A belated Saint Patricks

Did you know Saint Patrick wasn't even Irish....

I'm working on perfecting this mint soft serve recipe to my liking. It began as mint chocolate chip I find chunks of chocolate in my ice cream somewhat unsatisfying. They just don't melt well in your mouth.

I'm trying to find some real mint extract or figure out how to make it as I think it will make this recipe even better.

The Recipe:

3- 1/4 Cups Milk or a combination of Milk and Creamer (not from a cow)

2 Tablespoons Arrowroot Powder

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 -1.5 Teaspoons Mint Extract

Green Food Coloring (optional)

In medium saucepan over high heat combine sugar and 3 cups milk

In a bowl combine arrowroot powder and remaining 1/4 cup milk

Once the milk sugar mixture has come to a boil, remove from heat immediately and stir it arrowroot-milk mixture

Let cool

Once the mixture has cool to at lead room temperature (colder works better) stir in vanilla, mint and green food coloring if desired. (I find that there is a psychological component regarding the greenness of my mint ice cream)

Place in ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions

Nachos

After being vegan for a little over four years, I now find cheese quite revolting. Seldom am I able to walk by the cheese section at Whole Foods without covering my nose and when someone sits next to me with their bowl of spaghetti slathered in smellycruelstolenfromacalf parmesan cheese, it is enough to make me loose my appetite.

I am, however, a fan of Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternatives. (You have to be careful with some of the vegan cheese alternatives out there as some can be pretty nasty). I do not eat vegan cheese often so perfectly melted cheese atop some corn chips was quite a treat.

Rum Truffles

The creation of these truffles is quite unique in the sense that involve the use of cake crumbs.
These truffles were kind of like a fudgy cake cake ball. I say without any hesitation that these were appropriate for the gods.

Recipe: Rum Truffles

(Ingredients are approximate and adjusting them to your own liking is best...)

8 oz Chocolate

1/4 Cup Milk (not from a cow)

2 Tablespoons Margarine

1-1/2 Cups Cake Crumbs

1 Tablespoon Dark Rum (or more or less)

Keep in mind that the cake is a major component of the truffles and so a good cake will most likely make good truffles. I recommend using a recipe from Sarah Kramer's La Dolce Vegan- any that I've tried have turned out well.

The 8 oz of chocolate is also a pretty important part. If you're going to use high quality dark rum, do the rum some justice and pair it with some good chocolate. I highly recommend using Tropical Source.

To make the truffles:

Place chocolate in heatproof bowl

Combine non-cow milk and margarine in a sauce pan over medium heat, stirring often

When it comes to a boil, remove from heat and pour over chocolate

Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth

Stir in rum and then cake crumbs

Add cake crumbs until you can easily form balls from the truffle mixture

To top off the truffles you could always roll them in more chocolate

Other options include (but are not limited to)

Colored sugars

Powdered Sugar

Cocoa Powder

The truffles keep best in the refrigerator on wax paper

(This is only necessary if you can control the urge to eat them all)

Taco Sandwich

Lately all I've felt like eating is Mexican food and grapefruits. A strange combination I know. I love going out for Mexican food but sometimes it's nice to make it yourself because everything can be just the way you like it.

Last weekend, in the midst of a strange mood, I made my first ever taco sandwich. It's probably one of the simplest delicacies in my world.

You start with two tostadas (I prefer home made) and layer beans, roasted vegetables letuce, rice, tomatoes, avocodo, cilantro and lots of salsa.

You can either it it like a sandwich or take your fork and make a violent dive into the center. I prefer the later.

I'm excited for summer and the fresh salsa ingredients it will bring. I think I'll just live on salsa all summer long. Peach Salsa.

Red

My brother received a camera for his birthday. Needless to say, he has explored its capabilities far more than I have with my camera. (I usually discover things by accident). Apparently my camera has many of the same features as his so he showed me a thing or two.

Vita Cafe

A Wednesday afternoon adventure, upon which, I had every intention of eating vegan crepes as a "cultural experience", ended up at Vita Cafe in northeast PDX on Alberta. Vita offers a plethora of vegan and vegetarian options. I enjoyed the soup of the day: white bean vegetable with house special onion-herb bread, which I have to say was quite a treat. The soup complemented the emotions of the day nicely as I sat by the lage storefront window, eating not soup and looking out onto Alberta as the rain fell peacefully from the sky.

Vita has huge vegan and gluten-free cakes, for which I will be returning (amongst other things)