All Hail Kale Salad: Swipe!

Swiper, no swiping!

Those of you that have young siblings as I do or children of your own
might catch that reference. If not, I just swiped or knocked off a dish
from everyone's favorite Veggie Grill.

To be honest, I've never even had the darn thing. Yes, everyone raves
about it, blah blah blah-- but I have a hard time bringing myself to
pay $8-10 for a bowl of kale. I don't care how good it is. If I'm going
to go out to eat and drop dollars in the double digits, it better be
something I can't make at home or have never experienced before.

Its Ok if you can't cook and like to eat out because its the only decent
way to get good food, but you have to at least tell me you're trying to duplicate these things.

What is this All Hale Kale stuff? Apparently it is Kale and Quinoa
marinated in a papaya vinegarette, topped with purple cabbage,
walnuts, carrots, and a roasted corn salsa and chic'n/tempeh (opt).

I basically had everything but the papaya, so I subbed out some OJ for
that baby. Voila. Pretty delish. I didn't do the grilled plant protein,
since we were already eating quinoa and quinoa is high in protein.
Although, we did have some assorted baked sweet potato fries on the
side: orange, purple, and white sweet potato!

FYI: although many people do, there is really no need to remove the
stems from kale. Just cut off the very end and roll the whole leaf with
a rolling pin to tenderize. Crush the stem so it is soft and chewable.
Why waste a perfectly good piece of kale?



All Hail Kale Salad for 4

8 stalks of kale, tenderized and shredded finely
2 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup purple cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup raw walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup orange juice
2 tbsp olive oil or a nut oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp agave
juice from one lemon
1/2 tsp grated ginger
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup fresh corn
1 tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
juice from one lime
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro (opt)

Once the cooked quinoa has cooled, toss it with the kale and add the
dressing. Go ahead and mix the salsa, let it sit to 'age' the flavors.

Once you're ready to chow down arrange the salad on the plate
starting with the marinated kale, salsa, cabbage, carrot then walnuts--
or whatever you like, it's all ending up in the same place anyway!

This is where you go "WHAT? That's it?!" and I smile and laugh manically.

I guess it's the Forth of July... Don't go out and roast dead animals
or burn a forest down with stupid fireworks... please and thankyou.
No, we are not celebrating today. Why? I dunno, should it be a priority?

Pumpkin Patch Part Seven: Hogwarts Pumpkin Juice

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1 has been out now for one
week. We went and saw it opening day with all the 16-year old girls
dressed in their Gryffindor best. As big Harry Potter fans, we had a
good time and it was actually one of the first times we didn't go to
the midnight showing the night before...

But to tie up the pumpkin patch series and as an homage to Harry
Potter I made some Hogwarts Pumpkin Juice.

I've never had raw pumpkin juice and it reminded me of carrot juice in
a way. First I tried peeling the pumpkin before shoving it through my
juicer, but it didn't seem to make a difference so I just cut the stem
parts off, scooped the seeds out and pushed it through.

It is not something you can drink straight-- well, at least I cannot.
Instead I made it a juice blend. You can either juice these with it or
add them in after.



I used a smaller pumpkin or about 3-4 cups chopped raw pumpkin
1 cup of fresh apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup fresh orange juice or 2 table spoons of orange juice concentrate

Over my Christmas break I am going to try to re-read all the books
because I nearly forgot everything that happened!

If pumpkin juice really isn't your thing, no fears I'll be working
on a butter beer recipe soon!

P.S. I hope you had a beautiful, loving, and compassionate Holiday!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Five: Rastafarian Pizza

You don't need dreadlocks or any smoke around da house to enjoy
something rasta, you need to just be jammin this pizza!


I wanted to mix it way up. This is an amazing dish to contrast a deep
natural sweetness with a light brush of spice. Yeah, I know I've already
used beans on another pizza in this series, but I had to go back for
one more version.

This time I used a black bean mix instead of the pintos. And here is
the break down of some basic Jamaican Black Beans...


3 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, minced
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1 can black beans
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp red chili flakes
salt and pepper

First cook the onions and garlic over medium heat with a few
tablespoons of water until they appear slightly translucent.
Add the black beans and seasonings and continue to cook for
about 10 minutes, but be sure to keep adding water or more
orange juice if it appears that the beans are drying out.

Preheat the oven at 450F and roll out your prepared crust.

On the crust, spread out the black beans evenly. It is important
to make sure they pretty moist because they will lose a lot of
that moisture during the bake in the oven.

I topped with fresh sliced tomatoes, sliced green and yellow
bell peppers, black olives, and bananas. I originally though pineapple
because I wanted to add something sweet. But pineapple is tricky on
pizzas and can be very over powering. So bananas it was. They were
perfect. Soft, sweet, and yellow! Perfect for my colour scheme!




Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the crust starts to turn
gold. I loved assembling it because it looks like a mandala!
Enjoy with some Marley, or be super naughty and pair it
up with some Sublime...

Green with Envy

From my endless reading of foodie lit, cookbooks, and online food
postings I've been reading more and more about the holy green
smoothie. Now I'm a little green to this pure green smoothie fad,
but I'm no stranger to adding veggies to my fruity blends.

I must admit that I am the ultimate smoothie master. I conquered
the secret recipes of jamba juice and have gotten people addicted
to my concoctions.

I talked to my Mom on the phone a couple days ago and she said that
my little brother was begging everyone to make him smoothie like I
used to do for him all the time. My Mom told him that she didn't
know how to make a good smoothie and he told her that it's easy,
"you just have to put bananas in the blender".

I was putting some veggies in with the fruit when I was on a
liquid diet last year after getting all four of my wisdom teeth
surgically extracted in one go. Don't worry, I'm still a wise guy.
I remember drinking gallons of smoothies and a lot of carrot soup.
For some reason, none of my smoothies never had even a slight
green tint. I guess I wasn't adding enough X.

So I gave it another whirl.

First shot....

4 leaves of kale, 2 bananas, a handful of ice cubes and about 6
strawberries- thinned out with some OJ


Second shot...

4 leaves of kale, 2 bananas, a handful of ice cubes and 1 small
mango- again thinned out with OJ.


The second was definitely more 'green' tasting. I like almost always
using bananas because it helps retain that thickness and prevents
a lot of the separation that you get in some smoothies. If you're
at all adverse to eating your greens this really is a great trick.
The colour may be a bit... unusual, but you really cannot taste
the veg at all. It tastes pretty much like a really bitchin' fruit
smoothie.


Now they do look pretty similar, but the second was a much richer
green and probably could have been blended longer. That is one thing
to remember! Blend longer than you think you should or else you'll
get a little bit of stringy fiber. We were in a hurry this morning
though, like the usual Monday morning rush.

My only qualm was that I should have frozen the bananas, mango and
berries beforehand, that way I wouldn't have had to add the ice.
For me, a smoothie being cold is essential. Warm smoothies make
me wanna hurl.

Ideally, I'd like to keep up having a smoothie, preferably green if
I can mix it up enough to not get bored, every morning as a new
routine. My next try is going to include avocado, so stay tuned.

Dilly Dally~ Spring Break

In the middle of a continual string of immeasurable miscommunication
between my cousin's boyfriend and myself, a very obnoxious thing took
place. Or a few obnoxious things really.

First, he weed-wacked my newly planted squash/pumpkins. Actually, I
later realized that he pulled them up and weed-wacked around it.
??
I don't know either.

Second, I woke up to find my composter gone. Not the compost per se
but the wooden pallets that I had built around it to contain my
compost.

It turned out that he though the composter was my garden... and since
I was starting to plant elsewhere he took the initiative to get rid
of said pallets. Also he put of a large piece of wood in the spot
where I was planting, mainly in an effort to make it appear useful
so he didn't have to get rid of it.

After all this when down, I was zen kicking ass angry.
By noon, I had my prime garden space back, hopefully salvaged my
squash, and demanded my pallets returned. We'll see how soon
that happens. Its hard to explain the use of a composter to someone
who doesn't understand what decomposition is.

After that I built a little brick border to clearly delineate
where my garden is now. I planted some potatoes, beets, and an onion
that I sprouted. So much more to come!!




In the kitchen, I've been practicing different cakes for
Monkey-man's birthday coming up this weekend. So much to plan,
so much to cook!


Mocha Blackberry




I also made Orange-ginger and Orange Chocolate, but the pictures
were terrible. Both the orange ones were good, but the mocha
one was too dense and tasted like a muffin.

Finally for dinner I made a quick batch of soup and biscuits.
It just the Irish garlic soup I made for St. Patrick's Day,
but I added kale because I was craving some rich greens.

Back to testing!

Still high on the holidays

Our Christmas, I'm actually glad to say, was very quiet.
Usually I spend the Christmas eve and the later part of
Christmas Day running around and trying to visit with as
many people possible. But this year I got to have a very
peaceful day with my Boyfriend.

We spent our time dozing, eating Christmas goodies,
cooking, and opening presents. All of my favorite things.






























This is our wee little Christmas Tree.




























I love our funny little tree topper. Neither of us are in
to angels or stars, so we improvised a little.
We're both just starting out pretty much in LA again,
so neither of us have much stuff built up.
(except for all the random things my aunt and grandma keep
sending me, but that's for a whole other story)


















Me in front of our wee tree.

I made breakfast before we opened presents.
Or started it rather. We opened while it baked.
I made my traditional Christmas dish, Cranberry-Orange Sweet Buns!























































































Then we opened presents, lots of vegan goodies!
I got some awesome gadgets!







































































I also got a bunch of little do dads from my folks and some
great intellectual reads! Can't wait!

So we watched Elf, my favorite Christmas movie, while eating
some sweet buns. Then I passed out because it was just too
much excitement for me.

Later on we went around Hastings Ranch and looked at Christmas
lights. Each block has a different theme, my favorite block
was the peace dove themed. The design was very pretty and well
thought out. On our way back we drove up Christmas Tree Lane
in Pasadena.




























































After that we came home for dinner of Borscht and quesadillas,
yes a weird combo but very good all the same.



































Overall it was a very lovely Christmas. Our Christmas Eve
was pretty fun, lots of visiting and driving. We were up
in the Mountains for a night with my Grandparents. I have
photos from there, but sadly I left my camera there, so right
now I'm just bumming off my boyfriend. Hopefully I will get
it back soon and get back to more consistent blogging.
Until then, I hope you all had an excellent Christmas and
have a safe and Happy New Year.

Three Days until Christmas: tremendous amounts of Truffles

I Completely admit that I probably went way overboard
with the truffles. I made a lot. Then with all the
sugar plums? Lets just say we have enough Christmas treats
to go around. I showed you guys the peppermint truffles.
I did a few other version that I thought you may enjoy!

Although there is seriously no way you could not enjoy these
unless of course you are allergic to chocolate and then I
am very very sorry for you. These vegan truffles are smooth,
soft and melt perfectly in your mouth (and probably anywhere
else warm you leave them for long).


















I talked about starting from chocolate chips...
And the soymilk


















The Ganache which is just chocolate and 'cream', whipped.

















Now, before I added finely chopped dried cranberries,
but this time I also added one orange's worth the zest
and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

































If you have a hankering for one of those chocolate
oranges that you smack on the table to open, this is your
cure. But I'm not too sure about how hard you wanna smack
these truffles on the table.



























































































The other variations I made had about 1/2 cup of finely
chopped walnuts and gingerbread filled.
The gingerbread ones are probably the best because the
gingerbread is so soft and hold the overwhelming richness
of the chocolate back just enough. I dusted them in dutch
cocoa powder or plain vegan powdered sugar.

So altogether I made about 6 batches of truffles, the peppermint,
the cranberry-orange truffles, the gingerbread filled truffles, the
walnut truffles and variations of all those in between!

Twas 4 Days til Christmas: Vegan Sugarplums

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

I wrapped lots of presents to send, burned an entire
batch of grapefruit marmalade, and ate way too many
cookies that I was supposed to be frosting. Hee!

There is only a few days left til Christmas and why
not get in on some traditional recipes? I really want to
make some figgy pudding. I made an excellent pudding
last year... (or was it the year before).

I’ll be making a tofurky casserole which my papa and I make
for Thanksgiving, but I didn’t this year because we were all
over the place and didn’t have a full sit down Thanksgiving.
With harvest roasted veggies, that will be our Christmas Dinner.

More than a Christmas Dinner though, we’d have a Christmas
brunch. We would have eggs and potatoes, pancakes, (veggie)
ham, and I would make my grandpa’s special orange sweet rolls.
That! is something I really remember at Christmas. We could
have our stockings before breakfast and open the rest after.
My Grandpa would make these sickeningly sweet orange sweet
buns, my parents would drink champagne with cranberries,
and my brother and I would have sparkling apple cider.

If you really want to awe your in-laws this year on Christmas,
forget the store bought cookies and pumpkin pie and pull out
your food processor. Leave them with visions of your kitchen
magic dancing in their heads. Forget the Starbucks giftcards,
who gives home baked goods anymore?

I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful it is to receive
something that really has that direct love and attention that
is so often lost. Every thing comes out of a box or from
a bakery at the supermarket, filled with artificial crap.
So people are shocked when someone does even basic
cooking. I love making something like this that is actually
pretty easy, but seems like you probably spend hours and hours
on it. Let them think you worked your butt off and bask in
the glory of these spicy, sweet little puff of Christmas Heaven.

From what I can gather, Sugarplums were named only for their
appearance, as they look like tiny little plums rolled in sugar.
Most call for orange liqueur, but instead I used fresh
orange zest for a more natural approach. This is also a
good substitute gift to cookies when your friends (etc) may
have wheat or gluten allergies. Not so good if they have nut
allergies, but hey.

Vegan Sugarplums

Sugarplum Faerie Dust
1/3 cup vegan powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice

Filling
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup pecans
1 cup dates
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dried figs
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried cherries
1 tbsp fresh orange zest

Toast the almonds in the oven at 350F for about
ten minutes.














While almonds are toasting, sift together
the faerie dust onto a dish or pan that will be easy to
roll the plums in.
















With a food processor chop the nuts first and set aside.
Next process the dried fruit from largest to smallest.
This will keep the fruit at a pretty uniform size. 

Continue to process them until it all starts to clump together,
then add the nuts and zest.





































As you can see from my photos, I don’t have a processor.
So, as the sadist I am, I did this all by hand. It took me
a crazy long time, so if you don’t have a processor or alot
of spare time, I strongly suggest you go ask a neighbor to
borrow one! I just put Home Alone on and resigned myself
to chop for about half the movie.


























Once you have this all mixed together, with clean hands,
shape into small balls (a little smaller than 1" in diameter).
The sticker your hands get the harder it is to shape them,
so you’ll have to wash up a couple times. The key to
keeping them together is being gentle while your rolling them
out and shaping them.

















Finally toss in your spiced faerie dust!



































This make about 24-30 Sugarplums depending on size.
Store chilled in airtight containers, layered with wax
paper.

Using raw date sugar and raw almonds, this recipe
could easily be made completely raw if you like!