Blog about introducing more raw...

Hey there blog readers!

It's been a busy few months I suppose, at least that is my excuse for not blogging more. Actually the challenge of merely typing with a baby under one around is multifaceted. He loves to bang keys. He hates to be ignored. He likes to be fed, changed, and cared for... So some things fall to the wayside. Luckily, I still cook a lot of fun, vegan food. I post it on Instagram (I am madisonconlin there too), as many people do. I love the community there. Instant (as the name implies) inspiration everyday. Pinterest too. I have a whole "To Veganize" category...

As I said, I have been cooking and baking lots. I try to be healthy, but the other say I realized every meal I ate that day had a component of flour (pancakes, pizza and pasta, I think). Nothing wrong with a little bread here and there, but 3 meals? That's not my usual day, mind you, I try to be diverse. Still, I sensed a lazy habit forming. I watched a couple documentaries about plant based diets (Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and Food Matters), and decided that it was time to introduce more raw foods into our diets. Luckily, Randy caught a few minutes of the documentaries, so he is on board. He is perfectly content eating vegan at home, when I do most of the cooking and planning. He does, on the other hand, have a hard time turning down pizza lunches and dinners at other peoples houses. He tries, but he doesn't have a passion for it (yet) so he struggles. I have no interesting in forcing him, I hope it will come to it in his own time. He is excited about the health benefits of raw juices and foods though. I really want the kids to be able to grow up eating healthy foods, so they will be able to make informed choices about their own diets as adults.

A few months ago, we borrowed a friend's juicer (she had no room for the beast), and got into juicing a bit. For a few days Randy had juice for breakfast and lunch (that I made the night before). It is a hard habit to keep up. This week we started it again, consistently. We aren't planning any detoxes or fasts with it, but its a great way to get the extra nutrients we probably lack. I am planning to try to make the juice in the afternoon/evening like I did last time, except this time for both of us. I know its best to drink it right away but unfortunately our lifestyle does not permit this. He works, I work in the evening and stay home with the kids in the day. Juicing is easy, but its messy, and requires prep. I do a lot of cooking already in the day and my babies need me!

Yesterday was the first day of my more mindful raw eating. "More" because I am definitely not 100%. I will gradually introduce more, and make better habits. For breakfast with the boys, we had banana ice cream, something we already regularly enjoy. Pureed frozen bananas, that's it. We topped it with hemp hearts (not raw), raw cacao nibs, sliced almonds, and blueberries. Wyatt also had some toast, because hes a hungry boy in the morning.

For lunch I made the most delicious raw tacos. Walnut meat crushed with cumin, coriander, cayenne and Bragg's (not vegan), raw freshly made salsa (tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, onion and garlic), cashew sour cream (cashews, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar) and avocado on romaine lettuce. I started to get hungry around 11am, but because of the kids I didn't eat til about 1. I was pretty hungry, and these were so satisfying.

Dinner was easy. Raw sweet potato soup. There are a ton of recipes out there, so I just threw some stuff together in my Vitamix and blended til it was warm. Had a salad on the side, and was pretty happy. We always eat early, so I did get hungry later. I had a protein bar that I made (dates, apples, walnuts, coconut, hemp hearts, chia, flax, etc) and celery with peanut butter (not raw).

I won't be blogging about everything that I am eating, but I was pretty happy with my first day. Not perfect (oh did I mention the piece of whole grain toast I ate before bed, oops!) but still healthy and awesome. It is going to take some getting used to, especially all the soaking and sprouting, dehydrating and grinding. That is OK though, its all an adventure and I will learn as I go.

Dessert: Red Velvet Cheesecake of the Vegan Variety

Here is a quick recipe, easy to make and super delicious. If you don't have a VitaMix, use a food processor and soak the nuts and dates before hand!
The crust I made was too hard, but I will tell you what I did anyway.


Crust (Prepare cookie crumbs with margarine according to package or add some soy milk maybe instead)
1 cup melted Choc chips
1 3/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs

Combine and press into 8 inch round cake pan lined with plastic wrap or spring form pan. Place in freezer to set.

1 can coconut milk
2 cup cashews (soaked if necessary)
1 package soft silken tofu (12 oz)
3/4 cup dates
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt
Juice of 1 lemon

Blend until smooth. Remove about 1/3 and set aside in fridge.

1 cup melted chocolate chips
1/4 cup cocoa
Red food coloring

Add to the 2/3 remaining and blend. Pour half the chocolate mix into the crust. Place in freezer until set, then top with half of the vanilla. Repeat with chocolate layer, and again with the remaining vanilla.
Top with chocolate curls or whatever you'd like.

Dessert: Chocolate Mint Chip CUPCAKE Cone

Wandering through the grocery store aisle yesterday I happened upon some sugar cones. It reminded me that I suck at making cake pops and I've wanted to try cake cones instead. I turned the box to the ingredients and was pleasantly surprised that the President's Choice brand had no milk or eggs in it. I could definitely make my own sugar cones, but its always nice to simplify, especially on a first attempt.

This morning I googled cupcake cones, and read quickly through a recipe by Martha Stewart. I find its good to get a sense of how things will work before I willy nilly start making stuff up. Martha is always inspirational too. So I used her instructions on using tinfoil over a pan to stick the cones in for baking. It would have worked well if I hadn't put too many in, but in the end I figured it out. I decided on an ice cream inspired flavour for my cones, mint chocolate chip. Chocolate cupcake batter with a hint of peppermint, and mint icing with chopped up chocolate chips. Mmm. 

Chocolate cupcake batter (From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

1 cup soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar 

3/4 cup sugar 

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla 

1 cup flour 

1/3 cup cocoa 

3/4 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt

AND 1 tsp peppermint extract. 

AND sugar or waffle cones to bake in. I used 16, but it will vary depending on the size. According to Martha, you put 2-3 tablespoons of batter per cone.

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover a deep baking pan of some sort (I used an angel food cake style pan) securely with tin foil. Use a pointy object to poke a hole, and insert your first cone until it touches the bottom of the pan, or until just a bit is sticking out. Continue until all your cones are in the pan, and do not put them too close together or the tin foil will rip and spill your batter. Use a second pan if you need more room. Learn from my mistakes people! Do not try to fit more in.

Pour some batter into each cone. You probably shouldn't overfill too much, although it might work to have muffin tops out of the cone. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, mine took about 25 minutes. Start checking around 18. Allow to cool. 

While the cones cool, prepare icing. 

Mint Chip Icing 

1/2 cup vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance. A combination of margarine and shortening would work, or even some coconut oil. It has been really hot here though, so I did not want my icing to melt) 

3 1/2 cups icing sugar 

1/4 cup (more or less depending on how thin you want it)soy milk 

1/2 tsp vanilla 1 tsp peppermint extract 

1 smidgeon green food colouring 

1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips (chopping makes the texture more like ice cream, worth it!)

Whip the margarine with beaters til soft and fluffy. Add sugar and milk small amounts at a time, alternating. Once they are incorporated, add extracts and food colouring. Whip a minute or two and then fold in chocolate. Refrigerate until cupcakes are completely cooled. It is nice to work with icing that is a little firm. 

I attempted to use an ice cream scoop to put my icing on the cones, but it wasn't successful. My scoop lacks an eject button, which might help. I smeared it on and it looked good anyway. I fashioned a little stand for my cones, but they were too tall to fit under my cake stand lid, so I ended up laying them down. Whatever works!

Yuuum.

Dessert: Ridiculous brownies.

Slutty Brownies.

That is not a very kind name for these delicious brownies.  It is also not very "family friendly"... Originally the recipe flying around the interwebs for this dessert (um, its more than a dessert) was 3 prepackaged items, cookie dough, Oreos, and brownie mix, which also contributed to the negative title of recipe, since it was fast and easy (and filthy of course).
This vegan version still packs an Oreo center (someday I hope to make a homemade cookie center), but I used simple cookie and brownie recipes to ensure veganness (and also I never have or use mixes).

Without further adieu, this is how to make Slutty Vegan Brownies (Or Strumpet Brownies, or Double Cookie Brownies, or Big Booty Brownies).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 9x13 pan with parchment (or don't, it just makes it a bit tidier).

Cookie layer:

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened milk of choice
2 tbs starch (corn, tapioca, arrowroot, whatever)
1 tbs vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1tp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Wisk the first 5 ingredients (down to and including the starch) until it turns into a caramel like consistency. This is important. Add the rest of the ingredients except the chips and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. Fold in chocolate chips. Press mixture into bottom of your pan.
Layer Oreos onto cookie dough, pretty much touching each other. It should use most of the box, with a few leftover (You know there ain't no such thing as leftover Oreos).
No need to clean your cookie mixing bowl, use it to mix your brownies.

Brownie topping:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
2/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Sift or wisk dry ingredients, then add wet and stir. Pour over cookies. Bake for about an hour. I started checking mine around 40 minutess but it took over an hour. Test with a toothpick. If it comes out dry it is done. Beware sticking it into the cookies though, the melty chocolate chips will cause a false negative!
Allow to cool before cutting. This will be torturous. Believe it or not though, these are better when cool. Sounds crazy, but its true. Maybe the flavours meld. I think its more to do with Oreos though, as they are designed to be eaten at room temperature.

Another warning; the actual reason behind the original name of these, Slutty Brownies, most likely has something to do with what happens when you eat them. You want more, and more, and more. And then you really regret your choices. Uuuugh too much of a good thing!

Peanut butter chocolate birthday cake!

Ok! I have a backlog of recipes that I want to post, but I will start with a birthday cake that I recently made.

I used a recipe from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek called Blackest Forest cake, only I don't like black forest cake so I used the alternative suggestion of using peanut butter frosting. Here it is:

Batter:

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour, sifted (I actually used cake flour)
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c baking cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c plus 2 tbs soy yogurt
1 cup soy milk
1/2 c oil (I used canola)
2 tsp vanilla
1 c boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two 9 inch cake pans with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the rest excluding the boiling water. Use a hand mixer if you need to but I was too lazy. Add the water. The batter is thin, but it is supposed to be. Divide batter evenly between two pans and cook 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake before icing.

Middle layer:

peanut butter, less than 1/4 c to spread thin layer
1/2 c chocolate chips (I used carob) melted to spread thin layer (I used leftovers to drizzle on top as well)

Frosting:

1 8-oz container soy cream cheese, room temp
2 tbs margarine (vegan margarine!)
1/4 c peanut butter (or more to taste)
2 to 2 1/2 c sifted powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat chream cheese, margarine and peanut butter with an electric mixer. Add powdered sugar and blend. When cake is completely cooled, spread peanut butter and melted chocolate between layers. Ice with peanut butter frosting. I also sprinkled some ground peanuts on top.

I had to make this cake several days in advance and I was worried it would be stale when i served it but it was moist and delicious even after being in the fridge from Thursday until Sunday. I just waited to ice it until Sunday morning. I think the batter turned out the best out of all the recipes I have used. It really reminds me of the Hershey cake that my grandma makes, which also uses boiling water. More recipes coming soon!

PS Happy Birthday Randy!
xox