fork and knife

mashed potatoes! tofu! salad!

2010-05-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to cut down on the soy products lately, so have been keeping tofu intake to a minimum. This is partly because I don't think that eating too much of any one thing is terribly good for you, and partly because a lot of soy is grown in huge monoculture crops. Soy is kind of like corn in a lot of ways... it's become ubiquitous...
and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
On that note... this is the first meal that I've made using tofu in weeks!
And it was delicious!

The tofu was marinated in (roughly) the following:
- 3 tablespoons of HP Sauce
- about two dashes of Hickory liquid smoke
- 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of grainy mustard
- 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
- some water to make it more liquidy and marinadey

If there was anything else in the marinade, I don't remember what it was. Womps.
I cleaned and quartered some mushrooms before tossing them in a pan and cooking until they started to release their water. I then threw in the chunks of tofu with their marinade and basically just let this simmer until all of the water had cooked off.
The tofu was sweet and smokey and totally delicious. YUM!

Mashed potatoes!! I cooked a giant pot of mashed potatoes, and added in a parsnip for a bit of kick. While the potatoes were cooking, I wilted a bunch of spinach in a pan, and chopped up some basil.
Once the potatoes were done cooking I began the mashing process.
I added the following into the potato/parsnip mash:
- olive oil and unsweetened original almond milk (I start off by just adding a splash of each, and then slowly add more until the potatoes reach the desired texture)
- the wilted spinach
- a handful of chopped up basil
- fresh garlic, minced, to taste (I add A LOT)
- 1 tablespoon of light miso paste
- several pinches of tarragon
- lots of fresh ground pepper
- Alder smoked salt, to taste

Finally, the salad... pretty basic and classic, the salad was made of chopped up cherry tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, cucumber and pea shoots. I also shredded in some carrot. The dressing was a favourite of my friend Kate-lynn's: pretty much equal parts olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sesame oil. DELICIOUS!!

And here's the most important part! The photo!
OM NOM NOM!!

I LOVE FOOD SO MUCH!
VEGETABLES! HURRAY!

lazy pizza

2010-04-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you want some pizza, but you just don't want to order it, and you definitely do not have the energy or patience to make pizza dough; in enters Naan. Indian Life has one flavour of Naan that contains no dairy, so my friend Ayma and I snagged it and covered it with delicious toppings.

This pizza is covered with the following:

-crushed tomatoes
-sliced cremini mushrooms
-marinated artichokes
-kalamata olives
-fresh tomatoes
-crumbled tofu

The tofu was marinated in a mixture of garlic, lemon juice, white wine vinegar and dill.

We brushed the Naan with olive oil from the artichokes before putting on the toppings, slid it onto a baking sheet and then tossed it into an oven preheated to 350F for about 12 minutes.

Easiest pizza ever!

We also made a simple salad with ripped up red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado. The dressing was made of juice from half a lemon, half a teaspoon of grainy mustard, several splashes of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and probs about half a teaspoon of maple syrup.

Delicious!

Mexicooooooooooo!

2010-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Mexico with some friends; we had the good fortune of staying in a house and thus had access to a kitchen. Here's a peak at one of the dinners that we made...

It was a mishmash of things, including some grilled asparagus and cactus (which, it turns out, has the texture of aloe vera), a huge bowl of guacamole (avos, garlic, lots of lime), tofu and mushrooms cooked with some delicious peppers (I forget what they were called...), salsa (tomatoes, corn, cilantro, garlic), and various hot sauces...

Ok, not the most informative post, but it was a pretty great dinner! I'm pretty sure that we ate avocados with just about every single meal while we were there... not to mention SO MANY BEANS AND TORTILLAS (even though they were not present at this meal).

That's all for now!

Salad!

2010-04-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick salad that I made one evening for dinner. I often forget how easy it is to whip a delicious salad together, and they are so satisfying and delicious!!
YUM!!
Ingredients in this salad are as follows:
-red leaf lettuce, washed and ripped into pieces
-cherry tomatoes and avocado cut into chunks
-grated carrot
-canned black beans, rinsed
-sliced almonds, toasted (you can toast nuts in about 5 minutes on a tray in your toaster oven, set to 375F..... or also on the stove in a dry pan on medium-high heat)
-mushrooms and asparagus (I sliced these up and then just fried them in a pan until they were tender. I prooooobably doused them in balsamic vinegar once they were half-way done)

Toss everything together, and then all you need is a dressing!
My go to dressing is a mixture of equal parts white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, with about half a lemon's worth of juice, half a teaspoon of grainy mustard, a teensy bit of agave nectar, and a dash of white truffle oil. It's SUPERB!

I know that white truffle oil is expensive, and a bit of a luxury item, but you need such a small amount to add lovely fragrant flavour to a dish. It's meant to be used as a finishing oil (you put it on for flavour once the dish is fully prepared; it's not meant to be used during the actual cooking process), so you basically just need a dash. It makes an excellent addition to salads, or gives a special je ne sais quoi to soups (it's AMAZING on white bean soups!)

Oh yeah, here's the salad!

vegan "beef" stew with bannock!

2010-03-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

The other day my friend Karlene was talking about wanting to make some bannock, and suddenly I was overwhelmed with childhood memories of bannock or yorkshire pudding with a hearty beef stew.
I was recently gifted two of Jamie Oliver's marvelous cookbooks, which both have excellent stew recipes in them, so this turned out to be kind of a mish-mash of both of these.
(Also, can I just take a second to say how much I love Jamie Oliver... because I do. Rarely does one see a "celebrity chef" with his level of integrity and also serious passion for all things food; I'm not just talking about cooking and eating... but TRUE passion for the entire food process. Anyways... that's my two cents on Jamie Oliver. <3)

Regretfully, I don't recall the exact recipe for this stew, but it was my first attempt, and I must say that it turned out quite well. Following is the basic list of ingredients:

-1 package of fake beef chunks (I usually try to stay away from too much fake meat, but wanted to try it out on this occasion. One could also use tofu or seitan it it's place. Actually, the next time I make this, I will probably just use chickpeas)
-several potatoes
-two parsnips
-three or four carrots
-1 can of tomatoes
-half a guiness beer
-vegetarian "beef" stock
-flour (to thicken)
...
I don't really remember what else... probably a dash each of oregano and tarragon... likely a bit of maple syrup, some lemon juice...

Basically, I chopped up all of the root vegetables into chunks, and threw them in a pot with the spices, a bit of oil, and some whole cloves of garlic. After tossing these around for a bit, I added the fake beef, the can of tomatoes and the fake beef stock. Add flour as you see fit, depending on how thick you want the stew.
This takes A WHILE to cook. Even if you are not using real beef, it needs some time for all of the flavours to mix together, for the broth to thicken, and for the root veggies to cook. Next time I do this, I would actually boil the potatoes for a bit beforehand, as they take a bit longer to cook than the parsnips and carrots.

STEW!

Ok... so maybe the "recipe" above is a little loose to follow... sorry! I will make sure to post something more comprehensive the next time I take a crack at stew.

I'm not going to even begin to get into the bannock here... suffice it to say, it's delicious. If you don't know what bannock is, here's the wikipedia description. Karlene made the bannock. Who doesn't love fried bread products??

Ok, that's all for now.

YUM!

veggie skewers and spiced rice with tahini dill sauce

2010-03-07T18:01:00.001-08:00

Hello!
I have not updated in a very long time. However, lately several friends have requested that I start posting again... so I am going to do my best to at LEAST post photos and descriptions, even if that means not always putting up recipes.

This dinner was made at my friend Lindsay's house. I had made a slightly different version for my brother and his girlfriend the week before. It's simple, full of vegetables, and delicious...

SPICED RICE!
I would never have thought of adding cinnamon to rice had I not decided to make dolmades a few months ago. Basically, you start with some oil in a hot pan, throw in some garlic, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, maybe a pinch of cayenne, and then a handful of either sliced almonds or pinenuts. Toss these around in the pan for a bit before pouring in a cup of rice. Stir this until the rice looks like it's covered in the various spices, and then add a cup and a half of water and cook rice as usual.
This is best served with Mediterranean-y dishes. It's fragrant and delicious.

TAHINI DILL SAUCE!
This is a recipe from veganomicon, so I shouldn't really post it in its entirety here. Basically, it's dill, tahini, some water, lemon juice and garlic all blended up into a sauce. It's AMAZING with the veggie skewers and rice.

VEGGIE SKEWERS!
These are so very simple. It's ridiculous. Preheat the oven to about 350 F
I like to marinate some tofu and then cut up various vegetables in huge chunks and put all of this stuff on a skewer. Then I mix together equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil and brush this over everything. Pop the skewers in the over (on a baking sheet), and about 20 minutes later, you have wonderful, flavourful, deliciously grilled vegetables. YUM!

If you're going to make this, I would suggest starting with the sauce, as it can be set aside. Next, prep the skewers and preheat the over. Pop the skewers in the over just as you are about to start the rice, and you are golden.

Finally, here's the part that really matters...

(photo by Lindsay Elliott)

SUMMER UPDATE!!

2009-07-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

OK... so I have not updated in a very long time. Sorry!
What with graduating and summer and some very big deadlines at work, there has just not been a lot of extra time for food blogging. Plus, I have been lazy.

I am not going to update with any super new recipes at the the moment, but I WILL post a bit of food porn from the last few months, followed by some brief descriptions.

YUM!

I went to the farmers' market and picked up some oyster mushrooms, sunburst tomatoes and... BLACK TRUFFLE SEA SALT!! FYI: Sunburst tomatoes are these tiny little orange guys, and are probably the most flavourful, lovely tomatoes that I have ever eaten in my life.
For this breakfast, I cooked up the oyster mushrooms and spinach with a bit of Earth Balance. I boiled some potatoes, and topped them with a white bean dip. Then, I sliced up some tofu and poached it (using white wine vinegar) for a few minutes. I topped the tofu off with a bit of my new truffle salt. OM NOM NOM!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Did you know that cauliflower and potatoes take about the same amount of time to boil?? And furthermore, that cauliflower and potatoes mashed together and then baked are absolutely DIVINE? I didn't! Then I tried a cauliflower bake at a vegan restaurant, and had to make it myself. Here, I think that I mashed a bunch of Earth Balance, veggie bouillon powder (I know, sounds strange, but is a good mashed potato seasoning) and nutritional yeast into the potatoes and cauliflower.

YUM!! I remember this brunch!! The best part of all was the sauce... oh, the sauce!! It was a blend of avocado, a bit of coconut milk, some tomato paste, hickory liquid smoke, and chipotles in adobo sauce (plus a few other things... not sure what though... probably at least some lime juice). It was AMAZING! It was served with some fresh baking powder biscuits, brussel sprouts that had been chopped very finely and pan fried with sliced almonds and salt and pepper, mashed potatoes and yams, and tofu that had been marinated in some sort of agave nectar and lime juice mixture and then baked. By far one of my favourite brunches in life, ever.

OK! That's my quick update! I will try to stay more on top of things in the months to come, if only to post some food porn here and there.

Happy eating!

brunch! hashbrowns, and vegan bennies.

2009-03-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

I have started to cook brunch for friends on a pretty regular basis, and this is the first one that I made!

Brunch this weekend consisted of hashbrowns, and some broiled tofu with spinach and mushrooms, on english muffins, topped with dill-tahini sauce.
YUM!!!!

The tofu, and sauce were both taken from the Veganomicon, and were completely delicious.
The spinach was simply wilted on low heat, and the mushrooms were fried in a pan with a bit of tamari.

HASHBROWNS!!!

Potatoes take a bagillion years to cook in the oven, so I like to speed the process up a bit.
Cut potatoes into bite-sized bits, and boil until they seem like they are not quite done. You know... you can stick a fork in them, and they are kind of soft, but you wouldn't want to eat them.

Then!!
I pre-heated the over to 350F
I threw the potatoes onto a pan, and coated them in olive oil.
I hate to say it... but i don't know the measurements for the rest...

Stuff that I put on the potatoes:
- Nutritional Yeast (lots!)
-a pinch of: cayenne and paprika
-several splashes of tamari
-salt & pepper
oh shoot... i think some other things, but i forget right now, because i didn't write them down while i was making the potatoes.
the potatoes were put under the broiler for probs another 15 minutes.
they were so delicious.
OM NOM NOM!!!

I like to accompany food that is kind of rich with some sort of fresh veggie, so I grated some carrots and beets on the side. HURRAY, BRUNCH!!

noodles and peanut sauce!!

2009-02-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

HURRAY!!
It's the end of the night, and I have already posted several peanut sauce recipes... so I am not going to post another one here tonight. To my regular peanut sauce recipe, I added about a teaspoon of thai red curry paste.

I slathered this deliciousness onto some soba noodles (with a touch of sesame oil), with steamed mushrooms, tofu, and bean sprouts, and some wilted spinach.

I find that with something as rich as peanut sauce (especially if you use A LOT of it), plain noodles and steamed vegetables are a good pairing, because you don't need to add anything more complicated or rich to your meal.

IT WAS SO GOOD!!
OM NOM NOM!!

veggie burgers! brussel sprouts with almonds and tofu!

2009-02-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

yum yum yum!
who doesn't love a good veggie burger??
these were inspired by the black bean burger recipe in the veganomicon... but are distinctly different. This recipe is pretty huge... and, as the last... not all that accurate. SORRY!!

YUM!

ALTAIRA'S BLACK BEAN BURGERS

-two large cans of black beans
-half a small tin of tomato paste
-1/2 a cup of walnut pieces
-1/2 a cup of wheat gluten flour
~3/4 of a cup of bread crumbs
-several dashes of chilli powder
-several splashes of tamari (or soy sauce)
-a teaspoon of chilli paste
-2 tablespoons of maple syrup
-GARLIC! CHOPPED! LOTS!

I think that this was all of the ingredients...

Start by draining and rinsing the black beans.
Mash them up a bit, but not too much, as you still want some whole beans in the mix.
There is no real order to adding the other ingredients...
BUT!! NB... As far as the tamari and bread crumbs go, there are approximations, because the bread crumbs will make things drier and the tamari will make things more moist. you can also add water for moisture, if your mix is a bit too dry. You want the burger mix to be malleable and moist... but not like, wet.
If you prefer a chewier burger, add more gluten flour, but maybe add more water to compensate.

Once you are done mashing all of these ingredients together, and you have achieved the desired texture, it's burger time!!!
I like to just pan fry or grill these until... well, until they are warm and they look done. heh.

You can keep the mix covered in the fridge for several days, and make burgers as needed... or you can preform patties, and put them in the freezer.

Either way.... It's pretty delicious.

BRUSSEL SPROUTS WITH ALMONDS AND TOFU

Adapted from a recipe in The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen (BEST COOKBOOK EV-AR!!!!)

-brussel sprouts, a bunch, it really depends on how much you want to eat
-sliced almonds, also a bunch... about a handful?? half a cup will do for several portions of brussel sprouts
-firm tofu, cut into roughly one inch cubes (half a package is probs enough)
-3 tablespoons of maple syrup
-3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

Mix together maple syrup and lemon juice.
Cut up the tofu, and stick into the maple syrup and lemon juice to marinate for as long as you can let it.
In the meantime, grab your brussel sprouts!!!
The key to this recipe is in the prep... Cut off the tough bottoms of the brussel sprouts, then slice them in half... next... cut the halves into thin slices, which will give the brussel sprouts a shredded texture.
I wash them by tossing the cut up brussel sprouts into a colander and rinsing.
VOILA!
Pre-heat a pan, on medium heat... once it's hot... toss in the almonds!!!
Once they have toasted for a bit, add the shredded brussels... next add the tofu...
I usually cover everything for a few minutes, to allow the brussel sprouts to retain moisture, which avoids the necessity to use any oil. Cook... until they look ready ??? Don't let them get mushy. It'll probably take about 10 minutes.
Season with salt.

I PROMISE that brussel sprouts prepared in this manner are like nothing that you have ever tried. they are not bitter or mushy or any of that.
They are simply divine.
The addition of maple syrup covered tofu adds a bit of a sweet kick, without overpowering the veggies.
One of my favourite sides EVER!!! Thanks for the prep tips, PETER BERLEY!!

The mushrooms were simply sliced, and cooked until tender with a few splashes of tamari.

it's been months...

2009-02-12T18:36:00.001-08:00

life got busy and hectic... then my old computer died... and i haven't really picked up the slack ever since.
time to start posting again!!

sometime in the next few weeks (once i have recovered everything from my old hard-drive) i will play catch up on some posts from the fall.

until then... new updates later today...
and new CATS right now!!

rosemary biscuit northe

wesley thomas northe

(note: if you're looking back at earlier posts, and see a cat and think, "hey! that's a different cat!"... it's true. poor little hunter sweatpants got very sick last summer, and had to be put to sleep :( rest in peace, little rabbit.)

More simple dinners... Tofu and rice.

2008-10-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

This dinner was a quick and simple one.
I marinated some tofu for a about an hour in half and half white wine vinegar and tamari, with the addition of lots of dill, a bit of tarragon, and a teaspoon of agave nectar.

I cooked up some rice, and then added to it some peas and corn, and a few teaspoons of cumin seeds. (i love cumin seeds like crazy, they are good on just about anything.)

Grilled the tofu.

Grated some carrot on top.

DONE!

SOUP!

2008-10-08T19:36:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite like a hot bowl of soup. Nourishing. Comforting. What more could you ask for?!
The best part is that you can make a big pot of soup and then keep it in the fridge to eat as a quick lunch or dinner throughout the week.
Here's a simple recipe (kind of), for the soup pictured below.

SOUP!
ingredients (roughly)
-about 2 cups of potatoes*
-1 large carrot*
-lots of garlic
-1/2 package of tofu*
-half a zucchini*
-small can of tomatoes
-1/2 cup of corn
-mushrooms*
-1/3 of a head of sui choi
-6 cups of veggie stock
-a few splashes of tamari
-1 teaspoon of chilli paste
-1/2 teaspoon of oregano
-1/2 teaspoon of tarragon
-chilli powder
-salt and pepper
-1 teaspoon of hoisin sauce
-1-z tablespoons of olive oil

*chopped into bite-sized pieces

Alright...
To start soup of I like to heat up the olive oil in the bottom of my soup pot, and then add in a bunch of chopped garlic to cook for a few minutes.
I then add any spices that I want to flavour the soup with, and stir those around with the garlic and oil for about a minute.
Add the tofu, and let it absorb all of the spicy garlicy goodness.
Add root veggies and stir for a few minutes.
Then add the veggie stock.
Bring to a boil, and then let simmer. Check the root vegetables regularly: when they are almost done cooking, add all of the other vegetables (except the sui choi!!)

This is when I add all of the non-spice ingredients (hoisin sauce etc.)

Finally, when the soup is almost done, I add the sui choi (it doesn't really need to cook a whole lot).

You don't need to add the veggies that I have listed here. You can pretty much ad anything you want. It's just important to keep in mind that different vegetables have different cooking times. If it's a root vegetable, it takes longer. Soft things take less time.

Umm... that's all for now.

Tomato and black bean hummus

2008-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I talked very briefly about the versatility of bean dips, and how you can add basically anything to them.
So here is a prime example: Tomato and black bean hummus!!

Alright... so I will be the first to admit that it looks a little like cat food... but it was so yummy!!

The recipe:
-1 large can of chickpeas
-1 large can of black beans
-half a small can of tomato paste
-juice from one lemon
-about half a teaspoon of maple syrup
-2 tablespoons of tahini
-between 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-half a teaspoon of chilli paste
-GARLIC

Blend everything until it reaches the consistency that you desire. For a runnier hummus, add a bit of water.

I get the feeling that I might be forgetting something from this recipe... but you get the idea (hopefully).

I think that I am going to try testing out different bean and seasoning combinations more this month, so get ready for lots of bean dips!!! om nom nom.

Tomatoes and pasta.

2008-10-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

TOMATOES! They are lovely. I honestly can't wait for tomato season every year (though I did not take full advantage of it this year). The shear variety astounds me.

I picked up these guys at the farmers' market, and decided to make another really simple tomato sauce similar to the one made a few posts back.

The tomatoes were chopped up and thrown in a pan with lots of garlic and a bit of olive oil. Once they had broken down into a sufficiently saucy texture, I added a pinch of sugar and a whole bunch of fresh basil.

Meanwhile, I cooked up some penne, and grilled some yellow beans on my newly seasoned cast iron grill (I LOVE IT!)

Here is the result.

Tofu, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes and cheesy sauce!!

2008-10-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

Vegan MoFo Post #3!!

I was having a group of mostly omni boys over for dinner, and wasn't really sure what to make, so decided to go with comfort food. It turned out to be a good decision!

I marinated some chunks of tofu in equal parts white wine vinegar and tamari, and a huge bunch of basil. I set the tofu aside to soak up flavour while the rest of dinner was prepared.

Next, I boiled some potatoes in preparation for mashing. And put some water on to blanch some swiss chard in. The chard was blanched for three minutes and set aside until the potatoes were fully cooked.
Mashed potatoes are a great vessel for other things.... beans, greens, tomato paste, mashed up squash... if you are cooking for someone that is fussy about greens, and you want to get more of them into their diet... seriously... mashed potatoes... it's the way to go.
To these potatoes, I added:
-Earth Balance
-Unsweetened almond milk (I don't measure these first two, I just add them a bit at a time until the potatoes have reached the consistency that I desire.)
-lots of garlic
-1 tablespoon of miso paste
-an entire bunch of blached swiss chard
-salt and pepper

Meanwhile, I tossed some mushrooms (lightly coated in olive oil) in the oven at 375 F to start roasting, followed by some zucchini about ten minutes later. These were left in the oven together for an additional ten minutes.

Cheesy sauce was made according to the recipe from the Veganomicon, to which i added a few tablespoons of tomato paste, and half a can of coconut milk (plus about a tablespoon of extra flour because of the added liquid.)

The tofu chunks were then grilled.

All of this was garnished with pea shoots and served with some lovely flat bread that i picked up at the store.

PHOTOS!!

The most satisfying part was that even the boy who had never really eaten tofu before totally loved it. HURRAY!

Soba noodles with arugula, zucchini and pea shoots.

2008-10-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

Post number 2 for Vegan MoFo!!

This was a very quick and simple dinner that was super tasty, and full of greens.

I took an entire bunch of arugula and wilted it in a pan with a little bit of Earth Balance. I chopped up some zucchini, and tossed it into the pan when the arugula was almost done.

Meanwhile, I cooked some soba noodles.

Once the noodles and veggies were done, I tossed them in a bowl together, and topped them off with some fresh pea shoots. Everything was sprinkled with a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Easiest dinner ever!

(one more photo.)

Peanut noodle salad, mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and white bean dip.

2008-10-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it turns out that SO FAR, I have been a total Vegan MoFo slacker! Not in so far as cooking, but in so far as posting. (I had a calculus midterm this week, give me a break.)
Seven posts to follow, from the past week.

OM NOM NOM!
This was a simple dinner, of the variety that I usually seem to end up making.
I love, love, love peanut sauce, and really liked this salad the last time that I made it, so decided to whip it up again.

Peanut noodle salad:
-Peanut Sauce (as I stated in an earlier post, you can find recipes for this stuff anywhere, you basically just have to fiddle with the proportions of the ingredients until you find one that suits you.)
-Noodles (again, depends on what you are going for. I like soba noodles a lot.)
-Veggies! These can be whatever you want, but it works best if they are fresh, and if you chop them up into fairly small pieces.
I have never been a huge fan of cucumber... but OMG, I bought one from the local farmers' market, and it was the best thing EV-AR! So sweet and flavourful. It was shocking. It was kind of expensive compared to what I am used to, but well worth it.

The rest of dinner!!

I tossed some fingerling potatoes, and cremini mushrooms in olive oil, and roasted them in the oven. YUM!

Then covered the potatoes in a huge glob of white bean dip (recipe taken from "Eat, Drink and Be Vegan".)
I've been extra into bean dips lately... they go on anything, and you can basically put anything in them, depending on what you are feeling like that day.
As long as you have the key ingredients:
-beans.
-tahini
-olive oil
-garlic
-lemon juice
Everything else can be adjusted. Try different types of beans, and different herbs and spices to suit your mood. I will elaborate on this in a future post.

Food! I love it!

VEGAN MOFO!

2008-09-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

Apparently, next month is the Vegan Month of Food. The idea is for food bloggers to try to post something every weekday. EXCITING! MOTIVATION! Participants are going to be put into the PPK RSS feed, so that is pretty rad.

Bring it on, October!

Also, just for fun, here is a picture of my friend Shmoo's cat, Isabelle.

She is such a beautiful little princess!!

Ok, bye.

more potatoes, tofu, roasted veggies, heirloom tomatoes!

2008-09-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

I picked up these beauties at the farmers' market this weekend...

I decided that they would have enough flavour to hold their own in a very basic sauce, and i was right! They were so very lovely.

I used about the amount of tomatoes that you see in the the photo above, or maybe a handful more.
I cleaned the tomatoes, and cut them in half, heated some olive oil and garlic in a pan, and then tossed the tomatoes in.
I simmered them until they were a bit liquid-y, added 1 teaspoon of sugar (they were pretty tart), and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. I then continued to let them simmer on low heat until they reached a more sauce-like consistency.
SO SIMPLE!

The rest of dinner was composed of some roasted mushrooms and zucchini; some leftover "burger" mix (see earlier post), simply pan fried instead of floured into burger form; and some stips of marinated tofu.

Roasting veggies!
-mushrooms were cleaned and rubbed with olive oil before tossing them into the oven at 350F. They stayed in there for about 10 minutes before i added the oiled zucchini chunks to the mix (they take less time to cook). They probably stayed in for another ten minutes. I don't usually time roasted vegetables, but rather test them periodically to see what's what.

The tofu was the "Marinated Asian Tofu" from the Veganomicon.

The whole thing was sprinkled with fresh cilantro.

All-in-all, pretty delicious dinner.

Curried tofu stuffed peppers; potato, pumpkin and black bean "burgers"; greens.

2008-09-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

The other day i made a lot of potatoes... a lot! I had a huge pot full of boiled yellow potatoes, so I decided to mash them up with some other delicious things that I had kicking around the kitchen.

"Burgers"

- Large saucepan half full of potatoes. (ok, so that's a pretty ghetto description, but i don't really know how to quantify the potatoes)
- Half a can of pumpkin puree (make sure that it is NOT pumpkin pie mix!)
- One bunch of chard, chopped and blanched for three minutes.
- One can of black beans, rinsed.
- LOTS of garlic.
- Several tablespoons of olive oil.
- Salt and pepper.

This delicious mess was formed into patties, and then patted with flour. They were then fried in a hot pan with a bit of oil for about 3-5 minutes on either side.

I also sprinkled them with some Sheese, "cheddar style" fake cheese.

Stuffed Peppers
The peppers were stuffed with a crumbled curried tofu, and some really lovely green tomatoes that I picked up at the farmers' market. The peppers were rubbed with a bit of olive oil, before being stuffed, and tossed in the oven at 350F for roughly 12 minutes.

Tofu, roughly:
- 1 package of extra firm tofu, crumbled.
- 2 teaspoons of peanut oil (but any oil will do, really)
- 1/4 teaspoon each of cardamom and ground ginger.
- 1 teaspoon of curry powder.
- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds.
- several splashes of tamari.
- 1/2 teaspoon of chilli paste.
- garlic!!

The greens were just a mix of random things picked up from the farmers' market, and were tossed in lemon juice and flax oil.

nori strips and hummus.

2008-09-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is one of my less fancy photos of food, but making a post without a photo seems silly.
I am not normally one for food with a lot of packaging, but a friend recently introduced me to these little snack packs of seasoned nori, and they are the greatest!
This weekend, I ate them like crazy. I also had made a bunch of hummus, so I ate them together, and it was even better. Woot!

Since nori is a sea vegetable, it's packed with all sorts of vitamins and minerals, as well as omega-3s (and 6s, but 3s can be harder to get).

My hummous isn't incredibly special, and recipes are abundant enough on the internets, so I won't bother posting one here. To your standard hummus mix, I added a HUGE bunch of basil, and probably about twice as much garlic as your average bear.

chocolate cake, with kick.

2008-08-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

I don't normally agree with posting other people's recipes directly from their cookbooks, but since this was also posted on the PPK blog the other day, I don't have a problem with it.

CHOCOLATE CAKE!

1 cup almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular (or a mix of both)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla and almond extract and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).

Lightly grease an 8 inch springform pan. Pour in the batter and bake for 32 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean.

I didn't have a springform pan on hand, which turned out to be mildly problematic... but it turned out alright in the end.
Also, modifications!!!!
To the above recipe, I added one teaspoon each of cinnamon and cayenne, along with a handful of chopped up dried sour cherries.
Cayenne adds a bit of spicy kick, and the cherries add little sweet and sour pockets of goodness. Cinnamon is lovely in just about anything baked, as far as I am concerned.
Sadly, almond milk cost a whopping $3.50 at my local Safeway (not my usual grocery store), so I stuck with soy. Thankfully, SO NICE now makes an unsweetened version that is still fortified. Who knew?!

GANACHE:
Also modified from the PPK recipe, my chocolate ganache contained:
2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
100g of dark chocolate (An entire large, lindt bar. The one that I used was 55% cacao)
4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat the soy milk in a saucepan, then break the chocolate into bits and mix it in, until melted. Add all other ingredients and whisk everything around until it's nice and smooth. Let cool at least 15 minutes before using.

Before pouring the ganache all over the cake, allow the cake to cool. I tossed mine in the freezer for a bit, because I was impatient.

That's all great, but where are the photos!?!?!

Right here.

YUM!

simple dinner.

2008-08-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

I like to enjoy new potatoes while their around, so this dinner had some more of those (boiled) with some more lovely, broiled yellow zucchini, fried mushrooms with red pepper and a tofurkey smokie. yum!

The mushrooms and red pepper were shopped up and then tossed in a cast iron frying pan with some garlic (how much really depends on your taste), a splash of tamari, and a generous pinch of paprika.

The potatoes were topped with tofutti sour supreme, mixed with a squeeze of lime juice, and some chilli paste (once again, the amount really depends on your taste for spice)

That's pretty much it.

salad!!

2008-08-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

For some reason or another, salad is something that I often overlook when it comes to meal preparation. Then, I remember it, and am overjoyed by the deliciousness of fresh vegetables.

SALAD!!

I usually don't toss my salads, because I like to be able to eat bits and pieces of whatever I want. I also prefer salads if they have a few cold, fresh vegetables, and a few warm cooked ones.
This salad incorporated:
-fresh spinach and green leaf lettuce
-grated beets and carrots
-sliced cucumber
-lightly steamed yellow beans (just a few minutes, so they remain a little crispy. yellow beans are a little sweeter than the green ones, and they are DIVINE.)
-boiled new potatoes
-lightly broiled , sliced, yellow zucchini (once again, a little sweeter than green zuc. i coated the slices in olive oil, and then tossed them in the toaster oven at 350 F, for about 10-15 minutes)

WONDERFUL!

For the salad dressing, I combined:
-several tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce
-a few teaspoons of sesame oil
-a splash of apple cider vinegar
-a splash of maple syrup

The salad dressing was ok, but it was the topping for the new potatoes that was really amazing.

Potato topping:
-half a cup of tofutti fake sour cream
-6 to 10 drops of hickory liquid smoke (if you see this stuff, buy it! it's delicious.)
-between 1 and 2 teaspoons of lime juice
-between 1 and 2 teaspoons of maple syrup

The only thing that would have improved this salad, would have been the addition of some pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds, and some pea shoots or sunflower sprouts. Otherwise, it was the perfect summer dinner!!

Salad! Salad! Salad!

more tofu burgers! peanut sauce! baby bok choy!

2008-07-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

Once again, marinated a whole whack of tofu in my go to marinade of tamari, sesame oil, sriracha, garlic and ginger.
Shredded up some carrots and beets, and sliced up some zucchini and spinach for toppings.
On the bun (errr.... multi-grain bread): dijon mustard, ketchup, and the most delicious mayo spread ever!
I bought some super amazing liquid hickory smoke the other week, and decided that it would probably taste great mixed into some vegan mayo with a bit of maple syrup. HEAVEN! I am going to start putting this on pretty much everything.

Along side the tofu burger is some lightly steamed baby bok choy slathered with a tasty peanut sauce.
In the peanut sauce:
peanut butter (obvs) about 1/2 a cup
teaspoon of chilli paste
garlic - lots of it
small can of coconut milk
a few splashes of tamari
ginger
lots of like juice
teaspoon of rice vinegar
tablespoon of maple syrup

Mix mix mix, and add water until desired thickness is reached.
It's good to play around with the proportions a bit until you find the peanut sauce that is perfect for you.

Ps. Did you know that you can buy coconut milk in tetra packs??? It's a bit cheaper, and nice to just have hanging out in the fridge, say... to add to coffee (delicious!), or to hot chocolate, or cherry flavoured soda (vegan italian sodas, whaaaaat?). I should probably just devote a whole post to coconut milk sometime soon...

3 course meal! thai-style coconut soup, asian noodle salad with spicy peanut sauce, mushroom risotto with smokey tofu and green beans.

2008-07-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Recently, the Grace Gallery in Vancouver held a "40 hours of food and flicks" event, where a local chef cooked for continuous two hour sittings for 40 hours. A movie was shown for each sitting. Sadly, for me and a few of my vegan friends, there was no vegan option... so we decided to make our own fancy dinner. HURRAY!

Course 1: Asian Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce.

This recipe was taken from Vegan Planet, with a few modifications. The recipe recommends using Udon noodles, which we agreed were too thick for our liking, so we used some Soba noodles instead. To the peanut sauce in Vegan Planet, we also added a few tablespoons of maple syrup, for sweetness, and the juice from half a lemon. The recipe was also modified with the addition of peas.
This salad was SO delicious! It was also super easy to make. Peanut sauce recipes are easily found in just about any vegan cookbook, or all over the internets. Try playing around with different ones until you get the right flavour for you. You can also experiment with different types of noodles (spelt, kamut, buckwheat) or varying degrees of thickness, and you can basically add any vegetables that please you.

Course 2: Thai Style Coconut Soup.

Also from Vegan Planet, but slightly modified with the addition of fresh lemongrass and thai basil. I'm not sure what i would do differently in making this soup the next time... maybe add more coconut milk? Maybe add some sweet chilli sauce? I just don't know. It was light, and refreshing, but didn't quite have the oomph that I was looking for.

Course 3: Mushroom Risotto with Smokey Tofu and Green Beans.

SO MANY MUSHROOMS! We picked up a variety pack of organic mushrooms from the farmers' market, which included shitake, portabello, pink oyster and some other kind whose name I'm not sure of. We sauteed these for a bit before adding them into the risotto. The risotto was made with a mushroom broth and then finished off with truffle infused olive oil. YUM! We also added some swiss chard.

To marinate the tofu, we took the recipe for Smokey Grilled Tempeh, from the Veganomicon (obvs, without the tempeh). We let the tofu marinate for a few hours and then pan-fried it. Smokey deliciousness!

The green beans were blanched for three minutes, put into a cold water bath and then tossed in flax oil.

garlic scapes and a sammich.

2008-07-07T22:52:00.001-07:00

soo... life has been a little hectic and crazy lately, thus, the lack of posts. I might not begin actually posting on a regular basis until August... we'll see.

In any case, I went to the farmers' market the other week (i have been EXTREMELY lazy about farmers' market visits this year... it's pretty shameful...)

In an attempt to try something new and exciting, i picked up these

GARLIC SCAPES!

So what are they? They're kind of like a mix between a chives and green beans (only a little tougher) and they taste (SURPRISE!) like garlic. YUM!
The first time that I tried cooking them, i fried them up in a pan with some portabello, shitake and oyster mushrooms, and a little bit of Earth Balance. It was pretty tasty.

I served these with a delicious sammich.

I forget EXACTLY what I put in the main topping, but it went something like this:
1 can of chickpeas and half a package of firm tofu mashed together, several tablespoons of grainy mustard, juice from one or two lemons, 1/4 cup of tamari, a few tablespoons of tahini, pinch of paprika, pinch of cayenne, 1 tablespoon or so of vegan mayo, and 1 tablespoon of miso paste. I then chopped up some avocado, lettuce and tomatoes, and grated some carrots, and put the whole mess on some multi-grain bread. Delicious!YUM! This topping kind of fills the tuna salad sammich craving. (i miss tuna melts... *sigh*)

A note on garlic scapes:
The second time that i cooked them, I attempted to grill them on the bbq with a little oil.... not so successful. If you see these puppies at the farmers' market and decide to pick them up, I would recommend blanching them for a few minutes before grilling. They are pretty tough, so a few minutes in boiling water (followed by a cold water bath) would really loosen them up.
Also, these are only in season for about TWO WEEKS every year!! So snap them up while you can!!

just because...

2008-05-26T19:55:00.001-07:00

this is my cat. his name is hunter, and i love him very much.

tofu! hummus! garlic!

2008-05-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

tofu!
lately, i really love to bake tofu... in just about any kind of marinade.
this time, i took one out of VCon (which is where i seem to be getting everything that i cook these days...). I made the "marinated asian tofu", with the only modification being that i loaded it up with a ton of roasted garlic and some toasted sesame seeds.
yum!

I also pan fried some new potatoes with a bunch of roasted mushrooms and garlic, then served these both with a huge dollop of hummus (insert basic hummus recipe plus roasted garlic, chipotle and a bit of balsamic vinegar), and some shredded carrots.
Unfortunately for the hummus, I didn't have any raw garlic on hand, and the roasted garlic just didn't have enough oumf/umf/oumph (?). The lemons that I bought seemed to be a little lack lustre in flavour, hence the addition of balsamic vinegar. Sadly, it added more sweetness than kick into the mix. womp. Still delicious, but I would do things differently next time. (what can i say? it was my first time making hummus)

In case you didn't guess from this post, I love garlic... especially of the roasted variety.
One of the produce stores near my house sells huge bags of pre-peeled garlic on the cheap, so every now and then i grab a bag, toss it in olive oil and roast it. Then I put roasted garlic on/in everything... or you know, just eat it as a snack (yikes!). Occasionally, I will also add a mass of mushrooms to the mix, and then they soak up all of the olive oil/garlic goodness and taste absolutely divine. hurrah!

tempeh "shepardess pie"

2008-05-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

I had tried tempeh years ago, and had not been too keen on the flavour... but decided to give it another shot.
tempeh is much higher in fiber and slightly higher in protein and other nutrients than tofu. it has what is often described as an "earthy" or "nutty" flavour.
I have basically no experience with tempeh, so i took this recipe directly from the Veganomicon with no additions (except for some grated carrot...)

directly out of the oven...

plated with a bit of italian parsley.

the verdict:
ok, so the shepardess pie was pretty good, but i have to say that i am still not particularly crazy for tempeh. i think that it has more to do with the texture than the flavour (??) maybe. i can't quite put my finger on it.
my husband jake, however, thought that it was great.
i don't know...
perhaps i will try it again in the future in a different incarnation, but for now, tempeh will not be making a permanent home in my kitchen.

tofu burgers!

2008-05-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

summer is here!!
with summer, comes tofu burgers!

here's a quick simple recipe for some delicious tofu burgers that i stole from my friend shmoo...

buy a package of pressed tofu and slice into appropriate burger sized portions (they should be about 1/2 inch thick)
chop up a bunch of garlic and ginger (the amount really depends on taste... i like a lot of garlic, so i go with about 4 or 5 cloves, with a similar amount of ginger)
toss the ginger into a dish appropriate for marinating with about a 1/3 cup of soy sauce or tamari, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, and a hit of sriracha sauce.
toss in the tofu and leave to marinate for as long as you want (i would give it at least an hour... it only gets more delicious with time)

these can be grilled on the bbq, or fried in a pan... whatever is easiest.
cook about 5 minutes on each side.

i served these burgers on a multi-grain bun with vegan mayo, ketchup, jalapeño hummous and a pile of wilted spinach.

spinach phyllo pockets

2008-05-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

first entry!
so... i have been meaning to start a vegan food blog for a while now...
yes.
i'm kicking it off with my first phyllo experiment ever, from last week.

phyllo fresh from the oven!

there were a few slightly different fillings that i used for these...

filling number one:
plenty of wilted spinach, lots of garlic, lemon juice, pinenuts, soft tofu, olive oil, salt and pepper, a pinch of cayenne, a pinch of nutmeg

filling number two:
a variation on filling number one, this one nixed the pine nuts, cayenne and nutmeg, and went easy on the lemon juice.
in their place was half a can of cannellini beans, and some truffle infused olive oil. yum!

these were alternately paired with diced tomatoes or roasted red peppers.

Fillings were made by combining all ingredients in a blender and pulsing gently until they reached a creamy texture.
I'm not going to go into the details of prepping phyllo here, but you can find step-by-step instructions by doing a quick google search. It's surprisingly easy to work with, and makes even the most low maintenance dish seam fancy. Hurray for phyllo!

The phyllo pockets were served with boiled baby potatoes smothered in Earth Balance, then sprinkled with salt, pepper and dill.
yum!