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!

Tomatoes and pasta.

TOMATOES! They are so very 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 never ceases to astound 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.

more potatoes, tofu, roasted veggies, heirloom tomatoes!

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 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 preheated to 350F. They stayed in there for about 10 minutes before I added the oiled zucchini chunks to the mix (it takes 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.