Week off from cooking/blogging

Dear blog, please accept my sincere apologies for my week-long abandonment. Thank you.

I must confess there has not been a great deal of cooking going on here this past week. And what I have made I have forgotten to snap photos of. Still getting used to this.

A week ago Saturday I made an enormous quantity of vegetable cassoulet based on this recipe. The recipe says serves 4-6 but we were three adults and three children (who actually eventually ate it and then declared that they liked.. ) and there was enough left for about another 6 servings. Basically, I was eating left overs all week and still have a serving in the freezer. So lets say this is a great way to feed a crowd on a chilly day or to make a meal that can serve as lunches forever.

Sunday I promised to make a cake for a birthday party and I put this together: A rich chocolate cake with a mint-flavoured whipped cream topping and decorated with After Eights. It was a BIG hit. My son has declared he wants the same cake for his birthday (in 3 weeks). I am going to veganize it and, get this, if you ignore the "this product may have come in contact with milk products" warning of the box, After Eights actually are vegan - not that that's necessarily an excuse to stuff one's face with them. EDIT: No, actually, they are not. I totally missed a butter-derived ingredient when I first read the label. My apologies.




I was on a mission this week to do some on-the-cheap redecorating / tiddying / sorting out of stuff and cooking went to the back burner (pardon the bad pun). So it was leftover cake and cassoulet, take-out veggie Indian fare and quick veggie-tofu-rice stir fries all week.

I've noticed I've spent far more than someone who's unemployed ought to the past 2 months so this month will be dedicated to the frugal veg. Time to make use of what is already in stock and stick to the farmer's market.

Happy last day of February!!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Ode to Meat-Free Monday:

Poutine and Tourtiere, or how to veganize traditional Québecois foods

Disclaimer: If you are looking for super-healthy, nutrient-dense, fat-free fare: overt your eyes!

I have been dreaming up a truly tasty gourmet vegan version of poutine for weeks... ok, months, and I finally got my act together and made this last night: Poutine with caramelized onions and rich shitake mushroom gravy with vegan mozerella.


Served along with a prepared seitan tourtière (aka 'meat' pie) from Le Commensal , local steamed carrots and non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider (or, what my son calls "children's wine").

For the un-initiated, poutine is a concoction originating from right here in La Belle Province of Québec during the 1950's. It is basically french fries covered in curd cheese and a rich gravy, or, heart attack on a plate. My version is slightly healthier, being made with oven fries, home-made low sodium non-msg gravy and substituting vegan "cheese" for those infamous cheese curds.

Poutine with caramelized onions and shitake mushroom gravy:
Pre-heat oven to 450F

Oven fries:

3 long white potatoes (from Quebec ;-) ) scrubbed and julienned (large). Soak in cold water with a dash of sea salt for 15-20 minutes; drain.
In a large bowl, toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a small dash of sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Arrange on a baking dish in single layer.


Bake for about 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes to get them evenly browned. I made the mistake of not draining mine well and they did not brown as well as they usually do.

Meanwhile, prepare the gravy:
1) caramelized onions

1 medium- large yellow onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 Tbsp sunflower or peanut oil

Heat a heavy pan, ie cast iron, on medium heat. Add the oil and heat. Add the onion rings - the oil should be hot enough that they sizzle upon entering the pan. Fry the onion on medium, stirring frequently until they are starting to brown (not burn) evenly. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are evenly golden. Set aside.

2) shitake gravy

1/2 cup dried shitake mushroom pieces
2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine
2 Tbsp unbleached flour
2 cups vegetable bouillon (I used 2 cups of boiling water with 1 organic vegetable low-sodium bouillon cube)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
fresh ground pepper to taste

Place shitake mushrooms in a microwave-proof bowl, cover with water and microwave on high for 5 minutes or until mushrooms have softened. Drain and set aside.
In the same pan used to caramelize the mushrooms, melt margarine over low heat. Whisk in flour and continue to whisk for about 2 minutes - until forming a lightly-browned paste. Very slowly add in the bouillon, whisking continually, to prevent lumps. Add in flakes, mushrooms and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking often. Reduce heat to minimum and continue to whisk frequently for another couple of minutes, until gravy has thickened.

4) Assemble poutine:
Place oven on Broil

Arrange oven fries in a shallow baking dish. Cover with a generous amount of gravy, top with caramelized onions and finally a generous amount of grated vegan mozzerella cheese. Place under broiler for 2 minutes.


This is honestly the best gravy I have ever tasted. I would highly recommend using it in vast quantities over mashed potatoes, tofurki, seitan steaks.. anything!

My son actually did not want the poutine - shocker! He opted to have just the fries with ketchup and the seitan tourtiere he had no idea was not 'regular' meat tourtiere. He thought it was excellent - KID APPROVED!

From the "When will our so-called government learn dept":

Recalls, lax inspection, increasing food contamination - the food inspectors union urges Canadians to show their concern by contacting their local MP and urging them to "vote for a food safety plan which calls for the Prime Minister to take these actions in the upcoming federal budget:

• Double the number of Canadian Food Inspection Agency food inspectors in the upcoming budget.
• Place an immediate moratorium on industry self-policing policies that have given food companies too much control when it comes to food safety.
• Restore the system of public audit reports which were canceled under pressure from the meat industry to ensure consumers have the information they need to make informed choices."
  

Lest Canadians think issues like the E. Coli contamination found at Huntington Meat Packing Inc. and subsequent recall of 4.9 MILLION pounds of meat could have no baring on the Canadian market.. think again.. US meat comes our way too - and does not necessarily get inspected:

"PHANTOM TRUCKS SHOW NEW MEAT INSPECTION REGIME NOT WORKING: New Democrats Masse and Allen say safety of Canada’s food at risk"

Of course there's the argument that if the meat is just cooked enough the E. coli won't be an issue. With up to 13 million cases of food-borne illness in Canada each year, I'd rather not leave it to chance thank you. And cooking the meat doesn't do a thing for the contamination in the soil, groundwater, run-off, lettuce, tomatoes, drinking water, etc.

Still more chocolate...

Last night I craved comfort food and it came in the form of this improvised red lentil dal over mixed rice. I'm having some left overs for lunch as I post this. The whole house smells wonderful!
















And because I can't seem to get enough chocolate, I gave this chocolate peanut butter "cream" pie a go. Soooo simple:

1 package silken firm tofu (Mori Nu)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (I used almond)
Ready made crust (I used a graham cracker crust)

Melt chocolate chips using a double boiler or, as I did, in a microwave on medium power for 1-2 minutes - checking and stirring often. Combine melted chocolate with all other ingredients in a blender until smooth. Scoop out into pie crust and chill for at least an hour. Eat. Repeat.

Forks Over Knives

Great buzz already around this movie coming this summer:

Forks Over Knives – The Official Movie Website


And I'm drooling over this video of some food prepared for the production:

Little Chefs

Here's the munchkin himself, taking part in a workshop at school put on by Les Ateliers Cinq Epices (site in French only). This is a Montreal non-profit organization whose goal is to promote healthy eating habits in children (and their parents). A series of workshops is conducted in primary and pre-schools, each highlighting a different theme. The workshop I took part in was on Mexico. The students had made cut-out marionettes of children in traditional Mexican dress in class, then headed to the kitchen to prepare a Mexican-inspired meal: black bean chili. The children were involved in chopping vegetables (ok, with a butter knife), measuring spices and canned goods and cleaning up. While the chili cooked they watched a video showing Mexican children shopping at markets with their parents, helping to prepare meals, and the final cooked products. Unfortunately, this year they have seen their funding reduced and are only preparing 2 workshops per class instead of the 8 they did last year.

My hat goes off to Les Cinq Épices (meaning "the five spices") for their role in getting my son excited about healthy eating (he always asks whether what he is eating (or wants to eat) is healthy) and is eager to help out (ok, insists on helping out) and is so proud of his achievements in the kitchen.. my budding chef!

The recipes prepared by Les Cinq Épices are developed by nutritionists and must meet the criteria of being nutritious, delicious, vegetarian, easy to prepare, appreciated by children and using easily accessed ingredients (in season, local and low cost). The black bean chili recipe had a per-serving cost of $1.31!

Here's an example of his kitchen assistance from yesterday... mm.. CUPCAKES! Ok.. so maybe not so much following the healthy eating lessons learned above... OOOPS!

This was the Basic Chocolate Cupcakes with Fluffy Buttercream Frosting (and added red die) from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. He helped with the frosting (and the licking of said frosting from bowl and mixer beaters) and did all the decorating ;-)

I wanted to go for more of a Valentines theme being the season and all... but these are looking decidedly Christmas-y :-)

Vegan Chocolate Truffles

Here I am already getting waaay behind in here! I had the munchkin home from school with me for a few days with what started out as a cold and then a rash and turned out to be fifth disease (I guess they ran out of catchy names for childhood viruses). Well, there's nothing that says lovin' like homemade chocolates so I got into the Valentine's spirit with these vegan chocolate truffles, made with coconut milk.. THEY WERE DIVINE! The recipe can be found here.

You'll note that there's only a few chocolates in the box - that's because they were devoured before I could even get the camera out! And lucky for me it seems I'm the only person who likes coconut around here... so, um.. those were mine :-)

It IS easy being green

Living in Montreal has certain perks when it comes to finding excellent local, organic veggie food - and at a reasonable price. A common myth I've come across concerning eating well, eating local, eating organic, eating vegan/vegetarian.. or any combination of the above, is that it is too costly. I beg to differ and, since I am currently unemployed, I need to make a point of finding economical means of getting good food on a budget. Certainly, purchasing processed, pre-packaged organic, vegan fare can be costly, but that is true of processed, pre-packaged non-organic, mystery products too.

Lately I've been exploring restaurants, cafés, grocery stores and yoga studies at reduced price - even free - thanks to The Green Consciousness Guide / Le Guide Conscience Verte. It is packed with coupons redeemable at dozens.. no, make that hundreds, of local, eco-conscious businesses - including many 2 for 1 deals at vegetarian/vegan restaurants and entire free weeks of yoga at several studios. For $20 it can pay for itself with one use!

Today, I took advantage of a 2 for 1 deal at the Green Panther. They say they make the world's best falafel and now I believe them! Golden and crispy on the outside; fluffy, green, fragrant goodness on the inside. I ordered one falafel sandwich to go for today's lunch and one tempeh sandwich for tomorrow - both for under 8$!

Sadly, the photo does not do them justice :(

What's In Your Lettuce?

Today's EWWW food news story concerns a staple of veggie and carnivore diets alike: lettuce. Ok, more specifically, bagged lettuce - the ones marked "pre-washed," "triple-washed," "ready to eat," etc.

Consumer Reports published the results of a study (here) they performed on packaged and bagged salad mixes, including organic varieties, and found "bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination—in some cases, at rather high levels." In 39% of their sample. No E. coli or salmonella was found, thankfully.

I'll admit to having purchased and eaten the very products studied and, no, I did not re-wash them. Well... *that* won't be happening again..

Besides, buying pre-packaged salads and mixed lettuces means buying more plastic waste. I'll make the effort to mix my own.

Rambling thoughts

Food politics and concerns over food safety are certainly the topics du jour, and today's Oscar nomination for Food, inc can only keep the momentum going. Oprah's recent nod to the film on her show with Michael Pollan, author of Food Rules, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and The Omnivore's Dilemma, and actress and vegan spokesperson, Alicia Silverstone, can't hurt either.

My interest in these topics, however, goes back decades to friends choosing vegetarian and vegan lifestyles in college (ahem, 25 years ago), to following news of the Jack in the Box e-coli outbreak of 1993, the evil ways of Monsanto, the rise of the slow food movement in Italy, and exposés on the perils of fast food.

I am also interested in questions from a sociological perspective (at least my graduate degree can be good fro something) such as the real cost of cheap food, as explored by Raj Patel, or the exploitative nature of labor in the fast food industry, as documented by Ester Reiter in Making Fast Food.

But what made me finally commit to changes in my food choices (and to become more vocal about these issues) were recent events here in Canada: The listeriosis outbreak stemming from Maple Leaf meats in the summer of 2008 which killed 22 people. Sadly, a report released just days ago confirms that our current 'government' (if you can call it that) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have failed to improve the state of food inspection in this country. To add insult to injury that summer, other cases of listeriosis were found linked to cheese from here in Quebec.

Ok, so we've got the picture.. and then there's the issue of antibiotic use in CAFO's (confined animal feeding operations), and the abuse of animals in food production, thank you Nightline.

So I must be a vegan, right? Well, no. Not yet anyway.... still working towards it. I know, I know, people will argue 'its easy, just do it.' Well, yes; and no. I live surrounded by omnivores. My 5-year old son is an omnivore and chooses to remain so - and, yes, we have discussed this (although since seeing Happy Feet he argues we should leave the fish to the penguins). Besides, he will eat meat at his father's house even if I no longer serve it to him (we are separated and share custody). My new partner is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, yet he has been very supportive of my changing choices and so far has highly approved of the plant-based meals I've served (thank you sweety).

Ok, that was a bit of a ramble. I think I'd better leave this with at least one food shot:

Black bean burger (recipe from MyVeganCookbook)
YUM!