No religion here, just chocolate ;)

 

Although I am not religious by any means, I sure do love chocolate and I thank this wonderful earth for producing such an amazingly complex and decadent food.  My family and I celebrate Easter in a “let’s get together and have dinner” kind of way.  As a kid, I would wake up on Easter morning and find colourful tin foiled eggs laying all around the house.  My brothers and I would wake up to a basket in our room so we could fill it with the eggs we found.  Of course as a kid, the chocolate was filled with milk products and other unidentifyable ingredients with funny names.  

This year I felt a tinge of sadness as I walked by aisles of easter bunnies, cadbury cream eggs and chocolate shelled mini-eggs.  I felt a little left out.  Of course that feeling never lasts and when I got home my grandma and mother decided to equip me with an easter egg chocolate mold and two giant bars of dark chocolate.  

My younger brother and I got to work last night and created six solid easter egg halves.  Two we mixed with peanut butter, one we added some rice krispies (organic ones of course :P) and the rest we left as plain, luscious chocolate.

The results:  Extremely decadent and wonderful!

I win and the animals do too!  I would say this was a success.

For lack of finding the traditional wicker baskets and coloured hay I grew up with, I positioned my eggs as such:

 

 

Regardless of whether you can or can’t eat chocolate, you can still enjoy these pictures and hopefully make yourself a cup of hot carob.  

 

 

HOT CAROB DRINK:

200 ml Rice milk

1 tsp carob powder

1 tsp sugar (or other sweetener I presume)

Vegan cream (optional)

Vegan Carob chips (optional)

Warm the milk in the microwave or a saucepan until it is steaming. In your cup add the sugar and carob powder and add a small amount of milk and stir. Add in the rest of the milk. I find that the carob powder doesn’t dissolve too well and tends to sink to the bottom of the cup so you need to stir before drinking. I like to serve it with some carob chips on the edge of the saucer or if I am feeling really indulgent with some vegan cream sprayed on top and carob chips sprinkled on the cream.

(From: http://www.recipesforvegans.co.uk/hotcarobdrink.html)

 

 

 

Manipulating the elements

 

 

In the early spring I decided I wanted to start a garden.  I had no idea what I was doing (I still don’t) and I wasn’t even into gardening all that much.  The most I had ever done was planting some flowers from a plastic box that my mother had bought from the garden center.    

Thinking back on it, I couldn’t even remember how far to dig the hole or how much soil to put on top.  Was I suppose to pack it down after?  Did this even apply to vegetables?  How far apart should they be?  How much water would they need and when?

So many questions.  But I went for it anyways and pulled out all the weeds and basically anything and everything that looked even remotely like a plant or root from a patch of soil in my backyard.  After this was accomplished, I tilled the soil (a fancy word for digging it up about 1-2 feet and mixing it all up), then I laid down a fine layer of compost and mixed that gently in.  After that was all done, I raked it to look pretty (I’m not sure this was even necessary) and then I bought my plants.  On the list:

 

4 cauliflower

1 zucchini

5 tomatoes (for my parents)

4 swiss chard

4 romaine

4 endive

Oregano

Lime Basil

Cilantro

Parsley

2 Stevia plants

4 Nasturtiums (edible flowers)

 

It is now the end of summer and my zucchinis are growing like crazy (too big for me to handle, with far too m any coming).  The swiss chard turned whitish and one of them died immediately.  The other one is struggling.  Two cauliflower remain, one that looks huge but hasn’t budded at all and one that started budded but looks sickly.  I’ve got cherry tomatoes popping up all over the place but the bigger ones aren’t coming very well.  The romaine and endive grew very tall with hardly any leaves (just enough for a two person salad).  The stevia is doing wonderful but took awhile.  The basil is big and beautiful and smells divine.  The oregano is so -so and the parsley took forever to grow large.  The nasturtiums have popped a couple flowers here and there then died within a day but over the last week they started to blossom.  Just enough for a salad.  

 

Here are some pictures of my garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I somehow grew a frog!  

 

 

And now for my Nasturtium Salad:

One small head of boston lettuce (cut roughly)

Half a bunch of baby spinach (chopped roughly)

5-6 Nasturtiums or as many as you have!

Cumin/lime vinaigrette (from Vive le Vegan) 

Dressing: 

1/4 cup lime juice

1 small clove garlic

2-3 tbsp pure maple syrup

2 tbsp honey altervative (like agava or molasses)

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp cumin (scant)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2-3 tbsp sunflower oil or hemp seed oil (or more olive oil)

 

With a hand blender, combine all the ingredients except the oils and puree.  Continue to blend and slowly drizzle in the oil.  Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.

 

I swear I’m not affiliated with Dreena Burton but I just bought her book ‘vive le vegan’ and I definitely recommend it.  Her recipes are short, simple and leave out a lot of processed/refined stuff.  

 

Tasty treats?

 

I never liked marshmallows but I certainly do miss rice krispie squares.  Just like the commercials, I remember mixing up many batches of those tasty squares with my mother and my older brother.  I have such fond memories of sitting and staring through the microwave door watching the butter/marshmallow mixture melt down in yummy gooey goodness.  But those days are over and all I can think about is my disgust towards gelatin and how incredibly painful the effects of preservatives and sugar are on my body. Perhaps that is why I have so many health problems now. *sigh*.  

So you can imagine my surprise and absolute joy when I was leaving Bulk Barn with my bag of cornmeal and found these by the cash….

 

 

 

These rice krispie squares are vegan and gluten free!  I couldn’t wait to come home and devour these even though I knew it could mean a potential headache (there is some cane sugar in the ingredient list).  

After devouring a couple without hardly any attention paid, I slowed down and really absorbed the flavour.

If you are looking for rice krispie squares, these are definitely not spot on, however, they come close.  They are very, very sweet (and this is coming from someone with a  major sweet tooth), and they have this delightful nutty flavour that kicks in halfway through.  They are also nice and crisp so you won’t miss that aspect of the old fashioned squares.  My only complaint would have to be the price ($5.49 CAN per box which contains 8 squares) and the lack of “buttery-ness”.  For that perfect rice krispie square I suggest making your own vegan marshmallows and from there, making your own squares, however this certainly is a quick and sweet treat!

 

Gluten replacements

Although these ingredients can be hard to find (and by no means do I expect you to have them on hand), xanthan gum and guar gum are wonderful gluten substitutes when combined with Gluten-free flours.  I never thought I would see these ingredients on my local supermarket shelves but just recently I stumbled upon both of them while at the Bulk Barn (a food store found in Canada).  Here is a little bit about these strange ingredients: 

 

Most gluten-free flours will require the addition of xanthan or guar, a substitute binder used to compensate for the lack of gluten.  The amount needed to add will depend on the type of product and it’s reliance on the gluten structure. Breads rely heavily on gluten for their structure, cakes to a lesser extent, and cookies almost none. Typically the starchier and/or more refined the crumb, the less the reliance on gluten.   Xanthan gum tends to be almost three times as expensive, and in the US is grown off of corn syrup (but tests out corn-free in the lab after processing).  Some gluten-free groups discourage the use of guar because of the higher fiber (and therefore possible laxative effect) of large amounts of guar gum use.  Try both and see.  If these gums are not appropriate for you, some suggest the use of mung bean (AKA green bean) flour (1/8 of cup to every cup flour) or pre-gelled potato flour.

 

 

Suggestions for the addition of xanthan or guar: For every cup of wheat-free/gluten-free flour use: 

½ tsp. Xanthan/guar gum for cakes 

1 tsp. Xanthan/guar gum for breads or pizza 

½ tsp. to no xanthan/guar gum for most cookies.

 

 (http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/ZanthanGum.htm)  

 

*There is also the use of yeast to help things to rise but most people with alleries and intolerances have problems with yeast.  I’ll try to stay away from it for now but might end up using it in a couple recipes later on.

Quinoa Porridge

 

Have you been munching down on mass amounts of quinoa lately?  You haven’t?  Well what are you waiting for!?  Pronounced (Keen-wa), this grain is high in protein containing 12-18%.  It also contains all of the essential amino acids necessary in a human diet which makes it a complete protein!  It’s also a good source of Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous and dietary fibre AND it’s gluten free.  So go to the store, pick up some quinoa and try out this porridge I conjured up this morning!

 

 

quinoa porridge

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

1/2 cup unsweetened almond, rice, or any milk replacement of your choice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1-2 tsps arrowroot flour (for thickening)

1-2 tbsp agave nectar or pure maple syrup (Or try a tiny pinch or two of stevia)

Directions:

Combine the quinoa and the water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, turn down the heat to low and cover for 15 minutes.

 

In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, cinnamon and arrowroot powder.  If you desire more thick stuff, add more milk and arrowroot flour.

 

Once the quinoa is done cooking, put the milk mixture into the pot with the quinoa and make sure it is on a low heat.  Stir this for 3-5 minutes until you see it thickening.  Sweeten with agave, syrup or anything you choose and top with some fresh berries if you fancy.  

 

* This grain is said to be easily digestible for humans and especially those dealing with IBS or other gastro-intestinal problems.