sunday morning to honour Lorinda

this breakfast is in honour of my friend Lorinda.  she likes pancakes, that i know. and last weekend, she ran her first half-marathon and did so with so much grace, there was a big smile on her face when she finished! "its a good distance", she said to me a couple days later.  well, for a rookie runner, and i say that because i know she's not been running for that long, that is pretty impressive and inspiring! and i had every intention to greet her at the finish line with a stack of vegan pancakes (she is vegan); to congratulate her and help her replenish all those spent calories... but then the thesis got in a way, as only a thesis can...  the deadline was too close for comfort, the panic had set in, so all i could do, was make some pancakes in her honour and fuel my own, though much slower, caloric burn...   because the brain, particularly when you are really putting it under some serious pressure, needs that too, doesn't it?

pancakes are super easy, take not that much time, and can be pretty healthy if you use the right ingredients.  mine are vegan, made with spelt and blueberries and almond milk.   the other variation that i love, particularly in the winter, are banana walnut buckwheat ones - the banana goes right into the batter. yum! but i know that Lorinda is not fond of bananas, so blueberry pancakes they are.

when MO and i were eating up our stacks, thinking of Lorinda and sending her all the good vibes we could muster, of course, i also remembered what else i like about pancakes:  they are the perfect food for feeding hungry boys, or hungry girls for that matter.  even when made with really wholesome, healthy ingredients, pancakes are pretty inexpensive.  you always make a bunch, and they are so filling!  i remembered this pancake-fact as i told MO about my little brother Maciek's visits when i lived in Windsor, ON.  once, for instance, he showed up with another friend and they stayed overnight. in the morning, i, the lone law student living on a serious budget, was faced with two hungry and slightly hangover teens...   pancakes saved the day and everyone was happy: i got to play a gracious host, the boys got full, and i didn't break my budget.

ok, so here is the recipe. 

vegan blueberry pancakes (for Lorinda)

1 cup spelt flour
1 cup almond milk
1T baking powder
1T ground flax (optional)
1t orange extract
1-2T maple syrup
1T canola or grape seed oil, plus more for frying
1/4t salt
1/2-1 cup frozen blueberries (thawed)

mix the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, salt... no sifting necessary).  mix the almond milk, orange extract, maple syrup and oil together.   in a large bowl, mix the dry with the wet, just enough to incorporate.  add half the blueberries.

fry up! i find that using coconut oil is great if you are trying to use less.  its solid, so you can just take a little and smear it all over the pan without having to use a lot.  as it heats, it will melt and you have the entire pan covered with coconutty goodness. and then your pancakes have a very slight coconut flavour.   otherwise, just a little canola or grape seed oil goes a long way...

serve doused with yummy maple syrup and the remaining blueberries.
yum!

for the buckwheat, walnut, banana variation, you need the same amounts of four, milk, baking powder, salt, oil, maple syrup, etc.  of course, the flour is buckwheat, not spelt.  and i use vanilla extract for these.  then, mush up one very ripe banana with 1T of cinnamon and add that to your batter.  also, stir in  a good handful of walnut pieces. these come out amazing! serve with banana slices and maple syrup. 

pure (pear)fection!

pear is the quintessential fall fruit and in this lovely tart, it is pure perfection! as much as i love pears, however, i find them tricky to deal with... i always buy them firm, wait for them to ripen, and by the time i know it, they are overripe! some people like pears juicy and soft, but i like most of my fruit a little firmer, so to me a really juicy pear is an overripe pear.  but this is not an issue for baking purposes because you can use firm pears and that way they will hold up better in the process and still look pretty after being subjected to some serious heat!  
 

i adapted this recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan with a Vengeance.  Isa has some really wonderful recipes for baked goods that are so delicious and rich, they are very easily "sold" to your non-vegan or non-vegetarian friends. the original recipe uses cranberries and crystallised ginger.  i'm not particularly fond of crystallised ginger and didn't have any cranberries... besides, figs are more fall-ish anyways.  but i'll try it with cranberries too...  maybe later in the fall or in winter, when cranberries seem more appropriate.  also, this can be lovely without anything but pears too... so if you don't have any figs or can't find them, don't let that stop you from making this. 

pear fig tart 
1/4 cup of almond meal
1 cup of gluten free flour (i use ..., you can also use spelt, or all purpose flour)
1/4 cup grape seed or canola oi
3 spoons cold almond milk
1/4 t salt

3 ripe (but firm) Bartlet or bosc pears
3 black figs (fresh)
2 T arrowroot or tapioca flour
1/4 brown sugar
1T vanilla 
1T cinnamon
1T water
some fresh rosemary
1/4 cup of slivered almonds

sift the flour, salt and almonds together.  add the oil and milk.  form dough, work it enough to incorporate all ingredients but not too long.  flatten, wrap in foil and refridgerate for 30min. 


in a bowl, toss the pears with the arrowroot or tapioca, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and water.  

toast the silvered almonds until golden brown. 

take out the dough from the fridge. on a clean surface, roll it out taking care not to get it to stick to the surface.  transfer into a tart or pie dish and "line it" with the dough.  another option - and what i usually do - is to skip the rolling step: place the dough in the dish you will use and flatten it out using your oiled fingers.  make sure you go up the sides a little to form a bit of a border/edge.  i find that this is quick and works - and if you are going for a rustic look, it doesn't matter that it is not perfectly even.  arrange the pear slices, pour whatever liquid is remaining in a bowl.  arrange the fig slices and sprinkle the almonds on top. 


bake in a pre-heated oven (375F) for about 45 minutes. 

cool before eating.  enjoy!

a little something to go with your tea: lemon poppy seed and orange star-anise scones

a word of warning: these scones are addictive! so make sure you invite some friends over for a tea party or else you may just eat too many yourself.  not that this would be the end of the world, of course, but i generally try to encourage healthy eating habits so this would not be such a good thing.   

see, i used to NEVER bake, precisely because i wanted to avoid temptation of eating too many baked goods.  why do that to yourself? why mess with the powers of a baked treat while you are trying to eat very well?  but i developed a strategy: (1) i now only bake when i expect company who will help make the fruits of my labour disappear quickly (or i give them away), and (2) i try to bake only really healthy treats.

here is a recipe for some vegan scones which more-or-less meet the latter criteria (i'll let you take care of the former).

easy desserts: cashew mousse with banana, strawberry and lemon

a cup of soaked cashews (drained), 1 ripe banana, 6 medium size strawberries, juice of half a lemon, and 1T of agave nectar (optional). blend until smooth, chill for 30mins, serve. that's it! a delicious and healthy mousse that could double as cupcake frosting, a side to some delicious pancakes or crepe filling.

another week, another dumpling

so the marc oliver (with me helping out just a little) dumpling saga continues... this week's offering: apricot dumplings with almond-vanilla sauce.



the dough for these sweet dumplings is made with cottage cheese, flour and eggs; kneaded, rolled out and cut into appropriate size rounds (diameter would depend on the size of the fruit that they are to envelop). while ours were stuffed with fresh okanagan apricots (stones swapped for a little brown sugar), plums or strawberries would also make delicious filling. since it was not until we got into the dumpling-making mode that we discovered that i only had buckwheat flour in my cupboard, they were also gluten free... well, almost, since they also got rolled in buttery wheat breadcrumbs but those could easily be substituted with toasted and crushed hazelnuts or walnuts (yum!). the buckwheat flour was probably what made them a little tougher than they would have been if prepared with wheat pastry flour, but the texture and the colour contrast were quite pleasing so i'd definitely use buckwheat flour again... although maybe i'd opt for a lighter variety or i'd sift it next time and add a little sugar or maple syrup to the dough. finished off with some almond-vanilla sauce (blended almond silken tofu and some good quality vanilla extract), they were a pretty healthy and a really filling treat. no wonder that post-consumption bliss ensued, or maybe it was all the wine that accompanied them?

i'm posting this without the proper recipe because i forgot what the exact proportions of flour, cheese and egg marc oliver used in making the dough. but i was so keen to share this that i just couldn't resist. the full recipe is coming soon...

my citrus crush

i rarely bake because that usually involves following a recipe since i'm not experienced enough to make my own, and as i've already mentioned, i'm usually not patient or organized enough for that. but unlike cooking (where you can get away with so many shortcuts), baking is a more specific science and understanding what things do and how they react with each other is pretty crucial to getting good results. even so, i usually can't help but experiment just a little ...

i created this lemon-lime poppy seed loaf to bring to my friend sarah's place. she made me a lovely meal and i wanted to share something sweet with her. i modified and combined two recipies i had and used whatever i had on hand (which meant some shortcuts and substitutions). to my and sarah's great surprise, the results were really delicious: a moist, citrusy cake with just a little crunch and lovely black speckles... and for the bonus prize - its pretty healthy! and can be vegan!


for the cake/loaf

1.5 cups spelt flour (sifted)
1.5t baking powder
0.5t salt
0.25 cups poppy seeds
6oz yogurt (or soy yogurt)
0.3 cups oil
0.5 cups sugar (i used brown)
0.25 cups freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice (about 1 lemon and 1 lime)
3-4t lemon and lime zest
1t vanilla extract

for citrus syrup

0.3 cup lemon or lime juice (or mixed)
2-3T sugar

mix the yogurt, oil, sugar together, add the juice, zest and vanilla. mix well.
sift the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) together and add the poppy seeds. add the dry into the wet and mix to combine.
transfer into a greased loaf pan or a spring form pan, bake at 350F for about 35min or until toothpick comes out clean.

while the cake is cooling, in a small sauce pan heat bring the lemon/lime juice and sugar to a boil while stirring, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. take of the heat and let cool. when both the cake and the syrup have cooled, pour the syrup over the cake. before you do so, you can decorated the cake with slivered almonds, slices of candied lemon or lime or pretty swirls of lemon rind. i only thought of that after words....

tips: note, i used a full loaf pan and it made a short/thin cake; a demi-loaf pan would probably be more appropriate for this recipe. or you can double the ingredients ... but remember to increase the baking time if you do that.

so, i did double the recipe and increased the baking time by about 10-15min - still delicious.

going french

sugar craving, 425F, apricot galette... vegan at that...

veganomicon, isa chandra moskovitz's fantastic vegan cookbook, has a great recipe for an apple-cinnamon galette. i adapted it slightly to use some of the fresh apricots i found at the local market today. i also used spelt flour instead of the wheat flour her recipe called for. results were lovely to look at and delicious to eat. and very sharable. bon appetit!

for more great vegan recipes see her post punk kitchen site and blog: www.theppk.com

a remedy for sweet teeth

i always crave sweets after dinner... or any meal for that matter. it probably doesn't help that roadie culture revolves around apres coffee and sweets to replenish glycogen and to pat oneself on the back for a steady effort. so while riding great distances last summer i developed quite a sweet tooth, i'm doing my best to keep away from refined sugars and usually opt for dates, figs, nuts and dark, bitter chocolate. luckily, there is a great abundance of wholesome sweetness in this world, so keeping away from the sugar bag isn't hard at all.

here is one little concoction that i put together last night. these are both, healthy and delicious.

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/3 cup dates

2-3T agave nectar

1/2 pear

1T flax seeds

2T coconut flakes (unsweatened)

2t hemp protein (optional)

1/2-1 c rolled oats

2-3T dutch coco or carob

soy milk, water or fruit juice (just a couple of table spoons to get the desired consistency)

soak the almonds and dates for 1/2 hour; drain

in a food processor, blend the almonds, dates and agave nectar until crumbly but still coarse

add the diced pear and flax seeds blend until relatively smooth but some chunks are fine for an interesting texture (add soy milk if necessary); when the mixture is ready, transfer to a mixing bowl, add the oats, hemp protein and mix until all ingredients are incorporated; divide the mixture in 2 parts:

form balls 1 inch in diameter from the first part

add the coco to the remaining mixture - mix to incorporate - form balls

place in a sealable container and freeze.