Chutney & Cheese Toast

Latest favourite snack and way to eat soy cheese - also great with cheddar slices if not vegan or if you're a lacto-ovo vegetarian! Cheese has been one of the hardest things to give up in the path towards veganism. However this is one way that I think soy cheese tastes great! Chutney is a spicy jam like spread and is a part of Indian cuisine. Mango and tomato are popular and kiwi is great too. Simply spread on toast and place cheese slices on top!

Peach Chutney Recipe Post to follow!

PHO PHO GOOD!

I have just returned from an Atlantic Canadian month long road trip! Along the way my friend and I encountered many vegetarian and vegan successes and hurdles while camping, travelling and dining across the eastern portion of the country. I can't wait to share all of the amazing recipes and ideas on ecovegfootprint!

One of our favourite meals came from a restaurant in Montreal's Chinatown. My friend Jessie and I tried our first veg Pho! This is a Vietnamese noodle soup that is so yummy and really feels like it envelopes the whole body. It feels so healthy to eat and would keep anyone warm during cold Canadian winter months. The veg aspect of the soup is incorporated by easily using any other type of broth besides beef. Traditional ingredients are interesting and slightly complex if you are not used to cooking Asian cuisine. As there are many ways to make it depending on the region, Pho recipes can be easily morphed. I find that a key ingredient besides noodles is fennel. I have been growing this herb in my garden for the first time and it has been interesting! More about that in another post because I want to share this Pho! I tried a recipe that came from the memories of my taste buds. I recommend going out to try some that is authentic. Nevertheless here is what I came up with and my friends, family and I thought it was a very good!

Keep in mind that quantity depends on how large a batch you want to make. Also that these are the specific ingredients I used but any can be substituted. It only takes about 5 minutes cooking time which I suppose makes it a somewhat rawish dish.

Simple Veg Pho Recipe

In a small pot of water on the stove add:

Japanese buckwheat noodles

sea salt

soy sauce

mushrooms

cashews

fennel

chives

green onions

nutritional yeast

beansprouts

Veg Nachos

Well I've never been a big fan of ordering nachos in a restaurant and that's probably because they are usually smothered in ground beef, cheese and sour cream! This recipe turned out great so I finally found a solution in veg nachos.

Begin with spreading low sodium nacho chips on a pan and then lightly top with a mix of soy based vegetarian chili from PC (best canned veg chili ever!) and Yves Veggie Ground - the combination makes the mix more solid. Lightly and sporadically add one can of preferred salsa, previously drained so as to make these yummy and crunchy veg nachos instead of runny tomato juice veg
nachos!


Add another layer of nachos and repeat. Add black beans and (soy or dairy) shredded cheese this time. Finally I garnished with chopped green onions from my garden. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and serve!

Asian Hybrid Stirfry

In making this stirfry I spontaneously added various ingredients of south and east Asian cuisine to create a hybrid effect that was interesting and delicious!

Tossing a veggie medley into a frying pan and lightly dusting with curry powder (Ten Thousand Villages fair-trade from Sri Lanka to be exact) is what I did first. The oil I added sporadically while frying is roasted garlic grapeseed oil. Instead of rice I chose to add Japanese buckwheat noodles as a base which can be boiled for 3 minutes and added to the stirfry with additional oil so as to avoid pan-stick action! I added a chopped mix of coriander, basil and rosemary from my herb garden and garnished generously with sesame seeds, chopped mango and coconut sprinkles. I served this dish with crackers and the kiwi chutney that I bought at Windsor's annual Art in the Park that just passed.

After the health feast my friend Craig and I tried to make a vegan cookie/quickbread recipe and it was a complete mess/flop! Pictured below is my post-stirfry success and pre-baking disaster smile. Not all of the recipes I make up or get from other blogs work out of course and those go un-posted! I encourage all to perservere on the veg cooking journey because we all make mistakes and wow is it worth it when you make something new, interesting and yummy to add to the recipe book. And a DIY apron makes any cooking experience better!

Windsor Indie Art & Eco Action

Now that the grass down by the Windsor riverfront is long enough to braid - that is exactly what kind of eco action is going down! Leesa Bringas has been leading the process and I think it is a brilliant solution. I share the sentiments that have been expressed on various Windsor pages and blogs such as the recent post on the ever ingenuitive Broken City Lab! Click to see pics here




I also found this great link from a 2007 article but found it to be an informative and interesting take on Windsor's indie/artsy venues, including CJAM, and what they have to offer:

Hipsters Guide to Windsor

A Garden Recipe Already!

These are the ingredients I used to make bruschetta - it is by no means a traditional recipe. I love reaping the benefits of DIY - I put on the apron I made as featured in a previous post and already got to use ingredients from my newly planted garden.

Bruschetta

Bruschetta

Tomatoes
Red Onions
Rosemary
Basil Leaves
Chives
Oil (Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil for example!)

Mix these ingredients together and drizzle oil over top before stirring. I like to use scissors in cooking so I chopped everything up a little finer once it was in a bowl. Serve on top of sliced french bread! Add feta and/or rosemary sprigs to garnish if you are not looking for a strictly veg recipe or are feeling ambitious.

Plants and Plants and Plants and

GARDENING TIME! This may very well be the last garden I plant while living at home (as I am moving in the fall) - lots of great space with a little shade and mostly sunshine! It was a perfect day to plant - I got out there in the late afternoon when it was warm but with a mild cool breeze. Tonight I will give the entire thing a light mist. I love this time of year and this is one of the reasons why. Planting season gives us an opportunity to physically and spiritually reconnect with nature by initiating the phenomenon of its natural life cycles. As I mentioned in a post about preparing quinoa, the feeling of running my bare hands through soil, much like grain, is a humble and organic experience!

No gloves for this girl...

Today in my vegetable and herb gardens I planted:

Tomatoes, green and yellow cucumber and zucchini, fennel, red and Spanish onions, eggplant, organic radishes and spinach seeds, coriander, nutmeg and lemon thyme, rosemary, pineapple sage and basil.

I also have some parsley, chives and dill already going with a few flowers here and there as well! As pictured right, the chives, perennial flowers and dill have spiraled a bit out of control! Below is a picture of my treasured herb garden.

Wish me luck - if you have any questions please ask and also look back to see summer veg recipes posted with the freshest ingredients of those listed above. If you know of any recipes that call for them then please do not hesitate to share them with me!

happy gardening!

Spontaneous DIY

This is the stuff I made! I am a hand sewer and do not own or know how to use a sewing machine and still these projects were really easy. First I made a simple square apron for all of my veg cooking endeavours. Value Village is a fabric goldmine! Made a pouch purse for my friend too with the same material. Very fun and easy process which also makes a great gift. These were some spontaneous crafts as I am new to creating other than bags and purses. DIY really saves alot of money plus all of the time and various forms of energy that would have been otherwise spent in the process of shopping/buying/consuming.

DIY Apron Instructions

Cut out two layers of fabric in the whichever shape you want your apron to be. Simply hand-stitch them together by looping the needle and thread around all the outside corners. Cut out additional squares if you want to sew on pockets in which obviously only three sides will need to be stitched. Use excess material to cut an approximately two 1 inch strips for the straps. I sewed these onto the sides and added a button over each.

DIY Purse Instructions

Another project I did with the same fabric was a pouch for my friend who likes to shove all of what are usual wallet contents into a small-medium sized purse-like thing. I made one custom for her which includes a pocket for cards!

Cut out a double layer fabric rectangle slightly larger than a standard piece of paper. The purse is going to fold like a letter. First fold up the bottom half and sew the sides together. Wen sewing the top of the bottom fold together, leave a space to act as the top of a pocket. Sew three sides down around wherever this opening is located. Fold down the top and cut the corners on an angle. Sew the sides of this together.
Add the button to the bottom of the bag and sew a few inch long piece of material to the bottom of the top flap, parallel to where the button is sewed at the bottom. Carefully make a button hole with scissors.

These are really basic and simple but I wanted to share the recent acceleration in my DIY initiatives! Get creative and use different coloured threads, patterns and accessories that look good together.

Fin!