No Title, No Pictures, but It's Short!

You know grad school has really done a number on my willingness to write here. I kept up with the whole PPK Cookbook Challenge, even though I stopped taking pictures and posting.

Since then, I've been going simple. The semester is coming to a close, so deadlines are tight and I've made several bowls from Appetite for Reduction, and this week I've been on a Vegan Italiano kick. Donna Klein deserves more love from me because everything I've made from her book has been easy and super delicious.

The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen was the first gift I got for my sister when she went vegan, but I haven't gotten any reviews on that one. I would get my own copy, but I'm on a semi-self-imposed cookbook buying ban. Maybe my sister will give up hers, since she's into macro eating these days.

Speaking of which, she has raved about a book I gave her this year called The Saucy Vegetarian. Since she structures her meals a certain way, she can make sauces to add variety, especially when eating leftovers. I'm pretty sure my sister said that despite the name, the recipes are all vegan.

In other niche diet news, the weather is getting nice here, the farmer's market will be opening soon, and my mom got me two new raw food books for my birthday, so I'm ready to once again implement Raw Wednesdays ... except they'll probably be on Tuesdays or Sundays. I haven't decided yet.

Time to dust off some of my favorite raw blog links too and start planning.

Dealing with Zucchini and Irony

After making this Zucchini Bread, I got to thinking about other ways to deal with the flood of zucchinis I was sure to get on Tuesday in the CSA box. So I went to my Gmail recipes stash and fished out some fun zucchini ones and got this post ready ... and opened the box on Tuesday to find not a single zucchini.

Seriously?

I did get one from Mr. Miller though, so that's something. I also got many lovely Japanese Eggplants, so I made Balsamic Glazed Tofu and used the same marinade to cook the eggplants. It was almost too easy, but turned out brilliantly.

Anyway, since I'm sure I'm the only person who is wanting in this arena, here are some of my favorite ways to combat the green wave.

Vegan Zucchini Bread

Creamy Zucchini and Basil Soup

Gnocchi with Zucchini Ribbons and Portabella Mushrooms

Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins Recipe

Stuffed Zucchini Bites

Zucchini Dressing (Raw. Scroll to the bottom.)

Creamy Zucchini Soup (Raw.)

ETA: Zucchini Pasta Dressed in Spicy Peanut Sauce and Topped with Tofu

Posting from work means no pictures and I've been sitting on this post for days now. Besides, what if you have zucchini to cope with NOW? Links are almost as fun as pictures and all the bloggers linked take waaaay nicer pictures than I do, so go over there and have a look.

Raw Wednesdays: More Cupcakes!

For Raw Wednesday this week I decided to attack a chocolate craving and try another recipe from The Little Rawdorable Cupcake Book That Could. Since I had the ingredients on hand, I decided to tackle the Cocoa Avocado Cupcakes and Pudding-Style Frosting.

Earlier this week, I discovered the cutest silicone cupcake molds at Ross and figured that, though I treasure my ramekins, these would make for a more festive and photogenic cupcake presentation.



I started by checking the recipe and upon seeing "cocoa" listed as an ingredient, began to wonder if that was the same as the "cacao" I usually see on raw food blogs. As it turns out, for our purposes, they do mean the same thing, but there is a matter of raw to be aware of in this case. So for these I used this.

For those of you interested, I learned some new things on Chocolate Linguistics.

The cupcakes and frosting went together easily and I had a bowl of frosting left over that made for a wonderful post-yoga pudding snack. The cupcakes look so adorable and taste amazing. They are the perfect post-work snack - not too sweet, but rich and chocolatey.



I don't have a functioning color printer at the moment, so I might need some help to participate in the Ellen Quest for Raw Cupcake Domination.

Also I caved today and bought all three e-books from Sweetly Raw. The last thing I need is one more dessert book, so apparently buying three makes it OK. And it does, especially if having them helps me to cut out refined sugars and flours and to try new things.

And here's a bonus kale salad with raw dressing:

No Chia Pet Puns Here

Last week I tried chia seed pudding for the first time ever. It's one of those rare foods that falls nicely into the delicious, but kind of gross category. Texture is usually the make or break quality for me and chia seeds came dangerously close to the breaking point. Chia seeds absorb a ridiculous amount (I've heard between 9 and 30 times their weight/volume) of liquid when soaked. They then become a gel. It's kind of strange/awful looking. I immediately thought of frog's eggs.

But don't let that put you off. I really enjoyed the pudding I made, even though there was so much of it, it took me a good 3 hours to eat. The texture was a lot like tapioca, something I detest, but it was still tasty enough to enjoy. It left me satiated, but not full-feeling. It's probably ace as far as pre-workout snacks go.

I saw a lot of recipes out there, but I just followed the basic formula (1 cup liquid + 1/4 cup chia seeds) and added what I thought might taste good. I guess this is a good stepping stone to recipe creation. Chia pudding made for a light and refreshing breakfast and it has endless possibilities in terms of fruit, liquid, and flavors to try. I think it will be a nice option to alternate with my green smoothie breakfasts.



Here are a variations I came up with:

Basic Chia Pudding
1 cup Almond Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Banana, chopped
2 Dates, chopped
1 pinch Salt
1/4 cup Chia Seeds

Throw the milk, vanilla, banana, dates, and salt into the food processor and mix until smooth.

Add the chia seeds, stir, let sit 30 minutes. Stir again and enjoy, or stick it in the fridge over night (which is what I did). Garnish with fruit, cinnamon, other spices, whatever.

This made for an excellent breakfast that took me the better part of the morning to eat. I felt satiated, but never full. This is probably a good option if you don't like to eat first thing in the morning, but need the energy.

Strawberry Banana Chia Pudding
1 cup Almond Milk
2 tablespoons Vanilla Coconut Creamer
1-1/2 cups Strawberries, chopped
1 Banana, chopped
2 Dates, chopped
1 pinch Salt
1/4 cup Chia Seeds

Throw the milk, creamer, fruit, dates, and salt into the food processor and mix until smooth. Add the chia seeds, stir, let sit 30 minutes. Stir again and enjoy.

This was fantastic and probably my favorite. All of the fruit did a lot to lessen the gelly texture of the chia.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding
1 cup Almond Milk
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Chocolate Extract
1 table spoon Cacao Powder
2 tablespoons Natural Peanut Butter
1 Banana, chopped
2 Dates, chopped
1 pinch Salt
1/4 cup Chia Seeds

Throw the milk, extracts, cacao, peanut butter, banana, dates, and salt into the food processor and mix until smooth. Add the chia seeds, stir, let sit 30 minutes. Stir again and enjoy

This would be a fantastic dessert.

A few general notes:
I like dates for sweetening purposes. A lot of the recipes I looked at suggested agave and stevia, but dates are the way to go. I chopped the dates until they were nearly a paste, and then soaked them in the almond milk for about half an hour before blending. In the future, I'd like to soak them even longer. They become super soft and it's easier on my little processor.

The recipes above make enough for two big servings, especially when you're adding in a lot of extras. I ate chia pudding up until lunch on the first day. I don't know how well it keeps, so half everything if there's no one around to eat half.

Inspiration, Raw and Otherwise

I had an amazing five-course raw dinner last night at a local restaurant. Visiting the restaurant meant visiting the next-door organic market and coming away with some fun stuff. My dining companions had excellent ideas about food as well. I feel inspired and so there are four creative challenges I hope to overcome as a result of my night out.

Chili-Lime Vinaigrette
The standout of the evening was definitely the Kale Salad with English Peas and Chili-Lime Vinaigrette. I eat kale pretty much everyday as part of my Green Smoothie, and I occasionally enjoy it steamed when I'm looking for a quick side dish, but this leafy green deserves more time as the main event.

Raw Wednesday is creeping up on me, so I may as well give it a go. I'm going to make some changes to the salad itself, but some of the ideas I have (golden raisins) aren't exactly raw. Maybe I'll do two versions.

The real item of interest though was the Chili-Lime Vinaigrette dressing. It reminded me of the Sesame Dressing from The Garden of Vegan. But it had a little kick and was limier (seems so obvious).

So my first challenge is to make my own version of this perfect dressing.

Chia Seeds
I've read all about them, I've eaten them, now I need to do something with them. They were on sale at the market and I've never been able to find them near me, so I seized the opportunity and the green bag and brought home some chia seeds. I'll have to figure out what to do with them and then do it tomorrow. Sounds easy enough.

Chocolate Chili
As we shopped, my mom told me about this chocolate chili recipe she veganized, and then we happened to stumble upon some Taza Chocolate Mexicano. In their latest issue, VegNews raved about it, so it was clearly fate for me to find it that evening. I bought the Vanilla and Chile varieties (all they had) and am looking forward to getting creative, but I think that I will first tackle this chocolate chili thing. It sounds totally revolting. But my palette has come to accept culinary adventures. This might have to wait a bit. I just ordered Viva Vegan!, so I'll have plenty of Latin side dishes to accompany the chili.

Chocolate/Cacao Smoothie
This challenge isn't a direct result of my night out, but it is a result of my growing awareness and knowledge of raw foods. So while I've made many chocolate shakes and smoothies in my life, I want to make one that I'll call raw-inspired. I want to use cacao nibs in it. I'll figure out the other ingredients later, but my focus is to get friendly with cacao. For some reason, it's a bit intimidating, possibly due to some failed attempts at Chocolate Avocado pudding, but I am confident that I can master this ingredient!

In my less immediate future, I'd like to do something cool with kelp noodles too. They were part of the dinner and weird, but good. I also need to use the mochi I bought.

I'll report back on how it all goes!

Raw Cupcakes

As I mentioned yesterday, I attempted my first batch of raw cupcakes from the recently released Rawdorable cupcake ebook. It wasn't my first experience making raw desserts, but as a die-hard cake lover, I was wondered if I would love them like I do cake.

Luckily for me, I have years of veganism to keep me from acting like a child about analogues. I don't eat a lot of fake meats or cheeses, but when I do, I know better than to expect it to be exactly the same as its animal-based counterpart. It is, afterall, a different substance. One time I did have Vegan General Tso's Chicken from Whole Foods and it was so chicken-like that it freaked me out.

But people often smugly tell me, through mouthfuls of food, that the vegan dish is delicious, but that they can tell the difference. So you're telling me after however many years eating a Standard American Diet, you can actually tell the difference between ricotta cheese and cashew ricotta? You don't get a medal for that.

Again, it's a different substance - different and better. It is better for you, better for the animals, and better for the planet. See, I can also tell the difference. And you love it. And I have learned to love things for what they are, not for what they're supposed to be similar to or what they replace.

And I love raw cupcakes. I wasn't dissapointed b/c I knew they weren't going to taste like flour, sugar, and fats baked in an oven. The texture of the cake portion was different but sweet and satisfying and frosting is frosting. Even after halving the recipe, I have way more than I needed, so it's happily waiting in the freezer for the next batch.

I don't have a lot to say about the actual making process. My food processor got a work out. But I do have some terrible pictures taken on my phone!



Here is the "batter." It was pretty delicious on its own and I would have had no problem eating all of it sans frosting, but then when is that ever actually a good idea?






Here are my cupcakes pressed into ramekins, awaiting frosting. I need to get some of those cute silicone cups for future endeavors.









And here is the frosting that's so worth waiting for. I wish I could tell you why I didn't think to take pictures of it chilling, beautifully smooth, in pyrex.



And finally here are my finished cupcakes! I was blown away by how well they turned out. The frosting is decadent and the cakes are sweet with a dliehgtful texture. I'm already looking forward to making more.