I’ve been cooking up a STORM lately. It’s part of my New Year’s Resolution. I’m going to stop going to Starbucks and ordering take-out and START cooking and REALLY paying attention to what I’m putting into my body. And, INDEED, with a little motivation, some good slippers, some help from must-have STAR cookbooks, like…

…and a little creativity, I am SO good to go. I’m, like, DINING in my own home.

This particular recipe was adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero’s brillers tome Veganomicon (recipe p. 201). And it is UNBELIEVABLE. My little 2-year-old was begging me for “MORE NOODLES, MAMA!” And I…. I could not SPEAK while eating this dish. (I was even able to take a GOOD PHOTO of it — see above? — which NEVER happens; I am NOT a food photographer most days.)

In my adaptation of the recipe, I lowered the fat and salt content, and I added chickpeas for protein — making this a complete, one-dish vegan meal!

OH! And some of the ingredients may seem scary, I know. But, just buy a pack of Udon noodles (I used Kamut), some delicious Umeboshi vinegar (or Mirin, a Japanese rice wine), some brown Miso, and, really, any mushroom will do — I splurged on Shiitakes because they’re apparently among the most healthful. Just go out and buy them. Be adventurous! It’s no biggie, really, and the recipe’s a cinch.

Speaking of healthful, among the shiitakes, the miso, the umeboshi vinegar, the kale and the chickpeas (cooked from scratch), this is not only a ridiculously delicious dish, but it’s also a disgustingly HEALTHY dish.

Check it!

INGREDIENTS

1 package Udon noodles
1 tbsp Oil (I used olive oil – and cooked dish at low to medium heat)
1/2 Onion (thinly sliced into “half moons”)
3 cloves Garlic (minced)
1/2-1 cup Shiitake Mushrooms (stemmed and chopped)
2 tsp fresh Ginger (grated/minced — use 1 tsp ground ginger if you must!)
1 tbsp Umeboshi Vinegar (OR Mirin)
1 cup Water
3 tbsp Brown Miso

2 cups cooked Chickpeas
2 big handfuls Kale (lovingly tear it up into bite sized pieces)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook the Udon noodles (see package instructions).

2. Meanwhile, using low-to-medium heat, sauté onions, mushrooms, and garlic in the olive oil — until onions and shrooms are just softened (about 5 or so minutes).

3. Sprinkle ginger and continue to sauté a little longer.

4. Next comes the umeboshi vinegar, water and miso. Sauté, sauté, sauté.

5. Add the kale and chickpeas, stir it up, and cover until kale is softened.

6. Add in the noodles, mix, and mix.

7. I’d let it sit for a bit — allowing the noodles and chickpeas to really absorb the flavours — if you can resist, that is….

8. ENJOY!

9. Let us know if you LOVED it, too!

Serves 4-6.

My kids ate their salad last night. We’re talking carrots and LETTUCE. Romaine lettuce. And it was all because of Dreena Burton’s “Sesame Mustard Tahini Sauce” (from her awesome cookbook Vive le Vegan p. 56), which I drizzled generously on their salads. I am telling you, this dressing is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted. It’s so good, I’m bringing it to dinner tomorrow night — for my entire extended family and friends to enjoy.

Here — look how happy:

The beauty of this dressing, too, is that it’s versatile. It’s great not only on salad, but also on grain dishes and veggie burgers. Since it gets thicker over time, it makes a dip that’s actually better than hummus.

The ingredients in this dressing are also beyond healthy — a healthy dose of apple cider vinegar (great for arthritis, I hear), and tahini (which is a good vegan source of calcium, protein, B vitamins, and essential fatty acids for GORJ skin, etc.). And the kids never have to know….

Check it!

DREENA BURTON’S SESAME MUSTARD TAHINI SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

(Note: See Dreena’s book for further recommendations for use. I have altered the ingredients only slightly to make it more raw, and because I only own cold-pressed sesame oil!)

1/2 cup water (if desired, add more water to make it thinner)
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic (sliced)
1.5 tbsp agave nectar
3 tbsp low-sodium tamari
1 tbsp sesame oil (cold-pressed unrefined, if possible)
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Easy: Just stick it all in a blender and puree until smooooth!

Enjoy!

Posted with the permission of Dreena Burton.

Lately, I’ve been having consultations with the lovely Caroline Marie Dupont who wrote what is perhaps my favourite food book, Enlightened Eating: Nourishment for Body and Soul (Cheaty HIGHLY recommends):

In our most recent meeting, some mornings ago, Caroline invited me into her kitchen and made me a chai — because she knows I have that, erm, wretched little GRANDE STARBUCKS SOY CHAI LATTE addiction. I didn’t expect much, to be honest, because nothing thus far has compared to Starbucks’ chai, and I’VE TRIED EVERYTHING. But, I decided to humour her, and I watched with great interest as she pitted the dates (best sweeteners, by the way, for smoothies).

Much to my surprise, this chai FAR SURPASSED Starbucks’. Yes, Caroline did it again. So, I told her I HAD to share it with my readers. And, since this recipe is not in her book, she typed it up just for us. Enjoy! But, first, Caroline’s cat — because LOVE….

ALMOND CHAI (SERVES 4)
A richly spiced creamy treat.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup soaked almonds
4 cups fresh water
1 ½ Tbs ginger
2 tsp cinnamon, or 2 inches cinnamon stick
½  tsp nutmeg
½  tsp cardamom
1 tsp allspice
¼ tsp black pepper, or 4 black pepper balls
pinch sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup soft dates, or soak ½ hour
2 Tbs raw honey (vegans who don’t eat honey can substitute with 1.5 tbsp agave nectar, or to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS
Rinse soaked almonds and blend with water and all other ingredients at high speed until smooth.  Pour through a fine strainer, pressing with a spoon to remove all milk. Or, use a nut milk bag available through naturallyalive.ca (or do a search under “nut milk bags” on the internet). Taste and adjust sweetness if desired.

Serve slightly warmed, chilled or at room temperature.

Serves  4

Caroline and I sipped our smooth sweet chais during the consultation in THIS lovely room that OOZES spirituality (an area in which I have been GRAVELY lacking of late)….

BLISS!

Love!

xo Haley-O

There comes a time in every vegan’s life, I’m learning, that s/he has to get off her arse and cook — and start bringing her own food to Friday night dinner at it’sgrandma’s because it’sgrandma has enough individual palettes to satisfy.

So, I’m cooking for myself. Even if I have Rascal at my feet, tugging at my lululemons, I’m cooking for myself — not just rice and beans — but FANCY stuff. Well, I’ve made one meal. But, it’s served me well for THREE DAYS, and the monkeys enjoyed it, too (sort of — they only REALLY like “treats”). The apple in this dish DOES taste like APPLE PIE, though!

As a vegan dish, this is wonderfully nutritious and convenient: a mixture of grains and legumes makes it a good source of protein; the sweetness of the light coconut milk helps satisfy sugar cravings, and it’s oh-so-nutritious; the dish is loaded with fiber, beta carotene; and, finally, it’s LIGHT, one-pot, easy-peasy.

I adapted the recipe from Dreena Burton’s wonderful cookbook Vive le Vegan!

Check it….

INGREDIENTS
(Serves 4-6)

2-3 cups cooked/canned chick peas (and/or kidney/aduki beans)
1 (400 ml) can of light coconut milk (I’m sure you could try this with vegetable stock instead — let me know, if you try that)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1-2 sweet potatoes (chopped)
2 parsnips (sliced) (optional, but nice because adds more variety with each bite)
1 cup celery (sliced) (optional)
1-2 apples (peeled, cubed)
1-2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tbsp curry paste (optional) (I didn’t have any on hand….)
1.5 tbsp grated fresh ginger (or around 1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric (for orange glow…, and more importantly for its HEALTHY properties)
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp allspice

2 cups cooked quinoa (or other grain)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

2. Place all the ingredients in a large pot or casserole dish.

3. Stir it up ’till nice and combined.

4. Bake for 60-70 minutes, stopping midway to give it a stir.

5. Let it sit for a bit, and then serve in individual bowls with quinoa (or other grain)!

6. ENJOY!

(By the way, check author Dreena Burton’s food blog HERE!)

By now, you’ve probably figured out that I’m a big fan of THE MUFFIN. Muffins are just SO EASY and always YUMMY. If they’re made nutritiously, they’re like CAKE without the fat and calories.

The muffins I’m sharing with you are adapted from one of my foodie favourite books, Enlightened Eating, by Caroline Marie Dupont, a very talented energetic healer, and nutrition and meditation expert whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with — she did some energy work on me, and it was UNBELIEVABLE.

Anyway, I was in a bit of a hurry, but I REALLY wanted to make the kids something homemade and nutritious to munch on because, as you know, I’ve been feeling down about my cooking lately…. I opened the pantry for an easy organic muffin mix that I THOUGHT I bought. But, alas, there was none in the pantry. And, then I remembered I never actually bought it; I’d put it back on the shelf last minute, SWEARING that I’d bake muffins from SCRATCH. No copping out this time.

So, I went through ALL my cookbooks, as I do EVERY time I go to bake muffins, and I found a surprisingly EASY one, with very few ingredients, AND VEGAN. Sweet!

You know, vegan muffins are not just good for vegans: no eggs = almost NO MESS. So, without further ado, I give you….

ENLIGHTENED APPLESAUCE MUFFINS!

INGREDIENTS
(Serves 12)

1/2 soy milk (I like the YU soymilk with omega 3s in it; you can substitute ANY kind of milk, including dairy for this, though)
1 cup applesauce
3 tbsp. olive oil or butter
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp. ground flax seed (I used about 3 Tbs)*
2 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 – 2 tbsp lemon zest (I didn’t have lemons, so I left this out)
1 cup raisins or currants

*Always grind your flax seeds right before using them. I use a really small coffee grinder. So quick and easy.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil the muffin tin. Caroline suggests using coconut oil. I used an organic canola oil spray that I have — not the ideal choice, but I use so little….

2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the wet ingredients and ground flax seeds.

3. In another larger bowl, mix the dry ingredients and then fold in the wet ingredients.

4. Add the raisins and stir until everything’s mixed and you get a nice moist batter (never over-stir when baking).

5. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.

6. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the muffin comes out clean.

7. Let the muffins cool for 5-10 minutes, and remove them from the tin.

Muffins freeze really well. So, you can put some in an air-tight container to freeze. This will prevent you from eating them all at once, too……. ENJOY!