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Tag Archive: Vegan

Raw Salted Caramel Chocolate Pecan Torte

Written on January 2, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Happy New Year! I wanted to get the year off to a sweet start, so here’s the dessert I made for Christmas, which just happened to turn out to be one of my favorite desserts ever.

As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I wanted to make it. I love things that are salty and sweet and pecans are never a bad thing either; add chocolate and you have to have a winning dessert.

I actually think it’s easier to make raw tortes and pies than cooked ones; you don’t have to worry about cutting cold butter into the crust or cooking them in a water bath. This recipe comes together extremely quickly and is full of flavor.

I used maple syrup because I had plenty on hand. To make this fully raw, use agave nectar or raw honey.

Raw Salted Caramel Chocolate Pecan Torte

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 torte):

For the crust:

6oz(about 1 1/2 cups) dates
6oz(1 1/2 cups) pecans

For the caramel:

2oz dates
6 Tablespoons maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

For the filling:

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
Sea salt and pecans for garnish

Method:

To make the crust, pulse the dates and pecans in a food processor until it forms a dough ball. If after a while the dough hasn’t come together, add water by the tablespoon slowly until it does.
Grease a 9-inch pan lightly with coconut oil. Press the dough into the pan and spread it out evenly into a pie crust shape, raising it at the side. Make sure there are no holes in the bottom.
Make the caramel by blending together the maple syrup and dates in a food processor until smooth and golden in color. Once it’s blended into a sauce, add in the sea salt and mix gently.
Pour the caramel in a thin layer on top of the bottom of the crust, spreading it out evenly.
To make the filling, blend the melted coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup in a food processor until it’s uniformly mixed.
Carefully cover the caramel layer with the chocolate layer. For me it was easiest to add a little bit of topping all around the pie and lightly blending the top together with a soft spatula.
Garnish the top with pecans and sea salt if desired.
Refrigerate your torte until the filling sets. Remove it from the refrigerator about 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. Personally I liked this when it was still slightly chilled but you can also eat it at room temperature.

I would have liked to have gotten better pictures of this but it was too good not to just dig into. It may not be one of the prettiest desserts, but it’s by far one of the tastiest I’ve made in a long time. I can’t wait to make this again.

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The Most Popular Recipes Of 2011

Written on December 30, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Recipe Round-Up

Life’s a bit of a popularity contest; I’m not delusioned into thinking otherwise. And so, instead of me telling you what my favorite recipes have been so far, I figured it’d be more useful to show you the recipes you all picked as the best—the popular crowd.

These are my 5 most visited recipes over the past year. Rereading the comments on all of these posts, I’m shocked by how many people tried(and loved) them. It makes me happy since I loved all of these, too. Hopefully as popular as they are you’ll find one that’s new to you and be inspired to try it out like others have.

hazelnut-chocolate-cake

These Raw Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate Cakes blew up on stumbleupon. With almost 40,000 views and a couple hundred likes, it’s been a huge hit for plenty of foodies. But don’t think it’s just for raw vegans; this tastes delicious no matter who you are(even the avocado frosting, which I swear you won’t be able to taste anything funny in).

July 14th 074

Healthy Frozen Smore Parfaits were a huge hit on Pinterest over the Summer. I have to say I made these more times than I can count myself; they were the perfect way to beat the Summer heat with 2 servings of fruit in each serving.

If you’ve ever googled “Almond Flour Cookies”, you’ve probably landed on these Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies. It’s one of my most visited daily pages and has been visited even more frequently in the past few weeks; looks like a lot of people will be having gluten-free holidays. The best thing about these is that you probably already have all the ingredients for them in your pantry.

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To this day I’m surprised by how often this Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip is pinned on Pinterest. If everyone who pinned this onto a board called “NEED TO MAKE!!” actually has—well that would be a lot of peanut butter. Apparently it’s a big hit with little kids, which I can understand since I love it and am pretty much just a big kid at heart.

This Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Hummus is probably my most made recipe judging by the comments and testaments I’ve gotten. If you’re still afraid of the idea of a sweet hummus, trust the hundreds of people who tried it and know that you can’t taste anything but goodness.

Here’s to 2012 being an even tastier year.

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Eat Healthy: Raw Brownies

Written on December 27, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

filling-up-on-raw-brownies

I could never give up chocolate. It’s a daily thing for me. Even when I want to eat healthy, I’m always drawn back to it, and frankly I have no willpower to resist.

That’s where the beauty of something like raw brownies come in. These are sweetened with dried fruit and the only fat comes from nuts, which are whole foods. It’s a big improvement over refined sugar, cocoa butter and milk fat. To make these, I threw together some dates, figs, hazelnuts and walnuts in my food processor, and then folded in extra walnuts when it was done to give them an added crunch. Not only are they delicious, but they’re filling, too.

Since that’s not exactly a recipe, I thought I’d share a few raw chocolate cake recipes I have made in the past that are similar and just as delicious:

Gabriel’s recipe is super simple. It has added coconut oil and agave nectar which makes the brownies a little more moist and extravagant. It’d be the perfect thing to make if you want to impress someone and show off how good raw food can be.

Katie’s recipe has just fruit for the sweetener and nuts for the fat like the ones I made. I like the addition of vanilla for a stronger chocolate flavor.

I went through the first batch of these all too quickly. You’d better double the recipes since I’m sure you’ll fall in love with them, too.

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No-Bake Peanut Butter S’mores Bars

Written on December 26, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

I love it when people request certain desserts for parties because it makes it so much easier to decide what to bring. This year my cousin asked for Christmas Eve that I bring the same dessert I brought last year: Peanut Butter S’mores Bars.

These are absolutely one of my favorites, too. I’ve also been meaning to make them all year because I wanted to take better pictures than the old ones I had for this recipe, so it was an all around win.

The bars are a layer of peanut butter graham cracker crust with a peanut butter and marshmallow filling topped with soft chocolate ganache. The best thing about them is that they’re no-bake, so you don’t have to turn on your oven to make these; just a microwave will do.

These bars can easily be adjusted for different dietary restrictions. To make them gluten-free, use gluten-free graham crackers. To make them vegan, use vegan graham crackers, vegan marshmallows, a dairy-free margarine and dairy free chocolate chips. I made all of these alterations for this batch and they came out perfectly.

No-Bake Peanut Butter S’mores Bars

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes(allow at least 30 minutes for these to harden in the refrigerator)

Ingredients(Makes 16 bars)

For the crust:

16 individual graham crackers(not full sheets) OR 8oz graham crackers crumbs
3 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons natural style peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar

For the filling:

1/3 cup natural style peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup mini-marshmallows, or 1 cup regular marshmallows cut into bite-sized pieces

For the top:

6oz(about 3/4 cup) chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter

Method:

Melt together 3 Tablespoons of butter and 6 Tablespoons of peanut butter until it’s thin and creamy.
Break the graham crackers into fine crumbs. Running them through a food process for 30 seconds is the best way to do this.
In a large bowl, add the peanut butter mixture to the graham cracker crumbs. Sift in 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Work the dough until the ingredients have come together and press it into an 8×8 pan in an even layer.
Make the filling by melting together 1/3 cup of peanut butter and 2 Tablespoons of butter. Sift in 2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Pour the mixture over the crust. Spread it out to cover all parts.
Press in the marshmallows on top of the peanut butter layer.
Melt together the chocolate chips and 1 Tablespoon of butter until it’s smooth and runny.
Pour the chocolate on top of the dessert in an even layer. Carefully spread it out to make sure it covers as much of the marshmallows as possible.
Put the dessert in the refrigerator to harden. Remove 10 minutes before serving, cut into 16 pieces and serve.

I have a feeling I know what I’ll be making next Christmas Eve.

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Chocolate Mint Almond Butter

Written on December 21, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

Have you tried Justin’s chocolate almond butter? Don’t because you might never want to eat anything else. It’s really terrific. I just love the combination of chocolate and almonds; I figured this could only be made better with mint, and I think I was right.

This is another super easy do-it-yourself gift for foodies(vegan and gluten-free!) or a treat for yourself. I can’t believe how good this is in the morning in a bowl of oatmeal. I used Trader Joe’s creamy unsalted almond butter to get things going a little quicker, but you can also make it from raw or roasted almonds for a fully homemade treat.

Mint Chocolate Almond Butter

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16oz):

12oz(3 cups) almonds OR 12oz(1 1/2 cups) natural almond butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon mint extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Method:

Put the almonds into a food processor and blend until smooth and runny. If you’re starting with almond butter, skip this step and just scrape the almond butter into the food processor.
Add in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and mint extract and blend until completely emulsified.
Scrape the almond butter into a seal-tight jar. Store at room temperature for up to a month.

If you want to eat this off of a spoon, I wouldn’t judge; there’s been plenty of that this week.

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Fig And Hazelnut Balls

Written on December 20, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

One of the things I said I was going to do now was eat better, especially when it comes to sugar. Now I’m not delusioned too think I could ever give up the sweet stuff; instead I’m just looking to eat more sweets that also have nutrition to them. And for that I look towards dried fruit.

fig-and-hazelnut-ball

I’ve always loved fruit and nut snack bars like Larabars. They’re one of those all-too-few things that taste good and are good for you. They’re also incredibly easy to make at home, which opens up infinite flavor combinations. The combination of figs, hazelnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg taste like Winter to me.

Fig And Hazelnut Balls

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 14):

8oz pitted dates
8 figs, chopped
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Method:

In a food processor, blend the dates until they form a sticky dough ball. If after a few minutes your dates haven’t come together, they might have been too dry to begin. Simply add a tablespoon of water and continue blending until they do come together.
Move the date dough to a separate bowl. Chop the hazelnuts and figs in the food processor until they’re broken into small pieces.
Dump the fig and hazelnut bits into the bowl with the date dough, adding in the cinnamon and nutmeg. Knead the two together. Break off pieces to roll into a ball or into a bar.
Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to a week.

I used the roasted salted hazelnuts from Oh Nuts! and the little bit of salt really was a nice touch if you like salty-sweet snacks. It’s not going to fool anyone as a dessert but it’s a good snack to keep on hand to fight an afternoon sweet craving.

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Maple-Sriracha Lentils

Written on December 16, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Hi, again. I’m back after a short posting hiatus. I figured I needed to post something if only so that my parents don’t think I died. I’ve done plenty of writing over the past few days, but not about food; it’s mostly been commentaries on ancient elegiac and epic poetry, and I figured no one wants to read that(I don’t even really want to read that). And cooking? Oh, cooking. Well, there’s plenty of time for that now.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really don’t like sriracha sauce—at least not on its own. It’s far too spicy for me; even just thinking about pouring large amounts of it over food makes jump back. I do, however, love the flavor it adds to sauces with a little sweetness to balance the heat. I’ve made this sauce with maple syrup and soy sauce a few times lately and poured it over everything: Lentils, quinoa, eggs—there’s no bad combination.

If you’re a sriracha fan, I’m sure you’ll love this. Even if you’re not a sriracha fan, give it a shot and you might just be surprised how much you like it.

Maple-Sriracha Lentils

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

1 cup dry lentils
3 cups water
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons sriracha sauce

Method:

Cook the lentils for 30-40 minutes in the boiling water until they’ve become tender and soaked up all the liquid.
Turn off the heat and add in the soy sauce, maple syrup, and sriracha and mix, letting the lentils sit over the burner for a couple minutes to absorb the sauce.
Serve hot or cold as leftovers.

The sriracha adds a great complexity to a sauce that’s only 3 ingredients. For a little more depth of flavor you can add a Tablespoon of toasted sesame oil at the end of cooking.

And now I have 6 weeks with not much to do and a full kitchen at my exposal so expect to hear a lot more from me.

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10-Minute Chickenless, Noodleless Soup

Written on December 8, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

After weeks of unseasonably warm weather, Winter is hitting and it’s hitting hard. It’s rained the past few days; and the temperature has dipped into the 30 and 40s. It’s no wonder I was craving chicken noodle soup recently.

I was thinking of just riding out the craving, since it’s not the easiest thing to satisfy for someone who’s vegetarian and gluten-free. Then I realized I had enough food lying around to make a decent meat-free, gluten-free soup that hit all the right notes.

I loved how flavorful this was, especially for something that was so simple. It was exactly like any good soup I’ve ever had, with a deep and savory broth. The quinoa and tempeh make this totally satisfying, as well. If gluten’s not an issue, I bet the texture of seitan would work great in this soup, too, in place of the tempeh.

10-Minute Chickenless, Noodleless Soup

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 side servings or 2 entrée servings):

2 cups precooked quinoa
3/4 cup chopped kale, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 block of tempeh, cubed
3 cups water
1 vegetarian bouillon cube
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot
Bring the water to a boil. Make sure to mix well enough that the bouillon cube dissolves completely into the broth.
Once heated through, remove from the stove and serve hot.

And then I ate this with 2 clementines because I’m paranoid about getting sick during finals period. Nobody sneeze on me, please.

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Vegan Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Written on December 6, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

After a week and a half, this is the final recipe I have to share from Thanksgiving. I’m sorry to drag it on for so long, but I think I saved the best for last.

My favorite part of any meal is dessert. For this celebration I made my recipe for rum raisin ice cream again, only since I was short on time and feeling slightly lazy I skipped the custard base making the recipe totally vegan. You couldn’t tell I changed a thing; it was just as rich and creamy as the first batch.

This ended up being a favorite of everyone’s. I was a little heavy-handed with the rum; I’m sure that helped. My relatives described it as “a frozen tropical bar drink”. We ate almost the entire batch by the end of the day; I take that as a good sign.

Vegan Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes to churn + 2 hours to set

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups coconut milk, preferably full fat
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup rum
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup Thompson raisins

Method:

Whisk together the coconut milk, sugar, maple syrup, rum, and cinnamon until it forms a smooth base.
Turn on your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions. Add in the raisins during the final 2 minutes of churning.
Put in the freezer to harden for at least 2 hours. Remove from the freezer and let sit on counter for 5 minutes before scooping for best result.

You really can’t go wrong with this plus a slice of paleo pumpkin pie—I’m telling you. Pumpkin, pecans, raisins, cinnamon, and rum. It’s all good.

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The Best (Vegan) Quinoa Stuffing

Written on December 1, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Since I eat quinoa all the time, I get asked a lot what recipe should somebody who’s not really a fan of quinoa try to get themselves to like it. This is that recipe.

I made this last Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas Eve since it was such a hit. If you’ve never seen 80 year old aunts nudging each other to get the serving spoon for more quinoa, it’s quite hysterical. The only difference I made this year was using oil in place of butter and vegetable broth for chicken broth so that this was both vegan and gluten-free. You won’t miss the white bread in this untraditional stuffing.

If you want to save some time and chopping, you can buy pre-diced mirepoix at most grocery stores like Trader Joe’s nowadays.

The Best Quinoa Dressing

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 8 servings):

2 cups quinoa, rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth(or chicken broth)
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 tablespoon rosemary
1/4 cup cane sugar

Method:

Bring the quinoa and broth to a boil in a large pot. Cover the pot and turn off the heat, letting the quinoa sit to absorb the water.
In a pan, sauté the onion, celery, and carrots in 2 tablespoons of oil until the onions are translucent and the carrots have cooked through.
When the quinoa is fully cooked, add in the sautéed vegetables, sugar, and herbs. Mix those in while fluffing the quinoa.
Move to a serving bowl and serve warm.

I’ve never been so happy for Thanksgiving leftovers.

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