Vegan Dumplings!

Anything that takes an entire evening to make is bound to taste better than a quick fix meal. There's something about having to really work for your food that brings out the foodie in all of us... and with that in mind, I bring you vegan dumplings!

It was still late afternoon when we decided to venture into the culinary abyss better known as homemade dumplings. The challenge of finding vegan dumpling wrappers (pre-made dough that folds easily into dumpling-like shapes) was a good one, and from what I've read online it's probably easier to just make them yourself. In terms of filling, you can really switch it up here. As long as you aren't using anything too watery, and as long as it fits in the dumpling wrapper, it's probably fair game. What I've listed below is what we used in ours, and I can definitely attest to its deliciousness.


DUMPLING FILLING:
-1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoons sesame oil
-1 cups finely shredded nappa cabbage
-1/2 cup shredded onion


DUMPLING SAUCE:
-4 tbsp soy sauce
-3 tbsp sesame oil
-pinch of white sugar
-pinch of chili flakes


1. Sautee filling ingredients, and mince until almost ground.
2. Keep dumpling wrappers under a wet cloth to prevent them from drying out. Take out only 10 at a time, and lay flat on clean countertop or cutting board.
3. Drop 1 tsp of mixture into centre of wrapper, wet edges of wrapper with a drop of water, and fold wrapper in half.
4. Make sure edges of wrapper are smoothly sealed, and pinch the edges until they are frilled. Flatten the bottom of the dumpling so that it can stand on its own.
5. Place filled and sealed dumplings into tupperware or a ziploc baggie until ready to cook. Repeat steps 2-4 until you've exhausted your collection of wrappers, or until you're simply too excited/hungry to not move to the next step.
6. Heat 1 tsp of cooking oil in a large nonstick pan (one which you have a fitted lid for!) at medium heat, and place as many dumplings as will fit (flat side down), and not touching.
7. Allow to fry for about 2-3 minutes, until the bottoms of the dumplings have browned.
8. When the bottoms of the dumplings are sufficiently golden, throw in a quarter cup of water, and place lid onto pan. Steam dumplings for 1 minute.
9. Remove the lid, and allow the remaining water to evaporate.
10. Throw together dumpling sauce, and nom nom nom! You have dumplings!

Though quite a bit of effort on the first round, round two and three proves much quicker and significantly less complicated. I recommend munching on cooked dumplings in between each round when you first start out --though, in all honesty, that's probably a given.

5-Step Banana Bread

Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread

Preheat over to 350 degrees


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 small bananas or 2 big)
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg's worth of egg replacement (I suggest Ener-G!)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or olive oil
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Grease and flour loaf pan
2. Stir flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips in large bowl
3. Combine bananas, sugar,egg and oil, stir together in separate bowl
4. Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients and fold until moistened
5. Bake for 50-55 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean!

Enjoy!

Fall forever? Please?

Right around this time of year, two years ago, I started this blog.

It was fall, and I felt warm inside. I wanted my own little corner of the internet. A place I could colour in and edit, use as I like.

And here I am two years unwiser, a much better cook/baker, yet just as sappy and sentimental with my pros.

Hm. Fall.

How is it that I write about it every year, without fail, and never feel content with the way I've described it? It always seems to be one step ahead of me, this sneaky season. And yet I take so much comfort in aimlessly trailing behind it, trying to keep myself as close as possible to it before it runs away and I'm suddenly knee-deep in snow and missing sunshine. Winter makes me feel like a plant craving water: all bent over and lifeless, looking forward to the spring as though I'm not really sure if it'll make it back this year. But this year is going to be a little different: I get to spend December camping out under a shady coconut grove, yoga-ing, quite literally, from sunrise to sunset, and coming back to this city as a certified yoga teacher in the new year.

As my dear friend Devin said,

"Seriously Marls, you're gonna transform into a lotus bud or something after all of this".

Wouldn't that be a surprise?

So what have I been up to? Fall. It's the beginning of November, what else could you possibly expect...

A little plaid...

A little hybrid squash which may or may not have required a butcher knife to cut open...

And some curiously large apples...

But if you know me, and I'm assuming you do, you'll know that I can't say it's truly fall until I've made a vegan pumpkin pie. Or two. These were for my floor potluck at work:

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

-1 8-inch or 9-inch unbaked pie crust (homemade or storebought)
-2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one 15-oz can)
-1 cup plain nondairy milk (soy is best, though coconut creates a creamier texture if you don't mind a little coconut flavour seeping through)
-3/4 cup sugar
-2 1/2 – 3 Tbsp cornstarch
-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ginger
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp ground cloves
-1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine pumpkin, non-dairy milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and spices in a large bowl, and mix very well.
3. Pour into unbaked pastry shell, and bake for about an hour. Don't worry -the pie will firm up as it cools. Let cool completely on a cooling rack and refrigerate under plastic wrap for several hours before serving.
4. Scarf down and digest fall with utmost happiness -preferably with someone who makes you feel warm and fuzzy (and appreciates your baking skills).

Happy Fall!

Nom nom nom

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Preheat oven to 350
Combine:

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
3/4 cup of vegan dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil or vegan margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (Almond milk would work too!)

Bake for 12-15 minutes per dozen. The recipe makes about two dozen. The cookies will be pretty soft when you take them out, but they harden a little as they cool, and end up that perfect soft-on-the-inside-crunchy-on-the-outside consistency.

YUM.

What's in a Year?

Why Hello Blog!

Long time no write! A year, actually. And what a year it was.

I come to you live from the train, en route to Montreal from Toronto, where I've been hiding for the last couple days.

Proof:



You know those horrendously awkward faces you make at yourself in photobooth? Turns out they're even more awkward to make when you're on a fully packed train and practically sitting on the person next to you (see the above photo for proof of said awkwardness). I thought about asking my seat-buddy to join in on the fun, but it's still early on in the 5 1/2 hour commute... Unfortunately, he has a terrifying resemblance to Hannibal Lector. Also, I doubt he would be able to respond to such a gracious offer over the death metal blaring out of his retro headphones. Hm.

ANYWAYS, I'd like to say, "I don't know how I've neglected this blog for so long", but I actually have a confession to make: I haven't been cooking. Or baking. Or eating homemade food at all.

And yes, that was as painful to type as it was to read.

I've spent the last eight moths working in a residence, and as a perk to the job, I was given access to an unlimited meal plan a la my university's Food Services. I promised myself I'd be honest in this post, so I won't strategically leave out the fact that I DID have access to a kitchen... I just never really used it.

Again, yes, that was as painful to type as it was to read.

Sigh.

Sometimes convenience is just that: convenient. The silver lining of this cafeteria cloud, however, can be found in the pent up kitchen energy I've accumulated, as well as the unorganized file folder of recipes I've been squirreling away.

But before I get to the good(ies) stuff, I want to vainly fill the blair (that's blog air, obviously) with some life updates. It has, after all, been a year since I last wrote...

1. This summer will be my first spent in Montreal since I moved here three years ago, and I couldn't be more excited. It's crazy that we students spend only the most dreary, cold and miserable of the Montreal seasons in the city, and spend the summers back home. I've decided to put this funny pattern to rest, and spend the next four months, the best the city has to offer, taking advantage of my time here. Clearly more on this later.

and

2. I'm working! At a publishing company! Yes, M'amm, I am the new(ish) editorial intern at Black Rose Books Publishing, one of the few primarily English publishing companies in Montreal. Its pretty small, which is great, as I have yet to work the photocopier or make coffee. Actually, I make a lot of coffee... but it's always at my own leisure. But that's not the point. The point is that I'm doing real work, real editing, real research. I applied on a whim quite a while ago, and was thrilled when I heard back from them a few weeks ago. I have three projects under my belt right now, one of which has a deadline coming up reeeallll soon... It's a great internship, and it's already giving me insight into some potential goals for the future. The publishing world is looking pretty intriguing to me these days, and a skim of my google searches offers some serious insight into this possibility: This morning, over coffee, after typing in the 'How' of 'How to tell if espresso beans have gone bad', google politely offered me some of my recent searches:
'How to get into the publishing industry'
'How to dress as an intern at a publishing company'
'How to fact-check', and, my personal favourite,
'How to get out, and stay out, of your pajamas when you're allowed to work from home'

Yep, I am allowed to work from home. At first this possibility put me over the moon, but it really didn't take long before I had rewatched the entire first season of Madmen, and couldn't remember whether I had slept in, or changed mid-day, into the pajamas I was currently wearing. You can imagine my dilemma. So I've been spending most days in the office, but will have to fend for myself the next couple weeks, as my lovely boss is getting married this weekend (!!!) and taking some time off to honeymoon with his (soon to be) wife. I'm either going to have to force myself to make some cafe work dates with other home-working friends, or somehow avoid netflix, youtube, and my relentless affinity for googling things... at least until I can get back into the office.

Now –finally– a recipe! Yipee! Two posts ago ('last year' just sounds way too sad...), I posted some pictures of vegan brownies I had made, and have since received quite a number of requests for the recipe. They are deee-licious, and can be made with either a peanut/almond butter, or (vegan) cream cheese topping. I was originally given this recipe from my brother, a vegan by day/jazz musician by night, and have since found it on a number of other tasty sites. I'm not sure of the original source, but I'll edit it in if I ever figure it out. For now, let's just call them...

*Dave's Jazzy Vegan Brownies*

2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
6oz (roughly half a bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips (melted)
1 T. oil
1 T. vegan butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk
8 oz. Tofutti cream cheese OR peanut butter OR almond butter

1. preheat oven to 325
2. mix together all dry ingredients EXCEPT for the sugar.
3. add in melted chocolate, 1 cup (not 1 1/4 cup!) of sugar, 1 tsp (not 2!) of vanilla, butter, oil, and soy milk.
4. Cream the cream cheese/peanut butter/almond butter with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and tsp of vanilla.
5. Pour mix into an 8x8 pan, then pour topping on top, swirl with knife to your inner artist's content.
6. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

OMG YUM. Here are some pictures I took when I made them last summer...



And here was the second batch of the day about 30 seconds later...



Thank you so, so, so, so, SO much for reading! I love writing these blogs, and even though I have an excuse as to my one year hiatus, I still can't believe I went a year without updating. But I am back, and more excited than ever to keep on keeping on.

Having just crossed the border into Quebec, I think it's only fair to end this post with a "Bon Appétit", straight from my heart to your kitchens.

Tweet