lentil vegetable pot pie

so the other day, i made my fabulous tofu and vegetable pot pie with lentils instead of tofu! it was so good! 

it's funny, it seems like there are people who are just completely opposed to tofu, as if as soon as they eat it they will sprout giant dreadlocks and start talking about how great crystals are. this would be a great option for those tofu-adverse in our lives. as well, lentils are cheap and easy and quick to cook. 

i used canned lentils because i had them around, but you could also use 1 c dry green lentils to replace the can, just boil them in broth until they are soft (20-30 minutes) before adding to the other ingredients. 

whereas when i use tofu in this recipe i add it with the veggies to fry it up a bit, i just added the canned lentils right before the gravy mixture. 

it was awesome, i highly recommend you try it! (by the way, i made it in a lovely batch of vegan pastry!)

  

christmas presents

 

i started making christmas presents in august this year. 

i know, that sounds crazy...

but, matt and i went back to ontario to visit the week before christmas, and it was the first time we'd been "home" for christmas in about 7 or 8 years. so, we saw lots of friends and family, and i just really felt like i wanted to make it as special as possible. 

matt and i are both the youngest in our families, and as such everyone is pretty settled. that makes it really hard to find presents for people... what do you get people who can just buy what they need? who have everything they really need? 

so these thoughts and realities led me to a decision: i was going to make everything by hand, and i was going to make things that were useful. 

hence, i started in august. 

oat and agave bread

yes, another bread recipe!! it's funny, we really don't eat all that much bread, but i would still put it up there with my favourite foods... especially freshly-baked. 

i made this recipe up off the top of my head. it was inspired by the tasty, wintery idea of a hearty honey-oat bread. but, honey isn't vegan (and i'm leaning more and more that way every day), and it's also not something i had in the house. agave syrup is really fabulous stuff. it's very sweet (sweeter than honey), but also low on the glycemic index. it's also what i use to sweeten matt's iced tea!

this bread is crisp  and brown on the outside, and moist and chewy on the inside. it's not overly sweet, but you can certainly taste the agave. i wouldn't use it to make garlic bread or anything savoury, but it's great for breakfasts (with eggs, peanut butter, jam, etc) or to go along side a nice winter soup.

this recipe makes two smallish loaves. 

vegan banana coconut layer cheesecake

i know right? it sounds too good to be true!

well, ever since i first discovered that vegan cheesecake is attainable (with a fabulous dark chocolate cheesecake), i've been hooked. i also created this wonderful pumpkin spice cheesecake a while back.

well, ever since i made this amazing discovery, i've had this little idea growing in the back of my mind... remember how i ranted about dessert silken tofu back in the fall? well i've found a way to bring dessert tofu and vegan cheesecake together. at last.

this dessert tofu comes in lots of different flavours (i think next i'll try custard/maple caramel layers), so the options are endless!

how can you go wrong??

**as i made it, this recipe is not gluten free. i tagged it as such because it would be super easy to adapt, i have included substitutions**

new indexes on the blog

hey friends!

i just wanted to share something i've been working on with you - i have made a series of indexes which can be found on the right hand side of my blog. i have created an index for all recipes, crafts and body care. i will be updating them periodically with new content, but i thought that it was kind of nice to be able to see a list of posts, as opposed to having to scroll through everything. 

you can still use the links lower on the right to take you to posts with specific tags, but i thought it would be handy to have this option as well. 

feedback is welcome!