Toasted Sesame Quinoa Salad

This is a perfect fall salad.  It is delightfully fresh, but very hearty as well.  The fresh cilantro, toasty pecans, sweet dried cranberries, crunchy celery, and nutty quinoa with a tangy and slightly sweet toasted sesame dressing – yum!  Also, there’s a lot of room for substitutions in this recipe.  Try substituting half the lemon juice with freshly squeezed orange juice.  I’ve listed a few other suggestions in the ingredients list with my favorites listed first (I used walnuts instead of pecans this time because it's what I had on hand).

If you make the quinoa, dressing, and toast the pecans the night before, this salad comes together really quickly.  Otherwise, prep the dressing and veggies, and toast the pecans while the quinoa is cooking and cooling to make everything for maximum efficiency.  The recipe makes a good amount of salad, so it’s great for bringing to potlucks or having in the fridge for quick meals and snacks for a few days.  It also makes a lot of dressing so you’ll have plenty left over to drizzle on individual portions.  I like to serve it over salad greens with avocado on the side or in a wrap, again with avocado (I seriously put avocado on almost everything…so there is that).

Toasted Sesame Quinoa Salad

2 cups quinoa

4 cups water

1 low sodium vegetable bouillon cube (optional)

or 8 cups cooked quinoa

2 bunches green onions

3 cups chopped celery

1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro or parsley

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans or walnuts

1 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Dressing:

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 5-6 lemons)

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons agave nectar or sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

several turns freshly ground black pepper

For the quinoa:  Begin by putting 4 cups of water in a pot to boil.  While you’re waiting, put the quinoa in a fine meshed strainer and rinse thoroughly for a couple minutes.  Then dump the quinoa into the water – it doesn’t matter if it isn’t boiling yet.  If you’d like to add a bouillon cube, now’s when you do it.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook covered until all the water is absorbed (around 20 minutes).  Just keep an eye on it so the bottom doesn’t burn.  Once it’s done, remove from stove and allow to cool.  To quicken cooling, spread the quinoa out in a large, shallow dish.

For the dressing:  Place all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth.  Alternatively, place garlic in a food processor and pulse.  Add all other ingredients except the oils.  Blend well.  Stream the oils in while continuing to blend.  Transfer to the fridge to cool.

Toasted Pecans:  Coarsely chop the pecans.  Preheat a pan over medium-low heat.  Put the pecans in the pan, and toast them for about 3-4 minutes stirring often.  Watch them closely because they’ll burn really quickly.  As soon as they’re done, immediately transfer to a bowl to cool.

Assemble:  Chop the green onions, celery, and cilantro.  Place cooled quinoa in a large bowl.  Add the vegetables and gently toss.  Pour in a little over half of the dressing.  Add the toasted pecans and dried cranberries and stir gently to avoid making the quinoa mushy.

Serve:  The quinoa will absorb a lot of the dressing the longer it is sets or is refrigerated.  This is why you have left over dressing!  If serving as part of a salad, drizzle a couple tablespoons of dressing over each portion before serving.  If you’re serving the salad potluck style, just before serving add more dressing (starting with 1/4 cup) and taste to determine whether or not more dressing is needed.

Creamy Almond Butter Cookie Ice Cream

I know most areas of the country are experiencing cooler fall weather right now.  I’m a Portland, Or native who recently relocated to Phoenix, Az and it’s still regularly in the 90’s.  While 90 degree weather in October is certainly new to me and has required some getting used to, it has had the much appreciated result of extending ice cream eating season.  Yahoo!  If you haven’t tried making your own ice cream yet; you must.  It is addicting both to make and eat.  It’s really fun to experiment with different flavors, extracts, and add ins. 

Although ice cream makers brand new aren’t too spendy, I often see them at thrift stores for under $10.  Once you have your ice cream batter prepared, just follow the instructions for your particular model.  This usually involves having the main bowl component pre-frozen and allowing around 30 minutes for the ice cream to churn. 

Even if the temperatures have dropped where you’re at, is it really ever too cold for ice cream?  This is my go-to recipe that is loosely based on the ice cream recipe in Veganomicon.  It is equally delicious with peanut butter or cashew butter.  I topped mine with some vegan white chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Creamy Almond Butter Cookie Ice Cream

3/4 cup all natural almond butter

3/4 cup agave nectar (regular sugar works too)

6 ounces silken tofu either soft or firm (such as Mori Nu)

3/4 cup cream of coconut milk (be sure to buy a regular, full-fat can of coconut milk, the light stuff won't work here)

3/4 cup non-dairy milk (hemp is my favorite, don’t use rice milk as it’s too thin)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookies (such as Newman's Own Alphabet cookies) broken into large pieces

Mori Nu silken tofu comes in 12 oz packages, so simply cut the block of tofu in half.  Gently rinse it under cool water and pat dry.  Add to a blender or food processor along with the almond butter and agave nectar.  Note:  the other half of the tofu may be stored in a container filled with water in your frig for up to 5 days, provided you change the water daily. 

To obtain the coconut cream, carefully open the can of coconut milk and scoop the cream from the top into a measuring cup.  You can refrigerate the can ahead of time to make this easier, but I don’t find it necessary.  Add the coconut cream to the blender and blend until smooth.  Add the vanilla extract, blackstrap molasses, and salt.  Blend again.  Finally, add the non-dairy milk and blend one last time. 

Transfer the mixture to a pitcher (or a container that will be easy to pour from), and place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes or until it is very cold but not freezing yet.  Pour into your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

I like to break the cookies up by hand so there are large nice large pieces.  When your ice cream has about 5 minutes left, add the cookie pieces.  Once your ice cream is finished, transfer to a sealable container and let it set in the freezer for up to 4 hours to allow it to firm up. 

Lower-Fat Banana Bread

Cheers to Vegan MoFo!  It’s just what I needed to give me that gentle nudge to start blogging again.  Let’s get straight to the recipe – Lower-Fat Banana Bread from Veganomicon.  It’s absolutely delicious, easy to make, and low-fat.  It’s a great way to use up bananas that have become overly ripe.  I drizzled on an easy maple cinnamon icing for an added sugar kick.

Lower-Fat Banana Bread

2 large or 3 small very ripe bananas

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or grated fresh)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.  In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas really well.  Add the sugar, applesauce, oil, and molasses, and whisk briskly to incorporate.

Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.  Use a wooden spoon to mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.  The top should be lightly browned and a knife inserted through the center should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and invert onto a cooling rack; flip the bread right side up and let cool.

Maple Cinnamon Icing

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon non-hydrogenated margarine, such as Earth Balance

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

slightly generous 1/8 teaspoon maple extract

1-2 teaspoons non dairy milk

Place the margarine in a small bowl and microwave just until melted.  Add the extracts and 1 teaspoon of the milk and whisk with a fork.  Sift in the sugar and cinnamon and stir.  Add additional milk – in ¼ teaspoon increments – if needed.  It’s the right consistency when you drizzle some frosting back into the bowl and it remains on the top for 3 or so seconds.

Make sure the banana bread is completely cool, then drizzle with icing.  Allow up to 20 minutes or so for the icing to harden (you can speed this up by placing the bread in the refrigerator).

And the winners are….. plus lava cake

First off, a big thank you to everyone who posted a comment for the contest and a big thank you to Coconut Bliss for donating the coupons.  There were some pretty yummerific ideas.  A quick recap:  liz likes to make ice cream cookie sandwiches and roll the sides in flaked coconut, mmmorgan adds berries to straight up vanilla, jeff is a fan of milkshakes, and animal-friendly swirls peanut butter into the softened vanilla.  Yum!  I want it all.  And a bunch of you go for it straight out of the carton which in all honesty is how I eat it most often.  Once one has procured the deliciousness that is Coconut Bliss, it’s near impossible to have the patience to do much more than grab a spoon.

On with the winners….Animal-Friendly in the US and mmmorgans in Canada.  Congratulations!  Email me your address and I’ll get your coupons mailed out asap.

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Lastly, I wanted to share one more recipe idea that is a superb accompaniment to a healthy scoop of Coconut Bliss:  lava cake.  In all its ooey gooey glory, who can resist little individual chocolate cakes with an oozy chocolate center?  And these really are pretty darn easy.  I made them in advance for a small dinner party, so I had to microwave them a bit before serving.  I think the reheating may have contributed to my molten chocolate interior being a little more on the thick side.  Just the same, these were out of this world and I offer a few ideas for improvement if you want to give it a try.  This recipe provides enough raspberry sauce to decorate the serving plates, but if you want to have enough to spoon sauce over the cakes, you may want to make a bit more.  I baked my lava cakes in ramekins coated with Earth Balance margarine for easy removal.

Molten Lava Cakes

Yield: 6 cakes

1 recipe for a dozen (vegan) chocolate cupcakes

Molten Chocolate Interior:

1/3 cup plus 1 -2 tablespoons non dairy milk

1/3 cup well chopped chocolate (Newman’s Own Organics, Theo, and Sjaaks are brands I like that use fair trade cocoa from Latin America)

1 teaspoon non hydrogenate margarine such as Earth Balance

Raspberry Sauce:

1 cup frozen raspberries

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

I used 1/3 cup non dairy milk.  When making this again, I will probably try adding an additional tablespoon or two of non dairy milk (as the ingredient list notates) to thin it out a bit.  First, you need to make the molten chocolate interior which is basically a thicker version of a ganache.  Stirring frequently, heat the non dairy milk in a saucepan over medium to medium high heat (but do not let it simmer).  Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate as well as the margarine until melted.  Once the saucepan has cooled a bit, transfer to the freezer to thicken, stirring every 5 - 10 minutes or so until the ganache has the consistency of thick frosting.  At this point, you can use either a pastry bag or a spoon (a little messier) to form slightly flattened chocolate balls a little larger than the size of a cherry.  You may have some ganache left over (just melt gently by microwaving for 30 second intervals and pour on top of finished cakes before serving).  Transfer chocolate centers to a plate lined with parchment paper and place in the refrigerator.  Next up:  prepare cupcake batter.

For the cupcakes, I used Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Isa and Terry's amazing Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (Rapunzel makes a great cocoa powder that is both organic and from Latin America).  Make sure you coat your ramekins with some margarine before beginning.  And remove your molten chocolate interiors from the fridge about 5 minutes before finishing the cupcake batter recipe.  Simply fill each ramekin a little less than 3/4 full, then add the flattened ganache ball to each ramekin and spoon a bit of the left over batter on top to cover.  Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes (when I pulled my cakes out, the oven temp had crept up a bit and I let it go for the entire 15 minutes, which I think was a bit too long).  You want the cakes to be firm to the touch, but be wary of over baking or your center won’t be very "molten".  Place ramekins on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes (and loosen edges with a butter knife) before inverting onto a serving plate.

While the cakes are baking, prepare the raspberry sauce.  Simply heat raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the sauce has thickened.  Remove from heat to cool.

To serve, spoon cooled raspberry sauce into a zip lock bag and clip a small amount off a bottom corner.  Pipe onto a plate.  Invert lava cake onto the raspberry sauce and serve with a generous scoop of Coconut Bliss.  Enjoy!

Coconut Bliss Giveaway and Ice Cream Cookie Pie

Coconut Bliss

I’m a huge ice cream nut.  It is my clear favorite dessert choice.  After becoming vegan, I had a rough time finding a non-dairy ice cream that I really liked.  Eventually, I came across Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss.  Sweet relief!  Finally, a creamy, rich, delicious non-dairy ice cream that is genuinely the best stuff ever.  It tastes so much better than dairy-based ice cream.  Every friend or family member I’ve encouraged to give it a try has loved it.  It’s made with coconut milk (obviously) and sweetened with agave syrup.  It’s also soy and gluten free, certified organic, fair trade certified, and they use cocoa from the Domincan Republic (see this post on why this is important).  Current flavors include naked almond fudge, pineapple coconut, chocolate peanut butter, naked coconut, dark chocolate, vanilla island, mint galactic, cappuccino, cherry amaretto, and chocolate hazelnut fudge (plus they’re releasing 4 new flavors in 2011).

And for the final hurrah?  Coconut Bliss donated a coupon for a free pint for a lucky US and a lucky Canandian resident.  To be eligible just post a comment stating how you like to dress up your ice cream or if you eat it straight up, state your favorite flavor.  Oh, and please state in your post whether you have a US or Canadian address so I can quickly separate into two groups.  Post your comments by the 28^th and I’ll randomly select and announce the winners on the 1^st. 

Ok.  So I’ll go first.  I like cookies with my ice cream.  So, with combining ice cream and cookies as my inspiration, I created a chocolate cherry ice cream cookie pie for Valentine’s Day.  It’s over the top amazing.  Just as a heads up, there’s a lot of prep time involved, but most of it is inactive so don’t be intimidated.  And you could always simplify by using a (vegan) store bought cookie crust  If you can, try to make it the day before serving to allow plenty of time for all the layers to really set up.

 Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream Cookie Pie

Chocolate Cookie Crust:

2 teaspoons ground flaxseed

2 tablespoons water

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons canola oil

6 tablespoons brown sugar

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly coat a 9 in spring form pan or pie plate with non stick spray.  In a small bowl, whisk together flaxseed and water.  Set aside.  Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In a medium-sized bowl whisk the oil and sugars together vigorously with a fork.  Add the extracts and whisk again.  Add the flour mixture and stir gently to combine.  Place cookie dough into pan and, using a small square of wax paper as a non stick barrier, push the cookie dough out to the edges and up the sides a little to form a crust.  Bake for 12-13 minutes.  Leave the crust in the pan, but place the pan on a cooling rack.  Once the pan is has mostly cooled, place in refrigerator or freezer to cool further.  In the mean time, place one pint of the cherry amaretto coconut bliss in the refrigerator to soften and prepare the ganache, sweet cherries, and cookie crumbs.

After the cookie crust has cooled in the refrigerator or freezer for about an hour, remove and scoop 3/4 of the softened pint of cherry amaretto coconut bliss into the crust.  Spread and smooth with a spatula.  Return to the freezer to harden, and place the dark chocolate coconut bliss in the refrigerator to soften.  Wait one hour. 

Scoop 3/4 of the softened dark chocolate coconut bliss into a small mixing bowl.  Add cookie crumbs, reserving enough aside for garnish.  Stir the cookie crumbs into the ice cream and scoop on top of the cherry amaretto layer.  Use a spatula to spread and smooth and return to the freezer to set.  Place the rest of the cherry amaretto in the fridge.  Wait one hour.

Scoop the remaining pint and half of the new pint of the cherry amaretto onto the chocolate cookie layer and spread and smooth with a spatula.  Return to the freezer for one hour.  Now you are ready to decorate.  I like to spoon the cooled ganache into a zip lock bag, then use scissors to cut just a little of one bottom corner off for easy piping.  Or you could reheat just a touch and drizzle (just be really careful not to let it get too warm or it’ll melt the ice cream).  Sprinkle with the left over cookie crumbs and adorn with sweet cherries.  Freeze for 4 hours or up to overnight.  Allow to defrost in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so before serving.  Also obviously if you used a spring form pan, remove from pan before serving.

Ganache:

Simply a two to one ratio of chocolate to non dairy milk.  I used 1/3 cup well chopped chocolate (Newman’s Own Organics - cocoa is not from West Africa) and 2/3 cup almond milk.  Put the non dairy milk in a small saucepan, stirring often while heating at a medium to medium high heat until very hot, but before simmering.  Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate.  Stir until melted.  Set aside to cool.

Sweet Cherries:

about 15 or so frozen sweet cherries

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Place cherries and sugar in a small saucepan.  Heat on medium until cherries fully thaw and most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring often.  Remove from heat to cool.

Cookie crumbs:

3/4 - 1 cup coarsely crumbled chocolate cookies (such as Newman’s Own Alphabet Cookies)

Place cookies in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin.  In this instance, I don’t like to use the food processor because I feel like it makes the crumbs way too fine.

Ice cream:

1 pint dark chocolate coconut bliss (you’ll use about 3/4)

2 pints cherry amaretto coconut bliss (you’ll use about 1 1/2)

Let’s Talk Cocoa and Chocolate

For me, being vegan is about doing the best I can to avoid causing harm, period.  Before proceeding, please let me clarify that my intention is not to sound preachy or to be judgmental.  This is relatively new information for me, and I simply want to pass on a brief summary of the issue as well as some resources I have found helpful. 

By chance I happened across the documentary, Slavery:  A Global Investigation (you can watch it here).  It explores slavery in the carpet industry in Northern India, cocoa in the Ivory Coast (the world’s largest producer of cocoa), and domestic slavery in Britain and the US.  As cocoa products are something I purchase and consume frequently, I found the issue of slavery in the cocoa industry particularly devastating.  The film defines slavery as “people paid no money, locked away, and controlled by violence”.  Unfortunately, this type of treatment is the reality for the majority of people who help produce the world’s chocolate, many of them being children. 

Furthermore, I recently learned that purchasing only Fair Trade Certified cocoa products does not guarantee that child or slave labor was not used (recently, due to evidence of child labor, several West African supplier’s certifications have been revoked).  And choosing not to buy cocoa at all isn’t a good option either as it continues to drive down the price farmers receive, causing further incentive for them to use child or slave labor, and those farmers who are actually paying their workers can’t compete. 

The Food Empowerment Project has done a lot of work trying to educate the public about this issue and find those companies who can actually be sure their cocoa wasn’t produced using slave labor.  At this time, they recommend buying “only fair trade and/or organic chocolate from Latin America”.  You can see the list they made of companies who sell slave-free, vegan chocolate here.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a single company selling vegan chocolate chips whose cocoa is supplied by Latin American…which is some serious bull shit.  But hey, if you know of one, speak up.  So instead, I’ve been using chocolate bars, and therefore, chocolate “chunks” in their place.  And, really, chunks kick chips arse any day (bigger bits of chocolate, plus all the irregularly shaped bits are so….rustic!).  **See my recipe for Menage a Trois Cookies.**

Menage a Trois cookies with chocolate chunks

Lastly, I just wanted to offer encouragement to take the time to write to your favorite companies.  Let them know this issue is important to you.  Find out where they stand and either thank them or encourage them to be more vigilant.  My next few posts will include recipes spotlighting cocoa products that are from Latin America and are Fair Trade Certified.

As a side note, I was super bummed when I didn’t see Coconut Bliss, my favorite non-dairy ice cream, on the list so I contacted them and am delighted to say the cocoa they use is from the Dominican Republic.  And, I‘ve created a couple recipes spotlighting their delicious ice cream.  And, I’ll be doing a giveaway for a coupon for a free pint!  Stay tuned.

Spicy Sweet Potato Peanut Stew

This is a nice, thick, stick-to-your-ribs type of stew that is bursting with flavor.  It is oh so comforting to snuggle up with on a chilly winter night.  The marriage of sweet potato and peanut butter is a match made in heaven and hot green chiles add a good kick.  Most of the sweet potato is blended together with everything else to create a luscious stew, and the last bits of sweet potato are cubed and added at the end to provide unexpected bursts of sweet potato flavor. 

Speaking of sweet potatoes, use the orange variety.  If you’re feeling ambitious, go ahead and roast your sweet potatoes.  If you’re crunched for time (like I always seem to be), wash/scrub your sweet potatoes (don't forget to pierce several times with a fork) and start microwaving them right away.  Then get out the rest of your ingredients and get started on everything else.  You should be able to have the soup ready to eat in about 30 minutes.  Serve with some crusty bread or a simple green salad, and you’ve got yourself a meal.  Oh, lastly,  I like my spicy foods, well, spicy.  If you have a low tolerance for spicy foods, start with just a couple tablespoons of chiles and go from there (or just use mild chiles). 

Spicy Sweet Potato Peanut Stew

2 large sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 4oz can diced hot green chiles

1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter

1 28oz can tomato sauce

Chopped cilantro for garnish, optional

First, cook the sweet potatoes.  Prick them in several places with a fork and microwave on high until just cooked through, about 7 to 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat a few tablespoons of water in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and sauté until it begins to soften, 3 minutes or so.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute more, adding water by the tablespoon as needed to prevent sticking.  Stir in green chiles, ginger, allspice, sea salt and pepper.  Add the peanut butter, then add a little of the vegetable broth at a time stirring in the peanut butter as you go.   Add the tomato sauce and cook until the sauce just begins to bubble.  Turn the heat down a bit and let simmer for 6 minutes.

In the mean time, peel the sweet potatoes and chop into bit-sized pieces.  Reserve about a third of the chopped sweet potatoes and dump the rest in the pot.  Turn the heat down to low.  Use an immersion blender to blend into a smooth puree (Don’t have an immersion blender?  See tip below.).  Add the last third of the sweet potatoes, and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Season each bowl with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro if desired.

Tip:  No immersion blender?  No worries.  You can still make this recipe.  You may want to let everything cool down for a bit.  Blend in batches making sure to leave the blender lid slightly ajar to let steam escape.  Otherwise the pressure will build, and stew will likely end up all over kitchen which would be very very sad.