Veganmofo: Behind in Posts

Hey Gang,

Sorry I've been behind in some posting. I've been doing some cooking and taking some photos, sadly for last nights Canadian Thanksgiving the lighting was poor, so I snagged some leftovers to try photo graphing again tomorrow.

I don't have internet at home anymore so I might squeeze in under the wire with 20 posts this month. But the goal is to bump me up to more regular posting.. now onto the menu/good stuff.

Canadian Thanksgiving Menu

• 2 Tofurkeys 
• Mashed potatoes
• Mushroom Gravy
• Two pots of stuffing
• green bean casserole
• Yellow Rose Recipes Sweet Potatoes (candied with ginger!)
• Roasted butter nut squash
• Asparagus
• Steamed garden carrots
• Steam snap peas
• boiled turnip
• apple crisps
• wine

I'll be posting more indepth in the following days, but trust me it was good!

Till then!

Veganmofo: Spotlight on Burritos

Burritos are gods food. Seriously, you take some hearty soulful full bodied fully flavoured foods and stick them together in a wrap that you toast to perfection?

More please.

Recently in our little city a place open and stayed open late called Burrito Jax. Tasty tasty stuff which has become a fan favourite. They offer a pretty fab spread and have inspired a few burrito party's in my kitchen.

So here's a laydown to the simple fixings to assemble a burrito of your own

Keys:

• Wraps
• Salsa/sauce
• veggies
• beans
• rice
• flare: like sweet potato, pickled jalapenos, lime, crispy onions, cranberry anything that adds texture/flavour and makes this burrito different from the last

So here a few easy examples from the list.

Step 1: Rice

Now a rice cooker makes this part easy but any rice you enjoy can work as a filling. Plain fluffy rice is nice, adds texture, grasps flavour and helps make each wrap fullfilling. But they key to a good burrito goes beyond the fluffy nutty texture of simple brown rice, zest it up with flavour.

Roast garlic rice or zest a lime into the cooker with the rice, finish with a fresh squeeze maybe some cilantro. Or add some mexican pilaf punched up with flavour.

Step2: Bean/Protein or Both!

Seitan is a great filler, fried tofu, cooked black bean/pintos, refried beans. Any combo as long as she's got flavour. Cook your beans  with garlic and spices, toasted cumin and if you go with non-bean protein fry them in spice. Use a flavour marinade or seitan then crust in with toasted cumin. You really want the flavour to pop.

Black beans or chili beans, with onions and spice. Mashed with onion, garlic and cumin or from a can. Refried beans are a burrito classic but home cooked black beans provide some killer texture and are a nice addition.

Step 3: Veggies
Fried/roasted onions. All onions all the time. Crips lettuce, green onions, chilis, peppers anything crisp, chrunch and wet. Helps cut the heat and add texture, give your mouth a break.

  

I like raw veggies in my burrito, but slow sauteed peppers curl around your tastebuds in pleasing ways. Lettuce is great in wraps, but for true authenticity try thinly sliced cabbage with lime or lemon juice. Allow it to wilt a bit, and you get the best slaw. Crisp and refreshing surrounded in warm spicy beans and sweet potato

 Sweet potato is a burrito favourite, roasted cubes with lime and cumin. Or mashed with cilantro and a pat of butter. It provides a great warm accompaniment to any wrap.

4. Sauces.Salsa
Cranberry, tomatillo, canned, fresh, homemade. There are many schools of thought, mole works wonders. A fresh pico de gallo is nice crisp tomato and onion with herb and citrus. Or the smoke chipotle sauces or sweet sting of vinegar based hot sauce or canned burrito sauce. Smooth or Chunky, I find a mixture of sauces gives you the best.

5. Flare

Cranberry salsa, dried fruit, previously mentioned sweet potato or carmilized onions. Hot peppers. This is where you make the burrito yours. Smoked peppers or grilled pineapple, slices of mango? Go drastic, and really break up the flavours.

What are your favourite combos? Best burrito memories?

Do you all build up a stack of different home cooked fillings and set up family style where everyone chooses there own?

Veganmofo: Halifax Eats Again!

It's been a while since I've done something for this series because well sometimes I get lazy and stick with what's tried and true. Which makes for some boring reading.

There's a new Sushi Place on Quinpool Road in Halifax. It's busy, hurried, service seems over whelmed but they offer a veggie platter with more than just the basic cucumber, avocado and asparagus rolls. Finally a cheap platter with some flavour! Wasabi House offers a unique spin to the Halifax sushi market. With it's fancy decor and experiments with fruit and other interesting combos.

Starting with a salad, japanese salads are perhaps one of my favour despite not being a salad vegan.

 

Nice refreshing bust of citrus, less gingery than the usual. Unexpected but nice.

Another appetizing favorite tempura! Which really, you can never go wrong with, but the combo of thin sliced squash and other unexpected additions made it an interesting addition to Halifax's tempura offerings. I liked the different textures Wasabi's offering had with the various cuts and adding some variety to the mix.

 Next up was one of the veggie combos, because I always love the savings of a platter but hate the lack luster selection. Now for the really good stuff (which I sadly didn't get to photograph before consuming) I'm talking Yam Tempura roll, Mango jalapeno, banana avocado just to name a few. All of which are outstanding, I mean mango explosion of flavour.

Their yam rolls were small but flavourful with a nice blend of sweet and crispy.

 

They offer two different veggie combos which can be made vegan (ask for no mayo) I went with the one which offered some selection (the other combo offers tempura tho, so it's a real winner). Here I have Inari; Shitake; Oshinko; shredded cucumber; Avacado Nigiri and classic Cappacado 6 piece for 11.95$

The combos come with Miso and the Salad. Salad is vegan (yay!) but the miso is not, so the great hunt for vegan miso in HRM continues.

 

It's not often we get Nigiri style vegan options in the city. So that alone was a bit of a treat, something about the tiny rice packets with straps. I love that the combos come with non pink ginger, usual wasabi and fresh lemon! Unusual yes, but man does it ever spark up the rolls. Oshinko was tough but taste, traditional Japanese pickles aren't always present in our offerings.

Their pricing is mid range for Halifax and they always seem busy, so take out might be the better option if you don't want to wait. For their mango and banana rolls I say they are worth the visit. They seem to have a lunch menu which might help cut costs or go group style and share a few key plates. Their menu boasts a whole veggie section and a few tofu entrees so I think a few more visits are in order.

  

VEGANMOFO 2012!

AHHH!!! MOFO!!! I cannot believe I almost forgot about the best month ever! It's time to dig out my camera and make my way back into the kitchen!

Sorry for all the neglect, my time's been pretty eaten up with the new Feminist Job
and stuff like 41 Days for Choice, but damned if i'm not gonna find some way to mix activism with vegan eating!

Trash to Dinner!

It has come to my attention that some of the so called 'food scraps' we've been throwing away or hopefully composting for ages aren't quite as useless as we thought!

A post from LifeHacker sent me this handy resource list which I've added to:

At Your Disposal
First and foremost any and all vegetable scraps (minus some bitters like cabbage/brocoli which I only use in small ammounts) can be saved in a freezer bag to make vegetable stock. my 1lb bag hangs out in the freezer collecting odd ends of veggies/fruit before being boiled into tasty stock in my slow cooker but the pressure cooker would offer a faster version. Simply toss vegetable skins, onion peels/ends, lettuce, corn cobs, garlic skin you name it. Into the freezer bag, when she's full it's time to cover in x4 filtered water, toss in some pepper corns, celery seed (or celery), limp carrots or whatever other vegetables you feel could improve the flavour.

I haven't gone wrong yet, my stocks are all unsalted so I add soy sauce/braggs or salt to the dishes I use them in. But you could also add it directly to the stock. Or seperate your scraps to make specific broth, corn broth is pretty magical just boil your corn cobs. I find the longer you cook stuff the better for stock, but 1 hour is minimal. Strain and squeeze your scraps and use the broth as usual.
  
Before you throw away your vegetable trimmings, consider some alternative uses:
CARROT, CELERY AND FENNEL LEAVES Mix small amounts, finely chopped, with parsley as a garnish or in salsa verde: all are in the Umbelliferae family of plants. Taste for bitterness when deciding how much to use.
CHARD OR COLLARD RIBS Simmer the thick stalks in white wine and water with a scrap of lemon peel until tender, then drain and dress with olive oil and coarse salt. Or bake them with cream, stock or both, under a blanket of cheese and buttery crumbs, for a gratin.  I've also done kale stocks, again they are a bit tougher so cook them longer.
CITRUS PEEL Organic thin-skinned peels of tangerines or satsumas can be oven-dried at 200 degrees, then stored to season stews or tomato sauces. Lemon can be zested or frozen to zest later on.
CORN COBS Once the kernels are cut off, simmer the stripped cobs with onions and carrots for a simple stock. Or add them to the broth for corn or clam chowder.
MELON RINDS Cut off the hard outer peels and use crunchy rinds in place of cucumber in salads and cold soups. Pickled rinds are also tasty
PEACH LEAVES Steep in red wine, sugar and Cognac to make a summery peach-bomb aperitif. (According to David Lebovitz’s recipe, the French serve it on ice.)
POTATO PEELS Deep-fry large pieces of peel in 350-degree oil and sprinkle with salt and paprika. This works best with starchy potatoes like russets. I usually just make my mashed potatoes etc with the peels. Slices small enough you don't notice them. Alternatively save them to bulk up stews etc
YOUNG ONION TOPS Wash well, coarsely chop and cook briefly in creamy soups or stews, or mix into hot mashed potatoes.
TOMATO LEAVES AND STEMS Steep for 10 minutes in hot soup or tomato sauces to add a pungent garden-scented depth of tomato flavor. Discard leaves after steeping.
TOMATO SCRAPS Place in a sieve set over a bowl, salt well and collect the pale red juices for use in gazpacho, Bloody Marys or risotto.
TURNIP, CAULIFLOWER OR RADISH LEAVES Braise in the same way as (or along with) collards, chards, mustard greens or kale.
WATERMELON SEEDS Roast and salt like pumpkinseeds.Same with squash seeds, great topings.
Onion/Garlic peels: make a great addition to homemade stocks.


plus many odds and ends can be sprouted at home and planted in window boxes.

Junk Food: Fries and Gravy

This is one of those meals that initially inspired this blog and title, the classic dinner of the university student: Fries and Gravy.

Bonus points on the junk food scale here for utilizing Frozen Steak Cut Fries baked at 450 as per-package.

The gravy utilizes some of my lovely dark onion/garlic based veggie broth and a simple gravy recipe.


Simpleton Gravy

• Homemade Veggie Broth
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed-n-minced
• fresh pepper, grey salt, paprika and cumin
• roux: Earth Balance and WW flour
• Corn Starch (if needed)

First melt your margerine in the pan over medium high heat, turning down to avoid burning. Sautee the onion with salt-n-pepper, adding the garlic, cumin and paprika once the onion is translucient. Cook until fragrant and add in your flour a little at time. Use a whisk to make the roux and cook until darkened.

Once the roux is cooked, slowly add the broth whisking as you go to ensure everything is mixing well. Continue to cook and add broth until you've reached the desired volume and thickness. If thickening isn't enough add a corn starch slurry and continue to cook.

Remove fries from the oven and plate with gravy and more salt/pepper.

Halifax Eats: Heartwood's new Bruch

Ok, so I've blogged about Heartwood a few times. But being the last remaining veggie place in Halifax (there is obviously Formosa's in Dartmouth), it's bound to happen.

Recently they've had a few ascetic make overs but best of all they have started serving Brunch! With an all new brunch menu from 10am-3pm on Saturdays and Sundays [Also they are now open Sundays!].

Over all exciting times.

I went with my Dad who was in town and my little brother Zane.

I did the classic tofu scramble platter: comes with fries and toast. Zane opted for the Wild Card Salad, brunch edition, which turned out to feature a tiny bit of everything they serve, so I was jealous. Dad went with the Kamut/Spelt Waffles topped with berry sauce and fruit salad.

Everything was super tasty and we lucked out with our fresh coffee and fresh mango/orange juice as the special of the day along with Banana Walnut Muffins.

As the platters were huge, I lucked out with leftovers so I have breakfast tomorrow too!