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Showing posts from June, 2009

raw chocolate chip cookie dough muffins

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! The boy and I were supposed to go paddling today; spend the day on the lake and the likely to be uncrowded (given the strike, which has also stopped ferry service) islands. Instead, it rained. So today very quickly became a lazy Sunday. You know, the kind where when your phone rings you feel a bit indignant that someone would be so inconsiderate as to interrupt your doing nothing and want something of you. For me these days go hand in hand with something yummy to eat. Sadly I'm out of fruit, so smoothies were out of the question, and out of agave, so any easy chocolate yumminess was also a no go. And so were born these muffins, tasting deliciously like cookie dough. to make 1/2c almonds 1/2c macadamia nuts 1/2c dates, pitted and packed 1/4tsp nutmeg 1/4tsp cardamon 1/4c raw cacao nibs In a food processor pulse the c

sweet potato hash browns

I discovered the possibility of making hash/stove top fries from a comment about them that a friend made nonchalantly. She mentioned them in passing on a Friday and I thought to myself, "my god, what a spectacular idea!" The next morning, I made a potato this way, gobbled it up marveling at its deliciousness, and promptly made another. This version uses sweet potatoes instead and adds a little extra flavour with the rosemary. Now I only used a 3" sprig and it most definitely was not enough. But my herb garden is young, and teh rosemary is having a particularly difficult time with the friendly grey neighbourhood bandits digging it up almost every other night; so I didn't want to stress it out by taking too much. I felt that 6" would be sufficient to flavour this dish nicely. to make 1 sweet potato, sliced and chopped 2 cloves garlic, diced 1/3 red onion (diametre ~4") 1 6" sprig rosemary 1/4 tsp salt 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne (to taste) saute the o

how to survive a garbage strike!

If you live in Toronto like I do, you're faced with a conveniently timed garbage strike! The mercury is a-rising and people are getting increasingly inconsiderate about the whole thing (from my apartment above yonge street, I can smell the lovely putridness of dog poop baking in the mid morning sun). If you're faced with a garbage strike, and don't really relish the thought of filling our parks with your refuse, and don't want your place to be filled with rotting stinkiness, here are some tips to cut down on your overall waste: Reduce! an oldie, but a goodie. This means using a multi-use bottle for your refreshing summer beverages instead of plastic bottles, skipping produce bags when grocery shopping where you can, buying food that doesn't come packaged in favour of unpackaged items - luckily now that it's summer and there are farmer's markets readily available, this is easier to do. This also means that when buying food at the store, only buy what yo

More raw hazelnut goodness

Here are some other delicious hazelnutty goods I made as well... I really like making nut butters. I think it's just the coolest thing ever. The first one I made was macadamian nut butter and oh my god was it a dream. Not only did it butterize super fast, but it was wonderfully naturally sweet and overall insanely delicious. I bragged about it nonstop even though the boy so kindly reminded me that I didn't actually do anything, as I hadn't added anything to it at all. Details. Hazelnuts I've found are a bit more bitter than the macadamian nuts were or something. Well, not bitter, but not naturally sweet in any way. That said, the hazelnut butter before I added anything else to it was still quite nice, so you might want to try it with just the hazelnuts, or with the hazelnuts and a bit of coconut oil for a creamier butter. But, if you want to be fancy like me: chocolate hazelnut butter (wow, I've gotten so creative with my names...) 1c hazenuts 1 tbsp agave

Hazelnut milk

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! After my success with almond milk, I was poised to try the same thing with some hazelnuts. I used a little less water, as I felt the almond milk was a tad watery. I'm somewhat ok with the cheesecloth method, but I do find it difficult to clean. After scraping as much nut pulp as I can into a container for later use, I shake it out, then soak it in hot water and rinse it. Still, there are little bits of nuts clearly stuck to it. I figure it's dry, so it's not an issue? But, I'm thinking that that's not the best attitude to have longterm. Friday I had the day off and my friend and I went on a veritable hunt for a nut milk bag. He uses the sewed up shirt sleeve of a button up shirt to strain his milk. I think that that's an awesome idea and absolutely great with regards to reducing our consumption. Well, I think that in theory. I

coconut pineapple ice cream/creamsicles

I had leftover coconut milk from the coconut chickpea curry I made the other day that I didn't want to go to waste. I also have a lot of pineapple in the house that I'm trying to use up, and delicious as it is, you can only eat so much. So, I tried to make a creamsicle type of thing. I got impatient about an hour in and just ate one of them as ice cream. I waited a couple hours longer before trying another. And this is when I kinda realized that maybe it's a bit more suited as an ice cream recipe than one that requires a popsicle mould - all my popsicle sticks were far too easily pulled out, leaving the actual coconut pineapple yummyness in the mould! Of course, this could be due to the short stick nature of the mould I have...Quite nice and creamy all the same. Could be nice with a bit of agave mixed in for more sweetness; though I found it nicely naturally sweet. This photo is of the premature taste test. When it freezes more, it's not all melty; but, this is t

raw chocolate and mango-berry tart

I've moved! Visit my new home  Make Life Beautiful for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! what's the difference between a pie and a tart anyhow? why do I randomly keep coughing? wait, ignore that second one, I was just on a question roll... anyway, it's our father's day dinner today and I wanted to make a yummy chocolate nut cake. The filling is the icing from Ani Phyo's chocolate walnut torte . At first when I mentioned this as a possible recipe, my mom vetoed it saying my dad couldn't eat avocados as they caused him to hallucinate. Then she told me about how they'd gone to their friends' place for dinner, my dad had downed two bowls of avocado soup and disappeared. They found him hours later (I don't quite understand the reason for such an excessive time lapse, but hey clearly my parents are very strange) lying on the porch, thinking he was dying. So I was going to make a different recipe instea

coconut currylicious

I've been having curry cravings lately, which is a little strange. Not that I don't like curry, but I don't believe I've ever quite craved it before...The boy was having the opposite of a curry craving, stating that he couldn't explain it, but he definitely didn't want curry. I won him over easily, with a weapon I knew would work - the promise of coconut milk curry. I quite enjoy the coconut milk curry. For one, I have a lot of trouble getting my curry curry-ish otherwise. I've tried loads of powder and the paste, and it just doesn't stay or spread. I've tried mixing with water, with veggie broth, with tomatoes...no luck. And secondly, it just tastes better. I do have some issues in figuring out what to do with the leftover coconut milk though, which is the one thing that keeps me from making this dish more often. I think I figured it out though: ice cream ! Back to the curry for now though... To make 1 tomato, chopped 1 largish sweet pota

lasagna in the buff...although maybe not the sundried tomatoes...but they could be!

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks. xoxoxo Tonight I made a mainstay in our kitchen (is that even the right word? Too lazy to google...): raw lasagna! I'm not 100% sure the sundried tomatoes I used were raw as they were unlabeled (which probably means highly processed...damn.), but you could use raw ones! I will one day make raw ones! they sound easy and delicious. I just get a little concerned with not knowing just how perishable dehydrated items are. I mean I feel like they shouldn't be at all, but I have no real way of telling! It stresses me out. Anyway, this is the boy's fave meal right now. Some of the components are based off recipes from elsewhere. But I am lazy and don't like to dirty dishes unless absolutely necessary and so don't really measure anything. AND I'm always more that a little perturbed by just how much oil raw recipes use, so I tend to cu

raw-spiced-almond-milk-icious! (and a very sad story)

Well, not sad for mold affecionados, but sad for mes. My weekend was a mold fest. The mold ruined everything I love at this particular moment in time. And apparently made me incredibly overdramatic...But seriously! 1. My container garden on the back deck. My beautifu little garden, which is being dug up almost nightly by cute little masked mammals looking for grubs. So I covered it with cayenne. Kept the racoons away, sure. But, also taught me this fabulous lesson: cayenne pepper is a mold magnet! Who knew!? All my containers were filled with the stuff! The boy suggested we mix it into the soil. I'm really hoping that doesn't just kill all my plants... 2. My macadamia/cashew nut cheese. I have recently tried my hand at culturing raw cheese. The results were both fascinating AND delicious. Tried it again with a nut blend. Left it 8 hours too long, and I'm PRETTY SURE I made some weird alcoholic nut cheese substance. Ok, not mold, but still ruined! 3. My lemon for my wate

My new favourite meal (or, the only way I like to eat sweet potatoes)

I heart potatoes. In every form. (Well except cold potato salad dressed in mayonnaise...because that's just wrong). I particularly like fries. I slice my potatoes thinly (WAY too lazy to do the fry shape...lazy with the cutting, impatient with the waiting to cook), toss with olive oil, cayenne and sea salt (or whatever herbs I have around...usually just cayenne and sea salt...), lay out on a cookie sheet and cook at 425 degrees for however long it takes. Usually takes 25 minutes. Sometimes I'm too impatient for even that. Particularly after my last attempt, during which, being so super excited to be making them again after a number of years, I made way way too many, which meant they didn't cook properly and a bunch burned (I got impatient and tossed them into the broiler. Then did it again. aziness trumps learning from my mistakes); they were still delicious. But yes, back to the impatience of waiting for fries to cook...I decided to try an even quicker way!!!: 1 Swe