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Coconut Red Lentil & Split Pea Soup

23 Feb

I followed a link for roasted brussel sprouts the other day, and ended up finding this soup recipe on La Petite Maison Verte. As I read further, I found it amusing that the recipe had a history. She had found it on 101 Cookbooks, who was turned on to it by her neighbor, who had adapted it from a copy of the Esalon cookbook. And now I pass it onto you, as I have made it. ; ) I had about a cup of roasted onions, carrots, and steamed collards that I used instead of fresh carrots, and though I attempted toasting the curry powder, I’m not sure that it made much of a difference. It may make more of a difference if you’re actually toasting the whole spices and grinding them yourself, as they do in traditional Indian cooking, so I just left it as an option.

This one is definitely going in my permanent rotation. It made a lovely meal on one of our last “winter” cold snaps. The pictures aren’t the greatest, but it was really delicious!

Coconut Red Lentil & Split Pea Soup

1 c. green (or yellow) split peas, rinsed
1 c. red lentils, rinsed
7 c. water
1 piece of kombu

olive oil for misting
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped or sliced
3 tbsp. fresh peeled and minced ginger

2 tablespoons curry powder (optional: toasted by heating over low heat in a small skillet until fragrant)

olive oil for misting
4-5 green onions, thinly chopped cross-wise
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can [light] coconut milk
1-2 tsp. sea salt  ( or low sodium soy sauce/shoyu/tamari or bragg’s, to taste )

1/2-1 c. fresh or frozen chopped greens, optional

Directions:

1. Place lentils, split peas, water and kombu in a large pot and set to boil. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet misted with olive oil, add onions and carrots and cook over low to medium heat until softened. When lentils and water boil (skim off any foam!), add onions, carrots and 2 tbsp. of the ginger. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Mist the skillet you cooked the onions and carrots in with a little more olive oil (or you can use a thin layer of water), and set to medium. Add green onions, remaining tablespoon of ginger, and raisins. Cook for 2 0r 3 minutes, stirring frequently, and add tomato paste. Cook an additional 2 or 3 minutes.

3. After soup simmers for 30 minutes, add green onion mixture, curry powder, coconut milk, salt and greens, if using. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. At this point you can use an immersion blender, or pour it very carefully into a blender in batches to get a wonderful, smooth consistency.

Enjoy!

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(Raw) Vegan Milkshakes

19 Feb

Today we had a classic lunch of burgers and shakes, just done a little different. The burgers were simple enough… Gardein patties on sprouted grain bread with ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish. For dessert, we had these luscious vanilla milkshakes. (I was out greens, so no green smoothies today!) The little flecks of flax seed are reminiscent of vanilla bean. You can make these raw by using raw nut milk! You can customize these however you like by adding fruit, raw cacao, peanut butter, etc. :)

(Raw) Vegan Milkshakes
2-4 servings

2 large ripe bananas, frozen
3 c. of non-dairy milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. ground flax seed, optional
2 handfuls of ice cubes
pinch of cinnamon, optional
squirt of raw agave, optional

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust ice, milk or agave if necessary.

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Juice Pulp Crackers – mini batch trial

14 Feb

After my green juice experiment, I had about a half a cup of juice pulp left behind. It wasn’t much, but I thought it might be fun to try a mini batch of juice pulp crackers in my toaster oven. I used the same blog post Jenna did as a guide!

Juice Pulp Crackers – Mini batch

~1/2 c. juice pulp
2 tbsp. ground flax seed
1 tbsp. nutrtional yeast
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dehydrated minced onion
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 pinch of salt
1 grind of pepper
1 tsp. of water

Directions: 

1. Turn toaster oven to warm or lowest heat setting. Put juice pulp in a medium sized bowl and add all other ingredients. Mix thoroughly with a fork, until completely combined.

2. Spread into one layer into a 8×8″ baking dish using a small rubber spatula to make it even.

3. Bake for 1 hour with toaster oven ajar. Carefully flip and bake for 20-30 more minutes, or until completely dry.

Result:  These came out great! They reminded me of some kind of commercial veggie crackers I ate years ago. I ate some with avocado salsa, and plain. They were almost better plain because they were so flavorful, and even though avocado salsa makes everything amazing, it completely masked the taste.

These were also one more point for me buying a juicer & dehydrator. Though I’d just get a cheapy dehydrator, because the reviews on amazon don’t seem too bad for this model, and others have been recommending this guy for a juicer. Though, I’m thinking his half the price brother will do the job nicely. Thoughts? I have time to decide. I promised I wouldn’t buy more kitchen stuff until Seattle! (maybe!)

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Raw Taquitos / Raw Taco Meat

13 Feb

I had seen raw tacos popping up all over the place lately ( here & here ) and decided to make my own attempt at nut/seed based raw taco meat. I used collard leaves to roll them up into cute little taquitos, but you can also use romaine leaves to eat these as raw tacos.

Raw Taquitos
3-4 servings

1 bunch of collard leaves, cut down the middle, rib removed

3/4 c. raw walnuts, soaked for 2+ hours and drained
1/4 c. raw pumpkin seeds, soaked for 2+ hours and drained

2 small carrots, cut into pieces
small shallot or about 1 tbsp. of finely chopped onion
2 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 10 minutes and drained

1 tbsp. taco seasoning of your preference, mine is the one from VCF

1 recipe Avocado Salsa, below

Directions:

1. Pulse pumpkin seeds and walnuts in the food processor until you get small crumbles. Scrape out into medium bowl and set aside.

2. Pulse carrots, onion, and sundried tomatoes until finely chopped. And add along with taco seasonings to nut/seed mixture. Use a fork to mix until well combined.

3. Take one half of a collard leaf (inside up) and place about 2 tablespoons each of nut meat and avocado salsa, and roll tightly. (see pix below!)

Avocado Salsa

1 or 2 ripe haas avocado
2 tbsp. of lime juice
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped finely
2-3 tbsp. of finely chopped white onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 large handful of cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 c. of fresh or frozen corn kernels*, optional
salt & pepper, to taste
cayenne pepper or 1/2 a jalapeño, chopped finely, optional

Directions:

1. Scoop out avocado into a bowl. Add lime juice. Add all other ingredients, and mash to desired consistency. Eat fresh or chill in the fridge to let flavors combine further.

*If using frozen corn kernals, just run them under some warm water in a fine mesh sieve before adding.

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Result:

These were super good and will definitely be added to the regular rotation! We eat that avocado salsa right out of the bowl with a spoon.

Raw Apple Pie #1

12 Feb

I get a little weird about how much nuts are used in raw recipes. Though I didn’t notice any weight gain from eating high raw, I was mindful of this when I selected my recipes. Then I found out about buckwheat groats. Turns out you can use them for crusts instead of nuts! For my 1st raw apple pie attempt, I didn’t exclusively use groats (just in case!), but at least they were only about a third of the bulk of the crust. I used 1 1/4 c. of groats, but 1 c. would have sufficed so that’s what I jotted down below for you. I just didn’t want to have a 1/4 c. laying around. : )

Next I will probably try some kind of raw cacao banana pie!

Raw Apple Pie #1

1 c. buckwheat groats
1/2 c. raw almonds
4 dates
2 tbsp. of raisins
1 tsp. oil, I used light olive oil
1.5 tbsp. raw agave
2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of ground ginger
small pinch of salt

1 apple, cut into chunks
1 ripe banana, broken in half or quartered
2 tbsp. raisins
1 tsp. of cinnamon

1 apple, thinly sliced for topping

Directions:

1. Add buckwheat groats and almonds to a food processor and grind down to a sandy texture. Add dates, raisins, oil, agave and spices, and pulse until well combined. Press firmly into a pie plate with a rubber spatula.

2. Add apple, banana, raisins and cinnamon to processor and blend until smooth. Scrape out with spatula and spread onto crust.

3. Arrange apple slices in a pinwheel pattern to completely cover pie. Sprinkle with cinnamon and cover tightly with plastic wrap.

This slices up best when left to set in the fridge overnight!

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American Flatbread Pizza – Vegan Harvest

11 Feb

Thomas noticed this pizza eyeing us from the freezer section the last time we were at Whole Foods, so I grabbed two boxes to try.

I must say, after a lot of searching, I have finally found my favorite vegan frozen pizza!

I’m not sure how long they’ve been making the vegan harvest, because it’s made with delicious Daiya goodness, but I hope they always continue to do so! The name is a litle deceiving, because the “harvest” part makes me think it should have a bunch of veggies on top. However, the “flatbread” part translates to a thin, wood fired earthen oven baked, perfect crust, that actually has a crust all the way around! Big points for that too, as I hate frozen pizzas without a border (I’m looking at you Tofurky!) . Not only that, but it doesn’t taste like a plain ole cheese frozen pizza. It’s got a lovely garlic thing going on too.

This is my new, cheaper answer to ordering delivery. Which is really important for me, because as much as I crave raw foods from my green smoothie drinking, the backlash is that I also crave pizza! ; )

Right now you can get a $1 off coupon from their website too that’s valid through 2012, so print away! I would love to see an additional vegan option with some of the gourmet toppings they have on their cheese pizzas like caramelized onions and sun dried tomatoes. For now I’m thrilled about this new find.

Have you tried it? What did you think? What’s your favorite frozen vegan pizza?

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Angelica Home Kitchen custom sammies

7 Feb

When I asked Thomas yesterday what he’d like to eat in the next few days, he asked me to make the yummy sandwiches I accidentally came up with a while back trying to recreate the Sam or I sandwich from Angelica Kitchen in New York. Instead of the kraut and seaweed that appear on said sandwich, I use oven roasted carrots and onions, and some steamed greens. For variety, any of their sandwiches can easily be made into a bowl, by serving over a grain instead of bread. All of the recipes come from their cookbook, Angelica Home Kitchen (available cheapest on their website). I was happy that at least if we were eating cooked food, we’re eating some quality macrobiotic deliciousness! Regardless, after eating some of the leftovers for lunch today, I couldn’t help but notice the difference in how I felt eating cooked food again. I missed the lighter feeling of eating raw, and am thinking lunch is probably a great time to continue to do so.

The recipe for Soba Sensation sauce makes a lot (a whole spaghetti jar’s worth) but I’m going to use the rest of it over a package of soba noodles later in the week as a bed for some [made from their cookbook] Candle 79 crusted seitan. Oh and P.S., Thomas is making seitan this week, the long way, from actual bread flour using Candle’s recipe. So wish him luck! ; )

Baked Tofu with Lemon-Rosemary Marinade, pg. 105

I made a double batch because there is a tofu eating monster that lives in my house, and also because the other recipes make so much!

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Oven-Roasted Onions and Carrots, pg. 168

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Steamed Greens, pg. 99 (Just steam them for 5 minutes. That’s it.)

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Soba Sensation Sauce, pg. 209

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That’s a tasty sandwich! Served on sprouted grain bread.

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Dip, dip, hooRAW! More Terry Hope Testing & Avocado Salsa

5 Feb

Finished!

I’m pleased to report back to you on the results of two raw dips I tested this weekend. One was my little creation based on the tomato and avocado that needed using in my fridge, and the second, another recipe from Terry’s upcoming book for Mexican Pumpkin Seed Pate (Sikil Pak).

This avocado salsa is kind of like guacamole and pico de gallo had a baby… and then threw in some corn for fun. :) It’s delicious.

Avocado Salsa

1 or 2 ripe haas avocado
2 tbsp. of lime juice
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped finely
2-3 tbsp. of finely chopped white onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 large handful of cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 c. of fresh or frozen corn kernels*, optional
salt & pepper, to taste
cayenne pepper or 1/2 a jalapeño, chopped finely, optional

Directions:

1. Scoop out avocado into a bowl. Add lime juice. Add all other ingredients, and mash to desired consistency. Eat fresh or chill in the fridge to let flavors combine further.

*If using frozen corn kernals, just run them under some warm water in a fine mesh sieve before adding.

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Terry Hope Romero’s Mexican Pumpkin Seed Pate (Sikil Pak)

I was attracted to it since it was a raw recipe, and we do love a tasty dip for snacking or entertaining guests. The reviews that were already in were sort of a mixed bag, but it sounded like something we would like, so I decided to give it a go.

I started out with half of the suggested amount of water and got a chunkier dip, but then further thinned with the full suggested amount just to see if it smoothed out. It still retained the grainy texture, at least in my food processer, but if you want it creamy I’m sure a high powered blender would do the trick. She tells you to process to a chunky hummus texture.

Recipe called for soaking the seeds. I left mine soaking for about 5 hours.

A potent blend of pumpkin seeds, garlic, onion, cilantro, etc.

Finished!

Results:  This was pretty powerful stuff. The raw onion and garlic give it a heck of a bite, and it ended up tasting kind of like guacamole. We ate some fresh out of the food processor, and then wrapped it up in the fridge for later. We served it as a late snack for friends, and they loved it. An omni’s response: It’s fantastic. You could serve this to people, and they’d never know it was vegan. ; ) Hah, so there you go! I would definitely make this again.

And now here is a picture of Boris, for good measure. I caught him sleeping on the kitchen table and he was a little to sleepy to jump off immediately, so I snapped up his groggy, guilty little face. ;)

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Terry Hope Testing: White Bean Farro Soup & Tofu

2 Feb

So I’m very pleased to report that I made good on my promise, and finally got to testing some recipes from Terry Hope Romero’s upcoming book. I chose the white bean farro soup, because the ingredients seemed like they’d be tasty together and easy to find (many others that have caught my eye had hard to find ingredients), and then I decided to try out her basic tofu recipe [which was already closed due to enough feedback] to serve on the side.

When it came to finding the farro at WF, I was totally blind. Because the first isle I went to to look for it (the rice & grains isle) was actually the last place I found it. I don’t know why, but I kept missing it. I also read pretty much every bin they had, three times to make sure it wasn’t there. But low and behold, it was there the whole time, staring me in the face. I’m so glad I did  find it though, because this soup came out AWESOME.

Oh, hi!

rinsed and resting to dry while i prep the veggies

After mincing the garlic by hand I got lazy and threw the rest of the veggies into the fp to make it easy.

Making chickpea parm for topping the soup.

chickpea parm dough ball

chickpea parm, spread to cool.

Tofu came out almost burned and a bit overcooked. Still tasted good, just needs the baking time cut down a bit. Pan is still soaking!

Chickpea parm, not as finely textured as I was supposed to, but really tasty.

All together now.

Results:

I LOVED the soup! The farro had a lovely chewy texture, and the flavors were really lively and fresh, especially with the addition of the bright chickpea parm. I added in the optional spinach, but it also called for parsley, so it was nice to have lots of green in my cooked soup. The tofu tasted great, it was just a little tough, but baking for my customary 30 minutes would take care of that, and it was well seasoned and had a surprising amount of heat [for a basic recipe] which I appreciated.

So off to a good start! I have two other recipes of hers that I want to make, one is a raw dip (yay, raw!) and the other is pending my finding an ingredient. I thought I’d take a chance since other people seemed to be able to find gyoza wrappers, but I didn’t yet.

Stay tuned!

What’s Cookin’?

31 Jan

LJ & I at Sweat Records post waffles! : )


 When I went out to lunch with my mom last Friday, she pointed out that it had been almost a month that I’d been eating high raw. She asked what most people had been starting to ask… was I going to keep it up?!

Here’s the thing, I really did it as a detox. From the beginning, I had no set plans on how long it would last, I would just keep doing it until I didn’t feel like doing it anymore. I was also hoping I’d maybe drop a couple pounds, but after nearly a month, that didn’t end up happening. Really, I can only conclude that my body is not only excellent at maintaining homeostasis, but that it is at a normal, healthy weight, and I should just be happy about it.

Even though I look kind fat in that picture, my BMI is 21, which falls in the normal category. Want to know yours? Click here! Here’s what it says…

BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9 (Normal Weight)
People whose BMI is within 18.5 to 24.9 possess the ideal amount of body weight, associated with living longest, the lowest incidence of serious illness, as well as being perceived as more physically attractive than people with BMI in higher or lower ranges. However, it may be a good idea to check your Waist Circumference and keep it within the recommended limits.

Further, I will continue to include raw meals in our regular eating.

This morning driving into work, and watching all the ducks walking around, I had a thought. With ducks, as long as they continue to eat their normal mostly vegan diet (along with some bugs) they are normal and healthy. But when they are fed people food like bread and processed snacks, they’re life span is cut down to a fraction of what it would normally be, and they start presenting with all kinds of diseases. So yes, humans have evolved with a long history of cooked foods and grains, but we’ve also had a long recorded history of disease and cancer, so I’m going to take a cue from some other animals in nature, and try keep plenty of fresh raw foods in our diet too. And now that I’m back on green smoothies, I have no intention of quitting again. Especially since I now know for sure it wasn’t them that I was allergic too. (It seems to be mushrooms & D2!)

My transitioning back to cooked foods really started Saturday. We had a nice lunch with my mom at Juice n Java, and I ordered a salad with some [cooked] quinoa and some fresh juice. Later that night we had Taco Bell fresco bean burritos for dinner, and Sunday we met up with LJ of [the recently abandoned for tumblr]  itsveganlicious.com for the Sweat Records vegan waffle party. Here is my pretty little waffle… covered with lots of fresh fruit! image

LJ & I at Sweat Records post waffles! : )

Monday I went to the Bombay Cafe, got my [vegan] lunch special and proceeded to pig out! I was full for what seemed like forever! So good!

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I did just get two new raw books that I will be testing intermittently, but I also remembered: Hey! I’m supposed to be testing recipes for Terry Hope Romero’s new book!! With all the holidays, and traveling, and eating raw food for the last month, I have not tested one single recipe, so it will now be my purpose to start doing that immediately. My shopping list has already been made, and I’m getting off the computer and heading to Whole Foods as soon as I’m done with this post, so expect to see some of that coming this way in the following weeks, and more raw food peppered in too!

As always, thanks for reading and sharing! You have made January the best month of cpv.com yet, with nearly 3K hits! :D

<3,
Ty

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