So how about that weather today? It would have been a nice day for, say, June but I don’t think I’m ready for 23 degree weather in March quite yet. It feels like the tropics.

. . . and speaking of the tropics (cheesy segue). . .

It’s time for another Eating the Alphabet recipe link-up where each month we make a recipe featuring a fruit, vegetable, legume, or whole grain from a different set of letters of the alphabet.

February was Artichokes and Buttercup Squash with Buttercup Squash Pasta

March is C and D, and I chose a tuber that I’ve never worked with before:

Cassava

Cassava is also known as yucca, but you may know it better as tapioca. It’s were tapioca starch comes from, so if you’ve had tapioca pudding then you’ve had cassava.

It tastes a bit like potato and the two can often be used interchangeably.

Cassava is, of course, a good source of starch. It is also high in fibre, and rich in calcium and vitamin C, but deficient in most other vitamins and minerals.

Cassava grows in tropical climates and it is one reliable food source! It grows particularly well in poor soils, even without fertilization, and it is drought resistant.

Cassava is a staple food in Africa but is also served widely in Asia and the West Indies. It can prepared in a variety of ways from savoury to sweet. For this recipe we’re going savoury and we’re going to the Caribbean: Grenada.

The Recipe

Oil Down is the national dish of Grenada and is usually made at a big party on the beach, or so I’ve read. I made this in my kitchen, so it’s not quite as fun, but it still tastes awesome.

Oil Down is a coconut stew that’s usually made with meat, but this version is also vegan, so, bonus points!

I’ve made this recipe before using parsnips as a substitute for what turned out to be a rotten cassava. It tastes much better with cassava than parsnips, in my opinion, since cassava has a much more subdued flavour.

Matt was a huge fan of this recipe and kept saying how much he liked it. I love when that happens (especially if the dish is a vegan one, hehe). He especially loved the dumplings.

If you like coconut and if you like dumplings (okay, who doesn’t like dumplings?) then you’ll probably like this recipe. Give it a try.

Grenadian Oil Down

from Global Table Adventure

Stew:

3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 T vegetable oil
1 large cassava
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
2 cans coconut milk
2 cups water
2 cups chopped rapini (or spinach)
salt & pepper

Dumplings:

1 c all purpose flour
1/4 c masa harina
1/2 t salt
warm water, as needed

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and saute until softened.

Meanwhile, peel the cassava and cut it in half lengthwise. It has a tough, fibrous core (like a pineapple) that you don’t want so cut each half in half again, lengthwise, so you can cut out the centre. Then chop the cassava into 1″ pieces.

Add the curry powder and diced hot pepper to the pot. Stir and let cook for about a minute.

Add in the coconut milk, yucca, and water.

Bring the stew to a boil then reduce the heat to allow it to simmer, uncovered, for thirty minutes.

Meanwhile make the dumplings:

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add a little warm water at a time, kneading lightly until a soft dough forms comes together into a ball.

Roll bits of dough between your palms, to make about 20 dumplings that are tapered and about 2″ in diameter.

Now, back to the oil-down. After the 30 minutes are up, stir in the rapini.

Then stir the dumplings in and cook for 15 to 30 minutes more until the stew gets thick and the dumplings are cooked.

Serve with rice.

Related Posts:

• Zucchini Rösti
• Food for the Gods
• Fattoush Salad

I bought a whole bunch of cashews on a Bulk Barn shopping spree a few weeks ago so that I could make a raw dessert. I see cashews used often in raw and vegan desserts because they have a neutral taste and a creamy texture so they can be used to mimic cream.

Cashews as a substitute for cream are not a calorie saver, but if you’re concerned about eating animal products or if you’re tryng to eat more raw foods then they’re a good option.

I completely forgot about my cashews until last night when I was looking for something to top a Chinese stir fry that I had made for dinner and remembered cashews (because aren’t cashews just the best part of stir fry?)

So I decided to whip up a raw pie right after dinner so I wouldn’t forget . . . but then the hydro went out.

I was unimpressed, primarily because there was no entertaining thunderstorm to accompany the power outage. That would have at least made the it all a bit more bearable.

Eventually, the power did come back on and I ended up pulling out the food processor and whipping up this bad boy at 11pm (which is basically my peak baking time anyhow, so no harm done).

It’s actually quite good. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from a raw dessert but this one is pretty tasty. Of course it doesn’t taste exactly like key lime pie, but you can taste the key lime pie influence on this dish. I definitely ate more of it than I should have– a very good sign.

The crust is sweet and a bit chewy and the filling is creamy and tart.

It was even Matt approved! I can tell that he wants me to make it again because his reaction was:
“Let me guess, you didn’t write down the recipe” (because this literally happens all the time)

But this time, I did.

Raw Vegan Key Lime Pie

makes one deep 5″ pie (which I made in a brie baker)

Ingredients

Crust

1 c. oats
1/2 c. dates
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp date molasses (This is my liquid sweetener of choice, you could also use agave or brown rice syrup)

Filling

1 c. raw cashews
1/4 c. raw almonds
2 tsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. date molasses (or agave or brown rice syrup)
juice of 2 limes
juice of 1/4 lemon
water as needed (~3 Tbsp)
coconut flakes (optional, for topping)

Directions

Process the oats in a food processor until they become a coarse flour.

Add the remaining crust ingredients and pulse until the mixture comes together. It will be crumbly but you should be able to form it into balls with your hands.

Press the crust into a greased 5″ round baking dish (I used a brie baker for this).

Next, process the cashews and almonds into a flour.

Add the coconut oil, vanilla, date molasses, and citrus juices to the food processor and process until the mixture is smooth. This will take about 8 to 10 minutes. Add water as needed to get the mixture to a consistency of peanut butter.

Spread the filling onto the crust and top with shredded coconut if desired. Refrigerate overnight to allow the pie to set before cutting into it.

(The pie will hold its shape very well. I was able to remove it easily from the brie baker once it had set.)

Related Posts:

• Superhero Balls
• Bran Flakes Cookies
• Banana Raita with Toasted Coconut and Mint

Last week Matt mentioned how much he missed shopping with me at the St Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning to pick up some special ingredients for our evening dinner date. I miss it too. Mostly the St Lawrence Market. The Saturday homemade dinners have been a mainstay, but have lost some magic without the market trip. Freshco just doesn’t emit the same romance.

I thought that I’d get Matt excited about our Saturday dinner by suggesting we make sushi, something we have never done together. I had found an unopened sushi-making kit under a layer of dust while cleaning the basement and suggested that we finally put it to use.

So after picking up some sushi rice and nori that had been left behind at my dad’s house and getting some wasabi (or wasabi-flavoured horseradish substance) and pickled ginger from the grocery store we set out to make sushi.

Actually, it ended up being me that made the rice, cooked the veggies, and rolled the sushi while Matt intermittently wielded his knife skills to cut the rolls and simultaneously searched music videos on YouTube. So it goes.

Matt failed to mention to me that he has an aversion to wasabi. I had no idea. I also had no idea how difficult it was to spread a small amount of wasabi on the sushi rice. And as such, I ended up making maki for masochists. It might have been the most painful sushi experience I’ve ever had, and I like wasabi; for Matt it was even worse. Our dinner became the culinary equivalent of Russian roulette, and we started picking our pieces strategically—scrutinizing the ingredients to see how much of the lethal green stuff we could expect from that bite.

I felt terrible that I had royally fucked up our dinner so I made up for it by making Matt’s favourite– cinnamon rolls. I’m trying to find a perfect recipe that meets my high cinnamon bun standards. The result ended up being just “OK”.

So much for redemption.

Related Posts:

• Grenadian Oil Down Recipe
• Raw Vegan Key Lime Pie
• Food Blog Friday: Chick-picata

It is Food Blog Friday!

This week’s recipe was another hit: Post Punk Kitchen’s Chickpea Picata

I love the lemony tartness of chicken and veal picata so I was excited to make this vegan version, particularly since the recipe didn’t call for tempeh or seitan or any other meat poser.

I followed the recipe pretty closely only substituting sweet onion for shallots and sweet sparkling wine (it’s all I had in the fridge) for dry white wine. I also used a BIG bunch of fresh thyme instead of a little pinch of dried– I really, really like thyme.

The aromas in my kitchen from the garlic, onion, and wine were absolutely amazing. I was so stoked to dig in to meal. I definitely “tasted” the sauce a lot while it was cooking. You know, to make sure the flavours were spot on and everything.

The recipe recommends serving over mashed potatoes and arugula. I passed on the ‘taters and stuck with just fresh mixed greens.

I liked the detailed directions in this recipe and the fact that it came together so quickly and easily. I didn’t find myself questioning what temperature? how do I serve this? what do I do now? I also like that there are nutrition facts to go along with it. Score!

The end result of the chick-picata was delicious. I am definitely going to be making this again!

So I give this recipe…

3 Spoons!

Find the recipe for PPK Chickpea Picata here.

Addendum: When Matt read this post he said. “Three spoons? I would’ve given it two.” I probed him as to why and the best he could do was that he prefers the traditional recipe. You know, the one with meat. So, if you’re expecting this chickpea version to be as awesome as picata made with chicken or veal, I’ll be honest, it’s not. But setting your memories of meat picatas aside for a minute you’ll see that this is a very flavourful and tasty chickpea dish.

Food Blog Friday recipes are ranked on the scale of 0-3 spoons

0 spoons – That was fucking horrendous
1 spoon  –  I doubt I’ll be making that again
2 spoons – I’ll probably make that again with some tweaks
3 spoons – That was perfect

Related Posts:

• Curried Millet with Chickpeas and Currants
• Raw Vegan Key Lime Pie
• food blog friday: Falafel Loaf

I spent a lot of time sifting through all the recipes for vegan macaroni and cheese that are floating around the internet and I landed on this recipe for Vegan Mac n’ Cheese from Happy Herbivore. What drew me to this recipe is that it has a lot fewer ingredients than many of the other recipes that I’ve seen.

I made a couple of substitutions in this recipe: 1/4 c. diced & sauteed onion for the onion powder, and brown miso paste for yellow miso paste.

I had high hopes for this recipe, I really did. It was a really simple recipe and very easy to make. The sauce came together and thickened in only about 5 minutes time.

I was impressed by the texture of the sauce—so, so creamy. Honestly, it was creamier than a roux. The texture was really decadent.

Unfortunately the flavour fell flat. I wasn’t expecting it to taste exactly like mac and cheese (and it didn’t) but I was hoping for some of the sharp tanginess that real cheese lends to the original dish. This vegan version just didn’t live up. I’m not convinced that it would have tasted much different had I used onion powder and yellow miso paste.

So even though the texture was great, the flavour just wasn’t enough for me.

I give this recipe:

1 spoon

Likes:

- The texture of the sauce was perfectly creamy
- Quick and easy recipe to put together

Dislikes:

- The flavour fell flat. There was nothing in the recipe that gave it a kick I was looking for.

In an quest for more flavour, Matt and I each added a little somethin’ somethin’ to our bowls: ketchup and hot mustard respectively. The ketchup, of course, made the dish much sweeter which isn’t exactly what I was looking for. The hot dijon mustard brought a bit of tanginess to the dish, but not quite enough to get me raving about it.

Find the recipe for Happy Herbivore’s Vegan Mac and Cheese here.

Food Blog Friday recipes are ranked on the scale of 0-3 spoons

0 spoons – That was fucking horrendous
1 spoon  –  I doubt I’ll be making that again
2 spoons – I’ll probably make that again with some tweaks
3 spoons – That was perfect.

Related Posts:

• Food Blog Friday: Chick-picata
• Grenadian Oil Down Recipe
• Raw Vegan Key Lime Pie

November 1st is World Vegan Day to kick off World Vegan Month! Can you can commit yourself to eating vegan for just one meal? Great! The whole day? Awesome! The month of November? AMAZING!

Eating vegan means sticking to a diet based on legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables. It means avoiding animals and fish protein as well as eggs and dairy. A vegan diet is 100% plant-based and free from all animal products.

Many vegans site the lack of ethical treatment of food animals in modern factory farming practices as the primary reason for going vegan (you can read more about that here). Health and environmental sustainability related to a vegan diet are other reasons for adopting this lifestyle.

So try cooking vegan today!

Recipes:

Breakfast

• Vegan Fritatta
• Chia Seed Pudding

Soups

• Curried Squash and Peanut Butter Soup
• Creamy Potato Leek Soup
• Cannellini Bean Soup with Celeriac
• Umami Mushroom Soup
• Bread Soup

Mains

• Coconut Chickpeas
• Vegan Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes w/ Cabbage)
• Beets with Quinoa and Steamed Greens
• White Bean Puree
• Chana Masala

Sides

• Fiddleheads
• Baba Ghanoush
• Tahini Salad Dressing

Desserts

• Chocolate Explosion Pudding
• Rosemary Sea Salt Larabars
• Chewy Ginger Chocolate Cookies (Vegan)
• SuperHero Balls (raw & vegan)
• Apple Pie Squares (vegan)

Green Smoothies

• “Best foods you’re not eating smoothie”
• Spiced Ginger Pear Smoothie
• Sweet Apple Smoothie
• Apple Pie Smoothie

Bread

• Sprouted Grain Hearth Bread

Related Posts:

• Raw Vegan Key Lime Pie
• Food Blog Friday: Chick-picata
• Superhero Balls

My fridge is broken. Well, only partially. Everything in the crispers freezes but the rest of the fridge is just not cold enough to keep food for extended periods of time. It’s getting kind of annoying. The inventory of my fridge is currently some thanksgiving leftovers, a lemon, a pound of butter and half a dozen eggs (both frozen solid in the crisper), a several bottles of lukewarm beer and icewine, and an uncountable number of condiments.

When I caught Matt in the kitchen eating sweet relish from the jar I knew that I needed to make something for us to snack on. I settled on one of my favourite non-guilty pleasure recipes from Meghan Telpner. She calls them Superhero Balls, and I call them delicious. These raw vegan truffles are rich in nutty flavour with just enough sweet to satisfy, but the best part is that they are loaded with goodness: complete protein from hemp and chia seeds, fibre from wheat bran and flax meal, antioxidants from cacao, vitamin E from almonds, and minerals from molasses. (Meghan puts spirulina in hers, but I was fresh out).

I decided to include these as week 3 in the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies because I think they would be perfect for a Christmas cookie tray. I challenge you to make them for Christmas. No one will even know they are healthful, but you’ll tell them of course because this is a recipe that’s meant to be shared

SuperHero’s Balls

(adapted from Making Love in the Kitchen)

Ingredients

2 0z. cacao nibs
1/2 c. whole almonds (or 1/4 c. almond meal)
1/4 c. hemp seeds
2 T coconut oil
2 T molasses
1 T maple syrup
1 T Wheat Bran
1 T flax meal
1 T Chia Seeds
1 t cinnamon
pinch of ground clove
pinch of sea salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

• Grind the cacao in a spice grinder until it is still somewhat course.

• Then grind the almonds in the spice grinder if you are using whole almonds
• Mix all ingredients together thoroughly until they are able to come together to form balls. Add additional coconut oil as necessary to keep the mixture together.

Dry Ingredients

• Roll roughly 1 Tbs worth of mixture in balls
• Freeze for 15-20 minutes and enjoy!

The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies is being hosted by Abby Sweets.

Week 2: Chewy Spiced Ginger Cookies (Vegan)
Week 1: Double Chocolate Biscotti

Related Posts:

• Chocolate Chocolate Cookies
• Wildberry Dream Cookies
• Raw Vegan Key Lime Pie