Plenty Sweet Enough

Warm Kale and Beet Salad

2012-01-24T18:25:00.000-05:00

Warm Kale and Beet Salad

I'm feeling very virtuous today. After my morning workout, I tried to think of the healthiest possible lunch with the ingredients on hand. With a pot of cooked beets waiting to be peeled on the stove and a slightly wilted bunch of kale in the fridge, I decided to combine the two into a delicious warm salad.

Warm Kale and Beet Salad

1/2 bunch of kale (approximately 6-8 cups chopped)
2 cooked beets
4 teaspoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon agave nectar (or sweetener of your choice)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds

Remove the tough stems from the kale and chop into fairly thin strips. Steam the kale lightly for approximately 2 minutes. Slice the cooked beets and then cut into matchsticks. In a small bowl, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, agave nectar and sesame oil. Toss the kale and beets with the dressing and garnish with sesame seeds.

Spiced Roasted Cauliflower

2012-01-19T19:38:00.000-05:00

Spiced Roasted Cauliflower

For the last three weeks, I've been playing around with a few of my old favourites in order to reduce the fat content. I used to be extremely sloppy and generous with the amount of oil I would slosh into the fry pan when stir-frying, but not anymore. I'm unofficially following the weight watchers points plus system using a little pocket handbook a friend gave me.

In order to motivate myself and to encourage healthier eating habits, I went through the guide and wrote out every zero point food in the back of my journal. This list includes just about every vegetable and fruit except potatoes and sweet potatoes (I think). For those of you who know nothing about weight watchers, you can eat as many or as much of the zero point foods in a day as you want, which is pretty awesome if you like fruits and vegetables. The zero point foods are all nutrient rich and full of fibre rich which makes sense.

Anyways, it's been really interesting planning my meals with the focus on eating as many zero point foods as possible in one day instead of thinking about what I can't eat. I've noticed a definite increase in my vegetable intake and to satisfy my occasional sweet cravings and replace the refined sugar I've cut from my diet, I now eat a big, juicy, pink grapefruit every day which is so delicious and satisfying. Yes, really! It's kind of funny because I consider myself a pure comfort eater and things like cake, pasta, and other refined carbs were always my trigger foods. I would stuff myself with huge portions and wonder why I wasn't losing weight even though the rest of my diet was fairly healthy and completely plant based.

This is a slightly revamped version of the roasted cauliflower poppers I made last year. I cut the amount of oil in half and upped the spice quotient. If you use the vinegar instead of lemon juice, the cauliflower comes out tasting a little bit like dill pickles for some reason. Quite yummy in different way. I can easily eat an entire pan of this cauliflower in one sitting and have done so twice in the last two weeks. I jealously guarded the pan when my husband walked into the kitchen the other day. I actually hoarded cauliflower!

Spiced Roasted Cauliflower

1 small or 1/2 large head of cauliflower 1
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
Juice from half a lemon or 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
3 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together all ingredients (except cauliflower) in a medium sized bowl. Chop or break the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Toss or mix the cauliflower with the marinade until evenly coated. Spread the cauliflower onto a baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes.

You could probably stir it once half way through but I usually don't bother and it turns out just fine. I just set the timer and forget about it while I cook the rest of the meal.

Oatmeal with Shredded Apple and Maple Syrup

2012-01-11T09:28:00.000-05:00

Oatmeal with Shredded Apple and Maple Syrup

I've been quiet lately. My meals have been focused and healthy. I've been playing around with some of my favourite recipes by cutting out excess oil and sugar. This morning I had a craving for oatmeal but the way I usually eat it, drowning in maple syrup and soy milk, was not going to cut it. In Canada at this time of year there's not a lot of fresh, seasonal fruit. Apples are plentiful though! I decided to grate an entire apple and add it to the oatmeal to satisfy my sweet-tooth. I couldn't resist a touch of maple syrup and then sprinkled some cinnamon on top. I'm really happy with my little experiment. The sweet crunch of the apple added a nice contrast in texture to the oatmeal.

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 to 1 1/4 cups water
1 apple grated
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (or to taste)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
soymilk or other non-dairy milk to taste

In a small sauce pan, cook the oatmeal in water for about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the grated apple and top with cinnamon, maple syrup and soymilk if using. Enjoy your hearty, healthy breakfast!

Chocolate-Banana Itty-Bit of Peanut Butter Fridge Pie

2011-12-30T03:07:00.000-05:00

Chocolate-Banana Itty-Bit of Peanut Butter Fridge Pie

On January 1st, I'm starting a 2 month long no-sugar challenge and as a last hurrah I decided to make a decadent, chilled dessert. My intention was to create a chocolate-peanut butter pie but realized too late that there was only a scant tablespoon of peanut butter left in the jar. What to do? The crust was made, the chocolate melted and the silken tofu blended. I spied the large bunch of bananas across the room and popped one in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Yes! It was a good call.

This pie is super rich, yummy and easy to make - even for pie challenged people like me. I'm not including a recipe for the crust because I'm incredibly terrible at making them as you will see from the horrendous photo. I didn't even intend on posting this but it was so satisfying and chocolaty that my quick snapshot of the mostly eaten pie will have to do.

1 package silken tofu
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large, ripe, banana
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
3/4 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 graham cracker pie crust.

Blend silken tofu, agave nectar, vanilla, peanut butter and banana in the food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler and add to the mixture in the food processor. Blend until fully incorporated and smooth. Pour into the pie crust and chill for at least one hour.

Eggplant-Garlic-Bean Spread

2011-12-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

Eggplant-Garlic-Bean Spread

This is one of my favourite things to eat. I am officially hooked on warm, comforting bean dip slathered on toast for a quick and healthy breakfast. This version has a slightly smoky undertone from the dry-fried eggplant. You can eat this simply like I do on toast, as a wonderful addition to any sandwich or wrap, or it can be dressed up with more toppings on rounds of baguette or crackers. If I have a pot of this prepared in the fridge, I never go hungry.

Eggplant-Garlic-Bean Spread

1 small Asian eggplant, quartered lengthwise and chopped

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can navy beans, rinsed

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat a non-stick fry pan on high for a few minutes while you are chopping the vegetables. Add the eggplant into the dry pan and cook, stirring periodically. Once the eggplant takes on a smoky, slightly brown appearance, add the olive oil and chopped onion. Turn down the heat to medium and cook until the onion is softened. Add the chopped garlic, cook for a few more minutes, stirring so the garlic doesn't burn and then turn off the heat.

Place the navy beans, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, along with the veggies from the fry pan into a food processor. Make sure you scrape all the oil from the pan into the processor. Blend until you reach the desired consistency.

Eggplant, onion and garlic frying.

Vegan Shortbread

2011-12-04T16:37:00.000-05:00

Vegan Shortbread Hearts and Giraffes

I was determined to make shortbread today. Along with my friend Farrah, I'm participating in another cooking challenge with the theme of food as gifts. So, what better gift than home-made Christmas shortbread. As a child, these were my favourite cookies to eat, make and decorate at holiday time.

I dug out the little booklet of family recipe cards given to me by my mom and found "Nummy Shortbread". There was one small problem, it only listed three ingredients and not one of them was sugar. And then I read the instructions which consisted of only three words. "Mix, roll, cut." Hmmmmmm, a bit cryptic for my comfort. I called my mom and asked her about the sugar. Her response was, "don't put in too much".

Okay, so it looks like I'll be winging it today but how difficult could it be?

I decided to use my stand mixer. I may have baked these a few minutes too long so be careful you don't over do it or they will be dry. The raw dough is a little crumbly but when you shape it and pat it down with your hands it sticks together just fine. I don't think there's enough sugar in this recipe so if you try it, you might want to add a bit more.

Vegan Shortbread

1 cup vegan butter softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons corn starch

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the flour and cornstarch with the mixer on the lowest setting until just combined. Remove the dough from the mixer and pat together. Roll out the dough to desired thickness, approximately 1/4 inch. Using cookie cutters, cut into shapes and decorate.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Coriander Seeds

2011-11-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

Roasted Butternut Squash with Coriander Seeds

I was looking for a soup recipe to use up the butternut squash hanging around my fruit bowl and instead decided upon this appealing sounding dish from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbook Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. I really enjoyed the slightly exotic pairing of the crushed coriander with the sweetness of the squash and it's a nice twist on your usual roasted, root veggies. The recipe only has four ingredients and I had fun bashing and smashing the whole coriander seeds in a baggie with my rolling pin. I cut the squash a bit smaller than called for and forgot to flip or stir the pieces while they were roasting but it didn't seem to affect the outcome. The squash was nicely caramelized and very tasty.

Cherry-Almond-Poppyseed Muffins

2011-11-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

Cherry-Almond-Poppyseed Muffins

Ooooooh, doesn't the name of these muffins just make you want to scarf down a whole batch? I finally got my hands on a library copy of Vegan Diner: Classic Comfort Food for the Body and Soul by Julie Hasson and am super excited because this type of food is right up my alley. It's a beautiful, fall, Saturday morning and baking a dozen muffins is just what I need to ground myself after a busy week. Flipping through the book I became really excited. If I can get my act together, I hope to be able to try more than a few recipes before it has to go back.

Okay, now on to the muffins. I followed the recipe faithfully except for one small variation which I think works. There were no dried cherries in the pantry but I did have a jar of maraschino cherries left over from when I made those beautiful chocolate-cherry cookies from Color Me Vegan in the summer. I chopped the maraschino cherries in half and also added one on top of each muffin - don't they look adorable? The smell of the almond extract while baking is divine! The almond-cherry combination is yummy. I think the muffins were quite good, maybe they need a little more fruit to jazz them up but they were moist and quite dense.

Cherry-Almond-Poppyseed Muffins

Spicy Smothered Green Cabbage

2011-11-05T17:31:00.001-04:00

Spicy Smothered Green Cabbage

After a few days of indulging in too much Halloween candy, my body was asking for something a little more down to earth and non-sugary. A few friends and I are cooking from Terry Bryant's Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisineover the next month and today, I started with the simple but delicious Spicy Smothered Green Cabbage. I don't cook cabbage all that often but this dish appealed to me with it's toasted mustard seeds, a hit of spice from red-pepper flakes and it's relatively few ingredients. It was easy to prepare and would make a fantastic side dish for normal people. Of course, I just ate it for breakfast with a cup of tea and my newly invented bean dip on ciabatta which I'll post next week.

Check out my cooking buddy Farrah's yummy dishes from the same book at Carrot Top Vegan!

Gingerbread Pecan Biscotti

2011-10-29T18:12:00.000-04:00

Gingerbread Pecan Biscotti

As the light was dying in the sky, I scrambled to get my pecan challenge recipe complete, photographed and posted for today. (I was slightly delayed by my immersion in Jane Austen's Persuasion and had to tear myself away!) I found this recipe on veganbaking.net, a great website I had forgotten about until a Google search for "pecans","biscotti" and "vegan" brought it to my attention again after many months. The spice levels seemed quite intense and unbelievably I actually had all the ingredients in my pantry, including candied ginger! Wow!

I followed the instructions to a tee (okay, minus the parchment paper) and was pleased with my first attempt at biscotti making. The house was filled with the scent of ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. I'm not sure that these are too kid-friendly, the spice level is quite high and the hunks of crystallized ginger and pecans may not appeal to young palates but it makes a nice change of pace from chocolate cake. Another perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea!

To see the other pecan dishes made by two of my blogging buddies have a peek at:

Farrah's blog - Carrot Top Vegan
Hilda's blog - The Triumph of the Lentil

Spicy African Peanut Slow Cooker Soup and Vegan Buttermilk-Maple Biscuits

2011-10-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

Spicy African Peanut Soup

I am happy to report that after a quick flip through Sara Matheny's new book Peas and Thank-You, I'm looking forward to trying many of the recipes. This weekend we had visitors and I attempted to make the Spicy African Peanut Slow Cooker Soup. Unfortunately, after a few hours in the slow cooker and just minutes before our guests were due to arrive for lunch, I noticed the soup was not even partially cooked. I ended up throwing the whole thing into a pot on the stove and (accidentally) boiling the heck out of it. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to detect the slightly burned at the bottom taste. The soup had great flavours - smoky and savory with a touch of sweetness. I didn't think it was particularly spicy as the name suggests. The texture was stick to your ribs thick. I made home-made biscuits to accompany the soup and my guests seemed very happy with the meal.

Vegan Buttermilk-Maple Biscuits.

¾ cup soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons vegetable shortening or vegan margarine

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl add the vinegar to the soy milk and stir. It will curdle.

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Cut the Earth Balance into small chunks and using a fork or pastry cutter, blend it into the dry ingredients until the mixture breaks down into fine particles. You can also use your hands to squish it all together and squeeze the flour into the Earth Balance bits.

Stir the maple syrup into the soy milk and add to the dry mixture. Stir until the particles cling together. Turn out onto a floured bread board or countertop and knead for 1 to 2 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Add more flour as needed if the dough is sticky.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 3/4 inch thickness. Cut into rounds (you can use a drinking glass), place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Vegan Buttermilk-Maple Biscuits

My Vision for the World - A Reading Manifesto

2011-10-19T08:42:00.000-04:00

Warning; this is a very long story, it's personal and it's not about food. Feel free to stop reading if you're passing through as part of Vegan Mofo. I am posting this here on my food blog because it's the publishing space I have available.

Life is not linear but I will try to make sense of a long and winding road. As a few of you may know, I've been struggling to implement some ideas out in the world. It all started with the thought that I needed to help my family. This is not a bad thing, but what I noticed is that when trying to source great ideas while coming from an inner place or feeling of "lack" and "need", all of my thoughts and decisions were based in fear and anxiety. Not very inspirational or productive. It kept me mired there in the mental muck for quite a time.

So, I began to make lists and notes, writing out and exploring my interests. I've always considered myself to be a bit of a dabbler, interested in a lot of seemingly unconnected and diverse things. As I dug into this process, I began to see clues embedded in the activities that I've been involved in for the last few years, apart from mothering. I deconstructed these activities by asking myself questions about what made them important or fulfilling. Personal values began to emerge from the answers to these questions. I value friendship, community, connection, compassion, creativity, learning and diversity among other things. This is what I'm all about and I now had the beginning of something. But what?

Let me back-track a for a minute and tell you that one of my first Aha moments in this process came this past summer when our friends Patty, Chris and their son Biko paid us a visit from Washington D.C. Patty is my oldest and dearest friend in the world and we had a conversation where I shared my ideas about a project I was working on at the time. The discussion was a huge revelation to me. I realized that my world was too small, that my focus was too narrow and that I needed and craved MORE conversations with wonderful people like these. Conversations that produced new avenues of thought, from people who were experts in other areas, who could bring their experience to bear on my situation. I was starving for conversational nourishment and stimulation. I felt like a mama bear coming out of her cave after years.

At the time I knew something important had shifted inside me. I made a decision to begin reaching out for more contact with the people already in my life and those to come. I didn't have to figure it all out by myself. People were out there, some of them actually cared about me and wanted to help!

Okay, now back to our present day story. In case you don't already know this about me I'm a bit of a bookworm. One of the things I've been involved in for the last few years is a community called Goodreads. It's basically a social networking site for readers and authors with a huge database of books. Each user has a profile and can set up virtual bookshelves, public or private. Just discovering this was enough to keep me busy for quite a while. I cataloged all the books I could remember reading (why didn't I keep notes?) along with rating and reviewing quite a few. It felt like heaven for a list freak like me! It wasn't too long before I started to make friends from all over the world who shared my love of reading and conversation. The site is very user friendly and interactive, allowing you to comment on other people's reviews and host discussion groups, etc I had joined several of these groups but had not found my home and so two years ago decided to start my own.

I named the group Comfort Reads. My intention was and still is to welcome readers of all genres who share the pleasure of a good book to relax with and who also enjoy learning from many sources. Book snobbery is not what we're about. Reading has never been a chore for me. My whole life it's brought me comfort and joy, understanding and appreciation for others. I can bridge the gap between cultures by mentally and emotionally walking a day in the life of someone else's shoes. Allowing myself to be lost in the narrative voice of someone completely different. I've been thrilled, inspired, moved and engaged and in some tough moments, books have kept me from feeling alone in the world.

The Comfort Reads membership has steadily grown and there are now over 1000 members. I am thrilled and happy to welcome each new reader who joins us as does my ever helpful co-moderator Lisa. The community is kind, fun, responsive and supportive. Our daily chat thread is a great place to say hello and connect. We have threads where members may suggest or recommend all types of books they've enjoyed. We talk about our current reads even if they're not "comfort reads". Friendships have been formed among members from all over the world. The people are simply amazing. I am organizing a reader convention for this community which has been dubbed "ComfyCon" and will be held in Toronto, October 2012. I look forward to deepening friendships in real life that have been formed online.

This past year, my friend Lisa and I started a Vegan Cooking and Cookbooks group also hosted on Goodreads that has tons of beautiful and compassionate people. They inspire me every day and the community is so supportive and fun. I feel blessed with the new friends that have come into my life as a result of both groups.

Inspired by the potential of these two communities and what I have seen grow, I birthed an idea. To create an organization of readers with a purpose that manifests my core values. I'm going to share my vision, mission and goals for that organization now. This is somewhat of a work in progress (except for the vision) but you will get the idea.

Vision

A connected, creative and compassionate world

Mission

Our mission is to connect people through their passion for reading. Building relationships and communities that foster a culture of friendship, diversity and life-long learning.

Goals

To encourage and foster friendship and international understanding
To promote reading as a bridge to peace, kindness and compassion for all cultures, creatures and the environment
To build a world-wide community of enthusiastic readers
To promote the idea that reading can bring comfort and alleviate feelings of isolation – that reading other people’s stories and experiences is uplifting and humanizing
To promote and share the joy that comes through reading, discussion and life-long learning
To support local and international outreach to encourage reading
To celebrate the written word and story-telling in all its forms
To encourage writing and reading as a way to express, explore and understand oneself and others
To support and promote responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources
To support organizations that protect old growth forests and promote the use of environmentally responsible alternatives in publishing

While I am inspired by my idea, one of the questions that plagues me is how best to implement this vision, this mission and these goals? My intention is to form a membership organization, because people working together can do powerful things. And I love people. I love connecting people to each other, meeting people and talking to people. Every conversation I have confirms this belief. I am one person and my work has already started but I would like to christen this organization with a name that speaks to the values above.

I've been reading all about non-profits, social enterprises, and regular companies that make a difference in the world. I tell myself there is no hurry to decide - just start Lee! I flit back and forth between all three models trying to understand what will do the most good for all of us. My goals are in line with a non-profit but the form and bureaucracy does not thrill me or feel dynamic. Where do I fit in? I'm a human being who wants to create something wonderful, show my daughter what's possible, live a life of purpose, and help support my family at the same time.

Now that I have unleashed myself, the ideas are coming fast and furious but I want to get into action. I am not the most patient of people. I am full of energy and passion for this project and it's driving me hard. I don't sleep much.

I have a vision for a connected, creative and compassionate world. I have a ton of project ideas that are manifestations of that vision but right now I'm running with this one. If you would like to join me, understand what I'm trying to accomplish and have managed to read this far. I'm asking for your help. This is what I need and this is what you can do.

1. Be my business mentor. If you have experience in any field (marketing, strategic planning, financial stuff etc.) I need coaching and support in order to execute my plans. I'm a hard worker and am learning as fast as I can but I could use some support and guidance.

2. I need partners, sponsors or friends to support and join this fledgling organization (as yet unnamed).

3. If we are not already connected, find me on Linked In, Google+ or Goodreads.com

4. Leave a supportive suggestion, some feedback or a name idea below in the comments

5. Email me privately with any or all of the above at leekaiken@gmail.com

6. Donate any amount to help me start-up and work towards my goals. I need a website, a logo and a few other things to begin operating. There is a button in the sidebar on the right, below my photo, where you can do that. Thank-you kindly.

I would like to thank my friends, old and new, for listening to me natter on rather incoherently over the last few months. Your ears and eyes allowed me to process my thoughts and I am finally outing myself completely now, with the whole story. Big, fat hugs to you all. I won't name you because I'm bound to forget one person and that would be unforgivable

And I thank Lisa Petrilli, Gini Dietrich, Valeria Maltoni and Deborah Ivanoff for being women in business that have inspired and resonated with me.

Lee

Pumpkin Bread

2011-10-18T03:32:00.000-04:00

Pumpkin Bread

Tis the season for all things pumpkin! Okay, so I had this giant tin of pumpkin in my fridge left over from making the Pumpkin Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares the other day and figured I better use it up pronto. Silly me, I adapted a recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking and didn't write any notes because honestly, I thought it might not turn out. And I didn't measure the pumpkin at all, I just dumped the remainder of the can in the bowl. Of course the loaves came out of the oven and were perfect, not too sweet and a great snack with a cup of tea. So, here goes.

Pumpkin Bread

3 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/2 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/3 cup canola oil
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil two loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix flax seeds and water together until creamy. Add the sugar, pumpkin and oil to the flax mixture and stir until well blended. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine but do not over mix.
Spoon the batter into the loaf pans and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool for about 20 minutes before removing them from the pans.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares

2011-10-15T13:33:00.001-04:00

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares

It's pumpkin post day for a me and a few of my awesome buddies from the Vegan Cooking and Cookbooks group on Goodreads! We are all posting pumpkin recipes and I have chosen these easy, moist and delicious squares that I wish I could take the credit for but actually found at another blog here. I've altered the recipe somewhat, reducing the sugar by a third and adding my own mix of spices. I've never purchased premixed pumpkin pie spice so I just Googled what was in it and added the amounts I wanted. This recipe was really fast to put together and I was excited to try the peanut butter-pumpkin combination.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon dried ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 or 9x9 square cake pan with foil and spray with oil.
In a medium sized bowl, stir together all ingredients until well mixed. Pat down into pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let them cool in the pan before you attempt to remove and slice.

Vegan Popover Muffins - An Interesting Experiment

2011-10-14T03:31:00.000-04:00

Vegan Popover Muffins

I've been wanting to make vegan popovers forever! I made traditional popovers for the first time a few years ago to serve at a mother daughter tea-party and ever since, I've nursed the idea in the back of my mind. The originals tasted quite egg-y and here I've used chick-pea flour instead of eggs.

This recipe is adapted from one posted on the PPK forums combined with another recipe I found on the web. As you can see from the photo, they came out looking more like sunken muffins. When I checked on them half way through they were nicely domed but - oops maybe I shouldn't have opened the oven because they sank. The insides were very moist and the outsides fairly crisp. There were no large air pockets but several small ones distributed throughout. I think they must be eaten with jam or something sweet because on their own I don't find them super appealing. I would rate this experiment as semi-successful because while they didn't look like a traditional popover, they still taste pretty good and I liked the contrast between the inner softness and the outer crispness. I would love to hear about anyone else's experience with this type of recipe. Please let me know in the comments if you've found a good one.

Vegan Popover Muffins

1 1/14 cups flour
3 Tablespoons chickpea/garbanzo flour
1 Tablespoon baking soda
pinch turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups soy-milk
1/3 water
1/2 package silken tofu (mori-nu vacuum pack)
2 tablespoons melted Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a muffin or popover tin.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add tofu, water, Earth Balance and soy milk to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the wet to the dry mixture and stir until thick and smooth.
Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes and then turn down heat to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes. Serve warm with jam. Yields 12 popovers.

White Bean - Red Pepper Dip

2011-10-09T03:51:00.000-04:00

White Bean - Red Pepper Dip

I know this looks like another sandwich but peeping out from under the tomato is a quick and easy bean dip. I hadn’t planned on a theme for Vegan Mofo but one seems to be presenting itself – food for people who have minimal time to cook! Normally, I would love spending hours puttering around the kitchen, reading my cookbooks and browsing online for new recipes but lately other projects have been occupying my time. This dip is great for sandwiches or simply slathered on a piece of toast or baguette.

Red Pepper-White Bean Spread

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ red pepper, choppd

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the red pepper and garlic in the olive oil for two to three minutes on medium high. Be careful not to burn the garlic. In a food processor, blend remaining ingredients, scraping down the sides once or twice. Add the red pepper, garlic and olive oil to the bean mixture in the processor and blend until incorporated.

My Lemony Birthday Cake

2011-10-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

Lemony Birthday Cake

On my last birthday, I made myself a lemon cake with lemon butter cream icing. At the time, I didn't post the recipe because I thought it needed a little work. I am not an expert baker and the cake was fairly dense. It's more of a homey-style kind of cake instead of the lightness you might associate with a traditional lemon sponge cake but the delicious icing made everything right. It still could use some work but in honor of Vegan Mofo, I'm going to post it as is and hope that it's good enough.

My daughter decorated the top with raspberries for me!

Lee’s Lemony Birthday Cake

4 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

2 cups unsweetened soy milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

2/3 cup oil (I used coconut oil and canola oil)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 nine inch round baking pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Combine soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Add wet ingredients with the dry, combining until well mixed. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

½ cup Earth Balance

3 cups icing sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice (one lemon)

1 tsp vanilla

Cream Earth Balance with electric beater until soft, add in icing sugar 1 cup at at time. Add the lemon juice and vanilla before the last cup of icing sugar and beat until fluffy.

Actually, this amount of icing just barely covered my cake so you might want to make a little more icing.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

2011-10-04T10:45:00.001-04:00

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

One of the best things about being vegan is the shift in perception regarding vegetables that were previously and unfairly maligned or even completely undiscovered. When you stop focusing on animal products and start exploring the big, wide, world of plant foods out there, it's really incredible what you can find that's been right under your nose all the time. I'm talking about Brussels Sprouts, a vegetable that in our house, used to make an appearance once or twice a year around holiday time and usually boiled to within an inch of their poor wee lives. Not very appetizing. When I started to see recipes in my vegan cookbooks for roasted Brussels Sprouts, I was a little doubtful at first but decided to take the plunge. Honestly, roasting them is quite simple and they are transformed into yummy bite sized morsels, tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside. We make these on a fairly regular basis and they're so tasty they get eaten out of the pan like candy.

There are loads of recipes on the web but the way I usually do it is by trimming the ends off, slicing them in half and then tossing them in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. You have to watch them near the end to make sure they don't burn. I think it usually takes about half an hour. Tonight I wasn't paying enough attention and the bottom pan got a little burnt. If anyone has any tasty additions or variations, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Egyptian Inspired Fava Bean Mash

2011-10-03T11:15:00.001-04:00

Egyptian Inspired Fava Bean Mash - before being mashed

This recipe is inspired by an Egyptian breakfast dish made from mashed fava beans and traditionally eaten with pita bread. I've never had the original but came across a recipe on All Recipes that sounded simple and interesting. I was a little unsure about the directions and an ingredient or two seemed to be missing so decided to do my own little riff on ful mudames. I love discovering new comfort food that's delicious and healthy and this was my first time cooking with fava beans. I wasn't disappointed, the combination of cumin and lemon give this dish a wonderful, warm tanginess that will have you scraping the bowl clean with the last bit of pita (or any flatbread).

Note: the original recipe called for parsley but I have used cilantro because I love it. I think garlic would be good too but I left it out for personal reasons. I first smashed the beans the old-fashioned way with a fork but then decided I wanted to pop the whole thing in the food processor to see the difference. I liked the flavour of the more blended but still slightly chunky version better.

Egyptian Inspired Fava Bean Mash

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion diced
1/2 red bell pepper diced
1 tsp cumin
1 large tomato diced
1 can fava beans (reserve liquid)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro finely chopped
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

In a large non-stick frying pan, on medium-high heat, cook the onions in olive oil for a few minutes until translucent. Add the cumin, red pepper and tomato and cook, stirring, for approximately 5 minutes. Add the beans, lemon juice, cilantro, salt and pepper along with a couple of tablespoons of the reserved bean liquid. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the flavours have combined. Smash the beans with a fork or pulse in a food processor until you are satisfied with the consistency. Eat with flat bread of your choice.

Totally Yum!

Apple Crisp - Vegan Mofo Day 2

2011-10-02T14:53:00.000-04:00

Apples are beautiful!

Apple Crisp

On the menu today is something I haven't made for a long time but is one of my favourite fall desserts - Apple Crisp! And it's the perfect day, rainy and cool, to curl up with a bowl of warm apple yum, a cup of tea and a good book.

As you can see from the photo, I am practicing thriftiness by using up my daughter's half eaten apples. I hope that doesn't gross everyone out but it breaks my heart to toss out food that with a little creative paring, is perfectly usable in a dish such as this. I was worried that my remaining one cup of oats would not be enough to create a topping but it seems to be the perfect amount. I forgot to count the apples and grease the pan but it turned out okay, just a little sticky. Thank goodness I snapped those apple shots! As far as I'm concerned even a couple more wouldn't be a bad thing but I used what we had. Many people enjoy this dessert paired with ice-cream but I like it fine just plain.

Apple Crisp

9-10 apples, cored, sliced and diced
juice from half a lemon
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup lightly-packed brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2-1/2 cup Earth Balance

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" baking pan.

Toss your cored and diced apples in the lemon juice while your preparing the crisp topping.

Mix together in a medium sized bowl the oats, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut the Earth Balance into small pieces and add to the other dry ingredients. Use your fingers to squish everything together until you get small clumps or large crumbs of topping. See mine here to the right.

Bake for approximately one hour or until the top is brown and and the apples are tender.

Enjoy!

Grilled Cheese Comfort - Vegan Mofo Day 1

2011-10-01T19:16:00.000-04:00

Grilled Cheese and Tempeh Bacon

Today is the first day of Vegan Mofo; the vegan month of food celebrated by hundreds of bloggers around the globe. If you want to see and read about some fantastic food that's cruelty free, delicious and good for you and the planet then check out the extensive list of bloggers at Mofo headquarters. I committed myself to participating a couple of weeks ago, and now find myself desperately searching for something to make, as the sun goes down. In the last two weeks, life suddenly turned topsy turvy or maybe I should just say my brain is undergoing a revolution. I'm in the process of developing a few ideas that will change the direction of my days and I'm feeling the pressure of too much on my plate. It is great to be completely in the zone, immersed in learning about something new. Strangely, right at the time I'm required to write about food every day, (something I would normally be thrilled to do) all my attention has temporarily shifted away from food which is pretty much unheard of for me. I would be extremely disappointed in myself if I got kicked out of Vegan Mofo for failing to post so I'll do my best in the coming weeks and we'll see what I can pull out of my hat while under pressure.

Today I'm going to share one of my favourite sandwiches. We can't all be cooking up fabulous creations every day like my friend Betsy DiJulio of the Blooming Platter who really puts me to shame. :-) Really, my true fave is a simple vegan grilled cheese with pickles and ketchup. Today, I'll make something slightly more balanced and throw in a few slices of tempeh bacon and tomato along with that perfectly melted, gooey, vegan cheese. Okay, I had to scratch the tomatoes, they weren't ripe. And I guess pickles don't really count as vegetables? To make up for it I made a delicious banana-berry smoothy to go with this comforting snack.

This reminds me that there are quite a few vegan cookbooks devoted to comfort food, one of the most recent being Vegan Diner: Classic Comfort Food for the Body and Soul. I have not read it or even cracked the cover but would love to get my hands on a copy, it appears to have stellar reviews. Okay everyone, get out there, get inspired and help change the world with the food on your plate even if it's just a sandwich!

Tempeh bacon which my local grocery store carries!

Easy-Peasy Lemon-Squeezy Pesto Sauce

2011-09-29T02:54:00.001-04:00

Pasta with Easy-Peasy Lemon-Squeezy Pesto Sauce

Lately, I've been making a ton of pasta with pesto sauce. It's so fast and easy, especially on the nights when we get home from some event and I have little energy for complicated meal prep. Shortly after running out of the traditional pine-nuts and walnuts a month ago, I stopped using a recipes and began to wing-it with the the one nut I always have stocked in my pantry - cashews. There was also an abundance of fresh Italian parsley in my little herb garden so that's getting used up. Paired with the parsley and cashews, fistfuls of my favourite herb cilantro get thrown into the food processor along with some lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. That's it. No measuring, no fuss, just whir everything up together with the olive oil being drizzled in at the end and you have a healthy, delicious sauce for your pasta. Sometimes, if I have a little more energy I'll saute up an onion, red bell peppers, zucchini and a stray veggie sausage to top it off. This is my new favourite, no fuss meal.

I'll attempt to give you measurements here but don't worry if it's not exact. The whole point is to use what you have, especially whatever fresh herbs and nuts you have on hand. Use the ratios that please your palate and experiment, you can't really go wrong!

Easy-Peasy Lemon-Squeezy Pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh cilantro (a big handful)
1/2 cup Italian (flat-leafed) parsley or fresh basil
1/3 cup raw cashews (or whatever nuts you have on hand like walnuts, pine-nuts, etc.)
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on how lemon-y you like it)
salt to taste
1 or 2 cloves garlic
pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/3 olive oil (or whatever amount gives you the consistency you desire)

Place all ingredients except for the olive oil into a food processor and blend on high until you get fairly small bits. Scrape down the sides of the processor at least once during this process to incorporate all the ingredients. While the machine is running pour in the olive oil and process until well blended and an even consistency. Taste for salt and the amount of lemon juice you prefer, it's easy to adjust. Once your pasta is cooked and drained, pour on the pesto sauce and using tongs or a fork toss the pasta to incorporate the sauce evenly.

As I said above, I like to serve this topped with stir-fried veggies and vegan sausage which I cook at the same time as the pasta. I love the sweetness of the slightly caramelized onions and peppers paired with the lemony tang of the sauce.

Ingredients ready to whir~!

Easy-Peasy Lemon-Squeezy Pesto Sauce

Sage-Scented White Bean Topping

2011-09-18T17:48:00.000-04:00

Sage-Scented White Bean Topping

For the past month or two since making the acquaintance of the delightful and talented cookbook author Betsy DiJulio, I have been meaning to try some of the delicious looking recipes found at her blog The Blooming Platter of Vegan Recipes. She is an incredibly creative chef and I'm always amazed at the interesting flavour pairings and dishes that come out of her kitchen. My intention today was to make her Vegan Nachos with Sage Scented White Beans and Cheddar-Spinach Sauce. I carefully prepared my shopping list yesterday and was sure I had everything ready. But, I forgot one ingredient; the beer. Crap. I think this might be an essential element in the Cheddar-Spinach Sauce. Okay, moving on to plan two, no problemo!

I simply love bean dip and so the bean dip portion of the recipe was made. The orange pepper gives it a lovely colour and the fresh sage adds quite a unique flavour. And best of all, it's really easy to make. Just fry up some onions, garlic and pepper then add the beans, olive oil, salt and pepper and sage. (See Betsy's recipe here)

I actually threw it all in the food processor instead of mashing it with a fork on the off chance my little miss would try it if she didn't see the onion chunks. And now, I can't stop eating it. I am bloated with happiness and have so far slathered four good sized hunks of toasted baguette with this bean-y wonder. The rest of my brunch has gone by the wayside. Bye-bye tofu scramble and greens, hello and welcome to one of my new favourite snacks. If this is any indication of what's inside The Blooming Platter Cookbook then it's going to the top of my Christmas wish-list.

Sage-Scented White Bean Topping

Asian Macaroni and Cheese

2011-09-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

Asian Macaroni and Cheese

For the third time in two weeks I've made Asian Macaroni and Cheese from Kim Barnouin's new cookbook Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. I thought it was time I shared my obsession with my friends. The recipe title is a bit of a misnomer because there is nothing cheesy about it but the secret to the mild, creamy flavour of this baked pasta dish is coconut milk. I thought this sounded strange at first and wasn't inclined to try this recipe but a recommendation from someone in my cooking group on Goodreads (*waving at Laura) convinced me to give it a chance. My only complaint is the number of pots necessary to prepare this dish - three on the stove-top plus your baking dish. The sauce is very mild and consists of coconut milk, water, pureed cauliflower, miso, a tiny bit of mustard and soy sauce. The top gets nice and crispy when baked with the Panko bread crumbs sprinkled on top. Along with the tofu, I've tossed in some quick fried broccoli (in place of more cauliflower) to add some colour. You could easily throw in more veggies to beef it up even more. This dish is kid-friendly and a great meal that would probably go down well with most people. We are certainly enjoying a lot of it. :-)

Breakfast Veggie Jumbalaya

2011-09-11T19:55:00.001-04:00

I was about to make my usual tofu scramble for weekend brunch but decided to try something a little different. Instead of cooking 2 or 3 different dishes, I was feeling a little lazy and thought a one pot dish with veggies, protein and carbs combined was more my speed this morning. This is a great dish for using up odds and ends in the fridge. I found one lonely vegan sausage, cornered a few vegetables and some leftover cooked rice. I don't know if this tastes anything like a traditional jambalaya but it was definitely tasty, a little spicy and pretty easy. For the veg, I went with onion, green pepper and yellow zucchini but just about anything would work. The chili sauce I used here and in most of my cooking is an Asian chili garlic sauce. It's pretty potent so a small amount goes a long way but you can use whatever you have handy. I didn't time the cooking of anything but added the ingredients in stages. Again, no time for fancy plating because we were hungry, today you get another stove-top pot shot. It may not be beautiful but it tastes great and the leftovers are just as good.

Breakfast Veggie Jambalaya

1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 vegetarian sausage sliced into half moons
1/2 block of firm tofu cubed (approximately)
1 green or red pepper chopped
1 small zucchini sliced into quarter moons (I'm pretty sure that's not an actually cooking term but hopefully you know what I mean)
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp thyme
1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce (or to taste)
1-2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tomato chopped
3/4 cup (approximately) veggie stock or water
2 cups cooked rice

In a large non-stick pan stir-fry the onions for 1-2 minutes. Add the veggie sausage and tofu and cook until nicely browned. Add the green pepper, zucchini, soy sauce, paprika, thyme, chili sauce and ketchup. Keep cooking until veggies start to get tender and then add chopped tomato and veggie stock or water. Cover and let simmer for a few more minutes. Add the rice and continue to cook (covered) until the rice has plumped up nicely. Enjoy!

Breakfast Veggie Jambalaya

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

2011-08-28T23:06:00.002-04:00

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

There’s something so fascinating about Brazil. I’m really curious about their cuisine and definitely want to explore more recipes. This one comes from Color Me Vegan by Coleen Patrick-Goudreau and was one of the first recipes that caught my attention when flipping through the book. This week, my friend Merry and I are cooking soups or stews every night for dinner and our little challenge provided me with the perfect opportunity to make this dish.

The colours and fragrance from the pot as it cooked were enticing and spicy. I must admit to being a total novice cooking with hot peppers and this is actually the first time in recent memory I’ve cooked with a whole, fresh jalapeño. Of course it squirted me directly in the eye while I was carefully chopping so I won’t soon forget the experience but I’m slowly starting to incorporate more recipes with a little heat. I know my daughter won’t be thrilled with this offering but I hope to distract her with a pretty green edamame soup and maybe some cupcakes?

Okay, down to the nitty-gritty. Instead of 2 cans of diced tomatoes I used one can of fire roasted tomatoes and 3 fresh. I also forgot the mango but I figured the ginormous sweet potato would add enough sweetness to balance out the spice of the hot pepper. I couldn't find Mexican spiced veggie sausage in our local market so I ended up using tofu beer sausages made by Tofurkey as an experiment. The one and a half cups of water called for in the recipe was definitely not enough. I added at least another full cup, if not more, of liquid after the beans went into the pot.

This is a definite make again. It’s colourful, balanced, slightly spicy, earthy from the black beans and sweet from the yams. I love the tomato base and the fire-roasted tomatoes added a smoky flavour and aroma while it was cooking. A bit of cilantro to top it all off and you have the perfect stew. YUMMY! I ate mine with a bit of rice and some fried ripe plantains.

Before I go, I must note that that the light in my kitchen at night is really awful. I'm submitting this blog post and photo (as dark and bad as it is) to Nicole S. Young's giveaway contest on Google+ for her new book titled Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots because I would love, love, love to learn more about food photography and photography in general. I take all my food photos on this super basic, digital pocket camera and one day dream of having a proper camera.

Zucchini-Raspberry Jam Muffins

2011-08-21T17:30:00.000-04:00

Zucchini-Raspberry Jam Muffins

The inspiration for this recipe came from aWilliams Sonoma Muffin book that mysteriously appeared on the library hold-shelf under my name. I don’t rememberordering it and it’s not the kind of thing I’m currently researching but, sinceI’d never pass up the chance to look at attractive baked goods, home it came.

The original version had marmalade in it,not exactly my favourite thing, so I decided to try raspberry jam and veganizedthe recipe. The batter was quite thickand I may mess around with the ingredients a bit more so it will yield at least afull dozen muffins but the flavour and texture is quite good. The muffins look rather humble and homely butwhen you bite into them, the sweet, raspberry flavour is a wonderfulsurprise. I actually didn’t intend onposting this recipe until I took my first bite and the muffins changed my mind.

Zucchini-Raspberry Jam Muffins

Yield: 10 muffins

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup canola oil

¼ cup raspberry jam

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 small zucchini grated (4 ounces)

¼ cup pecans (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tin lightly with oil or linewith paper liners.

In a bowl stir together flour, sugar,baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In another bowl mix wet ingredients; oil,raspberry jam, vanilla and zucchini until well blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mixuntil evenly moistened. Stir in the nutsif you are using. The batter will bequite stiff.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups about¾ full. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes oruntil a knife or toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes outclean.

Let muffins cool in the tin, on a wire rackfor five minutes and then unmold. Enjoy!

Zucchini-Raspberry Jam Muffins

Vegan Sloppy Joe Love

2011-08-17T17:27:00.001-04:00

Vegan Sloppy Joes

I know it’s the middle of summer but apartfrom gorging myself on peaches I pretty much eat like I always do. After not being shunned last week when Iadmitted to not being a salad person, I now feel comfortable coming out aboutmy favourite type of comfort food. Thekeywords are saucy and warm. Last night beforebed, I was craving sloppy joes and when I got up this morning I just had tomake them for breakfast. In the last fewmonths I’ve enjoyed two recipes - one from Veganomicon using lentils andanother featuring tofu from La Dolce Vegan. I had a fairly lazy cooking week and definitely wanted to try a newrecipe. In the interests of time and mygrumbling tummy, I decided on a recipe from another Sarah Kramer book - How itall Vegan and substituted tofu for the tvp. It was really satisfying (read saucy) and for me, it had the perfectblend of spices. And the best part isthat no-one else in my little family of three likes sloppy joes so I only hadto give up the heart-shaped toast to my daughter and the rest of the pot wasmine! I guess nobody else in the familyappreciates the slop like I do. Maybe it’sthe dill pickle?

The recipe consists of two parts; first blendingall of the sauce ingredients – tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, garlic, onionand spices together and then frying up the green pepper, onion, tofu, dill pickle,spices etc in pan. Add the two parts togetherand simmer for as long as you can hold off. I served this with whole grain toast instead of the traditional bun butyou can do whatever you like. I stuffedmyself.

Super Easy Cucumber Salad

2011-08-09T13:31:00.000-04:00

Cucumber Salad

Okay, you may have noticed that I'm not a huge salad person by the lack of salad talk here on my blog. I actually had to create a new label just for this post. ;-) But, there is one simple vegetable salad that I do love to make and eat. I was first introduced to this dish by an Austrian friend while backpacking around Europe over twenty years ago. I stayed with her and her family for a couple of weeks in Vienna and let's just say that most meals were comprised of meat, with a side of meat, and the day she introduced me to this light, summery and refreshing cucumber treat my gut thought it had won the lottery. She showed me how to prepare it and I have been making it off and on ever since. It's basically just thinly sliced cucumber and onion in a vinaigrette dressing. There are countless versions and variations of this recipe all over the place so feel free to play around with the dressing. I don't usually measure but today, for the purpose of sharing, I made it as follows.

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber thinly sliced
1 small red onion thinly sliced
juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons agave nectar (or sweetener of your choice)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

Thinly slice the cucumber and place in medium sized bowl. (I don't like it too thin or it goes soggy after a day in the fridge) Squeeze lemon juice over the cucumber and toss. Add thinly sliced onion. (The onion I do slice as thin as possible because it's raw.)

Whisk together remaining ingredients, taste for seasoning and pour over the cucumber and onion. Toss to mix and refrigerate. I like to eat it right away but many recipes suggest leaving it to cool. It's up to you! The salad should keep in the fridge, tightly covered for a day or two.

Peach Pie

2011-08-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

Peach Pie

It's peach season and that makes me very happy! I picked up two baskets of fresh, local peaches from the market and in honour of my husband's birthday, I made a pie. Simple, down home, slightly goopy, peach pie. I altered the recipe somewhat from the original by cutting the sugar, adding cinnamon and using Earth Balance in place of butter.

This was not a sophisticated or difficult pie to make but it sure was yummy. I'm not a pastry person, cakes and cookies are the usual dessert suspects around here. Pastry mastery is on the to-do list (kinda far down) but for the time being, using a pie shell from the market was fine. The filling was a warm peachy mess and we could barely keep our hands and forks away while it cooled. But oh, it was awesome. Tender, juicy, peach goodness with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. This pie would be even more incredible with some vanilla ice-cream and if I knew how to make decent pastry, it would be out of this world. Here is a link to the original recipe on All Recipes and you'll find my adaptation below.

Peach Pie

1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance (vegan butter), softened
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
6 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
1 - 9-inch single pie crust

Instructions:

Cream together the sugar and Earth Balance. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and flour and mix until small crumbs form. Add half the mixture to the bottom of your pie shell.

Mix the sliced peaches with the remainder of the crumbs and add on top of the bottom layer. Or, you can layer in your peaches and add the remaining crumb mixture on top. (I made it the first way)

Pop into the oven for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 and bake for 40 more minutes or until the top is lightly browned.

Black Bean Burgers

2011-07-30T19:20:00.001-04:00

Black Bean Burgers

For some reason, I'm completely uninspired by most of the black bean burger recipes in my cookbooks. Here's my first stab at an original recipe, it's fun to create your own. I like adding raw carrot (like I did with these Black Eyed Pea and Cilantro Croquettes) because it gives a moistness to the burgers they can sometimes be missing, especially if you get distracted and they get a wee bit overcooked. These are fairly quick to prepare and although there's no heat in them because I'm catering to a child's palate, they still have great flavour. You can always adjust the seasonings if you like your patties spicy.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (for frying)
1 can black beans drained and rinsed (19 ounces)
1 small onion chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
handful of cliantro (approximately 1/2 cup)
1 carrot grated
2 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup gluten flour
3/4 cup bread crumbs

In a food processor pulse together black beans, chopped onion, chopped red pepper and cilantro until you reach the desired texture. I like it slightly chunky, not completely puréed.

Add bean mixture to a bowl with grated carrot, worcestire sauce, salt, cumin and bread crumbs. Mix until well combined and then add gluten flour. I use my fingers to mix in the gluten flour and knead for a minute.

Form into a log shape and cut into 6 or 8 pieces depending on how large you like them. With your hands, form into patty shapes. Add the oil to a preheated non-stick pan and fry on medium heat until nicely browned on both sides. Enjoy!

M's food styling

Minestrone Soup

2011-07-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

Minestrone Soup

My husband had an upset tummy last night so I thought a nice bowl of soup would set him right. Color Me Vegan was due back at the library last week and I've been frantically cooking as many recipes as possible before it gets dropped off later today. The Minestrone Soup with Kale seemed like the perfect recipe to try. I added alphabet letters instead of elbow macaroni to entice my daughter to taste it and it worked! She picked out the onion, carrots, tomatoes, and kale but the broth, navy beans and pasta received firm approval. The only thing I noticed was that the alphabet pasta kept expanding and expanding. Does it ever stop? It's sort of taken over the pot, I'm not sure what the trick to keeping the soup from becoming a letter stew is but if someone knows please share your secret. :-)

Expanding letters take over the pot!

Lemon - Strawberry Muffins - Sometimes Mistakes Are a Good Thing

2011-07-22T09:00:00.002-04:00

Lemon - Strawberry Muffins

I wanted to make a muffin using the most plentiful fruit in the house right now - lemons and strawberries but couldn't find a vegan version anywhere so I adapted a recipe found on the web. I guess I was a little distracted this morning while measuring because I accidentally left out half the flour. (I used 3/4 cup instead of 1 1/2 cups.) My intention was to make them again with the proper amount of flour before posting the recipe but they turned out so yummy that I can't help myself. I must share!

Yes, I admit, they're not the most attractive muffins you've ever seen. They're flat on top, a little on the small side and I had to cool them upside down on the rack because the bottoms were so moist I thought they'd collapse. But don't let appearances fool you! I broke one apart, popped a piece in my mouth and lemon, coconut (from the oil), and strawberry deliciousness flooded my taste buds. I just ate four and want another. As far as I'm concerned, cake disguised as muffins is always a good thing for breakfast.

In writing the recipe below, I doubled the amount of flour so if anyone makes these let me know how they turn out. Also, I used ground flax seeds and water as an egg replacer (for one egg) but you could use another method if you prefer.

Ingredients:

1/4 vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
3 tablespoons water
1 lemon zested and juiced
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Whisk together the ground flax seed and water or other egg replacer. Lightly beat in the oil, lemon juice and non-dairy milk

3. In a separate bowl, mix the lemon zest, flour, salt, baking powder, white sugar and brown sugar.

4. Add the strawberries and wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

5. Bake in the preheated oven, in a lined or lightly oiled muffin tin for approximately 20-22 minutes.

Enjoy!

Fadge - Irish Potato Goodness

2011-07-20T22:14:00.000-04:00

Fadge

What's one of the best ways to use up left-over mashed potatoes? Well, I'll tell you. It's Fadge, also known as Irish Potato Scones. These tasty, pan-fried, savory snacks are something I used to always look forward to eating when visiting my grandmother as a child. She never gave me a recipe or instructions and she is long gone but it wasn't hard to figure out. We tend to eat them straight from the pan but they would go well as a brunch item accompanying a tofu scramble or something saucy for dipping.

They're super simple to make and kids love them. My measurements are not exact because I tend to use left-overs but I promise, once you make these a time or two you will be a pro. If you prefer precise amounts then Googling "Fadge" will yield you many results.

Fadge Directions:

1. Pre-heat a non-stick fry-pan or cast iron skillet on medium heat.

2. Take ANY amount of mashed potatoes whether they be left-over or fresh. (If I'm making these with fresh mashed potatoes I mix in some Earth Balance (vegan butter), salt and non-dairy milk or stock as I normally would while mashing)

3. Mix small amounts of flour with the mashed potatoes until a soft ball is formed and you can roll it out without the dough sticking to the surface of your counter top. Also add a small amount of salt to taste, if you don't they will be quite bland. You might have to experiment a little with the seasoning, I just wing it.

4. If you have a large amount of dough, divide into fist sized balls and shape into a flat, circles. Roll out to the desired thickness. I don't like them too fat so they're usually about 1/4" thick. Use a knife or a pizza cutter to divide the circle into as many pieces as desired, just like cutting a pizza. I usually make 8.

5. Add a little (1 tsp) Earth Balance or cooking spray to the pre-heated pan and fry until nicely browned. Flip over and repeat until the second side is brown. Be careful not to burn them.

Enjoy!

I'm sure there are all sorts of ways you could fancy these up but sometimes simple is enough.

Hearty Stew

2011-07-14T00:16:00.001-04:00

Hearty Stew

I've had Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's lovely book The Vegan Table for quite a while now but haven't taken the time to explore it thoroughly. Even though we are in the middle of summer, tonight I decided to make the Hearty Stew recipe featuring tempeh, potatoes, carrots and onions. It's aptly named and was extremely simple to put together. Even a novice cook could not possibly screw this up. All the veggies get chopped up and thrown into one pot with veggie stock, a bit of tomato paste and some herbs including thyme, marjoram and tarragon. You don't even need to peel the carrots and potatoes if you're feeling really lazy.

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with tarragon. I find the aroma quite strong and a little off-putting but can enjoy the flavour as long as it's balanced with other ingredients. I was really happy with how the stew turned out and even happier that it took so little time to prepare. There's something very satisfying about potatoes cooked in a savoury, saucy stew and the tempeh remained slightly firm while absorbing the flavours of the broth. Yum.

A Surprisingly Efficient Cook or Just Crazy?

2011-07-03T22:05:00.001-04:00

Oatmeal Cookies

I recently took on a large project completely unrelated to cooking and strangely enough, instead of limiting my cooking experiments in the kitchen, it has inspired me to try about 20 new recipes over the last three weeks. I have been a cooking machine in the short time I’ve allowed myself to prepare food for the family. One tool that I find quite helpful in keeping me organized is a website called Cookbooker where I am able to keep track of every single recipe I try from my cookbooks, magazines, blogs or elsewhere. I’m always trying to get more people to use the site because the more individual ratings and reviews that are entered for each book, the more useful the site becomes. Even if I don’t blog for lack of time or a failing to take a decent photo, I can still keep notes about every single recipe I try. So there ends my plug for Cookbooker! Check it out.

I thought I’d mention some of the highlights from the recipes I’ve tried lately. I only have a photo of one because the other two were not very photogenic dishes. Coleen Patrick-Goudreau’s newest book Color Me Vegan is home with me from the library and I have so far cooked 6 recipes. Tonight we ate the Carrot and Avocado Salad and it was a surprise hit. I wasn’t expecting such a delicious contrast of flavours and textures from a relatively short ingredient list. The creamy avocado and crisp carrots combined beautifully with an acidic dressing and the roasted sesame seeds added a surprisingly awesome burst of yum with each bite. I love when my low expectations for a recipe are exceeded!

Last night I was starving and had a baguette home from the market but no ripe tomatoes to make the planned for bruschetta. My friend Lisa helpfully suggested I try a bean and garlic spread so I looked for and discovered a recipe for White Bean Aioli in Veganomicon. Honestly, it was outstanding. I was amazed at how a few simple ingredients were transformed in a matter of minutes with the help of my food processor into a creamy, lemony-garlic delight. Move over hummus! I slathered the Aioli on some toasted baguette and gobbled it down. I even snuck downstairs later (much later) when everyone else was asleep to eat some more. Talk about comfort food!

And last but not least something sweet. I’m just going to mention one dessert for now, Oatmeal Cookies from The Peaceful Palate. These babies are dark, chewy, and extremely addictive. I’ve actually made them twice in the last couple of weeks. I justify the second batch as an experiment to make them more kid friendly because my daughter was not impressed with the strong molasses flavor. Even cutting the molasses in half, she still didn’t completely go for them the second time around so my husband and I had to suffer through eating the whole batch. Life is tough eh?

My buddy Kathryn is also cooking from Color Me Vegan this week and she made the Orange-Glazed Tempeh. Take a look at her dish here along with her comments about the book.

A So-So Soup and a Delicious Dip

2011-06-19T19:39:00.001-04:00

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

Father’s Day shone bright and sunny outside but inside the kitchen some of my efforts were not quite as successful. I started by baking a chocolate cake which is always a hit and then popped two full bulbs of garlic in the oven for “Tomato Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans” from Veganomicon. The soup is not exactly a summery selection but it was the only one I had all the ingredients for and it sounded hearty enough to anchor a meal. As the soup got underway, I whipped up an intriguingly titled “Mediterranean-Style Cashew Cucumber Dip” also from Veganomicon which the cookbook authors claimed as one of their favourites.

I’m happy to say the dip was delicious; much richer than the traditional dairy based tzatziki which inspired it. The cucumbers added a welcome freshness to the cashew base. I ended up slathering the remains on toast when we ran out of toasted bits of pita triangles.

The soup was disappointing but I shouldn’t have been surprised. The recipe called for two large cans of crushed tomatoes and I almost always find tinned tomatoes to have an awful flavour unless combined with many other ingredients or spices and then cooked for a very long time. The texture of the soup was good. The brown rice gave it a wonderful chewiness. It was a major disappointment to not be able to detect so much as a hint of the roasted garlic over the canned tomato. I think this soup could be very tasty if the canned tomatoes were replaced with fresh tomatoes plus tomato paste and some veggie stock. I’m glad I tried it because I enjoyed the rice and beans combination and look forward to experimenting with the soup base.

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For our weekly cooking challenge, the dedicated and always on time Kathryn has posted a scrumptious (and easy!) looking recipe for Dark and Fabulous (Vegan) Chocolate Pudding on her blog. Check it out here.

Strawberry Shortcake

2011-06-05T17:52:00.001-04:00

Strawberry Shortcake

Since I love tofu and eat it just about every day, I borrowed Tofu Cookery (25th Anniversary) by Louise Hagler from the library. It's an older book and I wish the photos were more attractive but I'm interested in trying quite a few recipes. Today was a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon and I didn't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. This recipe for Strawberry Shortcake caught my eye and the whole family was happy with my choice and the results.

I thought the shortcake dough (which contains silken tofu) was rather sticky but they baked up perfectly. I'm not used to working with biscuit dough so I'm sure it was fine. They were tender and not too sweet, the very bottoms where browned from the baking pan were slightly tougher. The Sweet and Creamy Topping which I also made from silken tofu (although the recipe called for regular), had a mild sweet flavour. I added an extra couple of teaspoons of lemon juice because I thought it was initially a bit too bland. We ate the shortcake and cream with fresh cut strawberries which makes this a great summer dessert but next time I think I will add some type of strawberry sauce or maybe just macerate the strawberries for a while before serving to make them juicier. All in all, this was a successful dessert despite my nit-picking and I will definitely make it again.

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Kathryn made the most delicious looking Black Bean Tempeh Stir-Fry dish last week (she's ahead of lazy me again) over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen. Check it out here!

Chickpea Cashew Surprise Loaf

2011-05-22T23:07:00.002-04:00

Chickpea Cashew Surprise Loaf

My friend Lisa and I started a discussion group on Goodreads (a social networking site for readers) called Vegan Cookbooks and Cooking where we discuss many topics related to vegan cooking along with our favourite recipes from the hundreds of vegan cookbooks out there. One of our members recently told us about this fantastic website and program called the Magical Loaf Studio designed by Jennifer McCann author of Vegan Lunchbox and Vegan Lunchbox Around the World. On the website you can plug in a variety of ingredients and SHAZAM! - Out pops a recipe with your chosen ingredients in the correct proportions for an Adventist style loaf. As soon as I took a look at the website I was dying to give it a try and tonight was the night! I picked all my favourite ingredients along with the seasonings I thought would complement them and it actually turned out really moist, flavourful and delicious. I encourage everyone to give this a go and kudos to Jennifer for creating such a simple, yet effective way to create a custom veggie loaf.

As an accompaniment to the loaf I made mashed potatoes, sautéed broccoli, all topped with the Silky Chickpea Gravy from Appetite for Reduction. The gravy was hearty and quite strongly flavoured with thyme but we all enjoyed it and there’s a lot leftover for tomorrow. I had to add quite a bit of extra water to thin the gravy because it was quite thick. Here follows the recipe for the loaf I created but there are endless variations if you want to try it for yourself.

Chickpea Cashew Surprise Loaf

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cashews
2 TB olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans, partly mashed
1 cup dry whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable broth, as needed
1 heaping TB flaxseed meal
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 TB nutritional yeast flakes
2 TB ketchup
Several dashes vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce
2 TB soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray a loaf pan or 8x8 square baking pan with non-stick spray and set aside (an 8x8 pan makes a crisper loaf).

Grind the cashews into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you've chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Cold leftover slices of Chickpea Cashew Surprise Loaf make a great sandwich filling.

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My cooking challenge partner and friend Kathryn continues her exploration of Appetite for Reduction with three yummy recipes including those OMG Onion Rings that I want to stuff my face with! Check out her post at her blog The Hedgehog in the Kitchen.

Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin-Mustard Tofu

2011-04-27T18:21:00.001-04:00

Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin-Mustard Tofu

I've been working my way through Isa Chandra Moscowitz's Appetite for Reduction with great success and this recipe was no exception. In fact, I've made four more recipes from the book this week and been pleased with every single one. The great thing about this book is that most of the recipes don't require a long prep time and none seem daunting or complicated. As an every day cookbook that incorporates a variety of flavour profiles and cuisines, I think this is a winner.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this Hoisin-Mustard combination but I was curious enough to try it and I'm happy to report it was delicious. If you like honey-mustard sauce then you will probably enjoy the blend of ginger, garlic, mustard and the Hoisin barbecue sauce making for a great sweet and savory bite. Wrapping the tofu mixture in lettuce provided the perfect crisp, fresh complement. I used Romaine instead of iceburg and my husband and I gobbled this dish up.

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For our cooking challenge, over the Easter weekend, my friend Kathryn made a Polish sweet bread called Babka which looks and sounds delicious. Check it out here.

Szechwan Green Beans and Shallots

2011-04-17T15:31:00.001-04:00

Szechwan Broccoli and Shallots

Okay, I know the title of this post is a little misleading because these don't look like green beans and they're not but I really wanted to try this recipe from Robin Robertson's new book Party Vegan and the closest thing I had in my fridge was broccoli. This book has been topping my pile of must read library books for a few weeks now and with so much going on around here, I have not had time to do this lovely book justice. I plan on buying myself a copy when the budget allows because it's chock full of delicious sounding recipes that are right up my alley. She is hands down my favourite cookbook author - I think our palates are super simpatico because whenever I read her recipes, I find myself drooling and inspired to get into the kitchen.

This recipe is pretty simple but as usual I was missing another ingredient, this time for the sauce. Dry cooking sherry is not something I usually stock in my pantry although I do come across it occasionally in recipes. It's one of those things I never remember to buy so instead I substituted a combination of rice vinegar and agave nectar. The recipe only calls for one teaspoon and hopefully it didn't completely alter the intended flavours of the dish. My husband said he thought the sauce was very balanced with a nice amount of spiciness. Because I replaced the beans with broccoli and also added tofu to make it a one pot meal, I should have doubled the sauce but it was a easy to prepare, flavourful and very reminiscent of the traditional Szechwan sauces I've eaten in Chinese restaurants. I will definitely make it again with just beans next time.

Ceci-Roasted Red Pepper Soup

2011-04-12T15:08:00.001-04:00

Ceci-Roasted Red Pepper Soup

For my second foray into Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan RecipesI was attracted to a soup called Ceci-Roasted Red Pepper Soup. Mmm, doesn’t that sound good? It has all the flavours I love; roasted bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, chickpeas, coriander and rosemary. I was a little nervous that the called for quantity of rosemary would overpower the soup and after tasting it I definitely found it to be the dominant flavour. It’s a very hearty soup and I will definitely make it again but next time I’ll use less rosemary. I also found it slightly salty and after tasting thought it needed a tiny bit of sweetness so I squeezed in a squirt of agave nectar which seemed to help. This soup made for an easy week-night supper and with a few, tiny tweaks it gets a big, thumbs up!

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My lovely friend Kathryn has been cooking up lots of yummy food while I've been distracted by other things. She's way ahead of me on our cooking challenge so I will link all of her entries here. Check out her most recent dishes!

Mixed Vegetable Masala

Flying Apron's Dark Chocolate Cake

Flying Apron's Gluten-Free Maple Berry "Muffins"

Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits

2011-04-03T16:41:00.001-04:00

Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits

After a stressful two week hiatus to take care of some family business I am back and ready to cook! I treated myself to a copy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's new book Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipesand the recipes look promising. I've been hearing good things about the Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits and decided to give them a go this afternoon. Actually, I've never made any type of biscuit before and was a little nervous but the instructions seemed very straightforward. It seems I needn't have worried, they came out very tender and moist. They remind me of light and fluffy scones. These particular biscuits contain 1 cup of mashed sweet potato and only 3 tablespoons of oil which I understand is a lot less fat than what is traditionally used. I liked them a lot, the only change I would make would be halving the 1 teaspoon of nutmeg because it was too much for me.

Surprise Cookies and an Underwhelming Lasagna

2011-03-15T15:45:00.001-04:00

Veggie "Basagna"

I had a request for "basagna" on the weekend and as much as I enjoy eating lasagna, I haven't yet mastered or found a vegan version that satisfies me.  There is always something missing, a richness or sauciness that I used to love about eating it in my pre-vegan days.   I guess I just haven't found the right recipe or combination of sauces and fillings.

For my weekly cooking challenge I decided to combine ideas from three or four recipes. It didn't turn out well enough for me to want to post the recipe but I'll keep working on it and share the improved version later. I added sauteed scallion, carrots, red peppers and spinach to the tofu ricotta mixture which was quite tasty and I also added a layer of eggplant with the tomato sauce.   It definitely needed extra tomato sauce ladeled over the top when served.

While I was busy cooking components for the lasagna, my daughter was whipping up her own creation in a bowl on the kitchen table. After taking a look at the mushed up fruit and nuts in the bowl I suggested we add a bit of flour and oats and see if her "dough" would bake up into cookies.   We were very excited to see if the experiment would work. She insisted on adding a spice so we settled on nutmeg.   Here follows the ingredients with very rough measurements, it made seven cookies that were surprisingly tasty with no added sweetener! I really enjoyed the peanuts in the cookies and although the name implies crunchiness, they were actually quite moist and soft on the inside.

Yum-Crunch Delicious Cookies

1 banana mashed
1/4 peach chopped into tiny pieces
1 or 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
1/4 cup rice crisps
1 tsp lemon Juice
2 tablespoons soy milk
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup oats
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Smush wet ingredients together with a potato masher until well blended and then add dry ingredients and mix well.   Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 18 minutes.   Enjoy!

Yum-Crunch Delicious Cookies!

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My friends Kika and Kathryn were busy in the kitchen last week. Kika made a super delicous looking Mung Bean and Carrot Salad with a few variations, check it out at her lovely bilingual blog named Come Compa here.

It looks like Kathryn baked a successful batch of Irish Soda Bread in honour of St. Patrick's day, here is her post at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen.

Flax-Berry Pancakes with Simso's Strawberry Sauce

2011-03-07T15:21:00.001-05:00

Flax-Berry Pancakes with Simso's Strawberry Sauce

When I find a recipe I like, I sometimes get into a rut.  I've been making the same pancakes for over a year now and this morning decided to bust out a few cookbooks and look for something new. My choice was Flax-Berry Pancakes from Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the Worldand to top it all off Simso's Strawberry Sauce from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine.  I must say, as a Canadian who can't imagine using anything but maple syrup on my pancakes this was a pretty radical idea.

The pancakes were tasty and easy, except for the bit where you have to scrape ground flaxseeds out of the blender jar.  I was a little more hesitant about the strawberry sauce it but exceeded my expectations. The recipe called for chopped strawberries, water, a little sweetener of your choice (I used agave), mirin, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of cardomom which I hate so I left that out. My only complaint is that it only made enough for one person.   Next time I will double or triple the recipe. All in all though, it was a successful breakfast and my weekly cooking challenge is complete!

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My friend Kathryn was way ahead of me this week and whipped up some tasty, savory black beans and rice for our challenge.   Go and check it out at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen.

Happy cooking everyone!

Creamy Tomato-Cashew Lentils

2011-03-03T01:27:00.001-05:00

Creamy Tomato-Cashew Lentils

I think I have the toughest taste tester in the world, a five year old daughter who would choose to eat pizza five times a week if I let her. I'm always searching for ways to introduce new and nutritious foods while still appealing to her palate.

When I tried cooking lentils this way a few weeks ago and she ate them, I felt like I'd hit the jackpot. Indian recipes and spices often don't go down well even when I omit the cayenne or chilis. I’ve made this dish three times now and each time she has eaten and enjoyed it in small amounts. This is an easy and satisfying way to cook lentils and they taste just as great if not better reheated the day after. It's very mild, made without any chilis or large amounts of strong spices. The cashew paste adds a really yummy creaminess that balances out the acidity of the tomato. I've used brown lentils as well as french lentils - both have been great!

Creamy Tomato-Cashew Lentils

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon grated ginger

½ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp dried coriander

¼ tsp turmeric

1 cup lentils

3 cups vegetable stock or water

2 chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp agave nectar (or other sweetener)

½ cup raw cashews

1/3 cup water

In a medium sized saucepan, heat the oil on medium high. Add the ginger, cumin, coriander and turmeric. Stir for about 30 seconds. Add the lentils, stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and sweetener. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

While the lentils are cooking, blend the cashews and water together until fairly smooth. When the lentils are tender, stir the creamy cashew liquid into the pot and heat for a few more minutes. Season to your taste.

Serve with rice or grain of your choice.

Leek Potato Soup

2011-02-23T00:11:00.001-05:00

Leek Potato Soup

I don't often cook with leeks but they are definitely one of my occasional, vegetable impulse buys at the grocery store. I had three sitting in my fridge getting a little dried out and thought it would the perfect ingredient for my weekly cooking challenge. I've always wanted to make potato leek soup and searched my cookbooks for a recipe. I found an appealing candidate in Lauren Ulm's wonderful Vegan YumYum with relatively few ingredients.

This simple, warming soup was a big hit with everyone in our house. I liked it's velvety texture and the fact that few ingredients were required. Next time I will reduce the amount of salt and season at the end if required.

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And now lets go and see what Kathryn has made over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen. Ooooh, it looks like some yummy middle eastern lentils and rice from Veganomicon. I must give that one a try. Go Kathryn! Keep on cooking!

No Bake Chocolate Cookies - Oh Yes!

2011-02-16T22:54:00.001-05:00

Da Kine No Bake Chocolate Cookies

Valentines Day was the official end of my no-sugar challenge. I never thought in a million years I could go six weeks without indulging in a daily hit of sugar but I actually did it with the support of my good friend Merry. I must say there was a noticable improvement in my energy levels. That awful, mid-day, sluggish, slump disappeared and after about 3 weeks the cravings lessened. Tonight I made my first real treat, a recipe for no bake chocolate cookies from Vegan Fusion World Cuisine. These were very simple to prepare, just melt the chocolate or carob chips and mix in the remaining ingredients which included raisins, pecans, coconut flakes, almond or peanut butter, a bit of maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. The mixture cooled and firmed up quickly making it easy to shape the cookies. We popped them in the fridge and after about 15 minutes, the upper limit of my daughter's waiting tolerance, she tried one. Total success! She loved them except for the raisins which were spit out, no surprise there. Then, it was my turn. I made a cup of tea, sat down and bit into chocolatey goodness. Mmmm, they almost taste like very firm fudge with chunks of pecans and raisins. I was only going to eat one because they are so rich but could not resist attempting a second.

Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread

2011-02-13T16:12:00.001-05:00

Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread

I've had this cookbook - How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman for over a year and barely used it. It's ginormous and heavy, like a big, fat encyclopedia with no photos. It sits on the bookshelf in my kitchen and every now and then, I glance guiltily over at it's pretty, green spine and think I must use such an excellent resource but I'm not often inspired to pick it up. I can't imagine writing something like that, it must have taken forever.

Anyways, on the inside of the back cover there is a list called 20 Essential Vegetarian Dishes and I thought that would be a good place to start in terms of trying recipes. One of the items on the list is Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread. Doesn't that sound yummy? I thought so too! I made it a few weeks ago and while it was quick and easy to prepare, we found the molasses flavour to be extremely overpowering. After my daughter and I tasted a few bites of the warm bread my husband was left to eat the entire loaf over the course of the week. It does have an appealing and hearty appearance and I might make it again but next time cutting the molasses in half using 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup. I also subbed soymilk with a tablespoon of vinegar for the buttermilk. I think this quickbread has a good texture and the potential to be great with a little tweaking.
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My buddy Kathryn has made some tasty looking Almond Cookies over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen. I think she is trying to tempt me off my no-sugar challenge!

Cauliflower and Potatoes with Spices

2011-02-06T17:23:00.001-05:00

Cauliflower and Potatoes with Spices

I borrowed The Asian Vegan Kitchen from the library and fell in love. There are about 30 pages of photos in the centre of the book and I want to make every single recipe.  I decided to do an Indian Inspired Sunday brunch today starting with the Cauliflower and Potato with Spices recipe on page 18. I also made up my own lentils in a tomato/cashew sauce which was delicious but I will post the recipe for that later.

The potato and cauliflower dish is what they call a dry dish. I don't always have fabulous results with this type of recipe and I'm definitely a sauce freak.  You basically fry the spices and ginger in a bit of oil and then add the potatoes and cauliflower with a couple of tablespoons of water and let them steam or cook in their own juices. I was missing two of the spices; mango powder and asafetida so I'm not sure how those missing flavours would have affected the outcome but my husband and I both give this dish a 3 out of 5.  The cauliflower was a little soft and the texture of the potatoes a bit weird for lack of a better word. I have a feeling I may enjoy this more tomorrow as leftovers.
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My friend Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen has been having fun trying recipes from The Peaceful Palate and this week cooked up Pasta with Peanut Sauce.   Looks yummy Kathryn!

Thai Vegetable Soup

2011-02-02T19:26:00.001-05:00

Thai Vegetable Soup

After shovelling mounds of fluffy snow for a couple of hours this afternoon, I came in from the cold pretty darn hungry for something warm and nourishing. I decided to make a delicious looking Thai Vegetable Soup I had seen on a newly discovered website called Elana's Pantry. She cooks all gluten free food and some vegan recipes. Her photos are fantastic and the food all looks and sounds very healthy. You can find the soup recipe here.

Coconut milk, veggie stock, ginger, lime and cilantro make a delicious soup broth. She adds broccoli, mushrooms and onions but I think with a few more veggies, some tofu and perhaps a squirt of chili sauce, this soup could be even more substantial. Two thumbs up for simpicity, fast preparation and flavour with relatively few ingredients.

Oil Free, Sugar Free Muffins!

2011-01-24T14:27:00.001-05:00

Since I started my no sugar challenge on the first of January I have been searching for alternate ways to satisfy my sweet tooth and love of baking. I found a promising oil-free and sugar-free muffin recipe in Vegan Fusion World Fusion Cuisine by Bo Rinaldi and Mark Reinfeld.

These muffins have a lovely, mildly sweet and fruity flavour. They're sweetened with mashed banana, pineapple, pineapple juice and maple syrup. They also contain a half cup of coconut which contributes nicely to the mix of flavours and texture. I used a small can of crushed pineapple found in the pantry and supplemented the required amount of juice with some orange juice. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. My only reservation was with the chewiness of the crumb but this didn't detract from my complete enjoyment of the muffins. In fact, I think I ate eight in one day which is admittedly overdoing it a bit but they were good!

Emaho's Oil Free Muffins

Temperatures have really dropped this week and a bowl of Kathryn's Black Bean Chili over at The Hedgehog in the kitchen would be very welcome. Kathryn has been faithfully cooking something new every week for our cooking challenge. I applaud her and hope her transition to veganism is going smoothly. After cooking and eating this way for over a year now, I'm having so much fun in the kitchen.

Lemony Roasted Potatoes

2011-01-09T19:03:00.001-05:00

I've been cooking a lot of comforting and familiar foods lately because a friend and I are committed to not eating any refined sugar for about 6 weeks. We hope to gain control over the sugar beast and once the 6 weeks are up, strictly limit intake to small amounts. I gorged myself on far too many cookies, scones, and other treats. My body and mood definitely took a beating from too much sugar and some repair work is in order.

Lemony Roasted Potatoes

Now that the holidays are over, my other friend and fellow blogger Kathryn and I are back to cooking something new once a week. I received my own copy of Veganomicon for Christmas and this week decided to make the scrumptious sounding Lemony Roasted Potatoes on page 109.

Prep was easy, just peel and slice the potatoes into wedges.  Combine the sauce ingredients which were all things I had in my pantry - lemon, oregano, tomato paste, veggie stock, garlic, salt and pepper.  The potatoes are roasted in a covered casserole and require stirring throughout the cooking process.  The potatoes were tender with an extremely intense, lemony flavour.  You must be a lemon lover to enjoy these, my husband really loved them.  In order to balance the acidity of this dish I made a big green salad with a creamy, slighty sweet dressing and it was perfect.

Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen also made a recipe from Veganomicon - Applesauce Cake. I think that sounds like the perfect dessert to accompany my dinner.   It's too bad she lives thousands of miles way!

Classic Broccoli Quiche on Christmas Morning

2010-12-25T09:55:00.001-05:00

I'm up before the birds today wrapping a few gifts, stuffing my daughter's stocking and browsing through my cookbooks looking for some inspiration. Traditionally on Christmas morning my mother always made Quiche Lorraine, my Irish grandmother would bake current scones and we would sip mimosas as we tore into our gifts. The quiche was something I always looked forward to so this morning I decided to try Classic Broccoli Quiche from Vegan Brunch and start a new tradition - one that doesn't involve bacon and processed gruyere cheese.

I was a little doubtful as I blended the cashews and tofu together. The filling seemed a little on the crumbly side instead of creamy or smooth. I added a tablespoon or two of soy milk to the mixture as it pulsed away and that seemed to help a bit. Once everything was combined I began to pack it into the pie shell. I wasn't sure it would fit but thankfully, because the filling was not runny, I was able to dome it up in the centre and get the entire amount in. Unfortunately I had no cherry tomatoes or strips of red pepper on hand to decorate the top and make it look pretty.

So, for the taste test; the thyme, tarragon, turmeric and broccoli proved to be a really nice flavour combination. My problem was with the texture. Not creamy enough, a little too dry and cumbly. I think using silken tofu instead of regular tofu would solve this problem easily. I am going to make it again or one of the other quiche or frittata recipes in the book with this substitution and see if it makes a difference. I guess I have a little more experimenting to do before our new holiday traditions are decided upon. :-)

Classic Broccoli Quiche

Raspberry Scones

2010-12-22T15:03:00.001-05:00

Raspberry Scones

We had a family Christmas party last weekend and I made my first attempt at vegan scones using the recipe from Vegan Brunch. The dough was very dry, so dry in fact that I thought the scones wouldn't hold together in the oven. When they came out I thought they looked a little pale so I didn't end up serving them to our guests. Thankfully I had baked my favourite and always successful pumpin muffins and banana chocolate chip muffins. Later on after the mess was cleared and everyone was gone, I sat down with a cup of tea, put my feet up and took a bite of a scone spread with a little Earth Balance. They were surprisingly tender despite appearances.

Black Eyed Pea and Cilantro Croquettes

2010-12-15T02:53:00.001-05:00

Sometimes when I'm really hungry and scrambling around the kitchen for I don't know what, I have my most creative moments. Not that I think these are extremely innovative but cooking with beans is a new thing for me. Tonight I decided to grab a can of black-eyed peas from the cupboard and see what I could do with them. Patties or croquettes are always popular at our house so I dumped them into the food processor, added a big bunch of cilantro, half an orange pepper going soft in the fridge along with a few other ingredients. They turned out pretty well. I would have liked a bit more crispness, they were a bit soft but the flavours were nice, fairly mild with a bit of sweetness from the carrot and pepper. I'm pleased that I was able to include more veggies on the off chance that my daughter would eat these.

I made the most delicious cilantro-wasabi flavoured vegannaise sauce to go with them and I was so enamoured of the sauce I practically used the bean cakes to sop it up like they were bread. Here is my cobbled together recipe for the croquettes:

2 cups cooked black-eyed peas (19 ounce can)
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 sweet bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 medium carrot grated
1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup gluten flour (or any flour you like)
oil for frying.

Yield: 10 small patties

In a food processor, pulse together the beans, onion, bell pepper and cilantro until well mixed, not completely pureed. In a medium sized mixing bowl add the bean mixture to the grated carrot, ginger, soy sauce and mix well. Add in the bread crumbs and flour using your hands to incorporate well. Shape into small patties approximately 3 inches wide. Fry on medium heat until browned on both sides.

Black Eyed Pea and Cilantro Croquettes

East Coast Coffee Cake

2010-12-12T02:10:00.001-05:00

East Coast Coffee Cake

The cake crumb was light and tender with just a hint of sweetness. I decided to make this with one of the suggested options of swirling raspberry jam into the batter and I'm glad I did because without that extra bit of flavour and tang, the cake would have been a little bland. I was disappointed in the topping, all I could taste was flour. I think it's worth playing around with next time in order to perfect the cake. Recipe from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Jam swirly coffee cake before it gets topped!

For our weekly cooking challenge my friend and fellow blogger Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen has made some pretty tasty looking stuffing. Check it out here.

Chocolate Banana Flapjacks

2010-12-09T21:34:00.001-05:00

I was in need of some serious comfort food tonight after an exhausting day and it definitely needed to be sweet. I decided to make a batch of banana flapjacks from Vegan Brunch and then had the brilliant idea to replace the plain non-dairy milk with CHOCOLATE non-dairy milk. Wow, wow, wow! Were they ever delicious! The chocolate and banana flavours balanced perfectly and I did include the optional 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. These flapjacks were soft, and melted in my mouth. It was the perfect choice and I don't feel as guilty as if I'd eaten a piece of cake for dinner.

I got one test shot in before my camera batteries died so there's no maple syrup spilling over the side like when I ate them. Sorry!

Chcolate-Banana Flapjacks sans Maple Syrup

Better Bean Burgers

2010-12-06T02:51:00.001-05:00

This is a quick post because we are in the middle of a busy holiday weekend. Our Christmas tree went up tonight and I whipped up a batch of these tasty Better Bean Burgers from Robin Robertson's book Vegan on the Cheap. They were surprisingly flavourful with so few ingredients - black beans, parsley, red onion, bread crumbs, gluten flour and some salt and pepper. I was worried they would be boring but I was wrong, I really enjoyed them. I love trying new veggie burgers so leave me a comment and tell me about your favourites!

Better Bean Burgers

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And it sounds like my good friend Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen baked up a delicious pumpkin pie for American Thanksgiving. Keep on cooking Kathryn, you are inspiring me!

Eggplant and Black Bean Chili

2010-11-30T18:44:00.001-05:00

Eggplant and Black Bean Chili

I started reading chili recipes today in the hopes of finding one that would use up some TVP I had in the cupboard. I've never cooked with it before and thought chili would be the perfect vehicle. As often happens none were quite what I was looking for although I borrowed heavily from Robin Robertson's Very Veggie Chili. I liked the idea of using eggplant and so used her recipe as a jumping off point but the great thing about this dish is that there are endless variations of ingredients to play with. Next time I will probably double the amount of black beans. I served this with macaroni today but I often eat chili with rice or quinoa.

Here is my version which I'm calling Eggplant and Black Bean Chili.

1 onion chopped
1 celery ribbed chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sized eggplant peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1 can tomato paste (5.5 ounces)
2 tablespoons molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp soy sauce
6 fresh tomatoes
4 cups water or veggie stock
1 20 ounce can black beans
1 cup TVP (dry) reconstituted with 1 cup boiling water
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, saute the onion and celery in the olive oil until soft. Add the eggplant, red pepper and garlic and cook with the lid on until the eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the eggplant doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Stir in the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, soy sauce, molasses, tomatoes, water, TVP and black beans. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until flavors are blended.

Easy Chocolate Cake

2010-11-26T16:47:00.002-05:00

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This is my daughter's favourite and most requested dessert - Chocolate Cake from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I love this recipe because it's so fast and easy to put together. If you double the recipe it makes a bundt cake and is also great for cupcakes. I always have the ingredients in my pantry, it doesn't require any egg replacer just flour, salt, sugar, cocao, baking soda, vinegar, vanilla, water and oil. The cake itself is not too rich on it's own but if you make the chocolate buttercream icing to go with it, the decadance factor goes up a notch. We enjoy it both ways. I don't often get a photo of this cake because it gets eaten too quickly and that means as soon as it's out of the oven, I am being pestered for a piece. As you can see from this photo, there is a slice missing.

Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Lasagna

2010-11-21T19:45:00.001-05:00

Creamy and rich, almost overwhelming so, with not a drop of dairy in sight. The butternut squash lent this dish a hint of sweetness. I made the mistake of using dry noodles instead of the type you must boil first and the top layer was a little on the chewy side. I think I prefer lasagna with some type of red sauce although this was very good. The food in the photo looks downright scary because I'm terrible at making lasagna look pretty and it always falls apart when I lift it out of the pan. Recipe from Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet.

Caution! Caution! View the following photo at your own risk.

Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Lasagna

For our weekly cooking challenge this week, my buddy Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen made a delicious lentil soup. Check it out!

My other friend Kika has also been doing lots of cooking this week for vegan mofo and her latest creation looks yummy - Vegetable Curry with Chickpea Patties.

Indonesian Style Rice with Tempeh

2010-11-17T23:53:00.001-05:00

Indonesian Style Rice with Tempeh

I love a little sweetness in my savoury dishes and this hearty tempeh and rice meal fits the bill. I used an entire package of tempeh instead of just one cup because once it was poached and crumbled, I didn't want to waste the remainder. Next time I will add more than 2 cups of napa cabbage to increase the veggie content and make this a more balanced one pot meal. I left out the hot chili to make it child friendly and instead used part of a bell pepper to blend up with the shallots. I enjoyed the nutty flavour and chewiness of the tempeh and rice mixture. While I was eating it felt very satisfying and filling. Leftovers the following morning were just as good. This is another winner from Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet, she is fast becoming my favourite cookbook author.

Apple Clafouti

2010-11-16T15:56:00.001-05:00

Apple Clafouti

I love apple pie but I don't like pastry (or making pastry) so when I came across this recipe for Apple Clafouti in Robin Robertson's Vegan on the Cheap I was ecstatic. I don't know if this happens to everyone but it often seems no matter what book or recipe I'm cooking from, there is always at least one key ingredient that I lack. I keep a pretty well stocked pantry but it doesn't seem to matter. I will just have to look on the bright side and believe this ongoing problem will make me a more creative cook! This time it was applesauce I was missing and the recipe called for one whole cup. I ended up using an equal amount of soy milk because I didn't know what else to substitute. Fingers crossed!

When the clafouti came out of the oven the smell of apples and cinnamon was mouth watering. The top looked and felt like a springy cake. It had a soft spongy texture, very unassuming and not overly sweet. The cinnamon-apple mixture on the bottom were definitely the stars of the show. The soy milk worked but I'm curious as to how using applesauce would have changed the texture and flavour of the cakey part. I will definitely make this again, it's a simple, warm and comforting dessert.

Thai-Style Coconut Soup

2010-11-14T15:40:00.001-05:00

Thai-Style Coconut Soup

I was feeling pretty crappy today but determined to cook something for my challenge and vegan mofo. How about something hot and nourishing? The Hot and Sour Soup I made last week was so delicious I decided to try another recipe from Vegan Planet - Thai-Style Coconut Soup. I never imagined it could top my enthusiasm but oh my god, this soup was freaking awesome! The creamy, smoothness of the coconut milk contrasting with lime, ginger and a hint of chili and then add to that the savoury warmth of shallots, mushrooms and tofu. I think I'm in LOVE! Peole of Thailand, you are geniuses! What a combination of flavours. Robin Robertson you rock! I think I'm on some kind of happy, soup high. :-)

I used to think working with fresh ginger was a major pain in the bum but recently I've given up trying to peel, chop or mince it. I just take a fresh hunk of ginger straight from the freezer and grate it (peel and all) on my box grater. It's so much faster! Okay everyone, go make this soup but before you do that check out Kathryn's entry this week in the cooking challenge which is Rosemary Focaccia Bread!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2010-11-13T11:43:00.001-05:00

I don't know why I haven't tried to make these before, they're easy, delicious and good for you too. A big thumbs up from my four year old even though they had cumin which she normally doesn't tolerate too much of. I started with the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance which is basically a bit of oil, cumin and coriander and then added sesame seeds and salt to the mix. The sesame seeds made these really delicious!

Sweet Potato Fries

Eggplant Chana Masala

2010-11-10T13:23:00.001-05:00

Eggplant Chana Masala

Lunch today was Eggplant Chana Masala from Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet. A warming, hearty stew of eggplant, onions, chickpeas and tomatoes hit the spot accompanied by some jasmine rice and my favourite vinegary Korean spinach. The recipe called for 2 cans of chickpeas and I only had one but the pot was overflowing so I didn't make any substitutions. I always use fresh tomatoes in place of canned because I hate the weird flavour the canned ones have. It's impossible to get rid of that tinniness unless you simmer them for a very long time and this is a fast cooking recipe, about 45 minutes in total.

Lunch!

Seaweed Soup

2010-11-09T22:13:00.002-05:00

Seaweed Soup

I'm not sure if anyone else will enjoy this seaweed soup but after my husband came home with a sore throat last night and I was inspired to create something healthy and green. I wasn't sure if spinach would hold up well in a soup so I hit upon the idea of seaweed, tofu and ginger. I used four strips of wakame which may have been a little much (they expand quite a lot) so next time I will use two. Kale might work in place of the seaweed, I threw in a few leaves that were floating around in my fridge. I would also add some chili paste for extra zip but this first go round I wanted to make it potentially palatable to my daughter so I left it out.   This is pretty quick to make from start to finish and a nice way to start the day if you like soup for breakfast.   I certainly do!

Seaweed Soup

8 ounces tofu cubed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
1 large clove garlic minced
4 cups vegetable stock
2 strips wakame seaweed
shitake mushrooms sliced (optional)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp chili paste (optional)
toasted sesame seeds

Soak the wakame for a few minutes in a bowl of water.   Remove from the water and slice into strips.

Cube the tofu into bite sized pieces and fry in a little bit of oil until golden. Set aside.

In a saucepan or soup pot heat one tablespoon of oil and fry the ginger and garlic for about 30 seconds. Watch that it doesn't burn. Add the vegetable stock, soy sauce, mushrooms, rice vinegar, sugar, (chili paste if using) and seaweed.  Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the tofu and sesame oil, heat for a few more minutes.  Serve with toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup - Vegan Mofo Day 7

2010-11-07T14:36:00.001-05:00

I've always wanted to make Hot and Sour Soup at home and I was extremely pleased with my first attempt. I used an Indonesian chili paste and one teaspoon made the soup plenty hot enough for me. I also upped the sugar from 1/2 teaspoon to about 1 1/2 teaspoons. For some reason the cornstarch didn't thicken the soup but it didn't matter because the flavour was so excellent and I dídn't neet to add salt or pepper at the end as called for. The soup is full of chewy strips of tofu, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms and finished nicely with a bit of sesame oil, cilantro and scallions. Perfect for a cold fall day, yum!

Recipe from Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet.

Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup

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My friend Kathryn made a delicious sounding Cauliflower and Mushroom Pot Pie over at Hedgehot in the Kitchen. Check it out!

Blueberry Orange Muffins

2010-11-05T13:30:00.001-04:00

I'm excited beyond belief to be participating in this Vegan Mofo craziness and have spent most of the day in the kitchen. I've had my eye on the Blueberry Orange Bundt cake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking for a while now and decided to make muffins for a well deserved afternoon tea break. I love these cake recipes that come together so quickly with no beaters or mixers etc. Just combine wet and dry ingredients and pop in the oven, although this one did require a quck spin in the blender for the wet ingredients.

We enjoyed our tea and muffins out on the deck, they were very good, moist and not too sweet but I did detect a hint of baking soda flavour but perhaps that was my fault.

Blueberry Orange Muffins

General Tao's Tofu

2010-11-04T08:22:00.001-04:00

General Tao's Tofu

Okay, this isn't the healthiest recipe on the planet but when you have a craving for chewy tofu in that sweet, gooey, glistening sauce you find in every North Americanized, Chinese restaurant then this absolutely does the trick.

Of course I was out of vegetable stock and didn't have any green onions but the sauce still tasted great using water and a regular onion finely chopped. The only thing I will do differently next time is cut the tofu into smaller bite-sized chunks. One inch square pieces of tofu are too much for me in one mouthful especially when the tofu is firm. Also, be sure to not crowd the pan when frying the tofu because the corn starch makes the pieces stick together. You will find the recipe here at Vegweb. Tasty.

Minted Baba Ganoush

2010-11-02T14:55:00.001-04:00

Eggplant roasted with garlic

I just found out about Vegan Mofo which I've seen reference to in the past and thanks to my new friend Kika who alerted me this afternoon of the deadline to participate, I think I just squeaked in the door and hope to be included. The Vegan Month of Food is basically a blogging bonanza where participants are asked to write as much as possible about vegan food during the month of November. Apparently well over 500 people are doing this!

My second foray into Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet is Minted Baba Ganoush which admittedly has the appearance of gray oatmeal but tastes good. I think it could use a little more zing but since I have a minor obsession with eggplant, I polished off a good sized serving without any problem. There were a few moments of panic when I realized I rarely buy fresh mint and wondered how crucial it was to the recipe but then someone reminded me that we have a slew of mint growing wild in the cracks between the patio stones in our new backyard! Yay, I just popped outside for a sprig and took a picture on the deck.

Minted Baba Ganoush

To accompany the Baba Ganoush, I also made a delicious flatbread (really! truly!) but sadly it was all eaten before I could get a decent photo. They came out of the pan and straight into the mouths of some hungry family members. I will make them again soon and hide a few so I can capture how appetizing they are.

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Pizza (Cheese free!)

2010-11-02T01:33:00.001-04:00

Once a week, I usually I cook up a fresh batch of vegetable tomato sauce. It's very useful to have around the kitchen and can be used as a base for many dishes. To make it, I roughly chop one large onion, one large carrot, one red pepper and about 4 good sized ripe tomatoes. Saute the veggies for a few minutes, throw in the tomatoes, a bit of salt and some water or vegetable stock. I let this simmer on the stove for about 1/2 an hour and when it's cooled down I whip out my favourite kitchen tool - an immersion blender and puree the sauce. This is the only way my daughter will ever get these particular vegetables into her body. She has the uncanny ability to be able to sense the tiniest piece of onion in any dish, separate it and spit it out. I happen to adore onions so I thought I would make a cheeseless pizza covered in slightly caramelized onions, tomato, garlic and a few other seasonings. It turned out to be amazing. I'm in the process of eating the entire thing as I write and it was so simple to make!

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Pizza

one red onion
one large tomato
1 large clove garlic
1/2 tsp basil
1/8 tsp thyme
1/3 cup of tomato (vegetable) sauce
olive oil (approximately 3-4 Tbsp)
salt
nutritional yeast (optional)
pizza dough

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. Chop the tomato and combine in a bowl with the minced garlic, a bit of sea salt and about one tablespoon of olive oil. Let the flavours combine while you prepare the onions.

3. Sautee the onions in olive oil along with the thyme until soft and slightly browned and then turn off the heat.

4. Stretch out your pizza dough and brush with olive oil. Evenly distribute the onions and the tomato mixture. I used a teaspoon to distribute the tomato vegetable sauce all over the pizza (basically around all the spaces left by the veggies).

5. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast and a tiny bit of sea salt and then pop it into the oven for about 20 minutes or until it's done how you like it.

6. Eat!

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

2010-11-01T19:34:00.001-04:00

Prepping the Butternut Squash

A few months ago I purchased a cookbook by Robin Robertson called Vegan Planet: 400 Irrestistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World. Whew, that's a long title! Until today, I hadn't had time to really read through the book page by page but am I ever happy to have picked this up. It's chock full of delicious sounding recipes. I've already made note of at least 50 that I want to try and I'm only about half way through.

For the cooking challenge this week I'm making Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili on page 316. The recipe called for a cup of apple juice which I didn't have so I substituted some of my daughter's peach cocktail which contains apple juice and half of a leftover applesauce cup I found languishing in the back of the fridge. It smelled really appetizing while it was cooking! The peach juice added a little extra sweetness and an interesting flavour. I want to make this again using the apple juice. I also think the squash to bean ratio was a bit off, it may be that my squash was too large but next time I won't use the entire thing. The whole family enjoyed this dish served over either quinoa or rice.

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

Served with Quinoa

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This week Kathryn from The Hedgehog in the Kitchen was run off her feet. But, she did have time to create a simple rice pudding dish to satisfy a late night sweet craving.

Vegan Flan

2010-10-25T04:27:00.001-04:00

My brother used to date a lovely Brazilian woman named Ana who always brought the most scrumptious flans to family events. I’ve never made flan let alone a vegan flan so I’m really excited for my little experiment this week. In preparation, I read a few recipes on the web and since they were all fairly similar I decided to combine my favourites into the following recipe.

I had a few problems with the caramel. At first, the sugar wouldn’t melt so I turned the heat up to high which resulted in a bunch of hard clumps that wouldn’t dissolve no matter how hard I tried to mash them out ( I think this is my fault for not stirring enough, I got distracted by the computer). I added a few tablespoons of water which may have helped with the consistency but after stirring and stirring I gave up and just strained the syrup into the pan. Instead of using individual ramekins, I poured the caramel and custard into a round cake pan.

I must admit to being disappointed with the flavour and consistency of this dessert. The flan set well but was too gelatinous and not creamy enough for my taste. I also didn't enjoy the soy flavour of the custard and will replace the soy milk with coconut milk in my next attempt. I'm happy I gave this a try even though it was not as fantastic as the flan in my memory. I'm determined to make it better.

Vegan Flan

For the Caramel:

¾ cup of sugar
3 tablespoons water (approximate)
Melt the sugar and water over medium-low heat until the syrup coats the back of a spoon and it’s a lovely golden brown colour. I think you should stir it fairly constantly but obviously I’m no expert! Pour the caramel into the bottom of the pan or ramekins, whatever you are using.

For the Custard:

2 cups of unsweetened soy milk
1 tablespoon agar-agar flakes
½ cup silken tofu
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Heat the soy milk and agar-agar flakes in a sauce pan until boiling and then reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the agar-agar has dissolved.

Place the soy milk mixture, tofu, sugar, vanilla and salt in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour over top of the syrup and refrigerate until cool. To remove, slide a knife around the perimeter of the cake pan and lightly shake side to side. If the flan doesn't loosen, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for about 15 seconds, then turn over onto a plate. Eat it up!
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Now turn your attention to Kathryn's creation this week over at the hedgehog in the kitchen. She was inspired by a picture book to make pumpkin soup.

And joining us for the first time from Mexico City, please welcome Kika who has made an appealing looking corn bread. Her blog is called come compa and she is posting in both Spanish and English.

I can't wait to see what everone is cooking up next week!

Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes

2010-10-17T23:33:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! I'm back and cooking in my new home. It's so exciting to have a new(ish) kitchen to work in with adequate cupboard space and a longer countertop. I'm still finding my groove with this different layout but it's awesome that more than one person can actually be present in the kitchen with me and not get in my way. I was chatting with some friends over on Goodreads the other day about how yummy potatoes are in just about every way. The conversation inspired me to try a recipe that would use up some mashed potatoes I had sitting in the fridge. Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes from Vegan Brunch. Doesn't that sound good? I thought so too. I love Indian inspired dishes so I was really looking forward to a savoury breakfast.

The first step in the recipe was to pop mustard seeds in hot oil for a few minutes and then continue sauteeing more seasonings such as ginger, garlic, cumin, carrots and onion. I wasn't sure if the mustard seeds were supposed to turn black (mind did) and was concerned about how they would flavour the dish but I needn't have worried, I couldn't detect any bitterness or burnt flavour in the final product. Half way through, I discovered there was no flour in the house but decided to go ahead with the recipe with the hope that everything would hold together in the pan. They were a little on the wet side but the flavour was fantastic. Next time I make them I'm sure we will enjoy more cohesive pancakes with all the same great flavour.

Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes in the mixing bowl

Samosa Mashed Potato Pancakes in the pan!

My amazing friend Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen recently celebrated a birthday and her sister Ann whipped up a batch of Wheat Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Veganomicon. I haven't tried that recipe yet but they look and sound great! I'm always looking for new chocolate chip recipes to try so thanks for posting about these.

I look forward to getting back in my cooking groove and the challenge goes on!

Poppy Seed Pull-Apart Rolls

2010-09-28T03:45:00.001-04:00

I woke up yesterday morning with half my life packed and thought it would be so easy not to cook something new. But, with my daughter still soundly asleep and a few moments of calm I pulled out Vegan Brunch, flipped it open to the back and came across a recipe for Poppy Seed Pull-Apart Rolls. Perfect! Some nice fresh rolls to tear into on a Sunday morning. What could be more comforting? The ingredient list is short and I've never made rolls, so it sounded perfect for a challenge this week. I will be taking the next two weeks off while we move but I can't wait to start cooking in my new kitchen. Hopefully the quality of my photos will improve with the better lighting there.

This recipe called for equal amounts of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour but all I had in my pantry was the all purpose so these rolls won't be the healthiest things on the planet. The dough was extrememly sticky, so sticky that I had to add at least another half cup of flour and much more while I was kneeding it out. You can see how sticky my hands were here when I tried to pry the dough out of the mixing bowl. The rolls turned out a little denser then I expected and had lots of poppy seeds but they were tasty.

Sticky, doughy hands

Poppy Seed Rolls before rising

Risen and ready for the oven

The final product

My friend Kathryn over at The Hedgehog in the Kitchen made a simple and delicious sounding Spicy Lemon Pepper Pasta with Broccoli this week. I hope she continues her adventures in the kitchen while I am on my wee break. I look forward to seeing what she has been up to when I get back!

Pineapple Pick Me Up!

2010-09-22T23:11:00.001-04:00

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I've been feeling a little down lately with all the stress of preparing to move and listening to the caveman who lives below us swearing, ranting and raving all night long. So to cheer myself up, I decided to infuse the space with the sweet fragrance of pineapple upside down cake. I've always wanted to make one and happily discovered a simple looking recipe on vegweb. Unfortunately, I was so anxious to taste the cake it came out of the oven without being tested and when we cut into it, the middle was like mush. The cake is a basic white cake but the pineapple/brown sugar adds sufficient sweetness and moisture to make this an enjoyable, casual dessert.

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pineapple juice/water (see below)

1/3 cup oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 20 oz can pineapple chunks in unsweetened pineapple juice

1/4 cup UNPACKED brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Pour juice off can of pineapple into 1 cup measuring cup - it should be about 3/4 cup juice. Add water to make 1 cup. In a separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar and juice.

Dump pineapple chunks into the bottom of a 12 inch spring form pan (you could use an 8x8 or other sized spring form, just adjust cooking time). Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Quickly mix wet ingredients into dry, stirring quickly to combine ingredients well and get out the big lumps. Pour into pan on top of the pineapple/brown sugar mix.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Baking time will depend on pan size.

Let cool and loosen sides of cake from pan. Remove side ring and place serving plate on top. Flip cake over onto serving plate and remove pan bottom.

Asparagus with Peanut-flavoured Tofu Dressing

2010-09-20T13:23:00.001-04:00

Japan has been on my mind lately and I was determined to cook something from a library book I have home called The Enlightened Kitchen: Fresh Vegetable Dishes from the Temples of Japan. I woke up early this morning to prepare a simple and intriguing dish called Asparagus and Hijiki with White Vinegar Dressing. I was SURE I had two packages of dried hijiki in my pantry but when I went to look for them all I could find was wakame seaweed. Arrgh! So I frantically pawed through the book for some other way to use the lovely and slender asparagus all steamed and ready to go. I hit upon a salad recipe with a Peanut-flavoured Tofu Dressing and thought that might do. And then my next challenge presented itself. I had no silken tofu for the dressing because the package in my fridge had expired. Darn, darn and triple darn. The recipe said that silken tofu was "preferred" but not required so I cut up some regular firm tofu and attempted to blend it together with the remaining ingredients. I'm telling you this story so if you ever try to make salad dressing with regular tofu you don't, unless there is quite a bit of liquid involved. Out the window went the specified amounts of lemon juice, vinegar and maple syrup. It was necessary to splash in at least a few extra tablespoons of various liquids along with uncalled for ingredients before the blender would even function!

So here is my final product. Some simple steamed asparagus with a peanut-flavoured tofu dressing. The dressing was still a little goopy and I'm still on the fence about this particular flavour combination but since I love asparagus it wasn't a bad breakfast. Better luck next week Lee. I'm not going to write out the ingredients to this mess unless someone begs me.

My friend Kathryn in California seems to have had more success this week with her offering of sauteed kale. Go and check it out! I love, love, love kale so am always happy to find new ways to cook and serve it. Thanks Kathryn!

Creamy Broccoli Dal

2010-09-13T01:10:00.001-04:00

Well the fall weather had definitely arrived in Canada. From a sticky, hot and humid summer we have been plunged quite rapidly into autum. I love the cool fall weather because it's the perfect time to start experimenting with warm pots of soup and cranking up the oven for baked treats. Mind you, the hot weather doesn't stop me from baking but it's certainly more enjoyable now. This week for the cooking challenge I decided to make a soup recipe I've had my eye on for quite a while. It's called Creamy Broccoli Dal from one of my favourite cookbooks - Vegan YumYum by Lauren Ulm. It's a delicious combination of finely chopped broccoli and onion with red lentils and Indian spices such as mustard and cumin seeds. At the end soy milk, turmeric and a bit of lemon juice are added in. This photo doesn't do it justice but the turmeric gives it a lovely colour. I ate a bowl of this after eating a plate of spicy noodles and amazingly was still able to appreciate the flavours. Highly recommended!

Creamy Broccoli Dal

My friends Kathryn and Jeannette have their hands full this week with other projects. I look forward to seeing what they make for next week's challenge.

Rice Noodle and Skinny Carrot Fast Fry

2010-09-12T21:28:00.001-04:00

In the middle of making soup for my weekly cooking challenge my tummy started grumbling so I decided to try out the new vegetable and fruit peeler we purchased yesterday at the Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair. I can't eat chunky carrots so when I saw a pile of super skinny carrots piled on top of the demonstration table, I couldn't resist buying this simple little peeler. When I tried my hand at making the carrots tonight I wasn't quite as skilled but I managed.

Into the pan went a bit of oil, half a sliced onion and after a few minutes my gorgeous skinny carrots. I mixed a little sugar with some soy sauce, sesame oil and about a tablespoon of Thai spice blend I found up in the cupboard. Next in went the cooked rice noodles in along with the sauce and after a quick toss it was ready! Have I mentioned that I adore rice noodles? They take only a few minutes to cook and are delicious. I meant to add tofu in with the veggies but forgot so I fried some up on the side in a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce and added it at the end. A very quick and satisfying supper and now back to the kitchen I go to finish off my soup.

Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Skinny Carrots and Tofu

Korean Greens

2010-09-11T11:50:00.001-04:00

This is one of my favourite ways to eat greens.   I've made it with spinach, kale and today I'm trying swiss chard.  I discovered this simple dish while visiting the family home of my friend Patty.   As I wolfed down these vinegary-sesame greens, I quizzed her dad on how to make them.   He was very amused when I pulled out my little notebook to write down his instructions.   This dish is traditionally made with spinach but I use any greens I have on hand.   I find kale tends to hold up well, especially if you want leftovers for the next day and I was also quite pleased with the chard today.

Roughly chop and steam a bunch of greens, do not overcook. Drain or squeeze out excess water.
Mix the following ingredients and then toss with the greens:

3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon (or more to taste) sesame seeds

You can adjust the amount of dressing to fit your greens.    Yummy served with steamed rice!

Stuffed Mutant Flatbread - A Starch Lovers Dream

2010-09-05T21:55:00.001-04:00

Stuffed Mutant Flatbread - Yummy!

I'm so proud and impressed with myself that I can barely contain my excitement!   I was looking through some Indian cookbooks this afternoon looking for a flatbread recipe to accompany the mashed eggplant I had planned on making tonight when I came across an appealing sounding stuffed flatbread.  I've never attempted anything like this but after my success with cinnamon rolls last week, making a bread based recipe didn't seem so daunting.  I knew we had a couple of boiled potatoes in the fridge leftover from breakfast and the idea took root then and there.  I didn't have any whole wheat roti flour so I ended up improvising a recipe based on the ones I had skimmed. The filling started out faithfully following an actual Indian recipe but quickly veered off into a completely different direction when I decided to dump some sauteed shallots, garlic and tomato into the potato mixture which had been destined for another project.  Oooh, I had a very good feeling about this.   The smell coming out of the pan was awesome and I wasn't wrong.  This is the best thing I've made in a very long time.

The great thing about this type of recipe is you can basically season the potatoes with anything that hits your fancy.  Or even add other veggies, really the sky's the limit.   The only thing you need to be careful about is adding lumpy ingredients because when you roll the dough out with the filling encased you don't want anything bursting through.   I experienced a few tomato bits squeezing out the edges.

Stuffed Mutant Flatbread

Filling:
2 medium cooked potatoes (I used leftovers)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
2 or 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
pepper to taste

Saute:
1 shallot chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 tomato finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mash up the potatoes with a fork or your hands and mix in the remaining ingredients including the sauteed veggies.

Dough:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 to 3 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1 tsp salt
1 cup water

The dough was very simple, just mix the flour, ground flax seed and salt and mix in the water. Knead for a few minutes until the dough is smooth. Cover and leave it until you're ready and then divide it into 8 little balls.

Have some flour handy. Take each ball, coat it in a little flour, flatten it with your hand and then roll it out into a circle about 3 inches wide.   Add approximately 1/4 cup of the potato mixture, pinch up the dough around the filling and seal it inside the ball.   Gently roll out the ball into a 5 or 6 inch circle.

Heat a cast iron pan on medium heat.   Add enough vegetable oil until it is lightly coated.   Pan fry the bread for about 1 to 2 minutes until there are gorgeous brown spots on the bottom and then flip it over for about the same amount of time. I brushed on a tiny bit more oil on top before I flipped it because I didn't want the bread to be too dry.  You can pat the bread a little with a spatula as it's cooking so browns evenly. It will puff up a little as it cooks. Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!  I don't know how well they store because we wolfed them down immediately.  My daughter liked the bread more than the filling because of the bits of shallot.   She has a supernatural tongue that can sense any bit of onion-like material and spit it out no matter how small.

This is supposed to be a circle - Hah.

In the cast iron pan!

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-09-05T21:46:00.001-04:00

Last night while I was making my challenge recipe, I had another project going in the kitchen, my first ever cinnamon rolls! In fact, I've never made any kind of bread and the search for the bread hook attachment that came with my stand mixer was lengthy, dusty and hot (but absolutely worth it in the end!). In total, the process took over four hours from start to finish with a good portion of that being rising time. I used the recipe from my go-to baking book The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goodreau. I tried to document with photos what the rolls look like in each step. And lets just say that when they were finally out of the oven and iced at about 11:00 pm, I couldn't stop eating them. I managed to stuff down THREE big rolls. I couldn't stop myself and even though I'm a little on the bloated side this morning, I may just have to indulge myself for breakfast. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Rising in the pan before they go into the oven.

Just out of the oven before the icing goes on

I'm in Cinnamon Roll heaven.

Aloo Gobi

2010-08-30T02:34:00.001-04:00

When I announced early this afternoon that I had to devote some time to browsing through my cookbooks in order to find a recipe for my weekly cooking challenge, there was a sudden flurry of activity in our little kitchen. My four year old daughter suddenly decided that she would also be participating and proceeded to order her dad to remove certain items from the fridge and assist her with her creation. I was amazed at the speed with which she put together her dish. A beautiful sweet red pepper stuffed with leftover, cooked quinoa and topped with broccoli and cauliflower flowerets. It's so cute, take a look! I'm very impressed with her creativity and this is the first time she's ever attempted to make anything.

My entry this week is Aloo Gobi, a curried cauliflower and potato dish using a recipe from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. My husband keeps buying cauliflowers and this morning I found two mouldering away in the produce drawer that sticks shut, so I decided something needed to be done with at least one of them. I sauteed ginger and cumin seeds in canlola oil then added the potatoes, cauliflower and tomato along with water, turmeric, coriander, a bit of brown sugar and salt. Pop the lid on and let the vegetables cook. I left it simmer longer than recipe called for because I wanted the flavours to really meld. We didn't mind that the cauliflower sort of disintegrated because the sauce was great.

Aloo Gobi before it cooks down.

Aloo Gobi

This week my friend Kathryn will be joining us for the first time. Kathryn is transitioning to veganism and has prepared Auntie Bonnie's Curried Apple Soup from the book How it all Vegan! by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. You will find her challenge post here on her newly christened blog The Hedgehog in the Kitchen. Isn't that the most adorable name for a blog? I love it!

And last but not least, it looks like Jeannette has delved into the fabulous Veganomicon for her cooking adventure this week. She also made a soup and one that I have been curious about so I'm happy to hear the results. Jeannette says:

This was a busy weekend for me, but I had lots of veggies in the fridge, so I had to cook! I chose to prepare Spicy Peanut and Eggplant Soup from Veganomicon. It was a bit of work, chopping and coordinating, but it was worth it! This is a yummy soup! The mild spiciness is a good counterpoint to the peanut butter. The eggplant was soft, and did not dominate the soup. (I did not brine the eggplant as instructed in the recipe. I skipped that step.) My peanut butter was nice and chunky, and the beans were still a bit crisp, so the soup's texture was enjoyable,too. I left out the cilantro (no surprise). I will definitely make this again!

Triple Power Protein Breakfast

2010-08-24T14:08:00.001-04:00

I always feel better when I eat a hot cooked breakfast so this morning I decided to make a stir fry with the left-over quinoa in the fridge. Into the pan went onions, red and green peppers, and half a left-over Japanese eggplant which fried for a few minutes in soy sauce. Then I added the triple protein element - cubed tofu, black beans and quinoa with a little vegetable stock. I ended up throwing in a few spices to add a little more flavour but as usual I used too much turmeric which made the dish slightly bitter. It was still very tasty and a very good start to the day accompanied by a fresh fruite smoothie!

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

2010-08-23T22:42:00.001-04:00

Tonight instead of going to the gym I indulged my sweet cravings by making Cinnamon Coffee Cake with a recipe courtesy of The Joy of Vegan Baking. My daughter arrived home from the park with her dad, took a bite and asked me what the cake was called. When I told her she said "I want to rename this Cinnamon Brown Yummy!" She especially enjoyed the topping calling it "very rough and very good." I actually wasn't expecting this to be such a hit because it's not very sweet. I'm very happy to be wrong in my predictions The recipe called for chopped walnuts in the topping but I couldn't find any so I substituted chopped pecans.

Cinnamon Brown Yummy

Fudgie Wudgie Blueberry Brownies

2010-08-22T21:44:00.001-04:00

Fudgie Wudgie Blueberry Brownies

Even after a sugar laden week, I ended up making Fudgie Wudgie Blueberry Brownies from Veganomicon because I was asked to contribute a dessert for my dear friend Elizabeth's birthday party last night. Most people like brownies right? I was hoping they would be enough of a variation on the standard chocolate dessert to not be boring and I think they turned out well. Nice and fudgy. I must admit that I was in a bit of a hurry and instead of greasing the pan with Earth Balance I used olive oil spray. I didn't think anyone would notice but my husband took a bite and had a strange look on his face. No one at the party seemed to mind but I guess I won't be doing that again.

And take a look at this Pumpkin Pie Brownie that Jeannette made this week! I want a piece of that!

Pumpkin Pie Brownie

I took this week’s recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. The authors were generous enough to post this recipe on their blog:

I have been looking at this picture for weeks now, in a bookmarked tab, so it’s finally time to attempt it. I wanted to do it by the book; I even went out and bought plain soy milk! But, my canned pumpkin turned out to be canned sweet potato. :) For the recipe, I measured 1 cup from the 15 oz. can for the pumpkin layer and used the remaining canned sweet potato in the brownie layer. It was probably a rather scant cup. Also, I omitted the ginger (don’t like) and added extra nutmeg (love).

This was definitely a success! My taste-testers were unanimous and exuberant in their praise. “Pumpkin pie -- followed by chocolate!” The brownie bottom is fantastic (the melted chocolate has a lot to do with this). The pumpkin layer was good, too, but I think I might add either a bit more sugar or some maple syrup next time. It just could have been a little sweeter. Maybe it was the sweet potatoes or maybe it was the missing ginger.

Anyway, I never would have imagined that something without eggs and butter could taste so good! I will definitely make this again.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-08-18T12:49:00.001-04:00

When the recipe for these cookies popped into my inbox last week courtesy of The Healthy Bitch Daily, I knew I would be baking them up soon. Never one to resist homemade chocolate chip cookies, I was curious as to how different they would be from the recipe I'd been using for the last 8 months. Let's just say they turned out so well, I managed to stuff down about 5 or 6 before feeling slightly sick. They were chewy perfection, I will definitely make these again but next time, will cut the amount of white sugar.

Kim’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

What to Buy:
4 1/2 teaspoons of Ener-G Egg Replacer
6 tablespoons of warm water
1 cup Earth Balance non-dairy butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup evaporated cane juice sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or you can use half whole wheat pastry flour and half all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) package vegan chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional but delicious)

How to Make It:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine the Egg replacer and the water and whip until fluffy. In a separate large bowl, add the Earth Balance, cane juice sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix with a beater until well combined. Add the Egg replacer mixture and stir well. In a separate medium bowl add the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined like a soft dough. Add the chocolate chips (and the nuts if you are using them). Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Scoop out small spoonfuls of batter and place on cookie sheet, making four rows of dough. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Makes 48 cookies.

What It’s Gonna Cost You:
Serving Size: 1 Cookie (28g) Calories: 130; Fat 7 g; Saturated Fat 2.5 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Carbohydrates 15 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 1 g