Vegan Pancakes for a Lazy Morning May 13, 2008

When you’re feeling sad, sometimes making other people happy might cheer you up. And nothing is better for doing that than making them pancakes in the morning. Making these pancakes in the early morning while my friend slept upstairs (sweet thing’s been staying with me since I’m having a rough time, she’s the best ever) was therapeutic and soothing, AND we ended up with something good to eat! I don’t like boring food, so I added bananas to that morning’s pancakes, but you could add nuts, or blueberries, or bananas AND blueberries…I won’t stop you. Now I know pancakes are toootally overdone. But you know you can’t live without them, admit it! With that, I bring you:

Vegan Banana Pancakes with Glazed White Peaches

Serves 2 really hungry people, maybe three normal non-piggies

1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar (I used turbinado)

1 1/4-1 1/2 cups soymilk, vanilla if you have it (I estimate the liquid because sometimes it just comes out a different consistency)

1 large soft banana, diced or mashed.

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, including the sugar. Add the soymilk and banana pieces and mix well, but not TOO much because you don’t want anything to come out rubbery and weird. Heat a griddle or skillet, rub in a small amount of margarine, and pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake on the pan. When bubbles form at the top, flip! Once both sides are golden brown, you’re done and ready to smother them in glazed peaches in syrup, recipe following.

A few words of advice about pancakes, that people seem to all know but never follow. Well guess what. FOLLOW THEM! Nobody likes a totally flat pancake that has an impermeable golden barrier on both sides, so the syrup just oozes right off. They should be fluffy and porous so they up all that wonderful sugary goo…I mean, who wants to chase syrup around their plate? So how does one achieve such perfection? 1) Don’t flip more than once. The more you flip, the more air you force out. I’m no chemist or trained chef, but I’m going to go with my intuition that air is the key to fluffy pancakes. Air in pancakes= fluffy structure, overall deliciousness. All air pressed out= Flat, sad shadow of a pancake that could have been. So rule number 2) Don’t press them down! Afraid they’ll be raw inside? Well they won’t be if you’re doing it right, and if they were for some strange reason, it’s certainly not going to kill you.

On to the peaches:

About 2 cups of sliced white peaches (took about 4 small ones)

1/4 cup juice, I used orange/mandarin

1 tablespoon sugar

Throw everything in a skillet together, turn heat on medium, and just let it simmer away till the peaches are soft and the juice and sugar have reduced down into a syrup, coating all the peach slices. DONE. Seriously.

Simple Summery Salad May 11, 2008

There’s nothing better on a hot day than some nice fresh produce to cool you from the inside. Ok, maybe it defeats the purpose if half of those veggies are warm. But I can’t help but think that this simple salad that I threw together for dinner one spring evening is the perfect summer food, reminiscent of potato salad, fresh green beans, and the light, citrusy tastes always associated with the sun. So here you have it, my first actual picture post, and the first time I’ve ever written a recipe, really. If I’m going to start writing recipes, I might as well start with something easy like a salad, right?

Roasted Potato and French Bean Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

All measurements are approximations, substitutions are welcome

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Fingerling potatoes, about 1 pound

1 cup of French Beans or Green Beans, steamed lightly

3 tablespoons capers

1 bag of mixed greens (Chicory, mache, etc…or just lettuce)

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to drizzle

1 tablespoon grainy mustard

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

a pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven as high as it will go. Wash and slice the potatoes in half lengthwise, toss them in olive oil and lay them face up on a baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with a little cayenne-LIGHTLY! Bake until crispy and brown, probably around 25 minutes but it depends on your oven. I had to really estimate the temperature since I was working with an oven that had degrees centigrade, which I don’t understand. Make the vinaigrette- whisk together the olive oil and mustard to form an emulsion, then drizzle in the lemon juice while still whisking. Add salt and pepper to taste. Assembly is easy, you can either toss everything together or create an arranged salad like I did, and drizzle the dressing over the top. If you want an arranged salad, lay as much lettuce as you want on a plate, arrange green beans over the top, and then half of the potatoes per salad. Add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of capers per salad, then drizzle the dressing over the top. Done!

It’s slightly reminiscent of a Nicoise salad, except veganized and modernized. This would certainly be nice with some tomatoes and some salty black olives. I tend to throw salads together based on what I have on-hand, and I never follow recipes, so if I ever make this again it will probably change. Perhaps I’ll make this one again sometime, with some grilled tofu in place of the tuna that’s on a real Nicoise salad.

A first look May 8, 2008

After years of vegetarianism, and a recent obsession for taking pictures of my food…I finally realized food blogging was the natural next step. So here you are, with my new, not necessarily improved, and possibly sporadic (at least for a while) food blog, full of vegetarian yummies and vegan baked goods with photos of my own recipes, restaurant food, and cookbook recipes alike. Enjoy, tell your friends, and spread the world. Pretty soon this thing will be as huge as Vegan Lunch Box. Ok, maybe not…but if anything this will be one blog full of laughs, creativity, and a little bit of French flair thrown in. However, there are a few things that you must know.

DISCLAIMERS:

- I am not a vegan. I love vegan food, because it is yummy. When I cook for myself, it’s vegan 95% of the time. But when I cook for others and experiment with things they want, I sometimes cook lacto-ovo (I WILL NOT COOK MEAT). So there may be some pictures involving potentially offensive dairy products, but they will be minimal.

-Cannelle et Lavande is French for cinnamon and lavender. So there you go.

- I use a Pentax Optio W20 7 Mpx Camera. It may not be “professional”, but if you’re wondering why my pictures are so gorgeous (ha), it’s probably thanks to this thing. And my amazing skillzzz.

-I don’t like mushrooms. Sorry, I try, but they suck. If you are morally opposed to a mushroom-free blog, this ain’t the place for you. Other than that I’m not really picky.

-Measurements are estimates. REALLY estimates. I don’t measure when I cook, unless I’m baking (yes, I’m one of those people). If you like to cook, you’ll know what I mean when I say “a handful” of this or “a drizzle” of that. No need to ever (EVER) follow anything specifically, I’m not going to hunt you down and anyway it probably wouldn’t be that great. Just estimate, throw in extras to your taste, and you’ll come up with something just as good. If for some reason I post a baking recipe (and I’m not that experienced in making up my own cake recipes yet, so this won’t happen much) I would suggest measuring, but if you have substitutions and want to experiment, who am I to stop you? I’m not the most serious cook in the world, I just do it for fun and so I have a yummy dinner. You should too.

-I’m not French, I just like to pretend I am. I actually live in Orange County, California (when I’m not on my year abroad in Paris).

-Lastly, I have a boyfriend, so don’t even try, boys. I know I’m irresistible, but come on now. Respect.

Once I’ve gotten this thing up and running, I hope you will all enjoy it. Comment or email me if you have any questions or complaints (Like “Why don’t you ever update?! Why are you taking yourself so seriously with this first post when you don’t even have any pictures or recipes up yet?! YOU SUCK!!!!!”), because I do like feedback. Happy May 8th, everyone, and welcome to Cannelle & Lavande!!