Breadmaker focaccia

I bought a breadmaker on the weekend. It was a great price, and my last one had long since given up. But we know what this means: a month of home-made bread, then intermittent neglect mixed with bouts of baking galore.
So, for my inaugural project: pizza dough. It actually tuned into three calzones and some focaccia. To keep me happy with minimal effort, I spread vegan pesto and Daiya vegan cheese on the focaccia before baking. I have yet to find a perfect whole-grain focaccia recipe, but yes, it's like sex and pizza: even if it's bad, it's still pretty good.

Un-photogenic butternut squash soup

I used to be a waitress. It coincided with my discovery of the joys of cooking, and introduced me a whole new way of looking at food. One of the recipes I gleaned from my days there for butternut squash and mushroom soup. I kept pestering the chef what was in it that made it taste so good. I even made it at home, sadly concluded that no, it didn't taste the same, and asked him again. Finally he told me: black pepper. Seriously? Seriously. Just black pepper. It made all the difference. Add fresh ground black pepper (if you don;t have a pepper mill, you should get one--they're awesome) before eating, and your taste buds will thank you. A rough recipe is below. I used it to make the soup pictured, but added a triangle of focaccia to make it photogenic because let's not kid ourselves--pureed orange soup just ain't that pretty.

Butternut squash and mushroom soup
2 teaspoons cooking oil
1 onion, chopped medium-fine

1/2 cup wine

1/2 pound mushrooms, cleaned and quartered (chef's recipe called for shiitake, I used king oyester the soup pictured)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 can vegetable broth, plus water

Saute onions in oil until golden, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and cook until soft, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. Add wine (whatever wine you have on hand, whether old or cheap, or even a full cup, no one will know unless you tell me, in which case I'll blog about how I do the same thing) and de-glaze pan, watching carefully. When wine has reduced, add broth and cut butternut squash and additional water to cover. Simmer until the squash is very soft, and mushes a little when you stir it, about an hour. Puree everything--I strongly recommend a stick blender, to avoid an accidental exploding blender incident. Add fresh ground pepper to taste, about half a teaspoon. Also tasty as leftovers.

Spicey noodle breakfast

Late breakfst today: steamed bok choy and brown rice noodles with "dipping sauce" poured over top. Spicey, and suitable for chopsticks, and even healthy--some of my favourite things!! Recipe from Vegetarian Times (and makes 'fast pho' as leftovers too).

Store-bought whole wheat gnocchi with garlic and vegan parmesan.

Black bean burger from Veganomicon with cheddar-style Daiya vegan cheese.

Microwave vegan brownie

Microwave vegan brownie. The video doesn't lie--it's not gourment by any means. But it's a single serving (okay, maybe two servings) and it's nom-worthy. Especially for those nights when you have no sweets on hand and sweets are definitely required--and you're comfortable eating a brownie out of a mug by yourself on the couch. While watching Buffy season 3 and crying.
...Enjoy!

Vegan gluten-free bookclub part 2

Another successful mostly vegan and mostly gluten-free bookclub! I made two gluten-free items for this month's event (since I was hosting): curried potato-cauliflower from Vegetarian Times. I omitted the peas listed in the recipe because I forgot to buy them, but it was yummy! I also made walnut-mushroom pate from Veganomicon--I made a ton and expected it to disappear, but there were so many delicious things there is still some left over for me. The gluten-free bookclubber brought sandwich cookies from Bunner's Bakery. There was also two kinds of hummus and delicious spinach salad with red onion, pear and avocado. And yes, in addition to eating, we did talk about the book a little. I think this month, most of preferred the food to the book!

Grilled cheese breakfast

Breakfast today: grilled cheese with cheddar-style Daiya, cooked in my panini press. An excellent way to start the day.

Of course he loved the sausage

Like cooking, dating can be messy. You try something you thought you'd like and it goes horribly. Or something you were loathe to even contemplate turns out great. Either way, the fun is as much in the process as the end result. Which brings me to sausage.
Now bear with me as I resist the urge to giggle like a 13-year-old, but I bring up sausage because of a date I had on the weekend. I was cooking dinner for a date who indicated he preferred to stay in. Well, fine. But when a vegan hosts an omnivore for the first time, the question is always what to serve that will absolutely and in one fell swoop dispel the myth that vegan food sucks. As it is to so many things, the answer is sausage. Because I only had so many things in the house--my glass of wine after work with a colleague the night before had ended at 10:00 p.m., so I didn't manage to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Which left frozen tomatoes, an onion and some red peppers to form a meal. Pasta it is! With Italian-style navy bean sausage. Mmmmmm.
But when my date appeared I was informed he did not eat carbs. They made him gain weight. Well, fine. Despite the absolute lack of notice--even after a previous conversation about what to make for dinner during which no objections to carbs were raised--I modified the menu and served sausage with the red sauce and zucchini and one very small baked potato. (Even though I suspected his food anxieties were more about the flavour of my vegan dishes than the amount of carbs.) And upon tasting the sausage for the first time--I swear to god I have a straight face right now--my date declared it was delicious. I resisted the urge to scream I told you so and insist it would taste better with some kamut pasta. But it brings me full circle--my date thought the food would be mediocre and it was fantastic, and I thought the date was going to be awesome, and...Well, fine.
Just because things don't often go the way you expect them to, here's a recipe for pinto bean sausages instead.

Brunch at Fresh

Food photo from the past: vegan brunch at Fresh in Toronto: blueberry pancakes, tofu scramble, and vegan sausage.

Oh baby, Babycakes

Babycakes is renowned. RENOWNED, BABY. And I was there. I dragged my friend across New York City while we were on vacation and freaked the hell out. I bought two cupcakes and a sandwich cookie. And then I went to Moo Shoes and bought two pais of gorgeous vegan pumps. BOO-YEAH.

Vegan Ice cream; or, When in Rome

Vegan ice cream. Believe it or not, I found more of it in Italy than in my own city. I KNOW!! I dragged my mother 20 minutes out of the way  on thw way to our hotel on Rome so I could get the vegan ice cream mentioned on HappyCow.net. I was soooo worth it. They had many flavours of soy ice cream, and even...wait for it... vegan whipped cream! Yes, in case you were wondering, Rome is very much like heaven. ...If heaven has cute flirty waiters.