Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Cashew Cream Cheese

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I love cooking & baking the vegan way. I love the challenge to veganize a cake a recipe. I love tasting delicate vegan meals. I’m vegetarian but at the moment I can’t change my diet to vegan because I love cheese… not all of them and I can’t say I’m a cheese expert but I know I would miss my cheese if I became vegan.
There are always alternatives for cheese in the vegan diet. Like this cashew cream cheese. I’ve made sweet cashew cream before that was excellent so I thought I would give it a try and make savory cashew cream too. Serve it with toasted bread, crackers or vegetables it is a wonderful snack for anytime.
Recipe is adapted from Maria.

Cashew Cream Cheese

Ingredients (serves 4)

– 250 g cashew, soaked for a minimum of 4 hours or over-night, then drained
– 100 ml rice milk (you can substitute with oat-, almond- or soy milk)
– grated zest of 1 lemon
– juice of 1/2 lemon
– 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted for 4-5 minutes in a non-stick pan
– 1-2 teaspoon salt
– pepper

Method

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend on high until smooth and creamy. Season it to your taste. Serve with crackers, vegetables or toasted bread.

Spring Rolls With Citrus Soy Sauce

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Spring rolls are a large variety of filled, rolled appetizers. There are fried and non-fried version available. I made non-fried savory spring rolls (these are typically bigger than the fried ones). They contain crisp, fresh veggies and are served with a perky citrus soy dipping sauce. I filled the wrapping with raw ingredients: sweet crunchy carrot and red bell peppers, spicey spring onions, cooling cucumbers and cooked rice noodles.
They are lots of fun to make with friends. Get rolling! Spring is here!
Spring Rolls with Citrus Soy Sauce
Ingredients (serves 5-6)
For the spring rolls
– 1 long cucumber (or 3 smaller ones), thinly sliced
– 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
– 1 bunch of sping onion, thinly sliced
– 3-4 carrots, cut into julienne
– 200 g thin noodles, pre-cooked (use rice, Chinese or bean thread noodles)
– 1 packet (20 pieces) spring roll rice paper wrappers
– coriander, basil, chopped (optional)

For the citrus soy sauce
– juice of 2 lemons
– juice of 2 clementines
– 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
– 3/4 cup soy sauce

Method

To make the sauce in a bowl whisk together all the sauce’s ingredients and set aside.

To assemble rolls, dip one piece of rice paper in warm water to soften (for about 15 seconds) and shake gently to remove excess liquid. Lay wrapper on a clean, dry surface. (Don’t forget that this paper is very thin and the more you pack in, the harder it will be too seal without it breaking.) Arrange some of the noodles in the center of the wrapper. Lay a small handful of carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper and spring onion slices on top of the noodles.

The roll up… I like to pull one side of the rice paper (that is closer to me) completely over, trapping in the ingredients. Then, fold your edges in and bring the remaining side over for a complete seal. Repeat until all ingredients are used up. (Here are two videos that help you to learn how to roll.)

Serve spring rolls sliced on the bias with dipping sauce and enjoy!

 

Bluberry Smoothie with Coconut Water

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This smoothie is from the summer… when we had all the different kind of berries at the markets. To make it a bit special I added coconut water to it instead of water. You can use almond milk or oat milk if you like. The result was a thick, fresh, sweet juice. A very simple but tasteful one.
I know I will miss summer juices during fall and winter. Now we have apple, green (banana, apple, spinach, water) or citrus (orange, lemon, grapefruit, honey, water) smoothies for breakfast. 

Bluberry Smoothie with Coconut Water

Ingredients (serves 2)
– 2 cups (300 g) blueberries
– 1/2 ripe banana
– 250 ml coconut water
Method
Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. If you find it too thick, add more water. Pour into prepared glasses, add some ice cubes (optional) and drink your liquid breakfast!

Cooling Cinnamon Sour Cherry Juice

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I love summer because there are so many vegetables and fruits we can eat. What I don’t love that summer slip away so quickly and there are no more fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, peaches, apricots and watermelons. 
Going back to make our breakfast juices from apples, oranges, bananas, lemons and mandarins again, is not very tempting. That’s why I always try to add something new, something green to our juices to make them a bit more exciting. The health benefits of juicing are really great. The body can quickly absorb larger amounts of nutrients from juices than from solid foods because the process of digestion that is necessary when you eat whole foods is bypassed. Raw fruits and vegetables contain many substances that enhance health, and juicing benefits the body by providing the most concentrated and readily absorbed source of these substances.

Another one of the major health benefits of juicing is that it is an easy way to get beneficial enzymes, which are primarily found in raw foods, into the body. Enzymes in fresh fruits and vegetables have the vital role of converting food into body tissue and energy.

Cooling Cinnamon Sour Cherry Juice

Ingredients

– 400 g sour cherries, pitted
– 20-30 ml cold water
– 1 teaspoon cinnamon
– 1 teaspoon honey
– ice cube

Method

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. If you find it too thick, add more water. Pour into prepared glasses, add some ice cubes and drink your liquid breakfast!

Peach, tomato and basil salad & thank you, Penny De Los Santos

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I made this recipe in September 2010 but I’m doing the translation on my not-long-ago born English food blog now (May 17 2011). I found this recipe on Penny’s blog and after I had made it I sent a message saying thank you to her on Twitter. I love tomatoes, I love sweet, juicy peaches (I think the best ones are grown in Hungary! I’m not kidding! I’ve never eaten so juicy, crunchy, sweet peaches anywhere else. You should come and try it! :)) and I love basil. I was a bit surprised to put these three ingredients in one dish but I gave it a try. The taste of the salad was new for me but I loved it.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to get to know Penny, her work, vocation, passion and her enthusiasm more. Thanks to the team of CreativeLIVE – they gave thousands the opportunity to follow their dreams and watch Penny online and learn from her so much. The Food & Culture Photography Workshop with Penny De Los Santos was unbelievable, I can’t find words to describe these three days. Penny, you are an inspirational icon for me and I just want to thank you for your hard work. You put so much effort in the workshop to teach thousands around the world. I loved every minute of it. * THANK YOU! *

And here is one of the most noted excerpts of Penny from this weekend: “If you are not doing what you love, – ask yourself: why not?”

Ingredients

– 3 peaches, pitted, diced
– 2 tomatoes, diced
– 10 leaves of basil, chopped
– 1 clove of garlic, chopped
– 4 tablespoons olive oil
– 2 teaspoons apple vinegar
– half of a lemon’s juice
– salt, pepper

Method

In a salad bowl mix together the peaches, tomatoes, basil leaves. In a smaller bowl make the dressing: mix together the garlic, apple vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper and pour it over the salad.