Unhealthy Vegan

Late Night Snack: Curry Caramel Corn!!

2012-01-26T16:51:00.000-08:00

ZOMG!
Let me just say, this may be some of the best stuff I've ever tasted. I was checking out Choir Queer's Recipe and asked them if they've ever tried it without the coconut (being lazy, I didn't want to open a can for a tablespoon or two). Choir Queer advised me to try it and then let them know, so I did!

The recipe below is almost the same, and Choir Queer offers a lovely step by step photo guide along with their recipe at there blog: Here.

ETA: I've just been informed the original inspiration came from peas and thank you!

That version looks super fancy and tasty, but my kitchen being what it was I made a few changes.

Salty, Spicy, Curry Caramel Corn!

plain popcorn popped with you prefered method
1/2 or more sesame seeds
3 heaping TBS Margerine
Splash of Sesame oil (I a tiny drizzle left)
1 large tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp of fine salt
1/3 cup of brown sugar + 2 table spoons
Splash of maple syrup
Coarse sea salt, Fresh ground black pepper and cayanne

Pop your corn however you like. I have two main ways, the lazy way: take a brown paper bag, handful of corn, fold the bag over and microwave with the popcorn button. Or the old fashioned way on the stove: Coat the bottom of a pan with canola oil, heat over medium high until glossy, add enough corn to make a single layer on the bottom. Turn heat down to medium, and shake the pan until the corn pops. Once you've done your corn, toss it into a bowl and rinse you pan (or grab a pan or microwavable dish if you don't have a stove).

With your pan over heat melt the margerine and sprinkle in your sesame oil if using. Stir until combined over heat, then shut off the heat. Now grab your brown sugar and dump into the pan stiring until it melts. Add your curry powder, fine salt, mapple syrup and a dash of cayanne if you want it creamy.
Once sugar melts turn heat to medium and continue stiring over heat until it bubbles and is fully combined 3-5 minutes. Mine kinda looked like those candy making videos with lots of bubbles and if you push some up on the pan it slides off easily. Remove quickly from heat and toss over popcorn, toss in your sesame seeds and toss to coat.

Continue tossing until you can get it evenly coated or mixed around. While the caramel is still tacky sprinkle your coarse sea salt/grey salt, grind pepper and add your cayanne (if you didn't put it straight into the sauce). Keep tossing to coat.

Eat all at once and feel fancy!

Alternatively you could try using garlic powder, chili powder or other savoury flavours into the sauce or corn. This would also make a pretty nifty house warming gift!

I have saved Veganism! (Potentially): The theoretical vegan flapjack

2011-11-06T04:44:00.001-08:00

I just had a brilliant idea, which seems like it will almost work (being unable to get to the health food store to buy coconut oil and test my theory, I figure I'd run it by the ppk) Vegan Flapjacks.

FlapJacks are some what of an obsession of certain people, essencially they boil down to pancakes cooked in bacon grease (kinda gross when you say it out loud).

So for the vegan version, I was thinking of melting some coconut oil as its a rich fat that is solid at room temperature like bacon grease. It's also known for going a bit crispier than the traditional oil.

For the bacon-y flavour I was thinking a hickory smoke and some soy sauce, possibly garlic or some other flavour.

Ideas thoughts? Food science ?

Use your rice cooker: 1 pot meal ideas`

2011-11-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

Chow took on a similar view to the mexican rice I made.

Check it ou:

VEganmofo! Apple Pie Smoothie from Chow

2011-10-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

Veganmofo: Chow foods Cute hummus Appetizer!

2011-10-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

Veganmofo; HRM Hidden Gem: Formosa Tea House

2011-10-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you have probably heard me take place in Darthmouth Bashing. It happens, the bridge thou shall not cross etc. However, let me tell you about a magical Vegan Heaven that exists across the bridge of doom.

Formosa's Tea House.

This place specializes in Vegetarian Foods, ingredients are listed on the menu so vegan items can be found out. They import all kinds of funky fake meats and their portions are huge for the prices.

Plus they have tea! Lots and lots of tea and other gifts.

Their snack menu contains a million different Vegan Delights, dumplings steamed or fried are my favourite. Mock Ham, Cabbage, Mushrooms, Tofu and all kinds of goodness lurks inside. Plus Vegan Oyster Sauce. Amazing.

They do Wontos, soups and curries. Steam buns of all kinds (many vegan ones like the BBQ Bun and Red Bean).

We had a mini vegan party to celebrate Blake Graduating. I forgot again to take photos, too busy eating Sorry!.

Here's my Vegan Red Curry Mutton with rice (all meals have rice or noodle option).

And the 20 dumpling order we split around the table, this is half way through the feasting is up top.

The owner is adorable and amazingly helpful, our tea is always re-steeped and he does the neat Green Tea Pouring with the ceramic shots and encourages you to try it.

You can also get their meals tax free and frozen to go. And the offer complimentary candies and fresh fruit with your meal! One of my new favourite places.

Veganmofo: Halifaxs Eats Backlog Sushi style!

2011-10-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

I have some older mofo photos for you from earlier this month when my friend Geoff came to town and we hit up B-Well Sushi Cafe. One of the best things about this place is there prices, all the rolls are around 4-6$ including dragon rolls. Mind you they do up all their rolls in smaller pieces, but they list exactly what is and is not vegan on their menu and their sushi pizza is amazing!

Very good place to relax, sip coffee or tea and enjoy some light tasty Japanese food.

I sadly forgot to photography all of the meal so I wound up missing some goods like the adorable and super tasty sushi pizza. But I did manage to get this shot of some rolls, so not all was lost.

They also added some new menu items like iced plum wine and udon bowls which can be made vegan. Mine accidentally came with imitated crab, but everything else was amazing.

It's one of the few places were getting an assortment of vegan style rolls won't break your bank and Edamame is 3$ instead of 5$. I love, love, love Edamame but somehow paying 4$+ turns me off it every time. So I enjoy getting an order or two while I'm here.

They also have wifi so you could get some work done or hang out for longer.

I believe The right is the Yam Tempura and the left is a veggie delight roll with Kanpyo, shitake, cucumber, avocado and possibly some other tasty stuff.

Overall for clear menu marking and pricing, B-well is a great place they also offer soy so you can get Matcha Lattes or amazing ginger tea. Be sure to ask about the lattee mix, one has dry milk but I always forget which.

Sadly their Salad Dressing and Miso Soup are not Vegan, but Props for writing that on the menu and labelling vegan items as Vegan. The one thing I hate about hitting new or haven't-been-here-in-a-while sushi places is remembering what comes with bonito, what has Dashi/fish stock and whose dressing is mayo based etc. Clear menu labels make B-Well super accessible and their selection goes beyond the simple cucumber roll without breaking the bank.

Veganmofo: lazy baking

2011-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Been a bit of a lazy day, but before I headed off to class last week I whipped up a batch of Banana bread from 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Like a good banana bread this one came together easily and quickly with lots of down time. The result was a soft subtly sweet centre and light crust. Great morning snack!

Sadly I had no walnuts to ad and didn't feel like chocolate chips. Eat Warm with Earth Balance and cold coffee.

Veganmofo: Squash Ribz time!

2011-10-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay in posts midterms and life has been kicking my butt. I have been eating and photographing though, so expect some food porn to appear eventually.

But enough about excuses, today is about ribz! My awesome Vegan Pal Blake was down for a week and made plans to make his famous ribz, unfortunately we got side tract with other adventures and never got around to it. This is one of those recipes someone talks about, but they don't really have a recipe for it. Here are his instructions to me and I'll give you some precise details about what I did and how.

Blake's explination: no recipe. I wish make BBQ sauce while I cook thin strips of squash to get them all crispy (coconut oil/butter works best), cover in sauce then cook some more.

So with his words of wisdom in mind I set off to slice my squash

Blake's Acorn Squash Ribz

1 Acorn Squash

2 Tbsp Olive Oil (I don't have coconut butter sadly)
1 clove garlic
1/3-1/2 BBQ Sauce (I got lazy and used some old stuff, I imagine Tequila Cherry from this post would work great though!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice ribs along indents in squash, space across your baking sheet, use a basting brust to coat the squash in oil on all sides. Bake for 30 minutes, turn over and bake another 30 minutes until crispy.

While the squash bakes, sort through the guts to remove the seeds. I'd recommend popping them into a dry or lightly oiled skillet with some coarse salt and chili powder to snack on because these ribz are gonna take a while. If you don't have BBQ sauce laying around, you could also prep that and sides while the ribz cook.

This one was baked directly on the rack

Once the squash is crispy and cooked through, bast with BBQ sauce (liberally!) on both sides and bake at 450-500 for another 10 minutes, flip and re-baste and bake again until the sauce is caramelized. I feel as though continuing this process earlier on with numerous flips/bastes would produce even better results, but these came out great. Extra points for a broiler finish.

Serve with your choice of sides, I did mashed potatoes and steamed veggies!

Veganmofo: Autumn's Seed roastin

2011-10-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

Autumn is a great time of year, brilliant colours, bounty harvest of produce and above all Squash, Pumpkin and more Squash.

Veganmofo has been going crazy for pumpkin recipes and it's only fitting. These babies are cheap and boy do they scream fall when you bite into cupcakes, pies, pastries, doughnuts, biscuits, soups, stews, roasts and anything else infused with this orange goodness.

As you will likely be gutting all kinds of these seed filled gems, I figured I do a quick post on how to prep your seeds for roasting and eating.

Gut your squash. Spoon all the stringy seedy mess into a light mess straigher.
Running warm water over the mess, squish with your hands to seperate the seeds form the orange muck.
Remove orange muck into compost and continue rinsing until seeds are clear and clean.
Allow seeds to fully dry.
Pre-heat a cast iron skillet with a light coating of oil.
Add dry seeds and toast over medium high heat 5-10 minutes or until browned. Tossing with seasoning of choice. Splatter guards are your friend!

And Voila! super tasty snack to munch while you wait on the squash/pumpkin.

Seasoning options include

coarse sea salt
dill and thyme (and salt)
Coarse pink and black pepper with salt
Chili powder, paprika and garlic salat
Cinnamon and sugar, finely ground
Cinnamon sugar and cayanne
Cajun mix
Cumin, Coriander, Salt, ground mustard seed and curry powder
Oregano, thyme, sage, poultry spice and vegan-chicken-stock-powder
Nooch, salt, paprika and garlic

But don't limit yourself to the list! Try all kinds of combos!

Note: these can also be baked, sans oil at 400 but watch them carefully!

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole (or banana, apple, other fruit)

2011-10-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

The original Recipe is from Vegan Brunch by Isa, amazing book and worth your hard earned money.

This recipe is great for when you have some stale or dry bread that is past it's prime. Because this recipe is the my lazy vegan version, you can use any old bread or an assortment of breads. No matter how old, dry, stale, hard, broken or decrepit it is, because instead of perfect slices our bread is going to be cubed, torn and shredded. I also made sure to save and add all the bread crumbs I had laying around, so dump out those bags and scrap your cutting boards! Waste not, want not.

This recipe is all about using what you already have, so experiment and substitute to suit your needs. If you don't have pumpkin try squash, banana, fruit compote, sweet potato, apple sauce. Anything!

What you will need:
Baking Dish
Bowl
Cutting Board

Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin (alternative, depending on what you have could be apple sauce, compote, mashed bananas)
1 cup almond milk (or any other vegan milk)
2 T corn starch (again, it you like potato or other starches use them)
2 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
two shakes of all spice
optional: Earth balance for buttering the baking dish and dotting the top
Optional add ins: Anything you have laying around, nuts (whole, broken, ground), coconut, dried fruit, chocolate chips, oats, flax seeds, this is your dish and it is about using what you have.

Add ins can either be mixed with pumpkin mixture, or tossed with the bread, or even sprinkled over top of the dish! Whatever you want.

a little liquid from jarred ginger or a little bit of grated fresh ginger (again, this is to taste so for stronger bite add more)
expired bread, I had a good 3/4 loaf but you could round this out with fresh bread, all bread crumbs or any bread like items you have around.

Dice your bread into bite sized cubes or tear into chunks if using soft bread save all end pieces, crumbs, fluffy bits and odds and ends. Set aside.

Mix everything else together in a bowl and preheat your oven to 350.

Place all your bread into a shallow rimmed baking dish (you can use a casserole dish or deep dish, this will result in a softer casserole. As the pumpkin mixture is pretty wet, and depending on how hard/dry your bread is you may want more layers to keep in moisture.) Since I like mine less-moist and a little crispy, I'm using a shallow baking dish so my bread is effectively in a single layer.

Pour pumpkin mixture over bread and let sit until oven is ready, the longer it sits the more it absorbs and the softer it gets. So depending on the tough/dryness of your bread and your preference for soft/pudding style eats you may want to let it sit longer.

Alternatively you can prepare this and place it in your fridge to dish out smaller amounts to cook on an as needed bases. Or even fish out your bread cubes to fry, traditional French toast style throughout the week. MMM

But since I'm being lazy, I'm just gonna plop the whole mess in the oven and not let it sit very long. About 12 minutes, stir let it sit another 12, then bake.

Baking time was around _____, again if you'd like a more pudding style dish you could stir/mix it as it cooks and reduce the cooking time.

Voila!

Serve alone, dusted with sugar, spices, citrus zest, berry sauce, syrup, ice cream or w/e.

Veganmofo: Diaya

2011-10-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

So it's only been very, very recently that Diaya has become available here and more recently that it has made it's way into the normal grocery stores. But since that has happened the 24/7 shop has it on sale almost all the time (only 1$ off, but still). Whenever i'm there I stock up, since my first bag of Diaya the one and only thing I've ever really made has been Mac-N-Cheese.

The one form Diaya's website here

Try this delicious gluten and dairy free recipe by Daiya fan Dawn Grey in Lawrence, KS.

Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 30 mins

8 ounces gluten-free or regular pasta, any shape
3 cups Daiya style Shreds
3 tablespoons vegan butter
2 cups unsweetened (soy / rice) milk product
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup gluten-free bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ cup vegan parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain thoroughly when done. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare the cheese sauce while oven is warming. In a small pot melt the butter. When melted, add the pepper and nutritional yeast.

Stir in the milk or crème product. Add the cheddar, and cook over low/medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Stir in the macaroni and mix together. Transfer to an 8x8 casserole dish. Top with the bread crumbs and paprika. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered, or until the cheese is bubbling and top is starting to brown.

For health purposes I served this with a salad and some lame bottled dressing from the fridge. Because if I'm going to eat salad it's normally just to round out a meal, because sometimes a salad is just a salad. Usually if I pick up Diaya the rest of this comes together with stuff I have on hand and if I happen to luck out and have a bag of salad greens or some lettuce, I'll do a salad on the side.

Veganmofo Hump Day!: Flash mob!

2011-10-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

That's right it's mid-mofo time! To celebrate, we're taking part of the Veganmofo-Hump-Day-Flash-Mob and promoting fellow vegan artist Leslie Hall in all her Gem-glory!

She's written a song for the occasion which you can listen to on Kittee's site here: Click me!!

So rock out to her new tune and check out more amazing videos on her site!

Lyrics, because they are just too awesome:

I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you. But if it's raised in a cage, and it can't even move, if it's hormone filled and in a bad mood. I'm gonna pass on that. Reach for something better. The only milk I'll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they're cooked and grown with love. So give a chef who knows what's up a hug. Momma just can't seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I'm much healthier, they just say that it's all lies. But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly. Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed. Don't take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger. I like it! We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies. 'Cuz I wouldn't want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age. Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces. Never met my mother, raised by machines. Never get sunshine never get green, but that's just me. [That girl loves fruit leather.] So ask us what we're eating. Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice. With a slice of tempeh, yes, I'll have that twice. Don't forget the legumes!

Veganmofo: Sald Expose!

2011-10-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Ok Mofo-ers, this is a rare occasion around these parts but I'm going to do an expose on salads. Yes, that is right, greens and raw vegetables in all their vegan supposed glory.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of salads as most of you know, but there are few things that for me make salads both palatable and worth eating. So let me break this down for you in how to make sure your salads are extra tasty and more than a side dish.

First up, is the grain salad. If I don't know it's a salad, I'll eat it. I like grain salads for their portability, tastiness and above all their lack of lettuces. Sorry lettuce. This is AFR mango black bean quinoa goodness. Salads based in grains just sit better with me, they seem like more real food and they hold dressing like a champ.

The next one is a shocker, but Vegetables. Yup, they go in salads sometimes they can even make the whole thing worthwhile. Fresh peppers are perhaps my favourite their subtle sweetness and crunch make it worth while. Other pickled vegetable offerings can add busts of flavour which help the boring lettuce-y nature of our salad companions.

Dressings! This may be my favourite part. Pre-vegan I hated all forms of creamy dressing due to my general icky-feelings towards cream and weird milk/egg mixtures. But vegan creamy dressings rain supreme. Vinaigrette are all well and good, but something about the fattiness or thickness which clings to your selection of ingredients put thicker dressings above the rest for me.

This is where you salad gets the most of it's flavour, so shop around or better yet make your own! Additions like maple syrup for sweetness, Dijon for spice, blended dressings lend their thickness to every bite. Even if you stick with same base day in and day out, swapping your dressing is an easy way to avoid boredom.

On that flavour note, seasonings. I know, seasoning a salad sounds trite, but I enjoy the difference it makes. Obviously if you have a green thumb or cash to burn, fresh herbs and seasonings are best. But I find even a simple sprinkle of complimentary dried herbs lending their flavours can turn a salad into something I have to eat into something I want to eat.

Perhaps my favourite part of salads! Toppings! Adding all kinds of stuff to make it more interesting. Flax seeds for texture/omega 3, chickpeas are an all around salad champ! legumes, means, fruits, bacos (vegan bacon bits) or anything else your little heart desires! Make the salad your own, top it with nooch, spicy peppers! Nuts, Seeds, Sprinkles! Anything to make it less boring.

On the topping note, there is the fruit option. I used to be a firm believer in fruit salads keep their fruit and vegetable salads should never be eaten (I've obviously become lax in my views). Turns out adding fruit or other sweet bits to a savoury salad can make it pretty fantastic. Especially with creamy or spicy dressings, having the natural sugar pops the vinegar. This one has a raspberry vinaigrette with cranberries! Strawberries, raspberries, apples are all classic choices. I've heard good things about grapes and even banana. If adding fruit to your veggies still sounds too scary, make a fruit salad! anything to change up the normal routine.

Finally, protein. This is what takes salads from blah to meal quality for me. Plus it comes together super fast if you keep a selection of things on hand. Some seitan sausage, tvp, bacos, tempeh bacon or croutons, nuts, seeds all add a little something to make salads more than just rabbit food. Another option is the addition of fats, from flax seeds, nuts, avocado, and oils! These also help with balancing out a salad into a meal.

Veganmofo: A lazy day and quiet breakfast

2011-10-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Veganmofo: Spotlight on Tea

2011-10-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Next up on Veganmofo is a highlight on Tea! Yes lovely tasty tea. With the our awesome local selection at World Tea House, I could feasibly be showcasing a different tea for years to come!

Today's tea is their Welcome Blend which is a soothing chamomile/herbal blend made to relax and ease ones tensions. This refreshing blend of Organic Chamomile, Rosehips, Lavender, Roses, and Pink Peppercorn. Brews a floral cup with a thin liquor and a sweet and spicy character. It is very, very floral and light.

Since I haven't been feeling 110% I decided to grab a second selection, the tea is smooth and lightly flavoured. No caffeine so it isn't my go-to tea, but whenever I'm feeling a bit under the weather my first thought is TEA! And since I have terrible cankers, I figured a soothing stress free blend would help.

Plus everything taste better in a fancy tea pot.

Not only does World Tea House have 100+ variety's, custom blends, tea-ciders, tea-lattes, tea-hot-chocolates and amazing stuff! They really know their tea, Phil the owner goes actually travels to the tea farms himself so everything is ethically sourced. You can get tea brewed hot or cold or to take it home (tax free! woo!).

I've learned soo much about tea since going there, so it's really an amazing place to order, no artificial sweetener or flavours. Organic and fair sourced whenever possible their selection is fantastic. Enough plugging, check out their site or facebook menu.

Veganmofo V: Autumn Mac-N-Cheeze

2011-10-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

So once upon a time a brilliant Mac-N-Cheeze recipe appeared on my mofo feed using butternut squash. Better still, it used all the other ingredients I have laying around the apartment. It was calling my name and unlike the majority of things my greedy mofo-eyes started bookmarking for later, it wouldn't require I get up, put on pants and drag myself to the grocery store or market.

Hurrah! I had a butternut squash in the fridge that was planned for AFR's Coconut Squash rice, but the stem had started going funky on me, so I roasted that sucker and cut off all the questionable chunks of skin just to be safe.

For those of you who don't know there are a variety of schools of thought on the Squash roasting process, to make things simple, I'm going to give you mine:

Lazy Woman's Guide to Roasting All Large and Orange Things:

Preheat oven to 400.
Cover your baking tray in a silapat or tinfoil (or lightly grease it, sugars can get messy as they cook)
Take a sharp knife and carefully slice your squash/pumpkin in half length wise. I also cut off the bit with the stem, but mine was starting to go bad.
Remove pulp/seeds. (Optional: put seeds aside for roasting later)
Lightly coat cut side of squash in olive oil and place cut side up on the baking sheet.
Place squash in oven for approximately 30 minutes.
Flip the squash over and return for another 30 minutes or until a fork easily peirces the squash

You can then slice, scoop or eat as is. I find it easier to scoop out the flesh and leave the skin intact, it also saves copious amounts of peeling/chopping while the squash is hard and resistant.

Anyway, time went on and I finally decided that I had eaten enough leftovers to warrant making myself some Mac. But suddenly, the original post was not in my feed, it wasn't stared or showing up when I search. Distraught, I found a few other tasty looking offerings but they were not the same. Thankfully a few google searches later I had found it On Raw for 10$ a day! (link to recipe).

Now despite having everything I need right there, I did make a few changes for one I used my blender (which proved to be a bit of a hassle) instead of a food processors. Actually, in my usual fashion I bastardized the poor recipe to death.

Complete list of changes made

Used blender instead of food processor
As such only used 1/2 of squash and closer to 3/4 cups of almond milk
Apparently forgot about the lemon juice all together (whoops)
Used Earth Balance
Took some panko/Earth balance and toasted them together in my skillet
Blended sauce, added it to a mixture of Gluten Free Rice Macaroni and steamed kale
Topped with toasted bread crumbs and paprika/chili powder
Baked for 20 minutes covered at 350, removed cover and baked for 10 more minutes

So for this version you will need (original recipe from Raw on 10$ a Day Here)

1/2 roasted squash, skin removed
3/4 cups almond milk
4 tablespoons Nooch
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons earth balance
1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp onion powder,
Fresh ground pepper
1 tbps parika and 2 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup panko
2 more tablespoonsof earth balance
1/2 pack of rice-macaroni
1/2 bunch of kale

Preheat oven to 350 and bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta as directed on box, chop kale and add to a steamer basket above your pasta. Blend the first 7 ingredients in your blender/food processor until smooth. Stir it a few times to be sure.

Once pasta/kale is done, drain liquid and rinse under cold water. Dump pasta/kale into casserole dish and toss together with sauce until everything is evenly coated.

Pre-heat your cast iron skillet and melt 2 tbsp of Earth Balance, add your panko and toss until evenly browned.

Add these to the top of the Mac-N-Cheeze sprinkled with paprika and chili powder. Cover with lid and bake for 20 minutes until sauce is bubbly. Remove cover and turn to 400 to crisp top (approximately 10 minutes).

Eat with salt, pepper and hot sauce!

Veganmofo: Late night snack

2011-10-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

NaNaNaNaNa...KALE CHIPS!! KALE CHIPS!!

Yup, the farmers market produced a lovely haul of kale, so I decided to bake them into salty nooch heaven. There are some super complex recipes out there but I keep mine dirt simple.

Lazy-persons-kale-chips

1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed, dried and torn
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup of nooch
1 tbp coarse salt or more to taste
1 tbp chili powder

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash, de-stem and dry your kale. Toss dry torn leaves into a bowl with oil and massage until coated. Afterwards dump/sprinkle in the nooch. Toss and massage some more, before adding the salt and chili powder. Alternatively take you noochy kale and lay it out in a single layer then sprinkle with salt/chili powder.

Bake for about 5-7 minutes, until the kale is crispy but not burnt.

Eat immediate and pat yourself on the back for all those super food nutrients you are now enjoying.

Veganmofo V: Iron Chef Challenge #1: Secret Chickpeas!

2011-10-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

So I was a tad bit late to the game and craving something hearty (after all it is thanksgiving weekend, even if you are a single girl living alone). Therefore my humble entry into the first Vegan Iron Chef Challenge is

::drum roll::

Chickpea Pie!

As it turns out there are about a million different ways people make shepard's pie both vegan and non-vegan. The way my mother used to do it was super plain, fry hamburger (maybe onion), top with cream corn and mashed potatoes, sprinkle paprika and bake. But a quick google search brings up thousands of variations most of which seem to involve gravy and some carrots/peas/corn/green bean combo.

Here's my recipe.

Single Chick's Pea Pie

1 can chickpeas (homemade if you aren't pressed for time)
4 thin skinned potatoes
1/4 cup almond milk
2 small (10 oz) cans of veggies (whatever is on sale, I used 1 carrots and peas + 1 10 oz can of carrot, pea, corn and bean)
2 large spoon fulls of white miso
2/3 cup warm water
1/4 WW flour
1/2 onion
4 large garlic cloves
1 tbsp celery seed, poultry seasoning, oregano, thyme, sage, Rosemary, paprika
1 tsp coarse ground salt
fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp earth balance
1 cup water, vegetable stock or water mixed with boullion.
2 stalks of green onion (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and heat 2 large Tbsp of oil oil in cast iron skillet
Scrub and chop potatoes before adding to boiling water, cook until done and set aside.
Meanwhile, Dice onion and mince your garlic. Add onion to hot oil and stir, add salt and pepper. Drain your can of chickpeas and vegetables (keep chickpeas separate from veggies!).
One onions start to become translucent add your garlic (reduce heat to medium high) and seasonings. Continue to cook until fragrant.
Add chickpeas, stirring to coat everything in oil/spices. Cook until chickpeas are seasoned. Then add earth balance until melted and sprinkle flour into pan. Stir quickly to dissolve flour completely (it may be easier to combine flour/earth balance in a small dish and then add to pan).
Once flour mixture is coating the chickpeas, mix miso and warm water together stiring until miso is dissolved. Add the miso mixture to skillet and stir. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then add your water/broth slowly, stir until mixture thickens.
Continue to cook chickpeas/gravy until mixture is thick and begins to bubble, reduce heat to simmer stirring occasionally. Allow this to cook for another 7 minutes before adding your drained vegetables.
Cook mixture until your mashed potatoes are ready, aim for at least 15 minutes so the flavours can hang out a bit.
When potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them with the Almond milk, adding just enough to get a consistency you enjoy. Mix in the green onions to the potatos.
Take your gravy chickepea mixture and layer it into an oven safe casserole dish or pie pan. Cover mixture with mashed potatoes, top with additional green onion pieces if desire crack black pepper and parika over top. Bake until top is golden brown and dish is heated through.

This is a super rich and pretty salty gravy thanks to the miso, I think next time I would try adding 1/4 cup of nooch to the base to see how it goes. In my household we always ate shepherd's pie with a side of pickles, so grab some of those if you have them and chow down.

Either way there is no attractive way to plate this puppy, so here she is:

Silky, creamy, rich and savoury filling with potato/scallions.

Vegamofo: Inspiration from all over

2011-10-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Let's just take a moment to give it up for all the amazing stuff going on across the internet right now for mofo. I know I've been starring things left-right-and-centre. Most of which I will likely only get around to after mofo is over, but I love reading about what everyone else is doing.

I love seeing everyone's unique and inspiring creations for mofo and perhaps even more-so, I love seeing everyone's ordinary food lives. The tried and true stuff people are making each and every day. New ideas are lovlie and inspiring, but something just draws my attention to the everyday moments in other people's kitchen. It's like being part of someone's family. Food is just so important, even when it's not important, you know?

So speaking about ordinary food and voyeuristic-food thrills, after lurking mofo-feeds for a few hours, I made some dinner and roasted squash I bought for risotto last week. I still had some beans leftover and an open tab to a sweet bean side dish so that got thrown in there too.

One of the things I made was a Mexican-themed rice inspired by this post on Run Crissie Run about tacos (MMM tacos). Crissie whipped up some tasty tacos and easy Mexican rice in her rice cooker. Now readers, here's the thing... rice and I have a mixed relationship. I have a rice cooker, I've tried the stove top, but rice is one of those things that never goes quite my way. Or leaves me uninspired.

To the point that I've stocked up on boxed rice/grain mixes and pilaf kits, because to make tasty rice was something I never got quite right. So I decided to take the rice recipe mentioned above and jump with it.

Mexican-Themed Rice Pilaf

1 cup brown rice (I rinsed it, because the internet told me to)
2 cups water (tap)
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 can of chopped tomatoes I had lurking in the fridge
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 onion diced
equal parts (1tbs?) Cumin, Chilli Powder, Oregano
A lot of Parika 2 tbs
Small amount of red chili flakes 1tsp or more (I plan to serve this with hot sauce)

So I dumped all this into my rice cooker and let it do it's thing. Alternatively, use stove top directions for rice and saute the onion/garlic for a bit in the oil, then toast the rice/spices before adding the liquid.

A few other dishes made their mark on my pallet and just so happened to fit what I had laying around. Like the sweet bean side dish from Alien's Day Out with the Halifax rain's howling outside and wind making things chilly. I grabbed the remaining cooked kidney beans, browned an onion and garlic in some oil before dumping in the beans, cooking liquid, extra water, 2 Tbs brown sugar, 1 Tbs braggs, 1 Tbs soy sauce, salt pepper and a hint of cumin to tie into the rice.

I also tossed two sweet potatoes (on sale for 0.99$!) into a pot to boil, when they were almost done I tossed them in oil then into the oven with the squash. Ate them with Earth Balance, side beans and mexican rice. I debated whipping up tortillas to roll em up together with salsa and hot sauce.

Veganmofo: Cheddar Onion Biscuits:Cooking from the Mofo Feed

2011-10-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

During one of my feverous Mofo Reader comment-a-thons I came across Mo's post on Best Thing You Never Ate where she posted these amazing biscuits!

So simple and flavourful, they come together quickly. I wasn't making gravy but I wanted a flavourful biscuit for breakfasts and to round out my lunches. Plus Diaya's been on sale here recently so I have a stock pile and Green onions were 99cents!

I followed Mo's Recipe with the following changes:

I subbed Earth Balance Margerine for Shortening (because I oddly had none left)
And I subbed 1 cup of WW Flour for the white and used WW to roll out the dough.
Used a sili-pad to bake them on, so I didn't bother with the greasing
I did a soy milk brush glaze on the second batch to go into the oven as well as played with some shapes.

The almond milk didn't seem to curdle as much as I expected, but I added it anyway. I also seem to have lost my Pastry Cutter, so I used my Mezzaluna and some butter knives/forks. It worked out OK, not supper pebbly but manageable.

I used a mason jar to cut my biscuits and played with the remaining dough to make tiny hand pies and some braids to see how they'd bake up!

The first batch cut with mason jars and rolled maybe 1 inch thick? Were in for 25 minutes before I checked on them.They didn't brown a whole lot on the top, but the were pretty firm. The second free-formed batch where much bigger and I think that helped them to get a flakier texture.


Sorry about the bad lighting. But there had to be a fresh outta the oven shot.

It turns out the smaller, denser biscuits that were rolled pretty thin because extra fluffy when microwaved the next day. All and all these are super flavourful and pretty damn tasty biscuits to stuff your face with!

I used a silipat to bake mine,

VeganMofo V: Recycling your leftovers take 2

2011-10-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

So the other day I posted about the whole recycling your leftovers, as brought forward by one of my most loved zines The Cheap Vegan ( a sadly out of print zine.

Issue 14 seems to be on etsy tho!

Where in the last post I turned some smashed beans and other leftovers into a rice bowl/burrito filling.

Now that leftover burrito filling becomes soup/gumbo! With the aid of some additional red onion, turnip, canned tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, another spoon full of kidney beans from the batch I made last week, and fresh garlic to pump up the garlic taste.

Start with chopping your new fresh onions and garlic. You want the onion to cook for a bit in some oil with salt/pepper before adding your garlic. While those cook, peel and chop your selection of turnip (or other fridge veggies). Once the onions are getting good, saute the turnip pieces to brown then toss in your spoon full of beans and some tomato liquid. Add seasonings. You want the flavours to blend a bit before you dump the whole can in, but we do want lots of liquid to help boil the turnip so they become nice and soft.

Once you have a nice soupy base thanks to the tomatoes mix in your bowl/leftover burrito filling (if you'd made it all into burritos then slice the tortilla into strips and save it to bake/top your soup bowls with). Now, if your burrito mix had diaya like mine did you'll want to stir the crap out of it as it cooks. The mixture wants to stick to itself but we want it to break apart into soup and get everything all mixed together. So keep string it occasionally and make sure nothing is burning at the bottom. I brought it to a boil and covered for 10 minutes before taking the cover off and simmering until the turnip were finished. Add additional seasons if it doesn't taste the way you want.


I like mine chunky, but smaller piece would cook faster

And voila! So now we have 3 different ways to eat the same thing. Alternatively, if you hadn't mixed your smashed beans with stuff on the first leftover day you could find a few dozen things to do with them. But this worked out well enough.

VeganMofo: Cheap Eats, Recycle your leftovers!

2011-10-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Making a large batch of foods definitely saves you on two major resources time and power. But sometimes eating the same thing for weeks (especially if you live alone, and you wind up with even more meals/portions) makes your stomach turn, or heck you get bored with whatever it was.

This is where leftover recycling comes in, a concept I first hear about from the amazing Cheap Vegan Guru Stephanie (author of the Cheap Vegan series of Zines).

Leftover recycling allows you to enjoy one meal for a variety of days in different ways and helps strench out your food and time budgets.

This meal was a combo of leftovers from earlier in the week. I had made the AFR Not-refried beans earlier in the week, some leftover kidney beans from when I cooked up a lbs of them to make the beans + in sauce, plus some chick-in brown rice (brown rice cooked in vegan chick-n stock from bulk barn), steamed carrots from a meal I cooked for the boy and I and the crumbs of Kale chips.

The beans were used with chips originally, rice was a side for some meal same with carrots. So tonight's meal was essentially a bowl. Rice topped with the re-fried bean, kidney beans in sauce, kale chips, steamed carrots topped with some cock-sauce, salsa and Daiya.

The result was a nice creamy dish that doesn't photograph well but tastes great. Alternatively, it would also be great in a wrap as a burrito. MMM burritos.

So there it is, recycling your leftovers one simple way. Stay tuned for more examples, because this made more than I could eat!

VeganMofo V: Bachelorette Meals Part 1

2011-10-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes after a long day at work/school/volunteering and you kinda just need to put something in your face before you take the dog out and go to bed. The PPK has been a little obsessed with these terrible, lack-luster or otherwise poor meal offerings that us single folk like to chow down on. I'm a little bit obsessed too.

Bachelorette Meals might not be the mightiest of offerings but they have served me well enough through years of university. They certainly haven't killed me yet. And since this The Unhealthy Vegan Blog I figure the pseudo meals deserve some lime light. In all their single-hood-glory, I bring you yet another series of lameness:

Vegan Eats for Sad-n-Single Folks: Bachelorette Meals
(there is a tongue and cheek thing happening here, in case that didn't come through).

These sad offerings of non-meals consumed by the lonely over the sink in their single bedroom apartments sometimes in the wee-hours of the morning.

Many are limited to grains with seasoning, spoonfuls of spreads, crackers for the adventurous. Just clicking through the thread, almost makes me want to cook/eat my way through it.

So now, I'll show case a few examples from over the many years of single-dom through which I've survived.

Fried Tofu

A single persons best friend. Fried foods offer the warm comfort that others may gain through companionship, it's fat content and protein-y goodness makes this humble offering an speedy way to a sustained stomach so you can get back to watching The Early Edition on Netflix.

Bonus points here for this is pre-fried packaged tofu puffs from the Asian discount store. So I just opened the pack and poured some sauce into the dipping bowls. But I used fancy dipping bowls and lacquered chopsticks, LIKE A LADY.

Burritos
Frozen morsels of salvation. Even making them yourself can count as bachelorette chow (what you opened some can beans and put it on some bread, face it you are one of us). Although the below pictured is actually a wicked-fancy-stuffed-to-the-max-morsel from a local take out place, it's take-out so the cooking effort was dialing the phone.


ok, sorry not the most photogenic of foods.

And unlike 98% of Bachelorette-Chow Burritos may actually offer more than one food group/nutrient requirement. So really, these are the all-stars of single-person-foods, there is avocado and lettuce in there. FRESH VEGGIES (sometimes frozen veggies, but at least they are green).

Bachelorette-Smash
Perhaps the closest thing to true bachelorette-chow, The Smash features a selection of available edibles a-top a baked potato. Most often a can of drained chickpeas, fake-bacon-bits, and seasoning. Earth balance if one is feeling refined.

Bonus points for microwaved potatoes that are then pressed with a fork in your bowl and seasoned with spice mix.

Boxed-Mac
Although the vegan version is arguably not of the same neon-orange calibre, it is still packaged and easy. So I figured it deserved a brief mention.

I will conclude this post for now on the ultimate bachelorette meal the one that inspires pity form your friends and family. Assending to new culinary lows in bad habits and despair, may I present:

The Vegan-Ice-Cream Diner
It can be observed in two distinct levels of culinary thought and levels of desolation, the classier approach is the dinner sunday which offers the comforting embrace of sugar.

Not only does this distinguished school of thought offer the user the self-esteem-boost which comes from eating out of an actually dish but it's liberal thoughts on flavour mingling and add-ins provides an assortment of sugar sources.

This is for the classy-folks among us

The second school, is reserved for the more accustomed solo-travellers. Those who have been segregated from humanity long enough to shed even the most basic of social customs. This level of desperation and loneliness should not be rushed, it can only be undertaken after sufficient solitude. Always alone, often unspoken, this is the meal eaten with a shield of humility. The meal we hide from our cats/dogs, because you don't want anyone watching you eat this.

It's clean-up is a breeze and it's social stigma is long lasting. Ice-cream from the carton. Bonus points for both eating the whole thing at once and for the sad-affair of returning the half eaten carton to the fridge to eat for dinner the next day.

Happy Mofo Folks!

Veganmofo: Selection of Quick meal tips: Frozen Burgers

2011-10-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Being a student sometimes bringing cooking to a back burner, I won't get into a post about the various levels of terrible junk I consume in the guise of 'diner' most evenings (maybe another post). But I found a selection of easy, under 30 minutes to whip up meals which I've enjoyed over the past few weeks.

The key to quick and easy meals is timing, multitasking and sometimes convenience food. Ok, so you going to grab that frost bitten veggie burger and pull a sesame seed bun out of the freezer, again. No big deal, take a few extra steps and it can really make the difference.

Tips for burgers from the freezer:

Marinade or sauce it. Glaze your frozen patty in a thick, maybe sweet BBQ sauce, or Plum Sauce. Raid your condiment shelf for inspiration.
Take the time to pre-heat the cast iron or use a grill. Sure, it's a frozen burger but it'll taste better grilled or seared properly.
Toppings. Avoid the urge to squirt ketchup and call it a day. Mix it up with salsa, veggies, fruit (grilled pineapple!), chutney or some fancier pickles/sauces from the local market. Even adding lettuces/tomato gives you something fresh and a nice contrast to the chewy burger texture.
Onions/Mushrooms. They fry up in minutes and can take the bruger experience to the next level.
TOAST YOUR BUNS. If you spend time on nothing else, crisp the inside of that bun.

The little Darling featured below may appear simple with its no-name ketchup and mustard, but the secret lies in that big meaty chunk of purple heaven. A wide slice of onion, which I baked in the oven (directly on the rack) and then broiled just before the burger finished. Amazing.

Happy Mofo'ing!

Veganmofo: Food related songs on the internet

2011-10-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Veganism tweeted this an hour ago, and I'm perhaps a bit in love with it despite it's corny-tune.

Veganmofo: Life Hacking tips/tricks 1

2011-10-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

Maybe I am late to the game, but have all of you seen this?

I'm looking at you Isa Chandra, QuoirQueer, The ppk in general and basically all garlic lovers.

This video may just change your life.

How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.

Via the VeganMofo Twitter Account: Has a Non-Vegan Ever Cooked For you

2011-10-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

This isn't the most inspiring of posts, but the tweet caught my interest and maybe it's love but I've been pretty touched by some minor efforts on behalf of my family and friends for their short-green-haired-vegan.

The most recent meal cooked for me by a non-vegan was from my lover A. It wasn't fancy, heck it wasn't healthy or balanced, but it was really sweet (for me anyway). Coming from a 20'something guy who doesn't cook and eats Kraft dinner out of the pot for himself the effort was nice.

Ok, no more lies, the big seller is I just really, really love potatoes. He wound up baking us both up some potatoes which we ate with a variety of pickles he has stashed about his apartment. At the time I was staying with him and his roommate because I was homeless, going through a super rough time, not eating much (because I was a) couch surfing and b) low on $). So having a full stomach and eating with someone (who did all the cooking) was a nice change.

If I recall correctly, it was baked potatoes, bread and butter pickled vegetables, dill pickles and some pickled beets possibly with minute maid mix-from frozen juice. It wasn't glamorous, but sometimes being taken care of by someone (despite their abilities/usual tendencies) was really nice. There is no better way to care for someone or take care of them then to feed them. That's my mind set anyway.

VeganMofo: Another short quirp, the magic of sprouts

2011-09-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Brussels Sprouts get a lot of flak, I find shredding them and frying them to crisp makes these tasty morsels come alive.

Great simple way to eat your greens

1 stock of Brussel sprouts, shredded
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
handful of sesame seeds
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
cast iron pan preheated.

Saute garlic, then add sprouts in batches. Season, cook until starting to crisp.

Simple Cheap Eats

2011-09-18T18:24:00.001-07:00

Some leftover stew from Fatty Fatty Boom Boom! zine and leftover baked potato fried with some spices.

Vegan Mofo V !!

2011-09-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

That's right kids, Vegan Mofo is back again! So gear up for the 2011 version of vegan internet food madness!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I'll be back again this year and am hoping this blog-a-thon month (coming to an internet near you this October) will give me the boost I need to keep eating/cooking and writing about it regularly.

So stayed tuned for my soon to be announced theme and check out the veganmofo site to get the lay down on how to join or to grab the much coveted RSS Feed when it is realease.

Vegan Mofo 2011

Lasy cheap eats on the go

2011-07-27T05:15:00.001-07:00

sanmich, a photo by B_A_Dxxx88 on Flickr.

Sorry for the lack of posting life has been crazy hectic and with working 7 days a week I feel like I rarely make anything post worthy.

Here is a terrible cell phone photo of my breakfast/lunch today, but it was such a good quick cheap last minute grab I had to share.

Running late and having not gotten groceries in a while, I was pretty hard up for food and have been taking instant costco oatmeal to work for breakfast and eating out for lunch.

BUT! This morning I stopped into pete's frootique to look around and decided to splurg on some 9.99/lbs guacamole. Finding pita chips at 3-4$ a bag, I decided to try to find corn chips when I happened by the bread section and found focaccia for 3.15 for a bag of 8 rolls from a local organic bakery.

So basically, these babies consist of toasted Focaccia, Guacamole, sliced organic tomatoes, dab of regular mustard and salt/pepper. So good, I'm eating one now for breakfast and toasted/wrapped another in the lunch room to take with me during my break along with the 2 costco kwiwis I am still trying to finish.

Here's the final score

8 Focaccia Loaves from a local organic bakery 3.50$
3 organic tomatoes 1.60$ (reduced produce score)
1 tub of Pete's Guacamole 6.15$
My total came out to around 11.60$ with taxes etc.
Added some mustard packets from the food section and take away salt/pepper and we are golden.

I figure it's not bad because this will make 6 meals because I'm generous with the tomato slices/guac, if I skimp I could make a full 8 meals, which for last minute 11.50$/8 =1.44$ a meal is pretty damn good.

Conversely I would now finally have bread for my veggie burgers if I decide to skip a meal or bulk one of the meals up with the frozen patties.

Tasty Week night meal

2011-03-28T17:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the long absence, I just reclaimed my kitchen from the mold and bacon grease/roommate related mess. Late classes followed by tasty tasty full meals.

The prep was pretty easy, I defrosted some mock chicken breast, 4 in total. Took two to cover with garlic, olive oil, dijon, thyme, pepper, celery, balsamic vinegar and diced green onions and set them aside to marinate.

The other two were chopped plain and added to a bowl with celery, cabbage, green onions, white onion, vegan mayo, dijon, pepper and so on. So lunch tomorrow was the leftover diced carrots, celery and cherry tomatoes for work.

Back to the cooking, I rubbed 3 potatoes with olive oil and tossed them into the toaster oven. Then I shredded a head of cabbage and 1/2 onion to fry in margerine with onion/garlic/celery/pepper. Splashing in water as needed to braise it up, eventually reducing it with white wine.

Steamed some carrot chunks and added my mock-chicken to the toaster oven.

Final plate! Braised cabbage; steamed carrots; roasted dijon vegan chicken; roasted celery/onions; cherry tomatoes; and baked potatoes.

Not pictured is the balsamic glaze for the carrots and the dijon reduction sauce for the mock-breast.

Added some hot tea for the throat and voila!

Update on my lunch tomorrow to come!

Followed by Cabbage may be the greatest vegetable ever! it's 79 cents!! For over a pound, easily adds a quick cooking veggie for all meals and keeps forever. Salads, Slaws, Chicken Salad, braised veggies, steamed, used as lettuce or whatever! Good times.

A quick study break: Tea

2011-03-13T12:52:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the neglect (doesn't it seem like most of these posts start this way?). I was feeling a little inspired today from my friend's blog bitch with a tea cup and our recent tea adventures.

So I brewed up a large pot of Emperor's Pu-erh steeped for 3 minutes until golden. Then removing the tea bag, adding 1/2 fresh lime, and squirt of Agave into a large mason jar to sit while going over my readings on gender and sexuality.

For a slight nutty, citrusy,tangy and slightly sweet chilled tea. Dark rich tea, perfect spring-summer connection. I think I might brew up a litre or two of this, chilled in the fridge for the summer.

Theppk's Cookbook Challenge #2: Week 1 Apetite for Reduction!

2011-01-11T08:41:00.001-08:00

That's right, cookbook challenge is back! This time we'll be starting with Isa's latest book.

Get all the details on this weeks challenge and snoop what everyone else is making here.

My first dish is simmering away from page 133

Mango BBQ Red Beans!

Super easy and man does it smell good. Not sure I'm going to want to add Agave to it... Maybe I will eat a bowl and then decide.

Super easy directions, pantry friendly stuff and it comes together quickly.

JUST BE SURE TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THE ONIONS AND GARLIC. Maybe cook on 5 or lower, I caught mine burning a few times.

Otherwise it smells and tastes fantastic. I served mine over brown rice and saved the rest for lunches.

I'm a terrible MOFO'er: Late night student eats

2010-11-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

As the end of term draws near and dealines loom my time in the kitchen becomes non-existant... as do my meals. In efforts to rectify that I made time to make diner, which is a shame because it was so easy to throw together I should make time to do it everyday.

Bonus for when times are tight and limited cook a bit extra, or make 3-4 things. You can save a little bit of everything to throw into a lunch container for the next day which is what i did.
First I made a simple stir fry with frozen mixed veggies, soysauce, squirt of plum sauce, lemon juice, chili oil, sesame oil and seeds. Very tasty, super easy way to make sure you get at least a bit of green.

frozen stir fry mix (broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, yellow carrot coins)
-sesame seeds, chili oil, toasted sesame oil, garlic, plum sauce, red chilis, all spice, mustard seeds, lemon juice, soysauce.
fry together, string often

The rest of the meal was less green with some roasted red potatoes and vegan chicken strips from super store. Again, it doesn't have to be fancy as long as your eating something during the long days.

Roasted potatoes:
diced red potatoes
canjun spice mix, texan spice mix, veggie grill spice mix, paprika, pepper, olive oil.
Bake at 400 shake/stir every 15 you can bake these with the strips to save time. After the 1st 15 minutes push potatoes to one side to add mock-chicken. Continue baking until done.
Salt AFTER they are finished, otherwise potatoes tend to absorb salt.

I topped the strips with some thai sweet chili heat sauce and tucked a small portion of each into my amazing Green-go containers! <3 they are fantastic.
Be sure to let your leftovers cool before placing the lid, otherwise these suckers will steam up and lose their texture. Place in the fridge and grab on your way out the door to study!

Heartwood love

2010-11-19T23:30:00.000-08:00

Peanutbutter Cheesecake MMMM

More love for Heartwood. Photo essay

Portabello sandwich and daily soup

Daily special, quesadilla tofu, beans, roast veggies.

nachos

Veganmofo: the pyschological dance of the midnight snack

2010-11-13T20:01:00.000-08:00

It's midnight... you are home alone... watching some horrible exploitation film or horror movie which should never be watched by a single person alone at night when the neighbours are away.

Pressure rises, blood pumps a bit faster then usual. Every little noise makes you second guess if the doors were locked just right. And if your anything like me, when the AM rolls around so does the craving for food. Snacks. Edibles. and not just any, but the greasy, junkfoodie kind. The type of food you should likely limit your intake of and certainly not consume just before bed.

So here I sit, scared a bit witless craving french fries. Pause movie. Dash to Kitchen. Dice Potatoes. Fire up Toaster Oven. Jump at street Noises. Toss in Oil. Potatoes. Spicemixes. WTF WAS THAT CREAKING SOUND. Grab Knife. Insert fries. Return to movie chair.

It's midnight snack cravings that make simple things like spice mixes crucial. It's one less thing you have to worry about as everything your parents and dieting ever told you about eating after 8pm flashes through your mind. Well I say, fuck your parents and dieting and pass me some midnight munchies.

Midnight snacks can take on many a forums but my favourite late night group is carbs. Specifically potatoes, which are easy and versatile to whip up with little effort.

Your toaster oven is your best friend.

Late night nosh fries:

3-4 small red skin potatoes
4tbsp olive oil
veggie grill spice mix, tex-mex spice mix and canjun mix
check out yellow rose recipes for some awesome spice mix recipes!

1. turn on toaster oven 350
2. dice potatoes. toss oil into baking sheet. toss in potatoes and dump on your spices
3. cook for 10-20 mins, flip em, cook for another 10-20 until tender/crisp

Salt to taste. enjoy while hiding in a blanket fort.

Veganmofo: The Magic of Fortune Cookies

2010-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this isn't the most foodie post. But I'm a big fan of the psychological component of food. How food makes us feel, gets us through hard times, triggers memories and generally plays into our lives in a variety of hooky ways. Food Psychology, would be something I'd like to study.

But I digress. A few months ago we went to Kings Palace for some vegan dishes and on the way out I scored a fortune cookie. Which I then placed into my jacket pocket and promptly forgot about, was occasionally prodded by etc. But it sat there.. waiting.

Today, many many months later, this battered and broken shell of a cookie brushed my hand again. I removed it from my pocket to examine it. Broken, shattered, mostly powder with the little paper fortune half poking out. I tilted the plastic back and forth trying to maneuver the cookie pieces away from the blue printed words. Despite its terribly mistreatment and state, these few pieces held their ground.

I slide open the crinkly plastic and slowly turn the contents upside allowing the powdered cookie and pieces to fall into the grass and gingerly remove the paper slip. Returning the now empty plastic packet to my pocket, I unfold the fortune and it reads.

"You tend to be practical and analytical"

..... In Bed or not.

I might have just been standing at the bus stop, alone, on a cold Autumn day, laughing and smiling to myself as my eyes welled with tears.

VeganMofo: Simple Diner for a busy week day

2010-11-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

Listening to Violent Blue rant about porn and sex censorship, furries, tribbles, steve jobs, masterbation and 4chan raids.

Thinking about sex positive teaching and chowing down on the leftover potato salad mash from Iron Chef and my heartwood Cheezesteak special from the Vegan Anniversary Celebration.

Glorious saucy shot:

Foodporn because that's all you mofo'ers really care about.

Potato close up with the lovely homemade pickles <3

Sandwich on kamut bread:

Veganmofo: Vegan Iron Chef: Mashed Potatoes: Jyagatama

2010-11-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

This weeks Vegan Iron Chef Challenge (posted on fridays by the lovely Katie @Don't Eat off the Sidewalk will keep the posts and possible round ups (?) going.

This weeks challenge was :drumroll: Mashed Potatoes!

I cannot express how much I am looking forward to the results. I had a few different ideas, potato pancakes, cupcakes, burgers, mashed potato frosting for 'neat' loaves. So many possibilities with one of my favourite foods, even the Veganmofo round up of Sweet potato Gnocchi.

Then I remembered one of my Bento cookbooks and a recipe I'd been eyeing for a while for the adorable Jyagatamas. Which are basically like a potato salad dough ball. Cute, small, fast, adroable, simple and used everything I already had on hand!

Another tip, for a more traditional feel a potato ricer or food processor will give a smoother mash and lead to nicer balls. Mine are a tad 'rustic' due to the fork based mashing.
Plus they would make an adorable addition to lunches for the week.

Here's the basic recipe:

Edit: mine were a bit to moist and almost hummusy in parts. Traditionally they are fairly dry and starchy. The flour edition kinda helped but next time I would cut the veganaise down to 1/4 cup to test the waters.

4 cups mashed potatoes (or a pot full of potatoes choppped and boiled)
3 carrots matchsticked, these only need to blanch for 2 minutes, I added them to the potatoes just before they were done
1/2 cup veganaise**
2 tps stone ground spicy or dijon mustard
4 pickle slices chopped, extra picked onions all diced (I had some great homemade stuff form my dad's girlfriend)
dash of lemon juice
celery seed
pepper
chopped parsely
minced garlic

One the potatoes and carrots are cooking, dice your pickles and combine with everything else in a bowl. Whip together and wait until potatoes/carrots cool. Once cool mashed the potatoes with the dressing in the bowl the toss in carrots and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning.

chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow flavours to combine. One the mixture is cool roll into little balls and serve immediately or chill for future use!

Traditionally they tend to contain peas and other cooked veggies but I only had carrots on hand. These were also a little wet so I experimented with adding a bit of WW flour to some.

Veganmofo: The Vegan Nacho

2010-11-06T08:31:00.001-07:00

Heartwood vegan nachos with seasonal beet salsa!
Originally uploaded by B_A_Dxxx88

Maybe I'm just a bit of a nacho fiend, but down to the simplist corn chips and dip, to the white-trashy toffuties cheese slice, green onions and bacon bits, to the fancy restaurant styled cheese sauce, sauted veggies and freshly made salsa. I cannot get enough of these things.

One of the worst and most common cravings I get are for nachos. My Flicker account has seen it's fair share.. So let's explore some of the resent styles.

Heartwood vegan nachos with seasonal beet salsa!
The high class organic restaurant nacho: Uses seasonal ingredients, homemade vegan sour cream, fresh cheeze sauce (white and herbed), chunks of veggies baked together so the cheese sauce hardens giving it the combined velvet texture of smooth, creamy sauce and baked chew of cheeze products. The salsas and condiment (tofu based) are freshly made to order with local ingredients and fresh cilantro, but not to much avoiding the soapy taste. Perfection. These my friends are high class nachos.
With the surprising addition of beets and fresh grated carrot. No beans and we didn't get guac yet somehow the magic persists. The mound of tofu creme wit fresh dill was fantastic and flavoury.

The White-Trash:Cheap commercial cheese melted in the microwave with stimulated bacon bits and jarred salsa. Affordable, greasy and best consumed with horror movies and pepsi.

The Homemade-Effort or Dinner Nacho:
unlike it's trashy counter part, this made at home duo is hearty and meal like. Suited for superbowl parties or weeknight dinners. This is a simply veggie ground, cooked with veggies, cumin, onions, black beans and salsa until heated and done. Topped with more salsa and toss of nooch or vegan cheese. Served in a bowl and scooped with chips.
This could only be improved with a tofu cream sauce or dollop of lovely guac.

The Retro Night Nacho:
Oven Baked, raw onions, mashed beans-a-la-50's-can. These are pipping hot, filling, greasy and arguably your getting the best of various worlds here. You have some nutrition, no greens, and the salty-greasy-gotta-have-nacho feeling.

Bonus points for 50's inspired pyrex baking dishes and thawing out the salsa you made and froze last summer. Pickled jalapeño slices and you'll be in heaven.

Veganmofo: Happy Veganiverasy to me!

2010-11-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Today I'll be out and about chowing down on the town to celebrate 9-10 years of veganism. Oh so many years ago, a much news broad cast turned me into the green-haired-punk-hippy-freak- I am today!

So enjoy the mofo, I'll be reading your blogs, taking photos and re-caping on my eating adventures soon!

Yay veganism!

:celebrating all day/night long:

VeganMofo: Daiya the experiment in Vegan Mac-N-Cheeze

2010-11-04T16:10:00.001-07:00

Silky smooth
Originally uploaded by B_A_Dxxx88

So a few days ago I discovered Planet Organic carried Daiya, the vegan cheeze craze of the internet. I bought some a decided in honour of Mofo I'd do up some experiments.

Let me just say. WOW. This was possibly the smoothiest, silkiest, creamiest experience of my life. I had 3 bowls and have hidden the rest away in the mini fridge downstairs to ensure my roommates don't steal any.

I used the recipe more or less as is from Daiya's website. Kids.. believe the hype.

Bonus photos.

Veganmofo-IV:Busy Student Lunches

2010-11-02T20:43:00.001-07:00

Busy Student Lunch
Originally uploaded by B_A_Dxxx88

You know the drill, you have 4 proposals due, 2 research essays a book report, board meeting followed by some volunteer events and D&D group.

So I get it, we don't always have time to cook, eat right and sometimes even eat period. And we've all been there, the prospect of taking the 4 minutes to make yourself a PB sandwich.. knowing damn well how much you don't want to eat it and somehow manage to talk yourself out of it.

So in honour of eating better and making the time I've vowed to bring at least 1 snack/meal with me to school/work for my busy days. To help facilitate the beauty sleep and tight schedule I grabbed a pack of 12 vegan yogurt cups. It's not super classy, filling or economical but when it prevents a trip to the cafeteria or other lame-expensive-7$-dry falafel scenario all the better.

This might not work for everyone but for now it's working for me. Take some small steps and don't sweat buying pre-made foods. If it keeps you full and stops you from eating out all the better!

My lunches for the busier days will be some golden flax meal, tossed with pumpkin seed granola, dried coconut shards and vegan yogurt. Tossed together and eaten on the go!

Speaking off enjoy yourselfs Mofoers! I'm off to D&D!

VeganMofo: Day 2: HeartWood Bakery and Vegan Cafe

2010-11-02T17:38:00.001-07:00

PICT0093
Originally uploaded by B_A_Dxxx88

Heart wood is one of the many fabulous local buisness in Halifax that cater to vegetarians, vegans and those with dietary constraints. Don't let the dessert case fool you, heartwood means seriously filling, healthy, and organic eating.

The majority of their menu items rely on fresh local produce and changes slightly to accommodate regional flavours and what they have on stock. Lately it's been beets. In everything, included our beet salsa and freshly grated redness over everything.

Whenever I'm feeling under the weather or as if my non-green days have been too many, I hit up heartwood. On cold rainy halifax days, their soups call to me. Different batches each day full of vegetable goodness they never disappoint.

Another daily go to is their special board. The daily special changes daily (duh) so try and get it while it lasts. Unlike most daily specials this isn't a reduced price main, but rather a unique creation made by the kitchen staff based on sheer whim and fairy dust. I've only rarely seen specials repeat, so it's always a good bet to try it out while it's there, because who knows when you'll get the change again.
The special is usually 10.99 and includes a main, side, condiments and other assortments based on the dish. This time it was a vegan Quesadia stuffed with black bean, vegetables, tofu all sauted in spices with some fresh herbs, peppers, onions and shredded carrot. There was a spicy mole sauce on the side, the ww crispy tortilla was topped with their vegan cream sauce. Kinda like cheesy sour scream but with more flavour.

The side was steam greens a heartwood favourite. We also ordered vegan nachos to start. And I couldn't resist dessert, which was much better than I remembered.

The lovely mole sauce

All their desserts are gluten free and often chocolate free as well so i've had issues with the texture (i'm a gluten snob). But the cheese cake today was great!

The lovely chocolate PB, so creamy smooth. Despite their lack of sweeterners it was pleasantly rich and tasty.

VEGANMOFO-FILLER:Veganism Survey: Via Kittee on the mofo forum, via some student looking for mofo-info

2010-11-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

1. There are many definitions of veganism out there. What is your definition of veganism? Moreover, what is the difference between being a vegetarian and being a vegan?
Veganism may have started out as a simple dietary change and movement away from something I was no longer comfortable supporting. But since then it's become a lot more, Veganism is now one of my defining characteristics, my lifestyle, a movement, and most of all it's a community. I've met a lot of people whom I consider family, and in reality our only ties are veganism, cooking and a little spot of Internet. Veganism for me is compassion and making simple life choices to make your world a better place.

The difference between vegetarian and vegan can be a lot of things, for various people but strictly speaking it's an abstinence from all harm (dairy eggs honey etc).
2. What are the benefits to being a vegan? Is it a lifestyle choice, or is it restricted solely to what one eats?
Lifestyle choice all the way. The immediate benefits for me personally was a vast improvement of health. It cleared up my skin, brought me down to a healthy weight, helped me overcome issues I had with food and provided me the ground work for overcoming my eating issues. Since going vegan, everything has gotten a little brighter. I went from being a sickly kid, missing weeks of school/work due to common illness to rarely ever getting sick. Taking charge in the kitchen and having something to be passionate about and work towards. It helped me focus and brought back my love of food, cooking and baking.
3. What are some common misconceptions about vegans or veganism?
Mainly that vegan food is simple, boring or bland. That vegans don't eat and are unhealthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Also that there are no vegan guys, they exist (they just have to spend some time in hiding to avoid being mauled by ladies/boys)
4. University students don't usually have the time or financial means to cook proper, nutritious meals everyday. What would you recommend to students in this situation?
Cooking tasty and healthy doesn't have to break the bank! Some of the cheapest and healthiest things are vegan. The Cheap Vegan is a zine that changed my life, it's amazing rational guide for eating well and living thrifty. The best thing I did in university was a) move out of the dorms and get a real kitchen b) buy a crock pot/slow cooker or pressure cooker and get to it! There are all kinds of cheap living and cooking advice out there. The best thing is to know what you like and shop accordingly. Buy bulk grains, legumes and beans. Shop on discount days and get an easy simplistic cookbook full of recipes you like. If you enjoy your food, you'll enjoy eating and making it too. Plus crock pots are great for cooking beans during school etc and coming home to chili, soup or other amazing dishes.

Don't give up! Plan ahead! and find some recipes/favourites to love!

5. The University of Victoria is currently ranked in second place by PETA2's Most Vegetarian-Friendly University Campus Ranking in Canada. How can students promote more awareness about vegetarianism and, more specifically, veganism?
One thing that worked well for us was hosting monthly vegan potlucks on campus, try talking to your women/gender centre to see about a partnership and being able to use their space. Advertise in local free papers or through posters. We also did monthly cooking classes which introduced students to cheap, easy meals they could make that tasted great and were vegan! cupcakes 101, fancy eatings on cheap livings and basic intro to cooking courses had great success.

We also did some postering, leafleting on campus and hosted film screenings. They are pretty easy and quick to get going.
6. This is the fourth year for the Vegan Month of Food. What are some of the biggest changes you've noticed since the event began?
Publicity! Each year Mofo is getting bigger and badder! This year the blog list alone is outstanding and press is really starting to notice our little endeavour. I've witnessed a lot of blogs and bloggers growing in both their design, writing, photo and recipe skills. Each year people are getting better, learning to cook better and improving in some way. It's amazing to watch people learn as we go along. Some of the ideas and creativity is just unbelievable.
7. Lastly, what are the main goals of Vegan Month of Food?
To raise awareness about veganism and the love of food. Showing people through good food and food geekery what veganism looks, taste and smells like. Feeding people and food are one of the greatest forms of activism we have. Once people see how awesome veganism and vegan food can be, it makes the politics and their implications just a little bit less scary. And shines some warm fuzzies on veganism.

VeganMofo: Day 1!

2010-11-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, so a less than impressive start. Despite my lack of cooking, photo taking and general free time, I've decided to post anyway!

Today my food related activities are limited to grocery shopping at Planet Organic the local organic market. But, I bring you halagonians fantastic news. THEY NOW HAVE DAIYA!!!!

I know, I'm soo excited... It's lurking in my fridge now, so stay tuned for some reviews and trials.

What's more as my dad was in town I also splurged on a few new cool vegan items like tofurkey breakfast links and soy yogurts.

I will try to keep up to date with the Mofoing. Mostly a run down of what I manage to eat in a day with my busy schedule and maybe some suggestions for things to make or grab on the go for the busy among us. Specifically, I splurged at the market and bought a lot of processed/ready made foods I normally wouldn't go near for budget reasons.

However, lately my commitment to not buying pre-made has turned into a commitment to not eating because I'm too lazy/busy/tired etc to make food. Which is bad, so sometimes the extra $ on things like mini soy yogurts or other grab and go foods are justifiable if it means eating something when you would otherwise have nothing, go without or eat out (which is not budget friendly!).

I've also been in the bad habit of eating out, a habit I may continue for mofo and do some HRM Vegan Review series of where to eat and what to order!

Happy Mofo everyone!

And because posts are incomplete without photos I bring you Cell Phone shot of the coconut banana creme pie from the HeartWood bakery/cafe. Please excuse the bite marks.

Thanksgiving: Last minute and beyond epic

2010-10-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry no photos, it was a hectic and less minute affair with 16 people to feed!

Items made:
I made two different roasts, one was the holiday roast from everyday dish, the other was a round one like tofurky but stuffed with homemade stuffing and then marinaded/pressure cooked with veggies.

Candied Lime Sweet potatoes, sweet potato maple garlic grattini, stuffing, stuffing more stuffing some dry some steamed in the rice cooker. Roast garlic mashed potatoes, two kinds of gravy, stuffed and roasted acorn squash, sweet chili maple roast squash, ginger garlic roasted veggies (carrorts butternup sweet potatoe), green bean casserol, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, faux meat pie, apple baked beans, roasted carrot/squash soup, braised carrorts with white wine/EB and finally roasted garlic brussel sprouts.

I think that was it.

Photo issues

2010-08-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

I apologize again for the lack of postings. My Flickr account expired and paypal is screwing up. Life's been hectic, and soon school's starting, where the heck is my break?!

Working full time, but will hopefully be able to call and fix the photo issue then I can at least give you lot some short foodporn posts.

GUEST POST: Shannon Wills: 5 Easy Steps to Becoming a Vegan

2010-07-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I recently received an e-mail from a reader, Shannon Wills asking if she could write a guest post for the blog. I agreed and this is what she wrote, an easy no frills guide to going vegan. Mind you everyone comes about in their own way and for their own reasons. I for example went vegan instantaneously after learning about how 'food' animals were treated, others more gradually. So here are some easy steps for soon-to-be-vegans.
5 Easy Steps to Becoming a Vegan

Change is never easy, especially when it comes to getting rid of habits that have been ingrained in us from childhood and cultivating new ones at the same time. And because food is an integral part of our daily lives, one that we are so passionate about, it’s doubly hard to turn over a new leaf and adopt a vegan lifestyle after eating meat and dairy your whole life. But if you really want to go vegan for any reason whatsoever (concerns over your health, care for the environment, or just because you want a change), there are ways to make the transition easier and not so much a sudden change. And here they are, five easy steps to becoming a vegan:

* Give up one at a time: If you’re used to eating both non-vegetarian food and dairy, don’t give up both simultaneously. While cold turkey works best for addictions like smoking and drinking, when it comes to food, it’s best to ease off one by one. Start with your least favorite non-vegan food, and every few days or so, add another item to the list. When you avoid going out and limit the ingredients and food items in your home to vegan, it’s easier to stick to your resolution.

* Eat what you really love: Make the switch to vegan more appealing by choosing foods that you love in this category; it doesn’t matter that they may not be the healthiest of choices, all you need to do is ensure you try to stick to vegan as much as possible. And by opting to eat what you love, you don’t crave meat or dairy so much.

* Try it for a week or fortnight: When you start out, don’t tell yourself that you’re going to become vegan for good. Instead, set smaller goals that you can achieve and feel proud about – choose to go vegan for a week or a fortnight, and then as you taste success in the short term, push yourself to go a little further. This way, you have the satisfaction of adhering to your goal and being able to give up meat and dairy little by little.

* Find substitutes: Make the change easier by finding suitable substitutes – if you enjoy coffee or tea, try soy milk or low-fat non-dairy creamers as an alternative to milk. Talk to people who are long-time vegans and get yourself a few good recipes, a list of acceptable substitutes, and the necessary supplements to prevent vitamin and other nutritional deficiencies (food from plant sources lack Vitamin B12 and iron, so you may have to use fortified vegan products or take supplementary pills to prevent deficiencies and related illnesses).

* Don’t force yourself to stay the course: If you find the going tough, remind yourself why you decided to effect the change. And if you still crave meat and/or dairy, give in to the temptation once in a while just so you prevent a binge and a complete relapse. It’s better to enjoy the guilty taste of your favorite non-vegetarian dish once in a while than go back to your old eating habits for good.

By-line: This guest post is contributed by Shannon Wills, she writes on the topic of physical therapy assistant schools . She welcomes your comments at her email id: shannonwills23@gmail.com.

FoodNetworkFriday (FNF!): Spicy Cherry Ribz!

2010-06-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

This week's recipe, originally from Guy Fieri,, for sppicy cherry ribs. First off, this sauce is amazingly complex, like you can almost feel/taste it's flavour changing in your mouth. Not at all what I would describe as a BBQ sauce, but yet still rich, smoky, sweet, spicy, savoury blending all at once.

I made a few changes because canned cherries do not exist in CANADA. I tried every store, spoke to managers, they were not having it. I could have cherry jam, cherry pie filling, frozen cherries or fresh. Fresh ones were on sale, so I used those (which was messy! but so good). I also didn't measure my ginger/garlic, instead i opted to use purees of both 3 spoons of ginger and 2 heaping spoons of ginger. I was also tempted to add a little brown sugar to my sauce but held off.

For my ribz, I decided to utilize the beautiful and head sized portobello caps I had from costco. As such, I should have reduced the amount of spice rub used but didn't. I sliced halfway through the caps to create tear-able riblettes. Brushed the top sides of the caps with mustard as the recipe suggests, and then just shorta dumped the rub on and mixed it a bit.

Then they went covered into the fridge for way longer than required (I sorta forgot about them for a week).
Mushroom version

Bringing us to today! I cooked up the sauce as the recipe describes, painfully pitting and chopping cherries. As a result my final sauce was kinda jelly like, thick with little sweet/sour cherry bombs throughout. I smushed them up while cooking, but I kinda liked the chunks. In the future I may try blending the final sauce for a smoother glazing approach.

I baked the rubbed mushrooms and last minute sliced a bit of seitan I had into sticks/ribs. The seitan wasn't rubbed or marinated, just brushed on both sides with olive oil. I baked at 350 for 15 minutes on one side while the sauce cooked, flipped then another 15 on the other.

Reduced heat to 250, and here came the tough part. I couldn't choose between a light glazing/brushing of sauce to create an extra crispy sell served with additional sauce OR if I should stick with the recipe and dump the whole mess into the pan to broil. I started with a light coating on side, baked for 10. It looked pretty good, but after reading all the other posts decided to flip everything and then liberally cover with sauce and bake for another 15. Then out and flipped once more with everything bubbling, stir around the sauce and broil for 5-6 minutes.

The results were amazing!!The seitan developed an amazing colour/glazed coating. Nice and crisp while soft and chewy in the middle. But the mushrooms really stole the show! they were moist, meaty, chewy and simply amazing. The texture was out of this world.

Seitan Riblet

Here's the thing, through baking the mushrooms let out a LOT of water which I drained and all was good. But i really should have drastically reduced the rub because while baking, mushrooms sweating, spicy ribz rub ran everywhere and mixed into the sauce. So my ribz where extra hot! The baking and additional Cayenne really turned up the heat! So I would try halving the rub next time, or maybe try leaving it out. In the mean time I'll be eating these tasty babies in small batches.

Mushrooms had such a unique meaty feel.

To round out the meal I mashed some taters in skin mixed with an amazing Vegan-mayo styled dill/chive/garlic dip from the Farmers Market. It was very similar to a super thick cream cheese/sour cream dip. Making a nice creamy, slightly tart, with a bit of bite, extra flavourful side dish! And added some steamed veggies for colour!
I even had enough for lunch for work! yum!

I'm also planning to use some of the remaining seitan/mushroom ribs for a rib sandwich if I can find a nice, easy, cooling,creamy slaw to serve it with. Another idea I toyed with was serving the ribs pho style atop a rich noodled broth with veggies.

More photos on Flickr.

Broke Student Eats: Hummus Pasta

2010-06-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know what you are thinking but hear me out! It's not gross, I promise. What's in your typical hummus? Chickpeas, tahini, oil, salt, garlic and lemon right? not bad. when you make spinach lasagna don't you usually make a thickish, creamy sauce, with some garlic, maybe cook the spinach with some tasty lemon juice. Well, you see my point.

My pantry was bear, I had a whole container of hummus that I had just lost interest in (I know I know, I'm a horrible vegan). Plus I picked up a wicked soy-mayo-dip from the farmers market, so it pretty much left the poor hummus out in the cold.

This recipe is supper adaptable, in fact I think I was originally planning to use my eggplants in this as well. Basically, any lasagna/pasta bake style veggies you have and need to use can go in the pot!

So here we go, I made 2 large containers but you may want to cut back a bit as this was over 4lbs of food. :oof:.

ingredients
- Pasta of your choice, I used macaroni because I bought 10lbs of it at costco ages ago. Spirals also work nice or lasagna noodles if you want to be fancy.
-3-4 good sized handfuls of spinach, torn into peices
-1 medium onion (your choice, I had Spanish so I used those), diced into bite sized pieces
-3 TBSP Pureed Garlic (or minced) I would assume this is around 3-4 cloves
-2 lbs button mushrooms (or any other mushroom/veggie combo, celery is good, so are eggplants and peppers), chopped into chunks.
-1 container of store bought hummus (minus less than 1/3 in my case, any amount will do)
-1 jar tomato sauce
-2 TBSP olive oil
-Fresh cracked pepper, nooch, basil and Italian seasoning, soy-sauce/salt opt.
Optional: Vegan cheese, Almond milk

Preheat oven 355

Start by boiling water for the pasta and washing your veggies. Chop everything. Heat oil in a frying pan. Caramelize your onions in a pan with lots of fresh pepper. Once onions start to colour dump in your mushrooms and continue to sauté, add more oil if needed.

As those cook be sure to stir your pasta. After the mushrooms and onions are almost done add the basil, more pepper, soy-sauce and Italian season. Continue to cook until mushrooms take on the rich brown colour and everything is coated in seasoning and fragrant. Add garlic and sauté until it too is done. Leave on heat, but don't let burn.

Your pasta should be ready to drain and rinse with cold water. Take your baking dish(s) and fill half way with pasta. Tear up your spinach and add to dish, toss with pasta and cracked pepper. Now grab your hummus contain and scoop out the hummus into the baking dishes. Tossing with the pasta until everything is nice and coated.

Now the hotter your pasta, the easier it'll spread. So I took turns dumping in hot mushroom/veggie mix onto the hummus globs to aid in spreading. Toss everything until well combined.

Take your hummus container and add a splash of almond milk or water, close cover and shake. This will get all the little bits out, poor mixture into pasta. This also helps create a saucier consistency.

now that everything is well combined, open your jar of pasta sauce and add it over top of the pasta creating a red layer. Top with nooch, cracked pepper and optional vegan cheese.

Creamy, oozing, goodness.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes covered*, remove cover and bake another 15 at 450 or until browned in spots/'cheese' melts.

Serve piping hot! Or put it in the fridge for lunches, it gets better as it ages.

* If your container doesn't have a cover, add a little extra almond milk or add water to the tomato sauce and shake it up to get all the little bits out and pour that over. The added moisture will help everything from drying out. I did one covered and one not, giving a little extra sauce etc to the non-covered dish.

For hummus lasagna, I would toss the vegetables separately with the hummus, then layer, veggie/hummus mix, noodles, spinach, tomato sauce and repeat.

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole (or banana, apple, other fruit)

2010-03-20T09:53:00.001-07:00

This is basically my lazy, casual rendition of French toast, with less work. This recipe is about using what you have on hand or things that you may have no other use for or are about to get up and leave you.

The original Recipe is from Vegan Brunch by Isa, amazing book and worth your hard earned money.

This recipe is great for when you have some stale or dry bread that is past it's prime. Because this recipe is the my lazy vegan version, you can use any old bread or an assortment of breads. No matter how old, dry, stale, hard, broken or decrepit it is, because instead of perfect slices our bread is going to be cubed, torn and shredded. I also made sure to save and add all the bread crumbs I had laying around, so dump out those bags and scrap your cutting boards! Waste not, want not.

This recipe is all about using what you already have, so experiment and substitute to suit your needs. If you don't have pumpkin try squash, banana, fruit compote, sweet potato, apple sauce. Anything!

What you will need:
Baking Dish
Bowl
Cutting Board

Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin (alternative, depending on what you have could be apple sauce, compote, mashed bananas)
1 cup almond milk (or any other vegan milk)
2 T corn starch (again, it you like potato or other starches use them)
2 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
two shakes of all spice

optional: Earth balance for buttering the baking dish and dotting the top
Optional add ins: Anything you have laying around, nuts (whole, broken, ground), coconut, dried fruit, chocolate chips, oats, flax seeds, this is your dish and it is about using what you have.
More Options: If you don't want to serve the casserol with syrup or sugar, I would add brown sugar or maple syrup directly to the pumpkin mix to bake in the sweetness so no toppings will be needed.

Also, if you bread mixture looks a little dry once all the juices are absorb splash some more almond milk on top.

Add ins can either be mixed with pumpkin mixture, or tossed with the bread, or even sprinkled over top of the dish! Whatever you want.

a little liquid from jarred ginger or a little bit of grated fresh ginger (again, this is to taste so for stronger bite add more)
expired bread, I had a good 3/4 loaf but you could round this out with fresh bread, all bread crumbs or any bread like items you have around.

Dice your bread into bite sized cubes or tear into chunks if using soft bread save all end pieces, crumbs, fluffy bits and odds and ends. Set aside.

Mix everything else together in a bowl and preheat your oven to 350.

Place all your bread into a shallow rimmed baking dish (you can use a casserole dish or deep dish, this will result in a softer casserole. As the pumpkin mixture is pretty wet, and depending on how hard/dry your bread is you may want more layers to keep in moisture.) Since I like mine less-moist and a little crispy, I'm using a shallow baking dish so my bread is effectively in a single layer.

Pour pumpkin mixture over bread and let sit until oven is ready, the longer it sits the more it absorbs and the softer it gets. So depending on the tough/dryness of your bread and your preference for soft/pudding style eats you may want to let it sit longer.

I added broken walnut pieces to mine and mixed them in last. Mine also looked a little dry so I added a splash of soymilk on top and dotted it with Earth Balance.

Alternatively you can prepare this and place it in your fridge to dish out smaller amounts to cook on an as needed bases. Or even fish out your bread cubes to fry, traditional French toast style throughout the week. MMM

But since I'm being lazy, I'm just gonna plop the whole mess in the oven and not let it sit very long. About 12 minutes, stir let it sit another 12, then bake.

Baking time was around 15-20 mins, again if you'd like a more pudding style dish you could stir/mix it as it cooks and reduce the cooking time.

Voila!

Now because I didn't add any sugar to the casserole the end result isn't overtly sweet. I prefer to sweeten it to taste on the plate with icing sugar and maple syrup (I also lived with my dad, who hated sweets so I tend to let people add their own sugar). However, if your looking for a sweetened dish ready scoop and eat, I would mix in some maple syrup or brown sugar right into the pumpkin puree.

Serve alone, dusted with sugar, spices, citrus zest, berry sauce, syrup, ice cream or w/e.

alternatively if you like pumpkin, you could make this a savory dish by adding sauted garlic, Rosemary, thyme and onions to the pumkin mixture and extra earth balance.

Halifax's Vegan Association Recipe Zine! Call out for Vegan Recipes, Stories, Articles etc

2010-01-29T11:56:00.001-08:00

The Halifax Vegan Association (and yours truly) are putting out a vegan recipe zine for free distribution to the public. I'm hoping to get both zine copies printed to be sent up and maybe host a scanned version of the original for an e-zine and so other groups will be able to re-print and distribute the zine to spread the vegan love.

As such I will be hosting a Vegan Recipe Zine Workshop on Sunday January 31th 2pm-6pm at the Dalhousie Women's Center in Halifax N.S., including Pizza and a community Potluck.

More importantly, for the extended vegan community (This means YOU! Internet) I am still looking for any recipe submissions, going vegan stories, articles, art work or simple zine pages you would like to have published in this zine.

Feel free to send me submission via e-mail (bad_blanch_amanda at hotmail).

Stay Vegan!

Squash and Kale Pasta

2009-11-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

I am not kidding when I say this may be the best thing I have ever made. Seriously, I was a cocking son-of-a-bitch for 3 full days after I made this, it was that impressive and good. This is so not my typical dish, flavour or style, but it is amazing! Much more sophisticated then my usual kitchen works. And look! there is even a real honest to goodness recipe!

this is the dish to go to for autumn filling.

Butter smooth squash, with a light creamy sauce coating pasta and veggies. And the crunchy, spicy kick of the roasted seeds (optional, but you'll be missing out!). A great seasonal dish! That is somehow rich and light at the same time!

Autumn Delight: Squash Pasta

1/2 lb. winter squash
1 medium onion diced
1/2 bunch baby kale
2-3 fat cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup veggie stock
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
leftover roux based sauce (optional)
nooch (optional)
1 recipe roasted squash seeds (optional)
1/2 lb. pasta (any short pasta)

Seasoning to taste:
Cumin
Cayanne
Pepper
Paprika
sage
mustard seeds
pinch of nutmeg
salt
thyme
rosemary
serves 1 with leftovers
time 45 minutes

1 Quarter, peel and de-seed the squash. Cut the squash into small cubes (no larger than 1/2"). chop onion into similarly sized cubes
2 Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat; add the squash, onion, pepper, mustard seeds and sauté, stirring from time to time. Cook until the squash is basically cooked-through, but still relatively firm (about 10ish minutes), seasoning to taste with salt,pepper and other seasonings.

3 Meanwhile, mince the garlic; wash the kale, chop stems and roughly tear up the leaves. When the squash is nearly cooked through, add the garlic and kale. Cook for another couple of minutes, until the kale is wilted and the garlic soft.
4 Add stock and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, and continue cooking until the squash has reached a tenderness to your liking . If the mixture starts to dry out, you can add a little bit more stock (or even water). Once the squash is cooked properly, stir in the non-dairy milk and if you have leftover white vegan sauce that is made with a roux add that in chunks. Roux based sauces tend to thicken a lot when chilled and if you add some to your pan it's kinda like a soft cheese or bits of tofu.
5 Toss squash mixture with nooch, roasted seeds and cooked pasta. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with grated vegan cheese if desired and top with roasted seeds if using.

1 Recipe Roasted seeds
1 squash worth of seeds
2 tbs olive oil
Seasoning:
Cayenne
salt
pepper
garlic powder

pre-heat oven to 350 and place a piece of parchment paper onto a tray. Toss the seeds with oil and spices and arranged in a single layer on sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes stirring once or twice. Careful they don't burn!

Seriously!! I am not kidding go make this disk right now!

Veganmofo: Ok, I know it's over but I just got my swap today!

2009-11-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Over on the ppk we had arranged a mofo swap! Which was basically a care package to assemble and send to another lucky mofoer! Well my lovely (and talented) swap partner Kelly! or warriortwo so check her out.

I am so so so in love with this loot, check it.

3 PACKS OF JERKY!! I am a huge jerky whore, nomnomnom. Although Party wound up grabbing my opened bag of spicy 'chicken' flavour! RAWR -_-. I was not impressed, and it was considered a great lost. Not sure what it is about stonewall jerky, but man I cannot get enough!

Other look includes organic spices and body care samples!

Stickers, pins and zines oh my!

Soups!

Cookies!

And chimes!! Mango ginger to be exact and boy are they good.

She also made me a burnt cd "Got my mofo working!" which I am excited to play.

thank you so much kelly! and I am glad you enjoyed your package as well.

Veganmofo: Vegan Brunch!

2009-10-31T11:04:00.001-07:00

What better way to start the weekend? Pancakes, Sausage and homefries! All vegan of course.

Brunch is just one of those things you look forward to like fall and cozy sweaters.

Today brunch features, Banana pancakes from Vegan Brunch! By Isa Chandra M. , followed my rosemary roasted garlic potatoes also taken from Vegan Brunch (sort of) and to round it out we ate some yves sausage rounds.

Yum!

Adam's plate

What are you eating for brunch?

Veganmofo: Simple eats

2009-10-30T16:25:00.001-07:00

Yet another no measure recipe to share with you all.

Spaghetti, kale and bechemel!

This sauce recipe is loosely based of the lovely Joanna's from her book Yellow Rose recipe and a classic french cooking book i got through freecycle.

Ingredients:
2 handfuls of WW spaghetti.
1 hand full of kale, sliced with sears
2 fork fulls of Earth balance

Sauce:
2 giant spoon fulls of minced garlic (I'm using jarred stuff, fresh maybe 3-4 gloves?)
Enough olive oil to coat your cast iron skillet
5 fork fulls of earthbalance
enough WW flour to coat the bottom of your cast iron pan twice
Soymilk (enough to fill your pan and mix in your roux)
2 pinches of nutmeg
1 pinch of ground thyme
1 pinch of ground basil
1/2 pinch of ground sage
** ground is important for this smooth white sauce!**
as much fresh pepper as you can grind
Sea salt to taste.

First thing, is make you sauce by preheating your cast iron pan with oil. Then adding your garlic and some pepper saute until browned. Then melt your earth balance, I know it is a lot, but this is "french" cooking.

once your earth balance has melted, stir with your spoon and get your whisk ready. Being pouring flour (WW!!) directly into your pan and stir until it combines to form a paste or roux. Continue mixing ad adding flour until you have a thick paste that doesn't look like it'll take any more flour (If you do push it past the intake point, just melt more earth balance and stir like mad).

Now you can add your spices and stir some more to insure you do not have lumps. cook for a little while to toast your flour and flavour your roux.

Now comes the hard part, begin pouring in your soymilk and stirring to combine. You may want to do this in batches to make stirring and checking for lumps easier. once it is all combined turn your heat way down to let it simmer, stirring occasionally as skin will form and it will continue to thicken (add more soymilk if you want a thinner sauce).

Once the sauce is simmering bring your pasta water to a boil and cook your pasta.

While that is doing its thing, take your sears and cut kale into small pieces in a cereal bowl. Add your forkfulls of EB and microwave with pepper for 3-4 minutes covering the bowl with a plate.

When everything is done combine onto your plate, top with bacos, nooch and sesame seeds. Yum!

On a side note, winter and no-natural light makes me sad.

And just a post to help out all those coming from google

2009-10-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

And searching for "Vegans are unhealthy" or "unhealthy vegans" or "veganism is unhealthy" or "unhealthy vegan men" (? not sure why that brings you here, I have ovaries).

You will all be pleased to know that I am currently eating frozen oreos and drinking pepsi from the bottle as midnight approaches.

[This post was in recongition that a large chunk of my non-ppk and veganmofo traffic comes from people trying to google why or how veganism is unhealthy]

Veganmofo: I cannot believe it is almost over!!! bonus dog photos!

2009-10-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

It's a sad, sad time of year when veganmofo comes to an end. But we all knew this day would come, I'm just sorry I didn't get anything more interesting accomplished for you all!! But I am hoping this mofo experience will re-invigorate my internal blogger and get me out of this student's rut and back into kitchen experimenting with posted results for you dear readers.

Tonight was another night out, eating sushi (the glorious dragon roll i posted about earlier). So here's some older eats to keep you mofo'ers happy!

Up first is HeartWood's Vegan Cafe's TLT!
Reheated in the cast iron, yum.

This sandwich took a lot of compressing.

And one of this month's prouder moments, may I present to you dear internet
MOTHER FUCKING GRILL MARKS

hells yeah, all thanks to my George Forman grill

Now the thanksgiving test-run, or the fist time I ever made isa's Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy (Good god why did it take me so long?)

Served it with some sauteed kale, mashed potatoes and chickpea cutlets. Yum!

Another look at my thanksgiving plate

And the failed techno-colour cheese cake

Ceaser salad and garlic pita

The studying hummus snack plate

And now on to the Party photos:

And tired after a hard day of modelling.

Veganmofo: unlikely pair

2009-10-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

This is one of my current late night, no groceries and papers due in 6 hours meals.

Potatoes and sesame seeds!
Because protein is important, but not always present in my apartment.

Needs:
Cast iron skillet
Olive oil
Sesame Seeds
Potatoes
Garlic
cumin, mustardseed, sage, thyme, oregano, paprika, Cayenne, coriander, rosemary, pepper and anything else you find laying around.

Pre-heat oven to 400, dice potatoes and toss in oil, spices and seeds.
Throw your skillet into the oven with potatoes (I put extra oil over top, to be good and sure nothing sticks). cook for 20-30 minutes or until done.

Stir occasionally and enjoy!

Apologies for the bad photos, this was eaten late and our lighting is awful.

Veganmofo: Cheesy Potatoes!!

2009-10-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

The other day I needed something for breakfast, and as my luck would have it Ms. Kittee herself was waking up and logging on. So I asked the expert who told me these three magical words: nooch, oil and Potatoes.

Scalloped potatoes it was!

Now, unfortunately there aren't any real measurements here just simple steps.

First:

Slice your potatoes as thinly as possible and pre-heat your oven to 350.

2nd:
Combine nooch and oil in a measuring glass. I had a cup or so of nooch the first time, but the flakes deflate when they get wet, so you might have to play with it a bit.

I used a fork to whisk the nooch and olive oil together with salt and pepper. I also added a bit of soymilk for creaminess. You'll know when you get the right consistency because it will be thick, creamy and saucy.

3rd step:
Toss your potatoes slices into a casserole dish and cover in sauce. If you need more sauce, repeat step two until adequate sauce coverage is achieved.

Step 4:
Cover in tinfoil or lid if you have one. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes covered (until potatoes are soft and sauce is bubbly). Then increase to 400, remove lid and cook for 15 minutes of until edge brown.

Optional: I added some vegan cheese to the mix, but it's totally not needed!
I do recommend you serve these hot! I find the next day the sauce tends to really dry out and they are more like nooch crusted potatoes.

For a more complete meal serve with some baked tofu and greens. Yum!

Veganmofo: The Magic of Tea!

2009-10-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

Just quick post to sing the many, many praises of tea.
nothing beats a fresh hot cut of tea to warm you body and soul.

which brings me to this post, the ppk tea bag swap!

I received mine today from Anna, and I hope hers arrived safe and sound.

Lovely shot of my assortment, I cannot wait to try the cucumber tea! neato!

Outside the Kitchen--a non Veganmofo post--

2009-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

I wrote them a quick e-mail, telling them how annoyed I am that Dollhouse is being put on hold for a month and an appeal for a third season.

If you haven't already, guys please tune into the show, tivo it, watch it on hulu and show some mad love for this series. Maybe even write your own letters, phone calls or e-mails.

Thanks

I just have to say that I was extremely upset and disappointed to learn that you will be withholding episodes of Joss's Dollhouse for an entire month. Surely, you have seen what an amazing program this series is. You have a really amazing opportunity to be part of something great, yet you seem to be consistently taking this for granted. Let's face it, the majority of your programing is just plain awful crap. Followed by remakes and re-packaging of the same crap. There is only one night a week I would ever dream of tuning into your network and that would be Friday nights for Dollhouse.

This series has so much potential, and its story is only just developing. You've seen the fan base Joss's series generate, the long lasting and loyal viewer-ship and fans his shows earn. The quality writing is something that is solely lacking from broadcasting today, and I would sincerely ask that you think about that when considering to re-new this series. It is worth it. Please re-new an amazing series and be one of the few networks to actually provide some quality broadcasting. I would hate to have my only reason for tuning into your station taken away. We all know these shows get better with time, please allow Dollhouse to get there and you will have thousands of thankful fans like me.

please carefully consider dollhouse's fate for the upcoming season. I will be anxiously awaiting novemeber's end so I can tune back in for my favourite program to return. And I hope it will continue to return again after that. Please, Please, Please give this amazing show a chance for a third season and keep your viewers happy.

Thank you for reading this and please remember that there are all kinds of fans who are hoping that you save this show.

-Amanda Dickie

With Love, Amanda Dickie
"As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together."
- Isaac Bashevis Singer,Writer, Nobel laureate (1904-1991)

Veganmofo: Student's best friend, the leftovers

2009-10-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a just quick follow up post because I posted yesterday's entry today (oops) which has put me a little behind. Anyway, to follow up on the vegan student's chili I got some handy advice from the ppk on the many applications of leftover chili.

Today I went with the chili spaghetti!Just use your chili in the place of sauce, great for a quick meal and good use of leftover chili (using yesterday's recipe).

Heat your chili (I added some extra garlic and basil to mine as it cooked), cook your noddles and if desired add some vegan cheese/nooch.

Voila! chilli noodle bowls.

After some coffee and a few bowls of this your ready to get back to the books for midterms.

Plus if you are even more strapped for time, and microwave friendly. Zap your noddles in water add your sauce and zap some more until heated through.

Veganmofo: Student's Chili

2009-10-20T15:10:00.001-07:00

Here's a simple and easy chili recipe. I threw this together last night for supper and it made enough for lunches for the next few days plus more the freezer. The main point of this meal was to make use of the last little bits we had running around. Depending upon what you use it can be fairly budget friendly as well.

One thing I like to do with jars of salsa and tomato sauce (or really any kind of sauce, pickles, jams etc) is once the jar is empty to add hot water to the jar and shake to get all the little bits of sauce left. And I normally save these remnants for sauces, soups, stews and other dishes that cook for a while. Not only does this make cleaning the jars for later use a breeze but it also ensures you get every last bit of sauce

Hungry Student's chili

1 can kidney beans
3 cups leftover beans
1 pack veggie grounds
1 onion diced
3 cloves of garlic diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
leftover spaghetti sauce, salsa, black strap molasses
asian chili sauce
olive oil
cooking sherry

Spices:
Mustard seeds
cumin
garlic powder
crushed red pepper
paprika
Cayenne pepper
oregano
sage
thyme
dried rosemary
fresh ground pepper
fresh rosemary

Optional: corn starch

In a large pot heat your oil and add your onions mustard seeds and cumin. Sautee until onions are translucent while grinding in pepper. Once the onions begin to turn add your remaining spices and continue to stir, being sure to scrap the bottom. Now add your diced garlic and continue to cook until fragrant, keep scrapping the bottom.

Once your garlic is fragrant add your veggie grounds and cook until browned. De-glaze the pan with cooking sherry, keep the heat high and scrap the bottom. Now add more red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin.

Be sure to drain the beans if using canned. Add beans to pot and stir, cooking for 3 minutes and adding more pepper.

Now add your leftover bits of sauce, salsa and molasses. Stir and adjust for seasonings. Add your tomato paste and canned tomatoes, rinse cans and add liquid. Don't forget the chili sauce if you have it, a tsp or so should do.

Continue cooking and tasting, adjust seasoning but be careful as your pepper flakes/overall spice will increase with the cooking time. Cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

If your chili seems to thin, remove some of the liquid with your spoon and place into a mug/bowl and create a slurry with a bit of corn starch. But sure to stir until starch is completely dissolved before adding back to the pot. Cook for an additional 20 minutes, repeating as needed.

Remember chili gets better the longer it cooks. But once you cannot wait any longer dig in! And enjoy

Also this recipe makes leftovers, so freeze some for latter use.

Veganmofo: Easy school lunch

2009-10-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Now, the important thing to remember here is that I have never before made a grain salad. I wasn't entirely sure how to, so perhaps this dish is really just cold rice and veggies. Having only ever sampled grain salads from grocery delis where every bean/rice salad seems to be flavoured with leftover sweet pickle juice (ew!!!). I was not a fan. I prefer my grains savoury, maybe with a hint of sour.

Wild Rice and Bean Salad

1 cup wild and brown rice mix
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or water)
dash of salt
1/2 cup frozen white beans (is using caned you will need to rinse, and re-rinse. You may actually want to add more beans, I felt it could have had more)
1/2 medium onion diced
3 tsp minced garlic
1 red pepper diced (or vegetables of your choice. Red was all I had)

Herbs:
1 pinch sage
2 sprigs fresh Rosemary
2 dashes of paprika
1 pinch poultry spice
1 pinch basil
1 pinch thyme
salt and pepper

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 sherry
1/4 (just under a quarter) balsamic vinegar
Repeat of herb mix with the addition of fresh dill

Optional toppings:
Shredded nori
Sesame seeds
nut of choice

First coat a heavy bottomed pot with oil and cook your onions with pepper and mustard see until fragrant. Add garlic and continue cooking, deglaze pan with sherry is desired. Now add you rice and toast, before adding liquid and your selection of herbs. Bring to boil, boil hard for a minute, before reducing to a low simmer for 55 minutes (or until done).

Meanwhile dice your pepper and make your dressing, it can be made in the measuring cup and combined by whisking with a fork. Set aside.

Once rice is done allow to cool, if you have extra liquid drain your rice. Once rice is cooled (better yet, use this recipe to use up leftover rice!) add your pepper and dressing. Toss to coat and refrigerate overnight (at least an hour!).

Veganmofo: Weekend Edition! Farmer's Market (Photo heavy)

2009-10-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

sorry for the delay in posts, my friend Katie and I went to the farmer's market in downtown Halifax. Our market is currently being held in the old Keith's Brewery, a older cozy labyrinth of tunnels, floors and boths of farm fresh goodies and local crafts!

There is so much to see and do, traffic (of other people that is) is a bit of an issue, but with their new space down the road they will have event more floors and a much more open space. So although I will miss the charm and maze of the keith's brewery the extra elbow room and being open 4 days a week will be a welcome change.

Let's get started!

The Market Attrium various fresh produce tables, an apple cider and apples section and two bakers! The mushroom guy no longer seems to be active, but in his place there were some fine produce vendors who made jams, salsas and more!

The Atrium is by far the roomiest portion of the market tour so be sure to savour your personal space while you still can before moving on to the downward winding stair case, or through the various arches, into the craft hallways or back up the stairs for level two and three.

This Market trip not only did I visit Happy Hippie Granola, but I found another granola enthusiast who did all kinds of gluten free mixes, yum!

Here is a shot of one of the craft tunnels, there is a great word working guy who has amazing Atlantic products. Beautiful, beautiful work.

in the back of this photo you can see the atrium.

More crafts!

I was so tempted by the prospect of fresh garden herbs, but I feared the little guys wouldn't survive the canvas bag and the hike home. So for another day.

This is one of the many apple and cider booths. You can get samples, buy a glass, a liter or two or the gallon sizes. MMMM

Cider is what fall is all about.

Vendors in action

onions and shallots

For some reason there were some beautiful cherry tomatoes, I missed another shot of tiny yellow and red ones in baskets.

so cute

Broccoli and flowers (i think?)

I have a few action shots of consumers grabbing some taters

Carrots! Just be sure to ask them not to snap off the greens before hand if you want to keep them.

more carrots, further along there were vendors of rainbow carrots but I ran out of card space

Autumn produce, look at the kale!!!

Plus local artist are always hiding in the corridors providing a great atmosphere (photo is awful, sorry)

I also came across an amazing new addition. RAW CHOCOLATE! Cocaonibs, pure cocoa, vegan hand made chocolates and raw fudge (with coconut oil or without) So creamy and SAMPLES!

The basement has sweet shops, glass art, wines, jams, soaps and the lovely atlantic hemp. with hemp seed samples

Second/main floor 2 (the building is on a hill, so depending on which side your on this is the main or second floor)

Now between staff of life vegan cinnamon apple rolls or their chocolate cinnamon apple rolls fresh with coffee and tea and this Indian stand it really doesn't matter where else I go. I normally get a chickpea roll (but there are many vegan options, I am just a roll sucker) and they come with lovely side salads.

More produce!

Apple empire

plums

1$ each for these bad boys! Plus the closer it is to closing the cheaper things get. So if you can risk the time limit, go near close and get 7-9 for the price of 1.

I also noticed this new addition, so great!

My good friend katie chowing down her vegan cinna-bun

So if your a hungry vegan warrior, get yourself to your local market. Know your farmers, their practises and get yourself some quality produce. Maybe even some good deals.

Bonus: when I got home and de-stalked the Brussels party stole the stalk and ran around with it all day.

Veganmofo: White Trash Food: The White-Trash-A-dia (or using unused appliances )

2009-10-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

One of the veganmofo recurring themes is using Appliances you never use, one of mine would be my Gorge Forman Grill. So when lunch time hit, I busted that puppy out to make some white trash quesadilla.

May I present the "White-Trash-a-dia!"

Earlier this week I found some cans of amy's re-fried beans on sale at planet organic! so today I whipped one out with some vegan cheese slices and jar of salsa.
Here's what it takes:

white trash quesa
1 can re-fried beans (spicy)
1 jar medium salsa
1 pita pocket (or tortilla)
2 slices of processed vegan cheese
optional: pickled jalapeños

Pre-heat your forman grill. As it preheats tear your cheese slices and cover the bottom of your pita. Open the can of re-fried beans and using a knife spread a suitable layer of beans over the surface of the pocket. If you have jalapeños add them too, and roll up your pocket.

Place on pre-heated grill and press down (watch when you press down on the grill! I burnt my finger... again). Wait until the outsides are toaste d and crispy and the "cheese" melts and starts to come out the ends.

Enjoy with a side of salsa or to up the white trash feel free to include vegan sour cream or vegan cream cheese and bacos.

Veganmofo: Lazy day

2009-10-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today was a very lazy day, the only real moment of excitement was busting out my new Bodum and subsequently drinking three full bodums of coffee today. I think I may have a problem.

Otherwise a short recap of my meals today (sorry no photos).
Breakfast: mocha just-us coffee with silk creamer
2 packs of instance apple cinnamon oatmeal in a lovely soup mug

lunch (eaten maybe 2 hours after breakfast): Farmer's market sesame kissed spelt roll with earthbalance
large bowl of leftover soup! [potato broccoli-vcon] (the last of it! including the serving the dog got with breakfast).
more coffee
dinner/packed school meal: A salad, lame but i was out of re-heatable containers. bonus was able to use my cool new to-go-ware!

Romain lettuce, 1 tomato, vegan bacon bits, pita chips and knock off goddess dressing
and a travel mug with the last on the coffee from the am
Salad was kinda like this one:

second dinner: My lovely roommate adam brought me back a dragon roll from minatos! yay!

Study period:
another bodum of coffee, 1 litre of pepsi

Further snacking shame: an entire pack of tofurkey slices, yeah I know I'm gross. but I am about to make up for it with a bowl of nooch, garlic and cayenne popcorn! MMM late night snacks.

We really wanted vegan nachos but the weather and sheer laziness has prevented a journey to the 24/7 grocery. Besides, I'm sure the popcorn is healthier....

What is your favourite late night snack?

Veganmofo: Thanksgiving Recipe edition: Apple Crisp

2009-10-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I mentioned the apple crisp recipe and how it was coming up. So here it, my family recipe for apple crisp.

Apple Crisp
1 bag of apples
1/4 cup of lemon juice
cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, brown sugar

1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup WW flour
1/2 cup EB
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup of walnut pieces
1 TBS of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg
a dash of all spice

Preheat the oven to 350, slice and peel all your apples and add them to your dish coating in lemon juice as you go and season with your sugar and spices. Once you've finished the apples prepare the topping in a small bowl by combining your oats, flour, sugar and spices. Once combined fold in your room temperature earth balance until a crumbly consistency is reached add your walnuts.

For a thicker crust, double your crust toppings (or triple!)

Sorry I forgot to take a better picture of the finished dessert.

Veganmofo:Brooklyn Ware House -Review

2009-10-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Ware House may be one of the most charming settings for dining I have ever visited. It's just so darn cute. Everything from the ambiance lighting, attractive and sweet waiting staff, local art, vibrant decor, attractive seating, frosted wine bottles used as water jugs to the green lantern mantle piece over setting the bar. Behind which you can spot a charming collection of cookbooks.

The place looks great, and despite being a omni restaurant (serving things like rabbit stew :( ) they have their menus clearly labelled as to which items are vegan and state on the bottom that they can adapt numerous things to be vegan, vegetarian or gluten free. Our server even mentioned that they are trying to get in a vegan dessert.

When we took our seats by the window, as if I wasn't already enthralled with this little bistro the speakers crackle and "Heart Shaped Box" - By Nirvana starts to seep through. As if the green lantern bar piece didn't earn enough love. Throughout our meal, I don't think they played a single bad song. It was amazing. They even had a rendition of old school Mario music, epic.

We ordered the vegan entrée Vegan Carbonara, which uses almond milk to create a smooth velvety sauce served over angel hair, with steamed green beans, a portabello, roasted smokey tofu and pea shoots. Beautiful presentation, and the sauce was very very good. The only off putting part was the giant portabello .... that was plain... just steamed giant hunk of mushroom on top, so it never touches the sauce. Ick, and I happen to really like Portabellos.. but I have never before heard of just steaming them and eating them. Severely disappointed, because as great as everything else is (and it is soo great) this was a bit disappointing for a small 15$ (!!) plate.

However, this is only one menu item that was listed as vegan, they offer a different lunch fare that is more reasonably priced. Their drink list is great, with soy milk for all lattes etc. I order a chia latte and on that rainy day it was like drinking a little piece of heaven.

This is an adorable omni restaurant that is really trying to make an effort and include vegans so by all means they should be encouraged, but for the sake of your budget I would recommend them as a lunch destination as they are fully operational as a cafe/bar and they do have vegan appetizers which I haven't tried. I would be interested to go back and find out which menu items can be altered to be made vegan and perhaps try those.

Over all it is someplace that you could go with someone who doesn't like vegan foods and wants to order meat while you get something else. But when it comes to dinner, I find the price doesn't live up to the meal.However, if you ordered extra sauce and maybe slice your mushroom you may wind up with better results.

A- for effort
A+ for atmospher
B- for food
A+ for drinks
A for service

Out of ten, I would say its a 7. This is just one place, I do not want to give up on.

Veganmofo: THANKSGIVING Photo HEAVY

2009-10-11T09:16:00.001-07:00

Here is the sole reason I have missed two posts, vegan thanksgiving 2009. Our new cluttered apartment and ten guests. I think we were able to show this holiday who's boss. As a result the past two days were spent cooking, shopping, and cleaning. Which left very little positing time.

The Glorious Choas:

Once again, I apologize for the horrible lighting in our kitchen, but let us begin.

The first table spread:

And the second serving station

We started the day before as our oven has limited space, and wound up sending multiple dishes to cook at friend's houses. But it all came together in the end.

Night before AM prep, we watched the Buffy thanksgiving episode and peeled, washed, prepend, simmers and stewed. It was magic.

We even had to plug in our mini fridge to hold all the prepped food, it is now holding all the left overs.

Made the night before were:
Broccoli Potato soup -Vcon
Mom's Apple Crisp-Recipe to follow
Prepped potatoes (homegrown!) for mashed potatoes
Prepped carrots, roasted with olive oil, sage, thyme, pepper, fresh rosemarry, paprika, cumin etc
Baked four loaves of bread (family recipe to come)
Made stuffing from said bread (family recipe to come)
Lemon Herb roasted potatoes-Vcon marinaded over night
Portabello's Marinaded in broth, sherry, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and spices

The next day, we sent all the potatoes to katie to cook along with carrots and squash (olive oil, maple syrup, cayenne, nutmeg, cumin, corriander, sage, rosemarry). Asparagus (semame style from VWAV only roasted and with balsamic vinegar instead of mirin) and sweet potatoes went to Blake, who also made amazing pumpkin pie and pumpkin shortbread.

Blake's Pie

Lemon potatoes:

Carrots:

Garlic tatter mound

Asparagus with sesame

In the morning we headed to the farmers market to get rolls and last minute produce, or produce not grown at Adam's Dad's farm.We also picked up some lovely fancy spiced almonds for the table and some homemade butter-pickles to go with the lovely jar of beets adam's dad's wife made.

First thing prepped, tofurky and a pile of veggies to cook for 4 hours i also added chopped parsnips and x4 the marinade. It went into the oven.

The squash was prepped and sent out to bake else ware along with the asparagus and sweet potato fries (VWAV).

There was vegan green bean casserole, which was gone in a matter of seconds!

I also reserved half the squash for stuffing with Bryanna's wild rice and mushroom stuffing (I added walnuts, so good!).

Wild Rice and mushrooms stuffing cooking:

I also used some of the stuffing to stuff the roasted marinaded mushrooms:

I also made Everydaydish's holiday roast and tried the puff pastry addition for the first time. Although as I had a giant amount of stuffing underneath it and was adding vegetable broth to keep the stuffing moist it didn't work so well. But other people liked it.

Punk Rock chickpea Gravy (VWAV) finished off the whole table nicely and my friend oliver brought kale and tahini sauce (VWAV).

My overgenerous plate

And the Blur-tastic desserts

And here are photos of everyone enjoying the festivities!

The feeding begins!

Secondary Table spread

And post-food-consumption, everyone ready to explode.

Adam feeding Party his share of the feast, after I had cooked him special sweet potato and squash.

including Party

And now, my friends I am off to rest.

My special helpers!

Vegamofo: The Failed cheesecake

2009-10-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

presenting the makings of a failed cheese cake:

Sometimes things don't always turn out right, case in point: The technocoloured cheesecake that wasn't. I decided to wing making a vegan cheesecake (having only ever made one before) and the result was more like a technocoloured cream pie.

Tasty enough, but unpleasant to behold. Just for fun here are a few of the video makings.

My friend Katie had the great idea to make a neat multi-coloured cheesecake with food dye. Sadly, it didn't quite turn out, next time around I think I will make two different coloured fillings and pour them in the pie shell together.

Instead of trying to great a marble of colour by adding drops of food die to a pre-existing filling.

The important thing with kitchen mishaps it to laugh it off and get back to cookings. Things don't always turn out right, but even when they don't it is not the end of the world. So chin up, aprons on and get cooking!

Veganmofo: Quick and Easy student's food +Bonus Dog Photo

2009-10-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Just a simple post about some simple food for hungry vegan students. This was what I had for dinner some day between dog parks and classes.

(Excuse the dog toy's behind these photos)

Simple Side Salad:
2 handfuls of Baby spinach, loosely torn
1 tomato chopped
1 handful of sesame seeds
Knock off Goddess Dressing (cheaper still if you make your own, I bought my knock off stuff on sale).

Directions: combine and top with fresh ground pepper.

I served this along side an amy's burrito (no dairy!) baked in the oven for 30 minutes. I throw it in when I get home, do some clean up, prep the salad and start my reading homework and it's done before you know it. Eaten while watching True Blood, sweet.

BONUS!

Party photo

Veganmofo: Halifax Eats: Minato's

2009-10-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings Mofo'ers.

Tonights dinner experience is courtesy of Minato's Sushi, one of the greatest places to eat in Halifax.

Minato Sushi Japanese Restaurant
520 Queen Street
Halifax, NS B3J 2H8

(902) 420-0331‎

Sadly I forgot my camera so I was unable to photograph the restaurant, but I do have some older photos of all the veggie goodness. Minato's is a charming little resturant tucked in by a thrift store and used book shop in downtown halifax. The decor is traditional chique and the food is outstanding!

They have a variety of vegan/vegetarian options outside of the usual sushi bar offerings, all of which are outstanding. Their new menu also includes which items are made with Bonito (nasty fish flakes!), making them easier to avoid. Sadly their miso soup is not vegan, but they offer other Korean and Japanese treats.

The best of which is their Veggie Dragon Maki roll, if you only order one item, let it be this. It is outstanding! A must eat in Halifax. Crisp hot tempura sweet potato, wrapped in Nori and sushi rice topped with glorious avocado slices and coated in a sweet and savory sauce. We order it everytime we go.
Green tea and roasted rice tea served in traditional pots for the table or warm sake really hit the spot.

They have other vegan options ranging from vegetable tempura, gyōza, tofu in ponzu sauce, korean dumplings and many others. I strongly suggest you check it out.

VeganMofo: Taco Dinner

2009-10-04T13:04:00.001-07:00

Just a quick write up about a quick and easy favourite. TACOS!

Back home this was one of the few meals my mother (notoriously picky eater) would eat, so it became somewhat of a staple. Now usually we served these puppies with diced peppers, onions, tomatoes, mixed greens and fancy fixings. But with our limited pantry we keep it pretty simple:

Yves classic ground
Salsa
Garlic
Romain lettuces
And shells

Usually I would dice mushrooms and onions to fry with the garlic but as my roommate hates both those things, we skipped them. First brown your garlic in the pan, then fry your fake meat until heated and crispy. If you have any favourite seasonings feel free to add them in as it cooks, I used paprika and pepper because supplies where limited. Now you add your salsa and continue to cook until it gets all nice and bubbly. The salsa will cook down and flavour your fake meat to make a simple and tasty filling for your crispy shells.

Note: I also like to heat the shells in the oven for 5 minutes so they get extra crispy and a little toasted.

Serve in shells with lettuces and toppings of choice. Mine was an extra dollop of salsa and hot sauce. MMM.

What are you favourite taco fixings?

VeganMofo: 3.5 Ways of Kale

2009-10-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Warning: This next post contains Kale, and lots of it. Junk Food Vegans, please avert your eyes.

I recently became the benefactor of a large sum of gloriously grown kale. Look at that beauty!
I really, really love kale. If I had to choose one vegetable, well my first reaction would be to choose potatoes, because who doesn't love potatoes? But if I had considered the question, my real answer would be kale. Because Kale, my friends is a nutritional power house. One could live off kale, but one might not be able to live off potatoes (although I might die trying).

Kale is not only nutritious but it is damn tasty too. I could kale all on its own, as its own meal. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or four coursed dinner as the case may be.

**

So what do to do with all that kale? For starters I decided to simply throw a butt load of it into the pan and fry it. I figured in honour of mofo I would share my three favourite ways to eat kale.

Basic steps

Needed:
-Lots of kale, one giant bunch
-Garlic
-Earth balance or olive oil
-pepper
-sesame seeds
-vegetable broth (opt)

The process is simple, wash and cut your kale, be sure to chop the stems extra finely. And heat your pan with some eb or olive oil. Now's the time to add your garlic and cook until fragrant.

Once heated, add your stems and fry until tender and little bits of browning become evident.

Now it's time to add your leaves in batches, it may look like alot but it'll all cook down. They will be releasing a lot of water, so watch for steam and splatter.

As your stirring, I normally add some vegetable broth to keep things from sticking. Remember to keep stirring and feel free to grind some pepper into the dish.

Once the greens are done to your own likeness (I like to get them a little charred and browned in spots), you can toss in some sesame seeds.

Now comes the hard part, it is time to choose your flavour.

There's the Classic:
-Extra glob of Earth Balance, course sea salt, fresh pepper and nooch.

Or the Nooch classic
More nooch!

Lemon

Similar to the classic, with the addition of extra salt and lemon for that salty tangy. So good.

Dressed Kale

Or creamy kale, just involves the addition of goddess dressing for a richer and more complex flavour. Really you could use any dressing you like, just be sure to add a pinch of nooch for good measure.

Because I find it so hard to choose, I had all three. And that was only one bunch of kale! I have 5 more, so let me hear all your favourite uses and you will be seeing me put this stuff to good use so stay tuned!

**Note: The picture of my kale haul was taken AFTER I ate this meal of 3.5 ways of kale.

Veganmofo: A call for help

2009-10-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

I have a few other posts in the work, but for dinner tonight I threw together some white beans and green stew with red quinoa in the pressure cooker. However, the beans have a slightly bitter taste and I am looking for suggestions on how to counter act that imbalance so that we will hopefully have stew for tomorrow.

Any suggestions?

VeganMofo: 100 Ways of Vegan (Meme)

2009-10-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

And here we have it the first of possibly many, Veganmofo memes. This years list of 100 Vegan, a list composed of 100 vegan food items to measure up your street cred.

I stole this list from Jodie, The Picky Vegan. Who stole it from it's original creator Jenn, Tiny Choices. The rules are simple folks, steal this list from the blog you read it off of, giving props/credit/shout outs or plugs to those who posted before you and bold the ones you have eaten… please copy the list and paste it into the comments below, bolding the ones you’ve tried!

My total: 55%

1. Molasses
2. Cactus/Nopales
3. Scrambled Tofu
4. Grilled Portobella Caps
5. Fresh Ground Horseradish
6. Sweet Potato Biscuits
7. Arepa
8. Vegan Cole Slaw
9. Ginger Carrot Soup
10. Fiddlehead Ferns (oh how I miss you)
11. Roasted Elephant Garlic
12. Umeboshi
13. Almond Butter Toast
14. Aloe Vera
15. H and H Bagel NYC
16. Slow Roasted Butternut Squash
17. White truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Freshly ground wasabi
20. Coconut Milk Ice Cream (not store bought)
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Orchard-fresh pressed apple cider
23. Organic California Mango (in season Sept-Oct only)
24. Quinoa
25. Papaya Smoothie
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet (habanero) pepper
27. Goji Berry Tea
28. Fennel
29. Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie
30. Radishes and Vegan Buttery Spread
31. Starfruit
32. Oven fresh Sourdough bread
33. Sangria made with premium fruit and juices
34. Sauerkraut
35. Acai Smoothie
36. Blue Foot Mushrooms
37. Vegan Cupcake from Babycakes nyc
38. Sweet Potatoes and Tempeh combo
39. Falafel
40. Spelt Crust Pizza
41. Salt and Pepper Oyster Mushrooms
42. Jicama Slaw
43. Pumpkin Edamame Ginger Dumplings
44. Hemp Milk
45. Rose Champagne
46. Fuyu
47. Raw Avocado-Coconut Soup
48. Tofu Pesto Sandwich
49. Apple-Lemon-Ginger-Cayenne fresh-pressed juice…with Extra Ginger
50. Grilled Seitan
51. Prickly pear
52. Fresh Pressed Almond Milk
53. Concord Grapes off the vine
54. Ramps
55. Coconut Water fresh from a young coconut
56. Organic Arugula
57. Vidalia Onion
58. Sampler of organic produce from Diamond Organics
59. Honeycrisp Apple
60. Poi
61. Vegan Campfire-toasted Smores
62. Grape seed Oil
63. Farm fresh-picked Peach
64. Freshly-made pita bread with freshly-made hummus
65. Chestnut Snack Packs
66. Fresh Guava
67. Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
68. Raw Mallomar from One Lucky Duck, NYC
69. Fried plantains
70. Mache
71. Golden Beets
72. Barrel-Fresh Pickles
73. Liquid Smoke
74. Meyer Lemon
75. Veggie Paella
76. Vegan Lasagna (raw optional)
77. Kombucha
78. Homemade Soy Milk
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Lychee Bellini
81. Tempeh Bacon
82. Sprouted Grain Bread
83. Lemon Pepper Tempeh
84. Vanilla Bean
85. Watercress
86. Carrot you pulled out of the ground yourself
87. Vegan In-Season Fruit Pie
88. Flowers
89. Corn Chowder
90. High Quality Vegan Raw Chocolate
91. Yellow fuzz-free Kiwi
92. White Flesh Grapefruit
93. Harissa
94. Coconut Oil
95. Jackfruit
96. Homemade Risotto (Gasp! this will have to change)
97. Spirulina
98. Seedless ‘Pixie’ Tangerine
99. Gourmet Sorbet, not store bought
100. Fresh Plucked English Peas

VeganMofo: Secret Training: How to season your cast iron ware

2009-10-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

A good seasoned cast iron grill or skillet is every vegan's best friend. Now some people might try and tell you that lard is the only way to treat these bad babies but those people are just plain silly!

You have taken the first step in improving your life and seasoning your cast iron goods, let's begin.

Things you will need:
-Vegan solid shortening (I used earth balance brand)
-Pastry brush or small paint brush
-Cast iron pans
-All natural dish soap
-Scrub brush

Step 1: Scrub the heck outta those babies!!

Assemble your cast iron gear, done your rubber gloves and run that hot water! Take your brush and scrub hard, make sure you scrub all over with lots of soap and hot hot water. Once clean, towel dry completely! and move onto step two.

Step 2: Some Assembly required

Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350. (Check you oven temperatures and make sure it is at 350, those dials on the top lie! So trust your thermometers and adjust accordingly.)

*you might also want to place some foil at the bottom of the oven to catch any drippings*

One you've washed and dried all your gear it is time to melt your shortening. Take you stick (or half depending on the size) and place it into a microwave safe container. Microwave for about 2 minutes until liquid.

Step 3: The messy bit

Now here comes the get your hands dirty part, using your brush apply the melted shortening evenly in coats all over your pans. I would suggest an extra heavy layer on the cooking surface and bottom. It is probably best to do the top and handle before lifting the pan to coat the outsides and bottom. BE CAREFULL! Your heavy and lovely pots are greased and slippery, we don't want any broken toes or kitchen tiles.

Step 4: Hot potatoe

As you grease your pans place them into the oven asap, you don't want to put them down anywhere as they will make a mess. So straight into the oven with them. And move onto the next one.

Once every pan has been greased and moved into your hot oven allow them to bake for an hour. When the hour is up, simply turn off the oven and allow it to gradually return to normal temperatures and you will have lovely seasoned pots and pans.

Vegan Mofo: contest Roll

2009-10-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, there are already so many Mofo'ing giveaways here is a quick recap of the current goods up for grabs.

Over on the Lazy Smurf's Guide a Herbivore Wallet is up for grabs, so go check her out.

The Vegan's Lover has some mystery mofo goodies with three ways to win.

Be sure to check out Mitten Machen for some fancy salt prizes!

Possibly the first of many Pixiepine has some acia powder u for grabs.

You can also get you coconut on with the hungry hungry veganos as they give away coconut bliss!

Emma is giving away WayFare cheese spread, sadly for US entry only.

The lovely Tammy from Vegan Appetite, is giving out cookbooks and DVDs! Which we all love. Hope to get my hands on some of those.

More to come!

VeganMofo: The construction of a Vegan Kitchen part 1

2009-09-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings mofo'ers!

As vegan mofo begins I'll be working on my new kitchen getting things unpacked, organized and built for maximum vegan goodie production. As such Mofo so happens to fall shortly after move-in, which brings me to our very first Mofo post: Vegan Kitchen construction an epic adventure in culinary spaces I hope to keep you updated on as mofo progresses.

Give the massive scope of our accumulative kitchen gizmo's we realized that appliance access and storage was going to be one of our main concerns. As such I decided to convert one of our two coat closets (who puts a coat closet in the kitchen?) into an appliance cabinet. And as such our very first bit of kitchen reno began (oh lord, I might be turning into my mother).

After gaining the needed approval of our landlords we set to work one of the easiest (while remaining sturdy) method of cabinet installation. Essentially, your entire shelving unit is composed of one pieces of 8 by 3 4 ply ply wood and some deck screws.

Party watched while we did all the work.

Once the shelves themselves we cut the remaining board was cut into two inch widths and cut to the depth and length of our closet space. After helping Adam get the drill adjusted properly we measured our appliances for height and set the boards accordingly.

We downloaded an iphone app to help with the levelling, which is one of the most important steps. However, if you happen to find yourself with an uneven shelf don't panic. You can easily remove and readjust or use scrap pieces of wooden shingles to adjust to your desired height.

The support boards where then fastened to the wall and our shelves sat on top. For added support we chose to nail our boards down, but this isn't necessary. The selves will sit just as well without being nailed down and give you the flexibility to adjust, add or subtract shelves.

Finally because we opted for the cheaper untreated, unfinished board we'll be purchasing contact paper to cover the tops of our new shelves to make a nice finished surface for our appliances.

And voi-la instant kitchen storage. This space could also be used as a pantry for dry goods, baking supplies and any other necessities.

Another storage utility are peg boards, which can be used to hang pots, pan and baking equipment. We've only just begun to fasten ours to the wall but I will be sure to update you guys on the finished product. Be sure when you are hanging your peg board that you have something to space it off the wall. Something as simple as wine corks cut into quarters or halves and glued to the back of the peg board should be enough to lift it off the wall.

Hope you've enjoyed this little work in progress tour and early mofo sneak peek. See you all tomorrow for another day of Mofo'ing.