Carrot Onigiri

I sometimes get lazy, but want to fool myself into thinking what I'm eating is fancy, simply to make myself feel better. So I make simple yet fancy feeling foods.

Like this Carrot Onigiri!

Simple Carrot Onigiri

Ingredients:
Cooked sushi Rice, seasoned with Mirin
Shisho Rice flavoring sprinkles (optional)
Nori, cut into strips
1 Carrot, steamed and mashed

Directions:
I used a triangle press, but if you don't have one, you can use your hands to form the shapes. Take a small handful of rice with wet hands, and place in the press, pushing down. (Or flatten it down with your hands) Add a spoonful of the carrot.
Place another handful on top, and press it down again.
Add a strip of nori on the bottom, and sprinkle with shisho sprinkles or sesame seeds.
Nom!

I ate it with some Spicy Vegannaise! Just mix a spoonful of vegannaise with some sriracha sauce to taste, and use it as a dipping sauce!

Tis the Season!

I'm going to be honest, there isn't much I like about fall (with the exception of pumpkin everything! I'm a big fan of that!) In Montreal it's often cold and grey, which isn't exactly endearing. I cannot stand the cold AT ALL! It's barely cold (according to my husband) But I've been sporting scarves and multiple layers already.

However, the fall themed cooking is DIVINE, and one of the simplest fall things you can make is Spiced Baked Apples! My classmate Lynn went apple picking and brought a bunch to class. Noone wanted any, so I aquired the bag for myself!

The other best part about this recipe is that it makes your house smell DIVINE!

Spiced Baked Apples with Maple Syrup

Ingredients: (Per apple)
An Apple, core removed
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice- a shake of each
Maple Syrup

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350.
Place the apple on baking sheet. Sprinkle with the spices.
Stick it into the oven and bake until the flesh is super soft, and the outside is nice and wrinkly.
Top with maple syrup!

 These are so easy to make, and are perfect for an afternoon snack, or dessert, or even breakfast! (Imagine with some oatmeal? Yumm!)

Easy Salt and Pepper Tofu

I have been having a bit of a lazy week, with lots of peanut butter and crackers, plain rice with steamed veggies... very uninspiring to be honest.

It's also Canadian Thanksgiving, but the hubs be working, and I'm not visiting family this year, so I had to fill my day with some sort of food to be thankful for.

So I made one of my favorite dishes- Salt and Pepper Tofu.

Easy Salt and Pepper Tofu

Ingredients
Tofu, cut into cubes- medium firm to extra firm
Cornstarch
Salt, Pepper, Chili Flakes
Oil, for frying.

Directions
Heat your oil in a large skillet, enough so there's a nice layer of it in the pan.
Toss the tofu in some cornstarch, and add a few at a time, frying them, flipping them constantly, so that all the sides get nice and golden toasty.
Remove from the oil, and immediately toss with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Be generous with it! It's what makes it so yummy! Place on some newspaper to drain any remaining oil.
Continue with the rest of the tofu!

I served mine with some leftover basmati rice from the night before, stirfried with some frozen mixed vegetables, fresh garlic and freshly ground ginger... it was awesome.

Happy October

Hi there! It's October!

October is one of my favorite months! Pumpkin EVERYWHERE! (I love me some pumpkin!)

Unfortunately I am currently without pumpkin, which is very sad, but made something delicious, which is very yummy! It's also extremely easy to make

Easy Mexican Style Grilled Sammiches

Ingredients:
Refried Beans
Sliced Tomatoes
Daiya Cheddar
Corn Tortillas
Chili Flakes
Cumin
Salt and Pepper

Ingredients:
Mix the refried  beans with some chili flakes, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Spread over a corn tortilla.
Top with a tomato, and then some Daiya. Add another corn tortilla.
Heat a skillet on med-high with some oil or cooking spray.
Once hot, add the sandwich. Cook, flipping every so often to prevent burning, until the cheese is melty and the sammich is hot throughout.
Eat and Enjoy!

This is also exceptionally good with Guacamole or avocados in it, as well as salsa, corn, and various other veggies added! It's super delicious!

Happy to Be Back Sushi

So I've been gone. Again.

I broke my computer. Again.

But Now I'm back! And I made some sushi!

Super Unhealthy Sushi

Ingredients:
Sushi Rice, prepared
Eggplant, cut into sticks
Tofu, cut into sticks
Carrots, grated into matchsticks (I have a julienne grater)
Scallions, bottom cut off
Sesame Seeds
Rice Chex
GF flour mixed with soy milk to form a pancake like batter
Oil, for Deep Frying
Nori
Vegannaise
Sriracha sauce

Directions:
Heat the oil on the stove.
Take your Rice Chex, and crush to form tempura like flakes with a rolling pin.
Coat the tofu and eggplant in your Flour and milk mixture, and then quickly toss with the rice chex flakes.
Deep fry the tofu and eggplant until golden and crunchy.
Spread the rice onto the sushi, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Top with a scallion, carrot strips, and some tofu and eggplant.
Roll the roll and slice into pieces.
Mix together some vegannaise and sriracha sauce to form a spicy mayo dip.
Enjoy!

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 Rice Cooker Meal

So I'm currently waiting on my student loans to come in, and we just finished paying rent and a bunch of bills, so it's fairly slim pickings in the money for food department. This means we head back to the staple vegetables: potatoes, onions, carrots, and cabbage. Cheap, delicious, take a little while to go bad. Everything you want in a vegetable when you have a very depleted bank account!

But how to combine them? There is a very easy way to accomplish this. And it involves only 3 items: A small mug, a knife, and a rice cooker.

Here's the sitch:

Easy as Heck Rice Cooker Casserole

Ingredients:
1 carrot, chopped up
a chunk of cabbage, chopped up
1 small onion, chopped up
1 chunk off of a sweet potato, peeled and chopped up
Rice
Water
Spaghetti Sauce

Directions
Take all your chopped up vegetables and chuck them into the rice cooker.

Look at the veg. Yum!

Next, take a mug, and fill it with rice.

I never quite fill it to the top, else I always spill it

Add the rice to the bowl. Next, add 1 mug full of pasta sauce, and 1/2 mug full of water. Stir everything together.

Oooh this looks good!

Turn the rice cooker on, and let it do it's thing.

Sweet Babies!

Then you eat it, and enjoy the fruits of your very cheap labor. Adding things like garlic, regular potatoes, other vegetables, etc, and it'll still work. If you want to add frozen peas (and who wouldn't?) add them in right at the end, else they get all mushy and weird... no good.

nom nom nom!

Blogging on the GO- Boozy Edition!

So I'm in New Jersey.

Ocean City New Jersey to be precise. It's a beach town, as one might guess by the name. Unfortunately for me, I'm not really much of a beach person but it's good for relaxation.

Ocean City also happens to be a dry county, but that didn't stop my sister Shanta and I from making these!

Fishing For Swedes Martini

Ingredients:

1 shot glass of Pinnacle Gummy Vodka

7 Up

2 swedish fish

Directions:

Combine the vodka and the seven up. Add the Fish. Drink your worries away!

This makes a pretty good party drink too! I'd put the swedish fish on some toothpicks and eat them out first, they tend to get a little manky when they sit in liquid for a long time!

Matthew Cooks

Matthew cooked something!

Warning, I have no idea what it's called, or the exact ingredients.

All I know is that it had vegetables, olives, tofu, and was served over rice and incredibly spicy! It was also incredibly delicious! He tells me that it was based off of a Senegalese recipe he found in the Globe and Mail.

If I get the recipe out of him I'll edit this!

Coconut Waffles with Carmelized Bananas

I love waffles... so very very much!

My awesome cousin Bobby and his lovely wife Linda had gotten me a waffle maker back in December, but in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it got forgotten at my grandmother's house! So I was without Belgian Waffles for many months, still knowing that they existed in potentia, but unable to savor them in my physical existence.

Luckily, my mom brought them back to her house with her when leaving my grandmothers, so I was able to acquire it while home for the wedding. The day after I got back I made these.

Coconut Waffles with Carmelized Bananas

Ingredients

2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix

3/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup applesauce

A dash of cinnamon

a tsp vanilla

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 banana, cut into slices and dipped in sugar

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Maple Syrup and Extra coconut milk for drizzling

Directions:

Combine The pancake mix, coconut milk, applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon and 2 tbsp vegetable oil. Mix together. Add in a bit of water if the batter is too thick. 

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan on medium heat, and heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add the sugar coated banana slices, and fry for about 1-2 minutes on each side, until they are browned all over. Set aside. 

Heat your waffle iron, and coat with some oil using a pastry brush (or spray with some pam, whatever)

Add enough batter to cover the iron. (Mine is quite large, so my batter made 2 1/2 waffles, yours might make more or a little less)

When the waffles are cooked, remove, and top with the bananas, some syrup, and any remaining coconut milk from the can! 

It's super good! 

Delicious Eggplant Garlic Pasta

I always love serving people food that's not noticeably vegan. What do I mean? I mean food that would be vegan anyway, even if it was made by non-vegans.

It's always nice, when dealing with skeptics over food, to serve things that would be vegan anyway, like this sort of pasta dish, as it lulls them into a false sense of security that nothing is changing... and that's when you can snag them to change their minds on veganism!

As a note, I half did this at the wedding, which was completely vegan, and put half dishes that would have been vegan anyway (veggie samosas, veggie sushi, etc) and then put in things that were more out there, but still delicious (spicy marinated tofu satay, vegan cheese sauce on nachos, etc) And I had several comments to the tune of "If I ate like this all the time, I could be vegan too, I think." To whit I'd reply "I do, and I am!"

But onto the recipe!

Eggplant Garlic Pasta

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped fine

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small eggplant, cubed

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 tomato, diced

2 spring onions, sliced

1 serving of cooked pasta of your choice (I used quinoa pasta!)

White wine, salt, pepper (to taste)

Baby spinach leaves, for garnish/serving with (optional)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant. Add in the mushrooms, and continue to cook until they start to give off liquid. 

Add in the eggplant, frying until cooked through. Add a dash of white wine (optional, but so good!)

Add in the tomatoes and spring onions, cooking for about 1 minute to lose the raw taste. 

Finally, add in the pasta, tossing together, and add more white wine and the salt and pepper if desired. Cook until the wine liquid dissapates. 

Serve with baby spinach, or a salad, if you want (or are trying to impress someone!)

Mia Culpa

I know! I've been away for like... 3 weeks!

But I swear, I had a good reason! This summer has been craaaazzzyyyy!!!

My Reason?

I had a wedding :) Here are some pictures for you fine people... and as a warning, it was themed!

Terra the "best Man", Matthew, Me, and Robert, the "Maid of Honor"

The Bridal Party

Now Kiss!

With my Mum and My MomMom 

Yay! Married!

My brother Pete came as Darth Maul!

Fooling Around with Lightsabers

Our first dance was to "Geeks in Love" By Lemon Demon

My Mum and the sisters I grew up with (my other siblings were grown up when I got there!)

My sister Krista and my Neice Zoe dancing it up!

Dance Dance Dance

The Girl in the cute hat and the red shirt made all the jedi costumes!

Me and my old music partner Mike

My Brother and My boss, dancin!

My brother Pete Put on a fireworks show!

Regularly Scheduled Recipes to Resume Soon!

As an exciting note, Matthew has decided to convert to veganism now that we're married! Yay for Matthew!