Northern Vegan

spaghetti!

2008-10-07T13:07:00.001-07:00

I've been busy working on a fun post about making dumplings. Every time I go to take a picture, the light isn't great, so it's coming along slowly.

Boring old angel hair pasta with jar sauce and nooch. Toasted ciabatta bread with a little earth balance and garlic powder. Very simple and plain, but very comforting. There's a cold going around at work and I've finally caught it. I slept 13 hours last night! What a waste of the day. Hopefully I'll pull myself together enough to make some decent posts.

japanese lunch.

2008-10-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

When I'm trying to figure out what to make with what I have in the house, I almost always start up my rice cooker and plan my meal while the rice is steaming. I'm fresh out of white sushi rice, so I brought the bag of brown out of the back of the pantry. I'm not always the biggest fan of brown rice. If it were up to me, I'd have zakkoku-mai over regular brown, but the weather is taking a turn here, and the brown rice was just right for a gloomy Buffalo day.

I topped my rice with some gomashio and umeboshi. For the main part of the meal, I stir fried some mushrooms and broccoli in garlic and sesame oil. Served it along with some smoked tofu with sichuan sauce and sesame seeds.

Very satisfying. I've been really good about blogging every day, I'm pretty proud of myself!

stuffed peppers! Vegan MoFo day 3!

2008-10-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

One of the lovely ladies I work with gives me produce out of her garden from time to time. The last thing she gave me was a bag filled with about a dozen HUGE green peppers! Now, I do enjoy green peppers, but I wasn't sure how I was going to eat so many without them going bad. I figured the smartest thing to do was to stuff them, so I could freeze any leftovers for another time.

I made my filling with a mix of tofu, onions, tomato paste and rice as the base ingredients. I also added loads of spices, hot sauce, soy sauce and garlic oil to the mix. Baked them in a covered dish until the peppers were cooked through and topped them with some nooch. Amazing. The best part will be pulling a couple out of the freezer when there's five feet of snow on the ground and tasting the freshness of summer.

Mac and Nooch!

2008-10-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

I really love macaroni and nuritional yeast cheese. I know some people are turned off by the taste/smell of nooch, but I can't get enough of it.

I decided to try making the recipe I had bookmarked on Lindyloo's blog a while ago.

It is definitely one of the creamiest macs I've had the pleasure of trying, but there was not nearly enough nooch flavour for my taste. I added about 1/4 c more than the recipe called for. I also topped the finished product with some smoked paprika.

I also usually add some frozen peas to my mac before I put it in the oven, but I didn't have anything handy to throw in except edamame. I decided to just cook them up and have them on the side.

I topped mine with some gomashio and they made an excellent accompaniment to the mac and nooch.

1st Day of Vegan MoFo!

2008-10-01T07:29:00.001-07:00

The Vegan Month of Food is here! The idea is to post about vegan food every day, so you can expect to see more from me. I'll be on vacation for a few days in the middle of the month, but I'll try to make up for it with a few extra posts here and there.

Here in Western New York, autumn is definitely with us. The leaves have almost all changed, the sky is always a shade of grey and the stores are stocked up with cider and pumpkins.

The mood for ice cream is slowly drifting away, so I've been trying to finish up what I have in the house.

Purely Decadent Turtle Tracks is my favourite by a wide margin. Caramel sauce and chocolate-coated praline pecans in vanilla ice cream. Served up in a waffle cone, doesn't get much better than that.

I'll try to focus more on food that you don't simply scoop out of a carton for the rest of the month. I don't really know what I'll be posting! Hope it doesn't bore everyone to tears, either way.

The Vegan's Hundred.

2008-08-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hannah over at Bittersweet posted this list in response to The Omnivore's Hundred meme that has been making the rounds in the blogosphere. Since I never seem to have time to cook anymore, and always forget to take pictures of all the amazing food I've been eating out lately, I figured I'd fill this out. All the items on this list are either vegan by nature or can be made vegan.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
but my boyfriend was too freaked out by it to try it! ha!

2. Green Smoothie

3. Tofu Scramble

4. Haggis
I've actually had the traditional version when I was a kid (with neeps and tatties!) and I would be willing to try the vegan version, but it's not something I'd seek out.

5. Mangosteen
I'm dying to have one, and I was going to stop by Chinatown last time I was in Toronto to get some, but I forgot. next time!

6. Creme brulee
again, I've had the non-vegan version many times, but not a vegan version.

7. Fondue

8. Marmite/Vegemite
of the two, I am a Marmite gal.

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Nachos

12. Authentic soba noodles

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi
My second-favourite Indian dish (number one? masala dosas.)

15. Taco from a street cart
there are no taco carts in my neighborhood, but I love street food, so I'd definitely go for this.

16. Boba Tea
I love a good bubble tea, but I haven't had a vegan-milk version. I hear Lolo will have a recipe in her new cookbook though...

17. Black truffle
oh god, I wish I had some truffled-anything right now.

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
I have had some amazing peach wine.

19. Gyoza

20. Vanilla ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes
I just had some for lunch!

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Ceviche
I've had the fish-version, and I'm surprised that this can be made vegan. Ceviche is a very textural experience. What can you use to mimic the texture of the fish that doesn't compromise the flavour?

24. Rice and beans
I ate so much of this in college.

25. Knish
I LOVE KNISH!

~~26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper~~
I like spicy foods, but this is a no.

27. Dulce de leche
again, not the vegan version.

28. Caviar
I've seen faux-caviar made from things like fruit juice, but I've never had it.

29. Baklava

30. Pate

31. Wasabi peas
huge fan of wasabi peas. I love crushing them and using them as a breading for fried tofu too.

32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Mango lassi

34. Sauerkraut
a very common food for my half-German family.

35. Root beer float

36. Mulled cider

37. Scones with buttery spread and jam

38. Vodka jelly

39. Gumbo

40. Fast food french fries
I certainly would never eat at a mcdonalds or burger king, but I wonder what exactly fast-food implies.

41. Raw Brownies

42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
I so desperately want to try these. Especially after seeing this post over at Becks and Posh

43. Dahl

44. Homemade Soymilk

45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Stroopwafle

47. Samosas

48. Vegetable Sushi

49. Glazed doughnut

50. Seaweed

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi
which I love, and I know not a lot of people enjoy.

53. Tofurkey

54. Sheese

55. Cotton candy

56. Gnocchi
I really want to try making my own.

57. Piña colada

58. Birch beer
I love birch beer!

59. Scrapple

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores
I still haven't tried vegan marshmallows.

62. Soy curls
these aren't available here, and I haven't bothered sending away for them.

63. Chickpea cutlets

64. Curry

65. Durian

66. Homemade Sausages

67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake

68. Smoked tofu

69. Fried plantain

70. Mochi
there's some chestnut mochi in my fridge right now!

71. Gazpacho

72. Warm chocolate chip cookies

73. Absinthe
but I would! it's such a ritual though, I couldn't just buy a bottle of lucid and have a glass.

74. Corn on the cob

75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
soyatoo!

76. Pomegranate

77. Fauxstess Cupcake

78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
the chickpea gravy from VWaV is amazing.

79. Jerky

80. Croissants

81. French onion soup

82. Savory crepes

83. Tings

84. A meal at Candle 79

85. Moussaka
one of the first big vegan meals I made was the Moussaka from the Voluptuous Vegan

86. Sprouted grains or seeds

87. Macaroni and “cheese”

88. Flowers

89. Matzoh ball soup

90. White chocolate

91. Seitan

92. Kimchi

93. Butterscotch chips

94. Yellow watermelon

95. Chili with chocolate
I usually add some Mexican chocolate to my chili. It adds an amazing smoky flavour.

96. Bagel and Tofutti

97. Potato milk

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Raw cookie dough

bread salad and apple crisp.

2008-07-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

The summer hasn't been too harsh here in Buffalo, but I've still been making some simple summer foods. One of my favourites is a Tuscan Bread salad. The basic ingredients are: Tomatoes, olives, ciabatta, fresh basil, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Just dice everything up and toss in the lemon juice and olive oil. (I usually do 2 tbsp of oil to 3 tbsp of lemon juice, but you can adjust it to your tastes) Coarse sea salt is ideal in this, but I was all out, so I used some of my volcanic black sea salt. It wasn't bad, but I thought it distracted from some of the flavours.

The other night it was a little chilly and I was heading out for Indian buffet and Project Runway with some friends so I whipped up this Apple-Raspberry crisp to bring along:

I was fresh out of raspberries, so I used raspberry jam and left out about half of the sugar I would have used with the fruit filling normally.

It has loads of ginger and toasted walnuts in the topping. Yum!

little updates.

2008-07-17T08:46:00.001-07:00

wow, I'm terrible at keeping this thing updated. In my defense, I've been travelling back and forth to Canada every month and eating a lot of junk food that you don't care to see pictures of anyway.

Now that I'm home, I do have a few things to share.

Soy yogurt with pomegranate molasses

Pomegranate molasses is such an amazing thing. I saw Mercedes use it on fetteh in Desert Candy and I remembered I had a bottle rolling around in my cupboard. It's has a very intense sweet-sour, berry-pomegranate flavour. Not at all like the blackstrap molasses you're probably used to having.

Cellentani with creminis and steak strips

I really do love Morningstar Farms' chicken and steak meal starters strips. They're super easy to fry up, have a great texture and work in almost anything. For this I just made a basic tomato sauce and added the sautéed mushrooms and steak strips. I ate it for every meal yesterday! *burp*

Memorial Day Cookout!

2008-05-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

clockwise from top: Tofurkey Italian sausage, asparagus, grilled with lemon and garlic, corn on the cob with chili-lime butter and black sea salt, and Mercedes' Asian cole slaw (which, by the way, is amazing. Everyone loved it.)

for dessert, grilled pineapple with Chicago Soy Dairy peach cobbler ice cream. Not the best picture, but I really wanted to eat it!

more obento and vegan unagi

2008-05-15T07:45:00.001-07:00

I know I said I'd be better about posting, and the next thing you know a month practically whizzes by! I've been making some truly boring bentos in the morning, but this one was pretty so I thought I'd share it.

In the top tier we have some plain rice with umeboshi. I was hesitant to try umeboshi years ago. The idea of a super sour, salty plum didn't really appeal to me, and truth be told, the first time I had it was in onigiri and I definitely didn't like it then. I have found that breaking it up with my chopsticks and mixing it evenly into the rice is really delicious. I just can't get into the idea of a whole umeboshi in my mouth.

Here was have some stir-fried lotus root. I've had sauteed lotus root before, but when I saw this recipe on Just Bento I ran out to the Asian market to get some.

While I was at the market I picked up some sweet potato biscuits and chestnut mochi, pictured here. Under the strawberries are a few cherry tomatoes to add a little more vitamin C.

I have to say, one of the things I miss being vegan is unagi, or eel. I used to love ordering unagi don. I found a recipe for kabayaki sauce online, and found that it is merely soy sauce, mirin and sugar simmered for a few minutes! So I made my own version of Kabayaki no unagi with eggplant. Presenting nasubi no kabayaki!:

it was pretty amazing.

Slice your eggplant lengthwise, dip in kabayaki sauce and fry on low heat. Place your eggplant slices on a bed of rice, top with a little more sauce and sesame seeds.

The recipe I used made a lot more sauce than I needed, luckily I have found plenty of other uses for it, including just adding a little to my afternoon rice instead of soy sauce. However, if you don't think you'll use it as much, you could surely cut this recipe in half.

Kabayaki sauce:

- 1/2 c soy sauce
- 1/2 c mirin
- 1/4 c sugar

Pour all ingredients in a pan. Stir the mixture well. Put the pan on low heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture. Store the sauce in a clean bottle in the fridge.

bento boxes

2008-04-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

I'm still alive!

A variety of things have kept me from this blog, but it is mostly work and relationship related. It has been a series of unfortunate events here, including some serious illness in my family. You'll be pleased to know we're slowing down at work and I'm in a new, healthy (albeit long distance) relationship. That means a lot more time to dedicate to cooking things besides tofurkey sandwiches and microwave dinners.

I've been getting back into making bento to take with me to work, so I won't be stuck eating french fries and lettuce all day.

Here we have rice with gomashio topped with cutouts of tofurkey slices and vegan cheese. the little bottle has soy sauce in it.

This is the carrot kinpira from Just Bento. I added a little bit of mirin to mine because I thought it was a bit too salty without it. On top of the kinpira is fried, breaded tofu cubes.

Lastly, we have nori maki crackers and strawberries on one side, and in the little cup, a handful of grapes and craisins.

You can expect to see a lot more bento from me over the coming weeks. Very exciting, no?

As an added bonus, here's a picture of one of the cupcakes I made for my little sister's birthday. They're the Cherry-Chocolate ones from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They were amazing.

Pistachio and Plum Crumble

2008-01-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Plums were on sale at the store and I remembered I had seen a great recipe for Pistachio and plum crumble over at Desert Candy. Mercedes uses greengages in hers but the regular plums ones I used worked just fine. I added another teaspoon or two of brown sugar to the fruit since greengages tend to be a little sweeter.

to make the recipe vegan I simply omitted the egg and added margarine to the topping mixture working it in until it was pebbly. Of course, since the topping already had margarine in it, I didn't slice margarine on top.

Afternoon results.

2008-01-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've been cooking all afternoon, taking advantage of having two days off in a row.

First I made the vodka sauce from VCON

Shown here on a piece of bread, since I made it to freeze for another time. The sauce has almonds in it to add creaminess, but after I blended my almonds in, I felt the sauce was too pasty and I added about a quarter cup of soymilk to thin it out a bit. You can still see how thick it is here. Still pretty yummy though.

Then I made Cauliflower Leek Soup, based on this recipe.

Mine has roasted garlic added and I served it with multigrain croutons.

Braised fennel with lemon, coriander and bay leaf.

Roasted brussel sprouts.

I'm hoping to make chickpea noodle soup tomorrow.

VCON Apple Galettes

2008-01-08T16:39:00.000-08:00

Turns out I did a little damage to my vocal chords. Nothing too serious and nothing permanent as long as I take care of myself.

I bought VCON a week or so before Christmas, but didn't get a chance to make much out of it until recently. I tried making the chickpea cutlets, and they were okay, but not the amazing dish everyone in veganblogland was raving about. I will admit to never having used vital wheat gluten before, but it seemed easy enough.

I also made the apple galettes to take to Brad's brother's house for their annual holiday hilarity.

They were quite easy, but I had a little trouble making the dough stay in a pretty heart shape. They ended up being "heart-esque." Delicious.

long overdue update

2007-12-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, a month without a post. That's pretty pathetic.

To be honest, since I've gotten home from tour, I've been working a ton of hours and making really quick, boring food. Additionally, I'm fighting off a very nasty cold that's kept me mostly out of commission. Thank god for the NHL Network and vegan junk food.

Also, I may or may not have gotten drunk and dropped my camera on the street. It still works, and I can have it replaced with the insurance policy I bought with it, but the idea of going into a department store right now makes me even more sick. So the semi-broken camera paired with the fact that I'm cooking well after dark these days (you know, after 4pm) just leads to awful pictures.

I have made a few acceptable things:

Stuffed acorn squash with tempeh:

Polenta with roasted tomatoes:

I'm making a big batch of cookies to take with me to Pittsburgh next week, so I will definitely have pictures and recipes for those. What are your favourite holiday cookies? I'm still open to ideas.

Bienenstich/Bee Sting Cake

2007-11-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

The cake is called "bee sting" as it is thought that a bee was attracted to the honey topping on the cake, and that the baker who invented the cake was stung. This cake is traditionally filled with custard and topped with honey-glazed sliced almonds.

Traditionally, the cake is simply cut in half and filled, but I'm kind of clumsy, so I just made two full cakes. I used a regular vanilla cake recipe and replaced the vanilla with extra almond extract.

I also made an almond buttercream filling after my custard just didn't taste right.

The almond topping is actually baked into the cake:

1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) earth balance
1 Tbsp. soymilk
3 Tbsp. agave nectar

Heat together almonds, sugar, agave nectar, EB and soymilk or cream until the
sugar dissolves. Pat a spoonful of flour over the top of the cake batter using the back of a spoon. Pour the almond mixture evenly over the batter. Bake 25 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool cake while preparing filling.

I brought it in for the carnivores at work and they loved it.

On a personal note, it's nice to finally be back home.

Herbivore Magazine

2007-11-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posting, but I've been on the road since 9 October. I'll be home 14 November, so expect something shortly after that.

In the meantime, I was asked to write a little something for Herbivore Magazine's Give it Up for Grandma feature. You can only read it if you're a subscriber, but it's definitely worth it. You don't want to miss out on Grandma Jank's sweet and sour cabbage!

http://herbivoremagazine.com/

See you guys in a few weeks!

Artichokes.

2007-10-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

Artichokes are one of my favourite things. I love how involved they are to eat, forcing you to take your time peeling off each petal and stripping the meat off with your teeth...

I like to make couscous with chopped olives, toasted almonds and lemon and stuff it into my artichokes before baking. It's not only delicious, but very nice visually.

Greek Night

2007-09-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

Clockwise from top right: Lemon-spinach couscous, tomatoes and cucumbers with dill dressing, garlic hummus, whole-wheat pita, garlic-thyme fava beans (inspired by The Urban Vegan's post about fava beans), and sauteed oyster mushrooms.

A week of food.

2007-08-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty busy around here, so I just wanted to share some of the things I've been eating over the past week. If you'd like any of the recipes, just ask.

Italian Vegetable Soup with Israeli Couscous

Lazy Chickpea Onigiri

Tofu Kale Stir-fry from Lolo over at Vegan Yum Yum

Müsli mit Heidelbeeren und Haselnüsse

(this is a sneak peak at an entry I'm working on, all about veganised German-American foods. I'm still working on my menu, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to share them!)

Southern Indian Tofu Curry and Mango Pickle

Lily Dale

2007-08-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a member of the Spiritualist Church, and so I try to make it down to Lily Dale at least once a year.

When I'm only planning on being there for a day or two, I tend to eat mostly Luna bars and the odd bagel. However, the food they offer is actually pretty good for being limited to a cafeteria and a cafe or two.

From the Cafeteria, I had this amazing, homemade, roasted red pepper hummus with lightly toasted pita triangles.

I also had a roasted vegetable wrap with vegan pesto.

It was really hot and humid when we went, so I tried to spend a good bit of time relaxing by the lake. I had this glass of lavender italian soda and it was just perfect for the weather and the mood.

Lake Cassadaga

store-bought everything!

2007-07-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

This post was inspired by Carrie's Cooking Adventures.

Tonight I made pizza! I used a very trendy whole-wheat crust, store bought (essential!) and topped it with store-bought pizza sauce, follow your heart mozzarella, shredded zucchini, and yves pepperoni. Ate it in the backyard on a paper plate with vodka and vitamin water.

My knives also got the better of me for the first time since I bought them a year ago:

Peanut Udon Noodles.

2007-07-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

Perfect for hot summer days, cold noodles are super easy to prepare and delicious.

Boil some udon noodles and rinse them in cold water. Make a sauce from peanut butter, soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, grated ginger, pepper, and sesame oil. Coat the noodles. Toss in whatever leftovers you have, or steam some veggies. I added a little fried tempeh, steamed broccoli, and carrot shreds. Top it off with some sesame seeds.

Cover and keep cool in the fridge for a few hours.

Perfect with a nice glass of sake.

BBQ Tempeh and couscous pilaf

2007-07-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

I love reading other food blogs for inspiration, and one of my favourites is Chris and Darlene's Eat Air. I saw their post about BBQ tempeh and I had to make some of my own.

I baked my tempeh in the oven with store brand bbq sauce, and while it was delicious, it came out less crunchy looking than Chris'. I covered my baking dish in foil, so maybe that's why?

I also served mine on a bagel because it was really the only bread I had in the house, besides some really soft wheat, which would have failed to hold up.

I also made a couscous pilaf. I sauteed onions, celery and baby bella mushrooms in a little olive oil. added vegetable stock, brought it to a boil, added the couscous and five minutes later, it was done.

It was a great summer meal, and the leftover tempeh and pilaf made a great bento lunch the next day at work!

Four Seed Maple Mustard Hash

2007-07-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

I think my personal food motto should be "Anything with Potatoes!"

Some of my requirements for a good breakfast are that:

1) it contains a good amount of protien and carbs.

2) I actually cook a portion of it.

I love making potato and tempeh hash, simply because once I mix it up and throw it in the oven, I can spend the next 30 minutes in the shower without having to worry about it. For this particular hash, I start off toasting fennel, mustard, cumin and coriander seeds in a little olive oil. I don't dry toast them because I would be added oil to the final mixture anyway. When the mustard seeds start to pop, you're definitely done. They should all get pretty fragrant long before that though.

I used five potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks and one 8oz package of tempeh, crumbled. Mixed them together and added the oil/seed mixture, salt, pepper, soy sauce, mustard, maple syrup, sage, turmeric and a little pinch of cayenne pepper.

Being German, I have my choice of about six different kinds of mustard at home, so I chose horseradish, but anything you have handy would work just as well.

pout it into a large baking dish and cover with tinfoil. 350degF until fork tender (about 30 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes)

I served my hash with some frozen vegan waffles and edamame. I had enough hash left over for two more meals.

Here's a picture of when I made it with red potatoes and tempeh chunks:

mojito day.

2007-07-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

I love mojitos and if I go out to eat and the bar is stocked with fresh mint, I almost always order one. I've never bothered to make them at home, so when Chris came over to celebrate his birthday with his husband Mathew, we decided it would be a perfect opportunity to try out a recipe.

Since we're all spectacularly lazy, and there were carbs to be eaten, we decided to just go ahead and make a whole pitcher of mojitos.

Chris supplied the recipe for our mojitos, so I'm not exactly sure what it was, but all the recipes I see online say 1 part rum, 3 parts club soda, 1/2 part sugar, mint leaves and lime. Ours was probably three parts rum, as we just dumped in the whole bottle, as we are disgusting.

and the result was this:

and then this:

(disclaimer! we here at Northern Vegan do not condone excessive drinking, and especially drinking and driving. In fact, none of us even know how to drive. you must be 21+ to read this post within the United States.)

Breakfast sandwiches

2007-06-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

When I was a little girl, my family always served a fairly European-style breakfast on school days, reserving the big plates of pancakes and eggs for the weekends.

We'd have a variety of cold cuts, leftovers from the night before, breads, müesli and fruits. I loved nothing more than making little breakfast sandwiches out of whatever was on the table.

I bought some oyster mushrooms the other day, not knowing what I was going to be doing with them. oysters have a subtle flavour, so I didn't want whatever I was making with them to overpower that.

I sauteed some chopped mushrooms with a bit of onion and basil in earth balance. added salt and pepper. On a toasted english muffin, I added some hickory smoked Tofurky slices, tomato and the mushroom mixture. They were delicious.

Raspberry Lemonade Cake

2007-06-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

I used the Golden Cupcake and Cream Cheeze frosting recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but I added some lemon extract to both and topped with raspberries.

Really tasty with a big cold glass of soymilk.

Bananas Foster Pancakes.

2007-06-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

I agreed to cook my mother dinner tonight, and when I asked her what she wanted she said "Pancakes!"

I'm not a total health nut, but even I don't think pancakes are a very healthy dinner.

We compromised, I made her a nice roasted vegetable chili with rice for dinner, and made her some extra special pancakes for dessert.

The only ripe bananas at the store were babies, but they worked kind of perfectly. I sautéed the split baby bananas in some earth balance (a vegan butter substitute), brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon. once the sugar and butter had formed a sauce, I poured a few ounces of dark rum into the pan

and I let the arsonist out and lit it up

I didn't really think to tidy up the stove from the chili or put the mop I used earlier away.

I made the pancakes from a slightly modified version of the recipe in Vegan With A Vengeance. I added a little almond extract and substituted agave nectar for the maple syrup that Isa's recipe calls for.

I put some filling into the middle of each cake

rolled them up, seam side down, and dusted with a little powdered sugar.

So mom got her pancakes, didn't eat a giant stack of them and had a little fruit too. Not really a healthy dessert, but a good compromise.

I should say that this recipe is extremely easy to prepare. Flambé is actually quite simple and imparts a really special flavour to your bananas. Don't skip that step! All the alcohol burns off, so it's totally safe for kiddies.

The Other Buffalo Sauce

2007-06-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

When people think of Buffalo food, the first thing that usually comes to mind is chicken wings, but a lot of non-Buffalonians don't know about another Western New York classic, Chiavetta's Barbeque Marinade.

Unlike traditional BBQ, Chiavetta's has a tangy, vinegar flavour. I marinated some Morningstar Farms faux chicken strips in the sauce and grilled them in my George Foreman.

I served it up with some basmati rice drizzled with sesame oil and topped with furikake

and at the last minute I grilled some Bosc pears.

It might seem like a mish-mash of flavours, but it worked quite well. I also had some leftover naan that I used up.

Curry Comfort.

2007-06-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

When you ask people about comfort food you always hear about mashed potatoes, gravy, hot soup and things like that. I think about those things too, but one of my favourite comfort foods is a big plate of rice and curry. I probably started feeling this way in college. There was a little restaurant in the alley behind the Art Institue called Phnom Penh, which I'm sure you've figured out served Cambodian (and Thai and Chinese) food. I used to go in there and get a big bowl of vegetarian red curry and just let the spicyness of the curry and the sweetness of the coconut milk distract me from all of my worries.

As I've found, making a good curry is quite simple, and last Wednesday, after a night of too many vodka tonics (and shots of Jameson), I needed it to relax.

You can make curry with whatever veggies you have waiting around. I used onions, green peppers, bamboo shoots, cauliflower, red potatoes, spinach and carrots. The real trick to curry is the spice mix. I make a mix of curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander, dry mustard, ginger, lime, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne and whole mustard seeds. (it's true that curry powder already contains some of these ingrediants, but it's up to you to adjust the flavours as you prefer them.) I saute the veggies, add the spices, toss in a can of coconut milk and enough water to mostly cover and cook until tender and the sauce has thickened some.

it's also excellent cold, right out of the fridge on a hot day like today.

Summer salad and sweet onigiri

2007-06-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here in Western New York, once you get sick of one type of extreme weather, the other extreme comes along. I had just gotten tired of shovelling the driveway and enjoyed about a month of comfortable spring weather, when we were hit with blistering heat and humidity. I know for those of you in the South, my whining about an 80 degree day must sound pathetic, but I am just not designed for this.

So, I made a nice cool summer lunch.

A really simple salad to make. I used one english cucumber, two large, firm tomatoes, and one avacado, all diced and mixed together. Then I added a splash of olive oil (just enough to coat), about a 1/4c of fresh lemon juice, a few good pinches of dried dill, salt and pepper. mixed it all together and let it sit in the fridge for an hour to marinate. It's fine to eat right away, but if you can wait for it to chill, it's much better. I added a spoonful of Tofutti sour cream to my bowl when I was done. As a side dish, this serves a lot. for a lunch, it should serve three or four hungry people, depending on the size of your produce.

As a kid, I always loved rice pudding, but it was so involved to make. I have developed a faster vegan version, but it still involves sitting over a hot stove. I invented a summer version yesterday:

The night before, I had steamed a batch of sweet black sticky rice (available at your local Asian grocer), and stuck it in the fridge. It's true that this rice has a sweeter flavour than its white counterpart, but it also has the texture of a wild rice. slightly chewy.

I mixed the rice (which was about three cups cooked) with a few teaspoons of sugar and about 1/8c of coconut milk. I pressed the rice into my onigiri molds just for presentation value, but you could do just about anything with them. After you add the coconut milk, the rice is not as sticky anymore, making this a dish you need to eat with a fork, as opposed to a finger food like traditional onigiri.

I made the sauce by mixing a few tablespoons of cashew butter with some more coconut milk and whisking until I got the consistency I wanted. I topped it with some brown sesame seeds, again just for presentation. They didn't make much difference in the flavour of the dish, especially with the strength of the cashew butter.

an Introduction

2007-06-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

I suppose an introduction is in order here.

My name is Jill, I'm 25 and I am currently living in Buffalo, New York.

I have been vegan for about five years or so. I founded and still moderate the Cheap Vegan community on livejournal.

The problem with running a vegan community is that politics takes over more often than not. I'm not here to argue with people about veganism. Especially other like minded people.

So, full disclosure, I eat small amounts of honey (usually with hot water and lemon when I have a bad sore throat) and refined sugar. One time I ate a veggie egg roll at JFK airport because I thought I was going to faint from hunger. Anyway, I digress....

Aside from that, I went to College for photography, and I am currently working as a waitress, and selling my work on the side. I'll probably post pictures of my cat on this blog from time to time.