Pennyless Pancakes and Sour Cream

I just did my budget last night for the whole year. Very depressing stuff. I've come to the realisation that I've been spending way above my means and I'm going to have to cut back drastically if I want to keep this ship afloat.

Eating vegan definitely can be more expensive, but making stuff at home really helps to save money. On the plus side, expensive things are usually more processed, which I would like to stay away from anyways.

On the weekend I made my own sour cream for the first time and last night I had Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes. Both very cheap. I have a funny feeling I'll be eating a lot of pancakes this year (or the like).

Sour Cream:
300g Silken Tofu
1/4 c finely ground cashews (I use a coffee grinder bought specifically for nuts.)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1tbsp white miso paste

Combine in a food processor and blend till smooth.

Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes:
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 c soymilk
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp egg replacer powder
1/4 c warm water
3 tbsp melted butter
1 c fresh or thawed blueberries

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. In a small bowl, combine the soymilk, lemon juice, and vanilla. It will curdle and become like buttermilk. In another small bowl, whisk together the egg replacer and warm water until foamy. Add to the buttermilk mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until the batter just comes together. Mid in the melted butter.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium - high heat. Coat lightly with oil. Ladle about 1/2 c of batter into the pan for each pancake. Sprinkle with a handful of blueberries on each pancake. When the batter begins to bubble and the edges look cooked flip and cook on the other side until golden brown.

Makes six 6-inch pancakes.



I saw this in the store the other day. Whipping cream would have been great on top of these pancakes, but I don't have the money for it at this time. I also heard that you can make whipping cream out of coconut milk ($1.50). I will probably try that before buying this Healthy Top ($5) and I'll let you know how it goes.

Both recipes are from the cookbook: Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites

The most delicious, mouthwatering, divine, scrumptious, delectable, piquant Mahkni. Ever.

This recipe comes from Monica's mom. She makes the most delicious food and just has a natural gift in the kitchen. She never follows a recipe, eyeballing everything. She is East Indian, and makes the best Indian dishes I've ever had in my life.

I will write down what I put in, but she really just listed ingredients, not amounts. I don't know if I put in too little or too much, but it tasted fine to me.

"Paneer" Mahkni
Butter (2 tbsp)
1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp fenugreek (kasoori methi)
Melt the butter in a pot and add the crushed tomatoes and fenugreek. Cook for 10 minutes.

Garlic (I used about 7 cloves from a jar and used a garlic press)
Ginger (About 1 tbsp minced from a jar)
Green chillies (I didn't have any fresh chillies so I used about one tsp red chilli flakes)
Red chillies
Turmeric (About 1 tbsp)
Salt (1 tsp)
Fry in a pan with a bit of oil for about 3-4 minutes. Add spices to the sauce. (I didn't want to dirty two pans so I did the spices first then added the sauce to it.)

Sugar (1/2 tsp)
500 ml whipping cream (Substituted one can of Coconut milk. Make sure you get the richest, creamiest one you can. I like Aroy-D. Since the can is still 100 ml short I also added in some So Nice coffee creamer.)
Add sugar and cream to sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Paneer is an Indian cheese. I substituted that with firm tofu, just cubed it into non-huge chunks.
Throw in the cubed tofu and simmer till heated through. Stir gently.

I just served this over brown rice.

If you think I added a lot of garlic to the recipe, feel free to tone it down. Garlic is so good for you though, and with all the other flavours in this dish, it's not that overpowering. I also mentioned I got it from a jar, I don't know if this makes it less potent, probably does.

If you want to read some of the amazing benefits garlic has, here is a link: http://naturalhealthremedies.org/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-garlic/

Hummimg Bird Cupcakes

I feel bad for not having posted in over a month. Christmas is a crazy busy time, full of quick bites and bad eating. I haven't made a lot of new recipes, and I also gained weight! Ugh. That's what I get. But it's a new year. Time to re-commit to healthy eating and loosing weight.

I joined a group called Winnipeg Vegan Meetup. I'm really excited about it. They meet once a month, and I don't really know any other vegans in Winnipeg, so I think the support will be great. The day after I joined, I saw a post from a girl trying to get a group together for weight loss. I took it as a sign from the gods that this is something I should be involved in. My shyness and laziness fought me on it, but I thought this would be the perfect way to make myself more accountable. I messaged her and later that day I was in a stranger's home looking over cookbooks and vegan weight loss books. I have to say that I was pretty scared that they were going to be crazy fundamentalist people that would judge me for my more "Veganist" approach to becoming a vegan. But they were all down to earth, good people. I found myself surprisingly comfortable with them. A lot of us confessed to emotional eating, which really does seems to be the basis for a lot of weight problems with a lot of people. I even opened up about the trying year I had, which included changing over to a mostly vegan diet just months before getting legally separated. You want to talk about emotional eating?! But there was a good sense of camaraderie, of knowing where others in the group are coming from and I'm even more pumped than ever.

SO, to start off the new year of healthy eating and weight loss, I give you : CUPCAKES!!

Okay, so not very healthy, but you know what? I don't believe in deprivation. (Obviously) And I made these cupcakes for New Years, so when it's time to party, it's time to eat cake!

My mom got me a new vegan cookbook for Christmas:

I love this author and the stuff really is easy.

From the cookbook Vegan Celebrations by Alicia C Simpson:
Hummingbird Cupcakes
3 c unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
1 c vegan margarine softened
2 c sugar
In another large bowl cream together margarine and sugar with electric mixer till smooth in consistency.
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp rice, soy, oat or almond milk
Beat into bowl with the margarine.
1/4 c pumpkin puree
1/4 c unsweetened apple sauce
1 c mashed ripe bananas
1 c crushed pineapple
1 c chopped pecans
1 c shredded unsweetened coconut

Mix well into the bowl with margarine. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients one cup at a time.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Cover with Cream Cheese Frosting.

1 pkg of vegan cream cheese.

1 tbsp soy milk

1 tsp vanilla

Add icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time till desired consistency is reached. About 4 cups.

I added half a cherry on top, cause gee whiz, I think that looks cute.