30 March 2012

RECIPE: Vegan (Almost Raw) Apple Tartlet

My mom's birthday was this past Tuesday and for her special day I made these apple tartlets.  They are not complicated to make but they do require some "waiting" time.  The payoff will be worth it, though, trust me.




Vegan Apple Tartlet

Ingredients:

Crust
-  1/2 c. almonds
-  1/2 c. walnuts
-  4 Medjool dates

Cashew Sweet Cream Filling
-  1/2 c. cashews, soaked overnight
-  1/4 c. almond milk
-  1/2 tsp. lemon juice
-  1/4 tsp. vanilla extract (or powder, if you'd prefer)
-  1 tsp. organic cane sugar (1 1/2 tsp. of agave nectar or maple syrup will work as well)
-  Dash of cinnamon

Apple Topping
-  2 Pink Lady apples (or apples of your choice), peeled and diced
*I wanted my diced apple pieces on the tiny side because of the petite nature of the dessert! 
-  1 T. organic cane sugar
-  1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425.'
2.  Use a paper towel to grease two 5" quiche dishes with coconut oil.  Set dishes aside.
3.  Blend together 'Cashew Sweet Cream' ingredients until creamy.  Pour into an airtight container and place in refrigerator to chill.
4.  Use a food processor to combine 'Crust' ingredients (you might need to cut your dates smaller if they are on the dry side--I did not need to because my dates were quite moist, but I have needed to cut my dates in the past due to their firmer texture).  Mixture will be done when large ball forms, usually after about a minute or so in the food processor.  
5.  Toss apples in cinnamon-sugar mixture and spread in an even layer in a 9" x 13" glass casserole dish.  Roast for 8 minutes, taking care not to over-bake.  You want your apples slightly soft but by no means mushy!
6.  While apples are roasting, divide 'Crust' mixture between the two greased quiche dishes and press dough in to place.  Cover each dish with cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour.  You cannot over-refrigerate but try and let the crusts chill for at least an hour.  Doing so will allow the crust to firm up.
7.  When apples are done, remove casserole dish from oven and allow apples to come to room temperature.
8.  Remove chilled crusts and sweet cream from refrigerator.  Spoon half of the sweet cream into each dish and spread it in an even layer.  Re-cover dishes and place back in the refrigerator to chill for another half hour (again, longer can't hurt).
9.  When ready to eat, remove dishes from the refrigerator and finish tartlet assembly by dividing apples between the two dishes, atop the sweet cream.
10.  Enjoy!




*Note:  I roasted my apples but this recipe could very easily be modified to be 100% raw, if that's your preference!

23 March 2012

Cucumber Noodles with Heirloom Orange-Mango Sauce

This meal was perfect for a hot, humid day like today.  Refreshing, cool, citrus-y.  It looks very warm-weather-y too.

I paired it with an arugala and sun-dried tomato salad.

Everything hit the spot!




20 March 2012

RECIPE: Kelp and Carrot Noodles Over a Bed of Wilted Spinach

So this was my lunch today--super easy to make, healthy and gorgeous!  It's so colorful and, really, isn't pretty food more fun to eat?




Kelp and Carrot Noodles Over a Bed of Wilted Spinach

Ingredients:
-  1 large carrot, julienned
-  1 1/2 c. kelp noodles, washed
-  1 heaping cup baby spinach
-  1 T. apple cider vinegar
-  12 whole almonds, toasted
-  2 T. soy marinade
-  Sea salt, to taste

*For marinade, combine 2 T. tamari, 2 T. balsamic vinegar, 1/4 c. red whine vinegar, 3 T. oil (I use Grapeseed), 2 garlic cloves, minced, and salt, to taste.  Vigorously mix all ingredients together.  Obviously, this will make more than 2 T. but it keeps vey well in the refrigerator, so you can save it for future meals :)


Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 325.'
2.  Rinse kelp noodles and allow them to drain in a colander while you prepare other ingredients.
3.  Peel and julienne carrot using a mandoline or julienning utensil.  Incorporate carrot "noodles" with kelp noodles (still in colander).
4.  Put almonds on a baking sheet or in a small pie tin and toast for 9 minutes.
5.  Meanwhile, turn stove burner to medium-high and add apple cider vinegar to a skillet. Put spinach in skillet and cover for 30 seconds to a minute, or until soft but not totally wilted.  Turn off burner and remove skillet, placing spinach in a serving dish.  Salt.
6.  Remove almonds from oven (they should almost be done around this time) and coarsely chop.
7.  In cooled skillet (or separate spare bowl), toss noodles with the marinade.  Place noodles on top of spinach bed and sprinkle with almonds.
8.  Enjoy!

Tip:  I enjoyed my "noodles" with a special turmeric-cinnamon-ginger lemonade, which looks and sounds weird but which tasted totally refreshing!  For those interested, it's:

-  5 lemons, juiced
-  4 cups water
-  1 tsp. ground cinnamon
-  1 tsp. turmeric
-  1" ginger, minced
-  Pinch sea salt

...et voila!

*Pictures of it "in-the-making" follow my noodles pictures!!









Update: Chicago Diner Cake

Just ate my Chicago Diner cake.  So.  Delicious.  I actually split it with my mom (though my slice was a wee bit bigger!) but I definitely could have eaten a whole slice by myself...I just would have felt a lot more guilty afterwards!

The cake had a rich, authentic chocolate flavor.  The chocolate frosting/ganache/whatever! between the cake layers was the perfect ratio to the cake.  Additionally, the texture was heavenly--almost like fudge!  The pale chocolate icing on the side and perimeter of the cake top was divine too--kind of salty, which really complimented the chocolate, with a hint of coffee.  Lastly, there was a faint dusting of chocolate cookie-like crumbs on the side of the cake.  Normally I'm not a big cookie-crumbs-on-cake type of gal, but there was just enough on this cake and it truly made the cake's flavors and textures pop.

I cannot wait to return to Ann Arbor and get another slice of cake!

19 March 2012

Chicago Diners Cake and Hilary's Cookies...At Last!

My trip to the Ann Arbor Whole Foods was, at last, successful!

I got both my Hilary's Cookies and my "The Chicago Diner" Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was recommended to me by VeganCarbJunkie.

So, so excited to dive in!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies

I made vegan carrot cake cookies to sell at work this week .  They turned out goooooooood.  I really wanted to eat more than one but then I realized I'd be losing money...ha!  I'm going to add these cookies to my Etsy shop too.





Good Eats!

This was a weekend of--you guessed it!--good eats!!!

I went to an amazing yoga workshop on Friday with my friend, Trevor, and afterwards we went to Sumo Sushi for dinner.  As you may remember, Sumo Sushi is one of my favorite sushi places.  The staff is so, so nice and the food is, of course, great.

I ordered "Veggie Lava," which consists of a sushi roll with steamed mushrooms, sweet potato and avocado in a *vegan* (another reason I love Sumo--they're so vegan friendly!) tempura roll topped with sweet soy and raspberry sauce.  Yum!

Both Trevor and I felt so hip going for sushi at 10:00 at night (following a yoga practice, no less!)

The next morning, after a back-to-back 6:30 and 8:15 morning yoga practice, I went for a St. Patrick's Day breakfast with my mom at Cafe Muse.  We both had mimosas and for my breakfast entree I ordered the vegan tofu scramble with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, truffle oil and chives, a side of mashed sweet potatoes and dry multigrain toast with peach compote.  I had one happy tummy.



15 March 2012

Vegan Lemon Cookies Order!

A woman with whom I work placed an order for three dozen of my vegan lemon sugar cookies--here's the spread!!



Punk Rawk Labs Cheese

I'm SOOOOOO excited--my nut cheese from Punk Rawk Labs arrived yesterday!!!  I can't wait to try the flavors!  Below are pics of my *delivery* and a review of their product will follow shortly :)



Almond Butter-Banana Smoothie

This breakfast was divine--so refreshing and satisfying.  The recipe for the smoothie I got from Kathy Patalsky's blog, and the Ezekial english muffin with coconut oil and salt was my own addition :)


Too bad my lunch wasn't as good as my breakfast : /  Oh well!  Live and learn!




Uh-Oh Lunch

Okay, so my lunch yesterday looked really nice but man oh man, did it make me sick.

Like, reeeeaaaaallllly sick.

But here is my hard work that did NOT pay off.  In retrospect, the combo of broccoli, raw parsnips and pear was probably not the best idea : /

I even made my mom a "to-go" lunch but after seeing how sick I got, she is leery of it.  Can't blame her!!