Spicy Vegan Chili

Ingredients:

1-2 tbl spoons cooking oil
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can of red kidney beans (rinsed & drained)
1 can/19 ounce Aylmer Accents stewed tomatoes with Chili seasonings
1 pouch El Paso Chili seasoning
2 cups of finely diced mushrooms
2 Thai Chili's

Directions:
Heat cooking oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic. Add mushrooms. Brown mushrooms or cook until water in mushrooms is dried out.

Add Old El Paso chili seasoning and sauté for 5 minutes longer. Stir in Aylmer Accents stewed tomatoes with chili seasoning.

Bring everything to a boil; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add in kidney beans and allow to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, then add the two thai chili's for an extra kick.

Serve with a side of favorite pita or bread, or make chili pockets by wrapping chili in mini pita's.

Vegan Banana Bread

Chia Gel (egg substitute)

• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/2 cup of cold water

Combine cold water and chia seeds in a bowl and allow to sit.

1 cup cane sugar *

1/2 cup of vegan margarine or butter (I used Earth Balance)
3 ripe bananas (mashed well)
2 cups flour *

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 table spoon almond milk (you can use any other nut milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 F

2. Mash bananas.  Cream together sugar, vanilla, almond milk, chia gel, and margarine/butter.

3. Sift and combine remaining dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. If you find the mixture is dry, you can add more drops of whatever nut milk you're using.

4. Pour into pan and bake for 45minutes or until top of banana bread cracks.

*You can omit or cut down the sugar amount and use a few table spoons of agave instead, and can alternate the types of flour you use for this recipe (i.e. 1 cup spelt and 1 cup something else)

It Tastes Like Cheesecake!

Watchout Cheesecake factory!

My beautiful friend sent me a pic of her raw strawberry cheesecake success followed by the recipe from Vegan Nom Noms

I was immediately in love. Some myspace friends may remember that I had an album entirely devoted to cheesecake - pictures taken from the Cheesecake Factory menu that I regularly used to induce extreme salivation.

I never know how my raw food escapades will turn out, but I love playing with my blender. I love playing with raw foods. I love playing with nuts. Yeah yeah, that's what she said.

This recipe turned out AMAZING-LY! And it tastes even better after being in the fridge over-night. The only thing I did differently is I used pureed dates instead of Agave for the filling and used a store-bought vegan pie-crust.

The bonus to that being I used the plastic cover that comes with the pie-crust to cover my cheese-cake. Like so:

Big time NomNom!

Yours,
Nut Girl

A Joygasm Recipe

my slightly different version is as follows:

2 large ripe Avocados
1/4 cup Raw Cacao
1/4 cup cane sugar (instead of agave or honey)
1/4 cup pitted dates (soak to make chopping and processing easier)
1 Tbl spoon Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup Coconut oil (melt over bowl on boiling water)

there are a few other versions of this bitty of heaven out there. what i like about this one is how the coconut oil will make the mixture smooth and then thicken it up after refrigerated.


chill and get it on ~

spanish saliva ?

Last year out of the blue, my mom's friend calls me to tell me about these seeds that are supposedly a better source of calcium and fiber than flax seeds. a few weeks later, i hear about them again at a raw food festival. so i figure, alright, don't have to tell me anything twice!

Salvia hispanica or chia seeds have since been a daily part of my food consumption. I've also been finding them to be much more adhesive in my baking (as an egg substitute) than flax seeds. AND they don't leave the nutty flavor in my banana bread like the ground up flax seed mixture did. overall, i LOVE them! i currently have two bags - one of whole seeds, and one of ground up seeds. i keep them in my fridge and use them in my smoothies, and whatever else i consume in the mornings. mmm mmm fiber.

and apparently "for centuries this tiny little seed was used as a staple food by the Indians of the south west and Mexico. Known as the running food, its use as a high energy endurance food has been recorded as far back as the ancient Aztecs. It was said the Aztec warriors subsisted on the Chia seed during the conquests. The Indians of the south west would eat as little as a teaspoon full when going on a 24hr. forced march. Indians running form the Colorado River to the California coast to trade turquoise for seashells would only bring the Chia seed for their nourishment." (source: http://www.living-foods.com/articles/chia.html) Well how COOL is that?! that article also says more about the mechanics through which this little seed offers a whole lotta goodness for the body.

I still use flax seeds in my smoothies since they've got a little bit of iron in them, but it's just always good to learn more about what natural source of goodness exists in my world.

happy exploartions!

Raw Chewy Bars (Vegan Recipe)

Raw Key Lime Coconut Bars



Ingredients

* 1 cup raw cashews
* 1 cup dates
* 1 teaspoon lime zest, Zest before juicing
* 1 Lime, juiced
* 1 cup shredded (dehydrated raw) coconut

Preparation

1. Chop dates to make processing easier. If you don't chop them, they'll likely just spin around whole in your processor. Fun for them, yes. Not helpful for you though.

2. Process the nuts then add dates in a food processor until crumbly. If you want chunky nuts in your chewy bar then process nuts and dates together.

3. Add in lime zest and lime juice to your food processor. Then add the coconut.

4. Press mixture into a glass dish or tightly into plastic wrap in desired shape.

5. Refrigerate for an hour or more to let the flavors combine, and the bars to firm up.

Raw Chocolate Coconut Bars



Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups raw cashews
* 1 1/2 cups dates
* 1 cup shredded (dehydrated raw) coconut
* 2 Tbs Cocoa powder

Preparation

1 & 2 same as key lime recipe.

3. Add in coconut and process. Then add cocoa powder and process until cocoa fully blends into the mixture.

4. Press mixture into a glass dish or tightly into plastic wrap in desired shape.

5. Refrigerate for an hour or more to let the flavors combine, and the bars to firm up.

Easy Breezy Potato Medley

5-6 Medium Potatoes cooked and cubed
1 Jalapeño Pepper
1 Small Red Onion
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Salt

Peel and boil your potatoes (20-30min), then cube them once cooled. Dice your jalapeño pepper and red onion.

In a medium sized bowl combine your potatoes, jalapeno, and red onion. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt and mix well.

Chill and serve.



* you can add your favorite fresh herb (ie oregano or basil) to this dish for some aromatic flavor.