The fruit combo in this cake is very nice and summery - lemon zest adds a refined kick to the usual pairing of rhubarb and strawberries, and the cake layer is sweet with a hint of cinnamon. When I first baked this, my mom said that it tastes like it had eggs in it. And [...]
Tag Archives: recipe
Caramelized Oat Biscuits
May 26, 2008 – 23:25
These thin caramelized oat biscuits are often the first baking project Finnish kids learn - they’re so easy to make and the results are delicious. The two tricks are to leave enough room around the dollops of batter before baking, since they spread out a lot, and not overbaking them, since they burn very quickly.
These [...]
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Basil
May 23, 2008 – 22:34
Sweet potatoes are something we didn’t use very much in our cooking before. Maybe it’s because we generally prefer locally grown root vegetables, and sweet potatoes are usually shipped in from China, USA, or Israel. But yep, sometimes we treat ourselves with a few of these yummy things, and this mash really is a perfect [...]
Goutweed Soup
May 21, 2008 – 20:27
This is just a simple recipe to remind us that not everything edible comes from a supermarket. The name of goutweed reveals a lot - it’s generally thought of as a weed that should be rooted up, not as a green leafy vegetable. The young sprouts can be eaten raw, in salads or on sandwiches, [...]
Chocolate Muffins with Pink Peppercorns and Cinnamon
May 19, 2008 – 20:50
The idea of combining chocolate with pink peppercorns, cinnamon, and nutmeg came to me when I read the newspaper the other day, and found an interview with Senyor Marc Escudellers, a chocolate shop keeper from Barcelona. He stated that these are some of his favorite cocoa flavorings, and I absolutely agree - I’ve already baked [...]
Smokey Tofu Spread with Sage
May 17, 2008 – 23:07
This spread was part of our May Day picnic. It gets its deep flavor from liquid smoke and fresh sage, and goes especially well with a bread that has a lot of flavor of its own - like the dried Finnish sour rye bread pictured below.
The recipe is very easy and quick to make, but [...]
Picnic Soy Meatballs
May 8, 2008 – 20:31
After reading Kittee’s vegan meatball recipe, I was hungering for something similar. We hadn’t made anything resembling meatballs since the Lion’s heads way back in October. Also, because we were going to go on a picnic on May Day, we thought it would be nice to have them there. May Day, among other things, is [...]
Cherry and Ginger Spelt Muffins
May 6, 2008 – 21:46
We usually don’t eat sweet things in the morning, but we did have these muffins for breakfast with a little vegan margarine and they were wonderful. They’re not too sweet, and there’s a nice gentle ginger flavor hiding in the background. Our cherries came from a jar, since fresh ones aren’t yet available around here, [...]
Lime Risoni with Fried Tofu and Basil
May 5, 2008 – 19:24
This dish consisted of the ingredients I was able to find in our kitchen when I needed to make a quick lunch for myself. I thought about spaghetti, but there was none left, so I opted for risoni (orzo) instead. No canned beans, so tofu it was, and I was lucky enough to find a [...]
Baked Beet Chips with Horseradish Dip
May 3, 2008 – 15:03
I love thin and crispy chips - potato, corn, or apple, they’re sure to disappear in no time at our house. I don’t like deep-frying things because it’s just a little bit scary, but I baked these beetroot chips in the oven. They came out very crispy indeed, and the earthy flavor of beets paired [...]
Creamy Lime Pie
May 2, 2008 – 14:51
I’ve made my version of the Key lime pie several times and it has always been a success: it’s quite easy to make, and the silky soy whip filling is just heavenly. This recipe is just one of many versions - I’ve used soy cream cheese instead of the soy whip and added more yogurt, [...]
Tosca Cupcakes
April 28, 2008 – 22:07
I wanted tosca cake and Heikki wanted cupcakes, and thus the tosca cupcakes were created. I seasoned the cake part with cardamom, and it came out quite light and moist in texture, contrasting nicely with the crunchy almond topping. The humble appearances of these cakes are deceiving, since they do taste divine!
I made this recipe [...]
Peanut Sauce Stir-Fry
April 27, 2008 – 13:27
When I finally tried making my own peanut sauce, I couldn’t believe how easy it is to prepare, and to tweak according to what’s at hand. Sometimes I add lime juice, or leave out lemon grass if we don’t have it, or use coconut milk instead of veggie stock to thin the sauce, and it [...]
Mint Chocolate Sauce with Cake
April 24, 2008 – 21:27
I literally couldn’t stop spooning this sauce into my mouth until it was all gone, so delicious it was. We had this over a mint chocolate cake that was quite simple, just the Fragrant citrus cake with cocoa powder instead of ground almonds, and mint extract in the place of all the citrus. The [...]
Tempeh Wonton Soup
April 21, 2008 – 20:06
In celebration of making wontons for the first time, we finally cooked our own veggie broth as well, and this soup came out just wonderfully - the gentle broth complimented the spicy salty wontons, and the sweet new crop cabbage added a nice crunch. With store-bought wonton wrappers, these Chinese dumplings are pretty easy to [...]
Orange Ginger Spice Drink
April 19, 2008 – 17:41
I’ve been having a spring flu lately, and this drink is what is starting to make me feel better. Heikki says that if I believe it cures me, it will, and I am a firm believer in ginger tea - I drink it when I feel down or have a back ache or feel that [...]
Raspberry Chocolate Pie
April 18, 2008 – 18:05
We love the combination of raspberries and dark chocolate, there’s something about the tart berries and bitter cocoa flavor that makes them a perfect match. The construction of this pie is quite like my mocha pie, but this is as delicious straight out of the oven as it is after chilling. Served warm with a [...]
Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup
April 14, 2008 – 22:30
I paired cauliflower with sweet potato in this smooth soup, and added coconut milk and garam masala to give it a gentle spiciness. I also caramelized a bunch of cashews to go with the soup - they gave it a nice contrasting texture and a cinnamony element of sweetness, and we ended up with a [...]
Carrot Cake with Lemon Icing
April 12, 2008 – 13:03
This carrot cake is based on a trusted recipe from a friend’s cousin, a recipe that was veganized 10 years ago, and has been served to many party guests over these years. To make it more suitable for a weekday tv-night with friends, I cut the oil by more than a half, substituting a part [...]
Nasi Lemak
April 9, 2008 – 17:53
When I was living in Malaysia some years ago, this was one of my favourite take-away dishes. Nearby my workplace there were some food stalls that sold Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaves. Basically, it’s rice cooked in coconut milk and some condiments, eaten with sambal and some side dishes - yes, I think the [...]
Spicy Stir-Steamed Broccoli with Cashews
April 7, 2008 – 13:50
I made this as a light lunch for myself, and it was so good that the recipe is definitely going to appear as a side dish for a larger audience. Steamed broccoli is great, and stir-steamed broccoli is even greater - it’s a quick method that gives pleasantly crispy results. Simply seasoned with nothing more [...]
Mango Pie
April 4, 2008 – 14:11
This gentle custard filling would have been even better made with fresh mango fruit, but since those aren’t a staple around here, I resorted to the puréed variety from our Asian grocery. The color isn’t as vibrant as the real deal, but most of the mango taste is still there! We both loved the texture [...]
Risoni Salad with Chick Peas and Ramiro Pepper
April 3, 2008 – 11:01
Ever since I saw the recipe for Lemony Risoni on Emmie’s blog, I’ve been wanting to make something with this pasta camouflaged in the shape of rice. It’s so cute, and absorbs flavors even more readily than other shapes of pasta. Otherwise this is a pretty basic salad recipe with a basic vinaigrette, but I [...]
Mocha Fudge
March 31, 2008 – 10:14
This is a great recipe I snatched from Celine’s inspired blog Have cake, will travel. The original recipe makes use of whiskey, but we didn’t have that, so I used coffee liqueur and soy milk instead. This isn’t a toffee-like fudge, but the consistency is more like a chocolate truffle - and since no [...]
Roasted Bell Pepper and Sunflower Seed Hummus
March 30, 2008 – 11:07
I have visited the US a few times, and one of the things I miss most is that the supermarkets carry hummus and baba ghannouj in a number of flavors - my favorite being the roasted red bell pepper. Lately the bigger supermarkets in Finland have started carrying one brand of Swedish hummus that is [...]
Whole Wheat Carrot Buns
March 28, 2008 – 13:55
I usually use at least some white flour in my bread doughs, and haven’t baked bread with just whole wheat before, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully these carrot buns turned out. I didn’t add any regular wheat flour, but decided to mix in a little bit of gluten flour to add [...]
Spicy Potato Rösti
March 26, 2008 – 20:04
Rösti is a Swiss potato pancake, and in its most simple form, a rösti recipe only has grated potatoes as an ingredient. I added a little flour to keep my rösti together and a sweet apple to counterbalance the spiciness of chili, onion, garlic, and thyme. Delicious!
As a side dish, this recipe makes plenty for [...]
Easter Pasha
March 24, 2008 – 11:41
Pasha is a lovely Easter dessert that has traveled to Finland from Russia. It’s a rich and flavorful concotion seasoned with almond, vanilla, orange peel, and dried fruit, traditionally prepared for the celebrations at the end of Lent by the Eastern Orthodox Christians. For pagans like me and Heikki pasha is a perfect way to [...]
Tofu and Sundried Tomato Stew
March 18, 2008 – 11:10
This was an easy weekday recipe, and very much packed with flavor - thanks to the lovely sun dried tomatoes that flew to us straight from Rome! Lately I’ve realized how much more flavor stays in dried tomatoes when they aren’t preserved in oil, and it doesn’t take that long to rehydrate them either.
We had [...]
Rum Chocolate Cookies
March 16, 2008 – 22:08
These were some yummy cookies, and thanks to the flaxseed they keep together well and don’t crumble into a tea cup when dipped. Muscovado sugar gives them a nice brown color, and combines well with the rum and chocolate aromas. These took less than half an hour to make, and I think 20 cookies is [...]
Instant Strawberry Sorbet
March 14, 2008 – 23:39
This time of year we rarely see fresh berries, but frozen ones are quite good and easy to use. This dessert is ready practically in the time it takes to measure up the ingredients!
This sorbet melts really quickly, since its texture depends on the icy frozen berries, so it must be served immediately after making. [...]
Mini Spring Rolls
March 12, 2008 – 20:56
We were originally trying to make jiaozi, Chinese-style dumplings, but it turned out that the spring roll pastry that we got from the local Asian market reacted less than favourably to steaming. In fact, when steamed, it turned into a pulp! So, what do you make from spring roll pastry? Spring rolls. And they turned [...]
Hazelnut Mashed Potatoes with Rosé Pepper
March 10, 2008 – 19:18
If there’s one dish that reminds me of my childhood, it’s mashed potatoes. We always had a simple version at home, that I enjoyed with a dab of butter that melted and transformed into a lake on top of the potato mountain… I also have a vivid memory of a dinner I had at [...]
Mint Brownies and Spicy Hot Brownies
March 7, 2008 – 13:35
I had never tasted a brownie in my life before baking these, so I’m not completely qualified to assess how brownie-like they were. Well, I did adapt the recipe from an American blog Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk and I’m sure that Katie knows what a brownie is. These were like moist and delicate pieces [...]
Black Bean Stew
March 6, 2008 – 11:26
Just a simple black bean stew, very comforting and lovely on a winter’s day. Our pressure cooker allows us to make bean stews on a whim - no soaking and thus no planning ahead is required.
This stew made a nice lunch with a few slices of rye bread. If it was cooked in a [...]
Hazelnut Pinwheel Cookies
March 4, 2008 – 09:24
I wanted to make this dough into spritz cookies, but unfortunately my cookie press broke in the process and wouldn’t press cookies any more. So I made pinwheels instead!
These cookies are imbued with a sweet and mellow hazelnut flavor - I added a little bit of cocoa powder just for the color effect. The [...]
Tempeh Lasagne with Cashew Cream Sauce
February 29, 2008 – 15:40
We both love lasagne, and this is definitively one of our favorite ways to fill those pasta sheets. Fried tempeh crumbs, basil tomato sauce, and white sauce made with cashews and nutritional yeast were a delicious combination in this creamy and hearty and remarkably satisfying lasagne.
Our lasagne wasn’t extremely photogenic, but the side of [...]
Cranberry Fruit Muffins
February 28, 2008 – 10:33
These muffins reminded me of fruit Bundt cake, but they had not-too-sweet currants and dried cranberries in them, and the orange zest is what really made them special. I only used the zest of one orange, and the aroma was just heavenly. These muffins were especially delectable when eaten warm, halved, and spread with a [...]
Edamame Avocado Soup
February 26, 2008 – 09:52
This gentle soup made an amazing weekday lunch for the two of us. Somehow it managed to be light and filling at the same time, and the subtle flavors of edamame and avocado enhanced each other beautifully.
Edamame means fresh young soy beans in Japanese, and they’re usually cooked and served in their pods. Fresh soy [...]
Walnut Tomato Spelt Bread
February 24, 2008 – 16:42
This recipe is a variation on my recipe for Olive Tomato Bread, I just made a few alterations to the ingredients. I love this bread - it’s very satisfying and packed with flavor. Spelt flour and walnuts gave the bread a very nice texture, and I developed a topping that really makes sunflower seeds stick [...]
Spelt-Oat Cookies with Chocolates and Cranberries
February 22, 2008 – 16:35
I made these cookies as a present for my mom, who had the opening for her art exhibit on Tuesday. I wanted her to have more than one flavor, so I divided the dough in three before adding dark and white chocolates and cranberries. Although these cookies might not be the ultimate decadence in [...]
Black Bean and Sunflower Seed Croquettes with Tomato-Sage Sauce
February 21, 2008 – 09:58
These croquettes were made with simple ingredients that we almost always have around the house. Black beans, sunflower seeds, and pink peppercorns were the main components here, but lemon juice, sesame seeds, and ground coriander added a lot of flavor as well. Pink peppercorns and coriander are both fragrant and delicate seasonings, and they paired [...]
Coconutty Apricot Cake with Raspberry Sauce
February 19, 2008 – 13:13
This cake was soft and moist and full of sweet coconut flavor, beautifully counterbalanced by the tart raspberry sauce made with only two ingredients: frozen berries and agave syrup.
This cake was especially good right after baking, steeped in the raspberry sauce, but went well on its own with a cup of tea on the [...]
Marinated Tempeh
February 17, 2008 – 20:54
I fried this tempeh for lunch one day, and didn’t have time to marinate it more than an hour. It was very delicious, which made me realize that tempeh absorbs flavors even more readily than tofu does! Actually, the marinade I used is pretty close to the one we often use for tofu, but I [...]
Mint Chocolate Cakes for Two
February 14, 2008 – 16:10
When I created the recipe for this mint chocolate cake, I thought it wouldn’t rise very much during baking, and I’d end up with a small amount of cake. Well, it did rise, I had to cut it in two layers, and we ended up with five mini-cakes instead of the two I’d planned to [...]
Balsamico Roasted Vegetables
February 13, 2008 – 20:55
The simple act of adding balsamic vinegar to vegetables before roasting takes their flavors to a completely new dimension. The vinegar loses its acidity in the oven, and enhances the sweet flavors of the root vegetables.
We got our monthly supply of organic flours and vegetables on Friday evening, delivered to our door by my [...]
Palak Tofu
February 11, 2008 – 22:45
Palak is an Indian spinach dish that everyone knows from Palak Paneer, in which it is served with Indian cheese. I do not think that I ever tasted that dish before going vegan, but I’ve witnessed friends devour it in restaurants numerous times, and have become curious. Palak is delicious on its own, but tofu [...]
No-Bake Strawberry Lime Pie
February 10, 2008 – 18:42
We whipped up this pie 20 minutes before a friend came over, and it had almost firmed up after spending 2 hours in the fridge, when we were ready to have dessert. The photo is from the next day, and I do recommend refrigerating this pie overnight to let the filling firm up completely - [...]
Five-Spice Tofu with Slightly Sweet and Sour Veggies
February 8, 2008 – 20:27
We had a weekday dinner at its best on Wednesday: delicious five-spiced tofu, slightly sweet and sour stir-fried veggies, and a bowl of brown rice. Yumminess can’t be exaggerated, it was all very delicious. It happened to be the Chinese New Year’s eve as well - everyone was wishing happy new year for each other [...]
Tofulette
February 6, 2008 – 21:00
There are various vegan omelette recipes around the internet, and we’ve tried a few of them - S