Zucchini and Carrot Pa Pa Pancakes!

Carrots, yum! Zucchini, yum! Pancakes yum!

I love eating a plant based diet, and enjoy the healthy feeling from eating lots of yummy fruits and veggies. Sometimes though, I have a craving for something that feels like junk food. Usually I just whip up some variation of potatoes, like mashed, roasted, or baked, but I felt like it was time to give other veggies some time in the spotlight. I've made potato pancakes before, so I thought "Why not make pancakes out of zucchini and carrot?"
After a few trying attempts, I finally got the ratios right! I promised I'd share my success with you, so here it is!

Makes 8

* 2 zucchinis
* 2 carrots
* 3/4 cup of rice flour
* 3 tbsp of tapioca starch
* dash of lemon juice (optional
* dash of hot sauce (optional)
* garlic salt, pepper to taste
* 3 tbsp oil (for frying)



1. Grate the zucchinis and carrots, then place in a colander to drain out the excess water. Let it sit for about 20 minutes over the sink, or a bowl. Using the palm of your hands, squeeze out the remaining drops of water. Place zucchini and carrot in a dry bowl.
2. Add in the rice flour and starch in small amounts, mixing together with a spoon or your hands. You might have to adjust the amounts slightly, so I usually don't dump it in all at once. If you add in the lemon juice or hot sauce, you might need to add in a bit more flour. You don't want the mixture to be too runny, otherwise it will fall apart in the frying pan. It should look doughy. Sprinkle in some garlic salt and pepper at this point too, if you'd like!
3. Heat up oil on a medium setting in a large frying pan. I like to give myself plenty of room for flipping because I suck at it! Using your hands, form a couple of balls with the dough and place them in the frying pan. Using your flipper, gently pat the top of the ball so it looks more like a patty. Try not to make it too thin, otherwise it's harder to flip.
4. Depending on how crunchy you like your fritters, cook each side for about 5 minutes. They should look nice and brown on the outside. Continue adding patties to the frying pan, cooking in batches of 2 or 3 until all the mixture is gone.
5. Serve as is, or with the topping of your choice! I like adding good old ketchup, but a vegan mayo or sour cream would be awesome too!

Enjoy!

The Earl of Sandwich, Garden style

Tuna salad? Stinky. Egg salad? Blech. Grilled cheese? Greasy. Got the sandwich blues? Me too! I'll admit, I'm not a huge sandwich fan, but that is mainly because the choices are a bit too boring for my likes! That's why I whipped up this super yummy, veggie packed, tasty goodness! This sandwich can be done in soon many different variations, so I'll share with you how I made it, and then you can have fun experimenting yourself!

It's all about the greens

Ingredients:

4 slices of multigrain bread for 2 sandwiches
A multitude of sliced veggies! (I used zucchini, mushrooms, and spinach)
Cilantro  (Optional)
Shredded soy cheese (Optional)
Roasted red pepper spread (Or any kind of spread you desire! My spread was made with vegan mayo and Epicure's Roasted Red Pepper spice, which can be purchased here)
Olive Oil

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
2. Pour a small amount of oil into your frying pan, turn to medium, and add in your veggies. I decided to keep my spinach raw, but it's YOUR creation, YOU decide.
3.  Once your veggies have been frying for about five minutes, you can begin toasting your bread. I used a toaster, but you could also use a toaster over, frying pan, or your oven.
4. When your bread is toasted, sprinkle your cheese on top, so it begins to melt. To make two sandwiches, I only put cheese on two of my slices of toast.
5. Spread your choice of spread on the remaining two slices of toast.
6. Add your cooked veggies to the slice with cheese on it.
7. Put all four slices in the oven on a baking sheet for about five minutes. You could also add more cheese on top of the veggies before doing this.
8. Remove from oven, add the handful of raw spinach and cilantro, and ta da! Ready to eat.

Now wasn't that easy? Have fun trying different types of veggies. There are so many possibilities!

Peace, love, and kittens,

Holly

Holly + Food= ?

Mmm! Lettuce wraps!

Anyone who knows me, either online or in "real life" knows just how much I love cooking. Mostly it's because I am always snapping photos of my meals and sharing them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Lately, I have been getting a ton of requests for me to share my recipes with the masses, and trust me, I have always intended on letting you on my delicious culinary secrets but:

a) I'm lazy
b) My computer at home is useless and blogging off my phone seems like a right royal pain in the butt
c) I write all the blog posts on the company blog, so once I get home, I'm pretty blogged out
d) I don't have recipes. I just toss things together and pray it turns out, which it does 98% of the time. (For the record, "salsa pasta"was not a great combination. Neither was "whole wheat carob cake")

Today is your lucky day, however, as one of my class assignments is to create a blog, in Blogger. Seeing as I already have my personal blog on Wordpress (Shameless plug), and I already have my work blog (another shameless plug), I thought I'd do something a little bit different and create a food related blog. Part of the assignment was to create an introductory post, but I think food is much more appealing than I am, so I will introduce myself and my food.

• I follow a vegan diet, but I don't call myself a vegan because I accidentally ordered a pair of suede heels and I don't want to return them. Don't hate
• I also eat as many unprocessed foods as possible, but yesterday I totally ate an entire bag of chips for lunch because I was stress eating at work. Ooops.
• When I am behaving, I try to follow the Raw til 4 way of eating too. Carb up!
• I'm a strong believer of cooking with wine. I just don't actually put the wine in the food..

That's me in a nutshell! (Pun intended) Stay tuned for oodles of noodles and nice rice!