Vegan Tostadas, three ways

Does anyone else have minor anxiety about eating crunchy things around other humans? 

Croutons, chips, carrots, celery...(is it weird that these all start with a C?)

I KNOW I DO. I'm one of those people who will leave the room if someone else is chewing loud. I can feel this monster that starts from my toes and fills my head with steam until I'm about to burst. It's one of the few things in the world that sends me into a feeling of rage. 

Thus, I feel it's not right for me to turn around eating crunchy things myself. So I try to only eat them in private, or I do that weird thing where I'm chewing excessively slow and everyone ends up looking at me anyway. 

That's why these tostadas make a perfect party food. Crank the tunes and serve them up when nobody can hear ANYTHING, so nobody has to feel uncomfortable with their symphony of mouth noises. 

You can totally make these one step easier and just buy pre-made tostadas at your local bodega or in the latin section of your grocery store, I just happened to have leftover corn tortillas laying around so I made them myself.

Vegan Tostadas, three ways

16 corn tortillas
2 TBSP olive oil
salt

1 batch Pecan Romesco
1 bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and washed
1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt & pepper

your favorite hummus
1 english cucumber
1 ear of corn, cooked however (I grilled mine!)
2 TBSP tajin

1 batch Pico de Gallo
for the Black Bean Spread:
1 16 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/4 c water
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp your favorite hot sauce

Prepare the tostadas- brush each tortilla with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil on both sides just until golden and crispy- keep an eye on these or things can go south realllll quick.

Prep the black bean spread: In a blender, combine the beans, water, cumin, hot sauce and salt- pulse until juuuuuust smooth. 

Chop the kale into fine ribbons and give it a nice rub down between your fingers with the olive oil and juice of one lemon. Toss with salt and pepper and set it to the side for a few minutes to settle in. 

Slice the cucumber, I sliced mine on a diagonal and then in half- also it looks kind've like avocado in the photos and you can tooootally sub avocado if that's what your heat is saying! This is certainly one of those choose your own adventure type situations.

Now you have all of the ingredients you need in front of you, basically a tostada bar. ALSO YOU COULD JUST MAKE THIS A TOSTADA BAR FOR YOUR GUESTS! But if not, prepare each as follows:

Spread a nice amount of romesco onto a tostada, top with the dressed kale. BOOM.
Spread a healthy amount of hummus onto a tostada, top with cucumbers, corn & tajin. BOOM.
Spread a generous amount of bean spread onto a tostada, top with pico de gallo. BOOM

Happy crunching!

xo Audrey

GF/Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

In high school, I didn't really know how to have friends.

I was in this weird purgatory of being 15 and wanting to fit in but also being 15 having experienced the death of a parent and feeling soooooo far out. 

I didn't really understand how to gossip (mostly because I didn't care). I didn't know how to just 'hang out' with people after school and on the weekends because my mind was on a constant loop of, 'mymomisdeadmymomisdeadheydontyouknowmymomisdeadandherewearealivepretendingthateverythingisokayEVERYTHINGISNOTOKAYBECAUSEMYMOMISDEAD'.

I ate lunch with my teachers, brought coloring books to class instead of textbooks and kept myself busy after school in the kitchen. There were always a plethora of cookies laying around my house (cough cough bakingismycopingmechanism cough), so eventually I started bringing them to school in a basket. 

That's when I figured out how to relate to people because everybody loves a good cookie. Soon I was a Wantagh High School mini-celeb - everybody said hi to me, people would chase me down to see what was in my basket that day. At the time I had no idea what that basket did for me, looking back I know that it gave me the courage to talk to anybody and everybody. 

Chocolate chip cookies were common ground. Humans from all walks of life can stand around a kitchen counter and bite into a warm chocolate chip cookie and feel a little bit of home. I was able to feel a little bit of home in a life that felt so foreign to me every time I ate one of those cookies. In 11th grade we read an essay about a couple who had lost their child who kept spending time with the chef who was supposed to make his birthday cake. The lesson of that essay was that food is love. If there's one thing I learned outside of the classroom in high school it's that gifting food is a way to give a little bit of your heart to someone else, and it's only when you share it that you begin to feel whole again. 

Vegan/Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 18

1 cup almond butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown rice flour
4oz dark chocolate- chips or bar, chopped roughly
flaky salt, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350.
In a medium bowl, mix together the almond butter and brown sugar until combined and smooth. Stir in the applesauce, vanilla and baking soda until mixed in.
Slowly stir in the oats, rice flour and chocolate.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough (I use this scoop) at least an inch apart, lightly sprinkle with flaky salt and send off to the oven for 9-11 minutes juuuuust until the edges start to brown and the cookie seems set. 
Cookies will keep really well in a sealed container at room temperature for up to a week!

xo Audrey

Party Hummus!

I'm going to tell you my favorite kitchen secret. 

You never ever have to make your own hummus in your whole life.

You don't have to peel individual chickpeas like lots of people will tell you. 

You don't have to remember to soak dried chickpeas overnight.

All you have to do is keep some cumin in the pantry and a few lemons in the produce drawer.

I promise you- no one will ever be sad if you show up to their house with hummus that you didn't make from scratch. They will not care that you stopped at the grocery store on the way to their house if you follow these simple tricks:

1. Take it out of it's ugly plastic container.
2. Make a pretty swirl on the top of it, drizzle some olive oil in the crevasses. 
3. Throw fresh crunchy things on top of it, surround it with bread/chips/other delicious things for dipping.

Here's a bomb recipe hack that will save you when you forget to get something for the party you are supposed to be at in a half an hour.

Party Hummus!
makes you know, as much as it makes

1 tub of your favorite store bought hummus (I love love Whole Food's original or Hope Brand)
1 lemon
1/2 tsp cumin
1 cucumber, seeded & diced
1 large heirloom tomato or 2 medium other tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, sliced super thin
Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
Pinch salt & pepper
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
2 TBSP olive oil

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss the cucumber, tomato, onion and parsley in with the quick dressing you just made. 

In a separate bowl, stir the zest and juice of the lemon + 1/2 tsp cumin in with the tub of hummus.

Plop the hummus on a pretty plate, swirl it all nice (don't do this too far in advance or it will get crusty and nasty on the outside)- top with salad + another drizzle of olive oil and serve with whatever your little heart desires! I especially love pita if it's been grilled! 

(also- go wild with this concept and stir in whatever you like. Other good options are dill or roasted garlic or even some greek yogurt to make it super light and fluffy. Basically make your own flavored hummus. OG flavor hummus is usually pretty delicious from a grocery store, it's when they start adding a bunch of flavors that things can sometimes get weird.)

xo Audrey
 

(vegan) Dark Chocolate Sorbet

What does ice cream mean to you? 

Is it nostalgia- sitting in the trunk of your mom's SUV with the fam on a summer evening with mint chocolate chip dripping all over your tiny hands watching the motorcyclists drive past the beach?

Is it comfort- the Phish Food hug you need when you realize he's not the one? 

Is it connection- every vanilla with rainbow sprinkles you see reminds you of your best friend that lives halfway across the country? 

This might not be 'real' ice cream, but you wouldn't know it. It's ultra creamy mouthfeel combined with intense dark chocolate create an illusion of decadence- when really you're just eating frozen water! 

Dark Chocolate Sorbet
(recipe from David Leibovitz)
makes 1 quart

2 1/4 c (555ml) water
1 c sugar (200g) (can sub coconut sugar here!)
3/4 c (75g) cocoa powder
1 generous pinch salt
6oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

\\ DAY BEFORE - if your ice cream maker is not a self compressing kind, don't forget to put the bowl in the freezer so you don't have to wait another whole day to dive into this deliciousness!

\\ In a large saucepan, whisk together 1 1/2 c water with the sugar, cocoa powder and salt (for real- don't put all the water in now or you'll end up with mega hard unscoopable sorbet)

\\ Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Let boil for 45 seconds then remove from heat.

\\ Stir in chocolate and vanilla extract until chocolate is completely melted, then stir in the remaining (room temp) water.

\\ Transfer to a blender and blend (holding the lid on with a towel so you don't have a chocolate explosion!) for about 30 seconds, until the the color has lightened a shade or two.

\\ Chill the mixture thoroughly (at least 2 hours), then transfer to your ice cream maker and freeze according to the machine's directions.

\\ Serve with a pinch of flaky sea salt, crushed pretzels, or anything but gummy bears! 

xo Audrey
 

(vegan & gluten free) Sweet Potato Tacos

Once upon a time I worked at an Irish pub. 

There, I learned the most efficient way to clean a ketchup bottle top (soak it in hot water).

I learned how to pour a perfect pint with a shamrock on top (magic).

I learned how to stay awake for shifts that ran until 4am (chug a shirley temple with a splash of OJ in it at 11pm, brush your teeth at 1am for a quick minty rush).

I learned how not to have to make both decaf & regular (just make decaf, nobody can tell and placebo caffeine is real).

I learned how to direct attention toward my money making asset (neon orange bottle opener in my back pocket).

I learned how not to get caught kissing boys during my shift (behind the dumpster out back #classy).

I learned how to make everyone in a room feel special at once (remember what everyone drinks, always keep extra bud lights on ice for Tom, chill the stella glass for Kenny, play Marshall Tucker Band when Mark walks in, blow lots of kisses, don't forget the ice on the side!)

I learned how not to throw up behind the bar the day after my first St. Paddy's day as a legal adult (ginger ale + bitters with a side of oyster crackers).

I learned how to hack the menu that I'd been eating from for four years straight (tacos - meat + sweet potato fries = new secret menu item for all of the hippies at the bike store down the street & me).

I learned how to get the kitchen guys to sneak me sweet potato fry tacos on demand (giggle often, bat lots of eyelashes, try and speak spanish, send back ice water every half hour in the summer, salsa dance with them on slow shifts). 

My diet has changed a bit since the days when I would survive on the bowl of dead fries in the window and the occasional stolen mozzarella stick. I'm tryna (sometimes) replace sour cream with cooling cucumber ribbons and fried things with roasted things. We're not that mad about it! 

Sweet Potato Tacos
(makes 8 tacos)

\\ 8 corn tortillas
\\ 3-4 sweet potatoes
\\ 1 english cucumber
\\ 1.5 tsp cumin
\\ 2 TBSP olive oil

\\ 2 large tomatoes (or one giant heirloom tomato, like I used)
\\ 1 shallot
\\ juice of 3 limes
\\ handful of cilantro
\\ 2 TBSP olive oil

First, prep the Pico de Gallo:
\\ Dice the tomato, chop the shallot and cilantro, mix in bowl with the lime juice and olive oil. Add a pinch of salt, cover and let hang in the fridge until you're ready (or do what I did and eat so much of it with chips that you're not hungry for the tacos anymore).

For the tacos:
\\ Preheat oven to 375. Wash, peel & cube the sweet potatoes into 3/4-1" chunks. Toss in olive oil, cumin and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Bake at 375, flipping once, for about 40 minutes until crisp and browned on the outside and soft on the inside.
\\ Heat the tortillas- I did mine over the flame on my stove to give it a nice charred edge but if that's not available to you a minute or less in the oven will work just fine! Just heat them up so they can bend and party. 
\\ Top tortillas with sweet potato, a few spoonfuls of pico & ribbons of cucumber (just clean the cucumber and peel it with a veggie peeler into ribbons). 
\\ Serve with extra lime wedges and avocado, if you're so inclined.

MAGIC TRICK:
I leave my cilantro standing up in a glass full of water in the fridge, as if it were a flower that I want to keep pretty. It always lasts for over a week when I do this! I just grab off handfuls as needed.

xo

Audrey
 

|dairy free| Chocolate Chia Mousse

Ask and ye shall receive. I'm back on the food writing bandwagon! Blogs are so 2008, but so is Taylor Swift and we're not over her yet! 

Mostly I'm coming back to this space to connect. I have so much to share and I need a platform to share it. I'm always looking for food inspiration, so I figured you probably are too! 

These days I'm eating 90% vegan and 10% pizza and tacos. Expect to find similar ratios here. Healthy, balanced, SIMPLE meals that you (yeah-you!) can totally make with a relatively minimal ingredient list. Last time I shared recipes (high school) I subsisted on 95% sugar and 5% cucumbers. I'm hoping this chronicle can serve as a source of inspiration for you and I both, to help you realize that eating (consistently) healthy doesn't have to mean bland salads, steamed broccoli, or million dollar a month subscription services. 

I'm still deeply infatuated with dessert, there will be no shortage of sweets here BUT they will no longer be sickeningly sweet- that's just not my jam. 

Let's get on with it, then-

Vegan Chocolate Chia Mousse with Coconut Whipped Cream
serves 2, for when you're tryna impress that hot yoga teacher you invited over for dinner and then promptly realized that the only dessert you're confident with is slice & bake cookies

1/4 cup + 2 TBSP chia seeds
1 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (as dark as possible, I use Varlhona)
3 TBSP honey
pinch salt
cacao nibs, for serving

1 can coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
1 tsp vanilla extract

\\ combine the first five ingredients in a medium bowl, whisk until they're friends.
\\ allow to rest in the fridge for at least an hour and a half, up to overnight.
\\ blend the chia pudding mixture until light and fluffy (mine fit in my lil ninja blender), you'll notice the color change and the pudding will smooth out a bunch!
\\ spoon the mousse into two cups, refrigerate for another hour (up to two days, covered)

When ready to serve:
\\ in a separate bowl, open the can of coconut milk and pour off the liquid in the can (save it for smoothies!)
\\ beat the solid fatty part of the coconut milk with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, mix in vanilla.
\\ top mousse with coconut whipped cream, cacao nibs & another pinch of sea salt! 
\\ allow your guest to ogle you in delight because you are, undoubtedly, a magician.

may your heart always be j o y f u l,

audrey