Easter Dinner!

So according to Map my Run I ran 3 1/2 miles the other day. It might have been four because afterwards I ran to Broulims, the local grocery store. But then I walked home because I was tired. and it's hard to run with merchandise.

I got my roommate to take a picture of me after my run

I just wanted to prove that I ran, and I'm feeling good :)

I ended up not running the 10k I'd signed up for in Utah because I had too much homework and didn't finish in time. But it's okay because that same day I got to attend a sealing of a family I taught on my mission and the baptism of my close friend's sister-in-law. It was worth being down in Utah just to be there for those even if I "wasted" 30 dollars on the 10k... I'll do it eventually :)

Right now I'm focusing on learning how to cook healthy, vegan food. I've been vegan for about a week and I love it! I've cooked a lot of fun recipes for my boyfriend and me. My boyfriend resists eating healthy food so I've been trying to find ways to make the healthy things taste good to him. So far it's been pretty successful. Get ready for a ton of recipes. I'll post everything I've tried this week and tell you how they turned out. I'll span it throughout a few posts. By the way, my boyfriend's name is Alaowei. 

I wanted Easter dinner to be really special because my Alaowei's brother was flying in from Nigeria to the states for the first time. Also the airport is like five hours away so they had been driving all day. They seemed to enjoy the dinner--I mean, Alaowei actually ate his whole salad. That is success :) I'm going vegan, but Alaowei's favorite food is shrimp, so I surprised him with that--everything else I cooked for that dinner was vegan though. I made Fettuccine Alfredo, All Hail Kale salad with papaya-ginger dressing, a strawberry drink, and pumpkin spice "cheesecake." 

Yep, there it is :) Fancy.

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce 

My roommate Katie gave me this recipe when she found out I was trying to go vegan. It is delicious! It tastes just like Alfredo sauce but without the chest pain afterward :) This is the first time I've tried it. It called for butter and milk but I substituted them with olive oil and coconut milk, which I've written into the recipe. You can substitute the coconut milk for whichever type of milk you prefer. Aparently from the recipe card she gave me, my roommate got this recipe from Pinch of Yum blog. If you try it, let me know how it worked for you! Both my boyfriend and his brother loved it. Of course, I didn't tell them it was vegan until afterward :)

Ingredients

8 large cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons olive oil

5-6 cups cauliflower florets

6-7 cups vegetable broth or water

1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)

1/2 teaspoon salt (more to taste)

1/2 cup coconut milk (or milk of choice)

Directions

1. Garlic: Saute the minced garlic with the oil in a large nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook for several minutes or until the garlic is soft and fragrant but not browned (browned or burnt garlic will taste bitter). Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Cauliflower: bring the water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain.

3. Puree: Use a slotted spoon to transfer cauliflower pieces to the blender. Add one cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic with oil, salt, pepper, and coconut milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more vegetable broth/water or coconut milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Serve hot! If the sauce starts to look dry add a few drops of water, vegetable broth, or olive oil.

Notes

I used vegetable broth, which was delicious, but I didn't like how much I had left over. I think if you boiled the cauliflower in water and then added a cup of vegetable broth to the sauce it would taste the same!

All Hail Kale Salad by The Detoxinista

Apparently the Detoxinista modeled this recipe after a salad at the Veggie Grill, which must be delicious because this salad definitely was! Like I said, my boyfriend actually ate his. And his brother got seconds :). this recipe makes 1.5 cups of dressing.

Ingredients

1/2 cup papaya chunks

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 oz fresh ginger, peeled

2 Tablespoons coconut vinegar (I used red-wine vinegar and it tasted fine)

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (or just salt)

1/4 cup water, or more, to thin

Directions

In a high-speed blender, combine all of the ingredients and blend until completely smooth and silky.

To prepare the salad you'll need:

1 bunch curly green kale

Papaya mango salsa from Trader Joe's (or any salsa of choice)

Maple glazed walnuts

Papaya ginger dressing (recipe above)

Shredded cabbage (optional)

1. Remove the kale leaves from the stems, and wash and dry thoroughly. In a medium bowl, toss the shredded cabbage in a bit of the papaya ginger dressing, and coat well. Set aside.

2. The Veggie Grill serves this salad with homemade corn salsa, but the Detoxinista prefers the Trader Joe's papaya mango salsa because it matches the dressing better. I bought a corn salsa from the grocery store that tasted great with it. 

3. Top the kale leaves with a bit of Ginger papaya dressing, then use your hands to massage the dressing well into the leaves. The kale will soften and wilt as you go!

Notes

This is normally an all-kale salad, but my kale didn't wilt as much as I hoped. I added other greens to the salad so as not to scare off the veggie-haters from healthy food. I added spinach and dark romaine lettuce to soften the overall texture of the salad. And it turned out great! I also didn't include the cabbage and therefore skipped step 1. 

Strawberry Drink

No picture, sorry :/

The first time I tasted this was on my mission in the home of a sister from Colombia. I thought it must have been some fancy recipe but it was just strawberries, sugar, and water. This type of drink is something the Hispanics make a lot with different types of fruit. They call it "agua de sabor," meaning water with flavor. It's light, fresh, and delicious because it's made with real fruit! 

Ingredients

1 16 oz bag frozen strawberries (whole or sliced, it doesn't matter)

Water (amount depending on your desired texture)

Sugar (to taste)

Place the strawberries in a blender. Fill the blender a little over 1/3 full with water. Pour in a very small mound of sugar and blend. Add more sugar if you desire. Your guests will never guess how simple it was to make :)

Raw Pumpkin "Cheesecake" by the Detoxinista

I was surprised by how healthy and simultaneously delicious this cheesecake was. Some vegan desserts either taste healthy or aren't healthy. But this one is neither. Don't expect perfect cheesecake texture replication, but it is still delicious, whatever category it belongs to. I definitely recommend this. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashew butter

1/2 cup carrot puree

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 soft medjool dates

2 1/2 Tablespoons raw honey

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions

1. If you're making your own cashew butter, throw 2 cups of cashews into a high-powered blender, like a Vita-Mix and blend on low until smooth and creamy.

2. This will make more than you need, so you can either save the rest or put in less cashews to begin with. You can also use store bought cashew butter.

3. Prepare your carrot puree. I threw about 1 1/2 cups of organic baby carrots into my Vita-Mix, and blended them on low for about 1 minute, tamping them down along the way. (You may have a little extra after this, make sure to measure after blending.)

4. Throw all of your ingredients into a mini-food processor and process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides occasionally. Adjust the flavor to taste.

5. Pour batter into a greased 4" springform pan, or a pan lined with plastic wrap. Place your "cheesecake" in the freezer to set overnight.

6. Slice and serve IMMEDIATELY from the freezer! The texture is perfect when frozen. 

Notes

Before blending my carrots I steamed them, because I don't have a vita-mix. I also added some water to my cashew butter, so it turned out much thinner than it was supposed to, but it still worked. Instead of a pan I simply used a plastic bowl lined with plastic wrap and let it set overnight. However, I don't think the texture was perfect immediately after removal from the freezer. I let mine sit out for at least a half hour before serving. It was too hard directly from the freezer, so I recommend taking it out in advance before serving.

So overall the dinner was a success! I am excited about learning to cook and I'm happy that Alaowei like it. I mean, he's the one that's going to be testing all my experiments! :)

Let me know if you try any of these recipes!!