sauce

Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Medjool Date BBQ Sauce

When Natural Delights sent me an email with their new “naturally sweet” summer recipes, I knew I had to give their Medjool Date & Citrus BBQ Sauce a try! My kitchen is always stocked with medjool dates for raw vegan dessert recipes and my crazy sweet tooth. Although I do throw medjool dates in an occasional salad, I never really thought about using them in savory recipes. I was excited to see a naturally sweet barbecue sauce recipe since I’m always looking for ways to lower my refined sugar intake. This recipe does call for half a cup of brown sugar, but I actually omitted it, using only the dates as sweetener and LOVED how it turned out!

Homemade barbecue sauce= gluten free, vegan, and naturally sweet with no refined sugars!
Just in time for the 4th of July!!!

Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ SauceMy friend Behnaz brought me a huge bag of fresh picked grapefruit from her backyard! Perfect timing!

Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce
Natural Delights Medjool Date BBQ Sauce

Medjool Date & Citrus BBQ Sauce
Adapted from Natural Delights

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup grapefruit juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup low-sodium tomato paste
12 Natural Delights Medjool Dates, pitted & coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Chop onions and mince garlic. Heat oil in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (grapefruit juice, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, chopped medjool dates, and spices) and let simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer to a blender or immersion blender and purée the mixture. Transfer the completely blended mixture back to a saucepan and let simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator.
Note: Great for basting tofu, or tempeh for a mock BBQ chicken salad!

Visit NaturalDelights.com for the original recipe (using brown sugar) and nutrition information!

If you’re a visual learner, Natural Delights has an excellent YouTube video showing step by step insructions on how to make the BBQ Sauce!
Natural Delights Medjool Dates

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Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Vegetarian

Cauliflower Pizza

This is one of my favorite recipes. It’s really fun to make, and if you didn’t make it yourself, you would have absolutely no idea that it was made from cauliflower. This pizza is a great low-carb option that doesn’t omit any flavor. Your guests or kids will never know they are eating a pizza made of vegetables!

Cauliflower Pizza
Makes one 9-12in pizza – 6 slices

Crust:
2 cups shredded cauliflower
1 egg
1 cup finely shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:
1/2 cup piza sauce or marinara sauce
1/2 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese
topping of choice


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. “Rice” or “shred” the cauliflower in a blender until it resembles small crumbled rice/pieces, but not pureed. Using a few pieces of paper towel, ring the excess water out of the cauliflower. Place the cauliflower crumbles in a mixing bowl and combine with egg, mozzarella, oregano, garlic powder, and salt. Mix with a spatula until well combined. Generously coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray spray (this crust is known to stick). Place the dough on the baking sheet and press into a 9 to 12-inch round crust. Lightly spray the crust with nonstick spray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat to broil. Spread the sauce on top of the baked crust, leaving a half inch border around the edge. Sprinkle mozzarella on top of the sauce. Add any extra toppings at this time. Place the pizza back in the oven and broil for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove pizza from the oven and cut into 6 slices and serve hot.
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