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

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.

Dinners and Desserts

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!

Skinny B*tch Rocks!

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!

Clearing Out the Archives

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!

Every Course is Covered!

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.

Happy (Belated) Canada Day!

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...

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.

Somethings New and Somethings Old

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!

Heaven on Earth

Omigod - Isa's Chocolate Smlove Pie is to die for. I can't really say much else because it was just that darn good, as it was devoured at a family housewarming party tonight. Fortunately, Tracy and I managed to serve ourselves and our immediate family before the other vultures came along! I think most of the non-vegans who ate the pie were on too much of a chocolate high to notice or care that tofu was a main ingredient.

I was nervous about how long the recipe was in length, but happily surprised that it didn't really take much effort at all to make. I used a whole package of water-packed silken tofu that weighed more than the pound called for in the recipe, so I skipped adding the liqueur/soymilk option for the filling. It turned out great. I'm also glad that I read somewhere on the PPK to make extra maple-candied pecans - what a great little snack to have leftover!

Honestly though, anyone who hasn't already made this should really do so immediately! I can't believe I had stored this recipe in the back of my mind for as long as I did!

A Full Course

I was craving chickpeas, so I made one of my fave recipes from Vegan Planet - Chickpeas with Zucchini and Rosemary (or something like that). It was very simple, and quite filling.

When I asked Kyle what he was hoping to eat this weekend, he mentioned a salad. We have a few old stand-bys, but I decided to try something new. From 125 Best Vegan Recipes, I made the Waldorf Salad with Cranberries. The dressing, once mixed, was pretty blah, but surprisingly, once incorporated with the cranberries, apples and walnuts, it tasted really good!

To finish things off, I modified my own recipe for a coconut cream pie to turn it into a Key Lime Pie. When I had cravings for Key Lime Pie in the past, I had used this recipe, but was always grossed out by the requirement for packaged vanilla pudding and fake cream cheese that is laden with hydrogenated fat. My version was good, but a little too jelly-like, so I have to work on making it a little creamier. But with a tasty graham crust, it is quite heavenly!

Happy B-day Tracy!

Tonight was Tracy's b-day party! Pete made a delicious Multi-Vegetable Couscous from 150 Vegan Favourites by Jay Solomon. It was yummy! I wish I had used the flash, but I just wanted to take the pic and sit down to eat!!!

We had the pie for dessert! I know the readers of this blog have been on the edge of their seats since Monday, waiting in anticipation to see how the pie would actually look once it emerged from the pie plate:

Next time, I think I will bake my crust instead of putting it in the fridge to firm up.

The pie was SOOO good...as Tracy said, it tasted like silk. I especially liked the consistency of the ganache. I'm a little annoyed with myself for leaving the last piece with the b-day girl ;)

This is a pic of me serving the pie. No, I'm not shielding my face from the camera, but rather trying to control my sneezing due to allergies to Tracy's and Pete's furkids :( I didn't realize that Tracy took this pic, but I thought it was funny. I hate serving up dessert from pie plates (I always seem to destroy the presentation value), so hopefully a little phlegm will persuade someone else to take hold of the slice n' serve next time...hee hee...