This Saturday was super exciting because we got to meet our friends’ new BABY for the first time!

These lovely friends came over to our house for brunch, but it was brunch with a challenge since the little one is allergic to the D-protein, meaning her Mom can’t have milk, soy, whey or caresin.

So, I set about finding some awesome things to make. I love a food challenge!

Let’s start out with my ringing endorsement for The Post Punk Kitchen. If you’re vegan and you don’t know about this Web site then I’m so happy to introduce you! Meet your new best friend! Co-founder Isa Moskowitz is also behind the books Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Get acquainted. Do it now.

For our brunch adventure, I took a lot of recipes from Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch. Basically, this lady, her web site, her blog, her books rock my once-in-a-blue-moon-vegan world!

[photo source]

Meat is actually fine for our friend, so long as it doesn’t contain soy or any soy derivatives (you’d be shocked at how much meat does!). Luckily, we shop at our local food co-op and their meat is pretty legit but I still double checked that our Maple Breakfast Sausage was meat and meat alone.

Dan rustled up some awesome Peruvian Home Fries which I failed on photographing – you know how it is; brunch is not always the time to be busting out the camera. Especially when there’s a cute baby bouncing on your lap. But the recipe is from Vegan Brunch and goes a little something like this: delicious par-boiled potatoes, mad seasoning, light browning, awesome results.

Next to our savouries, we also made Breakfast Couscous, courtesy of who else but Mark Bittman. This recipe is as easy as it gets. In fact, if you’re looking for a week’s worth of pre-made healthy breakfasts, I would make a batch of this on a Sunday night and enjoy it every morning!

Breakfast Couscous
adapted from How to Cook Everything

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-wheat couscous
• Salt
• 1 cup fresh fruit (sliced bananas, berries, diced apples, peaches)
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts
• 1/4 cup dried fruit like raisins, dates, or coconut
• Drizzle of honey or maple syrup

Directions

1. Put the couscous in a medium pot with a tight-fitting lid and add 1½ cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil, then cover and remove from the heat.
2. Let steep for at least 10 minutes, or up to 20.
3. Add the fruit, nuts, and honey or maple syrup. Fluff with a fork. Serves four.

You could easily make this a savoury breakfast couscous by using sliced raw red onion, diced bacon, scrambled egg and chopped tomato, plus a little seasoning. Yum.

And finally, of course I couldn’t resist veganizing my favourite banana bread recipe. I lie, I didn’t veganize it myself. I let Ms. Moskowitz do that for me. It was the bomb and totally unidentifiable as vegan. Score.

Banana Bread
adapted from The Post Punk Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine, at room temp
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

delicious banana mush

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8×4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
3. 
   Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk and vanilla.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.

I’m really intrigued by vegan cooking and cooking with alterations – it’s amazing to me what awesome things you can come up with, without negotiating flavour and without having to use weird ingredients.

What are some of your favourite vegan or other alternative-diet dishes?