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!

Raw Chips

This post is dedicated to James who loaned me a dehydrator in January in hopes that it would help me test out a 30 day raw diet. Obviously that has yet to happen. In fact, I took the dehydrator home and left it at my door... until tonight.

I thought I would start slow and make something easy that I was pretty sure I would love. I have made kale chips many times in the oven. These are similar, but take a helluva lot longer. However, you get a better chip from it, so if you can spare the time, it is worth it. Since kale chips are pretty well known, I thought I would attempt to use a different green and see how it does in the conversion to chips. Tonight, I chose collard greens. They are super good for you and I love them. They are seriously one of my favourite vegetables... actually most leafy greens are on my fave list. I don't know if that is a vegan thing, but I know for me, before being vegan no dark leafy greens were on my fave foods list. I didn't hate them, more indifferent of them. Now, I find that I crave them.. I think my taste buds changed after cutting animal products.. Definitely for the better.

Back to collard chips... I did a little searching on the internet to see what recipes were out there. There are many recipes for a wide range of veggie chips. There are so many ways to make them... so if you like these, just Google raw chips and tons of stuff comes up. Normally when I do these in the oven I keep it simple with some olive oil and salt, but thought I would maybe change it up a little bit. For the kale I am making a herb cheeze chip and for the collards, salt and balsamic vinegar.

Herb Cheeze Raw Kale Chips

• 1 bunch of kale (any kind, I used curly)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 - 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme (optional)
• 1 pinch each of salt and pepper

Salt and Balsamic Vinegar Raw Collard Chips

• 1 bunch collards, sliced into bite size pieces
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used white)
• 1-2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp ground sunflower seeds

For each of these the steps are the same. First rip or slice the greens into large bite size pieces. They will shrink a bit when you dehydrate them, so don't slice too small. Next throw them into a large bowl and combine the other ingredients. toss and stir until everything is coated. lay out flat in your dehydrator and try not to let them over lap so they dry evenly.

This is the kale pre-mixed

Now to dehydrate, I think the temperature is somewhere around 120 F.. Mine doesn't have a temperature setting, so I just turned mine on and crossed my fingers. I left mine in for about 5 hours total. If you turn the temperature up, they probably would only need 3-4 hours. I have seen some recipes that need up to 10 hours to dry. First time making these, I would allow lots of time in case they need more than you think.

Kale ready to be dehydrated

Collard green chips, pre-dehydrated. I needed about 3 trays for each bunch.

So I tried both of these chips, and I tried to save some to bring for work snacks. First, they were awesome. I liked both, but I kind of like the collards flavour better, but the kale makes a better chip. Just holds together a little better than thing collard greens. If you are going to try and save these, don't use zip lock bags. I did and they kind of softened up on me. Paper bag or Tupperware would probably be better.

Like slow cooking, turn on the dehydrator and then in a few hours you have chips ready to eat.
Takes a while, but I think I prefer to the baking method.

These were so good, I ate so many, I didn't need dinner. Such a good snack. Healthy and tastes good. Can't really get better than that.

Vegan Milk Part V: Sunflower Power

My other vegan milks:
Part I: Hemp
Part II: Almond
Part III: Rice
Part IV: Flax
Wow, I cannot believe I am already on my fifth non-dairy milk test. This weekend I decided to attempt another seed milk. The flax milk I think was about a 80% success, so I am striving for more. Instead of looking for something online, I looked to my cupboard. I have no urge to be running to the grocery store, so I needed something that I already keep in stock. This is when I stumbled upon a large jar of sunflower seeds.

What a great idea for milk. I doubt I am the first to come up with it, but I am surprised this one is done more. If I could describe this milk, I would say it is a bit more savoury. I did not sweeten the recipe this time, but I think it would be a good addition if you are looking for a taste that is closer to what you find in the store.

Sunflower seeds are really good for you too. They have lots of vitamin E, magnesium and selenium. They also have phytosterols which can help lower cholesterol. Because of the high vitamin E (1/4 cup gives you 90% of your daily intake), sunflower seeds are known to known to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and some cancers. Not bad for a little seed!

Best of all, they are cheap! For those on a budget, this milk cost me approximately $0.35. I buy the seeds in bulk and it doesn't take much to get a litre of milk. That is a savings that can add up over time.

So here is the recipe. It is very similar to the other seed and nut milk.

Sunflower Power Milk
Makes about 1 litre

• 1 cup of shelled, raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
• about 3 - 3 1/2 cups of water (judge on how thick you like your milk. 3 cups is similar to 1% dairy)
• dash of salt
• Sweetener (optional, I didn't use one) - e.g. date, maple syrup, sugar, agave

First, rinse the seeds and soak them for 8 - 12 hours. Once soaked, drain the seeds and pout into a blender. Add to the blender the remaining ingredients and blend for 2 minutes or until you can't see seeds anymore. While the mixture is blending, set-up your straining station: Take a large bowl and rest a small-hole strainer inside. Cover the inside of the strainer with cheesecloth, long enough that it hangs over the sides of the strainer

Once the mixture is completely blended, pout it through the strainer. Let it rest a minute or two and then you can lift the corners of the cheese cloth up and squeeze the remaining liquid out.

Chill and serve.

Finally a milk with good consistency and flavour! This milk looked and poured much closer to the almond milk I made previously. Since I didn't sweeten it, the taste was a bit on the earthy, savoury side. If you let this milk sit, it will separate, so keep in a container with a tightly sealed lid so you can shake it up. I found this milk to be very tasty and could even drink it on its own. I made some muffins with it, and they were really good! I have also used it in a smoothie and it was a welcomed addition.

A cheap alternative to almond and soy milk. This is worth a try. Highly recommended!