Simple sushi for the hungry vegan

I needed to eat up my left over sauce from the other night, and I had some nori on hand... So obviously the universe wanted me to make SUSHI! 

I dug out my bag of brown rice from the back of my pantry and put it in the rice cooker with a scoop of miso paste, just for fun. 

While it was cooking I searched for ingredients. After raiding my fridge and asking the roomies for this and that I was able to gather enough for a quick and tasty dinner:

- magic green sauce from last night (see kelp noodle blog post)

- teriyaki sauce + silken tofu whisked rapidly with a fork = yummy sauce

- tamari for drizzling on top of the avocado

- nori

- avocado

- mushrooms + broccoli sauted with earth balance! garlic powder, dried onion! lemon pepper! and pink Himalayan salt

- red bell pepper sliced uber thin

- lemon wedge

- lime wedge

- raw broccoli stalk sliced thinly 

Get your hands on one of those fancy sushi mats and roll 'em up! Yum!!

Kelp noodles and magic sauce

This recipe was inspired by several things:

Cafe Grattitude in Berkeley has one of my favorite dishes ever. It's basically kelp noodles and a creamy chipotle sauce with veggies. This in my interpretation based on the awesome sauce my roomie came up with a few weeks ago that tastes good on everything. 

I'll warn you, you have to like garlic for this one! **or just use less garlic than I did and you'll be fine**

Here's the basic list of ingredients in order of combination.

In a vita mix blender combine:

- hella grape seed oil

- 2 giant spoon fills of miso paste

- 1 giant glob of tahini 

- hella almond butter

- 1 lime

- 1 lemon

- half bulb of garlic

- 4 broccoli pieces

- 2 handfuls of soaked cashews

- a few seconds of tamari (soy sauce)

- half a bunch of cilantro

- as much basil as possible 

In this image you can see in the vita mix just how much oil, miso, tahini, and garlic I used.

Mmmm garlic.......

This is the amount of basil I was able to harvest from my plants without over harvesting. But I made up for the lack of basil with cilantro. It's good for detoxing heavy metals, so I've read anyway. 

So basically blend it all up on medium to high and add water as necessary for consistency. 

Rinse the kelp noodles and place on a plate or bowl. Top with sauce and garnish with fresh heirloom tomatoe slices, avocado, and a bit of cilantro. Mmmmmmmmm!

Chocolate pudding and fudgesicle dessert

Tonight I made some AMAZING chocolate pudding!

It only has 5 ingredients:

- soaked cashews (soak in water overnight and rinse in the morning) 

- dates

- vanilla extract

- cocoa powder

- water

If you leave out the cocoa powder it creates vanilla cashew cream.

I blended it all together in the vita mix on low for 30 seconds then on high for about a minute. 

It was the perfect dipping sauce for my strawberries, but when I ran out of berries I ended up eating the rest with a spoon. Let's be real--- I licked the bowl clean ;)

Then, I got the idea to pour the remaining chocolate magic into my Popsicle maker and layered it with some basic vanilla cashew cream. I put it in the freezer for a few hours and it tasted JUST like a fudgesicle!!!

Cashew Cream

I'm absolutely a self proclaimed "phase eater" because I go through phases of minor food obcessions. My most recent endeavor is the wonderful, magical, enchanting cashew. 

First of all: always soak your nuts

Secondly: cashews make the perfect base for any sauce or creamy substitute

Lately, I've been soaking a bowl of cashews overnight and making various sauces but I really can't get enough cashew cream!

The recipe is simple:

3-4 hand fulls of soaked cashews

Slightly less than equal parts water

1-2 tbsp vanilla

Optional:

- date

- agave nectar 

Blend it up in the vita mix until creamy and enjoy with a spoon! ( or on fruit, toast, crackers, cupcakes, pancakes, sandwiches, use as a base for any other sauce/ cheese alternative)

Hand rolled vegi sushi

Tonight my housemates had a dinner party and we made sushi! 

My roll was of course vegan, but most importantly, it was all about the sauce :) 

Although I didn't make the sauce myself, it is worth blogging about because it was seriously one of the best sauces I've ever tasted! 

Elena, my housemate, is one of the sweetest people I know and she always teaches me something new about cooking/baking/creating delicious, healthy treats. She used Jen's vitamix to create this bounty.

- extra virgin olive oil

- organic tamari

-  lime

- garlic

- Thai basil

- almond butter

- miso paste

The sauce was packed with flavor and the vitamix made it super creamy and smooth.

I poured the sauce over my roll which was made with:

- nori

- organic brow rice

- avocado

- carrots

- cucumber

- cashew cream

- alfalfa sprouts

- Thai basil leaves

- a lemon wedge squeezed over it

- chia seeds

- sesame seeds

Pan cakes with plum sauce and cashew cream

I haven't made pancakes in what seems like forever, because I suppose, I was never a big fan. I know, I know--I'm one of those people. Anyway, I googled "vegan pancakes" and of course "Oh She Glows" had the answer I was looking for. 

My house mates keep raving about this girl's blog and how yummy her recipes are so I've been looking forward to trying some out. Although, I've literally never been able to follow a recipe directly, I always make modifications.

Below, shows the screen shot I used as my guide, but I'll post what I did since I was dealing with a different ingredient selection in my pantry  :)

BOWL #1 (electric mixing bowl- on low/med speed for 5 min)

3/4 cup coconut flour

3/4 cup warm water

3 TBSP coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBSP maple syrup

2 TBSP Earth Balance

BOWL #2 (dry)

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp all spice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

a few twists of pink salt

While Bowl #1 is mixing, measure all dry ingredients and combine in a small bowl. Slowly add the powders to the mixing bowl #2 while it is on low. Allow it to continue mixing while you prep a hot pan on the stove.

I transferred the pancake mix into a smaller bowl so I could use the electric mixer for the plum sauce while I was flipping cakes. 

Plum Sauce (in electric mixer) 15 min

6 plums

3 figs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 TBSP coconut flour

1 1/2 TBSP maple syrup

1 TBSP Acai powder

1 TBSP Purple Maquai powder

1 tsp coconut oil

1/4 tsp allspice

Cashew Cream (in Vitamix) on low for 5-10 min total. let it rest every few minutes

1 cup soaked cashews 

1 cup water 

1 tsp coconut flour

1 tsp coconut oil

1/4 tsp avocado oil

1/4 tsp vanilla

I topped each pancake with the plum sauce, and then with a dollop of cashew cream, and topped that with carefully sliced plum wedges. YUM!!!

I was supprised at how dense this breakfast was, contrary to conventional pancakes and "syrup". I think my favorite part was the combination of the sweet plum sauce with the light mild flavor of the cashew cream.

I was full from just two and a half pancakes, and I would totally make these again. :)

Veegie Caesar Salutations

Tonight I tried a new recipe.

I borrowed the foundation for this creation from "Oh She Glows" but I tweaked it to my fancy. Alex loves a good Caesar salad so I've been meaning to find a way to enjoy the dish together, since he still eats some sea food, and I'm vegan. In June, Hex Haus got a new batch of housemates and one of them happens to own a Vita Mix (SCORE!) so I've been dabbling in some saucy adventures recently. 

After biking over to the south Berkeley farmer's market and Berkeley Bowl for some cashews, lemons, and crutons, I busted out the Vita Mix and began this creation. 

ALWAYS, always soak your nuts!

Even though it is best to soak nuts overnight for for at least 8 hours, I was really craving some cashew caesar, so all I had time to do was soaked some cashews and almonds while I prepared the rest of the ingredients:  **do what you can, when you can, with what you've got** that's my motto

-Pink Salt

-Fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup-Vegan parmeasan

1/4 cup- raw sunflower seeds

1 cup- soaked cashews

1 cup- water

1 handful- soaked almonds

3-5 cloves of garlic (sprouted)

3 handfuls of soaked seaweed (dehydrated but soaking rehydrates it) for the "anchovie" flavor

Hella fresh greens- lettuce, collard greens, arugula, kale, etc

croutons -if desired

4-5 TBSPs- Avocado oil

I basically blended all the ingredients together while I cut up the greens and added water and oil as necessary for consistency. Then, I poured the delicisious dressing all over the greens and tossed in a few croutons and another pinch of seaweed. Lastly, I topped the salad with a twist or two of fresh ground pepper, and squeezed a lemon wedge over the bowl proceeded to eat, eat, eat until I was licking my bowl clean. YUM!

My non-vegan boyfriend approved the caesar flavor and all my housemates agreed. Delicious!