Raw Week, Days 5 and 6: Like Minds

Day 5:

Today I cheated a bit.  I’m a member of a really awesome veg group that meets up twice a month at various restaurants for delicious vegan meals….I could have un-RSVP’d myself, but I really wanted to catch up with my veg buddies, and since raw week is more of an experiment than a die-hard cleanse, I allowed myself some wiggle room.  Plus, sitting down with like minded people and sharing a meal is just plain good for the soul.

Here we are! This was a smaller lunch gathering- mostly people who work from home, like me.  (At dinner meet-ups, there are usually 30-50 of us!)

I managed to persuade several group members to follow me to the T&T in Chinatown after the meal, in search of kimchi and burdock root.  (I finally found burdock root after 6 months of searching!)  I spent another $40 on groceries,  bringing my weekly grocery bill up to $146.00.

Groceries: beansprouts, kimchi, thai chilis, burdock root, carrots, bok choi, scallions, wakame, asparagus, green tea, kombu

As I walked my groceries home, I beheld one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen:

...um, not the pulled beef bit...lower.

VEGAN MAC AND CHEESE! 3 blocks from where I live!  Praise Quinoa, this must be another Daiya miracle!  I was briefly tempted to write today off entirely in terms of eating raw, since I had already broken the rules once…  However, I felt pretty sleepy after all the sushi rice and veggie teriyaki, so I knew that I needed to get back on track…

With some RAW sushi!  I was excited to use my new organic, raw nori sheets, and since I was finally  in possession of burdock root, all the stars in my universe aligned to bring forth Ani Phyo’s “Ginger Almond Nori Rolls.”  Highly recommended.  I threw in an avocado to make them even more delicious!  I also staged a repeat performance of her “Miso Mushroom Soup.” C’est magnifique!

Day 6

After cheating a little bit yesterday, I felt the need to start my day on the raw straight and narrow.  What better way that at Sejuiced in Kitsilano?  I had a delicious smoothie and a raw apricot almond bar.  Yum

For lunch I whipped up a Blended Garden Gazpacho:

1. juice a carrot and a small beet

2. In blender, add carrot/beet juice, 3 tomatoes, 3 stalks of celery, a bit of chopped oregano,  1/2 of an avocado, and a dash of salt to taste.

SO GOOD.

Day 6′s dinner was the highlight of my raw week.  Through the magic of the internet, I went to a Raw Vegan Prepluck! What is a raw prepluck, you ask?  It is best described by this formula:  10 strangers + raw food + 1 kitchen  = delicious feast and 10 new friends!  It was awesome.  We all showed up at 4pm with ingredients and a recipe we wanted to share, took turns using the VitaMix and the food processor, et voila- a feast was ready at 7pm…  here we are:

chopping and rolling station...

the lineup for the VitaMix...just kidding. The nice thing was everybody helped each other out, so all of our recipes became very social!

It was dark, so I couldn’t get the best photos…but you can see my Pad Thai from Day 1 in the bottom left corner… (Big hit!)  The questionable-looking brown substance in the middle of the shot was actually one of the best soups I’ve ever had. The rolls in the bottom right corner were made out of a zucchini/flax mixture that was dehydrated into flexible sheets, and then rolled with a cashew cream, lettuce, and served with a sundried tomato sauce. Dear God, it was delicious!  There was also some mind-blowing salads and a exquisite cranberry dessert, not to mention amazing, juicy, and local walnuts that we cracked ourselves. Oh!  And a mad cacao-coconut shake that was deliciously reminiscent of a Wendy’s Frostie!

We said grace, passed around each dish one at a time, and we each said a little something about what we made. Beautiful!

Some people were experienced raw food gurus, others were flirting raw newbies, like me.  It was a wonderful mix!  I learned a TON of info about raw foods, especially this:

• Always soak nuts 24 hours before using.  Mother Nature has endowed nuts and seeds with enzyme inhibitors, so that when a bird eats it, the bird can then fly away, poop, and when hits the ground, the moisture from the soil breaks the enzyme inhibitor, similar to soaking it. It starts sprouting and germinating to create a new plant.  So we should soak the seeds overnight and rinse them very well to wash away these inhibitors.  (Makes sense why my tummy hurt after all of the nuts I ate on Day 3!)

I stuffed myself full of so much delicious food, but I still felt energetic and vibrant in the evening- It was probably close to midnight when I got home, but I had so much excess energy, I cleaned the kitchen! (A feat never witnessed at that hour).

I’m so glad I went to this!  I was a bit apprehensive about meeting up with a whole bunch of stangers for dinner, but this I will tell you: Raw Foodists are anything but cold!

I asked a few of the Rawluck-ers to share their recipes with Home Veganomics, so stay tuned for some seriously delicious posts in the future!

Namaste

Laura

Raw Week, Day 4: Amazing grazings…

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn for a dental appointment, only to show up and find out that I had the date wrong.  I was pretty relieved.  (In my books, any day you don’t have to go to the dentist is a good day.)  As luck would have it, the clinic was within a couple blocks of Whole Foods, so I picked up some extra lemons and avocados, two things which are somehow implicated in almost every raw recipe I’ve seen.  (Now if only I could find a cheaper source of organic avocados…)

I hadn’t had breakfast yet, so I did a little dance on the inside when I saw this:

Perfect!

I don’t think I’ve ever had asparagus, jicama, or brussels sprouts for breakfast before, but it worked for me!  (They had a fresh fruit buffet, too)

When I returned home, I made a whole bunch of collard green wraps, packed with red pepper, nut cheese, avocado.  I never would have expected that these would be so good…and addictive!  (I think it’s kind of ironic that the meal I am enjoying the most is the least photogenic, but I am determined to get some good photos once I buy a new batch of collards!)

Here was a quick little zucchini snack I made using up the pesto from Day 2 …

In the afternoon, I discovered some perfectly ripe pears on the windowsill that I had nearly forgotten about…It took the opportunity to treat myself and my traveling massage therapist friend to a Ginger & Pear Spinach Smoothie:

Some fruit/herb combinations are just classic.  Like Strawberry & Mint, and Blueberry & Lemon Zest,  Pear and Ginger definitely belong together, too!

Pear & Ginger Spinach Smoothie:

• 2 ripe pears
• small chunk grated ginger
• handful of spinach
• cover with almond milk
• dash nutmeg

For dinner, my friend and I finally checked out Organic Lives, a 100% organic, raw vegan eatery and supply store just 5 blocks from me!  We ordered a ton of food, but ate most of it before remembering to take photographs.  Luckily, I managed to snap some quick shots, in between bites, of our two favorites:

This raw sushi had fresh sprouts in place of rice, and had a dipping sauce made out of unpasturized tamari mixed with ginger and something else….wasabi?  horseradish?  It was sooo good!  Like a flavor bomb.  It was so good, I bought some raw organic nori sheets, so I can start making raw sushi at home!

And then there was dessert…

TiRAWmisu! Possibly the best dessert I have ever had in my life.  Period.  I need to find out how to make this, or something like this, stat!

One of the nicest things about Organic Lives is that everyone who works there is friendly, knowledgeable, and very happy to talk about anyone about the restaurant, the ingredients, and raw food in general.  We spent a few minutes chatting with Preet, the owner, who told me that the philosophy behind what they serve is simple: “If I don’t eat it, I won’t serve it.”  For that reason, Preet doesn’t use agave nectar, nama shoyu, cashews, or Braggs Essential Amino Acids.   All things that are pretty standard among most raw foodists.  I asked him why, and he shared with me a wealth of information that I will probably spend hours googling to re-confirm.  I wish I had been taking notes!  If you are ever in the neighborhood, you’ve got to check this place out! The atmosphere is pretty casual, but the food is fabulous, the service is warm, and the philosophy behind the restaurant is noble.  Even the water they serve is delicious!

Here is their menu

Man, all this food blogging is making me hungry! Time for lunch…

Raw Week, Day 3: Stuffed Anaheim Peppers, an Entire Raw Onion, and a little heartburn, quite frankly.

Day 3 started off with some fruit for breakfast, followed by a bunch of recipes from “Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen”.  The picture above is her Stuffed Anaheim Chilies with Mole Sauce (plus a southwest slaw I threw together).  I made the mole sauce, but it just didn’t look very appetizing drizzled over the peppers.  Luckily, I snapped this pic just before destroying the aesthetic.  I’m not really a chocolaty mole sauce person at the best of times, but I wanted to give it another chance.   On the other hand, the cashew cheese-stuffed Anaheim chilies were really yummy.  If make this again, I think I’ll make a fresh salsa or salsa verde to pour over the peppers instead of the mole sauce, and maybe leave a few seeds in the chili peppers to give them a bit more zip- I was expecting the chilies to be really spicy, but actually, they are very mild.

I’m finding that the more salads I eat, the more I crave them.  I’m trying to pick a new salad to try every day this week, to get help me get into the habit of making them more often.   I thought that it would be a good time to tackle one of mankind’s most pungent salad items: raw onion.  Since I didn’t have any boys to kiss today, I figured what the hell.  Yes, I ate an entire onion in one sitting.  (Diluted with salad, of course)  And yes, it was actually enjoyable! The salad above is Ani’s Wilted Spinach Salad with Marinated Onions and Mustard Dressing.  Marinating the onions in a bit of soy and apple cider vinegar really sweetened them up and gave them a beautiful caramelized colour.  Did you know that besides giving you onion breath, onions are great for oral hygene?  Fact: chewing raw onions for 2 to 3 minutes could possibly kill all the germs present in the mouth area.  In a stinky way, my mouth felt very fresh afterward!

Ever since I got my hands on Ani’s book, I have been so excited to try her Portobello Steaks and Brazil-Broccoli Mash with Mushroom Gravy. Full marks for presentation, but it was actually pretty painful to get down.  And I just realized it my fault because I accidentally made her miso gravy instead of the mushroom one.  Both the miso gravy and the marinated mushrooms really salty, and the brocolli-brazil mash was interesting, but a bit too hefty for me.  Each mouthful was like swallowing a scream of flavor.  (Even if I made it with the right gravy, I don’t think I really would have loved it.) I forced myself to eat it all, but had a pretty bad stomach ache after.  I think it was the amount of nuts.  I once heard that a great way to get a good balance in your diet is to consider how much of a certain item you would actually be able to obtain with your bare hands- ie, how many berries, grains of rice, etc.  I would have had to spend a long time cracking a cups worth of those Brazil nuts, so eating them all in one sitting is pretty out of touch with the natural portion (probably a small handful).

Before bed I settled my stomach with a ginger and nutmeg blueberry banana smoothie, and felt a whole lot better.

Heartburn Zapper:

• banana
• blueberry
• almond milk
• ginger
• lemon zest
• fresh nutmeg

Peace and Parsnips,

Laurakins

Raw Week, Day 2: oatmeal nostalgia, the loss of a dear creamer, and humiliated zucchinis

I had a heck of a time waking up for school when I was younger.  From an early age,  I fell deeply in love with the luxurious feeling of still being in bed, wrapped in a warm embrace of cotton, flannel, and the occasional sleeping kitty cat, while my mom busily prepared for the day, and while my sister busily used up the hot water supply.  I pretended to be slumbering, even for the pure joy of hearing a symphony of hair driers, pots and pans, dog barks, and (in all honesty) the rather sophisticated crescendo of threats uttered from my mother that I should seriously consider getting out of bed.  Eventually, I would have to get up, and more often than not, there would be a (now rather cold) pot of porridge on the stove waiting for me.

Porridge is fascinating.  It’s relatively simple to make, but the little variations and tiny nuances from family to family are what make it really endearing.  When I was sick and couldn’t go to school, my mom would take me to my babysitter Nora’s house, where she would make me a smooth porridge drizzled with honey and skim milk.  When I stayed overnight at my Grandma’s house, I would wake up to the most decadent delight: huge, hearty oats mashed with dark brown sugar and coated with what must have been sweetened condensed milk.  On the weekends at my stepfamily’s house, porridge was generally avoided by the entire clan- a gluey, tasteless, and rather unjoyous event.  (Now that I think about it, probably lacking in salt…)  And finally, on camping trips with Daddy, a variety of packets of instant flavored oatmeal that my sister and I would fight over (“Laura, your hogging all the Peaches and Cream!”).

I never noticed until I was much older, but all those years my mom made porridge for us girls, she never had any herself.  I asked her why, and she said she didn’t care for it.  When I asked why she made it for Sarah and I all those years, she said, “because my mom made it for me.”  I don’t know why, but I just think that is absolutely beautiful.

Well folks, you guessed it.  Even Oatmeal can be done raw.

*The English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, famously wrote in A Dictionary of the English Language that the oat was "a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people", to which the Scottish response is "and England has the finest horses, and Scotland the finest men". *

I was skeptical, but this was really quite good!  All you need to do is remember to soak your oat groats overnight, and then it comes together really fast in the morning.

Regular oatmeal is heat-processed to stabilize the grain and keep it from going rancid.  Then the oats are rolled into the flake shape that we all know and love.  On the other hand, groats are the original raw, unprocessed version.  As such, they retain more nutrients than their flake buddies.

*If you prefer a smoother oatmeal, just blend it before adding your fruit. I like my oatmeal with lots of texture*

Raw Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal Porridge

• 1 C oat groats, soaked overnight (I used Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal, since it is already ground down- though you may want to blend it further.)
• 1/2 an apple, diced small
• pinch salt
• dash cinnamon
• dash nutmeg
• a few juicy raisins (if they are dry, you can soak them with the groats)

In the morning: If using whole groats, blend them up in the food processor until desired consistency (I skipped this step since mine were already ground).  Season with spices, salt and apple.  Serve with maple syrup (Grade B is raw), agave nectar, or as is.  Enjoy with Almond-Date Milk.

This post is dedicated to this cute little creamer, which I dropped on my concrete floor moments after this photo was taken. Sigh.

This was a really yummy breakfast, and it did its job too, as it stuck to my ribs for a good 3 hours before I felt hungry anymore.  With the fresh apple and the sweetness from the dates in the almond milk, I forgot the maple syrup and didn’t even notice!

***

For Lunch, I dug out my spiralizer, and made some Zucchini Spaghetti!

And you thought the meat industry was cruel...

I love this thing! It works best with fatter zucchinis, though, so the noodles ended up being a little on the shorter side…

I whipped up a cashew pesto sauce, and Bam! A 3 minute meal!

I found even a small portion of this to be really satisfying.  The pesto was really yummy, but I’m going to tinker with it a little and lighten it up a bit.  Jeez, that was a lot of nuts!

***

For dinner, I was craving some serious greens after such a heavy lunch, so I thought it would be a good time to tackle collard green wraps.  I just love cooked collards, but I was pretty uncertain of eating them raw.  I took a little bite off a leaf and wondered if I would be able to get past the really grassy bitter taste….Boy, did I ever!  Amazingly, the collard green taste was overwhelmed by a feista of other punchy flavors!

The pictures are terrible, but this was actually my most favorite meal today!

I made a “collard green burrito” with avocado, cashew cheese, red pepper, carrots, and corn.  It was amazing!!  I’m going to work on this recipe a bit more, before I post it- It needs to be beautified a little more and perhaps rolled more securely…anyway, I’d be happy to eat one of these every day for the rest of my life!

Oh, and a word about the corn:  I made a mistake and assumed that frozen corn is also raw.  (I really don’t know my frozen vegetables very well) I didn’t realize this fact until I defrosted them, and I wasn’t going to let them go to waste…so when I say I am 99% raw this week, this would be an example of my 1% wiggle room.

(And I’m glad I followed through, cause it was d e l i c i o u s.)

All in all, another very yummy day over here.  In addition to being really fast to prepare, I am also noticing that I had very few dishes to clean- just a bowl, a plate, a food processor, and a couple odds and ends….leaving more time to….blog?

Raw Week, Day 1: Wow.

I love routines.  Last year when I was finishing my degree and had early mornings at school, I got into the habit of making myself a green smoothie to sip on the bus.  It was actually my replacement for caffeine, as like most over-worked, sleep-deprived university students, I developed a pretty strong dependency on coffee.  So I packed up my coffee maker, and moved my blender over to a position of prime counter top real estate.   After a few nasty days of withdrawal, green smoothies were my new (healthy) vice.  Plus, like coffee, they were fast, portable, and gave me a morning buzz!  (And also like coffee, you could always tell on the days you missed it.)  Since graduating, I haven’t really been making smoothies on a regular basis…so I thought that Raw Week would be a great time to get back into them.  Here is one of my most favorite combinations:

Seize the Day Green Smoothie:

• small handful of kale (4-5 leaves?), tough stalks removed
• small chunk of peeled ginger (about half the length of your thumb)
• water, or nut milk
• juice of 1 lime (or 2!)
• 1-2 bananas
• peeled apple
• 1/8 tsp spirulina (optional)
• 1 Tbsp ground flax
• 1 Tbsp ground hemp

If you have a Vitamix, go ahead and blend it all at once.  If you don’t have a Vitamix, follow these steps:

1: Blend Kale and Ginger with 1 Cup of liquid (or as little liquid as possible).  This will make sure that the tough greens are well broken-down.

2. Add remaining ingredients and add liquid until you reach desired smoothie-ness.

*burp*

For lunch, I decided to go classic and pick a soup and salad combo from Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen:

Shaved Fennel with Blood Oranges, Poppy Seeds, and Microgreens & Japanese Miso-Shiitake Soup

First, the salad: I’ve only had fennel a few times in my life, and I’ve never been a huge fan of it (it tastes kinda like licorice, which seems weird for a crunchy vegetable…), but I wanted to live dangerously and give it another try.  Paired with the blasts of flavor from the blood oranges, I loved it.

One of the best things about this salad is that it only has 5 ingredients- 4 of them are obvious (fennel, blood oranges, poppy seeds (I used black sesame), microgreens) and the 5th is simply olive oil!  The citrus brings enough acidity of its own, so no vinegar is necessary. Brilliant.  And speaking of brilliant, the colours are dazzling.  I had a really hard time picking my favorite shot, so here are the runners-up:

Ok, now for the soup.  Wow.

I’m not kidding when I say this is better than even regular Miso Soup, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with the *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* olive oil!  I actually significantly reduced the amount that the recipe called for, yet it still was tasted deliciously rich!   And I know what you are probably thinking: raw mushrooms?  Yes.  I was skeptical too, but they are marinated for about 10 minutes in a little nama shoyu (soy sauce) and oil, and with absolutely no exaggeration, they taste just like they were cooked.  There is also a bit of ginger and garlic in here, that just brings the whole thing to life.  The broth is made in the blender, creating an rich, creamy emulsion.  I could have drank gallons of it.  Serious comfort food!

And on to dinner…

Ani’s Raw Pad Thai Noodles.

(Love, love, love this girl.  I was shocked to find out that she is in her 40s.  To my eyes, she doesn’t look a day over 30.  Might have something to with the raw foods.  And those eternally-youthful Asian genes.)

OMG! Kelp noodles!  I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for about a year, but never could find these kelp noodles.  They were expensive to buy, so I found a place online that sells them at a 3rd of the price I paid.  And boy, oh, boy, I will be stocking up.  They were as good as I had hoped- absolutely neutral in flavor, and with a smooth noodle-like consistency.  I was worried that they would be tough, but they were (oh so) tender.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe, I only used 2 Tbsp of coconut oil (not 1/3 C), and since I had a green jalapeno, I used 1/4 of a red bell pepper for colour, and 1/4 of the green jalapeno for spice (seeds removed). I also used a splash more soy.

This was soooooo, sooooo, soooooo good!  Here were my results:

In the evening, my sweet tooth led me to the kitchen were I made one of the simplest, most healthy desserts I know: Lime Pudding/Ice Kream

• 2 (preferably frozen) bananas
• 1 avocado
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 1 mango (if you can)

Just blend it all up in your food processor and thank me later.  De-lish!  If you use frozen bananas, you get ice kream, if you use regular bananas, you get pudding.  (This is the pudding version)

Well, I gotta say, this has been one of the most delicious and exciting days, ever.  I was expecting to really be feeling deprived.  Not so.  In other news, NOTHING took more than 10 minutes to make.  It was just like looking at a cookbook, saying “I want that” and magically having it appear.  (With a little pre-planned grocery shopping, of course.)

Raw Week: Planning, Shopping, and Prep Day…

I have decided to dedicate this week to discovering raw food!  It’s an experiment that I’ve wanted to attempt for a long time…I’ve read a lot about the lifestyle- its supporters, and its critics.  My hunch is that doing this in Canada is a lot different than doing this in California (where so many raw food “uncookbooks” come from).  But as an early spring is blossoming here in vancouver, it just feels like the perfect time to do some inner spring cleaning.  On with the experiment, I say!

Here are the things I am most curious about:

1. How will I feel physically? (energy levels, appetite, weight loss, appearance)

2. How will I feel?  (emotionally, spiritually)

3. How will the meals taste?

4. Is it practical for me?

5. Can I afford it?

Sunday was my preparation day for Raw Week, so I hit up Whole Foods because I wanted to do it right and treat myself to as much organic produce as possible.  I may have over-shopped a little (I had to call a cab to help me carry groceries!), so I won’t know until the end of the week if this is really what a raw food weekly budget looks like.  The fuel:

Veggies: celery, sweet corn, collard greens, green cabbage, zucchini, fennel, broccoli, grape tomatoes*, spinach, avocados*, golden beets

Mushrooms: shiitake, portobello, crimini

Spice: japanenos, Anaheim chili peppers

Fruit: bananas, limes*, blood oranges, navel oranges

Herbs: lime leaves*, lemongrass*, oregano, thyme, basil, cilantro, turmeric root

Nuts: raw almond butter, brazil nuts

Grains: raw steel cut oats

Sea Vegetables: Kelp Noodles! (not from Whole Foods…found them at Organic Lives)

Total: $85. 96 (*non-organic)

Luckily, I have squirreled away quite the nut and seed cache back home, otherwise, this bill could have easily pushed $100.  Nuts and seeds are definitely the most expensive thing for vegans/vegetarians/raw foodists.  Bulk beans and lentils are dirt cheap, so usually they are my protein buddies of choice.  But unless I want to sprout my chickpeas, I’m outta luck this week…going to have to live high on the hog…er, cashew.  I also already possess several raw-foodie staples like hempseeds, flaxseeds, and agave nectar.  I’m just going to call this week 99% raw, because I couldn’t find any raw nori (mine is toasted), and it is almost impossible to find unpasturized almonds in North America (not to mention prohibitively expensive!) Also, I’m using tamari because my ex-boyfriend has my Braggs Liquid Aminos.  (I gave it to him…but I want it back if you are reading, lol!)

I hear a lot of people talk about how expensive it is to eat raw…so I think that it will be a good idea to keep tabs on all my receipts and see how things add up.  I haven’t really paid much attention to my food budget lately, but my best guess is that on my typical (30% rawish vegan diet) it is somewhere between $50-$70 per week.  So I guess that means that so far, I am about $25 over my weekly average…not too bad…we’ll see. I might have tons of leftovers for next week, or have to make multiple grocery trips…time will tell.

[EDIT: by the way, I have some excellent company with Raw Week- I'm joining with Happy Herbivore via Twitter, you should totally check out her blog- it's great!  I'm waking up with some great recipes in my inbox from her and some of the other lovely Tweeters in our posse!]

Stay tuned for my Raw Week Day 1 posting!  It should follow pretty hot on the heels of this post….

Peace and veggies,

Laurakins

Finally got my paws on some Daiya “cheese”!

This past year, I’ve been reading article after article on a new faux cheese product called “Daiya“. It melts. it stretches. It tastes just like cheese.  Or so the rumors loomed.  With so many people singing its praises, and with VegNews awarding it “2009 Product of the Year”, I was determined to see what all the fuss was about.  To my dismay, despite the overwhelming publicity Daiya has recieved, their products are not available at Canadian grocery stores just yet (even though Daiya’s factory is in North Vancouver!).  But last week, fate led me out to New West where I got my cheese-starved hands on a 5 Lb package at Karmavore.  Oh. My. God.  It’s a miracle product!  Absolutely delicious, and performs just like cheese in every single way!

Perhaps even more impressive than the way Daiya performs is the ingredient list: so, so simple!  No crazy chemicals or weird food-like substances…and better yet, it is free of all of the most common allergens: soy, wheat, dairy (duh), and nuts!  Incredible!

The very first thing I made was a grilled cheese sandwich…Yes, it was enough to make a grown woman cry.  I immediately called my mom to get the Mac and Cheese recipe that my sister and I grew up on.  With a few veganizations, here it is.  I promise you it will stand up to all your deepest cheese desires!

Sarah and Laura’s Favorite Macaroni and Cheese

• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 C. Nondairy Milk
• 1 1/2 C plus 1/4 C grated Daiya cheese (Italian flavour)
• 1/4 tsp.  vegan worchestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
• 2 C. dry macaroni
• 1/4 C. breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Boil pasta in salted water until almost perfect al dente, strain.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together a roux from the melted margarine, flour, and salt over medium heat.  Gradually add nondairy milk.  Add worchestershire sauce and mustard powder.  Stir in Daiya and remove from heat.

The sauce was so good, I wanted to eat it as a cheese bisque!

3. Stir together pasta and sauce, pour into an ungreased casserole dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.  cover with the reserved 1/4 of Daiya cheese.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until top begins to brown slightly.

It took all of my willpower not to eat the whole thing at this point...somehow, I managed to get it in the oven before I ate it all.

4.  It is pretty rich, so a salad goes perfectly.  (Yeah, tofu dogs were kinda silly, but childhood nostalgia got the better of me.)

Enjoy!

[EDIT] If you want to try Daiya, There are 3 Vancouver restaurants that have added it to their menu: The Naam (Kitsilano), Bandidas Taquera (Commercial Drive), and Rebellious Tomato (North Van).  If you don’t live that close, you could try ordering online, but it could be expensive….I’m not sure when it will be available to the general public, as Daiya is focusing on a retail strategy that starts with restaurants.  The good news is that rumors say it should be on grocery shelves this spring!

———————————–

In other excitement- I signed up to be a taste tester for Edible Flours, a vegan/allergy-free bakery that is gearing up to open a storefront in Vancouver…Look at the goodies they delivered to my house this morning!

Clearly, it has been a decadent and exciting week for me in the food department.  With the beautiful spring weather and the determined Olympic spirit here in Vancouver, I am setting out on a Raw Food Adventure…99% raw for 7 days!  It is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time- my body needs a break from sugar and gluten….yes, and probably too much Daiya, lol

Stay tuned for Day 1!

———————

Food for Thought:

*Breast Cancer Awareness? What does that do? Breast Cancer prevention.

*New documentary “Forks Over Knives” claims degenerative diseases can be reversed by rejecting animal-based foods.

Four-and-a-Half Layer Dip

Hello Amigos!

In the spirit of the Super Bowl, and Superbowl related snacks, I’d like to present the most awesomest chip dip, ever:  Four-and-a-Half Layer Dip!   Obviously, this is a vegan version of the classic 5-layer dip that usually includes sour cream and shredded cheddar.  My recipe uses a decadent cashew ricotta to replace the sour cream and cheese.   Since “4 layer dip” sounded so underwhelming to me, I squeaked in another half layer consisting of several yummy confetti garnishes!

Materials: food processor, spatula, clear, medium-sized casserole dish

1. Refried Bean Layer

• 2 c. cooked pinto beans (or 1 can, drained)
• 1 Tbs. cooking oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 Tbs chili powder or taco seasoning
• 1 jalapeno, minced (optional)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Heat oil and saute onion and jalapeno until tender.  Dust with salt and chili powder and cook 30 seconds more.  Stir in Pinto beans and add a Tbs of water to thin out mixture.  Transfer to food processor or blender.  Blend, adding extra water if necessary to get a smoother consistency.  Adjust seasonings and spread into the bottom of glass dish.

2. Simple Guacamole Layer

• 3 large, ripe avocados
• lime juice to taste (about 1.4 C, about 2 limes)
• salt to taste (1/2 tsp +)

Put 2 of the 3 avocados in food processor with lime juice and salt.  Dice remaining avocado into small cubes.  In a medium bowl, fold together.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Spread over top of bean layer.

3. Cashew Ricotta Layer

• 1/4 C thick cashew cream
• 4 oz tofu, cubed roughly
• 1 Tbs nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 C)
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse.  Every few pulses, scrape down sides of bowl.  Do not over-process, as you want a ricotta-like texture.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Spread carefully on top of guacamole mixture.

4. Salsa Layer:

• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Arrange decoratively on top of Cashew Ricotta mixture.

5. “1/2″ Layer

• 1 chopped green onion
• 2-3 cilantro sprigs
• 3-4 chopped black olives

Srpinkle green and olive pieces uniformly, arrange whole cilantro sprigs on top.

Serve with Tortilla Chips and enjoy!

Guacabouli!

Sometimes I have crazy ideas.  This is one that turned out particularly well.   A Middle-Eastern salad gets a Mexican make-over as the ever-so-versatile avocado lends heft and creaminess to what is usually a light, palate-cleansing salad.   The taste of lime where lemon should be is a fun twist too!  Also, classic tabouli recipes usually have a far shake of oil in them,  but depending on the size of your avocado, you really don’t need to add any extra oil at all- maybe a Tbsp. of flax or hemp oil.  I make this tabouli all the time, and I can’t think of any other situation where I would consume nearly a bundle of parsley in one sitting! Makes a great accompaniment to falafels!…and enchiladas!

Gluten-free, super-protein variation: quinoa in place of couscous

Raw food variation: replace couscous with 3/4 C cauliflower, chopped finely in food processor (see this )

Yield: 4 small or 2 large servings

Ingredients:

1 large, fully ripe avocado

1/4 C fresh lime or lemon juice (about 2-3 lemons, 3 limes)

3/4 C couscous

1 1/2 C parsley, finely chopped

4-5 sun-dried tomatoes or, 10 cherry tomatoes (halved), or both

1 small red pepper, chopped

1 Tbsp.  chopped cilantro

1 Tbsp. flax or hemp oil (optional)

Sea salt to taste (start with 1/2 tsp)

Optional extras: minced garlic, finely chopped red onion, mint, finely chopped jalapeno

Directions

1. in small saucepan, pour 3/4 C boiling water over couscous.  Cover with lid and let stand 10 minutes.

2. pour boiling water over sun-dried tomatoes, let stand 10 minutes.

2. roughly mash avocado with lime or lemon juice in a large bowl

3. Chop parsley, cilantro, and rest of vegetables.  Add to avocado mixture.

4. Chop rehydrated sundried tomatoes and add them to the mixture.  Fluff couscous with a fork and add.

5. Season with salt, Tbs flax oil, and extra lime/lemon juice to taste.

Enjoy!

Coconut Lemon Muffins with Cashew Ricotta Centres

cuppa tea?

The impetus to develop this recipe came from my need to veganize Caffe Artigiano‘s Lemon Ricotta Muffins, which used to be my dear study-buddies and travel companions back in the day.  For those of you not familiar, Caffe Artigiano is a local coffee house in Vancouver that woos its clientele with premium beans and stunning artwork on their lattes.  They’ve won numerous awards at the World Barista Championships, and lately have been colonizing some prime real estate in anticipation of 2010 Olympics.  Anyway, I used to spend a far share of time there, developing an intimate relationship with their muffins.   The lemon ricotta muffins were always in short supply, and you could pretty much forget getting you paws on one after the 11:30 Corporate Coffee Rush.  I trained myself to get there early, and get my muffin(s) before the Suits did.  I’ll never forget the time that I opened the door for one of these Wall-Street dudes, and he took the very last lemon-ricotta right before my eyes.  The nerve.

But now, I’ve figured out how to make my own lemon-ricottas, and I gotta say, I’m pretty proud of this one.  I adapted VeganYumYum‘s cranberry-lemon muffin recipe to suit my needs by doubling up on the lemon, and using coconut milk instead of soy in order to round out the acidity of the lemon.  I also lessened the amount of oil, since coconut milk kills that bird, too.  The ricotta recipe is an adjustment of Tal Ronnen’s cashew ricotta filling for his Tempura Beets in The Conscious Cook (of Oprah fame).  And for those of you wondering what the hell tofu is doing in a muffin, just trust me on this- it’s the key to getting the ricotta texture.  These muffins are light, fluffy, and …gone already!

Laurakins’s Coconut-Lemon Muffins with Cashew Ricotta

Dry ingredients:

2 C All-Purpose Flour

1/2 C + 1 Tbsp. white (or light brown) sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbs cornstarch

zest from 2 lemons (make sure they are organic)

——-

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 C coconut milk

1/2 C Lemon Juice (about 2-3 lemons)

1/3 C vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp of lemon extract (optional)

——

Ricotta:

1/4 C thick cashew cream

4 oz. firm tofu, diced

1 Tbs. Nutritional yeast

2 1/2 Tbsp. Lemon juice (About 1-2 lemons)

1 1/2 tsp. white miso paste

pinch salt

—–

12 regular muffin cups or 6 jumbo.

Method:

1. Night before: soak cashews in water overnight and follow these directions the next day.

2. Zest 2 lemons, and then juice enough lemons to produce 3/4 C of lemon juice (4-5 lemons)

3. Preheat oven to 400 F, and either grease muffin pan or prepare muffin pan with paper liners.

4. Make the ricotta: in a food processor or blender, pulse all ingredients until mixture is well mixed and resembles a wet ricotta texture.  Do not over-process.  (You don’t want it to be completely smooth, but you don’t want big chunks, either.)  Taste and adjust tartness and salt, if necessary.

5.  In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients.  Gently fold wet into dry until “just mixed”.  Mixture will begin to “fluff up,” so try and work as quickly as you can…

6. Using 2 spoons, place enough batter to fill muffin cup slightly less than halfway.  Place a small ball of ricotta on top, and top this with another scoop of muffin batter.  (You can fill these muffins all the way to the top of the paper )Repeat Process.  Sprinkle tops with light brown sugar, and bake in centre of oven about 15-17 minutes, or until tops are slightly golden, and a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of the muffin.

7. Let cool at least 20 minutes (otherwise they stick to the paper!) and enjoy!