These potatoes taste exactly like a samosa. I’m not a huge potato eater (yams on the otherhand, I adore!) but I really did enjoy these, and it was great to not have to worry about making a dough like you would for a samosa. Same great flavour, though!

Sorry for the slowdown in posts (this has been sitting in my drafts folder for a long time now!), but I am in Whistler, like I said before. I’ll be home very soon, though (with a review on a fantastic restaurant I went to).

In the mean time…this is what most of the weekend looked like- plenty of birthday fun

Samosa Stuffed Baked Potatoes (adapted from Veganomicon)

• 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed, baked, cooled (to bake a potato, preheat the oven to 400 F, poke the potato with a fork several times, bake for about an hour until easily pierced with a fork)
• 1/4 unsweetened soy milk
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Slice the baked potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides, leaving about 1/4 inch of potato in the skin. Be careful, so you don’t break the skin! Mash the scooped out potato with the soymilk and set the skin aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mustard and coriander seeds and heat for a minute or two until they start to pop. Add the onions and carrots and saute for 7-10 minutes until the onions begin to brown.

Add the garlic and ginger and saute for a minute. Add the cumin, turmeric, and salt, along with a splash of water. Stir well, then add the potatoes mixing well. Add a little more water if it looks to dry. Cook until the potatoes are heated through. Add the lemon juice to taste, and stir.

Brush the insides of the potato skins with a little bit of olive oil. Scoop the filling into the skins. Line a baking sheet with the stuffed potatoes and bake for 20 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro, and enjoy with Mango Chutney.

Mango Chutney (adapted from Veganomicon)

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp dried chili
• 1 large mango, sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tbsp unrefined sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp curry powder

Preheat a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the oil, garlic, ginger, and chili to the pan. Saute for 1 minute. Add the mango, sugar, water and turn up to medium. Cover and cook for 3 minutes, until boiling. Add the red wine vinegar and curry powder and cook for another minute, uncovered. Chill until ready to use.

This has to be one of the most delicious ways to eat kale. It’s such a simple preparation but I could munch away on these kale chips forever! Forget potato chips or chocolate- this is my kind of treat!

Kale is an amazing vegetable. Besides looking super cool, it is rich in Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and calcium. There’s about a bazillion other nutrients you get when you eat kale and all for extremely few calories. I’ll definitely be adding kale to my ‘to-grow’ list for my garden!

Baked Kale Chips

• 1 head of green kale
• a tbsp olive oil
• pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200 F. Wash the kale and dry it well. Tear the kale into smaller pieces (get rid of the tough middle stem). In a bowl, toss it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, remove and toss the kale, place in the oven for another 15-20 minutes, until dry and crisp. Enjoy!

Lately I have been wanting to create a recipe for healthier spring rolls. When I was younger I used to love eating spring rolls, dipped in plenty of plum sauce, but these days I rarely eat them. I thought about making spring rolls that were baked, instead of deep fried, and when one of my classmates in culinary school was offering up a package of spring roll wrappers, I jumped on the chance. They sat in my freezer for about a month- until tonight, that is. I have been trying to stay away from soy products (besides fermented soy, like miso, and soy sauce) but I can’t stand wasting food, so I decided to use up a pack of organic tofu I had in the fridge. I actually marinaded the tofu for about a day and I really liked how much flavour it took on. I could use a little practice on my spring roll wrapping technique, but this finished product was delicious. Instead of plum sauce, I made an almond butter sauce and it was wonderful paired with the rolls.

Baked Spring Rolls with Almond Butter Dipping Sauce

Tofu:

• 1 package extra firm organic tofu cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup tamari
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• pinch of red chili flakes
• 4 drops of stevia (or, of course a sprinkle of sugar or honey)

Combine all the ingredients in a shallow dish and let marinade for at least an hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, bake for 12 minutes.

Spring Rolls:

• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 1 can water chestnuts, diced
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• pinch of red chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp each- minced garlic, ginger, lemon grass (I used a bottled paste of each of these, otherwise, sauté these together until garlic is cooked), sesame oil
• baked tofu, cut into thin strips
• 8 x 8 spring roll wrappers
• sesame oil, for brushing

Combine carrot, pepper, water chestnuts, scallions in a bowl with chili flakes, garlic, ginger, lemon grass and sesame oil. Take a spring roll wrapper in front of you so it looks like a diamond. Take a few strips of tofu, carrots, peppers, water chestnuts, and scallions, and place on the bottom end of the wrapper. Roll the bottom over the filling, tuck the sides of the wrapper in, and roll like a cigar. Place on a lined sheet pan, seam side down and brush with sesame oil. Repeat until all filling has been used (just eyeball the amounts!). Preheat the oven to 400 F and cook spring rolls for 8 minutes. Flip over, brush with oil and cook for 5 more minutes.

Almond Butter Dipping Sauce (Adapted from Rebar):

• 1/4 cup smooth almond butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 2 tbsp honey
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sambal oelek
• 1/4 cup tamari
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

Blend all ingredients in food processor, or by hand, with a whisk.

Combine all ingredients together except for halibut. Mix well so the miso paste is incorporated- not clumpy. Pour mixture over the halibut and let it marinade for at least 10 minutes.  Put the halibut and any extra sauce onto a aluminum foil lined try. Broil  for 5 minutes and then cover with aluminum foil and broil for 4 more minutes (depending on the size of your fillet).

Happy Mother’s Day! This weekend it happened to be my mom’s birthday on Friday followed by Mother’s Day on Sunday! I really wanted to try out a recipe (or two!) from this month’s Cookbook of the Month- The Joy of Vegan Baking. So, last night I made Baked Pumpkin Pudding and I accompanied it with Chocolate Almond Brittle. The Baked Pumpkin Pudding was nice but I really wished I had some vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream to go with it. The recipe suggested making the Tofu Whipped Topping to go with it, but since I am really the only one in my family adapted to using tofu in many different ways, I didn’t think they would enjoy that. I dug out my creme brulee torch because I wanted to add a nice burnt brown sugar topping to this dessert, but unfortunately I was out of butane! I still added brown sugar on top and stuck it under the broiler for about a minute- not quite the same, but oh well!

I really enjoyed the Chocolate Almond Brittle. It technically isn’t a brittle as it isn’t that rock-hard texture we all know. It was softer and contained chocolate, almonds and graham crackers. The best part for me were the bites that contained the graham crackers- next time I make this I will be sure to lower the amount of toasted almonds and up the amount of graham crackers!! I’m hoping to find the time to make some scones from this book soon, so stay tuned for that!

Say hi to yo mommas for me!!  

Here is a picture of me and my mom….unfortunately the only ones I have on my computer are from when I graduated high school!

Look how far I’ve come….from picking pumpkins (“it’s too heavy!!”) to baking with them!