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!