raw tomato and corn bisque

i'm not a huge fan of 'cold' soups, but i can do okay with room temperature. when i make raw soups, i usually eat it up right away, or if i have to chill it, i usually let it stand out of of the fridge for about 45 minutes to bring the temp up. of course, that's just personal taste. this recipe made about 2 decent-size bowls of soup and was really filling!

• 2 large fresh tomatoes
• 5-6 sun dried tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2-3 fresh basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh garlic minced
• 1 cup fresh corn
• sea salt and ground pepper to taste

throw everything but corn in a magic bullet or food processor and blend. add corn. eat.

sushi with sunflower seed pate

my friend first taught me how to roll sushi a couple years ago, and it has become one of my favourite things to make and to eat. granted, it takes a little more work to make your own, but it's rewarding and if you get a group of people together to make it, it's like a little party! this was a spontaneous sunday night dinner a couple weeks ago.



















rolling sushi isn't difficult, but it's better learned by video or in person. if you don't know how to roll, just check out some online videos on youtube. in the future i might post several pictures of the rolling process.


we made two different kinds of rolls:

• avocado and shiitake mushroom
  
• sunflower seed pate and carrots
*(also a couple of 'left-over' rolls of all the ingredients)

for the pate:

• 3/4 cup soaked sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons nama shoyu/soy sauce/braggs aminos
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/8 cup carrots

blend all the pate ingredients up in a magic bullet or food processor. it should be a paste/pate type texture, so you may need to adjust accordingly. for the rest of your ingredients, you'll want to slice them up into strips so they roll up nicely. we also used kelp and dulse flakes (and sometimes sriracha sauce) to give the rolls extra flavour. i should have taken pictures of our pre-roll layout, but i totally forgot. i'll do that the next time.

combine flavours as you see fit!

pretty in pink green smoothie

this is a tasty watermelon and kiwi green smoothie with a bit of ginger zing. i added the greens to it after the picture because it turns a murky brown colour. honestly, i didn't want to call it 'murky brown green smoothie' - how appetizing is that? :)

• 1/4 of a seedless watermelon
• 1 kiwi fruit
• 1 tablespoon (or more) of fresh ginger
• 1 cup of spinach
  
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 or 4 ice cubes

peel the watermelon, kiwi and ginger and cut up into cubes. drop in the blender with water and ice. you need less water than with most green smoothies because watermelon is so juicy. after it starts to smoothie-ize in your blender, add the greens and blend again. :) makes about a quart of filling smoothie.

(un) cheesy julienned zucchini

i made up this yummy and simple little side dish, and i swear that it tastes like cheesy zucchini! you may notice that i almost never use real onions in my recipes... i always use onion powder. my reasoning is that i don't like the texture of onions, and i really don't like a strong onion-y taste. for me, a little dash of onion powder is enough to set off the taste, but i imagine most people would want to use real onions.

• 1 medium zucchini
• 3 -4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

put the zucchini through the julienne blade on a mandolin slicer. in a skillet pan, heat up the sesame oil on medium, then add the zucchini slices. after a few minutes, add the nutritional yeast and onion powder and turn up to high. saute the zucchini for a bout 10 minutes until tender.
enjoy.

white bean and veggies in asian peanut sauce

i have been in love with PB2 - a healthier powdered peanut butter - for about the last 4 or 5 months. in the midwest, it can be found at most hy-vee stores with a nature section, but check out their website for other places to purchase it. it's about 53 calories per serving - compared to about 190 for regular peanut butter. it also has about 85% less fat. recently i came across a blog called megan's munchies where readers were challenged to come up with creative recipes using the powdery goodness.

thanks to megan who chose my recipe as one of the winners!

for the peanut sauce:

• 1/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons nama shoyu or braggs (less for braggs)
• 1/3 cup pb2
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• 1-2 teaspoons siriacha sauce (based on heat preference)

for the base:

• cook 10 oz northern white beans (according to package)
• marinate northern white beans overnight in peanut sauce
• steam your favourite stir-fry medley (i used birds eye - asparagus stir fry mix)
• marinate veggies with beans at least 4 hours

after marinating, heat up the bean and veggie mix (i microwaved mine for about a minute on medium heat - you could also gently heat on the stove). then serve with rice or over a bed of zucchini pasta (see the pics above).

easy turkey sammy

i have been craving sandwiches all summer... we finally went shopping this past weekend and snatched up some smart deli turkey slices (in most produce sections). the very next day we made up some great tasting faux turkey sandwiches that hit the spot.

• 1 hoagie, toasted
  
• nayonaise or vegenaise
  
• stoneground mustard
• 2 slices smart deli turkey
• 1/2 tomato
• 1/4 avocado
• 1 piece tofutti vegan american cheese slice

i prefer nasoya nayonaise and westbrae natural stoneground mustard. seriously, the mustard makes the sandwich. stack the rest of the ingredients and chow down. :)

roasted cajun chickpeas

you can find recipes for roasted chickpeas on plenty of great recipe sites, including vegweb. i used the one from the fatfree vegan kitchen, slightly modified of course. i started with dry chickpeas, but (after soaking overnight) i simmered them for about 35 minutes instead of 10 minutes. i made two batches - one with cajun seasoning and one with taco seasoning... i did use the lime juice as she suggests, but i didn't add any extra salt and i thought they were seasoned just right.