A little something I whipped up yesterday because it was too hot to cook. It is a mango/avocado/cucumber salad on spicy rice noodles.

Mango Avocado Cucumber salad

1 mango-peeled, pitted, diced
1 avocado-peeled, pitted, diced
1/2 english cucumber-peeled, diced
juice of half a lime
1 tbsp cilantro chopped
1 green onion minced
*optional but I like it- 1 thai pepper-chopped and seeded
salt and pepper to taste

combine ingredients in a bowl. Chill for a few hours. *I take the pits of the avocados and throw them into the salad. It seems to help keep the avocado from browning, even better than the lime juice alone. At this time also soak 4 oz of rice noodles in hot water for 15 minutes or until soft, drain, and chill, covered ready to serve.

dressing and noodles
juice of 2 or 3 limes
2 tbsps of soy sauce or tamari
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch of grated fresh ginger(or 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1.5 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped (roasted, unsalted) peanuts for garnish

You can prepare the dressing at the same time as the other ingredients or you can wait until you serve. It comes out nice either way.

Mix together the dressing ingredients and adjust to your taste. Toss the noodles with a tablespoon or two of the dressing. The spoon some noodles onto your plate. Scoop salad mixture on top and garnish with peanuts. Then take a tablespoon of dressing and pour over the salad mixture. Serve.

This will make two larger or four smaller servings.

Coconut Curry of mixed potatoes, spinach and chickpeas

1 medium sweet potato, peeled, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
1.5 cups chickpeas or 1-19 oz can drained
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can coconut milk
1 large bunch of spinach, chopped into largish pieces
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
1-2 tbsp curry powder(you get to decide how hot)
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
*olive oil for the saute

Heat olive oil in pan and saute the onion for 5 minutes. Add the spices and saute for 1 more minute. Add the potatoes and garlic and saute for another minute. After that, add in the chickpeas and coconut milk. Simmer this together for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Make sure the heat isn't too high and stir every once in a while so nothing sticks to your pan. Just before serving add the tomato and spinach. Cover and cook just until the spinach is wilted (just a few minutes). We serve this over brown basmati rice.

*This is optional, but sometimes I add a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast. I got this tip from another "curry" recipe that I use. If you wish to use nutritional yeast add it when you add the coconut milk.

I am going to put up another post/recipe/picture this weekend(or, I'll try to). But first, I have a request. I just got a dehydrator and I am wanting to delve into the world of raw cookies, fruit bars, etc. I don't have any recipes, but I have a few things that I have sorta come up with that I will try. I am just curious if anyone has any recipes. I would appreciate it. You can leave it in the comments. Thanks :D

Yo Momma's apple pie

1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust

1/cup sugar
1 and a 1/2 tsp cinnamon
mix these together in a small bowl

6 granny smith apples peeled, cored, and sliced.
1 small lemon (As you slice the apples toss them with some lemon juice. About a tablespoon in all)

topping:
1/4 cup soy margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/4--1/2 cup margarine

Preheat oven to 400.

Toss the cut up apples with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour apples into the unbaked pie crust.In a small bowl mix together the soy margarine, brown sugar and rolled oats. Add in a 1/4 cup of the flour. Work in more flour(up to 1/2 a cup) until you make a sort of dough(I usually end up using my hands to smoosh it together). Take pieces of the dough and flatten them using your hands to 1/4 inch or so pieces (not real important that they be real thin). Place them on top of the apples to form sort of a top crust. There will be spaces, don't worry! This is in no way going to be perfect. I like to refer to it as a patchwork. Then cover the pie with foil. Bake in the oven at 400 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and turn the oven temp down to 375 and bake for an additional 20 -30 minutes.

Here is something that we call Yo Momma's apple pie. Now, it's really good and I made this as I was testing the crust recipe. So, I can't give you that but I will post the pie recipe later this week. It's just that I don't have it written out in recipe form. It's just all sort of trapped in my head, where it's been for years until one of my kids begs me to make it.

I also wanted to post a picture and recipe for our popcorn seitan (yknow, like popcorn chicken). But, that will have to wait as the pictures I took just didn't come out well at all!

This here is a salad recipe that I tested for Isa. So, sorry I can't give you a recipe. But, I can tell you that it is delicious!

Mmmm! Delicious wheat flax waffles. My kids love these. Some notes about this recipe. Do try to remember to oil the waffle iron before you add batter each time. I still have to take a fork to gently pry them out. It could just be that my wafflemaker is dumb! These are worth it though :) These are best served right away, but are still good reheated in the toaster.

Wheat-flax waffles

2 egg replacer eggs (prepared)
1 3/4 cup rice milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax meal
1/4 cup white flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsps sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Mix together the wet ingredients in a medium to large bowl. Then mix together the dry ingredients in another bowl. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just mixed. Don't overmix.

Grease waffle maker and pour batter into waffle maker(I use a half cup measuring cup). Cook for about 4 minutes (varies by wafflemaker though). This recipe makes about 10 waffles or so in my wafflemaker.