Walnuts Archives - Strength and Sunshine

Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Pesto Pasta

February 14, 2018 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 48 Comments

A quick, delicious, Easy Gluten-Free Vegan Pesto Pasta recipe that can be ready and on the table in 10 minutes! A healthier dairy-free pesto with the rich flavors of olive oil, walnuts, fresh herbs, and spices will have you saying “good-bye” to boring pasta dinners!

One way to turn a box of pasta into a delicious meal…whip up some pesto! There are a ton of different ways to make a mean pesto. Essentially you just need some fresh herbs, oil, nuts, and cheese. The basic, iconic Italian pesto (of Genoa origin) is a blended mixture of basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and a hard parmesan cheese. I’m breaking tradition and swapping out ingredients to make this a delicious easy vegan (dairy-free) pesto we can all enjoy (over some gluten-free pasta, of course!)Read More

Slow Cooker Fesenjan Chicken (Gluten-Free, Paleo)

December 27, 2017 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 57 Comments

The traditional Iranian stew with chicken and the deep flavors of pomegranate molasses and walnuts, now made easy right in the crock-pot! Slow Cooker Fesenjan Chicken is a hearty gluten-free & paleo dinner recipe that will warm the belly and soul!

This delicious Iranian dish has been a longtime coming! A family friend had told me about Fesenjan about 3 or 4 years ago. She raved about the indulgent, rich, deep flavors of the pomegranate molasses and rich nutty walnuts, cooked down to flavor the chicken. Traditionally cooked in a stew pot for hours, letting the flavors infuse and develop. My mouth was watering just listening to her description of the dish and how much she and her family loved it.Read More

Dark Chocolate Walnut Doughnuts

June 1, 2016 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 146 Comments

Decadent, but secretly healthy, Dark Chocolate Walnut Doughnuts! These gluten-free, vegan, & paleo doughnuts are baked breakfast perfection! Serve them with a cup of coffee or your afternoon tea!

What’s life without some DOUGHNUTS! I haven’t shared a doughnut recipe in months! (My apologies!) To be honest, I haven’t even made them or gotten out my doughnut pan since the Fall :/ One day a few weeks ago, I was getting out a bread pan and I saw my poor little doughnut pan just sitting there (crying) in the dark cabinet. I felt bad, but I just wasn’t feeling it. That changed a couple of weeks ago (as you can tell)!

I’m glad I got that pan out. Once I made these doughnuts, I fell back in love with the baked (healthy) decadence! A nice little breakfast carb, dipped into some protein sludge. Always, always welcome in my belly 😉 So what sparked the doughnut “bug”?

SILK® NUTCHELLO™!! This is the second (of 3) recipes I’ll be sharing and this time the dark chocolate walnut Nutchello™ seemed like the perfect flavor for some doughnuts 😉 I was most excited about this flavor…doesn’t it just look delicious even in the bottle!? I thought so! That is pure dairy-free decadence! Funny thing is, as you know, walnuts are my least favorite nut. I really never even have them in the house (cashews trump all nuts. I eat cashews every day).

I’m not into shunning any nut though, and this walNUT-milk just had to be used in all its walnutty glory, regardless of my taste preferences. Baking seemed like the perfect use for such a rich and decadent vegan milk. Low-and-behold, that doughnut pan was right there waiting to be used. Milk + Doughnut Pan = baked IDEAS!

The only problem was that I had no actual walnuts in the house (oops). Lucky me, my mom happened to be at the store and I asked her to pick me up some walnuts 😉 #MomHug Actually, she was always the one to be eating walnuts in our house, but of course, the one time I NEED walnuts, there are none :/

There is something about the taste or maybe it’s the softness of walnuts that just doesn’t sit well with me. They just don’t give me the same elation that other nuts do. Haha! But, like I said, I’ve always been determined to like them and this way seemed like it would be a winner! Have you ever had a bad doughnut? I don’t think so!

Walnuts are truly the star here. If I was going walnut, I was going all out! These doughnuts have crushed walnuts INSIDE for some crunch along with that decadent dark chocolate walnut milk. Walnuts are super-duper good for your brain function too! Why? Because they look like the brain! Okay, yes, but no, haha! They do look that way, but they also contain a hefty dose of Vitamin E, folate, melatonin, omega-3s, and antioxidants, which are brain health superstars! Plus, dark chocolate is great for increasing brain function as well! These dark chocolate walnut doughnuts are HEALTHY!

I made them with the plantain method again, so these are gluten-free, vegan, and paleo! The only thing I need to tell you before you get baking is TRY not to drink the entire bottle of Nutchello™ before you even start mixing the batter. It tastes (and smells!) so good! Who would have thunk I would be such a walnut “milk” fan? 😉

Dark Chocolate Walnut Doughnuts

Dark Chocolate Walnut Doughnuts

Decadent, but secretly healthy, Dark Chocolate Walnut Doughnuts! These gluten-free, vegan, & paleo doughnuts are baked breakfast perfection! Serve them with a cup of coffee or your afternoon tea!

Author: Rebecca Pytell
Cook Time: 12 mins
Total Time: 12 mins
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: American

Scale

Ingredients

1 Large Yellow (Ripe) Plantain
1/4 Cup Arrowroot Starch
3 TB Dark Chocolate Walnut Nutchello™
2 TB Unsweetened Dark Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 TB Cocoa Stevia Syrup
2 TB Crushed Unsalted Raw Walnuts
2 TB Unsalted Raw Walnut Pieces (to top, garnish)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Puree the plantain and Nutchello™ in a food processor until smooth.
In a mixing bowl, scoop out the plantain puree, then add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix well to form a smooth batter.
In a greased doughnut pan, scoop out the batter into 4 molds, evenly.
Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove and let cool. Top with additional walnuts to serve!

Nutrition

Serving Size: 2

Will you be baking some doughnuts today? I hope so! They do make a nice little mid-week boost! Although, is it really mid-week since we had Monday off? Eh, that probably means your in even more need of some healthy decadence (and brain power) to help you through if you’re feeling a bit sluggish. What to you say? You in?

More doughnuts?

Triple Chocolate

Gingerbread

Cinnamon Glazed Pumpkin

Apple Cinnamon Crumble

So tell me:

+ Walnut fan, semi-fan, or not so much?

+ Did you drink chocolate milk as a kid? Actually, I was a Nesquick Strawberry type of girl (pure sugar!)

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*This post was sponsored by Silk as part of an influencer activation for the #SilkCrowd and Socialstars™. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review, but all opinions are my own.

What To Avoid With A Tree Nut Allergy

September 1, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 51 Comments

Tree nut allergies are one of the most common and talked about among the Top 8. It is the second most common among infants and children and once acquired is usually a lifelong food allergy, with only 9% of the population ever outgrowing it. This makes it common among adults as well. Tree nut allergies (as well as peanut allergies) can cause severe reactions and even death. Epi-Pens are usually a must with nut allergies and as in some cases even the touch or breath of someone else who has just consumed the allergen could cause a reaction.

Tree nuts should not be confused with peanuts or seeds. Peanuts are legumes (beans), but in some cases a peanut allergy may accompany a tree nut allergy and vise versa. There are many types of tree nuts and you may be allergic to one, two, a select few, or all of them. Coconut is also listed by the FDA as a tree nut, however, it is extremely for someone allergic to tree nuts to be allergic to coconut as it is actually a fruit seed. But coconut can still cause allergic reactions.

Because of the severity of many nut allergies, schools have started to make “nut-free” zones, classes rooms, etc. It causes controversy of course, but safety is most important in these cases. Some people even require an “allergy-detecting” dog that will let them know if the allergic substance is near by or in the room. The only way to stay safe, as with any allergen, is to avoid the allergen (tree nuts) at all costs by reading labels, checking for cross-contamination and processing/manufacturing/facility practices, and keeping the allergens out of the house.

The good news is nut-alternatives have become more mainstream over the years and there are great safe options that can replace those of nuts.Read More