Nothing tastes more like summer than a cold slice of watermelon. The days are now hot and humid while the evenings are warm and balmy. I absolutely love early summer. Weekends are full of baseball games, pool side parties and laid back patio conversations. When five o’clock rolls around nothing sounds better than an ice cold beer. Well, almost nothing.

Yesterday evening Greg came home with a bottle of white rum. The mint in our garden is still in it’s early stages so mojitos were unfortunately not an option. I scoured the fridge looking for refreshing ingredients for an impromptu cocktail. Watermelon, strawberries, limes and coconut water all seemed  promising. I threw it all in the bender with a dash of agave, a few shots of rum and a handful of ice cubes.

The final cocktail was summer in a glass. I loved how refreshing the sweet watermelon tasted and the limes gave a perfect amount of zest. Although we used rum, you could opt to use any alcohol of your choice. Vodka, Tequila or even Whiskey could pair well with the flavors in this drink. This cocktail is now my go to summer beverage.

What is your favorite cocktail of the summer season?  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Strawberry Watermelon Cocktail

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups watermelon, roughly chopped
• ½ cup strawberries, diced
• 1 cup coconut water
• 1 tbsp. agave nectar
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1 cup ice
• 2-4 shots of white rum

Directions:

1. In a blender combine watermelon, strawberries, coconut water, agave nectar and lime juice; pulse until smooth.
2. Add one cup of ice to the blender and pulse until the ice is crushed.
3. Divide between 4 glasses. You can optionally add one shot of rum or tequila to each glass. Serve with a straw and garnish with strawberry slices or citrus wedges.
4. Serve immediately

©2012 Munchin with Munchkin. All Rights Reserved.

I hope you all had a fantastic memorial day weekend! Friday evening Greg and I joined several friends at the Rangers Stadium for a fun night of baseball. I was particularly excited for this game because they were playing the Toronto Blue Jays!

Greg and I thought we’d be the only fans in the stadium but to our surprise we were seated behind another Jays fan. Unfortunately the Rangers brought their A-game and the Jays lost 14-3.

Despite the big loss we had a great time and ate a lot of unique stadium food. We tried the Texas cheese fries and two of our friends bought a two foot long, one pound hot dog that is referred to as the Texas Champion.

This thing was so insanely huge it spanned across one and a half stadium seats. The Jays fan in front of us ate a whole one himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he died later that night. It took four of us to eat a Texas Champion and there was still enough left to feed another person!

Needless to say we went on a bit of a detox for the rest of the weekend. Lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and water was needed to flush out the Friday night binge.

Saturday morning I picked up a basket of tomatillos at the farmer’s market. I’ve always wanted to make my own green salsa so I figured memorial weekend was a great time to try! I roasted the tomatillos which gave the salsa a rich flavor. I also accidentally rubbed my eyes after chopping the jalapeno and spent the following hour trying to rinse out the burning pain. Live and learn my friends, live and learn…

This roasted tomatillo salsa comes together quickly. You can eat it right away, but I found letting it rest overnight helped intensify the flavor. If you aren’t a fan of spicy salsa I would recommend using only one jalapeno as two gives it a hearty kick.

What did you do this long weekend? Did you celebrate the warm weather with a fun summer recipe?

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Yield 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 6 tomatillos
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
• juice from 2 limes
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ Tsp. salt
• ¼ Tsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Remove the papery peel from the tomatillos and rinse under cold water. Slice in half and place cut side down on a cast iron skillet. Broil for 10 minutes until slightly charred. Place in the bowl of a food processor.
2. Add diced onion, jalapenos, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic to the bowl of the food processor. Pulse for about 1 minute until smooth. Add salt and sugar and pulse until combined.
3. Place the salsa in a sealable container and refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to blend together.
4. Serve cold with tortilla chips.

©2012 Munchin with Munchkin. All Rights Reserved.

This past week has been so busy! Thursday I attended an artist party held by NYLO Hotel. It was really fun meeting so many other creative people in the city. I was so inspired by all the wonderful art and I am so honoured to have my photography displayed among so much creativity and passion.

The night was not without it’s glitches however. Before leaving for the event, my hairdryer melted the hairbrush into the back of my hair. It was horrid. Absolutely horrid. Then the zipper on my dress broke and I had to change my wardrobe about 5 minutes before running out the door. I also noticed only hours before leaving that my photography business cards were so old and outdated they still had my Toronto phone number on them. Thankfully I just had some business cards made for the blog, so I brought those. It was a little odd handing out cards to a food blog at an art event. It did start some fun conversations though!

This made me realize that I was in desperate need of an update to not only my photography business cards, but my photography website as well. I’ve spent the last few days building a new site and it’s finally up and running. If you would like to see my non food related photography visit Christine Mullen Photography. I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!

That being said, the blog has been on the back burner for the pat few days. So I’m sorry for the lack of blogging Monday. If you’re Canadian, you know Monday was a holiday. Technically named Victoria Day but often referred to as May 2-4, this holiday unofficially marks the beginning of summer. Each year I celebrate with friends and family at our cottage on Dalhousie lake. It’s the weekend that we open our cottage, and most of us can’t wait to hop on the boat and go for a swim.

Being in Dallas this year meant no cottage and no holiday. I was feeling awfully homesick on Monday so I distracted myself with food. Pancakes to be exact. I whipped up some vegan coconut pancakes that are inspired by Kate’s recipe from Cookie and Kate. They are light and fluffy with a wonderful coconut flavor. I noticed I was extremely low on maple syrup so I experimented with a few topping ideas. What I found tasted the best was a compilation of roasted cherries, grapes and apricots.

You could use any combination of fruit for the topping. I think strawberries, rhubarb, or even plums would be delicious. These pancakes contain no refined sugar and can easily be made gluten free by replacing the whole wheat flour with oat or buckwheat flour. They are also vegan and contain many healthy ingredients such as coconut water, ground flax and bananas.

Did you do anything fun for Victoria Day? Or if you’re in America, do you have plans for Memorial Day this weekend?

Coconut Pancakes with Roasted Fruit Topping
pancakes
¾ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup coconut four
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. ground flax seeds
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 ripe banana
1 tbsp. agave nectar
¾ cup coconut milk
¾ cup coconut water
1 tsp. vanilla extract

fruit topping
½ cup seedless red grapes
½ cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1 apricot, pitted and halved

Preheat oven to 425.

Place fresh fruit on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine wet ingredients and pulse until smooth and well combined.

Add wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add ¼ cup of the pancake batter to the pan and cook until bubbles form in the center. Carefully flip the pancake and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Repeat until all the pancakes are cooked.

Top pancakes with roasted fruit topping and maple syrup.

Yield 8 pancakes

©2012 Munchin with Munchkin. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever tried a fresh chickpea before? I’ve had plenty of canned and dried chickpeas, but I honestly had no idea what they looked like raw until a few days ago. While picking up some kale and asparagus at the farmer’s market, I came across a booth with a box of little green pods. They were a beautiful shade of light green and soft to the touch. I asked the farmer what they were and he told me chickpeas!

I never would have thought a chickpea could be so pretty. For something that I eat quite often, I began to think how far removed I’ve been from the process of this bean. Never in my life had I eaten one fresh. They’ve always been either dried or straight from a can. With no clue how to prepare them, or if they could even be eaten raw, I walked away from the market with a very large basket.

When I got them home I began to examine them. A green shell, almost the same thickness as the leaf of an endive, surrounded the bean. When I broke it open, it reminded me of popping bubble wrap, only much more exciting because inside laid a prize! The first one I opened contained a large, bright green chickpea. The next one was small, almost the size of a pea. A few shells later I came across one with two beans inside! It made me think of Forest Gump, and his saying about a box of chocolates. As I ripped through more beans I said to myself “life is like a raw garbanzo bean, you never know what you’re gunna get”. I found this amusing at the time, Greg stared at me blankly.

After over an hour of shelling I finally had a bowl of green chickpeas. Unsure what to do with them, I questioned popping a few in my mouth right then and there. Before doing this I double checked online that they were indeed safe to eat raw. The last thing I wanted to do was inadvertently poison myself right before dinner. Sure enough they were safe to eat and many people described the raw taste as earthy. I’ve always hated that description. It irks me the same way as when someone describes the size of hail as marble sized. There are many sizes of marbles, just as the earth has many flavors!

Not knowing what to expect I popped one in my mouth and bit down. The consistency was that of a chickpea, but it tasted like grass. While my cat may enjoy that flavor, I’m not really a fan, so I decided to cook them before eating any more. I boiled them for about 5-10 minutes and when they were done, the color had shifted to a shade halfway between green and beige. Oddly enough, while they were cooking the smell reminded me of corn on the cob. I tried one again, but this time the grass flavor had been replaced by the best chickpea I had ever eaten. They were full of flavor and they popped in my mouth. They weren’t at all mushy and they definitely didn’t have that tin taste that the canned ones have.

During this whole experiment, I had also been making pesto with the kale and asparagus I bought that day. On a whim I added a cup of the freshly cooked chickpeas to the pesto. It added the right amount of creaminess to the dish and I was blown away by the rich flavors! Usually I include some parmesan cheese to my pesto, but with the addition of the chickpeas, it really didn’t require it. I didn’t intend to make a vegan pesto, but I guess it was in the cards!

Have you ever eaten a fresh chickpea? What did you think? Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Kale, Chickpea and Asparagus Pesto
1 bunch of kale, washed and stems removed (about 5 cups)
1 cup asparagus, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup pine nuts
1 cup chickpeas
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
juice from one lemon
½ cup olive oil
1 cup pasta of your choice
1 cup steamed asparagus for serving

Place kale in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add one cup of asparagus, minced garlic, pine nuts, chickpeas and kosher salt and continue to pulse until pureed.

While the food processor is running, slowly add lemon juice and olive oil. Process until smooth and fully combined. Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, toss pesto on pasta of your choice; I used whole wheat fusilli. I served the pesto pasta with one cup of steamed asparagus mixed throughout the dish.

Serve warm.

Yield 2 cups

*Note: If using fresh chickpeas, shell the beans from their pods and rinse under cold water. Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium pot and add chickpeas. Boil for 5-10 minutes until they are beige in colour and no longer green. Drain and add to the food processor. Continue with recipe as directed.

©2012 Munchin with Munchkin. All Rights Reserved.

This year will be my first summer in Texas. I’ve always heard it gets unbearably hot, but figured it couldn’t be that bad since so many people still live here! Well, its only mid May and the temperatures are already exceeding the hottest summer days in Ottawa. I’m starting to get a little nervous. When it gets this hot out, all I want to eat are frozen treats. Ice cream, popsicles, smoothies, even frozen fruit… you name it, I want it!

My mind was blown when I finally discovered frozen banana ice cream. In two days I’ve already eaten through two batches of vegan cake batter ice cream. Completely out of bananas, I was on a frozen treat rampage looking for a fruit or vegetable that I could freeze. When I raided my produce drawer, I began to get discouraged. Then I looked over at Greg, the avocado loving Californian, who was about to make a sandwich.

That’s when it hit me, avocados! I grabbed the avocado out of his hands (something you never want to do to a Californian, they get cranky), and threw it in the food processor. I added some coconut milk, vanilla, agave nectar and matcha powder and pulsed it until a smooth pudding formed.

I was unsure if it would react the same way as bananas, so I put half in a container in the freezer as an experiment and divided the rest between two glasses. I’ve been on the hunt for popsicle moulds to no avail. I had no idea they were so hard to find! I’ve seen many popsicle machines, but I wasn’t about to waste money on a useless gadget. So I used glasses from my cupboard instead, which worked just as well.

I also didn’t have popsicle sticks so I hunted through the kitchen to find something equivalent. I had a choice between wooden BBQ skewers or paper straws. For aesthetic purposes I went with the straws. Popsicle sticks would be more ideal, but you gotta work with what you have.

After everything froze, I took the popsicles and the container out of the freezer. The mixture in the container was rock solid, so I discovered avocados do not work the same way as bananas. Live and learn.

The popsicles on the other hand were fantastic! The avocados and coconut milk made them so creamy and I loved the added flavor of green tea that the matcha powder provided. These popsicles are vegan, gluten free, and contain no refined sugar. That’s a lot more than what most store bought popsicles can say!

Is the heat making you crave frozen treats, or are you still dreaming of summer?

Creamy Green Tea Avocado Popsicles
3 avocados
1 14 oz. can coconut milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp. matcha powder
2 tbsp. agave nectar

In a food processor, pulse avocados and coconut milk until smooth.

Add vanilla extract, matcha powder, and agave and pulse until combined.

Divide mixture between four popsicle moulds and place in the freezer until frozen.

Serve frozen, on a bed of ice to stay cold.

*Note: If you don’t have popsicle moulds, you can pour the mixture between four glasses and place a popsicle stick or a solid straw in the center.

Yield 4 popsicles

©2012 Munchin with Munchkin. All Rights Reserved.

This month has been full of birthday parties and barbecues. It definitely feels like summer has begun! Friday and Saturday night we went to a barbecue to celebrate a friends birthday. Both we’re incredibly fun and filled with delicious food and great conversations. Since both were potlucks, I brought these chocolate chip cookies on Friday night and made Beans Hawaiian for Saturday. Both we’re huge hits!

I also tried something new this weekend. I finally gave in and tried the frozen banana ice cream trick. Now I’m wondering why I waited so long! I wanted to bring a batch of this cake batter ice cream to one of the potlucks, but I didn’t want to share thought it would melt before arriving at the party.

If you’ve never tried this frozen banana trick, run to the kitchen now! You don’t need an ice cream maker or a lot of time on your hands, just a few frozen bananas and a food processor. It tastes just like soft serve ice cream, but it’s healthy, vegan and incredibly easy to whip up. The first batch I made was based on a chocolate peanut butter cup. I mixed some peanut butter, cocoa powder, and agave with the bananas and added a bit of protein powder since I had just returned from the gym. It was delicious and exactly what I needed to cool down after a long run.

Greg is not a fan of chocolate, so I wanted to make a vanilla based flavor he would enjoy. With all the birthday celebrations this month, funfetti cake batter was the first flavor that came to mind. Many cake batter ice cream recipes call for a box of cake mix. I find this a little strange, so I didn’t want to go that route. I also wanted to keep it vegan and gluten free so more people could enjoy this summer treat.

After blending the bananas to a smooth and creamy consistency, I began experimenting with extracts. I started with vanilla and slowly added some maple and almond extract. The flavor was close, but not quite right. It still lacked that baked good taste. I added some butter extract (which is vegan oddly enough) and it made all the difference. It began to really taste like cake batter, but it was still missing that slight kick of raw batter. I experimented with a few additions and decided that a small amount of baking soda was what it needed.

When Greg arrived home he immediately came into the kitchen and excitedly asked me if I was baking a cake. That’s how I knew it was a success. Before he even saw or tasted my ice cream, he could smell cake batter! Greg was in disbelief how accurate the flavor was and how the texture was identical to soft serve ice cream. We devoured the first batch in a matter of minutes! I made a second batch to keep in the freezer for a hot Texas day.

I also made a few vegan ice cream sandwiches by adding a scoop of this cake batter ice cream between two vegan chocolate chip cookies. They were phenomenal! I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever buy ice cream again, now that I can make such a delicious and healthy option at home so easily. I can’t wait to experiment with more flavors! The possibilities are endless.

Have you tried the frozen banana ice cream trick before? What’s your favorite flavor combination?

Vegan Cake Batter Ice Cream
5 frozen bananas
2 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. butter extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
¼ tsp. maple extract (optional)
¼ tsp. baking soda
2 tbsp. agave or maple syrup
2 tbsp. sprinkles

In a food processor, process frozen bananas until smooth.

Add extracts, baking soda, and agave and pulse until combined. Add sprinkles and pulse once or twice just to combine.

Serve immediately or store in the freezer.

If eaten immediately the consistency is of soft serve ice cream. If frozen, the consistency will be more similar to store bought ice cream.

Try making a vegan ice cream sandwich by putting one scoop of ice cream between two vegan chocolate chip cookies.

Serves 3-4

©2012 Munchin with Munchkin. All Rights Reserved.

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