These fall harvest granola bars were a spur of the moment idea I had, inspired by a Bob’s Red Mill ad for quinoa granola bars. I just saw the colors in the ad’s recipe and knew I’d recreate them eventually. When “eventually” arrived, Danika of Danika Lynn Co. and I planned a cooking/lifestyle shoot I saw this as not only my opportunity to test my recipe idea but to also have the pretty colors photographed. This post’s photos are courtesy of Danika!

If cinnamon rolls are the official breakfast of Christmas morning, these bars are like the official breakfast of Thanksgiving morning. Not that we need breakfast on a full day of binge eating, but hey. They’d fit the part.

Besides that they’re pretty for serving to friends and fam, they’re a pretty overall healthy and whole-food-ingredient recipe, which could be converted to a raw vegan recipe with a few easy swaps (raw nut butter, extra to compensate for the absent brown rice syrup, raw nuts and fruit, and raw chocolate)!

If you’re vegan and don’t have brown rice syrup as a pantry staple, you need to buy a jar and give it a shot. I bet you’ll be hooked. It’s the absolute closest thing to honey we’ve used and it works perfectly as a honey substitute for converting non-vegan recipes to vegan! I just used it in a bread recipe today, and while I’m not entirely sure what honey does for bread, the recipe turned out perfect, sooo… :’D Then again if you don’t find yourself using maple syrup or needing a honey replacement a lot you might not find a use for it. I’m one of those who love to make EVERY non-vegan recipe vegan, so I use it a lot!

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Quick Fall Harvest Granola Bars

Prep Time15 mins

Servings: 8 bars

Ingredients

• 1 fresh pear
• 1/3 cup walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup pistachios
• 3 cups gluten free oats
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 oz chocolate Esspresso-infused dark chocolate is ideal if you can find it! Seattle Chocolate Company makes a bar.
• 1 1/2 cups smooth nut butter
• 1 cup brown rice syrup

Instructions

• Dice pear into fine pieces. The smaller the dicing, the better the bars will hold together in the end
• Lightly chop nuts
• In a large bowl, toss together oats, nuts, pear, cranberries, and cinnamon
• Add nut butter and brown rice syrup to the mixture
• Combine thoroughly, ensuring all of the dry mixture is covered evenly
• Prepare a 9" baking pan by lining with parchment paper, being careful to leave about an inch of overhang around the edges of the pan
• Wet hands and press granola mixture into pan firmly
• Melt chocolate by microwaving in 10 second intervals, stirring between each one
• Drizzle chocolate generously over the mix
• Refrigerate 10-15 minutes
• Lift the pressed mix from pan using the parchment paper and carefully slice into 8 bars. Tip: Wetting the knife before slicing helps, as does using a large knife and pressing into bars then lifting directly up instead of dragging the knife.

If you make the fall harvest granola bars, tag me or send me a pic! I love seeing how you put your touch on these recipes!

This sweet potato pizza is a cold weather recipe if I’ve ever seen one. Warm caramelized sweet potato pieces, savory tofu ricotta, and my secret ingredient pizza sauce all smothered on a toasty from-scratch crust. I don’t know what the weathers like as you’re reading this, but if it’s chilly outside I bet you just realized this is exactly what you didn’t know you needed!

I intended for this to be a butternut squash pizza, but somehow ended up preparing a sweet potatoe pizza instead. My brain knew what my heart wanted! They’re super close in taste and texture though, so I say if you’re feelin’ squash, go with squash. I’ll do that next time, but for now I’ll just take a breather from all the squash I’ve been eating from our garden. Trying to eat 300+ squash/pumpkins before they go bad is even harder than it sounds!

One of the key ingredients in this recipe is the homemade ricotta. I found this recipe over at From My Bowl and I’ve never found any vegan ricotta as close to the real deal as this one! I love how it bakes onto pizzas too, it adds such lovely sustenance.

*Blend blend blend blend blend with tofu, lemon, nutritional yeast, salt and peppa, and garlic*

Then walk away with this delicious treat… I spoon it out of the blender (no food processor here, just a Vitamix), leave it in this container, and store it in the fridge for quite a while. I can’t say for sure how long it’ll stay good, but you could definitely prep it in advance for the holidays. I think the longer it sits in the fridge the more the flavors meld. Definitely should be a staple in a vegan kitchen. It’s a great way to jazz up so many recipes! I use it alllllll the time!

Now about this sweet potato pizza’s CRUST, this is the one I’ve been sharing in my IG stories for like a year or more now. It’s a little clipping *I THINK* I found in a Rachael Ray magazine. It’s super easy if you skip the whole refrigerate forever thing! It’s for sure another card you’ll want in your vegan recipe box. I often make it with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour or cut the regular flour with any other gluten free version. My favorite is making the recipe with 3 cups of all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of coconut flour, then rolling it out in coconut flour. So good!

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Savory Vegan Sweet Potato Pizza

Warm caramelized sweet potato pieces, savory tofu ricotta, and my secret ingredient pizza sauce all smothered on a toasty from-scratch crust.

Prep Time1 hr 15 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Servings: 2 8-inch pizzas

Ingredients

For the crust

• 3 1/2 cups flour (see note above for GF)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 packet quick rise yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Toppings

• 1 medium finely cubed sweet potato, cooked
• pizza sauce
• 2 tbsp maple syrup or brown rice syrup
• 1 handful greens (fresh basil or spinach)
• 1 cup vegan mozzarella shreds
• 1/2 cup vegan cheddar shreds
• 1/2 medium thin sliced red onion

1 recipe vegan ricotta (linked above)

Instructions

• To start the dough for the crust, combine water, 1/2 cup of flour, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes (until foamy on top)
• Add olive oil, salt, then add remaining three cups of flour one cup at a time
• Let rest in a warm place for 1 hour
• Preheat oven to 375
• On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until it becomes a smooth ball
• Separate dough into 2 equal halves
• Roll each piece of dough out on floured surface. Place both crusts on a baking sheet once they are the size/thickness desired for your pizzas
• In a small bowl, whisk together pizza sauce and syrup
• Spread sauce on pizzas and top with remaining ingredients
• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until ricotta and crust turn slightly golden

Just a little FYI in case you’re interested, I’ll be coming up with a fall/winter sample meal plan and sharing it here on the blog! Until then, you can find custom meal plan options here!

I decorated my cutout cookies with plain white icing spread across the entire cookie again, plain and simple. It’s probably the third year in a row I’ve done that, and I started wondering why I like colored Christmas lights and minimally decorated cookies, while others like white Christmas lights and colorfully decorated cookies… Hmmmm.

I can’t tell you where I got the recipe this one is based off of, because that’s top secret. Have no fear, I’m not infringing on anyone’s rights to their content. I got permission to share. 🙂 Consider yourself VERY lucky!

Last year I posted these cannabis-infused sugar cookies which are soft and fluffy and have a light spice to them. Highly recommend trying the recipe, if you’re in a state where it’s legal to do so of course. You can always sub plant-based butter for the dosed coconut oil, you’ll still get a unique delicious cookie! These cutout cookies are comparable in that they hold their shape really well and get a bakery quality taste from my newest baking obsession, almond extract.

The real MVPs of this entire recipe are, of course; vegan butter, egg replacer, and almond extract. Thanks to these heroes, any cookie recipe (basically) can be vegan-ized with a couple simple swaps. The almond extract isn’t for vegan-izing, but it does make a darn good final product. I called this company last year to confirm that the extract was vegan, and they informed me it is. So almond extract in every baked treat, please!

Funny story: when I moved out of my mom’s house years ago, I took all her cookie cutters with me LOL. I didn’t need any other kitchen appliance or tool, I was just seriously concerned I’d have to go the rest of my life without the cookie cutters I grew up with. The metal ones pictured in the recipe’s image below have a sticker on them that says “2/$1” (it looks like a hobby lobby sticker). I can’t bring myself to buy new cookie cutters, not even at the thrift store, because I can’t find them this cheap! I did buy the house cutter from the Magnolia collection at Target a couple years ago because I thought I was going to decorate little gingerbread houses. I was ambitious, but wrong. Ha! I also bought a vintage rabbit cookie cutter at an antique store when I went with my mom years ago in Kansas, but I only use it at Easter.

Decorating cutout cookies was always a tradition at my grandma’s house in Kansas and she had all the classic cookie cutter shapes…. Plus a squirrel. So every year we made and decorated “the Christmas squirrel”.

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Buttery Vegan Cutout Cookies

Soft, buttery, no-spread cutout cookies perfect for decorating for any holiday/event! Made with super simple ingredients, nothing weird.

Prep Time45 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups Melt Organic vegan butter
• 1 cup organic brown sugar
• 1/3 cup egg replacer (Bob's Red Mill powdered egg replacer or aquafaba work well here)
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions

• In a large bowl cream butter, vanilla, almond extract, and sugars
• Blend in egg replacer and salt
• Add flour one cup at a time
• Place bowl in freezer for 10 minutes
• Preheat oven to 350
• Prepare a surface for rolling out dough
• Separate dough into two halves and roll out one half at a time
• Cut cookie shapes out of dough and place on a cookie sheet. Spacing shouldn't be a concern as long as they're not touching, because they won't spread
• Bake each batch of cookies for 7 minutes for a softer cookie or 10 minutes (until golden brown) for a crunchy final product.
• Remove cookies from pan to avoid over cooking and rest on a cooling rack before frosting

For a basic icing recipe: whisk 1/2 C vegan butter, 1/2 C shortening, 1tsp vanilla, 1 tbsp plant milk, and about 3 C organic powdered sugar (add more if icing is too runny). Separate into a few small bowls and add vegan food coloring to each (optional)

I’d love to see how yours come out! Tag me on IG @beamingveganblog, message me, whatever! It warms my heart to see that you value these plant-based recipes 🙂

Apple crumble bars! They’re here, they’re here! Just in time to be added to your Thanksgiving baking list… I’m sure you already have the ingredients in your pantry and fridge, so it will be easy to add them to the menu and impress your vegan or gluten-free guests!

These buttery, caramel-y, crumble-y bars are one of my very favorite gluten free desserts. I made this same recipe with regular all-purpose flour the first time and the crust set up a little too hard, but with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour the crust holds the bars together just enough without being too dominating.

We won’t even get into how good this topping is… I just want to make a pan of it and eat it out of a bowl like cereal. Totally normal, no? :’D

Note: These pictures capture my fave way to enjoy the apple crumble, warm and fresh out of the oven. If you’re serving them for a holiday they are perfect for making a day in advance and refrigerating because the caramel-y sauce will be less gooey and the bars will hold together more like a finger food. Fresh out of the oven or cold and sliceable, doesn’t matter! They’ll be delish both ways!

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Vegan/Gluten-Free Apple Crumble Bars

Gooey, caramel-y, spiced apple pie bars with a buttery crumble topping and gluten free crust.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Refrigerate3 hrs

Servings: 10 people

Ingredients

For the crust

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter (1 baking stick)
• 1/4 cup organic sugar
• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour

For the filling

• 4 finely sliced honeycrisp apples (the thinner the slices the more held together your bars will be in the end!)
• 1/2 cup organic sugar
• 1/3 cup organic brown sugar
• 2 heaping tbsp apple pie spice

For the topping

• 1 cup gluten free quick oats
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup any type of gluten free flour (almond flour works great but if you don't have it feel free to use the baking flour!)
• 1/2 cup organic brown sugar

(Optional) Icing

• 1 cup organic powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp plant milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375
• Grease or line a 3 quart baking dish
• Prepare crust by combing the three ingredients. You may have to use your hands to ensure butter is evenly incorporated
• Press crust dough into pan using a spatula. Be sure the dough is spread flat and isn't thicker in some areas
• In a large bowl, toss together filling ingredients
• Spread filling across crust evenly
• Using the same bowl, combine topping ingredients. This is best done by hand as well. You should end up with pea-sized crumbles
• Sprinkle topping over the filling in pan
• Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the crust at the bottom of the dish is visibly starting to brown. It should be a deep gold color by the time it is removed from the oven
• Cool in the fridge for a few hours and then drizzle with icing (optional)
• Separate into squares using a sturdy spatula. A knife pulls on apples and causes the bars to disassemble

If you make these be sure to let me know what you think or tag me on IG! It warms my heart to see these plant based recipes shared!

Also, I think I’m going to start making the effort to get pictures of the process and write step-by-steps with images along with the recipe style used above. Let me know if this is something you’d find helpful or if you don’t think it matters 🙂

If you need more vegan dessert ideas for the holidays be sure to check out this post for the best vegan chocolate chip cookies or find me on Pinterest for tonnnnns of recipe ideas!

Let me just start with: This is not a sponsored post… I’m bragging on my fave cruelty-free bath and body things because it took an exceptionally long time to find those perfect repeat-purchase items. Hopefully this takes some of that elbow grease out for you and you can keep that money you’d have spent trial-ing “the best” products (that are never as good as they claim).

I had some major skin issues a while back (I talked about this in my gut health series) and wasted so much money in the process of finding a healthy, healing, vegan AND cruelty-free solution. I shopped the top shelf, tried all the DIYs, and surfed through shelves of every natural/health store.

A couple products ticked all the boxes and were consistently healing without losing that effect over time. These include:

Psorzema by Derma E. I started with this one. I had terrible eczema and was cycling through dozens of products and treatments when I found it. (My skin was so terrible that I misdiagnosed with scabies one time! No joke!) The first time I used it I felt immediate relief and was stoked that for the first time in my treatment there was no weird smell, residue, or texture to the lotion. I kept using it and my skin only healed more and more with each use. It kept me from scratching my arms to blisters, and not only that but I didn’t have any visible sign of eczema or scratching at all. Although I’ve healed the root cause of my skin issues at his point, I still have a tub of this cream and use it EVERY day just to keep my skin hydrated and keep the eczema in check. The cold PNW climate does a number on my hands but one use of this and any sign of dry skin is gone. It has more power than any prescription cream I’ve been given over the years except it’s vegan and made of natural and safe ingredients. I swear by this lotion and I can’t stress that enough! Find it at Natural Grocers and Whole Foods.

The Seaweed Bath Co. also makes a really great body cream, although I haven’t used it as long and can’t say as much about it. I have used other products from this brand for about a year now and everything I’ve used has been amazing. The credibility of this brand is actually what led us to grabbing a tube of their lotion at a recent Natural Grocers visit. My hands were insanely dry and wrinkly and I didn’t have any of the previously mentioned lotion on hand so I used a little of this and it kept my hands smooth for hours! Also perfectly unscented and not too heavy or oily. Try this one, I promise it won’t disappoint. I find these items at Natural Grocers and Thrive Market.

If you’ve been vegan for any time at all I assume you’ve found your ride-or-die cruelty-free shampoo/conditioner brands. I thought my go-to was Nature’s Gate, and that’s still a very close runner up, but about six months ago I switched to Seed Phytonutrients and, assuming I follow a normal hair care routine, it’s been a miracle worker. My only complaint about this one would be the lack of lather. I always feel like I need to use extra because I can’t feel that it’s really getting in there- but it is. The entire anti-frizz collection is a true keeper! You can find Seed Phytonutrients at Ulta and Thrive Market, and Nature’s Gate can be found at Natural Grocers.

Let’s see, what else do you want to know about what I put on my body… :’D

Toothpaste! I acted like I had to think about what I wanted to share, knowing all the while I’m just writing this post for this toothpaste feature. Haha! My ALL TIME FAVORITE toothpaste brand of all toothpaste brands, flouride, flouride-free, vegan, cruelty-free, etc. is Dr. Brite. They have grown-up tubes of toothpaste with kids flavors (Coco Chai is a flavor now? What?!), but that’s not why I love them. I’m the type to really appreciate a good foam at the mouth when I’m brushing, and this does that for me. So much foam and bubbles and freshness… Your teeth will feel extra clean for hours following. There’s no harsh artificial chemical-y too-strong-mint flavor with any of them. All the flavors taste so natural and leave your breath fresh and mouth clean. At risk of sounding completely crazy here, I would like to point out that I have actually healed my teeth with a whole foods plant based diet and natural toothpaste. I did this by accident and when I realized it I did my research and found out this is indeed a thing! Try it!

I recently also started using the Dr. Brite whitening pen for coffee and tea drinkers and was skeptical about it because the ingredient list looks like a bunch of herbs and natural components that I’ve never heard of using for whitening, but it’s better than any whitener I’ve tried. Now if only I can remember to use it consistently enough that it has ample opportunity to do it’s thang… I Get Dr. Brite products at Natural Grocers and Thrive Market.

My favorite cruelty-free shower gel/body wash/soap actually consists of three products and brands I alternate between, but I’ll start with my most used and work my way down to one I just recently fell in love with.

1. Nature’s Gate body wash
2. Mountain Madness Soap Company Fresh Herbs scent (This is a local company, but ordering from their website is super easy)
3. Whatever that new holiday soap at Natural Grocers is… As soon as I find it I’ll link back to it. If you know what the brand is, please do tell! I just finished a bar of the pine scent and it smells like Christmas. They also have a peppermint scent, almond scent, and bath bombs.

I think the only thing we have left to cover is deo! I used a locally made, natural, vegan, cruelty-free, zero-waste deodorant for about one and a half years before it started causing some serious rashes in the underarm area. They got so bad I’d have the hardest time falling asleep just because my pits were so itchy and inflamed! Not sure why this happened so out of the blue, but I kept using because until then this deodorant had been the best I’ve ever used, and I thought it was a fluke!

Anyway, about 6 months ago I switched to Herban Cowboy (in the Blossom scent) and I still love this one, Griffin uses the man version of this which is also great. Then I found out one of my favorite house cleaning brands Love Home and Planet has a vegan body care line, Love Beauty and Planet. I started using their Lavender deodorant and haven’t regretted it a bit. It smells amazing all day and works like magic. You can find this one at Target!

That about sums it up! I tried to link all the products mentioned in their spot on the post but basically you can find these things at Natural Grocers, Thrive Market (online), Amazon, or Target. Feel free to reach out if you want to know the best place to find something!

Of all the dozens of plants we are gardening this year, these tomatoes from Floret are my faaaaavorite. They’re so rich and flavorful and unique, but on top of all that they’re so easy to grow and they fruit like crazy!

I started them all inside really early….. like, March early… Which is insane for the PNW unless you have a greenhouse. Oops, guess I was a little over zealous 😉 They got really big in the house and when it was time for them to go outside Griffin lined their pots along the edges of the patio. I was really apprehensive about a tomato-lined patio at first, but today as I lay in the hammock and pluck decadent treats from beside me, I’m fully appreciating his idea!

Helius really appreciates lounging around the plants, too 🙂

I made the cherry tomato sauce using a blender. If you want to smash it with a fork or leave the tomatoes whole or whatever else is convenient for you, please do that! I will point out that you’ll need a blender or food processor for the creamier version, which I HIGHLY recommend trying. It’s like a sweet vodka sauce… Very unique, super delish! Just trust me on this one!

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Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Tomato Cavatappi

Homemade, garden-fresh tomato sauce in an original + creamy version served over my favorite gluten-free pasta!

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

• 1 box Banza chickpea cavatappi gluten-free spaghetti would do fine but trust me when I say you'll want that sauce pooled up in the pasta spirals!
• 2 tbsp (good) olive oil
• 4-5 small tomatoes
• 2 cups chocolate cherry tomatoes any cherry tomatoes from your garden will do the trick, the more robust the flavor, the better!
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar I used apricot balsamic vinegar, which if you can get your hands on, will take this to the next level I swear it!
• 1/2 medium diced onion
• 1 clove minced garlic
• handful of fresh basil
• 2 tsp smoked sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

(For creamy version)

• 2 cups soaked cashews
• 2 tbsp plant milk
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in large cast iron skillet over medium heat
• Add tomatoes and without stirring let them simmer for 5 minutes
• Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook pasta in it
• Drizzle tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and gently stir to combine
• Toss in onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and give another gentle stir
• Let simmer for 5 minutes
• Add sauce mixture to blender and pulse until tomato skins become unnoticeable
• To make the creamy sauce, add extra ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth
• Pour sauce of choice over cavatappi and serve warm

Before we get started here I just want to say thanks so much to Coconut Bliss for sponsoring this post! I basically indulged in some Coconut Bliss between every meal in Hawaii, because… vacation, right?!

Now to get to business… Let’s talk food!

I traveled to Hawaii with my non-vegan family and dining together in strange places took a little patience and planning, so here’s what I ate! :

1. I stopped at Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods and picked up all the Coconut Bliss I could get my hands on! Ice cream bars for the beach, ice cream cookie sandwiches for road tripping, and pints for filling the condo’s freezer. This one was a real crowd-pleaser the whole family could got their hands on!
2. Maui itself is vegan-friendly enough to offer a few plant-based restaurant options. At one of these joints we had a raw veggie burrito and breakfast burrito.
3. I took advantage of farmers markets, fruit stands, and other outdoor food markets which I guess would be considered food stands but also strike me as a mix of a farmers market and fruit stand… Ya know? If you’ve been to Maui you’ll know what I’m talking about! I got a “fruit canoe” at one of these places. It was where I had my first whole Hawaiian avocado and it was heavenly!
4. Dining with the family at restaurants offering little to no vegan options, I created something suitable with menu items like salads, fries, etc. and it was in one of these settings that I had orange vinaigrette, which was basically life changing. 😛
5. Sushi!! In an area packed with seafood restaurants, don’t forget sushi can be made vegan and can be a really healthy option!