veganmofo.2.1: My Favourite Green Smoothie

Back home, I used to make overly-complicated smoothies. Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink smoothies. I think my usual was something like: 1 banana, 1/2 avocado, a huge handful of kale (sometimes some sprouts as well), some blueberries, some almond butter or tahini, ground flax, some hemp protein powder, and enough almond milk to make it smoothie-consistency.

Here, I can't be so elaborate with my smoothie, having so little space and all. At the most basic, it consists of a handful of spinach, 1 or 2 bananas, and water. That is the bare-bones minimum though. I have a smoothie most mornings for/with breakfast, and it satisfies the old sugar monkey quite nicely.

One morning this past weekend, my friend who lives down the hall had a nasty hangover and wanted a healthy, light breakfast, so I made an extra smoothie and gave it to her. This is the evidence mid-smoothie-making (I usually do blender stuff on the floor because the power cord for it is too short for my desk/counter):

And here is the finished smoothie, just before taking it over to my friend:

Ingredients: 1 handful of spinach, 1 1/2 banana, a couple of cubes of frozen mango, a big tablespoon of hemp seeds, and a mix of soymilk and water to make it smoothie-consistency.

veganmofo.1.5: Welcome to My Tiny Kitchen

 Just in case you didn't believe me when I said that my kitchen was 'unfathomably tiny' I thought I'd show the evidence. When I told friends that I was moving to a 150-square foot apartment (or is it 140? I can't remember now) in Tokyo, they said "good luck with that!". And it doesn't feel as small as a Canadian apartment of the same size would, but that is because it is so compact and efficient - for the most part. I do dearly miss my old kitchen, though. Here is the tour of what I have now:

This is the stove and sink. There is one gas burner, no oven, and no counter. You see one cabinet about and one below, and that is all the storage space I have! As you can see, spices, oils and vinegar are lined up around the stove, and dishes are drying on the little shelf to the left of the sink.

And here is the rest of the kitchen: the fridge (just larger than a beer fridge) and microwave. I'm not generally a fan of microwaves and haven't owned one for years, but this one came with the apartment and it does come in handy when one has only one burner and no oven. Tea, coffee, rice, seaweed, bananas, and seasonings sit on top. And you also see my most trusted kitchen appliance, the mini-blender - a very worthwhile investment as I use it nearly daily for making green smoothies and salad dressings. In the absence of a counter, I have to move things over to my desk for kitchen prep, which is just to the right of the fridge.

So, now you know all about my tiny kitchen! And I dare anyone to find me a kitchen that is smaller and can still be called a kitchen (dorms with microwaves don't count). Have a lovely weekend!

veganmofo.1.4: Squash and Adzuki Beans

As I mentioned earlier this week, I'm trying to avoid sugar in my diet for the long-term. This is very difficult for me, as I've been raised on crazy amounts of sweets since I was a baby. As a kid, when I had friends over, their eyes would pop when they saw all the candy and cookies and ice cream we had. You know how most college kids gain weight when they move away from home? Well I actually lost weight because I no longer had a candy shop for a pantry!

As an adult and as a vegan, I've been much healthier in terms of the sweets I do eat, using natural sweeteners and whole-grain flours and such, but a wholegrain vegan muffin still does not replace a healthy whole foods meal or snack. In the recent past, sometimes if I went to a vegan-friendly restaurant or cafe and couldn't afford a meal and a dessert, I'd skip the meal and just get dessert. Or sometimes I would get an energy bar and a sweetened soy latte and call it lunch. I think these poor habits crept up on me, as over the summer my energy got really low and I went to the doctor and found out I was anemic. I knew it was totally my fault for not eating a balanced vegan diet. I just can't seem to find a balance of eating sweets only every once in a while - I want to eat them every day! It's an emotional attachment I think, wanting to 'treat' myself when I'm feeling down or am bored or stressed.

So I want to cut out sugar until I know I've broken my emotional attachment to it, and then maybe I'll start introducing small amounts of sugar every once in a while, or maybe not - who knows. I've cut sugar and coffee together before, but after a week or two I always caved in because I felt too tired and blah without them. So this time I decided to just cut the sugar and keep the coffee (I am an architecture graduate student after all, and I usually just have one cup of coffee in a day anyway). It has been almost two weeks now, and I feel fine! I didn't notice any withdrawal symptoms like headache, just the occasional craving when I'm feeling down or tired. I think my body was just really ready to quit this time.

Now, when I want to 'treat' myself, I'll take a hot bath, watch a movie with a nice cup of tea, or take myself out to dinner. I'll share some of my other coping strategies later, but diet-wise, I've been eating lots of squash lately (in case you didn't notice) - it satisfies my want for something sweet and starchy.

earlier this week I got to sleep in, and I really felt like baking. Except I don't have an oven (to make savoury muffins). So how to satisfy my desire to bake? I thought about pancakes. They are a cake, of sorts. How can I make a yummy pancake without sugar that feels like a baked good? I decided to combine squash and adzuki beans - both are naturally sweet, they are a lovely combination, and they were both in my fridge. So I did some experimenting, and here's the result:

Unfortunately my gas stove does not like cooking things at a low temperature, so burning was a problem (I burnt my last pancake, even at the lowest heat and with constant checking). They were also a bit greasy for what I'm used to (I used to make pancakes with spray oil, which I don't have here) but they did hit the spot at the time.

Then tonight I had more cravings (long day), so I went home and stuffed some squash with polenta and adzuki beans, served alongside a simple but tasty salad with cabbage, mizuna, snow peas, bean sprouts and a sesame oil dressing. By the time I was finished dinner, the cravings were completely gone, and now I feel fine. So yay for squash!

veganmofo.1.3: Squash Risotto with lemony tofu

Last night I made a risotto with brown rice, (more) buttercup squash, and some lemon-marinated tofu. It made for a yummy weeknight dinner.

The recipe was based on this one, and it was very easy. I first soaked 1 cup of short-grain brown rice. Then I combined 1 package of firm tofu with 1 minced clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, and the juice of one lemon, crumbled it all together and put it in the fridge for awhile. I chopped up 2 cups of buttercup squash (leaving the skin on) and 1 leek. I sauteed the leek in 1 tbsp of olive oil for a couple of minutes, then added the squash. Then I added the rice (drained and rinsed), fried it for a couple of minutes, then  added 2 cups of vegetable broth, 1/2 cup sake, and 2 tsp soy sauce. I brought it all to a boil, then down to a simmer, and then cooked it for an hour, stirring every once in a while and adding water as needed to get the right consistency. Then I took the tofu out of the fridge, folded it into the risotto, and I was done.

veganmofo.1.1: Oden (part one)

Oden is a Japanese hotpot or stew. I'd never eaten or made one before, but with some simple instructions from another ppker who used to live in Japan, I decided to try it out.

I first boiled some water in a pot, then added a handful of of sliced shittake mushrooms and a piece of kombu. I simmered them for maybe 10 minutes, then added half a tsp of veggie stock powder and some soy sauce. Then I added some chopped buttercup squash and potatoes (both unpeeled because I like to keep the nutrients) and cooked for about 15 minutes more. Then in went some chopped cabbage and fried tofu (you can buy fried tofu at the markets here, it isn't flavoured or anything but I like the texture of it, and I'm sure chopped firm tofu would be fine too). I cooked for 10 minutes more, then added some chopped bok choy, scallions, a splash of sake, and a bit of sesame oil, and cooked just until the bok choy had wilted. Tested the broth to see if it was salty enough, and it was ready!

Verdict: seriously delicious. I think I could eat this for every meal of the day. And it's so easy to just be able to throw things in one pot and not measure and have it turn out so well. I see many versions in the future: I'll definitely try kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin) next time, and also try adding udon instead of potato and also some napa cabbage.

veganmofo.1.0: Cafe Eight (vegan cafe/restaurant in Tokyo)

My, it's been a very long time since I've blogged. But now I'm back, hopefully for good this time (at least for November, anyway). This may warrant a second intro:

So. I am currently studying architecture in Tokyo for a semester. Tokyo is not so kind to vegans, but it is possible to manage, of course. Most people can't fathom any type of diet that excludes fish, so I cook at home a lot. I live in a tiny studio apartment with an unfathomably tiny kitchen, so I can't go all gourmet most of the time, but I eat pretty well in general. You will see.

For Vegan MoFo I'll be blogging about living the gaijin student vegan life in Tokyo: cooking, grocery-shopping, eating, restaurants, cafes, etc. But minus sweets and desserts because I'm trying to avoid sugar (and all things sugar-like) for the time being.

Tonight I decided to take myself out for dinner after a long day of presentations at school, and I chose Cafe Eight. Cafe Eight is in Daikanyama (a fun little neighborhood) and is seriously the best vegan restaurant ever, of anywhere I've been. So of course it's the best in Tokyo, in my opinion. Firstly, all of the food I've tried is delicious and wholesome and wonderful. Secondly, you can hang out and do work or read or whatever for a couple of hours and nobody minds. It's kind of weirdly casual and formal at the same time, if that is possible. Thirdly, good music. Fourthly, the dessert display is gorgeous! Maybe I can't eat any of it anymore, but it all looks so pretty. See? Nutty fig loaf, chocolate-covered nutty fig loaf, pumpkin pudding, mont blancs, banana nut pudding, NY-style cheesecake, swiss roll things, tofu tiramisu, various types of breads... And all vegan, with unrefined sweeteners and wholesome ingredients, yeah!

The only thing I wish Cafe Eight had was a brunch menu, but alas.

Tonight I had the daily curry and some darjeeling tea. The curry has chickpeas, veggies and brown rice, and it comes with a lovely salad with a tahini-based dressing and some delicious marinated tofu cube and veggie thing that may or may not supposed to be feta (I mean, I don't care because it all tastes good). Check it out:

I love you Cafe Eight. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Haiti Bake Sale Success! + Almond Apricot Cookies

 

The bake sale went far better than any of us could have hoped for. People were lined up waiting before we were even finished setting up! And we sold out early - every last thing! A nice reminder that there is a big vegan community here, it's just not very centralized (however this could change in the future).

The best part: we raised $3192.45, donated to the Humanitarian Coalition for their efforts in Haiti!

I didn't bring my camera, but here are some photos that other people took:

(that's me in the polka dot dress, probably feeling flustered because it was so busy!)

 

more people

  

  

  

Some of the stuff I baked :)

(baklava recipe coming soon!)

And a recipe to leave you with:

Apricot Almond Cookies

These are a cross between these vegan cookies that I get at the cafe I always go to for studying in, and the east coast oatcakes that seem to be available at every cafe in Nova Scotia but none here. The cookies themselves are big, thick, and chewy. Nom nom nom. And they don't skimp on the apricots, either.

1 cup quick oats
1 cup whole what flour
1/3 cup oat brain
1/3 cup flax meal
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I use earth balance)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a cookie sheet and set aside. Mix together the dry ingredients (oats - baking soda). Then chop up the shortening and mix it in, smushing it with your fingers to blend as well as possible. Add the agave, milk and vanilla, mixing with a wooden spoon. Then fold in the almonds and apricots. Shape into small patties, place on cookie sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes. Makes ~12 cookies.

Vancouver Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti!

Busy busy times, but with good reason:

 

(like the poster? I designed it! :D)

(although I admit that it doesn't look so good with the blog background) 

The organization for this event has been amazing, everyone has been so helpful and trusting. It's one of those times when you start to feel like there still is a lot of goodness in the world. 

I'm baking my 'famous' avocado nanaimo bars, baklava, cinnamon buns, and more (haven't totally decided yet). It's going to be awesome!

New Year's Eve Dinner

Goodness, this is not a good start to the new year! I meant to post this much earlier, alas.

I made a small dinner for a dear friend and myself.

 

Buckwheat crepes with almond tofu ricotta, mushrooms and spinach, and some potato leek & dill soup as well. And a simple greens salad. Yum yum yum.

 

My friend followed me around with his camera while I cooked, I guess it made me feel less dorky to be taking pictures of our food. Here I am (in part), serving it up.

And for dessert, baklava! I used the recipe from Extraveganza, except I subbed half the walnuts for pistachios and omitted the lemon zest, adding some rosewater instead (did you know that pistachios and rosewater are my favourite?!)

Check out the nutty flaky deliciousness! Mmmm...

And there was also mulled pomegranate juice. No alcohol for us.

Christmas Cake

I made this one for Christmas day dinner. Sacher torte with fruity and nutty undertones, filled with apricot jam, topped with a layer of chocolate ganache and then spread with coconut whipped cream. I just slightly modified a bunch of recipes on the net.


Happy New Year's everyone! More about New Year's later.

Christmas Buns

I’ve been cooking and baking up a storm since the winter break started, but a bit lazy on the posting part. But there’s more to come, I assure you! I few days before Christmas, I woke up craving cinnamon buns for breakfast (hey, it’s the holidays!). Fortunately I found Mihl’s recipe featuring (as you must already know, my favourite spice) cardamom! They were quick (apart from the rising time) easy to make, and delicious. After eating and sharing that batch of the little goodies, I decided to play around with the recipe and make another batch for my friend whom I was to see on Christmas eve. Here’s my modified version, which is lovely (if I do say so myself) but be sure to try the original recipe too!

Christmas Buns

Dough:

1 ½ cups flour

¼ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup almond meal

1 teaspoon cardamom

1/3 cup margarine

½ cup almond milk

½ package active dry yeast

zest of 2 clementines or mandarins

Filling:

2 tablespoons margarine

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cardamom

¼ cup dried cranberries

Melt the margarine in a small saucepan, add the almond milk, then remove from heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile, combine flours, almond meal and cardamom in a bowl. Add yeast to the still-slightly-warm saucepan mixture and let sit for 5 minutes. Then add the clementine zest and combine with the dry ingredients. Knead dough for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a bowl, cover and let rise for at least half an hour.

When dough is risen, mix all of the filling ingredients together, except the cranberries. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and oil a baking sheet. Roll the dough into a rectangle (the bigger the better, but this stuff isn’t easy to roll out). Spread filling on top, then sprinkle with cranberries. Now roll into a log and cut into 10 pieces. Place rolls on the baking sheet and let rise for another half hour. Pop it into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Vegan Dobos Torte (for my birthday)

I came across this dobos torte recipe many months ago, and I could not wait to veganize it. I have no Hungarian roots, and my version is probably nothing like the original, but I don’t care, dammit! I waited to for a special excuse to make it (could I justify making a 10-layer cake and have to eat it all myself? Nope), and that excuse turned out to be my birthday. This cake requires a lot of patience to make, but is it ever worth it!


Vegan Dobos Torte

The cake (adapted from Bryanna Clark Grogan's vegan sponge cake recipe):
7 tablespoons powdered egg replacer
1 ½ cups cold water
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups cane sugar
1 1/4 cup soy milk
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract

The icing:
1 cup earth balance
1 cup cocoa powder
5 cups powdered sugar
1/3-1/2 cup soymilk
3 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract

The caramel:
1 scant cup cane sugar
2 tablespoons earth balance
2 tablespoons lemon juice

First make the cake. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a deep bowl, combine the egg replacer powder and the water and whip it (I used a hand blender) for almost 10 minutes, until it’s very frothy and begins to form peaks. Now mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, milk, oil, and extracts really well (I used a hand blender for this, too). Pour the wet ingredients (but not the egg replacer) into the dry and mix just until combined. Fold in the egg replacer froth and mix as little as possible (just enough to make it homogenous). Now it’s baking time. I must confess that I had a bunch of aluminum cake pans with me, so I sprayed 10 of them and divided the batter amongst the 10 pans right off, baking three at a time. You could do less, or use three pans and wash them after each bake, but I guess I had it easy. Each pan went in for about 10 minutes, until the edges were ever-so-slightly golden. Then I set the cakes between layers of damp paper towel to keep them from drying out.

While the cakes are baking, prepare the icing. Cream the earth balance for a bit, then add the cocoa and mix well. Add the powdered sugar in 1-cup increments, mixing well and adding some soy milk between each cup. Now add the extracts and blend well.

Slice the last cake layer in 16 portions, and be sure to create some space between each slice. Now prepare the caramel. Melt the cane sugar in a small saucepan over high heat (this is quite amazing to see if you’ve never melted sugar by itself). Remove from heat, add the earth balance and lemon juice, and put back on heat until everything dissolves and becomes uniform. Pour over the portioned-out cake layer, and allow to set.

Now it’s assembly time! Stack up the plain cake layers with icing in between (be economical with that icing) and on the sides. Spread icing on top, then pipe sixteen little flowers around the circumference. Split up the sixteen caramelized portions and arrange them on top, with one portion over each flower and angled slightly. Now pipe a big flower in the middle, and you’re done!

Butternut Cashew Pie

This was adapted from this recipe. It looks great and super-delicious, but in my own cooking I prefer to use more whole ingredients than things like tofutti cream cheese, and why should pumpkin have all the fun, anyway? And from a can, nevertheless. I realized that I could steam and blend chunks of peeled squash, then keep the puree in portions in the freezer to use whenever I want it. Cheap and local, yo!

Butternut Cashew Pie

1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked overnight and drained
4 tablespoons oil
½ cup cane sugar
2 tablespoons arrowroot
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pinch salt

½ cup butternut puree (made by steaming chunks butternut squash and blending)
3 tablespoons cane sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 unbaked pie crust (had a graham crust kicking around, but use whatever you want)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process the cashews and oil as finely as possible. Add the sugar, arrowroot, lemon juice, vanilla and salt, blending until smooth. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and spread over the bottom of the pie crust. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth. Spread this evenly over the cashew layer. Bake for about an hour – if a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, it’s done.

Curried Adzuki-Edamame Stuffed Kabocha Squash

I love fall. I absolutely love it. When the air feels crisp and you can hear the wind through the trees and colored leaves falling. Cheesy as that sounds, I just love it.

A few weeks ago I got a little over-excited at a farm market and bought six squashes, with no idea as to what to do with them. I knew I would come up with something. Then this weekend, I woke up in the morning and it felt like a particularly autumn-y day, and I thought to myself: “I’m going to make a curried stuffed squash today, and maybe also a squash pie (see other post for the pie recipe). And I felt so healthy and balanced in making and eating it. Sometimes there are more important things than school…


Curried Adzuki-Edamame Stuffed Kabocha Squash

1 large kabocha squash, seeded and quartered

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 small onion, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cardamom
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch asafetida/hing (optional)
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large tomatoes, diced small
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced small
1 cup shelled edamame
1 cup adzuki beans, soaked overnight
1 cup brown rice, soaked overnight
3 cups water (or more, as needed)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium-sized pot, fry the oil and mustard seeds together over medium heat until the seeds start to pop. Add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, spices and salt. Fry for a minute or so, then add the tomatoes and pepper and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the edamame, adzuki beans, rice and water, stir a little, then increase the heat to high and allow to boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer, and cook for about 35 minutes, adding more water if the mixture gets too dry. Meanwhile, prepare the squash. Place pieces face-down on a greased baking sheet, and bake until the filling mixture is ready. Take the squash out, flip it so the skins are on the bottom, and scoop as much of the filling as you can into the middle of each squash portion, place bake into the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes more. Enjoy!

Lentil Veggie Pockets

I won’t lie, I totally got the idea of making bean-grain-vegetable pockets from one of my favourite blogs. I think they’re awesome – you can easily modify the ingredients and come up with something delicious, and, though they’re a little time-consuming to make and assemble, they freeze great and make a very yummy packed lunch – just grab one out of the freezer when you leave the house, combine it with a good salad and maybe a baked yam or something, and you’re good to go! I’ve been enjoying these veggie pockets for dinner at work all week, and I want to try a chickpea-barley-sage version next!


Lentil Vegetable Pockets (adapted from the Quinoa Lentil Curry Pie recipe from Tofu for Two)

Dough

2 ½ cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
6 tablespoons cold earth balance margarine
¾ cup cold water

Filling

1 cup French lentils
½ cup brown rice
3 cups water
1 cube vegetable boullion
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups crimini mushrooms
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes (one can diced tomatoes would probably also work, just add it to the lentils and rice at the beginning and cook them with less water)
handful fresh thyme
1 handful fresh parsley
1 teaspoon sage
1 tablespoon oregano
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bunch spinach
juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup nutritional yeast

First, make the filling. Combine the lentils, brown rice and boullion in a large-ish cooking pot. Bring to boil and then simmer for 45 minutes. Now, while the lentils and rice are cooking, get to work! Prepare the vegetables – mince the garlic, chop up the onions, mushrooms and tomatoes, mince the parsley and thyme, and chop the spinach. Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until the onions begin to soften, then add the mushrooms and salt. Fry for a couple of minutes, then add the rest of the herbs and spices and the tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes more. Dump it all into the pot with the lentils and rice, stir, and continue to cook until the 45 minutes are up. If it starts to look dry, add a teeny bit more water. Once the lentil/vegetables mixture is done, stir in the spinach, lemon juice and nutritional yeast and set aside to cool (until almost room temperature).

Now make the dough. Combine the flour, salt , baking powder, turmeric, and nutritional yeast, mixing well. Add the earth balance and mix, starting with a fork and then using your fingers, until there are no big clumps of margarine. Now add the water and knead until it forms a smooth, workable dough, adding more water if necessary. Chill in the fridge until the filling mixture is cooled enough.

Now assemble. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take out the dough, divide it into 10 portions, make each portion into a ball and then roll it out to circles with diameters of approximately 13-15 centimeters. Spoon some filling into the middle of each circle (about 2 heaping tablespoons), then fold the circle in half, sealing the edges by pressing them down with the tines of a fork. Also poke some air vents in the pockets with the fork. Bake for 25 minutes, until the edges of the pockets start to darken a bit.

If you are freezing them (like I do), one delicious way to have them is thawed and then heated in a frying pan with some olive oil until golden on both sides - I little bit less healthy, I know, but so yummy!

Plum Pear Cardamom Crisp

Perhaps not the most summery thing to make, but I was up early on a Sunday morning listening to Joanna Newsom, and I happened to have some plums and lots of pears (but alas, no peaches), and then this was invented, based on the Apple Cherry Crisp recipe from The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton. Enjoy!

Plum Pear Cardamom Crisp

Fruit mixture:
5 pears, sliced
2 plums, sliced
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
seeds of half a vanilla bean (or maybe 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg
1 dash salt

Crisp topping:
1 cup rolled oats
¼ cup hazelnuts
1 teaspoon cardamom
seeds of half a vanilla bean (or maybe 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 dash salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all fruit mixture ingredients in a lightly oiled baking dish, mix well and set aside (you could do it in another bowl first, but I’m lazy and this way works). Now grind the hazelnuts in a food processor. Add the oats, cardamom, vanilla seeds and salt and process until the oats are mostly ground. Now mix the maple syrup and oil in with your fingers. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit mixture, lightly pat it down, and put the dish in the oven. Bake for about 35 minutes, until bubbling around the edges and lightly browned. Serve with some yogurt or ice cream.

Nanaimo Bars - margarine-free!

I've been on a nanaimo bar kick lately for some reason, after not having had any for at least seven years. I was using Sarah Kramer's recipe for awhile, but the 1 cup of margarine in every batch made me feel bad. Not that I am against fat (or sugar, for that matter), but margarine is just so processed and devoid of nutritiousness that I can't justify using a whole cup in a recipe.

So, given that Canada day is tomorrow (and tomorrow has already come, in many parts of the country), I bring you this Canadian delicacy, a tweaked version using primarily coconut oil and avocado for the fat and buttery creaminess. The avocado adds a lovely green color as well. It does not taste any healthier, that is for sure! In the future I may start subbing ground outs and sugar for the cookie crumbs as I don't see why they are really necessary, but this is my current version.

Oh and also, please excuse the messy photos! I royally suck at cutting things (which is why you see more whole cakes and pies than slices of them on this blog...). Please attribute the messiness to my lack of skill and not the recipe itself!

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer:
½ cup coconut oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup cane sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder (dutch-processed is best)
2 tablespoons flax meal
5 tablespoons cold water
½ cup walnuts
1 ¼ cup flaked or finely shredded (or whatever) unsweetened coconut
1 cup vegan graham cracker-ish cookies

Middle Layer:
1 avocado
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon milk (I used coconut because I had it, but soy, almond or rice should also work)
2 tablespoons arrowroot
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Top Layer:
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 pinch salt
100 g good quality dark chocolate

First, prepare the bottom layer. Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan on low heat, then add the salt and sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, process the vegan cookies in a food processor until they become a fine meal. Add the walnuts and lightly pulse, until the walnuts are finely shopped but not powdery. Mix the flax and water in a small bowl, then add to the food processor along with the coconut and chocolate sauce. Process until well-mixed. Press evenly into an ungreased square baking pan and set aside.

Now prepare the top layer. Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan and add the chocolate and salt, stirring often. Once melted, remove from heat (the top layer is prepared before the middle one because it needs time to cool down).

Now the middle layer. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend really well.
Spread the middle layer mixture evenly over the bottom layer, then pour the chocolate sauce on top. Put in the fridge for an hour or so to cool, then transfer to the freezer (otherwise the middle layer will get quite gooey). Before serving, let set at room temperature for a few minutes so the chocolate doesn’t crack when you try to cut it into squares.

Happy Canada day, everyone!

Chocolate Hazelnut Mocha Pie

I was so excited when I first went to the farmer’s market in Vancouver to find out that hazelnuts are grown in BC. They are one of my favourite nuts, and now I can justify buying them more often. You can bet that I’ll be making lots of hazelnut fig granola this summer! I used up the rest of my beloved hazelnut butter to make this delicious pie, but that’s okay because I’ll just get more next time I go to the market!


I actually made this a while ago and gave a bunch of it to my landlord as a thank you for him giving me a bunch of arugula from his garden. My desserts for your arugula and mint – it’s a deal☺

Chocolate Hazelnut Mocha Pie

1 pre-baked pie crust (I used this one, but just about any crust should work – if making a plain white-flour crust, I’d recommend substituting some of the flour with ground-up hazelnuts for extra hazelnut yumminess)
1 cup non-dairy yogurt (I used home-made rice yogurt, but soy would probably be better)
4 tablespoons hazelnut butter
200 g good quality dark chocolate
2 tablespoons demerara sugar (or more, depending on the sweetness of the yogurt)
5 tablespoons coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons powdered egg replacer (or just arrowroot)
Whole hazelnuts for decorating (optional)

Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler (or, like me, by putting the chocolate in a smaller saucepan placed inside a larger one that is filled with 2-3 inches of simmering water). Meanwhile, blend the yogurt and hazelnut butter together. Add the sugar, coffee, vanilla and egg replacer, blending really well. When the chocolate is completely melted, add it to the blender and blend really well. Add this point do a taste test, and if you’d like a the filling a bit sweeter, add more sugar. Now pour the filling into the pie crust, smoothing it out, and decorate with some hazelnuts, if you’d like. Cover it in plastic and pop it in the fridge overnight.

This pie freezes great, too! Oh, how I wish I still had some…

Spiced Rhubarb-Apple-Almond Bread Pudding

If you’ve found yourself with some slightly stale bread and don’t want to just throw it out, take a cue from Laura Matthias (author of Extraveganza, one of my favourite cookbooks) and make bread pudding! All you have to do is cube the bread and leave it out in the open air to dry out (if it’s not in the open air then it might mold, and no one wants that). Once you’ve collected enough dried bread, you can make a bread pudding with it. This is one that I made recently:

Spiced Rhubarb-Apple-Almond Bread Pudding

5 cups cubed, stale bread
1 ½ cups rhubarb, chopped
2 apples, chopped (I didn’t bother peeling them, but you could if you wanted to)
¾ cup demerara sugar
½ cup water
2 – 2 ½ cups almond milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cardamom
1 good pinch each of allspice, cloves and nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon arrowroot
1 apple, sliced (for topping)
1 cup almond slivers or chopped almonds (for topping)

Place the bread in a casserole baking dish and set aside. Combine the rhubarb, apples, sugar and water in a saucepan. Simmer for 10 or so minutes, until the rhubarb and apples can be mashed easily. Place the saucepan ingredients in a blender and add everything except the bread and topping ingredients, blending until smooth (or you can put them in a bowl and blend with a hand-held blender, like I did). Pour this mixture over the bread and allow to sit for 30-45 minutes, preheating the oven to 350 degrees toward the end of that time. If all the liquid seems to have been absorbed by then, add some more almond milk and stir gently. Now sprinkle the top with ¾ of the almonds, arrange the apple slices on top of the almonds, and finish by sprinkling on the remainder of the almonds. Bake for about an hour.


I used rye bread for the pudding, which I think made it especially flavourful. While it can be eaten by itself, in my opinion it tastes best with either warmed almond milk or some vegan custard or vanilla sauce – delicious!

(Why is my custard sauce so yellow? I don't know)

A note on the sauce:

Not that you need a recipe for making custard sauce, but here’s what I do:

I heat about 2/3 of a cup of almond milk in a small saucepan until almost boiling. Meanwhile, I whisk 2 teaspoons of vegan custard powder and 1 teaspoon of cane sugar with a couple of tablespoons of almond milk in a small bowl until very smooth. Then I whisk the custard mixture into the saucepan and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes (or else it lumps up) and then I take it off the heat and stir in a couple of crops of almond or vanilla extract (and pour some of it over my bread pudding – there’s lots extra, of course)

Before I had custard powder, I made vanilla sauce – I basically did the same thing as above, only instead of custard powder I added 2 teaspoons of arrowroot. I also added probably twice as much sugar and a full ½ teaspoon of vanilla, and a small pinch of salt as well.

Roasted Green Pepper and Almond Soybean Dip

I've seen lots of recipes for roasted red pepper hummus and other spreads, but never one with roasted green peppers instead (although I'm sure they must exist). Since green peppers are so much cheaper to buy, I thought I'd try my hand at making a dip/spread with them for a change. They're obviously less sweet, but still make for a yummy dip (especially with raw vegetables like carrots or cucumbers). This one's adapted from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton.


Roasted Green Pepper and Almond Soybean Dip

1/3 cup raw almonds
juice of 1 lemon (2-3 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 can soybeans
2 green peppers, roasted*
1 clove of garlic, sliced
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
freshly-ground pepper to taste
¼ cup parsley

In a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine meal. Add all remaining ingredients except the parsley and puree until very smooth. Now add the parsley and puree briefly until incorporated. Makes About 2 ½ cups.

*To roast the peppers, remove the stem and seeds and then quarter them. Toss in a little bit of olive oil, then lay down skin side-up on a cookie sheet and broil for about 10 minutes, until the skins start to blacken (watch closely). Remove from the oven and slide the peppers into a bowl with a plate on top. Once cool, peel off the skins (they will come off easily) and you’re done!