Vegan sushi

 

Nori

Cucumber

Avocado

Tomato

Sushi rice (grown in CA)

Roll

Here are the spices in the tomatoes...1/2 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari,  1/2 teaspoon minced ginger,  1/2 tablespoon sriracha, 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/2 tablespoon kelp powder

For the rice (at the end of the cooking cycle) 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt

See http://www.carrotsandflowers.com/vegan-sushi-tomato-spicy-tuna/ for the full recipe, the beautiful pictures, and the directions.  

I was intimidated, but it really was pretty easy.  

Oh, you need a SUPER sharp knife for cutting you sushi.  Fortunately, Nick got me new ones for Mother's Day.  (I need to blog about them.)  Natalie, Tia, and I loved this and can't wait to make it again!

 

Red Pepper Spread

Inspired by Oh She Glows, again, I made this delightful, delicious red pepper spread.  Hers was more of a muhammara than mine, 'cause I left the bread out, didn't toast the walnuts, and I used sweet red peppers. You know I can't follow directions and I like doing mash ups of recipes (pun intended).

What did I do?

I roasted about 8 red peppers, with olive oil.  I just put a little olive oil on each pepper and broiled for about 20 minutes at 450, then I flipped them over and watched them (probably about another 15-ish minutes.) I only used 4 in this recipe. The others will be used when I make this for our Saturday get together.


Put all the ingredients in your food processor:

4 roasted red peppers
1 cup walnuts
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (my new favorite spice!)
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of tomato paste

Process until mostly smooth and serve with bread.

 

So delicious! I didn't toast the walnuts, but it was still excellent.  Next time I may toast the walnuts, just for fun. For the record, it was delicious with raw walnuts.  

We think it will be excellent on wraps, (vegan) burgers, and just as a dip. This was Nick and my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.  (Natalie kind of liked it, Kira wouldn't try it, and Tia said it was okay.) (I don't care if the girls eat it or not--more for us!) 

P.S. See the pictures at Oh She Glows!

Cashew Cream "Cheese!"

I am loving cashew cream "cheese!"

Inspired by this recipe, I made a cheese.

What I did:
1.5 cups raw cashews
water (soak the cashews in the water for 2-8 hours) then drain.

Put soaked cashews in the food processor along with
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced (or as much as you like)
½ teaspoon sea salt
black pepper, to taste
½ tablespoon dried basil
½ tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon honey* (or vegan sweetner)

Process until smooth.  It may take 5-10 minutes with stops to scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl.

Chill and enjoy!  (Or eat straight out of the food processor while it's warm.... your call.)


Someday, I want to make the "tomato jelly" on that same blog. It sounds FABULOUS.



*Yea, I know honey isn't vegan and I know we don't want to exploit bees, but I think if we treat bees right and use only small amounts of their honey, then they will be more valued and have more people on their side to help them. Bees are shipped around to different fields of produce to pollinate the fields. We need our bees and we need them to be healthy and we need to take good care of them. (We have so many problems with our food supply and the way we do things to make enough food for everyone in the country.)  See http://waywardspark.com/transporting-bees-locally-and-to-california-for-almond-pollination/ for more info--in my opinion really interesting.

pumpkin soup

1.5 cups  vegetable broth
1/4 cup cashews
1 cup water
2 cans canned organic pumpkin
1 large-ish onion, sautéed
1-3 garlic cloves, sautéed (with onion)
1/2 - 1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sautee onions and garlic in a little veggie broth (in a soup pot) until nice and soft (about 15 minutes). (I let onions and garlic cool and then I did the next steps.)

Place all ingredients into your blender (including onions and garlic) and blend. (I started by blending the water and cashews, to make milk and then added the onions and garlic and broth. I then added everything else and blended.)

When it's blended pour it all back into the soup pot (note only one pot and one blender for clean up this way) and heat up--let simmer for 15-20 minutes so the flavors can really marry.

YUM!

Note, you could add more cashews for a creamier soup. I happen to really like cashew cream so I think I'll do this.  You could also blend everything and then heat up right before your meal so that it's easier timing on the soup.

Nutrition facts based on 1 cup serving size.

8 cups of glorious pumpkin soup!

Edited to add: I really liked this soup, but then I added a healthy teaspoon of peanut butter to one of my bowls of soup and WOWZA. It hit it out of the ballpark for me. Obviously, if you add PB, you're adding some fat and calories and the nutrition facts (above) are all wrong. It was worth it to me to add it.  

White Bean Hummus

2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans (drained)
2 lemons, juiced (usually 1/4-1/3 a cup)
1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 garlic cloves
2-3 tablespoons tahini paste
1-2 teaspoons salt (unless your beans are already salted, if so, salt to taste and you probably won't need too much)
1-2 teaspoons olive oil

Place ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth.  Chill in the refrigerator, it always tastes better to me cold.  Eat with veggies, bread, tortillas, or a spoon (heh).  I love to put it in wraps!  I should take a picture of it before it's gone, but not right now.  (Maybe in the morning.)