Raw-ish Banana "Cream" Tart

So I'm sure you've noticed a lack of bakery here on the blog- or lack of a blog period. Well, I have been eating no sugar or flour since the day after Easter. I feel fantastic but needless to say the baking has suffered.

My brother has lost 45 lbs eating this way so for his birthday I wanted to make him something special in keeping with the plan. I made him a banana cream pie and it came out so well that I re-created it in a tart form to take to a cookout later today.

Crust: 1 1/4 cup almonds
            1/4 cup raw cashews
            18 dates
Process in a food processor so they look like this:

Press into the pan or pie plate- this one is 11 inch tart pan

Then add a layer of bananas- I used 2 whole bananas.

Pour the filling on top- in food processor blend 1 tub of Tofutti cream cheese, 1 banana, 1/2 cup coconut cream (from a refrigerated can of coconut milk), 1/8 tsp vanilla and 4 drops stevia.

 It looked kinda boring so I added some "candied" almonds- just threw a handful in a skillet with a squirt of agave and a tsp or so of coconut oil. You could also top with toasted coconut but some of the people today are coconut haters. Or add another layer of sliced bananas, but do that just before serving so they don't turn brown.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup Recipe

The inspiration for this soup came from my friend Nancy. While we were in Florida, she showed me a recipe for a curried cauliflower soup that used a dehydrator to "roast" the veg before adding it to the soup. I'm not a big curry fan, and we didn't have a dehydrator but I couldn't stop thinking about a real roasted cauliflower soup. When I got back to Ohio here is what I came up with:

                Cauliflower, barley, chickpeas & scallions

                            
                                     Roasted Cauliflower Soup

1 head cauliflower cut into small florets
olive oil spray
1/2 cup pearled barley
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped - both green and white parts
2 cloves garlic- chopped
8 cups veg broth (or water and veg broth cubes)
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
pinch of herbes de provence *optional
salt & pepper to taste

Heat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. This will help prevent the cauliflower from becoming soggy. Add florets to baking sheet and spray lightly with olive oil spray. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes until tender and nicely browned.

While cauliflower is roasting- add barley, broth, garlic and scallions to a large soup pot. Cook over medium heat until barley is almost done. Add spices and chickpeas and heat through. By this time, cauliflower should be ready. Add to soup, heat for another minute or two then serve.
The smaller you cut the florets, the easier it is to eat!

Thanksgiving Desserts

Wow- time really has flown by! I can't believe the last post was 2 months ago. Things have been a little crazy but Thanksgiving is a great time to stop and reflect on all the things in your life to be grateful for. I'ts also a great time to eat some yummy desserts!

Like this-
Vegan Coconut Cream Pie! If you're a coconut lover, this one is soooo good!

And Pumpkin Cheezecake with gingersnap crust and pecan crunch topping!

Or Carrot cake!

If you live in Northeast Ohio and don't like to bake- check out Terra Bakery on Facebook to order your desserts for Thanksgiving.

Mexican Cheezecake Squares- vegan of course!

When I saw this recipe I thought they would be good- but I was wrong.

They are AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!

They are so simple to make!  And they will disappear like magic.
Recipe here:
http://tofu-n-sproutz.blogspot.com/2009/08/vegan-mexican-cheesecake-sopapilla-bars.html

Vegan Brunch!

Labor Day Brunch! After our usual morning walk the girls came over for brunch- muffins, orange slices with agave, spicy fried potatoes, tofu scramble and vegan sausage.

And don't forget the grapefruit mimosas! They were sooooo good!

1 cup grapefruit juice

6 T triple sec

fill glass halfway with juice mix, then the other half with champagne. These were amazing.

Blueberry muffins and raisin bran muffins

two of the hubbys even showed up!

A great end to the holiday weekend.

Getting creative with leftovers

After the dinner party last week I had a few graham cracker crusts leftover as well as some of the mousse filling from the mini mousse cakes. Here is what I ended up with~

Best leftovers I've had in a while!

Dinner Party Pics

So last week was great! I got an email from my friend who is a vegan personal chef and he was doing a dinner party and needed some desserts~
Not too creative, cause time was kind of tight but I thought they came out okay.

First up were my mini carrot cakes~ I love how moist these come out and they are so cute! 

Then I made mini key lime-avocado pies. Minor problem with these so had to improvise.

Pies and lemon bars too!

The lemon bars kept sucking up the powdered sugar topping

but there was extra to sprinkle just before serving.

And the mini mousse cakes- you've seen them before but here's another blurry picture~

This was so much fun! I need to get pastry rings so the stacks come out even. Has anyone used them before? What do you think of them?