Scratch/Dent/Clearance

At my grocery store today we were lucky enough to find a container of fruit that had reached its sell-by date.

We brought it home and Mr DV made smoothies with the addition of a bit of orange juice and frozen banana from our freezer.  So the two superlarge smoothies cost about $6.00.

Four for $4

This was not an easy challenge.  Food isn’t cheap in my city.

After a lot of calculating, I settled on corn on the cob and tomato soup with crackers.

The soup was 2 for $1 and that was enough for 4 people

The corn was purchased at a roadside farm stand at $8.00 for a dozen or 67cents each, so that was $2.68

That left 32 cents for crackers, and that’s 16 crackers or four crackers per person.  

It comes to $4 exactly.

I could likely have put leftover meatloaf into the soup as well and I would have counted the meatloaf as free considering it is still sitting in my fridge.

Leftover Neatloaf

A neatloaf sandwich of course, on whole wheat bread with Dijon mustard.  If I wasn’t retired, I would have taken this sandwich to work with me today.

Neat Loaf

For this recipe I just used my mum’s old meat loaf recipe from my childhood and I substituted meat and eggs and milk with vegan versions.

The first time I made this was for this challenge on mofo2018 and I was very pleased with how it turned out.

1 lb of ground vegan meat - I recently used beyond meat
1 pkg of gimme lean sausage - or beyond meat sausage
Egg equivalent to the amount of one egg
2 cups bread crumbs
1 1/3 cups non-dairy milk - I used soy milk
2 medium onions chopped medium finely - not super fine, nor minced

1 carrot peeled and diced

1 rib of celery sliced lengthwise and chopped

Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp black pepper or more to taste*
1/2 tsp dried mustard or more to taste- I used Keens hot mustard*
1/8 tsp sage or more to taste*

* spices and flavourings are highly dependent on personal tastes - I like a lot more pepper, mustard, and a bit more sage than listed above but I appreciate not everyone will share my views, so I went with minimum amounts. 

Mix all the ingredients together so that they are well blended.  I put on disposable rubber gloves and mixed with my hands. You might wish to do the same.

Some people have told me they like to brush a little ketchup on the top before baking 

Press it all into a prepared loaf pan. Put the loaf pan on a baking sheet (in case of a spill-over - I learned this the hard way) and put it in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours (90 mins)

Super Cheap Sweets

This is an old Canadian recipe that comes from World War I and II.  It was called War Cake because it was made during those tough times when it was not easy to get hold of butter and eggs.   

There are many dozen war cake recipes on-line.  This is my own.

The recipe is easily customizable

2 cups water

2 cups dried fruit - you could use raisins, cranberries, chopped apricots or glacé fruits that you would put in Christmas cake.  In Newfoundland this is one of the ways that people make Christmas cake, using the war cake recipe. I used currants because I had them on hand.

I cup fancy molasses

1 cup white sugar


2/3 cup shortening or vegan butter

3 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp ground cinnamon 

1.5 tsp ground ginger

1.5 tsp ground nutmeg

Pre-heat your oven to 325

Place the water, the fruit, the molasses, the sugar and the shortening in a deep saucepan and bring to a boil and let it boil for about three minutes.  Keep your eye on it.  Remove from heat and allow it to cool.  It doesn’t have to be at room temp, but it can’t be so hot that you couldn’t touch it.

Mix the flour, the baking soda and the spices in a bowl and then pour the dry ingredients into the wet.  When I made this, I used a heavy sauce pot, so I had lots of room to mix the dry ingredients into the liquid in that pot.

This makes a fairly runny batter, perhaps a bit runnier than you might expect.

Pour the batter into a prepared 9 x 13 pan and bake for at least an hour or until a test toothpick comes out clean.

The cake will be very moist.  It freezes well.

It goes very nicely with vegan custard or ice cream. 

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Pantry Dinner

This was an easy pantry dinner: rice, onions, peas and beans from the garden, all strr-fried together with a little canola oil and seasoned with soy sauce. At the end, some vegan scrambled eggs made with veganegg was stirred into it.

Cheap and cheerful.

Vegan Banana Split

OK.  I’m feeling a little guilty today about my post because it’s the final “free from” post and I’m posting a free from lactose banana split, for my lactose intolerant friends and family, including Mr. DV.  Of course it’s free from lactose - this is a vegan food blog.

1 banana, sliced in half lengthwise

3 scoops of vegan ice cream, in your favourite flavour

Vegan caramel sauce or agave syrup

Vegan chocolate sauce - I just melted some fair trade chocolate chips in a zip lock bag

Vegan coconut whipped cream

Walnuts

Maraschino cherries

Split the banana lengthwise, then lay three scoops of any flavour vegan ice cream between the two halves.  Drizzle the ice cream with  the caramel and chocolate sauces, sprinkle with nuts and top with whipped cream and a cherry or two.

I really should get a banana split dish.

Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie bowl!!! It was just too hot to cook yesterday and today, therefore this is my no-salt-added meal.  Strawberries, bananas, walnuts, blackberries and raspberries on a bowl of peach vegan yogurt. 

No-Packaging Snacks

This is a nice home-made snack that you could easily wrap in waxed paper and take a long with you on a hike or a plane trip.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of rolled oats - I used gluten free because I had them on hand but you could use any kind

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons shelled sunflower seeds

Pinch of salt

I cup packed golden yellow sugar

1/2 cup of maple syrup or agave syrup 

1/2 cup of nut butter - peanut butter or almond butter or cashew butter etc

1/4 cup light vegetable oil - I used canola oil

Egg replacer to the equivalent of 2 eggs

Mix the rolled oats, flour, baking soda, apricots, cranberries, chocolate chips, walnuts, sunflower seeds and salt in a large bowl.

Mix the golden yellow sugar, the syrup the nut butter, the vegetable oil and the egg replacer with a hand mixer or stand mixer, then pour in the dry ingredients and mix until well blended.

Prepare an 8 x 11 pan - I used cooking spray, and pack in the mixture, flatten it and then put the pan in the oven for 30 minutes.

When the pan has cooled cut the mixture into bars.  Store them in an airtight container in the fridge.  

You can wrap them and take them along on car trips etc.

Spicy Without Chilies - Curried Tofu Bowl

I am one of those people with sensitive skin who can’t even touch chilies, let alone eat them.  I get welts on my hands if I handle them so I almost never use them in anything I’m cooking.  I have a neighbour who can eat them raw, and it makes me cry to watch!

This is a quick and easy curry and is perfect for cool winter nights.  It freezes well so it could also be used as leftover lunch. And there isn’t a chili pepper in sight!! I adapted this recipe From the Jane Brody Good Food Cookbook. 

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped into medium-sized pieces

2 ribs of celery, chopped into medium sized pieces

2 cloves of garlic chopped finely

1 350 gr package of extra firm tofu, drained, rinsed and pressed, chopped into cubes.

2 tablespoons of curry powder - or more to taste- I used the Simply Organic brand of commercial curry powder that does not contain chilies.

2 apples cut into medium sized dice

1 large banana cut into dice

3 tbs tomato paste

2 cups of veggie broth

I head of broccoli 

Optional - I can of coconut milk - not the full fat kind

Cook the onion and celery and garlic with a little vegetable oil in a frying pan.

When they have cooked, add the tofu cubes, and the curry powder, the apple and the banana and stir them around for a few minutes.

Then add the tomato paste and the veggie broth and simmer for about five minutes.

In the meantime, steam a head of broccoli which has been cut into florets and when they have turned a bright green, stir them into the frying pan.

Serve with rice

Serves four

No Sugar Added Ice Cream

This is a quick and easy recipe that my sister gave to me a few years back.  I’ve been thinking about it a bit lately and with this particular prompt on Vegan Mofo, I thought it would ba a good time to try it.

You really won’t find a simpler ice cream recipe.

You will need:
2 bananas cut into small pieces and frozen

1 cup of frozen cherries

I tsp of vanilla

A bit of non-dairy milk if needed to make the ice cream smoother

Place the banana and the cherries in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and whirl it until the fruit is smooth.  You can add a teaspoon of vanilla if you like and a bit of non-dairy milk towards the end of the process to make the ice cream smoother.

That’s it.

If there are any leftovers, you can put them in a sealed container and put it in the freezer for a few days.

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

I’m a day late for this posting.  

I have a number of gluten sensitive people in my life.  Today’s effort is a gluten free apple crisp, which is super easy to make.  

I’m going to supply a link to my Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp for the crisp part.

http://downrightvegan.blogspot.com/search?q=Crisp

To make it gluten-free, I just used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour, Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free oatmeal, and I added a teaspoon of Xanthan gum, and that’s it!

I filled an 8x8” glass baking dish with seven sliced apples, spooned the topping mixture on top, and popped it in the oven for 50 minutes.

It’s fantastic and tastes exactly like apple crisp made with regular flour.

Creamy Without Nuts

I have a former colleague - we are both retired now - who can’t eat nuts due to allergies.  

Today I have made her a banana cream pie, with a nary a nut to be seen.   Banana cream pie was always my dad’s favourite pie and my mum used to make it all the time.  I wasn’t that fond of it when I was a child because I couldn’t stand the texture of the bananas in the pie.  I’m not sure what I was thinking then, because I am rather fond of this pie now.  And even more so since I learned that there is such a thing as vegan custard.

I used Bird’s custard powder, a British product that is readily available in stores here in Toronto.  

Bird’s custard powder is vegan - there are no powdered eggs or milk in it at all.  The recipe is foolproof really: just custard powder sugar and soy milk or any other non dairy milk.  You just heat it to boiling and then enjoy it hot or cold.  It is very nice drizzled over Christmas cake or any steamed pudding, and you could also sandwich it between cookies to make custard cream cookies. It could be used to make a vegan crème brûlée And it is great in a pie.

I sliced two bananas into a ready made graham cracker crust that had been baked for five minutes to harden up the crust a bit, then poured the slightly cooled custard into it and let it cool until the point where it could be put into the fridge.

About an hour or so later it was nicely set and we enjoyed it with tea.  

My colleague likes hers with a bit of whipped coconut cream on it.

I prefer mine plain.

A Flop, Fixed!!

Many years ago Mr DV and I purchased a bread maker - it was during the time when they were very popular.  We could buy a bread mix for less than a loaf of bread and in 3.5 hours have great bread and a wonderfully bread-scented house.  The machine came with a little recipe book and we later bought another bread machine recipe book.  We trie many of the recipes in the books and if there was a bread machine recipe in the newspaper, we tried that too.  The problem with the bread maker was that the bread that it made was too good - it wan’t unusual for us to eat the whole loaf as it was cooling down, only to make a second loaf and eat that too.  After a while it seemed to make sense to just stick to store bought bread and have reasonable amounts of it in sandwiches.

We put the bread machine away in our basement and really never gave it another thought until recently when we were renovating our rec room and came across it in a storage cupboard.  We made a few loaves, ate them immediately and put the darn thing away again! But the taste of fresh home-made bread is hard to get out of one’s head.  Another teacher at my school told me about no-knead breads and i found some interesting and excellent recipes on the King Arthur Flour website.  Of course I substituted Earth Balance marg for the butter and soy milk for dairy milk if any was called for.

No knead breads are delightful for all that they are made using yeast and therefore defy all normal bread-making standards - usually bread must be kneaded twice - once before the first rise, and between the first and second rises.

Later one of my bridge partners sent me a recipe for no-knead focaccia.  I tried it, and it was great.

But here is how it flopped: for some unimaginable reason, I didn’t grease the pan in which i cooked the focaccia.  It tasted great, but around the edges it was adhered so firmly to the sides of my baking dish that I had to cut it out and leave one half an inch of focaccia stuck to the pan all the way around.  Then I had to soak the pan all day just to loosen the focaccia so I could scrape it off with a knife before I was able to wash the baking dish.  And the baking dish was a new favourite: a vintage square glass pan in the blue heaven pattern.  A mid-century classic.  I just love that pan and was worried that I had permanently destroyed it.

So here is the recipe.  I’ve changed it to make it my own.

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoons of yeast

1 1/2 cups of water - it does not need to be warm but shouldn’t be ice cold either.  Cool to room temperature is perfect.  

Add the flour, salt and yeast into a large mixing bowl and give it a stir to make sure everything is nicely blended.

Pour all the water in at once and stir until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.  It will look a bit shaggy but that’s ok.

Put a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl and set it aside for 12 to 18 hours.  I set mine on the stove because I knew I would not be using the stove until tomorrow so putting it there keeps it out of harm’s way while I am doing other things in the kitchen.  Don’t put it in the fridge and don’t put it somewhere warm.  Don’t open the oven door and put it on the door with the oven on warm.  Just set aside with the plastic wrap on it and leave it alone.

After 12 to 18 hours you will notice that the dough has risen substantially in the bowl all on its own.

Now preheat your oven to 450F

Prepare an 8 x 8 inch pan in your normal manner, with a cooking spray or shortening or vegan marg or whatever you like to use. If you love your baking dish, don’t skip this step!!!!!

Now pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil in the pan.  It does seem like a lot but focaccia uses a lot of oil in the cooking.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it in the pan on top of the olive oil.  Stretch it out a bit so it is no longer in a ball but it isn’t necessary to work it into the corners of the pan.  

Use your fingers to poke indents all over the dough.  You will notice little bits of olive oil seeping up through these indents  but this is exactly what you want.

Sprinkle the top of the dough with sea salt.  Not too much but don’t be stingy either.  Then follow that with chopped fresh or dried herbs of your choosing.  Traditionally focaccia is made with chopped rosemary but I will be using chopped oregano tomorrow.  I have a rosemary bush but I’m afraid to use it because I’ve seen flies on it and i just don’t think I could get it clean enough to use.  It has become a purely decorative rosemary now.  I really should grown some indoors where I can protect it, germaphobe that I am.

Cover your pan with foil wrap and bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then remove the foil wrap and bake it for an additional 20 minutes or until it is golden brown.

You can see that this focaccia came out of the baking dish quite cleanly. A flop, fixed!

You can serve it with vegan cheese or on its own.  It is very nice cut in half horizontally and used to make a tomato, vegan mayo and basil sandwich.  

It’s an easy bread to make, and your house will smell amazing.  The only thing you have to remember if you want to make this bread for a function or for lunch, is that it has a long rising time and you need to account for that and plan your rise accordingly.

Blackened Tofu

Today’s theme was pick a colour.  I’ve chosen Black, for blackened tofu.  

There is a Cajun restaurant no far from me here in Scarborough and while it is not a vegan restaurant, it does have a few really good vegan mains, one of them being blackened tofu.

This is a dish so good that I thought I would try to make it myself.  The first step was to go in search of blackening spice which I am absolutely positive I have seen in stores and it was labelled “Blackening Spice” but I was unsuccessful in my search.

On the net I learned that there is no one recipe for blackening spice, that chefs make up their own mixture and go from there, but that they all have a few things in common: paprika and smoked paprika, cayenne pepper and black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, oregano and a few other things like chilis etc.  So I bought whichever of those spices I currently didn’t have in stock (and sadly it was a lot of them because I had recently done a purge of my spices) and I mixed everything on a one to one basis with a little extra smoked paprika because I like it so much, and a little less cayenne pepper because I figured it would be wiser to go easy on the cayenne and add more later.  I think I was a little too easy on the cayenne.  I will need to add more to the jar.   I put it all in a mason jar and put on the lid and gave it shake to blend it.

I had a block of tofu left over from the tofu scramble yesterday.  I sliced it into four slices, lightly coated it in canola oil and then dipped in my blackening spice which i had put in a shallow dish. 

I made certain to coat the sides of the tofu as well, and then i put it in a hot frying pan into which i had put a little veggie broth so that the pieces would not stick.

I fried them until they were as black as they were going to get and then served them on a bed of rice with steamed carrots and broccoli florets.   It tasted exactly like the blackened tofu at the restaurant and the only difference was that my tofu pieces were not entirely black like they are at the restaurant.  Nonetheless they were black enough, and it was a great meal - tasty, visually intriguing and well-balanced.  

Now that’s downright vegan!