Hello my wonderful followers! Thank you for the support over the years I have had fun sharing with you. I am branching out from this small blog and have created a new site with it's own domain name. On my new site I will be offering a variety of services like nutritional consultations, cooking classes and catering. There will also be a blog section on the new site, I will try to transfer some of my favourite recipes over to the new site. New posts will be more focused on nutrition and general health and wellness. I hope you like the change! New site is http://www.naiomimaclean.com/
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It's been a wild few months and my blog attention has gone to the wayside. Travel baby, it's a fun one, but it takes away a lot of food making creative times - especially the healthy photo worthy kind! Went travellin' down to Central America and learned to live off of rice, beans and plantains. Had an amazing few months though. Next chapter comes Australia and a whole different food selection and so many new adventures. Don't worry though! - This next travel of mine involves dedicating myself to you and this blog! I'm super-duper excited to get back on the recipe building train with you all and healthify my belly and yours! My goal once I get to the land down under and find myself a kitchen space to get to work in, is to get a cookin' and start up a market stand. Imma fill it with homemade nut-mylks for sale, vegan sauces and dressings of all kinds, yummy sweet treats, like ice cream, tarts and bars, pre-made veggie burgers and freshly made tempeh, vegan cheese, and coconut yogurt!!!! Oh man! Did I tell you how excited I was?! I hope you are just as stoked with me, because you will be following me through this whole fantastic journey! I'll be documenting each item on here first as I develop and perfect each recipe! But.. I'm getting sidetracked here, because I have a great little recipe to share here with you right meow! It was the birthday of certain special someone in my life, so I decided to make him breakfast waffles!!! Because, yum. Waffle Batter: 2 Tbsp Nut butter 2 Tbsp Carob powder 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 cup flour 1 1/2 cup water Mix together and cook in waffle iron, or fry in skillet to make pancakes. (Cooking time is approximately 10 minutes- should be crispy.) Soooo yumms... Decadent Carob Sauce: 1/4 cup carob powder (or cocoa) 1/4 cup melted coconut oil 1/4 cup maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener) Adjust measurements to make as much as you want. Super easy, just mix together and serve. Vegan, gluten free and delicious!!! Oh my goodness these are tasty. They have become the best lazy morning winter breakfast item. Who doesn't love pancakes?
Mix wet and dry mixes separately, then combine together. Put pan on medium-high heat. When fully heated, reduce to medium and put batter on to fry. The mixture is likely going to be thicker than normal pancakes, and you will have to spread it into pancake shapes. When brown on one side, flip and cook until firm to the touch. Cover in maple syrup and enjoy!!! Nom nom nom. Impress the socks off your meat loving friends this holiday season! One of my favorite things is making my vegan dishes for a non-vegan potluck. I made this gravy with a mushroom nut loaf for a thanksgiving potluck and had all the meat eaters going back for seconds and thirds. In the planning stages everyone was a little worried about me coming to the gathering and skeptical on what I would actually be able to eat. The usual questions like, "What can you eat, salad?" certainly popped up in this crowd.
Stuff your mushroom caps, and put on roasting pan that has been lightly coated in oil. Roast in oven at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes. Mushroom Miso Gravy: 2 Tbsp Miso Paste 3 Tbsp Sesame oil Sauteed mushrooms and onions set aside from earlier. 1 Tbsp tahini or sunflower seed butter. Blend until smooth, add water if until you reach the desired thickness. Perfect Roasted Potatoes:
I have fallen in love with vegan milk! It all started with almonds, I put a cup of them in a mason jar with some water and let them soak over night. Then I blended them with some water and strained out the pulp. My love with vegan milks finally began. I never knew what I what missing until I found it. My life will never be the same. I realized last week though, that I have been missing out big time. I was limiting myself to just nuts and seeds. Almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds and hemp seeds all make great milks. But there is a whole other world out there; buckwheat, oats, millet, quinoa and the possibilities abound. After making all this milk, I was leftover with a large container of saved up pulp, and very little desire to make more sweets. What else could I do? The wonderful lady who opened my world to the mass amount of vegan milk options, also brought to my life milk pulp crackers. I edited her recipe a bit, but yum!! So simple and so tasty! You can make them thicker for sandwiches, or thinner like a chip. Last night I made this batch with leftover sunflower, oats and buckwheat pulp. Approximate recipe: 2 cups pulp 2 Tbsp sesame oil pinch sea salt 2 Tbsp black sesame seeds Spread the mixture out on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 185 degrees for an hour, or however long it takes to remove the moisture. Before the crackers are completely dry, cut them into squares. sprouted chick pea hummus 2 cups sprouted chick peas (To sprout, soak for 24 hours and let sprout until you can see a cm worth of new growth.) 1/4 cup raw sunflower butter (or tahini) 1 tsp sea salt 3 cloves garlic Grind ingredients in food processor until the chick peas have become a nice fluffy pulp. Add the juice of one lemon or 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar. Add water a couple of tablespoons at a time until the mixture starts to get creamy. Add more water until it reaches a nice consistency. Garlic tofu scramble with chipotle hash-browns Dreary fall weather got you down? This past week, the drizzle and fog of Whistler sure turned me into a pitiful Netflix addicted sloth-like creature! I'm slowly pulling myself out of that silly lazy trend. Back to my yoga classes, working towards creating some vegan food workshops, and heading back to Whistler's fantastic little fitness spot called Bounce! It really is what it sounds like, two large rooms completely filled with trampolines! If you never want to grow up, or simply want to stay in shape/ get in shape for the snow season, this place is awesome. This Halloween reminded me how much I truly and completely never ever wanna grow up. Over the past few months I have been retiring my relationship with alcohol. I'm not sure when I made the choice exactly, but over the past year I have come to realize that it just doesn't fit in my life anymore. This Halloween was my first sober one in over ten years (ouch, that dates me a bit) and I really REALLY loved it!! My partner and I turned half our room into a pillow fort (yes, it is still kickin') made vegan nachos and raw snickers bars and watched spooky movies. Oh, and we dressed in silly onesies... This wonderful garlicky scramble was our not hungover hangover breakfast!
Complete and total dorks, know it, don't care, never wanna grow up!!! - Likely never will. P.S. Snickers recipe came from Young and Raw!! You can find it here. Rainy days, rainy nights mean cloudy skies and little contact with the sun. I can see little bits of snow collecting on the peak of Whistler Mountain which is the only saving grace of this dreary weather. A moment in the morning of catching a glimpse of blue sky perks me up, goodness I miss that good ol' sun! In 8 weeks I will be in the sunny and hot Central America, and goodness I cannot wait! So much prep to do yet for the trip, but we are coming closer every day. It has been a bit of a shock this past week for me, realizing that I am in a town that I don't really know, surrounded by new faces and few close friends. I really did just move here for love! (crazy lovesick fool!) Having time to finally dedicate to you guys and this blog has been super great though! The nutrition course I am taking is coming to a close and I loved it and am hungry for more health filled know how. But the best part about moving here for a time is finding a yoga studio where I truly feel at home. Juvamukti Yoga Whistler, previously Loka Yoga, is a place filled with beauty and love, with incredible instructors who are filled with knowledge and skills to pass on. It is run by a woman named Tina, who has been teaching yoga for over 30 years and she is a powerful spiritual warrior. She runs a teacher training program here in Whistler and I am ever so tempted to enroll for the next session. Life is steering me towards a period of travel and freedom right now. Maybe someday. But the reason I am making this post ladies and gents, is to share with you one of my most recent creations! A vegan chocolate tart that has been sitting in my fridge for the past couple days just taunting me! I've been lazy in documenting it, so I haven't been allowing myself to enjoy more that a couple small samples! The crust I made out of my almond pulp leftover from making a batch of almond milk. I could give you an alternative ingredient, but I truly recommend you simply make yourself a beautiful batch of milk! Crust: 2 cups almond pulp 2 Tbsp coconut oil 2 Tbsp maple syrup Blend for a moment in food processor and press into the bottom of a pan lined with parchment paper. Put in freezer while you make the filling to let it harden. The creamy fudge-like yummy filling! 2 cups soaked or fresh dates 1/2 cup melted coconut oil Blend in food processor until mixture resembles toffee. (You can save some of this toffee mixture to decorate the top of the tart if you want!) Add: 1/2 cup cacao powder (or cocoa) 1/2 cup nut butter (I used cashew) Blend until smooth. Carefully spread this mixture on top of the crust as to not disrupt the crust. To smooth out the top I wet my fingertips and flattened the filling until smooth. Let set in fridge for about an hour, or freeze for a frozen treat! YUM! Making your own nut milk. Like any new thing, because you buy it at a store, or have never made the attempt, it seems so far out of reach. I was astounded, once again, how easy it is to make your own nut milk! This year seems to be the beginning of a new trend in my life that brings me profound happiness and self awareness. Breaking away, one by one, from packaged and processed items. Reducing my carbon footprint, one step at a time. Even the simple act of: saving your produce bags, joining a CSA, buying your nuts, seeds and grains in bulk and reusing your bulk bags, saying no at the counter, "I don't need a bag", opting to make your own tomato sauce rather than buying a can... The list goes on and not just when it has to do with food products. How many toiletries to do you own? How many do you use? But most importantly, how many do you truly need? What about your cleaning products? Did you really need to buy that brand new winter jacket with goose down, or could you have found a perfectly good and stylish jacket at your local second hand store? I found a top name ski jacket for $10 and I love it! Every small decision you make every day makes a difference to our world, to the environment and to you. But yes, onto the step I learned yesterday! Almond milk!!! It was shockingly easy to make!
Just take some raw nuts, I chose almonds, but anything would do, I am personally trying an almond/cashew blend the next time. I filled my glass mason jar 1/4 full with raw almonds, filled it to the top with water and let them soak overnight. (At a minimum of 12 hours.) The next afternoon, I put the almonds (which had grown about double in size from soaking) in my blender with a ratio of 3:1 water to almonds and blended the mixture on high (with the lid securely sealed! Messy ;) ) for approximately 5 minutes. I strained my milk using some screening material I bought from the hardware store, but there are also nut bags sold at most health food stores if you'd rather. I found the screening worked just fine, it also doubles for me as a strainer for making sprouts. I mixed about a teaspoon of maple syrup into my milk and put it in a clean mason jar. You could turn your milk into any flavour you like, or simply enjoy it in its raw deliciously creamy form! Stay tuned for an upcoming sweet recipe make with the almond pulp!! I ran a bush kitchen, did a festival, fell in love, enjoyed some nomadic lifestyling and now I'm back to the blogosphere ladies and gents. I've settled myself in this strange little tourist town that has been overrun with Australians called Whistler, B.C. I've joined 2 yoga studios and have begun my training in holistic nutrition! Before arriving here I spent 3 weeks in the Yasodhara Ashram in the by Kootenay Lake in B.C. It's been a whirlwind, but I'm back to making food and am back here to share some recipes with you! It was quite the jolt moving from the Ashram to a little mini city. I was nervous about finding local organic food here, but I was lucky to discover that Whistler has a beautiful Farmer's Market. The Ashram grew 40% of it's own food and got the remaining portion from local farmers and a wholesale organic bulk supplier. I felt like I was in food heaven while I was there. I felt blessed with every morsel. I never quite realized how difficult it is to maintain a local sustainable diet in whole food. It is something that you really need to be mindful of in your ordinary life. I loved how at the ashram I never had to question how my meal was prepared, where my kale was grown, or whether or not it was sprayed with any chemicals. Any who here's a recipe for ya! Garlicky cashew basil pesto on rice pasta For the Pesto: Approximately 2 large handfuls of greens. Your choice here really, I used spinach and basil in mine, but you could use kale, arugula or any green available. Put your greens in food processor or vita-mix and blend until pulverized. Add: 2-3 cloves of garlic 2/3 cup of soaked cashews (Another nut/seed could be used here, like sunflower seeds, walnuts..etc) pinch of sea salt juice from half a lemon Blend until smooth then add approximately 1/4 cup olive oil until rich and creamy. You can put whatever extra veggies you like into the pasta. Roasted bell peppers would be good, or whole roasted garlic cloves, caramelized fennel, roasted zucchini or eggplant? The night I made the dish, I caramelized some shallots with some cremini mushrooms and garlic. I also added some thinly sliced black kale and topped with bean sprouts. So tasty and delicious, this recipe is definitely making a re-run in my kitchen soon! Above are some pictures of the garden and root cellar at the Yasodhara Ashram. I was filled with awe and inspiration while living there. I cannot wait to have the time and the resources to dedicate to creating such a self sustainable lifestyle. My few weeks spent in this beautiful community were such a blessing. Making the choice to leave was a very difficult one for me. I had a force outside of the ashram pulling me away. I mentioned in the beginning of this post how I fell in love this summer. It was the pull of that person that brought me out here to Whistler. Moving mountains, traveling miles just to meet up with one other human. It is remarkable how much impact one person can have on another. How much two energies can long to be reunited. There is something about traveling through the rocky mountains of British Colombia that makes you feel so small. Two tiny humans, but such an incredible force between you. Falling in love has been the most wonderful adventure. These are soooooo yummy! So I’ve totally been a terrible blogger lately. I’ve been creating and documenting plenty of yummy eats.. just not sharing them. Sorry! My internet connection is rather sub-par, and gathering the patience required to upload all dem images has been lacking. Today I share with you my favorite creation! Raw (ish) burritos!!! . . .Woah.So there are a number of components to this dish. Not all are necessary, but they all add somethin' special. The wrap is a beautiful organic collard green leaf! No gluten here. Inside I made my cashew sweet potato spread. Simple to make: 1-2 cooked sweet potato 1/3 cup raw cashews 1 clove garlic Puree in food processor. Cashew sour creme: 1 cup raw cashews (soaked at least 1/2 hour) 2 T Apple cider vinegar 2 T nutritional yeast Puree in food processor. Walnut and sunflower seed “meat” 1/2 cup walnuts 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 1/2 chili pepper (or more depending on you spice tolerance) pinch sea salt 1/8 tsp pepper 2 cherry tomatoes Pulse in food processor until you reach desired "meaty" consistency. In addition to these lovely items, my friends and I threw in some avocado, brown lentils, wild rice and a buncha veggies. Enjoy! Awwwww yehhhhhh.
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By Nomes
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