Asian Salad

Needed a quick, no-cook dinner for last night and the Asian Salad from Vegan Cooking for Carnivores fit the bill.  While I really can't stand the title of the book, I've been enjoying it so far and plan to write a (favorable) review of it soon.  The recipes are by Ellen (DeGeneres) and Portia's personal chef who is not a vegan but had to learn to cook vegan when Ellen and Portia went vegan four years ago.  So far, many of the recipes look very tasty and I like the layout and tone of the book.

The salad was quite tasty, though I thought that the dressing recipe made WAY too much (I halved the recipe and it was still borderline too much soy sauce for me!) and will have to check with future recipes that it isn't a trend.  Otherwise, this was good. I don't think I'd ever had a raw cabbage-based salad before but it was very tasty.  The result was fast, tasty and even quite pretty, we thought! :->

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mini-Muffins

Yummy! I am always on the look-out for healthy vegan desserts (contrary to what some non-vegans might think, not all vegan food is healthy, alas) and this absolutely hits the spot.  Huge thanks to my friend Lisa for alerting me to this tasty, easy recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mini-Muffins by Katie Higgins, courtesy of VegNews.

I don't have a muffin tin, so I made these as cookies (the recipe also allows this) and they turned out beautifully!  Sooo moist, delicious and satisfying.  Even my husband (an ardent cookie fan) loved them.

I altered the recipe only by using coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I try to never use white or brown sugar anymore and coconut sugar tastes a lot like brown sugar to me, so I think it was an apt substitution.  I used the full amount as per the recipe and the cookies were plenty sweet.  I might cut back to 1/2 cup next time as I have a feeling they will still be quite sweet and that would be even healthier.  

I am not sure how the recipe can possibly make 24 muffins--they must be very mini indeed--but I got about twelve cookies out of the batch.   I'll definitely make this again if we have more cool mornings this summer when I don't mind heating up the oven. Otherwise, it's on my autumn dessert list for sure ;-)

No-Bake Summer Treats

With the arrival of summer and hot weather, it's hard to justify turning on the oven.  But, my sweet tooth hasn't gone away.  Thank goodness I've found a few delicious no-bake summer treat recipes.

First is Chia Seed Pudding, courtesy of the May/June issue of VegNews. 

 This is a photo of the serving for my husband, since he loves bananas. I happen to loathe them, but they did make the pudding look a bit more interesting.  The serving suggestions also include berries, though I didn't have any fresh on hand at the time I made this.  If you haven't seen chia seeds before, they are very small and plump up in the pudding rather like tapioca.  Chia seeds are touted as one of the newest "must have" health foods.  (I suggest buying from the bulk bins the first time if you are going to try this to see if you like it--then you only need to get the half a cup and you don't have to pay the crazy prices for a whole bag.)  The pudding is tasty; the seeds are perhaps a little more bitter than sweet so you do have to add a few tablespoons of agave (also, we always buy unsweetened almond milk, so probably if you use sweetened this would be plenty sweet).  I can't find a link to the recipe, and don't want to post it here due to copyright issues, but if anyone wants a copy I'm happy to send it. It's super easy to make and all you do is refrigerate one hour before serving.

Second is N0-Bake Energy Bites from GimmeSomeOven  Huge thanks to my friend Wendy for finding such a wonderful vegan recipe and making these for me and my sister last week--she was even thoughtful enough to use agave instead of honey and I thought it turned out great.  Here is my own attempt.  I used ground flax seeds instead of the wheat-germ so I think this could also be gluten-free if you have gluten-free oats.  I also added a few carob chips.  Yummy! 

Both recipes are also much better for you than the typical baked goods like cookies and cakes.  Here's to an oven-free, tasty and healthy summer! :-)