Look At That View...

No, no, not the hummus sitting atop my kidney beans. Look past the acceptable lunch time fare and be incredibly jealous of the view that I get to look down upon when not wondering about Julian of Norwich, or whether or not my new blog format works.

Lunchtime didn't involve dipping into any fantastic left overs. Sadly, no. Rather, I had the layered salad bar treat that started with red kidney beans and ended with some corn. It wasn't as exciting as my mid-morning snack of carrots and hummus.

I adore the ceramic container that I had my carrots in, which was later transformed into my lunch bowl. These containters are fantastic! I have them in two sizes, but wish that I had about 40. In addition to being a million times better for the environment (when compared to some Tupperware out there), they are also acceptable for the microwave (if you so choose to use one) and are great for VeganCowGirls who have memory problems and aren't quite too sure how long the soup has been sitting in the fridge. Each container has a 'chalk board' strip on the side that allows you to write everything from: VeganCowGirl's Lunch to Chickpea Delight March 6 2008. Excellent stuff! They wash up wonderfully as well. Not that I ever do that.

Today, while reading about the infused bread made by pleasantly plump vegan, I got to thinking about the joys of bread making and how much I miss the (once to me) conventional ovens of North America, and how I long for something other than the dinky (and currently busted) oven I have been continuously complaining about. I miss baked loaves from the shores of Lake Ontario.

So, in honour of my much missed bread baking parties I am going to share one of my favourite things to do at the end of a bread baking session....by far one of the best reasons to bake the bread in the first place!

Ingredients
-left over newly risen dough (preferably something whole grain/wheat
-left over (or freshly made) chili
-olive oil
-parchment paper
-pizza stone
-sea salt
-rosemary (crushed)

How to create your very own CHILI BOMB!

Roll out some dough into a shape that resembles a thick mini pizza shell (about 2 cms thick and about 5 cm wide). Add a splog of your chili to the middle of the dough, sprinkle some rosemary on top (and/or any other applicable spices). Now...here comes the fun....if you are wrap challenged, now would be the time to call in your favourite vegancowgirl to the rescue.....grab the 'sides' of the shell and start to pull it together at the top like a little purse. Hold the top bits tight in your hands for a few seconds to let the dough settle into a nice little dough clump atop your chili bomb (I even got really fancy at one point and tied an elongated piece of dough around the pieces - but not necessary). You want to have your chili bomb tight packed tight enough so that it feels like the tummy of a fat kitten (does that make sense? or is it gross?). The trick is figuring out how thick to make your dough so that you can make your bomb without it breaking through.

Bake the bombs on a pizza stone, after coating them in olive oil (or not) and a little bit of celtic sea salt (or not). Enjoy!

PlowPeople - Vegan Style

The plowman's platter has always held sway with my tummy - not for the cheese, meat or bread so much as for the aesthetic of little food chunks so sweetly compartmentalized on your plate. I also really dig the idea of its tradition. Vegan's aren't likely to find options to their liking in the plowman's platter: at least not in most conventional eateries, but when has this limitation stopped me from satisfying my own foodie desires?

With a beautiful day making it impossible to spend even a meal time of one hour suffocating between four walls, we found our way into the heart of St. James' Church (the corner of Church and King). Prior to making our way over to the church we spent about 45 minutes exploring the offerings of St. Lawrence vendors. It was when we spied the giant roasted-garlic-stuffed olives and the sundried tomoatoes that we knew our lunch was going to be of the sampling variety.
We eventually settled on the aforementioned olives, and tomatoes, but added to this some artichoke hearts, blueberries, cherries and a lovely little apple. I must admit that to this lunch there was also a string of intensly hot 'pepperoni' (which of course I passed on).

With our food and forks in hand we made our way over to an inviting bench and spent two hours admiring the dresses of mother's of the bride and making plans for an upcoming trip to Montreal. The lunch was a perfect little compliment to the bites and bits of conversation shared in the church's garden, so eloquently called: God's Garden.