Vegan Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Eat Simply, Eat Well

Roasted Rosemary-Orange Mixed Nuts

December 7, 2015 by aplough

In the US, Christmas season doesn’t really begin until after Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the last Thursday in November. In Finland, the season doesn’t really start until after Finland’s Independence Day on December 6th. Now that the 98th birthday of Finland has been properly celebrated in all its public pomp and circumstance as well as privately, in homes and among friends, we’re ready to move into the next stage of things, preparing our homes and our pantries for celebrating the joy of Christmas with family and friends.

Since the tables tend to have no shortage of sweet options, I’ve gotten into the habit of making a few savory snacks as a complement. These roasted nuts have a hint of sweetness and a hint of spice, but the really magic is in the combination of rosemary and orange that reminds one of the season at hand while making them quite addicting as well.

No need to use mixed nuts if you prefer just one type of nuts: I’ve used these on almonds, cashews, hazelnuts and walnuts to equally great results.

My main piece of advice: make a big batch. These will disappear quickly.

Great on their own as a satisfying savory handful; they are equally delicious used as a topping for your morning bowl of oatmeal or yogurt; as a salad topping; or sprinkled across a creamy dessert.

These also a make great gift for your favorite hostess! Put them in a beautiful jar or a clear cellophane bag, add a label and ribbon, and your gift is ready.

Roasted Rosemary-Orange Mixed Nuts

1 cup/250g whole, raw mixed nuts
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, main stem removed and leaves finely chopped
1 teaspoon zest from an organic orange
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or honey
1 teaspoon melted butter (or sub in extra virgin olive oil to keep these vegan)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and mix well so that the nuts are well-coated. Turn the mixture out onto a parchment-lined baking tray and place in the heated oven, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove fromt eh oven and cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Makes 1 cup. (I usually make 4 cups at a time).

Coconut Bacon

October 22, 2015 by aplough

Coconut Bacon! Here’s a quick recipe that you’ll be eating by the handful and tossing onto and into everything as soon as it comes out of the oven. The idea for the recipe came to me after I’d finished off a bag of savory flavored coconut chips I purchased last weekend at the I Love Me fair held at Helsinki’s conference center. You’ll be hearing more about this fair in a later post, when I share some of my favorite food finds and how to cook with them.

But in the meantime, I wanted to share this simple, healthy, savory snack with you. You’ll use just a few whole foods ingredients and spices to create this crispy treat. I like to use the organic coconut flakes from Makrobios which I buy from Ruohonjuuri, but you can use any high-quality, large coconut flakes for this recipe.

You can use this in many of the same ways you would use bacon: toss it over a Cobb salad; sprinkle some over savory oatmeal or a nice vegetable soup; or munch on a handful as a snack. You’ll be loving it!

Coconut Bacon

1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 teaspoons Tamari (or regular soy sauce if gluten isn’t an issue for you)
2 teaspoons genuine Maple Syrup
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup/2.5 dl large coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 160°C/300°F

Combine all of the ingredients except the coconut flakes into a 1 liter / 4 cup pot. Heat the ingredients over medium heat until the coconut oil melts (you can also do this in the microwave if you prefer). Add the coconut flakes and stir well so that the wet mixture completely coats the coconut flakes. Spread the coconut in a thin layer onto a parchment-lined oven tray. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy, stirring every 5-8 minutes until done.

Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 1 cup.

Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes

September 24, 2015 by aplough

If you want to impress your dinner guests (or just yourself) without slaving all afternoon in the kitchen, consider adding these handsome potatoes to your dinner menu.

Hasselback potatoes aren’t a new concept, but they are a good one. Basically, you take any good baking potato, slice it thinly across the top, stopping just before you cut through the potato, about 1/4″ / 2 cm from the bottom. You sprinkle on a little salt, a little pepper, a few herbs, and drizzle olive oil, and let the oven do the rest of the work for you. As the potatoes bake, the spaces between the slices expands and the the potato begins to fan out just a little. Bake for the length of time you would a standard baked potato, and then finish under the broiler so the top gets nice and crispy and golden. These could actually be the star of your dinner, if you wish – serving them with traditional baked potato toppings, with a smoked salmon dip; a little kicked-up ketchup, or, of course, alongside a roast chicken…or less traditionally, next to a roasted celeriac. They are really good.

They also reheat really well, so although this recipe makes four, you can easily increase that quantity and then reheat them in the oven the next day to maintain the crispness, or make them a day ahead and reheat them to serve.

Potatoes often get a bad rap in nutrition world, but they are actually a great option, particularly if they are served with the skin on, as they are in this recipe. Too often, they are slathered with butter in cream or deep fried within an inch of their life making them something that’s a far cry from healthy food.

Cooked properly, however, potatoes are a delicious, healthy whole food. They have:

low-calorie: roughly 160 calories per potato (approximately 1 cup)
a very good source of vitamin B6 (for building cells; cardiovascular protection; brain cell and nervous system activity; and for breaking down glycogen – aiding in athletic performance)
a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, copper, vitamin C, manganese, phosphorus, niacin and pantothenic acid
phytonutrients with antioxident capacity, e.g. carotenoids and flavonoids
potential to help lower blood pressure (because of presence of kukoamines)

Source: whfoods.com

Eat up! Potatoes are good for your health.

Notes:

most of the potato’s fiber is in the skin, so make sure you consume the entire potato
it’s worth repeating: french fries and potatoes chips are not real food: they are in fact really bad for your health. If you want to enjoy the health benefits of potatoes, eat them baked, roasted, boiled, lightly pan fried, or steamed, but avoid the processed foods that will only make you sick.
Any good baking potato can be used for this recipe, including sweet potatoes!

Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes

4 large baking potatoes
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sea salt
olive oil

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.

Wash and scrub your potatoes to remove all dirt from the skin. Lay a potato on its side, and make thin cuts from one end to the other, cutting down into the potato almost to the bottom, but being careful not to cut all the way through. Place the potato on the baking tray and repeat with remaining potatoes.

Combine the rosemary and sea salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle a half teaspoon of the mixture over each potato, using your fingers to push it into the cuts a little. Drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over each potato. Place the potatoes into a hot oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the potatoes from oven, and using a basting brush, dip into the oil in the bottom of the pan and brush it over the tops of the potatoes. Return the pan to the oven, increase the heat to 215°C/425°F and continue to bake another 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown, tender in the center and crispy on top.

Serves 4.