Welcome back to the work week! I hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend. How was mine? Meh. At least it was probably better than my poor dad’s who had to work more than usual, working Sunday and Monday. That’s what working in computers at a college will get ya! In case you missed any posts,

• Friday night I gave workout tips.
• Saturday morning I made a from-the-box confession night I admitted my new hobby
• Sunday I shared a favorite movie of mine(and of a lot of yours!) and practiced tasty food combining.
• Memorial Day I gave an allergen-friendly brownie recipe and uncooked a lot.

Now, remember this post? Now that May is over, I thought it’d be fun to check in with my Recipe goals and see how they’re coming. Of course, I’m always adding to that list, like those brownies I made recently were a “new addition”. But I consider this a good base for the whole Summer.

Vegan peanut butter fudge: Made it. Not 100% satisfied but it’s better than the first attempt and I’m not convinced it’s getting better.

Falafels: Now that I’ve tasted them, I know what I’m aiming for.

Vegan Meatloaf: Not yet. Waiting for a time when we’re low on food.

Gluten-free Killer Cornbread: Not yet but darn that sounds good right about now!

Vegan Break-Up Bars: I’m waiting for a really special occasion to break these out.

Chickpeas From Dry: Done here

Bob’s Red Mill GF Vanilla Cupcakes: Done

Chocolate Sorbet: Need room in the freezer

Raw Cashew “Ice Cream”: Done with a recipe!

Nut Milk: Still using cartoned.

Raw Chocolate Brownies more like Grezzo’s: Haven’t even thought about it yet.

Sprouted Almond Butter: Have the almonds. Need to soak.

Tart Frozen Yogurt: Nope.

Pomegranate Syrup: Made it, shoved it in the refrigerator and haven’t touched it since.

Raw Vegan Chicken Salad: I could call this one done since I made Averie’s raw taco meat but since I loved that so much I’m sure I’ll be making this one, too.

Maple Pecan Ice Cream(or something of the like): Again, need more room in the fridge.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream: Made what I’m now calling cocoa butter sorbet

That’s 6/17. Not bad for 2 weeks! On top of those, you might see some formatting changes on the blog from now and again; I’m trying to pick a new look as I’m not entirely happy with the current one but I am not a computer wiz so bear with me. I’ve also got two other “special” products in the works.

What goals are you working on?

I started my morning with a run, which called for prefueling with chocolate. Lindt is obviously not a raw chocolate brand but still tasty, and even non-raw dark chocolate has a good amount of antioxidants. Chomp on

I only aimed for 9 miles but ended up doing 11 after I got way too in to my new playlist. I think I’ve listened to some songs by Adam Lambert and Sugarland 5+ times over the past few days. Whoops?

All I’ve been craving lately for lunch has been raw salads. We seriously don’t have enough raw veggies in this house to satisfy that! I used half an avocado squirted with lime juice as the “meat” here, and around it added raw corn, lemon garlic marinated olives, and onions caramelized in a little EVOO(obviously not raw but cooked onions taste 1000 times better than raw in my opinion). The result: delicious. This was like some backwards guacamole salad. Loved it!

It seems my sweet-tooth, which has been in and out recently is back. A Zevia twist tasted perfect mid-afternoon for a boost. Just like a diet Sierra Mist!

The piece d’ resistance of the afternoon was this Memorial Day sundae. I really want to make a maple walnut flavor ice cream! Along with soooo many others. But since there’s only so much room in our freezer, I took some of the ice cream I made with raw milk and covered it in NH maple taffy and freshly toasted walnuts. Yum! Except whole milk ice cream is just too icy as I’ve found out; you really need half and half to make something decently creamy(or coconut milk at a 2:1 ratio with water for a vegan half and half).

It turned out that I went from being the only one with plans for Memorial Day to being the only one home. How does that happen?! Not going to lie: I was a little upset. But instead I decided to make this a golden opportunity to try a new recipe I’ve been dying to make.

First I snacked on some Crazy Richards chunky pb straight for some energy and got the food processor out.

The recipe I wanted to (not) cook was raw taco meat, so I went straight over to Averie’s blog and found her super simple recipe. Here it is below; I followed it to a T except used her variation of swapping out the spices for predone(Trader Joe’s) taco seasoning.

Averie’s Raw Vegan Taco Nut “Meat”
1/2 C Raw Almonds
1/2 C Walnuts
1/3 C Sun Dried Tomatoes loosely packed (If using oil packed, may slightly reduce amount of olive oil added)
1/2 Tsp Chili Powder (or to taste)
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Powder (or to taste)
2 to 4 Tbsp Olive Oil (or hemp, flax, etc.)
Optional: 1 Tsp Salt (or to taste)

Wow! I’ve never had something so flavorful. And I will be making this again. It certainly wouldn’t suit if all you want is that beef-flavor or meat. But if you’re just looking for something fun and tasty, this totally works. I ate it along a gingerade kombucha and home fries made with white potato, sweet potato, red onion, olive oil, salt and pepper. Of course, really Averie would probably hate this dish because it has about a days worth of sodium in it(and I’m eating it with a salt shaker ready and standing by).

And now I’m watching Knocked Up on TV. I love the movie, but some things are just better done when you have the house to yourself

Where do you go for new recipes? This is something I always get asked by people I cook for. Almost all my recipes come or were derived from blogs, FoodNetwork.com, or Allrecipes.com. Maybe this is a bias crowd to ask this question, but really I have to think this is what the internet is for!

Last night, I had a brownie attack. Don’t we all get those? I used to swear by a recipe like this one by Rachael Ray.I love the tag: “We can’t believe people are still using boxed mixes!” However, since then my “basic” has become anything but. Of course, there’s the gluten thing; I’ve also steered away from using eggs in baked goods for personal reasons. And, while I’m at it, I usually figure why not take out the dairy and make them vegan just in case? In case of what? I have no clue either. But that’s my line of thinking. And so I made brownies as “basic” as I could. And you know what? They turned out darn good. And because they were vegan, I got to lick the pan

Basic Allergen-Friendly Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup GF flour mix
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk(water in a pinch)
• 1 flax egg(1 tablespoon flaxmeal gelled in 3 tablespoons water)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 oz chopped dark chocolate, or 6 tablespoons vegan chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a big bowl, sift together the first five ingredients. Melt the non-hydrogenated margarine and add in the olive oil, non-dairy milk, vinegar, flax egg, and extract. Pour into the dry mixture and mix until incorporated. Fold in the dark chocolate and pour into an 8×8 baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

When you’re living with allergens, life isn’t simple. Good thing these brownies are. And tasty!

I’m ashamed to say this was store bought vanilla bean coconut milk ice cream. When you get used to the home-churned stuff, it just feels naughty coming from a carton. Regardless, this was soooo good. Isn’t this how every weekend should be? 3-days long and full of brownie sundaes? I think so.

You could use 3 ounces of fancy chocolate for the recipe. Or you could use vegan baking chips and save the good stuff for yourself to eat straight. I think you can guessed what I chose.

And a big ol’ bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter and sea salt tasted good after all that chocolate. Sometimes, you just need to detox.

After all that baking/microwaving, I did not feel like much for breakfast this morning. I really wanted a big cake donut and to call it a day but that wasn’t happening. Thankfully, I found this chocolate chip muffin from Gluten Free Life to eat with some earth balance. Just like my brownies, you’d never guess this was gluten-free! And so many chocolate chips. Yum

Anything exciting on tap for Memorial Day? I had a pool party in store but apparently it’s been rain checked since the pool won’t heat up Alas, we have a grill, we have neighbors, I’m sure we’ll find some way to spice up Memorial day.

I think it’s well documented that me and chocolate have a deep, deep love affair. Would you bet it’s so great that I was willing to run 5 miles down the road for a gluten-free brownie at 11am? The only problem was that the store opened at noon. Whoops! At least I got a good run out of the deal?

It’s great that raw veggies and Summer salads marry so easily because then I get the best of both worlds. I haven’t liked corn for the longest time, until I tried it raw today thanks to Lauren(who just rocked a Boston half-marathon!). Anyway, raw corn = amazing. It was like adding sugar to the salad and went so well with olives and olive cashew nut cheese. Yum!

Chocolate + Peanut butter. Yes. As much as I want to marry chocolate, I’ll allow it to have its mistress. This has to be one of my favorite ice creams. It’s so perfect, I don’t feel the need at all to try to make it myself. I will just bask in its c+pb perfection.

If I’m like a married person in anyway, it’s that I’m always over a hot stove. Today, I decided to make my own BBQ sauce! The recipe isn’t perfect or flavorful enough yet, so I’ll keep it in my pocket. But it’s so much fun to make your own condiments, I have to say, you should go out(or in) and try it!

Is polygamy legal? Because peanut butter totally has a thing going with local raw honey. As it should; Nothing beats the sweet + salty combo in my books. I ate that over a plain Chobani because really lacking on the protein as of late and that definitely helped to be a filler.

There was also an apple consumed before dinner. That is not invited to the wedding. At all. The last few apples I’ve had have just been way too sub-par. I think we need a “break” like Ross and Rachel.

Everything came together perfect for dinner. It was a symphony of tofu marinated in BBQ sauce and grilled along with some salty sweet potato fries. The onions that were in the sauce got strained out but rather than throw them away, I used them as a topping. Brilliant! They were oh-so flavorful. Have I mentioned how much I love onions as of late? I think that’s another (stinky-breath) marriage right there.

Sweet or salty? Even with my abundant love for chocolate and ice cream, I simply couldn’t live without salty food(hello, Indian cuisine!). That’s probably why I’d sooner opt for a bottle of soy sauce than BBQ sauce. I know they make reduced sodium; do they make enhanced sodium?

Eating out? Good. Eating somewhere with a huge array of choices? Better. Trying new and exciting things? Best. I think I want to try to make falafels now, because these were my first taste, and while they were good, they weren’t the best. But that tamarind chutney. WOW. I wish I took note of the ingredients besides onion and raisins because it was amazing.

I have to admit this is one of my favorite movies, so I went ahead and popped it in for the night. I still remember trudging through snow in Boston with friends to see it at the movies. I think it comforts me that Cameron Diaz’s character might just be crazier and more high-strung than me. And if Jack Black can get a girl like Kate Winslet, well there’s hope for everyone.

You haven’t had ice cream until you’ve had homemade. The gluten-free birthday cake didn’t come out quite like I hoped for(probably needs more sugar). But I’d rather have a decent birthday cake flavor that’s gluten-free than an excellent one that’s not. And chocolate chips–of course.

Who says vegan buttercream has to be just for cakes? It tastes just as good on a Newman’s Own Organic‘s 54% dark chocolate bar. I was looking for cream cheese but we didn’t have any. Next thought: buttercream. The day you discover the how to make a really fast buttercream with be the first day of the rest of your life.

And now we’re back to realty… sort of, with oatmeal, Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter(aka, better Nutella butter), and a Fage with pineapple and brown sugar.

Pineapple Chobani, eat your heart out.

Yesterday, I spent a good portion of my afternoon working on this masterpiece. It was supposed to be vegan white chocolate ice cream, but the white chocolate flavor never really came through :-/ Then again, I don’t think I’ve had any vegan white chocolate ever, so I’m not sure what I was working with to begin with. Anyway, what came out was a delicious Coconut Cocoa Butter flavor.

Today started out very relaxingly with yogurt and raw local honey and some lightly-sweetened peanut butter over oats. Even though the weather was gorgeous, after 9 days of running I was happy to take a rest day because that’s what my body wanted.

Rest day or not, I refuse to give up some morning chocolate Followed by a good walk. When I got back, I fired up the grill and cooked for everyone.

I think I’ve taken my onion love to new, stink-breath heights. All it took to make these was tossing them in some EVOO and putting them in an aluminum foil pack cooking 5 minutes on each side. Delicious! They went perfectly with a southern style Wildwood burger and some roasted broccoli.

And right afterward, I went back to my new favorite hobby. I made a mix of 3 cups organic half and half, 3/4 cup Bob’s gluten free cake mix, 5 tablespoons Madhava light agave, and some guar gum and poured that into the ice cream maker. Like I learned from this experience, you really need to make the ice cream a good 3-4+ hours before expecting to eat it.

Why not some matching cupcakes? Made with Tropical Tradition‘s coconut oil and a flax egg. Getting that flax chicken to lay an egg on command is tough work! But she clucks one up eventually.

And then, since none of that would be ready for a few hours, I’ve been snacking on a bowl of oatmeal with Justin’s chocolate almond butter and coconut milk for richness–delicious! I think dessert for tonight is pretty much set with my new hobby, wouldn’t you?

Annnd now I’m snacking on one of the cupcakes. Flax, egg–I’ve still got it no matter what I’m cooking with.

What’s your favorite kitchen appliance? I’d say my food processor has some competition now…