The Famous Black & White Cookie

Here is a fun video in which my good friend Sherry Vanstone makes the famous Black and White Cookies from Seinfeld. I hope you enjoy making them as much as I enjoy eating them! :)

Baking without Eggs

Many people are often in awe of vegan muffins, cakes and cookies and are surprised to know that they were made to a fluffy perfection without the use of eggs!  How you ask? Well, we've made a video just to show you the myriad of egg replacement options out there.

Also, if you are interested in becoming an awesome vegan baker, check out book The Joy of Vegan Baking.

Good Ol' Hummus!

For you loyal reader, I'm so sorry for being away for so long...but we've been working on producing a new veg cooking show! So I wanted to share a sneak peak of an episode.  If you love hummus as much as I do, you can save money and make some at home...it's so much cheaper and oohhh soo delicious!  What I love about making my own hummus is that you can add interesting ingredients to change flavors...for example, you can add parsley, cilantro, roasted veggies such as garlic or red pepper...the sky's the limit!

So, I hope you enjoy this program! :)

Sweet and Spicy Chenai Corn

  When you just need food in a hurry, there is nothing wrong with reaching in your freezer for some frozen veggies. I stock my freezer up with veggies for days when I just don't have the time or the desire to make foods from scratch. By just adding a few exotic Indian spices to a typically American staple, you'll have an exotic side dish to compliment your main dish.

Sweet and Spicy Chenai Corn
2 cups frozen or canned corn
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of onion powder
1/2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp of agave (or a sweetner of your choice)
salt and black pepper to taste

Lightly roast the cumin and mustard seeds in oil (you can also dry roast the spices) until you start hearing them sizzle. Then add the corn and  fry while adding the rest of the spices. Before serving, toss the corn with agave nectar or any other sweetener for help bring out the sweetness in the corn and give your taste buds something to enjoy!

Homemade Marmalade with a Twist!

I know it's easy to walk into a grocery store and look down a long aisle of various jams and jellys, but believe me, making your own is often healthier, more satisfying and oh so easy! I love to be able to experiment with a variety of spices and textures until I get the flavors just right.

Last night, I served this amazing marmalade over corn bread which just came out of the oven. It was delightful and I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did! :)

Recipe:
1 orange, flesh diced into 1/4 cubes
1 orange zest
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp vanilla
4-5 Tbsp agave nectar (or another sweetener to taste)
1 Tbsp of canola oil
pinch of sea salt

Heat the oil until it is warm (be careful to not overheat the oil). Then add the spices along with the orange zest and let the fragrances combine for about one minute. Then add in the diced orange, sweetener, and vanilla. Then stir the mixture until it starts to boil. After you see bubbles appearing, reduce the heat to a medium simmer and keep a lid over the pot, but slightly uncovered.  Cook this mixture down for 10-15 minutes depending on how chunky you'd like your marmalade to be. Let it cool for about 30 minutes or let it chill in the refrigerator until it is ready to serve. I'd suggest serving it with some freshly made corn bread...the combination is delicious!  :)

Make me Sushi with Everything!

 How many times have you gone to a sushi restaurant, ordered sushi with tiny pieces of avocado and cucumber and just wanted more? Well, try this homemade sushi with the works and you'll never want to go to a sushi restaurant again!

My bro is a HUGE fan of sushi and we passed this sushi by him and even he couldn't resist. The next week he went home and taught himself to make sushi just so he could recreate this with lots of veggies and a lot of variations.  I'm not going to list out how to make sushi, because you can find lots of how to videos online...but what you won't see often is creativity with your sushi fillings. So here are some ideas for what to fill your sushi with:

Sushi Filling:
sliced avocados
sliced cucumbers
sliced and steamed or roasted sweet potatoes
finely sliced red peppers
sliced mangoes (my fav!)

This combo was amazing, but it's up to you to be creative. The touch of mango in the sushi added an exotic and unexpected flavor which I really loved......happy eating! :)

African Sweet Potato Soup

I just happened upon this wonderful soup which was inspired by a great cookbook (one of my favs) from the Toronto Vegetarian Association's Cookbook. Sweet potato is one of those super-foods which doctors say should be part of any healthy diet...so I like to include sweet potatoes in several meals throughout the week.

Here is this simple but hearty recipe...nice eaten by a warm fire and an adventurous book on the side!

African Sweet Potato Soup
1 large chopped jewelled yam (peeled and chopped)
2-3 chopped carrots
1/2 chopped onion
2-4 cups water (enough to cook the vegetable)
2-3 Tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 tsp salt (optional)

Cook the soup for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Blend the veggies in a blender with the water from the soup until the soup is all smooth. Put the soup back in pot and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add peanut butter at this time and any other spice which you think could jazz it up a bit...I just like it as is. Simple, creamy and so satisfying! :)

 

What's Cheese Got to do With It?: Vegan Pizza with a Twist

 For those of you who just haaave to have pizza with the cheese, watch out for this new pizza sensation brought to you by my friend Monty who's taken pizza to the next level.

Everyone in my family loves pizza with cheese but after their first bite, they confirmed that they didn't miss the cheese at all! With all these incredible topping each bite of pizza is bursting with flavor.

Pizza Assembly
Homemade Tomato Sauce (you really can't beat homemade sauce..trust me! Pizza with store bought sauce is just not the same!)

Essential Toppings:
Roasted Red Peppers
Roasted Garlic
Portabello Mushrooms
Caramelized Onions
Sundried Tomatoes
Walnuts
Raisins

Dough:
Fresh pizza dough (which can be bought at grocery stores. Or you can use pre-made pizza crust)

Now my recommendation is to make a pizza with all these wonderful ingredients...they all sort of go together. But if you had to pick just a few ingredients, I'd suggest roasted peppers and garlic, as well as walnuts and raisins.

If you are using pizza dough, stretch it out on a pizza tray until it evenly covers the whole tray.Then add tomato sauce and the rest of the ingredients and bake at 400 for about 15-20 min.

I can't wait for y'all to try this pizza...imho the more homemade everything is, the better!

Hummus with a Seasonal Twist

We’ve all tried a variety of hummus dips from red pepper to roasted garlic but I’m sure you’ve never tried pumpkin hummus. It’s a very interesting twist on an old recipe. Feel free to experiment with this…my next attempt will be to add all the pumpkin pie seasonings to the hummus. I know it sounds weird…I cringed as I added cinnamon to my hummus, but at the end it turned out great!

Pumpkin Hummus

1 cup of cooked pumpkin
1 cup of chickpeas
1-2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp olive oil (optional)
3-4 Tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or more to taste)
1/2 Tbsp agave nectar
3-4 dates
1 tsp Thai green curry paste (can be found in most Asian section of grocery stores)

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve with bread and veggies.

Not Your Grandma's Bake Off

If your getting visions of old ladies in a church hall think again! Unlike Grandma, all these amazing chefs kept the eggs, milk and butter on the shelf in pursuit of creating the best Vegan sweet in all the land. Hosted by the Toronto Vegetarian Association (TVA), the First Annual Vegan Bake-off was great success!

Entrants from every age bracket showed Toronto that vegan food is indeed as flavourful and tasty as any other dairy based sweets.Why a vegan bakeoff?  People embrace veganism for many reasons…some do it for the environment, others for better health and others do it to help alleviate animal suffering.

You can learn more about the benefits of veganism at  Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine or to learn about the environmental ethics behind veganism you can visit Choose Veg  To join or get involved with the TVA, visit them at www.Veg.ca