There's a new burger in town

Summer is the season of BBQs, and the king of the BBQ is the burger.  Veggie burgers are a staple among many vegetarians and vegans in BBQ season (and beyond) because they are easy - easy to find, easy to transport, easy to integrate into the BBQ scene because you won't find yourself explaining your food to skeptical omnivores because it looks "normal". 

Veggie burgers are not without their problems.  Most veggie burgers found in the freezer section of the grocery store are not vegan, and those that are vegan tend to be quite pricey and they aren't always tasty.  Some of us have tried our hand at homemade veggie burgers to varying success.  The greatest problem plaguing the homemade veggie burger is stability, aka they crumble, therefore making them not suitable BBQ fodder.  Not to mention that they often just taste very... uhh... homemade.

Vegan culinary goddess Dreena Burton has forever solved my homemade veggie burger woes with her Mushroom Pecan Burgers!  I made them exactly as she instructed and they were perfect!  Held together amazingly well (though I might grill them from frozen if I were taking them to a BBQ), and they were mega tasty.  I thought that they were a bit like a yummier version of a Lick's Nature Burger (which I do recommend if you're in a pinch).  My only complaint is that they are too big and too filling!!  Dreena recommends making 6 patties, which I did.  Next time I'll be making them into 7 or 8 patties, because I like to have room for side dishes or dessert.  Four hours after dinner and I still feel stuffed.

We topped our burgers with Daiya cheddar style shreds and No Meat Athlete's Vegan Bacon to create the most amazing VEGAN BACON CHEESE BURGER!!  Om nom nom!!

Vegan Birthday Brownie!

This year I am celebrating my birthday at bluesfest, and I just polished off this decadent vegan (and gluten free!) brownie courtesy of B. Goods bakery. Mmm! Happy birthday to me!

Tis the season

Farmer's Market season is well under way, and, here in Ontario, July and August offer the widest variety of fresh local produce for you to plunder.  Don't believe me?  Check out the availability of produce on Foodland Ontario's website. One of my favourite market buys is green beans.  Whether you eat them raw or steamed, green beans are tasty, low-cal morsels of goodness.  A cup of green beans offers 30% of your RDA of vitamin C, 15% of the RDA of vitamin A, and 4g of fiber, among many other vitamins and minerals.[1]

It may surprise you to know that green beans belong to the same species as black beans, navy beans, pinto beans and kidney beans (to name a few).  Phaseolus vulgaris was domesticated in Central America as early as 7000 B.C. [2] .  If you're thinking to yourself "Wait, green beans look nothing like kidney beans!" , that's because green beans are "immature" pods.  Just like pea pods, inside the green bean pod grows the round bean that would one day mature and harden into the "dry bean", which is the seed of the bean plant.  Unfortunately for the hard-working bean plant, and fortunately for us, we harvest green beans long before they mature, while they're still crisp and tender.

July and August is also prime BBQ and picnic season.  Potato salad, often in the form of a mayo-laden mush, is ubiquitous at such events.  But this is neither vegan nor is it healthy (or remotely tasty, in my opinion).   For your next summer potluck event, why not bring a big bowl of Green Bean & Potato Salad?  With local green beans and new baby potatoes available at the markets (or maybe even in your own garden, you lucky duck), it's a fresh and tasty departure from the old standby mayo-mush.

Anniversary Pancakes

Today is my one year anniversary with Rick! (xoxo)  One of the things we have in common is our undying passion for food.  It seems only fitting that this day should be celebrated by creating some truly epic pancakes.  I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with chocolate pancakes, but maybe those of you reading this blog have never tried to make them. I think there comes a time in everyone's life when you need to have chocolate pancakes for breakfast.  And when that time comes, I hope you'll top them with peanut butter sauce, bananas, and real Canadian maple syrup.

I'd love to give you the recipe for these pancakes, except that I never use a recipe when I'm making pancakes.  I'll do my best to approximate, and you can go from there or just adapt your favourite pancake recipe to add chocolatey goodness. Be warned that this is in no way a precise recipe, but I've included approximate quantities for those of you who like to measure things.

Cocoa Pancakes
makes 2 generous servings
~ 1 cup flour
~ 2 tbsp sugar
~ 2 tsp baking powder
~ 3-4 tbsp cocoa
~ 1 tsp vanilla
enough non-dairy milk to reach desired pancake thickness
(I would also have added ~1/4 cup of minichips if I had some on hand)

Mix, fry, and top with bananas & peanut butter sauce (strawberries/raspberries & chocolate sauce would be pretty awesome too).

Peanut Butter Sauce is a staple in our house for pancakes and crepes because we're both obsessed with peanut butter.  Simply take a few good dollops of peanut butter and thin it out with some soy milk, a little at a time until you get a nice creamy sauce.  Add honey, maple syrup or agave nectar to sweeten to taste.  Yummmm!!!

Beavers and VeganTails

As I've told you before, the Rideau Canal is the world's largest skating rink, and a quintessentially Canadian experience.  In the spring, the snow melts to reveal bike paths that line the canal on both sides, meaning that skating the canal is not exclusively a winter activity.  I recently strapped on my roller blades and skated down the canal to the Tulip Festival (read more about my visit at my new nature blog!).  BeaverTail huts frequently appear at Ottawa festivals, and decided that a good skate always deserves some cinnamon-sugar goodness.  

Cinnamon-Sugar VeganTail!  Now with less guilt!

While awaiting our tails, Rick mentioned to the guy that I was vegan but I cheat for BeaverTails, to which he replies "We can make them without the butter, we make VeganTails all the time!"  As I mentioned in the post "A Tale of Tails and Zen", I e-mailed the nice people at BeaverTails to find out how vegan their products were.  They informed me that only the butter they brush on top right before adding the toppings is non-vegan.  The contents of the actual tail are fully vegan.  Now we can all request VeganTails and no longer make the tough choice between guilt and deprivation!  

While we were on our way home from Major's Hill Park that evening, we spotted this little guy touring the Rideau River in the Vanier area.  Don't worry buddy, I'm a vegan, your tail is safe with me.  :)

Oh yeah.... that

Hey!  Remember when I used to write in here on a somewhat regular basis? Yeah.... sorry blog.  Sometimes life gets in the way, the passion dwindles, and you start asking yourself if you're even interested anymore.  Well I'm determined not to let a good thing slip away, and I will do what I can to reignite the cooking fires!

It's not like I stopped cooking.  Ok, I have been doing less of it lately.  I could make excuses, try to explain away my absences... but lets face it, excuses are lame.  I want to pledge allegiance to my blog, to solemnly swear to update it weekly, but I'm not in the habit of making promises I can't keep.  I learned my lesson during my failed attempt at a "52 week challenge" (quite frankly I'm surprised I made it a whole 20 weeks before I gave it up).  Let's just say I'm going to try harder.

In spite of my apparent lack of ability to commit to a blog, I started a second blog, called "Ash Out of Doors".  This is where I intend to share my outdoor adventures, and primarily, the wildlife I encounter along the way.  Considering that I'm a biologist, this only seems natural.  I'm hoping that being drawn to blogger to show off my latest nature pics will also inspire me to show off my culinary prowess while I'm there.  It's worked so far, since I'm here after having written my latest Out of Doors post.

Ok, enough rambling, onto the food!

Last week I threw together a couscous tabouli that was fresh, bright, and super easy.  If you're not familiar with couscous, you ought to be.  It's just about the easiest thing to prepare and infinitely versatile.  Couscous is essentially tiny little balls of wheat.  Pour a cup of boiled water onto a cup of dry couscous, and in 2 minutes  you've got yourself 2 cups of fluffy couscous.  It's seriously that easy.  Since it's just wheat, it can be flavoured in any way you can imagine.  Use broth instead of water, stir in some fresh herbs, let it cool and mix in veggies, nuts, and dried fruit for a tasty salad, whatever!

Tabouli (or tabbouleh, depending on who you ask) is a Lebanese salad that traditionally made with bulgur, parsley (and often mint), tomato, onion, and lemon juice.  Bulgur requires a half hour to soak and another half hour to cook, and while that's not a lot of time, some days we just want to flick the kettle on and be done with it, you know what I'm saying?  So this is a little less traditional, but still totally delicious.

Lazy Couscous Tabouli

1 cup dry couscous
1 cup boiling water
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped (about a cup chopped)
1/2 cucumber, diced
3-4 roma tomatoes, seeds & slime removed, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 3 lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper

Pour boiling water over couscous and let it sit for a few minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool.

Add remaining ingredients to cooled couscous, chill in the fridge and allow to marinate for an hour or so, if you want.  To speed up the preparation of this dish and augment the lazy factor, employ the use of a food processor for veggies and especially parsley.  Deviating from tradition once again, I threw cucumbers in here because I love them and think they belong in almost any salad.

Salad Challenge Countdown
Salads made: 21   Salads left: 31


Yeah, I'm still keeping track of the salads, even though the last salad recipe I posted was about 11 months ago.  I insist that 52 unique salads can and will be made.  You just wait and see!

Lemon Cookies for Laura

As promised, I will post recipes for the cookies pictured in my last entry.  Of course, the holidays being what they are, it is hard to find the time.  And so, I will share with you the recipe for Lemon Cranberry cookies that Laura loved, and hopefully get around to posting the other recipes soon.

I adapted this recipe from one of my many pre-vegan cook books: Cookies: a Cookie Lover's Collection. The choice to become a vegan does not mean we must abandon our favourite cookbooks, they become a source for inspiration and a test of our culinary creativity as we learn to adapt old favourites into new vegan favourites.

Lemon Cranberry Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup vegan margarine

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 egg replacement (see the last post)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon extract

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp lemon zest

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries

In a large bowl cream together sugars, margarine, shortening, egg replacement, vanilla and lemon extract.  Beat in flour, cream of tartar, zest and salt.  Cover bowl and chill for an hour or more.

Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Either roll out dough on a floured surface and cut with cookie cutters, or roll into balls and flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.

Cool, snack, gift, enjoy.