Oat nog with hemp seeds.

2 cups oat milk

2 tbsp Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts

1 small ripe banana

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp vanilla

Optional:

Pinch of turmeric

1-2 tsp sweetener of choice

Blend all ingredients together on high speed. Let chill in fridge for 30 minutes or longer. Top with vegan whipped cream if ya fancy. 

Variations can include non alcoholic rum extract, or another dairy free alternative such as almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk or coconut milk. Blend in some coconut cream for a richer drink. Blend with protein powder, ice, and more liquid for a protein-rich option!

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Vegan Schmaundt Fat.

 

Schmaundt fat is that white sauce slapped all over perogies, typically made from sausage drippings, heavy cream, butter, flour, lots of salt and pepper. It’s a banger on noodles (or the leftover perogy dough that got too tough to roll, sliced and boiled into noodles), with Beyond Sausage and so much more. Variations of the recipe or the name of the recipe itself can range widely. Some may see, call this or use this as béchamel sauce, alfredo sauce, white sauce, cream sauce. Why am I even posting this recipe, you might be wondering? Well, some new (or long standing) vegans may just miss it, some people are learning how to now cook dairy free, and some people are just learning how to cook. Also, I googled “vegan schmaundt fat” and nothing came up, so I guess it’s become my civil duty to change that, or whatever. This recipe is simple, but only because I’ve made it hundreds of times in my life. Soon, you’ll be measuring with your heart and giving a good schluppa butter where butter is due, and that’s AOK too. 

So if you’re just starting off, that’s cool, here’s the vegan version with a few variations. 

Schmaundt Fat:

2 tbsp vegan butter (or leftover Beyond Sausage drippings, if that’s part of the meal anyhow)

2 tbsp white flour

2/3 to 3/4 cup dairy free milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper 

In a small sauce pot on medium / medium high, melt the fat and add the flour. Hey,  now you’re making a roux. Let these two really combine and bubble, then add the dairy free milk. I like oat milk because it’s a little heavier and not sweet like a soy milk. Add in your salt and pepper and let the flour do its job by thickening for a minute or two before taking off the stove. Give it a quick taste test and add more salt or pepper if needed. 

Make it into an Alfredo or white mac sauce:

Once the schmaundt is thick and ready to go, add in 1/2 tsp lactic acid powder and/or 1/2 cup vegan parmesean or vegan mozzarella. Add parsley, garlic powder and onion powder if you like. 

When adding lactic acid, garlic powder and onion powder, then topped with parsley, there will be no change to the colour or consistency here, but adding in some dairy free cheese will get it like a cheese sauce with some stretch. 

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Tofu Bacon.

 

Make up a big ole vat of this marinade.

1/4 cup light kikkoman soy sauce 

1 tbsp brown sugar 

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp smoked paprika (or regular, plain)

2 tsp liquid smoke 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper 

1 tbsp neutral oil 

1 package pressed tofu 

*Reserve 3 tbsp above marinade and mix with 1 tbsp maple syrup, set aside for brushing later

Pressed tofu typically comes as a flat slab with 4 squares inside. Slice the squares to make each slice thinner (3 slices) then cut diagonally into triangles. You’ll get 6 triangles per square — 24 triangles total. 

Mix up your marinade and let sit for 30min to several hours in the fridge. 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet AND spray down with cooking spray. 

Place the triangles down, brush with the reserved maple syrup / marinade and bake for 15 min, flip, brush with more marinade, and bake for 20 min longer (total 35 minutes). This extra maple-y marinade has the kinda sugar content in it that’ll help golden up your tofu bacon when baking and give it a good chew.   

Let cool ON the baking sheet then transfer to a dish with parchment paper between when storing in the fridge. 

To reheat: pan fry, air fry at 350°F for 5 min, microwave or hey, enjoy cold. 

Solid in a BLT, wrap, chopped small for a soup or salad topper. 

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Winter Slaw.

No mayo here, folks, summer's over. Easy peasy, with lots of hearty vegetables you'll score on the cheap this Fall/Winter.

Slaw base:

6 carrots, grated

1/2 red onion, chopped small

1 bunch kale, chopped small

1/2 small red cabbage, chopped small

1/2 cup cranberries

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh dill

Dressing (whisk this thoroughly or add to a Magic Bullet):

1/3 cup neutral oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 tbsp white sugar (or maple syrup)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Mix together your slaw base. Whisk or blend the dressing together thoroughly until all's incorporated and stir well into the slaw.

 

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Buffalo Jane Caviar.

Yee haw.

CHEESY BUFFALO CASHEW BASE:

¾ cup raw cashews

½ cup hot water

½ cup hot sauce

¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes 

Salt and pepper

THE OTHER HALF:

1 can black beans

1 can white beans

1 can corn

¼ red onion

¼ cup lime juice

Avocado*

Blend together your cashew base on high and set aside. Crack open the canned goods (19oz cans work great for the ratios involved) and give them a good rinse, mix together remaining ingredients in a bowl.

If you’ve got a few shakes, I recommend quickly pan frying the corn and nutritional yeast together with 1 teaspoon neutral oil first.

*if it’s payday

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Winter Stew.

It’s not hot out anymore, we should make stew. 

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp garlic or 4 cloves 
6 potatoes, chopped (skin on is cool)
6 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 onions, chopped 
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup soy curls (soak in 3 cups hot water)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast 
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (or balsamic)
1/4 cup tomato paste 
1 tbsp browning 
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt, or to taste 
1 tsp pepper 
Slurry: 1/4 cup flour + 3/4 cup water 
Optional: 2 tbsp Vegemite 

Soak soy curls in hot water for 10 minutes or longer, then squeeze out and keep to the side. 

Add your oil to a massive pot, and begin lightly sauteeing your garlic and onions. Once golden, add vinegar to deglaze the pot. Add root vegetables, stock, browning, nutritional yeast, seasonings, tomatoe paste and optional Vegemite. Add soy curls and slurry. Keep on simmerin’ until the root vegetables are fork tender (about 15-20 minutes).

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Chickpea salad. (v.478274)

Well.. This isn’t the first chickpea salad recipe and it surely won’t be the last in this lifetime. I gave my old bay seasoning a wee break to delve into using furikake on something other than rice, and here we are!  

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas, rinsed, drained 

1/3 cup vegan mayo (I like using Lisa’s vegan Kewpie mayo!)

2-3 tablespoons vegan Furikake (this brand is great!)

1 teaspoon kombu dashi kelp broth seasoning (I get mine at Oomomo) 

Dash of celery salt

Dulse flakes to top

Directions 

Mash your chickpeas, leaving some whole bits. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes  

Use as a sandwich filling, or top this on some salad, Melba toast, rice, whatever you fancy.

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soy curl jerky.

No need for triumphant-return intros and updates. Let's just get to it. I found Butler Soy Curls are available in Winnipeg at Organic Planet Co-Op and I was over the moon pleased. I don't quite like paying an arm and a leg for vegan jerky, especially when the ingredient list is horrifically long, so I set out to make my own. Muck about with the recipe, replace water with hot sauce, use five spice instead of onion powder. I'm not your mum.

Ingredients

1/2 package Butler soy curls, soaked for 10 minutes and squeezed

1/4c soy sauce (I used Kikkoman)

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp water

2 tsp black pepper 

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp black sesame seeds

1 tsp white sesame seeds

3/4 tsp liquid smoke

Preheat your oven to 225F. 

Soak curls for about 10 minutes, drain, squeeze dry. Whisk up your marinade and let the curls soak for about half an hour. Plunk on the lined baking sheet and drizzle any leftover marinade on top. Spread 'em out good and proper.

Bake in the middle rack on a lined baking sheet for 60-65 minutes, flipping every 20-25 minutes.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container, they're good for a week.

Eat as is, or on a salad, wrap, pizza, stir fry, pasta, gyro or tofu scramble. Adjust flavour profile as needed, ya know?

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Vegan fries supreme.

There's barely a recipe to this vegan fries supreme, but definitely a suggested path to take for this.. Lots of you on my Insta asked for the method! So. Here we go.

To make this dish, I air-fried one potato, with 1 tsp oil and some cajun seasoning. Oh - skin on, always and forever.

While this was happening, I chopped up and sauteed some veggie ground round, onion, bell pepper and mushrooms.

Everything finished up around the same time -- 15 or 20 minutes.

Top with Daiya cheeze sauce and Tofutti sour cream. "Garnish" with chopped green onion. Tomato or chives would be a great call too. That's it, that's all, folks.

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Plum Perogies.

Plum perogies are a big deal, but I couldn't seem to find the "recipe" for them online anywhere. Or, at least the "PROPER" filling. I've seen whole plums, quartered, then thrown into the dough and boiled. I've seen plum compote filling. I've seen all sorts. This recipe uses prune plums, which are a little smaller than a golf ball and come 'round markets in August/September for something like $1.50/lb. They're filled with a little flour and sugar, boiled, and slathered in vegan butter.

Ingredients

1 batch plain ole perogy dough -- I used Isa Chandra's recipe!

24 prune plums (they'll appear "dusty" when they're ready)

1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

With a sharp little knife, carefully remove the plum pit, slice it like you would an avocado but make sure it's not completely halved! Keeping about 1/2 - 1 inch of the skin connecting the two halves is about right. This helps keep everything together in the dough down the road.

Mix together the 2:1 sugar:flour ratio and drop about 1/4 teaspoon into the plum, where the pit used to be. Close up the plum.

Roll your dough out, about 1/4" thick. With a mason jar lid, drinking glass or biscuit butter, cut out the dough circles. You'll want them to be about 4" in diamater.

Fill each circle of dough with one plum, pinch tight, and boil until they float. That's it that's all! Ensure these are absolutely coated in vegan butter.

These freeze great, but make sure you've pinched these WELL. The plums will expand in the freezer, a little, and you don't want your dough to split.

Again, L O T S   O F   B U T T E R.

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