Ninety-Five

This is a beautiful book I picked up at the gift shop at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY this past summer.

It is brimming with glorious photographs of farmed animals and contains their stories as told by those who adore them. These animals have been rescued from the lives of torture usually endured by farmed animals. Their care givers allow them to live their natural lives, never being slaughtered for meat, never milked, never force fed...

The title?  Ninety-five represents the approximate number of animals saved annually by one vegan person. Ninety-five lives spared.

Purchase this book at:

http://www.farmsanctuary.com/
http://www.chapters.ca/
http://www.amazon.ca/

WOW (Wild Organic Way)

Last night the hubby and I made the trek to WOW in Guelph for the first time to dine on raw food.

I don't know where to start to tell you how good it was!  I have been interested in the raw food diet and am just starting to dabble in it.  Foods are considered raw so long as they are not heated above 115 degrees.  Anything over that temperature begins to deplete the food's nutrients. 

Raw food is all about eating foods in their natural state.  Sometimes the food is ground up, soaked, dehydrated at a low temperature....

Last night we had fruit smoothies to drink.  I chose the Quesdilla Plate and my better half chose the Tasty Tacos.  We decided to share the Mediterranean pizza.  All three of these menu items were outstanding!  Try to imagine these foods made without heat...without animal products!  Honestly, you've got to go and see for yourself.  Delicious!

Of course, skeptical, you go in there thinking you'll be hungry seconds after you leave the table.  I was definately full after dinner (even though I don't like to stuff myself) but I just had to have dessert.  We decided to get two desserts to try.  Chocolate Dream Cake and Berry Cheese Cake.  Again, both were made with raw, uncooked ingredients and no animal products. No milk. No cheese. No eggs.  Fantastic!

http://www.wowrawcafe.ca/

22 Carden Street, Guelph, Ontario   519-766-1701 
(across from City Hall)

WOW - this pic is from their website...I think they've got new signage now

WOW is a quaint little place...it has been closed for a few months as it goes under a facelift.  It recently reopened with a select menu.  In November 2010 they plan to have a grand reopening with a much larger menu and perhaps a grocery area.  The owners are also compiling what I guess you'd call an uncook book.

Vegan Quiche

My April 2010 issue of Veg News got me into the mood for vegan quiche.  Page 50 includes a recipe called Red Chard Tofu Quiche.  I did not have all of the ingredients it called for so I made substitutions.

Vegan Quiche

Ingredients

1 homemade or frozen vegan pieshell

1 pound firm tofu, drained and patted dry
1/3 cup soymilk
1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, peeled and diced

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chopped frozen spinach
1/2 cup thinly sliced button mushrooms

1/4 cup veggie bacon bits (can be made by crisp frying finely cut up Yves Veggie Veggie Bacon Strips)

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a food processor blend tofu and soymilk 'til smooth.

3.  Fry over medium-high heat the olive oil, garlic, onions, mushrooms and salt.  Cook for several minutes until onions are translucent. 

Vegan Quiche

4.  Add oregano, turmeric, pepper and spinach.  Cook until spinach has thawed.

5.  Turn off the heat and fold in the tofu/soymilk mixture and veggie bacon bits.

6.  Pour the mixture into the pie shell, spread evenly.

7.  Bake 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown - rotate in oven once midway to ensure even browning.

Quick Basmati and Nut Pilaf

Quick Basmati and Nut Pilaf

This is probably my favourite rice recipe.

I wish I knew what cookbook it's from.  I tore the page out (totally not like me to do that to a book) and the title of the book is not on the page I have.

This serves about 4 or more people. 

I purchase and use as much organic ingredients as possible.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups basmati rice
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
4 cardamom pods
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1/2 cup raw cashews

Method

1.  Wash the rice, drain well.

2.  In a large pan, gently fry the onion, garlic and carrot in the oil for a few minutes.

3.  Stir in the rice and spices and cook for a minute or two so that the grains are coated in oil.

4.  Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer very gently for about 10 minutes or so 'til the rice is cooked.

5.  Stir in the nuts and let sit with a lid on the pan to soften the cashews.

Remember to remove the caradamom pods.

NUMMER YUM YUMS DESSERT



Simple, simple, simple yet so delicious.

So here's the deal...I had organic strawberries in the fridge just begging to be gobbled up.  Once again I turned to The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book for inspiration.  Within it's pages I found a recipe called Blueberry Cream Salad.



Inspired, I made what I guess I would call That Strawberry Kiwi Thing with Banana Sauce!!

As usual, I prepare my foods with organic ingredients where possible.

Ingredients



That Strawberry Kiwi Thing With Banana Sauce



1 banana

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon of agave sweetener

3 - 4 kiwis, peeled cut into bits

1 pound strawberries, tops lobbed off and berries quartered

Method

1.  Blend the banana, vanilla and agave together until creamy in a blender.

2.  Mix the creamy sauce with the strawberries in a bowl.

3.  Place the individual servings in bowls and toss some kiwi bits into each bowl.

4.  If you've got blueberries kickin' around - don't be shy - toss some of those in there too!

This is a very simple dessert that is nice and fresh and tasty!

Vegan Caesar Salad

It had been years since I had had Caesar salad. It wasn't one of my most favs but I wanted a change so I went in search of a vegan recipe. In my quest to start eating raw food (I'll go into that in another blog) I have purchased some raw food preparation books. In one of the books I found a recipe which I have made a staple at our dinner table.



VEGAN CAESAR SALAD



The greatest thing about eating vegan is that I am often surprised at the ingredients. People have gotten very clever with what they use to obtain certain flavours in foods. This recipe is made almost entirely from avocado! At first my kids loved the salad...'til they noticed that the leftover dressing on their plates was green! "Why is it green?" they gasped. You see, they don't like avocado! Eventually my oldest son got over the fact that it was avocado...the yougest one, well, we're still working on him! It's all in his head. It's a great salad.

This salad can be made 'raw' or if you like, you can make it 'rawish' as I do. I add a couple ingredients which are not defined as raw.

The recipe is a very slightly modified version of the one I found in The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book by Mike Snyder (with Nancy Faass and Lorena Bull).

By the way, I use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Ingredients

2-3 cups romaine lettuce, rinsed, patted dry

1 avocado, peeled

2 tbsp olive oil (cold pressed is 'raw')

1 clove garlic (or more to taste) - could also use garlic powder

1 tsp salt (or less)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup water

4-5 strips of Yves Veggie veggie bacon strips

handful of dry roasted soy nuts or raw almonds/cashews

1/2 - 1 cup sliced button mushrooms (or more)

method

1. Tear the romain into bite size pieces and place in a mixing bowl.

2. In a really good blender or food processor combine the following until creamy: avocado, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice and water.

3. While the blender/processor is making a racket in your kitchen, cut up the veggie bacon strips into bitty pieces and fry them to a crisp in some oil in a pan. Once crispy, place on paper towel and pat dry.

4. Add the creamy dressing from the blender/processor to the greens in the mixing bowl.

5. Toss in the fresh veggie bacon bits and mushrooms and give'm a good toss together.

6. Find a lovely plate on which to serve the salad. Put the handful of roasted soy nuts on top.

To make this a raw recipe, omit the veggie bacon bits and roasted soy nuts. In place of the soy nuts you could add raw pine nuts.

The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book says this salad serves 2. I suppose it would if that's all your gonna eat. If you have other items on your dinner table this would feed 4.