Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone! For Easter I had a lovely dinner at my parents'. My cousins' girlfriend is from out of town and is visiting, so she was there too. In total there were seven of us, which for our family dinners really isn't that many people! The rest of my family eats pretty much anything (although Dad tries to avoid gluten) so they had a turkey. Other than the turkey and turkey gravy, our entire meal was vegan. I've trained them well. ;)

We had: mashed potatoes, vegan mushroom gravy, peppers roasted in balsamic, sweet potatoes with a candied pecan topping, dressing (cooked out of the turkey), creamed peas in a vegan roux, and I had maple garlic tofu steaks. It was awesome!  The gravy recipe is amazing, but unfortunately it's at my parents', where I no longer am. I will try my best to remember to ask Mom for it and post it!

Yesterday Bestest and I made chocolate cupcakes with a vegan butter cream. We made little nests, flowers, and grass out of Wilton gum paste. I used vegan jelly beans (thank you Bulk Barn!) and she used chocolate mini eggs to fill the nests. We each took our cupcakes to our respective family dinners. I just love how cute they are!

It was really nice to have a day with my family. We played some cards and shared a great meal. And Mom conveniently got me some 85% chocolate - I'd just run out! I love holidays where we come together for a big meal, and I love it even more now that we've figured out how to make it vegan. :)

Gomen + Whipped Coconut Cream with Blackberries

Over this past term, I've worked at Langano Skies Ethiopian Restaurant, which burnt down in a tragic fire on April 7th. As I've been there I've grown absolutely attached to Ethiopian food, which I already loved before I started there. I've been really missing having a delicious meal before every shift. I figured, though, instead of complaining, I should make some! I decided to make gomen, which is a dish made with stewed spinach or collard greens and spices. Normally it should be eaten with injera, but given the difficulty of making good injera that's a project for another night! I had mine with brown rice instead. It really hit the spot. I had it with a glass of Bolthouse Farms Mango Smoothie. Mmm.

For dessert, I had whipped coconut cream with fresh blackberries. The gomen was good, don't get me wrong, but as soon as I bit into dessert my mouth died and went to heaven. I LOVE coconut whipped cream! Every vegan ever should try this. It's so easy and so amazing. Take a can of coconut milk and leave it in the fridge for a couple hours. Don't shake it! The clear liquid will have separated out to the bottom. Scoop out the white solids on the top and either get rid of the liquid or save it (like for rice or to flavour a stirfry). Then you just add powdered sugar and vanilla to taste and whip it like you would normal whipped cream. Amazing!

Produce!!!

I am so so ready for summer, you have no idea. The sun is finally shining, the snow is melting, and I wore a dress today. It's awesome! I've been eating a lot of produce as of late because I'm so darn excited for summer. This morning for breakfast I had half a cantelope, half a pomelo, and a left-over pancake. When we were kids Dad always cut the cantelope so that it stayed in its dome shape: I'm quite impressed I managed to replicate it! The pancakes I made for breakfast yesterday. They're whole wheat with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and chocolate chips. So so good! I also had a cup of sweet tea I brought back from a monastery in China. Perfect way to start a morning. I'm in the midst of term paper writing, hence the giant textbook stack.

For lunch I had left over stir fried bok choy in garlic sauce, tossed with bean thread noodles. I then had a handful of pistachios after class before heading to the grocery store. Right before I left I chopped up some tofu and marinated it. I cheated and started with a pre-made teriyaki sauce, which I added soy sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar to. I left it to sit while I got my groceries and when I came back I made a giant salad, with green leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado, roasted red pepper, the marinated tofu, and sesame seeds. I used the left over marinade as dressing. It was fantastic!

In the spirit of summer I also bought some Good Karma Rice Divine Coconut Mango ice cream because it was on sale. I'm going to hold off, though, and have a mango for dessert. :) 

Banana Bran Muffins

So I came up with this recipe by combining a few different ones I found online. I'm pretty happy with them - they're hearty yet still delicious and moist. I really like the subtle taste of the cinnamon and nutmeg. I ate a couple and the rest are going to be breakfasts for a little while. School gets pretty hectic some times, so it's nice to have stuff already made for days I'm really busy or just don't want to cook.

Banana Bran Muffins

1 tbsp flax + 3 tbsp warm water

3 mashed bananas

1/2 cup soy milk

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups bran flakes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 and grease or line your muffin tins (I tend to grease mine so I don't waste a ton of wrappers, or I have silicone ones I sometimes use). Mix the flax and water to make an "egg". Add the rest of the wet ingredients, ensuring the bran flakes get wet. Let sit for ten minutes and stir so that the bran flakes are broken up. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Mix the wet and dry ingredients and spoon into tins. Bake for 23-25 minutes. Makes 12. 

On a separate note, a birdy flew into my house while I was baking and died. I felt so sad, and didn't know what to do with the little guy because we have way too much snow to bury him. The only thing I could think of was to throw him (or her?) in the garbage (this was google's suggestion), but I felt horrible about that. I ended up wrapping him in a nice piece of fabric I brought back from Uganda and putting him in a little bag before placing him in the garbage. It was the nicest thing I could think of to do. Poor birdy. 

Chai cupcakes...Happy Birthday Geoff!!

One of my best friends, Geoff, turned 21, so a bunch of us (I want to say 15?) headed to Banff for a weekend of skiing and, well...21st birthday celebrating! I made a huge batch of chili as well as quinoa and beans so that I had food to eat and share. There was enough left over I subsisted almost entirely off it for the following week. I don't think a birthday is complete without cupcakes, though, and Geoff specifically requested chai. I've done a couple variations on this recipe and I think this might be my fave so far (in part because it doesn't have soy yogurt like the original, which a) is expensive and b) always requires a trip to the store).

I used the golden vanilla cupcakes recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World as my base. I used some homemade chai I so very conveniently had in the fridge instead of milk. If you don't happen to have chai lying around, add some nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and a tiny pinch of pepper. I added a little extra nutmeg and cardamom because I love them so. For the icing, I used a vegan buttercream (which I never ever ever measure, I just taste and check texture as I go - only real tip, don't add too much milk because it's way easier to thin than thicken) and added the aforementioned spices but without the pepper and with cocoa. I didn't measure I just did little pinches of each and tasted.

I iced them in purple and teal and piped swirls on top. I would just like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Jewish dietary laws! Kosher certification makes vegan life much easier (though I'm probably going to get fat thanks to the Kosher jelly beans at Bulk Barn). The Wilton dyes are Kosher and thus don't have any cochineal or lovely ingredients like that (bugs are not Kosher). So yay!

Since I've posted art before I think I'll continue the trend. I told Geoff I would paint a picture of Notorious B.I.G. for him for his birthday. I plan to ultimately do it on a 1 foot by 1 foot canvas but I decided to practice on the tiny dollar store canvas first. Biggie needs to be, well, bigger. I made his face too skinny and the eyes aren't quite right. For a first attempt, though, I'm happy!

Stay far from timid

Only make moves when your heart's in it

And live the phrase the sky's the limit

Sushi and miso night

Hello again! It's been ages. Clearly, I did not stick to the new food every day thing. Instead, I moved out into a house with three awesome girls and a fat cat. I have put my past relationship behind me. I got a job in the kitchen at Langano Skies. I was also accepted into an internship in forensic anthropology with the Miami Dade Medical Examiners Office. So while I didn't stick to my original goal, I still feel like it's been a successful couple months! There may or may not be some catch up posts.

Anyhoo, on to the topic of the post: sushi and miso! Unfortunately, these are two foods I really don't use recipes for. I'll try my best to explain what I did though. Please forgive the terrible pictures; I've been doing a research project at the Royal Alberta Museum and completely changed the settings to get good pictures of the specimens under their lighting, but forgot to change it back. Oops.

Miso Soup

Water (I would guess 5-6 cups)

Veggie broth powder (a few shakes)

Wakame seaweed (probably about a cup, cut up)

Shiitake mushrooms (four big ones)

Silken tofu (one package)

Miso paste (about 4 tbsp)

I put the water in a pot and shook in some veggie broth powder (and nope, didn't measure either - I wanted enough powder to add some flavor but not become overbearing. I definitely used less than the suggested ratio on the broth package). Then I added the seaweed and let it go on medium high for about 15 minutes. I then added sliced shiitakes and cubed silken tofu and reduced the heat to medium-low. That cooked away for probably another 15 minutes (it may not need that long, it's just how long it took me to finish my sushi). At the last minute I removed some broth (a cup or so, I'd guess) and stirred in the miso paste. I turned the heat off and added the dissolved miso back into the pot. And that's it! I often add green onions to my miso but I completely forgot. It was still good without.

Sushi

Rice (1.5 cups uncooked; I used brown)

Mirin (1 tbsp; or rice vinegar if you prefer)

Nori sheets (3)

Cucumber (1/2, peeled)

Avocado (1)

Shiitake mushrooms (3 large)

First off get the rice cooking. Once it's cooked, stir in the mirin and allow to cool. Meanwhile, cut up the veggies. I juliened the cucumber and shiitakes and cut the avocado into tiny cubes. Once the rice is cooled and the veggies are chopped, the fun begins! Take a nori sheet and spread rice thinly over 2/3 of it. Then place the veggies on the side with rice. Roll tightly towards the end without rice and seal the edges with water. If you have a sushi mat, great. I don't, though, and it worked just fine. Just make sure to really give it a good squeeze. Cut the roll with the sharpest knife you have or it will get squished. Mix wasabi and soy sauce to taste for dipping and enjoy!

I tried going to bed about 3 hours ago and just couldn't fall asleep. Blogging and eating a banana with peanut butter seamed like a far better idea! On a separate note, I bought some sprouting seeds last week at Planet Organic. I'll let you know how the sprouting goes! Have a good night, everyone. :)

Artistic Attempts

Well, this certainly isn't food related. But I think one of the important components of veganism is remembering we are all connected to everything and everyone on this planet. This post is about being connected to our fellow humans. :)

 A friend I haven't talked to in ages had a great idea. She sent anyone who asked a personalized, hand made Christmas card. Included in the envelope was a stamp. The other half of the deal was that we had to create something - anything- on a normal sheet of computer paper and send it back to her. Well, I cheated and used heavy linen paper, but it's the right size! I haven't done much (really any) painting before and have been inspired to do so lately, so this was perfect! My brother let me use his acrylics so I gave 'er a go. I painted a mushroom cloud because she has one in the background of her Facebook picture. I did it in the style of Roy Lichtenstein: primary colors, sharp contrasting images, and use of words. I'm fairly happy with it, all things considered. I am going to mail it to her tomorrow!