Category Archive

After a lover’s spat I made this peace offering for hubby. Perfect excuse to take my new 6-inch baking pans for a tasty test spin.

For the cake, I made the Golden Vanilla recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero) and iced it with the very delish Thick Chocolate Fudgey Frostin’ - my favourite frosting in that awesome little book, so far. I used the full recipe (for 12 cupcakes) and it fit the two 6-inch pans perfectly.

I am willing to give peace a chance - especially when it tastes this good.

Today’s breakfast is brought to you by, you guessed it, My Sweet Vegan - yes, I’m on a roll with this book. All the other cookbooks are probably feeling very lonely and left out just about now.

Ah, french toast. Breakfast foods most definitely comprise some of my favourite culinary delights - pancakes, crepes, waffles, and french toast are all held in very high esteem in this house and heart. When I first went vegan I wrote about how I went into mourning for these hallowed breakfast treats but soon realized that there was a new world of alternative ways to create them awaiting me. I have already made awesome pancakes and crepes galore with delicious success. Today would be my first foray into french toast. All I can say is it was about time, and yum.

There are probably a million and one ways to make french toast - it’s a personal thing. Depending on what you like, you’ll use different spices or different bread. You may completely soak your slices, or merely coat the surface, etc, etc. When I used to make french toast in the past, no two batches were ever the same. For my first vegan batch I thought I’d defer to the judgment of someone who clearly knows more than I do, which brings me to Hannah’s version in My Sweet Vegan. After all, I’ve made several things from her book with a 100% success rate so I had faith that this would be a good place to start in the world of vegan french toast.

The beautiful aroma that wafted up from the mixture as I was putting it together kind of made me want to drink it straight up, I kid you not. It was that good. A little patience, albeit difficult, and 15 minutes later I was eating a lovely batch of french toast. It would have been marvelous with maple syrup but I opted for a lighter presentation with a small bit of powdered sugar.

I’m on a powdered sugar kick lately.

So I’m fairly green at the blogging thing and there are still many firsts being experienced along the way. I’ve come into contact with many interesting, talented, and creative people which is awesome. I joined the Daring Bakers which is forcing me to stretch my culinary muscle in the best creative way. I’ve come across my blog on the blogroll of some truly talented and accomplished bloggers which is an incredible honour and makes me smile huge and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Well today I came across another first, and a great one at that. The culinary creative genius behind Speedbump Kitchen, and fellow Daring Baker, has done me the honour of using one of my recipes in the creation of what I can only describe as a cake masterpiece. We had both recently undertaken the Daring Baker challenge to make Opera Cake. When I saw the Speedbump Kitchen entry I just thought it was a thing of beauty - it was garnished with whimsical little marzipan bees, need I say more? Just gorgeous and incredibly inspiring. The creator of that marvelous cake visited my blog, came across my recent rustic coconut cake, and thought of incorporating it into an Opera cake for her adorable egg and dairy-sensitive kids.

Well that cake is made and all I can say is wow. And it has bees. So awesome. Well that’s it, my day is made. Look at the cake and bask in its glory.

I was itching to make something sweet so I reached for my newest favourite cookbook, My Sweet Vegan, by Hannah Kaminsky. There are many, many things I’m longing to try in this fabulous tome of tasty treats - today I decided on the graham flour fig scones. Anything with the word graham in it has to be good.

I had never used graham flour before, or so I thought. I picked a bag up on a recent trip to my local organic market and set it aside until today. The description on the bag described the flour as similar to whole wheat, with a higher bran content. When I opened the bag the sweet aroma that hit me, in concert with the very coarse appearance of the flour, instantly told me that I have worked with this wonderful ingredient before. Just not on this side of the pond - but that is a story for another post.

Today is all about the scones.

The recipe is very straightforward to put together, as all in the book seem to be - I only wish it made more! I say this because they are exceedingly tasty and sure not to last very long at all in my house. The recipe yields four decent sized scones. I’m sure they’d be heavenly at breakfast, slightly toasted with a dab of Earth Balance buttery spread and some apricot jam - as if they’re going to last until breakfast.

Next time I’ll probably double the recipe and thus be more willing to share with others.

Black & White cookies hold a special place in my heart. They take me back to my time in NY, arguably some of the happiest years ever spent. Countless times I’d pick up a giant example of this hallowed dessert from too many bakeries in each and every borough to list off here (not to mention street vendors). They are decadent - and they are big. Whatever sweet craving you’ve got - these babies will satisfy.

I was so happy, joyous really, to see a vegan recipe for the majestic Black & White included in Hannah Kaminsky’s My Sweet Vegan, which only just arrived at my house last week. I get to indulge in one of my all-time favourite treats and it’s dairy-free, egg free and vegan all the way baby. My initial indecision at which tasty treat to try first upon the book’s arrival, so overwhelmed was I by all the fabulous possibilities contained therein, caused my vote to be forfeit - hubby then cast the tiebreaker in favour of Peanut Butter Bombs. Those turned out really fantastic. I knew what my second foray into the book would have to be - the Black & White.

After getting the batter together I placed generous fluffy dollops on prepared baking sheets. They looked like ethereal little clouds before going into the oven.

I might have left them in a minute too long - ok I did leave them in too long - I was distracted by a cat, but I think they were none the worse for wear.

These were really fun to make. The taste of the batter, which I sampled repeatedly, immediately took me back to being four years old when I used to steal cake batter when my great grand mother wasn’t looking and then she’d chase me around the kitchen with a wooden spoon until I dove under the table for cover. I was safe there because she couldn’t bend too well. Sorry nägy.

Great tasting batter aside, the assembly is where the true fun comes in - all that painting of the two glazes, reminiscent of finger painting. Delightful.

One thing I quickly realized was that in using organic confectioner’s sugar I was not going to get a true snow white for the white side of my cookies, rather mine would be a slight cream - against the dark chocolate glaze they look white enough though.

I even broke out my coveted Endangered Species dark chocolate baking rounds, which I’d been hording for some time.

The chocolate is so darn tasty I was tempted to slather it all over the entire cookie but I resisted. Next time perhaps.

Worth noting is that, if you work slowly like myself, you may need to nuke the chocolate glaze for ten seconds to soften it up again or you may find it start to seize up on you. We want our cookies to have perfectly smooth little Black & White tuxes thank you very much.

Et voilà! - c’est magnifiqe. I love them - so sweet and decadent and, most importantly, delicious. I enjoyed more than one with an equally humongous mug of coffee - and we’re two for two.

Now what to try next…

I recently received my copy of Hannah Kaminsky’s first cookbook, My Sweet Vegan.

My goodness, this is one great book - I really can’t say enough good things about it. One thing I should admit to is the fact that I have an incredible weakness for books of all sorts, shapes and sizes. It’s somewhat of a sickness really. My latest obsession within the obsession is cookbooks, vegan cookbooks specifically. And I have acquired many of them - each having something awesome to offer in their own right.

That said, Hannah’s creation is the closest and most perfect representation of my culinary tastes that I have ever come across. My Sweet Vegan is truly a collection of unusual and amazing desserts. There’s a lot of chocolate. This is good. But there’s also pretty much each and every favourite thing I’ve ever eaten represented in perfect vegan form.

There’s Golden Glazed Donuts. I love donuts. There’s Graham Flour Fig Scones. I love figs. French Toast - breakfast is my favourite meal. There are 77 recipes in total - some of my favourites: Black Bottom Blondies, Whoopie Pies, Marshmallow Mud Cake, Mexican Chocolate Tart, Coconut Custard Pie, Orangettes (dark chocolate covered orange peel), and Root Beer Float Cupcakes - the latter being recently honoured as one of Vegan.com’s Top 10 Recipes, 2008.

My heart smiled with nostalgic glee when I came across Hannah’s inclusion of Pfefferneuse. I nearly wept with joy at spotting the Black & White cookies - those NY classics. Ah New York, how I miss you.

But the proof is in the pudding right? It’s one thing to look at pretty pictures - and they are pretty, snapped by Hannah herself - but it’s another to have a recipe that actually delivers the goods. Based on my first foray into Hannah’s baking world, I’m pretty confident you won’t be disappointed. You can imagine how difficult it was for me to choose which tasty morsel to try first. Ultimately, hubby had to choose for me and he put his vote in for Peanut Butter Bombs.

As I write this I’m enjoying several of them with a giant mug of coffee. A symphony of chocolate and peanut butter, these bombs do not disappoint. Hannah’s instructions are very straightforward and easy to understand, the book is beautifully laid out, and each recipe is accompanied by a fabulous photograph that shows you exactly what you are aiming for.

To quote hubby, ‘MMMMmmmmm.’

Be sure to check out Hannah’s blog, Bittersweet. Luckily for us, this vegan is as generous as she is talented and shares eloquently penned tips, recipes, and crafts on a regular basis.

With awareness of global warming on the rise, an interesting bit of information is unfolding along with it - meat consumption, along with egg and dairy, is the primary cause.

Animal agriculture affects climate change and air pollution more than any other single source. In fact, according to the United Nation’s massive report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, eliminating animal products from our diet would have a bigger impact on global warming than taking every single plane, train and automobile off the road, hummers and all. In short, the best and most immediate way for us to reduce the emissions that cause global warming is for people to adopt a vegan diet.

With billions of farm animals raised on factory farms annually, and billions upon billions of pounds of feed being produced to feed them, the impact on the planet is severe. Animal agriculture plays a significant role in climate change and air pollution, water depletion and pollution, and has a significant impact on biodiversity.

According to the United Nation’s report, animal agriculture has the following impact on air pollution:

• the CO2 equivalent of the livestock industry’s current contribution to climate change is 18%
• currently accounts for 9% of Carbon Dioxide emissions, and climbing.
• currently accounts for 35-40% of Methane emissions
• currently accounts for 65% of Nitreous Oxide emissions
• currently accounts for 64% of Ammonia emissions

Animal agriculture, including the meat, egg, and dairy industries, also has a significant impact on water depletion and pollution. This sector currently exceeds 8% of total global water use. This is a significant figure, especially in light of the increasing scarcity of fresh water in many places in the world, California for example.

Additionally, animal agriculture significantly impacts biodiversity through its direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, water pollution, deforestation, and overfishing. Consider that 26% of the terrestrial surface is used for grazing, up to 70% of which is already considered degraded, and 33% of arable land is used for feed-crop cultivation.

In the meantime the world is entering a food crisis. The cost of food for human consumption is on the rise because increasing demand for grains, corn needed for ethanol production for example, is exceeding supply. The human population is growing, along with its appetite for meat. There is simply not enough to go around. It is now costing farmers more to feed the farm animals than they are receiving for the meat in return. The livestock industry is not a sustainable one. If consumers don’t start to change their thinking and move away from heavy meat consumption, the Earth’s resources will simply be used up.

The status quo cannot be maintained, whether people like it or not.

People are becoming more aware every day of the power they have as individuals to make a difference. They recycle and compost, they choose to use reusable cloth bags over plastic, they conserve water and install energy-efficient light bulbs. More and more people are opting to use public transit or more fuel efficient cars. Many are choosing to buy local or organic produce and eschewing the use of pesticides and chemicals. As much as all of these things help, nothing has as big of a positive environmental impact as choosing to adopt a vegan (best) or vegetarian (better) diet.

You can start with small steps. Commit to just one vegan day a week or even just one meal to start with. If everyone committed to having just one vegan or vegetarian meal per week, that alone would have a huge impact. According to an estimation by Environemental Defense Fund, if every American ate one meat-free meal per week that would be the equivalent of taking 5 million cars of the road - and if that same group went meat-free for one week, that would be the same as eliminating 8 million cars.

It’s such an attainable solution to a very serious problem. In addition to the multitude of wonderful vegan cookbooks out there, their are countless free resources on the internet. Check out some of the spectacular vegan food blogs out there - there are many wonderful ones in the Blogroll on this site, and countless others. Have fun with it - see the diversity of food available to you. I never ate such a diverse and healthy diet as I did once I made the decision to go vegan.

We can make a difference.

Happy Earth Day!

It was time to break out Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World again for a second shot at making some vegan cupcakes. Today, let there be chocolate.

Since I’m a vegan baking novice I decided to go for Your Basic Chocolate Cupcakes adorned with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Well actually, I wanted to go for the S’mores Cupcakes but there was no soy yogurt to be found in the fridge. Probably best to keep things simple at this point anyway. Note to self - buy a yogurt maker.

Now I had been less than pleased with my first foray into vegan cupcake land - the basic Golden Vanilla Cupcakes. They came out a tad too moist for my liking. Let’s face it, they were wet. I did discover, after the fact, that my oven rack was one position lower than the absolute middle which may have been the culprit. I embarked on the chocolate cupcakes with renewed enthusiasm.

Yay! The cupcakes rose a little higher than their vanilla counterparts, despite the three minute shorter baking time. I also ran the oven slightly hotter, about a needle’s width, than the 350 degrees called for - and I left them in for the full 20 minutes allowed. While the cupcakes were cooling I went about making the frosting.

I used Earth Balance brand vegan margarine and shortening. I had never used the shortening before so I was more than a bit curious to see what it would be like to work with. I didn’t have an overabundance of experience making buttercream frosting before I decided to go vegan but I have a fair amount of experience eating it under my belt. I was more than pleased with how easy it was to make this frosting and how nice it looked on the cupcakes. Most importantly, it tasted good. I really wanted to experiment with piping the frosting on but decided to keep it simple for this first foray and opted to spread it on the tops instead.

Verdict? Success! The cupcakes were moist, but not too moist. They were tasty. They look delightful - even gift worthy. Newfound confidence in tow, I can now tackle the aforementioned S’mores Cupcakes, the Tiramisù Cupcakes, Mucho Margarita Cupcakes, Dulce Sin Leche Cupcakes, Chocolate Stout Cupcakes, Brooklyn vs. Boston Cream Pie Cakes, Hazelnut Cupcakes filled with Mocha Hazelnut Mousse Filling, Cappucino Cupcakes filled with Espresso Crème - ah hell, I’m going to make the whole book.

I finally got around to finishing the Coconut Cloud Layer Cake from Fran Costigan’s More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts - the same one I attempted to make for hubby’s birthday but didn’t get past the icing. Well, the same Island Coconut Cream Filling & Frosting has been well chilled in the fridge for several days now and yesterday the cake itself was finally made.

I needn’t have feared because the cake was very straightforward. In fact, the cake was completely simple to make in comparison to the icing which took me the better part of an afternoon - I’m a vegan baking novice and there were lots of ingredients involved as were multiple cooking and processing stages. Plus this was one expensive cake to put together.

It better be good.

The baked layers also require up to 8 hours of chilling time so after spending the night seran-wrapped to a carboard disc in the fridge (as directed), they were finally ready to be iced. Hallelujah.

At this stage, no cake taste testing has been done but it smells damn good. I sincerely hope that after all this effort it actually tastes good. Truth be told, I’m hoping that it turns out to be the best thing I’ve ever tasted but perhaps that’s being a bit unreasonable. It is the first time I’ve made a full-blown vegan cake after all.

The icing is fluffed and applies quite nicely. Check.

Cake must chill a few more hours before returning it back to room temperature, sprinkling with toasted coconut, and finally, slicing. Check, check, check and check.

It looks the deal.

I was very pleased with the texture of the cake - especially after my overly moist cupcakes earlier in the week. The icing was awesome - Fran suggests in her book that the recipe can also be used as a pudding and I can see why. Scrumptious.

Much to my chagrin, the taste of the actual cake wasn’t the perfection I’d (perhaps unfairly) hoped for.

It was hard to put my finger on the exact problem but there seemed to be a slight aftertaste to the cake. Where, oh where, did I go wrong. I had been very precise with all my measurements. My ingredients were all fresh. The only thing I can think of that might have had an adverse effect is the baking time. I had purposely left the cakes in the oven for the full 30 minutes despite the allowed 20 to 30 minute range. They looked like they could have come out at 24 minutes but I chose to leave them in longer, perhaps foolishly, fearing the dreaded overly moist, almost wet results I’d experienced with the cupcakes of yore. As to whether the baking time might cause an aftertaste, I’m not sure. I am fairly confident that responsibility for the less than perfect result lies with my less than perfect self.

Since the cake part wasn’t too difficult I’ll be making it again sometime soon to see if I get different results before passing final judgment - on myself, not the cake.

In a final touch of irony hubby was stricken by food poisoning yesterday and could not even test the cake.

April 16, 2008 - Update: This cake improved with age - the aftertaste I spoke of disappeared. It’s a mystery. Hubby recovered and declared he liked it - the entire cake was eaten.

The second of two important birthdays is now behind me. After some very poor planning for my husband’s birthday, and the resulting debacle cake wise, I was determined to plan my sister’s dessert in advance. I was also feeling a bit gun-shy about trying another cake so I decided to go for birthday cupcakes. My sister had requested something in the way of vanilla cake with chocolate icing so I chose the Golden Vanilla Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I decided to make them the day before, just in case.

This recipe was very straightforward - not a lot of ingredients. Excellent. I chose to use canola oil in place of margarine where given the option. So far, so good. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is a very well laid out little book. Excellent layout and typography, great photographs and, most importantly, really useful culinary information - particularly with respect to the nuances of vegan specific ingredients. I found it to be most informative.

I wanted to spell out a Happy Birthday message on the cupcakes so I figured I’d need to make two dozen. I made them in two separate batches just in case things did not go as planned.

I monitored the internal oven thermometer readout like a hawk - the instructions state the baking time to be between 20 to 22 minutes and strictly caution against opening the oven before at least the minimum baking time has elapsed. At 20 minutes I poked one with a toothpick. It came out clean so I removed the cupcakes and set them to cool as directed - first in the pan, then remove and cool completely on the rack so they don’t get soggy bottoms.

No one wants a soggy-bottomed cupcake.

After the first batch of cupcakes was completely cooled I thought some testing was in order. Tasty but not fantastic. Very moist. A bit on the dense side. Perhaps they could have done with the full 22 minutes of baking time - noted for the second batch.

As the 22 minute mark rolled around for the second batch I sussed up the cupcakes through the oven door. They weren’t turning at all golden so I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to add an extra minute to the baking time. I let them cook for 23 minutes, baking rebel that I am.

The second batch looked and tasted exactly the same as the first, despite the extra 3 minutes baking time. Hmmm. Maybe that’s just how they’re meant to be. Very moist and slightly dense. The canola oil option was supposed to encourage a lighter cupcake to materialize. My baking powder, baking soda, cider vinegar, etc, is all brand spanking new. It could simply be something my vegan baking newbie head doesn’t yet get.

I decided to make the Chocolate Ganache icing from More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts, by Fran Costigan. I halved the recipe because I knew I wouldn’t be using all of the 3-cup yield. I chose to try Fran’s recipe because it seemed to bare the closest resemblance to traditional ganache - cream and chocolate (Fran’s recipe calls for Soy creamer of course). Everything went smoothly until the cooling stage. For a reason unbeknownst to me the ganache kept solidifying in the bowl as I was trying to ice the cupcakes. This was remedied by occasionally returning to the stove to remelt it as I was working. Slightly irritating but not disastrous. The cupcakes tasted great in concert with the ganache. Awesome.

While each cupcake was still wet with ganache, I dropped silver dragees in place to spell out my birthday message. Sister was thrilled. Behold the happy results.

So the first of two birthday celebrations has come and gone. Poor hubby - he got the short end of the stick with this one. Let’s just say I came up a little short with all my lofty vegan dinner plans for his birthday. In the spirit of sharing, this is how the day went.

My original menu plan included Dreena Burton’s Olive Oregano Wine Baked Tofu and Fran Costigan’s Coconut Cloud Layer Cake with accompanying Island Coconut Cream Filling & Frosting, from More Great Good Dairy-free Desserts - none of which I have ever made before. Let the mishaps begin.

My first error was neglecting to pick up a bottle of white wine for Dreena’s dish. This is disappointing, especially since I’d already picked up the special olives and grapes for the occasion. No biggie. I decide to make Veganomicon’s Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry instead. I now turn my attention to the coconut cake. For this recipe I had thought I was well armed with all of the many ingredients needed and I was, save for one: coconut extract. There was no getting around this one unless I wanted to switch cakes. I generally don’t think it’s a good idea to omit or substitute ingredients when making something for the first time so I had little choice other than to head out into the world to find some coconut extract. Store number one, strike. Store number two, strike. Store number three, strike. Ninety precious minutes later at store number four, jackpot. Coconut extract in hand, I race back home. It is now after 1pm. Guests are set to arrive for dinner at 5pm. The icing for the cake requires 6 hours of chilling time to set. This is not good.

Stubbornly, I continue with my plan to make the coconut cake. The recipe says that the tofu can be pureed in either a blender or a food processor. I hadn’t yet opened my new food processor because I was unsure as to whether I had chosen the right sized machine (I picked up the 7-cup Kitchenaid model) and so hadn’t committed 100% to keeping it. So I chose the blender. It didn’t take long to see that my blender is clearly inadequate for the purposes of pureeing tofu which just sat on top of the blade, refusing to drop down and blend. I then painstakingly scraped out all that carefully measured tofu and transferred it into the now unpacked new food processor (guess I’m keeping it now). Now we’re blending - great, processor work’s like a charm. After adding the 27 or so other ingredients we now have a new problem: we are filled to the top of our 7-cup capacity container. This is obviously at odds with the clearly marked capacity line which sits about halfway up said bowl. At this point I’m not feeling too confident that those last few pulses are really combining the delicate ingredients as they should be. I put the icing mixture in a bowl, cover it up and throw it into the fridge to chill. It is now 3:15pm. It is painfully clear that there will be no cake today.

It is 3:15pm and dinner has not been started. Mom, sister, and grandmother are set to arrive at 5pm. I contemplate my next move while licking the spoon from the coconut icing bowl - taste’s awesome, incidentally. In a panic I decide to pare dinner way down to basics. No time for new and unfamiliar dishes so the Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir-fry is out the window. I turn to what has already become an old standby, Veganomicon’s Chickpea Cutlets. At this point I am so tired and frustrated I am tempted to throw the cutlets onto some naked plates unaccompanied - but there are potatoes on hand so why not give Veganomicon’s Lemony Roasted Potatoes a whirl. They only require 35 minutes of baking time after all. Bonus.

The Chickpea Cutlets are whipped up with Hubby’s very necessary assistance (cooking his own birthday dinner, how sad) and the Lemony Roasted Potatoes are assembled and thrown into the oven. Guests are arrived and waiting. Cutlets are finally done. When it’s time to take the potatoes out I discover I’ve made a critical omission - I have neglected to cover them tightly with foil and they are nowhere near cooked. Hubby distracts the crowd with some bread and an olive tapenade while I cover the potatoes with foil and throw them back in the oven - what’s another twenty minutes when your already an hour and a half late with dinner. This gives my grandmother extra time to notice my plants need dusting.

At approximately 6:30pm dinner is served. The two savoury dishes are well received. My sister requests a repeat of the potatoes for her upcoming birthday. There is no dessert.

After a day of rest I intend to revisit the Coconut Cake - the icing is now well chilled.

Today we enjoyed leftovers of Chickpea Cutlets and Lemony Roasted Potatoes.

Today I tried making vegan crêpes for the first time. I was raised on traditional crêpes so I was reticent about how these might turn out sans milk and egg. Enter the talented Dreena Burton and her cheerful tome, Eat, Drink, & be Vegan and her recipe for Breakfast Crêpes, et voilà - fabulicious results. I like my crêpes paper thin so I was quite happy that the batter obliged me in this regard. It struck the perfect balance between neither falling apart nor becoming in any way rubbery. The flax meal gave the batter such a sweet scent that I had to taste it more than a few times while I was standing in front of the stove. The flax also added some unexpected crispiness and a subtle nutty flavour to the crêpes which was also quite nice. For those with wheat aversions this recipe uses spelt flour - an added bonus for those with food sensitivities. Dreena’s recipe calls for fresh fruit as a filling, which I’m sure would have been amazing had I had any fruit on hand. Instead I used two different fruit spreads, strawberry rhubarb and apricot, and it was still heavenly. I shall turn my attention to pancakes next.

Some more evidence that my cookbook obsession knows no bounds - three more are on their way:

• Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein
• More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan
• Vice Cream by Jeff Rogers

Hubby picked Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen from my wish list of ten or so badly wanted vegan tomes. His interests lie in the savoury department while I remain obsessed with making cake and ice cream. There is a very intriguing recipe for green tea ice cream in Veganomicon that I intend to pair with Dreena’s 5-Spice Almond Cookies in ED&BV. I am determined to make ice cream sandwiches for our upcoming birthday party. I picked up my Matcha green tea powder on a recent trip to the natural food store (expensive stuff!) so I’m ready to rock. I haven’t entirely committed to a birthday cake but it’s looking more and more like it might be coconut.

Behold, today’s brunch.

Today I made Veganomicon’s Chickpea Cutlets for the second yummiful time. The first time I followed the recipe to the letter and used the pan fry option. Very yum. This time around I substituted chili pepper for paprika, because I was out of the red stuff, and I added green onions. This time I used the oven bake method. Well they turned out awesome. They were a little on the spicy side but I really like the extra heat from the chili pepper - it gives it a little extra somethin somethin. I’ll just cut back a bit next time round. The green onions were also a huge hit with both hubby and myself. They added a delicious flavour and a lovely shot of colour to the mix. I served them up with broccoli and mushrooms. Mucho bene.

I also really preferred the baking method over frying. It takes a little longer but you don’t have to spend that time standing in front of the stove which actually works out to be more convenient. There’s also the added bonus of using much less oil and thus less fat. I am a huge fan of these cutlets. I see many flavour variations in their culinary future. They are undoubtedly awesome unadulterated yet they also lend themselves quite well to being added too. Red peppers? Mushrooms? Leeks? My ravenous imagination is in overdrive.

Behold, today’s lunch.

Yesterday I revealed myself to be a doughnut fan. Today, trapped in the house with beautiful new cookbooks and woefully understocked cupboards on a statutory holiday (stores closed), I decide to distract myself from the pain by doing a little surfing in honour of the doughnut. The vegan doughnut. And to my barely containable glee I discover Mighty-O. Mighty-O is a doughnut shop in Seattle - here’s a summary of what they’re about:

• no animal derived ingredients
• certified organic ingredients
• no artificial colours or flavours
• non-GM/GMO ingredients
• no trans fats (hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils)
• organic, fair-trade coffee
• dedicated to sustainability - they say that by composting and recycling religiously they create zero waste - they don’t use harsh chemicals and support vendors and suppliers who share their philosophy.

I know my doughnuts (I am Canadian after all) and Mighty-O’s doughnuts look amazing. And they have cool names like Cocoloco, Chocolate Cake Don King and Vanilla Cake Nutty Vanilla - and the name of the joint itself is reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons. Mighty-O, oh how I wish Seattle was within walking distance. If you’re in the Seattle area - stop by 2110 North 55th Street and get yourself a doughnut.

Books are my weakness. Cookbooks are particularly hard to resist. My two most recent acquisitions are Eat, Drink, & be Vegan by Dreena Burton and Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. I’m planning a combined birthday celebration for hubby and sister and I’ve decided to plan that dinner using these new books.

At first I was overwhelmed by the sheer choice that abounds collectively between these two impressive tomes. When I sat down to look through each book more thoroughly I was struck by how rich and varied a vegan diet can be. The hardest part about planning the dinner will be choosing what to prepare. I plan on testing out a few things this week as I ramp up to the event - I don’t see how I could go wrong with any of these choices. I’ve read many a positive review about Veganomicon’s Chickpea Cutlets. Me and my empty stomach were all set to make them today when I discovered that the can in the cupboard was not chickpeas but romano beans. Damn. And the stores are closed tomorrow for Easter. Double damn. I am sandwiched between two holidays and my cupboards are lacking. I go back to window shopping through the pages of my two new books.

There are pancake recipes in Dreena’s ED&BV. This makes my heart glad. When I first made the decision to go vegan I went into mourning for pancakes, french toast and doughnuts. My sweet tooth knows no bounds. But then, I started to do a little investigating. And I found recipes for vegan pancakes and french toast all over the place - I even found recipes for vegan doughnuts. In ED&BV, Dreena presents a multitude of mouth-watering pancake possibilities which I can’t wait to taste including Banana Cream, Blueberry Carob, Hazelnut Pear, Polenta, Raspberry Cornmeal - and crepes! How could I forget the breakfast staple I was raised on - nothing beats a hot breakfast. I am painfully missing at least half of the ingredients for any these so my testing will have to wait until the stores blissfully reopen after the holiday. In Veganomicon, there are Blueberry Corn Pancakes, and crepes galore - Buckwheat crepes, Savoury Wheat Crepes, Sweet Crepes - and a recipe for Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes. Doughnuts and cupcakes in the same tasty treat - awesome (the authors use ’savory’ instead of savoury, and ‘donut’ instead of doughnut, but I adore my extra letters - I must let all my children feel included).

Again, deciding which direction to take first amongst all this amazing choice is the hardest part. One thing is certain - I have a cupboard to fill, some shopping to do, and a whole lot of eating ahead of me.

I spent yesterday in the city with hubby. Well, we headed down together then he went to his meeting at the cool new studio and I went to the salon for some colour first aid. Afterwards, I had too much fun trolling through the isles of Whole Foods Market. Only I could get that excited browsing through a supermarket. They do have some very nice organic and healthy merchandise though. I’m still kicking myself for not bringing one of their vegan chocolate cakes home. Their bakery is to die for. Ah, I’ve only myself to blame. Stupid, stupid, stupid me.

I did pick up a beautiful bag that I’d been looking for. It’s a lovely spacious green organic cotton bag with orange Koi fish printed on the side - I’ve been coveting it since first laying eyes on it online at Heart on Your Sleeve. Very cool. I also picked up some EFA oil from Vega that I’d been meaning to pick up for some time. Gotta get those essential fatty acids in. Green & Black organic hot chocolate, organic almonds, organic figs. Organic seems to be the theme of the day. The almonds are magnificent - full, plump, sweet, just gorgeous. I didn’t do too bad. Met up with an old friend and had a good laugh over cappuccino, three actually, while we waited for hubby to join us after his meeting. Good times. By the time we arrived home I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to get off my feet.

I’ve been known to extol the virtues of what I like to call the Breakfast of Champions (quinoa & steel cut oat porridge with almond milk). Today I tried a variation - 3 to 1 oat to quinoa ratio (instead of half and half) and the full dose of cinnamon and raisins (I’d cut back on those the last time around). Didn’t turn out too differently. Hubby hated it but he ate it anyway at my urging. I’m committed to making more of an effort to prepare good food. On that note my new books arrived today, two of which are vegan cookbooks: Veganomicon and Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. Dreena Burton, who wrote ED&BV, has kindly pointed me in the direction of her Flickr gallery to navigate the book and try to pick something wonderful to start with. So I’m looking forward to some serious good food. Another friend and fellow foody, Ryan, posted some absolutely awesome pics on FB of some dishes he had recently prepared and kindly shared the recipes with me. I also really want to try Clotilde’s recently posted Carottes et Betteraves Râpées (shredded carrot and beet salad). Coincidently, beets are also featured in one of Ryan’s recipes - also in a salad but this time cooked. Lots of inspiring things to choose from. Time to get cooking.

I have often expressed the desire to write more regularly and with more focus. Enter Jason Doucette and his Taste Better! newsletter with the challenge therein to start a veg-focused blog. Since this was one of the ideas I had already been considering I jumped at the idea. Activism, advocacy, animal rights, sustainability, the environment, food, and all things veg-friendly are important to me so I’m looking forward to rising to this challenge. Will consider over ginger tea.