Chia Spiced Rice Pudding with Orange Cardamom Roasted Pears

by Meg R.

Brown Basmati rice was simmered in coconut and almond milk with Chai inspired aromatics of fresh ginger, vanilla bean, star anise, cinnamon, cardamon and orange peel. To accent the warm Indian flavors, I roasted firm but ripe Bosc pears in a mixture of agave syrup, fresh orange juice, orange peel and cardamom pods. The final dish is garnished with chopped pistachios and the candied orange peel from the roasted pears. Not only is this a lovely dessert (or breakfast) on a cold day, but the aroma in the kitchen was filled with heavenly, spicy holiday scents! The roasted pears were soft yet held their shape well, which is why I choose the Bosc variety. The pears also caramelized nicely and had a rich vanilla flavor, a perfect compliment to the warm spices in the rice pudding. This dessert is also a wonderful way for me to highlight the local fruit grown here in our valley.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Raspberries

by Susan P.

This vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Raspberries is my go to for a couple of reasons. First, it is delicious, moist and flavorful. It's made with just a few simple ingredients that I always have on hand. Olive oil is the fat and the sweetener is maple syrup. The combination makes for a light but very moist cake. Lemon juice, zest and extract pop the lemon flavor and the raspberries are the perfect compliment for the finished cake. I always make this as a bunt cake whether it's individual cakes as shown in the picture, or one larger bunt cake. The raspberries are macerated with a little sugar, then crushed with a fork and added to the plate. I like to top it off with a touch of powdered sugar.

Lavender-stevia and rosemary agar cubes

by Jelena T.

For my previous course I made mango-coconut agar cubes and, while they looked really pretty, I wasn't too impressed with the taste or the texture. That's the reason I wanted to experiment for this task and make something „bolder“. Since my garden is full of beautiful aromatic spices, I decided, instead of fruit, to play with herbs a bit, and focus on the colours, so I picked lavender and rosemary, hoping I'd get violet-green agar cubes. Unfortunately, as I was steeping the lavender and rosemary in hot water, I realised that both had turned out slightly different shades of green. This is why I decided to let the first layer cool completely so the two layers wouldn’t stick together – the difference in colours wouldn't have been as noticeable. After the agar cooled in fridge, I cut out the cubes and garnished them with lavender sprigs and some rosemary. I have to say I didn't expect much of this task because of my previous experience with agar cubes, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way it turned out – the taste was refreshing and the cubes look so wonderful I'll be sorry to eat them.

Vegan ChocoBeet Donut

by Yoesi A.

This donut made from all purpose gluten free mix flour ( white sorghum flour, mocaf, banana flour and arrowroot flour), raw cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt for dry ingredient. Ground flaxseed, almond milk, coconut sugar, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and grated red beetroot for wet ingredients. Wet ingredients added to dry ingredients and folded the grated beet. Baked in 175C oven for 15-18 minutes. After cooled completely at the wire cooling rack, coated with melted chocolate chips, sprinkled with popped sorghum and garnished with beet juice + icing sugar mixture in the middle of the donuts. The moist vegan donut ever.

by Susan P.

Triple-Layered Aloe w/fruit, Mango and Coconut Milk Gels

by Jane P.

I'm so happy with how this turned out. I know it's a little more complicated than what was requested, but when I saw a photo of this, I had to make it. The first layer is made with chopped fruit and an aloe flavored gel. I chose aloe because I wanted the gel to be clear so the fruit would be visible. I also enjoy the taste of aloe juice. The second layer is made with coconut milk, water, agar and sugar. I like the creaminess that this layer adds. The third layer is made with mango juice, agar and water. I chose mango because it's one of the fruits in the top mixture and would compliment the other layers both in taste and color. It's so beautiful it could be served just as it is. Also, since these are in ice cube trays, it would be easy to blend one in a smoothie for flavor and thickness. Another idea is to chop up a cube into small pieces and add to a bowl of oatmeal for sweetness and a contrasting texture. I'd love to try and make gel that is shaped like a fish so it looks like a mini-aquarium. I have so many ideas about fun things to do with agar.

Baked Alaska to die for!

by Petra B.

I just had so much fun making and eating this indulgent desert. The base for this desert was a delicious vanilla cake (Fran's recipe, that I am just in love with). Since I chose chocolate ganache and chocolate ice cream as my second and third layer I thought the vanilla ice cream would go perfect with it. The second layer was the silky chocolate ganache, topped with vegan chocolate ice cream and covered with this incredible and super delicious vegan meringue. I was so impressed with the vegan meringue, it tasted delicious. I sprinkled a little bit of sugar over the meringue and once it started melting with he help of the kitchen torch the smell was incredible. The whole house had this sweet fragrance of warm sugar. As I could not eat everything I shared it with some friends and I think I exceed their expectation regarding my cooking skills! They loved it!

by Liana M.

Pantry

by Jennifer H.

This is a collage photo of my in-kitchen pantry and my back-up pantry. I keep extra supplies in the back-up pantry of those stock items I don't want to be out of if I decide I want to make something on a whim. Again, I didn't have to do any removal as my kitchen was already re-set to this way of eating before I started the study. I'm simply hoping to learn more cooking techniques to make the meal planning and and preparation process simpler so I don't rely on eating out, even with such a well-stocked pantry.

My favourite chocolate cake

by Luciana U.

I've always been a huge fan of chocolate cakes. When I decided to go vegan, I tried so many recipes searching for "the one" and after some tests trying to create my own recipe, I finally found it. This one is made with whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, sugar cane, apple cider vinegar, baking powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, hazelnut milk and some drops of vanilla extract. The topping is made with 63% cacao chocolate, coconut cream and cane syrup. Just baked in the oven for 30-40min at 390ºF. I also sprinkled bittersweet chocolate granulated around the cake to give extra texture.

Chocolate Pudding

by Daneen A.

My Go-To Dessert is a silken tofu based chocolate pudding. It's my go-to because it's so easy to make and I usually have the ingredients on hand: 1 package extra-firm silken tofu 1 cup chocolate chips, melted 1/4 cup nut milk 2 tbsp maple syrup 2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt *All these ingredients are blended together to create this decadent dessert. For garnish I shaved dark chocolate and for colour added raspberries.

Classic Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie

by Erika G.

These gluten free chocolate chip cookies are my go-to dessert. Honestly, I make them every week for my 6 & 9 year old (and my chocoholic husband). I use oat and almond flours, flax egg and earth balance to make them both gluten free and vegan. Often I will sub whole oats for half the oat flour or throw in nuts for added nutrition and good fats. These cookies are both crispy and chewy and are a family favorite.

Lemon Mini Bundt Cake

by Yahaira B.

My go-to dessert is a beautiful and simple lemon mini bundt cake. I love this simple mini cakes since they have a lot of lemon flavor and are very refreshing. They were the first vegan cakes that I made and every member of my family loves them. They are made with unbleached all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, organic cane sugar, organic almond milk, grape seed oil, lemon juice, organic vanilla extract and organic lemon extract.

by Charlotte S.

Strawberry Mousse Slices plated

by Angelina A.

This was a fun activity to do and I took the opportunity to get a little creative. Strawberries are one of my favorite fruit so I decided to use the whole fruit broken down into 2 layers. Layer one: Macerated fresh strawberries with a bit of coconut sugar, drained and reserving the liquid for layer two. The drained strawberries were then pureed, combined with some agar and folded together with some sweetened whipped aqua faba then poured into a dish to set. Layer two: The reserved strawberry juice was boiled with the agar and a touch of lemon juice to a more concentrated state before being poured over the first layer of the Strawberry Mousse. After completely set, slices were cut and served with fresh fruit. This was a fresh and light tasting dessert that would be perfect for an after dinner treat on a hot spring or summer day. Other serving suggestions would be to add a dollop of coconut whipped cream along with a drizzle of melted (but cooled) chocolate or balsamic reduction.

Raw cheescake with date caramel and roasted peaches.

by Karla Q.

First time roasting fruits so I decided and wanted a little contrast of warm and cold in one dessert. I prepared a vanilla raw cheesecake, I wanted a "simple" and nice flavor that complimented the roasted peaches. The date caramel was created with dates blended with coconut milk and a little of vanilla, so delicious. I selected peaches because is not a fruit we eat a lot in our house. We consume a lot of tropical fruits, so a variation was nice for us to try. I used maple syrup and a little of Parfait Amour Liquor that has a mild vanilla taste to roast the fruit. The final dessert is garnished with the date caramel, the roasted peaches and some edible flowers that match the color of the fruit. To my surprise the fruit was soft but not soggy, it keept the texture perfectly.

Warm Apple Streusel Pie A La Mode

by Kari R.

Apple Pie A La Mode has always been one of my favorite desserts, and I can't remember the last time I ate it...until now! For the crust, I followed the directions exactly and I think I could have used a touch more water because it seemed to crumble a bit when shaping it in the pie dish. It came out fine, once baked so I guess I need to practice a bit more. For this pie, the crust did not need to be blind baked. I refrigerated it while I made the filling and topping. For the apple filling and streusel topping I used Fran's recipe from her book "More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally". I followed the apple filling recipe exactly, and for the streusel I subbed almond-cashew butter for the oil. I prefer to not use oil whenever possible, so I thought that this would make a good substitution in this case...and it did! I also added oats to the streusel topping because it made me feel like it was a little bit healthier ;). I mounded the apples into the cold crust and pressed the streusel on top of the apple filling. While the pie baked, I made a quick lucuma cashew n'ice cream. I chose this flavor because I wanted something caramel flavored but I did not want to add caramel sauce because i did not want more sugar. To plate the pie, I sprinkled some cinnamon on the plate, placed the pie slice with the n'ice cream on top and sprinkled a little more cinnamon on the n'ice cream (yes I love cinnamon!). This dessert was better than I remember apple pie a la mode tasting. It had the perfect balance of sweetness, cinnamon-spice, crunch from the topping and creaminess from the n'ice cream, as well as the contrast of warm pie and cold n'ice cream. YUMMMM!!!

by Liana M.

Strawberry Lemonade Agar Cubes

by Karen C.

This photo shows my completed agar cubes. I chose strawberry lemonade as the liquid because it is a sweet, tart, and refreshing flavor. It snowed the day I made these, and eating the cubes made me think of summertime. I just ate the cubes as is, but you could serve them with chilled fruit soup, in a fruit salad, or as a garnish to a fruity beverage.

Hibiscus Tea Agar Gel Cubes with Crystallized Ginger

by Rose D.

These are the Hibiscus Tea gel cubes after they set. I decided to garnish them with a small piece of crystallized ginger to compliment the flavor of the hibiscus. They were delicious and refreshing. In the future, I would steep the hibiscus tea longer to impart a more concentrated flavor. I found that after setting, the flavor of the hibiscus tea became slightly muted. These could be served by themselves as a simple snack. But the next time, I plan on serving them with some grilled peach slices, the crystallized ginger and a dollop of cashew vanilla cream as a simple dessert for the summer.

by Eva A.