Christmas 2014...

My Amazing Cook Book Haul from this year!

Christmas this year started out the way that Christmas usually does in my house. I got up early - although not as early as I normally do, this year I slept till 7am - and started cooking. By 9:30am or so It was present time! I got some lovely stuff, a toque and money from my mother, a TON of awesome Vegan cook books from my Parents-In-Law and Brother-In-Law, and some delicious tea, a really great loose-leaf tea thermos, and some cool DVD’s from my husband - but the gift that really made Christmas was my husband - despite us setting a $60 limit - bought me a 5 Quart Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer! Man I have wanted one of these things for years and years and I always put off buying one because I say “It’s too expensive.” It’s always next time, next time, next time and then I can never bring myself to actually spend the money because I figure at this point my whisking arm is so strong why bother. Still, every time I pass by one in the store, I think “Some day kitchen aid, some day” and This Christmas was that day! I can’t wait to use it on something!

I have the best husband in the world!!!!

Now, enough about gifts, what you really came here for was the food right? Well, as I said we did our Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve this year, and so on Christmas Day we were just planning on munching finger foods and dessert. Our breakfast was light, Stollen as is tradition in my house. I believe I mentioned last year that my Oma is normally the one that bakes stollen in my family and she gives one to all her kids and grandchildren. However since she past away last year at Canadian Thanksgiving there was noone to make Stollen anymore, and so I took it upon myself last year to make some. I used the same base recipe this year and made my substitutions and while I think it turned out well, it somehow wasn’t as good as last year. I think I was too cocky this year. Last year I hovered and I was fussy about it because I wanted them to turn out perfect. This year I was preoccupied and busy and I paid less attention and so the bottoms got a little over-cooked. Not burnt but just more brown then they should have. Overall they still tasted great, but I learned a valuable lesson about patience and baking!  I made two stollen again, one with almonds for me, and one without for my husband. I actually also made 3 gluten-free stollen. One for myself, one for my gluten-free friend D and one for my friend NB. At first I thought the gluten-free version wouldn’t be able to hold water to the original, but it surprisingly turned out pretty good, more dense then a traditionally stollen but just as tasty! So that was a nice surmise I only wish I’d remembered to take a picture of them. Sorry!

Almond Stollen

Almond-Free Stollen

So, with breakfast done, and peasants done, and the cleanup taken care of I went back to working on the finger food, which inevitably took longer then initially expected. I did however have enough down time before guests arrived to shower, change, and take a few peaceful breaths. Then the family was over and after a bit of mingling it was time to eat!

Stollen - Sliced and Buttered

I was quite excited to try out this Korean BBQ Satay from Joni Marie Newman’s book “Fusion Food In The Vegan Kitchen” It’s a simple broiled tofu recipe, but what makes it special is it’s marinated and slathered in Korean BBQ. The sauce is made with roasted red peppers, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, green onions, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar. At first the combination seemed strange but it was amazingly delicious. Not a single one of these slices was left over.

Korean BBQ Satay

I couldn’t resist making the Caramelized Onion and Apple Tart which is one of the few savory options from Hannah Kaminsky’s book “Easy as Vegan Pie”- I’ve been wanting to make this for forever and so I’m glad I finally got around to it. It’s very simple, you caramelize red onions, add sliced apple, thyme, white wine, and balsamic vinegar then spread it onto some puff pastry and bake. The recipe also calls for chopped walnuts but I left those off since my husband doesn’t like them. This tart also went over like gangbusters and almost none of it was left.

Caramelized Onion and Apple Tart

I also made the Spicy Seitan Buffalo Wings from Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg’s book “Spork-Fed” this is another one of those recipes that I’ve been wanting to make for forever, but I so rarely have cause to make buffalo wings, and whenever I’m actually in the mood for such a thing I typically get it at a favorite vegan restaurant in the city. The seitan I made in advance using my standard go-to chicken style seitan recipe. I tried to shape the pieces into ‘wings’ but they came out looking more like cocktail sausages. Oh well! These were delicious. I liked the Spork-fed girls buffalo sauce which was hot but not too hot, and this was a pretty simple preparation. These also went over super well and I served them with the Creamy Vegan Ranch from Lane Gold’s wonderful little book “Vegan Junk Food” Seriously this was probably the best vegan Ranch dressing I’ve ever had - homemade or otherwise. Actually it just might be the best Ranch ever. It is so rich, so creamy, so decadent and so delicious. Everyone agreed!

Spicy Seitan Buffalo Wings

Creamy Vegan Ranch

Next up I made a platter of delicious crostini. On the left is the Butternut Bruschetta with Caramelized Onions and on the right is the Smashed Avocado and Roasted Beet Crostini both from Chloe Coscarelli’s book “Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen.” Both of these appetizers were delicious and both went over very well. The beet Crostini even won over a few avid beet haters and people who were previously indifferent to beets! Both recipes were also super simple but packed loads of awesome flavor, it’s hard for me to decide which one I liked better but I’ll say it never would have occurred to me to use squash on crostini or to pair avocado and beets together in this way. I really love all of Chloe’s books for their simplicity, originality, and deliciousness, she never disappoints me or my guests!

Butternut Bruschetta with Caramelized Onions
Smashed Avocado and Roasted Beet Crostini

Since a holiday can’t be a holiday without a ‘cheeseball’ of sorts I decided to make the Walnut and Current Veganzola Ball from Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman’s book “500 Vegan Recipes.” I’ve actually wanted to make this for sometime as well but never find reason to. Recently though I saw Joni post about it on her blog and I thought “Yes, this year I’m making it!” it’s a fairly simple recipe using tofu, olive oil, flaxseed, miso, garlic, liquid smoke, walnuts, currents and salt and pepper. I expected this ball to be a little sharper in taste, like a Gorgonzola as the name kind of implies, but it was a very mild tasting ‘cheese.’ In fact I added a touch of lemon juice and a pinch more salt and miso to give it a bit more ‘umami.’ but it was still rather mild. Good, but not what I was expecting. I also didn’t have enough currents, I only had about 1/4 C when the recipe called for ½ C so I subbed in raisins but rather then go with regular old black raisins I used golden and I think this actually worked really well. Even my husband who normally doesn’t like cheese of any kind - vegan or dairy - dug into this ball with enthusiasm. In the book they suggest crumbling leftover cheeseball over salad, and I actually think that’ll taste really good, so I plan to use what I have left over on a kale salad tonight!

Walnut and Current Veganzola Ball

The cheesy trend continues as I decided to make a few dishes from John Schlimm’s book “The Cheesy Vegan” I’ve been eying the Blue Moon Dip for some time now and thought this was the perfect opportunity to make it. This is suppose to be a blue cheese dip of sorts and I think it tastes very much like blue cheese. It’s super simple to make, just crumble some tofu into a bowl of vegan mayo, add lime juice, tahini, garlic, onion powder, and apple cider vinegar. So amazing on crackers or bread and it went so well with the Flying Buffalo Dip - also from The Cheesy Vegan. I just couldn’t resist making the buffalo dip even though I already had buffalo wings on the table. It just looked too good and it seemed to me that the blue moon dip and the buffalo dip were a team of sorts. Can’t have one without the other. This was also a really simple dip to make tofu, vegan cheddar, vegan mayo, lemon juice, cider vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and hot sauce all mixed into a bowl together for yummy, decadent perfection!

Blue Moon Dip

Flying Buffalo Dip

Lastly from I decided to also try Schlimm’s The Sailor’s Spinach Dip. This was also a really easy dip. Cashews are used as the base and they’re soaked in wine and vegetable stock after being toasted. Once that’s done you combine them with frozen, thawed spinach, garlic, onion, lime juice, pepper, and cider vinegar. This dip was a bit more tangy then I normally like my spinach dip and so I added a bit of salt, a touch of miso, and a dollop of vegan mayo to kind of even it out a bit, and it ended up tasting amazing. This recipe made a lot though, and I’m not sure that the omnivores at the party liked it quite as much as their gross store-bought non-vegan spinach dip, but what do omnivores know anyway?

The Sailor’s Spinach Dip

Somehow in the whirlwind leading up to Christmas I decided that one cheeseball simply wasn’t enough and so I decided to make the Sage and Gouda Cheeseball from Namely Marly. Despite the fact that I follow a lot of vegan blogs I rarely if ever have the time to make anything from them, but this just looked too good to pass up. Unfortunately I couldn’t find Daiya’s Smoked Gouda Block anywhere and so I subbed in their Jalapeno Havarti and added some Liquid Smoke instead. That was the only substitution I made here and I think the end result was delicious. Of course my ball isn’t as pretty or well formed as Marly’s but oh well. People dug into this with gusto, and even my husband enjoyed it, which was a shock to me as it contained pistachios and pumpkin seeds both of which he doesn’t like. I also already mentioned he doesn’t like cheese, and this ball unlike the Steen and Newman’s ball was very pungent and strong, Much more cheese-like, but my husband at it up like it was going out of style. His tastes are changing all the time and it constantly amazes me!

Sage and Gouda Cheeseball 

So that’s it for the finger foods portion of this post. We ate a ton, and truth be told I had actually originally intended to make much more. In fact I bought all the ingredients I needed to make about 15 different dishes but it became clear as I was cooking on Christmas Day that I just didn’t have the time, nor did I have the space to store all of them and so I ended up nixing some of the dishes from my list. Of course, since some of them were already half prepared - such as pre-made seitan that was marinating etc.. - and since I had the ingredients on hand anyway my husband and I decided to have a mini Boxing Day Feast. - Boxing Day is the day after Christmas for you Americans by the way.

But, of course no celebratory meal is complete without dessert. This year since I went so crazy with baking cookies I didn’t go to wild with desserts. I only made two pies, both of which came from Hannah Kaminsky’s book “Easy as Vegan Pie” the first pie I decided to make was the Strawberry Cereal Streusel Pie which was phenomenal. It’s your basic strawberry pie filling but instead of a regular flour crust the crust is made with four, walnuts, cornflakes, sugar, cinnamon, and vegan butter. The crust was so good you could have eaten it with a spoon on its own, but paired with the pie filling it was a real treat. This went over pretty well, especially with my husband.

Strawberry Cereal Streusel Pie

Then because I like to do things that are a little out of the ordinary I decided to make the Chestnut Crunch Pie. I personally love chestnuts I think they’re insanely delicious and so I’ve had my eye on this pie for a while but was never sure about whether or not anyone else would like it. I like weird things, but not everyone feels the same. Somehow chestnuts really seemed to suit this Christmas and I thought ‘to hell with it’ I know another chestnut lover and so if the pie didn’t go over I could split the pie between me and my friend. Lucky for me the pie did go over well, in fact I think people liked it even more then the strawberry pie. At first everyone kind of looked on it as that strange ‘vegan’ thing but after one brave soul tried a bite and began raving non-stop, everyone had to try a bite. This was actually super simple. You make a chocolate cookie crust then a chestnut pudding, pour the pudding into the crust and top it with candied cacao nibs. Then you let it sit and it’s done. Easy, and so, so good. This just might be one of my new favorite deserts and I loved that it wasn’t overly sweet.

Chestnut Crunch Pie

So, that was our Christmas. By the end of the night I was so full I didn’t want to ever look at food again. We ended the night peacefully by watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” which is one of my favorite films and certainly my favorite “Christmas” film. Now, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear all about our Boxing Day Mini Feast.

Grilled Corn and Avocado Salsa...

This salsa is amazing! Or as some of my younger friends might say it’s Fire! And I don’t say that lightly. I’m a big fan of salsa’s and pico’s, especially strange ones, and I’ve certainly sampled my fare share of them, but this is hands down one of my favorites.

I made it for the first time a couple of months ago, right before my husband and I went on vacation. I don’t remember what possessed me to make it, but I think it had something to do with having an abundance of Fresh corn on the cob and avocados that needed to be used before we went away. Grilled corn is a favorite dish of mine particularly in the summer and so I thought why not use my favorite method for cooking corn and combine it with one of my favorite summer time accompaniments? Thus grilled corn and avocado salsa was born. Not that I’m claiming it’s a totally original concept - I’m sure someone, somewhere has thought of it before - but it is nonetheless delicious.

I know that we’re near the end of summer now and you’re probably thinking to yourself why didn’t I post a summer recipe during the heart of summer? Well, as it happens I forgot to take a picture the night I first made this delicious salsa, then I forgot to write the recipe down too! With no recipe and no picture there wasn’t much to post about, and there weren’t even any leftovers to take a picture of the next day because we gobbled the whole thing up.

Luckily my Mother-In-Law was having a get together with some of her girlfriends today and she requested that I make the Grilled Corn Salsa for her little party. I said sure, and then worked from my memory of what I did the last time to make it all over again. It came out exactly like I remember, a beautiful blend of bold flavors, with lots of potent garlic, tangy lime, and creamy avocado, not to mention that fantastic ‘just off the grill’ flavor from the corn.

This time around I made sure to take a photo, and write the recipe down. Oh and the best part? This Grilled Corn Salsa is totally omnivore approved! It was a big hit at my mother-in-law’s party and there wasn’t a vegetarian to be found amongst them - let alone a vegan - so make it for your next gathering or party and be prepared to wow your friends/family.

Grilled Corn and Avocado Salsa 

4 Ears of Corn with Husk on
4 Large Garden Tomatoes diced
8 Cloves Garlic minced (or more to taste)
1 Red Onion finely diced
1/4 C Olive Oil
1/4 C + 2 Tbsp Lime Juice
½ tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper (more if you like more heat)
1 ½ tsp Sea Salt (or more or less depending on your taste)
Black Pepper to taste
3/4 - 1 tsp Smoked Paprika (to taste)
1 Large bunch Cilantro minced
4 Large Avocados Diced

- Soak corn in a large pot of salted water for 1-2 hours.

- Remove corn from the soaking pot and shake off excess water. Using a medium heat grill corn until husks are blackened and corn kernels are bright yellow. Depending on your grill and your heat setting this can take as little as 8 minutes or as long as 20 keep an eye on it!!!

- Remove corn from grill and place onto a plate to cool. Once sufficiently cool to the touch remove the husks and any silk. Cut all the corn away from the cob and place it into a large bowl. Discard any kernels that may have burned during grilling.

- Add all the remaining ingredients except cilantro and Avocado to the salsa. Mix until thoroughly combined.

- Add in the Cilantro and Avocado mix gently until just combined. Taste for seasonings and flavor and adjust as needed. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips and for a lovely presentation garnish with thin slices of avocado and big leaves of cilantro. Enjoy!

*** Note - This recipe makes A LOT! So if you’re just making it for a couple of people, or just yourself, then half the recipe. However if you’re making it for a party or gathering this is a perfect amount. It will get eaten I assure you! Also this is super easy to make in advance. Prep everything in the morning or even the night before, then add the cilantro and avocado in at the last minute right before serving.***

Wild Ramp Pesto...

So, the other day I mentioned that one of the things I did with my bounty of ramps was make a pesto. It may not have been the most original idea out there, but since I’d never used ramps in that way before and since I’m a big lover of pesto I thought why not? Sounded like the perfect dish to me.

Initially I wasn’t sure if I should leave the ramps raw or cook them first. Amongst ramp pesto lovers there seems to be quite the divide. Some prefer raw, some prefer cooked. After tasting one ramp raw, I decided to go the ‘mostly’ cooked route. Ramps are very pungent, and while a few raw ones here and there probably taste great, I thought it would be a bit too over powering to have them all raw. So I decided to blanch 18 and leave 2 raw and honestly I think it worked out great. 2 raw ramps were enough to give the pesto that oomph without giving it any ugh factor. At least in my opinion, but if you like a little more pungency feel free to use more then 2 raw ramps. Use them however best suits your taste, but definitely use them, and definitely use them to make pesto, because this is without a doubt one of the best pesto’s I’ve ever eaten! And I’ve eaten a lot of pesto in my time.

Wild Ramp Pesto 

20 Ramps - 18 Blanched, 2 Raw
2 Garlic Cloves
2/3 C Walnuts
2/3-3/4 C Olive Oil
Dash of ground Thyme
Sea salt and Black Pepper to taste
½ Tbsp Dried Oregano
2-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
½ bunch Parsley

- Fill a medium sized pot with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Trim the roots off the ramps and when the water is boiling add the 18 whole ramps into the water. Boil for 1-2 minutes until ramps are soft. Immediately drain, and then plunge into a bowl if ice water to stop them from cooking.

- Place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until it resembles fine crumbs.

- Add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and raw ramps to the processor, pulse until combined.

- Add the blanched ramps to the food processor along with the thyme, sea salt, black pepper, oregano and parsley. Pulse until creamy and smooth. Taste for flavor and adjust seasoning as needed.

- Enjoy over your favorite pasta. I used Gluten-Free Rice Spaghetti, and it tasted fabulous. It’s also great garnished with a handful of halved cherry or grape tomatoes!

Avgolemono Sauce...

Avgolemono Sauce is a thick, rich, creamy and tangy sauce made primarily of lemon juice and eggs. In Greek cuisine it’s typically served with dolmathes, but can also be served with steamed artichokes or sometimes as a soup. It has always been my favorite Greek sauce after tzatziki.

Dolmathes are a favorite Greek dish of mine, I love them to death but for me one of the best parts about them is the avgolemono! Since going vegan I’ve made dolmathes several times and served them with several different sauces. The cranberry tahini from "Vegan Yum Yum" which was excellent, vegan tzatziki which is good, and a handful of other concoctions, but none of them was ever the same. Dolmathes just aren’t dolmathes without the Avgolemono.

There was a period where I spent a great deal of time searching high and low for vegan versions of avgolemono, without much success. Most of the recipes I came across were for the soup variation and the ones I found that were for the sauce seemed to miss the point drastically. I did not want tofu in my avgolemono, nor did I want chickpeas or cornstarch in it. I wanted a pure and simple avgolemono, one that mimicked the taste and texture I remembered and didn’t require a bunch of ingredients that would have been entirely foreign in the kitchens of my ancestors. It took time, and thought and quite a bit of fiddling before I realized that simple really was the way to go. Essentially all I needed to do was figure out how to substitute the eggs and everything else could be changed easily. In the end I opted to use cashews for three reasons, they cream really nicely, they firm up a bit if given the chance and I wanted to make this sauce soy-free. Initially I had no idea how or if it was going to work but by the time I was finished I couldn’t believe what I’d done.

Now truthfully I can’t recall exactly what a dairy based avgolemono sauce tastes like, aside from it tasting rich and tangy with lemon, but this sauce certainly delivers on both of those fronts. In fact it’s so rich It’s hard to believe there isn’t any egg in it! You can adjust the lemon and caper content to fit your own tangy desire but I think this is really perfect as is, and it tastes incredible alongside dolmathes which is the ultimate test in my opinion. Never again will I have to eat my dolmathes plain or with a sauce that just can’t compare to the culinary traditions I grew up with. This sauce is so good in fact you’re almost tempted to eat it by itself right off a spoon!

Avgolemono Sauce

3 Tbsp Earth Balance
3 Tbsp Whole Wheat Flour
2/3 C Cashews
1/3-1/2 C water, vegetable broth or faux ‘chicken’ broth
1/4-1/3 C Almond milk
3 Tbsp capers
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8-1/2 tsp Turmeric ***
sea salt and pepper
Additional vegetable or faux ‘chicken’ broth as needed (Optional)

- Blend Cashews, water/stock capers, lemon juice, turmeric, sea salt and black pepper in a high speed blender until completely smooth. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. Set aside.
- Melt the Earth Balance in a small pan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until combined and a roux forms.

- Pour blended cashew mixture into the pot and stir to combine. Slowly stir in the almond milk starting with 1/4 C if too thick proceed to stir in the rest. Let sauce simmer over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes until thickened.

- If sauce has thickened too much or you prefer a more liquid sauce stir in 1/4-1/3 C vegetable or faux ‘chicken’ broth.

- Taste for flavor and texture, adjust any seasonings as needed and enjoy with a big plate of dolmathes! Yum!

PS: If you don’t know how to make dolmathes of your own stay tuned for my dolmathes recipe which I hope to post this weekend or Monday at the latest.

*** Note - Because you don’t want any of the turmeric flavor to come through I recommend you start off small. Use 1/8 of a tsp of turmeric powder to color your sauce, taste and increase from there until you get the desired yellow shade. ***

*** Note - Soy-Free if using a soy-free non-dairy butter. This dish can also be made Gluten-Free if you use GF flour instead***

Roasted Vegetable Mango Salsa...

Now I am of the opinion that you can’t have a good taco without good salsa. I am a big fan of salsa’s and Pico de gallo, any kinds and all kinds, the more unusual the better. Though I am particularly fond of salsa’s or pico’s that include fruits such as mango, pineapple, peach etc.. There’s just something so divine about that combination of tart tomatoes and spicy chili blended with the sweetness of fruit and the pungency of garlic. A winner in my book every time.

Since I was feeling in a very tropical mood the other night, and since the tacos I was making included coconut, avocado, and plantains I thought it only fitting that I make a fruity salsa to accompany them. As luck would have it I had mangoes on hand and pineapple juice in the fridge, so I set to work. Since I’ve always been rather fond of roasted and fire roasted salsa’s I decided to use that method and in the end It worked out brilliantly.

Fair warning this recipe does make quite a bit of salsa, but it’s so delicious you’re going to be glad that it does. Even when all your taco’s are eaten and you have no more leftovers to compile into a tortilla you can use this salsa on chips or wherever else you might typically use salsa. It’s really fantastic, especially for all the mango lovers - like me - out there.

Roasted Vegetable Mango Salsa

2 Large Tomatoes
1 Red Onion
1 Red Pepper
5 Cloves Garlic
1 Bunch Cilantro minced
2 Ripe Mangos
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Crushed Red Chili or Cayenne Pepper to taste (Start with 1/4 tsp and work your way up)
3-5 tbsp Pineapple Juice
3-5 tbsp Lime Juice
Garlic Powder to taste if needed

- Preheat your oven to 400'F (200"C) and lightly spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

- Slice each tomato into 6-8 pieces, quarter your onion and pepper. Separate onion layers. Lay all the veggies and garlic cloves out onto the baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes until
veggies begin to get soft and fragrant.

- Peel and chop mangoes, place into a food processor. When veggies are done remove them from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Place them into the food processor with the mango and pulse until everything is finely diced but not pureed.

- Remove contents of food processor to a bowl. Mince cilantro with a chef knife then add it to the bowl, along with the pineapple juice, lime juice, sea salt, pepper and chili or cayenne. Stir until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. If you don’t feel that the 5 cloves give enough garlic flavor to your salsa once they’ve been roasted you can add in some garlic powder to taste or 1-2 cloves raw minced garlic if you like.

- Enjoy served with my Coconut ‘Shrimp’ Tacos or any of your favorite taco, burrito, fajita’s or just with chips.

*** Note - How much pineapple and lime juice you’ll need are going to be dependant on how much your fruit and vegetables yield. Your tomatoes, mangoes etc... may be larger or smaller then mine, so adjust the liquid as needed. You don’t want it soupy. ***

Creamy Garlicky Artichoke Leek Dip...

One of my favorite ways to eat Artichokes is in a dip. I used to love me a spinach artichoke dip before I went vegan, so creamy, garlicky, sweet and tart. Artichoke dip is great to spread on crackers, bread, veggie sticks or to use on a sandwich as a spread. Amazing! Yet as much as I love it, I haven’t eaten an artichoke dip since going vegan. Honestly most of the recipes I’ve come across just don’t sound very appetizing. Virtually all of them use tofu as a base, or some kind of non-dairy sour cream, non-dairy mayo, or non-dairy cream cheese substitute. Personally I prefer my dips and sauces sans tofu, and products like non-dairy sour cream, non-dairy mayo, and non-dairy cream cheese are not things I always have on hand.

So when I found myself, just before Thanksgiving last month, jonesing for artichoke dip I had to get creative. I thought of all the ways I could make a creamy base, and then remembered that cashews could be used just as effectively as tofu, and in my opinion with a much better taste. Excited I ran to my kitchen and set to work. Since I had no spinach on hand I couldn’t make a spinach artichoke dip. I did however have one nice leek begging to be used, and since I love leeks I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to test how well they mingled with artichoke. The result was so much better then I was expecting it to be, so creamy and garlicky with a good artichoke flavor, a mild onion taste and a nice dash of dill. My omni-friends whom I had over to dinner that night loved it too, and by the end of the night there was hardly any left.

Creamy Garlicky Artichoke Leek Dip

Dip Base

1 C Raw Cashews
½ C water
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
A pinch of Sea salt and Black Pepper

½ tbsp olive oil
10-16 oz jarred artichoke hearts (Depending on how strong you want the artichoke flavor)
1 medium sized leek
6-10 cloves garlic (or to taste)
½-1 tsp Smoked Paprika (or to taste)
Sea Salt and Black pepper to taste
1 ½ tbsp Pear Vinegar
1/4-1/2 tsp White pepper (or to taste)
Handful of dill
Handful of parsley
Pinch of garlic powder (if needed. To taste)

- To make your dip base, blend cashews, water, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper in vitamix or high-speed blender for 30-60 seconds until very smooth, and creamy.

- Heat a few drops of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat then add whole garlic cloves. Stirring frequently to make sure the garlic cloves don’t burn, saute until the cloves become lightly browned. About 5-7 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and scrape garlic cloves into a Food Processor or blender.

- Trim the tough green ends off of the leek. About a quarter to a third and discard. Slice leek in half lengthwise and place in a colander under running water. Use your fingers to separate each layer and rub away any dirt or grit. Pat dry with a towel then slice width-wise. Slices do not need to be uniform.

- Return your pan to medium heat, and add the half tbsp of olive oil. When heated add your sliced leek. Saute over medium heat until leek has softened and become fragrant, 7-10 minutes. Add the leek to your garlic in the food processor.

- Add all remaining ingredients. Artichokes, vinegar, dill, parsley, spices and your cashew base. Pulse until well combined and most of the artichokes and garlic cloves have been broken down into small bits. You can pulse this dip until it’s completely smooth but I prefer a coarser artichoke dip with nice bits of artichoke in it.

- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. If not garlicky enough for your liking you can add a pinch or two of garlic powder rather then go through the process of browning more garlic cloves.

Serve with pita bread, flax crackers, and veggie sticks. Enjoy!!!

Vegan Mofo #6 - Isa & Terry’s Mediterranean-Style Cashew-Cucumber Dip...

Vegan Mofo #6 - Isa & Terry’s Mediterranean-Style Cashew-Cucumber Dip

The Book - Veganomicon
The Author - Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero
The Recipe - Mediterranean-Style Cashew-Cucumber Dip
Page # 66
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 15 minutes total time

Posting this today I see a third unintentional theme emerging during my Vegan Mofo. "Foods I loved as an omnivore that I never thought I’d eat again as a Vegan." Tzatziki certainly fits the bill there.

I absolutely love Tzatziki! Honestly, just how much I love it could never accurately be described in words. It is the quintessential Greek food for me. Growing up I ate a lot of Greek food, sometimes homemade but usually take-out from a very good authentic Greek place near where I lived. I remember the square white carry-out containers my dad would bring home, the aromatic scent of lemon and garlic wafting out of them like steam. Inside, each box would contain a portion of Greek Salad, Chicken or Beef Souvlaki, Greek Rice Pilaf, sometimes dolmathes or Greek style potatoes, a lemon wedge, thick warm Pita bread, and of course a generous dollop of tzatziki. Though we always ordered extra tzatziki because however generous that dollop it was never enough to satisfy us - or at least me. The food was divine but it was the tzatziki I loved the most. It was the tzatziki I craved, and waited in eager anticipation for. It was always perfect, thick, creamy, garlicky, and lemony. It is and has always been my favorite part of Greek Cuisine. I smothered it on everything. The pita, the souvlaki, the rice, the dolmathes and the potatoes. If there was any left over after that I’d literally eat it straight from a spoon.

In Greek restaurants when we ordered pita and tzatziki as an appetizer every bite I took was more tzatziki then pita. I loaded up on it - much to everyone else's amusement. I literally couldn’t get enough, and I was quite the tzatziki connoisseur and critic. Though Vancouver and the greater Vancouver area plays home to many very good Greek restaurants, all serving very good tzatziki I definitely favored some over others. In fact to this day the best ‘conventional’ tzatziki I’ve ever eaten was at a small hole in the wall Greek place downtown, on Davie Street. Unfortunately I’ve since forgotten the name, and honestly have no idea whether or not it’s still there. When I moved to Chicago another North American city that boasts a relatively large Greek population I found the tzatziki to be a bit different, slightly more watery, but still pretty good.

The perfect tzatziki is thick, creamy with nice shreds of cucumber and minced mint or dill. It’s level of garlic should be overpowering but in a good way!

Yet strangely despite my love and passion for tzatziki it was the one Greek dish I always seemed incapable of making properly. Everything else in Greek Cuisine? No problem. Moussaka? No problem. Spanokopita? No problem. Baklava? No problem. Tzatziki? Huge freaking problem! How ironic that, that’s the one culinary skill my Greek Ancestors didn’t see fit to impart on me.

I have tried so many recipes over the years and failed miserably at every single one. Before I went vegan I’d made tzatziki so many times with so many differing ingredients from regular yogurt, to Greek yogurt to cultured yogurt to goats milk yogurt. Different levels of herbs and lemon varying degrees of garlic, and every experiment only left me in frustrated tears. It’s really impressive when you think about it, there is not one other dish on earth that has seen me fail so spectacularly so many times.

Then I went vegan, and I thought happily that things might change. I excitedly tried a handful of vegan tzatziki recipes all to the same glorious end. I failed, utterly and completely over and over again. At that point what’s a pour tzatziki loving Greek Vegan to do? Give up, that’s what. I decided to give up, and resigned myself to the certainty that I would never eat tzatziki again. It broke my heart of course but I found that as long as I didn’t think about it, as long as I pushed it to the furthest reaches of my mind I was okay.

Then I got hold of Isa and Terry’s brilliant "Veganomicon" Of course an initial read-through of the Contents revealed they had a vegan tzatziki, which I bitterly decided to ignore. No way could it be good, not after so many failures. I just wasn’t ready to try again. I’d given up hope of ever making a delicious vegan tzatziki and didn’t want to get my spirits up again if this recipe too proved to be a failure.

Then I decided to throw a party, and found myself in a mad scramble to find creative yet delicious appetizer recipes. Most people tend to make their tried and true recipes for parties, but not me. You see I cherish originality, I crave creativity and eating the same thing - tried and true or not - at every party is just well... boring. Making something new for the first time for a party is always a gamble but at this point in my life I’m very confident in my culinary ability and so far everything - with the exception of a disastrous Pineapple Upside-down cake, which I’ll write about later - turns out top notch.

Originally I wasn’t even interested in the tzatziki recipe, I was interested in another recipe on the opposite page. Then I caught a glance at the ingredients list and found myself intrigued. Nowhere was there a non-dairy yogurt sub listed. Also nowhere to be found was the traditional mint. Now, how silly I thought. How can you make tzatziki without yogurt and mint? In their place were raw cashews and dill. Who’d ever heard of such a thing, really! I thought it so silly I nearly laughed. Yet as absurd as it sounded I couldn’t stop myself from periodically flipping back to the recipe. My curiosity was definitely peaked, and we all know what happens next. Despite my many reservations I set about the task of making yet another tzatziki.

I went about preparing this tzatziki like a chemist working with potentially volatile compounds. Carefully following all instructions exactly. Carefully measuring out all ingredients exactly. Offering up a few whispered words to Buddha. When the tzatziki was finally finished I hesitantly poked my finger into my vitamix for a taste test. Quickly closed my eyes in anticipation of pain, like you would when getting a shot at the doctor, and literally could not believe my tastebuds. It was amazing! Phenomenal even, in need of slightly more garlic and dill but otherwise incredible! I quickly added in a little more garlic and dill to taste and tried it again. It was a miracle! Not only was it the best tzatziki I’d ever made, but it was easily one of - if not - the best tzatziki I’d ever eaten vegan or not. It’s as good if not better then my gold standard for tzatziki from that now nameless Greek restaurant in Vancouver’s downtown.

This tzatziki is so rich, so creamy and so garlicky. All of the things a good tzatziki should be. It might not have been prepared in a ‘traditional’ way with the ‘traditional’ ingredients and yet it tastes more ‘traditional’ then ‘traditional’ tzatziki. How that’s possible I have no idea. What I do know is that I’m super ecstatic that I no longer need to live a tzatzikiless life. I can now eat my favorite Greek food with pleasure anytime I desire.

And how did my omni friends and family feel about it you might ask? Several of whom are also at least in part Greek? They freaking loved it! Everyone praised it, everyone was amazed by it, everyone agreed that it was one of the best tzatziki’s they’d ever eaten. They had no idea that it was full of cashews and missing yogurt. They devoured it. Smothered it on pita bread, Naan bread and dunked raw veggies into it. They could hardly keep away from it and in fact several people just decided to plunk themselves down at the table in front of it to make eating easier.

If you love tzatziki as much as I do and haven’t tried this recipe yet, it is a must! Serve it with pita, naan, flatbread crackers or raw veggies. Spread it onto a vegan Donair or gyro, thin it and use as a salad dressing. Smother Seitan, Tempeh or Tofu kebabs in it, or pour it over Gardein ‘Beefless Tips’ dip a dolmathes in it or just eat it by the spoonful. Whatever you decide to serve it with I’m absolutely sure you won’t be disappointed.

PS: Do not be tempted to skip the step in which you are asked to squeeze all the water from the grated cucumber. This step is absolutely crucial even if it is a pain in the ass.

Vegan Mofo #5 - Lauren’s Cranberry Tahini...

Vegan Mofo #5 - Lauren’s Cranberry Tahini

The Book - "Vegan Yum Yum"
The Author - Lauren Ulm
The Recipe - Cranberry Tahini
Page # 91
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - 10 minutes of soak time, + however long it takes you to blend the sauce

Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds, and is used extensively in Middle Eastern cooking. As well as in the cuisines of North Africa, Greece, and West Asia. It’s the kind of thing I notice people either love or hate. Some people love it for it’s nutty flavor and thick creamy texture, others hate it for it’s edge of bitterness. For a very long time I was of the mind that Tahini was best when used in moderation, and rarely did I use it for anything other then making humus. Over the past couple of years though my taste for tahini has developed, and I’ve become more experimental in using it. Even still when I saw Lauren Ulm’s recipe for Cranberry Tahini I was skeptical to say the least. It just sounded so... well... strange, but believe me when I tell you that Cranberry Tahini is a revelation!

I mean it. Cranberry Tahini is pure magic! I can’t believe no one came up with it sooner. I know it sounds strange, I know you’re probably still skeptical, but I’m totally serious this dip will blow your mind. At least it did mine. Once again I made it based purely on the picture, which was just lovely. That and my almost masochistic desire to cook anything and everything ‘weird’ even if I don’t think I’ll like it. Turns out cooking by photography isn’t always a bad thing, because as I’ve already said this dip was phenomenal! It has a wonderful thick, creamy and smooth consistency and a very bold flavor that’s a perfectly balanced combination of nutty, sweet, slightly tart, and slightly bitter. The sweetness of the cranberries really goes a long way in mellowing out the bitter edge that tahini often has. The other wonderful thing about this dip is that the recipe contains very few ingredients, which means it’s quick and easy to prepare. It’s just a matter of collecting the necessary items and then blending them in a high-speed blender until smooth. Another bonus is that all the ingredients are ones that can be commonly found in most grocery stores. As far as alterations go the only thing I did differently was add a little extra water to thin.

In the recipe Ulm pairs her genius cranberry tahini with a twist on the Greek dolmathes. Collard Dolmas in which she used collard leaves rather then grape leaves. Which is indeed what I ended up serving my cranberry tahini with as well. Except I didn’t have collard leaves and so I used Swiss Chard instead. It was definitely an interesting switch. Unfortunately I’d been in such a whirlwind, and so short on time I only managed to capture a single picture of the cranberry tahini before our dinner was devoured. Until next time dolmas! Speaking of which, you might think serving cranberry tahini with Greek Dolmas is weird. Especially if you’re Greek or part Greek like me. As an omnivore you likely ate your dolmathes with tzatziki or more commonly Avgolemono sauce but trust me when I tell you, that despite your reservations the cranberry tahini actually pairs really beautifully with the dolmas. It’s a really good match for the lemon rice filling of dolmas.

However if you want to try this dip but don’t want to go to the trouble of making dolmas you can do a variety of other things with it. The recipe made much more then my husband and I could eat and so for days afterwards I was thinking of creative ways to devour the leftovers. One of my favorite ways was to smother it on a wrap or use it as a salad dressing. In fact you could even make the lemon rice filling for dolmas, and spread in a tortilla with a drizzle of cranberry tahini. Yum!

Whatever you decide to do with this dip make sure you share it with some friends because it’ll have all of your mouths watering while simultaneously blowing your minds, and who doesn’t like to impress their friends a little on occasion right?

Vegan Mofo #4 - Alicia’s Cheesy, Oozy Guacamole Bean Dip...

Vegan Mofo #4 - Alicia’s Cheesy, Oozy Guacamole Bean Dip

The Book - "The Kind Diet"
The Author - Alicia Silverstone
The Recipe - Cheesy, Oozy Guacamole Bean Dip
Page # 209
Difficulty - Easy
Duration - Roughly 10 minutes of prep, and 15-30 minutes cooking time

So now that we’ve gone through a few things you could make for your Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations let’s talk Party Food and appetizers! Everyone loves a party, and people will use any excuse to throw one, but lets face it parties are often one of the hardest things to navigate as a vegan. You and your partner are usually the only vegans, but sometimes it’s just you, and before you lays a seemingly endless exhibit of animal suffering and brutality. In the form of a meat and cheese buffet. Virtually everything at an omni party contains meat, cheese, eggs, or dairy, except perhaps the tortilla chips, the salsa, the guac, and the humus.

*Le sigh* It’s always the same, you confine yourself to the salsa, and end up feeling like a sore thumb because people all around you are giving you sly looks out of the corners of their eyes. The bolder party goers will enquire "Aren’t you hungry?" "Why aren’t you eating?" "Did you try... such and such?" to which you will inevitably have to explain that you are vegan, and then be forced to witness that glassy eyed look cross your friend or acquaintance’s face. Often the look is followed by verbal confusion "What does that mean exactly?" sometimes it’ll be met with contempt. "Oh, you’re one of them." and sometimes it’ll be met with a strange mixture of misguided superiority and pity. "Oh well, I don’t know how you do it, you sure are missing out." and I know, I know! Every time you have to answer the same silly questions, and be confronted by the same silly stereotypes it’s like being stabbed in the eye, because for the love of peas how many times do you have to answer the same question?! The answer is you’re never going to stop having to answer the same questions. For as long as you are vegan you will have to continuously repeat yourself. Omnivores just don’t get it, hard-core cling to their steaks omnivores like it’s the second amendment will never wrap their heads around it, and so non-vegan parties will forever be a challenge. Even those non-vegan parties thrown by your family or good friends who are well aware that you are vegan. The truth is it’s not that they don’t care that you’re vegan, a lot of times they just forget. Veganism is something so far removed from them that until they’re actually faced with it they forget all about it. Other times they simply just don’t know how to accommodate you.

The first thing I learned when I became vegan was that going to a party, or eating at someone else’s house was going to be a sink or swim affair. Meaning, you have to bring your own food or face starvation. Since I have no intention of starving myself throughout the course of any event I quickly realized I’d need to learn to make some vegan yet omni-friendly dishes to bring to parties with me. That way I could happily eat until stuffed and not look like so much of an outcast.

Alicia’s Cheesy Oozy Guacamole Bean Dip is the perfect party dish! It’s got a rich, bold flavor, a gooey texture, and it’s something that all omnivores will find familiar. I mean, who doesn’t love a 7 Layer Dip? I know I do. It was always one of my favorite things about a party. Loading up salty tortilla chips with all those seven layers of yummy goodness. The tomatoes, the olives the green onions and of course the cheese. I knew quite a few people who made a killer 7 layer dip, and even knew of a few good store bought brands, so when I first went vegan I thought my 7 layer dip days were over. That is until I got hold of a copy of Alicia Silverstone’s "The Kind Diet." This recipe instantly stood out, I mean the picture alone was mouth watering. I couldn’t wait to try it! As I said both the flavor and texture were wonderful, exactly what one would expect to find in a ‘conventional’ 7 layer dip. All her seven layers work in perfect harmony, dancing on the tongue and pleasing the palate.

The best thing about this dish is that if you don’t tell an omnivore what’s in it, they don’t know the difference. That’s what I don’t understand about Omni’s who say they could never give up cheese. They can’t tell the difference between Daiya and real Cheddar at a party yet they still won’t consider even for a second giving it up. Since purchasing "The Kind Diet" I’ve made this dip for three separate parties and each time it has gone over big and I mean BIG! People just can’t get enough. They park themselves down in front of the dip and don’t leave until it’s nearly gone, all the while praising me, which Is why I think this is the perfect omni-friendly party dish.

The only major change I make with this recipe is in reducing the quantity, and I do that simply because I don’t have a dish large enough to house all of those yummy, creamy, deliciously overflowing layers. Generally I reduce the refried beans, and sour cream by roughly half. Use 2 avocados + 2 Tbsp of lime juice rather then 3, and everything else I keep pretty much the same. Although some days I may add in extra olives, tomatoes, or Daiya depending on how I feel.

As far as products that I use go - I always use Toffutti’s ‘Better Than Sour Cream’ for the sour cream layer. Up until recently that was the only commercially available vegan sour cream in my immediate area. However it is a really good product and even though I now see other products emerging I will probably still continue to use it. I always buy an organic taco seasoning blend because I don’t want all those added ingredients that I can’t pronounce, and so far the organic brands are the only ones I’ve found around here that are totally dairy free. Watch out for that because a lot of taco seasoning contains casein which is a dairy product. Why it’s in there, I have no idea. Then of course for the cheese layer I use Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds. So far that’s the best vegan cheese I’ve tried, and I’ve tried quite a few. It’s both soy and wheat free which is a bonus to anyone with allergies, and to me it tastes pretty accurate, like a milder less pungent cheddar. It also melts, however I’ve noticed unless you’re cooking it for a long time or at a high temperature it does take a little while to melt. So keep that in mind when you make the dip, you may want to up your oven temp or you may want to leave it in longer. I generally leave it in 10-15 minutes longer then the recipe says. Unless I’m impatient like I was in the above picture. You can clearly see that the cheese there is only semi-melted. *shrugs* It still tasted great, so great in fact that I forgot to take a picture after some had been eaten away. So unfortunately in these pictures you don’t get to see all the layers but you do get the idea.

This has definitely become a very important go-to recipe for me when it comes to attending omni parties, and I’m sure if you try it out you’ll love it too!