Xavi snacks

This idea came out of the raw chocolate cookies posted earlier. Basically I wanted my child to eat more protein and fat (since he's a toddler). Into the food processor: raw sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, raw almonds, ground flaxseed, almond butter, chia seeds, coconut oil, honey, molasses. (I forgot sesame seeds but will add them next time). You could throw in pretty much anything you want. The almond butter and coconut oil is to get it into molding shape. Honey was to make it taste like an almond butter cookie, though you could probably leave it out and go salty instead. Mix it all up until it's moldable. I had to scrape down the sides a few times and add a bit of water toward the end to get it to ball up the way I wanted. When it's all done, mold it into little balls and refrigerate!

I wanted to post about the amazing-ness ;) of pumpkin seeds. Since I looked up their nutritional values, I've been throwing them into everything--smoothies, cookies, etc. In one cup you get: 6% of daily calcium, 115% iron, 185% magnesium, 33.9g protein... and a bunch more. L

Red lentil and rice soup

I have a LOT of red lentils in my cupboard. I love lentils anyway and so I'm always looking for new recipes to use them and make them a bit different. I found a recipe online and doctored it up my way and it's my new favorite.

In a pot, add 2T olive oil on medium heat. Add one onion, chopped up and red pepper flakes. The original recipe called for 1/2t but I think I add more because I like the heat of them. Saute the onion for a few minutes. Then add 7c veggie broth and/or water, 1/2c brown rice (this is a great chance to use up leftover rice too--just make sure to add more rice if it's already cooked), 1 1/3c red lentils (wash/rinse them first). Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it cook on medium, covered, until the rice is tender and the lentils are mushy.
Then I add dry white wine and salt. I'm not sure how much, since this is the part I made up. Add until you like it, I suppose! ;)

The original author suggested to add feta, olives, and/or almonds. I don't know how this would work with the white wine but at least it gives you other options!

Paleo cake--what?!?

Both  my mother and my husband have reminded me in the past few days that I have a blog. I do?! lol So, it has been a pretty hot summer, especially baking a baby in the middle of it. We've mostly been hibernating indoors, avoiding the heat, humidity and the bugs. My cooking has fallen off the wagon almost completely and I have not been the healthiest of individuals in diet nor exercise. (OK confession over!) We have about 6 weeks or so until baby boy is supposed to arrive. I'm not quite ready for two, but I'm definitely ready to be done! One interesting development from pregnancy has been the 'worsening' of my geographic tongue. It's weird... if you've never heard of it, google pictures. I've had it for awhile, but it's become almost permanent and I'm a bit self-conscious about it, so I looked up the causes. Long story short, I decided to try reducing gluten and sugar in our diets--mainly mine. I will tell you that it is darn near impossible to be gf, sugar free and totally plant based. I know some people do it but I don't think I can be one of them. Especially if I ever want to get a dinner invitation from friends again... because who would want to cook for me!!! :) So, everything in moderation.
I introduced fish back into my diet for extra protein for baby. That helps. And I'm not opposed to using eggs either (if they're from a good source). X already eats them. I hate them, personally. I think they smell and taste gross. I'd much rather use egg substitute like flaxseed when baking anyway because it means we can lick the spatula without worrying about salmonella. However, from what I've read, you can't bake tasty gluten free things with the egg substitute.
So that's about where I'm at diet wise. I've done gf for two days and I have to say that the tongue issue has improved! I did have a pretty serious chocolate cake craving yesterday and so I ended up googling a paleo cake recipe and made it. It was AWESOME and we've pretty much eaten it all already. X and I even ate it for breakfast and I didn't feel guilty about it at all because it's so low in sugar and high in protein. Here's the recipe if you're curious.
I subbed maple syrup for the honey because I didn't have any and it worked just fine. I also used less and it was okay that way.
I also made some delicious rice noodles yesterday that were so easy. Here's what I did:

Boil a pot of water. Add the whole package of rice noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes (don't overcook!). In a separate skillet (large one), sauté two cloves of garlic, minced, in sesame oil. Add the cooked noodles, some tamari (okay, I know it has some gluten in it)--perhaps 2-3T, sprinkle cayenne pepper over it, as well as pepper and salt to taste (if the tamari isn't enough). Stir it up and you're done. I'm already craving it again today.

So perhaps this blog won't be totally vegan after all. Sorry! I'll keep posting recipes as I test them out though!

White beans w/onion confit

I got this recipe a while back from Food and Wine magazine. I hadn't made it in awhile because it called for cheese and I thought it wouldn't be any good without it. Wrong! I made it the other day and I'm already craving it again.

In a saucepan, heat 1/4c +2T EVOO.
Add 2 thinly sliced onions, 10 thinly sliced/chopped cloves of garlic (I used slightly less onions and garlic and it was still fine), 1 "scant" T chopped rosemary (I subbed in dried rosemary and just used less) and 1/4t crushed red pepper flake. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover and cook over med-high heat, stirring occasionally until just softened (about 5 minutes).
Uncover and cook over med-low heat, stirring occasionally until onions soft and lightly caramelized (about 15 minutes).
Stir in 2-15 oz drained/rinsed cans of cannellini/white beans (I used dry beans that I soaked and cooked--either way works), 2T chopped flat leaf parsley (again, I used the dried herb and used less), and 1c water and simmer until stewy (about 5 minutes).
*Stir in 1/4c freshly grated Parm-Reg cheese*  (or not!!!)
Season with salt and pepper.

I added a bit more water at the end and threw in chunks of day old bread. It was so good!
The original recipe says you can puree this to make a dip to serve with crusty bread.

Falafel

I found one! I modified a recipe I had used before and didn't like and it came out much better.
Soak 1 to 1 1/2c garbanzo beans overnight (12 hours). Then do it again. It's best if you soak with some lemon juice (or lime, I didn't have lemons this time) and have the water be boiling when you pour it over. I have no idea why that is, but I learned it from my Weston Price cookbook.

After two 12 hour soaks, drain and put the chickpeas into food processor with a handful of fresh cilantro, 4-5 garlic cloves, 1/3 of a big onion, salt, pepper, dried parsley, 1/4 to 1/2t baking powder. Process it until it's pretty finely ground and moldable. Refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour. When you're ready to eat them, form them into patties and fry in olive oil until golden brown.

These would be good with the whole shebang of pita, veggies, tahini sauce... etc.... but when you're lazy like me and want something fast, they're great just plain with a little bit of Amy's Goddess dressing!

Black bean/corn salad

I made this the other day:

Black beans

Corn

Red pepper, chopped up

Red cabbage, chopped up

Onion, chopped

Cumin

Salt, pepper

Lime juice

It makes a good cold salad or dip... I used it for a filling in a tortilla shell like a burrito. I would recommend keeping the lime juice off until last minute if you want to store it in the fridge for more than a few hours.

I'm on the hunt for a good falafel recipe. Anyone have one?

Eggplant parmesan, minus the parmesan ;)

I know I've been AWOL lately--sorry! I've been seriously lacking cooking motivation and it will probably get worse as J's busy season starts up. Anyone want to come visit? I'll be flying solo M-F for the most part and lamenting the loss of the ever-so-occasional MNOs at Starbucks and trips to the grocery by myself! ;) At least until the fall....

Anyway, here's what I ended up making last night:

An eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2" rounds. I salted it and ended up leaving it overnight because I was too lazy to cook after all two days ago. I think you could let it sit for 20 minutes and it would be okay... or skip the salting/sitting step altogether.

Take the slices and dip them in almond milk. Lay them one at a time on a sprayed cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Panko bread crumbs while still wet. Then, season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Bake at 450 for 6-8 minutes or until the bread crumbs are browning.

Take them out, flip them over, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with more bread crumbs and seasoning. Cook this side for the same time and until the eggplant is soft/bread crumbs are brown.

Serve over pasta with marinara sauce on top. If you're a cheese (or vegan cheese) fan, you could put cheese on top and put under a browner until the cheese is melted.

If you are pretty hungry or have a bigger family, I would make 2 eggplants instead of one. My husband ended up eating most of it in one sitting! ;)