Healthy College Cookbook

I bought Billy the Healthy College Cookbook a few years back as an incentive for him to try cooking more. He did try a few things, but other than that, it's been collecting dust. Most of the recipes are vegan-izable so I decided to use up some food in my fridge and freezer and try out some new recipes.

To use up the four PC Meatless chicken cutlets I had left, I made sesame chicken. So good! Basically, I brushed warm agave nectar on the cutlets and sprinkled them with sesame seeds, garlic powder and pepper, and then baked them. The sweetness of the agave was so nice in this dish, with just a hint of pepper. These were so simple to make, literally 2 minutes of preparation. I plan on trying out a few more of their chicken dishes.

Next I made the baked ziti. Except I used rotini. This is just rotini tossed in a tomato sauce with herbs and ground round, onion and garlic. Instead of regular cheese I used up the nacho stuff I had sitting around. I left it a bit too long under the broiler...but it still tastes great.


And a random cat picture....Zeppelin passed out on the couch

Special Treat

I ordered some goodies from Vegan Essentials and they got here yesterday! I got Sweet n Sara's marshmallows and amaranth graham crackers (to make smores with of course). The marshmallows taste like the real deal without the gross stuff.

I also got Ricemellow Creme, which tastes so good! And was great on my peanut butter toast for breakfast. I'll have to figure out a way to use this to make rice krispies treats.

Soyatoo's Soy Whip was the star of my after-work snack last night....bananas layered with soy whip and topped with some chocolate and pecans. This tastes pretty close to whipped cream in a can...although it has a bit of a taste that's different. It was also good on my hot chocolate this morning.

Here are the crab cakes I made from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. I'm all out of remoulade sauce, which pretty much looks like 1000 island dressing. So tonite, I'll be serving my crab cake on whole wheat rotini with tomato sauce.

To use up some bananas, I made the banana wheat germ muffins from Veganomicon. Yummy! These are made with whole wheat and wheat germ, so they're healthy, but the banana also gives it a great sweet flavour. And they're only about 170 calories per muffin.

I busted out Looneyspoons again to get some delicious, easy and healthy meals. First, I made a chicken and potatoes dish flavoured with salsa. Filling and good!

Then I made the veggie fajitas, chock full of veggies: onion, carrot, red and green peppers and zucchini. I didn't have any sour cream on hand, so I mixed just a bit of Vegenaise with the salsa to make it creamy. I also threw in some black beans for some added protein then topped it with lettuce, tomato and nacho cheese .These are delicious and very satisfying.

I also made Crabby Cakes with Remoulade sauce from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, but I haven't taken a picture yet. The cakes are made up of veggies with some kelp powder for that crabby taste. They are really good! The remoulade sauce is a bit too lemony, but that's easily fixable. I served them over a bed of lettuce.

Almost as soon as I saw Vegan Dad's recipe for funnel cake, I had to make it! I wasn't going to, because I didn't want to cancel out all that healthy food, but I couldn't resist, and I threw in an extra long workout to make up for it. There are really good! Best to make when there's a friend around though, so you don't eat all of it at once. I just dusted mine with icing sugar and topped with warmed jam. But they'd be really nice with some vanilla soy ice cream on top too!

I just got a package in the mail from Vegan Essentials with some very exciting stuff...more on that later!

Product Review: Shopper's Drug Mart Nativa Organics

Shopper's has launched a huge organic food line, at affordable prices. There's a lot of different products out, much of it vegan-friendly.

One of those products, their cookie buttons, is my favourite so far. The box comes with 6 100-calorie snack packs. And the cookies are good! They're just mini chocolate chip cookies. And I love the snack pack size...I haven't had any of Nabisco's but they don't look very substantial, they look like a lesser version of the real thing. Not so with the cookie buttons.

Also, I got their natural microwave popcorn. Three boxes for 5$! It was obviously an introductory price, but I'm glad I stocked up, because it is very good. I'll make it my regular popcorn...they don't sacrifice any taste, and it's organic.

Check out a Shopper's near you. :)

Vegan Wedding

I have ambitions to put on a fully vegan wedding reception for my wedding. We're starting to look at locations and both places we're looking at right now have their own catering. One of them says they've never had a vegan wedding before, and he asked me what I had in mind, perhaps the cook could make it.

My family, and Billy's family, are meat eaters. They're going to be expecting some sort of beef/chicken/fillet type meal, so I want our meals to be excellent...but not too complicated or "vegan" if you catch my drift. I thought maybe a nice pasta dish, with some sort of tomato sauce as a base would be nice.

Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas, menu ideas, or resources for me? I'd like to be able to tell them more than "pasta with tomato sauce" otherwise that's exactly what we'll get.

Apples + peanut butter= heaven

I had the chance to cook in the last few days. First, I made wild mushroom orzo risotto, and Italian style kabobs from Vegan Italiano. This book has not disappointed me yet, everything comes out really well. The kabobs have red pepper, Brussels sprouts, red potatoes and red onion and they're basted in Italian dressing. Really simple and delicious.


Today, I made the dill and chickpea basmati rice from V'con. It's good enough, nothing stellar. There didn't seem to be nearly enough liquid to cook the rice in, as everything is cooked in one pot, so I added more. It ended up pretty sticky. The lemon juice added at the end is a nice addition however.

Then for dessert, apple peanut butter caramel bars, also from V'con. These are fantabulous. They don't stick together very well, but you can just eat it with a fork. With taste that great, no one is going to complain.

Do you miss Timmy's Iced Capps?

Blend together some soymilk, Ghirardelli's Chocolate Mocha Hot Cocoa mix (vegan!), some ice and sweetener, and you are good to go!

I've been working a lot more now and sadly my cooking was pretty non-existent for a while. That, and I also forgot to take pictures of the food I did make. But I do have a few things. A couple weeks ago, I made sticky pecan squares from 125 Best Vegan Recipes. They were really good. It's basically a shortbread type base with the crunchy sweet pecan mix on top.

From V'Con I made the cashew quinoa stirfry, which was really good. I really enjoyed the quinoa cooked in pineapple juice. I also grilled some smoky tempeh to go along with it.

And for a party this weekend, I made vanilla gluten freedom cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes...mini style! They were so cute, and everyone really enjoyed them. I prefer the chocolate ones, but the vanilla ones aren't bad either. Today, I made the chocolate ones to use up the icing I had leftover, which is just the buttercream frosting with a bit of red food colouring.

Sushi and Cupcakes

I got an urge to make sushi last night, so I tried out the spicy tempeh rolls from V'con. Except mine weren't spicy at all because I didn't have any chili-sesame oil and my attempts to substitute it didn't work. It was a bit bland, but still good. And I even made some inside-out ones successfully!

I also felt like making cupcakes, so I made the chocolate mint ones from Vegan Cupcakes. The icing didn't hold up the way I thought it would, based on the picture in the book. Mine just kind of spread out and didn't hold the piping shape. Regardless, it was still delicious, and Billy loved these! There are none left today, except for one that I'm keeping for a friend. I have two pictures, I couldn't decide between the two :P

Bad pictures, but good food

Well, after a hectic, busy and sleepless month...I'm finally done school! I am now a teacher. Woot! While I did cook a bit, I didn't always take pictures, but I'll show what I do have. Billy turned 25 last month so we had a big party with lots of good food.
I made Billy's favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe from Vive le Vegan, and then also made a gluten free batch for our friend with Celiac's. The gluten free ones were so good!!


I also made him a wheat free carrot cake with cream cheese icing from Sinfully Vegan, but I forgot to take a picture. It was delicious, and I'm glad he really enjoyed it. I also made a standard chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I can't remember for sure, but I think the chocolate cake recipe was from How It All Vegan, and everyone loved it.

I also had a hummus platter with veggies and mini pitas, as well as some kick butt spinach dip from 125 Best Vegan Recipes. It never lasts long.



Meals were kept pretty simple during my teaching placement. For example, from Vegan Italiano, I made a quick broccoli pasta sauce. It was very tasty.

Last night, for game 7 against the Flames and the Sharks, I made chocolate gluten freedom cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes for all our friends to eat. They were surprisingly moist. It was my first time cooking with quinoa and tapioca flour, and it was well worth the 12 dollar flour!

Food Catchup

I start my final practice teaching placement tomorrow, and that lasts a month. My cooking habits during the previous two were non-existent for the most part, so no promises this time ;) although I'm going to try and keep it quick and easy, since cooking does help relieve stress for me.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend, and enjoyed their Easter if they celebrated. Billy is used to getting a chocolate bunny every year, so I decided to make him one. Unfortunately I waited too long and there were no bunny molds left at Bulk Barn, but I did get some molds for chicken lollipops and eggs. It was pretty easy too, just melted chocolate chips in the microwave and poured it into the molds.

I jumped on the V'con bandwagon again and tried my hand at the Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits. It was very good. Even Billy liked it, well primarily the biscuit part that is baked on top. Very delicious, and definitely comfort food.

Based on that dish, Billy got the idea to make dumplings and put them in one of our favourite soups. The "chicken" and rice soup from La Dolce Vegan. He googled a simple dumpling recipe and we cooked them with the soup. The dumplings ended up taking up most of the pot, but it was yummy. And we also substituted orzo for the basmati rice this time.

Speaking of orzo, I whipped together an orzo salad with zucchini and basil from Vegan Italiano for lunch this week. It has a great lemony taste and the fresh basil is awesome.

And finally, also from V'con, the carrot pineapple sunshine muffins, or something along that line. I haven't tried these yet, but they should taste good...they've got carrot, pineapple, raisins, ginger, cinnamon and a bunch of good stuff. It should be a good pick me up after those grade sevens run me ragged ;)

Product Review: Yoso Sour Cream

Save your money.

It smells like ass, it tastes like ass. Save your money and stick with Tofutti. Even vegans draw the line somewhere, I don't care how desperate you are.

Yoso, back to the drawing board, although I still *love* your soy yogurt.

Lots of Food!

Today, is my last day of class!! But I'm not done school. I have next week off and then I have a month of practicum teaching...then I'm done! Woot!

I've been cooking more lately, which feels great.

First, I made a pasta recipe from 125 Best Vegan Recipes: penne with sundried tomatoes, artichokes, portobellos, roasted red peppers and onions. The onions are lightly caramelized, and then you throw in the rest of the ingredients, ten minutes later you have dinner. This dish was really good and something that I'd expect to get from a restaurant.

I also made the lemon and pea risotto from Veganomicon. Yum yum. The basic risotto before the addition of lemon juice, zest and peas was good too, but I really like the lemon twist. It's served with roasted red peppers.

I made cookies for class yesterday, although I ended up being one of two people that brought something so they didn't last long. I made the chocolate raspberry cookies from V'con. They are so good! Chewy and rich, with a distinct almond flavour from the almond extract. I think the word "almond" should be in the name of these cookies because it kind of overrides the raspberry flavour. Nevertheless, very good cookies and they were loved by my classmates.

Also, from V'con, I made banana bread for Billy. For some reason, my microwave timer stopped so the correct baking time on these was kind of a guess, but it turned out really well. The molasses in the recipe gives it a nice, different flavour.

Last, I made some slowcooker porridge from Vegan Slowcooker, using steel cut oats. The taste was good, but in the morning the porridge had brown spots on top, so I'd cook it a little less next time. With some brown sugar and soy milk, it was a good breakfast to start the day.

Pudding, tofu and tea

I made the chocolate pudding from "125 Best Vegan Recipes" but I didn't have cocoa powder, so I just used chocolate chips. The recipe made four little pudding cups worth, but you could easily double the recipe. It was really good pudding! Not too sweet and the perfect texture. I think you could even leave the chips out and make vanilla pudding.

This morning, I was actually up at a decent hour, so I made brunch, courtesy of Veganomicon. I made the tofu florentine with home fries and cheezy sauce. Its basically braised and broiled tofu on a bed of home fries and steamed spinach, topped with a nutritional yeast sauce and chopped tomatoes. I'm not a huge fan of slabs of tofu, seasoned or not, but this was actually really good. The tofu in combination with all the other foods was a good balance.

I also had some Spring Morning green tea brewed in my cute tea set, which Billy's mom got me for my birthday. The loose leaf tea and the tea set are from a store called Teaopia. They sell tons of different loose leaf teas, and you can make your own combinations as well. They also have an in-store coffee bar, kind of like Starbucks but way better, and also way more vegan friendly!

product review: PC Chai Tea

President's Choice has come a long way. This isn't necessarily a "vegan" product. It's PC Memories of India Masala Chai Loose Leaf Tea. It's about 6 dollars for a can, but so worth it. You simmer a tablespoon of the tea for every cup of water, and then add equal amounts of milk (soymilk in our case). I like to sweeten it with dry sugar, although agave would probably be good to. This stuff beats any Chai stuff at Starbucks, and hands down, beats any chai tea bags. I highly recommend it. I wasn't a big tea drinker before, but now I'm obsessed!

A blogger favourite

I had some time tonight, so I decided to make the chickpea cutlets from V'con that everyone seems to love. They were easy to make and I had all the ingredients. Good flavour, but I think I made mine too thin because they were super crunchy. I baked them instead of frying them, due to a shortage of olive oil. I'll be making these again, just a bit thicker so they keep some chewiness. I love the idea of using gluten flour but not just making seitan.

I also made a thai pasta based loosely on a recipe from Looneyspoons, meaning I left some veggies out and replaced them with broccoli since it was all I had. This has a light peanut butter sauce with just a bit of background heat, which is pretty much the only way I like heat anyways.

I was on my way to class today when a guy selling baked goods for a fundraiser asked me if I was interested. I said I couldn't eat any of it, and he said they had vegan-friendly stuff, if that's what I meant. So I got a brownie and some sort of nut butter cookie. The brownie was good enough, but the cookie was so bland I didn't even finish it. These people are spreading bad impressions of vegan food! I wish I had thought of a bake sale earlier, I would have organized one for our school of ed. Oh well, I was able to buy something vegan on campus, it's a first step.

Here's a picture of Zepplin (on the right), our foster cat, sitting with Logan. I hope he finds a good home soon, he is such a sweetie, and so quiet!