Christmas Coconut Granola

coconutmacgingergranola, originally uploaded by veggiebytes.

I love a good granola filled with yummy ingredients.  To me that means lots of coconut. Some of the best granola I've had was made in Hawaii with tropical fruits and macadamia nuts. If you are looking for something to bake for family and friends as a last minute gift, granola is grand choice. It is very versatile and can be made to suit almost any taste. The granola pictured was full of coconut ribbons, candied ginger and whole macadamia nuts. It will whisk you away to the tropics on a cold winter's day!

Here's a basic granola recipe:

Grains: 3 cups rolled oats

Nuts/Seeds: 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 cup nuts (almonds, mac nuts, walnuts)

Dressing: 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup of brown rice syrup/maple syrup/honey

Fruit: 11/2 cups dried fruit 
(chopped pineapple, cranberries, blueberries, golden raisins, papaya, candied ginger)

Salt: Sprinkle coarse sea salt (up to 1/2 teaspoon) over the mixture before baking

Optional: flax seeds, chia seeds, coconut flakes, chocolate chips

Mix grains, nuts, and dressing in a bowl. Put mixture on baking sheet bake at 300°F for 30 minutes (stirring occasionally), cool, stir in dried fruit.  Add optional items.

Some Helpful Tips:
I like to use a mixture of coconut butter and coconut oil. It is a natural and vegan source of fat. I don't like canola oil and try not use soy-based margarine.  Also, I add the flax seeds after the granola has cooked and cooled. Cooked flax seeds basically have no Omega 3 value as heat destroys the fatty acid structure. You could process the flax seeds in a spice grinder to get more benefit from them.
This granola would be gluten-free if you buy oats labeled as gluten-free (they are processed in gluten-free facilities). You can find natural dried fruits and candied ginger without sulfites at natural food stores.
My favorite candied ginger brands are: The Ginger People and Reed's.

I like to eat my granola with unsweetened almond or hemp milk.

Have fun making granola and I recommend making double or triple as it will be a hit.  Your kids will ask why they didn't get a granola gift too.
Warm Wishes & Happy Holidays!

Cooking at Retreats

In early November,  I had the pleasure of cooking for a great group of moms at a knitting retreat in the Texas Hill Country.

All the ladies were able to sit, knit, explore the grounds, share friendly conversation and enjoy the beautiful and rustic atmosphere.  They didn't have to worry about little ones or making meals.

My friend posted some beautiful pictures about the event.  Check it out on waldorfmama's blog.
To learn more about Moriah and getting together with family and friends there, click here.

Here's what was on the menu:

Breakfast:  Handmade Cinnamon Rolls, Smoothies and Chickpea Omelettes

Lunch:  Butternut Squash Lasagna
(I even had Stuffed Butternut Squash for our gluten-free gals)
Fall Salad with Spiralized Beets, Walnuts and Blue Cheese
Vegan Cream of Broccoli & Parsnip Soup

Dinner:  Hyderbadi Biryani, Mung Dal with Cauliflower, South Indian Brussell Sprouts, and Sprouted Mung Bean Salad with Coconut

Breakfast:  Vegan Blueberry Muffins and Spinach Tofu Scramble

Some pictures are better than others.  Everyone was so ready to eat that I had barely time to compose the shots...and I was using my iPhone.

I had a wonderful time!  If you ever think of staying at Moriah with friends or family and want some great veggie meals, give me a call!  I'm already familiar with the kitchen!

Vegan Macrobiotic Cleanse

After a week of high-fat, fried food and dairy products from some festivals we celebrated, it was time to do a nice fall cleanse.  Actually, a lot of people eat this way everyday (maybe even yourself!)
Since I'm not good at no-food or juice fasts and find them to be quite harsh, I was looking for something that involved eating real food, not taking any pills, and did not leave me hungry.

Here's what I followed for 7 days:
Ultra Slimdown  
My goal was not to lose lots of weight because I'm at a healthy amount for my height.
I wanted to see what cravings arose and to see what food may be causing me trouble when I introduced them back.  I did lose 5 llbs over the course of the week and I did crave tortilla chips and some spicy foods.

If you didn't have time to read the article, here's the basics:
Eat brown rice, lots of steamed or sauteed veggies (using a miniscule amount or no oil), some beans and legumes, have a rice protein smoothie with real fruit and flax seeds (no added sugar) for breakfast, vegetable broth or another shake for snacks. Eat all organic items.  Take an Epsom salt bath with baking soda and lavender essential oil every night.  Cut out all processed foods, meat, dairy, wheat and other gluten containing grains, corn, nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers), alcohol, caffeine, sugar (natural and artificial).  What's left you say?  Lots of honest, good food!
Anyway, it was pretty easy and you could continue to do it as long as you wanted.

Here's some of the meals I ate:

Asparagus, Green Salad, Quinoa

Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Quinoa

Golden Beets, Zucchini,
Whole Grain Rice Blend

Kale, Chickpeas, Brown Rice

Brown Rice Maki Spirals

Mung Dahl with Cauliflower &
Long Beans and Quinoa

Cabbage Subji
Wild Rice Blend

Okra Chickpeas
Brown Rice

Breakfast Shake

Organic Homemade Vegetable Broth
Full of Alkaline Mineral Goodness

Organic Ingredients for
Veggie Broth

With all the disclaimers about contacting your doctor, etc....maybe you should before doing this, even though I can't see why anyone would not be able to eat this healthily. 
If you would like to follow this cleanse, but have no time to prepare everything or make the broth, contact me.  I'll bring everything over, including items for the breakfast shake and bath, prep the veggies for you for the week,  make the beans & broth & grains, and leave some happy & healthy vibes for a great week.  The whole deal for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days is only $300 (includes the groceries)! 
Contact me today to start feeling awesome! info@chefveggie.com or 512-914-1543

A Bridal Shower

I hosted a bridal shower for my sister a couple weekends ago.  I thought that I would share some of the decor, games, and of course, food.

Everything was very elegant, neat and classic.  Her wedding colors will be white, green and champagne. I tried to keep the same scheme for the bridal shower.  White place settings with little touches of green with beautiful flowers like hydrangeas and white roses created the perfect table.

Each guest had a favor with her name on it as her place card.  Inside is a super practical purse hanger.

She will never have to put her purse on the floor again!

The food!  Here are some of the items:

Vegetarian Lumpia

White Cheddar Scallion Biscuits (the green and white theme)

Farfalle with Pesto (Tie the Knot Bowties!)

Since most women love chocolate we had a chocolate fondue fountain dripping with vegan dark chocolate!  Somehow I only got a picture of the dippers -strawberries and pineapple.

Two of the cheezy bridal shower games we played were food related.

Banana Bride
I split the ladies into 3 teams.  Each team was given a banana.  The bride was sent to another room to hang out with the flower girl.  Then I told them they had to dress the banana like a bride with only the items found in their purses!

The bride picked the one with the sunglasses and $$$

A-Z Grocery List
Here's one to test their memory.  They had to remember a long grocery list created in alphabetical order when each guest added another item.  The bride goes to the store and gets an apple, banana, cookies, dog treats, eggs, etc. I still haven't figured out if it's easier or harder to remember an obscure item - k was kitchen shears.

My sister was so happy and scored some really awesome Crate and Barrel goodies for her home and kitchen.  I'm hoping to see her in the kitchen more often!

Anyway, if anyone would like help with food for a bridal shower for their veggie friends, please let me know.
www.chefveggie.com

San Francisco Veggie Tourist Part 2 - Oishii desu ne!

Yes, I know it's been a couple months since I've been there!  But my mom and sister are visiting my brother in SF right now. I thought I would share a bit more of my trip while I sit dreaming of oishii tabemono.

One part of San Francisco that I love is Japantown.  Being slightly otaku, who can blame me? I did live in Japan from 1978-1980 and then again from 1986-1990, so I have had real exposure and love for Japanese culture. Anyway, here are some Japanese gems that I enjoyed.

The Kinokuniya bookstore in Japantown is a treasure-trove! You can look through thousands of books, anime, manga, magazines and some are even in English.
I found a couple Japanese vegetarian cookbooks near the macrobiotic ones.  I have been wanting to make Japanese rice bran pickles so I got a tsukemono book.  There is also a great Japanese chef named Izumi and she has a wonderful blog on vege dining. (You can use Google's translate service to read it)  I picked up her book on how to make several lunches for the week by creatively using the same basic ingredients.

Also if you love cute bento, there are a myriad of how-to books with beautiful pictures. And yes, bentos do not have to be filled with Sanrio characters.  I got this one: Kawaii Bento Boxes
I also found a Japanese vegetarian magazine called Veggy Steady Go.  Engrish is so funny!
I'm hoping my mom will be able to pick up the latest issue for me. And yes, after living in Japan and taking 4 semesters of Japanese in college, I can read and understand quite a bit.  Katakana is my friend.

いただきます - Bon Appetit

There are a couple restaurants in Japantown but we decided to get some snacks at Nijiiya Market.  In the prepared food section, they have a variety of Japanese takeout boxes, including organic brown rice, pickles, tofu dishes and a pleasant surprise: yasai korokke!  Oh who doesn't like deep fried veggie cutlets with tonkatsu sauce!  They were so good and since airplane food is horrible or non-existent, we returned to Nijiiya before we headed to the airport so we could have something tasty in-flight.

While not in Japantown, we did have the pleasure of having a meal at Cha-Ya.  It's a delightful Japanese restaurant on Valencia St which just happens to be completely vegetarian.  Have you ever had tofu stuffed in a portabella mushroom tempura-style served with broccolini and a kiwi-edamame sauce?  Such creative and tasty food at decent prices.  Oh Austin how I wish you had more veggie Japanese goodness!

San Francisco じゃあまたね   :)

San Francisco Veggie Tourist?

Here's more about my food experiences in SF that weren't necessarily at top ranking vegetarian restaurants.  What could we find while visiting the many tourist attractions?
Since food wasn't necessarily the focus, no real photos of food were taken so you'll have to deal with my descriptive abilities.

The dismal trip to Alcatraz. No food for consumption on the island besides the sourgrass my daughter wanted to pick despite being off limits by the National Park Service.  So we ate lunch at Boudin Bakery - San Francisco Sourdough and I had vegetarian rustic tomato soup in a sourdough bread bowl.  It was the perfect combo for a blustery day on Fisherman's Wharf.  They have frequent soups of the day that are vegetarian and a vegan chili on the menu all the time.

If you have kids, there are a lot of great places to visit in San Francisco, including the Exploratorium.
Now if you are in there a couple hours, they have a neat little cafe that serves organic lunches and snacks. All of the plates and utensils were biodegradable/compostable.  I had a cup of chickpea soup.  There were salads, wraps, and sandwiches available.

On to another museum, the newly opened California Academy of Sciences.  You can walk through a rainforest, view a Philippine coral reef, pet snakes and check out an albino alligator. I fancied the rooftop gardens.  If you get hungry, the Academy Cafe serves multicultural cuisine.  I had a vegetarian steamed bun (bao) and it was quite tasty.  There is also a fine dining restaurant called the Moss Room that serves chef-prepared meals focusing on seasonal and organic ingredients.
I just wish that their "reduce your carbon footprint exhibit" mentioned that by eating a vegetarian diet, your toll on the planet is lessened.

Coming soon...visit's to Greens, The Millenium, Cha-Ya Japanese Vegetarian Restaurant, and Japantown

San Francisco Restaurant Trip #1 - DOSA

Here's a recap of some great veggie eats in San Francisco:

On the day we arrived we decided to go on a little adventure before the arrival of the rest of the family from Hawaii.  As we made our way to Japantown off of Geary Ave, we saw a hip & urban restaurant with the name DOSA on the corner of Fillmore.  Could we be so lucky to find a South Indian fusion restaurant on a whim? Oh yes!
DOSA differs from other typical Indian restaurants in that they have a mission to provide food with the best local, organic and sustainable ingredients.  The decor is magnificent and your won't be served on styrofoam with plastic forks.

Now on to our early afternoon snacks! We started off with complementary pappadams and chutney.

Dahi Batata Puri made with organic yogurt.

Dahi Vada

This is the most beautifully presented dish.  A large savory vada (a lentil donut) is served with organic yogurt and spiced tamarind and cilantro sauces.

Paneer Dosa

We actually had 3 different dosas. A traditional masala dosa with potatoes, a cilantro mint dosa, and a paneer dosa pictured above.  They all came with traditional sambar and chutney.

DOSA will be on my definite list the next time we go to SF. Here's a video about the restaurant:

Many Morels

On a lovely Texas Spring day, we went hiking with friends along Barton Creek Trail near Twin Falls and what did we happen to find in a dry stream bed:  Morels!

Morel hunter

At first, I was wondering if they were edible as I'm not a real mycologist.  After a couple Google searches and mushroom identification sites like http://thegreatmorel.com/, we were in luck and not only were the morsels edible but super tasty.  Somehow, it reminded me of my brief trip to Lake Chapala in Mexico as an ecology student. A couple guys and I decided we would just climb one of the low lying mountains for fun.  A weathered man wearing a vest with an embroidered sun greeted us at the top of the mountain. De we reach a sacred spot?  He asked me "Quieres hongos?" (Do you want mushrooms?) and he brought out these large yellow abalone type ones.  We said no but thanked him for his generosity.

Unexpected Hongo Man at the top

Anyway,  it was fun to find something edible on our little hike and luckily we had a brown paper sack from our lunch. After a brief diversion (smashed car window and stolen goods - be careful out there friends!), we were home again and the research began on how to fix these up really good.

We gave them a quick rinse to remove debris and cut them in half lengthwise. This is supposed to help you see if critters climb into the cavities. Most people do not want to eat roly-polys!

Fresh Morels

There are lots of recommendations for cooking with morels.  Batter-fried is a common recipe, but I'm just not into eggs and cornflakes. For great vegan mushroom recipes, I recommend the The Artful Vegan by the Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco.  We decided morel fettuccine alfredo would be a decent choice and it came out beautifully.

Morel Fettucine Alfredo

We hope to find some again but it seems to have been a serendipitous occasion.  They do cost quite a lot at Central Market - $69.99 a lb dry.  There's nothing like finding a little treasure full of life.  A childlike feeling comes over you.  There really are magic mushrooms!

TechMunch!

I just got back from a wonderful foodie/techie event - TECHMunch  - which helped kick off the weekend of great SXSW events. Lots of Austin food bloggers along with awesome presenters from out of town were in attendance.  It was hosted by BakeSpace.com and SteamyKitchen.com.

I learned a lot about great food blogs in general and how to keep growing a wonderful community of  people interested in food.  Ben Huh of the funny LoL Cats (http://icanhascheezburger.com/) was there and he shared with all of us foodies blog tips and his one food blog full of super cuteness epicute.com.

My husband works in the IT industry so I'm used to seeing his techie swag bag.  I must say that a food-related one is so much cooler...no stress grips shaped like company mascots here!  Look at what I got!  Plus I won a Kitchen Aid mini-chopper!
My friend Chaya Rao of Vegicurean.com won even something bigger - a KitchenAid Mixer!
There were even tasty veggie treats and appetizers to eat so I didn't feel left out!

I'm so happy that I was able to attend as I don't get out to many events. I feel more inspiration to post more frequently despite my very busy personal chef schedule.
If you were in attendance, please send me a message...I'll be trying to be in touch with many of you!  I hope to connect with more veggie foodies out there and do more techmunching!
Keep in contact here on my blog, veggiebytes.com or on my Facebook page: Chef Veggie
I'm off to post this week's delivery menu!

Healthy & Happy Eating,
Cristina

Love Dip

Since we wanted to spend some time at home and do something as a family this Valentine's Day we thought it would be fun to have a 3 person FONDUE PARTY!

There are wonderful websites online that have countless recipes, etiquette tips 

(but we have a 5 year old!), and equipment recommendations.

But you ask can fondue be vegetarian or even vegan?  Yes it can.  It can even be alcohol-free.

Here's one website I found as a good resource:

http://www.bestfondue.com

We did a 3 course fondue: cheese, broth, chocolate

Here's some pics of our Family Fondue V-Day Party.

Set the mood with some music. Here's Ella Fitzgerald's "My Funny Valentine"

Get the dippers ready for the cheese fondue. The cheese was rennet-free gruyere and swiss! We had multigrain bread, Gardein's little meaties, bell pepper, baby fingerling potatoes

Our broth was Asian inspired and in it we cooked crimini mushrooms, vegan spinach artichoke ravioli, green onions, baby fingerling potatoes, tofu puffs. To serve we had a variety of dipping sauces like Kecap Manis (indonesian sweet soy sauce), chinese mustard, sweet chili sauce, Veganaise with Laxmi brand mixed pickle.

Our fondue pot was kept at the right temperature with the help of Ecoflame.

Remember Sterno and its weird smell? Now you can get an earth-friendly fuel source for chafing dishes and fondues made with ethanol from sugar cane!

Here's the part my 5 year old could not wait for...the CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN.

This contraption was only $20 and I was pleasantly surprised at its engineering.

The ever-flowing fountain was dark chocolate chips and raw coconut oil...this dessert was a vegan delight.

Dippers:

Organic strawberries

Vegan Sweet and Sara toasted coconut marshmallows

Walnuts

Mint

MOCHI filled with peanut butter!

Fondue is a great way to spend time with your loved ones and can be prepared ahead of time so that you can sit, relax and enjoy each other's company. It's also a lot more affordable to do at home, then say going to the Melting Pot. You also have a lot more control over what you serve and the ingredients.

Happy Dipping!