Simple Hasselback Potato

I have been busy with the start of the new semester as well as working 2 jobs in the evenings, so cooking as sort of gone out the window in favor of super simple things that I can throw together in the blink of an eye.

And thus, the Hasselback Potato... simple, and fairly hands off.

Simple Garlic Hasselback Potato

Ingredients
Potato
Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper, Garlic granules (the coarse garlic stuff, not the super fine powder!)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375
Taking a knife, carefully cut the potato into thin slices almost down to the bottom, but leaving it intact, to form a pan.
Brush the potato with olive oil, making sure to get some inside of the fans.
Sprinkle with Salt, Pepper, and Garlic.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until the fans separate, the skin is crispy but the inside of the potato is soft, and ready for munching!

Enjoy!

A breakfast Fry Up

I don't post many breakfast foods. It's not because I hate breakfast, it's just I don't eat much breakfast foods, besides the occasional waffle or bowl of cereal when I'm running late/out of other food. It's just never really been my thing. I make pasta with peas for breakfast, but I can't do that when people are around... I get weird looks.

But today I made something which is the closest thing to breakfast foods that I make, and it's delicious and very filling!

Breakfast Fry Up
Ingredients:
1 Smallish Potato, cut into chunks
1/2 a carrot, thinly sliced
3/4 cup broccoli slaw, or coleslaw mix
3 mushrooms, cut into chunks
a slice of tofu, cut into chunks (it comes to about 1/3 cup tofu)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of Rosemary

Directions:
Place the potato chunks into the microwave, nuke for a minute or two.
Heat the oil, and add in the mushroom and garlic, cooking until fragrant.
Add in the other vegetables, tofu,  and the potatoes (when they're done in the microwave) and cook for a few minutes.
Salt, Pepper, and Sprinkle in some Rosemary. Cook for about 30 seconds more.
Transfer to a plate, and eat up! :)

Scalloped Potato Casserole

Growing up I loved scalloped potatoes. Everytime my dad would make them, I would be in heaven! I actually had no concept of what was in them until recently, when I tried to make them, and had to ask around, thinking It was cheese, and things. But no, there is no cheese. And they're really easy to make... and I turned them into a casserole!

Scalloped Potato Casserole
Ingredients:
Sauce:
2 tbsp vegan margarine
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 1/4 cup non-dairy milk

Vegetables:
3 Largish potatoes, sliced thin
1 smallish onion, chopped
1/2 a yellow pepper, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375.
In a pot, bring your margarine, milk, and spices to a boil.
In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, rice flour, and cold water. Slowly add to the mixture, whisking until thickened and smooth.
Line the bottom of a casserole dish (Mine wasn't very large, probably has about a 6 cup capacity) with a layer of sliced potatoes. Top with all the mushrooms, and 1/3 of the onions. Pour 1/4 of the sauce on top of it.
Add another layer of potatoes, and the yellow pepper, and 1/3 of the onions. Pour another 1/4 of the sauce.
Add a third layer of potatoes, the peas, and the rest of the onions, and then top with a final layer of potatoes. Pour the rest of the sauce on top of the casserole. Cover.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, until sauce is boiling and the potatoes are cooked through.
I added an optional crust, where you mix together some rice flour, salt, pepper, and margarine, and crumble on top, and then broil for about 5 minutes, until the crust is crispy. This is completely optional.

A delicious Panini

I recently stumbled upon This. That looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Alas, not vegan, OR gluten free. I felt like this needed to be rectified. However, there's a problem.

I can't make grilled cheese sandwiches. I wish I was kidding about this, but I have never been able to cook grilled cheese. I always either burn them, or the cheese wasn't melted. I was terrible. TERRIBLE.

Until Matthew got me a panini press that is.

Guacamole and 'Cheese' Panini with Garlicy Potato Wedges

Ingredients

1/2 an avocado

1/2 a small tomato

a bit of garlic (to taste)

Lime juice (to taste)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Cheddar or Mozza Daiya (I like to pile it on myself)

2 Slices of gf bread

Some vegan margarine

1-2 potatoes

olive oil

salt & pepper

garlic powder

Dried Parsley

Directions

Set your oven to 425. 

Nuke the potatoes until almost cooked. Allow them to cool for a few minutes, and then cut them into wedges. Toss with the oil, and place onto a lined cookie sheet. 

Shake the spices onto the potatoes. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once, until the outsides are crispy. 

Meanwhile, spread the margarine onto the outside of your bread. Cover one slice with guacamole, and cover that with as much  Daiya as you like. Top with the second slice of bread. 

Either grill (if you are competent, which I am not) Or panini it until the cheese is all nice and melty. 

Cut in half, and serve with the potatoes, and some ketchup, if that's your preference. 

Holiday Roundup Day 1

It's time for my 

We (this being Myself, Matthew, my sister Shanta, and my mother) began the day at my mother's house in the country, getting up and dragging ourselves into clothes and then into the car, driving to town to open presents at Jolene's (another one of my sisters) house. We were greeted by this:

This is Jolene's youngest boy. (She and her husband Ryan have 2 boys, and a girl in the middle) He was pretty excited to see us!

So we began opening presents, with two helpers to hand them out:

Also, as an aside before I get into my "Great Present Awards" how cute are these pyjamas? 

My sister Shanta (seen here) and I loved the green dinosaur!

So anyway, here's a rundown of some great presents given this year:

I'm proud to say one of my gifts made the list, a mustache keychain that says "Hello there" in a vaguely George Takei style voice when you press a button on the side.

A baseball glove which was quite popular!

My grandmother gave Matthew and I a really super cute kitchen utensil themed clock! (The hour/minute/second hands are a fork knife and spoon!)

My sister Krista got an electric wok from Jolene!

Matthew got Settlers of Catan from Me!

My Neice got a dog robot thing from her parents. While the rest of the adults found it sort of creepy, she loved it! 

After presents we hung out for a little while longer, where my youngest nephew was in love with Matthew (he has been since the first time they met when he was a few months old!)

Cute

Cuter

Cutest

So we ventured back to my mother's where more family members were coming for Christmas dinner. After we all took a brief nap, it was up and at em for Dinner!

Getting Caught up (My nephew Ryan, Sister Cindy, and sister Trish)

I can see Infinity! (My Brother Pete)

So they all had turkey and such, and as the only vegan I had my special "Vegan Plate"

The Vegan Plate

What did it contain?

Carrots, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Mashed potatoes, Spinach Salad, and Tofu cooked in maple syrup. 

From another angle

After that we all slowly dispersed, bellies full, and Christmas Day was done.

Bean Pancake Paninis

I've been trying to come up with easy and quick lunches, and I usually end up right back at paninis. But Paninis can get a bit boring, so I need to sort of jazz it up.

And I thought to myself "What else can we panini?"

It came to me- pancakes!

Bean Pancake Paninis with A side of Potatoes
Ingredients
1/2 cup GF Bisquick
1/3 cup mixed beans of your choice, mashed
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
water

The Toppings I used:
sundried tomatoes
vegannaise (vegan mayonnaise)
spinach
Basil
Oregano
Salt and pepper
Tempeh

Potatoes, sliced and cooked.

Directions
In a bowl mix the bisquick, mashed beans, salt and pepper, and olive oil.
Add water a bit at a time, until it's the texture of pancake batter.
Fry up the pancakes, and set aside.
Heat up your panini press.
Take 1 pancake, and spread the vegannaise onto it.
top with the sundried tomatoes, spinach, tempeh, and spices. (or whatever toppings you choose!)
Top with another pancake.
Carefully transfer onto panini press, and grill until the top of the top pancake is crisped.
Cut in half, serve with potatoes, and enjoy the noms.

Poutine Re-Do

I love poutines, quite a bit. But I try not to flood the blog with all sorts of similar things. However, when I come up with a great alteration to a dish I love, I think I can share it with you.

Usually, I make my poutine Quebecois with some regular white potatoes and sweet potatoes, however, I have discovered that beets can also be used to great effect!

Beet and Potato Poutine

Before Baking, looking good!

Ingredients:
Gravy of your choice, about 1/3 cup
4 small potatoes, cut into fries
2 medium beets, cut into fries
Olive Oil, salt, and pepper
1/2 cup Daiya Mozzarella style

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425.
Coat the fries and beets with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Place the fries onto parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, and flip.
Bake for another 15 minutes, until outsides are crispy.
Take a small casserole dish, and cover it in aluminum foil.
Transfer half of the baked fries to the casserole dish.
Sprinkle 1/2 of the Daiya cheese on top of the fries. Add the rest of the fries, and top with the rest of the cheese.
Put the casserole dish into the oven, and bake for approx 10 minutes, until cheese is nice and melty.
Heat up the gravy at the same time.
Remove the fries from the oven, and transfer to a dish. Top with gravy, and enjoy!

Melty Cheese! :)

And for your viewing pleasure, completely unrelated to food... My Grumpy Kitty!

Vegan Breakfast with Extra Breakfast

And kudos to anyone who knows where I stole my title from...

I must preface this by saying I do not often eat breakfast foods, at least not at breakfast time. This was no exception, as I ate it at night, and encourage people to mix up their food eating habits to break the rut every now and again. Curry for breakfast is delicious, and pancakes for dinner is divine!

On this sunday early evening, I bring you something which many vegans may feel they can no longer have... a delightful scrambled egg breakfast, with potatoes and sausage.

I am here to tell you "Stop being so silly!"

While you might not be able to have EXACTLY that, you can get something which fills the same craving for breakfast foods, without the cholesterol and sad animals! There are many recipes similar to this that you can find, this is just how I make em!

Without further ado:

Vegan Breakfast with extra Breakfast


This is a three part meal, so I give you 3 different recipes!

Simple Fried Potatoes (For 2 People)
Ingredients:
4-5 smallish potatoes, cut into cubes, about 3/4 inch in size
1 tbsp vegan margarine
Freshly ground salt and pepper

Directions:
In a frying pan on medium, melt the margarine.
Toss the potatoes in, and stir around to coat them in the melted margarine.
Fry, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and crispy on some sides.
Grind some salt and pepper on top of them, and toss.
Eat :)

Tempeh Sausage Patties
Ingredients:
A few slices of tempeh, cut about 1/4-1/2 inch thick (enough for 2 people!) (You can also use tofu if you want, but tempeh just has something... amazing about it)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tsp Tamari
a dash of liquid smoke

Directions:
Mix the oil, maple syrup, tamari, and liquid smoke.
Toss the tempeh or tofu in it, coating evenly.
In a smallish frying pan (nonstick works nicely) fry the tempeh on medium heat, flipping every minute or so until the outsides are nice and crispy.
Nom!

Slightly Spicy Tofu "Eggs" With Peppers, Mushrooms, and Onion
Ingredients:
1 block medium or firm tofu, crumbled into tiny pieces (I like medium usually, because I liked my eggs slightly runny, however I used firm when I made it last night)
1/2 pepper, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
4-5 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp turmeric (to make it all yellow and egg looking)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil (for frying)

Directions:
In a frying pan (I use a wok, I find it easiest to make this in), heat some olive oil, and fry the onion, peppers, and mushrooms, for about 5 minutes.
Add in the nutritional yeast and turmeric, to evenly coat.
Add in the tofu, and toss everything together, coating the tofu crumbles with the veggies and spices.
Cook for about 5 more minutes, heating everything together.
Spice with the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
If the tofu gets really dry, add in a bit of olive oil to stop it from sticking.
Eat!

Enjoy!

Quick Lunch Thursdays- Potato with Ginger Orange Sauce

Welcome to Thursday's new feature: Quick Lunch Thursdays!

I've decided that every Thursday I'm going to post a recipe for a no-recipe quick lunch (under 10 minutes to create!) 

Todays: Purple Potatoes with Ginger Orange Sauce

Ingredients: 2 smallish purple potatoes (also known as blue potatoes- normal potatoes work too, but purple ones are so pretty!) A few tbsp Ginger Orange Sauce (found in the Asian aisle at North American grocery stores!)

Prick the potatoes with a fork. Nuke for 5-10 minutes. 

Cut into pieces with a knife and fork. 

Drizzle with sauce

Eat.

A Quebecois Tradition(ish!)- The Vegan Poutine

I am not going to pretend that the following recipe is healthy. It's not.

However, it's slightly healthier than it's non-vegan counterpart.

For those who are unaware, Canada boasts two different type of poutine: The Acadian Poutine, and the Quebecois Poutine.

An acadian poutine (which I plan on veganizing soon!) is a ball of salted meat surrounded by a ball of mashed and grated potatoes, boiled in salted water and drizzled in molasses. It's way better than it sounds!

However, the Quebec have a much more fast food style dish named the poutine, which is french fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. It's decadent and greasy, and oh so delicious! And I veganized it.

Vegan 2 Potato Poutine Quebecois (serves 2 hungry people!)

Ingredient:

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes, chopped into fry shapes

2 similar sized regular potatoes, chopped into fry shapes

Oil, for frying

1 Mushroom style bouillon cubes

2 cups water

1 tbsp Cornstarch and 1 tbsp GF flour, mixed into a paste in water. 

1-2 cups daiya mozzarella style cheese

Directions

First, you gotta deep fry those potatoes into fries. Essentially, heat the oil, and then drop a few handfuls of potatoes in at one time, cooking until crisp and then draining on some paper towel. 

While the fries are draining, combing the bouillon cube with the water in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil, dissolving the cube. 

Add in the cornstarch and flour mixture a bit at a time, until the gravy is thickened to your liking. Set aside. 

Layer the fries and cheese in an oven-safe dish, and don't be stingy on the cheese!

Once the layering is done, evenly drizzle the gravy over the fries. 

Put under the broiler for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is nice and melted. 

Remove, allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes, and eat!

I like to eat mine with some ketchup on top, if that's your fancy!

Lentil Shephard's Pie!

The Humble Potato! It can make so many things!

And one of those things is delicious Lentil Shephard's Pie!

When I was growing up, I used to LOVE when my dad made shephard's pie, though his was very simple: Ground beef, frozen peas, potatoes. I loved scraping the potatoes off and eating them separate, never one for the mushy peas and ground beef (even as a child I wasn't a bit meat eater.)

He'd roast them under the broiler so the potatoes would get super crunchy on top, a method I still employ today! I used 3 different types of potatoes- red skinned, white skinned, and purple potatoes (which is why the center of the shephard's pie is a different color!)

Enjoy!

Lentil Shephard's Pie
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Gravy:
1/3 bouillon cube
1/2 cup water (You can just use 1/2 cup broth instead of the bouillon and water!)
1/2 tbsp cornstarch mixed into 2 tbsp water
1 tsp Tamari or Soy Sauce
1 tsp Red Miso Paste
a generous sprinkling of dried basil

Potato Layer:
6 small potatoes, cooked and mashed up (no need to peel! The peelings are good for you!)
2 tbsp vegan margarine
3-5 tbsp almond milk (depending on how dry the potatoes are)

Other Layers:
1 cup cooked brown lentils, mashed slightly
1 cup diced tomato
1 cup carrots chopped
1 smallish onion, diced

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350

In a sauce pan, heat up the water and bouillon cube until cube is dissolved. Bring to boil
Add in the miso paste and tamari, and whisk around to dissolve.
Slowly add in the cornstarch, turning the heat down to medium, whisking until sauce thickens.
Sprinkle with dried basil, stir to combine, and take off heat.
In a frying pan, fry up the onions and carrots until mostly cooked.
In a  bowl, mix the potatoes, margarine, and almond milk until mixed up and sort of creamy (but still lumpy!)
Spread the mashed lentils on the bottom of a smallish casserole dish. Top with the gravy, then the tomatoes, then the carrot/onion mixture, and finally spread the mashed potatoes over the top.
Spread a bit more vegan margarine on the top, and place in the oven.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350 on the medium rack.
Move to the top rack, and broil for 5-10 minutes, until the top is crunchy and browning.

And then Enjoy, because it's delicious. The bottom falls apart a bit, so aesthetics wise it's not the prettiest, but it sure is delicious!

Variations: You can use soy beef for the bottom layer (but it's not gluten free!) or re-hydrated TVP made with veggie beef flavored stock! Any vegetables can be used as well (some ideas: corn, peas, parsnips, and yams would all be nice!)

Internet is Restored, and Potatoes are in my belly

The technician just left! We are a go for internet!!!

It's almost sad how much I missed it, but I've decided not to think about it too much. I should be finishing unpacking my apartment (still not done), cleaning said apartment (Sorta needs it, but I swept and did the dishes today, so I declared myself good), or working on my thesis research (It's still packed up around here somewhere!)

Instead I want to talk to you about potatoes.

Potatoes are a trifecta of awesome- delicious, versatile, and nutritious. They're also a staple of hungry people everywhere world over. People love their potatoes.

However, when I was growing up they were usually only made 3 ways- fried into chips, mashed with butter and milk, or baked with butter on them.

Not the most elaborate of ways. I dare myself to do better, to take it one step further, and thus today created some yummy potato croquettes!
Easy Potato Croquettes


Ingredients:
1 medium/large Potato, cooked (I nuke it in the microwave)
1/3 cup chopped bell pepper (I used orange)
1 tbsp vegan margarine or olive oil
1-3 tbsp almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk. Make sure it's unflavored and unsweetened!)
1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1/3 cup breadcrumbs or cornmeal
Dash of Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Mash your potato (With peel on!) with the margarine, adding in milk by the spoonful. Stir with a spoon until smooth.

Add in the nutritional Yeast, chopped bell pepper, and the salt and pepper, and stir well to combine.

Form the potatoes into slightly flattened disks, and then coat with the breadcrumbs.

Fry in some margarine or non-stick spray, until each side is slightly browned.

Serve and enjoy with deliciousness! They'd be good with ketchup, but I gobbled them up plain! I served em with some plan steamed Edamame, and a homemade glass of Mint Chocolate Iced Tea.

Nom Nom Nom!