Recipe: Pumpkin pudding

(Painting by Bierstadt Albert)

It's not technically the fall for a few more days, but if you live in Canada (and not on the balmy west coast) then you know that the real first day of fall is September 1st. This recipe is a celebration of the beginning of fall. It's like pumpkin pie filling, minus the crust and with some extra protein thrown in.

A few of my fellow grad students at my new campus invited me to join their "lunch club". I told them that I'd love to... but I'm vegan. To my surprise and great delight, they decided that we would have a vegan lunch club! On a rotating basis each of us will prepare lunch for everybody else in the lunch club. Today was my first day being the cook for our lunch club. I brought delicious thai-inspired sweet potato burgers and this pumpkin pudding. I think they were both a hit!

Recipe: Pumpkin pudding
Serves 8

1 can of pure pumpkin puree (796 ml)
1 package of soft tofu (350 g)
1/3 cup maple syrup, or to taste
1/4 cup coconut oil
3 tbs orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1. Put the coconut oil in the microwave for a few seconds to melt it. Alternatively, you could make a hot water bath to melt the coconut oil.

2. Place all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until very smooth.

3. Serve immediately or allow to chill in the refrigerator before serving. The cooler its temperature, the thicker the pudding will be. Enjoy!

Easy recipe: Grilled refried bean sandwich

Back when I was vegetarian instead of vegan, I used to love grilled cheese sandwiches. The oily crunchiness of the fried bread and the gooey cheese just provide so much satisfaction. I liked dipping my grilled cheese in ketchup, with the contrast of the hot salty sandwich and the cool sweet ketchup. There's a grilled cheese sandwich restaurant near my new place. That's right -- a restaurant that sells only grilled cheese sandwiches. I would say that it's cruelly taunting me, except that I know a secret. Shhhh, come close and I'll whisper it to you: you can make a grilled anything sandwich. It doesn't need to be cheese. There are plenty of other things that taste just as amazing in a grilled sandwich. And plenty of other things that don't. Trust me, I've done a lot of grilled sandwich experimenting. So far, I've hit on three different grilled sandwiches that I keep coming back to. (1) Avocado, (2) peanut butter, and (3) refried beans. The last one on that list is the one I want to tell you about today.

Grilled refried bean sandwiches are every bit as good, in my opinion, as grilled cheese sandwiches. They satisfy all the same needs, emotional, nutritional, and spiritual. They feature oily crunchy bread, soft satisfying insides, and are very dipable in ketchup. They would be served in every diner worth mentioning if we lived in a world where every diner was vegan.

Recipe: Grilled refried bean sandwich
Yields 1 sandwich -- multiply recipe as needed

 2 slices of bread
1/4 cup refried beans (homemade or from a can)
1 tbs salsa
1/2 tbs margarine or butter
1/2 tbs vegenaise or mayonaise (optional)

1. Butter one side of both slices of bread.

2. On the unbuttered side of one of the slices of bread, spread the mayonaise (if using). On top of this, spread the refried beans. Finally, spread the salsa on top of the beans.

3. Close the sandwich such that both buttered sides of the bread are facing outwards.

4. Fry the sandwich lightly, about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

5. Enjoy served with ketchup or more salsa as well as a side of pickles!
 

Recipe: Salade Vincent

Here's a classic from the Turney Family Cookbook. My grandpa puts out a new addition every few years for the whole family to enjoy. A couple years ago I was touched when he produced a special vegan edition just for me: Shaun's Choice Edition. I use this cookbook more than any other cookbook in my collection. One of my favourite salads in the cookbook is Salade Vincent. It's a cucumber salad named after Vincent Van Gogh for macabre reasons -- the way the cucumbers are sliced makes them look like severed ears! Gross, but it tastes refreshing and delicious. My partner and I had a ridiculous amount of cucumbers in our fridge and I immediately knew what we should do with them. Here I've modified the recipe to better suit what I happened to have in my fridge, but I make note of how to make the original recipe.

That's a lot of cucumbers for two people!Thankfully, a triple batch of Salade Vincent used up half of them in a delicious way.

A perfect summer meal with some adorable little potatoes and a field roast veggie dog.

Ingredients:
Serves 4

1 large english cucumber
1/4 fresh chopped mint (original recipe calls for dill, not mint)
1/2 cup sprouted lentils (optional -- see this post about sprouting for instructions)
4 leaves of bib lettuce

Vinaigrette:
1/4 tsp salt
1bst Dijon mustard
2 tbsp wine vinegar
3/4 cup virgin olive oil

1. Peel the cucumber and slice it in half lengthwise. Scoop and scrape the seeds out with a spoon. Eat the seeds as you scoop them out if you're like me, or discard them if you're a normal person. Slice the halves into thin crosswise slices (the "ears").

2. Mix together the vinaigrette ingredients with a fork.

3. Assemble the salad: toss together the cucumber, sprouts, mint, and dressing. Serve on a bed of bib lettuce. Enjoy!

Cooking with Dr. Mom: Wakame cucumber salad

Here's a simple and refreshing salad from my mom:

*  *  *

Wakame is a type of seaweed that can be purchased chopped and dried in Asian grocery stores.  It resembles loose leaf green tea when dry and it increases by about 8-10 times its size after being soaked in water for 20 min.  Wakame has a very subtle flavour, slightly salty, that pairs very well with cucumber.
This salad could be turned into a vegan salad meal by adding cubed tofu and cooked, cooled transparent vermicelli noodles (mung bean noodles).

 

This is dried wakame seaweed. It can be found in many Asian grocery stores.

 Check out these before and after photos of soaking the wakame! After only 20 minutes, the wakame completely absorbs the water.

Recipe: Cucumber and wakame salad
1 large field cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup dried chopped wakame
Japanese style dressing
1/4 cup soya sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Soak the dried wakame in 3 cups cold water for 20-30 minutes.  Drain the soaked wakame to remove any excess water.  Toss together the cucumbers, red pepper and wakame.
Mix together the dressing ingredients then pour over the cucumber mixture and toss. Allow to sit for 15-30 minutes before serving.  Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Serves 6 as a side dish.

 Enjoy!

Cooking with Dr. Mom: Soba noodles with eggplant and mango

Another delicious-sounding recipe from my awesome mom.

 * * *

Yotam Ottolenghi wrote the wonderful vegetarian cookbook "Plenty".  The recipes are inspired by his time spent living in both Europe and the Middle East. He credits this recipe to his mother. He describes it as her "ultimate cook-to-impress fare" and a favorite among the readers of his Guardian recipe column.  I followed his recipe except that I broiled the eggplant instead of deep frying it as he suggests and I added mushrooms.

The recipe is best if it is made a few hours before eating to allow time for the flavors to meld. It would be a good choice for a pot luck party.

If this is to be a main course, simply add cubed fried/grilled tofu to the salad.

Soba Noodles with eggplant and mango

Dressing:

1/2 cup rice vinegar

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

1/2 tsp sirachi hot sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

grated zest and juice of one lime

1 Italian eggplant or 3-4 Asian eggplants, cut into 2cm cubes and tossed with vegetable oil

8 oz soba noodles

1 large ripe mango, cut into 1cm cubes

1 1/2 cups Thai basil leaves, julienned

2 cups cilantro leaves, chopped

1/2 sweet (vidalia) onion, very thinly sliced

1 pkg sliced mushrooms (8 oz)

roasted sesame seeds for garnish

In a small pot, heat the rice vinegar, sugar and salt over moderate heat to dissolve  the sugar in the vinegar. Remove from heat and add the rest of the dressing ingredients to the pot.  Allow to cool before tossing on the salad.

Lay the eggplant in a single layer on a foil covered cookie sheet and broil about 3 inches from the element.  Turn to cook the other side once browned and sizzling.  The eggplant should be soft, cooked through, with darkened crispy skin.

 

Fry onions in 1 tsp oil until cooked.  Cool. 

Cook the soba noodles in lots of boiling lightly salted water until cooked al dente - about 6-8 minutes.  Drain well and rinse under cold running water.  Shake the water off and allow to drip dry or lay on a clean dish towel to thoroughly dry before tossing with dressing and salad ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, toss the dressing, mango, mushrooms, eggplant, cooked cold soba noodles, half the basil and half the cilantro and the onion.  Allow to sit for 1-2 hours.  When ready to serve, add the other half of the basil and cilantro to the salad and toss well.

Serves 6.

Recipe: Easy vegan pesto

I love fresh herbs! They make any recipe taste fresh and flavourful. One of my favourite herbs is basil. Basil in bruschetta, basil in thai curry, basil with balsamic vinegar on tomatoes... basil tastes like summer! Here's a simple way to make a vegan basil pesto. I tossed this with cold pasta and vegetables for a delicious pasta salad, but it would also be good in a veggie burger, or in a sandwich, or with hot pasta, or in a potato salad.

Recipe:
Yields about 1.5 cups

-2 cups loose fresh basil leaves
-1 cup walnuts (traditionally pine nuts are used in pesto, but they're pricey and walnuts taste just as good)
-1/2 cup olive oil
-2 garlic cloves
-3 tbs nutritional yeast (optional)
-salt and pepper, to taste

Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Cooking with Dr. Mom: Spicy lemongrass tofu

I can vouch that this tofu is really really tasty. I recommend you give it a try!

*  *  *

Each time I have cooked this recipe, people have asked for the recipe - even some people who say they don't like tofu!  Leftovers are also delicious, so feel free to make more than you need. 

Note that the recipe calls for 1/4 cup of chopped lemon grass.  For convenience, I use already prepared fresh chopped lemongrass sold in tubes in the fresh produce refrigerator section of most large grocery stores. It is very handy to have in the fridge to add to any asian style recipe.  If you use fresh lemon grass for this recipe,  peel off the hard, dried outer leaves and finely mince the lemongrass soft inner core.

Spicy lemongrass tofu  (Adapted from original recipe by Mai Pham on Epicurious.com)

Marinade:

1/4 cup finely minced lemongrass 

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 - 1 tsp sirachi sauce (to desired heat level)

1/2 tsp dried chili flakes (to desired heat level)

1 tsp ground tumeric (optional - it gives a pleasant yellow colour to the cooked dish but is not vital to the flavor)

1 tbsp white sugar

1 package firm or extra firm tofu (350g), cut into ~1.5cm cubes

Stir fry:

3-4 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 medium sweet (vidalia) onion, cut into 5mm slices

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 red sweet pepper, cut into 1-2cm cubes

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped 

1/2 - 2/3 cup asian basil leaves, juliened if large

Combine the marinade ingredients in a shallow container and toss with the tofu cubes.  The marinade is quite thick.  Allow to marinate at least 30min, but it can sit for a full day (or 2!) before cooking.

Heat a heavy fry pan with 2 tbsp oil over high heat.  When the oil is very  hot, add the marinated tofu.  (If there is left over marinade in the bowl, save to add to the veggie stirfry part of this recipe.) Allow the tofu to sit in the hot oil fry pan in a single layer without moving for about 3 minutes - the idea is to let the sugar carmelize on the tofu to form a delicious crust on each cube - if the tofu is moved too much while frying then the crust doesn't develop. To prevent the tofu from burning give the fry pan a gentle shake every ~30-60 seconds.  Keep checking the bottom of the tofu cubes for crispy doneness, and then use a spatula to flip the cubes over with the goal of getting at least 2 sides of each cube cooked to crispy brown perfection. It takes about 8-10minutes to achieve this.  When the tofu is cooked lower the temp to very low and do NOT cover the fry pan - if you cover it then the crispy coating turns soggy.

In another fry pan or wok heat 1-2tbsp of oil over moderate heat.  Cook the onion and garlic until soft and fragrant,  about 3 minutes. If there was marinade left in the tofu bowl, add it to the fry pan now. Add the chopped red pepper until lightly cooked, about 2 minutes. Just before serving toss the cooked tofu cubes, peanuts and basil together with the onion pepper mixture and serve on a bed of steamed rice.

Serves 4-6 as a main course.

Recipe: Vegan Anything-Goes muffins

Here's a flexible muffin recipe that can fit whatever flavour of muffin you're craving or the ingredients you have on hand. It's based on Canadian Living's Anything-Goes Blueberry muffins recipe.  It's one of those recipes that's really really hard to mess up. My favourite version is carrot muffins because the carrots make them deliciously moist.

You can tell how often I make this by the terrible shape the paper is in!

Recipe: Vegan Anything-Goes muffins
Makes 1 dozen muffins

2 cups whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Optional: nutmeg, cardamom, orange rind, almond extract, grated ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 mashed banana
1 cup non-dairy milk (almond, soy, coconut, etc)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups anything*

*Some ideas for your "anything" (any combination of the following): chocolate chips, grated carrots, grated zucchini, chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, raisins, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, chopped dates, more banana, chopped apple

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2. Mix together the wheat, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon (plus any other dry spices) in a large bowl.

3. Mix together remaining ingredients (expect for your "anything") in a separate bowl.

4. Pour the wet ingredients slowly into the dry ingredients and mix gradually. Don't overmix; there should still be a few streaks of dry flour.

5. Fold your "anything" into the batter and separate the batter into muffin tins.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are domed and golden. Allow to cool before eating.

Enjoy!

Simple recipe: Almond and date energy balls

Here's a quick recipe that's so simple it shouldn't even be called a recipe: almond and date energy balls. It's perfect for a snack or a healthy dessert. I made them tonight because my girlfriend has night shifts this week and I thought it would be good for keeping her energized through the night. It has fruit sugars from the dates for an immediate fix of energy as well as almonds to give some longer-lasting energy. It also has cocoa to give these energy balls a delicious fudgy taste, reminiscent of brownies. They aren't the most attractive-looking snacks (my dad, who introduced me to this recipe, likes to call them "poo balls"), but I've tried to make them a little prettier by rolling them in shredded coconut.

Recipe:
2 cups dates
2 cups raw almonds
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1-2 tbs peanut butter, if required

1. Place the dates, almonds, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract in the blender. Blend until smooth. Depending on the strength of your blender, this may take a couple minutes.

2. Try to roll a bit of the mixture into a ball. If it doesn't stick together add a bit of peanut butter and blend it again until the mixture becomes just sticky enough to roll into balls. 

3. Roll the mixture into balls. They can be any size you like, but I like mine about the size of a timbit (a "doughnut hole", for any non-Canadians). Roll the balls in the shredded coconut.

Enjoy!

Cooking with Dr. Mom: Vegan Mofongo (Puerto Rican mashed plantains)

Another installment of Cooking with Dr. Mom!

***

I had not heard of Mofongo before Shaun's trip to Puerto Rico but wanted to try it after hearing how much he enjoyed it.  I made a few tweaks to a recipe for a low fat vegan version of Mofongo by Eddie McNamara that I found on the website Tossyourownsalad.tumblr.com.  This was different and delicious.  Unfortunately the photo does not do the dish justice.  Perhaps a few sprigs of parsley garnish would make a prettier presentation.

Plantains are now easy to find in the local grocery store. Typically stored beside the bananas. For this recipe you want to use ripe plantains ( the skin should be completely black). If you can't find smoked tofu then I suggest substituting plain firm tofu and using smoked paprika in the recipe.

The garlic and plantains roasting in the oven

This is one brand of smoked tofu which we like.

Mmmm... roasted smoked tofu with paprika.

Vegan Puerto Rican Mofongo
3-4 ripe plantains.  Peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 package smoke firm tofu (8 oz)
1 tsp chili powder (or to suit your "heat" preference)
2 tsp paprika
3 limes
2 tbsp sweet onion, finely chopped
2-3 tomatoes diced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F

Toss the plantain chunks and whole garlic cloves with 1 tbsp olive oil.  Spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 15-20min then flip the garlic and plantain over to brown the other side. Bake for another 15-20 min until the plantain is nicely browned and caramelized on both sides and the inside is soft.

While the plantain is roasting, cut the tofu into 1/2" cubes.  Toss with chili powder and paprika then fry in nonstick fry pan in 1 tbsp oil until all the sides are crispy and browned, about 15min.

Make the salsa by juicing 2 limes and tossing with diced tomatoes, onion and cilantro.

When the plantains and tofu are cooked, put the roasted garlic in the food processor with the juise of 1 lime and pulse until completely puréed.  Add the roasted plantain and pulse until just mashed (about 3 sec). Toss in half the tofu cubes and pulse until just incorporated into the mashed plantain.  The goal is to have a plantain mash that still has some soft chunks of plantain and small chunks of crispy tofu scattered through the textured mash.

Place a large mound of plantain mash on a plate with a generous serving of fresh salsa and a spoonful of the fried tofu cubes on the side.  Garnish with a lime wedge.

Delicious served with beer!

Recipe: Simple Soba

Lately I've been spending most of my free time packing so it's distracted me from this blog. Today I cooked a really simple and delicious meal and I knew I had to post it here. It's cool for the hot summer days (it's finally officially summer!) and it's very healthy. And it's a simple recipe, which is good since most of my kitchen things are packed already! Get ready to see a new kitchen in the background of my photos of food, because I'm moving in only one week.

This recipe involves soba noodles, also known as buckwheat noodles. You may or may not be able to find them in your local grocery store, but if not they can be found in almost any Asian supermarket. If you want you could sub out soba noodles for spaghetti noodles, but I urge you not too. Then you'd be missing out on the tastiness and healthiness of this delicious Japanese noodle. Soba noodles are high in protein, fibre, and manganese. They don't contain gluten so they're a perfect noodle option for people who can't eat gluten.

Soba noodles aren't just healthy, they're delicious. Like, really delicious. About four years ago I went through a period of time where I was obsessed with soba noodles. I ate them twice a week, at least. I ate them for lunch and dinner, sometimes on the same day. I ate them so much that after about a year I became tired of them. For four years I didn't eat any soba noodles. A couple weeks ago I saw them on the shelf in a grocery store and decided to buy them. One large and delicious bowl later and I'm hooked again. I just need to remember to pace myself this time!

Feel free to experiment with your toppings! 

Delicious soba noodles!

Recipe: Simple Soba
Serves 4

-4 servings of soba noodles (The same amount as what you would cook for 4 servings of spaghetti. One good rule of thumb is that a bundle with the diameter of a quarter is about one serving.)
-1 avocado, cubed
-1 cup soft tofu, cubed
-2 green onions, sliced
-1 large carrot, grated
-4 tbs toasted sesame seeds

Sauce:
-1/4 cup soy sauce
-2 tbs of sugar, or to taste
-1 tsp sesame oil
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 tsp ginger, minced
-Juice of 2 limes

1. Boil water. Once the water is boiling, add the soba noodles. Allow the noodles to cook until al dente, about ten minutes. Drain the noodles and rinse them in cold water.

2. Whisk together all the sauce ingredients. Add more sugar if desired, depending how sweet you want the sauce to be. Traditionally, cold soba noodles are dipped into sauce with chopsticks. You can do this if you want, but I just mixed the sauce in with the noodles.

3. Serve the noodles in individual bowls topped with avocado, soft tofu, green onions, grated carrots, and toasted sesame seeds. Feel free to omit or add other toppings such as cucumber, edamame, fried mushrooms, or seaweed.

Product review: Yoso non-dairy yogurt

There's a new health food store which opened up near our place and my roommate, Sam, and I decided to poke around the other day and see what they have. There were a lot of interesting products I hadn't seen before, but the one that most caught my eye was the non-dairy, non-soy yogurts by Yoso. I like dairy yogurt and I've tried soy yogurt as a substitute, but I've always been disappointed. All the soy yogurts I've tried have a strong soy taste which I find off-putting. I bought two Yoso yogurts: one coconut milk yogurt and one almond-cashew yogurt. They are both organic, vegan, and cultured with non-dairy bacteria. I really enjoyed both of them, especially the coconut milk yogurt. They both are high-calcium, high fiber, and the almond-cashew yogurt is high protein. They both have very smooth textures, especially the coconut, and a yogurty taste from the fermentation. If you don't eat dairy or want to switch up your yogurt routine, I recommend you give Yoso a try.

Protein myths

Meat! A protein-rich food, but not the only one. By painter Pieter Aertsen.

Based on my experience of being vegan for many years, it seems that the major concern of fretful family members, curious acquaintances, and friends considering veganism is that veganism does not supply enough protein. Please allow me break down some myths about veganism and protein. 

First, a brief disclaimer. This isn’t me trying to convert anyone to veganism.  I believe that the best way to convince anyone to be vegan is to be a good example and to share my recipes and food. Most people just close their ears if they feel preached to or judged. And I certainly don’t think veganism is for everyone; it depends on your body and your circumstances. My intent in this post is to share what I’ve learned about protein, because it’s surprisingly different from popular knowledge about protein. 

1. You need a lot of protein to be healthy.

Certainly you do need protein to be healthy. You may be surprised, however, by how much protein is enough. For adults and teenagers, about 50 grams of protein is what most health organisations recommend. How much is 50 grams of protein? Well, a cup of yoghurt or a glass of milk has about 10 grams of protein, and a small serving of meat has about 20 grams of protein. So if you have yoghurt or milk with breakfast, plus meat with lunch and dinner, and then you add in the protein that you’re getting from all the other things in your diet, you’re almost certainly getting way too much protein.

 Amount of protein recommended by the CDC

2. Meat is the only food that is high in protein.  

Wait a second, protein from the other things in your diet? Not from dairy products or meat? Many people are surprised to learn that most things we eat have at least a bit of protein. For instance, a banana has about 2 grams of protein. And a lot of things we don’t even think of as good protein sources also have a lot of protein. For instance, 100 grams of dry pasta has 13 grams of protein. Then of course there are the staples of the vegetarian diet that omnivores perplexingly refer to as “meat alternatives”. Soy is a great source of protein, with tofu, for example, having about the same protein density as meat (20 grams per serving). For those who don’t like soy, there are nuts, beans, peas, quinoa, or seeds.

Tofu is a great source of vegan protein, but it's far from the only one!

To give an example, here’s a day of food which may seem to our meat-centric culture to be deficient in protein, but is actually perfectly fine. The grams of protein are given in brackets.

Breakfast: Orange juice (1.7), banana (2), cheerios (3) with half a cup of milk (4)

Lunch: Peanut butter (8) and jam sandwich (two slices of bread = 16), apple (0.5)

Dinner: Pasta (13) with tomato sauce (3), salad (1)

Total protein: 52.2 grams

3. The more protein the better.

It’s clear from the examples above that to get the recommended amount of protein you don’t need to eat meat or dairy. But if some protein is good for you, maybe a lot is even better? This seems to be the logic of the Atkins diet. If you eat too much protein it’s true that you’ll just pee it out. So maybe you should eat too much protein just to be sure you’re getting enough, and then pee the extra out. Unfortunately, there may be health risks involved in consuming excess protein. There is evidence that your body will increase its excretion of calcium with that protein, which could be damaging to your bones. Excess protein also increases your likelihood of forming kidney stones by 250%. Like all good things, protein is best in moderation.  

4. Your proteins need to be “complete”.

This is a myth that I’d like to address in more detail in a future post, but let me just say here that the concept of “complete proteins” is a little out-dated. To quote the CDC, “In the past, it was thought that these complementary proteins needed to be eaten at the same meal for your body to use them together. Now studies show that your body can combine complementary proteins that are eaten within the same day.”

5. If you lead a lifestyle that requires high protein, such as being an athlete, you can’t be vegan.

Although your average person needs about 50 grams of protein per day, some people, such as athletes, need more protein at certain points in their lives. For instance, when I was preparing for and recovering from surgery I increased my (vegan) protein intake to help my body heal faster. It’s actually pretty trendy for athletes to be vegan, and there are plenty of examples of successful athletes who are vegan. Check out this athlete’s blog. One easy way to boost your protein as a vegan is to drink vegan protein shakes. Another is to snack regularly on nuts. Perhaps the most obvious way is to make sure there are protein-rich elements in every meal (ex, tofu, beans, quinoa). 

Basketball player Montell Owens is vegan

Recipe: Russian beet salad

Nothing beats a beet! I love the sweet taste and most especially the bright purple colour of beets. This potato and beet salad recipe was taught to me by a Russian friend. My only changes are using apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar and adding fresh mint. My friend told me that adding a handful of sweet peas is also a nice addition, but I haven't tried it myself. Unlike the heavy mayonaise-drenched salads featured at many a summer barbecue, this salad has a delightful mix of sweet and salty and won't spoil quickly in the sun. I love the contrasting colours of the red-purple beets and the green apples. I wonder what this would taste like with sweet potatoes.

Look at that beautiful colour!

Make sure to dice the onion nice and small.

Recipe: Russian beet salad
Serves: 6

Ingredients:
-3 medium-sized beets, in 3 cm cubes
-4 medium-sized potatoes, in 3 cm cubes
-1 green apple, in 2 cm cubes
-1/4 cup white or yellow onion, diced very finely
-1/4 cup sliced gherkin pickles
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
-salt and pepper to taste
-a handful of fresh mint (optional)

1. Boil the beets for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until tender. Add the potatoes to the boiling water about 25 minutes after the beets have been added. The beets and potatoes should both be tender at about the same time because the beets take longer to cook.

2. While to potatoes and beets are boiling, prepare the apple, onion, and pickles.

3. Once the potatoes and beets are tender, drain them. Add all the ingredients except the optional mint into a bowl and mix them together. If you wish, mashing some of the potatoes a little bit with a fork may improve the texture of the salad. You might be worried that the onion will be too strong, but the hot beets and potatoes cook the onion a little when you mix everything together, so it ends up not being too strong.

4. Allow the salad to cool in the fridge. The salad is best if it's left overnight, but it should be good after cooling for at least an hour.

5. Before serving, optionally add some fresh mint.

Enjoy! It's even better a day or two later.

Puerto Rico

Drinking basil lemonade (!) in a pescatarian restaurant called Verde Mesa in Old San Juan

It's been nearly two-week hiatus from this blog because I was travelling in Puerto Rico with my partner, Julie! We had a really wonderful time. We stayed in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, for most of the time. It's a great travel destination because it has both cultural and outdoors things to do, as well as being affordable. We saw old Spanish forts, walked through rainforests, visited museums, swam at beautiful beaches, and met kind people. Most importantly, at least in the context of this blog, we ate delicious food and drank delicious drinks. I think you would have to be doing something very wrong if you went to Puerto Rico and didn't eat delicious food.

Traditional Puerto Rican cuisine involves ingredients like rice and beans, plantains, fish, pork, yucca, bread fruit, and bananas. We had many excellent meals which involved one or more of those elements. One excellent dish we tried, called mofongo, is unique to Puerto Rico. Mofongo is made by frying green plantain and then mashing it with a wooden mortar and pestle with garlic, broth, salt, and other ingredients. The mash, which is like thick mashed potatoes in consistency, is then shaped into a ball or bowl, and then optionally a meat or vegetable stew can be poured over the mofongo.

Wikipedia has an informative article about the traditional Puerto Rican dish, mofongo.

This post is basically a reminder to myself that I'd like to try making my own vegan mofongo in the near future. If you'd like to try making your own mofongo, here are a few recipes that might work. Vegetable broth should be fine as a substitute for meat broth.

-This recipe has pork, but it seems like it could easily be omitted.
-This recipe explains that Dominicans also enjoy mofongo.
-A step-by-step guide with photos.

If you want to serve your mofongo with stew, here are some vegetarian Caribbean stew recipes, none of which I've tried.

-Puerto Rican stewed beans
 -Vegetarian sancocho (root vegetable stew, usually includes beef or chicken)
-Dominican stewed cabbage
-Puerto Rican-inspired stewed stewed tofu

Please let me know if you try any of these and how it turned out!

Link: Big Hummus wants the government to regulate your hummus

My dad shared this article on facebook and I thought it was pretty amusing. Apparently the company Sabra Hummus wants to regulate what is defined as "hummus". They propose that hummus should be legally defined as a food made mostly of chickpeas and tahini (sesame butter), with tahini making up at least 5% of the hummus by weight. They are outraged by hummus impostures who sell "hummus" made of lentils or edamame (soy beans) or who don't include tahini as an ingredient. I'm not sure that I'm such a hummus purist as Sabra. I don't mind creative twists on classic hummus; I think they can often be tasty. What do you think? Are you a hummus conservative or a hummus liberal? Is it false advertisment/cultural appropriation to call, say, lentil "hummus", hummus?

Advertising by the hummus orthodoxy 

Guest recipe: Radish leaf soup

I'm impressed by the number of guest recipes I've been receiving! They all look super delicious and I plan to try all of them myself in the near future. The latest guest recipe comes from my friend, Ronan, who worked in my lab last year as a post-doc. He's an awesome guy who lives in France with his wife and adorable baby. He recommends this recipe as a delicious way of not wasting radish leaves. Frankly, I didn't even know that radish leaves are edible. I look forward to trying them!

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Hi Shaun! Congratulations for your blog. So, I promised a recipe... And here it is! You probably know that kind of stuff, but I discovered it yesterday. I grew radishes in my garden, and I had to remove half of them to allow the other ones to get bigger. So instead of wasting them, I made a soup (a “velouté” in French) with the leaves. Honestly I wasn't expecting much about it, but in the end it was really good. At least for french taste, I hope you'll have time to try it and like it ^^

Ingredients:

-200 grams of radish leaves

-2 medium-sized potatoes, cubed

-1 leek, white part only, chopped

-1L water + bouillon cube or vegetable broth

-1/4 cup dairy or cashew cream

-salt and pepper

-3 tbs olive oil or butter

 Wash the leaves and dry them

Cut 2 potatoes and a leek (only white part) in small pieces

Saute the leaves, potatoes and leek in olive oil/butter for around 3 minutes. Add pepper.

Add 1L of water with one bouillon cube (or vegetable broth)

Warm it up until boiling, then cover, lower the heat and let it boil gently for 20min.

Blend the soup until it becomes uniform.

Add a big spoon of cream!

Check the salt/pepper. My wife and I really enjoyed it, and if you never tried, I hope you will like it. Enjoy!!

 

Ronan didn't get a chance to take a picture of the final product, but he said that it looked like this. (Image from here)