Blueberry Waffles

Who loves waffles? I do, I do!

Aodhan had an early morning visitor, and I had to use Vegan Brunch waffles to wake Kevin from the depths of Saturday morning sleep. It worked like a charm!!!

This is a fast post, but I promised a totally cool mom, who I ran into while visiting Kevin at work yesterday, that I would get back on the blog-horse. So, here I am.

These waffles were fantastic and I recommend to anyone who doesn't yet have Vegan Brunch to get out there and grab it. Everything I have made from it has turned out amazingly yummy. I used the Old Fashioned Waffle recipe and added about 2 cups of fresh Belgian Blueberries. The recipe made enough to store in the fridge for some breakie tomorrow. Yum Yum!

Love Those Larabars

In addition to the great meals being cooked by Kevin, like last night's seitan-stuffed zucchini with fava beans, and my slap-dash rice dishes, I have also been indulging in a food that has new meaning for me.

Larabars were my best friend when I was burning up the treadmills. They were the perfect post-workout snack for me, and I loved their rawness and their easy transport. I was super sad when I moved to Belgium and realized that although many health shops sold another bar I occassionaly ate (osaki), no one seemed to carry Larabars. I was elated during a trip to my in-laws local Sainsbury's in England, when I spied a good stock of Larabars....so I have to cross the Channel to get them, but, hey! they are worth it.

I had asked my mom to bring me a couple of bars a few weeks ago when they made their transatlantic trip to visit Aodhan, but I wasn't expecting a WHOLE BOX! That's right! My mom and dad pulled 20 or so Larabars out of their suitcase - I couldn't have been more thankful. They were the perfect food for a new veganmama, who need both the energy and the easy eating styles of all Larabars. I had actually never had this flavour before: BananaBread. Oh! They are just so good and they really do taste exactly like my mom's banana bread. Num Num!

I am nearing the end of the stock and already feel myself getting a little weepy over the idea that I will have to wait another while before I can get my personal Larabar stock over here in Larabar free Brussels.....

If you have some time on your hands write Lara a little email and tell her she needs to get some more stockists over here in Europe....even if only for the expat crowd.....

shhhh he's sleeping....

I have a few precious seconds. These seconds are usually stored up and used for bathroom breaks or, on a really good day, to take a shower. But, today, I decided to skip the shower and give a super quick update:

I have made ONE meal in the last 19 days...one meal. This is what comes from Attachment Parenting and on-demand breastfeeding, in other words - I live on the sofa with a little vegan baby in my arms. Kevin is great and has been a cookery whiz. No starving going on here.

What was my one meal you ask? I managed, through the ingenuity of 'rice in a bag' (Never would I have considered such a thing) I made myself some Rice Pudding. It was super nummy, but since I used long grain rice, which doesn't produce that nice gummy and goopy consistency of short grain, it was more like Rice-Non-Pudding or Breakfast Rice as I renamed it later in the day (after also having it as Lunch Rice and After-Dinner-Snack-Rice).

Super simple -

3 cups of rice: cooked
2 cups of almond milk - more if you are going for the pudding
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of raisins

warm through and enjoy! I had mine with a banana....the first time that is. :)

Hope everyone is well and enjoying their summer?

and, of course, a gratuitous picture of the cutest vegan in the world!

He's Here....

I am taking advantage of this two seconds of unexpected double handed time to announce the birth of our son! Weighing in at 7 lbs and strutting 52 cms worth of uber cute vegan-goodness, he is about the cutest little thing I have ever seen.

He arrived, in a very unplanned and unexpected (but safe) way, on Monday the 22nd. We are home from the hospital now, surrounded by family, friends and all the good wishes a new little vegan could hope for.

Just wanted to let everyone know that all is well and say thank you for all your support during my pregnancy. I promise to share lots of good one-hand friendly recipes in the next little while.

Stealing Posts?! Not Cool.......

Thanks to some uber good blog sleuthing by one of my fellow bloggers, it has come to my attention that the person who writes: duckducksoup.com, is stealing my blog posts and inserting them as their own - without any attempt to link or ping back to me.

It isn't just me, this person is also taking the writings and recipes of other bloggers and blatantly claiming it as their own.

Yucky.

Here is the website if you want to check out to see if your stuff is there, I have tried to alert those whose posts I have noticed.

Lots of love,
The REAL VeganCowGirl

Savory Apricot Muffins

Yesterday saw me waiting around the house, not wanting to head to far out...it was my due date. VeganBaby wasn't too interested in joining us on his dad's birthday. I got down to work and came up with a new recipe: Savory Apricot Muffins. I decided that with all of this time off (I know it will get a little busier once VeganBaby shows up), and encouraged by super crafty vegan mom's, like Darlene at Natural Violet , that I could start crafting my own bread, muffins and cake recipes from scratch - pushing myself beyond the cooking creations I feel much more comfortable with.

So, I ended up taking some very fresh apricots, and some cornmeal and going to town. What I turned out was this little batch of muffins that I think go wonderfully with hummus, guacamole or homemade salsa. I have never had too much of a sweet tooth, eschewing even the most decadent of candies as a young lassie, but I quite like the idea of combining a mild fruity flavour with the deeper and savory flavours of cornmeal and cinnamon. I am going to hold off sharing the recipe, since I want to try and make them a couple more times....not sure if they are perfect yet.


I did of course try one! I multi-tasked and spread half of the muffin with (sadly) store bought hummus, and the other half I covered with an organic tomato chutney. But I think they would have also been great with the other part of my lunch (though I did decide to stick with just the one muffin), which was reheated Pumpkin Soup, which I made for dinner on Tuesday.

I know! Pumpkin Soup and only a few days away from summer? Welcome to Belgium! We have had more then one day of rainy and slightly chilly weather since the calendar officially announced the arrival of 'spring'. But, to be honest, that is one of the things that I like about our current home, as it differs drastically from the unrelenting heat of Toronto. Tuesday had started out damp and rainy, and I thought a little bit of Pumpkin Soup would be the perfect treat. It was super tasty and well worth the roasting time I gave to the pumpkin before cutting it up and adding it to the rest of the soup.

Kevin's birthday was a success! Sadly, I have zero pictures of the cake - which was, in the end, Triple Chocolate, including a nummy layer of chocolate buttercream frosting on both the inside and outside of this cake. I pretty much winged the recipe, making sure to add soy yogurt and managing to avoid sugar (with the exception of the truck load that went into the frosting), opting for Agave Syrup instead. Kevin took the cake to work with him, a tradition in his department, and apparently there was lots of 'ohhhhs and awwwws' over its tastiness - glad they liked it!

He had prezzies in the morning (see robot below) from his VeganCowGirl, and then we joined friends for a pizza dinner after work. Lots of fun!

Rhubarb and Cherry Crumble-Cake and Basil Walnut Pesto Stuffed Eggplant Rollups

There are just so many culinary masters out in blog world! That means that today is another post about the goodies we have had thanks to the inspiration that I get from reading the work of others!

Who loves rhubarb? I do, I do! I remember being a ittybittycowgirl and being taken to my grandfather's house, where I would be let loose in the backgarden while grownups did grownup things in the house (like have coffee). My grandpa's garden always included big, huge rhubarb plants every spring. I was in awe of their bright red to bright green transition - and of course the rumours that they were slightly poisonous if not eaten in the right manner: ohhhh scary plant.

I admit that I never really had much use for rhubarb in prevegan days, before I started experimenting with food and making most of my own goodies. My mom, I don't think, is so big on rhubarb so I think that it remained little more than a culinary mystery to me for years.

Living in Brussels one gets a good window of fresh rhubarb buying off the market stands here, so I like to make the most of it: crumbles, breakfasty oatmeal goodness, and now....thanks to Mihl....a Rhubarb Crumble Cake! Now Mihl is a fantastic baker-supreme, who offers blogland endless recipes that are interesting, usually ethnic in some cool way, and really unique - and they hardly ever need tweaking. My tweaking only came in out of necessity - I had cherries and I wanted to use them up....so I decided to make a Rhubarb and CHERRY Crumble Cake!


Holy rhubarb goddess in the sky! I have never made a crumble-cake before, but they are great because you get the denser cake bottom, with the crispy, flakier crumble top. Divine. It turned out fantastically and I would happily make it all over again - a perfect use for local and seasonal rhubarb goodness. Just follow Mihl's well written instructions, but add a cup of fresh cherries to the rhubarb layer of the cake, and you are in business.

I was also inspired by Liz's inspirations of last week in her Random Post, where she put Nigella (sex goddess of the cooking world for those who aren't acquainted with her *unique* on-air approach to kitchen endeavouring) to the vegan test and made, what looked like, some uber delish eggplant rolls. Yesterday morning, after getting Kevin off to work (trust me, getting him out of bed and coherent enough to drive the car is a chore unto itself), I noticed a huge plant of basil that needed something done to it, so I decided to make a walnut-basil pesto that I figured would be the perfect inside to the eggplant roll-ups. It was! I also stuffed them with sauteed zucchini, red pepper and organic garlic. I served them with a side of whole wheat spaghetti, and let me tell you - I can NOT wait to make these bad boys again. They were fantastic.

Eggplant Rollups
(I need to give these a better name I think)

Pesto
3 cups of basil
1/3 cup of olive oil
2 cups of walnuts

Rolls
1 eggplant
1/2 zucchini
1 red pepper
3 cloves of garlic

I cut the eggplant into strips about 1/2 cm thick, brushed them with olive oil and then grilled them on my grill (which I am sure was imagined for indoor grilling of meats, but this baby is vegan ONLY), until they were cooked, but still had some structure to them.
While they were grilling, I cut the other veg into tiny cubes and sauteed them in a scant amount of olive oil. The pesto was easy: basil, oil, walnuts + cuisinart smart stick = great Basil Walnut Pesto! When I was ready to assemble these little packets of joy I pulled out a casserole dish, lined it with some tomatoes. I spread a teaspoon of the pesto on each slice of eggplant, loaded the end bit up with some of the tasty veg and then got down to rolling. Dead easy. Put them all in the baking dish, covered with more tomato and the bits of veg that were left over and threw it all in the oven for about 30 minutes at 170. Perfect. Seriously - they were great!



Kevin's birthday is tomorrow - that means a cake! Any suggestions? I was thinking something chocolate, something mocha, something with frosting, something that he can gain a few pounds on, something that if the baby comes tomorrow we can share with the midwives and any folks who come by to see the new veganbaby!

VeganCowGirl Goes Dutch!

I found a really, really well done blog a couple of weeks ago. NOW, it isn't of the vegan variety, but the food that Dutch Girl makes is spectacular and the photography is out of this world. I love the little 'recipe card' that is included with each amazing meal she prepares. Kay's food is just too good not to try and coax into the veganny world, so I started out with her Peanut Potatoes.

I changed it up a little bit and added tofu to the baking dish for a one dish-wonder and was pretty happy with it. Though, I wonder if perhaps my green chillies were a little under the weather because they certainly didn't give the dish the spicy kick I was looking for. I also added a few other little things and played with timings a little bit, so find below my version of Kay's wicked recipe!

Nutty Fu and Potatoes

7 charlotte potatoes - peeled and cut into bite size chunks
1 packet of extra firm tofu - I cut these into 2 cm thick triangles
3 cloves of garlic - grated
1 thumb of ginger - grated
1 cm of green chili - seeded and cut into bitty pieces
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
1/3 cup of water + 1 tsp of vegetable stock
sesame seeds - as you like
sesame oil - 1 tbsp
4 green onions - diced

I parboiled the potatoes according to Kay's directions, using the boiling time to whisk up my peanut sauce: the peanut butter, water, veg stock, sesame oil and seeds. After I cut up the tofu and waited for the potatoes to get hot enough to lose a sense of hardness, I added everything minus the green onions to my ceramic dish and gave it a good all over peanut sauce bath.

I baked it for about 1 hour at 350 - a little longer then Kay and was happy with how nicely the sauce crisped up the fu and the potatoes, without drowning them. I ate mine with some avocado. Nummers. I also made VCTOTW's Carrot Cake cuppies, to take to birthday party the next day, but sadly we (as usual) forgot our camera. BUT - Isa and Terry can rest easy because they were snapped up in no time with loads of compliments in their wake.

After the birthday party on Saturday we ventured back home, hoping that the bumpy ride might have some impact on VeganBaby's arrival (no such luck), and decided that the sun and socializing had sapped us of most of our energy. So, we decided to make a quick, but really, really yummy Bean and CousCous Salad. Oh my goodness - it was fantastic. Mostly the work of Kevin, as the sun did more to me then bring out my freckles - it turned me into the marshmallow man from ghostbusters. I needed to have my feet up.....Great Salad Kevin!

I hope everyone had a stellar weekend, and I wish everyone a fantastic week!!

Samosas and Falafel: 1 out of 2 isn't so bad.....

I love samosas, but had never attempted to make them. So, I did last night. They were good. I used a recipe from veg.web, and I think next I might explore a different site or consult one of the billion cookbooks on my shelf - the dough was just a little too heavy for me. The filling was quite good, and I used fresh peas that I had left over from the market, but the dough just didn't seem samosatastic to me.


I also made some baked falafel. I was dying for some nummy falafel goodness, but I wasn't feeling like deep frying them. I opted to give them a good baking along with the samosas. I actually pulled out an oldie, but goodie from the shelf to make these guys. I used Mollie Katzen's recipe from 15th anniversary Moosewood Kitchen to make these, and they were darn good!

Mmmmm. I also made Roasted Asparagus and Potato Soup. This was great! I really wanted to be able to taste the asparagus, so I decided to give it about 40 minutes under the broiler before cutting it into little pieces and adding it to my soup pot. I was really happy with the end result and in my decision to add some tahini.

Roasted Asparagus and Potato Soup

9 asparagus stems (are they stems or shoots?)
5 charlotte potatoes
3 leeks (end bits only)
3 tbsp of tahini
5 cups of water

Broil your asparagus (you could also throw the potatoes in there too!), for about 45 minutes. Cut them into about 2 cm pieces. Quarter your washed potatoes, and dice your leeks. Add all ingredients to your pot, bring to boil and then let simmer.

It turned the most funky green colour! It was a great lunch the day after as well.

Pie, Beans, Sushi and Lunch...a bit of everything really!

Ok, maternity leave should have a hand book with it. Actually, you should get a whole package that includes some kind of dial so you can turn down your energy stores. All I have been hearing for the last two days (via facebook) is that I need to slow down, calm down, sleep, rest, relax....ummm...not really possible for me. Have never been able to really rest for much more then a few chapters of a book. I do wish, a little bit, that I could stop or at least slow down, but I guess I will when I need to. In the mean time......my kitchen is a state of a non-stop cook-off!

I have loads, but will try to keep the post small and just share the goodies.



Sunday night I made a rather simple, but really satisfying Tuscan Bean dish with Roastie Rosemary Potatoes. Perfect combo.

Mmmmm. Monday's Lunch was also quite yummy. I had a multi-grain bagel with avocado, yellow peppers and raw zuchi. I made a little fresh sweet pea and zuchi salad to go along with it - with a little sesame oil on top. Just look at those fresh peas? One thing I really heart about Brussels is the bevy of fresh local produce that is available throughout the week at various open air markets.


And then yesterday I used my date syrup to replace sugar in a Rhubarb, Ginger and Strawberry Pie that I just had to make. I saw the Rhubarb sitting there all local-like and fresh in my kitchen windowsill, and I knew it wasn't destined for ANOTHER crumble. So, I got down to it and made a couple of pie shells with whole wheat all purpose flour (since I was out of w.w pastry flour). The innards of the pie were inspired a wee bit from this 2006 post on Vegan-licious. But then, as usual, I just started winging it. Enter the date syrup. I couldn't live with chucking the required amount of brown and white sugar into the pie, so I went with the date syrup that A.K. inspired me to whip up on Friday. I used this naturally sweet syrup to sweeten and lengthen the flavours of the rhubarb and ginger.

I also made Brown Rice Sushi. I know I have posted a gratuitous amount about sushi, but this seems worthy of another mention since I managed to find brown sushi rice here in Brussels. The texture was much chewier and a touch heavier then when I have used the 'regular' white sushi rice, but it was super nummy and I felt less nasty after ingesting more then a couple of rolls.

Rhubarb, Ginger and Strawberry Pie

(For Dena)

Pie Crust
3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose if need be)
3/4 cup of vegan margarine (or you can substitute this for oil)
6 tablespoons of water (or more if you find you need it)
Extra flour for your rolling pin and counter top

Pie Innards
6 big stalks of rhubarb (cut into bit size)
1 bunch of strawberries (about 8 biggies, or 20 little guys)
1 thumb of ginger
1 lemon (you need the rind and the juicy inside)
2 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp of cloves
2 tsp of nutmeg
3 tbsp of cornstarch
1 cup of date syrup

I cut the fruit up, added the lemon rind and the lemon juice. I grated my fresh ginger into the fruit and let it sit while I made the pie crust. For the crust I simply added the flour to a big bowl, cut the margarine into the flour, and then made two balls - one slightly larger then the other. I floured my rolling pin and counter, and did the best I could to make a circle out of each ball. I stuck the first in the bottom of a silicon pie dish, which I immediately sat on top of a cookie sheet (I knew this pie was going to be squelchy). And the second I added once I had the filling in my bowl.

To complete the filling I added the date syrup, gave it all a good mix, and then I added the remaining ingredients. The cornstarch got to work super quick thickening the filling! Who doesn't love chemistry?

I baked the pie at 350 for 55 minutes and Kevin dove right in after dinner - thumbs up all around.

VeganBaby Update: Still swimming around inside his mommy. Currently 9 days away from expected date of arrival (a.k.a. Kevin's birthday!). I still feel great (minus the continued crampy, crampy, pinchey, ouches). Can't wait!!!! Thanks for all of your supportive and warm comments about the baby - you guys rock! And just because I love you guys so much - here is Kitty Eliott giving you a little bit of kitten love!

Sweet Date and Cashew Bread

Mmmmmmmmm. That's really all I could say on Friday night after this loaf came out of my oven. Mostly because I had my mouth FULL of this really delightful cake. It was everything I wanted in a loaf (bread? cake?)...it came out moist, tasting of the dates, and holding its shape in a most wonderful way. I was inspired by Swell Vegan's Date Syrup of this week, but was reading Celine's website when I was taken oven by the desire to marry the dates and cake...and this is what I got!

Sweet Date and Cashew Bread

1 cup of oat flour
1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda

1 1/12 cups of dates
1 cup of chopped cashews
3/4 cup of soymilk
1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of dark vegany sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla
1/3 of vegan margarine

I started the recipe by chopping up the dates, quite tiny-tiny and letting them soak in some hot water, setting them aside. I also started the 'curdling' of the soymilk by adding the vinegar to it and also setting it aside. I took the brown sugar and margarine (I am sure you could use oil here), and set my hand mixer on these two ingredients. I added the soymilk and vanilla, again, giving it a good mix. It was a warm brown colour at this point, and smelled super yummy of vanilla.

I sifted the flours, baking soda and baking powder together, and added the dry to the wet. I drained the dates and added them to the mix, along with the cashews. Giving it one last good mix, I put the whole thing into a loaf pan and stuck it into a pre-heated (350) oven and baked it for 50 minutes.

Super nummy good.

Vegan Mommy Update: Had some false labour this morning. Yikes. I have been experiencing 'practice' contractions for about two months, but, unlike those, these ones HURT. Will keep you updated!

W.I.P. Wednesday and Stegosaurus Sweet Potatoes

Quite early in the day today, my pregnancy related sciatica garnered me S.O.L in the walking department. This was pretty disappointing because I had baked a chocolate graduation cake for my grade sixes, along with some of Isa's kick ass frosting, and had hoped to bring it to them today. Instead of spending some sugar-infused time with my kids I productively spent the afternoon working on my birthing quilt.

This quilt was inspired by Chickpea Studios and is ALMOST done (thought I haven't stuck to the pattern). A girl needs a little maternity leave to finish off her craft projects. (right? or maybe I should spend less time playing fetch with my cats and more time at the sewing machine). Anyway, just putting the border on. Plan to get my batting and back tomorrow (sciatica permitting) and it might just be complete for Aodhan's arrival.

Before the sharpy, sharpy, pokey, pokey started, I did have a chance to make a Rhubarb and Apple Crumble for Kevin. I used the fruit pulp from his morning juice extraction to help fibre-up this desert. I also made tonight's dinner - a clean out the fridge curry. I think I might serve it with whole wheat soba noodles, or maybe brown rice.


Hmmmm, but about those Stegosaurus Sweet Potatoes! I made this meal the other night and I just loved it! Of course you could have made the same rub (using your Cuisinart Smart Stick or other fine kitchen device) and just brushed it over a regular baked potato, but why not make dinosaur food-art when given the chance? It definitely increased the garlic and parsley to potato surface area ratio - and that makes this little member of the herbivore family very happy. We served it as part of our all-veggie dinner: grilled asparagus, grilled peppers, purred roasted aubergine. I added a bit of hummus to my plate, just to make sure that baby-dino gets his protein! A great meal.

Parsley, Garlic and Rosemary Rub

2 handfuls of parsley (I used curly, but you could easily use flat)
5 cloves of garlic (we like it stinky in this house, so you could do less garlic if you like)
Two sprigs of Rosemary
Big splashes of olive oil
Juice from 2 lemons
Pepper to taste

I whirled it all up in my new toy and brushed it over the sliced potatoes (with bottoms still in tact). I then did a very unenvironmentally friendly thing and wrapped them in tin foil. We cooked them on the bbq for about 1 hour.

Mango and Chili Salsa and My Thoughts on Cuisinart's Smart Stick

I have mentioned, a few times now, the new Cuisinart Smart Stick which my mom gave me when I was home in April. I used it to puree the fruit for my ice cream, and to whip up a hummus last Sunday. Last night I used it to make an AMAZING Mango and Chili Salsa, and was really impressed with the chopping capability of this hand held appliance. I admit to some trepidation and foresaw a Mango and Chili smoothie rather then the consistency that I needed for my salsa. But, Cuisinart pulled threw and true to the adverts word, I ended up with some nicely chopped veg for my recipe - which, if I were writing a cookbook, would feature FOR SURE.

We had the salsa with tofu sandwiches, which I think was inspired from my recent readings of PinkHairedGirl . Our sandwiches were super basic - grilled tofu, avocado slices and the salsa on a multi-grain baguette. K also broiled some sweet potatoes and made a nice tomato salad with some mint and olive oil.



Here is the salsa recipe - enjoy!

Mango and Chili Salsa

1/2 ripe mango - peeled
1/2 green chili - seeds removed
1 - 2 cloves of garlic
5 spring onions
1/2 cucumber
1 handful of cilantro
lemon juice to taste
pepper to taste

Into the SmartStick I added the mango, chili and garlic and cucumber first. I transferred this batch to a bowl and then chopped the rest of the ingredients. When I combined both batches of chopped goodness I gave it a quick stir. Dead simple and super yummy. It would have also been tasty in burritos or all by itself. Ours was a little spicy - we like it hot - so if you wanted to go for a smaller chunk of chili I don't think it would augment the flavour too much.

But all recipe writing aside - if you are looking for a kitchen appliance that is versatile, smart and easily stored then I would strongly recommend picking up your own SmartStick. It is like have a food processor without a commitment to counterspace! (and cuisinart didn't even pay me to say this!)

A Quick (com) Post

I just wanted to share a couple of little eco-goodies that have been happening at our house for the last little while. Having seen so much success, I thought I might toss these ideas into blogland...though I am sure they are already happening in so many of your houses already.

1. Soapy Nuts!
A while back, while researching which diapers were going to cover the bum of the Littlest Vegan, I came across this new/ancient method of washing clothes (and just about everything else). The Green Parent recommended the product via a Reader's test drive type article, and I would give them a try - as I had seen them about in a few of the Brussels' health food shops.


K was skeptical - of course, being staunch about things like laundry and what makes a 'meal' (aka not cereal at dinner time). But, this Mamma Vegan was not about to be duped by the him and his doubting-ways, and saw to it that I loaded our eco-washer properly and popped in enough nuts. Sure enough, the clothes came out smelling like roses and Kevin was impressed - he currently raves about them at every opportunity.


Taking the sustainability one step further - I get to reuse the hell out of these nuts. I do three loads with about 4 full nuts in their little cloth sack and then dump them into a little bowl that when full with about 10 nuts I pour boiling water into and use the soap froth as the water to wash my floors, sinks and tub!!! Love it. You can also make soap nut shampoo and bathing soap...but since I heart my Body Shop products so much, this hasn't quite happened yet.

Coolest thing - two moms who I shared my nut-success with went out and bought a bag o'nuts themselves and have been washing up with nut juice ever since. If you are interested in this magical nut power (derived from the ancient wisdom of Indian and Chinese folks and their soap nut trees) read this SoapNuts Canada website - loads of info - haha, 'loads'of info!

2. Apartment Composting!

My last house in Toronto would have been perfect for the uber-huge composter of Kevin and mine's dreams. Kevin, who is an A1 gardener and loves nothing more than coming home and going right outside to hang out with his Rosemary, Chives and lettuce, would love to make our own soil. But alas, this isn't Toronto, and there is nothing uber-huge about our back garden...so we had accepted the sad reality of probably not being able to compost. Being vegan (and mostly vegan K) I felt that not composting was INSANE - as most of our garbage is raw/fresh veg and grain foodstuff anyway....so we found a solution - and it has worked really well for about 3 months now. The place where we both work has a HUGE compost pile, where they toss all cafeteria scraps (mega-cool, I think) and it is really conveniently located by the parking lot. So....during the week, K and I collect, in a plastic bucket, all the bits and pieces of our foodstuff that needs a' tossin' and every Friday we lug it to the communal compost heap and throw it in! How wicked is that? I love love love that we do it. Granted - we don't get the soil, but we do feel good knowing that our rubish is making soil for the school and not rotting away on some already overpacked landfill.

(I thought a picture of the exterior of the bucket might be better...since this IS a food blog and I don't want to make you LOSE your lunch)

Enough eco-pats on the back.
Here is what I got up to today -

Hearty Vegetable and Dill Soup

6 carrots
6 potatoes
1 red pepper
10 spring onions
6 cups of water
1 tin of beans (your choice)
1 bunch of dill

I wanted to clear the fridge, so I thought I would whip up a protein rich soup and have something to show for my efforts. This soup is what I got! Here's hoping that Kevin is in a soupy mood when he gets home from work....but to quote my mom "this isn't a damn restaurant" so if he doesn't like it...he knows where the falafel hut is down the street!

Healthy Market Goodness

Mmmmm lots of tasty treats to share!

Let's start with our post-market Sunday lunch.
We had a wonderful Asparagus and Snap pea Salad with Homemade Dill Hummus. Fantastic combos with fresh market bread; I just adored the fresh snap peas, wow, so refreshing. The Hummus has featured in our lunches this week, along with a Eggplant Spread.

I also wanted to share the desert I made for K, which was super quick and totally tasty and cute. I made a Couscous Cake using whole wheat couscous, apricots, maple syrup and a little single serving pie dish I had bought a while back from Dhile and Cammile (great kitchen/house shop here in North West Europe). This would work really well covered naughtily with maple syrup or some other type of decadent sauce.


For Sunday night supper I had made, earlier in the afternoon, a Tofu Sausage and Barlotti Bean Casserole. This simple dish was divine by the end of the day, having sat with the Rosemary sprigs from our garden all afternoon.



Tonight for dinner I wanted to change up our usual bean burritos a little bit, and the result was a recipe I will for sure put together again. I added spinach, parsley, nutritional yeast and green onion to our usual recipe (I know, I know...nothing radical but it was super tasty).

Coconut-Cardamon-Mango Icecream

Mmmmm....the weather in Brussels has actually allowed me to have the back door open all weekend (all LONG weekend that is....had Thursday AND Friday off....). Right now Kevin is fast asleep, and the kittens have abandoned my snuggles for their first love: back garden time!!! So, I am sitting in the kitchen, door wide open, bowl of mango and banana slices all finished up and I am writing REPORT CARDS! I am not one of those teaching-folk who (understandably) loath report card writing (like my husband for example). I actually really enjoy writing about the kids and having the time to process how far we have all come as a class. I have about 17 math comments left and then I am done. No, really - I am done - that's it. I have FOUR little days of work left (I had to take Thursday off for one of my last few midwife appointments). It is going to be really hard to let some of my kids go - the ones who I have taught for two years now, and who have gone the longest in making my wacky year a little more manageable. But - not to fear, I will find ways to stay in touch - they aren't getting rid of me that easily.

I have loads of food updates. I have just been busy nesting and buying the last few things for our scheduled (please keep your vegan fingers crossed) home birth (goggles, a tarp....just kidding about the goggles). But, yesterday, Kevin MADE me buy an ice cream maker that I have mumbling about for about a year. It is one of the models with the built in freezer, so you don't have to try and get the little freezing unit into your European sized freezer (never would have worked). So, yeah. After much deliberation, we decided on making Vanilla-Cardamon-Mango Icecream as our first batch. And OH MY GOSH. Yum Yum. Pretty easy too. I imagine this new kitchen appliance will be getting lots of use this summer.....how about Breast Milk Icecream? Anyone ever try that recipe???

Coconut-Cardamon-Mango Icecream

2 tsp of arrowroot
1/4 cup of soymilk
2 cups of coconut milk
1 additional cup of soymilk
1 mango (sliced and then pureed)
5 or less cardomon pods
1 tsp of vanilla
2 tbsp of maple syrup
1 kick ass ice cream maker

I mixed the arrowroot and 1/4 cup of s.m together - and let it thicken up. I added the coconut milk and 1 cup of s.m to a pot and warmed it up, letting it thicken on its own time (about 3 minutes), I then added the arrowroot and watched the cool chemistry project moment of the two bits combining to make a much thicker consistency. I added the rest of the goodies, including the mango puree (which I whipped up in my super wicked awesome new Cuisine Art Smart Stick - Thanks Mom!). I then stuck the whole concoction in the fridge, gave it some time to rest and then threw it in the icecream maker and let it do its thing. I am so excited to keep playing with this thing! Yummmmy. Chocolate is next.



But of course, this was our desert - dinner was super yummy too - and mostly the work of Kevin who found a great zucchini salad recipe in Green Parent. We topped the grilled and dilled zuch with our marinated tofu steaks and served this salad with a totally amazing Parsley and Eggplant Puree. Seriously fantastic stuff. Way to go Kevin.

All is well in baby-baking land - 37 weeks this coming Wednesday. The time is just flying by. One of these days you are all going to find yourself with an introduction to The Littlest Vegan. He is excited to meet all of you out there in BlogLand!

Be well!!!

Vegan Wedding Cake, Cupcakes and Dip

Dear Bloggers - readers & writers,

Kevin and I have just returned from our most wonderful wedding and fantastic Canada-travels. I am an honest woman now (hah) and loved the intimate and quiet nature of our ceremony. Despite (or maybe because of) being gigantically pregnant, I had a great time with Kevin, celebrating with our family and close friends.


Sadly, we missed having Kevin's parents, our bestest bud Kim and other work mates around us while we celebrated, but those who were present filled us the spaces of our celebration with great laughs, awesome memories and total kindness.

Food, food, on to food. We went to a Mediterranean restaurant after the ceremony - La Luna in Hamilton of course. The food was great. But nothing bet the decadent vegan chocolate cakes that we had to top off the night. I love/hate Whole Foods so much sometimes. They did manage to pull through for me on this one, but I still have niggly feelings about their practices. (Damn seduction by chocolate).


My sister made the BEST vegan cupcakes I have ever had! She has been experimenting with baking in ways that are better explained as explorations of studio-quality food. Vegan cupcakes did not deter her during my trip home and she made both the chocolate and vanilla cupcakes from VCTOTW (which we bought her during the trip).

They were fantastic! Emily is a star!


My mom also made some kickin' dips - a cilantro infused guacamole and a dynamite tomato dip. The day after the wedding I spent lunch time with my face in the pita and dip.

The last foodie bit to share is from our trip to Montreal. We spent two nights in this great city. Both for honeymooning and also for the intention of seeking out options for our next move. Loved every minute, but our travels around The Plateau was dreamy and we found the best veg thai restaurant! Totally impressive food at ChuChai on St. Denis street. Check them out!


I can't wait to catch up on everyone's blogs! Missed you guys.
Have a great week!

Lots of love,
Ms. VeganCowGirl

Vegan Lemon Bars

Oh my goodness.

I have read so many yummy looking posts about V*con's Lemon Bars, but never really gave them a second thought. Mostly because I am more of the peanut butter cookie or oatmeal granola bar kind of treatie loving girl. I never really fancied things like lemon meringue or baked alaskas - they always were a little too sweet and pretty for me.

Yesterday was a dish-rag of a day - I was cranky pretty much the WHOLE day. Just one of those, I don't know what I want, but I know I don't want anything you are suggesting kind of days. Blah. But, around 4 in the afternoon, I was inspired by this crank of a day to do something new in the kitchen, and.....tahdah! I made the most yummiest desert I have had in AGES.

Seriously, these little lemon bars are to die for. Even Kevin who is the biggest cake fan on the planet, loves them. The colour is intense and it gave me a chance to fall back in love with agar.

Now everyone out there - grab your copy of V*con and get baking!


Oh, I also had such a busy week at work that I didn't get a chance to post my Barley and Bean Soup. The recipe is one that I would make again, though, the park down my street is currently calling my name and demanding that I go for a constitutional (who doesn't love that word?). The soup was super great, had it for dinner, for lunch and then for dinner again! Num Num.


Happy Week Everyone!!!!

Dal-ightful!

(Toor Dal - sorry for the steamy photo)

I feel like the white rabbit...I am late, I am late, I am late. Truth be told - I am actually painfully early - to work that is. However, I have loads of photos that I have been meaning to post and have failed terribly at getting around to it.

Last night's dinner was an experiment gone RIGHT! Often my first attempts at everything (recipes, relationships, sewing) are more than a little off. But, last night, I cheated fate and ended up serving a fantastic meal that I had never attempted before.

We have all made curry, a can of coconut milk here, some tofu there. I have made enough curry to need months away from the taste in order to reconsider it as 'yummy' rather than 'oh, no, not another curry'. Never though have I wadded into the waters of any other Indian/Bangladesh/Pakistan cuisine, unless of course you count the success of my Jessy-inspired Nan Bread (oh so good). Last night, while cooking up the week's buffet of goodness and super excited about now being able to compost again for the first time since moving from my Toronto digs, I stumbled upon a packet of Toor Dal that I had picked up on a whim one day while pillaging (I did actually pay) the pan-Asian grocery shop in Brussels.

I did a little googliegooglie and found out that Toor Dal are split pigeon peas and super duper high in protein (my baby is doing hammer curls this morning), and chocked full of amino acids. So, I found myself with the inevitable challenge of making a dal from my little bag o'goodness.
It was actually super, duper, fantastic, yummy, nummy in my belly! I served it over oven roasted potatoes that I sprinkled with oil, lemon and some dry curry spices. I also (OF COURSE) had on the table (and then in my belly) Lime Pickle.

Dilly Dal-ly Sunday Dinner

1 cup of Toor Dal
5 cups of water
4 green onions - diced
1 clove of garlic - diced
2 fresh tomatoes (you could use canned as well)
1/2 cup of coconut milk = 5 tbsp of water
mustard seed
coriander
cumin
turmeric
curry leaves

You boil the dal for about 30 minutes in a separate pan. I drained off the scummy suds it made, and then put it aside. In a cast iron pan I added a little oil and mustard seeds. When the mustard began breaking open, I added my onion and garlic -letting it sizzle for a few minutes. I added the tomatoes and the dry spices and finally threw the dal back in. I added the coconut milk about 5 minutes later and then let the whole dish simmer/cook down for about 20 minutes. Service with roasted potatoes, nann bread or rice! Yummy!

A great din-din to end off a super cool weekend: picked out our nappies (organic Tot Bots), bought the dress I am getting married in (IN LESS THAN THREE WEEKS......) and went to the British Childbirth Trust Nearly New Sale and walked out with Loadssssss of super-duper cute clothes for Aidan.

I also need to post, without a long treatise on their recipes - some photos of some nummy treats. Coconut Fudgesicles (my best invention yet!), mini Chocolate Cupcakes using my new mini silicon muffin buddies (and the killer chocolate recipe from VCTOTW), Strawberry and Apple Morning WakeUp Call, Garlic Hummus, and Chickpea Ratatouille. Nummmers.


I wish everyone a spectacular week!