I am so excited for this year’s Vegan Month of Food! Last year, I posted 18 recipes in just one month but this year, I am committed to doing the full 30. A year has past, I feel more confident as a food blogger, S&C has had a major redesign, I released my (free) eBook, and the response about my new philosophy of 12 ingredients or less has been overwhelmingly positive. A huge thanks to all my readers. If you are new to Vegan MoFo or just want to say hi, leave a comment below to introduce yourself. I will be so happy to e-meet you. 

Let’s get started!

Breakfast is a meal that gets a little neglected since most of us are busy in the mornings and our only goal is getting out the door to go to work, preferably with both shoes on. These days can be tough to get an actual meal in and I admit, I have relied on just coffee more than a few times but I am hoping with these recipes, we can change that.

Normally for breakfast, I have a green smoothie that I drink at my desk while I check over emails and plan my to-do list for the day. The roar of the Vitamix blender means that good things are happening. I eat more greens now than ever before thanks to my blender and green smoothies. Drinking greens in the morning is like my little insurance policy for my health, just in case I don’t have the most balanced diet for the remainder of the day. With this smoothie, you are getting 2 full servings of raw green vegetables, 2 servings of fruits, some healthy fats, and protein from the hemp seeds. Good morning indeed!  But what about those lazy mornings? Those weekend mornings when you sleep in, tuck into a large mug of steamy coffee, and want to eat a big breakfast? Good morning Tofu Scramble!  There was once a time I ate eggs every single day, not the yolks, just the rubbery hard boiled whites. Blah. How I detest the smell of eggs now. I swore off anything that looked like eggs for a long time but thankfully, tofu scramble has won me over. I first had it at a breakfast place that also served tofu scramble along side its regular diner-style breakfast menu. It tasted great but was served white and definitely still looked like tofu. Turmeric, a natural anti-inflammatory spice, colours the plain white tofu into a breakfast that looks more familiar. Pair with some fresh tomatoes, sourdough toasts, and, of course, coffee and you have yourself a fine weekend breakfast. 

1 recipe down, 29 more to go! See you all tomorrow for Day 2: Recreation of a Childhood Meal. 

P.S. The S&C Green Smoothie photographed above is available in my free ebook! Subscribe to get this recipe and 14 other no-cook, vegan, and gluten free recipes. 

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4.0 from 1 reviews

Easy Tofu Scramble

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

12 mins

Total time

22 mins

 

Breakfast should not be an all day cooking event, especially when you wake up hungry and just want to eat. This Tofu Scramble is as easy (and quick) as Sunday morning. This recipe is gluten free and nut free.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: Vegan, gluten free

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• For the Tofu Scramble:
• ½ block extra firm tofu
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ small red onion, diced fine
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 
  Serve with:
• Toast
• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Ketchup
• Salsa
• Hot Sauce
• Maple Sriracha Bacon

Instructions

1. Wrap the tofu in a clean dish towel or paper towels and set under something heavy, like a book, to press the water out of the tofu. Set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet and dice the onion.
2. Cook the onion until softened and slightly brown, about 4 minutes. Crumble the tofu with your hands into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
3. Grind the spices and salt in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Transfer the ground seasonings to the tofu mixture and stir well to coat. Cook for another 4-6 minutes. I try a piece after the 4 minute mark to see if the raw tofu taste has been cooked off, if not continue to cook.
4. Once the tofu is cooked to your desired taste, serve with your favourite breakfast fixings and enjoy!

3.3.3077

The post Day 1 Vegan MoFo: Weekday & Weekend Breakfasts appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

My bad habit is binge watching TV so to break this habit, I committed to not turn on my television for the entire month of August. This is a challenge for me but it is possible. A few articles I have researched on breaking bad habits were informative and I want to apply them right away.

One good tip I saw was replacing your bad habit with a good habit. What is your one of your bad habits? What is one good habit you want to get into? Is it reading more, working out, or taking on a new project? Is your bad habit distracting you from these mindful activities to better yourself and get closer to your goal? If yes, how can we change it?

The next step identifying your trigger. When do you do this bad habit? How are you feeling before doing this activity? Stressed? Bored? For me, whenever I am stressed or bored I want to zone out of my state of being and watch someone else’s life for a little bit. This is my band-aid from dealing with these feelings myself. By not watching television to distract myself, I am able to address these feelings head on and deal with them as they come up.

So what to do instead of your bad habit? Ask yourself what else you like to do and write it down on a Post-It. I wrote down five activities I could do for free so whenever I feel like turning on the TV, I could do these things instead. I stuck the Post-It on the television so it is in my sight when I am in the living room. I also deleted the Netflix app on my phone. Whenever I feel the urge to turn on my television, I can look at the list, and pick an activity to do instead. With this method, I hope to change my behaviour when I am bored or stressed. Over the month, I will give you some updates on how this challenge is going, any advice I can give, and what I decided to do with my free time. I hope you can join me. Whatever your bad habit is, you can change it! If you have any tips or tricks for breaking a bad habit, please leave them in the comments section below. I will be delighted to hear from you!

This challenge is inspired by this Sarah’s Scribble comic. I am pretty sure the artist, Sarah Andersen, is depicting my entire life through these comics. I turn into a monster when my wifi goes down, Mark can attest to that. 

Happy Saturday! 

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Crispy Cornmeal Pancakes w/ Blueberry Sauce

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

These pancakes aren't your typical diner pancakes since they are vegan, gluten free, lightly sweetened, and crispy from the addition of cornmeal. They are, what I imagine, a Southern grandma makes on a Sunday morning. The blueberry sauce is simple, quick, and pairs well with the corn-flavour of the pancakes. I added 2 tablespoons of maple syrup to the sauce but if you want it sweeter, add more to taste. I used frozen blueberries for this recipe and if you are using fresh ones, you may have to add an extra splash of water to the sauce. Frozen berries release more liquid when cooked. This recipe serves 10- 5" pancakes and ¾ cup of blueberry sauce.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Ingredients

For the Pancakes

• 1 tablespoon ground golden flax
• 3 tablespoons warm water
• 1 very ripe banana, peeled
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk*
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil + more for greasing the pan
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (yes, a tablespoon)
• ¾ cup gluten free prepared flour (I used Bob Mill’s 1:1 GF flour)
• ¾ cup fine cornmeal
• Pinch of fine grain sea salt

For the Blueberry Sauce

• 1 ¼ cups frozen blueberries, divided
• 2-3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

For the Blueberry Sauce

1. In a small saucepot over medium heat, add 1 cup of blueberries, maple syrup, and water and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Once most of the berries have thawed, mash the mixture with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon.
2. Add the arrowroot powder and stir consistently until thicken slightly. Add the lemon juice and remaining blueberries and stir until the additional berries have thawed. Take off heat until you are about to serve the pancakes.

For the Cornmeal Pancakes

1. While you are making your sauce, preheat oven to 200 degrees and set a wire baking rack over a baking sheet. The pancakes will stay crispier if they are kept warm on a wire rack.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flax and water to create a flax egg; let sit to gel up. Once the flax egg is ready, add the banana and mash with a potato masher or fork until smooth and no large lumps remain.
3. Add the milk, maple syrup and coconut oil. At this time, heat and oil your griddle or skillet over medium heat to cook the pancakes. You want it to be hot before the batter hits it.
4. Add baking powder and whisk until foamy and mixed thoroughly.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until no large lumps remain but a few streaks of flour are ok.
6. Measure out ¼ cup of batter and pour onto the hot skillet; smoothing out the batter with the back of a spoon. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until you see bubbles on the top of the pancake; flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Transfer pancake to the wire rack in the oven and continue with the rest of the batter, regressing the pan as needed.
8. Once all the pancakes are cooked, reheat the blueberry sauce until warm. Stack the pancakes up and pour on the blueberry sauce. Best served with a large cup of coffee. Enjoy!

Notes

*Measure the milk and let sit out of the refrigerator while you prepare the sauce. Refridgerator cold milk will solidify the melted coconut oil.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 10 Calories: 155 Fat: 4g Saturated fat: 2g Unsaturated fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 29g Sugar: 9g Sodium: 19mg Fiber: 2g Protein: 2g

3.3.3077

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This is for my mother, who taught me to love who I am and what I do,

Reading is my favourite thing to do beyond cooking, writing or photographing since books have been a wondrous habit of mine since I was young. My mom, a real champ about my book addiction, would stop at garage sales to look for new books for me, would fill out my order card for the book fair at school every year with at least three new books and we were frequent card users at our local library. She was a single parent for the majority of my life, worked two jobs to feed and clothe my sister and I but she never complained or questioned my need for books. Whenever we were at a family gathering and my social anxiety was at an all time high, she never pushed me to “go play with the other kids” since she knew I was most comfortable under a tree in the backyard reading a book. I had a bad habit of hiding in odd places to avoid my younger sister or cousins so I could read in peace. One of my favourite places to do this was the linen closet in the hallway. I would climb up the shelves, tuck myself in between the sheets or towels, turn on a battery-operated push light that my mom taped to the wall and read my book in a little space all to myself. It really freaked my mom out to see a small child’s head amongst the linen whenever she opened the closet. Her reactions were always very funny to me.

When I was eleven, I started reading the Harry Potter series and absolutely fell in love with the magical world, as I am sure all of us who read it did. Money was very tight during this time of my life but my mom, bless her heart, still bought me the newest Harry Potter books when they came out. She told me that there were worse things to spend money on than her daughter’s books and kept encouraging me to read. She hugged me when I sobbed over a character’s death and never once suggested that, “it wasn’t real,” even though I was sixteen when the seventh book came out. She knew that I was emotionally invested in the story and my feelings about it were very real to me. I will always appreciate her compassion. The Harry Potter series is still on my bookshelf, 17 years later, and I have refused to lend them out since they are my most special collection, thanks to my mom.

My sister and I played dress up quite often since we grew up with tinfoil covered rabbit-ear antennas and a VHS player that occasionally ate our beloved Disney tapes, we were left to entertain ourselves for the most part. For Halloween one year, I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I loved that bright golden dress with the matching gloves. I definitely pretended I was Belle and would hang out in the yard wearing that dress and reading a book. My mom never said anything about me wearing a Halloween costume in July but simply reminded me to bring out a blanket so I wouldn’t mess up my dress. 

My mother has helped me become a life-long reader and introduced me to my ultimate passion in life. She encouraged me to be myself, that odd book-reading kid who hides in the linen closest to catch up on her R.L. Stine and stood up for me whenever a family member questioned my desire of isolation. Sure, I was a weird kid that got really excited when I saw my mother carrying old dusty books in a grocery bag but she was more than happy to feed my addiction.

A special thanks to my mom for encouraging me to do the things that make me the happiest and allowing me to be myself, despite what others might think. Happy Mother’s Day to you.

Love, Jessica

This recipe is adapted from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a *teeny* commission if you make a purchase using this link.

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This process happened slowly then all at once, much like falling asleep as described by John Greene in A Fault In Our Stars. This decision has been weighing on me for a while now and I constantly questioned my choice of going back to school to get a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from a prestigious university in Toronto. I had the grades to get in, dare I say excellent grades that would have landed me a few bursaries but (and this is a huge BUUUT) after auditing a few classes, I simply do not want to do it. It is not that I am lazy or find it too impossible a task but I just lacked any drive or passion to sit in a huge lecture hall to discuss the structure of proteins, carbon bonding and take not one, not two but THREE statistics classes?

On a dark early morning a few days ago before I headed to my Advanced Functions class, I sat on the edge of my bed and wept; we are not talking about a single rolling tear down my cheek but sobbed so hard and long that I had to catch my breath. I was alone, Mark had already headed to school, and I felt helpless, overly dramatic and cursed myself for letting my emotions get the best of me. I wiped my tear-streaked face dry, put on my coat and headed to class. This was the first sign of my need to change.

 With Advanced Functions, I am also retaking my Grade 12 English credit to increase my grade average (oh how I could shake my 18-year-old “my-boyfriend-is-the-most-important-thing-in-my-life” self) and my English teacher asked me why I was headed back to university.

“To get my BSc for Nutrition,” I replied.

“What for?”

“I don’t know…” this quick reply even stunned me. I really didn’t know. I said I have a vegan recipe blog and it went hand-in-hand. “It would be beneficial to the site, I guess…it would benefit my readers, I guess…I think I might be good at it, I guess…” I stumbled over my words trying to justify to my teacher a good reason about why I was upgrading my credits to obtain my nutritional degree, feeling the blood rush to my face out of sheer embarrassment. There sure was a lot of guessing for such a commitment. This conversation was the second sign.

The third and final sign of my decision was actually inspired by the writer of Orangette, Molly Wizenberg. I was looking for a book to read on the subway to go to school and saw A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table sitting on my shelve, quickly shoved it in my bag and headed to school. I have read this wonderful written book twice previous to this but this time her book hit me hard, as all good books do. When I read these memoirs of Wizenberg’s life it is like I am sitting with her at her kitchen table and she is telling me these stories herself over a cup of coffee and maybe a fat piece of pain au chocolat. I cried in public while reading her book detailing her father’s cancer and passing, I giggled over her early love affairs in Paris and swooned over the pages when she met Brandon, her now-husband.

One entry of her book hit me the hardest and made me look at my own life in a new light. She describes going back to Paris to research power study and the body for graduate school but after awhile she realized that this work bored her stiff. Wizenberg states, “Paris has a way of getting your priorities straight,” since she spent most of her days reading cookbooks, visiting pastry shops and kitchen supply stores and decided to quit graduate school. Shortly after this, she started her blog.

This was a sort of revelation to me. I didn’t need a degree in Nutrition to be a food blogger. To me, it has always been about the food: the smell of roasted garlic cloves on a warm piece of baguette, the fresh taste of a perfect smoothie combination, the sweet transformation of slow-roasting tomatoes, the cool creaminess of a cashew cheesecake and not the dephosphorylation of adenosine triphosphate (though it is important).

I think I went through all the stages of grief in a single day. I tried to convince myself out of making this decision, I imagined myself getting my acceptance letter and the feeling of pride that comes with it, questioned my sanity and all the while I just wanted to get back into my kitchen and maybe bake something. I laugh at that thought now, having a mental breakdown about my life and future but wanting to bake. How clear my priorities are now.

The academic upgrading was not for nothing and I will continue taking English with the stress of mathematics and unhappiness lifted off my shoulders. Damn, I feel better already.

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I was feeling really overwhelmed with the upcoming year and ashamed of myself for not taking more chances or more opportunities. A bunch of why’s flooded my brain; why do I still work in a restaurant? Why haven’t I updated any skills to put on a resume? Why didn’t I decide to update my high school credits sooner? Why am I turning 28 and done nothing with my life?!?

All these feelings flooded over me and turned into tears so naturally like the grown up I am, I called my mommy. After telling me all the nice things that mothers are suppose to say when you call them crying she told me that everything is going to be ok. I didn’t believe her and I felt like everything was taking a really long time and I was at a stand-still, despite actively being in school, doing my site and working a full time job. Strange how you can be doing so much and yet feel motionless. She told me that her twenties were very difficult raising two children on her own but after that it got much better. Her husband also told me that sometimes his life was a disaster also raising two children, losing this job to a machine and then having to travel all the time for a lower paying position because it was one of the few jobs available. He mentioned that when the mother of his children became pregnant for a second time, he had a mortgage and no job. The stress was intense but after a lot of hard work, things did in fact get a little bit smoother.  They said that sometimes it felt like things were always going to be bad but thankfully their situations did get better with a little help, love and support from the people around them. They said neither one of them had it all figured out by the time they were 30 and I really shouldn’t put that much pressure on myself when it comes to figuring my entire life out. I was looking at their lives now but did not see the struggle to get there. I was comparing my path to their destination. It was a good prep talk and turned my attitude a full 180 and got down to planning. 

I decided to prepare some birthday goals, which are unlike resolutions have an action plan attached to them. I will give myself until my next birthday to accomplish them since some of them aren’t things that can be accomplished in a week (and thats ok!). I am not one for New Year’s resolutions since I find they are empty but having an action plan can be empowering. Each time I check an item off the list, big or small it is a victory in itself!

My first and most important goal this year is to dump someone that has been dragging me down. This person that is doubting my every decision, embarrassed by the decisions that I have made in the past, someone who doesn’t believe in me and compares my efforts, actions and accomplishments to other peoples. She sighs when she sees someone else’s post or recipe or photograph that is better than mine, thinking I will never be as good as them and might as well just give up entirely. This person is not on Team Jess when I sometimes need her to be so badly. All my friends are on Team Jess, rooting for me in the wings, cheering me on with words of encouragement, support and love but just not her.

This person is myself; that little negative voice in my head that tells me that I simply can’t. I don’t need that little voice telling me I can’t or I shouldn’t or what will people think? I am delaying goals I have had for the longest time because of this and for what? Because of what a stranger may think of me when they see that I am in fact a terrible dancer or so inflexible it is almost laughable or that people in a writing class will hate my ideas? These are not good enough reasons to not pursue the things that I want to do. Who is winning here? Not me. We are always hardest on ourselves but isn’t the world hard enough without our own little voice telling us we aren’t good enough? This is why my number one birthday goal is to stop ruining my own life. 

On that note, I hope you take a little time today and make that goal for yourself, it may not be your birthday or New Years but it is an important one to practice daily. Enjoy these muffin tops with a cup of tea and get your list going. 

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