Kathy Hester is at it again! This time she’s saving the day with a Vegan Slow Cooker book that’s for small families, or perhaps one like mine, where all of us can’t agree on one single dinner so the kids get PB&J or vegan ramen if I know they aren’t going to want what’s on the menu (shhh). Almost all of the recipes are low-fat or oil free, are simple to prepare and use ingredients that most of us all ready stock in our fridge or pantry. You will need however, one very important item, a 1.5 quart or 1.5 liter slow cooker to make these recipes. I bought mine for $10 ages ago. You can find one online or at a big box or kitchen store. Believe me, it’s worth the investment (says the girl with 6 slow cookers of various sizes).
I also own her book, The Vegan Slow Cooker, which is absolutely amazing and perfect for larger families or for making enough to have leftovers to freeze for busy days. I reviewed her awesome The Great Vegan Bean Book a few months ago and her Lentil Quinoa Bolognese recipe I shared from that book is still getting loads of traffic on my site (yes, it’s so delicious!). Today I’ll be sharing (with her permission) the recipe for a gorgeous and perfectly portioned Lemon Blueberry Cake later in this post, but first feast your eyes on some of the other creations I made from Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just for You. 
Ooey Gooey Bananas Foster. This little ditty can cook overnight and welcome you to the breakfast table with glee. If you add her Butterscotch Rum Sauce to this dish, like I did, be prepared to start putting that stuff on and in everything… You won’t be able to stop!
I made this bad boy gluten-free using this GF blend. No one was the wiser… Oh and it got a dosing of the Butterscotch Rum sauce as well.
Hearty Lasagna Layered with Nut Ricotta. My family pretty much has a lasagna fetish, this one definitely met our high-standard approval rating.
Gimme That! Need I say more?
Every Season Minestrone. This recipe is excellent for using up whatever veggies you may have around. It’s both light and comforting, which is perfect for the cool weather that’s arrived.
Blueberry Lemon Cake
*Soy-Free *Gluten-Free Option *Oil Free Option
When you bake a cake like this one in your slow cooker, it becomes moist and sumptuous. But you don’t want the condensation making it wet and preventing it from baking, so use a clean dish towel under the lid to soak up the moisture. Just make sure to fold the towel in quarters so it doesn’t touch the hot sides of your slow cooker.
For the Dry Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (60 g) whole-wheat pastry flour (for gluten free, use GF baking mix)
- 1/4 teaspoon stevia plus 1 teaspoon agave nectar or sweetener of your choice, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
For the Wet Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) unsweetened nondairy milk
- 1/4 cup (36 g) blueberries
- 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds mixed with 2 teaspoons (10 ml) warm water
- 1 teaspoon olive oil (for oil free, substitute applesauce or pumpkin puree)
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
Spray the crock with oil or line with parchment paper to make the recipe oil-free. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Then add the wet to the dry and mix until combined.
Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and spread evenly on the bottom. Put a clean dish towel or paper towel between the lid and slow cooker to absorb the condensation.
Cook on high for 60 to 80 minutes or until the middle is solid and doesn’t indent when you touch it.
Buy “Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just for You” in paperback format on Amazon here or get the Kindle version here.
Visit Kathy Hester at her site Healthy Slow Cooking here.
Visit the “Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just for You” Blog Tour page here to get some other great recipes from this book!
For a chance to win a copy of this amazing cookbook, Click on the link below to enter the Giveaway! This contest is open to entrants in the USA only. You must also follow this blog by email or RSS feed to qualify. You have until Friday the 4th of October to enter! I will notify the winner by email on Monday the 7th of October. GO!!
Vedged Out 
That cake can just get in my belly right now…. I am going to pick some blackberries from a cross the road and use them instead so I can get this in to said belly slightly quicker than I can If I go to town for blueberries…
It would be positively brilliant with blackberries! 🙂
that cake does look good. i think i am going to put that rum sauce on the cookie!
I want to bathe in the rum sauce. It’s almost gone. Oops!
Where to start? Everything looks absolutely delicious and easy to make!
Exactly! I had a hard time choosing, because everything in the book looked so good!
Oatmeal is my favorite…would it be too decadent to drizzle it with Butterscotch Rum Sauce? 😉
Um, no. Oatmeal would love the Butterscotch Rum Sauce! Great idea!
Blueberry and Lemon has to be me two favorite flavor combinations. I love these little cake and cookies cause you can make up more varieties without having a bakery full of sweets around. Loving Kathy’s book!
Isn’t it great! I’m going to be doubling many of the recipes for easy meals this winter. I heart slow cookers!
Oh my goodness. I’m a fan of EVERYTHING gooey and saucy….and those pictures just made me drool. I’m going to be fantasizing about this food all day now. And lasagna…sigh, I haven’t had that since turning into a veggie-monster.
Haha! So glad I could oblige! Oh girl, you need veggie lasagna in your life. Check this one out that uses Kathy’s Lentil Bolognese sauce: https://vedgedout.com/2013/06/07/tastes-of-summer-grilled-eggplant-and-zucchini-lasagna/
Peachpatch – there is nothing to decadent or good to put on oatmeal. It deserves to be treated like a king or queen in my book! ; )
I think I know what I’m having for my afternoon snack! YUMMY idea!
I love slow cooker chili! Just throw it all in there and let it go for the day 🙂
Me too! Unfortunately, my family doesn’t love chili nearly as much as I do, so I don’t make it nearly as often as I want to!
That giant slow cooker cookie kinda slapped me right in the face in the best possible way! Keep the cookbooks coming, Kathy!!
It’s a thing of beauty! Kathy’s cookbooks are definitely some of the ones I use the most often in my kitchen!
That blueberry cake looks uh-mazing! Everything looks fantastic. I won’t tell about the kids if you won’t 🙂
Thanks Shira! It’s so great to make a little dessert without having heaps of leftovers that you feel compelled to keep gobbling up! 🙂 🙂 xx
Wow! It’s hard to believe that ALL of these gorgeous dishes came out of a slow cooker! I want to go to there! I’ve only ever *successfully* made chili in the slow cooker. I’d love to branch out!
Isn’t it incredible, I have to admit I cheated a bit because of time constraints, I used all of my slow cookers, from my mini to my giant one to make these recipes, I just used small containers for some, like for the bananas foster, I put that cast iron dish inside a larger slow cooker and cooked it that way, but as you can see, it all still came out incredibly 🙂
Yeah, Kathy shows you that you can make nearly anything in a slow cooker. She’s amazing!
WOW! It’s hard to believe that ALL of those gorgeous dishes came out of a crock pot! I want to go to there!
The only thing I’ve been able to *successfully* make in a crock pot is chili. I’d love to branch out!
This looks so delicious and it has stevia and a gluten free option! So excited to try it, but not sure what you mean by not letting the towel touch the sides. How would it not do that if it’s under the lid?
I made the brownie gluten free and it turned out amazing, so I’m sure the lemon cake would as well. It was perfectly sweet with hardly any sweetener!
So, about the towel trick, you fold a kitchen towel up until it’s just the right size to fit on top of your slow cooker, meaning the edges don’t hang down and touch the sides, they only touch the ceramic crock and the lid. I followed Kathy’s directions and folded my towel into quarters and it worked great. However, I have used a towel over the top of my slow cooker many times when making my own recipes with the edges hanging down, but now that I think about it, that’s probably a fire hazard, so Kathy’s idea is brilliant and keeps the dessert from getting overly wet from condensation build up.
I saw your teaser pics on FB last night and I was so excited for this post to go live- Kathy Hester is the Queen of Slow Cooker goodness!
Haha! Yeah, I was so excited about it, I couldn’t help myself! I’m glad you followed through and found this!
Yes, Kathy Hester is absolutely amazing. I LOVE her books and feel honored that she has me review them!
My favorite slow cooker meal is any kind of vegan chili… I’m from the southwest, so it’s in my blood. Can’t wait to try this delicious-looking cookbook!
Classic! Yeah, this will have you branching out into all kinds of new slow cooker cuisines!
I haven’t been very adventurous with my crockpot. It’s mostly chili, the occasional soup or stew. I have been wanting to try lasagna though. I have a friend who says it’s even better in the crockpot than in the oven!
Thanks for the chance to win this book. I have The Great Vegan Bean Book and LOVE it, plus it’s just my husband and me at home these days so I could use some smaller recipes.
Well, I can attest that this lasagna was fabulous! Best of luck with the contest Terri, and if you don’t win, I highly suggest getting it. It’s only $9.99 on kindle 🙂
I like to slow cook lentils with onions, celery and herbs de provence – it doesn’t take that long and is really good!
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{in the contest I am Margot Core on the Rafflecopter}
Lovely! I make lentils in the slow cooker too, but now I’m going to have to try your method!
I love baked beans 🙂
Mmmm! Me too!
I love slow cooker beans, it’s so good!
They turn out so much nicer than canned beans! 🙂
Oh my goodness, that bananas foster. I am drooling. Just…DROOLING.
I have a confession, I only sampled the other desserts, as in a smidgen, but I ate hald of that bananas foster! I couldn’t stop myself! You’d be amazed to know how healthy the recipe really is (except of course, that fantastic sauce)… 😉
Our favorite slow cooker meal is definitely chili. Yum!
Sounds like it’s a favorite of many on here! And for good reason!
We love chili in the slow cooker. Yum!
Yeah another vote for chili!
Can I drink that rum sauce from a paper bag? and then sleep on a bench with my slow cooker?
Beautiful pics and book 🙂
Gigi, I admit. I put it in a pint jar, and last night, I had to sip some of it. It’s like crack cocaine, I imagine you could cook it down even further in a saucepan and make caramels out of the stuff. Geez louise it’s good!
As for drinking it from a paper bag, and sleeping on the bench with a slow cooker, just find an extension cord and the nearest outlet and it will keep you warm all night long 🙂 ! Haha!
🙂
I actually have never made anything in a slow cooker! But I want the cookbook anyway :p
This would be a fantastic start for you! Everyone’s gotta start with slow cookery somewhere, and this is an amazing book to begin with!
I really like making veggie lasagna in my slow cooker
Excellent! This was my first slow cooker lasagna and I was surprised at how wonderful it turned out! 🙂
We found this cook book by accident about a month ago, and the Blonde loves it! We use it about weekly, but especially since there are just two of us. We also use bits and pieces from The Vegan Slow Cooker in our own recipes. Kathy Hester knows what’s up!
Awesome! It’s fantastic for a small family. I can all ready tell I’ll be using it often and as a reference for larger recipes! Love Kathy Hester!
I’ve never made a cake in my slow cooker before. I’ll have to try that out! I love making curries in mine. It makes my house smell wonderful!
This was my first time making dessert in the slow cooker! I was thrilled with how it turned out.
Yum on the curry! She’s got some amazing curry recipes in this book too!
My favorite is a Chickpea Squash Stew. It is so yummy!
Wow, that sounds absolutely delicious!
I don’t have one at the moment – which is why I need this cookbook :).
Yes! Yes you do!
I love making simple soups with whatever vegetables, beans and grain I have on hand. Toss it all in till it’s simmered!
Brilliant!
Soups, nice hearty soups!
That’s usually what I do too!
I love thick stews! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
I make an awesome vegetarian chili in the crockpot. (I use organic canned beans except for the lentils which I cook myself in a bit of vegetable stock.)red bean+black beans+lentil+diced tomatoes with chilie+tomato paste+cumin+liquid smoke+brown sugar+pinch of cinnamon+water. dump it in the morning before you leave for work and it’s ready when you come home.
My favorite slow cooker meal is vegan taco soup with anaheim chili peppers. So delish and warm for those cold days!
I recently just made a pumpkin salted caramel sauce that blew my mind. That’s my new favorite slow cooker thang!
I recently made Spabettie’s Pumpkin Caramel Sauce and it was to die for! Oh my gosh, so good, and my new favorite!
I follow on Pinterest! 🙂
My favorite slow cooker meal is baked apples 🙂 or chili…