Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Nanaimo bars! Yes!

Ah, a favourite from my non-vegan days that I thought I would never taste again. Wrong! These are John and Hilana's Vegan Nanaimo Bars and they are so delicious, just like traditional bars. Except, the filling isn't bright yellow, but that's probably a good thing. The recipe is in that link so I won't get too specific, but its a base of graham cracker crumbs, coconut, cocoa and walnuts, a middle layer of frosting-type filling and a ganache top. Mmmm, its going to be so hard not to eat these all up, but they store well in the freezer so they'll keep for a while.













I made ginger butternut squash soup from La Dolce Vegan. I love squash soups. I don't really like roasted squash, so its a great way to sneak some into my diet. I was a bit shy of 2 cups though, so I tossed in some leftover kale that needed to be used up. This will be lunch for tomorrow.













Billy and I put up our mini-tree today, and since its our first Christmas living together (alone at least), I figured we'd start a tradition. I made Gingerbread Vegans from Vegan Lunchbox and some coloured soynog-flavoured icing to decorate the cookies with. Holy cow, this recipe makes a gazillion cookies, it took me all night! But they were worth it and I'll freeze some for later too. Can you tell who decorated the nice looking one?? Yep, it was me ;) Its cute that Billy's cookie looks like it was done by a child, heehee. I also made mini ones to fit in my lunch tomorrow.













Dinner for the last two nights was La Dolce Vegan's spicy tomato peanut and kale pasta. Sounds weird, yes, but it really is good. I used almond butter instead of peanut butter and it still turned out great. I served the sauce with kamut udon noodles....yummers.
Spicy tomato almond and kale pasta
Spicy tomato almond and kale pasta

13 comments:

Melissa said...

raising kahne, if you can't get the book before then, I'm sure there's lots of recipes for gingerbread floating around. So far I've only made two things from the book: the gingerbread and the pizza breadsticks. Both have been a huge success with both me and Billy :)

Anonymous said...

The gingerbread men are so cute! What a fun tradition you're starting. Marty totally doesn't understand traditions. :-(

I've never heard of nanaimo bars but your picture looks so delicious. I'm going to definitely check them out.

Melissa said...

Vivacious, if you're not in Canada, you may not have heard of it.

"The Nanaimo bar (sometimes spelled Nanimo bar) is a Canadian dessert. A type of chocolate no-bake square, it receives its name from the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, where it first became known in the 1930s. It consists of a crumb-based layer, topped by a layer of light custard or vanilla butter icing, which is covered in soft chocolate. Many varieties are possible by using different types of crumb, flavours of custard or icing (e.g. mint, peanut butter), and types of chocolate." Its in Canadian dictionaries too ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaimo_bar

Anonymous said...

Absolutely everything looks spectacular. I love nanaimo bars, and I never really realized they would be hard to make vegan. And that butternut squash and ginger soup sounds great, maybe I will make it tonight.

Anonymous said...

Wow Melissa. Your food looks so yummy. Your blog always makes me wish I could stick my hand into my computer screen and grab the food. Probably a good thing I can't though... would gain too much weight ;)

I love that you're starting christmas traditions. My only tradition so far is wash down the apartment before going home so it's clean and nice when I get back from holiday.

Anonymous said...

Ok _ I've got to make those Nanaimo bars...they look incredible. I think they'll have to be my weekend project.

Melissa said...

Judy, I had never made the bars before (vegan or not) so I didn't know what it involved. Its really not all that hard to make, so I guess the biggest challenge for the people who made the recipe was replacing the custard/icing layer.

Michelle, I'll probably have to start that cleaning tradition too! Its the end of the semester and things are hectic, so our place is in a state of disarray.

Megan, have fun with your project. It won't even take up that much time!

Unknown said...

I'm SO making those nanaimo bars. I was actually looking for a recipe that is vegan that isn't too 'weird' for my mom, and something she would recognize!

Anonymous said...

Those bars - oh my! Those just look incredible! I think I should try making squash soup - I never have before, and I am also not a fan of squash (unless it's in a baked good...), so maybe it would change my mind.

Anonymous said...

Those bars...goodness gracious!

Anonymous said...

Hello!
This is my first time commenting on your blog. I check it often enough though, as we seem to cook out of the same cookbooks so it's nice to read how your recipes turn out, which ones you like and don't etc. Anyways, I'm not vegan but I have to try making those nanaimo bars! I am wondering what egg replacer did you use for the bottom layer? I just have a powdered kind and am wondering if that would work.
Anyways, thanks in advance for your response! And all the great posts and photos! Maybe someday I'll have a blog about trying to secretly convert my family to 100% vegan food.
Katie

Melissa said...

Katie, good luck in converting your whole family :) I'm having a hard enough time with just one person! Thanks for commenting :)

I used powdered egg replacer (something that starts with a K, I'm not home right now) and prepared it with water as per the instructions, then used it in the recipe. No problems whatsoever!

Anonymous said...

Browsing my way through and found your wonderful nanamo bars. My grandma grew upin Canada and used to make these when I was a kid. I kow my family would scarf these things down! Thanks for sharing this. Hope your finals went well.