Five new posts a week? While working full time? And in school? Have I gone mad? Not yet but it is safe to say after this month I just might but before the crazies set in, I am really pumped about the challenge! If this is your first time to my site, welcome! I’m glad VeganMoFo has brought you here and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s sites and contributions to this month-long experience.

 So now for the first recipe and it is a good one….

I am excited that is one is my first because it is a household favourite and a carnivore pleaser: the crisp corn meal dusted crust, the rich garlicky cream sauce and topped with cherry tomatoes, arugula and fresh herbs, what is not to love about it? The fact that the dough is made in the food processor and doesn’t take all day to rise is just an added bonus. You do however need a thermometer to take the temperature of the water: too hot will kill the yeast, too cold the yeast won’t activate. Yeast is a finicky thing, like the Goldilocks of ingredients it needs to be just right.

 There are a few steps to this recipe to make the dough and the sauce but here is an action plan I have formulated over the many times I have made this dish:

Step 1: Put a small pot (with a tight fitting lid) of water on to boil

Step 2: Make the dough and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap

Step 3: When the water is boiling, add the cashews, take off the heat and cover with the lid. This is the quick soak method to make the cashews soft and blendable.

Step 4: Pan roast the garlic and prep the thyme

Step 5: Set oven rack on lowest slot and preheat oven

Step 6: Prep the dough for the pan and let it rest

Step 7: Make the sauce while the dough is resting

Step 8: Bake the dough and chop the basil and tomatoes

Step 9: Take dough out of the oven and top

Step 10: Cut into eight pieces and serve!

When you break down a recipe into a game plan, it makes it a lot less daunting and I like lists, it is satisfying to check off each step as you go. I did my recipe/instructions layout a little differently (photos in the steps) and listed off ingredients based on their step, so be sure to read it all through to ensure you aren’t missed anything.

I personally like this dish topped with my chosen ingredients but you can top it with anything you like: caramelized onions, capers, olives, spinach etc. but don’t skip the cream sauce. It is so delicious and easy to make. Mark and I scrapped every last bit of this sauce from the bowl of the processor with the crusts of the dough. Change the toppings all you like but keep the sauce!

 I hope this recipe shows you how easy dough can be made at home with a little patience and planning. Happy VeganMoFo!

Action Plan

Step 1: Boil water (enough to cover the cashews) in a small pot with a tight fitting lid

Step 2: Make the dough, adapted from America’s Test Kitchen: Cook’s Illustrated Pissaladière 

 Dough Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour
• 1 cup white bread flour
• 1 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast
• ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + more to oil the bowl and fingers
• 1 cup of water, warmed to 110 degrees Fahrenheit
•  2 tablespoons corn meal (for step 6, set aside until this step)

Pulse the dry ingredients 5 times in the bowl of the food processor fitted with the S-blade. With the food processor running, slowly add the oil, then the water; process until a ball forms, about 20 seconds.

Take the dough out to a lightly floured counter and smooth into a ball. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough into the bowl.

Cover the bowl tightly with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour (it will double size).

Clean out the bowl of the food processor since you will be using it for the sauce.

 Step 3: Quick soak the cashews

• 1 cup raw cashews

 Add cashews to the boiling water, take off heat, cover with a tight fitting lid and set aside for at least 1 hour while the dough rises.

 Step 4: Pan roasted the garlic and prep the thyme

•  2 large garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

Peel the cloves leaving on a single layer of the papery skin. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add the whole cloves onto the dry pan. Flip when the garlic paper has become brown and spotty. Remove garlic from the pan when the garlic skin is brown on both sides and the clove feels soft. When cool enough to handle peel the skin off the garlic and chop.

While the garlic is cooling prep the thyme and chop finely.

Step 5: Set an oven rack to the lowest slot setting and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

My oven takes a little time to get to the high of a temperature and you want it to be HOT in there so your dough crisps up on the bottom.

Step 6: Prep the dough for the pan and let it rest

Transfer the now expanded dough from the oiled bowl to a lightly floured counter top. With floured hands, form the dough into a large ball. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, take out a large heavy-duty broiler pan and cut a slice of parchment paper large enough to slightly hang over the pan. Sprinkle the sheet with the cornmeal.

After the dough has rest, oil your fingers and palms. Hold the dough up and gently stretch it out to but making sure the dough doesn’t tear (if it does, just pinch it back together once it is on the pan). Transfer stretched dough to the cornmeal-dusted pan and knead the dough all around the pan so it is uniform thickness. I always think about my cat when she wants to find a comfy spot, just kneading and dimpling the dough with your fingertips and palms. Once the dough is roughly the same thickness all around, poke the dough all around with a fork so it doesn’t puff up. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes in the pan.

 Step 7: Make the sauce while the dough is resting

 Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

•  1 cup raw cashews, quick soaked (check!)
• 2 large garlic cloves, pan roasted and chopped (check!)
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme (check!)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• ¼ cup water

Drain the cashews and add all ingredients to the now-clean bowl of the food processor. Blend for 5 minutes, scraping down the mix as needed. A high-powered blender could also get this job done but the sauce is really thick and very difficult to remove for the blender. The food processor takes a little bit longer but it is worth the wait to make sure you get all the sauce out.

 Step 8: Bake the dough and chop the basil and tomatoes

• pint of cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup lightly packed basil

 In the now very hot oven, place pan on the bottom rack and bake for 13-15 minutes. While the dough is baking, chop the basil and tomatoes.

 Step 9: Take the dough out of the oven and top

Transfer the flatbread to a cutting board and remove parchment. This is the fun part: putting on your toppings.

Step 10: Cut into eight pieces and serve!

I cut the flatbread across and then down the middle. Time to eat! Everyone’s favourite step. 

The post Cherry Tomato, Arugula and Herb Pissaladière with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Sammy just turned 7 and though I missed his birthday party (I am still so sad about this) I had offered my sister to bring him to Toronto for a few days over the March break. Both my sister and my nephew whole heartedly agreed and I could hear his anticipation over the phone telling me he had only a couple more sleeps until I was going to pick him on the GO train.

I was feeling great! Cool Auntie Jess was taking her small town nephew out into the big city, exploring the different neighbourhoods, taking him to the movies (that part was mostly for me, I really wanted to see the Lego Movie), watching Pokémon on Netflix while eating stove top popcorn and staying up waaay past his bedtime. I was so pumped! However as soon as I picked him up from my sister, the first question out of his mouth: “Where is Mark?”

Whaaat? My sister told me that he had asked about Mark the whole way to the train station. Was Cool Auntie Jess not so cool anymore? I knew that Mark and Sammy had bonded over Christmas since Mark is just a big kid himself. They played Pokémon cards together and both love video games, you know, boy stuff.

 Yes, that is a Super Nintendo and Sammy tried to wipe the outside of the video game with his shirt when it didn’t work the first time. I showed him that you have to blow into it to get all the dust out. He finds it a little dated and prefers the PS3. Perhaps it is because I kicked his butt in Mortal Combat? Why am I so proud of myself for beating a 7 year old in a game? Sammy is also enjoying a kale and berry smoothie. I just forgot to mention all the kale I put in it.

I may treat Sammy a little too baby-ish when I see him, which is apparently a huge mistake when around other people. At Christmas I oohed and awed over him a little too much and when I kissed him on the cheek in front of his cousin who is the same age as him, I had crossed the line. Even my sister whispered to me, “Jess you are embarrassing him in front of his friends.” Oh no. What had I done? I pulled a “Mom Move”. I always told myself as a kid that I would never embarrass my (or sister’s) kids in front of their friends but then I went and did it. I was mortified.

I decided to lay off a bit and though it is hard, I try to act a little less like a public embarrassment around him. He still grabs my hand while crossing the street and thinks my activity planning is still cool and fun. Small victories and I will take them!

Sammy is not a vegan at his house but when he comes to my house he eats whatever I give him. He is a pretty good eater when it comes to healthy food. He really loves cucumbers, carrots and all the fruit he has ever tried. Last time he stayed with Mark and I, he ate an entire watermelon and its black seeds in a matter of 2 days. I told him that a watermelon would grow in his stomach but he called me out. Sigh. I bet he doesn’t think that chocolate milk comes from brown cows either. Kids these days…

Thankfully, there is one thing Sammy enjoys that I do better than Mark does and that is pancake making, especially this recipe. He doesn’t know they are vegan or whole wheat, he just knows that he likes them a lot.

 Notes:

• Patience is key while making pancakes. Wait for the pan to be hot enough and wait until you see some bubbles come up through the pancake. You won’t regret it.
• Transfer pancakes to a wire rack over a baking sheet while cooking the others. The wire rack helps air ventilation keeps the crispiness in tact on each side of the pancake but do not stack pancakes on top of each other while in the oven.
• DO NOT OVERMIX! Over mixing causes the pancakes to become rubbery. A few lumps of flour is ok.

• Do not overload each pancake with berries. The blueberries release a lot of liquid when they are cooked so if you add too many it will result in a mushy pancake. Stick to about 5-6 berries per pancake depending on how large your berries are. You can use frozen berries but it will result in a blue-grey hue in the batter. I don’t mix the blueberries in the batter; I just push them into the pancake while it is cooking on the pan.
• Wtf is a chia egg? It is 1 tablespoon white chia seeds+ 3 tablespoons warm water mixed and let sit until the seeds have expanded. I used white seeds but black seeds would work just fine. I know some kids can be picky and might not want to see black little seeds in their meal but the white ones blend right in.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes: Kid Approved

Makes approx. 14 pancakes

•  2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (sometimes called “soft” whole wheat flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 chia egg (see note)
• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance or coconut oil, melted and cooled (with the oil, it will taste a little coconut-y)
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup + more for serving
• 1 cup fresh or frozen (see notes) blueberries, rinsed and dried. Some will be left over to serve with your pancakes.
• 3-4 teaspoons oil, any neutral flavoured oil will do (I don’t recommend olive oil)

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Set a wire rack on top of a baking sheet and place on the oven rack. Whisk milk and vinegar (or lemon juice) together in a medium bowl; set aside to thicken the milk.I n a large bowl, whisk together the flour, powder, soda and salt until combined. Form a well in the middle of the mixture.

In the medium bowl with the milk, add the chia seeds, syrup and melted butter or oil and whisk until combined. Pour the wet mixture into the well of the dry ingredients and whisk gently until just combined. I repeat myself in saying please do not over mix!

Heat 1 teaspoon in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Using a ¼-cup measure, portion the batter into the pan, creating 4 pancakes, smooth the pancake batter out with a spatula. Add 5-6 berries per pancake, gently pushing them down into the pancake. Cook pancakes until bubbles on its surface appear, about 1-2 minutes. Flip the pancakes with a wide spatula and cook the second side for another minute or 1-½ minutes. Transfer pancakes to wire rack and repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil with each new batch.

Stack with fresh blueberries, strawberries, bananas (whatever you like!) and serve with pure maple syrup.

While you dine on these berry-full pancakes dream of warmer days. Is anyone else tired of seeing this? I know I am done with the bundling and unbundling of coat, hat, mitts, boots, scarves etc. Springtime needs to hurry up!

There is a park under all that blowing snow. 9 more days until Spring?

The post Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes: Kid Approved appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.