I Heart Tarts

HI! This week has simply flown by, and not without some culinary experiments. Firstly, tried Sweetly Raw's recipe for Blueberry Cardamom Ice Cream - YUM! I'd consider it a great success for not even having soaked the cashews at all.

Second, endeavored to forge a log of vegan genius chef Tal Ronnen's cashew cheese, which takes three whole days to make because it's cultured! Neat! On day three, today, it had finally set up in the fridge, so I filled a savory tart with the stuff. With the probiotics working their magic, this scrumptious cheese is so much richer than your average cashew-based one. You can find the recipe here and in Tal's book, The Conscious Cook (drool). I highly recommend it!



Tarte Provençale
serves 4

[Crust]
1 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup ground flax
1 teaspoon sea salt
a hefty pinch of Herbes de Provence
1/3 cup coconut oil
5-7 tablespoons of water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk dry ingredients, then pour in oil and whisk until it takes on a bread crumb consistency. Add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing with your hands until it firms up a bit. Press the dough into a tart pan, poke holes all over with a fork and bake for 10 minutes.

[Fillings]
1/2 recipe of Tal Ronnen's cashew cheese
zucchini and tomato slices to cover
more Herbes de Provence
olive oil
nutritional yeast (for sprinkling)

Toss the zucchini and tomato slices in just enough olive oil to cover, along with another pinch or two of Herbes. Spread the cashew cheese onto the pre-baked crust, then arrange your veggies on top. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast as a finishing touch before you toss it back in the oven for another 20 minutes at 325 degrees.

Try this with whatever veggies you have on hand. Tarts are fabulous no matter the filling.

Soup, There It Is

Although soup is usually something I savor in colder temperatures, it has composed two of the meals I've cooked this week! Bowl of this and and a buttahmilk biscuit to dip? Heaven.



Chile-Corn Chowder
serves 6

1 tablespoon Earth Balance
1 small white onion
1 1/2 jalepeno peppers, diced
2 poblano peppers, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
2 bay leaves
4 cups water
1 tablespoon red miso
4 ears worth of fresh sweet corn, de-cobbed
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
5 drops of stevia
s&p

Melt the Earth Balance over medium heat, then saute onion and peppers together for 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic, cooking for another minute. Throw in your potatoes, bay leaves, 3 cups of the water and the miso. Cook down for 20 minutes. Add the other cup of water, the corn, almond milk and stevia and simmer with a lid on for another 10 minutes. S&p to your taste.

The longer this sits, the better it gets, I'm telling ya!

Everyday Soul

This Everyday Soul is all about summer. Summer hasn't officially begun yet, and neither has hurricane season, but Florida has always tended to ignore such designations. It's been hot as Hades here lately and potentially the first named tropical storm of the year is already a-brewin' over in the Atlantic Ocean.

So last night, in true Floridian fashion, I ignored the generally accepted start of outdoor grilling season (Memorial Day) and made some killer shish kebabs. Just marinated this gorgeous array of veggies and some tempeh in lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce and LOTS of garlic for a couple hours, then skewered 'em and popped 'em onto the grill.

Grilling is so easy and so versatile that I just know it's going to be a frequent occurrence for me in the lazy days ahead. Go ahead, break the rules! Start grilling tonight! Heck, wear white if you want to! And maybe mix up something I like to call an Arnold Calmer: one cup brewed minty green tea mixed with the juice of one whole lemon and sweetener to your taste, iced down.

Trying my best to embrace the raging humidity, partially by staying inside and playing music! Made this new little page on a site called bandcamp as a way to make my tunes more accessible. Maybe give it a look.

How does pasta never get old?

No matter how many pasta dishes I make, I never, ever tire of it! This one happens to be made with my current favorite GF pasta, made of nothing but brown rice, and it tastes as close to real whole wheat pasta as it could, I think. The sweet potatoes in this dish that I improvised on for lunch yesterday manage both to coat the pasta in their gooey sweetness and maintain a few chunks, adding some texture.



Roasted Sweet Potato Pasta
serves 4

2 large sweet potatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 1/2 tablespoons EV olive oil
3 cloves garlic
3 small sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
1 cup frozen spinach
1/2 box small pasta, like penne
s&p

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Poke a few holes with a fork in each sweet potato, then roast them on a baking sheet for about 45 minutes. Just check on them to see when they're soft.

Once they've cooked through, take them out of the oven, peel them and chop them into large chunks. Boil the water for pasta while you heat the Earth Balance and oil in a pot over medium. Add the garlic and chopped rosemary to the pot. Once fragrant, plop the sweet potato chunks in, top with spinach and toss. When the pasta's done, toss that in as well. Allow the sweet potatoes to mush up into a kind of sauce, though like I said, a few chunks are ideal.

I sprinkled my plate with some mozzerella Daiya - good decision!

Georgia on my Mind

Whilst among my Southern kin, my mom and I came by a bag of some of the first Georgia peaches to ripen this season. Mm mm, do I love me some peaches! So in my fervor to fulfill this nagging craving for a fruit tart I've been having since the onset of Spring (remember?), I decided these peaches were destined to adorn one. Added bonus: It's RAW! And in keeping with the Southern feel, it starts with an easy pecan-based crust.



Raw Peach Tart
makes 8 slices

[Crust]
12 pitted Medjool dates
8 oz. raw pecans

Blend well in a food processor. Press crust into a tart dish, cover and refrigerate until you assemble the tart.

[Peach Topping]
5 fresh peaches, sliced
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon raw agave nectar or honey

Toss and refrigerate until you assemble the tart.

[Cream]
8 oz. raw cashews
3 tablespoons raw agave nectar or honey
1 teaspoon almond extract

Soak cashews in water for at least two hours. Blend thoroughly with sweetener and almond extract, until very, very smooth. Spread over crust, top with peaches and either serve immediately or let it set up in the fridge for a few hours beforehand.

I'm still working on my cashew cream, trying to get it to that point of sublime smoothness, so if you have any suggestions or go-to recipes for a cashew cream, go right ahead and make 'em public!

Everyday Soul (NY Edition!)

Hey y'all, I went straight from New York to Georgia, so now I'm livin' it up down South, but here are a few tantalizing photos from two very special vegan eateries I had the pleasure of dining at whilst in the Big Apple!



First, Boneshakers. This is a charming little place in Brooklyn that serves up the most deceitful breakfast sandwich I've ever tasted; deceitful in that it's DELICIOUS but also totally vegan and doesn't make you feel like you're going to die of heart failure when you've finished it. Presenting The Sag:



Next, the bakery where dreams come true: Babycakes!!! I actually went twice during the week, so I got to test a variety of things, including...


The Cookie Sandwich

and


The Wonder Bun! Mmmm...

Be back Thursday! <3

Everyday Soul

Today, I depart for New York City for a week! Gonna take a Spring romp around with my best bro, Tommy (Hard Work). Couldn't possibly be more excited. So I may be posting some pictures from sweet vegan restaurants that I hope to hit up in the city, but until next week, probably no recipes. To hold ya over, here's some Everyday Soul.

First, MOMS! Aren't they the greatest? Made mine sweet potato pancakes for breakfast yesterday morning. Since I've been home, I've read about half of her as yet unpublished novel - it's FASCINATING! What a role model. :) How did you spend your Mother's Day?

I love being able to have Pizza Fusion's Gluten Free Very Vegan Pizza delivered. It feels like such a luxury. Pigged out on this after I played a show on Saturday. Whole cloves of roasted garlic, people.

And lastly, I wanted to share with y'all my favorite beverage of the moment: the Kombucha Spritzer. Mix one-third of a Synergy Kombucha tea (flavor of your choice), a splash of cold water, the juice of half a citrus fruit, and one packet of stevia, then serve on the rocks! These are so refreshing, taste like soda without be remotely bad for you, and save you regular Kombucha drinkers some serious dollars.

Happy Monday.