Tacos, Jamaican roasted veggies and fruit salad

So yesterday I invited my parent's over for a south of the border feast :)
Unfortunately I had a late start to dinner preparation so I didn't get a chance to finish all that I wanted to make. Oh well.

Tacos:
2 sweet potatoes finely chopped
1 tbsp oil

1 can of black beans
1 portobello mushroom sliced and then roughly chopped
1/2 can of salsa
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp lemon juice


Sprinkle the sweet potatoes with oil and put into oven at 400 F for 30 minutes. Place the portobello
mushroom in a large bowl.  Dump the rest of the ingredients on top of the portobello, let sit for 10-15 minutes.  Place ingredients in a frying pan until mushrooms are cooked.  Mix the mushroom mixture with the finished potatoes for the taco filling.

Garnish with:
chopped romaine
chopped tomato
ketchup -- I'm weird I know lol I love ketchup with tacos
salsa
vegan sour cream, cheese
guacemole

-- I just used romaine, tomato and ketchup and a little bit of taco sauce.
---------------------

Jamaican veggies:

1 bunch of broccolini roughly chopped
1 sweet potato diced
1 potato diced
2 carrots chopped
1 tomato diced
1 yellow bell pepper sliced
1 onion
1 slice of pineapple
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup of lime juice
1-2 tbsp of sugar (if at all)
2 tsp minced ginger
3 garlic cloves
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
sprinkle with pepper and red chili flakes

I made two varieties of this dish, since my mom isn't a fan of pineapples. I made a version for her using a tomato in place of the pineapple, she really enjoyed it!  So basically first place the potatoes, carrots and onion on a baking dish, put into the oven at 425 F for 30 minutes covered.  While veggies are cooking blend the pineapple with the orange and lime juice, sugar, ginger, garlic, nutmeg and salt.  Once blended add the pepper and flakes.  Take the veggie tray out and add broccolini, tomato, bell pepper to the mixture and pour the juice blend over the veggies.  Re-cover and put into the oven for another 30 minutes -- could even do with possibly 20 minutes.

---

Fruit Salad:
Serves 3

1/4 cup blueberries
1 pear
1 banana
1/3 cup grapes
1/2 cup unsweetened yogurt
3-4 tbsp agave
1/4 cup of orange juice
2 tbsp lime juice
Soy whip cream

Mix all the ingredients minus the whip cream.  Serve up 3 portions of fruit salad, and top with whipped cream. My family loved this, a very healthy light desert that definitely goes within the south of the border theme :)

I also served vegan chocolate chip cookies  :)

PS i was going to add mangos to this dish.. however once opened they were completely bruised inside :(

Oh well.

Cookbook references:

Jamaican veggies adapted version of the one in
Hot Vegan by Robin Robertson

Tacos inspired by seitan and potato taco recipe in
Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero

Fruit salad inspired by
vegetarian.about.com recipe "Creamy Vegan Ambrosia Fruit Salad with Pineapple"

Birthday Party

We celebrated my nephews birthday, my sister-in-laws, mine and my niece's today and a little bit of my husbands lol.

It's because both me and my mom have been in school and haven't had a chance to get together to do something so we decided to combine it.

My mom made this amazing potato salad that I will have to get the recipe and post.

I made a coconut carrot curry soup

and a raw chocolate cake with blueberry lavender frosting, the recipe came from http://fragrantvanillacake.blogspot.com/2014/05/little-raw-chocolate-cake-with.html

I did make some adjustments to it, it was good but I think it could have been better.

I had a bit of issues with the soup.  It was inspired by a quinoa and lentil soup, however, when I realized that the soup would have been only good for 2-3 people, I tried to double it. The mistake I made was that I also doubled the veggie bouillon amount, which made it entirely way too salty.  Maybe for some that would have been okay, but I felt like I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth, This soup serves 10, and you may need to do a few adjustments, below I'm writing what I put into it, but I've put in the adjustment of using less veggie broth. Also, the canned coconut milk could be preferably swapped with the meat and water of a young thai coconut blended.

Coconut Carrot Curry Soup
1/2 onion chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 celery stalk chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1/2 cup dry lentils
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 tsp all purpose herb mix
1/2 tsp oregano
4 tomatoes chopped
1 tbsp curry
juice of 4 limes
1/4 tsp lime zest
1 can coconut milk or better -- juice and meat of one young coconut
5 cups water
2 cups veggie broth
1 cup cilantro
10 carrots

Fry the onion until translucent.  Add the celery, garlic, lentils, quinoa, 2 cups of veggie broth and herbs. Let boil, turn down to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes.  Or until lentils and quinoa are cooked.  If using a can of coconut milk, add to the mixture and let simmer for 1-2 minutes, turn off heat.

Blend carrots, cilantro, lime zest, and tomatoes with the rest of the water until pureed.  Add them to the soup along with the curry powder and lime juice.

If you prefer the carrots to be cooked it can be simmered for a couple of minutes.

Serve.


For the cake recipe, if I were to make it again I would make the following adjustments
1-I used coconut flour -- which was fine, but either I should have added more moisture to the cake -- or used some kind of fresh nut or seed flour maybe almond or sunflower seed instead of store bought coconut flour.
2-the lavender I couldn't taste in the frosting -- I put about 3-4 drops of essential oil but maybe it needed something like 5-6?  Not sure.
3- I think I forgot to put flax seed in it -- I mean it turned out fine and my family seemed to really like it, but I think having the flax seed in it perhaps would have made it less dry?

Raw Chocolate Cake with Blueberry Lavender Frosting Cake:
Makes 2 cakes, serves 10 or more if only serving 1 piece per person

1 1/2 cups carrot pulp + juice
1/2 cup dates, pitted (if not soft, soak them 20 minutes and drain)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/4 cups raw coconut flour (home made is preferred)
1/2 cup raw cacao powder

Frosting:
1 1/2 cups fresh organic blueberries
4 soft dates, pitted (if not soft, soak them in water 20 minutes and drain)
a pinch sea salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
5-6 drops lavender essential oil (or another brand, but make sure it is food grade)
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp raw coconut butter (not oil), warmed to liquid

Edible flowers and raspberries for garnish

For the cake, combine the carrot juice plus pulp, dates, vanilla, and sea salt in a food processor and process until it is well combined.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth and well combined.  On a cake pan, shape two cakes. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.
Meanwhile, to make the frosting, combine the berries, dates, sea salt and vanilla in the food processor and process until smooth.  Add the coconut butter and process until smooth (if it is clumpy at all, it probably needs to warm up a little, so process until it is not lumpy).  You will be using the frosting right away before it starts to set up.

After frosting the cakes, arrange flowers and raspberries as you wish.  Pictures soon to come :)

Last but not least I made a strawberry rhubarb icecream which was amazing, and no adjustments need for it :)

Strawberry Rhubarb Ice-cream
2 quarts, recipe taken from the recipe book, Vice Cream
44 ounces of juiced rhubarb (I used about 7-8 stalks)
2 cups cashews
2 cups dates (soaked for 20 minutes and then drained)
2 cups strawberries

Juice the rhubarb.  Pour the juice into a blender and first blend with cashews (I have a vitamix and this whole recipe didn't quite fit into my juicer so I had to do a couple rounds of blending).  Then blend with the dates and strawberries.  Put mixture into the fridge to cool for 30 minutes before putting it into an icecream maker.