Takin' Care of (food) Business

Need to get caught up on quite a few things with you today, and then I'll get to this foodie pic!
*update*: recipe is now posted!


First, I've posted the pantry list that is referenced in ed&bv. It will remain on this page, along with the ed&bv edits.

Second, the ed&bv reprint is on its way, but the shipment was delayed. To those of you waiting for ed&bv, and that have commented here and through e-mail, etc, wondering about the delivery time... I am so sorry. There is nothing I can do about it, except give you these details that while the shipment was supposed to be in Vancouver last week, the shipper experienced delays, and so now it will not arrive until about Feb. 7th... which means, another 2-3 weeks wait for those of you that have ordered through amazon, etc. If I could ship you a book myself, I would... but I don't even have any stock in my house! So, please, be patient... and I'll try to make up for it with some food posts, and a couple of recipes to keep you going? Okay?! (*note to ed&bv winners Kristina and veganmomma: this also means I haven't mailed your copies yet. If you'd like a copy of Vive instead of ed&bv, just let me know. I do have copies of Vive on hand, and can mail one to you this week.)

Third, congratulations to Dawn Ratcliffe and Joe Espinosa for your leafleting accomplishments with Vegan Outreach last semester (Dawn handed out 16,595 brochures to college students; Joe 27,623!). You have both won a copy of Vive le Vegan!, and it should be arriving within a few days at your doorstep... enjoy!

Next, I've adopted. Not a child. Not an animal. A blogger! You see, I received a request from Kristen at Dine and Dish. She started this 'adopt-a-blogger' event pairing 'veteran' bloggers with newer bloggers. She mentioned there was one vegan request from a new blogger and she hadn't found a veteran match. So, I signed up... and little did I know, I had adopted veggiegirl! Over the next couple of weeks, I will make one of Liz's recipes, and she will make one of mine. Fun idea, huh? (though, I told Liz that I don't think I have too much to guide her through with blogging... she is quite the expert already!)

Now, to the food. What is this picture of vegan sweetness above? It's Maple Banana Loaf from TEV, but I chose to bake it in a larger baking dish (8 x 12; baking for less time, about 26-28 mins), rather than a loaf pan, making it more of a snack cake. I posted about this quick bread before, and it's really an easy recipe that uses only maple syrup as a sweetener, and is also low in fat (if that's something you're looking for in baked goods).

I'll post this recipe (hopefully by this evening) so you can try it, and will also include with some notes about subbing another flour for the portion of kamut flour in the recipe (there is a blend of whole-wheat pastry and kamut flours in the batter). I sprinkled a handful of chocolate chips on half of the batter before baking... just for some fun and variety. What's truly excellent in this loaf, if you're up for it, is mixing chocolate chips and a handful of lightly toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter before baking. Makes the loaf higher fat, obviously, but boy that banana-chocolate-nut combination is wonderful!

Okay, so check out the recipe, and stay tuned... (hint: Food Network Canada recipes soon to come!)

Mac-Oh, Geez!... & Family Oven & Veg Blog

This is not the most colorful photo, I know. Rather beige-ish. But *look* at that sauce oozing out of that one penne noodle in the front!

Comfort food happiness is what this is. I call it Mac-Oh, Geez!. I know, corny. But, I had a hankering to make a casserole style mac'n cheese type of dish. But not with tofu, or nutritional yeast, or tofu sour cream, or anything like that. So, it's not 'cheezy' as such, and more like an alfredo sauce, being creamy, rich, and luscious... and with a crunchy bread-crumb topping (like my mom used to make). It's gooood comfort food.

This one's not in any of my books, and I'm just finishing up this recipe so I'm not able to share it just yet. What the heck am I doing creating more new recipes anyhow? I've figured it's an addiction! Talking with my sister about it I said "I know I should be taking a break, but I can't help myself". She said "it's your creative outlet, you need that". Now, that sounds much better than 'addiction', doesn't it? Big sis set me straight. :)

On to a few other bits... this week you'll see my as the Feature Blogger at Family Oven. You can jump on over for a boo and a read. Thanks for the feature, Family Oven.

Also, Ryan just posted a "Double Dose Of Dreena" review over at Veg Blog. Can you handle a double dose of me?! I joked with Ryan that even my husband can't take that! Anyhow, if you'd like more insight into eat, drink & be vegan (as well as the everyday dish dvd), Ryan shares his straight up and thorough review... thanks again Ryan.

Wanna 'double dose of mac-oh-geez'? Here's another pic...

Cashew-Chocolate Crumb Chocolate Ice Cream Pie for 14th Anniversary

That's 14 yrs hubby and I have been married, not 14 yrs that I've been blogging. Goodness, if I reach a 14 yr blogging anniversary, someone intervene, please! Makes me wonder though where will we'll be online in years to come...

I'm digressing already and I've just started typing! Let's get to the food. So, as I said last week hubby and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Wow, that's a long time, and I have been blessed every day to be with him. xo honny.
The boy loves his chocolate. Yes he does. So, I made my Cashew-Chocolate Crumb Ice Cream Pie from Vive. I do love ice cream pies. You can make them a few days in advance... plus, they're easy to 'hide'! He had no idea I made it.

Normally I use chocolate ice cream in the centre, but I opted for vanilla this time round. Both are great, really just personal preference. I think I do prefer the chocolate ice cream myself... for a triple chocolate threat hit!

So, we start with the chocolate cookie base. Get yourself some chocolate cookies (ex: as Nature's Path Deep Chocolate Cookies or Newman's Own). Whiz up in your food processor until very fine/crumbly. Mix with the crust ingredients, which include cashew butter. Bake for a wee bit, then remove and cool.

Once cool, soften ice cream, and then scoop into the crust. Distribute as even as you can, but it doesn't have to be smooth. Now, pop this into the freezer to get the ice cream good and frozen again.

Make the chocolate-cashew topping, combining the choc chips, cashew butter, non-dairy milk, etc, and let cool a bit. Yum, this is so thick and rich!

Once that ice cream is frozen again, pour the topping over and tip back and forth to cover - again it doesn't have to perfectly cover - looks pretty a little uneven. Back to the freezer it goes until you're ready to serve.

Then, when you want to serve, get this pie out for 5 mins or so to soften enough to cut - 'cause it's a bugger to cut very frozen! (and believe me, I know. Usually too impatient to wait, I find myself trying to hack into it.)

Then, sit back and ahhhhhhh enjoy! You know what this pie reminds me of?... especially with the vanilla ice cream option...? those Dairy Queen ice cream cakes... with the choc layer, vanilla layer, and then those choc crumbs in the centre. I never realized it when I tested the pie for Vive, but after making it with the vanilla ice cream this week, it brought back memories of those DQ cakes....

with that, I might just have to change my mind. Think I like the vanilla version best of all.

Organics: Sticky Business

I do love organics. But THIS...

I don't love. Do you experience the same thing buying organic produce from your natural markets?

E-V-E-R-Y single piece of veg or fruit has the produce code sticker on it. Even small items like roma tomatoes, mandarin oranges... and in the late summer - teeny plums! So, you need to pick away every sticker before you wash the produce. Sure, you can leave it on and wash it... but you then have to cut away that part with the sticker - plus, the sticker gets even more gummy on the produce once wet.

I mentioned in this post (and also in ed&bv) that I always wash the bulk of my produce after returning home from my grocery shop. Saves time in the long run. But, again, leaves me with this kind of sticker collection on my sink. Lovely.

I'm waiting for the summer to get my sticker break!... When the farmers' market is in full swing, and nothing is sticked or tagged. And, it's all incredibly fresh! Still, I consider myself lucky to have access to so much organic produce, when I know some of you are in areas without much.

But those darn stickers.

(P.S. I am now on facebook, so if you're also there, you can add me here!)

Lemony Lovin' - Lemon Chickpea Lentil Soup

I must be in a lemon frame of mind. Just a night after making the Lemon Garlic Pasta, I move on to making Lemon Chickpea Lentil Soup from ed&bv.

Did you know that fresh lemon juice is good for your liver?... helps cleanse and strengthen. Hmmm, maybe it's the post-Christmas-chocolate indulgences that I'm working on with the lemon juice. :)

So, here we are making the soup. When I make soups, or one-pot dishes, I always get everything needed in the first step of cooking straight in the pot, as shown here with the onions, garlic, herbs, spices, and oil. Then, once I get it on to the stove, cover it and start the cooking, I have 6-8 minutes to get the other ingredients going, such as rinsing the lentils, getting the stock ready, etc. Speaking of veggie stock, this is the brand I use. I talk about this stock in ed&bv, and really, I love using it. It is convenient, and doesn't take up much space or quickly expire as do the tetra-pak stocks. Plus, imo, the flavor of this Harvest Sun veg stock is better than the tetra-pak stocks. 1 cube = 2 cups of stock, so you can divide cubes if needed for 1 cup.


Once the veggies have softened, you add the lentils, chickpeas (reserving some), zukes (or tomatoes, I used zukes this time round), stock, etc, and let simmer until the lentils have softened up.

Then, remove the bay leaves (oooh, steamy soup!) so you can give the soup a whiz - 'cause you don't want to blend those babies up. Blend some (not fully, just to make a little creamy and thick, but keeping some bits of veg in there). And guys, you've GOTTA have an immersion blender in your kitchen!!

After blending, you can return the bay leaves to the soup to continue to flavor the mixture, and pour on in that fresh lemon juice (did I mention not to use the bottled stuff. no. no. no. fresh lemons only please).

I know it might sound odd to add something acidic to a soup, but it really heightens and brightens the flavor... and in this case it adds some tang as well, using anywhere from 1/4 - 1/3 cup. Then, finally if you have fresh thyme around, add some to the soup for a few minutes before serving. It's not listed as an ingredient must, but since there is dried thyme in the soup, the fresh thyme just boosts that flavor, and it so bloody delicious with the flavors in the soup.

Here's your wee thyme leaf. Remove the leaves simply by holding the top end of the stalk with one hand, and pinching your thumb and index finger of your other hand to pull down in the opposite direction of the growth of the leaves, as shown (yeah, I'm only using one hand here, but someone has to take the pic)! Now, if your thyme is very young and tender, this can be tedious to do because the stalk itself is so soft. In this case, just chop up. Also, if your stalks are very thick with lots of little stalk growths and too plentiful to pull in opposite direction, use the same technique to pull the leaves away, but pull along in the direciton of growth of the leaves - you won't 'clean' the stalk as well, but it will save time. Have I lost you? If you get a several stalks of thyme, you'll understand - some are sparse like the one shown left, and others are quite thick and well, stalky. Anyhow, after getting the leaves, chop a bit and add to the soup for ~5 mins before serving. Add fresh pepper and extra salt if you like (ground coarse sea salt is great!). Then slurp up!

...and now, who am I kidding... as if I've stopped eating chocolate since Christmas.

Lemon Garlic Pasta & Basil Chiffonade

We're getting back to some of our regular meals now after the holidays, huh? After all, what better way to embrace this new year than by eating, drinking... and of course, being vegan??!! (can't help myself, I *do* love the title of my cookbook).

Yesterday got a little hectic near dinner hour, so I decided to whip up my Lemon Garlic Pasta from ed&bv.This pasta is a cinch to make, and if you love a decent kick of garlic combined with a sour pucker punch, you'll dive into your bowl of this pasta! And while the sauce is sour, when tossed with hot pasta, along with some of the pasta water, it takes on a slight creaminess that is so enjoyable.

Start by mixing the sauce. You whisk in a bowl, or blend with an immersion blender (which will give the sauce more creaminess with emulsifying the ingredients in the dressing).

Once the sauce is ready, you need only wait for your pasta to cook! Be sure to reserve a mug full of the pasta cooking water... it will help moisten the pasta with the sauce if it is sticking. I decided to throw a bunch of small broccoli florets in with the pasta during the last minute of cooking. A quick blanch of the broccoli, if you will. Then, drain it all, and toss with the toss. (You know, broccoli is one of those words that gets me in its spelling almost every time. I don't mind saying that I'm normally a very good speller... but if I had to count the times I've written "brocolli" instead of broccoli... I digress.)

You can add fresh basil or parsley to the pasta, which I did... and here's a how-to for getting those nice shreds of basil (sometimes called a 'chiffonade'):

Stack your fresh basil leaves, with the smallest on the top, as so.

Then, roll the leaves (I usually go lengthwise, but either way is fine) into a tight roll.

Run your sharp chef's knife through the roll (the closer together the cuts, the thinner and more delicate the basil strands), and you will have lovely little strands of basil like these! Da, da, DA!!!

Easy stuff, looks very frou frou. :)

Go get your apron on, and get to it, guys. No better time than now to go eat, drink & be vegan!

(as a post-note, while I enjoyed the broccoli in the dish, I prefer it with green peas as in this post. You can use frozen green peas, and just briefly cook them (~ a min) in the pasta cooking water as I did with the broccoli )

Winners of Cookbook Giveaway!

It's a very happy, vegan new year to two of you...

The winners of eat, drink and be vegan are veganmomma and Kristina!!!

Kristina and veganmomma, please e-mail me (dreena@everydayvegan.com) with your mailing address.

Congratulations to you both... this will be a yummy new year for you. :)