I’ll cut to the chase: Kindfood gets everything right.  The nicest staff and owners.  The greatest location, right by the lake so you can eat out on the patio overlooking the water, or take a short walk to the lakefront after your meal.  (Too bad it’s an hour drive for us, but it’s worth it!)  Kindfood has the best food.  The food is everything you’d want: healthy ingredients that taste AMAZING and allergy-friendly to boot: gluten-free, peanut-free, refined sugar-free and vegan.  What else could you ask for in a restaurant?

One minor drawback we’ve encountered with Kindfood in the past is that their café is so small that seating was quite cramped.  They fixed that a few months ago when they renovated to make the dining area larger and we enjoyed this improvement.  Kindfood has amassed quite a loyal following in the few years they’ve been open and the place is always packed whenever we’ve gone; the roomier redesign helps the place more comfortable.  They also opened a sister café, Kelly’s Bake Shoppe so those who just want their famous cupcakes and other treats can head over there.

The entire time we ate there, there was a line of customers from the register to the front door, but don’t be discouraged if you see this when you go; the line moves fast and food comes quickly.  (Don’t you hate visiting restaurants with so few staff on that service takes way too long?)  Our food was served less than ten minutes after ordering which we found  impressive.  (When you eat out with kids, this is SO appreciated).

We ordered a mix of our favourites and some dishes we hadn’t ordered before.  We can’t go without getting their Caesar salad, mac and cheese and Reuben (below), which we all loved this time, everything was top notch.  The food is very kid-friendly too; both our children tried and loved everything we ordered.

We picked two new items to try: the BLAT (vegan bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) sandwich (above).  It was very good, we liked the carrot shreds, and the vegan bacon bits were nice.

Hubby ordered the California burger (above) and was I ever glad I talked him into sharing half with me!  I can’t recall a tastier sandwich, ever.   Truly outstanding.  Our very favourite item now and we can’t wait to go back and eat it again!  The only drawbacks to the sandwiches are that they are small, due to the size of the bread, but I just don’t think you can find gluten-free bread that has the same rise and texture of wheat bread (correct me if I’m wrong).  Kindfood uses Organic Works Quinoa Maple Bread.  They used to use Quinoa Honey Bread but it wasn’t true to Kinfood’s vegan values, so Organic Works actually created their Quinoa Maple Bread at Kindfood’s request.  I met Organic Works’ owner and creator Peter Cuddy a couple of months ago and he let me sample all his breads.  The Quinoa Maple is the most delicious, and he confirmed the bread’s story of its creation.   Now anyone can buy delicious vegan gluten-free bread.

After our lunch, we took the one minute stroll around the corner to their sister cafe, Kelly’s Bake Shoppe.  The place is gorgeous: hard wood floors, crystal chandeliers, stone counters, crown molding; even the powder room was a thing of beauty.
Like Kindfood, Kelly’s Bake Shoppe goodies are free of dairy, eggs, gluten, refined sugar, peanuts and artificial colours.

The amazing flavours of cupcakes included: Vanilla Bean, Red Velvet, Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Black Magic, Dulce De Leche (Hubby’s favourite), Cookies’n Cream.

HOLY DELICIOUSNESS BATMAN, HOW DO YOU CHOOSE?!!!!

I chose the coffee flavoured cupcake which was topped with a miniature DONUT, how cute is that?!  It was awesome.

We also bought chocolate covered donuts and cake balls.  The cake balls were an afterthought, we didn’t think they would be as special as the cupcakes, but we were wrong, they were insanely delicious!  Imagine a dense chocolate cupcake with chunks of coconut, encased in chocolate.  Then take that deliciousness and times it by a hundred and that’s how good it was.  So good we had to go back to the store for more!

Hubby also enjoyed a coconut milk latte.  I’m not a coffee fan but I had a taste it was really good!

Since Kelly’s and Kindfood are just a hop, skip and a jump from Lake Ontario, we took the kids to the playground on the lakefront and had a great afternoon.
A big thank you to Kelly, Erinn, Mike and the Kindfood team for another wonderful meal.  If you are anywhere near Burlington, Ontario, I highly recommend paying a visit to these fabulous restaurants!

Kindfood is located at 399 John Street, Burlington, ON.

Kelly’s Bake Shoppe is located around the corner at 401 Brant Street, Burlington, ON.

Here’s a quick run-down of the most popular recipes from Earthgiven Kitchen’s first year.…

1. Creamy Avocado Chickpea Pasta

2. Chocolate Banana Cookies3. Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips

4. Sarina’s Hummus

5. Nacho Kale Chips

6. Coconut & Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies

7. White Bean and Potato Breakfast Scramble

8. Cherry Coconut Parfaits9. Coconut Lavender Shampoo and Body Wash 10. Cookie dough balls

Thank you to everyone who visited, commented, liked me on facebook, subscribed and tried my recipes!  I’ve appreciated all the support.  The vegan community is so kind!

These delectable turnovers are a big hit at potlucks; everyone will think you slaved for hours over the dough when in fact using regular store-bought sliced bread is the secret time-saver.  Be sure to choose soft bread.  The mustard and thyme pair really well with the mushrooms, leeks and walnuts.
Portobello, Leek and Walnut Turnovers
by Earthgiven Kitchen

2 cloves garlic, minced (about ½ tbsp)
1 leek, finely diced and washed well (about 2 cups chopped)
3 tbsp vegan margarine
6 cups chopped Portobello mushrooms (or other mushroom variety)
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ cup vegetable broth (I use homemade broth)
½ tbsp mustard
¼ cup vegan cream cheese
½ cup walnuts, chopped
24 slices of soft bread (I used whole wheat)
coconut oil (optional)

Melt the margarine on a large pot on the stove set to medium heat.  Add the garlic and leek and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the mushrooms, stir and cook another 5 minutes until most of the liquid is evaporated.   Meanwhile, toast the walnuts for a few minutes on a stove-top pan or broil in the oven.  Add the thyme, broth and simmer on medium heat until nearly dry, then add the mustard and cream cheese and stir.  Stir in the walnuts and remove from heat.

While the veggies cook on the stove, take out the bread and roll flat with a rolling pin, then trim the crusts off.  I enlist my kids for the rolling, which they love to do.  Save the crusts to make breadcrumbs or croutons later.   Keep the bread in plastic wrap or under a kitchen towel so that it doesn’t dry out.

Fill a bowl halfway full with water; this will be used to keep your fingers wet while you form the turnovers.

Mound a small scoop of the veggie filling in one corner of the bread slice.  With wet fingers, fold the bread into a triangle and press the edges firmly to be sure that they are tightly sealed.  Repeat with the remaining bread and filling.   Optional: brush the outsides of the turnovers with melted coconut oil.

Arrange turnovers in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, or until golden.

Serve warm with mustard or your favourite dipping sauce.

Makes 24 turnovers.  Depending on how full you filled the triangles, you may have filling leftover.  It makes awesome filling for grilled cheese the next day!  Just add some Daiya or your favourite cheesy spread and you’ll have a gourmet sandwich, bonus!

Thank you to An Unrefined Vegan and Vegan Bloggers Unite for hosting and coordinating this great celebration of vegan eating!

If you liked this recipe and want more Earthgiven Kitchen goodies, you can subscribe to this blog with the doohickey near the top right of the sidebar or like me on facebook here:

Stick around and enjoy more potluck fun…..

Go Back and see the hot spinach and artichoke dip from Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes!

Go Forward and see the Muhammara from Anne Sture Tucker!

For a list of all VVP participants, click here.

The interaction was a good reminder that many people don’t know what it means to be vegan or can’t imagine the diversity of delicious healthy foods there to choose from.  This would be a good time for another What I Ate Wednesday: a tour of the foods I eat in a typical day, a blog game I haven’t played in a while that’s been going strong for 119 weeks now!

Pre-Breakfast: a cup of warm water and lemon juice, great for digestion, followed by a cup of chai green tea.

Breakfast: Strawberry-Almond Oatmeal.  I took my Date and Walnut Oatmeal, subbed almonds for the walnuts, and topped with all-fruit (unsweetened) jam and granola.  Yum!

Lunch: Hummus Tempeh Wrap: whole wheat pita, Red Pepper & Hemp Heart Hummus (recipe here), baby spinach, kale, tempeh, sun-dried tomatoes and Cashew Sour Cream (recipe from Meghan Telpner here).

Snacks: a banana, and later, a handful of almonds and a few pieces of Camino dark chocolate with coconut.  Camino bars are little pieces of heaven.

Dinner: Buffalo cauliflower wings and deluxe veggie pizza.  I’ve mentioned the buffalo cauliflower wings before, they are awesome!  Check out Keepin’ It Kind for the recipe.  It’s one of the few ways I can get my kids to eat cauliflower.  Instead of topping our pizza with it, we used the cauliflower as a side dish and loaded a store-bought pizza with all the toppings we could: Daiya, mushrooms, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, pineapple, Italian Seasoning, veggie peperoni, asparagus and red onion.  Delicious!  One of our favourite dinners we’ve had in a while.

I’m submitting this wonderful day of eating to What I Ate Wednesdays #119, with thanks to Peas and Crayons for hosting.

I have to admit, my initial thought was dismay: there must be another blog called Earthgiven Kitchen (and much more popular than mine!).  I couldn’t believe my baby blog, not even a year old, received mention as one of the top 40 blogs, earning The Vegan Woman’s Recommendation badge for 2013.  What an honour to be in the same guide as some of my favourite blogs: This Rawsome Vegan Life, Oh She Glows, Vegan Culinary Crusade, An Unrefined Vegan, Keepin’ It Kind and more.  Congratulations to all the honourees.

My heartfelt thanks to The Vegan Woman and those who nominated me, I am quite touched.  Checkout the list of top 40 vegan blogs here.  What a wonderful celebration of delicious, compassionate eating!

On to a restaurant review!…

I first visited The Naked Sprout, one of Burlington’s two vegan restaurants, last June and loved my visit so much, I knew I’d be going back again before long, despite being an hour away.  To my surprise, after my blog review, the manager Jemma thoughtfully gifted me with a gift certificate to enjoy a meal there again, how kind!  Thank you, Naked Sprout!   I am terribly late in posting this second review, which was a fabulous birthday lunch celebrating my mother.   Here is what we ordered:

D’Ambrosio Burger
Have you ever seen a prettier burger?  This was a wonderful chickpea-based veggie burger, gorgeously presented with a side of hot potatoes and swirl of spicy sauce.  I was quite impressed with this dish, especially the bun, which was the most delicious gluten-free bread I can recall eating.  I ate every bite.

BBQ Pulled Tofu Sandwich
We had previously experienced the Pulled Un-Pork Sandwich at Hog Town Vegan, and adored it, so we were keen to try The Naked Sprout’s version of a vegan pulled pork sandwiches.  We were not disappointed, it was every bit as good as the Hog Town version, both tangy and sweet and beyond delicious, though this one likely healthier!   The jalapeno Havarti cheese was a nice touch.  We will definitely order this again!

Coconut Poppers
We shared these breaded coconut strips as an appetizer.  It was a unique treat; we’d never seen anything like it before so we enjoyed the novelty of the curry-flavoured crispy coconut strips with cashew ranch dressing.  Pretty tasty, but not my favourite item there.

Raw Lemon Cheesecake
It’s hard to tell from the photos of a white cake on a white plate but the cheesecake had two lemony layers with different textures: one firm and tangy and the other softer like a traditional cheesecake.  Together with the crunchy crust it was delicious!  They don’t have this flavour every day; you’ll have to see what the daily dessert specials are when you go!

Our whole meal was delicious and we finished every bite.  The staff were all friendly and professional and the place is so inviting, you’ll find yourself relaxing into the great vibe they have going on.  They have plenty of seating and are welcoming of children.  Make reservations, especially if you are intending their Sunday Brunch which I hear is amazing and quite popular.  Vegan wine and beer are available.  The restaurant is all vegan and gluten-free and the say they are over 90% organic….what a great business to support!

I’ll look forward to my next visit at The Naked Sprout!

The Naked Sprout is located at 4040 Palladium Way Unit 11, Burlington, ON.

It’s perfect to make in large batches as per the recipe below and either feed a whole crowd or make and freeze some for later.  I almost always have a container of this lentil sweet potato soup in the freezer.  Whenever I know I’ll have a hectic schedule the next day, I’ll move the soup from the freezer to the fridge and by the next day it’s defrosted and ready to take a few minutes to warm on the stove for a quick and easy dinner.

This recipe is adapted from A Quiet Soup from Orangette blog who in turn adapted it from “In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite” by Melissa Clark.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup with Lemon and Cilantro

4 Tbsp olive oil
2 large yellow onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sea salt (or more to taste)
a few grinds of black pepper
pinch of cayenne or chipotle pepper, optional
6 cups vegetable broth (learn how to make your own here) or water
2 cups red lentils, washed and picked through for stones
1 large sweet potato, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (save a few sprigs for garnish)

In a large pot, warm the olive oil over medium-high.  Add the onions and garlic and cook a few minutes until soft and golden.  Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne/chipotle if using and cook another few minutes.

In a large pot, warm the oil over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until golden, about 4 minutes.  Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne/chipotle if using, and cook for 2 minutes longer.  Add the broth, the lentils, sweet potato and carrot and stir.  Lower to the heat to a low simmer and partially cover pot. Continue to cook until the vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste, and add more seasonings if desired.  If it looks too thick, add some more broth or water, stir and heat through.  I like Orangette’s idea to use an immersion blender to puree until about half is smooth, so it’s just a bit chunky.  Stir in the lemon juice and cilantro.   I garnish the soup with a sprig of cilantro, drizzle it with olive oil and serve with crusty bread.

Makes about 16 cups (8 large servings or 12 – 14 smaller servings).

This recipe has been shared with Wellness Weekends and Healthy Vegan Fridays blog linkups.

Here’s a rundown of the great food and fun our family enjoyed this weekend:

Brunch: Buckwheat Belgian waffles with Cinnamon Maple Cream Cheese Spread.  The recipe for the delicious topping is from Keepin’ it Kind and found here.

Lunch: I recently discovered Magnolia Café in downtown Guelph, which is all-vegetarian and mostly vegan and gluten-free.  From their website: “At Magnolia, our love for food and passion for community means that we are committed to mindful and sustainable food practices and specialize in sourcing local, seasonal, fresh and organic produce in all our delicious and healthy offerings.” 

One of the many things I enjoyed about Magnolia is that the kitchen is open concept (in fact, you have to walk right through it if you visit the rest rooms), so you can watch your food being prepared and see the high quality ingredients being used.  Here’s what we ordered:

Green Goddess Rice Bowl
From their menu: “Brown rice bowl topped with broccoli, kale, snap peas, bok choy, marinated tofu and garnished with shredded carrots, mung bean sprouts and sunflower seeds.  Choice of homemade lemon tahini or Thai peanut sauce.”

Magnolia Red Dragon Rice Bowl
From their menu: “Brown rice bowl topped with roasted red peppers, beets, carrots red onions, marinated tofu and garnished with fresh tomatoes, mung bean sprouts and sunflower seeds. Choice of homemade lemon tahini or Thai peanut sauce.”

South Indian Coconut, Vegetables and Chickpea Curry Bowl
From their menu: “Curried Vegetables and Chickpeas with Coconut Milk served on brown rice garnished with toasted coconut, mung bean sprouts and fresh cilantro.”

For dessert, we couldn’t resist these adorable chocolate lavender Easter ducky cupcakes!

We also tried their chocolate raspberry banana muffins and their raw “sun balls” (sunflower seeds, peanut butter, coconut, maple syrup and currants).   Out of their desserts, I like the sun balls best.

The food was all quite tasty and very healthy tasting (not loaded with oil and salt like many restaurants), with all of us agreeing that the Red Dragon Rice Bowl and the sun balls were the most delicious items we tried.

Magnolia café is located at 88 Yarmouth Street, Guelph, Ontario.

Saturday’s family dinner:  We tried the Gardein holiday roast for the first time, wanting to change it up from the usual Tofurky roasts we usually make for holidays.  The consensus was….. Gardein was good but not nearly as delicious as Tofurky brand.  For taste and texture, Tofurky wins hands down!
Sunday’s family dinner:  We had one of the most delicious meals ever for Easter dinner thanks to my mother’s Somi — a Middle Eastern dish — which are Swiss chard rolls filled with rice, chickpeas, tomatoes, herbs and spices and cooked until it has a buttery texture.  It’s quite time-consuming to make so it’s reserved for special occasions.  I have never seen Somi in a cookbook or on a restaurant menu, I’ve never even tried to make it myself, I’ve only ever enjoyed them when homemade by my mother or grandmother; consequently, Somi feels like our very own family secret.   It might look like a humble dish, but I have no words for how delicious it is.   We paired it with a kale and almond salad with lemon and oil dressing.   Spectacular!

Dessert:  We kept it simple and enjoyed fresh berries and mango.

Then…….the egg hunt!   There are many reasons to avoid buying the traditional chocolate bunnies and eggs.  Not only have cows suffered for the milk, but most chocolate is produced by child slavery.
If you’re going to go with chocolate, pretty pretty please make it vegan and fair trade!  A bonus if you find them organic too!  Which brands can you trust?  Not the big guys like Nestle and Cadbury, sadly.  See the list of fair trade chocolate makers here on Food is Power and check which brands do dairy-free.   Some good ones are Chocosol, Camino,  Edensoy, Nature’s Path, and Sweet & Sara.

When our oldest was a preschooler, we bought plastic eggs that can be filled with whatever treats you like, and we’ve used these every year since.  After the fun of the egg hunt is the thrill of opening them to see what goodies are inside, and every egg can be a little bit different.   You can fill them with fun treats like stickers, Panda licorice, teeny toys, costume jewellery, raisins, nuts, coins and chocolate chips (we like Camino vegan chips which are also fair trade certified).
It was such a delicious weekend, I am submitting this post to What I Ate Wednesdays, with thanks to Peas and Crayons for hosting!

For the February vegan food swap, I was partnered with Caroline Sarah from The Vegan Hammock and Rebecca from the just-begun Our Vegan Adventures.

It was a delight to find out that Rebecca lives close enough to me that we could meet in person for the swap.  Without having to ship the swap goodies, I was free to give Rebecca some of my favourite items that require refrigeration including homemade chocolate peanut butter cups (recipe here) and Sweets From the Earth carrot cake. To see all the treats, see her post here: http://ourveganadventures.com/2013/03/02/vegan-foodswap/

When we met, Rebecca was sweet enough to bring treats for me too!  Vegan gluten free chocolate brownies, cookie sandwiches and butter tarts from Bunner’s in Toronto.  What a nice surprise.  The desserts were all delicious but the brownies were really out of this world, just the perfect taste and texture.  Maybe it’s a good thing that Bunner’s isn’t closer or I’d never have the willpower to stay away from those brownies!  The best part was connecting with the lovely Rebecca –– I love meeting new vegan friends!

My other partner was unable to send my package until  March, hence the delay in posting about it, but it was a delicious package worth waiting for!  The first thing we tried was the Paella mix, something I’d seen in the stores and been meaning to try.  It made for a quick hearty meal on weeknight when I didn’t have much time to make dinner.   I added steamed sweet potatoes and stir-fried garlic and broccoli.   The Paella is made by Go Go Quinoa, a company my kids love for their chocolate quinoa cereal.

There were two jars of fruit jam which were delicious.  The flavours were apricot and strawberry-mango (adorable misspelled “staspberry-mango” by the French company Projam).

The other items I had tried before and enjoyed so they were happily received: chocolate hazelnut tea and chickpea curry spice mix.

Thank you very much Rebecca and Caroline Sarah for the delicious treats!

The result: the brownies were super easy to make and they have the perfect fudgy texture.  On their own the brownies aren’t very sweet (if you’re used to typical brownies), but the vanilla cream frosting is a perfect sweet topping without sugar. When the kids asked for seconds, I didn’t hesitate to give in!  I even had one for breakfast the next day!  I’ll certainly be making them again.

Carrie has kindly given me permission to publish her recipes for Spinach Black Bean Brownies and Vanilla Cream Frosting here.  Photos are courtesy of Vegan Delish.

Other recipes in the app that look great that I’ll try soon are Chocolate Buckwheat Brittle, Sweet Potato Cookies and The Ultimate Tofu Burger (that comes with a great tip for freezing and defrosting tofu to get the perfect burger texture).  I appreciate the organization of the app: you can search by category like Breakfast or Gluten-Free, keep track of your favourites, write recipe reviews and export an ingredient shopping list.  All recipes have colour photos (I’m really not a fan of cookbooks without photos, I need the photos!).  You can get the Vegan Delish app for your iPhone or iPad for the introductory price of $1.99; not bad for 75 recipes!  Find out more at Vegan Delish.com.

Carrie has kindy donated one free download of the Vegan Delish app to a lucky Earthgiven Kitchen reader.  To enter, leave a comment on this post by Thursday, March 21st — tell me what you’re most looking forward to this spring!  On March 22nd I’ll randomly select one winner from everyone who comments.  You’ll have to act fast if you’re the winner as the code must be downloaded by March 26th.  Good luck!

March 22nd Update: And the winner is….. April! Congratulations!  I will send your email to Carrie who will email you your download code.  Thanks for playing!

It sounded too good to be true, but after hearing rave reviews from two friends of mine who swear by them, I decided to try them myself to see if they lived up to the hype.  I was skeptical: It’s all fine and well if they are green and inexpensive but unless they do as good as job as my Seventh Generation laundry detergent, I don’t see the point in switching.  I’ve got messy kids, so I need laundry detergent that performs well.

The first load I did I washed a white sweater with an orange tumeric stain.  If you use tumeric, you know how badly it stains.  The stain came right out in the wash, not a trace left!  I’ve done more than a dozen loads with the soapnuts and while not getting out every stain, I would say it’s just as good in the stain-fighting department as any other detergent I’ve tried.  My friends who use them toss their babies’ cloth diapers and say that even they come clean!

Another concern I had was that the soapnuts have a bit of an odor, kind of like vinegar, but thankfully the smell does not transfer to the clothes.  The clothes come out clean and smelling of nothing but perfectly clean clothes!

I am completely impressed with soapnuts and urge you to give them a try!

Why I love soapnuts:

–100% natural product.
–Environmentally-friendly production: collecting the soapnuts doesn’t harm the tree
–Inexpensive: I bought a 1 kg bag for $40 that should do 400 loads.  10 cents a load!
–Saves time: Buy one bag, it lasts dozens and dozens of loads; no lugging heavy bottles or boxes home from the grocery store.
–no-waste packaging, nothing to throw away or recycle, they come in a reusable fabric bag.
–Indefinite shelf life
–cruelty-free and vegan (most commercial detergents are tested on animals)
–free of synthetic chemicals and toxins that go from the clothes into our bloodstreams, not to mention the toxins from commercial detergents that go down the drain
–clothes come out soft, no residue
–clothes come out smelling clean, no lingering smell and no artificial perfumes
–hypo-allergenic: gentle on sensitive skins; perfect for children
–effective stain remover
–compost them and they make great fertilizer
–they are reportedly all-purpose cleaners: house cleaner, shampoo and body wash, though I haven’t tried them for other cleaning purposes yet
–use them in hot or cold water, though they will last half as long in hot water
–great gift for new parents!

Instructions: toss about four half nuts into the little cloth bag provided and toss the washing machine.  You can use hot or cold water in the wash.  After 5-7 loads, or when you notice the nuts getting mushy, compost them.

Learn more: http://www.soapnuts.webs.com/

If you live in Waterloo Region, you can buy them via this link here.

Have you tried soapnuts yet?