A Few Favourites

After popular request, I have decided to post a few of my all-time classic, favourite baked goods. These recipes have gotten me (and others) through hectic mornings, late-night MacGyver parties, and many, many bakesales.

Blueberry Scones

These scones were the first thing I made from Vegan with a Vengeance, and I was astonished at how easy they were - for some reason, I always thought scones were intense creations that only came in packaging at the local grocery store or behind the counter at Starbucks.

3 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar (plus extra for the tops)
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1.25 cups soymilk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups blueberries

Sift the dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Mix until just combined, fold in the blueberries. A bit of light flour left over is okay.

Drop 1/4 cupfuls onto a greased baking sheet, pat the tops, and sprinkle on some sugar. Bake 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Double-Up Date Squares

This recipe is adapted from my first vegan cookbook - How it All Vegan. I double the filling, because I love love love dates.

Filling:
2 cups water
4 cups chopped pitted dates
1 tsp salt

Crust:
4 cups rolled oat flakes
2 cups flour
1 cup sweetener
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking pwder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup margarine
1/4 cup oil
1/4 water (if you need it)

Bring the water to boil, reduce heat to medium and add dates and salt. Simmer until the dates are soft and mix into the water, then set aside to cool.

Stir together the dry ingredients, add the margarine and oil, and water if necessary. Stir it all up.

Press 1/2 the crust mix into a 9x13 pan, spreading date mix overtop. Sprinkle the rest of the crust overtop. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Loving the sweet potato

I am feeling like a major blog neglecter, mostly because I've been following a new high-starch, low fiber, low fat lifestyle that makes my food blogging potential much less exciting. Thanks, missing gallbladder. Still, this new cooking style has led me to a new obsession: the sweet potato.

This delightful root vegetable is rich in folate, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and fiber (shh, don't tell my doctor!). The sweet potato actually ranks highest in nutritional value according to the Centre for the Science of Public Interest. Who knew?

I thought I'd make some suggestions on how to incorporate this fabulous friend into your vegan eating. The top five uses of the sweet potato (in no particular order):

1. Sweet potato fries - A little olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper at 425 for 30 minutes. Bam!

2. Sweet potato hummus - Add a cooked spud to your hummus, along with a pinch of hot sauce. The sweet potato gives the hummus a thick, creamy consistency, so you can leave out the tahini.

3. Sweet potato-scallion pancakes - Shred the sweet potato with scallions, flour, soymilk, and seasonings, then fry 'em up and enjoy with ketchup!

4. Sweet potato quesadillas - I do this all the time, it is so easy and delicious. Microwave a yam, scoop out the flesh, mash it into a tortilla with beans, spinach, salsa...whatever works. Fold it in half, fry it, and eat it.

5. Baked sweet potato with maple syrup - Cut in half, pour on some syrup, bake. This also works with mashed sweet potato. So good. Soooo good.

Coming soon...Souper and I prepare dinner for friends. And we blog about it.

Fondue chez Nous

Not sure what to do this weekend? Why not throw your very own fondue party?

Us three and some of our friends did just that last Friday. The result was greater than our wildest fondue dreams.

Our main course was the "cheese" fondue, made with a simple but delicious recipe based on nutritional yeast. I don't have that recipe, but here is another one that you can spice to your liking:

1/2 cup cooked carrots
one 12oz. pack silken firm tofu
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1 Tbsp miso

1 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 tsp salt

pinch pepper and nutmeg

Puree until smooth. Heat on medium, stirring frequently.

To make this a full meal, we dipped a variety of things: chopped veggies, veggie "sausage", TVP, polenta, bread, pretzels...

For dessert (eaten simultaneously with supper), we of course had chocolate fondue, with a variety of fruits for dipping. But the showstopper was defintiely this impressive dish brought by our friend Jen:

Fancy, Fabulous Weeknight Dinners

My partner and I enjoy sitting down to a nice, tasty, and healthy dinner together whenever we get the chance. Usually, we take turns making dinner for one another, and this week, I have to say we really outdid ourselves!

On Tuesday, Peter made me a delicious meal of our favourite tofu loaf from La Dolce Vegan, sweet potato pancakes, homemade gravy, and maple-roasted carrots and beets. I have been trying to gain weight lately, and this meal was certainly a step in the right direction, but healthy at the same time.



Tonight, I returned the favour, with a dinner of country-fried seitan steaks, sweet potato fries, roasted brussell sprouts, and gravy. Now, I could write an entire post on the magic of seitan, so I'll save those comments for another time - but let me just say, the stuff is amazing, especially marinated, coated in breadcrumbs and spices, and lightly pan-fried! Whew!



Sure, it can seem overwhelming to make anything "fancy" on a weeknight. But it's easier than you might think! A few ideas:

• Roasted veggies are easy and classy...just toss them in olive oil and seasonings and throw them in the oven
• Plan ahead...have all your ingredients on-hand and a recipe in mind before you step into the kitchen
• Tofu and seitan are very versatile and very easy...marinate and bake them for a tasty main course
• Cut corners...I don't recommend canned and packaged foods often, but something like a can of mushroom gravy makes a meal that much swankier and takes 10 seconds to heat up
• Add class to easy recipes like scrambled tofu with fancy ingredients like sundried tomatoes, olives, and capers

Last, but most important, make the dinner for someone you love or a very special guest! Nothing is nicer than ending a stressful day with a homecooked meal, and whoever your lucky diner is, they'll appreciate whatever you had time to whip up.

bananadated

Bananas and dates - over here I mostly see them paired in bread form, but back home they're a common combination in smoothies and frozen yogurts, often mixed with coconut as well.

Why? Well, their biggest advantage might be that you get a sweet, desserty smoothie without any added sugar. It's also one of those flavour combinations where the smoothie-friendly banana is a perfect fit, not just "The fruit that's there to improve the texture." I think it helps that they're locally grown and dates have a strange biblical appeal, but anyhow, guess what I just made!

Banana-Date-Mango-Coconut smoothie, which I didn't take a picture of because it's rather blah looking, as this googled specimen will prove:




1 Smoothie, Bananadated

1 ripe banana, fresh or frozen, cut in pieces
4-5 frozen mango chunks (i happened to have some, optional but recommended)
3 large dried dates, chopped
soy or almond milk, enough to cover the fruit in the blender
1 teaspoon coconuttiness (creamed, flakes, etc, or replace with a pinch of cinnamon)

*works with protein powder too

A Tale of Two Casseroles

I have never been a big fan of the "casserole", and in the past I tended to avoid recipes bearing that unfortunate name. Recently, however, I have seen the light! A casserole can be incredibly healthy, easy to make, and delicious - like a full meal in one dish!

Last week I tried out the Chickpea Broccoli Casserole from VwaV. Yum! A very simple recipe based on mashed chickpeas, grated carrot, and broccoli.

I halved the recipe, but next time I will make it in full as the leftovers are delicious. It's wonderful as is, but misspickle's makes it with a pecan-breadcrumb crust that sounds heavenly!

My next endeavor was the Groovy Garden Vegetable Casserole from Dolce Vegan. Wow - full of some of my favourite veggies: parsnips, carrots, broccoli, kale; and with a crunchy breadcrumb-tofu-herb crust.

While the chickpea broccoli casserole has a longer cooking time, both recipes are very simple. I will defintiely be making these again and again!

Full Meal Muffins Take Over the World

Last night the girls and I had a mini baking party, where we each baked something and then exchanged our treats! A great way to try new recipes and get three delicious items for the effort of only one.

I was anxious to try out the recipe for Full Meal Muffins from Vegan Lunchbox - a muffin recipe with one vegetable (zucchini), one fruit (banana), omegas (walnuts), iron and calcium (blackstrap molasses), AND no sugar, oil, or salt. Amazing!

Even more amazing, the muffins turned out great. I think next time I used grated carrot instead of zucchini, and next time I might try adding some grated apple for more sweetness. Still, these muffins are a delicious, healthy item perfect for breakfast, snacks, or tea parties.

Urban Herbivore: My Favorite Toronto Restaurant

Today marked a very exciting roadtrip for my fellow vegan girls and me. We travelled with our intrepid French ami and chauffer Alex to Toronto, where we dined in style at two fantastic restaurants. One of them, Urban Herbivore, has been a favorite of mine since I ate with serious frequency while living in Toronto last summer. It is the perfect place to grab a bite to go, or sit and enjoy a muffin, coffee, and gossip on a weekend morning.

On this particular day, my partner and I split a delicious salad and a sandwich.


The salad options at UH are unlike any other vegan restaurant (or omni restaurant, for that matter). For $7, you choose your greens and six toppings. Choices include tempeh croutons, roasted celery root, brocolli and cauliflower, sundried tomatoes, a variety of nuts, and other tasty items.

Our salad: spinach, brocolli, beets, celery root, alfalfa sprouts, cherry tomatoes, and roasted sweet potato. Topped with a ginger vinaigrette and eaten with chopsticks, of course.

Now, don't even get me started on these sandwiches. Freshly made buns with hemp butter, pesto, and olive tapenade. Layered with spinach, alfalfa, bruschetta, tahini, and your choice of filling. Today it was chimichurri gluten, but I also recommend roasted vegetable and bbq tofu.


If you are ever in Toronto, do not pass up a chance to eat at UH. (And take a few muffins for the road...trust me on that one!)

red apple falls

I'm mostly updating to let you know that I've been up since 6 for some reason. (Maybe subconsciously trying to ensure I'll be up on time for tomorrow's grand Toronto trip?)


For breakfast I had this nice piece of apple-raspberry-cranberry crisp that I made last night, over some "must eat before it goes bad!" plain soygurt.

Just so you know, that apple slice is red because it's stained by pure raspberry deliciousness.





I would also like to add that I really don't mind whether we go to Fressen or Live. I'm actually interested in giving Fressen a second chance after our last (delicious but unfortunate) encounter, but then I'm also looking forward to overcoming a slight rawphobia. Can we pleaaaase go by Urban Herbivore and get a couple of things to bring back home though?

Make Yer Own Granola Bars

I just had to post again this evening, after a very successful attempt at homemade protein/granola bars. I never like having a big breakfast, so these are a great and healthy way to get a good start to my day.

This is a recipe I adapted from a post on www.veggieboards.com

3 Cups rolled oats
1/2 Cup protein powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 Cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs equivalent of Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/2 Cup soymilk
1/2 Cup raisins
2/3 Cup variety of nuts (I used hempseeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds)
Some agave nectar for sweetness

Mix together the dry ingredients (except raisins/nuts). Combine the wet in a different bowl, then add to dry. Mix it all up with the raisins/nuts, and press into an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then let cool and cut into bars.

I Want Sa'more Samosas!

Yesterday I had a work potluck to go to, and I wanted to make something tasty, portable, somewhat impressive, and not too health-foody. Samosas (potato-edamame, from VwaV)! Now, Miss Pickle and I have been talking about making these for a while, but she was away on vacation, so I had to make them all by my lonesome. The whole process took just over 2 hours, but wasn't really difficult, and I'd do it again in a second!



First of all, the dough: knead flour, oil, soymilk, and turmeric



Then, heat some oil in a skillet and toast mustard and cumin seeds. Saute with chopped carrot and onion.


Add chopped ginger and garlic, turmeric, and coriander. I also added a bit of roasted red pepper for colour




Add cooked potato and smush it all together, then add some frozen edamame beans




Filling done! Then, I simply rolled out the dough and cut into circles using a drinking glass, filled the samosas, making a little pocket, and baked them!

I made a giant one and saved it for my lunch today. Delicious!

A Ratatouillerrific Day

After a not-so-fun vacation, I arrived home to a messy apartment and cat poo on the floor today. Cry! But those tears soon turned to tears of joy when I found out I had gotten a much-coveted job for the summer! I decided it was time for some celebration cooking. When I was in Toronto on the weekend, I had some delicious ratatouille at Le Commensal Restaurant, so I decided to put my own spin on an old favourite of mine.

Katie's Razzle-Dazzle Ratatouille

A traditional ratatouille sticks to veggies only, but I suggest throwing in some chickpeas for added protein and calories.

1 very large onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 eggplant
2 zucchinni
2 peppers (red or green)
mushrooms
1 large can of tomatoes (I used whole roasted ones)

Season to your liking with:

basil
oregano
rosemary
Bragg's
paprika
lemon juice
salt
pepper

Sautee the onion and garlic, then add the rest of the veggies and keep cooking. Add the tomatoes and seasonings next. I also added some water with a cube of vegetable stock for more flavour. Simmer uncovered to let it thicken, around 30 minutes. Voila! A tasty dinner with lots of leftovers for the freezer.