Wednesday 8 October 2014

Chocolate Vanilla Raspberry Birthday Cake!

I'm sorry I have been absent for quite a while!  As I mentioned in my last post, I have started a new term and begun a TA position, and things have been busy but great fun with figuring out my schedule, hanging out with my sister in our new place, and enjoying getting to meet friends and investigate Jesus' life in my International Students Bible Study!  I have also been trying out a few new vegan treats, and I am excited to share some of them here in the next few posts!

Last month, it was my sister's birthday, and for the occasion I decided to try something I've never tried before - a vegan birthday cake! 

Thursday 18 September 2014

Crispy Flax Crackers (inspired by Mary's Crackers)

I always find that texture makes a big difference to how yummy a food is.  I really appreciate the crisp and crunchy texture of a good cracker - especially Mary's Crackers. These crackers are amazingly snappy, and I also like their simple, organic, whole-foods ingredient list and abundance of omega-3-rich flaxseeds.  My sister and I had a box as a treat recently, but those crackers do get eaten quickly!  So, inspired by the cracker box and this recipe, I decided to make our own!


Crispy Flax Crackers


Ingredients:

Brown rice - 2 cups dry
Quinoa - 1/2 cup dry
Flax seeds - 1 cup
Sesame seeds - 1/2 cup*
Salt - 1 teaspoon**
Soy sauce (or tamari) - 2 teaspoons
Pepper - 1 teaspoon
Vinegar - 1 teaspoon
Canola oil - for oiling bowl and pan

Instructions:

Cook rice and quinoa according to standard directions. Once cooked, let cool and then process in a food processor until mushy. Put in a large oiled mixing bowl (the mixture should be very sticky, so I recommend you oil it well!)

Add flax seeds and sesame seeds.  Mix well to combine. Add salt, soy sauce, pepper, and vinegar, and continue mixing until thoroughly incorporated.  (You may end up using your hands to knead in the seasonings; the mixture is so sticky, a mixing spoon wouldn't cut it for me.)

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Oil a couple of baking pans. (Or use parchment paper - I didn't have it but if you do this could be a good option!) Then, it is time to flatten your crackers!  I have tried numerous ways of doing this, many of which result in a sticky mess everywhere!  In the end however, my favourite option for making round shaped crackers was to take two plastic ziplock baggies, put a ball of cracker dough between them, and then to squish them flat by putting a cutting board on top of them and pressing down on it with as much force as possible. Using plastic wrap and a rolling pin may also be a reasonable (and probably faster) option, however I had neither of these things and had to get creative.  You want your crackers to be really flat so that they will get nice and crispy.  I made large crackers this time, with about 1-2 tablespoons of dough in each, however if you want bite-sized crackers, use about a teaspoon of dough each time. Warning: you will make a lot of crackers!

These crackers are giant (I guess they are more like flatbreads in terms of size)- and this isn't even the whole batch!

Bake crackers for about 10-15 minutes, until almost hard. Then, flip them, and continue baking another 8-15 minutes, or until very crispy. (Mine took 14 minutes on one side, then about 10 on the other side, but watch them to make sure they don't burn!)  Remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. You may need to make multiple pans, depending on how thin you can get your crackers and how large your baking pans are.

Store at room temperature and eat within a few days.  (I'm afraid I can't testify to longer term storage or freezeability - we ate them all before I even thought of testing that)


Notes:

* I think these crackers would also be nice with other types of seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, or hempseeds - as long as you have the sticky base (i.e. the blended brown rice) - I think this recipe would lend itself well to experimentation!

** These crackers did not have a strong salty taste - you may wish to add slightly more salt to this recipe, especially if you are active and require more electrolytes, and/or have low blood pressure.

These crackers are plain and so are quite versatile - serve them with soup, hummus, nut butter, or another sweet or savoury topping!  If you want, you could also jazz them up by adding other spices or herbs.  The cracker-making process took some time, since I ended up needing to make several batches to use up all the dough.  I wouldn't recommend it if you are short of time, but if not,it is a fun evening activity, and also great for if you have other things to do around the kitchen.  These flax crackers definitely satisfied my hopes for a good crunch, and I hope they do for you as well! :)


Friday 12 September 2014

Sweet and Tangy Watermelon Salad

This week, my sister and I went to another monthly vegan potluck!  I've been going for several months now, and it has always been fun to see and taste the different recipes that people contribute, to try out new recipes, and to have fun conversations.  This week had a great turnout of people, and the food was amazing! 



One of the two tables of delicious vegan foods!
 
 
So many yummy things!  Some of the highlights: dehydrated mango slices (left), soba noodle and edamame salad (in the middle), vegetable curry (top centre), and sweet potato hempseed muffins (not shown).

Saturday 6 September 2014

The Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival

This weekend I had the pleasure of exploring the 30th Annual Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival - a free weekend-long festival on September 5-7th at the Harbourfront Centre (as I'm posting this, it's still on, so check it out if you're in the area!).  The Festival happens every year at the beginning of September.  This was my second time going, and it is definitely worth going to!

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Quinoa Sushi Rolls

I'm now happily established in the new place!  Although I just moved in on Saturday, I am already feeling at home, and once my sister moves in this weekend, it will be complete! :)

On Monday morning, I cheerfully set off walking to the clinic for my first new (and shorter) commute.  As I was walking, I was surprised that so many stores seemed to be still closed, and noticed that there were very few other people walking and driving on the streets, but I didn't think much about it until about 2 minutes from the clinic, when it suddenly hit me.. it was labour day holiday!  (I decided to go to the clinic anyway, since I don't yet have internet in the new place, which is another reason why I have been absent from posting for a while.) 

Friday 22 August 2014

Banana Soft Serve Extravaganza.. or.. Finishing Foods in the Freezer!

On Monday I will be saying goodbye to my residence.  It's been a nice place to live, but I am so excited to move into a new apartment with one of my sisters who is moving to Toronto! 

Our lease starts a few days after I need to move out, so I will be going home for a couple of days before we start living in the new place.  Because of this, I wanted to minimize the amount of fresh and especially frozen foods I have left, so that it is easier to transport my things.  When I discovered how our moving timing would be working out, I also discovered that I happened to have A LOT of frozen fruits and vegetables!  While my meals have mainly involved cooking up a medley of frozen veggies (well..sometimes cooking.. does anyone else like to snack on their green peas while they are still frozen?) with whatever else I had left, the abundance of frozen bananas, as well as various other frozen fruits, meant that I got to experiment with a lot of different banana soft serves this week!  Here are a few of the highlights:

Banana Soft Serve Extravaganza


Thursday 21 August 2014

Spicy Buffalo Cauliflowers Appetizer

As I mentioned before, I am in the process of moving out of my residence and preparing to move to an apartment (with one of my sisters!). :)  Between packing and going to the clinic to do my research, I haven't had much time to post in the past couple of days.  (I've also been trying to finish up odds and ends in my freezer, so my meals haven't been too creative lately.)  However, I do want to share with you a recipe I made a few days ago that turned out pretty nicely!  I've seen a few similar recipes for Buffalo cauliflower "wings" going around recently, but I was first inspired by this one.  I haven't bought cauliflower too often, but as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to try it!  I didn't have cashews in the house, but since I've been in a zucchini phase lately (and I always like adding more veggies!), I also whipped up a slightly different twist on the dip. 

 

Spicy Buffalo Cauliflowers with Cool Zucchini Sunflower Dip

Saturday 16 August 2014

More Zucchini! Mango Soft Serve

After trying out chocolate zucchini soft serve, I decided that maybe zucchini should be invited into some of my other "regulars" for banana soft serve.  One of my favourites involves mango and banana, so today I tried adding zucchini in with the usual ingredients.  Wow!!!  This was probably my favourite soft serve recipe so far!  The texture turned out amazingly, and I found that the subtle mango flavor was not so overpowered by the banana - which is one thing I often find whenever I use banana as my soft serve "base".  Is this because of the addition of zucchini?  I'm not sure, but I would definitely make this again!


Mango Zucchini Banana Soft Serve

Friday 15 August 2014

Chocolate Zucchini.. Soft Serve?

Especially in summertime, it is so nice to enjoy a cold and creamy treat.  If you've read any other vegan blogs, or have vegan or lactose-intolerant friends, you may have come across banana soft serve - an amazingly simple and yummy frozen dessert - all you need are frozen bananas and a food processor or blender!  You can also add many other ingredient combinations, such as other fruits, nuts, chocolate, or spices.  I almost always have a large container in my freezer dedicated to storing ripe bananas, so that I can whip up this delicious treat for dessert.. or snack.. or breakfast.. any time!

As an experimenter, I am always trying new combinations for banana soft serve, but until tonight, I'd never thought to add veggies.  However, I'd just recently been looking at a bunch of different ways you can use mild veggies such as cauliflower and zucchini in vegan recipes, and when I saw that I had half a zucchini in my refrigerator, I wondered if soft serve could be added to the list..

 
.. and it can! :)

Chocolate Zucchini Soft Serve

Thursday 14 August 2014

Stir Fried Sesame Noodles

Since I need to move out of my residence in two weeks, I am trying to use up some of my dry items that have accumulated over the course of the year.  One of these was a box of pasta which I bought a while ago, but as I don't really cook pasta much for myself, I had used only a tiny bit of the box.  I was bringing a veg dish for my Bible study dinner on Tuesday though, so I thought it was a great opportunity to use it up. 
 
Since I would be making it the night before, and taking it to the clinic with me the next day, I knew my dish would need to be cold, and as soon as I thought of a cold noodle dish, I thought of one of my favourite Korean side dishes, 잡채 (japchae)!  My resulting dish is definitely not 잡채, which is typically made with 당면 (dangmyeon) - Korean sweet potato noodles, (which I would use so much more than regular pasta if I had them, mmmm they are so yummy!) but it does have the sesame oil and thinly sliced veggies typical of the dish, and I think it still tastes pretty good. :)
 
 

Stir Fried Sesame Noodles

Sunday 10 August 2014

Pink Lemon Bulgur Salad (+ some notes on gluten)

It has been a very full and wonderful weekend!  As I mentioned in my last post, I went to a vegan potluck last Thursday.  It was really fun to spend an evening having interesting conversations and lots of delicious vegan food! 

 
I brought my savory red velvet cake, and those who came brought so many amazing dishes, including chickpea bread, several yummy curries, vegan waldorf salad, vegan chocolate cake, scones, and hempseed muffins!  As you can see, we had quite a feast.  :)


Thursday 7 August 2014

Savory Red Velvet Cake!

 
 
This evening I am going to a vegan potluck, and as my contribution, I decided to make red velvet cake!
 
 
But not just any red velvet cake.  Hummus cake!  This cake is actually an appetizer, not a dessert.  I had the original inspiration for a savory, hummus-iced cake like this from this blog, and since I am interested in most things that involve hummus, I decided I'd like to make a vegan version.  Adding beets gives the cake a beautiful, natural fuchsia pink hue, perfect for a red velvet theme, and I think the creamy colour of my lime navy bean hummus complements the cake colour well too. :)

Savory Red Velvet Cake 

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Hummus!!! Lime Navy Hummus!

Given my blog title, you would reasonably expect hummus to make an appearance at some point.  And those who see my meals each day at the clinic where I do my Master's research can attest that a day rarely goes by when my favourite food is absent.  But it has already been almost a week, and so far there is no hummus to be found!  This shall be remedied presently. :)

Technically, hummus is made with chickpeas, but there are so many types of legumes with different textures and flavours that work well in this form.  Today's recipe uses one of my favourites - white navy beans, which are really creamy and mild tasting.  I also like them because they blend very easily, which means that the hummus-making process is faster. 

Usually, hummus gets its tangy taste from lemon juice, but I have recently discovered that navy beans also pair amazingly with lime!

Lime Navy Hummus

Monday 4 August 2014

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse


 Sometimes when I discover a new ingredient, I go a little crazy with experimenting with it.  Such has been the case with agar agar - you may have seen it already with my sunflower-seed tofu cheeze, and it's making an appearance again with this mousse.  This was another first-time experiment, but I thought it turned out pretty well! 

 

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse

Saturday 2 August 2014

Lupini Napa Salad


After a lovely two weeks at home teaching swimming lessons and spending time with my family, I am back in Toronto!  As I was out grocery shopping today to replenish my refrigerator with fresh fruits and veggies, I started talking with a guy who was thinking about reducing his consumption of animal products, but seemed concerned that that might mean only eating salad.  I was able to reassure him that plant-eaters can indeed eat much more than salad!  However, I don't know if I would really mind that so much anyway - vegan salads can be so diverse, filling, and delicious!  Take, for example, the lupini bean and napa cabbage salad I made for dinner this evening:

 
With crisp napa cabbage and shredded carrot and beet, smooth avocado, crunchy lupini beans, and a creamy tahini lemon dressing, this salad was filling, nutritious, and very yummy! 
 

Lupini and Napa Salad

Friday 1 August 2014

Lemon-basil and Watermelon Frosty!



Yesterday's post may have seemed complex, but this morning I made a very simple, but very delicious recipe with only 3 ingredients - lemon-basil, watermelon, and ice (does that count as an ingredient?).  This drink is so refreshing!  You may not have access to lemon-basil, in which case you can substitute regular basil, which still complements the watermelon well, but if you can find it, the lemon-basil adds an amazing citrusy tang that pairs with the watermelon so nicely.

 

Lemon-basil and Watermelon Frosty

Thursday 31 July 2014

First post! Vegan sunflower-seed tofu cheeze

Hello everyone!  I am excited to share my first blog post with you!  I've been at home for the past couple of weeks, and my mom has been doing most of the cooking recently (thank you Mommy!), so I don't have any recent recipes to share with you.  I do however want to share with you the recipe for my sunflower-seed tofu vegan cheeze that I made as part of a brown rice salad dish for a vegan potluck I went to a few weeks ago.  I think the dish was a success, and although I didn't exactly measure out all my quantities (as usual), here is a rough idea of my recipe:

Sarah’s Vegan Sunflower Seed-Tofu Cheeze