I don’t know that this could really be called a recipe, but whatever it is, it was successful and I thought I’d share.  I took a bag of frozen banana bits (probably 3 or 4 bananas worth) and put it in my food processor with a bag of frozen strawberries (probably 15 or so).  I drizzled in a little agave nectar and it made an “ice cream” of sorts.  It was really, really good.

I’m going to try this with the frozen mangos that I have left and see if I get the same tasty results!

It’s a very orange salad, isn’t it?!  I LOVE golden beets, but you could substitute them for regular ones here.  You could also change up the citrus depending on what you have on hand.  This salad was SO GOOD!

Golden Beet & Citrus Salad

1 medium orange

1 large grapefruit

2 small tangerines

1 large beet (or 2 medium), cooked

1 TB chopped mint

Dressing:

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp agave syrup

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Peel and segment all of the citrus.  It would be most convenient if they were the seedless varieties but, if they aren’t, remove all of the seeds.  Combine them with the rest of the salad ingredients in a bowl.  Whisk together the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad.  Toss to combine.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Last night’s dinner was super refreshing. We had corn and black bean salsa atop a crispy flour tortilla, a tostada of sorts. The best part about this meal was that it was perfect served cold (except for the tortilla, of course) and is a great meal to make when it’s too hot out to heat up the kitchen cooking. Earlier in the day, I charred all of the veggies under the broiler, threw them in with the beans, added some lime juice, S&P and cilantro and refrigerated until dinner time. Very, very easy!

Since corn is so plentiful (and inexpensive) this time of year, I used 2 ears of fresh corn instead of frozen. After shucking the corn, boil it for about 5 minutes. Then broil, allow to cool, and cut the kernels off the cob. It tasted pretty much the same as it does when I use frozen corn.

On the side, we had a yummy fruit salad. It was so pretty that I had to post a photo.

Pineapple, mango, grapes, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. All organic, except for the pineapple! Delicious!

I was in the mood for a smoothie this morning and I had a peach that had seen better days, so this is what I came up with:

Fruity Smoothie

1 cup apple juice (or more if the blender needs more liquid)

1 peach (skin and all)

1/2 cup mango chunks

1 cup frozen banana chunks

1 cup kale, stems removed

Put everything into the blender and let ‘er rip. This was SO delicious!

Thanks to Brianne, Paul and Tater, we received our waffle iron on Friday afternoon.  I was so excited to use it that I decided to make some homemade waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning.  The only problem was that I had a really hard time finding a recipe for vegan multigrain waffles, which is what I had hoped to make.  Here’s what I came up with, which ended up being a combination of a couple of different recipes:

Vegan Multigrain Waffles

2 cups non-dairy milk

2 TB white vinegar

1/2 cup oats

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 TB ground flaxseeds

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 TB canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup organic unsweetened applesauce

Add the vinegar to the non-dairy milk and set aside.  Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to combine.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in all of the wet ingredients.  Stir until just combined (be careful not to overmix).  Cook them up in your waffle iron and enjoy!  Although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure this recipe would make some tasty pancakes too.

To go with our waffles, we had a bowl of fruit and fresh squeezed OJ.  So delicious!  I have found the most wonderful permanent farmer’s market near our house (thanks, Amy!)  and have done all of my produce shopping there the last few weeks.  They have an amazing selection of locally farmed organic fruits and veggies, and their prices are very reasonable.   Anyway, all of the fruit for breakfast came from there– organic strawberries, mangoes, bananas and oranges.

As you can see, my waffles turned out a little bit dark.  I could definitely use a little more practice with my iron, but they were still really, really good and I’ve been enjoying the leftovers all week.