Healthy Blueberry Oat Pancakes (+ gluten free!)

There's something indulgent and wonderful about weekend breakfasts.  You're not rushed to get out the door, you can take your time and make something delicious.  Suddenly, breakfast isn't just a necessary quest for nourishment you scarf down while you get ready for work, it is once again a meal to be enjoyed.

I'll be the first to admit, North American breakfast doesn't lend itself easily to veganism.  Typical weekend breakfast menus are full of bacon and eggs.  Don't get me wrong, I love a tofu scramble as much as the next vegan, but it still feels like it's lacking something.  As luck would have it, pancakes are particularly easy to veganize.  Unfortunately, typical pancakes, made of white flour and covered in syrup, are nothing but empty calories, devoid of any and all nutritional value.  Sure, it's maple-flavoured empty calories, but let's face it, not the best start to your day.

One day, a few years ago, I accidentally invented something awesome.  I wanted pancakes for brunch, but went to the cupboard to discover I had no flour.  Drat.  I did, however, have an exceptionally large bag of oats.  I had encountered oat flour in baking before, and figured it was a reasonable substitute for wheat flour.  It was not reasonable.  It was amazing.  It was like healthy oatmeal and delicious blueberry pancakes had a lovechild, and then that lovechild rolled around in maple syrup.

Blueberry Oat Pancakes
Serves 2

1 cup oats (gluten-free if that's how you roll)*
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
a dash of salt
a few dashes of cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
3/4+ cup non-dairy milk
Splash o' vanilla
1/3 cup frozen blueberries

In blender, grind oats into flour.
In small bowl combine ground flax with about 1/4 cup of non-dairy milk, mix and set aside to thicken.
In medium size bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Add remaining 1/2 cup of non-dairy milk, vanilla and flax mix.  Let batter sit for about 5 minutes. Add more liquid if need be (batter should be slightly thicker than pancake batter).
When your skillet is nice and hot (med-high), melt some vegan margarine or coconut oil.  Gently fold frozen blueberries into your pancake batter.  Ladle into pan.  Cook thoroughly before flipping (these pancakes will be more delicate than typical wheat flour pancakes, but should hold together fairly well if cooked enough before flipping).  Cook until nicely browned, but these will take longer than regular pancakes.
Top with real, Canadian maple syrup, berries or bananas.

* A note on Gluten-free oats: For those new to the GF game, oats are inherently gluten-free.  However, typical oats you buy in the store are almost always contaminated, as they are often processed on the same equipment as wheat. For this reason it is essential that you acquire legit gluten-free oats if you are sensitive to gluten.  Bob's Red Mill has GF Oats that you can find at most supermarkets, and if you are in the Ottawa area, Castor River Farm's oats are gluten-free, very reasonably priced and can be purchased at the Ottawa Farmer's Market (check their website to find out which weekends they attend which market).

Brrr!

Well it's October. Don't ask me how it happened, I haven't a clue.  It's summer, everyone is warm and happy, you look away for one second and BAM! cold, damp, fall swoops in to put an end to sundress season.   Wasn't it only last weekend that I was sweating my butt off hiking through Gatineau Park on a beautiful 25 degree day?  Yep.  That was definitely only 8 days ago.  Regardless of what evil trickery brought it about, it's here now, and we're just going to have to deal with it. Autumn has arrived, and that means it's time to bust out the jackets and scarves, and it's also time to start making soup.

Lookout view over Gatineau park, Sept. 25 - the leaves just starting to turn

The really great thing about autumn (or as I like to call it "soup season") is that the fall harvest brings a bounty of produce to the local farmers markets.  So many soup possibilities await!  All of the produce in this warming, immune-system-boosting soup can be found at the farmers markets now.  You can make this in two ways: soup or stew.  I'll tell you how I made the soup, then what you can do differently to make it a stew instead!

Vegan Groundnut Soup 
Makes about 2 big meal-sized servings, or 4 small "on the side with a sandwich" sized servings

1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ground ginger
1 red pepper, chopped
4 plum tomatoes, diced
1-2 sweet potatoes, cubed (1-2 cm cubes)
Enough vegetable broth to just cover the vegetables
Cayenne pepper to taste
1/4 cup peanut butter (all-natural preferred)

In a large pot, saute onions with a bit of oil for a few minutes until they soften.  Add in garlic and ginger and saute for one minute.  Add the tomatoes and red peppers and saute until tomatoes start to break down.

Add remaining ingredients making sure to only put as much vegetable broth in as is needed to cook the sweet potatoes - you can add more liquid later, but it's more difficult to take it away.  Bring to a boil and simmer until sweet potatoes are cooked.

Using a hand blender, pulse soup to form a thick, creamy base while still leaving lots of chunks of vegetables. Alternatively, you can remove 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup and puree in a blender, then return it to the remaining soup.  Add more liquid if needed to reach desired soup density.

Stew form: Chop vegetables into larger chunks, do not puree at the end, and serve over rice.  Top with chopped peanuts and cilantro.  You may also add beans, tofu, or faux chicken to this stew if it pleases you.

"Blueberries is one of the great forces o'good in the world" - James A. Owens

Late summer - and that's what we're at now, in case you blinked and didn't notice summer whiz by - is my favourite time of year.  There are many reasons why August is such a great month - cicadas are singing in the trees, meadows are in full bloom, back to school supplies are out, and nearly all of Ontario's produce is now available.  All summer long I await the arrival of two fruits more than any other: peaches and blueberries.  

Last week I paid a visit to Canaan Blueberries, which is located east of Ottawa.  It is a lovely, peaceful farm, boasting four varieties of highbush blueberries.  I have always enjoyed picking blueberries, I find them to be the most contemplative of berries.  I used to work on a berry farm when I was in high school, and the blueberry patch was my favourite.  Sitting quietly in the blueberry field, feeling the warmth of the sun pressing against me, listening to the birds chirping and the wind rustling through the trees, was like a kind of meditation.  In the blueberry field, my mind grows still (a rare occurrence), my heart swell with joy, and I am filled with appreciation. 

At Canaan Blueberries, the feelings of peace and happiness found me again.  With the branches bending under the weight of their fruit, picking was easy and plentiful - I came away with about 6 litres of blueberries!  A week later, less than a quart of berries remain.  So what did I do with them all?

Those blueberries lended their antioxident power to blueberry-peach smoothies, pancakes, turnovers, tarts, soy-yogurt breakfast parfaits, and one epic blueberry pie!  The blueberry pie is a combination of three separate from around the web, and let me tell you - it was friggin awesome.  

Epic Blueberry Crumble-top Pie

Flakey Vegan Pie Crust

From Veganbaking. Also what I used to make my turnovers and tarts. Excellent crust!

This recipe would do for a crust topped pie - since this pie uses a crumble topping, you only need to make HALF the recipe.  Or, make it all and use the leftover dough for tarts and other such goodies!

2 ½ cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
¾ cup cold margarine
½ cup cold vegetable shortening
¼ cup cold water
3 Tbsp cold vodka 

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt (I like to cheat-sift by whisking my flour mixtures.  It blends everything really well and breaks up clumps).  Cut the margarine and shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter until crumbly (if you don't have a pastry cutter, a wire whisk also works really well! Whisks ftw!).  Drizzle half the water and vodka and toss.  The original recipe says to use your fingers, but I used a spatula to keep the warmth of your hands from melting the margarine/shortening.  Add the rest of the water and vodka and mix again.  Press the dough into a ball and refrigerate while you get the filling and topping ready.

Why vodka? The alcohol inhibits gluten formation (the protein in wheat flour that causes the stretchy breadiness), and it also provides moisture that will quickly cook off, both contributing to perfect flakiness!

Blueberry Filling

I used the recipe from The Joy of Baking. You really can't ask for a more perfect blueberry filling.

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 Tbsp lemon zest

Combine sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and zest.  Add the sugar mixture to the blueberries and toss to combine.

Chemistry lesson: Pectin is a polysaccharide found in fruit and is used as a gelling agent when making jam.  In the presence of an acid (in this case, lemon juice), pectin chains bind together. Water is bound together by sugar and the pectin chains, creating a thick gel.  Blueberries are naturally high in pectin, thus the addition of sugar and lemon juice makes for a fool-proof pie filling.

Walnut Crumb Topping

I found this crumb topping on Epicurious. I'll be using this recipe for a peach crisp in the near future!

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

6 Tbsp margarine, melted

Mix together all ingredients except margarine.  Add the melted margarine and mix with your fingers until crumbly.

ASSEMBLE!!

Place oven rack at the lower third and preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

Roll out pastry.  The crust recipe suggests rolling it out between two sheets of parchment paper (this is a great idea as it won't add additional flour to the crust). I however, have always make pie crusts using the add flour as needed method, and that's what I did here.  It worked out wonderfully.  Pre-bake the empty crust for about 10 minutes.

Fill the bottom crust with the blueberry filling, then top with walnut crumb crust.  PLACE PIE ON TOP OF COOKIE SHEET LINED WITH FOIL!  If you choose not to put a cookie sheet under your pie, prepare for a sticky blueberry mess on the bottom of your oven (and subsequent oven smoke).  If you don't line your cookie sheet with foil, prepare to scrape sticky blueberry mess off your cookie sheet.  Consider yourself warned.

Bake for a good hour or so, or until the crumb topping is doing some serious browning and there's lots of filling bubbling up through the gaps in the crumble (and likely onto your cookie sheet).  Remove from oven, resist urge to shovel scalding hot pie into your mouth, allow to cool, impress your friends.

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!

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.  :)

Turmeric and Coriander and Cumin, Oh My!

Last night I attempted to introduce my cat, Skrabble, to my friend Brett's cat, Lily, in a hope that they would become the best of friends and have an outrageously adorable play date. This didn't occur. They generally just growled at each other and avoided each other for the majority of the evening, punctuated with the occasional screaming encounter.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with food? Be patient, all will be revealed to you at the proper time. Lucky for you, that time is now. While over at Brett's place for kitty party (aka kitty growl-fest) I made a curry and onion bahjis for us for dinner. I decided to use this as inspiration for this week's Salad Challenge. The onion bhajis got me thinking about these battered fried onion bits that they put on the veggie burgers over at Darcy McGee's, a chain of pubs in the Ottawa area. Not only are these the best veggie burgers I've ever had, but atop their already fantastic burger, they put a grilled portobello cap and onions that have been battered in a curry-spiced batter, then deep fried. SO GOOD. Seriously, if you're in Ottawa you HAVE to go to one of these pubs and get their veggie burger. They also have some very good beer on tap - I recommend Erdinger.

Ok, I'm getting off topic again. The point is, I was thinking to myself that these crispy onions would make a super tasty salad topping. And so the idea for Bahji salad was born! These crispy fried onions would be an excellent topping for salads of all kinds, veggie burgers, sandwiches, portobello or tofu steaks. They're basically just delicious.

Crispy Bahji Bits

1 onion, cut in half, then thinly sliced

1 tbsp water

2 tsp cornstarch

3 tbsp chickpea flour

1/2 tsp each turmeric, coriander, cumin and chili powder

cayenne pepper to taste

olive oil

Mix cornstarch and water together. Add onions and toss to coat. In a tupperware container mix chickpea flour and spices. Add the onions to the container, put the lid on, and shake to coat.

Heat about a half centimeter of oil in a pan or pot over medium heat (I like pots cause they contain the oil splatter better). Put in only as many onions as the pot/pan will hold in a single layer. Fry until onions are crispy, turning once so that both sides are browned. Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Bahji's are often served with Cucumber Raita for dipping. Raita is usually made with yogurt, but I replaced yogurt with soft silken tofu, and it turned out pretty well, but I think it still needs improvement. I used the raita I made as a salad dressing, and constructed my salad with baby spinach, grated carrot, sliced cucumber, raita, and of course, topped it all with a generous helping of bahji bits!

I rounded out dinner tonight with this Rice & Lentil Pilaf which was SO delicious (I used kale in place of dandelion greens), and Sweet Potato Falafel from my favourite vegan food blog, FatFree Vegan Kitchen. Also, totally delish. All in all, this was a kickass meal, even if I do say so myself!

Salad Challenge Countdown

Salads made: 13 Salads left: 39

Thai me up and make it hot

The winning ice sculpture at this year's international ice carving competition at Winterlude

I've been distracted this week by statistics homework, winterlude, and a kickass show featuring two fantastic Canadian bands, the Sadies and Young Rival. With all this fun, I almost forgot about my salad of the week! This does not bode well seeing as how I almost dropped the ball only 6 weeks in.

That being said, I did make a delicious salad tonight. As the title suggests, it is inspired by Thai cuisine. The things I love about Thai food? Peanutty goodness, ginger, and heat. This salad has all of those elements. My goal for this dish was to take a spicy peanut sauce stir-fry and turn it into a salad. I think I succeeded.

The salad dressing has fresh grated ginger in it. A few years ago I learned a really great tip for ginger from Rachel Ray on her "30 minute meals" show. I'm not really a big fan of hers, (I think she's a little over the top) but she makes some good food. She suggested peeling the ginger root and putting them in a ziplock baggy in the freezer. When you need some just pull it out and grate from frozen. I tried it and I can tell you it makes grating ginger SO much easier. Give it a try, you'll never go back.

Week 6: Thai Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Makes 1 salad

Greenery of choice

Sliced red bell peppers

snow peas

sliced green onion

cucumber

unsalted peanuts

dressing:

1 tsp peanut butter

1 tsp soy sauce*

1/2 tsp seasoned rice vinegar

1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/4 tsp red chili flakes

*To make this gluten free make sure you're using gluten-free soy sauce or tamari

Whisk together dressing ingredients. Assemble salad, top with dressing, peanuts, and a squirt of fresh lime juice. I think sliced avocado would be an excellent addition to this salad, but unfortunately, I have recently learned that I may have an oral allergy to avocado and was told by my allergist to avoid it. So sad.

Salad Challenge Countdown

Salads made: 6 Salads left: 46

A Tale of Tails and Zen

When I think of Ottawa and winter, one thing comes to mind: the Rideau Canal. It is the worlds largest skating rink at 7.8km in length. It is home to Winterlude, which kicks off this weekend. And what's the first thing most people think of when you say the words "canal" and "winterlude"? BeaverTails. Not the actual tails of beavers, but a delicious pastry that is deep fried and covered in cinnamon sugar. It is as Canadian as maple syrup, and a must for any visitor to the canal. The first BeaverTail stand opened in the Byward Market in 1980 and has since become a fixture on the Rideau Canal skateway and at festivals throughout the region. Even President Obama had one on his visit to our nation's capital.

I figured that there was no way the delectable BeaverTail was vegan, but I was curious to find out just how much cheating I was about to do on my first skate of the season. I e-mailed the company and promptly received the following enthusiastic reply:

"Dear Ashley,

Thank you for submitting your questions regarding our addictive product! For your information, you will find no animal-based products in the whole-wheat dough portion of the BeaverTails, however, we do smear butter on them in order to hold the toppings (which are all vegetarian) like our famous cinnamon and sugar blend. Also, our product is deep fried in Canola or Soya oil (depending on the store you visit). "

So there you have it, vegan except for the butter they "smear" on. We can't be perfect all the time, and BeaverTails are well worth the indulgence. They have a maple butter version of the BeaverTail, and if it is actually pure maple butter, would be vegan. I intend to ask about it next time I go.

Our next stop after the canal was to Zen Kitchen, an upscale all vegan restaurant in Ottawa's chinatown area. My friend Brett and I were feeling adventurous and sprung for the chef's tasting menu, which consisted of 4 courses of vegan amazingness, the final course being a devastatingly delicious dessert. Seriously people, if you're in the Ottawa area and looking for an amazing place to eat, this is it. As good (or better) as any high end restaurant I've ever eaten in, it was all at once surprising, fresh, and decadent. They even make note right on the menu which dishes can be prepared gluten-free. I will definitely be going back.

I really wish I had brought my camera in so I could take photos of the amazing food, but having just come from the canal I only had my backpack which I opted to leave in the car, which of course had my camera in it. So sad. I'll be sure to take pics next time!