You are Every Vegan

As vegans, we often feel the need to explain our beliefs, our food, our health and nutrition, and even all the one-off examples people tell us about. You know, that friend who used to be vegan but then all her bones started melting so she had to eat rare steak laced with Skele-Grow immediately to save her life. Because we are often the only vegan they know, we are therefore also Every Vegan--so we feel the need to be ambassador for veganism. All the time. Every day. Even when we're tired or cranky or hungry because the only thing the restaurant can provide us is green salad and dry baked potato. So when we cook for non-vegans, we feel pressure to make an amazing meal, lest the next day they're saying, "Yeah, we had weird vegan food last night. It was horrible! Dry and tasteless--it needed bacon." Because if they did say that, I might have to hurt them--which wouldn't reflect well on me as Ambassador for Veganism. So when I made dinner for 9 of my relatives over Christmas, I was feeling the pressure. Which I shouldn't--I can only do my best and then it's out of my hands. But luckily they it got very good reviews. The choice of dish may have helped. I picked Leek and Bean Cassoulet, from Veganomicon. It's deliciously warming and filling and comfort food-y, and it has biscuits on top. Who doesn't love stuff with biscuits on top?!? Even my anti-vegetable brother liked it. Make it for sharing with the non-vegans in your life. That way, when they meet another vegan, this time they'll say, "Oh yeah, I have a vegan friend. She made amazing cassoulet this one time!" And Every Vegan will thank you. 

Minty chocolate presents

I was told food is always a good gift. Seasonal food is even better, in the season of course. But soemtimes making food can be time-consuming, and you start getting tempted by the simplicity of just going to a store and buying stuff. But bark is easy. Melt and pour! And for seasonal goodness, crush some candy canes and sprinkle the bits on top while it's still melted. Wrap in a pretty seasonal bag or a nice jar and pop a bow on top an you're done!

Breadmaker focaccia

I bought a breadmaker on the weekend. It was a great price, and my last one had long since given up. But we know what this means: a month of home-made bread, then intermittent neglect mixed with bouts of baking galore.
So, for my inaugural project: pizza dough. It actually tuned into three calzones and some focaccia. To keep me happy with minimal effort, I spread vegan pesto and Daiya vegan cheese on the focaccia before baking. I have yet to find a perfect whole-grain focaccia recipe, but yes, it's like sex and pizza: even if it's bad, it's still pretty good.

Un-photogenic butternut squash soup

I used to be a waitress. It coincided with my discovery of the joys of cooking, and introduced me a whole new way of looking at food. One of the recipes I gleaned from my days there for butternut squash and mushroom soup. I kept pestering the chef what was in it that made it taste so good. I even made it at home, sadly concluded that no, it didn't taste the same, and asked him again. Finally he told me: black pepper. Seriously? Seriously. Just black pepper. It made all the difference. Add fresh ground black pepper (if you don;t have a pepper mill, you should get one--they're awesome) before eating, and your taste buds will thank you. A rough recipe is below. I used it to make the soup pictured, but added a triangle of focaccia to make it photogenic because let's not kid ourselves--pureed orange soup just ain't that pretty.

Butternut squash and mushroom soup
2 teaspoons cooking oil
1 onion, chopped medium-fine

1/2 cup wine

1/2 pound mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (chef's recipe called for shiitake, I used king oyester the soup pictured)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 can vegetable broth, plus water

Saute onions in oil until golden, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and cook until soft, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. Add wine (whatever wine you have on hand, whether old or cheap, or even a full cup, no one will know unless you tell me, in which case I'll blog about how I do the same thing) and de-glaze pan, watching carefully. When wine has reduced, add broth and cut butternut squash and additional water to cover. Simmer until the squash is very soft, and mushes a little when you stir it, about an hour. Puree everything--I strongly recommend a stick blender, to avoid an accidental exploding blender incident. Add fresh ground pepper to taste, about half a teaspoon. Also tasty as leftovers.

Spicey noodle breakfast

Late breakfst today: steamed bok choy and brown rice noodles with "dipping sauce" poured over top. Spicey, and suitable for chopsticks, and even healthy--some of my favourite things!! Recipe from Vegetarian Times (and makes 'fast pho' as leftovers too).

Store-bought whole wheat gnocchi with garlic and vegan parmesan.

Black bean burger from Veganomicon with cheddar-style Daiya vegan cheese.

Microwave vegan brownie

Microwave vegan brownie. The video doesn't lie--it's not gourment by any means. But it's a single serving (okay, maybe two servings) and it's nom-worthy. Especially for those nights when you have no sweets on hand and sweets are definitely required--and you're comfortable eating a brownie out of a mug by yourself on the couch. While watching Buffy season 3 and crying.
...Enjoy!

Vegan gluten-free bookclub part 2

Another successful mostly vegan and mostly gluten-free bookclub! I made two gluten-free items for this month's event (since I was hosting): curried potato-cauliflower from Vegetarian Times. I omitted the peas listed in the recipe because I forgot to buy them, but it was yummy! I also made walnut-mushroom pate from Veganomicon--I made a ton and expected it to disappear, but there were so many delicious things there is still some left over for me. The gluten-free bookclubber brought sandwich cookies from Bunner's Bakery. There was also two kinds of hummus and delicious spinach salad with red onion, pear and avocado. And yes, in addition to eating, we did talk about the book a little. I think this month, most of preferred the food to the book!

Grilled cheese breakfast

Breakfast today: grilled cheese with cheddar-style Daiya, cooked in my panini press. An excellent way to start the day.

Of course he loved the sausage

Like cooking, dating can be messy. You try something you thought you'd like and it goes horribly. Or something you were loathe to even contemplate turns out great. Either way, the fun is as much in the process as the end result. Which brings me to sausage.
Now bear with me as I resist the urge to giggle like a 13-year-old, but I bring up sausage because of a date I had on the weekend. I was cooking dinner for a date who indicated he preferred to stay in. Well, fine. But when a vegan hosts an omnivore for the first time, the question is always what to serve that will absolutely and in one fell swoop dispel the myth that vegan food sucks. As it is to so many things, the answer is sausage. Because I only had so many things in the house--my glass of wine after work with a colleague the night before had ended at 10:00 p.m., so I didn't manage to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Which left frozen tomatoes, an onion and some red peppers to form a meal. Pasta it is! With Italian-style navy bean sausage. Mmmmmm.
But when my date appeared I was informed he did not eat carbs. They made him gain weight. Well, fine. Despite the absolute lack of notice--even after a previous conversation about what to make for dinner during which no objections to carbs were raised--I modified the menu and served sausage with the red sauce and zucchini and one very small baked potato. (Even though I suspected his food anxieties were more about the flavour of my vegan dishes than the amount of carbs.) And upon tasting the sausage for the first time--I swear to god I have a straight face right now--my date declared it was delicious. I resisted the urge to scream I told you so and insist it would taste better with some kamut pasta. But it brings me full circle--my date thought the food would be mediocre and it was fantastic, and I thought the date was going to be awesome, and...Well, fine.
Just because things don't often go the way you expect them to, here's a recipe for pinto bean sausages instead.

Brunch at Fresh

Food photo from the past: vegan brunch at Fresh in Toronto: blueberry pancakes, tofu scramble, and vegan sausage.

Oh baby, Babycakes

Babycakes is renowned. RENOWNED, BABY. And I was there. I dragged my friend across New York City while we were on vacation and freaked the hell out. I bought two cupcakes and a sandwich cookie. And then I went to Moo Shoes and bought two pais of gorgeous vegan pumps. BOO-YEAH.

Vegan Ice cream; or, When in Rome

Vegan ice cream. Believe it or not, I found more of it in Italy than in my own city. I KNOW!! I dragged my mother 20 minutes out of the way  on thw way to our hotel on Rome so I could get the vegan ice cream mentioned on HappyCow.net. I was soooo worth it. They had many flavours of soy ice cream, and even...wait for it... vegan whipped cream! Yes, in case you were wondering, Rome is very much like heaven. ...If heaven has cute flirty waiters.

Sicilian ice in Cinque Terre

When I was on vacation in Italy, I got a Sicilian ice in Cinque Terre. Which is weird if you know Italy, since Siciliy is an island in the south, and Cinque Terre is on the coast, toward the north, south of Milan. |But the restaurant we found when exploring the towns of Cinque Terre was owned by two brothers, Sicilians, who are famous for their desserts, and yes, made vegan Sicilians ice. They called is "slushie"--it is made of fresh fruit and nothing else. I had it with an espresso and a lettuce and tomato sandwich, thus proving that you can find vegan food everywhere if you try hard enough. Though you will probably have to explain what vegan is to a very nice Sicilian who wants you to try his desserts.

Pasta e fagioli saved my life

Pasta e fagioli: this dish saved my life. Okay, so maybe not my entire life, it maybe just stopped me from being super hungry and cranky on vacation after a long day of sight-seeing. and maybe the particular restaurant I went to happened to also have a very cute and flirty waiter, but hey, it was Italy, so there were lots of cute and flirty waiters. But this dish certainly was delicious! And the waiter may have proposed to me in Italian while I was eating it, but hey, it was Italy!
This is one of those accidentally vegan foods that you mention when vegans say, "But what do you EAT?!?" (Have you ever heard of a little place called ITALY?!?) Of course, it can sometimes be made with meat broth, but unlike dishes you have to veganize, this one is easy-peasy without substitutions.
Some pasta e fagioli recipes you see are rather, um, chunky. But the picture shows the dish as I ate it when I was in Italy: the beans were partly pureed into smooth deliciousness and partly left whole, and combined with cooked pasta. That's it! A basic recipe follows, from my memory (which is why there are no quantities) but you can add herbs and spices as you like. More beans and less water will make the soup thicker. A side dish of grilled veggies rounds out this meal.
Cute Waiter Pasta e Fagiloi
Vegetable stock
Minced garlic
Chopped onion
Cooked pinto beans
Cooked pasta
In stock pot, saute garlic and onion until soft. Add stock and cooked beans and heat through. Using strainer ladle, remove 1 cup of beans and set aside. With stick blender, puree remaining stock and beans. Return beans to pot and add cooked pasta. Heat through, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with bread.

The most beautiful food

The most beautiful food I ever ate was in New York. I was on vacation, of course, and my co-vacationer and I went down to the oh-so-funky cafe in our hotel. It's so cool in fact that even locals go there! The cafe is Moroccan-inspired, and as I glanced down the menu I noticed not one, not two, but several things I could eat--without even taking off the cheese/sour cream/bacon bits. So I ordered the couscous--and this was what I got. The heavens opened, light shone through the window blinds and illuminated my divine couscous! It had eggplant, pine nuts, raisins and red peppers, and was surrounded by an oil drizzle, and was topped with Delicious light fresh-made hummus. It was so lovely I almost didn't want to eat it. But eat it I did!

Pumpkin spiiiiiice

 

Another day, another cupake! I went to Fresh today on a whim with a friend--I didn't even know she liked the place! She was ecstatic to go--she apparently has an ongoing love affair with the raw zucchini 'pasta' bowl. I ordered delicous carrot, coconut milk and lime soup-of-the-day with cornbread on the side; and also quinoa onion rings (which my friend agreed are The Best Thing) and they we got dessert. Of course! The cupcakes available--for autumn, presumably--were Pumpkin Spice! I don't like pumpkin enough to make a whole batch of cupcakes, even if I only end up eating a handful myself. But I'll order a pumpkin cupcake while I"m out. So I did! It was delicious--the icing was perfect. And I told my friend that I make awesome choclate-raspbarry cupcakes, and I have promised her baking lessons sometime in the future. Yay Pumpkin Spiiiiice!

Convince them with baked goods

Baked goods are the thing that omnivores don't get. They understand beans; they understand tofu, even if they don't like it; the totally understand healthy benefits of eating more veggies. But whenever I talk to people about cupcakes, cookies, banana bread--even waffles--they ask, "But what about eggs?" In people's minds, everything with flour requires eggs. Or it will fall apart. EMERGENCY! THE VEGANZ BAKED GOODZ WILL FALL APART!!

Ahem. They won't. Cupcakes, cookies, banana bread and even my beloved waffles stick together fine--just various combinations of flour, liquid, oil, sugar and baking powder and baking soda. The only thing I can recall needing something to bind it is biscotti. I think it's because it's a much drier recipe--only 1/2 cup or liquid to 1 1/2 cups flour. And then, 2 tablespoons of flax seed beaten with water save the day.
And vegan baked goods surprise the hell of out people. I make lovely layered cupcakes, like the lemon-blueberry babies pictured (recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the world), and people can't figure out how vegan baked goods can be so scrumptious. I think once, a long time ago, someone made cookies with hemp seed and granola and kale and dried seaweed and fed them a thousand or so people and forever cemented in the public consciousness that vegan baked goods are gross. But no--I promise you, I don't eat things that aren't delicious. So I convince them with baked goods!
Convince them with cupcakes like these, by making lemon cupcakes, lemon icing and blueberry sauce. When the cupcakes have cooled to the touch, use a spoon or small knife to cut a piece out of the top of each cupcake. Pipe or spread in some icing, spoon in a little sauce, and replace the piece. Add some more icing and sauce and top, and serve within a couple hours so the sauce doesn't disintegrate the cupcakes. And they will be convinced.

The Bowl: just eat it

The Bowl: it's a staple of vegan life. You know, when you have some rice or quinoa, and some stuff to it, and then eat it. It's so much a staple that Appetite for Reduction has a section on The Bowl. Fully one-fifth of the non-beverage menu at my hometown vegetarian resto is about The Bowl. Really, The Bowl is just an opportunity for you to put some things you like altogether with some sauce or dressing, and eat to your heart's content. The thing is: it's also really, really, healthy. Unless you add two whole avocados, way too much dressing, or a bowl bigger than your head, your Bowl is likely to be ridiculously nutritious and satisfying.
The other thing about The Bowl is: it's so versatile, it's almost mid-boggling. You are limited only by what you feel like eating. If you have leftovers, you can probably make into a Bowl! My bowl tends to be the same, because I tend to pick up the same things when I feel like making a Bowl: quinoa base, red peppers (they're not my favourite but they're nutritious), eggplant, mushrooms, chickpeas, avocado and usually store-bought Italian dressing. This time, I went crazy and added arugula and caramelized onion, and left out the chickpeas and the avocado. And you can see I put on a Plate--I mean a plate--and not a bowl, for better photo staging. But it was still delicious! I've listed some additional ingredients below--I had to stop because my fingers got tired. But The Bowl is your friend--make from scratch, use up leftovers, make a make-your-own-bowl spread for dinner. However you do it, it's always delicious!

Veggies:
Peppers
Zucchini
Sweet potato or squash
Kale or other greens
Mushroom
Eggplant
Bok choy
Bean sprouts
Corn
Broccoli
Beets
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Radish
Tomato
Carrot
Onions (raw or sauteed)
Brussels sprouts
Celery
Sun-dried tomato
Protein:
Chickpea, pinto beans,black beans, navy beans, kidney beans...beans!
Tofu
Tempeh
Lentils
Seitan

Vegan sausage or other 'meat'
Fruit and extras:
Mango
Peach
Apple
Strawberry
Berries, dried or fresh
Dates or figs

Walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans. etc.
Fresh herbs
Dressing/Sauce
Basic balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Rice vinegar and sesame oil with chopped garlic and ginger
Store-bought Italian or Greek
Peanut sauce
Tahini-based dressing
Curry sauce

Lazy nachos

Too lazy (tired/sick/self-pitying) to post any decent content. So here, have some oven-fresh vegan nachos with Daiya!

Easy cheesey

Cashew cheese. Sounds weird, right? It's DE-LI-CIOUS. You'll make this every day. It's creamy and satisfying, and takes about 2 minutes of hands-on work. It's also versatile--you can treat it like goat cheese and roll it in "Stuff" to boost the flavour. Cracked pepper, herbs, spices, citrus peel, sun-dried tomato, dried fruit or even nuts--nut cheese rolled in nuts? I know, it's crazy--so crazy it's nuts! (Sorry, I can't resist...) And if you want to serve it as a trayed appetizer, you can make it all fancy by pouring something over the top, like those baked-brie concoctions that were popular a few years ago--only these will be more awesome because of their vegan-ness. Try red pepper jelly, antipasto, tapenade, pesto and pine nuts, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms...seriously, I'm getting hungry just thinking of it!
But first, you have to make the cashew cheese. When you see the recipe, you'll realize it's basically soak, drain, puree, mold, chill. I soak overnight, which requires planning ahead a bit, but the link suggests only 2 hours. You can also add extras in before you wrap and chill --the recipe suggests lemon juice, garlic, and pepper, but you could add herbs, spices, etc. to the pureed cashews before wrapping and chilling. The recipe also suggests putting in a bowl before chilling, but if you scrape out the pured cashews into a sheet of parchment paper, you can roll it up and shape it like goat's cheese. Or line a ramekin or French onion soup bowl with plastic wrap and you can shape it like brie, for fancy pouring of stuff over top. Or you can do like I do--however it's molded, spread it over toast and then put the tapenade directly on top.
Considering how easy, delicious and versatile this is, I'm surprised everyone just doesn't serve this all the time. Easy cheesey!

Giant bowl of guac

Guacamole. It's one of those things that makes me happy to live in the time that I do. Yeah, ther modern age gave me my beloved smart phone (which found that vegan pizza photo eventually), lolcats, and birth control--but without the availabilty and diversity of the foods I now know and love, I would be a less smiley person. Especially as a vegan--I've said it before and I'll say it again, but ethnic foods are a vegan lifesaver when you're eating out, since are often accidentally vegan. Inari sushi anyone? Chana masala? Stir fry? Cheeselss basil and tomato pizza? Hummus or falafel? Bean burrito..with guacamole?
I've brought guac to office pot lucks a couple times. It's been wildly popular. It might be because I buy a bag of 5 avocados and make a giant batch, and everyone loves a bowl of guac the size of your head, but...I also like to think I make a decent guac too.
It's easy. You can vary this recipe if you want (variations are listed), but it's basics, and makes everyone happy. And if you've never made guacamole before, this'll help you awaken to how easy and satisfying it is!
The only critical ingredients is ripe avocados. They're ripe when the skin is dark green and they yield a little to the pressure of your finger. If they yield a lot they're over-ripe, and will be brown inside. There's nothing wrong with the brown bits, they just taste bad, and look bad. If you're planning on making guac for an upcoming event, plan ahead. If your grocery store usually stocks unripe avocados, go to the store 5 days or so in advance, and buy unripened avocados and leave them on the counter until you need them. If you're making the gauc in advance, put it in a bowl, smooth the top, squeeze half a lime over it and cover it with plastic wrap so that no guac is exposed to the air. In a pinch, this way you can keep the guac over night with minimal browning.
Otherwise, the rest is easy!

Recipe makes a bowl of guac the size of your head.

5 avocados, halved, seeded, skins removed and mashed
half a red onion, chopped very fine
bunch of cilantro (coarse stems removed), and chopped
one lime, at room temperature, juiced (they yield more juice a room temperature)
optional: 1 or 2 fresh tomatoes, seeded or unseeded, chopped; 1/2  cup salsa; fresh (seeded or unseeded) or jarred chopped jalapenos to taste; chipotles and adobo sauce to taste; 1 or more cloves of garlic, chopped fine; hot sauce to taste more onion
Combine all ingredients, and whichever optional items as you wish. Clearly, tomatoes and salsa kinda cancel each other out, as do jalapenos and chipotles, so use your judgement. Serve with tortilla chips, home-toasted tortilla shells, crackers--whatever your heart desires! And if you have margaritas with it, then so much the better. 

Delicous, delicious bookclub

Rice crackers.

I had my bookclub today. It was great! Everything was delicious! And the book was pretty good too.
In my bookclub, we have me, the vegan, someonewith celiac, a pescetarian, and 2 very supportive omnivores without any food allergies. So bookclub is often vegan/gluten-free bookclub. For some reason I found today especially delicious--maybe because I could eat almost everything we had today; or maybe because we started this cold day off with a hot comforting bowl of chilli; maybe because our designated non-cook made absolutely delicious vegan and gluten-free cupcakes. Maybe it was because I had two cupcakes--who knows?
I took a ton of pictures. Yay vegan/gluten-free food porn!

Guacamole. It's always delicious.

Super-garlic pickles that the hostess got at the farmers' market.

Fan-freakin'-tasic cupcakes.

Vegan and gluten-free English muffins, for bruschetta.

Bruschetta. Nom.

Hot, comforting chilli.

Cashew-cheese stuffed figs, drizzled with maple syrup.

Lazy mofoing

I'm a lazy veganmofo tonight. I am tired after a long week and uninspired by my food photos. I know! Ridiculous, right? My food photos are awesome. Lack of inspriation with my awesome food photos clearly indicates a vitamin deficiency. Let's go with vitamin D, it's less annoying than discussing how I get my B12.
Instead of a decent post, I present you with a picture of homemade black bean and sweet potato tamales, with store-bought too-expensive organic salsa. The recipe is from Viva Vegan. Author Terry Hope Romero promises that they take a long time, but they will be worth it--she's totally right!

Vegan pizza FTW!

I made some pizza and took it to a friend's as munchies for a clothing swap tonight. I ran out of time to make anything else, so when I was making pizza last night, I eventually realized that two crusts came in the package--so fine, I'll just make two!

When the hostess asked what I brought, I said, "Vegan pizza." She said, "That's great!" We re-heated it in the oven, then I cut it into inch-wide slices and put it out.
It went over very well. I was actually expecting to apologize for the pizza--cheese is one of those things that people say they can't live without. So I wasn't sure vegan cheese would cut it. But the hostess said it was fantastic; I heard someone proudly saying, "It's totally vegan pizza!"; another guest said she didn't realize it was non-dairy cheese until I mentioned it; someone else even authorised me to describe the yummy food noises she was making as "orgasmic". Yes, organic noises over vegan pizza!
Unfortunately, the pizza pictured is not the pizza I brought. I took a picture with the camera phone, but now it doesn't seem to exist and...I don't want to talk about it. (My smart phone has never before been so cruel...)
The pizza I took to the party was ridiculously simple; it takes about 10 minutes to assemble. I use Shasha  spelt pizza crusts, which handily come two in a package. Instead of tomato sauce, I used store-bought tapenade over the crusts. As with all packaged food, check the ingredients to make sure it's vegan! You can also use store-bought pesto, bruschetta, etc... Anything with flavour will do the trick. Top with mozzarella-style vegan cheese and heat in a 350-degree oven until is melted to your preference. Then take to a friends and impress the hell out of everyone there!

When in doubt, roast

I tried roasted Brussels sprouts yesterday. It was a revelation! Try this: clean sprouts, cut in half if they're really big, toss is oil and whatever spices you like, and roast at 350 until they're cooked through. I thought these ones would be burnt-tasting, but the dark bits were crispy and didn't taste bad. I hear roasted beets are also delicious.

Would you like a side order of religion with that?

If you're vegan, you've probably heard of Loving Hut.If you're not, you probably haven't--or at least it doesn't ring a bell.
Loving Hut is a chain of restaurants affiliated with a group I can only conclude is a cult. I first run into this group in the food section of the Green Living Show in Toronto, alomst 4 years ago. The group had a booth and proudly advertised that their food was vegan. The name of their venue was hard to find--I think they were promoting a store in the suburbs--but I couldn't help noticing signs for the Supreme Master. Sketchy...
And then I heard more about Loving Hut restaurants. Apparently they are opened by Supreme Master's devotees, and they feature all-vegan food. What a conundrum--on the one hand: Food I can eat! I can anything there! ZOMG!! But on the other hand: is any of my money going to this woman who had the cojones to call herself Supreme Master? And if it does, does it matter, anymore than when I buy vegan food from giant international food companies, or from restaurants that also sell meat, or any of the thousand other food choices I make every day?
It's a tough call. The photo shown is from a restaurant called Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine in Toront's east end. I kindof love it. The dish pictured is "Orange Chicken", and I think I've ordered it all three times I've been there. But there is a TV screen showing Supreme Master Television (seriously!) and the display area has some pamphlets and other materials as well. I don't think it really makes a difference whether I suport this business or not, but going there makes me uncomfortable. Until I get my Orange Chick'n, that is.

So simple, anyone can be vegan

Sometimes I let a photo inspire me--this is one of those times. I came across a photo taken on a vacation in Italy. It is very simple--mushrooms on toast. They were probably sauteed in oil, which added a little richnees, but that's it. So that's three ingredients, maybe four? This is one of those dishes that makes a point with its deliciousness. It's easy, and it's fantastic. Even the die-hard omnivores among us love mushrooms, so it destroys that idea that vegan food can't be delicious. And with a dish so simple, it shows that vegan food can be as easy to prepare as what they've always eaten. So if anyone gives you grief for veg food being flavourless or complicated...BAM! mushrooms on toast proves your point.

Plug in, eat up

I do love my kitchen gadgets. I always toast bread, because keeping a loaf in the fridge means it always needs a little heat before eating. I use my stick blender almost every day to make smoothies. A coffee frother makes delicious faux-lattes with foamy soy milk. And then there's my panini pres...
A panini press is definitely more of a luxury item. Unlike my stick blender, it really does only one thing--make sandwiches, or sandwich-like foods. Unlike my coffee frother, it costs wayyy more than a latte. But it makes cooking so easy.
Tortilla shells are something I pretty much always keep on hand. I have been buying sprouted grain tortillas, which need to be kept frozen, so it makes them slightly less instant, but the added benefits of having something other than plain wheat tortillas makes it worth it. Why? Because my Mexican-style dinners can ready in minutes with my beloved panini press.
With tortilla shells on hand, the only other things I need for an almost-instant meal of vegan quesadillas are chedddar-style Daiya and salsa. If I have cooked black beans on hand, add them and I up the heartiness by half. Add avocado and you double the decadence. To really bring on the delicious glam and the nutrients too, I add cubed sweet potato and kale for a huge, panini-pressed stuffed tortilla. When I make it with that many ingredients, I fold the shell in three so I can press the whole thing but still hold the goodness in.
...I may have a somewhat-unhealthy relationship with my panini press, but the healthiness (and speed!) of the resulting meals more than makes up for it. Happy panini-ing!

The catered vegan

So I was out of town for work. With catered meals. In a small town. The upside: I could see all the stars! The downside: I worried about what to eat.

It didn't turn out too badly, thank goodness! However, everytime I asked the caterer what was vegan she instead told me what was gluten free. ...Um, thanks, but could you tell me about the whole animal product thing? Fortunately, she did have lovely curried chickpeas, but without rice. So I ate it with bread--but she had pumpernickel and caraway rye--definitely a weird flavour clash. Do I sound like a spoiled vegan? Well, maybe a little bit. She made vegan things and gluten-free things but it was not a menu, it was a collection of things she could make to satisfy all diets, but without cohesion. Day 2's lunch spread was hamburger casserole for the omnis, eggplant moussake (vegan and gluten-free( and chickpea curry (vegan and gluten-free) with Cesar salad and garden salad. And the eggplant moussaka tasted rather like eggplant and tomato. I suspect she didn't open her spice drawer for that dish.

All this being said, it was definitely far better than the re-heated hungry-fest I had a five-star resort a couple years ago. And partly it was because she made us hummus from scratch, for lunch on Day 1. It was lovely!

Vegan convenience

When I first becamse vegan I was a little in the dark. It was months before I bought a vegan cookbook. (I know!! What was I thinking?) I cooked everything from scratch and gave on the idea of anything remotely cheese0like. And then slowly but surelly I saw the light. I bought Veganomicon, a new grocery store opened up nreaby and stocked a myriad of veg-friendly foods, and I started branching out. I was losing weight when I went vegan; I was torn between buying whatever vegan treats I could find and not spending calories on "junk". It was only two years into being vegan that I realized I didn't need to buy every vegan thing I saw. Yes, the health food store up the street from work has vegan pastry, but it will have them next week too--I don't absolutely need to buy them today.
But god are these vegan products ever convenient. Tonight, I would rather run 5K than cook; and lo and behold I have some Gardein Chipotle Line Crispy Fingers waiting in the freezer. With heat-and-serve vegan foods easier than ever to find, I am saved from actually cooking--and my tummy can still be happy.

My vegan heart, part 2

As vegans, our expectations for restaurant dining become dramtically lowered. Anything above plain salad and fries/baked potato seem like a miracle. So when I go to a restaurant and see something--nay, not even just "something", but a bona fide prix fixe menu--labelled "vegan"... it makes my vegan heart leap with joy.
That happened this summer when I went to lunch at Tabule, and found their vegetarian/vegan prix fixe menu clearly labelled. Thank you, dear restaurant, for erasing all doubt about whether the falefel has eggs in it! And thank you for not simply telling me I could instead order three vegan items off the menu at twice the price of the prix fixe option! And what's more, my meal was so delicious I threatened to go in the back and kiss the chef. (I didn't. But it was a struggle.)

The best things in life are simple

They say the best things in life are free. After spending two blissful but expensive weeks in Italy last spring, I have to say I don't necessarily agree with that statement. However, I think the Italians would agree that the best things in life are simple. A long walk in nature, spending time with loved ones, sharing a delicious meal: these are things without which life would be far less happy.
And so this brings me to panini: considering the intro, you might think I was going to go into the history of panini, what's considered a "real" panini, how all those inauthentic panini-makers out there are disgracing the name...But no.
While I did eat some sandwiches in Italy-- some flat and heated, some not--I am by no means an expert. And besides, I tend to consider myself a contemporary foodie: I borrow from other cultures and traditions at will, take what works for me and what I like, and adapt as needed for what's available and what is, of course, vegan. So I don't really know that much about traditional panini. I belive traditional panini includes meat and cheese, but when I make panini I fill it with veggies. Panini are an excellent way to jam my meal full of vegetables, and a panini press is an excellent way to cook those veggies.
If you don't have a panini press you can use your oven for both grillign the veg and making the sandwich itself. But if you do have apanini press, here's how I do it:
Slice your preferred veggies--I prefer zucchini, eggplant and peppers of various colours-- about a quarter-inch or half a centimeter thick. Grill them on the panini press until softened, then layer them in your bread of choice--lately I've been using the thin-style burger/sandwiches buns you can fnd at the grocery store these days. Add your favourite vegan cheese (mozzarella-style Daiya is pictured) and some kind of flavour, like pesto, tapenade, or dressing; then assemble and grill until warmed through and melty.
It is such a simple meal, but is one of the best things I eat--share it with loved ones, and it can be one of things in life.

Break out of your recipe rut

Sometimes we find ourselves doing the same thing over and over again. Habit can be comforting but it can also be boring. Often we don't even realize we're stuck in a rut until we're on the verge of the umpteenth iteration and we think, "Of course. This again."
I do that with food a lot. I'm sure I'm not the only one--they say most of each person's diet consists of the same 20 foods. And that wouldn't surprise me. There are a few foods I have in the fridge all the time--two of them being toast with hummus and fruit and soymilk smoothies. Both of which I eat for breakfast almost every day. There are sound reasons for this: I don't have a lot of time on weekday mornings and it's simply easier to make the same thing time and again. However, it definitely counts as a breakfast rut. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried Polenta Rancheros from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch. It was something I could make on the weekend and heat up in the morning, and it would shake up my morning routine enough that it would get me on a new track for breakfast. And frankly, it's delicious. When fresh, the polenta (in place of eggs in the non-vegan huevos rancheros) is soft and creamy, and the contract with the spicy, saucy rancheros is divine. I also love the chance to cram more avocado into my day. So join me, get out of your rut--polenta rancheros for breakfast!

The best meal I ever had

Picture it: Florence, 2011. (Okay, so it doesn't have the same ring as when Sophia from Golden Girls says it, but I got stuck for an opener.)
I was on vacation in Italy with my mother. Before out trip, my mother had been worried I wouldn't get enough to eat in Italy. She even said she thought I might have to "forget about" being vegan while I was in Italy. Hellz to the no, mom!
But it wasn't always easy. The first place we visited, Venice, had plenty of vegan things to eat, though everything was ridiculously expensive. Next we went to Cinque Terre, a series of small towns on the Ligurian coast in Italy. As vegans know, finding non-animal foods in small towns can be a challenge. Whether this was the cause or whether it was just the style of food in this area, I did have trouble finding food. I lived on veggie sandwiches and plain pasta for 3 days. Thank god I took an online vega'ns advice and brought peanut butter with me! Otherwise I would have been starved for 3 meals a day instead of 2 and a half.
So the most delicious meal I ever ate was our first meal when we arrived in Florence. Taking our guide book's advice, we generally tried to find non-touristy places. Since we were usually in touristy areas, this was difficult. Especially because mom let me scan the menu and see if there anything I wanted before we went in. On arriving in Florence, we checked in to or hotel and walked down the street almost the first restaurant we saw had a ton of things I could eat. And I was so hungry! I didn't realized how hungry I was for real food, after three days of eating protein bars and instant shakes. I order three dishes, and let me tell you, I ate every single bite. My appetizer was olive tapenade; mom didn't get an appetizer but I don't think I shared with her. I also got white beans in love oil--I found this dish throughout Florence and sometimes beyond, so I think it's a typically "Tuscan" dish. Thank god for beans! I gobbled it up. And finally I had pasta with veggies. It had pasta with veggies throughout my visit, but after 2 solid courses before the pasta, I finally was full. Grazie!

Flavourful old favourites

Vegan foods have come a long way. I've been told that 10 years ago it was even hard to find vegan hot dogs. Lately I've seen recipes veganizing everything from escargots to the infamous Double Down. (I have no doubt that the cruelty-free version is nonetheless just as disgusting as the original.)

The trick with veganizing main course dishes is we try to remain faithful to the original without the meat that is often the dish's primary ingredient. Pardon me for the next couple sentences, but I'm going to have a self-righteous vegan foodie moment: cooking with meat is easy with minimal effort, because it has lots of flavour. And cooking--with meat or animal products or not--is about balancing a few crucial elements: flavour, presentation, texture, and culture/memory. So when we veganize things, we have to up the ante a bit to compensate for the fact that we're taking out something that contributes to all of these things. In veganizing French Onion Soup, you take out the beef in the stock and the cheese on top. So how to compensate for this? Well, stretchy, melty, yummy Daiya takes over for cheese quite nicely. But the broth requires a little bit more dedication: I learned this a few years ago when I took beefless French Onion soup to work and a co-worker bluntly declared it lacking. Truthfully, it was lacking, so when I made it again today I carefully took steps to bring back the flavour. If you make stock from scratch, ladle out a liter or so for this recipe and then proceed with the additions to the stock. The result is a rich, brown stock with lots of flavour, and a veganized dish that satisfies.

Veganized French Onion Soup

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans vegetable stock, plus water according to directions; or 1 container of ready-to-use broth
1 to 2 cubes mushroom bouillon, plus water according to bouillon directions
3/4 of a teaspoon 'browning liquid'
2 to 3 dashes of liquid smoke
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or 1/3 cup white or red wine
Approximately 1 1/2 cups mozzarella-style Daiya

Heat sauté pan with the oil. Add the onion to the heated pan and sauté over medium-high heat for a few minutes, then then reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have become a rich dark brown, anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.
While the onions are sautéing, prepare the broth. In a large stock pot, add the stock, mushroom bouillon, 'browning liquid', liquid smoke and the garlic.

When the onions are browned, de-glaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar and a ladle-full of the broth (or with wine), then add the onions and liquid to the stock pot.

To bake, use oven-proof bowls and ladle in enough broth and onions to fill each two-thirds full. Add a slice of crusty bread to each, or toast whatever bread you have on hand, and gently place on top of the broth in each bowl. (Denser bread, or whole grain bread, better resists getting soggy during baking than white bread. But toasting helps too.) Top each bowl with 1/3 cup of mozzarella-style Daiya and put in the oven under the broiler until melted, watching carefully so as not to burn it.

Makes 4 to 5 servings, depending on how big your bowls are, and how big your appetite is. :)