Sunday 26 June 2011

New fave: Lentil loaf

hey everyone so I don't have a picture for this recipe but trust me it is amazing!


Vegan Lentil loaf
  • 1 cup dry lentils
  • 1 cup vegetable stock and 2 cups water
  • 1 egg replacer (equivalent to 1 egg, can use a flax egg or any other type that you want)
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup sweet onion, diced
  • 1 medium carrot, grated
  • 1 apple, grated
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 3/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 tsp dried italian seasoning, and 2 tsp fresh rosemary
  • 1/2 cup regular oats
  • 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used 2 slices of Ezekiel bread, lightly toasted, and processed in food processor)
Cook green lentils:  In a medium sized pot, add 3 cups of water and a vegetable bouillon cube and boil water until cube is dissolved. Alternatively, you can also use already prepared veggie stock. Rinse lentils and pick over being sure to remove any small pebbles that may be in the mix. Add lentils, bring to boil, and reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is absorbed and lentils are tender (about 40 minutes). Be sure to stir the lentils frequently so they do not stick to the bottom of the pot. Once the lentils are cooked, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F and line a loaf pan with parchment so that parchment paper hangs over the edges by 2 inches.
Walnuts: Toast 3/4 cup of walnuts at 350F for about 6 minutes and then set aside to cool.
Flax egg: Mix 3 tbsp of ground flax with 1/2 cup warm water and stir well. Set aside for at least 5-10 minutes so it can gel up.  (or another egg replacement)
Prepare vegetable mixture: In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté onion and minced garlic for about 5 minutes on low-medium heat, being careful not to burn. After the onions are tender, add carrot and sauté for 2-3 minutes over low heat. Add grated apple, raisins, and chopped walnuts and sauté another minute or two.  Add thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
Breadcrumbs: I took 2 slices of Ezekiel bread and lightly toasted them. Then I ripped up the slices and placed into my food processor and processed until small breadcrumbs were left. Alternatively, you can use store bought breadcrumbs too.
Process 75% of lentils and Mix everything together: Once the lentils are cooled, take 75% of the lentils and place into food processor. Process until mostly smooth (some small lentils will remain!). Now take the processed lentils and scoop into a large bowl. Add in the remaining 25% of non-processed lentils and place into bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, flax egg, veggie mixture, oat flour, and ground flax seed. Stir well with a spoon and then remove the spoon and mix well with your hands, pressing it through your fingers. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Dump the mixture into your loaf pan and spread out with a spoon. Now take your hands and press the mixture firmly and evenly into the pan.
brush the top of the loaf with a glaze (I used BBQ sauce).
leave uncovered and bake in the oven for 45 mins at 350 F, cool for 15 mins before serving.



Also sorry I know I have been really behind in blogging and I hope to catch you all up because I have alot of new things to post!

Thursday 16 June 2011

Fudge-A-Mania

So since we were having left overs today for dinner (great part of making chili :) ) I told my roommate that i would make any dessert she wanted and she asked for FUDGE!!!!!


Me, never having made vegan fudge before decided this was the perfect opportunity to make multiple types of vegan fudges resulting in:


aka fudge-a-mania!!!!
So I made peanut-chocolate fudge (far right), vegan Cora's fudge (brown sugar fudge) (far left), and the all out voted winner vegan classic chocolate fudge (middle)


of course Suki wanted to be a part of this photo-shoot:
Peanut Chocolate Fudge

  • 1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 Cup peanut butter
  • 3/4 Cup maple syrup

Melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter and maple syrup in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring continually until smooth. Pour into a dish lined with parchment paper; refrigerate 6 hours to overnight before cutting to serve.

Vegan Cora's style Fudge (aka brown sugar fudge)

3 Cups brown sugar
2/3 Cup vegan margarine 
2/3 Cup Bel-soy cream 
1 Cup icing sugar 

Butter a 6" x 10" pan. 
In a saucepan, mix brown sugar, Bel-soy and margarine. Bring to boil.
Let the mixture boil for about 5 minutes.  
Remove fudge from heat. Stir in icing sugar with a whip or electric mixer.  
Beat until creamy. Pour into buttered pan. 
Chill until firm and cut into squares.

Classic Chocolate Fudge
6 Tbsp vegan margarine
3 1/2 Cups icing sugar
1/2 Cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Cup vegan milk (I used oat milk)


  • Lightly grease a 5x9-inch loaf pan using a little of the margarine.

  • Place the remaining margarine, sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and soy milk in a heatproof mixing bowl, or the upper part of a double boiler.

  • Place the bowl or boiler over simmering water and stir until smooth.

  • Pour the mixture quickly into the prepared pan.

  • Chill thoroughly and cut into squares.


  • Chill at least one hour, but for best results chill overnight as the fudge will be firmer and more like regular fudge.





  • We also had people over again for dinner and they really enjoyed the vegan chili and cornbread muffins so if you are trying to please omnivores I highly recommend these recipes!!!!







  • I am going to bring some of the fudge to the office for my co-workers to try... they have finally figured out I can make anything vegan :) and the rest we will give to people in our apartment building (still trying to meet everyone and befriend them).






  • Suki didn't want to be left out again :) and obviously wanted to partake in this delicious experiment of vegan fudges!


    Wednesday 15 June 2011

    Stanley Cup Dinner Party

    So today I had a couple friends over to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup. So what is a student friendly (aka. cost effective) vegan dinner for everyone??? CHILI!!!!

    Vegan Spicy Chili (serves 8-12 people)
    1 Tbsp olive oil
    1 med. onion, chopped
    3 bay leaves
    1 tsp. cumin
    2 Tbsp oregano
    1/2 Tbsp. salt
    4 cloves of garlic, chopped
    1 zucchini, chopped
    1 bell pepper, chopped
    1 can crushed tomatoes
    1/4 cup chili powder
    1 Tbsp fresh ground pepper
    3 chili peppers, chopped (seeds removed)
    2 carrots, chopped
    1 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
    1 can kidney beans, drained
    1 can chickpeas, drained
    1 can black beans, drained
    1 can whole kernel corn, drained

    1) heat olive oil in a large pot, stir in the onion and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until the onion is tender. Add in the chopped garlic.
    2) After 2 mins add in the zucchini, bell pepper, tomato, chili powder and pepper. reduce heat and simmer for 5 mins.
    3) blend everything in a blender and then pour back into the pot.
    4) add the chili pepper, carrots and mushrooms. Simmer for 10 mins.
    5) add in the beans and then transfer the chili into a slow cooker. The chili can sit in the slow cooker until you decide to serve (aka you can leave it all day or for an hour).
    6) before serving stir in the whole kernel corn
    7) enjoy!

    And to go with the chili I made cornbread muffins! (They taste great with margarine and avocado!)


    I love this recipe! and as you can see I was to excited to eat it and almost forgot to take a picture.

    Sweet cornbread muffins (makes six)
    1/2 Cup cornmeal
    1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
    1/2 tsp. baking soda
    1/2 tsp. salt
    1/2 Cup apple sauce
    1/2 Cup almond milk
    1/4 Cup maple syrup
    2 Tbsp canola oil

    1) preheat the oven to 325 F
    2) line the muffin pan
    3) combine all the dry ingredients and mix.
    4) stir in apple sauce, almond milk, and maple syrup.
    5) slowly add in the oil while stirring.
    6) pour into the muffin pan and bake for 15-20 mins.

    now on to most peoples favorite part of a meal... DESSERT!

    For dessert I make CCK's chocolate chip blondies (I didn't have flax so I subbed it with whole wheat flour)

    Everyone loved them! and I am bringing the rest to work tomorrow.

    I only have a couple questions for those out there... I have a friend who is allergic to nuts but I know she would love this recipe so does anyone have any suggestions to sub in fro the PB? and also for anyone who has made this recipe, I couldn't grind the chickpeas enough to blend in so the texture was a bit weird... any suggestions?

    Unfortunately Vancouver lost **insert sad face here* but at least everyone enjoyed the food!

    Tuesday 14 June 2011

    Why be vegan?



    A lot of people ask me this when they first find out I am vegan. Along with that question follows:
    • where do you get your protein?
    • what do you eat?
    • how can you make anything good if it doesn't contain eggs, dairy, or any other animal product?
    I have had the great fortune this past year to meet some open minded people here in Montreal. Maybe it is because of the area I live in? there are 5 vegan restaurants near my apartment and a specialty grocery store which stocks all the vegan luxuries that I would otherwise have to order online.

    In the hope to open peoples eyes to veganism I have started bring in something every Saturday to work for people at my office to try (yes I work six days a week, Monday to Saturday, someone has to pay the bills). I also host Friday night group dinners where all my friends who come have to pay $2 and my roommate and I cook a huge vegan dinner consisting of a beginner course, main course, and dessert. On top of that I have started this blog in hopes of showing people that it is not actually that hard to be vegan (as my roommate is starting to find out).

    So the big question... why be vegan?

    personally I chose being vegan for the sake of the animals, after I realized that meat is murder and other animal products are extortion. If you don't believe me I encourage you to watch earthlings, or food inc.

    other reasons for becoming vegan are for the environment and for health benefits. If you would like me to go more into these areas leave a comment and I will discuss it further in the next post. If you want to do some of your own research I encourage you to check out some sites such as:



      If anyone has any questions about veganism of any sort please do not hesitate to leave a comment to this post!



      **Note: I am not trying to pressure being Vegan on anyone, if you came to this page you probably already have an interest in this subject and I just wish to show everyone that it is not as hard as the general world thinks it is!

      Monday 13 June 2011

      life as a student

      Hello cyberspace! so today is the big day... the day you all get a look into my kitchen!


      As previously mentioned my kitchen has character.


      The stove (aka the vortex) is an old gas oven and stove top so there is always a gas flame on and the top of the stove never ceases to be warm. The stove elements have two levels. Boiling hot and off which proves quite difficult when all I want to do is let something simmer!




      And i now introduce weeper! (aka the fridge) so weeper is one of those old fridges where his freezer is a huge ice block. If we decide to put something in the fridge that is above room temperature the ice begins to melt and we find a nice puddle all around him.




      We have learned to accept the quirks of our kitchen after a long month of struggles of student vs appliance. We have even added a table for more counter space. The over all look of our kitchen can be seen below:


      As all of you can see it is the average student kitchen and definitely not what my dream kitchen would EVER look like! I will just have to see how we manage... challenge accepted!


      As for eats of the day:


      Breakfast as always is my go to of apples and PB!
      Lunch was left over curry from last night and I also made banana chocolate chip muffins which I brought to the office. Everyone LOVED them!!! They are adapted from CCK's love muffins I pre-make the dry mix so that when I want to make muffins I just have to add a banana or apple sauce and some almond milk. This time I also decided to add the chocolate chips (but you can add what ever you want).


       And finally for dinner we had friends over to watch the hockey game (Boston won 5-2) so I make a huge veggie sauce to serve over fatfreevegan's Confetti Quinoa
      For the veggie sauce I sauteed mushrooms, 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 cup chopped onion in olive oil. After that I added 2/3 cup broccoli, 1 small sweet potato peeled and chopped, 1/4 of a red pepper chopped, 1 zucchini diced, and 1/2 a block of tofu cut into small cubes. I also pre-mixed and then added 1/2 cup tomato puree, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, oregano and fresh ground pepper to taste, two chili peppers (we like our food spicy!), and 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (to thicken the sauce). simmer for 20 mins stirring every 5 mins and then add over top of what ever grain you have made and enjoy! 


      For dessert I made chocolate covered strawberries!!!!


      Question: since this is my first time ever blogging if anyone has any suggestions/ advise I would love to hear what you think!!!!

      Sunday 12 June 2011

      First experience blogging

      Hi everyone, so I have been a quiet observer for quite sometime on the blogosphere and have decided to join in!

      I have been a vegan for about three years now following the posts of you other vegan bloggers out there. I would like to thank you all for what you do, you made my transition from omnivore to herbivore that much easier and more enjoyable for all around me who have taste tested every dish!

      Recently I have moved in with a roommate (part of the university experience) and she has decided to forego any animal products after seeing how I live.

      Thus the title of my blog... Vegan Students.

      I hope to show everyone out there that being vegan is not difficult and share with everyone the mistakes and successes of being a vegan student (our kitchen is a typical run down 1960's appliance student kitchen)... i promise to share pictures of the so called 'kitchen' later on!

      For now I will leave you with a picture of our third roommate Suki!