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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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Raw Vegan Nachos

25 Jan

So maybe seeing raw vegan nachos on Greenwave’s menu stuck with me, or maybe it’s just that I really love nachos… either way, I had raw vegan nachos on the brain. After reading a few recipes for sauces, I figured I had some pretty good ideas of my own to try, and took to the Vitamix. I think the secret to this sauce is really the smoked paprika. A nod to what makes Bang, Bang Cafe in Seattle’s vegan mac so good. I put a bit more turmeric, smoked paprika and cayenne than what’s listed below, but that’s a good place to start, and then you can customize it to your palette.

I really love the flexibility and creativity I’m feeling with raw food. It’s great to have so many fresh ingredients on hand and just use what I’m in the mood for, or what needs to be used up. For the nachos, I cut up the last three pieces of raw onion bread I picked up Saturday at Greenwave. They were starting to get crispy from sitting in the fridge, so they really worked well. For toppings I used the last of some romaine I had, a big handful of chopped cilantro, a seeded, chopped tomato, and a few sliced kalamata olives. Then I drizzled it all with this raw vegan nacho cheese sauce. I didn’t use any additional water because I liked the thick consistency, so I started with about 1.5 cups worth, and used about 1/2 cup of it. I saved the rest for another use.

This is obviously a limitless recipe of possibilities, and I must say… the sauce came out AWESOME! :)

Raw Vegan Nacho Cheese
makes 1.5-2 cups, depending on consistency

1 c. of raw cashews

1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/4 c. of water, plus more if you want it a little thinner
~1/2 tsp. olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 a small shallot or a little bit of onion
~ 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika (or more)
~ 1/2 tsp. turmeric (or more)
2 pinches of salt
cayenne pepper, optional

Directions:

1. Put dry cashews in a high powered blender or food processor and chop until they’re a fine powder.

2. Add all other ingredients, and blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings and thin with additional water as desired. If using a vitamix, you can blend a bit longer to warm mixture a bit. I just held the carafe to monitor the temp.

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Vegan Blue Cheese & Fruit Crunch Kale Salad

5 Jan

While flipping through Raw Food Real World, I spotted a meyer lemon dressing made from lemons, honey, olive oil, and salt & pepper. I had a bag of lemons in my fridge, two bunches of kale on the counter, and that brand new brick of vegan blue cheese I was dying to use, and came up with this. If you don’t have a fancy high powered blender you can just use lemon juice instead.

Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

4 small lemons, ends removed and peeled leaving a little pith
raw agave and/or maple syrup, to taste
drizzle of oil
salt & pepper

Vegan Blue Cheese & Fruit Crunch Kale Salad

2 bunches of kale, washed, ribs removed, and finely chopped
1 pear, shaved into salad with peeler
1 apple, finely chopped
3-4 ounces of vegan blue cheese, crumbled
a few handfuls of raisins
handful of dried cranberries
handful of chopped walnuts
handful of sunflower seeds

Directions:

1. Add lemons to blender and turn up to high speed to pulverize seeds and pith. With blender running, drizzle in olive oil to desired consistency. Sweeten with agave and/or maple syrup, and add a pinch of salt and a little fresh ground pepper, to taste.

2. In a very large bowl add all ingredients and drizzle with about half of the dressing. Toss salad by massaging with clean hands until all ingredients are well distributed. Top with additional dressing, raisins, seeds or nuts as desired.

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And here was my lovely green smoothie lunch today! It feels good to eat clean again.

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Apricot Quinoa Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash w/ Marinated Tofu

3 Jan

So this meal was inspired by the lovely little acorn squashes I picked up on my shopping trip this week… and a couple of other recipes as well. When I made the Veganomicon Chickpea Pilaf the other day, another recipe caught my eye, the Israeli Couscous with pistachios and apricots. The quinoa here incorporates that pairing of apricot and grain, and also makes use of the yummy acorn squash seeds. The marinated tofu is just a slight adaptation of the one from the Angelica Home Kitchen cookbook.

The tofu and squash cook together for the same time to keep it simple. I put them both on the middle rack of the oven and switched them halfway. The quinoa comes together quickly and easily on the stove top. If you’re making the quinoa without the squash, you can substitute slivered almonds for the seeds, or some other seed or nut of your liking. Some steamed or sauteed greens would make a really nice addition.

Apricot Quinoa Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash w/ Marinated Tofu
Serves 4

2 acorn squash (preferably organic), scrubbed, halved, and seeds removed & reserved

Marinated Tofu

1 block of firm or extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into desired shapes (I used the pre-pressed kind and cut into 9 blocks)

Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp. Bragg’s (or shoyu or tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
few grinds of pepper
pinch of poultry seasoning, optional
pinch of rosemary, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare a cookie sheet for roasting acorn squash and place all 4 halves cut side down onto sheet.

2. Whisk all tofu marinade ingredients. Place tofu pieces into a 9×13″ baking pan in a single layer, and drizzle marinade evenly over all the pieces.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until squash is easily pierced with a fork.

Apricot Quinoa

olive oil for misting pot, or use a little water
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 c. of rinsed quinoa
a little less than 2 c. of water or broth
1 tsp. cumin
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of garam masala
pinch of cayenne pepper
a few grinds of pepper

1/2 c. of finely chopped dried apricot
juice of one lemon, strained

1/2 c. of toasted seeds or nuts (or toasted, salted seeds of 2 acorn squash)

nutritionaly yeast, for topping, optional

Directions:

1. To toast the raw squash seeds, heat in a small non-stick skillet with a pinch of salt over low-medium heat until they are dry and golden. Set aside.

2. Mist a medium pot with olive oil and heat to low-medium. Add shallot and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Add rinsed quinoa and keep stirring until it dries a bit, a couple of minutes. Add water and spices, and bring up to a boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in apricots, lemon juice, and toasted seeds*. Cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Fluff with fork. (*If you want crunchier seeds, don’t stir them in until the end.)

3. To serve, spoon the quinoa into the acorn squash half and plate with tofu. Enjoy!

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Biscuits & Tofu Scrambles

2 Jan

I’ve definitely been on a biscuit and tofu scramble kick the last couple of weekends. I’ve also cut down the 4 tbsp. of shortening I usually use, to 3 tbsp. to make the biscuits a little less guilt inducing. In addition, I’ve started throwing in a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten for extra protein too. Last weekend I made a buttermilk batch, and yesterday an Italian herb batch. I love the herb variation because they’re so fragrant, and even though they’re more savory, you can still eat them with butter and jam! I’ve been using silken tofu for my scrambles and used a mix of red bell pepper and poblano peppers to spice things up. You can get both of these recipes anytime up in the My Recipes tab, but here are the links:

Drop Biscuits (with variations)

My basic tofu scramble recipe

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Sweet Potato Casserole (Vegan)

25 Dec

This recipe came out awesome. I wrote it yesterday and took it up to Thomas’ mom’s for Christmas Eve. Unfortunately with all the rushing and driving around, I forgot to take a finished picture but it was totally delicious and I will definitely be making this again!

Merry Christmas!

Sweet Potato Casserole (Vegan)

4 large yams or sweet potatoes (I used garnet yams)

1/3 c. sugar
flax mixture (1 tbsp. ground flax seed + 3 tbsp. hot water, whisked)
2/3 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
4 tbsp. vegan butter, softened
1/2 c. non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk here)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp.  nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2-3 tbsp. cold vegan butter
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400*F and prepare a cookie sheet. Scrub sweet potatoes and stab all over with a fork. Bake for 60 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool and drop oven temp to 350*F. Once cooled, you can scoop out the flesh. Alternatively you could peel, cube, and steam or boil until potatoes are tender.

2. In a large bowl, mix together sweet potatoes, sugar, flax mixture, salt, butter, milk and vanilla until smooth. Transfer to a deep 8×8″ baking dish.

3. In medium bowl, mix brown sugar and flour. Cut butter in until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture. Bake for 40 minutes; crumb topping should be golden.

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