photographic evidence

I'm always a little bummed out when I don't have a photo post for every yummy recipe I make. And because there is no photo in sight for this post, please do not make the mistake that the recipe below is hum-drum, bland or just plain ugly. Not so! This week I made some great vegan dinners but I am lacking the photographic evidence. Don't worry, the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes.

When my friend arrived onto Vancouver soil, I had made up a butternut squash and chickpea soup flavoured with ginger and orange. You'll have to trust me when I say that it was tasty! The next night I made a veggie yakiudon with tons of ginger and cauliflower...oh my! However, it was Tuesday night's dinner that was the true stand out. Fretting over what to make, I came up with a Mexican salad with a grapefruit juice dressing, crushed tortilla chips and blackbeans served over mixed greens that I made up on the fly. This was my crowning salad achievement of the week and alas, no colourful photo. I guess I'll have to make due with happy memories. My recipe is a bit fuzzy since I'm recounting ingredients and measurements from a couple days ago rather than just a few hours. I'm sure it will be great. Trust me.

mexican black bean & tortilla salad
1 can of black beans, rinsed & drained
1 rib of celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced fine
juice of half a grapefruit
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t cumin
1 t dijon mustard
1 t red wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
salad greens
tortilla chips, slightly crushed
fresh salsa

1. In a medium sized bowl, add the black beans, celery, red pepper and onion and combine.

2. In a small measuring cup, add the grapefruit juice and red wine vinegar. Add an equal part of olive oil and stir. Mix in the cumin, dijon, garlic and red wine vinegar and mix well until combined. Pour dressing over black beans and let sit for a few minutes, tossing occassionally.

3. In your own individual salad bowl, add in some salad greens. Crush some tortilla chips over top and drop in a couple big spoonfuls of the black bean mixture. Top with some fresh salsa. Eat and repeat, if necessary.

photographic evidence

I'm always a little bummed out when I don't have a photo post for every yummy recipe I make. And because there is no photo in sight for this post, please do not make the mistake that the recipe below is hum-drum, bland or just plain ugly. Not so! This week I made some great vegan dinners but I am lacking the photographic evidence. Don't worry, the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes.

When my friend arrived onto Vancouver soil, I had made up a butternut squash and chickpea soup flavoured with ginger and orange. You'll have to trust me when I say that it was tasty! The next night I made a veggie yakiudon with tons of ginger and cauliflower...oh my! However, it was Tuesday night's dinner that was the true stand out. Fretting over what to make, I came up with a Mexican salad with a grapefruit juice dressing, crushed tortilla chips and blackbeans served over mixed greens that I made up on the fly. This was my crowning salad achievement of the week and alas, no colourful photo. I guess I'll have to make due with happy memories. My recipe is a bit fuzzy since I'm recounting ingredients and measurements from a couple days ago rather than just a few hours. I'm sure it will be great. Trust me.

mexican black bean & tortilla salad
1 can of black beans, rinsed & drained
1 rib of celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced fine
juice of half a grapefruit
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t cumin
1 t dijon mustard
1 t red wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
salad greens
tortilla chips, slightly crushed
fresh salsa

1. In a medium sized bowl, add the black beans, celery, red pepper and onion and combine.

2. In a small measuring cup, add the grapefruit juice and red wine vinegar. Add an equal part of olive oil and stir. Mix in the cumin, dijon, garlic and red wine vinegar and mix well until combined. Pour dressing over black beans and let sit for a few minutes, tossing occassionally.

3. In your own individual salad bowl, add in some salad greens. Crush some tortilla chips over top and drop in a couple big spoonfuls of the black bean mixture. Top with some fresh salsa. Eat and repeat, if necessary.

ravenous like a tiger

Sometimes I like to fly by the seat of my pants. No plans, no forethought. Just an idea and the faith that I can make it happen. Last Friday, I went out with friends to The Foundation, one my favored Vancouver eating spots. Vancouver is in the midst of a boil-water advisory due to all the insane amount of rainfall we've been having. No worries, though, as there was enough beer to keep us all afloat. I was modest in my choice of soup but I did manage to snag a few forkfulls of my friends pasta dish, the aptly named "Spicy Peanut". Oh the deliciousness that danced on my tongue that night! It was a party for the tastebuds and I've been dreaming of that damned "Spicy Peanut" ever since.

This evening without nary a look into the cupboards or fridge, I decided that hell or turbid water, I would make the Spicy Peanut dish! Unfortunately, I was out of fresh ginger, sambal oelek, limes, and my soy sauce bottle was almost empty. Did I let that deter me from the power of the Spicy Peanut? I think not. So I made do with what I could scrounge up, squeeze out and hastily substitute. And you know what? The results tasted pretty damn close to the mighty fine "Spicy Peanut" from The Foundation. This sauce will be a work in progress. Of course I'll make it again with fresh lime juice instead of lemon juice and I'm sure it will taste infinitely more fabulous with fresh ginger, and I'm sure a healthy dollop of chili-garlic sauce will render my black pepper additions useless. But, you know, I'm not ready to bad mouth this sauce for what it could have been. This velvety, coconutty, smooth concoction is a dream. If I could marry it I would. I mean, while you know there might be a Top-Of-The-Line Peanut Sauce out there, you just gotta love the one you're with.

I served this decadant sauce over whole wheat pasta, stir fried tofu, red onion and green peppers (the only vegetables I had!) and a tiny bit of shredded leftover chicken. This sauce would make a great dipping sauce for satay or fried tofu or poured over baked yams or steamed spinach. Oh the possibilities!

my spicy peanut sauce
1 c natural peanut butter
1 can light coconut milk
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T soy sauce
1 T fish sauce (if you want to make this vegetarian, leave out & put 1T of soy sauce in its place)
2 T hot sauce
2 t ginger powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T brown sugar
1 t ground black pepper
dash of salt

1. Add all of the ingredients into a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until everything is warm and blendy. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

And the title of my blog post? Well, I have Shake Your Fist to thank. Amy wrote about Dr. Joel and included a link to a song that I pretty much OD'd on in July. The track is gone off of Amy's blog, but you can hear Ravenous Like a Tiger on Dr. Joel's MySpace account. So good!

ravenous like a tiger

Sometimes I like to fly by the seat of my pants. No plans, no forethought. Just an idea and the faith that I can make it happen. Last Friday, I went out with friends to The Foundation, one my favored Vancouver eating spots. Vancouver is in the midst of a boil-water advisory due to all the insane amount of rainfall we've been having. No worries, though, as there was enough beer to keep us all afloat. I was modest in my choice of soup but I did manage to snag a few forkfulls of my friends pasta dish, the aptly named "Spicy Peanut". Oh the deliciousness that danced on my tongue that night! It was a party for the tastebuds and I've been dreaming of that damned "Spicy Peanut" ever since.

This evening without nary a look into the cupboards or fridge, I decided that hell or turbid water, I would make the Spicy Peanut dish! Unfortunately, I was out of fresh ginger, sambal oelek, limes, and my soy sauce bottle was almost empty. Did I let that deter me from the power of the Spicy Peanut? I think not. So I made do with what I could scrounge up, squeeze out and hastily substitute. And you know what? The results tasted pretty damn close to the mighty fine "Spicy Peanut" from The Foundation. This sauce will be a work in progress. Of course I'll make it again with fresh lime juice instead of lemon juice and I'm sure it will taste infinitely more fabulous with fresh ginger, and I'm sure a healthy dollop of chili-garlic sauce will render my black pepper additions useless. But, you know, I'm not ready to bad mouth this sauce for what it could have been. This velvety, coconutty, smooth concoction is a dream. If I could marry it I would. I mean, while you know there might be a Top-Of-The-Line Peanut Sauce out there, you just gotta love the one you're with.

I served this decadant sauce over whole wheat pasta, stir fried tofu, red onion and green peppers (the only vegetables I had!) and a tiny bit of shredded leftover chicken. This sauce would make a great dipping sauce for satay or fried tofu or poured over baked yams or steamed spinach. Oh the possibilities!

my spicy peanut sauce
1 c natural peanut butter
1 can light coconut milk
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T soy sauce
1 T fish sauce (if you want to make this vegetarian, leave out & put 1T of soy sauce in its place)
2 T hot sauce
2 t ginger powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T brown sugar
1 t ground black pepper
dash of salt

1. Add all of the ingredients into a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until everything is warm and blendy. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

And the title of my blog post? Well, I have Shake Your Fist to thank. Amy wrote about Dr. Joel and included a link to a song that I pretty much OD'd on in July. The track is gone off of Amy's blog, but you can hear Ravenous Like a Tiger on Dr. Joel's MySpace account. So good!

prepare for an ass-whoopin'

When I bake things for just me and the husband, I don't go to too much work. I like to keep things simple and relatively foolproof. But sometimes, when I'm having guests over, I like to guild the lily to make things a little bit more special. When I spotted these Ginger Gems on one of my new favorite blogs, Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit, I knew they'd be perfect for tonight's activities. What's tonight? Well, tonight, we're getting together with friends to play some board games. Ticket to Ride (Europe) and maybe some Settlers of Catan. Betchya didn't know that I was a totally competitive board game geek? Well, the truth is out. I love almost all board games (Monopoly not included) and I love these cookies. You can make them without the glaze, but why bother? Just look how pretty they are under a dazzling white lemony frosting. And that's the plan. I'm sure everyone will be so enthralled with my baking capabilities that they won't even notice just how much I'm kicking their asses!

ginger gems
(from the Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit)
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c vegan margarine, softened
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 T molasses
1 T vanilla extract
1/4 c water
2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 c finely chopped walnuts

glaze ingredients:
2 1/4 T lemon juice
1.5 c powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, margarine, oil, molasses, and vanilla. Mix well and add in the water and ginger and stir well until absorbed. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add your dry ingredients to your wet and mix until completely combined. Add in the chopped walnuts.

2. Drop batter by tablespoon onto a prepared cookie sheet and flatten tops slightly with your fingers. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for 3 minutes before removing from the pan then place on a cooling rack.

3. For the glaze, whisk the lemon juice into the powdered sugar. Dip the top of each completely-cooled cookie into the glaze and return the cookies to the cooling rack until the glaze hardens.

prepare for an ass-whoopin'

When I bake things for just me and the husband, I don't go to too much work. I like to keep things simple and relatively foolproof. But sometimes, when I'm having guests over, I like to guild the lily to make things a little bit more special. When I spotted these Ginger Gems on one of my new favorite blogs, Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit, I knew they'd be perfect for tonight's activities. What's tonight? Well, tonight, we're getting together with friends to play some board games. Ticket to Ride (Europe) and maybe some Settlers of Catan. Betchya didn't know that I was a totally competitive board game geek? Well, the truth is out. I love almost all board games (Monopoly not included) and I love these cookies. You can make them without the glaze, but why bother? Just look how pretty they are under a dazzling white lemony frosting. And that's the plan. I'm sure everyone will be so enthralled with my baking capabilities that they won't even notice just how much I'm kicking their asses!

ginger gems
(from the Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit)
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c vegan margarine, softened
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 T molasses
1 T vanilla extract
1/4 c water
2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 c finely chopped walnuts

glaze ingredients:
2 1/4 T lemon juice
1.5 c powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, margarine, oil, molasses, and vanilla. Mix well and add in the water and ginger and stir well until absorbed. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add your dry ingredients to your wet and mix until completely combined. Add in the chopped walnuts.

2. Drop batter by tablespoon onto a prepared cookie sheet and flatten tops slightly with your fingers. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for 3 minutes before removing from the pan then place on a cooling rack.

3. For the glaze, whisk the lemon juice into the powdered sugar. Dip the top of each completely-cooled cookie into the glaze and return the cookies to the cooling rack until the glaze hardens.

stir fry it up

Oh Blogger you can be such a bitch sometimes. Today is the first day in ages that I've been able to post and Blogger's buggy nature is making me want to tackle Wordpress. Early in the week it was hot and sunny and we had the fans turned on high. I decided that I would start a "Leisure Club" for me & my friends with tennis being the first thing on the agenda. So I drew a flyer, sent it out and now the Strathcona Leisure Club is more than just a blip in my brain. Of course, I can't even play tennis, but that won't stop the fun times ahead. Tennis + friends + beer = good summer fun!

It's back to cold and rainy weather again, but the hot weather didn't stop me from thinking about curry. I made this the same day I made the tennis poster and a little hot weather certainly won't be a stop to my cravings for curry. The key of course to this curry is pineapple. Really, don't try making it without it....I mean, it will still be good n' all, but it won't reach the level of greatness that is pineapple perfection. The vegetables, however, can be substituted to whatever you've got on hand and chicken or tofu can most certainly be added. Just don't skip the pineapple!

pineapple - coconut vegetable curry
1/2 large head of cauliflower, torn into florets
1 head of broccoli, torn into florets
1 red onion, chopped into large peices
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 green pepper, roughly chopped
1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal
1 T oil
1 t soy sauce
1/2 t crushed red chilis
1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 fl. oz.)
3 T curry paste (I used Patak's Korma curry paste)
1 c fresh pineapple chunks

1. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok. Add the vegetables and quickly stirfy on high. Add the soy sauce and chilis and continue stirring. Turn down heat.

2. In a small sauce pan, heat up the curry paste (if your paste has no oil, add a small amount into the pan) and add the coconut milk. Stir to blend.

3. Add the coconut/curry mixture to the vegetables, stirring to make sure all the vegetables are coated. Add the pineapple and continue cooking until the pineapple has cooked through, about 3 minutes.

4. Serve over rice or noodles.

gravy train!!!

note: When I wrote this post, I had misplaced this vegan recipe zine. This morning I found it & took a photo of it! If you'd like to buy it, here's a link. It's also available through Amazon.

Our apartment is tiny but that doesn't mean that we keep things tidy. When I was in Portland in April I bought a punk vegan cookbook zine* from Reading Frenzy and today I decided to make a meal from it. Unfortunately, the zine could not be found. I'm sure it's buried under a pile of papers and I'll find it when I clean up my desk mess, but for tonight's dinner I just had to go with an idea that I gleaned from that pretty cool zine. From what I recall, the recipe was for a plate of veggies and chicken-fried tofu smothered in vegan gravy and to me, that sounded pretty damn tasty. So today I roasted up some veggies with some rosemary, made some rice and whipped up some tofu tenders. Now all I needed was the gravy. After spotting a few packs of miso in my fridge, my gravy train was set. Dinner was delicious and the gravy was super flavourful and very simple to prepare...tho do cook the onions long enough to caramelize. It's worth it.

miso gravy
½ yellow onion, diced
2 T canola oil
4 T whole wheat flour
2 c hot vegetable broth
1 T soy sauce
2 T miso
pepper

1. In a medium saucepan, heat oil and add the diced onion. Saute on low heat until onion is soft and slightly caramalized. Add flour, whisking and cooking until the mixture is dark.

2. Add the miso paste and soy sauce to the broth and then slowly add it to the flour mixture, whisking until you have reached a smooth gravy like consistency. Add pepper to taste. Unless you like chunky onion bits in your gravy, blend the gravy using an immersion blender.

* When I find the zine I'll add the name and contact info to this post. Support indie press!!

everybody likes cupcakes

My cold is nearing the two week mark and I'm so not thrilled at its take on longevity. Ugh. I did manage to have a lovely birthday and thank you all for your well-wishes!! Cornelius did make me a cake -- a very yummy (and very edible) chocolate and coconut cake which we proceed to gobble up with a side of coffee ice cream. Yummers. The day was spent riding our bikes to Granville Island with a picnic that included some delicious organic strawberries, my favorite oka cheese, a sourdough bagette and some delicious nitrate-free farmer's sausage from Oyama. Cornelius even accompanied me to my bowling tournament, where my good friend Kristen made me some vegan chocolate and vanilla frosted cupcakes and the beer did not stop flowing. Despite my cold, I managed to bowl well above my pitiful average and score 180 in my 2nd game. Whoooo! I can't wait until next month when my friend Dan and I will co-chair the birthday activities with a bar & bike tour. I will definitely have a tupperware container filled with Guinness cupcakes for sure and continue the birthday vibes all summer long!

Although I didn't make the cupcakes Kristen brought to bowling, I did give her the recipe a few years ago and it's been her favorite ever since. A few years ago, i directed/shot/starred in a short student film featuring this very secret cupcake recipe. Yes, just me, some lights, some cheap set dec, my camera and me cooking -- all at the same time. I present the video here (note: you may be asked to download a codec in order to view the video) for your streaming pleasure or I'll just pass along the recipe below.

vegan chocolate cupcakes (aka 6 Minute Chocolate Cake aka Wacky Cake)
*from Moosewood Cooks at Home

1-1/2 c unbleached white flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c brewed coffee
2 t pure vanilla extract
2 T vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 375-degrees.

2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl.

3. In a 2-cup measuring cup, measure and mix the oil, water (or coffee), and vanilla. Slowly and gently pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl and mix the batter with a fork or a small whisk.

4. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls (and some bubbling) in the batter where the baking soda and vinegar are reacting. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter (the color becomes more consistent throughout).

5. Pour batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes--testing with a toothpick. Remove to a cooling rack and make a frosting of your choice.

some days are just not worth mentioning...

...but for the sake of this blog, i might as well get it over with. It's been a tough week. This week, I'm working away from home doing graphic design for a large corporation during the day which takes me away from my working from home day job. Not only am I working all day, I also have a lot of freelance work on my plate right now and cooking is the last thing on my mind. All of my entries so far have been "do's". Unfortunately, I can classify this week as a "don't".

Monday, I came home from work, ate a fast bowl of cereal before I went to my Monday night bowling league.

Tuesday, I ransacked the fridge and decided that I could make a soup with a few random ingredients: rice noodles, celery, carrots, onions and corn. Just because I could make a soup doesn't mean that I should have. It was a horrible mess and I ended up eating some frozen corn that I heated up in the microwave.

Today at work, someone gave me a piece of persimmon to try. It was really crunchy and mild tasting, but since I'm only a fan of sour fruits, I wasn't too impressed. Tonight, we gussied up some Yves Veggie Cuisine Bavarian "sausages" with some caramelized onions and yellow mustard and ate them on a rustic bun from a local bakery. It wasn't magic but caramelized onions can do no wrong, in my opinion.

After taking a peek at the Yves site, I think I know what I will make for tommorrow night's dinner as we have every single ingredient needed for their unstuffed cabbage rolls. Fake meat two nights in a row! We really need to go grocery shopping.

* UPDATE: I really did end up making the unstuffed cabbage rolls from the Yves site. Verdict? Comforting and yummy. It was easy to make, healthy and delicious. Hooray for fake meat. Really!

vegan cookies. no really.

Kristen gave me this vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe over the phone a couple of years ago. I haven't transcribed it and I've always kept it in a safe place but when I pulled out the recipe today I realized that it's a pretty easy and tasty recipe and I better keep it somewhere safe.

This is the easiest cookie recipe ever and it tastes great too.

Kristen's vegan chocolate chip cookies
¾ c sugar
½ c oil
½ c margerine
3 t water
2 t vanilla
Mix together.

2¼ c flour
1 t soda
½ t salt
Mix together.

Add 1½ c chocolate chips.

Mix it all together, roll into balls, plop onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.

Kristen always uses white sugar and all vegan ingredients. Me, I'm not vegan so I'm not so strict and will sometimes use butter instead of margerine. I also like brown sugar over brown. Instead of all chocolate chips, I'll add a handfull of sunflower seeds (really, seeds taste great in cookies!), a handfull of raisins, a handfull of walnuts and a handful of chocolate chips. Today I misread the 3 t of water as 3 tablespoons and they still turned out great.

oh, couscous!

It's been one of those weeks where take-out seems to be the only way to go. I've resisted the urge to dial for pizza or order in Indian food, yet despite my resolve to cook what we had out of our cupboards, I wasn't really inspired. After browsing through cookbooks and dreaming about all the ingredients I didn't have at my immediate disposal, I decided that I'd have to just make do and make the best of a really bad situation. I had just read a restaurant review for a new Morocan restaurant and that, my friends, gave me true inspiration! I had cinnamon and spices, raisins and couscous! I could do anything!! So I tossed a few ingredients together in my trusty cast iron stewing pot and came up with something truely delicious.

Moroccan Chickpea and Vegetable Stew

I'm not very good at measuring, but I think you'll get the picture.

Ingredients: a can of chickpeas, a large can of tomatos, 1 small onion diced, 1 green pepper diced, olive oil, 1/2 a lemon, cumin, corriander, cinnamon, hot pepper flakes, salt, pepper.

In a large heavy pot, heat a small amount of olive oil and add the diced onion and green pepper. Add a dash of salt to the vegetables and let them get wilty but not mushy -- about 4 minutes. Stir in about a teaspoon each of the cumin and ground corriander (I didn't measure, but I'll assume that this is close). Add the can of tomatoes and crush them if needed. Normally, I chop them roughly before adding them to the pot, but this time I mashed them with a potato masher while in the pot. Next time I think I'll stick to chopping them beforehand, as the tomatoes were a bit too stringy. Next, I added the chickpeas and about 2-3 large handfulls of raisins, along with about 1/2 a teaspoon of hot pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspon (or more) of cinnamon. Mix everything together and cook over a low heat with the lid on until everything gets nice and soft, about 40 minutes. 10 minutes before serving, squeeze half a lemon into the stew for a bit of tang and mix well. Serve over couscous.

♥ This meal was great when we ate it on Saturday night with a nice glass of wine. It tasted even better tonight with some whole wheat bread spread with cold sweet butter. tasty!!

Sometimes you really can make something out of nothing.