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.

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.

Well, ok, I guess I shouldn’t say I really made it ‘as written’ – I did tweak the spices a bit.

Sweet Potato Quesadillas
Page 60, Summer 2009 Food & Drink Magazine (from the LCBO)

1 tsp olive oil
4 green onions, sliced, white and green parts separated
1 rib celery, diced
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 c canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp each coarse salt, pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, minced
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro (optional, for those who don’t like cilantro, just leave it out or substitute fresh parsley)
4 10-inch whole-grain flour tortillas
1/2 cup queso fresco, feta, or chevre

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook white parts of the green onion, celery, sweet potato, beans and seasonings until onions are tender and sweet potatoes are starting to brown. Stir in red pepper and jalapeno and cook, stirring often until sweet potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining green onion and cilantro (or parsley, if using).

Arrange mixture on one half of a tortilla, then sprinkle with cheese of choice and fold tortilla in half to cover filling.

Grill over medium heat on greased grill for 5-10 minutes, turning once, until crisp and golden brown. I used my grill/panini press to make life easier, so I recommend you go that route if you have one. Cut into wedges and serve with fresh salsa and sour cream if you like.

Rich and I purchased a copy of Veganomicon a few months ago, figuring we could certainly add more vegan dishes to our diet. So far, all of the recipes I’ve tried have been really great, but I think tonight’s tops the list. The recipe was for lentils and rice with caramelized onions, served with spiced pita crisps. To that I added a simple spinach dish I grabbed from Leslie at Definitely Not Martha. The results were fabulous – homey comfort food with lots of flavour and pretty healthy too! The only changes I made were reducing the amount of oil used to lower the fat content, and not cooking the dish as long as they said it needed – I found the lentils were cooked through a good 15 minutes before they said they would be.

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions

3 large yellow onions, sliced into rings
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup brown basmati rice
1 cup red lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place onion rings into a large baking dish and cover with oil, tossing to coat. Put into the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until nice and deep brown. If they are slightly burnt on the edges, that’s ok too – they’ll still be really tasty. Set aside to cool.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Once boiling, add in the rice, cinnamon stick, allspice and cumin and allow to return to a boil. Lower the heat to medium, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes.

Now add in the lentils and stir gently. Bring the mixture back to a boil and then turn the heat to low. Cover again and allow to cook for 30 to 45 minutes. I found it was done after 30 minutes, the original recipe says 45 – just check to see if the lentils are nice and tender and that’s when it is done. Remove from the heat and allow it to sit for 10 minutes, then fluff the rice and lentils with a fork.

Remove the cinnamon stick and add in the onions with the oil. Serve with pita crisps and your choice of greens.

Spiced Pita Crisps

4 whole wheat pitas
olive oil for brushing
spice combination of your choosing: I used garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper

Slice the pitas open along the edges and carefully peel the two halves apart. Brush each with olive oil and then sprinkle with the spices of your choice. Bake in a 350F oven for about 10 minutes or until browned and crisp but not burned. Allow to cool, the store in a ziplock bag.

Really Freakin Tasty Spinach

Ruthlessly stolen from Leslie at Definitely Not Martha

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 lb fresh baby spinach
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan or wok on medium-high heat. Add in the garlic and cook just until slightly browned, then add in the spinach. Cook until slightly wilted. Add in the soy sauce and brown sugar and toss to coat. Eat.

Mmm, cheesequake.

It’s Daring Bakers time again!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I took one look at the challenge and knew I’d have to join the ranks of the alternative bakers this month. Some months I’m able to go with the recipe as written, but Rich can’t eat cheesecake (he can’t do that much lactose) and I can’t eat an entire cheesecake on my own. So my challenge was to find a suitable vegan substitute.

Fortunately, the Daring Bakers alternative forum is a great place to get ideas, and one baker suggested using Susan from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen’s Eggnog Cheesecake recipe as the base, modifying as needed.  Having had great success with Susan’s recipes in the past, I went with it, plus a graham cracker crust based on the original recipe Jenny had provided. My cheesecake was flavoured with frangelico instead of eggnog and rum, and topped with hazelnuts and dark chocolate.

Rich and I loved the cheesecake, and ate the entire thing over the long weekend in April. Ooops. At least it took us three days to polish it off instead of one? Funny enough, neither of us are big cheesecake fans, but we really did like this. I think I’d make it again, although next time in a smaller quantity, or maybe to take to a party or something.

One big tip before I give you the recipe: it’s way better if you leave it in the fridge at least a day after baking. That allows the flavours to develop and the yummy frangelico really comes out.

Vegan Hazelnut Cheesecake

heavily based on this recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Thank you Susan!

Cheesecake filling:
1 12.3-ounce package extra firm light silken tofu
1 8-ounce package non-hydrogenated vegan cream cheese (I used Yoso plain cream cheese)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup frangelico
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup vegan butter substitute
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix together the crust ingredients and then spread into a pie plate. Bake for 8-10 minutes or just until very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

Drain the tofu and put it and the soy cream cheese into a food processor (or a tall bowl if you want to use a stick blender to blend it). Blend until smooth. Add the sugar and soy milk and blend again until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and blend again, about 3 more minutes or until smooth. Pour into the crust and bake for 55 minutes. When done, the cheesecake should not be browned and should be just slightly jiggly in the middle – it will firm up completely once you refrigerate it.

Remove from oven and allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least a few hours, preferably a day to let the flavours meld.

Decorate with melted dark chocolate and sliced hazelnuts (optional, but tasty!).

For more cheesecake goodness, check out the Daring Baker’s Blogroll!

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the cheesequake: Cat & Girl is one of my favourite comics.

Urban Herbivore is the sister restaurant to Fressen, which we loved but had some service issues at. Not surprisingly, there are some minor service issues at Herbivore too, mostly in that orders can get mixed up between the time you order and pay and the time you receive your food. They’re always quick to fix the problem, so it’s not a huge deal, but it is one of those things I notice. I think it’s simply an issue of having too few staff taking orders, or being too disorganized for the number of people coming through the door.

Their no fur policy, which is displayed right on their door, is interesting to me. On the one hand, fur is definitely the most controversial animal product that people can wear, and vegans certainly tend to be anti-fur. On the other hand, fur isn’t ok, but leather or down is? Hmm. Maybe it’s an enforcement issue – down and leather can be hard to avoid, especially during the colder months, but fur really isn’t. Or maybe they’re trying to make a statement specifically about fur. Either way, best leave your bunny mittens at home if you’re going to go to Urban Herbivore, if you’re the type that would wear such a thing.

For details on the food, check out my foodtv.ca review.

Urban Herbivore – 64 Oxford St, Toronto, ON, (416) 927-1231

Now, let’s be honest here – I hadn’t eaten many donairs before I became a vegetarian at the age of 13, so I never really had a chance to miss them. And while I did go back to eating chicken and fish for a few years in my mid/late twenties, donairs still wouldn’t have been on my menu. But I do have fond memories of them from my childhood in Nova Scotia – friends and family would order them and I’d order some garlic fingers or a vegetarian sub. The smell of the donairs was just awesome and I sometimes wished there was a vegetarian version for me to try.

So tonight I made Sheryl’s vegatarian version, and I have to say it was quite awesome. The sauce recipe was better than the one that I’ve used before as garlic finger dipping sauce, and the ‘meat’ was super flavourful. I did right by the donair by using plain old tomato and yellow onion, but admittedly I did use whole wheat pita. A correct version would have used plain white pita, preferably the more ‘Greek’ style (slightly thicker and often made without a pocket).

How did it all taste? It was awesome. I’d make it again in a heartbeat. If you’d like to make it too, go check out the recipe over here.

The recipe takes a fair bit of prep work, as you need to pan fry the eggplant, zucchini, and potato in small batches so everything will get nicely browned. However, the results are worth all the work. Served with a nice medium-bodied white wine (like Sauvignon Blanc) this is an awesome Sunday night dinner. It also tastes just as good (maybe even better) the next day as leftovers for lunch. Yum!

Yummy Vegetarian Moussaka

1 eggplant, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
2 potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
1/2 (14.5 ounce) can lentils, drained, juice reserved
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups milk
black pepper to taste
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly brown eggplant sliced on both sides, then remove from the pan and set aside. Repeat with the zucchini slices and then the potato slices, adding more oil as needed to make sure they don’t stick to the pan.
4. Saute onion and garlic until lightly browned. Pour in vinegar and reduce. Stir in tomatoes, lentils, 1/2 the juice from lentils, oregano and parsley. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes.
5. In a 9×13 inch casserole dish layer eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, onions and feta. Pour tomato mixture over vegetables; repeat layering, finishing with a layer of eggplant and zucchini.
6. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine butter, flour and milk. Bring to a slow boil, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Season with pepper and add nutmeg. Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes, and stir in beaten egg.
8. Pour sauce over vegetables and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, for another 25 to 30 minutes.

So, I’ve talked about our main holiday meal, but we also did a soup appetizer to kick things off – a lovely celery root ‘bisque’ flavoured with thyme. I’d had this once before; the person who oversees clinic operations where I work made it as part of a lunch for all of us a few months ago. I decided to veganize it and make it as part of our dinner.

My only comment is that the soup is VERY celery tasting. That’s to be expected, since the main ingredients are celery root and celery. I wouldn’t serve this alone – either serve it as an appetizer, as we did, or serve it with a little something else, like a sandwich or flavoured bread.

Veganized Celery Root ‘Bisque’

Original recipe from Bon Appetit, lightly modified (to be vegan) by me. Usually a bisque gets it’s thickness from cream, but this version uses a pureed potato instead.

* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 cup chopped celery
* 1/2 cup coarsely chopped shallots (about 3 large)
* 2 pounds celery roots (celeriac), peeled, woody parts trimmed and discarded, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 5 1/2 cups)
* 1 10-ounce russet potato, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 5 cups low-salt vegetable broth
* 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
* 1/4 cup plain soy milk
* Additional chopped fresh thyme as garnish

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add celery; cover and cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add shallots; sauté uncovered 3 minutes. Stir in celery root cubes and potato, then broth and 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme. Increase heat to high; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 40 minutes. Cool slightly.

Working in batches, transfer soup to blender and puree until smooth. Or, do as I did and use your stick blender to puree it. Just be careful not to splatter it all over your kitchen.

Stir soy milk into soup and bring to simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with additional chopped thyme and serve.

Read part 2 – Eat your veggies!
Read part 1 – Gravy mishaps.

We decided we wanted to stay away from some of the typical stuff we’d been served growing up. This meant that mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes were out, but anything else was fair game. Deciding we wanted to try to use something semi-seasonal, we chose a roasted butternut squash dish. But then we needed something green, so I suggested a garlicky green beans recipe.

The squash was so, so good. Roasting it almost gave it a candied effect, it was so sweet and delicious, with slightly crispy edges. Flavoured with thyme and bay leaf, it was the perfect accompaniment to the tofurky (which had stuffing already in it, by the way) and gravy.

The green beans? Well, those were just ok. They were nice and crisp and plenty garlicky, but I think if we did this meal again, I might try roasting more vegetables. Broccoli? Asparagus? I have almost a year to decide. Hmmm…

Roasted Butternut Squash

* 1 butternut squash, about 1 pound/450 g
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* Salt and pepper
* A few fresh thyme sprigs
* A few bay leaves

Heat the oven to 400°F. Slice the squash into 3/8-inch/3/4-cm half moons. Toss with the olive oil to coat. Arrange in slightly overlapping rows on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter over the thyme and bay. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn and bake an additional 20 minutes, until the squash is soft with slightly candied brown edges.

Garlicky Green Beans

* 3 lb. green beans, trimmed
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper

In a large saucepan of boiling water, cook the green beans for 5 to 8 minutes or until tender-crisp. Drain well.

In large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the garlic, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add the beans and toss to coat, then cover and cook, tossing twice, for about 8 minutes or until hot.

Add parsley and salt and pepper, then serve.

Read part 1