Vegan Shopping Made Easy

This past summer my husband and I travelled to Toronto to visit Panacea.  This store purports to be Toronto's only vegan health food and eco store.  It was a delight to not have to read any labels when purchasing items!  The service was awesome and very friendly....actually, I've not met an unfriendly vegan yet!

http://www.panaceaecoshop.com/

The store is located at 588 Bloor Street West, Toronto.  When asked, the staff graciously gave us restaurant suggestions in the area.

We went to a nearby place and had a fantastic lunch - One Love.  If given the opportunity, get them out!

854 Bathurst Street, Toronto

Another place that we like to shop, which is closer to home, is Goodness Me.  We go to the 1000 Upper Gage Avenue location in Hamilton.  Although this is not a vegan store and not even a total vegetarian store, it still provides us with some vegan and organic options for both food and household/personal products that we can't get in Brantford.

http://www.goodnessme.ca/

Think You Can't Live Without Cheese?

Many people tell me that they would love to be vegan but they just can't give up cheese.

As vegetarianism and veganism grow in popularity there will be less and less cravings and wants for animal products as people become used to not eating them.  I grew up eating animal products and the vegetarian and vegan marketplace is chock full of food items that mimic those animal products that I ate.

I am trying to make a move away from these animal product analogs, however, in the meantime as I make a transition and hopefully you do too, a Canadian fellow (Andre Kroecher) invented, what I find to be, the best vegan cheese substitute to date. Andre wanted to invent a cheese substitute for pizza.  He did it. Give it a whirl...

Initially my husband and I travelled to Toronto to obtain this dairy (animal) free cheese.  I have recently purchased it in Hamilton at Goodness Me....hopefully we will see Daiya in Brantford soon.

We like to use it for pizza, baked pasta, nachos, tacos...  Tonight we had it on our baked potatoes with Tofutti's Sour Supreme and Yves Veggie Cuisine's veggie bacon strips (which I made into bacon bits).

Sunny Cauliflower Broccoli Toss - Veganized

Sunny Cauliflower Broccoli Toss - Veganized

This is a recipe I veganized...the original is from a Pillsbury cookbook. I really like to eat this on it's own for lunch or with other stuff as a part of dinner.  The original recipe calls for way too much dressing in my opinion so I have reduced it by half.

Dressing:

Whisk together:

1/4 cup vegan mayo
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Salad:

3-4 slices vegan bacon cut into small pieces and fried 'til crispy
1 head cauliflower cut into florets
1 head broccoli cut into florets
1/2 cup (or more) jumbo Thompson raisins
1/4 cup (or more) raw, hulled sunflower seeds

Mix all this stuff together and enjoy.  Keep it refrigerated.  It doesn't last long at our house...it's a favourite.

And, of course, I use organic ingredients when available.

If you find that there is not enough dressing you can always make a bit more.  I suppose it all depends on the size of the cauliflower and broccoli you're starting with!

For vegan mayo I like:
Vegenaise by Earth Island

For vegan bacon I like:
Veggie Bacon Strips by Yves Veggie Cuisine

Raw Vegan Date Balls

As I try new raw recipes that I like I'll try to post'em here.


I got this on the web at: http://www.rawfoodhomerecipes.com/.

  In a food processor combine (as always, I like to use organic where available):

1 cup raw cashews

1 1/2 cup pitted coarsely chopped dates

1/4 cup cocoa powder (+ more if you like)

2 tbsp cocoa nibs

pinch sea salt

agave syrup (if dry)

Roll this mixture into little balls.  Roll each ball in cocoanut.

Refrigerate or freeze.

These are very tasty cold. 





Raw Vegan Date Balls



Spicy Vegan Slaw

I really enjoy this vegan slaw.  You can shred the cabbage and carrot yourself or purchase it already shredded by the bag.

3/4 cup vegan mayo
1 tbsp ground mustard seeds
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp ground black peppercorns
1 tsp sea salt

Whisk all this stuff together or mix it in a blender. 

Depending on how much slaw you want you might not want to use the full batch of dressing on the cabbage/carrot.

This has some zing...I like it!

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.