Oatmeal Blueberry Pancakes with Chai Cashew Cream

I put these pancakes up because I like the flavor combination but I must admit they aren't the lightest batch of pancakes I've ever made. Two pancakes slathered with chai cashew cream and fresh blueberries was enough to fill me up. Somehow my husband ate five. So I guess it's just a matter of how bottomless of a pit your stomach is.
 
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Spiced oatmeal-flax pancakes stuffed with fresh blueberries and topped with thick, lightly sweetened chai cashew cream.

Oatmeal Chai Blueberry Pancakes
yields 10 medium sized pancakes
6 tbl water
2 tbl ground flax seeds
1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbl organic light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 3/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 tbl melted coconut oil, plus more for cooking
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, plus more for garnish

Whisk together the water and flax seeds and chill while your prepare the rest of the batter.
Process the oats in a food processor until finely ground. Add the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Pulse to combine.
Add the almond milk and oil and pulse 2-3 times to combine. Add the flax egg and blend.
Stir in the blueberries.
Heat a saute pan or skillet and lightly grease with coconut oil. Using a 1/4 cup measure, ladle pancakes onto the griddle and cook until lightly golden and cooked in the center, about 5 minutes total.
Garnish with fresh blueberries and chai cashew cream.

Chai Cashew Cream
1 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup raw cashews
3 tbl organic light brown sugar
4 bags of your favorite chai tea
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Toss the tea bags and transfer to a blender. Blend until thick and smooth.

Garlic Cassava with Chickpeas & Kale

Cassava root is something you may or may not have seen at your grocery store. If you have seen it, it might be next to the ginger, jicama and other wacky looking roots. It's thick and long, tapered on the ends and the outside almost resembles tree bark. The inside is white and solid like a potato. Cassava also goes by the name Yuca, and is a great vegetable to add in to your diet. Try starting out by replacing some potato dishes with cassava and see how you like it. This dish is jam packed with oniony-garlic flavor and is definitely a must try if you are preparing cassava for the first time.

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Garlic Cassava with Chickpeas & Kale
serves 3
1 large cassava root, peeled, 1/2" slices
1 bunch kale, roughly chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
10 garlic cloves, minced
1 large shallot, minced
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
3 tbl minced cilantro

Cover the cassava in a pot of cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender. Drain.
Steam the kale for 10 minutes while the potato is cooking.
Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until tender and browned, 5-7 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cumin. Season with salt and pepper. Once the cassava is drained, add to the onions. Add the cilantro and toss. Cook 2-3 minutes more to allow flavors to meld.
Taste and season with salt.
Season the kale with salt and serve the cassava over a bed of kale.

Bean & Cheese Tamales with Tomatillo Poblano Sauce

A lot of my food ideas come from each a version of that food earlier in the day or week and being completely dissatisfied with it. Earlier today I purchased a poblano tamale and it was boring and plain tasting. Immediately I wanted to give back the credit tamales deserve and make a batch for dinner to enjoy. These did not disappoint!

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Simple masa dough encased around pinto beans, vegan cheddar and steamed to perfection. Serve with thick avocado slices and smother in roasted tomatillo and poblano sauce.


 Bean & Cheese Tamales
4 large tamales
 basic masa dough:
2 cups masa
2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup solid coconut oil 
Combine the masa, salt and water. Stir to combine. The dough will be somewhat dry. Crumble the oil in the dough in small pea sized chunks and mix into a smooth, soft dough. Divide into 8 even sized balls.

filling:
8 dried corn husks, soaked in water until tender and pliable (at least an hour)
1 cup pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup shredded vegan cheddar
1/4 tsp salt
Lay out four large corn husks, wide end closest to you. 2 balls of masa go in each tamale. Flatten one ball into a long rectangle and sit in the center of the corn husk.
Combine the beans, cheddar and salt in a bowl, mash lightly.
Spoon some of the bean filling in the center of the masa. Flatten the second ball in your hands to the same size as the masa on the husk. Cover over the beans and seal the edges.
Wrap the husk as far around the masa as you can. Take a second corn husk and cover the top and bottom. Peel a string of husk off and use that as a tie. Assemble 4 tamales.
Prepare a steamer and cook for 30 minutes until the dough has cooked through.

Tomatillo Poblano Sauce
5 tomatillos (mine were TINY, about the size of large gumballs)
3 garlic cloves, whole
1 poblano pepper, whole
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
sea salt, to taste
3 tbl cilantro leaves and stems
2 tbl water
1 tbl lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 450.
Toss the peeled tomatillos, garlic and whole poblano pepper in 2 tbl of olive oil and season with salt.
Roast for 30 minuts until tender and lightly charred.
Remove the stem and seeds from the poblano.
Combine all of the roasted vegetables along with the remaining 2 tbl of olive oil, cilantro, water and lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Asparagus Dumplings in Spring Onion Broth

Making your own wontons are easy and can be custom made to fit your palette. Once spring rears its head, I like to incorporate asparagus and onions into my diet. These asparagus dumplings still have a little crunch to them, making the silky onion broth a perfect companion.
 
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Fresh asparagus, ginger & tofu wrapped tightly in wonton wrappers and floating in a warm bowl of spring onion broth infused with scallions, more ginger and water chestnuts.

Spring Onion Broth
4 cups vegetable broth
2 bunches scallions, roughly chopped (3 tbl reserved for dumplings)
1" piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 tsp tamari
salt, to taste
1-4oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed

Combine the broth, scallions and ginger in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain into a medium sized pot and add the tamari. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Season with 1/2 tsp salt and add the water chestnuts.
Continue to simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste and season with salt if necessary.

Asparagus Dumplings
serves 2-3
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch asparagus, minced
3 tbl reserved chopped scallions
1 tbl fresh lemon zest
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
6oz firm, silken tofu, mashed
1 tbl tamari
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp pepper flakes
salt and black pepper
15-20 wonton wrappers
3 tbl fresh basil, roughly torn
3 tbl fresh cilantro, roughly torn

Saute the asparagus and scallions in olive oil until just tender, 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest, garlic and ginger and toast. Add the tofu, tamari, toasted sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Cook together for 10 minutes over medium heat. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Prepare a pot of boiling water.
Lay the wrappers on the counter top. Spoon a small mound of asparagus mixture into the center.
Dip your finger into a bowl of water and lightly wet the edges of the wonton wrappers. Fold up each wrapper into triangles, pressing the edges together to seal.
Once all of the wrappers are sealed, drop in the water and cook for 4 minutes.
Gently scoop out the wontons and serve in a bowl of onion broth. Garnish with fresh basil and cilantro.

Special Occasion Cookie Boxes

How cute are these little cookie boxes!? And they couldn't be more simple. Once the cookies are baked, just stamp circles out, glue with royal icing, fill with candy and top with a final cookie! Cut out the cookies in any shape, like trees for Christmas or hearts for Valentine's Day.

 

Sugar Cookies

yields 16 cookies or 4 complete boxes

1 1/2cups organic powdered sugar
1 cup vegan butter, room temperature
1/4 cup almond milk

1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 1/2tbl cornstarch

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

food gel paste, color of your choice
small candies, for the center

Cream together the powdered sugar and butter until light and creamy. Add the milk and extracts and combine. Add the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar and baking soda and mix together.
To get the ombre effect:
Put in a touch of color and mix to combine throughly. Remove 1/4 of the dough and set aside. Add more color and mix. Remove 1/4th of the dough and set aside. Add more dye and mix, remove 1/4th of the dough and set aside. Add 1 final amount of color to achieve the darkest color.
Wrap all 4 balls of dough up individually and chill for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Flour the counter top and roll out one disc of dough at a time 1/4" thick. Stamp out 4 circles from each color. Bake for exactly 10 minutes.
The lightest colored cookie will be the bottom and are finished.
Stamp a smaller circle out of the second and third lightest colors while the cookies are still hot.
The darkest color cookie will be the top.

Royal Icing
2 cups organic powdered sugar
1 1/2 tbl almond milk
1 tbl light corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
food colors/sugar decorations
Whip the sugar, almond milk, corn syrup and vanilla until thick and smooth.


To assemble cookie boxes:
Pipe a layer of royal icing around the edge of the bottom cookie. Top with a cookie with a punched out center. Pipe another layer of royal icing on top and top with the third cookie. Fill with candy and place the 4th, whole cookie on top. Decorate the top cookie with royal icing.

Wild Mushroom & Leek Tartlets

These irresistibly tiny tarts are packed with a punch. Each one starts with a smooth cream cheese layer on the bottom and ends with caramelized mushrooms, leeks and sauteed rainbow chard leaves floating on top. Make as an appetizer or eat these as a meal like my husband and I did. Use your favorite kind of mushroom for the filling. This time of year the "mushroom guy" starts showing up at the Farmer's markets and while pricey, those mushrooms are supreme. You don't need much for this recipe so splurge a little on those morels or lobster mushrooms. You won't regret it!

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Wild Mushroom & Leek Tartlets
yields 15 mini tarts
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
6 oz wild mushrooms (morels, hen of the woods, oyster, lobster, chanterelle)
1 leek, thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegetable broth, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small head rainbow chard, stems removed, chopped into small pieces
salt, pepper & red pepper flakes to taste
1 tsp dried dill
1/4 cup herbed vegan cream cheese
1 box frozen mini phyllo tart shells, thawed


Saute the mushrooms and leeks in olive oil over medium heat until lightly caramelized, 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup vegetable broth to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Once the broth has been absorbed, add the garlic and chard. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and dill. Cook until the chard has wilted down then continue to saute for 10 minutes more. Deglaze the bottom of the pan with the remaining 1/4 cup of broth and cook 3-4 minutes more until the broth has evaporated.
Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Fill each mini tart shell with 1 tsp of cream cheese and top with mushroom mix.
Enjoy!

Strawberry Tarragon Sparkler

Everyone needs a great recipe for a summer time mocktail and this one is your new go-to drink! 

other alcohol free drinks:
Rhubarb Lemonade
Cantaloupe Carrot Peach

Muddled fresh strawberries, tarragon simple syrup, mixed berry sparkling water and refreshing coconut water chill out with ice for a perfect porch-people watching drink.

Strawberry Tarragon Sparkler
1 pitcher: serves 4
tarragon simple syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
2 whole sprigs fresh tarragon

Combine the water, sugar and whole tarragon sprigs in a small pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes then remove from heat and chill completely. Remove the tarragon leaves.

strawberry tarragon sparkler:
1 lb strawberries, roughly chopped
1 tbl fresh tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
4 cups mixed berry sparkling water
4 cups coconut water
1 batch tarragon simple syrup, to taste
2 cups of ice

In the bottom of a pitcher, muddle the strawberries and tarragon leaves together.
Add the sparkling water, coconut water and simple syrup to taste. Chill until ready to drink then add ice.