konichiwa

[AlannaCA]

hiya

i just wanted to say hi and i am happy that i finally joined! ive been visiting LST and reading everything i could for the last month and a half and i love the site so far!

Alanna

[tammy]

welcome to the forum Alanna!

[dari]

Thanks for joining us Alanna, I always wonder who's checking us out but not joining. I see that you're a dessert chef at a vegan/raw place? You just made me hungry. What are your specialties? Go ahead, make me crave something delicious!

[Lochlan]

I often wonder who are the people who are lurking around the tattoo forums with "guest" names and happy to see one join, so welcome!! I hope while you were looking around you saw how many of us love food, restaurants and yes food again. Would love to hear from you on food, tattoos, and whatever else you decide to talk about as I am sure others would as well!?!?!

Until then.....

Lochlan

[MsRad]

hi Alanna! have any recipes you'd like to share?

[AlannaCA]

I always wonder who's checking us out but not joining. I see that you're a dessert chef at a vegan/raw place? You just made me hungry. What are your specialties? Go ahead, make me crave something delicious!

At the restaurant I make only raw food desserts, but at home I make a mean vegan cupcake! The best dessert at the restaurant is the raw tira misu that I make, seriously its the stuff dreams are made of!

MsRad, i will for sure share some recipes, heres a raw fig newton bar i made today. its super easy and i gotta say it actually made me like figs.

Pecan Fig Newton’s

You will need a 9x13 pan lined with plastic wrap

5 cups of pecans (not soaked but roughly chopped use food processor)

1/3 cup of Agave Nectar

About 20 dried figs (soaked until plump) reserve a few dried one and rough chop for later(optional)

2 tbs of vanilla extract

Pinch of Celtic Sea salt

Water to blend

In a food processor blend the soaked figs with vanilla, salt and enough water until they are creamy and smooth. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, fold in roughly chopped pecans and extra fig pieces for more texture . spread into a 9x13 pan. Let stand in refrigerator for at least an hour before cutting. Yields about 32 pieces. They are good on their own or you can add the extra caramel sauce :

Caramel sauce

16 dates (pitted and soaked)

¾ tsp of mesquite powder

3 Tbsp melted coconut oil

¼ cup lacuma powder

Water to blend.

In a blender, mix dates and mesquite with enough water until smooth and creamy. Add melted coconut oil and lacuma and blend again. This should be pourable but not too watery and you can spread it or pipe it on top to make fun designs.

You can half the recipe to make it more manageable and then whatever you don’t eat put in the freezer for later!

[AlannaCA]

if you have any requests let me know!

in the mean time here is my favorite quinoa salad recipe i made it for a party last weekend and it was a hit:

Quinoa salad

3 cups cooked quinoa

1 ½ cups canned or boiled black beans

1 ½ cups canned or boiled lentils

1 ½ cups canned or defrosted corn

½ a red onion chopped fine

2 fresh medium size tomatoes chopped

1 ½ cups defrosted edema me

¼ cup green or black olives

1 cup slivered almonds toasted

¼ cup fresh mint

¼ cup chopped fresh coriander

Cook quinoa directed on package. Let cool and add the other ingredient. Dress and serve at room temperature or chilled. Mmmmm!!

Dressing:

1/3 cup lime juice

¼ cup olive oil

2 tsp ground cumin

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Put all ingredients in a container and shake to combine

[dari]

Yum!

Alanna, there's been a lot of bad talk about agave lately, any opinions? Think that amaing recipe that I want to try to concoct might work with maple syrup instead? And what is lacuma powder?

[AlannaCA]

yes im hearing the bad things about agave as well. i dont competely believe all of what is being said. i think that in small amounts it s all right but if you over do it and use too much too often yes i believe it is bad for you. but thats the same principle for everything in life, moderation. i love it because its low on the glycemic index and its so much sweeter than white sugar so i use half as much when i bake. it doesnt cause my blood sugar to spike, so i dont come crashing down after.

so i love agave! maple syrup is just as good but i use it when i want my food to have a certain flavour profile. it has more of a caramal flavour where as agave is just sweet.

lacauma is a fruit that comes from south america and its dried and made into a powder. it is packed with tons of nutrients like calcium, beta-carotene, fibre, and iron. its got a malty/caramel flavour profile and so i use it to make any caramel toppings and in my pecan pie at the restaurant in conjunction with maple syrup and i get that same buttery flavour with it being 100% vegan.

[Kevin Campbell]

My wife is Chilean and I got to try some lacuma ice cream the other day, it was super good.

[Bunny Switchblade]

Welcome to the forum Alanna!

:)