Easy Chow Mein

Sometimes, I just crave something simple. I love chow mein noodles, and the great thing about it is that you can usually add just about any vegetables you have roaming in the fridge and it will still taste good. Usually, I like to add more oriental vegetables such as bamboo shoots, water chestnut, shiitake mushrooms, snow peas, baby bok choy...but alas, these are the ingredients I had on hand. Depending on how quickly you can chop, this dish can be ready in under 30 minutes.


Ingredients
2 bundles of chow mein noodles
1 Japanese eggplant
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 sliced shallot
1/2 sliced green pepper
1/2 cup faux chicken (I used So Soya, this ingredient is totally optional)
1 minced garlic clove
1-2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp ginger powder or to taste
black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Slice all vegetables including the garlic above accordingly and begin stir frying in a wok with a little sesame oil. Stir fry on medium high heat until cooked but still crispy.

2.In a separate pot, boil water and cook chow mein noodles for 2-3 minutes max.

3. Add noodles to wok along with the rest of the ingredients and cook for another min or 2 until the noodles have absorbed some of the flavour. Serve with sesame seeds on top and green tea.

Have you had chow mein before?

Asian Spaghetti Squash

It's squash time! No, not going on the court for a good swing, but rather preparing some delicious spaghetti squash. I never knew it was so low in calories, according to Nutritiondata.self.com, 1 cup of spaghetti squash is only about 42 calories. Bonus!

Now normally, my recipes are quite extensive in their ingredients list, mostly because I really enjoy flavourful things. Usually when I cook, I throw stuff in the dish as the inspiration comes, and next thing you know, I've got a list of 10-20 ingredients by the end of dish. That's all fun and fine...but today I felt like something simple. I mean really simple...

So my spaghetti squash recipe is just that. Simple and easy. If you love toasted sesame oil, then this recipe is for you! If you don't, maybe you feel adventurous today or search for another recipe that's more traditional. A little asian love with a little squash love=yummy.

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp powdered cumin or to taste
shake of freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons of sliced almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 Farenheit. After washing squash, pierce several holes all over with a fork, to allow the steam to escape when it is roasting. Roast for 1 hour.

2. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then slice in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out the seed guts and throw it away. With a fork, gently scrape across, until the squash turns into spaghetti strands.

3. In a large bowl or casserole dish or whatever serving dish you may like, transfer spaghetti squash and add the sesame oil, soy sauce, cumin and black pepper. Serve warm and top with sliced almonds.

Unfortunately the dish did not make it to the photoshoot. My hunger and the wafting of toasted sesame oil convinced my stomach to devour it immediately.

How have you cooked spaghetti squash before?

Almost Raw Vegan Cheesecake

     Raw vegan cheesecake is a really genius idea, whoever thought it up must be the next vegan Einstein. When I was a vegetarian, I have to admit I wasn't even a fan of cheesecake, but after having the raw vegan version at a few raw vegan restaurants, I just fell in love with this version. Granted the lack of raw vanilla beans or extract in the ingredient list below, this is a recipe for almost raw but completely vegan cheesecake. Go to town and don't be afraid to experiment.


Ingredients

2 cups raw cashews (id recommend using 3, as it came out a bit short)
3/4 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup raw agave or to taste
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I prefer vanilla beans but I had run out)
1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup almonds
5 dates, soaked
2 tablespoons of agave or more

A spring form cake pan where the bottom comes off

Directions

1. Soak cashews for at least a few hours. I soaked mine for about 24  hours. Soak dates just briefly before use, maybe 10 minutes.

2. In a food processor, add the almonds, dates and agave and pulse until it turns to crumbs,  but not too fine. Oil the bottom of the cake pan with coconut oil and spread the sticky mixture into the bottom as flat and even as you can.

3. Add all the "cream cheese" ingredients into the food processor (preferably rinsed after pulsing the crust) and pulse lots of times to break cashews up. Move on to speed 1 for a bit and then speed 2 for at least a minute. Repeat this process a couple of times until mixture becomes smooth. It will take a while as at first it resembles minced garlic or the gritty texture of hummus, but try and get it as fine as you can adding no water.

4. Pour the mixture over the crust, spread evenly and freeze for at least 2-3 hours. This will allow it to firm up nicely.

Pat on the back, you now have made your very own almost raw vegan cheesecake! You can take it out from the freezer 20 minutes before you want to serve it, to allow for thawing. Feel free to serve with fresh berries on top or get crazy and blend frozen fruit for a sorbet sauce.

Have you ever tried raw vegan cheesecake before? If not, there's a first time for everything ;)

Curry Coconut Butternut Squash Soup

There's a butternut squash just lying around and you're not sure what to make. You love butternut squash soup but you crave something new. This recipe is just that.

Ingredients
1/3 or 1/2 butternut squash
1 small white onion or 1/2 medium
1 garlic clove
1 tsp madras curry powder (or paste)
1 veggie stock cube
1 teaspoon vegetable oil 
1/2 can coconut milk (I used Thai Kitchen)
salt
pepper

Directions

1. Cube the butternut squash in giant pieces, and boil them until soft (about 20 min or so). Remove from water and let them cool for a few minutes before scooping the squash with a spoon. Place all scooped butternut squash in a food processor.

2. Finely chop the onion and garlic, sautee over low-medium heat in a small pan. After onion becomes translucent, add the salt, pepper and curry powder. After a minute or 2, add this to the butternut squash in the food processor.

3. Crumble the veggie stock cube all over and add the coconut milk. Pulse blend a few times in the beginning, then process for 1 or 2 minutes.

4. Pour mixture into a pot and heat to preferred temperature.

Happy soup time! Have you ever tried a spicy butternut squash soup before?

Banana Bread With Walnuts, Chocolate Chips & Coconut Oil

It is soft. It melts in your mouth. It smells like sweet love which tingles your nose. I'm talking about decadent banana bread that will win the heart of even your most non-vegan friend. Yes, it's that good. One of my friend's family members who likes to be a clown usually refers to vegan food as dinosaur eggs. (it's a joke, I only clued in after the first few sarcasm remarks and I started playing back) However, after having a couple of slices of this, he had nothing to say except [insert Canadian accent]: "that was really fuckin' good."

Please note: I used 1 cup of chocolate chips because I really love chocolate. Must admit it was a bit too much, so if you prefer a more even ratio, you can use 1/2 a cup.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I used Cocoa Camino)

1 cup chopped walnuts

3-5 organic bananas (I used 5 of the skinnier ones)

 3/4 cup agave syrup (Wholesome Sweeteners)

1/2 cup coconut oil (Nutiva)

2+ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Mash up bananas with a potato masher or a fork in a medium bowl. Add in liquids and mix in well until all lumps disappear. 

2. Add dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the chocolate chops and chopped walnuts. 

3. Slowly incorporate wet ingredients into dry mixture, until all dry mixture is worked in.

4. Oil your pan with coconut oil and pour mixture in. (I used a bundt cake pan that was quite shallow, so I got a ring of banana bread. You can use whatever you would like, including loaf pans) Pick up pan and drop a couple of times to get rid of air bubbles, and even out batter. Using a pastry brush, gently brush a thin layer of agave syrup, which will make it luscious and give it gorgeous colour.

5. Bake at 350 Farenheit for about 25-35 min (do a toothpick check in the earlier minutes, it's ready when it comes out clean with no gooey batter on it.)

Feel free to leave a comment, a Facebook post or a Tweet if you have any questions or if you tried it out!!

Love,

 The Scrummy Vegan

Easy Vegan Mac n Cheese with Daiya!

I've tried to make vegan macaroni and cheese a couple of times, and somehow the texture was never quite right. Well, my dear reader, that is no longer the case. I've officially managed to muster up an easy mac n cheese recipe with Daiya that tastes absoultely yummy. (in fact, I've had it twice this week already, and I haven't really been feeling like pasta lately) I am not responsible for any drool that might fall on your keyboard so without further ado, here is the recipe...

Serving Portion: just for 1, but it's quite small.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of elbow macaroni (I used vegetable elbow mac, that's why you see all the strange colours)
1/3 cup of Daiya Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of vegan margarine
a sprinkle of black pepper
a pinch of paprika

Directions

1. Boil the pasta just a little less longer than instructions, al dente. You want it to be cooked, but a bit hard so that it won't mush up when you bake it.

2. Mix all the ingredients in a heat proof glass bowl (like a pyrex dish) and place it over a steaming pot of water, a la double boiler method. It's best the bowl does not actually touch the water because it could burn the cheese rather than melt it, so use a bigger bowl if you have to.

3. Once the cheese sauce is coming together, drain the pasta and add it to the pyrex dish and mix the pasta all around so the cheese sauce coats it. Pop in a toaster oven or regular oven at 300 Farenheit for 5-10 minutes max depending on your personal preference.

Smell it, eat it, lick it. It's that good.

Vegetable Maki Sushi 101

I LOOOOOOOVE SUSHI. Or maki should I rather say. Which kinds? All kinds: avocado, kappa (cucumber), shitake, sweet potato tempura, hawaiian, tofu, red pepper, asparagus, etc.

Sushi is simple in its steps, but difficult to master in technique. It takes more than one try to get it right, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't come out right! I ruined many a nori sheets and plenty of sushi rice the first couple of times I tried.

Ingredients
1 cup sushi rice
3 tbs rice vinegar (I used the Marukan brand)
5 nori sheets
1 avocado
1/2 cucumber
2 tbs white sesame seeds
1/2 tsp brown sugar
pickled ginger, soy sauce, wasabi paste

Directions

1. Boil sushi according to package directions, add 2 tablespoons of the rice vinegar and mix it in well. Cool until room temperature so if you touch it, you can't feel that it's warm.

2. Toast sesame seeds in a frying pan with no oil or water over medium heat, until golden and it smells good, but not burnt.

3. Slice avocado and cucumber into long thin strips. In a small bowl, mix 1 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar.

4. Take 1 nori sheet and place on bamboo rolling mat. Using a flat spatula dipped in water/vinegar mixture, spread some rice thinly on 90% of the area, leaving an empty strip along the top. Line up long strips of cucumber or avocado lengthwise across the nori, towards the bottom of the riced area. Sprinkle sesame seeds all over rice that you just spread on the nori.

5. Going very slowly, gently lift the bottom of the bamboo mat where the strips of avocado are located, and start rolling the nori like a log or cigar. Try to roll the left and right side evenly, or else you will end up with a cone.

6. When you get to the edge of the naked strip of nori, apply water/rice mixture slightly all over, and then roll again. This helped to seal the last bit of nori onto the roll itself, feel free to dab it with a bit of liquid there to seal it up a more.

7. Ta da! You now have a roll that looks like a very skinny and long log. I usually like to cut this into 6 pieces with a straight edge knife that was dipped in the water/vinegar mixture.

8. Congratulations, you just made sushi! (Ahem, maki) It tastes best when it has been cooled in the fridge for at least half an hour. Get out the sushi set, soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi and go to town!

Mini Potato Sandwich with Daiya Cheddar and Guacamole Topping!

When I woke up this morning (around lunch time), I knew I wanted something with Daiya. Grilled cheese sammies are awesome, but I wanted something new. I considered making a hash brown casserole with creamy cheddar sauce, but that would've taken up too much of my time.

I wanted something quick, yummy, and kind of light. I scouted the fridge to check what I had on hand and found half of an avocado. I was staring at my Daiya cheddar bag and the avocado, and thought I could maybe make fried hashbrowns blended with Daiya in it. And then a new idea was born. Fry sliced potatoes, melt some Daiya on one slice, then put another potato slice on top. It's like a mini-sandwich/slider type of deal...

It may sound weird, but it sounded strange to me too. To make it better, I decided to make some guacamole and top my potato sammies with that. The results? Actually scrumptious. I'm definitely going to be making this again when I'm in a pinch for time.

Ingredients
2 medium potatoes
Daiya Cheddar Cheese
1/2 avocado
1 tsp fresh lime juice
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of chilli powder

Directions
1. Peel and wash potatoes, then slice length wise into ovals. Fry until lightly golden, then sprinkle Daiya on half of the potato ovals in the pan. Place the naked potato slices on top of the ones that have Daiya, and constantly flip them until the cheese starts melting inside.

2. Scoop out ripe avocado, add the rest of the ingredients, and mash up with a fork until you have a dip consistency. Scoop on potato sandwiches while they're still warm, and devour immediately.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was time for the coconut chocolate chip cookie. Been meaning to post it for a while, but I wanted to remake them again and snap a photo so you can see the end result! Feel free to make any adjustments to the recipe to suit your tastes.

Bon appetit mes petits chefs!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon egg replacer powder
2 tablespoons almond milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
1. Add all dry ingredients in one bowl and mix everything around.
2. Add 2 teaspoons of hot water to to egg replace powder, then add the rest of the wet ingredients.
3. Slowly work in wet mixture into the dry mixture until you get a crumbly sort of dough, not pasty batter.
4. Roll into balls of desired size, press with a fork and bake at 350 Farenheit for 10-15 minutes until pale golden.

The Naked Sprout Restaurant Review

Decadently delicious.

Today, I had the pleasure of eating at The Naked Sprout in Burlington, on their grand opening day. I'll start off by saying that in no way, shape or form did I get paid or bribed for this review. I was just simply in love with the food and seriously can't wait to go back.

The Naked Sprout is located at 4040 Palladium Way, on Walker's line past Dundas, in a plaza, right next to Chrysalis Yoga. The place is bigger than I expected and pretty cozy in general. I noticed the countertop walls are made of recycled corkboard (or what it looks like), as is the little clipboard that your bill comes on. They also sell packaged fancy teas and drinks, but no coffee. The staff were super friendly and checked up on us often. There was also live music today, part of the reason why I came besides a damn good excuse to try new vegan foods and go to Rattlesnake point after.

The order for the 2 people: Sushi, Noodle Tang, Warrior Bowl, Vanilla Cheesecake, Coffee in a French Press

Sushi (raw):  Parsnip rice, cucumber, red pepper, mushroom, carrots, hemp wasabi. What a creative use of ingredients and a tasty combo. I loved the hemp wasabi sauce, it was so subtle but amazing. My only repercussion is that no chopsticks were provided so this is the first time ever that I ate sushi using my hands/fork.

Noodle Tang (raw): Zucchini and kelp noodle. red cabbage, red pepper, broccoli, carrots, almond tamirand sauce. Cold saucy goodness. Yummy crispy vegetables tossed in a nutty sauce, with lots of sprinkled sesame seeds. A delicious sized bowl for a good price.

Warrior Bowl: Brown rice, grilled tempeh, sprouts, steamed broccoli, thai almond sauce. Warm gooey Thai-almondy sauce over yummy rice and veggies. My favourite part of this dish was definitely the sauce and tempeh.

Vanilla Cheescake: OMG. OMG. OMG. When I was a vegetarian, I didn't even like cheesecake but I am absolutely in love with dessert. Vanilla creamy goodness with what looked like a nut graham base with strawberry sauce on top. I don't know whether this was raw or not but I only have one word to describe it: absolutelyfuckingdelicious.

Coffee: just right, not acidic, not too bold or bitter but with a lot of flavour and body.It came with these fabulous double glass wall cups that keep the liquid hot but are cool to hold so you don't burn yourself. You can see them @ the Bodum website.

I can't wait to go back. That is all.