Seashell Cookies?

I have made this traditional French cookie called Madeleine's before but it had been over a year since my last batch. Besides the fact that you need to buy a special pan, it is very much worth it especially if you are serving it to those who do not have a sweet tooth. Traditional Madeleine's are made with orange extract but I have experimented with almond extract and even caramel extract. This batch here was made with caramel extract that I picked up at Scoop n' Weigh on Taylor for $5.99.

I picked up the pan from Happy Cooker which is located on Osborne and Stradbrook for $21.99 and it did inclue the recipe.

Orange Madeleine

Ingredients:

2/3 cup of flour
1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp of shredded orange peel
1 cup of powdered sugar

If you decide to use a different extract I add a full tablespoon.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray pan with Pam or similar non-stick spray. 
• Sift together flour and baking powder in small bowl. Set aside.
• In a different bowl use an electric mixer to beat eggs, orange extract and orange peel on high speed for 5 minutes. It must be mixed for 5 minutes. Anything less, they won't rise. 
• Gradually beat in powdered sugar for another 5 minutes or until thick.
• Gently fold in flour mixture, then melted butter.
• Mix until smooth and then spoon the mixture into the cups filling about 3/4 full. 
• Bake approximately 8 minutes or until edges are light brown.

Makes about 24 cookies.

See the bump?

They are light and just a tad sweet. Add some icing sugar and you are good to go!

Keen on Quinoa Sushi

When I want a quick meal I make "sushi". As a vegetarian, for me, I am always conscious to how much protein I consume especially if I am not eating any tofu or seitan that day. Therefore, when I make sushi I use quinoa instead of rice. Quinoa is a super food (in my opinion) for vegetarians because it contains a complete protein profile. You can find quinoa anywhere but I usually pick it up at Costco for $10.99 for a 4lb bag.

For this roll, I used mayo, avocado, hot sauce and quinoa. You would make the quinoa as the same as rice. Two roles usually fill me up. Over all, I am consuming a grain, getting my protein intake, eating my good fats and with the low fat mayo this is a pretty healthy quick meal! I also use soya sauce but I prefer tamari as it is low sodium and gluten free. A common mistake is to think all soya sauces are gluten free. I pick this bottle up (as shown below) at Bulk Barn for $8.99 and it usually lasts me a couple months.

Super Terrific Morning Oatmeal

This past Sunday I woke up craving oatmeal, but, I didn't want a typical bowl of oatmeal. I went on one of my favorite blogs looking for a recipe because the blogger loves oatmeal so much that she made a tab for it and I ended up finding a baked banana oatmeal recipe. Since I didn't have any bananas I used apples. I altered the recipe below from her blog:

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 egg, beat
• 2 apples (Spartan or Pink Lady)
• 1 1/2 cups of almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375*. 
• Place a frying pan over medium heat with butter. While the butter is melting, cut up both apples in 1/2 inch slices. Once the butter melts place the cut up apples into the pan with two tablespoons over water and let it saute for a minute. Then, add the brown sugar. Your pan should be simmering. If not, add more water by tablespoon.
• While the apples are simmering, combine the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl.
• Combine the wet ingredients in a separate medium size bowl. 
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Line an 8″ pan (square or round) with parchment paper or just use cooking spray.
• Layer the bottom of the baking dish with some apples and liquid from the pan. Then put a layer of the mixed oatmeal, another layer of apples and then a final layer of oatmeal and apples.
• Pop it into oven for about 26 minutes.

http://www.katheats.com/recipage?recipe_id=6000081

I actually ended up forgetting to put the cinnamon in the recipe so I sprinkled some on top.

I also made one more alteration, instead of using brown sugar, I used coconut sugar! You can find it at Costco or any nutrition store. It's a little pricey (at $11) but it is a more natural sugar and a substitute from refined sugar but not a sweetener as it does not have aspartame.  It is considered "more nutritious" because it is a low-carb sugar and it has a low glycemic index. A glycemic index measures how the food that you consume impacts your blood sugar. It also has higher micronutrients then brown sugar or regular sugar because it is less processed. Check out this link for more information and try it out!

http://coconutpalmsugar.com/Home_Page.html

 My breakfast! Here is some of the baked oatmeal with honey greek yogurt and scrambled eggs! With a grande three pump white mocha americano misto from Starbucks; it was a perfect morning.

Falafel and a Cheddar Cheese Scone

Life got in the way this week so I was not able to make more than one dish. Instead, I went to Falafel Place on Corydon Ave and had their Israeli Pita which contained tahini, falafel balls, hummus, lettuce and fries! Soooooo good.


Sorry guys, I keep forgetting to take pictures of the food before taking a bite!


I woke up Sunday morning frozen and I wanted something warm from the oven. I went through Isa Chandra Moskowitz "Vegan Brunch" cook book (http://www.amazon.ca/Vegan-Brunch-Homestyle-Asparagus-Pancakes/dp/0738212725) and I found a recipe for scones! I followed the recipe but added a 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Unfortunately, I can't post the recipe (Copyright Law) but check out her book or this link. ( http://www.theppk.com/2008/08/berry-week-day-1-marionberry-lavender-scones/) Minus the lavender and berries and add 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese at the end and you will get below!




This was perfect with some scrambled eggs mixed with a tablespoon of miracle whip and some dill. Yum!

I might have to try this recipe with the berries and lavender next time...

Strombo is Vegan?

Do any of you watch Top Chef Canada?

A new episode aired last night with a very attractive guest named George Stroumboulopoulos to tell the contestants about their quick fire challenge. This week, the challenge was to make a vegan dish for George to enjoy as he is vegan (I knew that actually!). I laughed for probably a good minute or two when I saw the contestants reactions to the challenge and once I calmed down, I felt a warm and fuzzy feeling because this is the reason why I am doing this blog. The contestants looked panicked because they couldn't put 'protein' on the plate! Most of them joked that all they could serve was a plate of vegetables.

Silly chefs... but you're learning!

Easter Dinner

For a family dinner, I was in charge of bringing the dessert (technically I volunteered to bring dessert because I wanted to make this recipe again) and I decided on making Strawberry Tall Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. (http://www.theppk.com/books) If you have never heard of this cookbook or even the author,  Isa Chandra Moskowitz, you need to make your way to your local library and get yourself educated! I love her books such as Veganomicon and Vegan Cookies Take Over your Cookie Jar.

I decided to bake these cupcakes because they are not too sweet and they look fancy without trying too hard. 

Here is a picture, pre-assembled; I made the golden vanilla cupcakes in the morning as they needed to be completely cooled before I assembled them. I also make buttercream icing and cut up strawberries that were sitting in a pool of maple sugar.

( I am still learning about how to work with the lighting in my kitchen)

This is what they looked like after they were assembled:

I took some dark chocolate and shaved it on top of the cupcakes to give it a little oomph!

The cupcakes were well received by my family. The only ingredients that were 'odd' was the Earth Balance butter. It is very important to purchase this specific brand because I have made the mistake of purchasing 'lactose free' and my icing was extremely runny. You can find Earth Balance at the Grant, Regent and Bison Superstore locations for $4,99. It is not an ingredient that I use often so the downfall is that it does take up space in your fridge. You can also find this at Organza and Vita Health but it is more expensive. 

I was in a cooking mood so I decided to make a casserole for the week. This particular casserole is time consuming, requires many ingredients and lots of dishes to wash. When you don't have a dishwasher like me, you sometimes second guess whether making this dish is worth it. (Trust me, it is!)

This is the Red and White Cauliflower Bake from another one of my favorite cook books, Vegan Yum Yum (http://veganyumyum.com/). My life partner, M., on a whim decided to purchase a vegan cookbook for me for Christmas which completely worked out because this cookbook ended up quickly becoming my favorite! I love it when that happens. For this particular recipe, I asked him to help me which shaved off 30 mins of prep time.

There are three separate components to this recipe that you assemble together. Here is the marinara sauce:

The steamed cauliflower and white sauce:

And tofu mixed with Italian herbs spread out at the bottom of this casserole dish and then I added a layer of the cauliflower mixon top and then placed the marinara sauce on top. On top of the sauce layer is Panko (tempura/ breadcrumb mix). 

I love this dish because not only is it nutritious but it is also filling without it being too heavy. When you are on the go, it is easy to just grab a piece and run out the door! There are no funny ingredients in this recipe except for nutritional yeast. I cannot remember the cost as I've had it awhile but I found it at my local Safeway. For Panko, if you have not heard of it, it's a form of tempura that I use to substitute for breadcrumbs because it doesn't become mushy and gives the dish a crunch. Panko can be found in any Superstore, Bulk Barn and Organza. 

What did you make this Easter?

(Please note that I will post recipe's shortly)

Welcome!

My name is Stephanie and I created this blog to discuss some of my favourite hobbies; cooking and baking. My goal is to not only discuss what I prepare for meals and how it was prepared but to share how being a vegetarian in Winnipeg, Manitoba can be very easy, creative and fun!

In most cases, we are sometimes a victim to our routines of where we purchase our food. We sometimes venture out and go to the local Farmers Market to not only support the vendors but also to be introduced to produce that we may not find in our grocery stores. For myself, I love trying new recipes and to try different produce, spices or various kinds of grain! Unfortunately, as I've noticed from most of my cookbooks, some of the unique items that is required for a recipe might be easy to find in California or New York (where the books are published) but I might not always be able to find it here in Winnipeg.  Or, if I find them, I am risking paying over $10 for a large quantity that I might not use again. This problem is what sparked my passion for cooking. I kept asking myself, "Winnipeg must have these ingredients but where can I find them  and without breaking the bank?"  I did not want to be limited to how creative I can be with my food. This is the type of information I want to have accessible to you because i've already done the work and I want to share my knowledge with others who are in the same predicament as me and who love to try new things. Every week, I will post one new dinner recipe and dessert recipe that I have tried (or share some of my favourites) and I will discuss where you can find the ingredients and the cost.

Here is a little information about me, I have stopped eating pork, beef, chicken and turkey since June 16th, 2011 and I have stopped eating fish since October 19th, 2011. Therefore, on October 20th, 2011, I officially became a ovo-lacto vegetarian which means I still consume milk products and eggs but no meat or fish. At this time, I don't see that changing, however, I eat a vegan diet frequently without even trying (or realizing) so who knows! When I became a vegetarian I began the most common 'newbie' mistake and ate mostly pasta which my waist line and even my energy levels did not appreciate. I knew the reason why I wanted to be vegetarian but I needed and wanted to spend more time learning about broadening my palate while staying healthy. Thus, I began learning how to properly feed myself in a nutritious fashion but also to teach myself (and others) that vegetarians eat more than just a plate of carrots.