Spring into Healthier Eating: Peace Salad Party!

First things first…The winner of the Plant Powered 15 by Dreena Burton is Bex of How to Feed a Vegan. Congratulations, Bex!

Now, onto my  next Spring into Healthier Eating review…Peace Salad. Have you heard of this yet? I hadn’t either until I received an email from my only real-life vegan friend (as opposed to my virtual vegan friends – ha!) asking if I wanted to have a Peace Salad party. Um…sure?

Peace Salad is the newest brainchild of raw-food, vegan blogger, Sandy Henson Corso, the owner of  Peaceful Daily and Sandy’s Salad.

In the book, Sandy lists 100 tips for peace. Practiced together, they’re like a salad

To celebrate the book, people are hosting Peace Salad parties all over, so we did, too!

Last Saturday night, we gathered a few friends and enjoyed some lively conversation over an abundance of vegan eats and treats. Ok, there were also some vegetarian cupcake there, but they were from a small business down the street, so at least we were supporting local business

Check out this spread!

Ellen, the hostess of the party, made some of her favorite party foods, including this macaroni salad (from the Forks Over Knives cookbook (I gave her that book as a Christmas gift )) and those crispy apple muffins in the background (from the Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook).

Ellen also made her famous bruchetta (with a pesto recipe from The Kind Diet) and this super delicious cheeze dip (made with Teeze, soy cherizo, and spicy tomatoes). We couldn’t stop eating this stuff!

Someone else brought giant vegan cupcakes from a local restaurant, and someone else brought hummus and tabouli from a local artisan.

There was also lots of wine!

I brought a giant pan of raw vegan brownies, using my Brown Batter Bites recipes, and frosted them with chocolate cashew cream (made by blending cashews, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and a little date soaking water – left over from the date paste I used in the Brownie Batter Bites).

And a bunch of Gabby’s Pizza Bites.

The mixture was so massive, I had to bust out the beast – my 13 cup Kitchen Aid food processor.

And I made this giant bowl of Asian Rice Noodle Salad, which got rave reviews!

Here’s the recipe!

Asian Noodle Salad

1 pkg rice noodles, cooked according to package directions (I used Brown Rice Noodles)

1 sm pkg shelled edamame (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 c shredded carrot

1 small bunch scallions, diced on the diagonal (white and green parts)

2-3 TBSP toasted sesame oil (more or less to taste)

1/4  c tamari (more or less to taste)

Cook noodles according to package directions, and allow to cool. Mix noodles, edamame, carrots, and scallions in a bowl. Add sesame oil and tamari and toss to combine. Add more sesame oil and tamari to taste, or after noodle salad sits for a while. (My suggestion is to make this salad ahead, and let it sit in the refrigerator to allow flavors to meld.)

So easy, and soooo good!

I hope you decide to have a Peace Salad party, too. It’s a great excuse to gather your friends and family and share your ideas on peace and happiness while you enjoy some peaceful, vegan goodies. Enjoy!

 

Raw Coconut Caramel Dippers & a Raw Foods DVD Contest

I’ve been obsessed with raw caramel dipping sauces lately. Seriously. Check out these awesome, easy recipes!

Raw Caramel Sauce

5 jumbo medjool dates (or 8 regular size fruits)

1-3 tsp vanilla extract (I use alcohol free)

splash water

Blend dates, water, and vanilla in a small, bullet style blender until smooth. Drizzle over or apples or other tart fruits.

Raw Caramel Sauce

5 jumbo medjool dates (or 8 regular sized fruits)

1-3 tsp vanilla extract (I use alcohol free)

1 TBSP raw cacao powder (or carob powder for a chocolate-free sauce)

splash water (start with 1 tbsp)

Add all ingredients to a bullet style blender cup and blend until smooth. Dip apple slices into caramel or drizzle over your favorite fruit, pancakes, toast, etc.

Raw Coconut Caramel Dippers

5 jumbo medjool dates (or 8 regular size fruits)

1-3 tsp vanilla extract (I use alcohol free)

1-2 TBSP shredded coconut (super fine shred works best)

splash water (about 1 TBSP)

Add all ingredients to bullet style blender cup and blend until incorporated. Coconut will not blend until smooth, but will blend enough to create an awesome dipping sauce for apples, banana skewers, strawberries, or even stuffed into whole, pitted dates.

Are you familiar with the works of Jennifer Cornbleet? I have two of her books and absolutely love them! Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People and Raw for Dessert: Easy Delights for Everyone are both amazing, and I have been drooling over Jennifer’s videos on her YouTube channel for months.  Guess what…Jennifer has a new DVD that’s releasing next month, but you can enter to win a free copy! She’s giving away one DVD each week, so even if you don’t win this week, you still have another chance Enter to win today; I did!

Jennifer Cornbleet has just released an excellent new DVD that’s loaded with
tips and recipes to make eating well a breeze no matter how busy you are.
It’s full of time-saving techniques and dishes that taste great and will
keep your body energized.
Throughout the month of November, you can enter to win a copy for free! For
more information, and to enter to win, click here

gRAWnola

I finally did it; I made gRAWnola!

After reading a lot of recipes for raw granola, I finally settled on a combination I thought would suit me. And it did

gRAWnola

1 c buckwheat groats, soaked

1 c almonds, soaked

1/2 c pumpkin seeds, soaked

1/2 c sunflower seeds, soaked

1 TBSP hemp seeds, heaping (not soaked)

1 c dates, soaked

1 TBSP (or more) date soaking water

1/4 c raisins, organic

1/4 c currants, organic

Optional add-ins: cinnamon, dash salt, cacao nibs, vanilla, other seasonings

First, make the date paste by blending the soaked dates and about 1TBSP of the date soaking water. (Use more if necessary.) You want the paste to be thick, but not too thick. It’s going to be used to make everything stick together. (NOTE: If you want to add a touch of vanilla flavor to your gRAWnola, add it to the date paste.)

Rinse and drain the buckwheat groats very well. Add them to a bowl. Add the rinsed and drained almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds to the same bowl. Add the raisins, currents, and hemp seeds to the bowl. Add any additional seasonings at this time. Finally, add the date paste, and stir to combine. Spread mixture onto dehydrator mesh sheets in a thin enough layer so nuts and seeds aren’t on top of each other, but not so thin that mixture isn’t sticking together. (If your gRAWnola contents are too small and fall through the mesh sheets, start your gRAWnola on a teflexx/paraflexx sheet, and transfer it to a mesh sheet after a few hours. To transfer, lay a mesh sheet on top of the teflexx/paraflexx sheet and flip.) Dehydrate for about an hour at 145F and at 110-115 for about 12 more hours.

Taste test your gRAWnola along the way. You might want it a bit chewier or a little more crisp. Dehydrate accordingly.

Oven directions: If you don’t have dehydrator or don’t want to use one, place your mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet (or use a Silpat) and bake at the lowest temperature your oven will accommodate until the mixture has reached the appropriate consistency. Check the mixture after two hours and then at least hourly after that. I haven’t tried this method, but I assume it will take at least 2-3 hours. (Kale chips done this way take 4-7 hours in my oven, which goes down to 170F.) Your gRAWnola won’t be raw anymore, but it will still be delicious!

Store your gRAWnola in an air-tight container. I have the best luck with a zip-top plastic bag (even better than a glass jar or glass bowl). Try eating it alone or with your favorite non-dairy milk.

Nut/Seed Free Options: Change up your add-ins! Don’t want to use nuts? Don’t! Don’t want to use seeds? Don’t! No hemp seeds? No problem! Try chia seeds, flax seeds or meal, sesame seeds, or don’t include any tiny seeds. The extra omega 3′s are nice, but not necessary.

Sharing is good manners…Wellness Weekends, Raw Food Thursdays, Healthy Vegan Fridays

Success! Plants2Plate Recap

Well, I did it. I successfully completed my first community presentation…and it went great!

About 45-50 people attended Plants2Plant: An Introduction to a Plant-Based Diet last Tuesday evening, May 15.  We had a nice mix of attendees, with about half of the people comprised of community members and the other half were members of the Masons and their wives. (Freemasonry is a men’s organization dedicated to philanthropic and community endorses – much to the dismay of conspiracy theorists – ha!)

photo of me

I made enough food to feed about 100 people. Apparently, I can cook for 1 or 100 – but nothing in between!

On the menu: Quinoa Salad, Cool Slaw, Bean & Lentil Chili, Vegetable Chowder, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Dark Chocolate Mocha Chunk Cookies, Sunbutter Double Nut Cookies, Tropical Trail-Mix Cookies, Coconut Butter Cookies with Mix-Ins, and spa water (lemon, lime or cucumber). There was so much food left over (no cookies though!)  that participants were able to take food home I’m soooo glad we decided to purchase some to-go containers!

Picture courtesy of my friend, Cherie Bullock-Myslinkky

After people got their food and got settled in, eating away, I began my presentation. The venue wasn’t the greatest  (Is a basement ever the best place to do a presentation??), but I kept everyone’s attention…for entire hour and half! I didn’t expect to talk that long, but I had so much important information to share! Plus, the teacher in me took over, and I got caught up in my love for lecturing. (Side note: I may be the only person on earth who has a love for listening to and engaging in lectures. But c’mon, a room full of people’s undivided attention?? That’s a dream come true! Ha ha ha)

I tried to encourage questions from the group, and a few people obliged. I love that people were actually listening! My friends in the audience said it seemed a though the people around them were intently listening, and Mr. M said some ladies seated near him were taking notes. Woohoo!

Robin, my hair stylist, posted one of my flyers in her shop!

I even managed to sell 9 copies of my eBook, which I burned on to CDs for the event. Nice! I included all of the recipes on my blog (all original Veggie V recipes), organized them by category, included a photo for all but a couple, and saved them in a PDF. It turned out really nice! I’m going to sell copies on here as soon as I make it look a little nicer.

I also passed out a flyer (Veggie V Can You Help Me?!) promoting my plant-based health coaching services. I would LOVE to help people get started on or continue their plant-based diet (and lifestyle!). I’ve done some research, and nobody is offering that type of service in my area. There are a few people in Columbus and Ann Arbor, but both are well over an hour away. I don’t think we’d competition for each other with face-to-face coaching, and there’s always room for web-based coaches. Everyone offers their unique views on our wondrous vegan journey.

I’m also VERY interested in presenting to area community organizations. I have some great contacts through friends and coworkers, so I’ll be working on all of those avenues in the very near future. I’ll keep you posted!

I’m so excited at the prospect of sharing my love for all things vegan/plant-based. I’ve been wanting to figure out a way to do this forever, and now some roads to reaching people are becoming visible. I can’t wait to travel down them and see what awaits!

Product Review: Almond Coconut Milk

I don’t do product reviews/endorsements very often, but I couldn’t resist this one. I had seen Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze Almond Coconut milk talked about on a few of my favorite blogs a couple of months ago, but, as usual, it hadn’t showed up at my local grocery store yet. Until last week, that is.

Score!

I debated on buying this product because it needs to be refrigerated, which means the shelf life is usually less than aseptic packaged non-dairy milks, and I don’t go through it quickly. But after all the fuss, I couldn’t resist. I’m so glad I did!

I’ve been drinking this milk straight from the carton. That’s crazy weird for me. It honestly reminds me of coconut flavored cow milk, which would normally send me running to the trash, but for some reason, this really  hits the spot. I’ve been making rich desserts just to have an excuse to drink my new favorite beverage!

Update: After a week in the fridge, this milk is ready to go. Bummer. While the same “use within 7 days of opening” statement is on every carton of non-dairy milk (aseptic packaging or otherwise), it seems as though the shelf-stable cartons stay fresh longer after they’re open. Oh well. I’m still in love with coconut-almond milk and will happily buy it again

Recipe Review: Gingerbread Biscotti

I finally found some gingerbread I like! Woohoo!

I found this recipe from Fat Free Vegan a few weeks ago, and it’s been on my must make list since. Honestly, I’ve never tried anything of Susan’s that I haven’t loved (she and I must have a very similar pallet), so I was pretty sure her combo of gingerbread spices would work for me. And they did!

I somehow picked up on the idea that biscotti was hard to make. It’s not. It’s very simple. The only difficult part, if you call pulling a pan from an oven and then replacing it to said over difficult, was baking the cookies three times (even though biscotti literally means twice cooked/baked).

Biscotti and Tea

While I loved the flavor of this biscotti, I did have trouble with the dough being too dry. I don’t know if the liquid is missing from the ingredient’s list, or if it just needed more liquid because I used whole wheat flour, but I ended up adding about 1/4 c of coconut nog (I’m sure any non-dairy milk or non-dairy coffee creamer would work just fine, but I need to use my coconut nog before it expires.) to get the flour to incorporate. Then, after I thrice baked the cookies, I couldn’t figure out how to keep them crunchy! I’ve read numerous times to keep cookies crunchy, store them in a glass container, but I don’t have a glass container big enough for biscotti planks, so I wrapped mine with foil, but they got soft. The next day they were even softer – after having been transferred to a loosely covered plastic container. If anyone knows how to keep biscotti crunchy, please let me know! (It was crunchy before I wrapped it up for the night; I was so disappointed the next more.)

Overall, another successful recipe from FFV!

Leftovers Roundup

For those of you lucky (or unlucky?!) enough to have leftovers, I have a few suggestions for repurposing them, so you don’t have to eat the same ol’ thing for yet another meal.

Potatoes

If you happen to have leftover roasted potatoes, you can always try my Smashed Potato and Kale Soup or Smashed Potato Salad, which would go great along side my White Bean Burger – or any other veggie burger or veggie dog.

If you have leftover mashed potatoes, try using them as a topper for a Shepard’s Pie. I really want to try this one; it looks so good!

Raw Veggies

If your veggie tray was bigger than your guests’ stomaches, try making vegetable soup. I love clean-out-the-fridge vegetable soups. Just throw all of your left over veggies in the crock pot with a bottle of your favorite tomato juice or juice blend or a box of veggie broth and a little water, season to taste, crank up the heat and voila! The soup is ready when you are. Or, if you’re in a hurry (like I usually am), saute your denser veggies (celery, carrot, bell peppers) with onion and garlic in a little veggie broth or water (or oil if that’s how you roll) until they’re tender, add the rest of your veggies, a box of veggie broth or a bottle of tomato juice/juice blend, season to taste, bring to a rolling boil, reduce heat to a hard simmer, cover, and cook until all of your veggies are tender. The lid will help keep the heat in the pot and on the veggies. If you’re REALLY short on time, don’t forget about frozen onions and jars of chopped/minced garlic; they’re great time savers that don’t sacrifce quality.

Dip and/or Dressing

Don’t think you can stomach one more snack of veggies and vegan ranch dip? Try repurposing your dip into a sandwhich spread. Puree about a cup of your favorite beans (I usually use chickpeas) in a blender or food processor (be sure to rinse and drain first if using canned) until smooth (or leave it a little chuncky if that’s how you like your sandwhich spread). Stir in about a quarter cup of your leftover dip/dressing, some diced pickles, celery, onion, carrot, etc., and seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, dried parsley flakes, etc). Add my dip/dressing if mixture is too thick. Chill for a bit in the fridge if time, then spead on your favorite bread, crackers, veggies, pita, pita chips, tortilla, tortilla chips – whatever you can think of!

Sandwich Spread in a Pita

Apples

Make an apple pie but have left over apples? Not sure what to do with them? You can always make my Apple Pie Smoothie, or try a Two Minute Baked Apple!

Two Minute Baked Apple

1 med – lg apple, quartered and cored

1 TBSP raisins

1 TBSP maply syrup

2 TBSP oats

1-2 tsp cinnamon

2 pks stevia (or 1-2 TBSP sugar)

Quater and core apple. Add to bowl. Add raisins and maple syrup. Mix oats, cinnamon, and stevia. Sprinkle on top of apple/raisins mix. Cover bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Apples will be tender but not mushy. (They still have a little bite. For softer apples, microwave and additional 30 seconds until desired tenderness is reached.)

You can subsititue pears for apples.

Before their warm, steamy trip around the microwave2 Minute Baked Apples

Vegan MOFO Day 6: Apple Pie Smoothie

After I got back from jogging in the park this morning (We are experiencing some freakishly warm, summer-like weather this week!), I noticed this in the neighbor’s yard.

Hello, fall.

 Yup. It’s fall.

Seeing all those yellow leaves made me hungry. Or maybe it was my workout. Either way, I needed something quick, cold, and liquidy. Enter – Apple Pie Smoothie.

Naturally Sweet & Delicious

Apple Pie Smoothie

1 c non-dairy milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

1 apple, cored and chopped (I leave the skin on)

1 frozen banana, chunked

1/4 c oats OR 2 TBSP flax meal OR 1 scoop protein powder & 1 TBSP chia seeds

1 tsp vanilla

1 TBSP cinnamon

Combine everything in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth.

Mmmmmm.....

I like leaving the skins on the apples so I have something to chew as I’m drinking. This is a real bonus if you’re one of those people who likes to eat their smoothie with a spoon from a bowl

I hope you’re enjoying the first few days of my birthday month, Rocktober, October and Vegan MOFO as much as I am!

It's the Vegan-est MoFo-y-est!

Vegan MOFO Day 5: Vegetable Chowder

So…Vegan MOFO has been charging along, and where have I been? Apparently, not participating like I’d planed But I’m going to make up for it. I promise!

Before our trip to Tennessee, Mr. M and  I visited our favorite farm stand and picked up a GIANT head of cauliflower.

The Cauliflower is as Big as my Head!

One of my favorite ways to use cauliflower is to make vegetable chowder. It’s a very simple recipe, and it is delicious. It’s so delicious, in fact, that we ate is so fast, I forgot to take a picture. Ooops! (I didn’t mind not having any soup left to photograph, though, because Mr. M ate two bowls! That’s a huge compliment.)

Vegetable Chowder

1 lg head cauliflower

3-5 lbs potatoes (about the same volume as cauliflower)

4 – 6 c vegetable broth, water, or combo

1 med. onion, diced

3 lg carrots, diced or sliced

2 stalks celery, diced

salt, pepper, garlic powder (to taste)

Clean and chop cauliflower and potatoes to about the same size. Boil in large pot with enough water to cover vegetables. Boil until very tender. (Cover with a lid for quicker cooking.) Once tender, drain cauliflower and potatoes. Return half of mixture to large pot. Add vegetable broth and/or water. Blend mixture until smooth with immersion blender (or blend in food processor or stand blender before returning the veggies to the stove). Add reserved potato/cauliflower, carrots, celery, onion and seasonings to blended veggie mix. Bring to a boil, cover pot, reduce to a simmer, and cook until veggies are tender. Stir every 15 minutes or so.

*Sauteing the not-boiled veggies before adding them to the soup base will greatly decrease cooking time.

I’ve made a lot of different variations of this soup by adding different vegetables. I love adding broccoli, but Mr. M is weirded out by the green color because has a tendency to turn the entire mixture green. (Ooohhh….St. Patty’s Day idea?!) I’ve also had a lot of luck with adding mushrooms and minced, fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.

Side note: I haven’t had much luck freezing this soup. The cauliflower or the potatoes (I’m not sure which one) don’t thaw well and change the texture. The flavor is preserved, but I find the grainy-ness of the soup base unpleasant.

UPDATE: After I posted this yesterday, I couldn’t help but make it for dinner again. And, this time, I took a picture before we gobbled it all up

Comfort in a Bowl

Recipe Updates & VeganMoFo!

I had a busy weekend tweaking recipes.

I’ve made two updates. One is an update to Cheezy Kale Chips. I took out the oil, and they still turned out great! Plus, the calories are quite a bit less because they are basically fat-free without the oil. Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Esselstyn would be proud

The second update I made was to my Pumpkin Spice Muffin. They’re so heavy and dense, I wondered if the baking powder or baking soda were doing anything for the recipe. They weren’t. I took both out, and the muffins turned out great! They’re exactly the same with it in, so if you just can’t fathom a muffin without a little chemical reaction goin’ on, use the original recipe. But if you are a minimalist like me, you’ll appreciate the reduction in ingredients – and one less trip to the cupboard!

Finally, VeganMoFo is next month! Whoohoo! I became away of the event a little last year, and since I didn’t have a blog yet, I just followed along the best I could. Wow, what an event! If you want a way to be introduced to a bunch of new vegan blogs and recipes, or if you are just interested increasing your meatless or vegan meals, check out the happenings next month.

VeganMoFo 2011

I can’t decide if I can/want to commit to an entire month of postings, so I have yet to register Veggie V’s Vegan Adventure for the event. Mr. M and I will be out-of-town for a wedding on the first, and I won’t be able to post, and October is my birthday month (more on that soon!), so I might be busy, and and…Sounds like a bunch of excuses, hu?

I’ll decide if I’m going to participate this week (The deadline is this weekend, so I have to decide by then!) and keep you posted.