Almost-vegan Thanksgiving dinner

Dinner
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

As loyal readers know, it’s been discovered that the milk protein makes me really sick. So now I am on a restricted diet in which I can’t have any milk products including butter, cream and cheese. Thanksgiving is a difficult time since almost everything involves a ton of butter. We decided I would cook Thanksgiving dinner for us. I made a delicious vegan carrot soup with a hint of ginger and curry.
This is one of the most delicious soups I ever made.
First I chopped onion and garlic and fried it in olive oil, then I added the carrots and potatoes.Then I added two cups of vegetable bouillon, salt and pepper, one teaspoon curry powder and half a cup of chopped fresh ginger. I let it boil for about 30 minutes and then I pureed it in the blender. It was so delicious.
I also made an applesauce cranberry Jello (that’s the only non-vegan thing in the whole menu). I made my own applesauce, with no sugar added.
As a main dish I made baked butternut squash in cashew sauce. It was more difficult than I thought to chop the squash (it was really really difficult). It took about 45 minutes in the oven to be ready.

And as a side I made a “stuffing” with fried onions, garlic and celery and bread crumbs. I baked it for 20 minutes as a roast.
Our vegetarian almost vegan Thanksgiving menu was delicious, but it took so long to make that when I asked James what he was thankful for all he could come up with was “I am thankful that dinner is finally ready”. Hah!

The best burrito in Toronto

Tim from BlogTo has been posting reviews in his “search” for the best burrito place in town. He has posted reviews for Mexitaco, Burro Burrito (formerly bar burrito) and Burrito Fresh. I just left a comment on his Burrito Fresh Review, but the comment did not publish. It says it needs approval from the author. This is not the first time something like this happens with BlogTo comments, so I decided I’ll just post my comment here:

You know what, you should just ask me about the best burrito place in town.
I made a review of this place back in February: New burrito place in town
I also made a review of Big Fat Burrito a year ago: Big Fat Burrito
And I have been talking about Burrito Boyz for ages:
Burrito Boyz continues to be amazing
The Burrito Boyz
News from Burrito Boyz
Burrito Boyz Alert
Vegetarian Burritos
Also, Burrito Boyz do not charge extra for the guacamole anymore. And since I started having the dairy restriction, they’ve been really accommodating and actually given me “vegan” guacamole, which does not include sour cream, as it should be, actually.
A short review of La Mexicana
Plus being Mexican doesn’t hurt either.
I have lots of food reviews and recipes. And, of course, the world famous chicken wing reviews.

So what do you think, my dear readers?

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New and improved guacamole

Both my mom and my brother thought my asparagus soup was yucky, disgusting and eew. Well, I dare them to come up with good recipes that do not involve any dairy. There you go, not that easy, eh?
Well, I decided to invent a new recipe. It all started about a year ago when I published my “much awaited” recipe for guacamole. Well, today I decided to improve that recipe.
Basically, even if it is really authentic, cleaning the cilantro is a drag. I hate it. And the bunches they sell the cilantro in are usually too much for what I need. I end up keeping half of it in the fridge for about a week and then having to throw it out, since I don’t eat it that much. A few weeks ago I came up with a new and improved recipe.

Ingredients:
Half a white onion
5 jalapenos
1 habanero pepper
The juice of one lime
One medium ripe avocado
Salt and pepper to taste.

Chop the chilies and onion in the food processor (the habanero pepper is to give it some spicyness, but you can skip it if you want it mild).
Mash the avocado and squeeze the juice of one lime over it. Mix with the onion/peppers mixture.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Super easy and super tasty fresh guacamole.

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Yes I’m on a diet

And it’s not a weight-loss diet. It means I have to watch everything I eat and do not eat any dairy at all. Nothing. Nothing that may have any butter added, any milk, any cheese or cream. And I have to be specifically careful about whey and any lactic ingredients. I started in the beginning of May, after visiting a gastro-enterologist. I also have a new medication that I have to take every morning to supplement for my lack of gallbladder. I can confidently say I haven’t been sick since May. You heard it right, no IBS. It is unbelievable, and it is all a combination of the diet and the medication.

It is extremely difficult to find food that does not contain any dairy, I have to read ingredients all the time and it’s been so frustrating to find so many dairy ingredients in regular foods that I used to eat normally. So I have been eating more and more vegetarian stir-fries and veggies cooked at home.

This week I made an asparagus and basil soup, because I was looking at the Knorr soups and of course they have butter and milk ingredients, so I decided to make it myself taking advantage of the delicious Ontario asparagus that you can get all around town at this time of year.

I boiled the asparagus until tender.

Washed the fresh basil and chopped the cooked asparagus and fresh basil in the food processor, with a bit of vegetable buillon.

I used more vegetable buillon to give it a soupy consistency. Seasoned with salt and pepper and let it boil for about 6 minutes.

The soup was super-delicious. I ate the whole thing in one sitting!

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Grilled cherry tomatoes with basil

This weekend the weather was perfect for some grilling. I stopped at St. Lawrence Market and was glad to see that the pint of cherry tomatoes was on sale. I got two pints and some fresh basil.
I cut the cherry tomatoes in half, and cleaned the basil. I arranged everything on a foil wrap and seasoned with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and seasalt.

I grilled them for about 20 minutes.

Easy, fast and delicious.

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Roasted garlic and parsley potatoes

Now that spring is here, the Farmers’ Market on the North side of St. Lawrence Market is filling up with better and better delicious goodness. On Saturday I went and bought a lot of veggies. Among the things I bought were potatoes and garlic.
Since I was going to grill some other veggies, I decided to make my special roasted potatoes with garlic and parsley.

Ingredients:
One pint baby potatoes, halved
3 teaspoons olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
Sea salt
Parsley flakes

Prepare a “pocket” with foil and place the halved baby potatoes and the slivered/sliced garlic.
Spread it with the olive oil, sea salt and dehydrated parsley flakes.

Fold the “pocket” and bring it to the barbecue. Grill on high heat for about 20 minutes.
It’s that easy. The potatoes were crunchy and garlicky and oily and delicious!

And remember my dear readers, eating local, is healthier and uses less fuel. Help your local farmers, it is always good to know the person who is growing your food.

[Crossposted on Garlicster]
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Been swamped

I know, I know, I haven’t updated the blog in almost a week. I am so sorry my dear readers, I have been really busy with deadlines and stuff.
Also, during the weekend James moved to his new apartment, and we were busy packing/unpacking/moving him. But he’s all installed on Queen West now.
On Sunday Amy had a potluck and I made a delicious broccoli-cauliflower casserole. But I didn’t have time to take pictures. Maybe I’ll make it again and post the recipe. I made it up, after all (my diet has been broccoli-intensive lately since that healthy cooking class I took a few weeks ago; broccoli apparently is really healthy, as are blueberries, but I hate them, so more broccoli for me).

Yesterday I had to frog 65% of the work I had done on the last sleeve in the organic wool cabled cardigan; I had made a mistake on the first cable pattern, and I had already knitted 5 more patterns. It was sad, really sad. It is the last sleeve, but it looks like I’m never going to finish that cardigan. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

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Another recipe I invented

I didn’t know what to have for dinner last night, so I stopped at Dominion (at Front and Church) to find something healthy and delicious.
I came up with a new recipe, it’s a vegetable creamy sauce. I used it over pasta, but I am sure it can be used over chicken breasts or brown rice.
Start with fresh ingredients:
1 broccoli
1 red pepper
1/2 an onion
3 tbsp re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes
1 8 oz pack of cremini mushrooms
2 chipotle chilies (for that spicy kick)
Olive oil
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of sour cream
Salt and pepper
1 can Campbell’s cream of mushroom and onion soup

Sautee the broccoli, sliced red pepper and onion in the olive oil.

When broccoli is bright green, add the sliced mushrooms and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Cook for a little bit, until or veggies are done, but not soggy. Meanwhile, whisk the contents of the can of soup and 3/4 cup of water, to make it more liquid.

Add the soup and water mixture, and the 2 chipotle chilies.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 3 minutes. Add the sour cream and mix it. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over freshly cooked pasta (or brown rice, or chicken, or wherever you want it, you can even eat it by itself, as a casserole). I used elbow maccaroni.

It was super delicious.

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Apple-Pear-Spinach sautee with garlic

This recipe works out wonderfully for a vegetarian diet, to make it vegan, substitute the butter for margarine.
Ingredients:
Two apples,
two pears,
one head of garlic,
one packet of dry roasted peanuts,
the juice of one lemon,
one tablespoon of butter,
two packages of spinach.

Melt the butter and add the pressed garlic until lightly browned.

Add the chopped apples and saute until tender, then add the chopped pears and the peanuts and keep sauteing. Be careful because pears are softer than apples and you don’t want them to get to be mushy.

Add the spinach and saute until wilted.

Finally sprinkle the juice of half a lemon.

Serve over cooked wild rice.

This is a lot like the “bowls” from Fresh on Bloor and on Spadina, but with the advantage that it is homemade. Very nutritious and delicious.

Cross-posted on Garlicster.
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Question

Should I get a pressure cooker?

I don’t know, does it have much use? other than cooking beans faster?

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