Oh, and I almost forgot this incredible super-rich chokky gelato!! Don’t skimp on the dates
(Again, sorry about all the ads) Scroll right down for the recipe -DO READ the notes about cacao vs cocoa, blending vs mixing etc. And definitely don’t ignore the freezing and serving tips! https://www.texanerin.com/vegan-chocolate-ice-cream/
Dates are right up there next to figs! Pretty obvious that I have a sweet tooth.
Here’s another one you’ll enjoy! Gluten-free ‘grain’ salad made with kasha (roasted buckwheat) - if it turns out you’re not into kasha, substitute quinoa, bulghur, rice etc.
As my mother was adopted, I learned about the Ashkenazi branch of the family later, so it was years before I sampled Kasha.
I recently joined Ancestry piecing together names to the one great grandmother that I had met on the maternal branch. To my surprise the documents pointed to Rus-Polen, instead of my assumption that my great grandparents were German but her father's line which we thought were Swedes, appear to be German, maybe Lutheran.
Dad's family was well researched by my aunt and cousin tracing his mother back to the Daughters of the American Revolution still trying to get the country of origin clear, looks like German and Welsh, and his Dad was easy, born in Sicily.
So a mix of countries, religions and ethnic dishes from Cannolis to Kasha!
I’ve become close friends with people (not Jewish) from Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Russia etc. All grew up with semolina and with kasha, both prepared in lots of ways - some familiar to me and some new. It’s so much fun discussing these and sharing the recipes, learning family twists to basic meals. This week I’ve learnt new ways with basic Polish cabbage soup, basic pickles etc.
OK, one more quick recipe and I’ll let it rest for a bit. This is super-simple, and can be made GF by using chickpea flour (rice flour makes it too gluggy). Use vegan substitutes for egg and cheese. Use celery instead of scallions if you wish; add some mint or dill; do NOT add fake bacon. The baking soda is to keep the greens green, and minimise gas in your tummy. If you can’t be bothered making thin pastry, buy filo. Do NOT play around with quantities, this is enough, and is surprisingly filling with some fresh side salad.
This is delicious, known in Indonesia as Martabak; also made in Turkey (forgot their name); similar to mini-tiropita from Greece, and I think Bulgaria has something similar.
Fudgy, tender, and perfectly sweetened, it doesn’t get better than sweet potato brownies! Made with no added sugar or flour, they bake in just 20 minutes.
Ingredients 1x2x3x
▢1 cup cooked sweet potato mashed
▢1/2 cup almond buttercan sub for any nut or seed butter of choice
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and grease a loaf pan and set aside.
In a high-speed blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients and blend well until a smooth brownie batter remains.
Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake for around 20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. If desired, add frosting, then slice.
Notes
For frosting, try my 2 ingredient chocolate frosting or healthy frosting (pictured).TO STORE. Place cooled brownies in a sealed container and keep them in the fridge. Brownies refrigerated will keep fresh for up to 1 week.TO FREEZE. You can freeze sweet potato brownies! Wrap brownies individually in parchment paper and place them in a ziplock bag. Brownies kept in the freezer will keep fresh for up to 6 months.
6h · we’ve been scouring the world and have finally found a vegan (and certified kosher) stroopwafel! it’s two round cookies held together with a syrup filling and we put that bad boy on a caramel glazed donut! enjoy one with a cup of hot coffee and “lekker!” which is dutch for enjoy!
It's easy to make quick vegan dishes with vegetables and occasionally the addition of vegan meat substitutes.
I lean towards one skillet dishes, I keep track of my protein each day and vary the veggies and fruits.
What is recently recommended is to consume about 30 different vegetables and fruits per week. As some produce comes in large amounts and things can spoil quickly I can do it in a 2 week period.
I use vegan supplements, mine are from Future Kind online but I have found vegan Magnesium at Shoprite the brand is Natures Truth as well as Turmeric.
I saw your post on the "recognize an MOLer" thread, thanks for the memories. Yes I remember Nancy Heinz Glaser. I lost contact with her after she moved to California (I think that's right). I'm still a vegan, I'll try to post some dishes. But I'm not just a vegan, I'm a Nutritarian, which is a diet/lifestyle designed by Joel Fuhrman, MD, who wrote "Eat to Live" and a bunch of other books about his program. He allows some flexibility (10% of your calories can be anything) but I do the strict version which excludes all added salt, processed oils, refined sugars and refined grains. Bean pasta and sprouted grain bread (Ezekial and Manna) are OK. I've been doing this 100% for 18 1/2 years.
Can you please share more about the first dish? Looks like white beans, broad beans, spinach/silverbeet & little tomatoes with some kind of brown gravy? Would it be as good without the tomatoes? TIA
It's easy to make quick vegan dishes with vegetables and occasionally the addition of vegan meat substitutes.
I lean towards one skillet dishes, I keep track of my protein each day and vary the veggies and fruits.
What is recently recommended is to consume about 30 different vegetables and fruits per week. As some produce comes in large amounts and things can spoil quickly I can do it in a 2 week period.
I use vegan supplements, mine are from Future Kind online but I have found vegan Magnesium at Shoprite the brand is Natures Truth as well as Turmeric.
I saw your post on the "recognize an MOLer" thread, thanks for the memories. Yes I remember Nancy Heinz Glaser. I lost contact with her after she moved to California (I think that's right). I'm still a vegan, I'll try to post some dishes. But I'm not just a vegan, I'm a Nutritarian, which is a diet/lifestyle designed by Joel Fuhrman, MD, who wrote "Eat to Live" and a bunch of other books about his program. He allows some flexibility (10% of your calories can be anything) but I do the strict version which excludes all added salt, processed oils, refined sugars and refined grains. Bean pasta and sprouted grain bread (Ezekial and Manna) are OK. I've been doing this 100% for 18 1/2 years.
I have watched Fuhrman as well and enjoyed his suggestions. I think it was Fuhrman who got me on the GBOMBS diet. I started as just an ethical vegan, but in time I took nutrition more seriously. I watch a few PBS health gurus and grab a few suggestions here and there.
I stay organic with few exceptions. Rarely eat processed foods. I have been using Stevia, in place of agave. I eat walnuts everyday hoping to keep my brain healthy! Easily consume a variety of about 10 fruits and veggies a day and have to add a vegan protein shake to up my protein. I eat the rainbow.
Since I don't consume a great deal of calories I've always relied on vitamins to help bridge the gap and for a few years I'm using Future Kind Vegan supplements. Aside from the complete, I'm taking the Omega 3s. Instead of fish they are using algae. I'm also doing the Vegan Collagen Booster.
Those are grape tomatoes! yummy. White beans, spinach, onions and mushrooms. Those last three are almost daily, recommended by one of the PBS health gurus, I think it was Dr. Fuhrman, the one @paulsurovell follows.
Please, someone tell me what’s really like - it’s full of things I’m allergic to.
Looks good. Which things are you allergic too. I would do cannellini beans in place of fava. I'd skip the parsley, not a fan. Olives sound great. I'm a bit more of an onion person than garlic but since it's recommended for health I do eat some on occasion.
Hubby can’t go anywhere near garlic, garlic salt, garlic chives etc. I have to be careful of how many pulses (and which) I have in a week - basic food chemicals that are shared across most plants, especially concentrated when dried, need to be minimised in my diet. Forget tomatoes in any form; bulb onions of any colour are right out (leeks, green shallots are ok). No olives in any form, ever. (One olive is equivalent to 25 peeled pears. I’m allowed 1 peeled pear a day, as my only safe fruit)
Chillies and capsicums are also right out. No citrus is safe. Most spices are out.
Pretty much if a food is highly flavoured, or brightly coloured, or even slightly exotic then forget it. Most plants need to be peeled before I can have them (yep, even celery and carrots). Forget anything fermented, such as sauerkraut or kombucha.
Looks good. Which things are you allergic too. I would do cannellini beans in place of fava. I'd skip the parsley, not a fan. Olives sound great. I'm a bit more of an onion person than garlic but since it's recommended for health I do eat some on occasion.
Yeah. Cornflour ok, corn/maize flour not as good. (Surprisingly they’re not the same thing. Different ingredients) I use rice flour, potato flour, arrowroot, tapioca flour, besan flour…I grind chia into flour. Occasionally I can use a small amount of GF ordinary flour. If you’re curious, Friendly Foods gives a better guide. I’m on the strictest level. Friendly Foods (RPAH, and Velencia Soutter) is similar to the failsafe diet but tighter. It’s not FODMAPS, but is FODMAPS friendly.
Yeah. Cornflour ok, corn/maize flour not as good. (Surprisingly they’re not the same thing. Different ingredients) I use rice flour, potato flour, arrowroot, tapioca flour, besan flour…I grind chia into flour. Occasionally I can use a small amount of GF ordinary flour. If you’re curious, Friendly Foods gives a better guide. I’m on the strictest level. Friendly Foods (RPAH, and Velencia Soutter) is similar to the failsafe diet but tighter. It’s not FODMAPS, but is FODMAPS friendly.
And yeah, it can be boring!
What is the health issue that requires these limitations?
Pure allergies. I have an over-active immune system, now recognised as MACS mast cell activation syndrome (I got the severe version, Disorder). Basically, my immune system thinks the entire world will kill me. My body reacts to basic chemicals found across all kinds of things, so the teeny reactions build across each exposure in a day or week…then serious stuff can happen. I grew up eating anything, playing in dirt and in wild environments. Developed obvious reactions in my 20s. Also, interesting to note that organic foodstuffs naturally have more of the chemicals I react to, so they’re worse for me.
Well, here is a simple Vegan pancake. And to all who follow the rules of capitalization, it is obvious that I simply apply to anything I think is important. Vegan always gets the big V. Bird species, actually all animals get capitalized in my world. Back to cooking this has plant-based milk and an egg replacement.
Vegan Oreo Bat Cupcakes by The Little Blog of Vegan by Holly Jade
Dairy-free milk
Apple cider vinegar
Self raising flour
Cocoa Powder
Caster sugar
Baking powder
Bicarbonate of soda
Sunflower Oil
Dairy-free butter
Icing sugar
Can of chickpeas (aquafaba)
Oreos
White chocolate
Dark chocolate
Cupcakes: Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C Fan, and line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake cases. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free milk and apple cider vinegar, whisk to create a buttermilk.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and raising agents. Pour in the oil and buttermilk, fold together until no dry is remaining.
Divide the batter between the cupcake cases, with either spoons or an ice-cream scoop. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a skewer inserted down the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow to cool fully before frosting.
Frosting: Add dairy-free butter into a bowl and whip until light and creamy. I use a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment. Sift in the icing sugar then aquafaba. Whip for 5-8 minutes on high speed until light and creamy. It should be quite airy.
Fold in the Oreo crumbs and transfer into a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle. Pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake, and sprinkle with more Oreo crumbs.
Oreo bats: Twist an Oreo in half carefully so you don’t break them, then take another Oreo and cut it in half so you have the wings. Use some melted chocolate to stick the ‘wings’ on the half of the Oreo, then press the other half of the Oreo on top to create the bat shape.
Melt chocolate and drizzle over the ”bats”. Allow to set in the fridge until firm to the touch. Use white chocolate buttons with a dot of dark chocolate in the middle for the eyes and press on to the front of the ”bats”.
I’ve become close friends with people (not Jewish) from Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Russia etc. All grew up with semolina and with kasha, both prepared in lots of ways - some familiar to me and some new. It’s so much fun discussing these and sharing the recipes, learning family twists to basic meals. 
Hubby can’t go anywhere near garlic, garlic salt, garlic chives etc. I have to be careful of how many pulses (and which) I have in a week - basic food chemicals that are shared across most plants, especially concentrated when dried, need to be minimised in my diet. Forget tomatoes in any form; bulb onions of any colour are right out (leeks, green shallots are ok). No olives in any form, ever. (One olive is equivalent to 25 peeled pears. I’m allowed 1 peeled pear a day, as my only safe fruit)
Use this this dough as your base
https://www.thevegetariantraveller.com/vegan-honey-walnut-cookies/
And this video as your guide (video recipe is not vegan). DELISH!!