Join Me for Merienda: V,GF- Jesscafé Nog French Toast (to a new year!) =)

       It's almost a new year and what other way to ring it in (aside from the bells, okay), but with a toast. 

How about some Jesscafé Nog French Toast? If not for tomorrow morning, how about for a new year's brunch? It's very easy; especially if you've already made a batch of Jesscafé Nog; then it's even easier to make. There are just a few additions and voila; you'll have something awesome to share with your loved ones.

Vegan and Gluten Free- Jesscafé Nog French Toast

Ingredients:

1C of Jesscafé Nog *

3 Tb of Organic Ground Flax Seed

Extra Saigon Cinnamon

A tad bit more organic cane or coconut sugar, adjust it to your taste

A few slices of toasted bread GF or Non-GF of your choice

*If starting from scratch:

 simply blend 1 cup of coconut milk beverage 

with a dash himalayan pink sea salt,cinnamon, nutmeg and 1tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

Pour the mixture into a shallow dish and dip each piece of toast into the mixture and flip over once, being sure not to let it become overly saturated.  In a pan with perhaps a bit of coconut oil or any oil of your choice bring the pan to a medium hot temperature and cook each slice for 1-3 minutes on the first side and then flip and cook for additional 1-2 minutes. You can add a bit more sugar for serving, but that's entirely up to your taste. I didn't picture it here, but serving it alongside some fresh fruit is always nice or maybe with a nice organic marmalade or ginger syrup would be delightful too. 

Batter or Custard up?

Slices are cooking in the pan 

Happy slices on a plate.

I've also experimented with making this into a baked french toast, but I wasn't satisfied with the current version; so I'll keep working on that, but here's a photo of one of the versions with organic banana slices tucked in between the slices and on top. 

Getting dressed

Taking a bath

Sun tanned and golden?

Okay, well that's it for this year. I'll keep working on some good things for the new year. Wishing you all happiness, love, prosperity, wellness and good health for the new year and for many years to come as well!

Love,

Jessica

Join Me for Merienda: V,GF- Jesscafé Nog aka a 'Hug in a mug.'

      It's almost the end of this year and I wanted to share a hug full of love with you all. Around this time of year people are gathering and celebrating and sometimes when you have restrictions; you may not  feel like you can fully participate in all of the fun, but fear not, there are many ways to join in the festivities. I don't know how popular Egg Nog, is as a beverage these days, but when I was younger, I did enjoy having it, sparingly because it could sometimes be cloyingly sweet. At present, I've only had Egg Nog-like beverages a few times over the years since and the vegan ones that I've tried are good and I don't think that my version of Nog could replace the ones on the market, but it's definitely more economical and you can make as much or as little as you want of it.

I don't own a clear mug; so here is the top view from my ceramic mug. I don't think that this is the prettiest shot of the Nog, but if you could smell it through the screen; you wouldn't care either ;p

V and GF- Jesscafé Nog

Ingredients:

3C Unsweetened Coconut Milk Beverage

A few dashes of Saigon Cinnamon

A dash of Nutmeg

1tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1/3C or less of Organic Cane or Coconut Sugar

Tiny pinch of Himalayan pink sea salt

Method:

In a tall pot, mix all of the ingredients together, except for the pure vanilla extract. Carefully bring it to a simmer, stirring it constantly (it WILL boil over; if you leave it unattended). I recommend cooking it for at least 10-12 minutes. You should taste it and adjust to your liking, add in the pure vanilla extract after cooking and incorporate it well.

My version of Nog, will not have that same thick mouth feel that true nog or the commercially sold vegan nog have, but it is still tasty =)

You can modify the same ingredients for my Nog and turn it into a vegan custard mixture to make vegan french toast/bread pudding. I will post a recipe for that tomorrow because afterall, what would a new year be without a good toast? ;p

Wishing you all very happy holiday and hoping that the new year will bring you many wonderful and good things for your lives including good health and happiness <3

Love,

Jessica

Join Me for Merienda: Double Edition - V,GF - Green Papaya Salad and a recipe for an Italian Style herbed Vinaigrette

I really am not a huge fan of ripe papaya. I always liked the juice (so did my late Lola Frances), but the ripe fruit on its own was a little 'close,' for my liking. However green papaya, is in a different league. It's crunchy and versatile and can be used for pickles and salads. I have been making different variations on this kind of Green Papaya Salad for the past year now. I recently made it for a family gathering and a lot of people were requesting a recipe for it; so here it is. 

It is loosely based off of the Thai Som Tam, but obviously I have not used all the traditional ingredients because a few of them are not vegan (aka Nam Pla/Fish sauce). Some people have commented that it is similar tasting to Atsara (a Filipino style of sweet and sour pickle, using a variety of different vegetables). 

Whatever you think it tastes like, it is a very light and refreshing salad. The crispness of the shredded green papaya and carrot play nicely together in the sweet, sour, salty flavorful dressing.

This is one of many permutations of my Green Papaya Salad. This version includes the turmeric and red pepper flakes.

V,GF-  Jess' Green Papaya Salad 

Ingredients:

1 Large Green Papaya

3-4 Organic Carrots

For the Dressing-

3-4 Minced Garlic cloves

3-5 Chopped Green Onions/Scallions

1/3C Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4C Canola/Safflower/Rice Bran Oil (any neutral oil)

2-3 Tb of Organic Agave,Organic Cane Sugar or Organic Palm Sugar

Generous Pinch of Himalayan Pink Sea Salt and or 1 Tb GF Tamari

Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

*Dash of Sesame Oil

*Pinch of Turmeric

*Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes

*Coarsley chopped Organic Cilantro to Garnish

* A squeeze of lemon or lime juice

*Optional Items

This is the special peeler that I use to 'grate,' the papaya and carrots.

A close up of the blade

Method:

Grate the Papaya using a special serrated peeler. I bought mine from a local Asian market for a little under 3 dollars, but if you can't find one of these; you can just cut the papaya into big strips and julienne them with a chef knife. I've also seen people do a very fancy method of hacking at the whole papaya to make tons of indentations and then cutting it vertically, but I'm not an expert; so I just stick to using my peeler. (They do sell pre-grated green papaya at some Asian markets, but it can be a bit pricey, my local market sells it for around 2.99 a pound, but buying it whole is only 99 cents a pound; so you can see the difference.

Do the same thing for the carrots and set them aside in a big bowl. If you're not going to make the salad straight away; then I would recommened rinsing the papaya strips and carrots strips under cold water and then salting them (as if you were going to start making some sort of pickle). You can let it rest overnight either outside of in the fridge.

To make the dressing, you just need to mix the minced garlic, chopped green onions, raw apple cider vinegar, agave or sugar,pink salt, black pepper, canola oil. Blend them together and let it sit for a few minutes and then taste it to adjust for seasoning. Then combine with the grated papaya and carrot, toss using gloved hands in order to distribute the dressing through and through. You could eat it straight away, but this salad only gets better as it ages (if you haven't eaten it already ;p

In an airtight container I've been able to keep it fresh for a little more than a week. You just need to keep it in the coldest part of your fridge.

I like to eat this salad with a little crushed peanut, raw cashews or raw sunflower seeds, but it tastes awesome, all on its own as well. 

Bonus Recipe

Shiny and golden from the Extra Virgin Olive Oil

This dressing was made the other day for a dinner with some friends and they really enjoyed it; so I've tried to encapsulate it here. As always you can always play around with ingredients to come up with something that is just right for your own tastes.

V,GF- Italian Herb Vinaigrette

1/3 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

Favorite dried herbs: Oregano, Basil, Rosemary,Thyme

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 Tb Organic Sugar/Agave Nectar

Pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt

2 Diced tomatoes

2-3 minced garlic cloves

2-3 chopped green onions

*pinch of smoked spanish paprika

*Optional 

Method:

Mix all of the ingredients together and let them marinate for at least a few hours up until overnight before serving.

Okay, well those are some pretty simple recipes for Salads and their dressings. I hope that you'll give them a try someday. 

Until my next post, peace, good eating and happy cooking!

Love,

Jessica

Join Me for Merienda: V,GF Cranberry Apple Spice Cobbler

Hello again blogosphere,

I recently made this for Thanksgiving not knowing that it would ultimately make somebody very happy. My cousin Desiree flew in from Texas with her husband, friends Maria and Darren. I didn't know it, but Maria had recently switched to a gluten free regimen for about a year. She also had a dairy allergy; so she was happy to know that she could eat a dessert. So, this post is dedicated to Maria. I hope you'll make this for your next gathering. Thank you for appreciating my cooking =)

 I do not have Celiac disease, but I've learned to bake and cook a lot of Gluten Free dishes as a result of making treats and food while my brother Jonathan would visit. I think that even if you don't have Celiac disease it's still not a good idea to overload on gluten or wheat products (generally, you just shouldn't overload on any one thing, anyway). People who have problems with joint pains, arthritis may especially want to consider lessening or possibly eliminating it from their diets as gluten can cause inflammation. There is also a case for those diagnosed with Autism to follow a Gluten Free diet because of few different factors, but if you'd like to learn more about it you can certainly do your own research or read entries from Jonathan's blog The Canary Files. 

I am one of those home cooks that cooks with my senses and so it's sometimes a bit frustrating when I have to actually put down measurements, but don't get me wrong, it is important to have ratios; especially when you're dealing with liquid,dry and leavening ratios. Generally though, I cook on the fly, but it's only because I've had experience. When I first start making something I try to use a few guidelines and then after that I have fun playing in the 'lab' customizing my food. =)

This is the photo of the original cobbler that I brought to Thanksgiving. Can tell how much it bubbled in the oven?I did some tweaking to the recipe; since I had time to edit it and I hope you'll enjoy the results =)

V,DF- Cranberry Apple Spice Cobbler

Dry Ingredients:

3/4C Besan (Garbanzo) Flour

1C Rice Flour

3/4C Tapioca Starch

1/2-3/4C FT Organic Unrefined Sugar

3-5Tb Organic Ground Flax 

1/2tsp Allspice

Dash of Nutmeg

1tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Dash of Himalayan Pink Salt or regular sea salt fine ground

*You could also use one of those Gluten Free All Purpose Mixes,

 but I prefer to blend my own.

Wet Ingredients:

1/4C Canola Oil

1/2tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

3/4-1 C Organic Almond or Rice or Coconut Milk (depending on humidity)

1 1/2 C Room Temperature Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce

 ( You can use my recipe *see below, The Canary files recipe or your own recipe)

3-5C Peeled and Sliced Organic Apples
*Optional you can toss your apple slices in a bit of lemon juice a tiny bit of sugar and a tiny bit of cinnamon and let them macerate for a few minutes before you mix the apples into the cranberry sauce

Macerating/Marinating the apple slices in Organic Lemon Juice, Organic FT Unrefined sugar and a bit of spice.

*Optional 4-6 Sliced Dried Unsulphured Unsweetened Plums or any other dried fruit perhaps cherries or apricots etc.

Tools needed:

Mixing bowl
Baking sheet

Wooden Spoon

Spatula

A casserole dish

Method:

Sieving the dry ingredients together. No lumps for me!

Batter up!

Preheat your oven to 365F. Sift your flours together with the spices,flax,leavening,sugar making sure that there are no lumps. I like besan flour, but I do not want to get a surprising dry lump of it while eating this cobbler =) Add in your liquid components until just combined and mostly smooth, it should be a bit thicker than pancake batter.Set aside the batter for a few minutes and prepare your casserole dish ( I used a large corning ware casserole dish with lid) using a bit of canola oil, spreading it around to just coat the surface lightly. This will help with the cleanup portion of it later.

Evenly distribute the apples and cranberry sauce in the dish.

Pour the batter on top in 1/2C increments. Don't overflow the dish!

I had about 1C of batter leftover. 

 Make sure that the cranberry sauce and the apples are evenly distributed in the casserole dish (this is also would add in the dried fruit of choice) and then carefully pour your batter on top. If you find that you have more batter than you need (looks like the casserole dish is getting crowded) you can save the extra batter to make other goodies (I had about 1C of batter leftover). Tap the casserole dish to get rid of any extra air bubbles, place it on the baking sheet and then put the lid on the dish and place it into the 365F oven for about 20-30 minutes (it may take longer or lesser time, depending on what type of over you use, for example I use an electric oven where as a gas oven make cook it more quickly). 

My dog Seeley looking sleepy as he perches on a chair waiting for me to finish making the cobbler. Do you think he wants a piece?

We keep the lid on it first to make sure that the batter cooks through evenly and then carefully remove the lid (don't give yourself nasty steam burns, open it away from your person) rotate the casserole dish and put it back into the oven turning down the oven to 350F and cooking it for a further 15-20 minutes (again depending on your oven type). You will see the top brown and a lot of bubbling action. Please be careful when removing it from the oven, wear oven mitts and an apron (if you've got one!) and let it rest on a trivet for about 10-15 minutes before serving. 

This is what it looked like straight out of the oven.

This is what it looks like after you let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

A glorious scoop of freshly made cobbler. No a la mode for me! 

I like it on its own (it's already basically cake and sauce), but some people seem to be really into this thing called a la mode, maybe you've heard of it? Yep, so if that's you then you could top this off with a scoop of V,GF non dairy ice cream.

Oh and here is one of my recipes for homemade cranberry sauce:

One of Jess' versions of Homemade Cranberry Sauces

Some of my friends call me saucy, but others just want to relish my friendship =p

 Ingredients:

1 package of cranberries preferably Organic washed and drained

2/3C or less FT Organic Unrefined Sugar

1 small cinnamon stick

3 Green Cardamom Pods

2-5 Slices of Fresh Ginger (if you love ginger go for 5)

2-3 Whole Allspice

1 Clove

1 3/4C  Filtered Water

A dash of Himalayan Pink Salt

Method:

Place all ingredients into a medium sized sauce pan with a lid on and bring to a boil and then turn it down to medium low and simmer for at least 25 minutes.

Let it cool down to room temperature before using in the cobbler recipe.

If you prefer a smoother sauce you might want to puree 60 percent of it before mixing it all together with the apples.

I'm trying to put up a few more posts before the year is over, but in the meantime I do hope you try this recipe out for your next gathering. 

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and another Healthful New Year!

Love,

Jessica <3

Two of my favorite things

Hello again,

It's been a while, but I am back in the blogosphere. I have a ton of new ideas and photos to post, but it will take a bit longer. So, for this entry I just wanted to share some of my favorite things with you. For this instance it will be some food items from some companies that I am really proud to support. I am really adamant about conscious eating  vs. unconscious eating. (No, we're not going to talk about people stuffing their faces when they've been knocked unconscious!)

Whenever you buy things; it's important to know how they came to be and everything (and sometimes all the things that aren't in them, as well!) that went into them. There are a lot of good companies producing quality goods that are also conscious in how they effect the environment and also in their involvement with giving back to the community/earth.

One of my absolute favorite companies that produces awesome snacks is the Food Should Taste Good Company. My latest favorite is their Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips:

http://www.foodshouldtastegood.com/faqs.html#/sweet_potato/

As a double bonus, if you buy the special pink bag editions of chips from this company; they make an addtional donation to various organizations fighting breast cancer. They also have a facebook campaign for it right now where you can purchase discounted coupons for bags of their chips and 100% of the proceeds go to the various organizations. I love it! =)

https://store.foodshouldtastegood.com/facebook

These chips are so flavorful and if you love sweet potatoes you will definitely be happy with the flavor profile. Prior to me tasting this variety for the first time; I was a little skeptical that you would really be able to taste any of the sweet potato. Sometimes when you mix things with corn, the flavor can overpower all other ingredients. This was and is not the case for these lovely, delectable, satisfying sweet potato tortilla chips. They are so jam packed with sweet potato-ness and with a softer background of corn. I love to eat them, all by themselves, but imagine them with hummus or tzadziki, guacamole etc. Soooo gooooood! =)

Aside from the sweet potato variety, they also have an awesome chocolate tortilla chip (yes, chocolate!!!) basically any chip variety you get from this brand will be good =)

I assure you I am not getting paid for any of this; I just really love the product and company =)

Another one on my list of favorite things is the Mayan Harvest Bake from Kashi. I do not often buy frozen entrées, but when I took a chance on this lovely; wow. The one major reason I picked this one out of the other varieties is obviously because it was vegetarian/vegan and the other was that it had plantains as one of the main components! I love plantains =)

http://www.kashi.com/products/kashi_frozen_entrees_mayan_harvest_bake

On top of the fact that the base is the 7 grain Kashi Pilaf mix, they have nutty pepitas, black beans, sweet potatoes and a lovely zesty sauce. I tell you when I have this to eat; I am really satisfied and happy =)
The price for one box of it isn't too bad either, right now it's $3.27 at the local grocery store. Whenever they're on sale, you better believe I stock up on these! If you know me; then you know I usually like to make everything from scratch whenever possible, but I have to say this dish is perfect the way it is. Just don't overcook it. I'd still eat it, but you might appreciate it more when it's cooked for the proper amount of time =)

Kashi, has long been an outstanding company when it comes to naturalness and environmental wellness. They do a lot of good in communities and give back quite a lot. You can see more about that by visiting the aformentioned link to their site.

Those were just 2 things off of my list and I will be sharing more of those items with you as times goes on.

I guess you could say I actually kind of listed 3 (if you notice the photo of the Veggie Heaven shirts), but I will speak more about that lovely restaurant another time. I think it deserves a full entry! =)


Peace and Health to you all.


Love,
Jessica