The Culmination of An Entire Day of Preparing Falafel Dinner

Ah, the Chick Pea. Also known as Garbanzos, these tasty legumes are full of fiber and oh-so-versatile. They are the main ingredient in hummus and I love me some delicious chickpea curry (chana masala) but many people don't know that they are the major component in falafel.

Yesterday was Falafel Appreciation Day so we had falafel for dinner last night.

Soak and sprout 1 cup of dried garbanzo beans. This takes four days. If you don't have the time you can just soak them over night. When you are done you should have about 3 cups of soaked/sprouted beans.

Do yourself a favor and do not use canned beans. Or any canned food for that matter. They line the cans with BPA and that leaches into the canned food causing all kinds of problems that we won't get into here. It's cheaper to buy dried beans and very simple to soak and sprout them. Do it. You will feel more self sufficient, create less waste and you will thank yourself later. Soaked and sprouted beans are more nutritious and easier to digest. You will have less bean related gas if you soak and sprout beans before cooking.

Use those beans to make Falafel!

These are baked falafel. Crisp on the outside, warm and soft inside.

Because they are baked, they are very low fat. You can also fry these in oil for a crispier (greasier, heavier) product. A sort of "happy medium" can be reached by baking them in advance and gently heating them in a lightly greased skillet before serving.


Sprouted wheat flat bread, falafel, tomato, onion, vegan yogurt sauce and red lettuce came together and made my mouth very happy.

The money shot:

What did you do for Falafel Appreciation Day?

Super Easy, Super Cheesy Dairy Free Multi-Purpose Un-Cheese Sauce

I'm making steamed brocolli for dinner tonight so I made a vegan cheese sauce. I know I posted this recipe before but I've been making it and tweaking it each time and I think this is about the best it's ever turned out so I'm posting this new, updated version of multi-purpose cheese flavored sauce for making vegan macaroni and cheese, for pouring over vegetables, great on baked potato, nachos, quesadilla, in casseroles... I even put it on vegan pizza the other day, fantastic!

Super Easy, Super Cheesy Sauce

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika (optional. Makes it more orange colored)

2 cloves garlic

1 tbs tahini

1 tbs ACV

2 cups water

Everything in the blender except 1/2 cup water.

Blend until liquefied.

Pour mixture into a saucepan

Put last 1/2 cup of water in the blender carafe, swirl it around and pour that in the saucepan, too. (nothing goes to waste around here)

This is the hardest part.

Put the saucepan of liquified ingredients on low-med heat and stir constantly until it reaches the desired thickness, about 10 minutes.

This mixture will continue to thicken even after you are done cooking. Behold the power of Oatmeal!  Store in the fridge in a covered container and add more water as needed to thin.

Vegan Waffle Party 2010 & Buckwheat Toxicity Addressed

Oh, yeah! Klamath Falls, Oregon, Vegan Waffle Party 2010 will be held at my house, Saturday, May 29 (subject to change). Contact me if you want further details. As it stands, it may just be a party of 3 but that's ok. We will put out a small spread, get plenty of photos and raise awareness of vegan breakfast/brunch by hollering about the whole thing on the internet for the next month. Go vegan!

My challenge is to make some raw vegan waffles. I might just bake waffles but I will spend the next couple weeks experimenting, researching and attempting to make, nutless, raw vegan waffles. I have buckwheat groats, golden flax seed and a cold iron in mind. Raw vegan toppings is another story. I'm accepting suggestions for raw vegan waffle toppings. I'd like to keep food combining rules in mind but I really want a waffle with cashew sour cream and fruit on it.

__________


I'd like to say a few words about the toxicity of buckwheat sprouts. The other day I posted a photo of a bed of  various sprouts smothered in marinara sauce. I called it Sprout-ghetti. Some one asked me if I wasn't concerned with the photo sensitivity related to buckwheat sprouts. It's a valid topic and also a raw food myth/fact combo. I'd like to address it here once and for all.

This article by Gilles Arbourg is probably the most comprehensive on the subject. Here is my really, really short summary:
Buckwheat shoots and greens contain a "self-defense mechanism" in the form of a toxin called fagopyrin. A few years back some people went on a raw food cleansing diet consisting of mainly raw juices. Buckwheat greens and sprout juice comprised 20% of their diet for 6 months or more. Due to the huge amount of fagopyrin in buckwheat shoots and greens some of those people developed photo-sensitivity and sensitivity to touch, heat, cold. When they stopped taking the buckwheat greens juice, the symptoms eased and went away.

Let me condense that even further: If a person were to consume buckwheat greens as 20% of their diet for over six months, they might develop sensitivity that goes away after they stop consuming such a high quantity of buckwheat greens.

So my answer is no. Buckwheat greens poisoning is a rare occurrence in people who try to practically live solely on buckwheat sprouts and greens. I eat a varied diet containing a rainbow, nay, an encyclopedic mix of cooked and raw whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, tubers, lots of leafy greens, nuts, seeds, grains and sea vegetables and I don't fear toxicity of sprouts in the amounts I eat. I eat A LOT of seeds, nuts, legumes and I always sprout or germinate them before I eat them, raw or cooked.

"Unlike the shoots of the buckwheat plant, buckwheat groats, or seeds, are not generally problematic because they contain only trace quantities of fagopyrin"

Sprouts in general contain small amounts of toxins to as a natural pest deterrent to discourage predators from munching them before they are able to grow, flower, produce seeds and ensure the next generation. That is why we should always eat a widely varied diet on a regular basis.

Ok, this random, all over the place, daydreaming and mythbusting post is over. I hope you got something out of it. I sure did.

dosis sola facet venenum (the dose makes the poison)

How to Cook Sprouted Rice or Legumes by Steam Method

I've been boiling beans as long as I can remember. It's a hassle. I almost always almost burn them and have to scrape the unburnt portion off the top then spend the next four hours soaking and scrubbing a pot. Like I said, hassle. I decided to try steaming them just to see what would happen and it was a miracle! I figured if it worked for rice, why not beans?

Sprouted adzuki or azuki beans steaming.




Note: This is done ideally with sprouted beans or rice. I haven't tried it with dry beans or rice. If you don't have 4 days to sprout your beans or rice, at least soak them for 12 hrs. Soaking for 12 hours will start the germination process. Germinating legumes and rice before cooking makes them easier to digest (less gas), more nutritious and less likely to trigger allergies.

Garbanzo beans or chickpeas steaming


You will need a large saucepan or pot and a heat proof mesh sieve or strainer. A colander with very small  holes would work, you just don't want your beans to fall through.
Fill pot with water and place soaked and sprouted beans in the sieve. Put the sieve over the hot water with the bottom of the sieve just above the water level.
Put the stove on high heat and the lid on the pan and let the water boil for 45 minutes or until the beans or rice are soft. The lid doesn't have to be tight.
Add more water as needed.

Sprouted brown rice steaming

And there you have it, steam cooked beans or rice, ready to bend to your will in your favorite soup, salad, salsa, chili or casserole.

Cantaloupe Seed Milk Smoothie

This super easy, ONE ingredient smoothie recipe is one of my all time favorites.
Next time you get a cantaloupe, save the seeds, strings and any little pieces of the meat you have left over.















Store the seeds, etc in an airtight container in the fridge. Sometime in the next few days put the seeds, strings and flesh of the cantaloupe into a blender add a cup or two of water (depending on how thick you want it) and blend until smooth and frothy.















Strain, decant and enjoy.















Groovy Cantaloupe Nutrition Facts

Serving size 1/2 cup, diced (78g)
Amounts Per Serving % Daily Value
Calories 25
Calories from Fat 0
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 10mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 6g 2%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars 6g
Protein 1g
Vitamin A 50%
Vitamin C 50%
Calcium 0%
Iron 0%

Groovy Cantaloupe Warning

I used to not like cantaloupe because I got a stomach ache every time I ate it. Now I know that cantaloupe must be eaten alone. Because it digests so quickly that any other food in the stomach with cantaloupe will cause fermentation of the stomach contents which means, gas, pain, bloating etc. Now when I get a big, ripe aromatic and juicy cantaloupe I mono-feast on the meat one day, save the seed and mono-feast on a creamy seed milk smoothie a couple days later.

I drink this smoothie on an empty stomach and don't eat anything for 4 hours after I finish it. If I combine this with any other foods I get some harsh intestinal difficulties. You might not, I'm just saying. The rule of thumb for me with melon is "Eat it alone or leave it alone".

Stay Groovy.

How to Store Leeks

This question has been bothering me for a while now. "How do I store leeks so they last longer than a couple of days before they start to get all dried up and while we're at it, so it's not an awkward 2 foot long vegetable taking up valuable real estate in my fridge?"

Today it dawned on me. Why not just store them the way I store all my other leafy greens?


I cut the root end off, cut the leek in half and chopped the halves in half long-ways.














Spread them out on a clean dish towel.

















Roll them up in the towel and stick them in a produce bag.














Actually, that is an old bread bag.














Produce is expensive and I HATE wasting food. This method keeps the leaves from touching each other, it keeps them an even moisture all over and it prevents contact with air and will keep your leeks fresh for a week or more and over time save a bundle of cold, hard cash on your grocery bill.

I wrapped these up with out washing and will wash them as I bring them out to use. Some people wash them first when using this method. If you do, make sure you dry them well, because overly wet spots will cause faster spoilage.

Reuse. It comes between Reduce and Recycle.

Being vegan is about reducing unnecessary suffering. I became a vegan as a direct off shoot of my desire to produce zero waste. Food that doesn't come in packages is mostly raw and vegan, really. The no-poo, the paperless kitchen, composting, and a bunch of other stuff are all about putting out less trash.

Reusing things is important. The less we buy new, the less we throw in the landfill.

Today I made a pitcher to hold my kitchen utensils out of an old blender carafe.

I took the bottom ring off the carafe, removed the blade (important!), replaced the blade with a with a small mouth canning jar lid then screwed the ring back on.


















































Ta-Da!















Leave a comment and tell me about your fabulous DIY Recycling by Reusing projects.

Dinner last night was cabbage and carrots with steamed with cumin, polenta, spinach and a three color tomato and cuke salad. A very good dinner all around.

DIY Hair Shampoo and Body Wash Recipe Update

You may or may not know that I am No-Poo and have been since August of 2008.

I make this shampoo/bodywash for E.

Easy Homemade Castile Shampoo/Body-wash Updated, Less Oily Recipe

1.5 cups strong black tea
.5 cup castile soap
2 shots witch hazel
1/2 shot jojoba oil
1 tsp salt
10 drops geranium oil

Boil 4 tea bags in 2 cups water until the tea is very dark.
Let cool slightly and then pour off 1.5 cups into a glass container. I use my big pyrex measuring cup so I can measure the ingredients right into it and mix it up.
Add the rest of the ingredients except the scented oil and stir well. Let cool and pour off into a bottle.
Add scent.

Makes about 2 cups.

This product is thinner than commercial shampoo and it doesn't produce as much suds. The man has been using it as shampoo for about a year now and he says he likes it just fine. It turns a darker color with time, this is natural and will not affect the performance of the shampoo. Separation will occur, shake before using.

I've been tweaking the recipe, he said it was too oily so I doubled the witch hazel and halved the oil in this most recent batch.
I used black tea because I had some that I would never use otherwise. I told E the caffeine would "wake his scalp" and the antioxidants would "anti oxidize his hair".

Hey, it could happen :)

Let me know if you try this and tell me about your DIY beauty tricks and tips.

Vegan Sweet Potato Chili Recipe!

I was inspired by A Life Less Sweet to make this chili.



















Sweet Potato Chili

You will need

1 med onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, diced
1 medium carrot, chopped small
3 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 sweet potato peeled and cubed
1.5 cup water or vege broth

Spices:
1tsp coriander
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
.5-1 tsp red chili flakes (or more, adjust to your taste)
.5 tsp salt
1 tbs ACV


What you will do:

Brown the onion in .5 tbs (as little as you can get away with) of vegan margarine (I used Earth Balance) or oil.

Add chopped veges and water and let simmer until veges start to get soft.
Add spices and stir. Add a little more water if necessary
Cover and let cook, the longer the better, keep an eye and don't let it burn.

Serve with a green salad, rice, quinoa, beans, tortillas and chopped fresh tomato and onion.

This recipe freezes well so don't be afraid to double or triple it and save yourself some time in the future!

How to cook Perfect Rice on an Electric Stove

This works for white rice or quinoa.


Perfect Rice

Put one cup rice or quinoa in a large sauce pan or pot.
Add 2 cups cold water
Bring to a boil
Turn the burner off but leave the pan on the burner and put a tight lid on the pan.
Leave the pan for 20 min or longer, no worry of it burning and you have perfect rice whenever you need it!
Fluff, reheat if necessary and serve with curry, chili, beans, gravy, or use for stuffing, vegan meatloaf or patties, soups, salads, sidedishes, breakfast dinner, lunch, brunch or just a snack!

PS: You must use an electric stove. I don't know how to make perfect rice on a gas stove :)

How to Cube a Sweet Potato or any other kind of tuber type root vege, for that matter

I love to chop vegetables. I use my food processor a lot but for some jobs you just need to use your hands. Cubing, or dicing is one of them.

Here is a short tutorial using a sweet potato as a model. They are pretty hard and cube up real nice.

1. Peel and rinse your potato. Cut it in half and split the halves longwise.
















2. Carefully slice the quarter almost to the end, leaving the upper and lower half still connected for about 1/4"
















3. Make two slices through the top of the potato, leaving 1/4 inch still connected

















4. Chop the end of your sliced tuber into cubes, easy peasy!
































And there you go! Ready to be a sweet crunchy raw snack as is, or use in your favorite vegan or raw vegan recipes. These go great in soup, curries, salad, vegan sushi or chili.

How Do I Store Green Leafy Vegetables So They Rot Less and Stay Fresh Longer?

I hate to spend good money on expensive organic greens only to have them turn to mush in the fridge.

This storage method is quick and easy and will keep lettuce, spinach, kale, collard, chard and other greens fresh in your fridge for days!

1. Separate and wash your leaves. Pat dry.
















2. Lay them out on a slightly damp kitchen towel one at a time and loosely roll them up. The idea is to have the leaves touching the towel but not each other.

















3. Keep rolling. Use another towel if you need to.






























4. Put rolled towel with leaves in a plastic bag and store in fridge. The leaves will stay dry so they don't rot and they will wick moisture from the towels as needed so they don't dry out.












It works even better if you use a zip-type bag and can get more air out.




Store your greens this way and you will save money and waste less food. I have had greens stay fresh up to a week (and longer) in the fridge using this method.

How to Roast an Eggplant

How to roast an eggplant.
Like most things it's easier than you might think.

If you are using eggplant for a recipe the important thing is for it to be very, very overcooked well cooked. I like raw eggplant cubed in salad, dehydrated as chips, etc, but if you are cooking eggplant you want to make sure it's well done.

Poke a bunch of holes in the eggplant and put it in a baking dish that is big enough to lay it down.















Bake at 400F, keeping your eye on it until it deflates. You might have to poke it an turn it to get all the juice out but it will deflate after an hour, hour and a half. Remove and compost the skin.



















Now you have a large bowl of roasted eggplant that is ready to bend to your will. Make sauce, relish/pickle, soup, dip, casserole, freeze it and save it for later, puree it and make crackers, let your imagination take you where it will with roasted eggplant.

Coconut Banana Soft Serve RAW VEGAN Ice Cream Summer Frozen Dessert Idea

This is banana soft serve but I added









The meat and water of 1 young thai coconut
7 dates
1 tsp raw vanilla powder

Talk about creamy. We had it for a late night snack last night but it would be good for lunch, brunch, snack, dessert or even in a smoothie.



Today's smoothie














1 cup banana coconut vegan soft serve
4 leaves curly kale
1 banana
the usual supplements
water

(Mostly) Raw Vegan Lunch Ideas! A Smoothie That Needs No Glass! Peanut Butter and Banana in Collard Leaf Wrap

An easy answer to "what's for lunch?" this is sort of like a green smoothie that you can hold in your hand. Sort of...

One large collard leaf, cut the stem as shown and apply peanut butter and bananas.









That is one banana cut in four pieces




If you use a raw nut butter this will be a raw sandwich. If you use a cooked nut butter, this will be an almost raw sandwich.

Fold up the cut stem ends first, then the tip of the leaf and roll up the open ends until you get














Something that looks like this














Cut it in half if you like for a nice presentation.














I know, I know. It sounds strange. But it works on the same principle as a green smoothie. The sweet banana makes it so you can barely taste the collard leaf at all! Try it once and you will be sold.

Cantaloupe Milk Smoothie

Next time you get a cantaloupe, save the skins, seeds and strings. Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge.

The next morning make yourself this delicious Cantaloupe Milk Smoothie

Scrape the rinds to get all the meat and juice that you can. Put the seeds, strings and any cantaloupe meat you have in the blender.
Add 3 cups of water or less, do not over fill the blender.

Blend until the seeds are pulverized. There is meat inside the seeds and this is what makes this smoothie so creamy.

Pour the mixture into fine mesh strainer and press it through. Pour the thick juice into a large glass or jar and drink it up. Refrigerate leftovers and drink within three days.

NOTE: I drink this smoothie on an empty stomach and don't eat anything for 4 hours after I finish it. If I combine this with any other foods I get some harsh intestinal difficulties. You might not, I'm just saying. The rule of thumb for me with melon is "Eat it alone or leave it alone".

EASY Creamy Dill Potato Salad :: Cooked Vegan Dinner Idea :: Barbecue :: Picnic

A great side dish to bring to a pot luck or barbecue. No one will know this potato salad is vegan. The omnivore's will love it!












Wash 6 medium sized potatoes. Boil them whole for about 2 hours or until you can stick a fork in one easily but it doesn't break apart. Let them cool and then peel them. Save the peels for use in making vege broth, seitan, soups, etc.

Cut the cooled potatoes in to large chunks. They will break down a lot when the mixture is stirred so make large chunks or you will have a mashed potatoes salad. Some people like that.

In a large bowl combine the potato chunks and

1 cup celery, fine chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion, fine chopped
3 tbs dried dill
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs ACV
5 tbs Vegenaise or other vegan mayonaise

Mix well, chill and serve.

"No Poo" A Non-Toxic, DIY, Off the Grid Way to Stick it to the Man by not Using Commercial Cosmetics or Shampoo with Toxic Chemicals!

As soon as I heard of the "No Poo" system I knew it was for me.
Just use baking soda to wash and vinegar to condition. Simple. Perfect.
Four obvious reasons off the top of my head to go "No Poo"

• No bottles in the landfill
• No toxic ingredients down the drain and into the water
• No potentially hazardous substances rubbed into my body
• No money spent on "beauty" products that don't really have any effect other than making you buy more cosmetics.

I never had any reservations, I dove head first into No Poo. Pun intended. If I won't put it in my mouth, I don't want to put it on my skin, basically, and I don't want to put sodium laurel sulfate in my mouth or on my body.

I loved it the first time I tried it. My scalp felt clean, my hair was shiny and bouncy. Now, over a year later, the color is deeper, my hair is softer and my scalp itches less than it did when I used shampoo. My hair doesn't get any greasier than when I used shampoo and it looks, feels and smells clean, fresh and healthy with no perfume smell.

This system takes a little getting used to because it isn't the foaming or sudsing shampoo method that you are used to.

This is how I clean my hair.

1/2 cup of baking soda in a 12 oz jar.
Wet hair in the shower
Fill the baking soda jar about half full of water and dump it over head.
Work it in with fingers and let it set for a minute.
Rinse well.

This is how I condition

Method one.
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar in 12 oz jar.
Mix with 2 cups of water and pour over hair.
You may add essential oils if you want it scented.
Let set for a minute
Rinse.
Repeat if necessary.

Method 2. I have thick curly hair. If your hair is thin this will make it oily looking, so be aware.
After baking soda cleansing, still in the shower, take a drop or two of jojoba, olive or coconut oil in the palm of your hand.
Work it into wet hair, starting at the ends.
Use more oil as necessary.
Rinse well with hot water
Comb through and rinse again.




















Do this daily for a week, then every other day, gradually weaning yourself down to 2 or three times a week or less and you will notice your hair getting less greasy between cleanings. As time goes on I find that I get away with just a warm water rinse more and more often. My hair doesn't feel dry or oily. Just clean, fresh and shiny. Honestly, I feel liberated, free and light, no longer a slave to the lies of the cosmetics industry. But the real question is:

Will you try it? Will you tell others?

Will you take the "No Poo" Challenge? Please, give me your opinion about this method and if you have tried it, chime in and tell your story. I will gladly link blogs. We really need to spread the word about No Poo, the system and the benefits. Just like with any change, people are frightened of the unknown, they don't know what would happen if they stopped using shampoo. Let the world know that shampoo is unnecessary and toxic, please tell your story.

Update, February 2010. Still no poo! I took some photos today so you can see my hair is still clean, soft and not stinky in any way since I quit using shampoo over a year ago.

I rarely use baking soda or oil on my hair anymore, just rinse it with warm water in the shower.

Terrible photos, i know. It's still hard to take photos of the back of my head, even with a camera that has a timer.

And now, without further ado, I present to you, My Scalp, circa Feb 2010.

Fermenting Vegetables and Sprouting Apples

I read this website today and was inspired to put up some veges.











From left to right:
Cuke and carrot with garlic for pickles.
Carrot and zuke with salt. This will be a carrot-kraut-type-deal
Carrot, zuke, cuke and red bell pepper. I call this one sweet relish.
All three are nothing but veges and salt. The pickles have water in them, too.
It took me about half an hour to do all of this. They should be ready in three days.

I learned today that if it gets moldy on top, just scrap the mold and the under part is good. I have been tossing them out, D'oh! *smacks forehead*





I don't know if you can see it in this photo or not but I left half an apple on the counter over night and it sprouted.















I put the seed in a little pot with dirt but I don't expect much.

Happy Friday!

DIL's Birthday! Indoor (almost) Raw Barbecue Party!

Yesterday was The Man's Father's Birthday (DIL). He likes meat and dairy, even though he knows it's bad and knows he doesn't need it. He hasn't quite convinced himself that he can live without bacon. We are all on a path, right?

We played Simpson's Jeopardy (I played the part of Alex Trebek). The boy won. But I gave points for creative answers. Sometimes I gave points for giving and answer with one of the correct letters in it. I am a generous game show host.

It was quite a spread and a wonderful party. I really didn't get very good photos, I was too busy having a great time.













I love when MIL and DIL come over, they are such fun people. I was very happy to celebrate the birthday of such a great man. The man who made the man I love.

I made apple-sage sausage and buns for everyone and for the raw people there were all kinds of veges and condiments to make raw tacos. The shells were giant collard leaves. You can see one on the right in this photo:















I had a combination of both.














I can't resist vegan sausage.

I also grilled some apples and bananas because grilled fruit is so good. I have gone to many a BBQ with a bag of fruit. Grilled banana, peaches, pears, apples, whatever fruit you can slice and put on a barbecue, it's all good. Slap it on a bun and you are fitting right in and not all tired later when everyone else is rolling around on the grass, rubbing their bellies because they can't digest all that animal flesh! Silly omnivores. Flesh is for carnivores!

The omnis had a cake that was bought at the store and some commercial ice cream.














The rest of us had mashed roots with vegan butter Sweet as candy and a treat that doesn't leave you feeling like straight crap!















A wonderful time was had by all, too much beer was drunk and too much fun was had. There was impromptu jam sessions, exhibitions of gentle acrobatics and lots and lots of laughter!

We should do it again, real soon!