Tofu Cookery: Falafel

One of the things that impresses me the most about Tofu Cookery is how Louise Hagler manages to put tofu into everything. Even things that are vegan without tofu. Like falafel.

I was intrigued by her tofu falafel recipe and had to give it a try. It’s a pretty typical falafel recipe, with the exception that all of the ingredients are whirred up with some tofu in the food processor.

 

Although I love me some deep-fried falafel when I go out to falafel restaurants, when I make it at home I tend to bake my falafel. These were great and stayed together during baking, which can sometimes be tricky. Another issue with baked falafel is that it can be dry. With the addition of tofu these were actually really moist.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised…tofu falafel is actually pretty tasty! It didn’t taste exactly like falafel, but it was pretty darn close and I would definitely make this again.

I served the falafel on a pita with some veggies and sriracha. Nom.

Tofu Cookery: Tofu Spaghetti Balls

One of the Tofu Cookery recipes I hear mentioned a lot is the tofu spaghetti balls. I figured that was a good place to start my MoFo journey. These are basically balls with mashed up tofu, peanut butter, wheat germ, soy sauce, and a few herbs and spices.

Try as I might, I couldn’t find wheat germ anywhere. I went to THREE different bulk food stores, and they all looked at me as if I had two heads. I guess nobody eats wheat germ anymore. I finally gave up and just used breadcrumbs instead.

These are baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. Mine fell apart quite badly. I mushed them back together for the above photo, but they weren’t very firm at all. But despite their crumbly-ness, they were pretty darn tasty and I can see making them again. The peanut butter was something I would never thing to add but it made them really yummy.

Isa posted her version of the recipe on the PPK blog a few years ago (she uses breadcrumbs instead of wheat germ as well, so maybe it’s not just me that has issues sourcing wheat germ). Her recipe is pan-fried instead of baked, but you could always try baking the balls instead if you were so inclined.

It’s Vegan MoFo time!

Happy first day of Vegan MoFo (aka Vegan Month of Food)!

My theme this year is a month of Tofu Cookery by Louise Hagler. I don’t have the fancy 25th Anniversary edition of the book, but a reprinting of the original 1982 version.

I’m intrigued by this book – it really was a game changer in the world of vegan cooking. As someone who went vegan in early 2008, a lot of the recipes seem bizarre and hippie-ish to me. Others sound like something you’d see in a cookbook today. So here I go, exploring the recipes, seeing what is delicious and what isn’t.

Originally I was going to attempt to make 31 recipes from the book in order to post every single day in October. I always set lofty goals such as this for MoFo and it always ends with me burning out halfway through the month and giving up. So this year I’m going to set my goal at 25 posts. If I go over, great! If I don’t, no big deal.

I can’t wait – massive amounts of tofu here I come!

Toronto Vegetarian Festival 2012

Wow. Thank you so much for the kind words on my last post about losing my cat, Phantom. I meant to take a short hiatus from this blog while life was getting back to normal. That ‘short’ hiatus somehow morphed into a long hiatus of 6 months. I won’t go through all of the things that have changed in 6 months, because really, who cares about the details of some random vegan food blogger’s life. To give you a quick update in one sentence: I moved back to Canada (Toronto to be exact), started a new job, and adopted a lovely kitty named Chloe.

Moving along, this past weekend was the Toronto Vegetarian Festival. I heard it was a pretty good event and so I was eager to check it out. The festival actually runs for three days, but alas, I was only able to go one day. That one day was pretty amazing though.

I was able to eat lots of delicious food, such as this mac and cheese from Green Zebra Kitchen. The cheese was cashew-based and incorporated sweet potato and cauliflower. I was a fan of the sweetness from the sweet potato and I’m definitely going to try that next time I make mac and cheese. I have other casserole ideas using this concept floating around in my head as well.

In my pregan days, I adored butter tarts. I’m not sure if those are a ‘thing’ in the U.S. The filling is sugar (and a lot of it), butter, syrup, and egg. I once tried a vegan recipe that was thickened with cornstarch to replace the egg but it fell horribly short of my butter tart expectations. Wandering around the many bakery booths at the festival (seriously, Toronto, we are so lucky to have all of these amazing bakeries!) I stopped in my tracks at Bloomer’s Bakery. There in the display case were rows upon rows of butter tarts! The filling was absolutely perfect! So gooey, so sweet.

My husband couldn’t choose between the chocolate cupcakes and the brownies and so he did the only logical thing – he bought one of each. Fortunately for me, he couldn’t finish them both and so I helped out with the brownie. It was nice and fudgy, just the way I like it.

The highlight of the day for me was definitely the cooking demos. First up, Isa Chandra Moskowitz made the ginger carrot soup from Vegan with a Vengeance, as well as beet burgers.

Being a total PPK fangirl, I was pretty excited to have Isa sign my copy of Vegan with a Vengeance (my first-ever vegan cookbook!) and snap a photo with me.

Next Terry Hope Romero completely wowed me with the most delicious, succulent seitan I have ever tasted! She made seitan gyros with tzatziki sauce.

And I also got to chat with her for a couple of minutes while she signed my book – she is so nice!

It was a pretty amazing day…I really wish every day was a super, magic, happy VegFest. Thanks to the Toronto Vegetarian Association for putting on such a great event!

Brief hiatus

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately.

For two weeks or so my cat was pretty ill. Although we tried different things to help combat his liver disease, ultimately we had to make the heart-wrenching decision to euthanize him. By the end, he was inconsolable and wasn’t sleeping…he would just walk around howling. It was awful.

He was my baby. My best friend. My everything. The two of us have been through so much together. We’ve moved together to three different cities, heck, even a different country.He was always there for me.

There really isn’t much more to say. This is a horrible time for any pet parent and I’m sure you can understand why I haven’t been cooking /blogging much lately.

There is a giant hole in my heart. I know that time is the great healer and this will get easier. But right now I am still in a place of grief.

PPK Picnic!

After living in the Great White North for 26 years, I am very appreciative that I now live somewhere where one can picnic in February.

My PPK buddies and I met up for an awesome picnic this weekend. It was pretty spectacular. Behold:

The edamame corn salad from Veganomicon made by Kathy and Omer:

Peanut stew from Viva Vegan made by Autumn:

I made empanadas (dough from Viva Vegan) filled with Trader Joe’s soy chorizo and a can of their Cuban black beans. That soy chorizo is like crack to me, I can’t get enough of it. I normally don’t buy it as it isn’t the healthiest thing in the world, but it’s perfect for occasions such as this.

Kathy and Omer also brought cookies! Chewy-chocolate raspberry cookies from Veganomicon to be exact:

And last but certainly not least, Autumn brought key lime pie from Vegan Pie in the Sky! This is actually key limon pie. I had never heard of a limon before. Apparently it’s a combination of a lime and a lemon. Either way, the pie was crazy good.

Topped with Soyatoo:

Not to toot our own horns, but I love when I get together with my PPK buddies for potlucks…the food is just so darn good. By the end I had a very full, and a very happy, belly:

some things I’m digging right now

Sparkling blueberry juice from Trader Joe’s:

About a month ago I was standing in the checkout line at Trader Joe’s when I noticed a display of sparkling blueberry juice (those checkout displays are always so tempting!). I usually don’t buy things like this, but it was near New Years so I figured I would splurge (it’s $2.99 a bottle, so it’s hardly a splurge that’s going to break the bank).  One lazy weekend afternoon I was reading a book and I was craving a glass of wine. I thought I’d try this blueberry cider out instead and WOW I’m glad I did! I really dug it, as I was sure I would as I like most things blueberry-flavoured. It was sweet without being cloyingly so, as there is no added sugar. It’s not something I would buy on a regular basis (I’m a cheapskate) but it’s nice for a treat.

The return of gigantic salads:

Normally I like to eat a gigantic salad for lunch every day. They are super filling and I get tons of nutrients. I fell out of the habit when I had foot surgery in August and could no longer get to the farmer’s market or the grocery store. Starting in January I made a conscious effort to stock up on salad goodies when I go shopping each week and I feel so much better! I’m planning on writing a salad-centric post in the future, but I stick all kinds of things in my large lunch-time salads. Typically you will find greens, raw veggies, leftover roasted veggies, beans/tofu, nutritional yeast, and flax.

I use a LARGE bowl for these salads. Here is my salad bowl compared to my regular-sized bowls (which are actually quite large themselves):

Smoothies for breakfast:

Ironically, before I moved to California I would almost always start the day with a smoothie. I’ve just recently started making smoothies again. Sometimes I add extra greens, sometimes I don’t. This particular one had a banana, soy milk, some mixed frozen fruit (the kind you buy in a bag at the grocery store), flax, and strawberry protein powder. Yum!

 

What about you? What are some things you’re into right now?

a very late new years recap

Better late than never, right?

Typically we stay in on New Years. Sadly, staying up until midnight is usually a pretty big challenge for me.

This year we decided to have a pizza night. Using the thin crust pizza from Vegan with a Vengeance (I made mine with all WW flour, and added in some flax seed to make me feel like I was eating something healthy), we got out the pizza stone and went to work.

I usually put waaaay too many toppings on my thin crust pizza, resulting in a mess that typically requires a fork. This time I said no way, and opted to keep it simple with a pizza margherita – just tomato sauce (VWAV again), Daiya mozzarella, some sliced cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil. Keeping the toppings so sparring really let me appreciate the flavour of the crust and sauce – I was definitely a fan.

I’m a wuss when it comes to using the peel. I’m always afraid I won’t be able to get the pizza from the peel to my stone. Luckily that’s what husbands are for.

I’m not big on “New Years resolutions,” but I do believe in goal-setting. A lot of my life is uncertain right now, but here are some of my current goals I’d like to achieve in 2012:

1. Read 50 books (cookbooks don’t count!)

I used to be quite an avid reader, but that has been tapering off in recent years to the point where I’m averaging about one book a month (not including cookbooks). I’d like to bump this up to one a week if I can. Often I’m wasting my time doing something boring when I could be reading a book and actually expanding my mind instead of boring myself silly.

2. Make a comeback to running

I would love love LOVE to actually have a goal of running a marathon in 2012. Since my surgery in August I haven’t been able to run. I’m just now getting to the point where I can walking a few miles (in my stylin’ orthopedic shoes) without limping. My surgeon says I should be able to try out running at the end of January (that’s so close!) and see how it goes. Because of this, I am hesitant to actually set a goal of running a marathon this year, as I obviously don’t want to push my foot too far too fast and end up injuring myself. So I am purposely leaving this goal non-specific.

3. Make peace with my body and “dieting”

Like most women, I am always wanting to lose a few pounds. I’m not overweight, around a size 8, but of course for vanity’s sake who wouldn’t like to drop a jean size or two. Heavily motivated by Stop Chasing Skinny, I want to make 2012 the year I focus on eating right, being healthy, and accepting my body for what it is. As long as I’m healthy, I shouldn’t care what the scale says. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and it’s time I stop chasing an unrealistic ideal that I’ve been spoon fed. My emphasis in choosing foods and exercising should be on health, not losing weight.

 

Of course I set goals for myself throughout the year as well, but these are the three that I am currently working on as 2012 begins. What about you, do you set yearly goals?

Belated PPK Thanksgiving Potluck

Although my ‘real’ Thanksgiving was pretty mellow, a group of us PPKers wanted to get together the week after to have a totally kick-butt vegan Thanksgiving potluck. The lovely Amey of Vegan Eats & Treats! hosted us down in Santa Cruz.

There was a pretty decent spread, including a seitan roulade made by Amey, based on a recipe from the PPK (Amey changed up the stuffing though and used kabocha squash – my favourite squash!).

There were TWO kinds of brussel sprouts! This dish with hazelnuts made by Autumn and another one with garlic made by Kathy. Both were super good!

Autumn also made stuffed mushrooms, using this Chef Cloe recipe:

And of course, the ubiqutious cranberry sauce, also made by Autumn:

I made some rolls, using the recipe from the I-40 Kitchen:

Another savory dish was the butternut squash lasagna from Yellow Rose Recipes. But I’m an idiot and I was so busy snapping photos of the other dishes, I forgot to take a picture of my own! Oh well. Trust me, it was good and it lives up to the internet hype.

Now on to desserts! Amey made the most AMAZING truffles ever!! She used this recipe from Hannah Kaminsky. You have to make these NOW.

Nikki, aka Cold&Sleepy from coldandsleepy cooks brought a really yummy apple and quince galette. It was my first galette experience and it was pretty tasty. I wasn’t sure what a quince was so I had to Google it when I got home and learned all kinds of things from Wikipedia. Internet, you are so amazing.

For a third dessert, Kathy made an apple pie. Look at that fancy lattice crust! I’m super impressed! Pie crust intimidates the heck out of me.

Autumn actually brought a fourth dessert, but it met an untimely end and crashed into the street on its way to the potluck. RIP poor pumpkin cheesecake.

All in all it was a super fun time filled with delicious food. It made me really thankful to live in a great place where I have a group of fun vegan friends (who make good food).

 

 

 

MoFo wrap-up, ear infections, and pumpkin oatmeal

Ack, I was on track to hit 31 posts this MoFo but at the very end I came down with an ear infection. The ear infection itself wasn’t the problem, but as a result of my ear I ended up with crippling migraines. Yikes. Anyhoo, onwards and upwards. I still managed 28 posts and that’s nothing to shake a stick at.

My favourite thing about MoFo is discovering new blogs to follow all year round! I know I found quite a few gems to add to my blog reader and I hope you did, too.

It was definitely a challenge for me to go from no blogging to blogging every day. When the month first began I thought being on crutches would hinder my MoFoing. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because I have been working from home most days, I was able to take my food photos at lunch time, which is much better than dealing with the dreary winter darkness that is now a problem at dinner time. And I’m happy to report that I am now off of crutches full-time! I am still in my walking boot/air cast though, and probably will be for a few more weeks. But hey, after being on crutches for 8 weeks I’m not going to complain!

And now I leave you with something that kept me going this past weekend when I had such a bad headache I couldn’t be bothered to cook – pumpkin oatmeal! The blogosphere has been writing about this stuff for ages, but I rarely have canned pumpkin in the house. Basically I just took a bowl and threw in some oats, a few scoops of canned pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and water. I mixed it up, microwaved it, and then topped it with agave. Voila. It would have been better with soy milk, but I was fresh out. It was still perfectly yummy!