Vegan day 150: Chocolate coconut smoothie

One day... one day.. I will get the coconut thing right! The first problem is HOW does one open a coconut and then two, HOW does one include it with a smoothie? It seems so simple yet it's NOT! 

The first attempt at a coconut smoothie was trying to duplicate a green kale coconut smoothie that we had in Woodstock. That was more of a kale issue and another blog.  

This time.. it was the coconut giving me trouble. I have to google this immediately.. how?? The first time I needed a coconut, my nephew got it open with a hammer and screwdriver. This time it almost required a drill.. lol nothing like having a tool box in the kitchen. Actually, it took a sterilized screwdriver to puncture it to drink and then a rock and coconut war that had to be moved to the outdoors. This is the brown coconut. More info later on the fresh young coconuts that have to stay refrigerated. 

Anyway... we snacked on a few pieces of coconut and they were a bit chewy and time consuming.. tasty of course .. but took some work because of the coarseness. We wanted one more fun item to make with the kids-- smoothies it was! Here are the ingredients for this one:

Coconut

Almond milk

Cacao powder

Watermelon- hey we had a lot of it left over

Peaches

Ice

 It sounds like it would taste good and it did but not to the main 7-year old's taste. He said it was good and then later confessed it really wasn't lol. I'm guessing the coconut was too "texture-ess" and the cacao was not sweet enough.


Earlier that day.. I used the same line twice.. once after the morning fresh vegetable juicing and the second after the smoothie: 
"I could add 22 teaspoons of sugar to it if you want".. each time I received a puzzled look from an adorable child.. or teenager.. who didn't think my joke was funny when I said.. "well, that's what's in a SODA!"

 I may have exaggerated the 22- it's like 17 teaspoons in the common 20oz bottle; 10 teaspoons in a regular can! Take the grams and divide by 4 to get the teaspoons!
A few fun links for those interested in the sugar in SODAS:
Sugar Stacks
How Much Sugar is in a can of Soda- video 

Anyway- I didn't add the sugar or sweeteners because I was drinking it too lol! I added my hemp protein powder though and it tasted great to me. Next time though I am sticking to fresh young coconut. Much more fresh and delicious! 

One that is difficult to open too however. Here is a good YouTube video on the technique (and another one here)! 
Interestingly, as the late writing of this blog due to the Memorial weekend and the fabulous (3 day) LIVING & RAW FOOD INTENSIVE class at the GOURMET INSTITUTE in New York City that I can't wait to share with you... interestingly, my teacher opened one in class so I shall try all of these methods and see which one works. There is so much exciting food that can be prepared using fresh coconut water and fresh coconut meat so I MUST LEARN! 

Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

[Tuesday May 28th 2012 blog]

Vegan day 149: Veggie kabobs

Sure we could have fired up some seasoned extra firm tofu or seitan steaks but basically it was a veggie burger and veggie kabob kind of night!

After the grill was cleaned and sanitized from the meat eaters lol -- we were able to cook the vegetables. They were coated with a light balsamic vinegarette and some olive oil. Making kabobs is also another fun event of dining and preparation. 


We had to soak some vegetables in warm water so they would cook evenly with the others that had shorter BBQ times. We soaked the beets, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. We were hesitant to soak the beets fearing the other vegetables would all turn red. My hands, clothing and cutting boards all went red but surprisingly... the vegetables retained their colors. 

We soaked the kabob sticks and put the vegetables together:

White potato

Sweet potato

Pumpkin

Beets

Onion

Bell peppers

Tomato

Mushrooms

Zucchini

Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

[Monday May 28th 2012 blog]

Vegan day 148: Portabella and red bean mini corn tortillas

The kids are still eating vegan with me although they are looking forward to the arrival of my non-vegan friends who will BBQ for them! They like the challenge of the daily blog and are doing pretty. Of course snacking on some vegan chocolate dipped in almond butter certainly helped hold them over! 


Making tacos is always a fun theme! We did however skip the whole cheese thing.. dairy and soy both for that matter. These were just simple corn tortillas set up with various toppings- a meal for some.. and a snack for others!

Some people throw these corn tortillas in a hot pan with a little oil.. we actually put ours in a toaster oven. The red kidney beans were sautéed with onions, tomatoes and olive oil. The portabella's were sliced and sautéed with a sesame teriyaki sauce. We kept the avocado and hot sauce on the side! 


Portabella's are not the most photogenic vegetable except for that time in Vegas. I seeked out vegetarian food that they made vegan for me last year while I was on my four month vegan record. It was truly amazing.. a vegan double decker looking burger type sandwich set in a gorgeous red pepper sauce. A friend of my duplicated it for me but I'll have to have her teach me so I can include it here! 


Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

[Sunday May 27th 2012 blog]

Vegan day 147: Blueberry pancakes

"Pancakes"... a word far from my new healthy style vocabulary. It's quite tempting to hear multigrain pancakes which avoids the no white flour rule but then as I almost forget- pancakes are so not vegan because of the eggs, milk and BUTTER! Even if you make pancakes gluten-free and vegan.. I'd have to say they taste great but they are not the healthiest of foods. That being said... they were a hit with the kids.


I chose Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix. Some of the ingredients listed include: potato starch, sorghum flour, tapioca flour and corn flour. I used the entire package with about 1 1/2 cups of almond milk and 2 heaping tablespoons of Earth Balance buttery spread. (Feel free to follow the package for exact directions). I really just skipped the egg and any possible egg replacements- I did add a couple of teaspoons of baking powder. 


We pulled out an extra large frying pan and added more Earth Balance buttery spread- (note to self... buy vegan oil sprays).

It seemed to work just fine.. putting the mix in the pan, inserting the farm fresh blueberries and then flipping the pancakes!


It was my first time and they came out great! I think they even tasted a bit better than they look here. Why have I never made pancakes before.. strange isn't it? I was more of a french toast kinda girl so I guess now I'll have that as a challenge after I get my vegan oil spray and figure out a good egg replacer!


Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

[Saturday May 26th 2012 blog]

Vegan day 146: Vegan homemade pizza

Vegan pizza from scratch... well practically! We did start this with a packaged gluten-free pizza crust mix, however now I think I can handle it with just some special flours and flax meal. I like trying gluten-free products whenever I can! I'm happy to help move the gluten-free movement on even though, luckily, I do not have any allergies. With genetically engineered foods soon to be taking over the world's food production, I'm sure more and more people will find they are susceptible to allergies they never had or never even knew existed. I don't eat white flour.. it's one of my cardinal rules.. so I love to try different flours and gluten-free fits right in! I found this in the gluten-free isle at the White Plains ShopRite: "NAMASTE" Pizza Crust Mix  

If I ever made homemade pizza before, and we are not counting college level dormitory pizza bagels, then I must have been a little kid and I certainly don't remember how! I did need help to accomplish this task especially since I had a house full of teenagers for memorial weekend- the pressure was on to make vegan food fun and delicious! I copied the ingredients here from the Namaste site which are used in their packaged gluten-free pizza crust mix.. Next time I will attempt my own crust using many of those items and some flax meal. 

"Ingredients: Brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, xanthan gum, granulated garlic, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, Italian seasoning and ascorbic acid. "

 

"This product contains no wheat, gluten, soy, corn, potato, dairy, casein, peanuts or tree nuts. Non-GMO, all natural, no preservatives"

Just for the record, this ShopRite also has a candy free isle for check out- how cool is that... unless you are a kid or a candy feen like myself!

So we made the crust from the mix in the box- I think all we had to do was add oil and water and knead the dough.  My nephew did that part! When that was ready, we set it into a long rectangular baking dish and a coated cookie sheet pan. We baked the crust for about 15 minutes before the toppings and about 15 with the toppings. (Check the label to be sure!)

The sauce! I sautéed some olive oil, garlic and a little bit of onion in a sauce pan. I added in fresh tomatoes that I pulsed in a food processor first. We added in fresh basil and oregano! I added half a can of tomato paste- the small one just to thicken up the sauce. This was complete and ready after about 30 minutes. 


While the sauce was cooking, we set up two pans of vegetables. Of course kids all want something different so I couldn't combine it all. One likes mushrooms and not zucchini and another likes zucchini but not mushrooms.. and most didn't want tofu even though they didn't know what it would look like or taste like on a pizza. My tray had everything and for the record.. mine looked and tasted the BEST!


Toppings:
The mushrooms were set aside in a pot with some olive oil, tamari and garlic. We used portabella and sliced them thin enough to use as a topping. The zucchini was also cut into slices in a small pan with olive oil and some tomato sauce. The tofu I used was firm- I dried it and crumbled it into a pan with a little tomato sauce. I simmered it a bit to dried up any excess water. 


Assembly time:
The sauce went right on top of the partially baked crust- actually it was almost all baked and ready. Then we added the toppings- everything on one pizza and the other had sections for the picky kids! 15 minutes later is was ready to eat. What took hours to make was gone in seconds.. of course!


Ingredients:
Pizza crust mix
Olive oil
Water
Tomatoes
Tomato paste- small can
Basil
Oregano
Portabella mushrooms
Zucchini
Tofu firm or extra firm
  
Disclaimer: The information given here is for educational purposes only. You should not use this to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

[Friday May 25th 2012 blog]