Snow Day, Dip and Smoothies

Unlike Alaska or Minnesota, my past places of residency, here in Philly 6 inches of snow qualifies as a "snow day". School's out and in my case that means work as well. SNOW DAY! What used to be known as a spring dusting now gives me a free entire day... oh what to do.....

I have to admit it is cold. The only way to stay warm on a cold snowy day, bake of coarse. I wanted to make a lot of simple dishes and use ingredients we had in the house, especially leftovers. The menu: Gingerbread, Oatmeal Carob Cookies, and Almond Curry Dip.

Gingerbread

The gingerbread turned out all right. Next time I make it I'm going to spice it up a bit by adding something sweet and fruity, either orange zest or craisens, something to that sort. However, if you earth-balance it then top it with craisens... YES! Now, I once again used Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer's recipe from "How it all Vegan!". However, I wasn't like I said early super impressed. For the egg substitute I used ground flax mixed with water, and I think an applesauce or banana would've worked better and given it a rounder fruity finish with the tangy ginger and bitter molasses. So that's my advice. The equation = 3 cups flour + 2 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp salt + 1 tsp all spice = sift together in big bowl. + egg replacer for 2 eggs + 1/2 cup oil + 1/2 molasses + 1 cup soy milk + 1 tsp vinegar + 3-6 tbsp fresh grated ginger (for me the more the better!!) = mix together until "just" mixed. Fold in crystallized ginger or walnuts if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not.

Bake 350 in an oiled loaf pan for about 50 minutes (I would check it around 40 and see how you're doing). Wha-La!

Oatmeal Carob Cookies

I asked my roommate how he liked the cookies. His response was, " they were good except I thought I was going to break a tooth". Whoops. I thought I would go out on a limb and try a recipe that I found on a "Go Vegan" handout. It sounded too simple to be good, and I was right. I like the cookies, but by no means are they dressed to impress. Not worth writing it down, but thought I'd still share.

And now, what I'm really proud of ...

Almond Curry Dip

Oh my god! SOOOO good! Addicting. Check it. We had left over green curry paste in our fridge for over a month. I was sick of looking at it. John and I had also been soaking some raw almonds for a raw food day that we were going to test out, unfortunately that didn't go to plan....soon. soon. So, I've got a bowl of raw soaked almonds and a bit of green curry paste. What do you do?? Throw 'em a food processor and hope for the best. And by god, I got the best. The curry gives it a nice spicy kick, then I threw in just a drizzle of agave nectar to have a sweet balance, along with veganaise and rice milk to make it nice and creamy :) This dip could be used as a sandwich spread, it would go awesome with chickpeas in a wrap with spinach and carrots. It's great to eat alone by the spoonfuls (although that just seems weird for some reason.. gluttony?) so go ahead and spread it on crackers, serve at a party, use it for veggies, its an all around awesome concoction that will be a new regular in our fridge.

In a food processor (or blender) mix together the following :

-2 cups raw soaked almonds

-1 1/2 tbsp. green curry paste

-2 tbsp. veganaise

-3 tbsp. nutritional yeast

-1 tsp. turmeric

-1 tsp. salt

-5 tbsp. rice milk

-just a lite drizzle of agave nectar around a couple of times

Mix until nice and smooth. There will still be chunks of almonds that gives it a pesto-y texture.

Spread the love!

And a note on Smoothies...

I just wanted to throw in a little blurb on the importance and value of smoothies! They are the best breakfast, snack, treat, whatever. I encourage and dare everyone to drink a smoothie once a day. Get to a nice smooth for your smoothie you can use a soy yogurt (which I'm not a fan of) so I just throw in silken tofu. This way I've got my sugars with protein to accomplish anything! I've tried to have one everyday and have been doing pretty damn good. They're quick, easy, and depending on what you throw in (peanut butter, tofu, etc..) can be quite filling. (just try to avoid making them at early am hours if you have sleeping roomies in close proximity, lindsay and mia this in my Internet apology). Today's smoothie : papaya, pineapple, mango, and ginger! Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.