On Greek food and falafel

There's a mediterranean kiosk in the food court of the mall near my work called Casablanca, and I checked it out for only the first time today - what the hell was I thinking waiting so long?  Of their 8 meal menu items, two were fit for veggie royalty - one vegetarian (featuring a massive spanakopita), the other vegan - I opted for the vegan plate and, um, YUM.  I'm not sure what kind of dressing they used on their tabouli, but it was honestly the best I've ever had.

In this picture: 3 pieces falafel smothered in tahini, garlic and hot sauce, a healthy serving of hummous, two dolmathes (rice wrapped in grape leaves), tabouli salad on top of a green salad, and pita.  I also had him throw in a few of those delicious pickled turnips they make - SO good.  The cost? Less than $6.  I'm not even kidding.  I had a sandwich from a fancy coffee shop yesterday that cost me $9 and wasn't NEAR as good or filling as this. Screw you fancy coffee shop (cough*TreesonGranville*cough)!

Falafel is one of those things I never tried before I became a vegetarian, and I LOVE it now.  I'm usually pretty particular about where I get it, because it can sometimes be quite dry.  My current favourite local place is Falafel King at 902 Granville - that dude makes it RIGHT and puts the whole wrap in a press to warm it up afterward. Falafel heaven.  I've toyed with the idea of making my own falafel off and on, but all the falafel I've ever had appears to be deep-fried, which concerns me a bit (and I don't own a deep fryer).  I guess I'd be looking for a recipe that calls for baking the falafel balls....Anyone tried making their own falafel? I would LOVE a tried and tested recipe that tastes GOOD :)

Tomorrow is Canada Day and thus a day off work - if you're Canadian or American, enjoy your country's birthday this weekend!

Salad dressings, Sammy J Peppers and Substituting

No new recipes to report, unfortunately, today I have leftover Indian food (I know, I KNOW) and a great homemade pasta salad I made two days ago.  I used a bottled dressing, but I think I may declare this the "Summer of Dressing!" because the one I purchased (feta & oregano), while delicious, really doesn't stand up to the pasta. On lettuce, it's great, on pasta, I had to add far too much extra salt, pepper and herbs to get that tangy flavour.  I've been collecting dressing recipes over the years, but I'll be damned if I've ever tried making one!  That's all going to change :)

This is the one I'm going to try first. It's the recipe of a family friend that keeps getting passed around my hometown - easily a favourite up there!

Poppyseed dressing

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup apple juice

1/3 cup liquid honey

1/4 cup of Dijon mustard

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 tsp of each, salt and pepper

1-2 tsp of poppy seeds

shake well and store in the refrigerator.

I went shopping with a girlfriend in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver) this past weekend to Metrotown - easily the biggest mall in British Columbia.  I'm not too familiar with the restaurants out that way, but we wanted to have lunch somewhere with a patio, and Sammy J Peppers was right across the street with a lovely patio.  Their menu wasn't terribly vegetarian friendly (http://www.sjpeppers.com/), but I was extraordinarily impressed with how helpful our server was with making their menu work for me.  Other than a veggie burger and salads, nothing on the menu was vegetarian.  However, she assured me that the chefs would make any of their flatbread pizzas and any of their "bowls" vegetarian or vegan for me, and every type of burger they had was available using a veggie patty.  Pretty impressive.  In my experience, I'd say this sort of accommodating happens only about 25% of the time I eat out, and it is ALWAYS worth a mention and a shout-out.  Because of that, I will definitely be back.

I ordered one of their flatbread pizzas that normally came with capicolla and chorizo, and substituted basil and fresh tomatoes instead. All in all, it was a LOVELY little lunch - a flatbread covered with mozza, banana peppers, basil, jalapenos, fresh tomatoes, caramelized red onions, feta and a few more things I can't remember.  My lunch companion had more than a few pieces of it :)

Eating Healthy(er) and Quinoa & Black Beans

Man, those two months of hockey, beer and potato chips really did a number on my figure. I actually struggled to get a skirt I've had for years over my hips today.  Note to the Canucks: if you're going to last that long in the playoffs, kindly win it next time?  Too many potato chips were eaten at my house.

Anyway, with summery fruit coming into season and hockey being over, I seem to be back on track.  For breakfast this morning, I had peanut butter and banana on a whole wheat bun - toasted a bit in the sandwich maker, then leftover onion/bell pepper/black bean fajitas with fresh avocado in two mini tortillas for lunch, and I have a big container of fresh strawberries for my afternoon snack. Dinner tonight will be a simple pasta primavera with cooked flat noodles, earth balance, tomatoes, zucchini, salt and pepper and fresh parsley. Perhaps a squeeze of lemon and fresh tarragon from my herb garden?

I might have some exciting news in a week or two that I must keep under wraps for the time being, but suffice it to say for the purposes of this post, I expect it to bring good things to this blog going forward. I am feeling reinvigorated, so stay tuned, veg-heads!

Here's a quick recipe I'll be making very very soon - it's quick and YUMMY:

Quinoa and Black Beans

1 tsp veg oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic (or more), chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1.5 cups veg broth (or chicken flavoured veg broth)
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until lightly browned.  Add quinoa and cover with broth.  Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.  Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, simmer 20 minutes.  Add corn and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through.  Add cilantro and serve.

This would probably be cooked with a few raw, chopped tomatoes thrown in, too....and I probably (read: definitely) amp up the spices in this.  Keep tasting until it's "yours".

Update July 27 - made this last night (hence the picture) and I actually mixed the cilantro right into the pot right before serving, as opposed to using as garnish.  However, we added chopped, seeded tomatoes to the top and one or more of us sprinkled parmesan on top - yummy!

On Sandwiches (and catching up!)

Good morning, veg-heads!  Personally, I have a bit of a thick head from consuming beer AND sangria last night with some friends while watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals - nothing a ton of water today won't fix.  Besides Vancouver's win (yay!), the best part of the night was the discovery of THEBESTVEGGIE BURGERIHAVEEVERHAD.  And let me me tell you, I've had a veggie burger or two in my life.  I thought about taking a picture of it, but it was too dark in there, so you'll just have to take my word for it.  It was the restaurant's special during Canucks games - Burger and a Beer for $11.95 - any kind of burger you want, including veggie!  It was stuffed with amazing-tasting ingredients and the bun was like this delicious brioche piece of heaven - agh! I want it again! (I'll be back for it) 

In any case, if you ever want to try it, Cats is part of the Brown's group of "social houses", and they have a ton of them all over the lower mainland. The cool thing about the menu is that you can substitute tofu for almost ANY meat dish in the place - in the place of fish, chicken, beef, etc. That, my friends, is super cool. Locations and menu here:
http://brownsrestaurantgroup.com/brownssocialhouse/menu/
http://catssocialhouse.com/

Now then. I've been really into sandwiches lately. We have this awesome sandwich maker/panini press thing at work and I've been all over it.  Lately, my breakfasts have been a cut up morningstar vegetarian sausage (heated), tomato and avocado plus salt and pepper between a pita and placed in the sandwich maker. SO good.  I used to put cheese in this, but am as cheese-free as I can be these days, and really, with avocado, who needs it??

Last weekend, I made this AMAZING vegetarian sandwich with whatever I felt like - this little baby had fresh spinach, red peppers, grated carrot, cheddar cheese, avocado, cucumber and, what I believe to be the key ingredient, lots of fresh basil.  I also used Tofutti cream cheese - herb flavoured. Seriously, this sandwich makes me laugh in the face of meat sandwiches.

Yesterday for lunch I did a good old fashioned pb&j, although I really would have preferred a pb&b (banana).  Man do I love a good pb&b.  I've been getting cravings at work lately for something sweet around 3pm, so I and the pb&js are taking care of cravings business.  Put it in the sandwich maker and voila....molten peanut buttery goodness.

What do all these sandwiches have in common? Protein.  In the form of whole wheat bread (mostly), cheeses, tofu cream cheese, peanut butter, avocado...on and on. Delicious and damn well-rounded.

Sorry for the lack of new recipe posts, folks! I actually decided about three weeks ago that I needed to go back and re-make the recipes I posted at the beginning of the blog so I had pictures to add to them!  If you haven't visited the old recipes for a while, take a look, a lot of them have accompanying pictures now.  I'm making the Balsamic Eggplant Parmesan tonight so will have that picture up tomorrow.

Happy eating!