• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
• 2 tbsp coconut extract
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour

mash bananas in a bowl. add milk, sugar, coconut extract, and oil and combine. add dry ingredients. mix thoroughly - batter will seem very thick, this is good! drop into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 for about 22 minutes. makes 12-15 muffins.

Baked kale chips with crushed walnuts and sage; raw beet ravioli with walnut “ricotta”.

Raw Mojito Soup

So this doesn’t have alcohol in it but it’s minty and lime-y and sweet and makes a great lunch or dinner on a hot, sunny porch.

• 2 c honeydew melon chunks
• 2 English cucumbers, peeled and sliced
• about 20 mint leaves
• 2 c water
• 1 lime

Throw everything except the lime in a blender and puree. Pour into bowls and serve immediately with 1/4 lime for garnish & juice.

Firstly, I have to apologize that this post is photo-less. These were gobbled up before I had a chance to take a picture. That said, I’ll definitely be making them again - I will update this post with a photo soon. Recipe is based on this one.

• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp oil
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 whole banana, sliced thinly
• 4 tsp shredded coconut

Sift dry ingredients together. Add coconut milk, oil, syrup, and vanilla and mix with a fork until no large lumps remain. Drop batter about 1/4 cup at a time onto a greased skillet or griddle. Immediately after dropping batter onto pan, press a few slices of banana into each pancake, avoiding the edges. Flip when edges brown and bubbles form in batter. Serve topped with banana slices, tsp of shredded coconut, drizzle of coconut milk, and/or maple syrup.

I made these for my husband’s birthday breakfast - I melted some vegan dark chocolate and drizzled his pancakes with that instead of the coconut milk.

Cashew Milk and Spiced Cashew Spread

This is a 2-for-1 deal. You need:

• 1.5 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight
• 2.5 cups water
• pinch of sage, nutmeg, salt
• squeeze of lemon

Blend the soaked raw cashews with the water until smooth (water should be fresh and clean - not the same water that the nuts were soaked in). Strain through a very fine wire strainer/seive to separate liquid from cashew paste. Store the liquid in a covered container in the fridge - that’s your cashew milk. Be sure to shake it up really well before using.

Add the seasonings to the cashew paste and give it a stir. The consistency should be almost like hummus. This is your spiced cashew spread - good for dipping veggies, breads, pitas, etc. or spreading on toast and crackers.

Cashew Butter Cookies

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup cashew (or cashew-macadamia nut) butter
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, combine all wet ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add dry ingredients to wet; stir. Dough should look flour-dusted; don’t over-mix. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet and press cookies down gently with fork. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Cool for 3-5 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Recipe based on this peanut butter cookie recipe.

post-easter weekend shout out to our mom!

she never fails to cater to our varied diets, often cooking two full separate dinners for our meat-and-potatoes members and for our gluten-free-vegan members of our family.

hi mom! thank you for being the best!

Mocha Stout Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp finely ground coffee
• 1/4 cup vegan stout/porter (I used Mill Street Coffee Porter)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup oil

Preheat oven to 325F. Whisk soy milk and vinegar together; set aside. Sift dry ingredients. Combine rest of wet ingredients with soy milk mixture and whisk until frothy. Combine dry ingredients with wet and mix well. The recipe for these is based on a chocolate stout cupcake recipe from this book, which I really think all sweet-toothed vegans should have in their kitchens!

I baked these for about 25 mins in cupcake liners. Agave syrup instead of sugar makes for a seriously moist cupcake. I topped with a vegan cream cheese-based frosting which had about 1/4 cup stout, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp corn starch, 1/8 cup agave nectar, and half a container of vegan cream cheese. Finishing touch is a coffee bean on each one.

Sweet Potato Apple Butter

• 6 large gala apples
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1/2 c cane sugar
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 1/4 c agave nectar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp vinegar

Peel and core apples, peel sweet potato. Chop finely and add to slowcooker. In a separate bowl, sift sugar and cinnamon; add to apples and sweet potatoes and stir to coat. In another bowl, combine agave nectar, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix well. Drizzle over apples and sweet potatoes and give everything a good final stir.

Cover and cook on high for one hour, then stir and turn heat down to low. Cook for another 8 hours; then, uncover and turn heat to high again to reduce. Stir frequently. After about 45 mins, turn off heat and allow to cool. Transfer to food processor or blender and puree until completely smooth.

Store in small, covered containers in the fridge. Freeze anything that won’t be used within two weeks.

Cocoa Muesli Cookies

• 1 cup vegan muesli (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand - recipe is adapted from one on the bag!)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp egg replacer (I used apple sauce)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 375F. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, blend canola oil, egg replacer, vanilla, and sugar. Add flour mixture and combine well. Fold in muesli. Roll into balls and press gently onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will still be very soft and somewhat crumbly when you first take them out of the oven - allow to cool before transferring from baking sheet.

INGREDIENTS

Crust: 

• 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Hot Tasty Cereal
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• Oil, or cooking spray, to grease pan

Filling:

• 125g (½ package) extra firm tofu, cubed
• 1 tablespoon vegan cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon vegan sour cream
• ½ cup soy milk
• ¼ cup white sugar

Topping:

•  1 cup choice fresh berries (I used blueberries & strawberries)
•  white sugar
•  Shredded dark chocolate

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix brown sugar with cereal mix. Add ½ cup boiling water and leave to stand for 2 minutes. Press mixture into greased pie pan (9” diameter). Top with walnuts, spread evenly over crust.

Place tofu, cream cheese, sour cream, soy milk, and sugar in food processor or blender. Spoon mixture evenly into pie pan. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Glaze berries with watered-down white sugar. For an extra touch of taste and colour, mix select berries with water and white sugar in blender. Place berries/mixture in the refrigerator. Remove cheesecake from pie pan. Place in refrigerator to cool.

Once cheesecake has cooled, shred dark chocolate over top. Heat berries/berry mixture. Spoon over cheesecake and serve. 

Simple, and honestly delicious.

cinnamon ginger cookies

ingredients:

• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1/4 c granulated sugar
• 3/4 c vegetable oil
• egg replacer (enough for 2 eggs — i use PaneRiso which uses 1 tsp of replacer and 2 tbsp of water per egg)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 c gluten-free flour
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

directions:

preheat oven to 375 degrees. in a large bowl, mix together the vegetable oil and sugars until well combined. mix in egg replacer and vanilla. in a medium bowl, combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda until all dry ingredients are well mixed. add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix well. roll dough into golf ball sized balls and press flat with a fork on an ungreased baking sheet. bake for 10-12 minutes.

The following was written by my really super wonderful cousin-in-law (is that a thing?) and I meant to post it ages ago but somehow missed doing so. This lady is amazing at baking and I’m excited to be trying out this recipe out this evening. 

Liz’s Maple Walnut Cupcakes

• 1 cup walnut halves
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

First take 1 cup walnut halves and spread them out on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for a little bit. Then take a large handful and set aside. Chop up the rest very finely. Take the original handful and while still warm, stir with a drizzle of maple syrup and let cool (those are for decorating the tops). Might as well keep the oven on so it’s preheated. Curdle the soymilk with the vinegar. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients (including curdled soymilk) separately. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients, stirring until combined. Fold in the chopped up walnuts. Fill a muffin tin (with the little paper cups or just greased and floured) and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes or until done.

Let cool then you can make a vegan penuche frosting, using margarine instead of butter and soymilk instead of cream. Melt 1/4 cup margarine in a pot with 1/2 cup brown sugar and a tablespoon of maple syrup. Let come to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool slightly. Then whisk in about 1/8 cup of soymilk. Beat in confectioners sugar, probably about 1 1/2 cups, until spreading consistency.

ingredients:

• 1 19 oz can of tomatoes (diced) — i use one that also has celery, onions and peppers
• hot sauce (to taste)
• 1 tbsp garlic (chopped)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp peppercorn
• 1/2 c broccoli (chopped)

directions:

pour tomatoes into pot. add garlic and spices. add hot sauce to taste. simmer until most of the liquid has reduced. remove from heat and cool slightly. puree in a blender until smooth. return soup to pot over heat. add broccoli. heat until broccoli is cooked through, but still has some crunch. remove from heat and serve.

for the garlic toast:

combine vegetable oil, 1 tsp garlic powder and a pinch of salt. brush bread of choice with mixture and toast until golden brown.

Not a recipe, but for any of you who live in Toronto, you’ll find prix-fixe and other deals on veggie/vegan meals at a bunch of wonderful restaurants during the month of April. YUM