-Free Recipe Friday--Jan. 11, 2013

Today's -Free Recipe is not one that I made this week, but did make it over the holidays. Remember my thoughts of baking and I wasn't, in the end, going to do it? Well, we were asked to bring dessert to a family get-together on Jan. 1st and instead of making one big dessert, I made single batches of all the different things I had wanted to make: dairy-free Rice Krispie squares, vegan shortbread cookies, vegan lemon squares and, my favourite, vegan butter tarts. I love these things so much! If you aren't in Canada and have never heard of butter tarts, oh, these are so worth trying! And that is why they are my -Free Recipe Friday choice this week:

Better than Butter Tarts

dairy-free, egg-free, optionally nut-free (I never make them with nuts), potentially gluten-free, if you replace the pastry tart shells with a gluten-free version (cooking times might have to be altered in that case)

from the book How It All Vegan! (10th Anniversary Edition) 

by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

1 cup raisins

1 tbsp vegan margarine

3/4 sugar

2 tbsp ground flax seeds

3 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla extract

12 unbaked pre-made pastry tart shells (3 inch) OR home-made pastry dough

1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F. Put raisins into a medium bowl and cover with very hot water. Set aside for 10 minutes. Drain hot water off of raisins and add margarine, sugar, flax seeds, water and vanilla. Stir together well. Spoon 1 tbsp of mixture evenly into each tart shell. Sprinkle each tart with finely chopped walnuts. Bake for 15 minutes and serve at room temperature. Makes 12 tarts.

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My note: It is very easy for people to eat 2 of these at a time. Just something to keep in mind if you are making for a crowd of people!

Vegan--and Gluten-Free--Halloween Party Ideas

We are having a homeschool Halloween party this Wednesday. It is a potluck, so people are bringing food and I have not specified that it should be vegan. That's not my goal nor desire with a party where we're supposed to be hanging out together and having fun!

BUT I did decide that I want to serve some vegan fare. My daughter picked non-vegan fare in terms of Tombstone Sandwiches http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/recipes/tombstone-sandwiches.shtml. You could absolutely veganise them, but we're not at that point yet with sentimental sandwiches. ;)

Some other things that we will be making:

*Gluten-free vegan mini cakes--the recipe comes from "Eat Your Cake and Vegan Too" and the pans are Wilton Singles (only available through ebay and such now as Wilton no longer sells them).

*Pumpkin-Shaped Veggie Platter that I saw on Dreena Burton's Facebook Page

For the dips, I'll be making Holy Moly Hummus from "How It All Vegan" and then using one or two of the Epicure veggie dip mixes. I'll be buying some vegan sour cream or yoghurt and some Veganaise. Although if they don't have any Veganaise (they are sometimes out), I will unvegan it and use real mayo. The remaining hummus will go in a dish with some round corn tortilla chips (they're delicious with the multigrain, but I want to try to have options available for our gluten-free guest!)

*Blood Punch with a Frozen Hand--it's just juice mixed with some club soda (or other clear, fizzy beverage). You buy some rubber gloves, fill them with water, tie them up well with rubber bands and freeze them overnight. When you need one, cut away the glove and voilà!

So, there you go, some vegan--and gluten-free--ideas for a fun Halloween party!

Does life ever go as planned?

So....

My plans yesterday didn't work out.

I thought I had everything to make the Shepherd's Pie from How It All Vegan. Well, technically I did when I had originally planned to make it this week, except that when I went into the fridge yesterday, some of the ingredients were old and rotten, but I forgot they were what I was counting on for the recipe. And then I forgot that the recipe calls for soy milk, which I don't really ever use, but my mind simply processed it as a non-dairy milk, which I had.

What I needed was not a non-dairy milk, but rice milk.

I don't have any rice milk in the house, only almond milk. I've made mashed potato topping in the past with almond milk and it tasted very strange to all of us. I had contemplated going out after my niece was picked up, but by the time that happened and after her mom and I had talked a bit, it was kind of late. I ended up searching for a decent vegetarian or vegan meal I could serve my family very quickly. Ended up deciding on potato and onion perogies with cooked green beans and raw veggies. I should have made more green beans than I did because they disappeared. The perogies (store-bought) had egg in them, so not vegan, but it was a meatless meal for Meatless Monday! Our first! lol. It does mean, however, that I did not stay grain-free and wheat-free. I think I ought to be able to today. (I keep having Kathy Freston's words coming into my mind when I start getting all "absolute" on the change: "Lean into it." Just a little note to myself here: Lean into it. It's okay if we aren't having every meal vegan and wheat-free!)

This afternoon, I should be able to pick up the necessary ingredients to make the Shepherd's Pie tonight. I'm a little nervous, looking at the ingredients, but they said that it has guests coming back for seconds. *crossingfingers* I guess if I want to continue the trend, I'm going to have to figure out a veg*n supper for tomorrow night. And make sure I get the necessary ingredients today. ;)

Putting my intention out there

I am going to write about my intentions today as a means of trying to keep myself accountable!

What are my intentions for the day?

*Lots of raw today. How will I accomplish this? Smoothie and fresh fruits for the morning. Lettuce wrap with veggie filling for lunch. (Might have some hummus with that; it's not raw, I don't think.) Veggies or fruit as snack in the afternoon or even some seeds and nuts.

*Vegan day. How? The above, and for supper, I'm making something from

   .

It's a Shepherd's Pie recipe I've been wanting to make for sometime. I want to serve it with salad and maybe some green beans. My husband has been really commenting on a mainly fruit and veggie diet, but I'm not sure he's really that ready. lol. I suspect he'd be the type where I would have to go all gourmet at first, but I really don't have the tools I need for that (usually requires dehydrator, a good blender and a food processor; my food processor died recently, my blender can barely handle some of my smoothies and I don't have a dehydrator).

*Wheat-free day. How? None of the above has any wheat. Actually, none of the above includes any grains, I think. Not sure if I've done a completely grain-free day before. So, another intention: grain-free.

I have a further intention: To keep going with this type of eating tomorrow. A few weeks back, I had some great days, then I seemed to cancel it all by eating lots of grains the next day and almost no fruits and vegetables. I know I should take it one day at a time, but I want to set the intention for tomorrow, just tomorrow, now so that hopefully it stays with me when I wake up tomorrow morning.

(Slight worry has just set in: "What am I getting myself into??")