Vegan Grilling for Mother's Day

My mom is a huge fan of barbecuing. At her house, she the Queen of barbecuing and no one else goes near the barbecue. She'll go out to barbecue in the middle of winter and when it's pitch black outside; nothing will stop my mom from barbecuing.

So for Mother's Day this year, if I were able to be with my mom, I'd like to share my recipe for vegan sausages with her. They're great when they're grilled and much easier to make than you might think.

Read on for my Smokey Vegan Sausage recipe.

Puffed Quinoa and Goji Berries

Do you ever make NewYear's resolutions and wonder why you ever thought you could keep them going strong throughout the year? I think that around April every single year.

In January, I decided to try one new food per month for all of 2014. I'm still keeping my promise, in fact this month I actually tried two new foods, but it's much harder than I expected because there are only so many foods in the world to try!

In January I finally tried chia seeds and made a yummy chia seed pudding. In February I tried something I had never heard of, amaranth, and made a note worthy amaranth porridge with strawberries. And in March I tried raw cashews and made a truly delicious pasta dish with a vegan raw cashew sauce.

This month I was walking around the Bulk Barn, because that's where I've been finding all my new foods to try so far, and was worried that I might run before December. Then I decided to throw caution to the wind and made a yummy salad topper using two new foods for April. I realized that if I run out of new foods to try at the Bulk Barn, I can just head over to China Town or my Farmer's Market, it might get a little harder in December but if I keep trying I can fulfill this set of resolutions.

Read on for my recipe for Roasted Cauliflower and Sausage with Puffed Quinoa Salad Topper. It might sound a few bit familiar if you read a recipe I shared a few days ago for Puffed Quinoa and Peeps Tarts with Lemon Curd and that's because I used my Puffed Quinoa Salad Topper for the tarts! It turns out that a salad topper makes a pretty awesome tart!

Celebrate!

I don't have anything specific to celebrate right now, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't celebrate. I think that celebrating is something that should be done on regular basis. Maybe I'm only celebrating a beautiful day or the fact that I finally got caught up on laundry, but I'm celebrating all the same. 

This lasagna was inspired by a recipe I found on Chatelaine's website and they called it Celebration Lasagna. I wasn't sure why it was named that until I took my first bite. 

Luke Has Returned!

I almost didn't think it would ever happen, but Luke has returned to the kitchen. He was away from it for so long that I think he may have forgotten where things are kept, but he's back all the same. :)

I love when Luke cooks dinner. I usually cook and he usually does the dishes, but when he cooks and I relax with a glass of wine and put my feet up - I feel very special. 

It's a bit weird though, because I feel much more special when Luke cooks for me than when we go out to dinner. Maybe its because I know everything is being done just for me when Luke cooks, or maybe it's because I love that he shows an interest in what I love doing, I am not sure. All I know is that I feel very special. 

And now I think Luke is going to have to make me feel special more often, because this dish was great!

Happy Birth-Jay

Today is my brother J's 21st birthday! He lives far from me, or else I would have invited him over for dinner and birthday cake.

J doesn't get as excited about food as I do, but I think I could have made him something he would have loved.

He really likes beef jerky and I am sure he would love my recipe, but that's not something he would choose for dinner.

Actually maybe he would choose that... But that wouldn't be something I would have offered him for dinner tonight because as we all know, I love balanced meals.

No, tonight I would have made J something with sausage in it. He loves sausage and this meal is something so flavourful that I didn't even need any salt or pepper.

Luke's Monthly Visit to the Unknown AKA the Kitchen

I don't mind cooking every night. In all honesty, I love it. Especially since Luke does the dishes.

But I have to say it is a rare treat when Luke has the time to cook up one of his two meals -- Paella or Wontons. It's really nice to sit in a chair and relax with a glass of wine while he chops, sautes, measures, and all around cooks.

I love to create something new in the kitchen but knowing that his familiar tastes will be ready in slightly more than an hour are fantastic too.

The funny part is that even though I think I love to relax, I actually can't help myself but try to help. I try to sneak past him and get out my own cutting board to help with the chopping or I pull out my own homemade chicken stock and defrost it. It's like my hands want to take over.

Most of the time I can refrain from doing too much more than slicing up the occasional veggie but I have been told to get out before. I think Luke really likes cooking his two meals for me. He knows how much I love food and tries to share it with me. Kind of like I try to share his love of the outdoors by camping?

Anyway here is his recipe for Paella - the dish of the night. Wonton Noodle Soup to visit next month.