Here’s something you may not know about me: in just about any dining situation, if a vegan variation of ravioli is on the menu, I will order it. I can’t help myself. When I was young, my grandmother always made the best ravioli with homemade tomato sauce, and although it’s been about 15 years since I’ve had real ricotta cheese, I still remember its creaminess fondly. Luckily, I’ve developed a similar fondness for many of the vegan replicas.

So imagine my delight when I saw this raw beet and cashew dill “cheese” ravioli on the fall menu at Rawlicious today.

I don’t generally like to throw around the term “mouthfeel,” because it’s kind of gross, but there was something spectacular about texture of the filling and the way the flavours all mingled together on my tongue. It strikes me I’ve never had cashew cheese made with fresh dill before, but I’ll certainly be having it again.

When queried about the ingredients of the filling, the server said it was all pretty minimal — cashews, dill, lemon juice, water, maybe a touch of tahini. My dining companion and I have plans to crack the code, and when we do, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Spending August and September as a gluten-free vegan was tricky. For the most part, I had to give up on eating in restaurants, because it was just too tough to find food that satisfied both dietary restrictions. When I did venture out, however, I often found myself in vegetarian Indian restaurants, marvelling at the fact that dosas and uttapam were gluten-free.

This ultimately led to more Indian-style cooking at home. While I didn’t attempt dosas (that shit is crazy, man!), I did create some quick-and-dirty approximations of chana masala and saag, and discovered the magic of cooking with cumin seeds.

For the saag, I modified this ridiculously easy recipe from AllRecipes.com, leaving out the mustard greens and reducing the fat and spices accordingly, as follows:

Saag

• 1/4 cup vegan margarine (original recipe called for butter)
• 2 teaspoons cumin seed
• 1/2 a green chile pepper, seeded and diced (I used a jalapeno)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 1 pound chopped fresh spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (I would’ve included it, but I didn’t have any)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large skillet or wok, melt butter over medium-high heat, and cook and stir cumin seed, chile pepper, garlic, and turmeric until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the chopped spinach a little at a time, adding the tougher parts first (the stems and thicker leaves). Continue to add greens, and cook and stir until all greens have been added and all are thoroughly wilted.
3. Stir in the coriander and salt. Cover; reduce heat and simmer until greens are tender, about 10 minutes, adding water as needed to keep the greens moist.

Meanwhile, I used a chana masala recipe from the blog Foodtrance, which doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Because it makes a lot, I cut the recipe in half. I also improvised some of the spices, because I didn’t have them all. (Generally when I’m missing something, I just throw in more garam masala. It has everything! It’s a blend!) Here’s the original recipe:

Chana masala

• 2 cans chickpeas, rinsed in a colander
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes, no salt added
• 1 large onion chopped
• chopped fresh spinach (as much as you like)
• chopped garlic (as much as you like)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Hot serrano peppers (as much as you like)
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 2 teaspoons Garam Masala
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in the pot until hot. Add the onion and cumin seeds and watch them pop and fizzle. Add the chopped onions and fry until they are browned to your taste. Add the ginger, garlic and serano peppers. This is your base. 
2. Add the chopped tomatoes and wait till you see the oil rise. Then add all the spices.
3. After 10 minutes on medium, add the spinach, chick peas and lemon juice. Place on low-medium heat for 30 minutes.

Last weekend, I did something I’ve never done before: I made my own polenta.

In the past, I’ve always bought those tubes of readymade polenta from the supermarket, but it turns out that making it yourself is remarkably easy, and it tastes better too. I’m not going to bother including a recipe, because all I did was follow the directions on the back of the Bob’s Red Mill Corn Grits package. If you know how to boil water, stir for 20 minutes and pour the whole shebang into a greased bowl (which acts as a mould), you can make polenta. And you should!

Of course, plain polenta isn’t all that exciting, so I made another batch of the black bean and corn salad that I used for appetizers on the August long weekend, and used it as a topping. Since I modified the original recipe in significant ways, I’m going to tell you what I did:

Ingredients

• juice of 3 limes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• a few healthy shakes of chili powder
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can of corn kernels
• 1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 6 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Combine lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, chili powder and cayenne pepper and set aside. Or you can just do this in the bottom of the salad bowl if you’re lazy like me.
   
2. In a salad bowl, combine beans, corn, avocado, bell pepper, tomatoes and green onions. Add dressing and stir to coat.
   

Somehow it’s September already, and while the change in season is breaking my heart, I couldn’t let summer go without one final toast.

A trip to the supermarket with a friend yesterday resulted in us lugging home an organic sugarbaby watermelon — cue the “I carried a watermelon?!” Dirty Dancing jokes — which we promptly Vitamixed into this amazing watermelon-mint smoothie, using mint fresh from the garden.

Here’s the recipe, courtesy of the New York Times:

• 2 cups, tightly packed, diced seedless watermelon
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon sugar, agave syrup or vanilla sugar
• 3 to 4 ice cubes (more to taste)
• Watermelon balls for garnish (Note: I used a sprig of mint instead)

Place all of the ingredients except the watermelon balls in the blender. Blend until frothy, about one minute. Pour into a glass, and garnish with watermelon balls. Serve right away.

A few weeks ago, my naturopath dropped the bombshell that I have a gluten intolerance. As someone who’s always loved cupcakes, baguettes and pasta — and who honestly believed they loved her back — this came as a major shock. Tears welled up in my eyes upon hearing the news.

It’s a mild intolerance, which is why I’ve never noticed it before, and I’ve been asked to give up gluten completely for two months, so that my system can rest and recover. I may or may not be able to add gluten back to my life at that stage, but will likely have to be a lot more selective about it.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to find ways to be okay with a gluten-free lifestyle, looking for gluten-free options that actually taste good. It was this quest that took me to Starving Artist, near Lansdowne and Bloor, for brunch this morning.

My brunch companion and I both ordered the Starving 4 Vegan — a plate of four gluten-free mini waffles that comes with either a side of fruit or beans, as well as salad — and an americano. And, well, the coffee was delicious.

As for the waffles, my friend put it best when she said, “This is going to take a lot of syrup.” Much like the gluten-free breads I’ve picked up in the health food store and then put back on the shelf with a thud, the waffles just seemed so heavy. Perhaps it was a bad batch of batter — I know other people who speak highly of these waffles — or perhaps living gluten-free means giving up all past notions of what bread-based food should taste like.

But I hope the next two months improve from here.

Although I was never a big fan of traditional breakfast foods like eggs and bacon, I’m a major believer in vegan brunch. For me, it’s a social thing — there’s no better way to start the weekend than brunch with a friend.

But if you go out for brunch as often as I do, you quickly grow tired of the usual suspects. I’ve spent waaaay too much of my time (and cash) at Sadies’ Diner, Fressen and Disgraceland over the past few years, so I’m always on the lookout for new vegan-friendly places.

This weekend, I checked out Lady Marmalade, a brunch place that took over the space Pulp Kitchen once occupied in Leslieville. Unsurprisingly, tofu scramble was their main vegan offering — who doesn’t have a tofu scramble? — but this one sounded different: it was full of shiitake mushrooms and bok choy, with sesame-and-soy based seasoning. Delicious, right?

When our food arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by the civilized plating, the fun green onion garnish and sides of both salad and potatoes. My first bite was flavourful and exciting. Finally, a restaurant that did something interesting with its scramble, instead of aiming for the blandness of real eggs! But the more I ate, the saltier it became, to the point where I had trouble eating it. It’s worth mentioning that I tend to be a little heavy-handed with the salt myself, so I don’t think I was being hypersensitive.

I’m hoping this was just a one-time accident in the kitchen — maybe someone went a little crazy with the soy sauce, maybe the chef was having an off day — because I really want this scramble to be awesome. For what it’s worth, my salt-loving brunch date still thought it was delicious.

Personally, I’d give it one more try next time I’m in the neighbourhood, but wouldn’t go out of my way to go back. I will, however, think about throwing some shiitakes into the fry pan next time I make a scramble at home. It seems there’s nothing those crafty mushrooms can’t improve!

Since the Vitamix came into our lives, I’ve been experimenting with making my own sauces, dips and spreads using raw cashews as the base. Everything I’ve made has had a distinct nuttiness to it, but that’s not necessarily a problem, and the creamy texture that cashews offer is just phenomenal.

Last night we had baked potatoes (the directions at HowToBakeAPotato.com are bang-on) topped with cashew sour cream, with a side of kale salad. The meal was hearty, rich and absolutely delicious.

This sour cream recipe has been featured on a number of different sites, so I’m not sure who first dreamed it up, but here are the instructions…

Combine the following in a food processor or blender and blend until creamy:

1 cup of raw cashews (soaked overnight in water, then rinsed and strained)
1 to 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 to 4 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp sea salt