Vegan Brunch!

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!

Shrove Tuesday

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).

Happy New Year!

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!

Greatest Hits!

Wow, I didn't realize how many pics I've taken over the last few weeks! I guess I did some good eatin'!


First, I made a few things from recent issues of VT. From September 2007, I made the Greek-Style Panini with a couple of substitutions - crumbled tofu instead of feta and I also spread some pesto on my sliced baguette. These were tasty! It did tempt me to add a panini griller to my appliance collection, but a weighted pot was a great stand-in on top of my grill pan. I teamed this up with a Carrot Soup from an old issue of VT - it used a whole giant bag of baby carrots that I chopped in the food processor then blended with leeks and other ingredients in the pressure cooker.




Next, I made another quick meal from October 2007's issue - Stir-Fried Udon Noodles with Bok Choy. It was very tangy and tasty!



I also made a delicious recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Almost No-Fat Cookbook. I had this book tucked away in my kitchen bookcase with full intentions to make the Pineapple Sweet and Sour Stir-Fry, but never seemed to get around to it. Am I ever glad that I finally did! It was another quick meal, as I used Yves "Chicken" Tenders. It was very flavourful with the sauce and the pineapple! I received many compliments from curious co-workers as the smell of my reheated leftovers wafted over the cubicle walls.



I also tried a couple of recipes of my own - I roasted some butternut squash in my slow cooker with onions, garlic, ginger and maple syrup, then when I got home, puréed it up with some veggie stock to make a yummy soup.



I also used some leftover meatballs from making this again, to serve on top of brown long-grain rice. For the sauce, I mixed equal amounts of chili sauce and organic grape jelly - just like my mom does for regular meatballs. Tasty!



From VwaV, to continue with Tracy's challenge while we count down the days to the Canadian release of Veganomicon, I made Banana-Pecan Pancakes. I used whole wheat flour as my only sub...delicious! They were light and fluffy, just like Isa said they would in the lead-up to the recipe!



Finally, I wanted to save this entry for last. After describing numerous carrot mishaps here, here and here, I finally had success with the Carrot-Raisin Muffins from VwaV!!! This was a major victory for me! They were extremely yummy, especially with the addition of walnuts! I won't be too adventurous again, as the dried cranberries I added were not a good idea.