Roasted Tomato Soup

To be written up shortly...

OK, ready to share now. Between cooking and blogging, I needed to carve some time out for an insane workout. After all, that's really what drives my passion to eat really good food.

Having a beyond-my-wildest-expectations yield of tomatoes in my debut garden, I wanted to indulge in the act of roasting perfectly succulent and ripe tomatoes.

Ingredients:
2-3 pounds of fresh tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 red onion, sliced
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
sprinkle of balsamic vinegar
sprinkle of olive oil or grapeseed oil
freshly ground sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Procedure:
Place the tomatoes skin-side up on baking pan (I used my stone bar pan, like a jelly roll pan).
Surround with onion and garlic.
Sprinkle the vinegar and oil, pepper and salt.
Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
Let cool for about 10 minutes.
Pour mixture into Blendtec and process until smooth, about 30 seconds on power level 10.

Leftover note:
When it came time to eat the other half, I decided to add cooked cauliflower. I took my immersion hand-held blender and blended the remaining soup with the steamed cauliflower. It added a nice touch or enhanced creaminess. Both version were, nutritious and delicious.

Chocolate Almond Torte (sprouted- I'll explain later)

I was inspired to try this as soon as I got home from school this afternoon. Now, it's chilling in the freezer and I had to post this right away while my tea is brewing. It was so good warm but meant to be frozen...we'll see.
Ingredients:
You should know: this recipe is extremely flexible but I'll explain how I made this one and add the flexible part at the end.
1 cup 'sprouted' raw almonds (not roasted, soaked overnight or several hours and drained)
1/4 c cocoa powder
8 dates, pitted
1/3 c peanut butter and almond butter combined
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 T wheat germ
OPTIONAL toppings: toasted walnuts and ground flax meal

Directions:
Into a powerful food processor (or a Blendtec blender), add everything. Process until smooth, right after a soft ball is formed.
Roll in the palm of your very-clean hands to form small balls, about 1/2 inch in size.
Roll in desired topping, such as coconut, toasted coconut, chopped toasted walnuts, chopped fruit, etc
Place in freezer.

The flexible part includes replacing the dates with any other sweetener such as maple syrup, honey, rice syrup, agave nectar, etc.
Omitting the nut butter, but that gives is a rich texture and "mouth-feel" we so enjoy.
Adding wheat germ is an option, if you'd prefer gluten-free, it can be omitted.
Instead of vanilla extract, you can use rum or almond extract. But do stick to pure extract.
If you like it velvety smooth, process like I described. Stop sooner if you'd like nut bits.

The "sprouted" part comes from the actual "soaking" of the almonds. They won't actually sprout, but they will plump up with the soaking water. They are commonly calls "soaks" instead of sprouts because of this. Once any dry (dormant) seed soaks up water it comes to life and the action of the enzymes makes is a super food.
There is no butter, added fat, or sugar, but lots of sucrose if you opt for the liquid sweeteners instead of dates. All the fat comes from, you guessed it, delicious, nutritious nuts.

Cashew cream

Not sure I like calling this "cream" but it's a sought-after item in my house.

Ingredients
1 cup raw cashews that have been soaked overnight
4 large pitted dates
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1-2 T water, to desired consistency

Directions
Drain cashews and discard water.
Add nuts, dates, vanilla and 1 T water to Blendtec, or high-speed blender. Blend until creamy and smooth, adding water as desired.
Chilling it will make it thicker so spread warm or chilled, depending on your preference.
Serve with fruit as a dip or spread on your favorite desserts.
Delicious Nutritious

Fudge-like Brownies

The only things I changed on Dr. Oz's Black Bean Brownie Recipe are the amount of agave, from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup and whole eggs (3-4) instead of egg substitute. AND, I topped mine with cashew cream and mint leaves. Oh yeah, I started with dry black beans and cooked up my own rather than using the canned beans. I opted out of the espresso powder and used Pero instead.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup black beans
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp Pero
4 eggs
3 T whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c agave nectar
1 T melted butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper.
Place black beans, cocoa powder, eggs, Pero and flour into a Blentec or high speed blender.
Blend until the mixture is smooth.
Add vanilla, agave and butter.
Blend again to fully incorporate everything.
Pour mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, turning pan halfway though cooking.
Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for another 5-8 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove brownies from pan. Let them cool to room temperature.
Top with a layer of Cashew Cream and garnish with a few mint leaves and cashews.
Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

This will be like a fudge brownie, dense with a full-cocoa rich flavor.
Delicious Nutritious.