I like to eat ...

We had our annual block party recently, and I decided to make two dips. Most of our neighbors are pretty traditional in their food choices, and we're the only vegans, so I made something everyone would recognize, and not consider weird — hummus. I also made a slightly more exotic carrot dip. It was rich with cashews and garlic, and extremely delicious. Everyone who tried it seemed to like it, but I had accidentally made about twice as much as I intended, so I held back a container in the refrigerator for another use. The next day, I used the leftovers to top pasta and steamed veggies for a delicious dinner.

The pasta is pretty interesting. The all-organic ingredients include chickpea flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch and pea protein. The brand is Explore, and we bought it at Costco. It doesn't taste like wheat pasta, but it tastes pretty good.



I've been having sushi cravings that pop up suddenly, and don't seem to include the craving to make sushi myself. So, we've been getting sushi take-out from a neighborhood Japanese restaurant that is relatively vegan-friendly. The sushi isn't as interesting as the sushi I've had at vegan sushi places in other cities, but it's tasty and convenient.

The tofu cubes I made in my oven on the convection setting, using a bit of Bragg's but no oil. It was crispy on the outside but a bit dry on the inside. I've found that firm tofu works better in the convection oven than extra-firm in that it stays moist on the inside. In my efforts to get a crispy crust, I over-baked the extra firm tofu, and it was a bit too dry on the inside. Still, in spite of being extra chewy, it was good.



Here's a better photo of the tofu cubes. The oven was set at 400˚F, and I turned the cubes every 10 minutes for about 30 minutes. I fear my experiments are leading me to want an air fryer even more, but I'm trying to resist another kitchen appliance. I think I can resist. I think I can.



Here's a quick dinner thrown together when we couldn't think of what to make. It's soy curls with tomato sauce served with kale and pasta. Soy curls to the rescue yet again. And what would we do without pasta?



Summer is a great time to eat salads, and I'm still making my oil-free salad dressing of the week to top them off. One of these days I'll write down a recipe to share — with you and with myself so I can remember what went into the ones I like best! Walnuts and baked tofu strips give the salad staying power.



I do love a good salad on a summer day. The salad has chickpeas and pasta with tahini dressing.

I especially love summer and don't want it to end. I love being warm, wearing lightweight clothes, and eating homemade ice cream. Hope you're enjoying your summer!



Sometimes, when we're not eating, we're hiking. The sculpture in the photo is located in Carkeek Park in Seattle. It's part of a temporary sculpture exhibit located along one of the hiking trails. This particular piece contains 1008 moving mirrors. It was quite a beautiful site with the Olympic Mountains and the Sound in the background.

Cool Foods Vegi Bacon made from pinto beans

A few posts ago I mentioned that after reading a review on Vegan Eats and Treats about Cool Foods Vegi Bacon, I had second thoughts about my decision not to receive samples for review, and I wrote to the company offering samples to say, sure, I'll try them. Well, I received all sort of samples — ice cream cones, salt, chips — but no vegi bacon. At last they've arrived, and they are delicious.

I'll be the first to admit that I've been vegan since 1981, and it's been a long time since I've tried actual bacon in any form, but the crunchy little bits sure taste just like what I remember bacon tasted like. They are delicious, savory, smoky, crunchy, salty, bacony bits that you can use to top salads, soups, sandwiches, casseroles or whatever. You can even turn a package of them into a dip by following the directions on the package back — add them to hot water, stir and cool.



Not only are the bacon bits tasty, the ingredient list seems pretty healthy. They contain only air-dried pinto beans, sunflower oil, salt, yeast extract, natural flavors and vitamin E. They are gluten-free, vegan, and non-GMO.  (Although the label says they are made with premium pinto beans, they are not organic.)



Here's what they look like. They are extremely crunchy and savory. My husband thought they tasted just like bacon, though he knows as much about that as I do. But seriously, all joking aside, I think they really do taste like bacon.



I haven't gotten around to doing anything truly interesting with them, yet, though I did sprinkle some on a cracker with hummus. Mostly, whenever I get near them, I just eat them straight from the bag! I can see we may have to keep the pantry stocked with these tasty little bits. I think you will like them.
Find out more about Cool Foods Vegi Bacon. Visit their Web site by clicking here.

Disclaimer: I was sent a free sample. I wasn't paid to write a review, darn. All opinions are my own.

Strawberry ice cream (sweetened with dates)

I've been having so much fun with my ice cream maker ever since we were reunited after seven long years apart. I still can't believe it's been seven years.



Making ice cream is not only easy, the end result of having a big container of it in the freezer is kind of nice. Although I loved the mango ginger ice cream I made last time, I was craving strawberry, and kind of curious if the texture would still work without the mangoes. Yes, it does. In the freezer, the ice cream stayed the consistency of soft serve for a number of hours. Much to my surprise, it took about eight hours for it to reach a firm scooping consistency. That's about the same as for the mango, and I don't know if it's because of my freezer, or if that's normal. Of course, you can eat the ice cream before it gets to the firm stage — nothing wrong with soft serve. Though, unless you have a soft serve dispenser, it's easier to eat with a spoon than in a cone! And once the ice cream gets really hard, you have to let it sit on the counter for about five to 10 minutes before it gets soft enough to scoop. I find that to be also true for ice cream I buy at the store.


Strawberry ice cream sweetened with dates

• 1 cup raw cashews (soaked 4 hours or overnight, and drained)
• 1-1/2 cups cold, unsweetened rice milk (plus 1/4 cup extra if needed)
• rounded 1/2 cup medjool dates, pitted and packed very tightly
• 1 very ripe banana (at least 1 cup of slices)
• 2 cups frozen strawberries plus generous 1/2 cup extra
• 2 teapoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup of vegan dark chocolate chips (optional)

1. Add the dates to the rice milk and leave in the refrigerator at least one hour or overnight.
2. Place cashews, rice milk with dates, banana, 2 cups strawberries and vanilla into the jar of a high speed blender. Blend until the mix is totally creamy and smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend, you may have to add up to an extra 1/4 cup of rice milk. Leave the additional half cup of frozen berries out to defrost slightly while you prepare the blender mix.
3. Thinly slice the slightly defrosted strawberries and stir into the blended mix. Work quickly to keep everything as cold as possible. If you are using chocolate chips, add them now.
4. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions.
5. Enjoy! 

Notes: After I added the chocolate chips, I was kind of sorry because I liked the ice cream so much without them. If you really want them, go ahead and add them, but next time I make strawberry ice cream, I'm just going to add extra sliced frozen strawberries instead of the chips. Maybe.

Update: slightly revised recipe — even more delicious
 Strawberry ice cream sweetened with dates

• 1 heaped cup raw cashews (soaked 4 hours or overnight, and drained)
• 1-1/2 cups cold, unsweetened rice milk (plus 1/4 cup extra only if needed)
• rounded 1/2 cup medjool dates, pitted and packed very tightly
• 2 very ripe, cold bananas
• 1-1/2 cups frozen strawberries plus generous 1/2 cup extra
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• 2 teapoons pure vanilla extract

1. Add the dates to the rice milk and leave in the refrigerator at least one hour or overnight.
2. Leave the additional half cup of frozen berries out to defrost slightly while you prepare the blender mix for step 2 so they defrost slightly.
3. Place cashews, rice milk with dates, banana, 1-1/2 cups strawberries, 1/2 cup mango and vanilla into the jar of a high speed blender. Blend until the mix is totally creamy and smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend, you may have to add up to an extra 1/4 cup of rice milk.
4. Thinly slice the slightly defrosted strawberries and stir into the blended mix. Work quickly to keep everything as cold as possible.
5. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions.
6. Enjoy! 

No oil fries in the convection oven

To follow up on an earlier post mentioning air fryers and convection ovens,* we tried making oil-free oven fries in our oven on the convection setting, and it worked great! My husband made them, tossing them with a little soup stock instead of oil. They came out crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and were delicious. The temperature was set at 425˚F and the fries were cooked for about 35 minutes. My husband thinks that's how long he cooked them. To be continued ... The air fryer is weighing on my mind, especially when I don't want to run the oven for a small batch, or heat up the kitchen. BUT. I don't want to add another appliance to my kitchen!

* Here's what I said in my last post on the subject of air fryers: " I've recently become aware of something called an air fryer, that fries foods with little or no oil. I read about it here on JL's blog. After doing some additional research and reading, I've learned that a convection oven, because it cooks with hot, moving air, can possibly accomplish the same thing. It so happens that my oven has a button to turn it into a convection oven, and I tried it out for the first time on the polenta I made to accompany the chili. I placed the polenta squares on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet and baked them in my convection oven, turning them over once during the baking. They turned out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I intend to experiment more with using the convection oven to roast veggies, tofu, potatoes, burgers, etc. If I don't 'have to' buy another kitchen appliance for my already crowded little kitchen, all the better. We'll see. The air fryer sounds pretty great."