Pizza anyone?

Tonight I decided on pizza. So simple yet so satisfying. I had yet to try the pizza recipe in Dreena Burton's Eat Drink Be Vegan so the final answer was easy. Making pizza from scratch can be time consuming, Dreena calls for a pre-made pizza crust for her pizza focusing more on the topping & sauce.

I wanted to make it entirely from scratch so first order of business, get that pizza dough going. If you do not have a bread machine, I very highly recommend one. Making dough by hand is a great skill to have but a bread machine helps when time is tight but you don't want to compromise with someone/something else's bread. Lex picked one up for me from a resale/reuse place in town called Recycle North for $10. It's in perfect condition and makes perfect bread every time. This little baby is actually rather large as it will hold up to a 2lb loaf but they do come in smaller sizes. For things like dinner rolls and tonight's pizza dough there is a dough setting which will mix, knead, & rise your dough so you'll just need to take the dough and form it to your needs. So I popped my pizza dough ingredients into the pan of the machine (I used the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance) and 1.5 hrs later the dough was ready. While the machine did it's magic I could prep the sauce and other toppings and run through a few dishes.

The sauce for this pizza is super yum. A slightly spicy peanut sauce, very simple to throw together. Spread your dough on the pan, top, place in preheated oven and we get:

Magnolia Bistro

We of the How to Feed a Vegan household no longer endorse this eatery. Please reference this post for details of our latest experiences which have caused us to never go here again and advise the same to anyone who truly cares what they are eating. I can't bring myself to delete the post. Think of it as a homage to what could have been. I was so happy for this place when I wrote this. That makes it all the more sad I suppose.

Our new favorite breakfast place, Magnolia Bistro, located at 1 Lawson Lane in Burlington. Now anyone vaguely familiar with Burlington is asking, "Where is Lawson Lane?" It's more of an alley really, between American Flatbread and Pacific Rim on St Paul St downtown. American Flatbread is delish as well but that we shall save for another day.

Magnolia Bistro is the second openly vegan friendly cafe to open in Burlington. Items on the menu that are already vegan are labeled as such but many items can easily be modified to vegandom. Observe:

California Omelet with the eggs subbed out for tofu. Vegan sausage, avocado, tomatoes, yum!



A custom scramble with black beans & toms.
See those beautiful home fries? yeah, vegan.
That wheat toast? yup, they have Earth Balance.

Sesame Tofu Scram, for the love of garlic! Sesame oil and seeds add to the yumminess. This one is a little light on the seeds, it's always a little different every time but always good.

Huevos con Diablo, sans the huevos add tofu. This is a great comfort food breakfast. Polenta topped with scrambled tofu then layer on black beans and salsa. Be sure to ask for it vegan to keep the sour cream at bay, they are great about this.

Most items are veganizable and they understand the word "vegan" in the kitchen. It's pretty great really, especially in a town where there has yet to materialize a completely vegetarian restaurant.

They serve breakfast and lunch and have free wi-fi should you need to do a little browsing. The atmosphere lends itself to hanging out and relaxing with various featured artists hanging on the brick walls. Sunday can be a little crazy but just drag yourself out of bed before everyone who drank too much the night before and you should get a plate of delicious food in good time.

Oh and did I mention they serve a good strong cup of organic fair trade Mexican coffee?

So I've been cooking up a storm, trying new local products and collecting photos. Let's get started with my brunch today on this lovely overcast Vermont afternoon.


Banana Buckwheat Pancakes (soy free)
These pancakes are very flour and milk versatile. You can use all purpose flour, whole wheat, buckwheat, spelt or a mixture as I have done below. Also feel free to use your favorite milk, this will work fine with rice, soy, hemp, almond, oat, the possibilities are endless.

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups plain rice milk
2 tsp lemon juice
2 Tb flax meal (or 2 tsp egg replacer, or just mash up 1/2 banana)
2 Tb walnut oil
1 Tb maple syrup
2 bananas, sliced

Combine flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder in small bowl, set aside.
Whisk flax meal (or egg replacer) with 1/4 c rice milk until well combined. Add remaining rice milk, lemon juice, oil, maple syrup and mix to combine. Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Fold in the bananas.
Lightly oil and heat griddle or skillet over medium heat. Use an ice cream scoop or 1/4 measure cup to measure out batter for even cakes. Once griddle is hot add 1 scoop batter and cook 2-3 minutes until edges firm up and bubbles appear on the top. Flip and cook 1 minute more.
Serve your favorite pancake way: maple syrup, nuts, more fruits, earth balance.