This Week in My Kitchen: Local Food Products

I'm dog/cat-sitting for my mom this month, and she lives near a fancy gourmet grocery store called Meinhardt Fine Foods. Tonight I decided to treat myself to dinner from there. I don't have a lot of time to cook since I have to get Odin to bed around 6:30, so it had to be something fast and easy. I found some great foods from local Vancouver companies to make a quick, healthy, yummy dinner. Here's what I had:

Happy Planet Thai Coconut Soup with Sunrise Firm Tofu
I've wanted to try Happy Planet soups for a while, but they aren't cheap and I usually end up passing them by for something cheaper, if less healthy and delicious. The Thai Coconut Soup was SO worth it! I love red coconut curry, and this had just the right amount of hot and sweet. I added some local tofu for a filling, balanced meal and even after dessert I'm already thinking about seconds.

Rico n' Lalo Frozen Fruit Bars
I noticed these fruit bars because of the fantastic packaging, then saw that they are local and all natural. The fact that they're low-calorie is a bonus! I chose lime flavour as a perfect ending for the red curry soup. It was so good! Sweet and tart and refreshing! I'm excited that there are three bars left in the package...

Seattle 2011, part 1

Kirk and I decided to get out of town for a few days (good timing too, what with all the rioting in Vancouver) so we drove down to Seattle last Monday. Now, when Kirk and I go on vacation, we generally enjoy walking around and eating a lot. This was no exception!

We took our time driving down (depending on the traffic and border waits it takes about 3 hours to drive from Vancouver to Seattle), stopping in Everett where we marveled at the giant battleship in the harbour. We checked into our hotel (Inn at Queen Anne - awesome) and had a little nap, then headed out for dinner. The Queen Anne district in Seattle is full of great food, so we stepped across the street to The Signature Restaurant, a nice Vietnamese place on 1st. We hadn't been there before, and were suitably impressed. It's not terribly authentic, but definitely yummy.

 I started with a beer I'd never tried before - Maui Brewing Co's CoCoNut Porter. Heavenly! Nice and dark and caramelly, with just a hint of coconut. And the can is attractive too, a big plus in my books.

As it was happy hour, we had the Salt & Pepper Fried Tofu. My terrible photo does not do it justice at all - It was lightly breaded, crispy and delicious. I've had salt & pepper tofu at a tonne of places, and this was definitely top 5.

I was thrilled to see that they had vegetarian phở on the menu. Not beef broth with no meat chunks, but actual animal-free soupy goodness. It was amazing, with a depth of flavour that I haven't yet been able to achieve at home and a tonne of crisp veggies. Love love love!

We spent the rest of the evening watching tv in the hotel room. With no tv at home, that was kind of a treat for us.

More Seattle posts to come. Not all about food, but mostly :)

Vegan MoFo Day 19: Loving Hut Lunch

On the work days when I'm too lazy to make lunch in the morning, I go to Loving Hut for lunch. Loving Hut is a completely vegan chain restaurant with locations in nineteen countries, and I love it. It's super casual, inexpensive and fast - perfect for a quick lunch break. And I absolutely adore restaurants where I can order anything on the menu!

Yesterday I had the Golden Rice Bowl, which is brown rice with veggies, tofu, "shrimp", Gardein beef tips and miso gravy. Pretty awesome, and filled me up for the whole afternoon. Yum!

 There were a lot of veggies in it - you just can't see them in this crappy photo...

Vegan MoFo Day 1: Beautiful BC is right! Van Isle Eats

Kirk and I went to Victoria for a little mini-vacation and we ate ate ate! Here's some highlights...

The first thing we did after getting off the ferry is to head over to Red Barn Market and pick up some bulk spices. I really miss Red Barn Market!

Then we drove into Victoria and went for lunch at Lotus Pond, an awesome little Buddhist vegetarian restaurant.  We shared the Hot & Sour Soup, Szechuan Ginger B (my favourite - and I can't find a place that has it in Vancouver), and Mixed Vegetables in Crushed Ginger. It was FANtastic!

 Hot & Sour Soup

 Man, I love Ginger B!!

After lunch we wandered the city and worked up an appetite again. We decided on Swan's for dinner. Swan's is a great little brew pub down near the water, located in the funky Swan's Hotel. Their food is good and their beer is amazing! I had a Portabello Burger with fries and a pint of Double Shot Stout, made with espresso from local roastery Caffe Fantastico. The burger was good, and the stout was sensational.

Kirk deciding on his order

 My yummy burger. Check out the colour of that stout in the background!

After dinner we wandered down to Peacock Billiards to play some pool, and we randomly ran into our friends Warren & Dayna! We played a few games (pretty poorly, but it was fun nonetheless), then headed over to The Garrick's Head for a drink.

 Did I mention it was Halloween? Dayna is dressed as a cave woman, and

the rest of us went as ourselves (that's scary enough!).

 Kirk enjoys his drink at the Garrick's Head

Kirk and I were staying at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, 'cause we're fancy like that! Actually, we just got a really good deal and thought it would be fun to stay in the second-least-expensive room. We were right!

The BC Legislature is around the corner from the Empress, and is beautiful at night.

The hallway leading to our room.

King sized bed... aahhhh.

The next morning we reluctantly climbed out of our king sized bed and went to John's Place for breakfast. John's Place is a Victoria institution, and for good reason. There is a huge, crazy selection of posters and photos on the walls, the best service in town, and good food too! I had the Vegan Burrito, which is new on the menu and a welcome edition (I used to have to get potatoes and fruit salad there for breakfast, even though they had vegan options for lunch & dinner). The burrito had tofu, all sorts of veggies, salsa and guacamole, and it was SO good! Yes, I know I'm not supposed to be eating tofu, but I make exceptions when I'm eating out, which is difficult enough as it is. I have probably cut my soy consumption down by 85% over the past six months, and I'm okay with that. Those of you who know me know nothing is black and white for me - I'm a shades of grey kinda gal.

 The burrito was huge and I ate the whole thing!

That afternoon we had to go up to Nanaimo to pick up Kirk's bicycle, which has been in storage in a friend's garage there for a few years now. While we were in the neighbourhood, we decided to go to Coombs, which is a funny little town about half an hour north of Nanaimo. It's best known for the Old Country Market, which has goats living on the roof. It was raining and the roof goats were nowhere to be seen, but we met up with some goats and a friendly rabbit in the back of the store.

 This rabbit was so tame! I love him.

 Billy goat

Shy goat

All in all it was a really fun trip, and we ate our weight in awesome Island fare. This trip just reiterates my belief that Victoria is a great place for us to visit, but not such a great place for us to live...

How to be a Soy-free Vegan...

My family history has a lot of endometriosis, and although I understand that it's bad, I never really knew much about it. After some recent health issues and some unpleasant testing (Ever have a hysterosalpingogram? Ugh!), I have a tentative diagnosis of endometriosis. The only way to get a confirmed diagnosis is through surgery, and I'm scheduled for a laparoscopic procedure next month. They are going to remove any errant endometrial tissue at the same time. There are other treatments besides surgery, but they negatively effect fertility, and I'm really not willing to do that. Kirk hates the idea of my having surgery, but I'm kind of happy about getting definitive answers as to what's gone wrong. Then I can make an action plan. I don't like surgery, but I really like action plans!

So in the meantime, what do I do? Being the internet research junkie that I am, I started searching. There are lots of nutritional changes I can make to help, but one really stuck out: Some studies have shown that soy foods can aggravate endometriosis because of the high levels of phytoestrogens found in soy. I've read about the whole phytoestrogen debate before, which mostly seemed alarmist and one-sided to me. But now it's different. Now I already have a health problem that I could be exacerbating through my seemingly healthy diet. Damn!

How am I supposed to follow my strict vegetarian diet, which I believe in very strongly, without consuming soy foods? It's possible, but it's just that much more difficult. I've been eating soy foods in some form or another for nearly twenty years. I love miso so much! I am at this very moment wearing a t-shirt that says "I Heart Tofu" on it for goodness sake! I guess I'll be eating a lot more beans and quinoa!

Any of you have any favourite soy-free vegan recipes or cookbooks?

This Week in My Kitchen: Polenta with Tofu & Veggies, Amazing Greek Salad, Lettuce Rolls, Curried Chickpea Soup

After Christmas I didn't do a lot of cooking since we had so many leftovers to eat. But the leftovers eventually dwindled, and I got back in the kitchen. After the glut of sweets over the holidays, I've been focusing on fresh, healthy, savoury dishes. I need to wean myself off of the sugar again!

Polenta with Tofu and Veggies
Exactly how it sounds. For my second foray into polenta of late I chose to add a half cup of water more than I did last time and set it in a loaf pan rather than free-form. I liked the loaf-shape (which served to keep me from breaking pieces off the edges and snacking on them), but the texture was a bit too wet for my liking. I marinaded the tofu in cider vinegar, veggie broth and some spices. I sauteed the tofu, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, bell pepper and spinach, then added veggie broth thickened with arrowroot and served it over a slice of polenta. Yum!

I used the polenta to press the tofu

Amazing Greek Salad
Craving fresh veggies late one evening, I decided to make myself a quick Greek-type salad. I chopped cucmber, bell pepper, grape tomatoes and green onions (because I didn't have a red onion) and dressed it with red wine vinegar, Bragg's Sea Kelp Seasoning (because I'm out of oregano) and mustard seeds and topped it with kalamata olives. It was heavenly!

I'm hungry again just looking at this photo!

Lettuce Rolls - A Five-Minute Dinner
Last time I was in Nanaimo, my friend Carmen made these wonderful lettuce rolls, and this week I recreated them from memory. I used Asian style Yves Ground Round (you could use TVP and add your own flavourings) and sauteed it with diced onion and bell pepper. I think Carmen's sauce was made with peanut butter, but peanut butter is my mortal enemy, so I made mine by adding coconut milk to almond butter (cashew butter would be good too) and microwaving it until it was soft and soupy. I assembled the rolls by putting a scoop of the ground round mixture into the middle of a piece of iceberg lettuce, adding some sauce, and rolling it up. A cheap, healthy dinner prepared in five minutes. Thanks Carmen!

Curried Chickpea Soup

As part of my new life with a budget, I've been focusing on preparing hearty meals for very little money. I had a bag of dried chickpeas in my pantry, so I used a recipe from the ReBar Modern Food Cookbook to make curried chickpea soup. ReBar is a great little restaurant in Victoria that was one of my favourite places for breakfast. I added chopped fresh spinach, since I had some in the fridge that I had to use, and the leftover sauce from the lettuce rolls, which added a nice subtle nutty flavour.

I definitely recommend this recipe.

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