Raw Vegan Coconut Ice

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Today is day three of our Sepia inspired raw desserts week and our featured recipe today is Raw Vegan Coconut Ice. This recipe is so quick and easy and absolutely delicious to boot! Also pictured in the photo below are Sepia’s Lemon Coconut Bars (an Ani Phyo recipe) which will be featured later on in the week.

Raw Vegan Coconut Ice

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup cashews blitz to powder
1 1/2 cup coconut
1tsp vanilla
1/4 cup agave
1/8 cup water
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp fresh beetroot juice

Method:

1. Mix all together except beet juice. Divide in half; press half of the mixture into a lined small loaf tin.

2. Mix beet juice into other half and press on top. Put into fridge 1 hr or freeze 10-20mins.

Looks pretty and tastes yummy!
 NOTE: Consistency of mixture should be doughy enough to mould into balls, so above quantities may need varying a little.

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Vegan Chickie on Vegan Mainstream

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Just a quick update between recipes to mention that I’ve recently started writing for Vegan Mainstream. I’ll be submitting something every week, but you can check out my first article HERE!

Raw Vegan Apple Pie

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Today is day two of our Sepia inspired raw food week here at Vegan Chickie. Today’s recipe is a raw vegan apple pie. This recipe is one of Ani Phyo‘s creations and looks amazing. For those of you who are interested in the specifics behind a raw food, or raw vegan diet, I have included some links at the end of this post to give you some more information about all things raw.

Raw Vegan Apple Pie

Ingredients:

Almond Pie Crust:
2 cups almonds, dry
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups pitted dates

Syrup:
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 orange, peeled and seeded
water, as needed

Filling:
5 cups apples, peeled, seeded, thinly sliced, about 5-6 apples
1 cup raisins
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Method:

1. To make crust, pulse almonds and salt in food processor until nuts are in small pieces. You want your crust to have chunks of almonds in it, so don’t over process. Use some of the finer powder to “flour” the bottom of your pie dish.

2. Slowly add dates into processor in small batches to mix with almond bits. The dates will bind the almonds to form a dough. Press dough into the bottom of “floured” pie pan. Set aside (and try not to eat all your crust while you’re preparing everything else!).

3. To make syrup, place orange into your blender first. Then add dates and blend. If needed, add small amounts of water to help everything mix well (I haven’t “needed” this, but like to add the water to make more volume of the syrup). Set aside.

4. To make filling, place sliced apples in a large bowl with raisins. Toss with cinnamon and syrup. Spoon filling into pie crust, and it’s ready to serve!

This dish will keep for two days in the fridge (Sepia says: I’ve kept it longer, but I have low standards).

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For more information on a Raw Food diet, visit the following links:

HOW TO: Raw Food Diet – Eat Yourself Healthy

Nov55: Raw Food Diet

About.com: Raw Food Overview

Raw Food Recipe Database

Gone Raw – A great collection of recipes

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Raw Vegan Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Over the next week I will be showcasing the raw food stylings of my Joyous friend, Sepia, who put together a mouthwatering selection of raw vegan treats for her birthday party last weekend and has been kind enough to share the recipes and photos with me to post on Vegan Chickie. Some of the recipes are her own and some are the work of the wonderful Ani Phyo, chef, author and all round raw food wonder woman.

Raw Vegan Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Crust:
2 cups raw macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dates, pitted (medjools)
1/4 cup dried coconut

For the Cheese:
3 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup agave nectar
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt (optional)

For the Raspberry Sauce:
1 bag frozen raspberries (or whatever berries you prefer)
1/2 cup dates

Method:

1. To make the crust, process the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor. Sprinkle dried coconut onto the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch spring form pan. Press crust onto the coconut. This will prevent it from sticking.

2. To make the cheese, blend the cashews, lemon, agave, gently warmed coconut oil (do not use microwave), vanilla, sea salt (if using), and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth and adjust to taste.

 Pour the mixture onto the crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table.

 Place into the freezer until firm and then top with Raspberry Sauce.

3. Remove the whole cake from the pan while frozen, and place onto a serving platter. Defrost in the refrigerator.

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What I’ve Been Reading – A Collection of Vegan Links

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] It’s been a while since I’ve put together a list of interesting vegan links here on the blog. Those of you who follow me on Twitter, or are a fan of the Facebook page, will have seen a couple of these videos and articles already because I’ve been posting some of the things that interest me during the week. I will probably be doing more of that in the future so be sure to become a fan or follow me if you are interested.

First of all I wanted to share this DELICIOUS looking recipe from Ross over at Vegan Eats. I think I’ll definitely be trying this recipe in the future, but in the meantime you can drool over his delicious Chocolate Peanut Fudge HERE.

HERE is a video of Jonathan Safran Foer’s segment on the Colbert Report. I’ve discovered, since watching this segment – I don’t own a TV and have never seen the Colbert Report before – that I don’t much like Colbert but JSF is great (as always) so I thought I would share.

HERE is a youtube video about raising vegan children which I found interesting.

THIS video has been doing the rounds a bit lately so a lot of you will already have seen it but I find it so heartbreaking that I just have to share it. It’s not a gory video, you don’t see any physical torture (aside from some prodding, which I admit is pretty upsetting), or a single drop of blood, but this clip really speaks volumes about just what an animal feels and how much he or she understands as they make their way to the slaughter. I think this clip would provide great clarification for anyone who doesn’t fully understand what the term ‘sentient being’ really means.

HERE is a new blog, especially created as a resource for Western Australians but it’s a great blog for vegan product reviews and recipes as well so I think you’ll find it interesting no matter where you live.

Shannon over at Diary of a Vegan always has so many interesting articles, I really recommend heading over and checking her out. My two favourites during the last few weeks have been:

Heal Yourself, Heal the Planet, A Little Guide to Transformation
Eating Raw on the Run

Mercy for Animals have an article on their blog about the decline of animals being killed for food in the USA. Which is a wonderful and really encouraging trend. Let’s hope that trend continues! Below is a graphic of some of those statistics which can also be found in the article linked above:

CBS News this week had an article discussing the overuse of antibiotics in animals and the effects on humans, read the article and watch the video HERE.

HERE is an ABC news article about a dairy worker who was suspended from work after hitting a cow with a wrench. How disgusting that this kind of behaviour is only enough for a suspension, it really illustrates the way that these animals are viewed by the people who run these companies.

There is a bit of a misconception out there that in order to be vegan you have to be wealthy, which I don’t think is true. Of course there are vegan food items that are expensive, but that is true of any diet. In my case, meat items were always the most expensive items in my grocery basket when I was an omnivore and later, when I was a vegetarian, dairy products always took the biggest chunk out of our food budget, as a vegan there are weeks that I spend a lot of money of specialty items like agave nectar or dark chocolate covered goji berries, but the majority of my grocery list consists of beans, grains and vegetables and I find that I spend less than ever on my weekly shop. In that spirit: HERE is an article entitled “How To Eat Vegan Cheaply”.

Also on Vegan Soapbox is an article about the standard industry practice of cutting off cow’s tails without painkillers. **Warning, there is a graphic video attached to this article, but it doesn’t start automatically so you don’t have to watch it if you don’t want to.

And, a piece that discusses the flaws in the omnivore’s claim that it’s natural to eat other animals: We Are Not Lions.

Gary L. Francione writes about Violence in his blog.

Normally I don’t post links about celebrity veganism or vegetarianism but I really liked THIS article about Ginnifer Goodwin and her decision to go vegan so I thought I would include it this week.

I’ve always been a little baffled when speaking to “vegetarians” who still eat fish (pretendatarians?), I was never quite able to understand how they were able to justify taking the life of a fish but not the life of a cow. Maybe some of them would change their mind about eating seafood if they read THIS article about farmed salmon. It’s a VERY informative read, I’d highly recommend you all read it. In the article he talks about a documentary called “Farmed Salmon Exposed”, HERE is that documentary on YouTube. **Warning the video is graphic

As a bit of a contrast to the unhappy animals you’ve seen in a lot of these links and videos I thought I’d share THIS link which is a collection of some smiley happy animals. I have to put a disclaimer here because I feel a bit weird about sharing this link since some of the photos included are of animals in captivity (zoos etc) which I personally don’t agree with, but sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of what happy, clean, well treated animals look like so I’m including it. The pictures at the end of this post are from that video.

Well that’s it for this week, I’ll leave you with another happy herbie video because there is nothing like some herbie love to cheer you up. Herbie the rescued steer plays with a tree branch.

Meet Christy Morgan, The Blissful Chef

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]

I read about Christy Morgan a couple of weeks ago when she was interviewed on the Vegan Mainstream blog. Being a self taught vegan foodie cook, her story really inspired me so I contacted her, and asked her to come and answer some questions about herself and share one of the recipes from her cookbook with us here on Vegan Chickie.

Christy’s e-cookbook is called “The Blissful Chef: Cooking With The Seasons – Spring Edition”, and is available at the special price of $5.99 to all Vegan Chickie readers, this week only, so click the link below and grab it while you can!!

Christy, How long have you been vegan?
About 7 years now.

What motivated you to make the change?
I decided to be vegetarian for a month to see how I felt. I had many friends in college that were vegetarian, so I thought what the hay! 3 months later I watched the Meet Your Meat video on PETA and went vegan right then. I then started teaching myself how to cook and discovered how much I loved it and loved feeding people.

When did you start getting interested in macrobiotic cuisine?
My friend Sue told me about an almost vegan culinary school in Austin that was macrobiotic. At the time I had no idea what that meant. So I went to check it out and fell in love with the people at The Natural Epicurean. They had such good energy. It wasn’t until I delved into the culinary program that I started to understand how food affects your health, emotions, mind, body, and soul.

Can you explain what exactly is involved with a macrobiotic diet?
It’s hard to sum it up. It’s more of a lifestyle and way of life. It’s not just about the diet, but food plays a huge role in the quality of our health, mind, body, and spirit. The diet itself is based of whole foods, organic, seasonal, no refined sugars, minimal or no animal foods depending on your condition, and eating balanced meals that are unprocessed.

Do you find that people are generally responsive to your lifestyle choices?
I’m very blessed to live in Southern California where it isn’t abnormal to be vegan and we have tons of vegetarian/vegan restaurants here. Also, most of my friends are vegetarian/vegan. When I go back home to see my family in Texas they are shocked to see how amazing I look and they tell me I look younger every year. But, they continue to have poor diets and health problems, even though I’m living proof that what I am doing works. It breaks my heart.

What new ingredients have you discovered since going vegan that you can’t live without now?
Nutritional yeast! I could put it on almost everything! And Earth Balance. And kale, which I could eat everyday.

What have you enjoyed the most since you started your blog?
Getting to share my recipes and knowledge, but mostly being able to inspire others to try being vegetarian/vegan/macrobiotic. That is why I do the things I do – to help others and be a resource for credible information and delicious recipes, from other bloggers as well.

What other vegan blogs do you love to read?
OMG look at the Blogroll on my blog. There are SO many amazing bloggers out there it’s ridiculous. I always tweet my favorite posts each day on my Twitter. I try to feature other bloggers as much as possible so you don’t have to spend hours on the computer.

What is your favourite recipe?
I get this question all the time and I really don’t have an answer. Can a foodie and chef really just choose 1 thing?

What recipe are you going to share with us today?
Mustard Arame Saute, sea Vegetables are an acquired taste. They are the one thing lacking in the American diet. They are especially important for a vegan diet. You most likely have eaten sushi before which is wrapped in Nori, but have you ever heard of Arame, Hijiki, Dulse, Wakame or Kombu before? Sea vegetables are gifts from the sea that are rich in vitamins and trace minerals. If you can sneak sea vegetables into your daily diet, you will build good blood and protect yourself against cardiovascular disease and stroke. Sea vegetables are a rich source of iodine, which is essential for thyroid function. Thyroid hormones regulate metabolism and play a role in many physiological functions, so it’s important to keep the thyroid in check.

Mustard Arame Saute

Ingredients:

1/2 cup arame, soaked 3 minutes then drained
1/2 8 oz package of tempeh, cubed
1/3 cup filtered water
Dash of tamari
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut on diagonal
Pinch of sea salt
4 stalks asparagus, cut on diagonal
1 head broccoli, florets & remove rough parts of stalk & chop
Dash of tamari
Dash of brown rice vinegar
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
Dash of filtered water

Method:

1. Simmer the arame, tempeh, water, and tamari in a small saucepan for about 5-10 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in medium skillet over medium flame. Saute celery and carrots for a few minutes, cover with lid and stir occasionally. Add in a pinch of salt, asparagus, and broccoli stems and saute for a few more minutes. Add a splash of water if the veggies begin to stick.

3. Lastly add in the broccoli florets and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer with lid on for a few minutes. Taste and season with tamari if needed.

To watch a video featuring Christy as she makes this dish, visit The Blissful Chef blog.

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Pumpkin, Sage & Walnut Ravioli

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] Long time readers of Vegan Chickie will remember bare-chested-chef, my lovely husband, who cooked for us on a regular basis during the early days of the Vegan Chickie Blog. Recently, he has been busy being an actual chef out in the real world and hasn’t had much spare time for tinkering in the kitchen at home, but this weekend, due to popular demand, he has come out of retirement and agreed to cook something delicious for us to showcase on the Vegan Chickie blog.

I am going to put the recipe into two posts, the Pumpkin and Sage Ravioli here and the Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce in another post to avoid things getting too confusing. Alternatively you could use any pasta sauce with this ravioli recipe. I especially like them with a spicy tomato sauce.

Pumpkin Sage & Walnut Ravioli

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
500g flour
300g water
1tsp salt
2 tbs chia seeds, finely ground (optional)
1tbs olive oil

For the ravioli filling:
1 medium butternut chopped
1 tbs chopped sage
1 tbs nutritional yeast
1/4 cup stock
1/4 cup oil
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees, in a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin in the 1tbs of oil, garlic, salt and pepper, toss until the pumpkin is evenly coated. Place the pumpkin on a baking tray and bake for 45 mins – 1 hr.

2. Meanwhile, make the dough for the pasta. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix well until the mixture forms a dough. cover the dough and set aside for half an hour.

3. Once your pumpkin is roasted, remove it from the oven and mash it, add the sage, walnuts, oil, vegetable stock, and nutritional yeast, mix well to combine. Set aside until your pasta is ready to fill.

6. Once the pasta dough has ‘rested’ roll it out with a rolling pin and then run it through your pasta machine as directed with the machine instructions. Once the pasta is rolled thinly enough place it in rows along a floured surface. Place 1/2 tbs sized portions of the pumpkin mixture about 4cm apart along one edge of the pasta as shown in the pictures below. Fold the sheet of pasta over to cover. You may need to use a small amount of water to seal the pasta around the pumpkin. Cut with a ravioli spindle (or just a knife if you don’t have a cutter).

8. Add your ravioli to a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes. Strain well.

9. Put the ravioli on a plate, top with your sauce, garnish with parsley and eat!

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Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] This is part two of bare-chested chef’s recipe for his Pumpkin & Sage Ravioli with creamy capsicum sauce, but this sauce will work just as well as a standard pasta sauce for any dish you can think of. This sauce was adapted from Vegan Dad and is really delicious. As a vegan, I thought creamy pasta sauces would be a thing of the past so this was a really nice surprise. I’m looking forward to experimenting with the cashew cream idea in the future with some other recipes.

Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

1 red capsicum
1 orange capsicum
1 tbs olive oil
2 small red chilis finely chopped (or 1tbs dried)
1 tbs non-dairy margarine
1 leek, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs dried basil
1 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
Pasta of your choice (or our Ravioli)
Parsley to garnish

Method:

1. Place your capsicums in a baking dish and bake in the oven at high heat until the skin is wrinkled and blackened. Remove from the oven, remove the skin and seeds and chop roughly

2. Place the cashews in a blender and pour in enough of the water to cover. Blend into a paste. Add the rest of the water and blend until very smooth. Let the cream sit for about 20 minutes, It will appear quite watery but don’t panic the cream will thicken up as the blended cashews absorb some of the water. After 20 minutes, add the roasted capsicum, basil, chili and vegetable stock.

3. In a medium pan, over medium heat, heat the oil and margarine, add garlic and leek and cook until translucent, add the cashew cream mixture and blend with a hand-held blender until mixture is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat the mixture, but don’t let it boil.

4. Once sauce is hot, pour over your cooked pasta, garnish with parsley and serve.

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Crusty Italian Bread

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] This is a really simple bread recipe, great for making delicious crusty bread without a bread-maker. We found the original recipe here, and created the vegan version below. Leave the loaf to cool for as long as you can bear it before slicing the bread, the longer you leave it the crunchier the crust will be, but I won’t blame you if you can’t wait long, who can resist the smell of freshly baked bread? Not I!

Homemade Crusty Italian Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup hot water
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tbs agave nectar
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Cooking oil spray

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, combine water, milk, and agave nectar. Sprinkle yeast over top – do not stir. Allow to stand 10-15 minutes until foamy. Add 2 cups of flour. Using electric mixer, beat on low for 4 minutes. Cover bowl with a towel. Place in an unheated oven and allow to stand 1-2 hours.

Remove bowl from oven and add remaining cup of bread flour, semolina flour, salt and olive oil. Using your electric mixer with a dough hook, beat for 5 minutes. Spray another large mixing bowl with cooking spray. Pour dough into that bowl. Turn over until dough is covered with oil. Cover and let rest 15 minutes.

Sprinkle a cookie sheet with several teaspoons of flour to stop the dough from sticking. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into an oval mound. Flatten slightly until each half is about 6 inches across. Spray tops of dough loaves with nonstick spray. Put cookie sheet into unheated oven to rise another 30 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled. Remove dough from oven. Preheat oven to 230 degrees.

Using a sharp knife, make 3 slits across top of bread about 1/4 inch deep. Fill a small round cake pan with 1/2 inch of water. Place on cake pan on bottom rack in oven. Place cookie sheet with bread dough on it on the middle rack of the oven. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. If bread browns too quickly, cover it with foil for the last 5-10 minutes of baking.

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Vegan Very Berry Frozen Yogurt

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] After the success of my chocolate ice cream endeavors last week, I thought I would try my hand at some berry frozen yogurt. I am very pleased with the results, the sweetness of the sugar and vanilla, mixed with the tart berries is an excellent combination. This recipe also set much firmer than the chocolate one as well which was a nice surprise. I definitely think the trick is to use coconut cream instead of coconut milk.. anyway, without further ado:

Vegan Very Berry Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients

2 cups soy milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 tbs agave nectar
1 cup sugar
2 tbs arrowroot powder
1 400g can coconut cream – stored in the refrigerator
2 cups frozen mixed berries

Method:

1. Heat the soy milk, in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Once the milk starts to steam, lower the temperature and stir in the vanilla paste and agave nectar, mix until dissolved.

2. Stir in the sugar and whisk in the arrowroot powder one half tablespoon at a time, making sure that each half tablespoon is completely dissolved before adding the next one.

3. Add the can of coconut cream and whisk until the mixture is glossy. Remove from the heat and once mixture has cooled slightly, transfer to a container and refrigerate until completely cooled (preferably overnight).

4. Remove the mixture from the refrigerator, stir in the frozen berries, and then add the mixture to your ice cream maker, following the directions that came with the machine.

For best results, once completed, transfer the mixture to a container and freeze overnight before consuming.

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