Herbed Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese

Herbed Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese

In my effort to find fun snacks for special occasions, I've grown quite fond of this raw vegan cashew cheese.  I confess, it has some salt in it, so it's not truly 'nutritarian', but so far I've cut the salt content in half.  If I can get it down to 1/8 of a teaspoon, I'll be happy.  After all, it's not intended for regular consumption considering it mostly consists of nuts!

My favourite thing to spread this on is cauliflower "crackers", which are simply slices of raw cauliflower.

I found this recipe at Healthy Blender Recipes, and did a half-batch (more affordable and helps with moderation!).  You can find the recipe with variations here: Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese.

Herbed Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese [Adapted]

1 cup soaked cashews* (2-4 hours)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/16 tsp onion powder
1/16 tsp ground thyme
1/8 tsp ground rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried parsley
2-4 Tbsp water

*Almonds work too, I usually use half and half (1/2 slivered almonds, 1/2 raw cashews).

Place everything but the water into a food processor.  Start with 1 Tbsp of water and process.  You'll have to scrape down the sides multiple times throughout the process.  Keep adding water, teaspoonfuls or less at a time, until desired consistency.  You want it to work like a spread.

Refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavours meld, or dig in right away if you just can't wait!

It's very nice spread onto slices of veggies, like zucchini or cucumber.

Three-Bean Lentil Soup for the Slow Cooker

Three-Bean Lentil Soup

There's not much of this soup left in our fridge, so I figured I'd better snap a picture of it before it's long gone.  Not that I won't be making it again soon. It was delicious! And easy!

Canadian Living Magazine's recipes have consistently been winners in my kitchen, and this soup is no different.  The original link to the recipe can be found here: Three-Bean Lentil Soup. I'm posting the slow cooker version here for your enjoyment. My version includes celery and baby carrots, and substitutes curry powder for curry paste. You can have fun adding your own favourite veggies.  Next time I'll be adding a generous amount of brown mushrooms.

Three-Bean Lentil Soup [Adapted]

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp minced gingerroot
4 tsp curry paste (I used 2 tsp curry powder, next time 3 tsp!)
1 28oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1 tsp ground coriander (next time double!)
1/4 tsp pepper
1 19oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 19oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 19oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

Place everything BUT the chickpeas and beans into the crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Add chickpeas, kidney beans and black beans and cook for 30 minutes until heated through.  Enjoy!

I have a SAD cold!

Keep Calm-O-Matic

I've been cold and flu free for almost 2 years, that is until I started cheating (myself) and eating junk food, vegan and non.  Last week a nasty head cold visited our house and instead of bypassing me, it took hold.  It serves as a wake up call.  I've reactivated my membership at Dr. Fuhrman's website.  Being a part of an online nutritarian community is worth the small monthly cost.

I'm on day 2 of eating an unrefined whole foods plant-based diet, and will get back to having a super strong immune system!

Avocado Strawberry Toast

I joined Pinterest lately, probably one of the last to do so, and saw photos of mashed avocado on toast.  What a novel idea!  Today I decided to try mashed avocado spread over a lovely piece of toasted Ezekiel bread, topped with 3 mashed strawberries.  I sprinkled a little pink Himalayan salt over the avocado to bring out its flavour.  It was pretty darn good!!

Freezer "Brownies". Yum!

Hi all! Had a lovely holiday and am trying to get back into a regular routine. Hubby was off for awhile and I always go into vacation-mode when he's around. It feels good to be getting back into being productive.

Over the holidays I made some fudgie freezer brownies that were DELICIOUS! The recipe is Chef AJ's, so it stands to reason that they'd be ultra yummy.


I only make half a batch, which is half the cost, and half the temptation. It still makes a generous amount and lasted us quite a few days. Today I'll be making more (at my daughter's request) and thought I'd share it here (see the video below). I used a mix of pecans, brazil nuts, and sunflower seeds. I finally snagged some raw cacao in a sort-of-nearby natural food store and am thrilled to such a superfood in my arsenal. For the half-sphere shapes I used our scoop from our espresso machine and it worked beautifully. Eat them right from the freezer because they'll be the perfect consistency when cold. They're too soft at room temp. Enjoy!

My Beloved Hummus Recipe

My mom introduced me to hummus years ago and I've been making her recipe ever since. We love it! I've only just discovered that most hummus recipes call for oil, but this one does not. Mine also has fresh parsley pureed into it. Want the recipe?

Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp tahini paste
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
4-5 oz. water
fresh parsley

Place chickpeas, tahini paste, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor and puree for a few seconds. Add about 4oz. of water and continue to puree until smooth. Add more water if necessary to get a nice consistency (not too thick, not too liquidy). Finally, add some fresh parsley, maybe about 3 sprigs worth. Pulse just until the parsley is chopped small and blended in.

Store in a glass jar (healthier and stays fresh!).

Quick Banana Blueberry Breakfast

Purchase this lovely print from Erica Lea at Etsy.com
Being a participant of Dr. Fuhrman's Six-Week Holiday Challenge, I get e-mails with recipes to help me along. I made this breakfast a few days ago and was really wow'ed by it! It warms the tummy, is very filling and tastes delicious. I treated Jon to a serving this past weekend and he was so impressed that he wanted it the next morning too!

Quick Banana Blueberry Breakfast

[Adapted version of Dr. Fuhrman's "Quick Banana Berry Breakfast To Go"]

Serves 1

1 banana, sliced
2/3 to 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup (a scant 1/3 c.) old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 oz. chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a microwave-proof bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes. Stir in flaxseed. Sprinkle nuts on top. Let stand 5-10 minutes as it's quite hot!

Dr. Neal Barnard on Food Addictions

Below is a fantastic presentation by Neal Barnard, M.D. He's an engaging and inspirational speaker who makes me feel extra good about adopting a plant-based diet. He talks about the hazards and risks of consuming animal products, and makes the science behind what he discuses very accessible. Plus he just seems like a really nice guy!

I continue to be amazed with how science backs up the wisdom behind a plant-based nutrient-rich diet, but I'm even more amazed that many many MANY diseases and conditions are linked to eating animal products!

Pasta Primavera with Italian Seitan Sausage

This recipe was originally non-vegan/vegetarian, but I was keen on taking a recipe and converting it. It turned out to be delicious! Another one to keep in the roster. The seitan sausages I made were already quite spicy so I used a modest amount of spices in the rest of the recipe. You can adjust it to your preference.

You'll need to make your favourite seitan sausages, or try the Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages from Everydaydish.TV (video below). Make them a day in advance so they have a chance to get firm and have their flavours meld.


Pasta Primavera with Italian Seitan Sausage

8 oz. multigrain fusilli (or your favourite pasta)
4-5 Spicy Italian Vegetarian Sausages, cut into 1/2 inch
1 Tbsp organic canola oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 small zucchini, chopped
1 28oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 cube vegan bouillon cube (dissolved in a little bit of hot water)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
Faux Parm (recipe below)

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Place fusilli in the pot and cook about 6 minutes or until al dente; drain.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 Tbsp oil and saute onion and garlic until tender. Add zucchini, diced tomatoes, green pepper, basil and bouilion. Season with red pepper flakes. Cook for 5 minutes, then add cut up sausage. Cook 5 more minutes.

Combine pasta and veggie/sausage mixture and heat through.

Serve with vegan parmesan sprinkled on top!


I really like this recipe for "parmasan cheese". It really does the trick in both looks and flavour!

Faux Parm

from the book Vegan on the Cheap

Yield 3/4 cup

1/2 cup ground almonds
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all. Store in freezer.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

This recipe has been in my collection for over a year now. I made them for an easy quick breakfast for my high school son. They are very yummy and nicely moist.

I use organic unpasteurized (raw) honey for the sweetener. Sugar is sugar but at least this honey is unrefined and natural.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Preheat oven 350

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups old fashioned oats (process in food processor until fine, but not a powder)
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 generous cup of mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
3/4 non-dairy buttermilk*
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 6 Tbsp water (egg substitute)
2 Tbsp organic canola oil
6 Tbsp organic unpasteurized honey

*Place about 1/4 tsp of lemon juice into your measuring cup and fill the rest up with non-dairy milk. Let sit 5 minutes.

Combine all dry ingredients. Combine all wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and stir just to combine, don't over-mix.

Pour into greased muffin cups, filling cups about 3/4th full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove to cool on wire rack.

"Chicken" Nuggets!

Tonight I made Joanna Vaught's Nuggets for supper. These things are sooo cool! The breading alone smelled amazing with the lemon zest added to it. Once you have all your ingredients gathered and in their bowls, it's super easy.

Salt is a big no-no for a nutritarian, but next time I'll be adding salt to the breading. I won't be a big consumer of these anyway, I'm thinking more of my teens and their ability to convert to healthier versions of processed foods.

They would make an awesome breaded "chicken" patty for a McChicken style sandwich in a whole wheat bun with Vegenaise and lettuce!

Slaying the Sugary Beast

A timely message from the admirable Dr. Klaper:

Slaying the Sugary Beast

Stay away from sugar and you'll stay young looking and beautiful!

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

As promised, I offer you my new favourite pie crust recipe. I hadn't made pie crust in like forever! For eons I've bought frozen pie shells in the aluminum pie plates. Since that's no longer an option for one who's eating for health and not convenience, this means baking my own.

Was it always this easy to make a pie crust?



The original recipe can be found here:

Giddy Gabby's Single 9" Whole Wheat Pastry Shell Recipe

Here is my adapted version:

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

***Chill your mixing bowl and pastry cutter.***

This is for one single unbaked pie shell.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Flavour Stick
3-5 Tbsp. almond, rice, soy, or hemp milk (I used 3 Tbsp)

Combine the flours, sugar and salt. Slice cold Earth Balance stick into flour and cut in well with a pastry blender until smallest pieces are the size of peas.

Using 1 Tbsp at a time, sprinkle cold non-dairy milk and cut in. Continue adding more milk until it's just moist enough to stick together.

Using just your finger tips (this avoids transferring heat from you palms), quickly form a ball.

Lay out a large piece of wax or parchment paper onto the counter and sprinkle with flour. Take your ball of pastry and roll it out until about 1/8" thick.

To transfer the dough, roll up the dough onto the rolling pin, then let it unfold off of the rolling pin into the pie pan.

Gently pat and push into place. Work the edge by pinching it to give it a fluted edge*.

*I didn't use this site, but it looks like a great place for ideas: Decorative Pie Crust Edges.

I didn't do anything further to the crust. I didn't actually need the crust until the next day, so I placed it in a large freezer bag, sealed it shut with a twist tie, and put it the fridge. It worked beautifully for my Festive Chickpea Tart.

Whole Wheat Hotdog or Hamburger Buns

Oh me oh my these things are good. If you like mooshy gooshy buns (of the food kind) like I do, you'll understand my enthusiasm over mastering making these squishy blobs of bready joy.

You can shape them into long buns for seitan sausages, or round ones for veggie burgers.

The original recipe is Vegan Dad's. That guy is a seriously talented chef! My adapted version has a much simpler method, and is a half batch. This will give you either 6 sausage or 6 hamburger buns.


Whole Wheat Buns

[Adapted version of Vegan Dad's Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns]

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp unbleached white flour
1 1/2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup almond, soy, rice, or hemp milk
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp oil

Combine non-dairy milk with hot water to produce a warm liquid. Add yeast, stir and let sit 10 minutes.

Combine flours, gluten, and salt.

Add oil to liquid and yeast.

Add wet to dry. Mix well with a wooden spoon, then turn onto floured surface and knead until soft.

Place in a well-oiled bowl, turning dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 1 hour, or until double in size.

I love it when it's risen!
Punch dough down, knead a few times. Form into your buns (sausage/sub size or hamburger buns). Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet(s). Cover with towel and let rise 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven 450.

Bake 10* minutes.

*Mine were done in 5 minutes! Tap the bottom of the buns to check for that "hollow" sound. That means they are done.

Festive Chickpea Tart

right before going into the oven
Chickpea pie. Doesn't conjure up imaginations of delightful indulgence does it? Surprisingly enough, this unnatural combination of words didn't stop me from trying out Dreena Burton's (a fellow Canadian I'll have you know!) very recently posted recipe for Festive Chickpea Tart. Boy Canada sure has it's fair share of fabulous cooks and cookbook authors! Her book, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, is on my wish list, the short one.

it's impressive enough in it's uncooked state!
Back to the pie slash tart. I made it on Saturday night for supper, and served it with a salad. I'll admit that I spent the first few moments of the meal focusing on my salad. I was stalling. Believe me, the pie looked gorgeous. I had high hopes and was afraid to find out the truth. Curiosity eventually got the best of me. With fork held in guarded trepidation, and a muttering of "well, here we go", I moved to serve up my first morsel.

My salad soon became a wisp of a memory.

Each bite tasted better than the last, and in the end I knew I was hook-line-and-sinker in love. Why? It's the epitome of comfort food without the fuzzy bunny slippers. It says gourmet and good old fashioned home cooking all at the same time.

Here is the official description of the Festive Chickpea Tart:

Move over faux turkeys! This savory tart takes center plate with its combination of chickpeas, crunchy walnuts, spinach, and seasonings nestled together. This dish is elegant enough to serve for holiday gatherings, but also easy enough to make for a family dinner any time of the year.

On Dreena's Vegan Recipes blog, she suggests serving it with cranberry sauce. Oh how I wish we had had some, it would have made it even more scrumptious. Or gravy. Mmmmm.

click on the photo, you must get a closer look! yum!
(yes I have old blue kitchen counters. weep for me.)
This is most definitely going to make an appearance on our dinner table come Christmas Day!!

I was trying to photograph the pie when Jon
decided to contribute his opinion to this blog. Cute.
In the next few days I will blog about the vegan pie crust recipe I used. It's the best one I've used by far, though for any nutritarians visiting, it's not Eat to Live compliant. It would fall into the "eat rarely" section of the nutritarian pyramid!

Breakfasty Things

No artery clogging bacon and eggs with butter-slathered toast to be found here. Sure that stuff tastes good, but is it good for you? And what's it doing to your waistline! I know what it did to mine...jiggle jiggle.

The photo above is a combination of banana, frozen raspberries, and frozen peaches all blended together in my food processor with a bit of almond milk. The last half I added more water and drank it. Very pretty.


This next sample is an oatmeal breakfast bar. They're officially called All-Out Best Oatmeal Breakfast Bars. The recipe can be found here. I got Jon to try a piece shortly after coming out of the oven. He said, "It's not bad." A few minutes later, "Hmmm, it's starting to grow on me. This is pretty good. Can I have another?"


I want to avoid having us eat processed foods, so I was hoping this would be a great replacement for the granola bars my son has been getting in his lunch. This morning my son asked me, "What are those things dad put in my lunch?". I told him they're like a granola bar. I didn't want him thinking "magic cookie bar" or anything like that and end up setting him up for disappointment. I mean I did splurge and put carob chips in them (which by the way taste AMAZING!).

Well, it turned out that he didn't like them and could only manage eating one. After giving it a taste test (I avoid sugar and hadn't eaten one yet) I had to agree that they didn't work out. I think a good dose of tweaking might turn things around for them. I'll have to keep experimenting.

Eggplant Walnut Spread or Dip

Eggplant has always intimidated me. I tried to make homemade babaganouch about 5 years back and it was a serious flop. Oh a whim I ended up purchasing a nice eggplant last week since they were on sale. I'd seen the odd vegan recipe calling for it in it's ingredient list so I figured I'd give it another shot. It sat in the fridge for a few days, making me feel guilty.



I found a recipe in Robin Robertson's "1000 Vegan Recipes" that looked easy enough for my second-ever attempt at handling this purple vegetable. A little googling led me to discover that this dip was a definite favourite amongst those who'd made it.

Let me simply state that eggplant and I are now best buds! I think this spread would be great as a condiment in a wrap sandwich, or as a dip for homemade crackers.

Did you know?

Researchers at the US Agricultural Service in Beltsville, Maryland, have found that eggplants are rich sources of phenolic compounds that function as antioxidants. Plants form such compounds to protect themselves against oxidative stress from exposure to the elements, as well as from infection by bacteria and fungi.

The good news concerning eggplant is that the predominant phenolic compound found in all varieties tested is chlorogenic acid, which is one of the most potent free radical scavengers found in plant tissues. Benefits attributed to chlorogenic acid include antimutagenic (anti-cancer), antimicrobial, anti-LDL (bad cholesterol) and antiviral activities. ~ whfoods.com

Thank you Robin Robertson where ever you are for such an easy impressive dip!

Happy Thanksgiving from a Canadian!

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our Canadian Thanksgiving was back on October 11th, but best wishes to those celebrating Thanksgiving today in America, many of which are family of my very own who live across the border. May your bellies be full (but not too full) of healthy wholesome food!

Here I offer a few photos of vegan Thanksgiving meals taken from Flickr. You can click on each photo to be taken to it's Flickr page. Enjoy!

A Simple & Appetizing Salad

This was my favourite lunch from this past weekend. A very simple salad of thinly sliced romaine and baby spinach, finely diced red onion, and half an avocado.

Instead of splashing some balsamic vinegar like I usually do, I dug out of the fridge the remaining vinaigrette I had made the other day. It's called Better Than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette (that it is!). You can find the recipe over at Angela's blog right here.

This salad was so wonderful that I couldn't stop Mmmmmm'ing the whole way through!

After a few forkfuls I had the presence
of mind to add some fresh ground pepper
On another note, if you like getting free things, Keri over at her I Eat Trees blog is having a giveaway contest. The book is Vegan Vittles, and it's on my wish list for sure. Check it out!

Lilibeth's Naturally Sweet Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge that the recipe instructions are wordy, but I'd rather make things really clear and share any tips that will ensure success!

A short while ago I tried out Vegan Spoonful's Homestyle Vegan Pumpkin Pie with much success. It was "just like grandma used to make". I blogged about it here.

The notion of making a pumpkin pie filling that had no refined sugar in it intrigued me. What about using date paste instead? Date paste is simply pitted medjool dates and a quantity of water processed until it's a smooth paste. Sugar, whether it's organic cane sugar or plain white sugar is devoid of nutrition. Dates on the other hand are a source of fiber, vitamin A, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, manganese and much more. Don't be mislead though, because even dates can hamper your weight loss goals.


My pumpkin pie filling also skips the use of salt, something I'm trying to avoid as per the nutritarian way of eating. I've upped the quantities of spices to make sure it has lots of taste. It's not overly sweet, unless of course you top it with something like EverydayDish.tv's Vegan Whipped Topping! Jon tried it plain and thought it was just as yummy as the first vegan pumpkin pie I tried. I was very happy with how it turned out!

For the crust I used No Roll, Never Fail, Press-In Pie Crust (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free & More). It called for 1 tablespoon of sugar and I used my organic cane sugar. I won't be doing that again. It seemed that any sugar grains that were exposed or touching the glass pie plate turned black. So there are parts where the crust is speckled black. Kinda creepy. Next time I'd skip the sugar altogether.

click photo to see enlarged version IF you're curious
Here are a few vegan options for the pie crust:

No Roll, Never Fail, Press-In Pie Crust (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free & More)

Dr. Fuhrman's Oat Crust

OR

Almond-Oatmeal Pie Crust (found here)

I plan to try this one next. I like that the fat content is natural and unrefined

Ingredients:

* 1-1/2 cups oatmeal ground into a coarse flour
* 3/4 cups almonds finely chopped in processor
* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/2 cup water, approximately

How to make it:

1. Mix the ingredients and roll out between 2 sheets of wax paper.
2. Peel off the top sheet of paper.
3. Place a 9 inch pie pan upside down on top of it then flip both over.
4. Remove the other sheet of paper and trim to shape.
5. Bake unfilled for 10 minutes in a 350F oven.
6. Remove and fill with your pie filling and bake as needed.


Lilibeth's Naturally Sweet Vegan Pumpkin Pie

IMPORTANT: Before you do anything, take a square of aluminum foil and cut a circle out of it, one that will expose the filling but not the crust. This will protect the outer crust from burning. I suggest loosly placing it on the pie after it's been in the oven for 10 minutes or so.

Ingredients:

1 9" prepared crust
1 14-oz can pureed pumpkin
1 cup almond, rice, oat, hemp or soy milk
3/4 cup date paste*
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp allspice

*For the date paste you'll need approx. 16 medjool dates, pitted and split in half. Toss them in your food processor. Add about a 1/2 cup of water. You may need more, but start with processing this (start by pulsing) and see how it goes and then add more water as you see fit. You're going for a pureed pumpkin kind of consistency, so you want it to have substance. This will most likely make more than you'll, but store the remaining paste in a jar and save for smoothies or something.

Instructions

Preheat oven 350 degrees

Prepare your homemade or store-bought crust. Place the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl and blend well with a hand mixer. Pour into prepared crust. If you're using an 8" pie crust, you may have leftover pie filling.

Bake 1 hour, BUT after about 10 minutes place your aluminum foil crust protector over the pie, leaving the filling exposed.

ALSO!! After about 30 minutes you may want to loosly cover the whole pie with another piece of aluminum foil. I mistakenly had the oven at 375 for the first 40 minutes instead of the 350 it should have been at, so I don't know if would be fine without the foil at the proper temperature (argh!!). Just do me a favour and keep an eye on it! Mine turned out fine in spite of my blunder.