Simply Sunshine Smoothie - Amanda

Link to recipe: http://uncooking101.com/site/raw-food-recipe/simply-sunshine-smoothie/

INGREDIENTS
5 bananas
1 pineapple
(the juice of) 1 lemon <-- I forgot...
1 1/2 cups ice
1 cup water
dash of cayenne <-- I went overboard with my "dash"

Overall Rating: Satisfactory...would have been better had I not dumped a bucket of cayenne in it...

Rating Based On:

• Taste - Average
• Ease of Preparation - Super Easy

(Scale: Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke)

Applesauce Pancakes - Ashley

Let me just start by apologizing for not having pictures or a video of this endeavor. I was holding my almost seven week old the whole time, so obviously that was more important than holding a camera/setting up a video. Besides, the only thing you missed was me dumping flour all over the floor. 


This recipe was your basic pancake mix with applesauce added. Not too much to it and it went reasonably well. I will say that this recipe makes some super thick mix, so we had to keep gradually adding water to thin it out a bit. I personally like thin pancakes as opposed to super thick, so if you like thick, no thinning is required. I feel like the applesauce made the pancakes cook ridiculously fast, so make sure you start out on a low-ish heat and work your way up from there. They weren’t very applesauce-y, so if you want to taste more of that, I would recommend adding another 1/2 cup or so. 


I think this is the first recipe that I didn’t deviate from since starting this. Here it is:


Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. milk + 1 c. applesauce
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt


Directions:
Beat eggs with hand beater until fluffy; beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth.

* It says that it makes 18 4-inch pancakes. I’m going to say that it makes WAY more than that, but that could be because we thinned ours out so we had a ton more. 

Recipe can be found here:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,144180-239201,00.html

Scale:  Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:

• Taste - Average
• Ease of Preparation - Easy

Vegan French Toast - Amanda

I followed the recipe precisely using whole wheat bread. I felt like it was a bit too citrusy for my liking, and would probably back off of the OJ next time. It was also a bit soggy, but like my sister did, I popped it on the frying pan.

Overall Rating: Satisfactory
Would I Make It Again and/or Recommend: Yes





Scale:  Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:

• Taste - Satisfactory
• Ease of Preparation - Super Easy

Wheat-free pizza crust + pizza - Ashley

Let me start by saying this was a rather interesting recipe and this made me seriously question my ability to go wheat-free. It’s not that it was awful, it wasn’t. It was just...interesting - and not for me. 
So, let’s do this! 
Ingredients: 
3 cups cooked rice
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup tomato sauce
pizza toppings of your choice


Directions:
1. Mix the rice, eggs, and 1 cup of the cheese. Put the mixture into a greased frying pan and pat down. Cover and cook at medium-low for 15 minutes. This rice base will be your crust and at this stage the crust should be slightly brown and beginning to set. 
2. Combine oregano, salt, garlic powder, and tomato sauce to make sauce (or use a commercial pizza sauce of your choice).
3. Spread the sauce on the base. Top with toppings of your choice. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over the sauce. Cover and cook 10 minutes at the same heat.
4. Uncover and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
5. Serves 1 to 2. 


What actually happened:
I followed the directions, with the exception of making my own sauce. I had a can of organic pizza sauce, so I just used that. (Hey! It’s hard to cook when I have a six week old screaming bloody murder at me.) 

Cooking the rice in the beginning

Getting the ingredients ready while the rice is cooking

Rice Crust prior to setting (cooking) 

Crust after 15 minutes

Bottom of the crust after flipping 

Flipped and cooking the other side

Finished product (Steve, my husband, didn’t want tomatoes)

The original recipe didn’t require a flipping of the crust, but it wasn’t setting properly and the top was still very mushy. I think I may have put too much in the frying pan, which leads me to believe the original recipe maker was using a frying pan for giants (I was using the biggest frying pan I have, I didn’t even have a lid big enough for it). You really only need two cups of cooked rice, not three...unless of course, you have said frying pan for giants. Moving on. I flipped the crust rather easily. Just put the pizza pan on top of the frying pan and Steve helped flip it and slide it back into the pan. So, I did 20 or so minutes on one side, flipped it, and do an additional 10 minutes before topping. After topping, I let it go for another 5 minutes as the recipe indicates and then slide it back onto the pizza pan for serving. It was still too mushy/rice-y for my liking, but I think that can be easily solved by cutting down to 2 cups of rice versus 3. 

Would I do it again? Probably not. I LOVE pizza and this just wasn’t doing pizza any justice. I guess if I had a problem with wheat, I would consider it. Until then, give me my real pizza! 



Overall Rating: Eh

Would I Make It Again and/or Recommend: No

Scale:  Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:

• Taste - Eh
• Ease of Preparation - Easy

Chocolate Pudding - Ashley

5-22-12

I bet when you think about chocolate pudding, you don’t think avocados, bananas, or dates. WHAT?! Yup, but I gave the recipe a try and it was fantastic! It was super simple and if you have the ingredients on hand and are having a chocolate craving, it’s a perfect go to recipe to solve that problem. In my case, I had a few avocados and bananas that were about to go bad, so I needed a way to get rid of them without throwing them away.

So, without further ado, here’s the original recipe:

Ingredients:

2 avocados

1 banana

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup dates (pitted, soaked in water for a few hours, drained)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Transfer to a bowl or individual serving bowls and chill several hours before serving.

As I was cutting my avocados, I realized that one of them had gone bad already. Total Wasteful Wanda. With one avocado down, I had to cut the rest of the ingredients to half-sies. With the exception of cutting everything to half and not soaking the dates for a few hours, (I soaked them for 30 minutes, I’m really impatient) I stuck to the recipe. My only critique is that if you don’t like a strong taste of banana, add a ¼ banana at a time and keep tasting. My ½ banana turned out well, but I can see how it would be a little strong for some people.  Be prepared for an awesome mess in your blender, mine is currently soaking indefinitely. Also, it’s much better chilled, so try to be patient and let it chill for an hour or so.

Overall Rating: Satisfactory

Would I Make It Again and/or Recommend: Yes

Scale:  Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:

• Taste - Satisfactory
• Ease of Preparation - Super Easy

Original recipe can be found here:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/3148

Finished product - totally looks like my handprint on the lid...it’s not. 

Raspberry Green Smoothie - Ashley

5-22-12

I didn’t have time to actually make yesterday’s recipe, but it was a smoothie so I made it for breakfast this morning. And! I think it’s safe to say that I strayed so far from the original recipe, I owe it to the creator to give it a re-do. It wasn’t very good; in fact, it was to the point where I was forcing myself to finish it. No one likes a Wasteful Wanda.

Recipe as follows:

Ingredients:

5 cups fresh spinach

1 cup soaked chia seeds

1 cup water

1 tbsp maca

1 tbsp green powder

2 tbsp carob powder

3 frozen bananas

½ cup frozen raspberries

Directions: Soak chia seeds in 2 ½ cups water a couple of days prior to use. Blend everything afterward.

What I did:

I knew that I was only making enough smoothies for Steve and myself so I cut most of the ingredients to:

2 cups of fresh spinach

1 cup water + a few ice cubes (I forgot to freeze my bananas)

2 tbsp carob powder

2 bananas

1 bag frozen strawberries

I went to the health store to get the chia seeds, maca, green powder, and carob and let’s just say it was all out of my price range. I looked everything up online and I’ll be ordering that way and making the smoothie the right way again later. I also didn’t have any raspberries, so I figured strawberries were just as good. I was probably wrong about that. I figured the smoothie would be good with the bananas, strawberries, and carob (a chocolate replacer), but I think the spinach threw it off quite a bit. There’s always next time!

Overall Rating: Puke (if made my way, unfair to rate the real recipe)

Would I Make It Again and/or Recommend: Yes, to make it correctly

Scale:  Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:

• Taste - N/A
• Ease of Preparation - Super Easy

The original can be found here:

http://uncooking101.com/site/raw-food-recipe/ultimate-energy-boosting-raspberry-green-smoothie/ (an awesome website for those who are into the raw eating lifestyle)

---

Raspberry Green Smoothie - Amanda

I also didn't follow the ingredients precisely, however here is what I did use:

• 3 cups fresh spinach
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp maca
• 2 tbsp carob powder
• 2 frozen bananas
• ½ cup frozen raspberries

Immediate Feedback: It was REALLY chocolately. I'd definitely back off of the carob powder. I drank the whole thing...but I was starving.

Overall Rating: Eh

Would I Make It Again and/or Recommend: Up in the air

Scale: Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:
Taste - Eh
Ease of Preparation - Super Easy

Vegan French Toast - Ashley

5-20-12

Amanda and I decided that we would do a new recipe a day to try different dietary styles. 

Today's recipe:

• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbs. raw cashews
• 4 pitted dates
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 Tbs. whole wheat flour
• 7 pieces of bread

Whiz all ingredients but bread in blender until smooth. Pour into a shallow bowl. Dip the slices of bread into the mix and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400º F until golden brown. Turn and brown the other side. Top with applesauce or fresh fruit.

Actual recipe can be found here:

http://www.godairyfree.org/Recipes/Breakfast/Egg-Free-French-Toast-Vegan-Soy-Free.html

What I did/used:  2tbs raw almonds instead of the cashews (it's what I had...) 

                           I added a tsp of flax seed meal

                          5 pieces of sourdough bread 

                           maple syrup (the real stuff!)

My recommendations: I did NOT like the sourdough bread. Highly recommend using a different bread, but it's what I had. It was still good, just very sourdough-y. Also, I did bake the toast for about 10 minutes on each side, but then I threw it on the griddle for a few minutes per side as well. You may want to grease your cookie sheet and if you're really doing a vegan breakfast, make sure your grease doesn't have animal or animal by-product in it. :-)  

Overall, it was delish and I would definitely make it again after doing a few tweaks. I think I’ll keep it in rotation.

Overall Rating: Satisfactory

Would I Make It Again and/or Recommend: Yes

Scale:  Super -- Satisfactory -- Average -- Eh -- Puke

Rating Based On:

• Taste - Satisfactory
• Ease of Preparation - Super Easy