Chocolate Mousse

A chocolate treat

While looking around at other recipes from Miyoko's Kitchen, I came across a chocolate mousse recipe.  I tried the healthier version with silken tofu instead of "coconut milk solids."  It came out chocolaty and not too sweet, which I was hoping for, but I'll try the richer recipe next time.

Truffled Cheese Simulant

Vegan Truffle Cheese

It took about a day or so for the first cure, then another day or two to harden a little.  It really was hard to resist trying it so it may have been a little too moist when I cut into it.  I will absolutely do this again!  The recipe was from Miyoko's blog.  I had gone to her cheese making class to learn the basis a few months ago.  Since then we've always had some kind of cashew rejuvelac something ready for us in the fridge.

Vegan Cabbage Rolls

Vegan Cabbage Rolls

Start to finish, these took like 3 hours.  They were good, but I really didn't know what I was getting myself into!  I might add more spice to the lentil/bulgar filling next time.  Find the recipe on the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog.

Falafel and Hummus Salad

Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, sumac

Cooking beans requires a little forethought but home cooked beans are tastier then the canned version.  I soaked 2 cups of chickpeas overnight (8 hrs) in 6 cups of water.  Rinsed them off and added them to a pot of 6 cups boiling water along with a 1" piece of Kombu.  Simmer for 45-60 minutes and they are done!

We used about half of the chickpeas to make hummus and the other half for the falafel.  Both recipes are from Oh She Glows.  Next time I might try her lemon tahini dressing instead of the humus to add a little more kick to the salad. 

Raw Food Party!


Yesterday I went to San Francisco to a raw food un-cooking party, which was hopefully the first of many of these get togethers! 

My friend decided to have a few friends over who were interested in this type of eating for a potluck style dinner party.  This is the same friend who introduced me to the world of healthy eating as a life style through her book suggestions to me.  I was in charge of spring roll and nori wrap dips so I got a little carried away and made 5 pates/sauces.

1)  Almond Ginger Nut Pate - Ani Phyo
2)  Walnut Thai dipping sauce - Dan McDonald, Life Regenerator
3)  Red pepper pate - Living Raw, Mimi Kirk
4)  Peanut sauce I - slightly more salty, Oh She Glows website
5)  Peanut sauce II - slightly more sweet, Love Veggies and Yoga website

Making the nori wraps

It was my first time having raw sweet potato and I couldn't believe how much I liked it!  I will certainly be spiralizing some more soon.

A day with Dan McDonald the "Life Regenerator"

I just got home from a day in San Francisco.  I went to a 6 hour presentation by Dan McDonald titled "Juicing for Beauty, Energy, and Mental Clarity."  You would think I'd be exhausted from a day of sitting and learning, but I got home totally pumped!  He is a raw food educator that uses YouTube as a medium to get out the message that fruits and vegetables can save your life.

So the basis of the day was how to turn all of this:



Into all of this for about 18 people!

Part I of the day began with a watermelon-lemon juice, followed by a green juice of celery, cucumber, herbs and lemon.  Part II covered things you could make with a Vitamix.  We were all amazed at how delicious a simple hami melon could be when liquefied in a Vitamix! 

He made enough for everyone to have about 12 oz of each drink.

Then he switched to things that could be used as dressings.  The Coconut Almond "Yogurt" was the base for a dressing with avocado, basil, and garlic.  That one was my favorite dressing.  Another dressing he made was an orange/tomato/dill and the grand finale was the Corn Fiesta Soup/Dressing.  The corn soup was so good that it motivated me to go to not one but two grocery stores to find fresh basil so that I could make it for lunch tomorrow!  I've already made it and let my husband try a tiny spoonful, at which point he told me I'd better box it up for lunch or there might not be any for tomorrow!

Dan is putting out a new DVD next week that I'm looking forward to getting, "Life Saving Salad's and Dressings."  All of the dressings he made were today are on the DVD, so if the rest of them are even half as good then the DVD will be totally worth it. 

Raw Vegan Sushi!

Parsnip & pine nut raw sushi rice, red pepper pate, avocado, clover sprouts, raw untoasted nori

Last week we made vegan sushi for dinner using quinoa instead of the traditional white rice.  It was awesome and delicious and we will absolutely make it again.  I had found the recipe on Sarah Britton's blog My New Roots.

But after a day of eating mostly raw, I wanted to give raw sushi a try.  I had seen a recipe for raw sushi rice using parsnip and pine nuts in Mimi Kirk's book Live Raw.  She suggests many different combinations for filling nori rolls for sushi, but I chose the red pepper pate (using walnuts and macadamias instead of cashews, an orange pepper, celery, scallion, nama shoyu, olive oil, garlic and a little curry).  My other two fillings were clover sprouts that I had harvested this morning and avocado. 
The flavors went together pretty nicely.  I'm actually getting slightly better at rolling and cutting sushi!  Or at least we are enjoying eating the mistakes up before they even get to a plate.