Squash Pita Pizza

Mmm.. pre-baked acorn squash, black beans, salsa, soy cheese and black olives. SO GOOD.

Homemade Perogies!

I finally made perogies by hand. It was easy! We filled them with a mix of potato, grated cheddar soy cheese, and fried leeks. Yay!


Circles cut with the mouth of a container..

Super Quick and Healthy Butternut Squash Soup

I got a small can of organic butternut squash puree on sale at the natural food store the other day, and I wasn't sure what to do with it, but then I came up with this awesome soup! It could easily be made with canned pumpkin, too.

First, I fried up a chopped onion with some olive oil in the bottom of a medium sized pan, and then I added about 2 tsp of my favourite curry powder and stirred it around, and then I added the can of squash plus enough rice milk to make it the right consistency. I will definitely be doing this again!

Slow-Cooker Chili with Cornbread

Saturday was chili night! The chili was based on the 'Sweet Potato Chili with Chipotle' (or something like that) from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker (I added black beans and tvp crumbles), the cornbread is 'Skillet Corn Bread' from Veganomicon, and the sour cream is Tofutii brand. It was as good as it looked!!

Vegan Cheese Reviews

Homemade nut and/or nutritional yeast cheese is great, but fake cheese rules too. I've tried quite a few brands and flavours, and here is my verdict for the best ones.

The best for eating melted:

I have found that the Montery Jack flavour from Follow Your Heart is the absolute best vegan cheese on pizza. It melts quite soft, so you have to cook it until it bubbles and browns a bit (always good) or it can be too runny, but even then it tastes great. The mozarella flavour is good, but it just tastes sort of butter-y.. the jack has a bit more kick.

The best for eating cold, unmelted:

Sheese is very expensive but pretty damn good. It is the only vegan cheese I've ever had that tastes really good in a cold sandwhich. It is very firm and has a great texture. I doesn't melt very well, though. It doesn't spread out like FYH does. My favourite is the Smoked Cheddar flavour, but I'm sure they are all great.

Best parmesan substitute:

I'm a big fan of the Galaxy Foods brand parmesan.. as far as I know no one else makes a parmesan substitute.. but that's ok, because this stuff rules.

Best cheese slices:

Tofutti slices are the greasiest cheese I've tried, so I don't eat them often, but they are pretty yummy. Try them torn into pieces and melted on pizza. The flavour is quite butter-y, but sometimes that's what you're going for.

Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls, again!

It's that time of year again! Time for this recipe!
My sister and I made them last weekend as a Thanksgiving weekend activity. Baking with yeast takes sooo long.. but it is worth it!

Mexican-inspired Baked Pasta

Ingredients: cooked whole wheat rotini, salsa, red beans, frozen corn, and some orange cheez sauce (tofu, roasted red pepper, nutritional yeast, tahini, garlic powder, salt), bread crumbs. I mixed everything up and baked at 400 for 20 minutes- just to crisp up the top a bit.

Me news and Elsie pics

I started my last semester of my English degree last week! My classes are all pretty cool. Highlights include a seminar on the wackiness of Columbus (not the actual title..) and a film class.

Also, I just got back from a great weekend in Toronto! The boyfriend and I went to the Vegetarian Food Fair and the Royal Ontario Museum, and we ate at Fresh (of course) and I had my first visit to Fressen! It was nice.. and the food was swanky.. but it didn't amaze me.

...and now, some photos of my kitty sleeping in cute ways!

Balsamic Collards and Portabello Mushrooms on Cheezy Pasta Spirals

The pasta sauce is a white-bean cheez sauce from the Uncheese Cookbook. It's pretty much white beans, nutritional yeast, soy milk.. salt, spices, whatever. Creamy goodness.

On top is sliced portabello mushrooms and collard greens cooked with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I don't like collard greens as much as chard because collards are more bitter, but they are in season right now and are perfectly yummy!

Banana-Date-Peanut Butter Ice Cream

This ice cream is naturally sweet! No sugar added.

Ingredients, blended:
1 can light coconut milk
3 ripe bananas
6 pitted dates
2 tbs peanut butter

+ chocolate chips