Vegan Whole Wheat Oatmeal-Nut Scones

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground (or fresh grated) ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground clove

3/4 cup refrigerated vegan crisco or margarine, cubed

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped nuts, raisins, and/or chopped dried fruit (optional)

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or molasses)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3-1 cup of almond, soy, or rice milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

3. Cut in, bit by bit, the margarine or crisco. If you are not using a mixer, it is easier to do this by hand, using your fingers to break apart the clumps. Continue to stir until the mixture reaches a fluffy consistently that forms light clumps as you stir.

4. Cut in the nuts and/or fruit and oats.

5. In a separate measuring cup, lightly whisk together the maple syrup (or molasses), vanilla extract, and almond (or soy or rice) milk.

6. Bit by bit stir the liquid into the other ingredients. Mix lightly until the bowl begins to form. Once it has come together, lightly form it into a ball with your hands. Do not work the dough too much.

7. Gently press the ball onto a cutting board, forming about a 7" rectangle. It should be about a 1.5" thick. Cut the rectangle into 2x2 inch pieces with a knife. Lightly form each piece into a loose circle and place on a baking sheet.

8. Sprinkle each scone with sugar. Or, for the last 5-10 minutes of baking, lightly glaze each with maple syrup.

10. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and firm in the centre.

Vegan Lemon-Raspberry Scones

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup refrigerated vegan margarine (or vegan shortening), cubed

1 tsp baking soda (Or 1 tsp. corn starch in 2 tbsp. water)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 lemon zested (approx. 3 tablespoons of zest)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1+ cups of fresh or frozen raspberries

1/2 cup almond, soy, or rice milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. If you're using egg replacer mix instead, wait to add this with the wet ingredients.

3. Bit by bit, cut in the vegan crisco or margarine. If you have an electric mixer this should be easy: keep mixing until you have a sort of fluffy/grainy mixture. If you're mixing by hand, it's easiest to mix with your hands, breaking apart clumps of margarine with your fingers.

4. Stir in the lemon zest and raspberries.

5. In a separate bowl, mix together the lemon juice, almond (or soy or rice) milk. If you're using egg replacer mix instead of baking soda, ad this to the mix as well.

6. Bit by bit, cut the wet mixture into the other ingredients. Keep stirring until the dough begins to form a ball.

7. Lightly form the dough into a ball with your hands, Push down into about an 8" rectangle onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 pieces about 2 inches squared each. Gently separate each piece into a loose circle and place on a baking tray. Be careful not to overwork the dough.

8. Lightly sprinkle scones with sugar and extra lemon zest if you so desire.

9. Bake for 20-25 mins, until golden brown and firm when pressed lightly in the centre.

DIY Buttons! Acid-wash Planets.

In honour of my attendance to see Handmade Nation (at The Mercury Lounge) tomorrow (Tuesday) night, I will just make a quick post about a really easy DIY recycling project. They are by no means done (I still want to exact-o up a cool stencil appliqué, and need to purchase some spray glue or lacquer to add in tiny collage pieces), but I think they look pretty cool the way they are. Maybe I will leave some of them the way they are, and work on the rest. I've taken some old activist and election buttons and spiced them up. This isn't a new concept- it just involves a bit of spray paint, and maybe some further design elements.

I have limited spray paint supplies right now, and craft supplies in general, it seems. I have an exact-o knife, but no suitable stencil making material, and no clear spray paint or glue... and also a missing glue gun!!! But, with the paint colours I do have, I decided to go with an Acid-wash planet inspired theme.

I'll be sure to post any updates in design, but until then, you can have a look that the photos so far. I wasn't wearing my glasses when taking them or choosing the best edits, by the way, and I think some of them are a tiny bit out of focus. Poor lighting...

Two Good Soups

I have a giant soup pot at my place--the kind big enough to boil a whole turkey in, if you had to. These soup recipes are enough to fill the pot. I love making big pots of soup because I live with a lot of people, so it gets eaten really quicky. In fact, I put the soup in individual jars so that people can just grab it and go. Alternatively, a mason jar with a ribbon on it, full of tasty soup, makes a nice little present/treat for a friend. These soups also freeze really well. And they make really nice potluck treats. So, here are 2 really hearty good soups:

"v8" Soup.

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, diced

2-3 large sweet potatoes, peeled

3 medium-largish potatoes

6-7 carrots

4-5 large beets

1 bunch of green kale, chopped

2 cans of white beans

2 cans of crushed tomatoes

3 litres of unsalted vegetable broth or water (as needed)

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

Thyme, or whatever herb you like

1/2+ tsp of chipotle chili powder

1. Cube the potatoes, peeled sweet potatoes, beets, and carrots. In a bowl, rub in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven at 350, for about 45 minutes, or however long it takes your oven to roast them...

2. In a large pot, sautée the onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil at medium heat. Add the garlic, chipotle chili powder, some thyme or other herb (if you'd like), and a bit of black pepper. Continue sautéeing.

3. Once the onions are "done," add the 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and the two cans of white beans. Let it simmer to a boil.

4. Once the start of your broth is boiling, add the kale and 1 1/2 litres of vegetable broth. Cover the pot and steam the kale in your broth. This should take 5-10 minutes. Once the kale is steamed, use a hand blender to completely blend the broth, kale and all. If you want to make the kale chunks as small as possible, you can use a food processor, but if you don't mind a bit of texture, the hand blender is a lot easier and less messy.

5. Finally, add your finished roasted veggies. Let them simmer in your mashed up broth for 20 minutes. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

6. Once the roasted flavour has simmered into the broth, use a hand blender to blend in the roasted veggies. Add liquid (broth or water) and seasoning as desired.

White Bean, Kale, Potato, Roasted Garlic Soup

1 bag of white beans (about 2 1/2 cups dried), soaked for 24 hours.

2 onions, sliced

16 small-medium potatoes, diced

1 bunch of kale, chopped

6 large cloves of garlic (unpeeled)

Fresh rosemary, about 5-6 "branches"

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

4 tbsp Lemon juice

2 cubes of unsalted vegetable bouillon

1. Rub the diced potatoes in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Rub the unpeeled garlic cloves in olive oil. On a cookie sheet, roast them in the oven. About 40-45 minutes, or less- depending on your oven.

2. Sautée the onions in a large pot. At 2 tbsps fresh rosemary, chopped, and pepper.

3. In a separate smaller pot, boil the white beans until cooked. You can add a bit of bouillon so that they absorb the flavour. When they're done (about 20 mins on high), add them to the pot with the onions.

4. Once you've added the white beans to the onions, add 2 cups of boiling water with 1 cube of vegetable bouillon dissolved in it. Then add the chopped kale and cover the pot with a lid. Steam the kale for about 10 minutes.

5. Once the kale is steamed, use a hand blender to blend the broth.

6. Add the roasted potatoes, and blend. Dissolve the second cube of bouillon in another 2 cups of water, and add as needed. Peel the roasted garlic cloves and add them as well.

7. Chop the rest of the rosemary, and it along with the lemon juice and more salt and pepper to taste. Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes and it's ready to eat.

*I also added broccoli stalks to this soup. I Chopped them and boiled them in with the onions before I added the kale. I found them to be very "woody," but if you want to use broccoli, or broccoli stalks, it works well in this soup.

Daal Meets Chili Stew

This is a super quick and easy dish to make that requires very little attention. You can add spinach and other veggies to it beside the leeks, as well.

3-4 cups of dried red lentils

1 small onion, diced

1 cup (or one whole bunch) of leeks, chopped

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 can white beans

2 cans kidney beans

2 heaping tbsps low salt vegetable bullion

2 tbsps garlic powder

2 heaping tbsps chipotle chili powder

2 heaping tbsps cumin

1/4 cup of red pepper flakes

3 tbsps lemon juice

2 tbsps olive oil

2-4 cups water

1. Rinse the red lentils and soak them for approximately three hours. Rinse and drain.

2. In a large pot, heat 2 tbsps olive oil on medium-high heat. Begin to sautée the diced onion and chopped leeks. Once they have softened up a bit, add 1 1/2 tbsps lemon juice to the pot and finish sautéeing until tender.

3. In a measuring cup, mix two cups of hot tap water with the vegetable bullion and 1 heaping tablespoon each of the garlic powder, cumin, and chipotle chili powder. Reserve the other 1 heaping tablespoon of each to add later.

4. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and add the lentils and water-spice mixture to the pot. Allow to simmer until the lentils begin to thicken and cook a bit. Add the tomatoes and continue to simmer.

*** You can totally stop here and eat the lentils like this with rice... super yummy! ***

5. Once the lentils are soft, add the three cans of beans and the remaining amount of spices. Add more or no water depending on how much water the lentils soak up. I added about another cup with the rest of the spices.

This dish is great when served with rice cooked with a little bit of tumeric. The cumin and red lentils give it a kind of daal feel while the chipotle, lemon juice, and kidney beans give it a chili feel. You can try adding TVP for extra texture and more of a chili feel.

Sexy Pasta Salad

1 900g bag of rotini (or any other pasta)

1 8oz bag of spinach (or frozen, thawed)

1 bunch of asparagus, blanched & sliced into 1 " pieces

1 cup of blanched peas (or frozen peas, thawed)

1 large tomato, diced

1 large avocado, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsps of fresh basil, chopped

Dressing:

1 1/2 cups pesto (if you are vegan, make sure you get a cheese free pesto)

1/4 cup milk, soymilk, olive oil, or vegannaise (I used milk)

6 tbsps lime juice

1 tsp of chipotle chili powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1 clove of fresh garlic, minced

A dash of salt

Optional (i.e. if you're feeling ritzy)

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan

1. Cook the pasta. When you are finished, rinse it in a strainer with cold water to cool it down quickly, and also to keep it from sticking.

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large sautée pan on medium-high heat. Add the four cloves of garlic and cook for a minute. Once they are starting to brown, add the entire 8 oz. bag of spinach. Cook until just wilted. It helps if you put a lid on the pan, once you've stirred it around for a bit.

3. Once the spinach is done, transfer it into a bowl and put it in the freezer for a few minutes to cool it down quickly.

4. While your pasta is cooking, you will blanch the peas and asparagus. (You can even use the same pan that you just cooked the spinach in). Just add an inch and a half of water, put in the veggies, and put on medium heat. Cook until just bright green, so that they are cooked but still have a bit of a crunch (about 3-4 minutes). Then, drain them and rinse them with ice cold water.

5. Toss every thing in a large mixing bowl and stir together, including the chopped basil, and diced avocado and tomatoes.

6. Stir in the dressing, a little bit at a time. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep in mind that pesto is quite salty. If you are going to add fresh parmesan and pine nuts, add them bit by bit with the dressing.

For a super healthy option, use vegan pesto, omit the milk and go for olive oil cut with extra lemon juice and a bit of water (or apple cidar vinegar). For the pasta, use brown rice pasta, and put in 2 tbsps of flax seed into your dressing.

Food for thought... thought for food?

I initially wanted this blog to be primarily recipes again, but I have only posted two recipes so far. This is unacceptable! So, here are a couple more veggie/vegan friendly recipes that I have up my sleeve. The first recipe just sort of happened a couple months ago. I was making a grilled cheese sandwich and I had some extra tomato left over, so I just fried it up, put it on top of my sandwich, and ate it with a fork and knife. With a little thinking, it turned into this:

Black Tomato Open-Face Sandwich

2-4 Slices of bread (halved ciabiatta buns, crumpets, french loaf), toasted

1-2 Large Beefsteak Tomato(es)

1+ Avocado(es) OR Fresh Mozzarella cheese

Fresh basil leaves or dried basil

Oil

Salt and Pepper

1. You can do this on a grill or in a pan, if on the grill, heat it to high flame. If you are doing it in a frying pan, heat it on med-high heat with about a teaspoon of oil.

2. Slice the avocado or mozzarella and set aside. If you're using mozzarella, you can put it on top of the bread under the broiler for a minute to melt it.

3. Slice the tomatoes into 1 cm thick rounds, so they look like tomato steaks. If you're cooking them on the grill, brush them with oil and pepper (and dried basil if you're using it dry). Grill for 5+ minutes until soft and grill-marks appear, with golden brown/black edges. If you're pan-frying the tomatoes, fry for about 5+ minutes until golden brown with black edges. Season with pepper and dried basil while cooking, or just pepper.

4. Assemble the sandwiches, open-faced style with the bread and cheese/avocado on the bottom, followed by fresh basil if you have it, and then topped with your grilled tomato and some salt, and perhaps some extra pepper.

The vegan avocado version of this sandwich is amazing! I ate it for breakfast this morning on the Wild Oat's potato sage sourdough bread. I really like using avocado as a substitute for fresh mozzarella because it provides the same creamy freshness. It's also amazing what a little grilling does to bring out the flavour of tomatoes. I never used to like cooked tomatoes, but I think it's because they have always been over-cooked. By the way- you can definitely make this sandwich english-muffin/eggs bennie style and use egg instead of avocado, and add cheese too. I think it would be really delicious.

Now that grill season is almost upon us, I think I'm going to bust out a little portobello mushroom burger action! Since, I can't leave you with just one recipe, I'll leave you with this one too:

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers

4 Ciabatta buns

4 Large Portobello mushroom caps

4 slices of smoked provolone or smoked gouda OR avocado AND/OR carmellized onions

1 Bunch of fresh, washed arugala

2-3 Cloves of Garlic, minced

Dried Thyme (optional)

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

1. Heat the grill to medium-high heat. If you have a top rack for toasting things, makes sure you put it on.

2. Slice the buns in half and brush each side with olive oil and garlic. You can sprinkle a bit of salt to. The first time I made this I made a sort of garlic butter and used it on each side, which is amazing, but if you want a vegan version, go for the olive oil, and sprinkle a bit of salt for flavour, if you'd like.

3. Brush the mushroom caps with olive oil, any leftover garlic from the bread and lots of pepper. You can also season them with thyme if you'd like.

4. Grill the mushrooms 3-5 minutes on each side, until soft and juicy, but still meaty. Toast the buns until golden brown.

5. If you're making "cheeseburgers" add the provolone or gouda on top of the caps a few minutes before they are done to melt the cheese. And season with Salt.

6. Assemble the burgers, adding the arugala (and avocado or onion if you're going for the vegan version).

These are absolutely heavenly. When served with some fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumber, or a nice salad, they make a really great backyard meal.