Tag Archives: vegan

California Walnut challenge: Time for dessert

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The contest ends tomorrow and today was as good a day as ever to create the dessert that’s been on my mind for days: A parfait made with raw banana maple walnut ice cream.

The ice cream idea’s been in my mind since September’s Vegetarian Food Festival, where Lisa Pitman demonstrated a healthier, vegan alternative to Dairy Queen Blizzards using banana “soft serve”. A lot of fruits could serve as the base. At it’s most basic, and the way that Lisa did it: Put frozen bananas in a food processor and let it run until bananas are creamy, like soft serve ice cream. For her demo, Lisa created mix-ins such as her take on mint sandwich cookies, raw “cookie dough”, and raw strawberry “cheesecake”.

I was inspired by banana soft serve, walnuts, maple and spice.

Mine made one portion that I couldn’t finish. I suggest making one and sharing it with a special friend. The contest rules say that the dish should be suitable for holiday gatherings/ winter entertaining. Well, You could always made smaller versions, I suppose, and make more. Use different types of glassware, as long as it’s transparent. I used a beer glass. And it’s always the right season for ice cream. This one is kind of comforting, and it’s got the spice in there. Spice is good for winter.

Raw banana whisky maple walnut ice cream

Ingredients

  • 3 frozen bananas
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp Spicebox Canadian Whisky (I considered Jack Daniels Honey, which might also work. Try it and see.)
  • 1/2 tsp each cinnamon,
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I make my own extract, you could use almond extract but for contest purposes I was only allowed to use one type of nut).
  • Maple California walnuts, reserved (see recipe in previous post)

Directions:

Put it all in a food processor (multipurpose blade) & let machine run until the banana mixture is smooth. Remove blade, fold in maple walnuts. (You can leave them whole, or crumble them in like I did.)

Lisa advised that a Vitamix/Blendec won’t work. If you try it in a Vitamix, use the plunger and add some liquid such a coconut milk. I don’t know Blendtec.

When it’s creamy, if it looks too melted. you might want to put it in the freezer for a little bit to solidify a bit. I had no room in my freezer.

Mostly-raw parfait layers

(Suggestions only. Create your own. Ideas: Crumbled cookies, candied ginger, dried or frozen fruit, cacao nibs. My layers were not all raw.)

Layer 1 (from bottom):

Sliced bananas

Layer 2:

Ice cream

Layer 3:

Jam/fruit preserves

I used cherry peach, made locally by Sausage Partners, acquired at the  preserve tasting party that I attended at the end of September, hosted by Joel and Dana of Well Preserved. Jam is not raw.

Layer 4:
More ice cream

Layer 5:

Maple California walnuts

I added California walnuts because I’d forgotten (until a few days later) that I’d been thinking of using Mum’s Original coconut cacao nibs. It’s another not raw layer.

Layer 6:
More ice cream!

Layer 7:

Pomegranate seeds

The tartness helped balance out the sweetness of the entire thing.

Layer 8:
More ice cream! But now we’re getting near the end.

Layer 9:

Raw, vegan chocolate sauce

(recipe below)

..and..

coconut

Raw vegan chocolate sauce recipe

I think that I read a recipe like this on Meghan Telpner’s website awhile ago, though I felt like completely winging it when I made this one and went on instinct rather than looking at other recipes for guidance. She inspired it.

Mix together:
2 tbsp cacao powder
1 tbsp agave or maple syrup (I used agave, which I rarely use due to its highly processed nature) because I didn’t want the maple to overpower the chocolate)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp each of cayenne pepper & cinnamon*
(It probably could have used 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of coffee powder to bump the chocolate flavour. I’ll try it with the remaining sauce.)

And that, my friends, is my 9-layer raw banana whisky maple walnut ice cream superfood parfait inspired by two very cool women I know, Lisa and Meghan.

P.S. Dinner was raw too. I spiralized (yes, it’s a word, it means to use a spiralizer) Japanese turnip and celeriac – and, unsuccessfully, apple – added kelp noodles and tossed with the California Walnut pesto that I made earlier this week.

Full photo set:

To a sweet new year

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Rosh Hashana begins this evening at sun down. I drafted most of this post yesterday but left the final edits for morning.

This time of year for Jews is a special one. At least, for this Jewish Gastronaut. To me, regardless of how early or late in September/October they occur (Jewish holidays follow the lunar calendar), the high holidays signify a transition from summer into fall. I have memories of shopping for outfits to wear to synagogue, seeking the right skirt, fighting with tights and ‘hose (never liked wearing them), determining which shoes to wear and whether it’s cool enough to wear a suit jacket, determining how dressed up I had to get for dinner at my grandmother’s. I still do most of this clothing ritual. As much as I like the idea of “new clothes, new year”, I haven’t bought a new “holiday outfit” for years. It’s occurred to me to determine how much a new outfit would cost and donate that money, but I’m sort of tapped out right now. Instead of new clothes I got “new hair” and “new glasses” and “new contact lenses”. If only I had “new benefits” to go with the new prescription eye wear.

I still go to synagogue, though not with my parents and more because I want to than feeling obligated to. I try to get into the spiritual aspect as much as I can while praying in a large gym with hundreds of others and what seems like nearly every Jew I know.  During Rosh Hashana (literally “head of the year”) I stay offline for two days and chill out as I reflect. The daily routine changes to make the days seem different. I don’t answer my cell phone. I think about people I’ve wronged, forgive those who have wronged me, reflect on how I can be a better person. I essentially repeat this at Yom Kippur (more on that next week).

Just this weekend I was thinking about how personality conflicts don’t necessarily indicate bad people. We as humans have egos, and pride. We’re often lazy. We’re self centered. Acknowledging this is written into the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services. Often it’s best to accept people for who they are, assessing them on the sum of their parts. I believe in the good of people – which sometimes feels naive and too trusting – and this time of year is the time to be conscious of who we are and who we want to be. Fall is generally a transition time anyhow (back to school, new season etc.).

I know that nothing will change permanently, but the reflection is something. The act of stopping and thinking. There’s something in the customs of asking for forgiveness for the upcoming year and for casting away our sins, represented by bread (a good use for the bread that’s been hiding in the back of the freezer). These customs move me even though much of it seems antiquated.

Ever notice that bread and bread-like products play such prominent role in religious customs? I strongly suspect that at least one person has written an entire book on the subject.

Of course there are food customs.

For Rosh Hashana we eat foods symbolic of a sweet new year, the most basic being apples dipped in honey on which we say a blessing – though some Jews and more observant ones say blessings over everything they eat. Sweet challah and honey cake are customary. On the second day we eat a “new fruit”, a fruit that has recently come into season but that we have not yet had the opportunity to eat. We then say the shehechiyanu blessing. It translates to “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.” I find that moving.

  • More information on Rosh Hashana food customs can be found here, here, and here.

Challah dipped in honey is a tasty tradition. On the advice of a friend I picked up some cinnamon honey on Saturday while at the Brick Works farmer’s market and look forward to drizzling some of it on my challah.

I have memories of family dinners and in past years I’ve found myself with impromptu lunch and dinner invitations to eat with friends’ families. Jews like to feed each other and often make so much food that they need people to come over and help them eat it. This could partly explain why I don’t like showing up to parties without something edible for sharing. I look forward to dinner tonight with family, dinner tomorrow evening with friends, lunch on Friday with friends and whatever impromptu meals come up between today and Friday evening.

Recipe round up

I generally like to seek out and stumble upon recipes that are accommodating to vegans, vegetarians, celiacs and those with other dietary needs. You could do this work (ie. Googling) but I’ve done it for you. I haven’t tried any of these recipes but encourage you to do so and report back.

  • Elana’s Pantry’s “honey cake” is gluten free and uses agave rather than honey. It’s not vegan because it contains eggs, but I bet you could do the flax-water trick to make it both vegan and gluten free. I’m not a fan of agave (what’s available to most of us is similar to high fructose corn syrup) and generally don’t condone it but I’d say that it’s innocuous if used in baking once in awhile. My sister is a fan of Elena’s Pantry and uses her recipe for gluten free baking mix/flour alternative.
  • Gluten-free Chocolate Almond Honey Cake
  • Gluten-free challah.
  • Another gluten-free challah.
  • Check out Gluten-Free Bay’s Rosh Hashana Recipe Roundup 2007. It includes mock matzoh balls.
  • Vegan Recipes for Rosh Hashanah (includes challah, kugel, tzimmes and more).
  • Raw mock “gefilte fish”.
  • Neither vegan nor gluten free, this honey cake recipe was recommended to me by the same person who recommended the cinnamon honey. She’s made it numerous times. I like the idea of using coffee and whiskey. I’m thinking about baking in muffin tins for the office.
  • Meghan’s Rosh Hashana Recipe Round Up, posted on Monday. You know it’ll be healthy and tasty! P.S. Go see Meghan at the Vegetarian Food Fair at Harbourfront this weekend. She’ll have a booth and is doing a demo on Saturday at noon.

On that note, to those of you celebrating Rosh Hashana, Happy New year! Make it a healthy, sweet one.

More holiday posts to come.

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What smells so good? I know!

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Brownies!

Ten days ago Sarah posted a recipe for vegan brownies on her blog, What Smells So Good? Immediately I thought of what ingredients I had and what I needed. These were going to be made in my kitchen, no doubt.

I followed her recipe more or less. Below is her version with my modifications next to her ingredients:
*With my modifications, the nutritional information that she listed no longer applies.

High – Protein Vegan Brownies (AKA “Cadillac Brownies”)
Makes 24
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2.2 oz (10 tbsp) flour
2 oz (7 tbsp) soy flour [I used a blend of organic brown rice, soy, tapioca & arrowroot flours - it came pre-blended.]
6 tbsp unflavoured isolated soy protein powder [I used Ruth's hemp protein powder with flax and maca because I used up my rice protein powder last week and decided to give this one a shot again.]
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
¼ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 oz (12 tbsp) cocoa powder [I used raw cacao powder]
10 oz silken tofu
4.5 oz (2/3 cup) granulated sugar [I used organic cane sugar]
7 oz (1 2/3 cup) brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla [homemade, in my case]
1/4 cup canola oil [I used coconut oil because it's healthy & I thought that the flavour would work. After pouring my melted chocolate into the batter mixture I melted the oil in the still-warm metal bowl over the still-hot water, but with no additional heat.]
1/2 cup plain soy milk [I used almond, initially using only 1/4 cup - see notes immediately below.]
2 oz (5 tbsp) miniature chocolate chips
[I also added cacao nibs as well as instant dark coffee, dissolved in 1/4 cup water - hence 1/4 cup milk. You might have a better way to incorporate coffee, such as adding ground beans to the dry ingredients.]

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, grease a 9 x 13” pan and line the bottom with parchment.
  2. In a small microwave safe bowl (or in a pot over medium-low heat), gently melt the chocolate (use no higher than MEDIUM power so chocolate won’t scorch). Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, isolated soy protein powder, flaxseed, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
  4. In a food processor puree tofu, granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
  5. Add melted chocolate, vanilla, canola oil, and soy milk to the processor and blend in well.
  6. Add the dry mixture to the ingredients in the processor. Pulse in until just incorporated, do not allow processor to run continuously.
  7. Add miniature chocolate chips and pulse in briefly, just to mix in.
  8. Scrape into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
  9. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs (but not wet batter).
  10. Cool completely in the pan before cutting and serving. Frost if desired.

Here’s what I changed about the method:
I don’t own a food processor so I used rotary beaters to cream the tofu and sugars. I added half the dry ingredients at a time, first beating with the beaters, then folding the second half with a wooden spoon. In the “olden days” they didn’t have food processors and stand mixers. When 25 minutes was up the batter still seemed raw (a knife came out with wet batter) so I put it back in for ten minutes.

What might have gone wrong:

  • I fear that the hemp powder might make it taste kind of sandy. Maybe soy or rice would have been better choices.
  • After plopping it into the pan I decided that the pan was too big and the batter too thick, so I transferred the mixture back into the bowl, added a few more splashes of milk and stirred after each addition, watching for consistency. Then I put it into my smaller cake pan (greasing another pan, cutting another square of parchment, dirtying another pan).

Smells awesome.

They will be tasted when cooled, this post will be updated*. Then the brownies will go to work and to one of the yoga studios.

I was tempted to make these gluten free but was afraid of doing too much experimenting. Without eggs it’s got one less thing to make it rise. It’s still got baking powder, but I suspect that it might still need the gluten. On the other hand, it would be a tasty experiment even if it ‘failed’.

Eat well, be well.

*update: They’re tasty with an intense chocolate taste, a bit crumbly but also dense. There’s something not “normal” about these and I suspect that it’s the hemp but maybe that’s all in my mind because that’s what I expected.

Update:
Now with photo. Ta dah! (I don’t excel at food photography. Perhaps I need a photographer houseboy/housegirl.)

Grover says hi.

That’s cinnamon on top.