Lentil Snobby Joes over Polenta

I have not been feeling well since I returned from Boston but I was still craving a nice homemade meal tonight. A few months ago I bought a huge bag of Puy French Lentils and have been itching to use them in recipes. This lead me to open Veganomicon and boom I found Lentil Snobby Joes. These have been on my list of things to try out for a while so I was excited to try them. The ingredients are super simple and even incorporate my favourite ingredient in this world...maple syrup! The end result was a nice smokey flavour. I plan on making a nice big batch and freezing some to have on hand.

I also recently purchased some polenta wanting to give it another shot. I sliced it up and fried it on my griddle. In the end we found it did not have much taste to it but the consistency was nice and the polenta paired very well with the Snobby Joes. It was a nice alternative to buns or bread.

The side salad was made with a Top-Secret salad dressing recipe which includes Tahini and Miso and then topped with Hemp Seeds.


Okay I cannot resist showing a picture of my furbabies...Moon and Zany :)

Boston Veg Fest 2010

I had an amazing opportunity to go to Boston over the weekend to attend their 15th Annual Veg Fest. Wow was it amazing! It gave us amazing ideas on what we would like to do for our very own Winnipeg Veg Fest coming in August 2011. Here is some of the food we had in Boston.

Our first restaurant visit was My Thai Vegan Cafe. I was a little skeptical about this restaurant as we walked up a long set of green stairs. Once we got to the top though the inside was very beautiful. I guess you really cannot judge a book by its cover!

Golden Triangles...filled with veggie-chicken and veggies with a nice peanute sauce. They were delicious.

Vegan Pad Thai...was decent but not super.

Gaeng Kiow Wahn...green curry with veggie beef and veggies. This was one of the most amazing dishes I have ever had in my life. The green curry and coconut milk combination was so delicious and the combination of veggies made this a perfect dish.


There was tons of food choices within the Veg Fest and unforunately I did not get a chance to take a picture of all of them. This combo was a vegan curried goat and BBQ tofu. The Curry part was great but the bbq was nothing to write home about.

This company....Like No Udder...was one of the many soy treats available at the Veg Fest. We had milkshakes, coconut ice cream, peanut and butter ice cream and the topper...Vegan Soft Serve in a Twisted format with chocoalte and Vanilla.

Here I am enjoying my cone!

I absolutely loved Boston. It was so easy to get around the city with the subway and evereyone was so friendly. There were so many restaurants we could not get to but were happy with the restaurants we visited while in Boston.

Vegan Mofo 2010...Why I became Vegan!

Vegan MOFO (Month of Food) 2010 is here and I am committing myslef to blog at least 5 times a week. There are over 375 vegan blogs all over the world participating this year which is awesome.

I thought it would be appropriate to start the month off with sharing my reason as to why I became vegan. I remember growing up and never loving the taste of meat. We never ate much of it and I was blessed with a mother who cooked an amazing variety of meals filled with fresh veggies. As I got older I dipped into vegeteraianism because of not liking the taste of meat and no other reason. Of course I lied to myself during this time while I labelled myslef a "vegetarian" but still ate chicken because I thought that was how it was done.

Fast forward to 2004 when I started educating myself. I started watching the videos, reading the pamphlets and it broke my heart. I consider myself a very compassionate person towards all animals and people and once I saw what the horrific torture these animals were experiencing the nightmares began. I made a vow to return to being a vegetarian with a transition of becoming a vegan.

On August 5th, 2004 I read about a cat nammed Kensington. The tears pour down my face as I remember the fate that this cat suffered. He died alone, scared and in pain at the hands of saddist. I cannot even bear to go into this story but you can read more about Kensington's story here.


Because of Kensington I made the decision to go Vegan over night. Kensington is the reason for my veganism. I never want another animal to suffer at the hands of humans. The nightmares went away and I never looked back. I love being a vegan and have explored so many new food options over the years. It has been over 6 years that I made the decision to become a vegan and I have loved every day of it.

To Kensington...I hope you are now living your life out over the Rainbow Bridge where no one else can ever hurt you and I hope you know you will always have a place in my heart.

2010 Thanksgiving Meal #1

I know it has been forever since I posted last but work has been insane this summer. I had an amazing time working at a seasonal market called Crampton's Market. I had an amazing boss, worked with great people and ate some good local fruits and veggies. I also worked all the time which left me zero time to cook. All that is about to change as I said goodbye to my summer job this weekend. Now I am free to get back in the kitchen.

That being said I opted to order in for our Thanksgiving meal tonight. Boon burger, which is a local all-vegan burger joint was offering an all inclusive Thanksgiving meal. It included a "turkey" patty, maple yams, caramlized onions, stuffing,cranberry sauce and gravy.

I cracked the lid open and everything looked amazing. When we finally dove in I was amazed at the flavours that I found in the various dishes. It was simply amazing and I am glad that I got it. It is so awesome that we vegan's have more alternatives then just buying Tofurkey Roasts.

Rustic Bread and Zucchini Lasagna

First of all I have to apologize for the lack of posting. I am now working full time so that is taking up most of the time. The amazing thing is I work at Crampton's Market which is an amazing place that sells local veggies, fruit and stuff. Anyhow to tonight's dinner...

I had to admit that I was quite intregued when I first read about this lasagna that uses layers of bread instead of pasta. Turns out it is friggin fantastic. This is perfect comfort food for winter. I modeled my recipe from the recipe for Rustic Bread & Eggplant Lasagna from the amazing Vegan Yum Yum Blog.

I started off with a homemade sauce simmering on the stove. I used portabellos, onions, carrots, roasted garlic, lentils, local tomatoes and Aussie Basil. I then sliced an old loaf of ciabatta bread and roasted it in the oven with Garlic Infused Oil. I sliced some local zucchini and layered the bread, zucchini and sauce with vegan Daiya cheese. The end result tasted amazing. I made one to freeze and will be looking forward to eating it very soon. This recipe is a keeper for sure!

We had a slice of this lasagna with local green and yellow beans steamed on the side.

I have an amazing friend who went to Fargo, ND over the weekend and returned with these 2 large bags of Daiya cheeze. Enough to last for the rest of the year! I portioned them out into smaller 2 cup bags and now have 32 cups of Daiya cheeze waiting for me in the freezer. Now to start looking for recipes that I want to make :)

Dragonbowl Salad and Latkes

I am trying to clean out the fridge and cupboards and found some mock chick'n strips hiding in the back of the freezer so we had those tonight with a nice refreshing salad made with lettuce right out of the garden, local baby carrots, local baby beets, shelled hemp seeds and a miso-tahini dressing. I also baked some grated zucchini and sweet potato on the side.

Local Salad, Baby Potatoes and Seitan Sandwich

Vegan Reuben Sandwiches

I have been craving these since I had amazing Vegan Reuben sandwiches in Portland, Oregon in 2007. I wanted to make a seitan recipe and found a great recipe for Vegan Corned Beef on Vegan Dad's amazing Blog. The recipe was super simple to make once I restocked my spice cupboard. This recipe makes a huge amount of seitan, is very economical and freezes well. I sliced the Vegan Corned Beef into thin layers and topped it with saurekraut, homemade Thousand Island Dressings (vegannaise, ketchup and chopped pickles) and a spread made up of tahini and miso, all on rye bread.

For the Love of Cherries!!!

I was looking for something a little different for supper tonight and stumbled upon a recipe for Mexican Stuffed Portabellos from Herbivore Dinosaur's blog. Very basic ingredients, local tomatoes, onions and cilantro stuffed into portabello mushroom caps. I served this with a side of roasted corn and Jasmine rice tossed with cilantro and a splash of Lemon Grapeseed oil. It tasted very refreshing and delicious.

I was lucky enough to be gifted a case of cherries and spent most of my day off pitting these little round beauties. I then invested in a cherry pitter and it made my life so much easier. I froze around 3/4 of the cherries, kept some fresh cherries and made these amazing Cherry and Almond Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. I love that these only have a small amount of oil and sugar. The recipe uses soy yogurt which I rarely buy but wouldn't you know when I went shopping they had tubs on sale for 0.99 today because they expired today! These taste amazing and I will be freezing most of them so I can grab one for a quick snack.

Homemade Perogies

I have been craving Perogies lately and with a little bit of Daiya cheese I decided to give these a whirl. I followed a recipe from Where it all Vegan. The dough was very simple to roll out. I filled these with roasted potatoes, Daiya and caramalized onions. We had a few for supper and the rest went into the freezer for a rainy day. They tasted great with a dab of vegan sour cream.

Peach & Nectarine Upside-Down Cakehat

With an excess amount of peaches and nectarines I searched online for an easy Peach upside down cake and found one on the Fat Free Vegan Blog. I made 3 cakes all together and really enjoyed this recipe. The only thing I would chance would be to make the cake a little thinner. We enjoyed this cake while the remaining 3 went into the freezer. We will be all ready for winter this year :)

Daiya Vegan Cheese in Canada!!!

IT is here! Daiya cheese has only been a rumor in my life until now. I had some relatives driving from Minneapolis who graciously brought me 2 bags of the coveted Daiya vegan cheese. It melts! It stretches! It's Daiya!

The first attempt was on toast to see if it would melt under the broiler and I was surprised and amazed that it did. The taste/consistency of Daiya in your mouth is quite interesting. It tastes and feels amazing.

Next I tried it cold in a 7 layer dip. There are refried beans, salsa, vegan sour cream, chopped mixed greens, green onions, olives and Daiya cheese. It was delicious. I would make this for my next potluck dish. The flavours all worked well with each other.

Last but not least....potato skins! These were Fabulous! I don't think I have ever had a potato skin since being vegan but now I can enjoy them on a regular basis! I baked some Russet Potatoes and scrapped out the flesh. I think filled them with chopped green onions and Daiya Cheese. I baked for about 15 minutes at 425 in the toaster oven and they came out perfect. I topped each with a dollop of vegan sour cream.

I really hope that someone in Winnipeg starts carrying Daiya cheese. For now I am at the mercy of friends/family who visit the USA.

Vegan Potato Salad

We attended a family picnic this weekend so I brought my Vegan Potato Salad. I absolutely love this recipe and have not met anyone who does not enjoy it. Low in fat and high in flavour!

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce and Cannelloni

So what do you do when you come into some locally grown hot house tomatoes that are not in great shape? You roast them and make Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce. I was excited to use our small toaster oven for this recipe because I knew it would be cooking for a while. In the end 2 large pans of produce made this:

This tasted like a million bucks. The roasted veggies had a nice charred-taste to them

Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce

8 large local tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 large onions, roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

10 large basil leaves, minced

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

dash of salt and pepper

Roast in 425 oven for 1 hour. Stir Often

For supper we had homemade cannelloni stuffed with tofu and fresh spinach. A tossed salad with local mixed organic greens, local cucumber, nectarines, cranberries, sunflower seeds and a Meyer Lemon dressing.

Pear-Cardamom Sorbet

I recently ran into some bruised pears and I immediately thought of the recipe for Pear-Cardamom Sorbet from the Millennium Cookbook. This is super simple to make with my Cuisinart ice cream maker and tastes so refreshing. The combination of pear and cardamom together is very delightful!

First Vegan BBQ of the Year!

We refilled the propane tank and dusted off the BBQ. It is my goal to start using it weekly this year instead of monthly. I love the taste of veggies, tofu, etc on the bbq. Tonight we had Tofurky sausages. We tossed baby new potatoes from B.C. and local asparagus with a new Infused Grapeseed oil that I bought and topped it with a squeeze of lemon. The taste was amazing and I was very proud that my husband made most of this meal himself.

Chickpea,Cauliflower, Potato and Greens Curry

My parents came over for supper tonight which was really nice. I wanted to make a nice curry and I think this one turned out so-so. I soaked some dried chickpeas overnight and cooked them in the pressure cooker. I cubed some baby potatoes and kept their skin on. I cut up a whole cauliflower and washed some baby spinach and baby arugula. I cooked the cauliflower and potatoes in boiling water for about 6 minutes.

Later in the day I opened one can of coconut milk and added 1/2 can of Organic Tomato sauce with various curry spices. I added the veggies and chickpeas and warmed everything up. I added the greens a few minutes before the dish was done. I served mixed grains on the side.

My mother brought this amazing strawberry-rhubarb crisp. It tasted like a little piece of heaven. I truly am blessed to have such amazing parents!

Tofu and Broccoli Stif-Fry

This meal was super easy to throw together and was very inexpensive. I bought the tofu which was pre-marinated in teryaki sauce when it was reduced to clear for $1.00 and froze it. The broccoli was only a few dollars and the noodles were 0.50 each. I threw some peanuts on sauce for a yummy belly warming stir-fry

Vegan Chili

Now that I am working full time I am trying to fill the freezer with grab and go meals. I have been craving chili which is one of the easiest things to make. I added various veggies and beans that I found in the fridge and cupboards.

This chili has:
1 large can of whole tomatoes with juice (crushed by hand)
veggie stock
corn
1 large can of kidney beans
1 large can of mixed beans
1 red pepper
1 onion
1/2 cup tvp
4 large celery stalks chopped
4 large carrots chopped
various seasonings

Put everything in the pot, boil and then simmer for about 1 hour. Enjoy:)