July 31, 2011

The Green in the Glass!

As mentioned in my previous post, I love green smoothies. Love them.
I've been experimenting a lot over the last few months with different combos and whatnot. I enjoy drinking my food way more than I should...
But I think I've discovered my favorite basic-breakfast green smoothie recipe:
  • Juice of a small orange
  • A couple frozen strawberries
  • A slice or two of frozen peach
  • A few blueberries or blackberries
  • 1 Tbsp. Lydia's Green Powder
  • 2 tsp. ground flaxseeds
  • 3 big handfuls of spinach
  • 3 de-ribbed leaves of chard
  • 2 de-ribbed leaves of kale
  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 cup-ish of homemade kombucha!
  • coconut water to reach desired consistency

Delish.



I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner.

I'm a huge fan of green smoothies and have at least one a day...always one for breakfast! And I use frozen fruit in them for that little bit of natural sweetness. I had been buying the organic frozen fruit that they sell at my local co-op until I had an epiphany: I can just cut up fresh fruit and throw it in the freezer. DUH. That way I don't have to waste the plastic packaging that the bagged frozen fruit comes in.
Some tasty mango and banana


And local strawberries and peaches!

It's amazing how all the tiny little things you do can really add up. Too bad it took me so long to realize how stupid it is to buy pre-sliced frozen bags of fruit when a lot of the fruit I use regularly grows right around where I live. Hurray for this realization!

July 7, 2011

Almond Pulp Cookies

For anyone that makes their own almond milk, you know that there is a bunch of almond pulp left over from the process:

That stuff is too good to throw out! There are so many possibilities on what to do with it (I want to hear your ideas!). With yesterday's batch, I made some Almond Pulp Cookies! I just threw some stuff together that I had around the house and they came out pretty tasty.

Almond Pulp Cookies

  • 1 cup almond pulp
  • 1 heaping tbsp ground flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup dried berries or raisins
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 3 tbsp agave nectar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter

    Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl (duh?)
    ...I used my hands since the dough is a bit crumbly...
    Place small flattened balls of dough on a baking sheet
    Bake for 40 minutes at 225 degrees
    After cooling, roll the tops of the cookies in powdered sugar
    (if you desire)

    Next time, I'll try using maple syrup instead of agave nectar. I feel that almond and maple flavors are made to go together!

Mustard?

For the last few days I've been exploring what things I can make DIY-style....first experiment was mustard.
Probably like most people, I just buy a bottle of the stuff at the store. It never really even crossed my mind that you can make it at home. It turned out to be one of the easiest things ever, and also really cheap!

Basic Mustard
  • 3/4 cup whole mustard seeds (I mixed brown&yellow together. Why not.)
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • Sugar & salt to taste

    Place your mustard seeds in a bowl with the vinegar. Give it a swirl.

Now tuck that bowl away somewhere at room temperature and let it sit for 2 days
..................
After the 2 days, pour the mustard seeds + vinegar into a blender and blend away!
Whilst blending, add a teaspoon each of salt and sugar, or to taste  
..................
When you have reached your desired consistency, pour into a jar for storage
And now you have mustard!

It has quite a kick to it right away, but it should mellow out as time passes
Keep it in the fridge and enjoy!



I guess there's a first time for everything

I've finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon. It's true, I've never ever written a blog before. So welcome to my first attempt at sharing and writing about the goings-on in my life!

This blog will be a place for me to share my vegan cooking adventures with whoever is interested. Lately, I've started taking photographs of my creations (hence my motivation to start a blog), so be prepared for lots of pictures.

It won't necessarily be strictly a vegan food blog...I'll also be posting about other ways I've found to live as eco-friendly as possible. This is an ongoing process that I love to challenge myself with.

Enjoy!