Hearty Amaranth porridge for breakfast!

It's been rainy and cloudy today, so for breakfast a warm amaranth porridge is what I made and what hits the spot!  In here is amaranth cooked in with sunflower seeds.  For the topping I have made a mixture in a food processor of raisins, dates, coconut flakes, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed and blended it together.  You don't have to do this step, this was just leftover from a dessert I made the previous night.  I also added walnuts.  You can just put any toppings you'd like!  Then you can add your sesame milk or any milk you like.  This is filling and so very nourishing and yummy!

Savory Pakoras!

This is definitely not the most healthiest, since it's fried, but once in awhile is fine for us :-)  I'm sure you can experience baking these yummies!   

Ingredients:

1 shredded potato (big)

1/2 thinly sliced onion and into 1/4 to 1/2 pieces

chopped green chili 

red chili powder

coriander powder

cumin powder

asafoetida (optional) you can get this at any indian store

salt

chopped cilantro

besan (chick pea flour) -- can get at indian store

sunflower oil or any other frying oil

a pinch of baking soda

In a bowl, combine the potato and onion together and stir in some salt to taste.  Massage the salt well into the mixture, and let sit for a couple minutes.  You'll find that the mixture will become soft and water will come out, which is what we want.  Once it's softer, add all the spices, and cilantro in and mix well and let sit for a couple more minutes.  Add the besan and baking soda by sprinkling it in until the mixture becomes kind of thick but not too thick.   For the spices, you can experiment w/ quantity...again :)

Fry in hot oil until golden brown....and enjoy with ketchup, some yummy tamarind sweet chutney or green cilantro chutney!

Delicious Apple Cobbler

The easiest dessert you can whip up and it is so yummy!!! :-)  Sorry for the bad picture...everytime I make this I forget to take a pic!  Here's my pic of it, before it disappears into people's stomaches.  Enjoy by itself or with some ice cream of your choice :D

Ingredients:

3 large thinly sliced organic apples

1/2 cup coconut sugar

3/4 cup oats (coarsely ground)

handful of raisins

1.5 lime juice

1/4 cups sunflower seeds (coarsely ground)

1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)

2-3 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

dash of salt

handful of coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together well, and place in a baking pan, and cover with aluminum foil.  I'm really bad w/ portions, so this is just an estimate.  You can just taste it and if you need to add more of something, go ahead!  Bake until cooked (around 40 minutes).  

Super Moist Chocolate Quinoa cake

Special occasions like my hubby's birthday calls for a special dessert!  This is the first time I made a cake, besides carrot cake.  It was really easy, and it's so surprising how you can't even tell it's made out of quinoa!  :-)  It's gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free!  I think next time I make this cake, I will try to omit the cocoa powder, and make it into a vanilla coconut cake.   Thanks Purvi, again for sharing this recipe with me.  

Check out the recipe here: 

http://www.eatgood4life.com/chocolate-quinoa-cake/

I had to substitute quite a few items for this recipe....

Here is my version of it:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups loosely packed cooked and cooled quinoa (about 1/2 cup dry)
1/3 cup cashew milk (just blend some cashews and water in the blender until smooth.  I didn't have almond milk)
4 flax eggs (4 tablespoons of whole flax seeds and 12 tablespoons of water blended. let sit and it will be goopy)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cups coconut sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda
1/2 teaspoon himalayan pink sea salt

For the icing, I have put in a blender some soaked cashews with medjool dates, a little water, dash of salt, and a splash of vanilla extract.  

Delicious Nurturing Sesame milk! (and other seed or nut milks)

One of the challenges of becoming vegan is satisfying the craving for milk or other dairy products.  I have found that making these non dairy milks have really satiated the craving and it is also so very easy to make!  You can virtually use any nut or seed.  I prefer using seeds because they are way more nutritious and good the for the glands in general than nuts in general.  Try using sesame, chia seeds, hemp seeds, almonds, cashews, pumpkin, walnuts, brazil nuts to make milks...you can never go wrong!  :)  

Nurturing Sesame milk

handful of dates (if you don't have dates, use any other sweetener like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar)

some sesame seeds (unhulled is the best.  Unhulled seeds will contain all the calcium that sesame is known for.  If you get the hulled ones, you're basically eating seeds that don't have much nutrition.  Try an indian store which has them or in the bulk section in a natural supermarket).

Water 

cinnamon and/or nutmeg (optional)

In a high powered blender, blend ingredients until smooth.  It's up to you on how creamy or thin you'd like your milk.  Experiment and test yourself!  Also, if the dates are really hard, just add hot water.   If you want a warm beverage use hot water and enjoy your warm beverage on a cold day :)