Vegan protein-packed almond pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce

I make no secret of loving carbohydrates. I am fortunate not to have difficulties with wheat or gluten, I don't fear the fullness that comes with eating a bowl of pasta, and I find that carbohydrates give me steady energy that supports running, working and playing. At the same time, as a vegan, I am aware that it is easy to eat lots of carbohydrates and not necessarily enough protein. (Actually, I suspect that applies to meat eaters too, given the steady stream of processed carbohydrates available to us.)

Welcome, protein pancakes.

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Apricot-almond cake

One of the unexpected points of difference, living in London compared to Australia, is that summer fruit is available all year round. It is quite bizarre, especially as often it is still quite cheap. I could buy two mangoes for £1, a punnet of apricots for £2, and a punnet of strawberries for about the same. We often had American cherries available around the core cherry season in Perth, but exorbitant prices meant it wasn't hard to resist them.

Most of the time I am still resisting the out-of-season summer fruit here. I like the anticipation and excitement of having summer produce come back into season, and eating it all year round wouldn't be the same. Plus, I'm not keen on supporting an industry that flies my fruit up from South Africa, or Turkey, or somewhere else decidedly not near Britain - and if the prices are that low, most likely someone is struggling to make a living.

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Orange-mustard stir fry with tofu and Asian greens, and a new blog header

First, thanks so much for your enthusiasm regarding my marathon plans! It is lovely to have encouragement from around the globe and I look forward to sharing progress as April draws nearer. I managed to trip over and fall flat on the concrete on this morning's run (fortunately no major injuries) so I am hoping that gets my uncoordinated streak out of the way...

On other topics, you may have noticed a new header on my blog this week. I seem to change my headers around this time of year, and whilst I wasn't really tired of the old one yet, I thought a fresh image would be nice. I hope you like it (if you don't, feedback is always welcome). The new one ties in with my Facebook page header without being exactly the same.

Bite-sized thoughts over the years (2011 and 2012 along the top, and 2013 and 2014 along the bottom)

In terms of today's recipe, I have been on a bit of an orange kick lately - something that is reflected in this post coming straight after my orange coconut ice. I actually have a few other orange recipes too, but I won't bring them all out at once. Keep an eye out over coming months, as I'll share them in spaced out doses!

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Dark chocolate and espresso roast almonds

I had intended to hit publish on this last night, but after a hectic day at work, it completely slipped my mind. Fortunately, the timing of blog posts is not a life or death affair, and so we have this post today instead.

As for the recipe I'm sharing, I could have titled it "mocha" instead of the longer name you see above. However, I wanted to capture the semi-sweet, entirely adult nature of these almonds, and mocha just didn't do it. Dark chocolate and espresso, on the other hand, did.

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Vegan mocha almond fudge soft serve

Have you tried the mocha almond fudge coconut ice cream made by So Delicious? It is rather expensive in Australia so I've only had it a few times, but it is one of my favourite So Delicious flavours. Today's post is all about making a quick and easy spin off at home.

Homemade mocha almond fudge softserve

My version of this uses banana soft serve as the 'ice cream' base, which is obviously not the same as coconut ice cream. However, I really like banana soft serve, not just for its taste and texture, but for its convenience and straightforward ingredient list (banana!). Even if you don't love banana soft serve in its own right, I think you'll find it is a worthy carrier for the mocha almond flavours of this dessert.

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Orange and almond couscous

Some things are so simple, it's hard to believe they taste as good as they do. Fresh, in-season fruits and vegetables are one such example. I would submit that this dish is another.

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Gingerbread truffle balls (vegan and high raw)

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but...it's been 5 months since my last truffle ball recipe.

Fortunately, today's post goes some way towards making up for lost time. In fact, these might be my new favourite truffle balls. How can I not love something that is so easy to make and yet tastes so very much like gingerbread?

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Strawberry coconut almond spread, for autumn

I know that for many of you, grey skies and rain are not that exciting. If I was at the end of winter, they probably wouldn't be that exciting to me either. If Perth was the sort of city to turn off sunshine for the next 6 months and give me only grey skies and rain, I might also be a little apprehensive.

However, for me, in this part of the world, at this time of year - grey skies and rain are delightful. Exhilarating, wonderful, and delightful.

Yesterday I had soup. Last night I slept under a quilt. This morning I ran in long sleeves in the rain. Today I wore a scarf and took an umbrella to work. I wrapped my hands around my cups of tea and soaked up their warmth. I am thinking about porridge.

Hello, autumn.

I am very happy.

If I'm honest, our grey skies and rain have still been accompanied by temperatures around 20'C (68'F), and at least some sunshine each day. Autumn in Perth is pretty mild. If we had weather like this all year round, I might want to live here forever instead of moving to a country that has more grey skies and rain than sun.

Today's post isn't only about weather. I know not all of you share my (extreme) interest in that topic, and those of you at the end of Northern Hemisphere winter might deservedly be annoyed with me for rejoicing in weather that, to you, probably sounds like summer.

No, today's post is also about food. It is about all the things I am suddenly wanting to make now that cooler weather is upon us. I am dreaming of plum muffins. I am thinking about oats. I want to bake with spices. This upcoming Easter weekend should be a lot of fun.

I don't have baking for us today - time is still a teeny bit lacking - but I do have something that you could spread on baking, or hot cross buns, or just plain toast. It is an easy twist on Hannah's chocolate coconut hazelnut butter of 2011, which has the magical quality of also turning into fudge, and which I have made many a time.

This strawberry coconut almond spread is not much like the chocolate hazelnut version, but it has an ingredient list that was inspired by it. It is easy. It turns a punnet of strawberries into something quite different. I think it would be perfect for any season, or any time.

If you're ahead of me and have some plum muffins lying about...it would probably go quite well with them too.

Strawberry coconut almond spread

Easy to make, and easy to use.

Inspired by Hannah's chocolate coconut hazelnut butter at Wayfaring Chocolate. 

Vegan.

Food processor required.

Print recipe

Ingredients

250g punnet of strawberries, washed and stems cut off

90g almond meal (1 cup)

50g desiccated coconut (2/3 cup)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 - 2 tbsp water

Method

Process the strawberries in a food processor until puree-like; about 1 minute. 

Add the almond meal, coconut, salt and vanilla and continue processing until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the water as needed to reach a spread-like consistency and process for another 1 - 2 minutes.

Store in the fridge (not recommended for freezing).

I like rather than love this recipe, on account of liking strawberries a lot when they're fresh but only a moderate amount when they're turned into desserts or sweet dishes. What I do love, however, is the novelty of this spread and how easy it is to make. You can use it as you would jam, or as you would nut butter, which means it is a very versatile product to have around the place.

If only raspberries were cheaper, I might try a raspberry chocolate hazelnut variety next...

Submitted to Healthy Vegan Friday #36.

What are you spreading on things this week?

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Super snack balls

There were a few possible titles for this post, and the snack balls that form its focus.

Oat, carrot, zucchini, almond and sultana balls won out in ingredient list accuracy, but didn't sound very appealing.

Vanilla oat balls won out in taste accuracy, but seemed a bit misleading given the longer ingredient list.

Oat cookie balls didn't sound quite right.

Balls with a twist sounded quite wrong.

Super snack balls it was.

In truth, these are super snack balls. They are incredibly easy to make. They include both carrot and zucchini. The sweetener is limited to sultanas. They are not particularly portable, going soft if left out of the fridge for too long, but as an easy snack (or even an easy breakfast) - they work very well indeed.

I'm not sure what prompted me to put zucchini in the ingredient list, other than the success of the carrot, nut and date balls I made back in August. I have found that zucchini works well in just about every baked product that carrot works in, and it seems that part of me wanted to see if the same was true of no-bake products.

It is.

These reminded me slightly of carrot cake, but only very slightly. The taste was really of vanilla but with a texture and depth that went far beyond that. There was no zucchini taste, and other than the small occasional flecks of green, you wouldn't know it was in there.

In all, I am really quite enamored with these. I can also see zucchini having another resurgence in my kitchen. It really is a very versatile vegetable!

Super snack balls

These have a super ingredient list and deliver super flavour

Makes about 16 large balls

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 large zucchini, grated (~1/2 cup grated)

1/2 large carrot, grated (~1/3 cup grated)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup sultanas (small raisins)

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Grate the zucchini and carrot and then set aside (I did this using the grater attachment on my food processor).

Combine the oats, almonds, sultanas and vanilla in a food processor and process until well mixed and the ingredients are starting to clump together. Add the zucchini and carrot and process briefly, until combined.

(If you don't add the zucchini and carrot at the end, they are likely to end up over-processed and the mixture will be too moist.)

Roll into balls and refrigerate for 2 - 4 hours before serving. Store in the refrigerator.

I'm submitting this to Ricki's Wellness Weekend 22nd - 26th November 2012.

What do you think of zucchini in 'sweet' / baked products?

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Liquid smoke, tofu bacon, smoky roast almonds - and a thank you

Sometimes, things happen that make life (and people) seem really, truly, genuinely nice. Things that restore my faith in the world and which make the days seem brighter.

I was fortunate enough to have this experience a couple of weeks ago, when Mel from Veganise This! emailed and offered to send me some liquid smoke. As you may recall, I omitted liquid smoke when I made her tofu bacon last month, as it seems to Just Not Exist in Perth.

I had figured that liquid smoke may cross my path one day, somewhere in the future, and had resigned myself to not experiencing it until that time. Thus, I was really touched by, and grateful for, Mel's offer.

When her package arrived, I got to experience that gratitude all over again. You see, not only did Mel send liquid smoke, she also enclosed smoked paprika, chile chipotle powder, and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. 

It felt like Christmas, only better, by virtue of it being a surprise.

The first thing I wanted to do was make tofu bacon again, this time with liquid smoke. I followed Mel's recipe exactly, with the exception of marinating the tofu for only 2 hours, as I put this together after work. Johanna has noted that shorter marinating times work for her and it does help if you decide you want tofu bacon on short notice.

I also grilled the tofu this time, in contrast to the pan-based stir frying I did previously. Some pieces were a bit chunkier than they might have been, and I found they were crisper if cut thinner (as Mel notes and recommends in her original post), so I will pay more attention to my slicing in future!

I wanted to really taste the tofu, so I used the slices to make wraps, along with grilled red pepper (coated in the leftover tofu bacon marinade) and baby spinach leaves.

The flavours really were smoky. There is no other way to describe them! Deliciously, amazingly smoky. I kept taking extra bites of the tofu with a sort of wonderment. It truly is a wonderful way to prepare tofu.

The grilling method worked well for this meal, but I am looking forward to trying the stir fry approach again too. I felt like that gave slightly crisper results (although that may also reflect the difference in the size of the tofu pieces) and I think I will have fun adding this to all manner of meals.

First, though, I want to talk about another way to use liquid smoke.

Smoky roast almonds.

These were made with a serious nod to the tofu bacon marinade ingredients, with the coating including maple syrup, soy sauce, liquid smoke and nutritional yeast.

I rarely eat roast nuts of any form, and have never made my own. However, on the basis of this one batch, I am now a convert.

The flavours are intricate, deep, and with plenty of smokiness. This is offset with a little sweetness and a little saltiness, giving an amazing umami  experience. They made my taste buds glow with happiness. 

I recommend them. Wholeheartedly.

Smoky roast almonds

Inspired by Mel's tofu bacon
Makes 1 cup

Easy, delicious, and guarranteed to leave your kitchen smelling smoky - in a good way

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 cup raw almonds

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp liquid smoke

1 tsp nutritional yeast

Method

Preheat your oven to 175'C and line an oven tray with baking paper.

Combine the marinade ingredients (maple syrup, soy sauce, liquid smoke and nutritional yeast) in a medium bowl, and whisk with a fork to combine.

Add the almonds to the bowl and toss to coat. Then pour the almonds and extra marinade on to the baking tray. Use a spoon to spread the almonds out.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, checking at the 10 minute and 20 minute marks. The nuts will be golden when done, and the marinade will have set.

Mel, thank you again for lifting my day (and week, and month) with your generosity, and for allowing me to experience the wonder of liquid smoke!

What has made your kitchen sing recently? 
And have you tried liquid smoke - any other suggestions for how I should try it out?

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