Things That Are Awesome: Soy-Free Earth Balance

Earth Balance is one of the most awesome things to happen to margarine in like... ever.  I love that it's not hydrogenated.  I love that it tastes awesome.  I love that it comes in sticks and tubs.  And now, I love that there's a soy-free version!  I wish this also came in stick form, I have to say, but I don't really mind just scooping it out of the container to use in recipes.  It seems to work just as well.

I haven't done a side-by-side taste comparison, but it tastes pretty much the same to me.  I'm not supposed to be eating soy as often as I might like, so this is a product I was really excited for.  It came to the US before Canada and I was chomping at the bit waiting for the day when I could finally buy it.  I think I pestered the customer service people at Whole Foods at least once a month asking when it would be available.

If you're trying to avoid soy for whatever reason, this stuff is for you.  I think it's good to get more of a variety in the foods we eat, anyway.  My naturopath tells me that sometimes eating too much of a particular food can actually cause a sensitivity.  It's interesting how much soy there is in pretty much everything when you start reading labels.  Soy lecithin in particular is hard to avoid.   When I was doing an elimination diet about a year ago to try and get some of my food allergies sorted, the lack of soy-free margarine was a real kicker.  I was using coconut oil as a substitute for margarine on toast, but it's hard to replicate this flavor on things like baked potatoes and the like.

Soy-free Earth Balance, I <3 you.

Organize It!

I've always had a ton of herbs and spices.  So many, in fact, that sometimes I can't find basil, for instance, and I'll think I'm out.  So I go buy more basil.  Then I discover I actually have 3 jars of basil and a bulk refill.  When I moved last year, this is exactly what I discovered was happening.  I'd been wanting to find a better way to organize my spices for ages, but just hadn't been quite motivated enough to do it.

I had one of those little round shelf things that turn shoved into one of the shorter cabinets that we all seem to end up with in our kitchens.  My herbs and spices were always overflowing from that, even.  I never knew if I was out of something or had 3 bottles of it.  It's so easy to accidentally shove a small jar or bag to the back of the cabinet.

When I moved last October, I was determined to fix the situation.  I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but there are 3 cooking stores within a few blocks of my new place.  I know, right.  It's rough not to go in there and just spend every penny I have on awesome gadgets and bowls and pots and things.  I did deem it worthy to spend money on these awesome spice racks, though.  Is spice rack even the right term for what this is?  It's more of a spice panel, I think.  This is actually 3 of them put together.  Each panel has 12 little containers on it.  I have one of those label makers you can get from the office supply store and I labeled every jar with a black on clear label of what's inside.  It's funny, the labels look like they fit with the whole setup so well that most people assume they just came with the spice rack (panel?).  That's kind of awesome.

I actually need one more to fit absolutely everything.  I still have a ton of things in the cabinet, but they're things I don't use quite as often like asafoetida and fenugreek seeds.  These weren't cheap, but they're so worth it. (No, they didn't come from Ikea, the Ikea ones have crappy magnets and are on these tiny little metal shelf things that sit on the counter).  I'm constantly admiring how awesome this looks in my kitchen.  Not only does it save space in the cabinets, but it's so easy to know what I have or need to refill.  And yes, everything is in alphabetical order.  I wouldn't be able to find anything otherwise!

You could probably rig something like this up yourself if you're so inclined.  I'm just a bit of one for instant-gratification sometimes so I let someone else do the work for me.  Cookworks, where I bought this, is always out of these.  The sales lady told me when I bought them that they'd been out for weeks and had only just got them in a few days before I came in to buy the last three.

Another cool idea for organizing the rest of the stuff in your cabinets is to use canning jars.  I went nuts and jarred up just about every single thing in my cabinets.  This is only one of my cabinets, I'm not sure what happened to the other photos I took, but dang, what a difference.  I had a similar thing going on with all of this stuff.  I had 3 different little bags of pecans and various bags of crystallized ginger hanging out, all in different parts of different cabinets.  I can find everything so easily now and nothing gets stored in plastic, which I love.  I started out using the labels that came with the jars, but as I wash them and refill them with something different than what the label says, I just use masking tape.  That works just fine and it looks kind of cute and homey, actually.

Now go organize your cabinets!

Vegan Poutine

I had a big plate of vegan poutine for lunch today at Loving Hut.  It was awesome.  If you don't know what poutine is, it's fries with gravy and cheese.  I didn't know what it was before I moved to Canada, either.  It's super tasty and Loving Hut is the only place that I know of where I can get a vegan version.  I've found lots of places to get fries and veggie gravy, which rules even on its own, really.

Biscuits and Gravy for Brunch

Sunday is usually a day that we get a bit of a late start.  It's nice to get to catch up on the week's lost sleep and start the morning slowly.  We also tend to make an effort to have a nice brunch on Sundays.  Today we had some more awesomeness from Vegan Brunch.  That cookbook is slowly going the way of Vegan with a Vengeance.  I've made almost every single recipe in VwaV.  My copy is battered, and well-loved for sure.  It was actually the first cookbook I've ever owned that I've made that many recipes from.

One of the most fun things about Vegan Brunch is the varied options for awesome breakfast/brunch/lunch that I might not have thought of previously.  I used to make a standard breakfast of either muffins or tofu scramble and roasted potatoes for weekend mornings.  Not that those things aren't awesome, but sometimes you want to get out of the rut a bit, even if that rut is a delicious one.  I'm going to try and make something from that cookbook at least once a week for the next little while.  It's definitely becoming one of my favorites.

In the header for the Herbed Drop Biscuits recipe, Isa says that she can't be bothered to roll and cut out biscuits anymore.  I hear ya, girl.  I feel exactly the same way.  Even when I have a roll-out biscuit recipe, I tend to just shape them with my hand instead of going through the whole rigamarole of flouring the counter, rolling and cutting them and creating way more cleanup than is really necessary.

I used half spelt flour and half unbleached wheat flour in these.  I also had some fresh herbs on hand so I used those instead of using dried.   They're really easy to make and turn out so wonderful.  Nice and soft on the inside with a nice crust.  These biscuits are great for eating with just a bit of Earth Balance or smothering in gravy.

I've also made the Mini Chive Spelt Biscuits from Vegan Brunch and they're also really tasty and great with this gravy.  It's cute to have little biscuits, too.

Speaking of gravy, you really should try this Navy Bean Gravy.  It's super easy to make.  I use an immersion blender to blend mine, but if you don't have one, you can just use a regular blender or a food processor when it comes to that step.  The flavor is nice, and not too overpowering.  I tend to like to saute a few shitake mushrooms and add them to the gravy.  Sometimes I'll add a few at the beginning and blend them in with the rest and chop the rest and add them on top.

To serve, you can just put some biscuits on a plate and put gravy over them.  I like to put the gravy in a bowl and tear my biscuits into pieces and put them in with the gravy and eat the whole thing with a spoon. Whatever works.

A nice accompaniment is a faux mimosa.  Just add a mixture of half orange juice and half carbonated water (I use San Pellegrino) in a glass.  Very refreshing and sorta fancy looking, too.

Guacanachos

A few weeks ago while in Toronto for the weekend for a wedding, James and I discovered a hidden gem of a Mexican restaurant in Kensington Market.  According to Yelp, La Tortilleria is closed now, which is a bummer.  I suspect they just moved to a new location in the Market or else another Mexican place opened up using the same name.  Either way, the food was amazing, though admittedly a bit slow to come.

One of the things we had that we liked the most was called Guacanachos.  I know, right.  What a weird name.  I've never heard of anything called that before and let me tell you, I love Mexican food.  I loved it already, but living in Texas and a few visits to Southern California here and there cemented it.  Now that I live in Canada, I realize that most of the people up here have never actually had real Mexican food.  At least not in Vancouver.  I make things at home all of the time that I remember eating out and loving.  That fills the void a bit, but I really wish we had some good burrito places up here.  My favorite was always Freebirds in Dallas.  If you live anywhere near one, then you know what I mean.

Anyway, we loved these Guacanachos so much that they've been put into our regular rotation at home.  This might seem like a really boring recipe, but trust me, it's awesome in its simplicity.  Basically you have tortilla chips layered with fresh guacamole and refried black beans.  That's it.  Part of the key is to have salty black beans.  I'm already a guacamole fiend.  James makes the best, too.  We'll frequently make a bowl of 2 avocado guacamole to munch on while watching a movie or something.  I'm such a freak for it that he usually lets me have about two-thirds of it.  Soooo good.

If you're making this please, please, please make your own guacamole.  That weird stuff that comes out of a plastic tub is never good and then you'll think my recipe sucks.  It's super easy to make, so don't worry.  The hardest part is having patience while your avocados ripen!  Everyone makes guacamole slightly differently so don't get too hung up on being exact about things.  Just throw some stuff in and enjoy it.

The color is off in this photo.  I couldn't quite get the color right again.  I just put it up here so you can tell what kind of consistency you're aiming for.

James' Awesome Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
1 juicy lime
salt and pepper to taste


Optional Ingredients - Add one, none or all of these!


fresh tomatoes, diced (not canned tomatoes ever)
diced onion (I like to use red onion, personally),
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 Tablespoons diced fresh cilantro
1-2 Tablespoons orange juice


Remove the skins from the avocados. Mash the avocado up into little pieces in a small to medium bowl.  I usually use a fork, but James likes to use two butter knives.  His way takes longer but it always ends up with lots of chunks of avocado in the guacamole, which I have to say, I prefer.

Once the avocado is in little pieces, squeeze the lime into the bowl.  Add a bit of salt and pepper and mix with the fork or knives again.  At this point, taste the guacamole to see if you need to add a little more lime or salt.  Now add in any of the remaining ingredients that you're using.  We usually add diced tomatoes and onions.  I love the addition of garlic, but James isn't as much of a garlic hound as I am so he usually leaves it out.



 Home-Style Refried Beans (from Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero)

2 Tablespoons corn, peanut or olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small yellow onion, diced small
1-2 jalapeno or serrano chiles, seeded and minced (it's okay to use jalapenos in a jar, I usually do)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground chile powder, such as ancho or a blend
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans drained and rinced or 3 1/2 to 4 cups of cooked beans
1 bay leaf
2 cups water
salt and fresh pepper

In a large, heavy cast-iron skillet, combine the oil and garlic and cook over medium heat.  Allow the garlic to sizzle for 30 seconds, then add the onion and jalapeno.  Using a wooden spoon to stir occasionally, fry until the onion turns translucent, about 10 minutes.  Sprinkle in the cumin, oregano, and chile powder and fry for another 30 seconds.

Stir in the beans, bay leaf and water and increase heat to medium-high.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium again and allow to simmer for 20 minutes, or until more than half the liquid has been absorbed but about half an inch of liquid remains.

Remove the bay leaf and discard.  Use a potato masher to mash the beans smooth (I usually use my immersion blender), then stir to form a thick, moist paste, anywhere from 5-8 minutes.  If refried beans appear to dry out, add a little water a few tablespoons at a time, until your desired consistency is reached.  Serve immediately.

Guacanachos

tortilla chips
guacamole
refried black beans

Place chips on a plate.  Spoon guacamole randomly over the chips.  Spoon some refried black beans over that.  Add a few more chips and then another layer of guacamole and another layer of beans.

Eat and enjoy!

Vegan Omelettes: not just in your daydreams anymore

I love breakfast and brunch.  I mean, seriously, it's like the most awesome thing ever.  I especially love when I have a morning with nothing to do so I can relax and make something awesome for brunch.  It's great to just sit with a cup of tea and fool around on the computer or with Netflix for an hour or two before I have to actually be awake enough to feed myself.  Mornings like this are made for Vegan Brunch!

For reals, y'all.  If you don't already have this cookbook, run, do not walk and get it.  There are a few recipes in here that have changed my life.  And by changed my life, I mean turned me into some kind of crazy-excited to make brunch kind of person.  Some of the recipes in this book are even great as side dishes for dinners or even as a light lunch.  Dang, I just got all excited just now thinking of all the things I need to remake and photograph so I can blog about them.  I'll try not to do it all on the same day so I don't gain like a bajillion pounds stuffing brunch in my face over one weekend.

One of the first things I tried after I got this book was the recipe for vegan omelettes.  Say what?!  Yeah.  Mostly I was intrigued.  I had never even considered such a thing.  It's been years and years and years since I've eaten an egg, but I remember not liking them as a kid.  Thankfully these are flipping awesome, not yucky like the real thing that I remember.  You do need a non-stick pan for this, though.  You can always just use your cast iron pan like I do and that'll work just fine since they get worked in to being non-stick anyway.  Don't be intimidated.  I am completely incapable of making pancakes that actually resemble pancakes, but these look awesome every time.  The batter is fairly thick so maybe that helps them keep their shape a bit more.

The omelette itself is nice and light and fluffy and so full of flavor.  I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't know these would taste so amazing.  The main ingredients are tofu, chickpea flour and nutritional yeast with a few other things added.  I think you definitely need to make sure you're using chickpea flour and not a different type of flour because that is where a large part of the flavor is coming from.  Don't cheat, go out and get some from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or where ever you can find that sort of thing in your area.  Chickpea flour is kind of awesome, actually.  You can use it instead of regular flour for a thickener when you're making gravy and sauces.  I've started using that in my gravies instead of wheat flour and it's really bumped the flavor up a notch.

But back to talking about omelettes. Isa gives you some options for fillings if you're stuck for what to put inside.  Try one or all of them and then start mixing and matching.  It really doesn't matter what you use, just get some veggies and saute or steam them a bit and you're good to go.  Heck, you could even make a Daiya cheese omelette.  Oh yeah, I'm totally doing that.  I typically go for the same thing every time.  I'm always happy to find a reason to eat asparagus so I saute some of that with some onions or shallots, garlic and tomatoes.  Add some freshly ground pepper and Himalayan sea salt and you're golden.

The recipe says to use black salt.  That can be very hard to find.  Even in Vancouver where I can usually find things like that with little problem, it took a bit of looking.  I finally found some, but honestly, I'm not sure if it's the real deal like what Isa means because it tastes just like regular salt to me, only... black.  My point is not to stress about it if you don't have it.  You can just use regular salt and everything will still be delicious.  You really should make some roasted potatoes to go with this.  It's like the perfect pairing.  Though I would probably say that about roasted potatoes with anything at brunch.

I find that this recipe usually makes 4 omelettes.  The cool thing is that they reheat well, so you can have one on your leisurely Sunday morning and then when Monday rolls around and you're grumpy and getting ready to go to work, you can just reheat one of these bad boys and your day has suddenly gotten better.  I haven't tried freezing them, so I'm not sure if that would affect the texture or not.  If anyone does that, would you mind letting me know how it went?

Soup and a Quesadilla at Sejuiced

Welcome to another edition of "What SaraJane had for lunch today."  But really, this post could work at least once a week.  I have this exact same thing at least once a week.  I apologize for the crappy photos, I was using my phone camera and it was a dark day.  I mostly wanted to hurry up and take the pictures so I could put this food in my tummy.

There is a great veg*n place near my office called Sejuiced.  I think Veg News actually added them to their write up about Vancouver when they profiled this city a year or so ago.  Sejuiced is awesome because they have tons of great stuff made with fresh fruits and veggies.  Most of the menu is already vegan or can be made vegan easily and there are quite a few raw choices.  You can order lots of awesome fresh juices and there is a small selection of raw and vegan dessert type things, too.  Every day there are two vegan soup choices and right now there is also a vegan chili!  I have yet to try the vegan caesar salad, but I want to.  I just keep getting drawn in by my longing for awesome soup.

I used to always get the Ananda Bowl (grilled tofu over brown rice and greens with tomatoes with an amazing tahini sauce) but now I always go for the lentil dal soup.  I like their soups because they're never full of salt or oil.  You can always tell that lots of fresh ingredients went in to making them.  I mean, look at this picture!  You can even see some of the cumin seeds hanging out on top.  There are usually a few good-sized pieces of yam in here, too.  Mmmm...

I find that just a bowl of soup sometimes isn't quite enough so I usually add a small salad or something to my soup.  Well, usually until I realized there is herion in the quesadillas.  Sejuiced will substitite Daiya cheese (yay!) for anything with cheese in it for just 50 cents.  Black bean quesadilla with Daiya, please!  Normally the quesadilla comes with a side of tzaziki, but since I'm getting all vegan up in this piece, they give me a little cup of diced veggies and citrus.  It's a salsa of sorts, I guess.  Who cares, it's good.

This is a great lunch for a cold, grey, rainy, Vancouver day.  The food is always great, the staff is always friendly and I always feel pleasantly full after eating here.  You never know what kinds of perks you'll get with your food, either.  For example, the day I came in and took these photos they were playing the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.  It brought me back to junior high!