oatmeal pancakes with maple syrup, raspberries and peaches

a and i woke up and made oatmeal pancakes (recipe from how it all vegan) and coffee, and i popped down to the coop to get some raspberries and peaches to have with it. two pancakes apiece later, we were stuffed and ready for the day!

we rode our bikes to the may day parade on bloomington ave, a parade of progressive politics, puppetry, dancing, drumming, colorful costumes, stilts, bicycles, pagans and art (to name just a few). you can check out my may day parade photos on flickr. it’s fun to see so many people you know, and it also feels like a celebration of spring, when everyone emerges from the cold, dark winter in bursts of color and warmth.

after getting sufficiently sun-kissed, we stopped at the jasmine deli for a much needed snack of mock duck spring rolls, and then went home to make a potluck contribution for my friend’s birthday party. a lot of my friends are vegetarians, but not vegans. however, they always consider me and i don’t have to worry about only getting to eat what i brought. here is my plate of savory goodies (unfortunately sans the delicious piece of sea salt focaccia that peter baked… you can find a picture of me stuffing my face with it on his flickr account):

there’s another raw recipe (my potluck contribution) coming your way below. i decided to make a raw apple crisp, which i’ve had once, but never made before, so that was a bit nerve-wracking. but it worked out wonderfully and people really liked it. spiced, moist, crisp apples topped with a nut and seed topping, and served with a dollop of vanilla cashew cream. yum! fresh food tastes so good!

raw swedish apple crisp (serves 8-12):

(part of this is adapted from ani phyo’s recipe for all-american apple pie)

1 orange, peeled and deseeded
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 handful dates, deseeded and chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
water as needed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp (or more) ground ginger
1 tsp cardamom
6-7 crisp apples (use one or a variety, i used pink lady)

1/2 c raw almonds, dry
1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds, dry
1/2 c raw walnuts
5-6 dates
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
water as needed
1/2 c dried, shredded coconut
2 tbsp black sesame seeds

blend the orange in a blender or food processor, then add the lemon juice, dates and vanilla to make a syrup. if the mixture seems too thick or isn’t blending well, add some water. pour syrup in a medium mixing bowl and add cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. (cinnamon and cardamom can taste slightly bitter, so if the syrup seems so to you, you can add a little more ginger to tone the bitterness down.) wash and chop or slice the apples, adding them to the syrup as you go and tossing them to prevent browning. place apple-syrup mixture into a casserole dish or baking dish (mine is a bit small at about 7×10).

to make the crisp topping, place almonds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts in a food processor and pulse into a coarse meal (you don’t want to overprocess them, as they provide the bulk of the texture in the topping). add the dates, vanilla, and cinnamon, and process until well mixed (you can add water if there isn’t enough moisture holding it together. transfer to a bowl and stir in the coconut and black sesame seeds. press this mixture evenly on top of the apples. (at this point you could probably dehydrate it if you want a crispier topping, but i don’t have a dehydrator and i think it turned out just fine!)

vanilla cashew cream (makes a little over 1 c):

1 c raw cashews, soaked overnight
water as needed
2-3 tbsp agave nectar
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8-1/4 tsp ground turmeric (optional)

drain the cashews and place in a food processor. blend into a fine meal, then add agave nectar and vanilla extract. process, adding enough water to make a thick, smooth cream. i added turmeric to make the cream slightly yellow, which stems from a personal, nostalgic desire to emulate the vanilla cream you get with swedish apple cakes and crisps, but not necessary. serve on top of your crisp (or a baked pie, in place of ice cream!).

besides the cashew soaking, this whole endeavor took about 45 minutes from start to finish. and it’s good for you (well, for a dessert anyway)! i had a lone leftover piece for breakfast this morning.

we just made it back from our weeklong birding trip to texas last night.  i was really hoping to regale you with tales of nights i conjured up some really special camp meals while owls hooted in nearby trees, and how we stumbled upon a surprise vegan-options taqueria in the lower rio grande valley.  but i can’t.  though the grocery stores were a bit more accomodating than my fears had led me to believe, the restaurants barely had vegetarian food.  beans were cooked in lard, or had bacon/meat in them.  we got some relatively delicious indian food in mcallen one night, but mostly, if eating out, we were extremely limited and very disappointed.  to top this off - and we had intended eating out to be a rare occasion due to exhaustion or timing - the valley has had no significant rainfall since last august, meaning there was a burn ban in the region.  this means no hot food.  no boil-in-a-bag vegan indian meals we had carefully selected and brought with us as a backup on the plane from minnesota.  during most days it reached nearly 90F.  we had no way to keep anything cool.  that means a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, apples, bananas, and dry cereal.  i wish it could be a better story than that, but in terms of food, i couldn’t wait to get back home to the chilly weather, my own kitchen, the vegetarian cooperative cafes, the jasmine deli, and pizza luce:

pizza athena with vegan rinotta from pizza luce (leftovers from a late saturday night indulgence with a vegan peanut butter bar, unfortunately not pictured

i meant to take care of this before i left, but dj over at the skint vegan tagged me … and when i got home to my email, kittee tagged me too!  in the interest of not driving myself overly crazy, i’m just going to combine this as one, so i hope i do this right:

1) tell you 5 things about myself

2) tag 5 other bloggers via my blog and theirs

1. i was born in sweden, but grew up learning english and swedish in the u.s. my dad’s family still lives there.

2. i have a really hard time eating oranges like a “normal person.” i really hate the pith and skin that covers each segment, and will often spend time peeling that off of each piece of orange before devouring what i like to call the “inner jewels.” it’s really weird, and generally if given a choice, i would pick an apple or any other kind of fruit over eating an orange in front of someone. oddly enough, i love pulpy-style orange juice, and don’t mind blending whole pieces into a syrup.

3. i’m an amateur birdwatcher. my trip to texas next week is was specifically for the purpose of birdwatching. my favorite bird is the black-crowned night-heron, and i have a tattoo of one on my left forearm. 3a., i am a huge dork.

4. i work at a coop, and can tell you we make a lot of unhealthy food. beyond gross things like meat and mayonnaise-based salads, we make a hot dish called parmesan creamed corn. using 30 eggs, a gallon of milk-cream, a pound of butter, about 2 or 3 pounds of cheese, and a few bags of frozen corn, we make a grand total of 4 9×12 pans about 2 inches deep. most people think that coop=health food store, and thus they can erase the guilt of whatever it is they’re buying. not true. very not true.

5. i have a cat named franki, whom i named after my friend franki aka frances whom i met in glasgow. when i told her about this, she told me she was “really chuffed” about it.

i’m tagging: ricki of diet, dessert and dogs, liz of kamutflake girl, nicole of vegheadcooking, shayna of a damzylfly in london, and ruby red vegan!

and as for more pre-departure food… i made ani phyo’s brazil-broccoli mash with miso gravy:

this was really awesome, and had so few ingredients! besides soaking the brazil nuts, the prep time was a breeze for the mash - sort of a raw version of mashed potatoes (although no potatoes were involved). some interesting ingredients like an orange and dates were part of the gravy, which was sweet and savory at once, and went really well with the mash. i also topped it with some raw sunflower parm, and enjoyed the 4 portion yield over the next couple of days.

quinoa with broiled lemon-garlic asparagus and ed&bv’s tamari-roasted chickpeas

this was a perfect dinner for a temperate spring evening after a 51 degree day (which quickly devolved into heavy snowfall by monday morning). light, lemony, and easy to shovel in by the forkful!

before i left on my trip, while it seemed to be snowing small snowballs, i decided to break out the can of jackfruit i’ve had for a few months, and make something using up tomatoes, cilantro, and salsa we had in the fridge. mexican food, naturally. looking at pictures of the cooked jackfruit, i thought about my childhood pre-veg days when we’d go to bahia and i’d order a machaca burrito: shredded beef and eggs with green peppers and onions rolled inside a flour tortilla. for lack of wanting to get too many ingredients, and not wanting to have to make too much, i kind of winged this one. it’s nothing like a machaca, but still ended up being pretty tasty. here it is before getting cooked up in the crockpot all day:

and then, inside a very crumbly sprouted wheat tortilla:

when i get rooted again, i hope to start cranking out some homemade deliciousness again.  you can only imagine the dreams i was having about food, when i would be awoken in the middle of the night in the middle of bentsen-rio grande state park by the call of the mexican subspecies of the eastern screech owl.*  oh, minneapolis kitchen of mine, we’ll be good friends again soon.

* being awoken by owls was awesome.  in fact, the birding part of my trip was amazing.  it’s just the food part that left a lot to be desired.

unless it’s my day off, i’m not a big breakfast eater. this is bad. but when you have to be at work at 630am, those precious last minutes in bed are hard to let go of. in general (though with a few exceptions), i don’t think i’ve been eating particularly well lately, hence my relative lack of posts. i’m working to change this.  which brings me to breakfast scrambles.

first up we have the classic vwav tofu scramble… only here we added broccoli, green peppers, and snow peas to the cremini mushrooms, omitting the carrots. and topped it with salsa! and served it with toast. delicious sunday brunch.

and next up, ani phyo’s garden scramble with save-the-chicks pate. the only thing i changed was adding some nutritional yeast and chopped parsley, because that’s how i roll when i’ve got parsley to use up. i’ve never had a raw scramble before. this was filling, fresh, and pretty damn good. i’m interested to play around with the seasonings and vegetables some more in the future.

as a bonus, here is my first veganized swedish cookbook creation (since i recently decided to start veganizing some scandinavian cookbooks i have lying around). in swedish, mjölkstuvade makaroner, in english, milk-stewed macaroni. this is super typical swedish white food: macaroni cooked in milk and butter instead of water, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. i tried to make it a little bit healthier by using quinoa pasta and putting some chopped parsley on top, but who am i kidding? this is comfort food through and through. it was that kind of night.

vegan milk-stewed macaroni (serves 1-2):

1 3/4 c unsweetened, creamy, non-dairy milk (I used oat)
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 c macaroni
ground black pepper, to taste
dash nutmeg (optional)
chopped parsley, to garnish (optional)

heat “milk,” salt, and margarine in a medium saucepan until the margarine has melted. add the macaroni and let them cook over very low heat, uncovered, for 10-25 minutes (depending on the kind of macaroni you are using), or until they have become soft. stir occasionally to prevent them sticking to the bottom, adding more milk if necessary. add the pepper and nutmeg, and top with or stir in chopped parsley. serve warm.

i definitely promise that the next creation will be healthier, prettier, and maybe even a little bit fancy!

coconut-almond flax breakfast cake with strawberry-blood orange syrup

well, i’ve done it. i’ve made this breakfast so rich, nutty, fruity, and fresh that i can really only eat one a day. i ground almonds to add to the flax “batter,” and i made a new fruity syrup combination to pour on top of it. i can’t even describe the flavor and mouthfeel…it reminds me of something, but i’m not too sure what. decadence.

you’re probably sick of seeing these things, aren’t you? well i’m sorry, i just can’t get sick of making them. another breakfast cake, this time with a raspberry-tangerine syrup a la the strawberry-tangerine recipe. and served with a big mug of vanilla almond mylk from ani’s book.

that tasty lunch i was promising…

clockwise from top right: spinach salad with raw parm, rosemary potatoes with onions and jalapenos, grilled marinated tempeh with cashew-shallot-dill gravy, and grilled zucchini.

i hurriedly signed up to be a tester for mattye lee’s frugal raw cookbook… a cookbook idea very appealing to me. she comes up with really amazing raw meals (raw indian?!?) and i am excited to try out more soon. i used her raw parm recipe for topping my salad:

grilled zucchini: simple, straightforward. just olive oil, zucchini, and finished with salt and pepper.

i don’t have a closeup of the rosemary potatoes because they weren’t as pretty as i wanted them to be… i’ve got a recipe idea brewing but it needs some tweaking (as well as me not using store-bought rosemary oven potatoes). i keep wanting to recapture the glory that was my hangover tempeh “steak” but somehow i haven’t been able to do that. this was pretty good, however. i marinated tempeh in red wine, bragg’s, garlic, thyme, vegetable stock, white pepper, dijon, and nutritional yeast (my staple marinade). then i grilled it alongside the zucchini while i made a gravy out of shallots sauteed in earth balance, thyme, fresh dill, salt, pepper, vegetable stock, cashew butter, hazelnut milk, and a splash of vegan worcestershire. creamy and delicious! there is definitely no need for dairy in gravy, and i’m saying that as a former dairy addict (with a very unhappy tummy). believe the hype.

after a spicy garbanzo and tomato couscous dinner (sadly not documented), i made myself some spiced coffee with almond mylk. it reminds me of the ethiopian-style coffee i get at the blue nile sometimes, but as i just threw a couple spices in (and have no idea if they’re harar-style or not), i don’t think i can really say that this is ethiopian-style coffee. but it is good. simmer equal parts mylk and coffee (or whatever ratio you desire) with a couple shakes of cardamom and cinnamon and a pinch of cloves. serve warm. the owl mug brings happiness, though not necessarily more tastiness.

the first time i was showing a how to use the juicer, she looked at all the pulp being pushed out and asked me, “can you eat that?”  a test taste quickly proved that it was generally a more bitter version of whatever was being pushed down the chute, and i thought then that only thing you could do was compost it.  but we live in a city apartment with no outdoor space, and my attempts at hoarding food ends in a sealable plastic bucket to be taken to my garden last summer never really worked out.  due to laziness, and the nauseating prospect of having to open that tub after it had been cooking in a humid apartment.

then i stumbled across a cake recipe in ani phyo’s book (i seem a little obsessed with this book lately, don’t i?) for raw carrot cake, which used leftover pulp from juicing carrots.  and what do we have in our vegetable drawer but six pounds of carrots (due to a little miscommunication over two separate grocery trips)?  and a pint of dates?  and shredded coconut in the freezer?

so first i set about making up for abusing my stomach this morning when i drank a cold press shake at work (ouch, tummy).  i juiced a few handfuls of carrots, and threw it in the blender with a cup of blueberries and a banana:

it doesn’t look super appetizing in this photo, but it does taste good, and is really good for you (antioxidants, beta carotene, potassium, to name a few).  and then i took that prized carrot pulp and mixed a few things together, and ended up with this:

with my slice cut out:

and a magical top view (see how it glows!):

i was hesitant but hopeful, considering how much i love the breakfast cakes.  this isn’t terribly similar ingredients-wise, but the idea of the carrot cake seemed close to it.  it is sweetened with dates, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and covered in a cashew “kream cheeze” frosting.  and, it is really deliciously good and cake-like.  obviously, there is a bit more crunch to the texture than a flour cake, but it holds together like a cake, has a good flavor, and is neither too sweet nor too bland.  which, if you know me, is how i like my desserts.  one thing i would probably change if i made it again would be to add lemon zest in addition to juice to the frosting, for a little more tartness to counteract the “cake” part.  i made a half batch, and i am really glad, because this made a cake too big for one person certainly, and almost too big for two.  i ate a quarter of it and am stuffed!  but happy, knowing i can’t really feel too much fear/guilt about having treating myself to cake.  (i don’t often associate guilt with food, actually, which i think is pretty healthy.  however, my body has been feeling a little tired from the onslaught of a daily cookie and bread snacking i had been doing the past couple of months.)  this really makes the possibility of once-a-week raw (or more) seem very, very appealing.

today i decided to try out a raw syrup for my flax cake.  i didn’t directly use one of the syrup recipes in the book, but it was definitely based on that process, and using my latest produce fun-find: pixie tangerines.  they are teeny, juicy, and seedless.  this turned out so so good!  i would use it on any pancake, raw or cooked.  way tastier than plain ol’ maple syrup (but don’t worry, mp, i haven’t abandoned you)!

pixie tangerine and strawberry syrup (makes 2 servings):

juice from 1 tangerine
and
1 tangerine, peeled and segmented
2 medjool dates, pitted
3-4 strawberries, thawed if frozen
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. 

i stopped in at work and got an apple-lemon-kale juice.  delicious!  and greens to boot.  after fiddling around at home a bit, i then made the heirloom tomato gazpacho from ani’s raw food kitchen.

some changes i made: i reduced the amount of olive oil based on my miso soup experience (good idea), and also added some fresh basil to the soup base.  based on the lack of vegetables (only tomatoes and cucumbers featured) and the inclusion of some brazil nuts (which made the soup creamy), i’d say this was more along the lines of a raw cream of tomato soup + cucumbers.  not that it wasn’t good - quite the contrary - i just found it a little misleading.

for dessert i made myself a strawberry-banana-almond shake.  i wish i’d processed the almonds a little more for smoothness, but the taste was really good (sweetened with barhi dates):

as much as i wanted to make more raw food for dinner, i didn’t think that was going to fly with my lady all too well (she’s into my vegan cooking, even though she misses cheese, but is very afraid lately that i’m going to go raw.  which i’m not, but i like to eat raw once a week or so).  i have been sorely neglecting my copy of yellow rose recipes since i made the sweet potato and black bean flautas in december, and buried somewhere in my brain i remembered something called “green-wa.”  it’s been snowy and gloomy all day, so some green deliciousness and a steamy bowl of dal seemed in good order.

(the gloominess is also responsible for the lack of clarity in my photographs it would seem.)  the green-wa is delicious, though i admit to one change: i didn’t add the curry powder since i was making dal to have with it.  and really, i didn’t miss it.  a didn’t witness the preparation so when i handed her her dinner she said “why is it green like that?”  i explained the onion-spinach-cilantro sauce, to which she replied “ohhhh! it’s so beautiful!”  this certainly will be a much-used way of preparing quinoa in the future, and went great with the spicy and spiced red lentil dal (i made that up as i went along).

i’ll admit i got full rather quickly, and i think my raw meals earlier in the day were a big big part of that.  not to mention some other things i’ve been noticing, bodily, about myself, that i won’t be repeating here…

japanese miso-shiitake soup (ani phyo) and red cabbage-kale salad with walnuts and a tangy citrus dressing

i’d wanted to make this yesterday, since i’d started the day out with another coconut-flax breakfast cake, but instead was invited to an impromptu vegan taco party (which was definitely delicious). i can’t call this a raw day, since i had a cup of coffee at 630 this morning, and will be headed to an ethiopian dinner later on, BUT, it was a pretty raw middle of the day for me. i got a beta blast after work (carrot, beet, and celery juice), and headed home to make the japanese miso shiitake soup and some kind of salad.

this soup was good, but really rich, and i couldn’t entirely finish my portion. i don’t think my body’s used to consuming large, uncooked, albeit flavored and diluted, amounts of olive oil. i also don’t think i really like the texture of large pieces of raw mushrooms either, particularly shiitake. (i was really digging the portabellas in the risotto, though.) the scallions were a nice contrast to the creaminess, but if i were to make it again i might add more vegetables with crunch to up that contrast.

today, apparently, the natural lighting gods were not with me, so the focus of my pictures is rather blurred. this salad i was more afraid to try, because while i love kale, i have never found myself loving it in raw form. it is bitter, fibrous, and, even cooked and smothered in oils and spices, it can be a lot to masticate. (i really like the word masticate in a creepy way.) this salad proved for me that there are ways around that: 1)make a flavorful vinaigrette, 2)use dinosaur/lacinato kale, and 3)slice it very thinly and let it marinate a little bit. i didn’t write it down, but it went something like this:

red cabbage and kale salad with walnuts and tangy citrus vinaigrette (serves 1):

2 large or 4 small leaves dinosaur kale, destemmed and sliced thinly
1 1/2 c red cabbage, sliced thinly
small handful raw walnut pieces
1 clementine, peeled and seeded
1-2 tbsp lime juice
splash apple cider vinegar
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp flax seed oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
dash cayenne

place kale, cabbage, and walnuts in a small mixing bowl. put remaining ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. pour over vegetable mixture and toss to coat thoroughly. let stand 10 minutes to marinade before serving.

this was, as you might imagine, pretty tart. i’d probably up the sweet end of the citrus, or maybe add a splash of agave nectar nectar, though it was certainly edible. it’s not a perfect recipe, but the good news after having made it is that i can EAT RAW KALE AND CABBAGE. well, the second part i knew, but it’s good to know that i can achieve the first, maintaining those healthy nutrients that cooking lessens. hooray! now i just need to get a good vinaigrette going and i’ll be eating raw kale and cabbage salads all the time. now, if only i can get motivated to have regular exercise when there are sub-freezing temperatures to contend with…

i’m really digging the ani phyo book. i was intrigued by the thought of making a main dish that didn’t involve a mandoline slicer (and potential injury), and pretty simple ingredients. i even started the day out with a coconut breakfast cake, topped with strawberry puree (and some tasty, though not raw, coconut cream leftover from my cake decorating):

this time i ground my flaxseeds up in my spice-dedicated coffee grinder. so magical! the “batter” really came together nicely.

at work i had a big glass of (free) freshly-squeezed orange juice.

the recipe i picked out was the mushroom risotto with truffle-infused olive oil. a full batch is not something i, or most people, could afford to make too often because of the truffle oil, but to be honest, i don’t think the recipe truly needs it in order to taste great (though it is a yummy flavor!). a few weeks ago i’d splurged on a teeny tiny bottle of truffle oil and even halving this recipe to make two servings, i only let a couple drops out of that gorgeous bottle of delicious nectar. the “rice” was made from acorn squash pulsed in the food processor. i was nervous about that, because i’ve never had raw squash before and had somehow got it into my head that it was unsafe or otherwise just not done. but raw food isn’t done very often either, so i guess that’s something to think about. i marinated cremini mushrooms in some bragg’s, made a “kream” out of some leftover macadamias (i was, surprisingly, out of almonds), and tossed it all together with some halved grape tomatoes (not in the original recipe). it was served with scallions and drizzled with truffle oil:

oddly enough this picture sort of looks like tofu scramble, but it was far from tasting like it. i couldn’t believe i was eating squash - RAW - and that the mushrooms hadn’t been cooked. it was really really amazing actually. the sauce was so creamy and beyond a lack of wine flavor and obvious temperature difference, it really was pretty risotto-y. one thing about raw dishes, though, is that you eat raw garlic. and raw garlic gives you intense garlic mouth. i’m really glad i own mouthwash.

when a got home from volunteering, we made fresh juice from grapefruit, carrots, and clementine too, so it was like a raw day all around. i feel pretty healthy, i must say.

bonus! this was my lovely birthday gift from mdf and dan:

i could sit around smelling almond extract all day. i love getting to use it on my baking shifts, even though it’s almost always for something highly un-vegan. and the vanilla extract is double-strength, so i only need to use half the amount, meaning it will last me a long long time! (i hope so anyway, since i’m really going to scale back on sweets) one day, i might invest in ordering a pound of vanilla beans at work. i don’t know what i’d do with a pound of vanilla beans, but i hear it’s only about forty bucks. when you compare that to 3.30 a piece, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me. well, a girl can dream… of vanilla-scented rutabaga. vanilla bean ice kream. slathering myself in fresh vanilla beans. okay, not that last one so much. unsanitary!