BBQ kale chips

oh my goodness gracious holy cats. the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. i have already done the hardest part. buuuut... I JUST CAN'T STOP EATING KALE CHIPS!

i could have a worse addiction though; like... almost any other substance actually. kale chips are uber healthy. you know how good kale is for you, and when you dehydrate it - you concentrate all it's incredible life-giving nutrition. just make sure to have them with a big glass of water, because obviously you're also taking out the H20 when you "DE-hydrate".

we bought beautiful kale from the farmer's market on saturday just for kale chips. ain't it perdy?
(the answer is yes.)

the sauce for these is mega good. i used liquid smoke so they taste like barbeque chips. get ready to have garlic breath too - it's totally worth it. as usual, over half of them were devoured (or should i say inhaled) by time they were actually done... like i said: i have a problem.

cheesy barbeque kale chips: makes a huge bowl, but only serves one :)

dressing:
2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons agave syrup (or 1/2 cup dates)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons tamari
2-4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon each of chili flakes, paprika, salt & pepper
1/2 cup water

chips:
3 big bunches of organic, local kale!

to make the dressing, blend all the ingredients until smooth. tear up the kale leaves (leaving the stems out) and throw them all in a giant bowl with the dressing. massage in with your hands until each leaf is covered. i eat so many just like this. it's like the greatest salad ever. BUT YOU MUST RESIST. now put them on dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 1-3 hours until they're dry and crispy. you'll have to check on them. you can also use your oven at it's lowest temperature and put them on baking sheets.

i'm always listening to music when i write my posts and - as i should be - in love with whatever song from my library is playing. which is why i HAVE to share it with you. hence, my links to songs lately. i think i'm gonna make that a habit. here's some police and modeselektor.

chocolate coffee face mask

i've had the worst sleeping hours lately and because of it i have been suffering deprivation symptoms - puffy face, baggy eyes, messed up digestion, and just being really frickin tired but not being able to fall asleep. SO I FINALLY DID SOMETHING ABOUT. i made this glorious, delicious, chocolate coffee face mask, adapted from crunchy betty. here it is on my face. laugh at me.

chocolate coffee face mask: makes enough for one face... aaaand a snack

2 tablespoons freshly, finely ground organic coffee
2 tablespoons cacao/cocoa powder
water/fresh almond milk, as needed

mix the coffee and cacao together and add water until it's a good face mask consistency. you want it sticky but easy to spread. smear all that goodness onto your gorgeous face and gobble up the leftovers in the bowl! yum! i don't even like coffee... let it stay on for around 15 or 20 minutes. rinse it off gently with warm water.

P.S. this is a lovely song that i am obsessed with currently. you'll probably think it's weird but i hope you like.

green day

don't have too much to say today... except that i'm seriously excited about the hastiness with which my gojis are growing. the plant wasn't supposed to produce anything for at least a year - and yet look at those lovely little berries! hopefully the weather will stay hot enough, LONG enough this year for them to ripen; so i can eventually devour them like the mad beast i proudly am.

in other news: i made a delicious green smoothie today (of course, they're amazingly out-of-this-world luscious every day). i thought i'd share the recipe with you. STAY SEXY, PEOPLE!

green life magic smoothie: serves one

2-3 cups dinosaur kale

1 mango

1 banana

1 handful frozen strawberries

1/2 cup non-dairy milk

1/2 to 1 cup water, as needed

blend all the ingredients together until smooth, you can add stevia or protein powder if you like. 

then soak it up in the sun with the bees.

curry with tofu & grilled vegetables

this curry is delish! mom wasn't here for dinner so it was my turn to make something. brown rice had been cooking and i figured some spicy curry with broccoli, leftover grilled veggies and tofu would hit the spot; since it has been raining all day here.

everyone said it was really great, in fact - jasper used the word "addictive". can't argue with that. we all took seconds. i'm glad it was so tasty because i didn't use any conventional curry recipe. i didn't even have curry paste. so if you're in the mood for warming curry, crispy tofu, tender veggies and rice; try out this funky recipe!

yellow curry with tofu, veggies & rice: makes a big ole pot

1 onion
4 garlic cloves
1 head broccoli
1 grilled red pepper
2 grilled zucchinis
2 packages tofu
1 can coconut milk
6 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons raw sugar (or other sweetener)
3 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)
3 bay leaves
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon each of coriander, paprika, cumin, turmeric, garlic, and onion powder
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, chili flakes, and dill
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

prepare the tofu: sautee it on med-high heat with a bit of olive oil, rice wine vinegar and tamari (soy sauce) until it browns. set aside.

chop all the veggies. in a large pot, sautee the onions, garlic and all the spices together with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar until they're translucent and softened. add the remaining ingredients, including the tofu and veggies. let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes or so, until the broccoli is cooked enough for you. see you if you like it! curry is easy to change.

serve with whole grain brown rice in bowls with chives, hot sauce, sweet basil, and gypsy kings. yeah man!

oh and i have some news: I GOT TWITTER! it's mainly to get my blog out there more (by "there", i mean the world wide web). so follow me, please! it's so weird that i have a blog and a twitter account now. i feel like such a participating member of my generation, a feeling that is rare for me. i'm a bit of an enigma... if you haven't noticed.

chocolate peanut butter magic

these are uber tasty! my friend and i went to a music festival in kitsilano (awesome hipster/hippie/yuppie town) and saw a bunch of cool bands play. i really enjoyed nu sensae, weed and peace. anyways THE POINT IS: i got a delicious smoothie at sejuiced and she got this peanut butter chocolate dessert concoction. it was so good we decided i had to make my own version at home.

SO HERE YA GO.

 -

chocolate peanut butter summer delights: makes around 20

1/4 cup honey/agave
1/2 cup dates
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup coconut chunks
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 carob powder
1/4 cup cacao powder
1/3 rice puffs (preferably whole grain, organic)

put everything EXCEPT the rice puffs in your food processor and pulse until it sticks together. i didn't measure anything so you may have to adjust some of the amounts til you get the consistency you want. it should taste amazing. add the rice puffs and mix in with a wooden spoon. press the mix into circle molds (or whatever you have) and put in the fridge for a couple hours. or eat them right away. i did.

okay one more thing. i've been finding all kinds of awesome music lately. most of it is pretty bizarre though so i don't share it with you because the chances are the majority of you won't like it. BUT this song is pretty chill and darn beautiful so i hope you enjoy.

holy three cheese pizza

my girl friend and i decided it should be illegal, or it's distribution at least regulated; for this pizza is dangerous.

these pictures aren't that great. sorry. we were not concerned with photography at this point - only devouring this work of cruelty- and dairy-free art. i could seriously have eaten the entire pizza, but we were civil and split it halfway.

the recipe is gonna be a little tricky to recreate because i used a bunch of leftovers, but if i give you a general outline you should be able to do it. trust in yourself. all it takes is some vegan cheese, veggies and love...

then again, doesn't everything? 

if you use a gluten free crust and only daiya cheese - this is soy-free, gluten-free and obviously dairy-free. hurray! if you wanna leave out the cheese and keep it totally whole foods, it'll still be delicious.

three cheese pizza with grilled veggies, black rice, and sweet & sour mustard sauce: 

pizza crust:
buy one pre-made (easy to be gluten free) OR use this gluten free recipe, OR:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
1 packet yeast
2 teaspoons sea salt & pepper
dried herbs of your choosing (i like basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme)

sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil (or use pine nuts and water)
1 tablespoon tamari
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
2 tablespoons mustard
a few drops of liquid smoke
handful fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
2-5 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons honey/agave 
water as needed

toppings:
2 grilled bell peppers
grilled eggplant slices
1 cup cooked black rice mix (like we used leftovers from a stir-fry)
handful basil leaves
1/3 cup shredded soya cheddar cheese (or use shredded daiya cheddar cheese)
1/3 daiya mozzarella shredded cheese
pepper and/or fave dried herb mixes
fave hot sauce
parma cheese!

make the crust: combine the yeast and warm water in a warm mixing bowl. sprinkle on a tinsy bit of sugar to feed the yeast. let it rise for about 10 minutes. add the other ingredients and kneed the dough or mix in your mixer (we have a kitchen-aid) until it's soft and elastic; 8-10 minutes. let it rise for an hour or until it doubles in size. then roll it out into a pizza crust! partially bake it for 8-10 minutes at 425 degrees.

to make the sauce: blend all ingredients until smooth. duh. if it's too thick, add more water. spread onto your par-baked pizza crust. theeeeennn... load on the toppings, with the cheese last, sealing in all the goodness. leave the pepper, hot sauce and parma off until it's out of the oven. bake for 8 minutes at 425 or until it looks done. slice it up and ENJOY the heck out of it.

vegan feast

a few weeks ago one of my best friends, amanda, asked if i would be willing to cook a vegan dinner for her and her family. duh! so last night i did.

we made pad thai with mushrooms and red onion; a quinoa salad with baked rosemary eggplant, tomatoes, cucumber and roasted peppers; pan-fried tofu with a peanut sauce; and a blueberry vanilla cheesecake for dessert.

i brought strawberries, raspberries and cherries from the farmers market. they were so juicy and delicious. we put some on the cheesecake but i ate most of them for my dinner. amanda's family was a little confused as to why i had spent hours cooking an amazing vegan feast but then didn't eat any of it... being raw can be like that. anyway i did have some quinoa salad and it was SO GOOD. amanda and i are great team-mates.

as usual, every recipe was improvised BUT i will try to recall what we did, so i can share the deliciousness with you. amanda's family said it was super amazing, and her grandpa told me the cheesecake may be the best dessert he's ever had!

quinoa salad with tomatoes, cucumber, baked rosemary eggplant and roasted red peppers: serves 6-8

salad:
2 cups uncooked quinoa
1 eggplant
1 cucumber
4 tomatoes
3 roasted red peppers
handful fresh mint leaves
 
peanut sauce: 
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
3 cloves garlic, minced and crushed
4 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon each chili and cayenne powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar/agave syrup or other sweetener

follow the quinoa's cooking instructions, then leave it somewhere to cool down.
for the eggplant, slice into circles and put on a baking sheet. rub with olive oil, some salt and lots of chopped rosemary. bake it for about 20-30 minutes until the slices are  "mushy" and have soaked up the oil. chop the cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, mint and eggplant slices and add to the quinoa.

for the peanut sauce, blend all ingredients until smooth. done! serve with peanut sauce.

blueberry cheesecake: makes 1 pie

crust:
1 cup walnuts
1 cup almonds
1 cup dates
1/2 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract

filling:
2 packages silken tofu
3 bananas
2 tablespoon melted coconut oil
2 cups raw cashews (preferably soaked for a few hours)
1/4 cup agave/maple syrup/honey
1/2 cup dates
3/4 cup blueberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice

topping:
2 cups berries
3 tablespoons maple syrup/honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

for the crust: put all the nuts into your food processor and pule until they're crumb-sized. add all other ingredients and pulse until it sticks together. press into the bottom of a pie pan and refrigerate.
to make the filling, blend all ingredients until smooth. taste it and see if you want to change anything. when it's the way you like spoon it into the pie pan and refrigerate for 3 hours or until it's set. for the topping, mix all ingredients together gently and let sit in the sun or somewhere warm for an hour to let the juices out. you might have some filling left over by the way, but this is not a bad thing.

we used the same peanut sauce recipe (with a bit of added spice and soy sauce) to pan fry the tofu with and that turned out awesome, if not a little messy.

for the pad thai, you can just google vegan pad thai and use any of those recipes - there's some good lookin' ones out there. we added chives, carrots and mushrooms and onions sauteed with basil, salt and pepper. not exactly traditional but apparently it was well-received!

everybody wanted seconds of every thing, and her aunt and grandparents took leftovers home. it was a ton of fun and i want to do it again soon! making food for people is so rewarding and enjoyable for me.

durian ice cream

AW SNAP. this is real good. if you like "the king of fruits". 

yes. i speak of the DURIAN. read one of my earliest posts about it here. they're a pretty intriguing subject. in this household, my dad, mom (who were introduced to it when they volunteered in Thailand in the 80's) and myself are the only ones who love durian. my brothers and my friends think it's nasty, smelly and weird. i understand, but disagree. it's delicious.

durian is an aphrodisiac and so it pairs well with other aphrodisiacs, especially chocolate (cacao), cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg.  i made a raw chocolate sauce and used those spices in the ice cream. this is such an easy recipe, and if you aren't crazy about the flavour of durian, the taste isn't as strong. if you ARE crazy about durian, you can leave out all the add-ons and just blend frozen durian and cocnut water straight up with a bit of cinnamon. my mom did that the second time and it was super yummy.

durian ice cream: serves 3 or so

ice cream:

1 package (3 pods) frozen durian meat, you can find this at your asian foods store

1-2 cups vegan milk/coconut water

1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla

add ons:

raw chocolate sauce

goji berries to garnish

cacao nibs

salt

put the durian meat - pits removed - into your blender with the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and add as much milk or coconut water as needed to make it thick and creamy like ice cream. put in bowls and add your extras. yum!

chocolate peanut butter cream pie

this is ALMOST raw... :) i don't mind the tofu. it's worth it. you know i'm a chocoholic and that i firmly believe chocolate and peanut butter are the greatest of friends and should spend as much time together as possible. so this hopefully explains itself.

i got my inspiration from here, but made some alterations. didn't use sugar, made a raw crust, and used raw peanut butter. i didn't have any raw chocolate but you could easily use that instead of conventional vegan chocolate. either way - you're in for a treat. i bet this would KILLA with banana. and if you wanna make it totally raw - use bananas instead of tofu! next time...

chocolate peanut butter cream pie: makes one pie

crust: 

1 cup walnuts

1 cup cashews

1/2 cup coconut chunks

1 cup dates/prunes

filling:

2 1/2 bars vegan/raw chocolate, melted

1/4 cup maple syrup/agave/date paste

14 ounces silken tofu

splash of non-dairy milk

2/3 cup raw peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of cinnamon

to make the crust, pulse all ingredients together in food processor until they form a ball, or you can press it together with your hands and it stays. press into bottom of your fave pie dish and stick it in the fridge.

to make the filling, blend all ingredients in your food processor or blender until smooth and freaking delicious, adding as much or as little "milk" as needed. scoop it into the pie pan onto the crust and put it back in the fridge for a couple hours to set. or if you can't wait (like me and my family) just eat it right away. it simply won't be as set, which is completely fine with me. enjoy!

for an alternate more RAW recipe: use 3-4 bananas instead of tofu. or if you don't like the taste of banana (you're weird) you could use 2-3 avocados. i took some prettier pictures the next day in the sunshine...

ultimate best chocolate milkshake

ever seen DQ's brownie batter blizzard? this is better. seriously you're gonna die (in the best way possible). this thing is DANGEROUSLY DELICIOUS. So is this "milkshake" recipe, AND it has avocados!

the best part of course, is that it is good for you. it's mostly bananas, nut milk, cacao and dates. you could also add some protein powder. the first time i made this scrumptious chocolate monster was two days ago when my girl friend was over. our plan for the night was to dance, laugh and watch a lame movie. oh and eat amazing raw food! we accomplished all of it.

i improvised this in the kitchen before we left for my friends house and we couldn't BELIEVE how good it was. we freaked for like 10 minutes. i hadn't blended it completely so there were still small chunks of date and it seriously reminded me of a brownie batter blizzard from dairy queen. i made it for the second time today and did the exact same thing. oh my god all over again. this is a new favourite.

best freaking chocolate milkshake ever: serves 2 people (or me)

3 frozen bananas (peel before putting them in the freezer)

handful of dates

2 tablespoon cacao

1 tablespoon maple syrup/agave/other sweetener 

handful cashews or 1 tablespoon nut butter

2 cups water/non-dairy milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

handful ice cubes

blend all ingredients together until ALMOST totally smooth. for the love of all that is good, leave those tiny date pieces in there. it should be pretty thick just like a milkshake at this point, but maybe one of us forgot something so do what ya gotta do to make it how you want. then pour it in a giant glass and slurp it up with a big ole straw all by yourself, or with someone you love.

creamy zucchini pasta & avocado soup

this was really delicious. you should make it very soon and enjoy the incredible flavours that come from the mixture of avocado, zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, garlic and love. i don't think more introduction is required here.

zucchini pasta with garlic avocado sauce: serves 1-2

2 zucchinis sliced on the mandoline or spiral slicer into noodles
1/2 avocado 
2 peeled garlic cloves
1/2 onion
salt & pepper, to taste
2 cups non-dairy milk
handful pine nuts or cashews
1/4 cup tamari
handful basil leaves
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup cauliflower

put noodles into large bowl and set aside. blend all other ingredients together until smooth. taste it. it'll probably be a little bland but i left it that way so you could add things to your liking. some curry powder might be nice. i add that to everything though... :) pour the sauce all over the noodles - BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE SOME LEFT OVER! set it aside and massage the sauce into the noodles with your hands.... mmm, sensual food time. get dirty. i suggest adding some salty veggies to the noodles now. i put on some mushrooms and tomatoes.

 

avocado, cauliflower & spinach soup: serves 4-6

now using the rest of the extra sauce from the noodles, add:
1/2 avocado
2 garlic cloves
1/2 onion
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup tamari
1 cup non-dairy milk (more or less) - or use hot water to make the soup warm
salt & pepper to taste
handful spinach
5 olives

i think that's all i threw in there! it was an improv situation as usual. taste it and see what you wanna add or change. serve in bowls with hemp seeds, basil leaves and maybe some olives or something with saltiness/flavour. pickled artichokes would be nice.