The Bakewell Tart & my 101st Post!

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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 :)