It’s Happened Again

Whenever I read articles like this I feel consumed by rage.  All of that rage is focussed on people who  won’t wake up and face the reality of what their food choices mean for animals.

Please don’t tell me you love animals, and then eat them.

https://cdllife.com/2017/truck-crash-spills-cattle-off-of-overpass-onto-i-15-below/

Ginger Jaffa Cakes

watch this space!  Recipe will be posted shortly!

Ginger-Peach Scones

I might start calling myself the Scone Queen if this keeps up - I made ginger-peach scones today.

These are beautiful, light-tasting scones that are perfect with a cup of tea.  I used my basic scone recipe which you can find here:   http://downrightvegan.blogspot.ca/2017/05/cranberry-orange-
scones.html But just make a few substitutions.  Leave out the orange zest and cranberries, and add
about a cup of chopped peaches and a teaspoon of ground ginger or a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger.  Instead of using 3/4 of a cup of almond or soy milk, I used a half a cup of almond milk and added 1/4 cup of the light syrup from the peaches to it.  (I used canned peaches, but when peach season starts here in southern Ontario, I will use fresh peaches.).

Cook the scones at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cherry-Walnut Scones

It's a beautiful day here in Toronto - just the right day for a scone!

These are Cherry-Walnut Scones.  To make them, follow the recipe at http://downrightvegan.blogspot.ca/2017/05/cranberry-orange-scones.html, but substitute dried cherries for cranberries and omit the orange zest, although to be truthful, these would be fantastic 

with the addition of a little orange zest!!! Sprinkle the top with about 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts and a bit of sugar and bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy them with tea or coffee! 

Lemon Blueberry Scones

The great thing about scones is that it's always the right time for a scone!

This recipe is simple and the results are fantastic.

First: Pre-heat your oven to 400F

Ingredients 

2 cups + 1/8 cup of all purpose flour (1/8 cup is two tablespoons)

1/2 cup of sugar plus more for sprinkling

3/4 Cup of plain almond milk

1/2 to 3/4 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries - the advantage of frozen blueberries is that they tend to mix a little easier without bursting

Zest of 2 lemons - if you want the scones to be a little less lemony, only zest one lemon

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of margarine - I used earth balance brand - and it has to be really cold.  Measure it out and put it in the freezer for twenty minutes so that it gets good and hard

For an optional glaze
Mix one cup of vegan-friendly icing sugar and two or three table spoons of lemon juice.  

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.  Add solid margarine and a pastry cutter, and cut in the marg until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.
3. Add the almond milk and stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in and a soft, slightly sticky dough is formed.  Then add the lemon zest and blueberries and stir them into the dough.
4. Dump the dough out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  If you like wedge-shaped scones, shape the dough into a circle about 8 inches in diameter and cut into eight wedges with a bench knife.  The dough will be too sticky to separate the wedges, but that's ok because you will have to cut them again later.  If you find that your dough is firm enough to separate the wedges, you can do that before you put the pan in the oven.  If you prefer smaller scones you can shape the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches x 4 inches and cut it into squares.
5. Before you place the scones in the oven, sprinkle sugar over the top.  It will make them look   slightly sparkly when they are all done.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the scones are golden and the edges begin to brown.
7. If you were not able to separate the individual scones when you put them in the oven you will notice that they have baked into one large round scone.  You should still be able to see the marks from where you cut the dough into wedges - use your bench knife to cut along these lines and separate the wedges to allow the scone to cool faster.
8. If you want to drizzle glaze on the scones, wait until they are cool before you glaze them

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Between the seemingly-endless rain storms in Toronto this spring, there have been some gloriously sunny days.  Those sunny days saw me working in the garden trying to clear out all the weeds that grew to huge size due to all the rain.  But the rain also helped my rhubarb patch grow and ripen early, and inspired by their beautiful red stalks, I decided to make a rhubarb strawberry crisp.

Ingredients

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup of vegan-friendly granulated sugar and 1/3 cup of vegan-friendly granulated sugar

1/2 cup of vegan margerine - I used Earth Balance

3/4 cup of rolled oats

Pinch of salt

1 tsp of cinnamon

Rhubarb and strawberries - enough to fill an 8"x8" baking dish about halfway


Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 350F

1. Wash your rhubarb taking care to be certain that no garden soil remains on the stalks.  Cut the stalks into pieces about one inch in length and put them in the baking dish.

2. Wash the strawberries under running water.  Hull and slice them and put them into the baking dish along with the rhubarb and toss them together.

3. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of granulated sugar over the strawberries and rhubarb, and set your baking dish aside.

4. Into a large mixing bowl, add the flour, the brown sugar, 1/2 cup of sugar, the cinnamon and the pinch of salt.  Whisk the ingredients together.

5. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the margerine until the mixture resembles very small peas.

6. Using a wooden spoon, blend in the oatmeal.  Do not use your hands for this because the heat from your fingers will melt the margerine and you don't want that to happen.  The mixture will get a little clumpy, but that is ok.

7. Spoon the mixture evenly over the rhubarb and strawberries in the baking dish.

Note: if you have been generous with the amount of rhubarb and strawberries that you put in your baking dish, you run the real possibility that the fruit will boil over in the oven.  Do yourself a favour, and put the baking dish on a parchment covered cookie sheet.

8. Put the baking dish into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes.  In my oven, the crisp was done in 55 minutes.  Remove the crisp from the oven when the top is golden brown.

Orange-Cranberry-Blueberry-Walnut Scones

Now that's a mouthful!

These are fantastic scones, just perfect for a rainy May afternoon.

Use the Cranberry-Orange Scones recipe that you will find here http://downrightvegan.blogspot.ca/2017/05/cranberry-orange-scones.html as your base recipe.

Prepare the recipe and add  add 1/2 cup of Walnuts and  1/2 cup to 1 cup (depending on your prefernce for blueberries, to the batter.

Continue as in the base recipe.

Cook at 400F for 20 to 25 minutes.

"Honey" and Oatmeal Scones

I recently found a brand of vegan honey that is not made by bees at all, rather it is made from concentrated apple juice.  It's called Bee-Free Honee and it although it does not taste exactly like honey, it is a close approximation, and what's more, it behaves like honey in recipes.

My last two blog entries were about scones, and today's will be about yet another type of scone, a vegan Honey Oatmeal Scone.  

This scone is a little heartier than regular scones, and I think would be a good accompaniement to a good thick fall soup if it was made with a little less sugar and no walnuts.  In the form that I made them today, they are a nice side addition to a hot cup of tea.

 

Pre-heat your oven to 400F

Ingredients

1/3 cup of quick cooking oatmeal

1 2/3 Cups of all purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup of sugar

1 rounded tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 cup of margarine - I used earth balance brand - and it has to be really cold.  Measure it out and put it in the freezer for twenty minutes so that it gets good and hard

1/2 cup Almond milk or soy milk (or your cruelty-free milk of choice)

1/4 cup of bee free honey or agave syrup

Instructions

Place the oats, flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and whisk the ingredients until they are blended.

Using a pastry cutter, cut in the marg until the mixture resembles coarse sand, but you should still be able to see little bits of marg in with the flour.

Combine the honey or agave syrup with the non-dairy milk and stir into the dry ingredients until the the dry ingredients are incorporated into the liquid.  

At this point if you want to add nuts or dried fruit, you can.

Turn your batter out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and shape into a circle or rectangle, as you prefer.  Using a bench knife, cut your shaped batter into wedges or rectangles, as you prefer.  

Sprinkle a bit of sugar on the top of the scones and place them into the oven. 
Set your time for 20 to 25 minutes.  I find, with my oven, that the scones are perfect at 22 minutes.  

Maple-Walnut Scones

I'm on a roll with scones.  Easy to make, practically fool-proof, these are a perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea on any afternoon.

After making the orange-cranberry scones that were posted earlier today, I was thinking of a different flavour of scones.  I had both walnuts and a good supply of maple syrup in stock so I thought I would try my hand at making maple-walnut scones.  They turned out beautifully!

Pre-heat your oven to 350F
Spread one cup of chopped walnuts (or pecans) on a parchment-lined baking tray, and bake for about 6 or 7 minutes to toast them.  Set them aside until they cool completely.

Increase the heat on your oven to 400F

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of sugar

3 teaspoons of baking powder

A pinch of salt

1/2 cup of vegan margarine - this has to be very firm - I measure out 1/2 and then put it in the freezer for a few minutes until it is good and hard.  This makes it easier to cut in with a pastry cutter

1/4 cup of good quality maple syrup

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of plain almond milk (will also work with soy milk)

1 cup of toasted and cooled chopped walnuts


Instructions

1. Whisk together in a large mixing bowl, the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

2. Cut in the margarine with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles small crumbs. You should be able to see little bits of margarine in the flour.

3. Stir the maple syrup and the almond milk together and stir into the flour mixture.

4. When all of the flour is fully incorporated into the dough, add 3/4 of a cup of the cooled, toasted walnuts, and stir them into the dough.

5. Dump the dough out onto a parchment lined baking tray and shape into a round or rectangle, as you prefer, and using a bench knife, cut the shaped dough into wedges or squares, as you prefer.

6. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over the dough and pat them down slightly into the dough.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the scones are golden.  In my oven, the scones are perfect after 22 minutes.

8. Using your bench knife, separate the scones along the lines that were made in the dough before you put the pan in the oven.

These are fantastic with a cup of tea or coffee.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

If you are looking for a nice scone to have alongside a cup of tea, look no farther than this recipe. These scones are light and tasty with a burst of orange flavour that is both surprising and delightful.  I took these scones to a bridge game and they were very well received!

First: Pre-heat your oven to 400F

Ingredients 

2 cups + 1/8 cup of all purpose flour (1/8 cup is two tablespoons)

1/2 cup of sugar plus more for sprinkling

3/4 Cup of plain almond milk

1/2 to 3/4 cup of dried cranberries

Zest of 2 naval oranges

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of margarine - I used earth balance brand - and it has to be really cold.  Measure it out and put it in the freezer for twenty minutes so that it gets good and hard

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.  Add solid margarine and a pastry cutter, and cut in the marg until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.
3. Add cranberries and orange zest and the almond milk and stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in and a soft, slightly sticky dough is formed.  
4. Dump the dough out onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  If you like wedge-shaped scones, shape the dough into a circle about 8 inches in diameter and cut into eight wedges with a bench knife.  The dough will be too sticky to separate the wedges, but that's ok because you will have to cut them again later.  If you find that your dough is firm enough to separate the wedges, you can do that before you put the pan in the oven.  If you prefer smaller scones you can shape the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches x 4 inches and cut it into squares.
5. Before you place the scones in the oven, sprinkle sugar over the top.  It will make them look   slightly sparkly when they are all done.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the scone is golden and the edges begin to brown.
7. If you were not able to separate the individual scones when you put them in the oven you will notice that they have baked into one large round scone.  You should still be able to see the marks from where you cut the dough into wedges - use your bench knife to cut along these lines and separate the wedges to allow them to cool faster.

These are great with tea.

One Cake Mix - Two Ways

Here's an interesting bit of info about boxed cake mixes: many of them can be prepared in ways that have nothing to do with the instructions on the package.  This blog post will give you two delightful recipes that can be whipped up in less than five minutes and that produce wonderful, tasty results.

Both of these two recipes use Duncan Hines Spice cake, which is easy to find in Loblaws, Metro, and Highland Farms.  I am certain that it is available in other stores as well.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

For this recipe you will need one box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix, and one can of pumpkin purée.  Make sure you purchase pumpkin purée NOT pumpkin pie filling.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F

Empty the box of cake mix into the bowl of your stand mixer (or into a bowl if you use a hand mixer).    If you purchased a small can of purée, empty the entire can into the bowl, and if you purchased the large can of purée, scoop out about half of it into the bowl and mix on medium speed until the mix is completely blended with the pumpkin.  

If you want to add any nuts or dried fruit to the mix do that now, and stir them into the batter.  

Spoon the batter into a prepared muffin tin, or use paper liners.

Place the muffin pan in the oven on the middle rack and set your timer for twenty minutes.  At the end of twenty minutes, check for done-ness using a toothpick.  If the toothpick comes out clean, your muffins are done.  If the toothpick does not come out clean, bake your muffins for another five minutes.

Spice Cake

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.

For this spice cake, you will need one box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix, and one can of ginger ale.  I used Canada Dry Ginger ale when I made the cake.  I imagine other brands of ginger ale would work just as well.

For this recipe you should not use a stand mixer or hand mixer - you will be mixing this cake by hand.

Empty the box of cake mix into a mixing bowl.  Open a can of ginger ale and pour it into the bowl.  Using a spoon or spatula, mix these two ingredients together until they are well blended.  

Prepare two 8"x8" cake pans and divide the batter between the two pans.  Place the pans onto the middle rack of your oven and set the timer for 25 minutes.  Test for done-ness at 25 minutes and cook it for five more minutes if the cakes are not done.  

Let the cakes cool in the pan for a five minutes, then put the pans on a rack to let the cakes cool completely.  

If you are going to put icing on the cake, wait until the cakes are completely cool before spreading icing on them.  I put plain vanilla icing on my cake and sprinkled toasted coconut on top. 

Sunny Lemon Strawberry Pie

I'm dreaming of spring and summer - anything but the mounds of snow that we have outside today.  It
has been snowing off and on for three days now, and driving today was especially treacherous.

This past fall I was in England and made a trip to Tesco, a UK grocery store, specifically to take a look at their vegan offerings.  I am a follower of Fat Gay Vegan, and he has posted about vegan finds in Tesco, as well as other mainstream UK shops, so I thought I'd do some exploring of my own.  I did find all sorts of interesting vegan items on the shelves.


In the magazine section there was a vegetarian Christmas food magazine that was published by Tesco.  I looked through it in the store before I purchased it to see if there were any vegan recipes in it because if it didn't have any vegan recipes, I would not have bought it: I have no interest in a vegetarian cookbook.

There were a number of amazing vegan recipes in it, including a wonderful nut roast that my sister made for Christmas dinner.

Tucked away in the magazine was a vegan dessert called Creamy Lemon Fruit Squares.  At the time I thought it looked like a summertime dessert, and I set the recipe aside so I could make it for an outside dinner on the deck.  Nevertheless, I decided to make it today, as the snow builds up outside my door.

Although this recipe was originally published by Tesco, I've made a number of changes to it, so I have changed the name of the recipe to reflect my changes.

Crust

Option A: Use a purchased ready-made vegan graham cracker pie crust.  This is what I did.

Option B: Use any slightly sweet, press-in pie crust of your choice, and either place it into an 8 inch pie plate, or into an 8 x 8 in baking dish.

Filling

1 398 ml can of pears packed in water
1 349 g or 12.3 oz box of extra firm silken tofu.  I used Mori-Nu brand but I imagine any extra firm silken tofu will work
1/2 cup of apricot jam
2 table spoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest from two whole medium-large lemons

Sliced fresh or frozen strawberries for the topping

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 F

Put all of the ingredients for the filling in a food processor, a blender, or in a medium bowl using an immersion blender, and blend all of the filling ingredients until they are smooth.

Pour the mixture into your prepared or purchased crust, and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes.

Allow the pie to cool before putting sliced strawberries on top.  Alternatively, you could slice the strawberries, and put them in a bowl, and then scoop them onto slices of the pie after you have placed  them on individual dishes for serving.  Today I sliced fresh strawberries into a bowl, then sprinkled two tablespoons of sugar over them and let them macerate for a while. This way, they will be nice and juicy when I spoon them over the pie. 

Here is the pie with its strawberry topping - it's like sunshine on a plate! 

Update to the last post "The Purpose of a Dog"

After the outcry about the apparent cruelty to a dog during the filming of this movie, the Humane Society seems to be saying it was all a big misunderstanding, that the dog actually did jump into the water of his own accord the next day, and that this video footage was carefully edited to make it appear that the dog was frightened.

We have been assured that someone has seen the film footage showing the dog cheerfully jumping in.  But I haven't seen it.  This new video has not been posted.  And in this day and age, we need to see the video if we are to erase what we saw with our own eyes from the previous video.

The Purpose of a Dog

It appears that a dog was terribly mistreated during the filming of this movie - forced into a man-made rapids against its will.  Video has surfaced of the dog showing stress and trying to prevent itself from being placed into danger.

An outcry has developed because of this and there is a call to boycot the movie.  The movie will not be premiering as planned and there is an investigation into the situation.

People are outraged, and indeed this is a situation where outrage is warranted.

I just wish that people could save some of this outrage for all of the animals who are slaughtered for food, who are forced into the killing chutes against their will.

Why isn't the same outrage shown to animals who are killed to be food?  It's purely a question of selfish hypocrisy.  That's it and nothing more.  For all the people who say "but bacon" - shame on you.

Savoury Winter Pie

If you asked Mr. Downright Vegan if we ate out or ordered in too often he would say yes we do.  So we are making a concerted effort to cook more and eat at home as much as possible.  Plus, today is Sunday, and instead of going to my father's house for dinner as I usually do, where I have meals prepared by my vegan sister, I stayed home, so I had to cook.

I am always on the lookout for a good recipe, and when I'm reading mainstream magazines I like to consider how I would veganize a recipe.  The inspiration for this Savoury Winter Pie, as I am calling it, was in this month's Country Living UK magazine, only it was made with lamb - how utterly cruel. I substituted Gardein Beefless Ground, a vegan meaty substitute. This is a superior vegan product, in my humble opinion.  You could also use lentils and rice in place of these if you wanted to avoid vegan meats.

Ingredients

1 lb of Gardein Beefless Ground
1 medium butternut squash  chopped into one inch chunks.
1 large onion chopped into the size you like (i like larger pieces, but I know some prefer tiny bits)
1 large carrot chopped into the size you like
2 ribs of celery chopped into the size you like
3 cloves of garlic, chopped/minced as you prefer
Oil for the pan - I used Wegman's basting oil, which is simply cooking oil with herbs in it
I 300 ml can of fire roasted tomatoes
Sweet potatoes

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F

Put the cubes of squash into a bowl and drizzle with a little oil and the herbs of your choice.
Place the squash on a parchment covered cookie sheet and cook in the oven until tender, which takes about 30 minutes.  Set aside.



Place the chopped onions, carrots and celery into a frying pan with a little oil and cook on medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the onions are translucent and the carrots and celery are al dente.

Add the garlic and stir to combine.

Add the can of fire roasted tomatoes.

Add the Beefless Round to the pan.

In the meantime, while the veggies are cooking, scrub your sweet potatoes, and leaving the skins on, slice them in uniformly thin slices.  I tried using a mandoline but I was frankly afraid of slicing my fingers off even though I was using the pushing gizmo, plus I felt that the slices were too thin.  I ended up giving the too thin slices to the squirrels in my backyard.  Using a sharp knife, I cut the sweet potatoes by hand, about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Now increase the heat on the oven to 400 F

Put the cooked squash pieces into the bottom of a pie plate, making sure they are evenly distributed.

Add the contents of the frying pan, and then place the sweet potato rounds on top of this in a single, slight overlapping layer.  Brush the sweet potatoes with oil and season to your liking.  I used the wegman's basting oil and black pepper.

Cook until the sweet potatoes are soft.

A Mainstream Magazine with On-Purpose, Not Accidental, Vegan Recipes

The latest issues of Idées de Ma Maison, a French Canadian magazine, has an article about vegan recipes.  The recipes are good and look tasty.

If you don't read French, you can use the visual translating feature of google translate to take a picture of the recipe and translate it into English.

The muffins look particularly tasty!

This magazine can be downloaded from the Toronto Public Library.  It's worth taking a look at this.

I Feel Like No One is Listening

Sometimes being a vegan is a lonely business.

I do not like sitting down to dinner with my family and have them eating poor dead animals beside me.  I appreciate that I was once a person who ate animals, but I have seen the light, and i have acknowledged how cruelly animals are treated in the food industry and i am trying to make amends by writing this blog and no longer using animals in any way.

I can't stand the smell of cooked meat.

Last week i was out for lunch with a group of retired teachers and we were at a restaurant with only one vegan option, which I ordered.  One of the teachers asked why i don't eat free-range eggs because after all, they are allowed to wander around the farm at will.  Of course this is not true, but I only said, no I do not eat those eggs because of all of the male chicks that are ground up alive and because when the hen stops laying "enough" eggs (whatever that means) she is sent to the slaughterhouse.  I said there is no animal product that you can eat or wear that does not have the slaughterhouse at the end of it.

And then there is this article in today's Mercy For Animals email.  Read it, and weep.  And if you have not stopped drinking milk, perhaps this article will nudge you in the direction that you know in your heart is the right move to make.

http://www.mercyforanimals.org/heres-how-mfa-is-taking-on-canadas-largest