Vegan Pumpkin Raisin Oatmeal Baked Apples

This recipe is from www.SkinnyMs.com, they contacted me about swapping a recipe with me for the holidays so I started perusing their site. This photo grabbed my attention right away. It looks like a great alternative to decadent apple pie and is a much healthier guilt free dessert!

I love baked apples, and this one looks amazing! It uses pumpkin butter, which you can find at some stores, or you can make your own using a recipe from OhSheGlows here.

If you don’t want to use pumpkin butter (or can’t find it), you can probably use apple butter which is more common and sold at many health food stores. Even though it’s called “butter” it doesn’t mean it contains any butter, it’s just spreadable like butter!

This recipe was  created by Navika Gangrade of Cooking the Light Way.

You can also double, triple, quadruple this recipe if you like, or just have it as dessert for one!

Pumpkin Raisin Oatmeal Baked Apple

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 apple
1/4 cup rolled oats, option Gluten Free Oats
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon pumpkin butter, divided (homemade or store-bought)
1 tablespoon almond milk
1 teaspoon raisins
1 teaspoon agave nectar, divided (I think maple syrup would be good too)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
2 tablespoon hot water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2. Core the apple, hollowing out until the edges are 3/4 inch thick

3. Combine the 1/4 cup oats, 1 tablespoon of pumpkin butter, 1 tablespoon fat-free milk, 1 teaspoon raisins, 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a small bowl

4. Stuff this mixture into the apple In a small oven-safe dish, stir together the hot water, 1 teaspoon pumpkin butter, and 1/2 teaspoon agave

5. Place apple into the mixture in the dish Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes

6. Ten minutes before finishing, spoon the syrup under the apple back on top of the apple for a nice glaze

7. Serve

Have you ever had baked apples before? Have you ever tried pumpkin butter before?

Low Fat Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas

I decided to make a post of my favorite veganized Thanksgiving dishes to share with you since many of you will be dining plant based or trying to dine mostly plant based this year and still feeding some carnivores too! All of these recipes have been tested on my family and their non vegan friends, so I assure you they are crowd pleasers. 🙂
Some of these recipes are featured in my blog, and some are in my recipe ebook Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World has loads more delicious and hearty entree recipes for every occasion.

Vegan Thanksgiving Menu Ideas

Raw Vegan Salads:

Raw Vegan Caesar Salad

The Best Caesar Salad

 

Strawberry Pecan Spinach Salad

Vegan Thanksgiving Entrees:

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini Boats

 

Holiday Stuffed Acorn Squash

Holiday Stuffed Acorn Squash

Greek Stuffed Eggplant

Herbed Lentil Loaf

Herbed Lentil Loaf with Miso Gravy

Greek Rice Stuffed Peppers

Greek Stuffed Peppers

 

Vegan Side Dishes:

Maple Yam and Pecan Casserole

Holiday Baked Maple Yam Pecan Casserole

Cranberry Apple Pecan Holiday Stuffing

Cranberry Apple Pecan Holiday Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes With Gravy

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Brown Gravy

Steamed Vegetablesin Cheezy Sauce

Steamed Vegetables In Cheezy Sauce

Tangy Collard Greens with Mushrooms, Onions and Coconut Milk

Tangy Collard Greens in Coconut Milk

 

Vegan Decadent Desserts (These are not low fat):

Vegan Pecan Pie


Holiday Vegan Pecan Pie

Vegan Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote

Vegan Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote

 

Vegan Lower Fat Desserts: 

Fudgey Blackberry Brownies

Fudgey Black Berry Brownies

Vegan Rice Pudding

Vegan Rice Pudding

Apple Strawberry Strudel Pie

Apple Strawberry Strudel Pie

There are lots of delicious and healthy recipes to choose from. I hope that I included some of your favorites.
So if these goodies entice you be sure to check out my book  Vegan Comfort Foods From Around The World
What’s your favorite vegan Thanksgiving dish?

Antioxidant Omega-3 High Protein Vegan Granola Bars

(made with quick oats)

The other day I was looking at granola bars at the grocery store and I was starting to get frustrated. Most granola bars are pretty unhealthy, they contain a lot of high fructose corn syrup, milk ingredients, oil, nuts and salt.

When you’re looking for a quick high energy snack for traveling, hiking or to have before your work out it’s nice to eat something that’s just as healthy as a home cooked meal. So I decided to make my own homemade no-bake vegan granola bars, and came up with this bar which is high in protein and contains lots of omega 3’s and antioxidants in it too.

Instead of using oil and corn syrup to bind the oats together I used really ripe mashed bananas and it almost makes these bars taste a little bit like oatmeal banana bread. I also threw in lots of goodies like sultana raisins, Sun-Maid raisins, dried cranberries, goji berries, ground flax seed, ground chia seed, hemp hearts, dark chocolate, and coconut flakes.

All in all they are pretty darn tasty! I definitely don’t mind eating one of these and they’re perfect for traveling or hiking too. I decided to make two batches to test out the difference between instant/quick oats and traditional rolled oats.

They basically tasted the same, but the instant oats were a little easier to chew as the oat pieces were smaller. So it’s up to you on what type you’d like to use. (But don’t use steel cut oats, or oat groats as they aren’t cooked yet and are too hard to chew.)

It’s also a high raw food bar, as many of the ingredients are naturally raw like the bananas, raisins, goji berries, flax, chia, and hemp.  For this reason they need to be stored in the freezer because raw banana is perishable and it will spoil quickly if left on the counter or in the fridge.

Vegan chocolate chips can be hard to come by depending where you live, almost every chocolate chip I saw at the store contained milk ingredients, so instead I just bought a Lindt 70% cacao chocolate bar which was dairy free and chopped that up to use as chocolate pieces. It’s also much lower in sugar than traditional chocolate chips as well.  40 g equals 4 squares out of the Lindt bar. You could also substitute 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips, or vegan carob chips as well.

(made with rolled oats)

Omega 3 Antioxidant Vegan Protein Bars

Makes 10 bars

Wet Ingredients:

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup maple syrup (or other vegan syrup)
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups quick oats or rolled oats (I tested both)
3 scoops vegan protein powder (I used Vega Sport chocolate flavour, but you can also use unflavored hemp protein powder)
1/4 cup shredded coconut *optional
2 tbsp hemp seed (hemp hearts)
3 tbsp chia seed, ground
3 tbsp flax seed, ground
2 tsp ceylon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (I used golden and Sun-Maid)
40 g dark chocolate broken into pieces or chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup goji berries

Directions:

1. Mash the banana with a fork and mix wet ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

3. Stir until well combined.

4. Line a square pan with saran wrap and press mixture into pan.

5. Place pan in freezer for 3-4 hours until firm and then remove from pan.

(rolled oat bars)

6. Slice into 10 bars with a sharp knife.

(Quick oat bars)

7. Wrap each bar in saran wrap and store in freezer.

8. Let come to room temperature before eating.

Nutrition Facts 10 Servings Amount Per Serving: Calories 282.0 Total Fat 10.1 g Saturated Fat 2.2 g Polyunsaturated Fat 2.8 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g Cholesterol 0.2 mg Sodium 335.9 mg Potassium 301.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 34.4 g Dietary Fiber 6.7 g Sugars 18.1 g Protein 15.2 g

Have you ever made homemade granola or protein bars before? What do you put in them?