mashed potatoes! tofu! salad!

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

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!

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 peek 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!

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!

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

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!!

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!

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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!