Creamy vegan tomato and basil pasta

It turns out the old adage about children and pasta is true. Mini Bite is pretty good with most foods, but she loves pasta and is capable of tucking away an enormous amount of it when hungry. My go-to easy sauce for her is a mix of tomato pasta, tahini, dried oregano and nutritional yeast, but recently I have been looking for some different sauces that we can all enjoy. This creamy tomato basil pasta was one result.

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Zucchini noodles with orange and cashews

I was recently browsing my own Recipes page and was surprised to see, first, just how many recipes are on there (well over 200!) and, second, how many dishes I have made, loved, and then not made again. My various courgette / zucchini noodle dishes are a case in point. Whilst I haven't recreated one of them here, I was inspired to pull my spiralizer out again and make a new zucchini noodle dish to match the spring weather.

This salad is dominated, in a good way, by orange. It features an orange-soy-ginger dressing as well as orange segments. A scattering of cashews rounds out the dish and I also included tofu (ginger flavoured for good measure) that I enjoyed in the mix. If you left the tofu off this would be a nice side dish but with it you can easily consume the salad as a main meal.

My tofu was the new-ish sweet ginger tofu made by Cauldron foods. If you aren't in the UK or don't have access to that, any marinated tofu would work, although one that compliments an orange-soy-ginger dressing would obviously be best.

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Mango cashew cookie balls {vegan + no bake}

I am a big fan of raw fruit and nut truffle balls, but sometimes I like to mix things up a little. These no bake cookie balls take the classic fruit and nut combination - mango and cashew in this case - but add oats and banana to the mix. The result? Soft, chewy cookie balls that are eminently satisfying yet full of whole food nutrition.

With mango and banana in the ingredient list, these could also have been titled 'tropical cookie balls'. They taste of sunshine regardless of what the weather is doing outside. A version with dried pineapple would be equally delicious, or you could use half mango and half pineapple.

These are softer than pure fruit and nut balls but hold together if kept in the fridge. Or alternatively phrased, they are squishable but won't fall apart on you!

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Vegan caramel cashew fudge

This is not a perfect recipe, but I am sharing it anyway because it is a very delicious one!

The lack of perfection stems from this fudge being too soft in the fridge and too hard in the freezer. I got around this by storing it in the freezer and removing pieces 15 or so minutes before I wanted to eat them (which does also help with portion control...). I am sure the recipe could be tweaked to give a better final texture, but if you're making this for yourself, it's eminently edible as is.

I made this to use up some soya cream, which was leftover from making a repeat of Mr Bite's favourite chocolate mud cake. The (vegan) mud cake uses soya cream for the ganache icing but doesn't require a lot of it, so I am always left with some spare. Often I don't use it in time and have to throw it out, which is terribly wasteful. On this occasion I was determined to avoid that and fudge seemed as good a use as any.

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Chocolate chip caramel muffins {vegan}

With a bank holiday weekend, it was inevitable that somewhere in the 3 days I'd find time for baking. I was less certain, though, of what I would be baking. In the end, inspiration came where it so often does: on a run. I was taken with the idea of using pureed cashews and dates to provide a caramel base to muffins, whilst also reducing the need for processed fat and sugar. Once that idea was established, it was an easy leap to chocolate chips (admittedly bringing back some processed fat and sugar!) and the foundations for these muffins were laid.

 

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Spiced sweet potato and kale stew with cashews

If you're like me, you are fond of straightforward meals that deliver flavour, comfort and nutrition without taking hours to prepare. It's relatively easy to tick two of those three boxes (flavour / comfort / nutrition) but sometimes getting all three is tricky!

Happily, this dish satisfied all of my meal requirements. With a whole foods and vegetable based ingredient list, it is definitely nutrition-packed. The sweet potato and nutritional yeast give a creaminess to the dish, lending comfort, and spices and cashews round out the flavour profile.

Oh, and you only need one pan and not much time.

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Mango, strawberry and sweet potato salad with a 'honey' mustard dressing

Dear readers, this will be a week of short and sweet posts. Our shipment has arrived and our flat is a disaster zone! We are really excited to be reunited with our belongings, but until we get the boxes unpacked and items stowed away, it is an obstacle course getting from room to room. Making dinner last night involved a narrow path from fridge to stove, and shuffling of boxes to get to the sink. It is tricky. I am also unsure why we (I) shipped so much. Living without much for  4 months has changed my views on 'essential'. I could have abandoned a lot more in Perth.

Mango, strawberry and sweet potato salad with a 'honey' mustard dressing

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Raw pear and cashew balls (and a new blog header)

I made these balls before Christmas, but in the frenzy of Christmas themed posts and New Year summaries they got left behind until now. This is a little unfair, as they are delightful balls and would have been a happy accompaniment to other Christmassy snacks. It is fortunate that they are the sort of snack that suits consumption at any time of the year. Indeed, if you are heading back to work this week or next (I return tomorrow, which gives a one-day work week!), they would be a good match for 3pm snack urges.

I don't much like cashews plain, but have discovered that they go very nicely in fruit and nut balls like these. This pear version follows my earlier papaya and cashew balls, and pineapple and cashew balls. Pear isn't as strong in flavour as papaya or pineapple, but it matches the cashews nicely all the same.

Pear and cashew balls

Raw and vegan

You will need a food processor for this recipe

Makes about 20 small balls

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 cup dried pear pieces (about 150g)

1/2 cup raw cashews (about 75g)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Scant 1/4 cup dessicated coconut (about 15g)

Method

Roughly chop the dried pear, and then add to a food processor together with the cashews, vanilla and coconut. Process until finely ground and the mixture clumps together.

Roll into small balls and set in the fridge for about an hour. Best served cold.

In other news, and as at least one of you has already seen, Bite-Sized Thoughts has a new header. I am rather in love with it but please let me know if it looks odd in your browser (I have checked Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox but not Mac varieties).

There are a few other organisational changes in the works too, designed to streamline finding information, but I will update on those when they are finalised. If the blog disappears at random, you will know that my efforts backfired and I organised things into oblivion!

I'm submitting these snack balls to Ricki's Wellness Weekend 3rd - 7th January 2013, 
and to Heather's new link up event of Raw Foods Thursday, 3rd January 2013,

Tell me - cashews, yes or no?
And if you work, when do you head back?

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No-bake, vegan, apple crunch squares

It was with a certain amount of joy that I woke up in my own bed yesterday morning. With the Adelaide-based conference out of the way, it has started to dawn on me that our wedding really is in five days. Five days!

A (mostly) home-based Sunday in sunny Perth was just what I needed to adjust from the frenzy last week. The luxury of a day with no outside commitments also, of course, meant that I could spend some time in the kitchen.

At the moment, I really don't need to be baking huge quantities of goods. After the wedding, it is only a week before our one month trip away, and so we are trying to run down food rather than stock up on it. Fortunately, there are some things that can be made quickly and then eaten quickly. These no-bake apple crunch squares are definitely in that category, and have the added bonus of including just three core ingredients.

Interestingly, the resulting squares reminded me of rice bubble bars (the type made with marshmallows) and fruit leather. I appreciate these are quite different products. I can only say that these squares seem to blend the two, with the 'puff' and slight stickiness of rice bubble bars, and the dominant fruit flavour and texture of fruit leather. I made my squares quite thin, which might have added to the fruit leather experience.

These aren't my favourite no bake treats, but that is because apple isn't my favourite dried fruit. They are enjoyable for a change, though, and are lighter than standard dried fruit and nut mixes. Making them as squares instead of balls was also nice for something different.

No-bake apple crunch squares

A apple-flavoured treat that is reminiscent of rice bubble bars and fruit leather strips

Vegan

Makes 20 squares

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 cup (80g) dried apple rings

1/2 cup (70g) raw cashews

1 cup (15g) puffed cereal (I used Abundant Earth puffed millet)

1 tbsp apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Method

Roughly chop the dried apple. Process the dried apple and cashews in a food processor until well mixed and starting to look crumbly (~ 1 minute).

Add the puffed cereal, apple sauce and vanilla to the food processor and continue processing until the ingredients are well mixed and starting to clump together.

Line a square baking tin (or a loaf tin) with baking paper and press the apple mixture firmly into the tin. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until set. Cut into squares before serving.

You really can't get much simpler than this!

The best thing is, these could also be modified in almost never-ending ways - different dried fruit, different puffed cereal, and different nuts. An apricot and almond version comes to mind as a good pairing. A tablespoon of nut or sesame seed butter would add creaminess if that's your thing. These could also be made in a loaf tin, to make thicker slices, or you could double the ingredients to make higher squares.

All in all, I suspect I'll be seeing more of these sorts of squares in my kitchen in the future.

What did you get up to - or make - over the weekend?

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Lemon-cashew-sesame truffle balls

I have a bit of a thing for lemons at the moment.

This has nothing to do with our own lemon tree, which is still too young to be producing fruit (or at least that's the story I'm sticking to, given that we don't have any fruit). Others' lemon trees, however, seem to be producing enough fruit to share. There have been lemons at work, at my parent's house, and at my other work. As a result, ultimately there have been lemons at my house.

A fortnight ago I took three lemons home. I spent a week looking at them. They sat in the fruit bowl and looked back. Eventually I stopped asking them what they wanted to be (they weren't very communicative) and decided their fate for them. One lemon went to truffle balls, one lemon went to a dinner dish, and one lemon went to a side dish.

For today, we have the truffle balls. You may be able to deduce that more lemon recipes will be coming soon.

Let's focus on one thing at a time though. After all, these lemon-cashew-sesame balls deserve full attention. They are delicate, truffle-like, and might make you shut your eyes as you eat them. (Or maybe that is just me.) They go well with tea, and could justifiably be eaten at just about any time of day.

I'm pretty taken with them.

As a bonus, they are vegan, low in sugar, almost raw, and have an ingredient list that packs a healthy punch.

Also, you can have fun licking the bowl.

Lemon-cashew-sesame truffle balls

Inspired by lemon

Makes about 20 balls

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup oats

2 tbsp lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon (~1 tsp grated lemon rind)

1 1/2 - 2 tbsp agave (I used 1 1/2 tbsp, which gave a just sweet result)

1 - 2 tbsp water (I used 2 tbsp)

Method

Place the cashews, sesame seeds and oats in a food processor and process until fine and starting to clump together.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and agave and process briefly to combine. Add the water gradually, whilst processing, until the mixture is smooth.

Roll into small balls and set in the fridge for a few hours. Store in the fridge (they taste 'duller' when frozen).

The flavours of these come through in stages. Lemon, first, delicate but definitely present. Then the sesame, combining with the lemon to allude just slightly to tahini. The cashew comes through last, lifting the flavours and bringing them together in a very pleasing way.

The result is slightly sweet. Very moreish. Soft yet chewy.

Highly recommended.

How is the lemon situation at your house?

Submitted to Rikki's Wellness Weekend.

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