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! :-)
 

Easter

We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner.  

I thought of the Easter Bunny and incorporated carrots into our dinner in the form of maple glazed carrots (recipe from the Dinner Peace blog)--mmm, almost as sweet as those jelly beans the Easter Bunny left for us, and just a bit healthier ;-> 

Tyler wanted to use some of the fresh mint from our garden, so I found this recipe for Basil Mint Parsley "Pesto" from the Gluten Free Goddess website.  It was absolutely delicious when paired with spaghetti noodles, it tasted so fresh and spring-like.

We also made the amazing Ambrosia Salad I've made before, from How It All Vegan.

Finally, we enjoyed a vegan twist on the traditional Easter hot cross buns, courtesy of the Vegan Dad blog.  Mine turned out especially huge, but they were still tasty ;->

Happy Spring, everyone!  Hope you enjoy a season of good eating and some seasonal treats.

Vegetarian Vietnamese Cuisine

I haven't posted much since I've been busy, and spoiled.  My husband has been doing a lot of the cooking, though now that he has an exciting new job, I will probably end up doing a lot of the cooking again, so watch for more posts soon :->

Meanwhile, I wanted to share a few pics of the gorgeous, delicious dishes we found at Mon Chay  a wonderful Vietnamese all-vegetarian restaurant in Carmel.  Apparently the recipes were created by Buddhist nuns and all the faux meats, broths, sauces, etc are created in-house.  It was absolutely delicious and so much fun to be able to order anything on the menu (except the sweet teas that had milk in them). 

For our first visit, we tried an amazing "hot pot" recipe with tofu in the most amazing, delicate, flavorful broth I've ever tasted:

We also ordered the deep-fried oyster mushrooms (a huge splurge but worth it! they melted in your mouth. Mmm!) and the lemon "chicken" -- tasty, but not quite my favorite.  

The next day (yes, we went back!) we also tried spring rolls, eggplant stir-fry, and Tyler got the famous "pho" (sp?  it's pronounced "fuh") soup which he loved no end.  I was too hungry to bother snapping pics that day ;-)

Chocolate Pudding

My husband loves chocolate pudding. Since he is lactose intolerant now and I'm vegan, we've struggled to find a recipe that meets his exacting standards.  They just never seemed quite the right flavor and, especially, consistency, without cow's milk.

Enter the Post Punk Vegan Kitchen's recipe for Chocolate Pudding Pie.  We simply made the pudding part of the recipe* and chilled it in a bowl in the fridge.  Delicious! :-)  Tyler is thrilled, and I love it, too.  Tasty and smooth.  It's very easy to make and there is no flour so I think it would work for gluten-free diets, too if your almond milk and cornstarch brands are safe.

* we substituted carob chips for the chocolate chips. I have also used agave as a substitute for the sugar and that is nice, too.

Snape's Stuffed Toadstools

"Even your slimy gits will love this yummy treat!",  winkingly promises the recipe for Snape's Stuffed Toadstools   Well, we had no slimy gits about to try this out on (the Malfoys of the world are not invited to our Harry Potter Movie Marathon, thank you very much!), but the Hufflepuff sisters certainly enjoyed this tasty treat.

We modified it, of course, using vegan breakfast sausage, vegan Parmesan cheese, with a little olive oil in the pan.  The stuffing mix was really, really good!  We were so happy with it.  Yum!  The mushrooms themselves could have been a bit better--I don't really like EarthBalance with baked mushrooms (sometimes there really is no substitute for butter; I remember some wonderful baked mushrooms we used to make, with delicious melted butter filling the caps-- it was my grandpa's favorite!) but I think next time we would just use a bit more olive oil and maybe a bit of lemon to be sure they are fully coated before we put in the stuffing.

All in all, though, a winner!  Who knew Snape was such a good cook?  Then again, he is used to following (and improving upon) recipes from making all those potions, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised ;->

 

Indian Spiced Peas with Tofu

OMG!!!  Tyler made me an awesome themed dinner tonight.  What a happy treat to come home and enjoy a house smelling of Indian spices.  

He said the main dish was really a thrown-together recipe, as our cupboards are pretty bare. He did one of those "I have X, Y and Z ingredients on hand" recipe searches online and came up with this winner from the Whole Foods website, Indian Spiced Peas with Tofu.

It's served here with the masala dosa from Trader Joe's (soo yummy for an occasional treat!)

Variations Tyler made to the recipe, thanks to our limited stock on hand:
half the onion 
half the peas
tomato sauce instead of the "diced tomatoes with sauce" and veggie broth (with a few grape tomatoes cut up and tossed in)


I really loved this so much that I would probably make it the "Tyler way" next time vs. the regular recipe.  If you like Indian food, do give it a try. He said it was surprisingly
quick and easy to make, too :-)  


Mmm, I'm looking forward to the left-overs for lunch tomorrow!

Disney World Deliciousness

I haven't posted for awhile since I was off enjoying Disney World last week.  I really can't say enough good things about the strides Disney is making to provide vegan guests with good food.  While custom-made vegan food might be expected at the more expensive restaurants, we were treated with a warm welcome and eager-to-please attitude even at the counter-service restaurants.  If vegan fare isn't already on the menu, the chefs will come out to speak with us about our dietary needs (including allergy needs, in my mom's case, gluten-free) and prepare something special for us.  It was wonderful!

As ever, my favorite meal was at Boma Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.  We had perhaps the sweetest chef in the universe, Chef Brian, who not only walked us through the buffet and tirelessly pointed out what we could enjoy vs. had to stay away from, but he also prepared us special desserts and even made me a few vegan versions of some of the side dishes from the buffet, with quite possibly the most delicious broccoli I have ever tasted: 

I loved the couscous so much, I rather shamelessly asked if there was any more to be had as it was so delicious I could eat it as my dessert.  I think Chef Brian was totally tickled by that and pleased to bring me more.  It wish I could figure out how to recreate it.  It was a sweet couscous with pistachios and almond slivers, and golden raisins.  

I told Chef Brian I would be posting photos of my wonderful meal and sharing them with my vegan friends online.  Thank you, Chef Brian! ;-)

One thing I do wish Disney will incorporate in the future is more vegan desserts.  Of course, it was probably a good thing for my waistline that I had to avoid pretty much any dessert fare in the parks, but part of vacation is splurging a little.  Thank goodness the famous Babycakes bakery from NYC recently opened in Downtown Disney.  Oh  my gosh, I was sooo happy to look at a bakery display and know I could choose anything I wanted!!! :-D  Babycakes is vegan and gluten-free, so my mom was also thrilled.  If you ever find yourself near a Babycakes, GO and enjoy!!! ;->