Fruity Pebble Waffles

Post number one of VeganMoFo 2012! I am pretty excited to start this up again. I miss blogging and it seems like if I don't force it, I never get around to it. I am really going to try to blog every day this month. Tonight is going to be a shorter post. I am traveling again. Spent the weekend in Minnesota with my boyfriend and he has agreed to try a weekend being vegan with me. Plan A was to do that this weekend, but we started things off having lunch at a restaurant without a lot of options. I know he would have sacrificed and had a salad with me, but I let him off the hook.. mostly so he wouldn't start off this attempt with no options for a good meal. I hate that people think vegans never get a good meal.. my other reason is that next week is Thanksgiving, and I am planning to make the dinner. I haven't hosted a holiday dinner in a long, long time and I am really excited that he is letting me do it and wants to be a part of it.

Even though this weekend did not end up being his vegan weekend, this morning we decided to make breakfast. The first time I went to visit, he made me waffles. It was a lot of fun and today marked 6 months of being together so it was a great reason to break out a vegan breakfast again. We used a really basic recipe for this waffles, but this time Tony had a genius idea, fruity pebble waffles. Seriously, genius! I had never had fruity pebbles up until a few weeks ago... they are kind of like fruit loops, but better. I was a little worried that adding them to the waffles would make them a little swamp water coloured, but they ended up looking and tasting fantastic.


Fruity Pebble Waffles

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/8 cup of ground flax
• 1 Tbsp of sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 - 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 a very ripe banana, mashed
• 1 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of fruity pebbles 
• 1 peach, diced
• maple syrup and powdered sugar

First mix all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside. Get a second smaller bowl and add the banana and mash is with a fork. Add the milk, vanilla and oil and mix.

The dry ingredients - Cinnamon is the secret. It makes any breakfast better

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and use an electric mixer to combine. You want it so there is little to no lumps in it. Now get out the fruity pebbles and add about a quarter cup to the batter and stir it until combined. We added ours by the handful until it looked like there was enough. I think this everyone is a bit different. You want the batter to kind of look like rainbow chip cake batter.

Secret #2 - Fruity pebbles. Sometimes it pays to cook based on cravings!

Next, heat up the waffle iron and spray with some oil. While you're waiting for the pan to heat up, dice your peaches. I did about a 1/2" dice, but again, this is up to you. If you are feeling like fancying this up, try making a peach sauce:

take peeled, diced peach and add it to a small sauce pan. Add about 2 Tbsp of white sugar and about a Tbsp of orange juice. Simmer it on low until the peaches are soft and the sugar is absorbed. You can add more juice if you want or use other juices if you have them. In the end, you are looking for a think glaze or sauce.

Action shot - the batter really looked like Rainbow cake mix!

Waffle time - Minutes away!

By now, your pan should be heated up. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the batter to the pan (amount is going to depend on the waffle iron. Cook to waffle iron instructions (about 3-5 minutes). When your waffle is ready, serve it with pure maple syrup, powered sugar and some extra fruity pebbles for garnish. Coconut Vanilla ice cream would also be an awesome what to serve these. Get creative.

Tony's waffle - He went fancy. 

My waffle - Not so pretty, but so, so yummy!!

Perfect start to Vegan MoFo. I can't wait for next weekend. Not only to be back with Tony, but to see what else he come sup with. Pressure is on Tony! ;)

Slow Cooker Porridge

Last night, I stayed in and it was fabulous. I watched a couple bad movies, hung out with the guinea pigs, read, and went to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. I was bored out of my mind!! So, around midnight last night, I started looking through cookbooks to find something special to make for breakfast.

I was thinking of vegan quiche, or french toast... Then I came upon a recipe for an Irish porridge that sounded so good that I had to try it.

This is a slow cooker recipe and I found it in this cookbook called the Little Vegan Slow Cooker.  I have tried a couple things out of this book before and they were awful, but this sounded so simple, I figured you couldn't go wrong. I made a couple of additions to the recipe because it seemed a bit lacking.

Slow Cooker Porridge

•  1 cup steel cut oats
•  4 cups water
•  1/2 cup brown sugar, plus extra for topping
•  1 Tbsp cinnamon
•  1/2 tsp salt
•  1 cup of fruit
•  vegan margarine
•  non-dairy milk

Put the oats, water, brown sugar and cinnamon into the slow cooker and stir really well. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Good to bed.

In the morning, give the porridge a stir and add the fruit (I used canned peaches) and let cook for 15 more minutes. Serve with a bit of milk (I used my homemade almond milk), vegan margarine, brown sugar and whatever else you think may work.

It doesn't take the prettiest picture, but the taste was excellent!

The original recipe did not have the fruit in it or the salt. You can make it without, but I think the fruit is a great addition. There is a quite a bit of sugar in this, so I wouldn't say it is the most healthy, but it is warm and filling. A good way to start the day without any real effort in the A.M.

The slow cooker is the lazy person's best friend. Dump things into it, turn it on and that's it! Before I went vegan, I used my slow cooker all the time. Most of the recipes I had were very meat-based, so when I switched to a vegan diet, I sort of stopped using it. I think it is time to start using it again.

Green Monsters Approaching!

Today was a pretty good day. See Magazine in Edmonton did a feature on vegans in the city and I got interviewed for it. Very cool to see a feature on vegans in Edmonton. Thanks to See and Angela for posting my recipe and blog! Click the link to view the article See Magazine - The Joy of Cooking Vegan

I cannot believe I have not done a post on green smoothies yet! I think I have mentioned them in passing once or twice, but never devoted a post to them. I started making green smoothies after reading Oh She Glows. I have always loved smoothies and this looked like a really easy way to get a few servings of veggies before 8:00 am.

The basic recipe:
- 1/2 to 1 banana
- 1 cup milk (any kind)
- 1 cup spinach, or kale
- Tbsp flax or chia seed
- ice

Throw it in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more milk if it's too thick.

Angela Liddon who created oh she glows has started a site devoted to the green monster: http://greenmonstermovement.com/. Check it out, there are lots of variations.

I usually put something with some vitamin c in it.. Apple sauce, lime juice, orange juice. Whatever is on hand.  If I use kale, I steam it first. Otherwise Kale can give a green smoothie a gritty texture. Nothing wrong with it, but some people may find it off-putting.

My favourite way to make a green smoothie right now, take the basic green smoothie recipe above and add:
- 1/2 avocado
- 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder
- 1 tsp sweetener (I use maple sugar)
- replace 1/2 of the milk with coconut milk
- 1.2 tsp vanilla

Warning: Adding cocoa or fruit can make a green smoothie look kind of... icky.. Pay no attention to this. Just because red or brown doesn't make a nice colour when mixed with green; doesn't mean the flavours won't work!

I now have green smoothies at least three times a week. They are easy, portable, tasty and good for. How often does that happen? Since starting them, I notice I can focus a bit better, and my energy levels are up.

Try them once, and I bet you'll be hooked. To prove my point - Even babies like them :)

Ben enjoying the euphoric green smoothie hangover