Vegan Zucchini Bread

The temperature is dropping, the holidays are here, and it’s time to get cozy with a warm piece of deliciously moist zucchini bread. As you guys know by now, I’m always on a mission to make foods that are vegan for my husband, but I definitely don’t want them to taste any different than the original. I tired a few versions to get this recipe right and believe it or not - the best one ended up being oil free, plus it’s packed with the PB2 Performance - Peanut Protein (Dutch Cocoa) Powder.

Todays blog post is amazingly sponsored by PB2 who I’ve had to absolute honor of working with since 2017! See other recipes I’ve made with them here, here, here, and here.

VEGAN ZUCCHINI BREAD

[ INGREDIENTS: ]

• 1 Zucchini (yields 1 cup), grated on smallest setting & ever so lightly squeeze the excess liquid out

• 1/2 cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce (if you don’t have apple sauce, 1/2c canola/vegetable oil also works)

• 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

• 1 tablespoon Flaxseed Meal mixed with 3 tablespoons of water. Mix together and let sit for 5 minutes before adding. (This is your egg replacer and it’s my go-to in baking)

• 1/2 cup Vegan Sour Cream

• 3/4 cup PB2 Performance - Peanut Protein (Dutch Cocoa) Powder

• 1 cup Coconut Sugar (if you don’t have coconut sugar, 1/2c brown sugar and 1/2c regular granulated sugar is delicious as well)

• 1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

• 1 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips

[ INSTRUCTIONS: ]

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan and add parchment paper for easy removable at the end.

2. Make flax egg by combining 1 tablespoon of Flaxseed Meal with 3 tablespoons on water. Stir together and set aside for about 5 minutes.

3. Wash zucchini and grate. I used a box grater on the smallest setting. Ever so lightly squeeze the excess water out with your hands - you still want it nice and wet though so barely do it.

4. Combine and mix all of the wet ingredients in one large bowl (shredded zucchini, unsweetened apple sauce, vanilla extract, flax egg, and sour cream.

5. Combine and mix all of the dry ingredients in a separate large bowl (PB2 Protein Powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

6. Combine both mixed bowls together.

7. Fold in vegan chocolate chips.

8. Pour batter into greased loaf pan.

9. Bake in the middle oven rack for 45-55 minutes. I like my zucchini bread to be as soft as possible so I’m on team 45 minutes, but Zach likes the outside to be a little more done so he likes it at 55 minutes (of course this depends on how hot your oven cooks).

   Note: The toothpick method doesn’t work with this zucchini bread. I tried baking it until the toothpick came out clean and ended up at an hour with a wet toothpick before I gave up. That loaf ended up having too tough of an outside for my liking. 45 minutes is my ideal time. The entire loaf is soft and moist which is the goal!

10. Remove from oven and let loaf cool for about 30 minutes. As delicious as it is warm, it’s also AMAZING the next day. Enjoy!

If you guys make this, please tag me on IG because that makes my day! Also, if you have any questions or just want to say hey, please use the comments section or DM me on IG and I will always get back to you. Lastly, make sure you follow me on Instagram @MaeElizabethG as I post on there almost daily!

Have a great rest of your day!

Peanut Butter Yogurt Parfait (12g Protein + Vegan)

Hi guys! Today I’m taking the words “quick and easy” to a whole new level. You know I keep it simple around here, and this is about as easy as it gets! This Peanut Butter Yogurt Parfait is PERFECT for after a morning workout since it’s packed with 12g of protein (even more depending on your toppings)! How in the world did I get some much protein in this little parfait? I used the PB2 Performance - Peanut Protein (Dutch Cocoa) which is packed with 20g of protein per serving!

Todays blog post is amazingly sponsored by PB2 who I’ve had to absolute honor of working with since 2017! See other recipes I’ve made with them here, here, and here.

PEANUT BUTTER YOGURT PARFAIT

[INGREDIENTS: ]

• 1 cup dairy free yogurt

• 1 scoop of PB2 Performance Peanut Protein Powder

• Topping of your choice:

  I used blueberries, bee pollen (omit to make vegan), shelled hemp seeds, and chia seeds.

[ INSTRUCTIONS: ]

1. Mix half of your yogurt with 1 scoop of PB2 Performance Peanut Protein Powder.

2. In a jar, alternate your PB2 yogurt mixture with the other half of your regular yogurt for a layered look.

3. Add your favorite toppings!

4. Enjoy!

If you guys make this, please tag me on IG because that makes my day! Also, if you have any questions or just want to say hey, please use the comments section or DM me on IG and I will always get back to you. Lastly, make sure you follow me on Instagram @MaeElizabethG as I post on there almost daily!

Have a great rest of your day!

Vegan Jalapeño Popper Tray with Grape Tomatoes and Pineapple

Can you believe it’s July already, because I can’t! I am, however, loving this hot weather and you know what goes great with hot weather? Delicious food! If you find yourself getting together with close family and friends anytime soon I highly recommend this Jalapeno Popper Tray! Far too often the vegan and dairy free people at the party are left out when there is absolutely no need! These taste just as delicious as the original, but can be enjoyed by everyone, well, if they are vegan or dairy-free that is!

Vegan Jalapeño Popper Tray with Grape Tomatoes and Pineapple

Ingredients:

• 8 Jalapeños

• 8 oz vegan cream cheese 

• Garlic salt to taste

• Onion powder to taste

• 1/4 cup Bread crumbs 

• 1 tbsp Vegan butter

• 10 oz Grape tomatoes

• 1 Pineapple, cut into bite sized pieces

• 1 bunch of Cilantro

• 1 Lime

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. 

2. Cut the jalapeños lengthwise and remove seeds and membranes with a spoon. I recommend wearing gloves. 

3. Mix cream cheese with garlic salt and onion powder until you like the taste.

4. Fill jalapeños with cream cheese mixture, top with bread crumbs, and lightly drizzle with vegan butter.

5. Cut pineapple into bite sized pieces, chop cilantro, and cut the lime into slices. Put to the side.

6. Place the filled jalapeños, pineapple, and grape tomatoes on a lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. 

7. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Garnish with slices of lime.

Epic Overnight Oats - Vegan (Blueberry, PB2, cinnamon)

Hi guys! How are you? I hope you’re having an amazing day wherever you are!

This is my first blog post since being a married woman - woohoo! Will I ever get used to saying “my husband” or my new last name? Only time will tell!

Anyhoo! I am back with a new quick and easy plant-based breakfast recipe. This time I’ve teamed up with PB2 (who are wonderfully sponsoring todays post - you rock!) to use their new Performance Almond Protein Plant Powder. After a bit of testing with various ingredients and amounts of each, I came up with this delicioussss fall inspired overnight oats recipe that you have to try! It’s perfect for anyone on the go and is packed with 17g of protein!

This is now my ideal overnight oats breakfast. If you guys aren’t familiar with overnight oats (don’t worry my husband wasn’t either and thought it was weird that I was making cold oatmeal), but I promise you this is SO GOOD and now he is a believer. It’s a few simple ingredients that you toss into a jar, mix together, put on the lid, and put in the fridge overnight. The next morning you can add some extra milk if you want and you’re ready to go - it’s seriously that easy.

That face below is 100% a reflection of my feelings towards this food.

The Most Epic Overnight Oats:

Serving: 1

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

• 1/2 cup old fashioned or “rolled” oats

• 2 tbsp (or use the container scoop, once and leveled) of PB2 Performance Almond Protein Plant Powder

• 1 tsp chia seeds

• 1 tbsp agave

• 1 pinch of cinnamon

• 3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions:

1. In a mason jar or something similar, add almond milk, oats, PB2 Almond Protein Plant Powder, chai seeds, agave, and cinnamon.

2. Stir these ingredients until they are well combined and then stir in your blueberries.

3. Place the lid on your jar and pop it into the fridge overnight or for about 6+ hours.

4. The next morning you can eat exactly as is, or splash a bit of milk for a creamier texture - your choice!

5. Enjoy!

Nutrition Per One Serving:

Calories: 393 // Fat: 7g // Saturated Fat: 0g // Cholesterol: 0mg // Sodium: 67mg // Potassium: 35mg // Total Carbohydrates: 68g // Dietary Fiber: 8g // Sugar: 28g // Protein: 17g

If you guys make this, PLEASE tag me on IG because that will make my day! Also, if you have any questions or just want to say hey, please use the comments section and I will 100% write back. Also, make sure you follow me on Instagram @MaeElizabethG as I post on there almost every day. Bye and see you next time!

Bonus photo for all of you who love my dogs! Sweetpea says hi!

Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

Hey guys! Today I’m going to share with you two Thanksgiving recipes that are vegan. Before my meat-lovers click off, these two have been approved by myself and three other non-vegans. They are good, trust me - I wouldn’t share them if they weren’t. Take my absolute failure attempt at vegan sweet potato casserole for example. I just scraped that baby into the trash can and pretended that soupy goup never happened.

Story time: If you don’t know, my fiancé Zach is vegan, but I’m not and neither are our families, so that makes cooking and eating out really fun 🙃. When holidays roll around it gets even more complex. You end up around buttery, cheesy, and chicken broth recipes GALORE. I’ve learned that SO many dishes could easily be “vegan,” but since everyone cooks with butter and chicken stock, for example, Zach typically can’t eat anything, not even the veggies. Don’t get me wrong, we both have families who try to accommodate, but it doesn’t always work out. People often forget or don’t really understand what being vegan means and they say “we made this for you and it’s vegan.” He’s like, “great! So no butter, egg, chicken broth or cheese?” (the usual suspects) and you just see their defeated face go “oh, yeah, I forgot I used (insert whatever non-vegan ingredient here). 9/10 if you’ve invited us to an event or dinner, we have stopped by Subway on the way for Zach, haha. LUCKILY, earlier this year Zach got into cooking and has made some pretty incredible food these past few months. When I got contacted by Kroger to work with them on a Thanksgiving campaign over on my Instagram account, we took this as the PERFECT opportunity to trial some vegan Thanksgiving recipes. Below are two dishes that have passed the test! Enjoy!

Vegan Green Bean Casserole

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. green beans, trimmed

6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 medium shallots, finely chopped

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. Unsweetened almond milk (make sure it’s NOT vanilla as well)

6oz container of French fried onions

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Prepare an ice bath. In a large pot of boiling water, add green beans and cook until bright green, about 6 minutes. With a slotted spoon or tongs, quickly transfer green beans to ice bath to cool, then drain and transfer to a large bowl. 

3. In a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are golden, about 5 minutes more. Stir in garlic then transfer mixture to the bowl with the green beans. 

4. Heat remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in almond milk and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, about 4 minutes (prob longer). Remove from heat then add green bean mixture and toss until even combined. Transfer mixture to a medium casserole dish. 

5. Bake until warmed through and bubbling around the edges, about 20 minutes. (If it isn’t thickening up enough, keep cooking it - we had this happen). Top with fried onions and bake 5 minutes more. 

6. Enjoy!
   
   *Recipe was modified from the Delish website.

Image by Vegan Green Bean Casserole via Delish.com

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This next recipe is courtesy of Jackie from Vegan Yack Attack. I’m going to tell you right now, I didn’t eat the “mac and cheese” with the sweet potato like it says in her original recipe (so I didn’t include it below), but Zach and our friends did and loved it. I can say though 100% that the “mac and cheese” on it’s own is pretty incredible. HOWEVER, it does not taste like your standard Velveeta Shells and Cheese so get that out of your head or you’ll be disappointed. As a meat-eater who enjoys delicious vegan food as well, I have this theory that some vegan dishes need another name. BECAUSE, although it’s incredible tasty, I have found that if you try to call a vegan recipe the same name as it’s cheesy counterpart you just let people down when it doesn’t taste identical. SO, let’s call this one “Smokey Pasta.”

Smokey Pasta

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 C . Dried Pasta (we used elbows)

• 1 C . Pure pumpkin (we used the one from a can)

• 1/2 C . Vegetable Broth

• 1/3 C . Raw Cashews soaked for 1-2 hours or for 20 minutes in boiling water

• 3 T . Nutritional Yeast

• 1 Clove of Garlic

• 1/2 T . Lemon Juice

• 1/2 tsp . Dijon Mustard

• 1/2 tsp . Chipotle Flakes (we couldn’t find flakes so we used Chipotle Chile Powder)

• 1/2 tsp . Smoked Paprika

• 1/2 tsp . Liquid Smoke

• 1/2 tsp . Sea Salt

• 1/4 tsp . Turmeric for color

• 1 C . Packed Kale Chopped with Stems Removed

• 3/4 C . Tomato Diced

• 1/3 C . Yellow Corn Kernels (we just used canned corn)

• 1/4 C . Green Onion Diced (plus more for garnish, which is optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Start cooking the pasta by following the directions as the package describes (cooking times are different on most).

2. To make sauce: Take the pumpkin, cashews, veggie broth, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, chipotle powder, paprika, liquid smoke, sea salt and turmeric in a blender or food processor and puree until completely smooth.

3. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water. Place the pot back on the stove, over low-medium heat.

4. Pour the sauce into the pot, and add the kale, tomato, corn and green onion.

5. Stir it all together and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the kale is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste, if desired.

6. Serve up that “Smokey Pasta” to your friends and family!

   *Recipe was modified from the Vegan Yack Attack website.

Image by Jackie Sobon via Vegan Yack Attack

Oh look! There is me eating a bowl of mashed potatoes!

Anyways! If you guys try out these recipes let me know! Also, huge thanks to Kroger for working with me on a Thanksgiving campaign over on my Instagram. If you haven’t seen the photo already (click here), I’d love some support by liking, commenting, and sharing it with others! Thanks guys!