Recipe Post: "Fried" Veggies

5 Comments

My husband and I are headed to Boston this weekend for a leisurely weekend away and I had a bunch of produce to use up.  This morning I decided since I was going to be out of the house all day that it would be good to get something prepped for dinner ahead of time.  We have been trying to eat high raw now that our winter CSA is over and we don’t have ridiculous amounts of rutabaga and turnip to use every week.  This recipe is almost raw with the exception of the nutritional yeast which gives it a yummy cheesy flavor.

Ingredients (makes 2 large portions or 4 sides):

  • 2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
  • 8oz button mushrooms, cut in half (you can also try baby bella or portobello if you’d like)
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped into medium sized chunks
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (if you want to make this totally raw you can omit this ingredient)
  • 1/4 cup cold pressed olive oil
  • 3T lemon juice
  • 1t onion powder
  • 1t garlic powder
  • 1/2t salt
  • 1/4t black pepper

Directions:

  1. Toss the veggies with the nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper; make sure everything is evenly coated.
  2. Spread evenly onto mesh dehydrator sheets (I used 2 in my Nesco).
  3. Dehydrate at 115F for 1-2 hours (this helps to reduce fermentation) then turn down to 105F for at least 10 hours but you could dehydrate these up to 24 hours if you want them really crispy.

Recipe: Raw Pizza Crackers

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cups quinoa, sprouted 24 hours, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup flax meal
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup parsley
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 10 sundried tomatoes, soaked for 1-2 hours
  • 2T Nama Shoyu
  • 1/4 Cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
  • 1t italian seasoning
  • 2T nutritional yeast (optional, not raw but adds great flavor)

Directions:

  1. To a food processor add sunflower seeds through italian seasoning and blend until almost smooth.
  2. In a medium bowl mix together the quinoa, flax meal, nutritional yeast (if using) and sunflower seed mixture and mix until everything is evenly mixed together.
  3. Spread thinly onto teflex sheets, parchment paper or fruit roll sheets (I use fruit roll sheets for my Nesco dehydrator).  At this point you can score the mixture to have even crackers or you can just break into pieces once they are done.
  4. Dehydrate at 115F for 2 hours then turn down to 105F for 10-15 hours (I like to do this in the evening and let them dehydrate over night.

New Restaurant: Mint

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The hubz took me out for a spontaneous date night to the new vegetarian restaurant and tea lounge Mint in Waitsfield, VT. The small restaurant is all vegetarian and focus primarily on natural, organic whole foods and ingredients. They try to source all of their ingredients locally when possible and are 95% organic. The restaurant is quaint and has a really relaxing atmosphere. The food menu is small but has a number of really tasty sounding dishes. Although their food menu is small their tea list is extensive and is even broken down into types of teas such as dessert and evening teas. We opted for a glass of organic wine instead of tea but I’d like to try one of their teas on our next visit.

After spending awhile looking over the menu hubz and I finally decided on what we would order. I ordered the Sproutada:

Sproutada: toasted corn tortilla with brown rice, black turtle beans, chili sauce, soy mozzarella, topped with tahini dressed greens, snowpea sprouts, shredded carrots, fresh avocado and homemade salsa

and the Hubz ordered the Flavors of Mint Special:

Flavors of Mint Daily Special: roasted tempeh and asparagus over citrus braised greens and a peanut dipping sauce (their description was a little better but I forget what is actually said)

The food was delicious! Although the prices were slightly high you are paying for what you get which is not only delicious organic & local whole foods but a great experience. I also must say that although the plates looked small the food was filling and we left satisfied with our meal. We can’t wait to go back!

Also don’t forget to enter the Bodum French Press giveaway that ends March 5, 2010 at 8am.

Recipe: Kimchi Spring Rolls

3 Comments

Kimchi Spring Rolls

Makes 10-15 Rolls

  • 1/4 cup vegan kimichi
  • 1 T hoisin sauce
  • 1/2 T soy sauce
  • 1 carrot, shredded
  • 1 parsnip, shredded
  • 1/4 cup brown rice
  • spring roll wrappers
  • 2 T oil for frying

Directions:

  1. Fill each spring roll wrapper with 1 tablespoon of filling and tightly roll. Repeat until all the fillings is used.
  2. Heat oil in a sauce pan over medium high and fry the spring rolls until they are lightly browned on all sides.
  3. Drain on paper towel.
  4. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Review: Chocolate Inspirations

6 Comments

Chocolate Inspirations sent me a few samples of their toffee and brittles to review. The great thing about Chocolate Inspirations is that a number of their chocolates can be made sugar-free and vegan and they taste amazing.  Among the flavors that I was sent to try were:

Vegan Cashew Brittle- This chocolate was delicious mix of brittle, chocolate and nuts.

Vegan English Toffee- this was my favorite of all the samples and it was great because I haven't had toffee in years (I don't count the xmas I attempted to make my own and set the stove on fire). This was creamy, caramel and delicious.

Vegan Coconut Brittle- this one was really tasty with it's creamy coconut taste and toasted coconut topping

Vegan Coffee Toffee- this was my hubby's favorite - he loves chocolate and coffee together and this was a great combo especially with the chopped pecans.

Overall this chocolate was amazing and my hubby and I can’t wait to order more of it. I think we will definitely be ordering some chocolate from here soon. Did I mention there are vegan caramels cups? I am sure they are to die for.

Disclaimer: Chocolate Inspirations provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Giveaway: Bodum French Press

55 Comments

French Press Winner Announced:

AnAppleADay // February 26, 2010 at 4:50 PM | Reply (edit)

i definitely need this because my bf is COFFEE-lover and i would love to make him smile by giving this to him!!!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bodum Brazil 8 Cup French Press

I have an exciting giveaway for you!

CSN Stores has contacted me about doing a giveaway on my blog!

Don’t worry I am not going to offer a giveaway for an item that I don’t already use and love myself. I absolutely love my Bodum Brazil French Press and I think that any coffee lover should invest in their own french press.  Not only is a french press the best way to make a delicious cup of coffee it also works great for making loose tea.


Who wants to go out – pay for overpriced coffee when you can make a delicious cup at home?

I sure don’t!

Enjoy it at home!

Coffee. A Good Book. And Someone to Share It All With.

who could ask for more?

CSN has over 200 stores

where you can find everything you need,

including cookware and maybe even barstools

To enter:

  1. Leave a comment telling me why you need this french press in your life. {1 entry}
  2. You can earn an additional entry by tweeting about this giveaway & mentioning @cookveganlover {1 additional entry}
  3. You can earn a third entry by posting it on your blog & linking back to me {1 additional entry}

Good luck!

I’ll use Random.org to choose a winner on Friday March 5, 2010 at 6am!!

(CSN will only ship to the U.S. & Canada)