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Showing posts from July, 2009

Iron Chef: Vegan!

Iron Chef: Vegan is a celebration of culinary creativity. Its goal is to provide you with a chance to: 1. Green the way you eat. Vegan cuisine is fun, delicious, healthy and offers endless creative possibilities. But perhaps most excitingly it offers an opportunity to green our lives where we make a significant impact: our food. Vegan eating (even on an occassional basis) provides you with a more sustainable way to eat. 2. Get inspired. Iron Chef: Vegan is a chance for culinary exploration and adventure. Challenge your creative side. Try something completely different. Find a whole new world to taste! 3. Discover how delicious healthy can be. One of the best realizations I've come to in my life is about the direct relationship between how nutritious a dish is and how delicious it is. That's why one of the criteria of choosing the key ingredient is its nutritonal profile. Iron Chef: Vegan is about encouraging the enjoyment of healthy foods. How it works: The challe

What I'm eating right now

I've moved! Visit my new home  Make Life Beautiful for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! I made my banana bread bites recipe, though accidentally put in almost 3x as many cacao nibs as I meant to...a very tasty mistake indeed...chocolate-y... Spread into thin layers with a spatula. Yum!!! Perfect for nutbutter and banana sandwiches!

raw mississippi mud pie

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! Today's my day off. I had planned to spend it cleaning and uncooking (wait, what's the definition of cooking? does making raw food still get called cooking?)...so far I've just watched a lot of True Blood...and now the day is ticking away and I have to head off soon to go paddling...so not the most productive day. But it has been relaxing and the cats have all hung out with me, so I don't feel like I've wasted it, which is always a good thing. Anyway, I did manage to make some food today...Unfortunately when I went to pick up nuts yesterday, Bulk Barn was all closed up for the day. So my original plans of banana walnut bread and raw granola were temporarily foiled... I did manage my first attempt at a raw mississippi mud pie. I don't really know what a mississippi mud pie is; the one time I went to eat one, they took way too

Delicious bean salad

I love beans. They're delicious, full of nutrients and incredibly easy to make dishes from. They're full of fibre, protein, iron and folate. Here's a simple bean salad. You could make this salad from any mix of beans. 1 1/2 cup white kidney beans, well rinsed 1 1/2 cup red kidney beans, well rinsed 3 medium tomatoes, chopped 2 bell peppers, chopped (I like using one yellow and one orange. adds beautiful colours to the salad) 1 cup sliced olives 2 tbsp chives, chopped finely (or coriander) 2 cloves garlic, grated 3 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp cayenne Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl. Serve and enjoy!

Summery quinoa salad

Revered by the ancient Incas as the "mother grain", quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is quickly becoming the hot new superfood. Sown seasonally by the Incan emperor with a gold shovel, quinoa has always provided those who enjoy it with its many health benefits. Incan armies were sustained by a diet high in quinoa. Those in Peru, Chile and Bolica cultivated it also for its nutritional value. Although often associated with grains, quinoa is actually a seed related to leafy greens, including spinach and swiss chard. This gluten-free food is fluffy and chewy in texture, subtley nutty in flavour and has an impressive nutritional profile: a complete protein, it contains all nine essential amino acids neede for tissue development excellent source of dietary fibre, iron, magnesium and copper A bitter coating consisting of Saponins keeps birds and other animals from chowing down on the crops. For this reason, and also because little stones and bits of dirts can be transported with it

tarts and raw chocolate sauce

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! A family friend, Craig, used to make the most delicious pies. We'd go over for dinner and there'd be three pies! Blueberry, apple and strawberry rhubarb. Now, as a kid I thought rhubarb was horrible, and haven't gotten around to trying it again...but the other two pies were amazing!! Since becoming vegan and gluten-free, I think that I've attempted a pie about 2-3 times. Which really isn't a whole lot, particularly considering that in theory I really like pie (although come to think of it, I don't think I made a whole lot of pies before either...). The first time I made it was when I had just begun gluten-free baking, and it was essentially just brown rice flour...i.e. not so nice. The second was made with Earth Balance and was buttery and flaky. I wanted to try a raw pie, and thought almond pulp would do the trick. I tried

Banana bread bites

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! These banana bread bites are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. How chewy depends on how long you dehydrate them for; flip them after an hour and then try them out every couple of hours until it's as "cooked" as you'd like it to be. They're super easy to make and are a great way to use up over ripe bananas. I have an idea of what I think will be a really really good way to enjoy these; I'll share it if it's successful. ingredients 1 banana, ripe 1 cup almond pulp 3/4cup ground flax 1/4cup date paste* 1 1/2 tbsp cacao nibs 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 1/2tsp cinnamon 1/2tsp nutmeg to make mix almond pulp with flax and spices. Mash in banana and date paste until a sticky dough forms. Add a bit of water if it's too dry. Stir in cacao nibs and walnuts. Some blueberries would be good too. Using a

Raw cinnamon rolls and almond cream

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! I'm lucky in that my family is super open-minded, particularly when it comes to the culinary world. They've always been big on trying new things and have always had a strong leaning toward healthier foods. Of them all, I'm actually seen as the picky one. Strange, I know, given that one of my favourite foods is nutritional yeast...I remember once suggesting we go out to Veggie Haven, a vegan restaurant I wanted to try, only to find out that having been there three times in the last month or so, were wanting to try something new. I was a bit surprised at this, given that I am the only vegan of the bunch... Anyway, I am generally the one who makes the dessert at family dinners, birthdays, the such. When I was younger, I would make mostly mereinge items - such as mereinge baskets filled wih fruit and whipped cream - and truffles. Since I'

Salad rolls and spicy thai peanut sauce

When I first met my now husband, I was back in school for a post graduate certificate diploma thingie. Being the brilliant person I am, and being in the desperate situation I was in of hating my job and feeling increasingly trapped and depressed by it, I took the first out I could see: My friend had taken a program at Sheridan College and said I'd like it, so I quit my job and went back to school. Of course, I didn't feel a need to stop and think about the fact that I live in Toronto , a city with many colleges, and thus probably didn't need to choose one all the way in Oakville...But, like I said, I was desperate, am incredibly sketchy like that and thus didn't even consider the whole matter...that is until I realized I would be waking up every day at 5a.m. to get there by 8...And that, given this lovely commute, I wouldn't be home until the evening...at which point I'd only have a couple of hours before my 10:30 bedtime (necessary when you&