Winter Ruby Salad

I was first introduced to this special dish at last year's Thanksgiving potluck. One of our girlfriend made it and we all asked for the recipe it was so unique and delicate.

It is such an original way to eat winter root vegetables without glazing them in lots of sugar!
Especially around the holidays in the US! I can't handle so much sweet personnally. It features parsnips, a not so well known root vegetable, yet so exquisite in flavoring. It also has sweet potatoes and beets which give the dish, its rich red color. The salad keeps well in the refrigerator and tastes even better the next day. The root vegetables are not boiled but just roasted so they will keep all their nutrients.


Ingredients:
   3-4 parsnips
   2 large sweet potatoes
   2 medium beets
   1 Tbl rosemary
   1 Tbl olive oil
   1/4 cup of pecans or walnuts (optional)
   1/4 cup of dried cranberries
   2 scallions sliced

Salad dressing:
  1 Tbl Dijon mustard
  1/4 cup of white or cidar vinegar
  1 Tbl vegan mayonnaise (optional)
  1 tsp sugar (any othersweetener will do)
  1 tsp cumin
  1/4 cup olive oil
  Salt and pepper

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Peel and chop the parsnips and sweet potatoes. In a salad bowl, mix a few table spoons of olive oil, a little salt and some crushed rosemary.
3. You can add more herbs if you want, like garlic or thyme etc, it is up to you but don't get too carried away.
4. Mix the parsnip and sweet potatoes in the oil. Trim the beets and individually wrap them into aluminum foil.
5. Pour the parsnip onto a lightly oiled cookie tray and place the beets in the oven. Bake for 45mn.
6. Remove from the oven and let cool off.Be careful not to burn your fingers when opening the foil around the beets. I ran the beets under cold water to remove the skin and cool them off faster.
7. Cut the beets into cubes.
8. Mix all the ingredients of the dressing except for the olive oil. Add the oil slowly and whisk to emulsify the dressing.
9. Pour the root vegetable into a large salad bowl, pour the dressing over it and mix. Add the nuts and dried cranberry at the end.
10. The salad can be eaten warm or cold. Both are delicious. Garnish with a little parsley or some chives for extra flavoring and green contrast.

This is such a great way to enjoy root vegetables this winter! You can try other root vegetables with the same recipe like rutabaga. 

Bon Appétit

Holidays Sweet Treats

True to my motto "Life is short, eat desert first!", here are 2 sweet treats for Christmas.

Soy Nog, the vegan version everyone, young and old can indulge guilt free. For one, you avoid the whole raw egg and salmonella poisoning ordeal!
Who would want that and it would kind of ruin your Christmas holidays!  Soy nog is also much lighter after a big meal. Unlike its original counterpart, young and old can safely drink it, no alcohol, low fat, low cholesterol, what's not to like?

Plus, it is a no brainer. You can make a rich version or a lighter version depending on the meal you are serving or the occasion.

But who said that you can only have it around Christmas?

SOY NOG

Ingredients:

 

  1 quart of vanilla soy milk (if you use plain soy milk, add more sweetener)
  1 cup vanilla vegan ice cream or vegan vanilla yogurt
  1 Tbl maple syrup
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 Tbl artificial rum flavoring (optional)
  1 Tbl ground nutmeg
  Blend all the ingredients until smooth.

  Pour into nice cups and sprinkle with nutmeg.

NO BAKE CHOCOLATE CAKE 

What is better than a no bake dessert after a rich meal?  This recipe is by no mean an original one, because I have seen many different versions going around. A cross between a cheesecake and a mousse, this is a treat for chocolate lovers. Save on electricity too since you only need to refrigerate it! Every bit counts these days!

Crust:

      4-5 pitted dates     
      1 cup of nuts (almonds, walnut etc.)
      ½ cup rolled oats
      3 Tb vegan butter or coconut oil
      1 Tb sugar 

Preparation:

Pulse the nuts, dates and oats in a food processor a few times until finely chopped.
Then add the vegan butter or coconut oil and sugar, pulse again.
Ligthly oil a 9-inch pie plate and press the mixture evenly on the bottom and sides

 

Filling:

   ¾ cups raw cashews  
   ½ cup water
   1 package (12oz) silken tofu drained
   ¼ cup vegan margarine
   12 ounce vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
   ¼ cup agave syrup (or brown rice syrup)
   2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
   1 Tbl orange peel

 

PREPARATION:

Start by melting the chocolate chips in a double boiler. You don’t need a fancy pan. I just use a smaller pan that I insert into a larger one that I filled with some water. That’s it. This way, you save on space and money, what a deal!

NOTE: Don’t use a microwave, if you knew what it did to the food, you would remove it altogether from your kitchen (that’s what I did).You don’t have to take my word for it, there is plenty of information online, people just don’t know (http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html).

1. In a food processor, first grind the cashews until you have powder,
2. Add the water to get a smooth cream, then add the agave tofu, vanilla, orange peel and blend.
3. Add the melted chocolate in batches until well mixed.
4. Pour the filling into the crust, smoothing the top.
5. Refrigerate overnight or at least 3 hours.

This pie is great with herbal tea or chai tea.
Stay warm and dry, depending where you live!

Enjoy your holidays and do stay in touch.
Many blessings to all 

Special Nutloaf

What to make for Christmas dinner this year? I thought we could buy some already made mock meat but they can be a little intense texture wise, a little expensive and not always practical if you are serving a big table. So this time I decided to try a nutloaf.  Sure, it isn’t exactly fancy food but there is something hearty about it that sounds just about right for this holiday. Everyone’s budget is a little tighter, so making things from scratch can save money. It can also be a creative project for the entire family.  So why not make this good old American classic a special dish? 

What I love about it is that you make the loaf (make extra ones to freeze) then you can dress it in all kinds of ways. Start with a rich gravy (see recipe below) with garlic mash potatoes but why stop there? Break out some tomatoe sauce, green onions, garlic, capers, and any herbs you like, pour it over the slices of nutloaf and either heat up in a pan or bake for 10-15mn at 370F and voila, you have a rich Italian dish (see second photo).  You can make it Mexican with salsa, cilantro, chiles, vegan cheese. You can also prepare a coconut curry sauce and serve it with vegetables for a touch of India or Indonesia but obviously not for Christmas dinner! Don't forget that you can always use leftover slices for sandwiches, melts etc. Get creative!
This recipe makes between 8-10 slices of nutloaf.

The ingredients below are to make the basic recipe, but you can add other vegies you have on hand, as long as they are diced for added flavor and texture.

Ingredients:1 12oz firm tofu package
¼ cup nutritional yeast
3 Tbl ketchup
2 Tb Dijon mustard
1 cup of chopped onions
3 cloves of garlic
½ cup walnuts
¼ cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup gluten flour
1 cup mushrooms sliced
Salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
2 tsp paprika

Preparation:

1. Ligthly oil a loaf pan. Turn oven to 380F.
2. In a food processor, blend the tofu, ketchup, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, mustard (depending on the size of your processor, you may have to do this in 2 batches, I had to).
3. Slowly add the rolled oats, then the gluten flour, pulsing in batches.
4. Pan fry the garlic, then chopped onions, then add the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper for a few minutes.
5. Mix the tofu mixture with the sauteed mushrooms. Add a little water if needed.
6. Pour the mixture into the greased loaf pan, flatten to make sure it is level.  Drizzle a little olive oil on top making sure it is spread evenly.
7. Bake for 1 hour. Let it cool off before slicing.

Note:

The loaf will be moist and a little dry at the same time, so make sure to have some gravy or sauce with it.

If you want it moistier, add more vegies and reduce the amount of gluten flour.

If you are gluten intolerant, substitute the gluten flour with a mix of oat and tapioca flour.

You can also add some ground flaxseed to bind everything together.

You can't mess this one up!

 

VEGAN MUSHROOM GRAVY

 

Ingredients:

 

  3 Tbl onion powder
  2 Tbl oil (or vegan butter)
  1 tsp minced garlic
  1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper
  5 cups diced mushrooms
  1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari)
  2 cups plain soy milk
  2 cup water with vegetable broth
  1/2 cup wheat flour
 

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot, heat up the oil, add the garlic, mushrooms, pepper and soy sauce for 5 minutes over medium heat.  Slowly add the soy sauce and Soy milk, continue to simmer.
2. Mix the flour and into the water with broth with a whisk making sure that there are no lumps.
3. Slowly stir this into the pot, constantly whisking until thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to low and let gravy simmer for another 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

 

RUSTIC APPLE-PEAR TARTLETS

There is nothing better than a light desert after a satisfying meal. It is a way to delay a little longer the inevitable end of a pleasant moment, maybe over a cup of herbal tea or coffee.  And if you take this philosophy of life a little further, you have my motto: “Life is short, eat desert first!” But American pies, cakes and the likes tend to be a little too sweet and heavy for my taste (especially after a meal), so most of the time I end up skipping it altogether. But there are so many ways to create delightful bites of sweet pleasure for exactly that occasion!


Take the traditional French tart, lightly caramelized on top, tender in the middle and flaky on the bottom, yum. Well, yesterday, I noticed 2 pears that needed some TLC, so I decided to make a tart, but as I was in the process of assembling the ingredients, I realized that I didn’t have enough vegan butter and pastry flour (what kind of cook doesn’t have enough flour, really!). So I did the unthinkable, I used vegetable oil and some chick pea flour instead! I had no idea how this was going to turn out. I had only 2 pears and 1 apple to work with, so it wasn’t enough to fill an entire cookie sheet, so I decided to make individual tartlets instead, the rustic kind. No two alike, each its own unique creation! In other words, I was improvising big time.


Believe it or not, it came out really nice with a light flaky crust. The chick pea flour gave the crust a nice golden color and no extra flavor. And if this wasn’t good enough, I looked it up and found out that a half cup of chick pea flour also provides 10 grams of protein, lots of calcium, magnesium, potassium, so it is nutritional too! How about that! You can have your cake and eat your minerals too! Sweet!


Note: The dough will feel a little weird when you use oil instead of chilled butter. It resembles a soft fatty ball. I only chilled it for 5 minutes ( I didn't have all day to bake!) I didn’t want to add to much flour for dusting not knowing what would happen with the texture, so when I tried to roll it, some pieces stuck to the board. So I had to do a little patching here and there but you can’t see it after you bake it.

INGREDIENTS:


DOUGH:
1 ½ cup of wheat pastry flour (plus 1/4 cup for dusting)
½ cup garbanzo bean flour (also called besan or chana in Indian stores)
½ cup vegetable oil (Canola ok but not olive oil!)
4-5 Tbl iced water
½ tsp salt
2Tbl sugar


FILLING:
3 ripe pears (or mix of pears and apples is fine too)
1-2 cups of sweetened apple sauce
Juice from ½ lemon
1 tsp arrowroot* (or 2 tsp of cornstarch*)
Sugar for dusting


PREPARATION:

1. Heat up the oven to 390 F. Ligthly oil a cookie sheet.
2. Put a few ice cubes in a small glass.
3. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, combine the oil and the iced water.
5. Mix wet ingredients into the flour mixture.
6. Make a ball and put into a plastic bag. Refrigerate for 10mn.
7. In the meantime, peel, core and slice the pears and apple. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with natural sugar. Juice the lemon and mix the arrowroot in it. Pour it over the fruit and gently toss to coat evenly.
8. Take out the dough from the fridge, dust a surface and gently roll it. It could stick to the pin, so be gentle.
9. To make individual tartlets, roll out the dough thinly, there is no need to prebake. Just take a jar or the lid of a glass jar and cut out circles.
10. Place a little apple sauce in the middle (sprinkle a little sugar if the apple is not sweetened), then a few slices of pears, gently lift the tartlet with a spatula and put in the palm of your hand, use your fingers to fold the edges in a few places. Sprinkle again with a little sugar and place on a greased cookie sheet.
11. Bake at 390F for 15mn until golden.
12. Remove from oven and put an even thin layer of apricot or peach jam over it while it is cooling off. This will create a nice glaze for your tartlets. Makes between 6-8 tartlets depending on the size of the tartlet you make.

NOTE: If you have more fruit, you can cover an entire cookie sheet. If the dough comes appart, just patch it. Poke a few holes all over and bake for 15mn at 380F. Then cover with a layer of apple sauce, then neatly layer the pear and apple slices. Sprinkle with more sugar. Bake for 20-25mn at 390F.  See step 12 for adding the glaze.

* Cornstarch: I stopped using it, because I found out that more than 80% of the corn grown in the US is used for animal feed in factory farms and a good part of it is genetically modified. Virtually no testing has been done on the safety of human consumption of GMO corn. The excuse being that most is being used for animals so why bother, but numerous by-products are made from this same GMO corn (corn oil, high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, corn meal, corn chips, apparently, white distilled vinegar is also made from corn…) and end up in practically everything that we eat. If that wasn’t bad enough, most cornstarch also contain aluminum in the form of Sodium Aluminum Sulfate (Rumford and Magic baking powder are the only aluminum free brands I am aware of).


So I now use *Arrowroot. This West Indian root was traditionally used to treat wounds caused by poison arrows so it cured poisonous substances and healed the wounds. I may just try it next time I cut myself! Make a little paste by mixing a little powder with some water. I will let you know what happened! I don't know about you but I am all for moving my pharmacy into my kitchen.

     Usage: Substitute 2 tsp of arrowroot to 3 tsp of cornstarch.
     Use 1 tablespoon of arrowroot with 1 cup of liquid to thicken a sauce or as a gelatin substitute.

Unlike cornstarch, your dish can be refrigerated, frozen and thawed nicely without turning into a jelly like mush.
It is a little more expensive than cornstarch but so worth it.
Actually, if you buy it bulk it is almost the same, minus the aluminum and the GMO!
What a deal!

HOLY COW!

Even though I was born and raised in the Western hemisphere, I have always had affinities with the East, whether it is the grace of Thai people, the exquisite Japanese gardens and their minimalist architecture, the ancient and colorful devotional traditions of India, and of course the explosion of flavors I experienced when I first discovered their food. I have to say that once I tasted curries, lemongrass, coconut milk, chili paste, cilantro, tamarind and so much more, there was no going back! And all other foods (yes, even French) tasted pretty bland and uneventful in comparison. For a while, I experienced it as happy food versus boring food!  There was no competition really. Now, I have gone full circle, I appreciate both and enjoy creating blends and fuse the various influences.

Then I was thinking how sacred cows are in India and how commoditized they are in the so-called ‘developed’ world. After all, they provide precious goods like milk, butter for lamps, and fuel from dried dung in poor countries so why would they kill them? It made me think of a scene for a joke. It goes something like:

A man was standing at the Pearly gate waiting for his turn to see St Peters. Eventually he got to the beginning of the line. St Peters greeted him and asked him a few questions about where he was from, what he did for a living, the usual screening procedure. The man answered that he was from the Midwest of United States, he was raised on a farm and worked most of his life in a meat packing plant. St Peters looked a little sad.
- “I see” he said.
He checked a few boxes on his list, thought for a moment then said:
- “You have a choice for your next life: you can be born in India or in America. The choice is yours. But you must choose carefully.”The man was perplexed. Afterall, he was from the Midwest and the little that he knew about India didn’t inspire him much. Images of overcrowded streets, poverty and unfamiliar scenes came up in his mind from a documentary he had seen on television. He loved America and just couldn’t picture himself living in India.
- “I choose America” he said proudly.
St Peters, added:
- “Oh, I forgot to mention that you are coming back as a cow next time!”

The moral of the story is that you never know what’s next so be kind just in case!

Who said that vegans had no sense of humor?

By Popular Demand!

 

I have been asked over and over for the recipe for my vegan omelets.

As you may know, I don't like dishes that are too complicated to make, so these are fairly simple to prepare and keep in the fridge for up to a week. So make a batch, refrigerate it and whenever you feel like it, voilà! By the way, they are great for brunch, lunch and dinner.

TIPS: If you have made the batter ahead of time and refrigerated it, make sure to take it out 30mn before you need to make it otherwise the batter will be too thick and you will end up making pancakes! Not that pancakes are bad or anything, but you will miss the light texture of this exquisite dish.

Another important thing I had to learn this the hard way, is resist the urge to flip the omelet until it is lose in the pan (this may take 1-3mn depending on the heat and the pan you are using), otherwise it will break and you will have something that resembles more a scramble than an omelet! 

If you are making these for several people, make them ahead of time and keep them in the oven until it is time to serve them. Make an extra one, just in case, because, the chance of someone asking for seconds is almost guaranteed!

You can eat them just like that or add a filling. You can use a mix of shredded vegetable, vegan meats, cheese, get creative and let me know how it turned out!

Bon appetit!

So here is it:

SOPHIE'S VEGAN OMELET

1. Measure 2 cups of unbleached flour with 1 cup of rice flour, 2 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and mix with 2 cups of coconut milk and a little water.
2. For extra flavoring and protein, you can add ¼ cup vegan cheese (optional) or 2 Tbl nutritional yeast
3. If too thick, add a little water and make sure there are no lumps.
4. Cook one laddle at a time in an oiled skillet at medium heat.
5. Fill with onions, mushrooms, any vegetables you like.
6. Serve warm with a salad
7.  

What I love about this dish is that because it is made of flour (instead of the usual egg mixture), you do not need to eat bread with it. You feel satisfied and energized for many hours just with this one dish and little salad on the side.

Uninvited guests at our table!

Here is the interesting thing, while there is a perception out there that vegetarians and especially vegans can’t be healthy because they are cutting out almost everything out of their diet, we don’t realize, that the prevalent animal based food sold in grocery stores, whether it is in cans, frozen packages or served in fast food restaurants contains stuff that most people aren’t aware of and that really shouldn’t be allowed to be sold as food. Should antibiotics, for instance, be eaten with every servings of red meat? Not if you want to be able to take antibiotics and have them work when you need them. How about a little arsenic in your chicken nuggets? How does this favorite murder weapon of the Middle Ages and Renaissance finds its way in chicken feed to kill parasites and make them grow faster? What about a little mercury in your broiled fish? That can’t be too bad for you, right? Well, if pregnant women are told to abstain from eating more than 2 servings of fish during their pregnancy because of it, it is probably not a good thing to ingest, period.  Oceans are polluted and over harvested and we are now paying the price for it. You like milk?  You might want to think twice about ingesting growth hormones and anti-depressants which, in turn, are guaranteed to mess up your hormones, whether you are a man or a woman. Do you ever wonder why we have such an epidemic of breast and prostate cancers, infertility and of depression among our population?  Everything is connected.

So, the good news is that by eliminating all of these animal products from our diet, We are protecting ourselves and loved ones from all of these harmful chemicals that somehow have found their ways into our kitchens. This is especially vital for children since their bodies are metabolizing everything that they are ingesting. As we get older and are no longer growing, a lot of these chemicals end up stored in our fat cells. Any substance that the body doesn’t know what to do with can result in tumors and cancers, in an attempt to isolate the element and get rid of it. So, why not avoiding them in the first place? Can you image the savings in health cost alone? If you are still not convinced, there is a new movie-documentary on this topic called Forks over knives. Hear what doctors and surgeons have to say about it. You can also watch the trailer further down in this blog.

So on the one hand, you have meat eaters thinking that vegans are missing out on everything and on the other, you have vegans that have researched what really is in our food supply (because now we have to read all the labels and find out where it comes from!) and can chose to eat just what is good for us and leave the rest out. It is a very empowering thing to take control of what we eat because EVERYTHING that we ingest directly impacts our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.  Instead of turning to drugs to alleviate symptoms, how about eating healthy food to build a sound body and mind? This is why I always incorporate the healing virtues of plant food in my cooking classes. The Creator even color coded fruit and vegetables to make it easier for us to know what to eat.

We are truly blessed to live in such an abundant and marvelous world that awaits our discovering.
Don't you agree?