Lemon Cashew Nectar Bars

Huzzah! Third try was the charm! Yes, this is my third attempt in just about as many years to try replicating Cliff's Lemon Cashew Nectar Bars. I'd had great luck in making a nice version of the Cocoa Nectar Bars, but my other favorite was a sticky mess. The stumbling block in attempts one and two? The lack of a good lemon concentrate. I tried lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon oil...all no-go's. Enter True Lemon. A crystallized lemon product for mixing into water or whatever else you've a mind to mix it into (I tossed some onto peaches I'd cut up to go into bran muffins the other day). My mom brought me 3 little envelopes to try...she's the one that finally came up with this solution. Today was the day to try again.
I bought myself some beauteous medjool dates from Costco, some raw cashews and some goji berries from the bulk section of the grocery store, all that remained was the True Lemon and a touch of vanilla. After processing, the resulting mix was very sticky and I ended up having to cheat a bit by putting some cornstarch on both the rolling mat and my hands. Otherwise this whole experiment would have gone nowhere. Again. I'm guessing that you could use arrowroot if you've got a problem with cornstarch. You'll likely have to use something, or the mass will be impossible to roll and shape.
I'm open to any alternative de-stickifying suggestions if anyone out there has any :-)

Lemon Cashew Nectar Bars:
(Inspired by Cliff Nectar Bar ingredient label)

1 cup pitted medjool dates
a generous 1/3 cup raw unsalted cashews
~2 Tbs goji berries
3 envelopes True Lemon
~1/2 tsp vanilla extract
cornstarch as needed


Put about 1/2 of the cashews into a food processor and chop finely, but not to the point that they get oily. Remove and set aside on a sheet of wax paper.
Chop the remaining cashews by hand for more texture, and place with others on wax paper.
Chop goji berries roughly (in half), add to the nuts.
Place pitted dates into food processor and chop. This will end up a gooey mess, just do the best you can.
Spread date goo on top of your bed of nuts and gojis. If you sprinkle some on top, of the dates along with having some on the bottom of the mass it's less likely to stick right away.
Sprinkle True Lemon and vanilla over the top and start to incorporate all as best you can.
This is where the cornstarch came in really handy. I sparingly put some on my hands and some on the wax paper and rolled the date mass into a log that was about 3/4" thick. Cut that piece into 6 lengths. Flatten each piece into a bar, then wrap individually in clean pieces of wax paper for storing. I put them in a ziplock container to store for the Monster's lunches/snacks.

Almond and Sweet Potato Sauce

A Casa de Luz sauce strikes again. With goodness that is!! Man, those people know how to make simple food taste awesome. I halved the recipe and used only one sweet potato, but instead of using 1/2 cup of almond butter, I used just over 1/4 cup and found it to be plenty.
The sweet potato I used, must have been particularly sweet. The Monster tasted the sauce and thought I'd slipped in some dulce de leche! A friend just gave us a tub of the stuff and honestly that probably wouldn't be beneath me by any means. You can adjust the sweetness by adding more lime juice, etc. if you want. One of these days I'm going to have to buy Casa's durn cookbook instead of trolling the internet for their recipes. :-)

Almond and Sweet Potato Sauce:
(Casa de Luz)

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 3 cups)
1 cup unsalted roasted almond butter (used less...just over 1/4 cup for half of the recipe)

2 tsp. shoyu or tamari

2 Tbs. lime juice

Pinch of sea salt

Filtered water as needed

Update:
When we ate the rest of the sauce the next night I added a touch of rice wine vinegar, a bit of sambal oelek (chili sauce), and some more lime juice. YUM.

Wash sweet potatoes and cut into 2" chunks. Place in a heavy pan with 3/4 cup of water. Bring to a simmer, add pinch of sea salt, and cover (I roasted the sweet potato wrapped in foil at 400 for about an hour, then peeled once cool).
Let potatoes simmer over low heat until tender. Remove from heat, reserve any leftover cooking water, and allow to cool, Leftover baked sweet potatoes may be used instead.
Place cooled sweet potatoes, almond butter, shoyu/tamari, and lime juice in a blender with some of the water and puree until smooth. Add a more water until you achieve a consistency you're pleased with. Serve over greens or grains. I served it with lemon and herb baked tofu over quinoa and braised kale.

Casa de Luz' Sun Cheese

Or would that be Sun Cheeze? Not cheese by any stretch of the imagination, just a really awesome topping for veggies (especially greens), grains, enchiladas, pasta...etc. Easy to make and easier to eat! A great healthful condiment to have stashed in your fridge.
I fell in love with this stuff long ago at Casa de Luz' Sunday brunch (CdL serves wonderful macrobiotic meals here in Austin), and had never thought of searching for the recipe til yesterday. Sure enough there it was, right there in the innertubes.

Sun Cheese:
(Casa de Luz Community Cookbook)

1 1/4 cup hulled organic sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours or overnight
1 clove garlic
2 Tbs umeboshi vinegar (Central Market has this if you're in Austin)
2 Tbs lemon juice
1+ cup filtered water

Place seeds in bowl and cover with water to soak. Allow seeds to soak 4-6 hours or overnight (I just soaked for about 6 hrs.)

Rub seeds between hands to loosen skins. Skins will float to the top of the soaking water (so they said!). Pour out skins and soaking water. Rinse seeds, cover with water and repeat the process until most of the skins have been removed and poured out. The more skins you remove, the whiter the sauce will be.

Place seeds in a blender with garlic, lemon juice and umeboshi vinegar and add 1 cup of water.
Blend until desired consistency. I just let mixture blend until it was as smooth as I could get it.
For a thinner consistency, add up to 1/2 cup more water.
I just used the 1 cup for a thicker sauce, figuring I'd be using it for different things and could always add more water later.

Place sauce in a bowl and refrigerate. I like to think it got better in the fridge...after the flavors had a chance to marry.

Baked sweet potato, our homemade raw sauerkraut, quinoa, steamed kale topped with Sun Cheese

Vegan Thai Coconut Pineapple Banana Muffins

Hey, I finally made the Thai Coconut Pineapple Banana Bread healthier! I actually used my vegan nanner bread recipe, but added in all the goodies from the Thai style recipe. Very nice!
Will be even "nicer" next time when I follow the recipe below, but also add in chunks of Lindt's coconut white chocolate bar. That addition totally negates the recipe's veganess, btw. ;-)
I don't have a picture of these, because they went right into the freezer...lest I gobble them all up at once!

Vegan Thai Coconut Pineapple Banana Muffins:
(Makes 10 regular size muffins)

3 ripe bananas
3 Tbs extra-virgin coconut oil, melted (can use canola if you want, but I liked the extra coconuttiness, plus e.v. coconut oil is supposed to be really good fer ya)
1/2 cup agave nectar
~1/4+ cup unsweetened dried coconut
1 Tbs lime juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2+ cups whole grain spelt flour (I added a bit more to the recipe after seeing it was a bit wet)
2 Tbs coconut cream powder (Central Market in Austin has this in Asian section)
3 Tbp mild curry powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 cup chopped pineapple, fresh, or canned in juice
~1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
turbinado sugar to sprinkle on tops for sweet-crispitty-crunchy-goodness!

Heat oven to 350.
Oil muffin tin.
In a bowl, mash bananas then add melted extra-virgin coconut oil, agave, dried coconut, lime juice and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, sift together spelt flour, coconut cream powder, mild curry powder, baking soda, and salt.
Blend the wet and dry mixtures, then fold in pineapple and nuts.
Pour into oiled muffin, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake for about 23-28 minutes, or until tops just spring back upon applying gentle pressure and a toothpick comes out cleanly.
Remove from oven and let cool in tin for about 5 minutes, then remove from tin to cool on a rack.

Rosemary Blondies

My friend Debbie threw an elaborate wedding shower last weekend and I helped her out in the kitchen with just a few of the many dishes she prepared. We've been getting together with another friend and baking/cooking every couple weeks or so and it's been super fun, if a little chaotic for this uni-tasker. :-) This was a recipe that I mixed up the batter for and let me tell you...so not figure friendly...but...SOOOO GOOD!!! The addition of rosemary was amazing. I skimped a little on the 2.5 Tbs, just because it sure seemed like a lot (I think I ended up with 2.25 Tbs). Each blondie was topped with a piped dollop of chocolate ganache, but I wasn't there for that step. Really not necessary in my opinion, but then I didn't try them with their over the top topping. May I remain blissfully ignorant, because these sweeties were just perfect in all their nakedness. Even the Monster, who eschews the pecan, enjoyed the heck out of 'em.

Rosemary Blondies:
(Cookie Swap)

Makes ~4 dozen 1 1/2" squares

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups (that's 2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted, cooled, and coarsely chopped
1 cup premium milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips (semi)

Read your recipe all the way through, so you won't measure the flour into a stand mixer instead of a food processor like I did. :-)

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.
Line a 10x15x1 inch jelly-roll pan with foil, leaving a 1 inch overhang around the top edge of the pan. Smooth out any big wrinkles in the foil and then lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Combine the flour, rosemary, baking powder and salt together in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
Process until the rosemary is reduced to very small pieces. (If the rosemary isn't chopped before going into the processor, it will be harder to finely grind). Set aside for use in step 4.

3. Place the butter in a med. (3-qt) saucepan over low heat. Once the butter has fully melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the brown sugar, mixing until smooth. (Don't be surprised if the butter and sugar do not completely come together at this point; some separation is normal). Cool a few minutes and then add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

4. Stir in the vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture, whisking all the while to keep the batter lump-free.
Cool before stirring in the pecans and chocolate chips, otherwise the chocolate chips will melt.

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan and level with a small offset spatula. The batter will be less than 1 inch thick, but it will rise to the top of the pan.

5. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs on it and the brownie is just starting to pull away from the sides, about 22 to 24 minutes. Loosen the sides with a knife then cool completely in the pan.

Once cool, place pan in the freezer for ~30 minutes to facilitate cutting.
Remove from freezer and transfer to a large cutting board. Remove foil, then trim off uneven edges before cutting into 1 1/2" squares.

Optional Indulgence....a piped dollop of chocolate ganache on top of each!

Tarted Up Chocolate Avocado Push-Pop:

Success! They worked and were really quite tasty! Of the two we ate tonight I favored the one with the pear liqueur, vanilla and sea salt additions. The Monster ate and enjoyed the Ginger liqueur with sea salt pop. Will definitely make these again. Not quite the yogurt push-ups I grew up with. Superfudgygoodness!

Avocado and Chocolate Experimentin'

This post on Veggie Wedgie's blog really piqued my interest. When faced with a bag of 5 large avocados at Costco, I knew what I had to do. I'm not sure what size her avocados in Greece were so I just ended up using 2 large ones and playing with the other ingredients until it tasted "right" (I started with half of all the other ingredients, but added more). I just used Valrhona cocoa powder since I didn't have the raw cocao powder called for in the recipe.
Now if this project didn't painfully illustrate my "need" for a Vitamix blender, I don't know what else would. Took a while to get the thick mixture to blend completely in my antique, but finally, one ozone-filled kitchen later, it happened...with the aid of a spatula of course.
My mom just happened to bring me a whole slew of liquor from my grandmother's old house.
This merited an experiment! Not all of the booze is what I would deem viable...who knows how long it sat in her cupboards. The Chambord that I thought would be a winner, smelled way too reminiscent of cherry cough syrup to bother with. The pear liqueur was quite lovely though, so it went into one of the trials. The Monster has a nice bottle of Ginger liqueur that I thought might work nicely with chocolate...in it went. I think I added sea salt flakes to each of the 3 that I altered. It deepened and rounded out the flavors nicely. Had to add vanilla to one of them too. I did make one sample straight up for comparison's sake.
Here's the breakdown:

Green- straight initial recipe ingredients...avocado, unsweetened cocoa powder, agave nectar, water (although I had to play with amounts)
Pink- ~1/4 tsp vanilla extract and a pinch of sea salt flakes
Yellow- ~1/2 tsp pear liqueur added to the vanilla-sea salt batch
Orange- ~1/2+ tsp ginger liqueur + a pinch of sea salt flakes

Who knows what will come out of the freezer in 8 hours...will update with our findings!