Blueberry Banana Muffins

These were originally supposed to be a way to clean the freezer of all of the happily laid up fruits of the past few months. Ontario wild blueberries from last season, those lovely sweet brown bananas that you forget to eat during the work week and get thrown into the freezer for banana ice cream or smoothies.

I based the recipe on the ppk's vegan banana cake, (http://www.theppk.com/2007/10/banana-bread/) and took a cue from the comments in how to adjust the baking time for muffins. These worked beautifully, although the batter seemed very dry. Next time I would add nuts or perhaps almond flour.

Inspiration

Comes sometimes in the strangest places.

New York Eats

 Oh mother. Did I ever eat some good food in New York.  Here are two of the many wonderful things I tried.  Above: Peanut Butter Glaze and Blackberry Jelly Donut from The Donut Plant.  Holy shit was that good. Also, there was a disco ball in the restroom :)



Then there's the cane cola.  I'd heard about Dublin Dr. Pepper on a blog. It was supposedly extra delicous because they were the only place still making Dr. Pepper with cane sugar, and was only available in a limited area.  This put the cane sugar cola=desirable and delicious into my head.  And I wasn't disappointed. Had this with a slice of heavenly vegan pizza in Brooklyn. 

I also had Momofuku Milk Bar's Birthday Cake Truffles, Corn and Blueberry cookies and Crack Pie. And the beer and cider selection in New York was spectacular!

Want to go baaaaack!

Vegan Sicilian Lemon Cake

Arriving at Fiesta Farms for my Saturday groceries, I spied a nobbly, oversize lemonish creature with a carnival mask sticker.  What else to do but stick it in my bag and try to make it feel at home.  
T'was a Sicilian Lemon, and I turned it into a vegan cake. 
This recipe was disgustingly easy.  I took the lemon rind and juice and combined it with enough water to make a cup, then added it to 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar and a tsp of baking soda.
Afterwards I added a tsp of vanilla, a tsp of vinegar and 5 tsp of oil and baked at 350 for 25 minutes.  Lemon heaven!  Love, Chococat :)

A Tale of Two Lasagne : Vegetarian and Vegan Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna

Vegan: Tofu-Cauliflower/Spinach filling with Daiya 'cheese'

I had to make two different lasagnas (I know said lasagne earlier, but I really hate it) in the past few weeks for different reasons.  Here are the results!
The first was the vegan cauliflower 'ricotta' and spinach lasagna recipe adapted from Appetite for Reduction.

I added some Daiya cheese to the recipe and also changed the sauce to a Puttanesca sauce with olives and capers that I made ahead of time.  I was pretty happy with the results, even though I find Daiya a little terrifying

Vegetarian: Spinach, Ricotta and Mozzarella

The second lasagna was a more traditional spinach and ricotta lasagna.  Although I added a little nutritional yeast in lieu of parmesan.  The recipe was similar to this one, except without cauliflower, eggs, parm or onion.  This one was a hit.  I even bought a new pack of very expensive lactose pills so that I could also enjoy it at the mostly carnivorous superhero birthday party I brought it to. (I dressed as some sort of spring queen f.y.i.)

New Veg: The Jerusalem Artichoke

The imposing Jerusalem Artichoke.  

I'd wanted to try one of these forever...I imagined that it would be some kind of lovely, creamy artichoke-heart like root vegetable that would melt in my mouth, and while it was not it was still worth trying.  It had an interesting taste, similar to a very mild turnip and the texture of a potato when it was cooked.  The skin came off in pieces similar to the experience of peeling a twig.  I used it in a lovely quinoa salad with tahini-miso-orange dressing that I brought to a clothing swap.  I can't say that I'm dying to eat this again, but I'd try cooking it at least once more in a dish that showcased its flavour a little more.

Middle Eastern Style Tomato Chickpeas

Chickpea in the city

I love saucy chickpeas and beans.  From late night munchies at local middle eastern joint Ghazale to the delicious, saucy broad beans I had for breakfast in Istanbul, to my grandmother's Pasta e fagioli.
This dish was my attempt to finally capture the essence of the oily, long stewed beans you dip crusty bread into, or savour over rice.  I think I nailed it.

I took an onion, half a carrot and red/green/yellow pepper and sauteed them in a healthy glug of olive oil with some fennel and cumin seeds and some cayenne until they were soft and fragrant.  
Then I added in half a jar of loose tomato puree (conserva to my fellow wops) and two cloves of chopped garlic.  Following that, I patiently boiled the bejeezus out of the mixture for probably half an hour on medium high heat until it started to thicken and get slightly dark. I removed half of the mixture and pureed it with my stick blender and returned it to the pot, then added about two cups of chickpeas.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it a little longer, and voila!  Delicieux!  

     Fall can be dreary, so here's some inspiration: during trying times, with lots of illness in the family my elderly grandmother still found time to garden this spring, and to share some of the bounty with me when I visited.  She grew, shucked and froze 27(!) little packets of her own beans for the winter.  That is one self-sufficient lady! <3