New Beginings

Well SORRY to all my followers (if I still have any), I have been MIA for so long now, but I am officially back at it :) This has been an insane past year for me with becoming vegan, getting engaged, moving province and starting a new job....but here I am, and I am so excited to share so many yummy recipes with you all. I am going to be adding a lot more fitness tips since my new profession is as a Personal Trainer! So this week I will have my first official blog post of 2011...lets get ready for an amazing year!

xo this is a pic of me and my fiance in Punta Cana in December <3

Simplicity as it's Finest!

Mmmm summer = salads! A girl at my work made this yummy salad so I had to share it with you and I have made it pretty much everyday now.

I cut one medium sized tomato, 1/4 avocado, 3 medium sized fresh basil leaves cut into small pieces and the juice of about 1/2 one medium lemon seasoned with salt and pepper...and that's it!! YUMMY enjoy :)

Summer Time= BBQ Time!!

So obviously things that make you think of summer is the sunshine, smell of fresh cut grass and BBQ's!!!! This is my First BBQ season eating cruelty free so I am taking it on full force! Yesterday my man friend and I fired up the barbe and had a scrumptious meal. First we made some home made humus (recipe to come...I didn't write it down oops!!) and then followed that with a childhood fave of mine (turned vegan) that we always had in the summer, a Curry Pasta Salad with Green Grapes and Toasted Pine nuts, yum. And to finish it all off we had a yumo veggie burger (Amy's brand...too lazy to make my own!) on a thin whole wheat bun with tomato, avocado and grilled portabello....Delish!! I only have a picture of the Pasta Salad, so here it is with the recipe. This would be an awesome hit to bring or have at your own summer party AND it is cruelty free :) Enjoy...

Curry Pasta Salad with Green Grapes and Toasted Pine Nuts

**I would just like to add that this is the EASIEST recipe ever**

So just boil up an appropriate amount of pasta, depending on how many peeps are having it, I use brown rice pasta. Then once cooked rinse the pasta with some cold water to make sure with the heat the pasta doesn't continue to cook and become soggy. Drain and drizzle with some oil (olive or safflower) to help keep the pasta from sticking together.

Once the pasta has cooled add some 'veganise' or any other vegan mayonnaise, start with a little and add more if necessary...you want it to coat the past not be saucy. The add some curry powder, again start with 1 tablespoon and add more if you need, tasting to make sure you don't over do it.

In a small dry pan on a low-med heat toast some pine nuts of slivered almonds tossing for a few min...make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn, just lightly browns.

Quarter as many seedless grapes as you like, then add quartered grapes and toasted nuts to the pasta. Season with salt and pepper (Again, start with a little and add more if necessary). Stir together and keep in the fridge until serving time. Feel free to saute up some mushrooms or roast some veggies and add to the pasta salad.

Here is a sneak peak at what I am making right now...post to come!!

Chickpea, tomato and sweet potato soup with Crunchy corn

Yummy yummy in my tummy!

Well since my last blog was about desserts, and so is this one I think I can officially say I am on a sweat kick and I LOVE it!! So I have a few other blogs I had planned to write first, but I just made these delish little guys and they are too good to wait to write about! So they are from Alicia Silverstone’s book 'The Kind Diet', which if you still don't own, get on it, so many great recipes mmm. They are conveniently called 'My Favourite Cupcakes', and soon they will be yours too! Here goes....

Cupcakes

2/3 cup hemp or soy milk (I used soy)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2/3 cup agave nectar (instead of using sugar...this stuff is to die for, almost caramel in taste, YUM)

1/3 cup safflower oil (this is super light in taste, that’s why you don't use olive oil, too strong)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)

1/3 cup pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of fine sea salt

Fudge Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance butter

1/2 cup agave nectar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup soy milk powder (like powder milk, but soy...duh)

**Note: All of these things I simply found at the Bulk Barn...Love it there. Also I used the full 1/2 cup of Soy milk powder, and next time I would probably use only 1/3 cup. I found the 1/2 cup made it a bit too heavy and powdery tasting.

**Me a proud momma of these cupcakes, pre frosting**

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Combine the milk and vinegar in a medium bowl, and set aside for about 5 min. until the mixture begins to bubble. If it does not bubble, stir the mixture until it does. Add the agave nectar, oil and vanilla and stir.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until no lumps remain.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, and bake for 18-22 minutes (I only did 18 and they were perfect, so keep an eye on them) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are slightly springy when pressed. Allow the cupcakes to cool.

To make the fudge frosting, use a mixer to cream the butter and agave nectar until very smooth. Add the vanilla extract and half of the cocoa powder mix on a low speed until combined, then add the remaining cocoa powder. Add in the soy milk powder, and mix at med-high until fluffy.

Enjoy!!

Mmmm best dessert EVER!!!

When I was at the Wooden Monkey I had a chocolate Ganashe torte...and I decided to create my own! So here it is, SO GOOD and totally vegan. Super easy and fast too...yum yum!!

Here it is...believe it!!

For the Crust:

1/2 cup of melted Earth Balance butter

1/4 cup Almonds

3/4 cup Oats

1/4 cup Cashews

1/2 cup Walnuts

1/4 cup Brown rice syrup

Dash of both salt and cinnamon *optional

Pre-heat oven to 400 F. In a food processor blitz together all dry ingredients so they are finer, but some nut chunks are ok. Then in a bowl mix together with a spoon the blitzed up mixture with the melted 'butter' and syrup. Press mixture into an ungreased spring pan (the kind you make a cheesecake in) just along the bottom. Cook for 4-8 minutes until edges turn golden. Remove and let cool.

Ganache Filling (yum)

Two 283g pkgs of non-dairy chips. I used "Enjoy Life" semi-sweet chocolate chips, you can get these in any health food store or health food isle.

One 340g pkg soft Silken tofu

1 tsp pure vanilla extract.

Get a large pot and fill 1/4-1/2 with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling lower to medium heat and wait until slightly simmering. Then place a large metal bowl over the heat (you can rest it right on the pot). This helps to not burn the chocolate. So place both pkgs of chocolate in the bowl and begin stirring until almost melted. In a food processor blitz the pkg of tofu until smooth. Add this to the melted chocolate and continue to stir until completely smooth. Then pour mixture into the crust, let cool at room temp. for about 5 min, then store in the fridge until set (1+ hours).

**When serving, before releasing the spring on the pan, get a hot knife and run along the pan where the torte mixture meets it to separate it. Then cut and ENJOY!! YUMMM

Okkkkk

Worst blogger ever!! I know I am sorry it has been a while, but I do have lots of new and exciting things to write and tell you about :) First things first, I have a DELISH Chocolate Ganache vegan pie in the fridge as we speak...pictures, reviews and recipe to come!!

So yesterday was my 25th birthday...dun dun dun, still not to sure how I feel about this, we'll see. So I spent the day with my lovely man friend. We went to this diamond expo which was pretty cool, and went for dinner to a great vegan friendly restaurant called 'The Wooden Monkey' in DT Halifax. I had this yummy lental patty with baked organic fries and stole my boyfriends super yummy blueberry martini and stuck him with my 'interesting' lime and absinthe martini. Anyways SO delish!! Great way to celebrate the start to my 25th year.

Justin & I

My Dinner

I put the heart there because I had a toothpaste stain on my shirt!! grr

A few weeks ago I experimented with Tempeh. 'Tempeh is a fermented food made by the controlled fermentation of cooked soybeans with a Rhizopus mold (tempeh starter). Tempeh has a firm texture and a nutty mushroom flavour.' I got a curry flavoured one, it was so good. You can find it in any health food isle in a grocery store or at a health food shop. I crumbled it up in pasta and some stir fry veggies.

The Tempeh I used

My Tempeh Creation

Versatile Meals

I LOVE food that you can have as leftovers and make different things rather than the same meal over and over! My manfriend and I made a vegan chilli the other day...A LOT of it! So that night we had chilli, then next day I had chilli with veggie sticks to dip in it and for the past couple days I have had an Ezekiel wrap with a handful of spinach and chilli all wrapped up. Messy but delish!! It is so filling and just feels like good eating. What will I have next....?? You can make your own home made chilli, or buy some from the health food isle in your supermarket (Amy's Organic makes great chilli and soups!), just read the ingredients and check the sugar and salt amouts. The benifit of making your own is you control what goes in it. Yes it takes a little time, but provides lots of leftovers :)