vegan mofo: blueberry pancakes that actually look as good as they taste

I love pancakes. I think if I had to enter an eating contest it would most definitely be a pancake contest. I try not to make them very often and instead have them as an occasional treat. As great as I think starting off each morning with a plate of warm carbs smothered in Earth Balance and maple syrup would be, I know they’re not the greatest thing for me (yes I’ve tried the low fat whole wheat varieties, but they’re not the same).

Sunday I had a 2 hour kayak class in the afternoon and so I thought that I would treat myself to some delicious blueberry pancakes as I would be sure to burn them off whilst learning to paddle around. Blueberry pancakes have always presented a challenge to me….while they taste great, the batter often gets that unappealing green/blue/grey tinge that is just plain icky looking. I read somewhere on the internet that coating frozen blueberries in a bit of flour would prevent this, so I thought I would try it out.

Behold! Blueberry pancakes that are actually the color pancakes are supposed to be. Yum!

I used the recipe for basic pancakes from Vegan Brunch and just added in some frozen blueberries.

vegan mofo: my first 5k!

Last Sunday I completed my first 5k…the Canadian Breast Cancer Run for the Cure. It was a cold and miserable day but the turnout was great and it was such an awesome experience…I can’t wait for more benefit runs in the spring! They didn’t do times for each of the contestants, but I know I was less than 30 minutes which was my goal (yeah, I’m slow). Here is me at the finish line. Although it looks like that car is about to run me over, I assure you it was parked.

After my run I came home and made myself a brunch consisting of scrambled tofu and roasted potatoes. Mmm.

en francais svp!

Montreal was GREAT! I really enjoyed being able to practice my French. Here in the west we don’t hear it all that often. And although I’ve been taking classes I still really suck at speaking it with people. But I made sure to practice a lot as I went shopping and ordered some delicious food, which is the point of this post.

First up, the conference I was attending was located very close to Le Commensal downtown. This is a vegetarian buffet where you pay by the weight of your plate. Which could be a good thing, but if you’re a glutton like me and want to try everything, it’s pretty pricey. Oops. Anyway, vegan options are clearly marked, and there are quite a few of them. My only complaint would be the lack of vegan dessert options. They do have one vegan cheese cake, but honestly it’s not all that good (it’s okay, just not that great). Here is my plate loaded up with all kinds of vegan goodies:

Next up, I of course had to try Aux Vivres. I actually ate here on three separate occasions….and I would have gone back for more but they are closed Mondays which was my last day in the city. The first time I was there I tried the BLT wrap with the infamous coconut bacon…oh my gosh…the rumors are true, this bacon is AMAZING! However, I found it a bit overpowering after one half of this huge wrap. What I wish was available was half of a wrap and then a salad or something to go with it. I suppose if you went with another person you could split it and order a salad on the side. Because these wraps are HUGE.

For dessert I tried the carrot cake. It was soooo good! Very moist and it had a lemon flavoured icing…mmm. Once again, this piece of cake was gigantic, so you may want to share.

The next day a friend and I went back for brunch, which they serve on Saturdays and Sundays until 4:00 pm. I had “le complet” which comes with tempeh bacon, a salad, sweet potatoes, cornbread, and the best tofu scramble I have EVER had. Seriously, I think I am spoiled for life now. I would love to know what their secret is…

That night, the same friend and I returned once more for supper. I tried out the dragon bowl with grilled tofu. It was so pretty I didn’t really want to eat it, but I got over that pretty quick. Their dragon sauce is sooo unbelievably good. They also sell it for you to take home, but you have to keep it refrigerated so unfortunately I couldn’t do that.

I long for the day when I return to Montreal to go back to Aux Vivres…there were so many other dishes on their menu that I really wanted to try. Unfortunately I don’t see a trip to Montreal anytime in the near future, but if you’re in the area I really can’t recommend it enough. Now back to life in the prairies where it’s hard enough finding a single vegan mean in a restaurant, nevermind an entire vegan restaurant!

Bridal Shower Goodies

I recently returned from a trip home for my bridal shower. I was absolutely astounded by the number of people and presents there were! I honestly never expected a turn out quite like that.

I did get a bunch of neat kitchen stuff which will keep me entertained for awhile. First up, a griddle. Which makes pancake-making a breeze:

I also received a spring form pan. That called for making cheeze cake…with an Oreo crust and chocolate sauce of course. Two omnivores and myself were amazed at how much this tasted like dairy cheese cake…mmmm…

I also received a George Foreman grill, which makes for lovely looking grilled tofu like so:

There’s more to come…other goodies received include a coffee grinder, an immersion blender (my old one finally broke), tons of bakeware, cooking utensils, and a beautiful titanium pan from my Mom. I’m just really touched by all of this.

Update with Misc. Foodstuffs

Wow…all winter I promised that April would bring more frequent updates. Apparently that was a giant lie. Honestly I am so tired out from that ridiculous semester that I haven’t been cooking much that is original. The good news is only one more year until I’m done and have my Ph.D……hopefully. In the meantime here is some of the stuff I’ve been eating.

Roasted cauliflower is one of my new favourite things. Why didn’t I know about this before? I spray my florets with cooking spray and sprinkle with garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and a bit of salt before roasting. Mmmm…tastes like popcorn.

Chickpea cutlets are an easy meal when I don’t want to have to think about what’s for dinner. I have the recipe memorized so it just requires me to mash some chickpeas and voila, an easy meal. Here are some cutlets with dijon mustard, a salad, roasted squash, and roasted asparagus.

Sunday mornings when I get back from the gym, my favourite thing to make is a big tofu scramble loaded with veggies. This one has leeks, broccoli, carrot, bell pepper, and mushrooms, and was served on a big bed of mixed greens.

sausages and tofu

I actually did cook two things in the past week. Shocking. First up is what I had for brunch on Sunday morning: Tempeh and White Bean Sausage Patties from Vegan with a Vengeance. I baked them (at 400 F) rather than fried them to make them healthy. I really wanted to love these, but I found them just “okay.” It was the spices/seasoning. They just didn’t do it for me. So I think if I were to make these again I would probably change those around and they would suit me a lot more. I served the sausage patties with some herbed oven-roasted potatoes.

I recently borrowed ExtraVeganZa from the library a few weeks ago. One recipe I wanted to try was the Ginger Garlic Tofu. It was pretty good. I did add extra garlic though, but I am a well-known garlic fiend. I served it up for lunch with some steamed broccoli.

BLT Brunch Casserole

La Dolce Vegan was one of the first vegan cookbooks I ever bought (at the same time as Vegan with a Vengeance) and I’m sad to say it’s probably the cookbook I have used the least. I’m not sure why that is…a lot of the recipes just don’t seem to appeal to me. Maybe it’s the lack of pictures, I’m not sure. But in an effort to use this cookbook more I made Wolffie’s BLT Brunch Casserole, one recipe that I had earmarked since the first day I looked at the book.

In order to make this casserole healthier I omitted the fat from both the tofu portion as well as the cheese sauce. I probably could have omitted the Vegannaise as well, as I don’t think it made that much of a difference in the taste. But I adore Vegannaise and look for any excuse to eat it. The recipe calls for medium-firm tofu, but all I had on hand was extra firm, so perhaps that’s why it didn’t stay together very well and looks like a disaster on my plate. But who cares, it tasted amazing!

Tofu Scramble Tostada Creation

I had some leftover tofu in my fridge along with various vegetables that had to be used up. So of course I immediately thought of a tofu scramble. I also wanted something smothered in cheesy sauce. I thought of a breakfast burrito type deal, but then I had a moment of creativity and went for a breakfast tostada instead.

Tofu Scramble Tostada

• 1/2 lb. extra-firm tofu, pressed
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (more to taste)
• miscellaneous veggies you want to throw in (e.g., bell pepper, mushrooms, spinach, etc.)
• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• a batch of your favourite nutritonal yeast cheezy sauce
• 2 tortillas (I used spelt tortillas)

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Saute onion in water (or veggie broth) for 5 min. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, chili powder, and red pepper flakes. Saute another 3-5 min. Throw in any other veggies you might be using. Depending on the veggies you use, you will have to saute for a bit longer.

3. Crumble in tofu. Add nutritional yeast. Sprinkle in additional water so mixture does not stick. Continue to stir tofu for approximately 10-15 minutes, until it starts to brown. Add water as needed to prevent sticking.

4. Meanwhile, make your cheezy sauce.

4. When done, transfer mixture on top of tortillas. Top with cheezy sauce. Broil for ~5 minutes.

Makes 2 tostadas.

Yay 100 Posts!

Well this post marks my official 100th post. A lot has happened in the past 100 posts..including transitioning to veganism from nearly 10 years as a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I really feel like being vegan has made my cooking 100x better…I can’t just throw cheese on something to make it edible (I at least have to go to the trouble of making a nutritional yeast cheesy sauce!). I actually enjoy trying to veganize classic dishes. I’ve even succeeded in having the bf eat vegan a few nights a week…which several months ago would have seemed impossible.

Anyhoo, nostalgia aside, I do have quite a bit of food-related things to share with you. First up, my brunch from yesterday…all from Vegan with a Vengeance:

Herb roasted poatoes, tofu rancheros, and the TVP breakfast chorizo. The chorizo was interesting…when I first tasted it I thoguht, “ew!” But by the 4th bite I couldn’t get enough of it and went back for seconds. Definitely something I would make again. Especially considering as I’m always trying to force myself to cook with TVP more…not that I don’t like it, I just never think of using it. Here’s a close-up of the tofu rancheros:

Yesterday evening we had a few friends over to play some board games. It’s a pretty fun and inexpensive way to spend a Saturday night, so why not? I enjoy it because I get to make snacks for people…last night was particularly nice seeing as how there were 3 boys so everything actually was eaten. First up, the infamous Fauxtess Cupcakes from Vegan with a Vengeance. I’ve been meaning to make these babies for awhile now.

I didn’t have any soymilk powder on hand, or maple syrup. So the filling on the inside is just regular vanilla buttercream, and the ganache on top is just soymilk and semisweet chocolate…mmmm. These went over extremely well. I managed to snag one, well the boys I think had 3 each. Here’s the money shot of the filling:

I also made a batch of tamari roasted chickpeas from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan…because they’re delicious and nutritious.

Finally, I made a black bean dip to serve with tortilla chips. Everyone seemed to really enjoy this…I thought I made way too much, but by the end of the evening there was nothing left in the bowl! I based it on this recipe for taco filling, but made it more “dip-ish” if you will.
Black Bean Dip
-15 oz black beans, partially mashed
-cooking spray
-1/2 onion, diced
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1/4 c. red bell pepper, diced
-1 tbsp. cornmeal
-2 tsp. cumin
-1 tsp. paprika
-1/2 tsp. cayenne
-1 tbsp. chili powder
-3/4 c. salsa
-a couple dashes hot sauce (optional)

Spray skillet and heat over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Add garlic and red pepper and saute a few minutes more, until pepper is tender. Add the black beans. Stir in the cornmeal, cumin, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, salsa, and hot sauce (if using). Cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. If more heat is desired, add additional hot sauce.

An update of assorted foodstuffs

So the bf’s sister is here until tomorrow morning. We’ve had a lot of fun since she arrived. Some of this fun resulted in yummy food. Such as the pizza night we had on Saturday. The bf made omni pizza, but I wowed her with a vegan pizza made with sun-dried tomato pesto, Vegan Gourmet cheese, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and lots of black olives.

Then there was the day that we just hung out, acted lazy, and made brunch. And so, vegan “eggs” benedict were made. I used an english muffin, Yves veggie ham, Italian marinated tofu (from Veganomicon) and Bryanna Clark Grogan’s hollandaise sauce. Truth be told, I’ve never tasted hollandaise sauce before. So I really had nothing to compare it to. I made the recipe as written, tasted the sauce, and didn’t really care for it. But I have no idea if I even like regular hollandaise sauce so it could just be me. But the sauce whisperer bf came to my rescue and played around with it for 10 minutes and it was fine. I really don’t know how he does it…

Lucky for me, the bf’s sister likes to bake. So one afternoon we whipped up these babies: vegan cinnamon buns. Clearly we didn’t wait long enough to put the glaze on. We’re impatient like that. But they were so yummy and gooey that nobody cared.