Back in 2001, I took some fantastic cooking classes with vegetarian chef Kurma Dasa. Kurma introduced me to all kinds of fabulous exotic ingredients that I had not tasted or cooked with before; and it opened up a whole new world of flavours that I have been experimenting with, and enjoying ever since such as asafoetida, pomegranate molasses, and the list goes on and on. One of the jewels I picked up from Kurma, was this phenomenal raw vegan dip, and I have been blending and chowing with gratitude ever since. This is seriously one of the most incredible dips I have ever tasted! Kurma’s wonderful vegetarian recipes have a distinct Indian influence, and he adapted this raw vegan recipe from one found in Yamuna Devi’s beautiful book, Yamuna’s... Keep Reading
I promised it, and here it is. My vegan gluten free “apple pie in a glass”. I don’t really know how to do this apple smoothie justice, except to say that it is absolutely scrumdidiliumptious! For those of you with a greater articulacy, and more clarity of expression, you might be able to accurately find real words out of the dictionary that adequately prepare the palate for this taste sensation. But today, I must resort to fictional words in fantasy movies, where anything is possible. Actually, perhaps I should take some words from the famous Mary Poppins, and tell you, that, in my opinion, this vegan smoothie is “practically perfect in every way”. And I don’t think I will be needing to eat humble pie. This apple pie smoothie is... Keep Reading
Oh “happy day”! I get to celebrate all things cashew. Those of you who know me, are well acquainted with my cashew addiction. Those of you who are new to this recipe blog -- welcome to my obsession. Don’t be alarmed. I assure you, it is perfectly safe, and downright delicious. I will warn you though, it is highly contagious. But be comforted in the knowledge that you can enable this addiction, without too much collateral damage. Raw foodies, vegans, and vegetarians know all too well, the joys of the miraculous cashew. And yes, the joy extends far beyond throwing them in a salad or stir-fry. Which, hey, isn’t bad either! But there are a ton of other things you can exploit, the “all too compliant” cashew for. Cashews have long been one... Keep Reading
OK. So I couldn’t stand not having any coconut ice cream in the freezer! Last post I made some raw banana ice cream, after mournfully closing my freezer, having made the sad discovery that there was no coconut meat left! As good as that banana ice cream was, I simply had to grab a couple of cases of Young Thai Coconuts, and spent the whole afternoon smashing coconuts on the deck, and making raw vegan ice cream in various flavours. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Well, the last part that ended with me enjoying two tubs of home made vegan ice cream while watching “Pride and Prejudice”. Jane Austen and a tub of guilt-free raw vanilla ice cream? Does life get any sweeter than that? I really cannot rave enough about how fantastic this... Keep Reading
I am going to warn you straight off the bat before I proceed any further - this raw vegan banana ice cream is hard to quit eating! So if you are prepared for a few extra calories on the lips and hips and get excited by bananas, then look no further than this delectable vegan cashew ice cream, that can literally be blended up in 5 minutes. Well, half an hour if you include the time churning in the ice cream maker. But you can walk around the house doing other things while the machine is working it’s magic! I will say, that you will need a high speed blender such as Vitamix in order to make a vegan cashew ice cream with a really creamy texture. A regular blender will yield a more grainy result. I came up with the recipe for this raw vegan... Keep Reading
I made this raw cashew cream yesterday to accompany a gluten free fruit cake that I made to take to a tea party, and even though it is a really basic departure from the raw vanilla cashew cream that I posted some time ago, I thought it was worth posting, to help those of you who are really new to raw cooking, and are not feeling confident making any changes. This honey vegan cashew cream is absolutely delicious. My mum came over to help me bake some gluten free cakes, and as I was making this raw cashew cream I offered her a taste. She put one small spoon in to grab a bite of what she thought was going to be “an average cream dream experience”. As the first taste hit her snout she became possessed -- so taken with it, that she literally... Keep Reading
I don’t know about you, but I am always on the hunt for another “show stopping” dairy free dip to add to my repertoire. When there is a party, I am always the dip master; and often get called upon to puree and blend up a storm. There are a few favourites that always make the cut. The creamy vegan cashew dip, muhammara roasted red pepper dip, and raw green pea dip are always on the top of the list of requests. Yes I will post them! My sister asked me to bring some dairy free dips to her house for a little gathering they had for Christmas eve, and this spicy carrot dip received rave reviews. I made it the other night when we had people over for dinner, and it was well received again. So I thought it was worth posting here today. As I have... Keep Reading
OK, so here I go again! Yapping on again about my love of avocados! If you really hate avocados, then you might want to read another recipe blog. Because I am not going to stop! When we had people over for our taco buffet feast the other night, I whipped up this raw avocado pudding for dessert, with the left over avocados that were going to be past their peak in the morning! The results were pretty good. Well, there certainly wasn’t anything left in the trough. So I am guessing it was OK. My inspiration for this vegan avocado mousse was this famous raw avocado pudding in a macrobiotic restaurant I frequented on when I was touring with a show in Portugal many years ago. That raw avocado pudding still calls out to me in my sleep. Dear... Keep Reading
We made a fabulous vegetarian taco buffet this week, and it was sensational. You know how partial I am to the “come and help make dinner” dinner parties, where everyone congregates in the kitchen, and we make dinner together with everyone’s input. Our gluten fee pizza parties are always a hit. As are our gluten free pasta parties. We decided to switch gears this week and head to Mexico for inspiration. We made grilled onions, red peppers, zucchinis and spinach; home made gluten free corn tortillas; a stellar vegan guacamole (of course!); some fabulous fresh salsas; and a stupendous pico de gallo! The only thing missing, was a great vegan sour cream, which everyone took great pleasure in unanimously voting for. Now, you all know that I... Keep Reading
OK, so I promised I would post some more of the fabulous vegetarian recipes I made with Beth. So here is my favourite recipe! The piece de resistance. You won’t see me speechless about very much. But Beth and I were so overwhelmed by the surprising depth of flavour of this roasted sweet potato soup, that we could barely contain ourselves, and were literally speechless. I blended this vegan sweet potato soup up, gave Beth a taste, and she stood over the stove and just closed her eyes, as if she couldn’t quite get the full flavour burst unless she shut off her other senses and just focused on her taste buds. I dished the soup up into bowls, and we both sat down to enjoy an overflowing bowl, of what we both described as, “one of the best... Keep Reading
