Veggie Pot Pie

Veggie pot pie is one of my favourite go-to recipes for every holiday: christmas, thanksgiving, easter, So I thought it was about time to share with the world my delicious pie recipe. It's a veggie pot pie, stuffed with all the classics: potatoes, carrots, tofu, mushrooms, greens... Delicious.
I've featured this pie at at many holidays and everyone enjoys it, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Serves: 4-8

Ingredients

Pie Crust

• 2 1/2 cups white flour (you can use a bit of whole wheat if you like)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup cold margarine, cut into cubes
• 1/4-1/2 cup ice water

Pie

• 1 block of firm or extra firm tofu*, rinsed, patted dry and cubed
• 1 tbsp soy sauce, diluted with 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp olive oil to pan fry
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp thyme

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup, or 2 medium-small onions, diced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup, or 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 cup, or 2 medium-large carrots, diced
• 1 cup, or 3 medium potatoes, diced
• 8-10 sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped kale, spinach, green cabbage or napa cabbage
• 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/8-1/4 cup water
• 1 cup frozen or fresh green peas

*To get a more "chicken-like" texture, try cutting the tofu the night before, then thawing it in the morning

Gravy

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp oregano and/or thyme
• 1/4 freshly ground pepper, or to taste

Preparation

Pie Crust

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
2. Cut the shortening into the flour mixture then add the cubed margarine and mix until you get a crumbly mixture, like a coarse corn meal.
3. Slowly incorporate the ice water, until the mixture comes together as a dough. Start with a quarter cup and only add more if the dough is too dry.
4. Form the dough into a ball, then cut into two halves, one roughly larger than the other.
5. With plastic wrap, cover each ball and refrigerate until you are prepared to start filling the pie, at least 20 minutes.

Pie

1. In a vary large pan or wok, coat with the olive oil and heat on medium.
2. Drizzle the soy sauce mixture over the cut tofu, then add it to the pan.
3. Fry the tofu, rotating it to so that most sides of the cubes are golden brown.
4. In a medium bowl, mix nutritional yeast, flour, garlic powder and thyme.
5. When the tofu is cooked, coat it in the mixture and set aside. Whatever doesn't stick to the tofu can be added the gravy later.
6. In the same pan you used for the tofu, sauté onions, garlic and celery in the olive oil until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
7. Add the carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms to the pan and sauté for a couple minutes before adding the cabbage or greens.
8. Add the soy sauce and water to the mixture, cover and steam until all the veggies are al dente, about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile you can start the gravy (see below).
9. Add the tofu and peas to the veggie mix and combine, then remove it from the heat.

Gravy

1. In a small pot or sauce pan, toast the nutritional yeast and flour until aromatic.
2. Add the olive oil and whisk until smooth.
3. Slowly incorporate the water into the gravy, stirring until thickened.
4. Stir in the soy sauce and seasoning.
5. Remove from heat

1. Roll out the larger portion of the dough onto a floured surface to about an 1/8". Place the dough in a 9" pie plate, leaving edges uncut.
2. Mix the gravy in with the vegetable-tofu mixture, then pour onto the bottom pie dough, it will be heaping.
3. Roll out the rest of the dough large enough to cover your pie.
4. Roll the pastry onto the pie, and curl up the edges, crimping them with a fork or your fingers, removing any excess dough.
5. Prick the top with a fork or knife.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F for 30-40 minutes, uncovered, until the top is golden.
7. Let the pot pie cool 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Serve with your favourite fall or winter side dishes and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cups

School's back in session and we can all use a mid-week pick-me-up, so behold: chocolate peanut butter cups. If you've had Reese's peanut butter cups, you know what to expect. But these tasty cups may exceed you expectations. 
I make my peanut butter cups with dark chocolate chip, but feel free to use any chocolate you wish. As for the peanut butter, use natural peanut butter, or a similar product without all the added sugar which can make your peanut butter cups cloyingly sweet.

Makes: 12 cups (so make sure you've got 12 paper muffin cups on hand)

Ingredients

1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/2 icing sugar
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/8 tsp salt (optional, but makes them taste better)

Preparation

Melt chocolate chips either on low heat on the stove top or in a microwave.
Spread half the melted chocolate evenly around the sides and the bottom of the 12 muffin cups. I find this can be done easily with a small spoon if you hold the muffin cup in you hand and spin it while spreading the chocolate around.
Place the paper muffin cups in a muffin pan and place in the freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes.
While the chocolate is hardening  in a small bowl cream the peanut butter with the sugar (can be sifted to avoid sugar chunks, unless you are too lazy like me) and salt. If the mixture is a bit stiff due to stiff peanut butter, you can add a dollop of margarine to the mixture.
In hardened-chocolate cups, distribute the peanut butter mixture evenly, spreading it flat with a spoon or by banging the muffin pan on the counter.
Refreeze the peanut butter cups for about 20 more minutes before spreading on the top layer of chocolate.
After all the chocolate has been smoothed out, refreeze the peanut butter cups for 1 hour.
Store in the freezer afterwards and let them thaw for a few minutes before nibbling.
Enjoy!

Overnight Oats

     When I need to leave the house in a rush to get to work in the morning, I make myself a batch of overnight oats the evening before. This simple but tasty recipe has at least one serving from all the food groups, which is much healthier than my usual: buttered toast. Plus it's incredibly easy. 
     I make my overnight oats with ground flaxseed, which is a good source of essential omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber. All the more reason to add flax to your diet!
     Below, I've included my favourite preparation for overnight oats, but the possibilities are endless. I love blueberry oats, but I've also used dried dates, raspberries, strawberries and apple in place of the blueberries.

Serves: 1 (or 2 depending on how much you can eat for breakfast. I eat it all...)

Ingredients

1/2 cup of oats, I use half large flakes and half quick oats
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 banana 
1 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (omit if using vanilla flavoured milk) or 1 tbsp coconut milk
1/2 tbsp - 1 tbsp agave, maple syrup or honey
1 heaping tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped almonds or other nuts
1/3-1/2 cup blueberries or other berries or chopped fruit

Having my oats poolside,
while I prepare for a long day at work.

Preparation

In a small jar, combine oats and ground flax seed.
Add half of a banana and mash into the oat-flax mixture. The other half of the banana can be used in a second batch or eaten in the morning with the oats.
Next add the wet ingredients to the jar, including the milk, vanilla extract or coconut milk and sweetener of choice, as well as the shredded coconut and nuts. 
Screw on a lid and shake well to combine, making sure there are no ingredients sticking to the walls of the jar.
Finally, add in your fruit and mix gently, either with a fork or by shaking it.
Refrigerate overnight and enjoy in the morning!
Can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Fresh Blueberry Muffins

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. You'd think that I'd have more free time during the summer, but I've been working so much that I have even less time to cook than I did during the school year. On my last day off, I whipped up a tasty batch of blueberry muffins with some banana to change them up a bit. 

They turned out great! They were super moist from the banana and super tasty from everything else we put in them. And not to brag or anything, but they are good for you too: each muffin is packed with fruit and contains only about 3% of your daily fat and sodium.

Feel like a little nutrition lesson? 

One Tim Hortons classic Blueberry Muffin has 570mg of sodium, which is 38% of the sodium you need in a day, based on your Adequate Intake. 570mg of sodium equates to a 1/4 tsp of salt - that's in every muffin. I used that much salt in my entire batch of muffins! So one of my muffins has just less than 3% of your daily sodium. Now, I'm using Adequate Intake because that is the ideal value that you should be basing your diet on. But Nutritional Facts tables, like the one on your cereal box, base their percent daily value on the Upper Tolerable Intake Level (UL), which is the maximum daily intake.The UL for sodium is 2000mg; the Adequate Intake is 1500mg. This means that if you follow the Nutritional Facts tables, you could be consuming a lot more sodium than you need.

A Nutritional Facts table would tell you that your Tim's Blueberry Muffin only has 28% of your daily sodium, when in fact is has 38%. This is a problem. In Canada, over 85% of males and about 75% of females have sodium intakes above the UL, putting them at a higher risk of high blood pressure, hypertension, heart disease, obesity and cancer -  they don't include those warnings on Tim Hortons muffins, but maybe they should.  When in doubt, cut the sodium out. 

Speaking of which, here's my recipe:

Bake at: 375°F

Makes: 12-16 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed (~1 pint)
1 tbsp flour

1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp ground flax seed with 2 tbsp water
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp baking soda

1 cup white four 
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup soymilk or other milk

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Wash blueberries, then toss in 1 tbsp of flour to coat and set aside. 
In a medium mixing bowl, mash the banana then add the ground flax and water and let the mixture sit for a couple of minutes while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Next add the vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla, vinegar and baking soda to the banana-flax mixture and mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients together, then add this to the wet mixture and fold it in gently.
Incorporate the soy milk into the mixture until smooth, then add the blueberries.
Grease a metal muffin tray, or use muffin cups or a silicone muffin tray. Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tins.
Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes.

Great for breakfast or a snack!

No-Knead Pizza Crust

Do yourself a favor: give homemade pizza another go (using our recipe of course). I know it can be frustrating when your pizzas don't look like those your cool friends got at that fancy Italian pizzeria in Brooklyn, but that's about to change. With this recipe you'll be able to make pizzas that are just as good, and make them vegan if you so choose. This technique makes the whole ordeal so much less of an ordeal that I want to eat the stuff every day! The recipe below is from Jim Lahey's book My Pizza, which along with My Bread is one of our favorite cookbooks. Available at fine bookstores everywhere.

Classic tomato pie

The dough

3 3/4 cups all-purpose or bread flour (whole wheat, white or a mixture)

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt (or less)

1 1/2 cups cool water

Preparation

Thoroughly blend all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add the water and mix gently but thoroughly until all the flour is incorporated. If there is some flour left in the bowl, add more water, a few tablespoons at a time, until the dough is sticky to the touch. The dough needs to be fairly wet in order to rise properly.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise for 12-18 hours, until it has doubled in size and looks bubbly on the surface.

Flour your work surface and scrape out the dough; it should look stringy (glutinous) and wet.
You next need to shape the dough. With well-floured hands, fold the edges of the dough in towards the center four times - top, bottom, left, right - in whatever order you like. Then flip the dough over so that the seam side is down, and mould it into a nice round shape. If the mound is sticky, add another sprinkling of flour.

Let the dough rise for 1/2 an hour covered with a tea towel, then use a food chopper or knife to divide the mound into 4 equal parts for use on round pizza pans or stones. If you're using a large rectangular pan, 2 equal parts will fill 2 pans. Flour your hands and shape the parts into balls, then let them rise again for another 1/2 hour, until they have doubled in size. If you can poke the dough and it rebounds immediately, let it rise another 15 minutes. If you poke it and it retains a 1/4 inch depression, it is ready to use.

Cooking with a pizza stone

Things you'll need:

- a pizza stone, the thicker the better

- a pizza peel (those large wooden spatulas professionals use, but with a short handle)

- flour and cornmeal

If you're using a pizza stone (a technique we highly recommend), set the racks in your oven so that the stone is closer to the top than the bottom, but not right at the top. Put the stone in the oven and preheat the oven on bake at the highest temperature it can muster. You should start preheating the oven once you've shaped the dough, or around an hour before you intend to cook the pizzas. Ten minutes before you're ready to cook them, switch the oven to broil; this will super-heat the stone and should give your pizzas a nice crispy crust.

When the stone is ready, flour your pizza peel well and add a generous sprinkling of cornmeal (this is optional, but it makes sliding the dough off the peel much easier). It is important to flour your peel well or else the dough will stick to it and then this becomes an ordeal again. 

Take one ball of dough - add more flour to it if it's sticky - and stretch it. One of the best techniques for stretching dough is called 'knuckling': stretch the dough a bit with your hands until it is flat (be gentle!) then lift it on top of your clenched fists and stretch it gently with your knuckles. You can also stretch the dough by pulling and stretching it with your hands on the floured work surface. Try to stretch the dough immediately before you use it so that it retains its shape and moisture. And try to stretch it as evenly as possible, until it is very thin and about 10-12 inches across. Once the dough is shaped and is well-floured, lay it on the peel - you're ready for toppings!

The toppings are up to you (we'll give you some suggestions later). Once you have your pizza all dressed it's ready to cook. Use some good kitchen gloves to take the pizza stone out of the oven (it will be very hot). You can leave the stone in the oven but it makes this next step harder. Gently jerk the pizza peel forward and backwards to make sure that your pizza can move freely. If it can't, lift the edges of the dough and add more flour. Once you're ready, transfer the pizza with jerking motions onto the hot stone. This step is tricky because once the dough touches the stone it cannot be moved. Replace the stone in the oven and switch the oven to bake again.

The cooking time for your oven will vary depending on if you have a gas or electric appliance, how thick your pizza stone is and a dozen other factors like whether you and your oven have a friendly relationship (or perhaps something more?) Our oven is old, it's electric and it takes a while to heat up, and our pizza stone is about 1/2 thick. We bake our pizza for 7-10 minutes, then switch the oven to broil and cook the pizza until the crust is just this side of charred on top, and the ingredients are bubbling (usually only two or three minutes). Gas ovens often take less time to cook a pizza, so you'll have to do a bit of experimenting. Keep a close eye on, and detailed notes about, your first few pizzas and I'm sure they'll turn out great.

Cooking with a metal pan

Whatever the shape of your pan, start by oiling it generously - until you can trace lines in the oil with your finger, but don't add so much that you fry your pizza. If you're using a round pan, shape the dough as described in the directions for cooking with a pizza stone, above, but instead of placing the dough on the pizza peel, just stretch it and place it on the oiled pan. If you're using a rectangular pan, take one of your two pizza dough balls and stretch it to approximately the length of the pan. Lay it down on the pan, then gently stretch it to fill the pan width-wise. You will likely have to bake the pizza for a bit longer than if you were using a pizza stone, probably 10-15 minutes, then finish it with a couple minutes on broil. You can tell the dough is done when it pulls away from the edges of the pan and looks toasty. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

 It's been a very long time since I've had peanut butter cookies, probably since before I left home. But for some reason, I've always remembered peanut butter cookies being on the harder side of the cookie scale.  Well not these ones. These peanut butter cookies are super moist and super delicious. 
Since these cookies are made with flax, they have the added benefits of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. And essential fatty acids in my cookies means I can justify having a third.

Makes: 32 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup margarine
1 cup natural, smooth peanut butter (No sugar added)
6 tbsp water + 2 tbsp ground flax
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
white sugar for dusting

Preparation

In a jar or measuring cup combine water and ground flax, let sit for at least 3 minutes until the mixture thickens.
Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, cream together brown sugar, margarine and peanut butter.
Stir in the water flax mixture and the vanilla.
Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the batter, and mix until well combined.
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Remove the batter from the fridge, and form golf ball size balls.
Roll the batter balls in white sugar (optional). then place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Place the dough balls a few inches apart, then squish down with a fork.
Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Let cool completely before eating.

Southern Comfort Food

I absolutely love comfort food! A few nights ago, we whipped up a batch of mac 'n' cheese with some garlic collard greens, sweet potato mash, vegetarian chicken fingers (store bought) and some tasty biscuits.
We've made mac 'n' cheese many times, however the recipe below is are go-to. It's rich and creamy, and really easy to make. As for the collard greens, the trick, as we've found, is to steam them, then quickly sautée in warm oil with garlic.
This meal is perfect for when you're having a craving for southern dinner food. All the goodness, but without all the animal products and butter! Yum!

Mac 'n' Cheese

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

1 pound or 450g of pasta, cooked al dente

1 1/2 cup water

3/4 cup plain soy milk, or dairy-free milk

3/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt + more to taste

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp onion powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Put all ingredients in the blender and pulse until smooth.

Taste for seasoning.

In a large pan, on medium heat, add all the cooked pasta to the cheesey-cheeseless mixture.

Cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened.

Serve immediately with fresh ground pepper and salt if needed.

Add the remaining uncooked sauce to any leftovers so that tomorrow's leftovers will be as creamy as tonight's.

Garlic Collard Greens

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

1 large bunch of collard greens

olive oil, about 1/8 to 1/4cup, enough to well coat the bottom of your pan

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced or sliced

pinch of red chili flakes

salt to taste

1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation

In a large skillet, heat olive oil with the garlic and chili peppers on low heat for 10-15min.

Wash the collard greens and cut into 1" strips.

Steam all the collards in a steamer basket in a covered pot with an inch of water at the bottom.

Steam for about 5 minutes, until bright green then drain, trying to remove as much water as possible.

Toss the collards in the warm olive oil mixture and sautée on low for 3 minutes. 

Mix the collards with the lemon juice and serve.

Sweet Potato Mash

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

4 medium-large sweet potatoes or garnite yams

3 cloves of garlic

water

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup molasses, or to taste

pinch of allspice or asian 5-spice

1/2 tbsp paprika

scant 1/4 cup margarine

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In a large covered pot, bring salted water to a boil. 

Wash the sweet potatoes and cut into 1" chunks. Husk and remove the ends of the garlic, keeping the cloves whole. Add the garlic and the sweet potatoes to the boiling water.

Boil for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft enough to mash.

Reserve about a cup of the cooking liquid, and drain the rest.

In the pot, mash the sweet potatoes adding the spices, and the margarine and cooking water until a smooth texture is obtained. You may also use an immersion blender to quicken the process.

Season with salt and pepper and serve along side your mac'n'cheese, collards and biscuits.