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Make this Rich Focaccia with Vegan Parmesan and Olive OilVegan Sausage that Fills a Hot Dog Bun NicelySpicy Vegan Chipotle Mayo SauceGrilled Tempeh in a Spicy Vegan Manchurian SauceSimple, Tasty, Vegan Spanish Rice for BurritosVegan Blueberry SconesMessy Delicious Italian Veggie SandwichSpicy Tofu-Mushroom Stirfry

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Simple, Tasty, Vegan Spanish Rice for Burritos

Last week's vegan chipotle sauce was the the first step of a larger project to learn how to make my favourite rice and bean burrito at home. Spanish rice is another essential ingredient of this magical burrito (which also includes black beans and lots of fresh veggies like purple onion, corn, red pepper, lettuce and tomato, along with a generous dollop of mashed avocado and some fresh cilantro). As I'm writing this, I've started craving this burrito of course, but getting all the ingredients together in the same place is a bit of a project. Having done it a couple of times, I have huge respect for the people doing it on a daily basis (conveniently located at the end of my street). Maybe I'll pay them a visit tonight. They're lovely. For now though, I'm going to focus on Spanish rice. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: rice, burrito, Mexican, tex-mex

Spicy Vegan Chipotle Mayo Sauce

I love vegan burritos, and naturally I want to be able to make them at home. But for a homemade burrito to be satisfying, it has to have some kind of spicy sauce that really clings to the other ingredients. Think mayo or sour cream, but obviously vegan and obviously much hotter, preferably with the smoky beauty of chipotle. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: sauce, spicy, chipotle, nutritional_yeast

Szechuan Eggplant from Scratch (No Sauce from a Jar)

Like I've said before, one of the perks of living in a big city like Toronto is the exposure to all different kinds of food. If it wasn't for Asian food in particular, I would have left this city a long time ago. I've been in love with szechuan eggplant since the first time I had it at a restaurant. I'm not going to lie, this is a spicy one, and it's not going to be everybody's cup of tea. But the aromas and flavours of the szechuan spices go much deeper than just "hot". Of course I've tried to duplicate it at home using szechuan sauce from a jar, but of course it never even came close. For this recipe, I decided to try to use the internet to unlock the secret and make a passable szechuan eggplant from scratch. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: szechuan, Chinese, healthy, spicy

Roasted Cabbage with Vegan Dijon Sauce

A lot of the recipes I like that use cabbage call for a half head (e.g., Chinese noodle dishes). I was looking for something to do with the other half. I've also been on a bit of a lentil kick lately, using small green lentils as a low-carb, high-protein base for a lot of my meals. (You really can use them the same way you would use rice, you get a fair bit more in the way of nutritional goodies.) The only problem is the lentils need some contrasting flavours to keep the dish interesting. Why not roasted cabbage in a zesty mustard sauce? More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: cabbage, salad, mustard, sauce

Ribsticking Vegan Baked Beans for Cold Nights

I've been wanting to do a proper vegan slowcooker beans recipe for a while now. Except for repeated viewings of Blazing Saddles, my only real experience with baked beans as a side dish has been the occasional camping trip, and the canned beans were definitely not a highlight. We're talking unappetizing, mushy beans in a sauce that somehow tastes both weak and excessively sweet at the same time. We have to be able to do something better from scratch -- the bar is not very high. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: bean, maple_syrup, slowcooker

Aloo Gobi will Make your Mouth Happy

Cauliflower is one of the in-vogue vegetables right now. It seems like you can't start up a browser without seeing a cauliflower used as some kind of stand-in for carbs: a rice substitute, a bread ingredient or even the base of a pizza crust. As tempting as these nutritious replacements are, you can never go wrong with the classics. And aloo gobi is definitely a classic cauliflower dish. The magic is in the spice -- a perfect blend of spicy, tangy and salty. It's a popular North Indian accompaniment and a delicious way to get your cauliflower. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: comfort_food, cauliflower, potato, Indian, spicy

Get your Quinoa and Beans with a Side of Flavour

The internet tells us that quinoa has been around as a basic food staple in parts of South America for three or four thousand years, but has only recently become popular in other parts of the world. And there are plenty of good reasons for its rise in popularity: nutritionally, quinoa is a bit of a rockstar. This recipe combines quinoa with classic Tex-Mex flavours. Technically, it's a side-dish, and you can definitely serve it as a small part of a larger meal, but I find it fills a plate well by itself and always makes a satisfying meal. Part of the reason for that satisfaction is the high protein content for sure, but the emotional comfort of the combination of beans, onions, corn, cumin and cilantro is definitely part of the draw. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: quinoa, bean, healthy, tex-mex

A Couple of Sweet Potato Grilling Ideas

Sweet potato is one of the foods that the diet gurus are always trying to get you to eat. You'll hear terms like anti-oxidant, beta carotene and complex carbohydrate. I don't dislike them, but I can't say I've ever come home from work with a sweet potato craving. Since I started making a serious effort to improve my diet, I've been looking for ways to work more of these "good" carbs into my regular menu. More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: grill, sweet_potato, vegetables, healthy

Making Rice

One of the benefits of living in a big city is easy access to Chinatown. In my case there are two, and one of them is a fifteen-minute walk from my house, through a big park and a quiet neighbourhood. A couple of times each year... More

Filed under: Recipes > Side Dishes

Tags: rice, how-to