Fire Roasted Vegetables en Croute

This dish came together from a desire to clean out the fridge and a need to make Son #1 a vegan pizza for a birthday party he was attending. I originally intended to just make pizzas for the rest of the family, but as I started grilling I decided to go more stromboli style and I'm glad I did. The drizzle of BBQ sauce brings it all together and takes the dish out of Italian territory and more into some ambiguous fusion zone. The veggies here are just suggestions since there was no coherent plan behind the dish. I think some eggplant and zucchini would fit in well. The roasted tomatoes are essential, though--they add great flavour and make a kind of sauce when you mix everything together.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 recipe pizza dough
- 1 cup white beans (cannelini) tossed with 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 medium red potatoes, grilled (cut in half, toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill over medium heat for about 15 mins, mostly on the skin side, until soft)
- 1 roasted green pepper (roast on high heat until all skin is blistered. Skin and de-seed when cool)
- 12 medium cremini mushroom, grilled (toss in olive oil and salt and pepper, grill cap side down for about 5-7 mins over medium heat (until they release their water)
- 6 cloves roasted garlic (wrap unpeeled garlic in foil, roast over medium heat for about 15 mins)
- 1 large cooked carrot (grilled, steamed, whatever--mine was leftover in the fridge)
- 2 medium roasted tomatoes (place on grill and roast for 15 mins over medium heat--skin will blister and tomato will begin to release water)
- 1 tsp basil
- salt and pepper

METHOD
1. Mix beans with paprika and set aside. Cook whatever veggies you are using on the grill. Dice everything except the mushrooms (leave whole) and mix together in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and adjust basil and paprika to your liking.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a pizza stone in it.
3. Let mixture cool to room temperature (stick in the fridge to speed it up).
4. Proceed as per the instructions (starting at step 5) for my stromboli recipe. You really can pile the veggies up here, so go for it! Stuff that thing full!
5. When baked, drizzle slices with BBQ sauce and serve.

Thai-Style Sweet and Tangy Noodles

As you can imagine time has become a precious commodity around here with four kids to look after this summer (when does school start?). I think we have consumed far too any veggie dogs in the past few weeks so I am now turning to Asian cuisine for fast and fresh meals. Once you have all of your ingredients in place and your wok nice and hot, dinner can be cooked in a manner of minutes. This recipe is more or less from True Thai which has a wonderful vegetarian section. The original recipe calls for black-eyed peas but I had none on hand and used chickpeas.

INGREDIENTS
- 8 oz rice noodles (I used rice vermicelli)
- 2 tbsp oil
- 6 large garlic cloves
- 1/3 cup vegetable stock
- 6 green onions, angle cut into 1" pieces
- 1 large tomato, halved, and cut into thin wedges
- 1/2 block extra firm tofu
- 3/4 cup cooked beans (I used chickpeas)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp mushroom soy sauce
- 1 tsp white pepper
- generous tbsp white vinegar
- 1/2 lb bean sprouts
- cilantro to garnish

METHOD
1. Prepare noodles according to directions on the box (usually you soak in hot water for about 10 mins), then rinse in cold water and set aside.
2. Heat wok over medium-hi heat. When hot, add oil and rotate to coat the wok.
3. Add garlic and fry quickly, until aromatic. Add noodles and fry for 1 min. Add stock and mix well. Add green onions, tomatoes, tofu and beans and stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add sugar and soy sauce and fry 1 min. Add pepper, vinegar, and bean sprouts and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Vanilla Ice Cream (with Cookies n' Cream Variation)

So here is the last in my series of ice cream posts covering the basic flavours. I just served it to my non-vegan (but vegan friendly) parents and they gave it major thumbs up. Again, this recipe is just what I did--feel free to replace and experiment to fit your lifestyle and dietary needs. Next, I would like to explore the world of fruit sorbets and sherbets. I will also get back to posting actual food recipes lest you think that all we do here is sit around gorging on ice cream.

INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups soy milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 cup sugar (probably could be reduced to 3/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp arrowroot
- 1 can coconut milk, stored in a cool place
- soy creamer, or soy milk

METHOD
1. Place soy milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Slit vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the insides into the soy milk. Add the bean as well and simmer for about 20 mins (I don't think any longer will add any more vanilla flavour).
2. After 20 mins the milk will have reduced by about 1/2 cup. Measure and bring liquid back to 2 cups. Add sugar and bring to steaming over medium heat.
3. While soy milk is heating back up, skim coconut cream from the coconut milk and add enough soy creamer (or milk) to bring the volume to 2 cups. Whisk smooth, then take about 1/2 cup of the mixture and mix with the arrowroot, making sure it is totally dissolved.
4. When the milk is steaming, slowly whisk in arrowroot mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick and glossy. Whisk in coconut mixture. It should still be glossy--if not, cook until it is.
5. Remove from heat and let cool. When cool, remove vanilla bean, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
6. Make ice cream according to the directions that came with your maker.

CHEAPER VERSION
- replace vanilla bean with 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff). Skip steps 1 and 2, and add the vanilla at the end with the coconut cream.

COOKIES n' CREAM VARIATION
- crumble 12 chocolate sandwich cookies and add to mixture during the final three to four turns of the machine. You can probably get away with reducing the vanilla to 1 tsp, too.

Regarding Silk Soy Milk

Yesterday I posted a link to the Canadian Silk website for a 75 cent coupon. The reason I did so was because I was confident that Silk was made from organic soy beans and was pretty much OK. In fact, I am sure at one point their carton claimed that 86% of the ingredients in Silk, including the soy beans, were organic. But then I got an email from Michael with this link. Turns out, Silk used to be made with organic soy beans until Dean Foods (the largest milk processor in the US) took it over. I rushed to the fridge and looked at a carton. Sure enough, it said that Silk was made from "natural soybeans" and made no other claims about organic ingredients. I had totally missed the switch. So now I am providing the link to the Canadian Silk site and the American Silk site so we can all write in and tell them they suck. Make Silk organic again!

UPDATE: Not all Silk is affected, only some types. My chocolate Silk says it is organic, my plain Silk is not. Note the very subtle differences in the packages above--from "organic" to "natural." Note as well (sorry for the hastily snapped pic) that the carton on the left says it is made from "natural whole soybeans" while the right says "whole organic soy beans," has an organic certification, and makes the 86% organic claim. Readers from the U.S. have told me that Silk makes an explicitly organic brand for $1 more than the others, but I have not seen it here. Why not make all Silk from organic domestic soybeans, like it once was? And can we in good conscience support Dean Foods?

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry season has come to the North! So we packed up the crew and hit the fields. All the kids were enthusiastic about the expedition (I am projecting on Vegan Daughter a bit, I suppose) and helped us pick 6 baskets of berries without eating too many along the way. We immediately made jam and I set aside some berries to make this delicious ice cream. I know the garnish may cause confusion, but I suppose you could also use raspberries in this as well (I would strain out the seeds, though).

INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
- 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
- 2 cups plain or vanilla soy milk, divided
- 3 tbsp arrowroot
- 1 can full fat coconut milk, left in a cool place (the fridge for a few hours)
- soy creamer (or more soy milk)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff)

METHOD
1. Place berries and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a food processor and process until desired smoothness is reached (I left mine a bit chunky). Set aside.
2. Place sugar and 1 1/2 cups of the soy milk in a saucepan.
3. While soy milk is heating up, whisk arrowroot into remaining 1/2 cup of soy milk. Keep whisking it regularly to make sure the arrowroot does not settle.
4. Skim cream off of the coconut milk and discard (or save for some other recipe) watery stuff. Place in a 2 cup measuring cup and add enough creamer to bring the volume to 2 cups.
5. Heat soy milk/sugar mixture over medium heat until steaming. Slowly whisk in arrowroot mixture and cook until glossy. I let mine bubble every so slightly. Add coconut milk mixture and whisk well. If it does not seem glossy, cook until it is. Otherwise, remove from heat.
6. Mix in strawberry mixture and vanilla. Let cool. Once cool, cover, and chill in the fridge overnight.
7. Make ice cream according to the directions that came with your ice cream maker.