Mad About Udon

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

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!

-Maureen

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

Empidoids! Mmm dried flies… Just kidding. The only time I consume flies is when I accidentally inhale them (some of the specimens are quite small; I have to mount them under a microscope).

Clockwise from upper left corner: steelcut oats with apple and raisin, red grapes, honey dew melon, cold pasta salad (vegetable confetti pasta, fenugreek sprouts, watercress, sweet yellow pepper, white onion, cucumber and capers), raspberries and blueberries and Yoso blueberry soy yogurt.

The above photo is a somewhat typical example of the kind of packed lunch I bring to work. I usually eat the oatmeal and grapes in the morning, and the berries and soy yogurt in the afternoon. The cold pasta salad is not really typical of my packed lunches as I usually do not have time to make such a thing in the morning.

- Aly

PS The Granola Girl Cafe Project is back from the summer hiatus!

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.

Last week I had the pleasure of eating at Cafe Soup’Herbe in Old Wakefield, Quebec with two friends, another vegetarian and a veggie-happy omnivore. C’était superbe!! It’s a vegetarian cafe but the vegan options were marked on the menu. The cafe itself was rustic and comfortable, nestled at the foothills of Gatineau Park. I was rather surprised to find such a veggie gem in a small cluster of town and stores, in Quebec no less (the Quebecois love their meat). Soup’Herbe is only a 15 minute drive from Ottawa, and could easily be accessed before or after a hike in the Gatineau Hills.

I ordered the Soup’Herbe salad, which was amazing! If I said that this salad was colossal, it would be a reckless understatement. It was also so beautifully arranged that I almost felt bad about eating it. It contained everything–alfalfa sprouts, green and purple lettuce (I’m bad at diagnosing lettuce types), carrots, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes, croutons…and probably other stuff I can’t remember. It was served in a tasty vinaigrette dressing.

I’ll definitely go back to Cafe Soup’Herbe anytime!

For lunches this week I made a pasta salad using organic multicoloured rotini, low-fat lemon poppyseed dressing, and all the veggies in my fridge that I thought were going to go bad (orange and yellow peppers, cucumbers, bean sprouts). Unfortunately, I made one mistake…. upon the discovery that I didn’t have any tofu left (grilled or pan-fried tofu makes great “croutons”) I subbed with textured vegetable protein (TVP) slices. Yuck. They were limp and watery and cold. Other than that, this salad was decent but I wouldn’t made it again without tofu.

I usually perk up a tepid salad by adding crunchy red onions sauteed in balsamic vinegar (don’t overcook!). The red onions absorb the perfect amount of vinegar so as to explode with deliciousness when they are bit into.

I hope everyone has lovely weekend plans ahead…the weather looks great for Ottawa so I’m going to head out on a 33-km rollerblade mission as soon as I post this. It’s supposed to be *really* hot today… it’s already 35 with the humidex at it’s only 9:30 am! Luckily my route takes me near a beach and I’ll be sure to Slip, Slop, and Slap, and also carry a water bottle even though it’s annoying. Have a great weekend everyone!

-Maureen

I smothered chopped red and yellow peppers in herbs and canola oil and roasted the pieces for about 15 minutes. I added the roasted peppers, and some chopped cherry tomatoes, to Vegetable Giardino pasta sauce from La Bottega Nicastro, and simmered the mix for 15 minutes. I poured it over fresh gniocchi, which is so easy to cook that I won’t describe it. Served with another batch of bruschetta (which didn’t turn out so well because I couldn’t find any f*cking basil in this whole city and so subbed with oregano).

Because it was a special dinner I also picked up some vegan cakes from Perfection Satisfaction Promise, right on the outskirts of the University of Ottawa campus.

Clockwise from carrot: carrot cake, lemon poppyseed cake, chocolate cake, peanutbutter-chocolate cheeseake. Very pri$ey but well worth the investment! We ended up nibbling on these over a couple days.

-Maureen

La Bottega Nicastro’s is a local Italian gourmet food mart in Ottawa. I’m not Italian nor do I “love” Italian food–but hot damn: you make a good sauce, Mr Nicastro!

Each of these jars was $2.99. This stuff is downright drinkable. I made a pasta dish using a jar of Wood Oven Roasted Garlic pasta sauce, and a package of Organic “Fantasia” brown rice pasta. The “Fantasia” aspect probably refers to the whimsical shapes which were totally fun to play with (yes, I’m 23…):

Of course, I threw in fresh cilantro because it’s like… crack to me. And I put it in everything. I served this gluten-free dish with Art-Is-In dill & potato bread (obvs not GF) from the Natural Food Pantry.

-Maureen

Whoo!! Guess who graduated university? ME! It hasn’t really sunk in that the exhausting yet exhilarating roller-coaster ride that is university is finally over. So much has happened since I defended my thesis last Friday, including moving in with my Omnivore Boyfriend (henceforth referred to as O.B.), and commencing full-time work at the university (a job I previously held part-time). But things have calmed down a bit so here is the first of what will hopefully be a delicious barrage of cooking photos this weekend.

Gluten-Free Chunky Pasta Salad (can anyone think of a better name?)

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber (cut in half and diced thickly)
• 1 yellow pepper (sliced)
• 1 can black beans
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 1 can black pre-sliced olives
• 1 pkg Eden Organic Flax Rice Spirals
• PC Honey Dijon salad dressing to taste

This made a huge amount of pasta salad… 7 or so servings. I’ve mentioned before that I have a habit of picking out random, awesome sounding pastas from the health food store or Chinatown, but the Flax Rice Spirals were… meh. They tasted kinda like whole wheat pasta which you can buy for a hell of a lot cheaper than $3.59/box.

-Maureen

I made lunch for a omnivorous friend yesterday who was curious about the sorts of things I can eat with my allergies. I was quite nervous about this at first as I always want to leave my friends with a good impression of vegan fare! I ended up preparing roasted brussel sprouts, a salad and a pasta and mushroom combination:

It is going to be difficult, but not impossible, to get school stuff in to my photos now that the semester is over ;)!

I used the FFVK’s fantastically simple and delicious roasted Brussels sprout recipe. The blob of hummus in the salad was also inspired by various FFVK posts. The pasta dish was a mixture of Eddie’s vegetable confetti pasta, shiitake mushrooms, fresh oregano, onion and various herbs and spices. It turned out pretty well!

On a distantly related note, I had the pleasure of going to a vegan brunch today (I wish I had had my camera!) where I was introduced to Yoso, a tasty soy yogurt which was definitely more palatable than any other soy yogurt that I have tried!

- Aly