hot for food

I eat fake meat… so! Look I’m really not one for imitation vegetarian/vegan food. I also think its deceiving and mega disappointing when a food item is called something it really isn’t. Even worse when vegan/vegetarian meat substitutes or imitations taste like paper, cardboard, rubber or some other man made material that doesn’t resemble food. I don’t eat meat and sometimes, as much as I DO NOT want to eat meat, well I kinda want to eat meat. Make sense?! But I won’t and luckily Gardein has come out with a line of perfect replacements for those moments of weakness. The products are all non-GMO and organic.  They taste amazing. And they are starting to pop up at grocery stores everywhere. Just recently we received the expanded line of products in Canada that had previously only been available south of the border. Honestly, Gardein makes it easy to become vegetarian without compromising taste, satisfaction, and health. I mean, just like meat, I wouldn’t live on this stuff. It’s still a processed food, but nothing is slit in the throat or submersed in feces to get it to your plate. Just saying. Check out these deceiving vegan meals I made using Gardein, and another incredible product, Daiya.

Beef & Veg Stir Fry
Ingredients: Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips, various veggies, stir-fried in sesame oil, ginger, garlic, hot sauce and tahini, on a bed of soba noodles.

Meat & Cheese Pizza
Ingredients: Gardein BBQ Pulled Shreds, Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds, gluten free pizza dough, tomato puree, yellow bell pepper, green onion

Chicken Finger Dinner
Ingredients: Gardein Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers, homemade maple mustard dip, broccoli, smashed sweet potatoes with nutmeg and basil.

Tell me your mouth is watering?! Even my carnivorous man friend I occasionally feed was all over that Beef & Veg Stir Fry and he can hardly tell the difference between Daiya and real cheese. So go ahead and fake it, even for just 1 day a week. Besides these products have far far far less saturated fat then the real thing. Meat and cheese might just be the death of you… but not me.

There are so many vegan and vegetarian friendly restaurants opening up all the time, and I’ve noticed more options being added to menus at restaurants that still serve your typical fare. Which is huge. But finally Veggielicious is here! This is the first community restaurant event of its kind and it’s hitting Toronto from April 9 – 24. The cities best vegan/vegetarian restaurants will be offering special deals on meals to encourage people to get out and try eating great food that is free of animal products, heart healthy, compassionate, and eco-friendly.

So if you think you could never eat vegetarian or vegan food – even for just one week – now’s your time to challenge yourself. Trust me, rather than go out and spend lots of money on groceries you might not be familiar with or start experimenting with cooking vegetarian/vegan, just get outside and try one of the Veggielicious restaurant offers and see just how delicious and satisfying this way of eating can be.

If you enjoy the menu items at places like Rawlicious, Live Organic Food Bar, and Vegetarian Haven maybe that will make a change in your mind and jumpstart some motivation to experiment with plant based meals at home. I’ve linked the restaurants listed above to my Yelp reviews for you to check out. While I eat at some of these places regularly, I’m so excited to venture outside my neighborhood and try some new places. Veggielicious is great excuse to do so! Most of the participating restaurants are in Toronto but I love the inclusion of Kind Food in Burlington and Brooklyn’s Restaurant in Thorold. I’ve heard amazing things about both and I plan on making a trip out there during this event.

If you go out to a yummy resto during Veggielicious please share your reviews with me or post to yelp.ca so we can spread the word and change the world, one eater at a time! For a full listing of participating restaurants and other info check out Veggielicious.ca

Challenge #2 of Project Food Blog 2010 asked us bloggers to tackle a classic foreign dish that takes us out of our comfort zones. I certainly went out of my comfort zone to attempt a classic Indian snack that I eat ALL the time. Vegetable Samosas. I am obsessed. However, I’ve never been courageous enough to make them. I’ve had all the store bought, convenience store, and restaurant kinds. I’ve even had a friends grandmothers veggie samosa’s. The best I’ve ever had… which is obvious considering she is from India. So who am I kidding! Me, make veggie samosa’s?! Pfffff, and not just veggie samosas… vegan samosas! I’m sure this goes against all tradition, but it’s not THAT  big of a deal. The only real veganizng is in the homemade pastry. No butter and milk, but Earth Balance and soy milk instead!

So, I have to make the delicious and fragrant filling, the pastry, and on top of all this, I also decided I’d just whip up some homemade mango chutney for dipping. I am insane. Oh and btw, I do this with less than 24 hours before the deadline of this blog having to be posted and after having worked a double at the resto. ooooookay.

The scariest part of making Indian food is that you have to have the spices just right and there’s many different kinds involved. In fact, I couldn’t even find fenugreek (which I’ve never seen in my life) at 3 am last night at the 24 hr Metro! But I did have everything else. Cumin seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, cayenne, coriander, tumeric, and I decided to throw in some garam marsala for extra mileage.

I followed what I thought looked like a pretty standard recipe. In searching through recipes online there was only minor differences in the spices used, and some included curry powder… which is kind of like cheating isn’t it?

Filling Ingredients:
2 cups diced peeled potatoes
1/2 cup diced carrots
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp each fennel and cumin seeds
1 tsp brown or black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric and coriander and fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp grated gingerroot
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Dough Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup each cold Earth Balance and soy milk

I did the dough in a food processor which is SO easy. Just combine flour and salt; pulse in Earth Balance until in fine crumbs. Pulse in soy milk until ball begins to form. Press into disc; wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or make ahead and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

In large saucepan of boiling salted water, cover and cook potatoes and carrots until tender, about 10 minutes; drain.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry fennel, cumin and mustard seeds, turmeric, coriander, garam marsala, fenugreek seeds and cayenne just until cumin seeds begin to pop, about 1 minute. I’ve never made anything where I heat or fry the spices to get them fragrant. It’s a good tactic though, and I think I will use it again.

Then add onion, garlic, ginger and salt; fry until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in potato mixture and peas. Stir in lemon juice and coriander; let cool.

The portioning, rolling of the dough and assembly of the samosas proved most difficult. This might be the most aggravated I have ever been in the kitchen. I hate dough. Always have. You know, things like pie crust, shortbread. I have no idea what the right consistency is supposed to be and no matter how closely you follow a recipe it never looks like the picture! I also have no idea why you have to refrigerate the dough, when it worked better once I had left it out after a while and it softened. Through trial and error I eventually calmed down and managed to work out 6 samosas. I gave up before I could get to a dozen.

The original plan was to fry them, because I figured that was probably the more traditional method and most recipes called for that. However, I’ve never deep fried ANYTHING at home for fear of becoming a burn victim. It’s scary stuff. I debated this for a while… I should fry because it’s trying something I’ve never done before and this is a god damn challenge for Project Food Blog! But third degree burns all over ones body is not worth $10,000 and with so much fear in me already about frying, attempting to do it anyway could only end up in disaster! So I baked the samosas at 425 F for about 25 minutes. I think I like them better like this anyway. And it’s healthier, right!

The mango chutney was deeeeelicious and the perfect compliment to the veggie samosas.

Ingredients:
2 large firm, ripe mangoes, chopped into small chunks
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
10 whole cloves
1 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch of red pepper flakes (increase to increase spice level)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegan brown sugar
1 tablespoon raisins

In a medium saucepan, combine all of the ingredients. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. The consistency should be thick and glossy and the mangoes should be extremely tender.

This definitely was not an easy dish to execute and I certainly wouldn’t make these very often. I would make them again if I had another reason to, other than a blog challenge. Maybe a party! During the process I thought I would be disappointed, since I’m always hard on myself, but I’m rather delighted with the end result. They taste pretty damn Indian to me.

I’ve professed my love for quinoa before… it’s my fave! This time around I tried black quinoa. I have made the white and red quinoa before and there’s a huge difference in texture between them. I prefer the white, actually. It has a softer, fluffier feel and I find it absorbs the cooking liquid much better and faster. But I thought black quinoa would just look better in this recipe from Vegetarian Times for Gingery Quinoa Salad with Apples, Peas, and Coconut… and it does! But I would make it again with white for purposes of more pleasurable eating. The red and black quinoa’s are much chewier and make my jaw hurt after a few bites!

This is a great recipe and it happened to be one of those rare moments where I don’t modify anything! There’s a nice creaminess to it being cooked in 100% carrot juice and I like the hint of coconut flavor combined with the sweet peas and apples. If you love quinoa, give it a whirl!

Today’s V-Day Breakfast Menu was Green Frittata and Carrot Spice Muffins. I also had a coffee, which I’ve started to add cinnamon into everyday. I heard somewhere there are lots of good benefits to having a tbsp of cinnamon a day. It’s incredible in coffee so it’s now my new thing. I failed at sticking to vegan. The muffins are and obvi the frittata is not. But it was delicious, and I don’t care!

I discovered an unbelievably healthy carrot muffin recipe on Fat Free Vegan. Susan V’s recipes are amazing, mostly all fat-free, using whole, natural, unrefined ingredients, and the photos are to die for! I will add this site to my blog roll to share it with you. hot for food can only dream of being this good! Hey… I’m trying! Her recipe for the muffins is here, but I did a few things differently.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 shredded apple
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Combine the first 9 ingredients (dry) together in a large bowl. Combine the second group of 6 wet ingredients together in another bowl. Add wet to the dry and combine until just mixed. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray or use liners, and spoon batter into the cups just to the top. Bake for 15 min at 400F. Makes 12 muffins.

This is the first time I’ve made a frittata. I didn’t really know what made it different from an omlette, but turns out it’s an Italian omlette! You could do this with any ingredients obviously, but this is a good for you, green version!

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 cup chopped asparagus
1 cup baby spinach
1/2 avocado, chopped
2 chopped green onions
fresh basil & thyme
S&P
1 tbsp olive oil
shredded cheddar or feta cheese

Pre-heat oven to broil. I blanched the asparagus in advance, so I ended up combining all the above into a bowl and then putting it into a hot iron skillet coated with olive oil. But you could cook the asparagus with the other veggies, onion, and herbs in the pan, then whisk eggs with milk, adding salt and pepper, then pouring that into the pan with the lightly cooked veggies. Once everything is in the skillet, sprinkle the top with cheese and just leave it to cook for 6-7 minutes, without touching it. Then transfer the skillet to the oven and broil it for 1-2 minutes. You’ll be able to see when it’s done.

I’ve craved phad thai for the last week or so. I have no idea why. Actually Indian food too, but those recipes seemed more complicated. I made a vegetarian phad thai (with tofu and egg) and added shrimp after for my animal eating counter part. Honestly there’s so many different versions of phad thai out there that I just tried to make my own based on all the other recipes I looked up. It’s good enough for home made. It’s not excellent though. So I am on a mission to perfect phad thai! The best I’ve ever had is at a Asian comfort food restaurant in Oakville called Celadon House. Holy shit, this is the bestest phad thai known to man…. I dare you to say otherwise! I need to figure out how they make it.

“My Pad” Phad Thai

Ingredients:
1/2 pkg of Flat Rice Noodles
1/2 block of Extra Firm Tofu
1/4 cup chopped Red Onion
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 cup Carrots, julienned
1 cup Red Pepper, julienned
1 cup Bean Sprouts
1/2 cup chopped Green Onions
1/4 cup fresh chopped Cilantro
1 Egg
2 tbsp Sesame or Peanut Oil
3 tbsp Roasted, chopped unsalted Peanuts

For the Sauce:
1/4 cup Soy Sauce (low sodium)
2 1/2 tbsp Lime Juice
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Chilli Sauce
2 tbsp grated or finely minced fresh Ginger

Combine the ingredients for the sauce first and set aside. Chop tofu into thin strips and fry in a non-stick pan with a tablespoon of canola oil until crispy on the outside, set aside. Scramble the egg in the same pan as the tofu and set aside. Boil your water for the noodles and cook the noodles as per the instructions on the package. They don’t take long so they can sit aside to drain while you finish the stir fry.

It’s easiest to prep all your vegetables ahead of time. Heat a wok or large sauté pan with 2 tbsp of sesame or peanut oil and stir fry red onion, garlic, carrot, and red pepper for a few minutes until onions are soft. Add the noodles, tofu, egg, half the green onion and half the cilantro tossing to combine everything. Then add in the sauce and cook for a few more minutes coating everything well. To serve, sprinkle with roasted and chopped unsalted peanuts, more cilantro and green onion.

Had my two good girlfriends over last night, who I love to cook for, and they love that I cook for them! We did it up vegetarian (but not vegan) in lieu of my 2010 resolution. Here’s the menu and the recipes of the new creations.

STARTER: Sweet Potato & Herb Fritters with Tzatziki

Homemade Tzatziki is EASY to make and is so much better for you then store-bought. Just mix shredded cucumber, lemon juice, minced garlic and S&P into 1 single serving size container of plain Greek style yogurt.

For the Fritters, shred one large sweet potato and 1 or 2 white potatoes. Combine with 2 eggs lightly beaten, freshly chopped parsley, chives, and oregano, and S&P. Drop heaping tablespoon fulls into a bit of olive oil coating the bottom of a frying pan. It takes about 3-4 minutes each side. Make sure to pat dry the excess oil on paper towels before serving!

MAIN: Orange Scented Couscous Salad with Cranberries & Almonds

The key to any successful couscous salad is allowing the un-cooked couscous to absorb a hot, heavily flavored liquid… not just plain water and salt! For this recipe combine the following in a pot and boil.

3/4 cup of O.J
1/4 cup water
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon
S&P

Once this is boiling remove from heat and stir in 1 cup uncooked whole wheat couscous and 1/4 cup dried cranberries. Set this aside until all the liquid has absorbed. Then add the following (or whatever you like): sliced, toasted almonds, chopped cucumber, chopped red pepper, chopped red onion, shredded carrot, and chopped cilantro. Make a light dressing with 1/4 cup O.J., lime juice, Dijon mustard and whisk in olive oil. Mix this with the couscous salad. We also ate my Roasted Edamame Salad!

DESSERT: Apple Crisp

Easiest dessert ever, but one of my favorites! Look, I don’t know the diff between crisp, crumble, cobbler… do you? But I think this is crisp because it has oats, butter (Earth Balance), and brown sugar. No “crumbly” flour topping (which I don’t much like). Anyway, here’s how I do mine.

Coat sliced apples (Macintosh) with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, lemon juice, and a small amount of sifted flour. Put in a baking dish and cover with this topping. Combine large oats, brown sugar, cold Earth Balance / margarine/ butter, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes or until bubbling. YUM! oooh and I have one serving of left overs… eating it now!!

Just wanted to share this…

Vancouver Slop asked me about my Top Slop – favourite restaurants in Vancouver – check it out here

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for The Foundation to open up here in Toronto. Unfortunately they don’t have a website but this is the Vancouver location at 2301 Main Street.

I’ve been craving their vegetarian fair for months since I moved from Vancouver. So much so that I had to try and mimic my faves at home. I just attempted my version of “A Tight Spin”, their Spinach Salad.  It’s pretty darn close, it’s just missing their signature Mango Vinaigrette. Although I’m fairly certain that if I just add some fresh mango puree to this White Wine Vinaigrette that I whipped up, it would be nearly spot on to what I get at Foundation.

The Foundation’s “A Tight Spin” Salad

Baby Spinach
Toasted, Chopped Walnuts
Crumbled Goat Cheese
Slices of RIPE Pear
Salad Dressing:
1/3 Olive Oil, 2/3 White Wine Vinegar, 1 TSP Dijon Mustard, 1 TSP Honey, salt & pepper

This basic salad dressing with a touch of honey had the right amount of sweetness to taste like the dressing The Foundation uses. Next time I’m going to puree some ripe mango and add a TBSP or 2 of that to this mix. It’s pretty easy, but the combo of fruit, nut and cheese, with the texture of spinach at its base is SO addictive!!

I’ve seen a couple of examples recently on TV where the cook has suggested using Wonton Wrappers to make ravioli! Because seriously no one in their right mind is going to spend the time making and rolling out fresh pasta. I have used wonton wrappers to make Asian style dumplings before but I never thought of using them as a pasta. My favorite ravioli’s are filled with creamy Butternut Squash. So when I googled “Butternut Squash Ravioli” tons of recipes come up for Butternut Squash Ravioli with different variations of Brown Butter and Sage sauce pairings. Apparently a good taste combo! I didn’t know. So I mixed and matched some things and threw in my own idea and here we have my Butternut Squash Wonton Ravioli Recipe. Actually after having made it, I would suggest not revealing that you cheaped out and used Wonton Wrappers! Your guests won’t know the diff!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Walnut Brown-Butter Sage Sauce

1 pkg of Wonton Wrappers
1 Butternut Squash (however, you can now by it pre-cut and skinned in the grocery store which I did…WAY EASIER!)
2 TBSP Butter
2 TBSP Honey
1 TSP Nutmeg

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F and place cut sections of Butternut Squash on a baking sheet (I lined with parchment first to save my cleaning time) and coat with a thin layer of butter, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake for 25 to 40 min. Depending on how small you cut the pieces of squash baking time can vary.

Once the squash is baked, puree it with salt & pepper to taste. Keep it in a bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator. You could prep this a day or two before you even want to make the ravioli’s.

Your Wonton Wrappers are already conveniently cut into perfect squares so all you need to do is put a small spoonful of squash onto one wrapper, wet the edges with water, place another wrapper on top and make a small fold around all the edges and kind of pinch them together. I then took a fork and pressed down the edges to seal them even further. That made them look even more like ravioli, but I did it because I was unsure how these would hold up during boiling. You could prep this earlier in the day before you want to cook them. Just place all the ravioli in a dish and cover it with a damp cloth or paper towels and keep in the fridge.

Apparently the name wonton means swallowing a cloud… Well I must say that I’m quite proud of how lovely my little clouds of ravioli look!

When you’re ready to put your dish together here’s what you need. You can vary the amounts depending on how much you are making and what you prefer in the dish. I like lots of greens, remember!

2 TBSP Butter
2-3 CUPS of baby Spinach
1/4 CUP chopped Walnuts
2 TBSP chopped fresh Sage
Crumbled Goat Cheese to top

Timing is everything here. The pasta only takes 3 min in boiling water. Do that first and have your sauce pan heating over medium. Once the pasta is done, drain it and start on the sauce. Put the butter in the sauce pan. It will melt quickly and turn brown. As soon as that happens throw everything else in… walnuts, spinach, sage and the ravioli’s. Toss all together until spinach has shrunk down and everything is nicely coated. Plate and top with goat cheese.

You now have what appears to be a gourmet handmade pasta dish! Way to go Wonton!