And then there was Christmas...

It was a small affair for us, but still great fun. From the spectacular (if I may say so) butternut squash soup with smoked paprika roasted chickpeas and kale crema, to freshly made vegan cinnamon buns (wonderful recipe here), and a tofurky feast.

No snow- instead the sun was bright and warm, prompting a trip to the park with the new pushcart kids got from us. Reed seemed certain that the cart was for him rather than his babies.

In the spirit of not buying too much I also extended a playmat I made them a year ago, adding a few features like a path and a vegetable garden.

Vegan Moroccan Tagine

We are big fans of dishes that are naturally vegan or can be made vegan by simply omitting an ingredient (we get too much soy as it is). Tagine is certainly a great example of that. In the winter months it seems like majority of our meals come in the form of a stew or a soup (I think that is the case for many vegans), so varying what we have becomes incredibly important. For me, the easiest way to do that is to make sure we "travel" the world with our dinners. Tagine not only ticks that box, but it is also super kid friendly- chick peas and butternut squash are favorites at least in our house, and raisins certainly help as well.

2 tbs olive oil
1 whole onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon basil or thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
pinch of saffron (optional)
2 vegan bouillon cubes
3 cups of water
2 large carrots
2 cans of chickpeas
1 butternut squash
1/4 c raisins
1 can worth of diced tomatoes (or better yet homemade pasta sauce as long as it doesn't have too much sugar added)
2 tbs lemon juice
a few fresh mint leaves

Few notes: I always wait for the onions to get translucent before adding garlic and spices. I also like to make sure to let spices roast a bit before adding the bouillon cubes and water (you might want to add more or less water depending on the cooking time and desired consistency- soupy or stewy). I usually add raisins only 10 minutes before the end of cooking time (this is a large amount and we usually have left overs for lunch the next day- if you intend to make a batch this big with the same intention you might want to only add raisins to 1/2 of the stew toward the end of cooking otherwise they'll bloat up too much overnight). Regarding tomatoes- there any numerous diced tomatoes out there that are packaged in jars, and given that the acidity in the tomatoes leaches out much of the bad stuff from the lining of the can (or so they tell us) getting jars might be a safer option (and usually yummier:). Finally, lemon is a must- it ups the acidity of the dish and given all the sweet stuff in there (raisins, butternut squash, etc.) its necessary. Keep in mind that depending on the type of bouillon cubes you use you might need to add a healthy amount of salt to this baby. Finally, this is commonly served with couscous but we almost always have this with rice rather than couscous since our little ones are rice fiends (added bonus- that way you can serve it to your gluten sensitive friends).

Flatbread/Quick Tortes De Aceite

These just might be the most spectacular thing I had made in awhile. What really makes them rock is that they are also one of the easiest things in the world to make and are incredibly versatile. In one batch I made a classical flatbread with some rosemary, anise and coarse salt, and a cheating version of tortes de aceite with anise and brown sugar. Shockingly enough my favorite one was probably the one I made by mistake (I grabbed caraway instead of rosemary) with himalayan pink salt and caraway seeds.
We had these with our teas for our afternoon tea on a blustering, cold, and yet sunny afternoon, and while the plan was to save one of the savory ones for dinner that plan never came to fruition:) The recipe I used is an old favorite from smitten kitchen for crisp flatbread with just a few changes.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tbs brown sugar (I think sugar helps in savory or sweet incarnations of this recipe, but definitely crucial for the fake tortes de aceite)
1/2 teaspoon himalayan pink salt
1/3 c olive oil (definitely not something you want to mess with- olive oil is what I think makes this whole thing rock)
1/2 c water

I split this into three cookie sheet sized flatbreads. Some similar recipes including the smittenkitchen one call for brushing the flatbread with olive oil right before baking- I find that that makes the flatbreads way too heavy. On the other hand, if you do not brush them with oil you might want to press the goodies on top into the dough a bit or else they'll just slide off once cooked.
Preheat oven to 450 and bake for 8 minutes on a pre-heated baking sheet (it helps to make the flatbread on the parchment paper so you can easily transfer them).

Happy Australia Day and Vegan Anzac Biscuits

Its been over a year now that we have left Sydney and we certainly miss it quite a bit. So last night as we played Waltzing Matilda, I figured some Anzac cookies are in order. Yet vegan Anzac cookies, while easy to make are rather difficult to find online (or at least the recipe is). These turned out lovely, soft in the middle and crunchy on the outside, definitely good enough to transport us back to our Australian adventure. Best part: everybody helped!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup shredded (unsweetened) coconut

1 cup vegan brown sugar (ideally raw)

3/4 cup vegan butter, melted 

2 tbs flax-egg (flax meal with water)

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tea of baking soda

optional: 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (my favorite brand by far is Enjoy Life)

Makes 10 large cookies. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes (if you end up with more smaller cookies, adjust the baking time). If you use sweetened coconut or white sugar adjust the sugar levels accordingly. Oil can be substituted for vegan butter, but the butter gives it more of a cookie consistency and oil makes them more crumbly. 

Autumn is here

And with that an overwhelming urge to can or jar something or another. An early morning trip to the farmer's market resulted in way too many tomatoes and since in our family pizza, pasta and other things requiring tomato sauce are almost a daily occurrence what better thing to do than make tomato sauce. Everyone has their own favorite recipe for this I am sure. My favorite recipe relies almost exclusively on the awesomeness of the tomatoes, with a tiny bit of help of spices and some sweetness to cut through all that acidity. There is something lovely about opening a jar of your own tomato sauce to pour over spaghetti- even on the nights when all you can muster after working all day is boiling water- it still feels like a homemade, wholesome and sophisticated dinner. 

But of course just making tomato sauce wouldn't have satisfied my desire to commemorate the coming of autumn. So something pumpkin-y was in order. I came across a recipe recently for pumpkin spiced dried chick pea snack, which seemed like a lovely autumn snack, except that it required having pumpkin butter/jam on hand. Cue excuse to make pumpkin butter. I pretty much followed this recipe, but added a bit more ginger and I used apple cider instead of apple juice. The result was a lovely, rather spicy and utterly pumpkin-y spread. 

Tomorrow we are off to a local co-op's equinox party, which we greatly enjoyed last year (except for the incident with trying a pumpkin pie which was laced with lard)- filled with pumpkin carving, lively music, bonfire, apple cider and community garden exhibits. I hope all of this together with the cooperative weather will help us get into the fall spirit. 

5 tbs olive oil
20 medium sized tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
15 fresh large basil leaves
6 springs of fresh parsley
2 flat tbs light brown sugar (or maple syrup or leave out all together)
1/2 c white wine
2 tbs thyme
1 tbs tarragon
1 tbs coriander
salt and pepper to taste

Putting tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes is incredibly helpful for peeling them.
Sauté the onions and garlic, and then add the spices, both fresh and dried.
After the onions are translucent and the spices lightly toasted deglaze the pan with the white wine.
Add chopped up tomatoes (I do not de-seed them, you might want to depending on you preference- I find that having seed and chunks of tomatoes in the sauce makes it feel fresh whenever you eat it).
Finally, add some maple syrup or brown sugar, let it all simmer and reduce for 20-30 minutes.
Make sure you use safe canning/jarring techniques when storing the sauce, especially if you make a bigger batch.

We also made a blueberry jam from the blueberries we picked this summer