Easy ingredient mixes (two sweet, two savoury)

If there is one good thing about being sick, it is that feeling well again (even partially well, as in my case at present) feels pretty amazing. Another is that illness can lead you to lazy food shortcuts that actually work very well. I'm sharing four such examples today.

The first is an incredibly simple stir fry using tinned bamboo shoots, fresh baby corn, fresh tenderstem broccoli, about a tablespoon of soy sauce, and about a tablespoon of pureed packaged ginger. You could throw some other vegetables in there as well, and the mix pairs well with all sorts of accompanying proteins and grains.

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Odds and ends snacks: Ginger and mesquite green smoothie and currant chickpea pancakes

As I have mentioned before, we didn't do a great job of running down ingredients before we moved. In part, this was because our move date was only confirmed 2.5 weeks before we left, and in part, this was because we have a tendency to stock up on food. That tendency does not pay off when moving house.

As a result, we ate some odd things before leaving Australia. I won't share the oddest with you, but the smoothie and pancakes in this post deserve to be made even if you aren't using up ingredients. Neither are very different to things I've made before, but the addition of mesquite to the smoothie, and the combination of currants and chickpea (besan) flour in the pancakes, made these stand out from past versions.

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Christmas food ideas 2012: Bejewelled couscous salad

I have recently re-discovered couscous. It is one of those foods that I eat all the time, and then suddenly eat not at all. There is no real reason behind these alternating extremes. I just seem to forget about it sometimes. Given how easy couscous is to prepare (5 minutes! 5 minutes!), I don't know how the forgetting happens, but I am certainly making up for lost time now.

I made this couscous salad for our final book club gathering for 2012. I couldn't resist putting bejewelled in the title, as the mix of chickpeas, pistachios and cranberries is quite a magical one. Even if you don't like dried fruit in savoury dishes, I recommend making an exception for this. It is Christmas, after all.

This salad can be made ahead of time and I served it cold. I am sure it would also work hot, if that is your preference. It makes a nice side dish and was well received by my mostly non-vegetarian book club friends. I ate the leftovers for lunch, with joy.

I hope it brings you joy, too.

Bejewelled couscous salad

With chickpeas, pistachios and dried cranberries, this is a festive side dish that is very easy to prepare

Serves 8 as a side

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 cup couscous

2 cups boiling water

1 large red capsicum (pepper), diced

2 sticks celery, diced

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 tin if using tinned)

1/4 cup shelled pistachios (mine were unsalted, salted would probably be fine too)

1/4 - 1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries, to taste

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp water

1 tsp maple syrup

Method

In a large bowl, combine the couscous and boiling water and mix with a fork. Cover with a tea towel or lid and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

(Optional: While the couscous is cooking, lightly steam the capsicum using a stove-top steamer or in the microwave. This is optional because the capsicum can be included uncooked.)

When the couscous is cooked, whisk with a fork until fluffy. Stir through the capsicum, celery, cooked chickpeas, pistachios and dried cranberries.

In a small container or jug, combine the lemon juice, extra water and maple syrup. Pour over the couscous and stir well with a spoon or fork.

Refrigerate until needed.

It seems entirely possible that I will be making this again before Christmas.

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On a less festive note, I wanted to note my sadness over the suicide of the London nurse who was on the receiving end of the 'royal prank' initiated at an Australian radio station last week, and at the loss of two surfers off the south of Western Australia. The 22-year-old who is still missing is a friend of my sisters. It is terribly sad. I feel for her and for the boy's family and he and them are in my thoughts.

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I am submitting this to Ricki's Wellness Weekend December 13th - 16th 2012.

How do you feel about couscous? And what about dried fruit in salads / savoury dishes?

Other 2012 Christmas food ideas: Chocolate, almond and goji berry truffle balls.

My 2011 Christmas food posts can be found here. 

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Random concoctions (or, 4 dishes that don't deserve their own recipe posts)

I know some food bloggers make new dishes more often than not. I can see the appeal of that approach. There are so many new dishes to try, and experimenting with them is fun. At the same time, new dishes often require more preparation time than the familiar ones. They also involve a certain amount of risk, whereas familiar dishes can guarantee an edible dinner.

Needless to say, I don't make new dishes more often than old ones. I probably make one to three new dishes each week, most of which will eventually make it on here. The rest of our meals are faithful standbys, including dishes that are on regular rotation (such as homemade pizza) and those that vary in their precise preparation method or ingredient list but are effectively the same dish at heart (such as rice-based dishes and stir fries).

In my kitchen, there is also a hybrid category of dish. This consists of meals and snacks that don't quite count as new recipes, but aren't really 'old' ones either. Generally, things in this category are extremely easy to prepare. More often than not, they also turn out pretty well.

Here are four examples from the past few months!

Sweet and sour kale.


Purple kale (about 1/2 a large kale bunch)
1 punnet baby corn
1 small carrot, sliced
~2 tsp soy sauce
~1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
~1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
~1/4 cup tinned pineapple + 1/4 cup pineapple juice


Mix all ingredients, stir fry, and serve. This would be a good base for tofu or beans, and would even work in a wrap. It's also pretty great as a stand alone side dish.

Tofu and brocolli stir fry.

1 batch tofu bacon, made as per Mel's recipe
1 head brocolli, chopped into florets
1 - 1 1/2 cups bean sprouts (I didn't actually measure)
1/4 - 1/2 cup mushrooms, diced

Brown rice, to serve


Stir fry the tofu and then set aside. Stir fry the vegetables in the leftover tofu marinade, until slightly softened but still crisp. Add the tofu back to the pan and leave over low heat for a further 10 minutes. Serve with rice or as desired.

I had this when craving broccoli and it was a perfect match for the craving. So much so that I want it again now on looking at the pictures.

Celeriac fries.

I made these the second time I bought celeriac and the fries went down well with me and with Mr Bite. Simply take 1 celeriac, peeled and sliced; some seasoning (I used smoked paprika and salt); some spray oil; and roast for 45 - 60 minutes in a moderate-hot oven.

Pretty wonderful, even if this photo is not!

Over-day tropical oats.

I rarely make overnight oats, but will throw oats (or other cereal) together in the morning when I have a hectic work day. Sometimes, I don't get a real chance to pause until it's nearly home time, and this is the sort of snack that I can look forward to and then relax into.

This tropical version is lighter and sweeter than milk-based varieties. Simply combine ~1/4 cup rolled oats, ~1/3 cup pineapple juice, tinned pineapple, a handful of strawberries, and ~1/4 cup frozen blueberries in the morning, and then enjoy 6 or so hours later.

It's colourful, too!

What quick and easy meals have come out of your kitchen lately? And tell me - how often do you make new recipes? I'm curious!

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Sweet potato, chickpea and hemp seed veggie burgers

There have  been some great veggie burger posts in the last week. Angela talked about preparing and freezing large quantities of burgers, on Oh She Glows. Gena talked about building good veggie burgers, on Choosing Raw and on Food 52.

Just so we're clear, this post isn't in quite the same category. I just have a recipe.

It is, though, a recipe that I'm rather happy with. I really liked these burgers. I liked the sweet potato base, which dominated the flavours without over-dominating them. I liked the chickpeas and hemp seeds, with their joint benefits for flavour and texture. I liked the smoked paprika, the kale, and even the onion. I really liked the oats.

I'm hoping that you might like them too.

I have no doubt that these draw on a number of veggie burger recipes, including those I've seen online and those I've eaten (and made) previously. The ingredient list really wrote itself, and would be easily adaptable to your own tastes and pantry items if desired. I imagine that swapping out the chickpeas for other legumes, the oats for other grains, and the hemp seeds for other seeds would all work well. 

For now, though, here is my version.

Sweet potato, chickpea and hemp seed veggie burgers

Makes 10 burger patties

Vegan

Delicious by themselves and quite incredible when paired with tomato flavours (fresh tomato, tomato relish, or tomato sauce)

Print recipe

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly diced (mine weighed 675g in total with peel and 475g peeled)

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 tin)

1/2 cup rolled oats, processed into oat flour (or 1/2 cup commercial oat flour or flour of choice)

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 onion, diced

~1/3 cup chopped kale (I used about 8 small kale leaves picked from my garden; I imagine this would equate to 4 large kale leaves)

1 tsp chia seeds soaked in 1/3 cup water (mine soaked from the time I steamed the sweet potato)

1 - 2 tbsp hemp seeds (or sesame seeds, if you don't have hemp)

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 - 2 tsp dried oregano

~1/2 tsp salt

Few good cracks black pepper

Tomatoes or tomato relish, to serve

Method

Steam your sweet potato until tender and then set aside to cool (I steamed mine early in the day and then left it in the fridge until the evening).

While the sweet potato is cooling, set your chia seeds to soak and process the 1/2 cup oats into oat flour using a food processor (if using).

When the sweet potato is cooled, roughly mash it and the chickpeas in a large bowl. Add the oat flour  (or flour of choice) and oats and mix through. Add the remaining ingredients and mix through.

Allow the mixture to stand in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to several hours.

When the mixture is ready, preheat your oven to 180'C and line two baking trays with baking paper. 

Shape the mixture into approximately 10 patties. Bake on the prepared baking trays for 30 minutes, or until crispy.

Serve in burger buns, with rice, or simply with salad. Tomato accompaniment is highly recommended.

I found these re-heated well, which can sometimes be a challenge with veggie burgers. The texture is softer when they're warmed in the microwave, but the patties still held together and the outside retained a certain crispiness. The flavours, if anything, improved with time.

All in all? I think I will be making these again.

Do you have a favourite or 'go to' veggie burger? 

Submitted to Ricki's Wellness Weekend

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Pear and raspberry muffins, for Mother's Day

I like Mother's Day. To me, it has a relaxed yet special feel and is often a precursor to a books and coffee outing with my Mum. It is also an excuse to bake. And, of course, it is a day for spending with family.

Today, we had lunch at my parent's house with my family plus Mr Bite's Mum. A barbecue with plenty of vegetarian options, with weather that was just right for eating outdoors. Perfect.

My contributions to the day were mostly things I had made before, or bought, largely due to being away for most of last week and not being organised enough to plan ahead prior to that! In the end, it was an easy to prepare list:

• The cinnamon sweet potato and chickpea salad I made last Christmas, adapted from the recipe on Oh She Glows
• A basic green salad
• Some bought veggie burgers and sausages (I had intended to make the burgers, but ran out of time)
• The vegan strawberry white chocolate truffle balls I made to welcome my sister home last year

My Dad cooked chicken on the barbecue and this was rounded out by potatoes, sweet potatoes, and some bread and dips.

I did, however, make one new thing. As the title of this post would suggest, that came in the form of pear and raspberry muffins. Interestingly, I have never baked with pears before, unless I have done so and forgotten (entirely possible). In the end, this leap into something unfamiliar slightly backfired on me, but I suppose that is part of what baking is. Experimentation can't always go to plan!

Why backfired? Well, I didn't like these much. They seemed to be well received by others, and as my brother ate two I don't think it was just politeness...unless he was very hungry. I can't quite put my finger on what was wrong, but I found the texture to be not quite right, and the flavours almost bland. I make muffins so often that I may be quite demanding in my standards, but these were definitely not up to them.

This may have been, in part, due to the use of quite thick cupcake liners. I have only used these once before and I have found them to affect the cooking time, and also make it harder to judge when things are cooked. These were cooked, but might have been slightly underdone. The pears also changed the texture of the muffins and I think there needed to be more 'grit' in the batter in order to counter the softness of the pear.   Chia seeds, for example, or nuts. I'm not sure why this is, given I make apple muffins all the time with no problem, but the pears seemed to give quite different results to apple.

As for the flavour, I don't really know what would have improved it. Don't get me wrong, it was nice enough - but that was all, nothing exciting. More vanilla might have helped, or using almond meal and turning these into friands. Making a raspberry glaze for the top would have been another option, or adding yoghurt to the mix.

I do think that these have potential and so am posting the recipe here, but would encourage experimentation if anyone decides to try an offshoot!

Pear and raspberry muffins

Adapted from the 'peary berry muffins' in Kris Holechek's 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes

Vegan

Makes 12 muffins

A bit of a work in progress...

Print recipe

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

1 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp oil

1/4 cup apple sauce

2 medium - large pears, peeled and diced

1 cup frozen raspberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 200'C and prepare a 12 pan muffin tray.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in a large bowl.

Combine the wet ingredients (milk, vinegar, vanilla, oil and apple sauce) in a medium bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and mix through to combine.

Add the pear and raspberries and mix through until just combined.

Divide between 12 muffin pans and bake for 28 - 32 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean (mine were 30 minutes, but the heavy cupcake liners but have influenced things). Allow to cool slightly before removing from the pan.

Do you bake with pears regularly, and if so, is there anything I should know about how they behave or what it goes well with?

And happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there!

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Rice balls with chickpeas

Thank you, very much, for your congratulations and kind words on my last post. It has been really exciting sharing the news and Mr Bite and I both enjoyed reading your comments. Thank you :-)

Today, we have a post that is far more normal in its focus. It's nonetheless a post that I have been looking forward to writing, because it is the result of a recipe idea that entered my mind and got stuck.

I think I've mentioned these sorts of experiences before. Sometimes, I know not why, recipe ideas waft to me and then captivate my imagination until I get around to making them. Today's recipe started out with one idea: rice balls. I have never eaten rice balls and can't think back to what might have started this train of thought. Nonetheless, the idea arrived and then continued on to include chickpeas and tahini.

Rice, chickpeas and tahini would be a bit lacking as an ingredient list, but I wasn't initially sure what else to add to round things out. Then I saw Lisa's post on cauliflower rice at Bake Bike Blog and my imagination flared up again. Rice balls with chickpeas and tahini, cauliflower, celery, lemon and parsley. Yes, that was it.

Yesterday, the ingredient list moved from imagination to creation. There is something so very fun about taking to the kitchen with no recipe, no formal plan, just one's ideas and some optimism about them turning out. Even if the resulting product doesn't turn out, it is a wonderful way to pass an hour or two.

I am pleased to say that in this instance, things did work out. There is definitely scope for tweaks (more on that below) but the product was enjoyable and one I expect I'll make again.

The flavours were reminiscent of falafel, as would be expected, but the overall experience was quite different to eating falafel. The rice gave a beautiful texture. The cauliflower and parsley made things lighter and fresher than traditional falafel balls, and contrasted well with the rice. The lemon and tahini flavours were just detectable and the balls survived being reheated in the microwave (I was worried they might go soggy).

What would be the tweaks I alluded to? My imaginary rice balls were crispy all the way through, whereas these were crispy on the outside but quite soft and slightly crumbly within. As it turns out, I quite enjoyed that, but it did mean that the texture was more like a veggie patty than the rice balls I was imagining. Adding more rice might help to keep the balls firmer, or of course they could be made as patties rather than balls.

Rice balls with chickpeas

Adapted from my imagination, with inspiration from Lisa's cauliflower rice

Makes 20 - 30 balls, depending on how large you make them

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/3 cup brown rice (uncooked)

~2 cups cauliflower florets

420g tin chickpeas, drained (~1 1/2 cups)

1 stick celery, chopped

1 tbsp unhulled tahini

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Black pepper, to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 180'C.

Cook rice according to packet instructions (I used the absorption method on the stove-top), until just cooked.

Meanwhile, process the cauliflower in a food processor until the mixture resembles rice - about 30 seconds. Add the chickpeas and process until just mashed and the ingredients are combined.

Transfer the cauliflower-chickpea mixture to a large bowl. Add the celery, tahini, lemon juice, basil and parsley and mix well to combine. Add the cooked rice and stir through.

Form rough balls using your hands or a spoon; mine were slightly smaller than golf balls. Place on baking trays lined with baking paper and sprinkle with black pepper. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until the balls are crisp on the outside.

Processed cauliflower and chickpeas

The mixture before being balled...

...and after

Nearly cooked

Finished

All in all, quite a satisfying way to spend an hour on a Saturday.

Have you had any imagination-driven recipes lately?

Or have you made rice balls previously - do you have any favourite varieties? 

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Happy birthday!

To Mr Bite!

For the second time in his lifetime, Mr Bite's birthday fell on Easter Sunday. With our return from holiday the  day before, we have scheduled his main family birthday celebrations for next weekend, allowing yesterday to be a birthday-focused but quite relaxing day.

We briefly visited both of our families, went for a leisurely walk on a shady stretch of Perth's Swan River, ate birthday carrot cake (a prelude to the 'real' birthday cake of next weekend, which will involve plenty of chocolate...), and had Grill'd burgers for dinner.

Swan River, North Fremantle

Uniced carrot cake, slightly sunk because I checked it 10 minutes before it was cooked...

...fortunately quite easy to cover up.

Grill'd 'Field of Dreams' vegetarian mushroom burger - still my favourite

I made the carrot cake yesterday, with the recipe adapted from Kris Holecheck's The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. This has become my 'go to' baking book when I need something quickly and, as a bonus, all I needed to buy yesterday were fresh carrots and soy cream cheese. The other ingredients are things I always have on hand, something I find extremely helpful for cake recipes.

This cake also highlights how 'vegan' doesn't have to be obvious or detectable. It tasted like soft, moist carrot cake. I don't even know if Mr Bite knew it was vegan. The fact that it is easy and can be made and baked in well under an hour - even with the carrot grating - is a bonus.

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing

Adapted from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes (Kris Holechek)

Vegan

Makes 1 square cake

Print recipe

Ingredients

For the carrot cake

2 1/2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon (I used 1/2 tsp)

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup apple sauce

1/3 cup non-dairy milk, or milk of choice (I used soy)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

3 large carrots, grated

1/3 cup sultanas (small raisins)

For the icing

125g soy cream cheese

1 tbsp non-dairy spread, margarine or butter

1 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Method

Preheat the oven to 180'C and prepare a square baking tin.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, mixed spice, cinnamon, ginger, salt) in a small bowl.

Combine the brown sugar, white sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add the apple sauce, milk, vanilla and carrots and mix well. Add in the dry ingredients gradually, stirring to combine. Add the sultanas and stir through.

Bake for 30 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 - 20 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

To make the icing, beat the cream cheese, non-dairy spread, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Optionally top with Lindt Easter carrot chocolates.

I can see myself making this again when wanting an easy carrot cake. You could also, of course, include nuts (the original recipe called for walnuts) but Mr Bite isn't a fan and so I left them out.

Having Mr Bite's birthday fall yesterday allowed me to almost skip over Easter this year, something that didn't bother me in the slightest. My excitement at his birthday was definitely greater than any excitement I experience for Easter, and I am looking forward to continuing to celebrate over the week. It's one of the oddities of age that whilst one's own birthday gets less exciting with time, the anticipation and happiness I feel when celebrating others' birthdays (particularly the others who are more important to me than words can really express) continues to increase.

Despite this, we did end up with quite a lot of Easter chocolate, including some Guylian and Lindt small Easter eggs, and some non-Easter chilli chocolate that I am looking forward to reviewing another time.

In the mean time - Happy Easter / Passover to those who do celebrate it, and happy long weekend to everyone else here in Australia!

Do you have a 'go to' carrot cake recipe? It's one of my favourite cakes and yet all the versions I usually make are hybrids that involve pineapple, thus making them not quite carrot cake at all!

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Raw vegan cheesecake, three ways

I'm quite excited about this post.

Part of this excitement is about sharing my experiments with raw vegan cheesecakes. It has been a lot of fun.

Part of it, too, is that today is the one year anniversary of Bite-Sized Thoughts starting.

A lot has happened in the year, and I have certainly learnt a huge amount. At the same time, it has gone quickly - I now can't imagine not blogging, but it doesn't feel as if I've been doing it for 12 months. I have truly come to love the blogging world and the process of organising my life and recipes (or some components thereof...) into blog form.

The three recipes I've chosen to post today capture so much of what I enjoy about cooking and food. They also capture a lot of what I enjoy about veganism. Of course, part of my enjoyment of vegan food stems from the are health and environmental benefits (as I see them anyway) and the ethical issues around animal produce. But it is also magical. That you can take natural, 100% plant-based foods and turn them into cheesecake - it is staggering. It captivates me and entertains me, and makes me very happy indeed.

I hope that these recipes might make you happy too.

All of them make 4 servings, so the quantities are small ones. I made mine in two individual, medium sized ramekins, and the pictures are of one of the resulting small cheesecakes. Doubling the ingredients would give a single larger cheesecake to serve 8 or so people.

All recipes can be found in streamlined version here.

For the non-streamlined version, let's start with chocolate.

Now the thing is, I don't actually like (regular) cheesecake. This is hardly surprising when you consider that I don't like creamy, cheesey, or milky dishes - cheesecake is like my horror dessert. The base I usually like; the filling is usually not my friend.

This does raise the question of why I have made three versions of vegan cheesecake.

Why? Well, I thought they might be different. Perhaps cheesecake without cream, without cheese and without milk would be cheesecake that I do like?

Despite this reasoning, it did seem safest to start with chocolate - that, I rarely dislike.

The inspiration for this first recipe, a chocolate raspberry cheesecake, came from various chocolate avocado desserts. I'm not sure what made me think I could convert 'dessert' into 'cheesecake', but this product did seem pretty cheesecakey to me (although, granted, I am a non-cheesecake eater...).

It was certainly creamy. Dense. Rich. Slightly but not very sweet. Most definitely chocolatey. In typically cheesecake form, the filling was also nearly too creamy and dense and rich. But - and here is the key! - it was nearly but not quite. Vegan won the day and small slices worked very well indeed, filling and all.

Chocolate berry cheesecake

Serves 4

Inspired by the chilled double chocolate torte on Oh She Glows; 
raw brownies with chocolate icing or pure amazingness on Wayfaring Chocolate; and 
raw carob cheesecake on Blissfully Vegan.

Print recipe

Ingredients

Base

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup dates, pitted and roughly chopped

Water as needed (I used about 1 tsp)

Filling

1 medium avocado (mine was ~120g flesh)

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1 tbsp agave or maple syrup (use 1 1/2 tbsp if you want a sweeter taste; this version was just sweet)

2 1/2 tbsp good-quality cocoa

Topping

1/2 - 1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed

Method

Line two individual ramekins or a small pie dish with cling wrap.

Process the base ingredients until finely processed and starting to clump together. Add water if needed to get a thick and sticky consistency. Press the mixture into the bottom of your ramekins / pie dish.

Process or beat all filling ingredients until smooth and well combined. Divide between the two ramekins and cover with cling wrap. 

Set in the freezer for 2 hours and then serve with the extra thawed raspberries.

or

If making in advance, this will keep in the freezer for at least 3 days (longer if stored in an airtight container). Before serving, allow the cheesecake to thaw slightly at room temperature (15 - 30 minutes), and then top with the extra thawed raspberries. 

I don't think you can go wrong with chocolate and berries. This was certainly not wrong and I liked it very, very much indeed. I suspect it will be featuring again.

For my second cheesecake, I wanted to make a version of the lavender and lemon cheesecake featured on This Rawsome Vegan Life. Lavender as a baking ingredient has intrigued me for some time, and this seemed like as good a time as any to jump into trying it.

Except, I couldn't find any dried lavender. Frustratingly, I had seen it at a supermarket a few months back, but on re-visiting it they no longer stocked it. Neither did anywhere else I looked. In the end, I gave up.

I bought this instead, in an effort to console myself for the lavender-less trips:

Perhaps vanilla bean paste would be just the thing to make the perfect vegan cheesecake?

I changed my inspiration sources and settled on honey, vanilla and pistachio instead of lavender and lemon.

It seemed like a promising flavour combination, but the result wasn't quite as I had hoped...

'Honey', vanilla and pistachio cheesecake 
(use agave to make this vegan)

Serves 4

Inspired by this honey-pistachio cheesecake topping on Taste.com.au, and
the honey ingredient in the lavender lemon cheesecake on This Rawsome Vegan Life

Print recipe

Ingredients

Base
1/4 cup pistachios

1/4 cup almonds

1/3 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup dates

Filling

1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours

1/3 cup raw honey or agave (I used half of each, for no real reason other than wanting to conserve the more expensive agave but not wanting to finish off our honey) - I would use less than this in future

1 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 tsp lemon juice

Topping

Extra pistachios, optional

Method

Line two individual ramekins or a small pie dish with cling wrap.

Process the base ingredients until finely processed and starting to clump together. Press the mixture into the bottom of your ramekins / pie dish.

Process or beat all filling ingredients until smooth and well combined. Divide between the two ramekins and cover with cling wrap. 

Set in the fridge or freezer for 2 - 4 hours and then serve with the extra pistachios

or

If making in advance, this will keep in the fridge or freezer for at least 3 days (longer if stored in an airtight container).

As alluded to above, I didn't like this at all. Perhaps it was my persisting fixation with lavender or perhaps it was that this was too close to a typical cheesecake - when it was set in the fridge, I didn't like the texture of the filling at all, being creamy and squishy and just not to my tastes.

Setting this in the freezer improved the consistency, and I found that it didn't turn solid even when frozen overnight. I still didn't enjoy the flavour though. It was too sweet, for a start - I would use much less honey / agave in future - and it was also vaguely nutty. I like nuts, but I didn't like the cashew undertones here.

Definitely a failure, at least for m7 tastes.

It did, though, provide the motivation for moving on to version three...

I still really wanted lavender and in the end I picked some from a neighbour's garden (!). I'm sure this isn't the approach one should take, but the lavender was already semi-dried by the summer sun; some time in a sunny spot in the kitchen dried it out further.

For this cheesecake, my challenge was in deciding what 'cream' base to use. Cashews seem to be a standard approach, but I was no longer keen on those after my negative experience with the version above. I had liked the result with avocado in the chocolate raspberry cheesecake, but I didn't really want a green lavender and lemon cheesecake.

In the end, though, that's exactly what I went for.

I could have made this lavender and lime, which would have made the colour appropriate, but I was keen on  lemon. I decided that retaining pistachios in the ingredient list would be my nod towards making the colour semi-appropriate, and so ended up with lavender, lemon and pistachio.

Lavender, lemon, and pistachio cheesecake

Serves 4
Adapted from lavender lemon cheesecake on This Rawsome Vegan Life

Print recipe

Ingredients

Base
1/4 cup pistachios

1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup dates

Filling
1 small - medium avocado (mine was ~100g flesh)

1 tsp chia seeds

1/8 cup lemon juice

2 tbsp agave

1 tsp vanilla extract

Petals of 1 dried lavender stalk (~1 tsp), crushed

2 tsp dessicated coconut

Pinch salt

Topping
Extra pistachios, optional

Method

Line two individual ramekins or a small pie dish with cling wrap.

Process the base ingredients until finely processed and starting to clump together. Press the mixture into the bottom of your ramekins / pie dish.

Process or beat all filling ingredients until smooth and well combined. Divide between the two ramekins and cover with cling wrap. 

Set in the freezer for 2 hours and then serve with the extra pistachios

or

If making in advance, this will keep in the freezer for at least 3 days (longer if stored in an airtight container). Before serving, allow the cheesecake to thaw slightly at room temperature (15 - 30 minutes).

I loved this.

Really, truly loved it.

It was definitely magical. The green colour almost made it more so. It looked like an pea-inspired dessert, or something equally odd, but tasted like a dream.

With flavours of lemon and just slight lavender, this had just the right sweetness and creaminess.

I made Mr Bite try this one. He was very perplexed by the colour and ate his trial mouthful with his eyes closed. However, even he gave it positive feedback - and green, raw, vegan cheesecake with lavender in it is certainly not something I would expect him to review positively!

He thought it tasted like lemon cheesecake, and that the texture was cheesecake-like - somewhat of a relief given that he does enjoy normal cheesecake and is a better judge of 'cheesecake-ness' than I am.

Interestingly, he couldn't detect the lavender flavour but stated he didn't like 'the aftertaste'. I found the lavender to hit after the initial lemon notes, so suspect this aftertaste was the lavender. If you're not sure about lavender, perhaps half a stalk would be a good starting amount...for myself, I really enjoyed the subtle flavour hit and will be experimenting with this again.

This is a very long post, and if you are still reading - thank you, and I hope some of the above was entertaining to you as well as to me. I had great fun with these creations and I hope to have many more experimenting sessions as this blog goes into year two...

What do you find magical in the kitchen? Have there been dishes you've really enjoyed playing with?

I am linking the chocolate raspberry cheesecake into Ricki's 2013 Valentine's Day Wellness Weekend (14th-18th February 2013)...because really, what more could you want on Valentine's Day?

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