Liebster Blog Award

Thanks so much to Jenn of Kale and Cookies for bestowing upon me this award!

“Liebster” is German and means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’ but it can also mean ‘favorite’.

The idea behind this award is to bring attention to bloggers who have less than 200 followers and show your support during Vegan Mofo!

The rules of winning this award are as follows:

1.       Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2.       Reveal 5 of your top picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3.       Post the award on your blog.

4.       Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the www!

And the Liebster goes to:

The Vegan Chickpea

Brittany's Veg Kitchen

Cold and Sleepy Cooks

Phoenix Dreaming

Barefoot and Frolicking

These are some of the amazing blogs that I've discovered from Vegan MoFo! I hope everyone enjoys blogging in the second half of MoFo and I hope to discover many more new blogs!

Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips

This is the easiest and quickest recipe that I've made so far for Vegan MoFo! It is Alicia Silverstone's Crispy Peanut Butter Treats with Chocolate Chips from her book, The Kind Diet and her website, The Kind Life.  You can find the recipe posted on her site and it only requires a few ingredients - crispy brown rice cereal, brown rice syrup, a pinch of salt, peanut butter, and vegan chocolate chips (optional if you don't want to add 'em, you don't have to!  I love my chocolate.)

• 1 box brown rice crisps cereal
• 1 3/4 cups of brown rice syrup
• 1 pinch of fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup of natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips

1. Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl.
2. Heat the syrup with a pinch of salt in a saucepan over low heat.
3. When the rice syrup liquefies, add the peanut butter and stir until well combined.
4. Pour over the rice cereal and mix well with a wooden spoon.
5. Once thoroughly mixed and cooled to room temperature, stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Make sure the mixture is cool, or you will end up with melted chocolate instead of chocolate chips in your treats.
7. Turn the mixture into an 8"x8" or 9"x13" baking dish.
8. Wet your wooden spoon lightly and press the mixture evenly into the pan.
9. Let cool for 1 hour - if you can - before cutting into squares or bars.

Of course, I didn't realize this until after I had made the treats but I used the wrong kind of cereal!  I had grabbed the "brown rice puffs" at the grocery store instead of "brown rice crisps".  So these aren't quite as crispy as they should be.  In fact, they're a bit soggy.  They still taste fantastic but they don't have that crispiness to them like a rice crispy square does.  So, you might want to make them with the brown rice crisp cereal rather than the puffs.  If for some reason, you can only find the puffed cereal at your grocery store, it will still work. I'll still eat them!

I also used crunchy natural peanut butter because that's what I had and it worked great.

I think I'll be taking this weekend off from blogging and Vegan MoFo.  Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog so far!  I can't believe I have over 1000 hits on my blog now, and I just started writing it a couple of months ago. 

Also, Happy Vegan MoFo Hump Day!!!!  To celebrate, vegan songwriter Leslie Hall has written a song for the occasion!  You can download it here!  And here are the lyrics:

I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places  Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you.  But if it's raised in a cage, and it can't even move, if it's hormone filled and in a bad mood.  I'm gonna pass on that.  Reach for something better.  The only milk I'll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they're cooked and grown with love.  So give a chef who knows what's up a hug. Momma just can't seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I'm much healthier, they just say that it's all lies.  But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly.  Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed.  Don't take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger.  I like it!  We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies.  'Cuz I wouldn't want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age.  Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces.  Never met my mother, raised by machines.  Never get sunshine never get green, but that's just me.  [That girl loves fruit leather.]  So ask us what we're eating.  Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice.  With a slice of tempeh,  yes, I'll have that twice.  Don't forget the legumes!

Vegan White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Since finding the vegan white chocolate chips, I knew that I wanted to make a yummy cookie with them!  I worked until 11:00pm last night, and when I got home, I started baking these cookies!  I know, I am a crazy lady baking at midnight.  These turned out so delicious!  They're so soft but they have a crispiness about them, too.  And the flavor - Paul commented to me today, "Those are vegan!? What!" and even said "These are way better than the ones at Subway."  Success!

Here's the recipe that I put together late last night:

3/4 cup raw sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup Earth Balance
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup applesauce
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
big handful of vegan white chocolate chips
big handful of chopped macadamia nuts
(You can adjust the amount of chocolate and nuts to your liking)

Heat oven to 370 degrees. Mix sugars, margarine, vanilla, and applesauce together in a large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins

I was looking for a recipe to make that wasn't too unhealthy as I've been on a bit of a chocolate and cake kick lately.  I dug out my copy of Veganomicon and found the Banana Wheat Germ Muffin recipe - and I already had all of the ingredients at home!  Success. 

These muffins baked just perfectly. They have a slight crunch to them from the wheat germ, and they are soft and fluffy from the bananas.  Baked with whole wheat flour and wheat germ, you won't feel guilty snacking on these.  The recipe makes 12 muffins.

1 cup plain soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 very ripe bananas
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Add muffin liners to a muffin tin.
Pour soy milk into a measuring cup and add the vinegar to it.  Set it aside to curdle.
Meanwhile, mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Add the soy milk mixture to the bowl along with the oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Add this to the banana mixture and use a wooden spoon to gently stir the ingredients, until all the dry ingredients are just moistened.
Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full and bake for 22 minutes.  Remove from the oven and, once cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.

I recommend serving them warm - they are just delicious!

Vegan Treats at Panacea in Toronto

Today, I had the entire day to myself - Paul is on overnight shifts and has to sleep during the day and I had this one random Tuesday off work. I decided to hop on a bus and treat myself to a day of walking, enjoying the sunshine, and doing some shopping in downtown Toronto.  While I did manage to get a little bit of Christmas shopping done (this will _not_ be posted on the blog at all as I don't want anyone to accidentally read about their own surprise Xmas presents!), one of my main goals was to finally visit Panacea, a completely Vegan shop near Bloor & Bathurst in Toronto.

Yes, this store is completely Vegan! No label reading is necessary here.  And the focus here, beyond veganism, is eco-friendly, ethical, natural, and organic products. I will happily always shop at places that seek out ethical products and this entire store is full of them! Next time I'm there, I'm going to take a closer look at their bath & body products.  Today, I wanted to find food and snacks that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere in my local grocery stores.

I wanted to post about the desserts and treats that I bought since my Vegan MoFo theme is Vegan Desserts!  I bought those three chocolate bars pictured above made by Go Max Go.  I've seen pictures of these chocolate bars online but hadn't seen them in person until today, so I'm super psyched to try them.  There were about six different kinds in the store, but I bought "Mahalo" (similar to a Bounty or Mounds bar), "Jokerz" (seems similar to Snickers), and "Snap!" (similar to Crunch). I am super pumped to try dairy-free versions of my favorite chocolate bars!  They look amazing!

I don't know when the last time was that I ate a marshmallow. I couldn't resist this variety sampler of Vegan marshmallows by Sweet & Sara.  They look all gooey and yummy.  They come in a variety of flavors:  Vanilla, Toasted Coconut, Strawberry, and Cinnamon Pecan. I think these are gonna get eaten pretty quickly.

I found them!  Vegan White Chocolate Chips!  I've been looking everywhere with no success, other than possibly ordering them online.  Thankfully, Panacea has them on their shelves.  I think my next baking recipe will have to involve these white chocolate chips in some way!

The day was a complete success all in all - I went to a few stores along Queen St., walked through Kensington Market (finally found kelp noodles for sale in an organic grocery store there! yay!), and treated myself to lunch at Fresh.  It was a beautiful and very hot day for October with the sun shining brightly, so it was perfect for enjoying some time outdoors. It might also seem silly to those who live in the city and take public transit everyday, but I also feel rather accomplished for having figured out the Go buses/trains and the subway system on my own for getting around town!

Maple Cupcakes with Rich Maple Frosting

Maple syrup is so sweet and so very Canadian, so what better recipe to write about on Canadian Thanksgiving.  I was inspired by the Rich Maple Frosting recipe on VeganBaking.net to create a maple cupcake with maple frosting.

The recipe for the cupcake itself is the Maple Cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Every recipe I have tried so far from this book has produced beautiful, delicious cupcakes of all different flavors!  I took their advice and tried substituting some of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour with great results.

The Rich Maple Frosting recipe is the one that I linked above from VeganBaking.net.  The frosting was a bit tricky to make - I'm not sure if I did it properly since you had to heat the maple syrup and agave nectar over the stove and get it to a certain temperature... and then after refrigerating it for an hour, you had to blend it with margarine/vegetable shortening.  After doing this, the icing was quite runny, which it said may happen, and if it does, to refrigerate it.  No amount of refrigerating seemed to harden the frosting enough!  Not only that, but I found the recipe to be way too sweet for my liking.  It seemed to over-power the flavor of the cupcake and I found myself wiping off most of the icing...and I really didn't put too much frosting on these cupcakes to begin with.

With that said, Paul absolutely loved the cupcakes and wants me to make more!  He said that the Maple Frosting was perfect to his liking.  I have lots of leftover frosting so he may even use it as a topping for pancakes or waffles...or I will just have to make some more cupcakes for the icing.  I guess it is all just personal preference!

Thanksgiving Dinner - Tempeh Onion Curry & Chocolate Cake

I'm deviating slightly from my original Vegan MoFo plans of posting a dessert recipe or baked good every day for the month of October.  On Monday, it is Canadian Thanksgiving and since both Paul and I have to work on the holiday and aren't able to make dinner together, we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  I decided that I would write about our delicious Thanksgiving meal that we just shared!  Originally, we were thinking of going with some roasted vegetables (a little more traditional) but instead decided to try a new dish that I'd been eyeing for a while, Tempeh Do Pyaaza.

I changed up this recipe a little bit from the original, so I will post it below.  This was really fun because Paul and I went out to Whole Foods this afternoon in search of certain spices and ingredients for the meal that we didn't have on hand.  There were some ingredients in the original that we just couldn't find (anardana seeds), and some that we just don't really like (fresh mint in the curry) and some that Paul doesn't care for (fresh cilantro).  I also added some garlic and garam masala to the mix.

Tempeh Do Pyaaza, as originally posted on One Green Planet, is an Indian curry that literally means "double onion" (Do Pyaaza).  The whole "double onion" part of the recipe originally caught my attention - mmmm...onion!  And...double onion, even better!  This is definitely not your traditional Thanksgiving meal by any means, but it was hearty and warm for the holiday, and quite healthy!  We served the tempeh over brown rice.

This was also my first time cooking with fenugreek!  Yay for discovering new spices and ingredients! I was so surprised that the fenugreek had such a sweet smell to it, almost like maple syrup.  I read online that toasting the seeds lightly tends to bring out the aroma, and it was definitely a good idea. 

You'll need:

Olive oil (for frying)

2 hot chili peppers, chopped
2 large sweet yellow onions, cut into strips
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced into rounds
1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds, lightly toasted (toast these on their own in a pan lightly)
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp Earth Balance
1 package tempeh cut into cubes
1 cup water

1.  Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan.  Saute one of the onions, one of the hot peppers, and the red bell pepper for 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
2.  Grind the Fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and the cumin seeds.  Saute the other onion, garlic, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and ginger in the same pan with more oil as needed, until the onions are golden.
3.  Remove from heat, and place all items from the pan in a blender with the lemon juice.  Blend the onion mixture to make a thick puree.
4.  In the pan, combine the Earth Balance, agave, salt and onion puree.  Add the tempeh and cook for 10 minutes, until the puree thickens and the tempeh cooks a bit.
5.  Add 1 cup of water, and cook for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is not too watery and has thickened to a desired consistency.

Serve the onion tempeh over rice, and top with the fried onion/red bell pepper mixture! 

I also enjoyed some dessert tonight and took the night off from baking:

It is a slice of chocolate cake from Sweets From The Earth!  Mmmmm....delicious and chocolatey and Vegan!  Keeping with my blog's dessert theme for VeganMoFo, I did enjoy a lovely slice of cake today after all!