Baba ganoush

 Baba ganoush 

Made some baba ganoush for snacks today, too. Yums. 

(Recipe adapted from Robertson, Robin. Vegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes. Vegan Heritage Press, 2008, p. 98.)

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants 

1 large clove garlic 

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 

1/4 cup tahini 

3/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

1 teaspoon cumin 

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

A couple handfuls of fresh cilantro 

Method:

Roast eggplants in the oven until they look all wrinkled and slighted deflated. (I puncture the skin of the eggplants with a knife a few times, rub olive oil all over the outside of the eggplants, and then roast at 400F for about 45 mins.) Scoop flesh out of eggplant once cooled a bit and place into food processor. Put the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth. YUM! 

Gỏi cuốn

 Summer Rolls (aka Gỏi cuốn)

Made some mostly raw summer rolls for lunch today. Filled them with shredded daikon, shredded carrot, fresh basil, fresh mint, julienned red bell pepper, and spinach. Rolled them in rice paper wrappers and some white sesame seeds. It was messy, but delicious. I think I'll try wrapping them in collards, chard, lettuce, or cabbage, too, for a totally raw option.

I finally found a dipping sauce that I like! Woo!

Spicy Raw Almond Butter Dipping Sauce 

(Recipe adapted from von Euw, Emily. The Rawsome Vegan Cookbook. Page Street Publishing Co, 2015, p.40.)

6 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon red miso paste (*it's what I had on hand instead of other miso)

3 tablespoons raw almond butter

Cayenne pepper (to taste)

Healthy Start to the New Year

Happy New Year!
My alcohol-free month of vegan, relatively low carb, and mostly whole foods has begun!
Today was a productive start to 2015. I bathed the dog, went to the gym and lifted weights, went grocery shopping, rode my exercise bike, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, unpacked, changed the sheets on the bed, and made some delicious food.
Let's just say, the boys had other plans. ;)

Here's the stuff I ate today:
I just had coffee with coconut creamer for breakfast as I wasn't hungry. Then, I made myself a delicious lunch of what I like to call "save the crab" salad with a green salad. It's a vegan take on crab salad made with hearts of palm (instead of crab) based on the vegan crab cake recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen.

 

Then, I had a Mamma Chia beverage for a snack. This one was pretty good.

 

I went all out for dinner and made a black-eyed pea and root veggie tagine based on the Chickpea Tagine recipe in Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Since it's New Year's Day, I added black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas. I made mine with turnip, sweet potato, and carrot. This was out of this world good!

 

I served this with couscous and some vegan cucumber raita. I decided to make the raita with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream non-dairy sour cream this time. It was pretty excellent.

Vegan Cucumber Raita

Ingredients:
1 package Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
1 cucumber, deseeded
about 1 teaspoon garam masala
about 1 teaspoon cumin
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper

Method:
Put sour cream in bowl. Grate about 3/4 of the cucumber directly into the bowl with a hand grater. The cucumber's juice will thin out the sour cream; you want that to happen. Add the spices. Stir and keep in fridge until ready to serve. I like to garnish mine with some cilantro leaves and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour so that the flavors blend. Mmmm.

Quick Vegan Tartar Sauce

Chewie, my yorkie, likes to play up the cuteness.

 

Vegan Tartar Sauce!

I just threw this together and it was delicious. Measurements are approximate as I didn't measure when I made it.

About 1 cup - Reduced Fat Vegenaise (vegan mayo)

About 2-3 tablespoons - Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Crunchy Kosher Dill Pickles, the mini ones about 3 inches long each (I used B&G brand, but I suppose any favorite pickle will work.)

About 2 tablespoons grated Horseradish

Put all ingredients in a mini food processor and pulse until combined. Voila!

 

Slowcooker / Crockpot Apple Butter!



 

Apple Butter is surprisingly easy to make! I was looking for something to do with all my CSA apples and came across this simple recipe for apple butter in a cookbook I found on a neighbor's stoop. heh. The cookbook is called Endangered Recipes: Too Good To Be Forgotten by Lari Robling and it features some classic American recipes.

 

Apple Butter Recipe:

5 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into 1 inch pieces (about 12 cups)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 - 2 teaspoons cardamom

1/2 cup apple cider

 

Put everything in crockpot for 4 hours on high, then scrape sides down and cook on low for about 10 hours more. Puree in crockpot with immersion blender. If it still needs to thicken cook an additional hour or two with lid ajar. Puree in blender afterward if you don't have an immersion blender. Voila!

Muhammara (Middle Eastern Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Dip)

This recipe is loosely based on the one on p.99 of the cookbook Vegan Fire & Spice.

Ingredients:
16oz jar of roasted red peppers (in water)
15.5oz can red kidney beans (Beans are not usually in Muhammara, but I just threw these in. It's really tasty! Omit if you want.)
3/4 cup walnuts
2 garlic cloves, halved
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 small bunch of italian flat leaf parsley

Directions:
Throw all the above ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth.
Enjoy with pita. Mmmm.