Secret Ingredient Guacamole

This recipe is adapted from Isa Does It. I've been enjoying it so much lately that I thought it was time to post on the blog. The orange juice adds a sweetness to the dip I really like. Don't leave the onions out; they help to balance the sweetness of the orange juice.

Secret Ingredient Guacamole:

Adapted (slightly) from Pepe's Secret Guacamole in Isa Does It

2 ripe avocados
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (I use the juice of 1 orange)

Mash the avocado with a fork and mix in remaining ingredients.

Yield: 2 servings

Hippie Granola Muffins

These muffins are a variation of my standard muffins using equal parts applesauce, nondairy milk and oil, but I health-ed them up, subbing in oat flour for a quarter of the all-purpose flour, reducing the sugar and throwing in a mixture of nuts, seeds, dried fruit and shredded coconut. Use whatever you have on hand, that's the fun part! To make my oat flour, I just ground up rolled oats in my high-speed blender or a spice grinder. I find that cheaper than buying oat flour.

Hippie Granola Muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted coconut oil (may sub. a different neutral-flavored oil)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup sugar (I used evaporated cane juice)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
a few shakes of cinnamon and allspice
1 cup of a mixture of dried fruit, nuts, seeds and shredded coconut (carob chips would be good too)

Preheat oven to 375. Line a muffin tin with baking cups and/or spray lightly with oil.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a separate smaller bowl. Add mixture of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc. to dry ingredients and fold them in using your hands. Add wet to dry, stirring gently until just-combined, being careful not to overmix (important! some dry not mixed in entirely is OK).

Spoon batter into cups, filling to the top. Bake for 18-25 minutes, turning once halfway through.

Yield: 12 muffins

summer smoothies and eating better.

Is anyone else craving smoothies all the time in this heat? I've also been trying to eat more healthily, replacing sugary desserts with fruit smoothies and granola and soy milk. Here's the recipe I made tonight. I think it's pretty killer.

Strawberry Mango Prune Smoothie:

1 cup soy milk
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup frozen strawberries
5 pitted prunes
A splash of cranberry juice (optional)
Water, if needed to get blender going

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Yield: 1-2 servings

That up there is a chickpea salad sammich from the Post-Punk Kitchen! I can't believe I've been eating vegan for nearly ten years and haven't been making this all the time. It's so good, so easy. I replaced the mayo with a tahini sauce and included a homemade roasted carrot curry hummus (add roasted carrots, curry powder and parsley to a traditional hummus recipe), local sun gold tomatoes, and spinach on top. SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I also ate the leftover chickpea filling with a fork and it was amazing too, and I'm thinking it would be even better tossed in a salad and served with quinoa, rice, etc.

Cashew Queso Tacos with Refried Adzuki Beans and Kale Slaw

All of these recipes come together into one perfect taco. And a colorful, photogenic one at that, which is why it's so sad that I didn't capture a photo. As usual, I was too hungry to wait another moment and the food was hot!

Cashew Queso: I love this recipe and Isa even more than I already did for creating it. It's perfect, even when I used water instead of veg broth and left out the jalapeno and red bell pepper.
Refried Adzuki Beans: Saute diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil. Add 1.5 cups cooked adzuki beans. Roughly puree mixture using a hand blender (or a potato masher), adding water until desired consistency is reached. Add salt, cumin, ground chipotle and lime juice to taste.
Kale Slaw: Cut 1/2 bunch kale chiffonade-style (long thin strips). Toss with lemon juice, olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Homemade Tortillas: The key here is to roll them out as thinly as possible.

Tortilla, queso, beans, kale. Eat!

Yield: about 6 tacos

Easiest Tomato Soup & Soft Polenta

This meal will seriously take you 20 minutes tops to make and only requires a handful of ingredients. I wish I'd gotten a picture, the polenta looks so purty* spooned onto the red soup. Serve with a protein to round out the meal. Some ideas:

• stir in cashew cream into the soup (1:1 ratio of cashews and water).
• marinated and baked tofu
• marinated and baked tempeh
• add a 15 oz. can of beans (drained and rinsed) or about 1 1/2 cups cooked beans to the soup.
• simmer 3/4 cup red lentils in the soup until they are tender and start to fall apart -- they'll pretty much blend in with the soup while adding great texture (this should take about 30 minutes).
• sprinkle walnut gremolata on top of the soup.

tomato soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced (optional; I didn't add this and it still tasted great)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
28 oz. crushed tomatoes (fire-roasted is my favorite)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups stock or water

Saute garlic in olive oil for just until fragrant. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and stock or water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until polenta is done.

soft polenta: (recipe from here)

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 1/4 cups water
large pinch sea salt
1/2 cup polenta (also called coarse cornmeal)

Bring 2 tablespoons olive oil, water and sea salt to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add polenta. Stir frequently with a rubber spatula (or whisk) for 15-20 minutes, until it reaches a thick porridge-like consistency. Stir in final tablespoon of olive oil. Serve over soup.

Yield: 2 servings

*Purty is an example of metathesis, a linguistic process in which two adjacent sounds are reversed in order. Metathesis of r and a vowel is common, since the phonetic properties of r are so vowel-like. Apparently third and bird used to be thrid and brid. I know I'm a nerd, but this is really interesting to me.