Mixed Olive Loaf

Rating: Easy to intermediate!

This is a fairly straightforward recipe that I have adapted from an old non-vegan olive loaf. This is a loaf-form olive bread, and not a traditional flatbread style or baguette style olive bread. This loaf is best served fresh, and may be used toasted with spreads for a bit of extra flavour. I really enjoy this recipe.



Mixed Olive Loaf
1.
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups pitted and chopped mixed olives.
1/3 cup tapénade
6 tablespoons of unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup soy creamer/or milk
1 tablespoon brown rice syrup
1/2 tablespoon sea salt

2.
Tapénade
1/2 lb pitted mix olives
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 garlic clove minced
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons basil
1 tablespon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly oil the inside of a loaf pan, or line the pan with baking parchment.
2. Prepare the tapénade. Rinse the olives (part2) if they are fresh. Place all ingredients from part 2 into a food processor until mixture becomes a thick paste. Set aside.
3. Add the flour and baking powder to a large bowl and mix.
4. Stir in mixed olives(part1 - you should have used the 1/2 lb for the tapénade by now) and tapénade with the flour mixture.
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the apple sauce, oil, soy creamer/milk, brown rice syrup, and sea salt. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. This will produce a nice batter similar to a good banana bread loaf. You may want to turn over the batter a few times to ensure that all of the flour is mixed in.
6. Bake for 75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Deep Trouble Chocolate Truffles

Rating: Easy, but messy!

Do you like chocolate? Clearly, Jon and I do. This recipe is incredibly simple and makes very very rich chocolate truffles. Most recently, I made them for a friend's skull-themed party, but you can make them for any occasion, and people are always impressed that you've made homemade chocolates. There are obviously tons of variations, so this is the basic recipe for you to experiment with. The secret to making good candy is to use really good, really dark chocolate - but if you use like, 90% cocoa, you may want to add some sugar to the recipe.

Deep Trouble Chocolate Truffles (makes between 24-36, but it really depends on how big you make your truffles)

300 grams of dark chocolate
2 tbsp soy margarine
1/4 cup of soy creamer
cocoa powder, powdered sugar, nuts and other garnishes

1. Place a piece of parchement paper on a cookie sheet, or in a shallow pan or dish. Set aside.
2. Chop the chocolate into the smallest pieces you can so that it'll melt faster.
3. Create a double-boiler by placing a bowl in a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with about 2 inches of water and put it on the stove.
4. Toss all the ingredients into the bowl and turn the heat up. When the water boils, it'll melt the chocolate but will keep it from burning. Stir often, to make sure everything is blended together as the chocolate melts.
5. When everything is well blended, remove from heat and pour melted chocolate on top of the parchement paper, creating a sheet of chocolate. This is chocolate ganache (which makes an excellent frosting or garnish).
6. Put the pan or cookie sheet into the refrigerator and let the ganache set for an hour.
7. Trying to keep your hands and the chocolate as cold as possible, take the pan out of the fridge, and score the chocolate into pieces that you can easily mold into truffle shapes.
8. Here's the messy bit - remove all jewelery on your hands before beginning, and wash your hands frequently. Taking the scored sections of chocolate, mould each section into a truffle. If you find that it gets too melty, put that melted piece aside or back in the fridge. It'll be able to solidify for reworking.
9. Roll the truffles in cocoa powder, or powdered sugar, or nuts to garnish (or all of the above!)

(You will notice that the chocolates in the pictures have chocolate ganache faces... this is done by using the ganache when it's in it's more melty state as icing.)

Cheater Cupboard Curry

Rating: Absolute beginner easy.

I am fulfilling Jon's promise of shorter prep time on food! A lot of people are sometimes intimidated at the prospect of cooking foods with a regional twist, but curry is seriously the easiest thing to make ever. This recipe calls for almost no skill in the kitchen - all you need is to be able to chop, squish, spoon, stir and wait about 20 minutes. I call it cheater cupboard curry because all the ingredients except the tofu can be found in the pantry, and because I use curry paste.

Cheater Cupboard Curry (serves 4-6)

1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 16 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 14 oz. can of lentils
1 lb of tofu (I used firm, you could use extra firm)
1-3 tbsp of curry paste (or you can make your own using cumin, garam masala, curry powder, pepper and salt and a little water)

1. Chop the red onion into slightly smaller than bite size pieces.
2. Mince the garlic.
3. Squish the tofu juice out of the tofu until it's dry-ish. Cube the tofu into bite size pieces.
4. Add the vegetable oil to a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Put onion and garlic into frying pan and cook until the onion is getting translucent (about a minute or two).
5. Add the tofu, and turn the heat down a little. Fry the tofu until it's brown on all sides. Remove from heat and take the tofu out. If you don't take the tofu out, it'll get really gross and soggy.
6. Return the pan to heat, this time adding the diced tomatoes to the onions and garlic. Stir in curry paste.
7. Add lentils, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Return tofu to the curry, cover. Let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with rice. Mmm, delicious.