Cocoa-date truffles, Coffee cooler and Raw "pasta".

I made these last night after coming back from the store with a giant container of deglet noor dates for $5. I processed them in the blender with walnuts, cocoa powder, coconut, vanilla and a pinch of salt. They make very good snacks for your sweet tooth.

Coffee cooler made with coffee, almond milk, chocolate syrup, dates and ice.

I made some sun-dried tomato marinara from Ani Phyo's book and served it on top of thinly sliced zucchini. (I don't have a spiralizer.)

Fresh tomato, sun-dried tomato, olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt and herbs make a very flavorful sauce. The zucchini sliced this way makes me think of Thai papaya salad. I might try that next.

Raw Vegan Wraps.

Healthy wraps for lunch today made with collard greens and zucchini slices as wrappers and two different nut spreads and an assortment of fresh veggies. The spread on the left is the black pepper cashew cheeze (cashews, lemon juice, miso, water, black pepper) from Ani Phyo's raw book. I added yellow miso for some saltiness. The one on the right is the Sun-dried tomato pâté from "You Won't Believe It's Vegan". I didn't have enough sun-dried tomatoes so it's not as red in color but it's got good stuff in it: almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, olive oil, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and black olives.

Saturday Taco Lunch, Stir-Fry and Carrot-Nut Muffins.

Had a delicious lunch with my mom and her best friend yesterday. Mom helped make this delicious spread of food. Tacos with sauteed tofu, veggie ground, fresh salsa and guacamole and potato salad. The tomato salad was fresh from Gelson's.

Stir fry using Tofurky sausages flavored with vegetarian stir fry sauce (kinda like oyster sauce) and sweet chili sauce.

Ok, so this was my attempt at making a raw vegan carrot cake with carrots, dates and nuts. All I can say is...FAIL.

So I transformed it into a cooked carrot cake. I just dumped 1 cup of carrot/nut mixture into kittee's vanilla cake recipe (halfing the cake recipe). I saved the rest of the raw cake mixture in the freezer for future use.

Seedy Corn-Tomato-Avocado Salad

Got this recipe from my coworker who got it from a book called Going Raw. This was such a good salad with the creaminess from the avocado, the juicy tomatoes, zesty lime juice and crunchy pumpkin seeds. I also ate this on top of whole grain wasa crackers. Was so good!

Breakfast in Bed: Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding and Toast!

I whipped up this decadent raw pudding this morning that was so thick, rich and creamy. It was really yummy and filling too. Yes, it's healthier than most desserts but it's not low fat because of the nuts.

Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding

1/2 to 1 cup raw unsalted cashews (I didn't really measure but think I used close to a cup!)
8 dates, pitted
6-8 fresh strawberries
1 frozen banana

Soak cashews and dates in hot water for at least 20 minutes. Drain water. Blend all ingredients in a blender until thick and creamy. Serve with fresh berries on top.

Edited to add:


This is dinner tonight. It's a cauliflower, potato and mushroom gratin adapted from Brian McCarthy's Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin from The Vegan Family Cookbook.

Soup and Salad.

I'm trying to be good and eat soups and salads through out the week. It keeps things light and easy on my schedule as well as my stomach. I try to save the more indulgent foods for the weekend. I whipped up my favorite red lentil soup (sephardic recipe from 'Olive Trees and Honey') and a half recipe of "black pepper cheeze" from 'Ani's Raw Food Kitchen'. It's the easiest raw cheese recipe I think, just raw cashews, garlic, black pepper, lemon juice and water. I used the soft cheeze as a spread on top of fresh tomatoes and persian cucumbers. If you want, you can drizzle olive oil and balsamic or cider vinegar over it. That would be very tasty indeed.

Raw Breakfast Pudding

Last week my friend Cassidy gave me some raw strawberry pie that she made. It was deeelicious! I wanted to recreate that flavor by making this breakfast pudding. It has the consistency more like yogurt I think but the flavors were spot on. A sweet and creamy mixture of bananas, strawberries, dates and cashews. Yummy.

Raw Strawberry-Banana Pudding

8 dates, pitted
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 ripe bananas
6 strawberries, frozen
juice of 1/2 an orange

Soak dates and cashews together in a bowl of hot water for about 20 minutes. Discard the water and put the dates and nuts in blender along with the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover with cling film and place in the freezer for about 20 minutes. (This step is not necessary. I liked eating it cold.) Serve.

Raw Red Pepper Soup

Since I've been doing soups for the week, I figured it was about time to make a raw soup. I got this idea from a friend at work. We got some beautiful organic red bell peppers that we weren't using so we brought them home. I wanted to use them up before they spoiled so I whipped up this raw soup in my blender this morning. It's very flavorful and sweet from the peppers with a spicy kick from the jalapeno!

Raw Red Pepper Soup

2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 ribs celery, sliced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews
2 tsp. red miso paste
2 TB chopped jalapeno (or more if you are so inclined)
2 TB olive oil
2 cups water
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed for a few minutes until completely smooth. You may top this soup with a raw salsa, avocado or fresh corn kernels for texture.

Black Pepper Cheeze

Another raw recipe from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. I loved the sunflower paté so much (it's all gone now.) that I had to try another delightful spread from this book. I chose the black pepper "cheeze" recipe because I had everything for it (cashews, garlic, lemon juice, black pepper) and it was easy to whip up in my blender. I also sprinkled some crushed red pepper and dried parsley into the cheeze for some color. This stuff is really really thick and creamy and tasted very cheese like. The cashews give it a very rich flavor. I really don't know how else to eat it besides spreading it on stuff. I didn't have any crackers so I put some on cucumber slices and topped them with olives. I really wish I had crackers because it was difficult to spread this on the cucumber. It was sliding off from all the moisture. So if you decide to ever make this, bring out the crackers!

What's for lunch?

Since I made so many chickpea burgers yesterday I will be having those for lunch for the next day or so. I like to wrap them up in a pita bread with lettuce and tomato for a yummy sandwich. Speaking of lunch, there's nothing better than a sandwich. When I first went vegan, I had a hard time figuring out what I could quickly whip up for lunches. I can't tell you how many avocado, lettuce and tomato sandwiches I had! When I finally saw the light, I was able to get by with many variations of the sandwich. Along with the mock tuna salad that I talked about in another post, here are a few more sandwiches that I like a lot.


First up is the chickpea salad sandwich. As you know I'm a big fan of chickpeas. When I figured out that you can mash them up and mix them with mayo for a sandwich filling, I was very very happy. I like to put chopped celery in mine along with onion and garlic powder, and a squirt of yellow mustard. It's a veggie take on chicken salad and it's really good. My omnivore husband loves this.


Do I miss eggs? NO! Do I miss egg salad? YES! Here's what we call Tofu Egg Salad. Pictured here is joni's (just the food blog) recipe. It is absolutely delicous. It requires frying up tofu cubes and onions until browned and then smothering them in mayo and other spices! It really does have that eggy texture and the flavor is wondeful.


This is Vegan with a Vengeance's TLT sandwich. It is basically a hummus sandwich layered with mayo, tempeh bacon, lettuce and tomato. There is supposed to be red onions in there I think but I must have not had them available at the time. I love this sandwich. The garlicky and creamy hummus combined with the smoky bacon really is a winning combination.


When I have a friend or friends over for tea, I like to make these finger sandwiches. The ones in the middle are cucumber and soy cream cheese and the others are tofu egg salad (tofu was mashed up this time for a smoother consistency).


And for something a little different, a "Raw Taco" or "Rawcos" as Melody from the Melomeals blog calls them. These are lettuce wraps with a filling made of raw cauliflower, cilantro, lime juice, chili powder and cashews. I think Melody uses walnuts but I imagine any nut will do. They are so refreshing and delicious and the flavors remind me of Thai larb! Don't know why, maybe because of the chili and lime together.