Lots of Eats

I have an extra long "Friday Foodie" post today since I didn't do one last week.  In June, I'm taking Oh She Glows up on her challenge to have a salad every day! Great way to get raw veggies, to not have to necessarily use the oven on hot nights, to find new salad recipes etc.

A favourite meal of mine. Did I already post this? Hmm. Well, it's my rip off of Chipotle. I add cilantro and lime to brown rice then top with beans, veggies (here I did raw tomato/onion and sauteed bell peppers) topped with guacamole. Husband and I looove this.

Simple pancakes (my go to recipe) topped with vanilla almond yogurt and strawberry (just strawberries run through the food processor). 

juice! 

"junk food" night. I had some pizza dough in the freezer so I used that. I topped it with marinara, eggplant bacon and other veggies. It was so good! I really like this pizza dough recipe, might be my new "go to" one. It's from Chloe's Kitchen.

husband and I's meals at Hill St Cafe. I had the vegan chili and we shared some of the salad.

more homemade banana strawberry soft serve

ate some more of that naan fail topped with avocado and pepper + fresh juice post workout

pesto pasta with roasted veggies. another favourite of mine.

got a good deal on these vegan meatballs (Gardein) so I gave them a try. they were a bit mushy but the flavour was good.

tofu scramble wrap

homemade hamburger buns! the taste was a bit off and they were pretty dense so I'll have to try it again. breads are so finicky...  

grocery trip last week

homemade soy chai latte using organic loose leaf chai mix 

simple burrito on a homemade tortilla shell

this broccoli salad (I added some fake bacon) I made for my husband's work potluck

new favourite tortilla recipe! I've made it twice already. it's super easy, cheap and they turn out perfectly.

making this raw tart. I found it a bit too sweet, honestly. I think I'll stick to the date/almond crust but I did really like the coconut cream! And of course the chocolate on top (not pictured because I forgot to get a finished product picture haha) was delicious. Anyone who tried it told me they loved it. I find that is generally the case with my vegan cooking. Some people are afraid to try it but those who do, enjoy it. *Shrug*

Pancakes again. I tend to make these Sat or Sun mornings. 

I hadn't found a vegan french toast recipe I loved...until now. Love this recipe! I thought it wasn't going to cook through because the "batter" was so thick but it turned out great. Very crispy and delicious. It's from 1000 Vegan Recipes. Yeah, I like raw fruit on my breakfasts.

So I made the spinach artichoke dip from Chloe's Kitchen but used firm tofu instead of soft... haha Silly because I even had soft tofu in the fridge! But it was a happy accident because it tastes like a quiche!!! I have to make this again in a crust, it'll be amazing. I haven't had a vegan quiche yet but it was one of my favourite things pre-vegan so I'm excited. It's good without the crust too if you want to leave out the wheat. :)

Ate some of the spinach artichoke (let's just say quiche) with homemade tortilla chips

got the idea for this salad from Blogilates who is eating vegan for two weeks. It's quinoa, tomato, red bell pepper, edamame and a simple dressing of maple syrup, dijon mustard and lime. Yum!

Was craving something sweet the other day... obviously these didn't rise as much as they should have haha but they were still delicious. I made a coconut icing for them and used craisins in the filling. I made half the recipe but we still ate these way too quickly! Next time I should just stick half in the freezer :P

Wrap. This is a meal I make a lot because it's so easy and you can use up leftovers. I added some of the quinoa salad, black beans, extra edamame, some hummus, spinach and lettuce.

Also! I'm touched that Sarah over at What I Eat Vegan nominated me for...

the Food Stories Award for Excellence in Storytelling!

Here’s how it works:

1. The nominee should visit the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/) and leave a comment indicating that they have been nominated and by whom. (This step is so important because it’s the only way our judges will know who is being considered for the monthly presentation).

2. The Nominee should thank the person that nominated them by posting & including a link to their blog.

3. Share one random thing about yourself in your blog post.

4. Select at least five other bloggers that you enjoy reading their stories and nominate them for the award.

5. Notify your  nominees by leaving a comment on their blog, including a link to the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/).

One random thing? My husband and I's pets are named after famous men. William Wallace and Forrest (Gump). haha It wasn't really intentional we just loved those names!

I nominate...

1. Never Home Maker
2. Raw Clarity
3. Oh Ladycakes
4. Rawified
5. Spabettie

Vegan Cookbooks Review

Recipe books review time!  I am reviewing the vegan cookbooks The New Vegan by Janet Hudson, 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson and Chloe's Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli. I'll share some pictures, what I thought of the recipes I've tried, who I'd recommend each book for etc.

First up, The New Vegan. I found Janet Hudson's amazing pictures on Flickr and eventually figured out that she had a cookbook which a lot of the recipes were from. The recipes were right up my alley, I thought, so I ordered the book. Unfortunately, there are a lot of recipes that use fake meat (including seafood) which is a bit of a turn off for me. I haven't tried any of those yet. Also, there are no pictures or real description of the foods so for some recipes, I'm not entirely sure what I'm making! It doesn't help that the titles are often a play on words, so even that doesn't tell you what you are making. It makes following the recipe a bit tricky. That said, almost all of the ones I tried turned out soo deliciously! And the food does sound very tasty and right up my alley. I like the variety of recipes. The only recipe that didn't turn out was the naan... far too sweet and dense! I still ate it, haha and I will try it again to see if maybe I just screwed up somewhere. I recommend this cookbook for people who enjoy faux meats, want simple quick meals or ones that remind them of non-vegan ones but make sure you are comfortable following a recipe because you won't get much help here. I am happy to own this cookbook and immediately bookmarked 18 recipes to try, so while my review may be a bit negative I do still really enjoy this cookbook! I got it used from Barnes and Noble so it was pretty inexpensive.

Here are some foods I made from The New Vegan.

TJ's Smoked Veggie wrap. I made this twice in one week because it is that delicious!

Ohmlette (left). Very tasty and SO full of flavour! I would make this again. It was the first "omlette" I've had since becoming vegan.

German Potato Salad. This is one where I'm not sure it turned out right haha It tasted good but the texture was odd.

Naan fail. haha

Next we have 1,000 Vegan Recipes. This is a big book! I wanted one that I could rely on to have any basic recipe I need and this definitely fits the bill. I really love this book and would recommend it to anyone who want a great starter/basic cookbook (vegan or not). There are TONS of recipes, more than one per page. There are no pictures but the recipes are well described. There is also a lot of extra information, tips etc which I really like.  There is a wide variety of recipes which are mostly very healthy and natural. Lots of recipes using vegetables. Tempeh/tofu and seitan have their own sections.  I'm really loving this cookbook, such a great staple. I got it from Walmart and it did cost a bit more than my other cookbooks but it  was worth it because there is just so much in it!

I've only made one recipe from this book so far but am eager to try more! Of the three cookbooks, I would most highly recommend this one.

Pierogies! One of my favourite things to make. The filling was a bit plain (as in just basic potato filling; I like to have other stuff) so I added to it. It's great that it's "plain" though because you can easily customize it. The dough was awesome! Perfect. It's actually a basic egg free pasta dough recipe that the book gives you and uses in various recipes! So handy. It was really easy to make and I will for sure use it as my basic pierogie recipe from now on.

Next we have Chloe's Kitchen. I saw Chloe on Cupcake Wars where it was all vegan and she won! She's adorable, bubbly, quirky and seems very talented.  There are tons of delicious recipes in this book from pasta to salads to desserts and more. The pictures are gorgeous! She includes herself in some of them which I don't mind at all. The recipes are easy to follow and use common ingredients. I haven't had any problems with what I've made so far.  I recommend this to anyone who wants a new vegan cookbook and enjoys pasta and desserts since there are quite a few of those.

Here are a few recipes I've tried so far. I was 100% happy with them all.

Sun-dried tomato falafel from the Falafel Sliders with Avocado Hummus. So easy to make, healthy and very tasty.

Baked Sprinkle Donuts! I did different toppings but the basic donut is the same. As long as you like nutmeg, these are delicious! My husband brought most of them into work where they were devoured.

Avocado Pesto Pasta. I used macaroni pasta and also added in sun dried tomatoes. This is a favourite thing of mine to make so I loved it.  

Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce. Okay, I wasn't totally happy with this. It was a bit too spicy for me and the filling a bit plain. But I could definitely tweak it to my liking.

Not pictured are the Yoga Cookies which are a new favourite of mine! Full of nuts, coconut and a bit of chocolate it's like a trail mix, kitchen sink type cookie. I froze half of the dough and made them later and they turned out great. The dough is a bit on the dry side, so you may find you want to add something to it. I did the second time but not the first. They turned out great either way, honestly. 

Tonight I'm making the Spinach Artichoke Dip so I'll probably update with a picture of that!