Pretty Much Raw Tootsie Rolls

I'm alive, and well fed! I have a whole back-log of photos I need to post, with recipes.

I made this by accident, it's quick, easy, and tastes a LOT like tootsie rolls (but better, IMHO)

1/2 c pitted dates
1/3 c coconut milk
1 c raw almond butter
1/2 c carob powder (I used roasted, it's what I had around)
2 T raw cocoa powder
1 T vanilla paste
1/2 t salt, or to taste

Blend the dates and coconut milk in a food processor, until you get a fairly smooth paste.

Add the rest of the ingredients, blend until you get a fairly gummy but solid mix. I put my mix into a loaf pan, but you can also shape it into truffles, rolled in carob powder, make it into little tootsie roll logs, etc. Tell me how it turns out!

I love filler, baby

I'm starting to explore raw and living foods. I just picked up I Am Grateful, the Cafe Gratitude raw food cookbook. So far it seems awesome. I mean c'mon, "I Am Heavenly; Mudslide Pie," "I Am Devoted; Live Coconut Cream Pie," or "I Am Adoring; Tiramisu," anyone? I also just picked Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, which is the book that started my interest in raw foods.

I am having a lot of fun with Ani's book, and have started drinking home made nut mylks (as she calls them, to clearly differentiate them from dairy based milks) daily. I feel great, overall. It is totally conducive to easy living and quick foods that wont make you feel bad.

Last night I was hungry but did not have the energy to invest into cooking something. Inspired by the raw food books and the ease of having your food pre-digested by a blender, I threw together some frozen banana chunks, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, hulled hemp seeds (all three nuts/seeds were raw/unsalted), carob powder, mate powder, and vanilla extract.

Push down, blend, suck down.

Man I felt better.

I used the pumpkin seeds and mate as (frank female problems warning) the first day of my period was kind of bumming me, and those are both supposed to be hormonal balancing agents. Today I feel completely fine and unburdened, did some pilates first thing in the morning without a hitch!

munch munch munch (snack sammich)

I'd apologize for the lack of updates but nooo one is reading this. I will be posting more once I process a few photos and decide which recipes to begin posting.

I will try to be good about posting what I am eating, for my own logging sake or inspiration in simplicity. So before I go to the Poconos for Memorial Day Weekend, I am trying to clean out the fridge rather than make more food.

Tonight's dinner was stupendous, and it only took 3 minutes!

I tossed a piece of sprouted grain bread in the toaster, I mashed up half of a haas avocado in the skin, spread it on the toast, layered it with the rest of my adaptation of Vegan with a Vengance's chorizo, and dotted the top with tofutti's "better than sour cream."

All done, all tasty, all eaten up yum. Seriously you could have told me my cat was found horribly mutilated and I wouldn't have cared, while I was eating this open faced delight.

Spring is Undeniably Here! Borscht

ooh pretty... want to touch!
2 cups water
2 cups strong vegetable broth (I use Better than Bullion for my stock)
6 Medium peets, trimmed, peeled, cut into chunks
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 red, yellow, or orange pepper, seeded, deveined, and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
1 dash dried dill
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
Lemon Juice, Stevia, Salt, and Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Chopped cilantro
Vegan sour cream, for garnish (I linked a recipe for convienience, use whichever you prefer, including commercial)

1. Combine water, broth, beets, tomatoes, pepper, bay leaf, dill, and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered, for about 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat, discard bay leaves, set aside to cool. If it is cooler outside than inside, I often leave the soup base 'outside,' it cools faster and saves more energy than putting it in the refrigerator.
2. While base is cooling, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onions, scallions, and garlic and cook until tender. Remove from heat, add to soup base, along with parsley.
3. Remove about one cup of liquid from the soup base (more if it seems really 'watery'), add orange juice. Puree with a blender bowl, food processor, or immersion blender in batches if necessary (I used an immersion blender). If soup is very thick, add more of the beet juice liquid, continue to add liquid until you get desired thickness (thinness?).

Let base cool all the way. Here is where you custom tailor it, with the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and stevia. Some people like their borscht tart, some sweet, some both, etc. etc. When you are satisfied with the flavor, let cool.

Spoon into white bowls, and garnish with sour cream, sprinkle with cilantro.


The rest of the beet broth you can save in the fridge for food or clothing dye, a morning drink, use in another soup, fake blood ;), etc. etc.

Enjoy! And I'm not going to pretend I'm not totally proud of the photo up above.

Amaranth Stuffed Kabocha Squash

Here is a quick n' easy.


1 2-3 pound Kombucha squash
1 cup amaranth
6 green onions, washed and diced
2 T Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
2 1/2 cups water

Fill a sauce pan up about one inch. Bring water to a boil.

Cut the top off the squash off, remove seeds, guts, etc. Place top and squash in sauce pan. Turn water to simmer. Cover, let steam cook for 30 minutes until soft but not mushy. Remove from heat and drain water when done.

In the meantime, wash the amaranth in a fine sieve and drain well (I use my sprouting bag for this). Preheat a frying pan on medium high, and gently brown the amaranth (takes about 5 minutes). Remove from heat. In another sauce pan, bring the 2 1/2 cups water to a boil, add Braggs, stir, add amaranth, cover, turn to a simmer, and let cook until the water is absorbed (about 30 minutes). If the water is still not absorbed, turn up the heat a little and continue to stir until it is a bit of a thick porridge. Add the diced green onions, and pour the mixture into the squash. Serve warm and fresh, by cutting it into eight wedges, or refrigerate and serve the next day. This is a great easy, quick, simple healthy whole food side dish.

Peanut Butter Banana Pudding Espresso (and the kitchen sink!) Brownies

This recipe is sorta-kinda-a-little inspired by Vegan with a Vengeance's "banana split pudding brownies." It is about as true to/inspired by the recipe as made-for-T.V. movies are true to/inspired by actual events that happened at some point in this world. I would go so far as to say I only ganked the recipe for the banana pudding topping, everything is is completely different (as completely different as any chocolate+sugar+flour+stabilizers basis can be). It turned out quite well. I skewed for a healthier recipe, because of that it is still complete decadent and not lacking in any way, but is cakier rather than fudgier because there is no added fat.

Peanut Butter Banana Pudding Espresso (and the Kitchen Sink!) Brownies

Wet ingredients
4 ounces baker's choclate squares
4 mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar (use 1 cup if not using the stevia recommended below)
1 T vanilla extract
3 dropper fulls of liquid stevia or enough to achieve desired sweetness (I used chocolate flavor ed stevia but you can also add a dash of chocolate extract)
1 t instant espresso

Dry ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

For the topping layer:

3 mashed very ripe bananas
2 T sugar
1/4 c vanilla almond milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 T arrowroot powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a 9x13 baking pan.

To make the brownie batter:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. While the chocolate melts, mix the rest of the "wet" ingredients, until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and continue to mix.

Combine the dry ingredients and add to the banana mixer until pretty consistent, mixture will be a little gummy. Don't worry :). Spread the mixture out in the baking dish.

In a clean bowl mix the topping layer ingredients together, and spread atop the brownie mix.

Bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven, let cool. Cut up and can serve with diced up bananas and cashew cream or other non-dairy whipped or delish topping, or just enjoy plain!

Kinda Sorta Sour Pickles

If there is one thing I love doing, it's learning how to make new foods. Master? Not really, but have a capacity to make in at least a basic form, yes! So I figured I would give pickles a try, after having learned how to make sauerkraut.

O.K. actually that is not what happened. I just happened to pick up some pickling cucumbers (along with other vegetables) for a buck twenty-nine on clearance. Still, I can't let them go to waste, can I? Pickles are no where near as daunting or intensive as sauerkraut, as I found out. Say hello to a recipe I'll certainly be doing again...

Kinda Sorta Sour Pickles

1 m onion, thinly sliced
2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 cup water
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon pickling spice
4 whole garlic cloves, smashed

Combine the onion and cucumber slices in a clean jar or container of choice.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 4 full minutes to wake up the spice flavors.

Slowly and gently pour the pickling liquid over the onion and cucumber slices, filling to the top of the jar.

Cool to room temperature. Top off the pickles with any remaining pickling liquid and refrigerate.

Note, the smashed garlic will take on a great bright blue-green shade due to chemical interactions. You can add the garlic at the pouring stage to minimize this, I believe, but I prefer it colored.

The pickles will last awhile. I end up tossing them with whatever sandwich, wrap, roll up, or whatever else I make for the next couple of days... for example...


This is pretty standard "quick n' easy" sandwich for me, fresh tomato, avocado, pickles, some flavored tempeh or tofu, topped with whatever home made cheese I have lying around and tossed under a broiler for a couple of minutes. Always satisfying.