Let Me Eat Cake

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not always the most responsible with money. From time to time, I just say fuck it and go spend. I like doing it, it feels good and I rarely have remorse, even when I get the credit card bill. I go from being flush to broke all the time and I am pretty used to it. When I feel flush, I spend and when I am broke, I stay home.. and ground myself. I have never had long term goals to strive to. even though I am not the biggest thrill seeker or risk taker out there, I try very hard to live in the present. I don't want to die with thousands saved away for a rainy day. I make mistakes all the time, but I rarely dwell on them. Shit happens and  hopefully in the end I will make more good decisions than bad and most of my risks will pay off.

This week, I noticed a large amount of money sitting in my account. Not so much that I could pay off everything I owe and be good, but enough that it was like I was a month ahead. I happily paid all my bills for the month... not realizing that I had forgotten I was holding money int here for a cheque that was going to be coming out soon... So that cheque, all my bills and my rent all were withdrawn and just like that I was broke until next pay day. So much for being responsible!!

Normally Sunday is my day to make lots of food, do lots of food shopping and plan out the week. This week was a little different. Even though I could have gone and got groceries, I figured maybe this would be a good time to see what I can do with what I have. Sometimes my best creativity comes out when I am forced to look at what I have stocked and figure out what to cook with it.

I think this week is going to be an interesting one. I have lots of grains (Rice, barley, Wheat  berries, cornmeal), but not so much for protein (Chickpeas, dried beans and a little bit of tofu).  I have decided that I am only going to purchase food with whatever cash I can find in my apartment... so far I have found about $10, but opted to do laundry with it.

Feeling a little down about this forced grounding... I started really craving something sweet. I had an overwhelming urge to buy cake mix. Luck for me, I seemed to have enough ingredients kicking around to make a cake.. not a mix, but from scratch. It's always better from scratch. the nice thing about a cake is that almost all the ingredients are ones that are pantry items.. nothing that really goes bad. Really all you need is flour, sugar, milk, chia egg and baking powder. From there add any other ingredients you see fit. My favourite cake is golden yellow cake... I am pretty sure that nice golden colour comes from all the egg they put into most recipes. I decided that I needed to figure out how to veganize this..

Giant Vanilla Golden Cupcake Cake 

*Makes 1 small cake (8" pan), double for using in a 9 X 13"

Cake:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 chia egg (1tsp ground chia + 2 Tbsp water)
• 1/4 tsp tumeric (makes it golden)

Icing:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (you may add more if you like)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp chili powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or almond extract
• 2 cup of icing sugar 

Toppings:

• Toasted Coconut
• Chopped walnut

For the Cake: Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Get a sieve and sift the flour with the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Use your mixer and now mix in the butter, milk and vanilla until well combined. Now add the egg and the tumeric and mix very well (About 3 min or so). Prepare your pan but either spraying with cooking spray or using shortening to crease it. Add a little flour and cover it on the bottom and sides.

With cakes, sifting is always better

Another great thing about this recipe, only one bowl

Pour the batter into the pan. For mine, I used what seems to be a giant cupcake pan. Honestly I am not really sure what the real purpose of this small of a pan is, but it works perfect for me. I tend not to share my cakes, so whatever I make either gets thrown out or eaten. Personally I would rather just make less.

Giant cupcake, ready for the oven!

Put the cake into the oven and bake. Mine took about 35-40 min, but if you were doing cupcakes, I would think about 23-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them. To tell if they are ready either use a toothpick (Insert it into the centre of the cake and it is ready when that comes out clean) or look for when the edges start to pull in from the pan.

The worst part... waiting for the cake to cool

And.... ready for icing

Once the cake is done, let it cool fully before icing.

For the icing, melt the butter in a bowl. Sift in the cocoa, cinnamon, chili powder and cayenne. Now add in the the icing sugar and mix until it is well absorbed. I used about two cups, but it depends on what consistency you like. I recommend adding the icing sugar by a half cup until you get the desired consistency.

Trick to this icing, combine everything but icing sugar first

Then.. add a ton of sugar... a ton

Lastly, get some fun toppings like coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles.. what ever you want and add them on top of the icing.

Top of the cupcake to you!

This cake is so good. A little spicy (No heat, but you can tell it isn't a mix!) the tumeric gives it a beautiful golden yellow colour and the chocolate icing is just the right amount to get a good amount on the cake.

Since I used a giant cup cake pan, I decided to lop off the top of the cupcake and make it into a mini cake. Check out the results... I think it turned out pretty awesome.

Oreo Stuffed Cookies

One of the happiest days of being vegan was the day that I learned Oreo's contained no dairy. What does that say about them? Well for one, there is not much natural to them... definitely would not consider these a health food! It also says to me, that once in a while it's a perfect treat for me. I have no control when it comes to Oreo's, and really most cookies. I generally keep them out of my house because if they are here, I eat them until they are gone and never feel good after.

Not long ago, my boyfriend, Tony, sent me a picture... See below. I took it as a challenge and I am pretty sure it was meant to be interpreted that way. Really, how could I not try to make these knowing that they were vegan and knowing that I am a self-proclaimed cookie master! Tony did a little research for me by tasting different cookies with Oreo's and we determined that, yes, chocolate chip is the way to go. Lucky for me, I make a mean chocolate chip cookie... so why not put them on cookie steroids by stuffing another yummy cookie inside!

These cookies are monsters. Basically, consider one cookie, three cookies. Yummy chocolate chip cookie on the outside and warm Oreo in the middle. I can't think of something better to have after a long day...

How did I make these? It's actually pretty easy. You can take any chocolate cookie recipe you have on hand.. just remember that it will really only make half the number of cookies, so double if you want lots, but these cookies are pretty filling. I don't think I would recommend eating more than one in a sitting.

I used my chocolate cookie recipe found here

Now, when you have your dough ready, make each cookie dough into a ball. Press down with your hand or a spoon and then place an Oreo on top. Now take a second cookie and place on top. Make sure the cookies are large enough that they wider than the Oreo. Next, grab the dough and press the edges together to they are sealed.

Make your cookie dough, place an Oreo on the dough..

Place the second cookie dough on top and seal.

Pre-heat your oven to 375 F (Or if using a different recipe, just follow their cooking instructions). Bake the cookies to the recipe, mine took about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them for when the edges go golden brown... That means they're ready. Also, space the cookies out well, they can spread a bit.

Let them cook on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a plate.

there is an Oreo hiding in that cookie!!

Let me just say, oh man are these amazing. I wasn't too sure about the combo at first, but who ever came up with this Picture Tony send, they are genius. I am so glad Tony sent these to me now. He is finally coming up to brave Canadian winter and see me on my birthday... maybe he'll luck out and I'll make these for him so he has a snack for when he gets off the plane. He is the best for coming all this way just to celebrate my big 3-0, I should return the favour. What better way than a double threat cookie!

This recipe got me thinking... what else could you stuff inside a cookie? Fruit, obviously. I did that once with a sugar cookie and strawberries... they were good. What about peanut butter? Jam? Icing? Pumpkin? My brain is going a mile a minute.. mostly because I just test tasted these cookies and I am on an obvious sugar high... I think this will not be the last of stuffing food into cookies.... But what to try next?

Bannock and Babysitting

Last night I didn't blog. I didn't blog because I was tired after doing some baby sitting at my sister's. Not that it was difficult, her kids were pretty well behaved for toddler/baby. Really I have done much more strenuous things and not felt as tired... Maybe her kids are energy suckers, I don't know. Luckily for me, she made some vegan dinner so I would not starve while hanging with her kids. She had a veggie chili which once day I will get the recipe for. It is a black bean, corn, tomato mix. Really good, kind of more sweet than chili flavoured actually, but it really tastes great.

Kind of random, but with this she served up some Bannock... vegan bannock to be exact. I actually looked this up and it seems most bannock recipes are vegan. How awesome is that? I love when something just is and always was vegan. Makes my like easier. I assume it at some point was made in animal fat, but really veggie fat is just as good if not better.

 I have had bannock before. It is an awesome, sweet, filling bread that is native american. I have a grandma recipe for bannock and I have had it at a restaurant before... and I have to say in my limited experience... you need a little old lady to make this to really perfect the recipe. That said, my sister made an attempt.. and she did good.. like REAL good. This was the lightest bannock I have ever tried. I don't know if that is because of the switch for vegan ingredients.. or the fact that this recipe happens to have a lot of baking powder... Probably a bit of both. You must give this recipe a try.

I apologize, but no pictures right now. At the time, I didn't realize I would be blogging about this. I am hoping to try this recipe for myself and maybe reduce someone the sugar in it ... I will post pictures if I do.

Laura's Vegan Bannock
*Recipe from some dad from daycare. Thanks!

• 3 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar - (Note from Laura - I'm SURE you could reduce. The last bannock recipe I made had 1 tbsp, haha. 1/4 would be fine I bet)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup raisins (optional) - I bet blueberries would be good (Laura did not put these in, but agree with her comment!)
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 2 cup water

Pre-heat your oven to 400 F. Mix dry ingredients. Add shortening, mix with hands till texture is like large oatmeal (also seen described as wet sand). Now put 2 cups cold water in a bowl on the side and make a well in the flour mixture. Pour in 1/4 cup of the water into the well. Swirl in center till it forms a soft ball. Place on an un-greased baking sheet and keep repeating until the flour is gone. Make sure the dough is not sticky after you may the ball. If it is, add some more flour

Pat down dough in the pan and square off with a knife. Poke two holes in the centre of each square.

Bake for about 35 minutes

Laura - Thank your day care buddy for this recipe. It was so good. I am craving more now and if I had enough shortening, I would be in the kitchen making it!!

Hopefully will be back cooking things on my own tomorrow. I have some stuff ready to go, just not enough time to make it happen. It has been a busy week. This weekend could not come soon enough. 

Slow Cooker Burrito

I have been thinking about slow cooking for a while now. Every spring summer I get to the point where I never want to touch a slow cooker again and I put it away for the summer... every fall, I start feeling the urge to slow cook again. I am not sure if it is the temperature drop or the hibernation factor and I think it is likely a bit of both... slow cooking just seems like a must.

Yes, this was done in a slow cooker... Super easy

I decided to stay away from the usual slow cooker meals and try something a little different... how about slow cook burritos? I came up with this from looking through some old cook books and I came across a few recipes that were rice and beans of some sort. Every time I saw it, I kept thinking how much I would love a burrito... So why not just cook all the filling at once and then it would be ready made meal? Seems like a good idea, so I am giving it a go.

I think the nicest thing about this dish is that I can have it as a burrito, or on its own or with nachos. It is kind of like 3 different meals packed into one recipe.

I used a lot of basic tex-mex type veggies in this dish, but as I was adding ingredients, I came across a stray Anaheim pepper in my fridge. Anaheim is such a good match with this, I needed to included it, but decided to roast it first. I have never roasted my own peppers before. It was always something I figured you needed a gas stove to do it best. However, I felt like since I was not sauteing any vegetables in advance that I needed to have this in my recipe.

Turns out, roasting peppers is so easy! I can't believe I used to buy these jarred for 3-4 times the price of doing it myself. It took little time and no effort. Next time you are using peppers, try roasting!

Roasting Peppers
15 minutes

Ingredients:

• Peppers (Anaheim, Jalapeno, Bell etc)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Set your oven to broil and put the rask to the top setting. Now, place the peppers on a cookie sheet. take the olive oil and spread and rub over the peppers.

Put it in the oven and cook about 10-15 minutes. Check them and turn them often. Once they are all blistered and/or blackened, they are ready. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off, remove the seeds and slice.

Ready to use or serve. Try them in sandwiches, stir fries and basically any dish you normally put peppers in.

Pepper - Oil it up

Roast for 10-15 minutes

Peel the skin and ready to use

So, now that we have roasted peppers, time to make some slow cooker burrito filling

Slow Cooker Burritos

5 hours, 10 minutes prep

• Dice the following:
• 1 green pepper
• 1 onion
• 1-2 ribs of celery
• 2-3 tomatoes (about a cup)
• 1 roasted anaheim pepper
• 1 can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 cup of rice
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1/3 cup green onion chopped
• 2 tsp cilantro, chopped
• Lime juice I Used a lot... but probably a tablespoon for those that are not lime crazy

Combine everything up to the rice (Don't put the rice in yet!) Stir it and cook on high for 4- 4 1/2 hours. Stir in the rice and cook for another 45 minutes or until the rice is tender. Finally add the remaining ingredients and you are ready! 

Dump everything into your slow cooker...

Let is simmer.... and then add the rice..

let is simmer.... wait wait wait...

I think the nicest thing about this is that I didn't have to cook things really before slow cooking. I know it helps with flavour, but I really hate messing up more than one pot! When you are the dishwasher and the cook.... you look for any way to spare dirtying a pan.

As soon as it is done, you can start making your burritos... add any other ingredient you want... vegan sour cream, guac, cilantro, whatever you want. You could also use this to make chips... add some salsa, guac and vegan shredded cheese. I am seeing maybe a layered dip in my future with this filling. I think that would be amazing.. I guarantee no one will be wondering where the meat is... these rice and beans hold their own!

Scoop and serve - Could use in a layered dip, nacho, burrito or
Quesadilla filling

I made my burrito with some jalapenos and cilantro and really nothing else. The filling was so packed with flavour that I didn't even think about the fact that I didn't have any cheese. I am planning to freeze some of this off for a rainy day... Going to be great to be able to have this hidden away for a quick dinner or snack.

Peanut Butter Whiskey Cookies

I did not have the best day today... things at work are not going exactly to plan, my meeting ran long and had to skip the gym and as usual, I forgot about after work commitments which kills almost all of my time for cooking and relaxing after work.

After a long day, I really want to have a decent meal and if that can't be had, at least a good snack. I remembered when I first moved out on my own making peanut butter cookies quite a bit. Mostly because they only required a couple ingredients and took no kitchen appliances or time to make. Today, I decided these were a must... Even though these are good enough to stand on their own, I thought maybe I could do something to make them a little different than the basic recipe... What else goes good after a long day at work? Whiskey!

With very little additional work, I jazzed up this super easy recipe and turned it from an after school snack, to an after work snack. You could swap out the whiskey for other alcohols... spiced rum I think would be very good here. I origianlly  planned to have some chopped pecans on top, but I didn't have any on hand.. I instead used some apple slices. Apple and whiskey go, apple and peanut butter go, so I can only assume that Apple, peanut butter and whiskey all go perfect together.

Here we go with the recipe. The basic recipe is just the peanut butter, sugar and chia egg. From there, you can add things as you like. Just remember to balance the wet and dry ingredients. If the batter is too wet, the cookies will be flat and crunchy. If the batter is too dry, they will get cakey.

Peanut Butter-Apple Whiskey Cookies
*Makes 15 cookies, 20 minutes
Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used brown, but white works too)
• 1 chia egg (1 tsp ground chia seeds whisked with two Tbsp water)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp whiskey (I admit, I free poured... )
• 1/4 tsp instant espresso (optional.. this is my secret ingredient in most baked goods)
• 2 Tbsp Flour (Again this is an estimate depending on how cakey you want the cookies. Add by the table spoon)
• 1 apple, peeled and sliced thin

Very easy to make. Pre-heat the over to 325 F. In a bowl mix the peanut butter, sugar chia egg, salt whiskey and instant espresso. Once everything in combined, add a Tbsp of flour and mix. Does it look like cookie dough? If it is too thin, add another tablespoon of flour. I would not go beyond 4 tablespoons though.

The ingredients... looks kind of gross, but thinking these are going to taste great!

I wanted a crispier cookie, so I only added a little flour.

Now, take a spoonful of dough and roll it into a ball and place it on an un-greased cookie sheet. Press each cook dough ball down with a fork until flat. Top with apple slices and some extra sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on them, you don't want to over cook!

Roll into a ball and flatten with a fork.
This will make the cookie, look like a cookie

Ready for the oven!

And.. the result? Well, first I wish I hadn't eaten half the apple and put slices on all the cookies. As you can see above, I ran short and figured sugar was enough. It was good, but the apples make it so much better.

The apple looks good and tastes even better!

These cookies are pretty boozey, if you are not into boozey cookies, use vanilla instead of the whiskey. or cut the alcohol in half. Me personally? I can't wait to eat these with a glass of whiskey on the rocks for dunking ;)

Roast beet and Fennel Soup

I have been talking for a while now about soup and slow cookers and in general, fall and winter foods. I have decided to free-hand a new soup. I was looking for something with lots of flavour and something that would be really warming on a cold day. Searching through my fridge I found beets. I had planned to roast them, but why not use them in a soup.

Beets can go with so many things, so I did a little googling and found a number of recipes that paired beets with fennel. Fennel is something I have never purchased and never used. I figured, this was a perfect opportunity to give it a try. Nice thing about roasting vegetables, it makes recipes a little more forgiving. There is so much flavour unlocked when you roast vegetables, you don't need to add a whole lot more to make a good tasting soup.

Fennel is a root vegetable used in Mediterranean cooking. it is high in vitamin C, Potassium and Folate. All good things. Beets are also a great source of folate and also manganese and fibre. On top of that, they are both loaded in phytonutrients and all sorts of antioxidants. As a someone that eats a vegan diet, I think it is really important to get a wide range of vegetables. I  can't say I am always the best at this, but i love when I can introduce something new.

Prepared for roasting. The foil helps with evening the temperature
good for things like beets when left whole

Both of these vegetables lend themselves to roasting, plus it is so easy to do.. I had to roast these before making my soup. To roast, trim the beets so the greens are removed (If you want, you can save these and use them in salad or saute them). Next toss the whole beets in olive oil and salt and pepper. Now get a large peice of tin foil and wrap the beets in it (This will help to cook evenly and prevent juices from dying the fennel red). Now get the fennel and trim it so the stalks are removed. Cut into quarters, toss in the same olive oil and salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet with the beets. Roast them at 375 F for about an hour.

Exactly one hour later. My kitchen smells so good

Now, if you want, you can just slice and eat these as is, or you can make a soup with them. I chose to make soup:

Roasted Beet and Fennel Soup
*Makes 8-10 servings, about 1 hour if the vegetables are already roasted

• 3-4 beets roasted, skins removed and quartered
• 2 fennel bulbs, roasted and quartered
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper diced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 tsp ground sage
• 1 Tsp ground thyme
• 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 5-6 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tsp siracha
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup milk or soy cream
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, sliced (optional)
• 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped (optional)

If you haven't done so, roast the fennel and beets as noted above and let cool. While you're waiting, chop up the other ingredients so you are ready to build the soup. Remove the beet skin and chop into quarters or smaller if you want and set aside. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add a little olive oil. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the garlic and leek and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Now add the sage and thyme and cook again for another minute.

Prep done, makes building a soup a lot easier

Step one - Saute all the base vegetables 

Step two - add herbs

Add in the beets, fennel and vegetable stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or so. You can go longer if you want... or do this in a slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Step 3 - add the stock and remaining ingredients and wait...
keep waiting...

Now, get out your immersion blender and put on an apron. Beets stain and splatter could wreck what you're wearing. Keep this in mind! Blend the soup until it is a nice cream texture. If you want some chunks, that is fine too. Do it to taste. Now stir in the siracha to taste and the red wine vinegar. I used what was listed above and it was good. Definite hit of spice though!

Before serving, add fresh basil and parsley to each bowl. You can also garnish with a little fennel leaves if you like. Drizzle in a little of the soy milk/cream

See how pretty it looks with all the garnish

Should last for about 5-7 days. If you can't finish it, freeze it!

So... the results.. this soup was a hit. It is rich and a smooth, but also has a good blend of spicy, sweetness and freshness. Really instead of beets you could use any other root vegetable here, but the colour that comes from this soup is so pretty. Somewhere between a strong magenta and a deep scarlet red. By the time I finished this, I didn't even want anything to eat, but couldn't help myself once I tasted it. I think adding the milk at the end adds a nice layer and looks nice, so try not to skip this. My sister (a non-vegan) tried it with sour cream (Toffuti makes a vegan one). Normally beets are paired with sour cream, but she said that it was a bit overpowering and that it was better alone.

The only thing I don't like about this recipe is the mess that the beets make. Roasting on foil is a smart tip I found and saved a huge amount of mess.... but my hands, some of my floor, the cutting board and Tupperware have been dyed red! I love beets, but man are they messy! Keep this on away from kids I think..

Raw Vegan Icecream

This is one of my first attempts at a raw recipe… You can buy vegan ice creams in most grocery stores now. There are soy, rice, and coconut ones that I have seen here. In the US they have endless flavours and types. Here in Canada, we don’t have so many, but the basic ones are available and they are delicious.

I have heard of easy vegan ice cream recipes before, but most of them are frozen banana in a food processor with a few other ingredients. My boyfriend calls this baby food and while to his face I deny it.. in reality I completely agree. There are not a lot of occasions that I have the urge to eat mashed banana. Maybe if it was with something else, but not on its own! The store bought ice cream is really expensive. Last time I checked, I think I spent $9.00 on a pint of ice cream. A little ridiculous.

I found a recipe in a raw food book for a raw, hard ice cream. It seemed easy enough. Basically nuts, agave and water plus what ever flavor you want to add. Could it really be this easy? I had to try for myself.

I made two types – Straight up vanilla and spicy chocolate.

I think that people overlook how good cinnamon and chocolate are together. They rarely get paired, yet when they do they are so delicious. I have a brownie recipe I hope to try one day that is a similar flavor combo, so I thought this would be an easy place to test things out.

Vegan Ice Cream

* 10 minutes to prepare, 2-4 hours to chill. Makes about 1 1/2 cups

• Nuts (Cashew, Hazelnut, almond etc)
• ¼ cup of agave syrup
• ¼ - 1/2 cup water

Vanilla Ice Cream

• 1 tbsp vanilla or a vanilla bean

Spicy Chocolate

• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cayenne

Apple Cinnamon Spice

• substitute apple juice for the water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp apple cinnamon spice
• Optional - stir in diced apple

Easiest instructions ever. Process the nuts until they are finely ground. While the food processor is running, add the agave, water and then flavouring. Check the consistency. Mine came out more like a brownie batter and I should have added more water. You want the consistency to be closer to a cake batter or a very thick cream. Put it in a container and freeze for 2 hours. Remove and stir and then freeze again for 2 more hours or up to overnight.

Processed... looked a lot like brownie batter.... hmmm

So... Results. Well... it is a frozen dessert. I think if I did this again, I would use more water in the recipe. It is almost too rich. Normally I can eat a bowl of ice cream, but I would say about 1 scoop is plenty for me.

That said, for the amount of time it took to make this, it is a pretty cool way to save some money to do your own ice cream.

I think if you had an ice cream maker and followed a more traditional recipe, you would get something that was a little closer to the store bought stuff. It is nice to know though that this raw alternative works. I am considering still attempting a raw diet and one thing I freak out about is lack of treats. I would eat this again for sure.

Kind of looks like ice cream, doesn't it?
Kind of tastes like it too!

I am actually pretty excited to try this again. Hopefully I can post some more pictures and results for you soon!

Popcorn Challenge - Vegan Style

I successfully have gone to two swim practices in a row now. Even though I am really slow and completely out of shape, I am liking being back in the pool. Most nights I come home from work and I either cook, go out to eat or laze around the house watching TV. The only thing I get close to accomplishing is food related and I figure it is time to change it. One of my favourite things to do after swimming when I was a kid was to go for doughnuts. Kind of like the reward for doing something healthy. Balance it with a little unhealthy. Now that I am vegan, I can't just whip through the Timmy's drive through on my way home. The only place in this city that has doughnuts sometimes that are vegan aren't open that late. So, I saw two options... Either make doughnuts or find another after swimming treat. I am not quite ready to try my own doughnut recipe (Maybe soon though?) I decided, it would be much smarter to find another snack.

Enter popcorn.

I think one of the best snacks in the world is popcorn. The smell is addictive and it is practically impossibly to mess up. You can air pop, oil pop or get the microwave bags and have a filling snack in minutes. I remember when I went vegan, I realized that almost all microwave popcorn is not vegan. This was a very sad day. I think the worst is when I smell it. That chemical butter smell is highly addictive. I couldn't just give up popcorn and most certainly was not going to just eat it plain.. so I learned how to make popcorn without a bag and a micro wave. Two ways that I use:

1. Air pop - You can buy an air popper for less than $20. I find they last me about a year or so and tend to start clunking out on me after that. The nice thing about these things is that there is no added fat to making the popcorn and you can make as much as you want. I find about 1/4 cup is more than enough. Major drawback is that the machine is not well made and doesn't last that long and there are always kernels that don't pop.

2. Oil popping - All you need is popcorn, a tablespoon of oil and a big pot and just like the air popper, you can have popcorn in a couple minutes. The trick to oil popping is first warm the pan, then add the oil (I find the best are peanut or coconut. You want any oil that can heat to a high temperature; olive oil will burn) Once the oil is hot, add 4-5 kernels of popcorn and put the lid on it. When those kernels pop, you know the oil is ready. Add the remaining popcorn and cover the pot. take it of the heat for 20-30 sec. this allows the kernels to all get to the same temperature. Next put it back on the heat and move it around on the element so it doesn't burn. Every kernel will pop this way.

Very important - put a couple kernels in the pop and wait for them to pop

Then add the rest of the kernels and take it off the heat
for 20 seconds. Now everything is the same temp.

2 minutes later - Voila! 

In order to make popcorn a worthy blog post, I thought I would write about different ways I make popcorn that are vegan. You can just buy some vegan butter or margarine and add it like you would normally, but like most vegan people I have to make it more interesting. Tonight I tested four different flavours, two sweet and two savory.


The Sweet

Popcorn and brown rice syrup
This of this as a slightly more healthy version of caramel popcorn. The nice thing about it is that you just need to add a couple spoonfuls of brown rice syrup and you're ready to eat. No cooking caramel or worrying about burning the sugar. Another good thing about this is that you don't get the blood sugar spike as bad with brown rice syrup.. that's why I get to call it a slightly healthier version. In the end, it's still a sugar, but it is also a great treat. You could also do this with maple syrup or agave.

Brown sugar and cinnamon
I made this with cinnamon toast in mind. I personally just like brown sugar more than white, so you could use whatever sugar you want. Add about 1 Tbsp of sugar for every 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. taste and adjust if you want. I also add a small bit of canola oil to this to help the sugar stick to the popcorn. Sweet and spicy, this is a flavour combo that cannot be beat. You could also dice up some apple to go in here or melt down some peanut butter. Actually, adding both of those together would be amazing. I think I'll try that next time!

The savory

Chili powder, salt, cayenne and paprika with olive oil
This is probably the one that I do the most. It is salty, smokey, and a little spicy. Totally delicious. I don't really measure when I make this, but I would say about Tbsp olive oil and tsp of paprika and chili powder and maybe 1/8 tsp of cayenne.

Garlic powder, salt and nutritional yeast
This is a nice way to have a salty snack and get some B12 in your diet. Nutritional yeast is not for everyone, but it is a nice combo with garlic. Sometimes I add Italian seasoning to this as well. Depends on the mood. I add about 1-2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp Italian season, 1 tsp nutritional yeast and some olive oil to bind it. Toss and you're ready.

I think my favourite thing about popcorn is that I have total control over it. I can make it salty or sweet or both. Completely up to me. that and it only takes minutes to fulfill the craving. I hate to wait when I want something.