Part-Time Herbivore

I once went on a date with a vegan who was also gluten intolerant. After I ordered a rare steak and a pint, he ordered a salad and a vodka soda. We had a good laugh and then enjoyed our first and last date. A few weeks later I met Andrew, who also likes steak so I married him. And they lived happily ever after….

The thing about being in love with a Scottish/Irish/Polish guy is their culture seems hell bent on killing themselves with breaded fried everything and a side of potatoes. I like diversity in my food (sometimes healthy, other times not to much), and while I DO love meat I also tend to eat lots of vegetarian meals. Here are three recipes that I’ve made recently we both liked.

Raw Vegan Cheesecake

Raw vegan blueberry “cheesecake” (tastes better than you would think)

For a cheesecake without any dairy this was actually WAY better than I thought it would be, we both really liked it and I’ll definitely make it again. Recipe can be found here.

Cauliflower “Wings”

Cauliflower “wings” with ranch

Not raw but this one was pretty easy and there are tons of recipes for it online. Basically you just make a batter of 1:1 flour and water with 2 tbsp of garlic powder. Dip cauliflower florets in the batter, bake at 450 degrees for 18 minutes then top with hot sauce (I used Frank’s whisked with some olive oil) and bake for another 5 mins. These taste sort of like spicy tempura bites – they weren’t wings but they were still pretty good.

Raw Carrot Cakes

Raw carrot cake – great with a coffee for breakfast

These tasted like moist carrot cake with a bit of crunch, pretty good for breakfast, but to be honest there were a LOT of steps involved. Recipe can be found here. I broke my food processor because I didn’t realize the dates I bought had pits in them. The poor appliance literally screamed in agony as the motor broke down. There was also a step where I needed to use a dehydrator, which seems to be a staple in raw food preparation. I don’t have one so trusty Google told me I could dehydrate in the oven on its lowest setting by “propping the oven open with a tinfoil-snake”. I’m sure they meant a thin tube of rolled foil, but just in case, I followed their directions to the letter.

At this stage, Andrew was questioning the effect of raw food on my sanity

At the same link above you can find a recipe for raw vegan icing to top the carrot cakes, but to be honest after all of the blending, soaking cashews, dehydrating, freezing cheesecake layers I was exhausted and the kitchen was in shambles. If you do make the icing let me know how it works out.

“Behind the scenes” of healthy cooking

After all that healthy cooking (and taste testing in Andrew’s case) we really earned our pints of Guinness. Harrison is still at the stage where he likes to come to the pub with us. I’ll check back with him when he’s 19 to see if he still wants to grab brunch and a drink with Mom and Dad (we’ll buy the first round Harry!)

Harrison, you’re just the best ❤