rice with chickpeas, currants, and herbs

2/3 cup wild rice
2 1/4 cup basmati rice
1 1/2 cup boiling water
3 tsp curry powder
3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp fennel seed
2 cans chickpeas
2/3 cup currants
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
4 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Place wild rice in small saucepan covered with plenty of water. Bring to boil and reduce heat to low simmering for 35-40 minutes until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Bring water to boil for basmati rice
In medium saucepan and 1 tbsp of olive oil and heat over high. Add the basmati rice and 1/4 teaspoon salt and toast slightly. Slowly add boiling water, decrease heat to lowest flame, cover with lid and cook for 15 minutes.
After basmati rice has cooked for 15 minutes, remove from heat, fluff with fork, cover pan with tea towel, followed by lid and leave set for 10 minutes.
In the meantime while rice is cooking ready chickpeas. (I used 2 cans and did this in two batches so as not to overcrowd my pan).
Place 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil in 12 inch skillet and heat over high heat. Add 1 can drained and rinsed chickpeas and stir to coat with olive oil.
Add 1 1/2 tsp each of curry powder and cumin, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp fennel seed. Stir quickly to coat. Roast in pan for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Repeat steps 6 & 7 with second can of chickpeas.
Assemble salad, add both types of rice, chickpeas, currants, and herbs. Stir to combine, taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

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from here

no sugar added vegan gf chocolate sauce

1/3 cup (50 g) pitted dates (measured once pitted)
1/2 cup (125 ml) almond or cashew milk (you can use regular milk instead, if you prefer)
1 oz (15 g) unsweetened baking chocolate (or 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder, or other chocolate)

Put dates and almond milk into a blender; blend together until smooth.

Pour into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, continue to cook whilst stirring over a low flame for 5-10 minutes, until thickened.

Remove from the heat, stir in the chocolate (or cocoa powder) until melted and incorporated.

Transfer to a glass jar. Serve warm, refrigerate and eat cold, or re-warm.

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i can’t wait to dip strawberries into this…

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from top with cinnamon

blueberry oatmeal smoothie

1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup almond milk (or other milk)
1/2 cup berries (frozen are ok; i used a combination of blackberries and blueberries)
1 small banana, broken into 3 or 4 pieces
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
handful of fresh strawberries
honey, to taste (~ 1T) (optional)

soak oats in milk when you get up.

make smoothie 15 mins later.

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adapted from here

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i didn’t have oats (whoops, forgot about my oatmeal-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookie baking spree a few weeks ago) so i used a little oat flour. i added the strawberries to the original recipe, and it is totally awesome. a perfect breakfast for a spring morning!

vegan paleo raw-ish chocolate tart

filling

2 avocados, room temperature
½ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil, room temperature

crust

4 cups pecans
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup maple syrup

Place the ingredients for chocolate filling in a food processor fitted with chopping blade and process until smooth. Scrape the filling into a bowl and set it aside.
Fit the bowl and blade back onto the food processor (no need to clean the bowl in between). Place all ingredients for tart crust except maple syrup into food processor. Process until fine textured with small bits of pecans. Measure out a ¼ cup of the crumbs and sprinkle them across the bottom of the tart pan. Add the maple syrup to the remaining crumbs and process 1-2 minutes until the tart crust becomes as thick as cookie dough. Pat crust into tart pan. Spread the chocolate filling over the crust, cover and refrigerate overnight.

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from gi365

georgian-style eggplant stuffed with carrot and parsnip

this recipe is from the country of georgia, which borders turkey, armenia, and russia.

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¼ cup olive oil
4 medium to large eggplants, halved
5 medium carrots, grated
1 parsnip, grated
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 green capsicum (pepper), chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
½ cup water
¼ cup tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried thyme or a few sprigs fresh thyme
1 tablespoon sugar or agave nectar
salt and black pepper to taste

sauce:
3 cups water
¾ cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar or agave nectar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200˚C (approx. 390˚F).

2. With a spoon, scrape out the flesh of the eggplant halves, chop it roughly and set aside. Place the hollowed out eggplant halves in a greased baking dish, season them and drizzle with olive oil.

3. Place a fry pan over medium heat, pour in the olive oil, and cook the onion until soft and translucent. Add the eggplant flesh, garlic, grated carrots, parsnip and green capsicum and cook for a further 10 minutes (the vegetables will soften). Add the tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme, sugar and seasoning and cook for another 25-30 minutes.

4. Stuff the eggplants with the vegetable mixture evenly. Mix the tomato paste, sugar and seasoning with the water and pour into the baking dish. (At this point I usually drizzle a little more olive oil over the eggplants.)

5. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the dish and bake for a further 30-45 minutes. The dish is ready when the eggplants have softened and the sauce has thickened (it should not be watery).

6. Let rest for 30 minutes before serving as the eggplants will absorb more moisture and the sauce will thicken a little. Or refrigerate when cool and eat cold the next day (the flavours will be even better).

Serve with plain yogurt.

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from here

strawberry-banana juice plus

handful of strawberries
banana
a splash of juice (whatever you have)
few spoonfuls of ice cream (i used vanilla; you can use strawberry, chocolate, or whatever you have around – wonderful with vegan ice cream or sherbet, too)
pinch of cardamom (optional)
pinch of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon (optional)

blend

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really delicious!

green pea soup

i realized the other day when a friend brought up pea soup that i’ve never made it myself.

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1 Tbsp oil or bacon grease, or more to coat bottom of pan
1 medium leek, whites and light green parts only, halved and sliced thin
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large potato, peeled, cut into small cubes
16 oz frozen peas
4 cups vegetable stock
a couple sprigs of fresh lemon thyme, tied in a bundle (or chervil, sorrel, and/or savory) (i used fines herbs)
1/3 cup sour cream, plus more for serving (or plain greek yogurt, or coconut milk)
additional lemon thyme for serving (or other herbs)

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Heat large heavy bottomed stockpot. Add oil. Once oil is warm, add garlic and onions. Cook over medium-high heat for 30-45 seconds until garlic is fragrant. Add leeks and cook until leeks and onions have softened, about 3 minutes.
Add potatoes and peas. Cook for about 2 minutes until frozen peas start to defrost. Add vegetable stock and lemon thyme bundle. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes can be easily smashed with a fork. Remove from heat and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove lemon thyme bundle.
Puree soup using an immersion blender, or transfer soup in batches to a blender. Blend soup until smooth. Stir in sour cream and season with salt and pepper. Serve soup warm or chilled with additional sour cream and fresh lemon thyme leaves.

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adapted from here

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fantastic. highly recommended. i threw a few pieces of ham in with the onions. wonderful.

simple light dressing for roasted vegetables

roast

leeks
carrots
potatoes
sweet potatoes
beets
onions
anything else in the world

in this dressing:

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½ lemon, zested and juiced
1 tsp mustard (not yellow hot dog mustard!)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

a few pepper corns, roughly crushed
salt to taste

1 tbsp honey (optional)
herbs, like rosemary or tarragon, whatever you like (optional)

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these ingredients together also makes a perfect salad dressing, with a few splashes of homemade fruit vinegar or whatever vinegar is your favorite.

i’d also bet it makes a great chicken marinade.

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adapted from this

two-ingredient healthier buckeyes

1 c peanut butter, room temperature
1/2 c quick cook oats

mix together, form into balls, refrigerate.

that’s it.

you could add a little vanilla if you wanted, or dip them in chocolate like buckeyes:
in a saucepan, boil a very small amount of water, and rest a bowl in it. melt a little chocolate with a little butter or margarine and a little sugar. when chocolate is liquid, dip balls in chocolate, or drizzle chocolate over balls.

freeze for a few minutes, or refrigerate for an hour, before eating.

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recipe from zachary

ginger tapioca pudding

eyeballed about 2/3c tapioca pearls (old-fashioned, not quick cook – get them at your local asian grocery store)
half-can coconut milk
enough water to cover

soak overnight

next day, heat mixture over a medium heat

add
the rest of the coconut milk
an egg (or an egg replacement)
a spoonful or two of sugar or honey (optional),
a pinch of minced ginger,
a teaspoon of vanilla extract,
a pinch of salt,
a few pinches black sesame seed and a pinch of ground black cardamom (optional)