Monday Happies and OH MY STROGANOFF!

Happy  Monday everyone!

As Always, my weekend with VOMD was amazing. Have I mentioned that I love him and have the best boyfriend ever?

Here's a taste of one of VOMD's favourite meals recently. I had a huge craving for that stroganoff my ex-stepmom used to make when I was growing up, but I had no idea how to make it vegan friendly. I'm pretty sure her's was a lazy  version using canned mushroom soup, so I though, hey...mushrooms!


Johanna's Vegan Sort-of Stroganoff

Our cat friends like to supervise in the kitchen. Princess George was kind of annoyed that I didn't let her eat some. 

VOMD and I always try to buy as much of our food from the near-death racks at the grocery store - you know, the one's filled with over ripe bananas and weird bags full of mangoes, oranges, eddoes, and avacadoes thrown together as though you could some how make a meal with those four, completely random ingredients. About a month ago there were about fifty packages of slightly brown mushrooms  on there, so we bought about 10 of them and put them in the freezer for a rainy day. Well, last week not only did it rain, but we also ran out of food and so I was relieved to find we still had one package of these slightly brown mushrooms left in the freezer!

Ingredients
1 package of frozen sliced mushrooms (I guess you could just cut up about a cup and a half of fresh mushrooms, but all I had was the frozen ones!)
1 Large onion, halved and sliced
2/3 can Romano beans, rinsed well (I saved the rest and added it to bean dip the next day)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 cube of mushroom soup base (make sure its vegan! read the ingredients!)
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Sauté the onions on medium heat until they are translucent, then add the frozen mushrooms and cover with a lid or plate. You can add a little salt to get the juices flowing, but don't add too much because the soup base is probably super salty
2) In a bowl or measuring cup, dissolve soup base cube in warm water, then add flour and whisk away until its well combined
3) When the mushrooms are completely defrosted and getting darker brown, and the onions are golden, add the soup base mixture and stir it to combine. You might want to reduce your heat a bit to stop it from bubbling over or sticking to the bottom of your pan.
4) Add your romano beans and stir to combine. If it's too thick, add a little more water, if it's too  watery, sprinkle a tiny bit more flour over top and whisk it in to make sure you don't get clumps. Nobody liked clumpy gravy.
5) Add pepper to taste.  You probably don't need salt, you know, because of the super salty soup base.
6) Serve over the noodles of your choice. We didn't have ribbon noodles so I used some spinach rice spaghetti noddles we had on hand.


VOMD had two servings and we both licked out plates clean. No leftovers with this one!

Happy Monday!

-J

Friday Foodies! Lazy Rosé and PASTAÄLGAR!

*Before I get started,I just wanted to let you know I've put my recipes all in one place, and will try to continue to do so as I add more. Keep in mind, this is obviously not a food blog... at all, so photos will probably be shitty, recipes unprofessional, and you will have to wade through some personal drama to get to the actual food in each post. See them here or just visit the tab above that says "FOOD!"*

This is not meant to be an advertisement for Ikea or anything,  but how damn cute is this pasta?! VOMD and I went to Ikea last weekend and bought a new set of dishes, and we could not resist this adorable elf shaped pasta! We have a real problem with resistance, I know. Get some self control, us! At least it's organic.

This week has been very emotional, coming to terms with the fact that lots of vegans don't like me, but I have been so lucky to have VOMD here with me to buy me vegan double chocolate oatmeal cookies from Democracy and bring me soy lattes to cheer me up! If I ever doubt that the world is a  good place, then I just have to look into his eyes and I am reminded.

Here is something amazing and simple we ate this week. I know I'm supposed to be switching to whole food, but its a slow process, and so far I'm doing pretty good with breakfasts and lunches, but white pasta at dinner time is a pretty hard habit to kick.

We didn't have much in the fridge or cupboards this week. You know how it goes...you plan to buy groceries but you go to Niagara on the Lake and buy nutcracker figurines from the Christmas store instead.

I might have an addiction to nutcracker Christmas ornaments... VOMD found me the one that looks like a Mounty! 

So, for dinner a couple nights ago it was slim pickings. So here's my Pasta with Lazy Rosé and Mushroom Sauce!

Ingredients
1 big ol' can of diced tomatoes (we use the reduced salt kind)
2 large onions, halved and sliced
2 cups (ish) white mushrooms
1 heaping tbsp Vegenaise (trust me, this is going to make it awesome!)
1 big tbsp herb and garlic vegan cream cheese (I had Daiya on hand)
A couple dashes of organic dried basil (it just tastes better!)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Sauté the onions and mushrooms until they get all juicy and golden brown, adding a tiny bit of salt to get the juices flowing
2) Slightly strain the canned tomatoes so that they are not all liquidy
3) Add tomatoes to mushrooms and onions and stir to combine.
4) Turn down to low and add Vegenaise and vegan cream cheese, stirring to combine,  but not letting it bubble too much (it might separate and get kind of weird if it boils)
5) Add basil and salt and pepper to taste
6) Serve over Adorable elk shaped pasta! (Or you know, any pasta... or rice...or just eat it on its own.  It's really good.)

Note: I added a few sliced of Tofurkey, all chopped up to this, because we happened to have a few leftover sliced from VOMD's lunches last week, but I'd imagine it would be just as good without it because the mushrooms kind of overpower the Tofurkey's mild flavour.

I promise, adding Vegenaise won't make it weird.  VOMD puts Vegenaise in Vegan Mac and Cheese and it just makes it super creamy and awesome!

Happy Friday!

-J

Good Food Friday: Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup (and happy thoughts!)

It's Friday again, already! This summer is flying by. I feel like if I blink I will miss July altogether.

I didn't do a "Monday Happies" this week, so I thought I would share some of the things that make me smile today, for good measure before giving you the BEST recipe EVER for Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup.

I love my momma! 

First, last weekend VOMD and I went up North to visit family. We went to Temiskaming QC to see his parents and ended up loading up the car with free stuff they wanted to get rid of. As much as I am attempting to downsize and be less of a consumer, I can't say no to free things, especially if they are just going to end up in a landfill. We scored three comforters, three sets of sheets, a new (to us) desk and throw pillows! LOVE IT! But now, alas, we need a place to store all this stuff, and we don't have a linen closet so its basically going to sit in a  pile in our bedroom until we move  into a bigger place. Then we headed to Magnetawan to see my Mom for her birthday. We had a BBQ and a pool party, and I got to see two of my big sisters and some of my nieces and nephews. Being around them makes me desperate to move back up north again. I don't like being so far away from my family.

The most handsome man in the world, VOMD. Oh, and Coors is VEGAN, fyi.

 It was nice to actually just relax, lay in the sun, and hear the voices and laughter of my family around me. I often feel very disconnected from  them, being here in Hamilton, so this weekend was so badly needed.

My beautiful big sister and I! I miss her so much. We used to have girls' nights every Friday, so going months without seeing her is awful! 

I am so lucky to have such an amazing family. My mom bought veggie burgers for me and VOMD, and even made vegan pasta salad, and an awesome bean salad with carrots and broccoli, and one  of my sister's brought vegan taco salad (with veggie ground round!).



Now on to the vegan mushroom soup recipe I promised! Mushrooms are VOMD's favourite vegetable (I guess they aren't technically vegetables though...but saying they are his favourite Fungi just doesn't really hit home), and when he still ate animal products his  favourite soup was Cream fo Mushroom. I thought I would give it a try as a surprise because I found a bunch of mushrooms on sale because they were a tiny bit brown...but that just makes them more flavourful! It actually turned  out amazing!

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
2 cups chopped cauliflower florets
2 cups chopped white mushrooms
1 can whole mushrooms, unsalted preferably
1 large  onion, peeled and cut in quarters
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled

2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cube of vegetarian vegetable soup base (or a little spoon full if you only have powdered)
Splash of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded vegan cheese (optional, I used Vegan Gourmet mozzarella)
Fresh parsley to garnish (optional)
Deep fried onions to garnish (you can make them yourself or buy them...this is optional)

Start by boiling your cauliflower until it is literally falling apart. If you drop it on the counter from a couple feet, it should be mushed on impact. Strain and set aside. Then throw onions, white mushrooms and garlic into a food processor and pulse until well chopped but not so well blended that it isn't chunky any more. You want some texture in your soup. Turn on you cast iron pan, add a tiny splash or oil, and fry up this mixture until the onions are golden and the mushrooms juicy and darkened - you can add a little salt and pepper for flavour here. You can put a lid over it once its slightly browned to get the juices flowing, and add the canned mushrooms to the mix. While this is sizzling away, put your cauliflower in the food processor and blend until totally creamy. Add almond milk, soup base cube,  and sift in flour, and keep blending until totally combined. Once this is done, combine cauliflower mixture with onion and mushroom mixture in a pot and put on medium low heat and stir until thickened. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. You can also add garlic powder or onion powder if you feel like it could use a boost, but don't overdo it because natural fresh flavours are always best! IF it isn't as thick as you'd like, add a tiny bit more flour to a cup, whisk it with a tiny bit of water until completely combined, an stir it into soup. If you prefer not to use flour, you can make this soup flour free by using more cauliflower and less almond milk.

Serve garnished with onions, cheese and parsley and eat way too much!

Monday Happies: PIZZA

Happy Monday! 

In the spirit of continuing to find things to be happy about, I am about to share with you and awesome vegan pizza recipe. But first, can I please just rant for a moment? It has to do with watching television - something that I do far too often than I'd like to admit. I mean...I watch A LOT of television. It is a product of being unemployed and not having a desk to work at. I sit on the couch while working on my thesis all  day, and it is just too easy to turn on Netflix and power watch six seasons of Family Guy in one sitting. ...

The thing that gets me really riled up, though, is ease with which our culture throws around racism, sexist and speciesism. Given that the average North American probably watches about the same amount of television as I do, it sort of freaks me out that swathes of uncritical people are absorbing all this negative, bullshit information on the reg. It is presented in these seemingly innocuous ways - a funny character wearing a poncho, a joke about women being passive aggressive, the off-hand comment  about non-hunters being sissies. But even when it is done ironically, I don't think that the average television watcher gets  the irony. 

I know I can just turn off the television, and there is obviously a deeper problem here for me in terms of my obvious addiction to technology, but this doesn't take away the fact that I find myself constantly wincing, and actually just genuinely feeling like crap when I watch shows like American Dad when Stan casually murders dear, or a raccoon, or whatever he kills in whatever episode; or when I watch a show like Raising Hope, which is generally a pretty funny show, but has an entire episode where they raise and learn to love a pig, and then eat him. 

Watching crap like this kind of makes me understand why it is so hard to make the decision to go vegan, or even see veganism as a valid lifestyle choice. We are constantly told by television and other media that eating animals, degrading women, and making racist jokes are completely normal and actually not that harmful - especially if presented humorously. But humour is powerful and dangerous because behind this type of humour are messages of hate. When I see my young niece imitating television characters, or my friends' kids laughing at jokes told in racist faux Chinese accents I can't help but feel a little like a tiny ant trying to knock down a mountain of  hate.  I feel a little  hopeless. 

But, then I see some of the awesome vegans out there crusading for a better world, and I see that it really isn't all that hopeless. Media presents a skewed vision of the world in which we live, and while it has a huge  influence, it obviously doesn't ensnare us all in its shitty, hate-trap. 

So, I'm going to really work on switching off the television, and spending more time with my animal friends, and my awesome vegan boyfriend. 

Anyway, that is my little rant. And now for those Monday Happies I promised! I know that I shared a recipe already on Friday, but I had to share this  one too, and what is better than pizza to chase those Monday blues away? 

VOMD and I don't eat pizza very often. There is a Pita Pizza down the street that makes this awesome vegan falafel pizza, but other than that, we tend to go for sushi or Indian food before we go for  pizza. But  I had a huge craving last week and didn't really feel like spending money, so I decided to work with what we had at home. This is what I came up with!

The dough recipe I use is exactly the same as the one I learned from my mom's partner when I was a kid,  with a few minor changes. First, I use mostly whole wheat flour; second, I used maple syrup instead of sugar;  and third, its all about the pizza stone! 

 It's a pretty simple recipe. You should grab 2 big mixing bowls before you begin.

Ingredients:
2  cups of whole wheat flour
1 2/3 cup  of white flour
1/4 tsp salt
11/2 cups of VERY warm water (NOT HOT)
1 tsp maple  syrup
1 tbsp of active dry yeast
2 tbsp olive oil

You start by prepping your yeast. Put  the yeast in a large bowl and stir in maple syrop and warm water. Stir lightly and let sit until it gets all foamy on top. While the yeast is doing it's thing mix the whole wheat flour, salt, and  1 1/3 cups of white flour together (save 1/3 for later).

Once the yeast mixture is foamy, start adding the dry ingredients, and the oil, to the wet and once it gets too thick to stir, get your hands in there.

Once it is all combine, turn the dough onto a floured surface (floured with that extra 1/3 of white flour we set aside earlier). Kneed the dough for about 8-10 minutes until you have a nice stretchy firm ball and you can see some little puffs beneath the surface. Place in an oiled bowl, ans swish around until the ball of dough is coated. This will stop it from sticking. Cover with a clean, lightly dampened cloth in a warm place (like by a sun-lit window in the summer, or in an oven with the light on in winter). Let it rise until double it's size (about an hour or so).

Once risen, punch it down and break into 2 pieces. Kneed very lightly and form 2 balls. Cover lightly with that damp towel again and let rise until these pieces are doubled.

While that is rising(which should take about 40-45 minutes) you should start preheating your oven  if you are using a pizza stone. If not, wait a bit to conserve energy.

AND while the oven is heating up, start making your sauce.
Bruschetta Style Pizza Sauce (you will have leftovers, so plan to have bruschetta bread tomorrow! Just add a little olive oil, some chopped parsley, and a little splash of red wine vinegar to brighten it up)
Ingredients:
1 large onion, quartered
5 cloves or garlic (or  more or less, depending on your taste
1 large can of diced tomatoes (unsalted)
1 palm full of basil
1 hand full  of nutritional yeast
A dash of salt and pepper to taste

Put  the onion and garlic in the food processor and pulse until finely diced. Then add all other ingredients. Process until saucy (see picture).

Set that sauce aside and start chopping veggies and shredding your vegan cheese, if you want that. We  used tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini and red peppers. Leggo was supervising. I find I always cook best under her watchful eye. Once the dough is risen,  roll it out until its as thin as you like (VOMD likes thin, crunchy crust, so I make it really thin, about 1/3 inch) And lay on a pan with parchment paper. If you don't want the sauce soaking into the crust, brush the crust lightly with olive oil before putting anything on it. Then, sauce it  up, lay out your veggies and toss some cheese or nutritional yeast on top. We put nutritional yeast on one  and Vegan Gourmet mozzarella cheese on the other.

Then pop those suckers in the oven. After about 3  or four minutes, the pizza will be firmed up enough to slide it off the pan (using the parchment paper) and then pull the paper out so it is resting on your pizza stone. DO NOT DO THIS WITHOUT A STONE. It will be messy. Duh.

Let it cook for between 12-18 minutes (it depends on how your oven works, whether you have a stone, and how crusty you like it)

Then consume! My camera battery died before I could take the final pictures, so the last ones there are taken with my phone. Deal with it.

Happy vegan pizza eating!


-J

Friday Foodie: Mushrooms, Taters, Carrots and Cauliflower

Good Morning!

Let me preface this post by saying that I am obviously not a food blogger, nor am I a very good photographer. I'm trying to work on that because VOMD bought me a pretty awesome camera and I want to put it to good use, but I think that I might just not have the  eye for photography. Maybe I need to get a photo editing program or something. If you have any suggestions, please share! Nonetheless, I wanted to start sharing some of the delicious vegan food that we eat around here.

So, I thought I would start sharing at least one meal/recipe a week to show the amazing yummies that VOMD and I eat. One of our dinners this week was a take on your standard 'meat' and potatoes meal, but with an obvious twist. It's not the prettiest,  but it is soooooo good.

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms, Creamy Mashed Taters, BBQ Cauliflower 'Steak' and Maple Braised Carrots!

Also, portion control is for chumps. 

Here's how you do it: WARNING I like to wing it, so when it comes to measurements, sometimes things get a bit  weird. Just go with it.

Hummus Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

Ingredients 

2 large portabello mushrooms (get ones with big stems)

1/4 cup (or just like...a couple scoops) home made garlic hummus (I'll post that recipe some  time, but you can just used store bought...or wing it)

1 medium onion,  diced

1 handful (or so) nutritional yeast

A dash of organic basil (it just tastes better)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Diced the stems of the  portabellos and fry the heck out  of them and the onions in a cast iron pan. Cast iron is the shit because if properly seasoned (google  that)  it is naturally non-stick. Also,  cast iron pans will stay usable for the rest of your life, and  beyond! Then add  the basil, salt and pepper.  Add the hummus and nutritional yeast and mix up. Then, scoop that  crap onto your mushrooms (smooth side  down, of course) and place on an oven-safe pan. If you  want the top super crispy, mix some crushed organic corn flakes with nutritional yeast, garlic  powder, and a little bit of salt, and put on top.  Bake for about 15 minutes (or longer, depending on the size of your mushrooms). They should be tender and juicy when ready.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes 

Ingredients (makes 2 huge servings with some leftovers for breakfast)

About 8 medium sized white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (about 4 cups all cut up?) (it really depends on the size you have) 

2 scoops of vegan mayonnaise (we use Vegenaise in this house, but  use your favourite) 

A splash of unsweetened almond milk (or  whatever milk alternative  you like)

Garlic powder to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until a fork slides through  easily. Drain water (you can use this for soup or gravy, if you're doing that, so don't waste it if you  don't need to). Add vegenaise and almond milk and mash it all to hell with a masher. If you have a hand mixer you  can use  that too, but don't mix too much or it will get all gluey.  Nobody likes gluey taters. Stir in salt,  pepper and garlic powder to taste. I like mine really peppery, but go with your own taste buds. To make  them super awesome, put them in a cast iron pan or other over safe dish and broil in the oven for a few minutes until the top is golden and beautiful like the ones above!  

BBQ Cauliflower "Steak"

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower (you're not going to use  it all, but start with a whole one  to get the best "steaks")

Your favourite BBQ sauce (I'll share my recipe some time, but  for now, go with what you like best)

A little olive oil 

A little sriracha sauce (to give it a little extra kick) 

Salt and pepper to taste (if your BBQ sauce is missing a little)

Preheat oven 400 degrees (you're already doing this for the mushrooms anyway, right?). Slice cauliflower into thick slices, through the core  so taht you end  up with three or four slabs. You will have some extras that break off and aren't "steaky", so put that back in the fridge or throw it into a bag in the freezer to make soup or something like that. Put a little oil on a pan  and place those suckers on the oil. Wiggle them around a bit, and flip so that both sides are a little oily. Slather as much BBQ sauce as you want on them (I don't use a ton, but it's  really up to you) and then, if you want, squirt some lines of sriracha on there too. Sprinkle a pinch of pepper on each,  and maybe some salt, and throw in the oven for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the size). They should be forkable when done, but not mushy.  

Cheaters Maple Braised Carrots (its cheating because its not actually braised)

Ingredients

About 3 large carrots, sliced into "dollars" (about 2 cups...or something)

A glug of maple syrup (maybe three tablespoons)

A little (or big) scoop of vegan butter substitute (like  vegan Becel, or Earth Balance). I only use about a table spoon. 

Salt and pepper  to taste

A sprig of Rosemary 

Boil carrots until just slightly forkable. Drain the water (or use for that  soup you're planning) and  put back into the still hot pot on the still on element. Add syrup, vegan butter, Rosemary and a little salt and pepper, stir, and let bubble a bit until really forkable. Then serve! (you can put  that used rosemary sprig in your soup base too, if you want!)

Ta da!

Happy Friday!

-J

Pre-Christmas goodness and Gluten Free Choc-coffee cookies

Unlike many of my classmates, I am not heading home for Christmas right away, and again unlike many of  my classmates, my Christmas holidays started early because every single one of my assignments is already completed, and were completed by Monday the 8th.  So, this means I have an entire month (two weeks of which are left) to get started on my reading for next semester, bake Christmas cookies and make tofurkey/seitan, maybe do some housework, finish my Christmas shopping, and start working on my thesis (yeah right).

Also, I have been sleeping. Constantly.

And I should feel worse about it but honestly, I'm so exhausted I feel as though I am making up for three month's of lost sleep.

In spite of all this napping I have managed is to make cookies, have a Christmas party, finish my Christmas shopping and wrapping. This morning VOMD and I had our very own at home Christmas celebration. He has to work Monday and Tuesday and then we are headed to see family and friends from the 24th to the 4th, so we wanted to make sure we get our own Christmas morning experience, especially because it was our first one together!

He, the adorable silly pants, ordered stuff online that did not arrive yet, but still we exchanged awesome gifts (some super snazzy clothes,a couple books, and a Sega Genesis from me to him; and comfy pants, a beautiful scarf and a super amazingly awesome Japanese tea set from him to me; and of course lots of awesome stocking stuffers). We both bought each other a bunch of Lush stuff. If you don't know Lush, check them out. They are super vegan (only some of their products are not vegan, and its because of honey, which we both still eat and use...which is a story for another time), and now we both smell ridiculously delicious.

For Christmas I decided to try some gluten free  vegan baking because Eric has developed a bit of a wheat sensitivity. I came up with a gluten free vegan cookie recipe, the base for which I sort of borrowed from the Post Punk Kitchen blog, here.

Gluten Free Vegan Choc-Coffee Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sunflower oil (we only have it on hand for oil pulling and usually cook with coconut or olive oil...but you can use any other veg oil as well)
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar (use Redpath or another guaranteed vegan brand)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbsp flax seeds
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other vegan milk)

1 cup gluten free flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
2/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
1/2 cup instant coffee (I used decaf hazelnut flavoured coffee, but you can use whatever you'd like)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup crushed unsalted walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper

Blend flax seeds until powdered. Add almond milk and blend some more (about 3 seconds). Set mixture aside while you do the next step. It will seem kind of gooey. This is your egg replacer and helps bind the cookies together.

In a medium sized bowl sift together all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, coffee, baking soda, baking powder, salt).

In large bowl cream together sugar, vanilla, and oil. Because you are using brown sugar it will seem a bit thick  and not as creamy as it would be were you to use regular white sugar. Then add flax and almond milk mixture and mix thoroughly.

Start adding dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. You might have to use your hands. Its fun. Do it. It will be dense and not very sticky.

Then fold in walnuts and chocolate chips. It will seem pretty crumbly.

Using your hands form about one inch balls (you can make them as big or as small as you want, really, just be careful to slightly adjust your baking time) and then smoosh flat(ish).

Place on cookie sheets with a fair amount of space between them. I could fit about 10 on each sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. They will be puffy and very squishy when they are ready, so do NOT over cook.

Take out and let sit for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. No joke, I use a cheep dollar store cabinet storage rack as a cooling rack--simple, cheep, and multi-purposed. Once they are a bit cooled you will see that  they harden up a bit but are still chewy and delicious and full of coffee-chocolate goodness.

These, along with left over seitan, mashed potatoes and carrots from our dinner party last night, were our breakfast. Yum!

Overall, best day ever.

Happy Sunday!