Vanilla Rosewater Parfaits (with Lentils!) from Kathy Hester

You’d never think this gorgeous, fluffy parfait is a protein powerhouse made with beans, so your mind is about to be blown.

 This recipe comes to us from Kathy Hester and her freakin’ fabulous new book, The Great Vegan Bean Book.

I love love love this cookbook, not only because of the creative recipes, but because beans are so inexpensive and nutritious, and using them in so many inventive ways helps brings delicious vegan food to so many palates and grocery budgets. High five, Kathy.

Some of my favorite recipes in the book are:

• Black Bean Breakfast Sausage Patties
• Lemon Coconut Chickpea Muffins
• Beluga Lentil Borscht
• Hard Cider-Sauced Beans
• Sun-dried Tomato White Bean Wheat Balls (“meat balls”)

Wholly inventive uses of beans to provide texture and flavor, from creamy dips and sauces to silky desserts (see below), plus gorgeous color photos throughout the book, make this book one of my new go-to favorites.

.     .     .     .     .

Vanilla Rosewater Parfaits from The Great Vegan Bean Book

gluten-free option*, oil-free

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup  (262 g) vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup ( 192 g) cooked red lentils
• 1 container (12.3 ounces/349g) silken tofu
• 1 tablespoon rosewater
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar (more if using plain yogurt)
• 3 cups (240 g) vanilla cookie crumbs (*use gluten-free cookies to make gluten-free or leave them out and just have pudding)

Add everything except for the cookie crumbs to a food process and purée for about 8 minutes. Stop every few minutes and scrape down the side of the bowl to make sure it all gets smooth.

In 8 small (10 ounce) custard cups (or in shot glasses to make minis) layer the crumbs on the bottom, add a layer of the tofu mixture, more crumbs, another layer of tofu and end by completely cover the top with the rest of the cookie crumbs.

The mixture will thicken up when you refrigerate the parfaits, so put them in the fridge at least 2 hours before serving but will keep covered for a few days.

Yield: 8 servings
Per serving: 124.1 calories; 3.1 g total fat; .0 g saturated fat; 6.0 g protein; 17.8 g carbohydrate; 2.3 g dietary fiber; 0 mg cholesterol.
Total Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Cooking Time: 0 minutes

Serving Suggestions & Variations: Use different extract flavors, add cocoa powder or even liquors to make an unlimited array of versions. Graham crackers and chocolate cookies make great crumb layers as well.

LINKS:

Order your of The Great Vegan Bean Book

Check out Kathy’s website, Healthy Slow Cooking

Beautiful food photography by  Renee Comet

“Pause in Our Pursuit of Happiness”

There’s been a lot of living going on: quiet reflections about “what I want” (these things tend to change over the years), travels to big cities for work and friends and (when I’m luckiest) both at once, runs in the thick humidity of July, re-organizing the book collection – ever an ongoing process, filling my phone with photos of my dog sleeping upside-down (little legs sticking straight up in the air BE STILL MY HEART), enjoying time spent with families and loved ones, and some unabashedly lazy afternoons.

 

And there’s a post a’brewing.  One that I feel I need to get up before I can post anything else. I’ve been writing it off and on for months, never feeling quite satisfied it’s quite right. The irony, of course, is part of the post expresses the uncomfortable feeling of trying to get something perfect, or as close to “right” as possible, and never quite getting there, thus abandoning it entirely. Art imitates life?

I love this paragraph and somehow it sums everything up:

“It was like the classic scene in the movies where one lover is on the train and one is on the platform and the train starts to pull away, and the lover on the platform begins to trot along and then jog and then sprint and then gives up altogether as the train speeds irrevocably off. Except in this case I was all the parts: I was the lover on the platform, I was the lover on the train. And I was also the train.” 
― Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs

All of this to say I’m still here. And I miss you (really). xo