Celebrate Vegan (part 1)

Once again, I was honoured to recipe test for Dynise Balcavage for her new cookbook Celebrate Vegan.

Here's a sampling of what I made from the book. 

Lemon-Champagne-Braised Baby Bok Choy

Pan-Seared Tofu with Basil-Balsamic Glaze

Seitan with Quince, Apple and Onion

If you've never had quince, do yourself a favour and try it. It's very nice. I can usually find it in select grocery stores starting around the end of October. They don't hang around for long and usually by the end of November it's bye-bye.

Rutabaga-Fennel Clapshot

Leftover Rutabaga-Fennel Clapshot made into patties

Good Old-Fashioned Macaroni Salad

 Sicilian-Inspired Kale

This was one of my favourite recipes. Raisins and nuts send kale to heights like it's never known. Here I have it served over some brown rice, but I quite often make it just as a vegetable side.

Orange-Soy Seitan Tenders

Ramen Noodle Bowl
A gazillion times better than that chemically packaged stuff. And not really a whole lot of work involved in this either.

Potato Kugel

Lemon-Olive Tempeh Tagine

I've been working hard on liking tempeh, but there have only been a couple of times where the recipe has made it tasty for me. This is one of them!

Summer Squash and Applesauce Muffins

Pomegranate Cosmo

What's a celebration without some cocktails?

Italian Mojito

Another one of my favourite tests. Refreshingly delicious!

Buckeyes

The classic combo of chocolate and peanut butter make these very appealing. This was one of Jim's favourites. He polished off most of the batch.

Limoncello Cupcakes

Hands down the best lemon-y cake I've ever had.

Blueberry Pie



Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

 

Are you interested in checking out Dynise's book yet? You should be!! I've got more pictures to share with you, so stay tuned. 

Soup And A Sandwich

Even though we've had an unusually warm winter so far, once the sun goes down, it gets a little chilly. What better way to warm yourself up than with a hot bowl of soup. I was craving roasted red pepper and tomato, so I got to work.

First, the peppers. If you never roasted peppers before, don't be intimidated. It's easy! Just wash, remove stems, core & seeds. Place cut side down on a baking sheet. I line mine with parchment paper so it's a quick clean up. Put the peppers under the broiler and leave for 10-20 minutes or until the skins are blistered and black. You can then either put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and leave to cool, or put them into a paper bag, fold the top over to close and let cool. This traps the steam and aids in removing the skins. You can also roast peppers on your barbecue and I've heard that if you have a gas stove, you can just do them over the flame. I might be wary of this method because as the peppers cook, they get soft and squishy and might fall apart. Then you've got a mess to clean up.

The tomatoes are done in the same fashion, only cut side up.

Here's my pot after it's finished simmering. The addition of onions, carrots and vegetable broth make it super yummy!

An immersion blender makes puréeing the soup a snap. If you don't have one, a blender works just fine. You may have to do it in batches though to get a nice smooth consistency.

Add some salt and pepper to taste and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, croutons, basil sprigs, whatever you think will make a nice presentation. This soup is soooo good. Elegant, fresh and quite rich tasting.

For the sandwich portion of the meal, I used a recipe from Giada DeLaurentiis. I really enjoy her show Everyday Italian and I saw her make this on an episode quite some time ago. She used regular salami, but I knew I could recreate it with Yves Veggie Salami Slices. This is a croissant panini with smoked gouda, parmesan, the salami slices and arugula.

I don't have a panini press, so I used my George Foreman grill which worked just fine. The cheese gets all melty gooey and it tastes fantastic. I've made these a few times and we always enjoy them. You can find the recipe here.

Even Simon agrees that this whole meal looks & sounds tasty!

Hopefully, A Return

Hey bitches!! I had some family members over the weekend mention this blog and how I haven't posted for so long. It got me to thinking that I should pick it up again. I know, I know....how many times have we visited blogs that have been dormant for a while, then read a post saying "I'm back!" and then nothing. I've got my fingers crossed that I don't fall into that category. (BTW, it's very hard to type with crossed fingers).

Here's something I made the other night that I've been making for years - Spicy Sausage and Potatoes. I can't even remember where I picked up the recipe (which I will include at the end of the post), but it was a loooong time ago. Back then, I was a meat eater and used Italian sausages. Now I use either Tofurky Sweet Italian Sausages or Yves Spicy Italian Sausages and I find they work just perfectly.

Add peppers and onions and this dish has it goin' on! It's done all in one pan, so less dishes to wash.

Another thing I've been making for a long time and is a total comfort dessert for me is gingerbread. It might seem kind of old fashioned, but it's shouldn't! Tasty doesn't go out of style.

I use my mother's recipe and this cake always comes out moist with wonderful warming spices. I substituted blended soft tofu for the eggs and I find it makes my baked goods even more moist. Try it! This can be topped with whipped cream or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

A nice little cocktail to finish off is something called Chocolate Covered Cherry. I discovered it in an old LCBO drink mix booklet and it is divine! It's got a pretty pink hue and it does taste like a chocolate covered cherry. 

This is so yummy, it can even be dessert on it's own. It's very simple to make: In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine 1 oz. clear (also known as white) crème de cacao, 1½ oz. cherry brandy, 2 oz. milk. Shake fairly vigorously and strain into a chilled martini glass. You can garnish it with cherry if you like.

SPICY SAUSAGE & POTATOES 

1-2 tbsp. olive or safflower oil

1 pkg. veggie Italian sausages of your choice, cut into 1” pieces

10 small new potatoes, quartered*

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. dried thyme leaves 

1 cup sliced red onion

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 red or green pepper, cut into 1” pieces 

Heat 1 tbsp. of the oil in a large skillet and add sausage. Sauté until lightly browned. Remove from skillet and set aside. Add the potatoes, pepper and thyme to the pan (and add more oil if needed) and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are browned (10-12 minutes). Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until potatoes are tender (8-10 minutes).  Stir in the remaining ingredients, including the reserved sausage, and continue cooking, uncovered until the vegetables are tender-crisp.

*I will quite often use left over potatoes in this dish that I cut into decent sized chunks. You can then skip the step where you have to cover the potatoes and cook until tender.    

Recipe Testing!

I volunteered my services again for Dreena Burton to test recipes for her upcoming cookbook and am truly honoured that she accepted my offer. This will be Dreena's 4th cookbook and it's going to be terrific!

Obviously, I can't give away any of the recipes or a whole lot of detail, but what I can give you are teaser pictures.

Up first, Nutty Veggie Burgers. These are super delicious! I would say they are the best burger/patty I've ever made from scratch. This recipe didn't require a lot of ingredients, or really much work.

The burgers held their shape, didn't fall apart and were easy to flip in the pan. We had them fairly simple, on a ciabatta bun with lettuce, mayo, red onions and BBQ sauce. Leftovers were re-heated the next day and tasted just as delicious. (In a household with only 2 people, how food holds up to being re-heated on another day is a big deal. If we don't eat it for another dinner meal, I will take leftovers for my lunch.)

This is Lemon Infused Mediterranean Lentils. This savoury dish is different from other lentil dishes I've made. There is a lot going on and every bite made me want to take another one.

More lentils in Fragrant Kidney Bean Lentil Dahl. It's certainly not Dreena's prettiest dish, but with lots of spices, it really is fragrant. Delicious with basmati and naan.

Of course, Dreena has made quite a name for herself with her baked goods recipes. He legacy will continue with the new book.

Here we have Coconut Banana Muffins. These turned out beautifully!

A little sprinkling of sugar on top gave just an extra touch of sweetness.

Inside, nice and flavourful. We ate a few and I put the rest of them in the freezer for a quick grab-and-go snack and they freeze really well. Scrumptious!

Cake anyone?

This Pumpkin Spice Cake is a wonderful autumn treat. The layers are so moist and delicious. This could even be a birthday cake.

Everyone that tried it really liked the flavour and texture of this cake. I used a generic cream cheese frosting for the outside, but Dreena is offering a few tasty icing recipes that would definitely be suitable for this cake.

If you like Banana Oat Bundles and have a love of chocolate (like Dreena and I both do!), you're going to be very happy to discover Cocoa Almond Jumbles. This is a super chocolately cookie that is better for you than most cookies. But, you don't feel like you're sacrificing anything!

I don't know if you can see this picture very clearly, but I wanted to show you the chocolately, nutty goodness inside.

If this little sampling hasn't gotten you looking forward to Dreena's new book, then stay tuned. There is more to come!

Jerry, Roger & Eats

Once again, there has been a long time between posts. Sorry about that (again). Time just seems to go by so fast lately. I have been busy with among other things -

going to see Jerry Seinfeld perform his live stand-up act. Totally hilarious!! We laughed for an hour and a half. He makes the silliest observations & verbalizes it so well. I still rank "Seinfeld" among my top 5 TV shows of all time. Sometimes, that show is my life.

My biggest event, BY FAR, was the Roger Waters concert.

Can you believe it's been 30 years since "The Wall"? (one of my all time favourite albums). I loved the songs, I loved the story, I loved the movie....and when I heard Roger Waters was doing an anniversary tour, opening in Toronto, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be there.

What a FABULOUS show! Roger was in terrific form.

He brought along the inflatables, wall projections, special effects, pyrotechnics, the pig - EVERYTHING! (except David Gilmour - boooo!!)

The experience was mind blowing. Roger's voice was great. During the first half of the show, the wall was constructed brick by brick across the front of the stage.

And at the end, they tore it down. It was wild! Best concert I've ever been to.

Anyhoo, as exciting as all of that was for me, probably not as exciting for you, so let's move onto a bit of food, shall we?

I really like the Podleski sisters cookbooks (Looney Spoons, Crazy Plates, Eat Shrink & Be Merry) They are quirky cookbooks filled with lower fat/calorie recipes - a bit of healthier cooking, shall we say. They are NOT vegetarian, although they do have some recipes with tofu & a meatless chapter. A lot of the other recipes can be modified to be meatless. Anyway, one that is vegetarian is Mexican Lasagna.
(Sorry the photo is a little orangey. I didn't have the proper lighting setting on my camera.)

This uses corn tortillas instead of noodles and lots of beans and veggies. It was really, really tasty! It did make a big pan and we had it for a couple of meals and I put the leftovers in the freezer. Not a good idea. It was all soggy and fell apart when defrosted. So I'll have to halve the recipe next time.

I had a bunch of dill that was starting to wilt and needed to make something so I could use it up. I found one on the Campbell's soup site. It was supposed to be with chicken, so I just used PC World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts.

I also got to use up some sugar snap peas I had in the fridge. Combined with red pepper, cream of mushroom soup (recipe said cream of chicken, but I used mushroom) and some noodles, this was quite good. If you'd like to make it, the recipe is here.

Jim is not a big fan of cauliflower but, I found a dish that has won him over to the cauliflower side -
Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry from Veganomicon! He even had 2 servings of this. We had it with some basmati rice and Naan bread. It was sooo good. I took some leftovers for my lunch the next day and it heats up well in the microwave. 2 thumbs up on everything! (if I had an extra thumb, it would be 3 up for Roger)