Looks different from space

We recently sent a crew of Astronauts into space on a sightseeing reconnaissance mission around the moon. They sent back some beautiful pictures of the Earth. Frankly, it looks different from space. Despite all the damage we’ve done to it, it’s still a colorful little ball floating around in Space. These astronauts set a record for traveling the farthest from Earth that anyone has gone. If that’s the farthest we’ve gone and we have this beautiful home, then today has extra special meaning. It’s earth day. With all our advancements, if something were to happen to this place, we’re not going anywhere else anytime soon. So, we owe it to ourselves to protect our home.

Climate activists constantly sound the doomsday alarm about our world. Then we have people who deny we have any effect on climate or the Earth. The truth lies in between. The reason climate activists are so persistent is because people tend to ignore signs. If your car starts making a little pinging noise and you don’t take it in to be looked at, pretty soon you have a broken car. The same holds true to the Earth. Just what the damage is, how much we contribute to it, and what we can do to fix it are things to look at. Yes, the earth, naturally, undergoes great changes on its own. But, we live here now. So, trying to avoid global warming or an ice age is in our best interest.

For a new perspective, it looks different from space

In 1969, Apollo 11 first landed on the moon. Those astronauts, also, sent back pictures of the earth from space. While we had some other pictures taken from space. This was the first time we had pictures taken from the moon. Around the same time, there was a massive oil spill off the coast of California. A Senator from California and a Harvard student got together to educate people about the fragility of the Earth. Pictures from Apollo missions came in handy to illustrate the beauty of the world and how it’s worth protecting. On April 22, 1970, They organized a “teach in” which resulted in a massive protest directed at our government o do something about protecting the Earth. 20 Million people came out. That’s 10% of the population at the time. Today, we expect bout 1 billion people worldwide to observe the day.

So, having a new perspective and a gross example of man’s incompetence in the form of oil spills were the catalysts needed to wake up enough people to make a difference. The first Earth day resulted in the formation of the EPA under the Nixon administration. Nixon wasn’t exactly a tree hugging hippy. So, people complaining that climate activism is some “woke” thing, how about you do some real research, not just looking for people who say it’s all bunk (usually people paid by polluting corporations). Humans do have an impact on the planet. We can choose to make it positive or negative. There are practical considerations to consider before massive change, though. We need alternative fuel sources that make sense. And, we definitely need to do something about pollution in general, for our own sake and the sake of all things on this planet from plants to people.

A matter of life and death

Climate activists sound like Chicken little to some people. But, what they say is based in truth. And, we’re talking about massive changes on a global scale. So, it’s not like we can flip a switch and save the world. The warnings are about temperature changes, pollution, loss of natural resources, and a host of other things. To effect change, a massive effort with international cooperation is required. That means all countries. Some, in the United States ask why should we stop polluting if China pollutes more than us. Neither should be doing it. Just because 1 person is a bigger asshole, doesn’t excuse you. And, right now, China is leading in the alternative energy sector. They also pollute more than anyone else. Then again, they are in competition with India for the largest population in the world.

China has 4 times the population of the United States. But, they produce a little over twice as much pollution. India has more people than China, but produce 1/2 the pollution of the USA. So, China and the USA are the worst offenders. But, at least China is doing something about it. What we need is a concerted effort , perhaps a treaty between the top 10 polluters (who represent over 2/3 of the pollution in the world). Oh, yeah. We had something like that in the Paris accords. But, someone decided to take the USA out of the agreement so we could pollute more, even though we are the biggest polluters by population. Yes, we need practical considerations. EV’s aren’t the answer. But, they don’t hurt. Pollution, climate change, and other planet related concerns aren’t just a single fix. We need to address multiple concerns.

Top Carbon Polluters (Total Annual Emissions)

• China: ~14.4 billion tons of carbon
• United States: ~6.39 billion tons of carbon
• India: ~3.52 billion tons of carbon
• European Union (27 countries): ~3.43 billion tons of carbon
• Russia: ~2.03 billion tons of carbon

All the problems look different from space

Some activists jumped on the Artimus pictures of the earth saying the planet looks sicker now. But, that’s not what the pictures show. They are different because they were mostly taken at night VS day and a host of other differences including angles, perspective, and even the technology of the cameras. Despite having more “pixels” digital images show up more grainy than natural film pictures. So, nice try. But, a picture isn’t going to show the damage we’re doing on different levels. The Earth is millions of years old. Changes occur gradually. A couple hundred million years ago, we had a super-continent: Pangaea. Now, we have 7. So, over time, the world changes drastically. But, we’re comparing pictures from 60 years expecting to see some huge difference. Sorry, it’s micro changes. It just looks different from space.

Just because there aren’t major changes, doesn’t mean the changes don’t affect us directly. Things look different from space. The swirling clouds against the blue oceans look peaceful. But, those are actually storms. It’s a little different being under a hurricane than above it. And, a slight rise in global temperatures causes more extreme weather events. Add to that the we insist on populating areas prone to natural disasters, we’re just asking for trouble. The California wild fires over the last decade or so were devastating, not because of the size of the fires. But, because so many people live in the path of them. It’s like people living in the dessert. They suffer and people complain about the human toll. As Sam Kinnesson put it: You live in a dessert. Move to where the food is.

So, what’s to be done?

Everybody thinks they have the answer to everything. Deniers say, there’s no problem. Just let us keep doing what we do. The earth does worse stuff than we do on it’s own. Climate activists insist recycling and EV’s are “the solution”. The problem everyone is guilty of is that there is no quick easy fix. We, as a species, have girded the globe with pavement, trains, planes, automobiles, boats, high rises, and all manner of things that just don’t exist in nature. Having all this unnatural stuff creates unnatural problems. Don’t worry though, when we’re gone, nature will reclaim the world. We look at ancient structures and think they were built by ancient aliens. Perhaps. Or, maybe they were arrogant civilizations like ours who got wiped out because of hubris.

How many movies, books, stories, etc are there about dystopian worlds created by our excess? There are worlds in which water is a problem, greenhouse gasses, and host of ones after we drop too many bombs. While fiction tends to over-dramatize problems. All these things are issues now. We cut down forests creating an imbalance in air quality and life sustainability. Clouds of pollution permeate major metropolitan areas. We displace countless species of animals and plants on a daily basis. Run off from all the concrete and other building materials we have create unsafe food and water sources. We create health problems for ourselves and other creatures all the time, acting like we own this place. We are merely stewards and occupants. So, anything we can do on a daily basis can be helpful.

Don’t be the bad tenant

We live in a wonderful world. But, we rarely see all the wonder. There is the wonder of modern conveniences that we all adore. And, there is the wonder of the natural world. Mostly, we love to communicate and glue ourselves to our devices. What harm is that doing? Our personal devices don’t bother too much. But, with everyone having one, it adds up. With 8 Billion people in the world, we have 8.6 billion mobile phones, and another 8 billion laptops, tablets, etc. Worse than that, though, are the people generating the information and technology we use everyday. The infrastructure for the internet uses about 2 to 4% of the world’s energy. That is expected to more than double over the next few years thanks to AI.

And, that’s just the virtual world. Our physical existence requires all sorts of resources that obscure, alter, and/or destroy the natural world. Everybody loves “green Spaces”. For many, those are, literally, patches of grass and a few trees or plants. We still have a lot of natural places. But, very few are untouched by us humans. Even the oceans are littered with all kinds of junk and chemicals. We’ve expanded our footprint dramatically all across the globe during our short time here. Just look back a couple hundred years. We didn’t have interstate highways, supersonic jets, giant buildings, or 8 billion of us destructive creatures. Lions, tigers, and bears are bigger than us. But, they don’t take up anywhere near what we do. Hell, Whales stick to just what they need.

We are wasters, surrounded with excess. Unfortunately, we’ve become complacent. Perhaps it’s time we started to give back instead of taking more and more.

A big fix looks different from space

There is no big fix. And, as the Artemus pictures show, we’re not going to see a big difference from space. But, the infinite nature of the universe works on macro and micro levels. People who say don’t sweat the small stuff are wrong. It’s the little things that make the difference. The universe expands across light years. Conversely, the micro world does something similar in reverse. The amount of micro-organisms around us is astounding. We’re sandwiched between vast stretches of space and vast patches of atoms. Unless we travel into space, it’s not going to kill us. But, a mosquito or spider bite could. Similarly, our effect on the planet may seem insignificant. But, the cumulative effect of all of us parasites creates a problem.

Earth day looks at the big picture and the smaller one too. What if we walk to a local store instead of driving? How about we open a window instead of using A/C? Instead of throwing away something that could be repaired, fix it? Instead of buying Individual packets of food or drinks, buy in bulk? Look around you. How much plastic, steel, and concrete is there? What can we do to lessen our reliance on such things, or, at least cut back on our consumption? It takes a concerted effort. And, in this day of disposable products that’s really difficult. We have plastic devices, pens, charging cords, your refrigerator, parts of your car, computers, tablets, food packaging, and more. Some states and provinces have banned plastic shopping bags. Awww, they’re so convenient. It’s a step toward protecting the environment. But, not the only thing that needs addressing.

You don’t have to be a tree hugger

We’ve gone so far away from nature that it’s hard to get back. Modern conveniences are nice. The fact that you’re reading this means you have access to the internet. We don’t want to roll back technological advances. But, we do want things to be sustainable. If something harms the planet, we have the ability to figure out a way to either repair the damage and/or figure a way for the technology to work in a less invasive/destructive manner. We put people on the moon and into outer-space. And, made cars run on cleaner fuel and get better gas mileage. We put the computing power needed to put the first men on the moon into a handheld device everyone carries around today. So, we have the brainpower. We just need the will.

For all the knocking President Biden got, he was right when he said “There’s nothing we can’t do when we do it together”. The problem is, there are always people fighting against that unity. Everything his hyper-polarized politically, and tilted toward corporate greed. Energy companies can make cleaner choices. Auto makers can make more efficient vehicles. Buildings can be made to more energy and environmental standards. But, economic and political forces stand in the way of doing the right thing. Our government used to incentivize environmental innovation. Now, many of those incentives have gone away. Resources reverted back to things like coal and oil. Remember, we used to use whale oil for energy. Oil replaced that. And, alternative energy sources abound now. We need choices. If one sector loses some business, they should be able to pivot to new technologies.

The world is different. We can do this.

100 years ago 60% of all telephones were in the United states. And, phones were only in about 1/3 of homes here. Today, about 6 billion people have phones. And, they don’t look or act anything like they did then. We got so accustomed to them that many people don’t even know what life was like before them. We could do the same thing with environmental awareness. I know people who love camping. They want that connection to the Earth. But, they drive their gas guzzling ozone depleting vehicles to get in touch with nature. There has to be a better way.

Of course, people say you’re a hypocrite if you espouse climate concerns but fly on jets and use modern transportation and other polluting things. That is defeatist thinking. Until we have the technology, we are stuck with what we do have. It’s called transitioning. What it requires is the will and effort from corporations and governments. Biden was right. This is the united states. There’s nothing we can’t do if we have the will. The internet and modern transportation have made the world accessible to a lot more people. We don’t want to lose that connectedness. But, we need to find less destructive ways to do it. There are engineers and scientists all around the world who have the brainpower to come up with alternatives. They need to be encouraged to develop and scale solutions for the good of all the planet.

Sometimes it just takes stepping back for a different perspective. We have beauty and ugliness. But, it looks different from space. Maybe that view can provide incentive.

It may look different from Space, but, it looks great on the plate.

Humans made the Earth look a lot different. We get all excited when we see something that looks like a manufactured structure on other planets. Cydonia, The face on Mars is a good example (but, it’s just a natural formation that looks cool from space). Meanwhile, here at home they’re everywhere. Coming from outer-space, though, you don’t see the millions of structures until you get right up close.

Similarly, If you take a picture of a plate of food from a drone flying overhead, all you see is an amorphous shape blob of something on a disk. It could be a gourmet dinner . Or, it may just be a literal pile of poop on a Frisbee. Until you get right up close, you don’t really know what you’re looking at. The point being, that different perspectives reveal different things.

Climate change deniers use a snowstorm as proof that global warming doesn’t exist. But snow in one place doesn’t mean it’s not warmer in others. As we speak, some people are rooting for global warming to melt polar caps in the hopes of gaining access to oil. But, the rest of the world feels the effects with increased erratic weather, flooding and more.

What’s on your plate looks different from space

So, our duty here on Earth is to do what we can to protect it on both a global scale and locally. There are more ways to damage the Earth than massive destruction. Oil refineries and chemical plants cause substances to leach into the surrounding area. While this doesn’t effect the whole world, it makes parts uninhabitable. And, we know from the dustbowl years what happens if farmers don’t manage land properly. So, what can we do to help?

Protecting the planet isn’t just one thing. We can use our cars less, make our homes more energy efficient, demand a simpler way of life, and, eat more consciously. Where we get our food from, what, and how we eat all have an impact locally and globally. And, stop wasting food. Globally, we waste about 19% of all our food. In the US, it’s closer to 35%. part of that is marketing, and part is bad habits. In a perfect world, we make just what we need, and, eat it all. Also, eat sustainable foods. A plant based diet is better for the environment and the consumer. Check out this study from Oxford University for proof.

So, to help us combat problems locally, and, possibly, globally, here are some plant based recipes to get you started.

Eat as if your life and others depend on it. They kind of do…

Caramelized Onion and Wild Mushroom Calzone with Vegan Cheese and Romesco Sauce

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Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Ingredients

  

• 2 Cups Typo 00 flour
• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 1 TBSP Yeast
• 2 TBSP Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 TBSP Olive Oil
• For Onions and Mushrooms:
• 4 Cups Thin Sliced Sweet Onions
• 3 Cups Sliced Assorted Wild Mushrooms
• 1/4 Cup Sherry
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Thyme
• 1 tsp Chopped Fresh Garlic
• 1 tsp Truffle Oil (optional)
• 2 Cups Vegan Pizza Cheese
• Olive oil for cooking
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• For sauce:
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Sweet Onion
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh garlic
• 1 Cup Red Wine
• 1 Cup Roasted Red Pepper
• 1 Cup Ground Tomato
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Stock
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Basil
• 1 tsp Chopped Oregano (fresh or dried)
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Almonds
• olive oil for cooking
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Make the Romesco Sauce: Saute the onion and garlic over medium high heat in a thin layer of olive oil until translucent. Add red wine and reduce by 1/2. Then add the remaining ingredients, except salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and taper back to a simmer. Cook down until it is about half the original volume. Add more stock or water if it is too thick. Add seasoning and Blend until semi smooth.
• While the sauce is Cooking, Cook the onions in olive oil. Start at high heat to get some color, then drop down to medium. Allow the onions to caramelize slowly, stirring as needed to prevent burning. When they have a golden brown color, add the garlic and mushrooms. Cook until soft. Then, add the sherry and increase the temperature. Burn off the alcohol, and cook off the extra liquid. You want it as dry as possible to prevent soggy dough. Season and add the thyme. Set aside to cool.
• While those 2 are cooking, make the dough. Or you can make all the ingredients ahead of time to assemble on the day of service. For the dough, Put the sugar, yeast, and water the bowl of a mixer. make sure the water is warm, not hot. Stir in the yeast and allow it to bloom about 10 minutes. Then, add the remaining ingredients and use a dough hook attachment to knead the dough. You may need to scrape the sides to aid the dough in forming. When it takes shape, remove the bowl from the mixer. Coat the dough with Olive oil and cover. Allow it to rest about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 550
• While the dough is resting, fold vegan pizza cheese into the onion and mushroom mixture. Also, add a touch of truffle oil if you want to boost the flavor.
• Roll out the dough, preferably by hand into a long Wide rectangle. You could also do smaller pieces of dough for multiple smaller calzones. Place the filling down the middle of the dough and paint the edges with olive oil. Roll the calzone up like a cigar. Fold the ends over to keep the filling inside. Poke a couple small holes in the top, to allow steam to escape.
• Preheat a pizza stone or an inverted sheet pan in the oven. Sprinkle cornmeal on the pan or stone to prevent sticking. Place the calzone on the stone or pan and brush with olive oil, salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until perfectly browned,
• Remove the calzone to a cutting board. Allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes. Then cut it into manageable pieces. Serve with heated romesco sauce on the side.

Notes

You can do individual or a large calzone cut into pieces. Whichever you desire. They should take about the same amount of time.

Make sure you pull the dough thin enough that it will cook through, but thick enough to hold the fillings. When you fold over the ends, don’t let them get too thick or they won’t cook all the way through.

Also, make sure your filling is not too wet. The bottom of the calzone can sog out easily. This makes it difficult to handle and eat.

You can change out ingredients and use the same dough to make a variety of calzones. This version is vegan. But, you can use real cheese if you aren’t as particular.

This dough can be used as a pizza as well. We wanted the Calzone shape for this menu, but feel free to experiment. Add meats, make it sweeter or more savory.

Keyword calzone, Caramelized Onion, cheese, flat bread, Pizza, Romesco Sauce, vegan, Wild Mushroom

Grilled Eggplant Stuffed With Herbed Quinoa Drizzled with Tomato Coulis and Garnished with Micro Greens

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Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Servings 12 Hors D’oeuvres

Ingredients

  

• 1 Lb Fresh Eggplant
• 1/2 Cup Assorted Chopped Fresh Herbs (Thyme, Parsley, Marjoram, Chives, Sage, Rosemary)
• Olive oil for cooking
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 12 each Whole Fresh Chives
• 1/4 Cup Fine Diced Sweet Onion
• 1 tsp Chopped Fresh garlic
• 1 cup Dried Quinoa
• 1/4 cup Fine Diced Fresh Mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp Fine Diced Fresh Carrots
• 2 to 3 Cups Vegetable stock or Water
• For tomato Coulis:
• 1/4 cup Minced White Onion
• 1 tsp Chopped Fresh garlic
• 2 Cup Canned Diced Tomato
• 4 or 5 each Leaves of Fresh Basil
• 1/4 cup Red Wine
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Olive oil

Instructions

 

• make the Tomato Coulis: Blend the tomato at high speed until totally smooth. Heat olive oil in a Heavy pot. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the red wine and reduce until it is almost gone. Add the Tomato and basil and bring up to a simmer. Allow it to simmer about 45 minutes to an hour, stirring as needed. If it gets too thick, add a little water. You want the acidity of the tomatoes to cook off. When done, season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• prepare the eggplant: If you have a slicing machine, that works best for this. Or you can use a mandolin or knife if you can slice thin and even slices. First, Pick eggplants that are not too large. About 3 inch diameter is best. Slice The vegetable lengthwise. about 1/8 inch thick. Brush them with olive oil and sprinkle evenly with a little bit of the herb mixture, salt, and pepper. Preheat a grille or grille pan and grille the slices carefully over high heat. You want nice marks and the eggplant to become pliable enough to wrap around food. Set aside.
• make the Quinoa: Heat olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Saute the Onion and garlic until translucent. Fold in the carrots and mushroom sand continue to cook for about 1 minute. Add the Quinoa, and mix all ingredients. Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Then cut back to a simmer. Cook until the quinoa is tender, but not falling apart. If it is cooked, but there is still liquid,remove from the heat and strain out the extra liquid. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Then fold in the remaining herbs. Allow to cool.
• Dip chives into Boiling water to make them pliable.
• lay out the eggplant slices on a sheet pan. Use a scoop, spoon, or your hands to place a generous amount of quinoa about an inch up in the wide part of the eggplant. Roll up the eggplant. Fold the sides over to partially cover the quinoa. Then roll up the eggplant into a package. Repeat with the each slice. Then, wrap each bundle with a chive and tie it tight. reheat in a 350 degree oven.
• Reheat the Coulis. Spread a thin coating on a small plate. Place the eggplant bundle on top. Then drizzle a little more sauce over the top and garnish with micro greens, a couple drops of fine olive oil, and Some fresh ground black or mixed peppercorns.

Keyword Grilled Eggplant, Herbed Quinoa, Micro Greens, Solstice, Strawberry, citrus, soup, dessert, vegan, gluten free, Stuffed, Tomato Coulis

Lemon Tempura Vegetables with Ginger Plum Sauce

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Print Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Fusion, Japanese, Portuguese

Servings 4 People

Equipment

• Fryer or pot to fry in

Ingredients

  

• 1 to 2 Lb Fresh Vegetables, green beans are a must, the rest is up to you: Eggplant, zucchini, carrots, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Onions, or more
• 1 Lb Rice Flour May substitute 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 cornstarch
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 Bottle lager or pilsner beer, the lighter the better
• 1 Whole Lemon, just the zest and juice
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• For Dip:
• 1 Cup Whole Fresh Plums, pit removed
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Ginger
• 2 Cup Seasoned Rice wine vinegar or Mirin
• 1/4 Cup Tamari Soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• Oil to fry

Instructions

 

• Make the plum sauce. Cut the plums into one inch pieces. Saute the plums and ginger, in a little bit of oil, over medium high heat until they begin to soften and break down. Add the mirin or rice wine vinegar and bring to a boil. Taper off to a simmer and cook until the liquid has reduced by about half and the plums are falling apart. Add the honey and tamari. Then blend until smooth. You can do this with an immersion blender in the pot or in a stationary blender. Cool down for service.
• Set up your frying station: Put at least 3 inches of oil in a pot on a stove or fill your frying machine to the proper level. Get your equipment together: Frying spiders, tongs, bowl to mix batter in, paper towels and pans or plates to dry the tempura on.
• Cut your vegetables. Green beans can be whole. For best results, try cutting everything in similar sizes so they will cook at about the same rate.
• make the batter: Whisk your egg. Add the flour, lemon juice and zest. and Begin whisking. Pour the beer in a little at a time, and continue whisking until the batter is at a consistency you like. You may want to add the whole beer or stop when it is a little thicker. Adding the whole beer will result in a pretty thin batter. Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil to about 350 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, watch the oil. It will move freely about. drop a little batter in. If it bubbles up and forms a ball, your temperature should be about right. You can adjust the flame too. remember. when you add food in, the temperature of the oil will drop, so you can regulate the temperature by adjusting the flame.
• Dip your vegetables in the batter one at a time. Shake off extra batter and bring the dipped item to the oil. Swirl the item a little bit until it begins to float up a little bit. Then, let go and let it fry. repeat this step until you have an amount of vegetables in the pot that you feel comfortable keeping an eye on. You will notice that the underside of the vegetables will begin to get more color than the top. Flip the vegetables at this point to get an even color. Cook until golden brown, remove from the oil onto paper towels. Repeat this process until all the vegetables are done.

Notes

You can use the same batter for meats, fish, or other items as well. Just remember to cut the pieces small enough that they will cook all the way through. If you have thicker items, you may want to drop the oil temperature back a bit to allow time to cook all the way through without burning or getting too dark.

Keyword Ginger plum sauce, Lemon, Tempura, vegetables

Meyer Lemon Edamame Hummus

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Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, dips

Cuisine Asian, Middle Eastern

Servings 1 Quart

Ingredients

  

• 2 Cups Shelled cooked edamame
• 4 Cloves Fresh garlic
• 2 Cups Raw fresh Spinach
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Parsley
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Cilantro
• 1/2 Cup Meyer Lemon Juice (preferably, Fresh Squeezed)
• 1 Tbsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
• 2 Tbsp Tahini Paste
• 1 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Pulse garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add Spinach and Herbs, pulse until well chopped.
• Add in the Edamame, and puree until fine.
• Add the tahini and Lemon juice. Continue running the processor until smooth, no lumps. Scrape down sides and continue processing. Add in the spices at this time.
• While the machine is running, drizzle in the oil until it is well incorporated. If it separates, add some more beans. Taste the hummus, and adjust seasoning if necessary.
• Refrigerate and serve cold with pita and vegetables. You can drizzle a little olive oil and/or lemon for service, even garnish with fresh chopped herbs and, or chili flakes.

Keyword Beans, Edamame, Fresh, Hummus, Meyer Lemon, Olive Oil

Vegan Mexican chocolate Pave with Kiwi Salad and Grand Marnier berry drizzle

cheffd

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine French, Vegan

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 Lb vegan chocolate
• 1 can coconut cream
• 1/4 cup Agave syrup or raw honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 mini chili Fresh or dried
• 1 each cinnamon stick
• For drizzle
• 1 Tbsp Grand marnier
• 1/2 pint Strawberries or raspberries
• 1/4 cup Simple syrup
• For Kiwi Salad
• 1 Tbsp Grand Marnier
• 2 Tbsp sugar in the raw
• 2 large kiwis
• 1/2 cup diced strawberries or other berry
• Fresh Mint to garnish

Instructions

 

• Put all the chocolate ingredients in a large metal bowl and set it over a pot of boiling water to create a double boiler. Stir occasionally to make a smooth chocolate. Turn temp down a bit and allow the cinnamon and chili to infuse their flavor into the chocolate for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove the chocolate from the heat and pour it into a mold lined with plastic wrap. Put in the fridge and allow to set at least 2 hours.
• Make the Drizzle. Blend berries, grand Marnier and syrup at high speed. If it is too runny, add more berries and puree more. Strain seeds if they are evident.
• make the kiwi salad: Put kiwis and berries in a bowl and toss with sugar and grand Marnier. Allow to absorb the flavors for at least 20 minutes.
• Unmold the chocolate and cut slices. Serve with kiwi salad,, berry drizzle, and garnish as you see fit. A sprig of mint is always nice.

Keyword berry, chocolate, drizzle, Grand marnier, kiwi, pave, salad, vegan