Go-Nuts Donuts with Frosting and Fruit Sprinkles, page 102
Some of you may know that I went through a raw stint when I was in my early 20’s. At the time raw cookbooks were scarce and I owned just one. The incredible “Raw, The Uncook Book” by Juliano. Looking through all the photos of the luscious raw food in his book always gives me a feeling of awe and wonder. Real and whole foods are simply gorgeous. (more…)
Garden Pizza, the recipe in the book calls for asparagus and fresh basil. Oops, I forgot to pick up both at the store. As you can see, it was still SO delicious.
Ellen Jaffe Jones, the plant-based athlete and famed author of Eat Vegan on $4 a Day is back with Kitchen Divided: a book full of vegan dishes and sound advice for semi-vegan households. Her ideas and methods in the book will be a life-line for many, her approach is love: teaching tolerance within partnerships despite difference in diet choices. The recipes are simple to prepare, delicious and straightforward. They will be enjoyed all family members.
Good-as-Gold Soup, I blended it to make it creamy and added a dollop of vegan sour cream.
While many of you know that I run a vegan household, you may not know that my husband is the type that “eats vegan at home” Meaning he’s gracious enough to support my diet choices and sees the benefit of a plant-based diet for health purposes, but he still occasionally eats animal products when we dine out. In the beginning, I thought I had “converted” him. So the first time he ordered steak at a restaurant when we were out on a date, I was baffled, angry and a little heartbroken.
I can’t get enough of these smoothies, they’ve become my go to breakfast for the last couple of weeks.
I could have taken that experience and allowed it to become a divide in our relationship. I could have fostered bitterness and carried a grudge. Instead, I respected his decision, just like he respects mine. I feel grateful that he allows me to run a kitchen were it’s 100% plant-based and that we don’t have to divide pantry or refrigerator shelves. Though I do recognize that a divided kitchen is a stark reality for many vegans. I’m one of the lucky ones.
Full of fiber, protein and nutrients. A beautiful way to start your day.
Ellen’s book was born out of circumstances similar to mine. Her husband eats steak and takes statin medications, yet, they share so many other profound connections that food isn’t something worth arguing over. She states “Some vegans choose to break off a relationship when their diet becomes incompatible with their partner’s. In many instances though, there are compelling emotional, personal and financial reasons to mend rather than end the relationship.”
Stealth Egg Salad, featured here as an open faced sandwich.
She took this idea to her readers and found that many lived in “Kitchen Divided” households. I would compare it to having a difference in religion, race or political backgrounds with your partner. There are definitely going to be disagreements over points of view, however, that doesn’t mean there can’t be harmony in the home.
Dates instead of sugar give this slaw it’s sweet taste.
Ellen offers this advice: “Developing acceptance is the task I’ve set before you. Instead of asking your partner to change, see how you can bridge your differences and make life in the kitchen easier, calmer, and more pleasant for the both of you. Incredible things can happen when joyfulness, tolerance and great food joins forces.”
I think Ellen Jaffe Jones would make an amazing Marriage and Family Counselor. 🙂 This book would benefit anyone with a divided kitchen or anyone with extended family that isn’t vegan (which means almost all of us).
Date and Nut Cake, this amazing “snack cake” has no added sugars or oil
Now for this homely cake. It doesn’t look like much, but after one taste, I think it may quickly become a family favorite in your home as it has in mine.
This cake is simplicity incarnate. One of the joys of vegan cooking is how unfussy recipes can be, as this scrumptious cake attests. (recipe used with permission)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or mist it with cooking spray.
Put the flour and the baking soda in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the dates and walnuts and stir until evenly distributed.
Stir the vanilla extract into the water. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly in the lined pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Testers note: Since my medjool dates were too sticky to chop small, I processed my dates with the flour until they were in small bits then proceeded with the recipe. I also baked my cake in an 8 inch round instead of a square baking pan. GF peeps, I made a second cake with this gluten-free flour blend and a flax egg (1 T. ground flax + 3 T. water mixed and allowed to gel for a few minutes). It was every bit as delicious as the first cake and didn’t crumble like many GF cakes do.
Buy Kitchen Divided here.
Buy it on the Publisher’s Site, Book Pulishing Company, here, or the authors site, VegCoach, here.
For a chance to win a copy of this amazing cookbook, Click on the link below to enter the Giveaway! This contest is open to entrants in the USA and Canada only. You must also follow this blog by email or RSS feed to qualify. You have until Friday the 16th of August to enter! I will notify the winner by email on Monday the 19th of August. GO!!
Bloggers! Get your Virtual Vegan Potluck ON! It’s time to sign up for the May 11th Event!
Over 100 Bloggers from all over the world posting yummy deliciousness at the same time on the same day. Who’s in?
Some of my fondest childhood memories are of the vacations I had with my family. Camping, river running, Redwood Forest, trips down to Mexico, California and then up the coast. We always had a good time and never missed out on great adventures. Somehow, we often left my little brother Morgan behind and had to turn around (sometimes a half an hour or more later) to go back and get him. As an adult, Morgan chose a career in the Marine Corps (No man gets left behind).
One particular trip our big ol’ Chevy Suburban broke down and we ended up spending the weekend in some po-dunk town in Southern Utah instead of our Lehman Cave destination. We still made it fun however, we ate at the local diner, did some skateboarding at the local park and razzed each other. Inevitably during our road trips we would stop and get gasoline at the Truck Stops, where we would almost always get Jo Jo potatoes and dip them in ranch dressing. This version tastes a lot like the original, without any nasty deep frying.
Method: Get out your rimmed baking sheet and Preheat oven to 425 degrees with the baking sheet heating up in there too. Slice the potatoes into wedges (as described above). Toss the potatoes in the liquid ingredients, then add the dry ingredients and spices. Toss until evenly distributed. The potatoes may stick together so pull them apart if they do. Carefully remove hot baking sheet and dump the seasoned potatoes onto it in a single layer. Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning potatoes halfway through the cook time until golden and cooked through. Serve with Vegan Ranch. You can also use russet (brown) potatoes for this recipe, but they’ll take 15 minutes longer to bake.
I dipped these in a homemade low-fat vegan ranch dressing
Update: 12/16/12 Another Happy Herbivore Abroad Cookbook Giveaway is going on over at An Unrefined Vegan today. Go over there and enter for another chance to win! Today is also the last day to enter my contest.
.
Update: While this recipe is incredible, I have updated, simplified and made the cheese meltier in a new version, Smoked Cococut Gouda part deux.
I’ve been making vegan cashew cheez for a while now, but ever since Vegan Richa made some incredible looking coconut mozzarella I’ve had a serious cheez itch that wouldn’t go away until it was scratched.
My favorite cheese of all time before going vegan was smoked gouda. I needed a counterpart that would melt, stretch, slice, grate, and pair well with crackers or pizza and anything else I wanted to do with it.
After five six failed attempts I bring you:
One of the failed batches. They tasted good, but weren’t the perfect texture. We used them up in pizzas, mac & cheez, grilled cheez sandwiches, quesadillas, soups and more.
You can find many or all the ingredients necessary to make this cheez at Whole Foods or your local health food store. If all else fails, try Amazon.
Read through this before you get started and have everything set up and ready to go before commencing cheez making. Speed is essential when creating cheez.
Method: Blend coconut milk, water, agar powder, pectin, liquid smoke, salt, vegemite (or substitutes above), and nutritional yeast until fully combined in your blender. Heat this mixture in a small saucepan over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until it all comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium (still boiling) and continue to stir for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat. Have your tapioca starch, potato starch and xanthan gum mixed all together in a small container. This is your powder mixture. Quickly and carefully pour hot cheez mixture into your power blender or food processor. Add your powder mixture from above and promptly process until thick, scraping down sides if necessary. Immediately pour into a lightly oiled container and use a silicone (or other) spatula to scrape it out. I used a small round glass container, but an 8 or 9 inch round pie or cake tin like Kristy at Keepin’ it Kind used in this cheez recipe would also be fantastic and possibly allow for faster setting. Put the uncovered Smoked Coconut Gouda in the fridge. Allow to set up for an hour or two. Turn out onto a plate and leave uncovered for an additional 5 hours or overnight in the fridge. The cheez gets firmer the longer it sets. Once firm, store the cheez in a covered container and use or freeze within the week.
Tomorrow I’ll share my Vedged Out Calzone recipe with you that uses the Smoked Coconut Gouda
This stuff makes me MELT AND SWOON!
The best bit? Once you invest in ingredients for making vegan cheez, it’s incredibly affordable. One pound of this homemade vegan cheez costs less than $5 bucks a pound. Daiya and other commercial vegan cheezes cost about $12 a pound.
What would you do if you had cause to celebrate but you couldn’t just go out and buy any old cake? I mean I could have picked up a specialty vegan cake at City Cakes or Cake Walk, but I’ve tried their not-so-amazing cupcakes, so a 45 minute drive didn’t seem worthwhile for something I wouldn’t LOVE.
Okay, well maybe it wasn’t really the best one ever, and this other cake probably wins the healthiest cake contest, but mine was pretty dang tasty.
Insane Chocolate Layer Cake:
This cake features a simple chocolate cake base, layered with chocolate cheezcake ganache, topped with coconut whipped creme and adorned with figs.
For the cakes: 3 C. whole wheat pastry flour (blend it again through your power blender to get it extra fine, I used extra finely ground kamut berries instead of wheat), 2 C. water, 1 C. unsweetened applesauce, 1 C. raw agave, 2/3 C. cocoa powder (I used raw cacao), 1 t. baking soda, 1 t. salt, 2 T. vanilla, 4 T. apple cider vinegar.
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil two 9 inch cake rounds, dust with cocoa powder. Set aside. Combine flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt in a large bowl. Then combine water, vanilla and agave in another bowl. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir til just combined. Add the 4 T. apple cider vinegar and stir until swirls start to form in the batter. Immediately pour batter into the cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes rest for 10 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely. This cake IS NOT made with buckets of white flour, white sugar and loads of fat, so it’s not very sweet or rich, so the batter may not taste like you think it ought too, but the finished product is delicious.
For the Chocolate Cheezcake Ganache: 1 1/4 C. raw cashews, 1/3 C. agave 1/4 t. salt, 1/2 C. dairy free dark chocolate chips, 1 T. lemon juice, 2 T. Cocoa Powder (I used raw cacao), 1 box lite silken firm tofu, 2 T. dry pectin (the kind you use for jam making), 1 C. boiling water.
Method: Place cashews in power blender, grind to a fine powder (if you don’t have a powder blender, soak the cashews for a few hours and skip this step), add agave, cocoa powder, lemon juice, chocolate chips, pectin and salt. Pour the boiling water over the other ingredients and blend until fully combined. Add the box of tofu and blend again. This mixture will be hot and will need to cool in the fridge for a few hours before using.
For the Coconut Whipped Creme: 1 can full fat coconut milk, refrigerated for at least 3 hours.
Method: Open the can, pour off the liquid and save for use in a smoothie, scoop solidified coconut creme into a chilled bowl and whip with beaters or whisk until light and fluffy. See the Veggie Witch method here, I only used one can of coconut as opposed to her 2 cans and didn’t sweeten the creme.
Fresh Figs for decorating
Assembly: Slice the two cakes in half width-wise into layers using a long serrated knife. You will have 4 layers now. Put First layer on a plate or cake platter, spread 1/3 of the cheezcake ganache over the top of the cake. Carefully place the next cake layer on top of the ganache. Repeat until you reach the top cake layer, for the top of the cake, frost with the coconut whipped creme and adorn with sliced figs. This cake MUST be kept covered and refrigerated or the ganache will melt and start to slide everywhere (as it clearly did in my photo shoot).
Vedged Out 