These Carrot Muffins!! I'm on a bit of a baking kick lately it seems. I kept these plain, without nuts or raisins (because I didn't have any) but definitely will be stirring some into the batter next time. These carrot muffins are moist, have a hint of cinnamon and are sweetened with light brown sugar and maple syrup. I tested this recipe using 100% AP flour because I figure that is what most people would have on hand and want to use, but if I make them again I will try swapping out 1 cup of the AP flour for whole wheat flour. I always keep a bag in my freezer and I like to sneak some into recipes when I can for a bit of added fiber, plus I actually like the nutty flavour it imparts in many baked goods. Vegan baking recipes will often call for egg replacement. I typically just use ground flax seeds mixed with water. You combine the two and let it sit for 5 minutes, the flax absorbs the water and thickens to a gel like consistency. It can then be added into many recipes instead of eggs, AND flax seeds are high in fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. Swapping chicken eggs for flax eggs might seem strange at first if you are new to making plant based recipes, but trust me you won't notice the difference in these carrot muffins. They are (in my opinion) perfect. 

 ***I use wholesome organic brown sugar for most of my baking as many other sugars are actually produced using bone char (derived from cattle) for filtering and bleaching the sugar....I don't really understand the process exactly but anyway it's worth mentioning for anyone wanting to avoid animal products. 

Just a simple, delicious chewy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. You either love em or hate em but I would take this cookie over a chocolate chip cookie every day of my life. Next time I will try subbing 1/4 cup of AP flour for whole wheat because generally I like the nutty flavour whole wheat flour adds to baked goods. ​If raisins aren't you're thing try subbing chopped walnuts, chocolate chips or any combination you like!

Yield:  16 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup room temp Earth Balance Spread (or other vegan butter)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Flax Egg (1 tbsp flax meal + 2.5 tbsp water, let sit 5 min)
1 tsp Vanilla
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp flaked Kosher Salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1.5 cups Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Raisins

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Cream together butter and sugar for a few min.
3. Mix in flax egg and vanilla
4. Add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to wet ingredients, mix until just combined on low speed.
5. Fold in oats and raisins
6. Shape into balls (I got 16, just depends how big you want your cookies to be) and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten the cookies, bake for about 15 minutes, or until light golden brown.

I love this Caesar Salad so much!! It makes me so happy, because it just tastes....so freaking good. I dare say it is better than so many non vegan Caesar salads I have had in my life. This one is going to impress your friends so let's get to it...

The Caesar dressing is made by blending together vegan mayo (I use vegan Hellmans, available at superstore same section as other mayo), capers, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt & pepper. So simple. It's super garlicky but that is what I like. It is also bright and punchy from the capers and red wine vinegar. For me, it's perfect. It will be very thick, but just toss your salad well and it distributes evenly. I find this Caesar dressing has the right level of acidity to still allow for a good squeeze of fresh lemon all over the salad right before serving, a nice touch. This dressing will keep in a container in the fridge for a long time. I often double the recipe so I have it when the craving strikes.

The Coconut Bacon is sweet, smoky, salty and so addictive. I don't hold back while adding it to my salad. I like lots. You just toss the ingredients together, spread on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. When it cools the bacon is slightly crisp and adds so much deliciousness to this salad.  

For my Croutons I just use whatever bread I have kicking around, but sourdough would be lovely. Rip it into bite size chunks roughly the same size. Toss with vegetable or a good quality olive oil (or a combination of both), salt & pepper and bake in the oven at 350°F. Stirring occasionally until golden brown and crispy. If they taste more like toast than a crouton, you probably didn't add enough oil. (It happened to me once, I just drizzled a bit more oil on my toast-like croutons when they were out of the oven and they seemed to just absorb the oil and tasted great in the end. Not really a tried and true method but I would do it again to check.)

For the Vegan Cheese, I found a product that I really like in this particular context. It happens to be a vegan mozza, but I didn't care for it on pizza so much. The melt factor wasn't great. But it does exactly what I want it to do in this salad. Which is to add a cheesy salty bite. It honestly reminds me more of parmesan than mozzarella anyway, so that is how I intend to use it moving forward. I found it at Sobeys. The brand is called Emborg. Apparently they have a vegan parm as well but I didn't see it, though I would be interested to compare the two.

For the Lettuce, You can use straight up chopped romaine for a delicious and impressive classic Caesar salad, but I personally really do like to add in some shredded kale to my chopped romaine. (any ratio works.) I like shredding it because kale is quite fibrous. If you chop it too big it is harder to chew. You could technically use straight up kale for your salad, but I like the fresh crunch romaine lettuce gives. 

Caesar Dressing

Ingredients : 

• 1 cup vegan mayo 
• 1/4 cup capers
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar 
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp flaked kosher salt
• 1/8th tsp ground black pepper

Method:

1.  Blend ingredients together with an immersion blender. Alternatively, mince capers and garlic by hand and whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl.

Coconut Bacon

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened flaked coconut (I could only find this at bulk barn)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp liquid smoke
• 1 tbsp veg oil

Method: 

1. Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine
2. Dump onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Spread in an even layer. You want it to be just one layer, but everything still touching in a uniform oval or disc shape of some sort. (seems less likely to burn this way)
4. Now pop in a 375°F oven. Bake 10 minutes, then stir everything around, keeping the even layer.
5. Now it will take another 5-10 minutes to finish cooking but you really have to keep an eye on it and stir quite frequently. Maybe stir 3 more times or so. It goes from perfect to burnt in a blink of an eye so don't walk away.
6. It is finished when golden brown. The outer edges might burn a bit, I just avoid those edges. It won't feel crisp until it is completely cool. 

**The coconut bacon recipe is adapted from Avant Garde Vegan. 

So excited to share another recipe using Fresh Start Fauxmage!!! Bruschetta PIZZA! Inspiration for this recipe came from one of my fav flavours of Fauxmage, and that is the Creamy Pesto...mmm. It's flavoured with basil, garlic and lemon and is the perfect creamy spread to enhance the bruschetta toppings on this pizza.

To keep things REAL simple, I start with a store bought, pre baked pizza crust (thin crust/PC brand).

I then spread creamy pesto Fauxmage on the base of the crust, top with cherry tomato bruschetta mixture and then bake in the oven until crisp and hot. A drizzle of balsamic glaze and some fresh arugula to garnish finishes it off. (I also bought the balsamic glaze because this recipe was all about making something fresh tasting & delicious when you don't have a lot of time)

This would be a lovely (and quick!) app to serve company, or have it for dinner with a big green salad along side. 

If you aren't familiar with this delicious product it is available in many Sobey's locations (and various other locations) across Atlantic Canada and now also Ontario. Check their website for more details about the product and where to shop!

Ingredients
  • 1/2 container Creamy Pesto Fauxmage
  • 1 x 12” pre baked pizza crust, (thin crust) * I used Presidents Choice brand
  • 1 1/2 cups quartered cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup minced red onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tbsp EVOO
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
  • Salt & Pepper
  • drizzle of balsamic glaze
  • handful of fresh arugula
 
Method

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (or follow instructions on package if using a store bought pre baked pizza crust)
2. In a bowl combine tomatoes & red onion
3. Mix in extra virgin olive oil, basil and pinch of S&P
4. Spread Creamy Pesto Fauxmage evenly onto pizza crust
5. Top with the bruschetta mixture. A lot of liquid releases from the tomatoes so a slotted spoon is helpful for scooping it onto the pizza crust. A tiny bit of liquid on pizza is OK but you don’t want it to be soggy/wet so leave most of it in the bowl.
6. Bake pizza directly on oven rack until crust is crisp and toppings are hot. How long it takes will depend on your oven and what pizza crust you use.
7. Place pizza on cutting board, drizzle with balsamic glaze and top with fresh arugula
8. Slice and serve

MMM Curry!! This was a quick curry that I ate as a soup/stew. Warm Naan (I heated my naan in a cast iron pan with a bit of veg oil) for dunking. Serving it with rice is always a good idea. When I was making it I wanted to add more coconut milk and less veg stock, but I only had the one can. Next time I am going to try leaving out the apple and swapping some stock for the coconut milk. 

This curry comes together with mostly pantry items Red lentils, canned tomatoes, curry powder, cumin & a bit of maple. (I add the maple towards the end. I like to add it to taste because I'm just trying to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and apple, not trying to make it a sweet curry. Anyhow, I used 1/4 cup of maple syrup in the end.) 

Garnish the curry with vegan sour cream or yogurt & fresh cilantro...or whatever you want...
Toasted cashews?? Yum.  

The sour cream brand I use and love is Tofutti. It's super thick and creamy, and nothing at all like dairy sour cream...but honestly I mean that in a good way because I love it. A rich neutral base to mix other things into. For example, I make a chipotle crema for my nacho salad with it and honestly, in my humble opinion, it's delicious.  

Warm naan bread for scooping and dunking is my favourite way to eat this curry . (I found vegan naan at Sobeys the last time I was there, it was just in the regular bread section of the store. Loved it.)

The apple in the recipe I threw in to use it up. I think it adds a bit of tartness. If you don't want to use it, the soup might need a squeeze of lime juice or something to add a bit of acidity to compensate. Just give it a taste!  

I love this stuff, and pretty sure you will too. The base is made from almonds, sunflower seeds, potato, onion, carrot, nutritional yeast and a few other ingredients. Everything gets pureed in a food processer then transferred into a loaf pan and baked in the oven. You can serve it with crackers and your favourite condiments (I went with a store bought beet and onion jam which was epic) or tuck it into a sandwich or wrap. Seriously delicious. If you are planning a veggie charcuterie board don't skip this pate!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 small russet potato, peeled & cut into chunks 
• 1 carrot, peeled & cut into chunks 
• 1 large onion, cut into chunks 
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
• 1/2 cup almonds, toasted
• 1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp veg oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp each dried oregano & thyme
• 1/4 cup water 
• 3/4 tsp flaked kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
3. Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse to combine. Scrape down sides a few times. I didn't puree everything to be perfectly smooth. There should still be a bit of texture. 
4. Get mixture into the loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula. 
5. Bake for about 60 minutes. It should be a bit brown on top and it should feel like the center has firmed up when touched. 
6. Let cool then slice into thick wedges or mash the mixture into mason jars for a more spreadable pate. 
7. Enjoy!

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