Two Vegan Sisters

Bark! The Herald Angels Sing!

2011-12-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

I've been baking up a storm in anticipation for Christmas - I'm so thankful to Mattie for his vegan butter recipe (my white chocolate version is found here), as this stuff enabled me to make all my favourite Xmas goodies that call for margarine. With the allergy crap around here, this white chocolate stuff is the only thing that makes a sub! And given that everything is so sweet, it goes perfectly! This year's baking assortment is totally Kyson safe with no allergy stuff. I've made the usual gingerbread, orange carrot cookies, sugar cookies, ginger crinkles, etc. but I needed to have a few things to whip up quickly to satisfy a nearly-four-year-old's urge to constantly be busy baking something.

Enter bark! I used to make a chocolate one with Oreo's, but given the palm and soy content, those were a no-go. So I whipped up some alternatives...first, a bark with just melted Enjoy Life chocolate chunks (about 1 cup) with about 1 cup of semi-crushed PC Blue Menu Alphabet Pretzels (no soy or other vegetable oil - hooray!) then spread on a cookie sheet with wax paper and chilled in the fridge (of course, once chilled, broken into pieces). I honestly think this bark has the look and texture of a peanut bark - but is happily nut-free! The saltiness of the pretzels makes this super yummy.

I also used up some of my expensive Natural Candy Store order and made crunchy candy cane bark - this time, 2 cups of chocolate chunks (melted) with about 1 cup of crispy rice cereal and about 4 ounces of crushed candy canes.

I can't decide which one I love more!

I'm getting ready to book Kyson's allergy follow up for May 2012 and am already getting my hopes up that he will grow out of SOMETHING. If I had to pick, I'd love to have legumes back. Fingers crossed!

Hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2012!

Baked Vegan Doughnuts

2011-11-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

OK, so I seem to be making some really unhealthy things. But really, they are just distractions for my major seitan post that keeps building and building!

For years now, I've been searching for doughnut baking pans. I checked at Walmart a number of times (I thought that surely they would have them given that they sell fast-foodish stuff and it seemed right up their alley) but to no avail. I had seem them on Amazon.ca, but I didn't feel like paying more for shipping than the price of the item itself. Finally, I made a very rare stop in at Michael's and to my surprise, I found them there! I was so giddy with excitement that I couldn't have cared less that I never bothered to cut out the 40% off-one-item coupon at home. As soon as I got home I washed them up and pulled out Vegan Yum Yum, remembering that a few years ago she was the queen of the vegan doughnut.

I whipped up a batch, subbing rice milk for the soy, canola oil for the marg and salba for the egg replacer. I was careful not to overfill my pan with the really thick batter. What happened? They were edible, but they barely rose. Here they are coated in melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips and vegan sprinklez.

I did not feel defeated, however.

Next, I used cornstarch for the egg replacer instead of the salba and doubled the batch (I had since clued in that I did not in fact have a mini doughnut pan but rather a regular sized one). The batter was alot more fluid and I filled to almost the top. I had a little batter leftover to satisfy Ash, the baking bowl licker. My results were much improved - this time I dipped them in an icing sugar/rice milk glaze. Better!

But I just found that the baked doughnut just didn't have the same yeasty flavour of a regular doughnut (I actually remember this taste, despite my last real doughnut was consumed in the '80s). So I opted to try the recipe again with a different topping - one similar to the stale doughnuts you buy in the grocery store - either with icing sugar or cinnamon sugar. I opted for the latter. Yum! And not stale!

I noticed Vegan Dad has a doughnut recipe that is fried. I'm petrified of frying anything in more than just a couple of tablespoons of oil, so I doubt I'll try this. But I am tempted to lube up the dough and slap it into my doughnut pan to bake. After all, I have to justify this long-awaited purchase! I think it will be a project to work on after Christmas, as I have my work cut out for me when it comes to Xmas baking this year.

Better Butter!

2011-10-31T22:50:00.000-04:00

I've really been missing my vegan buttercream. Really bad. Whenever I've made cuppies or bday cakes, I've resorted to making an avocado chocolate mousse topping. But I really don't feel like giving Kyson chocolate or anything with caffeine given that his sleep stinks. And besides - dark chocolate icing doesn't lend to adding fun colours and such that Ash looks forward to. So I had to put my thinking cap on.

Earth Balance is out for several reasons, like sunflower, safflower and flax to name a few. Palm has been giving us issues, so that too is added to the list of no-no's. My usual coconut oil won't work either since Kyson is allergic to that too. Then I got a brilliant idea to use the nearly-expired bag of raw cocoa butter that I bought solely due to sheer excitement that I could make white chocolate. I never thought of actually using it for any other purpose! So I melted it to a softened state, and added icing sugar. It was quite stiff - in went a few tablespoons of rice milk and it seemed to curdle. I then broke my hand mixer. I couldn't resort to my Kitchenaid since there didn't seem to be enough quantity for the whisk attachment to do anything. So I pulled out my supertool - the Braun hand mixer. Beating it up, my hand was cramping and the mixer seemed to get warm. In the end, it actually mixed to something smooth! Now I should have iced some cuppies then and there while the frosting was soft, but given that I decided to make the frosting on a whim, I then had to whip up a batch of the Basic Vanilla Cupcakes from VCTOTW. By the time they baked and cooled, my frosting was pretty stiff. The end result isn't super pretty:

But man, they were darn good! They tasted like white chocolate! (Although that shouldn't be such a shocker, but it is when it looks like regular buttercream).

So I started thinking - how to make the cocoa butter more pliable? Enter Mattie's vegan butter solution. He lists a number of options - many using the preferred soymilk and coconut oil ingredients. He goes into a great explanation of the makeup of butter and how to scientifically produce a vegan version, which is interesting and like the vegan version of Good Eats. The best part - in there was a white chocolate version that uses cocoa butter! Hooray! I decided to sub extra xanthan gum to make up for using soy or sunflower lecithin and use the second choice of curdled hemp milk. I'm shocked at the results - I doubled the batch (risky since I had never made it before and was sacrificing about $13 of cocoa butter!) and I used a silicone muffin pan to create 1 tablespoon measures of the 'butter'. Had lots leftover and while still soft, spread it on bread.

I delighted at the taste of 'margarine' again! I quickly thought about all of the possibilities - melted on popcorn, vegan buttercream, xmas baking...I felt like a weight of sadness over all of the foods I have had to avoid was lifted. This must have been how former cheese lovers felt when Daiya came out!

Later that week, Ash was having her cousin over to bake. Since halloween was right around the corner, I thought perhaps some Roll-out Sugar Cookies from VCIYCJ would be appropriate. Scanning the recipe, I saw the requirements for vegan margarine and shortening and became fearful. Would my concoction hold up to satisfy two little girls in their baking endeavours? I melted it down and continued with the recipe...the dough came out PERFECT. Way better than when I had made it with the original ingredients. By the time I had all of the ingredients mixed, the 'butter' had hardened ever so slightly which made it a breeze to roll out immediately (no chilling!) and withstood several rolling iterations. It did take longer for the cookies to bake (almost 10 minutes more!), but they had a delicious flavour and were flaky too. Hooray again!

Sweets We Can Eat!

2011-09-04T20:26:00.005-04:00

So a few more allergies to now add to the list:

Safflower
Mustard
Flax Seed

This is beyond ridiculous.

Things have actually been going OK...we are thriving (thanks for thinking of us Becky!) and more into the swing of things with this restrictive diet. It's not easy and I'm getting tired of acting like a pioneer making everything, but it's going and Kyson is growing. So I guess that's all that matters.

I have to admit that I find resources for our specific allergies to be particularly challenging...most allergy cookbooks feature gluten-free items (can't avoid gluten now! It's my lifeline!) and they all seem to include every other allergen that we have to avoid. And raw cookbooks aren't much help since there are so many nut recipes. Most vegan cookbooks are just a tease - they are filled with soy in so many ways. Thankfully cookbooks like Vegan Lunch Box and Veganomicon/Appetite for Reduction feature a soy-free recipe index that helps eliminate some of the recipes we have to avoid. I think I have to write a soy free vegan cookbook! I think it might be the only vegan cookbook not currently out there!

Getting back to food, just because Kyson is severely allergic doesn't mean he can't enjoy his birthday! He celebrated one year with a tweaked agave cupcake from VCTOTW topped with an avocado/melted chocolate chips/agave mousse-like frosting. Here he is eyeing up the goods:

I think he enjoyed it:

I realize this is pathetic blogging about this now, but I only recently uploaded all the pics from my iPhone and camera onto the PC. I made mini-cuppies for Canada Day that I presented in a maple leaf flag:

The base was my strawberry cuppie from a recent post and the icing was a mix of avocado, icing sugar and strawberry jam. I have to work on the frosting since I'm not sure if it was the recipe or the heat, but it was a little too glossy. I topped each cuppie with a homemade white chocolate dipped strawberry - I basically melted some cocoa butter and added icing sugar and scraped vanilla bean bits. Of course each was also adorned with a little Canadian flag!

In the past I've been used to finding new recipes to try week after week as I prepare my meal plan. I've been adjusting to sticking to some tried-and-true things that picky toddlers and preschoolers eat (different noodles with homemade pasta sauce with every veggie under the sun tucked in/homemade pizza) and rotating between some other recipes. Having said that, week after week I have to make a few staple items:

Blue Ribbon Bread from Vegan Lunchbox - it makes three loaves which is great for freezing and pulling out all week, never mind changing up the shape to breadsticks, burger buns, loaves and mini-loaves. I use quinoa as the grain in the recipe.

Vegan Lunch Meat from Vegan Dad - this is pretty much my only source of protein. I've changed up the recipe quite a bit since I can't use beans but I'll blog about that shortly. You wouldn't believe how I can use this all week in different ways!

Spaghetti/Pasta Sauce - I throw in lots of veggies and fruits in both fresh and jarred baby food form, puree and presto! Instant yummy sauce that the kiddos gobble up on pasta or pizza.

I'll devote a future post about my seitan dishes, but for now this is Jerk Seitan using my veggie lunch meat as the chunks - I prefer this texture more that making seitan the traditional boiled way.

What's a Vegan to Do???

2011-06-02T10:22:00.004-04:00

So I whined and complained when I tried going GF for the benefit of Kyson and his food issues. Well, the verdict is in via an allergy test. Kyson is allergic to:

Peanuts
Tree Nuts
Soy (!)
Shellfish
Coconut (so much for my cuppies! And linked palm oil is in everything)
Sunflower (this oil is in EVERYTHING)
Legumes (This includes beans too - yikes...)
Egg

Holy crap.

And since I'm nursing, I have to cut these out of my diet too until he weans. I would love to switch to formula now, but they also contain sunflower and coconut oil so that's not an option. Obviously he will have to drink homo milk and eat meat (I had to cook chicken for the first time yesterday...good God this is such a trial for me!). But for my diet, I guess I will have to rely on hemp and seitan. It seems like anything packaged is going to be tricky. And I can't really go raw since that diet seems to rely heavily on nuts. And of all of the things on the list, I can't even have them in the house due to cross contamination issues - it's that serious.

*Sigh*

I have to remind myself that things could be a lot worse. I mean, it's not like Kyson has been diagnosed with some grave disease or anything, so I really shouldn't complain. It's just hard to limit these foods - especially for me, when my diet is already quite restrictive.

Just looking for some kind of pep talk I guess. Or any suggestions! I've taken out some books from the library and once I have time to read them with all of his frequent wakings, I hope I will glean some nuggets of helpful info.

Off to go eat a homemade breakfast bar with very limited ingredients...

VegFest! My Cupcake Revealed!

2011-05-01T20:36:00.006-04:00

This is probably my biggest post - both in terms of size and news!!!

First, I must go back to April 2...I held a cupcake tasting party with friends and family to help me narrow down my entry into the NCVA's inaugural Cupcake Challenge Contest. I think I mentioned this party way back but couldn't divulge any details for fear of giving hints about my entry into the contest!

I made about 250 mini cuppies. I have no idea how I had the time to bake them all, but lemme tell you there was a plan each night for a week before the party where I had a task or three to complete. And of course I had to freeze the little suckers. Somehow, on that fateful Saturday of the party, I managed to get Kyson to swim class, get myself all ready and stuff and ice these things - and everything went so smoothly!

In order, Senators Strawberry, Capital Coconut Cream Pie and M'eh'ple Cream. Everyone cast their vote and the Capital Coconut Cream Pie came out on top, narrowly edging out the Senators Strawberry!

Pics of each:

Perfecting this damn cupcake took alot of effort, mainly for the coconut topping. I'm totally sick of the icing sugar/Earth Balance marg/shortening frostings, as they are too sickly sweet. So I tried coconut cream with a little icing sugar. Remarkably, it's cool and light like whipped cream or Cool Whip, but without all the gross stuff. However, you can't just grab any can of coconut milk to try this out. I had a fave gold label Rooster brand from Loblaws but of course they had to discontinue it and the only kinds in the Barrhaven area just don't have enough fat to them. So Kyle trotted over to T&T for me, where they have the most ridiculous selection of coconut milks and canned creams! I find the best ones to use have more than 17g of fat per serving. My fave is the Savoy brand of canned coconut cream - stick it in the fridge overnight, then scoop out the fat at the top, add icing sugar and whip. Easy! You just can't get greedy with your scooping trying to get every last bit of fat out - once you hit liquid put your spoon down and give it up (use the leftover stuff in a smoothie - yum!). It's great on anything - hot chocolate, pie, in trifle...and it's just so easy.

Capital Coconut Cream Pie Cupcakes

Cake:
¾ cup organic sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
¾ cup coconut milk
2 tbsp unsweetened soymilk
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
½ cup graham flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup fine shredded coconut

Cream Filling:
¾ cup organic sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp powdered egg replacer
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup unsweetened soymilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
1 can coconut milk or cream (look for highest fat content possible – 17g or above per serving)
¾ cup icing sugar
2 tbsp medium shredded coconut, toasted

Instructions:

Cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, canola oil, coconut milk, soymilk, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
3. Add flours, soda and salt, then whisk again until no large clumps remain in batter. Fold in coconut.
4. Fill muffins liners about ¾ full with batter. Place filled pan in middle of preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Use a steak knife (Finally - a use for these!) to carve out a hole in the middle about 1.5cm in diameter. Remove cone-shaped innards and discard or devour (I prefer the latter).

Filling:
1. Mix sugar, cornstarch and egg replacer powder in a small saucepan.
2. Slowly add coconut and soymilks and whisk to combine.
3. Let come to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly.
4. Once bubbly and thickened, cook for about 30 seconds, still stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract.
6. Let cool for one hour at room temperature, stirring occasionally.
7. Transfer to a glass container, lay a piece of parchment on top to prevent skin from forming, and refrigerate for at least four hours.
8. Once chilled, mix with electric mixers to make filling completely smooth.
9. Pour into a plastic pastry bag for easy cupcake filling or simply scoop into holes using a small spoon.

Topping:

1. Chill canned coconut milk or cream in the fridge overnight. Do not shake can.
2. Carefully open lid and scoop cream solids into a large bowl. Stop scooping once you hit anything watery – even the littlest amount of water will not enable you to get a whipped cream consistency.
3. Whisk or use whisk attachments on electric mixer to fluff coconut cream, then add icing sugar. Whisk or mix to combine until soft peaks form.
4. Spoon on filled cupcakes or pipe with pastry bag. Sprinkle toasted coconut on top. Keep chilled.

Anyways, fast forward to today. I prepped over the last couple of days and everything was going well until a crisis! My custard wouldn't set. I have found that my recently purchased cornstarch has not been thickening anything up. I quickly made a second batch this morning and it still didn't set as nicely. Ah well. I quickly filled them and topped with cream (with a hungry Kyson nipping at my ankles). So not the best feeling going into the competition! They were still cute though:

VegFest was a blast! It was so busy - it was great! Most of the food vendors were sold out halfway through! I think the organizers should be proud of the turnout! As for the contest, I found out mine made it through into the top 10 and would be judged by the panel - it was a little nerve-wracking since there were some gorgeous creations and they were all picked apart by real foodies.

I was hopeful to win, but alas, it wasn't meant to be :) But for the last couple of months, it made this stay-at-home mom pretty excited to have something fun to look forward to. And I love to bake for others! So my other big news is that I will soon be opening up shop and offering vegan baked goods (cuppies, muffins, cookies) to the vegan masses of Ottawa, or for anyone that's interested. I won't be returning to work until the kids are in school, so this will hopefully provide a little income and keep me sane. I'll be sure to post more about my upcoming venture!

Countdown to VegFest is on! Plus Some Grub...

2011-04-23T19:40:00.004-04:00

Who is super pumped for VegFest on May 1st? Me! Me! Me! It's been almost a month since my Cupcake Party and I can't WAIT for the day that I can enter my creation. When they indicated that a preliminary round would not be necessary, I was so happy...not just because I felt that there weren't hundreds of competitors, but also because 6:30pm (the slated time of the potluck where said round would take place) is the equivalent of hell in this house. It would have been disaster. Anyways, I was so smug until I got an e-mail from the organizers indicating that there would be a preliminary round after all the day of the contest! Yikes! Must remain positive...I just am trying to write a big long post about my trials and tribulations with the major mystery ingredient of my cuppie...although I fear that come May 2nd I'll forget everything...

Similar to this post - I haven't had a chance to get on the PC and when I do to write up a post, I look at the pics and for the life of me, cannot remember what stuff is. Like this - I stared and stared and FINALLY realized it's one of my new fave dishes! From 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson Chinese Noodles with Black Bean Sauce. I think that's the title and am too far away from the cookbook right now. I toss in some edamame for added protein. So yummy! I added tri-colour chopped peppers since I have them for Ash to add like 'sprinkles' (likely due to my recent cupcake obsession).

This next treat was a mild disappointment...I came across one of Isa's blogposts from eons ago about a Raw Cheezecake. For forever, I have tried to mimic a childhood recipe from a kid's Better Home and Gardens cookbook - something like Be My Valentine Pie. It was made with gross Jello and soft ice cream in a cookie crumb shell. I liked it as a kid, and have tried re-creating it with vegan Jello and ice cream, but with no such luck. Reading the ingredients I was hopeful. But the darn thing just didn't set - I had read through the comments and it seemed like it either turned out great or not, and I so hoped I would be in the success group :( I even omitted adding water to combat my fear! But alas, it was a soggy mess. I had to keep it in the freezer. I will definitely try this again during strawberry picking season as the berries will be more plentiful then and I won't feel so badly for using up a ton of expensive raw cashews on top of it.

But this recipe of Isa's was a hit! Pasta De Los Angeles or something like that...with the black beans and cilantro and salsa-like sauce, it reminded me of the sweet potato and black bean enchiladas from Vegan Planet but just with pasta instead. Yum!

Always looking for snack stuff, I was drawn to a recipe on my PC Toasted O's cereal box for Honey Butter Crunch. Now the name alone is totally not suitable for vegans but it's pretty easy to make subs:

1/2 cup melted Earth Balance
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 cups toasted o's
1 bag plain microwave popcorn, popped
1 cup almonds

Mix wet ingredients. Add dry and stir. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes.

Not sure if I should have reduced the agave a little or upped the oven temp or cook longer, but this stuff was soggy but good. I don't think I'll make it again since you have to wait way too long for your snack. I prefer popping corn, then pouring melted coconut oil and chocolate chips on top and enjoying right then and there. Maybe I'll just add some almonds for a healthy boost to make me feel better!

Hail Seitan!

2011-04-09T21:26:00.004-04:00

So I started off all GF-y. I felt especially inspired one day and decided to make Chef Chloe's Avocado Pesto Pasta. I had my little helper, Ashley, all pumped as she held all of the ingredients. So then I went to cut into a nice soft avocado. Surprise! All rotten :( Those damn avocados are so unreliable - they either never soften, or go from unripe to rotten and skip being all nice and creamy. Anyways, I was slightly bitter but went on and subbed some tofu to add the silky texture. Then, I had some frozen basil cubes - I went to add them in and noticed they were all dried up and gross. So in went some dried basil! I didn't have pinenuts so I subbed with ground almonds. I have to say that with all of my substitutions, it wasn't the most awesome dinner. Ah well. I took this pic:

Ash, my little budding photographer 3-year-old, now takes pics of her food just like mom - we just need to work on the food styling:

I did however redeem myself with Isa's Upside Down Shepherd's Pie from Appetite for Reduction. Rather stupidly, I got all ready to bake this puppy, until I re-read the recipe about four times, then saw the title and realized that I didn't have to bake this up - I nearly did a jig since I didn't feel like baking it up and having to wait eons to eat dinner (the small things in life these days make me so happy!). I had three full portions (thereby not really serving as a real 'reduction' recipe unfortunately - I have no self control), and even Ash gobbled this up. It was so freakin' good!

Well, that was the end of the gluten free trial. Kyson will soon be seeing an allergist, so I'm hoping I'll get more clarification as to whether my avoiding gluten is doing any good or harm. For now, I'm just too hungry still nursing every two hours that I can't take it! That and I tried making a GF pizza dough that even the smell had me gagging. I caved and made my usual recipe. But the real turning point came after making Vegan Dad's Veggie Lunch Meat. Good lord - somehow I missed the whole Seitan O' Greatness craze a few years back but I'm glad I found this - I will never go back to paying $3.49 for a package of Tofurky slices again when this makes up tons! It sliced so well. Ash said it was delicious! I'm going to try making one with maple syrup next time to punch up the sweetness.

Who Cares About the Beef...Where's the Bun???

2011-03-30T20:32:00.008-04:00

OK, so I'm giving this whole gluten free thing a little go. Kyson has had three reactions to wheat products and despite not finding anything on the web about ME having to go wheatless since he's still nursing, I'm applying the same logic about nursing moms cutting out dairy in their own diet if their baby is reacting to it. I'm hoping this will help clear up his eczema and help him sleep better at night!

I have to say, I now have empathy for those who find themselves delving into a vegan diet and missing cheese, etc. I am one of those who never liked the taste of cheese in or on anything, creamy mayonnaise and cream cheese dips. So it was a cinch for me to go vegan and couldn't understand why others would 'miss' former foods they once consumed. I'm really finding the whole gluten free thing to be hard, as I'm such a carb-o-holic and while there are a wide number of GF substitutes out there, I still find a certain taste (tapioca starch maybe?) that seems to be prevalent in so many GF baked goods. I tried making a homemade loaf of GF bread and just one bite had me gagging. I also bought some GF crackers and am convinced I chewed up part of my tooth in eating them. So I miss my bread and my crackers.

OK, I'll stop whining.

Anyways, I have made some really tasty GF things. I need my snacks, and these have all been pretty helpful in helping me from pigging out on gluten filled goodness.

From the Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook, Buckwheat Apple Muffins. Fortunately no tapioca starch in this one, as it doesn't use the author's GF flour blend - just buckwheat. Ash devours these.

From the same book, Blueberry Millet Muffins. They look so professional! I actually really like these, despite the mild tapioca taste. They are incredibly fluffy for something gluten free!

Finally, again, from the same book, Banana Flax Muffins. I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips instead of the raisins. My fave!

And now for actual meals...

Caesar Salad from Appetite for Reduction. It actually calls for Eggplant Bacon, which I found a bit of a pain to make. Instead, I added baked tofu (suggested in the recipe) but in my marinade, I added a few dashes of liquid smoke. Thinly sliced, it was a nice smoky addition. I love how this dish has no garlic! It gives my breath a nice break. Pictured with GF pasta with Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Sauce from Vegan Yum Yum.

Brown rice + lentils + cooked veggies (onion, garlic, carrot, spinach) + Hurry Up Alfredo sauce from VYY = tasty little meal.

Give me a scarlet GF letter on my chest - at this weekend's cupcake party, I'm sooo cheating and will be scarfing down non-GF cuppies :( I already feel guilty as I know I'm not giving myself the full 3 weeks to see if this diet change impacts Kyson. *Sigh*

Gluten and Soy Free (!)

2011-03-22T21:09:00.004-04:00

Not sure if our little Kyson has some allergies or what, but for one mere day I tried to be gluten and soy free in an effort to see if my milk is causing him issues. I failed miserably. The soy free part isn't too bad, and I think I can try that for a few weeks, but I love my carbs too much to give up the gluten.

However, having said that, I have made some fine stuff that meets both criteria!

First, a peanut butter cookie recipe from my friend - I'm guessing from 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes or something, since the font of my photocopy looks familiar to other 'Best' books. Made with amaranth flour, it really doesn't taste like a gluten free cookie! I love them!

Next, Coconut Curry Stew from Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. Fab!

A suggested side to the stew, Fruity Couscous (I'm my case, quinoa) from the same cookbook. I think both of these meal items had a total of like 10 fruits and veggies - we nailed our 5-10 per day quota with this meal!

Finally, Strawberry Shortcake! I made Spongecake from the Allergen-Free Bakers Handbook. It was so fluffy and delicious - I thought it was quite surprising for something with no gluten. With vegan whipped cream and yummy strawberries, it felt like summer was here.

Happy St. Patty's! Low Fat and...Healthy?

2011-03-17T21:15:00.006-04:00

Theme day! Before bed last night I cut up veggies for dinner tonight, and made the slow cooker seitan pot roast from Vegan on the Cheap. Instead of using my big crockpot and using all the veggies, I just made the seitan dough and put it in my little crockpot that I normally reserve for steel cut oats. I couldn't believe how much it puffed up today - it looked like a souffle! But I really should have added some more water to account for the water the poor roast didn't get from all of the veggies that would have otherwise surrounded it. I just had to cut off some dry bits but other than that it was perfect! Cooking it overnight worked out really well and cut down on the prep required at a busy time in the afternoon.

So what did I use the roast for? Appetite for Reduction's Irish Stew. Made with vegan beer, I can't get over how authentic this tastes! Now when I say authentic, I mean Puritan Irish Stew from a can. Tracy and I seemed to have that often when Dad was in charge of dinner. Can't say I've ever had it from a real pub. Anyways, I'm sure this tastes like what would be served in one! I included some of my oatmeal bread (see this post) as it contains Irish oats, or steel cut oats. Yummy combo!

But the real showstoppers were Chloe Coscarelli's Chocolate Beer Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Buttercream...yummy! I do admit that I love Isa's cupcakes as they turn out so reliably (I had these ones in the oven for 10 minutes longer than specified since they wouldn't cook!), but this flavour combo was pretty cool. Anyways, for the buttercream, I wanted green, and since I'm not a fan of artificial colours, I added a scoop of my Vega Smoothie Infusion powder. Spinach anyone? It gave a pale green hue and didn't impart any weird flavouring. Healthy cupcakes? Kinda. Sweet? Omigod...I swear I developed a cavity eating these! I also made the caramel drizzle...I don't know, but cooking sugar stresses me out. Seems like there's this fine line between soft ball and hard ball (?) and I always seems to mess it up. I found her instructions a little unclear for the slight moron I can be, so to salvage a crunchy hard sugar mess, I added about 1/4 cup of soymilk and cooked over medium heat. Seemed to work! It resulted in a sticky taffy-like confection. Anyways, it looked good.

Solo:

With all her buddies:

I'm so happy for daylight savings time and the fact that spring is here! I can use natural light for pics! Hooray!

Vegan Yum Yum...Continued

2011-03-11T20:37:00.002-05:00

Oh how I love quick dinners! A variation on the Hurry Up Alfredo, the Super Quick Tomato Basil Cream Pasta is divine! Again, using my batch of already ground cashews, I blend up the ingredients (and two whole tomatoes just to watch them puree in all it's goodness!). I also don't bother to heat the sauce, shaving off another 5 minutes from the already quick recipe. I just dump it into the hot noodles. Although it doesn't give the sauce a chance to burn off the couple of tbsp of wine, I always hope that it will cause the kids to sleep through the night! Of course it doesn't work.

This time I put it on some Eden Artichoke Pasta Ribbons I picked up from Rainbow Foods. They reminded me of thick egg noodles, so it's been awhile since I've enjoyed a texture like this! I'll be sure to pick up some more since I'm getting a little bored with the whole spaghetti/linguine/macaroni we seem to serve up too frequently.

Vegan Yum Yum...So Good...

2011-03-09T21:08:00.006-05:00

I briefly wrote about VYY before, but man, I love this cookbook. I like how clear the instructions are - I need that, my attention span is horrific lately and I find myself re-reading parts of a recipe numerous times since I can't retain anything. The pics are also so nice too.

Anyways, the recipes are what its all about! Here are two faves that I make on a regular basis:

Hurry Up Alfredo - I'm sure every vegan blogger has written about this one. Easy, and awesome! I grind up lots of cashews and keep a bag in the freezer. I then scoop out a necessary amount and use my immersion blender to make the sauce to dump on hot noodles and often include some broccoli or peas (thrown into the last few minutes with the pasta in the pot). I had found in the past that I need to grind the nuts on their own to begin with - trying to grind them with soy milk only resulted in a gritty sauce. I must have a crappy blender or something.

Using a similar sauce, Broccoli Bake (exact title escapes me) - I love how this uses the stalks! The broccoli florets and stalks are ground up with mushrooms - all things Ash will never eat on their own - and mixed with a variation of the alfredo sauce and orzo! So tasty! If only I could find whole wheat orzo. Then again, I haven't spent all that much time looking for it :)

So my few minutes of free time these days are being occupied with thoughts of how I could possibly win the VegFest cupcake contest held during the event on May 1 at the Glebe Community Centre. I'm consumed! I know I have a slim chance, but I've thought of three original cupcakes that could stand a chance (that is, as long as no real professional chefs enter!). I secretly hope that not too many people enter as there may be a preliminary round taking place during a time that is just evil for my little family. I'd have to show up with two over-tired children to this round during 'dinner' (also known as 'chaos time before bed' in our house) and I don't think that would bode well for my chances! I'll be sure to post about a cupcake party I'm hosting for friends and family to help me narrow down the selection. Of course, I won't be able to reveal all too much since I worry that my fierce competition could be reading! ;)

Good Eats - Leftover Oatmeal Bread

2011-03-05T20:20:00.004-05:00

What to do with leftover oatmeal? Make bread! At least that's what Alton Brown does.

I have to say, results from this recipe are different everytime I make it. It all depends on the moisture level of the leftover oatmeal. And even when the dough seems too moist and I add a little flour, it's still a little unpredictable. In all, it makes for an interesting loaf.

I really like how some of the ingredients are by weight - I hope to cook this way more since I find too many fluctuations in my recipes. For example, sometimes I think I'm measuring 1/4 cup of margarine only to dump it in the bowl and realize there was a giant air pocket that I wasn't aware of. At least weighing my ingredients would help prevent that. Seems like the Brits do this already.

Anyways - back to the recipe - I tend to dump hot oatmeal into a bowl nowadays and add the agave and olive oil. I omit the extra water since I don't often need it. Then I add all the dry ingredients (except I use w/w bread flour) and yeast on top then put it in the Kitchenaid. I find the warm oatmeal is the same as using warm water so it helps it rise. I watch it and add a little flour where necessary. I let it rise for a few hours, turning on the Kitchenaid to knead it a little every hour or so. Then I continue with the instructions for baking. I've even made balls of dough, poked a hole in the middle, stretched out the hole and made delicious baked bagels.

Today's loaf? Moist on the inside, with a tough crust. It's a gum cutter loaf!

ETA - I of course don't use the egg...in fact, I just leave the loaf as is before baking. I suppose some soymilk or a flax egg bath with some oats or sesame seeds would be good, but I find they fall off while cutting anyways.

Gourmet Pizza

2011-03-03T20:43:00.004-05:00

I came across Chloe Coscarelli’s site after reading VegNews and thought a few of her recipes looked yummy. I found a flatbread recipe, and to me it seemed like a different style of pizza.

Her crust (foccacia) recipe is perfect. No matter how hard I try, I can’t screw it up! I vary the recipe to use ½ AP flour and ½ whole wheat flour for added nutrition and it still comes out terrific. I double it (thank goodness for my Kitchenaid!) to always make two varieties of pizza that night, so Kyle has plenty of leftovers for his lunches in the coming days.

Pizza #1 follows her recipe to a 'T' – I top with ½ the recipe of bean puree, then spinach, apples, cooked butternut squash and caramelized onions.

Pizza #2 has the other ½ of the bean puree with a few dollops of tomato paste swirled in, then veggie pepperoni, mushrooms, caramelized onions and Daiya for those who like the taste of cheese (not me!). I normally add red peppers but last night I was all out.

They taste fantastic! Everytime I make these pizzas, Kyle and I fantasize about how much one would charge in a pizzeria to serve some of this good stuff.

I also make the bean puree pretty much on a daily basis. I make big batches of navy beans in my pressure cooker, and freeze in 15oz portions. I pull them out to whip up the puree which is a nice change from hummus and dip in crackers, pita or veggies. Makes me feel a little less guilty about evening snacking!

Mediocre Muffin

2011-03-01T21:13:00.003-05:00

So I actually followed a recipe to a "T" for the first time! While I will praise the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook for thick cheezy sauce, Hurry Up Alfredo, Broccoli Bake and many more delicious recipes, I can't say that the Cranberry Lemon Muffins (or Lemon Cranberry Muffins - the book isn't in front of me to check the exact title) are the best ever. I do have to say that I've gotten very used to all of my muffins having at least 50% whole wheat flour, whereas this one is all all-purpose.

I also didn't find that pre-soaking the dried cranberries really did all that much. Despite draining them, I found they made the batter extra runny. It was to the point that I was seriously concerned that they would spill over in my oven and cause a kitchen nightmare (just last week I was forced to scrub my double oven since there were spills in both oven causing choking smoke, and I didn't want to do that again anytime soon!).

So while they 'turned out', I actually prefer the ones with oats and other filling ingredients instead.

Winter Blahs

2011-02-28T21:52:00.004-05:00

Well, we had a nice blend of precipitation today - freezing rain and wet heavy snow - at least it gives us a chance to have March come in like a lamb in comparison!

Today is Monday, and I had a bunch of library books due (I request all sorts of titles that come in all at once, it seems, and I never have a chance to even open the covers in the three weeks I have them). One of the books was Veganopolis. I had actually opened it when I first picked it up, and even made a recipe - it was for a homemade quinoa cracker. The recipe turned out really gross - I think I had rolled the dough out too thick, resulting in hard bricks that could easily call for some dental work. When I saw that it was due back today, I thumbed through it quickly and came across a 'Chicken' Noodle Soup that would be ideal for a crummy weather day and for using up some leftover seitan pot roast from Vegan on the Cheap. It was also a great way to use up little bits of pasta that remained in various pasta boxes in the pantry too!

Not only did the soup warm me up, but Tracy sent me an email from the National Capital Vegetarian Association regarding this year's Veg Fest...there's a cupcake competition! I'm super pumped! It sounds right up my alley - I just have to think of which one I could make...

One Bowl Goodies

2011-02-27T20:19:00.003-05:00

Always eager to make something easy for quick snacks, these two treats fit the bill. I’m a fan of using just one bowl to make baked goods, as we have to run our dishwasher every night as it is with all of the dishes from the day, and I find it generally easier for Ash to do the mixing. I don’t think anyone would argue to use more than one bowl anyways!

I first made some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. I just threw a bunch of stuff in a bowl until the batter looked of muffin consistency. I filled cups halfway, added a teaspoon of peanut butter then topped with the remaining batter. The peanut butter spread out during baking, making for the muffin to split in half easily – and it was almost like it had ‘buttered’ itself!

Next, the only recipe that I’ve tried so far from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur..aptly titled "Throw a Bunch of Stuff in a Bowl” Oatmeal Breakfast Bars. To be honest, I’d rather spend my precious time with Ash while Kyson sleeps making something a little healthy (and really, I’m having a hard time getting the baby weight off this time!). Well wouldn’t you know it, but a delicious recipe in one bowl just popped out at me so I was pretty pumped! I make mine with blueberries, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips. And to cut down on the sugar, I use agave and a nut butter (instead of jam). Heavenly! I love that the recipe is so forgiving and there are plenty of variation options available depending on what I have in my pantry. I also like to make it with oats and oat flour instead of whole wheat flour just to spare myself a little gluten just for kicks (only to have gluten at dinner with a big seitan roast – ah well).

Vegan Yum Yum and Vcon

2010-10-06T20:11:00.003-04:00

I pretty much relied on the aforementioned two books for this week's menu:

Monday - Easy dinner...PC Meatless Breaded Chicken Strips with homemade baked french fries. It was a busy day without much prep time. I often marvel why anyone would buy bagged frozen french fries since they are ridiculously easy to make from scratch at home - slice a few potatoes up, put on a greased cookie sheet, spray with oil and add salt and roast at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or so.

Tuesday - Hurry Up Alfredo - Delicious! Very easy and speedy. Although I cooked up way too many noodles that there wasn't much sauce :(

Wednesday - Alphabet Soup - so this one was from Nava Atlas' Vegetarian Family Cookbook. I love how easy this is and with using whole wheat alphabet noodles, we can work on spelling with Ash as she gobbles it up. Great for a guaranteed hit if she's eaten like crap all day.

Thursday - Baked Mac 'n' Cheese - another hit from Vegan Yum Yum! Kyle and I held a throwdown as he had invited some non-veg friends over for dinner and I think he was a little uncomfortable in serving them vegan food. So he used Tyler Florence's Ultimate Mac and Cheese recipe while I made this version. It was a friendly competition - neither of us tried to sabotage the other's creation by any means. As for the winner - he said it's a tie, but all I can say is that I had barely any leftover while he had nearly a whole pot left :)

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Baked Pumpkin Ziti - wow, I don't know what I was up to when I made this meal plan in advance. Nearly three variations of mac and cheese! I used to love this dish and still do, but for the amount of work it takes, I'd be happy just making the alfredo or other baked mac and cheese recipe from VYY.

Sunday - Chickpea Romesco - I love this recipe! I had forgotten to stock up on roasted red peppers, so I'm glad that we made it out to pick some up so that I could make this! While out, we also bought some vegan white chocolate chips from the kosher section from Loblaws at College Square (thanks Vaalea!). Instead of using canned tomatoes for this recipe, I used up the last of our homemade roasted tomatoes. We bought a pile of tomatoes from the Parkdale Market, cut them in half and placed them cut side down on an oiled cookie sheet, brushed with more olive oil and roasted them for eons in the oven. They turned out great! Much more flavourful than regular tomatoes but not as concentrated as sundried tomatoes.

Update!

2010-09-29T19:58:00.002-04:00

My god. As if Tracy nor I haven't posted in months. And not just one month...almost 7 of them!

On my end, I'm pretty busy with the toddler and the newborn. I was all ultra-pumped that Kyle bought me an iPhone - here I was, all set to be able to write up posts while I nurse, and efficiently upload my pics right from my phone. Either I'm totally not tech-savvy, or it's not possible, as it looks like I can't upload from my phone after all :(

That said, I'm committed to sharing my weekly meal plans sans photos. I don't recall ever receiving any real compliments on my photography anyways - there are so many other bloggers with awesome cameras and skills! With a fussy toddler and a little one that's always seeming to be hungry, I have even less time to make meals. So I will post my comments around what I made during the week from recipes that are totally speedy, tasty and most importantly, well-balanced.

Speaking of well-balanced, I seem to squeeze fun baking in there too. My daughter is all into cooking, so we often make muffins, cupcakes and cookies (often = everyday). I will never be out of my maternity wear at this rate! My big obsession right now is finding less sugary stuff - as my daughter barely sleeps as it is and I really don't need to add sugar to fuel the fire. I'm sick of icing sugar and so excited to get my Clear Jel from Viva Granola so that I can try this recipe. Babycakes frosting recipe is too unreliable, so I'm hoping this will be my new replacement for buttercream!

Things I've Made Lately

2010-03-05T19:05:00.003-05:00

Other than working my way through Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and Veganomicon (which will take me a number of years) I've made a couple of things from some newly-acquired cookbooks.

The Urban Vegan

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup - Kid-friendly and full of Vitamin A. Very easy beyond chopping root vegetables.

Spaghetti Alle Melanzane - This is my kind of comfort food. Savoury tangy eggplant tossed with pasta. Delicious after a long run.

Triple Sesame Salad Dressing - A creamy-salty-tangy dressing without any associated garlic breath. This was so yummy atop an avocado-sprout green salad.

Quiche Du Jour (Spinach & Sun-dried Tomato Combo) - Excellent crust. Tasty but my quiche didn't set.

Better Than Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries - Hearty healthy pancakes that didn't give me a sugar high. Used spelt flour.

Brownie Bites - Tasted awesome but were too delicate to get out of the muffin tin (both silicone and sprayed teflon). So I served brownie crumble topped with vanilla soy ice cream. Nobody complained.

Citrus-Scented Blueberry Muffins - I love muffins. These were light and fluffy.

Lorna Sass' Complete Vegetarian Kitchen

Hot and Zesty Black Bean Soup - So easy and so good! Packed with protein, which I had been craving.

I have a very long list of other recipes from these two books that I'd like to try. Most of the recipes are fairly straight-forward, which I appreciate after a long day of working and running.

Gluten-Free V-day

2010-02-27T01:28:00.003-05:00

This year, we celebrated all the toddlers’ birthdays on Valentine’s Day. Given a few allergies and intolerances here and there, I decided to make VCTOTW’s gluten free cuppies – with 10 of the 12 vanilla ones topped with this sugar-free frosting (I’m getting sick of icing sugar…and it’s not especially great for the little ones anyways) and the chocolate ones topped with chocolate tofu mousse.

I also couldn’t go without also recognizing Valentines’ Day, so I teamed up the cute little valentines for Ash’s little buds with goodie bags filled with more gluten-free treats. Seeking something both nut-free and gluten-free and healthy at the same time, I came across these toddler treats. I have to admit that I was sceptical, because the uncooked dough didn’t taste all that great. But once baked, delicious! I did use mini-chocolate chips instead of raisins, thereby upping the sugar but I hope also the taste value. I don't have a pic for some reason, but they looked EXACTLY like how they turned out on the website with the recipe.

I had hoped to try sculpting those cookies into hearts to suit the theme, but it wouldn’t have cut it. And Ash and I sampled so many that we didn’t have enough for all of the goodie bags! So I broke out my copy of VCIYCJ (I hadn’t tried anything yet!) and went to make the gluten-free version of their roll-out sugar cookies. I was going to use their recipe for Gluten Frida, but it called for coconut flour which is a no-no for one of the kiddos. So I pulled out my bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour Blend and subbed it 1:1 with a ¼ tsp of xanthan gum. The dough still seemed very wet, but once chilled and rolled out with more GF flour, I had no problems. They baked up great! I just wish that I could get over that GF taste – some flours seems a little beany. But I’m hoping the kids don’t mind! When Ash sampled it, she didn’t seem to notice and told me it was yummy in her tummy.

Between writing this post and actually posting it, it looks like we're having to modify Ash's diet to not include soy, gluten, corn and sugar until we figure out what's causing her so many issues...so I'm thinking my food prep challenges are about to increase! Stay tuned...

Ashy's Second B-day!

2010-02-20T21:10:00.005-05:00

Last year, I did cupcakes, but now that Ash is two, she has a keen understanding what birthdays are all about – cake, candles and presents. Given that I couldn’t simply grab a cake from the store since there aren’t a lot of vegan options around, and I didn’t have the extra cash to outsource the production of a vegan themed cake, I decided to make one – and a big one at that to serve almost 20 people.

I bought 2 9x13 pans, with the goal of stacking the cake so I could serve more people. I had looked at converting other recipes to suit this pan format, but decided to go with something tried and true – Vcon’s Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake. I made the recipe twice in two separate bowls (good idea from my mom, as there’s so much batter that I wouldn’t have had a bowl big enough to mix 2 batches at once!) and baked for about 40-45 minutes, as per this site’s recommendations. It turned out great! I decided to freeze the layers on two separate cookie sheets as I made it the day before the party and find it easier to ice frozen cakes anyways.

And now here’s where my history of birthday disasters begins. I’m not sure what happened. I looked for a frosting with little sugar…maybe agave? All seemed too glaze-like and not fitting my image for what the cake would look like. Again, trying to stick to my tried-and-true mantra, I thought that I would make the same chocolate mousse topping that I did for my mom’s bday, but since I didn’t want to give Ash that this time, I thought I’d use the vegan white chocolate chips I had bought from my overly-expensive Vegan Essentials order last year. I should have noted that the term ‘Decorator's Chips’ is not the same as ‘chocolate chips’ or ‘baking chocolate’. Even though the ingredient listing is only sugar and cocoa butter, these things are waaaayyy to oily to bake with. It might turn out OK in the use of cookies, but once melted, they take on a grainy feel. It was disaster when I mixed them with the silken tofu in my food processor. After Kyle suggested mixing it up better with my immersion blender, things seemed OK – until the morning of the party.

The mousse was a gloopy mess. I tried mixing half of the ‘mousse’ with icing sugar, but I would have needed about 10 lbs of icing sugar just to get the runny mess to be a firm frosting. So I scrapped that and tried to think of another plan. I could go with VCTOTW’s buttercream frosting, but I would want to cut the sweetness with a different middle layer. I then tried heating the other half of the mousse and adding a little cornstarch and coconut extract, thinking I might be able to salvage it and make a coconut cream. Again, these damn chips stayed grainy and it was an even bigger disaster than trying to make the mousse. So I scrapped that too. I then decided to make the same lemon curd I made for my cake this year, and use all Earth Balance for the buttercream frosting (two batches required!). Everything then turned out perfectly. With everything ice cold, the filling didn’t seep out, and I could ice the cake with no issues. I wish I had time to pipe something more elaborate, but Ash was happy with the simplicity of the decorations.

Unfortunately, the disaster didn’t end there. I used the bread recipe Tracy shared with me and attempted to use it for pizza dough. I thought it was pretty runny, but I then stupidly covered it to rise using a dry tea towel. Obviously when I went to bake it, I tore away about half of the dough. Tracy told me it was good, but I’m convinced that she was just being nice.

All in all, I think everyone had fun – especially the birthday girl.

Happy Birthday Mami!

2010-02-12T23:48:00.004-05:00

To borrow the title of one of Ash's fave stories...

It’s been so long that I’ve downloaded pics off the camera that I can’t really remember this day all that well. All I know is that I made the Butternut Squash Penne with Sage Pesto and Almonds dish from Skinny B*tch (with chicken tenders, of course) and mom liked it! Tracy also brought some delicious bread – she is now tasked with being the bread baker for our family events! I did end up trying to make my own at a later date:

For her cake, I think I used the chocolate cuppie recipe from VCTOTW and doubled it to make 2 8-inch layers. I used chocolate tofu mousse topping to fill the layers and ice the top, but nearly ran out to do the sides of the cake. So with whatever I had leftover for the mousse, I added melted chocolate chips to make a thick mousse-like ganache. I ‘pasted’ it on the sides and it was good! Definitely mom (and Ashley)-approved!

Mom also revealed that she’s considering adopting a vegetarian diet. I think Tracy nearly fell off her chair. This is after she became violently ill after eating at The Keg. Now that she’s over her illness, I’ll have to follow up on the status of her potential diet change…

Motappa

2010-01-02T08:28:00.003-05:00

We went to Rainbow Foods before the holidays to pick up a few things for Christmas baking and while perusing the tofu case for new Gardein products I spotted a tub of what was called "Motappa" - a sort of lentil hummus. I popped it into our basket for taking to one of the inevitable four days of Christmas events. I couldn't get enough of it. Since I only get to Rainbow periodically, I tried to re-create the dip myself.

Motappa Dip

1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed and sorted
2 large carrots, chopped
1 medium eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1 small onion
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 small tomato, peeled and chopped
2 tblsp tahini
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tblsp brown sugar
3 tsp sea salt, divided

Slice eggplant into 1/2” thick slices and toss with 2 tsp sea salt. After 15 minutes, rinse.
Place lentils and carrots in small saucepan and add water to cover (at least 2-3 cups). Boil for 30-40 minutes until lentils are soft. Drain.
Slice zucchini and onion into 1/2” thick slices and place on baking sheet with eggplant. Brush both sides with olive oil. Roast at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes, turning once. When cool, peel skin off eggplant and zucchini.
Chop garlic cloves in food processor. Add lentil-carrot mixture and roasted veggies, tomatoes, tahini, lemon juice, sugar and 1 tsp sea salt. Puree until smooth.

Serve with pitas, raw veggies, or however you like to eat hummus.

8 Healthy, Yummy Meals and Snacks

2009-12-28T13:56:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Well, at least I'm early for the last set of wishes. I actually starting crafting this post on December 1 (maybe that date will even show up at the bottom of this post since it's been in draft mode so long?). My new year's resolution will be to post more - it's just been a little tricky since free time is pretty hard to come by with a busy toddler and another little one on the way! Thank goodness my all-day sickness has waned, allowing me to again be excited to try new recipes.

Chelsea Style Waffles from Vegan Brunch - the first time I made these I just subbed maple syrup since I was too lazy to go to the pantry to find my barley malt. Am I ever glad that one day I did muster up the strength! I love the malted taste. And these always turn out, unless past waffle disasters.

Green Goddess Pizza from VwaV - what took me so long to make this!!! Delicious, but hideously garlicky. I now make Isa's dough recipe in my breadmaker, but use whole wheat flour, and it turns out great.

Chickpea Eggplant Stew from Vcon - I was on a real eggplant kick for a while. This was pretty easy and so yummy. Unfortunately, I can't stomach the thought of eggplant anymore, so I'll have to wait until the end of this pregnancy to try this again.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup from Vegan Lunch Box - love it! Ash gobbles this up. Great way to eat what I find to be a bland veggie.

Heart Healthiest Cookie in the World from VT - I may have the title completely wrong, but geez, it's a long one. They were good, but a little labour intensive. The second time I made these, I tried making them with agave nectar and skipping the whole EB/sugar melting step, but they turned out pretty gross.

Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Vcon - I can't say it was my fave. I like making my own veggie pot pies with chick'n tenders instead. Maybe I found it too beany?

Stewed Tofu with Miso Gravy from VwaV - I served it with mashed sweet potatoes and it was heavenly.

Eggplant Moussaka from Vcon - loved it! But again, will put this one on hold. I found it to be much less labour intensive than the rollatini but with the same great taste. I think I used jarred pasta sauce to avoid extra effort.

I received plenty of new cookbooks for Christmas - Vegan Soul Kitchen, Short Cut Vegan and Vegan Comfort Food, so I'm totally pumped about blogging about them!

Our Canadian Thanksgiving (almost two months later...)

2009-12-01T13:03:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Princess for taking shots of our T-giving supper! I couldn't find these in Picasa but finally was able to, hence the delay.

I made the Vegan Pot Roast from Vegan Lunch Box - it was 'gobbled' up!

I also made homemade oatmeal bread in my bread machine (I choose the dough setting then shape and bake it myself so it looks like I spent lots of time kneading...hee hee).

Finally, Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake from the Fat Free Vegan. Heavenly! So glad we changed it up from regular pumpkin pie. Since the filling is rather runny, it helps to scoop the second layer onto the first in order to keep the two distinct layers. Will definitely make this again.

Fall Food and New Cookbooks

2009-11-01T16:54:00.003-05:00

Summer is over so it's time to get serious in the kitchen again. And I got a new cookbook - Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. EVERYTHING in this book sounds delicious to me and I love how he pairs each item with a soundtrack. So of course I had to try some things out.

Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux from VSK paired with Cumin-Lime Tofu from the VegNews Recipe Club (cumin swapped out with chipotle chili powder). The collards were divine and I will use this method for cooking collards all the time. The tofu was zesty and delicious and since it was baked in the oven it was really easy. I used chipotle because I'm not a big cumin fan.

BBQ Tempeh with Straightforward Coleslaw. I would recommend using only 1/4 cup tamari and 1/2 cup water vs the 3/4 cup tamari as written as the tempeh was salty for me. I suspected it might be and only used 1/2 cup tamari but after tasting it I would dilute further. Other than that the sauce reduced in the pan while baking and gave the tempeh great BBQ flavour. This is a super recipe for introducing someone to tempeh. I boiled the tempeh cake before covering with the sauce and baking. I made a mistake with the coleslaw - I should have used the food processor for shredding the cabbage instead of a knife. Other than that, the dressing was mild yet tasty. It was a perfect compliment to the spicy BBQ sauce.

I really like how Bryant Terry makes his sauces and dressings in the blender. It makes for short work and quick cleanup.

Butternut Squash-Bartlett Pear Soup with Chilled Citrus Broccoli Salad. The squash soup was so smooth with the addition of coconut milk and a touch of sweetness from the pears. It was a perfect fall soup. The dressing was tangy on the broccoli which led to a large portion on my plate, good for getting my calcium and iron.

After making Alfredo Stroganoff earlier in the week (which was delicious), I used the leftover alfredo sauce with a dollop of tomato paste and made Pasta with Rose Sauce, something that I haven't had since going vegan. This sauce is simply the best vegan white sauce ever and I'm happy to have an old favourite back in my easy meal repertoire.

I'm so excited about the soon-to-be-released-in-Canada Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. In fact, my wonderful sister and family gifted me a copy for my birthday! I made the Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles from the teaser recipe on the PPK website. I've had WAY too many today, they are that good.

I'm going to have to amp up my running mileage so I can test out the rest of the cookies when the book comes.

Veganomicon - Revisited!

2009-10-19T21:11:00.002-04:00

Ah, so good to revisit a cookbook that I pull out so often. Since it's starting to get pretty chilly out there, I've been turning to warm soups and comforting entrees.

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans - Tasty, but some baby spinach or something else green would have added some nice colour I think.

Eggplant Rollatini - OMG. Heavenly! ALOT of work, as indicated in the recipe, but so darn good! I really wonder if this would freeze well, as I'd be up for all the effort to just magically pull it out of the freezer one day and enjoy. I'm going to try the Eggplant Moussaka this week since it seems similar but less work.

Acorn Squash, Pear and Adzuki Soup with Sauteed Shiitakes - Sooooo glad I had Kyle peel that acorn squash. I would have hurled it across the kitchen in frustration for sure! Thanks Isa for the warning! Kyle didn't suspect a thing when I asked him to help out...hee hee. The flavours of this were great and I really liked the mushroom topping alot.

Chickpeas Romesco with Saffron Garlic Rice. I didn't have any white rice on hand, so I used brown and it was really sticky and mushy. I didn't really notice the saffron/garlic at all, oddly enough. But the Chickpeas Romesco part was delicious!

Ashley Fare!

2009-10-16T20:06:00.002-04:00

I don't really know why I'm blogging about these two items, but I figured I should give some perspective on the types of stuff Ash eats!

First up, Vegan Brunch's Broccoli Quiche. So darn delicious. I've made and blogged about it before, but I wanted to note how I served it with a side of carrots. I peeled them, then sauteed for about a minute in a little oil. I then squirted a little lemon juice and voila - carrots fully cooked in just a minute!

Then I made an Avocado Dip from Deceptively Delicious. It was another non-hit. Essentially pureed avocado with soy yogurt, a little Nayonnaise, salt and lime juice. Meh. It was actually pretty gross. I'm trying to find some healthy spreads/dips for her since I'm afraid she will forever have stinky garlic breath based on the massive amount of hummus she eats!

Gluten Free for a Week (well, almost...)

2009-09-27T13:19:00.008-04:00

This week's menu is courtesy of October's Vegetarian Times. And I guess with it being Celiac Month, many of the recipes are gluten free (GF). Over the past few months I've been trying some GF recipes as an added challenge to just vegan cooking, so it seemed like a fun task to try some of these meals out this week.

I first have to note that I would have modified the order of the recipes presented, but damn blogger is giving me a hard time with copying/pasting and moving pics around...argh...

Pumpkin Parfaits with Oat Crunch - Wow, awesome! The Oat Crunch tastes like Kashi Go Lean Crunch, and with sweetened pumpkin pie filling, this really does satisfy a sweet tooth. I really wish we could eat these at Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie. Well, maybe these and a slice of pumpkin pie.

Tasty Tofu Patties - Tasty? Yes. Tofu? Yes. Patties? No - more like crumbles. I have no idea what I did wrong but this stuff just didn't hold together at all. Maybe some chickpea flour would have helped! Ah well. Plus, the recipe said it would make 8 patties - I got to 10 and still had 1/2 the mixture leftover. I'm going to just cook it up like a scramble - way less effort. I served these with my Actually Crispy Sweet Potato Fries...rice flour for these fries this time to stick with the whole GF theme.

Curried Red Lentil Soup - I have about a billion red lentil soup recipes, but something stood out about this one. It was great! And Ashley gobbled it up, so based on that alone, this one is a keeper. I kinda cheated on the whole GF thing, as I served it with multi-grain whole wheat bread.

OK, so this one is the only thing that's not from VT and it's not really GF, but I worry that if I don't blog about it now I'll forget to! Zucchini Spelt Muffins from Vegan Brunch. I don't have much luck with grated carrots or zucchinis in baking, as everything turns out soggy. This was the case with this muffin, sadly. I'm sure it's user error and not the recipe, as Isa is a Recipe Goddess.

Roasted Ratatouille Pizza with Chewy Pizza Dough - OK - the dough. I'm used to 'tough' pizza dough. I thought I'd done something wrong because this gluten-free dough was runnier than my pancake batter. But I followed the instructions to spread the dough with a baggie on my hand and it turned out great. A little soggy, but actually edible. More edible than I thought considering some of the GF stuff I've made has been pretty gross. I don't know if I will make this crust again, but I will definitely roast up the veggies like this for topping future pizzas! I do also have to note that I didn't have that 'heavy' feeling that I normally have after woofing down several slices of pizza. As for the veggies, I would normally cook off some of the liquid on the stovetop, but roasting made the veggies a little chewy and delicious!

Chickpea Croquettes with Greek Salad Topping - I had my doubts about this turning out since the chickpeas were so lumpy compared to the runny batter. But the chickpea flour really did make a crepe-like texture and everything held together perfectly! Great off the griddle and also tasty cold the next day.

Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Popcorn - So tasty! Basically microwave popcorn with melted Earth Balance, Sucanat and cinnamon. Tasted just like the cinnamon toast I made as a kid where I loaded it with margarine, a ton of sugar and cinnamon goodness. So yummy! But very calorie heavy. I ate most of the recipe myself, so I probably had about 10 of the 1/2 cup servings to myself. Honestly, who would be able to eat only a meager 1/2 cup of this stuff?

Autumn Vegetable Tagine (no pic - no idea how I forgot to snap one) - I have a pressure cooker since I use it to save time on a meal, but with having to bring it to high pressure three separate times while making this recipe, I didn't find it to be all that helpful. The flavour of this dish was kinda blah and while it wasn't horrible, it really wasn't worth the effort. I also felt a little deceived since a glance at the photo in the mag showed all ingredients, including the couscous (in my case, quinoa) mixed into the pressure cooker. Of course, this made me think it was a one-pot meal. In reality, the grain is cooked separately, adding a little more effort than I originally thought.

The upcoming week's menus are more simple, as I'm trying a few reliable faves since Ashley got stuck with a nasty stomach bug and needs to eat up! I think there are a few sneaky dips that I might be able to blog about though.

Dinners and Desserts

2009-09-18T11:52:00.007-04:00

Now I know why I don't post often - Blogger isn't all that user-friendly when you are in a time crunch!!! I apologize for any typos but I have lots yet to get done with the little one takes her short nap!

Chana Masala from The Vegan Table. OK...

Pad Thai also from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. It was good, but I found the instructions to be a little cryptic. Of the recipes I've made so far, it seems like I would 'add a little oil' and it doesn't specify how high to have the heat on for several dishes. I only borrowed the book from the library so I'm not too disappointed. I didn't find any of the recipes to be all that original. Not trying to be a hater, but I found the same thing with the author's previous cookbook.

OMG - the Pot Roast from Vegan Lunch Box was to die for. I will be making it at both Thanksgiving and Xmas this year. I added cut up new potatoes to the carrots and really didn't think either would be cooked by the time this was done but surprisingly they were! I'll try to eat this up in one sitting since my leftovers seemed to revert to a raw state...it was weird. But with hungry vegans around the festive table I'm sure I won't have any issues with having it all eaten up!

What to do with almost rotting peaches? If you are also feeling lazy like I was, you can make a country torte! I made Bryanna Clark Grogan's Low Fat Pastry, cut up 3 cups of peaches and added 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tbsp flour, nutmeg, 1 tbsp lemon juice and dumped it in the middle of the rolled out pastry. I folded up the sides, topped with sliced almonds and baked at 375 for 35 minutes.

Peach Bundt Cake - I subbed 1/2 pkg silken tofu for the eggs. A little dense, but around here, dessert is dessert and we ate it up!

Grilled Pineapple with my fave Pound Cake from Vcon with soy ice cream. I marinated the pineapple with water, sucanat and cinnamon, then reduced the marinade with a little Earth Balance to make a sauce. So good! I bought another pineapple today to grill up!

Ole!

2009-08-26T05:40:00.002-04:00

I love beans, and I like crockpot recipes making dinner ready when I come back from a run. Here is a recipe for frijoles, traditionally cooked with bacon. Let's love the pigs *and* eat our beans too.

Slow Cooked Pinto Beans

1 pound (3 cups) dry pinto beans, sorted, rinsed, and soaked in water overnight
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup beer
1 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

**First thing in the morning**
Put the soaked beans and garlic into a crockpot and cover with veggie broth, adding water if necessary to just cover beans. Cook on low for 4+ hours.

**At lunch**
Saute the onions and jalapenos in the olive oil until soft. Add to the crockpot, as well as the crushed tomatoes. Stir and cook for 4+ more hours.

**30 minutes to 1 hour before eating, or before your run**
Add the beer, salt and cilantro. Stir and cook until you are ready for dinner.
Serve in corn tortillas or over brown rice with fresh corn.

Makes many servings, with leftovers to freeze if desired.

Cook's tip: The remainder of the bottle of beer tastes really great when you get back from your run, or enjoy with dinner.

Vegan Brunch!

2009-08-20T21:46:00.005-04:00

Wow, this cookbook has been out for what seems like eons now, and I'm just getting around to writing up my first review.

I have to say, the muffin recipes in this book are awesome. I'm a total muffin girl though. I tend to just throw a bunch of ingredients together and toss it in the pan. Muffins are such a tasty little snack that is so portable. I seem to make them every 3 days and freeze my concoctions so they stay nice and moist.

So far I've made Blueberry Ginger Spelt Muffins - I really am developing a taste for candied ginger. I know I took a pic, but with us now using two digital cameras (both with awful macro settings) I can't seem to find where it's been downloaded. Ah well, there is a pic in the book! I've also made the Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Yum! I made mine with whole wheat flour, hence the slightly brownish tone. I'm surprised I made these, since I'm still scarred from when I was a Loblaws bakery clerk in my teens. I had to walk around the store and distribute samples of poppy seed muffins to customers as they perused the aisles. I would head back to the bakery to refill my cart, then head out again. Since I wasn't paying attention to who I had asked, I would often offer my muffins to those I had just served minutes before. They would smile and let me know that they had already sampled them, but they didn't need to say a word. Wedged between their teeth, there were poppy seeds galore. Here these people were going to go about their day chatting it up with whoever and I was responsible for their potential embarrassment. I was actually more grossed out though. Since then, I have always been leery of poppy seeds, but considering I now often leave the house with clothes covered in spit up or God knows what else, I have no qualms about eating them and don't even check my teeth in the mirror before heading out.

Again, no pic (I'm sure because the muffins don't last long enough to take a shot) - Bakery-Style Berry Muffins. Delish! Just like Mmmuffins - or whatever that chain of food court muffins shops were called. I try not to let a giant frozen strawberry from my fruit mix get into the dough, since it makes for a soggy muffin - or an excuse to eat that one up right away! I tried adding a little oats for added health, but it just dried them out. I'll stick to the recipe! Another yummy one - Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins - super tangy! I used dried cranberries though for extra sweetness - and also because I'm too lazy to find and chop fresh ones.

On a night that I was alone with the little one, I decided to make not one but two new recipes! I loved how quick the Basic Scrambled Tofu and Perfect Pancakes came together. Sadly, the little one wasn't interested in eating them - not because they weren't tasty, but probably because she had like 6 teeth coming in at the same time. More for me!

Sweet Potato Fries

2009-07-25T21:04:00.005-04:00

Wow, horrifically long time since I posted. I'll blame it on the fact that I take pics with two different cameras, and can't be bothered to load each of them up! My mid-year resolution will be to be more frequent with posting...

But I have a great recipe to share! Tired of eating soggy sweet potato fries, I perfected the crisping process on the first try!

Actually Crispy Sweet Potato Fries

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/2 inch width fries
3-4 tbsp canola oil
3 tablespoons flour
salt

1. Place fries in bowl of cold water and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or up to 8 hours.
2. Preheat convection oven to 400 degrees (I think the convection part is important). Place a rimmed cookie sheet in the oven to warm up.
3. Once oven is preheated, take out sheet and add canola oil. Place tray back in oven.
4. Working quickly, drain fries and place in a ziploc bag with flour. Shake to coat.
5. Place fries on hot sheet (remember it's hot and oil can splatter!) and spread out into a single layer. Give a light spray of canola oil cooking spray and return sheet to oven. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until crispy and golden.
6. Remove from oven, add a sprinkling of salt and serve immediately to enjoy maximum crispiness!

Also, Kyle, Ash and I visited Green Earth here in Ottawa on Preston St (see Tracy's post)...OMG - heaven on earth! I can't wait to go again, since the buffet was all vegan (hooray!) and the service was awesome.

Assorted Recipes

2009-06-04T19:51:00.016-04:00

Wow, I think I've been storing up some pics again. I shouldn't do that since I forget what I made (I caught myself staring closely at some of the pics, wracking my brain trying to remember what it was - especially when some of the ingredients are nearly indecipherable!). My brain hurts from all of this thinking that I can't even think of an exciting title for this post.

But first, I have to report on Veg Fest. It was great! I honestly couldn't believe how many people were there! It was insane! Crazy that there are that many vegetarians/vegans/interested folks in Ottawa. I only wish the attendance would have encouraged Whole Foods to open here! We didn't stay too long, since the little one was a little crusty with all of the people around. I had hoped to order from one table with a bunch of different things, but as soon as it was my turn in line most of the options were already gone and it would be another 10 minutes (an eternity with a screaming child!) for their replacements to show up. My plans for a cupcake were nixed too. Ah well. There's always next year! If any of the organizers are reading, I hope that the circle of tables in the middle makes rows next year so that some of the space can be used better...especially when I'm sure more people will make it out!

Now back to the food...in my attempt to make faster meals to get dinner on the table at our most harried time of the day, I turned again to Nava Atlas' Vegan Express. Sweet and White Potato Salad with Mixed Greens. Not bad, but weird having cooked potatoes in it!

From Vegan Express yet again, White Pizza with Sweet Potato and Carmelized Onions. World's ugliest pizza, but tasted good. I had a hard time getting the sweet potatoes cooked well enough. It was a little too much work for me.

A winner from VT - Warm Potato Sald Primavera (May/June 2009). So yummy and a little unique! I love how the pesto was so thick.

From VT again, Thai Red Curry with Green Beans and Eggplant (April 2009). Omigod. I'm not a Thai food fan, but I loved how quick it was and how this tasted! Even without the curry sauce! I added Pete's Szechuan Tofu to this, which added lots of heat! I have to make this again, and it also encouraged me to try more recipes with a coconut milk base - such an easy and yummy way to make a creamy and filling texture!

From Vegan a Go-Go, some brown rice-lentil casserole (I forget the name, and I already returned the book to the library). I thought Ash would like it, but nope. I made it into patties the next night with some added breadcrumbs.

Some kind of stroganoff? I don't even remember making this! Must have been the day after a rough night or something. I'll guess that it's from the same cookbook as the last recipe.

From Skinny B*tch in the Kitch, Penne with Butternut Squash, Sage Pesto and Almonds. Delicious! Yet another winner from this little cookbook.

I'm loving my weekly recipe from Veg News. I'd been saving a tube of polenta just for this! Polenta Fries - very quick, different and yummy!

ps - Blogger is being irritating with the spacing and we got a new camera where I couldn't find the macro button :)

Ottawa Veg Fest '09!

2009-05-28T21:54:00.002-04:00

We're hoping to make it out to this on Sunday from 10-5 - the first ever Veg Fest!!! I'm dying to try some vegan cuppies and other treats!

Six Degrees of Dessert...

2009-05-24T21:18:00.006-04:00

So Kyle and I said we weren't going to eat dessert anymore...that didn't last long. Although I had fun using inspiration from one recipe to make the next dessert! Kevin Bacon, eat your heart out!

Lemon Cheesecake Bars from Martha Stewart were veganized to make the most delicious and easiest recipe. I think I used 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs, sugar and Earth Balance for the crust, then vegan soy cream cheese, 2 teaspoons egg replacer powder, 3/4 cup sugar and juice/rind of one lemon. My mom also tried making a lime version. Both are to die for. They would be really cute topped with a tiny lemon wedge or fancy rind, but I was too lazy for that.

On the lemon theme, I made the Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake from Vcon for mamma's day. I've made it before, but this time I topped it with a lemon glaze. One of my fave recipes.

From Vcon again, I made the Vanilla Yogurt Pound Cake. Omigod. So spongy! The best vegan angel food cake-like recipe I've found! Yum!

Eager to make the pound cake again, I did but switched it up to be a trifle using cubes of pound cake, vanilla custard, strawberries tossed with maple syrup, and Soyatoo whipped topping. Even my grandma gave me positive comments! I think she is on the vegan bandwagon...finally! She's come a long way from trying to persuade me to eat a porkchop because it's 'really tender' and to eat a salad that has chicken because 'it's just chicken'.

To use up extra maple syrupy strawberries, I made a Coconut Ice Cream from a recent VT issue. It was a little icy.

Eager to use up the ice cream, we picked some fresh rhubarb to make Fresh Rhubarb Parfaits from a recent VT (maybe the same issue as the ice cream? Can't remember!). The combo of orange and ginger was amazing. I threw in a few strawberries for extra sweetness, although it really didn't need it.

The Deceitful Vegan

2009-04-29T21:45:00.008-04:00

In a continued effort to make healthy meals for the fam, I borrowed The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious from the library. If you didn't already know, the 'trick' behind these two books is to puree healthy fruits and veggies and add them into regular-looking meals so no one notices that they are eating 'healthy'. Now the only part of this that I think is a little silly is that often only one tablespoon of puree is in one serving but whatever...it's something I guess! Of course I had to veganize the recipes to make them truly veg-friendly.

My fave has been the Unbelieveable Chocolate Chip Cookies (link is slightly different than the recipe I used). Chock full of wheat germ, whole wheat flour and pureed white beans, these are awesome! I definitely didn't feel so bad eating them. The author noted that she couldn't make these any healthier, but by omitting the eggs and replacing with ground flaxseed, I did it!

Magic Meatballs - I used the Green Puree, tomato paste and a package of Yves Original Ground Round. Easy and simple! I followed her suggestion and added some White Puree and Orange Puree to a jar of store-bought spaghetti sauce.

Covert Quesadillas - Comprised of White Bean Puree and soy cheese. I guess if you liked the taste of cheese you would like this, but this again confirmed that I don't like the taste of cheese. Even though I said it before, I won't try soy cheese again.

Breakfast Ice Cream - banana, avocado, cocoa, agave nectar and probably something else I'm forgetting. Who cares - frozen, it was delicious and tasted like Jello Pudding Pops that I remember from being a kid.

Stuffed Potatoes - Vegan soy sour cream, white puree and veggie bacon made these pretty darn good.

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies - I thought it was weird to have crushed cereal flakes, and I was right. Although when they came out of the oven they tasted normal, when they cooled the texture of the cereal was really odd. Maybe I didn't crush them enough? Folks were amazed to find out there was sweet potato and carrots in these.

And now for the really not so great stuff. Brainy Brownies with spinach and blueberries would have been great if I had added some baking powder when omitting the eggs. They had nothing in them to help rise!

I can't remember the exact name, but I'll guess Roasted Chickpeas. I guess they are supposed to taste like cinnamon sugar treats, they weren't great. For comparison, I made the same thing from the Vegan Lunch Box with nooch. I actually liked the quicker version of these, and just sprinkling some nooch on chickpeas right out of the can rather than roasting them. A great sub for popcorn!

The only thing I made from Deceptively Delicious was the Chocolate Pudding with avocado. Made with icing sugar, it turned out like frosting. It was supposed to serve like 6 people, but it barely made enough for Kyle and I. Unless we are complete pigs.

Boring Post Alert - Soups and Muffins

2009-04-07T21:50:00.002-04:00

Wow, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with a post...I made two pressure cooker soups from the Complete Vegetarian Kitchen by Lorna Sass. I wanted to use up some of the dried beans Kyle bought as part of our 'emergency' food stash. Honest to God, we have enough emergency food for the whole neighbourhood should some major catastrophe happen. Anyways, the first was White Bean with Escarole Soup. I subbed baby spinach since I don't think Loblaws carries escarole, but I never even tried looking for it. It was OK, but seemed a little bland.

Again, trying another bean soup, Adzuki Bean Soup with Corn (this is not the title, but I'm too lazy to dig out the book to check what it is). Meh - again, not alot of flavour. I was surprised at how the colour from the adzuki beans leached into the soup...interesting.

Continuing with the theme of boring, some simple Banana Blueberry Muffins. I basically mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp ground flax with 3 mashed bananas, a little oil and soymilk to make a moist batter. I then add some frozen wild blueberries. Nothing exciting, but I changed it up making regular-sized and mini-muffins so Ash and I each had our own sized snack.

Skinny B*tch Rocks!

2009-03-19T12:35:00.014-04:00

So I got a few new cookbooks from the library. I know it's not new or anything, but I got Skinny B*tch in the Kitch, as I never realized it is a vegan cookbook. I guess you have to be familiar with the preceding book or something, as nowhere on the cover does it suggest anything about vegan cooking! Anyways, despite it's lack of inspiring photos plus the fact that some recipes tell me I'm being a pig, I decided to give some recipes a try.

First up - Pecan-crusted French Toast. Eerily similar to Fronch Toast (which I love!), the addition of pecans is genius. And they actually stick! I'll definitely be making this one again.

I've been craving some tabouleh lately, and I found an easy recipe in here! I've never made it before, so maybe this recipe isn't so ground-breaking, but I never knew you just had to add boiling water to bulgur! I do have to say that I would have liked for the bulgur to have been more tender.

And Kyle and I have been meaning to eat more salads. The Edamame Three-Bean Salad was so easy and tasty. It only would have been more colourful had I had enough red pepper and red kidney beans (I subbed black beans). I'll be making this one again during the summer for sure!

And while it's in the appetizer section, I served up Crabby Crabcakes on top of the suggested spinach with the lemony dressing from Vcon. Now I've never had crab before, but the shredded parsnips in this tasted so darn good! I loved these! And since I made so many, I had lots of shaped cakes ready to be fried for the next night, making for a very easy dinner prep. As for the sauce, I didn't have the time nor all of the ingredients for the remoulade recipe, so I just mixed up some Nayonaise with ketchup and a dash of onion powder instead.

Still on the appetizer route, I had to make the onion rings. I can't tell you the last time I ate these, since we've never made them at home and I would worry that most restaurants would fry them up in oil used for fish, etc. These were great! I'll just be sure to use a finer grind of cornmeal (it wasn't specified in the recipe) and I'll be sure to buy a white onion next time.

Ah...dessert. We're supposed to be on a dessert strike, but I couldn't resist. And besides, this next recipe is so healthy - it's not even in the dessert section! When I saw the recipe for Homemade Granola Parfait I thought, 'meh, another boring granola recipe'. But I kept an open mind and made it anyways. This recipe is brilliant - I've never put brown rice syrup in my granola and boy, have I been missing something! It makes it so crunchy and adds a touch of sweetness - nothing like the maple syrup alone that I've been using for so many years! It was delicious with vanilla soy yogurt and yummy strawberries.

Well, since I made and served dessert one night, I had to do it again! I was also craving rice pudding, so I had to make that too. Now since there's only Kyle and I eating this, I didn't want to store the leftovers in a casserole dish so that next time we went to get a serving, we'd carve out a thickened hunk to put in a bowl. So I decided to throw the finished rice pudding in a pre-made vegan shortbread pie crust. After chilling in the fridge, it firmed up nicely enough to serve - and subsequent servings were still pretty and tasty! While it was a good healthy recipe with brown rice, I found it to be not quite 'saucy' enough, so I'll stick with my other recipe that is more creamy with soy yogurt. But I'll stick with this way of serving it from now on since it is also a 'thick' recipe versus the runnier rice pudding I had as a kid.

Finally, Dream Bars. I had scanned this recipe several times since it had so much stuff in it, and such a weird topping of coconut milk that I had a hard time envisioning how it would look and taste. While this pic doesn't do it justice, as I was supposed to let it cool a little more, it was heavenly. It made a whole 9x13 pan, so if you make this, make sure you do it when you will have lots of people around to help you out. You won't be a skinny b*tch if you eat this all by yourself, like the book suggests. Plus, you may want to mini-barf, as Kyle did when he set out to eat about 1/4 of the pan in one sitting.

All in all, a great little book! I'll definitely be buying my own copy of this one since it had so many standard and neat little recipes!

What I'm Making for St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-12T12:38:00.004-04:00

I have no idea when I will get the time to post again, so I thought I'd be a little proactive in putting something up to share what I will be re-making for St. Patty's Day. Originally titled 'Tempeh in Hearty Mushroom-Lager Sauce', I subbed Yves Chick'n Tenders (what else?). Since it's from the March 2009 issue of VT, I can't seem to quickly find a link to the recipe :(

Anyways, it tastes like total pub fare. So darn good. I mini-hoped that the 2 1/2 cups of beer would somehow affect how Ash would sleep after nursing, but I think most of it cooked off during heating.

I'm super pumped to make this again! I just have to think of a side that's green to go with it that would be Irishy too...anyone have any ideas? I did steamed green beans last time I made this but I'd rather do something a little more exciting.

Treats for Kyle

2009-03-07T20:35:00.009-05:00

Nothing says I love you like a bad leftover cake stored in the freezer, topped with leftover icing and chocolate mousse from making cuppies for a recent b-day party.

But I did well for Kyle's b-day. We started off with homemade Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns from MrsBadMouth's zine. I used canned pumpkin since we were all out of home-roasted and despite the brighter orange colour (almost neon!), I think canned pumpkin is waaayyy easier. Why have I been wasting so much time roasting my own? It's always too runny!

That night, I served up his other b-day request, for a cake that was like a Canadian Maple donut from the other major coffee shop in Canada. So here it is, based on an old Veggie Life recipe:

M"eh"ple Cream Cake

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white potato, baked, with flesh scooped out
2 tablespoons Earth Balance
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup soymilk

Filling
1/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup cold water
3 ounces firm silken tofu (in asceptic package)
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze
1 tablespoon Earth Balance

1 tablespoon maple extract
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons boiling water, or more as needed

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray and line two 8 inch round pan with parchment paper on the bottom.

2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a separate large bowl, cream potato and Earth Balance. Add the sugar and beat until fully blended and mix is fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla and lemon extracts to the sugar mix and continue to beat.
5. Slowly add soy milk, beating until fully blended. Then add flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, and beat until batter is smooth.
6. Pour into pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a rack for at least 1 hour.

7. To make filling, in a blender, grind cashews with 1/4 cup water until smooth, about 1 minute. Add remaining water, washing down sides of blender while doing so and then blend on high for 2 minutes. Add tofu, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Blend on high until mixture is completely smooth.
8. Pour mixture into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture is very thick, about 2 minutes.
9. Remove from heat then stir in oil and vanilla. Allow to cool, stir occasionally. At room temperature, cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.

10. To make glaze, stir together maple extract and Earth Balance, then add in icing sugar. Add 1 tablespoon at a time of boiling water until glaze is thick but still pourable.

11. To assemble cake, place one layer on serving surface, dump out filling in centre, then place other cake layer on top, gently pressing down, ensuring filling stays about 1/2 from the edge. Pour on a little glaze to test the consistency, allowing some to fall down the sides. If glaze is too liquidy, add a little icing sugar until right consistency is achieved, then try to pour on cake again.

Now I had doubled the filling since I love it so much and thought I could put it to good use. And I did! I made Boston Cream Cuppies using the same cake recipe, but using Isa's chocolate ganache topping from VCTOTW.

With still even more filling left over in my pastry bag, I decided to pipe it onto some tofu chocolate mousse that was hanging around in the fridge! I even had a little ganache leftover that I did a little decorative touch.

So with all of these sweets, Kyle suggested that we cut down a little. Probably a good idea. Despite our dessert strike, I did negotiate making Dream Bars from Skinny B*tch in the Kitch since they sound so heavenly. I hope to make those this week to cheer us up from our dessert drought!

Square Root Day

2009-03-03T19:55:00.004-05:00

So Kyle calls me this morning to inform me that today is a very unique day requiring a unique meal - apparently it's Square Root Day. Believe me, I wasn't thrilled about cooking something up for a number of reasons. First, Ash is still nowhere close to sleeping through the night. I haven't seen a four-hour stretch of sleep in weeks, never mind a full night of sleep in more than a year. And last night was awful so I was completely groggy today. Second, I had made enough spaghetti and bland tomato sauce to unfortunately last us til next month. Third, my mind was so cloudy there was no way that I could even figure out why today was Square Root Day, never mind come up with something creative.

But alas, I surprised myself by coming up with the following recipe that was quite delectable:

Squared Root Gnocchi

1 package gnocchi
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1 cm squares (the shape is important!)
1 large parsnip, cut into 1 cm squares (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons Earth Balance, divided
1/2 large onion, cut into thin slices
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package Yves Chick'n Tenders, diced
1/2 teaspoon Spike seasoning, optional
1/2 package fresh baby spinach

Creamy Square Sauce:
2 1/2 cups soymilk
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon tamari
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons Earth Balance

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Add sweet potatoes, parsnips (if using), oil, thyme and rosemary and toss to coat. Roast for 40 minutes, and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp Earth Balance, onion and garlic and saute until golden, about 5 minutes.
3. While the onion and garlic cooks, be a true multitasker and boil a pot of salted water for the gnocchi. In yet another saucepan, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients (except for the Earth Balance) and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Once simmering, add the Earth Balance and cook the sauce for another 10 minutes, again, stirring often.
4. While the sauce simmers, add the gnocchi to the boiling water and cook until gnocchi rise to the top of the pot, about 4 minutes.
5. When you've added the gnocchi to the boiling water, add the chick'n tenders and Spike (if using) to the onion and garlic mixture and cook for 3 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minutes.
6. By this time, your gnocchi should be ready! Spoon it out of the boiling water and add it to the onion mixture. Add remaining 1 tbsp of Earth Balance and stir to combine. Toss in roasted veggies and stir gently.
7. Spoon gnocchi into a serving bowl and top with several spoonfuls of Creamy Square Sauce.

Confusing? Somewhat! Just like math can be! But actually rather easy!

New Vegetarian Restaurant in Ottawa!

2009-03-01T13:23:00.004-05:00

We heard the news and had to check it out. Last night we dined at the new Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine restaurant on Preston. We especially wanted to scope it out before taking the girls there since on one of our recent excursions downtown to the organic pizza place rumoured to have vegan cheese, we walked down Kent in the freezing cold only to learn that it had recently gone belly-up.

Green Earth is a refreshing place - bright in a happy way, with two dining levels. There are no curtains on the front window, so we instinctively wanted to eat near the back. I noticed that most people that came in after us felt the same way. There are two flat screen TVs tuned into SupremeMaster TV, which was an interesting channel piping continuous world peace and vegetarian messages subtitled in at least six languages.

The menu is puzzling. It is mostly Chinese/Asian, but with a section of six different veggie burgers, and burritos, fajitas and tacos, and another section of spaghetti and fettuccine alfredo. "Brushetta" is an appetizer alongside spring rolls and crispy wontons, and if you are so inspired you can order "fresh fries". There are only a couple of items that are not vegan and they are marked on the menu. The word "aulacese" is used several times. Not sure what that means. Internet searches imply that it is a synonym for Vietnamese.

The staff was very friendly and we were promptly served a pot of hot tea. We decided on an appetizer of Crispy Wontons, followed by soup - for me, Hot & Sour Soup and Petey ordered Rainbow Soup. The wontons were tasty, but there wasn't much filling, so we'll pass on those next time. Both of the soups were very good. This is now my go-to place for Hot & Sour Soup - loved it! We ordered dishes called "Three Flavours" and "Asparagus with Crescent" as our entrees. They were served as individual plates with a small pile of brown rice on each plate, so we had to kind of divvy up the plate in order to share both dishes. The "Three Flavours" - pumpkin, eggplant, tofu, onions and sweet basil was reminiscent of a Thai dish and very tasty. "Crescents" was asparagus and vegan prawn made from yam which was garlicky, salty and tasty. The asparagus was fresh and cooked perfectly and I think the prawn are funny. It was supposed to be served with chili sauce but I never saw any of that.

I thought we would be full by the end but we decided to try the vegan cheesecake. It was to die for. Slightly lemony and creamy on a graham cracker crust. Again, a repeat order next time we go there, and we may not be sharing.

It took a while to get our bill and we ended up having to ask for it. I wonder if it is a cultural thing, because I have noticed this at the Barrhaven Vietnamese Restaurant and a few reviews of that restaurant have alluded to this. If you are in a hurry, just ask politely for it or head to the cash.

Ottawa veggies, check it out! Let's keep our local vegetarian restaurants in business.

Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine
354A Preston St
Ottawa, ON
(613) 56-EARTH
Mon-Sat 11am-9pm
Sun 12pm-8pm

Shrove Tuesday

2009-02-25T11:52:00.005-05:00

Kyle wanted to celebrate Fat Tuesday with some pancakes. Oddly enough, I was just thinking of trying out pancakes with the little one in an effort to try and introduce her to different, yet healthy foods. Here's a recipe that is both adult and baby/kid-friendly. I used baby cereal to boost the fortified iron content, but you could certainly just use flour instead. You can certainly make this without the sweet potatoes and the pancakes are great, but the potatoes make a deliciously dense pancake. This recipe makes a few extras, so I have them stashed in freezer in between a few layers of wax paper in a Ziploc bag.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup baby cereal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold Earth Balance
3 cups clabbered soymilk (soymilk mixed with 2 teaspoons cider vinegar)
1 1/2 cups cooked and pureed sweet potatoes

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in margarine and use a pastry blender to achieve a coarse consistency. Add clabbered soymilk and stir to combine. Add sweet potatoes and stir until well mixed.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Spray with oil. Pour out batter onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear and edges are a little dry. Flip and cook for another minute or two. Repeat until batter is gone.

Serve with maple syrup (adults) or fruit (babies).

Clearing Out the Archives

2009-02-11T21:09:00.005-05:00

I was checking out my pics, and realized that I hadn't posted a few gems. Because it's been so long, I can't really remember the exact titles and where things were from, but I'll do my best.

First up, Cardamom Rice Pudding from an issue of Vegetarian Times. I love rice pudding, but I didn't love this one. Maybe it was all of the almonds plus dried cranberries and strong cardamom flavour, but this was a little much. I'll stick to my usual recipe.

I had some baby cereal that tasted way too iron-fortified for Ash to like, so I used it up in my banana muffins recipe! I tossed some in with some oats and added a little extra soymilk. They were my best muffins ever!

Mystery salad alert! I have NO idea what this was, but I think it was from a recent VT issue. I don't think I'll make it again, whatever it was, probably because I wouldn't even know what issue to look in!

Now for all the good stuff - delicious Vegan Lasagna from the latest VT. A little bit of effort, but pretty fast. Instead of cooking onions and garlic separately for each of the Speedy Red Sauce and Spinach Filling, I cooked them together and split them up. Cut down on alot of the time. I have to say that this recipe did confirm that I really don't like vegan cheese. I never liked regular cheese, so I'm not sure why I thought I'd like soy cheese, but I gave it another shot with this recipe and will omit it in the future.

Triple Nut Torte from a holiday issue of VT. Very easy, and super good! Instead of using a double boiler for melting the chocolate, I just stuck chocolate chips in a bowl and put the bowl on the hot cookie sheet (used to toast the nuts). Melted like a charm! Why don't the authors put these tips in? I'm sure it's not just new moms that don't need extra effort nor to wash extra dishes!

Finally, the most delicious Pan Pizza ever. I used the crust recipe from the most recent VT, but filled it with Isa Pizza toppings instead. Way better than the Hut, even for obvious reasons that it isn't laden with pepperoni! I can't wait to make this again. I'm going to try a pile of different mushrooms and onions. I'm so glad that I have a cast iron pan just for this recipe alone!

Ashley Turns One!

2009-02-09T22:15:00.004-05:00

More cupcakes! I baked these up during the week and froze them, made the frostings the day before and iced the day of - it was super easy...especially with a little ankle biter yanking on my pants to be picked up all the time! And I know the photo is not totally stylized...we had to hurry to grab a pic since we had 20+ hungry onlookers and a little girl that needed to be served!

For Ash's 1st b-day bash, I made S'mores Cupcakes from VCTOTW that my dad really enjoyed (although he kept calling them Smurf Cupcakes...I guess he never heard of a s'more before?).

Looking for something with more natural sugar for the b-day girl to eat, I made the Vanilla Agave Nectar Cupcakes (half frosted with Vanilla Buttercream and the other half with Not-Too-Sweet Blueberry Mousse...all from VCTOTW too). I was a little scared to use agar, but it seemed to turn out! When I tried the mousse on its own I was worried, since like the title says, it's really not too sweet. But teamed with a cuppie, it was super tasty! For some reason, I also expected a pale blue colour. After the final mixing, I felt relieved to re-read the description that went along with the recipes as it says it's bright purple! I'm going to make these ones again this weekend for the big b-day bash for all the babies in our playgroup. Ash really liked it.

I also made those avocado cuppies I blogged about before, but instead topped with the chocolate tofu mousse from VCTOTW. OMG. My new fave cuppie. The mousse was so thick and really creamy. Yummy!

Vegetables...They're Not Just for Dinner Anymore

2009-01-20T21:36:00.005-05:00

They're for dessert too!

I made up VCTOTW Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes, but used this recipe instead. Nothing against the original recipe or anything, but I loved how these turned out when I made them before. Something about the avocado in them that just did something wonderful to the texture. And I had tried freezing them before, with great results. It's my new thing to do - bake up cupcakes a week in advance, make the icing the day before, and ice them the day of the big event. Easy.

For our mom's b-day, I made Boston Cream Cake again. The secret veggie ingredient in this one? Potato! It makes the layer cake so fluffy. Who knew?

Kyle has requested a twist on the BC cake for his upcoming b-day. Same cake, same filling, but with a maple-y glaze similar to a Canadian Maple donut from Tim Horton's. He's also requesting this pie too. I have no idea why I need to make two things, but whatever...can't argue with the birthday boy!

Happy B-day to Me!

2009-01-09T21:57:00.006-05:00

I make my own cake for my b-day. I was going to order more cupcakes for my big day this year (after having tried 5 different kinds from Ash's baptism), but I would only order a dozen this time and they were all so good that I couldn't pick just one kind. So I thought I would try and make a ginger cake with lemon icing based on one of the varieties of those cupcakes.

So I doubled the Gingerbread Cupcakes from VCTOTW, and made 2 layer cakes. Similar to other carrot cake disasters, the damn center caved in.

I posted my issue to the PPK and later figured that the batter must have been too moist and there wasn't enough dry ingredients to soak it all up. I wasn't able to serve that up, especially once iced, since I'm sure it would have turned into a sogfest. So after doubling the recipe, I decided to try the recipe again and use 3/4 cup oil instead of 1 cup, omitted the maple syrup, used 3/4 cup sucanat and used about 1 cup of soymilk, while keeping all of the other ingredients and quantities the same. It turned out great! A tasty cake makes being 30-something not so bad :)

PS - I still haven't forgotten about posting the Turtles recipe...I'm lucky that the baby has stayed asleep this long to allow me to create this post ;)

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-24T11:53:00.009-05:00

Here's my cookie tray for this year:

Vegan Turtles - Turtles, turtles...rah rah rah! I will post this recipe shortly...yummy!

Gingerbread Bears - Same recipe Tracy uses, except my icing didn't turn out as crunchy.

Chocolate Coconut Clusters - Did I blog about these before? Good! I made them vegan (obviously) and only boiled the mixture for a couple of minutes.

Cranberry Crumble Bars - Not too sweet!

Incredibly Non-Butter Shortbread Cookies - Delish! I added a little lemon juice to my icing and it tasted really good! Recipe is below!

1 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup icing sugar
2 tsp Kingsmill egg replacer

2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1. With electric mixer, beat Earth Balance until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in granulated and icing sugars and then beat in egg replacer, water and vanilla.
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually stir into buttery mixture. Transfer dough to work surface; kneed lightly until it forms a ball.
3. Divide dough in half; shape each into disc. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to 2 days. Once disc at a time, roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes and place them on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
4. Bake in centre of preheated 375 F oven for 10 - 12 minutes or until light golden on bottom and edges. Let cool for 3 minutes on baking sheets; transfer to wire racks to cool. Makes 3 dozen cookies. Ice as desired.

Merry Christmas from Ashley! Happy New Year Everyone!

Sarah: 1, Soggy Carrot Cake: 0

2008-12-04T20:22:00.004-05:00

I never thought that this day would come. I, Sarah the Vegan, have conquered my inability to make a serveable carrot cake.

I have owned VwaV for a couple years, and passed by the Ginger-Macadamia-Coconut-Carrot Cake recipe several times. But visions of carrot cake past kept haunting me. I even wrote back then that PPKers reassured me to try this recipe. But fear held me back.

Finally, I got the gumption to give it a go. And wow. Amazing. So good that I'm making it again this weekend for the stepdad's b-day. This time, I'm so bold to try and make it a layer cake! And this recipe must be foolproof since I used walnuts instead of the maca nuts and omitted the crystallized ginger. I will likely make it blindfolded since I'm now a carrot cake expert ;)

Even though I've tackled the fear of soggy carrot cakes, there's no way I'm going to face my fear of spiders.

Coldbusters

2008-11-23T08:05:00.004-05:00

Princess came home from school complaining that she wasn't feeling well. Wanting to stop her cold in its tracks, I figured soup was in order. A small head of savoy cabbage had caught Pete's eye at the grocery store earlier in the day, so it became the main ingredient in the soup. Here's a vegan nod to the infamous Chicken Soup remedy.

Ch-egan Cabbage Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 tblsp olive oil
1 large carrot, chopped into small pieces
1 new potato, cut into small cubes
5 cups of water, divided
3 tblsp vegan no-chicken broth powder
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
3 cups savoy cabbage, chopped finely
2 Gardein vegan “chicken breasts”, cut into small strips or Yves Chick'n Tenders, chopped
2 tsp sugar

Saute onion in olive oil until translucent. Add carrot and potato, broth powder and 1 cup of water. Braise for 5 mins. Add tomatoes, remaining water, salt, thyme and bay leaf. Simmer for 20 mins. Add cabbage, "chick'n" strips and sugar and cook until cabbage is soft. Remove bay leaf and serve.

And guess what? After a small bowl of soup, she was bouncing off the couch again.

Moo-Wah-Ha-Ha-Ha (Evil Sound)

2008-10-28T19:18:00.004-04:00

It's coming up on that spooky time of year! Trick or treat...these look like scary, dismembered fingers, but are instead tasty Bloody Finger Cookies courtesy of Yeah, That "Vegan" Sh*t. I meant to make these last year, but I think I only remembered them on November 1st :(

I whipped up the dough while the little one played with a toy - briefly. I stuck the dough in the fridge, as per the instructions and waited for my opportunity to shape them into creepy fingers. The stars must have been aligned, because Ash decided to take a much-needed nap and actually remained sleeping in her crib for a half hour. In that time, I did some creative shaping - I thought they were going to look like crap but they actually came out looking alot like fingers!

I couldn't decide which pics to post so I have a shot right out of the oven, then a few with blood dripping out. I'm taking some to my mom's group Halloween get-together tomorrow, then Kyle is going to take some to work. Nothing like spreading some vegan cheer!

Soup n' Such

2008-10-24T07:47:00.010-04:00

So much to blog about, but truly, so little time...

As Tracy mentioned in her post, it's gotten so cold that soup is an ideal meal. I pulled out Nava Atlas' Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons and made a Creamy Golden Potato Squash Soup. It was so silky and smooth! One thing this recipe made me realize is to not use the crumbled bay leaves that came with my spice set - there's a reason why recipes always say to remove the whole bay leaf before serving (obviously not possible with the bits I have)...those things do not soften up and result in little irritating pieces with every bite.

Another delicious soup was courtesy of one of Sarah Kramer's books - Auntie Bonnie's Black Bean Soup. Delicious! The addition of vinegar was genius! It offered the perfect amount of tang! I was also impressed with how easy it was to put this together.

And still on the whole fall theme...time for pumpkin scones! Some pie pumpkins grew on their own in our garden thanks to our compost pile (I guess some of last year`s pie pumpkins' seeds germinated!), so I roasted them up and made Pumpkin Scones!

Fall also means Thanksgiving. I'm so late in posting my feast, and the pic is of my plate of leftovers! I'm terrible! But I was more concerned with eating my meal than taking a pic of it while the little girl was happy! I made Dreena Burton's Rosemary Tofu Balls into cutlets (I thought they were too spicy but everyone seemed to like them!), and served them with maple-ginger winter squash, mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies.

And finally, it was little Ash's baptism. We had a big shindig at my mom's after the ceremony, which initially had me a little stressed since I wanted to make lots of food (including a dessert) but would have no time. I decided to outsource the dessert and proceeded to try and find somewhere that could make some kind of vegan cake. I searched on the web for places in Ottawa, but had no luck - one bakery told me they could do vegan, but to expect it to taste 'dry and bland' (what???) and to make a small cake for the few vegans at the party and do a non-vegan cake for everyone else. I knew there had to be a better option out there! Thank goodness one of the moms in my mom's group sent me a link to Lil' Cakes. They were able to do all sorts of vegan cupcakes for me!

I was indifferent about the whole ceremony, but super excited for the five dozen cupcakes that were waiting for us! There was vanilla with buttercream, vanilla with raspberry mousse filling, chocolate with chocolate mousse, pumpkin chocolate chip and gingerbread with lemon buttercream. Best of all, they were absolutely beautiful AND delicious! I think I might need to establish a weekly standing order for cupcakes...

Putting it All Together

2008-10-04T10:16:00.003-04:00

I had a bunch of random thoughts regarding dinner last night. One - it's fall, I'm craving soup. Two - I want to come home from swimming and have dinner immediately because all of us will be cold and hungry. Three - I have a 4 lb bag of chana dal in the cupboard. Four - It has to be something healthy because I'm trying to lose a couple of pounds to make running easier. After scouring the interwebs to find the perfect recipe, I gave up and morphed some of the better ones into one to suit the ingredients that I had and the level of blandness that was required (after making one rather surprisingly volcanic Tofu Vindaloo this week, I had to redeem myself). The results were tasty, very healthy and made enough for the whole street (or to freeze for future quick Friday night meals).

Pardon the photo, but I was halfway through my bowl before I realized I might want a pic.

Golden Crockpot Split Chickpea Soup

2 tblsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 lb chana dal (split chickpeas), rinsed
4 cups veggie broth (I used a 1L asceptic package that I bought on sale for $1.99)
4 cups water
2/3 cup Thai red rice (could substitute brown rice)
sea salt and pepper to taste

THE NIGHT BEFORE
Chop the veggies

THE MORNING OF
Saute the onions in olive oil until soft. Add the other veggies and saute for a few minutes. Add to the crockpot along with the dal. Add the veggie broth and water. Turn on low and cook for around four hours.

AT LUNCH/WHENEVER YOU CAN
Add the rice. Cook for another 2-4 hours. Add more water if it looks thick. I ended up adding more 2 cups.

AT DINNER
Stir and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Every Course is Covered!

2008-09-15T06:37:00.007-04:00

I think I've made enough new things when put altogether would serve as a 10-course meal!

I was feeling a little under the weather, but Vcon's Chickpea Noodle Soup hit the spot! I think it was so dark since I didn't have any light miso. Cool thing about this soup - it turns into a noodle casserole the next day!

This looks like next day's Chickpea Noodle Soup, but is actually some spaghetti recipe from an old copy of VT. It said to roast the spaghetti first in the oven before adding it to broth to cook, as it would give it a nutty taste. I didn't notice any difference and was annoyed at the time it took to do that extra step. It's served with some delicious potatoes from our garden that Kyle cooked up.

Speaking of Kyle cooking, here is his delicious salad!

Salad:
Shaved Carrots (garden)
Honey cherry tomatoes (garden)
Beefsteak tomatoes (garden)
Lebanese cucumber (garden)
2 cloves garlic (garden)
Basil (garden)

Dressing:
3 parts olive oil
1/3 part balsamic vinegar
1/3 part lemon juice
Salt-pepper-onion powder

I made VwaV's Gigantoid PB Cookies with a few variations...one of the moms in my mom's group has celiac issues, and the other is severly allergic to nuts! So I made these with soy nut butter (which really doesn't taste like a nut butter at all much to my disappointment) and rice flour. There were OK, but I really do prefer the original recipe and am thankful I don't have any allergies!

Ah, summer...time for Peach 'Custard' Pie! Peaches, sugar, soymilk, flour and nutmeg...delicious! I think I've blogged about this before!

I think this was from VwaV...these Stuffed Peppers were AWESOME! The black bean-quinoa filling is so great and can be eaten as a grain side dish, or a stuffing for squash or anything!

From a recent VT...Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream. Of course I added chocolate chips. I think I'll stick with Vcon's Ice Cream recipe since I found this one to be very 'icy' - and I don't mean too cold.

I was watching Ricardo and Friends on the Food Network, and he made this cool sandwich from a loaf of hollowed out round bread. I imitated using layers of pesto, roasted veggies (eggplant, zucchini, peppers and onions), Tofurky slices and VwaV's Tofu Ricotta. I weighed it down and kept it cold. It was delicious!

I was craving something with peanut butter again, so I made up the sauce for the Cold Udon Noodles from VwaV, but added warm noodles, coriander, red pepper, cucumber and cubed tofu that I cooked up. Yummy and easy.

How to make a fast birthday cake - take a graham pie crust, add some softened neopolitan soy ice cream and freeze for 4 hours. Spread some ganache on top and top with nuts, and re-freeze for another 4 hours minimum. Then serve! Just like Baskin Robbins! In this case, I topped with fresh strawberry slices before serving.

Another fast snack - tortilla chips tossed with sugar and cinnamon. The first time I tried it I warmed them in the oven then sprinkled with organic sugar and cinnamon. They were like Beaver Tails that I used to eat as a kid. However, they are easier to make when simply tossed in a bag with a little icing sugar and cinnamon (no photo). This time they were like waffles that we used to get an old southern Ontario amusement park.

Summer Vacation

2008-09-01T14:59:00.003-04:00

During the summer months, I’m not very creative in the kitchen. One reason is that I’m not very hungry when I’m warm, and the other is that we are busy spending time outside running, cycling, walking and swimming before being cooped up for the long winter. Because of that, I’ve just made the old standby meals that we eat all the time and therefore have nothing interesting to blog about.

To celebrate the last few weeks of summer, we took a family vacation to Niagara Falls. After googling for vegan restaurants in the area, we concluded that the honeymoon mecca of Ontario really wasn’t a vegan paradise. We brought a lot of snack food with us.

Upon arriving, we drove down the main drag wearily looking at steakhouse after steakhouse. We checked into our hotel then walked by the falls.

Getting back to our room, a rainbow appeared in the mist created by the falling water.

Getting hungrier by the minute and after concluding that Wolfgang Puck’s wasn’t a good choice for us, we noticed a couple of Italian chain restaurants, notably East Side Mario’s and My Cousin Vinnie’s. We have East Side’s at home so tried out My Cousin Vinnie’s. That was a mistake. There weren’t many vegan items. Pete settled on a veggie wrap without feta which was okay but overpriced and I had a spinach salad with mango, red onion with poppyseed dressing. It sounded better than it tasted. There were precious few vegan items for kids, other than pasta with tomato sauce. We left feeling deflated.

Breakfast was included with our room and we didn’t do too badly – there was oatmeal with raisins and almonds, bagels with strawberry jam and fresh fruit. Just bring your own soymilk.

The next night we met my grandparents who live close by for dinner at a local restaurant named Betty’s in Chippewa (8921 Sodom Road). Apparently it started more than 50 years ago as a homemade pie stand and grew to a large restaurant catering to the aging population of the Niagara Region. The restaurant smelled strongly of beef and fish upon entering, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a vegetarian dinner on the menu. It consisted of a plate of penne with seasonal cooked veggies in a balsamic reduction and tasted fresh and homemade. They had the wherewithal to serve parmesan cheese on the side in a sealed container instead of on the meal by default. Pete had a huge slice of vegan peach pie. We were happy and returned to our room satisfied.

Avoid watching captive dolphins perform tricks and black bears being fed marshmallows by zoo patrons at Marineland and get your family fun at the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark, billed as the largest indoor waterpark in North America. We all had a blast. Afterwards, we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for veggie burgers and a great family atmosphere. The giftshop is schlocky but the burgers were supreme, and our server was extremely good with kids.

We travelled along the Niagara Parkway to the botanical gardens and the Butterfly Conservatory. The flowers were stunning. We kept going to the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake which was gorgeously decorated in cascading bouquets and plantings. This is a town of mainly upscale boutiques and galleries, so we only had a tea and walked around.

On the way back, we stopped at a local vineyard and picked up a couple of bottles of Merlot and a roadside fruit stand. The Niagara region is Ontario’s major fruit growing region and we scored a basket of ripe peaches. I was so excited to discover seedless Concord grapes! I love juicy Concords but find the seeds annoying. These babies are pure candy.

For dinner, we decided to check out Taki Japanese Restaurant at 5500 Victoria Ave. It seemed very authentic down to the fake food on display in the entrance. We feasted on miso soup, edamame, veggie sushi, and agedashi tofu (ask for no bonito flakes on it). This is a hidden gem among the tourist traps and the meal cost less than any we had in Niagara Falls.

We had a great time, but have vowed to make our next vacation one where we have a hard time choosing which vegan restaurant to patronize.

Rhubarb Galore!

2008-08-27T12:27:00.002-04:00

We have a massive pile of rhubarb growing in our backyard. Kyle picked a pile and I made my annual summery Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Rhubarb Crisp and Rhubarb Cobbler. But I was left with about a cup of chopped rhubarb – the perfect amount to make Upside-Down Rhubarb Cake from Meredith McCarty’s Sweet and Natural cookbook. It’s very caramel-like since the upside-down topping has brown rice syrup, which I actually use now! For years I’ve had BRS stashed in my pantry and I always tended to sub maple syrup for it after having tasted some disgusting Rice Dream frozen dessert. Thank goodness for Isa, as her recipes encouraged me to try rice syrup products again and I’m so glad! Anyways, back to the recipe – good, a little flatter than I expected, but tasty.

Speaking of flat, I used same said rhubarb to make muffins. I used this recipe, but made it two ways. First, I used clabbered soymilk instead of the soy sour cream, producing a rather soggy muffin. Delicious, but very crumbly and sticky. The second time, I actually followed the recipe...a first for me! The muffin was much drier this time, which leads me to believe, according to the Goldilocks legend, that the next time I make this recipe (with a few modifications), it will be perfect!

Summery Stuff

2008-08-14T20:49:00.005-04:00

From VT's July/August again I made three recipes. The first was Barbecued Tofu and Grilled Corn Salad. Fabulous! I never managed to get grill marks when using my grill pan but it worked great!

Next up was Roasted Vegetables (no photo). Very basic, but I never put veggies under the broiler like this with such good results. I’ll definitely do this again when making pizzas with roasted veggies. Way better than the sogfest I usually end up with cooking marinated veggies in a wok pan.

Finally, my last recipe from VT was for Mango-Teriyaki Tofu with Brown Jasmine Rice. Delicious! I used leftover salad dressing from the revolting salad I made in the last post. Super easy. Again, great grill marks on the tofu from my grill pan, except after I flipped the tofu, I left it on the grill too long/at too high of a temperature since it went beyond grill marks. I scorched the sauce onto the tofu. Kyle was kind enough to pick it off each slice :(

I then made Rainbow Rice from W Network’s He Said, She Said. I really liked watching Mary Jo Eustace and Ken Kostick in the 90’s on What’s for Dinner, so I was happy to see them pair up again. Poor MJ...I would be bitter too if my hubby left me for Tori Spelling of all people. Anyways, she came up with an interesting recipe for peanut butter in a colourful rice dish that I had to try. Sounds like it’s got everything in it but the kitchen sink. I managed to use a few substitutions (including edamame and corn instead of the peas and omitted the bananas since I will never cook with them again) and it was pretty good and very easy. I’d say it’s a comfort food dish and I liked how it had lots of protein too. I wouldn’t say that this would be a recipe that I’d serve at a fancy dinner since it doesn’t look the greatest.

Oh God...My Child Doesn't Like Veggies!

2008-08-06T22:07:00.003-04:00

I was all excited to make my own baby food (easiest recipes to follow ever!). After trip to the local organic market, I have a nice freezer stash of carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and green beans. On Monday, I was excited to test out my 'creations' now that Ash is six months old. The verdict? So far, carrots are not a hit. This was the first veggie we tried after rice and oats, and Ash responded by spitting out the carrots (compared to scarfing down the grains) and making lovely gagging sounds. I hope this is not a sign that she doesn't like veggies, as despite feeling nauseous, I ate every veggie under the sun while preggo in an effort to expose the little one to many flavours.

I hope tomorrow's attempt at butternut squash goes better than carrots did!

Back to VT Again...

2008-07-25T21:12:00.003-04:00

This week's meal plan included a few recipes from the July/August 2008 issue of VT. First, I tried the Thai Basil Curry Vegetables. Not sure if I should have even referenced the ‘Thai’ part, since I left out the Thai green chile paste – it sounded too spicy for this girl and I didn’t feel like buying a bottle for one tablespoon worth just for it to sit in my fridge unused until I throw it out (this is always the case for me for hoisin sauce and taco sauce). Anyways, back to the recipe...it was great! I was pleasantly surprised how quickly it all came together. For added protein, I added some Yves Chick’n Tenders, but I think chickpeas would have been great too (I needed more than the 2g of protein identified in the recipe).

I then made Chinese Broccoli with Black Bean Sauce and Garlic (no photo...ate it too quickly!). Even though I mentioned that I wouldn’t purchase a sauce just for a recipe’s tablespoon-worth, I bought this sauce since I planned on adding more than the 1 ½ tablespoons worth plus I have the intention of using the rest of the sauce with tofu or a stir fry in the future. After making this recipe, I learned that Black Bean Sauce is VERY salty. I poured it into this recipe thinking that my addition of cubed firm tofu would soak it up. I think I drank 10 glasses of water after eating this. The salty leftovers made a nice wrap filling along with some tomatoes (to help dilute the salt!).

Next, I made Fresh Tomato Farfalle – the recipe called for 2 lb of tomatoes, and since Kyle only picked up 2 tomatoes, it was obvious that I had to hit up the grocery store for more to do this recipe up right. I did consider forgetting the ‘Fresh’ part of the recipe and instead using canned diced tomatoes. It would have been WAAAYY easier. It tasted OK, but instead inspired me to create a guacamole-style pasta.

Vile recipe alert...Chilled Tofu Salad with Ginger, Green Onions, Asparagus and Sesame. Well, there are no surprises as to what’s in this salad, but lemme tell you, do not make it. Yes, it was my prettiest pic yet and yes, it looked like something from a fancy restaurant, but it was disgusting. I have no idea what I was thinking eating plain silken tofu. I much prefer it pureed in a sweet dessert.

Easy Recipe Alert!

2008-07-19T22:02:00.001-04:00

A nice twist on the quesadilla front...sweet Strawberry Chocolate Quesadillas! I pulled this from a Moosewood Restaurant cookbook (Moosewood Celebrates or something like that). Made it for the weekly mom’s group get-together. Sweet, sinful and messy. A great way to use up seasonal strawberries! OK, next post will actually be something nutritious and meal-like...

Happy (Belated) Canada Day!

2008-07-15T07:01:00.003-04:00

I'm a little slow in posting this...

After looking for a quick, cool dessert contribution to this year’s family Canada Day celebration, I decided I would re-make the Key Lime Pie. But something told me it wasn’t very festive to serve something green on Canada Day, where something with red or white would be more appropriate. Enter Kyle’s great idea – to modify the recipe (I’m a pro at that!) and use strawberries instead. Now I think the tang of lime with the strawberries would have been a little too much, so I cut out the lime juice and rind (which Kyle found quite bitter anyways) as well as the agave nectar (instead of the originally called for honey), and instead added ½ cup vanilla Almond Breeze and a drop of almond extract. I then arranged sliced strawberries on top in an attempt to replicate our national symbol – the maple leaf. Pretty! And yummy! Although my next project will be to substitute the vanilla pudding mix and find another stabilizer.

I hope my dentist isn't reading this...

2008-07-11T09:58:00.006-04:00

I know I had dissed this recipe in the past, but my sweet tooth was craving this cool, summery treat. And besides, I found a new brand of tofu cream cheese that didn’t have any hydrogenated products in it. I made a delicious Key Lime Pie. I devoured two pieces the night I made it.

The next night, I was watching Jon & Kate Plus 8. I love that show because geez, if they can raise that many kids while maintaining some sort of sanity, it gives me hope that I can handle the one I have! During the episode, Kate revealed that she would be making Monkey Munch with the girls. It looked like a sweet variation of one of my faves – Chex (US)/Crispix (Canada) Mix! I was at the store the next day buying the ingredients that I was missing – all it takes is Crispix, chocolate chips, peanut butter, margarine, vanilla and icing sugar! Kyle and I are addicted.

I fear that I have turned into a junk food freak.

More VT - Back to May

2008-07-03T14:16:00.005-04:00

After having moderate success with the June issue of VT, I decide to go back to the May issue and make a few things. First up was Pita Panzanella. I was surprised at how tasty this was. I did substitute edamame for the frozen peas (blah) and I think that was a better choice to add more protein. I always expect a meal to taste like mint gum whenever I read mint in the list of ingredients, but I’m always pleasantly surprised! The best part of the recipe was toasting pita triangles in a little olive oil – I must do that from now on!

Next, I made a Greek Lentil Salad. Good – even better a few days later.

I wasn’t too impressed with the Burst-of-Spring Salad (no photo). Yes, I did omit the radishes because I don’t like them and my avocado wasn’t healthy-looking enough to add, but I don’t think either of those two ingredients would have helped. The dressing was really watery and simply tasted like I poured orange juice on spinach. I’ll stick to my tried and true orange spinach salad with red onion vinaigrette.

The Italian Eggplant Ragout was pretty tasty – although allowing the eggplant to hang out with 2 tablespoons of salt not only removed it’s bitterness, it made the dish REALLY salty and the eggplant actually tasted pickled! And I did rinse the eggplant well!

Finally, on Friday, I made Edamame Rice Bowls. Very easy. Remarkably tasty. Even better with the necessary addition of something salty like tamari. I should mention that I used crumbled tofu instead of feta.

VT - June!

2008-06-29T21:32:00.004-04:00

So I’m back to making some meal plans again – thank goodness! I’ve been looking at some of the time-friendly recipes from issues of VT. I first tried some recipes from the June 2008 issue. I tried the Spring Orzo Salad and was totally delighted. It was easy! I did make some substitutions, of course. For added protein, I used edamame instead of the frozen peas. Delish!

I then made the Golden Bowl, which was essentially a stir fry. I was surprised that this was voted as one of the favourite reader recipes from some veg restaurant, but whatever. I found it quite bland (which certainly says something, as I don’t like anything remotely spicy!).

The best recipe from this issue was the vegan Mac and Cheese. I was seeking some comfort food, and oh my god, I found it! Now, I do have to say that it doesn’t taste like mac n’ cheese, which is why I like it. I never liked the taste of cheese so I don’t often seek out anything trying to mimic the taste. But something was telling me to try this recipe. Am I ever glad I did! It was so easy, the sauce was mild, and the leftovers were even good! I made it gluten free by using brown rice pasta too.

Finally, I wanted to offer a little public service announcement. They look nice, but do not make the Roasted Bananas. Two weeks later, I still want to mini-vomit. See, I thought that I would have these delicious crispy bananas in a caramel sauce. Instead, despite following the recipe to a “T” (OK, close to a “T”, I used cinnamon instead of allspice), I ended up with soggy, stringy bananas in a sickeningly sweet sauce. I didn’t help that Kyle split the results between the two of us when the recipe was to serve EIGHT! Regardless, one little banana half was enough to know that this was not good. Ugh...

At Long Last - A New Post!!!

2008-06-07T12:35:00.004-04:00

Wow, it's really been too long! Honestly, I've eaten, but the camera is now used for taking pics of the baby and not food. Besides, I'm lucky if I have a chance to throw something in my mouth never mind take a pic of it :(

But I did make some stuff that I found pics of on my camera...I threw together some roasted sweet potatoes with edamame and green onions, and tossed in a dressing comprised of tamari, seasoned rice vinegar and sesame oil. Delicious!

For a cool treat (and believe me, it's needed right now since there's a humidex of 40 degrees Celsius right now), I rolled a banana in melted chocolate, then rolled it in a bowl of chopped peanuts, then rolled the concoction in press n' seal and stuck it in the freezer. After a few hours, it was like a vegan Drumstick! Sorry for the blurry photo...

Sweet or Salty?

2008-05-06T15:31:00.004-04:00

I recently purchased Nava Atlas' Vegan Express cookbook, as I really need to find fast recipes to throw together while the little one is chipper. Since the weather is getting nicer, we've been looking for salads (Kyle wants to eat salad every day). We had an avocado and mango kicking around in the fridge, so the Black Bean Salad with Avocado and Mango seemed fitting (again, I'm nowhere near the cookbook now, so the title could be off).

I liked it, but couldn't tell if it needed to be sweet or salty. I re-read the recipe, and sure enough, no salt was mentioned. With the onions and avocado, I was looking for a salty flavour, like guac. But with the mango and lime juice, it seemed like a sweet salad.

Regardless, it was good and not spicy (conducive to breastfeeding), but I'm still wondering what to add to it to make me not question whether to add sweetness or saltiness. If anyone else makes this and has any ideas, please let me know!

Quiz Time!

2008-04-27T11:15:00.003-04:00

What is this a photo of? Is it:

a) a 5th grade science experiment
b) a fuzzy area rug up close
c) tasty Berry Coconut Crisp from Vcon

The answer is c). I really need to improve my photography skills, as they do not do this recipe justice. I did find the topping sank into the fruit, but maybe it was supposed to do that? Regardless, it was very tasty.

Sunshine and Mud

2008-04-14T21:06:00.003-04:00

Luckily, there are a few days of forecast sun on the horizon, bringing hope that spring and green grass aren't far behind. Right now, our lawn consists of dead grass, mud and little mountains of bunny poop.

I've been making really simple and mundane meals lately, but here are a couple of new things. Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Vcon. It was actually really tasty as I wasn't expecting too much. Princess liked it.

I tried Tofu Marsala from What the Hell does a Vegan Eat Anyway. Mmmm, divine. I didn't have the right kinda wine and my cooking in general would probably make a gourmet cringe, but it was tasty.

Our meals have consisted of a lot of salads. I think fresh greens, beans and veggies are so photogenic. If you haven't tried the dressings in Vcon yet, check them out. I highly recommend Spicy Citrus Vinagrette.

Finally we marked Tay's 17th with Jelly Donut Cupcakes. A few of them looked a little x-rated, hopefully this one is PG enough to post.

New Stuff!

2008-03-30T13:04:00.004-04:00

So much for relying on the other sister to draft some posts! Kidding - we were both mentioning how we've made mostly tried-and-true recipes lately, so nothing too postworthy.

But I did have a creative burst of energy, and tried some goodies (please note that titles are not exact, as I'm nowhere near Vcon right now and taking advantage of some free time while the little one sleeps):

First up - Low Fat Banana Bread from Vcon. Delish! I think I used 3 large bananas, so it was pretty gooey. I also added some walnuts and chocolate chips. Yum!

Next - a creation I made on my own. Cooked up some onion and garlic, added some roasted cubes of sweet potatoes, Yves Chick'n Tenders and veggie broth to serve with pasta.

Finally, after trying quinoa a decade ago and finding it bitter, I thought I'd try it again. Am I ever glad I did! No idea what recipe I had tried before that made it taste so gross, but Vcon's Quinoa Salad with Black Beans (again, title might be wrong), was soooo good. I used red onion instead of scallions. I think it will be a good summer staple...I think I made it now with the million pounds of snow we have here in an attempt to bring on summer :(

I'm It

2008-03-18T10:22:00.004-04:00

OK, so I've been 'tagged' - I am so sleep deprived that I couldn't even focus on the paragraph explanation of what that means, but I finally figured it out :) Vegan Dad got me...so here is yet another post about something I didn't make (will I ever have time again to try a new recipe???).

Here are 5 things about me (most of which seems to be described in my profile - I guess I'm pretty simple):

1. Huge Duranie - major Duran Duran fan. Although I'm not sure if I can still call myself that since I hadn't gotten around to buying their latest album. I'll blame new parenthood for that one.

2. I always have a song in my head - not sure if this constitutes some kind of mental illness, but it's like I always have some kind of soundtrack going on. Very weird. Honestly, I don't hear voices...really...

3. I find toilet humour hilarious - it never seems to get old...and no, I'm not really a nine-year-old...I'm 30.

4. I hate vacuuming - more than anything...well, almost...I'm not a fan of having to get needles at the doctor. I think they are tied.

OK - this is getting hard...I am trying to think of a 5th thing...

5. I used to think I could sing - was even on a local talent show called 'Homegrown Café' and sang 'Could've Been' by Tiffany. The only reason I picked that lame song was because the rules stipulated that you couldn't pick background karaoke music that had any backing vocals on the track, and there were limited choices back then, let me tell you.

That's about it. I'd tag other bloggers, but don't have time to prepare all of the links :(

Fruit!

2008-03-12T12:13:00.004-04:00

OK, so I'm real late in posting this - and I didn't make it :(

I got Kyle this cool fruit floral arrangement for V-day this year and had to post about it! It was very pricey for a bunch of fruit, but it is definitely a good idea to make myself for a special function. Take a head of iceberg lettuce and put into a decorative vase, cover it with nicer leafy lettuce, poke skewers with fruit cut into different shapes.

Or order one from www.ediblearrangements.com.

Food for Hibernation

2008-02-19T20:41:00.007-05:00

I've been trying to cook my way out of February and the long cold winter. May spring come quickly and without warning. First a few soups, synonymous with cold weather comfort.

Vcon's Ancho-Lentil Soup with Grilled Pineapple. Now I love grilled pineapple.

From the same, Tomato-Rice Soup with Garlic and Navy Beans. I was too environmentally conscious to fire up the oven just to roast the garlic, so I used the lazy alternative. But I didn't use canned beans! I made a huge pot of white beans, so we'll be seeing more of them in the near future. This recipe is really, really good and totally blows canned tomato soup out of the pantry.

I'm still working on the Nov/Dec issue of VegNews and tried the Barley Soup with Porcini and Dill from page 79. It was tasty, not stellar, but simple to make.

I love Vcon's Black Bean Burgers and have made them twice so far. This is a lousy photo that does not do them justice. They are super topped with avocado slices and Cilantro Sour Cream.

While we were at Rainbow Foods I bought some pre-made seitan and have been eying the Vietnamese Seitan Baguette with Savory Broth Dip recipe ever since I first got Vcon. My only regret is that I didn't buy two packs to make more sandwiches. I want to try again with a huge batch of homemade seitan because these were awesome. The sauce is kinda reminiscent of St Hubert's dipping sauce from my getting-sketchier-by-the-year childhood memories.

I borrowed La Dolce Vegan! from the library and picked out Portobello Pot Pie because Costco sells portobellos by the boatload. This recipe was easy and really good! Both Pete and Princess raved about it. I sauteed everything in a cast-iron skillet and then placed the crust on top and popped it in the oven.

One recipe in Vcon that has received a lot of press is Eggplant-Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream. So of course, I had to make it. In particular, I chose to make it on a night that Sarah let me bring dinner over for the new parents. So far, it's my absolute favourite thing that I've made out of that book, and there's some pretty stiff competition. Here is the calm unbroken expanse of Pine Nut Cream.

We ate it faster than I could take a good photo of the inside.

In top spot for The Best Vcon Dish That Can Be Thrown Together on a Busy Weeknight - Tangerine Baked Tofu. I took a pic of the ingredients because I can't believe how so few things can taste so good together. Of course, booze helps.

Ya, that's Loblaws tofu. I hate shopping there, but they do have good tofu. And here are the citrusy baked 'fus cavorting with broccoli.

Finally, dessert! I took Dreena's recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and changed up the amounts a bit to yield enough cookies to feed our family for a couple of days. At least a day. They are great for lunches because they don't have any nut-related ingredients.

Healthy Kid-Friendly Oatmeal Cookies

Dry
2 cups spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice (omit if using chocolate chips)
Wet
½ cup organic sugar
½ cup canola oil
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup soymilk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
Extra
1 3/4 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine Dry ingredients in small bowl. Mix Wet ingredients in stand mixer on medium speed or in food processor until sugar is dissolved. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix. Add in Extra ingredients. Scoop onto cookie sheets lined with silicone or parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes then let cool on sheets. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Not Exactly Vegan, But...

2008-02-13T12:45:00.002-05:00

Well, my 9-month baking project is now done! There is no more bun in the oven! Kyle and I welcomed our little girl on February 5th. So, Tracy will have to hold down the fort on the blog until I have gotten accustomed to making vegan meals in between breastfeeding and diaper changes!

You know I love this Cookbook

2008-02-03T16:01:00.000-05:00

This week brings - you guessed it - more Veganomicon food! But just to prove that I do try other things, there are a few dishes from elsewhere.

Smoky Grilled Tempeh and Sauteed Collards. So good, especially if you like smoky things. I still prefer the Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh.

Grilled Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tortillas. Using mashed sweet potatoes for the traditional cheese is brilliant. I should have done these on the grill pan, but had the skillet out so I used that. I can't wait to try these with yuca.

Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seed Rice Paper Rolls. These were good, but I needed something denser in the middle of the wrap, like tofu. The dipping sauce was AMAZING, with the perfect combo of hot, sour, salty, sweet.

Fat-free Vegan's Ethiopian-Inspired Red Lentil Soup. I've been wanting to try this because the picture on her website is fantastic and kittee has me in an ethiopian food mood. It was really hearty and tasty. Not for kids.

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango. This would be perfect in the summer out on the patio. I made this on a freezing cold winter's night which was probably a mistake, but dammit, mangoes are on sale now!

Spaghetti and Bean Balls. Perfect food for a family dinner night. I loved the taste of the beanballs. Next time, I won't bake them with the sauce on top because I would have liked them crisper. Vcon's marinara sauce is superb. It will be my standard go-to tomato sauce from now on.

Israeli Couscous with Pistachios and Apricots and Mediterranean-Style Baked Lima Beans. I screwed something up on this one. The couscous was tough. The beans were tougher. They could have had a gang fight right there on the plate. But, you have to learn from your mistakes. Next time I would cook the couscous in water first, then add to the skillet. The flavours in the recipe worked well together. As for the beans, I might use cannellini or navy next time. Too many of the lima beans split in half during soaking and the split ones never softened.

Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stirfry. Really good and fairly easy. Princess liked it.

Skillet Corn Bread. I think anything cooked in a skillet is beautiful. This was super easy and made enough for an army. Or a gaggle of peace-keepers.

Ani Phyo's Raw Japanese Miso-Shiitake Soup. Puke. I should have known better given that this recipe calls for 1 cup of olive oil, but I couldn't eat more than a few spoonfuls. I've come to the realization that I don't like raw garlic.

Luckily my Homemade Kimchee was spicy hot enough to kill the taste from the soup. This was fun to make, letting cabbage rot on the counter intentionally. The recipe is from Maddhur Jaffery's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking.

Inari!

VWAV's Maple Walnut Cookies. My new favourite not-healthy cookies. Damn, these are good! I eat too many of them though, so they are not-healthy for me.

Dreena's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. My new favourite healthy cookie. The recipe doesn't make enough cookies for our family, so I'm playing with it to make a bigger batch with even more health thrown in. A big bonus for these is that Princess can take them to school in her lunch because they are nut-free.

Tasty Noodles

2008-01-29T12:27:00.000-05:00

I love pasta. And I love Veganomicon. Hence, it was easy to go through the pasta section of the cookbook and find some yummy things to make!

First up - Pasta Della California - delicious! I used rotini instead of a flatter noodle since I somehow forgot to pick some up at the store (that's been happening alot lately!).

Next, as mentioned in my last post, I had to try the Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Breadcrumbs, as Tracy had tempted me. Omigod - this is definitely one of my new comfort foods! I can't get over how good it tasted. I served it with a simple spinach salad with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and sliced almonds. This dish would be ideal to take to a potluck, due to it's large size and mass appeal in terms of texture. Since I made a huge 9x13" pan worth, and didn't want to tire of it, I decided to store several individual portions in the freezer. I can't wait to reheat them in the coming weeks! Note again, I used the suggested alternative penne, since this time, I was too lazy to look for ziti at the grocery store.

Somethings New and Somethings Old

2008-01-22T14:55:00.000-05:00

First, I have to start by saying that imitation is a form of flattery - based on Tracy's posts, I have made Penne Vodka (to DIE for), Lower-Fat Deep Chocolate Bundt Cake, and will soon be making the Pumpkin Ziti - all from Vcon. It's great seeing and reading about some of the recipes before trying them! And besides, it's my job as a little sister to copy my big sister.

However, I do have some shred of independence. With my new cast-iron skillet, I made Meredith McCarty's Skillet Cornbread from her Fresh from a Vegetarian Kitchen cookbook. It was tasty, but quite crumbly. I might stick to my tried-and-true Jennifer Raymond Peaceful Palate Cornbread recipe and try it in the cast-iron pan instead.

I have to admit I'm not a vegan quiche fan, but was intrigued by Vcon's Asparagus Quiche with Tomato and Tarragon. I had found some asparagus at Farm Boy in the dead of winter, but by the time I got around to making the quiche, the asparagus was shriveled up and dried out. Instead, I subbed broccoli. It was the tastiest quiche! I didn't like it too warm, and opted to reheat leftover slices for only 15 seconds. I think this would be tasty in a mini-quiche form too.

I made Vcon's Smlove Pie for the third time for mine and my mom's dual b-day party. In my absentmindedness, I forgot to buy the darn pecans for the topping, so I subbed 1 cup of walnut pieces. I actually liked it better, since I could load up all of the mapled walnuts on the pie!

Finally, I made the Porcini-Wild Rice Soup from Vcon. Reeeaaaal good. Very thick and hearty. Each time I opened the casserole I stored it in, I added some water which increased the volume everytime, so it seemed like one of those cartoons where the pile never gets depleted no matter how many servings I took!

Adventures and Leftovers

2008-01-13T14:06:00.001-05:00

As per Sarah's last post, I made sushi for our recent family gathering. I needed to pick up a few Asian specialty items, especially the inari "bags" for Sarah's favourite sushi. However, going to our usual Asian market, Kowloon, is a trip downtown and isn't too easy on the stomach. It is smelly, dirty and can be crowded. The last time we went, it contained a very strong odour of, well, to put it bluntly, feces, which doesn't really inspire any sort of culinary adventure in me. Pete and I had heard rumours of a new Asian market in the East end through a woman at work*, but she has since moved to California and we were left only with our sketchy memories of her vague directions.

I wanted to stop in at Lush's St Laurent location and pick up some vegan deals, and afterwards Pete drove through the progressively worsening snowstorm and found the mythical clean and tidy Asian grocery mecca we once could have only dreamed about - Uni Mart. It was bright, spotless, well-stocked and relatively odourless. I picked out a basket of items and we made our way to the cash. After ringing us through, we were told to go to Cash #1 for our "free gift". How exciting! I'm not sure what we did to deserve one, but free stuff is always fun. The woman at Cash #1 took our receipt, and reached down and lifted a HUGE can of oysters onto the counter. Oh no. How did I explain that I didn't want her free gift? I told her that we didn't eat animals, so she reached down again and brought up a bag of frozen shrimp. Uh, no thank you, really. I saw a stack of hundreds of packages of little bundles of yam noodles in the corner and pointed at it. She shook her head at me, said "Just for fondue!" like I was a crazy woman and handed me a package. I thanked her many times, smiling. Anyway, if you're in the Ottawa area and want great deals on anything for your Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese cooking, check out Uni Mart. Just be warned about their generous gifts.

I made a soup with my newly acquired udon noodles, lotus root, tofu and enoki mushrooms.

Later in the week, I made more dishes from the Great Tome** of Vegan Cooking - Veganomicon. Here is Penne Vodka. I like the sauce so much more that a run-of-the-mill marinara.

There were leftover mashed potatoes wallowing in the fridge, so I tried Home-style Potato Rolls. They were chewy dough-y goodness. The recipe made so many rolls that I should have stashed some in the freezer, but didn't think of it at the time.

I had cooked a batch of chickpeas and wanted to use them up, so I tried Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Stew with Chickpeas, over the suggested Poppy-Seed Polenta. This was so amazing, I would suggest it for any eggplant-haters in your life - they will realize the errors of their ways. The eggplant melted in your mouth and the flavours were amazing.

* This woman at work, who came to Canada from China about eight to ten years ago, saw me making tea at work in a stainless steel teapot and found it ABSOLUTELY imperative that I understood to NEVER cook snake in metal. Glass or ceramic only. Ya, snake. I made sure that she was talking about the reptile. Yep. I assured her that I never would.

** The definition of tome is "often one volume of a multi-volume scholarly work". I hope that I eventually have a whole bookshelf of Isa and Terry's works.

Another Vegan Feast!

2008-01-07T16:43:00.000-05:00

Tracy and my mom held a get-together in my honour, and we came together as a great team when it came to making tasty vegan treats!

First, mom supplied cut up veggies for snacking with a vegan soy sour cream-based dip.

She also prepared mini veggie and vegan soy cream cheese tortilla roll-ups, that were gobbled up.

Tracy made yummy sushi in different varieties that included avocado, sweet potato/mushroom and spicy tempeh. Soooo good! One of my non-vegan friends commented that she found it strange that I could eat sushi despite it tasting so 'fishy'...I told her that maybe it was fish that tasted 'seaweedy' instead!

Tracy also made what I call 'tofu bags'...I know there's a proper name for these but I can't remember what it is for the life of me. I love how the sticky rice is so sweet and delicious.

Finally, my contribution was mini toasts with Tofu Dill Salad Sandwich Filling with VwaV. I 'disguised' the tofu with tomato slices.

I also made two varieties of cupcakes - Lemon Macadamia (sans macadamias) and Chocolate and Vanilla Marbled cupcakes - both from VCTOTW. I had made the lemon variety already for Tracy's wedding, but the Marbled variety was new to try! Both were tasty, and my new icing tips ensured a pretty presentation. Kyle did note that my attempt at marbling the icing for the marbled cupcakes looked like seagull crap...fortunately it didn't taste like that! Next time I marble icing, I'll use a more decorative tip than just a large-holed one.

Season's Eatin's

2008-01-03T19:16:00.000-05:00

After the hustle and bustle of holiday festivities, we had a few days of peace and relaxation. Which explains why I'm a little late in posting our Christmas dishes. Dinner this year was at Mom's house and I wasn't used to the lighting in the dining room, so only a few of the pics are decent enough to share.

Sarah made a Cranberry Edamame Salad which was bright and festive.

Wayne and Penny made a roasted vegetable dish.

I made a raw Shaved Fennel with Blood Oranges, Pomegranate, and Pinenuts salad.

We also had mashed potatoes, dressing, Chickpea Cutlets, veggie gravy, butternut squash and carrots. I almost didn't have room for anything on the cookie tray. Almost.

For Second Christmas, we tried to minimize the gluten in the food. I made Vcon's Spaghetti Squash Mexicana with Tropical Avocado Salsa Fresca with Sweet Potato Fries and Corn Muffins from How It All Vegan. The squash was a relatively easy and tasty dish, although I will split the squash lengthwise before baking next time, instead of across the "waist". I loved the salsa.

We topped it with Sour Cilantro Cream also from Vcon.

Sarah made a Spinach Salad with marinated mushrooms. I could have eaten all of the mushrooms, they were so tasty.

Two days later for J's birthday dinner, I made Veganomicon's Black Bean Burgers which looked so pretty topped with red onion, tomato, and avocado slices and the Sour Cilantro Cream. So pretty in fact that I ate mine before I even thought about taking a photo. Luckily I remembered before cutting the cake - Lower-Fat Deep Chocolate Bundt Cake from guess where... Veganomicon! It was so moist and delicious that even I, someone who doesn't get too excited about cake, really enjoyed it. Please excuse the candle divet.

We tried the Red Wine Roux on the Chickpea Cutlets and were kind of turned off by the colour, but pleasantly surprised by the flavour. I still want to try the Mustard Sauce before I declare a Cutlet Sauce winner.

I had planned to make the BBQ Black-Eyed Pea Collard Rolls (from Vcon) for New Years Eve, but by the time the evening rolled around and after a raw key lime pie disaster, just the thought of making the BBQ sauce was too much for me. I'm glad I waited, because I started early on New Year's Day and had the sauce simmering on the stove and everything prepped ahead of time. It was then just a matter of assembling the rolls. They were really yummy. When I make them again, I'll add a little brown rice inside to soak up the saucy goodness.

Last night I tried Vcon's Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping. It was savoury and I can see why it is popular as a comfort food.

Now it's time to cut back on the hibernation food and eat a bit more lightly. There are one too many cookies hanging out on my bathroom scale.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

2007 ended with some tasty treats...for Xmas morning breakfast, I made Mrs. Bad Mouth's Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns, as it's a tradition to always have cinnamon buns in the morning. I had made them in my breadmaker on the dough setting on Sunday, stuck them in the fridge (where they shriveled up and had me quite worried), then let them rise for an hour on Tuesday morning, and they baked up perfectly!

I'm hoping that Tracy will post our Xmas meal pics soon!

Later in the month, I made the Black Bean Vegetable Soup from Vcon. It made alot, and it took Kyle and I almost a week to get through it all!

I also made Blueberry Lemon Pancakes from Vcon as well - I found that I had to add about 1/4 cup more flour to make them a little thicker. Might have had something to do with the fact that I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. Very good!

Finally, I made up some treats for a small New Year's gathering - first up was a veggie tray with vegan soy sour cream (non-hydrogenated) with the addition of the same ingredients listed in Vcon's Sour Cilantro Cream. Yum!

Next, I made the Mushroom-Walnut Pate from Vcon. Sooo good! Makes quite a bit though, so I would halve the recipe next time. I'm thinking it might be good to mix with some veggie broth and veggies to serve with pasta...

Back by popular demand, the Voluptuous Vegan's Guacamole. Guaranteed to give everyone the worst garlic breath ever.

I also made mini-pizzas with Creamy Pasta Sauce from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Almost No Fat Cookbook. I made these a month or so ago, and thought they'd be a great addition. It was very easy to make the sauce and cook the veggies in advance and simply assemble and bake the pizzas on the night of the party.

Finally, I think what has to be the most amazing cake ever. Vcon's Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake. There are honestly no words for this delectable dessert - extremely easy to make, beautiful in presentation with a light dusting of icing sugar, and so tasty served with Vcon's Vanilla Ice Cream. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I'm so happy that it made as much as it did as I can't wait to dig into the leftovers today!

Hope everyone has a very happy and healthy 2008!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-25T13:39:00.001-05:00

My favourite thing about Christmas, other than spending the holidays with family, is the cookies. I have some traditional treats that have to appear on the dessert tray year after year, and I also try one or two new recipes.

Orange-Carrot Cookies

Peanut Butter Candies on a tacky plate

Mexican Wedding Cookies or Snowballs, from Joy of Vegan Baking (a success!)

Rumnog Pecan Cookies from Veganomicon. Scrumptious. I only made half the icing recipe and I still had leftovers.

Lemon Squares from Veganomicon. These will be a new holiday tradition because they are divine. Just like mini Lemon Meringue Pies. Don't sprinkle the icing sugar over them until they are ready to serve, because just like a light dusting of snow, it melts.

And of course, requested by Sarah, Gingerbread.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Joyous Winter Wishes to you and your family from ours. May we all strive for a peaceful planet.

Hot and Sour Soup

2007-12-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

We were shopping at Costco last night and scored a box of baby bok choy. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make Hot and Sour Soup and write the recipe down at the same time.

Tracy's Hot and Sour Soup

6 cups of vegetable broth*
2 Tblsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger (optional)
¼ cup mirin
Ground white pepper
5-6 sliced white mushrooms
4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted in boiling water for 10 minutes then thinly sliced
2-3 cups of baby bok choy or thinly sliced napa cabbage
3 green onions, white and green parts, separated and sliced thinly
1 tsp Chinese chili-garlic sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee) for medium heat, or to taste
½ tub of soft or silken tofu, roughly diced
¼ cup white vinegar
2 Tblsp lemon juice
6 Tblsp corn starch, whisked with 6 Tblsp cold water
½ Tblsp sesame oil

Mung bean sprouts and fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Bring the broth and soy sauce to a boil in a soup pot. Add garlic, ginger, mirin and pepper and reduce heat to a simmer. Add both types of mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add the baby bok choy and the white parts of the onions and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the chili sauce, tofu, vinegar and lemon juice and heat through. Slowly add the corn starch mixture and stir until thickened. Turn off the heat and add the sesame oil. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the green onion parts, sprouts and cilantro.

*The type of veggie broth you use will greatly affect the taste of the soup. Vegetable boullion cubes or “un-chicken” soup mix are great. If using homemade broth, add a bit more soy sauce. Sometimes asceptic-boxed broth doesn’t have an “asian” taste, so I would avoid it, or mix half-and-half with boullion.

It goes on and on...

2007-12-20T20:37:00.000-05:00

the Vcon porn. Here's more.

The often-mentioned chickpea cutlets. I much preferred the texture when the chickpeas were mashed in the food processor vs. the stand mixer. I made them twice and fried them both times. These are great when you don't know what to make for dinner and you know you have a can of chickpeas in the pantry. These were topped with the Sweet Vidalia Onion Sauce.

Since I love samosas I had to try the Samosa-Stuffed Baked Potatoes. I liked the Indian flavours. Very filling.

Chickpeas make a reappearance in Chickpeas Romesco. They would be good with greens added, so I need to remember to do that next time.

Caesar Salad. I'm more of a vinegrette dressing type, but this was really good. You'd never know it was vegan. Good if you want to keep the vampires away. I'm guessing it's fairly low fat too.

I'm a HUGE hot-and-sour soup fan. I have a recipe of my own that I typically use, so I wanted to try this to compare. I found it pretty hot and not as sour as I like it, but I liked the inclusion of napa. I'll have to make mine again soon and post the recipe.

I made the Rustic Beans and Mushrooms in the suggested casserole format. I screwed something up. I think the problem was that I added 2 cups less water to the beans than I was supposed to. I had to add a lot of veggie stock to the beans to make them moist before baking, but it turned out yummy in the end.

Princess has been on a mushroom kick, so I paired her two favs - mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. She loved it, but I think I loved it more. For me, mashed potatoes and gravy are the ultimate comfort food.

Finally, I have read so much about mrsbadmouth's Tempeh Wingz. They are stupendous amazing. I had been leary of tempeh in the past, but both these and Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh have completely changed my opinion of the moldy soybean cake.

Coming soon - Christmas baking!

The Mega Post

2007-12-09T19:22:00.001-05:00

Wow...I didn't realize how many things I've made in recent weeks, as I had a pile of pics on my camera! Since it took me forever to upload them all, I'll keep the text bits short!

First, I had tried some items from the Joy of Vegan Baking. I was very much anticipating this book, and when I got it, I have to say I was disappointed at how much Earth Balance margarine and egg replacer was called for. Nonetheless, I kept an open mind, and tried a few recipes.

The cookies on the cover looked tantalizing. However, despite following the instructions (except I used all dark chocolate chips), mine turned out to be flat and greasy:

As I flipped further through the book, I noticed that many of the recipes seemed to be veganized from a typical Betty Crocker cookbook. I was hoping that they would be healthy vegan baked goods, but it did not seem to be the case. Anyways, I had decided to make banana muffins, and thought about making the recipe noted in the index of JOVB or a muffin version of the Peaceful Palate's Banana Cake. Oddly enough, I noticed that the JOVB credited PP's recipe and made a small change. As I flipped through the book, I noticed several versions of recipes from existing cookbooks, and they were all ones that I owned! I made the muffins, but they didn't turn out anything like the cake as they were quite concave:

I was disappointed with the book after these two attempts one night, that I returned it the next day :(

The next morning, I decided to attempt the Lemon Corn Waffles from VwaV. You may recall a previous disaster, and - surprise! The SAME thing happened AGAIN:

I thought it could have been because I added blueberries to the batter, but I realized that I wasn't letting them cook long enough, so I gave them a few minutes extra after my iron had beeped. Also, I was putting too much batter in the maker, so I cut it down:

The result - yum! Intact waffles! I wouldn't have cared anyways if they didn't look pretty. They're so good.

With leftover homemade spaghetti sauce, I made pita pizzas. Good and easy, but not very exciting.

But what was exciting was Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe for Creamy Pasta Sauce from the Almost No-Fat cookbook. Heavenly on pasta with veggies and Yves Chick'n Tenders, but even better as a white sauce on pizza!

I also made my stand-by faves from Nava Atlas's Vegetarian Family Cookbook - Soft and Chewy Granola Bars. I don't use a pan, but rather I spread the batter into a square on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Way easier to cut and I don't have to fight with it sticking to a pan.

I also made the 'Tuna' Noodle Casserole from the same cookbook except instead of tofu I used - another surprise - Yves Chick'n Tenders! It's a little bland, which seems to be pleasing to my palate lately so it's great, but Kyle kicked up his serving by dousing it with hot sauce and soy sauce.

From Vcon, I made the Autumn Root Salad with Warm Maple-Fig dressing. A lot of prep, but it was OK.

I also made the Portobello Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing. It was good too.

Like Tracy, I made the Baked Potato and Greens Soup with Potato-Wedge Croutons. Yum! Well worth the prepping the potatoes in the oven! I had to use spinach instead of kale since Loblaws' produce selection was quite pathetic. I will also make the 'croutons' as a side to tofu burgers since they were so good.

I made the Banana-Wheat Germ muffins too. Good, but I think I'll stick to my own recipe since I like them real banana-y.

Finally, from VwaV, I made the Mango Ginger Tofu (subbed Yves' again). It was different - I think I put too much vinegar in :(

For the second time, I also made the Raspberry Chocolate Blackout Cake for my stepdad Gord's 55th birthday. I used homemade strawberry jam since Gord hates raspberries...SO GOOD! I think I forgot to take a pic last year, so I got both the cake and Gord this year:

Yes, I think alcohol played a factor in this photo.

Veganomiphile

2007-12-04T19:42:00.000-05:00

Veganomicon is such a treasure. I carry it with me around the house in case I get a few moments to read. What's that? No, not in the bathroom! I respect it too much for that. I have a huge pile of books to read, including back issues of Herbivore, a new VegNews, a library copy of Eat, Drink and Be Vegan, and a new copy of The Joy of Vegan Baking, and I'm snubbing them all for the 'Nomicon.

But first, I've been wanting to make Lemon Corn Waffles from VwaV, so I made them for dinner one night. I love the taste of lemon in breakfast type fare, because it makes it taste lighter. These were both hearty and light at the same time. Please excuse my poor waffle skills.

Another Vwav recipe on my list was Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Garlic. They were ok, but I'm still not totally sold on B.S. They have a radish-y type flavour that I can't quite get past.

Pictured alongside the sprouts is Baked BBQ Tofu from Vcon. I simmered the leftover Backyard Barbecue Sauce a few days later with chickpeas and some Smoked Tofu Cubes and it was divine.

Since I'd read so many good reviews, and because we have a couple of potato soup lovers in the house, I had to make Baked Potato and Greens Soup with Potato-Wedge Croutons. Smokin'. This is our new household potato soup recipe. I love Isa and Terry's intro to the recipe and told Princess about it. She called the crouton a "french-fry for giants - a giant who is ten feet longer than the table". She dropped half of hers on the floor, so Echo the dog got a sample. He gave it his approval.

When I was a child, I loved sloppy joes. I got all nostalgic and weepy-eyed when I bit into my Snobby Joe. I'm going to be making a lot of these. Even though I swore I would stick to my four-star recipe rating system, I gave these ****+.

I had a couple of cans of white beans, so Cheater Baked Beans appeared out of the oven. They were a breeze to make. I think this is going to be a recipe that grows on me. My taste buds think beans should taste spicy, so they are going to need some time to adjust.

I love how the muffin recipes in Vcon are really healthy. If I wanted a treat, I'd make a cookie or a cupcake. Muffins to me go with mid-morning tea and should be fruit- and fibre-filled. Here are the Applesauce Oat-Bran Muffins. They smelled so good while baking and tasted great.

I bought The Joy of Vegan Baking with a Chapters gift card that I received for my birthday. Unfortunately I have yet to make something from it that I was happy with. My chocolate chip cookies were done on the outside but not in the inside, my Hearty Spiced Cocoa Muffins disintegrated, and my Jam-filled Oat Bran Muffins - well, exploded.

The fruit desserts from this book sound really good, and I'm looking forward to trying some tarts and crisps and the Blueberry Orange Bundt Cake. I really like the tone of the writing and find it, well, compassionate. However, I would have liked to see less Earth Balance and Egg Replacer used and more whole wheat flours and healthy oils and leaveners.

Finally, I'm proud to showcase Princess's first kitchen creation - Sunshine Dip. She found the recipe herself in a kid's cookbook she inherited from Tay and came down the stairs announcing that she wanted to make it for lunch. How could I resist? I'm so proud that she is interested in cooking and food.

The dip is a blend of Veganaisse, ketchup, and chopped sweet pickle. Food styling by Princess. She'll be whipping up Vcon creations in no time.

Yummy Experiment

2007-11-30T15:41:00.000-05:00

I honestly don’t set out to modify recipes – especially when they don’t need changes! But sometimes as you re-invent a good recipe you end up coming up with something totally awesome.

Case in point – Vcon’s Vanillla Ice Cream. Delicious. Just like traditional ice cream in terms of texture, but without the sour taste of cow’s milk. So on Wednesday night, I set out to make a repeat batch. I encountered a few issues. I had exactly ½ of a package of silken tofu, which was the required amount according to the recipe, yet 1 cup of coconut milk left (2 times what the recipe called for). Obviously I didn’t have enough tofu to save for a third batch given the excess coconut milk, and I didn’t have any other recipes that would have used up the excess coconut milk. So I decided to dump the tofu in the blender and add the whole cup of coconut milk. I’ll just cut the required 1 cup soymilk down to ½ cup, I thought. Problem was, I was out of plain soymilk! I decided to then use ½ cup of chocolate soymilk, so I scanned the Chocolate Ice Cream option in Vcon and noticed that it called for melted chocolate chips to serve as the chocolate base. I decided not to go that route, and was now on an adventure.

I dumped in the ½ cup chocolate soymilk, but thought a chocolate ice cream should have more chocolate. I added in some cocoa, and was on my way. I added the required sugar and vanilla, and blended everything together.

After dumping the mixture in my ice cream maker, I had a thought. What if I could mimic the Soy Delicious (also called Purely Decadent) Peanut Butter Zig Zag ice cream that Kyle and I buy almost every week? While the ice cream was mixing, I stirred together some natural peanut butter and maple syrup (to make it sweeter) and stuck it in the freezer to chill, until the ice cream was ready and I had thought about what the heck I was going to do. I decided to take my soft serve ice cream and pour it into a shallow container, then swirled in the chilled PB mixture. After letting the ice cream firm up until the next night, Kyle and I took a sample, and it was awesome. Would have been better if I had ground some chocolate chips up and swirled them in too, for some crunchy bits. Next time!

Choco-PB Swirl Ice Cream
1 cup lite coconut milk
¾ cup sugar
½ pkg (6 oz) silken tofu
½ cup chocolate soymilk
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp vanilla
½ cup natural peanut butter
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup coarsely ground chocolate chips (optional)

Mix coconut milk, sugar, tofu, soymilk, cocoa and vanilla in a blender until smooth. Pour into ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer’s directions. Meanwhile, stir together peanut butter and maple syrup. Set aside in freezer. After ice cream has churned for about 35-40 minutes, pour into a shallow oblong container. Drop clumps of PB mixture and ground chocolate chips (if using), and lightly swirl into ice cream using a knife, trying to maintain ribbons. Store in freezer overnight to harden further.

Soft-serve (pre-overnight freezing) and hard ice cream pics shown below...notice the yummy bands of PB!

Veganomicon...Continued!!!

2007-11-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

After waiting patiently for Tracy to bring me my copy of Vcon on Saturday (OK, maybe I wasn't that patient), I quickly flipped through the pages to find out what I would make. It had been a very long time since I had a new cookbook to flip through (I think VCTOTW was my last purchase!), and I could barely contain myself.

I set out immediately to make some exciting new recipes. I have been keen on trying new salads lately, and the Corn and Edamame-Sesame Salad sounded perfect. I decided to serve it on spinach, since it's all I had anyways, and I wanted it to be more of a meal. Of course, after making it, I read the 'Tip' bar which said not to use canned corn...too late! Geez, I had the cookbook in my little paws for only a few hours, and I already screwed up! Oh well, I'm not sure why you can't use canned, but it still tasted great. I don't have a recipe scoring system like Tracy, but I definitely noted in my copy to make this again! Next time, I'll try adding some minced red onions or chopped green onions for added flavour and some red pepper to add a little more colour.

About an hour later, I made an executive decision to bake some cookies. I'm trying to reduce my sugar intake, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies called for much less sugar than I was used to seeing in other cookie recipes. I thought it would also be interesting to see how brown rice syrup works in cookies, as I don't have much experience baking with it and this was the first time I'd seen it in a cookie recipe. I found this recipe to be quite similar to the oatmeal cookies that I was used to making, but I was happy to see that it called for oil instead of Earth Balance - especially when I only needed 1/2 cup of oil compared to my usual 1 cup of EB. This time, I read everything around the recipe (to avoid a similar corn incident), and noted that it would be OK to use chocolate chips. I also added in the last of my chopped walnuts. These cookies are awesome! A must bake!

On Sunday morning, I was STILL in a baking mood! I decided to make my sweetie some Banana-Walnut Waffles. Again, I had to make a small substitution of pecans for the walnuts (due to using them all up for cookies...that was poor planning). They were great! I just think that next time, I won't add maple syrup to the batter and use it as a topping only, as I found that the waffles were sticking to my non-stick iron, no matter how thoroughly I sprayed it with oil. It made so many, that I managed to tuck some away in the freezer to enjoy this weekend!

Finally, I ended my spree by making the Vanilla Ice Cream. Over the past few weeks, I tried doing some online hunting for 'ice cream' recipes, but didn't have much luck. I'm too lazy to cook something first to make a custard, I don't like the idea of xanthan gum or soy lecithin, and I found my recent attempts at using cashews left my ice cream too gritty. Yes, I was being fussy. But I have found the perfect recipe in Vcon - I simply pile the ingredients in a blender, whiz them up, and pour into the ice cream maker. I was skeptical about the recipe calling for silken tofu, as a previous attempt with tofu was too icy and not creamy. Despite that, I remained open-minded. I bought a can of coconut milk (once home, I noticed I got the low-fat kind out of habit), and put it in the fridge, as per the instructions, so that I could skim off the 'cream' the next day. Well, when I took it out of the fridge, I wasn't thinking and tipped it so far back that skimming cream would likely not happen - even if the low-fat kind would have even produced it! So I just poured the required amount of coconut milk instead and hoped for the best. I have to say that after mixing for 35-40 minutes in my ice cream maker, it produced the firmest soft serve that I have made to date. Still, I poured it into a shallow container and froze it overnight to firm it up a little more, as per my usual practice. The next day, I tasted the best ice cream ever, and will not be buying anymore Soy Delicious from now on! I still have enough leftover ingredients to make another batch tonight, and can't wait to try the other suggested flavours!

I'm so glad that I now sound like a Vcon salesperson instead of an Yves' Cuisine salesperson.