There is a time for whole grain flours, hiding vegetables in cakes, and nixing frosting in favor of a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Today is not that time.
And that’s because today is my 27th birthday!
So no raw, gluten-free, vegan desserts today. It’s my party, and I’ll eat goat cheese frosting if I want to.
And I reeeeally want to.
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Just popping in with a quick post for you today! Mostly because bedtime snuck up very suddenly, and I need to prioritize sleeeep.
But also raw desserts. Those need to be prioritized as well.
What we have here are some raw lemon bar bites that I whipped up with the leftover dates from last week’s smoothie. I mean, I went through a fair bit of awkwardness to get those dates… don’t want to let them go to waste! These raw lemon bars were the perfect way to put them to use.
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I’m about to be one of those people that is way too excited for a Monday.
You know… the ones who are bouncing around at 8 AM and draw a dark look from you because… Monday. Monday morning. Why so cheerful?
Well, thanks for asking. It’s actually because of this peanut sauce. {Insert ear-to-ear grin here.}
I recently found myself on a quest to master a Thai peanut sauce recipe.
It started, as these things often do for me, with a restaurant dish. Specifically the peanut sauce at our go-to Thai takeout place. I am head over heels in love with that peanut sauce. They serve it as a salad dressing, as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, and as a sauce over steamed vegetables and rice. It is incredible and I bet you I’ve dreamed about it before. It’s not stretching the truth to say that I go there just for the peanut sauce.
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I play with food a lot. –> I go to the grocery store a lot. –> I have a lot of awkward encounters with grocery store cashiers.
Let’s talk about the different forms that awkwardness can take at different stores.
Trader Joe’s cashiers are aggressively jolly and overly excited about every item you’re purchasing. They’ve tried it all and loved it! Sometimes I think they are commissioned.
Whole Foods cashiers are trained to engage you in conversation at the expense of your privacy. A simple “how are you?” won’t suffice. “What are you doing after this?” is much more common. <– Clearly I am going home to cook dinner. It is 6 pm and I am at the grocery store. Let’s put 2 and 2 together.
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So you guys know I have been on a kick of recreating my old favorite meaty Asian dishes with vegetables. We’ve had Cauliflower Coconut Masala and Asian Orange Cauliflower… and now, one without cauliflower! I bet you didn’t think I had it in me. But yes, today we have a vegetarian version of the Chinese takeout classic: Moo Shu Vegetables!
I have fond childhood memories of moo shu pork. Whenever my parents ordered Chinese food, we’d beg them for moo shu, but not because we liked the filling – we LOVED the pancakes. (Anyone else?!) I definitely remember rolling up the pancakes and eating them plain – no filling required. My parents would complain that we needed to save some pancakes to actually eat with the filling. {Scoff} Adults.
So naturally when recreating them, I went the opposite direction. Not only am I now all about the moo shu filling, but I stuffed it in flour tortillas out of pure laziness.
Oops.
Don’t tell.
Or actually, we’ll just blame it on those dang kids who ate all the pancakes.
Turns out? In my adult life, moo shu vegetables are pretty darn delicious, no matter how you serve them.
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