Drizzle and Crunch

There are all of four things in this post: something thought-up (was going to say invented, but that seems a bit rich), something tried, something copied and something failed. To get the "fail" off my chest first I tried winging a coconut ice cream that didn't go so well. I was inspired by an ice cream purchase for the bf, three flavours of ice cream made with organic cream: banana chocolate, ricca mocca, and the one that inspired failure, coconut cocoa. I tried making just a straight up creamy coconut flavour, but it was too grainy, too heavy, and not sweet enough. Luckily I made a small batch - I think I'll break it up in chunks and put it to use in smoothies.

The try-out is Averies crackers. They succeeded with absolutely no complications and I am glad that they are gluten-, corn- and dairy free straight from the start. Sweet crackers are not one of my cravings but I thought I'd give it a go to honour the original recipe and perhaps discover something new. However, I used only 1 tbsp maple sugar and 1 tbsp agave syrup, and couldn't resist adding plenty of fresh ground black pepper and 3 tbsp pine nuts. I left out vanilla and allspice all together. They were absolutely yummy - I'm glad I went with a bit of sweetener for a change, but I'm also glad I added my own pepper-pinenut tweak.

The drizzle I've thought up for my salads is surely old hat to everyone else, but it's really quite nifty, I came up with it on my own, and it's one of those things that I have the ingredients for even when the fridge is near empty. I'm oftentimes using ground cashew nuts for a creamy, delicious dressing, but cashews are one of those things that I tend to run out of because it is so good for everything and so darn expensive I keep postponing to buy it. So what works instead is 2 tbsp ground golden flax, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar to taste - I use a couple of tsp - maybe some spice like nutmeg or curry or even spirulina, and water to reach the desired consistency. It should be poured on the salad and eaten right away, though, because the flax thickens into a goo quite quickly.

I'm saving the best for last, so here's what I succesfully copied: raw buckwheaties, that I bought from a store and fell in love with as superb convenience-food. I re-created a recipe based on the ingredient list, and they turned out almost exactly like the original. I'm calling mine Coconut Protein Buckwheaties cause I added a couple of tbsps of hemp protein for good measure, and I've eaten them in salads, as granola, and as a snack with or without a dab of coconut oil - they are sturdy enough to be put in a plastic bag or box to bring along. I probably won't recreate them exactly again, but I'll tweak them next time, I'll soak the buckwheat longer and add figs instead of dates, maybe some goji berries...

Anyway this is what I used:

2/3 cup buckwheat groats - soaked

4 tbsp date paste + 2 tbsp date paste (for sweet version) or 1 flax egg (less sweet version)

1/3 cup sunflower seeds - soaked

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup protein powder, I used hemp

1/8 cup shredded dried coconut

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds - soaked

1/4 cup golden flax, either lightly ground or half ground/half whole

2 tsp cinnamon

Nutmeg, cardamom

Stir everything together - but save the raisins for last so they dont get all shredded. The "dough" should be very grainy, but glued together so you can make tsp-size lumps. I stirred for a long time and added a bit of water to get everything to stick together - more flax egg or date paste will help, but these are buckwheaties, not cakes, so coarse texture is fine. The lumps can be baked or dehydrated, I use an oven but prefer as low heat as possible, to keep everything - especially the raisins! - from getting "baked". I suspect they will become very hard on the teeth if proper baked as well, so probably just dehydrate until they feel solid. Then flip them over - the backside should be done as well or they will turn soft when you store them.