Panda Bread Bento

I'm sorry I haven't been posting as much lately - but I've been working on a cooking class (surprise, I'm running it!) as well as making meals for $0 and cooking for my mum for the past two weeks. It sounds stressful but its mostly what I want to do when I have the money and enough time under by belt, but speaking of my mom - she's lost 10 pounds within the past two weeks on the "diet" she had to go on and the nutritionist said how wonderful it was that I was fixing vegan meals for her! In this bento I simply had some of my homemade chia bread, some super-simple vegan pate, jalapenos, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, strawberries and zucchini. 

Panda Bread Bento Ingredients:

Radishes

Carrots

Cucumber

Zucchini

Strawberries

Peppers

Jalapeno Pepper

Tomatoes

Parsnips 

Easy Salt-Free Vegan Pate Recipe:
1/2 a cup of Roasted Baby Bella Mushrooms
1/4 a cup of toasted Walnuts
A small clove of garlic
A small handful of Edamame, Green Beans or Snap Peas

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it is to your liking, add some water if you wish to smooth it out, refrigerate and then serve on top of vegetables, rice or bread.

Bert and Ernie Bento

Its a little bit of simplified (mouth-less) Bert and Ernie on top of some extra-simple mini pizzas in a bento filled with fresh brocolli, cucumbers, spinach, cubed sweet potatoes and carrots. The pizzas were extra delicious and quick to make as they simply had a slice of tomato, garlic, herbs, red onion and olive oil on top of a whole-wheat cornmeal crust! On top there's a tiger-shaped pudding cup filled with raw vegan chia, mango and avocado pudding.

Bert and Ernie Bento Ingredients:
Soy Cheese
Tomatoes
Carrots
Nori
Brocolli
Cucumbers
Sweet Potato Cubes
Spinach
Red Onion and Tomato Pizza

I hope that you guys enjoy! ^^

Low-Fat Thunder Cake with Avocado Icing

I first had Thundercake in the second grade, as most people have. I was so disgusted as the teacher read us a story about putting tomatoes into a chocolate cake. But I was entranced by the rest of the story (as rain is my favorite weather condition) and the description of it, so I gobbled my large slice down and was in heaven. It was absolutely chocolatey, fudgy and above all - moist. You couldn't even tell there were tomatoes in the cake and I as I side-eyed my teacher, I noticed the huge tin of tomatoes to the side of the empty cake mix box. I'm so sorry for doubting you, my wonderful teacher.

(Low-Fat Thunder Cake Ingredients)

• 1 cup of Raw Sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups Cocoa Powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup of Black Chia Seeds (soaked in cold water)
• 4 tbl of Coconut Oil
• 1/4-1/2 cup of Veggie Oil
• 1/2 can of Tomato Soup (or 3/4 cup of Pureed Tomatoes)
• 1 cup of Non-Dairy Milk
• 1 tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 scraped Vanilla Bean

(Avocado Icing Ingredients)

• 2 Mashed Avocados
• Juice of 1 Lemon or Orange (and a tsp of zest)
• 1 pound of Icing Sugar

(Directions)

• For the icing/frosting: Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
• Mix together as you would with any other cream.
• Place in the fridge to absorb flavors and then serve on top of cake later.


• For the cake: Sift your dry ingredients (except the sugar and cocoa powder) together and set aside.
• Then, cream together your sugar, the veggie oil and coconut oil.
• Mix in your seeds once they have fully absorbed the water and then add in your tomato soup and cream together until the soup has blended somewhat.
• Stir in all of your cocoa powder.
• Alternate mixing in the rest of the wet and the dry ingredients.
• Place into a cake pan, tap on the kitchen counter or table about 20 times and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean from the middle.
• Let it rest for about 2 hours, serve with your frosting and enjoy.