vegan mofo: trying out my new cookbooks

Last week I mentioned that I had received The Vegan Table, Urban Vegan, and Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food. Well, of course I had to try all three out ASAP.

First up, Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food. I had some spinach that had to be used up so I elected to make the spinach and cheeze scramble. I added about double the spinach called for, but it cooks down so small that it hardly seemed like I was eating such a huge amount of spinach. I really liked the seasoning in this recipe. I made it a wee bit more spicy, but other than followed the recipe.

I had just bought some TVP, so the sloppy joes in Urban Vegan called my named. I omitted the oil as well as the sugar. I feel like I really can’t judge the recipe because the TVP I bought, while cheaper than my regular brand, is so gross. It smells bad, it has a weird taste, it’s just ick. I learned my lesson, back to my old brand I go. From what I could tell, the sauce recipe was really good…even though I omitted the sugar it was still plenty sweet for me. But then again I don’t like overly sweet sloppy joe recipes. I didn’t have any buns, so I served it on a sprouted tortilla.

Finally, The Vegan Table. I made the eggplant and carmelized onion “lasagna.” I had my doubts about this recipe….olives and raisins together? Are you mad? But I went with it and was pleasantly surprised…it was actually really good! The taste is so complex, there are so many different taste sensations going on…but they harmonize. This would probably be fabulous in the summer with fresh tomatoes, eggplant, and basil, but ah well. We do what we can here in the north.

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.

30 Day Detox: days 18-23

Wow, I’ve been bad at keeping this thing up to date. Such is life once school begins again.

Day 18

Before I went to the gym I had a handful of raisins. When I got back I had a smoothie with protein powder, flax, psyllium husk, frozen berries, and soy milk. Later for a snack I had a peach.

For lunch I had a salad with mixed greens, lemon tofu, and balsamic vinaigrette. I also had 2 nectarines.

That night for dinner, I had the Moroccan Tagine with Spring Vegetables from Vegan with a Vengeance (in keeping up with the PPK Cookbook Challenge). This was sooooo good…even my veggie hating husband liked it. I served it on top of quinoa.

Day 19

For breakfast I had another smoothie with frozen berries, protein powder, flax, psyllium husk, and soy milk. I also had a peach.

That day for lunch I had a very similar salad as Day 18 greens, lemon tofu, and balsamic vinaigrette. I also had 2 nectarines. Later on for a snack I had some kale chips.

For supper that night I made the mango summer rolls from Vegan with a Vengeance. I gotta say, this recipe didn’t really do it for me. I have issues with fruit in savoury dishes. I thought I would try these to branch out, especially since we’re in the middle of a heat wave and these didn’t require me to do much cooking. Anyway, a lot of other folk on the internet seem to love these so I think it’s just me and my weird fruit issues.

Day 20

I was out of things to make smoothies with, so after the gym I had protein powder mixed with water, as well as a bowl of oat bran with agave and cinnamon. This was okay, but I missed my morning fruit.

For lunch I had a salad with spinach, romaine, radish, quinoa, tofu, and balsamic vinaigrette, as well as an orange. Later on for a snack I had two peaches and some cucumber.

It was still so hot that night that I didn’t have it in me to cook…I had some refried beans cold out of the can mixed with salsa. That’s right, I ate cold beans out of a can. And I liked it.

Day 21

I was still out of smoothie making materials, so for breakfast I had a tofu scramble loaded with veggies (onion, carrot, broccoli, mushrooms, and spinach) as well as an orange.

For lunch I had a salad with romaine, radish, broccoli, carrot, snap peas, chickpeas, and balsamic vinaigrette, and another orange.

For supper that night I made the braised cauliflower with three seed sauce from Vegan with a Vengeance. This was surprisingly really good. I always passed by it when flipping through the cookbook without giving it a second thought. The only reason I made it is that I had a head of cauliflower to use up ASAP. I also made a chickpea soup, based on the punk rock chickpea gravy recipe.
Day 22

Before I went to the gym I had a banana. When I got back I had a smoothie with protein powder, flax, psyllium husk, soy milk, and frozen fruit. Later on I had a nectarine.

For lunch I had leftover chickpea soup and braised cauliflower. I usually don’t have a problem with leftovers, but I did not care for the cauliflower the next day at all…I couldn’t finish it.

That night for supper I made the corn chowder from Vegan with a Vengeance. This certainly wasn’t photogenic so I won’t make you look at a picture of ugly soup. This was alright, but I think it could use some tweaking. It was a tad too sweet for me, I think next time I would omit the maple syrup.

Day 23

I went for a really long bike ride in the morning. When I got back I had a banana and some protein powder mixed with soy milk.

Later for lunch I made myself a salad with greens, sauteed asparagus, roasted tomatoes, tofu basil ricotta, and olives. I also had a peach.

That afternoon I had some cherries and a nectarine for a snack. For supper I made the Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers from Vegan with a Vengeance…but subbing tofu for the seitan. This was alright…I honestly don’t think I would make it again. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the most flavourful thing ever either. Perhaps it’s better with the seitan. I also had a pear and some more cherries.

Well only one more week to go for the detox!

Next week’s cookbook challenge is Vegan Brunch.

30 Day Detox: days 14-17

Day 14
For breakfast I had a smoothie with protein powder, blueberries, banana, flax, and soy milk

I didn’t have any salad veggies on hand, so for lunch I had leftover chickpea-quinoa pilaf as well as broccoli florets dipped in some “honey” mustard vinaigrette I also had 2 nectarines.

For a snack I had blueberries and a peach. That night for dinner I kept on with the Veganomicon Cookbook Challenge and made cheater baked beans, tomatoes and spinach, as well as some bbq tofu. The beans were delicious, I love how they’re not sickeningly sweet like the canned variety. The spinach dish would have been way better if my spinach wasn’t so old and gross.

I also had 2 oranges for dessert.

Day 15
Before I headed to the gym I grabbed a banana. Once I got home I had a smoothie with protein powder, frozen peach/strawberry/blueberry/mango, soy milk, flax, and psyllium husk. I made this thing way too thick and had to eat it with a spoon.

Later on for a snack I had 2 dates.

For lunch I had the edamame and corn salad from Veganomicon. I cut the sesame oil in half but otherwise kept things the same. Not pictured, I served this over greens for my lunch. This salad is really good, and sooo filling due to the edamame. For dessert I made a banana “pudding” with banana and agave whirred up in the food processor.

For a snack that afternoon I had 2 oranges and some cherry tomatoes. For supper I had more of the edamame and corn salad, plus sushi made with quinoa instead of rice. This sushi had tofu, spinach, and carrot. It was alright. It’s no rice sushi, but it’s surprisingly good.

Later on for a snack I had some frozen mango whirred up in the food processor.

Day 16 – this day SUCKED diet-wise. I ended up getting caught off guard and didn’t have suitable meals lined up. I ended up eating gluten AND sugar. Ugh. I wasn’t too happy with myself. However, that evening I spent some time introspecting and realized what went wrong to get me off track and how I can deal with it in the future. So I’m concentrating on the positives.

Day 17

First thing in the morning I went for a 10 mile bike ride. When I got back I had a shake with protein powder, flax, frozen berries, soy milk, and psyllium husk. I made this extra thick so I could eat it out of a bowl like frozen yogurt.

Lunch was delicious. I had lemon pepper tofu from Vegan Brunch (no oil) on top of salad greens with back to basics balsamic vinaigrette from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. The vinaigrette is a bit sweet for me, but I usually find Dreena’s salad dressings too sweet. Next time I’ll lessen the amount of agave I use.

For a snack I had this really weird pickle that my husband (still not used to calling him that…) found in the grocery store:

Who am I to refuse a portly pickle? It was actually really good.

For supper I had some grilled tofu, zucchini, and corn on the cob. I usually don’t have tofu both for lunch and supper but I didn’t have anything else in the house to grill and I didn’t have time to run to the store. For dessert I had 2 oranges.

To recap the cookbook challenge, I ended up making 6 new recipes from Veganomicon and 2 repeats. This week is Vegan with a Vengeance. So far I’m loving the push to actually use my cookbooks instead of just staring at them.

30 Day Detox: days 10 and 11

Day 10

I forgot to take a picture of my morning smoothie, but it consisted of cantaloupe, pineapple, mango, and flax. Later for a snack I had a banana. For lunch I had leftover curried lentils, plus a salad with greens, beets, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and “honey” mustard dressing. I also had a peach for dessert.

Later in the afternoon I had an orange and some blueberries for a snack. For supper that night we decided to BBQ, which we haven’t done in such a long time. I had bbq tofu, corn on the cob, and some asparagus.

I also had watermelon for dessert. Later in the evening I had some air-popped popcorn..which probably wasn’t the best idea since I had corn for supper but oh well.

Day 11

Before I went to the gym I grabbed a banana. Once I got home I made a smoothie with frozen peach, strawberries and blueberries, as well as protein powder, flax, and soy milk.

For lunch I had a salad with greens, radish, onion, beet, chickpeas, broccoli, cauliflower, and more of that “honey” mustard vinaigrette. I also had 2 medjool dates for dessert.

Later on I was quite hungry, so for a snack I had an orange, a peach, and some blueberries.

Starting yesterday, the PPK is starting a Cookbook Challenge. The idea is each week we pick a cookbook and you try as many new recipes from that book as you want, with a minimum of 3 recipes each week. Basically it’s a way to get us to use our cookbooks. This week is Veganomicon. So for supper last night I made the BBQ Black-Eyed Pea Collard Rolls, only I didn’t have collards so I used chard. I also didn’t make the VCON bbq sauce but just used some of my own that I had in the fridge. Overall these were alright. Basically all I can taste is bbq sauce, which I love. But I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to make these again. To go with the rolls I also had brussel sprouts and some pattypan squash.

For dessert I had 2 nectarines. Later for a snack I had watermelon and strawberries.

Well the detox is more than a third over. I’ve noticed some improvements in my health. I think these are mostly from avoiding gluten. As much as I love wheaty carbs they’re probably not the best thing for me. I haven’t been missing sugar so far because I’ve been eating so much delicious fresh fruit. I’m still not sick of having salads every day so there’s another bonus. All in all so far this has been a pretty positive experience.

30 Day Detox: days 5 and 6

These days were STILL plagued by rain that would not end so prepare yourself for some more poorly lit photos.

Day 5

I was out of fresh fruit and so I made myself a tofu scramble. It had bell pepper, an anaheim chile, some spices, and then after this photo I topped it with salsa. I was in a hurry so it’s not the prettiest looking thing ever. Later on I had an apple.

For lunch my salad consisted of romaine, baby greens, peas, sprouts, carrot, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, onion, roasted chickpeas, and green tahini dressing from Get it Ripe. The dressing was alright. I love hummus but I don’t really care for the taste of tahini on its own. But I had a bunch of parsley to use up so I figured this dressing was perfect for that. For dessert I had an apple.

For supper I made bean chili…which I never use a recipe for…I just throw random things into the pot and let it simmer and keep taste testing. I actually had two bowls of this. I wasn’t really hungry but I went for seconds anyway. A bad habit of mine that I would like to stop.

For an evening snack I had mango “sorbet” which is just frozen mango chunks and agave whirred up in a food processor.

Day 6

I was still out of fresh fruit but by doing some digging I found enough frozen fruit to make myself a smoothie. This had banana, blueberries, protein powder, soy milk, and flax.

For lunch I used up the rest of my salad stuff. It had baby greens, sprouts, radish, carrot, onion, roasted chickpeas, and green tahini dressing. The salad wasn’t that big because I didn’t have that many veggies, so I also had some roasted cauliflower on the side. For dessert I made myself some more of that mango sorbet.

For an afternoon snack I had some kale chips loaded with nutritional yeast.

Dinner was quite late so I had an apple while it was cooking. My dinner consisted of lemon pepper tofu from Vegan Brunch (without the oil), roasted zucchini, and sauteed green beans and mushrooms from Vegan with a Vengeance (once again, no oil). I also had a small glass of soy milk and later on I had another apple.

30 Day Detox: days 3 and 4

Day 3

For breakfast I had a sliced banana with blueberries and soy milk, along with a clementine. Yum, I love fresh fruit for breakfast!

We’re still in the depths of a cold/rainy spell and so I really wanted something warm for lunch. I roasted some eggplant, zucchini, beets, carrot, and half of a tomato that was floating around in my fridge. I put this on top of baby greens and romaine and topped with a maple mustard dressing I threw together. I also had the last of the leftover chickpea broccoli casserole but I will spare you more pictures of that.

For supper I made Susan Voisin’s smoky refried bean soup. I adore this soup so much…I posted about it awhile ago. For dessert I had the last of my blueberries.

Day 4

Before I went to the gym I scarfed down a banana. When I got home I made a smoothie with protein powder, mixed frozen berries, soy milk, psyllium husk, and flax. I put it in a bowl to eat with a spoon because I saw someone else on a blog (can’t remember who! sorry!) do it and I was curious about it.

I was really hungry that morning and as a snack I had another bowl of the refried bean soup.

For lunch I had a salad with romaine, baby greens, sprouts, broccoli, snap peas, radish, carrot, and tofu with a vinaigrette that had rice vinegar, mustard, and some nutritional yeast.

That morning I received a package from Robert Cheeke. Robert was kind enough to include many free samples, including a VEGA Vibrancy Bar, which I had for my afternoon snack. These bars sort of remind me of a Lara bar, but are less sweet. It was pretty good.

For supper that night I had even more of the refried bean soup (can you tell I really love that soup?) which I didn’t take another picture of. I also had some swiss chard sauteed with garlic. The two dishes didn’t go together at all but I wanted to use up the chard.

That night for a snack I had some snap peas.

EDIT: Aha, thanks for jogging my memory Nora! It’s Nora over at Pride & Vegudice that eats her smoothies in a bowl!

apologies for abseenteeism…as well as more Vegan Brunch

Wow, I haven’t been posting much. Wedding insanity has taken over my life…18 more days. It seems every day we have a meeting with somebody about something wedding-related…at this point I am just looking for the planning to FINALLY be over and to just enjoy the day. We’re keeping it pretty low-key but it seems there are still 1001 decisions to be made that everyone wants your input on. *sigh*

I haven’t been cooking all that much, but here a few things that have made appearances in my kitchen. First up is the puttanesca scramble from Vegan Brunch. If you like olives and capers you will probably like this. The only negative thing I can say is that I accidentally bought unpitted kalamatas so those were a pain to chop up. Oh well.

Secondly, here are the cinnamon buns from Vegan Brunch. I made these with the understanding that they would be taken out of my home immediately. I have a wedding dress to fit into and I don’t need a dozen cinnamon buns hanging around! But I did sneak a bun before they were gone and they are heavenly! Really gooey, which I like. I’d probably put way more cinnamon in the filling next time, but that’s just me.

Finally, I revisited a classic…the snobby joe from Veganomicon:

a lot of vegan brunch

I have quite a few things to share with you, most of which are from Vegan Brunch.

First up, I tried to make English muffins with whole wheat pastry flour. Now I’m not sure if it was my yeast, or if this recipe doesn’t work well with whole wheat, or what’s going on, but mine didn’t really rise at all and didn’t get those delightful nooks and crannies that make English muffins so lovable. Here is one with some jam:

I also made the pumpkin bran muffins. Once again, I used whole wheat pastry flour and I subbed applesauce for all of the oil. These were still really moist and super delicious. In fact, they were too good. I ate way too many of them.

I also tried my hand at the infamous vegan omelets. Even though the recipe clearly states not to use vacuum-packed tofu, I used the vacuum-packed Mori-Nu lite firm tofu. I did have to add some extra water to the batter but they appeared to work out alright. Not that I have anything to compare it to…next time perhaps I will use soft tofu and see if there is a difference. I made the roasted asparagus version with the suggested miso tahini sauce….that sauce on its own didn’t excite me very much, but paired with this omelet it was heavenly!

I also tried the scrambled tofu with greens and yams. I used WAY less sesame oil then called for…I basically drizzled about 1/2 tsp on at the end and that’s it. The flavour was still easy to detect. I loved the mix of sweet with sesame…I ended up really loving this dish when I thought it would just be ‘okay’

I just took these bagels out of the oven so I haven’t tried one yet. They’re made with multigrain bread flour…we’ll see how good they taste later.

Finally I have something that isn’t from Vegan Brunch. Now usually the bf does all of the grilling around here. It’s his ‘thing.’ So I’ve never cooked with a bbq before in my life. Ever. Well, he’s gone on a 5.5 day canoe trip and so I made him give me a lesson in how to turn on the grill. Yes, that’s right, I didn’t even know how to turn it on. Well, last night not only did I turn it on, but I grilled myself up some portobello burgers as well as some eggplant…and grilled pineapple for dessert (why didn’t anyone tell me how wonderful this stuff is??). I doubt I’ll retain my grilling privledges once the bf returns (once again, it’s his ‘thing’) but it was fun to try it out and hey, who am I to turn down getting my dinner cooked for me every now and again?

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!