potato, green olive, kale, soyrizo and zucchini pizza

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comfort / kale / meals / potato / zucchini

this makes a big sheet pan pizza, which is the best kind of pizza in my opinion. this recipe has you making the dough and the sauce from scratch, but there are always shortcuts if you’re tight on time. a good alternative is to use frozen pizza dough or lavash or another sort of flatbread.

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DOUGH (adapted from mark bittman’s “how to cook everything vegetarian”)

2 c. unbleached flour (and more for rolling out)

1/2 c. whole wheat

1/2 c. rye flour

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 c. warm water (and 1/4 more potentially)

put flours, yeast and salt in a food processor and pulse quickly to mix. then add the oil with the  water until a dough forms. add more water as needed. knead for a minute on a floured surface, then put in an oiled bowl (turn it over once in the bowl so the top gets coated) and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave in a warm spot to rise. let rise until doubled, 2 hours. roll out into a large rectangle (a bit bigger than your sheet pan). spray pan with oil, then drape dough overtop. roll edges up to make the crust and press all the way around. then cover with damp towel again and rise for 20 minutes (while you prep your toppings).

*you can make double and freeze half for future pizza

SAUCE

oil

1/2 red onion, diced fine

6 cloves garlic, grated

1 tomato, chopped

1 can tomato paste

1/4-1/2 c. water

handful chopped basil

black pepper

big pinch of salt, big pinch of chili flakes

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

heat up oil in a small saucepan and throw in onions and all the garlic, stir around constantly so the garlic doesn’t burn. cook for a couple minutes, then add the tomato, tomato paste and water. add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15-20 minutes. puree if you like a really smooth sauce. i like mine as is.

TOPPINGS

4 big leaves of kale, veined and chopped fine

1/2 a soyrizo, crumbled

8 garlic stuffed green olives, sliced

1 tbsp capers

1/4 zucchini, sliced thin

1 small nugget potato, shaved very thin

lots of cheese

rinse potatoes, then let soak in cold water. when it’s time, pat them dry. meanwhile, lay out the zucchini slices and salt them. let sit for 10 minutes, then shake the salt all off and pat with a clean towel (this makes it not get mushy).

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when you’re ready to assemble, spread the sauce over the dough (i had about 1/4 c. left over), then put your toppings on, saving the kale for very last and the cheese for 2nd to last. your kale will get all crispy delicious.

bake in a preheated oven at 500 for 10 minutes (turn pan after 5 minutes). all done! serve with nutritional yeast and hot sauce.

chocolate coconut pecan cookies

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chocolate / coconut / cookies / desserts / nuts

cookie recipe number 3! there it is!

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1/2 c. earth balance butter (stick kind), softened

1/2 c. shortening(stick kind), softened

1/2 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1/3 c. coconut cream*

3 tsp egg replacer with 2 tbsp water, mixed

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 c. roughly chopped dark chocolate

1/2 c. coconut ribbons, unsweetened

1/2 c. chopped pecans

cream butter and shortening, add sugars and cream until smooth. add egg replacer, coconut cream and vanilla. sift together dry ingredients. add to wet and stir until well-mixed. add coconut, nuts and chocolate and stir.

bake at 350. drop by spoonfuls on a parchment lined baking sheets. bake for 10 minutes, turning pan halfway. let set and cool.

between the cookies and these greens i used to make a wreath, our house is smelling sooo good.

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* for coconut cream, let a can of coconut milk sit in the fridge for a day, then open it up and scoop off the cream. alternately you can buy canned coconut cream, it’s just not quite as thick.

raspberry sandwich cookies

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cookies / desserts

these are an all time favourite from my pre-vegan times. it’s a recipe from Orangette “brown butter cookies”. quite frankly i’m not sure if browning the earth balance did much, but these cookies are still sooooo good.

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COOKIES

1 c. cold earth balance butter sticks, cut up

3/4 c. sugar

2 tsp good vanilla (if there were ever a time for quality vanilla, it is now)

2 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/3 c. not-too-sweet jam

in a saucepan melt butter over medium heat. stir frequently and wait until it takes on a golden colour (10 minutes-ish). remove from heat and place the pot in a sink filled with a few inches of cold water. cool for 5 minutes. take your pot out of the sink, and stir in the sugar and vanilla. mix dry ingredients and incorporate into mixture. split it up into 2 and wrap in plastic. let sit overnight (or a couple hours). bring back to room temp and get ready to shape your cookies.

preheat oven to 325.

this part is time consuming so have a nice set-up. rum and soy nog, a good record. take a bit of dough and press it into the bowl of a teaspoon (try to use one that has a deep bowl), flatten the bottom and slide it out of the spoon. then i clean up the edge of the cookies with the blunt part of the spoon. place flat side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. bake until just golden around the edges, for about 12 minutes, turning the pan halfway. cool completely.

while the cookies are baking, heat jam in a small saucepan. any jam is good but i like to use raspberry. it’s nice to use something tart to cut the richness of the cookies. if you only have a sweeter jam, add a squeeze of lemon and zest it. cook on low until it goes runny then take it off the heat. pour jam through a fine sieve to remove seeds and let cool.

once everything is cool, assemble the cookies. put 1 heaped tsp of jam on the flat side of half the cookies, then top with the other half. press together so the jam spreads between the cookies. let set. eat!

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ginger molasses cookies!

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desserts / tasty trash

things are getting all holiday-y in my house this week since katie and i both (secretly/not so secretly anymore) love christmas/eating sweets/crafts.  we have gone overboard and our house is starting look insane. also it is FULL OF COOKIES, so here is one of three recipes i’ll be posting!

check out Thor hanging out with the tree and 70 feet of gold paper chains we made

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CHEWY GINGER COOKIES

1/2 c. earth balance (the sticks, not spreadable), softened

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. white sugar + more for rolling

3 tsp egg replacer with 2 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp oil

1/2 c. molasses

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp dried ginger, allspice

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of cayenne

pinch of salt

2 c. flour

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cream the “butter” and sugars together until smooth (i did this whole thing in my mixer). Mix the egg replacer and water, and add to the butter/sugar. put oil into a 1/2 c. measure, add to mixture then measure your molasses in the same cup (so it won’t stick in there). mix it all together until smooth.

mix all your dry ingredients, then add to the wet slowly until it’s all incorporated. wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate overnight (or for a couple hours).

when you are ready preheat the oven to 325. roll balls of dough in your hands (between the size of a pingpong ball and a golf ball), then roll in sugar. place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheets.

bake for 5 minutes, turn then bake for another 5. keep an eye though! these ones are tricky… so they puff up  then all of a sudden they go flat (which is what you want), but as soon as they drop flat you should take them out because they’ll go from being perfect to being burnt in no time. so the last 5 minutes really watch out. let cool for a few minutes before you try to move them.  DELICIOUS TIMES ARE AHEAD.

tofu scramble again! BETTER!

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breakfasts / meals / savoury / tofu

i made this after having some new and tasty scrambles on my america food trip. the difference here is this scramble is marinated overnight. it’s my new and favourite way to scramble.

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SCRAMBLE

1 block of organic extra firm tofu

1 heaped tbsp tumeric

1 tsp mustards seeds

1 tsp cumin

2 tbsp bragg’s

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

1/ 3 c. broth

1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne (depends what you like)

tons of black pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

a big handful of whatever fresh herbs you like (cilantro probs?!)

squeeze liquid out of tofu as much as you can. then crumble it into teeny tiny pieces. put it all in a big mason jar with everything else. shake it around and then put it in the fridge overnight.

at breakfast time, pour your mix into a sieve (that your tofu won’t fall through), and squeeze a bunch of the liquid out. then fry it up with olive oil in a frying pan (a sauteed onion if you’d like, and any other veg you like), until heated through and browned. sprinkle with some more nutritional yeast, fresh herbs and sliced scallions and eat!