Corn Bread Crumble and Cashew Cream

Looking forward to a day trip to London tomorrow kept us in for dinner tonight (because we all known what a wild pair VeganCowGirl and her Cowboy can be on a Friday night.......if you count knitting and reading as adventures on the train o'sin).


But, not wanting to deny ourselves a sense of adventure, I decided to cook the UFO. Yes, I happened upon this little guy yesterday at the health food store. And, when the apathetic teenager who rang us threw asked Cést qui? I knew I was in trouble. It was quite obviously a squash, I am just unsure of which variety, and I was much too busy finding really cool Indian nan packaging today to spend too much time researching it (I think that is a big pink bunny).


I spent some time wondering what exactly to do with it, but over my afternoon treat (who knows what song this picture reminds me of?....hint - it is a line from a great Canadian crooner), and whilst reading the great works of Moskowitz & Romero I was inspired by a Cornbread recipe. I knew what the little UFO was going to be, and gosh darn it! a Corn Bread Crumble was born.

This was a wickedly great dish. I loved it. The skillet corn bread that I covered the top of the mexican flavoured squash, beans and potato mixture was crunchy, while the inside was squishy and full of flavour. I had a last minute brain wave and decided to make some garlic infused Cashew Cream to mix with a tomato base. I used this to cover the top of the crumble before baking it for about 10 minutes. I served it with the remaining half of the corn bread, and was totally satisfied.

Cornbread Crumble

Cornbread: I halved the skillet cornbread from Veganomicon

Innards:
1 sweet potato - peeled and cubed 1 weird UFO squash - peeled and cubed 1 clove of garlic - diced 1 tin of black beans - drained 1 cup of tinned tomatoes 1/2 cup of raisins mexican spices as you like water if it dries out while waiting for the cornbread to bake up

How To: Cut up all your veg and add the potato and squash to a cast iron pan that may or may not have a touch of oil in it. Add your garlic and tomatoes, and move it around for about 20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and let simmer for 45 minutes. In the mean time, bake up your corn bread.
Crumble:
In a casserole dish pour entirety of innards. Add some crumbled corn bread (I halved what came out of my skillet and reserved the rest), cover with tomato and garlic cashew sauce and bake for 10 - 20 minutes.

Last night for dinner I had left overs, but I did try my hand at making a desert with Cashew Cream - something I had never tried. I also used up the dates I had squirreled away in my pantry to create a base and as a decorative top. It was a good little desert and totally did the trick.

I placed a mixture of raisins, hot water, dates and a bit of peanut butter in the bottom of two ramikins and then covered that layer with oats. I added the cashew cream (which I infused with Rose Water) on top of the oats and decorated with dates. I put the desert back in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Really, really yummy.

Well, I am off to wrangle myself up a really tasty slice of Vegan London tomorrow (6 59 am train) and to pay a visit to the British Museum.

Back To School Baking

It is almost time to head back to work, and despite the days on my calendar still baring witness to my being on holiday, I am writing this post from work. I couldn't help myself. I came in yesterday, managed to get quite a bit of stuff done, and had planned to spend the day indulging myself with things that are Lynnie oriented - the gym, a book, the park, a walk, shopping for quilts and cashews. But alas, the organization and excited-to-get-started monsters gobbled my intentions up this morning on my walk home from my work out, and here, at 11:51 am, I find my lonely self sitting behind my desk. K is across the campus furiously typing away on a (MUCH MUCH MUCH) late graduate paper.

But, it isn't just getting back to work that excites me, it is also all the baking and cooking that can easily go along with starting a new year. I have started making cookies for my kids! I planned on veganizing the well known Belgian cookie treat - Speculous....but, this just isn't possible. At least not without vegan margarine. I thought I could easily swap the butter for oil and applesauce. But, yikes. The sticky mess, no matter how much time I let it sit in the freezer, would ever have rolled out into a dough for pressing my little butterflies into.

Thinking on the fly, I threw in some more ingredients and came up with some oatmeal & raisin cookies, that I admit to having a few more than the chef's rations of. But, at least I know the oven is cookie ready, and I can get down to a few more dozen when I get back from London this weekend.

I am also excited to report that I am ready to jump onto the vegan cupcake bandwagon. I was hesitant at first. I am a little shy of the bakey-bakey part of life outside of bread & cookies. I can make a mean raw avocado and chocolate birthday treat, a hot-damn pumpkin bread, and my vegan chocolate cake isn't too shabby...but cupcakes scare me. I think it is all the pretty little ditties I see on poopie bitches site and being featured all over the place these days. Vegan CupCakes HAVE taken over the world. Which is great!

I just couldn't wait too long to use my squirrel cup cake paper liners, so after the cookies were in the oven I flipped through V-con and found the jelly donut cupcake recipe. I don't like donuts, and I don't like jelly. But I do like apple sauce....so. I held on tight and in totally un-Lyndsay-like fashion (K was beside himself in disbelief) I actually followed the recipe - minus the jelly...and I added vanilla...and cinnamon. Oh god, I didn't stick to the recipe.


I added apple sauce on top rather than jelly....and I didn't end up making a frosting. They rose like little muffins (which I think can be accounted for by my filling the little guys up too high), and the apple sauce was so warm and gooey that I thought adding anything would be silly.

K has chomped through the batch quite well (I got home from the gym and there were TWO wrappers sitting next to him) and the bite I had was pretty darn yummy.

In other news, I found a new favourite (way too upscale) cafe/gourmet shop. It is located in Ixelles commune in Brussels on Place Brugmann. It is called Gaudron Cafe and it has some delectable (totally unvegan) pastries in the front of the shop, in addition to a HUGE array of organic, stylish and well designed products that just sucked my entire life savings out of my pocket. The menu has a couple of veganish options (granola, warm soy milk). It was their great selection of teas that had me as their newest devotee. Finding it rather hard to find even the most regular of chai teas here, I was enamoured (and a bit giddy) with the choices I had to pick from - chai, chai with cinnamon and a tickle of apple, lavender, english breakfast with mint, etc, etc.


I also bought a really nice Presse - sparkling water with fresh juice. I picked up the mandarin orange and was really pleased with the fizzy little bit of fun that I cracked open this morning.

One Year In Europe Vegan Feast.....

This past week was my year in Europe celebration and part of me still can't believe that I quit my job, left Toronto, packed myself into an airplane and started something totally new in Brussels. I has all gone by so quickly, I worry that I have missed the chance to really think about all the things I have seen in the 11 countries I have visited this year, and all the amazing people I have met, the new challenges I have faced. Wow.

Maybe the great meal we made last night can stand in as a celebration of sorts? Sure, why not.

We had a great day at the sea yesterday, just lounging about and recovering from the hectic pace of Rome. Went to a great bio shop that I had been wanting to check out since we got here. It is called Bio Marche and a veg*ns heaven if they are vacationing in this part of Italy. I picked up some stuff that I am going to take home with me. We also nabbed some tiny and super hot peppers, which we grilled up at dinner, but plan to use for our supper on Thursday night.

I made three new recipes last night, well, one brand new and two that were revisions of previous goodies.

I made my very first focacciabread! It was pretty tasty, the consistency wasn't right, but I think I needed to give it more rising time and...maybe read a recipe or two. Kevin mentioned at the last minute, that he would like some bread with dinner...and since Lynnie ate the last of the bread the night before, she offered to wing it with the remaining flour.


First Time Focaccia

Ingredients
flour
yeast
rosemary
oregano
water

I can't give precise amounts because I really just eyeballed it and played around until I thought it looked acceptable. I let it rise for about 20 minutes and then shaped it into a little square and popped it into the oven.

I also reinvented the soyziki sauce of the other evening into a Creamy Cucumber Salad Dressing by reducing the cucumber and garlic, keeping the yogurt and adding a little oil, lemon juice and balsamic. It was delightfully refreshing as the topping to the Basil, Cucumber and Tomato Salad I served.


The protein component of the evening was taken care of with 2 marinated Tofu Steaks. Not the most innovative of recipes, but a good standby that has been serving me throughout these long vegan years. To marinate the 'fu I used: balsamic vinegar, the juice and bits of one garlic clove, olive oil, lemon juice and lots of love. We stuck them on the barbecue grill, along with another eggplant (I swear we have been eating other things) and enjoyed a great evening meal with each other.

Tonight is our LAST night in Italy, and then we head back to a new apartment that is in shambles and still needs us to take a few more trips to various furniture shops before it is totally ready. It has been a much loved holiday, full of adventure and explorations and great food. I feel that we have both relaxed and recovered from work and are ready to hit it again until the next big trip, which will take us to Canada in October. I am glad to be heading home though, my muscles ache for the gym and I miss my little home comforts and I am dying to get back into that new kitchen of mine. We are heading off to a day trip in London next weekend though...whoppp, whoopp. Looking forward to the British Museum and the shopping.

Mango Pie . Oh My!

Anni's post from a couple of days ago inspired me to make our coffee treat for today: Mango Pie. I admit to never having had given a moments thought to using mango in a pie. A cheese cake, maybe. A stir fry, for sure. But a pie? Nope. It had never really crossed my mind. I changed a few of the ingredients to prevent an otherwise unnessesary trip to the shoppe, and what we ended up with today was quite yummy.


Ingredients:
Filing
-1 fresh mango, purreed (according to Anni's recipe, you could have used much more mango)
-1/2 cup silken tofu
-2 tablespoons of soy yoghurt
-about 15 dates
-a dash of Agave syrup
-1/4 cup of water
-2 tablespoons of agar flakes
Crust
-1 cup of oats
-1 cup of whole wheat flour
-2 tablespoons of oatmilk
-3 tablespoons of canola oil

How To:
I added all of the crust ingredients together and mixed them until they looked properly distributed and then I pressed it into the bottom of my spring form pan. I baked the crust for about 10 minutes at 160. I then assembled all of the filling ingredients (sans water and agar) in my food processor and whired it right up. If you don't like the look of date speckles throughout the end product, I would opt for Anni's suggestion of sultanna raisins. I quite liked the date skins throughout the otherwise orangey hue of the pie.

For the agar component, I let the water get to an almost boil, added the agar and whisked until my arm was aching. It was amazing how quickly the seaweed powder turned the liquid into a gel. I added this to my mango/tofu purree and whizzed it all a little bit more. I used that gorgesous purple spatula of mine to add the filling to the crust. To jump start the cooling I popped it in the freezer for 1 hour and transfered it to the fridge for about 10 hours. (you don't need this length of time, but we didn't need any pie last night after our pizza, so decided to leave it chilling until this afternoon.)

Anni suggests enjoying it with some vanillia non-dairy ice treat. We had ours with coffee, the new Breeders C.D. and a book.

A book! A book! A BOOK! Guess what arrived? Guess what is sitting at my feet? Guess what I will be reading on the stationary bike all week (no tredmill because I can't read while running)?

Lyndsay's Victory Lap Banana Bread!

Bananas very rarely manage to ripen in my favourite orange veg and fruit hanger (circa 1969). However, for whatever reason, this week has seen a decrease in the number of bananas appearing in oatmeal.

This morning, I found myself, a wide awake Vegan CowGirl, with a load of nearly nasty bananas. What does a Vegan CowGirl do with a load of nearly nasty bananas? Obviously she makes banana bread. Now. Let me tell you. There were many, many, many attempts to make banana bread back home. It was, after all, one of my omni-mom's best kept secrets (psst: lemon zest, sour cream and cream cheese...sorry mom).

Despite dedication to reinvention, I was never satisfied with what came out of my Ontario oven. Many moons have come and gone since I felt capable enough to battle the banana bread god (desses), but, perhaps with the support I feel from this wonderful vegan blogging community, I was able to champion my demons and from out of my Belgian oven and onto K's plate came a steaming and delicious slice of LYNDSAY'S VICTORY LAP BANANA BREAD.

I share my disasters (see last post) and my victories. Raw Raw Roar.

The recipe was one I fiddled with from Isa's never ending plethora of foodie knowledge. I omitted the fat, went with apple sauce, cut down the sugar, but added dates (I quite liked the ones on top). K reports a crispy top, moist, yet firm interior and an apartment that smells oh so sweet. (come on K that is obviously ME!)

I served the bread with our usual morning tea (No, not the uber-expensive (read: over priced) tea we bought from the tea shoppe which in turn inspired last night's disaster).

EggPlant Pockets and Carrot-Coconut Muffin-Cakes

I was starving at the end of my day and had intentions of making some of the much blogged about carrot cake cup cakes, but I needed a little something else to go with them. I left work feeling pretty cranky - late night listening to the poorly engineered Tegan and Sarah, and then making the silly decision to run to work - cranky to say the least. But, once I started crafting a dinner plan in my head I felt bright and shiny. Ready for the most missing of essential ingredients or the most over-stuffed muffin trays. Bring It!!!

In the pursuit of slowly cleaning out the fridge in preparation for our Sunday departure for Slovenia, I decided to work on the premise of using the two eggplants I bought on Sunday. I didn't want curry, I didn't want fried (please remember the re-kindled love between me and my oven), so I opted for throwing together a new recipe that I am christening my Eggplant Pockets.

They were wicked yummy, and, given the middle eastern spices I used and the middle eastern nature of eggplant itself, I decided to serve it with some hummus and rice cakes (ok - so rice cakes aren't so middle eastern).

Ingredients:
-2 eggplants
-1 onion
-1 can of chickpeas
-cumin, coriander
-1 can of tomatoes
-a tiny bit of olive oil

How To:
I cut the eggplants in half (along the horizontal) and hollowed them out. I added oil to a pan (yes, I did have to use the stove top) and chucked in the onions, followed by the spices. I let this cook down for a while before adding the eggplant-innards, which I diced up. I added half the can of tomatoes (reserving the other half for later), and chickpeas and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Stuffing the eggplant shells was quite easy because they were still raw and firm. I cooked the four 'pockets' for 45 minutes - adding the remaining tomatoes across the top for the final 5 minutes.

My baking tonight was inspired by the various scrumptious looking photos posted by Happy Herbivore, Dr. Stonielove, and Pleasantly Plump Vegan. However much I wanted to taste the flavours being raved about on these blogs the dream of recreating a recipe was not to be had. Tweaking was necessary, when, after picking up what I thought were all the essentials, I realized that I was fresh out of apple sauce, or rather, I was fresh out of fresh applesauce. For, I had mowed down on all the organic sugar-free for breakie and had only a skanky, moldy bottle of apple sauce hidden away back behind some atomic mustard we bought on our trip to Ghent.

Hmmm...what to add. In the end, inspired by the title of P.P.V's recipe, I decided to add Coconut Milk to make up for the lack of apple sauce. I admit, my goodies aren't fat free - ahh well. The other little twiddle that I did to the recipe was...I didn't end up making cup cakes, so much as I made Muffin-Cakes. I guess I was a little too indulgent with my spatula and ended up adding a wee bit too much to each little cavity in the tray...and well, hey...they came out looking like muffins - but! the more yummy nummy good stuff to add my yogurt, coconut milk (why stop?) and maple syrup 'icing' to? My friend/colleague Britt is receiving a special Muffin-Cake treat tomorrow - she has had a hard week and needs a little vegan baking love.

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp Cinnamon
-grated ginger
-2 grated carrots
-2 tablespoons of ginger and rhubarb preserves
-2 tablespoons of maple syrup
-1/2 cup of coconut milk
-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-1/4 cup of sugar

How To:

I added all the dry ingredients, mixed them up and then added them to the wet. I added the coconut milk until I had the consistency that I was looking for. I popped them into the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Alright, two days of work await me before my holiday. Can't wait.