Rigatoni with Chickpea Sauce

Today, I'm giving you a recipe that as been a regular at our house for more than 10 years. It comes from Susan Powter's Food, one of the first books I have read explaining the link between health and nutrition or more to the point, all the junk and crap that is in the foods we eat (or used to!).
Taking care of ourselves and cultivating health is above all, taking responsibility for our food and lifestyle choices. Each thing that we eat is a choice that we make, sometimes a conscious one. But all too often, people refuse to learn where their food comes from and what the implications are. Not to mention, what they are supporting with their money.
So it's definitely an entertaining read from a colorful woman. I learned lots from this book and it opened doors in my mind to help me learn more about the subject and make better choices all around.

So to get back to the recipe, I hope you'll want to try it because rosemary in this is wonderful and the pureed chickpeas give a creamy texture that is very interesting, too! Add fresh parsley from the garden, if you have it!

Rigatoni with Chickpea Sauce
From Susan Powter's book Food.


- 2 19oz cans chickpeas, rinced and drained
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups white onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 28oz diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1-lb rigatoni (I use a 700g bag)
- fresh parsley, chopped


In a blender, puree half of the chickpeas with the tomatoes. Set aside.

In a big pot, sautee onions and garlic until golden, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add in the tomato/chickpea mixture, the rest of the chickpeas, broth and rosemary.
Simmer 20 to 30 minutes. (Meanwhile, cook pasta to al dente).

Remove from heat, stir in fresh parsley, salt and pepper and serve over rigatoni.

Bon appétit!

Apple Bok Choy Salad

Hey gals!
How have you been doing? Do you have nice and sunshiny weather where you live?
Here, we are still waiting for a real Spring... I haven't started gardening yet. Too cold, too wet. Very depressing. My tulips didn't grow past 15cm in height and lots of flowers are dead. I've said this before but I want to move! Somewhere warm!

In any case, I feel kind of pathetic for not taking better care of my blog and I've decided, again, to go by a different format. I'm not too interested in showing pictures after pictures of everything dish I have made, although that is nice too. But I've done that and I need a change. So I want to try posting more recipes. Here is the first one of this "new era" ;-)

This Apple Bok Choy Salad recipe was not vegan when my mom came across it and so she proceeded to make it better, meaning, she veganized it. It is very simple and very, very fantastic with its crunchiness and freshness and all around goodness. I could eat the whole bowl by myself. Be prepare to read that often here :p

Try it soon and tell me about it!



Apple Bok Choy Salad
Gaia's Mommy

• 3 or 4 rounded Tbsp Vegenaise/Veganaise
  
• 2 or 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
  
• 2 tsp unrefined sugar or agave nectar
  
• ½ tsp celery salt
  
• ¼ tsp sea salt
  
• 6 cups finely chopped bok choy
  
• 1 large apple (I like Fujis), julienned
  
• 1 large carrot, julienned
  
• ½ cup red oignon (or white onion), finely sliced
  
  

In a large bowl, whisk together the veganaise, vinegar, sugar and salts until smooth and creamy.

Add bok choy, apple, carrot and onion.

Mix, adjust seasonings to taste if necessary and serve right away or chill before serving.

Long overdue

Happy New Year!
(we're still in January so I'm not that late, really).
I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season and that 2009 will bring you all the best of everything good.

You might have noticed that I have not been around here in a while and I have no other excuse than I didn't feel like blogging although I have quietly been visiting most of you.
Today though, I'm finally posting a bunch of photos to make myself want to cook.

I'll start by saying that I'm still very much into Breakfast Ice Cream.



But I finally tried it in a cone (I'm a big baby that way).



Believe me, an ice cream cone for breakfast makes you very popular with your own kids and they will gladly clean off their bedrooms after this if you play your cards right.



This was a fresh garden salad (it was fresh, back in September) with Goddess dresssing. I just can't wait for the snow to melt and start gardening again. OR, I want to move someplace where I can garden all year long. I would actually REALLY prefer the second option. Feel free to make location suggestions.



Could not resist :p



Veganomicon's White Bean and Leek Cassoulet. So good and satisfying! And there is never enough.



Rice Crispy Chocolate Swirls Squares made with Sweet & Sara Vegan Marshmallows! Again, my boys loved me :)



Vegan Bubble and Squeak with Gravy. This was an experiment and we totally loved it. I need to make some soon.



Thai Curried Chickpeas OR Curried Thai Chickpeas. I'm not sure. But it is one of those meals that is simple and done in 10 minutes (or so) and that makes you go mmmmmm! with every bite.



Vegan Swedish Neatballs (a variation of Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe). Another successful experiment. Now when we go to IKEA, we can bring a thermos of that stuff ... and shop, of course.



Vegan Maple Pecan Buns that are oooh, so good! Quick base recipe below. Have fun with it :)



One of the best things in the world: Jo Stepaniak's Vegan Gyros, from Vegan Vittles.



Same basic bun recipe but with date spread filling. Amazing, too!

I really recommend you try the following recipe if you like Cinnamon buns. Very quick to make and all my attempts were hugely successful. It was originally posted on the internet by Oneness, so thank you, whoever and wherever she is!

So here it is for today. Keep cooking, keep baking and Happy Vegan Eats!

Gooey Vegan Cinnamon Rolls


Rolls:
3/4 C unsweetend soy milk
1/4 C Earth Balance, softened
3 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
1/4 C white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C plus 2 TBS water

Filling:
1 C brown sugar, packed
1 TBS ground cinnamon
1/2 C Earth Balance, softened (I use about 1/3 cup or a bit less)

Glaze: (I half the glaze recipe)
2 tsp corn syrup (I use brown rice syrup)
2 tsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 C icing sugar
4 TBS unsweetened soy milk

Instructions:
Heat the soy milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove
from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until
lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt;
mix well. Add water and the soy milk/margarine mixture; beat well. Add
the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each
addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a
lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon,
softened margarine.

Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with
margarine/sugar mixture (if you want you can add in some raisins or
nuts).

Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in 2 lightly
greased rounds pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30
minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Combine
all the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl and mix until
smooth. Let rolls cool a few minutes then drizzle with glaze.

The Green Elephant in Portland, Maine

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying the beautiful Autumn colours!

I have been meaning to blog about this great restaurant we visited during our vacation to Maine at the beginning of September. It was so great to relax by walking on the beach!
Before leaving though, we had the good sense of asking Happy Cow for some good restaurant suggestions and we printed out menus and were really looking forward to trying out The Green Elephant, the most interesting option for us this time around.


The Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro
"Here at the Green Elephant, we offer Asian-influenced cuisine. Relax in our nice, cozy, and elegant atmosphere.
Come to celebrate the joy of eating with a nutrious meal from our innovative vegetarian menu."
That could not be more true. We absolutely loved our evening there and can't wait for our next trip. The atmosphere was awesome and the personnel, simply wonderful!
We wish we could have tasted everything vegan on the menu but there was simply too many options to try out in one visit! Only a handful of dishes are not vegan (they contain egg). (See the menu for yourself by following the link above).

Here is a few pictures of the tasty dishes we tried this time:

King Oyster Mushroom Tempura
That was my selection. Very fresh and wonderful!


Soy Nuggets with Chili Sauce
Simply the best chicken-style nuggets we have ever had!


Deep Fried Spring Rolls
Crispy good and the sauce was amazing! And 4 of them, too!


Crispy Wonton with Chili Sauce
So, so good! Stuffed with vegan cheese and spinach.


Veggie Citrus Spare Ribs
"A stir-fry w/broccoli, bok choy, carrot, zucchini, mushroom, bell pepper, onion" - and some tempeh!
Every dish was really, really fresh.


Far East Duck
"Stir-fry w/broccoli, bok choy, carrot, zucchini, mushroom, bell pepper, onion "
This was my husband's selection and it was spicy good!


Organic Green Tea Noodle
"In miso soup w/napa cabbage, soy filet, seaweed, scallion"
Simple, yet so delicious!


Spinach Noodle and Vegetables
"Stir-fry in shitake-ginger sauce,w/bok choy, snow peas, and carrot, soy meat"
This was my plate but I was forced to share with everybody more than I wanted to :p
We all agreed that this simple noodle dish was the most impressive of all. I would so LOVE to be able to make this myself!


Tofu Cheese Cake
The two desserts we just had to try, even though we were more than stuffed, were totally amazing. This Tofu Cheese Cake with caramel sauce was insanely good. The best we have ever had.


Chocolate Orange Mousse Pie
And this, OMG! There is simply no words for it. Just go and try it, you won't be disappointed!

The Green Elephant is a wonderful restaurant, our favorite so far. It is an 8hour drive from home and totally worth it.
If you are ever in Maine, visit beautiful Portland and treat yourself to amazing food... and bring me back a doggy bag!

The Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro
608 Congress St. Portland, ME Tel. 207-347-3111 Fax. 207-347-3112
Tuesday-Saturday Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm Dinner 5pm-9:30pm
Sunday Dinner 5pm-9pm
Monday- Closed

Cakewoman

I should post something, right?

It's not like I spent all summer lying in the sun... It feels like we had rain everyday so that was out of the question because I'm made of chocolate.
It would have been great to enjoy the sun more than I actually did though but there was rain, work to be done on the house (still is!) and all the regular.
We still don't know why we bothered with the pool this year... Summers are getting stranger and ... well, looking more like autumn each year.

But in the now, I'm taking a couple of minutes to posts some yummy pictures of yummy food. A lot of cake pics, actually. Between April and September, we have one birthday to celebrate each month... and no one here wants a pie for his birthday.

So here we go:


Gromit turned 8 on his birthday and he wanted a Moka Cake. I use the traditionnal Moosewood recipe using strong coffee instead of the water and made a Coffee Ganache, which is always awesome.


He was completely happy and covered in chocolate after two pieces. :)


For Flopsy's 16th Birthday (yes, already!), he chose the Decadent Almond Cake from Hannah Kaminsky's My Sweet Vegan.


Served with fresh strawberries macerated in a little bit of Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar.


And then, for Steven's birthday, a little experiment on my part that turned out to be my favorite cake this year (so far) :
Blueberry (or Raspberry) Swirl Cake.


I just used a box of President's Choice Vanilla Cake Mix, fresh homemade jam (a good quality store bought one works fine too), made a streusel mixture and topped with toasted almonds.
Spontaneous creativity is the best!

Other blog worthy food since last post where:

Sesame Orange Soy Curl Salad ... simply delish!


Mac & Cheese, a VegNews recipe.
It is different from other Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe because it doesn't rely on nutritional yeast... it used potatoes instead.
Trouble was, I truly am a nutritional yeast maniac and although I love potatoes too, I'm not sure I would make this recipe again without adding NY. :p But I know other people absolutely love it so give it a try and tell me how you liked it.


This simply delicious high in colour meal was lovingly prepared by "Weeny", our 11 year old son.
He is a great and wonderful boy <3


This is from Dreena Burton's Vive le Vegan :
Sunflower Lentil Pie with the Tahini-Sesame-Mustard sauce. I really enjoyed this, even if I had used twice the amount of lentils.


Nasturtiums from our rock garden.


A "That's Why I'm Fat" Banana Peanut Choco-Chips Scone.
Served with a cup of wonderful Fairtrade Raspberry Earl Grey tea.


Southern-Style Fried Soy Curls.
OMG-good! Used the tofu-based recipe from Vegan Vittles.


Tofurky Beer Sausages and Potato Salad - with a Dijon-style sauce.
Love small potatoes...


Unfortunately the picture is not that great, but Susan's Fat Free Vegan Blueberry Oat Bars
were really good. Not too sweet, I will make these again for sure.

So there your go. You can see I still had time to eat :p

What have YOU been up to? Spill the beans!

My Carrot Cake Recipe

Hello and bonjour!

First, thank you to everybody who left us a comment on the last post. As I thought, my boys were very happy to read each one of you. I personally feel very touched for your nice words. Thank you!

Also, thank you to everyone who visited our little blog after my recipe for my Favorite Bean Salad was published on Meatout Mondays' Newsletter last week.

It was a complete surprise! I'm a subscriber myself and when I saw the picture I thought "Wow, this looks a lot like my salad!" and then came "Wow, it IS my salad!". I was giddy like a schoolgirl, I must admit.
So thank you!

Some news, for those of you who speak French or who know somebody who does, you might be happy to know (you should be happy) that The China Study has finally been translated in French! Yes!

It is published by Ariane and the French title is Le Rapport Campbell (the Campbell Report).

So without further babbling, here is a sample of our meals during the past weeks (or months!) :p


Answer: "Yes, with Soy Curls!"
Question: "Can you eat Hot Chicken?"


SLT Sandwich : Sheese (cheddar style , Lettuce Tomato.


Creamy Sheesy Spinach on Toasted Baguette.


Sweet Chinese-style Soy Curls.


Bryanna's Seitan Pork Tenderloin Roast.


Lemon Custard Cake.


Pineapple Soy Curls.


My favorite Salad with Creamy Dill Dressing.


Grilled Polenta with Tomato-Portabello Sauce (President's Choice).

And finally, my Carrot Cake. I posted the recipe on VivaGranola's Blog but I thought it would be nice to copy it here too.

I started making this cake 16 years ago and it has changed a lot over the years. It has of course been veganized but I think it is as good, if not better than the original. Sometimes I choose to change the type of flour I use (spelt, all whole wheat, a mix of the two) or I can replace the Creamy Sheese with crushed pineapple… No matter what, it is always good!



But here is my official recipe, which I took time to write down, thanks to my aunt Kathleen.

Brigit Gaia’s Carrot Cake

• 1 cup all purpose whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose unbleached white flour
• 3/4 cup fine turbinado sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1Tbsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 2 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 3 cups grated organic carrots (not too packed)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For Cream Sheese filling:

• about 1 container of Creamy Sheese original (about 250g) (or non-hydrogenated Tofutti Cream Cheese)
• 1/4 cup fine turbinado sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp water

1. Preheat oven to 375F and lightly oil a Bundt Cake pan (or a 9-in round cake pan - or even a muffin pan for cupcakes or muffins). Grate the carrots with the food processor and set aside until needed.

2. In a big bowl, sift together the first 7 dry ingredients and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whip together the oil, water, applesauce and balsamic vinegar. Set aside.

4. In a small bowl, mix the Creamy Sheese, sugar and cornstarch/water mixture. Set aside.

5. Add the liquid ingredients in the medium bowl to the dry ingredients in the big bowl. Mix to incorporate only (don’t overmix). Add 3 cups of grated carrots and the walnuts. Again, mix to incorporate only.

6. Pour half to 2/3 of the cake batter into the Bundt cake pan. Pour the Cream Sheese mixture on top of the batter. Then delicately spread the rest of the cake batter on top of the Sheese to cover it completely.

7. Bake in the oven between 45 and 55 minutes, depending on your oven or the cake pan you have chosen (it may very well take longer for a regular 9-in pan and a shorter amount of time if you use a muffin pan - generally 20 to 25 minutes for muffins). Verify “doneness” with the blade of a knife or a long skewer, if you have one - I find that toothpicks are too short for this cake when baking in a Bundt pan.

8. Let cool completely then turn over a serving plate and sprinkle with unfiltered icing sugar (Wholefood Sweeteners) before serving.

Bon appétit and enjoy what's left of Spring!

Tribute to Wonderful Sons by a Proud Mommy

Hi all!
I have been thinking about today's post for a while. My boys don't know I'm doing this so it will be (hopefully) a nice surprise.

You might remember that my kids love to cook. Lately, our 11 year old ("Weeny") really started to explore cooking and baking and his 8 year old brother ("Gromit") has been helping and getting involved more in day to day meal preparation. Although I don't have recent pictures of his creations, their older brother ("Flopsy", almost 16) is also involved daily. He will make breakfast (wonderful pancakes, oatmeal, cream of wheat), prepare soups for lunch, help with supper or sometimes prepare it all by himself but his preference is always for baking us cookies, like his Choco-Mint Cookies.

So what you are about to see is what Weeny and Gromit have made, together or alone, and I will mention it if I helped in any way.

You will understand how proud I am. I have wonderful sons who really are happy with their decision to become vegan and I am so glad that they taught us to eat with compassion and creativity.



If you are a regular visitor, you will remember this delicious looking chicken-style soup from my last post...



And of course, the Coconut Cups that Weeny made for us for Valentine's Day. I don't have a picture (and we could kick ourselves for forgetting to take one) but we received another wonderful present for Easter. Weeny had made Peanut Butter Cups and Flopsy tried his hand at Almond Cream Cups. They were simply amazing (cups and sons)!



This one, I still can't get over it. Weeny made that pizza, and with very little help. I helped him cut up some green pepper and onion but everything else, he did alone. He used Bryanna's Pizza Crust recipe from Twenty Minutes to Dinner after studying a couple of recipes and created this Veggie Ham and Pineapple Pizza.



And then, he wanted to make a Coconut Cream Pie. He wanted to make it by himself, crust and all. I actually helped pipe the Vegan Whipped Cream and gave him the idea for the toasted coconut on top but that's all. He used a box of commercial pudding mix (veganised the instructions) and chose a crust recipe from Vegan Vittles.



And here is a picture of a slice of that marvelous pie :)



And Weeny made pizza again when his grandparents came over for lunch. Left, a slice of Veggie Ham and Pineapple Pizza and on the right, a slice of Spinach and Cheddar Sheese Pizza. Again, he made the crusts by himself... His grandma wanted to help so he had her help him prepare the vegetables.

Now, this next creation was a collective endeavor.



Since we saw his Hogwarts Cake on YouTube, we have been watching Chef Duff and his show Ace of Cakes on The Food Network.
So the boys and I have been thinking about vegan wedding cakes, and vegan guitar cakes, and vegan Tower of London cakes LOL and we wanted to try our hand at fondant. Well, that needs a bit of looking into so for now, Weeny and Gromit planned this Three Layered Tower Cake and decided to drench it in rich 65% couverture chocolate. They made the cake batter and baked them by themselves, I didn't help at all with that. I also didn't help melt the chocolate and with the vegan buttercream icing. I helped spread the melted chocolate and tried to use the piping kit we have that is not worth very much, I afraid. And I don't have the technique :p

It was really cool to work together and we managed to learn a lot during the process. The cake was so amazing that I'm sure that we will repeat the experience... and I hope they let me play with them again :)

There you have it, a little glimpse into my boys creativity as of late. Aren't I a lucky mom?
Please leave them a comment if you want... they will really appreciate it!

Thanks again for your visit! I can't wait to see what you have been up too!
And Happy Spring!