Raw-ish Chocolate Cake with Avocado Mint Frosting!

Dinner tonight was red lettuce and some of the greens from my little garden, sauerkraut and salad made from cukes, avo and orange bell pepper, dressed with finely chopped garlic, a pinch of salt and lime juice. On the side is a stuffed bell pepper, just regular bread stuffing with carrots, celery, onion, potato and zukes. I also stuffed an acorn squash with the same mixture and fed that to the guys.
















Inside my stuffed pepper


















Ok, I made a raw-ish chocolate cake

first I made a chocolate cake














1 sm banana
5 dates
1/2 zucchini, peeled
1 1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup baking chocolate (unsweetened)
2 tbs ACV
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup water

Process in FP with S-blade until almost the texture of mousse. Spread on a sheet, about 1/2" thick in a square or rectangle shape. Make the edges as straight as you can but don't obsess over it, you can trim the cake later.

Let freeze for 2 hours or so. In the mean time make frosting

2 avocados
2 bananas
1/2 cup mint
5 dates
1/4 tsp salt

Process until very smooth















Take the still frozen cake out of the freezer and trim the rough edges so they are straight then cut into approx 2" square pieces. Put the frosting on half of the pieces and stack the rest of the pieces on top of the frosted pieces. Frost the tops of all the cakes and freeze for another hour or more.
















Slice, arrange artfully on plate and serve frozen















The boy will eat almost any bread I make but he won't eat a vegetable. Once we saw a documentary about hiding veges in food for kids. He said I should do that so today I made my regular soda bread but instead of using oat milk, I blended a peeled zucchini with water and used that as the milk. He loved it and he ate zucchini without even knowing it.

Success.

Dinner Last Night with Banana Nut Cake and Bliss

Juice this morning was carrot, beet, celery.














I'm going to use that pulp to make some Beet Your Meat Raw Vegan Burgers for dinner



Dinner last night was tempeh baked in tomato sauce with onion and potato.














I didn't write down the recipe but it was really good. A sweet sauce made with tomato, zucchini, onion, garlic and grape juice. I am always trying to make barbecue flavor. This one was ok. The man put more barbecue sauce on it :)

Also featured are side salad of corn, tomato, cuke, zuke, onion and fresh thyme, red leaf lettuce with sauerkraut and horseradish and some bread that didn't seem to want to rise. I may or may not have forgotten the baking powder or something. It still tasted good, it was just... thin. and dense. The boy loved it, ate three pieces before I caught him :)

I also made a banana cake with banana nut raw frosting that I was happy with.

Banana Layer Cake

Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour a loaf pan

In blender:
1 cup grape juice
3 ripe bananas
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 tbs oats
2 tbs ACV
Blend well and set aside

In large bowl:
1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix dry ingredients well and add liquid banana mixture

Pour batter in greased and floured pan and bake at 350F for 1 hour. Cool completely.

Frosting or filling

In food processor:
1.5 cup Brazil nuts
2 ripe banana
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs vinegar
1/4 tsp vanilla
Process with S-blade until positively creamy. Chill while the cake is cooling.

When cake has completely cooled, cut the cake in half, cutting the top off of the cake.
Put the bottom back in the pan and spread the frosting all over the bottom half of the cake. Put the top half of the cake back on and chill the cake for an hour before serving.















Shown with Cherry Amaretto Coconut Bliss
which I would never buy but the man brought it home. He said I deserved a treat. Thank you, baby. I like treats. I really don't need any ice cream but I love you for thinking of me. The reason I look sadly at your bowl when you have ice cream is because I am thinking of how bad it is for the cows. I never liked ice cream very much, it's too damn cold :)

Eggless Vegan Potato Pancakes :: Egg-Free Latkes :: Cruelty Free Brunch or Breakfast Ideas

It stopped raining for an hour or so. We dried off the tramp and did some tramping.

















I tried to get the boy to take a photo of me in the air but all I got was a bunch of me with one toe touching it. We will keep working on it if it ever stops raining.





Me in my Paul Frank PJs with one toe on the trampoline.












I think the boy's BFF is coming over this afternoon. He's had lots of play-dates over there, but this will be the first time BFF has come here.

I woke up this morning to the smell of these. The man got a hankering and cooked them up while I slept in.

















6 med potatoes
1 med onion
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs ground flaxseed
1 tbs flax oil







Fry em up in a hot cast iron pan with plenty of oil and serve with apple sauce.















I didn't eat any. I can't do fried anymore. But I did take a little taste and they were fantastic!

Check it out, it's Don't Eat Eggs Month. Click on the link in my side bar and take the 30 day pledge to go EGG FREE and choose Compassion Over Killing

The month after easter is the slowest month for the egg producers. It's spring and the chickens naturally lay more but people buy less because it was just easter and there were so many eggs, they need a break from eggs. So the egg farmers declared it National Egg Month to encourage us to buy more eggs and relieve them of their surplus.

If you ate no eggs EVER you would be doing a lot to help ease the suffering of many battery hens. Not only that but you would probably lose a couple of pounds.

A quote from the above linked website:

"One of the best steps each of us can take to make a difference for egg-laying hens is to simply leave their eggs out of our shopping carts."

Dinner Last Night and SNOW This Morning

It rained off and on all day yesterday and we woke up this morning to this:

















Dinner last night was...














very good. I just threw a pot of beans together and made some garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach/collard salad with sauerkraut and mango salsa. Yummy vege soup and home made bread with oat cheese slices.

I also made a fat free apple sauce cake but I think the recipe called for too much baking soda so I am not going to reprint it here. It's ok, we all needed a big burp after that meal, lol.














The flavor and consistency were nice but it was a tad salty and it did make me have a big soda burp.* Everyone else said they loved it so if I ever make it right it they probably won't like it :)

The boy's (almost vegan) dinner
applesauce cake, toast with the horrifying individual slices of dairy cheese and "fried" potatoes.














He ate his salad earlier, without incident.


Footnotes:
*which I recognized from the old pregan** days when I used to get heartburn and treat it with a tsp of baking soda in a glass of water. It works.

**footnote within a footnote? have I gone MAD!?!. Er, Pregan is a term I have heard bandied around (neener) in the vegan blogger community. It means pre-vegan. I tried to find a definition, looked in the urban dictionary and every thing. They define it as

"A person who arrives early at informal office gatherings to chow down on
free cake, cookies and other snacks."
I entered the definition that I know and we will see if it shows up, blah blah

Sliceable Vegan Cheese For Sandwiches :: Oatmeal Cheese Recipe :: Vegan Cheesy Sausage Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches

Yar, a hearty pirate's breakfast for a Saturday morning!















Biscuits I made from soda bread dough with a little more flour. I rolled them out and cut them with a coffee cup and baked them at 350F for about 30 minutes. First biscuits I have made in many years.
I heated the vegan sausage slices and the biscuits in a cast iron pan with a spray of olive oil then assembled them on a plate with slices of cheese, roma tomato and fresh basil. Beautiful!

Then I took the picture, gave them to the man and came back here to write all about it. They were good, trust me! I didn't eat any cuz I'm trying to juice today. It's hard with people all over. I want to cook for everyone all day long. I am cooking beans and will be making chili for dinner tonight. I will try to make some tortillas today. It might be a disaster, I will let you know.

Oatmeal cheese on a flax and quinoa cracker.














I was looking all over for an agar cheese recipe and found this here
Reprinted without permission from No Milk dot com

--------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.00 (BB)

 Title: Mostarella Cheeze
Categories: Vegetarian, Vegan, Sandwiches
 Yield: 3 cups

 2 c  ;water
1/2 c  Nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 c  Quick-cooking rolled oats
1/4 c  Tahini
 4 tb Arrowroot or cornstarch
 4 tb Fresh lemon juice
 1 tb Onion granules
 1 ts Salt

Process all ingredients in a blender for several
minutes until very smooth.

Pour into a saucepan and cook over medium heat,
stirring constantly, until very thick and smooth.

Pack into a lightly oiled, 3 cup rectangular mold,
loaf pan, or other small, rectangular conainer and
cool. For round slices, pack into a small, straight
sided, cylindrical container. Cool, cover and chill
overnight. To serve, turn out of the mold and
carefully slice. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Still in the mold after chilling overnight.














Released from the mold and on my cheese plate.
















It really worked. What a great way to use the power of oatmeal to my advantage!
It's soft, but I was able to slice it and put it on the biscuits over hot sausages. It tastes VERY cheesey.
I made the recipe exactly but I used garlic powder instead of onion granules and 1/2 cup of raw, hulled sesames seeds instead of tahini.

Last night the boy ate dinner with the family. We all had grilled cheese, mozz for the omnis and seed cheese for me, tomato soup that I made from scratch and salad.
The boy ate some of everything and didn't have anything special made for him! First time EVER!!

Amazing SUCCESS!

Year-Round Halloween Kitteh Does NOT Approve

Pizza Pockets

Not raw or vegan but homemade. I do what I can.

the boy loves his pizza. Mostly frozen. Today we were watching tv while I was force feeding him red lettuce and I saw that old commercial for pizza rolls.

Not this one but this one is funny. That kid would not be invited back over to my house. Or anywhere else.

This is what I did. I made regular dough for Irish soda bread and added a bit more flour to make it rollable. Then I rolled it out and cut circles, put the circles in my handy dandy ravioli press, filled the circles with jarred sauce and a lil bit of cheddar. I made some vegan ones for me with sauce and seed cheese.
Then i lightly greased a pan and baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes.
They came out surprisingly good!
Success!!

Vegan Taco Night at the In-Laws and Proposing Massive Changes and Vegan Chili Beans RECIPE

I really am the luckiest vegan in the whole world.

I have a wonderful man who eats whatever I cook*, and I have his father and his fathers wife (Dil and Mil for our purposes here) who are totally freakin new age and open to all kinds of ideas and who fill me with ideas for wonderful things to do and wonderful things to think! I have a beautiful red headed step child who is brilliant and just keeps getting smarter every day!

How much better could life be?
I'm googling the lyrics for happiest girl in the whole USA, for peet's sake!

Mil is trying to convince me to make flax crackers and try to market them at the health foods store in town. I think it's a good idea. but there will be much planning and I will probably just over think it and never really get anything done, like I usually do.

Last night we went over to the Dil and Mil's place, the man and Dil had a conference call and we had dinner over there. RAW VEGAN TACOS!!! Well, it wasn't all raw but quite a bit of it was.

There were nori wrappers, thinly sliced sweet potatos and some organic corn tortillas for shells and, OH, MY! So much stuff to put in them all! There was shredded turnip, julliened cukes and zukes, kim chi, sauerkraut made from beets, salsa, onion, shredded kale, mint, cabbage, cilantro, and Sheesh, there was a bunch of good food there.
I stuffed myself and then she brought out the chocolate! Dark chocolate with almonds and cranberries inside. And I even had an apple turnover, although fruit should never be eaten cooked, I figured, what is a tsp of apple pie filling going to mean in the over all scheme, anyway? I ate it with soaked raisins and figs on top. Crispy filo dough filled with spiced apples and covered in soaked dried fruit. It was yum.

I wish I had brought my camera. I love visiting with them. So does the boy. You know, it's his grandparents... :) :) :)

We did the weekly shopping yesterday, too. I let the boy help, sending him to get 7 kiwis, 3 cukes, put the kale in the bag, etc. He helped write the numbers on the twisties for the bags of seeds and nuts and helped grind the peanut butter for his daily lunch sandwich. We also got him some goldfish crackers, he loves them soo much. I really think it's important for children to be part of the shopping experience and also help out with some chores in the house. At his age he can help out a lot, really. I already have him take his dishes to the kitch when he's done eating.
I need to remember to ask him to help with putting his clean clothes away and I also need to remember to have him make up his own bed in the morning when he gets dressed.

I served him some salad the other day and he ate it which is good progress.
I talked to his dad about him eating with us one night a week. His dad said, "you better make pasta that night". No. That's totally missing the point.
We already have dinner together every night, but he gets a special dinner made just for him. What other kid, barring severe allergics, get a special meal made every night? Ask any kid in his class and I bet you, barring severe allergies, that the child eats dinner with the parents. Eats what they eat. Cries over having to finish his lima beans, but finishes them anyway.

I proposed it to the boy this morning and he didn't seem thrilled about it but he didn't fall out crying either.

It's hard to change a life-long habit but it's even harder to have diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The boy will not survive unless we get some veges in him.

Maybe tonight. I am making chili with beans. I know, I know.














About 2 cups pinto and black beans. I soaked them all day yesterday and over night so they would sprout. Sprouting makes then about a million times easier to digest. Then I cooked them about an hour and a half, until they were soft.
1 tsp each curry, paprika, cumin, salt, cayenne, sage, and oregano.
3 smashed cloves of garlic and half an onion, quartered.

I will leave these on the stove all day until dinner time and serve them with a salad and some homemade bread.


Footnotes
*he's lost 25lbs since I moved in, I must be doing something either very right or very wrong.

Hail Seitan (say TAN) part 3a

Part 3, here, with recipe. It works good. No oil is the secret, i guess. I could see this making a roast


Ok! It cooked up well in the broth, I got 8 good sized meaty cutlets! I poured a tsp of olive oil in a cast iron pan, heated it up nice and hot and put the cutlets, sliced down the center to make
thinner slices.














Why does that shot glass keep showing up in photos? It's for vinegar, I swear it. I haven't had an alcoholic drink since new year's eve. And that is something for me. I was (is) a BIG boozehound.

Then I browned them up. They started to smell like donuts. I guess fried flour is fried flour, after all :)













mmm. salty donutss....





























They made a damn good sandwich, though.
On home made bread dressed with seed cheese and veges










I was too busy eating to take more photos




On a completely unrelated note, the boy ate salad last night. He came home and said "I'm hungry" I said, "you are eating some salad tonight. Go sit at the table. I gave him a plate with about 6 pieces of cut up red lettuce and some HV ranch dressing (not vegan. baby steps)

He ate it. He said it was yucky but he ate it. YAY!

JUICE!

This morning's juice is cranberries, celery, and that thing that looks like bok choy but it's bigger, with fresh out of the dehydrator dried basil sprinkled on top.


I'm still too upset to talk about the seitan debacle. I should stick to raw foods... I seem to be good at making them...

But I haven't given up. My guys aren't raw (or vegan. Or even vegetarian) and I want to make tasty vegan foodies for them. The boy still loves the bread. He had two slices for breakfast and said "I know someone who is REALLY IRISH and makes this bread and your bread is better!"
To which I responded, "Vegan is always best!"
Before dinner last night he said "I don't want to eat dairy." I said, "I don't want you to eat dairy, but what are you going to eat? I made a dairy-free dinner of mac n cheez* and bread and salad for dinner, would you like to eat that?" He had leftover cheese pizza.















*It was tasty and surprizingly "cheesy". Basically broth with nutritional yeast and lemon juice, reduced on the stovetop, then baked with cooked pasta and bread crumbs. I'm working on it.

Sick Day Lunches

Mine














Peanut butter on celery, carrot cauli curry salad, vege wraps and brussel sprouts*, dipped in olive oil, seasoned and dehydrated until slightly crisp on the edges. Heaven.

The Boy's














Oriental flavor ramen with an eighth of a tsp of the seasoning packet and a tsp of nutritional yeast, grapes and some off brand ritz-type crackers.

shh, it's ALL vegan!

He had apple sauce for breakfast. Water with lemon and grapes for a snack and the above photographed lunch.

His first day without animal products. I'm not gonna say anything, shh! o_0

*The idea for the sprouts came from Raising Alex and it's really simple and good.

MLK DAY 2009

Good morning.

The boy is home today. MLK is a school holiday.

We got some hair clippers yesterday and today I gave him a nice clipper cut. 1 inch all over his head. It looks neat and tidy and he likes it that way.
It will save him a good ten minutes every morning doing his hair. His bed head is legendary.

Unfortunately, he also has a bit of a cold so I am trying to keep him quiet and pumping juice. Commercial apple juice, but it is 100% juice. He won't try juice that I make and since I'm off sweet fruit, I don't foresee making any. Now he's having a bagel with Nutella. Not vegan. He doesn't care.

I sometimes get really sad because I know they don't want to stop using dairy products. I don't think I will ever be able to keep a vegan kitchen. Death and sadness flavor everything I eat, even if I don't actually eat the dairy and eggs.
When we were shopping yesterday, the man mentioned that dairy didn't kill cows and I set him straight. I explained the whole process of dairy: rape, pregnancy, abduction of the calves from the mother to be made veal and die young, or to become dairy cows and suffer the same fate as their mother and then be slaughtered after a life of slavery, right there in the health food section. And I didn't whisper.

I hope someone heard me and thinks about it. I hope the man heard me and thinks about it.

We also went to the feed store. We got some seeds and some starter trays. I got a bunch of herbs, oregano, basil, and some marigolds. The man got a few varieties of tomatoes. I haven't ever had my own garden and I don't think he has either. We are both very excited about growing and eating our own tomatoes and herbs. This is year one.

Woo HOO! Nacho Night! RAW VEGAN NACHOS

Raw vegan nacho platter with raw vegan cheese, raw vegan guacamole, raw vegan mango salsa, raw vegan pickled jalapeno peppers and raw vegan chips

Did I mention that it's all raw and vegan and whole food?













A simple, fun and very satisfying Sunday afternoon snack. Great for after school treat or maybe if your family is watching some tv you could sneak it in where the cheese puffs usually go.

They were definitely a hit with the man. He's blogging now, you should go look.

That lovely plate contains:

Sauerkraut flax crackers*
The white stuff is sunflower seed cheese**
The green is guacamole***
Mango Salsa
Cucumber slices
Homemade RAW pickled jalapeno peppers

and one Lemon Licker, the licker of lemons.















He said it was the "sourest lemon I ever licked"

Footnotes:
* a simple flax cracker recipe with sauerkraut as the vege. Absolutely freekin tasty like you can't believe. The boy even tasted one. Didn't like it, but tasted it (!) Progress!
** Sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, as much filtered water as is needed to blend, blend until cheese. Add spices and flavor as you wish.
***very simple, just mashed avo with some lemon juice and mango salsa

Vegan Waffle Recipe

The boy said they were better than Eggo.

Success.

I made oatmilk and gave myself a facial with the pulp

I don't know what it is with me and oats lately...
















Oatmeal Milk

1 cup of rolled oats
4 cups filtered water, save half a cup for rinsing the blender carafe
turbinado sugar

Put oats and water in the blender, blend for at least five minutes.

Strain with a fine strainer add sugar to taste.

I taste tested this on some commercial cereal* and it was passable. I would add more sugar before serving it to anyone else.

Nonetheless, it was cheap and easy. I would recommend it. I will test it on the boy tonight if he's willing.

The pulp could have many uses, I suppose. You could heat and eat it as cereal, it still had a lot of oat-y flavor. It could be used in cookies. I could be a creamy, fiber filled addition to a smoothie, or you could fashion a meat substitute with it!

I used some for an oatmeal facial.















Fun stuff. That is me with oats on my face.


Today is the eighth of January and the color of the day is green according to my Witch's Calendar








Celebrate Green!








Footnotes:
*Bam Bam Berry. It's vegan but I thought the taste of chemical berry would never leave my mouth.

Green Juice on Monday and musing about The Boy

I slept in until 6:30 this morning. E did not get a smoothie. Darn. I feel like a failure. Well, not really.

He woke me up at 6:30 so I could get the boy ready. He dresses himself pretty well but I have to make him breakfast and make his lunch, make sure he wears gloves, hat, coat, not just a hoody, gets to the bus on time. You know, make sure he's ready. Breakfast is easy, cold cereal or toast. I try to get him to have oatmeal if he will but I don't want to fight in the morning, whatever you want, even scrambled eggs, just eat something and smile, my darling. Look! Cartoons!

He brings his lunch to school. Always a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a juice box and some fruit. He likes fruit but it has to be just right. There can't be brown spots or any other flaw or blemish or he won't eat it. I put lemon on apple slices and he likes that sometimes. I try not to stress on him about food but I do talk to him about healthy choices and try to make them accessible to him if I can. He just won't eat a vegetable.

He says he doesn't want to eat animals, but the fact is, he doesn't have much choice with his picky-ness. I think he will get better as he gets older. He's a smart kid and he is exposed to people eating good food, I hope it will rub off. You know, like the cussing has :)

Me, on the other hand, I love veges. So much that I sometimes wring the juices from them and drink it! As a treat!

Today's Juice:














4 or 5 kale leaves
2 ribs of celery
a cup or more of green cabbage
about a thumb of ginger
water
blend, strain, drink immediately, feel the power of green!
Repeat as needed

Save the pulp for making yummy, crunchy RAW crackers!

French Fries ::OR:: One Way to get a Vegetable into a Picky Eater

The boy is 8. He will not eat any vegetable. He likes fruit so I encourage him to eat as much as possible, replacing his usual go gurt or slice of processed cheese with apples, kiwis and clementines whenever I can.

He has been completely cut off from fast food since I got here. As far as I know, anyway.
He misses it and asks for it a lot. Esp when we are out driving and he sees the places.

He and I watched a television show one time and the parents sneaked veges in the children's food with a blender. He asked me why I don't hide veges in his food, but it's hard to hide a vege in a chicken breast. At least it's frozen chicken breaded and baked at home now.

Today I was thinking of how to get a vege into him and french fried potatoes dawned on me.

Peeled them and cut them in Mc fry shape, grease a pan (i used the last few drops in a flax oil bottle but olive would work) with about a tbs of oil for each two potatoes, lay them out evenly, so they aren't touching, sprinkle with salt if desired and baked them at 350F for approx 25 min (the timer died in the middle of the batch)














I almost didn't make it in time with the camera.

And I was told I need to make more.

Success.