BBQ mushrooms with Mashed Yams and Asparagus

This was a simple dinner I made the other night. The whole thing is vegan if you leave out the smoked Arctic char which I brought back from Iqaluit as a special treat.

BBQ Mushrooms
4 portabello mushrooms
1/3 cup BBQ sauce (I used Amaya's Indian Spiced ketchup)
1-2 Tbsp water

Clean and de-stem the mushrooms. Mix the BBQ sauce and water together in a shallow dish and marinate mushrooms for a 1/2 hour or more. Cook either on a BBQ until tender or in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Mashed Yams
3 yams peeled and cut into cubes
2 -3 Tbsp maple syrup
2- 3 Tbsp Earth Balance
1/4 cup soy milk
1 scallion chopped finely
1 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of water and cook yams until soft. Drain and mash with maple syrup, Earth Balance, soy milk until smooth - you may need to add more of these ingredients to get the texture you want. Then mix in the scallions, cinnamon and salt and pepper to taste.

I love asparagus when it is is cooked very simply. This were cooked in a pan with some finely chopped onion, fresh thyme, salt and pepper and some lemon juice.

Tuesday Food Basket

I am so happy our CSA basket from Jardin de Tessa has started again for the spring and summer. This was our first one of the season and look at how delicious everything is.

This basket included two types of lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, radishes, asparagus, green onions, potatoes and rhubarb.

New York New York

Firstly I must say sorry for the extremely long time between posts. I was in Iqaluit, Nunavut for work twice in May and in between P and I met up with his family in New York City.

The culinary scene in Iqaluit wasn't much to talk about (Except for this smoked Arctic char and the Ungava Gin we got to try) But we ate lots of yummy food in New York.

I didn't get a chance to take pictures at every place but here are some highlights from the trip.

Breakfast at our hotel lovely hotel Muse. Smoked Salmon bagel with cream cheese, capers, onions and tomatoes.

Lunch at Le Pain Quotidian. I didn't realise this place was such a huge chain - but we had a really yummy lunch there. This is my white bean soup and soy latte.

We went for pre theatre cocktails at a little bar (whose name escapes me). The boys had this lovely organic English Ale which I thought was pretty cool.

The thing I was most looking forward to on this trip was finding the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and we did! Sure we had to stand in line for 25 minutes but it was worth it. P had the Salty Pimp (1) - Vanilla soft serve infused with dulce de leche and sea salt and dipped in chocolate. I had my own creation (2) of vanilla soft serve in a cone filled with pomegranate balsamic reduction and rolled in curried coconut flakes. P's brother had the Monday Sunday (3) - Swirled chocolate and vanilla soft served with a nutella filled cone and dulce de leche, sea salt and whipped cream. SO GOOD.

 This was my breakfast at a little place close to the hotel called Brooklyn Diner. The "Vernon Brown" omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, and scallions plus home-made challah bread and super tasty polenta nuggets which were delicious. P and I really liked our breakfast there because so much was made in house. Even the orange juice was fresh squeezed. We decided to take P's family there a second time however the it was a disappointment as the service was terrible.

We also had the most amazing diner at a place called The Lambs Club - however I was to embarrassed to take photo's that evening. I had the crab and green grape gazpacho to start and then ate the most amazing scallops at this place - seriously so freaking yummy. I finished with the honey pistachio cake.

New York was great and I can't wait until our next trip there!

Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

I always remember having strawberry shortcake with that yellow sponge cake you got at the store. It was the go to dessert when my mom didn't have time to bake - yellow sponge, a pint of strawberries and some whipped cream.

When I went looking for recipes I saw a bunch that were made with biscuits instead. I thought I would give it a go. I found the recipe on vegalicious.com. They tasted great but my biscuits didn't really rise very much. (Probably my fault). Also I didn't have any soy whipped cream so I took some soy sour cream and mixed it with a bit of maple syrup as a yummy substitute.

P and I ate the left over biscuits for breakfast with jam and Earth Balance.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Coconut Filling

We said goodbye to our last two winter interns at work last week so made this cake to say thanks. This cake recipe comes from Get it Ripe (One of my all time favourite vegan cookbooks). It always turns out lovely. For the icing I used my standard chocolate icing. The filling was just kind of made up but turned out really lovely. I am guessing on the amounts though as I wasn't measuring when I made it. (Sorry!)

Strawberry Coconut Filling
1/3 cup of soy cream cheese softened
1/3 - 1/2 cup of strawberry jam
1/2 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
1 container of strawberries sliced into rounds

Mix cream cheese, jam and coconut together. You may need to add more of one or two ingredients. Just taste it to make sure it is delicious! Keep strawberries for assembly.

To assemble

Bake cakes and let cool completely. In the meantime make icing and filling.
Once cakes are cool remove them from the pan. Put one cake on your serving plate and spread filling on top evenly. Add a layer of fresh strawberries and the top with second cake. Now ice this bad boy and top with some edible flowers. Voila!

Vanilla Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes

A friend made these vanilla cupcakes for a work party last week. They were so tasty that I had to whip up a batch this week. I frosted them with my favourite chocolate frosting. Oh so good.

Chocolate Icing

3/4 cup soften Earth Balance

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 - 3/4 cups of maple syrup

Using a hand mixer, mix all ingredients together. Start with 1/2 cup of maple syrup and keep adding until the correct constancy and flavour is reached.

Pickled Beet and Grapefruit Salad

I know another stacked salad but look at how pretty! Actually the inspiration came from a picnic in the park - P and I picked up some snacky stuff to eat in the park including grapefruit slices and a beet salad. Then I thought these would go really nice together so here's what I created.

I will give you the recipe layer by layer starting at the bottom

Layer 1 - Fried Potato

Take one large potato and slice lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Steam until soften but not mushy then fry in pan with olive oil until crispy.

Layer 2 - Avocado slices

Layer 3 - Pickled beets
I tried this recipe and it turned out very nice. I cut my beets into small cubes rather than rounds as the recipe indicates. Drain before adding to salad.

Layer 4 - Fried spinach & Garlic
Take a few cups of spinach and cook over medium heat with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Cook until soft and wilted.

Layer 5 - Grapefruit
Peel 1 large grapefruit, segment then cut into cubes. In a small bowl add grapefruit a pinch of salt and pepper and some olive oil.

Layer 6 - Watercress (or use another type of green)

Layer 7 - Grapefruit Zest

Dressing 
2 Tbsp grapefruit juice
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp maple syrup

To assemble salad
Place potato slices on plate and top with avocado. (This part I made wider than the rind mold rather than trying to get it to all fit). Place ring mold on top of avocado and place a layer of pickled beets at the bottom and pack with the back of a spoon. Follow with a layer of spinach and top with a layer of grapefruit. Pour 1 Tbsp of dressing over the salad, gently remove ring mold and top with greens and grapefruit zest.