Creamy Carob Banana Dream Smoothie...

This has seriously been my favorite breakfast smoothie of late. I came up with it a few weeks ago when I was craving a creamy, chocolate flavor but wasn’t really in the mood for my usual chocolate smoothie. For whatever reason I found myself really craving carob - which I do like, but don’t normally get that crazy about. - Since I had some carob powder on hand I decided to give it a try. The carob, coconut, date, banana, cashew combo works so well! You’ll be amazed, and become totally addicted to it like I did. Plus it’s so simple you can’t not try it, and it’s naturally sweetened, no sugar or artificial sweetener here.

Creamy Carob Banana Dream Smoothie

1 ½ Frozen Bananas
1 C Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk
3 Medjool Dates Pitted
1 ½ Tbsp Carob Powder
1 Tbsp Cacao Nibs
*** 1 heaping Tbsp Cashew Butter

- Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend for 60-90 seconds until completely smooth and creamy.


*** Note - For a different but equally amazing flavor swap out the Cashew Butter with Hazelnut Butter. SO GOOD!*** 

9 Days of Valentine's: Restaurant Edition...

No Chicago is not snow-free this winter
I forgot to take a picture of the front yesterday so this is
a picture I took during the summer

Are you wondering what the surprise I talked about yesterday is? Well, it’s that my husband and I found out that for this entire week one of our favorite restaurants The Chicago Diner is having a special Valentine’s Day Menu. Now, despite having already picked out 9 Romantic dishes to cook for our little celebration, once we caught sight of the menu we really couldn’t pass it up.

In our relationships I’m the one that does the cooking, I cook everyday regardless of how busy I am, how tired I am or how sick I am. - I typically need to be either very sick or very tired, not to cook. Each evening I cook dinner, many other days of the week - though not necessarily every day - I also make a breakfast or lunch depending on what our schedules are, and how hungry we are. So on average I make two meals per day. My husband doesn’t cook at all, and that’s alright with me. He can make a killer pot of pasta, and an amazing jambalaya and occasionally he surprises me with these, but usually when he wants to ‘give me the gift of food’ it involves taking me out for dinner. Which is just as good in my opinion since we don’t often go out to eat.

Of course going out on actual Valentine’s Day would be a nightmare. We usually avoid going out on actual holidays, opting instead to celebrate early to avoid crowds, so we decided to hit up The Chicago Diner yesterday, in the late afternoon when we figured the ‘holiday’ crowd would be at it’s thinnest. We were right. We had The Diner virtually to ourselves and we enjoyed a nice leisurely meal, of laughs and love and damn good food. The Valentine’s Menu was limited to 1 appetizer, 1 entree, and 3 dessert options. Which was nice. Don’t get me wrong, I love having options, but there is such a thing as having too many options you know?

For drinks we ordered milkshakes, because hello, it’s THE CHICAGO DINER! Milkshakes are a must! My opinion was that we could have wine anytime, but you can only have milkshakes every now and then. I got my usual Peanut Butter Cookie Dough shake which is out of this world, my husband got his usual mocha which is also very good.

We got the appetizer which was Dates stuffed with Jalapeno’s wrapped in Vegan bacon. Oh my god were these delicious! Seriously, one of the best appetizers I’ve ever had. These were sweet, salty, savory, with just a touch of spice and they were served with a sweet tart sauce that tasted like Tamarind. So amazing, I wish we’d had more.

Since the Diner’s appetizers are so good, and my husband is a hungry man we decided to order a second appetizer off of their regular menu. The Thai Chili Wings. These are incredible, I think I’ve mentioned them before but I’ll do it again. They’re seitan wings, drenched in a sweet spicy Thai chili sauce, served with a squeeze of lime and Sriracha Ranch for dipping. Fan-freaking-tastic. Though we had a hard time decided between this and the Poutine, such a difficult choice always.

Our entree was a braised Portobello Mushroom cap served on a bed of creamed leeks, with a Potato-Daikon Cake, and asparagus. Man, this was good too! That mushroom was so chewy and delicious, the asparagus was cooked to perfection! The leeks were perfect, sweet and savory and buttery, and the potato cake, oh boy, well that was my favorite part. Like eating a German Potato Pancake - almost.

For dessert I went with the Strawberry Rose tart, which was a chocolate crust, a strawberry coulis in the middle, with rose essence and rose petals, topped with some whip cream. This was amazing! It wasn’t too sweet, and the contrast between chocolate, strawberry and rose were all wonderful. I loved that the rose flavor was very prominent but not overwhelming.

My husband chose the Chocolate Whoopie Pie with Lavender filling. He gave me a bite and this was just as good! Subtle lavender cream in the middle of two big, soft, moist chocolate cakes in the shape of hearts. Also served with a delicate whipped cream. Amazing!

Interestingly despite all that food we left The Diner feeling pretty good. Honestly most of the time we leave the diner my husband and I either feel like we’re going to throw up or die. And I have to say that isn’t any fault of the Diner, it’s all on us. We always order WAY too much food, and we always eat it all! This time around I don’t think we necessarily ordered less food, but it was the kind of food we ordered. It was mostly vegetable based, when normally at the Diner we stuff ourselves with seitan, tempeh, poutine, bread, burgers and all the bad, decadent stuff. Yesterday we ate relatively ‘light’ by comparison and left feeling perfectly satisfied and happy. The Diner always makes us happy, and this was a lovely way to celebrate an Early Valentine’s Day.

So if this all sounds good to you, and you live in the Chicagoland area be sure to drop by The Chicago Diner sometime this week. I think Saturday is your last chance for the Valentine’s Day menu so get there fast! And check back tomorrow for Part 4 of our celebration.

The Chicago Diner - 

Halsted Location 
3411 N Halsted St
Phone: 773-935-6696
.
Logan Square Location 
2333 N. Milwaukee Ave
Phone: 773-252-3211

Almost Raw Mango Cheesecake with Mango Glaze...

A few days ago I really wanted something sweet. I was dying for dessert, but as I mentioned a couple of days ago I’m staying away from sugar until I’m fully recovered. That means no dessert, or at least no traditionally sweetened desserts. I tried for a while to let the craving pass, and when it wouldn’t I started thinking about fruits. Only just sitting down and chomping away on a piece of fruit wasn’t really doing it for me. Then I got thinking about what I was going to do with the batch of home made cream cheese I’d made last week, and then I got thinking about cheesecake. Then I really wanted cheesecake except cheesecake is loaded with sugar. Hm! What to do?

It was then that a vague idea for a raw cheesecake popped into my head. Most raw cheesecakes are not sweetened with sugar, and a lot of them use fruit as a sweetener instead. I could get behind that right? Except I’ve made raw cheesecakes in the past and while I do enjoy them I find they always have a very strong cashew, date, coconut flavor, which is fine if that’s what you want, but it’s not really ‘cheesecake’ you know? I wanted a cake that was creamy, and cheesy, sweet and tangy, and suddenly I started thinking about mango. I mean it’s summer after all - even if it’s getting near the end of summer - and a Mango Cheesecake sounded just about perfect in that moment. Only, I was tired, and drained from being sick and didn’t want to go through the process of having to bake and look after a cheesecake, especially in the middle of an already hot evening.

So I started wondering if I could make a more traditional cheesecake using my homemade cream cheese and frozen mangos - which were the only kind I had - by employing the basic principals of raw cheesecake making. Once I got thinking like that it all kind of came together in a snap. As it turns out you can make a cheesecake in this way, and it tastes awesome. This cheesecake was so sweet, cool and mangoey the perfect treat on a humid summer evening. Yet it was creamy and tangy like a regular cooked cheesecake with not coconut, or nut aftertaste. The only problem with this particular cheesecake is storage. You see since the filling is quite liquidy you can’t store it in the fridge even after it’s been frozen, because it’ll melt and leak. I didn’t have a problem with it melting completely losing it’s shape and reverting back to pre-frozen state but it melted enough. Of course because cheese doesn’t taste great frozen, and you loose that creamy texture if it’s frozen solid leaving it in the freezer isn’t so great either. My recommendation is that this is a cake best eaten right away. Of course if you need to store it I suggest cutting the entire cake into individual slices first, then storing in the freezer. When you want to eat a slice, take it out and let it thaw for 30 minutes so it gets creamy again.

Though that might seem like some unnecessary trouble this cake is so amazing flavor-wise, that it’s really worth it, even if there’s no perfect way to store it. Of course you could always store most of it in the freezer and store individual slices in the fridge in a snap-lock container that way if it melts a little it won’t get all over your fridge. I think next week I’ll experiment and make this a full-on traditional cooked cheesecake, so I’ll let you know how that goes, but for now enjoy!

Mango Cheesecake with Mango Glaze 

Crust -

1 C Pecans
1 C Rolled Oats
½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
4 Medjool Dates Pitted and Soaked
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
Pinch of Sea Salt
5-8 Drops Liquid Stevia

Filling - 

***1 ½ C Cream Cheese preferably homemade
3 C Frozen Mango Chunks Divided
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
Date Soak Water
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
2 tsp Maca
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of sea salt
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
8-12 Drops Liquid Stevia

Glaze - 

1 C Frozen Mango Chunks
4 Medjool Dates pitted and soaked
Water
5-8 Drops Liquid Stevia

Instructions -

Crust -

Add Pecans and oats to a food processor and process into fine crumbs.

Add in the dates - reserve the soaking water - and coconut oil along with all other ingredients. Process until a smooth dough forms.

Turn out into a spring-form pan and press down evenly spreading the mixture across the bottom of the pan.

Freeze until ready to add the filling.

Filling -

Add 2 C mango chunks along with the date soak water leftover from the crust recipe to a high speed blender. The water should roughly yield between a third and a half cup. Add in the lime juice and vanilla extract and blend on high until completely smooth.

Add the cream cheese to the food processor along with the pureed mango mixture, coconut oil, maca, ginger, sea salt and stevia. Blend until smooth and fully incorporated.

Add in the remaining cup of mango chunks and process. You can process this until very smooth or leave it a little chunkier, it’s up to you.

Pour the filling into the prepared crust and return to the freezer. Freeze for 2-3 hours until solid but still creamy.

Glaze -

Add all ingredients to a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Pour over cheesecake when ready to serve and then serve immediately or freeze for an additional 30 minutes to firm up the glaze a little bit. Enjoy!

*** Note - I used homemade cream cheese that was made with cashews, salt, water, and 2 tbsp of coconut milk yogurt to culture it. The recipe I used was from Miyoko Schinner’s “Artisan Vegan Cheese.” though I think you could use any homemade vegan cream cheese just as long as it’s cultured. You could try making this with store-bought vegan cream cheese but honestly I don’t know how that would alter the taste and texture of this recipe. Store-bought cream cheese is full of preservatives and other ingredients and it may not freeze as well. Since my homemade cream cheese was practically raw I think it might work better then a cooked cream cheese, but feel free to experiment and let me know what you discover.*** 

Vanilla Orange Berry Blast Smoothie...

You all know how much I love a good smoothie right? Well over the past week this one has become my absolute favorite breakfast. The flavor is so unique a mixture of berry, vanilla, citrus and that oh so distinct grassy taste of wheatgrass. I love the not quite blended texture of the dates as well. Overall this smoothie packs an energizing antioxidant punch that’ll both nourish and satisfy you, not to mention help you through any busy Spring morning, and if it doesn’t quite feel like spring where you live then at least the light citrus notes will make you daydream of the warmer days to come. Plus, you can’t beat that beautiful, rich, majestic color. Doesn’t it make you want to smile?

Vanilla Orange Berry Blast Smoothie 

1-1 1/4C Vanilla Almond Milk
1 Large Navel Orange
2 Pitted Dates
1 Scoop Wheatgrass Powder (I use Amazing Grass)
2/3-3/4C Frozen Blueberries
4 Frozen Peach Slices
½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
Dash of Ground Ginger

- Place all ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend on high for 1 minute or until smooth. Bits of unblended date pieces are okay, and highly recommended in my opinion.

*** Note - If you prefer you can use unsweetened almond or other non-dairy milk and use a tablespoon of vanilla extract instead. Though I quite like the taste and texture of the vanilla almond milk. Also how much milk and blueberries you use depends on the strength of your blender and your personal preference for how thick you want the smoothie to be.***

Swiss Chard Salad with Sauteed Stems in A Dijon Vinaigrette...

Last night I felt like making a salad to go with our dinner, but I didn’t have any lettuce and I didn’t have any kale. I had cabbage but we’d just eaten a cabbage salad with dinner the night before and so I wanted something different. The only other green I had available was a huge bunch of Rainbow Swiss Chard that I bought on Sunday simply because it looked beautiful and because it was on sale. I took a good look at those big beautiful leaves and thought ‘why not? You can make a salad out of this can’t you?’ In fact I knew it was possible to make a salad out of Chard because I’d made a Romaine and Chard salad more then a year ago, but chard is just one of those greens that while I love it, I never really use it. Plus I was worried that without the subtle sweetness of romaine the chard would be too bitter. Of course since I didn’t have anything else to offset the flavor I had to do my best and make it work somehow.

In the end this salad exceeded all expectations, and for whatever reason it really felt like a winter salad. Maybe because of the dark leafy leaves, or maybe because Chard is more associated with winter, I don’t know but it felt appropriate and it tasted fantastic. Since I didn’t want to waste the stems and because I didn’t want to eat the stems raw I decided to saute them, I like sauteed chard stems, they taste vaguely of beets and I think it was a perfect topper for this salad. They were tasty, tender-crisp, made a beautiful presentation and throwing them into the salad is a great way to utilize the whole plant.

Though it may sound strange to you at first trust me when I say this salad is fan-freaking-tastic. My husband and I loved it so much we gobbled up massive bowls of it, and barely had room left for the soup I’d made as our main course. It’s got a great combination of flavors and textures, and each one really lingers on the tongue. Try it!

Swiss Chard Salad with Sauteed Stems in A Dijon Vinaigrette

1 Large bunch Rainbow Swiss Chard
1 Red Onion sliced thin
2 carrots grated
½ C dried Blueberries
1/4 C Toasted Pecans (optional)
2 Tbsp Hemp Seeds or more to taste
1 tsp olive oil

Dijon Vinaigrette 

3 Tbsp Hemp Seed Oil
2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 ½ Tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 Medjool Dates
1/4-1/3 C Walnuts
1-2 Garlic Cloves to taste
½-1 Tsp Onion Powder
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Dash of White Pepper
1/4 C Purified Water to thin or more/less as needed.

- Remove Chard leaves from stems. Set stems aside and cut leaves into bite sized pieces. Toss the Chard leaves into a big bowl and add grated carrots, dried blueberries, pecans, and hemp seeds. Set aside.

- Mince the reserved Swiss Chard stems then add them to a medium sized pan with the tsp of olive oil and sliced red onions. Saute over medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes until stems are tender-crisp and onions are translucent. Remove from heat and add them to the salad.

Note - It’s okay if the pan that you’re cooking the stems and onions in gets a bit dry, you don’t want the mixture to be liquidly so you may even want to use less then 1 tsp of oil. Just enough really so that they cook nicely, get a bit of flavor and don’t stick to the pan. 

- To make vinaigrette place all ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender and blend until completely smooth. Taste for flavor, and consistency and thin the dressing as needed and adjust flavor to taste.

- Poor the vinaigrette over the salad and using two wooden spoons gently massage the dressing into the salad making sure all chard leaves get covered. Massage the salad for roughly 5 minutes until the chard leaves wilt slightly and soften.

- Divide amongst bowls and enjoy!

PS: In summer when fresh blueberries are in season you can make this salad with those instead of dry. You could also probably substitute the nuts for a nut that's a little more summery, like a Macadamia. Yum! 

Tropical Greens Smoothie with Super Seedy Milk...

I love smoothies, I’m sure you know this by now. I especially love them in the summer, but this summer thanks to two extended vacations and a busy schedule I haven’t been feeling much creative inspiration in the smoothie department. I still drink a smoothie each morning of course but over the past month and a half I’d say I’ve mostly been drinking flax-milk chocolate vega shakes. They’re delicious of course but nothing that really needs to be written about.

Well yesterday I decided to try something new. I decided to make some homemade seed milk. I’d made homemade nut milk before and that was fun and easy, so I thought I’d give seed milk a try. It’s even easier then nut milk because you don’t have to filter out any pulp and it gets super creamy without having to soak the seeds first. Of course the recipe makes quite a bit (3-3 ½ C) so today I wanted to make sure I used up some more of it. Of course the next logical question became “What should I use it on/in?” After a bit of thought I decided a good belly-filling smoothie was just the ticket, and since I’ve been thinking a lot about the glorious combination of pineapple and spinach that seemed the natural choice for the smoothie.

The seed milk on it’s own is a bit bitter, as you would expect from sunflower and sesame seeds, so I wasn’t sure how it would pair in a smoothie. However I figured pairing it with sweet frozen pineapple could only make a good thing better and I was right. This smoothie came out so creamy and delicious, really you won’t believe how creamy it is! The seed milk becomes a subtle flavor addition and the tropical flavors really shine through. A perfect blend, and super filling, which is great for a first day meal.

I know it may sound a bit weird “Seed Milk” but trust me, this smoothie is delicious! And the best thing about it is that this is a super quick and easy way to get in some greens and some seeds. Two food groups I think a lot of us often neglect.

Tropical Greens Smoothie with Super Seedy Milk

1 ½ C Frozen Pineapple Chunks
1 Big Handful Baby Spinach
1 Banana
1 C Super Seedy Milk (Recipe Follows)
½ - 3/4 C Filtered Water

- Place all ingredients into a highspeed blender and blend on high for 1 minute or until completely smooth and creamy. Pour into glasses and enjoy with a nice bowl of strawberries!

Note - If desired you can use half frozen pineapple chunks and half frozen mango chunks to give the smoothie a slightly more tropical feel.

Super Seedy Milk

 3/4 C Raw Sunflower Seeds
1/4 C Hemp Seeds
1/4 C Sesame Seeds
4 Medjool Dates
A Tiny Pinch of Cinnamon
2 ½ - 3 C Water (Depending on how thick you want it)

- Place all ingredients into a highspeed blender and blend on high for 1-2 minutes or until the milk is smooth and creamy. Add more or less water for your preferred consistency.

- Store leftover super seedy milk in an air tight container or mason jar in the fridge for 3-5 days. Shake well before using because the milk may settle and or separate when in the fridge overnight.

Vegan Mofo #8 - Donna’s Romaine Salad with Lemon Date Dressing...

Vegan Mofo #8 - Donna’s Romaine Salad with Lemon Date Dressing

The Book - The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen
The Author - Donna Klein
The Recipe - Romaine Salad with Lemon Date Dressing
Page # 80
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 15 minutes

When it comes to salad I think there are two kinds of people. Those how love it, and those who see it as a means to an end. They begrudgingly eat it because it’s served in front of them, and they just want to get though it so they can get to the main course. The first kind of person loves salad based on it’s own merits and doesn’t drown it in dressing. The second person smothers and chokes their salad in heavy, rich, calorie overflowing, fat laden, sugary, oily, cheesy dressings. I’ve seen this so many times and it always amazes me that people can still think salad is healthy when it is literally swimming in Ranch dressing. It boggles the mind. I am definitely a member of the first category. I love a good salad, and though I like dressing I don’t smother my salads in it. There was a time growing up where I might have done but not anymore.

That’s what I love so much about this salad. Not only is it quick to prepare but it’s beautiful in it’s simplicity. There are so few ingredients and yet the flavor is immense. It’s also the perfect summer salad in my opinion. Perfect for serving as the first course to a hearty dinner of grilled vegetables and rice or potatoes. Or the perfect light side to a heavier bolder main dish. What I really love about this salad is it’s Moroccan influence. I really love Moroccan food, and find the paring of this salads cinnamon with coriander to be brilliant. Also the use of dates, genius! Dates are a fruit that I quite like, but don’t eat in abundance because I find them too sweet. It never would have occurred to me to pair them with lemon in a salad dressing. At first it seemed a bit strange to me to have all these chopped up bits of date floating around in my dressing, then sprinkled across my romaine, but it really is magical. The dressing really is fantastic, and brings out the natural flavor of the romaine. All those chewy bits of date were a nice change of pace also.

Though it should be noted that depending on your diet/lifestyle choices you may want to reduce the amount of olive oil or sugar that’s used. I didn’t bother but I did make another change. I ended up dicing up one large tomato and a handful of green onions to toss into the salad just for a little more color and that nice sweet mild onion flavor.

As for serving I ended up plating this salad alongside my Roasted Butternut Squash with Cilantro Garlic Miso Sauce, but you could really serve it with just about anything, like I mentioned. I think because of the salads natural cooling flavor it would go particularly well with spicier fare, particularly other Moroccan inspired dishes.

Berry Good Morning Smoothie....

I know I’ve been a bit neglectful this week, and I apologize for that. It’s just been one of those weeks you know? Between work, and planning/prepping for the graduation party I threw yesterday there just wasn’t any time to write or share my recipes with you; but with the insanity that was this weekend now over and done with, my presence around here will once again increase. I promise. For now I’d like to share a simple smoothie I made this morning, but tomorrow I promise to give you a more substantial recipe.

Berry Good Morning Smoothie

1-1/4 C. Fresh Sliced Strawberries
½-3/4 C Frozen mixed berries of your choosing. (I used blackberries, raspberries and mulberries)
2 C water
3 Dates pitted (more of less to taste, or other sweetener of choice) (Optional)

- Put everything into high-speed blender and blend on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute until everything is smooth and creamy.

- Divide amongst two tall glasses, garnish with a couple of fresh strawberries and enjoy in the sun as I did.

- Peace, Love and Enjoyment to you on this beautiful summer day -