Blueberry Buckwheat Mini Parfaits with Vanilla Creme

As mentioned in a previous post, we are cooking out of "Crazy Sexy Kitchen" this month, and I am loving it so far.  These lovely little treats were inspired by the "Mango-Raspberry Parfait with Vanilla Creme" on page 103.

Because I am a freak about overconsuming even "good fats", I decided that we would make the recipe into mini parfaits since the Vanilla Creme is made entirely from raw cashews and coconut milk.  Yummy yes, but OMG, it's like 90% fat!  

You only need to remember to soak your groats and cashews the night before and then you can bake the "groat crunchies" in an oven at low temperature in the morning. Not using a dehydrator makes this so much faster, and because of that you can eat them first thing in the morning for breakfast or for an after lunch treat. 

Serves 4
6oz container blueberries
1 cup cashews soaked in water overnight
2 raw medjool dates soaked in water overnight (or 2 tbsp of Agave Nectar)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean paste
1/2 13 oz can Thai coconut milk
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup raw buckwheat groats soaked in 3 cups water overnight
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon


1. Prepare the Vanilla Creme
Blend all creme ingredients in a blender- cashews, coconut milk, date, vanilla, water. Scrape the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula while blending to ensure that the creme is silky smooth.  Place in refrigerator while preparing buckwheat crunchies.

2. Prepare Buckwheat Crunchies
Rinse soaked buckwheat well and toss with cinnamon and sea salt.  Spread out thin over a tray.  I used a flat strainer tray so the buckwheat would cook on both sides.  This was something I bought in India and I have no idea if you can find anything like it here.  I used a convection toaster oven that allows me to set the cooking temp to as low as 75 degrees!  Since I wanted to get this done somewhat quickly I chose to cook at 150 degrees for 1 hour.  You could probably raise the heat to 250 to save time, maybe it will finish in 30 minutes at that temp.  Either way, make sure you stir the buckwheat around at least once to make sure it cooks evenly.


3. Assemble Parfaits
When the buckwheat is done you can now take out your vanilla creme and start pouring it into your glasses.  I used small wide mouth mason jars.  Toss your crunchies and blueberries on top and you are good to go! 

Meatless Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes

Here it is!  One of the most voted for recipes from my Meatless giveaway.  I made one modification to this recipe and that was to use no salt vegetable broth in place of the EVOO when cooking the onions.  Enjoy!!

Toasting the curry powder with other aromatic ingredients before adding the liquid intensifies the flavor of this quick take on chana masala. You can roast the cauliflower and the tomatoes a couple days ahead; cool, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.  Serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 head cauliflower (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into florets
2 tbsp plus 2 tsps extravirgin olive oil
1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large yellow onion, cut into medium dice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp curry powder
3 cups cooked chickpeas (canned or soaked and cooked)
2 1/2 cups baby spinach
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Toss cauliflower with 1 tsp olive oil and arrange in a single layer on one side of a rimmed baking sheet. Toss tomatoes with 1 tsp olive oil and arrange on other side of sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until florets are browned in spots and tomatoes are soft, about 25 minutes.

2. In a medium pot, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high. Cook onion, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer 8 minutes.

4. Add cauliflower and cook until warmed through and chickpeas are tender, about 8 minutes.  Stir in spinach and cilantro and season with salt. To serve, divide among 4 bowls (over rice, if desired).


Recipe reprinted from the book Meatless with permission from the publisher. Copyright © 2013 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. 

Winners of "Meatless" and April Book Giveaway

The winners of the drawing for a free copy of "Meatless" are....Chris Robinson and Michelle Moore Summers!  Please get in touch with me to get your copy of the book.  I can mail them out today :)

I was at the library over the weekend and picked out my next book giveaway for April!  I am super excited to be reviewing and cooking out of Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr with Chef Chad Sarno. 

I love this book and I promise you will too!  It's beautifully organized and full of gorgeous photos of high nutrient/high raw food.  There are recipes for raw juices, smoothies using raw nut milks, creative raw salads, soups and stews, "sexy sides", and desserts.

I can't wait to jump in and start cooking...and uncooking!

Here's the video trailer for the book and you can also get some sneak peak recipes on Kris Carr's website.  And bonus! You get free cooking classes with the book as well :-)


 

Review of the book "Meatless" and BOOK GIVEAWAY

I have been provided complimentary copies of the book "Meatless" by the publisher of Martha Stewart Living.  I only review books and products that I think my followers will have an interest in and I will always give an honest review.  

For the past three weeks I've been cooking from the book "Meatless" by the publisher of Martha Stewart Living, with a promise to the publisher to give my honest review.  I was somewhat hesitant to take on this project because the book is primarily filled with Lacto-Ovo vegetarian recipes, and well, this is a vegan blog.  But I wanted to give the book a chance because I think it's huge that Martha Stewart has her name on a cookbook that has no meat in it!  Can we all just stand up and give her a round of applause?!  Seriously people, this is HUGE.

Upon opening the book, I was excited to see that there was a beautiful color photo for every single recipe.  There's a wide variety of dishes catagorized as "Small Plates to Mix and Match", "Stovetop Suppers", "Soups, Stews, and Chili", "Casseroles and other Baked Dishes", "Substantial Salads", "Sandwiches, Burgers and Pizzas", "Pasta and other Noodles", and "Simple Side Dishes". 

I appreciated the many gluten free recipes, though I did need to modify a bit on the oil and dairy. The ingredients were easy to find and the recipes simple to follow.  The serving size and macronutrient information are all there, but I would have liked to have had a notation about the total time from start to finish.

If your family has been "eating clean" or tossing around the idea of giving up meat at least one day a week, this would be a great guide.  If you are a seasoned vegan or vegetarian cook the book may or may not give you some fresh new ideas but it's worth a look.  I didn't find that the recipes pushed vegetarian cooking to the edge like Isa's Moskowitz's recipes do, but it definitely has it's place in the mainstream world of new vegetarians or new plant based eaters. Again, I give Martha and her staff a big high five for recognizing that palates are changing, and for the better :-)

Below is the Versitile Vegetarian Chili on p. 146.   The basic chili has 10 ingredients, but there are suggestions for toppings (I chose raw corn and avocado), varying the beans, changing up the vegetables, using tomatillos in place of the canned tomatoes, and broiling the veggies to maximize the flavor.  

This is the Roasted Beet-Garlic Soup on p. 142.  I love me some Borsht soup, so this was not hard to make and eat.  The only thing I did wrong was to not roast the garlic in the oven, I simply pan sauteed it because I failed to read ahead in the directions and had a time constraint for getting this one done.  I think roasting it is necessary to give it the depth of flavor.  It was still very good!  My kids enjoyed it too, but they aren't picky eaters so that's not saying much.

I was at Whole Foods to buy the veggies for the ratatouille and mentioned to one of the employees what I was making.  I got a nice story about how he worked on a farm one summer and there was always lots of fresh tomatoes, so he made ratatouille several nights a week and never got sick of it. And since then it has become his "favorite meal".  I almost felt as if I needed to extend him an invitation to dinner!

I had not made Ratatouille in years, so I had forgotten how wonderfully simple it is to make.  I think the Roasted-Vegetable Ratatouille on p.141 one will become a regular in my meal plan rotation.

It's not a big surprise that we are big ethnic food eaters at our house since my husband was born and raised in India. So, of course I had to make the Curried Red Lentil Soup with Dried Cherries and Cilantro on p. 126.   Vineet insisted on serving his over Basmati rice and adding mango pickle.   He ate two bowls of it- a sign that his Indian palate enjoyed it.   I have made similar soups but never thought to add the cherries (well I used cranberries) but it does add a nice dimension to the soup!  And I like the idea to drizzle the coconut milk for garnish.  Not my best photo, but you get the idea...

This is the Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes on p. 133.  I have made many a curry with cauliflower but never had I thought to use roasted cauliflower.  Roasting cauliflower gives it an almost buttery/cheesy taste.  We had purple califlower growing in the garden, so that's what I used here.  This one is also a definite keeper!




Lastly, the Zucchini-Ribbon Lasagna on p. 155 was made with both zucchini ribbons and gluten free noodles.  I ran out of zuchini, so I had to improvise.  I thought this one lacked a bit in flavor when I compare it to Isa Moskowitz's lasagna recipes.  I think making the tofu into a ricotta with cashews and spices would have helped make the dish more flavorful.  Still, we did enjoy this one.

I'm not done cooking with this book!  I still want to try the Quinoa Veggie Burger, Green Vegetable Curry, Marrakesh Stew, Sweet Potatoes with Pomegranate Coconut and Lime, Lentil and Cashew Hummus, Baked Polenta Fries and more. 

Also, I am giving away a copy of Meatless!  All you have to do is comment below on which recipe you'd like me to get permission from publisher to print here on my blog! You can follow me on FaceBook and also enter the contest there. I will randomly select a winner using random.org.  Good Luck :)