Rocket, Walnut and Orange

I have been working at a market stall on Saturdays in return for some organic fruit and veg. Occasionally at the end of the day, if some things haven't sold and will not keep we get given them to take home. This last Saturday I was asked if I wanted to take home a bag of rocket leaves. As I am always needing to increase my leafy green intake I said yes.

I googled rocket salads and, well nothing was really taking my fancy (that and/or I didn't have the ingredients on hand). Eventually I found this recipe. I only had rocket so I couldn't use any other greens. I made a few other changes - I didn't use any oil (I lightly toasted the walnuts in a dry pan). I also only made the recipe for me - so I only used a few walnuts and half an orange. I took this photo before I put on the balsamic vinegar because it didn't look as nice then.

Rocket is sooooo bitter - I know why you need to put sweet fruit with it. It was barely edible. I still had about 3/4 of the package left (and I was still hungry). I made it again except I microwaved the rocket for about 25seconds. then I mixed in the orange pieces, walnuts and balsamic vinegar. I didn't take a photo but the slight cooking of the rocket took the edge off the bitterness and I really enjoyed my second bowl of this salad.

Yummy raw food demonstration

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go to a raw food preparation demonstration/workshop. It was put on through the organisation Vegetarian Tasmania. We had two demonstrators, Gosia and Heather. I have only briefly met gosia once before, but I know Heather quite well. She has been "raw" for about a year and ahe has a 10month old baby. The baby is 100% raw and I have never seen a healthier or happier mother and child. They are just incredible. The baby LOVES tomatoes and mangoes... but he eats just about any raw food that he is given.

Gosia looked at raw food that could be used during the transition to raw and also food that could be used for dinner parties or potluck dinners. Heather's recipes were more about simplicity and she showed us some simple salad dressings so that we could add a bit of variety into the raw diet.

Over the next few weeks I plan to make a lot of the food myself and when I do that I will share the recipes. In the meantime you can check out Gosia's website or youtube videos.

I was really REALLY annoyed when my camera battery died early on in the demonstration. But one of my friends will hopefully send me her photos.

With Gosia we made smoothies, ice cream, fruit jelly, chewies, the most amazing carob cake, cinnamon rolls and pizza. My favourites were the ice cream and the pizza. It was just divine! I will share the ice-cream recipe with you today as it is SO simple!!

I will be posting photos of the cake and the pizza - but for now I will leave you with the one decent picture that I got before my battery died:

Raw Banana and Raspberry Ice-cream
topped with raw cacao powder

Raw Ice-cream
recipe: Gosia

Peel bananas and freeze them. Process them in a food processor with optional ingredients until creamy. Serve immediately.

Variations:
Add some dates/nuts/carob/cacao during processing
Use some frozen raspberries or blueberries, or both.
Decorate the ice-cream with fresh strawberries.
Top the ice-cream with some carob/cacao powder and agave.

Feeling like raw - and this hits the spot!

Carrot salad with grated apple, celery,
sunflower seeds, walnuts, pepitas and sultanas.

Well summer is defiantly approaching and my body is starting to crave a lot more fresh alive foods and meals. I am going to have to look into finding some nice simple raw recipes for summer.

At the moment I can't get enough of my grated carrot salad... I make it differently every time depending on how I am feeling. So I will give you a run down of basic ingredients. In the photo I put most of them in just to show you - usually I use a little less of the "toppings".

Basically I grate a medium-large carrot.
I grate some apple as well (how much apple depends on how sweet I feel like - today I used less than half an apple, some days I use a whole apple).
Any other vegetable I desire: celery (chopped finely), ginger (finely minced)
Then I add desired toppings: nuts (chopped almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, coconut flakes or shreds), seeds (pumpkin and sunflower), dried fruits (sultanas, raisins, chopped up dates)

Then I devour!! It is raw heaven - believe me!!!

When I was a kid an after school treat that mum used to make was grated apple and sultanas... that is another dish if your body is craving sweet things.

**Edited November 4th - I was thinking about other yummies that would rock in this salad I came up with: grated beetroot, grated parsnip, chopped pineapple, orange segments or orange juice... the list goes on... mmmmm***

Parsnip and pear soup on a cooler spring evening

One thing I love about spring is that you get lovely days that provide hope that summer is on the way - but you also get the cooler weather so that you can occasionally have your favourite winter dish.

Last night was one of the chillier nights and so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try out another parsnip soup. (Actually I had a parsnip to use up before going up to see the parents today). Nat and I really enjoyed the parsnip and pumpkin soup - but we didn't have any pumpkin - so I went looking for inspiration and I found this recipe created by Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs.

I didn't have any leeks but I had everything else (really simple easy recipe so there wasn't much else to need which is good because our fridge is pretty empty of vegetables). I altered the recipe a little so, while staying faithful to Ricki's recipe mine is a little different. It was lovely - sweet but with the lovely parsnip flavour (you could taste it but it was not overpowering which was good). It reminded me a bit of applesauce in consistancy (not in a bad way) and I can now understand how parsnips can be used in desserts, like in this recipe at the Vegan Feast Kitchen.

Thanks Ricki for a great recipe.

Pear and Parsnip Soup
1 onion - diced
1 large parsnip - cubed
1 stick celery - chopped
4 small pears - peeled and cubed
1 litre vegetable stock (I cheated and used bullion)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in a little water or broth for about 5 mins. Over medium heat, add celery, parsnip and pear and saute for about 15 mins, stirring constantly. Add vegetable broth and simmer over low heat for a further 15 mins. Turn off the heat and let the soup cool a little before pureeing it using an immersion blender or in batches in a blender.
Serve hot - we served ours with crusty bread.


I am baking some gluten free goodies for our nephew's naming ceremony/birthday celebration. Stay tuned people as I just realised I have no gluten free flour... this could be interesting!!!

Finding the perfect moist Vegan wedding cake.

The awesome cake - decorated with flowers from a friends garden.

Nat and I got married in July this year. The wedding was pretty much vegan. Mum and I decided that we would design the cake ourselves. The fruit layer was not hard at all as mum has an AMAZING fruit cake recipe that is just awesome. The Chocolate Mud Cake (Nat's request) was a lot harder. I hate to think how many chocolate cakes I baked and how many samples my family and friends were presented with. (Do you know how hard this is when you are desperately trying to not put on weight before the wedding!!!) In the end I found the most incredible cake ever. It is NOT healthy - it is decadent and moist and chocolaty and fantastic. The whole cake was SOOOOO heavy - It was incredible!!

So without further ado - here are the recipes for our vegan wedding cake. I will slowly add other recipes from the wedding.

My Dark Rich Chocolate Wedding Cake.

Makes 30cm square cake - prep time 20mins - cooking time 4 1/2 hours

1.68kg - Dark Vegan Cooking Chocolate (I used Sweet William)
1kg - Margarine (I used Nuttalex - use one that has no transfat)
1/3 cup - dry instant coffee
3 cups - water
3 cups - brown sugar
4 cups - plain flour
1 cup - self-raising flour
egg replacer equivalent for 8 eggs (I used Organ No Egg mixed with required amount of water)
1 cup - coffee liqueur

1. Grease and line baking pan with one thickness of baking paper, bringing the paper 5 cm above the rim.
2. Combine chopped chocolate, margarine, coffee, water and sugar in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved. Transfer mixture into a bowl - cool for 15 mins
3. Stir in sifted flours, egg replacer and liqueur.Pour mixture into prepared pan.
4. Bake in moderately slow oven for 4 1/2 hours. Cover with foil halfway through baking if cake starts to become dark and crusty.
5. Cake will develop a thick sugary crust during baking: test for doneness by touching with fingers about 5 mins before the end of the baking time. Then test with skewer.
6. Cool cake in pan.
7. This cake will keep for one week in an airtight container or can be frozen for 3 months.

No - I am not going to stab him...

Wedding Fruit Cake - Sugar Free

Makes one large cake (2kg) - 20cm pan

INGREDIENTS
150g natural currants*
200g natural sultanas*
200g sun-dried diced peaches*
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
200g sun-dried pitted dates, diced
200g dehydrated pineapple pieces*
2 cups pure water
¾ cup cold-pressed vegetable oil
2 large very ripe bananas
80g almond kernels

METHOD

1. Pre-soak the currants, sultanas, and peaches in the water overnight for best result (or for at least 2 hours).
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours with the dates, pineapple and two thirds of the almonds chopped.
3. Drain the excess water from the pre-soaked fruit; retain 3/4 cup for use.
4. Add the pre-soaked fruit to the mixture in the mixing bowl.
5. Blend together the water, oil and bananas until smooth (half full speed for a quarter of a minute).
6. Pour the blended liquid into the mixing bowl with the fruit and flour and thoroughly mix in.
7. Line a 20cm-square cake tin with baking paper (or brush a little oil over the inside surfaces).
8. Pack the mixture into the tin, ensuring that no air pockets remain.
9. Decorate the top of the mixture with the rest of almonds halved.
10. Lightly brush a little oil over top of mixture.
11. Cover top with baking paper.
12. Bake at 135ºC (275ºF) in a pre-heated oven until cooked through (about 2 to 3 hours, depending on depth of tin).

*You can vary the dried fruit. Possible alternatives include figs, sun-dried apricots, nectarines, cherries, crystallised ginger, mango, pawpaw, and apples (all diced).

Vegan Mofo #12: Breakfasts on the go - healthy breakfast bars

Nat is a tour/bushwalking guide. His job has its perks (ie. getting to go bushwalking around many pretty places in Tasmania and getting paid to do it) but it also has its drawbacks (a day trip starts by nat leaving before 6.30am and getting back well after 7.30pm). Having said that - some of his multiday trips require him to leave before 5am so I am not complaining too much about getting up at 5.45am for the day trips.

Because its way too early to have a decent breakfast I have been looking into cooking some breakfast bars for Nat to take. I was having trouble finding something that I thought looked nice and had almost given up hope (it either had too much oil or sugar or used banana or tofu so wouldn't keep for very long). But then as I was making myself a dandelion coffee (really good coffee substittue - I would reccommend it) I saw on the back of the soymilk container the perfect recipe... ok, well almost the perfect recipe. (It was a different soy milk that I had because I had run out of my normal one and the local shop only stocked this one)
I pretty much followed the recipe but veganised some of the ingredients and changed the nuts and fruit (ok -I didn't actually measure anything specifically - I just bunged it all in roughly according to the directions- I was really tired).

I was really pleased with the results. Its crunchy but not too crunchy - sweet but not too sweet and held together really well. And it was really REALLY easy. I will be making these a lot more often.


Breakfast on the go breakfast bars

2 cups rolled oats
1/3cup dried apricots - chopped
1/2 cup dried dates - chopped
1/4 cup almonds (chopped) or sunflower seeds
1/4 cup coconut flakes (optional - I was going to put them in because I thought they would be nice but I forgot when I was making it)
3 tbsp agave or maple syrup
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coconut extract (or vanilla)
1 cup soymilk
egg replacer for one egg (I used organ no-egg)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius
2. Place all ingredients in large bowl
3. Spray bottom of pyrex dish (20cm square) with cooking spray or line with baking paper
4. Press mix into pan and bake until golden (approx 30mins)
5. Let cool completely and then cut into bars.

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Oh before I go - I got so SUPER excited yesterday. I was walking back from the city Library and I walked past a little store that I know sells foreign food (ie. American and British comfort food mainly). I have never had the need to go in there but I thought that now I see so many recipes online with american ingredients maybe I should check it out. Well what did I see... a few really gross things like marshmallow spread and peanut butter and jam swirled into a jar - "biscuit" mix (which I now realise to be scones) and lots of Hershey's chocolate products to name a few. But what got me super excited was that I found this:




LIQUID SMOKE!!
YAY!!!

I was hoping that this would be in there but I didn't want to get my hopes up. So now as the BBQ season approaches I will not feel deprived when I find recipes calling for this little baby. I am rather happy right now.

Vegan MoFo #5 - What we have for breakfast - fat free wholesome banana pancakes

I have been looking at other vegan mofo blogs and there has been a bit of discussion about breakfasts. Now I LOVE pancakes and I made some fantastic ones this morning (recipe and photos further down the post), but first I thought I would show you what nat and I have on a 'normal morning' (when nat doesn't have to be out of the house before 6.30am). Fruit Salad!!! At the moment we are able to get apples, pears, kiwi fruit, strawberries, grapes, bananas and oranges. Top it off with some soy yoghurt and its heaven in breakfast!!!



Well it was a lazy morning yesterday - neither of us had work and I had the perfect opportunity to procrastinate from writing my last assignment by making pancakes for breakfast. Now I have a couple of pancake recipes - some have worked better than others. This one I created as I really wanted some wholesome fat-free pancakes (breakfast is, after all, the most important meal of the day!!) The results are AMAZING!! Yummy moist pancakes. I tried the first lot without putting maple syrup in the batter and I liked them a lot - Some people who like sweeter pancakes might like to put a little bit of syrup in the batter - however I think that if I am going to eat them with maple syrup they don't need it at all!!

Fat Free Banana Pancakes

1 1/4 cups wholemeal spelt flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 banana's - mashed
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or normal vinegar - I only have apple)
1 1/2 tbsp applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

1. Combine soy milk and vinegar a sit to the side for 5 minutes
   
2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix banana, applesauce, vanilla and soymilk together until fairly smooth (I still had some small banana lumps which were really nice)
4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined
5. Leave to sit for 15mins. (During this time I make some fresh orange juice)
6. Mix in enough water to reach desired batter consistancy (I added about 1/4 cup more - the pancakes were still rather thick)
7. Spray a non-stick frypan with cooking spray - pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan - I can comfortably fit 3 small pancakes into my pan.
   
8. Flip pancakes when bubbles appear on the surface. Cook another 1-2 minutes until pancakes are golden brown on both sides.
   
9. Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil - cook more pancakes.
10. Serve with maple syrup, sliced banana or whatever you want!!