Root latke waffles

• 8 cups shredded root vegetables (e.g. yam, sweet potato, beet, carrot, onion, etc.)
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup oil
• spices to taste

Shred the vegetables in a food processor (if you try this by hand, you’re likely to be at it all day). Mix the dry and wet separately before combining. Fry them up in a waffle iron and serve hot with any kind of dressing that suits: ketchup, salad dressing, raw tahini. It’s all good.

Chocolate oatmeal cups

Sometimes a recipe doesn’t turn out the way you’d expect. I have this one for oatmeal cookies that’s always turned out much flatter than I’d like. Instead of putting them on a cookie sheet, I tried using a muffin sheet such that they might hold their shape a little better. Little did I know that they’d puff up and collapse, creating chocolate oatmeal cups. Fantastic.

Ingredients

• ½ cup margarine
• 1 cup dry sweetener
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 “egg” (I’m using Ener-G)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ½ cup flour

Method

1. Like with all cookie recipes, mix the wet, sift together the dry, combine.
2. Bake in a muffin tray at 350°F for 10 minutes.
3. Let them cool down before putting them in the freezer for at least an hour.
4. Fill with anything: jam, ice cream, peanut butter, etc.

French Onion Soup

I don’t think I’ve ever had onion soup before, so I’m kind of winging it on this one. The first attempt turned out tasty enough to share, as inauthentic as it may be.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup margarine
• 4 onions, sliced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2½ cups water
• 2½ cups onion broth
• ½ cup red wine
• croutons
• vegan cheese, sliced (Earth Island Mozzarella works well, but I’m looking forward to trying Daiya’s)

Method

1. Melt the margarine in a soup pot. Stir in the sugar. Add the onions and cook until caramelized (about 10 minutes).
2. Stir in the flour until the mix thickens.
3. Add the water, broth and wine. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for 10 minutes.
4. Ladle the soup into ramekins, placing a single layer or croutons on top, then multiple layers of the sliced cheese
5. Bake at for 10 minutes at 220°C.

Sesame ginger cookies

The following recipe comes from The Veganomicon, my newest of cookbooks.

Dry ingredients

• 2¼ cups flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Wet ingredients

• ½ cup vegetable shortening
• ½ cup chunky peanut butter
• ¼ cup brown rice syrup
• 1¼ cups sugar
• ½ cup soy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp almond extract

Additional ingredients

• 5 oz. candied ginger, diced finely
• ⅓ cup sesame seeds

Method

1. Sift together the dry ingredients in one bowl.
2. Beat the wet ingredients in another until smooth.
3. Add the dry to the wet.
4. Mix in the candied ginger.
5. Roll small balls of batter first in the sesame seeds, then in some extra sugar before placing on a cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 350°F for 13 minutes.

Pumpkin cheesecake cupcake

Cheesecupcake? Cupcheesecake? Whatever. Delicious. The recipe is loosely based off of the pumpkin tofu cheesecake from La Dolce Vegan, but with necessary substitutions based on ingredient scarcity.

Ingredients

• 425g firm tofu and 300g silken tofu (I was short and used 350g firm tofu and an 8oz tub of Tofutti creamcheese)
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp maple extract (I used about 2 tbsp maple syrup)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground ginger (I doubled this as I love ginger)
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 tbsp maple syrup (Omitted as per above)

The crust was just graham cracker crumbs with a bit of melted margarine and sugar.

Method

1. In a set of about 8 ramekins, crumble the crust into the corners, forming a thin bottom and a reasonable ring around the outside.
2. Blend the above ingredients (wet first, then dry) and pour the smooth mixture into the ramekins, on top of the crumble crust
3. If desired, sprinkle some crumbled pecans, sugar and cinnamon on top. Drizzle some maple syrup if you’d like too. It’s not necessary, but they spice up an otherwise bland surface.
4. Bake for 75 minutes at 150°C then let cool overnight in the fridge.

Pumpkin pie

I got this recipe from La Dolce Vegan and tried it out on family a few days ago. It worked so well I thought I’d pass it along to others.

Pie crust

• 2 cups pastry flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup margarine
• ¼ cup soy milk

1. Sift the flour and salt together.
2. Add the margarine and mix together until it becomes a coarse meal.
3. Add the milk in and mix until a dough forms.
4. Roll into a ball and refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Roll it out into pie shell.

Filling

• 400 ml pumpkin purée
• ½ cup soy milk
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp allspice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix the milk and syrup together and slowly add the cornstarch, whisking if necessary.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
3. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Topping

• ¼ cup walnuts
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp margarine

1. Crumble the walnuts as fine as you can. The dustier the better.
2. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Add the margarine in and combine.
4. Sprinkle on top of the pie evenly.
5. Bake at 375°F for 40-45 minutes. Done!

French Toast

• 1½ cup soy milk
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp oats
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Just mix all that together and soak some bread in it. Put the bread on an oiled frying pan until nice and golden. As for topping, I suggest margarine, maple syrup and freshly picked blackberries. They’re a lot cheaper than you’ll find in the store and as fresh as they’ll ever get.

Peanut butter chocolate pie

• 2 blocks of silken tofu
• 12 oz of chocolate, double-boiled
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 pie crust

Blend the tofu, chocolate, maple syrup and vanilla. Spread the peanut butter in the pie crust. Pour the mixture on top and let it sit in your freezer for about an hour or two. Oh yeah.

Strawberry rhubarb jam

Thanks to Mishka, my desire for strubarb has been sated. Behold!

Ingredients

• Rhubarb, 2 stalks
• Strawberries, 1 clamshell
• Sugar, ½ cup or a little more
• Lemon juice, 1 tbsp

Instructions

1. Slice the strawberries and rhubarb up into thin slices.
2. Simmer them with the sugar and lemon until it gets all soupy.
3. Simmer it some more until it thickens a bit.

Seriously. That’s it. If you want it to thicken a little more, add some corn starch (careful to dilute it in water first; you don’t want clumps like I got on my first try).

Variety

I had no idea what this was when I was making and I’m still not sure what it was now that it’s done. All I know is that it was tasty and new.

1. Look in your fridge, cupboards, whatever.
2. Find things that have been sitting around for a while.
3. Combine.

This isn’t guaranteed to result in tasty, but that’s not really the point here. We’re aiming for new ideas. Someone had to invent that favourite dish you ate last week, right?