Vegan Cooking with TLC

Recently while travelling I started thinking about an Instagram post I saw a month or so ago that talked about being vegan as being "privileged". I didn't really think much about it at the time though I am aware there are food deserts in many places.  As I shopped for groceries in a place where I couldn't find the things I easily buy at home, I started to think about how there are places where being vegan or finding healthy food options aren't so readily available, even if they aren't full on food deserts. There are places where options are so limited that people have to make do with what they can find. I don't know how we can address this issue in a widespread way, but I think it behooves us to recognize that it's easier to find some ingredients in some places than in other places. This is why I often include links to my ingredients and tools on Amazon. I figure if one is online, one can at the very least order some of the ingredients, but after g

Chocolate and mint always work well together. Using mint in these brownies give them a little extra punch. These never last very long around my house. Peppermint Spelt Brownie Recipe 1 ½ cups spelt flour * ½ cups unsweetened cacao powder 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds 2 tablespoons hot water ¼ cup cashew butter** ½ cup date sugar 1 medium banana, mashed with a fork ½ cup water 1 teaspoon peppermint flavoring *** ½ cup cacao nibs or chocolate chips , optional Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8x8 square pan with parchment paper . Mix flax seeds and hot water. Set aside to thicken Stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a large bowl . In another bowl, cream sugar, flax seed mixture, cashew butter, and banana. Stir in water and peppermint flavoring until smooth. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well mixed. Spoon batter into pan.  Bake 20-30 minutes until toothpick

This week I'm sharing a salsa recipe that we often make instead of a salad. It's one of those things I'd never bothered to write down until recently. While I've made several versions of salsa, this one tends to be the one I return to consistently.I love that it's made with primarily fresh ingredients. Salsa 2-3 medium to large tomatoes 1 green pepper 4-6 spring onions ¼ small red onion 1 clove garlic ¼ cup fresh cilantro ½ fresh jalapeno pepper ¼ teaspoon ground cumin * ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper 1 lime Chop tomatoes and green pepper into bite-size chunks. Dice spring onions and red onion. Mince garlic. Chop cilantro. Dice jalapeno pepper. Juice lime. Place ½ the chopped ingredients in a food processor . Pulse a few times.** Place rest of ingredients in a bowl . Stir in the cumin, black pepper, and processed ingredients. Add lime juice. Stir together. * I was out of cumin today