A Recap and a Giveaway - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 11

Wow, we've just crossed the halfway point of Vegan MoFo! I started out intending to do at least 20 posts this month and hoping to do a few more than that if possible. So completing half the posts in the first few weeks, despite the daily distractions I've been having, what with blog hopping and drooling over the delicious goodies created by other MoFo bloggers, is something I'm really happy about. :)

For today's post, it seems apt to do a recap of all the recipes I've shared so far. Enjoy! :)

My theme for Vegan MoFo 2013 is Raw Vegan Foods.

Day 1 - Raw Almond Mylk

Day 2 - Healthy Green Smoothie

Day 3 - Fruit Sweetened Almond Mylk Ice Cream

Day 4 - Making Sprouts and Green Cilantro-Mint Chutney(chutney recipe by Dr.Nandita Shah)

Day 5 - Raw Almond Mylk Pulp Vadai/Cracker Sandwiches

Day 6 - Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi (Banana Peppers) with Walnut Cilantro Pesto

Day 7 - Creamy Tomato Basil Soup(guest post by Manasa)

Day 8 - Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

Day 9 - Raw Cinnamon Apple Crumble with Date Almond Sauce

Day 10 - Melon Mustard Gazpacho

*Phew!*

And now, to celebrate the success of the first half of Vegan MoFo, I'm giving away something special that I handmade just for this occassion. :D

I present to you, the Kitchen Ninja Necklace!

For those of you who don't know, I create vegan art jewellery under the brand name Art by Susmitha. My favourite materials to work with are polymer clay, copper, silver, brass, gemstones and vegan crystal pearls (made by Swarovski). I've been making and selling my jewellery online for about ten years now.

My long time global store is on Etsy - http://artbysusmitha.etsy.com
And I've had an India specific store on ItsHandmade for a little over a year - http://art-by-susmitha.itshandmade.in

Art by Susmitha has its own pages on Facebook and Twitter. And shares a profile with Veganosaurus on Instagram and Flickr.

I made the focal pendant of this Kitchen Ninja necklace with copper. I hand stamped and textured it with special fonts and texturing hammers. Then I fired it to obtain a beautiful rainbow patina, highlighted the letters and finally hand polished it to bring out all the details.

I added the pendant to a long hemp chord and finished it with copper components. You slip the necklace around your neck and adjust the length by sliding the polymer clay bead at the back up and down.

Since I know many girl Kitchen Ninjas and boy Kitchen Ninjas, I designed this necklace to be worn by men as well as women. :)

If you'd like a chance to win this necklace for yourself or for the Kitchen Ninja in your life, visit this link on my Facebook Page and follow the instructions.

Enjoy! :)

Post by Art by Susmitha.

Melon Mustard Gazpacho - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 10

This cold soup was the first recipe I created for this year's Vegan MoFo when I found out about it in August. But I hadn't found the right time to post it until now.

Since I kicked off MoFo with a tutorial on making Almond Mylk, I ended up posting various recipes related to that throughout the first week. Then early in the second week, there was a Creamy Tomato Basil Soup recipe which was a guest post on my blog by Manasa and I didn't want another soup recipe here very soon after that.

Today finally seems to be the right time for me to be sharing this. Since it's a weekend, I don't want to spend too much time online. So there are no HowDos and no stop-motion videos. Just a simple and refreshing recipe for you to quickly whip up and enjoy. :)

I grow my own organic mustard leaves by planting mustard seeds in a pot. These are very good for health and have a really delicious flavour. I recommend that you grow your own organic mustard leaves too if you have a garden or a well lit balcony where you can place potted plants. They grow very quickly and easily.

If you can't get your hands on mustard leaves, you can always use other greens. I suggest that you use something with a hint of spiciness to it, like arugula or radish greens.

Melon Mustard Gazpacho

1 Musk Melon
2 Tomatoes
1 C Mustard Leaves
1/2 Lime
1/8 tsp Salt

* De-seed, peel and cube the musk melon
* Cube the tomatoes
* Add the musk melon, tomatoes and mustard leaves into a blender jar
* Squeeze lime juice over them and add the salt
* Blend well (it's okay if a few small chunks are left)
* Serve fresh and raw
* Enjoy! :)

By the way, Rando is back. Yay! :)

For those of you who don't know, RandoMoFo is a randomiser for Vegan MoFo. Every time you visit RandoMoFo.com, a totally random Vegan MoFo participant's blog is loaded. And since I love surprises, this is my absolute favourite way to blog hop during MoFo and drool over all the delicious food posts.

Give it a go, you'll see why I like it so much. But let me warn you, Rando is a highly addictive fella. So if you're a Vegan MoFo blogger, first finish writing up your blog post for the day before you get on the Rando ride. ;)

Raw Cinnamon Apple Crumble with Date Almond Sauce - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 9

I thought I'd save this recipe for tomorrow, but then I realised that we're almost half way through Vegan MoFo and I've only shared one measly dessert recipe with you so far! *gasp* That is just not an acceptable way for me to treat my precious blog readers.

There's another reason why I felt like doing a dessert post today. Spirits are at an all time high at Veganosaurus Headquarters. And here's why...

Yes, we got a brand spanking new power adapter for the laptop today. Woohoo!!! :D :D :D

When you look at the way everyone's partying now, you would never believe the kind of drama that happened here just one week ago.

This kind of mood definitely calls for dessert, don't you think? :) Here you go...

Raw Cinnamon Apple Crumble with Date Almond Sauce

2 Apples - chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder
Pinch of Salt

* Toss everything together in glass dish
* Cover with a glass lid
* Keep in a sunny spot for sun baking for 3-4 hours

6 Seedless Dates

* Soak them in fresh, clean water for 3-4 hours

1/2 C Almonds
2 T Sesame Seeds

* Grind coarsely in a dry jar

How to proceed:

* To 1/4th of the almond-sesame powder, add the dates and their soaking water and grind to a smooth paste
* Add a few spoons of water and blend into a sauce
* Toss the apples with the remaining 3/4th of the almond-sesame powder to form the apple crumble, and place into individual serving bowls
* Spoon the sauce over the apple crumble
* Serve at room temperature or after chilling for a while
* Enjoy! :)

Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce - Vegan MoFo Day 8

Wow, that name was quite a mouthful, wasn't it? Even by my usual standards. I promise that this dish is worth every syllable though!

When it comes to raw food, there's nothing like zucchini/courgette to replace regular pastas; be it zucchini lasagna, flat zucchini noodles, or if you have a fancy spiralizer tool (which is so on my I-want-this list), zucchini spaghetti! It's the one vegetable, which when combined with a creamy raw sauce, has that perfect al-dente pasta texture. It's something that you just have to taste to believe!

Since it is of utmost importance that the zucchini pasta is super thin, I use a vegetable peeler to quickly scrape it into flat, fettuccine-like noodles. This whole dish takes five minutes to put together but tastes like a laborious work of art! :D

In the summer I make real sun dried tomatoes. But since we've barely had any sunlight in this monsoon season, I made the batch used in this recipe by dehydrating cherry tomato halves in the oven at 70°C. If you don't want to make your own, you can buy them locally in Bangalore at Food Hall and a few other grocery stores that carry speciality goods.

If you like, you can substitute fresh cherry tomatoes for the sun dried ones in this recipe. But sun dried tomatoes have a significantly richer flavour and better texture, so if you are able to get your hands on them, you should definitely use them.

The nutritional yeast makes the sauce mind-blowingly flavourful. In India, you can currently order it online from i2cook. I know there are a few more sources of these precious, golden flakes coming up here soon and I'll keep you updated about them. :)

Here's a step-by-step HowDo guide (oh, how I enjoy making these HowDos) for this recipe, followed by a typed out, text version.

Raw Zucchini/Courgette Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

1 small Zucchini
1/2 C Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 C Cashews
2 cloves of Garlic
1 T Nutritional Yeast
5 Raisins
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Salt

* Wash the zucchini well and using a vegetable peeler, scrape it into flat, fettuccine noodles (including the peel) and keep them aside
* When you reach the soft, seed portion at the heart of the zucchini, chop it up roughly and pop it into a mixie jar
* Add the cashews, garlic, raisins and salt give the grinder a quick whirr
* Squeeze in the lime juice and add a splash of clean, filtered water
* Blend into a smooth, creamy sauce, adding more water as required
* Place the zucchini noodles in a serving dish and add the sun dried tomatoes
* Pour the cashew sour cream sauce over everything and mix well
* Enjoy! :)

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup - guest post by Manasa of Cure yourself with Food - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 7

Today, I have a special guest post from Manasa Rajan of Cure yourself with Food. Manasa is a Nutrition Coach who lives here in Bangalore, India. I met her for the first time at one of our Vegan Bengaluru monthly potlucks and was very impressed to hear about the healthy, high raw diet that she and her family, including her young daughter, follow.

When I decided to include a few guest posts for MoFo this time, I knew one of her recipes would be perfect to share here. I was very happy when she agreed to create a raw recipe for my blog. And what a delicious, refreshing recipe it is!

Apart from her blog, Manasa can also be found on Facebook and Google Plus. Thank you for guest posting on Veganosaurus today, Manasa! :)

Now on to her post...

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When Susmitha asked me to do a guest post on one of my raw vegan recipes, I was a bit tempted to do a raw dessert with nuts and fruits. But lately I have been craving more savoury and spicy foods; my lunch seems to comprise of some kind of raw soup everyday. So, I decided to share one of my favourite raw soup recipes, which is making its presence on a loop in my kitchen. Creamy tomato basil soup!!!

The potted tomato plants on my balcony are offering little plump red beauties, which I cannot get myself to put on the stove to 'cook', I want to preserve and enjoy them in their natural, whole (and organic) lusciousness.

So, here's to raw vegan (really) fast food!!!

Ingredients

1/4 cup raw cashews (soaked for 4-5 hours)
5-6 medium sized tomatoes
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 ghost pepper (or a regular green chilly)
3-4 black pepper corns
1-2 tsp dried basil
1 clove of garlic
sea salt to taste
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Process

Rinse and drain the cashews. Put all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend. The motion of the high powered blender like a Vitamix will heat up the soup, but if you are using a regular blender, you might need to run it a bit longer and be really careful with the steam being generated in the jar. Warm the soup a bit (do not boil), if you prefer. You can taste the soup and add more seasoning if required.