Un-awesome with a Side of Stardom!

You know what’s not so awesome?

When you burn your sweet potato fries.

*sob*

Don’t worry, I ate them anyway. No sweet potato goes to waste in THIS house.

See after watching Rachael Ray make oven fries during my lunch hour on Thursday, I got the brilliant idea to do the same thing for dinner! And to eat them with a nice, cold green/blue smoothie!

Well Rachael said to turn the heat up to 500 degrees and let those suckers go for about 25 minutes.

I probably should have kept a closer eye on them.

And added dates to my smoothie.

What was the star of the meal? The peanuty-lime dipping sauce.

Ooooooh yeeeeeeah..

Peanut-Lime Sauce
1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
1 tablespoon apple juice
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon peanut flour

Whisk all ingredients together and dip away! If you don’t have peanut flour, you could probably just substitute peanut butter. I didn’t have any peanut butter so I used my peanut flour!

Here a Bake, there a Bake..

For the past two weeks I have been obsessed with bakes. It all started over the Edible Perspective with her baked buckwheat post.

If you haven’t stopped by her site yet, I suggest you do. Her bakes have been popping up all over the blogging world, as well as the rest of her fabulous recipes. My breakfasts just haven’t been the same since I started reading oh-so-long ago.

There’s been a few flops before I really got it right here. Then I purchased an Italian made soup crock and started experimenting outside of buckwheat (mostly for fear of running out..).

I’ve had 3 major successes. All have been inspired by Ashley’s original recipe.

The first is a blueberry kamut bake.

Stuffed full of wild blueberries and topped with vanilla bean coconut butter!

Blueberry Kamut Bake
1/4 cup raw kamut, ground finely
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 tablespoon raw buckwheat groats
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 banana, mashed
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal + 2 1/2 tablespoons water)
1/4 cup wild blueberries (for filling)

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your soup crock (or whichever baking vessel you choose to use). Mix up your flax egg and let that sit to the side while you’re working. Mix together your dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the banana, pumpkin, milk and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add in the egg and mix again.

Spoon half of your mixture into the baking vessel and flatten with a spoon. Arrange the blueberries on top of the batter so there’s a slight border around them. Spoon the rest of your batter on top of the blueberries and flatten. Bake for 30 minutes and top with whatever your heart desires. As is the case with most bakes.

Next up is a Mexican Cocoa Bake.

I used the leftover “filling” from my Blueberry Lime Cheesecake from the other day as a filling for my bake. Can you say YUM?!

Mexican Cocoa Bake
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon raw buckwheat groats
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 flax egg
1/2 banana, mashed
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons non dairy milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Following the same procedure as above, whip those ingredients up and stuff the bake with whatever you choose. Be it leftover “cheesecake”, coconut, berries or even just leaving it unstuffed; all options would be wonderful!

The last (but certainly not the least) bake I have for you today is of the savory variety. I enjoyed the bakes so much I started to wonder why I couldn’t make them for dinner, too! So experiment I did!

In my opinion it turned out extremely well. So well that I think I’ll make a larger version for Kyle and I to share sometime. Comfort food: Indian style!

Stuffed Indian Chickpea Bake
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon lentils
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch ground cloves
1 flax egg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons non dairy milk
2 cloves garlic, crushed

For the filling:
1 pitted date, diced
1/4 cup chopped frozen spinach
3 mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch cumin

Saute the date, spinach, mushrooms and spices in a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Cook about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms start to brown a bit. Remove from heat, mix up your flax egg and get to mixing up that batter! Layer the ‘shroom mixture into the bake and stick that sucker in the oven!

This guy needs a little more oven time, so bake him for about 35-40 minutes.

I topped this bake with a little savory almond butter and a cranberry/chipotle/strawberry jam I threw together a few mornings ago.

I hope maybe there’s a bake that strikes your fancy in that list! I know I can’t stop with the bakes.

Once you start, you won’t be able to stop either..

I hope to be back tomorrow night for some exciting news!!

Blueberry Lime “Cheesecake” with a Kick

The internet connection I was getting in my house is now completely inactive.

That sucks.

Of course that’s what I get for not setting up my own internet connection.

So now I’m sitting at Starbucks, sipping on a sparkling water (my first time drinking this San Pellegrino stuff) and kicking myself for forgetting to download the pics of my newest bake from this morning!

Another time, another post I guess!

With the temperatures reaching the mid 70s yesterday, I was itching to spend the day outside. When I got home from work, Kyle surprised me with some yummy wraps for a picnic lunch. He roasted his own red peppers, caramelized some onions and placed them on top of a nice soft green onion tortilla with a layer of red pepper hummus and some romaine! He’s so sweet sometimes.

We packed up those wraps with some extra snackables I had in the pantry and headed out to the park to soak up some sunshine. Leave it to me to soak up too much and burn myself.

Darn my fair skin.

Lunch was DELISH!

Afterward we wandered around outside the strip malls to soak up some more sunshine in small doses. We would have preferred to play frisbee, but the ground was SOAKED from 2 straight days of rain. Sadness.

After a while we started to feel peckish again.

Kyle offered to take me to my absolute favorite restaurant in this town, La Villetta. I was ecstatic! This place is the only place in town I’ve found that is super vegan-friendly. However odd my request may seem, they always get it right. And get it right with a smile.

I left the camera in the car and was too excited to take photos with my phone. I just wanted to enjoy our meal. I know, bad blogger!

We started with a free bruschetta appetizer (it’s customer appreciation month after all) and their yummy fresh bread. Kyle decided to get the endless soup, salad and breadsticks. I decided on pasta. The part I was most excited about: the marinara sauce. I have an obsession.

I. Love. Marinara.

I had fettucini cooked in olive oil with tons of fresh sauteed veggies. Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, onions and jalapenos all made it into the pool. Along with some garlic and oil. The marinara came on the side.

I have to say I was SO impressed with this that I will request it the next time we go in.

If you’re ever in the area and decide to go to La Villetta, be sure to ask for Melissa. She was the best server I’ve had in a long time (they’re all good but she was fantastic!)

After stuffing ourselves silly, we decided to walk some of that off by stopping at Walmart to pick up Season 5 of CSI. WOO HOO!

We hurried home to watch.

And make tarts.

This raw tart idea came from Vegan Culinary Crusade. I’ve been seriously drooling over this tart for almost 3 days and finally decided to make it. Kyle did deserve a yummy dessert after all his hard work from making lunch and taking me out to a fantasmic meal!

Boy was this thing worth the effort I put into it. I don’t think the filling whipped up as well as Lisa’s but it was tasty! To me it tasted just like cheesecake filling, but better! And way more nutritious!

Blueberry Lime “Cheesecake” with a Kick (adapted from Vegan Culinary Crusade)
1 cup raw walnuts
4 dates, pitted
pinch of salt

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours
3 dates, pitted
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons non dairy milk (I used soy milk, but you could use raw homemade milk to keep it completely raw)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Fresh blueberries (or strawberries) to top

In a food processor, pulse the walnuts, dates and salt until fully combined and formable. Press the crust mixture into tart tins, little souffle cups, shot glasses, whatever you’ve got that’s tiny and cute. Make sure to press up into the sides a bit so you can see the beautiful crust after you put the topping on. I got about 3 small tarts and a shot glass tart out of this recipe. Plus I had some filling leftover (which I used in my chickpea bake this morning..) Place the containers in the freezer while you make the filling.

Without rinsing the food processor, toss in the cashews, dates and cayenne and let ‘er rip. While the processor is on, add in the lime juice and milk, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture comes together. It will look like a thick cream cheese mixture. I think mine took about 10 minutes.

Remove the tart shells from the freezer and fill them with that yummy cashew filling. Even out the tops of your filling a bit and place back in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to chow, remove from the freezer, top with blueberries or strawberries and allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

You will enjoy this.

I guarantee it.

Check out Vegan Culinary Crusade. This woman is amazing and has fantastic recipes. I have so many of them bookmarked already and she just keeps adding more. I can’t wait to conquer another one!

Another Round of Tofu

Yep, that’s tofu! Nice, spicy, crusty, delicious tofu. Hmm.. crusty and delicious never sound so great together unless you’re talking about food, huh?

Yesterday afternoon, while awaiting the impending doom of the blizzard at work, I was perusing The Pioneer Woman’s website. I perused my way onto her post about her beef fajita nachos. Even though she was talking about marinating beef, which as of late has made me nauseous to think about, I was drooling by the end of the page.

My first thought was that I HAD to incorporate this marinade into something I could eat. My second thought was that I had tofu in the fridge at home. BINGO!

I threw together the marinade, drained my tofu, then marinated that luscious block of soy overnight. Boy it was delicious. BOY it was spicy. But that’s why I used the pineapple. Its also why I chose to watch Die Hard while scarfing down my dinner. Ok maybe that’s not the reason.

I have a thing for Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman.

*chomp*

Yippie Kai-ay.. well.. you know the rest..

Chipotle Lime Tofu
1 block extra firm tofu
3 large cloves garlic
3 whole chipotle peppers, with sauce
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons water

Cut tofu into 6 blocks, then press extra moisture out between paper towels and something heavy for about an hour. You’ll probably have to change the paper towels a couple times to get it nice and “dry”.

While your tofu is draining, mix up your marinade. Into your food processor, toss the garlic, chipotle, lime juice, olive oil and water and blend until smooth. Or as smooth as you can get it. Mine was still chunky, but I’m ok with chunky sauce.

After your tofu is ready to go and your marinade is ready to impart flavor; place the tofu in a ziplock bag and pour the marinade over the top. Press the air out of the bag, roll it on top of itself and place that bad boy in the fridge for at least 24 hours. You can probably leave it in there for up to 3 days, I’m experimenting with 2 pieces I didn’t cook up tonight to see if leaving it longer effects the flavor of the tofu any.

Once you’re ready to fry-er-up, heat a pan over medium heat with about 2 teaspoons olive oil. Place 3-4 pieces of tofu in the pan, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil and place a nice heavy cast iron pan over that to press the tofu into that hot oil. I saw Rachael Ray do this the other day with her spicy mustard chicken and decided to try it. I wanted to see if it would help crust up the tofu, but I don’t know if it made a difference. It made me feel fancy, anywho! Cook that tofu for 5-8 minutes, flip and recover/press it and cook for 5-8 more minutes until it is as crispy as you like it. Now you could probably cube that up and toss it with pasta, throw it into some tortillas with some “cheeze” and some sour “cream” or you could do what I did and lay it on top of some red leaf lettuce with some pineapple. Just roll and chow down!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

I be jammin’

Oh yeah, I went there.

Corny, I know, but its SO true! I’ve been wanting to make jam forever but I’ve been afraid! I don’t know how to can and don’t have the materials to attempt a true canning experience (which is why I also haven’t made sauerkraut yet). But the other day I decided to throw caution to the wind and make a “practice” batch of jam!

It was the perfect timing. Annie had just given me some fresh jalapenos from her dad’s garden and I had some blueberries in the freezer! SCORE! I got to work loosely following a recipe I found here. Man o man o man it was DELICIOUS!

Especially smeared on some toast with some peanut butter to munch along with my overnight steel cut oats.

Luscious!

Give it a shot – you won’t be disappointed!

Blueberry Jalapeno Jam
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen and thawed
1/2 cup chopped pumpkin
1/4 cup jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 teaspoons water

In a small bowl, mash berries and add lime juice followed by the water; set aside. In a food processor, whirl around the peppers, vinegar and pumpkin until its as processed as you like. I like mine pretty smooth. In yet another bowl, mix together sugar and gelatin. In a small pot on the stove, combine berry mixture and pepper mixture, bringing to a boil and cooking 5-7 minutes. Add sugar mixture to the pot and whisk vigorously to make sure it dissolves and there are no clumps! Bring this to a boil again and cook about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit before transferring to a 16 ounce jar. It thickens as it cools, I promise! Cool completely before throwing a lid on and storing in the fridge.

LIMEY! It’s Tuna!

So I must take a quick time out from this crazy Friday-before-a-holiday-weekend Bank Day and brag about my lunch. A lunch I was way too excited to eat to take a picture of!

It’ll sound pretty strange, I know, but the combination was outright divine!

I dug into my refrigerator this morning and pulled out:
Goat Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Red Grapes
A Lime

I added these luscious ingredients to a plain ol’ ordinary can of tuna and POW! I feel just like Emeril!

I ate my yummy tuna salad with my favorite crackers, Kellog’s All Bran crackers – original flavor. Yumaliciously refreshing!

If you’d like my exact measurements, they’re listed below!

Limey! It’s Tuna
1 ounce plain goat cheese
1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup seedless red grapes, halved
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 3-ounce can tuna, rinsed

Mix together all ingredients, making extra sure to blend the goat cheese into the yogurt. Serve with your favorite crackers or on whatever “vehicle” of transport you prefer! Cucumbers, pepper slices, toast or even a spoon!