Tag Archives: apple

Cinnamon Apple “Toast.” Raw, Gluten- and Sugar-free.

stack of toastWhen low, gray clouds scud across the blue and mornings are cool enough for a flannel shirt and the leaf tips of the winged elms, hackberrys, scrub oaks, and bois d’arcs turn brown, I feel like baking bread.  But, I’m eating less bread these days.  Why?  I don’t really know.  Call it an experiment; a phase.  I’m sure it will be short-lived, but in the meantime, instead of whole wheat cinnamon toast slathered in peanut butter and topped with a thick slice of banana, I’m eating raw cinnamon “toast” made of apples and nuts and sweet potato.  Slathered in peanut butter and topped with a thick slice of banana.  (I shared this recipe on Healthy Vegan Friday!)

Have you signed up yet for the November 16 Virtual Vegan Potluck?  If not, you can do it here.

Cinnamon Apple  ”Toast”
Makes ~24 large pieces

1 cup walnuts, soaked overnight
5 dates, soaked for ~15 minutes
1 apple, cored
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into small pieces (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 of a banana
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom
pinch salt, optional
1 cup  flaxseed meal
1/4 cup flaxseeds
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw hulled hemp seeds

In a food processor, process the walnuts through the salt until nearly smooth.  You’ll need to scrape down the bowl of the processor a few times.

In a large bowl, combine the flaxseed meal, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, and hemp seeds.  Pour in the walnut mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.  Spread the mixture onto a Teflex dehydrator sheet to just a hair under 1/2″ thick and neaten up the edges.  Gently score the dough into desired shapes.  Place in the dehydrator and dehydrate at 145F for 30 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 115F and continue to dehydrate the “toast” until is dry and very crispy, about 20-24 hours.

Tip: about 2 hours in, I carefully flip the “toast” by placing a mesh sheet + dehydrator tray on top of it, and then I gently remove the Teflex sheet.  This speeds up the dehydrating process.

Break the “toast” into pieces and store in an air-tight container.  To serve, top with fruit-sweetened jam, natural almond or peanut butter – or your favorite toast toppings.

For crackers, spread the batter to about 1/4″ – you’ll need two trays and the drying time will be less.

toast collage

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(Cafe) Barcelona Soup and Sandwich

Sandwich and SaladOne of the things I really enjoy about cooking is trying to recreate restaurant meals.  Sometimes I even think that I’ve gotten a recipe just a little bit better than the original – but that’s probably because I believe the best meals are those made and eaten at home.

This quick and easy salad-and-sandwich combination was inspired by a delicious lunch shared with my mom, dad and Kel during a recent trip to Marco Island, Florida.  We cooked most of our meals at our rental house, but found this vegan-friendly restaurant right in the heart of Naples.  The food was simple and very fresh and the company couldn’t be beat.

I eliminated the olive oil in both the sandwich and the salad – they just don’t need it!  And I created a kind of chopped salad for the sandwich filling rather than keeping the ingredients whole.  I thought it would be easier to eat that way (plus you get a bit of everything in every bite), but it turns out, this sandwich is just messy.  Serve it open-faced if you aren’t eating this with family!

One year ago today: Best Friends Forever: Soup & A Sandwich
One year and one day ago today: Earl of Chai: Another Drink from the Slow Cooker

Cafe Barcelona Veggie Sandwich
Serves 2

1 baguette
1 roasted pepper, chopped
2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
6 Spanish olives, chopped
a couple of slices of red onion, chopped
lemon zest
ground black pepper

Cut the baguette in two and then slice each piece in half.  Set aside.

In a bowl, combine the roasted pepper, lettuce, olives, red onion, lemon zest and black pepper.  Divide the mixture between the baguette slices.

Salad and Sandwich collage

Cafe Barcelona Wilted Spinach Salad with Pine Nuts, Apple and Golden Raisins
Serves 2

5 oz. fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 oz. pine nuts
1/2 tart-sweet apple, cored and chopped
splash veggie broth
splash fresh lemon juice

Lightly brown the pine nuts, raisins and apple in a dry skillet.  Stir often to prevent burning.  Add a splash of vegetable broth and put the spinach in the pan, turning to gently wilt it.

Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the burner and splash the spinach with lemon juice.  Stir and divide the mixture between two plates.

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Raw “Granola Bar” Crackers

Granola Bar CrackersI’ve now about worked my way through the entire list of cracker and flatbread recipes in Matthew Kenney’s book, Everyday Raw.  (Raw ice cream – you are next!  As soon as I can source young coconut which, no surprise, is not stocked at my local Walmart.)  I’m obsessed with the technique and love the idea of making my own healthy, raw “chips” at home rather than buying tortilla chips and (my favorite guilty snack) Stacy’s Pita Chips.  If you haven’t tried these: DO NOT buy a bag.  You will be forever hooked.  Fear not, I am going to tackle recreating those babies in my dehydrator, but for today, I’m sharing an on-the-sweet-side cracker that I created using the principles I picked up from Kenney’s book.  These very crispy crackers include some standard granola bar ingredients.  By the way, I’ve shared this recipe over at Gluten-Free Cat as part of Raw Foods Thursdays!

Eat them straight up or make a sandwich using homemade coconut milk ice cream.  Thanks to Amanda (via Somer) for that very easy and tasty recipe – you’ll have to ask them for it yourselves…

One year ago today: White Bean, Asparagus & Artichoke Heart Salad
One year and one day ago today: Bluebirds to Be 

Raw “Granola Bar” Crackers
Makes one dehydrator sheet

1 cup raw walnuts, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1 large apple, cored and chopped into small chunks
1″ nubbin fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, soaked in warm water for an hour or so and drained
1 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup unsweetened cacao nibs
generous pinch salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash cardamom
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
1 cup water
1/4 cup agave nectar (taste dough and add more if preferred)

Put the flaxseed meal, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, cacao nibs and orange zest in a large bowl.  Set aside.

In a food processor, process the walnuts, ginger and apple until you get a nice mash.  Add this mixture to the flaxseed meal mixture and add the remaining (wet) ingredients.  Using a big spoon or your hands, mix until thoroughly combined.  This is a fairly wet mess.

Line a dehydrator tray with a non-stick sheet and plop the dough into the center, top with another non-stick sheet and slowly roll out the dough.  I had to move dough from time to time from one spot to another to get something that resembled a square.  The dough should be about 1/4″ thick.  Remove that top non-stick sheet, gently score the dough into whatever size and shape strike your fancy and slide the tray with the dough into the dehydrator.  Dehydrate at 145F for 30 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 115F.  After a few hours of drying, I carefully transfer the dough to a screen for more efficient drying.  Dehydrate for about 24 hours or until crispy and crunchy.  Break into pieces and store in an air-tight container.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

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Late to the Party

Sunflower with BumblebeeJust as I did when Pinterest came out all hot and heavy on the scene, I resisted joining Instagram*.  Who needs it? thought I.  Who needs yet another way to obsess over acquiring Friends and Followers – to connect socially – to share more?  Not me, no way.  So it was only a matter of time, right?  Caving in, I recently added Instagram to my iPhone and true to probably every other Instagram user, I immediately starting snapping everything that moved and also everything that didn’t move.  Much to my surprise, my not-so-high-quality iPhone photos looked…really cool.  I share a few below (and one above).

Incidentally, I also came late – very late – to the Mac party.  A couple of days ago, my hard-working HP laptop died an unceremonious death.  Stuttering, freezing, faltering, its hard disk had apparently suffered irreparable damage from too many trips through airports; it finally balked at being crammed into overhead bins and possibly revolted over having to store too many food photos for the blog.  Like a person dashing out of a burning house, I grabbed what files I could and then retreated.  To the Apple Store.  I’ve been toying with the idea of becoming a Mac owner for years.  Now seemed like the perfect time to jump in.

*If you are an Android user, I recommend Vignette.  It has way more tweaking options than does Instagram.  I’m hoping to see Vignette create an app for the iPhone.

Find me on Instagram: anunrefinedvegan
Find me on Pinterest: unrefinedvegan

Ants

Watermelon Slices

Morning Walk

Garden Orb

Grapes, homegrown.

Ike in Black and White

Lemons

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Apple Butter Cookies

Apple ButterThis easy recipe for very old-fashioned-sounding cookies comes from the lone vegan cookbook on the shelves at the otherwise exhaustively stocked kitchen store, Gygi, in Salt Lake City.  A typical trip there goes something like this: go to pick up only a package of parchment paper sheets and – - leave, pushing a shopping cart with aforementioned parchment (in two sizes) several small pieces of china that were “on sale,” plastic lids for half-sheet baking pans, an elf-sized spatula perfect for prying recalcitrant brownies out of pans, colorful paper muffin cups and yet another set of measuring spoons.  Will it be long before I enter Gygi and a la Norm at Cheers I am greeted with a hearty shout of “Annie!!”?

Oh right, the cookbook.  It’s called The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes, by Kris Holechek.  A very nice collection of recipes; we’ll be spending a lot of time together.  Per my usual method, I used predominantly whole wheat flour, halved the sugar, halved the fat and added nuts.

One last very important thing: thank you again to all of you who have reached out to offer support, condolences, love and wisdom over the past weeks.  Your heartfelt words have warmed and comforted me.

Apple Butter Cookies
Makes ~ 2 dozen

Pitcher, Glass1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. powdered stevia
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegan butter, softened
1/2 very ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup maple sugar
3/4 cup apple butter (I used R.W. Knudsen’s organic which has no added sugar)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped and toasted nuts

In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, stevia, cinnamon, ginger and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and maple sugar.  Add in the banana, apple butter and vanilla, using a whisk to create a smooth mixture (it will look a little curdled).  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches and mix until well-combined – then stir in the chopped nuts.

Either put the batter into the refrigerator for a few hours to firm up (at which point you can roll the dough into balls and flatten to make nice, round cookies) or – preheat the oven to 350F, line 2 baking sheets with parchment and simply drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the cookie sheets.  Bake for 12-14 minutes or until firm and lightly browned on the bottoms.
Cookies on a Plate

Cookies on a Plate, Bite

Apple Butter Cookie

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