Tofu Bean Burgers, BBQ Pinto Beans, Raw Slaw, Spicy Chocolate Cupcakes

Stayin' in for "Carmegeddon" weekend and to prepare for it, I made an array of comforting foods to enjoy.


These tofu-bean burgers are the best. I try not to eat too many frozen veggie burgers so homemade is the way to go. Recipe here. I topped them with grilled onions and a homemade thousand island sauce.


This came to be when I noticed way too many cans of plain pinto beans in my pantry. I flipped through my "366 delicious ways to cook rice, beans and grains" book and saw a recipe for Slow Cooked Spicy Barbecue Pinto Beans. I loosely followed the recipe in which I mixed tomato sauce, brown sugar, chili powder, onions and garlic with the beans and let them slow cook in the oven.


Beautiful 'Raw Slaw' from the "Urban Vegan" cookbook. Since all the other dishes are kind of hearty and rich, I wanted a lighter coleslaw with an oil and vinegar based dressing. This one is perfect.


And dessert is always something I like to have on the weekends. This is the Mexican chocolate cake recipe with shop bought chocolate fudge frosting (I think it's Pillsbury).

Xmas 2010.

Hey! Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend. I spent xmas eve with my parents, brother and husband. I made a nice xmas dinner and afterwards we opened presents, drank mulled wine and played board games. Had a great time!


This was dinner. Up front and going clockwise: dijon glazed carrots, VegNews mac n cheez, boiled green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Bryanna's vegan brown gravy (I added olive oil to make it not fat-free), and roasted green beans.


Lots of carbs but oh so good!


On xmas day, Marc and I went over to our friends Hope and Gary's house for dinner. I brought over my famous spinach artichoke dip.


Hope and I baked! These are unadorned gingerbread and vanilla cupcakes from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World'. All dessert pics were taken by Hope with her giant digital camera. Those are her adorable teapots behind.


Gingerbread with lemony "cream cheez" frosting. These were amazing!


All festive and christmas-y.


What!???!! Cutest cupcake in the world! This is the tiramisu cupcake. Oh heaven...


These were my favorite. I haven't had tiramisu in over four years. This was absolute vegan perfection.


And more pics of cute cupcakes...


And last but not least, espresso oatmeal chip cookies. The espresso flavor in this is wow! Recipe from 'Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar'.

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

I'm going to visit my 5 month pregnant cousin and her family today and I made these cupcakes for them. They are mexican chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. They are a basic chocolate cake with a hint of spicy cinnamon and cayenne. Hope they like them!


All ready to go in a makeshift cupcake travel box.

Dee Da Doo Day...

I'm bored. I know I should be getting to bed early (have to wake up at 6am for jury duty tomorrow!) but I don't feel sleepy. I've been going through old food pictures I took before I started this blog. Some of the yummy dishes I made I almost forgot about! I'd like to share them here with you.


This is Eggplant and Chickpea Kibbeh that I got from a book called "Vegan Planet". This was really good. It has bulgur, tomatoes, eggplant and chickpeas of course. I made a lemony garlic sauce to go with it along with roasted asparagus and boiled potatoes. i have to make this again soon.


Pineapple Tofu. So so awesome. I like to fry up tofu cubes after dipping them in cornstarch and then drowning them in a pineapple sauce. The recipe for the sauce is here.


Oven Herb Roasted Tomato Pasta. Now this looks very plain and almost boring but wow, does it taste good. The recipe is from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen".


How did I forget about these Grilled Yuca Tortillas??? Recipe is from Veganomicon. These are so gorgeous. It's mashed up yuca with lime, jalapenos and corn. I've made this a few times with fresh guacamole.


Cashew Coconut Curry Casserole. Wow, I remember this. It was soo rich and so delicious. Recipe is here. It's one of those throw in a baking dish and bake kind of recipes.


Szechuan Noodles. Easy and cheap and yummy. Recipe here.


Sexy Lowfat Vanilla Cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World". This book rocks.

Ok now, off to bed. Good night!

VeganMoFo: Happy Halloween!

How great was this month? I think I was able to put in an entry everyday except for maybe two. I've enjoyed blogging constantly and all this food has made me happy. I think I've gained a bit of weight! I'm ending the Vegan Month Of Food of 2008 with a Halloween treat naturally. The idea for these vampire cupcakes have been circling the internet for quite some time. I used kittee's vanilla cupcake recipe, vegan vanilla buttercream frosting and cherry pie filling and red food colouring for the blood. Don't they look grand? I'll be taking them to a Halloween party tonight. We will be dressed as pirates. Couldn't afford brand new costumes so we pulled out our renaissance faire costumes that have always come in handy. I love dressing up as a wenchy pirate.
If only I could do it everyday...

Thai Green Curry & Bonus birthday cupcakes.

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I LOVE curries. I'm from a Thai background so we like our curry. This one in particular. It's a spicy green curry made from green curry paste and creamy coconut milk. You can find these tinned curry pastes at asian groceries. They come in many different flavors: red, green, masaman, karee, etc...
When you buy these, make sure they don't contain shrimp or fish paste. Some of them do so you have to be careful. Here is the one I used by Maesri brand.






You must eat this curry with hot jasmine rice!

Thai Green Curry with Veggies and Tofu

2 TB canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 TB green curry paste (this is spicy so use as little or much as you like - store the leftover paste in a little ziploc bag in the freezer)
2 cans coconut milk
2 cups broccoli florets
1 small red pepper, diced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 package extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed
2 TB soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
juice of one large lime


Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add onions, garlic and ginger. Saute for a while until onions are browned and a bit soft. Add potatoes, carrots and green curry paste. Stir around to coat, then add coconut milk and stir. Bring to a boil. Add broccoli, red pepper and zucchini. Add soy sauce, sugar and lime juice. Lower heat to medium low. Add tofu cubes. Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or so or until potatoes are thoroughly cooked. Serve over hot rice.

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Yesterday's post got me inspired to make Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes. These are for my friends for their birthday celebration tonight. I frosted them with vanilla buttercream and dusted them with cocoa powder.

Corn-Oat Waffles + Bonus party cupcakes

My father in law is visiting from Montreal for a few weeks and he's a diabetic so I thought I'd keep the Country Life Veg cookbook close by as all the recipes are healthy, low fat and sugar free. These breakfast waffles are made entirely out of oats, cornmeal, water, a bit of oil and a tiny amount of agave syrup. They came out really nice! They are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside with a light corn flavor. I imagine a little cinnamon added to the batter would have been amazing. Never had a non-flour based waffle before and I think I will make these more often. It's like having a bowl of oatmeal in waffle form.




My father in law's waffles overflowing with sugar free pancake syrup.


Mine with lots of buttery Earth Balance!

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Aren't these just screaming "birthday cake"? Tomorrow is a big party for several birthdays in our family so I made these festive cupcakes for them. It's the Dulce Sin Leche recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and the fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting.