This took way too long to make. Not that I’d wish to live in Libya or anything… but the flag would have been a lot freakin’ easier. Happy Canada Day everyone!! I’m going to celebrate by getting injured and going to get free health care. Fuck yeah, I love Canada!
(The pic above is banana bread, recipe listed here; icing recipe found here)
-Maureen
This recipe comes from The Vegan Next Door. The vegan blogosphere has exploded with zucchini-related posts in the last week, to my great confusion, since zucchinis don’t seem to be that proliferous at the markets here in Ottawa.
I hope The Vegan Next Door doesn’t mind me re-posting her recipe (with my adaptations), since I can’t seem to link to the posting.
INGREDIENTS
Batter
· 3 “flax eggs” (or 3 egg equivalents like En-R-G egg replacement)
· 1 cup vegetable oil
· 2 cups granulated sugar
· 2 cups grated zucchini
· 2 tsps vanilla extract
· 3 cups whole wheat flour
· 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
· 1 tsp baking soda
· ¼ tsp baking powder
· 1 tsp salt
· ½ cup chopped walnuts
Crust
· 1 cup brown sugar
· 1 cup whole wheat flour
· 2 tbsp 100% vegetable oil margarine, softened
· 2 tsp cinnamon
· ½ cup chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS
I took this cake to a little get-together and everyone said they liked it. I think there’s too much oil in the recipe so if I made it again I’d replace half of it with applesauce.
Thanks again to The Vegan Next Door for the idea!
-Maureen
The University of Ottawa has crappy, crappy, crappy food. Unbelievably bad. It’s like WW2-era, desperately overpriced rations. Thank christ I couldn’t afford the meal plan in first year, else I might have contracted scurvy. Because you can be damn sure I wouldn’t buy a soft, crinkled apple for $1.70. Screw you, Chartwells, you’re not getting a cent of my money!
Where am I going with this? Oh yeah, I once reviewed the food court at Carleton University for a Fulcrum article. Holy crap was it ever good (but expensive). I remember the Moroccan-spiced couscous blew me away. (ALSO THE SOY MILK ON TAP!!!)
Most of the recipes for Moroccan couscous have an extensive list of ingredients. I’m at the point right now, financially, where I can’t spend $5 on tons of new ingredients. So although this recipe might not be crazy authentic, it is damn easy and you probably have most of the ingredients in your cupboard or fridge.
4 tbsp vegan margarine
3/4 cup chopped shallots
3 cups vegatarian stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups couscous
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup currants
3/4 cup shredded zucchini (optional; I just added this because I had it)
In large sauce pan, melt butter. Add the shallots and cook for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add stock, salt and pepper, raise the heat to high and bring the stock to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the couscous and zucchini; stir. Cover the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes. Add pine nuts and currants, and fluff with a fork
I served the couscous with (counter-clockwise from the couscous): sweet-potato soup, steamed vegetable dim-sum buns from Chinatown, naan for dipping in the soup (not vegan, for O.B.), and dipping sauce for the dim sum buns (1:3 hoisin:sweet-thai-chilli sauces). Perfect for a night in with Lost on DVD!
-Maureen
I hate waiting for fruits/veggies to ripen! Such is my major frustration with mangoes, avocadoes, bananas, , etc. (Apples & carrots, FTW!!). Three weeks ago I bought a mango to make Mango-Avocado Guacamole and after 2 weeks (seriously!) of waiting for it to ripen, I manically hacked into it with a machete (okay, just a knife). It was still hard as a rock and I forlornly threw it out. Later that day I found 3 mangoes at the grocery store in the “50% off because these are so ripe they are about to go bad” section. Victory against the mangoes! Two went into the guacamole and with one to spare, I made Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango from Veganomicon:
It was colourful and nutritious, to be sure, but 3/5 for taste. I couldn’t even detect the mango. This is only my second Veganomicon experiment, the first one being my wildly successful and often-repeated Pumpkin Cake with Pecan Streusel Topping. I think I’ll probably shelve this recipe and try another one from the book.
Happy Canada Day long weekend everyone!
-Maureen
I really shouldn’t make guacamole so often, because tortilla chips (which couple magnificently with guac, of course) are just so impossible to stop eating. Tortilla chips + me = bad news bears.
But then along comes Your Vegan Mom who posted the idea of mixing mango and avocado for a dip. I used the same super-simple PC Guacamole mix as I did last time, but this time added one chopped organic mango.
Tengo hambre, amigos!! Mmmmm.
-Maureen
This past weekend I travelled to New England to hike the Presidential Range of mountains in New Hampshire. This was my first trip into the States this hiking season. Usually I go to Adirondacks in New York but something drew me to New Hampshire. I went with 8 other hikers from the Alpine Club of Canada. The drive through Vermont was lovely, tarnished only by the uproarious admission by my car-mates that they had (all!) smuggled fruits and veggies across the border. What. The. Hell.
Hiking burns about 500 cal/hour, and for long stretches on the trail, it’s important to pack lots of food and pack it well. I made a dozen sandwiches consising of baked tofu (marinated in soy & ginger salad dressing), soy cheese, and sweet thai chilli sauce on a bun.
I also packed 12 granola bars (seen above) and 8 apples (which I legitimately purchased in Vermont, unlike my obnoxiously felonious comrades).
Aside from tofu sandwiches, apples, and granola bars, there is a lot that the active vegan can pack for a hike. Unless you’re trying to create a calorie deficit (which is often the case), you may need to pack up to 5,000 calories/day. Packable fruits and veggies include oranges, carrots, peppers, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes. For long hikes, you can dehydrate certain fruits like pineapple, bananas, mangoes, apples, strawberries, and kiwis.
Additionally, Luna Bars, some Clif Bars, and random brands of granola bars are vegan, so check the labels. I find it’s easier to pack a dozen identical sandwiches because it saves money and stress, and packs well, but other ideas include: peanut butter or hummus on a pita, crackers, dry cereal, trail mix (although I personally think that hikers eat waaaay to much trail mix), raisins, wild rice, vegan cookies, fruit leather, or just any type of homemade sandwich using your favourite vegan protein.
Our group dinner the first night was fortuitously vegan—pasta and sauce. I co-ordinated dinner the second night, which was 6 different kinds of store bought curry (all vegetarian, two vegan), brown basmati rice, and naan. Unfortch I forgot to take a pic but here is a salad that another hiker made that night for the group:
The hikes were great—the storms lifted just in time on Saturday morning for us to scale Mt Madison and Mt Adams, and hike along the rocky ridge of Mt Jefferson. On Sunday we hiked a small mountain just to stretch our muscles back into shape. It was very challenging overall (I’m still sore!) but good practice for my Rockies trip in August. The views were incredible.
Happy Hiking!
There are plenty of unorthodox things I’ve been known to do to pumpkins, but more than anything I fancy baking ‘em.
Veganomicon is heralded as the trendy book-du-jour for vegans, and I had yet to try any recipes because I’m lazy, poor, and the recipes seem overly complicated. But this week I popped my Veganomicon cherry with a recipe for Pumpkin Cake with Pecan Streusel topping. I brought it to a potluck and it was a hit! Since then I’ve made it twice more for various occasions and have only gotten outrageously complimentary feedback.
I used the wrong size cake pan so it was moist and kinda like pie in the middle, which I actually found awesome. (There’s an American Pie joke in there somewhere)
I also made one of my fave recipes, which I already posted but I think this is a nice picture. Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing:
Recipe posted here.
I think my potluck contributions were well-received by all. Which is good because I have another damn potluck next week.
Finally I just want to shout a big WHOO HOO because Mad About Udon just passed its 5000th visitor after having opened its doors just a couple months ago. Thanks for visiting!
- Maureen
Good news–I got my degree on the mail (having skipped convocation). So I officially have my Bachelor of Science in Biopharmaceutical Sciences (concentration Medicinal Chemistry). Whoo whoo!!
*crushes beer can on head*
Okay, so onto the food, I have so much to post. I’ve been re-making a couple recipes just for convenience. The other day I made falafels again from The Garden of Vegan. Let me tell you, that book is on fire! No seriously, it’s on fire, I turned the wrong element on (like I do every time!!) and it caught fire. Now my book is charred but my favourite recipes are intact so it’s all good.
Other foodz:
Banana Bread. I’ve made this before but with vanilla icing. Chocolate is equally good.
Grilled melons and pineapple with So Good soy vanilla ice cream
Not-yet-barbecued kebabs. I used PC Blue Menu Marinated Tofu and red and yellow peppers drizzed with oil and sprinkled with various herbs. Loblaws has been out of zucchini for like, a week (!!), and so peppers were the only vegetable I could come up with. Unfortunately, the BBQ was out of propane so I just baked these instead (didn’t get a picture, oops)… we’ll try again with the BBQ next week I think.
Another batch of Thai red curry, this time with little grilled tofu squares and served over brown rice vermicelli (upper left).
My friend “T” and I were wandering around the city last weekend, on a sweltering summer’s day, looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Sushi Go, right in the Byward Market. The prices were decent (also since I make sushi at home, no price for take-out sushi is every really satisfactory) and the sushi was excellent. We were, however, a little disturbed at the “Doors-Wide-Open-and-Air-Conditioner-Blaring” policy that Sushi Go and every other restaurant/cafe/business in the Market seemed to operate. Is it even remotely ethical or responsible—in this current age of environmental concern and reform—to engage in such a business practice?
TGIF!
-Maureen
This post has been brought to you by Jake, my catsitting charge last week, seen here crunching data and compressing files.
Despite 23 years of real-world (and kitchen) experience, I admit that I just recently looked up what Crisco actually is. I’ve long suspected that it was something I couldn’t eat, made from animal souls or something of that nature. But apparently this is not only a vegan but also a kosher product. Quelle suprise!
These pictures come from Tasmia out at McGill in Montreal, who baked a vegan pie for her household (incl a vegan roomate) back on March 14 (3.14)—Pi day! And what better type of pie to make than a Pi Pie.
Truly artistic and imaginative… far beyond anything I could ever put together (although I long to jump on the VCTOTW bandwagon and paint pretty cupcakes). The recipes come from Crisco itself and can be found here (crust) and here (filling). Thanks Tasmia for the pics, and for uniting math and food!
-Maureen
Crap! I just posted this and went to check the blog and it mysteriously disappeared! Er, let me know you if you find it?
Here is the gist of that post:
1) It’s really freaking hot in Ottawa.
2) Despite this, I made sweet potato soup… voila:
This soup was so good!!
The recipe came from Canadian Living Magazine and can be found here. I used curry madras paste which worked well. I also garnished with cilantro (mint would also serve the purpose, I think), and a streak of soy milk.
Hoping this posts,
-Maureen
Aly
Maureen