Vegan Tuesdays

11 Comments

Hello! So glad to finally be over the flu and back blogging again. It took a full two weeks to get better and finally get back into the kitchen. But I made up for lost time! I spent the past few days cooking and baking a whole bunch of new items. And now I have a whole lot to share with you :)

First things first, I’d like to introduce you to Vegan Tuesdays – a new weekly feature on The Fig Tree where I will document my journey to incorporate a lot more vegan dishes into my diet. I will be sharing my favourite vegan recipes, discovered vegan tips + tricks, and introduce new ingredients to inspire others. I am hoping to have a number of people guest post on The Fig Tree to help bring more variety to Vegan Tuesdays.

My friend Destini at The Healthy Wife and I came up with the idea for Vegan Tuesdays back in July after I mentioned that I wanted to start eating vegan meals more regularly. I thought a good way to start would be to dedicate at least one full day a week to vegan cuisine. Similar to Meatless Mondays, Vegan Tuesdays would be dedicated to learning about vegan cooking techniques and using vegan ingredients as inspiration. As I am a vegetarian, Meatless Mondays are a bit lost on me. *hah* But, I am extremely excited to participate in Vegan Tuesdays and swap vegan dishes for my usual vegetarian fare. 

I follow a lot of wonderful vegan food blogs. I plan on looking to them for recipe inspiration and to learn tips + tricks related to vegan cooking. Some of my favourite vegan blogs include: Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes, Keepin It Kind, The Vegan Chickpea, and Vegan Fling. If you’ve not yet checked them out, please do so. These ladies are so very talented! I’ve also purchased a few vegan cookbooks including Veganomicon, Colour Me Vegan and Vegan Soul Kitchen to inspire Vegan Tuesdays.  

Since all of my meals are meatless, I know that adapting my meals to make them vegan will be relatively easy. But I would like my journey into eating more vegan meals and snacks not to be just personal. I want it to inspire others to try vegan dishes as well – to learn along with me. Plant-based diets are incredibly healthy and nutritious. And I think everyone could benefit with more vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes etc in their diets. Variety is key when it comes to vegetarian and vegan cooking. There are so many wonderful ingredients to work with. As with vegetarian cooking, I want to show others that vegan cooking can be extremely flavourful, delicious and filling – and that meals do not have to revolve around animal products. 

Destini will also be contributing to Vegan Tuesdays on her wonderful blog. Actually, the extremely talented Destini designed our Vegan Tuesdays logo. I absolutely love it! :) Thanks Destini.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the first Vegan Tuesday post. First up, a delicious Fresh Corn Farroto. It’s creamy like risotto, but uses fresh corn purée instead of butter, cream or cheese for its creamy texture. For added fibre and protein, farro is used in place of arborio rice. It’s a delicious recipe not to be missed and perfect to use up the last of the Fresh corn as the summer produce season ends.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! :) I cannot believe how quickly this Labour Day Weekend flew by. 

Note: As mentioned on my “About” page, I am not looking to force anyone into a vegetarian or vegan diet. I’m just looking to inspire people to try different cuisines, cooking techniques and ingredients. Vegetarian and Vegan cooking is right for me, but may not be right for everyone. I do hope you’ll give some of the recipes a try. If anything, it’s a great way to incorporate new + exciting dishes into your weekly meal rotation. And better for your body and the environment too!

Changing Seasons + A Short Break

25 Comments

Last week while at a football game, I felt the first crisp, cool winds of fall. Even though the days have still been fairly hot here on the Canadian Prairies, the evenings are definitely feeling more chilly. I absolutely love the change of seasons here. Each season is so distinct and holds its own natural magic; it’s own fleeting beauty. Fall is definitely my favourite season. Winter is my least favourite. But to be fair, it gets COLD here on the prairies! I do love the snow though. Snow is winter’s redeeming quality. There are few prettier things than gentle snowflakes dancing, spinning and falling outside the window. 

And with the changing season, I find myself in a reflective mood – looking back at a wonderful, yet incredibly busy summer and looking forward to a relaxing fall of cooking and baking up a storm! But before I jump into said cooking and baking, I need to get over this horrible flu bug that has me completely out-of-commission and catch up on things I had to put off due to being sick. Therefore, I am going to be taking a 10 day break from blogging and re-group. I have a bazillion ideas for The Fig Tree for the upcoming months, but need to actually get the ideas out onto paper and start organizing myself. 

So, with that, I shall see you all on Tuesday, September 3, 2012, for the launch of Vegan Tuesdays on The Fig Tree. I very much hope you will stop by to see what I’m cooking up for the fall :) *yes, pun intended*

Cheers! Enjoy the last few days of August. Summer may be coming to an end, but there is so much to look forward to! Pumpkin Pie Lattes are the first thing to come to mind :)

Sweet + Spicy Thai Farro Salad

27 Comments

Hello! Finally, I am back and I have a brand new recipe to share – an amazingly delicious salad recipe! It feels like it’s been forever since I last posted a food-related post. July and August have been incredibly busy. But I promise, this salad will make up for my absence. *hehe* 

This salad showcases the sweet, fresh nectarines (or peaches) that are currently in season. The sweetness is mildly tamed by the saltiness of the soy sauce, the spiciness of the chili-garlic sauce, the bitterness of the arugula and the sourness (is that a word?) of the fresh lime juice. It’s bright and fresh tasting! The farro adds a really wonderful texture to the salad. 

Farro, if you’ve never tried it, tastes somewhat nutty and is very chewy. It works perfectly with this salad and absorbs a lot of the delicious dressing. Farro is an ancient grain that is also a low-gluten grain. It’s not appropriate for our celiac friends, but it can be easier to digest for those with gluten-intolerance due to its low gluten content. [Source] It is also very high in fibre and has more protein per cup than quinoa or brown rice. [Source] Farro is also very filling, so this salad could easily be enjoyed as a highly nutritious lunch or light dinner. To the salad, I added a handful of cashews to bump up the protein value even more. But you could easily substitute the cashews with peanuts, almonds or even some fresh edamame beans. 

Hope you are all having a terrific week! My week has been pretty quiet this far – which is really welcomed after a very busy weekend. This past weekend, we spent a lot of time with good friends and family. On Friday, Jesse and I met some friends and we attended a 1-hour dance class in honour of our lovely friend Stephanie’s birthday. We learned the Waltz and the Jive. It was a great time and we even did pretty well learning the Waltz. The Jive…however…was not my strong point. *hah* I’d need coordination for that! :) After our dance class, we went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean out in the park. It was really cool – the movie was projected onto a huge screen out in the park. We lounged on picnic blankets and shared snacks brought by my lovely friend Sheila. Saturday, I attended a bachelorette party for my friend Caitlin. Sunday, we attended a fun baby shower for our friends Glen + Mandie. And we ended the weekend with finally seeing the new Batman movie! I really enjoyed it, but it was too long! *hah* I have a very low attention span…

What was I saying again…? *hehe*
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1 cup of farro, well-rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of hot chili-garlic sauce
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of soy sauce
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of canola oil
  • 2 fresh nectarines or peaches, sliced
  • 1 sweet red pepper; diced
  • 1 sweet yellow pepper; diced
  • 2 cups of fresh arugula or spinach
  • 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh mint or cilantro
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1 cup of cashews (optional)

Method

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of lightly salted water to a boil. Make sure the farro is well rinsed then add to the boiling water. Simmer farro until tender, but slightly chewy (approx. 15 minutes). Drain and rinse under cold water. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the lime juice, rice vinegar, chili- garlic sauce, soy sauce, sugar and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in oil.

3. Cut nectarines (or peaches) and peppers into 3/4 inch (2 cm) pieces. Add fruit and peppers to the farro. Toss and then add the green onions, arugula or spinach, mint and cashews (if using). 

4. Drizzle the salad with as much dressing as needed to coat. Toss well to combine.

Yield: 6 servings

Source: adapted from Foodland Ontario via Winnipeg Free Press

A Year Ago: S’more Pie