Iced Tea June 30, 2008

Ok so when I was a kid we called this sun tea because of the way we prepared it. We used to place about 4-6 tea bags in pickling jar, one that holds about 4 plus litres and let it sit in the sun all day. The slow steeping actually give you the best flavor because the tannins do not develop as strongly. After that we would add about 2 washed and sliced lemons , and sugar to taste.

Recently I was getting the craving for this tea, bottled ones seriously can not compare, especially because I hate how sweet and artificial they taste. So I came up with a city version of sun tea, hope you like it.

Sunless Tea

1 green tea tea bag (can be flavored green tea if you want but it’s needs to be green tea, regular orange pekoe is too strong tasting when steeped with boiling water and it needs a “tea” taste)

1 peppermint tea bag

4 cups of boiling water

juice of 2 limes

juice of 1 lemon

maple syrup, honey or sugar to sweeten

ice cubes and cool water

First boil water for tea, steep both tea bags in approximately 4 cups of boiling water until they come back to room temperature. Juice limes and lemon and add to a normal sized pitcher, add cooled tea mix, removing bags and top with cold water until pitcher is just about full. Stir in maple syrup (my fav), honey or sugar to desired sweetness. Chill well and serve with ice cubes and slices of citrus fruit or sprigs of mint.

Preparing Tofu June 30, 2008

Preparing Firm – Extra Firm Tofu

This is how I usually prepare tofu whether I am making eggless salad, putting it in a stir fry or baking for a snack.

First freeze it. Take it out run under hot water to rinse off any ice. Place between 2 heavy plates and let thaw. This should get rid of a lot of water, but I also squeeze it between the plates once it is thawed to drain as much moisture out as possible. Once that is done, I cut it in thirds and place in a seal-able bag, add seasonings and marinate for about a day. *** Not to advertise but I really love the PC Memories sauces for marinating tofu, Memories of Bangkok or the black bean one are very good, I still add some fresh ginger and garlic but otherwise it’s a quicker way and you can use them in stir fries later or as a dipping sauce if you bake the tofu.*** Here is the marinade I use most often.

Thai Inspired

2 cloves of garlic grated

1 inch piece of ginger grated

1 tsp honey

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp soy sauce

fresh ground pepper and chili flakes to taste

a little bit of lime peel grated is good if you are using fresh limes

Once the tofu has sat for a few hours, to a day you can crumble it to make a vegan eggless salad. Just crumble tofu, add in chopped spring onion, tomato, red pepper or pickle depending on what veggies you like in it. Mix with veganaise (if you can get the garlic one it’s my favorite, but the health food stores usually carry a variety of flavors) add salt and pepper to taste. Pop some lettuce leaves, sprouts or spinach into a whole wheat pita and fill with salad mix.

Make Tofu Scramble by crumbling into a heated fry pan and cooking for about 10 minutes over medium heat. In a separate pan cook your choice of onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers,cherry tomatoes or spinach and season with salt and pepper. When tofu has browned and dried out a bit mix veggies and tofu together, Cooking it in separate pans stops the tofu form absorbing all the juices form the veggies and getting soft.

Slice tofu and make a stir fry with veggies serve over rice or rice noodles. Or slice it into 1/4″ slices, and bake it.

Baked Tofu, preheat over to 375F. Slice marinated tofu and place on a well greased or sprayed pan. Do not use your good pans for this as the tofu tends to stick. Brush with any extra marinade and back for about 10 minutes on each side turning once. Sometimes it take longer if the tofu is wetter, but it should brown and dehydrate a little. Let cool before eating. I usually refrigerate this and eat it cold as a snack, although it’s good to make a sandwich with or add to stir fried veggies.

Nanaimo Squares June 30, 2008

I’m still on the don’t turn on your oven kick. Here’s a simple square recipe, which can play with. You can make these vegan just substitute butter for margarine, milk for soy milk and use vegan pudding mix, and use dark chocolate chips.

Nanaimo Squares

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup butter melted (you might need a little extra if you feel it’s too dry)

1/3 cup of cocoa

1/4 cup of white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of graham cracker crumbs

Filling

1/4 cup of butter

3 tbsp milk

2 tbsp vanilla instant pudding

2 cups of icing sugar

Top

3 oz semi sweet chocolate melted in pan with 1 tbsp butter

Combine bottom ingredients well and press into a 9 inch square pan as evenly as possibly. Chill while making filling. Top bottom layer with filling and chill while making topping, when completely layered, chill for at least an hour and cut into squares. This should make at least 16 squares and they are very rich.

Variations

Mint Chocolate

Make them mint chocolate, by omitting the vanilla extract in the bottom layer and adding 1 tsp of mint extract to the filling. Replace the semi sweet chocolate with sweetened dark chocolate for a more intense square.

Irish Cream

Make them Irish cream using Bailey’s liqueur. Simply substitute the milk in the filling for the same amount of liqueur. *** this is not a vegan friendly substitution***

You can also try using different extracts like rum flavoring, maple flavoring or almond would be good.

Guacamole June 27, 2008

For those of you who love avacodoes this dip rocks! I also am going to post an avacdo dip which is very different form guacomole. Hope you enjoy. Serve with tortilla chips, nachos or any Mexican inspired food. I also sometime use it as a sandwich spread and add sprouts and rennet free cheddar cheese.

Guacamole

2 ripe avacadoes

1/4 cup of finely diced red onion

1 large clove of garlic grated

1/2-1 jalepeno minced

1-2 limes juiced

1 medium tomato diced

1 tsp cumin

a pinch of cayenne

salt and fresh pepper to taste

*Chop onion and tomatoes and set aside.

*In a seperate bowl wash, stone, peel and mash avacadoes. Add lime juice, grated garlic, jalapeno, cumin, cayenne and salt and pepper. Stir until smooth

* Mix in tomatoes and onions until well distributed. Eat right away. You can chill for up to 30 minutes but then it usually will start to brown.

Caprese June 27, 2008

Easiest and most simple recipe. It’s important you get the right cheese and use fresh tomatoes and herbs.

Caprese (Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Salad)

1 ball of fresh mozzerarella sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 large ripe tomatoes sliced 1/4 inch thick

olive oil

fresh basil or oregeno

sea salt and cracked black pepper

Slice tomatoes and cheese and layer them one over the other almost like you would spread out a deck of cards. Season with salt and pepper, and garish with fresh basil leaves or oregeno, and drizzle with oil. Serve chilled. Balsamic vinegar is also nice drizzled over this.

Iced Americanos June 27, 2008

MMmmMmm Real Iced Coffee

Iced Americanos

4 cups brewed espresso at room temperature

1 tray of ice cubes

1 cup of chocolate almond milk

Blend until smooth. Makes about 6-8 cups.

Summer Day Salad June 27, 2008

Kelly, Dan and I had such an unexpected and wonderful lunch today that I needed to post it. It was a totally unplanned collaboration and perfect for Summer. Lunch consisted of a multi grain baguette with artichoke dip, a sweet Summer Salad and Iced Americanos sweetened and softened with chocolate almond milk. Kelly please correct me on the drink recipe if you see anything wrong, I’ll post it following this one.

Summer Day Salad

5 cups of Mesclun / Spring Greens washed
1/2 pint of ripe organic strawberries sliced
1/2 small log of pepper crusted goat cheese

Wash greens and wash, hull and slice strawberries and place on top of greens. Crumble goats cheese saving 1 tbsp for the dressing.

Balsamic Vinegrette

1 tbsp goat cheese
5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
a pinch of sea salt and fresh gorund black pepper

Whisk together ingredients and pour over salad.

Pico de Gallo June 26, 2008

I have been trying to think of perfect summer recipes and truth is I tend to cook more in the winter
and the dishes are heavier and when I sit down to write them I am not as turned on by the unseasonal
aspect of writing winter recipes in the summer. Something I ate a lot while I was in Florida thanks
to my very kind brother-in-law John was pico de gallo. Funny enough when I think of it here I also
keep telling myself I need to introduce it to Jonathan cause I can guarantee it will be his new favorite.
In essence this is my perfect summer recipe, simple and clean tasting, no fuss and requires no cooking. John
I hope I do your recipe justice Also please please make sure everything is ripe and fresh, it makes
a world of difference, don’t mess with my romanticism of summer perfected in salsa…

Pico De Gallo (fresh salsa to us baby)

10 ripe roma tomatoes washed, seeded and diced
1/2 of a red onion finely diced
1 jalepeno finely diced (you can omit this believe it or not, I like a lot of spice so I don’t but I do believe John
omitted his and I ate it like it was going out of style)
2 large cloves of garlic grated
juice of two fresh limes
a splash of olive oil 1-2 tbsps
a handful of fresh cilantro washed and chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Wash, seed and dice tomatoes. Dice onions, jalepeno, and cilantro and add to a large bowl. Grate garlic into bowl, add oil and lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and let chill for at least 30 minutes. Serve with anything you would eat salsa with. Tortilla chips are a must. Sit on your patio with that and some sun tea and you have a perfect day

***Note: Lime juicing trick, make sure they are room temperature first, then give them a good roll on table before you cut into them to juice them. It releases some of the liquid and makes it easier to get at it***

Date Squares June 25, 2008

MMmMmmMm Date Squares, I know not everyone likes them but this is an easy recipe to make vegan by replacing the butter with vegetable margarine. I add spices and coconut to give an old recipe a bit of a flavor boost.

Date Squares

Filling:

2 cups of chopped dates

1/2 water

1/2 tsp cloves

1 tsp cardemon or cinnamon

Simmer this mixture until soft, approximately 3-5 minutes.

Add to date mixture, the juice of one lemon and 1 cup of sugar. Stir well and set aside.

For Crust Mix Together:

1 1/2 cup of oatmeal

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of unsweetened dried coconut

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnmon

Then Add:

3/4 cup of butter or margerine, mix until a crumbly texture.

Place 2/3 of oat mixture in the bottom of an 9 inch square pan. Flatten down to form the base for squares, cover with date filling, then add the rest of the crumble mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares, should make about 16 squares.

Nacho Dip June 25, 2008

Everyone has their own variation of this dip, this is mine which could be like yours It’s great at parties and disappears fast. Enjoy!

Nacho Dip

1 pkg of cream cheese
1 large clove of garlic grated
1 tsp basil (from the tube or dried)
3 tbsp of real mayo or yogurt or sour cream whatever you have
1 bottle of Salsa (I use medium)
about 2 cups of grated cheese, just enough to cover top
1 bag of Tortilla chips

*Soften cream cheese in micro wave about 30 seconds, add mayo, garlic and basil and mix until smooth. Layer cheese mix in a pan at 1-2 inch deep. You can use
a 9 inch square pan.
* Cover cheese mixture with the bottle of salsa. and top with cheese. Serve right away or you cna make ahead and chill it doesn’t really affect the outcome.