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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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: