yummy vegan dinners

Soft pretzels

2011-09-12T11:15:00.004-04:00

Two posts in a row, I know! It'll probably be another year until the next one.

No commentary other than that these were really good and that next time I'll use less flour, less sugar and more salt.

Recipe here.

Okra and seitan gumbo

2011-08-10T18:31:00.004-04:00

Yes, I know it's been over a year since I posted. A lot has happened this year. Some good, some bad. Not sure if anyone reads this anymore and not sure when I'll update next but here's a dish I made a month ago.

I've posted about gumbo in the past and have made it a few times since that post, but this batch was really awesome. I really should write down recipes but eh, I just always wing it and writing them down as a I go a long takes the fun out of cooking for me.

The key to any good gumbo is a dark roux which can take upwards of an hour to develop on a low flame. The darker the roux, the better the gumbo. We cooked the roux for over an hour with constant stirring.

After the roux was a dark chocolate colour, we added in the holy trinity (onions, celery, green peppers), vegetable stock, seasonings (basic ones: thyme, bay leaf, oregano, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne), then sliced fresh okra and a heavily spiced homemade seitan andouille (can't remember what I put in it). We added in some tomatoes (which I later found out makes this creole versus cajun), simmered for another hour and then served with rice and hot sauce.

It was so good and I'm sad that okra season is over. I might make gumbo with frozen okra but I'm sure it's not quite the same.

Scallions!

2010-06-26T12:06:00.007-04:00

I know I promised some CSA posts but life, as per usual, has been super hectic. Anyway, in the past few weeks we've received lots of scallions in our CSA share so I thought I'd make a couple of Chinese dishes.

First up, Chinese corn soup. If you like Chinese corn soup, this soup is so fast and so easy that you'll kick yourself for not thinking of it earlier. All you need is a couple of cans of creamed corn, vegetable stock (1 or 2 cans worth), salt, pepper, soy sauce, cornstarch slurry and some garnish. I garnished with scallions, soy sauce and sriracha. I also opted to throw in some shredded soy curls. (Side note: growing up we always had creamed corn in the house for corn soup. It was only until I was older that I even know that creamed corn was eaten as a side dish and not as an ingredient for soup.)

Second, we've got scallion pancakes. I didn't do the best job with making them but they went together quite nicely and totally satisfied my Chinese food craving. Recipes for scallion pancakes are pretty much the same everywhere. I don't use yeast in mine, but I might try this one next time. I serve mine with hoisin sauce and sriracha instead of a traditional dipping sauce. It might seem daunting to make, but it's worth a shot at least once if you like scallion pancakes.

So there you have it, a pretty easy Chinese meal using some great CSA scallions. I received some pretty nifty stuff in my share this week too so hopefully I'll get around to making something interesting.

Vegan Caesar, Soy Curls and Asparagus

2010-05-28T18:18:00.004-04:00

I have been waiting months for the new CSA season to start and finally this week was the first week. We signed up with the same CSA last year and despite the bad growing season, we really enjoyed our shares.

Our first share this week contained various types of lettuce, asparagus, turnips, radishes and lovely scallions. We've been suffering with terrible grocery store produce all winter so I was delighted to finally get some good produce. But what to make first?

I decided to make a dinner-sized caesar salad with a delicious raw dressing (try it!), homemade croutons, fried and seasoned soy curls and a side of perfectly roasted asparagus.

For the dressing, I play around with the recipe. I usually use all raw cashews or raw cashews and raw almonds, never pine nuts because I don't buy them (they are pricey). I also never have kelp powder so I skip it or just use a bit of nori. The sweetener works also with maple syrup so try that if you don't have agave. And last but not least, I double the garlic. Yum!!

Anyway, the entire meal was the perfect dinner for a very warm spring evening. I'm really looking forward to more meals like this as the days get warmer.

Stay tuned for more CSA food!

Southeast Asian Inspired Tempeh Wraps

2010-05-23T18:57:00.003-04:00

Asian fusion is hot again. Unlike the first wave of Asian fusion many years ago, the focus lately (at least locally) seems to be Vietnamese and Korean fusion. Case in point. A few weeks ago, the Mister brought me home some "Vietnamese Tacos" from Horizons (they previously also served a Vietnamese bruschetta — I've made my own version of these too). They were less like tacos, more like wraps, a bit pricey, but were delicious. Really, anything with Sriracha and Vegenaise is delicious (try it with fries too!). After devouring two pieces, Bebe knocked the rest on the floor in attempt to steal some (he's kind of pushy when it comes to food) so I made a mental note to make my own version.

I didn't want to try and duplicate it at all but instead draw some inspiration from it. I started with some tempeh that I sliced and simmered for about 15 minutes. I drained it and marinated it my usual seasonings that I use for Pad Thai (1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup lime juice, 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tbsp chili garlic paste) and then fried it up and reduced the sauce to a glaze. I served it warm on homemade flatbread/tortillas with shredded carrots, broccoli sprouts and of course Sriracha and Vegenaise with a drizzle of sesame seed oil.

So there you have it. My own version of Southeast Asian tempeh wraps which are super easy to make and totally delicious.

Vegan Pho with Seitan

2010-03-20T10:46:00.013-04:00

By now, everyone should know what pho is (and banh mi but that'll be a different post in the future). It is either the new(ish) food trend where you live or an old trend going back several years. Wherever it falls on the food trend scale, it is warm, comforting, complex and delicious.

I haven't had vegan pho (or any other Vietnamese food) in three years since I moved from Toronto and I miss it a LOT. Sure, there are restaurants that list "vegetarian" pho, but chances are that the stock is still NOT vegan. So... I steer clear unless it's a vegan or vegetarian restaurant.

Yesterday I couldn't decide what to make for dinner and for some reason, I just wanted pho. Because I can't really get vegan pho here, I had to make it myself. This was the first time making it and it was awesome. My house smelled like a pho restaurant all evening.

I looked at a few different recipes online and saw that they all had a similar formula so I ended up winging it. Some recipes also call for whole cardamom, coriander and fennel, but I just stuck with cinnamon, cloves and star anise. Success! I did deviate a bit from some of the traditional recipes in that I didn't char the onions or strain my broth. I unfortunately did not write down or pay attention to how much I put in of some of the ingredients. I just made it to taste, so here's my blueprint.

Saute some thinly sliced onion, garlic and ginger.
Add water (I think I used 6-8 cups), vegan "beef" bouillon powder (half of what was called for with the amount of water I was using since I was adding soy sauce and salt), cinnamon stick (3"), whole cloves (5), star anise (5), Japanese soy sauce, splash of Bragg's, salt, pepper and sugar. Let that come to a boil and add thinly sliced seitan. I put the cloves and the star anise in a tea ball so it was easy to pull out later. I also added in some sliced mushrooms since I had some kicking around.
Lower heat to a strong simmer and let simmer for about 1 hour uncovered. Take out the cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Add in rice noodles to the soup and cook until noodles are tender.
Mound some noodles in a bowl, ladle the soup on top and garnish.

For the garnish, I only had green onions but I would have added a lime wedge, thai basil and cilantro. No bean sprouts for me though as I'm not too fond of them. I also added a dollop of chili garlic sauce. Yes, I know that you can't really see the soup under all the noodles, but trust me, it's there! I just like a lot of noodles.

It was easy to make and probably not the best vegan pho in the world, but it was so delicious and easy to make. Definitely going to make this again very soon.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and "Butter"

2010-03-06T11:04:00.009-05:00

I came across a delightful little recipe for a super simple tomato sauce that made its way around the internet some time ago: Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter by Marcella Hazan. I was intrigued that it only has 3 main ingredients (tomatoes, onion and butter) and received rave reviews from everyone. So of course I had to make a vegan version.

You'll find the original recipe in the link above. Basically you take 1 large 28 oz tin of good tomatoes (don't settle for crappy cheap tomatoes*) smooshed up with the juice along with about 5 tbsp of your favourite vegan margarine (Earth Balance) and an onion** cut in half and throw that in a sauce pan. You can use unsalted vegan margarine and then salt to taste but I found that the salted margarine wasn't too salty for this. Anyway, bring the mixture to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 45 mins, stirring occasionally. Then you take out the onion and serve over pasta.

Sounds too simple to be that good right? Wrong. It's incredible. Really! The combination of margarine, slowly cooked onion and tomatoes works so well that I wanted to just eat the sauce as is. I did deviate from the original in that I did throw in some roughly minced garlic. I also cut the onion into 8 wedges and left that in the final sauce. Next time I'll try it like the original — no garlic and take out the onion.

I served the sauce over thick homemade wheat pasta with basil since I was out of packaged pasta (and no semolina flour). Just 2 cups white flour with 1/4 cup soy flour, salt, basil, olive oil and about 3/4 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until smooth, cover and let sit for 30 mins. Then simply roll out, cut and let dry for a few minutes and then cook in boiling salted water until done. It's super easy and yummy, but it is a bit time consuming. Sometimes it's worth it though and the homemade pasta was awesome with this sauce.

And there you have it. A 3 ingredient sauce that folks all over rave about. I think that this sauce is going to become my go-to sauce around here since I always have those ingredients on hand. Now, this is NOT a low-fat sauce by any means but it's really good, and for me, worth the calories and fat. Give it a try!

* If all you have are cheaper mediocre canned tomatoes, you might want to add a sprinkle of sugar to the sauce when simmering.

** I was reading that quite a few chefs swear by not sauteeing onion or garlic in tomato sauces and letting it cook in the sauce itself for the best flavour. I think they're on to something because this tasted way better than any tomato sauce I've made with sauteed onions and garlic.

Recipe Round-Up

2010-02-19T20:25:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't made anything for this blog in some time but my January was crazy busy. Things are a little calmer now. I have been making things for the group blog so I thought I would post a round-up of recent recipes.

Some dishes since the new year:

I swear I'll do something interesting for this blog soon. Maybe with my pasta machine which is still in the box! :p I don't have a lot of readers but my sister is my biggest fan and supporter, and I'm sure she'd appreciate some new posts here! *waves to big sis* :)

Angel Biscuits / Yeast Biscuits

2010-01-03T16:19:00.003-05:00

Everyone has their own preferences for biscuits and apparently, my preference are angel / yeast biscuits.

I had been looking for a good biscuit recipe that wasn't dry and crumbly, but light and fluffy — not just for me, but also for the Mr. since that is what he grew up with. I remember bookmarking a few that used yeast but didn't get around to making them until yesterday because I finally got a pastry cutter.

The biscuits are only slightly more involved than regular biscuits, but they're worth it. The result is like a cross between a biscuit and a roll. All the taste of a biscuit with a more tender texture and no crumbling.

I used this recipe and substituted with soy milk and vinegar to replace the buttermilk. Give it a go!

Happy New Year (and late Festivus dinner photos)

2010-01-01T14:02:00.012-05:00

           Seitan "Ham" with Onion & Garlic Chutney                                              Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower


              Balsamic Glazed Portobello Mushrooms                                                               Freshly Baked Bread

Happy New Year! 2009 sucked on so many levels for a lot of people so I am really hoping that 2010 will be better for everyone.

Now on to the food. The Mr. and I had a couple friends over for a Festivus dinner on the 26th. I really didn't manage to get enough photos and the seitan was taken the next day. It's hard to take photos when you've got guests waiting!

Here was the full menu:

seitan "ham" with a pineapple chipotle glaze
roasted cauliflower & broccoli
mashed potatoes (not shown)
mushroom gravy (not shown)
green bean casserole (not shown)
thyme scented onion and roasted garlic chutney
balsamic glazed portobello mushrooms
freshly baked bread

The seitan "ham" was modified from Bryanna's recipe and the glaze was modified from a Recipezaar recipe (warning, the original recipe is NOT vegan). Aside from those two, everything was my own recipe/concoction. The glaze was amazing with the "ham" and the onion chutney was a perfect accompaniment.

I thought everything turned out well and I hope our friends enjoyed the meal as much as I enjoyed cooking it! I think I'm done with holiday menus until Easter. Next dinner I think I'll do a cuisine that is generally not vegan friendly like Thai or Vietnamese or Korean.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

P.S. If you're not already vegan, go vegan and stay vegan!

Lasagna and Roasted Garlic Breadsticks

2009-12-07T18:00:00.001-05:00

The lovely Divine Miss V's recent lasagna post reminded me that I hadn't made lasagna in months. I used to make it about once every two weeks but just sort of stopped I think because with CSA shares, I have been a bit scattered with meal planning (we shop before we know what our share will contain). I decided after reading her post that it was high time I put together a pan of lasagna (and buy that cool lasagna pan!), so here it is.

I am fairly picky about lasagna and am not too keen on the super vegetable-heavy healthy ones. I do like the heavy "meaty" ones but I really need to be in the right mood for those. My preferred lasagna is fairly simple — a spinach tofu ricotta one with a tomato basil sauce and simply sprinkled with nutritional yeast (no other vegan cheeses.

I make the tofu ricotta by blending drained tofu with salt, pepper, herbs & spices, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dollop of vegenaise and sometimes a sprinkle of sugar all to taste. Then I simply hand mix in some chopped spinach, assemble with medium-cooked noodles and jarred tomato basil sauce and top with some nutritional yeast and sometimes sliced mushrooms and bake for about 45 minute at about 375F. That's it.

When the lasagna was in the oven, I whipped up some dough for breadsticks. I used the no-rise recipe. scored it and sprinkled with olive oil, roasted garlic and salt and pepper. The recipe cooks at a higher temperature but it cooked up fine with the lasagna and took about 30 minutes.

While this is my normal go-to lasagna, I really do love a "sausage" and bechamel sauce one for special occasions (have no made in ages). Sometimes I'll do lazy lasagna roll-ups with just mashed seasoned white beans for the filling. The great thing about lasagna or any pasta is that you can customise it to your tastes.

Whatever kind of lasagna you prefer, it is super easy and super satisfying and an excellent dish to serve to vegans or omnis because who doesn't like lasagna?

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-30T23:43:00.009-05:00

Glazed carrots, Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze, mushroom gravy, broccoli casserole, roasted brussel sprouts, bread dressing and mashed potatoes.

Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze, broccoli casserole, bread dressing, roasted brussel sprouts, freshly baked bread, cornichons, dill cream "cheese", Tartex vegan pate. Not shown: Mushroom gravy, chickpea gravy, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes and brought by our guests, a salad, apple pie and ice cream.

I love cooking for people and back home I used to always have people over for Thanksgiving. In RVA however, I didn't have any friends there so there were no dinner guests. Not this year though! I was determined to feed some friends and our good friends Bob and Jenna graciously accepted our invitation. I was delighted to be able to cook a big dinner for more people than just me and the Mr. In the food frenzy, I only took a few flash pics which didn't turn out great (second set of photos) so the next day I took a pic of my leftovers (top photo).

The full menu was:

Bryanna's seitan "turkey" with a light maple dijon glaze
roasted brussel sprouts
bread dressing/stuffing
mashed potatoes with scallions
mushroom gravy
chickpea gravy
glazed carrots
broccoli casserole (like green bean casserole but with broccoli)
fresh bread with some sides of Tartex brand pate, dill cream "cheese", cornichons

Now I know that a bunch of you are going to ask, "how was the seitan 'turkey'"? How did I know that? Well, that recipe has been floating around for some time and is fairly involved so a lot of people don't try it but it always sounds amazing. Before I made it, I read mixed reviews which some said the texture was too soft or too spongey. Those were the main gripes. I was a little worried but well, Bryanna is the seitan queen and everyone's favourite vegan grandmother, so I put my trust in her. Boy, am I ever glad I did. That was by far the best textured seitan I've ever made. Taste-wise it could have used more sodium (I like salt) but the addition of gravy took care of that.

Bryanna's description of the roast is spot on: "tender, not rubbery, and which slices easily". All I have to say for those folks that had sub-par texture results is to try it again and follow the recipe to a "T". When it says 12 oz of tofu, shave approximately 2 oz from your 14 oz block. Don't try and over compensate by adding in more gluten flour because you might mess up. The texture of this dough when you first mix it is very different than your usual seitan dough. Also when she says to knead it in a bread machine or mixer with dough hook for 10 minutes, rest for 1 hour and then knead for 10 minutes more, she means it. The dough will indeed be shiny and uniform in texture after the extensive kneading — something that is very difficult to do by hand. This step is really important for the proper texture. In addition, when she says to bake it until the liquid is absorbed, do it. If you follow all her instructions AND cook a day before, cool in fridge and reheat the next day (I glazed mine for the reheating), you will be rewarded with one of the best textured seitan "turkey" recipes you'll ever make. It takes some planning to make this but the results are worth it. Trust me. This is definitely going to be my "go to" holiday seitan recipe.

Let's see, what else. Well, everything else was my own concoction (I cook by taste so I generally don't have anything written down so no recipes). The broccoli casserole was like green bean casserole but I used porcini mushrooms and homemade french fried onions. Everything was made from scratch (even the bread for the stuffing/dressing) except for the pate and the cream "cheese". I wish I had better pictures of the sides but oh well, next time. I had several other dishes planned but after seeing the amount of food that I already made I had to scale down the menu.

All in all, I was really pleased with how things turned out. Good food and good friends. A perfect way to spend a holiday.

Pad See Ew

2009-11-12T22:38:00.009-05:00

Ah, Pad See Ew. It is probably the Thai dish I order most often and it only just dawned on me the other day (after reading about it) that "see ew" means soy sauce. Big "dur!" moment for me since "see ew" (various pronouciations depending on dialect) is also soy sauce in Chinese. Even though I like Pad See Ew a lot, I don't actually like it over Pad Thai. I order it but because I know I can actually get it vegan easily without worrying. The main ingredients in the sauce are simply sweet thick soy sauce. For omnis, a dash of fish sauce is thrown in but the key thing is that the soy sauce and fish sauce are not pre-mixed.

Call me paranoid, but since I found out a couple of years ago that many (almost all?) Thai restaurants pre-mix their Pad Thai seasoning (same also goes for most curries), I don't order it. See, the seasoning is pre-mixed in most cases because it would take too long, and would be inconsistent in taste to add the ingredients one by one while stirfrying the noodles. If it takes too long, the noodles turn to mush. Even street vendors in Thailand pre-mix their sauces. Almost every Pad Thai recipe also specifies to pre-mix the sauce. I don't know why it didn't dawn on me earlier. A waitress at a restaurant I used to frequent told me that the Pad Thai sauce is always pre-mixed there despite the fact that I would specify "no fish sauce" on previous visits (Thai Diner 2 in RVA if anyone is interested — Pad Thai is not vegan. Tara Thai in Short Pump mall though can be made vegan). I appreciated her honestly and it is possible that the other wait staff weren't even aware of how it's cooked. Anyway after that I pretty much stopped ordering Pad Thai. I'm sure not all restaurants pre-mix but I'd be willing to bet that most do. The waitress did tell me that Pad See Ew (which I also love) can easily have the fish sauce omitted and judging from other recipes I found, she's right.

Okay I'm totally rambling. Above is Pad See Ew that I made using this recipe (not vegan but easily made vegan) as a blueprint*. I didn't have any sweet soy so I boiled down some soy sauce with sugar. I threw in some onion, garlic, broccoli and tatsoi. I absolutely love Chinese broccoli (gai lan) and would have used it instead of regular broccoli but didn't have any on hand. I also fried up some strips of seitan I had on hand in the fridge and added that in.

Even though I have made Pad Thai lots of times (similar steps, this is the last one I made), her instructions are great for the new cook. It was delicious and definitely worth the effort. It may seem daunting at first to do things separately but once you get the hang of it, it'll be a piece of cake. Give it a try!

*Pim also has an excellent blueprint for Pad Thai as well (also not vegan but easily made vegan). Going to try it her way next time.

Pseudo Ethiopian Dinner

2009-11-10T00:46:00.011-05:00

Due to a few people talking about Ethiopian food for the past day or so (looking at you Lisa), I really wanted it for dinner tonight. A slight problem though: a) we weren't going out to get it (too lazy); and b) I didn't have the key ingredients of berbere or teff (or injera). Regardless, I was determined to cobble something together. I poked around the kitchen cabinets, pantry, fridge and CSA box and after 2.5 hours in the kitchen, the following was served:

Pseudo Injera (white flour, water, vinegar and baking powder)
Tikil Gomen (cabbage, potatoes, carrots, cumin, turmeric and I threw in some radish greens)
Kik Alicha (yellow split peas, onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric)
Pseudo Doro Wat (soy curls, onions, dark seasoned chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dash of cloves)

So how was it? Pretty good but of course not very authentic. I ran out of pans so I baked the fake injera batter which of course didn't bubble like it would in the pan. Actually I shouldn't really call it "fake" injera since injera can be made with other flours for different occasions. Teff injera is the most common (and super yummy).

Anyway, the meal did manage to satisfy my cravings but I need to stock up on real Ethiopian spices and mixes and I need some good Ethiopian food very soon. Until then, I'm going to gorge on the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

"Weekly" Round-Up (November 8, 2009)

2009-11-08T11:46:00.004-05:00

Yeah, I know I said I was going to make something for this blog but I've been super busy. So here's my posts from the other blog with one photo from the list.

Since my last post I've made:

I'm going to really try and break out the pasta maker this week. Hopefully I'll do that and be able to post about awesome homemade pasta!

Weekly Round-Up - October 25, 2009

2009-10-25T15:10:00.007-04:00

Oh I know that I haven't posted a dish since the farfalle last month. I do honestly have things planned (homemade pasta!) but have been busy this week with Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes. I figure that if I'm slacking here, I may as well link to my entries once a week.

Okay here's the weekly round-up:

Really though, I do have non-cookbook stuff planned. Have a great Sunday!

New Project!

2009-10-17T23:54:00.007-04:00

I just started a new group blog with five other awesome vegans. It's called Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes and we're basically going to cook and blog about recipes in Robin Robertson's latest book, 1,000 Vegan Recipes. It's a HUGE book that I think every vegan should get since it spans so many different cuisines and is chock full of information.

I thought about cross-posting entries here but I think that's a little repetitive. I'll still be cooking other stuff which will of course be posted here. Speaking of which, I just bought a pasta maker/roller thingy so expect some pasta posts in the next few days.

So check out the new blog!

Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes

Okay here's a teaser of the first thing I cooked from the book. Tempeh Satay. Go read about it!

Farfalle with Roasted Rapini, Tomatoes and Garlic

2009-09-19T00:19:00.007-04:00

A seemingly simple dish of farfalle tossed with margarine, salt & pepper and roasted rapini, cherry tomatoes and garlic. The vegetables were tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper and then oven roasted at 450F for about 25 mins.

Although it appears super simple, this dish was a little more complicated with subtle extras in the flavour profile.

I utilised two methods that I read about recently on the blog Ideas in Food (warning, blog is not vegan): roasting dry pasta and rehydrating the pasta in cold flavoured liquid prior to cooking. After I read these, I was intrigued and had to try it myself.

The idea behind the roasting is to give the plain pasta more flavour -- a subtle hint of roasty goodness. I don't know why this isn't more popular. After all, we pan toast Israeli couscous before using it and it's technically pasta.

Here I've roasted plain farfalle (not whole wheat) in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350F. I checked it every 5 mins and tossed it around for roasting. I probably could have roasted for 20 minutes but didn't want to burn it because once it starts roasting, it gets roasted pretty fast. Keep reading!

I let the pasta cool for a few minutes and prepared a simple hydrating liquid. I took a can of quality whole tomatoes, mashed it up a bit and strained the juice. I added salt and enough cold water for the amount of pasta needed. The idea behind hydrating is to enable someone to cook the pasta much faster later (soaked pasta only takes a few minutes to cook) which would be great for a restaurant or even a home pasta party. I was less interested in the cooking method and more interested in the flavour infusion. The neat thing is that with cold water, the pasta does not stick since the starches aren't released until heat is added.

Anyway, I let the pasta soak in the cold liquid for about 1.5 hours. This is how it looked like after soaking. Keep reading!

I drained the pasta and cooked it in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Then tossed it with margarine, salt, pepper and my roasted vegetables.

The verdict? I could taste the roasted flavours as well as tomato infused in the pasta but it was very subtle. At first I was a bit disappointed because I guess I expected more flavour. HOWEVER, the more I ate, the better it tasted and the more addictive it became.

Even though there are a few extra steps and this takes some planning, I will definitely do the roast & soak pasta methods again and play around more with deeper roasting and other soaking liquids.

Vegan Burgers... That Don't Fall Apart!

2009-09-13T14:50:00.009-04:00

There are two types of vegan burgers. The healthy beans/grains/seeds/vegetable kind and then there's the junkie solid patty kind. I prefer the latter.

Most vegans, regardless of burger preference, are always on the hunt for a burger recipe that doesn't fall apart and holds up to the grill or a pan. Some time ago I stopped buying store-bought burgers and buns (and bread) because of the cost, ingredients and taste. I've tried several burger recipes, but this one so far is the best (recipe for patties and buns follows). Here's a cross-section so you can see how compact the patty is -- almost like the commercial brands.

The recipe is not mine. I found it on this blog but it is credited to Bryanna Clark Grogan with, I assume, permission to repost (if I'm mistaken, please let me know) . So I am reposting with my own directions and commentary to (hopefully) make it easier to follow, with the credit to this blog and Bryanna Clark Grogan. It is a good base recipe and provides lots of room to customise to your tastes.

If you are going to make this, go ahead and double it and make 8 decent-sized patties. You can freeze them for later use. Also, it is a good idea to make these a day before you want to grill them. Because they need to cool completely before frying or grilling, it is a bit of a hassle to make the same day and then play the waiting game. If you are sensitive to sodium, cut the soy sauce in the cooking liquid. It really seems to permeate the outside of the patties.

Vegan Burger Patties

(Original recipe found here with credit to Bryanna Clark Grogan)

Dry Mix

2/3 cup vital wheat gluten
1/3 cup soy or chickpea flour (I used chickpea flour)
4 tbsp oatmeal / rolled oats
1 tsp dry marjoram
1 tsp onion powder

Wet Mix

2 tbsp soy sauce (I used Japanese soy sauce)
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp sesame seed oil (optional, I used dark toasted sesame oil)
cold water (enough to make 7/8 cup mixed with the soy sauce, sesame oil & ketchup)
1/2 cup dry TVP crumbles rehydrated in 1/3 cup boiling water and then cooled completely

Cooking Broth

1 cup hot water
3 tbsp soy sauce (cut back a bit if you are sensitive to sodium)
1/2 tbsp sesame seed oil (optional)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

Preheat the oven to 325F.
Mix the dry mix ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
Mix the wet mix ingredients in a separate bowl. Before you mix with the dry ingredients, make sure everything in your wet mix is cold or room temperature, especially the rehydrated TVP. If it is not cold or room temperature, then your final dough/mix will be stringy and unappealing.
Mix the wet mix into the dry mix and knead for a few minutes until the mixture starts to firm up. The more you knead, the firmer it will get since you are developing the gluten. The firmer the dough is, the less likely it will fall apart during cooking.
Form the dough into 4 equal sized patties and put them in an oiled baking dish that is big enough for them to remain one layer and high enough to accommodate the cooking liquid. If you have doubled the recipe, a little overlap is okay. I was able to fit 8 patties with a slight overlap in an extra larger glass lasagna pan.
Mix the cooking liquid ingredients and pour over the patties in the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. Take them out and flip the patties (be gentle because they are really delicate when half cooked), re-cover with foil and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. The cooked patties out of the oven should feel a bit firm in the middle but kind of sludgey on the outside because of the cooking liquid. If they still feel a bit doughy and gummy in the middle, throw it back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Even though they are firmer than when they were raw, they are still pretty delicate until they've gone through the cooling stage.
Set the patties on a plate or pan and COOL COMPLETELY in the refrigerator until cold, preferably overnight. They will be super firm when they are cold.
FINALLY, take your cold patties and fry them or oil them slightly and grill them.

Whew. That was a lot of steps, eh? Trust me, if you're into burger patties like Yves or Boca, this recipe is worth the trouble.

Oh right, I also promised you a bun recipe. The recipe I use for buns is my own combination of a bread recipe in this book and this bun recipe. I'll save my combo recipe for another day. For now, use the bun recipe and split the dough into 8 pieces for 8 buns.

Enjoy!

Grilled and Marinated Tofu Tacos

2009-09-01T23:39:00.008-04:00

Marinated and grilled tofu on top of homemade flour tortillas and topped with pico de gallo and a side of rice and corn. I know that corn tortillas are more authentic but I have a hell of a time working with masa harina.

The tofu was from my previous post and was marinated in a chipotle adobo citrus marinade and then grilled. The marinade was inspired by the Mexican Smoked Chile Marinade on Recipezaar with very minor changes. I used chipotles in adobo sauce (the recipe doesn't state in adobo but I assumed it was and also used about 8 chiles or so), no orange zest, and added in a few tablespoons of agave nectar for some extra sweetness because I was too impatient to reduce the citrus juices.

The tortillas were basically just 2 cups (white) flour mixed with some salt and 3/4 cup boiling water, kneaded and then formed into a ball and covered with plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Then it was split into 6 portions, rolled or pressed thin and then fried in a dry pan on medium until both sides are cooked and have some brown spots. This only takes a minute or so, depending on how hot your pan is. I didn't bother putting in any oil since we were eating them all in one sitting and not storing any. If you want a softer tortilla and will make extra for the next day, then definitely put in a little oil or vegetable shortening (1 to 2 tbsps should do the trick). Anyway, this wheat flour dough is a really basic dough that can be used for several different things like scallion pancakes, dumpling wrappers or even wheat noodles. Super easy, inexpensive and made with ingredients that pretty much everyone has on hand.

The pico de gallo is something I've been making regularly for the past month to take advantage of all the lovely CSA summer produce. It's just diced onion, tomatoes, red pepper, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of sugar. I would have put in cilantro but the boy doesn't really like it and we didn't have any on hand. Also, I generally go light on the jalapenos so that the heat doesn't overpower the sweetness of the other ingredients. So lovely and fresh that I sometimes just eat it straight out of a bowl like a salad.

This meal really tasted like summer. Such a shame that it's already September! Oh well, what can you do?

Lastly, here's a bonus photo of Smuckers. :)

TofuXpress!

2009-09-01T23:20:00.008-04:00

Look that lovely tofu. Nicely pressed and compacted with help from the TofuXpress. The result is firm and creamy without all that excess liquid.

I never really thought I would ever buy a tofu press since I really never pressed tofu when I would use it. I would just slice and drain and maybe squeeze out a little liquid and that's it. Then I spotted this post recently by everyone's favourite (and super hip) vegan grandmother, Bryanna Clark Grogan. Bryanna sang her praises for the TofuXpress and I knew I had to have one. It may seem a little pricey but if you eat a lot of tofu, it's worth it. You can't tell by the photos but the unit is well made and very sturdy.

I bought it on the website and a few days later it arrived. Here's a few photos.

Fresh out of the box.

With 1 package of Nasoya extra firm tofu. If you've had that brand, you know it's really not that firm.

After a few hours of pressing. Look at all the liquid!

Sliced and then sitting in marinade (see my next post). The container comes with a lid that you can slap on when you marinate or store in the fridge.

Anyway, it's a fantastic gadget that is well worth the money and is also very compact to store. If you're looking for a tofu press, this one definitely delivers. I can definitely see myself using it for pressing different things like TVP chunks, soy curls or pieces of seitan. If you're tired of pressing tofu the old fashioned way with plates and weights or paper towels or tea towels, do yourself a favour and get one of these!

For the record, I was not asked to review this nor did I get this for free. I bought and paid for it -- I'm just a happy customer. :)

Pizza!

2009-08-31T10:39:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you just don't feel like thinking about cooking and sometimes you need to clean out the fridge. Yesterday was a bit of both.

I had some sauce leftover, 1/2 a package of Cheezly. jalapenos and tomatoes that were super ripe and a few pieces of seitan. So, what better way to use it than to make pizza?

The pizza dough recipe is the No Rise Crust recipe from Recipezaar. I prefer a wetter dough so I cut back on the flour a little bit. Sure, it doesn't have a developed taste like long rising/fermenting doughs but it is quick, easy and pretty good.

So there you have it, a clean-out-the-fridge Sunday dinner. Fast, easy, tasty and so much cheaper (and tastier) than delivery.

Macaroni in a Cashew / Almond "Cheese" Sauce

2009-08-31T09:41:00.009-04:00

Macaroni in a cashew / almond "cheese" sauce with a side of sauteed beet greens.

I've been making a lot of cashew-based sauces lately and I think this is my favourite so far. It's a more delicate taste than your traditional heavy nutritional yeast sauces (I still like those). The reason why it doesn't look creamy is because this is a photo of the macaroni the next day after all the sauce has soaked in. The day of, it was beautifully creamy.

Anyway, here's the recipe I concocted. I'm not reinventing the wheel as there are so many cashew sauces out there and they are all pretty simple.

Notes: If you want a smooth sauce, pre-soak the nuts for a few hours, then drain.

For step two, if you have a large blender, then throw everything in. If you have a food processor though, ad the water gradually as I mentioned.

You can use just cashews if you want and you could probably cut the amount of nuts down too to a total of 1 or 1.5 cups since raw nuts aren't cheap.

Macaroni in a Cashew / Almond "Cheese" Sauce

1 lb macaroni, uncooked
yellow mustard (to coat cooked macaroni)

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and celery seed (to taste)
1 small red pepper, cooked until soft (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil (optional)
2-4 tbsps lemon juice (to taste)
4 cups water

Cook your pasta until al dente. Drain and toss with enough yellow mustard to lightly coat each piece and then set aside.
Put all the dry ingredients into your blender or food processor and process until it is a fine powder. For the seasonings, start with 1 tsp of everything except salt. For the salt, start with 1/2 tsp or go with 1 tsp if you like salt. 1/2 tsp probably isn't near enough but it's better to start undersalted and then adjust accordingly. You can adjust the seasonings later when it is simmering in the pot. When everything is processed, add in the optional red pepper, lemon juice and oil and process until the mixture is uniform.
With the motor running, slowly pour in the water, a little at a time and process until nice and smooth. Stop if your blender or food processor is getting too full (you can always add the rest of the water in the pot). Taste and adjust seasonings.
Put the entire sauce mixture in a large saucepan and heat on medium-high while whisking constantly. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Let the sauce cook until mixture is thickened
Mix the macaroni into the sauce and serve as is OR put into a greased casserole dish, top with breadcrumbs and bake at 350F until bubbly (15 to 30 mins depending on how you like your baked mac & cheese).

Hope you like it! Here's a bonus pic of sweet summer corn from our CSA.

Pasta Pilaf

2009-08-17T00:49:00.006-04:00

Is "Pasta Pilaf" even a correct term? Eh, I don't know and I don't care. :p

Anyway, I had a bunch of bits and pieces of produce that I needed to use up. I had originally planned on throwing them into an Aglio e Olio (olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes) spaghetti dish but I kind of wanted something a little different.

I had a box of baby shells that I was going to use for something else but it was perfect for a pilaf-type dish because of its small size. I love making pilaf with rice, couscous or orzo (and sometimes wheat noodles for a "saucy" noodle side dish) and thought that the baby shells would work well in this too.

I sauteed some onion, garlic, zucchini (which you can't really see), carrots and peas in olive oil. Then I added vegetable broth, herbs/spices, splash of Bragg's, chickpeas and threw in the shells until done with almost all the liquid absorbed. I topped it off with the last of our CSA tomatoes and parsley. Surprisingly, I eyeballed the broth and it was the perfect amount for the pasta. You want a little liquid left so that the pasta isn't totally dry. I'm not sure what the proper ratio is but maybe 1:2 pasta to liquid ratio? Something to look up online.

Anyway, it was super fast and easy to put together (about 20 minutes) and only one pot to wash. Really simple but really tasty. Give it a try!

Peach Cobbler

2009-08-17T00:30:00.007-04:00

Peaches are my favourite fruit. When I was a kid, my dad would get baskets of Ontario peaches from farmers' stands along the highway and I would eat as many as I could in one sitting. I love love love peaches!

Thankfully, we've been receiving quite a lot of peaches from our CSA and lucky for me, the boy (also known as the Mr. sometimes) doesn't care for peaches. More for me! My favourite way to eat peaches is just sliced when perfectly ripe, but I had about four that needed to be eaten today or cooked in something. While I love peach pie, I am absolutely terrible with pastry dough and I really didn't feel like going to the store to buy a pre-made crust. Also, I really don't ever bake anything aside from bread and never make desserts so I was kind of out of ideas aside from pie or jam. I ended up scouring Recipezaar for peach ideas and decided on peach cobbler.

I don't think I've even had peach cobbler or cobbler anything, but it sounded good and easy to make so I modified this recipe. Basically I doubled the peaches, cut the sugar and margarine and used more coconut milk in the dough/batter. Here's the slightly modified version:

Fresh Peach Cobbler

4 large fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup for the peaches and 1/2 cup for the batter)
1/4 cup vegan margarine, melted
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup coconut milk (you could use 3/4 soy milk)

Mix peach slices with half the sugar (1/2 cup) and set aside.
Pour the melted margarine into an 8" square or round baking dish.
Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and remaining sugar (1/2 cup).
Stir in the coconut milk until just combined. The consistency should be like a thick muffin batter. Well I don't know if it should be, but that's how mine was. Add more coconut milk if needed.
Put the batter over the melted margarine, smoothing out as necessary to cover the bottom of the pan.
Top with the peaches including any liquid that has been extracted.
Bake at 375F for 45 minutes.

I thought it turned out really well. The only reason why I used coconut milk was because I was out of soy milk. I think it added a nice richness to it and you really couldn't taste the coconut.

I had it both warm and cold and both ways were delicious! The top and sides were nice and crunchy and the middle under the peaches was cakey with some gooey parts due to the peach juice and margarine. It was so easy to put together with ingredients that I always have on hand and it totally tastes like summer.

ETA: You're going to see this blue plate a lot, not just because we're vegan, but because it literally is the only nice plate I own. The rest are cheapo white dishes from Target. :)

Pesto Fettucine & Roasted Eggplant

2009-08-14T22:41:00.002-04:00

More CSA produce to use up! We are almost caught up with our shares. All that's left right now are some beets, sweet candy onions, jalapenos and zucchini.

The pesto was made with basil, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, blanched almonds and nutritional yeast and then tossed with fettucine and fresh diced heirloom tomatoes.

On the side is eggplant tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and oven roasted until soft and nicely browned on top.

A simple but delicious dinner and so much healthier than that damn tomato pie from yesterday!

Southern Tomato Pie

2009-08-14T15:12:00.002-04:00

I love belonging to a CSA but sometimes we get so much of something that I need to branch out and try something new. This week we got a ton of tomatoes. I usually just drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, but I wanted to do something different and came across a ton of recipes for Southern Tomato Pie , not to be confused with local Tomato Pie.

I was intrigued by the simplicity of Southern Tomato Pie as well as the sheer fattiness of the dish. Basically it is fresh tomatoes, onions and basil in a full fat pastry crust and topped with a combo of cheese and mayo.

For my version, I used the classic Crisco crust recipe with vegetable shortening. I suck at making pastry so mine looks pretty thick. I prebaked the crust for 10 mins and then filled with layers of pre-salted and drained sliced tomatoes, sliced sweet onions, basil and black pepper. Then it was topped off with a combination of Daiya vegan mozzarella, Vegenaise and some chives for good measure. Then it was baked for about 35 minutes.

The verdict? Delicious but super heavy. Despite the fresh produce, the pastry and cheese and mayo will tip you over the edge into food coma really quickly.

I think this is the single most calorie dense and unhealthy dish I've made pre- and post-vegan! I think if I ever make this again, I'll make it more like a European savoury pie by skipping the topping. It was fun to make though and I think it was successfully veganised!

Roasted Fennel

2009-08-05T10:16:00.006-04:00

I hate the taste of licorice with a passion and I can only tolerate something like anise if it is a minor ingredient. As a kid, I routinely tried to like those licorice candy bits but to no avail. I hated it.

This week's CSA share had two bulbs of fennel. I almost swapped them for something else but I changed my mind because I'd never cooked with fennel before and was curious how it would turn out. I've been told that the licorice flavour becomes more and more subdued as fennel cooks. Because I hate licorice so much, raw in a salad was totally out of the question. I know that some folks put it in soup, but it's so damn hot here that one pot of soup a week is the most I can handle. I really couldn't think of what else to do but oven roast it. Oven roasting is my default for vegetables I've never cooked with or if I am out of ideas. It is actually my favourite way of preparing a lot of things like broccoli, cauliflower and squash. Easy and flavourful.

I cut up the bulb into manageable pieces (sort of looks like artichoke hearts, eh?), drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper & nutritional yeast and oven roasted at 450F for about maybe 25 mins (can't remember exactly how long) until it was tender, browned and caramelised. I then garnished it with a little bit of the fluffy green tops.

The verdict? It was pretty good with only a hint of licorice. Would I make it again? Maybe for guests who are fans of fennel but probably not for myself. It was fun experimenting though and I was still pleased with the results!

Cabbage & Barley Soup

2009-08-03T22:58:00.007-04:00

When life hands you cabbage, you make cabbage soup!

We've been inundated for the past month with cabbage from our CSA share. I had two more heads left after roasting some and making coleslaw so I decided to make soup tonight.

The soup contains cabbage, onion, garlic, carrots, celery and barley. The base is tomato juice and it is seasoned with a couple of vegetable bouillon cubes, black pepper, vegan worcestershire sauce, sugar, thyme and summer savoury.

I sauteed the aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, carrots) first and then added in the rest of the ingredients. 25 mins in my pressure cooker and it was cooked to perfection and tastes like it was simmering for hours. Yum!

One more head of cabbage to go!

Vegan Alfredo & Vegetables

2009-08-03T10:33:00.004-04:00

Vegan fettucine alfredo made with a cashew-based porcini & roasted garlic cream sauce and a side of oven roasted broccoli & cauliflower.

The sauce was simply blended cashews with water, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, garlic & onion powder and about 6 cloves of roasted garlic. I sauteed (rehydrated) porcini mushrooms in margarine and then added the cashew mixture and let that simmer until thickened. If you soak the cashews first in boiling water and blend for a long time and use soy milk instead of water, it will yield a much creamier sauce. I don't mind mine not entirely smooth though.

The broccoli and cauilfower were done how I always do roasted vegetables — tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs/spices and then roasted at 450F until nice and browned.

Hello, my name is ____ and I'm a carboholic

2009-07-31T22:35:00.011-04:00

I love bread. Always have and always will. There's absolutely nothing better than a fresh loaf of bread.

Above is one of two loaves I baked today. Sure, the crumb isn't all full of large irregular holes, but it does have the perfect "custard" crumb (see the shiny large hole to the left) and it's not as crusty as I would have liked (I was sort of rushing during shaping and baking) but it was delicious.

Since I had two loaves (shaped as boules), beautiful tomatoes & lettuce from my CSA and a package of Smart Bacon that I had forgotten about in the back of the fridge, tonight's dinner was vegan BLTs! The other loaf I'm saving for tomorrow to eat with fresh tomatoes, roasted garlic, olive oil and a splash of balsamic. Simple and delicious.

Basic artisan breads are almost always vegan since they are only supposed to contain flour, yeast, water and salt. Totally vegan soft sandwich breads are a little harder to find since they have all sorts of hidden ingredients that aren't vegan friendly or ingredients that are hard to tell whether it's from plant sources (e.g., mono and diglycerides). Even though they are harder to find, you can still find them but usually they aren't that cheap. Artisan breads? We're talking anywhere between $2 to $5 a loaf. Forget that!

Anyway, I stopped buying both types of bread ages ago because I couldn't justify spending the money on something I could make for a fraction of the cost. I have a lovely bread machine that I use to make soft sandwich bread weekly (a half whole wheat "buttermilk" loaf). It was a gift from my sister several years ago and I still use it to this day. As for the artisan loaves, I make them by hand. I've been experimenting with a few different recipes and techniques with delicious results. I started with the No Knead one but have graduated from that and now make bread using a combination of recipes and techniques from two great books: Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day and The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

If you bake bread or want to try, get both books. If you are a cookbook whore (looking at you Lisa!) or only like reading about bread, then get The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Bread making is a lot of fun and for most artisan breads, you really just need flour, water, salt and yeast. Forgot spending so much money on artisan loaves and give it a try. :)

Oh, the beautiful vegan plate was purchased from Jeanette Zeis of Vegan Dish. Beautiful beautiful stuff!

P.S. Bonus pic: Mr. Marbles.

Family Bonus Pics

2009-07-18T16:16:00.004-04:00

Ms. Shou Bidou and Shadow.

Grilled Tofu & Vegetables

2009-07-15T21:22:00.004-04:00

Grilled tofu with roasted broccoli & zucchini and a side of roasted red new potatoes.

The tofu was marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, braggs and Bryanna's broth powder and then grilled on my fancy George Foreman grill. I love that grill!

Is this thing still on?

2009-07-05T11:04:00.005-04:00

I can't believe it's been six months since I posted something. Time sure flies and apologies to anyone who posted comments but never got a reply from me. We've been super busy with life the past six months and recently relocated to the city of brotherly love.

On to the food. I spent yesterday trying to perfect seitan so that the texture is super soft and a little flakey and layered (if that made sense). Basically I am trying to mimic the seitan that is custom made for Horizons. I have had seitan very close to that before and it was the raw seitan sold in bulk at Essence of Life in Toronto (in Kensington Market). Super soft & tender texture when cooked but not spongey at all. I make seitan all the time with different textures for sandwiches, cutlets, etc., but nothing even close to that texture.

Attempt #1. Whole wheat flour & bread flour kneaded, rested and rinsed (and rinsed, and rinsed) and then, flattened and stretched with a bit of oil into irregular pieces and then slow baked in a broth made from water, soy sauce, bragg's and minced garlic. Texture was better than using vital wheat gluten but not even close to how I wanted it.

Oh well, I had to cook it up anyway so I marinated it in olive oil, salt, pepper, spanish paprika, onion & garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne, soy sauce, braggs and sugar for an hour or so. Then it was panfried and glazed with the reduced marinade and served on top of Israeli couscous pilaf with a side of asparagus. Even though it wasn't the texture I wanted, dinner was still delicous!

Stay tuned for more adventures in seitan making. In the meantime, here's a bonus Shadow pic from March.

Lentil Soup & Biscuits

2009-01-01T13:41:00.006-05:00

Happy new year!

I know I've been slacking but I'll try and actually cook some different things going forward. A lot of times I cook the same things from week to week which doesn't make for interesting food blogging.

Anyway, we're short on food in the house but I managed to scrape together enough for homemade soup and biscuits.

The soup is a tomato-based lentil soup with onions and tiny pasta. The biscuits are just really your standard biscuits with scallions thrown in and a slight twist. Instead of oil or shortening, I used Vegenaise which added the fat you need but also additional flavour and tenderness. Try it!

Here's to a new year which I hope will bring great things for everyone. :)

Sunday Dinner — Seitan Roast

2008-11-17T11:32:00.004-05:00

Seitan roast with a light salt crust along with mushroom & onion gravy, roasted broccoli and waaaay in the back are roasted potatoes. Perfect for a fall Sunday dinner.

Stew & Dumplings

2008-10-31T13:54:00.004-04:00

Stew made with vegetables and soy curls with herbed dumplings. Perfect food for fall.

As for the previous post, yup, the secret project is vegan Yorkshire Pudding and between the two of us, I think we've got it pretty close. When Lelly and I get the recipe perfect, then maybe we'll release it publicly. Maybe.

Project...

2008-09-16T20:45:00.003-04:00

What the hell is that you ask? I kind of don't want to say since I have no idea how close it is to what it's supposed to be.

I can say though that it was pretty good and it's beginning to be a little project of mine along with Vincent and Lelly. :)

"B" is for "Broccoli"

2008-08-24T20:30:00.006-04:00

Oven roasted broccoli and cherry tomatoes (from our garden) topped with crumbled Cheezly.

The broccoli and tomatoes were tossed with a liberal amount of olive oil, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast and then roasted in the oven (425F) for about 30 mins and then topped with crumbled Cheezly. Simple but delicious.

What's peeking out in the top right corner is some homemade mushroom gravy. Not pictured: slices of seitan roast and rice pilaf. I just wanted to focus on the broccoli for this post.

Roasted Okra and Jalapeño & Vegetable Gratin

2008-08-16T21:39:00.012-04:00

Oven roasted okra and jalapeño & vegetable gratin.

The okra was tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper and garlic powder and oven roasted until tender. The gratin had jalapeño peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, Teese, Tofutti better than cream cheese and panko breadcrumbs. There's also some mushroom pizza in the background (top left) that was leftover from yesterday.

I used about 10-15 peppers and didn't wear gloves when cutting/handling them. My hands were burning for a few hours. Tomato sauce (jarred) was the only thing that seemed to get them to stop burning.

Mental note: wear gloves when handling hot peppers or don't bother with them at all.

ETA: And pronounce it right, people! :D (thanks Vincent for the link)

ETA Again: Do try oven roasted okra. Not as good (IMHO) as breaded and deep fried okra, but it's a lot easier and still super tasty.

Seitan "Parmesan"

2008-08-03T20:38:00.006-04:00

Seitan, breaded and fried with Cheezly "mozzarella" on top of spaghetti with homemade slow-simmered tomato sauce.

We had a ton of tomatoes to use up along with some green pepper, mushrooms and celery. I though that was the start of a great sauce so I chopped, seasoned and simmered until the sauce was thick and very reduced (about 2 hours). I didn't bother peeling or de-seeding the tomatoes because I don't mind the skins and seeds.

I whipped up a batch of seitan in the meantime to go along with it. We had some really crappy seitan yesterday (not made by me) so I wanted to made some good stuff today. I used Joy's basic seitan (tester) recipe with my own modifications and with Italian herbs and then simmered, chilled, breaded and fried it.

I literally spent all afternoon on this dish, making everything from scratch aside from the Cheezly and pasta noodles. Was it worth it? I think so!

Vegan Gumbo

2008-07-30T15:19:00.007-04:00

This weekend I was pretty much laid up on the couch due to some back pain (sciatica, not fun!) so the boy made me gumbo on Sunday night with his mom's recipe (we also had some okra kicking around). They lived in Lousiana for a time and he has some Cajun blood in him. His mom is not Cajun but apparently she made the best roux back then. Roux takes a lot of patience due to the constant stirring and let me tell you, she has the patience of a saint so no wonder why her gumbo rocked. :)

Anyway, It was the first time I'd ever had gumbo and I loved it! He substituted Field Roast "Mexican Chipotle" flavour vegan sausages for the Andouille. We both thought it added just the right amount of heat to to the base. As you can see, I doused mine with a lot more hot sauce.

Gumbo's not the prettiest thing to photograph and I suck at plating and lack the patience, but I had to get a photograph to show his mom (she reads my blog). He did a great job on this. :)

I think next time, I'll try my hand at this. I wonder if I'll have the patience for making a dark roux. Probably not, but it will be fun to try.

Breaded & Fried Seitan (Vegan Tonkatsu)

2008-07-20T20:59:00.005-04:00

I'm a seitan junkie so I love trying lots of different ones. The basic seitan recipe is a tester recipe for Joy Tienzo with a few of my own modifications thrown in. Texture was perfect: dense but not rubbery, tender but not spongy.

After cooking (simmering in broth), I let them cool in the fridge and then dredged the pieces in flour, soy milk and panko crumbs, then fried them and topped with tonkatsu sauce. On the side: mushroom rice pilaf and brussel sprouts.

Apricot Glazed Tempeh (variation)

2008-07-19T20:21:00.003-04:00

Tester recipe for Joy Tienzo.

The original recipe uses seitan but Joy wanted someone to try this with tempeh.

While still delicious, I think I much prefer it with seitan since the taste and texture of the tempeh tended to overwhelm the flavours of the glaze/sauce.

Hot Basil Eggplant

2008-07-19T13:20:00.003-04:00

Thai inspired eggplant dish — tester recipe for Joy Tienzo.

The dish was an excellent balance of sweet, savoury and spicy. I'm definitely making this again!

CSA Haul

2008-07-15T21:05:00.003-04:00

We didn't pick up as much as the last few times but we still got quite a lot of yummy produce! Oh, and that's Abigail licking Mr. Marbles in the background. :)

2 bags of green beans
2 bags of other beans/peas (not really sure what type — sort of a cross between a snow pea and a snap pea)
4 asian eggplants
1 bunch leek
small basket of cucumbers
small basket of tomatoes
3 orange/yellow tomatoes
2 small heads red cabbage
2 bunches swiss chard
2 bunches tuscan kale
1 large zucchini
1 small basket of white onions

Bonus Pics: Shadow & Abigail

2008-07-12T19:14:00.004-04:00

Pizza!

2008-07-11T13:16:00.003-04:00

I decided to make pizza for lunch today since the boy is also here "working from home." Actually he is doing a bit of work, so...

Store-bought crust (spelt), topped with green pepper, mushrooms and two types of Cheezly (mozzarella and white cheddar).

I think I mentioned that I bought TEN packages of Cheezly on sale a little while ago. I still have 6 packages left in the fridge!

Vegan Alfredo & Broccoli

2008-07-09T16:33:00.002-04:00

Lunch at the home office. Note the TV remote top right. :)

Vegan alfredo with broccoli. Inspired by the recipe here.

I didn't end up measuring anything threw this all together to taste: vegan margarine, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, some creamy Sheese, soy milk, nutritional yeast and topped with crumbled Cheezly and hot chili flakes.

Grilled "Cheese"

2008-07-08T13:10:00.003-04:00

Vegan grilled "cheese" — two different types.

Top: Creamy Sheese Garlic & Herb
Bottom: Cheezly Mature White Cheddar

The Cheezly was much much better than the Creamy Sheese

Buffalo Tempeh

2008-07-07T21:19:00.002-04:00

Tempeh based on the "wingz" recipe here with a few changes along with some homemade vegan ranch dressing.

Fettucine and Panko Breaded Eggplant

2008-07-05T20:50:00.004-04:00

Fettucine tossed with olive oil, garlic, oven roasted tomatoes, spinach, basil and hot chili flakes. Eggplant breaded with panko breadcrumbs and shallow fried.

For the oven roasted tomatoes, I cubed Romas but left the yellow/orange cherry tomatoes whole. Then I tossed liberally with olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic and some sugar. It went into a 425F oven for about 45 mins.

I know it's summer but I've been doing a lot of oven roasting lately!

Oven Roasted Kale

2008-07-05T13:52:00.008-04:00

Tuscan kale tossed with olive oil, dark toasted sesame seed oil, soy sauce, agave nectar and then roasted in the oven at 425F for about 10-15 minutes. Topped with sesame seeds.

I think this is my new favourite way of preparing kale. The kale gets a little crispy in parts and the rest is tender. Next time I'll let it roast a little longer to get crispier.

You can also see some grains of rice hiding under the kale.

Christmas in July

2008-07-02T21:41:00.003-04:00

Okay, not really but I decided I wanted a big dinner tonight so I made a Tofurkey roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans and homemade mushroom gravy.

It totally heated up my entire house with the oven on but it was worth it!

CSA Haul

2008-07-01T18:54:00.002-04:00

Our CSA haul this week includes*:

- 2 little baskets of tomatoes
- 3 cucumbers
- 4 white onions
- 1 melon
- 2 heads of broccoli
- 2 bunches of tuscan kale
- 2 kohlrabi
- 2 eggplant
- 2 green peppers
- 1 small green cabbage

* Nosy cat Annabel not included.

Seitan Roast with Agave Apples (Take Two!)

2008-06-30T20:52:00.004-04:00

Made this again with a few alterations. Delicious! Oven roasted cauliflower on the side and apple slices (kind of hard to see) at the top right.

The original entry is located here.

Macaroni Salad (and bonus pics)

2008-06-28T14:36:00.004-04:00

Macaroni salad made with various beans, chickpeas and vegetables in a vegenaise/italian herb dressing with a touch of dill, dijon and agave nectar.

And bonus pics: Shadow and Smuckers!

No food but keep reading!

2008-06-27T00:59:00.004-04:00

I don't talk much about animal rights issues on this blog (though I might start an AR blog as well if I have time) but I wanted to take the time to mention two things.

First, one of the gripes that a lot of vegan activists have had for quite some time is that we were lacking good leaflets/pamphlets that had a consistent message. Recently, two friends of mine have put together an excellent vegan abolitionist pamphlet in both English and French which can be downloaded as a PDF for free here. So print out tons of copies and start handing them out!

Secondly, Gary Francione just released his new book, Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation:

A prominent and respected philosopher of animal rights law and ethical theory, Gary L. Francione is known for his criticism of animal welfare laws and regulations, his abolitionist theory of animal rights, and his promotion of veganism and nonviolence as the baseline principles of the abolitionist movement. In this collection, Francione advances the most radical theory of animal rights to date. Unlike Peter Singer, Francione maintains that we cannot morally justify using animals under any circumstances, and unlike Tom Regan, Francione's theory applies to all sentient beings, not only to those who have more sophisticated cognitive abilities.

If you order from this page on Columbia University Press' website, it's 50% off until August 1st, so go buy it!

Kimchi!

2008-06-22T12:15:00.003-04:00

More kimchi fermenting.

3 jars of cabbage/radish kimchi and one small jar of radish kimchi. I need better jars because it's a pain in the ass to jam it into narrow mouthed jars!

Seitan Roast with Agave Apples

2008-06-22T11:57:00.005-04:00

Tester recipe for Joy Tienzo. On the side are some simple roasted potatoes.

This dish was delicious!

Holy Trinity Mac & "Cheese"

2008-06-21T13:23:00.007-04:00

As vegans, we're lacking good vegan cheeses but out of all of them, the "holy trinity" are Cheezly, Sheese and Teese. I like all three of them and thought, "hey, I should make macaroni with them all in it!" So I did and it is awesome. It is really the closest thing to the death* counterpart I've ever had.

This is not the healthiest recipe and it's not cheap (unless you found a great deal on the "cheese") but I think it's worth it to make once in a blue moon.

Oh, and I get all three of them online from Pangea.

Holy Trinity Mac & "Cheese"

Serves 4 to 6.

1 lb macaroni - uncooked
1 - 3 tbsp yellow mustard (enough to lightly coat pasta)
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
1/2 - 1 tsp black pepper
3.5 cups unsweetened plain soy milk
1 package Cheezly Mature White Cheddar - grated
1/2 package Cheezly Mozzarella - grated
1/2 package of Sheese Smoked Cheddar - grated
1/2 package of Teese - grated
1 tsp salt (optional)
1 tbsp soy sauce / tamari (optional)
breadcrumbs and/or nutritional yeast (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and oil or "butter" a large casserole dish/pan.

2. Cook macaroni until al dente. Rinse under cold water, drain, coat lightly with yellow mustard and set aside.

3. Melt margarine over medium heat and whisk in flour, paprika, parsley and black pepper. Let it bubble for a minute or so and slowly whisk in the soy milk until well incorporated. Continue whisking constantly and heating until the sauce thickens a bit.

4. Add the grated "cheeses" and allow to melt while stirring (don't let it burn!). Taste and add in optional salt and tamari to taste.

5. When the sauce is smooth and everything is melted, turn off heat, mix in the macaroni and put it all in your prepared dish/pan.

6. Top with breadcrumbs or a light coating of nutritional yeast and bake for 30 mins.

* For any non-vegans reading, dairy cows are not only kept pregnant to produce milk, their male calves are taken away for "veal" and they are also slaughtered when their "production" levels fall. So yes, dairy = death. Propaganda, you say? The two sites linked are from the USDA.

Scrambled Tofu

2008-06-08T14:23:00.004-04:00

Scrambled tofu with green onions, summer squash, carrots and bok choy leaves. Tester recipe for Joy Tienzo's upcoming vegan cookbook.

The vegetable additions were mine since I had some of that stuff kicking around but the base recipe is delicious.

BBQ Seitan with Pasta Salad and Kale

2008-06-07T22:12:00.004-04:00

Comfort food!

The seitan recipe is from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. I love this recipe and make this about once every 2 weeks. It's so easy and almost every vegan has these ingredients on hand. I always double the recipe and also add in a few extra tablespoons of peanut butter. I think it gives it a better texture and a little more body to the taste. Instead of grilling it, I usually just slather with sauce, wrap in foil and throw back in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, just enough time for the sauce to start soaking into the seitan.

The pasta salad was made with tri-colour fusilli, mixed vegetables and beans and the dressing was made with vegenaise, italian dressing, dill, salt and pepper.

On the top left is some kale that was sauteed with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

The seitan baking in the oven made my entire house far too hot, but it was worth it.

Chajang Myun - Korean Black Bean Noodles

2008-06-06T21:54:00.006-04:00

When I was a kid, we used to buy instant Korean black bean noodles from the convenience store. I loved this stuff because it was different than any other noodles we'd have either at Chinese restaurants or at home. It was only until I was older that I found out that the instant stuff tastes nothing like the homemade stuff, not to mention that almost all the brands out there are *not* vegan.

Since I have been on a Korean cooking kick, I thought I'd give it a go and make it from scratch. I scoured various recipes and they were all pretty much the same so I thought I would wing it because I almost always cook by taste.

The first two attempts were (in my mind) total failures. I was sorely disappointed because my palate was expecting it to taste like the instant stuff I ate so much of before. I kvetched to my sister many times about it not tasting the same. I'm sure she was getting very tired of hearing about my black bean noodle woes. I thought I would give it another shot tonight and I kept in mind that it was not going to taste like the instant stuff and that I should just enjoy it for what it is.

The sauce was made from scratch with fermented black bean paste, seasoned bean paste, water, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, onion powder and garlic powder along with with carrots, bok choy, green onions, zucchini, soy curls and then thickened with cornstarch. I adjusted the seasonings as it was simmering and boy did it smell good and it was tasty too!

Now it still doesn't taste like the instant stuff but I really liked it. And you know what? I will make this again! :)

Penne with Rapini

2008-06-06T14:26:00.002-04:00

As you can see by the previous post, we have a lot of greens from our CSA that we need to use up over the next week or so. We already devoured the swiss chard and asian greens (no pics) and I used one of the bunches of bok choy for kimchi (ready in 3-4 days).

For the rapini, I used it in a simple pasta toss with penne, olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, white beans and hot chili flakes. The "sauce" was seasoned with just italian herbs, salt, pepper, sugar and a splash of balsamic. This is my favourite way to eat rapini and was done this way the very first time I had it many many years ago.

On the right side of the bowl are chunks of smoked cheddar Sheese. I was also going to toast some ciabatta I have in the freezer, but got lazy and didn't bother. :)

CSA Week 5

2008-06-03T20:56:00.002-04:00

What we picked up this week. Our CSA works on a debit system rather than a share system but this was quite a steal at $45. We would have paid way more than that at the local health food store!

swiss chard (2 bunches)
tuscan kale (2 bunches)
mixed asian greens (1 bag)
baby carrots (1 bunch)
zucchini (2)
summer squash (2)
green onions (1 huge bunch)
young garlic (1 head)
bok choy (2 huge bunches)
rapini (2 bunches)
conical cabbage (1)
baby cauliflower & leaves (1 bunch)
lettuce (1)

Jap Chae - Korean Stirfried Noodles

2008-06-01T14:16:00.005-04:00

I make no claims to the authenticity of this, but I think it's close to authentic. I cobbled it together from reading a bunch of different Jap Chae recipes in books and online. With almost everything I cook, I cook by taste so I don't have any measurements for any of the seasonings.

Also, I was lacking in a lot of vegetables so the picture above only has shiitake mushrooms, cloud ear fungus (aka black Chinese fungus or wood ear fungus), nappa cabbage green onions and garlic. The stuff on the right are homemade scallion pancakes.

The noodles are made with a specific type of Korean vermicelli made from sweet potatoes. I don't think it's advisable to try and substitute another type of vermicelli for it since the sweet potato vermicelli holds up a lot better than rice or mung bean vermicelli.

Jap Chae

- 1 pkg Korean vermicelli (sweet potato vermicelli)
- vegetable oil (for cooking)
- various vegetables (choose whatever you want): minced garlic, sliced yellow onions, diced green onions, sliced mushrooms (regular and/or shiitake), sliced cloud ear fungus, fresh spinach, chopped nappa cabbage, thinly sliced red pepper, thinly sliced carrots
- soy sauce (use Japanese soy, not dark Chinese soy)
- sugar
- salt & pepper
- toasted sesame oil
- mirin or rice vinegar
- gochujang (Korean red pepper paste, optional)
- toasted sesame seeds (for garnish, optional)

Cook noodles in boiling water until al dente (about 5-10 mins — check after 5 minutes). Rinse under cold water and drain well. Snip noodles into about 6" pieces (if you don't they will be too long and hard to handle). Toss with some soy sauce and sesame oil and set aside (it's easiest to use your hands to toss).
In a large pan, heat up the oil and throw in your various vegetables, some soy sauce, sugar, salt & pepper, sesame oil, mirin and gochujang (if using). While the vegetables are cooking in the seasonings, taste and adjust. You basically want to add enough of each ingredient to make a bit of a stirfry sauce because you'll be coating the noodles with the mixture. Taste-wise you want a good balance of all the ingredients to your liking.
When the vegetables are done to how you prefer, toss the noodles in and stir up everything well. Taste and adjust seasonings again during the stirring/tossing. It's pretty much done when the noodles are warmed up again, well coated and mixed and seasoned to your liking.
Remove from heat, plate and top with toasted sesame seeds.

Kimchi - Day 7

2008-05-25T13:30:00.004-04:00

Here's the finished kimchi a week later. I ended up letting it ferment for 4 days on the counter and then put it in the fridge.

The only thing I would change is to add some additional salt either with the brining liquid or the pepper mixture. Actually I'm going to add optional salt to the recipe now. Otherwise it is fantastic!

I have eaten a jar and a half so far. Better make some more!

Kimchi Update

2008-05-19T22:21:00.002-04:00

This is my kimchi now after a day of sitting out. I ended up putting it in two glass jars last night because the tupperware I was using wasn't 100% airtight.

As you can see, the cabbage has released a ton of liquid since yesterday. It should be ready sometime tomorrow or the next day. I've been reading that when tiny bubbles form at the top the fermenting process has started and it can go in the fridge.

Can't wait to taste it!

Cabbage & Radish Kimchi

2008-05-18T20:46:00.007-04:00

I *love* Korean food but as any vegan knows, it is one of the most vegan unfriendly cuisines out there. I miss kimchi a lot so I finally decided to make my own. Korean shops are pretty rare around these parts so I had to order my Gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder/flakes) from HMart (along with a ton of other stuff including red pepper paste for other dishes).

I tried a few months ago but did not have the proper ingredients — namely Gochugaru. Despite what others say, it can NOT be substituted! Anyway, that first attempt was a total failure. This is attempt number two and even though it hasn't fermented yet, I think this is going to be very tasty. It was hard not to keep munching on it when I was mixing it up.

The picture above is my version of cabbage kimchi with radish, green onions, garlic and ginger ready to ferment. My "recipe" is a combination of a bunch of different ones I've seen on the internet and in a couple of cookbooks. I included a range for amounts of the last few ingredients because everyone's tastes vary. Next time I'll probably add even more Gochugaru!

Cabbage & Radish Kimchi

1 large head nappa cabbage
salt water (ratio: 4 cups water + 1 tbsp salt) or 1/4 to 1/2 cup salt (see step 1)
1 small bunch green/spring onions, chopped
1 bunch mild radish, sliced (I used "easter egg" radish because I didn't have daikon)
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 to 2 tbsp sugar (to taste)
2 to 4 tbsp soy sauce (to taste)
2 to 6+ tbsp gochugaru (to taste)
salt (optional, to taste)
water

Clean and chop cabbage into 2" pieces and place in a large bowl and use either the less salty or saltier method.

For a less salty kimchi, cover the cabbage with salt water mixture and weight cabbage down with a plate so that it is completely submerged. Leave out for 4 hours.

For a saltier kimchi, sprinkle the kimchi with 1/4 to 1/2 cup salt and mix well. Leave out for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Drain and rinse cabbage well and squeeze out as much water as possible. Toss with the green onion, radish, garlic and ginger.
In a bowl, mix the sugar, soy, gochugaru, salt (optional, to taste) and a little water so that it becomes a medium-paste (not too thick and not too thin). I used about 4 tbsp of gochugaru in the picture above but then later added 3 more tbsps (I like things spicy!). Mix the paste with the cabbage mixture until every piece of cabbage is coated. Taste a piece and adjust seasonings accordingly. If it's too salty for your tastes, add some extra water.
Put the cabbage mixture in a tupperware or large jar and cover tightly. If you prefer your kimchi "fresh" and unfermented, you can eat it now or put it directly in the fridge. If you like kimchi more traditional (i.e., fermented), then leave out at room temperature for 2 to 4 days to ferment and then put in the fridge. Fermentation depends on temperature so the warmer it is, the faster it ferments. When you see tiny air bubbles in the kimchi, it means it's fermenting so depending on your room temperature, it might take only 2 days or 4 days.

Enjoy!

Victory Farms CSA - Week 2

2008-05-13T20:44:00.005-04:00

This year we joined the Victory Farms CSA. Their CSA works a bit differently than what you would normally expect with a CSA. How theirs works is that the season (which started last week or the week before) costs you $500 in total but you get $600 credit. You can show up at one or all of their three weekly spots and just pick what you want and they debit your account. Their selling prices are *very* reasonable and already much cheaper than the local health food store for local organic produce. I actually think I prefer it this way so that I can choose what I want, when I want and I don't get stuck with something I dislike in the "share" system.

The first week we picked up mixed asian greens, tuscan kale, green onions, white radishes and lettuce. We still have lettuce and radishes and they're still fresh and unwilted after a week.

This week we picked up some more tuscan kale (2 bunches), mixed asian greens (2 bunches), swiss chard, spinach and kohlrabi. I'm planning on having the kale with white beans and pasta, the swiss chard with BBQ seitan & mashed potatoes and the asian greens in bibimbap. The spinach will most likely end up as salad. Not entirely sure what I will be doing with the kohrabi but I'll figure something out.

The cats of course weren't part of the pickup. They're just being nosy. From left to right: Mr. Marbles, Abigail and Smuckers.

I'm hoping that the weekly produce pickup will inspire me to cook again!

ETA: For those of you in Toronto looking for something like a CSA, check out Food Share's Good Food Box, Front Door Organics or Green Earth Organics. I used to get the WOW Box which I *think* is now Wanigan. Anyway, those are the ones I know of and there's also the option of farmer's markets with a new one in my old stomping grounds of Trinity Bellwoods Park!

A Chinese Dinner

2008-04-04T23:26:00.006-04:00

Mushroom congee topped with green onions and Chinese preserved vegetables along with a tofu and green beans stirfry and Chinese crullers on the side.

I rarely cook Chinese food. I think it's because even as a vegan in Toronto I was able to get awesome authentic Chinese food easily. Authentic stuff is very hard to find here. Everything is seasoned with too much salt or it's too sweet or it's too oily or all of the above. Having said that, I still get vegan Chinese takeout here almost once a week because I never cook Chinese food. WTF is wrong with me? :)

Anyway we went to the Asian market last weekend and I spotted Chinese crullers in a package (they are pretty much always vegan even if you see them not in a package) so I bought some and decided to make congee to go with it.

If you've never had congee, it's basically a savoury rice porridge and you can top it with whatever you want. Mine was cooked with vegetable broth, sliced shiitake mushrooms and a bit of soy sauce. My parents would make congee every so often on weekend mornings (it's a breakfast food really) and always bought fresh crullers to go along with it. No one makes their own crullers if they can buy them. It's just too much of a waste of time and messy (they're deep fried in a ton of oil) to do so people just buy them at the market. They are excellent dipped in congee or with hoisin sauce. My sister has them with ketchup. :)

This was a nice change for dinner along with the stirfry and the taste of the congee brought back a lot of memories.

Pizza Bread

2008-03-29T14:05:00.003-04:00

My sister has been bothering me to update, so here was my lunch today. Also a hello and wave to my mother-in-law who reads this blog too. :)

Pizza bread made with Follow Your Heart "cheese", tomato sauce and chiffonaded baby spinach on top of rosemary olive oil bread and then put under the broiler for about 5 minutes. The bread was store bought bakery bread, tomato sauce was from a jar. I pretty much didn't make anything from scratch.

I would have used Sheese for the pizza bread, but due a brain-freeze, I accidentally got my package from Pangea shipped to my friend Jenna's house. Oops. I would have also used Teese instead but still waiting for them to fill my order. In the meantime, Follow Your Heart will have to do.

I've been pretty uninspired the past few months but hopefully I'll get more motivated to cook interesting things soon. I just bought a bunch of new cookbooks with more to come so maybe they will give me a kick in the pants to cook more. Or, maybe not. We'll see!

Yes, I have been cooking, but...

2007-12-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

I've pretty much been cooking the same things lately. My xmas dinner was pretty much a duplication of our Thanksgiving meal, so no photos of that either!

Also I've been wearing my glasses for the last 2 weeks or so (my corneas are irritated) and I have real problems trying to take photographs with my dSLR while wearing glasses. So, no photos!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Orzo Pilaf

2007-12-08T16:05:00.001-05:00

This pilaf was made with a bunch of stuff that I wanted to use up — orzo from the cupboard, tomato paste in the fridge and vegetables in the freezer. If you've never had orzo, it's a nice change from rice. It's technically a pasta but its size is a little larger than a grain of rice and it has a nice pasta "bite" to it. I would have added in some chickpeas as well but I didn't have any.

I actually paid attention to how much I put in, so here's my recipe:

Orzo Pilaf

1/4 cup of vegan margarine or olive oil*
2-3 cloves of minced garlic
2 cups uncooked orzo (16 oz bag)
4-5 cups of vegetable stock (or 4-5 cups water plus some bouillon cubes/powder)
3 tbsp of tomato paste
1 bag of frozen vegetables or whatever you have on hand
salt, pepper, parsley to taste

Heat the margarine or olive oil in a large saucepan on medium-high and add the garlic and saute for a minute or two (make sure it doesn't brown or burn).
Add in the uncooked orzo and let it soak up the margarine/oil as you stir it around.
Add in the vegetable stock, tomato paste, seasonings and vegetables. Stir a few times until the mixture comes to a boil.
Cover and let simmer for about 15 mins or so until the orzo is cooked. Check every 5 mins and stir to make sure things aren't sticking to the bottom. If the liquid is completely absorbed but the orzo isn't done yet, add a little more liquid. Taste, re-season and serve.

If you have a little bit of extra liquid in the mixture when the orzo is done, which is okay. You can always remove from the heat and let the pasta continue to absorb the liquid for a few more mins if you want. I didn't bother. Everyone's pots react a little differently with making rice or orzo so some people may need to adjust for more liquid and some for less. A lot of steam comes out of my pots so I tend to need to use more liquid.

* Okay, I admit I didn't use 1/4 cup of margarine, I used a 1/2 cup... but for the sake of others out there, 1/4 cup should be fine!

Sleepy Shadow

2007-12-06T23:26:00.001-05:00

Yes, I know, not a food photo. I've been a bit of a slacker lately and need to reply to comments as well as update my blog links! I haven't forgot about you folks who've commented. :)

Anyway, this week we pretty much had reruns of a lot of stuff which I've taken pictures of before (tempeh wingz, breaded and fried tofu and pizza) and I really didn't want to take photos of them again.

I leave you with this photo of my dog Shadow sleeping on one of the dog/cat beds (they all take turns) this afternoon. He's almost 13 years old and has been with me for 12 years. Best dog ever.

Chickpea Pasta Casserole

2007-11-28T20:52:00.001-05:00

Based off this recipe.

My changes include using silken tofu instead of soy milk, panko instead of potato chips, a full pound of pasta instead of a 1/2 pound and adding in peas and carrots, thyme, marjoram, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and a little bit of nutritional yeast to taste.

It didn't taste like a "tuna" casserole but it did taste a lot like any other sort of casserole made with a creamy sauce. It was very good and comforting!

"Cheesy" Vegan Lasagna

2007-11-27T13:06:00.001-05:00

Based off this recipe. I would have taken a better picture of the layers, but it's all gone now!

My changes: Used 1.5 cups of sliced baby carrots, bunch of sliced mushrooms, water instead of broth (but seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and oregano. Also put all the spinach on its own layer and only used 2 jars of pasta sauce (tomato basil sauce) and finally sprinkled more nutritional yeast on top.

It was yummy! I am pretty sick of my own lasagna recipe so this was a nice change.

Making a Killing

2007-11-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

I finally got my copy of Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, written by my good friend Bob Torres. Bob is also co-author of Vegan Freak with his (very awesome) wife Jenna Torres.

I don't normally talk about AR here (though I might start a new blog for that) but I've been really excited about this book since Bob first started talking about writing it.

Here's the AK Press synopsis of the book:

Suggest to the average leftist that animals should be part of broader liberation struggles and — once they stop laughing—you'll find yourself casually dismissed. With a focus on labor, property, and the life of commodities, Making a Killing contains key insights into the broad nature of domination, power, and hierarchy. It explores the intersections between human and animal oppressions in relation to the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. Combining nuts-and-bolts Marxist political economy, a pluralistic anarchist critique, as well as a searing assessment of the animal rights movement, Bob Torres challenges conventional anti-capitalist thinking and convincingly advocates for the abolition of animals in industry — and on the dinner plate. Making A Killing is sure to spark wide debate in the animal rights and anarchist movements for years to come.

More thoughts on this as I read the book. I strongly suggest that you pick up this book!

Vegan Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T11:53:00.001-05:00

This is my first official U.S. Thanksgiving here as a resident. I don't really care for the history of Thanksgiving — you know, the wanton slaughter of Native peoples, the disgusting consumerism, the slaughter of millions of animals, etc., etc. Thanksgiving in Canada is a much more subtle affair. Excuse for a day off really. I suppose there isn't a huge frenzy about it because it's not associated with shopping like it is here. The day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. is *THE* big shopping day of the year (sort of like Boxing Day in Canada).

But I digress... I suppose I should also say what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my husband (who's the best by the way), good health, being able to live a decent life without having to scrape by (been there, done that — trust me, it sucks), family, friends, the health of my companion animals (I had a rough time with that a couple of years back), and I am thankful for all the vegans out there who have made the compassionate and ethical choice not to participate in the exploitation of animals on all levels.

*climbs off soapbox*

What we have here is a Tofurkey roast with stuffing (glazed with agave nectar, orange juice and dijon mustard), homemade mushroom and onion gravy, glazed carrots, green bean casserole (based off this recipe) and mashed potatoes with green onions. It was delicious! After trying both Tofurkey and Celebration Roast now, I think I like Tofurkey better (taste and texture) but homemade seitan (Bryanna's recipes) is still the best.

I still have those stupid cranberry/apple/potato dumplings and Tofurkey gravy that came in the dinner kit box. I'm going to have them for lunch today. Hope they actually taste good.

ETA: Had the dumplings and gravy for lunch. The gravy was decent (mine is better though) but the dumplings were kind of... meh. It's like mashed potato with cranberries and apple in a perogie dough almost. I don't really like mixing sweet and savoury very often so I didn't really like the dumplings. What would be awesome is if they decided to change it to just a potato dumping (with more seasonings) and remove the cranberries and apple. Then it would be like... er... a perogie!

Vegan Irish Stew... and Spaghetti

2007-11-22T13:39:00.001-05:00

Vegan Irish stew made with TVP chunks, carrots, potatoes, celery, mushrooms and Old Rasputin dark beer. Recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan's, Almost No Fat Holiday Cookbook.

Yeah, I know it looks super "meaty". Trust me, it's all vegan though, down to the beer. The recipe calls for Guiness which isn't vegan but Old Rasputin dark beer is. Anyway, I am not sure why I thought I would like food cooked with dark beer since I hate dark beer. I guess I thought that the flavours would sort of blend to where I wouldn't taste it. But I did and I couldn't eat it. The boy however does like dark beer so he quite enjoyed this dish. I'll make this again sometime over the winter... but without the beer.

So I ended up making myself the other dish: spaghetti tossed with broccoli, hungarian hot wax peppers, mashed chickpeas, garlic, olive oil and salt & pepper. Simple but good.

Sweet & Sour TVP

2007-11-16T21:04:00.001-05:00

Sweet and sour TVP with broccoli, onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and red pepper. I sprinkled hot chili flakes / red pepper flakes on mine.

I've been trying to actually use my 60+ cookbooks here. I almost never use them so I am trying to make at least one recipe from one cookbook each week... starting this week. The base recipe is from Bryanna Clark Grogan's book Authentic Chinese Cuisine.

I soaked the TVP chunks in her suggested broth (soy, ketchup, water, nutritional yeast) instead of my usual plain vegetable stock and I think it added to the yummy flavour.

The dish wasn't too sweet (she has two recipes in there for sweet and sour, this is the first one) and pretty authentic — nothing like the crappy (overly) sweet & sour you normally get from restaurants. I also TRIPLED the sauce because I like a lot of sauce and because my chosen vegetables and amount of TVP I made far exceeded what she called for in the book.

My addition of tomatoes also really reminded me of my mom's tomato stirfry dish she used to make us so I think that was a good decision on my part.

Anyway, it was delicious!

Roasted Vegetables

2007-11-11T22:01:00.000-05:00

Roasted vegetables, stuffing and corn. The vegetables (red potatoes, broccoli, red pepper, onions, mushrooms and whole cloves of garlic) were drizzled with olive oil and mixed with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic & onion powder, thyme, marjoram and sage.

The roasted acorn squash was baked with Earth Balance, brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Seitan Roast with Rice Pilaf and Brussel Sprouts

2007-11-01T01:51:00.000-04:00

The seitan wasn't homemade, it was a Celebration Roast (1/2 size which is enough for 4 people with ample side dishes or 2 very hungry people) with packaged gravy. It was "okay". I mean, it was tasty but I make much better homemade seitan thanks to Bryanna Clark Grogan's awesome recipes! I also make a much better homemade gravy... but I was too lazy to make seitan from scratch or gravy from scratch.

The rice pilaf was made with mushrooms, onions, seasonings and vegetable broth. The brussel sprouts are my standard steam and then fry with olive oil, vegetable stock powder, Earth Balance, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Pizza!

2007-10-30T21:19:00.001-04:00

Made pizza for lunch today. Rustic* no-yeast crust, tomato sauce, Follow Your Heart "cheese", sliced mushrooms and Wild Mushroom flavour Field Roast slices. The Field Roast stuff is really good and (obviously) vegan.

It was delicious and I have more for tomorrow's lunch.

*"Rustic" as in I didn't feel like rolling it out properly so it wasn't even round.

Scorch

2007-10-29T16:13:00.001-04:00

No, not talking about scorching food... just pimping Heather's awesome artwork at her etsy shop. She's vegan and awesome, so go buy some of her stuff!

What are you waiting for? http://scorch.etsy.com

Lentil Soup and Rapini

2007-10-28T20:34:00.001-04:00

Lentil soup with tiny pasta (recipe from Vegan Italiano) and some rapini with cannellini beans and tomatoes on the side.

And bonus pics: Smuckers!

Spaghettini and Salad

2007-10-26T20:52:00.001-04:00

Spaghettini tossed with olive oil, garlic, diced red peppers and lots of hot chili flakes. It's not fancy or pretty but this is my favourite pasta dish of all time. Unfortunately the boy doesn't really like red peppers so... he had something else for dinner (TVP loaf and mashed potato leftovers from the day before -- no photos of that).

"Big Salad" with cubes of herbed tofu, tomatoes, cucumbers and romaine lettuce and balsamic vinagrette.

Moo Shu Tofu

2007-10-23T21:10:00.001-04:00

Moo Shu tofu with red peppers, onions, shiitake mushrooms in a (store bought) tortilla. Store bought vegan egg rolls on the right (they sucked).

Gemelli with "Bolognese" Sauce

2007-10-21T23:36:00.001-04:00

Gemelli with homemade "bolognese" sauce. Sauce made with TVP, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, plum tomatoes adn canned crushed tomatoes. Garlic bread on the side.

Still working on my white balance settings... it's getting better!

Seitan "Cutlets"

2007-10-16T21:52:00.001-04:00

Seitan cutlets and rice pilaf. Recipe for the seitan from Bryanna Clark Grogan's Vegan Feast newsletter. It was delicious! I also used her recipe for veggie broth powder (also in the newsletter) and I think I'm going to use that instead of bouillon cubes from now on.

The recipe uses quite a bit of firm tofu in the "wet" mix and I think it makes a HUGE difference in texture. It wasn't squeeky or rubbery or too stiff. The texture was perfect. It was a bit involved since you have to bake the seitan in the oven and then cool and then cook again (I grilled it) but it was well worth the effort.

(OT: I still need to work on the white balance settings on my camera... artificial lighting just looks crappy and I hate using flash)

Chunky TVP Stew, Okra & Biscuits

2007-10-13T16:55:00.001-04:00

This was a total comfort food meal for both of us. This was last night's dinner but we had it for lunch today too so here are the pics. New camera too (Rebel XTi)! I've been pretty busy and I'm still learning all the functions on it but I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's been about 3 years since I used an SLR so I need to refresh my camera knowledge again since this is a dSLR.

On to the food! Chunky TVP stew with potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, green pepper and hungarian hot wax peppers in a tomato base. I think Mindy would like this... Mindy are you reading? :)

Half the okra was breaded in a batter and the other half was batter and then panko. I like the ones with panko better. Homemade "buttermilk" biscuits on the side. This is only like the 4th time I've ever made biscuits and I'm getting better and better at it each time. I never made biscuits before moving here. Biscuits aren't really a big thing where I'm from originally (downtown Toronto). I do love them though. Next time I make them I'm going to have "sausage" and white gravy with them.

And a bonus pic from last week... SHADOW who is truly the best dog in the world. No really, he is!

Gnocchi

2007-10-09T20:42:00.001-04:00

Gnocchi in a tomato "cream" sauce with mushrooms (portobello and oyster), parsley, sage and thyme. Roasted asparagus and dinner rolls on the side.

Tempeh Wingz

2007-10-04T20:57:00.003-04:00

Yes, I finally updated. I didn't bother to put everything in the actual dates of the dinners but anyway, enjoy!

For the latest entry, these are delicious tempeh "wingz" with mashed potatoes and corn. Recipe for the "wingz" from Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk. Go buy her zine!

Faux Fish

2007-10-04T20:57:00.001-04:00

Faux fish from the asian market with mashed potatoes & chives and corn. We had some in the freezer. Great for quick meals. Just defrost and grill or fry.

Pasta

2007-10-04T20:56:00.003-04:00

Fusilli tossed with sundried tomatoes, garlic, cannellini beans and olive oil.

TVP Loaf with Potatoes & Green Beans

2007-10-04T20:56:00.001-04:00

TVP loaf with roasted potatoes and green beans. The awesome recipe for the TVP loaf is from the book Cozy Inside. Go buy her book!

Fettucine Alfredo

2007-10-04T20:55:00.003-04:00

Yummy vegan alfredo. A regular request from the boy. His other favourites are lasagna and tempeh sandwiches.

On the side is bruschetta with tomatoes and fresh basil from our garden.

"Big Salad"

2007-10-04T20:55:00.001-04:00

I love making big salads though I can never finish them. Those cubes are herbed tofu. If you've never had extra firm tofu in salad, try it! I've been doing this for years and it adds a nice texture to your salad.

Faux BLT & Potato Patties

2007-10-04T20:54:00.001-04:00

Faux BLT sandwiches with mashed potato patties.