A new twist on Brussel Slaw


This has become a staple of my diet. It is so tasty and full of crunchy, chewy textures. It is sweet and savoury, creamy and fresh. All at once! I swear!

For the Salad I use my food processor to shred the vegetables, go ahead and throw in 1 good size beet, 1 large carrot, 1/4 - 1/2 a medium sized red onion (to your personal onion-liking), process these on a big shred so you end up with match stick type pieces, you could also use a mandolin, but I don't have one of those - yet. Now you have a lot of crunch, and even a spice, now comes the other texture, the chewy - The Brussel Sprout!
Change the blade to the slice blade, I suppose you could do this some other way, but really brussel sprouts are small and the food processor will be the best way to shred them and keep all of your fingers. Then add a big handful of chopped cilantro; toss with the dressing and you have yourself one dreamy side dish. Bring this to a potluck and you can trick all of your non-brussel sprout loving friends, or maybe you could try this recipe and trick yourself!

The flavour and texture are very different when a brussel sprout is raw, and being one of the best things nutrient-wise that you can buy in the grocery store, I say we should all incorporate them into our diet, especially raw as that way you get the full impact of all of their goodness.

Recipe

1 large beet
1 large carrot
1/4 - 1/2 red onion
About 24 Brussel Sprouts
Handful of Cilantro

1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup Yogurt
1/8 Cup Lemon Juice
1 tbsp honey
salt & pepper

Some end of Season beauties

My weakness when at farmers markets are heirloom tomatoes and the various fresh varieties of garlic. Here is a sample of what I got this time around:


A variety of 'Cherry' tomatoes, baby red onions and garlic. When you have ingredients this fresh and wonderful simple really is best. So I mad a simple tomato, avocado salad with a balsamic glaze.

I've been really into glazes lately, I made an awesome bison burger with a red wine glaze mixed in that I will share later, but following up a 'Vegan 100' post I thought I should stick to a theme!

Just look at this cute little pear tomato, don't you just want to dress it in pretty little dresses like a baby girl?


On second thought... maybe he's a little to masculine for a dress..


For the glaze:

1/2 c balsamic vinegar
3 tbs honey

Put the two ingredients in a small sauce pot and bring to a simmer, let it reduce until it is a thick syrup. Some people like to make a bunch for use later, but I've been making just a bit when I need it, and it reduced so much faster in a small amount.

For the salad:

A handful or more cherry tomato's
1/2 an Avocado

Really this is just a chop and go, so make more if you want more, I slice the cherries in half and then dice the avocado. Tumble them in a bowl and top with coarse sea or Himalayan salt, drizzle with the glaze (careful its intense!) and enjoy!

The Vegan 100


Alright, alright....
It may not appear that I am Vegan; probably because I'm not. But! I do eat a mostly plant based diet, and am even delving into Raw food; which I plan on sharing very soon. I could never actually be a Vegan or a raw foodist fully because I love to eat fish; all other meat I do enjoy from time to time, but could do without. Anyways as I was saying I do eat a mostly plant based diet and the stricter I am with myself, the better I feel so I wanted to participate in this. Hopefully I don't offend any Vegans - I just wanted to support the idea!

Here is what she wants me to do:

1)
Copy this list into your blog or social networking site profile, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out or italicize any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment on this post linking to your results.


The HHL Vegan Hundred:

1. Molasses
2. Cactus/Nopales
3. Scrambled Tofu - I'm off of Tofu, too processed for me!
4. Grilled Portobella Caps - Yum!
5. Fresh Ground Horseradish
6. Sweet Potato Biscuits
7. Arepa
8. Vegan Cole Slaw
9. Ginger Carrot Soup
10. Fiddlehead Ferns
11. Roasted Elephant Garlic
12. Umeboshi
13. Almond Butter Toast - Kind of, I usually eat it on Rice Cakes
14. Aloe Vera
15. H and H Bagel NYC
16. Slow Roasted Butternut Squash
17. White truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - I've enjoyed my share of home-made wine!
19. Freshly ground wasabi
20. Coconut Milk Ice Cream (not store bought)
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Orchard-fresh pressed apple cider
23. Organic California Mango (in season Sept-Oct only) - What about Mangos off a tree in Costa Rica? I think they are probably better!
24. Quinoa
25. Papaya Smoothie
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet (habanero) pepper (just a bite!...hot!
27. Goji Berry Tea
28. Fennel
29. Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie
30. Radishes and Vegan Buttery Spread
31. Starfruit
32. Oven fresh Sourdough bread
33. Sangria made with premium fruit and juices
34. Sauerkraut
35. Acai Smoothie
36. Blue Foot Mushrooms
37. Vegan Cupcake from Babycakes nyc
38. Sweet Potatoes and Tempeh combo
39. Falafel
40. Spelt Crust Pizza
41. Salt and Pepper Oyster Mushrooms
42. Jicama Slaw
43. Pumpkin Edamame Ginger Dumplings
44. Hemp Milk
45. Rose Champagne
46. Fuyu
47. Raw Avocado-Coconut Soup
48. Tofu Pesto Sandwich
49. Apple-Lemon-Ginger-Cayenne fresh-pressed juice...with Extra Ginger
50. Grilled Seitan
51. Prickly pear
52. Fresh Pressed Almond Milk
53. Concord Grapes off the vine
54. Ramps
55. Coconut Water fresh from a young coconut
56. Organic Arugula
57. Vidalia Onion
58. Sampler of organic produce from Diamond Organics
59. Honeycrisp Apple - So Crisp, straight from the Okanagan
60. Poi ?? I do Poi...
61. Vegan Campfire-toasted Smores
62. Grape seed Oil
63. Farm fresh-picked Peach
64. Freshly-made pita bread with freshly-made hummus
65. Chestnut Snack Packs
66. Fresh Guava
67. Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
68. Raw Mallomar from One Lucky Duck, NYC
69. Fried plantains
70. Mache
71. Golden Beets
72. Barrel-Fresh Pickles
73. Liquid Smoke
74. Meyer Lemon
75. Veggie Paella
76. Vegan Lasagna (raw optional)
77. Kombucha
78. Homemade Soy Milk
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Lychee Bellini
81. Tempeh Bacon
82. Sprouted Grain Bread
83. Lemon Pepper Tempeh
84. Vanilla Bean
85. Watercress
86.
Carrot you pulled out of the ground yourself
87. Vegan In-Season Fruit Pie
88. Flowers
89. Corn Chowder
90. High Quality Vegan Raw Chocolate
91. Yellow fuzz-free Kiwi
92. White Flesh Grapefruit
93. harissa
94. Coconut Oil
95. Jackfruit
96. Homemade Risotto
97. Spirulina
98. Seedless 'Pixie' Tangerine
99. Gourmet Sorbet, not store bought
100. Fresh Plucked English Peas


I think I'm doing alright!

Lasanga Roll Ups

Hello All! I am back, I do have a confession. I got a new camera at the beginning of August so technically I have just been taking a lazy summer break. Oh how I wish it was a lazy break, it was full of activity, every weekend something different. Every weekend something. And you know what disappoints me the most about summer - that I don't have enough of it, I know that we were lucky to have an early start to summer - That was so great. But remember when you were a kid and summer felt like it lasted forever? I miss that. Now summer is measured in about 8 - 10, 12 weekends if your lucky.

So to make up for lost time I present you with tasty tasty lasagna rolls:


These are a pretty easy to make but do take some time. I began by making the marina sauce so that definitely added quite a bit of time. I didn't really measure when making the sauce so I am going to suggest you use your favourite recipe or jarred version if your pressed on time. And I will take a rain check and remember to write down the ingredients next time!

Begin by boiling a nice big pot of water, when it reaches a rolling boil add in a handful of salt and 8 lasagna noodles. Cook according to package directions and lay out on a baking sheet lined with a tea towel. Make sure that the noodles keep keep their hands to themselves and don't touch.

Begin making the filling aka Spinachy and Cheesy Love

1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped mixed herbs
1 pkg frozen spinach - thawed and drained very well
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan
1 1/4 tsp each salt & pepper


Mince up the onion and garlic and saute until golden.

Add the rest of the filling ingredients except for 1/2 cup of Parmesan (save that for the top) to a bowl and give 'er a good old mix up.

Lay one of the noodles out on a dry counter and spread a little bit of the filling on it leaving a bit of space at one end. Like this:

Actually, maybe leave a little more then I did...
Also try not to make it to thick. Just about this thick:

And roll it up!

Pour a little bit of marinara into the bottom of a baking dish and add the roll. Repeat until they are all in the dish. Make sure to use a big enough dish that you can get all of the rolls as well as about 3 cups of Marinara. It is important that there is a good sauce to roll ratio as the filling is quite rich and the acid in the sauce helps to cut that so you can get perfectly balanced bit each time.

Top the rolls with the reserved Parmesan and bake in a 350 degree oven until it is warmed through and the cheese has melted into heavenly goodness.