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

3.3.3077

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

Now before my American readers get offended, it isn’t because I am a Canadian snob or dislike the U.S. but I genuinely believed that as a vegan I would starve. Seriously….

My fear of hunger drove my belief that I would never travel to the deep south of the United States.

I have always had a romantic ideology of the South: the dirt roads, pickup trucks, cowboy hats, beating the midday heat on a porch swing with a cold glass of lemonade, sun-kissed skin and in particular: the accents. I have the weirdest obsession with a good Southern drawl, when words just hang in the air to dry and time moves just a little bit slower. Less romantic note: sometimes when I maybe am drinking that red wine I pretend to have a Southern accent and in my head I am really good at it. Also I may have had a crush on one particular eyeglass wearing legitimate cowboy that I served once at the restaurant I work at but that is a different story.

Why all this talk about the South? Because on May 29 I am headed to Austin, Texas for Vida Vegan Con! I surprised myself when I hit the confirm button on my ticket and flight but the more I think about it, the happier I get about my decision. It is wild to think I will be meeting fellow vegan bloggers in person, going to seminars and demos and if the authors don’t find it super lame, getting my cookbooks signed. How heavy can my carry-on be anyways?

Turns out Austin, Texas is one of the most vegan/vegetarian friendly cities in the U.S. and I plan to eat my fill. I love going to a new place for the learning experience and making connections but mostly its an excuse to eat more than I normally would. Apparently tacos are a really big deal there, especially when served out of a restaurant trailer so I plan to eat a lot of tacos sitting on a blazing hot sidewalk. Please forgive me in advance for my possibly very sweaty, taco-eating selfies on Instagram while I am there. It will be ugly.

During all this excitement of booking my travels, I wanted a dish that was Texas-inspired. This is probably not on any menu of any restaurant in Texas but it is pretty darn good. I was experimenting with a nut-free nacho cheese on Instagram a while back and people were thrilled with the idea! On my account, I drizzled (more like globbed) the sauce onto a big pile of cumin-roasted potatoes and they were delicious however I wanted to lighten things up a little. I decided it needed more greens and a lot more protein to make this meal more balanced than a big pile of potatoes. It may seem crazy, it may seem wild but I just went for it- why didn’t I use the nacho cheese sauce as a salad dressing? Say what?? Oh yes, I went there. I drizzled it on my barbeque baked tempeh, roasted cumin sweet potatoes, fresh avocado and red pepper and dannnng it was banging. All the ingredients in the nacho cheese are pretty good for you and it is no different than any other sunflower dressing so just go for it!

See y’all in Texas! I promise not to wear a cowboy hat. Maybe….

The post Big Ol’ Texas Bowl with Nut-Free Nacho Cheese appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

I remember participating last year, my first ever vegan community contribution, with much anxiety but what a difference a year can make. Once I received the email from the talented (and wildly patient) host Annie from An Unrefined Vegan about this year’s winter VVP I instantly signed up, loving this round’s feature ingredient: citrus.

 Last year for VVP, I lived in a super cramped basement apartment so my photography was almost awful (don’t look really!) unless I wanted to strap on my boots and take everything outside in -30 degrees. Cooking for my site consumed all of my countertop surface every single time. Thankfully Mark and I have moved up and out of the basement into a super cramped above ground apartment but thankfully with a lot of natural light pouring in. The kitchen (almost) always remains covered with post-it notes with recipe ideas, legal paper with ingredients lists and of course, dirty dishes. There are plenty of things to hate about blogging, especially a recipe blog: the recipes that don’t work out that you REALLY wanted them to (my first idea of this year’s VVP was a total bust), the loads of dirty dishes from an unsuccessful recipe and plenty of ho-hum dinners.

 This recipe is inspired by a particular ho-hum takeout dinner that I bought a few weeks ago. I was Christmas shopping, sweating profusely in my thick winter coat (I firmly believe malls should have a coat check around the holidays), carrying around heavy bags and insanely hungry. What is it about malls that make me so hungry?? I stopped by a “healthier” food court place, wishing I had packed something in my purse. The description of the order (A vegan citrus-sesame tofu noodle bowl) sounded pretty good, it was gluten-free and my hunger was screaming at me. When I got it however it was not nearly as good as it sounded: a generous amount of overcooked rice noodles, spongy tofu, a few shreds of carrots dressed with a greasy sauce. How did I just pay $9 for this? I am not one to send food back since it is exactly what I ordered but it did take a lot of Sriracha to make this dish remotely edible. This is my vow to never again purchase such crappy takeout.

 Making food at home does take longer but it is almost crazy how inexpensive it is compared to eating out and I think we could all save a little moolah around this time of year. This bowl is the dish I wish I had on that shopping day: plenty of wholesome raw veggies with a flavourful sesame-citrus sauce. All you need to eat a large bowl of veggies in the winter is a really good sauce. This one is nutty, citrusy and a teeny bit spicy. If you aren’t a fan of spice, feel free to omit the pinch of chili flakes and go easy on the spice for the tofu.

 Citrus being in season adds some vibrancy to these otherwise grey snowy days and I am so glad it was chosen as the feature ingredient. This dish features two citrus fruits: lime and mandarin orange. If you can’t find mandarin oranges, regular oranges work just fine. The vegetables chosen for the bowl can be substituted for whatever you like as well as the zucchini noodles- if you are feeling chilly, you can get them a light steam or replace them with buckwheat noodles (not all buckwheat noodles are gluten-free so check the label).

 Now I am going to make myself a huge mug of tea to sit down and read all of the blog posts and citrus recipes for this year’s VVP. A big thanks to Annie for hosting as well as the mentors for this event: Poppy, Keely, Angela and Sarah. When I first starting blogging, I thought it was mostly competitive but I quickly realized it is about community, support and events like these to bring bloggers together and be inspired by one another.

 To check out the next blog, click on the icon below. Girl Eats Greens is next up on the VVP blog trail! Happy eating

 To go back to the previous blog, click on the icon below. Art, Health, & Happiness is showing the citrus some love!

The post VVP: Sesame-Mandarin Zoodle Bowl with Chili Lime Tofu 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.