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

 

Tomato Sauce - That actually tastes like tomatoes!

Today's post is brought to you by guest blogger, Monty Jain. His imagination and talent in the kitchen has wowed me and so I asked him to share some of his recipes from time to time.

Why doesn't tomato sauce taste like tomatoes? In many sauces the poor defenseless tomatoes are reduced to filler while other overbearing veggies/seasonings come waltzing and take over all the taste. Well I say 'No More'! As a defender of good taste and healthy choices I'm taking the sauce back!

Tomato Sauce

3-4 lbs tomatoes (Roma or Vine Tomatoes, ideally local)
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil (optional)
1 tsp sea salt (or more to taste)
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic made into paste
1/4 cup basil leaves (whole)

Tomatoes have flavor in the flesh of the fruit...the seed and skin don't have flavor.  When making this sauce it is important to make sure that non-flavor fillers stay out. Also pick a time when you can sit and relax for 2-3 hours. A rainy Sunday afternoon is perfect... especially if a classic movie is on TV in the background.

First blanch the tomatoes by bringing 3 litres of salted water to boil. Lightly cut an 'x' in the skin of the tomatoe, then place then into the water for a quick 2-3 minute boil, or just until the skin starts peeling back. Pull them out and quickly into a bowl of ice water. This will get them to stop cooking and hasten the peeling process.

Peel & chop the tomatoes in quaters, deseed and remove the hard core. Don't worry the hard work is pretty much done. Now drop all the ingredients into a large pot at meduim low and cover. Next, grab a drink sit back and chill with that movie. During commercials check the pot (should take about 75-90 minutes) and stir occasionally. Do not scrape down the sides... its just nasty parts boiling off... let it go man.... seriously.

Now just before the sauce is done chuck in the basil and your finished!  Bring over some friends boil up some pasta and enjoy the purest sauce you'll ever have.

Homemade Jam in a Jiffy

Last weekend I got to enjoy a peaceful day off at Muskoka Lake with vegan friends and of course lots of food! So one morning seeing several cartons full of blueberries, I decided to try to make a jam with no sugar and no oil…sounds crazy right? But hey, I’ll try anything at least once and I love trying to make non-fat healthier versions of foods we all love. This jam is as delicious as it looks. I hope you enjoy it and please eat as much as your heart desires since you can eat it without guilt.

Blueberry Banana Jam
1 cup blueberries
1 banana, mashed
1-2 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp water

I love recipes that are less than 5 ingredients but don’t let that fool ya! The richness of the flavor will keep you coming back for more! All you have to do is put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then turn the heat down to a light simmer and keep stirring (feel free to take a few breaks now and then) until the water has evaporated and you are left with a thick sauce. What you will notice as the mixture is heating up is that the blueberries will begin to “burst” and their color and flavor will be released, when this starts to happen, you won’t have to wait much longer to spread this goodness over your meal. Enjoy this on waffles, pancakes or toast!

Chantal’s Holy Mole Guacamole

Last week I had the delight of eating at the world-famous Chicago Diner. If you’re ever in Chicago, you need to go there! My friend Chantal and I went there to unwind from a long day at an amazing photography conference where we learned how to become better photographers and business owners. Our secret reason for going though was to meet Jasmine Star.  She is our favorite photographer who we shamelessly blog-stalk...let's just say what Hannah Montana is to a 12 year old, she is to us...basically she's a rock star! She inspires us in so many ways that we just had to go to meet and learn from her.

While at the all veg diner, we accidentally got an order of chips and guacamole which we enjoyed because... I mean... who wants all that good stuff to go to waste? While chowing down, Chantal told me about her guacamole recipe (see below) which will as says will “knock you out” So you’ve been warned…I hope you enjoy it!

Chantal's Holy Mole Guacamole
2 ripe avocados
1 small roma tomato, chopped
1 small clove of garlic, finely minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocado and then mix in the rest of the ingredients…Then close your eyes to prepare for your taste buds to dance with joy!

Mexican Tacos with a Veggie Flare!

Who says vegan mexican food can't have all the flavors of a meat-based meal?  It can be just as mouth-watering but with with a lot less fat and a lot more nutrients!  My friend recently told me that she went vegetarian for 2 weeks, but was struggling to come up with a good taco recipe. So I decided to whip up some tacos at home to show her how it's really done around here!

Recipe
1 package Corn or Wheat Tortillas, steamed
1 package Match Meats Beef or Yves Ground Round
1 jar of salsa
1 cup of corn
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
2 cups of lettuce, chopped

Stir in the salsa into the meatless beef and heat it thoroughly for 5-7 min until the flavors and fully mixed. Then place the tortillas into a steamer and steam for 2-3 minutes. You can also heat the tortillas in a toaster oven or in the microwave (but be sure to first wet the tortillas with water so that they remain soft when heated).

To assemble the taco, put about 3 Tbsp (or more) of the meatless beef into the middle of the tortillas, then add some more salsa if you'd like, then add the corn, cilantro, and avocado. Then for the best part...just wrap it and eat with your hands! (the sloppier the better!) A simple, easy, and elegant meal!

Tropical Cheesecake Delight

How I love mangoes let me count the ways...I love them in smoothies, in salads, in sushi (yes I had amaaazing mango sushi recently!), in rice, and in dessert. I can never get too many mangoes! So it is with great delight that I share a recipe with you that I adjusted from Recipe Zaar and added a tropical twist to it...inspired by a wonderful friend of mine.

Recipe:

1.5 packages of extra firm silken tofu
1/2 T tahini (I use Arrowhead Mill's tahini because it's sweeter than most)
2 T lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
2 T corn starch
1/3-1/2 c sugar (you can add more for sweetness if you like)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t vanilla
2 T almond milk (you can use soy or rice milk as well)

Mango Drizzle:
1 whole mango, blended

Crust:
1 graham cracker crust (I bought an organic crust by Wholly Wholesome.  You can also crush  2 cups of graham crackers or coconut cookies and mix the crumbs with about 1/4 cup of maple syrup and press the mixture into a  9" pie plate and bake at 350 for 5 min and then pour the filling in and bake once more)

Blend the pie mixture until smooth and pour it into a 9" pie crust. Bake cheesecake at 350 for 30 min. Once the pie is baked, allow it to set and cool for 45 min. Then chill it for an hour and serve it with mango puree...it's heaven!

Veggie Chicken Strips

Who would've thought that something like chicken strips could be replaced by a product made out of  a humble soybean!  Well, technology has certainly come so far that we can now mimic the taste and texture of animal flesh and the results are fabulous, compassionate, healthy and delicious!

Today, I'm featuring Light Life's Smart Strips which you can find in most produce sections of grocery stores. You can use them in fajitas,  stir frys, casseroles, pot pies, stews or burritos.

As you may have caught on by now, I love making stir frys as they are so easy to make and incredibly versatile. Below, you see a simple stir fry I made with the Smart Strips. 

Because you can use these strips in any meal, I'm just going to give you an idea of what I did and you can use this post as inspiration to make your own master piece.

Recipe:

1 package of Smart Strips by Lightlife

2 carrots, julienned

1 red onion, julienned

1 red pepper, julienned

1 cup brown rice, cooked

1 bunch arugula greens

Sauce:

1.5 TBSP Tamari (soy sauce)

1 TBSP agave nectar (or to taste)

2 TBSP brown rice vinegar

So basically I sauteed the strips first until they were lightly browned, and then added a variety of veggies (onions, red peppers, carrots) . Then I tossed the veggies in a simple sauce I made with tamari, agave nectar and brown rice vinegar and put it on a bed of rice and arugula greens!  Such a simple, yet elegant meal!