Veganmofo: Halifax Eats: Minato's

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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!