Many pickled onions recipes use unhealthy processed sugar and poor quality vinegar. This quick and easy recipe uses natural & organic ingredients only.

For this recipe, we use apple cider vinegar for our pickling liquid, along with organic maple syrup and some high quality salt.

Apple cider vinegar has some incredible healthy benefits, as it is a powerful source of pro-biotics.

When sourcing your apple cider vinegar, make sure you are choosing organic, unfiltered and make sure it includes “the mother”.

The mother refers to the cloudy substance floating inside the bottle. This is what gives apple cider vinegar it’s amazing benefits.

Be sure to check out our curried cauliflower & potato salad recipe which includes these pickled onions. The combo makes for an incredibly healthy and delicious packed lunch!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as part of your journey towards a sugar-free life.

Love & hugs,

Sherry

Quick and Easy Pickled Onions Recipe

? Ingredients ?

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup hot water

? Instructions ?

Slice the red onions thinly or use a mandolin if you’d prefer.

Stuff all the red onions in the jar of your choice.

In a cup, combine apple cider vinegar, salt, maple syrup and hot water.

Stir the mixture to combine all the ingredients thoroughly.

Pour the mixture over the onions, making sure they are full submerged in the liquid.

Let the onions sit for up to an hour and then cover and store in the fridge.

These pickled onions will last up to 2 weeks in your fridge.

Conclusion

This pickled onions recipe is quick, easy and a much healthier alternative to any store bought product. 

It makes a great addition to our curried cauliflower salad.

Finally, feel free to post your finished result in the Facebook Group!

OR

Post your version of our vegan brussel sprouts to instagram with the hashtag #sweetfreedomlife

This baked cauliflower and potato salad is guaranteed to turn a cauliflower hater, into a cauliflower lover.

All throughout my childhood I used to be served boiled cauliflower and couldn’t stand it. 

To me it was just a soft, flavourless mush!

From these early negative experiences, I just assumed that I didn’t like cauliflower and it was going to be something I’d leave hanging on the side the plate.

Then I heard some close friends talking about how if you bake cauliflower, it can end up tasting delicious.

It’s safe to say at first, I didn’t believe them.

Eventually I got round to trying baked cauliflower myself and I couldn’t believe the diffrence in taste and texture. 

It results in something crispy and flavoursome on the outside, with just enough softness on the inside.

Since this discovery, I now LOVE CAULIFLOWER and use it in multiple ways.

For this recipe, we’ve created a cauliflower and potato salad with a creamy curried coconut dressing that makes for the perfect work packed lunch.

I hope you enjoy it and convert to cauliflower lover like I did.

Love & Hugs,

Sherry

Cauliflower Potato Salad Recipe

? Ingredients ?

Salad Ingredients

• 1 Cauliflower

• 1-2 Red Potato

• 2 tbsp Olive oil 

• 1-2 tbsp Curry Powder 

• Salt

• Pepper

• Cilantro

• Mint

• Spring Onion

• Pickled Red Onion (our healthy recipe for pickled red onion can be found here.)

Sprouts

• 1 Cup Soaked Cashews- Soaked for a minimum of 20 minutes

• 2 tbsp Curry Powder

• 3 Cloves of Garlic

• Lemon Juice (from 1/2 lemon)

• 1-2 tbsp Coconut Cream

• 1 tbsp Miso

• Salt

• Water

? Instructions ?

Slice cauliflower into small florets and slice the potato into similar sized chunks.

Place the potatoes and cauliflower on a lined baking tray and cover with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Add the curry powder to the cauliflower and mix until everything is evenly coated in the oil and seasoning.

Bake both in the oven at 400F/205C 30-40 mins

Once baked, allow the potato and cauliflower cool.

Dressing –

Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend.

Slowly add water until it creates a smooth, mayonnaise like texture.

Combine

Combine the dressing with the potato and cauliflower.

Add pickled onions and chopped cilantro, mint and spring onions.

Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and enjoy!

Conclusion

Be sure to check out our healthy pickled red onions recipe as they give this salad and delicious funky taste!

We’d love to see your version of this cauliflower and potato salad recipe.

Feel free to post your finished result in the Facebook Group!

OR

Post your version of our vegan brussel sprouts to instagram with the hashtag #sweetfreedomlife

Many people add bacon to make their brussel sprouts taste better, but this vegan, sauteed brussel sprouts recipe uses toasted pecans with smoked salt for that crunchy, smokey taste.

When it comes to brussel sprouts, there seem to be two camps; those for the sprouts and those against them.

The against crew were likely victims of soggy, overcooked grey versions from frozen packages.

If you’re a brussel sprout hater, this recipe just may be the conversion recipe for you.

That was Andy’s challenge to me.

Take the dreaded and most disliked vegetable that ends up on Christmas tables and make them delicious.

I’m delighted to say that Andy is now a BS convert.

There are many ways to cook brussel sprouts. They can be sauteed, baked, steamed.

I used to make them with bacon and butter but these ones are vegan and sauteed with smoked salt pecans.

Lotsa love and holiday hugs,

Sherry

Vegan Brussel Sprouts Recipe

? Ingredients ?

Toasted Pecan Topping

• 1/2 Cup Pecans

• 1 tsp Tamari

• 1 tsp Smoked Salt

Sprouts

• 2-3 Cups of Brussel Sprouts
• 1/4 Cup of Vegetable Stock
• 1 Clove of Garlic
• Pinch of Smoked Salt
• Pinch of Black Pepper

? Instructions ?

Combine the pecans, tamari and smoked salt in a bowl, then place onto a baking tray and bake them in the oven for 5 mins at 350F/180C.

Slice (chiffonade) the brussel sprouts thinly and heat up a pan on the stove at medium to low heat.

Place the vegetable stock into the pan and add the brussel sprouts. 

After 3-5 minutes, add the smoked salt, black pepper and the sliced garlic and mix thoroughly.

Cook until the brussel sprouts are soft (roughly 5-10 minutes total).

Slice the toasted pecans and sprinkle them on top of the sprouts.

Conclusion

This deliciously healthy vegan brussel sprouts recipe will convert any sprout hater into a sprout lover!

Finally, feel free to post your finished result in the Facebook Group!

OR

Post your version of our vegan brussel sprouts to instagram with the hashtag #sweetfreedomlife

Not kidding… this recipe for coconut chocolate bars is perfect for balancing a sweet treat that won’t spike your blood sugar or trigger the addiction cycle.

They are also fantastic for homemade holiday gifts that you can make ahead and don’t have to cook.

You can also have them on hand in the freezer and no one will know they are healthy, unless you tell them.

My suggestion is you let them taste them first.

Today’s Sweet Freedom Recipe is an adapted version of the recipe by the Happy Pear (delightful Irish Vegan twin brothers who incidentally were born in the same city I was, Calgary though a few decades later ;-).

I took their recipe and did a Sweet Freedom Holiday makeover.

We’d love it if you like, comment and share the recipe and let us know how you go if you make the recipe.

Be sure to share your version on our Facebook page.

Loads of love and holiday hugs,

Sherry

Healthy Chocolate Coconut Bars Recipe

? Ingredients ?

Wet Ingredients

• 3 heaped tablespoons of coconut oil

• 4 tablespoons of maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• 1 Tbsp coconut cream (optional)

Dry Inredients

• 200g of desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp of spirulina or matcha (we used spirulina)
• 75g of ground almond/almond meal
• 25 gm dried cranberries (unsweetened if you can get them or sweetened with apple juice) You can also use tart dried cherries if you can find them.
• Pinch of salt

The Rich’n’Raw Chocolate Outside:

• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
• ¾ cup raw cacao powder
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• Large pinch of sea salt

? Instructions ?

Combine and sift the dry ingredients until well combined.

Melt coconut oil in a saucepan on low heat and add in the vanilla and maple syrup.

Place all ingredients except cranberries in a food processor until well mixed, then fold cranberries through.

Press firmly the coconut mixture into a square pan that will allow you to have them be about 3/4 of an inch or 2cm thick.

Put in the freezer for 10 minutes and remove and slice into bite-size squares.

In a double boiler (or a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water) melt coconut oil and cacao butter. Add maple syrup and whisk to combine.

Once completely homogenous (well blended), remove from heat and sift in cacao and add sea salt.

Dip the coconut bites into the chocolate mix until covered and place on a silicone tray or sheet and place in the freezer until firm.

You may wish to do more than one coating of the chocolate depending on taste.

Conclusion

These deliciously healthy bounty bars will satisfy your sweet cravings and help evolve your palatte to prefer real food.

Finally, feel free to post your finished result in the Facebook Group!

OR

Post your version of our coconut chocolate bars to instagram with the hashtag #sweetfreedomlife

I’ve created a delicious, healthy pesto recipe from the weeds in my backyard…and a few little extras from the pantry. 

Henry David Thoreau said. “A weed is simply a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

In Return to Food, I say ‘A superfood is simply a plant whose virtues have been discovered’ and dandelions are both a weed and superfood.

As you’ll learn every part of this plant is edible and has nutritional benefits. 

In today’s Sweet Freedom Sunday, I’ve created a pesto from the dandelions in my backyard. 

Now you can use all kinds of leafy herbs for this.

I’d love to see a picture of your version in the Sweet Freedom Facebook page.

Love and hugs,

Sherry

p.s. Visual warning, the recipe video on our youtube channel has me au naturel, sans makeup, hairy scary sherry and  dressed in what looks like a crazy moo moo. You’ve been warned. At least I’ve spared you from the singing.

Healthy Dandelion Pesto Recipe

? Ingredients ?

Original

• 2-3 Cups Shredded Dandelion Greens.
• Small bunch of Fresh Thyme
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 tsp Dried Chili Flakes
• 1/2 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
• 1/2 Nutritional Yeast
• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 tbsp Sea Salt

? Instructions ?

Place ingredients into a food processor and blend.

Slowly add more Olive Oil to until the pesto reaches your desired consistency.

Serves with your favourite vegetables or as part of a salad.

Conclusion

This healthy dandelion pesto recipe is a great way to make use of an underutilised ingredient and add some delicious nourishment into your world.

Finally, feel free to post your finished result in the Facebook Group!

OR

Post your version of our dandelion pesto to instagram with the hashtag #sweetfreedomlife

If you’re on your Sweet Freedom journey and are craving some crunchy, fluffy fries, then this crispy oven fries recipe will be your go-to healthy alternative.

Most fries are cooked in large amounts of unhealthy oils and usually contain other nasty chemicals and preservatives.

For this recipe, we par boil the fries to make them soft and fluffy on the inside, then bake them in a small amount of organic, cold pressed coconut oil.

You only need about 1-2 tbsp of coconut oil to properly coat the potatoes which will give you a deliciously crispy finish!

Try these with our amazing and healthy Vegan Mayo Recipe.

Love and hugs,

Sherry

How to make Crispy Oven Fries

? Ingredients ?

Original

• 7-10 Small Yukon Gold Potatoes.
• 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

? Instructions ?

Cut the potatoes into small wedges (or fries shape if you prefer). Just make sure the fries are thick enough so they don’t overcook. 

Place potatoes in cold water, bring the water to a boil and boil for 5 mins (or until the outer edges of the potatoes start to fall apart).

Drain the potatoes in a collander and let them dry for a few minutes.

Give the potatoes a small shake in the collander so they outside edges of the potato go rough and fluffy.

Pour the coconut oil onto the potatoes and mix thoroughly.

Place fries on a baking tray and bake them at 430F/220C for 30-40 mins or until golden brown.

Let the fries cool, season with salt and pepper and enjoy the crunch!

Conclusion

This crispy oven fries recipe will absolutely curb those cravings for greasy fried food and help evolve your palatte to prefer real food.

Finally, feel free to post your finished result in the Facebook Group!

OR

Post your version of our crispy oven fries to instagram with the hashtag #sweetfreedomlife