Corn Curry!

This came together haphazardly but ended up being really delicious! The base is sautéed garlic, onion and tomato with cumin seeds, ginger, garam masala, coriander, turmeric and chili powder.
To that I added sweet and white potatoes and tofu, followed later by some corn and lentils and finished off closer to the end with brussels sprouts and broccoli. The sweetness of he corn really worked with the spiciness of the curry.

Muttar Tofu Pasta with Veggie Sausage

Grabbed some lovely ingredients today after strawberry picking in Brampton. Garlic scapes and Ontario peas. I sautéed the scapes in oil with onion, garam masala, ginger, cayenne and allspice and then added cubed tofu and one spicy veggie snausage. I threw in some tomato purée, porcini powder and red wine and green peas and simmered for 30 or so minutes, adding water occasionally to keep it loose. Great over pasta!

Almond Cream Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Vegan)

Why do I feel like I posted this already? Because I ate it over a month ago. Sorry!

Sometimes I get a craving for something super creamy. 
Being lactose intolerant and sharing the occasional leftover with vegan friends means I have to look to uncommon places for that satisfying sauciness.  Frankly, I was surprised to learn that this is an actual pasta sauce (I thought it was just something I dreamed up out of low pantry supplies and lack of motivation to go outside).
It ends up tasting somewhere between an alfredo and a white cheese sauce, and this depends on how much nutritional yeast (if any) you use.
The sauce is pretty easy: 
Take a cup of toasted almonds (skin on or off) and grind them in a blender until they're a fine crumb. Add one or two cloves of chopped garlic and pulse together.  
To this add 1-2 cups of water and continue to blend until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a pan and simmer. At this point you can add lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, or up to 1/4 c. nutritional yeast to taste, as well as salt, pepper or nutmeg.
Simmer the sauce until it's the desired thickness and serve over pasta.
On the side, I served roasted brussels sprouts. They were halved and tossed with curry paste, vinegar or citrus juice, some sugar or maple syrup optional garlic and a little olive oil and roasted at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  They're a dream of crispy chippy leaves and soft insides.
Yum!

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 :)