International Vegan T-Shirt Day

In honour of International Vegan T-Shirt Day, I am posting a picture of myself wearing a t-shirt that promotes veganism.

International Vegan Junk Food Day 2015

It's international Vegan Junk Food Day, and in the spirit of the day, I'm sending my contributions to the cause!

I went to Starbucks to have a soymilk latte and I purchased a package of chocolate covered dates that had been stuffed with almonds.  Both the latte and the chocolates were delightful.

It's Official

On Wednesday, May 27, I officially informed my employer that I intend to retire effective June 30, 2015.  

I sent one mildly gushy letter to my principal and vice-principal, and a business-like letter to all the necessary people in the head office.

I will miss the people with whom I work, and while I will miss working, I will not miss going to work.   There are so many other things I can be doing besides scraping off my car at 6:30 a.m. to get to the office.

I will be creating a whole set of new routines in my life, and I am looking forward to being able to post much more frequently than I have been posting.

Snack Box

I'm reviewing a vegan snack sampler tonight.

Three months ago, as a birthday present to myself, I subscribed to a three month delivery of vegan beauty products from Vegan Cuts.  Vegan Cuts is a company that seeks out products, checks them to make sure they contain only vegan ingredients,  and then offers these products to vegan shoppers.  This is a great idea.  The boxes came like clock-work on about the 23rd of the next three months, and I was impressed by the products they contained, but I never did a review of any of them.

Towards the end of April I thought I would try a one month sample of the Vegan Cuts Snack Box.  The snack box arrived today.  Check out this photo!

The box contained full-sized packages of a number of snacks and sample size of some snacks.

The full-size snacks were:  Pop Art Thai Coconut Curry Popcorn, RW Garcia Blue & Yellow tortilla chips, Explore Asian spaghetti made from edamame beans, Dog Dark Organic energy drink, and Flamous Brands (yes that's the correct spelling!) felafel chips.   You might notice from the photo that this bag had been opened - we tried them - they're great!  Grab The Gold snack bar in chocolate-peanut butter flavour (I'm taking this to school tomorrow.  For me.)

The sample size snacks were: two packages of YumEarth jelly beans and gummies, Vibrant Health protein powder, and Crunch Master multi-grain crackers.

I'm also going to take the jelly beans and gummies to school.  You never know when you are going to need a snack!!!

Finally, that handsome fellow in the photo is my cat Buddy.

Cauliflower Wings

I’ll admit it: for some time now, I’ve been very intrigued by recipes that suggest that by a clever combination of breading, baking, and BBQ sauce application, cauliflower florets can be substituted for chicken wings.  I haven’t actually believed it, but I wanted to try it.

I have looked at dozens of recipes for this, and ultimately, I invented my own.  Plus I have a secret weapon: Akabanga sauce from Rwanda.

I bought several small bottles of this sauce when I was in Rwanda in the summer of 2014.  I don’t use it as often as I should.

This beautiful head of cauliflower was my inspiration!

Ingredients

I large head of cauliflower
2 cups of the flour of your choice - regular flower, whole wheat flour, gluten-free - it’s up  to you!
2 cups of soy milk or the non-dairly milk of your choice
a pinch of salt
black pepper - as much or as little as you like
2 cups of your favourite vegan BBQ sauce
1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce
2 tablespoons of canola oil
your favourite hot sauce, if you are looking for hot wings - if you don’t like hot wings, you can omit the hot sauce


Directions

You will need to pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees

Cut up the head of cauliflower into florets.  Don’t make the florets too small.

Combine the flour, the soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) the salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk until well combined.

Coat the cauliflower florets in this mixture and place them in an oven-proof pan.  I used a 9 x 13 inch pan and a 5 x 9 inch pan.  My cauliflower was so big I could not fit all the florets in one pan.

You can coat the florets by dipping them one by one in the flour mixture if you like, but I dumped all of the florets into the bowl and gently stirred with a wooden spoon, and then I used the spoon to lift the florets out of the bowl and into the ovenproof pans.

Put your pans in the oven and set the timer for 22 minutes.

While the cauliflower is baking, you can make your sauce.  Combine the BBQ sauce, the apple sauce, the canola oil and about two drops of hot sauce.  Stir until they are will combined.  I used a 4 Cup size measuring cup to do this so that it would be easier to pour the sauce onto the florets.

When the timer goes off, carefully remove your pans from the oven and place them onto  robust hot pads or trivets.

Pour the BBQ sauce mixture over the florets as evenly as possible.  The pans will be very hot and almost immediately you will begin to notice the aroma of carmelizing BBQ sauce.

Put your pans back into the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Serve the florets more or less immediately.  They would go very nicely with a good vegan potato salad or with vegan ranch dressing.   I liked them plain, actually, and  I can  absolutely see them becoming a backyard dinner staple.

The question remains, however, do they taste like chicken wings?  The answer is no, they do not.  And I’m happy that they do not.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I was feeling a bit remiss about not having made a post to my blog recently.  I know that I am unlikely to attract new followers if there is not some dandy new content showing up frequently.

We had a Christmas cookie exchange at the school where I work.  There are actually two schools in my school building, and staff (teachers and support staff) from both schools participated.   Two of my good friends from my school brought vegan cookies because they didn’t think it would be sporting to bring cookies that I would not eat.  I have been thinking a great deal about their kindness to me, and about their cookies too! I resolved to try to make these cookies on the March Break, which I am enjoying right now.

I’m starting with these simple cookies, made by one of the teachers at my school.  She had never baked cookies in her entire life, so she was looking for something both vegan and simple - and these cookies hit the mark on both counts.  We car-pool home most nights, and earlier this week I asked her about the recipe.  She said she had looked on-line, and the recipe was so simple I would not have to write it down.   I found I had to tweak it a little bit, but the cookies came out as delicious as I remembered them.

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas 

2 cups of quick-cooking rolled oats

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  If you prefer spraying a bit of oil on your cookie sheet, go ahead!

1. Mash the bananas until they are good and mashed, but still have some lumps.
2. Add the oats and stir to combine.
3. Drop by the teaspoon onto your cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes.  When you give them a gentle poke and they don’t fall apart but rather, feel a little firm, they are done.

If you can believe it, these are the only two ingredients.  If you are the kind of baker who likes to experiment, you can also add any extra ingredients of your choice: I added 

1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg to the bowl, and then divided the batter into thirds.  I left one third just as it was, in the second third I stirred 1/3 Cup of slivered almonds and 1/3 cup of dried cranberries, and in the third third, I stirred in 2 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened coconut flakes and 1/3 cup of cranberries.

I was able to fit all of the cookies onto one cookie sheet.  The aroma in my kitchen was quite beautiful.  These are the kind of cookies that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating. 

Pancake Tuesday

Today isn't Tuesday, it's Saturday.  But I'm having pancakes anyways.

It's a snowy Saturday in Toronto which seems to be normal this winter.   I am happy to stay indoors and do some marking, and some tidying up and some cooking - anything to not go outside until tomorrow morning.

I have been thinking about having pancakes all week: Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, a day I look forward to with great enthusiasm.  Unfortunately, I missed having pancakes on this day, because I left my cell phone in my sister's car and had to retrieve it.   I had evening engagements every night of the week, so I knew my only chance at pancakes would be this morning - a Saturday.

Today I have a helper in the kitchen - my cat Buddy.

Years ago when my son was an infant, we had a nanny, Allie, from the Netherlands.  Shortly after she moved into our house she said she was going to make pancakes for breakfast.  I checked my pantry and found that I had very little pancake mix on hand.  Allie looked a bit puzzled.  "Pancake mix?" she asked.  "What's pancake mix?"  So I showed her the nearly-empty box, and she appeared to be quite surprised.  She said she had never heard of such a thing. "Pancakes are so easy to make!" she exclaimed, "They are just flour, and baking powder and milk and a bit of oil - you don't need a mix!"    She made pancakes for breakfast quite often, never with a mix.  Sometimes she would cut up an apple into thin slices and mix the slices in with the pancake batter.  Sometimes she added chocolate, sometimes fresh berries.  She didn't have a recipe, she just mixed up the batter herself.  She used to say, "It's  one to one - that's all you have to remember!", referring to the ratio of flour to milk.  I must say, however, that I like a bit more milk in mine than the one to one ratio, but that's a personal preference.  I will write down the recipe as I received it from Allie.

In the years since she moved back to the Netherlands, I have used her recipe many, many times, but now I have veganized it.  I no longer use dairy milk, but still mostly keep to the one to one ratio.

 Sometimes I still add fruit.  I often add nutmeg (I did today) because it imparts an interesting depth of flavour to the pancakes.  These pancakes are light and fluffy and are always a hit.

This recipe makes enough for our family - at least twelve very large pancakes or twenty smaller ones.  You can cut the recipe in half or multiply it - it's easy to remember.

Dry Ingredients

2 cups of Flour

2 tablespoons of baking powder

2 tablespoons of vegan-friendly sugar

1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 pinch of salt
Note: if I am adding berries, I use frozen berries and add them to the dry ingredients.

Wet ingredients
2 cups of milk - I use President's Choice soy milk - it's fantastic (I prefer adding 2 1/3 Cups of milk)
4 tablespoons of canola oil



Directions

Pour some canola into a frying pan on high heat and allow the pan to get good and hot.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a big mixing bowl.

Mix the canola oil and the soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) in a measuring cup - it won't stay mixed so don't worry if you skip this step.

Pour the oil-soy milk mixture into the dry mixture and stir until combined.  The batter makes better pancakes if it is not mixed perfectly smoothly.  You will notice that the batter is light and fluffy - much fluffier than boxed pancake mixes.

I use a 1/4 Cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the hot frying pan, and I spread the batter a bit with the bottom of the measuring cup.


It's really difficult to say how long to cook each side of the pancakes, because different people have different ideas about what constitutes a hot frying pan.  For me, it's full speed ahead - I have the pan as hot as my stove can make it, or if I am using an electric frying pan, I turn it up as far as it will go.

Generally speaking, you cook the pancakes until the uncooked side is filled with bubble holes and the bottom looks golden around the edges, and then you flip the pancake over and cook it until the bottom again looks like it is golden around the edges.  Then you put the pancakes on a plate and enjoy them.

These pancakes are great with maple syrup, with Lyle's Golden Syrup (a non-corn syrup) or with brown sugar.

My Shop

I'm still planning on having tshirts available on my shop but I can't quite figure out how to make my logo into a template for sending to the tshirt company.

Quick and Easy Soup - Revisited

It started snowing here yesterday morning and is still snowing now.

This is the view out my back door, looking over the deck.

It's a thoroughly rotten day designed for staying inside and keeping warm.  What you can't see in this photo is a small shelter we have made for a stray cat who lives in our neighbourhood.  It is made of insulation board and it has an outdoor-rated heated cat bed in it.  I don't know how warm the box is because it is open on one end, but I know the bed is warm - we found our cat Harry curled up in it the other day when it was -10 degrees Celsius outside.   Here is Harry indoors on his very own heated cat bed.  He loves that bed, and it probably feels good on his sore spots - he was hit by a car about nine years ago and he still has a spot on his side that he doesn't like to have touched.

Because it was such a miserable day, I decided to make soup.  I opted for my go-to soup - my sister Leslie's Quick and Easy Soup, but I changed it up a bit.  You can see the original recipe in February of 2014.

This time I omitted the onion - I know it seems like a crazy step to take when making soup - and instead added a few potatoes.   For spices, I added black pepper, Trader Joe's Everyday Spice Mix and a tablespoon of herbes de province.

Ingredients
1 large bag of frozen California mix veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
2.5 litres of vegetable broth
black pepper (I have a grinder - I used 15 twists of my grinder
Trader Joe's Everyday Spice - 10 twists of the grinder
herbes de provinces - about one tablespoon

Directions
Put all of the ingredients into a large pot and bring to a full rolling boil.

Turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes, then use an immersion blender to blend it into a creamy soup.  If you don't have an immersion blender (they are very handy) you could transfer the veggies in batches into your food processor and puree them.

Also, to make this into a protein powerhouse soup, you could add a can of cannelloni beans and puree them too.  If you have a child who loves soup but is wary of beans, this is a good way to go - you can't taste the beans at all.

Rawlicious - Delicious!

Yesterday I went for lunch at Rawlicious, a raw food and vegan restaurant in Whitby, Ontario.  I went with my father and one of my sisters.

The restaurant is very warm and inviting on the inside, and we were greeted pleasantly be a member of the waitstaff.  The tables and chairs were decently spaced, and of a pleasant and/or comfy design.

My father ordered the sweet potato fritters that came with a spicy dip.   We shared them and the verdict was very positive.

My sister ordered the zucchini noodles bolognese with nut loaf crumbles and marinara sauce.  It came in a very large bowl - she ate it all!  She said it was fantastic, and I can concur because I had a small bit of it as well.

I ordered the cannelloni - spiralize zucchini stuffed with cashew cheese and pesto - it was really tasty, and very good.  It came with a side salad - I had mine with vegan ranch dressing - and that was a nice counterpoint to the cannelloni.

For dessert, my sister had the cheesecake of the day, and I had the salted caramel square.   The cheesecake was good, but the salted caramel square was utterly sublime.  Vegans don't always get to find a good caramel - this one was fantastic.  My only regret was that I didn't buy a few extra to take home to have later in the day.

Would I go again? Absolutely - I'm adding this restaurant to my list of favourites!

Gluten -Free Cranberry Banana Bread

Gluten Free Cranberry Banana Bread



In response to a friend who has a gluten sensitivity, I re-visited my Cranberry Banana Bread recipe, but I used gluten-free flour instead of regular flour.

I used Bob's Red Mill Spelt Flour, cup for cup, in the recipe and it turned out just fine.

I used the same cooking time, too!

You can see from the photos that it looks just as good as my regular Cranberry Banana Bread.

Quick and Easy Tomato Soup

Quick and Easy Tomato Soup

We are expecting a storm this weekend in Toronto.  Of course, it is timed to coincide with the end of the Christmas holiday from school, so we will likely be going back to school on roads that are barely passable.  The school board that is my employer will not close schools in the event of a storm.  That means even if parents wisely choose to keep their children home, teachers must brave the rotten conditions and try to make it to school.   Last year a teacher in my province was killed on her way to work on a day when commons sense would have suggested that the schools be closed, and now that teacher's union, not my own, but I support the motion, is asking the school board to let safety decide whether or not schools are open.

This is the view across the road from my front window.

I saw an interesting recipe for tomato soup the other day, and I decided to alter it to make it my own.  Soup is nice on a day like today.   I can barely see to the back of my yard from my window right now.   We are expecting freezing rain later in the day - a treacherous addition to the snow we are now receiving.

This is the view from my back door.  Lucky we fed the squirrels before the weather became bad! 

You will need a large soup pot for this soup.

Place the following ingredients into your pot:
2 x 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
2 skinned and seeded roasted red peppers OR one jar of roasted red peppers packed in water
2 litres vegetable broth
2 medium potatoes
black pepper to taste
dried basil to taste
any other herbs you might like

Bring these ingredients to a hard boil, and boil for about five minutes, then turn the heat down and simmer the pot for about twenty minutes.

Add two cups of white kidney beans that have been soaked and boiled OR one can of white kidney beans that have been well-rinsed.

Using an immersion blender, completely blend all of the ingredients in the pot until you have a thick soup.  The potatoes don't add any taste to this soup, but they help thicken it nicely.  The beans add a good deal of protein, so the soup alone is a complete meal.

Serve it warm with crackers or a nice loaf of bread: it's the perfect thing on a snowy day.

Great soup, easy recipe - and it's downright vegan!