Chocolate Creamsicle Pancakes & Sketchbook Stuff

Wanna know what I had for dinner tonight?  Though I'm sure it would be great for breakfast too ;-)

 Barley Choco-Orange Pancakes

Yields: 1 Serving

Pancakes + Paper plate = no dishes! (Yes, I am that lazy)

 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup Barley Flour (or preferred flour)
• 1/2 cup Almond Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 
• 1 tsp Orange Extract 
• pinch Sea Salt
• 1 tsp Baking Powder  
• 1-2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
• 6 drops Liquid Stevia (or sweetener or choice) 
• 1/2 Tbsp Hemp Seed (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Maca Powder (optional, but awesome!)
• 2 Tbsp Chocolate Chips (I used EnjoyLife mini's)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients (except Maple Syrup) together and cook in greased skillet (I use coconut oil) on med heat. Makes approx 2 large, or 4 small pancakes. Top with Maple Syrup and maybe some chocolate chips. ENJOY!

Sketchbook 2011

So here are just a few things I've been working on lately! Critiques are always appreciated :)

Acrylic on Canvas

Graphite on paper; Inspired by Harnois

Marker on paper; Inspired by Alexander McQueen

Graphite on paper

Marker on paper

Graphite & Marker on paper

***Hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day!*** 

Simple Broccoli Soup

On days where I'm too busy to sit down and have a proper meal (99% of the time), I like to rely on recipes that are super easy and straight forward. This soup is my go-to "I'm hungry and don't want to open a can" or of course If you're like me and have a pound of week old broccoli sitting around. Either way. It only has 4 ingredients and is great with bread and If you wish a little daiya cheese.

As a precaution please ignore my hideous/amateur photos (my regular camera is on leave),

4 Ingredient Broccoli Soup

BTW do NOT try this in a blender

I scorched myself trying to blend it HOT

 (at this point I concluded kitchen-florescent lighting is just not flattering)

Aside from the puke-green color in these photos the soup is actually a beautiful shade of green, but don't just take my word for it...

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb pureed Broccoli
• 4 cups Purified Water or Vegetable Stock
• 1 large clove Garlic
• Salt to taste

Directions:
In a med size pot bring 3 cups of your water/stock to boil, add broccoli and cook until broccoli is tender (not mushy), transfer into a food processor and blend with garlic. Add salt to taste.

When I first made this I thought I could blend it in a blender. Bad idea. The heat caused to lid to shoot off and HOT soup went flying all over the kitchen. Ouch.

Things I've been Diggin'

It's been so crazy this past week I've hardly had time to do anything! Well...almost anything. I did get to go to the store today and pick up a few new things, which prompted the idea "Thing's I've been diggin' lately" Foodie style. Below are just a collection of edible I've been LOVING this past month.

*Click on the titles to read more about:

Rawtella 

Spirulina 

 Chlorella 

Palm Sugar 

Garden of Life "Perfect Food"

Sproutein  

  

SunWarrior Raw Protein Powder 

 

Salba Blue Corn Chips

Fresh Young Thai Coconut

Daiya Cheese Alternative

 Kombucha 

Wishing you a Happy Tuesday!

Whole Wheat Ciabatta

 Happy Friday!

So my first attempt at making whole wheat ciabatta bread turned out wonderful! Although I think the whole wheat weighed it down a bit compared to the traditional white version, where as instead of being "fluffy" it turned out dense and moist. But I will mark this one as a success as it is by far the best tasting bread I have made yet! I really urge you to try your hand at this next time you're thinking about purchasing a loaf...

Whole Wheat Ciabatta with Raspberry Jam

Adapted from VeganDad

Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients:

• Poolish (Recipe below)
• 3 cups Whole Wheat Flour 
• 1 3/4 tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp Instant Yeast 
• 3/4 cup Luke Warm Water 

Poolish (Bread pre-ferment)

• 2.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1.5 cups Water, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast 

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 500F.

2. Make your poolish by adding the flour, yeast, and water. Mix until everything comes together   scraping down sides. 

3. Cover and set aside for 3-4 hours. The poolish should have small holes in it (If it doesn't your yeast is inactive) and be sticky to the touch. 

4. Mix in the rest of your flour, salt, and warm water and mix for 7 min with your dough hook, or by hand. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom. 

5. Transfer dough onto a floured surface. Sprinkle with flour and stretch and fold dough approx 3-4 times. 

6. Make sure there is ample flour under the dough and brush with olive oil. 

7. Cover with plastic and let sit 30 min.

8. After this time, make sure the dough does not stick to the counter, remove the plastic, and stretch and fold the dough again, dust with flour and then cover with plastic wrap for 1.5 - 2 hours. 

9. Uncover and cut dough into 2 equal pieces. 

10. Stretch and fold the dough one last time, then shape into rectangular loaves, brushing with oil and covering once again for approx 45-60 min. 

11. Remove covering and gently transfer loaves to a parchment lined baking pan. 

12. Put loaves in oven (middle rack), and on bottom rack place another baking pan and pour in 1 cup of hot water. 

13. Reduce heat to 450F and bake loaves for 10 min. After 10 min rotate loaves and bake another 6-10 min. Remove from oven and let cool. Spread with your favorite jam!

I understand this is very ambitious, especially considering I forgot to take photos of my process while doing it, but If you're someone that needs a visual, VeganDad has a very nice video on his site about the step-by-step process he uses to make these. Because you definitely want to make this bread. 

Cheers!

Raw Brownie Recipe

Brownies in the RAW

 Yields 4 Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Raisins, soaked 1-3 hours, drained and water reserved
• 1 cup Dates, pitted, hard dates need to be soaked 1 hr, drained and water reserved 
• 1 cup Raw Almond Butter 
• 1 cup Almonds, finely chopped 
• 1 cup Raw Cocoa Powder
• 2 - 3 tbsp Maple Syrup (optional)
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Food process with a "S" blade raisins and dates until it turns into a paste - use a little of the soak water if needed. Blend all together by hand. This should be a moist dough like consistency. Sprinkle some chopped almonds OR coconut in the bottom of a serving dish. By hand spread the brownies in the pan. Refrigerate for 1 - 3 hours.

Frosting:  

• 4 dates, pitted and hard dates soaked for 30 - 45 minutes, drained well
• 1 tsp ground cacao
• 1 tbsp raw carob powder
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

Food process all together.  If it needs to be thicker, add another date or two.  Thinner, add a little soak water.

 *     *     * *     *     * *     *     * *     *     * *     *     * *     *     * *     *     *

 

Now, what to do with the leftover soak water?

Throw it in the bender with a couple of pitted dates. Blend on high speed for a few minutes and You have date syrup. Add a touch of cinnamon for some zing, maybe even a small slice of ginger.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Spelt Cookies

I couldn't take the photo fast enough!

Being it is my friends birthday today, I opted to get him a special cake. Normally this would mean I drive down to the nearest Nestle and place an order for the largest cookie cake they have (he's a bit of a cookie fiend), but today I just felt like baking. And what's better than a healthier, better tasting version of the real thing? The fact that no one can tell it's a "healthy" cookie, you know what I'm talking about. Cardboard cookies. These are definitely not cardboard cookies.

Chocolate Chip Spelt Cookies

 *Yields: 12 cookie squares

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups Spelt Flour
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 cup Palm Sugar
• 1/3 cup Maple Syrup
• 1/3 cup Coconut Oil
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 Bag Vegan Chocolate Chips

*For cookie cake triple the recipe and press into baking pan, following regular baking instructions  

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment, Release foil or just use a non-stick cookie sheet. In one bowl, thoroughly stir together spelt flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. In a second bowl, stir together maple syrup, oil and vanilla extract. Add the oil mixture to the spelt mixture and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and bake for about 12 min.

Raw Food Finds

When I was 18 I started working at a local raw food restaurant, being a vegan at the time I was instantly curious about the raw food trend and read everything I could get my hands on, books such as Living Foods for Optimum Health, Raw Food Real World, and The Live Food Factor, just to name a few. During this journey of discovery I learned that our body is more than just a calorie burning machine, but it thrives off of nutrient dense foods such as fresh vegetables, sprouts, algae, and spirulina.

Algae Smoothie

Compared to my current diet of the time which consisted of processed soy nuggets and fries this was BIG NEWS! Immediately I adapted a raw lifestyle and ate that way for two years, and I can honestly say I had never felt better in my life.

 I would like to share with you a few resources which were lifesavers when it came to transitioning, sustaining, and most importantly- knowing what I was doing when it came to "going raw".  There are many different opinion out there on Raw Food and what and how to eat. These links that I am sharing with you are simply what I found helpful for me at the time. I only wish that for those of you thinking about adding more raw food to your diet or even If you've been raw for years, that you'll find today's post helpful in aiding in your food ventures

 I could not do without:

• RawGuru.com 

This was the first website I went to when I began to transition, it has just about everything you'd ever want to eat in raw form; cookies, chips, bread you name it! Not to mention their prices are out of this world compared to other online shops, and If you're thinking of purchasing that Vitamix or BlendTec, this site has killer prices and even offers customer reward points that you can use with your next purchase. Definitely a must check out!

• Starting a Raw Food Diet 

This is your guide for the beginner, explaining the basics behind raw food and offering advice as well as yummy recipes that don't require all those fancy gadgets.

• Brian Clement Videos 

Brian Clement runs the Hippocrates Institute down in Palm Beach, FL and is one of the leading scientists in the raw food community.  This was where I learned that I couldn't eat fruit all day every day, and that algae is in fact edible. I would absolutely recommend to check out some if not all of his videos

• LifeGive Supplements 

These supplements are simply THE BEST. Although they can be pricey, the quality is excellent and you know you're getting what you paid for.

• We Like It Raw 

Online community for Raw Foodies and Vegans alike

• Living & Raw Food Recipies

Just about every raw recipe you could ever want. EVER.

- - -

Last but not Least...

•  Living Foods for Optimum Health

Okay- so this is the book I pointed out at the beginning of my shpeal, but out of everything listed this book most definitely changed my life and the way I think about food. If you ever have the chance to pick it up, it makes a great read and offers many recipies and how-to guides in the back.

Although now I do eat cooked food, I still like to take a couple days a week to revisit my old recipes, such as this

 

Sugar Free Creamy Choco-mint Smoothie 

Yields 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 head romaine or other green (I like spinach)
• 1 avocado (and/or frozen banana for a sweeter smoothie)
• 2 heaping Tbsp Carob Powder
• 2 heaping Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• stevia to taste 
• 8 oz. Water  
• Handful peppermint leaves (Spear-leaf would work as well)

 Blend all in a High-Speed blender and ENJOY!

I hope everyone who tuned in today to read found this helpful!

And If I happened to miss anything feel free to leave a comment about what some of your best resources have been, raw vegan or not, I'd love to hear what other great finds are out there!