When I asked on Facebook this past weekend how you’d feel about me posting a recipe with only approximate ingredient quantities, no nutritional info, and just a single photo, the response was surprisingly enthusiastic! I threw this curry together on the fly with no intention of posting it, so I didn’t write down anything I did, and I only took this one photo. But it turned out so delicious, I simply have to share. Keep in mind, none of these measurements are exact, so be sure to taste it as you go and adjust everything as desired. Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower-Chickpea Curry

vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free

1 to 2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
Small chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons good-quality curry powder
1 (28-oz.) can diced tomatoes, partially drained
2 to 3 cups cooked or canned chickpeas
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
1 batch prepared Curry-Roasted Cauliflower

Prepare the cauliflower first. Meanwhile, as it’s roasting in the oven, heat the oil in a large pot on the stove over medium heat. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and cover the pot with a lid for about 30 seconds. When you hear the mustard seeds start to pop, take off the lid and add the diced onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until the onion is softened. Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder and cook and stir for 1 more minute. Stir in the tomatoes and chickpeas, bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Add the garam masala and sea salt to taste. Stir in the prepared Curry-Roasted Cauliflower and cook until everything is heated through and the curry has thickened up to your liking.

You can serve the curry over brown rice or quinoa if you want, but it makes a great meal as-is!

Yield: a lot!

So what do you think? Should I do short-and-sweet posts like this more often?

• If you’re a fan of my Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter, you will LOVE this: I shared a brand new recipe for sugar-free Blueberry-Vanilla Coconut Butter exclusively on One Green Planet today!
• I’m thrilled that Kansas City has an eco-friendly wedding coordination service—and I’m their newest bride-to-be! The ladies at Eco-Posh Events are also fans of Practically Raw, and they interviewed me recently about it—click here to get the scoop.
• Free recipe alert! Blue Mountain Organics shared the Almond Butter-Banana Ice Cream from Practically Raw on their site yesterday. It’s the perfect quick-to-make treat for warm spring evening!

Health update: I’m sad to say I have not improved since last week; in fact, if anything, I feel worse. That seems to be the trend for me, anymore. Even though I’ve been off the stomach-infection-killing supplements for over a week, I’m still bloated and achy every day. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this bloating before we can start to stimulate the correct side of my immune system and hope for some healing, finally. To be honest, things are worse than I’m willing to talk about right now. I’ll be cutting down my blogging to about once per week from here on out, which I’m sorry about…but I hope to pick the pace back up again in the future.

Anyway, I’m so pleased so many of you enjoyed last week’s Cake Batter Balls!

There’s nothing like a good cookbook to make me REALLY ready to be done with this elimination diet! And luckily for me (well, depending on how you look at it), I’ve had several great new cookbooks pass my desk recently. Today I’m going to share with you some of my recent favorites, and give away two of them.

Somehow, I managed to get myself out of the house last Friday night to meet the inimitable Victoria Moran, a longtime vegan, bestselling author, and fellow Kansas City native.

What a wise and radiant woman. You NEED to get her new book, Main Street Vegan: Everything You Need To Know To Eat Healthfully and Live Compassionately in the Real World! It’s a comprehensive lifestyle guide for how to be a happy, healthy vegan no matter where you live. With chapters like “Propel Yourself With Plant Protein,” Let Fish Off The Hook,” “Choose Fashion With Compassion,” and 37 more, Victoria offers advice on just about everything under the sun as it relates to veganism. I also love how she shares a different recipe at the end of each chapter; I can’t wait to try the Peanut Butter “Minus” Cookies (soy- and gluten-free!) in Chapter 26. Although there are quite a few “how to go vegan” books out there nowadays, Victoria’s really stands out, thanks to her sassy voice and common-sense, real-world approach.

BEST FOR: Brand new vegans, aspiring vegans, or people who have no idea what veganism even means.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know I’m a big-time nutrition nerd. That’s one reason I appreciate books like Cooking Vegan (by Vesanto Melina and Joseph Forest) so much. Optimal health is the focus of this book, which is part nutrition guide, part everyday cookbook. Though it doesn’t go as in-depth with the nutrition science as Melina’s other books do, it does provide an excellent summary on how to fuel your body properly as a vegan.

The recipes, though simple, would be perfect for a new vegan or an inexperienced cook. I’m looking forward to trying the Mulligatawny Soup, Vietnamese Salad Roll, Black Beans with Coconut and Mango, and Figgy Pudding someday. Nutritional information is included for each recipe, as well—a feature I particularly appreciate. Keep this book in mind when holiday season rolls around, as it would make a wonderful introduction to veganism for any of your family members or friends.

BEST FOR: People interested in vegan cooking who have little experience with either veganism OR cooking.

Vegan and Living Raw Foods is a cookbook by my friend Nina Savidi of the blog Veggie Wedgie, based in Athens, Greece. Nina and I attended the Matthew Kenney Academy together in 2010 (she was in my Level I class), so I can personally vouch for her culinary prowess. In addition to being a talented and creative chef, Nina is a gifted photographer (which one look at her site will instantly tell you). In her book, she provides simple recipes for both raw and cooked vegan dishes. I’m especially dying to try just about every one of her luscious-looking desserts, but the Peach Donuts Glazed with White Chocolate & Pistachios really stand out to me. I must find myself some donut peaches!

Although Nina’s book is not available on Amazon or in stores in the U.S., you can purchase a gorgeous hardcover copy directly from her for just 20 Euros plus shipping. Nina will ship to anywhere in the world.

BEST FOR: Anyone interested in incorporating more simple, heavy-on-the-produce, high-raw recipes into their everyday life.

The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen: 150 Plant-Based Recipes From Around the World is the first cookbook by The Healthy Voyager herself, Carolyn Scott-Hamilton. It’s no secret that I’m partial to ethnic cuisines and international flavors, so I knew this book would be a great match for my palate.

With a whopping 18 chapters, each dedicated to a different country or region (from Spain to Russia to Japan), Carolyn provides something for everyone. I’d love to nosh on just about anything from the Middle East or India chapters in particular. The recipes do contain more processed vegan foods (faux meats, cheeses, etc.) than I personally prefer to eat, and although I appreciate that Carolyn offers gluten-free and/or soy-free adaptations for almost every recipe, they feel a little like afterthoughts (for example, “use gluten-free flour and gluten-free vegan chicken,” when the vast majority of the time, deglutenizing a recipe is just not that simple). That said, everything in the book sounds delicious and appealing even to omnivores. Many of recipes remind me of my time in Europe back in 2009 (le sigh), and ALL the recipes make me yearn to travel abroad again. South America or Scandinavia, here I come…well, someday. In the meantime, I can travel around the world without leaving my kitchen (or, in my case right now, my couch) thanks to Carolyn’s book.

BEST FOR: People without food sensitivities who have a strong emotional or cultural connection to their food and would like to learn knockout vegan swaps for traditional dishes.

Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats: Cut Out the Gluten and Enjoy an Even Healthier Vegan Diet with Recipes for Fabulous, Allergy-Free Fare is the debut cookbook of the fabulous Allyson Kramer of Manifest: Vegan. In short, it is everything I expected from a chef and blogger of Allyson’s caliber, AND MORE.

GGFVE is filled with an astonishing variety of flavors, cuisines, ingredients, and clever cooking techniques. Complete with a short-and-sweet primer on gluten-free cooking and baking, Allyson makes “xgfx” food feel approachable and completely unintimidating, even to a newbie. And the photos? Oh my gawd. Anyone familiar with Allyson’s blog knows how droolworthy her food photography is, and I find it hard not to salivate while paging through this book. And on top of that, every recipe comes with a nutritional breakdown—hallelujah! Oh how I wish more cookbooks provided that information.

Some of the savory recipes that immediately caught my eye were the Potato Dosa, Pizza Firenze, Walnut Ravioli with Vodka Sauce, Drenched Pad Thai Salad, Pumpkin Chickpea Chili, and Cinnamon Roasted Cauliflower (!). Allyson’s sweet treats never fail to impress, and I can’t even count the number of them in this book that I want to make: the Apple Cinnamon Blintzes, Avocado Gelato, Chocolate Marzipan Tarts, and Butterscotch Amaretti are already calling my name. As soon I’m able to eat a greater variety of foods, I predict that I will go hog wild with this cookbook. And I can’t wait! As someone who only semi-recently had to give up gluten for health reasons, Allyson’s gluten-free vegan recipes make me feel more inspired (and hungrier) than just about anyone else’s.

BEST FOR: Anyone following a vegan and/or gluten-free diet, whether partially or wholly, and either already have a pantry stocked with some gluten-free essentials (like various flours) or are willing to stock up.

DOUBLE GIVEAWAY:
The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen
Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats

One winner will receive a free copy of Carolyn Scott-Hamilton’s cookbook The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen; a second winner will receive a free copy of Allyson Kramer’s cookbook Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats, mailed directly to your home.

There are five ways to win (please leave a ***separate comment*** below for each entry):

1) REQUIRED ENTRY: Comment below telling me which book you’d rather win: The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen OR Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats.

2) “Like” Almost Vegan on Facebook AS WELL AS The Healthy Voyager OR Manifest Vegan (depending on which book you’re entering to win) and comment below confirming you’ve done so. (Bonus: “like” my FB post about the giveaway.)

3) Follow Almost Vegan on Twitter AS WELL AS The Healthy Voyager OR Manifest Vegan (depending on which book you’re entering to win) and comment below confirming you’ve done so (include your handle).

4) Tweet one of the following messages (depending on which book you’re entering to win) and comment below confirming you’ve done so:

I entered to win The @HealthyVoyager’s Global Kitchen cookbook from @AlmostVeganChef! #Giveaway here: http://wp.me/pYLdq-1dQ

I entered to win @ManifestVegan’s Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats cookbook from @AlmostVeganChef! #Giveaway here: http://wp.me/pYLdq-1dQ

5) Subscribe to my blog by email (at the top of the right-hand sidebar), RSS feed, or Google reader and comment below confirming you’ve done so (or already are a subscriber).

As I have to pay for shipping myself, this giveaway is only open to the continental U.S. However, if you are outside the continental U.S. and would like to pay for the shipping yourself if you win, then feel free to enter; simply be prepared to make a PayPal payment for the full shipping cost before receiving your prize.
The deadline for entries is next Thursday, May 17th, 2011, at 10:00am CST.
I’ll be choosing the winners at random. Good luck!

3 years ago this week…
(Lots of) April leftovers
Choc-oat banana walnut cookies
2 years ago this week…
Chickpea-chili veggie burgers
A vegan taste of Ethiopia
1 year ago this week…
Meals at Living Light #1
Meals at Living Light #2

• The amazing Allyson over at Manifest Vegan reviewed Practically Raw this week—click here to see what she has to say about the book!
• Free recipe alert! I shared the Purple Pearberry Smoothie from Practically Raw yesterday on the Living Harvest Foods blog.
• Big thanks to Dallas Vegan Roundup for sharing my Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter in their May newsletter!
• Do you own Practically Raw yet? Do you love it?! The Amazon reviews have been trickling in slowly, but I’d love to bump them (and my book’s ranking) up just a bit. If you have a free moment, please leave a positive review on the book’s Amazon page.

I have had a rough week, folks. The medication I’ve been taking to kill my H. pylori stomach infection has sent my immune system spiraling out of control—I’m exhausted no matter how much I sleep, I’ve been in tears by the end of every day, and I’ve bloated up like a balloon…I must have gained 10 MORE lbs in the last two weeks (I have a belly the size of a 6-months-pregnant woman right now; hopefully much of it is water weight…). It got so bad that we had to discontinue the medication, and now we just have to hope that I was on it long enough to kill the “bad guys.” I’ll know for sure when I re-test next week.

Anyway, enough of that. (I don’t particularly like sharing that stuff, but a lot of people have asked how I’m doing, so I felt like an update was in order.) During my otherwise-craptastic week, these little cake balls were a bright spot. Nutrition-wise, they’re almost too good to be true…but they’re 100% real. Enjoy!

Cake Batter Balls

raw, vegan, high-protein, sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, nut-free, seed-free

1/2 cup vegan vanilla protein powder (I recommend Sunwarrior or PlantFusion)
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
6 to 8 tablespoons water
Liquid stevia to taste (optional)

In a small bowl, combine the protein powder, coconut flour and oil, and 6 tablespoons water and stir very well to combine (the mixture will be extremely thick). If it becomes too dry to mix properly, add more water, a tablespoon at a time (you may add up to 2 more tablespoons). Taste for sweetness and add some stevia, if desired.

Roll the mixture into four small balls and refrigerate until firm.

Yield: 4 cake batter balls
Per ball: 78 calories, 2.4g fat (1g sat), 4.8g carbs, 2g fiber, 10.7g protein

They may not be the prettiest little snacks in the world, but they sure are tasty.

I tested this recipe with both Sunwarrior (Warrior Blend Vanilla) and PlantFusion (Vanilla Bean). The only difference was that the ones containing PlantFusion required a tad more water.

Flavor-wise, the Sunwarrior ball (see above) was my favorite, but texture-wise, the PlantFusion ball (see below) was the best. In the end, it’s a toss-up! I’m sure these would be great with any good-tasting vanilla protein powder you have on hand.

And they really do taste like cake batter! These are best the day they’re made, so I love that the batch yield is nice and small.

The stellar nutritional profile (just LOOK at all that plant-based protein!) even lets me pop two at a time with zero guilt.

Enjoy.

3 years ago this week…
Waterlemon agua fresca
2 years ago this week…
Crunchy salted cashew cookies
1 year ago this week…
Matt’s b-day dinner at Eden Alley
April leftovers, part two
Welcome to Living Light!

• You all know about the health/medical issues I’ve been having lately…have you wondered if my wedding planning has gone by the wayside? Click here to read my latest Rose Pedals Vegan Weddings article about how to deal with an unexpected life circumstance during the wedding planning process.
• Have you been keeping up with my fan photos album on Facebook? I’ve been sharing lots of fun pictures of dishes from Practically Raw!

I’m glad you all enjoyed my elimination diet 3-day food log; I hope you found it helpful.

Today’s post is kind of fun. I finally got an Instagram account last week, and honestly, I don’t know why I put it off for so long. Instagram is a program that lets me take photos on my phone and post them directly to Facebook and/or Twitter. I was under the impression it was complicated or a pain-on-the-ass to use, but it’s easy as can be—I may already be getting a little addicted.

Today I just wanted to share with you a few of my food photos from the past week. These aren’t all the photos I’ve been taking—just some highlights. To see more, feel free to “follow” me—my username is almostveganchef.

I fueled up on the road with some of my Famous Five-Minute Blondies (page 195) while running errands last week.

Smoothie #1: Açaí pulp, blueberries, PlantFusion protein, spinach.

Makin’ Raw Chocolate Bars (page 206) one afternoon…

Crazy Green Juice!

My friend Marisa actually got me out of my house one afternoon last week for some social time (which is quite a feat nowadays), and we grabbed Happy Hour snacks at Extra Virgin. I got the Tostones (fried plaintain patties) with chimichurri sauce…

…and the Marinated Olives, with a touch of preserved lemon.

White chocolate blueberry coconut butter! I basically took this recipe, replaced the strawbs with bluebs, and blended in a little cacao butter and vanilla. Unreal!

I’m a plant mommy! My friend Sarah recently gifted me with spicy basil, rosemary, and orange mint plants, and I rounded out the pot this weekend with chocolate mint.

Matt and I hopped over to City Market on Saturday morning (which we can do now, since we live so close!) to shop for produce for the week. Love this place.

Smoothie #2: coconut milk, frozen cherries, PlantFusion vanilla protein, maca powder, spinach, sunflower lecithin.

Kale, coconut oil, sea salt, that’s it.

I invented this chocolate protein “bark” made with PlantFusion—recipe coming soon!

Finally, just yesterday, I also invented this raw, vegan, gluten/grain/soy/nut/seed/sugar free, single-serving, high-protein cake batter ball. I am coming up with some awesome stuff lately, if I may say! This recipe is “coming soon” as well.

So tell me:
Do you have an Instagram account?
Do you enjoy these random photo arrays?
Which recipe should I share first: the chocolate bark or the cake batter ball?

3 years ago this week…
Waterlemon agua fresca
2 years ago this week…
Crunchy salted cashew cookies
1 year ago this week…
Matt’s b-day dinner at Eden Alley
April leftovers, part two
Welcome to Living Light!

• Earlier this week my publisher, Vegan Heritage Press, shared some photos out of Practically Raw. Check ‘em out, do a little drooling (::wink::) and grab a copy of the book, if you haven’t already!
• Speaking of Practically Raw, Adriana over at Vegan Corner interviewed me recently about the book. In the post, she also shares my recipe for raw Sugared Doughnut Holes…so yummy!
• Speaking of interviews, I was also interviewed yesterday by Caryn Hartglass on her internet radio show “It’s All About Food”—click here to listen.
• I finally have an Instagram account! I don’t know why I put it off for so long. Feel free to “follow” me—my username is almostveganchef. I predict I’ll be sharing a lot of fun stuff on there.

I want to start out by dedicating this post to my friend Shanna Sandmoen. Shanna passed away Monday night. She had just turned 31 last month. Shanna had battled cancer (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) for the last several years and most recently suffered from congestive heart failure.

We first found each other online a couple years ago and instantly bonded over our love for Tori Amos, e. e. cummings, and health and nutrition. A fellow lover of living foods, Shanna was also a member of the Raw Food Union here in Kansas City, and just a couple weeks ago she was talking about which recipes from Practically Raw she wanted to make as soon as she felt better.

Shanna and I had longstanding plans to meet for tea sometime soon—most recently, we vowed to meet up as soon as I was settled into this new apartment. I can’t believe we never got to…can’t believe it. And I only noticed on Tuesday that on Shanna’s recently-created “32 Things To Do Before I Turn 32 on March 29th 2013″ list, she put: “12. Meet Amber Shea from Almost Vegan.” That cracked my heart right open.

Shanna had a blog called Existing’s Tricky. Please peruse it if/when you get a chance—she was wise, kind, and generous far beyond her years. I will try harder than ever to follow her brave example of courage and self-love in healing. She is and always will be such an inspiration to me.

* * *

Since announcing my Hashimoto’s disease diagnosis and sharing my autoimmune elimination diet protocol, quite a few people have asked me to share a “food log” of a few days’ worth of eating, to get a sense of my current daily diet and how I’m dealing with so many restrictions. Here, then, is what I ate (and when I ate it) over the course of three days last week. It’s pretty representative of how I’ve been eating lately: small, frequent snacks, rotating many of the same simple, nutrient-dense foods. Please remember that this is not prescriptive in any way; it’s simply a snapshot of how I’m eating right now, and shouldn’t be construed as medical advice. (For the rationale behind this regimen, please read this post first.)

DAY 1

9:00am – Protein shake: ClearVite chocolate rice protein powder, water
10:00am – Spoonful of Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter
11:00am – Handful of Basic Flax Crackers (page 75) + ~1/4 cup Zucchini Hummus (page 110)
1:30pm – Smoothie: Sunwarrior raw vanilla protein powder, frozen raspberries, maca powder, black tahini, spinach, Swiss chard, stevia, water (drank 2 cups and saved the other 3 for later)
3:15pm – 1 cup smoothie (see above)
4:15pm – 1 cup smoothie (see above), spoonful of Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter
5:30pm – 1 cup smoothie (see above), spoonful of Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter
7:00pm – 5 cups steamed broccoli + coconut aminos + nutritional yeast + hempseeds
9:00pm – Protein shake: ClearVite chocolate rice protein powder, water

DAY 2

9:00am – Protein shake: ClearVite chocolate rice protein powder, water
10:00am – Spoonful of Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter
11:30am – Spoonful of Sugar-Free Strawberry Coconut Butter
1:30pm – Hummus Amongus Salad (page 129): romaine, broccoli/radish sprouts, shredded carrot, Zucchini Hummus (page 110)
2:30pm – Smoothie: Sunwarrior raw vanilla protein powder, frozen strawberries, spinach, Swiss chard, stevia, water (drank about 2 cups and saved the other 2 for later)
3:15pm – 1 cup smoothie (see above)
4:00pm – 1 cup smoothie (see above)
7:00pm – 1 cup steamed asparagus + 3 cups steamed cauliflower + olive oil + sea salt
9:00pm – Bowl of strawberries
10:30pm – 1/2 protein shake: ClearVite chocolate rice protein powder, water

DAY 3

9:00am – Protein shake: ClearVite chocolate rice protein powder, water
10:00am – Spoonful of plain coconut butter
11:30am – 2 cups Crazy Green Juice
12:45pm – Nut-free kale chips (made with sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, and spices)
2:00pm – Spoonful of plain coconut butter, handful of sunflower seeds
3:45pm – Avocado pudding (whole avocado, Sunwarrior raw chocolate protein powder, spinach, sunflower lecithin, stevia, water)
6:00pm – 2 cups Crazy Green Juice
7:30pm – One whole batch Curry-Roasted Cauliflower
9:00pm – Protein shake: ClearVite chocolate rice protein powder, water

And there you have it. As you can see, I’m basically eating lots of veggies (including plenty of leafy greens), healthy fats (mostly coconut butter and oil, plus a little olive oil), hypo-allergenic protein powders (which my doctor encourages; they’re gentle on my digestive tract) and smaller amounts of fruits (berries and avocados) and seeds (flax, hemp, sunflower, sesame). Despite my limited options, I think I’m doing pretty well at mixing it up each day and keeping it interesting.

Do you find these types of posts helpful? Should I do another in the future?

3 years ago this week…
Chickpea-lentil slow cooker stew
Oat crumble jam bars
2 years ago this week…
Quick blueberry compote
Almost Vegan in Chicago, parts 2.1 and 2.2
1 year ago this week…
Lichtenauer family birthday “red cake”