food things

Apologies for my absence. I've been traveling and working a full time job so just a quick post about food related things. First, I've been mixing teas in a big pot and drinking lots of it, 'cos ya know, winter. I particularly like this ginger and jasmine combo. I've also been finding new vegetarian recipes to try because I've altered my dietary habits once again. I felt that I was consuming too much meat, even though it was often local meats, so I'm on a meat hiatus indefinitely. 

I'm a big fan of this Lentil Loaf recipe I found from the Simple Veganista. I also finally tried out this "Cauliflower Wings" recipe at a party and it was well received. Lastly, my friend shared with me her Chili Lime popcorn recipe that makes a great snack. 

Ingredients:

2 tsp coconut oil

1/4 cup of popping corn

1 tsp of melted margarine/butter/vegan margarine

1 tsp of lime juice

1/4 tsp of chili flakes

Directions:

Pop the popcorn in a pot with the coconut oil and popping corn until all kernels are popped. Melt the margarine/butter/vegan margarine with lime juice and chili flakes and pour over popcorn, then toss. Enjoy!

homemade vegetable stock

This is so easy to do that it's not really a recipe. Since I started getting CSA boxes I have had tons of lovely vegetable scraps and using them up to make vegetable stock feels better than throwing them in the trash (London doesn't compost!)

Here's what I do...

Save veggie/fresh herb scraps in the freezer, chopped up into relatively small pieces to maximize the surface area (I make sure to include lots of onion and garlic, and this batch I had some fresh thyme to add).

Put the veggies in the slow cooker and add enough water just to come up to the top of the veggies and add some salt. Turn it on low and leave it to hang out for a few hours.

Strain out all the veggie bits...done! I'm going to use mine to make enchilada sauce for dinner tonight.

local produce box and cauliflower tabbouleh

I ordered my first produce box from On The Move Organics (London, ON) last week and I so wish I had done it earlier! It's $30 (free delivery) each week, with a one-time $15 deposit for the rubbermaid tote the food is delivered in. The food is almost entirely local, and all organic.

Last week's box contained:

4 cobs of sweet corn, 1 head of purple cauliflower, 1 bunch of parsley, 2 lemon cucumbers, 1 lb. hot house tomatoes, 1 bunch of rainbow beets (1 of which is pictured above), 1 bunch of celery, 1 grapefruit, a mini red watermelon, 2 packham pears.

I think it's pretty great value, and plan to keep up with it next year, especially for those weeks where I sincerely don't have time to make it to the grocery store, such as exam week. I also like that it makes me experiment with new foods. They include a suggested recipe, using many of the ingredients each week, too, like last week's for cauliflower tabbouleh, which I'm including below:

1 head cauliflower, grated or finely chopped (I used my purple one)

1 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup chopped mint

3 green onions, chopped

1 cup tomatoes, chopped

2 lemon cucumbers, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

dressing:

juice from 1 lemon

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Mix the chopped veggies, mix the dressing and toss together. I liked it better after it had sat in the fridge overnight, and I also made only a half recipe because that's a lot of tabbouleh, otherwise! I'd also recommend chopping more finely than I did in the photo, and I will do that next time for sure.

Also, the beets came with gorgeous greens attached that I couldn't bear to waste so I went recipe hunting and also made this wicked salad, that I will be making AGAIN for dinner tonight.

cold brew coffee

I've been drinking a lot of iced coffee lately, and it's starting to add up so... I decided to make my own. Apparently it's really simple. You just need a french press and some ground coffee. The proportions is one spoon per cup of coffee, or more depending how strong you like your coffee. You just stick it in a French press overnight and it's ready the next day! The nice thing about cold brew is that the flavour is less bitter because heat is what causes the bitterness of hot coffee.

My favourite coffee beans are from:

• Laughing Whale
• North Mountain Fine Coffees
• Java Blend 

roasted beet hummus

This is a recipe from the blog freutcake that I have crept back through my pinterest so many times to look it up that I thought I'd share (link here). Almost too pretty to eat! Beets, cumin, lemon juice and garlic. Yum!

"two ingredient pancakes"

I've been making these banana egg pancakes for breakfast pretty much every morning since someone posted the recipe on my Instagram. It's not much of a recipe, because it's just banana and eggs! But I've altered it and added vanilla and cinnamon. So what you need is:

1 ripe banana

1 egg

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract

Mix. Cook with coconut oil. Add some fruit! And tadaaaa pancakes! And to avoid the extra sugar of maple syrup, I've been making a blueberry reduction sauce to put on top of the pancakes. For that you will need:

3/4 cup blueberries
1 tsp honey

1 tbsp water

Cook til the sauce reduces and becomes thick. Pour on pancakes and enjoy!

my go-to meal

This is my go-to meal. When I'm feeling lazy after a long day, I'll come home and make this. It's not the quickest meal as the sweet potatoes take an hour to bake, but it's good because I'll cut up the potatoes and let them bake while I catch up on other things. 

Sweet Potato Fries

One medium sweet potato, 1 tbsp of olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. Slice up sweet potato, toss, and bake at 400 degree celsius for an hour. Flip the fries after 30 mins. 

Curry Mayo

Mix 1 tbsp of mayo, 1 tsp of curry powder, a large wedge of lime juice. Add extra mayo, curry powder, or lime if needed.

Open Face Sandwich

You can use any kind of bread you want and any veggies (or meat). I like to do a spinach, tomato, and avocado sandwich. Sometimes I'll add daiya (or cheese) and melt it in the oven when the fries are just about done (10 mins away). I also like sprouts, mushrooms, and hummus on my sandwich if I have those handy. 

slow-cooked baked beans

make-ahead summer salad

This is almost so easy I shouldn't call it a recipe, but I'm always amazed that something so simple can taste sooooo good.

I'm calling this a make-ahead salad because I steam my broccoli and sautee the tofu at the start of the week, and then everything's ready to go in my fridge at any time.

Ingredients:
1-2 broccoli crowns, chopped and steamed
1 block of firm tofu, cubed and sauteed with spices (my go-to is Clubhouse's Thai seasoning mix. I eat this on nearly everything)
cherry tomatoes
2 avocados
2 lemons
Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soya sauce, but if you've never tried Bragg's, I'd recommend checking it out!)

This makes 4 servings in total, which I eat 1 at a time by tossing 1/4 of the broccoli, 1/4 of the tofu, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Chop and add a half an avocado, squeeze on the juice of half a lemon and a splash of Bragg's with each bowl.

YUM. Seriously.

vegan cornbread

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cane sugar
3/4 cup almond milk
2 "flax eggs" (2 tbsp of ground flax + 6 tbsp hot water)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.
3. Prepare the flax eggs (add hot water to ground flax seeds) and set aside4. Mix dry ingredients
5. Mix wet ingredients
6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes

vegan pumpkin pie

Pie Crust 
makes crust of a 9" pie dish (dough can be split in half depending on how much crust you like)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cane sugar
1/3 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Mix flour, oil, salt, and sugar until crumbly
2. Add water until dough holds
3. Shape into pan

Pie Filling

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree
1 cup cashews
3/4 cups cane sugar
2 tbsp tapioca starch
2 tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

Directions:

1. Soak cashews in water for 3+ hours and drain (I soaked mine overnight the day before I planned on making the pie)
2. Add all ingredients into food processor and mix
3. Add filling to pie crust

mushroom fried brown rice

Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice

1 vegetable boullion cube

1/2 onion

1 cup chopped cremini mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp paprika

Directions:

1. Cook brown rice with vegetable bouillon, let cool

2. Fry onions in olive oil until sauteed

3. Add mushrooms, rice, paprika to onions and fry

eggplant lentil curry

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant

5 vine tomatoes

1/2 cup red lentil

1 lemon

1 onion

2 gloves garlic

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tbsp tumeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground corriander

2 tsp garlic salt

fresh parsley as garnish

Directions

1. Roast eggplant in oven for approx 1 hr at 400 deg.

2. Let cool, then cut up and put in food processor and set aside

3. Rinse red lentils and cook in 2 cups of water and set aside

4. Chop tomatoes and juice lemon, set aside

4. Sautee onions & garlic in olive oil

5. Add eggplant, chopped tomatoes, lentils, spices and cook simmer for 20 minutes

6. Garnish with parsley

spicy mango salsa

Ingredients:

1 ripe mango

1 vine tomato

1/8 cup of green onion

1 sprig parsley

1/2 lime of juice
1-3 thai chili peppers (dependent on how spicy you would like it)

Directions:

1. Dice mango and tomatoes

2. Add all ingredients together and mix

sweet potato biscuits

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mashed sweet potato

3/4 cup almond milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 sea salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp canola oil

Directions:

1. Boil sweet potato and mash, let cool, set aside

2. Mix together almond milk and vinegar and let curdle

3. Preheat oven to 400 deg.

4. Mix flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar in bowl

5. Add sweet potato and almond milk and mix

6. Add oil and knead

7. Use 1/3 measuring cup to "cut" biscuits and bake for 15-20 minutes

Makes approx. 8 biscuits.

lentil dill kofte

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup bulgar

1 medium onion

1 lemon

1/2 bunch green onion (2/3 cup chopped)

1/2 cup dill

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic salt

Directions:

1. Wash lentils and boil/simmer until water almost soaked

2. Add bulgar and salt to lentils and let expand and then cool everything

3. Cook onion (not green) in olive oil

4. Add tomato paste and cumin

5. Add this to lentil bulgar mixture once cooled

6. Add remaining ingredients

7. Form into logs

8. Bake in oven at 350 for 15 minutes

9. Eat warm or cold

recipes: pesto, tofu steaks, and honey roasted root veggies

A mixture of random recipes.

(vegan) coconut-banana breakfast cookies

Modified from this recipe to include coconut oil, extra coconut, less sugar... and more importantly, veganized!

Read the recipe after the jump!

coconut raisin walnut curry rice

I came up with this recipe and it turned out amazingly. I made a lot because I was bringing this to a dinner, so you can half the recipe if you do not intend of serving 6-8 people.

Ingredients:
1/2 spanish onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cups brown rice
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts

1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 vegetable bouillon cube

Directions:
1. Cook brown rice with vegetable bouillon until ready and set aside
2. Saute onion and garlic with 1 tbsp of coconut oil until slightly brown, then add curry powder
3. Add cooked rice, other 1 tbsp of coconut oil, and all other ingredients and stir until well mixed

veggie lasagna

Adapted from this recipe, I added some extra green goodness to the lasagna. 

Ingredients:

coconut oil (or any vegetable oil)

3 gloves garlic

1 onion

1 eggplant

1 container of spinach

1 cup broccoli 

1 can lentils

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 tsp Italian herb & spices

1/2 cup cashews

3/4 cup water

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

fresh basil leaves

pine nuts

Directions:

1. Slice eggplant into thin slices, sprinkle some salt onto slices, and place between two heavy plates to drain excess water for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 400 F

3. Blend cashew, water, salt, and nutritional yeast to make "cheese" sauce

4. Fry eggplant slices in oil and set aside

5. Saute garlic, onion, herb & spice then add chopped broccoli, lentils, tomatoes and mix together, turn off heat and set aside

6. In a lasagna pan, add layer of eggplant, spinach, veggie mixture, then another layer of any leftover eggplant. Pour "cheese" sauce over ingredients. Add fresh basil leaves and pine nuts on top and bake for 40 minutes.