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!

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.

GF-Strawberry Muffins and GF-Spinach Pasta w/grilled Artichokes

It's a beautiful day today and also one to thank all those vets who have served our country  and those men and women that are still doing so today.  Most of us know someone who has put their lives on the line.  My husband's second cousin who is 23yrs old who just finished up Army boot camp is on his way to Afghanistan.  We are thinking of him today and hoping he stays out of harms way.   While I have my own feelings on war I will not get into that.

Now I'll move on to the food!  How does GF-Strawberry Muffins sound?

This is pre-baked, obviously. I like to use the Vanilla Gluten Freedom Cupcakes from VCTOW...

but with some changes.

I originally was going to frost these but they turned out more like a muffin...or so I thought.  These would make a great breakfast muffin.  These came out really light and airy.

The changes I made were...

eliminating the almond extract/decreased the sugar to 1/2 c.

1/3 C. millet flour instead of corn flour

1/2 C. sorghum flour instead of quinoa flour

1 C. chopped fresh strawberries added at the end....fold in gently until well combined.

Next up...dinner.

Spinach Pasta with Cilantro Pesto and Grilled Artichokes

This recipe was taken from Veganomicon but I used GF-spinach pasta and I used fresh artichokes. Since artichokes are now in season I used them and then grilling them really made the dish more fresh tasting.  The cilantro pesto that has basil in it is really nice too.  This also tastes good cold the next day.

Are there any other ways you all use fresh artichokes?  Anyone have a vegan stuffed artichoke recipe?  I'm trying to come up with one.

Enjoy your day!

Farmers Market Goodies

Farmers market is starting to have an abundance of spring veggies and fruits.  Also beautiful flowers!  I can't help myself, I just can't pass up the gerbera daisies, so many colors to choose from!  What are some of the things you can't pass up at the Farmers Market

and more....

Fava beans anyone?  My goal is to try things I've never tried before and the fava bean is one of them.

With all of the recipes I've seen using fava beans I decided to grill them. First I washed, dried and put them in a bowl.  I drizzled some olive oil, coarse salt, pepper, cilantro and a squeeze of lemon.  It doesn't take long to grill them about 6 or 7 minutes, flipping them once as they grill..  What was the verdict on tasting the finished product?  Not bad, not my favorite, but not bad.  They remind me of lima beans, which I don't like and never have, but better.  I don't know if I'll buy them again but I would eat them if someone had them.

Butter Romaine lettuce that looks like a flower when I opened it to drain the water out.  This has such a nice flavor.

Pea shoots and dried garbanzo beans are also finds at the market.

.

Chopped up romaine, tomatoes, green onion, bok choy, garbanzos, pea shoots with ginger miso dressing drizzled on top! 

More goodness to come!

Happy Mother's Day!

A happy Mother's Day to all of you mother's out there! 

Keaton is in 7th grade and still making homemade crafts for me.  This saying is too cute!

"Roses are red, Violets are blue, You're the greatest mom ever, And I love your vegan cooking too"

I'm so proud to be a vegan mom!

Dogs, treats and quinoa stuffed peppers

This month of May is starting off beautifully!

 This past weekend was a busy one for us.  My in-laws and grandmother-in-law came up last Thursday and stayed until Sunday.  Friday was grandparents day/Greek Festival at Keaton's school.  Then on Saturday we celebrated my in-laws 45th wedding anniversary.  We took them to see Keaton's guitar teacher's band play  and then had some friends drive up to surprise them and stay over to celebrate with us. They were truly surprised so that worked out perfectly!!!  Then on Sunday we all went to breakfast then everyone went home.  The house was so quiet after that.

Since it was so beautiful out and I didn't want to laze around inside the 3 of us headed up to Cold Springs Tavern to listen to some live music and have a drink.  We ended up meeting a Russian couple along with their son and it ends up the husband is the bass player for a popular Russian band called Mumiy Troll. Of course when we got home we had to look that band up on line.  lol! They were really nice people and love it here in America.

Oh and Cleo turned 8 on May 1st as well.  I don't know how the rope toy got around her neck but she didn't seem to mind it.

Yesterday when I went to pick up Cleo's dog food  I found these cool doggy snacks.

Dehydrated sweet potato.  At least it takes them a few minutes to chew these up instead of one or two crunches then they're gone.

Alter Eco Pacific white and red quinoa.  This is before it was cooked.

I mixed the white quinoa with the red and look how pretty this is.  This is after it was cooked.

A few weeks ago I saw Cheryl Crow on a morning show along with a Chef that she made a cookbook with.  The recipe they showed was one for Quinoa Stuffed Pablano Peppers.

When they are cooked and plated it's so pretty.  What I liked about this recipe is that it's a really light meal do to using quinoa instead of rice.  So it is perfect for Spring or Summer.  This is probably the first time I followed a recipe exactly, well pretty much. lol!  It was kind of on the bland side I think because there is no salt used.  I ended up adding just a bit of salt because I felt it needed it and next time I would adjust the seasonings and kick up the heat.  Oh and I didn't use any type of cheese on top.

  I loved the Romesco Sauce but it needed a bit more heat and a bit of salt as well.  I didn't want the leftover sauce to go to waste so I was using it on everything from wraps to veggie "sushi" rolls.  I'll definitely make this sauce again
 

You can find the recipe for this dish by clicking here.

It's Spring!

It's a beautiful day today!   Everywhere you look there are orange poppies popping up   In our yard, in our neighbors yards, on the side of the roads, on the moutains.  They are so pretty!  I love the Spring.

One of my favorite flowers is the Sweet Pea.

They are so fragrant.  I put some on my nightstand.

As you can see Merlin is enjoying the weather and flowers as well.  Although he is laying under the bird feeder!

Cleo and Ace trying to look for trouble.

Peaches!  Our one peach tree is loaded with peaches this year.  I can't wait until they are ripe.

If you are looking for a yummy hot cereal that's gluten free try Cream of Buckwheat.

This is Keaton's new favorite and I've gone through 3 boxes already within a very short period of time.  The brand we are buying is Pocono %100 Organic Cream of Buckwheat.  It has a very mellow flavor nothing like the taste of buckwheat flour at all.

This is the buckwheat cooked.

For dessert last night I made some vanilla cupcakes from VCTOW.  Made some vanilla pudding.  Sliced up some strawberries and melted some chocolate with a bit of non-dairy milk. Then I put it all together to get this!



Yumminess!

Enjoy your beautiful day.