Low-Carb Mushroom Stuffing (No Bread!)

The holiday season is a time of joy, abundance and community. Memories of crackling fires, fresh evergreens, and rich, spicy aromas that emanate from what seems like every corner of the house! It's a time when we show gratitude, love, and acceptance the most of all the seasons.

What is your favorite part about the holiday season? Please comment to let me know!

For people with allergies or intolerances, it can also mean working harder to maintain physical wellbeing. Since becoming gluten (and lactose) intolerant, this is the hardest (but also most rewarding) cooking time of year for me. I strive to research more, get more creative, and find foods that are nutritionally appealing to me yet still entice the tastebuds of my friends and family.

This recipe, I am proud to say that my husband Jeremy cooked while I was making pie. We'd been toying with the idea of a stuffing with almond meal instead of breads, and bouncing ingredients back and forth while doing other things earlier in the day. So I was SO happy when he created this! I was so preoccupied with making a raw key lime pie that he finished it completely behind me without me even poking my head over to try to help. :)

What makes it so amazing is that when we took it to a friend's house for dinner, and asked after the meal what people thought of it, they said they didn't even realize it was a bread-free stuffing! The consistency of the stuffing was so spot on that it wasn't noticeably low-carb, which makes me very happy.

This recipe is also candida-friendly, is sugar free, yeast-free, and has super healthy coconut oil to hold the crumble together. YUM!

Low-Carb Mushroom Stuffing

3 cups mushrooms, chopped (we used crimini and shiitake)
1 small zucchini, cubed (about 1 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 sweet red pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 ribs celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup sage, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Sage sprigs

Topping:
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 coconut oil
zest of 1/2 lemon
4 sage leaves
pinch of salt

Brown the onion and celery in pan; set aside. Brown mushrooms; when liquid becomes substantial push the mushrooms to the side of the pan and add the sundried tomatoes to the center of the pan, allow them to cook in the liquid and soak it up. Set aside. Brown the zucchini, then add the red pepper and allow to cook until just tender. In a large bowl, mix up the cooked ingredients along with the sage, almond meal, salt and pepper. Pour into baking dish.

Topping:
Mix topping ingredients in food processor. Crumble across the top. Garnish with sprigs of sage.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Almond-crusted Chanterelles

Hey everyone!

It's the perfect time of year for amazing mushrooms. Shiitakes, maitakes, boletes, truffles, oysters, cat's tongues, and one of my personal favorites, chanterelles. A few of my very good friends and I went out into the woods recently and brought back a HUGE bag of chanterelles! (We also acquired some boletes, cat's tongues, shrimp mushrooms, and a bunch of non-edibles that my friend wanted to study!)
Note: Don't go looking for edible mushrooms in the forest unless you're experienced or have someone with you that knows the difference between species! Some species are very hard to differentiate between!

Chanterelles are not only one of my favorites because they have a beautifully smooth, creamy texture, but they're also very common and in abundance this part of the year. When we lived in our last house in BC, I could go for walks in the park next door with a bag and harvest a pound or two occasionally. They're also quite versatile - you can fry, bake, boil, or dry these cute little dudes and they always withstand the treatments I give them. :) A creamy chanterelle soup is a pretty popular (and delicious!!) standby, but I generally like just cooking and eating them!

The best way to bring out their beautiful flavor before adding them to any food, is to dry fry them without oil or salt. They have a high water content so they won't burn. I, however, am a rebel (as you may have noticed), so I'm going to dredge and fry them in their raw form!

Do you remember the Almond-Crusted Tofu that I made? It had such a lovely, crisp texture, and I had a hunch it would translate well to mushrooms. When we came back from our mushroom hunt, I fried these little babies up while Sandra made a huge pot of silky, delicately delicious soup. :) It was such an amazing day, with an intoxicatingly delicious end.

Almond-Crusted Chanterelles

1 pound raw Chanterelle mushrooms
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup tapioca starch
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying (I used coconut oil)

In a deep, non-stick pan or pot, heat oil (about an inch deep) on medium-high heat. You want it just hot enough to make the end of a chopstick bubble if you dip it in.

While the oil is heating, mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Next, dredge the mushrooms in the almond mixture, making sure to get a thick coating. If you need a bit more dry mixture, you can add a couple more tablespoons of meal and a couple teaspoons of starch.

When the oil is hot, gently lay the mushrooms into the pan. They're ready to flip in a couple minutes when they start to turn brown.

When the crispy 'shrooms are browned on both sides, drain on paper towels.


Don't these look like cute little vegan pork chops?! We served these with a raw ketchup (pictured) that I made the day before, which I will make another batch of tomorrow and post next. :)

Also: please forgive the poor photo quality! My camera broke so I'll be using my phone's camera for awhile to photograph my food.

Tropicalmond Cheesecake! (Raw)

This fun dessert was made for June's Royal Foodie Joust, which showcases raspberries, almonds, and lime. My room mate Candace and I have been dying to make a raw vegan cheesecake for months, and when this month's Joust ingredients were announced, we knew we had to go up to our elbows in CASHEW CHEESE!

As a vegan, I don't do dairy cheeses, so we decided to experiment with a non-dairy alternative. Cashew cheese is made by fermenting pureed cashews with probiotics and Rejuvelac, a fizzy fermented beverage (typically made from sprouted wheat berries), which helps boost the fermentation process. We use buckwheat to make our rejuvelac because it's not only gluten-free, but has an earthy, nutty flavour. We really wanted the almonds to shine through in this dish, so we only put about a cup of cheese into it. I'm definitely making an all-cheese cake soon, with full instructions and pictures on making your own cashew cheese. How can I resist? ;)

Tropicalmond Cheesecake


Crust:
1 1/2 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup cacao nibs
7 dates, soaked for 5 minutes
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

First, take a small amount of plastic wrap and cover the bottom of a spring form pan.

Put all ingredients except oil into a food processor until it's a medium-fine crumb. Add coconut oil and process until just incorporated. Press into the bottom of the spring form pan, and put into the fridge.

Filling:
2 cups soaked almonds
2 cups water
5 Tbsp. agave (or other liquid sweetener)
4 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
1 cup cashew cheese*
2 cups frozen raspberries, 1/4 cup reserved
1/2 tsp. vanilla
juice of one lime
2 sliced bananas
6-8 sliced kiwis (no need to skin them)

In a blender, liquefy your almonds and water. Toss in everything else except the bananas, kiwis and reserved raspberries. Blend until very smooth, then gently fold in the reserved raspberries. Take out your spring form pan, and pour half of the filling in. Then, gently add a thick layer of bananas, and pour the rest of your filling over the top. Garnish the top with sliced kiwis, and chill in the freezer until the center has set, about 3 hours.

Enjoy!

Almond-Crusted Tofu

Deep-fried tofu has always been a favorite of mine - that firm, crispy outside protecting the soft, delicate inside. Needless to say it has always been something I choose at Asian restaurants, and something I make at home as a treat for myself.

This time, I decided to make a slightly different variant on my usual fried tofu with a basic starch batter. I've been experimenting with almond meal a lot, and had a little (starch tainted) leftover from an experiment earlier in the day, so I whipped out my tofu and heated some oil!

I really love the way this turned out - it's definitely not your average crispy tofu. The almond meal gives it a crumbly-like texture on the outside, but it doesn't crumble off the tofu like you'd expect. I should've made three packs and kept the rest for leftovers. This is definitely my new fried tofu standby.

Almond-Crusted Tofu

1 pound firm tofu, drained and sliced into long cutlets
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup tapioca starch
salt to taste
oil for frying (I used sunflower)


In a deep, non-stick pan or pot, heat oil (about an inch deep) on medium-high heat. You want it just hot enough to make the end of a chopstick bubble if you dip it in.

While the oil is heating, mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Next, you can either dump the tofu in and toss to coat (like I did) or you can bread them individually. I found that the mix made just enough to coat a pound of tofu, but if you need a bit more, you can add a couple more tablespoons of meal and a couple teaspoons of starch.

When the oil is hot, gently lay the breaded cutlets into the pan. Check for browning after about 3 minutes - you want a light golden color on the outside. I prefer to flip the cutlets with chopsticks, as it minimizes splatters.

When the cutlets are browned on both sides, drain on a dish towel. (Or paper towel, but dish towels are washable) Plate and serve with sweet pepper sauce* for dipping.


*I couldn't find the brand that I use online, but it's your basic sweet pepper sauce from the Asian market. It's a tall red-labeled bottle that says "Sweet Pepper Sauce for Chicken"


Enjoy!

Banana Fritters with Orange Blossom Honey and Mint Butter

And now for something completely different!

After all that healthy raw food, how could I resist coating my entire kitchen with a nice layer of sunflower oil? I mean, sometimes, we've all just got to say to ourselves, "Yep... SO taking a shower after this."

I've always been a huge fan of banana fritters. Well, actually, deep fried bananas in any sort of fashion. Jeremy and I used to get bananas that were rolled in coconut before being put into an egg roll wrapper for deep frying, but I've got to say I like these better. The batter is made with almond meal and minced dried coconut, which gives it more substance than if I had just used a fine flour. Also, the tangy orange blossom honey cuts the grease a little bit, and gives it a kick, which is really nice. The mint butter is a very nice finish; freshly made it's spreadable and melts deliciously into a silken mint glaze on these fritters. Yum!

The mint butter, I have to say, was a very happy accident. I originally was going to make a mint cream with coconut milk, but I thought it should be thickened, so I added some coconut oil. Much to my amazement, it separated! So I worked some of the liquid out of that beautiful, minty butter, and now it's a solid mass of coconutty goodness. :D

Also, I want to touch on why I use honey in this dish, even though this is a vegan blog. I thought long and hard about this choice, because I want everyone to be able to enjoy my dishes. I understand that many vegans make different choices for themselves, so I'm not trying to turn this into a debate. The honey that I'm using here is from a local, trusted source. I believe that this is a much more sustainable choice for me, because the town I live in is so isolated. (You have to take two ferries to get here from the mainland, as we are on a peninsula, surrounded by mountains.) Plus, I love the flavour it imparts to this dish, especially. Alternatively, you could use agave.

With that said, on to the recipe!


Banana Fritters

4 bananas, thickly sliced diagonally
1 Tb. lemon juice

Evenly coat the bananas in lemon juice and let them sit while you make up the batter.

1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup tapioca starch
3tb shredded coconut
sprinkle cinnamon
pinch salt
1/2 cup water

sunflower oil

Mix dry ingredients together, then add water. You want the batter to be just thin enough to coat the bananas. The coconut and almond meal will soak up some extra water, so add more water by the teaspoon as needed. I used a tablespoon after letting mine sit for about 5 minutes.

In a nonstick pot or deep pan, add about 1/2-3/4 inch of oil. Heat to medium-high, or until you dip the tip of a chopstick in and it bubbles.

Coat the bananas evenly while you're waiting for the oil. I tossed half of them into the batter first, then used the second half when the first was finished. Fry bananas until golden, and place onto a clean towel to drain. (Also, I used chopsticks to turn the fritters, I find there's less splattering - but then, I have a steady hand with chopsticks.)


Tangy Orange Blossom Honey

3 Tb. honey (or agave)
1/2 tsp. orange blossom water
splash of lemon juice

Whisk ingredients together until creamy. I heated up the bowl slightly on low heat until the honey was softer.


Mint Butter

Handful of peppermint, stems removed
2 Tb. firm coconut oil
1/2 can of coconut milk, cream only (must be separated; if not, just a few tablespoons or so)

In the food processor, add coconut milk and peppermint, and blend until smooth. In small chunks, add the coconut oil. Once it looks like a watery mess, spoon it out into a fine mesh strainer. Gently press the water out, making sure not to push the solids through. It helps to roll it around and knead it, almost like a bread dough, or use a spatula to smooth it out, and drain the water. (You'll know what I mean when you're doing it. :) Reserve the liquid for use in something else.

When finished, plate fritters with a drizzle of honey and mint butter on the side. Can you say shower time? I knew you could. :)

Almonds

So... They really are pasteurized.

At least in the states, I'm not sure about Canada yet.


I soaked some "raw" almonds to have some almond milk, and I've been trying to sprout them for about two days now. I'm seeing NO germination. At all. The sunflower seeds I sprouted are happy and sprouting away, but wow. This makes me really sad. No more sprouted almonds?!

Grr.

An Article on almonds in California, A petition you can sign


More sadness.