Livin' La Vida Vegan

the big one

2011-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Baby girl has been complaining lately that she's still hungry after lunch and that I need to make her a bigger lunch. So I really tried to make this lunchbox substantial and filling.

Pasta salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and peas, corn & broccoli, soda crackers filled with pupkin seed butter & strawberry jam, a few organic cookies, Sun Rype fruit bites, a juice box, celery matchsticks, strawberries sprinkled with ground flax, 2 pieces of gardein chick'n strips and ketchup for dipping, and a "bat" sandwich (multigrain bread with vegan cheese). It's her new favourite. Apparently she ate the "bat" for breakfast and then cried because she wanted another one. Also no pictured is a packet of maple oatmeal.

Baby girl ate the entire lunch except a few lone spirals of pasta and the celery sticks, which she never eats anyways. And then she refused to eat dinner because she wasn't hungry.

The Green Lunch

2011-09-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

There was no lunchbox yesterday because baby girl "skipped out" of daycare for her ballet lessons. She ended up having lunch with abuelo (grandpa).

Today's lunch colour is green. I was overwhelmed with green produce in my fridge, so there was no shortage of choices, but it was tricky trying to balance protein and carbohydrates. I didn't just want to make a lunchbox full of salad.

So here we've got soba noodles, which baby girl pointed out are not green. True, but it's got a pretty decent amount of protein and, hey, buckwheat is green at some point before it's harvested. Next is a mixture of peas and lima beans. I'm fairly certain that each and every lima bean will still be in the lunchbox when she comes home, but it's worth a shot. Moving along, there's some cucumber slices tucked into the side compartment with a fun green turtle fork, kiwi fruit and an ancient grain quesadilla stuffed with daiya cheese and cilantro.

And to quote another article from livestrong.com, "Green foods also serve as a source of vitamins A, C and K, and iron andcalcium. Green vegetables contribute to your daily fiber intake, whichcan help reduce your cholesterol levels"

2011-09-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's day two of "colours" week at baby girl's daycare. Today's lunchbox celebrates one of nature's most beautiful hues, orange. According to dietitian Julie Garden-Robinson on livestrong.com, "orange and yellow produce is rich in carotenoids, which help reduce therisk of cancer and heart disease, can improve immune system functionand aid healthy vision"

Beginning in the top left corner, there's Gardein's Mandarin Orange crispy chick'n piled on a bed of organic brown rice and sprinkled with sesame seeds, Pete's organic mango tofu, pumpkin pancakes (mini-container of maple syrup not pictured), and a blood orange.

Have a colourful day!

The Red Lunch

2011-09-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

This week's theme at my daughter's daycare is colours. So naturally, I was excited to incorporate the theme into her lunch box. Each day this week I'll focus on a different colour. Today I chose red.

The Roma tomato quesadilla is stuffed with refried beans and Daiya cheese. There's a red cabbage coleslaw (oops, I forgot the sunflower seeds!) strawberries sprinkled with ground flax, and an Ethiopian-style stew with red & white nugget potatoes, chickpeas, carrots and a dash of cayanne and other spices.

Although my little chica is too young to understand the health benefitsof her brightly coloured lunch, I found myself intrigued and did a littlebit of research. Lance Armstrong's website livestrong.com contains a wealth of information about the benefits of coloured food.

According to one of thier articles, "red fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes and beets, may help reducethe risk of several types of cancer, especially prostate cancer, andred berries may act as powerful antioxidants that protect cells fromdamage."

Vegan Mofo 2011

2011-09-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

I just signed up for this year's Vegan MoFo, where vegan food bloggers from around the world blog their hearts out for an entire month (October 1-31). And it's no random month - October 1st is World Vegetarian Day, and the entire month of October is World Vegetarian Month.

Deadline to sign up is Sept 28, so head over to veganmofo.com if you're interested in participating.

There's still a week left until the official kick off, so to reminisce about the good ol' Vegan Mofo days of yore, here's a few of my posts that I wrote in Vegan MoFo days past:

The Green Experiment

2011-09-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a smoothie for a while and lately I've been craving greens, so it seemed sensible to combine the two in a harmonious blended beverage. Unfortunately my creation lacked a very important element - deliciousness.

Unsweetened vanilla almond milk, banana and kale do not make tastebuds dance. At least not mine. I attempted to save my green potion by adding blue agave nectar, but this stubborn smoothie was just not meant to be saved.

At this point, it was way past snack time so I set my sights on a lunch that could not be screwed up. A pita stacked with fresh veggies and a generous dollop of nayonaise & dill.

2011-07-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted a dinner meal. Sometimes I'm exhausted after a long commute home and I just want to throw something easy together. So here's one of those meals that takes very little preparation and allows me to unwind and relax while it's cooking.

Wild rice - it takes an hour to cook, but if I get it going the stove as soon as I walk in the door, it's ready when I'm ready.

Gardein Crispy Tenders - delicious, packed with protein and easy to bake in the oven. I mixed up some agave nectar with mustard for a dipping sauce.

Veg spring rolls - one of my all time favourite foods in general. Plus they are easy to pop in the oven and these mini spring rolls only take 12 minutes to cook. By the time I toss them in the oven, I've already changed out of my work clothes into something comfy and had a chat with baby girl about how her day was.

Edamame - again, so easy to make, steamed and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt.

Hello Halo!

2011-07-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Another delightful discovery at the little grocery store that I mentioned before. I usually skip past the shelves full of cookies and wafers because there's never anything vegan-friendly there. Well, now I know why one should never say never. These tasty treats called Halo are organic and made with vegan marshmallows.

I bought two flavours: S'mores and Nutty Marshmallow, and packed them in a couple of my lunches. The bars weren't quite what I was expecting - I kind of envisioned them to look like the pictures on the wrapper. But they satisfied my sweet tooth :)

Torfurky Pizza!

2011-07-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

There's a small locally owned grocery store in our neighborhood that constantly surprises me with random organic and vegan groceries. For example, the other day I was delighted to discover a few varieties of Tofurky pizza in the freezer section.

I thought I'd try the Tofurky Italian sausage with fire-roasted veggies first. They also had a cheese pizza and a "pepperoni"version. I raced home and snapped a few pictures before baking it in the oven for dinner. Unfortunately I didn't trake any photos of the baked version.

YUM! Although I don't often buy frozen prepackaged meals, this was a nice treat, and I'm looking forward to trying the other kinds of Tofurky pizzas.

Summer lovin

2011-07-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Loving the chili lime hummus that I bought at the market recently.

Garden Lunchbox

2011-07-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Lately they've been celebrating different themes weeks at baby girl's daycare, and I try to incorporate the theme into her lunch.

For Garden week, I added some fun colored sushi grass along with the cinnamon-raisin bagel with tofutti cream cheese and watermelon balls. There's a butterfly nestled into the chickpeas, and a "cheese" flower rests on a bed of spaghetti. And a little packet of organic bunnies for a treat.

Nice little catch from the local summer market

2011-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

There’s nothing like a bountiful farmer’s market to herald the beginning of warm breezy summer (even though we're still waiting for sunny skies here in Vancouver).

I took baby girl to the market with $40 and a handful of change in my purse and came home with $20 left over and a small stash of goodies.

Fragrant helitropis plant, fresh carrots and aromatic sweet basil, granola king (sweetened with honey), Bean Boy chili lime hummus, and two varieties of vegan pate. All from local merchants.

I just did a big grocery shop the other day so we didn’t really need to stock up on much. I had my eye on a few other things, and since this particular market comes every other week, we’ll definitely be grabbing more goodies next time around.

The Bean Boy chili lime hummus wasn’t too spicy, baby girl liked it and she isn’t usually a big fan of spiciness. The lime really comes through and is an exciting difference from traditional lemon hummus. It was a fantastic accompaniment to our fresh carrots!

The chili lime hummus was the most expensive thing we bought at $5.50. $2 for the granola, $3 each for the pates, $2.5 for the basil, $5 for the heliotropis plant, and $2 for the carrots.

mission impossible: no eating out for 2 weeks

2011-06-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

I've been seriously craving to get back to blogging for a while. It's been tugging at the back of my mind every time I put a meal together or order a great meal at a restaurant. So finally here I am, diving right back into it.

Coinciding with my return to blogging is a diet of sorts, so there won't be a whole lot of sinful treats to be seen here for quite a while. And I'm sure my pocketbook will thank me for not eating out once or twice a day anymore. I'm on lockdown! I'm imposing a 2 week freeze from eating out. Hopefully I'll manage to skip visits to my favourite restaurants for longer than that, but I'll re-evaluate once I get to the two-week mark.

This is gonna be painful because it's patio season in Yaletown, which means slushy drinks and tapas are everywhere I seriously had the best gin infused peach lemonade last Friday on a rooftop patio lounge. Somehow I'll go 2 weeks without going back for more, which may or may not involve me trying to recreate that lip-smacking good, lucious peach lemonade in my own kitchen.

Anyhoo, today is a sunny Monday that deserves a bright and cheerful bento box lunch for my 3-year-old girl to take to daycare.

A half sesame-seed bagel with tofutti cream cheese, fresh organic strawberries, rice crackers, chickpea & celery medley, hummus dip and matchstick carrots and yellow bell pepper slices.

And mine is pretty similar: For breakfast, I've got the other half of baby girl's bagel & strawberries, and for lunch, a Caramel Nut Brownie Luna bar and a herb salad with chickpeas, carrots & yellow bell peppers.

Sophie's Cosmic Cafe

2010-11-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

Usually breakfast is my least favourite meal of the day when it comes to dining out. My usual fare of hasbrowns and dry toast gets pretty boring after so many years. A lot of places offer a side of fruit, but it's usually melons and grapes that have been marinating in lemon juice and water and pretty devoid of taste.

So this morning when Mr. Carnivore and I went out for breakfast, I picked the place: Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. When we first arrived, there was a bit of a line-up spilling out into the sidewalk and Mr. Carnivore grumbled a bit, but we only had to wait a few minutes before being seated.

As you enter, you're greeted by hundreds (maybe even thousands) of knick-knacks and figurines which are affixed to every nook and cranny. My favourite is the pair of glittery silver high-heel boots near the front counter.

Sophies Cosmic Cafe has a really great selection of vegetarian options on the menu, including a Mexican tofu scramble, served with salsa, tortilla chips, 2 flour tortillas and black beans. And the portions are ridiculously huge. I barely ate half before my pants were begging to be loosened. Mr Carnivore had (non-veg) French Toast with berries and was sufficiently stuffed as well. He'd be happy to go to Sophies again, and that makes me happy :)

THIS is a sandwich!

2010-11-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

I've talked about Marmalady before, the weekly gourmet lunch cart service that serves up fantastical lunches in our staff kitchen each week. I absolutely adore Chef Salima's colossal sized sandwiches. If you were to compare them with a regular sandwich, it's like that scene in Crocodile Dundee where he scoffs at the swtichblade and says "THIS is a a knife".

Well, THIS is a sandwich!

Thanksgiving recap

2010-11-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I never posted pics from Thanksgiving dinner. Since the USA Thanksgiving is coming up, it seems like a good time to share a couple of my favourite dishes from our huge family dinner. One of my cousins made an egg-less pumpkin pie that was probably the best pumpkin pie I've ever had.

And my baked yams with Dandies may look a bit strange but tasted great too.

For all mu US friends, I hope you have a delicious Thanksgiving next week!

Watermelon bunnies & Cucumber bears

2010-10-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

I love cutting fruit and veggies into little shapes for P's lunch. This one has fun watermelon bunnies and cucumber bear heads. There's also some Kashi puffs, rice crackers, soy yogurt and brown rice pasta with a chopped up veggie dog.

Another lunchbox that came home empty! I'm sure one of these days I'll strike out and P won't like what's in her lunch, but I'm really excited that she's eating all this good stuff.

I've got Dandies for my Yams...

2010-10-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's Thanksgiving this weekend here in Canada. There's always so much hype around the US Thanksgiving, is it wrong of me to feel underwhelmed with ours? I was talking to some co-workers yesterday about how, when I was growing up, I hated everything that was served on our Thanksgiving menu.

My mom always made a molded green jello ring mixed with cottage cheese. I forget what it's called - I want to say ambrosia salad but I don't think that's right. In any case, it's revolting. My cousin makes a yam dish baked with marshmallows on top, and of course there's the turkey and ham. Blehhh. I used to fill up on dinner rolls and corn. Not really much of a feast, to say the least. Weekday meals were far more interesting.

Being vegan since the age of 14, I looked forward to the family gathering more than the food that was served, but I really do wish I could do both.

This year my cousin (the yam and marshmallow girl) has invited us over to celebrate Thanksgiving at her place. I'm determined to make it my best Thanksgiving meal ever. So I've got Dandies for my yams, and I'm making a huge baked vegetable medley for everyone too. There will be lots of vegan goodies, so stay tuned for photos of the feast!

Fun new VEG song with catchy verses

2010-09-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

I received an email from Cyrus Pirasteh, Founder of OhWhyOhWhy.Org asking me to check out their new song/music video promoting the veg*an movement.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the song has a funky reggae-feel to it, and I really enjoyed watching the video with Preciosa.She was excited to see all of the animals in the video and when it was over she asked to see it again.

So here's the video for you to check out for yourself. It's performed by Greg Cipes and Jah Sun.

For more info about the organization behind the tunes, go to http://www.ohwhyohwhy.org

I also found the song on iTunes for $1.29. For that price, how can you not buy it?

5 Worst Forest Foods

2010-09-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

While I was eating lunch @ work today I skimmed through the Metro News and came across an article that screamed at me to be read, and shared on the blog.

5 worst forest foods by Romina McGuinness

Beef
Palm Oil
Rice
Corn
Soy

It's no surprise that beef is number one, but the rest of the culprits are every day foods on many vegan plates, and it really got me riled up that they blame the entire soy consumption on vegetarians! "More and more people are choosing to consume less meat, a decision that has led to an increase in soy, the main ingredient in making tofu (a staple of the vegetarian diet.) Soy covers some 11 million hectares of forest across South America."

The Author, Romina McGuinness, makes no mention whatsoever of the cattle ranchers who are destroying the rainforests to plant soy that becomes animal feed. If the article took a more neutral/less biased position backed up by actual facts, it would have been a far more interesting and believebale article.

Thumbs way down on what could have been a very imformative lesson about how our dinner plate is linked to deforestation.

I commented my feedback in their article pointing out the oversight. Feel free to do the same.

You can read the full article here.

Marmalady's Vegan Pesto & Eggplant Curry Spread

2010-08-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

A while ago I wrote about Marmalady who brings a wealth of delicious lunches to our office every Wednesday with her lunch cart service. Chef Salima told me about some new vegan items that she was adding to her catering menu and asked if I would be interested in sampling them.

Would I? Heck yeah!

First up was her vegan pesto - when she first told me that there was no nutritional yeast in her recipe, I wondered if would still have that je ne sais quoi...and I'm happy to tell you it did not disappoint! It is already so packed with flavour, there's no need for nooch. Chef Salima uses walnuts instead of pine nuts, so there's a good dose of Omega 3 in her pesto too. You can buy the pesto at Drive Organic on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. I made brown rice elbow pasta and slathered on some pesto. Deeelicious!!

The other sample she generously bestowed me with was a huge sandwich with a vegan curry eggplant spread (also available at the Drive) Sadly, I can't find my photo of it, but I can tell you it was mega-delicious and if you have a chance tyo get yourt hands on some, you should get it.

Marmalady now has a website: marmalady.com.

Another soy-free lunch, bento style!

2010-07-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Can you tell I'm really digging these bento box lunches? I went to Daiso on the weekend and stocked up on little bento gadgets so I can make fun things like the little army of bunny shaped pancakes in this vegan bento lunch box. I put blueberry syrup in the small container beside them.

A navel orange and kiwi fruit are next, followed by a 1/2 sprouted grain bagel with sunflower seed butter. I had to cut it in half again to make it fit. The last section has black beans and green beans with a 1/2 corn on the cob left over from dinner tonight.

Canada Day Recap: Brick Oven Bread, Greasy Fries and Solar Powered Street Lamps

2010-07-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during our Canada Day festivities, I discovered an amazing jewel of a bakery. It's called Romania Country Bread, and I was lured in by a Romanian man sitting outside the bakery at a checkerboard table, telling the throngs of passersby that inside was the best bread we have ever tasted.

He was not kidding.

If organic stone-ground whole wheat bread is your only product, it better be good- and trust me, it is fantastic! The rustic loaves come in two sizes, 1/4 kilo for $5.00 or 1 kilo for $10.00. The reason their bread is so amazing is because it's made the bread was supposed to be made - in a massive brick oven. I was talking with some people outside of the bakery and apparently it took them years to get a permit from the city to build this oven because of fire safety hazards and such.

I bought two of the 1/4 kilo loaves. One of them was mostly eaten by the time we got home (yes, I shared).

We also visited Pajos at the beach to grab a veggie dog and greasy fries served in a cone of paper. I love how the picnic tables have holes carved in them to accomodate the cones of fries.Unfortunately Pajos doesn't have do-it-yourself condiments, so this is what I got when I asked for mustard & relish. (Note the ketchup and absence of relish.) It's a good thing I like mustard!

And the final highlight of my day was not food related, but environmental. A lamp post unexpectedly powered by a solar panel and wind turbine. It's part one Richmond BC's pilot projects and I hope we see more initiatives like this become mainstream.

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers, I hope you had fun celebrating Canada's 143rd birthday :)

Oh, Canada...red white and GREEN lunch

2010-06-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

I started with a red & white theme for Preciosa's lunch todayin keeping with her daycare's Canada Day theme...but I didn't feel right not putting something green in her lunch. I couldn't do it. So we've got vegan cream cheese and vegan "Canadian Bacon" on homemade bread, celery with sunflower seed butter and golden raisins, a white nectarine, salt & vinegar CheeCha puffs, and Glutenfrreda raisin flax oatmeal, with a little container of peas tucked under it.

Canada Day Lunch Box

2010-06-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ever since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Preciosa has been randomly singing our national anthem "Oh, Canada." She's going to be very excited this week at daycare when she finds out the theme of the week is "Canada Day."

I thought it would be a fun suprise if her lunches this week were also inspired by this theme. I made her a Canadian flag sandwich with strawberries & vegan cream cheese on a slice of homemade bread. Next to the flag sandwich are some bright, juicy gem tomatoes, and above those are potato salad balls a la Vegan Lunch Box, and last but not least, soba noodles with a bunny filled with Bragg soy sauce.

Here's Preciosa's latest rendition of "Oh Canada":

Might as well have cooked green eggs and ham...

2010-06-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I made a big batch of hummus last night. I love hummus. Love it. I'm going to end up eating all week in my lunch, along with a big pack of gum so my poor co-workers don't suffer the wrath of my garlic breath. I also made a lentil rice pilaf which i thought was great, but Preciosa wanted no part of. She ate a few grains of rice but if it was mixed with a lentil, there was no way it was going near her mouth. The sweet potato mash was okay, but kind of reminded me of the baby food I used to cook for her.

The plethora of leftovers found their way into both of our lunches today. Apparently Preciosa cried whenever they tried to get her to eat her lunch.

Blue Corn Tacos & Laptop Lunch #2

2010-06-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

I bought these beautiful blue corn tacos (Whole foods 365 brand) because they are so pretty. I baked some corn bread from La Dolce Vegan, chopped up a bowlful of peach salsa, and served them with refried beans. It was a super yummy quick and easy dinner.

Unfortunately I used almond milk in the cornbread recipe, so I couldn't put any cornbread in Preciosa's lunch - there's a strict no-nut policy at her daycare. I made her a little burrito filled with the peach salsa and refried beans, left yesterday's corn & beans in the hopes they would get eaten, a packet of oatmeal and some apple slices with a squeze of lime, and some gummy vitamins completed the lunch. The corn and beans came home for a second day in a row. Strange, because she has eaten them before. I guess she just isn't in the mood this week.

Little girl, big appetite

2010-06-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Little preciosa is getting big - her appetite is too big for her poor little lunch kit so it's time for an upgrade. I knew I wanted something that was going to be durable enough to last for a long time, it had to be environmentally friendly and of course, it had to be cute.

I ended up getting a Laptop Lunch; the BPA-free bento style lunchbox made famous on the Vegan Lunchbox blog. I always enjoyed making Preciosa's lunch, but now it's even more fun. Maybe it's the fact that her lunch actually fits inside the box, or maybe it's the cute pink containers, or the pink floral carrying case...or maybe a combination of all of those things.

Preciosa's first laptop lunch featured an English muffin with sunflower seed butter, a vegetable patty with green beans and corn, peaches & raspberries, gummy vitamins (vegan) and soy yogurt. She wasn't interested in the beans and corn but everything else got eaten.

When life hands you eggplant...make Baba Ghanouj!

2010-06-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

A friend came over for dinner recently before she left for a vacation, and she unexpectedly brought over a huge bag of produce - she didn't want to throw it away but she didn't think it wouldn't last until she got back from her trip. Among the goodies were asparagus, tofu, cilantro, fennel, and grilled eggplant.

I was almost finished making dinner (avocado rolls and tofu) when she arrived, but she insisted on making a fennel salad, which I had never tried before. I can't remember exactly what she did - I think she just chopped the fennel, tossed it in some olive oil and sprinked on some freshly ground salt and pepper. In any case, it was super delicious and I'll have to ask her exactly how she made it next time I see her.

I was originally going to make hummus but I wasn't sure how long this eggplant would last in the fridge so I decided to turn it into a dip which turned out to be absolutely delicious with my organic yellow baby carrots. The meal turned out to be quite a clash of several cuisines but everything tasted so good we stuffed ourselves to the gills.

Eggplant Dip (baba ghanouj)

2 cups cooked eggplant (grilled and seasoned)
1 tbsp tahini
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Goji Green Tea Raspberry Muffins

2010-05-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ah, Saturday. Unfortunately there is no sleeping in when one has an energetic 2-year-old, but at least it is a day of slower pace for me. No rushing to get out the door and squeeze into an over-capacity subway train on the commute to work. Not on Saturday. I can relax and enjoy my 3 feet of personal space and fresh air today.

My Saturday started at 6:30am today. As I said, it's hardly sleeping in, but the "Mommy, I'm hungry"chant over and over drove me out of bed and into the kitchen. While Preciosa devoured a cup of soy yogurt, I made myself a cup of goji berry green tea and was inspired to incorporate the tea into a batch of muffins.

I've used tea in muffins before and I had a bag of frozen raspberries begging to add their intense flavour and natural sweetness to a sugar-free weekend treat.

Goji Green Tea Raspberry Muffins
2 cups unbleached white flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 packets Stevia
2 tbsp agave nectar
3 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water
1/2 cup hot water with steeped tea
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
3/4 cup (frozen) raspberries

Preheat oven to 400F. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and stevia in a large mixing bowl. In a seperate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except raspberries. Pur wet mixture into dry, and stir until just mixed. Fold in berries. Pour into lightly oiled muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from muffin tin, and cool on a cool slightly before devouring.

Preciosa could hardly wait for them to cool before she got her hands on one. Halfway through eating her warm muffin, she asked me to put peanut butter on it.

And just a recap and some photos from my recent 10k run that I mentioned in a previous post: I was one of 50,000 people that came out for the Sun Run on Mother's Day, May 9th. At the finish line there was plenty of fresh bananas, oranges, water, juice, and live music. And a very cute little girl waiting for her mama. It was the perfect Mother's Day gift.

Z4VBNSMYGWSW

Soy-free lunch and wannabe Mexican dinner

2010-05-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Happy cinco de mayo! While I really wanted to whip up an amazing Mexican meal tonight, I was in a hurry because I had to meet my training partners for a run. It's our last practice before the 10k run we're doing this Sunday.

I did manage to make Spanish rice, with some veggie ground round and a side of steamed veggies with "melted" soy cheese. There's also some perfectly rip avocado on top. I just adore avocados! Did you read my haiku about avocados? If I had a can of black beans I would have added it to the veggies before I put them in the oven to melt the cheese.

And here's a pic of Preciosa's soy-free lunch: oatmeal, animal cookies, brown rice pasta with tomatoes & mushrooms in olive oil & garlic sauce, fresh pineapple, a sunflower butter & mango jam sandwich, and chicpeas with corn. If it seems like a lot of food for a 2-year old, it is both breakffast and lunch. All of it was eaten except a couple of animal cookies.

In with the seed butters and all kinds of beans!

2010-05-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

It seems like there's an increase in the number of children with peanut allergies these days. More and more schools and childcare programs are introducing no-nut policies. Such is the new rule at the daycare that Preciosa attends, which makes things a bit more difficult when I'm trying not to rely too much on soy products for protein. Gone are the days of cashew sauce on pasta, and almond butter sandwiches for lunch.

It's completely understandable, as two of the children at the center have severe allergies. Now, if only someone could have a meat allergy...all joking aside, there's still plenty of acceptable protein sources out there. In with the seed butters and all kinds of beans!

Today I sent Preciosa on her way with french toast on freshly baked whole wheat & rye bread, with organic maple syrup, rice vermacelli with teryaki tofu & veggies, strawberries, and soy yogurt.

And also I wanted to show you this crazy beautiful weird heirloom tomato I found at Whole Foods recently. Isn't it amazing?! I've never seen anything like it.

Steamed banana bread with chocolate pudding

2010-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Suet far from a vegan ingredient - I can't even describe it for you because it grosses me out. But I didn't let that stop me from finding a way to make a super delicious pudding cake! Instead of baking in the oven, British pudding cake is steamed by placing a heat proof dish in a saucepan of water and covered with a lid. It was my first time cooking a dessert this way, and it does take a lot of paying attention so that the water doesn't all boil away to nothing. But the result is soo worth it!

I definitely got my chocolate fix from this challenge, and little Preciosa got a nice suprise in her lunch when I gave her some leftovers the next day.

Steamed banana bread with chocolate pudding:

Easter Weekend: Bunnies and Egg Hunts

2010-04-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny visited our house this weekend! Our bunny brought healthy treats like raisins and organic animal cookies. Gordita is two years old now, finally old enough to search and find the hidden treats. We shared her delight as she gingerly opened each plastic egg to take a peek at what was waiting inside.

After an egg hunt around the house, we joined in the local Easter parade, walking alongside the bagpipe players (or in Gordita's case, riding her tricycle). The parade ended at the park where we took photos with the Easter bunny.

I baked a big delicious loaf of PPK banana bread in the afternoon, and cooked a huge veggie stirfry with brown rice and spicy peanut sauce for dinner. It was a yummy happy Easter for us, and I hope it was for you too!

Mashed Yam and Potato Shepherd's pie

2010-03-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

When the cherry blossoms bloom, you know spring has arrived. Crisp morning air and warm afternoon sunbeams greet me as I commute to and from work. And then there's the rain. Unpredictable and inevitable, it is virtually synonymous with the Pacific Northwest. It rains here more often than not, and on those cold, clammy evenings, I find myself craving a hearty home cooked meal.

Enter vegan Shepherd's pie. Underneath the mashed potato crust, it barely resembles the Shepherd's pie (also called Cottage pie) that my English ancestors once baked. I don't think I've ever made the exact same shepherd's pie twice, because it's always a mish-mash of whichever vegetables happen to be in the crisper. That's one of the things I love about it. But one thing you do need is potatoes. Unfortunately I was well on my way to assembling my pie when I realized I only had 3 red potatoes - not quite enough to cover the vegetable layer.When I remembered that I had a large yam that I had bought with the intention of making yam fries, the rest is history.

There's three parts to this recipe:

mashed yam/potato crust
sauteed vegetable filling
cheez sauce.

Mashed Yam Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients for mashed potatoes
3 red potatoes, cubed and boiled with skin on
1 large yam, cubed and boiled with skin on
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tbsp Earth Balance (or other vegan margerine)
- Make mashed potatoes with these ingredients. I'll spare the details on how to do this as I'm pretty sure you already know how to make mashed potatoes.

Recipe for Cheeze sauce
"Cheez" Sauce from Get Sconed's Adapted Version of the New Farm Macacorni and Cheez

Ingredients for vegetable filling
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup fresh broccoli, sut into bite-sized pieces
2 cubes frozen spinach
1 tomato, diced
(use whatever veggies you have on hand, be creative! I've also used mushrooms, cauliflower, carrots and wax beans)

Directions
Saute the onion with olive oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. Once onion becomes translucent, add the corn, peas, broccoli and spinach. Cover, and let steam for 5 minutes. Remove lid and stir occasionally until all of the vegetables are al-dente.

Pour cheez sauce over vegetables, add tomato and stir gently until combined. Pour into casserole dish. Using a spatula, spread mashed potato over the cheezy vegetable mixture. Grind some sea salt and white pepper if desired, and bake in 350 oven until mashed yam/potato cover is slightly golden (about 30 minutes)

Enjoy!

Avocado Haiku

2010-03-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Avocados have such a pretty color, don't you agree? I think it's one of my favourite colors in Mother Nature's rainbow. Though I've tried several different varieties of this little power-nutrient fruit, the only kind that seems to be available in my area is the Hass variety. When you look at the knobbly brownish-green skin, it's hard to believe that there is something so creamy, rich and smooth inside. It's like another example of the old saying "don't judge a book by its cover."

I made up a haiku about Hass avocados the other day while I was cutting one up to add to a salad.

Hass avocado,
rough alligator skin with
rich buttery flesh

Haikus are fun, I think I might try to make up some more!

I Heart Tofu!

2010-02-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I started of this day of love by making heart-shaped tofu. There's no telling what sweet treats I'll devour for the rest of the day, so I wanted to begin the day on a healthy note.

Heart-Shaped Tofu
1 block, medium-firm tofu
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Braggs

Directions: Drain the tofu and pat with a paper towel or clean dish cloth to absorb excess water. Slice block of into 4 slabs and use a knife to cut out the heart shape (you could use a cookie cutter if you have one). Heat frying pan to medium-high and add olive oil. Using a spatula, transfer the shapes into frying pan. Sautee 2-3 minutes on each side, using a splash of Braggs after each turn.

Vegan Cupcakes take over a 2 year old's b-day party!

2010-02-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

People always make comments about how it works when my vegan daughter goes to a birthday party, and how she's gonna miss out on this and that when she's in school...I don't really think that saving the lives of animals can be looked at like missing out on anything. I usually let the person know that gordita gets her own treats at birthday parties and she's perfectly happy with it.

I usually bake a vegan cupcake for her to take to the party, and a lunch too, depending on what's being served. Asking the host/esswhat will be on the menu in advance is always the best way to plan ahead. In fact, at one party I took gordita too, one of the other kids wanted to eat the lunch I had made gordita instead of the pizza that was ordered.

To celebrate my little one's 2nd birthday last week, I made the Golden Vanilla cupcakes and the Basic Chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW and they were all gobbled up by children and adults. And why not? They are so delicious. I liked the chocolate ones better, but then again, I like anything chocolate - I'm a chocoholic.

I also had made a batch for gordita's daycare group and the children and staff there loved them too. If you don't already have this cookbook, you should run out and buy it. Or stay where you are and order it from Amazon.

Cheers to Vegan Cupcakes, they really do rule the world!!

More 21 Day Vegan Kickstart Deliciousness and Sheese

2010-01-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

I don't always follow the rules. For example, if a recipe calls for blueberries but I only have blackberries, I'll make it with what I have. That's what happened with these pancakes. I also didn't have any buckwheat flour, so I used rye for another breakfast recommended by the 21 day vegan kickstart program. Pancakes rock! I like how wholesome these pancakes are, and if you want to give them a try, you can get the original recipe here.

And in case you need to see another breakfast scramble:

I crumbled some medium cheddar style Sheese over the scramble. I haven't found a fake cheese yet that I'm crazy about, but when I tried this flavour of Sheese, I could not believe how closely it tastes to the real thing. I even asked my non-vegan dad to taste it and he liked it. Sheese has been around for a few years, it's usually over $8.00 for an 8oz package at my local supermarket so it's not something I usually buy. But I'm having fun making things with it, like the grilled Sheese sandwich below.

21 Day Vegan Kickstart: Day One

2010-01-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you and yours. There's an old tale that says the way you bring in the new year will set the tone for the year to follow. I spent last night rocking out to Band Hero and drinking green apple martinis at a house party, so I'm excited to see how the year unfolds.

I made some peanut butter cupcakes from VCTOTW to bring the party. My attempt at writing 2010 in white chocolate went horribly wrong, so this is the rescued version of the cupcakes.

Have you had a chance to check out the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart? I can't wait to try some of the recipes. Today's breakfast was apple-cinnamon oatmeal. I subbed in apples instead of raisins, but considering that I'm not the biggest fan of oatmeal, I liked it well enough. Tomorrow's breakfast promises to generate much more enthusiasm from me, I swear.

New Resolutions for a New Year

2009-12-30T08:51:00.000-08:00

Ahh, the magical time of the New Year is nearly upon us. Although the date of the new year has changed many times throughout history, the tradition of New Year's resolutions has been around for nearly 4,000 years, thanks to the Babylonians. I read one article that claimed "a customary resolution was returning something borrowed from a friend in the previous year." I think they were onto something!

Did you know that January is named after the Roman god Janus, the god of gates and doors, beginnings and endings? It is said Janus could see into the future and the past,and was often depicted with two faces, one looking ahead and one looking behind.

My resolutions are often the same, such as improving my Spanish vocabulary, travel more, start a new hobby...but this year I'm changing it up a bit and also adding some new goals.

I've taken up running and I'd like to continue it and run my first half-marathon in September 2010
get more active in the vegan community - check out my new facebook page!
more blog posts!

I must admit, I love reading about ancient civilizations, it was my favorite subject in school as long as i can remember and I also studied it in college. So what started out as a whim to find out when New Year's resolutions came about, led to some amazing culinary discoveries that I can't possibly fit into one blog post. I'm really excited about sharing what I've learned with you all, so stay tuned!

In the meanwhile, don't forget to join my facebook page and share your new year's reso's in the comments.

Sometimes the perfect serving dish isn't a dish at all

2009-12-29T10:44:00.000-08:00

Call me crazy, but I love spending hours in the kitchen, preparing big family dinners. Although I cook every day for my little Gordita, it's not all that often that we host a big family gathering for dinner at our place.

One of the dilemmas I found myself in when preparing breakfast on Christmas morning was finding the perfect dish to serve the fruit salad in. I wanted to use something pretty, and decorative, not just any old plastic tub.

And although unconventional, I found the perfect vessel. In fact, it worked so well, I may never use it for flowers again.

White Chocolate Craisin Cookies

2009-12-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of joy and laughter. For those who don't celebrate this holiday, I still hope you had a chance to enjoy the best the season has to offer - whether it was amazing deals while shopping, or some really good food.

This year I hosted some of my out of town relatives for Christmas. And being the good hostess that I am, I wanted to bake them a festive treat. I chose white chocolate Craisin cookies because I like how the color reflects the holiday season. They turned out crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside.

White Chocolate Craisin Cookies

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup Earth Balance (or other vegan margerine)
2/3 cup brown sugar
Egg replacer equivilant to 1 egg (ie 1 1/2 tsp egg replacer + 2 tbsp water)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup Craisins
1/4 cup vegan white chocolate chips

Combine flour, sea salt, and baking soda in a medium-sized mixing bowl. In a seperate mixing bowl, cream together Earth Balance/margerine and brown sugar. Add "egg" and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients to the wet, and mix well. Fold in Craisins and white chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop, drop balls of dough on a slightly greased baking pan. If you don't have a cookie scoop, you can use a regular spoon to scoop the dough out, and then roll the dough in the palm of your hands to form a ball. Flatten each dough ball slightly before placing them in the oven.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan. Makes about 24 cookies, depending on size.

Corn Chowder for a Cold Day

2009-12-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

There's more than a crisp chill in the air here in Vancouver...the first snow of the season will be upon us any day now. And cold weather definitely calls for a nice hot cup of soup! After spending Sunday afternoon at the Santa Claus parade, some corn chowder was calling my name.

Corn Chowder

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small white onion
8 nugget potatoes, washed and diced
1 can creamed corn
1 cup peaches & cream corn
2 cups unsweetened almond milk

1 red bell pepper, washed and diced
1/8 tsp cumin
salt, pepper and paprika to taste

In a large saucepan, saute onion and potatoes on medium heat until onions are transluscent - about 6 minutes. Add both kinds of corn, almond milk and spices. Bring to low boil on medium heat. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Using a ladle, scoop 1/2 of the soup mixture into a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Carefully pour back into the saucepan, add bell pepper and simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve hot.

* * *

One of my favourite parts of the Santa Claus parade was from the City of Vancouver's garbage collection, which was encouraging people to think about how much garbage we will create this holiday season.

Sunday Morning breakfast

2009-12-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

On Sunday mornings I try to make a breakfast that involves more than my usual weekday fare of cold cereal and soy milk. Sometimes it's pancakes or waffles, but today I felt like hash browns. I love hash browns in any shape or size, especially when they're smothered in salsa.

There's more to making shredded hash browns than meets the eye. If you don't get enough of the moisture out before you cook them, they'll end up a big soggy mess. Some people swear by potato ricers to make shredded hash browns, others prefer patting them with paper towels to draw out the moisture. I don't have a ricer so I went the paper towel route today, and I also sauteed a small yellow onion with the potatoes to add some extra flavour.

I think I might ask Santa for a ricer for Christmas ;)

Soda you can chew on?!

2009-11-15T20:01:00.000-08:00

Tofurky flavoured soda? Yes, you read that right. Now I've heard of some strange things before, but this has got to top the list of of all time. I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried this. Jones has always been quirky and fun, daring and different - but who has dared to try this concoction - and does it actually taste like tofurky and gravy? My curiosity is getting the better of me. I havn't seen this in any stores in my neighborhood yet, otherwise I'd take a swig and let you know myself.

Bon appetite!

Spooky Mashed Potatoes

2009-10-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

With no artificial colors! If you come across Blue Russian potatoes at your local farmer's market, then you too can make these spooky mashed potatoes.

Home Made Red Pepper Jelly

2009-10-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I have to say how deeply honoured I am to have my Strawberry French Toast mentioned on vegan.com!!! Thank you Erik Marcus. Aaand, VeganMoFo twittered about the fresh baked bread I made for that same post. Thank you VeganMoFo.

I'm still in shock.

Casting my shock aside for the moment, I wanted to share with you this awesome red pepper jelly that I made.

It started out as a pepper plant that I bought at the local organic market for $1.99. It was a little sad looking droopy plant, but I gave it some TLC and in a few short weeks I had more hot peppers than I knew what to do with. I've made jam before, so I thought I would be able to pull off making this jelly. Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of peppers I was using because there's no name on the plant anywhere. But they are about the size of a small dill pickle and they look like this:

If you have a canning bath rack, by all means, use it, but if you don't have one you can still make this jelly - just be very careful not to scald yourself with the boiling water.

Red Pepper Jelly
4-5 hot peppers
2-3 red bell peppers
6 cups of sugar
1.5 cups white vinegar
1 box (57g) Certo pectin crystals
beet powder (optional, to enhance color)
6 x 1 cup mason jars with lids and rings

First things first, get your largest pot of water boiling. You need a pretty big pot - one that you can immerse all the jars in and still have 1-2 inches of water above the top of the jars. Don't put the jars in yet, just get the water boiling. This is called the "bath"

You will also need a small saucepan of boiling water that has your lids in it.

While you're waiting for the water to boil, it's time to sterilize the mason jars. There's 2 ways to do this:

use the dishwasher. Try to time it so that the jars are still hot from the wash when you're ready to pour the jelly into them.
If you don't have a dishwasher, just wash the jars and then put them in the oven at 225 to dry for at least 15 minutes (and to keep them hot)

Make sure all of your peppers have been washed and are dry. Cut the stems off the red peppers and remove the membranes from inside. You can cut the peppers into quarters to get the membranes out.

Cut the stems off the hot peppers, but leave the seeds and membranes intact. (You may want to wear gloves when you do this, especially if you have sensitive skin.)

Place all of the peppers in a food processor and pulse until they are very small pieces. Not quite pureed, but pretty close. Should equal about 1 1/3 cups.

In another large saucepan, combine the almost-pureed peppers, sugar, vinegar, and a dash of beet powder if you're going to use it. Stir constantly over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Do not leave unattended, as it may boil over.

Once it starts to boil, add the Certo pectin crystals and continue to stir constantly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and pour into hot, dry mason jars. Fill each jar one at a time, placing the lid (should come straight from the small saucepan of boiling water) and screwing the ring on before filling the next jar. Using a wide funnel really helps. Be careful not to overfill or get any jelly on the rim of the jar. If you do, wipe it off before placing the lid and ring on. Also, be careful when handling the jars as they are hot!

Once you've filled all your jars and got the lids and rings screwed on, immerse them in the hot water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from bath very carefully using canning tongs and mitts and place on a wooden cutting board or a tea towel on your countertop.

It will take 24-48 hours for the jelly to thicken. At first it will seem very runny but don't worry, it will set. And then you can enjoy it like this, on rice crackers:

It's Pumpkin Season

2009-10-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

When I think autumn, I think pumpkin. I also think of foods like squash, hearty soup, cranberries, and hot cocoa. And speaking of pumpkin, VegNews recently posted a Perfect Pumpkin Muffin recipe that I'll no doubt be making in the next few days. But the first of this season's pumpkin baking for me was a recipe from La Dolce Vegan. I replaced chocolate chips for the cranberries and made a couple dozen of these:

What are your pumpkin plans this season?

VeganMoFo Begins!

2009-10-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year...Vegan MoFo! Brace yourself. October is Vegetarian Awareness month, and the blogosphere is about to be flooded with vegan food porn from hundreds of bloggers. A full list of this year's participants can be found at Cake Maker to the Stars.

So let's start off World Vegetarian Day by waking up to the aroma of freshly baked bread. LOVE the breadmaker with the timer so the bread is hot and fresh at the crack of dawn!

This was a simple loaf using all organic ingredients: unbleached flour, olive oil, fresh ground sea salt, fair trade sugar, yeast and water. It's perfect for french toast. Cut the bread into nice chubby slices, butter both sides with Earth Balance, dip in vanilla almond (or soy/rice/hemp) milk with a pinch of cinnamon, and fry in a lightly oiled pan for a few minutes on both sides. Top with strawberry syrup, fresh strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Vols-au-Vent - victory or defeat?

2009-09-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry cannot be made in a hurry - the process takes several hours and patience is key. It was easy enough to substitute Earth Balance instead of butter in Michael Richard's recipe, but I'm not sure if my pastry is missing the visible horizontal layers because of the EB or my lack of skill at rolling the dough! I'm pretty sure it's the latter ;)

Often in Daring Baker's challenges we are given free range of flavours and this month was no exception. Savoury or sweet, we were left with the task of filling our Vols-au-Vent's with whatever our hearts desired. The first thing that came to mind when I saw these was Happy Herbivore's mock tuna. I've used it to make "tuna" casserole and sandwiches, and I knew it woud be the perfect filling for this recipe. It did not disappoint! Thank you Steph for hosting this month's challenge, and thank you Happy Herbivore for the "tuna"!

Gordita's lunchbox - a day in the lunchbox of a vegan toddler

2009-09-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

What do vegan toddlers eat for lunch? Well, Vegan Lunchbox is the Queen of healthy vegan lunches that you can send your kids off to school, and it's clear that there is so many other options than a PB&J sandwich. Gordita isn't in school yet as she's not yet two years old, but she does get cared for while I'm at work, so I pack her breakfast and lunch every day. I thought it might be a nice change of pace to share with you what's in her lunchbox from time to time. Here's today's lunch:

Clockwise from top: Organic apple & cinnamon oatmeal, whole wheat naan bread, peas tossed in olive oil, lunchbox fondue, organic banana, strawberries sprinkled with ground flax, wildberry juice box, Salba crispy rice treat, and peach soy yogurt. She also had a bottle of soy milk which isn't in the photo. I kinda wish this was my lunch today!

Get your Chocolate Fix from CCV

2009-09-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

If you like Chocolate (and really, who doesn't?) head over to Chocolate Covered Vegan's Chocolate SuperFood Bar Giveaway and enter to win a box of energy bars!!

A Day at the Farm

2009-09-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

I recently took Gordita to Westham Island Herb Farm, when they were hosting thier annual "Day at the Farm." It was less about animals and more about promoting local agriculture, and there was so much to see and do: A zucchini contest, hayrides, lots of booths full of educational material about agriculture, and more. Here's Gordita with her biodegradable balloon from one of the vendors:

We sat under the shade of some trees which have just started to shed their golden leaves, and and enjoyed freshly picked corn on the cob and veggie dogs for lunch!

We went on a hayride and got a tour of the farm - they have vast fields of potatoes, strawberry patches and lots and lots of herbs.

It turned out to be a very hot day, so after the hayride I sipped a refreshing raspberry flavoured organic sparkling green tea made by Steaz. It was my first time trying this brand, and it really hit the spot.

And lastly, I leave you with a photo of the most curiously shaped squash I have ever seen:

Deeelish Dobos Torte

2009-08-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

The monthly Daring Baker's Challenges are always challenging, and making a vegan version of the recipes that are selected by the hosts makes it even more so. Usually I stick to healthy cooking, making low fat and low sugar substitutes whenever I can - but that was all out the window for this confection!

The Dobos Torte was supposed to be a five-layer sponge cake, and apparently some recipes end up with 12 layers! That would be quite a tall slice of cake. I think that the omission of eggs attributed to less batter in general for mine, and alas, I only had a three-layer cake.

I love how the chopped hazelnuts matched the dark chocolate "buttercream"icing, and the caramel topping was amazing. As I mentioned, this is an extremely sweet dessert, and just a small slice will satisfy any sweet craving.

Almost Sugar-Free Blueberry Mint Ice Cream

2009-08-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

We've had a hot spell of weather this week and it's the perfect opportunity to get the ice cream maker going. There are so many endless combinations to try! I had purchased a huge basket of blueberries and they were begging to be paired up with fresh mint sprigs to make this ultimately refreshing treat. And who knew coconut milk and agave nectar could make light fluffy ice cream that is the bomb-diggedy? If you don't know, now you know!

Blueberry Mint Ice Cream
2 cups blueberries, rinsed
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
1/3 cup agave nectar
1-2 leaves, fresh mint

In a blender or food processor, combine ingredients and process until smooth. Pour into ice cream maker and turn on for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Mallows & More

2009-08-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been away for so long. I just moved to a new apartment and am finally settled in and have an internet connection again. I haven't been able to find the battery charger for my camera battery though, so lately my photos have been really quick snapshots with my fingers crossed that the battery stays on long enough to let me take the picture! So I'll apologize in advance for the less than stellar photos you're about to see.

Anyhoo, I am very, very late in posting the July Daring Baker's Challenge. Better late than never? I hope they don't kick me out for posting it so late!

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I can't even remember the last time I had marshmallow anything, so I was very excited about this challenge. These chocolate treats remind me of Viva Puffs with the little strawberry jam suprise in the middle that I used to eat when I was a little girl.

I bought vegan marshmallows called Dandies from Vegan Essentials for this recipe. I subbed flax meal for the eggs in the yummy lemony Milan cookies and I have to say, this was a fun recipe to make and I really like these mallow cookies. They are a heavy and hearty cookie and one is definitely enough to satisfy any sweet tooth cravings.

Here's one cut in half so you can see all the layers. YUM!!!!

When I ordered the Dandies from Vegan Essentials, I also ordered a book called "Benji Beansprout Doesn't Eat Meat" It's about a little boy named Benji who gets teased by kids at school because he's a vegetarian. I thought it would be a cute book to read to my little vegan Gordita at bedtime. She is really picking up words quickly now, and just today I taught her how to say "tofu" while we were at the grocery store. Here she is chomping on some watermelon during a visit with her great-grandparents:

And now for some random food porn: Kashi Go Lean cereal with vanilla almond milk and chopped apple:

Brown rice elbow pasta with avocado, tomato and cilantro, in a light tossing of nutritional yeast and unsweetened organic soy milk

More brown rice pasta - this time shells with peas and a crumbled veggie patty. Leftovers make a great lunch the next day which is what you see here:

And now I'm off to bed. It's going to be a busy weekend around here, so stay tuned for more vegan delights :)

Happy Birthday Canada!

2009-07-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of me & Gordita (see the Canadian flag?) Trying to be festive...please excuse the rice cracker she's eating. When Gordita sees one of these galletas (crackers) she goes bananas and cannot even pause for a photo until she's eaten every last crumb. They are her absolute favorite.

And speaking of favorites, here's my new favorite snack:

I've been drinking Goji berry tea like crazy so I was super excited when I came across this fruit & nut bar. Woo-hoo Goji!!!

The Bakewell Tart & my 101st Post!

2009-06-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last time I posted I didn't realize it was number 100, so I'm celebrating post #101 with a successful Daring Bakers' Challenge.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I honestly can say I've never heard of a Bakewell tart, so I hope I make all my English ancestors proud that their English heritage lives on through this vegan version of this delicious treat.

Bakewell tarts feature three elements: an eggy custard, frangipane and jam. Instead of custard, I worked in some mashed very ripe bananas. Chocolate chips made their way in as they seemed to be a better compliment to bananas than jam. And who bought all the almonds in the supermarket? Can't make frangipane without almonds...or can you? I couldn't bring myself to go to another store with a cranky baby when I did my initial grocery shop, so I opted for cashews instead which worked well and I was very pleased with the way all of the ingredients complimented each other, right down to the cinnamon garnish.

Torrrrrrrrrtilla Soup

2009-06-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

I can't say "tortilla" without rolling my r's. And I can't stop eating this delicious soup! It's the perfect thing to warm up with during this rainy cold spell we're having. It's a hearty soup that is a meal all on its own. I didn't follow a recipe but it tasted pretty close to some tortilla soup I had at a Mexican restaurant recently.

1 can tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 can kidney beans (black beans would be great too, but I didn't have any)
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 white onion, sliced thin
1/2 cup red pepper, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup textured soy protein
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp onion powder
salt & pepper to taste

In a medium or large pot, saute onion in olive oil until transluscent. Add tomatoes and kidney beans. Fill the kidney bean can with water and add that to the pot, along with the rest of the vegetables, soy protein and spices. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish with sliced avocado, a generous dollop of tofutti sour cream and some torrrrrrrtillas.

The lesser of two evils

2009-06-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

In a bold partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation and SeaChoice, the OFG grocery chain in Alberta and British Columbia has committed to ban non-sustainable fish from nearly 100 stores.

The David Suzuki Foundation works to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world. According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, "Jay Ritchlin, the marine conservation specialist for the David Suzuki Foundation, said this is the first time a major retailer has agreed to such a major plan."

SeaChoice is a seafood markets program has the mandate of realizing sustainable fisheries.

Of course, in a perfect vegan world, no one would eat any fish. This partnership heavily supports farmed fish...when faced with the possibility of extinction of fish like yellowfin tuna or supporting aquaculture to feed the masses, which is the lesser evil? I don't want any fish to die!!!

Almost Sugar-Free Sugar Free Mango Strudel

2009-05-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

How awesome is it that the recipe was already vegan? Well, except that it called for butter which was easily substituted with Earth Balance. It was too easy to make! The dough is supposed to be stretched and made very thin but even if it tears a bit, any minor imperfections are hidden when the dough and filling is rolled up into a log. Love that part!

Linda and Courtney made apple filling for theirs, but as part of the challenge, they gave free reign to us to come up with whatever filling we wished, be it sweet or savoury.

I diced a mango and tossed it in a couple of tbsp's of rum before rolling it up and baking it in the oven.

I used a baking stone, as I do with pretty much everything that I bake, be it cookies or pizza or whatever. Here's the finished product before I sliced it up:

I chose not to use sugar and cinnamon, but decided instead to keep it as sugar free as possible. Mango is so sweet already, so all I did was drizzle on a bit of agave nectar before indulging in this treat - and I had only a teeny bit of guilt about eating it at 10pm right before going to bed.

Mother's Day Brunch

2009-05-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Breakfast is my least favorite meal when it comes to dining out at traditional restaurants. There is hardly anything to choose from on the menu, so I usually end up ordering hashbrown potatoes and toast without butter. How boring! But I really wanted to go out for a nice Mother's Day brunch so I phoned up the The Boathouse restaurant a few weeks ago and asked what they were serving for Mother's Day, and explained that I am vegan.

What luck that they were not serving their regular menu - which is mainly seafood and not veg-friendly - they were having a brunch buffet, and they assured me that there would be lots of things for me to eat. So I made the reservation for me and some close friends (and of course l'il Gordita) and waited patiently for today to come.

I tried to make the most of what they offered - which would have been a lot more if I ate eggs, but there really wasn't as many options as I had hoped for to make it worth the $35.00 price.

Here's my eggless, cheeseless omelette from the omelette bar:

Roasted potatoes with cracked peppercorns, mixed greens and watermelon:

And Gordita with my pink carnation - a gift they were handing out to all the moms:

It looks like she's sniffing it, but in reality she took a bite and tried to eat it!

I did go back for another round of fresh fruit - strawberries, kiwi and pineapple, crackers, more potaoes and more salad but I didn't take another photo because it was practically the same thing again. Also not pictured, the delicous mimosa. What's brunch without a mimosa?

Feliz cinco de mayo!!!

2009-05-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

Last year I made cornbread with black beans and rice for cinco de mayo.* This year in keeping with the Mexican theme for the day, I had beans and rice for lunch, and then for dinner we made the same tacos that we had for Easter. It had to be a quick dinner because Tuesday nights I have Spanish class.

* Cinco de mayo is the celebration of the victorious battle in 1852 where 2,000 Mexican peasants defeated the 6,000 man French army to reclaim their independence.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of today's meals, but I do have some photos of other recent meals:

A delicious shepherd's pie:

A Thai noodle salad with brown rice noodles:

And my little gordita who is so cute I could just eat her up:

Lemon Cheesecake with Mango-Dragonfruit Sauce

2009-05-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I once made a vegan key lime cheesecake using silken tofu and it turned out pretty good so I gave it a shot again this time, except I used a different recipe. This one is from Bryanna Clark Grogan via Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. It's a lemon cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, and I made a mango-dragonfruit sauce to go with it. I was a bit impatient when cooking the the sauce so it wasn't as thick as it could have been, but it tasted so exotic and summer-y who cares what it looks like. I love tropical fruits, they are so sweet on their own, so in this case I didn't need to add any sugar to the sauce, just steamed the fruit, pureed it and then cooked it some more to thicken it up - but as I mentioned, I didn't quite let it get thick enough. Ah well, there's always next time! I can't wait until next month's Daring Bakers challenge :)

Sometimes your meal doesn't turn out the way you hoped - this was one of those times

2009-05-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

I had a hankering to make some veggie patties over the weekend, but this is something that I need to practice a bit more because while it tasted really good, this attempt at a chickpea-based patty was not all that solid. My patty looks like a pile of thick hummus atop this colorful salad!!

I can't even bring myself to post the "recipe" because clearly it is the what-not-to-do-when-making-a-veg-patty type. It involved chickpeas, scallions, parsley and a few other ingredients but I'll get back to you with a recipe when my veg patties resemble an actual veg patty.

On to slightly different topic: breakfast! Lately I've been on an english muffin kick so the Vegan McMuffin has made a reappearance at the breakfast table. I even made one to take to work tomorrow for breakfast because I love it so much.

Now I have to get back to the book I'm reading that I am absolutely GLUED to: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Díaz). I'm only on chapter one but I really had to tear myself away from it to post this ;)

Easter Feaster

2009-04-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone! Okay, seriously I think I have eaten enough today to keep me full for the rest of the week. Breakfast was inspired by something I remember eating a long timed ago when we had a Hard Rock Cafe in Vancouver - a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Then for lunch, I went for sushi with some girlfriends. I didn't take any photos, because I eat sushi all the time and you can only take so many pics of avocado rolls which I've done here and here. It was raining and blah outside so instead of going for a nice walk, I went home and took a nap with Gordita.

But the best meal of the day, our Easter dinner, was a mexican-inspired fiesta! We had crispy tacos filled with spicy refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cilantro, with a side of spanish rice, and of course, my favorite guacamole salsa. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was in a hurry to chow down on this.

We made strawberry-banana margaritas to drink. Olé!

And for dessert I made strawberry/pineapple/banana "empanadas" by stuffing wonton wrappers full of mashed banana and fruit and baking them in the oven. Sooo delicious!!!

I hope you all had some great meals this weekend and enjoyed time with family & friends. Happy Easter!

Lasagna a la Vegan

2009-03-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Time for this month's Daring Baker's challenge! The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Making a savoury dish this month was perfect for me because I had leftovers for days and didn't have to cook much else for the entire weekend that I made it. The main part of the challenge this month was to hand make the pasta, (I made this spelt-chickpea pasta from Bryanna Clark Grogan) and include a bechamel sauce. Instead of topping the lasagna with cheese, I scrambled up some medium-firm tofu with nutritional yeast and smoked garlic chipotle salt. This combined with the white bechamel sauce was really tasty! The vegetable layer of the lasagna was a simple saute of white onion, celery, carrots and zucchini.

I'm seriously all lasagna'd out after eating this for three days straight. The rest of it is going in the freezer and may end up in my lunchbox one day.

Wrapping up

2009-03-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

I am really into wrapped and rolled food lately. It just might have something to do with my obession with avocado rolls. Here's my latest favorite which I love taking to work for lunch - salad rolls! I love filling them with sweet potato vermicelli, pan-fried tofu, cilantro, lettuce, carrots and a spicy thai peanut sauce. They're sooo gooood - and healthy too!

Lady Marmalady

2009-03-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday at 12:00, Chef Salima of Marmalady Catering is busy in our staff lunch room giving her final touches to the gourmet lunches she is about to sell. You can smell the delicious aroma wafting from the lunch room as you approach from the hallway.

What I love about Marmalady is that she always has vegan options available, and she often uses organic ingredients. Everyone's favorite is her spicy roti chips! Last Wednesday I bought a veggie wrap that had asparagus and a delicious sweet orange relish - and she always uses some kind of protein like tofu or faux meat that she makes herself. We're so lucky to have her in our lunch room each week! I don't think she has a website, but if you live in Vancouver and you'd like to find out more info about her service you can email me and I'll pass it along.

Avocado Ice Cream & Chocolate Valentino Cake

2009-02-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

Whew, this month flew right by. It's already time to post February's Daring Baker's Challenge. Rules being what they are, we're required to paste word-for-word the following sentence:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

***

The flourless cake that was chosen involved 5 eggs, so there were a lot of choices out there to make it vegan. I chose to use silken tofu instead, which turned out all right, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what the other vegan daring bakers did. For the ice cream, I decided to make vanilla ice cream with a twist ~ soy-free, almost sugar-free vanilla ice cream featuring...avocado! It may sound a bit strange, but it tastes great and it has a gorgeous green colour. I used my favorite agave nectar instead of sugar, so that's why I say "almost" sugar-free.

Sweet Potato Vermicelli and Tofu Sheets

2009-02-22T06:59:00.000-08:00

I made some fantastic finds at a local asian market recently. Among them, sweet potato vermicelli and tofu sheets! I had never seen either of them before and I was excited to try something new. So I bought them even though I had no idea what I would do with them.

A few days later I was ready to give the tofu sheets a try. When I opened up the package I saw that it was thinner than I anticipated; the sheets are so thin you can see through them. So I didn't think frying it would be a good idea. And baking it might dry it out and make it tough...so I decided I would make a sort of veggie wrap and steam it.

While the sweet potato vermicelli was boiling I sauteed some peas, broccoli and red pepper in Braggs soy liquid. When everything was cooked I placed the ingredients on a sheet of tofu and rolled it up, and then placed it in my steamer pot for 5 minutes.

Here's the end result, served with orange ginger sauce and sprinkled with scallions:

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

2009-02-08T16:21:00.001-08:00

I love me some sushi rolls. So I thought I'd share the love for those who don't know how to make yummy rolls, which are quite easy to make and can be filled with endless combinations of vegan goodies. I'm no sushi wizard and I'm sure there's more than one way to do this, so I'd love to know what works for other people. please feel free to let me know how you make yours :)

First, cook the sushi rice as directed, and add a dash of rice vinegar if desired. I prefer mine without. While it's cooking, prepare what you're going to use for fillings (for example: sliced avocado, baked sweet potatoes/yams, fried tofu, sliced cucumber, julienned carrots, green beans)

Once the rice is cooked, let it cool for a few minutes. I find it easier to work with when it's warm but not too hot. It's pretty much impossible with cold rice. Lay out a sheet of roasted nori on a bamboo mat.

Scoop a spoonful of rice onto the nori and spread it out, flattening it as you go. You could use your hands here but the rice is really sticky!

Leave the very top edge bare as you'll need it to hold the roll together. Moisten the top edge with a bit of water. More rice = a thicker roll, less rice = a thinner roll. Make sure you go all the way to the sides or you'll end up with the slices on the ends being hollow and not pretty.

Put your veggies or whatever your're filling it with on top of the rice in a horizontal line. You can put them in the middle or at the very bottom edge. It's going to get rolled up so it doesn't really matter, as long as it's not at the very top.

Roll up the nori using the bamboo mat and add a bit of pressure - you want the roll to be tight, but you don't want to squeeze it so hard that the veggies are forced out of the edges. Don't get carried away and roll up the mat into the roll. When I was living in the Dominican Republic I couldn't find bamboo mats and I made the rolls just fine without it. You're pretty much guaranteed to find them at any asian market.

Once you've got it all rolled up, the top edge that you moisted with water will seal it and you'll have a round nice log, provided you didn't flatten it with the bamboo mat. If it does seem a bit flat you can use the mat to help mold it back into a rounder shape.

Using a SHARP knife, slice the roll. You can get 6 to 8 pieces depending on how big you want them.

Alternatively, you can make rolls with the rice on the outside. This is a bit more tricky, but with the help of some plastic wrap it isn't too hard. You don't have to use plastic wrap but the rice is really sticky and for me it always gets stuck to the bamboo mat and all over my fingers.

And finally, you're ready to dip it in some soy sauce or Braggs or whatever you like, and enjoy :)

Celebrating Gordita's first birthday!

2009-02-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

We recently celebrated Gordita's first birthday by throwing a little birthday bash. I made a vegan luncheon for our family and close friends and Gordita had a great time being the focus of so much attention.

I baked two cakes: a vanilla-banana cake of my own creation, with white vanilla frosting, and a chocolate cake from La Dolce Vegan called Wolffie's Cocoa Cake with Chocolate Fudgey Frosting - both cakes were very well received.

I wanted to make a few dishes with a Caribbean twist, in honour of Gordita's Caribbean heritage, so I made maki (sushi) with avocado and fried plantain banana, a tropical fruit platter, and mango berry iced tea. We also had latin music and reggae playing in the background.

Other treats included mock tuna maki, mock tuna roll-ups (I'm so in love with Happy Herbivore's recipe!), tofu stix with peanut sauce, almond butter & strawberry jam rollups, Ian's Alpha tots, spring rolls, and a big platter of fresh organic veggies.

Feliz cumpleaño Gordita!

When All Else Fails, Read the Directions!!!

2009-01-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

"Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are gently molded over a rolling pin or arched form while they are still warm. Once set, their shape resembles the curved French roofing tiles for which they're named."

I was fascinated by the suggestion that you make a stencil template and then use a spatula to spread the dough over the template. Kind of like a reverse cookie cutter. I had nedver done it before...and I have to say, I don't really look forward to doing it again in the near future because I totally suck at it. For my first attempt, I cut out a palm tree template using a piece of cardboard. This was no easy feat, there are a lot of tricky angles.

As I peered into the oven to watch them bake, my heart sank....I was horrified to see they had melted into blobs of liquid. I had never seen cookies do that before. And then it hit me. I forgot to add the flour. I was completely stunned. I had already tossed my cardboard template in the garbage I had to re-think what shape I was going to do.

So I thought, okay, my daughter is turning 1 this month, I'll make them shaped like the number 1!! However, this time around, my batter was so thick it stuck to the template and the dough barely touched the cookie sheet. By this time I was getting really frustrated at the fact that I must be the only person who can't make these cookies and how could I screw it up not once, but twice.

Attempt number three is far less glorious than my original intention, but it worked. Simple rectangles left to cool on wooden rolling pin. At least I had to pair it with something interesting...how about guava-strawberry mousse?

Taco Soup, Omega Crunch, and Dark Chocolate Dreams

2009-01-14T19:34:00.000-08:00

I have really wanted to blog for the past couple of weeks but taking care of a very sick little Gordita took precedence. There were many meals of store bought soups or cereal & almond milk which didn't seem blogworthy anyway. Baby girl is on the mend now, so here's a roundup of some of the more interesting things I've been eating lately.

First up, I made a batch of Nava Atlas' Taco Soup as seen in VegNews Magazine. I followed the recipe EXACTLY, yet somehow my soup looks nothing like the VegNews photo. It was good, I loved the spiciness of the cumin and chili powder combined with (my favorite) cilantro but I ended up adding some fresh ground sea salt which wasn't called for in the recipe. When I think of tacos, I'm thinking salty & spicy.

Here's my uber quick breakfast of organic bananas, strawberries and tangerines, with some Omega Crunch roasted maple shelled flax. Super Yum!

And, saving the best for last - PPK banana bread (I subbed 1/2 cup agave nectar instead of the 1 cup of sugar called for in the recipe) slathered in sinfully delicious chocolate peanut butter! Yes, Dark Chocolate Dreams from Peanut Butter & Co lives up to its name and does not disappoint. Ohhhh...I think I'm in love!

Brown Basmati Rice Pilaf and Crispy Tofu with Orange Ginger Sauce.

2009-01-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

The snow has turned to torrential rain here and now there's flood warnings because the storm drains are covered in snow banks and there's nowhere for the water to go. One report is predicting up to 80mm (3.5 inches) of rain between today and tomorrow. My yoga studio is closed due to flooding. I hope their lovely hardwood floors are not ruined!

The snow on our roof was so heavy it ripped the gutter off as it slid to the ground and now we can't open our back door because there's a snow bank and a broken gutter blocking it. Hmm I wonder why summer is my favorite season...

Well, at least the weather isn't affecting my kitchen and I can still cook ;) Here's something I've make a couple of times in the past week because it's easy and tastes good: Brown Basmati rice pilaf and crispy tofu with orange ginger sauce.

Brown Basmati Rice Pilaf
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup brown Basmati rice
1 small or 1/2 medum/large onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 tsp dried dill
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
salt & pepper to taste

In a medium sized pot, saute onion, celery and rice in olive oil until onions become translucent. Add broth/water and bring to a boil. Add dill. Cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer on low for 45 minutes. Once the rice is finished cooking, stir in nutritional yeast, salt & pepper.

The orange ginger sauce I used came from a bottle. Not very creative, but like I said, it was easy :) To make the crispy tofu, slice it into strips and pan fry it in a bit of olive oil and a splash of Braggs (soy sauce) for 5-7 minutes on each side. Top with orange ginger sauce and enjoy!

A Happy New Year & Polenta Discs

2009-01-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you! We've had some ridiculous amounts of snow here in Vancouver, British Columbia, which has made for some cozy nights at home with movies and noochy popcorn. So far this week I've seen the Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, and a foreign film called Mongol.

With the coming of the new year I thought it would be a good time to make some changes to the color scheme of my blog and lighten it up a bit. I hope you like the new look :)

Recently I bought a tube of organic polenta and then forgot about it. Well, actually I thought about it, but since it wasn't where I normally would keep it, I figured I never actually bought it. That is, until I came across it yesterday when I was looking for something else. Luckily it was a recent purchase and was nowhere near the expiry date. It was a nice surprise, and I immediately knew what I wanted to make with it...Polenta Discs!

I sliced the polenta into little discs and then sauteed them in a bit of olive oil for about 5-7 minutes on each side, or when they start to turn golden brown. Then I topped it with some Guaca-Salsa and accompanied it with marinated tofu.

Yule Love This French Log

2008-12-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

It's time to introduce this month's Daring Bakers Challenge!

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.

They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

This multi-layered frozen dessert features six elements: Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake), Mousse, Ganache, Praline (Crisp), Creme Brulee, and Icing. We were given a lot of leeway in terms of flavours this time, and I have to say that my favorite part ended up being the mousse.

I chose to make a maple mousse, which was actually quite simple. I used one box of mori-nu silken tofu and 1/2 cup maple syrup. Blend in food processor for 2 minutes. That's it! It's so light and full of flavour, I wanted to eat it all on its own without adding it to the yule log but instead I resorted to licking the spatula ;) It was well worth the wait though, because it is absolutely delightful once it's frozen. I think this summer I might toss this in the ice cream maker and see how it fares as "ice cream".

Also, since I've pretty much had enough chocolate over the holidays to last until next year, I went with a vanilla ganache. My vegan creme brulee was more like a blanc mange (vanilla pudding) but at least I kept with the french theme?! With all of the vanilla and maple layers it's hard to distinguish one layer from the next other than the almond cake and chocolate praline, but they each have their own flavour that blend harmoniously with the other layers. It takes a bit of time to put this together but it really is a nice dessert to serve if you have guests over.

You can find the original (non-vegan) recipe posted at Florilege Gourmand.

Two uses for Vitasoy Holly Nog, and a munchin in a Christmas Tree....

2008-12-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays. I haven't had too much time to catch up on everyone else's blogs to see all of the goodies that are being serving up, but I hope to check them out over the next few days.

In the meanwhile, how about some Rum and Holly Nog? with a little sprinkle of cinnamon. This will warm you inside and out!

For Christmas morning breakfast I whipped up some corn bread from La Dolce Vegan and subbed in Holly Nog because, whoops, I forgot to buy my usual almond milk when I went shopping the other day. Even my friend's dad who is very skeptical of any soy/tofu/alternative food liked it!

Well, it's time for some late snacks and a movie with the girls (and some more rum & Holly Nog!) so I'll catch up with you later! Merry Christmas :) I'll leave you with one last photo, of our little munchkin.

Holiday Yummies

2008-12-21T17:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever you prefer. I wish all of you a joyous holiday season and may you be blessed all year with good friends, family and yummy FOOD!

I've had to miss a couple of days of work due to some bad weather. In fact, my flight to be with my family for Christmas was cancelled, so I'm spending the holiday with friends and hoping that my rescheduled flight on Boxing Day doesn't get cancelled.

On the bright side, being snowed in and stuck at home leaves lots of time to bake some old favorites for our guests.

I made a batch of Almost Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies subbing in almond butter...

And I made some of Dreena's Chocolate Mint Melties. These are soooo good. If you've never made them, you must find any excuse to do so.

And I also made a carrot cake. I had an abundance of carrots from my weekly produce bin (Green Earth Organics) so carrot cake was the perfect way to use some of them. I used a recipe from Martha Stewart's website and made a few substitutions. You can refer to the original recipe here, but I'll list it with my substitutions below:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 cup finely shredded packed (about 2 medium) carrots

Quick Glaze, or confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 8 inch round baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk flax/water, sugars, almond milk, and oil until smooth. Gently mix wet mixture into dry ingredients until moistened; mix in carrots. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (if browning too quickly, tent cake with aluminum foil). Cool in pan, 15 minutes. Turn out of pan, remove paper, and cool completely on a rack, right side up. Apply glaze, or dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Right now I've got a batch of Lavash baking, and I'll be making some lemon-dill hummus to go with it.

Monday Lunch

2008-11-30T22:21:00.000-08:00

I went shopping today and spent about 6 hours on my feet walking and trying on clothes, so I feel like I kind of worked off that caramel cake. But I really want to get back to healthy eating for now! Here's my breakfast/lunch for tomorrow, clockwise from the left: Nature's Path Agave Plus granola, followed by unsweetened Almond Breeze, a salad of chickpeas, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro and some smoked garlic chipotle salt instead of dressing, an organic apple of some variety, a persimmon, and in the very middle there is a packet of acai berry tea.

(Vegan) Caramel Cake With Caramelized "Butter" Frosting

2008-11-29T22:08:00.000-08:00

No, that's not a giant donut. It's this month's Daring Baker's challenge from author Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater and her signature caramel cake. The challenge was hosted by Dolores, along with Alex, Jenny, and alternative baker Natalie. If you have the need to satisfy a sweet craving, this recipe may well cure you of that forever. It is S-W-E-E-T! Too sweet for me, actually. I mean, I'm always trying to cut sugar out of my recipes, and here I am eating it by the pound for this challenge. I stopped counting the sugar after the first 4 cups of it! Here's to hoping it doesn't go straight to my hips or butt ;)

I had to make a few substitutions like Earth Balance instead of margerine, ground flax instead of eggs, and almond milk instead of dairy milk. I've never made caramel syrup before, it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. But I have to admit, I was wearing heavy oven mitts after reading the disclaimer about having a bowl of ice water ready to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

Once it was all said and done, I gathered up some girlfriends and we dug in. Everyone thought it was fantastic, though we all felt naughty eating it because it has about, oh, a zillion calories. I'm gonna work those calories off tomorrow at the mall doing some speed shopping...or trying to, anyways.

Spreading veggie love on Helium.com

2008-11-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

During the summer I wrote an article on Helium.com on a whim, it was not a topic that had been covered by anyone thus far, and they have thousands of articles. The article is called "Vegetarian 101 for parents" and it was meant to be some suggestions on what a parent can do if thier child announces they want to be a vegetarian. I was so suprised when I learned that my article is now featured on the Helium home page! It seems as though they are focussing on a vegetarian theme as there are several other veggie related articles featured.

Yay! One more step in the veg movement. Already today five more writers have written articles using my Veg 101 subject.

*Update: It appears that they change the featured articles after just one day so I'm not on the home page anymore. You can still read my article here.

Meals for busy people

2008-11-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

Eek! It's been two weeks since I last posted. I got an exciting new job at an advertising agency, so between that and my other job, and taking care of the baby, I'm sorry to say I've been putting together some pretty boring meals that don't really seem blog-worthy. But maybe a healthy quick meal is just what someone else might be looking for. I'll probably be posting a lot of these easy to prepare meals for the next little while until I get used to my new routine.

So here you go, a dinner that is quickly tossed together at the end of a long day: a big heaping bowl of steamed veggies with pan fried tofu and brown rice in a spicy peanut sauce! Yes, brown rice takes a while to cook, but while it's cooking is the perfect opportunity to spend quality time with the baby.

And while I'm at it, how about taking a peek at tomorrow's lunch? Well, it's actually breakfast and lunch. Clockwise from the left I've got 2 slices of sprouted grain bread with hazelnut butter, an organic gala apple, Enjoy Life sunbutter crunch bar, brown rice avocado rolls sprinkled with sesame seeds, a small container of Braggs soy sauce, and some plump organic raspberries. Sushi really isn't difficult to make at all., and I needed to do something with the extra brown rice I had left from my dinner tonight. Much to my suprise (and delight) the brown rice didn't fall apart like I thought it would. I ate one of the ends of the roll because 1.) it wasn't pretty and 2.) I wanted to know if it tasted good. Yep, it tastes yummy. I can't wait to have lunch tomorrow!

Mock Tuna Casserole

2008-11-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

I trust you all had a spooky Hallowe'en? Ours was a little less spooky with this little butterfly fluttering around...

A few days ago Happy Herbivore posted a Mock Tuna Salad recipe and I just had to try it. The last time I ate tuna was at least 16 years ago when my mom used to bake tuna casseroles for dinner. Though I don't miss tuna at all, I do miss my mom so I made this dish with pleasant memories of cooking in the kitchen with her.

I whipped up a batch of the mock tuna, and let me say that it is so tasty it barely made it out of the food processor! I tasted a spoonful which then became two spoonfuls, then three...

But I managed to save enough of it to add to a casserole dish full of cooked brown rice pasta and peas. I combined the mock tuna with my favorite pasta cheez from Get Sconed's adapted version of New Farm Macacroni and Cheez. I sprinkled some kelp granules and black pepper on top before baking it.

Oh my, this was extra delicious! And since I loved the mock tuna so much, I later made it again and enjoyed it on some sprouted grain bread with romaine lettuce. Equally scrumptious!

Pumpkin # 2

2008-10-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

Here's my second pumpkin!

Tossed Pizza - Oh Mia!

2008-10-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

This month's Daring Baker's challenge was a hand-tossed pizza crust from “The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread” by Peter Reinhart. I've made many a pizza crusts, but never had I attempted to hand toss them. And now I know why. I'm not ashamed to admit that I totally suck at it. I have a new found admiration for the guys in the Italian pizzaria down the street who toss thier dough and end up with perfectly circular pizza pies.

BEFORE AFTER

After I tossed the dough in the air it looked more like one of the Hawaiian islands than a pizza! I even tried singing "when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore" in a really bad Italian accent but it didn't help at all. But once my pizza was cooked it didn't look so bad, and it tasted really good.

I made a pesto sauce and then topped it with freshly roasted garlic, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and mushrooms. I added some fresh ground pepper right before I chowed down becuase pepper is yummy on just about everything and this is no exception. Yes, the dough takes 2 days to make, but it's worth it. The recipe yields six crusts, so I put the extra dough in the freezer so I wouldn't overdose on pizza. You'll see how those ones turn out over the next few weeks.

I tried to cut and paste the recipe here twice, and both times my internet window crashed :( But if you come across “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart, give the “Pizza Napoletana” recipe a try.

The Great Pumpkin

2008-10-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

I just carved this pumpkin today and I couldn't wait until Hallowe'en to see it in all its glory. I still have another one to carve, but this is a lot of work and I was all pumpkined out by the time I finished. I'll do the other one tomorrow.

I love munching on pumpkin seeds when they are still warm from being baked in the oven. P umpkin seeds are so easy to bake, just toss them in a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle on some salt or other seasoning (I used smoked garlic chipotle salt) and bake at 275 for about 45-50 minutes. Shake them up a bit as they are baking a couple of times so they cook evenly. YUM!

Sorce Salba Krispy Rice Bars

2008-10-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Day 28 of VeganMoFo...

Move over Rice Krispies squares! I found some amazing little treats made by Source Salba that are Vegan, 100% Natural, Wheat Free, Trans Fat Free and Peanut/nut free. Each bite sized bar bar contains a whopping 200mg of Omega-3 and 2 grams of fibre. This is already our second package of them...no way these treats are going to last until Hallowe'en!

Tag: Six Random Things

2008-10-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Jen at Chasing Domestic Bliss has tagged me with Six Random Things.

The rules are:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Along with 6 random things you are also supposed to post 6 things you love.

Random things about me:

I cannot keep a cactus plant alive. I've had at least six of them in the past 10 years and they all die from either being over watered or under watered. I just can't get it right.
I think brussels sprouts stink when my room mate steams them in the microwave. Are they little baby cabbages? Ironically I like cabbage, but for some reason I don't like brussels sprouts at all. Pehaps if they were prepared differently I might give them a second chance...
I read Tarot cards for my friends. My brother gave me a Spanish Tarot deck as a gift many years ago and I have been fascinated with them ever since.
I ordered deep fried pickles once at a pub in St. Louis...and loved them!
When I was a little girl my favorite cartoon was Jem and the Holograms. I even had a Jem barbie doll.
I hiked up Diamond Head volcano in Hawaii in flip flops when I was 7 months pregnant. Not an easy task, but so worth the spectacular view!

6 Things I love:

My daugher Naimah
Animals, especially cats
Swimming in the Caribbean Sea
Travelling
The colour pink
Dark chocolate

So now I'm supposed to tag 6 blogs...but instead I'm going to tag anyone who likes bussels sprouts! Surely there's at least 6 of you out there ;)

Pumpkin Spice Bread

2008-10-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the scent of cloves, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg, especially when they are coming from my kitchen! I call this group of fragrant spices my "autumn spices" because when I smell them I think about a cold rainy day when red and orange leaves are dropping from the trees outside. They just smell like autumn. I morphed a banana loaf recipe into a pumpkin counterpart and of course after making substitutions and additions, the final recipe is nothing like its original.

If you're familiar with my baking at all, you already know that this is super healthy, with no almost no sugar or fat, but don't worry, it's definitely full of flavour.

Pumpkin Spice Bread

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

4 packets of stevia

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup agave nectar

4 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water

1/4 cup unsulphered, blackstrap molasses

1 cup pumpkin puree

Combine the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed, do not over mix. Pour batter into a lightly oiled loaf pan . Sprinkle a handful of pumpkin seeds on top if desired, and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Maple Glazed Acorn Squash

2008-10-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the dishes served at our Thanksgiving feast was some mouth-watering, maple syrup glazed acorn squash. I love the shape the ridges make along the outer edges when it's sliced. So pretty! Acorn squash is high in fibre and potassium, and the flesh is slightly sweet tasting. Perfect for adding even more sweetness, right?

Cut the squash in half vertically (same direction as the ridges) and scoop out the pulp and seeds. You can save the seeds for toasting later, they are a great snack. Next, place the squash with the cut side facing down and cut against the ridges, so you get little half-moon shapes with ridges along the edges. Toss the squash in a bowl along with some maple syrup and olive oil. I didn't measure, but I'd guess I used about 1/4 or 1/3 cup of syrup, with about 1/8 cup olive oil. Once it's all coated, spread into a casserole dish and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Turn slices over, and/or stir it up a it and bake for another 20 minutes or so, until tender.

Sprinkle some roasted pecans on top just before serving.

Lo Mein a la CCV

2008-10-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

It's day 16 of VeganMoFo and I have somehow fallen behind in my attempt to have about 20 posts this month. It's time to catch up!

Not too long ago, Chocolate Covered Vegan made lo mein and I have not been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I love asian cuisine, and this recipe looked so easy to make, I just had to give it a try. I'm so glad I did because it is so delicious and nutritious ;)

I cooked up some brown rice spaghetti, and sauteed some sugar snap peas, yellow bell pepper, onion, mung bean sprouts and carrots in a spicy peanut sauce. I wanted to add some protein to it so I added an Yves Chicken patty, sliced it into strips. (One of these days I'll get around to making seitan.) When it was all in the bowl I added a splash of Braggs. Seriously, this is so easy to make. Thanks for the inspiration, CCV!

More Vegan Mofo

2008-10-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Our friend sent us home with generous leftovers from her wonderful feast yesterday. Among the vegan fare was maple pecan acorn squash (which was ridiculously delicious and I will be cooking one just like it later this week!), a spring mix salad with dried cranberries and raspberry vinigrette, roasted potatoes, rye bread, and fresh fruit, among other things. It was an amazing meal, and Naimah loved all the attention from the other children, and the adults, too.

In fact, she got a ring from a little boy who is intent on marrying her one day! That's right, my friend's 6-year-old son insists that he's going to marry Naimah one day, and he presented her with this heart-shaped ring. It doesn't fit on her tiny fingers yet, but I told him I will keep it in a safe place for now.

And now I'd like to show you one of my favorite quick and easy breakfasts; A Vegan McMuffin! It's made with a thick slice of medium-firm tofu (pan fried with Braggs and black pepper and a sprinkle of nooch), with a slice of yves canadian bacon and leaf lettuce on a toasted english muffin. Who needs McDonalds?

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

2008-10-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

I'm off to a friends place today for Thanksgiving lunch. She's not a vegetarian, but she is a fantastic cook and always accommodates her guests with lots of vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, she goes organic as much as possible and at least her turkey lived a natural, antibiotic free life (not that I'll be eating it, though).

I've tried to host Thanksgiving a couple of times but I'm given the old, "oh, sorry but it's just not Thanksgiving without meat."

Hey, at least I'm one of the people that the turkeys can be thankful for today!

Noochy Popcorn

2008-10-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is not a new invention by any means, but if you've never had nooch (nutrional yeast) on popcorn with some melted Earth Balance, you must try it! And if you're lucky enough to live in Vancouver and catch the Oddball Organics guy at the Granville Island Market, get some of his smoked garlic chipotle salt and add that to your noochy popcorn. It's Heaven in a bowl!

Scrambled Tofu Breakfast Wrap

2008-10-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

October 2008 is Vegan MoFo! You can read more about it here, but basically there is going to be a whole lotta vegan blogging going on this month. Here's something yummy to get things started:

Scrambled Tofu Breakfast Wrap

1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 cup red onion, chopped
1 large button mushroom, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz medium-firm tofu (1/4 pkg), drained and mashed
1/8 tsp cumin
salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp Braggs

1 large whole wheat/ancient grain/sprouted grain tortilla
1/8 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced

Heat oil on medium/high in a small skillet, and then saute onions, garlic and mushrooms until the onions become transluscent. Add mashed tofu, cumin, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast. Stir with wooden spoon until combined. Add Braggs and then simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, place avocado, tomato and cilantro in the middle of the tortilla. When the tofu mixture is cooked, place it in the tortilla and wrap it up.

Baby food that actually tastes good

2008-09-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

There aren't very many pureed vegan baby foods that are high in protein (at least not that I can find) and the few that I did get a hold of tasted absolutely gross. So I decided a few months ago that my best option was to just making it myself. I never really thought about posting baby food becuase it doesn't seem all that interesting to me, but when my friends saw (and tasted) what I've been feeding Naimah they insisted that I share it with the world. Here's one that has been a favorite:

1 small red potato, peeled and chopped

1/2 of a small, white-flesh nectarine, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup fresh spinach

1/3 cup lentils

2 1/2 cups water

Pour the water into the bottom saucepan, add lentils and bring to a boil. Place the potato, nectarine and spinach into the steamer pot and cover with tight fitting lid for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft.

Place steamed veggies into a food processor. Drain excess water from lentils before adding them. (The leftover water can be used to thin out the puree, and can also be frozen for future use.) Puree the mixture, adding some of the lentil water until it's like a thick, pea soup kind of consistancy.

Below is a photo of the type of steamer pot I use:

Fabu-lash Lavash

2008-09-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

I was completely thrilled to discover that my second ever daring baker challenge was vegan! No substitutions necessary, just a straight up Lavash Cracker from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread. I strayed only slightly from the recipe in that I used whole wheat flour instead of unbleached all purpose flour, I added 1 tbsp of guar gum, and I sprinkled ground pumpkin seeds on it right before baking in the oven.

The instructions say to roll the dough paper thin, and this is probably the most important step, as I learned the hard way that if the dough is too thick it ends up being pita-like. Still tasty, but I don't think it could really be called a cracker. My second attempt turned out much better after I realized just how thin paper thin is supposed to be.

The other half of the challenge was to make a dip for the lavash. I decided I wanted to try making something raw, and I came up with a delicious spinach & artichoke dip which was a hit with my friends - they couldn't believe that I made it by just tossing random ingredients into the food processor. Seriously, there is no chopping or preparation of ingredients needed. It's that simple. Raw can be so easy, I really should eat more raw foods.

*UPDATE: as someone pointed out, the artichokes aren't raw so I fudged that up. Hmm maybe raw isn't so easy!

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

1 16 oz can white kidney beans, drained
1 small jar of artichoke hearts in oil, drained
1 cup fresh spinach
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
pinch of salt & pepper
pinch of cayanne pepper

Blend everything in a food processor until smooth.