Hummus and Cheezey Spice Crackers

This is a waaay better alternative to the typical sugar-laden snacks of late.  I don't always have time, but I love making these things at home as opposed to buying them from the store.  I just feel like when I put my own energy into them, they carry something special that a cracker sitting in a box for weeks is lacking.  Part of that "special something" is burning half of the first batch ; )

Garbanzo Hummus
1 can of garbanzos, drained and rinsed well
1 clove of garlic
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
pinch of whole cumin seeds
dash of pepper
couple tablespoons of water
dash of sesame oil

Into the Vita-Mix...push it down and mix it up till smooth.

Cheezey Spice Crackers
Adapted from Oh She Glows

Preheat oven to 350.

Use whisk to mix:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sucanat
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon asefotida
1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
(all spices are optional...add what you are in the mood for)

Make a well in the center, and add:
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup liquid (I used almond milk)

Whisk the liquid, then use a spoon to mix the entire batch.  Use hands to stick it all together and give it a few kneads.  Roll out between two sheets of wax paper or on a heavily floured surface.  Roll out until you have the thickness of crackers you like (the thinner, the crispier).  Transfer the entire sheet of dough to a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet.  Cut cracker shapes with pastry cutter, pizza cutter, or knife (be careful not to scratch your pan!).  Brush with olive oil (or not, I did both and they were both fine) and sprinkle with salt or leave as is.  It's okay if the crackers are touching, and if they stick they can be broken apart after.  You can also move them apart by hand.  They don't expand out, just up (and just a tiny bit).  Bake for 17-22 minutes or until golden and crispy.  Let cool.  Bake a little longer for crispy, or less for softer crackers.  I found 18 minutes to be my perfect level of crispiness.

Green Smoothie Revelations

As I pondered my recent ongoing fatigue over my green smoothie* today, something dawned on me.  It's been about six months since I became vegan, and I've been blogging for about four months, so I guess you can say I started eating about five months ago.  Meaning, I pay attention and eat real food rather than cookies and white flour and fatty stuff.  Smoothies in the morning, something "real" for lunch (crackers and hummus doesn't count anymore, unless it's just a snack), and usually homemade dinners almost entirely from scratch.

Well, I have been on vacation for the last week or so, and eating lots of sugar (thank you, holidays) and subsisting on coffee for most of the morning and afternoon (literally, I don't know how it gets so late before I realize I'm still in my pj's).

And guess what came back?  Daily fatigue.  Wanting to lounge around all day (and night), with only brief periods of having energy to do really basic things like clean the house or wash my hair or feed the dogs.

I think I've finally acclimated to eating.  And now I'm one of "those" people (ie. normal) that get tired and grumpy when they don't eat.  I used to turn my nose at those people.  Toughen up, geez! I would think to myself when I heard people complain about skipping a meal.  Eat a cookie and get over it already!  I think since I've been skipping my morning smoothies, I'm tired by noon.  No lunch--tired till evening.  Make dinner--have energy and stay up past midnight and sleep way in.  Then the cycle continues the next day.

I've finally put two and two together.

I think I'll start eating again.

And I think I'll get out of these pajamas.

================
*Green Smoothie:
1 banana
4 small kale leaves w/stems
3 dates
2 teaspoons chia seeds
dash of cinnamon
2 brazil nuts
10 raisins
1/2 cup regular oats

These smoothies are SO much better with the Vita-Mix!!!

Graham Cracker Showdown

I scoured the internet looking for the "perfect" recipe.  Here are the two finalists.  The line under the word "cracker" is actually the profile view of a graham cracker, not my cursor.  

|

 (see? graham cracker.)

|

(there's another one.  getting hungry?)

Team One 

A sweet, soft graham cracker.  Very easy to make--can make it in one bowl.  

Team Two

Also sweet, but the dough is a bit harder to work with.  Wonderful spices create a nice aroma and flavor.  Seems to have less sugar than the Team One crackers.

Which recipe will become part of my official recipe collection???  

Trying to decide was hard...nearly impossible.  

It was like choosing between Edward and Jacob.

or Dave Chappelle and Dane Cook.

or The Office and 30 Rock (or Dexter and Weeds).

or Dyson and Oreck.

or Vegan Deli Slices and Baby Bologna.

I had to eat many, many graham crackers before I could decide.

I think it's a tie.

But if I have to choose one, I'm going with easy.  One bowl graham crackers will be showing up at my house and at the kids' snack table very soon!

*************

Team One Adaptations:  Used sucanat instead of sugar.  Worked just fine.

Team Two Adaptations: Used all whole wheat flour instead of white flour so the dough was a bit moist in texture.  Next time would use less oil (probably would cut it down by one tablespoon).

The Vegan Project. Reflections on the Omnivorous Husband.

[Sigh.]

This is one of those posts that qualify the title.  It's really a "Diary" entry.  Like a wistful teen reflecting on her time at the mall with "him".  But the good news is that I don't feel "Frenzied" very often because the kitchen seems to be my niche now.

I guess you could say that I feel pretty complete about The Vegan Project.  If you've just started reading my blog, The Vegan Project started when my meat-loving husband found out he had cholesterol problems (they are hereditary in his family) and he decided (on his own) to try a vegan diet for two weeks as a last ditch effort to avoid cholesterol meds.  He ended up eating vegan for 3 or 4 weeks, and then a few more weeks of eating some cheese in moderation and turkey or chicken for lunch, but at home--strictly vegan.  His cholesterol level did go back to normal and the happy ending is...he doesn't need meds.  Vegan Project: Success!

Of course, that's just the synopsis.  There were lots of details involved in the story that I left out.  Because for some of us, being vegan is sort of a journey, rather than a mere decision.

Nowadays, he eats vegan at home for the most part, doesn't like the taste of milk anymore so drinks almond milk with his cookies and cereal, and enjoys having his meals cooked for him every night.  (History lesson about this blog: I started it so that I would be inspired to cook because I never cooked dinner before unless it was cheese quesadillas or pre-made raviolis and a frozen vegetable.  Blogging  inspired me to cook and eat healthy and my whole life has changed because of the help and support I get via the blogosphere!  Thank you, friends!)

"Then why the sad face, mom?"

This morning I read this post at Happy Herbivore and it got me thinking about the vegan mentality.  I don't expect my husband to be a vegan (if you met him, you would understand) but what I don't love is when he tells people that by the end of the vegan diet he was spacey and had lost too much weight.  I don't attribute this to the vegan diet, I attribute it to not eating enough in general.  When you don't have mid-meal snacks or a pound of rotting meat leftovers in your GI tract to keep you full longer, you get hungrier and, yes, spacey.  Vegan food digests easily and quickly, and one must do a little snacking and eat a little more.  

I just wish people would say what's true--"I like cheese and meat".  If the hubbie really wanted to be a vegan (as he does seem to "believe in" the vegan diet), he could succeed and have more mental clarity (I totally do!) and gain weight (my vegan friends out there who struggle with your weight can attest to this, no?).  Anyway, I just don't want him to misrepresent the vegan diet to others, nor mislead himself.  

But the good news is, I would have never guessed we'd be eating vegan dinners every day.  More importantly, we're eating together most days, as a family (even if sometimes it's in front of the TV).  It's incredible.  Not only to eat vegan but to finally feel like I'm pulling my weight in the kitchen (not to sound chauvinistic but that I can keep my husband happy in this way is kind of a surprise).

It's not that I'm feeling nostalgia for the days past when he was 100% vegan.  That was a freakin' lot of work, making breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  I'm okay (rather grateful) with how things are now.  He embraces my crazy vegan ways, and I embrace his flexibility and how he sometimes pretends to love dinner when I know he couldn't possibly.

And for Xmas he got me lots of cooking things.  A new set of All Clad cookware (even a griddle for tortillas! woo hoo!), The Accidental Vegan, and my new Vita-Mix.  Can't complain about that!

Teff Balls, Brussels Sprouts, Marinated Tofu and Two Sauces

Tonight's feed was entirely a one-man show.  I made it, I ate it, I cleaned it all up.  But aren't we worth it?  Isn't it okay to cook even though "he" is eating out?  Of course cereal or a smoothie sounds better, but where in the rule book did it say that I'm cooking mostly for him so if he's not here then most of my reason for cooking is obsolete?  

That was an overboard rant, but I'm not deleting it.

And while I'm being dramatic, I'll present tonight's menu as if it were being presented to me on a menu at a table whereby I'm on a date... with myself.  Head chef: Stephanie.

*  *  * 

Chef Stephanie's Special for 12-26-2010

Tofu Rouge

Tofu in a spiced dijon tomato marinade broiled under high heat for a crisp yet tender filet, served on a bed of fresh, organic lettuce

Choux de Bruxelles

Roasted brussels sprouts with thinly sliced red onion accented with black pepper

Teff Puffs

Miniature bread puffs made from whole grain spelt flour and whole grain teff flour

Cremes du jour

Today's yellow sauce is a cheesy fondue-like sauce made from cashews, nutritional yeast, and a variety of warming spices.  The green sauce is a kale-garlic sauce accented with lemon and black pepper.

Please include a 110% gratuity with all dinner parties.  If you need assistance calculating 110% x $0, please see your waitress, who is also dining with you and is you.

*  *  *

I was going to post recipes, but I'll just give a brief run down.  And here is the jungle that was my plate.

Tofu:  covered in a sauce made of dijon mustard, tomato paste, and better-than-bullion.  Baked on 350 for 15 minutes.

Brussels sprouts: halved and tossed in olive oil with salt, pepper, and red onion.  Baked at 350 for 30 minutes (15 minutes uncovered, then added 1 cup of water and covered for remaining time).

Teff Puffs: 1//2 cup teff flour, 1/2 cup spelt, pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon garam masala (for fun) and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum.  Mixed in food processor and added 1/4 cup almond milk (with s-blade, not dough blade, as it wasn't mixing well).  About 1/2 cup water slowly until the dough began to form a ball.  Took out ball, kneaded for a few minutes, and let rest for 20 minutes.  Shaped into small balls and baked at 350 for about 15 minutes (until crisp on outside).  They were very good!

Sauces:  Cheese sauce-cashews, water, nutritional yeast, onion powder, smoked paprika, a dash of salt, black pepper, and tumeric.  Kale sauce: 6 kale leaves, 1 garlic clove, salt, pepper, tumeric, cayenne pepper, lemon juice (one lemon), blended on high in Vita-mix until warm (about three minutes).  The kale sauce was good with the cheese sauce, but not alone.  It tasted too healthy and kale-ish.  I know it was very healthy, though, so I ate lots of it.

So much for brief!

Will I make this again?  [Drumroll please...] Yes!  Especially the tofu marinade and the teff puffs.  They were so interesting and cute and unique and tasty that they deserve a comeback.

Raw Cashew Cheesecake from VT

That looks like the Godzilla of forks sitting next to that petite cheese cake slice

From Vegetarian Times:

Raw Cashew Cheesecake

• 2 cups macadamia nuts
• 1 1/2 cups cashews
• 1/2 cup pitted Medjool dates
• 1/4 cup dried coconut
• 6 Tbs. coconut oil, melted (gently warmed)
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup raw agave nectar
• 1/2 sun-dried vanilla bean
• 3 cups mixed berries, such as blueberries and raspberries

1. Place macadamia nuts in large bowl, and cover with cold water. Place cashews in separate bowl, and cover with cold water. Soak nuts 4 hours, then rinse, drain, and set aside.
2. Pulse macadamia nuts and dates in food processor to a sticky crumb-like consistency. Sprinkle dried coconut on bottom of 8-inch pie pan. Press macadamia nut mixture onto coconut to make crust.
3. Place cashews, coconut oil, lime juice, agave nectar, and 6 Tbs. water in bowl of food processor. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into food processor bowl, and purée until smooth. Pour mixture onto crust, and freeze 1 to 2 hours, or until firm. Remove from freezer, slice while frozen, and transfer to serving platter. Defrost in fridge 1 hour, or on countertop 30 minutes; top with berries; and serve.

Crust after processing

I had to peek in the fridge for this photo because I forgot to take pictures.

Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies are worth writing home about!

This recipe comes from Oh She Glows (and she got the recipe from the Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan cookbook).

(Check her link for the recipe)

I could not for the life of me find Kamut flour so I used all purpose and spelt, heavier on the all-purpose. These spread quite a bit so if you're into small cookies (I am) then make very small balls and try to make the recipe yield to twenty cookies rather than the dozen that she suggests.

My best adaptation was finding this amazing fig jam stuff at Whole Foods to fill these little buggers.  The result was divine.  I also filled some with apricot-peach jam with equally amazing results.

You got that, right?  Divine!!!


I think I'll try these next time. (It's a "life-changing" vegan thumbprint cookie.)