Tag Archives: vegan

and now for MINE.

When my brother and I weren’t playing the flap jack game… or pushing each other down the stairs in cardboard boxes… we were often found sitting around the big wooden kitchen table trying to conceal our cookies.

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It was a thing. A game of deception, if you will. After a meal my mom and dad would give us each two cookies for dessert. We would both proceed to eat our first cookie cautiously, while eyeing the other sibling and their cookie eating ways. At some point, someone would likely become distracted (usually me) and the other (usually my brother) would take this opportunity to hide his second cookie, then continue eating as if nothing happened. Usually hiding the cookie meant sitting on it. or stuffing it down your shirt. Either would suffice.

I usually became so tied up in enjoying my cookies that I would accidentally eat not only one but BOTH cookies (!!!) forgetting the game of deception altogether until it was too late. Or worse still, I would get to my second cookie and notice my brother was cookie-less. I would then gleefully rub it in his face that I was still enjoying my dessert like a KING. (Rookie mistake)

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This is where things took a turn for the worse. When my brother was satisfied that I had finished both my cookies, he would WHIP out his remaining cookie and sing-song those HORRIBLE words that would ring in my ears for hours after…

‘annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd NOW for MINE!…’

At this point he would proceed to savour said cookie to the best of his ability. Making delicious and over-exaggerated noises of enjoyment as he munched away.

That cookie hiding bastard.

I knew this game all toooo well, but for some reason, I seldom remember winning.

It really makes no sense since we both got the same amount of cookies, but my six year old brain seemed to think that if he was still eating cookies, than I should be too. Good GOD I hated that game.

This recipe is cookie revenge. Because I baked them. And therefore I will eat them all. AND NOW FOR MINE.

what.

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Adapted from here

1  1/2 c. walnuts
2 c. regular oats
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. Rapadura Sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp oat milk
3.5 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toast the walnuts in the oven for about 10 minutes. After they have cooled, quickly process the walnuts until they make a fine meal.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar and only 1 cup of the oats. Now add the ingredients to the food processor and process until just mixed.

In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (soften the coconut oil if you need to first) and pour this mixture into the food processor. Process until the entire mixture is thoroughly combined.

In the medium size bowl, mix this entire mixtures with the remaining 1 cup of oats. Fold in the raisins.

For the cookies, take about 2 tbsp of dough, make a ball, and then flatten onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F. Watch them because they will go dark very quick! Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before placing onto a cooling rack.

So yummy! Maybe next time I’ll try them with chocolate.

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xxx

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Filed under Adventures in Australia, Cookies, Desserts

kale chips

I think I am way behind the eight ball here… in fact, I know I am. Kale Chips took the internet by storm about six months ago. Every clean eating blog from every side of the world was singing their praises… so why did it take me until now to make them?

these pictures are not the most charming...

these pictures are not the most charming…

I kinda thought it took like nine hours to bake them. I was under the impression you needed a dehydrator and that if you found yourself with out a dehydrator, you would have to put the oven on very low and let them bake away for ages. I don’t know whyyy I thought that really. But it’s not the case.

They take about 15 minutes from start to finish. 5 minutes of mixing and about ten minutes of baking. no sweat. Unless its really hot in your apartment, like mine, and then you probably are sweating…

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Anyway, I think I also thought they would taste like seaweed. Or…kale, (imagine that…) but they don’t! They taste like whatever you put on them! In this case: salt, pepper, and cheesy nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast comes in flake form. It is a deactivated yeast that is commonly used as a condiment type thing by many vegans and vegetarians. It tastes distinctly… cheesy, but I’m not sure why. You should try it! It’s a complete protein! (whaaaa?) and is high in b-complex vitamins.

If you are so far behind the curve, like me, then you are probably actually ahead of the curve. and so you should make these kale chips.

Not 100% on the reasoning there… but these are delicious!DSC_0637
Kale Chips

1 bunch of dinosaur kale (or curly kale but dinosaur makes a less brittle chip)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 c.. nutritional yeast

sprinkle of salt

sprinkle of pepper

Remove the kale from the stems and break into bite size pieces. Toss all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until the kale is evenly coated.Bake in a preheated oven at 350*F for 5-10 minutes, turning once.
The chips should be crunchy, but not charred. Its a fine line, so watch closely!

Eat and enjoy!

xxx

 

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razzleberry muffins

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So, its official. Summer is over. March 1st was the first day of Autumn. Traditionally my favourite season! It’s just… I wasn’t done with summer yet.

I didn’t get to the beach enough… I didn’t see ONE jelly fish… I didn’t even make boozy popsicles.

Well… it’s a good thing I live in Australia and I can still do those things for a while longer without feeling foolish. Anyway, I did drink a lot of coconuts… and I did go camping… and I did wear a dress to a wedding in such heat that I thought I was going to have bum shaped sweat marks. Gross? no. just a reality.

I’ll get on with it though, I’ll celebrate fall even though I feel its a tad too early. I will make soup and bake sweet potatoes. And I will make delicious muffins.

Gluten-free isn’t something I really think about that often. I really enjoy my gluten… but every now and then I wonder about this gluten-free baking that is so popular these days and I try my hand at it. It does NOT always work out… let me tell you. But these muffins were quite a nice surprise.

Now… buckwheat flour isn’t for everyone, it has a very distinct taste… but after I asked Sean-no less than 5 times-what he thought of these muffins (Really? I mean really though…? But did they taste weird? But really? You liked them?) He assured me they were really good. SO without further ado!DSC_0063

Raspberry Gluten-Free Muffins
Adapted from Edible Perspective

1 c. buckwheat flour
3/4 c. gluten-free oat flour
1/2 c. almond meal
3 tbsp rapadura sugar
2 1/2 tbsps ground flax meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 chia eggs (2 tbsp + 6 tsbp water)
1/2 c. + 1 tbsp mashed banana
6 tbsp oat milk
1/3 c. maple syrup
1 vanilla bean
1/4 c. unrefined coconut oil, melted
1 1/4  c. frozen raspberries

First preheat your oven to 350* F and line a muffin tin with pretty liners. Mix up your chia eggs and set aside. Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the banana, milk, maple syrup, chia eggs, coconut oil and vanilla until fully combined. Add the wet to the dry and mix until only just combined, but do not overmix! fold in the raspberries very gently and then spoon the mixture into the muffins liners. Fill each liner about 2/3 full. If you like, you can top with a cinnamin crumble. (1/4 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. rapadura sugar, 3 tbsp oat flour, 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, salt) Mix together and then sprinkle on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Try to resist until the muffins are cool as they do not stay together that well when warm!

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Enjoy!

xxx

 

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sunday morning bread

I’m obsessed with reading food blogs. I spend all hours pursuing the internet. Healthy living? Decadent desserts? Useful information? I want it all. I stumble on so many gems and yet I don’t have enough free time in the kitchen to replicate them all.

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This one was brought to my attention by a friend of mine. She made it last weekend and gave me a taste. I went home that night and immediately baked it up. It lasted only a couple days, so here I am again, in my kitchen baking this for second time this week. So delicious and wholesome!

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The thing is, this is easy as can be! Mix, set, bake. It’s really not rocket science and you can easily do it all in one bowl! Minimal clean up and a delightful Sunday morning breakfast.

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The recipe is from My New Roots. A fellow Canadian lady, blogging from across the world. At least I think she is Canadian… She went to school in Toronto anyway. I admire her immensely. She makes me want to take more pictures and learn everything there is too learn about Holistic Nutrition.

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She nailed it with this loaf. It totally is life changing and oh.my.god. soooo delicious.

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Go check out her blog if you haven’t already and make this loaf. It’s totally a good thing. (I’m channeling martha stewart here.)

xxx

 

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camping equals…

Guess what is happening this weekend!!! CAMPING!

YAYAYAAYAYYAYAYY!

And you know what that means? Well, as evidenced here and here… it means GRANOLA!

OH delicious, crunchy granola that I always seem to burn. Or make healthier than is necessary and thus never adding quite enough sugar or sweetness. This time I have GOT YOU!

NAILED IT.

one hammer, one nail. totally nailed it, you guys.DSC_9850

I didn’t even follow a recipe. Nor do I remember all of my exact measurements, but it is goooood stuff.

Here is the most accurate recollection of ingredients that I can put together. I kinda just threw everything in a bowl, but these were the vague measurements.

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Best Granola EVA

dry:

2 c. oats
1 c. rice crispies
1 c. puffed millet
1 c. coconut flakes
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 c. sunflower seeds
1/4 c. almonds chopped
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. dried apple chopped
1/4 c. craisins
1/4 c. raisins

wet:

1/3 c. coconut oil
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. brown rice syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Really all you do is the mix the dry (minus the fruit) and mix the wet, then combine. Spread over two baking sheets and bake for 25 minutes at 325*F flipping the granola once or twice. Allow to cool (if you can) before adding the fruit.

ENJOY!

x

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hot hot heat

Last Friday I experienced some of the hottest temperatures that I have ever felt on my fair Canadian skin. Sydney peaked at a sunny 45 degrees celcius.

forty. five.

Granted, that is only five degrees hotter than the bikram yoga room… however, Bikram yoga is practiced at that heat to make you SWEAT, and sweat A LOT, but I usually don’t go about my daily routine in the hot room. And furthermore, I wear signicantly more clothing when I am outside a Bikram class. So… five degrees is like, ridiculous.

I don’t even know how to explain it. Really hot is pretty much it.

Anyway, Sean and I decided that an after work swim was in order… so at around 7pm we drove to the Eastern Beaches. When we got in the car the temperature had already dropped to 35 and by the time we reached the beach ten minutes later it was 24. YOU GUYS! What… the WHAT?

We took a dip anyway as the sun was setting and I was actually shivering. It’s a strange country I live in these days.

Let’s talk about summer food! Summer salads… BBQs… light… fresh!

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I got this recipe from my boyfriend’s mom. I swapped a couple of ingredients and kablammy! A delicious summer salad/salsa thing that is delish.

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Corn & Avocado Salad

4 stalks of spring onion

1 cob of corn (bbqed & chopped of the cob)

2 tomatoes (seeded and chopped)

1 avocado (chopped)

1/4 c. parsley (chopped)

1/2 red capsicum

juice of one lime

salt & pepper to taste

This salad is pretty straight forward.

First cook the corn. I BBQd mine cause I prefer that taste, but you can boil it also. Set it aside to cool.

Quarter the tomatoes. De-seed them and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt. I find that this helps them to dry out a tiny bit so the salad doesn’t get watery. Chop the spring onions, red capsicum, and avocado. Chop the tomatoes quite small and cut the corn off the cob. Finely chop the parsley and toss everything in a bowl with the juice of one lime. Season to taste.

SO yummy.

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x

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blueberry muffin segue

How does someone make the transition from a solid month of total regression back into being a teenager (waking up after ten, staying in pyjamas all day and doing nothing, eating other people’s groceries) to re-entering the real world. A world which is literally (and figuratively) one entire globe away from teenager regression. A world that involves work and buying groceries, doing laundry and checking flour for moths.

Where is the instruction booklet for that transition? Because I am having a bit of trouble with it.

I think I read somewhere that you should start by making muffins. Well, no. Actually, that is a lie. But it would have make a great segue into this muffin recipe I’m about to post.

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Muffins help somewhere along the way. I’m sure of that.

Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from this beautiful blog I just discovered.

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c. raw sugar

1 c. oat milk (or any non-dairy)

3 tbsp mushed banana

1 lemon, zested

1 c. fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 12 inch muffin pan with liners. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugars, baking powder and salt. Create a well and add the milk 1/2 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Mix in lemon zest, vanilla and banana and stir until fully combined. Gently fold in blueberries, try not to over mix muffin batter.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake muffins for 22 – 25 minutes until fully baked.

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Eat. Feel better.

xxx

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it’s pie time again…

Criscoooooo!

When I go back to Canada… whenever that might be… I am going to STOCK UP on Crisco. Can I do that? Can I bring vegetable shortening back in my suitcase? I think that’s allowed.

I’m goin’ for it.

This is a pie. This is THEE pie? This is a pie that I ate from the pie plate with a fork and occasionally vanilla ice cream. This is a pie with a crumbly crust and a delicious soft apple filling. This is a pie that Sean requested I bake.

How ’bout Strawberry?
No.

Rhubarb?
Huh?

Rhubarb-Apple?
Are you not listening?

…Just apple then.
Yes.

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He’s stunting my baking. I swear.

Pies and scones please.

—Homeboy, lets get some variety up in here.

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This might be a pie for him. But this is MY pie. I made it. My love is in this pie. Along with some flour and Crisco.

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Apple Pie. I’ve made it before.

It doesn’t need frills, or raisins. or cheese slices. Just apples and cinnamon.

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Merry December!

Apple Pie

Crust:
2 c. of all-purpose flour
1 c. of vegetable shortening
1/2 c. of ice cold water (or more depending on the day-whatever it takes for the pie to form together)
couple shakes of salt

Filling:

1/2 c. of sugar
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 vanilla bean
Just a pinch or two of salt
Usually about 8 or 9 apples. In other words: lots.
6-7 dots of margarine

For the Crust:
Mix the flour and salt. Sifting the flour helps with mixing later on.Cube your shortening and cut it into the flour a couple cubes at a time until a course mixture is formed. Crumbs should be about pea size, but not bigger and not too small! Next add the cold water (make sure its cold!) and mix until combined. Try not to use your hands too mcuh. When the dough forms a loose ball, divide into two and wrap each in glad wrap. Place in fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

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For Filling:
Pre-heat the oven to 400*F.
Chop the apples (no need to peel), place in a large bowl and add the sugar,  flour, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.

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Mix it up until all the apples are coated in sugar. Take your dough and roll out the bottom crust. Make sure your surface and rolling pin are floured well. Place the rolled crust into a pie plate and place the apple slices into the bottom. Dot the apples with margarine. Next roll out the top crust and place on top. Pinch the edges to secure the top and bottom. Make 5 of 6 slices in the top of the pie to allow the steam to release. You can brush the top with some soy milk and sprinkle with raw sugar to help it brown a bit.

Place the pie in the pre-heated oven and allow to bake for 50-60 minutes.

Remove, serve with ice cream, on a plate, or on the pie. Eat out of the pie plate if necessary.

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It’s almost always necessary.

xxx

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December 9, 2012 · 5:33 am

25

Boy o boy, the weeks are going fast now… don’t you think? I’ve had the internet back for a while now, so my usual excuses as to why there have been no posts are not going to fly here.

Noted.

It’s almost December! OH MY GOD. It’s seems like just last month I was posting picture of my parents arriving in Sydney. You guys… scary.

Let’s just move on then, shall we? Let’s not talk about Christmas or New Years just yet. I’m not ready for 2013. Actually as far as I’m concerned, it’s still twenty eleven. And besides which, I never gave a birthday update! And now, a month later… I have finally settled into being 25. I have become acquainted with the new editor of my pictures… (hello lover.) And I am finally ready to share some highlights, of which there were many.

We had already gone camping, so my actual birthday was more about cocktails and dinner. As it happened, a friend on mine had some gold class tickets to see Argo, so we started the evening in style. Free drinks, canapes, plush seats (that reclined) and more food served to us mid-movie. Amazeballs. To say the least. If you’ve never gone gold class… you’ve never lived. That may be an over exaggeration, but go with it. Trust me. It’s worth the extra bajillion dollars. (Probably another exaggeration.)

Oh and the movie was good too.

After that, I had a hankering for antipasti so we headed to the Jamie’s Italian restaurant that I had just found out about the day prior. I had googled ‘Sydney restaurants with good anti-pasti’ and guess what I found? I was nervous about having to wait for a table. We were told it would be 30-40 minute wait, but since it was already 9pm our table was ready just minutes after we ordered a cocktail and sat down at the bar. Boom.

The food was delightful! We each had an antipasto platter (veggo for her, meat for him) and one separate dish.

I think Sean had the Italian nachos, which are basically a fried pasta-like nachos thing and I had the roasted red pepper on a chickpea flat bread. So. Good.

The service there was really fast! We were in and out in forty minutes… I almost stole a menu for fun and good times but my better half guilted me out of it. I’m pretty sure Jamie Oliver gets a lot of thieves. And I think he’s ok with it… just for the record.

Anyway, that was my birthday. It is really sad to me that Halloween isn’t a big deal in Australia. In years to come, should I find myself still living in Australia, I need to make a much better effort… or maybe I should just make a pact to be home every year on my birthday. Yeah. that sounds good.

I did carve a pumpkin though… it’s green cause the Grocery stores actually sold out of normal pumpkins. And not cause they are SO popular… but because they only stock 20 per store. That would NEVER happen in Canada. I was appalled and frazzled when on October 30th I could not find a single pumpkin ANYWHERE! Sean saved the day with this green one.

Also pictured, My carrot cake birthday cupcakes! A must-do! I altered the original recipe even further from my last attempt. I really was aiming to cut down the 1.5 cups of oil that the original recipe called for. haha. Anyway, these were great! And I experimented with the icing since last year I found the cream cheese icing was really thin. I’m not a fan of using an entire bag of icing sugar to thicken it up. And I didn’t have to! This version was great. Nice and firm, but delicious! It was sweet enough to even out the not-as-sweet carrot cake. Yum.

After all the festivities and sugar I passed out on the bed with my face planted into a book while letting my nails dry. I had  some serious book shaped sleep creases on my cheek when I woke up.

Good sleep creases mean good birthdays. Obviously.

Aside from my boyfriend going OTT on a present for me… (as per usual. I’m onto you boy…) and all the other bountiful things I received in care-packages from lovely people overseas, one of my very favourite gifts came from a wee Canadian lady who shares my love for Vegetable Shortening Pie Crust. In case you didn’t know, Veggie shortening is next to impossssssssible to find in Australia… but this jazzy lady found a can of Crisco and presented it to me in a bag with many other kitchen goodies. I squealed an unnecessary amount. but actually, it was totally necessary. So the next recipe to grace our presence? An Apple pie of course. Just in case you’re wondering. It was THE BOMB. diggity.

For now: The Carrot Cake cupcakes. I cannot give you the original recipe as that is a family jewel. But here is my adaptation.

Carrot (cup)Cake(s)

2 1/4 c. flour

2 tsp. cinnamin

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 c. carrot (grated)

1 c. coconut

1 can pineapple (crushed)

1 c. walnuts

1 c. rice syrup

1 c. coconut oil

1 flax egg (1 tbsp. ground flax w/3tbsp. water)

3 tsp. vanilla

Mix together the flax egg and let it sit for five minutes to firm up.

Then mix all the wet ingredients in one bowl (flax egg, oil, rice syrup, vanilla).

Separately, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients. Then add the remaining ingredients one by one and stir. Just stir until well combined. the batter will be very thick.

You can make two 9 inch cakes or a bunch of cupcakes. I halved the recipe, cause it seriously makes SO MUCH. I had about 8 or 9 cupcakes from half.

Bake in a prepared pan (buttered/floured or with cupcake liners) at 350*F for 40-50 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.

I will have to re-do my cream cheese icing because i didn’t write it down. IDIOT. sorry! But use any cream cheese icing and try subbing in soy cream cheese if you’re vegan like me. It’s tastes just the same!

 

 

xxx

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November 29, 2012 · 9:24 am

granola cruncher

Granola is a happening thing. Not just for tree huggers and hippies anymore. Not just for women who wear bucket hats with a ying yang patch on the front, using walking sticks and wearing hiking boots with their socks pulled up to the mid-calf.* Not just for those hooligans who don’t shave their  legs or wear deodorant. Those people are on to bigger and better things. Like hemp seeds and acai berries.

Me, I always liked granola. Especially from Rube. Rube is an older gentleman who works at the St. Lawrence market in Toronto. He has a little stand that sells rice and dried beans and quinoa, (he sold Quinoa before quinoa was cool, back when we were all pronouncing it Quinn-oh-ah), and also Granola. He sells lots of Granola. Out of huge tubs with metal scoops and into small brown bags wrapped up with a red elastic.

Ahhh Rube. He sold me granola every Saturday morning for most of my childhood. He let me weigh my own bag on his little scale… and then I would bust open the brown paper and eat all the raisins and apple pieces, those rolled oats were for suckers. I still do that, eat all the fruit that is. Just ask my dad the day after he buys a box of granola or muesli. Or ask my boyfriend. If you buy a breakfast cereal with fruit bits, you better believe that when you go to have a bowl in a couple days, there won’t be any fruit bits left. That’s just how I roll.

This granola is very unlike Rube’s Granola. But I would never even dream of trying to replicate his, cause I would never succeed. It’s the best granola ever.

This one is good too, it’s banana bread granola. It tastes like a big loaf of banana bread, but crunchy and in a bowl with some fruit and milk. yum.

Banana Bread Granola
adapted from here

Ingredients

3-4 c. old-fashioned oats

1 c. puffed millet (or puffed rice whatevs)

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup banana chips
Granola is pretty basic. Smoosh the bananas up – Mix the wet, mix the dry (excluding the banana chips), mix together and spread on a baking sheet (or two). Bake for 25-30 minutes at 325*C. Stir in Banana chips

Eat warm. It will harden as it cools and become very crunchy!

It’s not Rubes, but it’ll do for now.

xxx

*that woman is not fictional. She is all too real- A woman from my neighbourhood who I met on many walks on the Scarborough bluffs. She once stopped me to ask if my puppy was a ‘bitch or a dog’.  I was 11 years old. I knew only of bitch being a bad word, not meaning female dog, so needless to say I  was taken aback. When I told my mom, my mom replied with… “Oh she’s a Granola cruncher” and so now when I think of Granola crunchers I think only of that woman and her stupid ying-yang bucket hat.

And FOR the RECORD. you do not need hiking boots to walk around the Scarborough bluffs. Ok? It’s just unnecessary. Not exactly mountainous terrain…

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