The Real Meal

Open-Faced Breakfast Sammy: Vegan Sunday Brunch 48

2013-06-17T07:34:00.000-06:00

This episode of the vegan Sunday brunch was a thing of beauty. Completely unplanned, ad-hoc, impromptu beauty. Sometimes the best way to create a brunch is to wake up early on Sunday morning and take a long stare into your fridge, waiting for inspiration through desperation. I got lucky this week when my fridge yielded a set of ingredients that actually go well together.

My freezer held a loaf of sourdough bread. My crisper contained some tomatoes and few not-too-droopy leaves of kale. Mushrooms and an avocado were found chilling out on the bottom rack while a few pieces of leftover tofu sat forgotten in a Ziploc bag. In the door of the fridge sat the few sad remains of a once-glorious bag of Daiya. "These are the makings of a breakfast sandwich" I though to myself silently (or, much more likely, aloud).

There was nothing too complicated involved in the creation of these open-faced sandwiches, certainly nothing recipe-worthy, but it was still an amazing, filling meal. It was the little touches that took it from good to great. The mushrooms were sauteed quickly in some homemade garlic "butter" while the kale got steamed with a dash of apple cider vinegar. The tofu was rubbed with some black salt and then fried in a tiny bit of oil. A little more garlic butter and a tiny dollop of Vegennaise was spread on the toasted bread.

The pièce de résistance was the super-simple tomato sauce topping. A few tomatoes, a chipotle pepper, some vegetable bouillon, and some freshly cracked pepper all met their end in the still-somewhat-new Blentec. The end product was a little spicy, and little salty, and one hundred percent exactly what I was craving.

And there you have it! Irrefutable proof that a lack of forethought doesn't need to mean a lack of ingenuity. I challenge everyone to run to their kitchens early next Sunday morning and create something unique and unplanned! Sometimes a little creative kitchen work is just what the doctor ordered to wake you up and get invigorated in the early AM. Good luck, and have fun with it!

Brussels Sprout and Apple Grilled Cheese

2013-06-12T08:01:00.004-06:00

Today at work I decided to take a little break and run around the internet for a while. Looking at various food pictures from around the world is always a lot of fun, but today I found more than entertainment: I found inspiration. Brussels sprouts, apples, and cheese. An interesting combination, but nothing too far out there. I wanted to make myself a vegan version of this for supper. Of course, with sandwich must come soup.

I wanted to change a few of the attributes of the sandwich. I've never been a fan of sweet apples, so I will only use granny smith. Honey is obviously out, but maple syrup is better anyway. Daiya will substitute well for the cheese, though I feel like I want a stronger flavor than even Daiya can provide. Some kind of pungent homemade cheese would probably be ideal, but oh well.

Brussels and Apple Grilled Cheese
For two sandwiches

1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups Brussels sprouts, sliced über-thin
1/8 cup red onion, also sliced über-thin
1/2 cup granny smith apple, again, über-thin

4 slices of bread (I used sourdough, because it is the best of the breads)
Margarine for the bread
As much Daiya (or other, most-likely-sub-par vegan cheese) as you like
Tomato slices

Directions:

1. Mix the olive oil, syrup, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes together in a bowl. Toss the Brussels, apple, and onion in the sauce.

2. Heat up a frying pan and toss in the veggies for a minute or two to brown/shrink. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

3. Assemble your sandwiches using the buttered bread, cheese, and some of the veggie mix. Fry in the pan (no need to wash in between) until golden and gooey.

The sandwich definitely turned into one of the better grilled cheeses that I have made. The sweet sauce combined with the slightly bitter Brussels and tart apples were a great combination. The soup that I decided to make was a delicious blend of roasted broccoli, potato, and zucchini, but you will have to wait until later for that recipe See you next time!

Watermelon Slushie: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 47

2013-06-09T14:53:00.000-06:00

Guys, one week until I have my life back.

I mean obviously I've made some amazing friends in Austin and have had a wonderful time at culinary school and etc, but it's seriously time for a vacation. I can't wait to have the inspiration to blog regularly again and chat with you folks - when I get home from cooking all day, the last thing I want to do is be creative, and so tahini sauce or marinara gets smothered on 95% of all of my meals.

And so I'm really happy this brunch series exists, because it forces me to stop watching Doctor Who long enough to keep practicing kitchen skills, and to keep thinking of new ideas, which really is the thing about food that's the most fun. It's always, always, always worth it. Even when the recipe that I come up with is super simple, like this one.

Did anyone know it's hot in Texas in June? Go figure. I used to scoff at people who said that heat kills their appetite, thinking my appetite was all buff and invincible to the elements. Turns out I haven't been exposed to warm enough elements. My voracious desire for hearty breakfasts has become a simple thirst - all I want now is water, fresh juice, and more water. And when I come home from school I just want a supper of cold soba noodles and cucumbers. And lately I've been spending a lot of time fantasizing about watermelon (something I don't think I've ever done), which leads me to today's recipe.

Frozen watermelon is blended up with coconut water, lime and mint. That's it. A shot of tequila would make this beverage even more awesome if you're into that. Frozen watermelon blends into a delicious slush-like beverage which is probably the single most refreshing thing ever in the summer when paired with coconut water. I know this would be amazing if it were more hearty like a smoothie (subbing milk for the coconut water, and perhaps adding a frozen banana), but I am totally content with it just as it is, as a light and refreshing brunch bevvie.

Watermelon Slushie
Makes 1 large or 2 small servings

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed, frozen watermelon
1 cup coconut water
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon mint leaves (I used peppermint and it was excellent)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

I served this alongside some typical brunch stuff - tofu scramble with salsa, and some cacao nib cherry pancakes (using my standard pancake recipe). It was fresh and summery, and has once again healed my boring weeknight meals ailment.

Take care, guys - I'll be gearing up for my last week of school, where we get to plan and design a catering event for the public. Time is gonna fly!

Danishes! Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 46

2013-06-02T19:43:00.004-06:00

At last the day has arrived for us to reveal our super-secret brunch creation! (Well, technically last Sunday would have been that day, but hey, things come up). For those of you who may not have seen our last brunch blog, we made reference to a secret desired recipe that was thwarted by the lack of a single ingredient... And today we have that ingredient!

The ingredient which I speak of is puff pastry. Not that uncommon to be sure, but as it turns out vegan versions can be difficult to locate in fancy grocery stores where people are obsessed with real butter and whole milk. Sure, puff pastry can be made from scratch, but there are times when you don't want to/can't be bothered to spend and hour plus mixing, folding, and rolling dough. Plus, this way we can save that experience for a future post!

The recipe of the day today is for vegan Danish pastries. Now a quick google search will tell you that a number of pastries fall into this category, but we will recreate that standard Danish as North American audiences know it. Our Danishes involve a mostly-traditional nut-based filling, as well as a sweet and sour lemon curd. It seemed like a daunting task before we began, but the process turned out to be easier than anticipated, and everyone loves when that happens!

Vegan Danishes
Makes 9 small danishes

For the lemon curd:

Makes 1 generous cup - more than enough for 9 danishes

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 juicy lemons)
1/2 cup non-dairy cream or milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch turmeric
2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon margarine

(Semi) traditional nut filling:
Enough for about 6 danishes

1 tablespoon non-dairy margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (or both)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For assembly:

1 sheet of puff pastry (if frozen, thaw in the fridge overnight)
2 tablespoons non-dairy milk

Directions:

1. For the lemon curd: Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, cream, sugar, salt and turmeric in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar has dissolved, slowly stir in the cornstarch mixture and stir constantly until mixture has thickened (about eight minutes for cornstarch, and five for arrowroot). Stir in the margarine until combined, then remove from heat. To help it set faster, place it in a bowl in the fridge.

2. For the nut filling: Over medium heat, melt the margarine in a small saucepan. Stir in the nuts, maple syrup, chia and vanilla and cook for a couple minutes, stirring frequently.

3. With your fillings made, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge and roll out into a 12" by 12" square on a well floured countertop. Cut the dough into 9 equal-sized squares.

4. Place a blob of filling (nut filling, lemon filling, or something else!) into the centre of a pastry square (one heaping tablespoon seems to be the correct amount). Grab the corners of the dough and stretch them slightly, careful not to rip the pastry. Fold the corners in diagonally so that most of the filling is covered (don't worry about leaving a little exposed at the corners).

5. Continue filling and folding the other squares. When each pastry is ready, gently but firmly push down the centre of each Danish, stretching the dough outwards as you do. Place the Danishes on an oiled cookie sheet, brush with a little milk, and place into the oven. Allow them to bake for 20-25 minutes, checking the bottoms frequently to make sure they don't burn. A note: about halfway through the baking time I looked at my pastries and they looked like tiny little pyramids with big poofy centres. I took a spoon and pushed down the middles before returning them to the oven.

Once the Danishes are finished, remove them from the oven and let them cool. Once they are cooled, top them as you see fit. We used a combination of the lemon curd and a simple icing made from a few tablespoons of icing sugar mixed with a small splash of milk.

Roll out the dough nice and thin on a floured surface, and cut the sheet into 9 squares. Proceed to scatter the squares haphazardly across the counter.

Start with a generous dollop of nut filling, or chilled lemon filling.

Stretch out the edges of the dough.

Fold in the corners toward the center (they don't need to overlap as much as pictured here, some open areas of the danish end up looking nice).

Place on an oiled baking pan and indent the centers, and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden.

Let it cool and try to resist the temptation to eat it immediately.

Top with icing sugar and enjoy! Add a dollop of lemon curd to the centers of some if you'd like, for extra lemony goodness.

Obviously we cannot take credit for it, but the puff pastry turned out brilliantly. It was flaky and soft, with a slightly crisp exterior. Even with storebought pastry dough these were some of the best Danishes I have ever had. I think my favourite part was the nutty filling. It was not too sweet but the walnuts and pecans were deliciously soft. I would be interested to see the effects of adding some kind of spice to the filling, maybe nutmeg or cinnamon. Oh well, that is why there must be a 'next time'!

Roasted Tomato Soup

2013-05-24T11:12:00.003-06:00

Ermahgerd! My very own contributor account! As was probably already apparent in this post, one of my favorite things to do with our new blender is to make delicious, creamy soups. I have already spoken on my hatred for canned tomato soups and my love of raw or almost raw tomato soups, but this week I felt like trying something a little different.

I've always found that one of the best ways to pull flavor out of vegetables is to roast them. Quick, high-heat roasting and slower, low-heat roasting are both great ways to improve the richness and complexity of many different veggies. Things like root vegetables get roasted all the time, but not everyone has tried roasting other, less likely candidates - like tomatoes. Which is a shame, because roasted tomatoes are infinitely more flavorful than raw or stewed. And since they're so flavorful roasted, this soup needs very little else in terms of seasoning to taste amazing.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients:

10 medium to tomatoes, preferably still on the vine

1 large onion

6 cloves of garlic

3 sprigs of rosemary

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup vegetable broth (or more for a thinner soup)

Sea salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, if desired

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and oil a roasting pan. Place your tomatoes into the pan and drizzle with the olive oil. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper then place them in the oven for an hour and a half.

2. While the tomatoes are roasting, peel the garlic and roughly chop the onion into large pieces. When the tomatoes have been roasting for an hour and a half, remove them and add the garlic, onion, and two sprigs of rosemary to the pan. Return it to the oven and roast for another one to one and a half hours.

3. After the roasting is completed, remove the rosemary from the pan. Place the tomatoes, onion, and garlic into the blender with the broth, cayenne, and remaining rosemary sprig. Purée until smooth.

Gorgeous tomatoes on the vine, pre- and post-roasting.

Even though this soup sees a lot of time in the oven (up to three hours), it does not involve much active cooking at all - it's great to make if you have a leisurely morning or afternoon available.

One of my favorite things to do with a soup like this is to eat it with a nice, crispy sandwich. Grilled cheese (Daiya, of course) with avocado was my choice for today, which isn't the healthiest option, but it's certainly delicious. Allysia may prefer to dip her grilled cheese into a pile of ketchup, but a bowl of fresh tomato soup is always my dip of choice. That's it for today - see you guys/gals next time!

Michael's Birthday Feast: Hasselback Potatoes

2013-05-22T07:58:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday!

Last week was Michael's 26th birthday, so to celebrate we made a skype dinner together, because we're all food nerdy like that. Even if I was back home we probably would've done the same thing, except the difference is that there wouldn't be two different climates for cooking (read: having the stove and oven blasting during Austin's hottest day thus far does not align with Saskatchewan's mild spring day).

Sweating buckets was worth it, though, for the resulting "dude meal" (so-called by my roommate), and I definitely didn't have to be a dude to enjoy it.

The star of the show was the Hasselback baked potato, which was scallop-sliced and rubbed with garlic butter, and later topped with melted Daiya cheese, green onions, bacon bits (I have a bag of dehydrated coconut bacon...so good), and a wonderful white mushroom sauce. Michael topped his 'tato with a dollop of plain yogurt - he had no sour cream, but it worked all the same. For how pretty it looks, it was intensely easy to make, and we concurred that it was our new favorite way to enjoy a baked potato.

The supporting cast consisted of sauteed asparagus, topped with the same white mushroom sauce as the potato, and some veggie sausage slices. Ketchup made an appearance on my plate, too, because ketchup is the condiment of the gods. Michael enjoyed vegan seafood as the protein portion of his meal, made by the company Sophie's Kitchen (which he talked about in an earlier post), this time testing out the crab cakes and scallops.

Hasselback Baked Potato with Garlic Butter
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 medium Russet potato, washed
1 tablespoon vegan margarine
1 garlic clove, minced
Small handful Daiya cheddar cheese
Assorted toppings (sour cream, chives or green onions, bacon bits, etc.)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

2. Make the garlic butter: Heat the margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat. When melted, add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat.

3. To prepare the potato, make 1/4-inch slices widthwise all the way down the length of the potato. If you place a wooden spoon on each side of the potato (lengthwise), your knife won't cut all the way through the bottom of the potato, making flawless slicing easy-peasy. Pour the margarine on the potato and rub it into the crevices. Place the potato on a baking pan and bake for 50 minutes, adding the cheese on top of the potato in the last 7 minutes or so, to melt.

Serve with whatever toppings you like, in whatever quantity you like. Enjoy!

The white mushroom sauce was creamy and rich without being unhealthy, and I'm excited to share that recipe with you next time. Happy weekend, guys!

Shortbread Lemon Bars: Vegan Sunday Bunch Episode 45

2013-05-19T19:11:00.002-06:00

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today's brunch has been brought to you by a collective love for lemon curd, a deliciously tart treat with so many uses. Both of us have been needing some sort of sweet baked good for our Sunday morning meal, so we set out on an internet adventure to find what we craved.

A plan was hatched, supplies were purchased - but, disaster! One ingredient eluded our hunt and has remained unseen ever since. It appeared that we (and you, too) would have to wait one more week to see that specific plan put into action. Hindered but unbowed, we decided that we might as well make a different lemony snack using ingredients we both had lying around the house - enter the shortbread lemon bars.

After sifting through some recipes it was decided that we would like to try to cut down on some of the insane decadence of the usual recipes: one cup of margarine here, two cups of sugar there. Allysia had the brilliant idea of replacing some of the flour and margarine with cashews, ground into meal in our high speed blenders. We also concocted a low-sugar lemon curd recipe, since no one on Earth needs as much sugar as many of the regular recipes demanded. The shortbread crust was made first, and as it was baking our curd-quest continued.

The majority of lemon curd recipes involve some pretty precise measurements and timings, but I found that the curd came together pretty easily. A mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, and salt is heated before stirring in some water, cornstarch, and milk. About ten minutes of constant whisking allows the pudding to thicken up before a small dollop of margarine is stirred in towards the end. A little more stirring reveals a thick, sloppy pudding.

Once everything was cooled, the curd was spread out on the crust and cut into nice, large squares. Ours were garnished with some frozen blueberries, but just about any garnish would kick the squares up a notch. A little powdered sugar, some fresh fruit, or some coconut whipped cream would all be perfect. And since you don't have to worry about adding too much sweetness with the garnishes, maybe try using all of the above!

Michael's bar turned out nice and shapely, but here's where I reveal my bad news - mine didn't turn out at all. Could've been the fact that I used arrowroot instead of cornstarch, but it didn't ever set up thick enough. I also found the lemon flavor to be way too intense, not pleasantly tart like I wanted it to be. So no recipes today - but with some tweaking, next week's brunch will be even better (if I can find that one damn ingredient). Sorry to be cryptic guys, but it'll be a gooder. :)

Happy weekend!

Eggplant BLT: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 44

2013-05-13T20:19:00.000-06:00

Greetings! We are here to bring you a slightly belated brunch post, but a brunch post nonetheless! This week's idea was based around the fact that Sunday marked the first day after the end of our super-healthy lifestyle trial, and as such, we could eat whatever we wanted. I was most excited about the opportunity to sauté and brown things, so we came up with the idea to make some baked eggplant bacon.

We wanted to use our bacon on a nice, simple sandwich, and decided on the classic BLT, something we've never blogged before (for shame). Our vegan BLT consisted of eggplant bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato (so I guess it was a BLAT), with some mustard and vegennaise spread on the toasted bread. On the side we served a quick coleslaw and a super-simple tofu scramble with some melted Daiya. All in all it was a pretty amazing brunch containing lots of the delicious treats that we gave up for the last thirty days.

Since we both had access to different ingredients (and Allysia doesn't want to buy a bunch of stuff a month before coming home), we each made the eggplant bacon recipe a little differently, and the changes are noted below.

Eggplant Bacon

1 large eggplant

1 dried chipotle, soaked in water for an hour
2 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (or omit and use smoked paprika instead)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 clove garlic, crushed
Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the ends off of an eggplant and slice lengthwise into quarter-inch slices (using a mandolin or a sharp knife).

2. Mix all remaining ingredients into the bottom of a long, flat dish and toss the eggplant in it. Let it sit for one hour, rotating the eggplant strips once.

3. After the marinating time has elapsed, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the eggplant slices on it. Reserve the marinade liquid.

4. Bake the eggplant bacon for 30-40 minutes. At the 15 and 30 minute marks, baste the pieces with some of the remaing liquid. After the final basting, keep an eye on the bacon, as it will go from nice and golden to charred black very quickly. Leave it in as long as you dare to help it become crisp, but do not overcook it.

Note from Allysia: The majority of eggplant slices turned out chewy, not crisp (with the exception of a few burnt pieces), so it might not be a good standalone bacon (our tofu bacon is better suited to that purpose). However, the flavor is great and it went really well inside a sandwich.

Yeah, so I used kale instead of lettuce. Kale is nice on a sandwich! Also I recommend you guys pray to the phone gods for Michael, since he has lost the ability to upload pictures - but I saw his meal via Skype and it looked awesome as always, you'll just have to take my word for it this time.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Blendtec Unboxing and Delicious Cauliflower Soup

2013-05-09T06:16:00.000-06:00

On Monday this week I got one of the best surprises of my life. I arrived home from work to see a little piece of paper sticking out of my mailbox - a little piece of paper that told me I had a parcel waiting at the post office. I had, of course, been expecting this, but I had not entirely expected it to arrive one day early. The drive to the post office was full of excitement and anticipation, and the drive box home more so. Once I got back into my house I sat down with my package, my camera, and my iPad, and had to share this momentous occasion with Allysia over Skype. So, once we were both good and ready, we looked at what sat in front of us.

Even the sight of the box still fills me with happiness.

Popping the box open reveals the sweet treasure inside.

First up is the information package. A blender-based cookbook, warranty information, and a DVD!

The cookbook itself is in full color, coil-bound, and even hard cover! In a surprising moment of awesomeness, I opened the book to a random page and saw a recipe for cauliflower soup. Allysia and I had just talked about making cauliflower soup the previous day - it seemed like a sign.

Next up is probably the most exciting part: the blender bowl.

We opted to go for the slightly newer and slightly more expensive Wildside blender jar. This jar has a few advantages over the standard Fourside jar. It has a roomy 3 quart volume and a special shape involving a fifth side in the blender jar. This fifth side apparently shifts the blending vortex a bit so it mixes ingredients much more efficiently.

The blender lid followed the jar. Shiny and gorgeous.

Another exciting moment: the blender base. While the normal Blendtec blender is beautiful, we choose to upgrade to the Designer Series (for the same price as the regular blender!) You can't get these delivered to Canada through the Blendtec website, but we ordered from Upaya Naturals and got it in only a few days!

The biggest reason we got the Designer Series, aside from the awesome red color, is the touch screen on the base. All of the controls are operated through this screen, and it just looks solid black when turned off. It looks cool, works well, and talk about easy to clean!

And now we have a little before and after photo. Definitely an upgrade. High-end blenders tend to get a bad rap for being massively huge and taking up too much counter space (especially a certain other brand of blender), but comparing the Blendtec to a cheap Walmart blender, the size different isn't anything absurd.

Once the blender was powered up it became even more lovely. The six picture buttons correspond to preprogrammed blending cycles. From left to right they are for: mixing batters, crushing ice, making smoothies, creating ice creams, juicing produce, and blending/cooking soups. The large slider at the bottom of the faceplate allows you to select a blending speed manually and speed it up/slow it down at will. The bottom-right button, shaped like a heartbeat monitor, is the pulse button (clever!).

The blender itself is amazing. The blending cycles work really well - they speed up/slow down the blades automatically, allows the blender to chop through rough ingredients before speeding up to blend. One thing that I noticed is that this blender does not create as much heat a other high-speed blenders. The Designer Series has some improved venting which allows it to blend without heating the ingredients too much. Great news for smoothie lovers and raw foodists alike! Another interesting feature becomes apparent only when the blender is powered up. For the first few seconds a number will flash onto the screen. This number is the total number of times the blender has been used. We have owned ours for less than forty-eight hours now, and it has been used twelve times.

One of the first things I wanted to do with this blender was create a smooth and awesome blended soup using some of the random ingredients I had laying around.

Creamy Corn and Cauliflower Soup
yields 2 large servings

1 medium sized head of cauliflower (about 3 cups, roughly chopped)

2 medium sized potatoes (about 1 cup, roughly chopped)
2 ears of fresh corn
4 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground thyme (fresh would work better, but alas, I had none available)
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Boil a pot of water large enough to hold the potato, cauliflower, and corn. Add the potato first, then the cauliflower, then the corn so everything cooks the appropriate amount of time.

2. Pan steam (or saute) the onions and garlic.

3. When the veggies are cooked, drain the water. Cut the kernels off of the corn cobs and place all the ingredients in a blender jar. Use only 3 cups of veggie broth to start, adding more until the desired consistency is reached. Blend until smooth.

Alternatively, you could save some of the cooked veggie and stir them into the soup after blending for a slightly chunkier soup.

A little side note: in keeping with our super healthy eating plan I opted to boil and steam the veggies for this soup. I can only assume that roasting the corn, potato, and cauliflower would make the soup even more incredible.

Apparently being able to blend corn completely perfectly is a rare thing indeed. The Blendtec did it with ease. The soup was smooth after about thirty seconds of blending. After struggling with a super cheap blender for so long, it is so nice to have access to perfectly smooth soups and smoothies. I'm a big fan of green smoothies in the morning, and this blender destroys kale leaves like nobody's business. I love our blender like a newborn child. Peace out.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 43

2013-05-05T17:58:00.001-06:00

Cinco de Mayo! How could I have not known about this holiday for all of my life?

Answer: I'm Canadian.

But now that I'm American (well, I'm in America) for another month and a half, I get to celebrate American holidays like Cinco de Mayo, which is fun because who doesn't love Mexican food?

Since we're still on a healthy eating kick, there's no fried food in this brunch (again). But what we did do was make a really nice, hearty Macrobiotic-style meal - since I'm taking Macrobiotic courses in school right now, it's been fun playing around with those principles at home (I did the same thing with the raw foods unit last month).

The most basic macro eating concepts are as follows:

-Meals are centered around whole grains.
-Beans, grains and veggies make up the vast majority of the diet, with some sea veggies, pickles and seasonings thrown in for good measure.
-It's all about balance, so the meals are neither highly spiced or completely bland.

My plate, prior to being bathed in heaps of salsa fresca, the way any good meal should be.

With this menu we've got chunky steamed veggies served with creamy pinto beans, a portion of long-grain brown rice and a nice salsa fresca to tie it all together. I garnished my plate with some 'kraut and gomasio, because yum. And while this was really easy to make, it is time-consuming (pinto beans take up to an hour and a half to cook). It's mainly hands-off time though, so it hardly counts.

I'm not going to provide any recipes today, because you don't need one. Promise.

For the rice: 1:2 ratio brown rice to water, cooked for 45 minutes. You know how this goes. I added a small square of kombu to the batch of rice, and a pinch of salt works well too.

For the beans: Soak pinto beans overnight. We used 1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans, which yields about 4 decent-sized servings of cooked beans. Drain them, put 'em in a pot with enough water to cover by about an inch, and simmer until tender, an hour or so (up to an hour and a half). Add more water if they seem to be getting dry. You'll need to stir this a lot toward the end since it gets creamy and the liquid gets thicker (and you don't want it to burn to the bottom). Season with sea salt or tamari, and it really is delicious just like that.

For the veggies: Make thick chunks of zucchini, red bell pepper and purple onion, and steam with some corn (frozen is fine) for about 10 minutes. Toss with oil and seasonings (like cumin, chili powder, oregano, etc). Easy peasy.

For the salsa fresca: for one serving, seed and dice a medium roma tomato. Toss that in a small bowl with a minced garlic clove, 1/2 a minced jalapeno (seeded), a little olive oil, the juice of half a lemon (or lime), and seasonings to taste (salt, chili powder, paprika, etc). Mike added some minced fresh cilantro and that definitely increases the awesome.

Serve with sliced avocado, hot sauce, and any other condiments you love (like toasted seeds or 'kraut!).

Michael's plate, complete with a gorgeous avocado and a colorful salsa.

Hope you guys had a great day full of excellent, flavorful food - I definitely got to kick back and relax, which is a beautiful feeling. Can't wait to catch up next Sunday with something fried. Brunch, it's been too long.

Sushi Party (With Pickled Ginger Recipe)

2013-05-01T17:58:00.000-06:00

One of our goals for this week was to each create a blog post your reading pleasure. When this came up, I (Mike) instantly jumped up and passionately proclaimed that we would make sushi, and that it would be my blog post.

The first thing I did was create a list of the different types of sushi and accouterments I wanted at my party (in this case, a party for one). I decided to make nigiri (the type of sushi usually consisting of a lump of rice with a hunk of veg or protein attached), maki (your standard assorted rolls), miso soup, and a miniature rice bowl. I surveyed my ingredients and decided that I could make nigiri featuring avocado, marinated tofu, zucchini, and some no-tuna pate. The rolls would be an assortment of whatever I had around, and the rice bowl would include some chives, avocado, tamari, and assorted spices.

The usual condiments for sushi include soy sauce, wasabi paste, and pickled ginger. I had a small amount of pickled ginger on hand, but I really wanted to take another crack at preparing it from scratch. A little research led me to some interesting information. Apparently there is a reason why pickled ginger is often dyed pink. Traditionally, only young ginger was used for the condiment. This ginger was shaved thinly and then salted and massaged. After letting it sit for a length of time, boiling vinegar and sugar was poured over the ginger. This is where the magic happens - apparently a chemical reaction happens between the salted ginger and the boiling vinegar that causes it to turn slightly pink! The chemist in me loves tidbits like this. We won't go through quite that much effort to pickle our ginger, but I did have a healthy way to dye it pink, using our good friend the beet.

Homemade Pink Pickled Ginger

Makes about 1 cup

about 6 inches of ginger root, peeled

1 teaspoon salt

1 small beet (unpeeled is fine)

1 tablespoon agave nectar

Rice wine vinegar

Apple cider vinegar (or any other vinegar, really)

Directions:

1. Once the ginger is peeled, continue using the peeler to skim very thin pieces off of the root. Collect all of your pieces is a bowl and add the salt. Massage the ginger for a minute or two to work in the salt. Let it sit for an hour or so.

2. Once the ginger has sat, bring a pot of water to boil. Take your beet and cut 3 quarter-inch thick circles from it. Pop two of the circles into the pot of water and cut the other beet circle into chunky sticks. Set aside the beet sticks for now.

3. Add the ginger to the boiling water and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Once the time is up, strain the ginger and remove the beet circles.

4. In a small mason jar or resealable container, pour the agave nectar and about a tablespoon of each of the vinegars (if you don't have multiple vinegars, just use more rice wine vinegar). Add the ginger and one or two beet sticks to the jar and shake it up a bit. Add more vinegar, in a 50:50 ratio, until the ginger is completely covered.

The ginger will need to sit and mellow for a while before you will want to eat it. Luckily, the boiling reduces that time greatly. It will be perfectly edible and not too astringent after a few hours, but it is ideal after sitting overnight. The pickled ginger can be refrigerated more a few months without worry. I love how brightly colored the ginger is, but especially love the fact that it wasn't done with any weird chemicals!

With the ginger finished, I was ready to make the sushi. I won't go into the finer points of sushi rolling, but I will cover a few general points:

Proper sushi requires short-grained rice. Cook the rice using 1 cup of rice to 1 1/4 cups of water.
When the rice in done you will need a mixture containing rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. I would use 1 tablespoon of vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Stir this into the rice.
For most sushi rolls, spread the rice very thinly on the nori sheet, covering just over one half of the sheet (more for a fatter roll, less for a thinner roll).
Place the fillings on the rice in a neat little pile, keeping each item together.
A bamboo mat is not required for rolling. Carefully wrap the nori and rice around the fillings, trying to keep the roll nice and tight.
While rolling, lightly dampen the end of the nori sheet to help it stick and close properly.
The most common problem people run into while rolling sushi is that the rice does not ring around the food perfectly. This all just comes down to practice. Delicious practice. I am actually incredibly proud of myself that my rolls turned out so well.
For nigiri, cut a nori sheet with scissors into thin ribbons and dampen them slightly. It can take a few tries to get the ribbons looking nice and not cracking.

The first of my sushi rolls is a fairly standard veggie roll with tofu, chives, carrot, beet, cucumber, and avocado.

This second rolls uses shredded kale instead of rice as the base. Very delicious. Fillings are similar to the above roll.

The other rolls present include a simple cucumber roll with a squirt of sriracha and a roll created using the no-tuna pate. I meant to include the pate in the other rolls, but I completely forgot about it. Oh well.

One thing you may notice right away is that this sushi party involves a lot of food. Probably almost enough for two people. One of the best parts about eating sushi is the variety on the table in front of you. In light of this, I always like to create a bunch of different things, and then save some leftovers for the next day. I even ate my leftovers for breakfast!

During every sushi party there tends to come a point where you get tired and annoyed and you curse the very thought of making sushi. This usually occurs about ten minutes before you get to put the first piece in your mouth. But oh man, once that first piece hits your taste buds (and the wasabi hits your sinuses), you know it was all worth it, and you will totally do it again. Have a good one, friends.

Oatmeal Banana Split: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 42

2013-04-28T20:41:00.002-06:00

Hi!

Long time, no see - I accidentally took a vacation from blogging, but it ended up being well needed. School's been a lot of work, and after being in the kitchen all day I usually come home and just eat a giant salad. It's delicious and all that, but doesn't necessarily make for exciting blogging. But you guys are awesome for hanging in there with me - it seriously means a lot.

And now, for brunch!

Since Michael and I started our random health trial a couple weeks ago, we needed a brunch that obeyed all of the rules we set out, but it's very difficult to dream up a brunch that has no fried component. Luckily, last week I went out to brunch with friends and found something on the menu that I knew I wanted to bring home and recreate - an oatmeal banana split.

Cold vanilla oatmeal replaces the traditional ice cream scoop, surrounded by a split banana, pineapples and strawberries. The only decadent part of this meal is the chocolate sauce, but even that is made a little healthier using coconut oil, raw cacao powder and just a teeny bit of sweetener. This meal, in all its wholesomeness, felt like a brunch dessert party - I loved this just as much as a good meal of pancakes or waffles, and that's saying something.

Oatmeal Banana Split

Serves 1

For the oats:

3/4 cup non-dairy milk of choice

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate sauce:

1 tablespoon raw cacao powder

1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon agave (or other liquid sweetener)

To assemble:

1 ripe banana

4 medium strawberries, quartered

1/3 cup chopped pineapple

Directions:

1. For the oats: Combine all ingredients in a jar or container, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The oats will soften and the chia will help gel everything together.

2. For the chocolate sauce: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix with a fork. The mixture will firm up a little as it sits, but you can speed up the process by popping it in the fridge for a few minutes.

3. To assemble: With the peel still on the banana, slice it lengthwise and then peel it carefully (slicing it with the peel on makes the banana less likely to crack and lose its shape). Use an ice cream scooper or ramekin and place it in the center of a bowl or plate, and top with strawberries and pineapple. Drizzle with chocolate sauce and enjoy!

Mike: I absolutely loved this brunch, but when Allysia first brought it up I was a little "meh". I have always been more into savory concoctions and this seemed like the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I have to say, however, that my opinion started changing the very second I started assembling the split. The scoops of oatmeal look beautiful and taste amazing, and the fresh fruit surrounding throws in some vibrancy.

This really is a healthy dessert in a decadent disguise. I can imagine this going over very well in houses with young humans. "Who wants desert for breakfast?" you'll ask. And then they will see it and completely flip out. It looks every bit as tasty as an ice-cream-based banana split, and it tastes even better. You can even play around with toppings to add a little more pizzazz. I spiced my split up with the chocolate sauce from above, some almond milk yogurt "whipped cream", and some hemp seed "sprinkles". Needless to say, this was a happy morning for my mouth and my belly.

You can look forward to a few new blog posts this week from us here at The Real Meal. We promise! Happy Sunday.

Chickpea Scramble Stack with Herbed Avocado Sauce: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 41

2013-04-14T17:06:00.000-06:00

I'm ready for a holiday.

Okay yeah, so there was that week break I had when Michael was visiting. But I'm itching for a real holiday, the summer kind. I'm trying to temper this impatience by reminding myself that I only have 9 more weeks of school until I'm home free - isn't that crazy? Feels like just yesterday I arrived in this pretty sunny city.

I have this simultaneous urge to encourage time to fly by, counting the days until Michael and I don't have hundreds of miles of distance between us, but also to be here while I'm here. Too often my brain is in outer space and then only in retrospect I'm like, "man, wish I had appreciated that experience more."

In one attempt to squeeze the absolute most out of these next two months, we embarked on a 30-day trial this past Friday with a whole bunch of stipulations, some of which involve waking up at 5am every day (even weekends), exercising daily (mix of strength and cardio), and absolutely no vices (drinking, caffeine, etc). I'm making sure to spend an hour a day reading non-fiction because it's something I love but often don't prioritize. Oh, and all the food ones:

no cooked oils/fats (nothing oil sauteed, for example, and only raw nuts/nut butters)
no browning (partly to reduce acrylamide exposure, but mainly to force ourselves to explore other methods of preparing food)
no breads/white sugar/processed food (like processed meat products or Daiya)
emphasis on raw food, with a little good cooked stuff like legumes, steamed veg, etc
record daily eats on a nutrition calculator program (to ensure there's no nutritional shortages)

We 'warmed up' to this 30-day trial by getting used to some of these rules in the days leading up to Friday, and since then I've definitely noticed some interesting results...but that's a whole other blog post. :)

To make a long story short, our brunches won't be fried as they often tend to be, but they'll still be badass. Promise.

This recipe is a spinoff of last August's scramble stack - but while that one had hashbrowns, creamed spinach and tofu scramble, this version has sweet potatoes, steamed spinach and scrambled chickpeas. Oh, and an avocado sauce with tons of herby goodness (I used dill, and it was divine).

I was interested in experimenting with using chickpeas instead of tofu for a scramble - and while the results weren't entirely eggy in taste or texture, it was hearty and delicious, especially because it was studded with celery and mushrooms. And the scramble is oil-free!

For the chickpea scramble:

2 servings

some diced shallot, or about 1/2 cup diced onion and 2 garlic cloves

2 celery stalks, sliced

4 cremini mushrooms, sliced

splash of tamari (or soy sauce)

2 cups cooked chickpeas

water, for consistency

generous sprinkles of garlic powder, onion powder

a little sprinkle of cayenne and turmeric

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

squeeze of lime

In a large frying pan, saute the shallot in a little water over fairly low heat. Add the celery and mushrooms after about 5 minutes, and add a splash of tamari (and more water, if needed). Cook until veggies soften some, about 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas, and roughly mash them into the pan with a potato masher, leaving some chunks. Add enough water to prevent mixture from sticking and cook to warm through. Remove from heat and stir in all the seasonings.

For the herbed avocado sauce:

2 servings

1/2 large avocado

1 small bunch herbs, stemmed (if there's nice dill available, do it)

1 garlic clove, chopped

2-3 tablespoons lime juice

1/8 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

fresh pepper

up to 3/4 cup water, for consistency

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend. If your blender is crappy, mash the avocado first and mix with some water first before adding to the blender bowl. Blend until smooth.

For everything else

sweet potato, cubed

1 bunch spinach, stemmed (or kale)

Boil the sweet potato until tender. You can use the same pot for the spinach - wilt it over low heat with the lid on.

The avocado sauce is basically like pourable guacamole - so, delicious. I wanted a sauce that I could eat lots of without being too intense in flavor, and this worked out perfectly.

See? Wholesome and hearty, it can be done. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to drink the rest of that avocado sauce. Happy weekend!

(And Michael, this time last year we decided to have a drinking/video game/semi-charmed life-singing competition, which was really just an (awesome) excuse to be together. I brought over food I made from Viva Vegan for 2am snacking, and you were so enthusiastic about it. I knew you were a keeper when I was sick the next day and you still liked being around me. Happy 1 year, and here's to many more of the same!)

Fresh Tomato Soup

2013-04-10T11:32:00.000-06:00

A blog post coming all the way from Regina, Saskatchewan! Let me start this by saying that my trip to Austin was amazing. I mean, I got to hang out with Allysia just about constantly (which was certainly the highlight of the trip, as I keep telling everyone), and then there is the city itself. Austin is an amazing city, and it is filled with amazing produce. The farmers' markets (plural!) have great veggies and homemade things, but even the supermarkets are filled with gorgeous greens and big selections.

At one point during the trip I promised Allysia a fresh tomato-based soup. She wouldn't let me forget this fact, and a few days later we ended up picking up the necessary ingredients and I went to work.

Fresh Tomato Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 large heirloom tomatoes
2 medium shallots, diced small
1 celery stick, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 dried chipotle pepper, split in half
1/2 tbsp Better Than Boullion
2 sprigs rosemary
1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp smoked salt

Directions:

1. Remove the stems from the tomatoes and cut them into quarters. Toss the pieces in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. If using a cheaper blender, you will need to peel the tomatoes first.

2. Empty the contents of the blender into a pot and add the shallots, celery, garlic, and chipotle. When you split the chiptole the seeds will fall out. Add the seeds to the soup for a little spicy kick, or leave the seeds out for a milder soup. I used almost all of the seeds and the soup has a little kick, but was certainly not spicy.

3. Stir in about half a tablespoon of Better Than Boullion vegetable broth paste. Bring the soup to a boil and then lower the heat. Simmer for at least ten minutes, ideally twenty to forty.

4. Strip the rosemary leaves from the twigs and roughly chop them. Add them to the pot and simmer for another ten minutes.

5. When the soup is finished cooking, stir in the salt, pepper, and basil. Remove the chipotle (leave the seeds) from the pot. Pour the soup back into the blender and blend until smooth.

We don't normally like tomato soup, but I think that is usually due to execution and history rather than concept. The tomato soups of our collective childhoods were a simple canned affair. Bland and over-salted, with few pronounceable ingredients. This fresh soup is just the opposite. It has a metric tonne of flavor and is still incredibly easy to produce. I am sure a raw version could even be created by only changing a few amounts. Serve with some kind of dip-able sandwich for pure awesomeness.

Later.

Orange Creamsicle Chia Pudding with Berries: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 40

2013-04-07T11:37:00.001-06:00

This morning (more like evening, since it was so damn early) I saw Michael off at the airport back to Saskatchewan. It'll be 71 more days apart (11 brunches apart, including this one), which I'm sure will fly by in a whir of awesomeness but right now seems more or less like eternity. But since that's a bit dramatic, I figured I would make a brunch today that would pump me up with energy to take the edge off my dramatic tendencies. It'll also hopefully give me the energy to do some major planning (some pretty ridiculously good things are going down this summer, can't wait to share).

So here we've got Orange Creamsicle Chia Pudding with Berries - first off, the chia pudding part. Some people love it, some people hate it - I definitely fall over on the love spectrum. If you haven't had it, the best I can compare it to is tapioca pudding, except raw and with chia. Since chia is so mucilaginous (love that word), any liquid added to them gels, creating a pudding-like consistency.

Since I tend to make boring (but delicious) chia puddings (milk + chia + sweetener), I thought I would make a little more of an effort today, but it really wasn't that much more effort, maybe five minutes extra work. All I did was blend an orange with some water and cashews, strained it of pulp (which isn't necessary), stirred in some vanilla and added it to a jar of dry chia. It only takes up to 30 minutes to gel up nicely, at which point I stirred in some berries. My only regret? Didn't have any mint.

Orange Creamsicle Chia Pudding with Berries
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 orange, peeled
1/2 cup water (or another orange)
3 tablespoons cashews
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups mixed berries ( used strawberries, blueberries, and a bit of dried goldenberries)

Directions:

1. In a blender, blend the orange, water and cashews until relatively smooth. If you have a nut milk strainer bag, use it to strain out the pulp, if not, shouldn't be a biggie. This should total about 1 cup of liquid (more if there's fiber left in it). In a wide container, combine the liquid, chia seeds and vanilla extract. Stir, cover, and let it sit in the fridge for 15-30 minutes, until it gels into a pudding-like consistency. Stir again.

2. For a pretty presentation, layer the pudding with berries, or just stir the berries and pudding together in a bowl. You shouldn't find that this pudding needs sweetening - there's plenty of fruit in it - but if you don't find it's sweet enough, you can either add more fruit (especially dried) or a little bit of your favorite sweetener.

This pudding is heavy on the berries, so use as much as you prefer - 1/2 cup berries per serving will have a higher pudding ratio, but I love nomming berries so I used 1 cup per serving.

The orange flavor in this is really subtle but really nice - if you wanted it more orangey, some orange zest added to the pudding would do the trick. I loved it just how it was though, with the orange flavor sitting pleasantly in the background - but even without the berries, this pudding was flavorful enough to be eaten on its own.

Well that's all from me, guys - my life should be returning to "normal" now so I should have time to be a little more social. Until then, take care!

Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 39: Easter Edition

2013-04-01T16:46:00.006-06:00

Hey guys!

Gonna keep this brief because I'm pretty busy enjoying Michael's company this week, but instead of having a private Sunday brunch as we usually do, we decided to invite a few people over to celebrate Easter. To complete the holiday experience, we made my Granny's cabbage rolls, in addition to other awesome brunch eats.

In addition to that holiday standby, we had a tofu and avocado benedict platter, done all DIY-style (sauce not pictured).

Fresh fruit and fruit salad is always at home on a brunch platter, as are blueberry muffins, made by my friend Katie, and gluten-free to boot. Whee!

And if you've got an awesome hollandaise sauce, there might as well be some asparagus in the picture, too. Oh, and potatoes! No brunch feast is truly complete without them, just like the unpictured grapefruit-orange mimosas we all enjoyed.

Hope you guys had a blast this weekend, I know I did! And I'll see you on Sunday for another brunch - it'll be a solo mission, but that just means I'll just have to cook up something extra awesome. :)

Beet Love Pancakes: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 38

2013-03-24T23:03:00.002-06:00

Somewhat hilariously, I've noted that for the last three months (today now included), we've done pancakes for brunch at the end of the month, pretty much always on my insistence. Is my subconscious eager to start a pancake trend?

On the plus side (well there really isn't a downside), pancakes are wonderful templates for any sort of brunchy experimentation, so when Michael got his head set on the idea of incorporating beets into our brunch (a brunch beet debut, I might add), I took that idea and went to pancake town with it.

Except I wanted different colors of pancakes (pink and brown), and I wanted hearts. Don't ask why, I just woke up this morning feeling like this:

Sometimes you just need to be all chibi.

Beet Love Pancakes (Now in Two Colors!)
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup cooked, mashed beets*
2 teaspoons sweetener (agave, sugar, etc)
2 teaspoons neutral oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
Coconut oil, for frying

*Boil whole beets with their skin on until fork-tender, 45 minutes or so depending on their size. Rinse them in cold water and rub off the skin with your thumbs (this should be super easy), and mash 'em well.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate smaller bowl, combine the milk, mashed beets, sweetener, oil, and vanilla, stirring until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined - don't overmix. Separate the batter into two bowls (you can reuse the liquid ingredient bowl, just give it a quick clean), and stir in the cocoa powder into one bowl.

2. In your happiest pancake pan, heat a little coconut oil over medium-low heat. Pour into desired pancake shapes, and fry until golden on both sides (3-4 minutes per side).

Serve with fruit and maple syrup and all your favorite pancake toppings. Bask in beet love. Live happily ever after.

Regular circle pancakes are pretty groovy too.

Since you can use all kinds of fruit and veggie purees in pancakes and other dessert-y things, I knew beets would work well - especially because a little while ago there was that whole "chocolate beet cake" thing going around the interwebz. Does anyone remember that? That was a Pinterest hot topic for sure, and I still need to give it a go. But pancakes are easier.

It was really fun to have a couple different flavors of pancake to bite into - the normal and happy pink ones, and the deep-colored cocoa ones, all topped with berry syrup and fresh banana slices. Michael served his syrup in a shot glass because he's classy like that, and had the foresight to prepare a hibiscus beverage and really get the most out of the pink-red-purple breakfast theme.

I can't tell you any more details about the drink except that it has hibiscus in it, and Michael is silent on the matter, being passed out as he is since the hour is late. That's okay though - people have to work, I get it. Oh, but not me - I get to enjoy a week of no school, which means I can be all rebellious and stay up until midnight reading and blogging. Yeah, total badass, I know.

Oh, and just because I can't contain my excitement - Sunday brunch won't be a solo affair next week. :) I can't wait to catch up with you all now that I have some free time again ... for a couple more days, anyway, until Michael shows up. Take care!

Vegan Sunday Brunch 37: Spiced Apple Loaf, and an Allysia absence

2013-03-18T17:55:00.001-06:00

First things first: sorry that it isn't technically Sunday anymore. Every now and then things can just get in the way, and in this case that happened to be an internet blackout at my house. Luckily, a lack of internet stops us from posting about brunch, but certainly doesn't stop us from eating it! Today's brunch adventure has been brought to you by all the leftover stuff I could find in my fridge!

The first things I found were a few lonely apples. I may not be a baking expert, but for some reason I knew what I had to do. With a little research, some creativity, and a whole lot of luck, I designed the following recipe.

Vegan Spiced Apple Loaf
Makes 1 9-inch loaf

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon vinegar (lemon or lime juice would work, too)
2 cups grated apple (I used about 3 large granny smith apples)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 330 degrees. Lightly oil and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.

3. In a smaller bowl, combine milk, oil, syrup, and vanilla and stir. Peel and grate your apples, adding them to the liquid ingredients. Let the apple shreds soak in the wet ingredients for 5 minutes.

4. Add wet to dry, mixing until just combined. The dough will be fairly wet and liquidy. Transfer your dough/batter to the prepared loaf pan and bake until cooked through (40 or so minutes). Stick a toothpick into the middle of the loaf a few times near the end of the cooking time. When it comes out clean, the loaf is finished.

One thing that I noticed when researching the recipe is that so many of the recipes either involve cooking down the apples first or adding apple sauce to the batter. With my (almost defeated) aversion to cooked fruit I didn't want to cook the apples any more than I had to, and I certainly didn't have any applesauce on hand (yuck). I think it worked better this way. Not too sweet, deliciously moist. I found that by leaving the apples raw I was able to cut down the oil compared to other recipes, but the cake was infinitely moist anyway.

Keeping with the theme of "whatever I had laying around the house", I made a quick hash with some leftover veggies and a wonderful iced hibiscus tea to wash it all down. Sometimes the best brunches are the ones that don't require too much planning or prep. It's Sunday morning. Look around you, make something tasty, and then take the rest of the day to de-compress and de-stress. Lates.

Hey guys, Allysia here - just wanted to swing by and say hi. Last week was intensely busy with my mom visiting, so I didn't end up cooking anything, but luckily vegan brunch ain't hard to find in Austin.

This gorgeous plate is brought to you by Kerbey Lane, which is basically like if Denny's was awesome and had vegan pancakes (not pictured, but they exist and are yummy). Here we've got seasoned black beans, rice, corn tortillas and a big heap of tofu migas, which is just a scramble plus tortilla chips, and it was topped off with a ridiculously good vegan queso. Life is good. :)

Oriya Organics: Review, and Banana-Peach Smoothie

2013-03-14T11:17:00.000-06:00

Hey guys!

A while back, Oriya Organics sent me their protein powder and green powder to review, which made me giddy with glee for so many reasons, namely:

-I've been chugging smoothies every morning before school
-Depending on what we're cooking in the classroom, I can't always depend on balanced lunch meals
-I've been paying more attention to purchasing organic and gmo-free food
-The ingredient lists on these are beautiful.

[source]

So let me talk about their Superfood Protein Medley first, since I'm featuring it in a recipe today. Not only does it blend a few protein powders that are allergen-free (brown rice, chia, hempseed), the chia seeds and brown rice protein are sprouted for maximum digestibility. How cool is that?

In addition to those ingredients, this protein blend contains chlorella and spirulina, which are high-protein, super-nutritious sea plants. Because of this, this protein powder has a slight green tinge, which is a-ok with me since I usually drink green smoothies anyway.

What I absolutely love about this protein powder is that the nutrition you get out of it stretches far beyond just protein - in one serving, you're also getting chlorophyll, omega-3's, and lots of vitamin A, C, E, K and iron, among others. In this way, this powder is really more like a whole food as opposed to just isolated protein. And it definitely doesn't skimp in the protein department, as each scoop contains 18 grams of the stuff.

[source]

I can also highly recommend their SuperGreen Medley powder, which is a blend of wheat and barley grass, chlorella and spirulina. It's nice because I'm really not a big fan of spirulina's flavor, but when it's in a mix like this it's totally fine. I like adding a spoonful of this to my morning smoothies - it tastes great in the following recipe if you don't mind a vibrant, emerald green hue to your smoothie.

And did I mention that both of these powders are raw (in addition to being certified organic, certified gmo-free, vegan and gluten-free)? Score!

Banana-Peach Smoothie
I like to balance the coldness of this beverage by using frozen peaches and fresh banana, but you can feel free to use all frozen fruit, or all fresh - just adjust the almond milk for the right consistency.

Ingredients:
Serves 1

1 medium banana, peeled
Generous 1/2 cup sliced frozen peaches
1 cup almond milk, homemade or store-bought
1/2 scoop (2 tablespoons) Oriya Organics Protein Medley
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Fits perfectly in a 16-ounce mason jar to take on the go.

This smoothie has a pale green tinge from the protein powder that I find gorgeous, but if you're really opposed to that you could mask the color with some blueberries. I love the flavor combo of banana, peach and vanilla, to the extent that I'm excited to wake up in the morning just so I can eat this. :)

I'm a big fan of smoothies, but you can also blend the powders into a juice, or even straight-up water. I don't enjoy drinking protein powder mixed with water, but I bet it could be nice blended with some sweetened non-dairy milk. I've also been playing around with the protein powder as a flour substitute in raw treats - hopefully I'll have a recipe up for that soon.

So there it is, guys - I really have nothing but good things to say about Oriya Organics, and I urge you to check out their website for more details. Their products are on the pricey side, but I do think it's worth it for the quality of the ingredients used.

And for those of us who live in Canada, the raw online store Upaya Naturals (Toronto-based) does carry these products. I can personally vouch for the awesomeness of Upaya, since I bought my juicer from them several years ago.

So there you have it! Catch you folks later.

Mass-Production Breakfast Burritos: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 36

2013-03-10T15:13:00.000-06:00

Hey guys, Allysia here. It seems we're only meeting up on Sunday for brunch these days - sometimes life gets busy. The trend is going to continue at least for a little while, what with my mother visiting me, followed by Michael. However, I do have something fun to share next week, so stay tuned for that. And without further ado, Mike's gonna take it over from here. Peace!

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Howdy, everyone! Today's Sunday brunch comes with a side-order of planning and forethought. Sunday brunch is always one of the highlights of the week - there is something about spending an hour or two in the kitchen on a Sunday morning that gives the day that perfect, relaxed weekend feel. This week we wanted to try and spread that feeling out over the coming days by making an epic amount of "leftovers".

I submit for the approval of the Midnight Society... The Tale of the Breakfast Burrito!

Ingredients:
Makes 6-8 Burritos

For the rice:

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups veggie broth
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

For the scramble:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 block extra firm tofu, crumbled
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium-sized habanero pepper, diced (optional)
1/2 cup veggie broth
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Pepper, to taste

For the black beans:

2 cups cooked black beans
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste

6-8 tortillas
Saran wrap
1 lime

Directions:

1. For the rice: heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic. Saute for a few minutes then add the rice. Stir and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add the veggie broth and turmeric, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer for 40-50 minutes, until rice is cooked.

2. For the beans: add the beans and water to a pot and bring to a boil. Add the cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper and continue boiling until most of the liquid is gone. Use a potato masher to mash the beans to give them that "re-fried bean" texture.

3. For scramble: Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the onions and garlic for 4-6 minutes. Add the tofu and let it cook for another 5 or 6 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper, celery, and habanero. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and then add to the scramble. Continue cooking until the liquid is boiled off.

5. Assemble your burritos. Layer the ingredients in the center of a tortilla and squeeze a little lime juice on top. Depending on the size of the tortillas and how big you want to make them, you should get between 6 and 8 burritos. Individually wrap them in Saran wrap before freezing. To reheat, either microwave for 2-3 minutes or heat in a toaster oven until hot throughout.

Creating a massive amount of brunch food like this allows you to enjoy a quick and easy brunch meal any time throughout the week! Since the burrito fillings are fairly low in moisture content reheating them shouldn't result in a soggy wrap. To bring out the true magnificence of the burrito you can serve them with salsa, guacamole, and a super-fresh salad!

Happy Sunday!

Egg Sandwich with Fried Avocado and Fresh Salsa: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 35

2013-03-03T21:16:00.002-06:00

Happy Sunday!

Today's brunch is pretty much a 50/50 inspiration tie between Michael and I. He had a dream about eggy things and fresh salsa, and I ate this ridiculously good taco during the week that featured fried avocado. We figured you really couldn't go wrong with those three components, especially if some good sourdough was involved (though I used some English muffins we made at school, and that was just as good).

One of the (many) awesome things about this meal was that you didn't need a sauce, and the toast didn't even need any butter, all thanks to fried avocado - dudes, have you ever tried this? It gets so creamy it's ridiculous. The key is to cook it quickly - you really don't want to cook the avocado too much, more just the outer layer of batter. The end result is a pleasantly warm, decadent treat that I could just nom all by itself, though it really is special served with the rest of this brunch spread.

Don't be intimidated by the fact that there's three components here - all of them are a breeze to whip together. In fact, the fresh salsa is the only thing that takes time since there's lots of chopping. So worth it, I promise.

Ingredients:
Serves 1

For the Salsa:

1 cup diced tomato, seeded
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 clove minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1/2 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash of ground cumin
Dash of chili powder
Pepper, to taste

For the tofu eggs:

1 teaspoon vegan margarine or oil
4 1/4-inch slices firm tofu
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Dash of salt and pepper (black salt works well here)

For the fried avocado:

1/4 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Dash salt and pepper
1/4 cup ice water
1/2 a large avocado, sliced thick
Enough oil (preferably coconut) to coat the bottom of a pan by 1/4-inch

2 pieces of toast, for serving

Directions:

1. For the salsa: Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside - the flavors will develop as it sits.

2. For the tofu eggs: Heat the margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Add the tofu slices and sprinkle with the turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper. Fry until both sides are a lovely golden brown, about five minutes per side.

3. For the fried avocado: Heat the oil in a narrow, heavy-bottomed pot (you don't have to use as much oil if it's narrow) over medium heat. You'll know it's frying time when you sprinkle water in the oil and it pops at you. Combine all dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, paprika, baking soda, chili powder, salt and pepper) in a medium bowl. Stir in the ice water until just combined - do not over-stir. Dip the avocado chunks in the batter, coating it generously, and drop into the oil. After a minute or two, flip the slices over with a spoon and cook for another minute or so, until both sides are golden. Drain 'em on some paper towels.

4. For assembly: Place the tofu slices on your toast and top with fried avocado and salsa. It will be messy and delicious. Enjoy with fresh veggies, roasted potatoes, and/or other brunch fixins.

Hope you guys have had a great weekend!

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes, and Other Goodies: Vegan Sunday Brunch, Episode 34

2013-02-24T20:17:00.000-06:00

It's been thirty-four Sunday brunches thus far - something that makes me think, "What is the reason for engaging in this tradition?" Happily, the reasons I discovered are valuable, and many.

Brunch is the best meal of all the meals.
Even if the rest of the week has been hectic, brunching reminds me to slow down and enjoy quality time with Michael. There's something to be said for having a long, slow meal with someone (or many someones).
It forces me to be creative and concoct a meal. Creating meals is an art like anything else - painting, writing, whatever - so it's intensely valuable to exercise my creative muscles regularly. And if you're anything like me, it's all too easy to get "too busy" to be creative, pushing it down on the priority list despite its importance.
As another extension of the second point, I think it's good to have at least one day a week to slow the pace of life. There's always work to be done, things to do - but you've gotta slow down sometime, and Sunday just happens to be my favorite day to do that. Nothin' like a good book accompanied by a cuppa coffee on a Sunday morning, followed by good food and good company, let me tell you.
Brunch food is a treat, especially if I've been eating wholesome food all week. I mean, not every brunch is fried tofu po'boys or donuts, but still. There's usually something a little decadent goin' on with brunch foodstuffs.

For this meal, we decided to return to the brunch concept of "a plate full of goodies" - chickpea patties, sauteed greens, roasted potatoes and blueberry pancakes, to be specific - instead of just making one main thing (which is also awesome, but we've been doing that a lot lately).

Seems like a lot of work, but it really wasn't - the chickpea patties were leftovers from last night's supper, and would be easily replaced with any sort of protein-y thing you've got kicking around. Greens are speedy to saute, and roasted potatoes require a bit of time but minimal effort. And pancakes? Batter takes 10 minutes to make (if you're slow), and the rest is just the zen-like activity of frying them up. We got fancy and made a blueberry sauce (also very quick to make), but a drizzle of maple syrup and a pat of butter is even quicker. Brunch doesn't have to be a labor-intensive meal!

Though the chickpea patties tasted awesome, the recipe still needs some tweaking and we really want to share it with you guys when we get it right. So close!

As for the sauteed greens - take half a bunch of whatever green you've got (I used chard, Michael used kale) de-stem them (kale and collard stems are pretty tough), and chop the leaves. Heat a little oil in a skillet and saute a clove of garlic for a couple minutes, until it's fragrant. Add the greens and a little salt, cooking until they're nice and wilty, adding a splash of water if they look dry. I like to cover and pan-steam 'em. When they're nice and cooked, add a splash of red wine vinegar (or lemon) and season to taste. Nice and simple. Half a bunch will serve two people, or one hungry, greens-loving person.

For the potatoes, preheat the oven to 400F, then scrub the 'tatoes, making sure to dry them off. Chop 'em into chunks or wedges, toss with a little oil, seasonings, salt and pepper, and roast on a baking pan for about 25 minutes (the time will vary depending on the size of your potato chunks), stirring the potatoes once or twice. Voila! I really like using blended seasoning mixes on potatoes like Montreal Steak Spice, curry powder, or an Italian-style mix.

And last but not least, blueberry buttermilk pancakes!

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Makes 4 side servings

Ingredients:

1 cup non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

2 teaspoons sweetener (agave, maple, granulated sugar)

2 teaspoons neutral oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 generous cup fresh or frozen blueberries

A little neutral oil, for frying

Fresh blueberries, maple syrup and/or margarine, for serving

Directions:

1. Combine the non-dairy milk and lemon juice in a medium bowl, and set aside to curdle.

2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and salt. Pour the milk mixture into the flour bowl and add the lemon zest, sweetener, oil and vanilla. Stir until just combined - be careful not to over-mix. Gently fold in the blueberries.

3. Heat a little oil in a nice non-stick pan over medium-low heat, and pour your pancake batter into shapes and sizes you desire. You know they're ready to flip when the underside lifts easily from the pan and little air bubbles cover the surface of the pancake. Cook until both sides are golden brown.

4. Serve with fresh blueberries, maple syrup and/or margarine - any toppings that you love on pancakes.

These pancakes are beautiful - the lemon zest really pops out the flavor of the blueberries, without being overwhelmingly lemon-y. They're nice and fluffy and soft, just like the pancakes of my childhood that came out of a box. And so easy!

Fresh, juicy tomatoes with some salt and pepper make a good addition to any plate. Next time I'll be all over that!

Hope you guys had an excellent Sunday - In other news, I've got a product I'm really excited to share with y'all next week. Until then, take care!

(The Best) Vegan Lava Cake (Ever)

2013-02-22T12:01:00.000-06:00

The wait is finally over, blog-friends! For our final Valentine's Day Dinner post, we present you with... The Best Vegan Lava Cake Ever! It may sound a little arrogant, or maybe you think this might fall under the classification of "too-good-to-be-true", but I assure you that cake has everything you want in a lava cake, vegan or not! I mean, I spent days trying to find or create the perfect recipe, and by the end of it I still wanted more of this cake!

Vegan Lava Cake with Ice Cream and Grand Marnier Glaze!

Before I even began I knew it would be a tricky process, so I made a checklist containing all the important qualities I wanted this cake to have. That way, I would know when I had found success! My checklist went as follows:

100% Vegan (duh)
No crazy science ingredients (nothing that could be found in a science lab is allowed in this cake)
Holds form when removed from ramekin (looks matter)
Oozes out when cut into (otherwise it's just not "lava cake")
No cheating (some people take the easy way out by slipping a square of chocolate into the middle of the batter, or adding some kind of gooey filling at the end; no dice)

We could probably subtitle this post "The Birth of a Recipe", because I plan on taking you through a little tour of how the recipe came about, and the trials and tribulations of each iterative step (but don't worry, there are pictures!). Before that, though, I'll give you the final, good-copy recipe. I think the best way to enjoy this blog post would be to read the recipe, find the ingredients, make a few portions, and then enjoy the rest of the journey with lava cake in hand (and mouth!).

The liquidy center spills out of the cake when you cut into it. Beautiful!

Vegan Lava Cake

Ingredients:
for one 8 oz ramekin cake (two servings)

1 1/2 tablespoons vegan margarine (DO NOT use Earth Balance, use a "regular" vegan margarine like Becel)
80 grams (3 oz) dark chocolate

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/8 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup non-dairy milk
2 tablespoons blended firm Silken tofu
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grand Marnier Glaze:

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
1 small square dark chocolate (about 10 grams)
1 teaspoon confectioner's sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Melt margarine in a small pot over medium heat. Without letting the margarine get too hot, add the dark chocolate and stir until melted.

3. Combine the sugar, flour and cornstarch in a mixing bowl and set aside.

4. Stir the milk, blended tofu, and vanilla in with the melted chocolate. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until well combined. You could use an electric mixer here if desired. Make sure to mix very well - vigorously whisking it with a fork works well.

5. Pour cake batter into the greased ramekin and place in the oven. Bake for 14 minutes. The cake should be soft and slightly "jello-y" (the goal here is to have a cake that is raw and pudding-like in the center), but it should definitely look like a chocolate cake. Remove from oven and allow to sit in the ramekin for two minutes to set.

6. While cake is baking, prepare the glaze. Heat the Grand Marnier in a small pot for a minute before adding the square of dark chocolate. Melt the chocolate, remove from heat and stir in the confectioner's sugar.

7. Carefully run a butter knife around the edge of the ramekin to loosen the cake. Cover ramekin with a small plate and invert quickly. Remove the ramekin and top with Grand Marnier glaze and ice cream!

Note: The cake batter can be made and refrigerated for up to a day in advance. Simply make as much batter as desired, pour into greased ramekins, and cover/refrigerate. Remove them from the refrigerator just before baking, and add one minute to the cooking time.

And there you have it! At long last, the perfect recipe for vegan lava cakes. These are the kind of lava cakes I always loved. I know some people consider regular cake batter with boiling water poured over top "lava cakes", but they are most certainly not this awesome. Nothing beats a delicious, moist cake with an ooey gooey molten center.

Nothing wrong with a little messy melty-ness!

Now that you have seen the final, successful recipe, allow me to take you on a journey down memory lane while we examine how this delectable desert came to be. I had been wanting to make a vegan lava cake for a little while, and I decided Valentine's day would be the perfect time to do it. Keeping my checklist firmly in my mind, I began the experiments.

Trial 1: With my checklist in tow I figured the best place to start would be to take a recipe from the internet and make it, seeing how much of my checklist I could achieve with someone else' recipe. I ruled out a few recipes right away for either being to complex (one recipe involved minute amounts of three different kinds of flour, three different egg replacers, a few seeds, and some fruit), using the so-called "science ingredients" (agar, xanthan gum, sodium-whatever-ate), or cheating. Eventually I found one that stood out above the others.

A sea of scalding oil over top a bed of of rock candy

It did not turn out well. This was a recipe taken directly from someone's website, followed exactly, and it created the horrendous monstrosity you see above. It certainly had a molten center, but the edges were equally lava-like. The thing failed at even the most basics of being a cake. To top it all off, it took a full two days of alternating soak/scrub cycles to get that ramekin clean. Whatever wasn't molten and scalding was crystallized and rock-like. Moving on.

Trial 2: For my next trial, I decided to go off-book a little bit. I increased the amount of flour and cornstarch by small amount, and decreased the amount of margarine. At this point I was still using Earth Balance. I also kicked up the amount of chocolate a little bit. The results from this further experiment were... disappointing, but infinitely better than the pure trash that came from the first trial. I was able to plate the cake, but it definitely did not hold up to the checklist.

Oozes out all over the darn plate? Check. Holds together when removed? Not so much.

Trial 3: My next attempt contained the first of two major breakthroughs. I was running out of Earth Balance, so I switched to using a "standard" vegan margarine (the vegan versions of standard supermarket brands like Becel and Smart Balance). To help stop the crystallizing problem I was having I also cut down the amount of confectioner's sugar and lowered the baking temperature a bit, increasing the time to ensure at least a little bit of done-ness.

At least this one looks like a cake.

Certainly the most successful looking attempt so far! It held together, just like magic, but without any major changes. Then it hit me: it must be the margarine. Allysia has since told me that brands like Earth Balance tend to lack emulsifiers, which can sometimes lead to oily separation during baking. I just call it magic and witchcraft. Unfortunately my journey does not end here: the product is too much cake and not enough lava.

Trial 4: A second breakthrough. Up until this point I had been using semi-sweet chocolate chips, as that was what was called for in most of the recipes I looked at, but how would dark chocolate affect the cake? I guessed that the lower sugar content would be a big help in fixing that stubborn crystallization issue. After baking a and plating I had the best desert yet. The outside was moist and delicious, rather than slightly crunchy with hardened sugar. Now I just had to fix the inside.

Looking better and better...

Trials 5 and 6: It's now down to fine touches and small adjustments. First change: increase the cooking temperature back to the original and drop the cooking time. Cook the outside before the inside can heat up too much. Results? Definitely not cooked in the middle, but not quite oozing out on it's own. The second try leads to similar results. It is clear that cooking time alone is not going to solve this problem.

Smooth in the middle, and slightly jello-y!

Trial 7: I experience a zen moment. My mind flashes back to my days of making non-vegan lava cakes. I remember the batter being less viscous. I know what I need to do. Chop the amount of cornstarch in half, add some milk to thin the desert out and... voila!

Finally, a cake that exceeds expectations!

A vegan cake that fulfills every criteria on my checklist. Fairly simple ingredient list, a nice shape, and the filling even oozes out on its own. It has been a long, arduous journey, but eating this trial was worth every minute of baking and waiting and thinking and scrubbing.

If you've stuck with me through all that text then I know what you should do: Find these ingredients, and make yourself a lava cake. You've earned it!

Marinated Seared Tofu Steak

2013-02-20T12:28:00.003-06:00

Good morning, ladies and gents! I'll start off by letting you know that I (Mike) will be doing a little more blogging over the next day or two. Today you get a recipe for the fourth course of our Valentine's Day Dinner, a seared tofu steak with roasted vegetables and white root veggie puree. To tell you the truth, I am especially glad that I get to blog most of this one because this was seriously one of the BEST tofu dishes I have had. It was certainly the closest vegan comparison I've seen to having some huge hunk of meaty protein on a plate.

Just look at that delicious piece of 'fu! There were a few important parts to the success of this dish. The first was marinating the tofu for a long time. We marinated ours overnight, but two or three days couldn't hurt, either. Searing the tofu on high heat was another important piece to the puzzle. A nice sear gave the steak lots of color and caramelized some of the sweet marinade on the outside. Finally, a little bit of sauce reduction poured over everything set off the dish perfectly. But enough gushing, lets get to the recipe!

Seared Tofu Steak With Root Veggie Puree

Ingredients (for the puree, two servings):

2 cups turnip, rutabaga, or parsnip, cubed
1 cup potato, cubed
1/2 to 1 cup veggie broth
Pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the tofu, four servings):

1 block firm or extra-firm tofu
1/2 cup Marsala wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
6 sprigs fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns (or ground pepper)

Directions:

1. Start by cutting the tofu. You can make them any size/shape you want, but try to keep them around 1 inch thick, or even slightly thicker. You can probably get two good-sized steaks out of a block of tofu, with some trimmings left over for other use.

2. Combine all other ingredients in a Ziploc bag and shake to mix. Add the two tofu pieces to the bag and squeeze most of the air out of the bag before sealing. This seems to be a great way to keep the tofu submerged in the marinating liquid. Let the tofu sit for 24 to 72 hours.

3. When ready to start making the meal, boil the peeled and cubed root veggies for around 25 minutes, or until they are very soft. Drain and mash.

4. Either by hand or in a blender, vigorously mix in the veggie broth. You may only need a small amount of broth or you may need a lot, depending on the specific veggies used. Allysia's turnip and potato puree needed far less broth than my parsnip puree. Add a hefty amount of pepper.

5. While the veggies are being done, heat a large, heavy pan (cast iron is probably a good bet) to medium-high heat. Remove the tofu from the Ziploc bag, saving the marinating liquid. Sear the tofu in the hot pan, starting with the narrow sides. Let the tofu sear for 3-4 minutes per side.

6. Strain the marinating liquid and add to the pan. Let the tofu continue to cook while the liquid reduces to a fairly thick sauce.

Allysia's beautiful plate before adding sauce, complete with some citrus wedges and broccoli!

7. When the liquid is reduced, remove the tofu and plate on top of a good-sized portion of the puree. Serve a few roasted or grilled veggies on the side for some added color and flavor. Just before serving, spoon some of the sauce from the pan over the plate.

My tofu steak, with some braised broccolini and carrot.

When I said before that this was one of my favorite tofu dishes ever, I meant it. Just look at the color and texture on that plate. The sauce was slightly sticky from the reduction, and ridiculously flavorful. It was really nice to use something other than potatoes in the puree. Don't get me wrong, I love my mashed potatoes, but changing it up is so easy, and the difference is definitely worth it.

Mushroom Crostini with Roasted Garlic

2013-02-18T23:45:00.000-06:00

The second course of last week's Valentine's Day Dinner was a mushroom crostini with roasted garlic. I loved this dish for a multitude of reasons - it was hella easy (that's my most important criteria), it had lots of mushrooms and ample amounts of roasted garlic, and it's called "crostini". Doesn't that just make it sound super-fancy? I could've called it "mushrooms on toast", which is what it is, but it doesn't sound nearly as awesome. Ahh, language.

Roasting garlic does indeed take a little extra time, but it's so low-maintenance and can be done in advance - it's the second easiest way to fancy up a dish, aside from calling it "crostini".

These 'shrooms were my "intro to home wine cookery" class, because since I'm at food school eight hours a day, all food ends up being my lesson, whether I'm at school or not. The lesson was this: Marsala wine is badass because it makes mushrooms taste great, and can be stored in the fridge for a long time, unlike other wines, which need to be consumed within a day or two of opening. Don't get me wrong, I love drinking a glass of wine while cooking, but not three quarters of a bottle. That's why wine cookery is best saved for romantic dates or food parties - not so great when you're flying solo in the kitchen.

Mushroom Crostini with Roasted Garlic
Makes 4 crostini

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon olive oil or margarine
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced, preferably an exciting variety (shiitake, button, oyster, cremini, etc)
Splash of soy sauce
Splash of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup marsala wine
1/4 cup vegetable broth
4 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and pepper, to taste

4 small slices of toasted bread (crusty bread, or use a circular cookie cutter on regular bread)
1 head of roasted garlic*

*To roast garlic, cut off the top of the head (to expose the tops of all the cloves), drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake at 400 F for about 30 minutes, until the cloves are soft and can easily be squeezed out of the garlic head.

Directions:

In a medium saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and sliced mushrooms and cook until they soften and start releasing moisture, 5-7 minutes. Add a splash of soy sauce and red wine vinegar to add flavor and moisture, and to prevent the 'shrooms from sticking. Deglaze the pan with the marsala wine and vinegar, adding the thyme sprigs, and cook until most of the liquid has reduced, about 7 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and remove the thyme sprigs before serving.

Spread a thin layer of roasted garlic on your crostini, and then top with a big spoonful of the mushroom mixture, garnishing with more fresh thyme if you desire. You could use a wide variety of bread vehicles, but try to keep the bread pieces small-ish, for the sake of eating ease. Or just go all out and eat a giant serving on a big piece of bread, who am I to stop you - it would definitely be delicious.

Mike: Above is my version of the crostini. Pretty much the same recipe, just a different variety of mushrooms. It wasn't that long ago that we first started experimenting with adding a lot of liquid to sauteed veggies before letting them cook down. With something like this, the amount of liquid definitely doesn't have to be exact. Add more broth or more wine as you see fit, it just means more flavor in the end! The only thing to watch out for is the added salt that comes with more broth, but if you happen to use homemade broth you could keep the sodium low and boil down an entire cup of flavor into each serving of mushrooms. This is definitely a good recipe to play around with and modify. Use it as a base and add your own flare to it, or do it just like we did for a delicious appetizer!

Stayed tuned over the next few days to see the rest of the recipes from our Valentine's Day Dinner extravaganza!