Stiil here...

Hey friends! I'm still here... still cooking. I have much to post about, but have been too busy/ lazy to upload pictures onto my computer.

There's mega snow here....temperatures tomorrow will be -30 C for the high. Wow.

And, since I don't have enough on my plate, I'm working on opening an etsy shop. Details on that to come... right now I'm thinking that it will be mostly baby/ toddler clothing made from recycled thrift shop clothes. Maybe children's backpacks, cloth diapers, pouch slings, and mei tai baby carriers. We'll see. (Yeah, that's not vegan-food related, but it's one of the reasons I've been absent. So.)

Anyways, I hope to have a post up in the next couple days. From the looks of the forecast, it looks like I won't really be leaving the house too much in the coming week.

I hope you are all a lot warmer than us!

Recent stuff

Not too much going on around here. Things have slowed down mega since the holidays, which is lovely.
Here are a few recent goings-on from our kitchen.
My most favorite grocery store/ restaurant closed last month, which breaks my heart. (And makes me hate giant chain grocery stores, but that's beside the point....) I used to get this really awesome tofu tahini rice bowl there, and I tried to recreate it, with a little help and inspiration from the rice bowl recipes from the Fresh at Home cookbook. Brown rice, marinated tofu, diced tomatoes, avocado, spinach, sunflower seeds, and tahini sauce. Yummers.
And after Michelle's hardy recommendation, I decided to make V'con's Leek and Bean Cassoulet. I've been wanting to try this recipe since she first posted about it, but it always looked so complicated, especially since I always wait until the last minute to make dinner. In reality though, it was super straight forward, and no trouble at all. Oh, and did I mention that it was totally delicious?
And my fancy-pants dinner: roasted portobellos, tomato couscous (both from V'con), roasted cauliflower, and steamed chard. It would've been fancier if I would have put it in a little cup, so it would've been all molded, and, well, fancy. But that was an afterthought. So. This is as fancy* as it gets.
I also made another one of the expensive vegan cheesecakes last weekend, and Quinn helped me clean up. :)
(Note the adorable sock monkey pants that Grandma made Quinn for xmas!)
And now for the feeding pictures! Two new foods for baby Teague. Spinach:
and swiss chard:
Both went over well, now I need to get back to my steamer and food processor, and decide what to make next!
Have a great week everyone!
*I refer to this meal as fancy, because couscous and roasted portobellos seem very restaurant-y to me. :)

Happy Holidays!

Hey all! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday.
I have much to post, so let's get to it!

Last Saturday, before Christmas, we had a big Holiday/ Solstice party with a few friends of ours. It was an after-dinner party, and I made a few big pots of Chai Latte from The Joy of Vegan Baking (no pics, sorry... just imagine a big pot of.... chai. ;) ), and Lemon Cheesecake from the same book. Holy hannah, that lemon cheesecake rocked my world like crazy. Yikes. Sure, it was pricey, and a good $20 worth of soy cream cheese went into it, but damn. I was pretty sure that my cheesecake days were over, but I am so relived that they are not. Oh yum. I topped with a raspberry coulis. Ah, life is sweet.
Each of my guests took home a goody bag full of holiday baking: Jam-Print Cookies, 5-Spice Cookies, and Chocolate Mint Melties from ED&BV, Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance, and Mexican Wedding Cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Mmm.

Our christmas dinners (one at my mom's, one at my dad's) consisted of tofu roast, potatoes, veggies... the usual suspects. Nice!
One of my sisters is in university right now, so to save on cash, she made everyone treats for christmas instead of buying gifts. Fine by me! Here's what she made us: Double-Chocolate Almond Explosion Cookies and Fudgy Brownies from Vive, and chocolate-covered pretzels. Holy crappola. Chocolate covered pretzels rock my world, and I haven't had them in years. Le sigh. I heart my family.

Speaking of loving my family, can we talk gifts for a minute? My awesome hubby got me a mug from VeganDish that I am in love with! And look at how cute my guys are in their new Herbivore duds.
And here's a cute picture of my Grandpa ( vegetarian for 25+ years) sharing some cashews with Quinn. Awww.

For our post-christmas Boxing Day dinner, I made Fresh at Home's Golden Curried Dahl, and a batch of ExtraVeganZa's Spelt Chapatis. (On a side note, a dear friend just pointed out that me, and a few other friends, have been pronouncing this book Extra Vegan Za, although it seems like it's actually extravaganza. I feel like an idiot.)

Although I didn't mention it last month, I got a big ol' gift certificate to a bookstore for my birthday, which I, naturally, used to buy cookbooks. :) I picked up Fresh At Home, Real Food Daily, and The Joy of Vegan Baking (which I looove so far). Does anyone have any recommendations for what to make from which?

And, last but not least, (not-so) little baby Teague had his first not-from-the-boob food tonight! Some organic steamed pears, pureed, obviously.
I have done a lot of research on vegan infant nutrition, and have am quite nearly finished my holistic nutrition school, so I feel confident in doing a full post on the subject in the near future, if anyone would be interested. I will be following a feeding guide given to me by my naturopath, as well as my own knowledge on the subject.

Happy Holidays, everyone!
xo

Quickie

I am insanely swamped right now.... trapped under a seemingly endless pile of sewing, baking, and card making/ writing/ sending.
Anyways, back to the food. My mom and stepdad came for dinner last week, and I made V'Con's Chickpea Cutlets, with Mustard Sauce, and some roasted veggies (blue potatoes, parsnips, and carrots). Hot Damn I love those cutlets.
And, since we're covered in snow, and super cold temps, I made the husband and I a batch of ED&BV's Cocoa. All I had was full-fat coconut milk, which I used the whole can of, against Dreena's advice. I really should've listened to the well-meaning advice, because it was way too rich. Still good, but more like.... if-I-drink-a-whole-mug-of-this-I-might-throw-up good, y'know? I must add light coconut milk to my grocery list and try this again.
Oh, and a quick side note.... have any of you tried VitaSoy's Chocolate Peppermint Soymilk? Oh. My. God. If you haven't tried it yet, then run to your nearest health food store and buy a case...erm, a carton asap. Seriously. You will not be disappointed. Mmmmm. Damn the seasonal soymilks!

Yikes!

Holy crappola it's been a long time since I've done a food post. It's about time, no?
Last week Quinn and I made a batch of muffins from the Pretend Soup cookbook (by Mollie Katzen). This cookbook is very un-vegan, but easy to veganize and super fun for kids. These were called Hidden Berry muffins.... or something (I'd check, but there's a baby sleeping on my lap, and I daren't wake him).
I'm a bit of a muffin addict. Yum.
My husband's employers bring breakfast in every morning for their 300+ employees. Among the fresh fruit, cereal, and soymilk (!!!), are carrot muffins with cream cheese frosting which he pines over. So, because I'm the greatest wife in the world (har har), I made him some vegan ones, using VWaV's carrot muffin recipe, and VCTOTW's cream cheese frosting. These hardly lasted 2 days, which is a little sad...
Here's Veganomicon's Chickpea Noodle Soup. It was good, but the rice noodles I used were very absorb-y, and didn't keep well.
And just for fun, here's how my silly toddler ate his sushi last week...
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. :) We are all better now. We've been crazy busy though (xmas, sewing, craziness....), and had a bit of a cat-knocking-camera-over-and-breaking-the-lens incident. We bought a new lens, but I don't love it, so I hope we can get a better one soon.
I hope you are all well! There's snow like crazy here.... stay warm and cozy!
xo

Blargh!

So, we're all sick. Well, all except me, the momma bird. So, I've been busy trying to take care of everyone and doing lots and lots of yucky laundry.
But, I do have one quick recipe for you! I made this super healthy soup tonight, and it is really tasty, and full of immune-boosting ingredients.

Julie's Immunity Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 parsnips/ carrots, diced
1 tsp each: dried oregano, thyme, mustard seeds
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup amaranth
5 1/2 cups water or veg. broth
2 dried bay leaves
1 1/2 cups aduki beans

In a large saucepan, heat oil over med. heat. Add garlic, onion, ginger, celery, parsnips/ carrots, oregano, thyme, mustard seeds, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes, until onions are softened. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, for about half an hour.
Optional: Add 1 cup of frozen peas in last minutes of cooking.

(P.S. *waving* Hi! I'm Julie! Believe it or not, VegMomma is not my real name. Tee hee!)

Happy Thanksgiving, American neighbours!
Stay healthy everyone.
xo

Vegan MoFo Questionnaire

Here's a MoFo questionnaire copied from Peggy the Veggie. :)

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
So Nice Plus, or Ryza Vanilla.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Oh my goodness, top three??? How about every recipe I haven't made yet from ED&BV, Veganomicon, and ExtraVeganZa. There. How's three cookbooks instead? :)

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Earth Balance and nutritional yeast.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Pre-vegan zucchini feta pancakes. Blegh.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Beets!

6. How do you organize your recipes?
They're in cookbooks, organized for me. :) Otherwise on the computer.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Compost or trash.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Eep! Quinoa, red peppers, and garlic!

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Hmm....this is a toughie! My mom, who worked full-time, always managed to prepare a home-cooked meal. I really can't think of any bad food memories, or any that particularly stand out... Yeah, I have no good answer for this one.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Purely Decadent's Turtle Trails. Mmmm.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
Oh, my food processor, without a doubt.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Fresh basil. Mmm.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
How it All Vegan.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Raspberry. Although, I have to give a honourable mention to Elderberry jam. My mother-in-law picks Elderberries and makes jams and syrups that my husband lives for.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Any cupcake from VCTOTW, or a good, hearty rice and bean dish.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Tofu, then seitan. Tempeh just hasn't won me over yet.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Dinner. Or dessert....

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Two cake platters.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Flax meal, peas, hemp seed nuts.

20. What's on your grocery list?
Umm.... onion powder, paprika, chickpeas, kale/ chard, rice milk, frozen berries... I could go on and on...

21. Favorite grocery store?
Organic Roots.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
A recipe my stepmom makes called Treasure cookies.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Tiger the Lion, Vive le Vegan, and Chocolate-Covered Vegan (isn't she the cutest?!).

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Crispy Cat bars. Holy crap, these rocky my vegan world.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
My birthday's on Sunday, so I was frivolous and ordered myself assorted chocolates and a box of champagne truffles. Mmm.

26. Worst kitchen injury?
Slicing my finger open while chopping onions for Thanksgiving this year.