White chocolate peanut butter cookies & cookie buttercreme.

I don't like "real" chocolate. Caffeine in general is pretty shitty to me so I stay far, far away. White chocolate, though, well.. That stuff's pretty nice. I can't find vegan white chocolate chips from anywhere in my city so I do some pretty slick trades with my faraway vegan pals. Oppenheimer has been treating me well. VeganSweets have been awful nice to me also. At the end of the day, I judge which packaging is sillier and that's my favourite. A quick word on white chocolate peanut butter? Holy shit. Peanut Butter & Co is mighty fine. I stocked up hard enough at the Supertargets in America, for $3 a jar, I can live with that. Biscoff's cookie butter was about the same price, and I've never tried it until AFTER I bought something like 6 jars of it, brought it home, and crossed my fingers it wouldn't suck. For once, luck was on my side, and it did not suck. 

Make these cookies and turn'um into sandwiches with the cookie buttercreme. You'll get 20 cookies out of these. The buttercreme makes for about 2 1/2 cups or so.

Cookies

Ingredients I

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 heaping tsp No-Egg (dry egg replacer for 1 egg)

Ingredients II

5 tbsp coconut almond milk

3/4 cup white chocolate peanut butter

1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened

Vanilla bean paste

Caramel extract

Optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips, nuts, or fruit. 

Whisk together Ingredients I in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix (by hand or an electric mixer) Ingredients II. Add your wet ingredients into your dry and mix by hand until incorporated. Throw in your 1/2 cup of optional ingredients.

Line two cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drop a heaping tablespoon of dough and flatten with a fork. Leave a few inches apart from one another (I fit 10 to a sheet).

Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, let sit on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to your cooling wrack.

Cookie Buttercreme

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup vegan butter, softened

2 tbsp vegetable shortening

1/3 cup cookie butter

Vanilla bean paste

2 tbsp+ coconut almond milk

In a large bowl, cream together butter and shortening, for 2 minutes. Add in cookie butter & vanilla and mix for 2 more minutes. Add in remaining ingredients and mix on high speed for 3-4 minutes. Throw in more icing sugar or milk if your consistency isn't fluffy enough, or becomes too dry.

Pop into the refrigerator while your cookies cool.

Once your cookies are fully cooled, make some sandwiches out of them, will you? A few tablespoons of filling per sandwich will do just fine.

Sweet red curry, coconut basmati, & roasted squash.

Everything here tastes deadly together, you'll just have to trust me. The nutty red curry sauce runs thin, because that's my favourite, but you can certainly thicken it up at the end with a powdered starch or by cooking potatoes into the sauce and letting it simmer. Serve with roasted acorn squash and jasmine-scented basmati rice with toasted slivered almonds. Altogether this takes about 30 minutes and serves four.

Roasted squash
Quarter up 1 acorn squash, peel, and chop up. Place on a pan with parchment paper. Drizzle with oil and bake at 450F for 20 minutes. Ten minutes in, give'um a flip.

Rice
I used jasmine-scented basmati rice. The ratio for this is 2 1/2 cups water to 1 cup rice. Once your water is boiling, add in 1 tbsp coconut oil, then add in your rice. This'll take about 20 minutes, which works out okay as you're to get your 1/2 cup slivered almonds all toasty-like in a pan (over medium/medium-high) and cooled. This takes under five minutes, but get started on it ASAP. Once your almonds are toasted and cooled, stir into your fully-cooked rice.

Curry sauce
2 tsp coconut oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 sweet yellow onion
Red curry paste*
1/3 cup nut butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 can premium coconut milk
Vegetables of choice -- I used broccoli, baby corn, and bamboo shoots

Start by melting your coconut oil in a large pan or wok on medium-high heat. Add in your garlic and onions. Next, stir in your curry paste, nut butter and brown sugar.

*I used Cock brand red curry paste. A big ole tub of this runs for $2 from Superstore. It's a bit hot, be mindful of how much curry paste you'll be using here. I used 3 tablespoons because I'm tough as nails. (If it gets to be a bit hot, adding in some lime juice, nut butter, or brown sugar will take care of that)

Add in your vegetables and coconut milk. Simmer on low for 5-10 minutes.

(xvx) Fruitcake.

My rad German grandma makes a mean fruitcake. It's chocked full of rum, eggs and milk. Rums, eggs and milk make my top 10 list of things disliked by yours truly. Close runner-ups include North Dakota as a whole, Guy Fieri, raisins, and terry cloth attire. Luckily, none of this is included in my fruitcake. I made the recipe up on the fly after scoping out the general ingredient ratio in all the boozey recipes. Ian MacKaye would be mildly impressed, certainly.

This is a 4-part recipe, which may seem a little terrifying - but in actuality, it's easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Ingredients I
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled

Ingredients II
1/2 cup Medjool dates, chopped
1/2 cup glace cherries, chopped - I used obnoxious red, snot green is also an option
1/2 cup Calimyrna figs, chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup dried candied citrus peel, chopped
1 cup nuts -- I used pecans, walnuts, and slivered almonds

Ingredients III
2 tbsp maple syrup or agave
1 cup almond milk
Vanilla -- I used 1 tbsp vanilla paste

Ingredients IV
2 1/4 cups white flour
2 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
2 "eggs" -- I used No Egg*
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 325F. Grease up a large bundt pan, 8x mini loaf pan, 1x 9" springform, or 2x 5" loaf pans.

Combine Ingredients I and let sit for 15+ minutes. In a large bowl, mix together all of Ingredients II and pour 1/2 cup of your pineapple-ginger mix in. Cover and let sit for an hour. This'll soften up everything and get it tasting real nice. Give it a mix half an hour in. 

In a small bowl, mix together your Ingredients III and set aside.

In the same massive fruit-and-nut bowl, begin sifting your Ingredients IV over top, and give it a good mix. Everything should be coated nicely in the dry mix. If you're wondering why this is a thing, it's so that your fruit/nuts won't stick together and fall to the bottom whilst baking. Nobody likes clumpy nuts. 

*If you're using an egg alt that isn't a dry mix, or requires liquid, shove the liquids in your Ingredients III bowl.

Finally, pour Ingredients III over everything and give it a good mix. Your batter's to be thick, and well mixed.

Place batter in your pan(s). A bit over 3/4 full will do. For smaller loafs, 30 minutes will do. Larger pans will take a bit longer. The toothpick test is your Based-Godsend here. In other words, your toothpick will come out dry, and the tops will be lightly browned.

Once fresh out the oven, brush your cake tops with your remaining pineapple juice. Let sit in the pans for another 15 minutes, brush again, and let sit 'til cool. Pop'um out, and wrap them up so they don't get gross. 

A few days in these will taste best, but it's perfectly well and fine to dig in early.

Squash, kale & bean soup.

It's #vegansquashnight on the Instagrams! My pal Miranda (@irresistiblyvegan) and I are hosting an online hangout, where you post today's squash-filled meal, hashtag #vegansquashnight, and tag the both of us (@irresistiblyvegan and @ohhhcaitlin) so we can see just what you made. 

I really wanted to make something with roasted vegetables and kale. It's been snowing here in Winnipeg (but not sticking around, so far) and my circulation is, as always, total dogshit. Soup, it is. Onto the recipe, 'cos this snow is a massive bummer.

Serves 8

Ingredients I

2 butternut squash, cubed

1 small bag baby carrots (or 2 cups), chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 head of garlic

Olive oil for drizzling

Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients II

1 - 14oz can of diced tomatoes

10 cups of water or vegetable broth

1 bay leaf

Ingredients III

1 - 14oz can of white kidney beans, thoroughly rinsed

1 bunch kale, chopped into bite size pieces

Method

Place your chopped batch of Ingredients I on a baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil and seasonings. Bake at 425F for 40 minutes, stirring about half way through.

Remove garlic from bulb. For more on roasting your own garlic, head here.

Toward the tail end of roasting, put all of Ingredients II -except the bay leaf- in a large pot, and blend with your handheld immersion blender. Then, bring to a boil. Don't season this just yet - your roasted vegetables will add all sorts of flavour once added to your broth. Right, now add your bay leaf.

Fun side note - it took me a few years of cooking to realize I can blend things on the stove in my cutoffs without getting burn marks permanent stories if I'd just blend things before turning on the stove.

Add your roasted vegetables to your new broth. Then, add in all of Ingredients III. Continue to boil for ten minutes, then let simmer for at least 15 minutes (or until your kale and beans are soft enough for you)

Now that your soup is done, give'r a taste a see if you'd need to add any seasonings! By now, the flavours have started blending nicely together. It's just up and up from here.

Creamy maple miso chicken salad.

Salads can be so gross. Gross and overdone and bland and sad. This here's a quick recipe and the dressing is killer.

Dressing

2 tbsp vegan mayo

1 tsp miso paste

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp mild oil

Salt & Pepper

Chick'n

1/2 package Yves chick'n
1-2 shallots

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp vegan margarine

1 tsp Lite Kikkoman soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

Lettuce

Almonds or other nuts

Make your dressing by combining the Dressing ingredients. Stir vigorously in a large enough bowl (a cereal bowl will do) 

Begin sauteing your Chick'n and shallot by heating up a pan with sesame oil and margarine. Saute until Chick'n gets crisp and lightly browned, then throw in the soy sauce and lemon juice. Saute a bit longer, so it remains crispy.

Top your lettuce with Chick'n, almonds, and drizzle with dressing.

Serves 2

Buffalo Cauliflower

A vegan alternative to Buffalo wings, I've made up these spicy coated cauliflower bits that are sure to make yer arse spit fire. Make these with chickpea flour for a gluten-free alternative.

Ingredients

Batter base:

1 cup water or milk alternative

1 cup flour or flour alternative

Seasonings:

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt

3/4 tsp garlic powder 

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into two-bite pieces.

Sauce:

3/4 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce, or similar buffalo-style sauce

2 tbsp margarine (melt first)

Preheat oven to 450F. Spray or grease a glass baking dish (9x13 or so will do).

Create your batter by combining all dry ingredients first, then add in the water. 

Coat your cauliflower pieces in the batter and place in baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and pour your sauce over the pieces, roll about to coat evenly. Bake for another 5 minutes. Once ready, let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Great with a side of dip, carrot sticks and celery, on a bed of rice, or alongside curried noodles/quinoa. 

Carob Zucchini muffins.

I like a good baking challenge, see. My chum digs avoiding white sugars, flour, soy, and caffeine. So, I whipped up these mini muffins. There's none of the previous ingredients mentioned, no oil, and maple syrup is used in place of sugar.

Ingredients I

1 cup oat flour*

1/4 cup coconut flour*

1/4 cup carob powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Ingredients II

1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup maple syrup

3 tbsp milk alternative

1 banana

Vanilla

1 cup grated zucchini (one medium zucchini) 

Optional -- up to 1 cup nuts, dried fruit, seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease up or line your mini muffin tin(s) - these make 2 dozen.

Combine all of Ingredients I with a whisk.

*Flour subs can sometimes come into contact with other garbage in the manufacturing facilities, Arrowhead or Bob's Red Mill carry all sorts of great stuff and label clearly what's what. Always check the labels if you have a gnarly intolerance to, well, anything. If you don't have a serious allergy, and are just looking to sub a whole bunch of white flour with an alternative.

In a blender or Magic Bullet, combine all of Ingredients II.

Incorporate your wet mix into your dry mix, plunk the zucchini on top, and mix up. Stir in any add-ins at this point. 

Fill tins 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick can come out clean.

Kimchi.

I've tried making kimchi a few times. Recipes asking you to sweat the cabbage. Recipes telling you to jar all that guhness for 7 days straight without cracking the lid. They've never worked out nicely for me. In fact, the last time I had attempted kimchi, it grew a beard faster and more heartier than even the most metal of metalheads. I've adapted this recipe from my pal, Angela, and am really happy with the results. This batch ought to make about 6 cups and cost you around $5 to make.  Please note, this isn't fermented, as I await the hilarious foodie shitstorm telling me I just made a heap of spicy coleslaw. But I mean, they manage to call Big Macs hamburgers...so.. 

Ingredients
1 head napa cabbage - washed, with the two outer leaves removed, and sliced.
1/4 cup kosher salt

1 bunch scallions, chopped as you'd like
2 carrots, grated
1 four-inch chunk of daikon, grated

1/3 to 1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp Lite Kikkoman soy sauce
2 tbsp white sugar or agave
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup Korean red hot pepper powder (I used this brand)

Method

Place sliced cabbage in a large bowl. Dump all the salt on top and massage into the leaves for a minute. This will help quickly remove moisture from your leaves, and your cabbage will shrink down by about 50%. Let sit for about an hour.

Set aside your other vegetables in a separate bowl.

Place everything else in a blender/Magic Bullet, it'll make a paste.

Rinse your salty cabbage mixture well, with cold water.

Mix everything together, with some gloves! Massage the paste into EVERYTHING.

Eat straight away, or wait a bit for the flavours to sink in.

Store in a ziplock bag, plastic container, or what have you.

I picked up my hot red pepper powder at Arirang Oriental Food Mart in Winnipeg, Manitoba for $6.99, tax included. It's located at 1799 Portage Avenue. EVERYONE there was so friendly and helpful. If you're in the city, I'd definitely check them out, it's worth the trip. Oh! There's a real nice bike shop next door, too. 

Coconut bacon.

A second take on a sweet & smoky bacon alternative, this recipe calls for large flaked coconut. I stopped by Organic Planet on 877 Westminster in Winnipeg to pick up a trusted brand, Let's Do...Organic. The bag was under $5 and I used half of it, saving the other half, just in case I buggered this up. Well, I didn't, and that part rules, so I baked up the second batch and am pumped to share the recipe. It's easy to get carried away snacking on these.. when it rains, it pours, y'know.

Ingredients

Large flaked coconut - preferably "Let's Do...Organic"

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tbsp LITE Kikkoman Soy Sauce

1 1/2 tbsp liquid smoke

2 tbsp sesame oil

Cracked black pepper

Rock salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300F.

Combine marinade in a bowl, stir well, and add coconut. Let sit for about 10 minutes. 

Scoop coconut evenly onto a well greased cookie sheet, separating as best you can.

Bake for 5 minutes, flip with a spatula, bake for 5 more minutes. Flip one last time and bake for a 5 minutes longer if needed. Be careful, it burns pretty easily. Pick out the noticeably gnarly bits as you flip.

Transfer to a big plate and let cool for at least 5 minutes.

Use on pizza, BLTs, salads, quiche, tofu scramble, etc. This stores well in a bag, in the fridge for about one week. 

Smoky maple tofu.

It's okay to feel both good and bad about buying vegan bacon from Safeway, or spending $12.70 on a lunch plate from your city's only alternative cafe. Yves brand bacon is pretty spot on, but you'll notice it gets crunchy pretty fast, eh? (By the way, I'm Canadian, and it slips out sometimes) I wanted to make a chewier version from tofu, that's just as crispy, just as smoky, but a good couple bucks cheaper. This recipe still brings the crispiness, though you'll be oven-baking it on a silpat sheet or cookie sheet, throwing some marinade on it around the halfway-mark of cooking. It's okay if you get some crispier (read: burnt, black, failed) pieces, there's even some in my photo above. Just cut it off, or be a rugged sunna'bitch and power through it.

Ingredients
One block extra-firm tofu, sliced into 20 rectangles* (then cut into triangles if you like)
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp LITE Kikkoman Soy Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp liquid smoke
2 tbsp sesame oil
Cracked black pepper
Rock salt, to taste

*be sure your tofu is sliced as evenly as possible, the odd super thin edge will burn to a crisp pretty easily. Slice as thin as you can, I cut mine to be a little less than 1/4".

In a zip bag, or a shallow dish, marinate your tofu for at least 30 minutes. Scoop the marinade over the tofu to ensure it's evenly displaced. 

Preheat your oven to 425F

On a silpat sheet or cookie sheet, place your tofu down and spoon a bit of marinade over your tofu pieces. Bake for ten minutes then flip, spoon marinade overtop and bake for another 10-13 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes, they will then firm up. If you cut your tofu into smaller pieces, be mindful of the bake time.

I dig this in BLTs, on salads, with mashed or scalloped potatoes.. that kinda thing. Enjoy. x

Simple blueberry crisp.

This recipe is very, very simple. Sometimes it's a pain to get the right proportions for the "crisp" bit, so have at it. Try this out with different fruits, being mindful of bake times.

Ingredients

3lbs blueberries, fresh, washed

3-4 tbsp flour

Juice of one lemon

Ingredients II

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup vegan butter

1/4 tsp salt (if vegan butter is unsalted)

1/2 cup flour

spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc.

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Put all the blueberries in your 9x13 glass baking dish, top with lemon juice. Sprinkle your flour on top.

Prepare the "crisp" by combining all of Ingredients II together. Evenly cover the top of your crisp.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Top with vegan whipped cream/yogurt/ice cream or enjoy on it's own.

Cinnamon Zucchini muffins.

Banana bread is fine but I'm sick of it. Everyone makes banana bread. I'm sure everyone makes zucchini bread too, and once I've eaten too much zucchini bread, I'm going to make a different loaf and say the same ole same ole. I made this zucchini muffin and added cinnamon. Here's the recipe.

Yields: 2 8x4 loaves, 4 mini loaves, or 2 dozen cupcake-sized

Ingredients I

3 tbsp ground flax + 1/4 cup warm water (set aside for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients listed in Ingredients I)

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup natural apple sauce

...Mix together until sugar has dissolved pretty alright. Then add in,

2 cups grated zucchini -- peeling optional -- I found one 5-6 inch/"Medium" zucchini to give me 1 cup, grated

Ingredients II

2 cups white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tsp cinnamon

...Whisk together to ensure evenly incorporated

Optional: a total of one cup of raisins, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.

Method

Preheat oven to 325F.

Add in one half of Ingredients II to Ingredients I. Stir evenly and ensure there's no massive flour lumps, then add in the second half, being mindful of an even consistency. 

If using any optional add-ins, stir them in now.

2 LOAVES: Line, "PAM", or grease-and-flour your loaf pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes.

4 MINI LOAVES: Line, "PAM", or grease-and-flour mini loaf pans. Bake for 40-45ish minutes.

24 Muffins (in a cupcake tin): So far, I've only used liners. They bake best in 25-28 minutes.

As always, use a toothpick to check for doneness.

I've made these a bunch of times but never shared the recipe, because I thought they were pretty standard. Though, sometimes one person's "standard" is another persons wet bakers dream. 

These aren't glossy or oily on top, or throughout, so don't worry about these getting a beard overnight. Store in a cool dry spot. Split and eat with a slab of vegan butter, preserves, nut butter, that kind of thing.

Peanut citrus dressing.

This is a really, really easy dressing (or a dip/sauce/marinade) that only takes a few shakes. If you're new to not buying the dogshit that Kraft puts out, this is a good starter recipe. Tangy, nutty, sweet, savory, and a bit spicy. Leave out the ginger if you don't want that kind of kick, alright?

Whisk together
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 garlic clove, grated
- 1/2 tsp ginger, grated
- 1/2 tbsp sriracha
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar

I drizzled this over a slaw made of
- red cabbage
- beets
- cucumber
- carrots
- bean sprouts
- alfalfa sprouts
- daikon
- scallion
- avocado
- snap peas
- hemp hearts
- cashews

Rice Vermicelli Bowl.

If everyone could grasp the difference between Rice Vermicelli bowls & Phở, I would be the happiest gal in town. Whilst doing so, make this rice vermicelli bowl. It's really very good.

Ingredients for sauce

3 tbsp hot water

2 tbsp white sugar or brown sugar

1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce or 1 tbsp vegan hoisin sauce or 1 tbsp Kikoman Lite Soy Sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced or 1/2 tsp garlic powder/salt

1 tbsp hot chili flakes

3 tbsp rice vinegar or white vinegar

Rice vermicelli, fully cooked -- rinsed with cold water, cooled. 

Fixings

Finely chopped cucumber

Chopped roasted, unsalted peanuts

Bean sprouts

Finely shredded cabbage

Other shredded vegetables, optional: carrots, daikon radish, red cabbage, etc.

Tofu Preparation

Extra firm tofu, cubed

Bowl of cornstarch

In a frying pan, shallow fry your tofu which has been coated in corn starch. Flip each side around 'til golden brown all around. While this is frying, make up your rice vermicelli. Add your fixings, your tofu, peanuts, and top with your sauce. Add additional hoisin sauce if ya like. 

Coconut milk cupcakes.

THIS IS THE WORST PICTURE of some pretty good cupcakes. I made this recipe on the fly, and wrote down the ingredients as I went. I'm not going to lie, they make 11 fuller cupcakes. So put extra frosting on top if you're going to divide this into 12. 

Ingredients I

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients II

Vanilla

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup oil

1 cup full-fat coconut milk, well stirred

Vegan white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line your baking tin with 11, ugh, cupcake liners. 

Mix up each list of Ingredients in seperate bowls. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Add in nuts, fruit, etc, but no more than 3/4 cup. Fill 3/4 full. Bake for 22-24 minutes.

Frosting

1 tbsp vegan butter

2 tbsp coconut milk

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat by hand for a terribly long time or get out the electric mixer. Consistency is dependant on all sorts of things so add more powdered sugar if you need.

Vegan Skor bits were made on the fly. They were too buttery for me, but once I figure out a better ingredient ratio I'll be sure to post it. Essentially, too much butter, brown sugar, vanilla, soy cream was brought to a high temperature, cooled in a lined pan, then smashed up heaps. 

Kinda stuffed Portobello Mushroom.

I mean, I love bell peppers, but I'm allergic. Bummer! I wanted to shove some good shit in a large vegetable for dinner tonight. Though, between us, I went to the grand opening of Target Canada today searching for Morningstar vegan Riblets, and they barely had a few blocks of tofu on the shelves. Super side note: they also didn't have E.L.F. Cosmetics... 0 for 2, guys. Superstore was across the street and was a total ghost-town, I took advantage. 2 massive Portobello mushrooms for $2.30? I'm in. Normally mushrooms aren't my thing (ever) but I was digging on these for whatever reason. With Winnipeg's lovely weather, a partial barbecue was in order.

For the Filling 

1/2 cup chopped zucchini

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onions

...Essentially, 1 1/4 cups of vegetables

1/3 cup panko or breadcrumbs

1/4 cup nuts; I used cashews

Seasoning of your choice; I used coriander and masala

Scoop the mushrooms out. I know they look like eyelashes, I'm sorry. Include them in the your frying pan, or don't.

Sautee your vegetables, transfer to a bowl and mix in the rest. Brush some oil or melted vegan butter along the bottom of the mushrooms, stick the filling in, and grill them on the BBQ - or bake them at 350F for 10-15 minutes. Keep in mind your filling is ready, you're just cooking the mushrooms. 

Top with nutritional yeast flakes, vegan cheese, Tofutti sour cream, salsa, tamarind sauce..

Things to try: include quinoa, brown rice, pine nuts. Stick this in a bell pepper. Load it with sriracha. Make a cashew cream sauce. Make THIS cashew cream sauce.