Posts from our 2014 roadtrip
Coffee Monday – Roadtrip Coffee Round Up
Vegan Afternoon Tea in The Lobby at the Peninsula Hotel Chicago
Barszcz/Beet Soup – Vegan Mofo 2017 – Pleased to Beet You.
Beets are a regular player in traditional Polish cooking, and Eastern European cooking in general, so I’m going talk about them every darn Tuesday for the rest of October. I’d like to start with something traditional as heck, with some minor augmentations. Beet soup. You might know it as borcht. I know it as barszcz. It’s all basically the same thing, we can agree to disagree. Beets + Broth = soup. Usually sour cream is involved. Sometimes some kind of sausage. But even with the most hearty seeming recipes, I often find myself hungry soon after. So with this recipe, I’m trying to avoid using special ingredients (but tofutti sour cream is absolutely fantastic in this soup if you have it around/or want to use it) and replacing sour cream with a dollop of white bean puree. It really works – you can mix the white bean in with the soup before plating, or let folks do it afterwards – it’s a great nutritional boost, and adds a thicker texture to the soup. Ingredients 3 medium sized beets 1 leek, halved 2 garlic cloves 1/2 cup dry navy beans (or 1 can, drained) (or white northern beans), prepared. 4 tbsps oil (or as much oil as makes you happy) 1 onion, chopped 1 carrot, halved and chopped 6 cups vegetable broth juice from 1/2 lemon splash of your favourite vinegar 1 bay leaf 1/8 tsp pepper (or to taste) 5 medium potatoes As much dill as you can handle bonus:…
Młoda Kapusta Zasmażana – Fried Cabbage – Vegan Mofo Day 2
Fried Cabbage, sounds boring right? No. It’s not. It’s hearty and warm and cozy. There is this fantastic balance of sweet and smoky and lightly salty. The smoky tofu bacon really brings this all together, but any kind of fried meatless sausage type product would work great in this too. I really like the Tofurky or Yves Kielbasas for a quick comforting cabbagy meal – just slice them into half moon slices and fry them with some onion and then add sliced cabbage and onions. It all pairs wonderfully with kasza gryczana (lightly roasted buckwheat groats) or boiled/mashed potatoes. I’m calling this a young (młoda) cabbage (kapusta) because the one I used was dark leafy and green and fresh off the farm despite being the beginning of autumn. If you’re deep in the middle of somewhere else, can’t find deep green young cabbage, but can find Napa cabbage, its tender leaves might fit the bill. I’ve got other plans for the rest of the cabbage – as there are always other things to do with cabbage in Polish cooking – it is a very versatile vegetable – featured in some of my favourite things like cabbage rolls, sauerkraut, a variety of soups and stews, and more! Kapusta Zasmażana Ingredients Tofu Bacon 1/2 block of tofu, pressed, thinly sliced 1 tbsp sesame oil splash of liquid smoke 1 tsp soy sauce or Braggs aminos (optional) 1tsp mushroom powder Add sesame oil, liquid smoke, soy sauce and (optional) mushroom powder to a…
Naleśniki – Polish Crepes – Vegan Mofo
Happy first day of Vegan Mofo! I wanted to start things off with one of my favourite childhood memories.When I was little one of my fondest morning memories is when my mom would make naleśniki (Na-leh-shniki.) Watching her make them always seemed so magical because what was once a liquid, seemed to defy gravity – clinging to the pan, changing colour, and turning into something delicious. I would sit at the kitchen table, we would listen to the CBC, we would talk, all while she made breakfast. There would be two typical fillings, a sweetened cheese one made with quark or some kind of stewed fruit or jam. My favourite of course, would be one with fruit, so that’s what I made this morning, finally, for my own family. When my mom made it, it was topped off with a vanilla sugar thick cream – this morning I made a quick cream with maple syrup, coconut yogurt, and some vanilla bean. Before I went vegan, she would use a piece of bacon to grease the pan, but eventually, once I went vegan she would still make ones for me with oil, filled with fruit, and dusted with icing sugar. Lucky me! Smacznego! (which means bon appetit! or enjoy your meal!) Naleśniki – Polish Crepes Makes 8 naleśniki Ingredients 1 cup all purpose flour 2 tsps prepared Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer mix 1 cup unsweeteend soymilk 3/4 cup boiling water a pinch of salt 3 tsp a light vegetable…
Vegan Mofo – Day 0 – Polish Vegan Things
It’s almost time for Vegan MoFo. What is Vegan MoFo? I’m glad you asked – it’s an annual celebration of Vegan Food. If you want to read about the history, I recommend going straight to the source and reading What is VeganMoFo on the VeganMoFo site. I have participated in nearly all of them except the one last year (and I would have, but I missed signing up due to the fog of new motherhood.) This year my goal is to try and post on the blog 5 times a week and a substantive comment on at least 10 blogs a day – ideally ones I have not interacted much with before, and always if a stumble upon a post has no comments. Please connect with me on Instagram and/or on Facebook, and I look forward to meeting new fellow vegan food fans during October! The Theme Vegan Mofo has a bunch of great ideas for posts throughout the month, which you can see here on their handy prompts page, but I’ve decided to go with a theme that is close to my heart, and heritage – Polish Vegan Things. So the aim is All Polish Food, veganized. I’d also like to talk about some of the cool stuff happening in Poland for veganism and animal rights, as well as some of the great cookbooks and Polish blogs out there. I speak and read Polish quite fluently, but writing it is still not a strong point – so sadly, and sorry, my…
Vancouver – Indigo Age Cafe
The first few times we saw Indigo Age Cafe come up on a vegan-friendly food list we mentally skipped it because we thought it was some raw food place and we’re not usually into that. But after repeatedly seeing it, I got curious – maybe it would hit the spot anyway. I really like salad rolls… so I took a look at the menu. And I’m so glad that I did. Sure, they have raw food, and plenty of it, but in a wonderfully unexpected curveball, they also have cooked vegan Ukrainian cuisine. Surprise! Pirogies! And cabbage rolls! And borscht! oh my. Something else they do that’s pretty neat is a Vegan High Tea. Several of the other tables were doing it while we were there – I kind of regret not going for it, but our small human was reaching the end of his evening tolerance, so we didn’t have much time and we weren’t sure how long it would take – but it looks great. We started with some stuffed tomatoes with a raw fermented coconut-almond cheese, cashew sauce and pesto sauce – these were especially popular with our toddler (who like me, is keen on strong flavours.) And of course, we had to dip into the Ukrainian menu and ordered plates of assorted savoury pirogies and cabbage rolls. The pirogies had an incredible soft and tender dough, and were filled with sauerkraut or potato (they also have a cherry filled one that we didn’t order.) Drizzled with olive…
Vancouver – Chickpea Food Truck
Back when we were in Vancouver we were staying close to Coal Harbour, there were several options within walking distance of our hotel, and plenty of vegan delivery options too. But what a wonderful find the Chickpea Food Truck was. On our first full day there, we met up with some friends for lunch – I suggested the Chickpea truck after finding out their location via the StreetFoodApp (and you can too.) They were at the waterfront near Canada Place (which is their “usual downtown spot.”) We wandered over, and got in line. Plenty of folks were milling about waiting for their order or waiting to order, but the line moved reasonably quickly. I ordered the Shakshuka platter which was a massive amount of food, but was great to share with JC and our son. Once upon a time this platter would have had eggs in it, but Chickpea recently went totally vegan – so the shakshuka was based around chickpeas and nicely spiced tomatoes, with sliced up vegan sausage, a very delicious hummus. The platter comes with a salad and chickpea fries, and you want the chickpea fries, I promise. I’ve had a bit of an obsession with vegan shakshuka for some reason – which started inexplicably because I neither have a nostalgia for it, or a cultural affiliation. I think the first one I tried was one with Tofu with a recipe from A Virtual Vegan, followed a few weeks later by a recipe from One Arab Vegan where silken…
We were in Vancouver. Cartems Doughnuts. Get em.
We were in Vancouver last month and it was a lot of fun. Traveling with an infant has had some challenges, but also some benefits. Mostly we’re lucky with a kiddo that’s pretty easy going, and one that enjoys sleeping on the plane as much as possible. One thing I didn’t know about having a baby and flying was that we’d get to skip so many lines – who knew. I guess I knew when I travelled with the little one alone, but I didn’t realize it would apply when we were all travelling together. It is definitely a lot easier to travel as a trio, but we did pretty well just the two of us on our last trip to Edmonton to visit my parents. Anyway, ostensibly, I went for a conference, but as a delightful happenstance, we still managed to get a bunch of walking and eating in while we were there. It’s not the same as travelling alone, or as a pair of adults, but it actually worked out fairly well, since we got some mandatory relaxation time. The fun thing about being in the pacific time zone, when you’re used to eastern standard time is that everyone is still sleeping and you’re all wide awake. So you get to do things like watch the sunrise over the city and get to enjoy hotel swimming pools all to yourself. We took the redeye over to Vancouver and got in on the skytrain. They’ve got a lovely transit…
Veggielicious 2017 – Southern Accent
Once upon a time Southern Accent used to be in Mirvish Village, and we’d walk by and always plan to go in. They had a lovely and inviting patio outside, but we never got our act together and Mirvish Village is turning into a condo complex. We were worried we wouldn’t get to try the food at Southern Accent, but thankfully they’ve moved over to College and Ossington(ish.) I have a real fondness for New Orleans and Creole cuisine. JC and I went on a tiny south-western US roadtrip a few years ago – and it was incredible driving through Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and then ending up in New Orleans, Louisiana for New Years Eve way back when. We ate well. We had a great time. There were so many vegan options right on the menu in the French Quarter and around the city, you’d be pleasantly surprised if you’ve never been before. So I was missing that flavour, that ambiance, that music, the colours, the sounds. Well, lucky us – we’ve got a taste of N’awlins right here in Toronto. And double lucky us, Southern Accent was participating in Veggielicious this year. They have a few vegan options on their menu year-round, but they had a couple of special dishes for Veggielicious on the go as well, so we picked the specials – planning to return again in the future for some of their regular menu items. The Southern Accent Veggielicious Menu (Prix-fixe $25 per person) First Course: Soup of the…
Roadtrip 2014 – Yellowstone – The beginning
The drive to Yellowstone from Glacier National Park, and through Montana was lovely. Possibly one of the most remarkable drives we’d taken on this road trip. We started out on US 89, 287, 191 and worked our way up through several National Forests and historic sites, stopping occasionally, but mostly just pushing on, enjoying the rich diversity of terrain and elevations between Glacier and Yellowstone. We stopped in Helena, Montana to pick up a few provisions and grab a bite to eat and drove on. We also, as tradition dictated – stood beside the Continental Divide sign. This time at an Elevation of 8391. We arrived in Yellowstone, through the West entrance, in the late evening just a few hours before sunset. The whole length of the road has inviting signs sending you on to different sites and drives and campgrounds, so we stopped to take a look at Fountain Paint Pots, and Old Faithful before heading to our pre-reserved site in Grant Village Campground. Fountain Paint Pots was a great walk through with amazing colours, bacterial mats, springs, mud pots, steam vents, geysers, and a long stretch of boardwalk. I was happy we ended up there in the evening, in the rain, because the steam was even more dramatic in lower temperatures, and it was just nicer to be outside in the sunset than the sunny +30 C temperatures we’d experience during our subsequent days in Yellowstone. It was our first taste of the incredible alien wonder that Yellowstone…
2014 Roadtrip – Helena, Montana
It wouldn’t be my first visit to Helena, Montana, but it had been at least a couple of decades since my last time there as a kid. We had left Glacier National Park, and were heading to Yellowstone National Park for that evening. Helena is conveniently located right between Glacier and Yellowstone so it was the perfect place to stop, pick up some food, and ideally grab something to eat. On the way there we visited a couple of scenic rest stops, one of those was the Missouri River Canyon. One of the cool things about our road trip is that occasionally we followed along the path of Lewis and Clark’s expedition – there are the occasional highway markers indicating this. “The Lewis and Clark Expedition pass through this canyon of “nearly perpendicular rocks during its journey up the Missouri River in July 1805.” We were hungry and wondering if there was anything vegan in Helena- according to happycow we had a couple of natural grocery store options, but I had a suspicion that there might be a Taco Del Mar there. And thankfully, I was right. So we went to the one and only at 3215 Dredge Dr, in Helena. Taco Del Mar is the proto-Chipotle. They started in the west coast and spread around offering a variety of tacos, burritos, and Baja Tex Mex cuisine. They were also one of the first fairly mainstream chains I can remember that had “vegan” right on their menu. So when I found…