Recipe Category Archives: Vanilla Bean Levana Meal Replacement

Vegan Apricot Oat Bars Recipe

By on March 10, 2017 in

adapted from Levana Cooks, using Vanilla Bean Levana Nourishments

apricot oat bar

My oat bars are incredibly easy and wonderful!

There is nothing I don’t do with oats, even mud packs and hair rinses (which of course I don’t eat, or drink, respectively: Relax!)

No problem whatsoever adapting these apricot oat bars to gluten-free!

I love them with apricot jam, but you can make them with seedless all-fruit raspberry preserves too! All-fruit preserves are increasingly easy to find in supermarkets and health food stores. That’s great news because it affords me the pleasure of eating some good jam on toast more often!

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Energy Bites. Quick Halva Recipe

By on March 10, 2017 in

adapted from Levana Cooks, using Vanilla Bean Levana Nourishments

halva energy bites

My Energy Bites start with my Quick Halva

We all love the wonderful taste of halva, that great Sephardi dessert classic confection starring Tehina paste and sold all over Israeli and Middle Eastern markets, but hardly ever get near it because of the prohibitive amount of sugar it contains. I tinkered with the flavors, using Tehina as my base, until I obtained this delicious and infinitely less sweet approximation, lightly sweetened with agave syrup.

The best part is:

My Quick Halva Recipe makes Halva go from a guilty indulgence to perfectly delicious and super healthy energy bites:

Gluten-free friendly, take no time and don’t even cook or bake, and keep refrigerated for weeks. Attack of the munchies? One of these halva energy bites will hit the spot! You will never have to worry again that your teeth might walk away from one of those fabulous commercial halva bars we love but which don’t love us back!

If you are making this treat on short notice and don’t have time to let the mixture firm up to shape halva bites, don’t worry about a thing: Serve it the way I always serve it, never bothering to make halva bars. Great for sprinkling over yogurt too!

Pour the energy bites mixture into a serving bowl, and serve it with a spoon!

I love to tinker with tehina and halva flavors, in both savory and sweet preparations. I make my Maple Halva Mousse with store-bought Halva, and stretch the flavors to the hilt to end up with another wonderful, not-too-sweet and healthy Halva dessert.

There’s no reason you can’t explore with other nut butters: Peanut, almond or cashew butter will be perfectly suitable for these energy bites as well: That won’t make you halva, but it will make the perfect energy bites or energy bars!

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Favorite Smoothies Recipes. Smoothie Bowl Variations

By on February 14, 2017 in

adapted from Levana Cooks, using Vanilla Bean Levana Nourishments

smoothie

Many smoothie joints have recently sprouted all over the city.

But none will whip up a smoothie as delicious, nutritious, inexpensive and quick as you will.

Scroll down for Smoothie bowl Variations

Use frozen fruit in your smoothies!

Why use ice, when frozen fruit will keep all your flavors intense and undiluted, and your smoothies nice and cold?

The only exception is the chocolate smoothie, which needs ice because all ingredients are at room temperature.

Bananas got too ripe? throw them in the freezer, and when ready to use them, just run your warm water faucet over them, the peel will come right off!

Smoothie Bowl: An ideally nutritious and complete meal.

smoothie bowl

 

 

Follow the recipe guidelines below, and add in your blender whatever good stuff you might have on hand, varying each time and getting an exciting variation each time:

– A handful of green leaves (kale, spinach, lettuce, parsley, mint etc…)
– Avocado, green apple, celery, cucumber, cauliflower, lemon (skin and all) etc…
– A scoop of nut or seed butter (almond, peanut, pumpkin, sunflower, cashew etc…)…
– Yogurt or buttermilk… dairy or dairy-free
– A scoop of raw oats

Use fruit juice sparingly if at all, as it will set you back with lots of unwanted sugar and calories.

Now play with your toppings:

Sliced fruit, berries, granola, coconut, cacao nibs etc…

 

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Gluten-Free Muffins Recipe. All Variations

By on January 23, 2017 in

adapted from Levana Cooks, using Vanilla Bean Levana Nourishments

gluten-free muffins

Perfect gluten-free muffins takes a little practice!

And the good news is, with each new batch, your gluten-free muffins will get more delicious, and you’ll soon look like a pro.

Use this Gluten-Free Muffins Recipe as your guide, and take it places!

For these gluten-free muffins, one of the flours I used was almond flour, which imparts a wonderful flavor and delicate texture. But of course if you are dealing with a nut allergy as well as a gluten allergy, double up on other flours. Let me start by listing my gluten-free recipe exactly as I made it, using my favorite flours (almond and oat), then discuss other flavor and flour options.

Here I am giving you a recipe for a single recipe of Gluten-free muffins, but I should tell you I always make a double batch, why not, just as long as all ingredients are out and I got that oven going, plus my gluten-free muffins freeze perfectly.

Tapioca flour or arrowroot flour are very nutritious, and are easy to procure in health food stores

If you intend to bake gluten-free muffins, bread and other treats on a regular basis, it really pays to buy larger containers of gluten-free flour, in price clubs or online, as I do, as smaller containers can really err on the expensive side. I prefer to make my own gluten-free flour mixture than buy gluten-free flour mix, but of course if you come across a gluten-free flour mix brand that uses all healthy ingredients, go ahead and use it in your recipes, a total of 4 cups (including the tapioca, which the mix most likely includes).

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Flax Oat Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe

By on January 22, 2017 in

adapted from Levana Cooks, using Vanilla Bean Levana Nourishments

gluten-free banana bread

 

My newborn gluten-free banana bread just hit a home run!

Perfect for breakfast: minimally and naturally sweetened; it relies on the natural sweetness of the bananas.

I looked around me in my daughter’s kitchen, after the children asked me to make a banana treat. I was intent on making a very high fiber bread that would promote… regularity (a perennial quest, for many of us), even while it tastes fantastic.

My gluten-free banana bread may well be the answer to your lower carb prayers!

My daughter, and indeed, all my children, have a super healthy pantry, just as I do, so finding what I need to make the healthiest treats is no trouble ever.

I just threw all my ingredients in a bowl, mixed, poured, baked and prayed.

It’s the best! It is so nutritious that you can very easily make it a significant part of your meal: a nice slice of my gluten-free banana bread with a smear of butter, cream cheese or nut butter makes a terrific breakfast. And with a big salad or soup, it will make the perfect meal.

Both the oats and the flax give the gluten-free banana bread its hearty flavor and texture. Oat is the dream grain, in every respect. Flax is a nutritional powerhouse, with a mild and unobtrusive flavor, and very inexpensive. And the optional touch of cocoa gives it its deep dark color and added zing.

 

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