Happy World Vegan Day!

I know, I know, I'm a few days late... But that doesn't mean I can't celebrate World Vegan Day everyday!

 World Vegan Day was officially on Monday, November 1st. John is at school until 4 on Monday, so that doesn't make it the best day for making exciting dinners. Instead we went to our favourite restaurant in Victoria, the Reef. The Reef is a Caribbean restaurant just downtown that is absolutely delicious. We shared chana salad, yam fries with mango chutney, and ital trini roti. Miam miam!*

On Tuesday, I had a bit more time for dinner prep and a leftover Jack'o'Lantern...

Smile while you still can, Mr. Pumpkin.

I was in a surprisingly ambitious mindset, so I decided to make homemade ravioli with pumpkin-cashew filling, and an alfredo style sauce!

Ingredients (filling)

-1 C. roasted pumpkin
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp. cinnamon
-1/4 tsp. cumin
-1/4 C. ground cashews
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large sauce pan. Add spices and ground cashews.
2. Stir in pumpkin, and cook until it's all mixed together and delicious smelling.
3. Set aside!
4. You should probably start boiling your water for your pasta. Big pot, bit of salt, bit of olive oil!


Here's the recipe for the pasta!

-1 1/3 C. all purpose flour
-2/3 C. amaranth flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 tsp. dried basil
-1/2 C. water
-1 tsp. olive oil

1. Sift together the dry ingredients, then add the oil and water and knead until you get a stiff dough.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll it out as thin as you can with a rolling pin! I did mine in sections, which was a lot easier.
3. Cut your dough into squares/rectangles, each approximately the same size.
4. Put about 1 Tbsp pumpkin filling in the center of a square, place another square on top, and then pinch together until sealed.
5. Drop into your pot of already boiling, lightly salted water and cook for about 15 minutes. Stir once or twice to make sure they don't stick to the bottom!

For the sauce, I made a soy-free alfredo, using this recipe
-1/2 C. cashews
-1 tsp. lemon juice
-1 to 1 1/2 C. boiling water
-2 cloves garlic (you might want to saute these in a bit of olive oil first to bring out the flavour)
-1 Tbsp. olive oil
-2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
-salt and pepper to taste

It's super easy! Just process the cashews in a food processor first, then transfer them to a blender
2. Add in 1/2 the water, blend until creamy. Add in the rest of the water, blend again.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until really smooth.
4. Put on pasta!

Phew! That's a lot of typing. It was worth it though, very delicious. Although rolling out the pasta with a rolling pin is not much fun - I put a pasta maker on my Christmas list!

Rowan plans this pumpkin's demise.

*I recently learned that this is how the French say "Yum yum", and I am trying to be more European.

Promise to my son

So, it was Rowan's birthday last week.


It must suck to be a vegan kid sometimes. Obviously, Rowan is still too young to feel peer pressure, but I don't look forward to the day when some kid realizes that Rowan doesn't have a bologna sandwich in his lunch box.

So, I made a promise to Rowan - his lunches will not only vegan, and healthy, but also fun, and will cause all the other school children to want to be him.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Rowan just turned one, and won't be going to school anytime soon. So here is the addendum to my promise...

Rowan will always get delicious vegan cupcakes on his birthday!

I think he likes this idea.

The recipe I used is the chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (my bible.) I wasn't sure it was going to work out, the chocolate batter seemed much runnier than the vanilla and I didn't know if they would cook evenly, but they did!

One tip is to swirl it a LOT more than you think you should. I swirled them together, and they looked pretty good from the top...

  

But once you opened up the wrapper, the effect was kind of lost..

                            

                                 Not very swirly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For icing, I just used my chocolate pudding recipe, and stuck it in the fridge til I was ready for it.

Rowan loved it! Yay!

Warning: Terrible singing ahead.  I know I'm tone deaf. Poor John.

Happy birthday, dear Rowan! Happy birthday to you!

Bean Stroganesque

This delightful recipe was based off of a stroganoff, but since we changed a lot of the ingredients, it became something that was not quite a stroganoff, hence stroganesque.  This is definitely one of our favourite culinary creations to date!

Bean Stroganesque

Ingredients: 
1 tsp canola oil 
1 onion, chopped
8-10 medium sized mushrooms, quartered
2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
1 C. vegetable stock
2 Tbsp dry red wine
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce*
2 C. cooked red kidney beans
1/2 cup rice milk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch
fresh ground black pepper
2 C. cooked noodles
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Step 1: In a large nonstick pan, heat the oil over medium heat; cook the onion for about 4 minutes, until translucent.  Add the mushrooms and cook for another 4 minutes until they are soft.  Meanwhile, add the lemon juice and vinegar to the rice milk, stir and set aside.
Step 2: Sprinkle in the thyme and paprika and cook for another minute
Step 3: Stir in the stock, wine and Worcestershire sauce.  Crush about a third of the beans with a fork, then add to the pan along with the other beans and bring everything to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, until the liquid is slightly reduced.
Step 4: Mix the milk with the cornstarch until smooth, and stir in to the bean mixture.  Cook, stirring continuously for another 2 or 3 minutes until the mixture thickens.  Season to taste with fresh ground pepper.
Step 5: Spoon over noodles and garnish with the green onions.
Step 6: Om nom nom nom nom!

*Since we couldn't find any vegan and soy-free Worcestershire sauce, we made our own.  It went like this:

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
pinch of salt & pepper
1/8 tsp. sage
1/4 tsp. blackstrap molasses
dash of liquid smoke

Combine everything in a small bowl and mix thoroughly!  It was quite yummy, the liquid smoke gave it that nice, savoury flavour, and it smelled wonderful when it went in the pot.


You may also recall - see the previous post if you don't - that we made a sort of mayonnaise to go with our fake tuna salad.  There was quite a bit left over, so we turned it into an herb and garlic alioli and had it over fried potatoes.  Here's the recipe:

4 large potatoes, skin on, scrubbed and cubed
1 C. "mayonnaise"
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. sage
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Step 1:  In a small pot, cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil.  Cook for 4-5 minutes until they're just a bit tender, but not fully cooked.  Drain and set aside.
Step 2:  Put the mayo, garlic, basil, thyme, sage, salt and pepper into the blender and blend on high until smooth.
Step 3:  Heat the oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high, add the potatoes and cook for another 10 minutes, flipping the potatoes regularly until they're golden brown and crispy on the outside.
Step 4:  Pour the alioli over the potatoes while they're still in the pan, then remove from heat.
Step 5:  Nom nom nom.

Aside from being a good day in the kitchen, today was also Rowan's 6 month birthday!  He celebrated it by cutting his second tooth.  An exciting event, to be sure, but one that he didn't find especially pleasant.  In spite of the pain in his gums, he still managed to spend most of the day being smiley and happy.  Next item on the agenda: learn how to crawl!

Cajun Night!

 

Chickpea Jambalaya
Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

- 2 large yellow onions, chopped

- 1 green pepper, chopped

- 2 celery stalks, chopped

- 2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

- 1 tsp chili powder

- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed

- 2 bay leaves

- 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

- 3 cups uncooked white rice

- 6 cups water

- 4 green onions, sliced

1. Heat oil on medium heat in a stockpot. Add in onions, bell peppers, celery, salt, and cayenne. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often, until veggies are a deep golden brown.

2. Add in chickpeas, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, and rice. Stir until rice is coated.

3. Add in water, cover, and cook on medium-low heat, covered, for about 30 mins until rice is soft and liquid is absorbed.

4. Remove bay leaves and stir in green onions. Serve.

5. Nom nom nom! 

Cajun Carrots

Ingredients: 

- 6 large carrots, thickly sliced

- 1 Tbsp. olive oil

- 1 Tbsp. maple syrup

- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

- 1/2 tsp paprika

- pinch of cayenne

- 1/4 C. chopped pecans

1. Steam or boil carrots until soft.

2. Add to remaining ingredients, mix together!

3. Nom nom nom! 

Cornbread

Ingredients: 
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 cups soymilk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350° F, line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper or spray the bottom lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (I didn't, because I can't use cooking spray...and my cornbread stuck to the bottom of the pan.)
2. In a medium bowl, wisk together the soymilk and the vinegar and set aside.
3.In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt).
Add the oil and maple syrup to the soymilk mixture. Wisk with a wire wisk or a fork until it is foamy and bubbly, about 2 minutes.
4. Pour the wet ingredient into the dry and mix together using a large wooden spoon or a firm spatula. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and bake 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Slice into squares and serve warm or store in an airtight container. 

5. Nom nom nom! 

These recipes are from http://vegandad.blogspot.com ! Wonderful inspiration. I edited them a bit, because I like spicy, and I can't have soy! 

I think the jambalaya turned out pretty good. If I were to make it again, I would probably add more vegetables to give it more... substance. Or try making some fake sausage... The recipe also made a HUGE amount of food. Enough for dinner, and two lunches after! 

 In other news, Rowan cut his first tooth today!  He doesn't really want to show it off quite yet, but it's there and it's sharp!

Vegan Babies

 

I think I need a bigger pot. 

Step 1: Get pregnant. Keep in the bun in the oven for approx. 40 weeks.
Step 2: (And this is the tricky part!) Give birth.
Step 3: Fatten up your baby, until he/she reaches around 20 lbs. (Depending on how many mouths you have to feed!)
Step 4: Place baby in large pot with assorted veggies and spices. Don't be afraid to experiment!
Step 5: Nom nom nom.

No babies were harmed in the makings of this post.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:

-1 red pepper
-1 orange pepper
-2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp basil
- 1 C. raw cashews
- 1 1/2 C. water
- 1/2 C veggie broth
- salt and pepper

Step 1: Preheat oven to 450° F. Cut peppers in half, core and seed them. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes.
Step 2: Meanwhile! Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent. (About 10 minutes)
(Also, you should probably start cooking your pasta around this time. We used rotini.)
Step 3: Meanwhile! Blend cashews and water in blender until smooth. Once your peppers are roasted (and chopped), and your onion/garlic is ready, add to blender. Add basil, broth, and blend until smooth.
Step 4: Heat in a saucepan and season to taste!
Step 5: Nom nom nom.

This sauce would also make a great alternative to regular tomato sauce on a pizza, or as a spread for grilled sandwiches!

On an unrelated note, we took Rowan to the Muttart Conservatory the other day. He was generally unenthused, but he woke up right before we left, so we got a few cute photos of him. This particular face is the precursor to the single eyebrow raise.