Sweet Potato-Cranberry Scones

So this arrived in the mail last week (swell vegan's zine, not the swan measuring cup) and then I had to decide what to make first. It was difficult because there are a lot of great fall recipes - Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers with Millet and Leeks, Mole-Roasted Cauliflower, etc. - but I went with the Sweet-Potato Cranberry Scones.

I figured the scones would be easy, but I should have read more into these two lines: "The dough should be fairly stiff. Fold in the cranberries."

In my case, the instructions should have read like this: "The dough should be fairly stiff. Don't bother trying to fold the cranberries in. Punch the cranberries with all your might into the dough. Do not be discouraged if this takes several minutes, or if the cranberries try to escape. It will all be worth it in the end."*

* I think I would have had an easier time had my cranberries not be frozen. 

Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Carmelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping

Behold pumpkin ziti, roasted acorn squash, and my mug, which is actually empty, but co-ordinates nicely with my dinner plate.

The best part of this casserole is the cashew ricotta. It's even better than the dairy stuff. I believe it would be great on bagels.

My one concern with this meal is the fat content: there's 1/2 cup cashews in the ricotta and 1/3 cup of walnuts in the breadcrumb topping. That's - dare I say? - kind of nuts!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Mark Bittman proved to be a valuable resource once again. Apparently for seeds it's best to toast, not roast.

Add a glug* of oil, a dash of salt, a pinch of seasoning and slowly toast in a cast iron pan. According to Bittman, you'll know they're done when they're browned and/or start to pop.**

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* Unfortunately, my glug was more of a chug. Oops. But to directly quote Bittman: "Naturally, oil roasting adds fat and calories, but it also adds great flavor."

** I consider the sentence "pumpkin seeds will puff up slightly, and may pop a bit" to be insufficient warning for what actually ensued.

Cauliflower and Mushroom Potpie with Black Olive Crust

So delicious! And easy!

I'd never made a crust before (am not much of a fancy baker) so this was a good baby step. The black olive biscuit crust is supposed to be made in little individual sections. I used a triangle shaped cookie cutter to make uniform shapes and then added some hearts in the centre. 

The sauce for the potpie has a lot of tarragon in it which is my favourite underused herb. Now I'm craving foccacia bread though.

Banana-Date Scones

I'm trying to bake every week now so that I have mid-morning snacks for work. I usually make muffins but the Banana-Date Scones from Veganomicon promised to be healthy and full of natural sugars so I went for it.

I made two substitutions, one which was unintentional. Now it could just be that I am terrible at finding things, but I couldn't locate brown rice syrup at my local health food store! So agave came to the rescue.

The recipe also instructed that I should make a flax seed egg, but given my large quantity of chia seeds I decided to make a chia egg instead and it turned out very well. I only soaked the soy milk and chia mixture for about 15 minutes but it turned into gel and blended perfectly into the scones. 

It should be noted that although these are called scones, flaky pastries they are not. They are like a heartier, wholesome cousin.

Samosa Stuffed Baked Potatoes

First potato post!

These were easier to make than samosas (and would have been ever easier had I not been rushing and scooping out potato insides that were still hot). I can see myself making these a lot since the main ingredients are potatoes, carrots, onions and frozen peas, which are staples around here. 

What the Heck... are Ground Cherries?

Or Groud Cherries, as the package says. Oops! But it's très charmant. 

When I first saw them at a distance I thought they were gooseberries, to the extent that once I actually read the label I wondered if ground cherry was an alternate name. But no, they are their own unique phenomenon. 

These one are actually naked - they grow with little coats on (see illustration) like tomatillos. I've seen them before on cakes in fancy bakeries but never actually tried one.

The result? Well, the word cherries is misleading. They smell a bit like cotton candy, but bite in and there's a burst of intense sweetness, followed by a taste that's like a combination of tomato, pineapple and vanilla. The ground cherry straddles the line between fruit and vegetable, sweet and savory. 

Not bad.