Cashew Pineapple Stir Fry

This is another one from Peas and Thank You. And This is another one that I couldn't find the original recipe. I would type it in, but thought it was just ok.



I don't know, I just find it hard to make a good stir fry at home. Everything just ends up tasting soy saucey. (The one exception is the Veggie Udon Noodles. Need to make that now that the CSA is slowing down). Anyways, I was a little disappointed with this recipe. It was okay. The combo of pineapple, cashews, and tofu was interested, but after awhile, just got old. I won't make this again.

I did want to give you a "good" recipe, so here is my latest "Kerri bar" (lara bar knock off). I call them almond cookie bars.

In a food processor, process 1.5 cups of almonds until resembles "wet sand". Then add 1.25 cups dates, splash of vanilla, pinch of salt and process. Add scoop of almond butter and water TB by TB until the "dough" collects on one side. Press into a saran wrap lined toasted oven pan and chill until firm. Cut bar out, place into a snack bag, bring with you to class and gulp down on the way to the potty after refilling water bottle between classes if you can get away from the students asking you for a course ID for the millionth time. THERE IS NO COURSE ID. Good times!

Eggplant "Parmesean"

I really love that Fat Free Vegan Blog, but don't tell her, I am trying to play it cool and not let my Lively Kitchen Blog Crush know.



Was looking for an eggplant parm recipe and of course, there is one at Fat Free Vegan. This is really not an eggplant parmesean recipe. This is more a creamy tomato sauce with eggplant in it. To be honest, I feel the eggplant took away from the recipe. And I really love eggplant. However, the sauce, oh! The Sauce, the creamy tomatoey sauce was just wonderful. I did not make a new batch of sauce and instead used some I had previous made and canned. The cheesey sauce came together pretty quickly and was very nice. I did make one major sub, I used real parm cheese. I'm ok with it!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Would you believe these are vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and (refined) sugar-free? My mother found this cookbook called "babycakes" by Erin McKenna and thought I might like it. She knows I'm always up to a challenge and like trying new things. Babycakes NYC is a bakery in New York (also Orlando and LA) that is dedicated to vegan and gluten-free baking. They are also certified kosher.

This is the first recipe I've tried from it and they were wonderful. They were simple to prepare and I already had the ingredients at home. I did however use real pumpkin that I had frozen from last year's garden, instead of using the canned like the recipe called for. Super moist and not so many spices that it leaves a bad aftertaste.

Give them a go . . . .

PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS
makes 12

2 C Bobs Red Mill Gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1 t xanthan gum
1 t salt
1 T ground cinnamon
1 T ground ginger
1/2 C coconut oil (melted)
2/3 C agave nectar (I used the dark)
2/3 C rice milk
2 T pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 C canned unsweetened pumpkin puree (I used real pumpkin)
1/2 C hot water

Preheat oven to 325. Grease the muffin tin with a little coconut oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (1st 7 on the list). Add the oil, agave, ricemil and vanilla and stir until the batter is smooth and thick (mine was a little lumpy, but smooth enough). Fold in the pumpkin and hot water until both are evenly distributed. (Oh, and squeeze out as much of the liquid from the real pumpkin as you can, before adding it).

Pour 1/3 C batter into each cup. Bake the muffins for 22 minutes on the center rack, rotating the tin 180 degrees after 10 minutes. Finished muffins will be soft to the toucha dna toothpick isnerted in the center will come out clean.

Let the muffins cool in the tin for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temp up to 3 days.

Mexican Chocolate Chia Pudding

Have you heard about these Chia seeds?



I got this bag at the local Ingels. That store is really amazing. I had heard about these Chia seeds, not only from my blog crush, but from a recent book, Born to Run. The book starts off explaining how most of us humans are not made to run long distances, but then towards the end explains how we can all run long distances. Since I had recently quit running and starting teaching step aerobics, this book interested me. Not only does this book goes against the grain in a lot of the running lore it talks about, it also advocates a vegan diet. Why? Because a)whole food, vegan diets are more easily digested so you can eat more, and b) since they are more easily digested, you can train more. I don't think that will help me. I get super super sick on mile 9 of a 13 mile run no matter if I am eating gel, beans, hummus, gatorade, tomato soup, or nothing. That is why I quit. But it was so weird to read about our plant based diet without expecting it. Again. And it was so weird for my running partner, who later borrowed the book from me, to hear the benefits of a plant based diet. Again.

At any rate, they do discuss the diets of different long distance runners and some of them come from Mexico, where these chia seeds are found. Well, it peaked my interest, and they had them a freaking Ingels. It was like it was meant to be!

Chia seeds, I think, are the same things that grow on your Chia pet. Not my Chia pet, I never had one, but if you did, I think this was what you were growing. In the book, it talks about the energy obtained after the Chia seeds.



I started off small. A little pudding. You can do a lot with Chia seeds. You can put them in your water bottle for extra energy, or you can combine them with cocoa powder, sweetener, and almond milk for a pudding. Guess which one I picked? I followed this recipe and made it twice. The first time I let it chill for only an hour. This it what the pictures are from. After an hour, I checked it, was impressed it did thicken up, but it wasn't not at all like I picture. Hmmm, well, oh well. I'll just have another bite. And another, and another. Before I knew it, the whole bowl of pudding was gone.



The seeds do swell up a bit, which cause the thickening of the pudding, but the seeds are still there. If you would like to try some, I still have most of a bag.

The second time I made this, I added some ground red pepper and some salt as well. I also let it chill longer. Again, a nice snack, but stretching it if you wanted a pudding.This is not a low calorie dessert. The recipe calls for 4 TB of chia seeds. At 60 calories each, that is 240 calories just in chia seeds. Add the sweetener, cocoa, almond milk, and it ends up about 300 calories. Appropriate for a post dinner snack, but not for weight loss. But still, a whole food. Good, tasty. Will probably make again.