Toronto, while diverse in its restaurants, does not seem to have a distinct signature dish. Some say it is a veal sandwich from St. Lawrence Market or the hot dogs off the cart at 2am but whenever I look around this city, I can’t help but notice all the poutine restaurants. This may be un-Torontian of me but how many fries + gravy places does one city need? Walking down Queen Street West and there are a handful of these restaurants in sight. This places are usually busy after last call at the bar has been done and people are feeling a little drunk-hungry. There is even works about an all-you-can-eat-poutine restaurant with a dish called the “Heart Attack Challenge.” Yikes. 

In my sober state however, I don’t love poutine as much as the next person in this city, I do love some loaded cheesy fries. It is not something to have everyday but it is great to make a platter of these when non-vegan friends come over. I do not recommend making them after a night at the bar, for safety reasons obviously.

Toronto has evolved since I moved here six years ago and food trends are always changing from gourmet grilled cheese, charcuterie platters, and artisanal poutine. I think I will just stick to cheesy fries. 

17 posts down, 13 more to go! See you tomorrow for Day 18: Honour a human or non-human that inspires your veganism. Missed Day 16? Check it out here.

Stay connected on the daily by following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  Made a recipe from this post? I would love to see it! Use the hashtag #screcipe on your social media. 

Loaded Cheesy Oven Fries {Vegan}

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Definitely not an everyday recipe but this platter of cheesy fries is awesome to serve to those non-vegan friends that come over. This recipe is vegan, gluten free, soy free, and grain free. The prep time does not include the soaking time.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: side

Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten Free

Ingredients

• For the Oven Fries:
• 2 large russet potatoes, washed and cut into fries (peels on)
• 1.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 
  
• For the Nacho Cheese:
• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2-8 hours or quick soaked*
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder
• ½ cup water
• 
  
• Toppings:
• Cilantro leaves
• Thinly sliced green onion
• Sliced cherry tomatoes
• Extra ancho chilli powder

Instructions

1. For the Nacho Cheese Sauce:
2. Add all the ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside until you are ready to dress the fries.
3. For the Oven Fries:
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
5. In a bowl, coat the cut potatoes with the oil, salt, and spices.
6. Transfer the potatoes to the baking sheet and spread them out into a single layer.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
8. Remove from oven once they are golden and crispy. Depending on how thick you cut your fries, the cooking time will vary. After you flip them, keep an eye on them.
9. Transfer to serving platter and drizzle with lots of cheese sauce.
10. Top with cilantro leaves, green onion, sliced cherry tomatoes, and more ancho if you like it spicy.

Notes

*Quick soaked: bring water in a pot to a boil, add cashews, put tight fitting lid on the pot and take it off the heat. Let the cashews soak in the hot water for about 1 hour

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The post Day 17 Vegan MoFo: Loaded Cheesy Oven Fries appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

I bring them with me to my desk, reviewing recipes to make or adapt to my liking, I bring them to bed and Mark puts them back onto the bookshelf when I, inevitably, fall asleep while reading. I believe that a well written cookbook can make a reader feel like they are in the kitchen of the writer. Writing a cookbook or blog is inviting people into an extension of their home. I feel I have dined with people I have never met before by making their recipes. I have been following Sprouted Kitchen for quite some time now. Sara’s recipes and Hugh’s photography constantly motivate me to practice just that little bit more, behind the camera and in my kitchen. Their book, The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl and Spoon: Simple and Inspired Whole Foods Recipes to Savor and Share, is one I grab frequently since Mark and I eat a lot of bowls.

The mixture of grains, fresh vegetables, and protein, topped with a great tasting sauce fuels my body and soul. I enjoy its simplicity in making and its variations of toppings. Bowls are a big part of my weekly meal plan and with this book to guide me, the possibilities have grown tremendously.

Some may think the term “hippie” is offensive but, like Sara, I use it with the utmost endearment.

12 recipes down, 18 more to go! See you tomorrow for Day 13: Kitchen Tour. Missed Day 11? Check it out here.

Stay connected on the daily by following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  Made this recipe? I would love to see it! Use the hashtag #screcipe on your social media. 

FYI: This post does contain an affiliate link from Amazon. If you purchase the Sprouted Kitchen cookbook through the link, I receive a teeny commission from Amazon. It does not increase the cost to you at all. 

SC Hippie Bowl w/ Citrus Miso Sauce

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

This recipe doubles well so you can have leftovers for a work lunch or dinner the next day. If you don't want to use tofu, steamed edamame beans work well.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: vegan

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 8 ounces extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
• Fat pinch of red chili flakes
• ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 cup short grain rice
• 2 carrots, peeled, trimmed, and shaved into thin ribbons
• 2 cups finely shredded red cabbage, massaged in 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ½ ripe avocado, cut into sliced
• Black or white sesame seeds (optional)
• Red chili flakes, if you like it spicy (optional)
• 
  
• Citrus Miso Dressing:
• ¼ cup raw cashew butter
• ⅓ cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
• 3 teaspoons pure maple syrup
• Red chili flakes, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Rinse and drain the rice. Add it to 2½ cups of boiling water, bring back to boil, turn down heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender. Drain any excess water and fluff the rice.
3. While the rice is cooking, toss the cubed tofu in the lemon juice, sesame seed oil, syrup, salt, and chili flakes. Bake for 20 minutes until crispy, flipping halfway through.
4. Meanwhile, add all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender. Blend until smooth. Set aside until you are ready to dress your bowls.
5. While the tofu and rice are cooking, prep your vegetables.
6. When the rice is tender, add it to the bowls, then the veg and cooked tofu, and dress with Citrus Miso Sauce. Add sesame seeds and chili flakes if you desire.

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The post Day 12 Vegan MoFo: SC Hippie Bowl w/ Citrus Miso Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

I personally want to say a huge THANK YOU to John from Minimalist Baker who created a series of amazing videos all about setting up Foodie Pro theme from Genesis. I knew doing this on my own would be almost impossible since I am computer-illiterate but John makes it easy; it was like he was right on my computer with me saying, “Ok Jess, this is how we technology…” and with his guidance I felt empowered over every little widget, plugin and coding that I set up. Technology can also be a verb right? This just shows how un-techy I am. If you want to switch up your theme to Foodie Pro, I cannot stress it enough to check out his step-by-step guide.

There are a few other changes around S&C that I have been fiddling with over the past week and I hope that everyone is ok with. First, there are now ads on my static page. If you do see any ads that are about “diet pills” or “sexy singles in your area” or anything explicit please email me at: jessica [dot]demarra[at]gmail[dot]com. I have blocked these ads from my Google AdSense account but if you see an ad that is offensive or explicit, email me! Side note: There are no sexy singles in your area, sorry. This ad placement is just to cover the cost of my domain hosting. Blogging does have its expenses besides the food, photography, props etc. so the mere few dollars I make off the ads is not for a profit in the least. Secondly, a subscription sign-up has been added. It took me forever to figure out how to do this and now I feel silly over how easy it was. If you want to be notified about new post, just sign up on the sidebar! P.S. This also guarantees you will receive your free copy of my eBook coming out this summer!

With that technical stuff done, let’s get to the part I actually enjoy…the food!

You know what grinds my gears? Secret recipes. I loathe it when I am at a function of some sort and I try something I love but the maker of the delicious treat coyly smiles and says, “Oh it is a secret recipe.” On the outside I may say, “Oh I guess I have to eat my fill now!” but on the inside I am giving them two thumbs down and blowing a raspberry in their face. To me, recipes are meant to be shared, enjoyed and passed along to a friend who passed it along to their friend etc. I call BS on secret recipes. I personally think that the maker of the infamous secret recipe is really just doing it for attention, their teeny moment of stardom amongst the Christmas Cookie Exchange or potluck dinner. Sharing is a good thing so don’t be selfish. Instead of the title of “Oh, she makes the best cookies but it is a secret,” people will say “I got the best recipe for cookies from so and so.” See? It is still nice and I promise I won’t give you cut-eye from across the room when you aren’t looking. Just to be clear, I am not very good at party going.

I recently purchased a cookbook that a popular vegetarian restaurant published; I flipped through their pages and happened upon one of their most famous dishes. I got really excited since this restaurant is nowhere near my home but I could still enjoy their recipe. I read the notes of the recipe and it said, “This recipe is similar but not exactly the recipe we use in our restaurant. We are keeping that one a secret.” Excuse me? The rational side of me says, “Oh ok, I mean they are a business blah blah” but my irrational side was shaking my fist at the book. I was so cheesed! Damn the secret recipe!

Recipes evolve from sharing, how you change them to suit your taste or add in an extra ingredient or two to make it someone else’s favourite. I would be nowhere without people sharing recipes with me, especially with baking. I am a better cook than a baker and without shared recipes I would not know where to begin to make any sweet treat. Sharing recipes is not about “giving up something” since the recipe is still yours but you are simply allowing someone to create something that you love as well. A big thanks to those who share their recipes, without you I would be starving. 

No Bake Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Balls {Vegan & GF}

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Quick, easy and delicious oatmeal cookies with no oven required. Kids will have a great time forming these into balls of cookie dough that they can eat right away since it does not contain any raw eggs. I found myself eating a lot of it right out of the bowl! This recipe can be made gluten free by purchasing certified gluten free oats and nut free by replacing the cashew butter with your favourite brand or homemade sun butter.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: vegan, no bake, gluten free

Cuisine: Vegan

Serves: 15-16 balls

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats, divided (gluten free if necessary)
• 2 tablespoons raw cashew butter
• 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
• ¼ cup agave or pure maple syrup (I used agave)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 tablespoon ground golden flax seed
• 3 tablespoons raisins or another dried bite-sized fruit (I used golden raisins and dried cranberries)

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, process 1.5 cups of oats until fine flour forms. Add the rest of the oats and pulse 3 times. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cashew butter, oil, agave, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together until completely smooth. Add the oats, flax and dried fruit. Stir with a wooden spoon until completely combined. Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for 5 minutes before forming into balls; I found the mixture to be too warm and sticky to form right away.
3. Take the mixture out of the refrigerator, measure out with a measuring tablespoon, form and continue with the remaining dough. I store the cookie dough in a sealed container in the fridge since slightly chilled cookie dough tastes amazing.

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Chia seeds are considered a super food since these seeds pack a serious nutritional punch. For every ounce of chia seeds, you get 11 grams of fibre to keep your tummy happy, keeps your brain healthy with all those all important Omega-3 fatty acids and has 4.4 grams of protein. This heart-healthy seed is so beneficial to your body and a great staple in any diet. I constantly keep chia seeds in my pantry and add it to mostly smoothies, breakfast pudding and if I am in a crazy rush I even add it to my water bottle with a bit of lemon juice or this drink. Chia seed pudding is great to layer in a Mason jar with frozen fruit and topped with some raw buckwheat grouts and refrigerate until you are ready to go. Since chia seeds are a tad on the pricey side, I usually make a little pudding parfait for breakfast verses just straight up chia pudding.

I tried making blended carob pudding with banana as the sweetener but turns out I am not a fan of carob. It looks like chocolate but certainly does not taste like it. Scratch that ingredient off my pantry stock list. I just like chocolate too much to try to replace it with anything else. However, carob is good for those people who may be sensitive to or avoiding caffeine since it is naturally caffeine-free. 

Mark who is indifferent to chocolate, say what??, asked me to make him a non-chocolate version. First thing first, do not blend a non-chocolate (or any dark coloured) pudding since it turns into a grey mess. Ok now that we have established that we can go to the recipe. Other than chocolate desserts, lemon is my second favourite flavour, especially the creaminess of lemon bars. This recipe can be made without the soaked cashews but they do add a lot of creaminess to this pudding so I highly recommend it.

I had this snack with frozen blueberries on top before my first ballet class! It kept me feeling energized and light, ready to take on all the French dance moves and positions. Turns out you can sweat a LOT by just bending and stretching. I thought I was the worst one in the class but every woman in the change room of the studio also made the same remark about their performance. It was the very first class ever and apparently we thought we would all be professional ballerinas after a mere hour and a half class? If only it were that simple. I had a great time and felt really accomplished that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I am very much looking forward to next week’s class. Special thanks to my mother who purchased the class for me as a birthday present (as well as the beautiful bracelet that I am wearing in my A Champagne Birthday photo shoot by Holly Bowman.)

 Anything you want to try out? Something that maybe you tried once before but gave up? Perhaps a class you always felt too embarrassed to take? What would it take for you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and really give it your all? Leave any comments or positive messages to other readers below! Or your own story on overcoming your fear of looking silly and really immersed yourself in your passion.

The post Raspberry-Lemon Chia Seed Pudding appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Destiny’s Child on FULL blast!

Watch ALL the new Once Upon A Time episodes Netflix just released! Marathon it! (ALSO NEW THE WALKING DEAD!!!)

Practice the Single Ladies dance routine along side Beyonce on YouTube….pretend that I AM Beyonce.

Eat as MANY olives as I can!

Mark does not like olives which is a real problem for me because I LOVE olives. I am a huge fan of the briny, leathery fruits. Sometimes when Mark is working late I will prepare a little plate of olives, sauteed mushrooms, roasted red peppers, capers, balsamic vinegar, fresh cherry tomatoes and mustard to serve on crusty bread slices for dinner with a glass a red wine and feeling oh-so French! Unfortunately for me, cooking with olives is a no-go since I dread the idea of someone picking out an ingredient out of a dish. Maybe I am just too un-picky? I knew I needed to make a dish with some of my favourite ingredients that Mark is not a fan of while he is off being a rockstar. 

These potato rounds are banging good! Salty salsa, spiced potatoes and cool cashew tzatziki sauce come together to create this recipe. It is a bit fussy since you have to make a salsa, a sauce and the potatoes but if you follow my game plan, it will seem effortless. First, preheat the oven, salt the cucumbers, make the sauce and refrigerate. Secondly, chop and toss the potatoes in the spice oil and roast. While the potatoes are roasting make the salsa and prep the parsley garnish. When you break it down, it doesn’t seem so daunting.

Since olives are the star of this dish I encourage you to buy the best olives you can afford: from an olive bar, cheese shop or high-end grocery store. Jarred olives are far too salty and lack the richness and depth of a good quality olive. I tried this recipe with nicoise olives but this olive is more expensive than the recipe recommended Katamala and impossible to find pitted (believe me when I say they are a b*tch to pit these tiny French olives).

The best part of being in a relationship is that you like when your person is there and when they are not there. A little time alone is needed sometimes: just me, some olives and my cat Barb. And Beyonce on full blast.

What dish do you make when your partner is away? Anything you love and they hate?

The post Roasted Greek Potato Rounds with Olive-Tomato Salsa and Cashew Tzatziki Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.