Love and Other Things

1. I'm in a Facebook group for military wives and we decided to do a secret Valentine exchange using Elfster. I received these sandals and the necklace, both from Lulus. Love!
2. Enjoyed some (vegan) champagne with my husband. It was kind of hard to find! The Korbel NATURAL one is vegan but the other Korbel ones are not. Neither are Cooks or Barefoot aka cheap champagnes.
3. Indulged in some Starbucks green tea latte/frapp drinks this long weekend (my husband has a 4 day weekend!)
4. Inspired my Valentine's Day DIY projects I saw, I made this for my husband and I. Each page has a different date idea in various categories like restaurants, sight seeing etc. There's also a spot to check it off when we've done it as well as add notes.
5. My new Prabal Gurung for Target shoes arrived and I love them so much!
6. Had good hair days this weekend. Random.
7. Waffle fail! haha Actually these lemon blueberry waffles from 1000 Vegan Recipes were delicious. This one just wanted to stick.
8. Valentine's Day walk with my pup.
9. Shared this recipe with someone looking for a great stir fry recipe. It's from Chloe's Kitchen.

Things That Make Me Smile

1. Grocery shopping yesterday.
2. Behind the scenes at a photoshoot on Saturday. I was the stylist!
3. Another behind the scenes shot. The photographer and his wife are good friends of ours.
4. Making one of my husbands favourite meals. Chloe's Kitchen cookbook gets a lot of use in this house.
5. Hanging out in workout clothes.
6. Playing in the creek at Buena Vista Park.
7. Short hike at Buena Vista Park.
8. Fun look using nail striping tape. It is less than perfect up close though. One of the polishes was too thick and bleh.
9. Loved this look but the tip were messy so I had to add a french tip.

Shepherd's Pie

Some of what I ate this week and a recipe! You guys have to try the recipe, it's sooo good. Not to, you know, toot my horn or anything...

faux chicken burger

some Greek food

nachos using Follow Your Heart cheese. I decided to it because I'm not a big Daiya fan. I know, weird. I just find it too over powering. Follow Your Heart (at least the mozzarella, I haven't tried the cheddar) is the opposite. The flavour is very subtle. it doesn't melt as easily but I like it. Even my husband likes it and he normally hates vegan cheese. 

I ate tons of watermelon this week

Menchie's! Two kinds of sorbet topped with fruit, carob chips, coconut and cinnamon.

mushroom stroganoff from Chloe's Kitchen cookbook and a salad with Annie's Goddess dressing.

Lots of smoothies this week too. This one was almond milk, flaxmeal, frozen pineapple, frozen banana and cinnamon.

Recipe time!

So, as a kid my mom would sometimes make shepherd's pie but I wasn't a huge fan of it. I had texture issues with food growing up so I didn't like the chewy veggies mixed with the mashed potatoes, I guess. As an adult, I try to re-try foods to see if I like them now (and I often do) so I decided to make shepherd's pie. Of course, it's vegan now but I did make a point to keep it somewhat traditional...ish. I don't normally buy vegan "ground beef" as it doesn't really appeal to me but I did for this. I tried a new (to me) brand, Yves. I am really liking the Yves products as far as faux meats go! Quite tasty. Okay, onto the recipe which I think it goes without saying I found to be a big success! I even had seconds. No texture issues to be found.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie (also gluten-free)

Ingredients:3-4 Russet (or other) potatoes

2 1/2 cups almond or milk plus a little bit for potatoes

2 tbsp vegan margarine (or just 1 if you don't want any in the mashed potatoes)

1 tbsp flour (use rice flour or other gluten free flour if you want this gluten-free)

1 chopped up garlic clove

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 carrot cut into small pieces

1/2 chopped up zucchini

1/2 cup chopped up broccoli

1/2 package of Yves "ground beef" or substitute with more veggies or tofu

1 tsp Italian herbs

pepper and extra sea salt to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

First, make your mashed potatoes. Boil the potatoes until a knife easily cuts through them. Drain. Mash with as much sea salt, vegan margarine and vegan milk you desire.

Sautee your garlic for a minute and then your "meat". Cook until heated through. Now add your veggies and cook until soft (10min or so). 

Melt 1tbsp vegan margarine in a pot and then add the flour. Whisk until mixed and thick. Slowly add your milk, whisking in between, until a thick sauce forms. Add the nutritional yeast and salt/pepper.  Add the veggie/meat mixture to the sauce. 

Stir and then pour into your casserole dish. 

Top with mashed potatoes and cook for 30min.

The top will turn golden at the edges and be a bit crunchy. Mmmm.

 Dig in!

 You can easily double this recipe and cook it in a full size casserole dish. The leftovers are amazing.

Oh and I finally finished Insanity! I was so ready to be done with that. haha Great program but I just grew bored of it after about 5 or 6 weeks. I actually didn't think there was a big difference in how I looked before I started Insanity vs now until I saw the pictures. I definitely am "smaller", more toned, a bit more muscular etc.  Don't mind the weird "tan" it was just the flash of the camera indoors.

A Cheap Margarita

This was the result last Saturday when I went to Trader Joes after having a very large and strong IPA beer to get snacks/drinks to enjoy at home while we watched the Strikeforce fights. haha Some favourites! I love that popcorn and TJ always has yummy the rolls. The tequila and lemonade are really tasty together, sort of like a cheap margarita. Like my skull and cross bones ice cubes? Oh the whiskey was my husbands. I drank whiskey in highschool but rarely have it anymore.

weekly grocery trip. last week's trip was pretty big so we still have a lot now. This weekend I'm mostly picking up stuff for a Lemongrass Spa party I'm having on Monday (more on that soon).

Froze a bunch of fruit for smoothies. It makes the smoothies so thick and delicious.

the Nature's Path cereal from above (delicious) topped with fresh fruit and almond milk 

wheatgrass juice

a very green sandwich. I occasionally indulge in "white bread" for subs and found that Earthgrown Market puts packs of 3 or so on clearance for just 50cents when they are close to expiring! 

a super thick smoothie with frozen bananas and frozen strawberries

carrot + oranges = the tastiest OJ. this was 3 large carrots and... 5 oranges!

peach pancakes

a yummy quinoa Mexican style wrap

smoothie with frozen mango and frozen banana

inspired by this recipe, a veggie lasagna where you use thinly sliced zucchini and squash instead of noodles! genius.

broccoli "cheddar" soup from Chloe's Kitchen cookbook and a grilled zucchini portobello mushroom sandwhich.

yet another strawberry smoothie. Now I want another!

I know I haven't talked about fitness much lately. I have less than a week left of the Insanity program left so I will talk about that once I'm done. Honestly, I have found it hard to stay motivate during the second month of it. I'm just sort of "over it" and ready to move on but am determined to complete the whole thing!

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