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.

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

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.

Treats for Kyle

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!

Soup n' Such

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...

Tasty Noodles

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.

Pumpk'd

It's definitely harvest time! I bought six pie pumpkins from Farm Boy and spent my holiday Monday roasting...


Puréeing and packaging...


and Muffining! I tweaked the VwaV Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever recipe to use whole wheat flour, egg replacer and some applesauce that would have otherwise rotted in the fridge (it was still fresh when I used it!). They were amazing. I also made a Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving, but I ate all evidence of that.


I also tweaked my own recipe for Pumpkin Scones. I cut out circles, and instead of using the Drizzle part of the recipe (I was getting lazy at this point), I just sprinkled some cinnamon on top of the icing.


With all of that, I STILL have loads of pumpkin left over to store in the freezer to make more yummy pumpkin treats throughout the winter - hooray!

Sarah vs. Major Coffeehouse

Kyle and I are huge fans of a certain major coffeehouse. Despite making lots of treats for my beau, he often orders a pumpkin scone with every drive-thru order. If you have read this blog, you will see that I love to cook. And it's not like I'm jealous or something, but I like to make treats that make my sweetie happy. As a result, I had to compete with the major coffeehouse and make my own darn pumpkin scone at home that would mimic what he probably pays 3 bucks each time for.

So here was my attempt. Based on Kyle's description of what he bought, I think it's pretty close. Kyle said it was similar but more moist, as the ones he would buy were probably baked elsewhere and shipped to the store, causing it to be not as fresh. The recipe calls for two kinds of 'icing' (glaze and a drizzle), as that's what the original scone features, but to cut down on the work, you could make only the glaze and add the spices to that and avoid the drizzle part.

Pumpkin Scones

4 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup Earth Balance margarine
1 cup pumpkin purée
¼ - ½ cup soy creamer (use less if using fresh pumpkin purée, add more if using canned pumpkin)

Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons soy creamer

Drizzle:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons soy creamer
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch each of ginger and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt. Use a pastry blender to add in Earth Balance until thoroughly mixed. In another large bowl, whisk together pumpkin and soy creamer.

Add combined dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture. Mix, then form into 2 balls of dough. Pat out one ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 10-inch circle. Use pizza wheel to cut dough into six wedges. Transfer wedges to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with second ball of dough.

Bake until golden for 15 minutes. Transfer baked scones to a wire rack to cool, with parchment or wax paper underneath to catch drips.

While scones cool, prepare glaze. Mix until smooth. Spread about 1 tablespoon of glaze on each scone as it cools. Prepare drizzle mixture, and use a fork to drizzle each scone decoratively.

Makes 12 scones.

Frosty Day Feast

On Saturday night, it was so freakin' cold, that I made a childhood fave for Kyle and I - "Beef" and Red Noodles. It's one of my comfort foods. In a large sauté pan with a lid, I cooked some onions and celery with a little oil, then added a box of whole wheat macaroni, 1 1/2 cups TVP, 1 can of tomato soup, 2 soup cans worth of water, 1 19-oz can of tomato juice, 4 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp tamari, and chili powder - then let it all cook. It was a yummy dish to warm us up!


Despite getting to bed at the usual Saturday night time, I didn’t take advantage of the whole time change thing. I was up at 6:15 today with Kyle while he got ready for work (as he says, "to pour soymilk on his cereal"). Normally, I go back to bed right after he leaves. But for some reason, I wasn’t tired enough to go back to bed. Weird thing is, it was ‘really’ 7:30 or so…and it’s not like pre-fall-back I was up at that time either. But I thought I would have time to have a nap today…ha. Who was I kidding? I had to make food for my friend Sam’s Halloween Party at night. But I only had 2 things to make, and as I discovered, had lots of extra steps.

I first made the Fresh Mango Summer Rolls from VWAV (although there's nothing summery about the weather right now). I’d made them before for a party, but this time, I made some Seitan first and cut it into matchsticks to use instead of bean sprouts. I thought the brown and yellow was a little more fall-ish.


Instead of the recommended sauce that went along with the recipe, I made a batch of the peanut sauce on page 165 (I think it’s from the Cold Udon Noodles recipe), and used half of that for serving (I’m saving the other half to mix with pasta mid-week). It tastes way better.


I also made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes from VCTOTW, but I noted that I should drain my homemade, puréed pumpkin first. Also, I can’t find vegan icing sugar here, so I tried the homemade version. The icing was really gritty, but still tasted great. I used festive Halloween paper liners, and had bought one of those cupcake display racks over the weekend to wow the guests at the party. Only thing was, the rack stores 13 cupcakes. I think that is the oddest design, because I only have one muffin tin that makes 12, and as a girl living by herself, would not dare make 2 batches just for the extra cupcake at the top. And I get the whole ‘baker’s dozen’ thing, but I wish they made the thing to just hold 12 cuppers. Oh well. I don’t have a pic, but at the party, we stuck an apple with a tealight inside on top, and that seemed to impress everyone more than the cupcakes did :(


So I was in the kitchen all day. But I wouldn’t dare guilt-trip Sam for that, as it was my parents who so *politely* suggested that she have a party (which translated into them inviting themselves). At the end of the night, she realized that she didn’t serve one of the dips that she bought, and then said that she should bring the to my parents’ house to serve at a party before the expiry date. I thought that was pretty good, and I’m really liking how everyone is too distracted by coaxing each other into parties, that they don’t realize that my turn is way overdue :)

I've Redeemed Myself!

Was I ever thrilled to fill my cannister with oats! On to Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies - Round 2.

After last night's fiasco, I rushed to the grocery store to grab the missing ingredient to re-attempt the cookies. I got home at 5:13. I threw the ingredients together (I even measured carefully - which I normally never do, but I wasn't taking any chances for another screw up), and tossed them in the oven at 5:29. I even made sure my oven thermometer read the required 350 degrees. 18 minutes later (2 minutes longer than the recommended baking time, under my watchful eye), the cookies were out. By 5:55, they were cooling on a rack, and looked MUCH better than last night's creation, although still different from my first batch. I honestly didn't care, as I could at least feel confident bringing these puppies into work.

I was supposed to be over at Tracy's by 5:45 to babysit Princess, but I didn't there until 6. I always seem to be 15 minutes late for everything. Fortunately, dinner was ready for me! Hooray! Tracy made this yummy recipe from Lorna Sass' Complete Vegetarian Kitchen. It's a spinach-chickpea-sundried tomato risotto recipe that's made in minutes in the pressure cooker. Definitely one of my faves.

Crisis Not-Quite Averted

Last week, an e-mail went around at work asking for volunteers to bake goods for the United Way Bake Sale. Remembering how complimentary my co-worker Derek was about my Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, I had visions of Experimental Farm employees raving over vegan goodies. I eagerly responded that I would supply 2 dozen cookies. Worried that I would forget, I left reminders all over the house that on Tuesday night, I would bake a whole batch of Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies to take on Wednesday for the sale early on Thursday morning. How hard could it be? I had already made the recipe and it turned out great (see earlier post). By the Law of Sarah, I should have known that this endeavor would not be achieved without a major headache.

On Monday night, I thought how I’d better check that I had all of the ingredients. By late that night, I was too tired and convinced myself that I was well-equipped. My god, I had been cooking/baking all weekend, so I would have noticed if I was missing any critical ingredients. Nevertheless, I told myself that I would check before work. Needless to say, I was running very late this morning, and on my way to work, I even had to turn around and drive back to grab my purse that I had inadvertently left in my front hall before leaving. Cookie ingredients? Never gave it a thought. At work, I wondered if I had all of the ingredients, and knew that I was making a stop at a store next to the grocery store tonight. I told myself that I would do a mental check while I was there, so that I could easily stop and pick up anything I might have been missing.

So, after doing all of the other stuff around the house that I needed to do, I decided to get into my PJs and make some cookies at 9:42. I open the cupboard, and sure enough, I only have 1/3 cup of oats. Since these were "Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies", I thought that this was a critical ingredient. I thought about running to the grocery store, but in my attire, scratched that idea. I then decided I would halve the recipe. Forget the two dozen, the charity will have to be happy with one. However, with the amount of oats I had on hand, I would have to quarter the recipe. Instead, I went through my freezer, and found a ground oat/hemp seed concoction that I had saved from another recipe. I dumped that in and hoped for the best. I rushed to get the cookies on the sheet, then did a taste test. Good idea, since I forgot to add the freakin’ sugar! I tried to mix as best as I could, but one can only hope for the best. I added extra chocolate chips to make up for how disastrous this could be.

Needless to say, I won’t do vegan food any justice at the bake sale. I might be able to salvage a dozen if I’m lucky, but it’s not looking good. I'm probably going to have to re-attempt tomorrow night at some point as they are greasy looking, flat and too crispy :(




Fortunately, my Crockpot Homestyle Applesauce from the Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook turned out great. I had just finished telling some people in the lunchroom that I was vegan and that that meant no meat, no eggs and no dairy. Not even 10 seconds later, one of the eager listeners asked if I was eating pork n’ beans (my applesauce). I wasn’t offended, since there are a few folks that work for the government that aren’t the *swiftest* characters, so I didn’t take it personally and instead just relished in my apple pork-free treat.

C is for Cookie...

And this one is good enough for me! On Thursday, I had baked some Best Pumpkin Muffins (from VwaV - see Tracy's post) for my beau, Kyle, to take to his work, and had 1 cup of thawed pureed pumpkin left in the fridge. I thought I could just make another batch of muffins from my fave cookbook, but I remember seeing “Pumpkin” splashed across a few other recipes in the book. Sure enough, a recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies caught my eye. At first, I was skeptical because A) I only make one kind of oatmeal cookie that everyone raves over (I’ll post my delectable recipe soon), and B) Pumpkin in a cookie? Although the recipe called for all purpose flour and raisins, I made an executive decision to substitute whole wheat flour and chocolate chips (Kyle wants them in EVERYTHING). I am known as the Queen of Substitution, and I had to put my personalized mark on the recipe. I tried the cookies today at work, and they were awesome…the spice was a perfect complement to the crisp fall air. I had also brought an extra two cookies to share with my co-worker Derek, a self-admitted cookie freak, in order to solicit his opinion. Derek seemed thrilled with the treat, noted the spiced taste, and told me that I could bring in Kyle’s share for him to eat. I doubt that that would go over well with Kyle, although it might actually make me popular at work.

As Tracy mentioned, VwaV rawks. That being said, for fear of turning this blog into an Isa-worshipping site, I thought I’d talk about a recipe from one of my other favourite cookbook authors. I made this delectable All-Day Minestrone Soup from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. It was delish, and probably one of the easiest Crockpot recipes I have ever made (I know Crockpots are supposed to be effortless, but I find a lot of recipes involve browning/cooking many of the ingredients in advance, thus making it seem like I’m still having to tend to the meal). I used Eden’s organic Alphabet noodles, which brought me back to eating Alphagetti as a kid :) For my more mature tastebuds, I mixed in some homemade pesto at the end, as the recipe suggested, and it really gave it a lot of flavour. I’m glad this recipe called for chickpeas, as I seem to hate every other bean out there.

The one thing I absolutely love about the Crockpot is coming home after a long day at work in the bureaucracy-filled public service, opening the door, and smelling dinner cooking. I actually forget that I turned it on it the morning, so I get excited at the realization that I don’t have to cook! I then sort of pretend that someone has made me dinner and it’s just waiting to be served! The reality is that I live alone, and I don’t expect anyone to come to my house and make me dinner anytime soon :(

PS - Tracy...you need to get the Wearever Muffin Tin...it makes clean-up a breeze. Ditch the muffin papers and go commando...