Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

Here is my first offering from Dreena's latest book, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. I made Gimme Chimis!

This was soooo simple to make. There weren't a whole lot of ingredients and no fussy prep work. I made the filling earlier in the day and then assembled & cooked the chimis later.

The filling was delicious! I like how they were fried, then baked. That made the tortilla crispy.

I served them along with some packaged Spanish rice and Lemon-Broiled Green Beans, also from ED&BV. Because the chimis & the beans were baked on a parchment lined pans, clean-up was a breeze.

Here we have 5-Spice Almond Cookies. These are very tasty and nicely spiced , but Dreena came up with an idea to make them even better.

Add ice cream and make 5-Star Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches! The ice cream really sent these over the top. Simple, yet utterly delicious.

Now, what shall I make next?

Happy New Year - Two Weeks Later

I'm playing catch-up with holiday posts, but as I travel around to other blogs, I see that quite a few of us are a bit behind.

New Year's Eve has never been very exciting to me. A lot of hype and quite often a big letdown. In my younger days, I'd go to clubs & bars to party it up, but it was too crowded, too expensive & the night never lived up to the expectation. Now, I like to either go to a house party with some friends, or stay at home. This year, we did the latter.

Mama Rita had hernia surgery the day of the 31rst, so Jim & his sister spent most of the day at the the hospital. The surgery was a success & Mama Rita is doing just fine. I had to work. It's fun being in the booze business, but the down-side is working mega-hours during holidays. We were both a bit tired and just planned on staying home to either throw in a movie or just watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

I decided to make "The Joint's Cheeseburger Pizza" from La Dolce Vegan. I started with the dough and what better way to knead it than with my new mixer!

Here it is in action as everything started coming together into a nice ball. After it was left to rise, punched down and made into a pizza crust, I added the toppings.

I think I piled on too much for the toppings, but hey, it was the last day of the year. Go out with a bang I say!

While the pizza was baking, we opened is Richard Hamilton wine. I bought 3 bottles last year around Christmas time. We had one then and saved the other 2. I thought it would go great with "cheeseburger", so we dug this baby out and cracked it open. It has improved greatly over the past year. It's smoothed right out. I think I'll save the last bottle until the end of the year and it should be amazing by that point.

Ding! Pizza's done! It looked and smelled so good. I couldn't wait to eat. I hadn't made this for a long time & we both thought it was a perfect dish for New Year's Eve.

See, I did load it up! I think I went a little overboard on this one. I'll restrain myself on the next one.

We had comfortably full bellies and were awaiting the countdown. At midnight we had some bubbly. I was in a pink mood, so I bought this one.

It's a decent, affordable, easy to drink cava. I served it up in these funky glasses I found a few months ago. Reidel makes wonderful glasses. They came out with a stemless wine glass line a few years back called O. I wasn't really taken with them but I love the sparkling wine glasses. It makes bubbly even more fun!

Someone just couldn't hang on until midnight.


I hope you all had a happy new year and all the best for 2008!

Christmas Catch-Up

So....I trust you all had a Merry Christmas, or if you don't celebrate, at least enjoyed a break of routine. We celebrate Christmas & this year was especially nice. I was incredibly busy with work. Any of you who work in retail know that the "holiday season" can try your patience. Luckily, I didn't have to serve many grumpy customers. Most were very cheery, appreciative of help & suggestions and generally pleasant.

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My favorite part of Christmas Day is spending time with family and having a delicious meal with them. This year, we were all invited to Jim's cousin Karen's for dinner. She & her husband Mike were great hosts. Mike did the cooking and put out a fantastic spread. His sister is vegan, so he was "in the know" about what I would and would not eat. He had called a few weeks beforehand to see if I had any ideas of what I would like for my dinner (such a sweetheart). Jim & I had been cross-border shopping in November and I found this that I bought specifically for Christmas dinner.

So I packed up this along with some "chick'n" gravy. I was really excited to try these.

What a fun, relaxing day we had. Here's Jim's uncle John. He immigrated to Canada from Scotland years ago, shortly after Jim's dad did. He is a very, very nice man.

Uncle John's wife, Aunt Esther, also from Glasgow, helped to set the table. Jade's boyfriend, Mike, joined our family for dinner this year.

It looks like he's enjoying himself. He brought his guitar & amp and jammed with Ryan, Karen & Mike's son, who plays the drums. They were great entertainment! Jade is hidden behind Mike, beside her is Karen & Mike's daughter, Kelsey, who also entertained us with some flute, and beside her, Jim's cousin, Derek. Derek likes taking pics as much as I do.

On the other side of the table we have Derek - again taking pictures. Told you so. His partner, Josh, is being shy and hiding. Then, Ryan, the drummer and Jim. (These photos look like ads for Pepsi! I didn't realize that everyone was having pop with dinner. Yikes! I still find that an odd beverage choice unless I'm out & having a veggie burger)

Our hosts! Mike - chef extraordinaire and Karen.

Here's a blurry picture of my plate. Starting at 12:00 I have my Smart Stuffer, which was actually pretty good, green beans, stuffing cooked seperate from the turkey (thanks Mike!), potatoes with "chick'n" gravy, turnip (or rutabaga depending on where you're from, pickles, a bun and carrots in the middle that were cooked in brown sugar. Yummy!! I was starved and ate all of this. Then we had coffee with Bailey's & some Christmas goodies for dessert.

Mama Rita made a new friend. Here she is with the family dog, Coda. He was named by Ryan who is a huge Led Zepplin fan. That was a bulk of our entertainment - Led Zepplin songs - which was great! Mike was kind enough to throw in a few Pink Floyd numbers just for me.

My big present from Jim still has me excited. Lookie! Lookie!

I've wanted one of these for years. I still wander into the kitchen just to look at it. It's amazing! So, what does one do when one gets a gift like this? Mix things! I started cooking - on Boxing Day.

First, I tried it out for mixing muffin batter. I chose VWAV Carrot-Raisin Muffins.

They turned out lovely, don't you think?

These are light for a muffin and very moist. Of course they taste delicious. Would we expect anything less from Isa? Lots of raisins too. I hate getting a muffin that has 3 raisins it. Be generous! Raisins are high in potassium & antioxidants. They're tasty and good for you.

The mixer comes with a dough hook, so if I can get the machine to do the kneading, all the better for me. Working in a bakery has made me privy to some tips which I put to use and voila!

Herb Pull-Apart Rolls that came out perfect and golden. I got the recipe from the instruction & recipe booklet that came with the mixer. These were soooo delicious! Definitely a keeper.

For dinner, I made a "meat"loaf using a recipe from Robin Robertson's Meat & Potatoes Cookbook. I threw all of the ingredients into the bowl, added a few extras to suit our tastes, flipped the switch and watched as everything was mixed up nicely in a matter of seconds.

Here's a shot of the finished product. This was a big hit with Jim & with me. It's by far one of the best loaf recipes I've tried.

I even put the potatoes into the mixer and mashed them that way. Everything is such a breeze now. My potato masher might just end up pushed to the back of the drawer. Sorry masher, there's a new kid in town. Notice I've also got brussels sprouts on the plate. I tried these a couple of times years ago, and didn't like them at all. But, tastes change and Jennifer McCann developed a recipe that she posted on Vegan Lunch Box called Best Brussels Sprouts. Well, I was bored for a new side veg, so decided to try it. They were really good! I think I like brussels sprouts now. Well, at least I like these brussels sprouts.

Now, I'm trying to decide what to make next in my new KitchenAid Stand Mixer. The possibilities seem endless!

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Simon was also very excited about his Christmas gifts and wanted me to tell you about them. First off, he got these fun treats.

Pegetables! It's a chewy treat made with vegetables and they come in fun shapes. Low-fat, full of nutrients and good for the teeth. I wasn't sure if he'd go for the celery one because he doesn't like real celery, but he loved it. The corn and carrot were also big hits.

He also got another gift from "Santa" - his own Dog Companion DVD's!

These "movies" are made for pets to watch when they are left alone. Simon doesn't usually go more than 4 or 5 hours home by himself because most days, Jim and I have a only short overlap of our schedules. Some days were both gone for the day and so Simon doesn't get bored by himself, these seemed perfect. I stumbled onto them purely by accident on the internet, ordered them and they were here within a week. He seems to enjoy them - at least he shows some interest anyway, especially when I put on Dog Farm Adventure. Part of the proceeds from the sale of these DVD's go to the Ontario SPCA, and that makes everyone happy!

A Word From Simon

HA HA. It's Christmas time so let's dress up the pets and make them look ridiculous. See the stupid contraption Mommy put on my head? I was not impressed.

Mommy was busy with Christmas (like everyone) but she took some pictures to post here. She'll be tied up with work and stuff until after the New Year so she asked me to put up a little post so you don't think she forgot about you.

Sometimes, I wish she'd forget about these silly get-ups she has for me.

This is so embarrassing. Enough already!!

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We wish all of you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Be back soon.

3 B's and an A

In this case, the 3 B's are in this soup. Beets, Beans & Barley. I got a wicked deal on a 10 pound bag of beets and decided to finally try this recipe that I've been eyeing for quite a while now. Here we have Beet, Barley and Black Soybean Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons from Vegan With a Vengeance. That is probably the longest soup name ever.




This soup turned out to be wicked delicious & such a pretty colour! I couldn't find black soybeans, so I opted for a mix of beans that I cooked up the night before. I think I threw in white kidney beans, romano beans, some chickpeas. The croutons for this are a must! Holy doodle were they good!

The dill flavour was especially nice. The addition of fresh dill gave a little lift to the colours in the bowl with nice bright flecks of green throughout. This took virtually no time to throw together and is definitely a keeper!


And for the A - Apple Pie!
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I always have apples in the house and I eat one almost every day. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" must hold some truth. In the past year, I have not had one sick day. I am the only employee with perfect attendance. I'm surprised - aren't I supposed to be weak and sickly because by not eating meat I don't get enough protein. (I love to disappoint!)
Anyhow, when local apples were in season, I went a little crazy and bought a lot. Some of the few that were left were starting to get soft, so I dedided to make a pie for dessert.


It turned out amazing! I like a bit of extra cinnamon and the crust was light and flaky. So delicious. Everything was so good in fact, we had the same meal the very next day.

The Trouble With Bryan

Gaia left a comment on the previous post and said "By the way, you haven't mentioned Bryan A. in a while...is everything ok between you too? :D"
Well, not really. Actually, we're in a bit of a tiff. Since a girl feels the need to pour out her heart (and hurt) to friends, I know you'll all sympathize & understand.

OK....you all know my long time boy, Bryan. We connected back in the '80's. He looked so cute - like this.

And I looked pretty much the same as I do now. Only much slimmer with Farrah Fawcett-like hair and blue eyeshadow. I was very cool in my North Stars & jean jacket. We've been together for over 25 years now and I still like listening to him sing those cheesey, sappy love songs.

But, I haven't seen him in a while because he seems to insist on touring all the time. Geez! Today he's in Latvia; then off to Estonia, Finland & Russia. Bryan, you gotta come home!

Recently, I heard some fantastic news. BA is coming to Toronto! He's doing a show at the ACC on Feb. 28. I found out the concert is a fundraising event for Sunnybrook Hospital with Josh Groban and fellow Canadian artists - Sarah McLachlan and Jann Arden. It's to raise money for a hospital facility to help sick newborns and mothers who have high-risk pregnancies. I think it's a great cause! Only problem is, the cheapest tickets are now at $300 a piece!! And the seats aren't that good even. I'm not paying $300, but has my VIP pass arrived yet? No - and I think I know why! THIS!! All the Jordache jeans and Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific in the world can't compete with Elle.

Give him time. He'll come around, because he knows what's good for him. Me! He'll show up at the store with my VIP pass, a load of flowers, pick up a case of wine; we'll make up and all will be good with the world.