Once in a while, we all love some delicious but healthy food. Unfortunately, many of them always either involve artificial food colouring or smothered in icing. But who says that’s the only way to make pretty-looking colourful food?

Just like you, we want to eat good and feel good. So here are 5 of our favourite healthy vegan recipes we found. The best part? These delicious vegan dishes are going to be in shades of pink! Pink vegan food makes for the perfect dishes for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, a birthday or just for your loved ones any day.

A Berry Pink Vegan Low-Fat Smoothie

Kickstart your day with this refreshing glass of smoothie that packs a punch of nutrition and protein. Natural sweeteners, like strawberries and cherries, make it beautifully pink and deliciously nutritious with only 2g of fat. Bananas in the recipe also gives the drink its creamy and rich texture. This pink vegan drink is not only pleasing to the eye – it’s sure to please your taste buds as well! 1 tasty serving delivers you 700mg of Potassium, 70% of your daily iron intake, 10g of fibre and a whopping 20g of protein. What better way to perk yourself up bright and early in the morning?

Serving: 1

Ingredients:
1 cup of non-dairy milk
½ cup of frozen strawberries (and/or raspberries), unsweetened
½ cup of frozen cherries, pitted and unsweetened
1 banana (cut into chunks and freeze beforehand)
1 tbsp of raw mesquite powder (or cocoa powder)
1 scoop of vegan protein powder
½ tsp of vanilla extract

Direction: Blend them all till smooth, and you’re on a way to a brighter morning!

Pink Beet Hummus

Advertisements

Image cred: pixabay

Everyone loves some good ol’ hummus with some crackers or toast – it’s healthy, it’s refreshing, it’s delicious. But have you heard of pink vegan hummus? The ingredient that brings out that pink is none other than beet! This colourful recipe only requires 6 ingredients.

Ingredients:
15oz can of Beet
15oz can of Chickpeas
¼ cup of Raw Pumpkin Seeds
2 tbsp of Minced Garlic
2-3 tbsp of Olive Oil (add more if needed!)
Fresh lemon juice

Add more olive oil if you like and season with salt and pepper.

Directions: Blend them all in a food processor/blender, refrigerate till cool and serve with crackers, chips, toast, veggie sticks or anything you love!

Homemade Beet Pasta

Image cred: Cilantro and Citronella

Making your own pasta at home sounds absolutely laborious, tedious and too much effort, right? Wrong. It’s not as difficult as most would think.

And why not spend a little more time it if it means you can have pink vegan pasta? No ready-made pasta is going to be served to you in pink.

If pink is not for you, this colourful recipe can be tweaked– add saffron or turmeric for some yellow, or spinach for green! What’s more, this vegan dish hardly has the strong taste of beets. In fact, fresh beets (they’re different from canned beets!) actually tastes pretty good.

Serving: 2

Ingredients:
Pasta
1 Beet
1 tbsp & 1 tsp of Olive Oil
¾ cup of Semolina Flour (alternatively, use all-purpose flour but dry the pasta for a few hours)
1 tsp of Salt
1/3 cup of Water

Sauce
½ tbsp of Olive Oil
1 Shallot, diced
1 clove of Garlic, minced
¼ cup of White Wine
½ tbsp. of Flour
1 tbsp of Olive Oil
½ cup of Vegetable Stock
¼ tsp of Herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, or anything you enjoy!)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional: Beet puree, 1-2 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar, fresh Basil or Chives

Directions:
Pasta
1. Cook the beet in any preferred manner (suggestion: wrap in a foil, roast with olive oil for 45min at 200 °C OR peel, cut into cubes, boil until soft)
2. Blend beet in food processor or blender with 1 tbsp olive oil until it becomes a puree
3. Mix flour and salt, and make a well to add the beet puree.
4. Add some water and use a fork to mix in the flour gradually till a dough forms and you can knead it for 10-15min – aim to get a soft non-sticky dough! Then, wrap the dough in a plastic film and let it rest for an hour.
5. Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll them out.
6. Use a pasta machine OR roll the dough out as thin as possible, and use a knife or pizza cutter to cut it into shapes.
7. Hang the pasta dry and boil a pot of water. Time for the sauce!

Sauce
1. Fry olive, oil and shallots till soft.
2. Add garlic and continuing frying till soft.
3. Add white wine and simmer until the amount is reduced by half.
4. Sieve flour into the frying pan, cook for ~1min, add olive oil.
5. Add vegetable stock, herb, salt and pepper. If you have some beet purée left, add it with balsamic vinegar. Let sauce simmer till your desired consistency and texture is achieved.

Beet pasta
1. Boil pasta in salted water for 2-3min. Test for the doneness frequently.
2. Drain and add directly to sauce. Serve with basil/chives if desired!

10min Pink Vegan Cheesecake Bites

Image cred: pxhere

Cheesecake is my favourite type of cake and this vegan recipe makes your sweetest imagination come to life with pink cheesecake bites (made with cashew, pitaya, coconut oil). Just the thought of it really makes my taste buds tingle. What’s more, this is a no-bake gluten-free 10min recipe! These lovable bites make for great snacks or desserts for kids of any ages. Creamy, sweet and pink – you could nibble all these bites all day.

If you don’t want pink in your cheescake, this colourful recipe is flexible – add some turmeric for gold, blueberries for purple, matcha for green, cocoa powder for brown or activated charcoal for black bars.

Total time: 10min
Servings: 4 large bars, to be cut into cubes

Ingredients:
Filling mixture
2 cups of soaked Raw cashews, drained*
1/2 cup of Virgin coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract
1/4 cup of Grapefruit, Lemon or Orange juice
1/3 cup of Maple syrup
1/8 tsp of Salt
1-2 tbsp of Frozen Pitaya Puree
Crust oil

On top: 1 tsp grapefruit zest

Crust
4-5 pieces of gluten-free vegan Gingersnap Cookies
1 tbsp of Virgin Coconut Oil, melted

*You can replace it with unsoaked cashews, but soak in boiling salted water for 2-3min to soften them.

Instructions:
Layer a large dish (about 5”x5” big) with baking paper for this recipe. The thickness of the cheesecake bars will be affected by the dish.

1. Blend the cookies in a blender till fine.
2. Add crust oil to the powder and lay it out in a thin flat layer on the dish – the cashew mixture will help to bind the crust later.
3. Blend the pink filling mixture in a blender until you achieve a smooth consistency. Process the mixture** on high for a few minutes to warm the mixture a little.
4. Layer the filling onto the dish on top of the crust, and smoothen it out.
5. Add the citrus zest on top.
6. Refrigerate overnight for a few hours. Slice and serve within 30min from removing from refrigerator (ideally, the texture is best after 15min at room temperature)!

Pink Beet Velvet Cupcakes

Image cred: pxhere

When people think of pink cupcakes, most people cringe at the thought of how much sugar and sweetness goes into it. But this is a game changer – no artificial flavour, just moist, fluffy and pink! The bright pink that comes through is extracted from the most unexpected ingredient – beet. Just a dash of beet will be sufficient for the entire batch of cupcakes!

Serving: 10 cupcakes
Calories: 393 kcal

Ingredients:
• 1 small Beet (2.5-3 ounces)
• 1.5 cups of All-purpose flour (or even better, whole wheat!)
• ¾ cup of Sugar
• 1.5 tsp of Baking powder
• 0.5 tsp of Salt
• ¾ cup of Unflavoured soy/almond milk
• ½ cup of Canola oil
• 1 tbsp of Vanilla extract

For the Frosting:
• Coconut cream, chilled overnight – 1 can (14 ounce)
• Maple syrup – 2-3 tbsp

Instructions
Cupcakes
1. Boil the beet until bubbles form, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 45-55min until beet is soft (easily pierced with fork). Drain water and let the beet cool.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Line 10 muffin tin cups with papers and preheat oven to 350°.
4. Gently remove the beet peel by rubbing it with your fingers. Cut beet into quarters and blend with a food processor or blender.
5. Add the milk, oil, and vanilla. Continue blending until you achieve a smooth consistency.
6. Add the beet mixture to the dry mixture and beat with an electric mixer until it is well blended.
7. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups – fill each cup till about 2/3 full.
8. Bake for approximately 24 minutes – the muffin top should feel spongey.

Frosting
1. Use an electric mixer to beat the coconut cream (discard excess liquids from the can) for about 1 minute at high speed till fluffy.
2. Top it on the muffins! Best served while warm, or refrigerate not more than 2 days.

SHARE ON