Connecticut Shooting

This time of year is supposed to be such a happy time, especially for the little ones! I was shocked and deeply saddened to heart about another school shooting today. It's horrific to think that ~20 innocent kindergartners died today - I cannot imagine what those families are going through at this time. 

Shame on that 24 year old for killing those kids. What could have possibly been so bad in his life that he had to kill CHILDREN! PLus his own mother and brother? There are no excuses.

Maybe AMERICA should think about having more strict gun laws. The part that I don't understand is how someone can get ahold of a handgun. It blows my mind to think that regular people are allowed to own them. It's SICK.

Give your head a shake America.... 

Here's an article to read from the Globe & Mail and another from The Economist 

Vegan Eggs Benny

I go through phases where I get too grossed out by eggs to be able to eat them - in any form! Below is a recipe that is delicious and pretty much tastes like eggs. Seriously, the embryo attached to the yolk....gnarly!!

Like I mentioned, this recipe is v-v-vegan and could easily be made GF as well. I was going for gf and on a whim I added in some random "bacon" that I had in the freezer.

I want to stress that I am using the word recipe lightly. I didn't really measure anything, especially in making the v-eggs. I like to make food based on what's in the fridge; once my mind is set on something, I really don't want to go to the store to buy the missing ingredient. Such a pain sur ma derriere! 

Veg*n Benedict Adapted from this delicious recipe

Ingredients:

V-Eggs
1/2 block Firm tofu
1/2 Lentils - can omit and use more tofu. I had leftovers.
Few squirts Braggs liquid aminos
Salt, pepper
Dried chives
Cayenne, to taste
Tumeric - to make them yellow
Nutritional yeast (my addiction)
***My fridge was nearly bare that's why there a serious lack of veggies inserted her. This would have been outstanding with kale/spinach/peppers.....

Hollandaise 
1/2 c cashews
1/2 c water
2 T nutritional yeast
dijon mustard
lemon juice - about 1 lemon's worth
cayenne
basil
1/2 t liquid smoke
1 or 2 white mushrooms

Mash tofu and lentils together with a fork. Add in the rest of the V-egg ingredients. Mix. Add some oil ( I used coconut but EVOO would work too) to a pan on med heat. Cook to desired doneness.. maybe about 10 minutes. 

While v-eggs are cooking, chuck everything into your blender (I used my handy vitamix). Blend smooth. Keep your fingers out of it til the v-eggs are ready. 

I made some g-free toast and loaded it up with the v-eggs and put some hollandaise on top. Dee-lish! So great as leftovers too. 

My other half, Mr. nut allergy, was super disappointed that he couldn't try this. Next time I'm going to use pumpkin seeds instead of cashews! yummy yum yummm. 

$ick Day

Boo for being sick. I woke up feeling super dizzy and was puking within a few minutes. Needless to say I had to call in sick last minute which I HATE doing! Aside from losing money, we are usually short staffed as it is so I feel guilty calling in sick.

I just had two midterms this week, so I'm sure my sickness was self inflicted due to stress, poor eating (candy & coffee to keep me going), and not enough sleep.

MMMmmmm Luna Bars and Diet Mountain Dew (from the states, so it DOES contain caffeine!)

Like I said, probably not the healthiest choices, but it could be worse...... rotting flesh, anyone? (I've linked an article that I found interesting). 

So, after hugging the porcelain throne for a while, I crawled my way to the couch where I parked for the entire day. I so wish I could have days like that more often (minus the whole toilet thing). My sweet gramma (who overheard me earlier in the morning) went to the store and bought me some ginger ale! After I downed that, I decided it was time to risk some food.... There were some leftover lentils (Superstore brand from a tin, so good) and a fried egg that I was going to bring to work. My foggy brain thought, why not combine them? Brilliant! Egg, lentils, salt-free spice mix, sriracha. BOOM!

Dan, being the great guy that he is, bought me some flowers and tea on his way home from work.... whatta guy! Sure knows how to cheer a sick girl up!

Easiest pancakes you'll ever make

Life is so busy right now, I hardly have time to post recipes. I wish had more time to cook and bake; it's so therapeutic! But between physics, biology and working 30 hours a week my plate it pretty full (no pun intended).

So, I've been all over super quick recipes lately. The kicker is that I've given up gluten (temporarily... maybe?). I read the book Wheat Belly.... and when I say I read the book, I mean I got an audio book from the library because I do a redic amount of commuting this semester.  Anyways, it's such a great book! It really opened my eyes to all of the harmful affects of wheat.. even for people that aren't Celiac/don't have an intolerance. So I've been doing my best to avoid wheat. Yesterday was the exception - Thanksgiving dinner at my beau's parents and I wasn't going to say no to the vegan butter tarts Dan's mom made especially for me!

As far as the book goes, it goes into great detail on how wheat works (or doesn't work) in our bodies. It suggests cutting wheat out cold turkey if you can and not opting for the easy solution - gluten free alternatives. Dr. Davis suggests replacing wheat with veggies and some fruits. In the last chapter, he talks about all of the foods to cut out aside from wheat because of their affects on blood sugar. Just to name a few: quinoa, rice, black beans, chickpeas, corn starch, tapioca flour, popcorn, chips, ice cream, and sweet & white potatoes.

As someone who eats approx. 85% vegan, 15% vegetarian I don't think I could cut out every food that increases blood sugar (carb-o-holic)! Maybe I'm just being a baby, but I don't know what I would eat - and my poor omnivore boyfriend would NEVER be able to make me a meal! So.. my plan is to eliminate gluten for a while (to see how if I can notice a difference in how my body feels) and decrease the foods that increase my blood sugar.... goodbye popcorn.... I thought you were going to be my favorite GF snack :(

Now on to easy peasy pancakes.....

There are tons of variations that you could make with these pancakes. I adapted mine from this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 "flax eggs" (2 T flax, 6 T water to make 2 eggs)

1 real egg - Organic, cage free

1 med/lrg banana

2 T PB2 (peanut flour)

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

I chucked everything into my vitamix for 45 seconds so that I wouldn't get chunky bananas. Heat up a non stick pan. Oil pan - coconut oil is my fav. (don't you just love the smell of that stuff... makes me think i'm somehwere hot... not really but i wish i was somewhere hot). 

Poor batter into pan, wait to flip until the top bubbles.

MANGEZ, MANGEZ! And don't share with anyone...

Voila!

My First Hash

I'm not sure where the idea of a hash started, but I want to thank the person who started it. I didn't really have very high expectations for this dish but Dan and I both went back for seconds. It was even delicious cold on my drive between work and school....that says a lot if you ask me!

Tofu & Veg Hash
Ingredients:

~8 red potatoes, cubed
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used red)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t chili
dash cayenne
1/2 t salt free spice mix

1/2 block firm tofu, mashed
3-4 leaves of kale, chopped
1/2 c gluten free tamari
1 t apple cider vinegar
1 t dijon mustard
1 t liquid smoke (you could leave this out but it adds a redic amount of flavor)
1 T black strap molasses
Squirt of sriracha (optional)

Directions:
Get your potatoes ready (I didn't feel like peeling mine) and start sauteing them over med heat in the olive oil. Once you've got them frying drain & mash your tofu. Add the kale thru sriracha to the tofu and let it "marinate." After the potatoes have sauteed for about 15 minutes add in your onion, bell pep, garlic & spices. Let this saute for about 5 minutes (really depends on how cooked you like your veggies, Dan I like a lil crunch). Add in your tofu mixture and heat everything through. Make sure your taters are cooked through! Nothing worse than crunchy taters..... unless they are deep fried... then crunchier the betta!

I've gotten in trouble (not really) with Dan for adding in too much heat to my dishes, so 99% of the time I add in some Franks extra hot or more sriracha! I swear I have the taste buds of a smoker, though I've never smoked a nasty cig in my life! 

Overnight Oats x 3

Overnight oats are perfect for mornings when I'm rushed. Which, to be honest, is pretty much every morning. I can give myself more than enough time to get ready and I still scramble the last ten minutes before I have to leave. On my leisurely days I make green smoothies - usually consisting of kale, orange, pear, raspberries and grapes. I definitely don't have that much time on an average morning, unfortunately. I usually have time in the evening to whip up some OO's. It seriously takes like 3 minutes.

I have read about people making OO's in empty (or nearly empty) jars. Nutella, peanut butter, it all works. So I have a few recipes here: one I made in a jam jar (grammas homemade raspberry jam), one in an empty nutella container that I swiped from Dan's parents house and one in a PB jar.

As an aside, is nutella not the most addicting "food" ever? I cannot buy it because I will sit up til 3am eating spoonfuls from the jar. Lately I've been staying at Dans parents because they live really close to where I go to school (saves me at least an hour of commuting). Aaannnd there is always a Costco size jar or two of nutella kicking around. My favorite is eggo waffles with nutella and peanut butter. Super healthy right? Not! And so not filling! I'm hungry within 45 minutes.

Anyways, back to delicious overnight oats.

PB Jar OO's 

Almost empty pb jar (or anyyyy nut/seed butter)

1/3 C oats (should use rolled oats but I always forget to buy them so I usually use quick oats)

1 C non dairy milk

1/2 t cinnamon

1 T ground flax seeds

1 t PB2 (or any kind of yummy nut butter)

Handful of raisins

Stevia to taste

Combine all ingredients in jar. Refrigerate for ~8 hrs. 

Jam Jar OO's (aka PB&J overnight oats)

Almost empty jam jar (I used rasp but anyyy kind will do)
1/3 C oats (rolled oats)
1 C non dairy milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T ground flax seeds
1 t PB2 (or any kind of yummy nut butter)
Handful of raisins
Stevia to taste

Put all ingredients into jar & refrigerate. Try to wait til morning to eat.

I usually take the oats out of the fridge as soon as I get outta bed so they can come to room temp before I leave for work.  In the summer I don't mind eating the oats cold but in the long rainy winters here I like to heat them up for at least 30 seconds.


Nutella Jar OO's
(serves 3)

Almost empty nutella jar

1.25 C oats (rolled oats)

1 C non dairy milk

1 C coffee (if you have hazelnut coffee that would be deeeelish)

2 T ground flax seeds

1 T PB2 (or any kind of yummy nut butter)

Stevia to taste

Put all ingredients in jar. Put in fridge for about 8 hours. 

I don't like to heat plastic in the microwave so I let the oats sit on the counter for at least 45 min before eating. This recipe should serve three. The total recipe has approx. 732 cals, that's 244/serving. There are also 9.8g of protein in each serving.

Lazy Food

Plant and animal biology is so boring, I have to do it in spurts. Basically if I study hard for 10 minutes then I get a break :)

We've been staying at Dan's parents place while they're away because it's so close to my university and close to where Dan is working right now. So, I don't have all the usual stuff that I would cook with (nutritional yeast, flax, seeds, nuts, beans, etc.) and I resorted to buying vegan faux meat. I can't really complain about that because I love it, but I do try to limit it in my diet. 

On one of my many study breaks I made a delicious Cucumber Salad. I honestly thought I wasn't going to like it because I thought it was going to be soggy. To my pleasant surprise it was really tasty! I even took some to work with my the next day and it wasn't soggy!

Cucumber Salad

1 english cucumber - cut into ~1/2 cm thick circles

1/2 T apple cider vinegar

1/2 t lemon juice

1.5 t dijon

1 t extra virgin olive oil

1/4 t dried dill (more if you're using fresh)

Pinch of sugar

S&P to taste

Cut up cucumber. Put all ingredient (except cucumber) into a mason jar & shake to mix. Put everything into a bowl and let sit for about half an hour (I put mine in the fridge). Devour. 

While the cucumber salad was marinating, I cooked up some quinoa, fried up some tofurky beer brats and steamed some broccoli. I combined them all together with a little bit of soy sauce and some sriracha and called it dinner. So quick & easy yet so delicious. I could probably eat this meal every single day. Tofurky sausages are so yummy, even my omnivore boyfriend likes them! I'm in love with the Italian kind, but Superstore was all out so I got the beer brats instead and they were equally delicious. They'd be perfect in place of hotdogs. I read this article about what's really in hot dogs - GROSS!

Cooking as Procrastination

It's coming down to crunch time at school, I have a big Biology lab evaluation this week and my lab final. I'm doing my best not to procrastinate but it's in my blood. During exam time and when I have monster papers to write, I can find a million things to do - cooking, cleaning my house, writing emails, Pinterest, etc. Dan and I booked a trip to Vegas for September long weekend so obviously researching things to do while we're there is more important than making my Biology memory cards, right?

So instead of studying today I decided to make a delicious sauce for dinner instead of grabbing some homemade soup from the freezer.

Creamy Cashew Sauce (vegan)

Adapted from this recipe

1/3 C cashews (mine soaked for 6 hours)
1/4 C + 1 T water
2 t dijon
1 t apple cider vinegar
1/2 t sriracha (optional - I really like spicy food)
1.5 t lemon juice
1 t soy sauce
2 T nutritional yeast
1 t garlic powder (I would have used 2-3 cloves but I was all out)
1/4 t onion powder
S & P to taste

Rinse and soak cashews for an hour or so (the longer, the better). Throw all ingredients into Vitamix/blender/magic bullet. Blend until you get a creamy sauce! Put on anything and everything. I like mine on rice with broccoli or peas! MMmmMMmmm! 

This was so yummy but my poor boyfriend can't eat nuts so I'll try it with pumpkin seeds next time!

Send me your links for you favorite vegan creamy sauces, I love trying new recipes!

Gong Show Weekend

My boyfriend and I went camping in Point Roberts, WA (apparently Canada traded the states Point Roberts for Victoria!) on the weekend. Dan, my boyfriend, has a buddy who's parents have a cabin there. We took advantage of the cheap American booze and bought some wine, beer, vodka and tequila (sounds like the start of a fun night, eh?). After dinner we got right to it. Dan's favorite game to play is Kings Cup and our new favorite rule for a card is Jack's Hat. 

Dan wearing Jack's Hat (totally sober :P)

Me wearing Jack's Hat!

After the game, we took a wander to the ocean. On the way, we were invited to crash a wedding reception but we politely declined. Shortly after, the party died down and everyone (except Dan and I) went to bed. At this point we thought it was a good idea to bust out the tequila shots!  Let's just say we were up wayyyy to late and slept in our tent until 1pm the next afternoon! 

Obviously, both of us were dying of a hangover. We managed to make our way back home and it took every fibre in my body to be able to make oatmeal for us as an attempt at a hangover cure!

Homemade Coconut Milk


1 C dried, unsweetened coconut
2 C water
1 t vanilla
1 t stevia (Sugar in the Raw - I use the cup for cup stuff)


Soak coconut in water for two hours. Add all ingredient to Vitamix (or blender). You may need to use a wire strainer to strain out the chunks. 


To my oats I added coconut milk (that I had made before going away), dried coconut, raspberries, blueberries and a scoop of Gramma's homemade raspberry jam. Such a delicious combo but I'll be honest, it was NOT a hangover cure! We went to bed at 7pm. 




What's your best hangover cure?

Where do you get your protein from?

If I had a nickel for every time I was asked "So, like, if you don't eat meat, how do you get protein?" Arg, such a silly question! Depending on my mood, I may give a "nice" response, or I many not ;) Most of the time, I try to give the nice answer... "Nuts, seeds, beans, tofu (yes it can be made to taste delicious), soy milk, etc." And then there are days where I'm feeling sassy and I give the response: "The same place where that cow that you're eating got it's protein!" 

The reason I don't give the sassy answer all the time is because I too have asked the question "where do you get your protein from?" I only just stopped eating meat in the last 4 years and I was an ignorant carnivore in my younger years (totally not proud of that). The first time I met a vegan (a past coworker) I was shocked to hear that people actually ate like that! I always considered myself health conscious, but veganism had never made it onto my radar until then. I wish I had kept in contact with that coworker so I could tell her that I actually believe that animals should be equal to humans and that we should help protect them (because we have the intelligence to do so) and not eat them! She would be ecstatic! 


Anyways, enough with my life story! Here's a recipe for the yummy protein-filled quinoa salad that I made.

Quinoa Salad (vegetarian)


1 C quinoa - rinsed and cooked in 2 C water (didn't have veggie broth on hand)
1/2 C red kidney beans (chickpeas would be yummy too)
1 small yellow pepper - chopped
1 small head of broccoli - cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 C sundried tomatoes packed in oil
1/2 C marinated artichoke hearts - drained and chopped
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 eggs - scrambled
1 T soy sauce
Sriracha to taste
Pepper to tasted


Prepare the quinoa according the package directions. I wish I had veggie broth on hand when I was making this. While quinoa is cooking, chop up all your veggies and rinse your beans really well if they are from a can. When quinoa is cooked, put it in the fridge to let it cool. When quinoa is cool, add veggies, nutritional yeast and pepper. You can eat the salad as is - delish! I took about half of the salad to make a "fried quinoa." I cooked two eggs in a non-stick pan, then I added in the quinoa salad, soy sauce and sriracha. Yummy and full of protein!


How often does someone ask you where you get your protein? What is your favorite way to get protein?

My First Post: Vegan Veggie Pizza

Pizza is something I haven't made very often since I've become a veggie. I've had some bad vegan cheese experiences (I can't handle slimy foods) so I've just kind of avoided making it. But, since my faaja, bro and sis were in town, my gramma offered to make some homemade pizza crusts for us. They slathered theirs in meat and cheese (double yuk) and I put a boat load of veggies on mine and topped it with a raw hummus.

Sorry for the bad pic - I was famished after a long

day at work!

Vegan Pizza

You can add whatever you want but here's what I put on my pizza....

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Red, yellow, green peppers

Snap peas

Spinach

Banana Peppers

1/3 C tomato sauce

2 t oregano

My gramma baked the crusts while I was at work so when I got home I added all my veggies and stuck it in the oven @ 350 for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I made my raw hummus. 

My amazing boyfriend surprised me with a Vitamix yesterday. Let's just say I was pretty close to calling in sick today so I could play with it all day. Anyway, this hummus was the first thing I decided to make in it!

This recipe is from Going Raw by Judita Wignall. My mom and I went to a raw vegan food class at her church and we had a chance to taste this delicious hummus. I'm not a zucchini fan but I totally fell in love with this hummus. 

Raw Zucchini Hummus (my substations are in bold)

2 C peeled & chopped zucchini

1/2 C lemon juice

4 T olive oil

6 cloves garlic (4 huge cloves)

2 t sea salt

1 t paprika 

1 t cumin (not a big fan so I only added 1/2 t)

1/4 t chipotle powder (added 1 t cayenne)

1 C tahini 

2 t minced parsley (1/2 t dried)

Paprika and pine nuts for garnish (my other half has a severe nut allergy - so I skipped this)

Directions:

Put zucchini, lemon juice, evoo, garlic, salt, paprika, cumin, cayenne & parsley in vitamix (a food processor would suffice). Process until smooth. Add tahini and blend until well incorporated. 

After my pizza was out of the oven I plopped a bunch of the hummus and top. Bon appetit!