Vegan quinoa patties and lemon-Sriracha rémoulade

My lovely sister was in town tonight and she invited me over for a sleep over :)

I brought over some ingredients to make a recipe for quinoa cakes and sweet chia cornbread from The Simple Veganista (one of my new favourite sources for great vegan recipes). I loved cooking in her kitchen! It was all new, clean and very modern. Her oven is massive and there is so much bench space! It was so nice to have a change of scenery from my own kitchen. 

My sister also gave me ideas for plating up and helped me take the photos. I loved that she got just as excited about plating up as I did. 

I really enjoyed the dinner we cooked up tonight. This recipe for cornbread was by far the best I have made since coming home from America where the cornbread is to die for. I love cornbread with a passion. Actually, Southern food in general is some serious in-my-belly-goodness. It really lives up to the name 'soul food'. 

Vegan Quinoa Patties with Lemon-Sriracha Rémoulade

Serves 2

Ingredients

Quinoa Patties

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup flour of choice + more as needed
• 1/2 medium zucchini,grated
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• himalayan salt & freshly ground pepper
• olive oil for the skillet

Lemon-Dill-Sriracha Rémoulade

• 2/3 cups cashews* (preferably soaked for 2 -3 hours)
• 1/3 cup water + more as needed
• 1 tablespoon sriracha, + more to taste
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 lemon, zest and juice
• dash or two onion powder
• salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Directions

In small pot over medium high heat broth/water and quinoa to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Once done, remove cover, fluff with fork and let set for another 15 minutes to cool and absorb remaining water.
 
While the quinoa is cooling, start your flax egg by mixing the ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl and put in fridge to thicken.
 
Prepare the rémoulade by placing all the ingredients in a blender/food processor, and blend until smooth (the magic bullet is a perfect tool for this job). If you mixture is too wet add a few cashews and blend again...if too thick add 1 tablespoon water at time until desired consistency. Taste for seasoning adding more of whatever you like while blending by hand. 
Cover and keep at room temp or place in the refrigerator until ready to use (I serve mine at room temp). This can also be made a couple days in advance and kept in the refrigerator (will stay fresh for up to a five or six days).
 
On to the quinoa patties, in a medium bowl, combine the quinoa, flax gel, flour, onion, celery, zucchini and garlic. The mixture should be moist enough to stick together, remaining slightly tacky. Add additional flour or water, 1 -2 tablespoons at time if needed to adjust consistency. Season liberally with salt and cracked pepper. Form into approx. 8 to 12 patties about 1/2 inch thick. (Patties can be made a day in advance and kept in the refrigerator.)
 
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet or non-stick pan/griddle over medium heat. Add the patties and cook, undisturbed, until nicely browned on one side, about 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook other side for an additional 4-5 minutes.
 
Keep finished quinoa cakes on a wire rack set over a baking sheet (or on a foil-lined baking sheet) in the preheated oven until all cakes have been cooked. Plate the hot quinoa cakes with a generous dollop of rémoulade and pair with a steamed vegetable of choice. Serve immediately.

 

Vegan Sweet Chia Cornbread

 Ingredients

• 1 cup organic corn meal (I used a course grind)
• 1 cup spelt flour, whole wheat pastry flour or flour of choice
• 5 tablespoons pure cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup almond milk 
• juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted) or extra light flavored olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a vegan buttermilk by mixing the almond milk with the lemon or vinegar and set aside. Mix the chia seeds with the 1/2 cup water, set aside. Let these set for 10 minutes. Combine all dry ingredients in medium size bowl. Add buttermilk, oil, chia seed mixture and combine making sure to break up any lumps of chia seeds. Pour batter into an 8x8 greased baking pan or dish. Bake for 25 minutes. Test by inserting a toothpick, if it comes out clean it's ready. Serve.

Notes: You could also add in 1 cup corn to the mix.

Alpaca fair

I went to an alpaca fair today!

Yes, I thought I might just jump straight into telling you my something new. It's definitely not something you hear everyday. In fact, when my friend told me about it I was so excited because I didn't know things like alpaca fairs even existed. 

The alpaca fair was held at Whiteman Park. I told my sister about it and because she's just like me and loves anything fluffy, we decided to make a sister date out of it. My lovely friends Ruth, Nhi and Adam met up with us. They are my people to go to when I want to try something new because they are always so happy to join in :) I would not be having as much fun doing this blog without them :)

I think I acted like a total kid when we went around to all the alpaca pens. They were just so cute and fluffy looking. I love the ones with long fringes that cover their eyes. Adorable!!

Ok, so enough with the words, just look at the photos I took :P

For Margi and Em

I've been very fortunate to have a lot of female role models throughout my life. My friend Emily who is battling with Lymphoma, is most definitely one of those people; another is my sister. My intelligent, beautiful, kind, funny, hardworking, fun loving, wise, cutie pie, little big sister. She may be three years older than me, but she's a good 10cm shorter than me too. I can't remember exactly at what age I overtook her, but I've been taller than her for quite some time now. I tell my sister that I love her all the time. There is, and always will be so much truth in those words when I say them to her. And even when she's miles away at work or anywhere else that's not right here next to me, the love is and always will be there. 

My sister and I don't argue. That's not strange to me. But apparently to other people, it's weird not to argue with your sister (so I've heard). We may have argued a lot when we were between the age of new born to age 10, but after that I don't ever recall us arguing. Seriously. The last argument I remember we had was when I ripped her favourite stuffed bunny open with my bare teeth. How vicious of me! Tisk tisk. 

I'm not sure why we don't argue, but it might have something to do with something that happened between a friend and I back in primary school. I think I was in year five or six. My best friend at the time and I had gotten in an argument and when we reconciled she said to me "let's just not fight again". I'm sure there was more to it then just that, but her words really had a profound effect on me. From that point on, I just didn't see any point in arguing with friends. I think that must have rubbed off on my relationship with my sister because I then and even now I don't like the idea of fighting with her. Don't get me wrong, no relationship is perfect and so an argument here and there is healthy, but when it comes to my sister, I don't want any of that. I'm sure there are a thousand psychologists out there who would tell me other wise, but that's just the way we are.

My sister told me that she'd be coming to visit today and so I decided to dedicate my 'something new' to her. I pulled out an old photo album that Emily had put together for us. It was filled with photos of us from when we were young. I scanned the photos and uploaded them onto a digital photo frame. I found a pretty decent digital frame which also played music in the background so I uploaded songs that reminded me of us and of our childhood. Lots of Disney songs and songs from musicals we've watched together like Phantom of the Opera. Since my sister started renting her own place, I've yet to get her a house warming gift. I hope this makes up for that.

My sister made my childhood so great. We played paper dolls, dress ups, computer games (I remember we played a PC game called Might and Magic), Nintendo 64, watched hours of cartoons and Video Hits...and those were just some of the things we did indoors. Outside was a whole different adventure. 

If it wasn't for Emily, none of these photos would have been taken. She captured my childhood and my relationship with my amazing big sister in these photographs. 
Help give Emily the opportunity to not only capture more memories of her young 5 year-old son Luke, but also give her the opportunity to live long enough to show those photos to Luke when he's a grown man. 
Emily needs donor stem cells. You could be a match for her. Please please please register your name on the Bone Marrow Registry and become a stem cell donor.