect for a veggie sandwich, or a classic pb&j.

But whether or not you go the traditional margarine and syrup route or aim for a more gourmet twist, these pancakes can fit the bill. What with their ever so slight sweetness and multi-purpose crumb, they are like a healthier, more whole-food version of a normal white-flour pancake, utilizing tapioca starch for a fluffier texture. It’s a great way to sneak that bean and whole grain goodness into your family– and might I recommend mixing some berries or chocolate chips into the batter?

You won’t be disappointed.

Light and Moist xGFx Pancakes

2 cups garbanzo bean flour

½ cup tapioca or arrowroot starch

½ cup brown rice flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Optional: sweetener (stevia, sugar, agave, etc.)

1 ½ – 2 cups water, more if needed

½ cup applesauce

1 tablespoon vinegar

Optional add-ins: dried fruit, chocolate chips, berries, nuts, etc.

Begin heating one or more cooking pans over low to medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk together the garbanzo, arrowroot/tapioca, and rice flour, in addition to the baking soda and optional sweetener. Combine dry together well, then incorporate the water—the more water, the thinner the pancake. Add optional add-ins to this almost-completed batter.

Depending on what pan you use, grease the pan if you wish. Just before cooking, stir the vinegar into the batter to activate the baking soda’s leavening properties. Ladle approximately a ¼ cup (more or less depending on you desired pancake size), and allow the heat to make bubbles form throughout the pancake. Flip and cook through on the other side. I can’t give a definite time for each side to be cooked, since different sizes and thickness determine that. Check the middle of the pancake for the first few to get the feel for your particular batch.

Serving and storage:

Great served hot plain or with sides and toppings (nut butter is highly recommended). Leftovers can be stored at room temperature for up to a day, and any leftovers put in the freezer inside an airtight bag or container. These can be made ahead and frozen, to be toasted or microwave for quick breakfasts!

thai, tabasco, fish and habanero peppers

This week we’re here to spread some summery links. Stay cool, everyone – and enjoy!

Kris whips up a Gluten-Free Short­cake with Coconut Cream to make summer that much more awesome!

Harini of Tongue Ticklers makes the loveliest looking Thin Crust Cherry Tart.

Leanna brings us more berry goodness with these Berry Pastry Jam Rolls of deliciousness!

Just use gluten-free oats to make PeaSoupEat’s PB, Banana & Chocolate Baked Oatmeal to make your morning shine!

There’s no such thing as too much berry goodness…and if it’s blueberries you love check out Jenna’s Blueberry Almond Tart. Things couldn’t get simplier or more scrumptious!

Potatoes and peas go together just as well as carrots and peas do, and Free From The Three confirms it with this summery Potato, Pea, and Rosemary Soup.

We wanted to take a moment to thank all of the amazing folks who have contributed to recipes.xgfx and invite anyone out there who may not know about this part of our site to check it out!

recipes.xgfx is a community driven resource featuring recipes that are 100% gluten-free and vegan. There’s a ton of great stuff on there thanks to the generous folks who have shared with us!

there you’ll find these tasty treats (and many more!):

Scrumptious' Summer Bounty Gratin

River's Mint Chip Ice Cream

Erin's Onion Rings with Thai Dipping Sauce

Izzy's Creamy Fettuccine Alfredo with Carrot and Zucchini Pasta

Kat's Tofu Chocolate Pudding

Sarah's Amazing Homemade Vegan Bacon

Yum.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped to make this growing resource what it is!!

If you enjoy creating your own xgfx recipes and would like to contribute, we’d be thrilled to have you share. It’s easy… just sign up here!

Happy Thursday!