Spring Break Food: Bananas with Cinnamon and Agave

This was just one of those spur of the moment ideas that turned out to be so good that I could eat it every day.

Ingredients:
2 Bananas
Cinnamon
Agave nectar
vanilla extract
Raw sugar

Cut the banana's into one inch peices and place them into a bowl. Add the desired amount of cinnamon, sugar, and agave. Put one small drop of vanilla in and than mix all of them up together.

Serve at room temp or chilled.

Note: with out the sugar this is a great breakfast too!

Spring Break Food: Light Cucumber Sandwiches

Well as always there is nothing wrong with a good sandwich. That does not change when you are vegan. Yea, there isn't any lunch meat but there are plenty of veggies and subs that you can put on!

Here is a picture of mine that will hopefully inspire you to eat a healthier one this summer.



Instead of just meat and cheese in there I have bean sprouts, cucumber (as my 'meat' but eggplant is great too!), Veganeze (vegan mayo), tomato, radishes, carrots and pepper. But you can put anything on! Veggies give you everything you could want to taste!

Spring Break: Radish Tabbouleh with Sweet Potato Steaks

I have made the Cuban Sweet Potato before but seeing as how they were Will's fav and Alyssa has not yet gotten to try them no one seemed to mind. Here is that recipe.

One of the things that I know being a new vegan is that most of the dishes that I make are "hot". For me that doesn't just mean heated, but also heavy. No one really wants to eat something heavy in the summer. This dish is the start of me trying to cook more summery dishes! The tabbouleh was something that I made the night before but everyone liked it so much it seemed like a natural side dish. Its natural, it light, it wont make you feel hot or heavy, and its amazingly fresh....plus it has red radishes...which are my new favorite thing ever!

Ingredients:
1 cup bulgur wheat
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of finely chopped parsley
2 scallions, both white and green parts chopped
1/2 cup of sliced radishes (get them as thin as you can)

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water and the salt to a boil. Put in the bulgur wheat and remove from heat. Stir once and then cover. Set this aside as you would couscous for 20-30 minutes. All of the water should be absorbed.

Stir in the lemon, oil. parsley, scallions and radishes. Mix this well. Add more lemon juice if you like and pepper to taste.

Spring break food: Avocado Chocolate Moose

Alyssa, Will and I decided to go up the lake this week. It is spring break and meant to be a yoga retreat, but but that fell through. Oh well, We had a great time checking out Mabel Falls and Granite Shoals anyway (Right off lake LBJ). How could we not enjoy it? Just take a look at the view!

Since we are all relativally broke and I am vegan (If you didn't figure it out Texas isn't exactly the place for road side vegan) we had the chance to try a lot of new Recipies that I have been meaning to tinker with.

This is the first one. I'm not really a huge desert person but this was something that everyone seemed to like!

Ingredients:
3 Hass Alvacodos (2 cups when massed up.)
1/4 cup of raw agave nectar
1/4 plus 2 Tablespoons of raw cocoa powder
3 tablespoons of vegan butter
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt (if you need to mellow out the sweetness)
3 ice cubes

Puree all of the ingredients together in a food processor until they have no chunks. If you don't mind it not being "Live" place in fridge for and hour before serving. As for the Picture....I swear he really did like it (He's actually been nagging me to make it again) he just very much zones out when he eats!

Vegan "Egg" Salad

This is adapted from a recipe I found. I really do miss egg salad. A friend of mine (Febe) and I went on a binge about a year ago where we had it at least once a day. I use it as a snack or a meal and bring it with me to parties so that myself and other vegans have something to eat. Not only that but if you don't serve it on the bread and cut out the Vegenaise it is totally raw.

Ingredients:
2 cakes of firm tofu
2 small onions (diced)
2 celery stalks (diced)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 table spoon Canola or safflower oil
1 teaspoon of Tumeric
1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt
1 teaspoon of Vegenaise
whole wheat break
Paprika (to taste)

Directions:
Mash your tofu up in a mixing bowl until it is chunky but not smooth. Add the onions, celery, soy sauce, tumeric and salt. Mix up well. Stir in the vegenaise and stick in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Put the salad on the slice of bread. Garish with thinly cut radish's, cucumber, bean sprouts and anything else that you would like. Sprinkle some of the paprika on top.

Home Made Granola

Buying granola is so expensive! It will Drive you mental to put six bucks down for a tiny bag! So I decided it was high time I try making one of my own. It was fun and easy...not to mention how cheap it was! Plus when you make your own you can try anything that you like in it!

Ingredients (For about 2 quarts):
6 cups of quick cooking oats
1/2 cup of maple or other natural sugar (dont use white. Its bad for you and wont hold the same way)
3/4 cups of wheat germ
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup of chopped nuts (I use walnuts because they are so good for your skin)
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 cup of dried fruit (cranberry's rock but experiment!)
1/2 cup of maple or agave syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Spread your oats on a rimmed pan or baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Move the oats into a mixing bowl before adding the sugar, wheat germ, coconut, dried fruit and nuts. Mix the oil, syrup and vanilla and than add to the oat mixture. Stir so that all of the oats are moist.

Spread again onto to baking sheets. You want to have two so that they brown evenly and are not too thick. Bake for another 10 minutes, stirring after 5 to brown. If they are not brown that check at 2 minute intervals and rotate pans.

Let them cool in the pans on the counter top before placing them in an air tight container!

Let the granola

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well I have been having a craving for some chocolate chip cookies so I had to make some today! Here is my recipe. I including coconut because I love the taste of coconut and chocolate together! Yummy!

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp.salt
cinnamon to taste
vegan chocolate or carob chips
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water
Handful of shredded coconut



Also while your oven is pre-heating put the cookie sheets you are going to use on top of the oven so they get preheated as well. Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon (if you choose). Add chips and coconut. Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a medium size bowl mix vegan sugar and oil. Mix it well. Add the vanilla and then add the water. Mix it well. Add the wet to the well in the dry. Mix it well but be careful not to overwork it. Add more chips if you need to. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Put them in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip and rotate the sheets. Bake another 4 minutes and check them.

The cookies are done when they seem a little bit softer then you want them to be. They will harden up some as they cool. If not hard enough rotate again and cook for another 4 minutes but keep an eye on it.

Take them out when they are done and move them to wire cooling racks. If they split or come apart when you try to remove them let them sit on the pan for few minutes before transferring them to the racks.