Vegan Mofo Day 20: Reese's can kiss my grits...

While I'm certain the food at Mel's Diner was on par with most diners of the day, I don't think they had these.... Nor does Hershey's, in case you're looking.

Wife and I had talked about making these before, but never actually did.  So, finally she says... Lets make them, and so we did.

We started with the Chocolate, a bar each of Green and Black's Organic Dark and Theo's Organic Cherry Almond.   Melt in a double boiler, just until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Turn off the heat but leave the bowl on to keep it warm.  Don't get any water in it or it will seize on you.  If the happens, add some fat to it, like coconut oil to loosen it back up.  it won't be quite as good, but it will still work.

So it's a makeshift double boiler, but it works fine

Next, the filling.  In this case, we opted for almond butter cups, so some homemade almond butter mixed with nooch.  The base recipe can be had here... so you can add your own ideas to it.

Somehow this doesn't SEEM appealing, but it tastes good.

Next, add some cupcake liners to a pan... this to me is the easiest way to make these, and it also gives you those little ridges like on Reese's... you know, if you're into that sort of thing.

You could also use a mini pan, but this one is regular sized...

Pour just enough chocolate into each mold to just coat the bottom, maybe an 1/8 of inch worth.  Then spoon on some of the nut butter mixture. 

Flatten it out a little with the back of the spoon to make it easier to cover and to press it into the chocolate below.

Don't have to press hard...just a tap...

After that, spoon chocolate on the top until the butter mix is covered.  Don't add more than what you need to cover it, otherwise it will be too thick.  Oh, and you'll run out of chocolate and have to melt more.  I mean, not that it's a bad thing to eat more, but if they get too thick, it's a little hard to bite through, especially if you prefer them frozen.

Ready for the freezer... and no the banana was not an ingredient.

Refrigerate these for a couple hours until the chocolate is set, or if you prefer them frozen, they only need about 20 minutes in the freezer to be ready.  Just pull them out of the pan and peel off the paper, and put them in an airtight container and stick them back in the freezer or fridge. Once cold they won't stick together, unless you leave them out too long.  The container is to prevent freezer burn or moisture build up, but if they last long enough for that, you're doing it wrong.

These didn't last long; less than two days in fact, and I only got 2 or 3 of them.  That's OK though, I know where I can get more.

*A note from Rach: I didn't tell the chrisasaurus beforehand, but this recipe is scaled up from Averie's Raw Peanut Butter Cups (with almond butter subbed for peanut butter, obviously).

Vegan MoFo Day 17: Raw Energy? Bars

So, I don't know what to call these treats, really. They are sort of like Larabars, which are billed as energy bars sometimes? When I think of energy bars, I think of cardboard coated in chocolate that tastes like a sock. These are so not that.

There are many, many recipes out there for "lara" type bars. Try googling your favorite flavor + the word "recipe" to see what sort of results you get. Probably at least one or two. I do like to eat them, and other brand name raw energy bars, though they can be costly and don't taste quite as fresh as the ones I can make at home. And boy, do we ever make these at home. They are "cookies" to my almost 3 year old. Packed full of nutrition, I'm not going to complain if she wants to call them that.

Today I'm going to make a chocolate-cashew variety, but I want to say now that you can use any kind of nuts you like! And the chocolate can be optional. Or replaced with carob powder. Mesquite powder also makes an interesting add-in (use just a little, though!) Spices are also a nice touch-cinnamon, as an example. This is the sort of thing that can't be horribly screwed up, so feel free to experiment. Actually, this recipe started out as a quick experiment when my kiddo wanted a cookie, now! while I was trying to make an uncheesecake crust she was determined to eat if I didn't get her something else to nibble on.

First step, gather some ingredients.

Hemp seeds, Flax Seeds, Cacao Powder, Medjool Dates, Cashews, Chia Seeds. Everything raw & organic. Not pictured: Vanilla Extract, Pink Himalayan Salt.

The base recipe is something like, dump in a cup of nuts and measure out an equal portion of dates. So 2 cups nuts = 2 cups dates. Pit the dates, if they aren't already. This is a very important step! Ask me how I know.

Grind the nuts for several seconds alone, until finely chopped.

These are almonds (for another upcoming post), not cashews, but you get the idea

Now run the food processor and add the dates one at a time, so we don't overload the machine.

You'll have a nicely ground mix of dates and nuts after you let it process for a moment.

Stop the machine. You officially have an energy bar. You can stop here if you like. One of my favorites is just pecans and dates mixed together. Or, throw in some other fun things you may like. I believe I added about 2 tablespoons each of chia, flax and hemp seeds.

Note that pre-grinding your flax into meal is ideal if you want it completely ground when making things in a food processor. I forgot here. But that's okay, it's still good.

Now add cacao powder! About 1/2 cup. This is completely dependent on you and your taste buds. Here is where I add some vanilla extract (alcohol free is preferred for raw desserts, but whatever you got!) and a pinch of pink Himalayan salt (less than 1/4 tsp).

Run the machine for a minute or so, and things will start binding together in a gooey yummy mess. Now let's make cookies!

All the fun of baking without the hot oven to contend with.

I find it easiest to make small balls and smoosh them flat by hand, thus the cookie resemblance. You can pat them into a large pan (I would recommend pre-cutting bars in this case, they firm up quite a bit!) or shape them into bars with your hands/plastic wrap. Husband even cut them out with cookie cutters for us recently. Pop them in the freezer if you like them cold like me, or the fridge if you prefer.

A flower cookie for C-bear from Daddy, left most section.

Ani Phyo has a great cookie recipe in her dessert book, Carob Walnut Cookies. They follow the same basics as discussed here, and she puts her cookies in the freezer-this is how I learned I like them really cold!

See you tomorrow!

Vegan MoFo Day 13: Almond Pulp Cookies

One of the (delicious) side effects of making your own creamy almond milk at home is all the lovely almond pulp that we have leftover. (I sometimes dream of Alots of almond pulp.) In efforts to use it up (read: keep it from taking over the refrigerator and the freezer) I have been experimenting with dehydrator cookies combining it with other fun superfoods to eat.

You know you are not used to blogging when you get about halfway through a project and then think, "Hey, I should take pictures. I could blog this!" This is sort of what that scenario might look like.

The olives were not part of the recipe.

Using the Macaroon recipe from Raw Food Real World and this recipe found by Googling as a guide, I combined a big mess of stuff into a bowl.

Using my hands I mixed it all up, and then scooped the mix all fancy-like into a cookie scooper. (I like that word, scoop. Scooooop).

And then scooped them onto a dehydrator screen.

And popped them into the dehydrator.

 And after about 16 hours, ate them.

There were a few more than this leftover, but not many.

They were really good, though next time I might dehydrate them a bit longer-I love these cookies crunchy! I also love how the dried fruit rehydrates a bit and takes on a new texture.

To make this recipe, I used leftover pulp from about 3 batches of almond milk-so 3 cups of almond milk pulp total. This is a rough guesstimate and can be tweaked in either direction.

Leftover Almond Dehydrator Cookies
3 cups of almond milk pulp
1 cup of goji berries
1 cup of cranberries
1/4 cup cacao nibs
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 and 1/2 cups maple syrup (actually a bit less)
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
3 Tbs Chia seeds
(I would use flax meal and hemp seeds next time-I was out this day!)
Cacao powder. Several heaping tablespoons. I would guess about 1/4-1/3 cup, but there will be an accurate measurement after I make them again!

I used the smallest size scooper we have-a size 60, or 2 tsp. Place them on your trays, turn the dehydrator on to 105, and let it run until your cookies are as dry as you like, about 16-24 hours. And enjoy! I think I will go have a couple more myself now.

Vegan MoFo Day 11: Our Parm

I love nooch. Nutritional yeast, if you aren't familiar with the term. It's a vegetarian B-12 supplement that resembles "cheese" in its color and slightly in flavor. It's not the same thing as cheese though, so don't expect that! I love nooch so much, I like to eat it on its own sometimes.

A bit dry, a little chewy, but dang, so good.

The other day, my two year old asked for some nooch from the jar. Not on anything in particular, just plain nooch. That's my girl.

Nooch is an important ingredient in the vegan parmesan I make. My recipe is made with stuff we generally have on hand based on the recipe from Yellow Rose Recipes by Joanna Vaught. (Limited copies left! If you want this book, now is the time! It is one of my favorites.) It's great to use around the house and we even take it with us to the local pizza place-order a pie without cheese and apply your parm liberally.

1/3 cup of hemp seeds
1/3 cup of walnuts
1/3 cup of nooch
1/3 cup of brown rice flour
1/2 tsp salt

 I use our stick blender's chopping attachment to waz this up. It's kinda handy for small jobs like this.

 30 seconds or so should do the trick.

 And then I pour it in the stainless steel shaker can, for easy distribution.

 A widemouth canning jar funnel work perfectly and keeps me from making a mess. I need all the help I can get.

 Slap a label on it if you are so inclined, stick it in the fridge and call it done.

This is great on pizzas, pasta, soups, salads, just about anything you might have eaten parmesan on and some things you didn't think of before (I never was one to put parm on pizza pre-vegan, though my husband did). Enjoy!

Vegan MoFo Day 9: Are We There Yet?

What, this MoFo thing isn't over yet? Are you sure? It feels like I've been blogging about food for like forever. Okay maybe not really forever. It's more like I-Make-Up-Posts-All-The-Time-But-Forget-Them-Almost-Instantly, thus putting me into a perpetual state of feeling like I've already talked about something awesome.

Today I'm going to talk about something awesome I have already talked about. Oh no wait, Husband did. Back here. 

Ever have one of those wearying days of working, errands, shopping, kid shuttling, and other fun awesome modern things to do? Sometimes you just want to cook a nice easy meal at the end of the day and not dirty every dish and spend an hour or more to do it. This is that recipe that saves us on those days, like today. Added bonus: It passes the two year old taste test with gusto.

Our Generic Throw What You Got In Stir Fry (Reprise)


This makes enough for 2 if it's all you're eating, 4 if it's a side.

• 3-4 TBS Canola, Peanut or other light tasting "saute friendly" oil. You could also use Coconut oil if you like that taste in your rice
• 2 Cups frozen peas
• 4 cups cooked rice (fresh or even better, cooked and then refrigerated)
• 1 tsp Sesame seed oil (regular or toasted)
• 2 tsp Garlic powder
• 2 tsp Onion powder
• 1 tsp Mustard seed powder
• 1/4 Cup Low Sodium Tamari, Shoyu or Soy Sauce
• Optional, and fun: 
• Any other veg you have on hand, chopped evenly and finely-shown is broccoli slaw from Trader Joe's and red pepper in addition to peas
• Cashews or peanuts
• mushrooms!!
• Sriracha, or another hot sauce
• Seitan (the white steamed seitan from Viva Vegan was an excellent choice for us once) or tofu

Over high heat, cook the peas in 2 TBS oil for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and add cooked rice, and add a little more canola oil and the sesame oil. Stir the rice for a few minutes, then add the spices. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the Tamari. Stir through and serve hot.

Feel free to add any veggies you find to your liking. Any long cooking or frozen veggies would need to go in before hand (alternatively you could steam them first, then toss them around at first just to give them a little color.

Vegan MoFo Day 8: Make Your Own Adventure in Nut Butters

Nut butter can be expensive. Especially the raw kind. Unless you live near a Trader Joe's or your grocery store has a wider selection than the standard peanut butter you might not even see such awesome choices as almond, brazil nut or cashew butters. My grocery stores have such offerings in the "healthy" food section-ringing up at $8 to $12 dollars a jar. Ouch!


We are lucky to have a lovely local food co-op that allows members to make bulk purchases as needed. This makes purchasing organic, raw nuts very affordable for our family. Last month we found on sale and purchased a 25 pound case of organic almonds for nut milks, butters and raw desserts, a 25 pound case of walnuts for the same purposes, and the month before that a 25 pound case of cashews for, you guessed it, nut milk, butters and raw desserts. Cashews also lend themselves to making raw cheeses and pates. So much fun! The other night, Husband and I realized we were nearly out of tahini-and having just picked up a 5 pound bag of sesame seeds, I decided to embark on a tasty nut butter adventure of the mediterranean type. Step 1-Get out your food processor.

Just don't do whatever the Warning is telling you not to do. Pick up spiny sea urchins? Throw Ninja Stars? You decide.

Step 1 can also involve a Vita Mix or Blendtec blender. But I tend to make a large batch at once and the food processor is my chosen implement of destruction.

Step 2-Pick your nuts/seeds. As we mentioned, Sesame is on the menu today. Don't like raw butters? Roast your sesame seeds first in an oven on low heat for a couple of minutes.

Yep, Sesame Seeds. Says so right there.

Step 3-Add to food processor bowl. Guesstimate about how much you want to put in there. There's no right or wrong answer.

This will work.

Step 4-Turn it on!

Spin baby spin.

Now we play the waiting game. I find that sesame seeds, cashews, and walnuts turn into butter fairly quickly. Raw almonds will take the longest, at upwards of twenty minutes. Yep, twenty. Just when you think you are wasting your time and the food processor starts to overheat, bingo-you hit the sweet spot of creamy nut butter.

Luckily, it's not hard to tell when you've reached it.

This is not it. Keep going.

I sort of timed how long this batch took to make. And by sort of, I mean not really. And by timed, I mean I took pictures of the wall, floor, ceiling, entire kitchen complete with Husband not paying attention (I can't really believe I'm going to post it, the mess makes me cringe), the kiddo as she runs in and out of the room, the baby as she watches me in the swing, and some more shots of the food processor spinning. Outtakes, you know.

But don't tell your husband you took this photo, just post it on the blog. He loves surprises.

Back to the nut butter. 3? 5? minutes later, I stopped the machine, scraped the sides and turned it back on. And watched.

Entertaining for a short while.

Let's discuss the Almost-There-But-Not-Really issue. At some point you will see the butter forming a large ball and the standard reaction is "Ding! Butter done!"

No. It is not.

Close!

Scrape down the sides and keep going. Just a few more moments, I promise. It could be 30 seconds, it could be 2 minutes, but the ball will disappear and then the real creaminess will shine through with all the natural nut oils helping things along.

In the meantime, pour all those tiny seeds into a giant container. Don't spill them. You'll think you swept them all up but in fact will be finding them years later, trust me on that one.

After the ball disappears, check the machine periodically, as is comfortable for you. I don't really think this sort of thing can be over processed, so go ahead and stare at the wall for awhile do something productive for a moment.

Fin: Creamy, delicious nut butter.

I know there's not much difference between the last picture and this one, despite this one having a strange color cast (I fail at fixing in Photoshop) but when you are actively doing this in the field, you will be able to tell the difference by touching and tasting. Also if you try to spread it on something, the texture will be evident. Practice! Do not be disappointed by small set backs! This is the advice I have for you.

Step, um, I forget. Pour your butter into a glass mason jar, recycled other-kind-of-jar, plastic tub, whatever floats your boat. Label and enjoy. No matter what direction your adventure takes, the results are just as tasty. Now if you'll excuse me, there are some almonds that need to be pulverized in the refrigerator. Huzzah!

Vegan MoFo Day 7: Brunch for the bunch

nomnomnomnom....

The mornings fare consisted of what I call diner fries. It combines several things I like in large amounts, all served together.... the only thing missing was some bacon.... (vegan of course)

4-6 organic Potatoes, washed and cut into bite size pieces (I leave on the skin)

This particular time I used half red and half russet

3-4 T organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 pkg organic button mushrooms, cleaned and stems trimmed
5-6 small organic garlic cloves peeled

2 large organic yellow onions, large dice
3 organic purple peppers, large dice
Homemade organic Veggie broth as needed (or water)

Spice team
1T + 2tsp organic dried Dill
1 tsp ground organic Coriander Seed
organic fresh ground pepper
Sea Salt

Start by heating the oven to 400, and cut up the potatoes. Toss with 2T of Olive oil, and lightly salt them. Roast for 10 minutes, then toss in the Garlic and Whole mushrooms.

At the halfway point...

Cook until the potatoes are golden brown. Remove from the oven and add the 2 tsp of dry dill.

Done, but before Dill

While the potatoes cook, heat 1 T olive oil in a large heavy skillet and add the diced onion. Saute for 5 minutes, then add the peppers and a pinch or two of sea salt.


Saute until darkened, or about 10-15 minutes. If anything sticks add a shot of veggie broth. In our case, since we use a cast iron Le Cruset pan, things start to get good and dark and stick. Add the spices, (using 1T of dry dill and salt and pepper to taste) and stir for 30 seconds or so. Turn the heat to low and immediately de-glaze the pan with about 1/4 cup of veggie broth. This not only does the job of loosening the stuff from sticking, but it also soaks up all the dark bits that have all the flavor. Continue to cook on low heat until almost all of the broth is gone.

Serve by heaping a pile of potato mixture on the plate, then spoon some of the onion and pepper mix on top. I'm sure you could add things like salsa, vegan Worcestershire and/or avocado to this and it would be good, but we opted for lightly toasted Ezekiel Sprouted bread "buttered' with some homemade Organic White Bean and Dill Hummus I made the night before.

The delicious close up...

The C bear received the following plate for breakfast to eat with us...


That's Organic Red Grapes, an Organic Tangerine and some of the plain roasted potatoes, pre-dill. After all that, she really just wanted the toast, although she did eat the tangerine and some of the grapes. In her defense, she ate a buckwheat and spelt waffle and a banana before I made all this, so she probably wasn't really very hungry. Buckwheat and spelt waffles you ask? Why yes... I made those the previous morning.

In case you haven't picked up on a theme here, my wife likes Dill. Alot.  That's right, an alot of Dill....

Vegan MoFo Day 6: Blast Off Pops!

 
Happy Monday! While today is day 8 in MoFo festivities, I will be opting to take the weekends of this month off to spend with the family-lots of decluttering, cleaning and general fun to accomplish with my loves! So this is entry 6 for me.

Today I want to post about another quick snack my two year old enjoys. Chocolate fudgesicles! These aren't your ordinary run of the mill fudgesicles, though. These are packed with nutrition and the best part is, my kid loves them. With a capital "L"!

Although I still feel a bit like a delinquent mom when I let her have one after breakfast.

The idea behind this recipe is to make a very thick smoothie, flavored with lots of Cacao powder. The thicker you make it, the more creamy it will be when it freezes! And please note that I use the term "recipe" very loosely here. This is basically a green smoothie in popsicle form, there is a very wide margin of error!

That said, I have been experimenting with this recipe to make about 6 pops (And I always end up with extra, which the kiddo will drink while waiting eagerly for the pops to freeze. I really need a second set of molds!)

Into the Vita Mix, I throw:
6 or 7 medjool dates, pitted
Enough water to cover the dates by about a half inch
1 banana
1/3 to 1/2 cup of cashews
1 heaping handful of washed spinach (pictured) or kale
1 heaping Tbs each of chia, flax and hemp seeds (called the seed trifecta in this house)
1 1/2 Tbs of vanilla extract (alcohol free is preferred in raw desserts, this can also be called vanilla flavoring, though I am using up my extract first and they turn out fine)
3 Tbs organic raw cacao powder, or more or less to taste

To start, place the dates and water in the blender and let them set for 10 minutes or so to soften. This will make them a bit easier to blend. After that, load up the blender with everything else listed-plus anything else you might want to throw in (liquid stevia for sweetness, different nuts or seeds, etc). Remember that you are basically making a thick, creamy chocolate smoothie here-anything you typically put in your smoothies you could add if you like. Experiment!

 Pour into molds (these are BPA free rocket pops by Tovolo, gifted to us by a lovely grandmother. This company also makes stars and a large groovy style set. So cute.)

Freeze and enjoy one! Or two. Hey, they are good for you, right?

Happy Monday!