May 8th

Today was Mother's Day and is there any better way of thanking your mother for all that she does than by cooking her breakfast in bed? I can't really cook my mom breakfast in bed as she usually wakes up at 4 a.m. but a vegan brunch is just as good, right? So that's what I made for her: vegan French toast with berries and maple syrup and Earth Balance butter. Yesterday we bought a loaf of whatever delicious bread the bakery had to offer that didn't contain any eggs or milk and we left it out overnight to get a little stale (It works better than fresh bread which can stay a little soggy.) I used the same recipe that I had on the first of May. My mom loved it! She said it tasted just like traditional french toast but she liked that it was crispy instead of soggy like the eggy kind can get. Maybe we've found our new permanent french toast recipe?

Tonight we had dinner at my Grandma's to celebrate Mother's Day. Traditionally our go-to dinner on Mother's Day is pizza that we order in so that none of the mothers have to cook or clean. I couldn't really order pizza with the rest of them because I'm a little iffy when it comes to soy cheese. Even if pizzerias do offer this option, surprisingly a lot of soy cheeses contain casein which is an animal product. So homemade pizza it was for me! Actually I quite enjoy making my own pizzas - I always have. So I made my own whole wheat pizza dough, my own tomato sauce and I used last night's leftover grilled vegetables as my toppings. The grilled veggies were a delicious addtition because they gave the pizza a smokey flavour. I think I would definitely grill up various vegetables next time I make pizza just because it tasted soooo good. With all those zucchini, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers and olives my pizza definitely won the prize for most colourful and healthiest! I topped my pizza with ground oregano (a must - my grandma's secret to the best homemade pizzas ever) and just a little bit of Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese, mostly to hold the mountain of veggies on the pizza. I like the texture of this "cheese" but I'm still getting used to the flavour of it, I guess mostly because it just isn't real cheese, but it's okay. I don't miss cheese at all; I never really liked it to begin with although I can understand how others have a hard time giving it up. But there are all sorts of vegan 'cheeses" you can buy or even make yourself that have the same feel as regular cheese, and that are a lot kinder to the animals and your body...cashew or other nut cheeses, "toffalo" mozzarella, even a brie-type made with marinated tofu! These recipes are all pretty easy to find on the internet. Next Christmas maybe I'll even make a vegan "cheese" platter.

I added leftover vegan macaroni salad and a green salad to my plate to complete my meal. And we can't forget about dessert: leftover vegan lemon-coconut cupcakes and berries.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour, plus more as needed

1/2 cup white flour

2-1/4 tsp pizza yeast (I bought pizza yeast instead of regular yeast - no time for rising necessary!)

1-1/2 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup very warm water

3 tbsp oil (I use olive oil)

Preheat oven to 425. Combine one cup of the two flours, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add warm water and oil; mix until well blended. Gradually add more whole wheat flour to make a soft dough. Dough should be slightly sticky. Knead on a floured surface, adding additional flour of necessary, until smooth and elastic. Pat dough to fill greased pizza pan or baking sheet. Form the crust by pinching the edges of the dough. Spread with pizza sauce. Top with desired toppings and cheese. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until dough is browned. (Vegan cheese doesn't get bubbly)

Super Simple Pizza Sauce:

1/2 cup tomato paste

Water

Basil

Ground oregano

Dried parsley

Sugar

I didn't give any amounts for this recipe because it really is however much you like. I usually stir water in to the paste a little at a time until it reaches the consistency I like. Then I add my spices, usually lots of basil for me, especially if there's fresh basil. Oregano is a must in a pizza sauce. Then I taste it and add just a little bit of sugar to take away the bitterness of the tomato paste. Then it's ready to spread on your pizza. Super simple.

Glad I was able to share a kinder Mother's Day this year with my family. Happy Mother's Day to my mom and to any mothers out there reading this!

May 7th

It’s been one full week since I’ve started and I’m happy to say that I feel great and I haven’t felt like I’m missing anything once. All the food I’ve been eating has been so delicious that even when I’m around other people who aren’t eating vegan, I don’t feel like picking off their plates. Well, maybe just when it comes to chocolate. But there are all sorts of chocolately vegan desserts and vegan chocolate chips, so I’m not so much feeling deprived as missing the convenience of just grabbing it. But it also makes you stop and think about whether you really even want to eat it at all. So that’s good, I guess?
Today we were celebrating my cousin Meggie’s birthday and my uncle Tim’s birthday. Meggie chose kebabs on the barbeque for dinner. We made skewers of zucchini and cherry tomatoes and two different types of onions and four colours of bell peppers and mushrooms and even sweet potato that we parboiled first. Doesn’t the picture of all those skewers look delicious? Looking at it makes me want to eat it all over again! The rest of my family also ate meat skewers but they were kept separate from the veggies on purpose to make it easier for me, and to accommodate different cooking times. No one wants raw meat on their vegetables. Unfortunately, they got a little charred but it wasn’t anyone’s fault – it was the first time using a new barbeque and also everyone was helping dismantling a deck … all hands on deck, literally. I also made a vegan deli-style macaroni salad and a home-made black bean burger topped with all sorts of yummy vegetables. My grams even made me a small foil packet of her famous potatoes and carrots on the barbeque, veganized. She just used Earth Balance Butter in mine!

Deli-Style Macaroni Salad:
3 cups cooked pasta (I used organic vegetable based pasta – very yum)
1/2 cup diced assorted vegetables (I used red and green bell pepper and celery)
¼ cup Vegenaise
1/8 cup white vinegar
1/4 tbsp. sugar
Salt and pepper

After cooking the pasta, keep it in the fridge to get cold. Combine the vegenaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over the bowl of pasta, add the vegetables and stir. Refrigerate until ready. Very easy and very authentic.

And for dessert, a masterpiece! Lemon Coconut cupcakes! They were such a huge hit. The decorations on them aren’t vegan so I kept a couple un-decorated for myself but I had fun making the others all pretty for Meggie. She loved them! If you haven’t tried a vegan recipe yet, but are thinking about it, this is definitely one to try! So scrumpcious.

Lemon-Coconut Cupcakes:
1 2/3 cups sugar (I used evaporated cane juice)
2/3 cup oil
1 3/4 cup coconut milk
¼ cup non-dairy milk (I used vanilla soy and decreased the sugar a bit since the milk is sweetened)
¼ fresh lemon juice
The zest of 2 lemons
1 tsp vanilla (Feel free to add more if you’re not using flavoured soymilk)
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 ½ cups shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the sugar, oil, milks, lemon juice, zest and vanilla in a bowl. Stir. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Add the dry to the wet ingredients in batches. Mix well between each addition. Fold in the coconut. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool before decorating, but they are delicious out of the oven sans icing too.

Happy birthday Meggie and Tim!

May 6th

Leftover veggie dog for lunch today! Yum. My mom even thought that they smelled like bacon. Can’t be so bad if it smells like bacon but is plant based, right? For dinner tonight I joined my cousins and Grams, as my cousin Meggie is visiting for the weekend before heading back to school for her summer studies. Since they were ordering pizza, I defrosted some vegetable soup that my Grams had made for me a couple of weeks ago so that I’d have quick meals available if I needed it. Her soup is so good and thick – almost like a stew. My grandpa used to make it but he’d add hamburger meat to it. We had added barley instead and the swap has made it even more delicious. It stills feels “meaty” when you bite into it though! Everything goes into that soup: carrots, celery, potato, green pepper, red pepper, pasta, barley. A little bit of whatever’s in the fridge. It’s a very hearty and filling soup. I don’t have the recipe or I’d post it. Hopefully I can get it up soon. It freezes really well too, so it’s perfect to have around. I love that my grandma and the rest of my family has been so supportive of this decision. It’s really made it a lot easier on me, as I know they are truly interested and aren’t questioning me or making me feel like a freak. Thank you so much everyone. I love you all!

Ps. Can you tell corn was on sale this week?

May 5th

Today I experienced another exciting milestone on my vegan journey: an unplanned vegan lunch at a restaurant. Dom and I were out running errands all morning and before we knew it, it was past lunch and we were starving! Normally we would just pop in to the closest restaurant and grab something – anything – on the menu. But without a lot of veggie restaurant options, vegan menu options and no planning, we were tasked with finding a place to grab a vegan bite. Dom remembered seeing a sign advertising a vegetarian lunch on one of the buildings we had passed so we headed in that direction and we came across the cutest little tea shop in the Market, called The Tea Party. They serve tea and desserts and sell cute little teapots but most importantly, they offer vegetarian and vegan lunches! I ordered the chickpea curry served on basmati rice and Dom had the tomato soup with a grilled cheese (not vegan, but vegetarian!). I’ve found in the last couple months since experimenting with vegan foods that I constantly find myself drawn to curries as a comfort food. The kick of spice just really warms everything up and with chickpeas – really, is there a more delicious legume? The food was so yummy, the prices were so reasonable and the place was so cute that we will definitely be going back, especially when we’re out and get hungry again! I’m glad that we found it.

Here's their website: http://www.theteapartycafe.com/

Tonight for dinner we celebrated the beginning of barbeque season by – what else? – having a barbeque! The season for barbequing weather is so short here that we must make use of the nice weather when it presents itself. I already love veggies on the grill: zucchini, tomato, onion, asparagus…anything really. So finding vegetables for the meal wasn’t the hard part. The hardest part was choosing between buying veggie dogs and veggie burgers at the grocery store! I finally decided on the veggie dog because – can you believe it – I’ve never had one before? So we grilled those up with some olive oil-coated asparagus and corn and added some home-made French fries and we celebrated a vegan start to barbeque season. We added some yummy condiments and I even fried up some onions as a “gourmet” dog topper. The veggie dog was actually pretty good. Shouldn’t be all that surprising I guess, but I had always had an image of a veggie dog being slimy and gross. Now having finally tried one I would say that meat hot dogs are actually slimier. Veggie dogs forever! Even Dominic liked his dog, although he said it maybe wasn’t quite the same as a regular hot dog. But with one vegan and two vegetarian meals today, maybe he’s being converted slowly?

May 4th

Today we had a leisurely day in Kingston. Steph’s girlfriend Nicole joined us while Steph was at work and we explored the downtown area. I had the berries and soymilk combination for breakfast along with a bagel and peanut butter. I don’t drink soymilk all that often – I much prefer almond milk - but it comes in little packages which are convenient for travelling. And they’re recyclable, which makes me feel a little better about the garbage it creates.

Then we were off, walking up and down Princess Street and the downtown harbour area. I like the city. It felt very relaxed. Anyhoo, we did some shopping, stopped for tea and then realized it was lunch time. We went to The Sleepless Goat, one of the places I had read about that was vegan-friendly. It’s a really cool place, a worker’s co-operative. Here’s a small blurb from their website:

“We acknowledge the basic right of every person to food, and will provide high-quality, healthy and affordable food in a warm and safe environment to our guests, regardless of their economic reality. Those who cannot afford to pay will be given their meals with the same dignity and respect as any other guests. We affirm the economy of the gift over and against the absolute commodification of our planet and our daily lives. We are committed to socially and environmentally sustainable and ethical business practices. We will continue to strive for ever more ecologically sound (organic, local, etc.), equitable and direct trade with our suppliers, and make every effort to minimize waste production in the restaurant.”
www.thegoat.ca

I had the Toggenburger for lunch. It was a very filling lentil and mushroom burger topped with sprouts, roasted red pepper and some kind of dressing. It was also served with a heaping salad topped with cranberries and pecans and a pickle! Nicole got the some thing, only non-vegan and the only difference was that hers had some kind of sauce on it. We both enjoyed it though!
I encourage everyone to visit their website if you can’t make it there, maybe read their mission statement and if you’re ever in Kingston, definitely check it out. I don’t know about you, but I like to support places like this!

May 3rd

If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted for the last couple of days, don’t worry, I haven’t given up already! I’ve been in Kingston visiting my brother and his girlfriend who just moved into a new apartment. I was a little worried about what I would eat while I was there, but it turned out great! My brother called ahead of time so I could let him know what groceries to buy, and I researched some great vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurants in the area. (Love the internet!) I packed some berries and vanilla soymilk for breakfasts and Steph bought some bagels and peanut butter. A full, complete breakfast! I also made a roasted red pepper hummus to bring along, as my brother loves hummus. It is so easy to make, it just takes a little patience if you want it really creamy and thick.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus:
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
The juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil (plus more as needed)
3 tbsp tahini (a sesame seed paste, usually found in the health food section of the grocery store)
1 tsp of cumin
Salt and pepper
1 roasted red bell pepper (I roasted my own, but you can buy them packed in oil)
2 garlic cloves (I roasted mine with the pepper, but you can add the cloves raw too)

Add half the chickpeas and half the oil into a blender. Pulse a couple times. The blender will constantly get stuck as it’s so thick, so push it around with a spatula every couple times you pulse. Continue doing this until the chickpeas are all coarsely smushed. Add the lemon juice, the rest of the olive oil, the tahini, the cumin, the salt and pepper and the garlic. Pulse some more. This is where the patience part comes in. It’s so thick that the blender gets stuck every couple pulses, so move it around with a spatula. Don’t give up and buy your own hummus from the grocery store! This tastes sooo much better and you know exactly what and how much is going in. Use some more oil or even a little bit of water if you need to. When it gets good and creamy, add the slices of roasted red pepper. It will really help loosen it up. Blend everything together. Eat with veggies and pita. You can really add anything you feel like to the basic recipe minus the red pepper. My cousin Dean and I will be making one with jalapenos soon!

For dinner that night we went to a restaurant called Tango. It was delicious. It’s a tapas bar and we had a great local wine from the Sandbanks Estate Winery along with so much delicious food. It’s not a vegan restaurant but they have lots of vegan tapas. I had the “Spreads and Breads platter”, with hummus, guacamole, olive tapenade, bruschetta and black bean salsa, along with corn chips and baguette and pita. Their bruschetta was my favourite! Every else loved their meals and tapas too, although I couldn’t try most of it. Check them out if you’re ever in Kingston! Here’s the link to their site:

www.thetango.ca

May 2nd

Day 2

Oatmeal (my go-to breakfast) :

Mix quick oats with cinnamon in a bowl, pour on boiling water until just covered, cover the bowl with a plate and let sit about 5 minutes, until the water is absorbed. I drizzled the oatmeal with brown rice syrup and voila – breakfast in 5 minutes! Berries and other fruit make a good addition.

Today was a leftover day: Leftover butternut squash soup for lunch, but I added some curry powder and toasted sunflower seeds to change the flavour so I wouldn’t get too bored. Dinner tonight was leftover spaghetti. I added some red pepper flakes to change the flavour of this too. I also had a corn on the cob. Is there anything more delicious than sweet corn on the cob? I eat it like candy! Corn on the cob always reminds me of my Grandpa. He taught me to count the rows of corn on the cob and that it will always be an even number, unless it’s been freakily genetically modified. Try it next time you eat it! I still count the rows to this day. Tonight’s cob: 14 rows of corn.

May 1st

The first day of my fully vegan month! My boyfriend Dom and I decided to go all out and celebrate by making some yummy vegan French toast. French toast without eggs, you ask? How is it even possible? Well, it ended up being incredibly simple and more delicious than the eggy bread I’m used to. We mixed flour, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg and a pinch of salt together in a shallow bowl. Then we whisked in non-dairy milk (we used vanilla-flavoured almond milk) and a splash of vanilla until we had made a paste. We dipped pieces of stale bread in the paste and fried them on a preheated cast iron pan until crispy. Strawberries, maple syrup and vegan butter completed the delicious brunch. It was so beautiful this morning that we decided to eat outside on the porch. Dom lives next to a farm and while we were eating our breakfast, the tractors were in the fields, tilling the earth and preparing it for the spring planting. I thought it was a particularly fitting welcome to spring, specifically to my spring this year, as for at least the next month, everything I eat will come from the earth.

Sundays nights are usually spent at my Grandma’s for family dinner. Today was different though, as I cooked my own vegan food while my family ate their usual meat and potatoes (no one has decided to embark upon this journey with me…yet…although they are all very supportive and love to try the foods I’ve been cooking.) I started off with a snack – kale chips. So delicious. If you haven’t eaten kale before, this is the way to try it first.


Kale Chips:

Tear the leaves off of the tough stems. Chop them into 2 inch square pieces. Coat with olive oil in a bowl. (Make sure each piece is well coated or it will stick to the pan). Bake on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until crispy. Remove, sprinkle with salt and pepper. We made a dip with Vegenaise (vegan mayo) and lemon zest and lemon juice mixed together. The kale becomes very thin and papery. Very yum. My young cousin called them “broccoli” and couldn’t stop eating them!

Spaghetti Sauce:

For dinner, I made a simple butternut squash soup and a tomato-basil sauce with whole wheat spaghetti. The spaghetti sauce is so easy to make. I used fresh basil (a must – so sweet and delicious), 2 cloves of garlic, one can of organic diced tomatoes, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the finely chopped garlic for about 30 seconds, then add the leaves of basil. Cook quickly, pour in the tomatoes, add a splash of vinegar and heat. Very yummy, very simple.

Dessert was soy ice-cream with a drizzle of brown rice syrup. And I felt just as full and satisfied as the rest of my family after dinner!

Meet Cocoa...

My family eats meat and potatoes. Lots of meat, lots of potatoes. I grew up eating meat and potatoes…steak, bacon, lamb chops, even venison. So why the sudden change to a plant-based diet? For me personally, it wasn’t a very hard decision. When I attended art school in Oakville, every year we would go to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair to draw the animals on display. We’d spend days studying the anatomy of the cows and horses and pigs and chickens and sheep, filling pages upon pages of our sketchbooks with them. I never thought about what happened to these animals, I just drew them for my assignments. Then all the students would get together and we’d go out for dinner before heading back to the school. I’d usually order a hamburger. I never really made the connection between the beautiful animals I’d just drawn from life and the hunk of dead cow on my plate.

That was until I met Cocoa. A little less than two years ago, my parents brought home the sweetest little cocker spaniel puppy and I immediately fell in love with him. He is such a great friend. When I look into his cute little puppy dog eyes, I see the same eyes as those cows and horses and chickens and pigs and sheep from the fair, and I wonder why I eat all those animals and not my puppy. So, this past New Year’s, I made the decision to live a kinder life: to be better to the environment, to the animals and to myself. I’ve been flirting with veganism since January, working all sorts of yummy vegan foods into my diet, and then after a while slowly phasing out non-vegan foods, which brings me to this May: I’ve made a commitment to eat completely vegan for a month to see how it makes me feel. Many of my friends and family have been incredibly interested in what I’ve been doing and what I’ve been cooking, so I’ve decided to start this blog to document my journey. I’ll post some recipes, some pictures, some products I’ve learned about and for anyone who is interested, I encourage you to try some of the foods, or to try cooking with some of the vegan ingredients. For those who know me personally, send me an email if you want to know more about something I write about or if you’re interested in a recipe I haven’t posted. Bon appetit!