To get started blogging again, I thought I’d do something very low-key and post my responses to this survey on gluten-free vegan eating. Note that xgfx is their shorthand for gluten-free vegan.

1. What’s your favorite gluten-free flour?
Tough one! It changes depending on what I’m making. Lately I’ve been loving coconut flour, but of course you can only use it in things that you want to have that coconut flavour. Of course, my go-to flour for 99% of what I make is sorghum, so maybe I should say that.

2. What have you always wanted to deglutenize, but haven’t yet?
Seitan! Apparently, it IS possible….

3. What’s one of your favorite xgfx meals to make?
Pad Thai

4. Your biggest gluten-free success that makes ya most proud?
Well, there isn’t one specific recipe, but I’ve found that I’m able to convert almost any cake, cookie, quick bread or muffin to a gluten-free, vegan version. Admittedly it sometimes takes a few tries, but I usually do succeed eventually! As I described to someone once, it’s really just about chemistry.

5. Most “epic xgfx fail”?
Oh dear. Not long after I went gluten-free, I bought potato flour instead of potato starch for a bread recipe. Lets just say the bread turned into a rock, and I’m not even sure the squirrels I tried to feed it to were going to eat it.

6. What product do you wish was xgfx that isn’t?
Veggie dogs! I’m totally serious. Here in Canada no one makes a tofu dog, only a tofu-and-seitan dog. I can very easily make a gluten-free, vegan bun! I just need a veggie dog to put in it.

7. If you could pass along one gluten-free tip to a gluten-free newbie, what would it be?
Learn to appreciate the foods that are naturally gluten-free, like rice and quinoa. If you’re always trying to replicate foods that have gluten in them, you’re going to be disappointed sometimes.

8. What’s your favorite xgfx product?
I’ll say two:

In Toronto: bread from Bunner’s Bake Shop.

Available all over the place: Sol Cuisine Veggie Breakfast Patties

9. Is there anything you miss being gluten-free?
Regular bread. Not being able to eat bread means finding a quick vegan meal can be difficult.

10. Any xgfx techniques you’ve learned that have been most helpful?
My main advice to anyone baking gluten-free is to blend flours. Never try to make something with just a single flour – you won’t get the results you’re hoping for.

11. Have you found a favorite gluten-free pizza dough recipe that makes your heart sing?

Yes! Sometimes I play with the flours I use and it STILL comes out tasty every time. Rich likes it so much that he doesn’t like going out for pizza, he prefers that I make one instead.

12. Xanthan gum. Do you or don’t you? Love it or leave it?
I’m meh about it. I’ll use it when I need to, but try to leave it out if I don’t.

13. Favorite gluten free prepackaged bread?
Well other than the great stuff from Bunner’s, I do really like the buckwheat bread from Organic Works and the quinoa bread from Little Stream. Oh, and Organic Works also makes a yummy cinnamon raisin loaf, if you want something a bit more sweet.

14. What’s your favorite way to nosh on quinoa?
Quinoa salad. Easy to make, easy to modify to your own tastes.

15. Name five of your most coveted pantry staples.
Chickpeas, short-grain brown rice, gluten-free tamari, rice pasta, good quality olive oil.

16. If you could only buy three gluten free flours to last you for three months, what would they be?
Sorghum, corn starch, chickpea.

17. Any xgfx ingredients you are intimidated about trying?
Nothing I can think of at the moment! I’m pretty, err, daring in the kitchen.

18. Favorite place to buy foods?
I have a few: Karma Co-op for their bulk gluten-free flours, nut butters, and spices, Fiesta Farms for their ‘international’ groceries section, and Sweet Potato because they are in my ‘hood and a good place to get organic veggies and fruits.

19. Favorite meal when dining out?
I like foods that are naturally gluten-free and vegan, like a lot of Indian or Thai curries. Easy to order and very yummy.

20. Name one xgfx product you’ve tried that you didn’t like.
A LOT of the breads out there are not very good. I’ve been disappointed many times. The only brands I buy are the three mentioned above, plus sometimes if I can find them I get Aidan’s gluten-free breads or bagels.

I went there for lunch today, and while I won’t do a full review just yet, I will say the yuba ‘chicken’ taco was really delicious. I got it with rice and beans on the side (tasty!) and also picked up two donuts for later – one lime/coconut, one cafe con ‘leche’. If Rich is lucky, I’ll share them with him. ;)

Two quick iPhone photos I took while enjoying lunch:

Go check them out and tell me what you think!

Hot Beans – Baldwin at Spadina in Kensington Market. Takeout lunch for $10, tax included.

As someone who adheres to both of those diets, it can be very difficult finding a snack if I’m at a cafe with Rich on a lazy weekend afternoon. Toronto has a lot of choices for vegans, and a lot for gluten-free people. There are even places that advertise themselves as being both gluten-free and vegan. However, I’ve always found that they don’t mean both gluten-free and vegan, they mean either gluten-free or vegan. I’ve been disappointed by this every time. It’s not that I don’t understand how tricky it can be to bake things with both of those diets in mind – believe me, I’ve had my fair share of failed kitchen experiments learning to navigate my way through gluten-free, vegan baked goods! But I also know it can be done. And by the strong success of Bunner’s Bake Shop, I’d say there is demand out there for this sort of thing.

The story behind Bunner’s is a bit of a small business fairy-tale: Girl meets boy. Girl and boy decide to open business together, selling their baked goods in the Distillery District last summer (after doing a lot of research and coming up with a business plan). Their vegan, gluten-free products became so popular that they usually sell out by the end of the day. Girl and boy advertise on the Toronto Vegetarian Association’s directory, and start getting tons of calls from people asking about their products. Girl and boy decide to open a bake shop and find a cute little space in the Junction. Now they’ve got their products in a few cafes all over Toronto and still nearly sell out at their bakery location every day.

As for my trip to visit them? Well, yesterday Rich and I finally make the trek up from Keele station (which we’re at every Sunday anyway) and popped in to see what they had. We were greeted with a huge smile and chit chatted about the beautiful weather and the products behind the counter. We decided to get a cupcake in every flavour they had available, plus one of their Creamies (for Rich) and Supersonic Gypsy cookies (for me).

Verdict? Oh. My. God. The Gypsy cookie was perfect; if I wasn’t afraid of gaining a ton of weight I’d eat one daily. It was packed to the brim with oats (certified gluten-free, of course!), seeds, cranberries and chocolate. Not too sweet and nice and filling. Rich’s Creamie, which is two chocolate chip cookies sandwiched together with chocolate or vanilla icing, was really great too. The bite I had was tender, sweet and very chocolatey – if I had ordered it, I probably would have only eaten half in one sitting, as it packed a real sugar punch.

And the cupcakes?

The four we managed to snag were vanilla, coconut, lemon and red velvet. Now, I’ve made my fair share of gluten-free, vegan cupcakes, and friends have always given my attempts a thumbs up. I know a big part of the secret is finding the perfect blend of flours, to try to mimic regular flour as best as you can,  giving it a light crumb without allowing your product to become a crumbly mess when someone tries to eat it. You have to be a bit of a chemist to pull this off – a bit of extra protein here, a bit of starch for lightness there, something to bind the ingredients together in the absence of gluten, all while making a good tasting final product.

Bunner’s product really blew me away.  They use bean flours but I couldn’t taste any ‘beaniness’ at all. The cupcake came out of its paper liner really easily but didn’t instantly fall apart. And the flavours are fantastic – red velvet lightly chocolatey and sweet with a hint of ‘cream cheese’ (vegan, of course) from the icing. Lemon tasting like real lemon and not lemon candies. Coconut and vanilla also wonderful, even a day old (we’d saved them for today).

Please, do yourself a favour and check this place out. It’s worth the trip into the Junction if you don’t already live near there – there’s a reason they were voted best new bakery for 2010 by BlogTO! You don’t have to be vegan or gluten-free to appreciate tasty baked goods, right?

Bunner’s Bake Shop, 3054 Dundas Street West in the Junction, 647-352-2975.

One of the things that has been really taking up my time is working on a charity banquet, an Oxfam-style Hunger Banquet to be precise. Given that hunger is indeed a food-related topic, and given that the food served at the banquet will be as local and in season as possible, I thought I’d post something about that here.

That, and to be honest, I want to get the word out on this important event to help make it a success!

From our official media release:

Hunger Banquet to Benefit Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders, The Children’s Breakfast Clubs and Oxfam.

On Saturday, November 20, 2010, at 5:30 p.m., the Toronto Zen Centre hosts a Hunger Banquet to bring attention to the world-wide crisis of hunger.

Every day, 24,000 people die of hunger, three-fourths of them children under five. In our country, too, people suffer from hunger. Each month, more than 700,000 Canadians receive food from a food bank.

The Hunger Banquet is held at the Steelworkers Union Hall at 25 Cecil Street. To experience the realities of food and hunger, attendees are streamed by random draw into high, middle, or low income groups to reflect the inequalities of food distribution on our planet. Following a presentation by a guest speaker who will address issues of hunger caused by the recent flooding in Pakistan, everyone is served a full vegetarian dinner. Food has been generously donated by local organic farmers and food suppliers, and prepared by local chefs.

To attend the Hunger Banquet, please make a reservation by November 16th. Call the Toronto Zen Centre, at (416) 766-3400 or send an e-mail to: info@torontozen.org. Space is limited and reservations are required. The minimum contribution is $40 per person to be donated to hunger relief. Canned or boxed food items for an emergency food bank are welcomed. The Hunger Banquet is a volunteer driven initiative and all proceeds will go to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders, The Children’s Breakfast Clubs and Oxfam’s hunger relief campaign in Pakistan.

I also want to mention we will also be having a speaker from the Children’s Breakfast Clubs who will address the issue of childhood hunger in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

People who attended the banquet last year were very moved by the presentations and really felt it opened their eyes to the issue of world hunger. Many expressed appreciation for having been able to attend.

On a more personal note, you can also get tickets directly from me (and I’d be glad to tell you more about the event if you’re interested!). Just hit the ‘contact us’ tab for my email address, or use the contact form.

And as for the food that will be served? Well, I am friends with both of the chefs and I can promise you the food will be good… while neither of them currently owns or works at a restaurant, both have been cooking for many years and both currently work as caterers/personal chefs.

Please consider attending this special event, and I would be very grateful if you shared this post with family, coworkers and friends in the GTA.

Last week we had our very first pickup, from the garage attached to the back of Linuxcaffe (Grace at Harbord).

Doesn’t that look awesome? The produce they chose for us was:

• bunch of spring onions
• head of lettuce
• quart of fingerling potatoes
• bunch of rhubarb
• bunch of radishes (which unfortunately they didn’t have, so we got an extra $2.50 to spend)

And then with our extra money we got:

• bag of awesome, handmilled corn meal
• jar of huckleberry jelly, made by one of the KEO members (Zehr’s Bakery in Woodville)
• jar of apple pie spread/filling, made from apples harvested from KEO then cooked up by students at the chef school at George Brown College

How great is that? Everything we’ve eaten so far has been wonderfully fresh and delicious. Plus, this has been a great way to plan our meals for the week – instead of randomly choosing dishes, we’re looking at what we have from the CSA this week and getting creative with the ingredients.

I’ll share some recipes I’ve made from our haul throughout the summer!

What exactly was I thinking? I was seriously missing out!

Sadie’s is a fantastic vegetarian and vegan diner located at Adelaide and Portland in downtown Toronto (just south of Queen and Bathurst). They do an all day breakfast along with simple lunch items (soups, salads, sandwiches, etc), smoothies, juices, coffee and (of course!) dessert.

These photos are from our first visit. We both ordered Huevos Rancheros; Rich got the traditional with real eggs and cheese, and I got the vegan option with scrambled tofu and vegan cheese. Since these photos were taken they’ve switched to using Daiya cheese in their vegan options, which I heartily approve of. The vegan option is also gluten-free, as far as I am aware.

We’ve been back a few times since. On our last visit we both ordered tofu scramble, which is essentially a ‘traditional’ breakfast done vegan style: toast, tofu scramble, veggie bacon or veggie sausage, homefries and coffee. We both ordered sausage and found that they deep fry it (or at least they seem to!), which makes it even more delicious than when we cook similar fake sausage at home. Not the most gluten-free breakfast, admittedly, but really good and a nice occasional treat.

My only real complaint about Sadie’s is the coffee (fair trade and organic) could be a bit stronger. But in true diner style, refills are free, and their mugs are huge. So I’m not really complaining all that loudly.

I hear the desserts (especially the vegan cupcakes) are awesome, but I’ve always been too full from the rest of my meal to try one.

You should go. Even if you aren’t vegan or vegetarian, you should go.

Sadie’s Diner, 504 Adelaide Street West, Toronto, (416) 777-2343. Meals for two with coffee, $20.

Daiya is a company that produces two kinds of  vegan ‘cheese’ products that look, smell, melt and taste a lot like cheese. No, really, they do! Even Rich, who has been mostly skeptical of the various ‘cheese’ products I’ve tried over the last year, really likes Daiya ‘cheeses’ and says they taste convincingly like the real thing. Lucky for me and all the other gluten-sensitive folks out there, Daiya’s products are also gluten-free. They’re also free of many other allergens, like soy and nuts.

Up until recently, you could only get Daiya products in some restaurants and at some American health food stores, which purchased the products in large quantities and then repackaged them for resale. That’s how we got our hands on some; Panacea on Bloor just west of Bathurst started purchasing them in late February. They got what they figured would be a six week supply for the store, only to find eager vegans snapped it up so quickly they were out of stock in five days!

The first time we picked it up, we got the Italian Blend, which Daiya has now renamed Mozzarella Style Shreds. We used it to make a pizza, which is of course the most obvious use for it! As you can see from the photos, the pizza turned out great. The product really does melt and really does stretch, much like real cheese. I would also happily use the product in place of mozzarella or other mild cheeses in cooking – it would be delicious in any baked pasta, sprinkled on top of vegetables, or melted into a sandwich.

More recently I picked up some of the Cheddar Style Shreds, which I’ve been using in Mexican food (quesadillas and the like). It is also excellent and very cheddar-like. I bet it would be awesome as a topping for nachos!

Fortunately for all the vegans out there, Daiya has now started packaging their product for sale to consumers, and should eventually be available in select grocery stores all over North America.

In Toronto and want some? As mentioned, Panacea has it in stock now. They’re a great vegan shop and well worth heading to anyway – they have a wide selection of vegan and eco-friendly products. But if you’re on the other side of the Don Valley, you can try looking for it at The Big Carrot – Daiya’s website lists them as one of their retailers.

Outside of Toronto? Just try searching for a retailer near you.

I’ve been going to Live off and on for about a year now, and fell in love with the food from the first bite. The restaurant started out as an all raw, vegan place back in 2003, but added in some cooked dishes a few years after they opened. Now they’ve got a whole line of products they sell at various stores in the GTA, including these take-out dishes.

The one I picked up was a ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’: zucchini noodles with tomato, cabbage and carrots, topped with a sundried tomato sauce, almond ‘cheese’ and walnut ‘bolognese’. Ok, I know that sentence was a little excessive with the quotation marks, but that’s unfortunately one of the things that happens with raw food sometimes – raw, vegan versions of old favourites that, well, aren’t quite like the old favourite. Admittedly, we always have a bit of a laugh over it, but enjoy the food none-the-less.

This take-out container made an awesome, filling lunch and made me feel like I’d eaten something healthy without it being the least bit boring. It was perfect after a long run at the gym.

Now I just need to get back to the restaurant to take some pictures and share with you more of their dishes!

Where’s this place I’m talking about? Oh, right. Hibiscus is an all vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free-friendly restaurant in Kensington Market. Their small menu offers salads, a daily soup, crepes, vegan ice cream and a variety of beverages (coffee, tea, juice, smoothies, etc). Everything I’ve tried on the menu has been fantastic.

The buckwheat crepes are available sweet (toppings such as nutella or lemon and sugar) or savory (cheeses, pesto, various vegetables). All of them can be customized if need be – vegans can order them without cheese, or someone who doesn’t like one vegetable can ask for a different one.

Their salad is a mixture of wonderful things – quinoa, beets, marinaded tofu, carrots, broccoli, seeds… way better than the typical green salad you get at most places.

The soup is always freshly made and always vegan, and comes with a gluten-free cracker made in-house. The last two times I was there, they had a fall soup on – once butternut squash and once pumpkin.

My favourite thing on the menu is their soup and salad combo – for under $10 you get a giant bowl of salad and a wonderful warm cup of soup. It makes for a very filling lunch for one, and is healthy without being the least bit boring.

I have yet to try their vegan ice cream, but on our last visit we learned they use a variety of milk alternatives for it, depending on the flavour. Soy, rice, almond and mung bean are all possibilities – just ask if you’re trying to avoid one of those options. The flavours are really interesting and go beyond the usual strawberry, vanilla and chocolate – black sesame seed, earl grey tea, and mango are just some of the possibilities.

The staff are friendly and attentive, and happy to make ingredient substitutions if you need or want. Last time we were there, Rich went up to the cash to pay and noticed a tray of gluten-free vegan chocolate peanut butter squares. Since I rarely find treats I can actually eat, he opted to get two of them to go. The guy taking the payment said he’d make sure to give us the two biggest squares in the tray. I don’t think this was because we’re there fairly often – I think they really are just that nice to everyone.

This has been one of the real highlights of eating out with my food restrictions, and when eating there haven’t felt one bit like I was missing out.

Hibiscus Cafe – 238 Augusta Avenue – 416.364.6183. Lunch for 2 with beverages, $20.

Greenavi was a great place to grab a cup of coffee and chill with a book, or do a few hours work with their free wifi. They also had lots of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free friendly stuff available for snacking. I’m really sad to see them go, but if the note posted to the door is telling the truth, it was simply a matter of the owners wanting to move on to pursue other things. I’ll really miss this place. Curious to see what opens here next; with Just Us Cafe and now Greenavi having not lasted in this location, I have to wonder if yet someone else will try opening a cafe here, or if the place really isn’t suited to that sort of business for the long term.