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Happy eating!

-LT

You know I’ve raved about frozen banana ice cream before, but I recently saw a new creation on (never home) maker. Great blog, by the way! If you want to be way jealous of someone’s house, go check out the pics of Ashley and Steven’s, here. Anyway, recently they posted a recipe for a variation of this frozen treat. Check it out…. peanut butter chocolate banana vegan ice cream… awesome!

I used natural peanut butter, so I added a bit of sea salt as well. I bet if you used the “not so good for you” PB it would be a bit tastier, or sweeter. Maybe even add a drizzle of maple syrup. I’m going to try some other versions of this too. Jennifer of sweetonveg pointed me in the direction of this Banana Caramel Pecan version just the other day. That’s next on my list of to eat’s!

Of course, I can always go for a bowl of my favorite Fruity Summer Sorbet. Probably the easiest, healthiest treat one could eat while still feeling indulgent! This is just frozen raspberries, mango and 1/4 of a banana with a drizzle of lemon juice. No added sugar! It’s SO friggin good.

I just want to point out that you don’t have to do this in a food processor. A blender works too, but it might take a bit more fiddling with a spatula to get everything well blended.

That guy there is Dylan Powell of The Vegan Police. Thanks for saving the day! I love what these guys (and one gal) are doing and since I don’t live anywhere near the Niagara region I NEED to find something like this in Toronto… or perhaps I will have to start my own militia!!

Whoever made that vegan black & white cookie is a genius! And in case you’re wondering… I did not eat all those treats myself. They were shared with the peeps at the S4C tent.

I found this recipe linked from a Facebook post of fellow blogger Sweet On Veg. I cooked up a whole box of quinoa for this Quinoa Taco Salad and ate it all myself over the course of a few days.

Credit goes to Karina, the Gluten-Free Goddess. She is incredible. Lots of foodies know about this amazing site and I check back often, because she has a lot of gluten-free AND vegan recipes, including a lot of baked goods. Now I’m not 100% G-free, but I am experimenting with it. I think we could all stand to lighten up on the refined sugars, flours, and yeast. Check out Gluten-Free Goddess for some ideas and give this salad a try!

You also need:
2 cups of pitted and halved cherries
12 tsp raw sugar
1/4 cup toasted almond slices.

Prepare a muffin pan by buttering (I used, Earth Balance) each muffin cup. Place cherry pieces at the bottom of each so there is little space and sprinkle each with 1 tsp of raw sugar. Pour cake batter into the muffin cups and bake at  350 F for 20-25 minutes. You can toast the almond slices in a pan on low heat with some brown sugar or raw sugar until brown. Make sure you allow the cakes to cool for at least 10-15 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack. It was a bit tricky. In my case they didn’t all come out of the pan at once. It took a few turns to get all 12 cakes out of the pan. Lastly, sprinkle each cake with almond slices.

p.s. apologies to Greg P for tempting you with these cakes and making them appear forbidden to eat. Next time you can have all of ‘em buddy!

Anyway, this is what’s been cooking in my kitchen over the last week or so. Perfect summer recipes to make for yourself or take to the next summer BBQ/party.

A new take on couscous. Similar to the Orange Scented Couscous of the past but with a few new and different tastes. This Orange-Infused Couscous Salad has been modified from the  Early Summer Ed. of LCBO’s Food & Drink mag. It called for chicken, but of course I did it without. It’s a nice, refreshing summery salad that results in left overs!

Ingredients:
1 cup OJ
1/2 cup veggie stock
1 shallot chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
3-4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 1/4 cup couscous
1 red and orange pepper sliced
2 green onions sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots
1 tbsp OJ
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
6 cups baby arugula
salt & pepper

Saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes (or until fragrant) in the same pot you will want to boil and cook your couscous. Add OJ, stock, and fresh thyme (removed from stem) to the onions and garlic and bring to a boil. Add couscous and remove from heat, cover and set aside for liquid to absorb. This could be made ahead of time and you could complete the rest of the recipe right before serving. Add in peppers, apricots, mint, and green onions. Whisk together a dressing of OJ, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour half over couscous and toss until combined. Reserve remaining dressing to lightly toss the arugula leave in. Arrange arugula on plate first and serve warm couscous on top.

Hot, steamy, cheesy spinach and artichoke dip used to be one of my fave things. Now that I have eliminated cheese, and better yet, don’t even want to eat it, I made a yummy warm butter bean and artichoke dip with home made pita chips instead. It’s sort of like a hummus, but richer in flavor. I think heating it thoroughly in the oven helped with that. I kind of made this up on the spot so the recipe may not be exact. Tasting it as you go is the best way to make it – so it tastes the way you want!

Ingredients:
1 can butter beans (lima beans)
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp paprika
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp white miso paste
4 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

In a food processor combine all ingredients and process. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mix at the end. Baking it at 350 F for approx. 15-20 minutes or until heated through is optional. I also topped it with some homemade vegan parmesan before baking.

Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie #1 (krissyscookies.com)

This was the first time I’ve ever seen Peppermint Oil used in a recipe as opposed to Peppermint Extract. I bought 100% pure organic peppermint oil, and boy is it strong. The recipe calls for 1 tsp, which FYI is WAY too much. You can barely even eat these cookies, even though they look rather edible in my pic. They’re like some kind of aromatherapy cookie. Seems a little like your eating medicine or something. It’s  so over powering that you can’t taste the cookie or chocolate. I also used white all-purpose flour and coconut oil instead of spelt flour and safflower oil, which this recipe calls for. Really, the only part that ruined these is the amount of peppermint essence.

I always get bummed when a recipe doesn’t work and so I immediately have to re-do it with variations to fix it.

Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie #2 (recipe below)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
2/3 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp peppermint oil

Combine wet ingredients in a bowl. Sift dry ingredients, except for walnuts and chocolate, into another bowl and combine. Add dry to wet and stir until combined, without over mixing. Line baking trays with parchment or spray with cooking spray. Roll 1 1/2 balls and place on cookie tray, then slightly flatten the dough with your hand. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. Makes 16 regular sized cookies or 8 large cookies.

Cookie #2 is the winner! It’s still minty fresh, but the batter tastes better, the chocolate comes through and it doesn’t feel like you just drank mouthwash!

Homemade Falafels

1 can chickpeas
1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup ground flax
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 small onion chopped
fresh chopped parsley & cilantro
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp baking powder
salt & pepper

Drain and rinse the chickpeas well then whizz them a few times in a food processor or mash with a fork. If you do put them in a food processor you don’t want it to become a paste like hummus. Put the chick peas into a large bowl and add all other ingredients and combine. Roll into 1-2 inch balls, depending on the size you prefer your falafels. You could also make patties. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes each side, until nicely browned.

These were great but I did find them a bit bland. I needed more salt, lemon juice, garlic and spices I think. You might even want to pan fry the mushrooms, garlic and onion first and then add that to the chickpea mixture. They did taste better a day or two later and I re-heated them in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil. If all you foodies out there have a different recipe or other ideas for falafels, leave a comment and  let me know!

The salad is also good stuffed in a whole wheat pita with other pairings like crispy tofu or homemade falafel (I’ll post that recipe next). Like this, it sort of reminds me of tabouleh. It’s a good way to get more greens, still eat healthy, but not get bored of eating ONLY salad all the time.

I also found a recipe for Kale Soup on The Hot Yam! blog site. Which means I was able to use up all that kale I had in the same cooking session! I was hoping to try Hot Yam for the first time too, but they’ve closed for the semester. This was more like a lentil soup, as the kale wasn’t really the feature ingredient, but it was still tasty and it’s a keeper!

Kale Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
6 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 red potatoes, diced into ½-inch cubes
1 cup green lentils
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried sage
3 cups kale, chopped
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery, and saute for an additional 10 minutes. Add all ingredients except for kale, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chopped kale, salt, and pepper. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Looking good from the outside, this Raspberry Chocolate Mocha Cake with Chocolate Ganache and layers of Raspberry Preserve was scrumptious! But just one more picky criticism I have is that you can’t see the 4 layers. I used organic raspberry preserve from a jar in between the layers of cake, but it spreads out so thin and just soaks into the cake that you can’t see each beautiful slab. Aah well!

Raspberry Chocolate Mocha Cake
(make 2 batches for 4 layers)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup raw cane sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt

In a large bowl whisk apple cider vinegar and soy milk and set aside. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cacao powder, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt. Add to the soy milk and vinegar mixture the coffee, sugar, vanilla extract, and oil. Add the dry ingredients to wet and mix together until smooth. Divide the mixture into 2 greased round cake pans and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

For Chocolate Ganache you need to bring soy milk to a boil, then remove from heat and stir in enough non-dairy chocolate chips so the consistency is thick-ish. So it won’t drip too much, but rather stay in its place when you ice the cake. I didn’t measure the ingredients when I did this but it was about 1 cup soy milk and 2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips.

Assemble the cake by adding a layer of raspberry preserve in between layers. And using an icing spatula cover the entire cake with chocolate ganache. You could also just use ganache throughout the layers and eliminate the raspberry preserve. Garnish with fresh raspberries. Refrigerate the cake, but allow it to come to room temperature before cutting and serving.