Raw Vegan Icecream

This is one of my first attempts at a raw recipe… You can buy vegan ice creams in most grocery stores now. There are soy, rice, and coconut ones that I have seen here. In the US they have endless flavours and types. Here in Canada, we don’t have so many, but the basic ones are available and they are delicious.

I have heard of easy vegan ice cream recipes before, but most of them are frozen banana in a food processor with a few other ingredients. My boyfriend calls this baby food and while to his face I deny it.. in reality I completely agree. There are not a lot of occasions that I have the urge to eat mashed banana. Maybe if it was with something else, but not on its own! The store bought ice cream is really expensive. Last time I checked, I think I spent $9.00 on a pint of ice cream. A little ridiculous.

I found a recipe in a raw food book for a raw, hard ice cream. It seemed easy enough. Basically nuts, agave and water plus what ever flavor you want to add. Could it really be this easy? I had to try for myself.

I made two types – Straight up vanilla and spicy chocolate.

I think that people overlook how good cinnamon and chocolate are together. They rarely get paired, yet when they do they are so delicious. I have a brownie recipe I hope to try one day that is a similar flavor combo, so I thought this would be an easy place to test things out.

Vegan Ice Cream

* 10 minutes to prepare, 2-4 hours to chill. Makes about 1 1/2 cups

• Nuts (Cashew, Hazelnut, almond etc)
• ¼ cup of agave syrup
• ¼ - 1/2 cup water

Vanilla Ice Cream

• 1 tbsp vanilla or a vanilla bean

Spicy Chocolate

• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cayenne

Apple Cinnamon Spice

• substitute apple juice for the water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp apple cinnamon spice
• Optional - stir in diced apple

Easiest instructions ever. Process the nuts until they are finely ground. While the food processor is running, add the agave, water and then flavouring. Check the consistency. Mine came out more like a brownie batter and I should have added more water. You want the consistency to be closer to a cake batter or a very thick cream. Put it in a container and freeze for 2 hours. Remove and stir and then freeze again for 2 more hours or up to overnight.

Processed... looked a lot like brownie batter.... hmmm

So... Results. Well... it is a frozen dessert. I think if I did this again, I would use more water in the recipe. It is almost too rich. Normally I can eat a bowl of ice cream, but I would say about 1 scoop is plenty for me.

That said, for the amount of time it took to make this, it is a pretty cool way to save some money to do your own ice cream.

I think if you had an ice cream maker and followed a more traditional recipe, you would get something that was a little closer to the store bought stuff. It is nice to know though that this raw alternative works. I am considering still attempting a raw diet and one thing I freak out about is lack of treats. I would eat this again for sure.

Kind of looks like ice cream, doesn't it?
Kind of tastes like it too!

I am actually pretty excited to try this again. Hopefully I can post some more pictures and results for you soon!

Pears, wine and comfy cozies

Today was a cold day. It was so cold that I swear I saw a snow flake at lunch. When I finally got home, all I wanted to do was get out of my heels, throw on some sweats and catch up on TV with a glass of wine. So how can I turn this into a post for Vegan MoFo? Well on a chilly night I can think of nothing better than eating something warm and sweet and on the menu today is pears.

I don't eat pears very much. They bruise very easily and I find by the time I get to work they are not looking so pretty. In the fall I like to have pears. Even though there a lots that are in season in the summer, something about them makes me think  they are a fall fruit. Maybe because the are similar in texture to apples. This week I had bought an assortment of pears to give them a try and to see how I would do at cooking them; something I have never done before.

I was surprised to find out when looking up the nutritional information on pears that they are a good source of copper. I was told recently that recently on TV someone was saying that a lot of vegan people are not able to get enough copper in their diets because it is not found easily in vegan food. Well... yesterday I noted that pumpkin seeds are a good source and apparently so are pears! They are also a good source of vitamins C and E and a great source of fibre. Pears make an excellent snack and a nice switch from the apple a day philosophy.

So beyond just eating a pear, what else can you do with them? Well I tried baking and poaching pears into quick and easy desserts. both took 30 minutes to make with little prep time and the finish product is a great way to serve a healthy dessert to your family, friends... whoever

Baked Pear Crisp

• 2 pears (I used apple pears, but Bartlett or red would be another good choice)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1/2 rolled oats (Quick cooking or regular)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup melted butter, plus 1 Tbsp for drizzling

To prep your pears, chop in half vertically and remove the core with a spoon. You can peel the pears if you want, but I didn't. Pre-heat your oven to 375 F.

 Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Pour the melted butter on the dry ingredients (except for about a Tbsp) and mix until everything is combined. With a spoon, scoop the mixture and stuff it in the pears. drizzle the remaining butter on top and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the pears are cooked through. Serve with vanilla coconut ice cream or whip cream (vegan, of course). They are great warm or cold.

Before baking..

And.. After! Imagine ice cream on top of this. I was out

I plan to have these for breakfast tomorrow too :)

Wino Poached Pears

• 2 Bartlett pears, peeled cored and sliced in half
• 1 cup of red wine (get something you would have a glass of too)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 2" cinnamon stick
• 1 lemon, juiced (about 1 Tbsp)
• 1 pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients expect for the pears in a sauce pot and bring it to a boil. add the pears and pour some of the liquid on top of the pears and reduce it to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until you can easily pierce the pears with a knife.

Make sure to pour some of the liquid on top of the pear when they are cooking.

Serve with some of the liquid. They don't need anything else.... except maybe a nice glass of wine :)

If you have fresh mint, it would make a perfect garnish.

Raspberries with Orange Lemon Sauce

Sitting at home nursing a minor hangover, I was watching one of my favourite shows, Chef at Home. I love Michael Smith and even though he is not a vegan chef by any means I love his style of cooking without recipes. as he put together this awesome dessert, all I could think about was making it vegan. Unfortunately (or maybe not) I did not bother to write down what the recipe was... so I am following his mantra and cooking without a recipe.

This recipe is not for the sweet tooth's of the world. It is very, very tart. However, if you like lemon and you like raspberries, you must give this a try. Sublime on a hot summer night .

If you like your desserts sweeter, I would just adjust the sauce and add some agave or maple syrup. If you like sour treats, make and serve!

Raspberries with Orange-Lemon Sauce
*Inspired by Chef at Home
Serves 2

• 1 cup of fresh raspberries (or other berry of choice)
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soy, but almond would be a great choice too)
• 1/4 cup sugar (Use more if you like it sweeter or other sweetener)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• Graham Cracker crumbs (or any vegan cookie)
• 1 Tbsp Maple syrup
• Mint leaf for garnish

In a sauce pot, add the orange juice, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt and lemon zest and juice. Whisk the sauce and heat over medium low heat. Once everything is combined, add the corn starch slowly and whisk constantly until dissolved to avoid lumps. Continue to whisk until the sauce is simmering and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Wash your berries and get a martini glass or other single serving dish. Fill the dish half way with the berries and drizzle maple syrup. Cover with sauce and repeat to make a couple layers. On the top, sprinkle the cookie crumbs and drizzle again with the remaining syrup. Let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The sauce will thicken and set. Once cool, garnish with a mint leaf and serve.

How easy is that? if it wasn't for the cooling of the sauce, this dessert would take 10 minutes to make. Next time, I am going to try and sweeten the sauce a bit and use a mixture of berries. So good and refreshing. If you can, enjoy this one outdoors.

Apple Crisp with a Twist

My mom is not known for being big into cooking. I think to her it was much more of a chore than it was a hobby. However, she has saved over the years a select amount of recipes that are so, so good. I never gave her a lot of credit for this, but her small stash of recipes are top notch. Last night, I was craving one of these: Apple Crisp.

Apple crisp is an easy recipe and found on many menus in Edmonton and probably found in a lot of kitchens too. Ingredients are generally simple and the steps are fairly easy to put together successfully. Apple is one of my favourite foods. I am not able to pass up apple dishes when I go out and I take my apple crisp very seriously.

The trick to an amazing apple crisp is to make sure that it isn't too sweet, has a bit of salt and a bit of spice. You also need to ensure that the crisp is crispy. My mom's recipe accomplishes all of these things, so of course I stole it and veganized it. Then I jazzed it up a bit because.. well... I also was craving peanut butter. It was just one of those nights. I am not sure who to give credit for this recipe. I suppose my mom. She obviously got this recipe out of a newspaper about 20 years ago, so who ever came up with it, thank you! The peanut butter caramel topping I adapted from Veganomicon.

Apple Crisp

• 4 apples, washed, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/3 cup of flour
• 1 cup of quick-cooking oats (I used regular)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup melted margarine or earth balance

Peanut Butter Carmel Topping

• 1/3 cup of peanut butter (not the kind that separated, the regular stuff)
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 1/2 Tbsp brown rice syrup
• 2 Tbsp chopped Pecans

Preheat your oven to 375 F. While that is heating up prepare your apples and put them into a large casserole dish. Now prepare the topping, combine the flour, oats, sugar, salt, cinnamon in a bowl and combine. Add the melted margarine and mix until everything is coated. Pour on top of the apples and bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.

While the crisp is cooking, prepare the topping. In a sauce pan combine all the ingredients except for the pecans. Heat over medium low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture pours off your spoon in a ribbon. Add the pecans and stir again. (Note: make this just before the crisp is ready so it doesn't harden on you).

When the apple crisp is ready take it out of the oven and drizzle the topping over it. You should let it chill for a bit before serving, but I usually risk the burns and dig in immediately. I have very little self-control when it comes to dessert. If you want to fancy it up, sprinkle a little powdered sugar and garnish with mint.

Enjoy!