Soyziki and (more) Bean Buddies

In the swelter of today's heat we traveled to Loreto, where, thanks to the efforts of a rescue effort in 1290, we walked through the house of the Virgin Mary (though, myth has it that the house was actually lifted up by the wings of angels) and saw some of the most breath-taking frescoes I have ever seen. Really spectacular, and well worth the trek.

I was feeling inventive at dinner time tonight, but also, after reading a post by Kamutflake Girl, wanting to perfect my Beanie Buddies. So, I did a little of old and new to satisfy both urges. And, I was lucky enough to meet with success on both fronts. The bean patties I put together this evening were great baked in the oven, (versus the grill of the other night) and the Vegan Tzatziki that I made was eye poppingly awesome, and uber easy. I encourage you to give it a try, it is well worth it, especially when compared to some of the store bought vegan tzatziki dips I have experimented with in the past.

Soyziki
1 cucumber (1/2 if you are using a longish English Cuke) slice and dice as thin as possible, or grate.
3 cloves of garlic: crushed and then diced
I used two different types of mint from the garden
1/2 cup (or more) of soy yoghurt
salt to taste

This was the perfect creamy topping for the bean patties, offering a light, almost sharp flavour to the deep bean & sage flavour.

For tonight's bean patties, which in my opinion were even better than the others I used the same method, but instead of black beans I used canned borlotti beans. Although the taste and texture was loads better I defintley had to pull out my pipes to squish these bad boys. But, the arm work out was well worth it, they baked up delightfully well in the oven and I even saved one for a nice protein breakfast before my trip to Rome tomorrow.


I am so excited to see all of the positive feedback I have had about the Brussels Vegetarian Network! Whoop Whoop.

Figs and Wedding Fun

I want to back up a bit.

About three weeks ago, to a dinner that followed a trip to our Wednesday market, where we procured an interesting veg I had never tried - Wild Asparagus. These thin little grass-like greens can be blanched to perfection in about 1 minute's time. We made a pretty yummy meal - one which was more clandestine than considered.

So here it is:

I started out with some green onions and a little bit of oil in a medium sized/medium warm pan and added some fresh figs, which I had cut into coins. I let this caramelize, adding some really yummy looking fresh mushrooms and spinach towards the end. I also added some lemon-thyme and some sage from our little terrace garden. I let these cook down a little while longer, while I went to town prepping the fu...when I say prepping I mean pressing and slicing almost in half (more like an incision, which left the thick steaks with a book-like appearance). I stuffed the fig/onion/spinach mixture inside the steaks and popped them in the oven to bake at about 375 for 40 minutes.

I reserved some of the fig sauce for the top, which I added with about 10 minutes left in the bake time. Yummmy.

The asparagus was thrown in a pot of boiling water for one minute and served as a side.

Wedding plans are tripping along wonderfully - we just sent out our Save The Date Cards...is that pretentious? I don't think so....we work with so many folks that travel, and we don't want any one taking off before they get to join us for the vegan wedding of the century. Plus, with folks coming from Canada and the U.K. we want to be able to give people the chance to get in on early flights etc. It was so nice to get so many kind responses from our co-workers.....congrats and such.

We made the cards ourselves and were really happy with the end results. We think we might do the same for the actual invites....and replies...and thank yous. Saved paper, saved shipping and saved me from the consumer wedding dragon, which, I am trying to avoid at all costs.

One can leave a giant not-so-eco footprint with weddings...jesus. We have tried to be aware of that by securing vegan options where ever possible, and staying as eco as we can. There are some great websites out there, many of them from the U.K., such as Eco Wedding and PortoVert, which I quite prefer. We did manage to book Tan for our wedding supper and have booked a vegan caterer for the buffet dinner that we will have later that night at the chateau. The land that we are having the reception on is as eco as possible for Brussels, and I hope to find an earth friendly way to buy the dress of my dreams. Things are coming along with no hitches so far...which makes me worry that all the hiccups will happen on April 11th 2009.

Oh, one last bit of news. It looks like this vegan cowgirl will be whipping up her creations in the most fantastic kitchen she has ever laid eyes on. We got the apartment we wanted so badly....2 bed, backyard, right next to a huge park, still in biking distance to work and the whole kitchen is kitted out in WOOD....it is gorgeous. The best part: the hallway is fitted with its own bookshelves. How amazing is that, this little nerd can NOT wait to get in there.

Winkles* and Recipes

I found a new bio-winkle and restaurant in downtown Brussels yesterday. I suppose, I didn't find it. It has been around for quite some time - a little fact that is betrayed by the rickitiness of the shelving units and the well -layered information walls, which if you are into yoga, meditation or learning Russian rhythm dancing, are quite helpful. The selection was as good, if not better, than Shanti and Tsampa, and offered me an atmosphere that allowed me to continue kidding myself (chant: I am not a yuppie, I am not a yuppie...buying dried mushrooms, miso soup and extra firm tofu does not make me a yuppie).

The shop, before lunch, was just crammed - a line snaked all the way back to their well stocked walk in fridge. I was hungry, and I hate queuing. So, we dropped the basket and headed for the staircase.

Den Teepot, the restaurant, is perched above the shop and feels more like the inside of a tropical bird store than any restaurant in Brussels I have ever been to. Bright yellow and green walls, with a couple of hokie murals, were less than soothing to my eyes, and the sarried and abrupt hostess only added to the intense entrance into our lunch stop. The menu, found on each wooden table, is inside a plastic insert and warns guests that they, essentially, have no choice. They offer: Miso Soup, The Plate of the Day, Rice, Bread, and a couple of beers, teas and juices. I was unsure about the whole thing (to how many wacky places can you take your patient-but-non-vegan boyfriend?) but K was up for the challenge.

The plate of the day was macrobiotic, consisting of: a mini mound of brown rice which was encircled by a tasting of various other foods: broiled Belgian Endive, black beans, carrots, boiled cabbage, and a couple of other not so memorable dishes. I could have stayed for a vegan desert (cakes, tarts etc), but the idea of hitting the road was much more enticing. On the upside - the meal cost us 19 euro, and that included the beer and tea that we ordered with our 'meal'. Overall - Den TeePot is a great idea, but lacks something (taste). I will head back to the shop though - I was impressed with the selection of soy products, bulk goods and eco-friendly cleaning products (they even make a car wash)....

The day was hardly over - I started writing (rewriting) a paper I have to give at a presentation and then re-give at a conference, we went for mojitos at Roxy, I found a wooden watch at DeDees, I found a great clothing shop downtown, and....MediaMarkt informed us that the oven was still no where near complete.
Bastards.

Still lacking in proper appliances, I did manage to make up for the wonky Thursday night meal with a DIY dish that impressed me!

Ingredients:

Tempeh (cut into 1 inch by 4 inch slivers)
Olive oil
Spring Onions
Mushrooms
Onion
cumin
basil
paprika
Chipotle Sauce

Tortilla shells
Hummus

How To:

In one heavy bottomed and non-stick pan I heated the mushrooms and onions until they were quite soft.
I added all of the spices to the onions and mushrooms (recreating the smokey flavour of the other night's dishes).

In the second pan I cooked the tempeh, browning it on both sides - I added a little bit of tomato chutney to it. I think, next time, I would try and make (or buy) a salsa instead. The spring onion went into this pan as well - though more as a garnish then an essential ingredient.

The tortilla shells were smeared with hummus and an extra dollop of the chipotle sauce. This was followed by a generous filling of the mushrooms and tempeh. They were folded up and down they went.

It was a fantastic dish. Next time I would add some chopped black olives to the tempeh. I really recommend it to anyone looking to do something a little different from the regular vegan staples. The flavours at first glance might not add up (hummus and chipotle sauce), but it was well worth the gamble. We enjoyed the wraps accompanied by a good bottle of wine and the new Mountain Goats C.D. - all so good.

We thought the fun was over....but no way. We had made a quick stop at the Asian Grocery shop (KY) to pick up some coconut milk. That wasn't the only thing we picked up. We were in a wacky mood and wanted to try something really...unusual....so we opted for the NEON green and pink Thai Desert, otherwise known as: Suong Sa Hot Luu. The packet informed us that we needed to Chauffer le Hot luu for one minute - but we decided to be daring and eat our Hot LuLu (as it immediately became known as) without warming it up (mostly because we don't own a microwave). The excessive packaging included: a packet of funny agar agar noodles (neon green), tapioca pearls (hot lulu), coconut milk, and sugar water. It was actually really yummy - and super fun to eat.The night ended with a whole lot of Wallace and Grommit
*A winkle is a store in Flemish

Curry Catch Up

Bonjour!

I have a recipe to share that I made before leaving Toronto and it was so yummy that I needed to post it. Enjoy!

But wait a second...there is a wicked show on BBC 2 (Animal Park), and I couldn't start this post without suggesting that everyone quite their job and watch this program 24/7.

The Wednesday before I left I wanted to make a meal for my family and I decided on a curry. I made this decision mostly because I thought, if they weren't jiving on the curry, they could (HOLY CRAP, the joey on Animal Park is about the cutest thing I have ever seen!) have the veg and/or rice separate from the coconut milk combination that I whipped up.

I started with my mom's well used wok, and a little bit of olive oil. I diced the extra firm tofu into one-inch cubes, searing them until crispy, and than removing them from the wok, placing them in a covered glass bowl.

I also started about 1 cup of basmati and 2.5 cups of water to boil. Making sure to check it constantly to avoid burning....Turn the heat down after about 20 minutes, cover tightly.

I added 2 tbsp of seaseme oil, curry powder, cumin, pepper and coriander to the wok, which was sitting between med and high, and threw in the chopped sweet potato, which I allowed to cook on their own for about 15 minutes - just to soften them up. I than added the green onions, cooking until translucent. I than added some mushrooms, 2 tomatoes, red pepper, garlic and ginger.
At this point I also added some soya sauce. I cooked the veg for about 15 minutes, let the oil burn off and crisped up the veggies.

Then comes the yummy - the coconut milk. I actually added 3/4 of the can, rather than the whole can, only for the sake of it not being a 'lite' can, I added a wee bit of water to the now thick and chunky sauce.

I added the tofu and let the curry simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

With Matt not making it home from work, Rick at work and Em having fallen asleep with a headache my plans for a family feeding turned out to be a lovely intimate meal hour with Anne Marie, my mom and myself. The only thing that was missing was a bottle of wine. I added crushed peanuts and raw cashews to the top of the dish, serving the curry (in totality, rather than separate, now not having to worry about keeping the dish's elements separate for Em's sake) atop a bed of fragrant rice.