Kolhrabi & Brussels Sprouts

Twice prepared kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts accompanied leftover gnocchi. 

Kohlrabi-- in the family of radishes tasting similar to a turnip-- is probably bound to be a grocery list staple from now on. I find it an enjoyable, tender meal component.
As I have stated from the previous post, it was a great learning experience to work with an unfamiliar ingredient. From what I have discovered, one can even prepare a raw salad-- a kohlrabi slaw of some sort. That will be the next step after having kohlrabi cream sauce and pan seared kohlrabi paired with Brussels sprouts.

Kohlrabi Brussels Sprouts Ingredients and Preparation

2 cup water
1 kohlrabi, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cup frozen petite Brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Bring kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts to boil, making sure both are tender before turning off heat and draining.
In a skillet, warm up olive oil. Stir in kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, salt, cumin, garlic powder, and black pepper.

Sizzling action. Cook for 7-8 minutes.

Serve as a side dish.

Bon Appetite.

Rotini and Spinach With Kohlrabi Cream Sauce

Kohlrabi makes for a nifty sauce.

Every once in a while, something new comes to my kitchen attention.

My housemate had kohlrabi in her CSA box and kindly let me feel free to use it. I prepared the radish family vegetable in two ways. The first is a delicious, dreamy cream sauce that went well with thick rotini pasta and yummy spinach.

Rotini and Spinach With Kohlrabi Cream Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

1 1/2 cup rotini
1 cup frozen spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup water
1 kohlrabi bulb, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Bring rotini and spinach to a boil together. Set aside.
In a separate pot, boil hot water and add kohlrabi. Cook until softened.
Using a blender or food processor, combine kohlrabi, a bit of the kohlrabi water, nutritional yeast, olive oil, garlic, turmeric, salt, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.

Stir kohlrabi cream sauce into pasta and spinach.

Serve nice and hot.

Enjoy.

Falafel Wraps With Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

Summer color.

I've been busy writing and drawing-- mostly for a few grants and exhibition proposals as well as my own fond enjoyment. Plus, my sister blog, femfilmrogue is preparing for a 15 Best Television Couples segment before next month's reviews on whatever happens at Blackstar Film Festival. I'll be volunteering for the latter and always find a few gems to gush about. Also I have a roster of pieces to put together including requests from old friends. I didn't believe that the little blog would amount to much, but people are starting to respond.
In the meantime, I may put AfroVeganChick on standby. It might be the right thing. Pivotal changes have abruptly entered my personal life and pulling myself into fictional escapism is a necessary medicine.
These falafels were the last achievement in a while. It is splendid that a can of 99 cent garbanzo beans makes a miraculous lunch salvation. I had liked the taste of mint and fennel seed added Trader Joe's falafel-- they have since stopped carrying it here in Philly. I didn't have mint, letting instead the pinch of fennel seed perform valiant justice. I detest cucumbers. Yet I only have them in cucumber yogurt sauce with falafel. I can never thank my sister enough for introducing me to this delicious, easy-to-craft dish.


Falafel Wraps With Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped and stemmed
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup flour

olive oil for the skillet

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

1 6 oz container Forager Lemon Cashewgurt
1 small cucumber, chopped and diced finely
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dill
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

soft tortillas
hummus
red onions (optional)


In a blender or food processor, combine olive oil, chickpeas, parsley, garlic, curry powder, fennel seed, turmeric, cumin, salt, and black pepper together.
In a medium bowl, hand mix chickpea batter with flour and form them into small patties.

With skillet set to medium high heat, pan sear falafel in olive oil, browning both sides.

Cheat sheet cucumber lemon sauce prep: combine Forager Lemon Cashewgurt with chopped cucumbers.

Mix together with salt, garlic, black pepper, and dill.

Layer tortilla wraps with hummus, falafel, cucumber yogurt sauce, and optional red onions.

Be prepared for heavenly flavors and messy delights.

Brownies And Other Chocolaty Things

Scrumptious stacked brownies with pecans baked inside and out.

On World Chocolate Day, last Saturday, I made a scrumptious batch of irresistible brownies despite having no vanilla. Admittedly, I was petrified that they would be terrible. After all, vanilla is used in almost every dessert recipe. To be out of vanilla is a baker's nightmare. Yet, the brownies came out well. Like super dense and yum yum. Without vanilla, you get a strong, pure chocolate tasting treat.

Today, on a special old Ohioan friend's birthday, instead of making a fresh new cake or cupcakes even, I ate the final remainder of these brownies straight from the baking pan. They taste wonderful slightly chilled, a lovely companion to cold almond milk.

In progress chocolate artworks, both large scale at 22" x 30," pencil and colored pencil. The left is "Fruit of the Cacao Pod Laborer," a drawing based on an image from the Grenada Chocolate Festival. The right is "Two Hot Chocolates: One For Here, One To Go," a drawing based on a fellow black male vegan that I met in Paris just after eating fair trade chocolate at their shop-- 1944 Gallery Vegan Coffee Shop. 

In addition to my brownie and art making, I have a sweet announcement: I'm writing a book. A book about what you ask? Chocolate. Yes, chocolate. My short synopsis: looking critically at the world of chocolate in a time during the Black Lives Matter movement, to shift eyes towards understanding food justice and compassion. Excitingly enough, I even have permission to include Food Empowerment Project's Chocolate List as the final segment. I couldn't be happier. Thus, I have spent time watching documentaries The Dark Side of Chocolate and its sequel Shady Chocolate whilst also analyzing how films such as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Chocolat evoke a glaring absence about the truths of chocolate production, of the involvement of laboring brown and black bodies.

Eat Your Greens "Green Giant" style, but chocolate every now and then is a definite requirement.

Meanwhile, back to exceptional brownies that are moist, decadent, and mouthwateringly amazing, the secret is always a bit of vinegar and coconut oil. After chilling them in the fridge, you get this thin brownie skin on top that looks beautiful as it is delicious. Plus, I fell in love with how my hands handled the precious butter knife cut squares with the little bits of chocolate coating fingers. Oh and the smell-- one can never forget that wafting smell of baked brownies or the first warm piece of heaven with the bite of crunchy pecans.  

Brownies Ingredients and Preparation

Divine Cocoa, a Food Empowerment Project recommendation, made the brownies fudgy and rich.

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa (used Divine Cocoa)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 1 /2 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup crushed pecans (walnuts or almonds are good substitutes)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together.
Mix in coconut oil and almond milk.
Add apple cider vinegar and pecans.

Pour batter into pan. Top with extra pecans. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Finished brownies. I may have forked them a bit too much-- for testing purposes.

Brownies and Living Single reruns are the perfect treat. 

More brownies for the morning, the afternoon, the night....

Gnocchi

Little gnocchi served with cheese sauce and a side of tempeh.

Last night, I made gnocchi for the first time.
If you didn't know, gnocchi is an Italian origin dumpling traditionally composed of potatoes and flour. They can be flavored with herbs, vegan cheeses, and other ingredients before being dropped into hot water for a quick cooking.
I found this easy peasy gnocchi recipe on Lauren Caris Cooks. The scrumptious cheese sauce, smothered thickly of my preparation was just a little Parmela Creamery nut cheese mixed with almond milk, garlic, nutritional yeast, and crushed red pepper-- which suited perfectly fine.

Gnocchi Ingredients and Preparation

1 1/2- 2 cup potatoes ( used Yukon Gold Potatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cup water

Bring potatoes to a boil. Mash completely.
Add salt and flour. Knead with olive oil.
Cut off a piece of dough at a time and ball it into small rounded shapes.

Using a fork to make indentations is optional (some people opt to have smooth gnocchi). After making them (should be about twenty five to thirty), bring a pot of water to boil and add a few gnocchi at a time. They're ready once floating.  

Yummy gnocchi.

Dig in.

Chocolate Avocado Milkshake

A thick, ice cold sweet that will keep the edge off during National Ice Cream Month.

Happy July-- the halfway point of 2018! The year is going by fast.
To kick off a whole 31 days of celebrating freeze treats, I will be sharing plenty of new ice cream, milkshake, and smoothie recipes alongside other posts. In addition, on Facebook, I will participate in Throwback Thursday and Flashback Friday, reliving favorite creations made throughout my six and half years of veganism.
Last night, I was planning to make brownies, but realized that my avocados were in ripe city. As one knows, it is best to use ripe avocado as soon as possible. So I cut open the cute little gourd fruit plant, scooped out its bright yellow green contents, and blended it with vanilla ice cream, fair trade cocoa, and almond milk. An incredible, feel-good yum ultra thick, sweet, and chill, avocados and chocolate make for an amazing Saturday night treat.

Chocolate Avocado Milkshake Ingredients and Preparation

1 1/2 cup vanilla coconut milk ice cream
1 cup almond milk (or any dairy free alternative)
1 avocado, ripened
1 1/2 teaspoon cocoa (used Divine's Cocoa Powder)

Combine ingredients together in a blender.
Top with any garnish (cinnamon, extra cocoa powder, a candy bar). I love Chuao Chocolate Bars and the cute little messages on each tasty square.