Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

I can't believe this week has gone by so fast! Sheesh! And here it is Thursday again! We did have a fun few days with DH's stepdaughter from Montreal and her two lovely 12-year-old twin daughters. We had a picnic the beach with some friends and 2 of my granddaughters, the girls having a great time swimming, canoeing, going out on my stepson's motor boat, and getting to know each other. We went to Salt Spring Island for a night, with the "gang" (as DH calls them) to visit more family-- driving in style in a friend's immaculate white 1972 Chevy Caprice. We would have been squished in our little car, with no air conditioning on the hottest weekend of the year, so our friend offered his ride. Very fun, and a big surprise for the Salt Spring relatives when we drove up!

But, along with company, cooking, the ordinary daily running of a house and job, family, and, of course, the Book-- hours of editing-- it's been mostly work and very little serious cooking, I'm afraid!

I did make an interesting recipe yesterday-- Lucuma ice cream (vegan, of course!). Lucuma is a Peruvian fruit and, as many of you may know, my father was Peruvian. I remember lucuma ice cream from my three months in Peru as a six-year-old. Lucuma is a fruit with a quite dry texture, so it isn't eaten as a fruit, per se. Mostly it is used for a delectable, rich ice cream. Lucuma is rather sweet and has a butterscotch-y sort of flavor. When I was in Vancouver last, I found a store with Peruvian foods and bought some frozen lucuma puree-- what a coup, I thought!

Yesterday I worked out a recipe based on my vanilla gelato recipe made with Instant Clearjel®, with the help of a (non-vegan) recipe from the internet. After splattering the kitchen with soy cream after a little accident (Mercury is in retrograde-- what can I say?), I made the mix and tasted it-- WAY too sweet!! I couldn't figure it out! My gelato is not as sweet as most, and I had used less sweetener than the non-vegan recipe called for (in relation to the volume of liquid, etc.). So, I got out my (new, under-used) reading glasses and read the small print on the bag of lucuma puree-- sugar! I had been assuming that it was unsweetened, since the label did not say "sweetened" and the recipes I found online all called for unsweetened puree. My mistake!

I tried diluting it with more soymilk-- still overpoweringly sweet! (I now have about 2 quarts of very sweet milky liquid in the fridge that I have to think of some ways to use!  Any ideas?) So, I started over and used no sweetener at all. It still tasted too sweet to me, but I know that when food is frozen, the sweetness is not as apparent, so there was hope. I stuck it in the freezer and hoped for the best, as I was hoping to take it to a family dinner with my sister and my mother on Friday-- they will remember this treat, too!

Last night I looked for unsweetened lucuma puree in Canada online-- no luck. But I did find lucuma powder. It seems that lucuma is all the rage in the raw foods community and is even used as a natural sweetener. I found some at a good price from this Canadian vendor, and ordered 2 lbs for future experiments!

BTW, lucuma is being called a "superfood", but I think this is somewhat of an exaggeration. It's true that it has lots of fiber and beta carotene, but, then, so do carrots! It is high in natural carbohydrates, so it was used by the Incas to provide energy, and evidently the trees are very prolific-- no wonder it was a popular food. Tasting sweet and butterscotch-y didn't hurt! I just feel that we should not go hog wild over exotic foods that are supposed to provide miraculous nutrients, when, in fact, we have foods at home that are just as good, more available, and much cheaper! For me, his is an exotic treat to relive some childhood memories.

Anyway, that said, we tried a bit of the ice cream when I was photographing it and re-packing it, and it is delicious! Here is the recipe I used with the sweetened puree, but I plan to try it again with the lucuma powder and will report back!


Printable Recipe

Update Aug. 2012: See a recipe for Vegan Lucuma Ice Cream using lucuma powder here. And stay tuned for Take 3!

BRYANNA'S VEGAN LUCUMA ICE CREAM (PERUVIAN), TAKE 1 (WITH SWEETENED LUCUMA PUREE)
Servings: 10
Yield: 5 cups

1 1/2 cups soy creamer (plain)
1 1/2 cups nondairy milk
1 1/2 cups lucuma puree (with sugar)
3/4 cup raw cashews or cashew pieces, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes and drained
(if allergic to nuts, use 1/2 cup more nondairy milk, or soy creamer, and 2 tablespoons oil)
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste
3/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons Instant Clearjel® (see info below recipe)OR 3/8 tsp. guar gum or xanthan gum

Place the creamer, milk, and lucuma puree into a blender along with the soaked, drained cashews, and blend until VERY smooth and frothy (make sure that it is not grainy at all).

Mix all of the remaining ingredients, into this mixture and blend again until it is VERY smooth.

Chill the gelato mixture thoroughly, and then freeze according to directions for your ice cream machine. Scoop into a quart plastic container, cover and freeze for several hours (preferably 24 hours) before serving.


Keep cool!

Fruitcake I made yesterday.

It is snowing a lot in the Pacific Northwest, or what we like to call"Canada's Banana Belt". Hmmmm. Look at these pics:









It's beautiful-- I'll grant you that! But it's very hard to get around in. The West Coast is not prepared for lots of snow for long periods of time. Side roads (we live on one) don't get plowed for days; snow on the sides of the roads just piles up and never gets taken away; some roads don't get sanded. Our driveway is long, steep and curvy. We walk it right now. Oh, well-- at least our pipes haven't frozen and the power is on! We are snug and warm and have lots of food. It could be worse. I just wish I didn't have to go anywhere until it goes away.

ABOUT THAT FRUITCAKE....

Yesterday I felt that I should bake something Christmasy. I've avoided baking because I'm trying to lose weight. And, also, rich desserts bother DH's digestion. So I made my fruitcake, which is pretty low in fat and made with healthful ingredients.

Growing up with in California with a Mom who didn't bake much and a Peruvian father, I didn't have much exposure to traditional fruitcake. When I first tasted it I thought it was awful--heavy, stodgy. (And I've always hated candied citron.) Eventually, I invented my own sort of fruitcake years ago-- moist and rich-tasting, but minus the eggs, butter and, worse yet, suet, like many traditional recipes. I based it on an old wartime "boiled raisin" cake.

It's also easy to make and you don't have to chop the dried fruit and nuts, which is a a time saver. I leave them whole so that, when you slice the cake, you get a "stained-glass window" effect. You can make this cake at the last minute, because it doesn't need to be stored for long periods of time to develop flavor."

This is a dark fruitcake, which I prefer, but you can make a light fruitcake by omitting the spices and using all light organic sugar instead of brown sugar and molasses. Then use light-colored or red dried fruits, like pineapple, mango, pear, apple, apricots,cherries, cranberries, etc. for the fruit.

If you like, you can wrap the cooled loaves in liquor-soaked cheesecloth inside zipper-lock plastic bags and keep them for several weeks, or skip the liquor-soaked cheesecloth, in which case they should be frozen after about 1 and 1/2 weeks.

I have been making this as my Christmas cake for many years. I hope you like it!

Printable Recipe


BRYANNA'S LOW-FAT VEGAN CARROT FRUITCAKE

BOILED MIXTURE:
1 1/2 cups water or apple juice
(Instead of 1 1/2 cups liquid, you can use 1/2 cup liquor of choice, such as rum or brandy, + 1 cup water or juice)
1 cup grated scrubbed carrots
1 cup raisins
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup oil (for an even lower-fat cake, omit the fat and use 1/4 cup smooth, unsweetened applesauce)

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups wholewheat flour (regular, not pastry flour)
1/2 cup wheat germ OR oat flour (grind rolled oats in a dry blender)
1 teaspoon baking soda

DRIED FRUITS AND NUTS (for an even lower-fat cake, cut down on, or omit, the nuts, and add more dried fruit):
1 cup whole pitted mixed dried fruits (such as prunes and apricots)
1 cup whole pitted dates
1 cup dried currants (or use dried unsweetened cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup whole shelled unsalted mixed nuts

Bring the Boiled Mixture ingredients to a boil together in a medium saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients, then add the cooled Boiled Mixture and the dried fruits and nuts.
Mix well and spoon into two 3 x 6" loaf pans (fruitcake pans) and one 8 x 4" loaf pan, nonstick or lightly-oiled or sprayed and lined on the bottom with waxed paper or cooking parchment (or one 7-8" tube cake pan). Bake the small loaves for 45 minutes and the larger loaf for 60 minutes. Invert on racks to cool. Carefully peel off the paper.

Servings: 36
Yield: 2/ 3x6" loaves + 1/ 8x4" loaf OR one 7-8" tube cake

Nutrition Facts (calculated using oil and nuts)
Nutrition (per serving): 124.6 calories; 33% calories from fat; 4.9g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 92.7mg sodium; 209.7mg potassium; 19.7g carbohydrates; 2.0g fiber; 12.5g sugar; 17.6g net carbs; 2.5g protein; 2.5 points.



Happy Baking!

Cold Red lentil & Bulgur Kibbeh in Lettuce Cups with a grapefruit salad

UPDATE Aug 3, 2011: It just occurred to me (duh!) that these are a form of kibbeh (see here for info on kibbeh), so I've changed the name of the recipe.  

ALSO, I  had some of the mixture leftover this week, and I tried making small patties out of it and browning them in a pan-- delish!  See the recipe below for instructions and more pics.














I adapted this (with what I had in the house) from a salad recipe in "Eating Well" magazine. I thought I had ruined it because I over-cooked the split lentils, so that they were mushy (to be fair-- this is very easy to do, since they cook so quickly!). The salad kind of stuck together like a pâté. So, I cooled it in the refrigerator and hoped for the best. It was more solid than a salad would be, so I decided to roll balls of it (loose balls) and nestle them in the beautiful butter lettuce that we had just purchased here on Denman from Piercy Farm. Served with a bit more lettuce topped with juicy sliced grapefruit and olives (with a couple of sundried tomatoes on the side) in a balsamic vinaigrette, it was a filling and easy dinner for a hot summer evening! It was also delicious-- DH loved it!

In the following picture, I served the kibbeh with a roasted potato salad with edamame and grape tomatoes.



Printable Recipe

COLD RED LENTIL & BULGUR SALAD KIBBEH WITH DRIED FRUIT IN BUTTER LETTUCE CUPS, AND HOT KIBBEH PATTY VARIATION 
6 servings 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup bulgur wheat (medium or #2)
1/2 cup split red lentils
1/4 tsp salt 
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates (You can use 1/2 dates and 1/2 prunes, if you wish.)
1/2 cup chopped pitted dried apricots (You can use 1/2 apricots and 1/2 dried cranberries, if you wish.) 
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
2 Tbs aquafaba or Fat-Free Oil Substitute for Salad Dressings (You can use olive oil, if you prefer, but the calories and fat will go up.) 
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 Tbs grated lime zest (You can use lemon instead if you don't have limes.)
Optional: 1/4 cup dry-toasted cashews, chopped
FOR SERVING:
1 head butter lettuce, leaves separated, cleaned, spun and crisped well in the refrigerator 

Basil Mayo: lowfat vegan mayonnaise blended with fresh basil and a bit of garlic to taste.

Instructions:

Bring water, cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a small saucepan; stir in bulgur, remove from the heat, cover the pan and set aside until the water has been absorbed, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, combine lentils and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a saucepan; add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a simmer and cook until the lentils are mushy, like dahl, and don't drain them.

Add lentils, dried fruit, parsley, mint, lime juice and zest, and optional cashews and oil (if using) to the bulgur. Toss well and chill for several hours.

When ready to serve, scoop out lumps of the mixture, roll them into balls and place them in crisp leaves of butter lettuce to serve, along with a dollop of Basil Mayo (lowfat vegan mayonnaise blended with fresh basil and a bit of garlic to taste).

VARIATION-- HOT KIBBEH PATTIES:
Form the chilled balls into small patties and fry over medium-high heat in a nonstick skillet  or a well-seasoned cast iron, carbon steel or stainless steel skillet, sprayed with oil from a pump sprayer, until golden brown and crispy on both sides.  

Eat hot (minus the lettuce) with the basil Mayo Enjoy!