Monday, June 27, 2011

Spring rolls...so easy!

Our laptop is back and working wonderfully! 

How's everyone's summer going?  We are really having a nice one.
My son, Keaton, left last week to spend time with his grandparents.  He comes back home on Thursday. 
Oh how we miss him!  In the mean time with him being gone Dave and I have been able to hang out together which is really nice.  We spent one day at Avila Beach.  Saturday I spent the day with a friend at the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice...everyone was so nice and check this out...One of the food vendors there was Strictly Vegan Jamaican Cuisine.  They were very busy which was great to see.  I had the wrap with Jerk Gardein strips.  The wraps are loaded with vegetables and not too much gardein which I really liked. They top it off with a mango type salsa and serve with chunks of plantain. Yum!  It was fun people watching too.  Sat. night Dave and I went out to the brewery in town, listened to good music and ate the best sweet potato fries..ever!  They were crispy and crunchy, due to just enough sea salt.  Oh and of course we had us some beer!  Good times.

Now that we are having warm weather I've been cooking alot lighter. 
I finally made spring rolls.  I don't know why it took me so long because they are so easy to make.
Softened rice paper wraps are filled with marinated and grilled tofu, a mixture of julienned vegetables...red bell pepper, carrots, scallions, daikon, cucumber, cilantro and pea shoots.  These vegetables were first julienned, put in a bowl,  then mixed with a lime marinade.The marinade consists of lime juice, liquid aminos(coconut aminos, soy sauce or tamari), ginger, agave, sesame oil. 
These are served with a side of peanut sauce.  In a blender add organic peanut butter, ginger, garlic, braggs liquid aminos,  cilantro, red onion, lime juice, sesame oil, a dash of sriracha hot sauce and water to thin out.   With the leftover sauce you can use on noodles and such.

Have you made spring rolls before?  If so what do you like to put in them?\

Enjoy your sunny day!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Cuckoo for Coconuts!

This is going to be a short post due to laptop issues.  We are going to be sending it in for repairs.  Errrhhh!



I've been whipping up some tasty coconut treats lately.

                                 Coconut Macademia Cookies dipped in Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350.

Step 1) Beat together until fluffy-
1/2 C. Earth Balance
3/4 C. Powdered Sugar
Step.2) Next beat in-
1 Egg replacer(I use Ener-G and follow directions on box for equivalent for 1 egg)
11/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract  (coconut extract would be a nice addition to these if you have it)
2 T. coconut milk or non-dairy milk(don't use a low-fat milk)
Step 3) Mix in sifted
1 3/4 Spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
Step 4) Stir in
1 C. Shredded Coconut
1/4 C. choped Macademia Nuts

For dipping cookies into chocolate melt about 1/2 C. semi sweet chips


Use a small scooper or a tablespoon drop onto cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-11min.
To make sure the cookies are done, the bottoms should be slightly brown but not the tops.
Cool on cooling rack before dipping in chocolate.

These would be great with white chocolate mixed into the batter .


Coconut Lime Cupcakes from VCTOTW.
  Coconut milk just makes everything so much more moist.  These were so delicious!

What are some of your coconut treats?

My computer almost froze up on me.  I'll be back next week, hopefully.